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Biltmore's conservatory.  What an indulgence it was for me to be able to take my time and just snap, snap, snap. Maybe these little souvenirs will hold you until you get the chance to see it yourself one day.  This is likely enough inspiration for me to draw pictures of flowers for at least a decade.  Sigh. Thanks for the workshop sellout that happened pretty lickitysplit today.  I am so honored that there is that interest out there, and I promise to be a good hostess to those of you joining.  I simply cannot wait.  If you missed this one, let me know, and I'll add you to an interest/wait list for the future. In other news: :: My husband can not stop making tofu scramble like this . :: I cannot stop watching/listening to this . :: Somebody help me. :: I can't get sick of it. :: Tofu scramble on the other hand.... xoxoAMoxox

Xristos Anesti! Care for lunch? Here's what we had (and are still having): Lamb: 2 rolled boneless legs from Whole Foods (8 lbs or so).  I rub salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, and lemon juice on them, and made small incisions with a knife to insert garlic cloves in several places.  Then I seared them in a hot pan of my dad's olive oil and placed them in a crock pot for about 5 hours.  A very delicious alternative to roasting on a souvla (spit).  I drizzled a bit of red wine on them about midway through cooking. Kefthedes (aka meatballs): I used ground beef from the cow that Jeff's step dad, Ben,  gave us for Christmas.  It was already butchered.  But we were still really happy about it.  Anyway- 3lbs ground beef hand mixed with salt pepper, parsley, oregano, cinnamon, chopped garlic and onion, 1 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 cup parmesan, 2 eggs.  And a douse of red wine. Red Potatoes: chopped and mixed with fresh garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, lots o...

16 past noon on Saturday. All of our ornament & decking boxes are piled up on the dining room table. Sunshine is pouring in. Loukoumades are rising on the kitchen counter. Under a towel I made more than 3 years ago, which has held up quite nicely. I'm so glad I've used it. I hope we have enough honey. Getting the tree today. xo, AM

Roman and I are here with several public service announcements: Eating animal crackers is fun. Wearing a bow tie is cool. Roman prefers the animal crackers to the bow tie. I prefer the bow tie to the animal crackers. We each put up with one for the other. You are allowed to play with your food if you are eating animal crackers. Its Friday. All of the above go well together in my brain, and maybe only there. Crunchy, sweet love to you and your weekend, Anna & Roman (Style sources: Bow Ties , Animal Crackers , Laminate Tablecloth , Office Chair )

Chances are if you were to drive by any place that looks like this , it would be a good idea to stop. And if the nachos have faces, you should also plan to have dinner. True love. Myself and that guy in the background of course. I don't know that cup looking guy. Cool hair though. I want her job. It could either make me hate dipped ice cream cones, or make me enjoy every minute of becoming an ice cream stuffed balloon. Case in point: that cone in my hand is a size Small. And still its the size of Roman. Seriously. No camera perspective tricks here. My ice cream could eat Roman. Which is why I attacked it of course. I was protecting my cubs. This is Jack. In most instances that's all you need to know. But I'll go ahead and also tell you that he's my father-in-law. Jack grew up a stone's throw from the Dairy Dip (well only if you have a really good arm, I just wanted to say that cause it sounds so Nashville, and I like to particularly sound Nashvillish w...

5 PIES is my contribution to our upcoming long weekend at my parents' house. I was planning only 4- two blueberry and two peach- but I had all this leftover crust that could not be wasted (never), so I got out my good ole Betty Crocker classic cookbook and looked for something that I had the ingredients for- erhh something that between myself and my neighbor, Karen, had the ingredients for (thanks Karen- even trade I think, we just gave your Josh two of our Wii remotes). Anyhoo, I have some words about baking. I am not big on baking. Maybe because I am not big on sweets or cakes too much. Except for pie. I lurve making pie. I make such a gianormous mess that the finished pie ends up being the apology to my husband for making such a mess of his kitchen (It is his kitchen- he cleans it, I cook in it. He can have it. I will happily keep cooking.) In general I like to cook a lot. Free style with of course our favorite, simple, memorized standards thrown in. Baking requires g...

Four girls, homemade personal pizzas, a movie , and a movie credit too (for which I am now finally ranked as cool with my girls- that was easy, ahem). I did find this nice little story on the process of bringing Miss Moody to life. A lovely night while the boys are off on their own adventure . thanks for all of your (ongoing and ridiculously too nice) support. xo, anna

Our Spring Break, while it might seem unfair, was entirely engineered to keep Roman at home and not traveling to and fro riding all means of mass transit. Jeff took Nicolas and Joseph to the city one Sunday and spent three days with them, doing slightly more boyish things, hanging with Juliana and he also coded some work meetings in. I stayed at home with the little girls and Roman, then once the big boys returned we headed out leaving Roman to have guy time for the rest of the week. I really, really don't think Roman minded not being forced into one seat or another for a week straight, which is sort of what vacation in a large city becomes for a wittle kid wike him. As we drove into the city on St. Patrick's Day, evening had just begun to fall, the Empire State building was lit with green lights, and Eleni was journaling the beginnings of our trip. After about 0.2 seconds of thought, the first night we decided not to fight the pub crowds in search of fish, chips and green ...

Whenever I prepare for the holidays, I always think of my American grandmother, Anna Ruth Coble. Her twinkle, her cleverness, her endless work at the kitchen counter, her pies, her potatoes, her laugh, her smile. Several years ago when I was about to cook my first official Thanksgiving turkey in my own home, I thought of this smock-style apron that she always seems to be wearing in my mind's eye. She made it for herself, a fact alone that I adore. It was given to me after she died because we share the same name, and if I had ever thought to ask for just one thing from her home, it would have been this. I knew I had it tucked somewhere, but I almost never wore it so it wasn't at hand. I think I spent so many years with babies spitting and pooping on me that I never gave much thought to kitchen messes. But cooking a turkey was different, I needed her apron. I couldn't find it. I tore the house apart. I realized that I hadn't seen it, perhaps, since before we m...

Even though we're not together today, I thought I would make lunch for Jeff in your honor, so of course..... a tomato salad made the Dad way : fresh tomatoes (chopped in bite size pieces the way you like them, but sorry no one was patient enough for me to peel them first); chopped onion ; chopped cucumbers (the smell of which always reminds me of standing in the kitchen with you & a salt shaker, eating them fresh from the garden); Kalamata olives (the only kind of olives, as we know); a healthy dash of oregano; a heaping pour of the brightest, greenest olive oil (from your very own trees in Greece, naturally- I think we still have enough to get us through the year thanks to your winter oil visit); and plenty of salt (and even more when no one is looking, of course). Plus crusty bread and lots of people to help you eat it since you're not here. Thank you for teaching me the only way to make tomato salad and the only way to eat tomato salad (using the bread as a chewy, edi...

How could I forget the mushrooms?! Please do add one cup of sliced white button mushrooms to the 2nd section of yesterday's recipe. You will be glad you did. I'll go fix the post here in a sec to add it. Mmm. Just as yummy today warmed up for lunch as it was last night. This morning I was figuring with the kids how old they'll be once Roman starts school. Which led to further discussion about how long they'll go to school, college etc. I remember that time frame sounding endless when I was little. Joseph then asked if you go to college for 12 years too once you're done with the rest of school. I chuckled and said- well most people don't and that - I just went to college for four years to learn how to be a designer . Eleni said- four years!? Were you just drawing that whole time? I told her -yup pretty much. Then she seemed to have a look of realization on her little bubbly face and said- oooohhh! you kept drawing and erasing and drawing and erasing and ...