How to Turn Salad into Dinner

Today's recipe is as easy to follow as it is delicious.  There is no measuring involved which is the way I like my recipes.  I'm not sure what to call this dish since I made it up.  How about: Grilled Chicken Cesar Salad with Pesto Pasta and Sun Dried Tomatoes.  That's kind of a long name but it pretty much has everything covered.  

Grilled Chicken Cesar Salad with Pesto Pasta and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients: 

1lb. or so of boneless chicken breast tenders 

Bag of mixed salad greens, baby arugula, baby spinach, whatever you prefer 

Bow tie pasta (less than a pound)

Cesar salad dressing (feel free to make your own, I love Newman's Own)

Pesto (homemade - recipe here or store bought) 

Oil packed sun dried tomatoes, chopped 

Fresh mozzarella cubed, fresh grated Parmesan, again whatever you prefer

Toasted pine nuts 

Instructions: 

Put a pot of salted water on to boil for the bow tie pasta. Lightly season the chicken tenders with salt and pepper.  I also like to use a bit of Herbs de Provence to season the chicken.  I cook the chicken in a cast iron grill pan but if you don't own a grill pan I'm sure you an cook the chicken in a saute pan.  While the chicken is grilling toss pasta in boiling water.  Once cooked through, remove the chicken tenders from heat and slice.  Set aside.  When pasta is cooked, strain and toss with pesto.  Set Aside. Toss salad greens with Cesar dressing.  Assemble salad as follows: first add dressed salad greens to plate, then top with pasta, next chicken, and finally sun dried tomatoes, cheese and pine nuts. From start to finish this meal takes no more than 20 minutes to prepare.    

Finally a Photo of that New Rug I Told You About

Short post today because I actually feel worse today than I did yesterday. I thought a lovely day at home vegging out on the couch is supposed to make you feel all better? Anywho I thought you might like to see that rug I told you about a few months ago happily in place. Here it is, I'm really pleased with how it looks.

I know the size of the room really calls for an 8'x10' rug but this size works well for me. It sort of cozies up the seating area of a rather large open space. I'm off to attempt to get my brain to focus on writing about impacts to Green Acres parcels. It won't be easy.

The Color of the Moment

ith all of the twitter chat lately about the love of the color mustard along with the positive reactions to the use of it for interiors I just can't get the color out of my head. What can I say, I couldn't help myself. I had to order these adorable shoes:

I am aware that Pantone named Mimosa the Color of the Year and perhaps I am subconsciously swayed but their announcement. I choose to think not. I've been a yellow lover for some time now but the good thing about it being named the color of the year is how much more available it becomes. Maybe not so good for my wallet.

Update: Wow, if that's what my floors really looked like I wouldn't be itching to rip them out.

A Color Combination Update

Based on the comments I received from the Navy and Teal color combination post, it sounds like most of you agree that those four colors could really work well together. As I mentioned in that post I had a friend in mind when pulling that combination together. The two of us took a trip to Home Depot to pick out the paint and made some modifications to the color scheme. After shuffling around bunches of paint chips the end result is a color scheme that is more subdued than the original but no less chic.

We settled on Porpoise by Behr as the wall color. The color is now up on her walls and it looks amazing. The paint has a tiny hint of soft purple in the gray which I think will look great with the navy.

The turquoise and the blue are coming into the room as bedding, window treatments and other accent pieces. The mustard color was also chosen as an accent however my friend has decided to take the doors off of her closet and outfit it with a great closet system from Ikea. I think it would be fun to paint the inside of the closet mustard so we might give it a try. The best thing about paint is if she hates it we can also re paint it gray. I can't wait to see the room come together. I'll be sure to snag a few photos of the finished project to share will you.

P.S. I swear that I did not purposely match the mustard color to my blog. It was a total coincidence.

Arugula Pesto

One of the perks of being a caterer is that at the end of the day you get to take home all of the left over ingredients.  Of course if we were more prudent shoppers there probably wouldn't be quite so much left over.  But hey we're new and we're learning as we go.  Following our most recent event we had a bit (okay, an entire crate) of left over arugula.  About half of that crate is now sitting in my fridge and I would hate for it to go bad before we were able to eat it all so I making this with it: 

        
If you have a food processor making pesto is incredibly easy.  Using arugula (you can add spinach too) makes for a more mild pesto than your standard version with basil and parsley.  I love fresh basil so much I added it to this pesto recipe as well.  The following list of ingredients is pretty rough since pesto is very forgiving.  Taste as you go, if you think it needs more salt add more.  Like more cheese add more cheese. Don't add more salt and more cheese however, Romano and Parmesan are pretty salty. 

Arugula Pesto

Ingredients: 

1 pound of fresh arugula, washed and stems trimmed 

1 bunch of fresh basil, washed and stems trimmed 

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 

1/2 c. pine nuts (or try walnut pieces or pistachios) 

1/2 c. grated Parmesan (or Pecorino Romano if you prefer) 

2 tbsp water

juice from half of a lemon 

about 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste 

Instructions: 

Put first 7 ingredients in the food processor and blend until they form a paste.  Once combined slowly add the olive oil. Season with salt to taste. Voila, simple fresh pesto ready to top pasta, shrimp, chicken, you name it.  Since I have several pounds of arugula in my fridge right now I'll be making a whole ton of this pesto.  Surprisingly, pesto freezes really well so I'll be set for a long time. 

Disclosure: I made this last night but did not do much of what you would call measuring and it was still very yummy. 

Artist & Illustrator: Alice Stevenson

I came across Alice Stevenson's work via a post on Design*Sponge a few weeks ago about British textile designers. I made sure to email myself the link to her website to peruse when I had some free time. It's a good thing that I set some time aside to check out the site because I got lost in her world of beautifully designed book and album covers covers.

Alice's website didn't have too much information about her background except that she graduated from the University of Brighton with a BA in Illustration in 2005 (just 4 years ago!) and has been working as a freelance illustrator for G2, Faber & Faber, and Puffin Books. I was interested in finding out more about Alice so I headed over to her artist management agency Unseen's website and saw that in addition to the companies listed above Alice has also done work for Volvo, Vodafone, and Design*Sponge. Design*Sponge, hmmm that's interesting. Turns out Alice designed this very lovely banner for the Design*Sponge shop.

More gorgeousness was to be found to deeper into the site I clicked. Take a look at some of the exquisite fabrics Alice has designed. The first fabric design is also available as gift wrap from the Art Angels site.

In addition to the samples of her work there are also prints available for sale. There isn't an actual store front but you can contact Alice Stevenson at alice@alicestevenson.com for more information about purchasing one of her prints or comissioning work.

Life of Pi

Robins

Alice also has a blog, it's a bit like a digital sketchbook.

How's Your Day Going?

Today this is how I feel...

a little piece of happy print by laura george

It must be the weather. A sunny, breezy, warm day after several gray and chilly days always puts me in a great mood. I'm noticing that twitter, facebook and some of my favorite blogs are a little quiet today. Hope that means everyone is outside right now enjoying this wonderful day. Meet me at Starbucks, I'll buy you an iced chai.

The Best Flan You'll Ever Have

It's a strong assertion, I know. I stand firmly by the fact that my family makes the best flan ever. Consider yourselves lucky because I'm going to share the recipe with you. Hopefully I am not disowned for revealing a family secret.

The Verdugo Family Flan Recipe

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

1 11.5 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 c. granulated sugar (roughly)

Supplies:

Stainless steel flan pan, or

Cookie tin (like the kind sugar cookies come in)

Aluminum pan to use for water bath

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

The flan mixture:

Ready for the hard part (kidding); take the first five ingredients and mix together in a blender until well combined and nice and frothy. You can also use a stand mixer or a hand mixer, whatever you happen to have available. Set the mixture aside.

To caramelize the sugar:

Add the granulated sugar to a small sauce pan over medium heat. Add a small amount of water and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. The sugar will start to harden a bit and get clumpy. This is the point where you'll assume you've ruined it. Don't fret, just keep stirring until the sugar reaches a boil. Remove from heat when the sugar turns into a nice medium brown syrup. Coat the bottom of the flan pan or cookie tin with the caramelized sugar. Do your best to coat the bottom of the pan. The sugar is going to cool immediately so don't worry if you aren't about to cover the entire bottom. Warning: caramelized sugar is extremely hot so be careful when pouring in the pan. Be sure to use pot holders or oven mitts so you do not get burned.

Pour the flan mixture into the pan on top of the caramelized sugar and place lid on pan/tin. Place the flan pan into the aluminum tray and put in oven. I like to add the water bath once the tray is in the oven, I spill often. Add several inches of water to the aluminum tray, enough to come half way up the side of the pan. Bake flan for 45 minutes. Remove flan from oven and water bath and allow to cool completely before removing from pan. Once cool, run a knife along the edge of pan, place plate on top flan plan and flip. Flan should come out cleanly. Some times some suction action happens but don't sweat it. Give the pan a little wiggle and press on the bottom a bit, the flan should come out clean. It will be beautiful.

Color Combination: Navy & Teal

I don't know what it is about this color combo but I'm crazy about it this spring. For the last remaining wintry months I've been wearing a teal scarf with my navy coat (wishing I no longer had to wear a scarf) and almost all of the new spring items I've picked up recently combine these two colors. I would really love to work this color combination into my decor but I have a total of 3 rooms in my condo and have run out of room to play.
Lucky for me I have a close friend who would like help decorating several rooms in her home. Last time I stopped by I was rather shocked by the paint chips she had taped to her bedroom wall. All of the colors were bold and saturated and seemed a bit overwhelming for a bedroom. After doing some research I may be re-thinking her paint choices and actually think she might be on the right track. If she thinks she shocked me with her paint choices I'm going to totally shock her with my ideas for her room. Something in me really wants to pair this sunny yellow and deep magenta with the navy and teal. Like I told you before, I've got magenta on the brain lately.
Once I put these four colors together the combination felt really familiar. I knew it must have been something I'd seen in a past issue of Domino Magazine. I went searching through their website (don't know what I'll do when they finally shut it down) and found the picture I was thinking of.

I have to admit, I hated this room (really set of rooms) when it first appeared in the magazine. I'm not even sure that I'm too crazy about now. Went back to searching, there had to be a good example of this color combination that would help me sell my friend on it.

Then I came across these two photos. The one on the left is the same color family and while I think it makes for a really cute sleeping nook it still feels too punchy to me for her bedroom. The photo on the right is getting much warmer. The colors are all there but it feels much more sophisticated than the first two pictures. The pink and yellow are subtle accents (the flowers on the table) so you don't feel overwhelmed by so many strong colors and the gray pendant helps to soften things up a bit. However, I'm not sure that I really want to suggest that my friend paint her walls turquoise. She is the type that seems to change her mind often and I'd like to give her something that is more flexible.

I think we have our winner. The teal bedspread looks gorgeous against the soft gray walls. Even the glass lamp has a hint of green to it. I would replace that lamp shade with a navy one and add some colorful pink and yellow pillows to the bed to bring the entire look together. I'll have to find her a small mirrored side table because I love the one in the picture. Too bad she doesn't also have those old fashion radiators. We could paint it a deep navy similar to the one in the photo and it would be fabulous. What do you think about my crazy color combination. Can we make it work?

Check out this post for an update to this color combination.

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Shop Local: Chalk Farm

*Warning regional blog post to follow...

182 Glen Ridge Avenue

Montclair, NJ 07042

p. (973) 744-7887

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 6pm

A heads up to readers who live in or near Montclair, NJ. The shop Chalk Farm is moving to a new location so all inventory at the shops current location is 50% off. You heard that right, 50% off! If you are not familiar with Chalk Farm, the shop is stocked with an ever-changing collection of merchandise including farmhouse benches, bedding by Elizabeth Allen Altier, slip covered furniture, French and Swedish antiques, apothecary jars, vintage garden urns, and coffee table books. Inventory is inspired by store owner Jennifer Rae Beck's love of garage sales and flea markets which translates to a shop that feels curated over time with love. Check out how gorgeous this shop is:

Questions for readers: Would you like to see more posts in the future dedicated to local retailers?Those who aren't local, do you feel alienated by this type of blog post? If you would like to see more and have a favorite shop you want to share please email me. Thanks!

Appetizer Idea: Sun-dried Tomato Polenta Squares with Herbed Goat Cheese

At the request of a few friends I'd like to share a pretty simple appetizer recipe that is sure to impress your guests. Since I recently served up this menu item to catering client I guess I will also use this post to introduce you to my new catering company Bon Vivant. Along with myself the owners of Bon Vivant consists of Jordan Toro, a very talented and classically trained French chef, and Lauren Toro the business mastermind (not to mention my best friend for as far back as I can remember). Check out our first written "review" which actually comes from the party hostess who served our polenta appetizer. We are so new we don't have a website or sample menus complete yet so I will update you when we are more official. Until then you can reach us at bonvivantevents@gmail.com with any questions. And now for the recipe...

Sun-dried Tomato Polenta Squares with Herbed Goat Cheese

Serves about 8; about 3 pieces per person

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 of a small white onion finely minced

2 - 2 1/4 c. chicken stock (usually about 1 of those paper cartons)

3/4 polenta (corn meal)

1/4 c. oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp. minced fresh sage

1 tsp. minced fresh thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

2 - 3 oz. goat cheese at room temperature

Instructions:

In a heavy skillet, saute onion in olive oil on medium heat until golden brown. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and gradually add polenta in a slow consistent stream, whisking constantly. Stirring constantly, cook polenta on medium heat for 10 - 15 minutes until it thickens and comes away from the sides of the pan. This is the hard part, polenta gets really thick and you have to keep stirring for the entire 10 - 15 minutes. Consider it a bicep workout.

Remove polenta from heat and stir in 1/2 tsp. sage, 1/2 tsp. thyme, and the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Salt and pepper the polenta mixture to taste. Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8"x8" pan and allow to cool fully. You can also make this the day before and refrigerate, just make sure to bring to room temperature before serving.

Combine the rest of the herbs with the goat cheese and set aside. Cut polenta into 1" squares. Top each square with the herbed goat cheese. I use a pastry bag with a star tip but can also spoon a small amount on top of each square. Sprinkle with chopped herbs for flourish, serve and enjoy.

Possible Substitutions:

If you're not crazy about goat cheese (I'm actually not a big fan) you can actually top the polenta squares with Boursin, Allouette, or Rondele. These soft cheeses all come already mixed with herbs so this would also save you a step.

For the vegetarians, you can easily substitute the chicken stock with vegetable stock.

Other Quick Tips:

I made this for a party of 25 so that required tripling the recipe.

You can really go crazy with what you top these tasty little squares with. Try caramelized onions, a mushroom ragout, etc.

Update: The Clever Pup made a great point, polenta bubbles like a science project.  Watch out for splatters so you don't get burned.

This recipe is adapted from one found in this book: 50 Great Appetizers, by Pamela Johns

Sweet Home 3-D Program

Sweet Home 3-D is a free interior design program available for download that allows you to place furniture in your 2-dimensional house plan and preview it in 3-D.  The site describes the program as being geared towards those who want to design their interior quickly, whether they are moving or they just want to redesign their existing home. Numerous visual guides are offered to help you draw the plan of your home and layout furniture. You can drag and drop furniture onto your floor plan from a catalog organized by categories. Each change in the 2D plan is simultaneously updated in the 3D view, to show you a realistic rendering of your layout.  The program is available in English, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Swedish, Spanish, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, and Russian and can be run on Windows, Mac OS X 10.4 / 10.5, Linux and Solaris.

I'm always working on floor plans whether it's with a pencil and a piece of graph paper or as a mock up in photoshop.  Being able to view a room in 3-D gives me a better perception of how it would feel to navigate around the furniture in the room.  If you gives this program a try let me know what you think of it. 

I Tweet, Tweet Back At Me

I've been making a conscious effort to not repost articles that I find on other blogs here as I want to offer my readers new and original content as often as possible.  However, I read many blogs and come across great ideas and beautiful images everyday that I'm itching to share.  If you are a member of the twitterverse and interested in checking out all of the great things that I stumble upon (or just want to say hi and bs) follow me on twitter, my handle is vertigodesign. Hope to see you there. 

  
Photo Credit: Twitter graphic from practika

Spreading the Etsy Love

Several weeks ago I participated in the One World One Heart "world wide" blog contest.  To enter the contest I asked that participants leave a link in their comment to a favorite etsy, artfire, dawanda, etc. shop.  Some of the entrants obliged (don't worry I didn't hold it against you if you didn't) and I thought I would share the commenter's favorite shops with you.  Many of them were new to me and perhaps they will be new to you also.  Brace yourself this is going to be a long post but I wanted to make sure every shop mentioned was included. 

Jewelry Shops 

Abigail A. Percy Jewelry 

These earings have been on my wish list for awhile.  Abigail also sells original art pieces and prints. 

♥ Pasaii Paperie ♥

This shop has a great selection of invitations, stationary and cards but I just couldn't pass up this sweet embroidered necklace. 

drippy ice 

These initial necklaces are so much cooler then the horrific diamond encrusted name necklace I once owned.  That "M" is calling my name.  

Designed by Jane 

The comment for this etsy site was "Jane sells the coolest felt brooches". My first thought was "ehhh, not really my thing" but when I clicked the link I was blow away by the vibrant colors and meticulous embroidery.  One of these pinned to my laptop bag would be delicious. 

Gaea Homemade Beads 

This shop sells had crafterd ceramic pendants, jewelry and gifts. 

urbangypsy

This shop also sells whimsical cloth dolls, mixed media and cards. 

Art Prints and Mixed-Media 

Elegant Snobery 

This little hedgehog would be an adorable addition to a childrens room. 

Jenn Ski Art 

This shop is loaded with prints, totes and cards whose illustrations have a fun retro feel.  Most are suitable for adult decor but I'm partial to the A to Z prints (funny because I have no children).  

Deborah's Shop 

Deborah sells small art quilts and larger mixed-media peices.

Stationary and Cards 

little brown pen

Little brown pen is one of my favorite etsy shops and it was my first introduction to printable notecards and stationary.  Little brown pen provides you with a pdf of their adorable designs and you print out as many or as little of the cards or stationary that you need. Genius.  

happy day studio 

This shop sells extremely sweet hand painted cards and printed cards which are reproductions of original watercolors. 

The Miscellaneous Category

Mixology pure.mineral.makeup

It's always easy for me to get behind a shop that is willing to make this find of commitment: "To celebrate the wonderful buzz Mixology is receiving, we want to share our blessings!  Our goal is to be able to sponsor 1 clean water well in an African village through bloodwatermission.com The cost is $3,000 so we are donating 5% of our business sales to reach our goal! We are currently $500 away from our well! Can we do it?"

She Sews by the Seashore 

This shop sells aprons, tea towels, totes, and more. 

Lucky Fiona

Now that is one very stylish dog collar. Hmmm, perhaps it's time for a new collar for Milo. 

I'm Beginning to Notice a Pattern Developing

It appears that lately I am responding to photographs of rooms with a decor similar to this West Elm room.  Until recently my personal design style as leaned towards mid century and Scandinavian decor but when the March '09 issue of Elle Decor showed up in my mailbox I gasped. The vintage framed Ikat wall hanging, the suzani draped over the settee, that gorgeous rug, all that magenta; I love it all.  I'll have to be careful how far I take this look in my home as my tastes seem to fluctuate with the trends.  A few lovely pillows or a suzani printed throw tossed over the back of my sofa should be just right.