Hi everyone, meet Ashley! 

 

Ashley is one of my good friends from work and a pretty talented baker. She previously attended pastry school and still bakes on the side. I wanted to share about her so I asked her to whip together a Fourth of July themed dessert, especially since she loves the holiday just as much as I do.

Q&A with Ash
What's your favorite thing to bake? I knew you would ask that! Everyone does. I love to make wedding cakes but the chocolate station at pastry school was awesome. I would be covered in chocolate in minutes... Good thing I had four aprons.

Why did you decide to go to pastry school? Because I can't stand lecture classes. I fall asleep in them. I actually did have to take a few... And I fell asleep.
Did you bake before school? I liked cooking a little before and I was going to go to cooking school (if I remember correctly). But I liked how the decorating part of baking is more artsy. We learned to make flowers and did air brushing in school.
What's your favorite thing about the Fourth of July?
Definitely the fireworks! Also back home on Vashon Island the morning of the Fourth you wake up early and go see locals who own hydroplanes race around the island. It's really loud and fun and most people are hungover from the night before. I mean, not me of course.

Every good night of baking starts with a glass of wine, right? And I was totally amazed by her kitchen gadgets. I mean, look at this measuring cup!

She put together a Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle. This trifle used 4 different layers: lady fingers, a raspberry mix, homemade whipped cream made with mascarpone cheese, and blueberries.

 

Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle adapted from here. 
1.5 pounds of raspberries
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
10 oz mascarpone cheese
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
salt
20-24 ladyfingers
3/4 lb blueberries

• Mix raspberries, 1/4 c sugar, and orange juice. Mash berries with a fork to let juices release. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.
• Mix together mascarpone and 1/2 c sugar until smooth. Whisk in cream, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.
• Cut one or two pieces of parchment paper or foil 1 inch taller than the side of a springform pan and layer the inside of the pan.
• Create a layer of ladyfingers at the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Cover with a layer of raspberry mixture. Spread a layer of whipped cream over raspberries. *Here you can use a 8-inch pan and repeat so you have two layers of each if you want your trifle to be thicker.
• Top with blueberries and refrigerate until whipped cream is stiffened and cookies have softened, about 3 hours.

Oh, and I almost forgot her trusty sidekick... Dierks! He's very good at eating raspberries that fall on the floor.

XO Jordie

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I've seen plenty of these "What's in our bag" posts, so Jordie and I decided to share what we keep hidden in our purses. There was no preperation, so keep in mind there are some random things in each of our bags!

Here's mine:

From left to right: Yellow Legal pad, LifeSaver, keys, wallet, 4 (!) chapsticks, coffee punch card, EpiPen, inhaler, Fremont Fair coaster, Klean Kanteen and my work badge. 

Here's Jordie's:

From left to right: Wallet, inhaler (matching Maddy's!), pen, perfume, planner, mascara, chapstick, Burt's Bees Grapefruit wipes (I love), more perfume, Frank's RedHot packets, reusable bag, bobby pin, pocket mirror, sunglasses, soy sauce packets, hot mustard packet.

I hope you have enjoyed this creepy look into our bags. We will continue to carry weird things around (cough cough coasters and hot packets) until we're old - we swear on it. 

-Maddy

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On Memorial Day I hopped on a ferry with one of my roommates for a day trip to Bainbridge Island. We had some coffee, explored by the water, walked around town, grabbed lunch at an old-fashioned diner, and finished it all off with some delicious ice cream from Mora Iced Creamery. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.

I was one happy girl. 

Have a lovely day! Xo, J

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Today is an important day here at Pacific Pair as it is the day that Maddy entered this earth.

Happy Birthday, Maddy!

Before she had to head to work today Maddy and I celebrated with a birthday brunch at one of my personal favorite spots, Linda's Tavern. They have a great brunch menu which includes a pitcher of mimosas, which we definitely ordered.

I have been so lucky as to call Maddy one of my best friends for the past five years, as well as my roommate for three of them and now my partner on this blog! Maddy, I hope you have the wonderful birthday you deserve. I can't wait to spend this year with you and celebrate all the birthdays to come!

And I'll just leave this birthday selfie here for your amusement.

Xox, J

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Ranch is one of my biggest weaknesses. I almost always order a side of it when out at restaurants. When I stumbled upon a recipe titled "Healthy alternative to ranch" I wasn't really buying it, but I was intrigued. My curiosity brought me across a recipe for delicious creamy avocado dressing. This definitely will not be replacing ranch in my life (I doubt anything ever will) but it has been added to my list of repeat recipes.

Recipe adapted from here. Big surprise- I didn't follow the instructions very closely. I left out the sugar and jalapeño (it just sounded less appealing that way to me). I also used greek yogurt and less milk so my dressing came out thicker than the original.

My version-


Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of lime juice
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1/2 avocado
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs olive oil
1 c plain greek yogurt


Blend together all ingredients using an electric mixer. Then, use anyway you want!

Dressing for a breakfast power salad. Made with kale, grains, garbanzo beans, grilled onions, and a fried egg.

In place of mayonnaise for a chicken salad lettuce wrap.

Happy cooking! J

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Phew, this is quite an overdue post. But - a couple of weeks ago Jordie and I skipped out on Seattle-town and drove down to Portland for the weekend.

Portland is one of my favorite places, and it also is home (for a bit longer) to our good friends Nick and Candace. I have some film at the beginning of a roll, just waiting to be developed, but we were able to snag some pretty fun iPhone pictures while we were there.

We got there pretty late on Friday, but on Saturday we took the Max train into town and went to multiple street markets (!!!) ate a LOT and explored around.

On Sunday we got some tasty bagels some morning margaritas and I got my thigh all tatted-up. Honestly, I love Portland. It always feels like home - Jordie and I kept finding ourselves asking "can we just stay here?" throughout the trip. Well, maybe, someday we will. 

-Maddy

All I can say is I agree with Maddy in every way - PDX is wonderful. Here are some more snaps of our weekend.

Also, if any of you were wondering what Maddy and I are like in real life the answer is goofs. Here's a gif made with some photos Nick took of us to prove it.

xx, J

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Everybody that crafts loves palettes, right? Right! I think they come in second only to mason jars. Last year my wonderful brother helped me track down some palettes and haul them to my apartment. After a run around to a few different grocery stores we had snagged four palettes that fit well under my bed. Here is what it looked like then:

While I did like the set up when I moved to a new apartment in March I wanted to switch things up. I did some Pinterest hunting for ideas and settled on a make-shift shelf/desk project. Since I had them lying around already I decided to buy some paint to class them up a bit.

The whole project cost me about $40- and I have leftover paint.

 These bricks were $0.49 each. You could buy less or more depending on how high you want your shelves to be or how much space you want between each shelf.

Add all of your knick knacks and voila!

It fits my books, record player, records, make up bag, and some movies. Sometimes living in an apartment is frustrating since you can only customize so much but I am loving the way it makes my room feel organized and really mine.

Xox, J

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