home improvement: gfci outlets

Tony and I now have functioning GFCI outlets in our bathrooms. I know -- super exciting, right? Safety first.

We bought our house more than a year ago, and our to-do list since then has included the phrase, "replace GFCIs." The home inspector told us that the GFCI in our full bath wasn't working properly, and the outlet in our half bath was just a standard outlet: 

A GFCI cuts off the power to an outlet if it detects a power surge. They're designed to protect electrocutions, like if you drop your hairdryer into the sink. 

I've learned some important things about GFCIs in the last few weeks. Mostly from Family Handyman, which is Tony's favorite home improvement magazine. (I'm more of a This Old House girl, myself.) Anyway, Family Handyman says GFCIs wear out after about 10 years. GFCIs that were installed after 2006 usually have a new function in which the outlets just stop working when they wear out, which forces you to install a new one. But pre-2006 GFCIs don't have that feature, and apparently the test button isn't a reliable way to tell if an outlet is actually working. It sounds like the outlet in our full bath must've been installed before 2006 -- the reset button indicated it worked just fine, but the home inspector was able to use a circuit tester to tell it wouldn't work.

The good news: GFCIs are easy and inexpensive to replace. My dad and Tony did this project together, so I won't pretend to be able to give you advice on how to do electrical work. But I'd recommend calling a handyman or electrician to evaluate the age and functionality of yours.

things to do: hill east farmers market

Last Wednesday after work, Tony and I stopped at a new farmers market in Hill East -- 13th Street and E Street Southeast. For anyone who works or lives on the Hill, it's a nice spot to grab fresh mid-week produce, and it runs until 7 p.m.

For the novelty of it, I bought some golden beets.

Here's what I did: I scrubbed them, wrapped them in foil with a little bit of olive oil, roasted them in the oven at 400 for an hour, let them cool, and rubbed the skins off. I sliced them for Tony's salad last night. He says the taste is indiscernible from red beets. They're pretty to look at, though. (I'm an admittedly picky eater and didn't try them. Can't bring myself to eat beets.)

I also bought some farm eggs, and this label cracked me up. "From hens running free indoors and out." At first I thought these people let their chickens into their house. Tony set me straight -- "indoors" clearly refers to their coop.

And some nice corn.

Which was pesticide-free corn. Which means a few of the ears I picked up had little worms munching away.

<3

In other farmers market news, I got a cool white eggplant at the H Street market Saturday morning. Again, for the novelty of it. I made eggplant parmesan, and Tony and I really couldn't tell the difference between the taste of white eggplant and purple.

recipe: macaroni and cheese

I've missed you, dear oven!

The knob on my oven has been set firmly in the off position since the spring. But now that the weather has cooled down, I've been taking full advantage of this great appliance. Bread. Pizza. Enchiladas. And when Camille and Matt came over for dinner Saturday evening, I decided to bake a macaroni and cheese casserole. 

The Internet contains approximately 1 million recipes for macaroni and cheese that all have various combinations of noodles, cheddar cheese, milk, bread crumbs, and assorted other ingredients. I know this because I googled the phrase "macaroni and cheese recipe" and quickly was overwhelmed with all of the choices. I ended up abandoning the Internet entirely and started sorting through my cookbooks, where I figured the experts on American cuisine couldn't possibly lead me astray. I decided to try the recipe in James Beard's American Cookery, which is a new addition to my cookbook collection. I've been wanting to try something out of this book, and macaroni and cheese certainly fits squarely in the category of "American cookery." I bought the book earlier this month for 50 cents at the Northeast Library book sale. And let me tell you, that that was 50 cents well spent.

I went for a Southern-ish theme for dinner and served the macaroni and cheese with almond green beans and cornbread. With bourbon in my glass. For dessert: apple pie bars. (I'll post the cornbread and apple pie bar recipes soon!)

Here's my take on the American Cookery recipe. I made several changes to the original recipe, including the amount of cheese. As I was assembling the casserole, it quickly became clear that 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cheese just wasn't going to cut it.

Macaroni and Cheese

Adapted from James Beard's American Cookery

• 2 cups macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 splashes of Tabasco
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• generous amount of breadcrumbs

Butter a 2-quart baking dish.

Boil macaroni for the minimum cooking time. My box called for 9-11 minutes, and I boiled for 9 minutes. Drain.

For the white sauce, melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and cook for a few minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, heat milk to the boiling point. Add milk to the butter-flour mixture. Add salt and Tabasco. Sauce will start to thicken. Cook on medium-low, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.

In the prepared baking dish, add half of the macaroni, spread half of the white sauce, and add half of the cheese. Then add the rest of the macaroni, the rest of the white sauce, and then the rest of the cheese. Top with a generous amount of breadcrumbs. You can make your own breadcrumbs, but I used store-bought Italian-seasoned crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Then put under broiler on high for 2 minutes.

The good news for you is that you no longer need to scour the Internet, wondering which macaroni and cheese recipe to choose. You've found it.

It. Was. Delicious.

<3

After dinner, the four of us competed in a game of Goggle Eyes. Which is as fun as it sounds. Camille and Matt originally read about the game in The Washington Post's Kids Post. But it's very easily converted into an adult game. Just add the aforementioned bourbon.

It's like Pictionary in that you draw a picture from a prompt on a card and try to get your partner to guess what you're drawing. Only you're wearing extremely funny glasses with lenses that distort your vision. Here's Tony, handsome as always, even with those glasses:

the garden: tomatoes of late

The tomatoes I've been picking lately -- since the heat mercifully disappeared -- are so darn pretty. They're uniform in shape, size, and color. I feel like I should call Bonnie Plants and invite them over for a photo shoot -- that's how pretty my tomatoes are. It wasn't that way all summer. I picked a TON of tomatoes this summer, even during the hottest weeks, but they weren't consistently good-looking. I'm thinking the extreme heat stressed my tomato plants and made them produce smaller fruit that was misshapen at times.

That said, I enjoyed my misshapen tomatoes, and I enjoy them now. They just look better lately.

<3

So here we are, in late September, and which of my summer crops are still growing? I have one eggplant growing on my plant. I've picked four so far, so that'll give me five for the year, which is about what you can expect from one plant. And the tomatoes and peppers are still going strong. I'm really getting my money out of those plants.

the garden: propagating ivy

In early spring, Tony tore out some dying bushes in our front yard, and I got some big ideas for how I wanted to re-landscape it. My plan included ripping out large swaths of ivy and planting a flowing carpet of sweet alyssum flowers. It was going to be gorgeous. But the alyssum was a bust. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was my forgetfulness in watering. But, the bottom line is, the alyssum didn't make it, and I was left with a large swath of dirt in my front yard. 

The ivy grows with great speed in unwanted directions, like up the tree and into the sidewalk. So I figured, hey, just give the ivy a month or two, and it'll grow and cover that large swath of dirt. No dice. It's late September, and I've still got that unsightly spot in my front yard.

So I decided to try propagating my own ivy. We all know how miserably I failed at a similar experiment with celery. So I'm hedging my bet and approaching this experiment in two ways: half of the ivy stems went right in the ground Sunday. The other half are sitting in vases, and I'm hoping they sprout roots before I transplant them.

Sunday afternoon, I got the clippers out and cut off a couple dozen stems, mostly new growth. 

Then I cut off most of the leaves. The idea is that those stubs where the leaves were will sprout roots to support a whole new plant.

For the stems that I planted right in the ground, Tony dug little trenches and set the ivy inside. 

Then I covered them up, except for a few leaves at the top. 

Now, I hope that does the trick, but if it doesn't, I'm working on the backup plan. The other half of the stems are sitting in water by a sunny window. The stems should sprout roots in the water, and once they have roots, they may have a better shot of surviving once they're transplanted into the ground.

I'll keep you updated on this experiment!

the cat: lazy sunday cat friends

Sunday afternoon snapshot of Victor, chilling out with the neighborhood cat, Francois. When the weather is nice and Tony and I leave the doors open, these two will sit like this and just look at each other. They don't act excited. They don't hiss, either. They just sit there. And stare. And they crack me up.

things to do: fall festivals

Tony and I are out on H Street fairly regularly, but it's different every time we're there. We were up there again last weekend for the H Street Festival and walked from 14th Street to 8th Street and noticed a handful of new restaurants. Like Cusbah -- where'd that come from? The Yelp reviews look pretty good -- we may have to check it out and see for ourselves.

So it's the time of year for fall festivals. In theory, I really like festivals. As soon as I read about a festival or fair, I put it on my calendar and make a point to go if I can. But then, when I get there, the reality sets in: the crowds are dense, and the lines are so long. 

And the H Street Festival definitely was crowded. The line for the beer garden was laughably long. Although we did do some good people watching. 

Like this lady in a lifeguard-type chair, who was dressed like a gypsy and was telling people's fortunes for free. Tony took the bait. He pulled the fool card, but don't worry -- she assured him that's a good thing.

And here's a guy who was doing flips on a pogo stick. Not something you see every day.

And this dude was using a magnifying glass to meticulously burn/carve a buffalo into the wood. Also not something you see every day.

For the festival lovers among us, we have three options for this weekend. 

• Barracks Row Fall Festival/D.C. State Fair. As you know, Tony has a history with state and county fairs. I have a feeling he'd be super disappointed in this urban area's attempt at a state fair. He says a fair, in order to be legit, has to have (1) cows; (2) funnel cakes; and (3) a ferris wheel. Yeah, he's definitely going to be disappointed. Website.
• National Book Festival. Avi. Lois Lowry. R.L. Stine. Awesome. Website.
• D.C. VegFest. There's a photo of a person wearing a giant carrot suit on the website. I hope that human carrot is back again this year. Website.

dining out: pound

There was sad restaurant news in Hill East last month: Crepes on the Corner shut down. It'd only been around for a few months, and it was always full when Tony and I were there. But then it shut down, and I was sad. It seemed to be such a good addition to the neighborhood in Southeast at 15th and C streets. 

Then I started to read sad things about Pound on Pennsylvania Avenue near Eastern Market. The owner was considering closing because business was so slow. And I'd be doubly disappointed if another coffee shop-type neighborhood restaurant closed on the Hill, so Tony and I went there for breakfast on Sunday with a friend. 

The weather was beautiful, so we ate on the back patio, which was perfect and cozy. The food was pretty good, too, although the menu was very limited. We had our choice of various types of croissant sandwiches. I went with the Italian Elvis croissant, which had Nutella, sliced bananas and honey, and Tony had the huevos rancheros croissant. Both were tasty.

Here's hoping Pound is able to survive its slow patch. (And maybe add a few things to its breakfast menu.)

reading list: the sun also rises

A few years ago, I launched a Personal Betterment Initiative in which I decided to read classic novels that I've just never got around to reading. I wanted to become a better-read person. And I started with The Catcher in the Rye because I somehow earned a high school diploma and two college degrees without ever reading it.

Some of the books I've read over the past few years have really stuck with me. Like The Grapes of Wrath. After I read it, I was afraid that it had ruined all novels for me. I couldn't read another book for six months because I was convinced that no novel could ever match its power. Others, eh. Like Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. Too many ... words ... that were uninteresting.

I've just finished reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I should acknowledge that I became smitten with the Hemingway character in the film Midnight in Paris, which is why a Hemingway book got moved to the top of my reading list.

But ... I didn't love it. I realize this may not be a popular statement. When I told Jamie and Mike that I wasn't getting into the book, they looked as if I just told them I didn't like their haircuts. But the plot really didn't keep my attention, I despised all of the characters, and I found none of the themes to be relatable. Yet I keep thinking about the book, even after finishing it, so something about it is speaking to some part of me.

The novel is about a group of friends who live a fancy life in Paris in the 1920s, then spend some time fishing in Spain, and then party at the fiestas and bullfights in Pamplona. Actually, I think "friends" is too nice of a word because the characters don't seem to actually like one other. The main character, Jake, was injured during World War I and became impotent, which is why he can't be with the woman he's in love with, Brett. But it seems as if Brett has sex with all of the other male characters in their circle, which makes all of their relationships really complicated and uncomfortable. And the characters spend most of their time drinking to excess and traveling around Europe in buses and trains.

And that all does sound fairly interesting, but I just couldn't get into it. These characters are at a point in their lives where they have not found their true love, their happily ever after. They wander around Europe and drink too much, and none of that seems redeeming. They are insufferable. I feel sad for them. It seems as if Hemingway was drawing from his own experiences when he wrote the book, and that just made me kind of sad for Hemingway.

All this to say: Maybe this book would have appealed to me at a different point in my life. The life experiences you bring to a book color your interpretations of it. Perhaps the relationship themes would've appealed to the 18-year-old Jessi. Or the expat wanderings would've appealed to the 24-year-old Jessi. But 29-year-old Jessi...? As I type this, I'm laying next to my sleeping husband, the man I've been with for almost 10 (!) years. I'm inside the house we bought together, the place where we put down roots. And I'm giving myself 15 more minutes to finish this blog post because I have to get up for work in the morning like a responsible adult. And life is good. I wouldn't trade wanderlust for what I've got for anything. So maybe that's why I keep thinking about the book: It's made me pause to be thankful for what I've got.

wedding: mike & jen snapshots

A few years ago, after a friend of mine got married, she told me that she missed the wedding planning and that she wanted to go back and plan it all again. To which I wanted to say: Um, are you crazy, girl?? As much as I loved our wedding day, I'm so happy it was a one-time deal. 

But I love being a wedding guest. I love showing up for weddings, having a few cocktails, enjoying the decor, eating the cake. And having planned a wedding once myself, I really do appreciate how much effort brides and grooms put into their wedding days, especially the decor details.

On Saturday, Tony and I hopped on the bus and spent the evening at Mike and Jen's house celebrating their wedding. The actual ceremony was last month in Dolly Sods, W.V. They got married in a very small ceremony with their siblings as witnesses. They followed it up a couple of weeks later with a reception for the rest of their family back home and now a second reception for their friends in D.C.

One of the decor details that I loved: Jen set mason jars around the house, some with candles in them and some with these bright sunflower arrangements. 

I told you earlier in the summer about the guestbook family tree that Jen and I made for their family reception. (Which I have seen finished, by the way, and it looks fabulous with the fingerprints. I'll post pics once it's framed.) For the D.C. reception, Mike and Jen came up with an equally fabulous, nontraditional guestbook idea: We each filled out personalized Mad Libs about their marriage. 

Closeup shot of the Mad Libs cards:

Another great DIY project: Mike and Jen bought cabinet doors for $1 each at Community Forklift. They painted the frame to match the sunflower yellow theme and used chalkboard paint for the face of the cabinet. Then they wrote the food and drink menus on the signs. Here's the food menu, featuring dinner that was catered by Carmine's in Penn Quarter.  

Here's another nice touch I liked from the wedding: puzzle piece cake toppers. It's a fitting choice because Mike and Jen do puzzles together. (Get it ... FITTING.)

And while I'm posting detail shots from Saturday night, I have to show you a photo of a great flamingo bracelet I wore to the wedding. Tony and I were wandering around our neighborhood Saturday morning and stopped at a garage sale, where I picked this up for $3. I actually bought it to give to my mom because she has a thing for flamingos. But I had to give it a test run first. Pretty, isn't it?

And here's the necklace I wore for the evening, which actually is another garage sale find in D.C. I got this one in the spring for only a dollar (!).

things to do: library book sale

The good news: Tony and I discovered the monthly used book sale at the Northeast library and came home Saturday afternoon with a big haul. The bad news: the library's about to close for $10 million in renovations, so it'll be a year and a half before we can go back.

That's a good score, right? Everything pictured above, plus 10 comic books for Tony, came to $5.50. (The CDs were free.) Highlights include two Tennessee Williams plays and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well as R.E.M., Elvis Costello, and Best of 80's Metal Volume Three: Bang Your Head. (Tony picked out the CDs.)

The other great thing about the Northeast library book sale is the books are so well organized. The fiction is alphabetized by author. The classics are in their own section. The nonfiction is categorized and clearly labeled. There's also a monthly used book sale at the Southeast library near Eastern Market, which Tony and I hit up every few months or so. It holds a special place in my heart, but if it has an organizational system, I don't understand it. Northeast sale, we've barely gotten to know each other, but I'm going to miss you.

The library is in Northeast at 7th and D streets. Just 18 months until we can go back.

shopping: t.j.maxx love affair

I woke up yesterday morning, got dressed for work, looked at myself in the mirror, and realized that 95 percent of what I was wearing came from T.J.Maxx and Marshalls. I mean, I've hinted before that I'm slightly obsessed with the discount retailers, but even I have to admit that this outfit was kind of extreme. But it's also kind of amusing, so I thought I'd use this opportunity to expound on my love affair with T.J.Maxx.  

Outfit shots! Top, pencil skirt, belt, bag: 

Heels:

Sunglasses:

(By the way, can you tell I was in a very pink mood yesterday?) 

USA Today published an interview with the TJX CEO last fall, and it said the company buys 85 percent of its merchandise directly from manufacturers from the current season. There's a "wink, wink" aspect of shopping at T.J. Maxx that fascinates me. The company won't say which designers it buys from, and the brands won't admit they sell to T.J. Maxx. But all you have to do is dig through the racks to find the same brands you find at Macys. For example, brands on me: Tahari top, Limited skirt, Betsey Johnson belt, Steve Madden bag, Chinese Laundry heels, and no-name sunglasses. All purchased, I may add, for a bargain. 

decor: wedding wall

This is one of my favorite spots in our house. It's a collection of family wedding photos, all candid shots. It has all of our favorite people -- parents, grandparents, siblings -- on the happiest days of their lives. I've been scanning and printing old wedding photos over the past several months, and last week I finally got the last photo I needed of my grandparents.

The vows were one of my favorite parts of our wedding. There was something very powerful about standing in front of all of the people in the world who love us and reciting the same words that my parents, my grandparents, aunts, uncles said decades earlier when they started their marriages. I felt like I was becoming a part of a tradition, something bigger than myself. 

I promise to be true to you, in good time and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.

I have those same feelings about tradition when I look at this wedding wall. These photos were taken decades and decades apart, but it's comforting to see they were cutting tiered wedding cakes in 1955 and throwing rice in 1978 and doing the you-may-kiss-the-bride thing in 2011. 

Here's a closeup shot of my beautiful grandma and my handsome papa (who never lost any of that hair, by the way), cutting their wedding cake: 

And the first dance for Tony's grandparents: 

Don't they look so happy? I'm glad I chose candid shots for the wall because the emotions are so much more genuine than in posed wedding portraits. 

I got the inspiration for the shelf from this blog post last year. I loved the sleek and modern look. I had my dad make the shelf for me, which was fairly easy. I measured it to be the exact length of my dresser (which is a Hemnes dresser from Ikea), and I painted it to match. We borrowed the bloggers' idea to create a lip on the shelf, which serves the double purposes of (1) ensuring the photos don't slide off, and (2) providing support so the long board doesn't warp over time. 

I had intended to fasten the shelf to the wall with invisible brackets, like the DIYers in the blog post, but then my dad found these gorgeous iron brackets at a flea market, so of course my plans changed. 

Another shot: 

As for styling the shelf, I used all different shapes and thicknesses of frames to put the photos in, which adds visual interest. But I kept the look uniform by using only black frames. Bonus: mismatched photo frames are abundant at thrift stores, and if they're not black, a little paint will do the trick.

<3

From the archives: 

decor: window shades and sheers

dining out: star and shamrock

Husband's birthday requests: liverwurst and bourbon. I mean, the liverwurst part was pretty disgusting, but any birthday celebration that includes bourbon is A-OK by me.

First stop of the evening: Star and Shamrock on H Street, where said liverwurst was procured. Birthday Boy's sandwich also included coleslaw, bacon and onions. In case you were curious what such a sandwich would look like (or want proof that someone actually would order that for his birthday dinner), here you go:

The food isn't fancy, but it's tasty. I'm a big fan of Star and Shamrock. It's a pub and a deli. It's Irish and Jewish. It's got a nice big bar to sit around, and it has a cool neighborhood pub vibe. Every time I've been there, it's been low-key, and that was especially the case when we were there for Tony's birthday, which was on Monday. Trivia was starting as we were wrapping up our meal. Tony and I considered playing, but we abandoned the idea after hearing the first question. (We didn't understand about half of the words in the first question.) Trivia, clearly not our strong suit. Unless it's a question about a movie, director, or actor -- then Tony's your man. Total movie geek.

With full bellies, we made our way back home, where we spent the rest of the evening sipping a selection of fine Kentucky bourbons. I think it's clear the two of us were made for each other, isn't it? Happy birthday, Tone <3

decor: deco plant stand

Flattery will get you everywhere.

I blogged in June about a super cool plant stand that I spotted in my mom's backyard. And when she came to visit me over Labor Day weekend, what did she bring? An Art Deco plant stand of my very own!

Lovely, isn't it? She found it in an antique store, had my dad spray paint it black, and gave it to me as a belated birthday present. My mom styled her plant stand with evenly spaced terra cotta pots, a look I clearly copied. Except I put mums in mine for fall, which Home Depot had on sale over the holiday for 88 cents (!) each.

Thanks, Mom <3