Category Archives: other obsessions

Raspberry Bars & Downton Abbey Ramblings

Posted in obsessions, other obsessions, sweets, things we like to eat by

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For all of you who somehow don’t know….Downton Abbey Season 4 premieres TOMORROW!!! Watch this for me real quick-

Is it just me, or isn’t that the most mysterious, non-helpful trailer ever? Talk about vague.

Anyway,  we were invited to a Downton Abbey premiere watching party – yay! We signed up to bring dessert and these raspberry bars seemed perfect to share on this momentous occasion. These. Are. Delicious. We’ve tried a lot of similar recipes (see Fresh Strawberry Oatmeal Bars) but for some reason these stand out as our favorite. There is a perfect amount of crumb topping and they are overall amazing.

I’m not sure if we’ve talked about it before on the blog, but we store all of our recipe clippings in large three-ring binders. When we try a new recipe, we decide if it’s a “keeper” or not, a.k.a. whether it has earned a permanent spot in a binder. This raspberry bar recipe is definitely a “keeper”.

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Raspberry Bars

2 sticks butter, softened
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup old fashioned oats, or rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup raspberry preserves, I used seedless
Sliced almonds, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. I just used the excess butter leftover on the butter wrapping, and smeared it around.

Add the flour, both sugars, oats and salt to a bowl in your stand mixer. Add in the butter and egg and beat at low speed. Stop the machine and scrape the bowl down a couple of times. Keep processing until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Keep 2 cups crumb mixture aside.

Press the remaining crumb mixture on the bottom the prepared pan. Spread the Raspberry Preserves over the top of the crust. Crumble the rest of the oat mixture over the preserves and then I sprinkled approximately 1/4 cup of sliced almonds over the top of that. I loved the addition of the almonds. They gave the bars a yummy extra texture and looked really pretty.

Bake until lightly browned, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Cindy & Jordan

Fashion Friday- Music Edition

Posted in Fashion Friday, obsessions, other obsessions, the important stuff by

Music is my escape. My mom will tell you that my iPod, or some form of music (whether it’s Spotify, Pandora or YouTube) is almost constantly playing in my room.  I have a very eclectic taste in music- so it’s not unusual for me to listen to folk, country, pop and dubstep all in the same week. Normally though, I tend to gravitate more towards sort of folk-ish, mellow music. Artists like Andrew Duhon, Ray LaMontagne, Amos Lee, Norah Jones, Joshua Radin, Jack Johnson and Corinne Bailey Rae are some of my staples.

It’s actually surprising to me that I haven’t talked about music at all on our blog, considering how much I love it. I know that technically it’s not fashion-related, but it’s definitely an obsession, so here’s this week’s music themed Fashion Friday.

Here are some songs/CD’s/artists that I’ve been absolutely loving recently.

I Am by Crowder

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I just heard this song for the first time the other night and I love it. David Crowder’s voice is amazing. How He Loves, another one of his songs, is one of my all-time favorites. On an unrelated note- isn’t the cover of this album so cool?

Andrew Duhon

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This guy’s voice is incredible. I love his song Shelter You Through. I can only find live versions of him on YouTube, but I think that he’s one of those few people who actually sound better live. When my mom listened to one of his songs the other day, she said he reminded her a bit of Van Morrison, one of her favorite artists, which leads to my next featured song….

Brown-Eyed Girl by Van Morrison

It’s an oldie but a goodie.

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United

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One of my absolute favorite worship songs. Beautiful and so meaningful.

Play It Again by Luke Bryan

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I told you my taste in music was a little random.

Peace on Earth Christmas CD by Casting Crowns

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This is an amazing Christmas CD- I love the first song on the album, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

Jack Johnson

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Jack Johnson may be the artist that I’ve most consistently listened to for the longest period of time. I just never get tired of his music. Better Together, is of course, one of my favorites, but I also love Do You Remember, Adrift and Constellations.

 Dream a Little Dream of Me by Michael Buble

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Michael Buble’s style of music is so cool- very big band.

Black River by Amos Lee

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His music is so mellow and relaxing. Sweet Pea is another favorite of mine.

Jordan

Castle- “Always” an Obsession

Posted in obsessions, other obsessions by

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Castle is another one of our favorite shows- we were super excited about Season 6, which started about a month ago. Richard Castle, the “ruggedly handsome” mystery writer, and Detective Kate Beckett solve unusual NYPD murder cases with the help of Beckett’s co-workers, Detective Javier Esposito and Detective Kevin Ryan.

The show is more serious then Psych, but there are still a ton of really funny quotes…

  • Castle: Dude, they’re donuts. Either you’re in or you’re out.
  • Castle to Beckett: What I said was not confusing enough for your face to be doing what its doing.
  • Rick Castle: Actually, for a truly Castle-esque theory, it has to be fully thought through.  Kate Beckett: Since when?
  • Ryan: Catholic school is like combat. If you haven’t been there, then you don’t know.
    Esposito: I have been there…in combat.

Jordan

August Fitness Challenge

Posted in Fitness, obsessions, other obsessions by

I debated on where I should post my August fitness challenge; important stuff or obsessions? I think obsessions was the right category. I work out, a lot!

For the month of July, I started a squat and lunge challenge with a few of my boot camp buddies. The challenge was doing 50 squats or 50 lunges everyday in the month of July, alternating so you complete one set each day. It was great and sometimes quite difficult to complete after a really hard boot camp or barre workout. But I persevered and so did my buddies!

Well, August is here and so is the new challenge. This starts out slow, but doing a plank for 5 minutes, eek, I’m afraid! Anyone interested in joining too?

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You can check out other challenges at http://www.tribesports.com

Psych- It’s an Obsession

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Psych is one of our all-time favorite shows. They just finished their 7th season, so now we are in that horrible in-between seasons time that is filled with tears because we miss Psych so much. Of course, we can always watch reruns, which we often do, but nothing quite matches the thrill that comes from watching a brand new episode of Psych. This might sound overly dramatic to anyone reading this who is not a devoted watcher, but it’s true.

When we were in New York, we visited the CBS gift store, where they had a whole section devoted to Psych. My mom still says that  was one of the highlights of the whole trip. The pineapple slippers were tempting, but they ended up settling for a Psych mug, which was one of the only souvenirs that we bought.

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The show is about Shawn Spencer, a fake psychic who uses his “heightened observation skills” to solve crimes for the Santa Barbara Police Department. By far, my mom’s favorite character is Woody, the coroner. Any episode that does not include Woody for a sizable amount of time is considered a disappointment. I think the quote that originally endeared him to her was during an autopsy scene, when referring to a bombing victim, Woody said, “Cause of death: diabetes. I kid … he exploded.” She still giggles. every. single. time.

We’ve realized from experience that there is a Psych quote to fit almost any situation. For example…

Just been corrected and don’t want to admit that you’re wrong? “I’ve heard it both ways.”

Feel the need to build suspense? “Wait for iittttt!”

Racking your brain for a conversation starter? “Heard about Pluto? That’s messed up, right?”

Someone is skeptical of your cooking? “Are you a fan of delicious flavor?”

And the list goes on. And on. And on. I guess that’s what happens when you watch 109 episodes of anything.