Sunday, November 13, 2011

Look, I'm not proud, but here it is: I am seriously fighting the urge to start playing Christmas music.

I KNOW.

You can still get away with wearing shorts and a t-shirt this time of year in Arizona. It's only mid-November. We just wrangled all of our Halloween decorations into the garage, ferchissakes. But as I scroll through my iPod playlists, it takes serious effort to not stop on the one labeled "Christmas Songs". Oh, who am I kidding? I have, like, 5 different Christmas song playlists on my iPod. Whatever. I don't make fun of your Taylor Swift songs, so shut up already. Besides, I noticed this morning that my neighbor has poinsettias on her porch, so IT IS ON.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011


Arizona is on fire. As of two hours ago, the reports were that 311,481 acres have burned so far, and the Wallow Fire (named after its origin site, Bear Wallow) was still 0% contained.

Truly and without exaggeration, this is some of the most beautiful land in Arizona. I know the ecological importance of fire and I know that the land will recover, but this is so devastating and heartbreaking. In terms of water quality impacts, over 300 miles of perennial stream have been impacted so far, including several Outstanding Arizona Waters. Arizona's largest fire to date (the 2002 Rodeo Chediski at 468,630 acres) impacted just 50 in it's entire 29 day run. The Wallow fire is only on day 10.

My thoughts are with those in the evacuated and pre-evacuated communities. Cross your fingers for an early monsoon season, because I just don't see how else this fire is going to be brought under control...

Additional Links:
Evacuation Update
Residents Told to Flee as Arizona Fire Spreads to New Mexico
KML downloads for viewing fire data in Google Earth

[image from here]



Unless you have, as I do, a lemon tree. Then you bag those buggers up and give them away. (Because, hey, who doesn't want free lemons?).

[image from here]

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Peanut Butter Banana Blondies with Peanut Maple Glaze

(No pictures...they all got eaten before I had a chance. I know, I know...but they were pretty, I swear...)

I Frankenstein-ed these bad boys at about 7 am Sunday on a morning. Far too early to be thinking about dessert, but with lots of healthy (okay, healthier--it's all relative, folks) substitutions for the standard ingredients, I only felt a teensy weensy bit guilty taste-testing one with my coffee. Full disclosure, though: these are not "healthy". What they do have going for them: seriously slashed fat and refined carbs and a big boost of protein. Here's how to get them in your very own belly (which is where you want them, trust me).

The blondies...
~4 tbs unsalted butter
~1 medium banana, mashed (*instead of the other 6 tbs of butter called for in the original recipe)
~1 c dark brown sugar
~1 c maple syrup (*instead of a second cup of brown sugar)
~1 c peanut butter (I used crunchy, but do your thang here)
~2 eggs
~2 tsp bourbon vanilla extract
~1/2 tsp salt
~1/2 c whole wheat flour
~1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
~1 c vanilla protein powder (*original recipe called for 2 c all purpose flour, I broke it into wheat/all-purpose/protein. You could also try different combinations of alternate flours--almond or oat, for example)
~1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 325F and grease a 9X13 baking dish.

Melt the butter and allow to cool. Then whisk together the butter, banana, sugar, syrup, and peanut butter; then whisk in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet by hand until just combined. Pour into baking dish and bake for ~25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.

For the glaze...
~1 1/2 c Splenda (*FYI, powdered sugar will give you a more frosting-y finished product than Splenda will)
~2 tsp vanilla extract
~1/2 c maple syrup
~1/2 c heavy cream
~1/2 c peanut butter
~(2 tbs cornstarch)

Combine Splenda, vanilla, and maple syrup in a mixer and beat at med/high speed (starting on low and working up so you don't splatter). Turn speed back to low and slowly add in the heavy cream and peanut butter until combined, then whip at med/high speed until it begins to thicken. You may want to add in the cornstarch slowly at this point to make it a bit thicker; it's up to you. Set aside until blondies have fully cooled.

Once the blondies have cooled, use a skewer or chopstick to poke holes into them (try to keep it fairly uniform). Pour the glaze evenly over the blondies, and allow to set for about 15 minutes so the glaze can soak in.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010


Maybe we've met, you and I. If so, it is not a particularly big surprise to you that I love me some Eddie Vedder. Two other loves? Gorgeous song lyrics, and simple but well-thought design. Which leads me to telling you about Music Philosphy.




Music Philosophy showcases simple, lovely lyrics as understated yet look-at-me-eye-catching graphics, and draws from influences as varied as Pink Floyd, Belle and Sebastian, and the Moldy Peaches. Love them? You're in luck...they recently opened a poster shop. Last one to wallpaper their house is a rotten egg...

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

One Bowl Banana Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies


One bowl because I am feeling lazy. Banana and pecan and chocolate because also, I am feeling decadent. Chocolate chunks because that is what my husband always chooses when given free reign in the baking ingredients aisle. You can use regular chips. I won't tell. Apologies for the lousy camera phone picture...I wasn't kidding about the lazy part.

Ingredients
1 c butter, room temp
1 3/4 c granulated sugar
2 tbs molasses*
2 ripe medium bananas, smashed
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 c non-bleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 oz chocolate chunks
1 1/2 c roughly chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and molasses together in a mixing bowl. Add bananas, egg, and vanilla until well mixed. Slowly add in flour, baking soda, and salt until thoroughly mixed. Stir in chocolate chunks and pecans (you can add less of these if you like; I like my cookies choc full of goodness). Bake for ~ 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. They may be a little sticky coming off the cookie sheets, but it's okay. They will still be delicious. Promise.

*This is because I was out of brown sugar. If you are not out of brown sugar, you can eliminate the molasses and replace the 1 3/4 c granulated sugar with 1 c packed light brown sugar and 1 1/2 c granulated sugar. Or not. These came out pretty darn tasty as written.

Monday, April 05, 2010

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Muffins



I've been drawn more and more lately to tweaking my baking recipes so that they are more healthy. For years, this has meant experimenting with alternative moisture components (applesauce, yogurt, canned pumpkin, etc. in lieu of oil or butter) and sweeteners (honey, agave nectar, maple syrup). Once, when Splenda first hit the market, I attempted baking with it as a sugar substitute. This was before the special "Splenda for baking" was released, and the results were catastrophic. My cake never rose completely, and had an acrid, chemically taste. After that, I abandoned Splenda and all sugar substitutes of its ilk.

Lately, though, I've been researching healthy recipes more and more, and I keep coming across Splenda being used in cakes, muffins, and other sweet treats. So I decided to give the new formulation another try with these Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Muffins. I think I can now safely say that I am a convert--I subbed in Splenda and molasses for this recipe (which originally called for brown sugar), and I am so pleased with the results! These muffins are subtly sweet and super moist, with a dense, oatmeal-y texture and great pops of extra sweetness from the raisins. I baked these with some wonky, odd-shaped muffin liners from Ikea and the batter portioned out into 15 cups--I know this is an odd number of muffins to bake, and I suspect that using regular-sized tins this would portion well into 12 regular or 6 large muffin cups. Note, though, that the nutrition information below is based on the batter making 15 muffins. You can always back calculate (multiply by 15 then re-divide by the number of muffins) to get the values on a different number.

Ingredients:
1 c quick-cook oats
1/2 c skim milk
1 egg
1/2 c low fat plain yogurt
3/4 c Splenda (granulated for baking)
1 tbs unsulphered molasses
1 c sifted unbleached whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Trader Joe's Sugar Free Chai Spice
1/4 tsp ground clove
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1 c raisins

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400F. Set 15 muffin liners into two regular sized muffin tins.
In a large bowl, combine oats, milk, egg, yogurt, Splenda, and molasses. Mix well, and set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Stir in applesauce and vanilla until well blended.
Combine dry ingredient bowl into oat ingredient bowl, stirring until well combined. Stir in raisins.
Separate batter equally into the 15 muffin cups. Bake at 400F for 15 to 20 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring muffins to a rack to cool completely.

Nutritional Info:
Serving size: 1 muffin
106 calories, 2 g fat, 24 g carbs

Friday, June 19, 2009



A very sweet sentiment...and a reminder that no matter how stressful things get, sometimes the simplest things are what make you happiest. Get yourself a print at dazeychic's shop on Etsy.

Thursday, May 28, 2009



In case you hadn't heard...on May 9th, Dana and I got married in Wickham Park in Manchester, Connecticut. More photos and details to come; for now, you can view some of our guest's photos at http://danaandkrista.shutterfly.com/.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make it the perfect day that it was!

-Krista Osterberg Parmelee :)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

When is my wedding
Well, hopefully not bridezilla--I just thought the little monster was cute. But yes: me, Dana, married, 10 days. I can't wait! Also, I can't believe how fast the past year and a half has flown by!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Friday Song Picks...on Saturday!

A day late, but I've decided to try and keep up with the Friday Song Picks (for April, at least!). So here's a few more songs worth checking out:

Meiko, "Under My Bed"

Also check out Boys With Girlfriends, if you haven't heard it already...it's a bit more pop-y and bouncy.

Josh Ritter, "Kathleen"

"All the other girls here are stars, you are the northern lights"...gorgeous. A beautiful song all around.

The Weakerthans, "Left and Leaving"

One of my favorite bands and songs ever, full stop. This is a live version of the song; click here for the studio version (ignore the weird wolf video...).

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I have a girl crush on Zooey Deschanel (by which I mean I think she is pretty and funny and cool and should be my friend). I don't think I'd be missing the mark to say that a lot of women do. So I'm pretty jazzed to see her new movie "500 Days of Summer". Plus if there's a lot of the Smiths on the soundtrack, I can drag Dana with me and watch him do his Morrissey impersonation. It's pretty classic.

Any upcoming movies on your must-see list?

Friday, March 06, 2009

Friday Song Picks

A few of the songs that are in heavy rotation on my iPod lately...

Okkervil River, "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe"

This video takes a few seconds to load, but is worth it. You can also check them out at okkervilriver.com. Check out the "Band" tab for one of the longest but best band bios I think I've ever read...

St. Vincent, "Now Now"

I couldn't find any good video clips for this one (the one above is just the song playing over a still photo), but check her out at ilovestvincent.com. There's a link in the left sidebar to listen to this song, as well as "Paris is Burning" and "Marry Me" (in which there is some fabulous strategic hand-clapping).

Sufjan Stevens, "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!"

I feel like there's a joke in here somewhere pertaining to my deathly, paralyzing fear of wasps, bees, hornets, and all bugs of that ilk. But phobias aside, Sufjan Stevens is an amazing story teller, lyricist, and songwriter. This is just one of many, many examples. See more of him here.

That's all for today, kids. Have you got any song recommendations for me?

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

I know it's a little bit late to be buying a 2009 calendar, but if by chance you still need one I'd highly recommend checking out these adorable options from Etsy seller little brown pen. They're a witty twist on the British WWII Keep Calm and Carry On poster.



There's a women's and a men's version of the calendar (February for women: "Bat Lashes and Pound Chocolate"...for men, "Strum Guitar and Look Sensitive").

Monday, February 23, 2009

bikes on etsy collage
Top row (L to R): Isphotography, Shop Shop Designs, Cheer up Cherup.
2nd row (L to R): Creative nuts , Home Studio, Berkley illustration!.
3rd row (L to R): Woodworking & recycled bike parts by Julien Jaborska, Bicycle paintings, Arcane Arts.
4th row (L to R): Velocipede, WD Design & Photography, bitter sugar, Rar Rar Press.


with spring weather in full force here in arizona (okay, it’s pretty much “spring weather” here as far as everyone else is concerned all winter long), i’m wanting to ride my bike everywhere. i think lots of people might be feeling the same way, judging by the bike imagery/inspiration i’ve been seeing all over etsy. art, clothing, accessories, stationery…from retro illustrations to gear-head inspired pieces, bikes are everywhere.

bike accessories
original photos from beachbikes.net

i'm loving this cupholder from beachbikes.net--it may not be ideal for all terrains, but for cruising around the (relatively flat) streets of tempe, it would be a handy, hands-free way to bring along my venti americano. and for those of you who tote around your lives with you on your bikes, how adorable is this double bike bag, which mounts over your back tire?

baskets
L ro R: sunlite wooden basket, carrie bicycle basket, topeak quick-release basket

for people like me who can usually fit your necessities in your front basket, how about one of these? the topeak basket, which has a quick-release function, would be great to tote along to the grocery store for smaller shopping trips. and i love the carrie bicycle basket (available at huset-shop.com) with it's bright green pop of color (it might make my orange bike looke a little bit pumpkin-esque, though...).

Friday, February 20, 2009

the pear project: artisan goods for every day life


pear project items
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh
so if any of you are in the same boat as me, and i suspect that many of you are these days, you've got your mind on your money and your money on you mind (snicker). it's tempting at times like these to hit up the big box stores in search of low prices, especially when you're looking to purchase "extras". and while i am a big fan (and frequent shopper) of tar-jay, there's a lot to be said for putting in a little more leg work and maybe an extra few dollars to upgrade to an item that is unique, creative, and hand made.

etsy is pretty well known as a source for items like this, but there are other options, too. the pear project, run by north carolina artist (and looooong time friend of mine) brooke fuller, is a fantastic place to find household good, jewelry, handbags, and one of a kind art. and unlike larger sites like etsy, the pear project is able to carefully regulate the quality of each and every item sold through the site, so you can rest assured that your purchase will be well made (more well made, more than likely, than it's big box brethren).

so next time you're on the hunt for the perfect purse, necklace, piece of art, or even some new salt and pepper shakers, check out the artists over at the pear project for something a cut above that mass-produced "bargain" at tarjay. you get a great product, and you support an independent artist and a small business owner, all with one purchase--everybody wins! and who doesn't love that?
probably a better idea in theory than in practice...


Originally uploaded by kristaleigh
these road rage sticks from urban outfitters are cracking me up. i especially like the "are you drunk?" sign. however, i imagine whipping one of these out after someone cuts you off might only fuel the already fired-up tempers that flare during rush hour. they sure are tempting, though...i can think of a few people i know who'd make good use of them!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

how to work better


how to work better
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh
i'm really striving to live by this lately. unfortunately, i can't recall how or where i stumbled across it, but i have it printed out and hanging on the wall in my office. #1 is especially relevant for me. i have a tendency to take on about 20 tasks at a time, and while some people are truly efficient multi-taskers, i have come to realize over the years that i am not one of those people. i work best, fastest, and most efficiently when i can sort the things i need to do into a list and tackle them one at a time. hence the legal pad next to my computer that serves as my "to do" lsit. i refresh it every monday, tearing off the top sheet and only transfering over to the next sheet the things that didn't get finished the previous week.

also relevant is #10...as someone who tends to wear her emotions like a flag on her face, i sometimes need to remind myself to smile when i'm feeling overwhelmed at work.

what do you do to stay focused, motivated, and efficient?

Monday, February 16, 2009

Who says you can only send Valentines on 2/14?


mustache valentine
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh
So it's past Valentines Day, but I couldn't resist posting this free e-Valentine from katespade.com. Perfect for the mustachioed man in your life on Valentines Day, or any day!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

clearly something's got to give...between facebook, twitter, and myspace, there are so many other places to check and update that this blog has fallen through the cracks. i'd like to fix that. so i'm going to be making some changes...i can't promise anything in terms of timelines since i'm focusing most of my energy on the wedding lately, but i'm a-workin' on it...