Shoe of the Week

In preparation for the hurricane, I thought a pair of Wellington's would be a must this weekend!  Some fun finds from the web...

KitchenAid cooking

I'm still enjoying our new toy.  I can't get enough of it.  I just want to keep mixing things.  So, I recently made s'mores cookies.  I saw a couple of different recipes on pinterest that I sort of combined.  I'm not really sure why they said to refrigerate the dough before baking.  In my opinion, it just made it harder to scoop and form.  You bake the dough on top of the graham crackers.  Here they are going into the oven...

Here they are comin' out of the oven...

They are gooey and stick to your teeth like real campfire s'mores, but I was disappointed.  They didn't rival my popular chocolate chip cookies.  When I pulled them out of the oven they still looked doughy inside.  So I baked them longer.  And they still looked doughy.  So I baked them longer.  And... they were still doughy in the middle.  So I gave up and assumed they bake more like brownies than cookies.

Even though my husband was busy making us breakfast, I wanted to mix some more (not s'more) stuff.  So I pulled out the ingredients for pancakes and threw 'em into the mixer.  Sunday morning I repaid him and made him 8 month chocolate chip anniversary pancakes...

My new initial...

Supposed to be a 21 (for the date), but I ran out of batter...

It was also two special friends' birthdays.  Happy (belated) birthday to the cutest five-year-old I know & to a five-year old at heart?  :)  That's a nice way of not mentioning age, right?

And to finish the night off, we once again made homemade pasta.  This time we tried the "middle-class" recipe (in between the poor man's pasta and rich man's version - basically an adjustment on the amount of eggs in the dough) and cut it into fettuccine.  How is it possible that we never have any left?  I guess it's that good.  We'll put it to the true taste test when my in-laws are in town Labor Day weekend and we make it again.  ...or maybe I can convince my husband we need to "practice" one more time.

Princeton

This past weekend we took the train southwest to Princeton, New Jersey.  We arrived at a regular train station in town and then rode to campus on the "Dinky" - a mini train that runs on the shortest set of tracks in the country (a whopping 2.7 mile route).  My husband played tour guide of his alma mater, the Oklahoma State of the North (or maybe it's the other way around).  It is an absolutely gorgeous campus.  There is so much detail, history, and character everywhere you look.  My pictures don't do it justice.  You should really see the ivy, stone, and archways for yourself.

We debunked a myth while we were there - the architect was not a Yale grad, in fact he didn't even go to college.  But we did find the bulldog on the east side of the chapel (more like miniature St. Patrick's cathedral!) that started the story.

We then walked through FitzRandolph gate to Nassau Street.  The tradition is that undergrads aren't supposed to walk out of the gates until after commencement, otherwise, they will not graduate.  Good thing I'm realistic and know I would never be accepted so I'm not jinxing my graduation.

We stopped by Winberie's and chugged a beer for a quick beer.  It is not what I typically think of for a college bar.  I guess the snot noses do it up a little differently than the country hicks.  We saw this familiar face while we were there...

Then we had a delectable dinner with even better company.  I would definitely recommend Eno Terra if you are ever in the area.  They focus on local, homegrown ingredients - it shows in how fresh the cuisine is.  Great pastas, delicious veggies, and it might be the only restaurant I have ever been to with at least one wine from every single region of Italy.  

We stopped by Salt Creek for dessert and drinks.  (It was a fun atmosphere with good live music.)  We finished the evening off right - with chocolate souffle and Veuve Clicquet or as the waitress would pronounce it - voo-WAY-vay.  It was a fantastic night with great friends and I hope we can do it more often.  

Shoes of the Week

With the start of school and football season just around the corner, it's time to prep your fall wardrobe.  I hope you have a pair of wedges somewhere in your closet because they are everywhere!

Tall Boots:

Kate Spade New York Darya $498.00

Booties:

Anthropologie Belted Booties $198.00

Sandals:

DV by Dolce Vita Pali $87.00

Pumps have even morphed:

Christian Louboutin Sculpted Wedge Pumps $695.00

Comfort:

Naturalizer Ashby $79.00

Low:

Cole Haan Air Talia Suede Wedge Pumps $178.00

High:

Giuseppe Zanotti I17017 $750.00

Expensive:

Alexander McQueen Platform Suede Peep Toe Booties $1,050.00

Budget:

2 Lips Too Too Capture Wedge Bootie $49.95

Ornate:

Yves Saint Laurent Suede and Leather Wedge Pumps $995.00

Career:

Nine West Gingy Wedges $79.00

Even Rain Boots:

Hunter Wedge Rain Boots $175.00

And All-Weather Boots:

Sperry Top-Sider Brentwood $178.20

Guest Post from the Uniform Police

I've lacked inspiration this week so instead of me babbling about nothing, how about a guest post by the most terrific husband in the world a.k.a. the uniform police:

On OSU Uniforms

My wife loves Oklahoma State athletics.  Therefore, I love Oklahoma State athletics.  Even if the Pistol Pete mascot wears a giant painted head that makes him look like he's been drinking heavily and scaring children.  But recently, the Cowboy athletic department made a questionable decision to abandon their traditional football uniform ensemble and go with a modern new look.  And I am outraged.

Forever, the traditional football uniform color scheme has been this: wear colors at home, and white on the road.  However, in recent years Nike has completely corrupted collegiate sports with corporate sponsorships emphasized product placement by putting hideous swoosh-filled unis on an alarming amount of teams.  They don't look good.  A college football game is not an episode of Project Runway where points are given for changing your design from week to week.  Instead, a college linebacker should be proud to wear the same outfit in public several Saturdays in a row.  For some reason, the powers-that-be in Stillwater decided the Cowboys need a closet full of separates to mix and match depending on the occasion.

Gray?!?!  Really?  When did gray become an Oklahoma State color?  It's despicable.  Pointless, unless the team thinks that Pistol Pete's bloodshot eye on the pants will scare the ball out of an OU receiver's hands.  And where do you wear the black unis - at home or on the road?  There's no way to keep with tradition when you and two other teams in your conference have a gray-on-gray option AND NO SCHOOL HAS GRAY AS A TEAM COLOR.  So we will all kiss history goodbye this year as we watch the OklaNike State Cowboys with gray helmets, white jerseys, and gray pants play Missouri and we have to keep asking each other which team has the ball.

But it would be pretty cool to see what they wear in a national championship game.

Ice Cream

If you follow my pinterest boards, I'm sure you've noticed that I have a major sweet tooth.  This weekend I saw a commercial for the Dairy Queen blizzard of the month, which happens to be Nutter Butter!

Speaking of underrated treats that get mixed into ice cream, I can't wait to try this one.  My husband is hoping for an E.L. Fudge blizzard, Cadbury Creme Egg blizzard, or Watchamacallit McFlurry.  Hopefully next weekend I'll get the chance to eat this Nutter Butter treat when we make a little drive to New Jersey.  Until then, I'll settle for a rum root beer float that I'm going to make right now.  Yum!  :)

Shoe of the Week

Last year I was in love with the Valentino structural bow jelly thongs.  I never splurged and got them, but I definitely considered it on multiple occasions.  I thought they would have been perfect for our Barbados honeymoon.

I'm still not sick of the signature Valentino bow that we've seen so much of lately.

So I found a couple affordable updates and I'm still lovin' it.

Dolce Vita "Briar" Platform Pumps

$89.95

Enzo Angiolini 'Mistle' Pump

$89.95

Basta Pasta!

Isn't he cute?!

After we brought all of our goods home, it was time to cook up a storm!  My husband started with my fave - sugu (red sauce) and meatballs.  I started the first pound of dough - poor man's pasta.

Which we turned into spaghetti.

Then we made rich man's pasta (with 9 eggs!)  We rolled it out.

And rolled it out.

Turned it into fettuccine.

And dried it on a pan.

Our masterpieces...

Buon appetito!

By the way, while we were at Eataly I noticed this sign:

What a genius idea!  I didn't take advantage of it this time, but I'm sure I will someday.  I don't enjoy chopping veggies all day, so this will definitely speed cooking along next time.

Eataly

As I mentioned in my last post, last weekend I went to my favorite specialty food market Eataly.  Twice in fact.  I have a big love/hate relationship with the place.  On the love side, the place is fantastic and has every Italian food you could possibly want - pasta, bread, pizza, cheese, meats, produce, desserts, gelatto, coffee, wine, beer, limoncello, the list goes on.  But on the hate side, it is SO crowded ALL the time!  It's hard to enjoy the experience when you keep causing collisions by stopping to gaze at the breadcrumbs.

Friday night, my girl friends and I tried out the beer garden, Birreria.  I've been wanting to try it for awhile, but it has been very popular and I'm not the type of person that likes to wait to get in.  I finally summoned enough patience to give it a try.  Thank goodness because we waited an hour and a half to get upstairs.  In the meantime, we strolled around the market, I grabbed a foccacia sandwich, and then we found a seat at the bar area.

The foccacia was great, the waitress was not.  She announced that I could not sit in Eataly and eat my Eataly sandwich that I had purchased just five feet away from an Eataly vendor.  Huh?!?  That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  So I threw the sandwich at the waitress and kicked her in the shin.  No I didn't.  Instead, I had a glass of Barbera wine.  How could I pass up such a thing?  Can you read the name on the barrel?  :)

Finally, I got a text from the beer garden (it beats those giant buzzer-beeper things that those corny chain restaurants give you) and our spot was ready upstairs.  It could have great views (the Empire State Building and Flatiron building are in eyesight), but the way they designed the place doesn't really show them off.  We had a great time and drank some good new beers.  And the way we all felt the next morning makes me think they are a lot stronger than a regular draft beer.

The next day, my husband and I went grocery shopping and picked up Lidia's cookbook.  We bought the ingredients to make caprese, pasta from scratch, meatballs, sugu, and white sauce - all secret family recipes.  :)  More on that to come...

Staycation

We plan on staying in the city this weekend.  I'm looking forward to it - it's been awhile since we've done that.  I'm looking forward to sleeping in and finally getting back to the gym.  A patio crawl, brunch, UFC, and possibly putt putt golf are also in store.  And after this showed up at our door last night, I think a stop by Eataly is needed.  I cannot contain my excitement for this pretty jewel and our newest appliance:

And the fun doesn't stop there.  We got three pasta attachments too!

A HUGE THANK YOU is in order for the generous people behind this great restaurant.  If you are ever near Rockford, Illinois, please stop by Lino's.  I got the chance to try it last year around Christmas and fun was had by all.  The bread is stellar!  ;)  I just might have a connection to the bakery that makes it.  And everyone in our big group loved their meal.  Between all of us, we were able to sample a lot of their menu - salad, pizza, pasta - everything was delicious and service was fantastic.  They also have a recipe of the week section on their website.  I'm going to have to give some a try!

I hope the first attempt at homemade pasta isn't a total failure.  My in-laws might divorce me.