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Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Apples & Feta

In this post: Noritake Blue Hammock Dinnerware; Hearth & Hand Table Runner

While I was in the Caymans with my parents, I developed a burning desire for salads. I know: weird. But I couldn't get enough of them; I ordered salad a minimum of once a day while I was there, and usually twice. (Granted, it was usually Caesar salad that I was ordering, so please try not to be too impressed by my virtuousness. But still: salad!)

This sudden craving for leaves - which continued after I returned home, and continues still - is bizarre enough that I should probably consider the possibility that it results from a hormonal imbalance or some other shift in my biological makeup. I mean, yesterday I made this quinoa salad from a reader-submitted recipe (thank you, Anya!) and I'd already eaten lunch, so I planned to photograph it, take a bite or two so I'd have something to say about it, and put the rest into the refrigerator for the next day...but then I couldn't stop eating it.

Decor

How To Incorporate Stained Glass Into Your Home Decor

Our bathroom is a dark, depressing cave. Both of them are, actually. When I decided to renovate them (and yes, I decided to renovate both of them at the same time, OBVIOUSLY, because why have one non-functioning toilet when you can have two?! WHEEEEEE), one of my major goals was to make them feel...well, like places I wanted to spend time in. As opposed to dark, depressing caves.

Which is to say: there is, at present, a large hole in our bathroom wall.

Before & After Renovations

Tiny, Easy Update: Hallway Accent Wall

My hallway before I made it awesome.

I painted my hallway green before we moved into our house (or even saw it in person). I did this to a lot of things in my house, actually - painted them, tore them out, replaced them, et cetera - before we first stepped foot in it, because we bought it over FaceTime and I wanted to get as many of the bigger projects as possible done before we drove across the country and had to actually live in the place.

Sometimes this remodeling-via-WiFi turned out pretty well for me - with our light-grey floors, for example, which I continue to love - but the green hallway I regretted almost instantly. The color, which I'd envisioned as a cool mint, was a touch pea-soup-y in the non-existent light, and worked much better in my daughter's room - the spot I'd initially chosen it for.

ENTREES

Garlicky Chicken with Lemon-Anchovy Sauce

Noritake Blue Hammock Dinnerware | HomeGoods Macrame Placemats (similar from World Market)

You guys sent SO MANY RECIPES! My stomach thanks you, as does my wallet - because something I really appreciated was that so many of the ideas you sent - and please keep them coming - use normal-ish ingredients that I already have in my cupboard, as opposed to, say, saffron threads (WHY must saffron be so expensive?).

The first recipe I decided to try was one for Garlicky Chicken with Lemon-Anchovy Sauce. It was sent over by Mimi, who called it "one of the best things I've ever eaten." Sounds good to me.

Decor

“Breaking” News: H&M Is Doing Home Decor

OK, so perhaps this isn't "breaking," per se, as a Google search just informed me that H&M has been selling home decor stuff for...ahhh...a really long time. But whatever, had no idea until yesterday, when my mom and I went into the H&M in midtown Manhattan and I just about collapsed from the gloriousness of all the pillows and candles and trays and mirrors, so we're calling it breaking news anyway.

IT'S SO GOOD, you guys. How did I not know about this before?!?! (The answer is that the H&Ms in my area don't have a home section, and H&M is one of those places that I tend to want to buy from in person rather than on the internet, so I can feel the quality for myself, so I'd never noticed the home decor section on their site, either.)

The pieces are chic and unbelievably well-priced - and there are a bazillion options for every room in the house, including a kids' department that totally schools Ikea's. And you know how H&M clothing is sometimes kind of "eh" in terms of its construction, and then other times you pick up a piece from them and end up wearing it over and over for years? The home decor items, from what I've seen, fall into that latter category: they're trendy, sure, but there are also lots of more classic-feeling pieces, and virtually everything I picked up looked and felt substantial and well-made. I'm serious when I say that I could happily decorate my entire home from the line. (...And since you can get all 20 of my favorite pieces online, I just might have to.)


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