Coconut Cream Heaven

It was a dreary weekend here in Chicago. To combat some of the gloom, on Sunday I tried my hand at my favorite dessert of all-time – coconut cream pie. I mostly followed this recipe here, but made a few slight adjustments, namely a store-bought crust and coconut milk instead of whole milk.

The result was pure perfection and rivaled some of the best coconut cream pies I’ve ever had. If you are a fan of this heavenly dessert I highly recommend this recipe. Enjoy!

Coconut Cream Pie

Crust

• 1 store-bought crust, blind baked and cooled ahead of time

Filling

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon coconut extract

Topping

• 2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/4 cups chilled whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon coconut extract

For filling:
Whisk 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, egg yolk, and flour in medium bowl. Bring milk and coconut to simmer in medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add hot milk mixture to egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return to same saucepan; cook until pastry cream thickens and boils, stirring constantly, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in vanilla and coconut extracts. Transfer pastry cream to medium bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface to prevent formation of skin. Chill until cold, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Transfer filling to crust. Cover; chill overnight.

For topping:
Toast coconut in heavy small skillet over medium heat until lightly browned, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Cool completely.

Using electric mixer, beat cream, sugar, and coconut extract in medium bowl until peaks form. Spread whipped cream all over top of filling. Sprinkle evenly with toasted coconut. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Serve cold.

Spring has sprung

Somehow, despite the fact that winter typically sticks around until May in Chicago, spring has sprung a few months early this year. This past weekend, thanks to St. Patrick’s Day, it seemed that the whole city came outside to embrace the 80-degree weather, the budding trees and flowers and the excuse to drink on their patios and sidewalks.

The Boyfriend and I were no exception. We wore green, drank greyhounds on a friend’s patio, made corned beef and cabbage, took a very long walk and had our first frozen yogurt of the season. Life just seems better when the weather is good.

Happy Monday!

Home is where your heart (and favorite Vietnamese restaurant) is...

via

This weekend The Boyfriend and I are off to my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri to spend some much-anticipated time with family and friends and to catch a Radiohead show this evening.

I remember that in high school, the time between me and graduation, and getting out of my hometown and onto college living couldn’t pass quickly enough. It’s so funny how your perspective changes. Now I find myself looking so forward to visits home – I don’t think I know any place that is more comforting or relaxing than my parents’ house.

Now a tourist in my home city, on visits I like to take advantage of some of the places and activities I took for granted when I lived there full time. Dinner at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, brunch with my parents and shopping with my sister are all on the agenda. And I’m looking really forward to it.  

Here’s to a great weekend wherever you’ll be!

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday! Hope your weekends were fab. Mine was spent working on lots of projects to be revealed soon, preparing for Brazil and meeting and dining with lots of friends who I hadn’t seen in far too long.

What is it about a long catch-up with a good friend that is so therapeutic? I always leave feeling refreshed, centered and as if I could conquer anything…

Here are a few photos I snapped over the weekend! Cheers to a great week ahead!

Coffe with friends...

Adorable owl glasses from my dear friend Katie

Dinner date with Jason and Jess at my favorite Thai place Silom12

Bundled up and repping The Boyfriend's Pendleton scarf... Not sure I'll give it back

Whole Foods Sushi for one

Weekend Recap... Picture Perfect

I had such a great weekend in Michigan visiting and catching up with my extended family. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again—sometimes it just feels good to get away from the city… Especially when your destination involves lots of clean white snow and some peace and quiet.

But as nice as it was to get away I did enjoy returning home last night to a boyfriend who missed me and our place that is all our own.

Homemade meatloaf, a bottle of wine and 'Hanna' on Netflix was a great way to end the long weekend and ease back into the week…

Hope your weekends were fab!

Weekend Roundup

I took so few photos this weekend even though I did so many fun things.

We finally put up a little Christmas tree in our home... It's small but brings in the perfect amount of holiday cheer.

On Saturday some of my family came to visit— my mother, sister Julia and my Grandmother drove all the way to Chicago to see me (and go to the Holiday Renegade Craft Fair)! How lucky am I?

We shopped, and shopped some more and went to a fireside dinner at Frontier on Saturday where I ate the loveliest butternut squash curry soup.

And Friday night I met my friend Katie’s new puppy Roo... I think I’m in love.

How was your weekend?

Christmas trees, beautiful presents at Free People, Roo, my cute sister Julia

xoxox

Weekend Recap...

There's nothing like a weekend filled with holiday-esque activities to get you excited for an upcoming holiday. 

Between the festive Michigan Avenue lighting ceremony, buying the season's-first TJ's Joe Joe cookies and Christmas shopping that I did this weekend (list of gifts for $50 and less to come this week!) I can hardly wait for Wednesday when I'll board a plane for St. Louis to be with my family for Thanksgiving. 

Bring on the two-and-a-half day week! 

How was your weekend?

Fireworks from the 11th floor 

Hands down, favorite store-bought holiday cookie: Trader Joe's Joe Joe's 

Antenna Magazine Party at the River East Art Center 

Chicken & Waffles for brunch... Yum

Weekend Recap: Country Comfort

This past weekend we escaped the city and headed to Central, IL. where Jered grew up.

It’s nice to get out of the stressful city every once in awhile, especially for a quiet weekend in the country. Our weekend was filled with great sleep, lots of fresh air, good food and the most beautiful sunset I've seen in a long time. 

And then on Sunday our couch was finally delivered! I took the loveliest nap with it that afternoon and realized how much I’ve missed having a couch.

How was your weekend? 

Country 

The most beautiful sunset I've seen in a long time

Salvaged barn wood for a side table project we're working on

Corn fields

Cozy, fireside

Much-anticipated couch delivery 

The perfect Sunday night dinner, a bowl of turkey chili 

A Sunday in Brooklyn

On Sunday I spent the afternoon in Brooklyn with my sister. I just happened to be in New York again for work and my travel coincided with a trip she was making to visit friends from college. 

Neither of us had never been to Brooklyn, so we spent the afternoon wandering around in the perfect New York fall weather and exploring. We had a cozy lunch, stopped by the Brooklyn farmer's market, shopped and enjoyed each other's company all afternoon.

The time we spent made me feel so excited about being reunited with all my sisters in just a few short weeks for Thanksgiving. We all don't get to see each other enough.

I hope it's not always like this.

I love Love

If you don't read Modern Love, you should. 


It's my favorite column in the New York Times and it comes out on Sundays. I look forward to it all week long. 


It's essentially a collection of short stories about love, by people who have a love story to tell. It can be about a husband and a wife. A girl and her crush. A father and a daughter. No holds barred, the column is about love. Pure, true love. In all shapes and sizes. 


On Sunday mornings when I was in high school my parents used to read it to each other from across the family room while drinking coffee, my mom still in her pajamas. 


It was one of those things that annoyed me then and that I look back fondly upon now, thinking that I'd like to do that someday. Something so simple as reading the newspaper out loud. Drinking coffee. Wearing pajamas. Annoying children. 


In any event, you should read it. They're stories that will change your life. 

all images via pinterest

Weekend Recap

You know when you have one of those weekends that's just perfect in every way? This past weekend was like that and I'm sad that it's over and that the week has started again.


Not only did I catch up on some much-needed sleep but the weather was perfect. Hope you're weekend was just as wonderful! 

Bionic Candy Apples courtesy of my mother and the Halloween care package she sent us

Mail 

Brand new perfect-for-fall heels from Zara

We finally found the perfect chair and picked up a faux Chinchilla throw too

 

A pumpkin martini to celebrate Halloween weekend 

Wishful Wednesday: I wish I could eat cupcakes every single day

I'm a sucker for a good cupcake. No matter what size and no matter what flavor (within reason), I can't say no. 


My favorite cupcakes in the city are from a bakery in Lincoln Park called Sweet Mandy B's. Their cupcakes are simple when compared to all the different varieties of cupcakes that one can find these days, but they're perfect in their simplicity. They don't need bacon bits or sprinkles or crazy flavor varieties to be special. They just are. 


This past weekend, I tried out a recipe I found online that claimed to be THE Sweet Mandy B's cupcake recipe. I'm proud to report that the the icing tasted eerily similar to the real thing. The cake was a bit off, but not in a bad way, just in a way that's slightly different from the original. 

While I didn't hit the nail on the head, it was, after all, only my first try. And I have to say that I have found my go-to cupcake recipe for the next time I'm called upon to whip up a batch of buttercream goodness. Whether they taste exactly like SMB's or not. 

Weekend Arts and Crafts: Anthropologie Zinc Letters

I love Anthropologie's zinc letters, but I don't like the fact that they're $18 a piece. 


This past weekend I finally got around to making my own.


JoAnn Fabrics has paper mache letters that they sell for $2.99 and $3.99 a piece. While I was there I picked up a tube of black and a tube of silver metallic acrylic paint (I bought Folk Art because it was on sale, but I'm sure others would have worked too). 


I painted the letters with a coat of black, and then once it dried, painted them, lightly with a blotchy coat of the silver. And voilà, my own "zinc" letters that cost less than $10 to make!

Once they were done I completely rearranged our bookshelf. I wish I would have taken before and after photos... It was a disaster and just didn't feel like an appropriate spot for such cute letters. I've been wanting to color-code our books for awhile now. I like the organized, yet fun look that it gives. 

So now I'm trying to determine what to spell next. I like my letters so much that I think I'll make more. I just haven't decided what I'd like them to say yet. 

Any ideas? 

xo 

What my iPhone saw this week...

  A fall pop of color in Millenium Park on an afternoon walk 

Leaves on fire 

Grand Central Station by dark 

Date night in Chinatown 

The perfect fortune... 

Chinatown Sushi

Happy Weekend! 

xo