This was the first weekend that I've had since June (June!) that we haven't had to go out of town, run around the city with crazy amounts of plans, or host house guests. And it was magical. No responsibilities, no real plans, the freedom to do whatever we wanted.
I am usually so swept up in my busy life (work, blog, cook, run, sleep, work, blog cook, run, sleep), that sometimes I forget to stop and just enjoy my life. Last night, one of my friends arranged a girl's night out at Eataly's new Birreria. We sat in the heat-lamp filled rooftop bar doused in the orange light of the setting sun.We ate pretzel bread with mustard and friend Shitake mushrooms while sipping on glass after glass of pumpkin beer, laughing the entire time.
Last night I had a serious urge for chili and whipped up my very first batch ever! I decided to make it vegetarian since I'm on a little break from meat after seeing the documentary Forks Over Knives. What goes better with chili than some buttery warm corn bread covered in melting raw honey?
I based my chili recipe off of 101 Cookbooks' recipe but cut out the grain and changed up the beans.
Today I'm really feeling the plaid! All this rain and gloom makes me want to curl up on my couch with a cup of hot peppermint tea in my favorite men's flannel plaid shirt and leggings. That isn't an option so I'm going to make the most out of my day by being extra productive at work and then cooking up a hearty stew for dinner (recipe to come tomorrow).
I haven't baked in a while and I was itching to use my new Cuisinart lemon yellow mixer (yay engagement presents!), so last night I decided to spice up our dessert with a pumpkin bread pudding recipe that I read about on Cupcakes and Cashmere but originally came from this Smitten Kitchen recipe. I switched out almond milk for regular milk and cream, and skipped the bourbon and cloves.
