rosemary secco spritzer

Because it only makes sense to follow a paleo recipe with a cocktail recipe. Naturally.

Mr. Bama is out of town for a few weeks, so after a Sunday filled with rolling up my sleeves up and deep cleaning my kitchen (a monumental task. Grime. Hides. EVERYWHERE) I took the evening to sit back and just relax. I had a pretty stressful week at work, so I did something I never do: I made myself a cocktail. And a pretty darn fantastic one at that.  I'm normally a French 75 fan when I do make myself cocktail, but I decided to take advantage of the rosemary growing like crazy in my garden.  I adapted an old Real Simple recipe, originally formulated to serve 8. Since I was not having a party, nor am I capable of drinking 8 servings myself (no matter how hard I may try), I adjusted the recipe down to one. Voila, new snazzy cocktail! 

Rosemary Secco Spritzer

Ingredients:

• 3 tsp sugar
• 3 tsp water 
• 2-3 springs of rosemary
• Prosecco

Method:

1. Heat the water in the smallest sauce pan you have on high. Once boiling, stir in the sugar  and 1 sprig of the rosemary into the water until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Strain water/sugar mix into a collins or highball glass. 
3. Fill rest of glass with Prosecco.
4. Garnish with rosemary spring and enjoy!

I promise next post will be less food, and more some other random topic.  Til then, Prost!

paleo hamburger buns

We've been slowly trying to cut out grains in our diet: I  generally feel better when I'm not eating them, and Mr. Bama, who was introduced to Crossfit last year, has been learning more and more about Paleo.  My Sugar detox last year also helped kickstart an interest in a grain & dairy free diet.  So began the voyage of finding alternatives, and while it's been slow and gradual, it's been full of more surprises than disappointments.

One big thing I had a hard time with was hamburger buns. The only American version of buns available to us are the nasty Wonderbread psuedo-"wheat" buns that are pretty gross and filled with a lot of mystery ingredients. So I set off to find a good alternative that nixed wheat, tasted good and could handle the task of taking a hamburger from my plate to my mouth without crumbling. After wading through recipe after recipe of cauliflower and meat based bun recipes (come on now...)  I finally found this gem, which did the trick and turned out to be super tasty.

So without further ado, I present:

Paleo Hamburger Buns 

(original recipe found here)

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 4 tbs almond flour
• 4 tbs coconut flour
• 4 tbs coconut oil (melted)
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In a large bowl, mix coconut flour, almond flour, baking powder and sea salt together with a fork.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and coconut oil.
4. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and combine completely.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and grease the paper lightly with coconut oil.
6. Pour the batter onto the oiled parchment paper to make eight (3-inch diameter) pools.
7. Bake for 10 minutes.

Each "biscuit" if you will, serves as a top or bottom for the burger.
Serves: 4

new favorite pinterest board

If I had a mini-me it would so be along these lines:

Because imaginary Quinoa and friends are both patriotic and pretentious.

Created by Aussie blogger Tiffany Beveridge, Quinoa  is more aware about fashion does & don'ts than I was at 5... months ago.

Who honestly doesn't want a divinely dressed munchkin named Quinoa who had friends such as Chevon, Ridley and Booker?  I know I wouldn't.

Not following My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler Daughter yet? Time to update your Pinterest "follow" board and cease being bored out your mind during work breaks. I think Buzzfeed sums it up all quite nicely.

PS- happy 4th of July +1

say cheese

Did you know Amsterdam has a Cheese Museum?  We haven't made it there yet, but this may have convinced us.

Happy Friday (may it be as yummy as ours was)

stop & smell the roses

The flowers are blooming in full force around these parts of Germany.  It was a long, cold and grey winter (longest AND coldest since 1945 actually) and finally everything is in bloom. Case in point: my garden.  It was full of grey and brown dead "stuff" over the winter that it was hard not to be depressed when leaving the house very morning.  Finally, 2 weeks ago the sky perked up, the sun started to shine and everything just bloomed overnight. It's just proof that when life seems to be stressful, grey and depressing, beauty can be right around the corner.

bayreuth + a year

It's been a while since my last visit here, and while its been 10 months since my last post, honestly, not much has changed.  Lots of trips, a job (that keeps my crazy busy), some new opportunities and a a visit from a few friends is all that has changed.  I'm still in Germany, and we have about year left, so I've pledged to sit down and blog more so I don't forget anything.

For instance, we went to Bayreuth this weekend for my big 3-0 birthday.  It was a complete surprise, where I didn't know where we were going until we were about an hour into the drive there.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to pack without knowing where you're going?  It's impossible!

top: Trashy Diva, skirt: Trashy Diva, cardi: J.Crew Jackie Cardi (n/a, similar ), beer: Bayreuther Beirbrauerei

Top, cardi & skirt (see above), purse : Kate Spade Nicole Kent ( n/a, similar), sandals: Sseko