Musical Plaid & a Fuzzy Dot

    Here are two prints I worked on for this reversible cardigan for Anthropologie.  A musical plaid and a fuzzy dot!

    A few prints I worked on for Anthropologie's spring collection.

Crepe Cake

    Over Christmas break, I made not one, but TWO crepe cakes!  One for my family and one for a NYE party.  I found the recipe for the "Banana Bread Crepe Cake with Butterscotch" over at Smitten Kitchen.  It makes the perfect indulgent breakfast meal or dessert.  I cannot wait to try her other crepe cake recipe from her cookbook.  Deb most certainly keeps me busy!

Swings!

      I am so glad I finally made it to the Ann Hamilton exhibit at the Armory Museum in New York before it closed.  I hope you all did too!  I love all forms of art, but interactive exhibits are by far my favorite.  It is always interesting to see people of all ages approach the same thing very differently.  For instance, the swing I was waiting for was snatched up by a few kids while I was asking a group of adults nearby if they were waiting to use the swing.  I guess my playground game is rusty...haha.

   It's a new year and what that means is it is the time to start fresh.  It's a time to forget about the hardships you've overcome in the past year and look back at the goals you set out to accomplish and completed.  A year ago, I wanted nothing more than to live in the same city as my boyfriend, grow in my current position and move elsewhere.  (I do miss you Philadelphia, more than I expected!)  What happened?  I was promoted at work, and made great strides transforming my position's role.  I quit my job even though I was promoted and moved to New York city.  I wanted to experience how other companies work and how my position as a print designer would come into play at a new place.  Quitting was super scary.  I am a very practical person, so this was no easy task.  Now I am freelancing in the New York area, currently at Madewell, and I am trying as best as I can to go with the flow.  I feel like I have learned so much already and I am excited for what the next year has in store.

  I am not sure how I began writing about all this.  I was just going to share a smorgasbord omelet recipe I threw together yesterday.  Something about peering into the fridge and seeing leftovers left me sad, so I set out to make something delicious with them because all I really want to do is cook up new delicious recipes with my smitten kitchen cookbook!!!!  I love you Deb!

  Anyway, there really is no recipe, but this is what I did.  I had some left over napa cabbage, about a 1/2 a head.  I did not peel and cut the cabbage, I just sliced through the cabbage, chopped salad style.  You know what I mean? Then I sauteed it in a pan with evoo, salt and pepper and garlic for a few minutes.  I threw that in a cast iron skillet with black bean salsa (black beans, garlic, yellow pepper, red onion, lime juice, chipotle peppers), 4 eggs, and some butternut squash sauce we had left over.  (I mixed the squash sauce with the eggs, then placed the egg mixture over the cabbage and salsa).  I baked it in the oven for 10 minutes at 325.  Then I added a handful of white cheddar and placed it back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.  Some of you may be sneering at the contents of this frittata, but it came together pretty darn good.  Erich and I finished it all in one setting.....

  To a wonderful new year, with more recipes to come!  Happy eating!

-Ashley