New design

Thanks to Meredith for my new background picture!

Unfortunately, I'm terrible at html/web design/whatever, so my blog is not looking exactly how I would like, still, especially on my phone. It's a disaster!

So if you or anyone you know is good at that sort of thing, this gal needs some help...fast.

I cooked, finally!

Today was one of firsts: the first meal (beside frozen pizza) I've cooked in my new place, and the first fall activity I've participated this season!

Meredith took pictures of our outing to the Fall Folk Arts festival in Kingsport, which will be posted soon. I got to stir apple butter, eat some kettle corn without paying the $3 for it (I am a sampling queen, apparently) and I got to pet an alpaca! I now want to take one home. I will probably make the alpaca picture my new facebook picture once she gets them up, but I really do like my cooking whilst drinking picture I have up now.

Anywho, after a short break for a much needed nap (we had gone to Target afterward and wore ourselves out over Halloween decor), I followed this recipe for turkey pumpkin chili for dinner.

I added corn (I add corn to anything I possibly can), cinnamon & nutmeg (to give more of an autumnal feel) and substituted chicken broth for the water, roasted red pepper for the green pepper and green chiles for jalapenos when I made it, and I think it turned out quite well.

Cupcake's Sauvignon Blanc (courtesy of my birthday wine extravaganza) is probably my new favorite white wine. Meredith & I had no trouble polishing it off.

The chili simmering. I realize now that chili will never translate well to picture. It was good, I swear.

The very happy hostess.

My favorite room

If you're reading this blog, there's a fairly good chance you're aware of my love of cooking. So, naturally, my favorite room to spend time in and decorate is the kitchen/dining area.

And it is the only room in my new place that is even close to being finished. I like to think my recent hospital stay & recovery time is why not much is getting done, but it's only partly to blame.  Luckily, my parents came by today and my mother went to town on my kitchen to get it ready for The Mitchells to come over tomorrow night for my first meal cooked in my new place!

My lovely kitchen. This picture does not give its size justice. It is absolutely HUGE. My mother comments every time she comes over about how large it is. I have so much counter space and room to spread out, unlike my old place.  The kitchen there was very cramped, but I did love it at the time.

I have a window! I finally have a place for these vases. (From UO)

Fancy pants closeup of the flowers. Autumnal colors, naturally. My whole kitchen is in the same scheme.

My boyfriend's mother got me a rosemary plant after mine met its demise in the moving process.

The rest of my flowers arranged in a bowl as a centerpiece.  You can see my pumpkin placemats in the background. My kitchen is an eat-in kitchen, and had more than adequate space for my dining room table. 

I just had to show these off. I already have a set of dry measuring cups (in my matryoshka theme, no less), but I absolutely could not pass getting these up. (From UO)

I love this scent. It's great for my kitchen-- not too overwhelming.

Since I hate having things like my beloved Crock Pot and the microwave take up too much counter space, we purchased these shelves from Target.  They're so easy to put together and I can keep my serving dishes, vases, decanter, etc. on there and it doesn't look too cluttered or out of place!

Those are some of the highlights of my favorite room.  I actually put a little wooden sign up that I had purchased in Asheville not too long ago up above the stove, but I forgot to take a picture.  That will come later.

There is a nook that I'm not quite sure what to do with yet.  I have Cecilia's food and water dishes there, as well as the cookbook bookcase (yes, bookcase) over there, but it seems incomplete.

Update

I haven't had much time or much to post about since my actual day of birth (or last post).  But I would like to update you all on some great gifts I received:

The Mitchells (Chris and Meredith) bought me this print from The Black Apple shop on Etsy.  This was in my favorited list, and suits me so well! They even put it in a really cute frame, so it's ready to be hung. They are wonderful friends, and you will read more about them once the fall festivities begin in a few weeks!

I ordered this for myself with some birthday money, to go in my "nerd" corner with my Tardis embroidery and whatever else I see fit.  I actually contacted the girl who made the embroidery to see about making another Doctor Who one for me...let's hope she can!

My good friend Ethan hand-crafted a Tardis for me for my birthday, as well! He's very handy, and he made it out of wood, and put a light inside of it. It is awesome.

I also received a matryoshka doll (another obsession of mine-- I have countless little things with them on it around the house & on some clothing) from my friend Allison, with cats on them! My friends really know how to combine my obsessions for some great birthday gifts.

One day I will take a picture of my candle collection, so I can prove how obsessed I really am.  I spent a lot more of my birthday money than I care to admit on some candles and home fragrance. I can't help it, it's a disease.

First big meal in my new kitchen

I have begun to look at recipes that I want to make for my first big meal here.  I've gone through so many different scenarios of themes, courses, etc. that I could possibly make for about 6 people. Here is a list of things that have interested me:

Lettuce wraps.  Fairly healthy, would probably serve them as an appetizer or for a "salad" course.

Greek lemon chicken soup.  A restaurant in Knoxville has this, and it is one of the most delicious soups I've ever had (and that is coming from a major soup lover). Very light, but very tasty.

This is a recipe from Ina Garten, and is one I've made a few times before.  It's called Company Pot Roast, and is served with a red wine sauce.  I made it for Mother's Day this year and my mom called it the best Mother's Day gift she had ever received.  I don't know if it was because it was delicious or because she didn't have to do a thing, but I love this recipe.

Another option for a main course is yet another recipe from Ina Garten (I do love her): Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic.  Yes, that does sound very intimidating and very garlic-y, but she assures that it is not as bold of a flavor as the name suggests. I would serve this with mashed potatoes, most likely. The sauce that is made with this recipe sounds perfect for them.

I have made myself sufficiently hungry, so I will stop with that.  I love to try new recipes, so I will be excited to show you how they turn out once I make them.

Cecilia

I am finally done moving out of my old place.  It may have been one of the more stressful times in my life, and I shed a lot of tears (like I said earlier, it doesn't take much, but still...), but I am relieved and excited to finally unpack and get settled here.

Since I have more of a yard now, with no traffic racing by my front door, I let Cecilia out for a bit and sat with her while she sniffed and slinked around.  I made sure to put her collar on and had a bag of treats with me in case she got a little too comfortable outside and bolted.  She didn't, but she did try to go around the side of the building, which was a little too adventurous for me.

If you don't know Cecilia's back story, last summer she appeared at my (now) boyfriend's patio at his old place.  She was thin, malnourished and appeared to be pregnant.  She was a tiny thing, we estimated that she was about 6 months old.  Once she had the kittens (we assume they did not make it, there was no sign of them anywhere and she never left the patio afterward), we took her to the vet to get her cleared to come home with me and the rest, as they say, is history.

This is the first picture that we have of her.  She was so little!

So, naturally, she is still a little more curious than a typical cat about going outside. At my last place, I lived on a very busy road that people drove much too fast on.  I was surprised at first that she never really tried to go out, but I suppose the noise of the cars was too scary for her and the lack of greenery didn't interest her.  She now has tried to get out many times at my new place, and succeeded at one point, but I am a very nervous cat mother.  Maybe I will extend our outings in the future, but for now, I'm much too worried about her getting away from me.

This is Cecilia now.  Bigger, happier, healthier.  And such a lady.