Author Archives: Liz

Sunday Supper Series- Broiled Tilapia Parmesan and Green Beans

Posted in Liz's Life by

At least once a week – usually on Sunday nights- I’ll cook supper for Luke. It’s our time to relax, reflect on the previous week and eat a home-cooked meal. I am by no means a “chef” or “foodie” and the meals I make almost always come from a recipe. Regardless of my lack of professional training or high-brow taste, the food I make is usually delicious, easy to prepare and gets rave reviews from my man.

I’ve decided to start a weekly post called the “Sunday Supper Series” to share what I cooked for Luke that week and what we thought of it. Hopefully I can give you guys some ideas of recipes you can make for your friends, family or significant other that don’t involve difficult cooking techniques or a million ingredients.

For the first installment of the Sunday Supper Series, I made broiled tilapia parmesan with green beans. The tilapia recipe came from allrecipes.com and is insanely delicious while being super easy to make. It took me less than 15 minutes to whip together.

Broiling the parmesan mixture on the fish makes for a crispy, cheesy, tangy crust that compliments the fish perfectly. I’m not a huge fish person, but the cheese mixture hides any “fishy-ness” while complimenting the taste of the tilapia. Luke’s response? “This is REALLY good.”

I paired the fish with some steamed green beans that I sauteed in some butter, salt & pepper and a dash of cayenne pepper before serving. If you haven’t tried cayenne on your green beans, DO IT! It adds this slightly spicy after-taste that I adore.

Here are some pictures along with the full recipe. Enjoy!

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Broiled Tilapia Parmesan- (recipe via AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon celery salt
  • 2 pounds tilapia fillets

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven’s broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.
  3. Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

Networking With Batman

Posted in Liz's Life by

This week I was in LA for the 140 Twitter Conference, which brought together the best and brightest “power twitterers” including celebrities like @Tyrese4real, @chamillionaire, @drdrew, @adventuregirl, @GuyKawaski, @nerdist (Chris Hardwick) and yes, even @peeweeherman, to discuss the state and future of Twitter.

Beyond attending the sessions of the conference and checking out the booths for the latests geeked out twitter applications, I was determined to meet and engage with as many people as I could, including the influential Twitter stars I’ve mentioned above.

I’ve never found it difficult to meet new people and find common ground, but making a memorable impression that they’ll remember beyond our 30 second conversation can be hard.

Or at least it used to be before I was marrying Batman.

It’s been incredible. Once one person found out what my soon-to-be married name would be (by reading my blog via Twitter), word spread. The topic of my fiance’s name was an instant ice breaker and an opportunity to talk with people I might not have had the courage to approach otherwise, like these people:

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batmanbatman3I knew that marrying into the last name Batman would bring some interesting reactions from people I came in contact with, but who knew it would also serve as a networking tool?

I guess I am a pretty lucky girl- not only am I marrying a wonderful man, but he happens to have one awesome last name too!

Dndndndndndndndndndndndndndnd- BATMAN! lol

PS: You can see photos I snapped of the celebs I met at the confrence  on my Facebook page here http://bit.ly/E4oun (friend me if you can’t see them).

Adventures in Wedding Dress Shopping

Posted in Wedding Planning by

This weekend my mom, two of my bridesmaids and I went wedding dress shopping in Chicago. We visited three stores- Priscilla of Boston, White Chicago (which you may remember from this post) and 826 Weddings. We had a great experience at all three stores. No pushy sales people and there were so many beautiful dresses to choose from.

Everyone says when you find THE dress, you’ll know. You’ll glow with happieness, your mom will start crying, your bridesmaids will cheer…well that wasn’t really my experience. I tried on 5-6 dresses at each store and honestly could have been happy buying any one of them! I had so much fun trying them all on.

Here are some photos of dresses that didn’t quite make the cut.

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Although I really liked all of the above dresses, I found two that stood out among the rest and I am completely torn on which to get! One is a Carolina Herrera gown from White Chicago and is form fitting, glamourous and trendy. The other is  by a local Chicago designer from Weddings 826 and is romantic, flowy and more traditional.

I’ve been asking my bridesmaids, family and close friends for their opinions and everyone have been split 50/50. The men I’ve asked have favored the romantic, flowy dress, while my girlfriends have loved the glamourous, form-fitting option.

I’m dying to post pictures of the two choices here on my blog, but can’t because then Luke would see them. Both dresses send completely different messages, so I guess I’ll have to do some thinking about how I want my wedding day style to be remembered.

What do you guys think- glamourous, form-fitting and trendy or romantic, flowy and traditional? Thanks!

Capturing the Moment

Posted in Wedding Planning by

So far one of my favorite parts of wedding planning has been looking for a photographer. What I am looking for is a “photojournalist” – someone who will capture the moments of the day. We’ll still do all the posed photos, but the majority of the shots I want to get will be those emotional moments like when my dad gives me away, Luke and I’s first kiss and the toasts at the reception.

Working at a PR agency, I am surrounded by lots of people my own age. This means I’ve gotten great recommendations from co-workers who have recently gotten married or are planning their own weddings. One such recommendation came from my friend and colleague Amy to check out her wedding photographer Jeremy Lawson.

Jeremy’s style fits what I’m looking for to a T. Luke’s response to seeing some of his work sums it up perfectly, “artsy.” haha. Seriously though, I think his pictures look like museum artwork! I think you’ll agree after seeing some of Amy and her husband David’s wedding photos….

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Breathtaking…right? And don’t Amy and David make an absolutely gorgeous couple??

I emailed Jeremy immediately after seeing these photos and asked about his availability for April 17. I was so ecstatic to hear he was available! His pricing is just a little out of our range, but we’ve agreed to hold back in other areas in order to have amazing photos like the ones above. It’s really the only portion of our wedding that will live on, so we think it’s worth it.

You can check out more of Amy and Davids wedding on Jeremy’s blog.

So what do you guys think? Did we make a good choice in spending more on our photographer than in another area? What style of wedding photography do you like? Leave some comments!