on the menu… we’re going gluten free!

By Kelly on March 16, 2012

I have been wanting to try a gluten free diet for some time now as I know so many people that feel a billion times better when they do. Well, after two weeks of eating out and just generally eating horribly, we’ve decided to test it out. This will probably be one of the hardest things ever as my favorite food group is bread. Yes, I know there is gluten free bread, but that is not the challah, that is not the foccacia and that is not the Doughboy’s baguette that I know and love. Oh so sad. But, while I don’t know if we will stay completely gluten free forever, it’s worth a try to see if either of us feel better. And, BONUS, Mike and Lauren are doing it too. In the words of Lauren, “It’s a bi-coastal experiment!” So wish us luck as we say farewell to dishes like this yummy apple cobbler french toast and start experimenting with alternative flours and ingredients in cooking and baking! Our first gluten free menu…

apple-cobbler-french-toast

Sun: Burgers (Assuming I can find gluten-free burger buns/rolls!)

Mon: Baked Spinach and Pea Risotto

Tues: Tex Mex Migas

Wed: Pesto Pizza with Artichoke and Goat Cheese

Thurs: French Onion Chicken

Fri: Sweet Potato Falafel

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east comes west

By Jeff on March 7, 2012

Yesterday wrapped up a five day visit from Kelly’s parents. Although they were only here for a short amount of time, we managed to cram a lot into the few days we had with them.

If you’ve been following our updates on Facebook and Twitter, you already know that our spare bedroom looked like a bomb hit it before (I’m taking credit here) I lit a fire under Kelly’s ass to finally organize everything in there. Long story short, I built a Container Store shelving unit and desk in there to move everything on the floor to the wall so that we had room to put in a bed in time for our round of visitors this month (See HERE). By the time the Lanzas got here last week, you would have never known that two weeks earlier, I was jumping over bags of fabric and scissors to open the window.

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MY favorite thing that we did was visit LACMA on Sunday afternoon to see the Metropolis and California Design exhibits which were both pretty damn cool. (Kelly shows off her best duck face below.)

lacmalacma2We had an awesome time with the Lanzas, and now it’s time to change the sheets, wash the towels and prep for my sister’s arrival on Saturday for her few days in the sun. After that, my buddy Kayden is in LA. Then three weeks later, we’re in Vegas for Easter with my family (only the Mindells). It doesn’t stop people!

Until next time,

J

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

By Kelly on February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!! I love this holiday, Jeff does not. Just another way to prove opposites attract, eh? Judging by the torture that was getting these pictures, I’d say Bella sides with Jeff on this one. But in my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with celebrating love a little extra today, though I have to say it’s not nearly as fun once you leave elementary school and don’t get to make your own Valentine mailboxes any more! We’re staying in tonight and doing our Breakfast for Dinner Tuesday tradition (Valentine-i-fied), woohoo! Celebrate love with all those you love today, just because you can!

valentine-dog-sweater bella

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behind the scenes

By Kelly on February 10, 2012

Since Jeff has been home a lot more lately, he has been not-so-happily recruited to be my DIY partner in crime and on-call photographer. I wanted to share a few behind the scenes shots today showing how all three of us get involved. Of course, being a rather uninterested man behind the camera, he finds his own ways to have fun while photographing pink heart balloons and colorful confetti. Jeff likes to leave surprises on the camera, lovely self-portraits of himself that pop up amongst my pretty project pictures. And while he probably never thought they’d see the light of day… here they are! What’s that they say? Love is blind?

bella bella-behind-the-scenes

diy-project-behind-the-scenes behind-the-scenes-diy

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Orange you glad I bought a Groupon for an art class on the roof of a building in Koreatown?

By Jeff on February 8, 2012

This bottom photo is of Kel’s final painting of an orange. My painting of an orange will not be shown to spare embarrassment of oranges worldwide. Seriously.

Kel got a group deal a few months back for an art class for two that we finally redeemed tonight. It was actually a pretty fun experience as we sat next to another couple who were there for the same reason. They were smart enough to bring a bottle of wine with them. And come to think of it, their oranges were damn good as well.

Nevertheless, something a little different never hurt anyone!

Special shout out to Ann Bridges for helping me “free my mind”.

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update: twelve by 2012

By Kelly on February 6, 2012

It’s 2012 now so I figured I should give you an update on my twelve by 2012 goals. Unfortunately, I did not meet all my goals but I did accomplish a bunch of them. I’m not giving up but just giving myself an extension, hoping to meet each and every one ASAP. We shall see!

1. Successfully launch Studio DIY!
Done! Launched November 7th with a great reception from the blogging community! Hip hip HOORAY!

2. Finish our dining room table & chair makeover & submit it to the design*sponge before & after column
Nope. Unfortunately our table spent most of it’s life at the end of 2011 covered in a pile of tissue paper, cookies and glitter. You can thank Christmas for that one.

3. Make a pie, crust and all, from scratch!
Oh yes! Two in fact! I made a pumpkin pie entirely from scratch (including roasting my own pumpkin for the puree, fun!) I also made a cranberry apple pie for Thanksgiving. Delish.

4. Participate in at least one blog’s holiday exchange
One? Well, let’s say I overachieved on this one to make up for not finishing a few others. I participated in a cookie exchange, card exchange, ornament exchange and lovely package exchange. Needless to say I was a bit of a madwoman around the holidays (See # 2 above) and plan to tone it down next year.

5. Go to Disneyland
I don’t want to talk about it. We still haven’t gotten our California licenses, therefore preventing us from getting our season passes. Despite Jeff’s resistance, this will happen. Soon.

6. Test and develop three “signature” Christmas cookie recipes
Oh I baked alright. Around 10 kinds I believe. Favorites were soft gingersnaps, Italian rainbow cookies (duh), s’mores bars (again, duh) and my mom’s recipe for peanut butter chocolate cocoa krispie clusters. Score!

7. Finalize my business card design and order or DIY them
This is now done, so I’m crossing it off the list, however I actually did them in the beginning of January, just in time for Alt Summit!

8. Adopt a child or family for the holidays
We didn’t officially adopt a child/family for the holidays but we did donate some crafty toys to Toys For Tots!

9. Go to a dance class
Bad Kelly. I miss dance more and more every day yet have not made it to a class yet. Working on it!

10. Successfully make a loaf of challah
Nope, though I’ve eaten a few!

11. Visit NYC
I ended 2011 with many NYC visits… hooray! I love LA to death, but I will always miss New York!

12. Going to reach for the stars here… Get my health in check (or at least well on the road to it!)
Sadly I reached for the stars… and missed. No progress here yet but if anyone has a miracle worker in LA, send them my way!

And that’s a wrap! Here’s to getting all of these accomplished well before 2013!

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happy birthday!

By Kelly on February 5, 2012

happy-birthday

A very special Happy Birthday to the love of my our life lives!

Love,

Kelly (and Bella)

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on the menu

By Kelly on January 31, 2012

Well, geez, it’s been awhile, huh? To say things have been busy around here is an understatement. Somehow holding four freelance jobs, traveling, crafting and baking for the holidays and attending Alt Summit takes up an enormous amount of time… who knew? We spent the weekend in Palm Springs for a semi-successful attempt at getting me to take a break and relax and while we were there I had the most delicious blood orange french toast at Cheekys. Oh, yum. It got me on a blood orange kick so I’m attempting to recreate it this week, and use blood orange in risotto too! Racy! But more important than all of this… Jeff’s birthday is on Sunday! That means it’s time to break out the big guns and get cracking on his annual birthday cake: the Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake. It’s his favorite thing I make (and probably mine too) and it only happens once a year so things are getting pretty exciting in our household! In the meantime, here’s a peek at this week’s menu…

blood-orange-french-toast

Sunday: Artichoke Soup (I used basil instead of mint, and we still aren’t sure how we felt about this soup…)

Monday: Avocado Pasta (+ chicken! This is one of our favorite go-to meals still)

Tuesday: Blood Orange French Toast

Wednesday: Lemon Feta Chicken (+ Israeli coucous?)

Thursday: Blood Orange + Fennel Risotto (First time cooking with fennel!)

Friday: Date night @ El Coyote!

Saturday: Caramelized Onion, Gruyere + Dried Cherry Pita Pizzas

Sunday (Jeff’s Birthday AND Super Bowl!): Feta dip, Venetian Rolled Pizza and of course… My annual Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake for the birthday boy!

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weekend snapshot: an early bday surprise

By Jeff on January 16, 2012

If you know me, you know I hate surprises. Unfortunately, there is no greater joy in Kelly’s life besides surprising me. Letterpress and surprising me. Besides the time she flew across the country without telling me, this could take the cake as her biggest surprise thus far.

Let’s go back.

Friday afternoon we are emailing back at forth while at work about our plans for dinner. Kel suggests we go DTLA to hit a happy hour at a place near L.A. Live. I’m thinking “Alright, but tonight is Lakers-Cavs at Staples so have fun with that parking.” I get home from work, we get ready and drive (traffic-free?) downtown – we find cheap parking and walk to dinner. It’s about an hour and a half before the game starts and we have to walk past Staples Center to get to where we were headed anyway. A huge promotional poster for the MJ Cirque show that’s coming soon was hanging near the ticket window- a perfect excuse for Kel to head over “just curious about ticket prices”. I’m not really paying attention until I hear her ask for the two tickets that she reserved for that evening’s Laker game… EXCUSE ME? She pulls out my LAL tee that she was hiding in her bag and throws it at me. “Surprise!” – Damn.

Long story short, I’m basically stunned through the entire dinner until about halftime. We had pretty amazing seats, they won, and we went out for post-game dessert at Syrup, so you could say we had a good night.

tixjksyrup

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And we’re back!

By Jeff on January 11, 2012

After a pretty long hiatus, we’re back to blogging on the regular! To bring you all up to speed, we had a great trip home to the East Coast for Christmas. (I, in particular, had a pretty grueling travel schedule.) We both flew from LA to NJ and spent a few days with Kelly’s family. It was great to be back in the cold air, back in the city, on our home turf.

On Christmas day, I left Kel and flew down to spend the next few days with my family in South Florida (see our beautiful family portrait below). We went to the beach, spent some time in Miami, and I took full advantage of my awesome bed at home by catching up on hours and hours of glorious sleep.

The day before NYE, we both left our respective corners of the country and met back at LAX, just in time to ring in 2012, west coast style. It’s now my job to keep up with one of my three resolutions, which was to get back in the gym. I fell out of the habit for a while, but so far, I’ve been every day this year! What did you guys make as your resolutions?

lanzasxmasmindells

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