1 Under 30 List

Today I turn 29 years old.  My 20s have certainly been a great run.  I met and married Jesse.  Shared dorm rooms and off campus houses with my best friends at Bates (and graduated, against my will).  Moved to Seattle and experienced life on the left coast.  Moved home to Brooklyn and experienced all NYC had to offer (all the whiskey and pizza NYC had to offer, that is).  Adopted enough pets that I have to vacuum every few days.  Found out I was having a baby (what is wrong with me that this item is so far down on the list?).  Discovered a career I'm actually pretty good at.  Traveled to Africa, Europe, and Asia.  It's been a pretty full nine years and I still have one left to round out my 20s.

(it's been busy)

Anyway, I feel like I should be doing something momentous to mark my last year as a twenty year old.  I thought about making a "30 under 30" list, but as I've mentioned before, there were just two things I could think of that I HAD to get done: travel to South Africa and learn how to properly apply makeup.  With Africa down, there's just one thing standing between me and the big 3-0.  My lack of understanding of basic makeup skills.  While most people use makeup to accentuate their best features, I seem to use it to accentuate my pale skin.  Here are some shots throughout the ages, or what I like to call "50 Shades of Pale":

Ghostface Killah

Anybody have any suggestions on how to get started?  I've got 364.5 days to get this down.  I mean at the very least... can anybody suggest a decent bronzer?  I'll keep you posted on how I get this down...

Coke float...where art thou?

I'm sick.  Like, hit by a semi sick.  I woke up Tuesday morning and couldn't swallow, breath out of my nose, or think of anything witty to blog about.  It came out of no where, too. I'm traveling for work right now, which makes it even worse.  I miss my bed and I miss my husband.  The room service guy has seen me three times today and he is blatantly judging me.  I haven't looked in the mirror since Monday at 8am, so I can only imagine the mess that is my life right now.

You know how when you're sick you're hungry but only for very, very specific things?  Well that's me right now. 

Yes, that's correct.  Three soups...just for me.  Yes, uhuh, a side of croutons.  Yes.  I want a Caesar salad with no dressing and ranch on the side.  Yes, correct. I want the chicken soup with no chicken.  And if I could get 19 saltines without salt and extra tines that would be perfect. 

.....hello?

I also really, really want a Coke float.  When I was growing up, my Dad would make me a Coke Float to heal any and all ailments.  Anything from a splinter to open heart surgery, my Dad will scurry towards the the kitchen to whip up one of his special Coke floats.  I'm in my hotel room and that's all I can think about.  Sigh.  I hit up Food Gawker and came across this delightful pic from Kitchen Treaty:



What do you guys crave when you're under the weather?  #shouldhavegotaflushot #damnit.  Stay hungry!

A Cleaning Tip from my (Often) Messy Kitchen

Happy Election Day, readers!  I have already cast my absentee ballot but Jesse is on his way to the polls right now.  It's exciting to see all of my friends' Facebook pictures and posts about voting this morning and I am excited for the rest of the day!

Speaking of exciting, here's a little cleaning tip I picked up from Jaisa's mom when I was visiting Jaisa & Charlie in Maine this summer.  My Hungry counterpart had just made some sort of cheesy bread concoction and the pan was totally crusted with baked on cheese.  After some futile scrubbing, we filled up the pan with soap and water and left it for dead left it to clean in the morning. Jaisa's mom came into the kitchen and pulled out her Dawn Oxi dish soap.  This magic stuff claims to take 5 minutes to clean off what usually needs an overnight soak.  And it really works

(Please forgive the cell phone shot... I can't find my real camera)

Anyway, as somebody who usually tries to keep it green (I only use Seventh Generation & equivalent cleaning products), this stuff cleans too well to ignore.  I picked up my own bottle when I got back from Maine and Jesse and I use it now for tough messes that would otherwise call for a scrub-a-thon.

Just thought I would share this huge cleaning news from Jaisa's mom.  Don't be too surprised by my grainy picture and lack of understanding of the science of how Dawn Oxi works - all opinions are mine and we were not compensated by Dawn to write a review.  But even for those who try to clean green, like me, a few drops of this goes a long way and saves lots of time (& water) on cleaning.  Give it a shot and stay homey!

Five Hungry Worthy Vegan Soups

Wait. What?

Guess who ate vegan all last week?  THIS GIRL.  Well, not the entire week.  Just Monday through Thursday, but still.  That's a big deal for a little carnivore like me.  I watched Forks Over Knives and really wanted to make a few changes, including eating more whole, plant based foods.   Charlie made it to Wednesday afternoon until he sent me a text message, telling me that he would be eating "an entire cow" for dinner.  Baby steps.  Baby steps.

It's been really chilly in Chitown lately, so here is a compilation of delicious, vegan friendly soups that are sure to satisfy.  They are also sure to shove a few more veggies into that husband of yours.

Pad Thai Soup by Domestic Fits:




Four ingredient, Roasted Tomato Soup by Veg Recipes of India:




Quinoa Corn Chowder by Weekly Vegan Menu:



Thai Vegetable Soup by Girl Cooks World:



White Bean Kale Soup by The Curvy Carrot:



Drooling yet?  I can't wait to make some of these. Stay hungry!

Happy Birthday, Hardly Housewives!

Eleven years ago, we never expected that we'd be talking daily, sharing projects (the good, bad, & ugly), and blogging together...

Jaisa is tan.  Caitlin is ghostly pale.  Maybe some things never change...

...but here we are, celebrating a year of Hardly Housewives today!  365 days, 401 posts, and nearly half a million page views ago, one of our usual rambling online chats turned into us creating a blog in an afternoon.  Forgive the cell phone pictures and check out our very first posts:

Day One: Parmesan Smashed Potatoes
Day Two:  Goodness Gracious, the Papers

In the last year we've had some exciting features on blogs we love, notably at Huffington Post's Stylist and IHeartOrganizing.  Hardly Housewives recipes have been all over FoodGawker and we get hits every day from you readers who are kind enough to "pin" our projects on Pinterest.

There have been a few posts that are above and beyond the rest in daily traffic.  Here are our top 3 posts of all time:

1.  Crispy Greek Chicken with Garlic Sauce (February 14, 2012)

2. 2012 Herb Garden (April 26, 2012)

3.  Chicken Enchiladas (January 20, 2012)

A great, big heartfelt THANK YOU to our readers who show up here every day and check out our homey and hungry posts.  We love reading your comments and emails, seeing your projects, and hearing your ideas.   We would be happy to blog and just have our families read, so we are incredibly humbled to have met many new people (& connect with old friends) through Hardly Housewives!  We'd be remiss not to thank our husbands, as well, for putting up with messy kitchens and craft projects that stay in the living room for days.  Jesse and Charlie, you guys are just the best.

Cheers to 365 days of posts behind us!  Stay homey, stay hungry, and stick with us for another year!  xox

Pumpkins, Plus One...

Excited to share some BIG news at Chez Homey... we are happily, excitedly, and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first baby, due April 2, 2013.  Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and basset hounds are all thrilled.  Until then, we've got an empty bedroom and lots of DIY and decor to complete!

A Proper Irish Breakfast for Two



It seems a little odd to be posting about food when the entire eastern seaboard is getting owned by Sandy.  I'm sitting in my cozy, dry, Chicago condo and am safely watching the storm from under my duvet.  My entire family (including Caitlin, well she's not family but almost) is on the east coast.  I don't like it.  I don't like it one bit. Stay safe out there my peeps. 

Anyway, the food show must go on so here we go.  On.

Our dear and oft mentioned friends, Rick and Jenny (Ralph's parents) returned from Ireland and brought back a TON of amazing goodies.  In addition to a giant box of chocolates, nativity calendars, jam, etc. they brought us the key items to make a proper Irish breakfast.  Sigh.  Begin the waterfall of drool.

To begin, they brought us soda farls.  Basically it's soda bread that has been flattened and broken into four pieces or "farls."  Don't worry.  I didn't know that.  I had to look that up. 

It was doughy but light, and just delish.  I grilled each side in a skillet with some butter until it was nice and toasty and crispy.  YUM.

Next, came the potato farls. This was unlike anything I had before.  It was like a dense, savory pancake made with mashed potatoes.  I know, sounds loco, but it is SO good.  I grilled this in a pan as well.  Also with butter.  Duh.

Oh lord.  Oh sweet lord.  RASHERS.  Rashers how do I love thee?  Let me count the (ten) different ways.  One for each of you.  Rashers are like bacon but like a hundred times better.  They are sliced thin and aren't cured, but are still nice and salty.  It's as though bacon and ham had a baby and named her Rasher.  Actually, that's exactly what it's like.

DAMN.

With a couple fried eggs, Charlie and I kicked off our Sunday in true and utter bliss.  You can see the difference in the soda farl vs. potato farl.  The soda farl is bigger and fluffier and the potato farl is smaller and more dense. 



 This makes me want to move to Ireland.  Ralph?  You coming with?

THANK YOU Rick and Jenny for such an amazing and thoughtful gift.  If you would like to sample some amazing, authentic Irish food like rashers, you can order them from Tommy Moloneys.  

Stay hungry!