Author Archives: mszerwo

{WINE WEDNESDAY} National Chardonnay Day

Posted in Drinky drinky, Food, Wine Wednesdays by

WineWednesdayTomorrow is a very special day: National Chardonnay Day!

I’ve recently discovered that Chardonnay is my least favorite wine, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to enjoy it from time to time.

Here is an enjoyable spring dinner that would pair perfect with the Chardonnay of your choice, based loosely on this Williams Sonoma salmon tacos recipe. We enjoyed ours with an Efeste Lola Chardonnay, which has scored excellently with Chardonnay lovers and experts.

Efeste Lola Chardonnay, salmon tacos

Happy Wine Wednesday!

For the fruit salsa…

  • Chop up a mango, avocado, and strawberries. (About 1 cup of each)
  • Add one chopped shallot and about a cup of chopped cilantro. Add some white balsamic vinegar and lime juice. 
  • Let the salsa sit and marinate in its own juices.  

For the guacamole…

We love, love, love guacamole, so when given the opportunity, we make it.

  • 2 avocados (we plan 2/3 an avocado per person, if we’re getting really crazy, Brandon will drizzle the halves with olive oil and broil them open side down until they’re a little charred)
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • A few drops of Tabasco
  • A pinch of aleppo pepper
  • 1/2 – 1 tablespoon of lime juice
  • A pinch of salt and pepper
  • Blend all ingredients together (Brandon likes to use this tool from Crate & Barrel for his guac making)
  • Sample often to make sure that it’s the best guacamole ever.

For the salmon…

  • Plan on using about 1/3 lb of salmon filet per person
  • Keep the skin on and remove the bones from the salmon. I use a pair of needle-nose pliers and they work perfect. We have a pair specifically for the kitchen. 
  • Pat the salmon dry and rub it with a seafood rub. Our favorite is Tom Douglas’ Salmon Rub with Love.
  • Grill the salmon, skin side down, until its opaque throughout
  • Let the salmon cool (just a bit), removed the skin and cut it into large chunks. Place the chunks on some warmed corn tortillas, garnish and enjoy! (We served our tacos with a side of white beans…) 
Salmon tacos

Happy Wine Wednesday!

Crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy your Wine Wednesday!

Long weekend list making…

Posted in Around the house, DIY, Garden by

With our home to-do list swirling around my head in anticipation of the long weekend, I’ve got lots and lots to think about. The weather reports are undecided on whether its going to rain or not, so I have ideas of both indoor and outdoor projects.

Weather dependent, our grand weekend plans will hopefully include:

  • Buy all of the components for the pizza oven (just in case it doesn’t rain!)
  • Build the pizza oven base and secure the steel sheet
  • Repair (re-do) the step under the new stairs in the backyard (concrete blocks and bricks)
  • Put up the bistro lights (!!!)
  • Cut the wine barrels in half (If it works: stain and remove rust and figure out what to plant)
  • Take a trip to the dump, if there is time
  • Paint the new trim in the living room, touch up the wall paint
  • Paint the new bathroom baseboards
  • Caulk the hallway siding
  • Paint the ceiling patch in the hallway
  • Put the extra hardy board siding on Craigslist/take it to the dump
  • Buy some Copper River salmon and cedar plank it on the grill. (YUM! One of my favorite culinary times of the year!)

What do you think? Think we’ll have enough to do over the long weekend?!

{Wine Wednesday} Custom wine glasses

Posted in Crafts, DIY, Drinky drinky, Uncategorized, Wine Wednesdays by

More wine crafts! (Two of my favorite things: crafting and wine!)

Wine Wednesday custom wine glasses

Wine Wednesday custom wine glasses

My sister got married last fall and as I was planning her wine tasting bachelorette party, I came across some great ideas for the party, including these custom wineglasses.

Besides being the easiest things ever to make, these have unlimited options for customization. I’m thinking it would be so fun to make some bright pink ones for another bachelorette party or some gilded ones for the holidays and New Year’s Eve. I also have some small juice glasses that I was going to use for tea lights at my wedding that I’d like to customize for parties — now just to choose which parties and colors!

 

These custom glasses can be created in just a few simple steps:

  1. Gather your supplies: the glasses you plan on painting, painters tape, primer spray paint, a can of your favorite color of spray paint (I used chalkboard this time).
  2. Wash the glasses thoroughly and tape off the area you’d like to spray paint. I used 1″ wide painters tape and taped 1/2″ or so above the base of the glass.
  3. Once all of the glasses are taped, use the primer spray paint to thoroughly coat the area you want to paint. Wait several hours, as dictated by the brand you’re using.
  4. Next, repeat step three with the spray paint color of your choice. Keep your spray even and about 6″ away from the glass. Let it dry for 24 hours or so on top of some wax paper in a box. I didn’t have to paint the bottom of the glasses, but it you do, that should be a fourth step with similar spraying and drying guidelines.

I’d recommend buying your glassware at Ross,  Marshall’s, TJ Maxx or HomeGoods. You can probably find them for $1 or less.

Try to customize your own glassware and report back on the colors you’ve chosen and the success of your work! I’ll do the same and check back soon! Happy Wine Wednesday!!

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Posted in Cats, General, Photos by
Happy birthday Jack!

Happy birthday Jack!

I’m a pretty crazy cat lady and have tried to keep it under control on this blog… until now.

My little boy cat turned SIX today! He’s got a wild and crazy birthday planned: something fancy for breakfast and dinner, a day of relaxing on the couch, a few trips up and down the stairs and some quality time harassing Madison (his big sister cat), and lots and lots of snuggles with me.

Enjoy this trip down memory lane as I celebrate Jack’s sixth birthday and reminisce on the days when my little fluff ball first came into my life.

I love you, Jackson Cat Coppersmith Szerwo!

2013_5-Jack1

Jack the kitten

He started out looking a little devilish. Hence his name: Jack.
After the neighborhood terror at my parent’s house.

Cats cuddling

Bath time! Courtesy of Maddie

Cats sleeping

Nap time! Jack as a pillow.

Cats cats and more cats

Playing with his toys.

Instagrammed Jack to the cat

I love these cats!!
I love these cats!!
Sometimes I can get in on the snuggling too. I love cats-as-pillows!

Sometimes I can get in on the snuggling too. I love cats-as-pillows!

My Mother’s Day Brunch

Posted in Food, Holidays, Homemade by

I hope you all had a nice Mother’s Day (or Sunday, if that’s what you chose to celebrate)! Brandon and I went over to my sister and brother-in-law’s house for a homemade brunch with my Mom and Dad and my brother-in-law’s Mom and soon-to-be Step Dad. The food was delicious and the company was great.

With eight people in attendance, some with gluten and lactose intolerances, my sister and I got creative with the menu and really leaned on the flavors of the new spring fruits and veggies for our Mother’s Day Brunch Feast:

Brunch

  • Broccoli quiche with ham
  • Crustless spinach quiche with ham, mushrooms and goat cheese gouda
  • Homefries
  • Butter croissants (from Trader Joe’s freezer section – have you tried these? They taste amazing, are easy to make and are perfect for brunch! However, the ones we made for Sunday may have been in the freezer too long. They didn’t proof right but they tasted ok. We bought some other croissants to supplement them.)
  • Chicken and pork breakfast sausages (I normally get the Jennie O turkey breakfast sausages, but these were ‘healthier’ [less bad] for you. They were really good!)
  • Fruit salad with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and pineapple with a pinch of mango sugar

And a MIMOSA BAR!

Here are a few photos and recipes that helped make our Mother’s Day celebrations shine…

Broccoli quiche with ham... Delicious!

Mimosa-barMimosa Bar

  • (2) Gigantic bottles of Cook’s Champagne (there are eight people, after all)
  • (1) bottle of Trader Joe’s Tangerine Juice (like orange juice, but BETTER!)
  • (1) box of Trader Joe’s Tropical Fruit Juice Box
  • (1) handful of the following: fresh blueberries, raspberries and strawberry slices

Follow these steps for a mimosa bar of your own:

  1. Cut and/or wash the berries. We did this the night before.
  2. Chill the Champagne/Prosecco in advance of the event. We put ours in the fridge the night before. I have heard that you shouldn’t chill wines or champagne for more than four hours, but this stuff is pretty medium quality and we’re adding juice, so it’s better that it be cold than super flavorful.
  3. Create an amazing display! We got a ton of serving dishes and trays when we got married a couple of years ago and I love getting them out. This was one of those occasions. We also rimmed the champagne glasses with some mango sugar. It was a wonderful touch.

Cheers!

Hello, Seattle

Posted in Around the house, General by

Hi, friends!

As I sit down to do some blogging, I wanted to share my new favorite spot to write: my chair on the deck. Brandon is inside studying to become a professor, the cats are outside exploring (maybe their fifth un-supervised exploration since they were allowed out) and the sun and the sounds of Megan’s Island are the perfect combination of spring.

2013-5-11 Deck

I hope you’re having a good Saturday! Check back soon for more posts!

 

{WINE WEDNESDAY} My buddy Francis

Posted in Drinky drinky, Wine Wednesdays by

Happy Wine Wednesday!

The other day I came across this rose at Costco. A good friend of mine loves the Sofia prosecco, so when I found this, I had to get it. Plus it was only $12.

Sofia: lovely.

Sofia: lovely.

Rubicon

Autographed for my love, Franny’s #1 fan!

This bottle of wine didn’t last very long in our cellar and we enjoyed it on the patio last night with a friend visiting from Texas. Sofia is one of Francis Ford Coppola’s labels, which brings me to a funny story…

A few years ago I was in Napa at a bachelorette party with 20 of my closest girlfriends. We were having a grand time touring winery after winery. At one of the last wineries we visited, Rubicon, our party bus driver noticed a famous guest: Francis Ford Coppola. To tell you the truth, I had no idea what he looked like, but I was definitely familiar with the name and his work. In fact, the first and second Godfather movies are two of Brandon’s all-time favorites.

Franny (my new best friend’s nickname) was very nice and open to autographing bottles and posing for photos, so, we all got in on the action. It seems Franny was especially fond of Kimmy, just look at that death grip around her waist! It was so exciting to meet such an icon, even if I was a bit tipsy.

It's Francis Ford Coppola! My new best friend!!

It’s Francis Ford Coppola! My new best friend!!

2013-5 Franny2

Franny!

Do you have a celebrity sighting experience? What’s your favorite Coppola film?  Have you tried Sofia yet? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Bistro Lighting!

Posted in Around the house, DIY, Garden by

Guess what came in the mail today!? OUR NEW BISTRO LIGHTS! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

They're here! Hopefully the guide wire and light bulbs come tomorrow!

They’re here! Hopefully the guide wire and light bulbs come tomorrow!

It doesn’t look like much now, but combined with some posts and some clips, these will add the finishing touches to our so-close-to-perfect back yard.

We’re hoping to get these up before June, and of course we’ll post photos as soon as we can!