We Fancy: Goop & Gwyneth

We definitely fancy GOOP!

If you haven't checked out Gwyneth Paltrow's website GOOP, you are missing out. She shares recipes, personal travel notes, advice, and so much more. You can sign up for a weekly newsletter or just check the website for new posts.

Although there are some neat recommendations for hotels, restaurants, and clothing - we like the recipes best. Most all of them are healthy and the ones we've tried are delicious!

Be sure to check out the following:
Do it Delicious
The Halibut over spinach is silly easy, healthy, and tasty.

Lunch Box
Wild on Chicken & Sorry Charlie are SO good.

Vietnamese Salad
This one requires a lot of ingredients and takes some time to prepare but it's super healthy and really good. It's my favorite salad.

We also did both of her recommended Detox programs. The first one is only 7 days and it wasn't easy but we learned a lot about ingredients and fell in love with the smoothie recipes. We actually have them for breakfast all the time. The second one is called CLEAN, it's a 21 day detox and it was amazing, highly recommend it!!! It's strict but both my husband and I lost weight and I haven't felt that good in a long time. If you think you're up for the challenge and want specifics on how we survived our 21 days - shoot me an email growingmaplewood@gmail.com.

By the way, is Gwyneth popping up everywhere these days? Goop, GLEE, Country Strong, Music Awards, New Cookbook? And yes, I definitely bought her new cookbook. Is it weird that I want to be her? Ha! Anyways, we are cooking our way through it (Julie & Julia style) and we'll be posting our absolute favorites, stay tuned.

Look what Rick built!

Who's kidding who, Rick can't build things. These are our new Gronomics planters (read more here) which all we had to do was take out of the box and slide the wood together. No nails, no hammers, no saws, no tools at all! I think this might be the easiest project we've done so far.

Since we haven't been paying attention to the sun patterns in the back yard, we're not sure where we're going to put them yet (for now they are behind the screened in porch). They are great quality and I'm hoping with a little Cleveland exposure they'll take on a weathered look. The plan is to start our Organic garden in May which should be interesting since we have no idea what we're doing.

Diaper Cake

I was wrapping a present last night for our friends who recently had a baby and it reminded me of a diaper cake I made for a baby shower last year (with the help of my Aunt Char - who showed me the best technique using round cake pans). I had SO much fun making this thing and it was super easy. What cracks me up is they actually sell diaper cakes online, some cost $50 plus! I can't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure I made mine for $15 or less. If you're hosting a shower, it's not only a great take home for the Mom-to-be but it's also great decoration. I used mine on the desert table.

This shower happened to be hosted by one of our single guy friends so I jumped in where I could to help make it baby and not bachelor. I strongly suggest if you're hosting a shower to give the diaper cake a try. I picked up the white cake plate from Marcs for $1.99 (again, thanks to my A.Char) which was a nice touch and again, the Mom-to-be can take that home.

Gronomics

No, I didn't make up that word. Gronomics is where we bought our planter boxes. One of the reasons we moved home from the city was because we really wanted a backyard with a garden. We also wanted it to be organic and since it would take years to adjust the soil in our backyard, we opted for planter boxes.

Right now they look like this:

Hopefully we'll get some good weather and Rick can get building. The plan is to fill these with our favorite vegetables. We are definitely new to gardening but we've been reading a lot and Rick's mom is a gardener so we have her as a reference when we need it.

I'll definitely post any and all lessons learned. I did read that it requires patience, which I don't have so this should be interesting. We also learned that squirrels are considered "thugs" in the gardening world. Funny, because I had already tagged them as my enemy when they had their way with my pumpkins last fall.

We Fancy: Wendy Kromer

It was a butter cream-sweet surprise today when I received the below email from Wendy Kromer who did my wedding cake.

Hi Katie,
I hope this find you, and finds you well!

Quick question...would you or your Wedding photographer have a digital image of your Wedding Cake? The NY Times requested images of cakes that I thought were interesting, for a Wedding Cake story they're doing. There is a quick turn-around time, so this is rather time-sensitive. If you can help, that would be great.

I loved your cake!
Thanks,
Wendy Kromer

I was tickled (to say the least). So of course I jumped into our Pictures folder and started digging. As I looked I was reminded of how much I truly loved my wedding cake and the entire experience. Although my Mom and I didn't see eye to eye on much during my wedding planning, one thing we both agreed on was the cake. We wanted classic, simple, beautiful, and to-die-for! And that is exactly what it was.

We cake-hopped about 3 different shops and one step into Wendy's, I just knew, this was it. She was amazing to work with and she truly gives you a custom cake. My invitation was the inspiration for my cake and she nailed it.

Keep your fingers crossed, maybe the NY Times will feature my cake!
Click on this link to check out the pictures I submitted.

http://gallery.me.com/amburgey/100005

Sorry Charlie

We love to eat fish as long as it's wild and in season but sometimes (especially during lent) we resort to the can, as in canned tuna. But not just any canned tuna, we only buy American Tuna (sold at Whole Foods), it's definitely on the pricey side but it's worth it. As stated on their website, the difference compared to the other brands is the taste and quality, the high levels of Omega III, low mercury levels, no fillers, no broth, or water added, "once cooked" in its own natural juices and much more. We love it!

It's good enough to just sprinkle with salt & pepper and eat plain but we always like to doctor things up so I'm sharing our favorite tuna salad recipe, courtesy of GOOP (one of my favorite sites).

Sorry Charlie Tuna Salad
Note: the recipe calls for fresh tuna boiled but we use canned tuna and it's delish.

• 1 lb Tuna
• 1 small Red Onion
• ¾ c. Chopped Celery
• ¼ c. Chopped Dill
• 2 c. Mayonnaise
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 Tbs. White Vinegar

Boil water with salt, ½ onion – add tuna (cut 1/2" thick slices, no skin). Cook 20 to 25 minutes until tuna is cooked through. Once cooled, tear the tuna into small pieces and mix with the remaining ingredients.

My First Estate Sale

I just got back from my first Estate Sale. I found out about the sale after a recent visit to Mitchell Sotka. I pop in Mitch's store at least once a month or as often as I can because he always has one-of-a-kind pieces. I learned (the very hard way) that if you like something, buy it on the spot because the chances it's there next week is slim to none (I'm still upset about these vintage cocktail glasses I loved and went back a few weeks later to buy and they were gone). With that said, there is a mirror that I stalk and it's been there for almost a year. Every time I walk in the store I say...."just here to visit my mirror". Mitch actually lowered the price one time by a couple hundred dollars (I think we both thought it might be enough for Rick to give the ok) - wishful thinking. Fortunately (for me) it hasn't sold yet but I know it will and when it does, it will be the "one mirror that got away".

Turns out Mitchell Sotka was hosting this particular Estate Sale so I put my name in and signed up to attend. Ironically, it was at a house just a couple doors down from our very good friend, C Monster. I had NO idea what to expect and Rick wasn't the happiest about getting dragged along but turns out we both had a really great time and we each left with our own purchases.

Our ticket totaled $24.00. The three ladies ahead of us were in the $400 - $600 range. Here are some pics from Mitchell's site pre-sale. Although there was a lot of neat stuff, it just wasn't our style so our purchases were more self-fulfilling/buy-it-cause-it's-cheap type of thing.

My first grab was this $10 blueberry wreath. I have a thing for wreaths and typically can't find one I like for under $40 so although it's not amazing, I thought it might work in July (after I add some details of course) - or who knows, maybe I wont even use it all and it will end up in the garage sale this summer.

Then we found the library (thank goodness, something to occupy Rick) - he spent the entire time here rummaging through hundreds of books. Rick loves books and for only $1.00 each, he couldnt resist a handful. I myself found a book, Book of Interior Decoration copyright date 1954. I thought it would be fun to compare the styles of today and the 50's. Again, for a $1.00, why not?

We searched the kitchen, hoping to find an old cast iron pan that had 50 years of seasoning but no such luck. The upstairs was filled with art, mostly of different animals but nothing that suited our style. Somehow I landed on a box of six small birds nests. I guess the thought of Easter being a few weeks away got the best of me because for $8, I had to have it.

Like I said, we didn't leave with much but it was a really neat experience and we're both definitely up for doing another one.