January 16, 2010

Notecards & New Recipes

We live in a digital age and I'm personally a fan of digital communication. I've never been a phone person. E-mail, Facebook, Twitter and text messaging have been wonderful for me. I have met new friends and renewed friendships with people from my past. But as great as those things are, I love getting a handwritten note. Knowing that someone cared enough to take the time to write a note, lookup my address and mail a letter to me means a lot. This year I want to write more handwritten letters. Especially to those who don't live near us. My roommate from college just delivered her third child a few weeks ago. I sent her a Facebook message. Unacceptable! She will be getting a card in the mail from me very soon.

So I've been doing a little research. I pored over several Etsy stores and stumbled across these beauties:













I visited one of my favorite go-to paper sites: Paper-Source.




How about this one by Vera Wang?



I'm thinking this one might be the base of our Valentine's Day cards this year. Todd and I started the tradition of sending V-Day cards the first year of our marriage. I want to try to out-do last year's cards!






In other news, I started working on my goal of experimenting with new recipes. The first was an easy, delicious dish I found on Kraft foods. I grew pretty tired of their recipes last year, but they are stepping up their game. I made 'Shrimp, Tortellini & Spinach.'









Then later in the week my good friend Allison came over and we dug into our Pioneer Woman cookbooks. With her help I made my first recipe from PW's book, 'Simple, Perfect Enchiladas.' I don't know about the simple part, but they were definitely delicious! The trick with these is that you lightly fry the tortillas before you fill and wrap them. Yum! My grandmother makes the best enchiladas and I really think PW's come close. This will be a new staple in our house for sure.






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For dessert Allison made white chocolate chip pizookie. She got a little stir-happy and somehow managed to snap the wooden spoon in half. Who knew she was so strong?!





I also made some homemade chocolate chip cookies. For Christmas Todd's mom bought me a Silpat liner. It will change the way you bake cookies. I can't believe I went this long without one! Perfect cookies everytime and NO sticking.



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Stationary and cookies seem a bit trivial in light of everything going on in Haiti. I have had several friends visit on missions trips in the past and know that this country was hurting long before the earthquake hit. It has been incredible to see so many step up to help. Organizations like Compassion and World Vision are great resources for donating money to those aiding the victims of this tragedy.


Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

1 comment

  1. Your blog makes me hungry! It's so fun to read about your cooking adventures because I have recently mustered up the courage to be adventurous in the kitchen. :) I have steered away from enchiladas because of all of the steps involved; thanks for the tip about frying them before you roll them. I will have to try it out (when I feel more courageous than I do today). :D

    Also, I vote for the Vera Wang Valentine, not because I'm a brand fanatic. I just think it's exquisite. So so pretty.

    Thanks for sharing!

    P.S. Blog-stalking is awesome. I am a blog-stalker, too (yours, that is). My secret's out!

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