Yum

Like I said, there are recipes to come. For starters, there's nothing wrong with stuffed bell peppers. Thanksgiving has no more stuffing to do this year but my sweet & savory peppers are perfect for a light lunch, appetizer or next to your mom's famous mashed potatoes on Christmas Eve. The recipe is inspired by a quinoa dish seen on Food 52 and customized by yours truly. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Quinoa, Assorted color bell peppers, Kumquats, Cilantro, Smoked paprika,Paprika, Good quality maple syrup, Marcona almonds, Cayenne pepper, Pepitas, Olive oil



On how to cook the quinoa: http://www.cookingquinoa.net/how-to-cook-quinoa-perfectly. While the quinoa is cooking cut the tops off of the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Place peppers in a baking dish with olive oil and pepper. Set aside. Chop the cilantro, thinly slice the kumquats and toast the pepitas in oven or in a skillet. Watch the pepitas they can burn easily. Once the quinoa is done cooking place in a large bowl. Add in cilantro, toasted pepitas, spices and maple syrup to taste. Spoon the quinoa mixture into the peppers and place in the oven on high broil. Watch carefully. Cook until quinoa is golden brown and peppers start to shrivel. Drizzle with maple syrup or olive oil.

Take a Pledge

An email I received this morning from Patagonia:

Today is Cyber Monday. It will likely be the biggest online shopping day ever. Cyber Monday was created by the National Retail Federation in 2005 to focus media and public attention on online shopping. But Cyber Monday, and the culture of consumption it reflects, puts the economy of natural systems that support all life firmly in the red. We’re now using the resources of one-and-a-half planets on our one and only planet.

Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time – and leave a world inhabitable for our kids – we want to do the opposite of every other business today. We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else.

Environmental bankruptcy, as with corporate bankruptcy, can happen very slowly, then all of a sudden. This is what we face unless we slow down, then reverse the damage. We’re running short on fresh water, topsoil, fisheries, wetlands – all our planet’s natural systems and resources that support business, and life, including our own.

The environmental cost of everything we make is astonishing. Consider the R2® Jacket shown, one of our best sellers. To make it required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people. Its journey from its origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product. This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds its weight in waste.

And this is a 60% recycled polyester jacket, knit and sewn to a high standard; it is exceptionally durable, so you won’t have to replace it as often. And when it comes to the end of its useful life we’ll take it back to recycle into a product of equal value. But, as is true of all the things we can make and you can buy, this jacket comes with an environmental cost higher than its price.

There is much to be done and plenty for us all to do. Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything.

"Reduce. Don't buy what we don't need. Repair: Fix stuff that still has life in it. Reuse: Share. Then, only when you've exhausted those options, recycle."

Annie Leonard



 

Take the pledge:

http://www.patagonia.com/us/common-threads?sssdmh=dm23.142698&src=112811_mt2

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy day after Thanksgiving! I played a little family tennis this morning and I am on my way towards recovery after my best Thanksgiving yet and well deserved hangover: too much Calvados in the apple relish? I started cooking at 9:00 pm on Wednesday and with 14 of the family around a pool table turned dining room I just barely had dinner served by 5:00 on Thursday. Although I may be a candidate for Arthritis in my phalanges after peeling, chopping butternut squash there is nothing to be said but "It was my pleasure." There were definitely some dishes on this years Thanksgiving menu that could reappear next year.

The stuffed bell peppers weren't even the best part. Between my 5-year old cousin managing to Lambeau Leap over our family room couch no less than 20 times(Go Pack Go!) and dancing to December 1963 I think I speak for the whole family when say "Oh, what a night."

'Tis the Season

From me to you; here are some holiday gift ideas for loved ones, small ones, nice ones, tall ones. I am a homemade, gourmet girl: quality over quantity, chocolate&cashmere, mason jars and gold chains.

DIY Calendar

I ran across this incredible idea on Heidi Swanson's blog. A do it yourself project can keep you busy over Thanksgiving and show someone your creative side. Everyone is due for a new calendar for 2012!

DIY Charms

Antrhopologie assists you in crafting a customized necklace: choose a chain, browse charms & surprise someone with something that screams their name!

ABC

Bring NYC home with an ABC Home gift certificate. Do it yourself holiday shopping for yourself can be the best DIY project this season.

Feed NYC

"This messenger tote, inspired by old-fashioned newspaper bags, aids the FEED NYC Fund. Every purchase of a FEED bag through The Times Store helps the fund provide 30 meals to hungry New Yorkers."

DIY Pilates

With this Fletcher Matwork DVD you can provide someone with the power to transform their body for the new year.

"Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure."

  -Joesph Pilates

Reborn

Michelle Williams takes character as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn. I have always had a place in my heart for the hair, button-up, sultry, pencil skirt, bodacious, lip-locked aura of the Monroe's, Twiggy's, Hepburn's, Bardot's. William's brings them back to life in bare cardigans, crisp collars and subtle stares with a nude kiss.

 

Pictures property of Vogue

My Week with Marilyn Vogue shoot

Gold, Red & Love All Over

My mom and I were strolling the easy streets of downtown Laguna Beach after a Catalina omelet, midsummer when we stepped into an antique shop. I saw it as I walked in, looked at it as I walked towards the torn and aged pages of the books in the corner and tried it on as I waited for my mom up front. Special, familiar, charming...



Walking home I talked wildly about this beautiful ring. She planned to scotch tape it under the tree for Christmas but gave it to me then and there instead. "MOM!" She's the best.

Breakfast of Champions

Week 2:

I can't believe I have gone this long without dairy. I was born a cheese head. Nonetheless, I have found myself in a pretty good state of mind with a good plate of food in front of me. I think by the end of 28 days, I will have a whole cook book compiled with all natural recipes perfected by a dedicated 28-day plant eater who lives for good food. I am not the only one giving up the sacred three-cheese pizza and chocolate frosties at 3 am. Two of my closest friends here at school have jumped on the band wagon. It is a strong support system when our Spanish teacher decides to have a party and brings in red velvets, which you will soon discover are my favorite come Christmas.

I have not started a count down for the day I wake up and make myself a fat stack of buttermilk pancakes. I hope to benefit greatly from this experience by simply becoming more conscious while browsing through the cereal isle and limiting the packaged foods in my pantry. For now, I look forward to steel cut oats with seasonal pomegranate seeds for texture and flavor.Would you like honey with that?