roasted beet hummus

One of the challenges with getting a CSA is figuring out what to do with things you normally wouldn't pick up on a regular grocery run.  In our last CSA pickup we got some beets and I've never actually cooked a beet in my life.  I've eaten beets before, on the occasion, but never has a beet found it's way into my personal kitchen.  I was excited though, because on the rare occasions when I have had beets, I've enjoyed them.  I had the makings for hummus laying around and decided to make hummus, but I usually like to figure out a new variation on hummus each time I make it just because it's fun.  I peeked in my fridge and saw the beets and thought that beet hummus sounded like something that might be a thing.  After some googling I saw that people have indeed made beet hummus, and it looked like a really fun hummus variation due to the nearly neon shade of fuchsia that results.  This hummus variation takes a bit longer to prepare, because you'll want to roast the beet beforehand which takes about 45 minutes to an hour, and then you need to cool it down after that.  But that color is just so incredible.  The beet doesn't seem to imbue a hugely strong taste to the hummus, but it's definitely a delicious hummus.  I enjoyed it with some sweet potato tortilla chips as an appetizer and I'd like to add it to a wrap too!
Ingredients
1 small-medium roasted beet
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
zest of one lemon
juice of half a lemon
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 heaping Tbsp Tahini
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions
1. Prepare the beet by wrapping it in foil with a bit of canola or olive oil and roasting in a 350º oven for appx 1 hour, or until a fork easily slides into the beet.  Once cooked, cool it completely in the fridge.  You don't have to peel the garbanzo beans but if you want to (it makes for a smoother consistency), do so while the beet is cooking and cooling so you're ready to go when the beet is!

2. Once the beet is cooled, peel and quarter it and place it in your food processor, blending until it's in small bits.

3. Add everything else, except for olive oil, to the food processor and blend until you reach a smooth consistency. Add the olive oil gradually as you mix.

4. Taste and adjust the seasonings as you like!  If it's not smooth enough, try adding more lemon juice or olive oil.  The hummus will keep in the fridge for about a week.  Enjoy!

err on the side of grace

I've been thinking about grace lately.  I want to exude grace, forgiveness, and understanding.  This doesn't mean I want to be gullible, stupid, and easy to dupe, but I would much rather operate under grace, forgiveness, and understanding than anger, grudges, and judgement.  Not just for the sake of other people, but for my own psyche and state of being.  There is too much anger in the world.  I don't want to put myself near it, it feels toxic.  This is not to say I want to operate in la-la land where only shiny happy things happen and if something is ugly I just plug my ears and start singing Sesame Street.  Perhaps it has more to do with the response to the toxicity of anger.  Responding to anger in the world with grace.  Responding with understanding.  Responding with forgiveness.

It's hard to do.  Sometimes impossible.  But when I think about how I want others to treat me, that's what I want.  I want grace, forgiveness, and understanding.  I'm getting better at putting myself in someone else's shoes.  Maybe that person is tailgating me because they're late for a job interview that they need more than anything I can imagine.  They need a job to feed their children and they've just been beaten down by life right now, and the last thing they need is for me to be an asshole about them doing the best they can to get to their interview.  Maybe my barista had her boyfriend break up with her last night, and it's all she can do to make me a cup of coffee without breaking down.  Maybe the jerk who screamed at me on my bike and nearly drove me off the road had an abusive father and doesn't know how to cope, and so he yells at bikers and anyone else who annoys him.  I don't know.  The straight up fact is that I don't know the facts.  I don't have all the information.  Actually, I have very little information.  And my natural instinct is to fill in those blanks with stuff like, "well that person is a jerk."  I forget that, I'm not a jerk, but sometimes things happen and I act like one.  Sometimes I give you bad service as a barista because I'm having the worst day, sometimes I tailgate you because I'm in a hurry and not thinking.  And who knows, maybe that person really is a jerk.  Maybe they really are being intentionally mean to you, just to be mean, but you don't know that.  You don't have that information.  I would much rather err on the side of grace.  I would much rather smile at my morose barista, instead of scowling and not tipping.  Maybe she really is mean, but if she is having a bad day, I'd rather be the person not making it worse by being a jerk back to her.

It's not easy.  For some reason it seems like our natural tendency is to assume the worst about other people's character in those situations.  It's a challenge to fight the entropy of assuming the worst.  I don't succeed all the time, but I find that I'm a happier person when I choose grace, forgiveness, and understanding, rather than anger, holding a grudge, and judgement.

 



dress (worn as top) / courtesy of evermicrush :: skirt/courtesy of modcloth ring/courtesy of jewelmint :: bracelet/courtesy of musana jewelry :: bag/courtesy of hearts necklace/courtesy of peerless charm :: shoes (similar)/courtesy of blowfish shoes photos by Dan
And digressing from the above... Coral, chartreuse and turquoise are my jam these days.  Give me all of the things in those colors, please.  I don't know if it's the rapid infusion of Vitamin D that occurs for Vitamin D sun-starved Washingtonians that is causing this love of bright colors, but I like it.  I'm typically more drawn to more muted color schemes, but neon and brights are all I care about this summer.  I'm wondering how I'll feel once the clouds and rain return in a few months (say it ain't so!!).  I've heard whispers of Back To School items being marketed at stores already, which, even though I'm no longer in school, is still the sign of summer coming to an end.  We've really had an incredibly remarkable summer here.  Part of me never wants it to end, but another part of me gets excited about all the holiday that fall beckons.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our wedding anniversary is tucked in there as well.  

LOCAL LOVE // marrow

Something I'm really excited about with my best friend moving to Tacoma is sharing all my favorite places with her.  I think Tacoma is full of amazing restaurants, bars, and other attractions, contrary to the impression the rest of the world seems to have, so it's fun to be able to introduce someone to the city by sharing favorite hang outs and activities.

One of the places I've grown to like in Tacoma is Marrow.  Marrow opened a couple years ago after my favorite coffee shop went under, so I was glad the space ended up becoming something great.  Marrow is slightly on the spendy side (for me), so I don't frequent it too often, but it's one of my favorite places to go on a little date with Dan to grab a whisky ginger and beer on happy hour.


I've always had great service at Marrow.  The staff has always been very attentive and knowledgable about both the food, specials, and drinks.  Their food is relatively exotic featuring items like oxtail, and, appropriately, bone marrow.  They also separate their menu between vegetarian and not vegetarian, so if you lean towards the animal-free cuisine, they make it easy to find options that will work for you.  About half the menu is vegetarian, so it's a great place to go if that's your jam.  Like I said, the food can be a bit exotic, but if you have any questions about what something is, just ask the staff as they seem to have a solid knowledge about the specifics of the menu.  The drink menu is a little less exotic, though still leaning towards the craft cocktail end of the spectrum.  1022 South paved the more creative, from-scratch, exotic cocktail path for Tacoma bars and Marrow has definitely gone more that route than your standard cocktail menu.

I've gotten a few of their specialty cocktails.  I tried the Lillian a couple times because the description was similar to the Lavender cocktail offered by 1022, and while it didn't quite meet the off-the-charts tastiness of the Lavender, it didn't leave me wanting.  On this particular journey to Marrow I tried their Bronson cocktail, which is bourbon, peach habanero bitters, and ginger beer on the rocks.  Being a whisky ginger fangirl I was intrigued to see how the peach habanero bitters interacted with the whisky ginger and quite enjoyed the result.  The peach adds a distinctly Southern attitude to the cocktail and the habanero isn't overwhelming at all, just adding a bit more depth and complexity to the drink.  Dan and I have been adventuring in making our own bitters the past year, so we might try to come up with a peach habanero bitters recipe ourselves!

The vibe in Marrow is very pleasant.  6th Ave can get crazy, and some places just get too overwhelmingly rowdy to go if you want to have a conversation that doesn't involve yelling.  Dan and I usually avoid 6th Ave on Fridays and Saturdays for this reason, but sometimes we forget and end up on 6th searching for somewhere quiet enough to enjoy one another's company.  Marrow usually suffices.  The classy, intimate, and calm atmosphere (and likely the slightly higher pricing) keeps riff raff out, despite being located right next to the hub of the craziness.  A little refuge from the madness.

The food is around $14.00 for their entrees so we usually end up going for appetizers or happy hour.  I was there for happy hour this time and got a grilled cheese slider, mostly because it had the fingerling potatoes with aioli sauce.  They're amazing.  I think they're Dan's favorite.  Perfectly salty, crunchy, and seasoned just right.  If you go with a few friends you can each get an appetizer and share everything, so then you're not spending a ton of money on food, but you still get a variety of things to taste.  

Marrow is definitely somewhere I recommend to people from out of town.  It has nice atmosphere, great food, and it's not terribly expensive.  They've also started doing Sunday brunch, which we've been to one time, and that was really fun.  Lots of bloody mary options and a good variety of different breakfast choices, from the sweet to the savory.  If you're in Tacoma, or are visiting the area, I recommend checking out Marrow if you're in the mood for some fun cocktails and an exotic culinary experience!

five years

Five years ago today, July 19th, 2008, I said to myself, "hey, starting a blog sounds cool!" And so I did. And apparently I never looked back because here we are, five years later.  It's weird to think that it's been half a decade of sitting behind this computer screen, blabbing on about various life happenings and sharing pictures of outfits, life and more.  Five years of my life, documented here on the interwebs.  So bizarre.  And so cool.  It's fun to think back to five years ago when I sat with my laptop and decided to start delightfully-tacky.blogspot.com.  To who I was and where I was in life.  I was just a college student who was inspired by the creative community and thought, "what the heck!" Five years later I've met hundreds of new people, gone to NYFW twice, been to tons of blogger meet ups and conferences, spoken at conferences, traveled in a Winnebago from Alaska to Florida and back to Washington, lived in Anchorage, Spokane, and Tacoma, got married, bought a house, fallen in love with photography, got to create blog designs for amazing bloggers, and been inspired by thousands of beautiful images and people around the world through the internet.  It's mind boggling, really.  It's mind boggling that, over the years, tens of thousands of people have stumbled across this little corner of the internet that I've carved out.

I'm still learning new things every day.  Every day is an opportunity for growth.  One thing I love (well, and hate) about blogging is that it's never done.  You've never finished.  You never get to sit back and stop moving forward.  This means that you're always growing and pushing yourself to get better.  Whether that means honing your writing, coming up with new and better features and content, learning new things about photography (I'm watching a food photography class on CreativeLIVE as I'm writing this!), branching out to write a book or e-course, partnering with brands and other creative people, collaborating with other bloggers on fun projects... there's always a way to grow and learn more.


One thing I never expected when I started blogging, was the connections with other people that I would make.  The first post I ever wrote here on Delightfully Tacky was titled, "In which I commence a monologue."  But blogging has been so much more than a monologue.  So much more.  Sharing pieces of my life here, struggles I've been through, joys I've experienced has created connections with people that I never expected.  It hasn't been a monologue.  Far from it.  The emails and comments from people sharing their hearts with me have been so special and precious to me.  It's such a privilege to hear the life stories, heartaches, and redemption that some of you have shared with me.  Seriously.  The vulnerability in some of the comments and emails I've received from you guys have been such a precious thing that I can never take for granted.  So thank you for allowing me into your lives in that way.  
I don't know where the next five years will find me or this blog.  Undoubtedly there will be lots of changes in my life.  I suspect by the time five years have passed we may not live in Tacoma anymore, we may have created another human, we may have experienced loss in one or more forms, who knows.  This blog will morph and change through my life, as it always have.  I'm excited to see where life goes, and how the blog goes along with it.  I hope to find amazing readers wherever my life and blog content end up, because so far that has been the most amazing thing about this journey.  You guys.

dress/courtesy of ruche

longing for home

I did a photo shoot of this outfit yesterday and it went terribly.  My hair was being stupid, the photos weren't turning out how I wanted them, and on top of that, as I took my pictures, some weirdo drove by and took pictures of me with his iPhone.  So bizarre.  So today I decided that I would try-try-again because I really loved the outfit and wanted to do it justice, rather than sharing photos that I felt were mediocre.  I ended up really liking this second set, even though it's the same location.  Sometimes having a good hair day and no weirdos can totally change things!  Anyway, photo shoot drama aside, this is really one of my favorite dresses currently.  I might hem it because it's a bit long, even with heels, but I adore the bohemian, natural ombre dye.  It's just so earthy and organic.  Pairing it with a worn-in leather belt and one of Moorea's quartz necklaces was only natural.  

 

dress + shoes/courtesy of modcloth :: necklace/courtesy of moorea seal :: belt/thrifted watch/courtesy of la mer
My best friend gets into town tonight and it's going to be so weird having her here in person!  It will be interesting having a best friend to hang out with again.  It'll also be interesting to see how we interact as adults, rather than teens.  I feel like our friendship hasn't changed much since high school, but we've both definitely changed a bunch since we were 18.  It's nice being able to help her start over though.  Having lived in Tacoma for a few years now I feel like I'll be able to help her transition to the new city.  I was certainly glad for Dan when I moved to town.  I was immediately drawn in to his group of friends and he knew cool places to hang out, so the transition was pretty painless, despite the natural sensation of homesickness now and then.  
I still get homesick for Anchorage sometimes.  I miss the midnight sun and the smell of the air.  Every once in a while a small plane will fly over Tacoma and I'll miss how frequent that sound was back home in Anchorage.  I miss flying with my Dad and landing on Prince William sound.  Scoping out glaciers and spying on seals sunning themselves on icebergs.  It's a singular place.  I think I'll always get homesick for Anchorage, regardless of how old I get or how long I've lived in another town.  Tacoma feels like home, but there's still something about the place you grew up.  Memories tug on my heartstrings and I long for a trip back.  It's been a while since I was there during summer.  We've gone to Anchorage for Christmas the last couple years, but I love me some Anchorage summers like whoa.