lovely pears and bears.

this weekend has been superb!
friday I received this adorable invitation to some of our dear friends Tim + Christens wedding in May, and I love the bears. these little hand made goodies are just too cute.



speaking of bears, this adorable man Bert is just huge and wonderful. he and wizard could be so in love..if they weren't both boy dogs...




friday I spent my day making this lovliest of lovelies "Pear Tart" it turned out so great!
no gluten, no refined sugar [only alternative, natural, un-refined!] no dairy and no eggs! and full of protein and pears!



[pre-bake]



[turned out better then I thought it would!]






then late Friday night my lovely husband came home! at 1am, within 9 hours he was up making me and my lady friends sugar free pancakes with sauted pears and espresso! oh what a charmer I have! making all the women jealous!







scones i made, they didnt turn out quite right, but I will have to perfect them eventually.



and this was my day today: writing a paper that is worth 25% of my final grade about optimum health, in food, organics, vitamins, nutrients, activity..all things for optimum health! good thing some Espresso was here to help :)

fully loaded.

this week has been completely packed with commotion and mouth watering amusement!
I have had to make up for my husband being gone for weeks.
I had a major craving this week for cookies, just traditional chocolate chip cookies, but I thrive on eating what my body craves and needs to survive correctly, so I set myself up for a mission! gluten, dairy, refined sugar, and egg free chocolate chip cookies. I used 73% cocoa dark chocolate and after 3 expensive batches of dough, they finally turned out just fabulous!
another recipe for the cook book!










on tuesday night's we've got sort of a baby tradition going, dinner and Lost at mrs. Julia Kevon's abode. This week she was making burgers so I decided to once again, delve through my fridge and find what my tummy was craving! Curry it was!
I purchased an amazing white pineapple and I cut it up and juiced some of it, poured it into my Wok with some light coconut milk, and tons of curry and aromatic spices! Then I heated it up and let the flavors just amalgamate! the end production was just fabulous!






this week some friends from Italy ventured to Nashville! They are so sweet and they opened their cute little cottage in Florence for me! And they took care of me when I got and Italian virus...in august? He is a small Italian man with a big heart, Guido, and she is a full blooded american [which is very relevant when they are together!] I just absolutely loved being with them and I hope to see them again very soon.



they also brought heaps of really fabulous Italian chocolate! One of them being some "Pocket Coffee!" the energy of the chocolate + combined with the caffeine of the espresso = a really good afternoon lull snack! [for your pocket]




while on the subject of chocolate- this week I mastered some Vegan, Raw, Refined sugar, dairy and everything else free Chocolate Truffles! OH MY GOSH!

some very simple ingredients make for a really healthy snack!



some organic extra virgin coconut oil, and some raw cocoa nibs [both expensive ingredients but well worth it!]





grind up the cocoa nibs until they are really fine and then add some coconut oil and some organic raw agave! oh my gosh! I just added a teaspoon of agave for 8 truffles! Then scoop out balls and roll in dairy free raw cocoa powder, and place in the freezer for about 20 minutes! and wallllah!




This weekend I had the honor of spending it with my sister, Carah once again! We indulged in our weekly trip to whole foods and anthropologie [becoming more then weekly for me...yikes!] and thrift stores, new goodwill openings. [found this SWEET old couch!]



and of course food and drinks flooded our dreams! Saturday night we went down to the pub thats about 3-4 blocks from her house, McCreary's pub, live music on Saturday nights! So wonderful!



[lovely live Irish music at the pub]



[my beautiful sister Carah and favorite friend, Bailey Todd. love them]




This band, The Last Hope is still here and I am happy to have been able to feed and help them this weekend. I love these boys!




Just a lovely: Pear, Goats cheese, almond, lemon pepper dressing salad i made for lunch this week: I AM HOOKED ON PEARS right now!






this week i've been stuck inside my house with the crafty blues. I've been creating these little felt flowers for aprons, wall hangings, hair clips, old lady sweater pins, or anything really. All made from recycled ingredients! [minus the actual safety pins/clips...those are hard to find!]

food brigade.

[healthy dinner with mrs. rhodes this week]



~


so here i am again.
eating more.
this week has been very full.
this week my Oma found an old published song book that was my uncle's, Jim/James Hendricks. He was married to my aunt and they were divorced before my aunt passed away but I am in awe of the beautiful songs he has written.

I am in so inspired!
He was one of the forerunners for the Legendary band, Mama's and the Papa's!



[the front of the song book]



[some pictures in the middle of the book- again, an old book]


Yesterday I came home to a package on my doorstep from my in-law's!




[i love packages!!!]



[some new baking stuff! I am so excited!]



on another note, some dear friends are in town today from Pittsburgh! I am pumped, i love these guys!





check out their music!

The Last Hope

lovelovelove

this week has been crazy. Robert left town on thursday and although the extreme weather conditions he was able to set flight to north carolina. I am so proud of him. Although I was sad to see him slowly disappear after having to remove most of his clothing to pass through security, I am happy he is off on the road. We are getting so excited about this next season in our life. Almost 1 year married, no major things have come up, and we are more in love then ever.

We thought about Valentines this past week we decided to wait and have a date when he returns in a few weeks. So I drove to my families house and spent the lovey dovey holiday with my sister [whose manfriend lives in England and was unable to fly over for the un-celebrated in English holiday].

We did everything that most couples would do on valentines. Dinner and a movie, red wine, hot tub, hotel breakfast. Oh it was so romantic and I wouldn't have chosen any one else to spend it with but her. I am so happy I was her valentines. [she even got me flowers!]






[I woke up to flowers from my Dad :) ]



[beautiful flowers that I went and got for my sister Carah to wake up to- from her love James]






[we got these flowers for my sister in law Shannon from her husband Josh]








[day before valentines desserts at Whole Foods!]







[Chocolate fondue on Valentines day. Thank you Shannon]








[Every year my sister in law throws a Valentines Day party! We all drive out to their house and eat alot of food, play valentines pictionary and exchange gifts! it's a blast and a great way to spend valentines. in the presence of 10 people who love me the most :)]





[leaving robert at the airport]



[the day before robert left he made some fabulous almond meal gluten-free. sweetened with bananas and agave pancakes!]





[the night Robert left we made chicken sausage/shrimp [vegan sausage for me] spicy jambalaya, gluten free cornbread and edemame]


this is a small excerpt of a letter I received from my husband on valentines day. although he will hate me for sharing this, I just couldn't bear to hold in how sweet and charming he is. I love him.

"I am sorry I can not be with you today, but I hope that you can realize that, for me, every day is valentines day, when I'm with you.
I don't need a cheesy man made holiday in order to fall more in love with my wife.
Being away really does make me grow fonder to the one I love, the one who completes me, my better half ;)

We will have to do a date night once I return.
Picnics on our bed, those are the times that I remember most.
Bike rides with no cares."







[finally, when I stay at my parents house, this is my sweet chamber of sleep. I love it, so cozy]

new cornbread+ new projects.

nashville got really cold again this week. uh! no fun! but robert decided to warm us up with some of his great spicy vegan chili! so good!






Since we cannot have any wheat, but we can eat cornmeal we decided to make cornbread! gluten/sugar/dairy free! So delicious!











to see more pictures of the bus and our sweet project go to my husbands blog!