Home

DIY

The Best Raised Garden Planter You Need To Own Right Now

April 1, 2020

By (astoundingly) popular request via IG, today's post is about...my planters. It turns out that everyone in the world has decided to become a gardener in their abundance of spare time.

I have, in the course of my years, proven myself to be an astoundingly poor keeper of indoor plants. When you see a lovely, thriving plant in my house, be assured: It is fake. But for whatever reason my black thumb turns green (or, ok, perhaps something more like chartreuse) in the presence of vegetables: In our San Jose house, our tomatoes and cucumbers were actual legend. I never bothered to garden in our last place because 1) I was kinda in crisis last year and tomatoes were not my priority, and 2) I wasn't inclined to put even more work into a rental place than I already had (and I'd already done a lot).

Eat

8 Easy, Freeze-able Soups For Cozy Evenings At Home

March 16, 2020

Time to get cozy

Yesterday, while I was journeying back into the country with my parents, my wonderful friend went to the store to pick up some basics for the kids and me (I'm self-quarantining for 14 days because I just flew internationally, so am hoping to avoid grocery stores for the duration). Alas, those basics were - as you know - in ludicrously short supply.

Milk? Nope - but there was one lonely container of chocolate milk! And now it is mine.

Recipes

How To Make An Original Cayman Islands Mudslide

March 12, 2020

Lunch.

I've never been a huge fan of Mudslides. I acknowledge this is an unpopular opinion, it's just...you know, if I want ice cream, I want ice cream. If I want a cocktail, I don't want to add hundreds of calories to it; I'd rather have the cocktail...and then, maybe later on, have ice cream that doesn't taste like alcohol. You know?

But apparently real Mudslides - by which I mean the ones made where the drink was invented, The Wreck on Grand Cayman's Rum Point - don't have any ice cream in them at all. As the story goes, they were created in the 1970s when a customer came in wanting a White Russian (vodka, Kahlua, and cream), but since the bar was out of cream, the bartender substituted Bailey's Irish Cream. He threw it all in a blender, and ta da: A drink that's milkshake-level delicious, but not saturated in sweetness. (So you can have two. Just proceed with caution; these may not taste like anything but wonderfulness, but they're deceptively strong.)

ENTREES

Instant Pot Vegan “Bolognese” (With Beyond Beef)

March 5, 2020

I'm trying to make the switch over to Beyond Beef (or similar products) whenever possible, because...you know...environment. I'll be honest: I resisted for awhile, because something about the concept freaks me out (although why plant-based protein should freak me out more than actual ground beef is beyond me). But then I tried Burger King's Impossible Whopper, and it tasted...like a Whopper. The taste was virtually indistinguishable from the OG (cheese and sauce, basically), and the texture may even have been an improvement.

Next experiment: Seeing whether I can swap in plant-based protein for the primary ingredient in one of my family's all-time favorite dishes, pasta bolognese. We make one version of this dish or another virtually every week, so this is not a change I make lightly - and not one I especially accepted my children to get on board with.

So? I didn't tell them. Sue me; sometimes children are on a need-to-know basis with these kinds of things.

Decor

A Very Malibu Makeover

February 18, 2020

sunset with my loves

CLEARLY the point of living in Malibu is to enjoy all that beach-adjacentness as much and as often as possible, which means creating a lovely outdoor space was fairly high on my priority list from the second I moved in. I got rid of all of my outdoor furniture when I moved - it was so old that moving it would have been more expensive than it was worth - which left me in the market for some new stuff. But my wraparound deck situation perplexed me a little. It's very long, and quite narrow, and the only area big enough for a table is next to the front door.

Here is where having a friend like Audrey is a blessing from the home decorating gods: I asked Audrey what she thought I should do with the deck, and do you know what she sent me?

« Previous 1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 323 Next »