five spice + curried sweet corn soup

A warm and cozy winter soup with a hint of spring. #Glutenfree with #vegan mods. Find the full recipe at www.thepigandquill.com.

Two years ago I gave up soda and factory farmed fast-food for the New Year, and they both stuck. Aside from hippie, home-brewed ginger beer and the like, nary a pop has crossed these lips. Nor a Double Double (thank god for In n’ Out’s grilled cheese is all I have to say about that…). Or a chicken nugget. Okokok, there may have been a little c-nug situation this one time at the Denver Airport because cravings and short layovers and crippled self-control, but I sweaaaars to you, that was it. I also swear I’m not (nor was I ever) … Read More

friday links 01.02.15 – and happy new year!

It’s a nyooo year you guyssssss!!! We celebrated with too much good food, puh-lenty of bubbly (ginger brew for me, cuz I’m super ‘sponsible), and a giggly midnight kiss on the drive home. I blow-dried my hair, Chris donned a sweater, and it was made all the better by a deliciously ordinary, long, lazy morning that had us in our jammies past noon. Oh, 2015. You’re looking rather dapper, already. 😉 Friday links! Funstuffs: Might be from last year, but I feel like this classically-written (read: touching, entertaining, enlightening and frank) Momastery piece on asking the right questions is applicable to all relationships, (impending) kiddos … Read More

(party-perfect!) deviled cheese crisps + farewell 2014

Super simple cheese crisps made with crisped rice cereal!! Great for cheese plates or party trays. Full recipe at www.thepigandquill.com. #partyfood #NYE #recipe #cheese #snacks

Crumbly. Spicy. Almost-shortbready-but-they’re-made-with-rice-crispies-whaaaaaaa…CHEESE CRISPS!!!!! Yes. But first. There’s but a single day left in 2014 (or two? do I count today?) and I’m trapped somewhere between having too many words to share and not a clue what to write. Which, if you blog or journal or have even ever tried to write a particularly clever email to your boss, is something you’ve all experienced. (Side note: that clever email thing = really hard to pull off. And not for lack of trying, trust me…) Generic as it may sound, 2014 was a year of substantial changes in our little abode. There … Read More

grain-free mini persimmon spice cakes (+ eggnog parfaits)

Two recipes in one! Perfect little giftable cakes and festive parfaits perfect for the holidays. Full recipe at www.thepigandquill.com. #grainfree #holidays #recipe #baking #christmas #newyears #eggnog

It’s Christmas Eve! Around here, that means prepping for the in-laws’ annual tamale feast and perhaps the most competitive pirate’s gift exchange that ever was. Our particular version features plenty of red wine and tequila and a particularly obscene vase that makes a comeback every year. It’s a raucous good time and one of those small things I know we’ll enjoy savoring in its current glory before things like an unfortunate floral receptacle that seriously resembles a vagina and nothing else takes a backseat to our inevitably lovely little piglet. How well do you feel like you know my family right know? I’m … Read More

friday links 12.19.14

My fave macarons (from Pistacia Vera in CBUS) and plenty of Friday Links - yay!

Between Chris’ birthday, long evenings of gift wrapping and about a billion last-minute holiday errands that I swore I wouldn’t put off until, well, now, the week has absolutely flown by. We even checked off the biggie 20(ish)-week ultrasound appointment and have a tiny envelope tucked among the branches of our Frasier Fir, the gender of our little he or she concealed within. First we thought we’d open it on Wednesday, over dinner. And then we said we’d wait until tonight after stockings. But honestly, there’s a teensy part of me that wants to hold off altogether until the big … Read More