Why oh why...

...are days at work so much longer than days spent at home? Seriously, the hours drag by when I am at work, but a day spent at home (not sleeping in, even) just zips by so quickly! Not fair at all.

Maybe if I didn't spend my free time at home consumed by Pinterest, I could get things done. But I am addicted! This is the face my cat makes at me when I spend too much time on Pinterest:

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

The weather has finally started to cool down here and I thought it would be a great night to try out this recipe for Baked Potato soup. I really love baked potato soup. Safeway (or perhaps Vons in your area) sells a great version of it with their signature cafe soups. This one was pretty good, though I ended up altering it a bit as I was cooking. Here is the recipe from the website:

Ingredients

• 3 bacon strips, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Minced fresh parsley

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley. 

 I ended up leaving out the dried basil, the fresh parsley, and the hot pepper sauce, and I added about a half of a cup more of the chicken broth and an extra strip of bacon, cause you know, its bacon.

I cooked the bacon in my dutch oven pot, cooked the onions and garlic in the drippings, and mixed in the flour and broth. It was at this point that I actually read the list of ingredients and realized that it calls for cooked potato. Derp. So I cubed my uncooked potatoes and threw them in the pot. It came out just fine anyway. I also added about 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese as I was mixing in the cream. I garnished the soup with more cheese, diced green onion, and bacon bits. Noms to the max. I think this will be a great recipe for chilly fall and winter nights.

 Also, I recommend pairing this soup with some kind of raw vegetable. I went with a spinach salad. Its such a rich, bacon-y, creamy soup that I really felt the need to have some kind of healthy vegetable with it so my arteries didn't immediately seize up.

 

This week...mail surprises, sandwiches, nail polish.

On a particularly horrible day, I came home from work and was surprised buy this super, wonderful, thoughtful mail:

Our wonderful friend, Caleb, sent these magnets to us. How freaking cute are these, just look at the little ties and the tiny wands!? I love the beard on Fig and my hair. And the fact that he personalized it with our houses, too! I LOVE these and it was so incredibly thoughtful and meant so much to me on that particular day. I have the best friends. Seriously.

Another highlight to this past week were these awesome sandwiches and french fries I made. I had been craving a roast beef sandwich with Aus ju dip all day, but didn't want to spend the money to eat out or spend the time making a roast and creating the dip from scratch. So, I bought some sliced deli roast beef and a good french loaf. I added caramelized onions and a few bits of shaved parmesan, I think provolone or swiss would have been good, but parm was all I had. I buttered up both sides of the bread before slapping this all together and tossing it into the oven to warm and toast up a bit. The dip was just beef broth with a little Worcestershire, not the highlight of the meal. Also, I've never made fries from scratch (always used the frozen kind), but this was so easy I can't imagine not doing this way from now on. I just cut up the potatoes, tossed them with a little canola oil and lots of seasonings and then tossed them into a 425 degree oven for about 30-40 min. Yums.

And finally, I changed my nail polish, which is not really important to you, but it sure is making me smile. I'm really digging the glitter stuff right now, I also bought a gold glitter polish for the next mani. The down side is that I'm thinking this stuff is going to be a pain to take off. Derp.

Blogging World Wide!

Check out Blogging World Wide! A new blogging series created by Mary Rebecca!

The Heart Bandit

Hello there! Just wanted to share a new painting I recently completed. I think I may list this in my Etsy shop soon. This is The Heart Bandit and her sack of stolen hearts:

SemiNomadicSoap!

I just wanted to share my amazing experience with Will and Serra of SemiNomadicSoap. I ordered the 4 bars for 10 bucks (2 eucalyptus mint, 1 cedarwood sage, 1 peppermint for me). I've ordered from this shop a few times now and each time I am impressed by their customer service. I mentioned one of my other orders from them in a previous post. The soaps are exceptional. They smell wonderful, they have a great look and feel, and the packaging is simple and pleasing. They always include a little something extra, which isn't necessary but makes all the difference. It's not that I like getting stuff for free (but who doesn't really?), it's just feels like they put a little extra care into the package, like they actually put enough thought into it to think I might enjoy trying a new scent or the beautiful handmade soap dish they included in this last order. Plus, their communication is great, they let me know right away that they had shipped my order (which, by the way, arrived super-fast) and they thanked me for my business. They are wonderful sellers and I highly recommend purchasing from them if you are in the market for top notch handmade soaps and quality customer care.

Check out my loot! Please excuse the not so great pictures...I've been dinking around with the retro camera app on my phone. But for better pictures, check out their shop: SemiNomadicSoap

The four bars I ordered, plus a mini soap in a new scent I haven't tried, PLUS a really awesome, handmade soap dish! Score!

Retro camera app (blurry) pic of the Eucalyptus Mint bar...my FAVORITE. It smells so clean and so refreshing. If you're going to order from them and are having trouble deciding...this is the one I recommend trying first.

Its Thursday...

Guinness Beef Stew (ZOMG YUM) from Doyles

Lovely chocolate croissant from Le Panier