Weekend Snapshots

This weekend I....

1. Savored my last morning weekend of being a bum with a cup of coffee from my favorite roasters, Stumptown. While I was in NYC last week, I happily restocked my depleted bean supply. I also finally got my hands on the latest issue of Maire Claire magazine because my face is included in a humble corner of their monthly beauty road show when they were visiting Washington, DC. Thanks for including me Marie Claire!

2. My dear friend invited a couple of girls over her new home for dinner. She cooked an extremely comforting and delicious chicken pot pie and made us ice-cream (we're talking dark chocolate coffee and a rosemary honey flavor) from a new dessert cookbook she bought (Jeni's Ice-Cream). This stuff is so dangerously good (sold at Whole Foods) and if it wasn't so dang pricey I would be eating this every other day. An evening spent with a home cooked meal, ice-cream, and hours of conversations with your girlfriends are simply the best.

3. Called it an early night on Sunday because I start my new job today. One of my favorite purchases from my recent trip to Paris is this personalized Goyard bag. I've been looking for a simple yet chic work tote and have had my eyes on a Goyard bag for awhile and after doing some research prior to the Paris trip, I read that prices are extremely lower in Paris. Long story short, I ended up purchasing this new beauty and love that it's monogrammed--it just makes it feel more personal and special.

4. Discovered a new healthy and mind blowing recipe for "raw brownies." I know..what does that even mean? It has just 3 ingredients (nuts, dates and cocoa powder) and no baking is required for it(!!) I was so surprised at how amazingly delicious it was that I ended up making it twice this weekend...partly due to the fact that I finished a batch all by myself. Oops. I'm usually weary about vegan/gluten free recipes after a bad experience with it but this dessert/snack is really good. Will post recipe soon.

How was your weekend?

Casual Friday

Photos courtesy of Sung Shin

Sweatshirt-H&M (old)

Plaid button down-AE

Jeans-Rag & Bone

Leather jacket-LaMarque (similar style here)

Purse-Proenza Schouler 

Sunglasses-Karen Walker

Shoes-KORS Michael Kors

Happy Friday everyone! It's been a long/busy week and am just relieved that the weekend is finally here. I came home late last night from work feeling tired and lethargic (thought I was coming down with a cold) and as I was getting ready for bed, I found out that Buzzfeed featured my blueberry almond butter smoothie recipe on their website yesterday. Please check it out here! 

Have a great weekend. Xo.

Crisp

Photos courtesy of Sung Shin

Blazer-Alice & Olivia (buy here)

Blouse-Old Navy (buy here)

Khaki pants-Uniqlo

Purse-Louis Vuitton

Cuff-Hermes

Shoes-Pour La Victoire (buy here)

Now that Spring is here, some of the colors I associate this new season with is crisp white and classic khaki. There's something very simple yet timeless about pairing white and khaki together that will never go out of style. Streamlining the look by staying within the the same color palettes can elevate these basic colors into something very crisp and chic. 

On another note, Refinery29 DC featured my Stripes Reversed outfit yesterday and you can see the street style post HERE:) 

Have a great rest of the week! Xo.

The Holidays

Photos courtesy of Sung Shin

 Striped blouse-J.Crew

Sweater-Gap

Skirt-T.J. Maxx (love this one here)

Shoes-Pour La Victoire

Necklace-Alexis Bittar (similar style here)

Happy Friday everyone! With the holidays coming up, I'm very much attracted to all things that glitter. I found this festive skirt unexpectedly at T.J. Maxx and thought it would be perfect to wear around the upcoming holidays;)

I also decided to wear this outfit for a fun and exciting feature I want to share with you today. In my past weekend snapshots, I shared with you home decor things I would find over the weekend or mini projects I was doing around my place and well, my home has finally come together (for the most part). The kind people at Apartment Therapy asked to feature my place so I invited them over last weekend. Apartment Therapy was one of the first websites I would frequent when I first bought my place because it focuses on small spaces, so to have them want to feature my place was a bit unreal....

This feature was actually something I wasn't sure if I wanted to do because I feel like your home is a personal and private space, and quite frankly, interior decor is something I'm still learning as I go. It's not something I feel 100% confident about, but as of now, I think I'm satisfied with what I've done to the place. So, please visit my home tour HERE to see more pictures of my place--I'd love to hear what you think of it! The lovely photos from the home tour were taken by Nicole Crowder of http://nicolecrowderphoto.com/ She's awesome.

Have a great weekend. Xo.

NomNom: Chocolate Peppermint Sandwiches

The month of December means that we are now entering peppermint flavor galore. I love anything with the hint of peppermint flavor, which means my all time favorite holiday treat (white chocolate peppermint bark) will be consumed in masses. So thankful that I have a gym in my building for seasonal situations such as this.

I mentioned in my last weekend snapshots that I bought the latest America's Test Kitchen magazine which focuses on Holiday cookies and tell me why page 2 had this glorious picture of these chocolate peppermint sandwiches.

I was intrigued. Interest was peaked. This was gonna get baked.

Earlier this week, I took one of my girlfriends out for a birthday brunch and decided to wake up a little earlier that morning to bake these for her. She has kids so I thought that they would love these little holiday treats as well. I wasn't sure what to expect with this dessert since I've never made them, but after taking a bite, or two, or three, into these sandwiches, I was sold. The sandwich texture is the perfect  hybrid of a brownie and a soft chewy cookie. The filling is sweet on its own but having it in between the chocolate sandwich offsets the sweetness and gives the sandwich a great balance. There's also just the right amount of peppermint hint to these fillings that doesn't overwhelm the chocolate flavor. It's pretty much awesome.

When my friend took a bite into these, she laughed and said something along the lines of "this might be really hard to share with my kids." I'm sure she was kidding.....

I hope you're enjoying the month of December and taking in all the holiday festivities that come along with it. If you're in a holiday baking stump, try making this dessert--I promise it will become a seasonal dessert you'll keep coming back to.

Oh, and you can find the interview Washington Life magazine did on me HERE regarding the Military Lady outfit post. Have a great weekend. Xo.


Ingredients (Adapted from America's Test Kitchen: Christmas Cookies): Yields 18 cookies
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup packed (5 1/4 ounces) light brown sugar
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon water
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons whole or low-fat milk
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup (2 ounces) confectioners' sugar
Red or green food coloring (optional)

Procedure
1. Adjust over racks to upper-middle and lower-middle poitions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper

2. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. Heat chocolate chips, brown sugar, 5 tablespoons butter, and water in medium sauce pan over medium heat, stirring until smooth. Transfer chocolate mixture to large bowl and whisk in egg until incorporated. Stir in flour mixture until just combined.

3. Working with 2 tablespoons dough at a time, roll into balls and space them 2 inches apart on prepared sheets. Bake until puffed and edges are set but centers are slightly soft, 8-10 minutes, switching on rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool completely, about 45 minutes.

4. Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons butter, milk, and peppermint extract together in medium bowl until combined. Add confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth. If using food coloring, add 3 drops and mix until combined. Spread 1 teaspoon filling over bottoms of half of cookie then top with remaining cookies to form sandwiches before serving.

NomNom: Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles

When I think of summer fruits, my mind turns to watermelon, cherries, and strawberries. Lately I've been on a strawberry kick and have been eating them as is or cooking them in recipes I've come across, particularly this one that involved these fruits to turn into popsicles. With the summer heat wave we've been experiencing recently on the East coast, what better way to cool down from the scorching temperatures then with refreshing popsicles? 

By the way, this was my first time making popsicles and I can't even believe to tell you how easy they are to make. High five for easy snacks.

Mixing yogurt gives the popsicles a creamy, smooth taste. Smooth like butter.

Whether you stay indoors or brave the hot weather outdoors this weekend, I hope it's a great one. Oh, and don't forget to include these popsicles into your summer rotation;)

Btw, please check out the Washingtonian article I (along with other fashion bloggers) was featured on yesterday regarding summer outfit ideas HERE!

Have a great weekend.

Ingredients (Recipe adapted from www.thekitchn.com) Yields: 6
1 pint strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
6-8 ounces (about 1 cup) Greek yogurt

Procedure
1. Combine the strawberries and sugar in a small bowl. Let stand about 20 minutes to macerate the fruit, stirring occasionally. The fruit will soften and become syrupy.

2. Pour the strawberries and syrup into a food processor or blender. Add the lemon juice and pulse a few times until the fruit is pureed.

3. Stir the yogurt into the strawberry mixture until combined. Pour into molds and freeze for at least 8 hours or overnight. To remove, run hot water over the outside of the mold until you can gently pull the popsicle out.

Weekend Snapshots

This weekend I...

1. Woke up really early with the boy to grab breakfast together. He had an 8am golf tournament he was participating in that was going to take up most of the day so we decided to wake up early to at least grab coffee and pastries together.

2. Started to really consider possibly painting the sun room area of my place. I finally decided which blinds I wanted to install and then I started to think about paint colors for the wall. I have some possible colors in mind after looking through the HGTV magazine.

3. Finally got around to buying seeds for some herbs I want to grow. My parent's grow basil, parsley, and cilantro in their garden which inspired me to grow my own basil and cilantro (two of my favorite herbs to cook with during the summer).

4. Cooked Greek lasagna for the first time which turned out to be awesome. The boy and I ate 3 pieces EACH. I'm such a pig sometimes=P

5. Celebrated Carlis of SpicyCandy's birthday. She's a fellow fashion blogger I met awhile back whom I developed a friendship with. We all met at her new place in DC and went out to a bar afterwards to continue the celebration. Hope you had fun that night girl.

6. Received an email on Friday from an editor from The Huffington Post asking to feature my recipe for the salted caramel mug cake from awhile ago. Needless to say, I am STOKED. Please check out the feature HERE today!

Weekend Snapshots

This weekend I...

1.Went frame hunting and successfully found all the sizes I want so I can build my gallery wall of travel photos. All my photos are printed and now it's a matter of hanging and arranging.

2. Dined at Nava Thai in Wheaton, MD. I had a craving for Thai food and in my opinion, I this place has the best thai food in MD. There's a dish they have called the Floating Market soup where the name derives from the floating markets stall in Bangkok. It reminds me of a spicier version of Pho but the soup's broth has hints of sweet, sour, spicy and salty. Not only is the noodle in a noodle dish important, but the key player in a noodle soup dish is the broth and this dish alone will make me keep coming back.

3. Was gifted my first Butter nail polish by my friend Mel. I absolutely love this vibrant shade of teal and must admit that I probably wouldn't have bought this myself because of the price tag for a nail polish ($14), so thank you dear!

4. Stopped by my parent's house to visit them as they just got back from vacationing from Turkey and Greece. My mom bought me this gorgeous mini bowl set from Turkey which I will definitely be using as dipping sauces. She knows my taste very, very well. Thank you Mom.

5. Restocked on some lip glosses from Revlon at the drugstore. I ran out of 'Shine city' (2nd from left), a neutral gloss that is the perfect shade to put over a matte lipstick color or if you just want to add some shine to your lips. I also love 'Pink Afterglow' (1st from left) because it gives just the right amount of berry color and high gloss to your lips. Some new products from Revlon I bought were from their Just Bitten line. It reminds me of a crayon and is a balm and lipstain in one. I bought the shades, 'Twilight' and 'Flame' but unsure about the Twilight color after applying it on my lips. The Flame, however, is a great pop of red for your lips.

6. On another unrelated note, please check out one of my outfit posts that is featured today on Refinery 29's article on "7 So-Smart Tricks For Styling Summer Shorts — The Chic Way" HERE!

How was your weekend?

Keep It Simple

Photos courtesy of Sung Shin

Blouse-Ann Taylor Loft

Jeans-Paige Denim

Shoes-Alice&Olivia

Bracelets, ring-David Yurman

Happy Friday everyone!

Now that colored pants are all the rage now, I've been playing with different colors and pairings against these yellow jeans. Because they're really bright, I wanted to keep the top simple with a crisp white blouse. I love the ruffle details on this blouse because it stands out just enough for it to not be so basic.

On a different note, I have a couple of things to share with you today. Several months ago, an editor from www.DCLifemagazine.com contacted me asking if I would participate in a Q&A interview about me and my blog, so you can get to know me more here: http://www.dclifemagazine.com/articles/meet-linda-park-from-nomnomblingbling/index.html I was also asked to work on a little project this Monday that will involve me playing dress up, which I'm very much looking forward too but am a little nervous about. I can't wait to share it with you when it finally comes together so please stay tuned=)

Have a great weekend.

Color me Purple

Photos courtesy of Sung Shin

Shirt-Eddie Bauer

Skirt-H&M

Cardigan-Ann Taylor

Shoes-Vera Wang Lavender

Rings, bracelets-David Yurman

Hosiery (Natural)-c/o Hanes

Several weeks ago, Hanes hosiery contacted me asking if I wanted to participate in sampling their "sheer" line of hosiery. I was a bit weary at first because if you haven't noticed by now, I love wearing only opaque tights during the winter and honestly, I usually think of much older women when I think of hosiery. So before I agreed to this, I told them that I would participate only if I was allowed to give my honest opinion on how I felt about their hosiery upon receiving it. They had no problem with that and hosiery was sent to me to be tested.

So...I'm (surprisingly) impressed. The material itself feels light to the skin and it's very hard to tell that I'm actually wearing any hosiery. They truly are sheer as they say they are which gives my legs a smooth finish and that definitely is a good thing because I have a slight, visible battle wound on my left leg from a rather embarrassing incident several years ago. I'll spare you the details.

Readers, what do you think? Yay or nay to hoisery?

NomNom: Rice Crispy Heart Pops

So, Valentine's day is coming up in 4 days. That's like, soon. The men got lucky this year because they have the whole weekend to plan something for their significant other if they're a last minute planner. I don't fall under this category because I have a somewhat Type A personality and like to plan ahead and know my schedule ahead of time (minus the occasional surprises). Yeaaa I don't have the 'go with the flow' type of attitude and I blame that for growing up as an East Coast girl. The boy is from California so he's quite the opposite but that's...cool. I dunno.

The boy likes chocolate so I've been racking my brain as to what kind of fun Valentines day themed dessert I could make him and kept staring at my heart shaped cookie cutter for inspiration. Yea, I know...as if the cookie cutter would speak to me.

I initially thought of baking heart shaped chocolate chip cookies but then the idea didn't really stir my soul. I was mindlessly going through some celebrity gossip website last week (I'm a celebrity gossip knowledge queen--ask me who's dating who and I'll tell you in a heartbeat) and they featured several Valentines day themed recipes. I came across one that made these cute chocolate covered rice crispy pops and well I was sold.

Sometimes I swear the food gods just shine their light on me and answer my food prayers. It's easy, tastes delicious, and is super cute! Win!

I mean, they taste like you would image it to literally taste like..rice crispy treats covered in delicious, melted chocolate. Buuut I wanted to use good chocolate chips for this recipe. Don't get me wrong, I like and usually use Nestle chocolate chips when baking cookies but since I knew I'd be covering a big surface area (yea, that's the nerd in me talking) with chocolate I decided to spend a little more money and buy Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. Oh my, please use these. They taste so smooth, rich, and creamy that I may have ate 20 or so chips along the baking process.

I think any dessert that has a stick in it is automatically deemed as cute. Cake pops? Cute. Marshmallow pops? Cute. Rice crispy pops? Cute!!

On another unrelated note, I have some big news to share with you! The March issue of Elle magazine, which is on news stands now featured some of my outfit posts on an article written about Washington, DC fashion. So exciting!! I'm feeling very, very humbled that they would notice little ol' me and include me in their article. My awesome photographer friend (who now has a website up and running!) and I try to work hard to (hopefully) give you quality content, so to be recognized from a nationally well known fashion magazine is extremely rewarding. When I started my blog 5 months ago, I never would have imagined  that I'd be featured in anything, let alone a popular fashion magazine that I actually read myself.

As always, thank you so much for reading. Whether it be from occasionally grazing through or being a follower of this little blog, I am extremely thankful for your support.

Ok, ok, enough of all that sappy talk. Now go make those super easy rice crispy pops and enjoy them while reading that Elle magazine! Yea! Have a great weekend.

Recipe (adapted from www.koreanamericanmommy.com)
1/2 Stick unsalted butter
1 package of mini marshmallows
8.5 cups of Rice Krispie Cereal
24 White sticks about 5 inches long
1 package of Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips

Procedure
1. Heat up a large pan and melt the butter over medium/low heat. Add the marshmallows and melt completely. Combine the rice krispie cereal to the marshmallow/butter mixture and mix thoroughly.
2. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment ot wax paper and place the rice krispie mixture and spread out evenly. Press down firmly and evenly. Allow to sit for about 10-15 minutes at room temperature.
3. Grease a heart cookie cutter and press down evenly on the rice krispie mold and remove the heart shaped rice krispie treat. Take your stick and carefully pierce the bottom of the heart shaped rice krispie and stop when you have about 2.5 inches of stick remaining. Press firmly on a flat surface with your palms on each sides of the heart to secure the stick. Also, press the sides as well.

4. Microwave the chocolate chips in 30 second increments until completely melted.
5. Dip the heart into the chocolate sauce and using a butter knife smooth out the surface also removing access chocolate. Place on a lined baking sheet and allow the hearts to set in the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes.

Weekend Snapshots

This weekend I...

1. Stopped by Ikea to stock up on some of their Tindra candles which not only smell divine, but are so cheap. Each candle is $1.99 people! Get on it. I also bought several picture frames because I want to (finally) print pictures of my favorite places I've traveled to around the world and have a wall at my place dedicated just for that.

2. Experimented with some Valentine's day baking. I love chocolate covered pretzels because it has both the sweet and salty component to it. I also decided to add Valentines Days colored sprinkles to give it a nice finishing holiday touch. This was easy, tasty, and cute--what's not to love? Will post recipe later this week

3. The boy cooked dinner for me. He made a delicious dinner of a Chinese noodle dish that consisted of bok choy, pork and mushrooms, along with egg drop soup. Unfortunately in the process he ended up cutting himself pretty badly but that's a whole another post in itself. Sigh.

4. Squeezed in some "me" time which consisted of catching up with my favorite magazines and drinking chocolate wine. Taylor Swift makes me want to buy a big, floppy hat and trim my bangs. Note to self: I'm not Taylor Swift.

5. Bought more Essie nail polish. Hehehehe. They have a line called "Essie Luxe Effects" which consists of glittery polish and well ya know me...I can't resist sparkle. The colors I purchased are "a cut above" and "set in stones."

6. Received an email from Refinery 29's DC editor asking if she could use this outfit I posted about a week ago to feature in her article, "The Perfect Outfit," and well, I obviously said yes and thank you! Check it out: http://www.refinery29.com/the-perfect-outfit-mixing-colors-and-prints

How was your weekend?