This Sunday is the Long Beach antique market.  It is by far one of my favorite flea markets, in fact it was named as one of the top ten flea markets in the country by Good Housekeeping Magazine.  There are over 800 sellers scattered over 20 acres, so there really is no way you can leave empty handed and really why would you want to.

This Sunday with the purchase of admission, you can bring in one item from home and have it appraised.  I actually have a few things scattered around that I'm curious to know if perhaps hold any value.  So I will take my 10% discount coupon to get in, unless of course I win one of 1000 free entries and take one of my "I wonder" items and cruise down the street for a little treasure hunting...provided of course my new little nephew to be arrives before Sunday afternoon.  If he does not, then I will happily be posted up admiring hospital decor instead.

via Long beach antique market photos

Happy, happy Friday.
Apryl

If I only had the guts...canary yellow and turquoise love

I was unable to catch the Emmy awards this past Sunday, but I did take the time to peruse through the red carpet photos and fell head over heels for Naeem Khan's dress worn by Leslie Mann.  The bodice of the dress was completely beaded, with the bottom a cross between a mustard and canary yellow and with the added touch of the turquoise accessories...the look was simple, understated and well to me, divine. 

I realize this combo from an interior design element is so spring circa 2011 ha ha ha, but I can't help but ohhhh and ahhhh over the idea of being bold enough to create this combo somewhere in my home. 

Here's to one day escaping earth tones.

Apryl

Via Associated Press

via home to life

via Better Homes and Gardens

via Canadian House & Home

Chicken and onion paprikash

I originally found this recipe in my Everyday food magazine, which was made with turkey instead of chicken and egg noodles instead of rice.  I made a few other adjustments as well, so here is my version.  It is so delish and oh so quick.  It's an easy weeknight dinner for sure. 

Ingredients
1 pack of chicken tenders cut up in bite size pieces (about 7-9 tenders)
Salt and pepper
1-2 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion thinly sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
2 tablespoons sweet or smoked paprika or you can use a mix of spices.  I have a spice mix called Forward! from Penzeys Spice Company that I love using for this recipe (thanks mom.) 
3/4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons dried dill or 1/4 cup of fresh dill
Cooked rice
Naan or lavash bread for serving (optional)

Directions
1.  Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper.
2.  In a non-stick skillet heat olive oil and cook chicken thoroughly then transfer to a plate and cover.
3.  Reduce heat adding more oil if needed and cook the onions and garlic for a few minutes before adding the can of tomatoes then cook together for about 5 minutes.  Add the paprika and cook an additional few minutes.
4.  Add the chicken broth and cook down about 2 minutes. 
5.  Remove from heat and add the sour cream and cooked chicken.
6.  Sprinkle with dill and serve over rice.
7.  I also serve with naan or lavash bread

Try it for dinner, I promise it will be a hit. 
Apryl

Dirty shoes + floors = dirty floors (YUCK)

Over the past summer while cruising in our RV, I began flipping through my plethora of magazines and ran across an article that had me floored (pun intended).  The article was tucked in the corner of the page and was scarcely a paragraph, but it was all that was needed to gross both Anthony and I out (I read aloud while he drives.)  The article found here at Family Circle discussed "how the average shoe becomes home to more than 421,000 units of bacteria over the course of two weeks."  This had me digging for more "dirt" on the subject.  I found an older article from Good Morning America that tested the bottom of eight different people's shoes and of ten tests given, nine contained a bacteria called coliform which mainly comes from human and animal waste.  Grossed out yet?  Imagine what we step on or in throughout our day and what we are tracking in and on to our floors and then think about our little ones who spend much of their time on the floor.  The GMA article stated "that children under two are the most vulnerable to the germs we track into the house, because they play on the floor and put their hands in their mouths an average of 80 times an hour."  Now that is GROSS! 

We have never been a family that takes off our shoes at the door because I don't like the clutter.  However we are seriously thinking of changing our ways.  With that in mind I have been searching for something to hide all the shoes in and keep my front entry clear.  I really like the Pottery Barn option, but I'm still looking for the right one.  When I find it, I will let you know.

Have a GREAT weekend,
Apryl

Pottery Barn

The Container Store

(the plus side to this option is the lining is removable and washable)

The Container Store

West Elm

Barn love

 On a resent trip to Oregon, I couldn't stop snapping pictures of every old barn I saw.  I'm not sure what it is, but there is something about old barns that makes me very nostalgic and reminds me of being young and riding horses in the fields across the street from our home in Utah.  Sometimes I feel like life in southern California moves too fast and I often wish for a more simple and settled life.  
Enjoy your Thursday.
Apryl

The spice rack

After remodeling our kitchen five years ago I became more interested in cooking and baking.  Our old kitchen was a nightmare and needless to say I didn't cook very much.

My sister Michele remodeled her kitchen around the same time we did, so we both decided we would each take a cookbook our favorites were Rachel Ray and Giada de Laurentiis and take turns cooking once a week from the cookbooks (my sister lives 5 streets away.)

In doing so we realized we didn't have much in the way of spices.  Our mainstays were steak seasoning and garlic salt and that was about it.  Both of our celeb chefs required we add to our spice racks.  Below is a good list of staples to have on hand.

Curry powder

Cumin

Whole vanilla beans

Chile powder

Italian seasoning

Whole peppercorns (grinding your own is always best)

Ground cinnamon, cloves and ginger

Whole nutmeg

Red pepper flakes

Oregano
Thyme

Bay leaves

Kosher and or sea salt

Paprika

Thanks to my new kitchen and cooking with my sister, I now have a very full and abundant spice rack.  However...the other day a bottle of honey tipped over leaving a very sticky mess.  Needless to say, I had to clean out the cupboard and in doing so realized I had some seriously old spices in the rack.  My thought was..."do spices go bad?"  The answer in a nutshell is they don't really go bad, but they can loose their flavor and potency over time.  McCormick has a great list of various forms of spices and how to keep them fresh as well as how to tell if they are still worth keeping.

You can really turn up the volume in your meals just by adding a little more spice and with that said, I'm off to browse through Pinterest for something to cook for dinner :)

Have a great Wednesday.

Apryl

Sneaky mom alert...

Hey moms, sneak in immune supporting probiotics for your kids with refreshing fruit smoothies.  Probiotic literally means "for life".  Probiotics help maintain a healthy digestive and immune system.  I like using Low Fat Cherry Probiotic Kefir.  I find it at Sprouts, but I'm sure you can find elsewhere. 

Place about one cup of kefir in a blender, add one banana, one cup of fresh or frozen blue berries and one cup of any other fresh or frozen fruit mix your kids like (we like strawberries, mango, papaya and pineapple).  Blend and serve...so yummy and so good for them.

Cheers,
Imelda

Hello friends and family

Welcome to our first blog post as Linen & Sage home staging, redesign and organization.  We are so excited to embark on this new adventure.

It was about a year ago while we sat chatting at the park about returning back into the workforce when our four year olds start kindergarten (insert crying & slobbering noises here) that we realized we were both dreading going back into our previous careers.  We were ready to do something we were passionate about. It didn't take long to realize we both had a passion for decorating and organization...so while pushing our tots on the swings Linen & Sage was created.

We are excited and a bit nervous to start our blog journey.  We will be embracing all things creative and dear to us from decorating and organizing (of course,) to good food, traveling, mommyhood and to sharing with you the ups and downs of building Linen & Sage.

We hope you stay tuned,
Apryl & Imelda