recipe: mexican rice

one of my new favorite recipes is actually a side dish - mexican rice. i love making it alongside enchiladas or fajitas.

ingredients:
1 cup long grain white rice
i tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 fresh jalepeno pepper, finely chopped
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1 cube chicken boullion
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped


instructions:
cook rice in a medium saucepan in the vegetable oil for about three minutes, stirring regularly. pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. stir in the remaining ingredients and bring back to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let cook for 20 minutes. Fluff with fork and it's ready to go!

it's that time again - the gift of growing

this time of year the smith and hawken aisle at target turns into a wonderland of bulb kits. i picked up three (yes, three) last week so i'd have a couple of hostess gifts on hand for upcoming holiday dinners and parties. i decided to keep one for myself and planted it over the weekend in between boxes of tissues, cough drops and harry potters. i love these kits - they're inexpensive (on sale for $7) and super easy to grow. there's a different version online here.


below: the contents of the kit.

below: my favorite line in the instructions: "ornamental bulbs are not for human consumption." but they're ok for animal consumption? weird.

below: soaking the dirt for planting.

below: all planted and soaking up the sun on the kitchen windowsill. i'll post pics once it starts to grow!

DIY: dark and scary to light and airy

i spent most of the weekend home sick and got a great night's sleep on saturday, so woke up sunday energized and ready to do something aside from sit on the couch. hence, this little craft project that's been on my to-do list for about three months. i bought this frame from ikea on a whim with no idea where or how i'd use it, but i decided to do my own version of this idea from joi over at nuestra vida dulce.

first i gathered all of my gear (just the frame, a cardboard box and some white spray paint) and did some early morning spray painting.



then, while that dried, i gathered supplies for the inside of the frame - yellow scrapbooking paper and some gray/silver patterned wrapping paper.

i traced the inside of the frame onto the wrapping paper and cut out the oval.

then used the ol' laptop to trace "a + n" onto a post-it, and did some more tracing onto the yellow scrapbook paper.



THEN i broke the glass for the frame. yep, broke it. DANG!

so since i didn't have the glass to keep everything in place, i had to use tacking spray to stick the wrapping paper to a cardboard backing and the letters onto the wrapping paper. i still have sticky stuff all over my nails, oops.

and voila! the finished product is all ready to be hung in the guest room. i'm not ready to hang stuff on the walls yet, so it's leaning nicely for the time being. i'm pumped about the final product!

starting to decorate for christmas

hope you all had a good weekend! this past weekend my baby cousin in ny turned one, i sat on the couch with a cold and sore throat watching harry potter marathons on abc family, and the christmas spirit officially took over the united states. i participated a little bit by putting up some window candles and a wreath on the front door. hopefully this weekend we'll get the rest of the christmas lights up - and maybe even a tree!?

some friday toms love

anyone who sees me regularly knows that i love me some toms. i was too wrapped up in other things recently to take part in the special austin edition and the special movember edition (they had a tiny mustache on them, swoon!), but i don't think i'll miss out on these gold glittery tweed edition. they're all the rage for the holiday season so get yours before they're gone (and they'll give a pair to a child, too!). it's like wearing slippers, seriously. toms gilded herringbone classics, $54.

waiting for the new media console table

i got home from mexico a few weeks ago to find that nick got "me" a surprise - a new flat screen tv mounted on the wall. while we had a perfectly good flat screen already, i love that nick went and found one that was wireless so we don't have any cords running down the wall once it was mounted. and now that that's taken care of, i've been on the hunt for the perfect media console table to house all of the junk and cable boxes that accumulate under the tv. i ordered this little number (home decorator's reflections mirrored three-piece cabinet set, $599) over the weekend and it should arrive in JANUARY (don't they know i like instant gratification?!). can't wait can't wait can't wait can't wait.

hanging around

i took full advantage of some down-time with the fam over the weekend to get my sister and mom to help me hang things on the walls. we hung my ork posters in the dining room and my black and white photos in the living room. i'm so glad to have found perfect fits for things purchased for previous apartments. it's really starting to feel like home!

below: dining room right wall before - mom and laura helping me decide where to hang (bad iphone photo)

below: dining room right wall after

below: dining room left wall before - laura again (another bad iphone photo)

below: dining room left wall after

(i like that you can see the new chandelier in the reflection in the photo below)

below: prepping to hang in the stairwell in the living room - frames laid out on the floor

below: the stairwell after - with plenty of room for more