Quote of the day.

i will never know too many places, people or emotions. i am meant to be overwhelmed, and will choke on the excitement of travel.  [rakishi]

Recipe : Brussels Sprouts with Cider Glaze + Goat Cheese

There's a cute little after-work spot near my office in Santa Monica that serves a Brussels Sprouts dish that makes you go ga-ga.  **(EDIT: Freddy Smalls has done a facelift on their menu and no longer serves their Brussels the below way.  RIP, best Brussels ever.)**  I love Brussels as it is, so it's not hard to convince me to order them when we're out, but these - these are delectable.

We had a family dinner the weekend before Thanksgiving, and having charged myself with bringing some veggies, I was determined to recreate my fave version of the sprouts.  I pulled from one recipe and another and added a little bit of my own twist, and voila!

Here you have it:  Brussels Sprouts with Cider Glaze + Goat Cheese.

Ingredients:
For the base:
2 lbs Brussels Sprouts (I buy them pre-shaved at Trader Joe's, or you can slice them yourself)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
olive oil - amount to your discretion
1/2 c apple cider vinegar, plus 2 tbsp, divided use
1/2 c sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 log of goat cheese

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and spread brussels as evenly as possible on cookie sheet. Sprinkle brussels with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and Italian seasoning.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, stirring throughout, until some parts of the leaves are crisp.

In a separate sauce pan, add 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, sugar and brown sugar.  Whisk together.  Place the sauce over medium heat, and once it begins to simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.  Turn the heat off and whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.

Pour the Cider Glaze over the Brussels sprouts.  Serve goat cheese in a side bowl, but meant to be served alongside the sprouts.

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#single

Being single is still a taboo of sorts amongst a lot of crowds.  I think living in large metropolitan areas like LA + NY, we singletons are spared some of the questions that get thrown out there, but not all.  

I came across this Huffington Post article today titled "17 Reasons Men + Women Choose to Stay Single."  I enjoyed reading the answers, and thought you might too.  I personally resonated most with numbers 1, 6 + 10.

Click here to check it out.

xo,

Single in the City

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[photo.]

Get outta here, Monday.

Raise your hand if you wish you didn't have to go to work today.  (Both of my hands are in the air.)  After a second five day weekend in a row, I really was loving this whole life-of-leisure thing.  How about ya'll?

Trying to thing of a blog post for today, I just kept thinking about how I don't want to return to reality.  So I decided that I'd run with that, and we'd escape today....to Norway!

After I returned from my incredible 8 day trip to Paris and London last year, I've been trying to figure out where I wanted to explore next.  I've been to Italy, Greece, Germany, so those obvious ones were out.  I realized over time that I was repeatedly pinning images of Norway on my "travel fantasies" Pinterest board, so I'm thinking that may be a great next destination.

Have you been?  Have you ever thought of wanting to go?

Norway is wayyyy up there, north of mainland Europe + just to the west of Sweden.

First, a few basic Norway facts:
Official Name: Kingdom of Norway
Capital City: Oslo
Official Languages: Norwegian, Sami
Government: Unitary Monarchy (they have a King - Harald V!)
Currency: Norwegian krone
Population: 5.1 million

And now to let some pictures do the talking...

What do ya'll think?

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[photos.]