Autumn

[picture via weheartit]

I am so happy that the seasons are shifting into fall. For some reason I am loving the cooler weather extra-much this year. Even though it has been dreary and rainy lately...

These things have been making me excited about life:

• Chai tea
• New rainboots
• Snuggle weather
• Honeycrisp apples from the farmers market
• Scarves and jackets
• Homemade soup in Panera breadbowls
• Oatmeal with allll the toppings
• Ordering new cookbooks online
• Seeing Ben everyday (it never gets old!)

I have yet to find the elusive canned pumpkin in the grocery store, but I also can't wait for pumpkin cornbread and scones.

 

Chihuly at Meijer Gardens

The other day I realized that I never shared the most gorgeous pictures from my little Michigan trip last month.

Ben and I took a daytrip to Grand Rapids on a hot and muggy day to visit the Frederik Meijer Gardens, an enormous botanical and sculpture garden. 

This summer there was a special exhibit featuring Dale Chihuly, an incredibly talented glass artist.

Chihuly specializes in blown glass sculptures that have an organic look and feel to them, like some sort of freaky flower or creature you might unexpectedly come across in nature.

The exhibit was breathtaking. You would be wandering around the expansive gardens and lawns and turn the corner to find another exhibit of technicolor glass. It was so cool!

 

 

[each swirl is a separate piece, numbered and mounted on a metal frame]

Oh, and the actual flowers and botanical part of the gardens is equally gorgeous.

They even have a "carnivorous plant" exhibit! The biology nerd in me was super excited, but it is basically just a little room filled with pitcher plants.

 

 

A couple of my favorite sculptures...
"The American Horse"

enormous

The alphabet people 

And I think Ben's (and maybe my) favorite part of the whole place was the Children's Garden. ;)

It has a special secret entrance....

A flowing model of the Great Lakes system

and wooden boardwalks and treehouses in the forest.

Overall, I would definitely recommend a trip to Meijer Gardens if you are ever in the Grand Rapids vicinity. They have different seasonal exhibits and even concerts in an outdoor amphitheater. It's definitely one of those places where you can wander around all day and feel like you are in a different enchanted world.

Quinoa Muffins...and my magazine addiction

[quinoa muffin teaser]

It is my favorite time of the month.

The time when all of a sudden all the magazine corporate behemoths ship out their new issues (a month in advance of the actual date on the cover of course). 

Definitely just had to look up the word behemoth. and I still used it correctly *score*

I absolutely love getting mail in my mailbox, especially since this is the first time I've actually had my very own mailbox, and magazines are the best things I ever get in this sad world of internet/virtual/satellite communication.  When I get a new shiny magazine every single day for 3 days in a row, well that is just overly exciting folks. I am seriously a magazine junkie. It may have started when my hairdresser gave my sister and me her old bridal magazines when I was in second grade.  One of the best periods of my childhood was when my mom subscribed to Traditional Home (which I thought had the most gorgeous dream houses ever).  Eventually I had to settle for Newsweek, Forbes, Road and Track, etc. (can I blame my mail-loving parents for instilling in me this addiction?) I even read the AARP and annual cheesy college magazines when I was (/am) home.  

And oh my goodness back in the day when we would come home from an extended family vacation (before my family started going on vacations without me...sadness of being the oldest "adult" child) and pick up our huge crate of mail from the post office, I would pretty much be entertained for hours with the backlog.  Catalogs are almost as good as magazines too, in my opinion.  My sister and I hoarded (yes. hoarded.) Wooden Soldier and Storybook Heirlooms catalogs (read: insanely ridiculous expensive children's clothing of the 90's) to fuel and inspire our paper doll making extravaganzas. Magazines pretty much define the stages of my life. High school was Cosmo Girl and Seventeen (ugh), college was Glamour, and now I have a weird mix of semi trashy healthy living mags and "how to be a perfect homemaker" mags. Leaning towards anything that will give me recipes though.

Anyways, I have pared down my subscriptions to

-Women's Health

-Elle Decor

-Better Homes and Gardens

-Women's Day (they think I have kids. but have good easy recipes) 

I just dropped Runner's World and Health, because I am still a poor grad student after all.

But then the most aggressive marketing campaign I have ever seen came into my mailbox in the form of a Martha Stewart Living ad book (not just flyer) and I was so sucked in. Give me my free tote bag and my shiny collectible life-enhancing periodicals and I will give you my credit card number and soul, Martha. Show me the secrets. 

I am not giving up my BHG though, even though they are apparently inferior to your magical powers.

Well enough rambling. Here is my muffin recipe!

• If you have never tried quinoa before (pronounced keen-wah) then you definitely should. It is probably in the health food or grain section of the grocery store, but cheapest in bulk at the natural foods store.  It is one of those "ancient superfood" grains and has lots of protein and other mysterious goodness. You cook it like rice; one part quinoa to 2 parts liquid, simmer until the liquid is absorbed (about 10-15 mins). I always make TONS of extra quinoa so I can make these delicious muffins!  

Quinoa Muffins
(recipe adapted from somewhere online...I can't remember where)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 T ground flax
• 2 T oil
• 2 T applesauce
• .25 cups brown sugar 
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups white whole wheat flour (or whatever flour/mix of flours you have)
• 1.5 t. baking powder 
• .5 t. baking soda
• .5 t. salt
• 1 t. cinnamon
• .5 t. cloves
• 1.25 cups cooked quinoa
• Muffin add-ins: any chopped nuts, dried fruit, etc. you have

1. Heat oven to 350 and grease/non-stick spray a 12-cup muffin tin
2. In a medium bowl, stir flax into milk, then whisk in oil, sugar, and vanilla
3. In a larger bowl, combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
4. Add the wet ingredients and stir until JUST COMBINED
5. Add the quinoa and add-ins.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes

They are best warm or toasted in the toaster oven with almond butter or honey. Yum!