Wedge Obsessed

I don't think I've ever done a "fashion" post before - because, well, I'm not very interested in fashion. That said, I have a new love...its called the wedge. In the past few years I've been a bit of a wedge-ist, judging those harmless shoes far too severely and never even bothering to put them on my poor aching feet.

Oh, how naive.

Wedges. Are. Amazing.

As spring rolled in, the wedges rolled out; and I saw them in an entirely new light. They give the wonderful height of heels along with the comfort of slippers. That's right, I said slippers. I've been running around the house in these little doozies for weeks now.


The ones above are my newest pair which I haven't had the pleasure of wearing outside yet. They are from Sperry Topsider. As you can see, they are adorable and incredibly well made. I bought these as a reward for my tootsies after running the half-marathon in February.



These espadrilles are as authentic as they come, straight out of a tiny shop in Madrid. Simon's mom, sister, and I all bought a pair in varying colors. They were very reasonably priced, especially when I saw this pair at DSW at $70 for the same exact shoe (I paid 1/3 of that).

This style, also from Sperry Topsider, will hopefully be mine soon.

The only downside I've found is that none of my current pants are long enough to wear with wedges, which isn't surprising since I bought them to wear with flats. Either I need to buy some new pants...or I need to work on my patience and wait to show the world my shoes until it is skirt and dress weather...I think I'll manage.

Eggplant Parm

In a few weeks I will write a much longer post explaining why I've been absent from the blogging-world; I'll share some big changes (or lack thereof) happening in my life and where I intend to take things in the future. But for now, I am going to spend my evening relaxing and watching Burn Notice and River Monsters.

In the meantime...Eggplant Parmesan!


This recipe comes from Shape Magazine. It was super duper nom nom.

I altered the ingredients to the following list:

• 1 medium eggplant sliced into 1∕4-inch-thick rounds
• ¹/₂ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• ³/₄ cup panko
  
• freshly grated Parmesan
• ³/₄ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¹/₂ teaspoon dried basil
• ¹/₂ teaspoon dried oregano
• freshly ground black pepper
• ¹/₄ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray
• jarred marinara sauce
• shredded mozzarella

I had to get creative when it came to pressing the water out of the eggplant slices...



This was my first experience with eggwash and breading, and it including a coating of flour before everything else.


The mixture of freshly toasted panko crumbs, parmesan, pepper, oregeno, basil, and garlic powder had an amazing fragrance. Also, lining the baking sheet with tinfoil is a step I will never skip again. Easiest. Clean up. Ever.


Also, I didn't have a baking plan smaller than 9X13 so I used a 9" diameter skillet - worked like a charm.


These are going to go quickly : )