Life – Page 11 – morestomach

october | remember

Published on October 31, 2013November 4, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach10 Comments

it’s full on scarf and cowl season
of course i lament my beginner knitting skills
and i daydream about playing with yarn
but sit me down with a hook
and i’m itching to get up to knead dough
that’s how it goes, you know?

witnessed …. at a college job fair the interaction between a potential employer and girl dressed in full on assassin ninja garb, complete with black gloves. i could be wrong, she may have been auditioning for a gwen stefani music video.
touched …. a gypsy who read my palms and told me basically everything a buddhist monk once told me when i was kid.
shook my head at …. this. i despair.
participated …. in the most obnoxious FB status war ever, all in part due to judgement and just plain stubbornness
remained …. enamored with this man, though slightly disappointed that some of his mysterious aura has faded
reenacted …. this video. because dw & i like to dance fight to club music

a few pinterest discoveries:
|| i desire just one more tattoo
|| mayhap a snowstorm hits us this winter, and we can create something like this
|| i’ve made this twice already, and it’s amazing, one day i might blog about it
|| finished this book and again, i am in complete awe of this man
|| in the meantime, i’m digging into this book

photo captions:
an old school vw bus. it makes me think of woodstock, especially out in the field that we were at. minus the mud & pot
october sky in north carolina
a late day in our home, the light, oh the light

snickerdoodles

Published on October 24, 2013October 22, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach11 Comments

within our humble home not much has changed:
i still spend countless seconds at the stove
i flip pages of beloved cookbooks for inspiration
dw is sorting laundry, whistling a tuneless tune
the house is a constant clutter of things
it’s comforting, our routines

there is a perpetual breeze wafting through the open living room window,
it is cool, almost bitingly so,
so i am huddled on the couch with a lap blanket
nursing a watery cup of coffee
as i have yet to figure out what the right
measurements of coffee grinds:water is with the new keurig

without our humble abode some things have changed:
the leaves are a riot fire of reds, oranges and yellows
the dark is still prevalent when we rise for the day
there is a constant greyness that hangs in the air,
even on the brightest of days
i reach for scarves,
soon it’ll be gloves and ear muffs
i beg dw to wear a jacket
before long i’ll leave a pot simmering of
citrus + rosemary to perfume the air,
signaling, for me, that the season of
hibernation has begun

meanwhile, the oven has been turned on,
seemingly permanently,
and small treats to greet the early evening
grace our dessert table
dw made these for me recently
i saw them on instagram
about 30 minutes later
they were in my face

here’s to autumn and all the sweetness it brings

snickerdoodles – dairy free & gluten free
adapted from deliciously organic
*note: we didn’t have gelatin so we used agaragar, which honestly, i think could be taken out. as far as i know, it can’t be activated unless in boiling water… we halved carrie’s recipe, because we’re trying to keep our booty sizes in check.

makes 6 cookies

1 cup almond flour
1 TBL qunioa flour
1 TBL peanut butter
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp agaragar
under 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 cup honey
2 1/2 TBL coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 cup coconut sugar

preheat oven to 350 degrees

whisk together almond flour, quinoa flour, peanut butter, salt, baking soda, gelatin and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl. pour in honey and butter until mixed through

in a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon

divide dough into 6 equal balls, roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on baking sheet

bake for 12 minutes

other cookie magic:
savory simple – butterfinger shortbread cookies
emma eats – vanilla bean & cocoa pâte sablées
annie’s eats – fudge stripe cookies
cooking classy – somoa sugar cookies
averie cooks – soft PB & coconut oil cookies

wedding | redamancy day

Published on October 21, 2013October 23, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach30 Comments

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redamancy – (red-uh-muhn–see) (n) the act of loving the one who loves you,
a love returned in full

3+ weeks ago
my beloved & i stood in
front of our loves
and committed to One Love

it was a warm september day
approximately 961 days after we first met
after 271 days of planning
and i was sweating like a whore in church

it went exactly like i thought it would:
a blur
but in today’s post i will slow it down
include our top priorities,
what we had to have
what we were willing to let go of
and everything in between

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we chose this venue because of their responsible relationship with food and local sustainability, but also noteworthy: their impeccable service and attention to detail. it is one of dw’s all time favorite restaurants and i have always loved this area of the city.

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initially, we were going to have my best friend Kelcy bake our cake but due to some new MD laws, we had to use their in-house pastry chef who created this very simple cake. it is dairy doom laden, but she was kind enough to make a small dairy free treat on the side.

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our guestbook is now hanging in our living room. if you’re interested in having one done for your event, you can reach out to me & i’ll put you in touch with Stephanie A.

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i purchased our bouquets, boutonnieres & flowers from a booth at our farmer’s market. i’m part of a local food group on google and she posted something about her new flower garden and well, i loved her inclusion of herbs. i was sold & i never even met her. our correspondence was all via text and email. on day of, núria’s husband picked up the flowers for me.

brideswenches

núria read a poem by hafiz, translated by daniel ladinsky:
our union is like this:
you feel cold, so i reach for a blanket to cover our shivering feet
a hunger comes into your body, so i run to my garden and start digging potatoes
you asked for a few words of comfort and guidance, and i quickly kneel by your side offering you a whole book as a gift
you ache with loneliness one night so much you weep, and i say here is a rope, tie it around me, i will be your companion for life

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we practically whispered our vows. and i have an ugly cry face which is why i’m not sharing it. just being real here.

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dw purchased my engagement ring from a local jewelry store in the city. i was out of town, at last year’s mixed con and 2 months later, on new year’s day, at 2am, he proposed. PS. i like the color red and the two rubies on the side are a tribute to that fondness.

photos courtesy of luke eshleman & used with permission

october | 10 hours

Published on October 11, 2013October 10, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach13 Comments

october has come in
with rain on her heels
there is no complaint from me,
we’ve needed it here around these parts
the temperatures have sufficiently
lowered to the appropriate season
and i’ve got soups and stews
and oven worthy concoctions
on my mind
after spending just a benjamin
on our wedding flowers
i’m now turned on to the idea of
purchasing a bouquet from the farmer’s market
every week
to remind us of the living
while most everything else
goes into decline
and fades
here’s to the 10th month

this is the 10 on 10 project
to participate, go here

painting | our wedding guest book is now hanging in the living room & it’s a fabulous view

view | speaking of views: on clear nights we can hear and see the crowds during ravens’ games

trees | soon these trees will be bare

raindrops | it’s been a steady rain today

dry | drying flowers from my wedding bouquet

seeds | about to roast up some butternut squash seeds for dinner

gift | a coffee cup and saucer set

process | the whole food photography set up can be exhausting sometimes

flowers | almost two weeks later and our wedding flowers still look so good

end | the end of day looks like this

homemade UP! buttons house

Published on October 7, 2013October 4, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach18 Comments

it might sound boring, but i think the boring stuff is the stuff i remember most. -up!

for our fourth or fifth date
(or based on the link below, the third date…)
dw invited me over to his home,
for a movie and dinner
i learned a few things on that date
most importantly,
for a white guy he’s very asian that he
requires shoes to be taken off the moment you enter the abode,
(a habit i promptly discarded the second i left home)
he’s fantastic in the kitchen
and he’s a great kisser
{blush}

let me just go ahead and disclose that i’m
an awkward person
touching is not my forte
i’m not a feely kind of girl
i tend to say inappropriate things to alleviate stress
and diffuse a situation
and farting cracks me up
every.single.time.
from a clinical standpoint,
the meshing of two people’s lips is weird
i have a hard enough time with my own lips
introducing another set is just odd
we were reaching a point in the whole dating thing,
where it was going to be a fabulous friendship
or a glorious love story
my inability to move toward that really painful
gawky First Kiss
and moving beyond it
was decidedly stressing me the eff out

we watched Up!
another thing:
i don’t like cartoons
but i sat through it
because sitting next to him was nice
while the credits rolled
i was in the middle of saying something
when he leaned in and laid one on me
i paused and thought
“oh there it is. that’s out of the way. that’s nice.”
and then i awkwardly kept talking

moral of the story:
i’m graceless
we survived the first kiss thing
we continued to kiss
we continue to kiss
and we are now living our glorious love story

for his groom’s gift i made him this picture
lawd knows i have a bunch of watercolors
and a container of buttons for some reason
when i saw this tutorial on pinterest
you bet your ass i had it in my head to make my own
we happened to be visiting his hometown of Rochester
i made him take me to his childhood house
snapped a pic of it on my phone
and then spent about three hours putting it
all together

busted buttons has a great tutorial,
hello, i was able to follow it,
go there for instructions
in the meantime,
you see that little attic window at the top
of the house?
little boy dw would crawl into that space
and yell down to people in the street from it
how effing adorable and weird is that shit???