Jennifer Aniston Square Foot Gardener??

While I can certainly appreciate modern design for what it is, it definitely isn't my style. I think it's really cool to go to a restaurant with super clean lines or a museum with simple color blocking, etc. I certainly wouldn't want to live in Jennifer Aniston's new place, especially not for upwards of $20M!! Just look at the front door, inviting?? No.

There is one thing I absolutely adore about her new place and that's the back yard. Do we think Jen will be down with some square foot gardening? It's not too far fetched. She did just buy a house with a large garden and a VINEYARD!!

Look at this view, stunning! If you care to see more pictures you can click here, that is also where I took these photos from.

Hope all is well!! XOXO -Amber

Mammie's Cooking

One of my favorite cookbooks is one that my mother put together. It's a collaboration of handwritten recipes from my great grandmothers kitchen!! It's like a time capsule from 1940-1950's southern America. Seriously, the majority of the book is sweets, even the "salads," which are mostly jello concoctions. It's also loaded down with stuffed olives and Crisco. I also love that most of the recipes are just a list of ingredients and if your lucky it gives you a temperature to go with. Clearly my great grandmother, Mammie (Kathryn), knew how to cook. She also jotted down several notes on the pages indicating which ones were well liked and who liked them. I've made several of the recipes, the oatmeal cookies are Josh's favorite cookies ever. There are so many that I've never tried though that I've resolved to make my way through the book. I started with "Yum Yum Gems" mostly because I had all of the ingredients on hand.

They were really very simple and turned out like a cross between spice cake and fruit cake. Very moist and flavorful. Everyone liked them, even Jillian who thinks raisins are positively disgusting thought they were edible : )

Also, all six of my tomato varieties are up! Josh installed a light under one of my kitchen cabinets so I'm hoping they'll do well over the next couple of weeks.

Hope all is well!! XOXO -Amber

May the Odds be Ever in your Favor

Just a short perusal of a few Hunger Games fan sites and I couldn't possibly be more excited about The Hunger Games movie! I've seen the trailer a few times and I haven't been this amped about a movie in quite a while!! If you still haven't read the books, you really NEED to, they're fantastic!

You're lighting us on fire!!!!

Haymitch is PERFECT!! Is Effie's hair green?

She definitely seems like Katniss to me now : )

Would it be too outrageous to wear these eyelashes to the movie premier?? Gotta love Effie : )

May the Odds be Ever in your Favor! XOXO -Amber

Baby Love

Penelope is four months old now and was given the go ahead to start eating solid food. She's had rice cereal for a little over a week now and has gotten the hang of eating with a spoon. Ryan and Jess got her a cookbook for Christmas, Baby Love. The cookbook is how to make baby food at home. I was already planning on making her food at home so I was pretty thrilled to get a book with details and combos. It's actually a pretty fantastic book that goes beyond cooking and pureeing. It has meat dishes, including halibut, beef stew and bolognese, hummus and risotto dishes!!

The first thing I made was green peas. Isn't that every baby's first food? It was super easy and turned out great! I have always read that if you shock your veggies in an ice bath right after cooking them (for not too long) that they would stay bright. That was certainly true with the peas. They look and taste great, yes I tried them. Then you freeze them in an ice cube tray for easy to use portions later on.

Penelope wasn't super excited about them the first time and even did a little shiver of disgust. The second day she came around and ended up liking it. Next I'm making roasted butternut squash and cauliflower. Have to start introducing new things early on so later she'll be open to anything : )

Hope you are well!! XOXO -Amber

Kind of Catching Up

I could try to catch up with my posts but instead I think I will just say, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!! and lets start with what's going on lately.
I planted some Lincoln peas today and started seedlings of bell peppers, 3 varieties of eggplant and 6 varieties of tomatoes. I've never had much luck with starting nightshade plants from seed but I've followed all of the instructions so keep your fingers crossed for me!! Otherwise we are just getting back into the post-Christmas swing of things. Hope all is well!! XOXO -Amber