Bougie Girl Life

Red onions are a simple way to add extra pizazz to both salads and sandwiches.  I serve them lightly cooked in a Spanish olive oil for salads. It adds an extra flavor profile to the salad. For sandwiches, I use fresh slices of red onions to add both texture and a bit of spice. 

I want to take a few moments to shout out the low cost miracle that is Black Satin paint.  Earlier this year, I needed to upgrade a few pieces of furniture in my house and also save for a newer car. I hit up a nearby thrift store for inexpensive furniture and then went to the local Walmart for Black Satin paint. Black Satin paint gives off a patina of freshness without being too glossy. It gives even the most inexpensive particle board furniture a finished look of sophistication. This year, I used Black Satin paint on my laptop desk, piano bench, and a small dresser for the guest room. 

  July  August       Summer is slowly slipping away from us all. Fortunately, the Farmer's Markets are still in full swing. Left to my own devices, I would purchase hundreds of dollars worth of produce, flowers, and crafts.   I have placed myself on a strict budget of ten dollars a visit which is a meager pittance compared to what I regularly spend at a brick and mortar grocery store.  A couple of weeks ago, my ten dollar budget yields me a bouquet of flowers for five dollars,  a small container of tomatoes for a  $1.50,  a couple of cucumbers for 50 cents a piece, and  a bag of rainbow chard for three dollars.  Last month, I procured a bouquet of flowers for five dollars, green peppers for 75 cents each, and a bushel of fennel for two dollars.   Both of the bouquets lasted almost two weeks and the veggies became part of a cold tomato soup which I enjoyed with garlic breadsticks. 

I have built my living room around a color palette of white, black, grey, and red In the beginning, I limited  the red aspects of the living room to throw pillows and place mats.  Until a month or so ago, when I longed for more red splashes of red in the living room. Instead of scrapping the grey and white curtains for more colorful ones, I opted to add red panels to each side. The addition of the red curtains made the room pop and inspired me to go towards a more elegant aesthetic.

Not too long ago, I purchased a crepe pan...and it has changed my entire breakfast game. It is very shallow non-stick pan which guarantees that the omelette and/or crepe will not get too thick. The thin texture also makes it easier to serve more evenly cut pieces to breakfast guests.

 For this particular BLT outing, I brushed garlic oil with basil, thyme, and rosemary atop the olive bread to keep things interesting.  I opted for the pricier manchego cheese instead of Swiss and/or provolone. The sweetness of  manchego cheese goes well with the rich taste of the olive bread. Thereby giving it a hearty yet exotic flavor.  Sauteed baby bella mushrooms, grape tomatoes, green onions,  bacon, and red onions round out the sandwich ingredients.   I chose to bake this sandwich on a baking sheet with a rack for the ultimate crunchy texture. As for the lettuce aspect of this sandwich, I made the conscious choice to use it as a bed of sorts and throw the extra sauteed veggies on top. Sliced up onions rings from my grocer's freezer are served on the side. (Slicing the onion rings before the baking procee brought out more of their flavor versus serving them whole. )  

I snapped this photo of the primary bedroom of my townhouse rental back in April 2019. I was in the process of moving from a pricey suburb to a more affordable one.  Who knew that less than 2 years later, I would be putting an offer on a townhouse? I still have this comforter though, soon I will have to replace it with one more fitting to the more vibrant color scheme of my current primary bedroom.