chocolate – pistachio biscotti … or because it's fall

September 24, 2013

Miscellaneous

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yesterday, camden and i spent the entire day deep cleaning our home. the kind of deep cleaning we haven’t done since we first moved in, one year ago this week. it took us literally the entire day and we have clean closets, unstuffed drawers, and three large garbage bags of things to be donated to show for it. by the end of the evening we were ready to reward our hard work with a little something special, so i lit a flickering pumpkin candle that crackles as it burns and got to baking us some warm chocolate pistachio biscotti in celebration of our newly clean home and the first night of fall. oh and how the combination of that pumpkin candle and baking biscotti made the house smell … with the sounds of lightly fizzling wood and soft folk tunes playing in the background … quite romantic it was … the perfect first cozy night of autumn. pistachio biscotti -3

chocolate-pistachio biscotti by martha stewart 

you will need:
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 cups of all purpose flour + extra for baking sheet
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup of shelled pistachio nuts
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
pistachio ice cream for serving (we used pistachio gelato by talenti)

step one: preheat oven to 350 degrees. butter and flour a baking sheet; set aside.
step two: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa power, baking powder, and salt. in the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. add egg; beat until well combined scraping down the sides if needed. add flour mixture and mix to form a thick dough. stir in pistachios and chocolate chips. mix until combined.
step three: transfer dough to prepared baking sheet; form into a slightly flattened log, about 12 by 4 inches. bake until slightly firm, about 25 minutes. cool about 5 minutes (i would let it cool for about 10 minutes) reduce oven to 300 degrees.
step four: on a cutting board, using a sharp serrated knife, cut biscotti diagonally into 1-inch-thick slices. arrange biscotti, cut side down, on a baking sheet, and bake until crisp but still slightly soft in the center, about 8 minutes. serve with pistachio ice cream and enjoy! 

a favorite thing times two – one old, one new.

September 20, 2013

Miscellaneous

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one new: dunkin’ donuts. up until a few months ago camden and i had never had one. lucky for us the city’s first dunkin’ donuts shop opened up just a few blocks away. if your looking for us, we’ll be down the street chowing down some “homer” style, strawberry sprinkled goodness … yeah, we’re in … trouble.  and an old one too: fleetwood mac, never going back again. listening to this song once a day (or more) blasting loud in the car. it is the very best car song the very best song. (listen below)

pink cheeks studios

September 19, 2013

Miscellaneous

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i have restrained myself from displaying our wedding photos or any photos of us as a couple throughout our home … mostly because it just isn’t our personal style and i’m never completely sure how to show them tastefully. this isn’t to say that it can’t look quite nice in some homes, it’s just that in our’s however, we have decided to share our story upon our walls a little differently. so instead, i have chosen for camden and i (and sometimes kramer too), a kind of unique twist on this same tradition by having quirky and whimsical paintings of the charlesworth family throughout the apartment giving it, what we think, a look that’s all its own. this is why we’ve become really quite smitten with our couple’s personalized wall hanging courtesy of pink cheeks studios. it goes along with that same idea i’ve been talking about, plus … the detail is outstanding! from the birds on my arm to the mole on camden’s chin, or the pattern and texture on my hat to the texture and color of kramer’s fur … it’s all there. and as far as quirk and whimsy go … it’s obviously packed full, which makes it the perfect statement piece and new addition to our home.

*this is a sponsored post. the feelings and emotions expressed are my own.  

and a fair to remember

September 17, 2013

Miscellaneous

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last night, camden and i went to the fair with our good friend jason, which for all of us, is the ultimate end of summer beginning of fall activity. we had so much fun seeing the animals, eating all the classic fair food, and visiting all the state fair exhibits. my caramel apple was the best i have ever had and we all made a mess of ourselves chowing down on some classic funnel cake topped with powdered sugar. the temperature was perfect, the night lively, and serious good fun all around. 

photos – on – friday – the – thirteenth

September 15, 2013

Photographs

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friday the thirteenth didn’t hold true to its name of terribly bad luck. in fact, for us at least, friday the thirteenth was absolutely marvelous. it was probably the most fall-like weather we’ve seen this year and once it stopped raining, a thick wall of low clouds engulfed the mountains and i knew we had to venture up to grab some pictures. also, i wanted to see if the cooler weather we’ve been having this week had made a greater impact in the higher elevations than it had in the valleys. it had. once at the top, the low clouds were even thicker than we had expected and the air was a crisp fifty-five degrees. looking down the mountain side was like looking into a deep murky sea with just the tops of the gorgeous pines sticking above the surface. surprisingly, this got camden extremely excited and about weather, cool weather nevertheless … this is usually my job. and because we were both as giddy as little children on christmas morning, we decided to venture down further into the depth of the cloudy fog, and see just how far down the other way it went.
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driving further and further down, the clouds, at one point, became so thick we couldn’t see five feet in front of us. the air got cooler and cooler, until suddenly just as quickly as we had driven in, we were out. on the other side, early signs of autumn were apparent everywhere. the grass had turned that orangey-green color, in-which wild grass turns before it dies completely. a few of the trees leaves had turned that salmon, almost pink color and outside the air was now a chilly forty-six. as sunset was upon us, we quickly got out to soak up the fall breeze and take a few photos so we could get back to the main road before it became completely dark.

how was your friday the thirteenth??