Corn Chowder

You guys - it's officially soup season!  Soups are one of my most favorite foods to make - it's so hard to go wrong with a steamy bowl of soup on a chilly day.  This Sunday started out cool and foggy, so I headed to the store to pick up the ingredients for a soup I've been wanting to try for awhile - The Pioneer Woman's Corn Chowder.  I know the picture doesn't do it justice {hey, it was dark when I finally ate} but this soup was so. good.  I loved using the fresh corn still available at the market, and the chilies give it just the right amount of flavor without being spicy.  I'll definitely want to make this more often {it was so easy!} and will definitely become part of my ever growing soup repertoire.  

Corn Chowder

Ingredients
5 ears of corn, shucked
2 slices bacon, cut into half inch pieces
1 medium yellow onion, diced
about 2 whole chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely sliced
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups heavy wipping cream
4oz can diced green chilies
3 tblsp cornmeal

Instructions
1. Slice kernels from the corn cobs.
2. Cook bacon in large pot over medium heat for about two minutes.  Add onion and cook until translucent and bacon is cooked, about 5 minutes.  Add corn and stir.  
3. Add minced chipotle peppers, stir into soup, and cook about 3 minutes.  Add chicken broth and heavy cream and stir to combine.  Add green chilies.  Let simmer about 30 minutes.
4. At this point, mix cornmeal with 1/4 cup water and stir together.  Add to soup and simmer about 10 minutes until thickened.  Add salt if needed.

Serves 8

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Paella Night

Friday night, Zara and I headed over to Mercer Island for Paella night at Celene's house.  Zara brought the Paella, and Celene and I provided the wine for this Spanish inspired meal.  I haven't had real paella since I lived in Spain {almost 10 years ago!} and Zara's version did not disappoint.  It had chicken, chorizo, prawns, and clams, along with lots of other goodies that made this one of the best meals I've had in a very long time.  After our plates were cleared, we still kept picking at the serving dish - I couldn't stop!  Afterwards, we laid around chatting and laughing, and Zara and I introduced Celene's one year old daughter Mena to Frozen {she was mesmerized}.  It was a fabulous, low key evening with two ladies I love being around :)

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Portugal {2005}

Since David and Ed are heading to Portugal this weekend {take me with you!!}, I decided to share some pics from our trip to Portugal while studying abroad in 2005.  Corey, Cara, Elina, Carly, Ryan, Nick, and I took a little road trip from Granada, Spain to Lagos, Portugal for a quick weekend getaway on the coast.  We laid on the beach, drank wine, ate some of the best prawns I've ever tasted, and had a great time in this sweet town.  I wish I could go back right now :)

 elina and cara

sweet cara

 me, carly, and cara

 nick

 making sandwiches in the car and generally annoying corey :)

Have fun, David & Ed!

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Roaming the Garden {Tomatoes}

One of my summer goals was to plant tomatoes in my garden, and boy did I succeed!  Earlier in the summer I headed over to my local Fred Meyer and after much debating, picked up two plants - Early Girls and Sweet 100 Cherries.  I only had 1 large pot, so I planted the Sweet 100's in the pot and the Early Girls in the ground right beside them.  Every day {that we didn't have rain} I'd head outside to water my delicious smelling plants, and in what seemed like a matter of days I was back at the store buying larger tomato cages - they had grown so huge!  The Sweet 100's were the first to bloom, and every time I'd walk by the plant on my way in or out, I'd grab one for a little snack.  But the Early Girls quickly caught up, and now I finally have tomatoes turning red daily!  I've been using them in salads, eggs, pastas, and of course, on their own, and they taste a million times better than store bought.  I hope this Indian Summer in Seattle continues for a few more weeks so I can reap the benefits just a little while longer :)

 new little plants

 added some zinnias to keep things colorful

 the early girls went a bit crazy and had to be pruned back

perfect

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Just Married {Tyler & Neema}

Saturday afternoon, one of my honorary "brothers" got married to his gorgeous bride.  It seems surreal that I attended Tyler's wedding - after all, he was the kid down the block who I'd carpool to school with everyday, scream and yell at while he and my brother tried to torture Lindsay and me, and who I hosted in Colorado during a rather crazy weekend freshman year of college.  But Tyler has found the sweetest, most beautiful partner in Neema, and I was so happy to witness their wedding.  It was a fabulous reunion of family and old friends - people I hadn't seen in years that I had grown up with and gone to school with my whole life.  The reception itself was pretty insane - I told the bartender {my father} the next morning that I had definitely been over served :)  While I know I wasn't the only one feeling that way the next morning, it was all worth it to celebrate these newlyweds on their new journey together.

 husband & wife!

 twin bartenders

the best man and the groom

 gramps & me

 the best man's speech {which left me a little teary}

 i stole harper voorhees for a long portion of the evening, and even introduced her to her first bouquet toss!

 we also had to watch the bar for a little bit

 cutest

 me and bro

 please disregard harper's face - she really did like me:)

Congrats Tyler & Neema!

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Brimmer & Heeltap

Last week, in keeping with tradition, Erika took me out for a late birthday dinner at the restaurant of my choice.  After several back and forths, I decided on Brimmer & Heeltap since I drive past it on my way home all the time and have been curious what it's like inside.  This super cute Ballard restaurant is in the old Le Gourmand space on Market, and while their menu is small, everything is divine.  We started with a bottle of rosé {gotta savor that summer wine!} and their insanely delicious bread {it basically tastes like a big brick of baked butter} before moving onto some shared plates of pork shoulder, blackened cod, and legumes.  It was such a fun night trying out a great new place with one of my favorite people in the world.  I will definitely be back :)

Thanks Erika!

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Happy Monday

How was your weekend?  Mine was pretty great, except that means I got home way too late last night and have nothing prepared for you.  So instead, here's a pretty picture of a rose from my garden last week.  Isn't that color gorgeous?  Oh, and happy Fall!

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Happy {Still Summer} Weekend

Summer clearly isn't leaving Seattle anytime soon, so I'm trying to take advantage of it as much as possible.  This weekend is all about celebrating - a wedding, several special birthdays, and hopefully a Seahawk win :)  In the meantime, here are a few pics from a trip around Lake Union I took earlier this week.  Isn't this just the prettiest city ever?

xoxo,
stephanie marie

San Diego {Part 3}

Sunday was all about the game - the real reason we went to San Diego :)  Please excuse our sweaty faces - it really could've been the hottest day of my life!

 the tailgate was awesome - insanely hot, but nothing a few beers and cheers couldn't cure :)

 there were so many 12's and we found the only shady place in the parking lot to celebrate

 several seattle news channels filmed us for tv!

 leslie's friend sheryl met up with us the night before on a whim and helped us pass out skittles to fans

 when we got into the stadium, we were greeted by some crazy hot sunshine, but some surprisingly nice chargers fans {they may have just wanted our sunscreen}

 our guys were apparently dropping like flies {i don't blame them!} and kept having to go back into the locker room for iv drips!

 unfortunately we lost the game, but we were still in good spirits...

 ...until we saw this line to get to the train back to the city!  fortunately, it was quicker than it looked

 we got back to the hotel, took much needed showers, then headed to Craft and Commerce for some more tacos.....

...and a bacon ice cream sandwich! {amazingly good}

Although the weather was insane and the game didn't turn out as we had hoped, we really had a great weekend down in San Diego.  Can't wait for the next year!

xoxo,

stephanie marie