Nesting: The Living Room

I haven't shared too many photos of our home on here yet because it's still a work in progress & we still want to need to get permission to paint. But day by day our little home becomes a little more us and a little more lived in. 

Last week we put the finishing touch on our living area. 

Eventually we'll make a big purchase of buying new couches or a nice chair, but for now two slip-covered old Ethan Allen couches are serving us just fine. This area is our neutral oasis in a room with green accent walls and navy borders (did I mention we reallly want to paint?) But it's a neutral enough backdrop that if one day we do throw in an accent color (like a different blanket or pillow), everything will be able to coexist. And lately I haven't been drawn to colors so much as to patterns and textures. Hence the chevrons, stripes, checkers, baskets, wood and wool. I think patterns and textures offer a happy compromise between a decor that is too girly or too masculine. If you're interested in throwing some patterns into your own life, here's a peak at the making of our living room.

pillows . rug . throw

One Ingredient ||| Three Ways

If you were around a few weeks ago you remember I made way too much food for a certain football game watch party. Well part of that spread was a 5-lb. pork butt that we cooked in the slow cooker for some carnitas nachos. One baking sheet of nachos proved to be more than enough for us, so we had a lot of shredded pork left over. One week later, I was happy proud to say we used the rest of the pork in three different dishes, making my resourceful and creative heart very happy (not to mention our stomachs).

So first comes the cooking of the pork. We altered this beer braised pork recipe from Bon Appetit so we could cook it in a slow cooker instead of in a pot, which really just meant increasing the liquid & cooking time. We cooked it on low for about six hours until the pork fell off the bone (our pork butt wasn't boneless). At this point, remove the meat from the pot and shred with a fork. Store in a container until it's time to make one, two or all three of the following:

1. CARNITAS NACHOS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Reheat desired amount of carnitas in a pan. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Layer tortilla chips, carnitas, 1 can rinsed black beans, 1 chopped onion and shredded cheese (we grated sharp cheddar and Monterrey Jack). Bake 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve with guacamole, salsa, sour cream or pico de gallo.

2. BBQ PORK SANDWICHES + SWEET POTATO FRIES
Place desired amount of carnitas in a pan on medium heat. Pour in your favorite barbeque sauce (for us, that's KC Masterpiece Original) and a few tablespoons of water so the sauce doesn't burn and the meat doesn't dry out. Serve on toasted burger buns alongside some sweet potato fries.

3. ASIAN PORK with NOODLES and SUGAR SNAP PEAS
(I adapted a recipe from Real Simple to be able to sub in a lot of the specialty ingredients I bought a few weeks ago for these chicken lettuce wraps. My resourceful heart was the happiest about this one.)  Place desired amount of carnitas in a pan on medium heat. Pour in 1-2 tbs. soy sauce, 1 tsp. chili garlic sauce, 1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger, 1 tbs. mirin and 1 tbs. garlic rice vinegar. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and add udon noodles. Cook 4-5 minutes, adding sugar snap peas during the last minute of cooking. Strain and combine in pan with pork. Toss to coat noodles and sugar snap peas. At this point you can add more soy sauce if needed.

My Must List: Art to See

Lately I've found myself a little uninspired. With so much free time on my hands right now I could be creating things left and right—writing, art, home decor, photo albums ... the list goes on and on. And yet when it comes down to it, it seems like the only thing that has my creative juices flowing these days is cooking. Which is great and I love it, but the lack of other creative outlets is catching up with me. For example, I'm a little embarrassed to say how little art I've consumed in the past few months. Being in a new city with plenty of museums and galleries to explore really gives me no excuse. Just in the past few days alone there are so many art exhibitions I've read about that have me itching to be in a gallery getting lost inside a new work of art.

Here are a few of my must-see exhibitions for this spring (added bonuses are that two involve traveling ;) ).

1) The Progress of Love @ The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts (St. Louis) *as well as the Menil in Houston
2) Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity @ The Metropolitan Museum (New York)
3) Picasso Black and White @ The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston