August City Life 2020: Summer Table Setting + Gluten Free Home Cooked Meals + Hauls & Fitness

August was definitely uneventful, it rained every single day non stop most days. The rain just isn't the same here and that does make me miss my view from my old place. Its a little weird though because I still don't have blinds or shades because of Covid 19; So, I think the Summer rain may have been more enjoyable if I could have actually seen it. 

So, what I did do is just spend time caring for my plants and buying lots and lots of plants and clothes). I finally had a chance to work on getting my office straightened out thanks to Ikea. I was wondering how many of you would be interested in an updated office video?

I showed you all how I recycle candle jars around the house in my City Life New Homeowners post. This is my newest plant, a Pilea which is also called Baby Tears and its in a glass jar that was once a 3 wick candle. I learned something interesting... so, removing the wax is so easy, but I asked my husband to remove wax from two jars and he basically stabbed the wax and broke both jars. I couldn't believe it because I have removed wax from so many and this has never happened to me. So, its important to be very gentle.

So I do not have a good place to store my orchids since I moved and they have taken a real beating by the weather because it rains here every single day during the Summer. I bought this greenhouse to protect them from the elements plus whatever other benefits they will get from being in a greenhouse. Its probably going to be November before I can give you all a real update because all of these orchids are in pretty bad shape right now.

SUMMER TABLE SETTING

C/O ETTIKA

C/O ETTIKA

C/O ETTIKA

FITNESS: Fitness has been great this month! I have just been focusing on yoga and my body feels and looks great. I have to get back to my full workout in September, but taking a little break allowed me to put the strength and energy into yoga that I needed to create the mindfulness I needed to get through the hottest month of the Summer. I have some fitness photos to add, but they aren't ready yet, but I will update this post with them! Back in July is was hard for me to clear my head and complete my yoga workouts (July is always a hard month for me) and so I stopped doing "complete" yoga asanas. I basically would workout and go through the motions, but dealing with seasonal depression during a pandemic I just eventually couldn't focus and felt like it was pointless. 

The great thing about yoga is after so long my body is used to  it so I have this irrational fear I am going to stop one day and then have to start from scratch, but that is not the case. I have a pretty good body memory which is surprising, but in September it will be 6 or 7 years since I started yoga and I have done Pilates for 17 years. Its not well known or known at all, but most of my yoga practices are to music, any music as long as I can find a flow and a rhythm. I really wasn't allowed to dance growing up so I just in general don't feel comfortable doing it on my stories because I am also dancing. But, the only time I practice just straight forward yoga is when I need photos.

DATE NIGHTS:

BESITO MEXICAN (SOLO GIRLS DAY)

ELEVAGE EPICUREAN

GLUTEN FREE MEALS COOKED BY MYSELF- RECIPES AVAILABLE BY REQUEST IF NOT POSTED.

Cooking has been so fun this Summer thanks to my new kitchen. This month I made a lot of old favorites such as the Cobb salad. I have never made my Cobb salad with Ham Steak (even though we often have it) and I decided to make it and it really brought the flavor level up. A lot of the food that I will be showing over the next 6 months are actually on Tiktok because I am a Tiktok partner (This includes the Cobb salad recipe).

COBB SALAD

BLACKBERRY BRAMBLE

(Recipe is on Tiktok)

Bourbon glazed Salmon

This is not a dinner I actually ate...I ordered plain salmon and in an attempt to not loose money on the tip the delivery person switched out the salmon I asked for for this salmon, it was the same price, but it was glazed in a honey bourbon sauce which I had no way of knowing if it was gluten free. Instacart refunded me for the salmon and my husband offered to eat it because he has no food allergies that we know of. Since it was already soaking in a glaze I seasoned it lightly and he said it was really delicious. I served it with Rainbow chard, broccoli and Jasmine rice.

OKRA FRIES

CAST IRON LOADED NACHOS

Loaded cast iron nachos

GRILLED HOT WINGS

This is the same recipe I have shared before, the only difference is that we grilled the wings and then I coated them with the sauce like they do in the restaurants. I could tell the difference for example, the wings had more sauce on them vrs if I had applied the sauce and then baked them like I usually do.