breakfast, breakfast, lunch

two egg omlette with spinach and onions.

coffee, fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, toast, and egg over avocado.

white wine, chicken and spinach panini.

the farm

We

Visited the farm where we get our veggies from (the ones we can't grow on our balcony). It was a magical, chilly morning. We befriended a giant dog, fell in love with a house, and I discovered I'm mildly afraid of chickens. Also, I want to own land and grow things.

Bags of veggies for all:

tonight's dinner

Portobello mushroom stuffed with wine soaked chicken, a single egg, and liberally dosed with red pepper. A dash of sour cream on top to mellow it out. Eaten alongside a glass of Pinot Grigio. I had a terrible, horrible, no good day and decided to treat myself with expensive foods, a new bottle of wine, and some cheerful carnations for my bedroom.

shrimp tartine

Shrimps were on sale this past week so I snagged them. Part of increasing my cooking repertoire is buying things I've never tried before--but only when they are on sale. I saw a recipe for shrimp tartine in the French Women book and adapted it to my ingredients.

1 handful of shrimp (skinned and deveined--had to youtube this!)

1 apple (cubed)

Put the apple in a pan with butter melted in it. Cook and stir, splash generously with apple cider vinaigrette and red pepper. I took it off the pan when they were soft and set them aside.

Pour olive oil in the pan (just a bit) and drop in the shrimp. I splashed in a little bit more of the apple cider vinaigrette, some red pepper, a smidge of salt and black pepper. Cook until rosy!

Let cool to room temperature. I served it on top of regular whole wheat toast because I didn't have a chance to make fresh bread. I think it would be delicious on a crusty loaf. Yum yum.

one girl, two bows, three colors

Today's ensemble is super impressive for me because of two reasons: a) my hair is in a bow and since I normally wear my hair in three specific ways (pony tail, bun, low ponytail/bun) this shows a huge improvement in my hair-skill; b) my first voyage into colorblocking proper! Light pink cardigan (purchased in Oslo), salmon/orange blouse (hand-me-down from my roommate), and red jeans ($5 at wet seal like three years ago). It was a pretty gray day in my part of the East Coast and I felt like a little ray of sunshine as I ran my errands and went to work.

Before work I went to the library and picked up the book "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure" by Mireille Guliano. Now, I know (most days) that I'm not fat but I do have huge (understatement) guilt issues associated with eating... food...of any kind. The issues have gotten a lot better as I've grown more comfortable with being me and being my size and loving my body no matter what. However, I believe there is always room for more knowledge and for more understanding--and of more recipes, of which this book has tons. I'm only on chapter three but I'm already hooked and seeing Mireille's food perspective as a healthy alternative to the beating-myself-up-over-eating-a-chocolate-bar way of life I've led. Also, any woman who agrees that a glass of red should be served with lunch has the right idea in my book.

my birthday

I turned 22 on May 31st. Two weeks later I hosted my first high tea. It was fantastic. I had three types of tea (raspberry, english, and irish breakfast teas). I served B.L.Ts, avocado and cream cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly mini-sandwiches, and Italian chicken subs--everything was mini! I also had scones (made by my friend/future sister-in-law Kirsten), and pasta salad! For dessert there was rainbow cake made by me and decorated by Kirsten--without whom there would have been no party. Seriously, she kept me calm, helped prep food, decorated my cake, and generally rocked my socks off!

Stay tuned for photos of my fantastic, wonderful, amazing, beautiful, stylish friends! Everyone came, everyone dressed well, everyone stayed, everyone brought liquor ;). I love my friends more so very much!

good eats:

Breakfast:

grapefruit, whole wheat english muffin with laughing cow swiss cheese and blackberry jam, orange juice, and coffee.

fiber one cereal with banana, mini cinnamon raisin bagels with peanut butter, orange juice, and daily vitamins (daily vit., fish oil, vit. D).

Lunch:

homemade tortilla, turkey, cheese, avocado, salsa on the side, and strawberry banana smoothie.

Dinner:

frozen pizza with added tomatoes, onions, and peppers, brass monkey.

dinner party: homemade tortillas, chicken with homemade tomato marinade, avocado, tomato, cheese, and lettuce.

I started my job at a small boutique chain clothing store. I had forgotten how much retail kills your feet! I love it though! However, because of work and finals and essays I have stopped eating well. I thought I would upload these photos of recent meals to remind me of the fun in cooking and eating well! Anyone have any recipes for me to try?

good morning darling

happy valentine's day

I've been baking a lot this year. Having a full kitchen has opened up a million possibilities that don't really exist when one lives in the dorm room. This is the second cake I've made from scratch (I made the icing too). It is a vanilla cake with sour cream icing! The cake is old-fashioned and a little more dense than modern recipes and the icing is the perfect combination of sweet and sour! I had so much batter that I made a two-story cake and 9 little cupcakes!

If I could I would send a cupcake to everyone of my followers as thanks for all the lovely comments you leave me. Every time I read a comment I smile and I love the feedback you all have given me on outfits, life, and photography! Thank you for giving sixbeforebreakfast a little love && happy valentine's day to you all!

black midnight cake

I spent Sunday at my Grandmother's visiting and looking through family photos. A lot of the photos were of various birthday parties for my aunts and uncles when they were kids. In those photos there was a delicious cake on the cake tray with candles being blown out. After looking at 20-30 photos of cake I decided I had to have cake. My mom offered me the family recipe for black midnight cake and cake pans and a sifter.

On Tuesday, Boyfriend and I zipped down to my grocery store and spent our afternoon baking this delicious cake. It was the first cake I had ever made and it was so much fun! There are two layers of chocolate cake and it's covered with chocolate icing--also homemade. I decided to add the strawberries to make it a little prettier! I am excited to have a family cake recipe that I can make for my kids. I never had this cake when I was growing up though, all my cakes for the past 21 years have come from Pastries by Randolph.

Now I'm craving cake again!

my today

Boyfriend and I spent the day in the kitchen. We woke up at 9 and made pancakes for breakfast. He had his with syrup and I covered mine in vanilla yogurt and strawberries. We made a quick trip down the road to my new giant to but necessary baking supplies. I just moved into a new apartment and have no supplies stored away. We spent our afternoon making Black Midnight Cake. This cake is a family recipe and is delicious. We made the cake (two layers) and the icing. Photos to come.

Gotta love a man who bakes ;).

food my favourite dish

There were four of us from my home university. We had rooms next door to each other and formed a little band. In the beginning, we went on adventures together all the time. However, as the semester continued and we made friends through classes we slowly stopped hanging out as a foursome. The last month we decided to change this and made an effort to go out to brunch or dinner together. One place we went was Nandos where I ate the most nommiclious bean burger in a wrap ever!

This place is so good that I took my parents their second night here. They enjoyed it as much as I did!

Also, I'm hosting a giveaway over here! It closes on Christmas!

*While I travel around London and Paris with my darling parents, I have pre-set some posts to run so that I can show you all my London adventures I have yet to blog about! I'll be back in the New Year.