summery blueberry and strawberry waffles

good morning

and happy wednesday

i can't believe it is the last day of august

this summer just flew by, no joke!

so to celebrate the last day of august

i made taylor summery blueberry and strawberry waffles

and added chocolate chips in the batter for fun

so in tribute to august....

good bye to the hottest month of the year

and hello to you, september

you came too quickly but im ready for all my favorite fall loves to come

xx, chelsea

girls weekend in palm springs

this past weekend my girlfriends and i spent the weekend in palm springs

it was a scorcher!!

but with 3 full days of pandora, good food, a pool, air conditioning and lots of drinks

we hadn't a care in the world!

we rented out a house and pretty much stayed there the whole time

we laughed good laughs and even cried good cries together

i am lucky to have such beautiful women in my life that i can call my besties

we have all known each other for years

we grew up together

we did cheerleading in high school together

we went through break ups, family problems, engagements, prom, you name it!

...all together

it was a wonderful time

and a sweet reminder to keep these dear memories of our youth alive forever

heather, davana, april, jess, ashley and rachel

you all hold a special place in my heart

.... exhhaaaccctttlllyyyyyy

 

pomegranate granola french toast

happy friday

oh, and what a happy friday it is!

today my girlfriends and i are off for our annual trip today

so that means a half day of work!

i hated saying goodbye to taylor and molly this morning

the trio will be apart for a few days, but all is fine

one of taylor's closest friends is in town from san francisco

so in a way, its a guy's weekend for taylor and a girls weekend for me

(those are always so important)

i will miss my b, but sometimes its good to miss your love every once in a while ;)

this morning i made taylor french toast topped with pomegranate granola 

he added the bananas and nutella, of course...

happy weekend my dearest friends

i'll be back on monday with stories to tell and pictures to share

xx

chelsea

bbq date and famous furniture

last night taylor and i had a little bbq date after work

we were hoping to bbq monday night, but we both got home too late from work

taylor did most of the work.. the grilled portobello mushrooms and steak

i prepared and cooked the padron peppers

and molly ran around the two of us, not really helping at all, but being cute as usual

all of this fun stuff was from the sunday farmers market

padron pepper recipe (via leila):

coat peppers with coarse salt and pepper

drizzle with olive oil

saute in a skillet while stirring for about 5 minutes

(leila suggests using a cast iron skillet and baking for a few minutes, but unfortunately i don't have one!)

afterwards, we drove out to the hollywood hills for taylor to pick up his beloved, new, cassina authentic

lc4 chaise lounge

yes my friends, he found one at a good price

and he's so excited about it

when he got home, he put it in our room (still figuring out where it will officially go), 

poured a glass of scotch and relaxed in his button up shirt and boxers

this morning when we woke up i said, "hey tay, whats that thing on the other side of the room?"

he smiled a big grin and said in his italian accent, "ya know?"

this morning he was running late to work

and i caught him laying in it and staring out the window!

oh boys and their toys

guest post: guarding dogs documentary

please head over to the guarding dogs documentary blog to check out my guest post on molly

www.dogdoc12.wordpress.com

here you'll find molly's story along with other people's rescue tales

"guarding dogs" is an upcoming documentary film that strives to raise awareness of all of the wonderful dogs that are waiting to find their forever homes, and the rescuers who devote their time and energy to reaching that goal. It is the film's mission to not only emphasize the importance of rescue and adoption, but  to also influence the way people think about animal companionship; not as an owner/property relationship but rather as a guardian/companion dynamic that encourages respect and reduces abuse and neglect.

the weekend is like a mini-vacation

what a beautiful and relaxing weekend it was

much too short.. 

but amazing

woke up early sunday morning and went to the gym with davana, taylor and leila

took an amazing class (that kicked our butts!),

went to the brentwood farmers market

wandered around 3rd street for a bit until davana had to go to work

cleaned up around the house

and then taylor and i vegged out from 5pm onward watching harry potter

i couldn't have asked for a better sunday

every time we go to third street taylor has to stop by dwr to stare at le corbusier's famous 

lc4 chaise lounge

with a sticker price of $3,600!

he's on one right now... searching craigslist for that steal deal.

who knows, maybe he'll find his dream lc4!

happy monday!

candied blueberry and walnut french toast

this morning taylor and i slept in as late as possible

we've been up late almost every night this week

...molly's been on a special allergy medication that makes here very thirsty

which makes her pee more, which means getting up a handful of times in the night to take her out

but she is doing much better so hopefully its all out of her system and we can sleep again!

anyway, on with the french toast!!

from taylor, "you're getting pretty good at this, ya know? i'd say these are the best yet"

so naturally i had to take a bite

...then a second... then a third...

and oh my gosh these were explosive!

(don't you love taylor's "not guilty" t-shirt? seems fitting...)

i saturated two slices of thick egg bread in my french toast concoction for a little extra longer today

making them moist and fluffy and just down right amazing!

i plopped on the two soaked slices of egg bread onto a pre-heated saute pan,

cooking for about 2 minutes on each side

i've come to realize that making french toast is a lot like baking cookies

when baking cookies, you take 'em out before they look ready for a softer cookie, right?

well the same seems to be true for french toast. 

so, i turned off the heat just before they "looked" done and let them cook slowly without heat while i prepared the candied walnuts and blueberries....

i found a simple recipe for candied walnuts this past weekend and i'm obsessed!

bake walnut halves for 5 min at 350 degrees

melt about 1/2 cup of raw, brown sugar

have roasted walnuts at hand

as soon as the sugar starts melting, toss in the walnuts 

remove the heat and stir with a wooden spoon for a minute or so, making sure all the walnuts are coated in the melted sugar

(at this point, i threw in some blueberries and coated them too)

have parchment paper ready and put the walnuts (and blueberries) on to it once coated in sugar

quickly separate with a fork

and voila!

candied blueberry and walnut french toast

a few of my favorite things weekly edition

a few favorite finds this week...

pretty patio party found here

braided flowers found here

usb locket found here

 hot air balloon festival in france found here

....almost friday!

caramelized orange-citrus waffles

happy wednesday, sweet friends

 a few things to celebrate today:

1.) today is supposed to be the hottest day of the summer

2.) happy birthday to coolio (yeah, remember that guy?)

3.) my birthday is exactly 5 months away

4.) its the middle of the week so we're half way to the weekend

5.) and waffles (of course...)

today i thought i'd be a little experimental

i melted about 2 heaping tablespoons of raw brown sugar and added in thinly sliced oranges about half-way through the melting process

it took a total of about 4 minutes and it turned out amazing

the juices from the orange mixed with the brown sugar glazed made for a citrus tasting liquid carmel 

...it was divine

i was curious to waffle history and found this article online from time magazine

thought i'd share because its pretty interesting...

"like many of western civilization's finest achievements, the long and scrumptious history of waffles can be traced to ancient greece, when athenians cooked obelios — flat cakes between two metal plates — over burning embers. the word waffle is related to wafer, as in the communion wafer — one of the only victuals that early catholics could eat during fasting periods since wafers didn't contain animal fats, eggs or dairy products. during the middle ages, when bakeries decided to compete with monasteries in the wafer market, the secular — and considerably tastier — waffle was born."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1942956,00.html#ixzz1VJNIIE9h

we learn something new everyday!

fish tacos and good company

last night leila and carleigh had taylor and i over for some homemade fish tacos

everything leila makes is nothing short of amazing

we had homemade guacamole, tilapia fish tacos with homemade pickled onions and all the fresh fixings that go with the quintessential, healthy fish taco meal.

its nice to have such a lovely neighbor that literally lives about twenty steps across the alley

 ...someone to borrow sugar from, and same for her

we've been spoiled the past couple of days with some good leila cookin'

so its time for a little break (just a little one) before we get too used to it 

but we have a tentative ice-cream making date in the near future.

can. not. wait.

hope you are all having a wonderful week so far
i can't believe its mid-august.
where is the time going?