Bookish and Belle banner (without tabs) Outfits Recipes Crafts Home Wedding

Monday, June 23, 2014

Our Wedding Film


I'm very excited to finally share our wedding video with you. Studio Z did a lovely job capturing so many beautiful moments and editing them together to fit perfectly with music. I've watched this a few times in the last couple days, and I still tear up each time as I remember so vividly the emotions I felt on that day. Marrying my best friend was the best thing I've ever done, and I'm grateful to have this film to help us remember all those special moments for the rest of our lives. 

I hope you enjoy this gimps at our wedding day.


signature color

Monday, June 16, 2014

Yummy Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly Pie with Saltine Crust

Peanut butter and jelly pie with Saltine Crust

I recently got this book, and I've been really inspired by all her ideas for creative pie flavors. Last week, I made this peanut butter and jelly pie for a family birthday dinner, and it was a big hit.

I only strayed from Allison Kaye's recipe in a couple places: using strawberry jam over her preferred grape and decorating the top of the pie with a drizzle of melted peanut butter instead of chopped peanuts. I think the drizzle looks really cute.

Ingredients:
about 30 saltine crackers
8 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
6 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (plus another 1/4 cup for garnishing)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup strawberry jelly (or your preferred flavor)

Step 01. Preaheat the over to 350ºF. Grind the crackers to smooth crumbs in the food processor and mix with melted butter. Pat into the bottom of a pie pan. Chill for 10 minutes and then back for 10 minutes.
Step 02. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Mix together cream cheese, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. Combine with whipped cream until fully blended.
Step 03. Spread peanut butter mixture over crust and chill.
Step 04. Melt jelly in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it is a consistent, liquidy texture throughout. Pour melted jelly over peanut butter mixture and continue to chill pie.
Step 05. Melt remaining 1/4 cup peanut butter until it is a consistent, liquidy texture throughout. Pour into a measuring cup on any vessel with a spout. Drizzle slowly over jelly-covered pie. Continue to chill pie until set. Serve chilled.

Peanut butter and jelly pie with Saltine Crust
Peanut butter and jelly pie with Saltine Crust
Peanut butter and jelly pie with Saltine Crust

signature color

Sunday, June 1, 2014

May Ins and Outs: What I Bought and Read This Month

May Ins and Outs

This month, I tried to keep my spending in check and read the books I already own, so I only bought a few comics and some audiobooks. Gotta love that Audible subscription. 

I've really enjoyed branching out into comics (beyond just Buffy), and this month I read the first trade and bought the second trade of Y the Last Man. I also read Evelyn Evelyn, the first issue of Saga (which everyone raves about), and the first two trades of Fables, and soon I'm going to read the first trade of Sex Criminals (which I've peeked at enough to know I'm going to really like it).

This month also marked a foray deeper into the works of Mary Roach and John Green. While Roach's Stiff delighted me even more that Packing for Mars and Gulp had, I thought Green's Looking for Alaska was noticeably a first novel. I liked it, but it just wasn't as polished as The Fault in Our Stars. The humor and the heart weren't completely there yet. He's definitely developed as a writer in the last few years. Have read his first and last novel, I'm curious now to see what the ones in the middle are like. 

I finally read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I liked it, though probably not as much as I would have if I had read it as a teenage. I wouldn't say it's over-hyped; it's just maybe not the perfect book for me at this moment in my life. 

The Magicians has hooked me into a spiral that can only mean more Magicians books and Narnia books to read. I love how Grossman brings a dark nihilism to the question of what real magic would mean in a really unique way that I haven't seen explored in fantasy before.

The Secret History and Skippy Dies were both five-star books for me. It's rare that I discover more than one book I absolutely love in a month, but these both nailed it. They both were suspenseful and had lots of twists and turns as well as unique characters. I couldn't put down The Secret History while I was reading it, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about Skippy Dies since I finished it. I think both make for compelling examples of why some books totally need to be 600 pages long.