delightful things

okay, enough with cars and plane rides. let's get on to lovelier things, shall we?

let's talk food for a sec. as you know, i've been fighting candida for some months now, and am still going at it. much of my brain power, grocery budget, and kitchen time has been spent acclimating to the new paradigm. what i've learned so far is that it takes a significant amount of time and preparedness. like, don't leave home without a dessert in your purse cause you never know when you're gonna be out with someone who orders chocolate cake. :) but i've also discovered a few other things that have been true saving graces:

brown rice - part of a candida diet is ridding one's cupboards and menus of gluten. so, that pretty much narrows things down right off the bat. i was off of carbs ENTIRELY for so long that my body was starting to use itself for its nutrients (called ketosis, which isn't ideal to say the least), so my nutritionist kindly said it was time for some carby additions. and let me tell you, i felt like i was given the world. brown rice opens up so many culinary doors that have been closed heretofor: tortillas, crackers, bread, pasta, and pastry. also now on the OK list is millet and quinoa.

ah! speaking of pastry, another beautiful thing i've found is a good pie crust. this i just discovered, and it has made all the difference. butter, millet flour, sorghum flour, egg, salt, xanthum gum, apple cider vinegar, and water. this is the skeleton to a brilliant gluten free recipe. as any cook knows, pastry is the sine qua non of not only a number of french and comfort foods, but an entire subdivision of the dessert world! pot pie, here we come!

a final foody thought: what an awesome God we serve. i know, that perhaps doesn't immediately connect in your brain, but it's being hammered into mine. along this journey thus far, there have been moments of despair, panic, frustration. what can i eat? what do i make for dinner? will my husband still love me even though there hasn't been a chocolate chip cookie in the house for well nigh five months? (by the way, if any of you ever become a CEO of a chocolate factory, tell them to make a chocolate chip sweetened with xylitol, and without gluten or soy fillers. thanks). but, as i've been immersed in this sans-gluten world, i have discovered two things: one, God has created an amazing "alternative" category of grains for his creatures whom he has ordained to walk this road. and second, i'm still alive and happy, and my husband still loves me. :) seriously though, the gluten-free and alternative grains aisle of my grocery store is loaded with shelves just for me. it's almost as if God knew there'd be folks who couldn't eat wheat. ;) and so, He's made sorghum and millet and brown rice and tapioca and the list continues. and that's just in the grain category. i won't even bring up sugars and dairy and veggies and fruits!

so, the point is that God is our heavenly Father and takes care of us. His providentiary details astound me. i am so thankful.

chocolate pie. my first pastry and my first meringue. i've made improvements to both since then.

pesto quiche with asparagus and goat cheese

the new pastry crust. you have to roll it out between two sheets of parchment or film, as it helps to transfer it to the dish.

okay, i know we're weird, but we LOVE brussel sprouts! but not the steamed kind. we saute them with butter, fresh garlic and pine nuts. :) i mean, if garlic can make snails edible, it can certainly do wonders for this petit chou. this is lemon chicken, on a bed of millet (cooked up exactly like rice, in some chicken stock and butter).

i just got this little number, and it had me from hello. $14 at Longs, and i will never be without it. saves the hand and saves the mess and extracts a lot more juice than one could retrieve manually. on the lemon chicken recipe above, the sauce was way too lemony 'cause i got a little carried away with my juicer. :)

okay, i've got the food thing out of my system. on to other lovely things. so, this little fabric and yarn shop was going out of business, and i happened upon it the day they were closing. when i learned that all fabric was 75% off, well, i just hopped right to it and got myself 14 yards! sounds like a logical amount, right? i had been eyeing several cute ones all year, and here was my chance. it all came to $45, perfectly in our budget! and now i have two yards of each and plenty of inspiration. i'm thinking aprons, napkins, pillows, placemats, baby stuff, any amy butler pattern...

these are my favs

this is my mom's book, but i stole it for a bit. :) it is SO good, full of adorable and useful projects. sewing project have got to be practical, or else i won't bother with them.

in other domestic news, we have camelias growing outside our window, we have again committed ourselves to the new seasons of LOST and Idol, and we rearranged our furniture. we moved our white couch to the vault, which is fast becoming a fat library (thanks to almost the entire brian jacques' redwall series), and now has also transformed into quite a cozy tv room. the inuaguration was the super bowl. we had our mil and fil over and all four of us squished on the couch, watched football and hilarious commercials, and ate burritos. joe desperately wants to put a whole sound system in there, but considering the room is about the size of a porta-potty, he's thinking would be a bit superfluous.

lastly, and least importantly, i found this adorable little table ironing board at ikea for $5! it even came covered in that cute fabric. i'm totally stoked, 'cause in a small house setting up the regular ironing board is like sacrificing an entire room to a lanky horse. and who wants to deal with horses when all one wants to do is sew up a pillow case?