Unique Script + Handwriting Fonts by Måns Grebäck

When I updated my computer recently, I lost a lot of my carefully collected font collection from over the years.

In rebuilding and looking to update my blog, I was searching for well-curated lists of script or handwriting fonts available for download and found myself less than enthused with the results. If I see Jenna Sue one more time...

I was digging through FontSpace and immediately started noticing a trend in the fonts that I loved: they were all by one font creator, Måns Grebäck. His handwriting fonts are stunning, unique and available for free for personal use and average around $60 for purchase.

He has over 200 fonts available for free here - all perfect for a updating your blog graphics, creating invitations, etc. Enjoy!

Houzz

I'm moving in just a few weeks out of my vintage East Lakeview apartment to a condo in Streeterville and am mildly freaking out. Its always such a rush of excitement, planning, nostalgia, list-making, etc. You're picking up your ENTIRE LIFE and taking it from one collection of square footage to another. Rather humbling to realize your life can be packed up, isn't it?

I've moved a lot in my life, but it never gets much easier. (Except I now know to wrap vases and picture frames in kitchen and beach towels and shove jewelry into my shoes... every inch counts!)

So beyond the lists and the "ONE-LAST-MEALS" at my favorite neighborhood joints, I am trying to remind myself that this is actually really fun. And mostly because I get to decorate a whole new place! Its a BLANK SLATE. I have picked up a fun (but temporary, I swear) penchant for talking interminably about paint colors and whether we should get the white couch of my dreams or be practical and get a darker color.

Enter Houzz, a collection of photos by interior designers, complete with product listings and searchable by room, city, color and style. As much as I love Pinterest, the search functionality is limited at best and on the hunt for some inspiration photos, I am praising the interior design gods for sending me stumbling upon a course that led to Houzz.

Here are some of the photos I've saved to my Idea Book recently - I clearly am loving a soft, gray color scheme.

Have you tried Houzz? How do you find inspiration for home decor? And most importantly, any moving tips?! :)

Contemporary Living Room by Toronto Interior Designer BiglarKinyan Design Partnership Inc.

Modern Dining Room by Minneapolis Architect Peterssen/Keller Architecture

Contemporary Bedroom by Chicago Interior Designer jamesthomas, LLC

Contemporary Living Room by Boston Interior Designer Terrat Elms Interior Design

Contemporary Living Room by Vancouver Home Staging Fluff Designs & Decor

Chocolate + Peanut Butter Popcorn

Oh man. With my limited-at-best self control, there are certain things I regret knowing exist. Carly Rae Jepsen's full-length album and the fact that you can melt parmesan cheese in the microwave into a giant cheese chip, for example. 

This recipe is being added to that list. I really thought this was my own brilliant idea until I did a Pinterest search and discovered its been done many times by many brilliant ladies. So much for originality, but I'm okay with being in the company of others who roll their popcorn around in melted peanut butter and chocolate.

I knew this couldn't really be BAD, but I didn't realize how dangerously, deliciously addicting it would be. Wish me luck. 

---

CHOCOLATE + PEANUT BUTTER POPCORN WITH SEA SALT

This makes a LOT (about 10-12 cups, depending on how much you sneak in the process!) so make sure you have a destination for your treats or some friends on their way, or you and your self control will be left alone with a bucket of sweet and salty goodness. Best of luck to you, friends. 

5 Tb unpopped popcorn

1 Tb and 1 tsp canola oil, divided

1 C peanut butter 

1/2 C maple agave syrup* 

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Sea salt to taste

Pop your popcorn in 1 Tb of canola oil on the stove or in your popcorn popper. If you only have the microwave bags on hand, that'll work too! But please, someday soon, make it on the stove... you'll be a convert.

Pour the popcorn out on to a large baking sheet covered in foil. Be careful to omit any unpopped kernels!

Combine peanut butter and agave syrup in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 1 minute or until it's very liquidy and smooth.

Pour the peanut butter and syrup mixture over your popcorn then toss with a spoon to combine. You might need to use your hands to get all of the popcorn coated, but be careful, the peanut butter and syrup mixture will be very hot!

Next, melt your chocolate chips in the microwave for about a minute with 1 tsp of canola oil. The oil makes it smoother and easier to pour over the popcorn.

Now pour your chocolate mixture over the popcorn and toss it all up to combine again.

Sprinkle with sea salt to taste then set the tray aside to cool and firm up. 

*I got mine from Trader Joe's and I'm a huge fan. Honey or plain agave syrup would work just as well.

SWEET HOME

I spent the weekend with family out of state and had (as always!) a great time losing at cards and eating pie and cheese dip. Trips away, especially those that treat me to a rare vantage point of our skyline via northbound Lakeshore Drive from the south, remind me juuuust how much I love my own home. 

I silhouetted the city and then spun it and added a gradient to create this little circular cityscape.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

-ll

Namaste

I've recently become totally addicted to yoga and when I got the itch to draw a new girl this week, all I could think of was my instructor saying, "now reverse your warrior!" and here we are.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be sharing more illustrations and drawings, great recipes and restaurants, my growing love for photography (ahem, very NEW love for photography, you've been warned) and bits of my life here in Chicago. Happy to be here!

-ll

Apologies for the underwhelming photo. I think I need to read up on food styling... 

When a few last minute things popped up and I couldn't make it to CBN's Oscar party at Nellcote, to say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. So I did what any rational girl would do with a night alone, a mile-long list of things to take care of, and plans to be out of town the whole week: I baked a cake.

And not just any cake, a flourless chocolate cake that I topped with almond butter frosting. I think I could start an entire cookbook of recipes entitled, "Recipe Alterations That Don't Require Me To Leave My Apartment", because I made some interesting substitutions in the name of laziness that somehow resulted in a really good end product. It was fudgy, dense, and not too sweet (until I covered the whole thing with a sugary almond butter frosting.)

This was very loosely adapted from Nigella Lawson's chocolate olive oil cake.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Oil

• 1 3/4 C + 2 Tb cocoa powder


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 C coffee, cooled


• 3 eggs


• 2/3 cup coconut oil, melted


• 1 C white sugar


• 1 1/2 Tb vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and prepare an 8x8" pan by lining it with parchment paper. If you don't usually use parchment paper, tear a piece big enough so that it hangs over the edges of the pan a bit so that you'll be able to lift the cake out by pulling up the edges of the paper later. Parchment paper makes baking infinitely easier both in terms of cleanup and in the dreaded step of removing baked goods from the pan!


2. Sift together your salt, baking soda and cocoa powder, then set it aside.


3. In a new bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut oil and vanilla, then add your sugar and mix until its smooth, creamy and custardy.


4. Now pour the coffee into the egg and sugar mixture, and stir until its completely combined.


5. Next, slowly add the cocoa powder into the wet ingredients, stirring it in bit by bit. Take your time or it'll get clumpy and harder smooth out!


6. Once it's all mixed together and very smooth (it'll be really liquid-y!), pour the batter into your pan. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until you can stick a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.


7. Lift the cake out of the pan by the parchment paper and set it aside to cool. Once it's cooled for about 20 minutes (be patient!), you're ready to frost! You could eat it plain, but what's the fun in that?

For my frosting, I combined 1/2 cup of almond butter with 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil, 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of salt. Powdered sugar would have resulted in a smoother frosting, similar to a buttercream, but I didn't have it and didn't mind the grainier texture... it reminded me a bit of Reeses filling!

Off to put my sugar high to good use and finish up my work.

This isn't really so much of a recipe as "put them in the oven" isn't exactly a novel concept. But I thought it might be worth sharing, anyway, since sometimes something so simple as putting them in the oven makes the painfully ordinary surprisingly good.

With the particularly evil combo of negative windchills and post-vacation food guilt, cold salads are not exactly cutting it when I literally dreamed of macaroni and cheese last night. I can't roast cheese for you (OR CAN I?), but I can improve on the cold salad business.

Roasted Tomatoes

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.


• Cut your tomatoes into evenly-sized pieces and place on a foil covered pan for easy clean-up.


• Sprinkle to taste with salt, pepper, sugar, and seasoning. On 5 tomatoes, I used about 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp pepper, and one Tb of sugar. Skip anything else, but don't skip the sugar -- it's what'll make your tomatoes caramelize a bit!


• Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with any other seasonings you like - I used a bit of oregano.


• Roast for 30 minutes. If you'd like them a bit extra crunchy and black on top, pop them in the broiler for 2 minutes at the end for charred edges.


• Serve with other roasted vegetables, on top of your salad to warm it up, or as a side dish.