Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Merry Christmas! Santa was very good to me this year, as always, and I will be sharing his gifties on here with you this weekend. I will definitely be reorganizing the accessory section of my closet starting tomorrow to fit all of my new bracelets, earrings, necklaces, etc. stay tuned!

tasty tidbits

I love cooking shows. all of them. and now I have a new hour and television to add to my must-watch list every week. it's called Chef Academy and I'm mostly a fan because I feel like I'm learning cool new recipes when I watch it. this weekend Issac and I decided to try Grandma Louise's  Tomato Sauce. it's super rustic and simple, and most importantly...so so delicious. I copied the recipe here straight from the website:

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 lb (2.7 kg) Beef or Heirloom tomatoes

• 4 Star anise

• 1 Vanilla pod

• Sea salt & cracked black pepper to season

• White sugar

• 2 Sprig fresh thyme

• 1-2 Bay leaves

Infusion

• Fresh garlic

• 28gm bunch fresh basil

• Extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Place a heavy cast pan to heat up.

2. Wash the tomatoes and halve roughly.

3. Place into the hot pan and season with salt, pepper and a touch of sugar.

4. Add the anise and vanilla.

5. Allow the tomatoes to start to cook then press them gently with a masher to help them to release their juice.

6. Reduce the heat down to just simmering and continue for about 1-2 hours until a thickened paste. This slow evaporation of the moisture from the tomatoes will produce a deep color concentrated flavor without any bitterness.

7. Crack the garlic and add along with the basil which is just halved and throw in.

8. Combine with the warm paste and finish with a good amount of olive oil to finish the infusion. Allow to cool before storing ready for use.

**you'll notice that the recipe never tells you when to put the thyme in (which I found odd being that it's listed under the ingredients), nor does it tell you when to put the bay leaf in (also odd). I added the bay leaf as soon as it started simmering, and I added the thyme with the basil. it worked pretty well, and the sauce was amazing.

mash tomatoes and let simmer....

add basil and thyme....

slap on top of some spaghetti, or in my case fettuccine, and enjoy!

this sauce was delish!! perfect with some garlic bread and a glass of wine. of course everything goes well with a glass of wine.

I fought the couch and the couch won

plans for Sunday:

 wake up and make delicious breakfast, relax, go to the Nutcracker (to which I already had fabulous seats thanks to Mama McKinnon), come home and clean the apartment so that I could put up the diy Christmas decor that I finally finished.

actual happenings on Sunday: 

wake up and make delicious breakfast, slam foot into couch bringing said breakfast to the table causing gnarly looking fracture, leave delicious breakfast on the table to go to the doctor to receive x-rays and uber fashionable boot so that my toe does not "heel completely sideways", skip Nutcracker waiting on prescriptions, lay around all day watching Untold Stories of the ER (marathon!)

as I was complaining to my mom that the manner in which I broke my toe severely depleted my coolness factor, and that I couldn't believe I broke my first bone running into a couch, she reminded me...."no no remember that time you broke your big toe really bad? I think you were kicking a golf ball that was stuck in the ground". cool Kim.

coming soon

I have some major holiday projects in the works. stay tuned because I'll be sharing them this week. 

it's that time

that's right folks, it's time to find Kim a New Year's Eve dress! do I have some fabulous party that I'm planning to go to? no. does that matter? obviously not. being that I fully intend on having some sort of plans that call for a new dress I feel it's necessary to start early. I can't decide this year between a sequined number (because we know that I love a sequin) or something plain and black that I can jazz up with tons-o-accessories. so, without further ado I give you dress option #1. 

I'm totally loving this lace dress from Free People. It's short and and sweet which I like, but it also has a bit of a vintage feel with the lace sleeves. vintage in an Audrey Hepburn way, not vintage in a 1980's tragic prom night way.