mad men eye candy

I'm getting a few things ready for posts next week, but in the meantime I leave you with these amazing photos of Mad Men behind the scenes from Rolling Stone. ::sigh:: I LOVE MAD MEN. I really do, and these photos are absolutely dreamy. have a great weekend!

hair weave {the real deal}

SHOOT. I am blown away by these hairdos featured in the Alexander McQueen runway show in Paris. How beautiful is that?

{ale}chemy

So Jacob has finally started his own blog about beer and various other interests, but mostly BEER. I have been trying to convince him to start one for some time now since he spends so much time talking about, brewing and writing reviews about beer. It's become a serious hobby and passion of his and when he has an interest like this, he dives right in, finding out all there is to know on the subject. So his posts will be very informative and will maybe spike your interest as well.

as promised {beer braised pork shoulder}

{photo from here}

We like to do nice Sunday dinners, but because we like football, we also like recipes that don't require a whole lot of attention. I'm always looking for easy, delicious looking recipes when sifting through Martha Stewart or Real Simple Magazine, and I came across this one for beer braised pork shoulder. The really nice thing about this recipe aside from the the fact that you can ignore it for hours and it's basically doing the work for you, is that there's a lot you can do with the left overs.

You can do this in a dutch oven or crock pot whichever you prefer, both will give you that fall off the bone, melt in your mouth goodness that a good braising should achieve.

Beer Braised Pork Shoulder

6 ounces pancetta, finely chopped

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

1 bon-in pork shoulder

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 head garlic, minced

2 teaspoons fennel seeds, toasted and ground

1 teaspoon crushed coriander seeds

2 cups Belgian-style ale

1 cup homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Crisp pancetta in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat, until fat is rendered, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon. Add onions to Dutch oven. Cook over medium- high heat, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 25 minutes. Transfer to plate using slotted spoon. Season pork with salt and pepper. Add oil to Dutch oven, sear pork, fat side down, until golden, about 5 minutes. Flip, and repeat. Add garlic and spices to pot. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ale, stock, pancetta, and onions; bring to simmer. Transfer to oven, and braise pork, covered, basting every hour, until meat is falling off the bone, about 4 hours. Shred meat (just what you're using) using 2 forks, and drizzle with warm skimmed jus.

For left overs you can try this pasta recipe we used for picnic in the park.

Ribbon Pasta with Pork Ragu and Fresh Sage

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook 1 pound ribbon pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Drain, reserving some cooking water. Toss pasta with 2 cups heated reduced reserved jus, 2 cuts heated reserved shredded pork, and 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh sage, adding reserved cooking water as needed. Garnish with finely grated Romano or Parmesan cheese.

fall favorites {apple cider doughnuts}

One of my favorite things about fall is apple picking. I love going to an orchard, running through the rows of apple trees, climbing a few and walking away with a big wooden basket filled with beautiful red apples. I also love visiting the gift shop and buying a big jug of apple cider and apple cider doughnuts to go with. Unfortunately, the low country is not known for it's abundance in apple orchards so sometimes one must create fall for themselves.

And so we did. I bought some apple cider at the Fresh Market, not quite as potent as I had hoped, printed off a recipe, convinced Jacob that this was essential to our enjoyment of fall and was good to go.

Vermont Cider Apple Doughnuts

1 cup Apple cider
1 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Solid vegetable shortening
2 large Eggs
1/2 cup Buttermilk
3 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp.Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
Vegetable oil or shortening -for frying

1 cup cinnamon-sugar mixed

Boil apple cider in small saucepan until it is reduced to 1/4 cup, 8 to 10 minutes; cool. Beat sugar with shortening until smooth. Add eggs and mix well, then add buttermilk and reduced cider. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in another bowl. Add to liquid ingredients; mix just enough to combine. Transfer dough to lightly floured board and pat to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2- to 3-inch doughnut cutter; reserve doughnut holes and reroll and cut scraps. Add enough oil or shortening to fill a deep pan 3 inches; heat to 375'F. Fry several doughnuts at a time, turning once or twice, until browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove to paper towels with slotted spoon. While still warm, shake a few at a time in a paper bag containing cinnamon sugar. Cool on a rack.

Creative, Inc. {i need this}

Meg Mateo Ilasco {Craft, Inc.} and Joy Deangdeelert Cho {ohjoy!} co-wrote Creative, Inc. all about running your freelance business. The video alone is cute enough to make me want the book.

{photo by Charley Star}

baked goods {friendship bread}

This recipe is a test of serious patience. It takes 10 days to make and cannot be rushed. The good news is it's absolutely delicious when finished and well worth the wait. Today was my tenth day and i made two loaves this morning. The whole house smells like cinnamon bread, it's amazing.

Now, generally you have to receive a starter for this to work but i was able to find a recipe for the starter here. Once you have your starter, keep it in a well covered bowl or plastic bag on the counter, stirring it everyday. If you keep it in a plastic bag, it may fill up with air sometimes and appear as though it's going to pop, do not be alarmed. Simply let the air out.

On the sixth day add one cup milk, one cup sugar and one cup flour to the mix and stir.

On the tenth day you're ready to go. Make sure you have all your ingredients though. Sometimes I get to the baking day and start mixing only to realize i'm missing eggs and have to find a substitute. I'm sure you can imagine my anger.

So to begin add another cup of sugar, cup of milk and cup of flour to the mix. Portion out 3 cups from the mixture and put them into plastic bags for friends {or if you're like me, keep some in your freezer so you can make the bread whenever you like}. These will become their {your} new starters. What's left is a little more than a cup of mixture for you.

Add to the mixture:

1 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Stir. I put it in my KitchenAide mixer but you don't need that at all. I just love it so much that I've become lazy just so I can use it all time.

In a separate bowl combine:

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp. backing powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 large box instant vanilla pudding

1 cup nuts (optional, you can also use chocolate chips)

Add the dry mixture to the batter and mix until combined. Pour into 2 well greased sugar loaf pans and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

When you're finished, not only will your whole house smell amazing, but you'll have two delicious loaves to pig out on. Oh I'm sorry, I meant you'll have to delicious loaves to eat for breakfast for the next week or so... yeah right.