Local Spots - Kaladi Brothers Coffee

We got tired of always going to Starbucks for coffees and drove a little out of the way to check out Kaladi Brothers. It was a lot nicer inside than we anticipated. I had seen the coffee beans and signs at various shops for Kaladi Brother Coffee but I had never actually gone to the shop itself. It was so nice we sat down and had a little date. 

My latte was delicious! I miss going to awesome coffee shops like this... there aren't too many in Anchorage that are nearby. We will be back, I'm sure! They even have open mic nights, which I love to go to.

The Sweet List - Vintage Brooches

I'm not really a big jewelry person. I always forget to put anything on before I go out and I don't always know which jewelry I have goes with which outfit. I have been looking at these enamel brooches on Etsy and I bet I would wear these all the time if I had them. 

Imagine a crochet purse with these pinned on the front?

1. Orange Daisy - 2. Brown Flower Brooch - 3. Green Flower

4. Enamel Flower Brooch - 5. Turquoise Polka Dot Brooch

Weekend Nails #10

I did a tri-colored ombre nail design this time and I really like it. I started off with hot pink and then used a makeup sponge to dab on the lighter pink. I finished up the tips with the mint color. I've been doing my nails every couple of days but I wanted to space out my posts to maybe once a week. I get so excited about each post that it's hard to not publish them all at once!

Essie - Mint Candy Apple

Milani Neon - Pink Rocks

L.A. Girl - ?? (This color came with a set of two other colors and a dot tool and it doesn't have a name)

I've been thinking more seriously about getting a fancy camera. My iPhone has been treating me well and taking some pretty decent photos but I feel like I need something more serious. I went to Best Buy to check out the DSLR cameras and I'm so anxious to get one! I know I should wait a little longer and save up some more money. We will have to have a camera for our road trip to Louisiana in December because I think it will be a great opportunity to see more of the country. I don't want to miss out on the good photos!

Salmon with Balsamic Glaze

One of the best parts of living in Alaska is the free fish! Co-workers and neighbors always go fishing and bring back treats to give away because they have too much to eat themselves. Our neighbors asked us to water the plants while they went on a camping trip and they brought back these beautiful fillets for us (They brought us halibut last time, which was amazing!) 

Since we've had so many salmon fillets I have tried out different methods of cooking them. One of our favorites was salmon ravioli, which was my first try at making pasta from scratch. I'll have to make those again and post the recipe because it was fabulous... But the hands-down best way to eat a salmon fillet is with a balsamic glaze.

I know I got this recipe off of Yummly, but I searched for it and I can't find the source again. I had written it down in my little recipe notebook previously because I liked it so much. I don't want to claim that I came up with this myself, but I would like to share it.

Look at these gorgeous Sockeye fillets! I wanted to eat them raw! 

Balsamic Glaze for Salmon

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

4 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp mustard

Whisk all ingredients together in a skillet. Simmer until thickened and reduced to 1/3 of a cup. Spoon over prepared salmon.

You'll never want to eat a salmon fillet without it again!

Summer Lemonade

Is it really almost the end of July?? This summer was the best in Alaska that I've ever had and I don't want it to end! The sun actually came out and the days are hot... Alaska hot, which is like, 79 degrees. But it was still such a nice change from last year and the year before when it rained all summer.
If I could write a clever segway to this lemonade recipe I would. But you get it, summer = lemonade. So there we go. This recipe is awesome and fun to make!

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup hot water

6 cups cold water

1 lemon for garnish

After juicing the lemons and straining out the pulp and seeds, combine 1 cup of hot water with 1 cup of sugar and stir until dissolved. This makes a simple syrup and prevents having grains of sugar at the bottom of the pitcher. Combine 6 cups water with the simple syrup and lemon juice mixture into a pitcher and stir. Slice the lemon into rounds and mix into lemonade for extra prettiness.

Yum! I hope you make this and enjoy the rest of summer!

Weekend Nails #11

I went with simple and subtle color combo this time. The pink by Essie, Eternal Optimist, is one of the few colors I can wear to work without getting yelled at because it matches my skin tone so well. The options are limited with french manicure strips but I like the candy cane stripe look and I'll probably do it again with brighter colors.

 Essie - Eternal Optimist

L.A. Girl - Unknown lavender color 

This was the last nail design I did while I was on my vacation. Now I will have to go back to actual weekend nail designs. I hope I can keep up with posting now that I'm back to work. I'm sure there will be pleanty of baby related posts as well. I suppose this is offically a Family Lifestyle blog now! 

I'm looking forward to doing a bunch of DIY baby projects soon, so stay tuned. 

Peter Pan Collar Dress

This was such a quick project! I actually sewed the whole thing in a day and a half! The only reason I needed the half day was because I hand sewed the zipper on, otherwise it would have been a one day project. 

I found this fabric at a thrift shop (it's an Ikea design, probably meant for curtains) and used Simplicity 1873 for the bodice pattern. I ended up not having enough fabric to do the skirt in the pattern, so I just used a rectangle to make one instead. That was a good idea, I think, since I wanted the stripes on the bodice and the skirt to be perpendicular which wouldn't have worked out as perfectly if I used the curved skirt pattern. I also took the scalloped collar from Simplicity 1609 and redrew it to fit this bodice.

I actually wore it today to the DMV and got my Alaska drivers license photo in it. The lady at the counter complimented me on it. Isn't it nice when you make something yourself and someone says "I like your dress" instead of saying "Did you make that?" I think that means you've moved on from sucking to actually being good at it!

Linking up with Friday Fab Favorites and Casual Friday Link Up!

Local Spots - Eva's Cupcakery

I've been trying to go to Eva's Cupcakery since it opened last year but every time I showed up it would be closed! Finally today I made it in and got some cupcakes. I didn't get photos of the shop because it's so quiet in there that it felt awkward, but it is a beautiful shop with pink walls and an upscale atmosphere. They even had a little flat screen with music and a slide show playing of pretty cupcakes. 

I chose the Red Velvet and Joe picked The Hummingbird, which had coconut, banana, walnuts and cream cheese frosting.  There were even more choices, like lemon drop and a super adorable cupcake with pink and blue swirly frosting. I was seriously amazed at how cute all the cupcakes were!

The Sweet List - Strawberries

Ever since I found a couple of vintage Strawberry Canisters and a Teacup and Saucer at a thrift shop I've been thinking about how cute strawberry things are!
Vintage kitchen wares are my weakness at thrift shops. I need a much bigger kitchen to hold all the stuff I want. But really, how many pie dishes do you need? According to me, I need one for each type of pie that exists... just like the strawberry pie dish below that has a recipe right on it. I don't know how many times I've turned down a pie dish, tart pan or soup cup with a cute little recipe on it. My little heart aches just thinking about it...

1. Strawberry Pie Dish - 2. Strawberry Kettle - 3. Strawberry Jar

4. Strawberry Linen Kitchen Towel - 5. Strawberry Apron

Local Spots - Seward Brewing Company

Joe loves trying different beers so we usually like to go check out different brewing companies in the areas where we live (we actually met in a brew house, haha!) When we took our little trip down to Seward we where excited to find the Seward Brewing Company. 

We ordered flights of beer so we could try a couple at a time. The stout was my favorite (it always is). The chowder was incredible, by the way.

Weekend Nails #9

My weekend is on a Tuesday! Haha. I tried out the ombre nail design and it worked out pretty well! It was easier than I thought it would be. All I did was use a makeup sponge to dab a little color at a time on top of the nail. I did about three coats, the last one being only the very tip of the nail. I love to combine neutral colors with bright neons. The orange wasn't as bright as I would like, but I can try out a hot pink next time. I still like how it came out.

Essie - Master Plan

Revlon - Tangerine

Blueberry Chutney

When I was younger I remember my grandmother always making chutney and setting it on the table for every meal. I never really knew what it was and I think I probably didn't like it at that time. About a year ago I decided I wanted to figure out what it was for, what to eat it with and how to make it. I found out it is an Indian condiment that can be made from fruits, berries, onions or even cilantro (which is delicious!!) I made an apricot chutney which tasted amazing... but I haven't made any since!
Fast forward to today, when the massive amount of blueberries we bought at the beginning of the week started to go mushy and I knew it was time to use them up. I made (another) batch of blueberry muffins and cooked up some blueberry chutney.

I took the recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and changed it around a bit to fit what I actually had in my pantry. I'm positive that there are more authentic recipes out there, but this should be a pretty good introduction to chutneys if you have never had any before. It's like a jam with a spicy kick.

Ingredients:

2 Cups fresh blueberries

1/2 Cup dried cherries

1/2 Cup lime juice

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp cloves

2 Tbsp brown sugar

Combine everything in a saucepan and turn onto high until it comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes.

It will end up looking very juicy like this:

The great thing about chutney is that it's easy to make and just a little bit spicy. Joe and I had it on crackers with goat cheese for lunch and then for dinner we had it with a coconut shrimp curry. You can use it on anything from yogurt to ice cream, crepes, cold meats and as a sauce for samosas too.

Seward

We had a really awesome day yesterday in Seward! We had been trying to take a drip down there for a while now. Our original plan was to drive up to Talkeetna and Denali yesterday but when we woke up it was raining. Seward was the only place having nice weather, so we changed our plans and took a trip there instead. It was sunny and beautiful all day!