An Early-Summer Day's Denim

I am currently obsessing over denim.  Jeans, jackets, shirts, shorts, overalls-I love it all.   Not in a raw-selvage-menswear-denim kind of way, but in a more lightweight, comfortable yet stylish kind of way: perfect for an early summer in LA.  Here are a few of my favorite looks.

All images via Pinterest

Golden Road Brew

Last Wednesday was my husband's birthday.  Lucky for me, what he wanted to do was exactly what I wanted to do: beer and burgers.  A coworker of his knows a brewer (who recently moved from one of my favorite breweries, Drakes) at Golden Road who graciously offered to give us a tour of the brewery.  We had such a great time seeing the brewing process (with the fresh smell of hops and all) and canning for distribution, then proceeded to the Pub where we ordered flights to try all the beers and had a few of our favorite beer, Wolf Among Weeds.  All in all, it was a great and memorable day!

Can you tell that he had a great time?! 

Girl Crush: Reality Bites

Currently crushing on Winona Ryder in Reality Bites.  Such a great movie and she is such a stylish babe.

 

Coveted Style {Pin}spiration

As I have been busy adjusting to my role as a full time (temporary) teacher, I haven't had much time for anything else.  However, once a week I like to pop on a few style blogs and Pinterest to stay motivated and get new inspiration for my teacher/normal wardrobe.  With the exception of the last outfit (definitely more of a weekend outfit), here are a few favorite looks to go from the classroom to meeting up with friends or grabbing a beer with my husband.

To see more, check out my Style board.

LA Parklet

Image credit: TheEastsiderLA

February is a big month for the city of LA as they are finally catching up with other cities like New York and San Francisco and are opening up their new parklets.  The first one opened this week on York Blvd in Highland Park.   I must admit, I am a little sad/jealous about the two new parklets which are set to open on Spring St downtown later this week (as we just moved out of downtown a couple of months ago), but I am super excited to visit these Friday morning.   For now, it is now my new favorite Saturday morning activity to get coffee and sit on the colorful mosaic tiled benches of the parklet while relaxing with my husband.

Metals

I am loving metallic and metal looking nails right now!

All images via Pinterest. Click here for more nail inspiration!

Vegetarian Green Pozole

 This weekend, we were finally able to have a few friends over for dinner at our new house, but my husband came down with a cold.  I was a little torn because I wanted to make something soothing for him, but filling enough for our friends.  My favorite soup ever is Pozole and I have been dying to make the green kind so I thought may as well try it.  I made guacamole to have with chips as an appetizer and we shared a growler of Black Rye IPA (thanks Haven!), then made a simple chopped Kale and Radicchio salad with pepitas, dried cranberries and blue cheese tossed in a blush wine vinaigrette as a starter while moving on to drinking a Rangeland Syrah.

For the green sauce: Roast peeled Tomatillos, a Jalapeño, Serrano Chiles and
Garlic cloves.  While roasting, blend 1/2 cup of pepitas in a food processor.
Add the roasted veggies (remove all seeds from peppers) and blend until almost
smooth while adding a little olive oil.

On to the main event, my friend sent me her family recipe for a Green Chicken Pozole, which I used for the green sauce, but for the broth I ended up using the Trader Joe's Vegetable Broth. I don't think I completely nailed the green pozole as I wanted to roast the veggies for the tomatillo sauce before blending them, but instead simmered them in water.  Also, next time I am going to make it with chicken for more flavor than the vegetarian broth.  However, it was still very good and we had a great time!!

Once the green sauce is made, put it in a small pot and let it simmer on very low while you take the large pot and toss in diced onions, red bell peppers and garlic with a little olive oil.  Cook on medium heat for 4 minutes, then add rinsed Hominy (maize) and add cumin and cayenne pepper.  After 5 more minutes of stirring, add in vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil, then add green sauce and simmer for 20-30 minutes to let the flavors combine and settle.  Right before serving, add oregano, salt and pepper and lime juice.  

The best thing about pozole is adding all the condiments after! We used
chopped onions, radishes, cabbage, avocado, lime and tostadas!