photo love

Perfect.

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beautiful bedrooms

I hope you had a relaxing weekend, my dears. I had a fabulous weekend being spoiled by my husband and my girlfriends for my birthday. I am such a lucky gal!

At any rate, as I have mentioned before, I am slowly getting our bedroom to where I'd like it to be. There is still much to be done though, and I do like to keep getting ideas. Here are some that I found particularly serene. Enjoy.

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a french inspired birthday

Today I turn 36. I took the day off from work and am planning to spend it in front of the wood stove, reading and drinking tea, cuddling with my pups and generally not doing much. Last night I came home after an eleven hour day, to a sweet birthday gift from my dear husband. He gave me two French design books, a French music CD, and some rose wine (not French because it was all he could find in Juneau), which we loved to drink while we were in France, chocolate croissants, baguettes, strawberries (amazingly yummy considering it's February), some yummy chocolate and of course, the yummiest Camembert cheese you can get in Juneau. What a doll. So, I will be digging into my new design books today and enjoying some delicious snacks. Thirty five was a good year, I hope I discover as much at thirty six! Have a lovely weekend my dears. xo

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kitchen love

Look at this space! Love it! Beautiful wooden cabinets and a hearty farm style table, mixed with the white washed wood floors and the modern chairs, all balances so well. Simple and delicious. I would be happy cooking and eating there. Enjoy.

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a beautiful bath

I love this room! Looks so serene and peaceful. I never would have thought of a black tub, but I think it's very nice in this simple space. I also love the old medicine cabinet and those windows. Yum!

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a great re-purpose

I love this! The whole space is pretty great, but I really think the use of the old bed spring here is fantastic. I also love that chair and the table. Awesome.

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dairy free, gluten free, good eats

I know I have been remiss about posting lately, as I mentioned in my one and only post last week, things have been very busy. However, I am going to try to get back on task this week!

For the month of January, Bret and I decided to cut out alcohol, caffeine, cheese, milk, sugar (including sugar from fruit), soy and refined carbohydrates. We did a week of nothing but raw or steamed veggies, and following that, we could cook anything as long as it did not include the above list.

One of our favorite eats is fish tacos - we generally use halibut because it's often in our freezer. Usually we use corn tortillas and I use all purpose flower in the mix for seasoning the fish...This time, we used Napa Cabbage as the "tortilla" and I used buckwheat flower as the binder. I also made the salsa instead of using salsa verde because we are only supposed to be having the raw apple cider vinegar for this month as well and there is a lot of vinegar in that canned salsa. It was fresh and delicious. Try it!

You need:

- a fillet or two of white fish
- 2-3 tablespoons chipotle powder (or chile powder if you don't have that)
- 3-4 tablespoons buckwheat flower
- olive oil
- an avocado
- two limes
- two tomatoes
- a small clove of garlic
- a quarter of an onion
- a small bunch of cilantro
- a head of napa cabbage

In a shallow bowl, such as a pasta bowl, mix the buckwheat flower and the chipotle powder. Add more or less chipotle depending on how spicy you want it.

Cut up the fish in cubes and put in a separate bowl.

Mash the avocado and add some salt to taste. Cut up the tomatoes, garlic, onions and cilantro and put in a bowl together. Squeeze in lots of lime (to taste) and a sprinkle of salt. Mix together.

Put enough extra virgin olive oil in a pan to have about a quarter of an inch to fry the fish in. Heat it up on medium or a little hotter depending on your stove. While the oil is heating, roll the fish in the mix of chipotle mix a handful of pieces at a time. Then fry the little morsels in the olive oil. They should be small pieces, so they'll cook quick. Don't leave them and walk away - you want to be turning them around and making sure to remove as soon as they are no longer opaque. I like to remove them into a wooden bowl lined with a paper towel to soak up the extra olive oil.

Once the fish is cooked, you're all set. Take a piece of the cabbage, spread a thick helping of avocado inside the leaf, add some fish and a large helping of the salsa fresca you made. Then squeeze some lime over the entire thing and enjoy. YUM!