Bread Pudding and a China Cabinet Re-Vamp!

I came home from our vacation inspired. Inspired to cook and to breathe some new life into our china cabinet. Random, I know. Let me explain.

While in the airport terminal in New Orleans buying pralines for my grandma, I had an impulse buy of bread pudding mix they had by the cash register (remember how I am with those impulse purchases? Dangerous.) I love bread pudding and make Emeril's Bourbon Bread Pudding abnormally often now that I think about it. It's just too flippin' easy and delicious and my husband is a bourbon drinker so everybody wins. Post said purchase, I realized that the mix is a "just add water" deal. Just add water, bread and raisins. Interesting.

So here's what you need:
- 1 packet of the mix
- 1 loaf of slightly old french bread torn into pieces (it calls for 8 cups)
- about a handful of raisins
- 2 cups water

Dissolve the mix in the water...

Add the liquid to the bread and the raisins and stir until everything's coated...

Put in an 8x8 greased pan and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes. And here's the finished product.

And it was delicious. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of cool whip on top and you're in heaven!

I looked on the pudding mix company's website, The Praline Connection, and you can't order it online... bummer. But I did find this option online, or I'm sure you can find some sort of mix in the grocery store, I've just never looked for it, but I will now!

Ok, so onto the china hutch that I re-vamped. I adore our china hutch. It's beautiful and gives us some much needed storage. On our flight home, I was thinking about house stuff and reminiscing about how I was so thrilled with that side table I repainted last week... I decided to add a coat of paint to our china cabinet. One our way home from the airport, we stopped at Home Depot and I picked out a lovely shade of paint called Egyptian Nile. Doesn't it sound exotic?

Here's the before shot:

And here's the after shot:

Not too bad, right? We also moved it from our kitchen to our dining room which was a feat in itself but now the room feels much more complete. As a matter of fact, at this very moment I am sitting at our dining room table, eating my bread pudding and admiring my paint job as I type. Sigh... all in a days work.

Front Yard Face Lift: Part I

There's something about visiting the Pasadena Showcase House that makes you feel insanely inadequate as a homeowner regardless of how much time, effort, blood, sweat and tears you have poured into making your home absolutely perfect. Every year I go, I glean hundreds of decorating ideas from the poster-child of impeccably decorated and designed homes and file them away into my mental idea vault. So, naturally, after going yesterday morning I turned my slight depression (the Showcase House's guest house was about the size of our actual house...) into motivation and we kicked into gear to do some sprucing up. This time the project is the front yard.

While I was en route coming home, Chris made a Home Depot run and stocked up on plants and supplies, I trust his judgement and the idea of going to HD on a Saturday with the masses makes me feel claustrophobic. Here is the before shot:

The front yard has been on our fix-up to-do list since we moved in and we couldn't take it any more. The front flower border and side yard were the targets. We bought drought-resistant plants to cut down on our water bill :) and also picked plants that are deer/animal resistant, since there is quite a wildlife contingency in our neighborhood and many of our previous plants had been breakfast/lunch/dinner for many deer families. So we started tearing out, chopping down, sweating, raking, hoeing, sweating, planting, weeding, sweating...

All the while we had an audience...

In the process of tearing out the rose bushes sprinkled throughout the front border, we realized that they are pretty old but in great shape. I kind of loved them once we took them out of the planter and stripped them of dead leaves and weeds. So I replanted them on the side yard... see:

I think they will like their new home!

And after 3 hours... we're not looking too bad!

Ok, now we are talking business! Here is the after shot:

I love how you can now see the cute gate on the north side of the house that was covered by this hideous overgrown palm plant. There is still more to be done, but there is only so much you can do in one afternoon! 

To be continued...