11*30*10

It's official. I'm moving!

I had to take a few shots of my apartment the other day for creating a listing on craigslist to find a new tenant, and I decided to snap a few extra shots.

A few favorite things about my space here: the soothing color I painted the walls (finally, I get to paint my walls!), my overpriced Anthropologie bedding, and all the windows.

I did so much baking here. And dinner dates with friends and family. Lots of good food filled with lots of love. You were witness to that.

This is my favorite window. It overlooks NW 23rd. This window provided me with ample light to bake, and then photograph. My plants liked it too. I'll miss this window.

I hung my own art in this apartment, and I was surprised how much I liked it.

On most afternoons you could find me in this chair, plugging away at my computer. Usually I was wrapped in this blanket and munching on homemade popcorn. I eat a lot of popcorn.

Goodbye sweet apartment. On to my next chapter.

11*28*10

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. So easy. So delicious.

Just some butter and peanut butter...

...+ sugar, eggs and vanilla...

...then oats, flour, salt and baking soda...

...for a simple little cookie.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Peanut Butter

2/3 cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

1 cup Oats

2/3 cup Whole Wheat Flour

2/3 teaspoons Baking Soda

1/3 teaspoon Salt

Cream the butter and peanut butter.

Then mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl stir together the oats, flour, baking soda and salt.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix.

Drop by the spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

11*27*10

What are you doing this Saturday evening? Listening to Justin Timberlake while you pay bills, geek out catching up on blogs and some small graphic design projects?... Wow. I thought I was the only one that cool.

But seriously, with the exception of Justin Timberlake, I'm totally becoming an old lady. The highlight of my week: designing these Winter Warmers drink list. Which isn't even really exciting at all. Unless you're the one drinking them.

11*25*10

Happy Thanksgiving!

This, friends, is my favorite holiday. Oh, the gluttony! Oh, the relaxation! Really, is there anything better than a whole day dedicated to making and consuming food? Nope.

Thanksgiving is such a great excuse to make all those wonderful recipes that you dream about making, but never seem to have the time or coordination to pull off. Or maybe just something so calorie dense that you can really only excuse it on these special occasions. I specifically remember making about a gallon of the richest, most artery clogging cheese sauce you could imagine. We poured it on everything.

This year, Cory will be smoking a pork loin. We will be making a Salt-Baked Salmon (btw, preparing the salmon in this way made some of the moistest and best salmon I have ever had). I am preparing Beet Wellingtons. And for sides I will also make my classic Mushroom Gravy and a Cranberry Sauce with Dried Figs.

And... Pumpkin Pie!

Remember that time my mom came over and brought me those awesome heirloom pumpkins that we used to make soup? Well, I used that same pumpkin. Pureed it right up!

And I'll admit it. I cheated a teensy bit and used a prepared pie crust. This one's made out of spelt.

Pumpkin and buttermilk. I was tempted to use eggnog instead, just to make it a little extra calorie dense. This is Thanksgiving, after all.

Roasted Pumpkin Pie

Adapted from Mix

• Premade pie shell (9-9 1/2 in)
• 1 1/2 cups Roasted Pumpkin
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 3 Large Egg Yolks
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 tablespoons Flour
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar

Preheat the oven to 400.

Defrost the frozen pie shell for 10 minutes, then prick it all over with a fork.

Bake the shell for 10 minutes, gently pricking it if it puffs up.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, buttermilk, egg yolks and vanilla.

In a large bowl, stir together the remaining dry ingredients.

Add the wet mixture to the dry and whisk to combine.

Pour into the pre-baked pie.

Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400.

Reduce temperature to 350 and continue to bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted an inch from center comes out clean.

Let cool, then enjoy with a bit of whipped cream, family and friends.

11*24*10

Oh loooordy. The holiday season is upon us. I can tell because of this knot in my shoulder. I'm working on getting it out with a glass of merlot right now.

It's not the actual holidays that are stressful. Spending a whole day cooking, eating, maybe taking a nap, eating some more, and sipping on wine and cocktails the whole day through. Or a day dedicated to opening gifts, playing with said gifts and, of course, sipping on wine and cocktails the whole day through.

Oh no. That part of the holidays is no problem. In fact, I'm that part of the holiday's #1 fan. Yes, mam.

Its the build up. Grocery shopping. Gift shopping. Cleaning the house. Trying to get all your baking done during the daylight hours so you can take some photos and maybe get to post some of it to your blog. Generally trying to make sure that your ducks are in a row.

There's the stress.

Another glass of merlot, please? Thank you. It's all going to be okay. Pumpkin Pie recipe and photos to come tomorrow.

11*21*10

This week I hosted my very first since moving to Portland CRAFT NIGHT! I feel super middle-aged-suburban-soccer-mom for admitting it, but craft night is a great time. Of course, in my house craft night also involves a free flowing wine and some rather R-rated conversation. That keeps things un-soccer mom.

Christmas is coming up, so we made tree ornaments, using instructions from Martha Stewart. Eventually they'll look like this:

Right now they're about halfway finished, hanging in the dining room. I think they actually look very beautiful in their half-finished state.

I've got several other ideas for future craft days and potential homemade Christmas presents:

Embroider some super cute images onto my pillowcases, like this one, courtesy of Alicia Paulson.

Make a festive wreath that all the neighbors will be jealous of.

Sew up some aprons for friends. Also, Cory is going to need one for all the dinners he makes me.

Make some flavored sugars, like the lavendar vanilla sugar that Joy makes.

Infuse spirits (basil vodka for bloody marys?) for Christmas presents, and keep a stash for myself.

11*19*10

What do you appreciate? Why don't you participate in the longest, most sentimental holiday letter of all time?

11*18*10

Every Sunday PostSecret posts secrets that people have written on postcards and mailed in anonymously. One I saw this week, or rather one persons response to it, hit particularly close to home.

11*17*10

I have a short attention span. I rarely make it through movies, books, even TV shows. Something else always pops into my mind mid-task, and then I lose it, I'm off to the next thing. Art projects get set aside, then picked back up weeks, or months, later.

This same need for variety also applies to food. Do I want to make pumpkin bread? Yes! Do I want to eat it every morning for the next week. Oh. Hell. No.

So there's this problem. Most recipes that I would like to make are for about 12 people. And even though I can eat, I just get bored with it.

This morning I wanted granola. And fruit. But I didn't want to make a whole batch of granola that would inevitably sit in the cupboard and go bad before I could finish it. So I came up with a personal breakfast dish for one.

It involved a very cute baking dish, a couple small apples, and a mini lemon. Cute!

And cinnamon.

The apples get tossed with a bit of cornstarch, lemon juice and cinnamon in the baking dish.

Then prepare a bit of granola on the stovetop to spread on top of the apples.

It's going to make your home smell like a million bucks. And you're mother will be proud.

Personal Apple Granola Crisp

1 Large or 2 Small Apples

1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 teaspoon Cornstarch

Dash Cinnamon

Dash Salt

Mix the above ingredients together and place in a small baking dish.

2 tablespoons Butter

2 tablespoons Honey

1 tablespoon Whole Wheat Flour

1/3 cup Oats

1 tablespoon Sliced Almonds

1 tablespoon Coconut Flakes

Melt the butter and honey together in a saucepan over medium-low heat.

Add the flour, oats, almonds and coconut and stir until evenly coated.

Spread over the apples.

Cover the dish with foil.

Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.

Uncover and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until the granola is pleasantly browned.

11*16*10

Ahh. The website has been up for a whole weekend. Thanks to everyone for the kind words and encouragement! It feels great to have it done. Now I can begin to focus on other work. I currently have a couple of wedding invitation projects on my plate, so it will probably be a while longer before I have spare time to bake up some yummy stuff and post pictures of it. :)

So... new work... and a need for new inspiration.

Lets start here:

Hand-rubbed prints from lumber are so gorgeous. I especially dig the way he frames them within each piece.

I'm bananas over the winners of the Chiquita Sticker Design Contest!

And I am finding this so so so inspiring! Logos recreated from corrugated cardboard.

11*14*10

Oh its been a long time coming. But its finally here!!!

I am really having a tough time containing my excitement... YIPEEE!

Here it is: MY WEBSITE!

VerelleStuck.com

11*12*10

Sometimes I have a tough time with words. And speaking in general. Just ask my boyfriend, who often gets frustrated with the fact that I often don't finish sentences... because... you know? I could use a little practice with speaking... and stuff...

So I was super excited when I heard this story on NPR about a website called Save The Words. Basically, they are trying to rescue words that are on the brink of extinction. They are on the verge of being removed from dictionaries and disappearing from the English language forever.

You just choose a word, then adopt it. And by adopting it, you are swearing to use that word in your everyday language. And thus, the word is revived! Saved from extinction!

I adopted the word pamphagous. It's an adjective meaning eating or consuming everything.

Ex) Don't invite Verelle to the party. She is a pamphagous woman and will eat all of the cheese. All of it. Don't invite her.

This word just got adopted into a good home. It will make pamphagous use of it.

11*11*10

Just last week we finished tapped our newest brew: a Honey Porter. It is delicious!

We used the Deschutes Black Butte Porter recipe + Honey. So, of course when visiting Bend we had to take a tour of the brewery. And sample some of the original stuff.

Deschutes is working on a slightly larger scale than us. They're the 2nd largest craft brewer in the U.S.!

Lots and lots of beer is made here. I'd like to climb into one of these things and swim a few laps in all that tasty goodness.

There's nothing like holding in your hand the wonderfully aromatic hop that is used to make the beer that you are tasting. Good stuff.

11*10*10

I try not to brag. Really, I do. But forgive me for just a moment.

I had a REALLY awesome weekend.

We drove down to Central Oregon and stayed three nights at the SunRiver Resort.

And while we were there, we did hang out in the room a good bit, but can you blame us, it came with a fireplace, rocking adirondacks, a great view of the golf course, and even a little bit of snowy weather. Oh yeah, and we had access to the resorts pool, jacuzzi, soaking tubs, and sauna. This place was pretty complete.

But, alas, we did leave the comforts of the resort and visit Bend.

Did you know that Bend is wicked beautiful in the fall? Indeed.

Just keep an eye out for goose poo, because they really like Bend too.

What really made the trip awesome was the great company. What a hunk!

11*8*10

I'm in SunRiver on vacation with my Honey Bear right now, and I promise to share most of the juicy details just as soon as I am back home. But for now, you should check out some other great content. Here's a list of the blogs that I've been reading lately:

Food

The classics: Smitten Kitchen, Seven Spoons & Joy the Baker

Need more inspiration? Check out: David Lebovitz, Tartelette, How Sweet It Is, Espresso and Cream, & Megans Cookin

Design

For Print Only, Design Work Life, Design*Sponge

Also

Recycled Lovelies, (discovered via Joy the Baker) makes all sorts of wonderful things out of old things.

Gala Darling is fashion oriented, but has surprisingly smart and inspirational things to say.

Enjoy!

11*5*10

persimmon |pərˈsimən|noun: an edible fruit that resembles a large tomato and has very sweet flesh.

I found this little guy at Trader Joe's today. Just 59 cents. Did you know that I hadn't had a persimmon until just last year? And that they are absolutely wonderful?

So what do you do with a persimmon? Other than eating it like an apple, you could...

Bake Ginger Persimmon Bread.

Make a very fall-themed salad.

Or perhaps Aunt Edna's Persimmon Pudding?

If you're feeling brave, I dare you to try out Persimmon Brownies.

That just sounds weird.

11*4*10

You know your favorite recipe? The one that you can make any time, any where, and never ever screw up? You've practiced it so many times that you probably have the thing memorized, or maybe it only takes a quick glance at ingredients, and then it is just made, ever so gracefully. And often that recipe gets tweaked. A little substitution here when you're out of one thing, or a little extra of a spice that you can't quite get enough of. No matter what you do, you always get it right.

Well, this soup is quickly becoming that recipe for me. Its West African Peanut Soup from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. It's hearty, healthy, and one of the most flavorful and spicy soups I've ever tasted.

Well, my mom is a fan too. And she came over with a big bag of fresh produce from her garden, and with a little improvisation here and some substitution there, we ended up with quite a delightful little soup. In this one we substituted pumpkin for the sweet potatoes, and added some garlic, because every soup should have a little garlic.

No matter what modifications you're making to a recipe, I'm a believer that it always tastes better when you're using homegrown ingredients.

Mother also whipped up a loaf of crusty whole wheat bread. You know, just whipped it up, no big deal. Jeez.

Ta da! A comforting soup and fresh, crusty bread for lunch. Naps to follow.

11*2*10

Dressing up is swell. But the very best thing about Halloween: the cheap candy that continues to tempt you until you have sores in your mouth and your belly aches.