Clam Chowder Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

3 (6.5 ounce) Cans Minced Clams
6 Strips Of Bacon
1 cup Minced Onion
1 cup Diced Celery
2 cups Cubed Potatoes
1 cup Water
½ cup Butter
¾ cup All-Purpose Flour
1 quart Half-And-Half Cream
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 ½ tsp Salt

DIRECTIONS:
In a large skillet brown bacon and put it aside leaving the grease in a skillet. Add  onions, celery and potatoes.
Drain juice from clams into skillet over the vegetables. Add water to cover, and cook over medium heat until tender.

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in cream and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Stir in vegetables and clam juice. Heat through, but do not boil.

Stir in clams just before serving. If they cook too much they get tough. When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

Melissa Gorga Inspired Makeup Look

I love Melissa Gorga's makeup, its always flawless and beautiful.
I found a video tutorial on YouTube posted by RachieB15 on how to create this look (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TURpGhGVor4)

I look nothing like Melissa, so the makeup looks different on me of course, but I still love it. So here is what I came up with.

Nail Art Designs

Homemade Farmer's Cheese/Домашний Творог

1 галон молока и 1 бутылку кефира перемешать прям в кастрюле (или банке) и оставить в комнатной температуре. На 2ой или 3ий день поставить на маленький огонь и довести до начала кипения (не кипятить!!!). Выключить и остудить до полного охлаждения. Положить марлю на сито, вылить содержимое из кастрюли. Завязать марлю и подвесить над кастрюлей, пока все не стечет.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

I made it for the first time. And I used oven instead of slow cooker. Came out really good and perfect for the summer afternoons. I made flip flops from pickles.

MAC Electric Cool Eyeshadows in Superwatt & Electroplate

This week MAC Cosmetics came out with a new collection called Electric Cool. It comes with 12 limited edition shades and a 252 Large Shader brush. I picked up these two colors last night to play around with them. The formula is completely new, its a powder eyeshadow, but its a springy/spongy formula.

Here is a swatches of the Superwatt and Electroplate.

My Top 10 Makeup Brushes

Here is a list of my favorite brushes:

1. MAC 182

2. MAC 181SE

3. Sigma F80

4. IB103

5. MAC 131

6. Essence of BEAUTY Eye Shadow

7. MAC 226

8. MAC 217 (Dupe Sigma E25)

9. MAC 212SE

10. MAC 219SE

Coastal Scents Haul

Whats for dinner?

We are having fish pie for dinner tonight. What about you?

Gel nails trial

I know I did not post anything for a very long time. So I decided to come back with a new thing. I am testing new gel nails which I did myself at home. The system that I got is made by Red Carpet Manicure (got it at Ulta). Since I dont have much time to do my nails now, I am looking for something long lasting. Today is a third day and so far so good. We will see how long it will last. I will keep you guys updated.
UPDATE: So I wore this manicure for 20 days!!! For me its a lot. I did a lot of cooking, washing dishes, cleaning and some gardening. Only like 3 nails needed to be fixed, all other still looked good. But they did grow out a lot, so I had to remove it. Overall I love it and will be doing it again tonight!

Day 1

Day 3

Day 4

Day 9

Day 15 (Right Hand)

Day 15 (Left Hand)

С Масленицей!!!

Back to Childhood!!!

I love these things!!!

Learning How to Coupon!!!

My trip to Target today was very successful. My total with tax was $5.03 for all these items! Suppose to be $2 less, cause one of the coupons did not work. Oh well, still not bad I think.

My Valentine!!!

My Valentine!!!

No nail polish look

My nails are so weak. Letting them to have a break from nail.polish. Just used stamp and Nail Tek Intensive Therapy.

Crab Meat Salad Recipe

1 lb  crab meat
6 hard boiled eggs
2-3 celery sticks
3 green onions
1 can of sweet corn
1 cup of cooked rice
Mayonnaise
Salt and pepper


Cook 1 cup of rice in 2 cups of water and let it cool. Chop eggs, crab meat and green onions. Shred celery sticks. In a large mixing bowl mix rice, eggs, crab meat, green onions, corn, celery with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

Tonight's Dinner

Today we had some baked salmon with asparagus and crab meat salad. Yummy!!!
Will be posting salad's recipe next.

Mushroom Soup

1 box of mushrooms (I prefer Shiitake mushrooms)
3-4 potatoes
1 carrot
1 onion
1 cup of barley
Olive oil
Bay leaves, salt and pepper

 In a large pot start to boil the water. Clean, peel and cut potatoes into cubs. Add them to the pot. Shred carrot and slice the onions, saute them together on the skillet with olive oil until browned. When potatoes will be almost ready add a cup of barley, sauteed carots and onions, sliced mushrooms, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Cook until barley and mushrooms are cooked (about 25-30 min). Add fresh dill or parsley if you like. Serve with sour cream.

Layla Magneffect Review and Swatches

Layla Magneffect 07 Metallic Sky

My friend Viktoriya recommended this nail polish to me. So I decided to give it a try and I purchased it on eBay. It gives nails really cool effect, almost like 3D design. You can wear it with one coat only, it looks almost just as good as two coats, you can see by the pictures. Its very easy to use, I think this nail polish is perfect when you don't have a lot of time on your nails, but still want to have something fun. All you have to do is apply the nail polish one nail at the time and place the magnet really close to the nail (without touching it) before the nail polish will dry and hold the magnet for 5 seconds.
It comes I believe in 12 different shades, but I got just one to try it out its called 07 Metallic Sky.

 Layla Magneffect 07 Metallic Sky

Layla Magneffect 07 Metallic Sky just one coat without magnet effect 

You have to place the magnet close to you nail to get the effect

Layla Magneffect 07 Metallic Sky one coat with magnet effect

Layla Magneffect 07 Metallic Sky two coats with magnet effect 

Potato Latkes

This recipe is per request from my friend Roxy. In Russia we call it "Draniki". I will post picture when I will be making them next time. Using same recipe, but using zucchini or squash instead of potatoes, you can make other vegetable pancakes. Here is a picture of squash pankaces that I've made before.

5 grated potatoes
1 grated onion
1 egg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
Olive oil for frying

 I like to grate my potatoes and onion in blender, its so much easier then using a standard grater. In a medium bowl stir the potatoes, onion, eggs, flour and salt together. Heat the olive oil in skillet until hot. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, they should look like small pancakes. Brown on one side, turn and brown on the other. Serve hot with sour cream.

Lets get it started

Hello everyone,
This is my first official post! I am very excited!
Today is very yucky outside, so I decided to make some comfy food. I made Potatoe and Beef Stew (in Russian we call it "Zharkoe").

1 lb beef 
2 onions
2 carrots
5 potatoes
Couple of bay leaves, olive oil, salt and pepper


Heat up some olive oil in dutch oven. Add beef cubes and cook it until browned on high. Cut onions, shred carrots and add to the meat. Add some salt, pepper, bay leaves and cook it until all the juices run out. Meanwhile peel and cut potatoes into cubes and add them to the meat. Add some water and cook it on low for about 30-40 minutes.