just go

I'm sure I've mentioned before that my fiance Darrell gets up at 5:40 am.  Every.  Single.  Morning.  

Lately, the man has even been working on Saturdays.  I work at home, and technically don't HAVE to get out of bed until about 8, which feels very luxurious in comparison.  But I always felt guilty, and for the past month have been trying (and completely failing) to get up and go running in the morning.  I like to run, but I hate doing it so early.  Running is for my lunch break, or on the weekends in the afternoon, it's a little intense at 6 am.  This morning, I decided to go to a 6:30 yoga class instead, and it was the perfect compromise.  I love yoga, and go semi regularly (by which I mean at least once a week) , and the hourlong class was the perfect thing to wake me up and jumpstart my October with a clear mind.  Surely something I need, since I am getting married in NINETEEN DAYS.  Also, because a psychic at the fair yesterday told me I was "confused" about decisions I would be making in the next three weeks, and needed to remove some blocks.  (Don't worry Darrell, I'm not confused about saying "I Do.")  No, I'm going to assume she meant "energy blocks" and start upping my asanas.  

To keep me going, here are some reminders that I should go to yoga more, and I don't really have any excuse for skipping class...

apple & sage hand pies

The other night I made these complete delicious and savory little hand pies for dinner.  It was a really simple recipe, with a list of basic ingredients that I really loved.  Darrell took a few leftovers for his lunch and said they were equally yummy served cold.  I found the recipe here, made a few edits, and was glad to find that it was very easily made vegan, although feel free to make it in its original vegetarian version!  

flaky pastry crust (adapted from mark bittman):

1 stick cold butter (use earth balance for vegan version)
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus a few tablespoons for rolling the dough (i swapped in 1/2 c. whole wheat)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or so)
1 teaspoon sugar (or so)
3 or more cold tablespoons of water
1/2 cup or so grated extra sharp cheddar cheese (daiya cheddar shreds were my substitute)
a small handful or so of fresh sage, chopped

for the filling:

3 smallish apples, preferably red - the granny smith can get too tart
a few tablespoons flour
a few tablesoons sugar
juice of one lemon
one small bunch sage, chopped
five slices yellow onion, quartered
one slice extra sharp cheddar cheese per pie (i sliced pieces off a daiya cheddar block)


for the crust:
mix together dry ingredients then use a pastry blender, fork, or hulking food processor to mix butter and cheese into flour until the mixture looks like crumbs. form dough with hands by adding cold water to your crumbs, one tablespoon at a time. when formed into a ball, wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for ten minutes while you prepare the filling. when you're ready, dump PLENTY of flour onto your surface and rolling pin and flatten away. You'll have to keep reshaping it out to cut small pie crust half-moons.

slice the apples nice and thin.  after slicing, douse apples with the juice of 1/2 a lemon. mix a few tablespoons sugar and flour into slices. add chopped fresh sage and a few slices of onion, quartered. spoon mixture onto your dough rounds (not too much!) and top with a slice of cheddar cheese. fold dough round in half over the filling and pinch shut (using a fork to tamp down the edges works well). place hand pies on a parchment covered cookie sheet and bake at 450 F for about 20 minutes, or until nicely browned.

new wife life #1

I've decided to start a new serious of posts about homemaking/things to spruce up your living space.  I'm no expert on the subject of domesticity, but over the past two years of living in teeny tiny apartments that often need a little fixing, I've learned a thing or two about how to make the most of what you've got.  First up, these little muslin tea bags: 

Darrell loves tea, he grew up in a household where there were always at least two pitchers of the iced, sweet variety, so I've always felt a little guilty about how we were an all coffee household.  Guilt x 2 once someone bought us a beautiful Cuisinart tea kettle for a wedding shower gift, and I decided it was time to make the switch.  I got fancy and went to Teavana (waste of money, realized Whole Foods sells the same tea for 1/3 of the price) and then ordered these pretty muslin teabags in the interest of being eco-friendly.  I can't tell you why, but something about having nice things to use in my little ritual of making a cup in the morning just makes me more likely to do it.  

I got these pretty ones here.  

war of words

viking symbol meaning "where there is a will, there is a way"

love anything by e.e. cummings

very cool ampersand

"in the midst of winter, i found there was within me an invincible summer"

"je non regrette rien," or "i regret nothing"

anyone with a tattoo will tell you one thing...they are a bit addictive.  i am loving all these tiny blank inked details

sometimes you just need to write them down

thanks to deer circus for showing me more ways to show love