Things are coming together.

My parents came up to see me and help me put my apartment together this weekend. This means that I finally have the piece of furniture that this blog is named after.

Get used to seeing a lot of blue!


My dad, mom, and twin brothers came up here from Omaha on Saturday afternoon. I was extremely relieved to finally have furniture, but I was even happier to see all of them. They were all their usual selves, with my dad trying to figure out how to sneak onto the roof of my apartment, my mom attempting to get him back to moving things, and my brothers clomping around like the uncoordinated teenagers they've become. The visit was busy and too short though. We spent some time with my dad's brother and his family, and my mom and I attended my cousin's wedding shower. It was held at a bowling alley, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Almost broke 100! While we were having girls time my dad, brothers and uncle went to the state fair. From what they've told me it sounds pretty wild, so I think I'll be going next weekend.


This morning we all got together for breakfast at Hell's Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis. The food there is out of this world delicious and I just about polished off a whole jar of their peanut butter. I definitely recommend it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner if you're ever in the Twin Cities.


Furnishing an apartment wouldn't be complete without a trip to IKEA, so before my family had to hit the road my mom helped me pick out a rug and some other things. Now that my apartment is just about complete it feels more welcoming, but I do wish I had people to come over and share it with. In time I will.


After IKEA I accidentally took a four hour nap, so by the time I woke up I wasn't really feeling like cooking an extravagant meal.


However, I bought some fresh figs last night at Whole Foods and wanted to find a way to use them. The only form of figs I'd ever had up until recently came in fig newtons, and I had no idea what I was missing! I love the texture and they're very pretty.

I wanted the taste and texture of the figs to be the focus, so I prepared them in a really simple manner.


Honey Balsamic Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese


Ingredients:
6-8 small figs
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons of goat cheese


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl whisk together honey, balsamic, and orange zest. Pour into the bottom of a small, glass baking dish

Slice the figs in half and arrange them in the baking dish, the open halves facing down.


Leave in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove, rotate the figs, and stuff little half inch pieces of goat cheese into the center of the fig halves. Place in the oven for another 2-4 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.


I was super happy with how these turned out! Hope you are as well.

My frustrations with the quality of my photographs for this blog have me looking at prices of DSLR cameras. This could be bad news!