APPLE PICKIN' TIME

We've both been itchin' to go pickin' since the first night that the temperature dipped below 60 degrees. Pat had his boots out and dusted off two weeks and I had been eyeing up the corduroy for a few days days myself.

I saw that a few friends had found an adorable farm full of old heavy trees that wasn't far from my great aunt's house in Mullica Hill. When I was younger, we used to always visit in the fall and I remembered it being such a magical place. There was a civil war reenactment every year, and thick clouds of warm perfumed smoke would billow behind the cute storybook cottages and estates. I remember walking down Main Street holding my grandma's hand or sitting pop-pop's shoulders, looking at the harvest goodies the vendors bought from their local farms and businesses. I was so excited to be able to go with Pat and to share a little bit of my families tradition with him.

And to start our own. Neither of us had ever been apple picking before and it was such a fun experience! I can't wait to go again next year! There are so many possibilities for our little harvest; boozy apple cider and apple butter are at the top of the list.



It was so nice to have a day together and to be outside in the burgeoning fall breeze --and to drink warm mulled cider while wandering through some of the most gorgeous antique stores either of us has ever been in. I've been so busy that it was nice to just turn everything off for a day and fully enjoy the company of each other--and a few ol' trees.



XO
Robbie.

Project: Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

Unlike Pat, I've went out of my way to make sure that I get to dye eggs every year. If that meant boiling eggs at 2am after a long night of studying or working, I still made sure it would happen. There are so many different ways to do it--and they all have varying degrees of difficulty and success. As a kid, I remember an intense apparatus that suspended the eggs so you could draw on them with water based markers and a very disappointing glitter kit that that produced sloppy, inedible eggs. (Do NOT think for a second that I'm anti-glitter. There's nothing further from the truth.)

Throughout this year, we've been experimenting with very folk-sy sorts of projects; cinnamon dough ornaments, sourdough bread, and beer (very shortly). I wanted to keep that rustic vibe alive by experimenting with naturally dyed eggs.

I used the Martha Stewart source as a primary resource, and expanded that knowledge with ideas from other blogs and trial-and-error. Some things went well, some did not. I've included a cross section of all of the methods we tried so you would be able to anticipate (or avoid) similar results.

EGGS:
I always use the Martha method, and it produces perfect eggs every time. I intend on eating a large majority of them, so they have to look palatable. Essentially, the eggs go into a pot of water with a little vinegar (the vinegar will help prepare the eggs for the dye). You bring the pot to a full (not rolling) boil and place the lid on top. Remove it from the heat and leave sit for 12 minutes. Move eggs into an ice bath, and you'll have perfect yellow yolks under those colorful shells.

BLUE:
Blue was the easiest and prettiest color that we achieved. I shredded an entire head of red cabbage into a stock pot and covered it with roughly 8 cups of water and brought it to boil. I'm pretty sure I walked away after turning down the heat and forgot about it for at least half an hour. The darker the water, the better! your eggs will be a few shades lighter that the dye. (You can test the color by putting a few drops on a white plate.) Once the dye is ready, pop in your eggs! 15 minutes seemed like enough time to produce an amazing light blue!

PINK:
Another easy dye bath to prepare! Chop up around 3-4 beets. I didn't peel them or anything extreme. Just toss them in a pot with enough water to cover all of them. Cook them for the same amount of time, and put the eggs in once it cools a little. Again, 15 minutes should be efficient.

YELLOW:
Turmeric and water! You don't even have to cook it! Just make sure it is mixed well. Unfortunately, these eggs took quite a while. Leave them in the dye bath for at least 30 minutes. When the come out, the ground turmeric is going to have settled on the eggs. Wipe it off lightly.

GREEN:
Green didn't go as well as the other colors. After waiting the full 30 minutes for the yellow dye to set, the eggs was supposed to be placed in the blue for 5 seconds. 5 minutes was barely enough. Nothing in any directions said to let the eggs dry between baths, but i now find that suspect. If you look at the photo on the bottom you'll see that there were spots where the dyes did not work well together.

PURPLE:
You don't see any in the picture, do you? This was our least successful color. This was supposed to be achieved by placing a pink egg into the blue dye for 5 seconds. NOPE. We ended up with a handful of pink eggs with blue spots. It's okay if you know that going in--which you do now--but initially it was a little disappointing.

NOTES:
Different sites suggest different mordants, but we found that vinegar in each stage was more than enough. Finished eggs will look very matte--almost dusty--but, they can be polished with a paper towel and a little olive oil to make them look fresher and more photogenic.



I'm so glad that I was able to share one of my own personal traditions with Pat, and I can't wait to build on it and share it with our family in the future.

XO
Robbie

Project: Paint "Dipped" Easter Basket Planter

On a recent thrifting adventure, Robbie and I found a basket that reminded us both that Easter was soon. It has been years since I've dyed an egg or received an Easter basket, so I thought it would be fun to do an Easter craft. After seeing a paint dipped tote online, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try this craft.



I originally loved the idea of dipping the basket in a container of paint, but the amount of paint necessary to do this was anything but economical. The two of us went to hardware store, so we would have plenty of options when it came to the color of paint. We decided on a light lilac color that we thought would provide the perfect contrast against the dark brown of the basket.



Taping and painting took a lot of patience. The spiral of the basket made it difficult to keep the tape in a straight line, but Robbie came up with the idea of using his finger to make sure the tape was at the same height all the way around. If I had to do it again I would have used a brush with bristles, rather than a sponge. Bristles will make painting every part of the basket much easier. Once the basket was painted and had dried, we used coconut hair to line the basket. After placing the hyacinth and pansies in, we filled the gaps with potting soil. For a final touch we topped the soil with moss that we used to line our terrarium.



We used our basket to hold our naturally dyed Easter eggs, tips for which will be in our next post!

XO
Pat

Cocktail: Mexican Sage Fizz

Our most recent mission has been to begin building a bar by choosing a new liqueur or liquor each week. This week we decided to get a bottle of reposado tequila. It has a distinct barrel aged flavor sets it apart from its more popular silver counterpart.

The first cocktail that I chose to create with our new acquisition was inspired by a recent trip to a local Italian restaurant. Robbie's cocktail contained muddled sage--which is easily his favorite herb. Herbal cocktails are some of our favorites, but most are flavored with mint or basil. Neither of us are frequent tequila drinkers but the combination of sage and tequila was perfect! Our success with his cocktail has me excited for our future tequila based cocktails!
Mexican Sage Fizz

1 lemon wheel
5 sage leaves
1.5 oz lemon sour
1.5 oz reposado tequila (we used Milagro)
Soda water

Muddle the lemon and sage in the lemon sour. Be rough; the sage should be thoroughly muddled to release its flavor. Add ice and tequila, and shake. Strain over fresh ice into a tumbler and top with soda water.
Sweet potato-mushroom tacos from The Kinfolk Table went perfectly with this drink, but any earthy novelty taco will do. :)

XO
Pat

Spring Things // Warby Parker : At Home Try On

On Robbie: Kimball in Whiskey Tortoise & Downing In Walnut Tortoise
On Pat: Beckett in Striped Chestnut & Rowan in Whiskey Tortoise

Pat and I have been looking at bathing suits for at least two weeks. I can't stop thinking about fresh herbs and flowers. Spring Fever is definitely in full effect.

Last Friday, we decided to make a preliminary excursion to a fancy shopping center to get a few new outfits and other things to prepare for the warmer seasons. We found a few shirts, and a bunch of small houseware things, but it's still been difficult to find exactly what we want.

We did, however, order a try-on box from Warby Parker. I love my Begley frames and wear them every single day, but I really wanted another option. It's been a little while since Pat has gotten new glasses and he was looking for something a little more interesting.

We each ended up liking both of our picks, and we can't wait to share our final decisions with you all :)

XO
Robbie

RECIPE: Kimchi and Tofu Tacos.

When Robbie and I first started dating, my favorite thing to do was cook for him. Because of his preference for vegetarian and internationally inspired dishes, it was an opportunity for me to cook out of my comfort zone. After a few months of dating, however, I discovered that I love cooking with him so much more. He's great to bounce ideas off of and has an amazing ability to improvise.

This week we decided that we wanted something light and spicy. My first thought was tacos, but the last thing I wanted was ground beef and prepackaged spice mixes. I thought that tofu seemed like an odd choice of protein for tacos until Robbie reminded me that we used it to make nachos (with great success). We then decided we wanted to make the tacos Korean, as it gave us the opportunity to use kimchi, which neither of us had previously used.

 
Ingredients:
1 block of extra firm tofu, drained and crumbled.
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger
2 tsp sesame seeds

4 small flour tortillas

Toppings:
lime juice
kimchi
pomegranate seeds

Warm up the the canola and sesame oil in a large saute pan. Once hot add red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger and sesame seeds. Allow these ingredients to heat up until fragrant, and then add the tofu. The tofu should cook for 8-10 minutes, or until it starts to brown.

Warm up the tortillas in a pan for a minute and then assemble your tacos! Serve with a side dish of your choice. Robbie and I stir fried rice noodles with the same ingredients used to fry the tofu.

This dish was great with a She & Him album playing in the background and stories about the better points of our day.




Enjoy!

XO
Pat

The Pine Stays Green in the Winter.

On Robbie: Button Down-J. Crew Factory, Sweater-H&M, Weejuns-Bass
On Pat: Button Down + Sweater-J. Crew Factory, Jeans + Boots-J. Crew

This morning, we woke up late, made coffee and got a long bubble bath. Once we decided to be productive human beings, we took down the majority of our christmas decorations (including the tree). It was my first year in a very long time having a real tree, and I felt really sentimental about it. Something about taking care of it everyday created a bond that made it really difficult to toss it over the balcony and then drag it to the dumpster. I could have cried really. I'll never forget our first tree; picking the runt at the lot, making all of our ornaments by hand, and snuggling under the big lights watching White Christmas with Pat will stay with me for the rest of my life. Our first Christmas together was so simple and magical that even without the tree, I'll be able to carry a little piece of it with me every day.

After cleaning up the needles and moving all of the furniture back to it's original positions, Pat suggested that we head to Smithville to walk around and take pictures. I always look forward to going, we're so lucky to have such a magical little village nearby. And so we took pictures, held hands, giggled and drank coffee before heading home.

On the way, we stopped to buy pens and soup, and made friends with an old that went to Dublin once. He had the best jokes.

I couldn't have asked for a better day.

XO
Robbie

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