I’m a HUGE of handmade cards, invitations, etc., vs. the store-bought generic cards. To me, it shows the time and effort someone put in FOR YOU, especially for you…only for you and they paid 44¢ to mail it TO YOU.

With Valentine’s Day coming up (and FAST, people) and the commercial “holiday-whoring” (harsh, but true) that most stores participate in this time of year, I think there are some better ways to share the love.

For one, instead of buying things of the red/pink persuasion with silly, generic “love sayings” on them for your loved ones, how taking some time to serve them. Drop them a real note (handmade perhaps?!) telling them how you really feel, in your own words. If not a note, try to do something nice for them, going out of your way to make their life(ves) a little easier. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, in fact, in this recession-age more folks are finding that the simple gestures are the most meaningful…they show that you PAY ATTENTION. {last year I did homemade s’mores!}

Maybe try to serve those who you don’t love or don’t necessarily know. The random acts of kindness go a long way and if you’ve been on the receiving end of a random act, you know that JOY that it brings is contagious.

The last thing is something a little smaller in size and scope, but the impact on yourself is tremendous. It is always good to take some time and treat yourself with some love. Last year, I participated in a Handmade Valentine Swap sponsored by The Stationery Place. I thought it would just be a fun thing to do, mainly to challenge and push myself to get crafty, but what I got in return was a joy and a smile that were so OVERWHELMING..much more than a little paper valentine should probably conjure up…for a week, I received 4-5 handmade valentines from people all around the world via this swap and it was amazing.

my handmade valentine last year

I think this particular swap closed on Jan. 25, but you can try to email the folks to see if you can still get in on this one. If not, here are a few more that you could check out: Aunt Peaches, FaveCrafts Blog, Oh Hey, What’s Up?

You could even coordinate a Valentine’s swap with a group of friends locally…My friends are always saying we need a craft night, so this would be a great “theme”.

Hope you’re having a GREAT Friday…I’ll have some really fun news to post this weekend…a little something in the works for someone close to me…I CANNOT wait to debut.

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Chefs Maggie Boehlert and Lucia Renzi have led us through classes ranging from Farmer’s Market, Low Country Boil, Pies and the latest and greatest, Soups & Stews. These classes are super informative and the relaxing atmosphere, coupled with the small class size and the amazing talent showing us the ropes, has made each experience truly wonderful. (not to mention the free flowing libations, those are pretty nice too!)

Last night’s class featured homemade chicken noodle soup, buttermilk biscuits and snickerdoodles. At first, the chicken noodle soup idea threw me off because really, how hard can it be, but this was unlike any chicken soup I’ve ever made and it was SO easy. If you’re picturing the Campbell’s Soup lame-o version, go ahead and put it OUT OF YOUR MIND and OUT OF YOUR PANTRY (no joke, throw that garbage where it belongs).

We started with a mirepoix {definition: a flavoring made from diced vegetables, seasonings, herbs, placed in a pan to cook with meat or fish} which consisted of celery, onions, carrots, garlic and thyme. We then chopped some mushrooms, green beans and whole leaf spinach to add to our soup a little later.

And here is how we REALLY started the class…Chef Lucia giving directions and me…doing a little “pre-gaming” .

One reason I wanted to start taking cooking classes was to learn the best and proper way to prepare & cook food. My mother always comments on my cutting (or lack-there-of) skills and I want to watch and learn the proper way to cut, dice, chop, etc. Here I am cutting an onion…BEFORE I started crying (couldn’t help it…onions get me every time!).

So we started by sautéing our mirepoix in a little oil oil in a saucepan until the onions were translucent. I LOVE the smell of onions and veggies sautéing in a pan…it truly is delightful. From there we added our mushrooms, green beans, chicken broth and water. We let that simmer for a bit.

Photo Cred: Stefanie Haviv, Amelie's French Bakery

Photo Cred: Stefanie Haviv, Amelie's French Bakery

Then came the noodles. We used egg noodles and added those in already cooked (al dente).

Photo Cred: Stefanie Haviv, Amelie's French Bakery

While our soup was simmering, we started the buttermilk biscuits. A couple key tidbits to making GOOD homemade biscuits…you need butter, shortening and buttermilk. You also don’t want to overwork the dough – you want to make sure the butter and shortening are covered and crumbled within your flour using just your finger tips (the butter will melt quickly so the less you touch it, the better).

Photo Cred: Stefanie Haviv, Amelie's French Bakery

{side note: my wine glass magically stayed full:) Thanks, Stef!}

You want to mold the flour into a volcano, then pour the butter milk into the middle. Lightly pull the flour from the edges to cover the “milk hole” and trapping the buttermilk. Start lightly integrating the milk within the flour.

It is MESSY.

Photo Cred: Stefanie Haviv, Amelie's French Bakery

I mean…REALLY MESSY.

Photo Cred: Stefanie Haviv, Amelie's French Bakery

We added some sharp cheddar cheese to our flour mixture, then rolled and cut our biscuits. We got eight HUGE biscuits out of the dough ball like the one in front of me {behind the full glass of wine}.

again...iPhone quality:)

From the biscuits {and while the soup is simmering} we moved on to the dessert of the evening…snickerdoodles!

These were SUPER easy and for anyone who loves cinnamon {me! me!} these are a HUGE HIT. Also for those of you with kiddos, this would be a really fun and easy baking project to do with them.

courtesy of my phone.

Photo Cred: Stefanie Haviv, Amelie's French Bakery

After the meal prep is over, the soup is simmering, the biscuits are rising and the cookies are becoming UBER delicious, we all moved to the dining area where we continued snacking on drinks and fresh baguettes & spreads from Amelie’s.

Once our food is finished, we EAT…laugh and conversate.

my finished product! and crappy iPhone pic

We finished the evening by partaking of our yummy snickerdoodles and enjoying a smooth, delicious cup of coffee from Magnolia Coffee. Magnolia Coffee Company is Charlotte, NC’s only boutique, artisan roaster that provides truly customized specialty coffees with the additional focus of forming local partnerships to make a difference in the community. I heart Magnolia Coffee in a BIG way.

So that was my latest cooking class experience. One of my life goals is to host a dinner party with 4-5 people where we prepare and cook the meal together over drinks and conversation. I hope that goal happens soon but in the meantime, I am so thankful I get to take part in these wonderful classes hosted by Amelie’s. You guys really are the GREATEST!

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I was determined to record some of her recipes so we can keep them “in the family” and not let them pass with time. So, this year, I spent some time with my Nanny to watch her every move, take photos and record some of her famous holiday candy recipes. I compiled what I saw, what I heard, what I smelled. I asked the other women in my family for some of their famous recipes too…my aunt…my cousins…my mom…my sister. We all put in 3-4 of our best recipes. I compiled them and designed my very first cookbook…The Branham Women in the Kitchen cookbook. Here it is:

Cooking and the love of food is something that runs in our family and that is one tradition I intend to continue.

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Here’s the thing, I’ve never really been one to hop on the dieting train…no, I’m not super skinny nor have I ever been a bajillion pounds, but I’ve always been of the mindset that if you eat SMART, splurging in MODERATION for the sweet stuff every once in awhile, you don’t NEED to diet.

pretty bacon

Being a lover of food, I can’t think of one thing that I would be willing to give up forever. One huge reason why I could never be a vegetarian is because I could NOT give up bacon. That stuff is just legit and don’t you dare suggest I drop it for that turkey bacon substitute {YUCK}. It’s NOT the same and I don’t care who you are or how you “make it”…it’s FULL of sodium and not at ALL like the real stuff. BUT…I’m not going around eating a whole pound {I COULD though…boy, I could} of the good stuff in one sitting either or even everyday…just a couple slices once in awhile…in moderation, people.

via

So I don’t believe in diets…they’re so temporary…like a band-aid over a wound that will just open right back up after it’s removed. Stick to the good stuff, the real stuff {vs. processed} and the sustainable…think organic, local, fair trade and all-natural {really and NOT just the labels…do your research}. Fruit and veggies are KEY! Keep it colorful. If you’re going to eat meat, try to stick to the all-natural farm raised, grass fed whatevers or the wild caught sustainable fishies. Limit your sugars, breads and dairy. Don’t completely cut out, just limit…in moderation.

Pay attention to what certain foods do to your body or how they make you feel after you eat. For women especially, certain foods don’t jive as well during the “lady time” as others. Portion size…good lord, most restaurant meals equal at least 3-4 servings when you should really enjoy only 1 serving of that delicious meal. Don’t worry, no one is making you clean your plate folks…eat what you need to be full.

I mean, if you have that luxury to eat what you need to be full {when SO MANY do not}, be a good steward of that blessing. We can only be in control of our own bodies, so the food we put in those bodies should be helpful…not harmful. Dieting doesn’t work because you’re limiting certain types of foods in order to follow diet rules or meet a calorie restriction…but depriving yourself a balanced meal can result in lack of satisfaction, which is not sustainable…which is why most people don’t stick to said diet.

So for 2012, instead of the usual dieting binge, resolve to eat smart, eat good and be thankful you even have food to eat.

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I’ve had the itch to start blogging again for the last couple of weeks, but this time, it’ll be with a different focus…a FOOD focus. A few months back I finally achieved one of my 2011 NY resolutions…to take a cooking class! I started taking monthly classes at Amelie’s French Bakery in NoDa (a fantastic 24/hr. bakery in Charlotte, NC) and have LOVED them.

I LOVE food. I’ve always loved food, well, really just eating it, but it wasn’t until I got married that I even considered learning how to actually cook. For the first few months of our marriage, I tried a new recipe every single day of the week. As with all new adventures, there were some victories and boy, there were some pretty terrible failures (what a brave, PATIENT husband I have). Nevertheless, out of all those victories and failures, I grew to absolutely LOVE cooking.

So here we are. I thought I would start this new blogging venture off with the recipes I tried today for our New Year’s Day Lunch. I recently subscribed to this amazing Southern living magazine, Garden & Gun. If you haven’t seen it yet, go out and get it RIGHT now. The tagline is “South of the Soul” and every issue I’ve received has truly rekindled my love for the South…the food, the culture, the art…everything. In the Dec/Jan issue, they featured Stephen Stryjewski’s recipe for Hoppin’ John. Jay, my husband, immediately insisted that I try my hand at THIS particular recipe to start our 2012 off the right, Southern way…”the beans represent coins and the pork optimism, because pigs forage forward and don’t look back.” Amen.

In addition to the Garden & Gun-inspired pork and beans dish, I HAD to make collards! They’re the dolla-dolla bills, ya’ll!? And THAT…is MY southern grandmother’s tradition, so I found a lovely Collards & Bacon Recipe via The Wall Street Journal a la Donald Link, chef and co-owner of Herbsaint and Cochon in New Orleans.

You know what is so RANDOMLY awesome about this recipe being paired with the other?? Chef Stryjewski is actually the NEW co-owner of the SAME restaurant, Cochon, as Chef Link!? It was MEANT to be and these two dishes paired beautifully together…and by the amount of empty plates at my table following lunch today, I think my guests agreed. So here are the photos of my cooking adventure today:

Collard Greens w/Bacon Recipe

{via WSJ}

Yield: 6-8 servings
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

4 strips thick-sliced bacon, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorns
Several dashes hot sauce
1/4 cup apple-cider vinegar
2 pounds collard greens, stems removed, sliced into 3-inch-wide strips
1 cup homemade or canned low-sodium chicken broth or water

• Place the bacon in a large pot or Dutch oven and cook over medium heat until it just starts to brown around the edges, stirring occasionally. Mix in the onions and cook until they’re soft and starting to brown, stirring occasionally.
• Add the garlic, sugar, salt, pepper and hot sauce and cook until the garlic becomes fragrant, stirring often. Pour in the vinegar, bring to a simmer, and cook until the amount of liquid is reduced by half, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot to work any browned bits into the sauce.
• Stir in the greens and the chicken broth (or water) and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until completely wilted and the color of the greens have lost their brightness, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with additional vinegar and hot sauce and serve with a generous ladle of the pan juices from the pot.

Hoppin’ John Recipe

{via G&G}

INGREDIENTS (Stage 1)
1 lb. dried black-eyed peas, rinsed and picked over
¾ lb. Tasso ham, diced
1 onion, halved
3 cloves garlic
3 bay leaves

PREPARATION
In a large Dutch oven or kettle, combine ingredients with 6 
cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer gently until beans are tender but not mushy, 2 to
2 ½ hours. Drain the black-eyed peas and ham, saving cooking liquid separately. Remove and discard the onion pieces, 
garlic, and bay leaves.

INGREDIENTS (Stage 2)
½ lb. bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
½ tsp. fresh thyme
1 cup Cajun Grain rice (or a good-quality long grain rice)
6 green onions, sliced
½ bunch parsley, chopped
1 tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper

PREPARATION
Wipe out the pot and return to stove over moderately high heat. Add bacon and render until golden (8 to 10 minutes), then add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and jalapeño. Using a wooden spoon, stir occasion-ally, cooking until onions look translucent (8 to 12 minutes). Add the thyme and 2 ½ cups water, and bring to a boil. Lower heat, stir in the rice, cover, and simmer until the 
rice is tender, about 17 
to 22 minutes.

Stir in the green onions, parsley, and black-eyed peas and ham, season with salt and pepper, and adjust the consistency with the reserved cooking liquid. The hoppin’ John should be lushly moist but not soupy.

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It’s been forever. We’ve been unpacking our lives in our new place (which I absolutely LOVE) and things have been crazy busy…more on that later. For today, I wanted to share with you a little DIY project that Jay and I worked on for our new space. Storage is limited in our little condo, so we knew we needed something in the dining room to help me hide all our stuff…enter Sideboard…or dining room Buffet…either would do.

We searched for a couple weeks. I researched online, went to Sleepy Poet and finally we found this gem for $50 at our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore:

it has potential

Now it’s only partially wood…the majority of it is particle board or something like that so painting it would be challenging…or so it would’ve been five years ago! Now we have products like Rust-O-Leum that you can use to paint ANYTHING. Don’t like the look of your cabinets or countertops?? PAINT THEM. This stuff really is super awesome.

So here starts the transformation…photo heavy from here on out:)

first coat...

first coat finished...color is more this than blue

next step...shoe polish:)

use the shoe polish along all creases and edges

the man behind the magic

three coats of paint {all different shades} + shoe polish

the finished product!

and again for good measure...

Take that Sleepy Poet! Now…I’m on the search for fun knobs to replace these, but in the meantime…my husband is totally boss for doing this and it is BEAUTIFUL. Happy Tuesday!

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If you ARE still around, stay tuned for some really fun posts on furniture transformations and crafty fun house DIY (I made my own curtain contraption this week!) projects in the next week or so. Pictures to come soon, I promise:)

Here are some photos of stuff we’ve been into recently:

Sweet Bakery in Oak Island, NC

My Favorite Sister:)

Zoolander!

Beer & BBQ Fest in Plaza Midwood

Finally saw some fireworks:)

Hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July:) See you soon!

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I don’t need just ANY furniture. I need something special…actually three special pieces…and these three pieces need to provide me which some MAJOR storage function-age.

Our kitchen has one wall of cabinets…9 cabinets and 4 drawers to be exact. That’s not even HALF of the cabinet storage I have now. And it’s a small kitchen…no room for an table or anything…so I am on the search for a super cute kitchen cart/shelf unit. It needs to be somewhat slim, but have a couple drawers and/or cabinets and I’m thinking a cutting board top or something like that?

Here are some I’ve been scoping out:

I guess it doesn’t actually need to be a cart, it could be a slim shelving unit…possibly like these DIY kitchen islands:

Another piece I am on the hunt for is a fun sideboard/buffet for our dining room. We will need the storage space {desperately} for all the fun serve-ware I’ve accumulated over the years that I REFUSE to part with.

I found this beauty at Sleepy Poet today and for only $295, it is on my mind heavily…but I’m still looking:

and I found this one too…it’s a little cheaper but not as fun in color…i LOVE ^ that green!!

Here are some others I found on the web…

So if you are out and about, will you help me scope out some gems…I’m not opposed to DIY either…might actually be a fun thing to cove on the blog, so just let me know.

I’ll leave you with this photo from design*sponge. This is my ideal pantry…it reminds me of my friend, Nicole, she has the most organized pantry of anyone I know (and always has FUN snacks in there too!). I will probably have to commission her to come help me organize my stuff once we move:)

Emersonmade on design*sponge

Happy Tuesday!

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Moving is tough business and NOT for the faint of heart. As we are packing up, we are doing a major PURGE of things we haven’t touched, used or even thought about in a year. I totally forgot we had an amazing George Forman Grill/Griddle combo. We had our first yard sale this weekend and my thought on yard sales is…they are way more effort than they are worth.

We definitely made money but the most satisfying part was dropping the remaining items off at Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity…it was a true purging and it was exhaustingly beautiful.

Even though the majority of our house is now in boxes, I’m keeping our cooking stuff out until the last possible minute. I’ve started my summer of recipe experiments already and wanted to share some of the “keepers” I’ve come across so far:

Mediterranean Salad w/Chickpea Patties via Real Simple

This recipe from Real Simple is super easy to make IF you have a food processor. I tried to make it once before sans processor and it was REALLY messy. This time around, with my handy food chopper, it was super simple and really delicious!

Thai Spring Rolls via WrightFood

These are so great because there’s really no cooking involved and you can put whatever you like in them. You soak the rice wrapper in water for 10-15 seconds and then fill it with your choice of fillings…I’ve made them with julienned carrots, shredded purple cabbage, rice wine vinegar soaked cucumber slices, rice vermicelli noodles, basil and cilantro and voila! Dip it in a yummy hoisin sauce or my favorite…thai peanut sauce.

Basil Spaghetti w/Cheesy Broiled Tomatoes

This photo is actually from my cooking experiment this evening. The tomatoes and basil came from my own garden! So exciting and they were DELICIOUS! The recipe came from the June issue of Real Simple Magazine. I have this thing where I don’t like to read a magazine before the actual month of publication, so this weekend was the first time I cracked open the June issue and I LOVE it and the yummy recipes featured this month.

My next experiment this week is to try this Harmony Bowl from the delightful Jessie Mathis. My good friend, Kara, featured this recipe on her blog a couple days ago and I’ve wanted to try it ever since. I bought tempeh for the first time EVER and will give it a whirl this week, I’ll let you know how it goes.

What are you cooking up this summer??

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The next 3 weeks are going to be a PURGING of sorts. Over the last 5 years of marriage, Mr. M and I have accumulated a LOT of stuff. So for the next few weeks, we are going to go on a journey of purging, organizing and decorating small spaces on the blog. Hope you enjoy.

Today here are some photos of some of the coolest, creative small places from around the world wide web!

A Narrow Victory, Dwell Magazine '09

Our's isn't this small, but WOW

Creative Kitchen Storage

Creative Couple, Small Space from Apartment Therapy

Precious Moses' {Closet} Room via Oh Happy Day

Ikea will be my new best friend. for sure.

Stay tuned on Wednesday for tips on pulling off a Yard Sale. Mine will be THIS Saturday {hopefully!}.

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