STL Post Dispatch

via STL TODAY photo by Roberto Rodriguez

If you follow THE PLACE HOME on Facebook then you already know that the STL Post Dispatch ran a feature on our home this past weekend. The article which roughly outlines our experience and approach to the design of our home also has 12 new images INCLUDING Jane's nursery and our first floor renovation! 

Thanks so much to the STL Post Dispatch! You can check out the online feature, images and (embarrassing) video here!

via STL TODAY photo by Roberto Rodriguez

Pepita Pesto

Whenever we are not traveling over the weekend, which is quite rare, we like to make a trip to our local farmer’s market. I must brag, this isn’t just any old farmer's market. It is held at Fort Mason Center in the Marina district which sits on the water and is graced with the presence of the Golden Gate bridge in the background. It is one of our most favorite Sunday morning activities.

This past week the fruits and vegetables were looking real good and, of course, I ended up buying way too much but how can you resist some of the freshest, most luscious, organic food around. After a week of trying to use everything that I purchased I was left with a bunch of basil. So what do I do when I have basil that is on the verge of going bad...I make pesto!!

Pesto is one of the easiest things to make, I mean you use one piece of equipment and we all know that I like anything that has minimal clean up!

I decided to have a little fun and I came up with my own pesto recipe. What resulted after some playing around was a lemony, earthy, thick pesto. I like thicker pestos because I usually add some of the pasta cooking water to it to add some starch but you can definitely add more olive oil or water during the blending process if you like it on the thinner side.

Many pesto recipes call for cheese usually parmesan. I chose to exclude cheese from my recipe to make it a bit healthier and I tend to add A TON of cheese to my pasta once plated so I make up for it later.

Classically, pesto uses pine nuts and after I had set my mind on making pesto I only then realized that I didn’t have any on hand. If you haven’t learned this already, you’ll soon realize that I don’t worry too much if I don’t have a particular called for ingredient. More often than not I have a substitutes in my kitchen, I just have to get a little creative.

So after surveying all of the nuts I had, I landed on pepitas. Pepitas aka pumpkin seeds (I just like the way pepitas sounds) are a wonderful source of protein and add something special to the pesto. I think the pepitas add to the thick, velvety texture and give it a nice nutty, earthy flavor. You can sub the traditional pine nuts, walnuts, or even almonds. Do whatever is easiest for you!

Have fun with the recipe. Make it your own, try adding cheese, red pepper flakes, whatever suits your tastebuds. My motto is it doesn’t have to be perfect but it does have to be homemade :) 

Peptia Pesto

• 2 cloves garlic
• Juice of a lemon
• 1/4 cup pepitas/raw unsalted pumpkins needs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 oz/3 cups packed packed basil
• 2.5 tablespoons olive oil

Blend all ingredients in your food processor until desired consistency is reached. 

via THE PLACE HOME

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repairing

Hey everyone! There is so much to catch up on! I am so behind on sharing the nursery and renovation projects that I promised and now we have another big project on the immediate horizon. I hesitate to even call this a project as I think repairing is a better term. A little over a week and a half ago, we got hit with a straight line wind storm which caused our neighbors giant old oak to fall on our house. I had just come downstairs with Jane - after another one of her seemingly preferred 30 minute naps - and was sitting on the couch playing with her. I had been in the dark nursery getting her to sleep for the previous hour or so and was unaware that it was even storming. Looking out the window, I remember noticing how crazy windy - like scary windy - it had gotten and before conscious thought could really enter my mind I heard a loud crash and I grabbed Jane and ran to the basement. Sitting on our basement steps, I could see out the dining room window that it looked like a tree had fallen on the west side of our house. I had no idea if it was a tornado or just a bad storm.

Shortly after the worst of it had passed, our neighbor called to check on us and informed me of what had happened.  Jeff made it home as fast as he could and I think was pretty shocked as he pulled up.  I had come up from the basement but did not want to leave Jane to survey the damage and with the power being out I quickly made plans for us to stay with friends. Jane and I departed and basically didn't return until three days later once power was back on and we knew it was safe to re-occupy the house.

I have to say it was one of the more terrifying experiences of my life and we all just feel so lucky that neither Jane nor I were hurt. As a new mom, I definitely felt a whole new sense to protect and to value what is most important. Jeff and I want to thank all the friends, family, contractors and neighbors who rallied around us to help out. We are both so grateful for all the support we received and just feel so blessed that the damage wasn't worse and that we are all safe. 

Below are pictures from the storm. We are currently gathering a bid to hand over to the insurance adjuster. We have never had a claim before and are really hoping we don't have an uphill battle ahead of us to get the funds needed. The majority of the damage is to the roof and attic space. There is a large wall crack in our master bedroom and then windows blown out in the office as well as the dining room and entrance. Other than that, we were very lucky that there was not more interior damage. On the exterior, there is the roof and supporting structure, gutters, stucco, trim and chimney to all be replaced/repaired. There are also numerous other smaller things like holes in our driveway that were created by the force of the tree falling. We have a good contractor lined up and the adjuster comes on Friday so we are hopeful that we can start work soon. In the meantime, we have cleared out of the office and our master bedroom and are staying in our guest bedroom. Now I am mostly worried about how to get our reluctant sleeper to nap with construction going on...

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