Sunday Southern Days

I love a bargain; no secret there. I also have recently enjoyed decorating our house a bit, but I just can't bring myself to pay upwards of $50 each for throw pillows. In my efforts to convert our red throw pillows to a blue color scheme, I decided to break out my Singer (thanks Elizabeth) and sew some new covers onto the existing forms. Going for a mix-and-match look, I decided on a navy blue cavas with a thick ivory rope trim, light blue and white 1" stripes with a thin navy blue rope trim, and navy blue colonial toile with no trim. Here's at look at the 'after'.

We were thrilled to recently welcome my sister, Elizabeth, and her husband, David's, first child into the world! In January, I went to Virginia for her baby shower, and so many wonderful friends and family came to help prepare for Little Miss Miller's arrival. While the shower was beautiful (thank you to all of the hostesses!), Elizabeth really wanted a diaper cake. Mom (our yiayia-to-be) created a beautiful one, complete with pacifiers, socks, lotions, shampoo, a teething ring, bibs, and an adorable stuffed pink elephant to complete the shower theme. When I head back to Virginia for visits, I always get a little nostalgic for the ocean. I just had to share this fabulous view, as seen from Elizabeth's Baby Shower.

Souffle. That word had always frightened me. From the days of cartoons depicting a majestic souffle falling at the cry of a baby or slam of a door, I feared that hours of hard work would result in nothing more than a popped balloon of a dessert. Valentine's Day this year brought a renewed kitchen spirit and culinary bravery to wow my husband with Julia Child's favorite dessert creation and the first in her MAFC's Volume I section on Souffles -- the Vanilla Souffle. She writes this recipe as the base for more elaborate and flavored souffles, so I decided to start small and basic. This is where I always recommend you read the entire recipe before starting it. I decided to make the souffle the day before, as Valentine's Day fell on a Monday this year. Big mistake. Within two hours of taking the souffle out of the oven on Sunday afternoon, it was less than half of it's size upon removal from the oven. Here is a photo of the souffle at it's height of perfection (

On February 9, 2011 at 7:03 p.m., my baby sister and her husband welcomed their first child, Zoe Catherine Miller, into the world, one month early and absolutely beautiful. She arrived in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces, and 18.5 inches. Elizabeth, David, and Zoe are doing well and all are finally home. Little Zoe was in and our of Children's Hospital of the King's Dauthers in Norfolk for her first 10 days due to elevated Bilirubin levels, leaving her with some time to bake under lights to help with these levels. She's now home and perfectly healthy! Here are some photos of her first days with us!

So recently I've been trying to enjoy my cookbook collection more -- while I laud myself a decent cook, these folks are much better chefs than I, so why not heed their words and experiences? First up, Giada De Laurentis' Everyday Italian cookbook, bosting 125 "simple and delicious recipes". For Sunday dinner, I decided on a homemade Braciola and an easy Torta di Pasta. Here we go! Braciola What is a braciola, you ask? No it's not fancy broccoli (that's broccolini, for those keeping score at home). It's when a large, flat piece of meat is rolled and baked. The process makes this very rich, flavorful, and tasty! This is not a quick, weeknight dinner -- with prep time and braise time, you need at least 3 hours to prepare. Here is Giada's recipe. Afer the recipe, see my notes for variations if you need to substitute any ingredients. 2/3 c grated Pecorino Romano cheese 1/3 c grated Provolone cheese 1/2 c dried Italian-style bread crumbs 2 T chopped f