soups.

This weekend I found myself in the oddest of places, the kitchen.  Ha!  My husband is the regular chef in this family, but I really am determined to learn how to make at least a few good dishes.  So this past Saturday I found myself busting out our food processor and preparing two yummy soups.  Both were equally delicious and my husband and I both had our favorites.  I leaned towards the chilled cucumber avocado soup (recipe here), while G really loved the creamy cauliflower soup (recipe here).  All in all I can definitely tell you that these recipes are super easy for someone who rarely spends time in the kitchen.  The instuctions were simple to follow and the end results were definite crowd pleasers in this home.

bake off.

I used to spend a lot of time in the kitchen baking and lately I've been missing it.  My speciality was baking up a mean cupcake, but I want to explore a bit more with making cakes.  Of course the flavor has to be great, but for me it's all about decorating the cake too.  I love using fruit and flowers to finish off a pretty little dessert.

{stacked}, {minis}, {ombre}, {figs}, {cream}, {white}

juice please.

Ever since finishing the blueprint cleanse, I've been obsessed with juices.  Lucky for me, they sell most of the juices from my 3-day cleanse at Whole Foods.  Lately I've been thinking about investing in a juicer for our home cause I seriously can't get enough of the stuff.  I think the first recipe I'd try out is this beet juice.  It's so funny, while on the cleanse, many of my friends who had also done it told me their least favorite was the beet juice, but I kind of loved it.  Well, I think I might be ready to take the plunge into juicing at home.

{juice, photo by caitlin flemming}

heath.

I'd say it's about time I jump on the heath ceramics bandwagon, right?  My friends are always raving about their pieces and I love that they are locally made (Sausalito).  During a recent dinner at Rich Table, we noticed that the food was served on heath.  I mean, I could go on and on about the food alone at that restaurant, but I think the fact that it was served on beautiful ceramic plates just upped it's cool factor by 100%.  Now I'm off to save up my pennies so I can add one of these beauties to our home.

{heath}

more dinner parties.

On Christmas Day, G and I hosted his parents and my dad for dinner.  It was so much fun and afterwards I thought, why don't we do this more often?  Yes, we had to clear out half of our furniture and literally put it on top of our bed in our bedroom, but it was all worth it.  I loved having a long table in the center of our living room to gather around and share a delicious meal.  It's definitely something we will be doing more of this year!