Longwood Gardens Holiday Tour

Last weekend, Erik and I met up with his family to take a much-anticipated visit to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.  Previously I had only been to these gardens during the summer months, but their Christmas decorations have a fantastic reputation, so we had to make a visit this December.

The gardens began as a public park before it was purchased by the du Pont family in the early 1900s, and since then, it has been available to the public.  With over 1,000 acres, there is a lot to see.  Fountains,  orchids, rose gardens, and bonsai trees are all great attractions, but during this holiday season all of the Christmas trees and lights, and the trains the main attractions!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from last week... unfortunately I have a nice camera with no knowledge of how to use it.  Taking so many photos in the dark was a major challenge, but I'm happy with how some of them turned out.  I even managed to throw half of an outfit photo into this mix (carefully removing my lovely family members from the public eye).

Hope you enjoy them... and if you live anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic, visiting Longwood Gardens is a must!

Coat: H&M

Faux Fur: Gap

Earrings: InPink

Bag: Ecote via Urban Outfitters

Hot Dog, Smart Dog?

I'm starting to think that Pajama Mondays should become a legitimate theme on this blog, because it's certainly a theme in my real life.  I found the perfect sweater this weekend at H&M.  It's super thick wool with a fuzzy inside and faux fur collar.... yessss!  This was my Christmas shopping distraction, for sure.

On another note, I was running super late this morning because of my big furball, Browny.  Last week, the vet told us that my dog has bronchitis or asthma, according to his chest x-ray.  We've had to give him pills 3x each day, and it's pure torture!  

My doggy is one smart old man, and no matter how much begging/pleading/bribing goes into it, I can't trick him into eating these pills.  The closest I've come to success involves feeding him bits of hot dog with the pills hidden inside... but more often than not, he schools me.

He takes the hotdog.  Then he waits.  Then chews, then waits some more.  Then he spits it.  Then he gobbles up the hot dog (sans pill) and laughs at my sick attempt to feed him pharmaceuticals.

Oh this trickery... Somebody out there help me!  My dog is outsmarting me!

Oxfords: Urban Outfitters

Sweater & Pants: H&M

Earrings: Macy's

T-shirt: Gap

Italian Wedding Soup

Sunday dinner has become an important part of our weekly routine, and it (almost) always seems to have a lot of Italian influence.  As a kid, I frequented my uncle's grandparents' house on Sundays.  There, I didn't get the normal Eastern European food that my own grandparents served.  Instead, we ate homemade meatballs and pasta... and I'll never forget how tasty it was!

Now that Erik and I are becoming family, his Italian roots have played a major role in our cooking.  For our first date, he made homemade sauce.  The night we got engaged, we had a home cooked Italian dinner, and most Sundays I find myself gravitating towards lasagna, or experimenting with some homemade gnocchi.

This afternoon, I tried out my own version of an Italian Wedding Soup.  (Modified for our animal-friendly taste-buds!)

• olive oil
• 3 carrots
• 1 bunch celery
• 2 medium onions
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• vegetable stock (I used 3 bouillon cubes for this pot)
• Quorn vegetarian meatballs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 box stelline pasta
• 1/2 lb baby spinach

To start the base of the soup, saute the onion, garlic, carrots and celery in olive oil until they have sweat out their moisture.  Add the chopped basil, parsley, Parmesan, pasta and stock, then bring it to a boil.

Next, add the spinach (or escarole) and let the soup simmer for about an hour.   I've noticed that so many soup recipes just tell you to cook the soup for 30 minutes or so, but I don't think this is enough time to get all of the flavor out of the ingredients.  I actually let today's soup cook for over 2 hours.

Separately, I sauteed the veggie meatballs to keep them crispy on the outside.  Don't combine them until you're ready to serve the soup.

Voila!  Don't forget to top your bowl off with a generous portion of Parmesan, and enjoy some crusty bread!

How do you make your wedding soup?  Any major differences?