On Anna's Plate

Do you know how hard it is to take an attractive picture of black-eyed peas?

Pretty hard.  I think black-eyed peas are just out of focus by nature.  And let’s be honest—it’s not the most attractive dish around.

Doesn’t matter if they’re ugly though—they still bring good luck! We had our black-eyed peas for dinner last night with ham sandwiches.  I don’t think ham sandwiches bring good luck, but they were very tasty with the peas. 

I can’t share the recipe with you…it’s family top secret.  The recipe my mom uses actually comes from my grandfather’s college roommate, Quincy.  My grandfather graduated from SMU in 1945, so these peas have been around for a long, long time:

…and while I won’t give away the recipe, I’ll tell you that they involve bacon…ham…peas…onions…bell peppers…and brown sugar.  Does that help?

Hope these bring us lots of luck in 2012…I think we’re going to need it!!!

Holy blogging break, Batman!

As you can see, I kind of spent the last week and a half…ummm, checked out.  Sometimes you just need a break, right?  I wasn’t planning on taking such a hiatus…but one day turned into two, two turned into three, and three turned into…well, you get the idea. 

And now, suddenly it’s 2012!!?!

I won’t bore you playing catch-up.  Let’s just say that we had a wonderful Christmas and spent the last few weeks enjoying family and friends near and far.  We ventured to Seattle to visit Ryan’s family, and are now back in Louisiana for a few days before we head back to Huntsville to start the new semester. 

The holidays always go fast, but time seemed to REALLY fly this time…maybe it has something to do with the little miss growing in my belly?  For the longest time, it seemed like March was really far away, and the whole “baby” thing felt very abstract.  And now, suddenly, March is right around the corner…yowza. 

I have a legitimate baby bump now:

And we’ve decided on a name:

…which makes it all seem a little more real.  She’s also become SUPER active, and is actually turning flips and somersaults right now as I type this blog post.  She seems to really like making my belly dance— it’s so surreal to watch!

We have one more week in the second trimester…it’s hard to believe that we’re almost in the homestretch.  Next week, I’ll take my glucose test (fingers crossed for that), and then the week after that, we’ll get our 4d ultrasound.  Then, if everything goes well from there, we won’t “see” her again until delivery day! 

Anyway…enough baby talk! Let’s talk about food. 

Ryan and I got my parents a tagine for Christmas:

… last night for our New Year’s Eve dinner, we tried it out for the first time! It was a very low-key New Year’s Eve, but that was more than perfect—we’d spent the day traveling back from Seattle, and were ready for food when we got home. 

My mom made this delicious lamb tagine:

…that included figs, apricots, pistachios, pine nuts, veggies and tons of spices.  We served it over couscous:

Delicious! 

This morning, we took a long, sunny walk with the dogs, and then I played around with one of my very nice Christmas presents—a new lens! This telephoto lens won’t be my go-to for blog pictures, but I’m loving it for taking pictures from a bit further away.  The dogs made very good photo subjects:

Hope you’ve had a great first day of 2012!!

Hello, hello!

Hope you’re having a good week! We’ve been really enjoying our time in Shreveport, hanging out with friends and family.  We had dinner last night with some friends, including our friends Ellen and Dillon who had the baby right before Thanksgiving–  hard to believe that Mae Martin is already a month old!  And even harder to believe that we’re getting closer and closer to welcoming our own little nugget…time really flies! 

We brought two desserts to Ellen and Dillon’s house:

Eggnog cheesecake bars, courtesy of Martha Stewart.  These bars were really delicious, especially if you like eggnog—the eggnog flavor is pretty intense!

We also brought these dark chocolate peppermint cookies:

…based on this recipe, also by Martha.  We subbed peppermint extract for the espresso.  Ryan really liked these cookies…I was a little on the fence about them.  The chocolate flavor is really intense, to the point where they almost tasted a little burnt to me…but he liked them a lot, so I guess it worked. 

We’ve also been taking care of some baby stuff while we’re here.  My shower will be in Shreveport, so we registered at a baby shop here.   Amazing all of the things you don’t know you need until you have a baby on the way…

We’ve also gotten a few things in for the nursery.  After much deliberation, we decided that we’re going to keep the walls gray and use a lot of yellow and pastel accents throughout the room.  I ordered this adorable  bird mobile from Etsy:

Don’t you just love the vintage feel of the fabrics? 

Plus, this bird:

….goes perfectly with these Anthropologie curtains that will hang in the nursery:

Cute, right?  I love the giant polka dots.

I think the curtains and mobile will go really well with the furniture we picked out…things are starting to come together! I can’t wait to see how it all looks in the actual room.

Family dinner tonight…hope you have a great night!

Greetings from Louisiana!

We wrapped up all of our Alabama to do’s by the end of the week, and drove over to Shreveport yesterday.  The trip takes 8 hours exactly, from door-to-door…hard to believe that this time last year, we were driving TWENTY hours from Pennsylvania!!  Let me tell ya, after a 20 hour drive, 8 hours doesn’t seem too shabby!

One of the things we got done before leaving for Louisiana?  We ordered nursery furniture!!! Thanks for all of your design advice—I liked hearing what everyone had to say. We’ve decided to keep the gray wall color and decorate with lots of yellows…I think it will be pretty!  We’ve still got a long way to go, but it makes me feel better knowing that the big furniture has been ordered—at least baby will have a place to sleep!

Last night, my mom cooked a delicious homecoming meal for us: boeuf bourguignon, straight from Julia Child’s cookbook:

Served with buttered egg noodles:

and crusty bread!

This meal made me feel like we were right back in France…sigh. 

Louisiana will have to do for now. 

Have a great weekend!   

Hi friends!

Thanks for your kind words about our babymoon—it was the best! We had a blast in Charleston, and I was really sad to have to go.  It made me realize that one trip to Charleston every six years is NOT okay—we need to be going back at least once or twice a year! We’ll see what happens, once the baby comes. 

We got home on Monday evening, and spent yesterday…moving!

Not moving houses…thank the good lord.  I don’t think I can handle another move just quite yet. 

We were moving offices.  Ryan moved into my office, I moved my office into the guest room, and now Ryan’s old office is ready to be…

nursery-fied!!!

The only problem?

I’m completely freaking out about what to do for the nursery.  I’m not sure why—after all, the nursery is arguably the least important part of this whole process.  The baby doesn’t care what the nursery looks like.  But for whatever reason, my mind has gotten stuck on this part of the nesting process, and I cannot for the life of me decide how to decorate the nursery. 

Color schemes?  Themes?  Crib bedding?  Wall art?

I can’t decide on any of it.

The walls are a kind of dove-gray right now.  We’re not opposed to painting…but I don’t know what color I want to paint.

I’m not huge on girl nurseries that have an overdose of pink.  I’m thinking yellow or green instead, with a few pink accents.

One big step we finally took?  We picked out furniture yesterday.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that it’s pretty much just a vintage-y looking white set of girl furniture (a crib, a dresser, and a changing table), so it still isn’t giving me much direction in terms of everything else in the room.

I picked out the glider I want to get, but I don’t want to choose a fabric until we know colors.

Arghghghg.

Are there any interior designers out there who want to come design a nursery? I’ll bake you lots and lots of cookies.

All you artistic types– any thoughts?  All you mamas out there– any website recommendations for nursery decor and ideas? 

I want to get it done soon, so I just need to bite the bullet and go for it.

Easier said than done!

Hi friends!

When I last posted, we were finishing up our grading in rainy, cold Huntsville.  Fast-forward 24 hours, and we found ourselves here:

Beautiful Folly Beach, South Carolina!

When Ryan and I realized that we were going to get a month (yep, a month) off in December for the holidays, we decided to take advantage of our long break and take a little babymoon.  So this morning, we woke up early, packed the car with our suitcases and dogs, and headed to…Charleston!

I went to College of Charleston for undergrad, but haven’t been back since graduation—a fact that baffles me.  I don’t know how I let so many years pass without returning, because I LOVE Charleston—love it.  Driving into town today was very nostalgic for me—so many familiar sites, and some new changes. 

Instead of staying downtown, we booked a (dog friendly!) house for the weekend in Folly Beach, about a ten minute drive away from downtown.  Folly is a cute little beach town, and I spent many an afternoon here instead of in after class.  Ahem. 

Here are some pictures from our afternoon walking the beach.  Ella is SUCH a beach dog…it always makes me wish we lived by an ocean when I see how excited she gets to run in the waves.  Of course, Ryan, Baxter and I were having a pretty good time too

Perfect afternoon.  Tomorrow, we’re headed downtown to explore.  Our house doesn’t have wi-fi, but I’ll be posting sooner or later!

*Edited to Add*….

We DID walk around downtown “the next day” (now yesterday)! We started the morning early with some more beach time with the dogs:

…and then headed downtown.  I had a blast showing Ryan around the campus…he kept talking about how pretty the campus is, and it really is.  I think College of Charleston has one of the prettiest campuses in the country…not that I’m biased or anything

Walking around campus was SUPER nostalgic for me.  Here’s the house that I lived in my sophomore year:

…you know…typical antebellum college digs, right?  Note the “For Sale” sign…ahem, Ryan.  Push present?

And my the dorm building I lived in Freshman year:

aka, “Scary Berry.”  Good times.

After an extensive tour of campus, we walked all around downtown, finally winding our way down to the Battery:

Today, we met up for lunch with my former creative writing professor/mentor and her family, as well as one of my friends from college (and grad school…and beyond). 

Now we’re just relaxing….I think we might catch a movie tonight.

Not sure if I’ll blog again before we head home on Monday, so I might just see you from Alabama.  Hope you’re having a great weekend!

You know what one of the best parts of having a party is?

All of the leftover alcohol that people leave behind. 

You know when that isn’t one of the best parts of having a party? 

When you’re pregnant.

Ryan has been taking full advantage—he’s been walking around with a lampshade on his head and singing “Party in the USA” for the past three days.

I, on the other hand, have been doing this:

Open the refrigerator. 

Look at all the beer.

Sigh.

Drink some water.

Sigh.

I know I’ll be thanking myself for staying away from alcoholic beverages when Baby Girl Weber comes out without a tail (knock on wood), and is able to maintain eye focus better than this guy:

Ames, you know I love you, but methinks your mama had a few too many gin and juices while you were in utero.  But hey, you went to Harvard and Yale, and rumor has it you’re dating super-cute Lea Michele look-alike Jackie again, so it’s all good, right?

*Sidenote*—HOW excited are you for the return of Ben Flajajaninahinik for the Bachelor in just a few short weeks?!?

So. Excited.

Anyway.

Just because I’m not drinking beer doesn’t mean I can’t eat it, right?  This super easy beer bread bakes for 45 minutes in the oven, which (uh, I’m pretty sure) cooks out the alcohol—but leaves behind the delicious, warm, oatmeal stout flavor. 

Oatmeal Stout Beer Bread

3 cups flour

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

12 oz. oatmeal stout

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

In a standing mixer bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Pour in beer slowly while mixing until a batter forms and ingredients are combined.

Bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Annnnnd…that’s it!

This bread is really charming and rustic looking, and the oatmeal stout delivers a serious beer flavor.  You could use any beer you’d like, but I like the darker beer for both the color and flavor it gives the bread. 

Apparently, Huntsville has a “fill your own beer jug” place with over 40 beers on tap.  Did you know that Heaven was located in Alabama?  I didn’t either.

The batter ain’t pretty:

But look what it turns into:

Eating a slice of this bread hot out of the oven with lots of butter almost made me forget about how much I miss beer. 

Almost.

Lord, beer bread me strength.

Hi friends!

No recipe for you today, but I thought I’d share some pictures of our house, now that it’s fully decorated. 

You might say that our decorating style is a little…eclectic.  But I like it that way! We’ve yet to get a Christmas tree—with our long university break, we always leave pretty early in December, so getting a tree just seems like too much work for too short amount of time to enjoy it.  I think next year, with Baby Girl Weber in tow, we’ll probably break down and get one.

But until then…it’s not exactly as if we’re hurting for Christmas decor in the house, even sans tree. 

Let’s start with the stockings:

I’ve had the same stocking since I was a baby—my great-grandmother made it for me…and in fact, made similar stockings for every other member of our family—cousins, aunts, uncles all!   In fact, my mom still has hers from when she was a little girl.  Any time anyone in the family married or had kids, another stocking was made.

By the time Ryan and I were married, my great-grandmother had long passed away, but we still get similar stockings made for any new family members:

…and next year, Baby Girl Weber will have one too!

I’m a little jealous of Ryan’s stocking…his is a bit flashier than mine.  Check out his snowman:

Still…we both have awesome reindeer:

I love these stockings.  Hanging them on the mantle is the best sign that the holidays have arrived.  And speaking of the mantle:

This year, we kept it fairly simple…lights and stockings, with no garland. 

Underneath, in the fireplace, is our “tree”—we picked up this ornament display at Pier One.  It will have to do until we get a real tree:

Baxter can’t seem to figure it out.  I just hope he doesn’t try to pee on it.  Another thing he can’t figure out:

Who is this dog elf, and where did he come from?  We may never know.

On our buffet, I created another alternative “tree”—branches in a vase.  No, it’s not a Christmas tree.  And no, you can’t stop me from putting a bird in it:

And finally, in one of the living room corners sits one of my favorite decorations: our vintage ornaments! I picked these up at an antique store in Pennsylvania, and I just love them.  We used to hang ornaments just like this on our tree when I was little:

Moving on to…the dining room!  The dining room is simple, and involves yet ANOTHER tree:

I got that potpourri Christmas tree from Pier One last year, and it still smells SO good—fresh and piney. 

Even the plants in my office have gotten in on the action:

And finally…Ryan’s pride and joy….the outside lights!

This year, we went with BIG colored lights. 

We used to decorate my house with these when I was a girl, until everyone decided that small white lights were the way to go.  I like white lights, but I’ll always have a place in my heart for these big colored bulbs…plus, I think they work really well with our house! Ryan did a great job lining the house with them:

Hope you enjoyed this tour of decorations! Peace out:

Hi friends! Hope you had a good weekend!

We had a fun one—on Sunday, we saw the Muppet movie (loved it), and on Saturday, we had a little holiday shindig at our house with some of our friends in the English department.  The department at UAH is probably the youngest department we’ve ever been in, so it’s been fun getting to know everyone.  Plus, throwing a party is a great way to procrastinate when you have a big pile of grading that you’re refusing to make eye contact with. 

For the party, I tried out some recipes from various blogs (including my own, ha).  They were all tasty and easy!

I made walnut pesto from the Smitten Kitchen, which we spread on toasted baguette slices:

Sooooo good.  I used about double the parmesan, which gave this pesto a delicious earthy and salty flavor. 

Plus Andie’s chewy molasses cookies:

Again, delicious.  Chewy, soft, and full of molasses kick.

And a recipe from yours truly.  I used my old kale chip recipe to make this creamy, “cheesy” (it’s vegan) cashew dip:

I also made this hot olive and artichoke dip from the Pioneer Woman…but it all got eaten before I could snag a picture (if that tells you anything about how good it is).

It was a great party success!!

Have a great Monday…I think I’m finally going to tackle the final portfolios…see you on the other side of grading hell.

My parents are nice:

Like, really nice.  Like, really, really nice.

How nice are they?

My parents are so nice that they greet our dogs with open arms when we come to stay with them for weeks at a time during the holidays. 

But who wouldn’t greet this pair with open arms, right?

Well, you see…our dogs are great.  Obviously.  But…my parents have dogs of their own.

There’s Maddie, the standard poodle (who, despite being 15 years old, still has enough spunk left in her to break into our room and rifle through our trash every time we visit):

And Sugar, the “labradoodle,” who often seems to be more chimp than dog:

She’s a wild one. 

And then there’s Dudley, the baby of the family and their newest addition.  He’s the sweetest dog you’ll ever meet.  When my parents adopted him, he’d been hit by a car and abandoned at the shelter:

…and now he’s just a big ball of love.

So, you can see that when we bring home our two dogs during Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s quite the houseful. 

And that’s not all…us being a dog-centered family and all, it only makes sense that my sister and brother-in-law regularly bring their two rescue bassets to family dinners as well:

George:

…and Molly:

She’s a looker.

So, most nights that we visit, we have seven dogs roaming freely in my parents’ house.  Seven.  SEVEN. 

You can see why Ella and Baxter would want to send a token of thanks to my parents for being such gracious hosts during our stay last week. 

Actually, Baxter left his own little “thank you” in the form of a few accidents here and there…

… because nothing says “Thank you for letting me stay at your house” like a big puddle of pee.  Seriously. Try it at a holiday party this year.

But just in case the pee wasn’t enough, the dogs and I got to work in the kitchen this afternoon, whipping up a batch of homemade dog biscuits.  Actually, I did most of the work—the dogs used the old “We don’t have opposable thumbs” excuse…works every time.

These biscuits are the perfect way to say thank you to your favorite four-legged friend.  And the best part?  They’re vegetarian!

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Chicken Dog Biscuits

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetarian chicken-flavored broth (I made mine with a vegetarian chicken-flavored bouillon mix, but you could easily sub veggie broth, or regular chicken or beef broth)

1 package of yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 egg

2 tbsp.  honey

2.5 cups flour

1 cup cornmeal

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Dissolve yeast in water.  Add broth, egg, and honey and beat until smooth.  In a mixing bowl, combine flour and cornmeal, then add liquids, beating until a thick dough forms.

Roll out dough until about 1/4 inch thick, then use cookie cutters to cut out biscuit shapes. 

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 40 minutes, until biscuits are firm.  Allow to fully cool…then share with your furry friends!

Thank you to Maddie, Sugar, and Dudley for being such great hosts last week…Ella and Baxter can’t wait to see you again at Christmas!  The biscuits are on their way!