Hope you all had a lovely long weekend! Get up to anything fun? I got a bit adventurous and made bacon egg and cheese scones. I know, yum. My bloglove of course started years ago with street style blogs, but recently I can’t get enough of pretty recipes on pretty food blogs, Tastespotting in particular (anyone else love that site?). I always fall for cookies and cakes (naturally) but this recipe caught my eye with its delicious simplicity: bacon? eggs? cheese? I can do that!
Bacon Egg and Cheese Scones
Adapted from Butter Me Up Brooklyn
1 1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/3 cup grated cheese (all I had was parmesan on hand, but sharp cheddar would be amazing)
4 slices bacon
2 eggs + 1 yolk
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold butter, grated
Preheat the oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment. Start cooking the bacon, and let it sizzle away while you prepare the scone dough.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, black pepper and cheese, then set aside. When the bacon is crispy, transfer to a cutting board and chop into small bits.
Whisk together two eggs (oops I did 3) with a pinch of salt and pepper, and scramble them over medium heat (I drained off the bacon fat from the pan and used it to cook the eggs). The eggs should be well cooked since they will be folded into the dough, and will look a bit drier than eggs you would serve.
Cut the butter into the flour mixture so that some chunks remain, add the in bacon, and toss with flour so that the bacon is dredged. Whisk the egg yolk into the buttermilk and incorporated into the flour mixture so that it is well combined.
Turn the dough on a floured surface and knead a few times so that it comes together. Fold in the eggs (working fast since the eggs will be warm) and when everything is combined, pat into a circle. Cut into quarters, and transfer to the baking sheet. Brush with buttermilk and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper.
Bake for 20-25 minutes and serve immediately.
Garlic Herb Butter Spread
Adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
*Makes about 2 cups of spread (the recipe is easily halved)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a medium bowl, whip the cream cheese and butter with a handheld mixer (or electric stand mixer) until light and fluffy and smooth. Add in the spices and herbs and mix until well combined. Serve at cool room temperature
Three. Day. Weekend. Is there anything better than those three little words? I don’t think so. For this loong Memorial Day weekend I put together a chic look you can wear to the pool, to the beach, to the lake, to the park, or anywhere you desire – and then I found it for less!!
These are my top 3 favorite makeup looks for the summer, as you can see they all involve plenty of color. The last one, hot pink lips, looks fantastic with another summer favorite of mine, the daytime smoky eye.
p.s. don’t try all of these looks at once. or if you do, send me a picture because that would be a trip!
I feel like this season, more than any other before, we all got into the Spring fever. It might have been the pastel color trend, or the floral fascination, or maybe it was the feminine frenzy of 50’s-inspired Prada (I honestly did not mean to take the alliteration that far).
Or maybe it’s because blogs have really embraced seasonal themes this year – did anyone else find that last New Year’s was sequined insanity? Anyway, florals and pastels were fun ‘n all, but I’m ready for SUMMER! Swimsuits and palm trees and cutoff shorts, here we come. Or if you’re Ashley Smith, summer might involve throwing a personal party in your 50’s-style motel room in which you try on a bunch of vintage party frocks and shimmy. That could work too.
Can you believe it’s already Friday? Has it already been whole a week since I packed up and got on the road for my lil trip? I have no such plans this weekend, in fact quite the opposite. I’m working! Don’t get me wrong I have an awesome new job and I’m happy to do it, so I put together a little look at what I’d like to be wearing. You can also interpret this post as basically everything on my wish list right now. Literally, I have a Pinterest board called “Wish List” and all of these are on it. The boyfriend jeans have been on that list for a long time, and I’m starting to think it’s about time I own a pair of jeans that is not skinny. But I still have a slight hang up about paying lots of money for ripped clothing. Ah well, it’ll probably happen sooner or later.
When I first saw these pastel balls at CVS, they piqued my interest. You know we’re all pastel-crazed this Spring so anything in mint or lavender is pretty much a gimme. At $3.79, I bought one. Now, what are they? EOS, or the Evolution of Smooth, is 95% organic, 100% natural, paraben and petrolatum free lip balm. I don’t always look for organic products but I figure something that I put on my mouth should probably be safe. As for the packaging, I can’t fault it! It took me a couple tries to figure out that the tops screw off (embarrassing? maybe) but once you get that down it’s a lot of fun to apply lip balm in a new way! It’s like having a brand new toy and wanting to play with it all the time. Sure, it’s a little gimmicky, but anything that will convince me to hydrate my lips more often is a great thing. If you’re not into the ball, it also comes in a stick. So far, my lips are smooth and soft, success! Prior to this I was a Burt’s Bees addict, but I actually think my lips are smoother now than ever before (that could be because I’ve been using it so often). I found mine at CVS but you can get them on the EOS website as well. I chose the flavor Summer Fruit, which is delish, but I’m reeeally wanting to try the lemon drop and the sweet mint!
I’m trying to enforce a rule, I can’t buy a new one until I finish my first one. Just one more reason to use it all the time!
xo Cristina
I’m finally on the Elizabeth Olsen bandwagon. You know I’m fiercely loyal to my girls MKA, but Elizabeth is proving her sense of style to be genuine and uniquely her own, which I love. How bout you guys, are you into Elizabeth? She’s definitely growing on me.
I had just the most wonderful weekend! I went to visit my love M in Dallas Fort Worth and managed to capture it with this fabulous new app I bought on Friday (called Super8). We went antiquing, dream house hunting, swimming (ok we sat in the hot tub), watched M’s play, followed by dinner at the Woodshed Smokehouse, and then to the Chihuly exhibit at the Arboretum! It’s going to be hard to go back to work today… I may or may not be watching this video over and over again to relive my weekend. So many firsts: the first trip of the summer, my first attempt at shooting a video with the first iPhone app I’ve paid for, and my first video successfully uploaded to Fuji Files! Unfortunately I’m almost entirely behind the lens in this one, must remember to turn the camera on myself more often next time. But overall I’m quite pleased 🙂
I highly recommend Super8 to any Instagram addicts, it’s definitely the next step in capturing life through a super cute filter – but with movement and music! I’m so looking forward to making more of these.
Upon reading an interview on the Sartorialist of this very stylish Parisienne named Victoire Chopinaud (a very sexy name I imagine, when pronounced correctly) there were some of the usual responses, like “oh I study at the same school of couture that Yves Saint Laurent and Dior attended.” And as I wallowed in the Frenchness of it all, and in the fact that I will never have one ounce of her French style, I read on to find this little gem,
“Button downs are better when they smell like and belong to a boyfriend. I have this perfect faded army shirt by Arrow and a bunch from YSL, Dior Homme and The Kooples. I wear them the ‘French way’ (aka no bra) mixing cologne from a boyfriend with Chance by Chanel, a scent I’ve been loyal to since I was 15 years old.”
shoesandshelter 
