good food festival

A couple Sundays ago Matthew and I went to the Good Food Festival in Santa Monica with my parents. It was a food festival and conference, with food demonstrations and lectures ranging from growing your own fruits and vegetables, preserving and pickling, and becoming a farmer. Matthew was interested in the last one! I especially loved going to Nancy Silverton's lecture. She's the co-founder and head baker of LaBrea Bakery {that's all over the place now}, and also owns Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza {my favorite artisan pizza place in LA..remember this post?}. Anyways, she showed us how to make three of her favorite summer salads and I pre-ordered her Mozza cookbook almost immediately after the event! It was so fun to spend a bright and sunny afternoon walking around, tasting local foods and eating at the food trucks. I love food! nom nom nom

an avocado taco from the Border Grill food truck

I especially loved that the Cool Haus truck was there. They make these amazing ice cream sandwiches with your choice of cookie + your choice of ice cream + an edible wrapper. Such a genius idea by the way! My sandwich was chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter ice cream {of course}. It's my favorite combo ever! The.best!

xox

happy veggie

The other night Matthew and I decided to have a midweek date night. My fave! He LOVES pho soup and so do but it's been hard to find a good veggie pho in LA. Most of them have beef in them I think. Anyways, we were researching places and heard about this amazing veggie pho place a couple miles from our apartment called Happy Veggie. Let me just say I was one happy veggie :)

The thing I love about pho is that it's so customizable. No two are the same, unless you leave them how they are served. They bring you a big plate of bean sprouts, basil, and different sauces to make it your own. Matthew's is always super spicy and mine is pretty mild in comparison, but still really good. Noodle soup is just so yummy and good! Gets me excited for fall and winter!

I hope you all have a happy happy weekend!

xox

all day I dream about food

It's true. I'm a little food obsessed. Moving hasn't provided for the best meals since Matthew and I had our kitchen in boxes up until Saturday. The kitchen was the first thing I started working on, though, before the closet even! I can't wait to get back into my schedule of planning the week's meals over the weekend. The one annoying thing about our new city is that there isn't a weekend Farmers Market close by. It was so nice to be able to go to the Farmers Market on Sundays and now I don't know what we'll do. I'm sure we'll just have to drive a little further because it's definitely worth it. Here are some photos of the foods I've been craving:

first photo: b&w cupcake above: fresh fruit from the Farmers Market

 yes, I'm even craving an underdone piece of homemade Bianca pizza haha

quesadilla

hot chocolate

burrata and peach salad

blueberry tart

caprese salad

Thai veggie soup

cookie dough!

I just got this cookbook and I am dying to make every single recipe! I love good veggie dishes and these all look especially delicious. The problem will be figuring out which to choose first! Cooking in our new kitchen is going to be so fun. It's one of my favorite parts of the apartment because the appliances are so nice and new. It was a major selling point for me, as well as the big closet!! I wanted to share the Before photos of the apartment today but Matthew said it would be boring without the After photos next to it. So more pressure for me to decorate {and finish unpacking} asap!!

xox

mother dough

Matthew and I have been dying to go to this new pizza place in LA called Mother Dough. We heard about it before the wedding but we were so busy we weren't able to make a date of it. As soon as we got back from Italy we went here for one of our first meals out. It's traditional Napoli style pizza and it reminded up so much of the pizza we had in Positano, maybe even better! We were dying over the delicious burrata salad with this slightly spicy vinaigrette and the classic margherita pie. For dessert we got this heavenly chocolate mousse with lavender sea salt caramel sauce. deeelish! If you're in LA you must must go.

We loved it so much we went back the next week with my parents. Can't wait to go back again!
 {I seriously crave that salad on a daily basis}

Have a lovely first weekend of summer! 

After a couple days off the apartment search Matthew and I are starting it up again, 

hopefully with more success than before!

What are your plans? 

xox

24/52: a year of little resolutions

My little resolution this past week was to plan out my menus for the week on Saturday or Sunday. I found that doing this Saturday morning was the most helpful. I woke up, went through my cookbooks and planned meals for each day. Then, I went through the recipes and made a grocery list based on items we needed but didn't currently have in the kitchen. Then, on Sunday Matthew and I went to the farmers market in the morning, got our fresh produce, and then in the afternoon we went to the store for any pantry-type items, like pasta, bread, spices, etc. By taking a half hour on Saturday planning, and then doing the shopping on Sunday, I ensured that the rest of the week was stress-free when it came to dinner. I knew what I was making well in advance and I also had everything I needed so there weren't any last minute runs to the store. I would definitely recommend doing something like this! It was also fun to include Matthew by asking what he was in the mood for. Most of the time he says it doesn't matter to him, but when he's in the mood for tacos or a certain pasta, I'll include it and it's something to look forward to!

For this next week, I want to go through my room at my parents and majorly clean it up. My brother is home for summer and might/probably will be moving into my room permanently, which yes I'll admit makes me a little sad-it's the room I had when I was a baby and then from 13 years on. :( I also want to donate a big bag of clothes to the local Goodwill. I've been meaning to go through the clothes I don't wear anymore, and it's about time since there's no use for them to just be hanging out while I'm not even around. It's my least favorite thing to do but it has to be done!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

xox

Things I Missed While I Was In Italy

Don't get me wrong, Italy was absolutely beautiful and there were days where Matthew and I were talking seriously about moving there {like making business plans and everything}. Being back, however, I realized how much I missed while I was gone. All these little things and more, make me super happy to be back home!

American Breakfasts. In Italy breakfast consists of a cappuccino and pastry item. Amazing, yet not completely satisfying. I craved big American breakfasts of eggs, pancakes, and french toast!

No Smoking Areas. SO many people smoke in Italy..it's actually the thing that bothered me most while we were there. I hate walking through clouds of cigarette smoke. Luckily you can't smoke indoors but when you want to eat outdoors on the patio {which we almost always did}, the smoking can practically ruin your meal.

Iced Drinks. I didn't see any iced coffee drinks in Italy, which was fine, but something I definitely missed on a hot day. Some days it was 85 degrees so drinking a hot espresso didn't always sound appealing. 

Ginger. I missed my little puppy so much! There were a lot of cute dogs in Rome but none looked like my Ginger. I couldn't wait to get home and hold this furry little thing. I took her to the groomer's yesterday so she got extra clean and fluffy!

Sushi. Oh, did I miss sushi. Matthew and I normally have Saturday night sushi dates so I was definitely craving it. We did have some incredible seafood in Positano but nothing beats sushi from our favorite neighborhood spot.

My new ring. Matthew gave me this gorgeous rose gold ring the night before the wedding and I love it so much. It's absolutely beautiful! I wanted to keep it safe so I left it at my parent's house while we were gone. I'm so glad I can wear it now!

Blogging. Boy, oh boy, did I miss blogging! It's amazing to be back posting again. I can't wait to get caught up with all your blogs! So many big things have happened in the blogging world with engagements, weddings, pregnancies, and moves. I feel so behind! I've missed you guys a lot a lot!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! 

Let's remember all those brave U.S. Service Members who died fighting for our freedom and safety. 

xox

10/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

Last week my plan was to start eating healthier and cut out processed foods and snacks. Most of the time I'm pretty good about that but I'm trying to improve. I'm also really working on having more satisfying lunches. For some reason lunch is a meal I tend to skip over. I eat a huge breakfast and dinner so I feel guilty eating a lot during lunch. That's terrible, though, because by eating something really small I end up being hungry all afternoon, which leads to mindless snacking. I made this tasty pita sandwich for lunch this week and I'm obsessed! It was so simple, just lettuce, feta, tomatoes, kalamata olives and cucumber- dressed in a light olive oil and lemon dressing. It's delicious and so satisfying. If any of you have some good lunch ideas let me know! 

For this week, I'm participating my own Dog Appreciation Week! Little Ginger is turning one year old on Wednesday and I can hardly believe it. We got her last May, eight weeks after her birthday, but this is still an important day to celebrate. Especially since Matthew and I will be honeymooning on her one year adoption day! I'm planning lots of fun activities for us. She's basically going to be spoiled rotten!

I hope you all had an awesome weekend! Mine was super busy with wedding stuff {I think this will be the norm for the next 6 weeks unfortunately}. Did you all remember to set your clocks back an hour?? juuust kidding! I mean forward :)

xox

and my tummy grumbled...

My parents went to the East Coast for a couple weeks so I have the house all to myself! {well and my brother and Ginger}. I'm missing my parents a lot, especially their yummy food! I've mentioned it before but my dad is a master cook. He is seriously amazing! He has the Midas Touch but instead of gold it's just gourmet! While thinking of what to make for dinners I came across photos of some of our summer meals! I'll warn you by saying they might make you a little hungry...

salad with radiches, cucumber and parmesean and asparagus with a soft boiled egg over miso

grilled summer vegetables with fresh basil and toasted pine nuts

my favorite meal! cold calamari with a garlic aioli and fried squash blossoms topped with sea salt

homemade cheeseboard pizza with zucchini, caramelized onions and goat cheese

sashimi with various toppings over a salt block

soba noodles with green onions and seeweed and salmon & tuna sushi

homemade sushi! {I helped}

So since I'm not that skilled in the kitchen I'm reaching out to all of you.
Any suggestions for some relatively easy dinners?
xox