the nursery [in my house]

Hello! I know it's been quite a while since my last post but I've been very busy with our little one (who is now 6 months old) as well as work and other day to day commitments.

I'm loving dressing up my little girl in cute outfits and decorating her space. Her crib and change table share a room with my office so whilst it's not ideal we all make do for now. I've tried to make the nursery area really fun and special. So here's a sneak peek!

I'm a fan of color but oddly enough the color scheme for the nursery doesn't contain green. I really liked the crib sheet (and there's a matching blanket but it's too hot for that now) so it all kind of went from there. (The toys were gifts.) I picked up the pom pom garland in Australia on a whim because that's what happens when you travel!

Crib // Crib Sheet // Breathable Bumper // Elephant Toy // Cat Toy // Felt Pom Pom Garland

8 lights

A quick instagram snap of the lights for last night of Chanukah.

Hope you are all having a great holiday season!

[sweet or savory?] a summer dinner

I snapped some pictures of recipes from magazines a few months ago whilst waiting at an appointment and was very excited to finally have time to cook one of them!

This recipe looked perfect for a spring or summer weeknight dinner, one dish with meat, veg and pasta and pretty easy to make. You can find the original recipe for Roasted Vegetable and Mini Meatball Pappardelle here but I made some changes to use up things in the pantry and add more vegetables. I used sweet potato instead of red potatoes and added in two zucchini. I'd run out of bread crumbs so I used matzah meal in the meatballs instead and we had sweet white wine open rather than dry and that tasted pretty good! For a bit of crunch, I garnished with a sprinkling of Panko at the end. The flavors of parsley, lemon and white wine with papardelle are similar to this recipe.

We ended the meal with some watermelon for dessert accompanied by the white wine.

[sweet or savory?] dinner party

It was recently my husbands birthday and we decided to have a few friends over for dinner to celebrate. I asked my husband what he wanted for this dinner and he said he'd like dairy. Breakfast foods for dinner - excellent! It made a nice change from the usual chicken or beef. Great company, good food - we had a really enjoyable evening. Pictured are some of the dishes, snapped with my iPhone and Instagram.

Top & bottom image: Half of dessert. Strawberry, grape and basil salad with a dressing of lime juice, a little sugar, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Refreshing! The other half of dessert? One of our guests brought a homemade key lime pie, delicious!

Top left: Cheese & zucchini slice - a family recipe! You'll have to ask really nicely if you want it.

(Potholders from Anthropologie.)

Top right: Baked Red Snapper with herbs (chopped parsley, spring onions & dill mixed with a little light mayonnaise). (Platter from Crate & Barrel.)

Bottom left: New fun wine cups (stackable) and colander from Crate & Barrel. The table looked great with white tablecloth, our white and green dishes and green drink ware.

Bottom right: Crustless quiche - mushroom, spinach & tomato.

We also had onion tart made by another guest and a spinach, blood orange & feta salad plus dips and homemade challah!

// Upcoming on Sarah's View: Some pictures from a short trip up to the Central Coast! //

[sweet or savory?] egg boat

Fairly often I make really easy dinners - toasted cheese sandwiches, omelettes, quick grilled chicken and salad. Tonight I made an easy dinner that was a little different, a slightly more exciting version of an omelette sandwich - a baked egg boat! And I like breakfast at any time of the day.

My husband had brought home extra french bread which was perfect for this. I based it on the recipe from Spoon Fork Bacon but changed it to suit what I had at hand. I sautéed a shallot, some chopped mushroom and baby spinach and put them in the bread "shell" once I had cut out the centres. I then poured over the egg mixture (it did spill over the sides a little) and put chunks of brie cheese (also purchased by my husband) along the top. Baked it as per the recipe and served it with a simple salad. Delicious!

Photos from my iPhone.

[sweet or savory?] perfect papardelle

Very slowly, I've been making my way through an ever growing list of new recipes to try. This one was from Plenty and titled Crunchy Papardelle. It was worth the trips to get the particular ingredients and the time spent preparing because it turned out tasty as a top restaurant dish! The rich cream and wine sauce contrasted with the freshness of parsley and lemon, coating the pasta and vegetables. Not exactly low-fat (the diet started afterwards) but really, really delicious and something I'd definitely make again!

But wait, there's more! I posted that I made my own granola bars a little while back but I made new batch yesterday with some different add-ins - red sour cherries, candied ginger and pecans. This time it stayed in bar form and didn't crumble like my first attempt! Also I made Sweet Potato Hummus which turned out to be a winner. (Recipe here.)

baked goodness

A nice cold weather activity as a break from work is baking (or cooking a good dinner). Last week, inspired by a friend, I set about making homemade granola bars which are healthier and cheaper than the bought ones. They came out a bit crispy and quite crumbly but that's fine because it makes a good cereal or a topping for yogurt! I added in cranberries, chocolate chips and almonds. Next batch I'll try some different mix-ins, possibly a different recipe to see if I can get them to stay as bars. Any suggestions? That baking session also yielded banana muffins and cake. Muffins topped with pecans and cornflakes, cake included chocolate chips and lemon icing.

snapshots

A couple of snaps from the last week or two that I liked (from my iPhone) - thought the colours I was wearing one day (note: not green!) went well with my couch cushions and of course a green cupcake I bought myself for my birthday. Although not everything in my place is green, we hosted an engagement party last night with an elegant colour scheme of deep red, black and white. Beautiful roses, red tablecloth set off with black and white damask patterned paper goods. Plus lots of delectable treats!

[sweet or savory?] quinoa for dinner

I regularly ask my husband what he'd like for dinner because, while we like toasted cheese sandwiches, omelettes or easy grilled chicken, it's nice to make something different. This week, now that Hanukkah has ended and we've had our fill of oily foods (latkes, donuts), we plan on eating pretty healthy. The answer I was given when I asked what I should make for dinner this week was a number of random, odd food items but one of them was quinoa. That was exciting because I had bookmarked a recipe in the January 2012 edition of Bon Appétit, a hearty salad of quinoa, fennel and pomegranate by chef Ottolenghi and couldn't wait to try it!

This turned out to be a really delicious salad, with a few deviations from the original:

1. One of the rare times I actually wanted to buy cilantro, I grabbed parsley by accident but it tasted fine as a substitute and I added some ground coriander.
2. To make it a little heartier for dinner I added goat cheese (but feta would also work).
3. My husband suggested pine nuts for crunch (so I will probably add that next time I make this).
4. I used a milder chile.

Pomegranates look like they are in season now, the had really large ones in the store today so I have quite a bit left! The fennel (my new favourite vegetable) cooked up deliciously and would make a great side dish on it's own. My salad looks a little different from the original recipe picture which you can find here.

Served with roasted cauliflower and garlic soup for starter and some steamed broccoli on the side, this salad was full of texture, colour and fresh flavours, a pleasure!

petals that pop

Couldn't resist the colourful zinnia's at the market the other week. The pop of colour in the house really brightens up the place. Tip: An inexpensive way to add colour to a room and easy to change it up regularly. (This bunch was around $3.00 and lasted for over a week.)

green thumb (hopefully)

After months and months of hoping to do this, I finally went and got me some greenery for our balcony! A few herbs for a tiny kitchen garden and a baby Jade plant. The bigger, more established succulents that I liked were a little beyond my budget for this project so the very helpful saleslady (here) suggested a small one which I can nurture and watch grow. It's pretty cute! Barely ten centimetres tall.

I chose this plant because it's hardy, making it easy to care for and also because my mother always had a Jade plant in our garden. There is a belief that the Jade plant attracts wealth, so that the owner will always have enough money, or good luck in business or something along those lines and I think she liked this idea. (If anyone knows the origin of this, please share!) When we moved and had no space for our large Jade plant, a friend took it for their garden due to this belief. I'm not superstitious but I like the idea of continuing with the plant my mum had for many years, even if it's a new one in a different country!

On a completely separate note, I just made some delicious round Challah for the upcoming High Holidays.

art & orchid [in my house]

more green [in my house]

Our bedroom is large and very white. Even though we've been here a while, there is still little decor as I concentrated on getting the main living area done because that's what people see. However I did have some party favors from our wedding, I hung those on either side of the windows for a little pop of green and silver, to break up the whiteness just a little.

lace detail [in my house]

A bit of detailed lace, an offcut from when my wedding dress was being made. I framed our invitation and other wedding paraphernalia and embellished it with the lace. As green is my favorite color, our wedding invitations had a green design which I then used on other items.

roses [in my house]

A lovely Friday afternoon surprise of a bunch of two-tone red and white roses from my husband. It's always nice to have some extra greenery and color in the house. On my list of projects is to start a small herb garden on the balcony to: a) be able to cook with fresh herbs and b) improve the view!