Herm's Inn

While visiting with my mother on Saturday, we popped into this adorable "new" restaurant in Logan, called Herm's Inn. It used to be an old service station on the edge of town, right before you would drive into Logan canyon (or come out of it). Apparently, the building had been sitting vacant and dormant for 70 years before somebody decided to purchase it and turn it into a cute little breakfast/brunch place!

 I just loved all the architecture and design. Everything had nods to the old history of the place. Lots of metal and wood. The fixtures were even industrial with vintage style light bulbs.

 They took great care to preserve as much original features as possible, including these window panes. Don't you just love the look of the wood against those chandeliers?

 Thank you Frankie. He serenaded me from above the fireplace.

 The entire menu made me salivate. It was really difficult to decide what to order (seriously, I took like 10 minutes). I eventually decided on the "Aggie" omelette. Loved the nod to USU and Aggie country. Also, seeing as we had just beat the U the night before!

On to the omelette. It was filled with bleu cheese, bacon, tomatoes, and spinach (which I requested they add). Loved the pungency of the bleu cheese alongside the other ingredients. Nice side of home fries and a pancake that had a bit of lemon flavor to it. Paired with the in-house made syrup, the pancake blew me away and I have now vowed to try citrus in my pancake batter!

What a cute little place. I love it when people take old landmarks and resurrect them to something special as a way of remembering their greatness and history. It was a fun little place to have breakfast and I'm certainly going back in the future. There is a giant cream cheese frosted cinnamon roll and a big bowl of homemade jalapeno bacon macaroni and cheese waiting for me!

The Hunt

 Picture via The2Seasons

Hi friends! I'm still struggling with things to blog about lately because, well, Michael and I have officially become boring. Or at least that's how it feels sometimes.

We're still in our house hunt and frankly, it's hard. Michael doesn't seem to be as affected by the long search as I am. I think part of it is the difference of being a woman and wanting your own "space" to clean and take care of. Call it a bit of maternal instinct. It's not that I'm not grateful to Michael's parents for letting us live with them for free while we search (because I really am SO grateful), I'm seriously starting to get cabin fever and to feel cramped. I don't know how people share homes for years because this is getting difficult after only 3 months. Do I ever have some respect for those two+ family homes out there.

Michael and I were talking the other day in the grocery store about how much we miss just grocery shopping on Saturdays. This particular shopping trip was while we were in Logan for a camping trip. Michael said that he used to love our Saturday shopping trip to the grocery store, walking down the aisles, searching for good prices, scoring at the day old bakery section, etc. It seems like something so simple and insignificant, but he's right. I miss it too. It was time to just be us and to have a bit of independence. Michael's parents are gracious enough to buy groceries while we live here, but who knew that we'd miss that one small thing as much as we do?

Another thing that I think makes this more difficult for me is that Michael is busy at work during the day and I'm still working on getting my jobs really off the ground. Everything is set up with the Music Studio, but student requests haven't really flown in yet. I only have one voice student right now and I hope that more will come as the new school year begins. And with music therapy, I'm all ready to go and so is my supervisor, but others seem to be dragging their feet so I haven't actually started practicing music therapy with patients yet. (On the other hand, I am officially Rebecca Black, MT-BC. I passed my board certification exam! That's pretty sweet if you ask me.)

As Michael and I were taking Milo (the Black family dog) for a walk the other night, we were talking about how our expectations have changed over these past few months. Michael admitted that he really thought we would be in or almost in a house by now.  We've had a few close calls but the houses just didn't feel right and that has been hard emotionally. It's also frustrating how the market has turned from buyer's to a seller's market. Houses don't pop on the market as frequently as they did even 3-4 months ago. Some friends of ours bought their first house a year ago and that was when 50 new houses would list every day. They looked at at least 100 homes. Over our search, we've probably only walked through about 35-40 homes. I think since the interest rates are so low right now, that many people are refinancing instead of listing their homes and buying a different one.

We're starting to feel like we just want to find a home without a few things we really felt like we needed at the beginning of our home search, just to be in a home. Instead of hoping to be in it for about 5 years, we're thinking maybe 2-3 years. No matter what we buy right now, the home will appreciate in value just for the fact that market will rise in the future. So that's positive.

Sorry if I sound all pouty, whiny, and just plain depressing. This is what we're dealing with in the Black family. I felt like it would be good to write it down and maybe get some perspective from my sweet friends. Anything would be appreciated!

DIY: Jersey Knit Bracelets

Aren't these just the cutest and funkiest bracelets you've ever seen? My sisters-in-law and I got together last night and made these jersey knit bracelets, courtesy of a Pinterest find. They're made with a simple finger-weaving method. (I totally did this kind of thing with yarn when I was younger...did anybody else do this too?) 

 As you can see, you get different widths based upon the amount of fingers you decide to use. I really love how they came out. If you want to make some yourself, just check out V and Co. She has good visuals and even a video tutorial. It's really easy and fast to do. I'm thinking I'm going to make more of these for stocking stuffers/girlfriend gifts this Christmas!

 You can see how the weave turns out to be like a "box braid" all around. Word to the wise, you'll need only one strip of 58" fabric to make a bracelet with 2 fingers. Two strips for 3 fingers. And if you have small wrists like I do, still only 2 strips for 4 fingers.

Once you make one, you'll get the hang of it and develop a feel for how much fabric you truly need to make each bracelet. I really like the look and feel of the 2 finger bracelet myself. It's not too chunky, but just right!

 And if you're feeling funky, why not weave two strips together at the same time? I kinda like how they came out (bracelet on bottom was made with only one color, as you can see). And those grey and navy fabrics were a different kind of jersey knit, so they feel a bit more "rustic" as I like to call it.

I hope you feel inspired to make these super cute and simple bracelets. I'm already wearing one today and love it!

Patriotism and the American Dream

Made this yummy patriotic trifle on the 4th of July and I forgot to blog about! It's too pretty to not share with all of you, so I thought I'd at least put a couple pictures on here and give everyone an update on life and things that have been happening in the Black household as of late. 

The trifle itself is just a vamped up version of my classic Strawberry Creme Trifle. Add a few blueberries and it's pure patriotism in a bowl! And take my word for it, this recipe is foolproof and is the best trifle you will ever eat (and you will say that every. single. time. you take a bite). If you don't have a trifle bowl, just serve the cake in slices and top with the fruit and whipped cream. Doesn't get much simpler than that!

On to life...

Michael and I are still in our house search and at times it is disappointing, exhausting, and grueling. We've been searching for only 2 months now, so I have to keep reminding myself of that fact when I have frustrating days that try my patience. We've found a couple homes that we have liked and placed offers on, but things just have not worked out or we've felt like they weren't the right places for us when it all came down to details. 

We're struggling finding cute homes with character, when really the type of homes we would LOVE to live in don't really exist out here in Utah. We have always said that someday we think we might move back out East as neither of us were raised here in the West and we just love the green, larger lots, trees, and home styles out there (think Colonial, Victorian).

I actually did something torturous to myself the other day and looked up homes for sale in North Carolina (just for fun, HA) and found hundreds that we would be happy to live in, with price ranges and lots that made us drool. Ah, c'est la vie! Not meant to be right now, but maybe someday! As for now, we're still on the search and have really narrowed down where we would like to live, so it's a waiting game to see what comes on the market every day. Hopefully August will be a promising month!

 

Among other updates...something related to the American dream...I finally have jobs! And yes, I did say jobs as in plural. I have joined The Music Studio in West Jordan and will be teaching private voice lessons there one afternoon a week. The great thing is that they will do all the advertising and recruiting and basically I do what I do best (teach) and let them send students my way.

And as for the second job...I will be contracting with a local hospice company here in Utah to provide music therapy services! This employment I am super stoked about because I basically created it out of thin air. I actually was never sure I'd be able to make this happen here in Utah, where music therapy can be so behind compared to the rest of the country. But, I got in there, did some proposal pitching, talked to all the right people, and they were convinced to add music therapy as one of their provided services to patients!

I'm not going to name the company yet, as I haven't officially signed paperwork, but let's just say that they are one of the most forward thinking hospices I have ever encountered. It took some searching to find the right place, and I do believe, that after a short period of time, they will truly see the benefit in music therapy and will seek to expand its availability to patients they serve. Everyone I have spoken to has been so excited to have me be a part of the company and have put their hearts (and money) behind it!

So YAY for music therapy being awesome and for people who believe in it and what it can do for hospice patients. I feel like I have found the place where I can truly grow as a music therapist and do what I love the most, which is sharing and using music to enrich the lives of others! Life is good.

Afternoon Jeep Ride

Well, the day that Michael has been waiting for finally came to pass a few weekends ago. Don't judge me for how long it has taken to complete this post. All I can say is...I'm a slacker. Anyway, the famous Black family "Red Jeep" is now in working order and Michael and I were able to take it for a nice ride up Butterfield Canyon the other weekend. 

The jeep did a great job for her first real ride in many years. Michael's dad drove this 1952 Willy Z Jeep when he was in high school. He and Michael have been working on restoring it for about a year now and after all the setbacks (losing parts, things breaking, having to take the engine out completely, etc.) it works!

Notice my excitement!

 What a proud stance by that handsome hubby of mine. We stopped to take a little break halfway up the canyon and walked around a bit.  People kept driving by in their newer jeeps and SUVs and stopped to compliment us on our "original" jeep.

 And what should appear but a happy little deer in the clearing not 20 feet from our jeep. It stopped to look at us, then scampered off up the mountain. From the way he was staring at us, you could tell he was thinking, "Who are you and what are you doing in my crib?"

As you can see, the top of Butterfield Canyon looks out over the Kennecott Copper Mine. I'd never seen it before and it is definitely HUGE like everyone describes. You can't see it in this picture, but they do have enormous sized trucks (like, their tires are 10 times as tall as a regular truck) that carry everything up the roads in there. We also had a nice lookout to all of Salt Lake Valley and had fun locating the temples while eating a simple sandwich lunch that I packed.

Also, when we got to the top, many different people came over to check out the jeep. They had lots of questions, which luckily, Michael could answer. You should see his face when he talks about all the work he put into it. He is so proud! I told Michael's dad that he's pretty much going to have to will the jeep to Michael someday after all the time, labor, and love Michael put into it alongside his dad. ;)

Homemade Cake Mix Oreos

This recipe was a LONG time coming. For years I have eaten yummy homemade oreos and have made many plans to bake them myself, but somehow life and other desserts got in the way.  So, I finally dug my heels in the other day and decided to do it. And I did not regret a single second of it. The recipe was super easy as it was made from a cake mix (loving cake mix cookies so much lately) and in a very short amount of time, I had some homemade scrumptious oreos in my hands. And my belly!

 This was my "trying to be artistic" photo. You can definitely see how moist those cookies are. Makes me salivate all over again. These things were gone in a matter of minutes. I think my in-laws both love and hate the fact that Michael and I are living with them because I bake such irresistible desserts. But it's time like these that I need a little something special to celebrate changes that are happening in our life right now.

Just this week, we found a couple "good potential" homes and I discovered a great possibility for work. I can't give many details about either, as we are waiting until things are more set in stone to let people in on the good news. But things are exciting and looking up, that's for sure! So, I say...make yourself some homemade oreos today to celebrate something special and exciting. Share them with your loved ones or friends and enjoy the beautiful day!

Homemade Cake Mix Oreos
(adapted from Mommy's Kitchen)

Cookie Ingredients:
1 package devil's food cake mix 

2 large eggs 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Add oil and eggs to cake mix and blend together. With a small cookie scoop, scoop dough onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. 
2. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet (until warm). While cookies are still warm, use the bottom of a drinking glass and press on cookies until they have flattened. 
3. When cookies have cooled, remove from baking sheet and place on wire cooling rack.

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients:
1 stick butter
8 oz. package cream cheese
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Cream butter and cream cheese together. Mix vanilla extract into butter and cream cheese mixture. 
2. Add powdered sugar. Mix slowly until you reach your desired consistency.

To assemble cookies:

1. In a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip (or a plastic sandwich bag), pipe about a tablespoon of filling into the center of one cookie.
2. Place another cookie similar in size on top of the filling. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with icing.

Swirly Chocolate Fluffernutter Cake Bars

 Well, I'm trying to get back into the food blogging world again. And what a perfect recipe to get started! I made these yummy cake bars the other day and they were a cinch. You should already have all the ingredients in your pantry, which makes for a very easy snack during the week as an afterschool lunch, or to take to a bake sale. 

 I'm a huge fan of cake bars, as you don't have to put a lot of effort to make a really scrumptious cookie. And I love those swirled chocolate chips. Aren't they just pretty?

 You can see all the gooey-ness in these blondie style cake bars. Nothing but moist and sweet texture happening here.

 So, when I made these bars the other day, I popped them right in the freezer from the oven, to expedite the solidifying process. I think these are really good when they are gooey and warm, but I actually like them better when they've had time to cool and the flavors can meld as a result. Plus, they are REALLY rich if you eat them when warm. Either way, be ready with a little glass of milk, and you're good to go!

Swirly Chocolate Fluffernutter Cake Bars

(adapted from Picky Palate)

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup marshmallow creme
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz.  bag swirled chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. 
2. Place cake mix, egg, and butter into a large bowl. Mix with spoon (or hands) until well combined (will be the consistency of thick cookie dough). Press dough into prepared baking pan.
3. Place peanut butter, marshmallow creme and condensed milk into a large bowl and mix until well combined. Pour over crust then top with white chips. Bake for 23-25 minutes, until cooked through. Center will seem somewhat jiggly, but will set up while cools.
4. Let cool completely, cut into squares and serve.