Sunday, January 27, 2013

January Cure Project--Cleaning up my "Catch All"

by Leslie

I'm sure many of you out there make New Year's resolutions.  I'm sure there are just as many of you out there that don't.  Although I usually don't even think about making a resolution, there is something about January that feels like a fresh start.  I often let the month go by without doing anything of significance, but it just so happened that I started of the month okay this time.

I was led to the January Cure project on the Apartment Therapy website through Facebook.  Basically, the January Cure was a day-by-day calendar that led you through a little facelift for your home.  I started by taking a walk through my house and listing all the things I wanted to do in each room.  This process covered everything, from de-cluttering a closet to painting the walls in a room.  My list was long, but I have been amazed to discover that I have crossed a lot of my list merely by knowing what needed to be done!  I had a ton of lightbulbs that had burned out and by making a list of what I needed, I only needed to take one trip to the store to buy them all.

Other "assignments" for the Cure were buying flowers each weekend, deep cleaning your floors, and framing a picture that you have been meaning to hang.  I mean, this stuff isn't hard, it just doesn't always get done.  That's why I liked having assignments.

The goal of the month was to complete ONE of the projects on your list.  I chose to re-organize my kitchen cart.  I have had this plain, wooden, Ikea kitchen cart for about 5 years now.  I bought it when I lived in an apartment that had approximately 8 inches of counter space.  My grandma bought it for me and I have mentally thanked her A MILLION times.  Since I moved out of that apartment, it has been more of a "catch all" than kitchen cart and has become a real mess.  I mean a REAL MESS.  Watch out.  The following photos might be disturbing.



This photo shows the cart in its "before" state.  The top held mail, Christmas cards, bills, books, keys, pens, and stacks and stacks of papers with no home.  

The center rack held napkins, dish towels, and table cloths--none of which belonged there.

The bottom rack held a bunch of items that get little to no use.  CDs, travel guides, phone books, and (strangely) our wedding guest book.  Isn't it gross?



A close-up of the clutter.  The flat files on top were the worst for me.  It took me one evening just to sort through them.  Once I did, though, things moved much more quickly.  (Although I have to admit, this project still took me a week!)

More clutter!



This photo shows the finished product.  We got rid of the flat files because they only served as a temptation to stack things.  One of the catch-all bowls was removed because we found homes for a lot of things.  

We made a library book pile on the second shelf to catch the books and media that I always bring home from work.  The baskets now hold our respective winter gear and they are working WONDERFULLY!  We used to have all of our winter gear mixed in only one of these baskets.  You can only imagine the overflow.  Now, we each take care of our own things and more specialized hats and gloves are in the coat closet.  

The bottom shelf still has magazines, but I added an old library file to hold greeting cards and letters that I want to keep.


We kept this small metal organizer to hold notepads, address labels, and coupons.  NOTHING ELSE!  I think the flowers add a touch of freshness!


Here is a close-up of the baskets.  The file in the middle holds paid bills and pay stubs.  


If any shelf still needs work, it's this one, but I am so happy that my little library file fit here.  It had been floating around the house for ages and i think this is a perfect spot for it.

You would not believe how great it felt to finish this task!  I am going to attempt my own February Cure just to keep the momentum going.  If you missed the month of January, join me!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Tequila Lime Chicken

By: Laura

Yes, it's me, I'm back after a long fall/winter break.  To be honest, I was losing my cooking motivation and was in another slump, until, that is, Leslie came to town for the holidays.  Whenever I have another friend/sister to cook with, it's so much easier and obviously, more fun!

Leslie came into my kitchen with a recipe in mind: The Pioneer Woman's Tequila Lime Chicken.  I was all for it.  I'd always wanted to try it, but alas, never wanted to buy the Tequila, but again, Leslie helped with that too (she provided the tequila).  So, we went for it ranch style in this Midwest kitchen in the middle of winter, and looked what happened....

To begin this easy marinade for the chicken, grab your food processor and add some lime juice, olive oil, garlic,  tequila, jalenpenos,  and salt.  Blend them until they are combined.

Next, put the chicken breast, along with the marinade into a couple of ziploc bags.  Refrigerate for  several hours or up to overnight.  (we were on a time crunch, so several hours didn't really pan out...)

After marinating the chicken, put those babies on the grill and cook them for four to five minutes per side.  (This grilling was done in 20 degree weather (thanks to myself), but well worth it for the end result.

Finally, cheese was melted over the top of the chicken (yeah, we recommend this) and laid on a bed of cilantro lime rice with black beans.  Oh, and there was some cauliflower on the side, (poor old bland-colored cauliflower, not to fiesta-like but oh well!)

And there you have it, Tequila Lime Chicken!  Yes, it was delicious and what else would you expect from the pioneer women.  So call your sister, brother, mom or friend and grab a bottle of tequila for the chicken and the margaritas to go with it.  You'll be glad you did.  Thanks, Leslie!


Tequila Lime Chicken 
 Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe
By: Leslie

2 cups cooked brown rice
Juice of two limes
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
2 T. chopped cilantro

Stir to combine and serve with your favorite mexican dishes

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Bucaramanga, Colombia--my trip in photos

by Leslie

Hi all!  Wow, it seems like it's been quite a long time since I've connected with you all here at The Test Nest.  I have missed it!  One of the reasons I've been gone is because I was literally...gone.  Jaime and I took our second (!!) trip of the year to Colombia.  The first was in January.  The trip in January was great, minus a horrible bout of food poisoning, but this trip was excellent, as well.

We went with the intention of helping Jaime's mom recover from knee surgery.  Jaime's sister had been there for several weeks and we caught her at the tail end of her trip.  Although the circumstances weren't the best, we still had a great time and Jaime's mom is making a full recovery!

Here are a few photos and tips from our trip this time.

We stayed in the sweet ALoft hotel the one night we were in Bógota.  We got there at 11 pm and left at 4 am.    I doubt we got to experience all the amenities.

Loved the showers.  You could vaguely see the person showering if you were in the bedroom part of the hotel.  

As soon as we reached Jaime's mother's apartment, I had to see progress on the building going up across the street.  They are moving along quickly and soon the beautiful mountain view will be all but a memory.  :(



We got to go to the fruit market to buy a week's work of fruits for the family.  Look at the size of those avocados!  They are bigger than the mangos, which are even larger than mangos here!

My favorite part of our daily visit to Carrefour (the grocery store) was the bread section!  They had walls of fresh sweet breads.  My favorite was the roscon--a donut-shaped sweet bread filled with arequipe, a dulce de leche-like caramel.  Delicious!

Although the weather didn't put me in the holiday spirit, the abundance of Christmas lights did!  Notice the lady in the bottom of the picture fanning the coals of her grill.  She was selling meat kabobs and grilled corn on the cob.

Bucaramanga has an awesome statue by the famous Colombian artist,  Fernando Botero.

Every night the mall had a special holiday music program.  This particular night we got to see a huge mariachi band.  I love their white outfits!

I had to make a stop at my favorite snack place, Fruchetta.  They make chocolate dipped strawberries.  This woman was so nice.  She had already closed and made ours anyway!







We even got in a little babysitting in.  This is Jaime's cousin's son, John Alejandro.  Too cute, right?
This is Jaime's cousin's house.  He grew up in one much the same.  The upstairs is a separate apartment.



We saw these lovely flags on our visit to San Francisco, part of the leather district.  If you like shoes and handbags, this is your place!  Santander is known for its leather, so they manufacture tons of shoes there.  Surprisingly, I didn't buy any shoes, but I did buy two purses!

Miles of shoes!  Every store window looked like this and there were HUNDREDS of stores, all in a row.  How does one choose?

Holiday traffic jam.  

This is Jaime's mother's church.  Isn't it beautiful?  All of those small squares are filled with colored  glass.  It is very airy and fresh inside.

A long hard walk to the mall calls for a banana split and a mandarina (fresh mandarine juice blended with ice).

During a visit to Jaime's uncle Alvaro's we checked out his garden.  Look at that Poinsettia bush!

Jaime, his cousin, and I took a visit to El Parque de Agua in Bucaramanga.  They have it decked out for the holidays.

 Jaime and his cousin Aminta.

Sweet lights!

Jaime and I stopped for an afternoon snack.  For me, pan de yucca.  For him?  Mystery meat stuffed in mystery meat.

Jaime had to stop for a hot dog at some point.  They really do gourmet dogs.  I don't remember what was on this one, but it was pretty good.  Lots of sauces and cheese.  They enjoy their mayonnaise in Colombia.

A beautiful park with beautiful trees.

Tutti Frutti!

I had a to grab a photo of Jaime and his mom in front of some animatronic singing bears!

This sunrise marks the end of our trip.  It was taken from the airport!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

January Cure Project--Cleaning up my "Catch All"

by Leslie

I'm sure many of you out there make New Year's resolutions.  I'm sure there are just as many of you out there that don't.  Although I usually don't even think about making a resolution, there is something about January that feels like a fresh start.  I often let the month go by without doing anything of significance, but it just so happened that I started of the month okay this time.

I was led to the January Cure project on the Apartment Therapy website through Facebook.  Basically, the January Cure was a day-by-day calendar that led you through a little facelift for your home.  I started by taking a walk through my house and listing all the things I wanted to do in each room.  This process covered everything, from de-cluttering a closet to painting the walls in a room.  My list was long, but I have been amazed to discover that I have crossed a lot of my list merely by knowing what needed to be done!  I had a ton of lightbulbs that had burned out and by making a list of what I needed, I only needed to take one trip to the store to buy them all.

Other "assignments" for the Cure were buying flowers each weekend, deep cleaning your floors, and framing a picture that you have been meaning to hang.  I mean, this stuff isn't hard, it just doesn't always get done.  That's why I liked having assignments.

The goal of the month was to complete ONE of the projects on your list.  I chose to re-organize my kitchen cart.  I have had this plain, wooden, Ikea kitchen cart for about 5 years now.  I bought it when I lived in an apartment that had approximately 8 inches of counter space.  My grandma bought it for me and I have mentally thanked her A MILLION times.  Since I moved out of that apartment, it has been more of a "catch all" than kitchen cart and has become a real mess.  I mean a REAL MESS.  Watch out.  The following photos might be disturbing.



This photo shows the cart in its "before" state.  The top held mail, Christmas cards, bills, books, keys, pens, and stacks and stacks of papers with no home.  

The center rack held napkins, dish towels, and table cloths--none of which belonged there.

The bottom rack held a bunch of items that get little to no use.  CDs, travel guides, phone books, and (strangely) our wedding guest book.  Isn't it gross?



A close-up of the clutter.  The flat files on top were the worst for me.  It took me one evening just to sort through them.  Once I did, though, things moved much more quickly.  (Although I have to admit, this project still took me a week!)

More clutter!



This photo shows the finished product.  We got rid of the flat files because they only served as a temptation to stack things.  One of the catch-all bowls was removed because we found homes for a lot of things.  

We made a library book pile on the second shelf to catch the books and media that I always bring home from work.  The baskets now hold our respective winter gear and they are working WONDERFULLY!  We used to have all of our winter gear mixed in only one of these baskets.  You can only imagine the overflow.  Now, we each take care of our own things and more specialized hats and gloves are in the coat closet.  

The bottom shelf still has magazines, but I added an old library file to hold greeting cards and letters that I want to keep.


We kept this small metal organizer to hold notepads, address labels, and coupons.  NOTHING ELSE!  I think the flowers add a touch of freshness!


Here is a close-up of the baskets.  The file in the middle holds paid bills and pay stubs.  


If any shelf still needs work, it's this one, but I am so happy that my little library file fit here.  It had been floating around the house for ages and i think this is a perfect spot for it.

You would not believe how great it felt to finish this task!  I am going to attempt my own February Cure just to keep the momentum going.  If you missed the month of January, join me!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Tequila Lime Chicken

By: Laura

Yes, it's me, I'm back after a long fall/winter break.  To be honest, I was losing my cooking motivation and was in another slump, until, that is, Leslie came to town for the holidays.  Whenever I have another friend/sister to cook with, it's so much easier and obviously, more fun!

Leslie came into my kitchen with a recipe in mind: The Pioneer Woman's Tequila Lime Chicken.  I was all for it.  I'd always wanted to try it, but alas, never wanted to buy the Tequila, but again, Leslie helped with that too (she provided the tequila).  So, we went for it ranch style in this Midwest kitchen in the middle of winter, and looked what happened....

To begin this easy marinade for the chicken, grab your food processor and add some lime juice, olive oil, garlic,  tequila, jalenpenos,  and salt.  Blend them until they are combined.

Next, put the chicken breast, along with the marinade into a couple of ziploc bags.  Refrigerate for  several hours or up to overnight.  (we were on a time crunch, so several hours didn't really pan out...)

After marinating the chicken, put those babies on the grill and cook them for four to five minutes per side.  (This grilling was done in 20 degree weather (thanks to myself), but well worth it for the end result.

Finally, cheese was melted over the top of the chicken (yeah, we recommend this) and laid on a bed of cilantro lime rice with black beans.  Oh, and there was some cauliflower on the side, (poor old bland-colored cauliflower, not to fiesta-like but oh well!)

And there you have it, Tequila Lime Chicken!  Yes, it was delicious and what else would you expect from the pioneer women.  So call your sister, brother, mom or friend and grab a bottle of tequila for the chicken and the margaritas to go with it.  You'll be glad you did.  Thanks, Leslie!


Tequila Lime Chicken 
 Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe
By: Leslie

2 cups cooked brown rice
Juice of two limes
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
2 T. chopped cilantro

Stir to combine and serve with your favorite mexican dishes

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Bucaramanga, Colombia--my trip in photos

by Leslie

Hi all!  Wow, it seems like it's been quite a long time since I've connected with you all here at The Test Nest.  I have missed it!  One of the reasons I've been gone is because I was literally...gone.  Jaime and I took our second (!!) trip of the year to Colombia.  The first was in January.  The trip in January was great, minus a horrible bout of food poisoning, but this trip was excellent, as well.

We went with the intention of helping Jaime's mom recover from knee surgery.  Jaime's sister had been there for several weeks and we caught her at the tail end of her trip.  Although the circumstances weren't the best, we still had a great time and Jaime's mom is making a full recovery!

Here are a few photos and tips from our trip this time.

We stayed in the sweet ALoft hotel the one night we were in Bógota.  We got there at 11 pm and left at 4 am.    I doubt we got to experience all the amenities.

Loved the showers.  You could vaguely see the person showering if you were in the bedroom part of the hotel.  

As soon as we reached Jaime's mother's apartment, I had to see progress on the building going up across the street.  They are moving along quickly and soon the beautiful mountain view will be all but a memory.  :(



We got to go to the fruit market to buy a week's work of fruits for the family.  Look at the size of those avocados!  They are bigger than the mangos, which are even larger than mangos here!

My favorite part of our daily visit to Carrefour (the grocery store) was the bread section!  They had walls of fresh sweet breads.  My favorite was the roscon--a donut-shaped sweet bread filled with arequipe, a dulce de leche-like caramel.  Delicious!

Although the weather didn't put me in the holiday spirit, the abundance of Christmas lights did!  Notice the lady in the bottom of the picture fanning the coals of her grill.  She was selling meat kabobs and grilled corn on the cob.

Bucaramanga has an awesome statue by the famous Colombian artist,  Fernando Botero.

Every night the mall had a special holiday music program.  This particular night we got to see a huge mariachi band.  I love their white outfits!

I had to make a stop at my favorite snack place, Fruchetta.  They make chocolate dipped strawberries.  This woman was so nice.  She had already closed and made ours anyway!







We even got in a little babysitting in.  This is Jaime's cousin's son, John Alejandro.  Too cute, right?
This is Jaime's cousin's house.  He grew up in one much the same.  The upstairs is a separate apartment.



We saw these lovely flags on our visit to San Francisco, part of the leather district.  If you like shoes and handbags, this is your place!  Santander is known for its leather, so they manufacture tons of shoes there.  Surprisingly, I didn't buy any shoes, but I did buy two purses!

Miles of shoes!  Every store window looked like this and there were HUNDREDS of stores, all in a row.  How does one choose?

Holiday traffic jam.  

This is Jaime's mother's church.  Isn't it beautiful?  All of those small squares are filled with colored  glass.  It is very airy and fresh inside.

A long hard walk to the mall calls for a banana split and a mandarina (fresh mandarine juice blended with ice).

During a visit to Jaime's uncle Alvaro's we checked out his garden.  Look at that Poinsettia bush!

Jaime, his cousin, and I took a visit to El Parque de Agua in Bucaramanga.  They have it decked out for the holidays.

 Jaime and his cousin Aminta.

Sweet lights!

Jaime and I stopped for an afternoon snack.  For me, pan de yucca.  For him?  Mystery meat stuffed in mystery meat.

Jaime had to stop for a hot dog at some point.  They really do gourmet dogs.  I don't remember what was on this one, but it was pretty good.  Lots of sauces and cheese.  They enjoy their mayonnaise in Colombia.

A beautiful park with beautiful trees.

Tutti Frutti!

I had a to grab a photo of Jaime and his mom in front of some animatronic singing bears!

This sunrise marks the end of our trip.  It was taken from the airport!