Chickpea + Sausage Minestrone

(source)

Can we all just agree that it is officially soup season? It's probably been soup season for a few months for most of us, but now that most days are too cold to bear, and cold/flu season is in full swing (I'm looking at you random achy feeling that took over me yesterday!) I could be content eating soup all day every day. But I don't think the man of the house would be quite as big of a fan of that. So I try to limit myself to one (maybe two...) soup dinners per week, with lots of leftovers for lunch. 

Lately this chickpea and sausage minestrone has become a fixture in my meal arsenal. I like that it packs a lot of veggies into one meal: chickpeas, tomatoes, carrots and celery, plus I like to throw in kale or spinach leaves depending on what's in the fridge. I also like that it includes meat and a nice subtle heat thanks to the red pepper flakes, so it keeps the men happy, too! Throw in a handful of small shell pasta and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and you'll find me oh so happy to have this more than once per week.

What's your favorite soup recipe right now? 

Here I Go Again

Here I go again going months without a peep. Not a hello, how are ya, what's happening. Not a photo. Well, I won't search for excuses, cause we all know how it goes. I'll just do a roundup of sorts so that the most recent post to no longer say "July 6" and you aren't still learning how to move a walkway (you're all pros by now, right?)

Speaking of walkway, here's what surrounds it now. We planted some moss and beautiful hostas. This photo is from July when everything was fresh and green.

We took Clover camping for the first time, and she loved it. This girl would live in water if she could.

We made a fountain for our backyard. It was fun to figure out how to make one ourselves. Plus we just can't go very long these days without a project.

We celebrated Feast Magazine's fourth birthday at a little bash in Forest Park. With the magazine's recent regional expansion, it's been fun to expand my columns and articles to cover food and people outside of St. Louis, including Columbia. Stay tuned for a super fun feature I got to write for the November issue.

We got a new couch -- and Clover promptly called dibs.

We built a fence. I repeat: WE BUILT A FENCE. Jonathan and his dad built a fence, but I improved my drilling skills and can level and plumb with the best of them now. 

It's fall, so of course we went apple picking at Eckert's. This year we were more modest in our picking and stuck with just one bag (20-25 pounds, people!). I still have a list of goodies needing to be made, but apple pie and apple crisp have been checked off the list. 

At the end of September we participated in the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network PurpleStride 5K. I say participated because "ran" would be an overstatement for me (hey, what do you expect when six weeks of "training" only amounted to three or four evening jogs?). It was a great experience nonetheless. If you want to know more about supporting an organization newly dear to my heart, go here and learn how you can help "Know it. Fight it. End it."

Last but not least, the Turturros take St. Louis! This past weekend we got to host my family for the first time in our new home. It was so sweet to hold so many people we love under one roof. We spent plenty of time enjoying a perfectly fall weekend walking in Forest Park and making the rounds of the good food our fair city has to offer--breakfast at Kayak's, Pastaria for lunch, a shopping trip to Di Gregorio's market on The Hill for Italian necessities, a few sweets to go from Missouri Baking Company, Pappy's carryout for dinner, Cucina Pazzo for brunch and a final stop at Kaldi's to caffeinate before good-byes. We never go hungry, ok? But why are weekend visits always too short?

We're off to Steamboat Springs, CO, this weekend for a five-day getaway with Jonathan's family. So I need to go figure out how to pack for the possibility of snow in October...

The Day We Moved a Walkway

When we moved in, Jonathan created a list of short-term projects and long-term projects for us to tackle. We've quickly learned that we don't pay much attention to those labels, as many long-term projects have already been crossed off our list. I guess it just depends on what we feel up to on any given weekend.

The final weekend in June, since we knew that family was coming to visit for the Fourth of July, we were extra motivated to tackle a biggie. Our backyard is a work in progress (it needs a fence, a better patio/deck, landscaping and some overall TLC) but one of the more day-to-day things we've experienced is that the stone walkway that existed did not point the direction we walked. It went from the sidewalk to the side of the garage, rather than leading you to the door.

The Before:

• We started by digging up and piling up all the stones that were in the current path. 
• Next we placed stakes along the path that we imagined building, tying string from stake to stake to create a straight line and a consistent height for us to make the stone path. 
• We dug the path about 4 inches deep and used some of the dirt to fill the holes the stones had left behind.

• We bought 14 bags of rock dust and 7 bags of paver sand (split between two separate trips to the hardware store because we underestimated how much material we would need).
• We placed the stones along the dug up path to figure out how we wanted them to fit together. This is the part that is like a giant puzzle with no instructions.

• Next we removed one section of the path at a time, placing the stones flipped upside down along the side of the path so that we just had to flip them right side up to be where we wanted them. We split our path into about 7 sections.
• Each section used two bags of rock dust with one bag of paver sand on top. In between each step there was some stomping action with a tamper.
• Since the stones varied in thickness, sometimes we had to add more sand or remove it so that the pathway would remain level.
• We repeated this (with many sitting and hydrating breaks in between) until the path was complete. 

• Finally we raked the remaining dirt back onto the path to fill in the gaps.

Not pictured: the sore muscles, scrapes, cuts, bruises and sweat that also made their way into the path.

Our next step will be to fill in the gaps with stepable plants. We will be using Irish moss. None of the nurseries or garden stores around here had any remaining, so we ordered some online (who are we ordering plants online?) This is the general idea:

There you have it: how to make a stone walkway in one day. We watched many This Old House tutorials before starting the project, so go on over to their site to learn more from people who actually know what they're talking about (here and here). 

Our First Place

Like I said in a previous post, buying a house was not on our to-do list for 2014. Really the only thing on our to-do list was getting a dog. Did that early on, so what next? Kidding, that wasn't our logic. Regardless of our logic, buying our first home was another reminder that our idea of "timing" pales in comparison to His idea of timing.

We happened upon our house in a random, "let's just see what's out there" search online. Jonathan found this house that had just been flipped. Adorable outside, adorable inside. "Let's go check it out, what do we have to lose," we thought. We lucked out on our realtor just as randomly. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Gail. She happened to become our realtor because she's the one that was randomly assigned our inquiry for this house on Zillow. We really hit the lottery with this one. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

So we met Gail at the house and took a harmless tour.

And then I didn't want to leave. But, being the newly responsible adults that we were, we knew we had to look at more than just one house. Oh, and we also had to think through the whole buying a house thing. Cause we had kind of put the cart before the horse. 

So we researched, discussed, planned, made calculations... In the end, where we are in our jobs and the timing with our lease, plus realizing we'd like to call St. Louis home for a while longer, led us to the conclusion that buying was right for us right now. So we looked at a few more houses, but let's be honest: we had found the one. We had a few criteria that we weren't going to stray from: location (close to the highway so our commutes wouldn't increase), nice kitchen, not a fixer upper, at least two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and price. So all those things combined amounted to not too many options so we knew we found the one pretty quickly.

Back to Gail: she was the perfect realtor for us. Not pushy or salesy, she genuinely wanted us to feel comfortable with our decision. Not only that but she's a guru at renovations and old homes so it's been great to have her wealth of knowledge on our side, not to mention the list of experts she knows for any given project. Looking to buy or sell in St. Louis? Call Gail. 

One month ago we closed on our first home, a 1929 Dutch colonial. We learned a lot throughout the buying process (loans, mortgages, home inspections, appliances, priorities) and I know that learning will never end. Even though our place was move-in ready, there's a slew of projects we've already tackled and many more to cross off the list. Home Depot is our new hangout spot (my goal is for them to greet us by name). It's already been so rewarding to pour into creating this home together and knowing that it's ours. We especially love being part of a historic neighborhood that's still flourishing and reinventing itself. We already feel so much more invested in our community and city. We know this won't be our forever home, but right now it's right and it's ours.

Pineapple Mint Agua Fresca

Hot summertime deserves lots of refreshing beverages. Last month I went to Austin for a work trip, and afterwards Jonathan and my parents met up with me for the weekend. That city is foodie heaven. There are great restaurants around every corner. And if there's one thing we do when traveling it's eat. Brunch on Saturday was at La Condesa on 2nd Street in downtown. While the food was great, what really did me in was their refreshing pineapple mint agua fresca. I tried recreating it once, and while it still needs some perfecting, here's what you need to know.

Pineapple Mint Agua Fresca 

(makes half a pitcher)

what you'll need:

• 1 large can of pineapple chunks (or go for the fresh stuff!)
• 1/4 cup of fresh mint leaves
• simple syrup (to taste)
• water (fill the empty pineapple can twice)
• juice from 1 lime

what you'll do:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend well. If you don't mind bits of mint in your drink, you're done! Otherwise, pass the drink through a strainer to remove the bits of mint. Serve chilled and over ice. (Kick it up a notch with a splash of rum.)

Renters No More

In one week we'll be celebrating our first month in our first home. Or really our third home, but our first house (and the first we own!). But before we can celebrate our third (first), I want to give due attention to our second place. We only lived there for seven months, but it held a lot of special times nonetheless.

Our second floor flat had a lot of natural light, which I loved. When we moved back in November, our first project was to paint the master bedroom that was formerly red. Not pictured is the second bedroom that often just sat empty and the study turned leatherwork room. This place had some great character, namely the built in bookshelves in the living room, awesome wall of windows and great archway leading to the dining room. The kitchen was bigger than our first place and offered a lot more cabinet space. All in all it was a great home.

We had planned to rent this place for a year and a half, so the seven months that we ended up staying sound a little crazy now. But life's funny that way:) Anyway, the short time that we were there held some lovely moments:

• We celebrated our first anniversary the first day we moved in
• Our second Christmas together was celebrated with a lovely tree in that window-filled living room
• We adopted Clover and enjoyed many a game of fetch in that backyard
• I enjoyed my first working girl snow day
• We hosted our first big dinner party of 10 guests
• Friends and family visited
• Mom helped me spruce up the front porch and grow my green thumb

Thanks for the short but sweet stay, Linden.