some (non-baby) favs

Is this blog turning into a baby blog?

I promised myself I wouldn't become one of those mothers - you know, the type that is only capable of talking about her children and how wonderful they are, 
but alas, here I am with a month of nothing but baby posts.  

To get myself out of my baby blogging rut, I thought I'd share some non-baby things I am loving right now:

For eating:

These magical globes taste exactly like their namesake.

I finished my first bag on the way home from the grocery.

Go find yourselves these jewels ASAP.

For wearing:

J.Crew sleeveless drapey top
- unbelievably comfortable and extra forgiving

For drinking:

Basically a Pina Colada 

(with all sorts of good stuff).  

Amazing.

For reading:

If you haven't spoiled it by 

seeing the movie already, 

do yourself a favor and read this first.

So. good.

For watching:

I am totally fascinated.

Makes for excellent no-brain-required fare
when you need a little something to keep you awake at 3am.

(And to remind yourself that it could be a heck of a lot worse...)

I'll admit - that last one pushes the non-baby envelope a bit.  Apologies.

My mom and bro are here this week to hang out.  We've got big plans for some long walks in Golden Gate park, a trip down to Stanford, and a Packers season kick-off party on Thursday.  Stay tuned!

xoxo
KK

happy valentine's day!

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?  

We're not huge V-day people around here (there's something not-so-wonderful about a jam-packed yet under-staffed prix-fixe-only restaurant with tables topped with red roses - or worse: pink carnations).  Still there's something really lovely about the day - an excuse to celebrate (and spoil) the ones you love.  So I obviously couldn't go without doing a little something for Stefan, especially for our first one as husband and wife.

The other day, a friend was telling me about the 5 love languages - have you heard of it?  It's an interesting way to figure out which language of love you (or your mate) "speaks" so you can each do a better job making each other feel loved.  Stefan and I are both high on the Words of Affirmation scale (meaning we both like to be told nice things), but we also rank very high on Acts of Service and Quality Time (meaning we like to DO things together).  

With that in mind, I prepped a little bag of treats:

    -A certificate for a Thai Couples Massage workshop next weekend

    -A voucher for a KK-home-cooked Boeuf Bourguignon (one of our favs!) with a bottle of Bordeaux

 
    -A box of Whole Foods dried mangos - Stefan's absolute favorite 

Early this morning when I snuck out to the gym (and Stefan was still in bed), I left the bag of goodies where I knew he'd find it:

Still need some ideas for something to do for that special someone?

Make them a steamy cup of hot chocolate, 

with a pair of floating marshmallow hearts

from martha

 

make some heart shaped soft pretzels

with pink salt

from two blue lemons  

 

paint some empty matchboxes with chalkboard paint 

and fill with red hots

here

 

make a food passport for all the places you want to try

more details here

 

download these free printables to dress up an otherwise dull chocolate bar

Or my fav idea of the bunch:

(that I stole from a fabulous friend who is surprising her man TONIGHT)

cook him a three-course meal

with an appetizer from the city where you met

the entree from where they went on their honeymoon

and the dessert from where the live now

pic from here

Any big plans for tonight?  

Stefan and I are hopping on a red-eye to Gasparilla Island to spend the weekend with my fam.  We couldn't be more pumped to see them and spend some time soaking up the Florida sun.  Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

KK

around here lately

Apologies for the quietness this past week - things have been busy around these parts.  

 

Baking some serious Swiss cookies

(but more on that tomorrow)

Getting all dressed up for the office holiday party

 

Opening a little early Christmas present from Switzerland

THE BEST CHOCOLATE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD

This one little box (with just 24 divine pieces) 

comes at the bargain price of 80 swiss francs 

Worth. every. penny. 

Doing some holiday shopping of our own:

My fav gift guides of the season if you're still on the hunt:

Head Over Heels with Melanie Gift Guide

(responsible for the gorgeous graphic above) 

A Cup of Jo 2012 Gift Guide 

A Piece of Toast Gift Guide

Cupcakes and Cashmere Gift Guide - For Men,  Under $100, and Under $25

And finally:

 Doing some serious research for our Argentinean honeymoon!

While we've had the belated trip (our wedding was back in August) planned for months, we only recently decided where and when exactly to go.  And it was only about a week ago that we started really booking it.  AND we leave on Friday.  So as you might imagine, we've been just a tad bit busy making arrangements.  But let me tell you - it is going to be good.  But more on that soon.

xoxo

KK

 

wacky wednesday

My absolute favorite book growing up was Dr. Seuss' Wacky Wednesday.  Have you read it?  You need to.

The premise is simple: a baffled youngster awakens to find that everything is not quite right, but no one else seems to notice.  It's a wonderful read at all ages, but especially when you're little and find great satisfaction in spotting each of the wacky things that fill Seuss' colorful pages.

But lately, it seems as though I'm living in my own Wacky Wednesday -spotting all sorts of things that seem "not quite right" in my real life.

For example, watching the morning news this morning, I stumbled upon Jos A. Bank's latest promotion:

Buy One Sport Coat, and get:

• 2 pairs of pants;
• 2 sweaters;
• 2 sportshirts +
• Android Smartphone (w/2 year contract).

At first, I was thinking: they can't be serious, this has got to be an ad for SNL's latest skit.  But as the promo ended and moved on without a nod to the joke, I thought it might actually be for real.  I quickly looked it up online, confirming its ridiculous existence.  Apparently next week, if you buy a pair of socks, you get the rest of the store for free.   

Then as I was driving into work and listening to the radio, I heard Roku's latest ad campaign:

click here to listen!

The entire ad focuses on how Roku's TV lovers just sit around and do nothing (other than watch TV, that is).  They're not the people who discover new medical procedures or develop new innovative technologies - no, no: Roku's TV lovers are - well - lazy.  As the ad says,
"Let's face it TV lovers - you weren't the leading candidate to patch the ozone anyway!"
Meaning you should just throw in the towel and watch Roku all. day. long.

I'm sorry, but does this ad make anyone else never want to watch TV again?

And then finally, as I sipped my morning coffee and perused my favorite daily deal site aggregator (www.yipit.com), I stumbled upon the following deal:

All the way over there to the left - see it?  

Saline breast implants!  40% off!  

Oh goodie!  I would LOVE to get breast implants at a place that needs to offer a 40% off coupon on a daily deal site! 

And it's only 9am.

Anything wacky in your life these days?

xoxo

KK

favs for thanksgiving

Can you believe it's Thanksgiving already?  This fall really flew by, but I'm not complaining - I LOVE this type of weather, this time of year, this holiday.  Especially when I get to head home to Milwaukee for five days of jam-packed family fun.  (And my jam-packed, I mean literally: my mom sent all us kids a word document chronicling our schedule so we can all be prepared for what they have in store: a whole lot.)

Stefan and I are hopping on the red-eye tonight to head home, and knowing the plans for the next five days, I can tell you right now you won't be hearing from me.  So today I'm bringing you my favs for Thanksgiving to get you in the holiday spirit:

 

For table-setting:

 

kids' table with hand-drawn placemats on kraft paper

(with extra crayons for drawing of course)

from here

 

click here for more ideas on how to do kids' tables

 

a luscious mix of wintery greens in rustic wooden boxes

is the perfect way to adorn the grown-ups' table

from here

 

 

For drinking:

 

pumpkin pie white hot chocolate

from here

 

 

For eating:

 

quinoa, sweet potato & dried cranberry stuffing

from here

 

 

For dessert-ing:

 

there's just something so sweet about things in mini

from here

 

And just for fun:

 

READ THIS

I am most certainly a Williams-Sonoma LOVER,

but I couldn't help but laugh when reading

What are you up to for Thanksgiving?

xoxo
KK

persimmon season

So I'll just come right out and say it: I am a persimmon junkie. 

I cannot get enough of the intoxicating things.  Only problem is - my drug of choice isn't exactly readily available.  I can only get these golden jewels come this time of year. 

But oh come they do:

This past Saturday marked my first trip to the Farmer's Market during official persimmon season.  Sure, I had snagged a $3 imported persimmon from the supermarket here or there, but I hadn't been able to get my full fix until this past weekend.

When I settled down from the frantic frenzy of seeing my love for the first time in too many months, I was able to carefully catalog the market's pickings.  Interestingly, there were a few new varieties I hadn't yet come to know.

There were the classic, super sweet Fuyus, of course:

These crunchy beauties can be munched on while they're still hard, just like an apple.  They're also great chopped up and tossed in a simple salad.  The more golden (and less green), the sweeter.  At $3 a pound, I couldn't resist getting 10 bucks worth.  I mean - come on - I've been waiting 10 months!

In addition to my traditional Fuyus, however, there were crates upon crates of GIANT Fuyus - a much larger, heartier variety of my original love:

These monsters taste just like their smaller cousins but have more sweet-savory flesh to go around.  I obviously needed a bag full of those as well.

Then there were copious amounts of the Hachiya - an astringent variety that only turns edible (that's right - eat them too early and your life is in jeopardy) when they're disgustingly soft (like fall apart in your hands soft). 

Ready to go Hachiyas

These guys are tough to eat when ripe (literally all over the place) but are absolute perfection in a pudding or bread or muffin.  I also love to wait until they're ripened and ready, but then stick them in the freezer - the frozen version makes for a perfect and easy-to-eat after-dinner treat.  Obviously needed to stock up on a bag full of those.

But in addition to the Hachiyas, I spotted a totally new variety called the "Chocolate" persimmon.  These little jewels are named for their chocolate-colored interior stripes which pepper the normally orange flesh with a creamy brown set of spots.  Like their Hachiya sisters, they need to ripen to a certain softness before being ready to eat, but thankfully not to the same level of flabbiness that a Hachiya requires.

Because none were being sampled (as is usual for all product on display at the market - hence my love), I was tentative to add these to my already overflowing set of persimmon-filled bags.  But alas - I couldn't help myself.  I quickly struck up a conversation with the equally-persimmon-loving farmer who agreed to slice me off a few samples before my purchase.  They obviously were delicious (I mean - come on!  they're persimmons!)  so I bought a full bag of those as well.

When all was said and done, I was one happy gal.

Now THAT'S my kind of fruit basket.

xoxo
KK

favs for halloween

Are you a Halloween person?  I used to be in a big, big way, but living in non-trick-or-treater territory for the past eight years (college dorms then urban apartments) has taken some of the punch out of the day.  So this Friday, I'm bringing you my favorites to get back in the Halloween spirit - with or without those little munchkins knocking at your door...

For drinking:

 

bloody martinis

from bhg

 

Bone Chillin' Brew

freeze water in hospital gloves to make bone-like ice

from nestle

 

 

For snacking:

Tombstone Taco Dip

from bhg

 

spooky graveyard pie

from here

 

 

For decorating:

 

Carrot-nose jack-o'-lanterns

from martha

 

 

And best of all,

for wearing:

 

my sister Gretchen dressed as a

Mail-Order Bride!

How clever!!

 

Are you dressing up for Halloween?

 

xoxo

KK

 

 

 

fall favs

I know it's totally cliche, but I've got cider, pumpkins, and sweaters on the brain.  I'm totally itching to throw a little autumn-inspired soiree.  Whether we will or not is yet to be determined, but regardless I'm sharing my ideas for an easy-to-put-together, yet completely seasonally-inspired party:

for decorating:

chevron pumpkins

from my sweet savannah

pre-dinner cocktails:

a pumpkin ice bucket

from martha of course

cider in apples

from somewhere splendid

dip in a pumpkin

from bailey

for dinner:

place cards made from dried leaves

from once wed

butternut squash and crispy sage pizza

from alexandra cooks

with a side of Brussels Sprouts 

with cranberries, barley and Gorgonzola

from cookie and kate

and for dessert:

deep dish pumpkin meringue pie

from martha

 

What do you do to celebrate fall?

 

xoxo

KK