I’ll admit my biases upfront –
Finally, pretty please follow this link to a gif that completes my soul… Did you do it??? Is that not the cutest thing?
What is your favorite breed of dog?
As I recently mentioned, I had to transfer over to Feedly for all of my blog following needs. When I went to do the switch, I discovered a million and one things in my Google Reader’s “save for later” folder. I figured it could be fun to share some of those saved things with you guys. Think of it as another way to see what makes me tick. So as not to overwhelm the post with pictures, I’m making this a three-part series. (1) Things I Think Are Hilarious, (2) Things I Think Are Adorable, and (3) Things That Relate to the Husband.
Here we go!
These things all literally make me laugh until I choke! Which was your favorite?
P.S. I can’t embed a gif, but this makes Adam and I crack up.
Here’s what I’m loving lately on the interwebs! All things are new to me, because I totally needed more ways to spend time on the internet.
1. My new cell phone.
You might think that technically this doesn’t fit into the internet edition, but I use my phone 20% for phone things and 80% for internet things. I really loved my old phone (an HTC Evo) so making the switch was painful but I finally had to because my battery couldn’t make it through the day. My new, purple phone has great battery life and the huge screen is awesome for scrolling through Buzzfeed. Plus I love how well it works with the app for my next love…
2. Feedly.
I was one of those people who thought that the world would end when Google Reader did but amazingly Feedly has managed to fill the void. There is a “save for later” feature and transferring my follow list from Google Reader was easy as pie. I love how easy it is to scroll through the app on my cell phone.
3. All seasons of Sabrina the Teenage Witch are available on Hulu Plus.
Oh jeez guys; I learned that STW was available for instant streaming and the rest of my summer free-time just evaporated. If you haven’t been (re)watching you totally should start; the show very too funny and smart. Melissa Joan Hart is even better as a witch then she was as Clarissa. The first few seasons are fabulously 1990’s.
4. GrubHub.
I mentioned that we had some terrible take-out recently, but I loved the awesome way that we ordered the awful food. GrubHub puts all of the delivery and/or pick-up options available to your address into a nice list for you and streamlines the ordering and payment process. And every three orders they give you a chance to win free things in their Yummy Rummy game.
Which reader did you switch to on July 1st?
Here are eight random facts… about me!
1. My go-to alcoholic drinks are cherry vodka and diet coke or Goldschläger and orange juice. The cherry-cola pairing is obvious but the cinnamon-orange combo is surprisingly delicious; people are always surprised by how much they like it.
2. While I was in Rochester last month I got a third tattoo. A small heart on my left wrist.
3. I cry at least 40% of the time that I am driving by myself. I’m not afraid of the road, it’s just that all of my car music mixes include songs that tug at your heart.
4. I enjoy most types of music (no country songs or boy bands for me, thanks) but I am weirdly obsessed with industrial music. Think “Sail” by AWOLNATION or “The Day the World Went Away” by 9 Inch Nails.
5. Speaking of music, I live for the moments in television when the background music is perfectly set to the mood. I don’t know how to describe the intensity of it other than to say that when a song is a good match in a show it practically feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest. “Scrubs” did a really wonderful job with their soundtrack and the use of “All Along the Watchtower” in “Battlestar Galactica” basically killed me {one example is in the first clip below}. For an example of both #4 & 5, watch the 2nd clip below, from “Longmire”. I have no idea why the videos are different sizes, sorry!
6. I rode in Pony Club for five years and I adored it. Riding was the only physical activity I’ve ever excelled in but I had to quit in 5th grade after a hurricane damaged the stable.
7. I adore murder mysteries, but only ones with a solid science base. The Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs (renowned forensic anthropologist) and Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell (worked with a Chief Medical Examiner) rock my world.
8. It’s my 28th birthday today!!
What’s your favorite type of music? Music you just can’t stand?
This week I’m going to do some book reviews.
Overall Thoughts: I am thrilled to add this to my collection; I love a nice weighty cookbook! This book is packed with recipes, divided neatly into sections like “Cake, Tarts, Schnitten, and Strudel;” “Cookies and Candies;” and “Ice Cream, Sorbet, Granita, and Parfaits.” I don’t have any background in Austrian baking, but the recipes are written in such a clear, straightforward way that I would feel confident tackling any of them. There are a few history blurbs but overall the writing is to the point, which I appreciate. The color photographs are gorgeous.
Recipe: Sour Ice Cream with Lime
Recipe Reflections: With just three ingredients – low-fat sour cream, simple syrup, and fresh lime – this is the easiest ice cream I’ve ever made. But the ease didn’t make it any less tasty. Sweet and sour were perfectly balance here and the mouthfeel was nice and creamy with no ice crystals. I cut the recipe in half without incident.
What I Want to Make Next: Lavender Ice Cream, Plum Kolach, and Buttermilk Mousse with Honey.
Overall Thoughts: This is the 2nd book from CopyKat.com that seeks to recreate recipes from popular restaurants. There are recipes inspired by more than 60 restaurants, including Starbucks, Sonic, and Cheesecake Factory. The book is divided into sections by types of foods, i.e. “Drinks,” “Appetizers,” “Desserts,” and so on. I don’t really eat at most of the restaurants featured here, but if your family regularly eats out at (popular chain) restaurants and is looking to cut back this book would be a great starting point. There are no photographs but you don’t need them as a starting point anyway because the dishes are all things you’ve seen before (that’s the point!).
Recipe 1: (Panera Bread) Broccoli Cheese Soup
Recipe 1 Reflections: I’ve never tried the original, but we flipping loved this recipe. The soup was sooo thick and perfectly creamy but without being too heavy. The flavor was astonishingly “meaty,” and the vegetables all reached the perfect texture – soft but not mushy. I used fat-free half & half instead of full-fat and I recommend this substitution. Adam and I both thought this was the best soup we’ve ever made. I cut the recipe in half without incident.
Recipe 2: (Cajun Cafe) Bourbon Chicken Tofu
Recipe 2 Reflections: I went with chicken instead of tofu here but feel like I still got a good idea of the recipe. This wasn’t bad, certainly, but we did not enjoy it as much as the soup. The sauce got very salty if you let it reduce too long, and we had already subbed in low-sodium soy sauce.
What I Want to Make Next: (The Melting Pot) Wisconsin Trio Fondue, (P.F. Chang’s) Lettuce Wraps, and (Red Lobster) Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
Overall Thoughts: This cookbook has 101 oven-free recipes and includes color photographs of 80 of them. It’s divided into four sections – “Breakfast and Brunch,” “Starters and Sides,” “Main Dishes,” and “Desserts.” I really appreciated how healthy all of the recipes in this cookbook were. Usually I make substitutions to lower fat, calories, or sodium when I cook, but I couldn’t find a single recipe in this book that it seemed necessary to alter (for health reasons that is, I did make some pantry-related substitutions).
Recipe 1: Mango Fool
Recipe 1 Reflections: I’ve never eaten a Fool before, but this basically ended up being flavored Greek yogurt. The ginger and orange juice definitely helped boost the mango flavor into something extra-special. This took about a minute to come together, and I plan on making it again.
Recipe 2: Avocado Fruit Salad
Recipe Reflections 2: My fruit all looks a little pink because I had to substitute frozen berries when my blackberries caught a case of mold. I also subbed almonds for walnuts. I can’t say that I loved the savoriness of the avocado, but I did enjoy it more than I was expecting too. The overall blend of textures and flavors was fantastic; this felt very fresh and zingy.
What I Want to Make Next: Machta Mango Shake, Cucumber Seaweed Salad, and Tex-Mex Chipotle Beans.
Do you like to cook straight from recipes or do you prefer to wing it in the kitchen? Where do you tend to get your recipes – cookbooks, food blogs, or family and friends?
It’s my 28th birthday on Wednesday so it’s time to look back at the list of 27 things I wanted to do in 27th year.
In the end, I did 18 out of 27, which doesn’t seem too bad. Though, it’s worth noting that the 9 things I didn’t accomplish were largely my physical goals (whoops!).
Here’s a recap…
I’m not sure yet if I’ll do a 28 list or not, but I know that it’s going to be another good year!
This “week’s” wrap-up actually spans most of two weeks. I know I went MIA (sorry, mom!) but I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. We have a lot of personal stuff happening this month and most of it is frustrating. But there is good stuff this month too – like my 28th birthday and an upcoming trip back to Buffalo!
For having eaten two weeks worth of meals (plus, I am sooo not one of those “I’m too sad to eat” folks!), I don’t have a ton to share this post. We did a lot of take-out and none of it was blogworthy, or even edible; we threw out a really annoying amount of food. But even though the take-out situation in our neighborhood is dire, I do have some really tasty things to recap….
fruit salad for the fourth
I went all patriotic and made a lovely red white and blue fruit salad with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and sweetened shredded coconut (all mascerated with a little sugar and lime juice).
It would have been even more lovely consumed on the 4th, but we got busy moving and ended up eating red, white, and blue on July 6th.
The salad was especially nice with skim milk and Impact Maple Oat granola.
these tasty dinners were also eaten after Independence Day
I’m not sure what I was picturing because I knew we had to drive to PA and back, but I bought stuff for the grill to eat with our fruit salad. Neither of these meals were eaten before the 7th, and we still haven’t fired up the grill, but they both sure were tasty.
Everything hot dogs and sautéed swiss chard.
I added way to much Worcestershire to the chard and it was sort of terrible, but we ate it anyway to get our greens in.
But the dogs were amazing. I got the “everything dogs” idea from a Good Housekeeping.
Turkey dogs in toasted buns topped with onion cream cheese sauce – yellow onions sautéed in butter with low-fat cream cheese stirred in, plus a little light cream to loosen up the sauce – and poppy seeds.
Patty melts with kale chips.
Whole-wheat bread with 1.5 Trader Joe’s turkey burgers, ketchup, and sliced cheese.
The burgers were a higher fat % than what we usually buy and they sicked me out to cook, but the patty melts in the end were very good.
The kale chips were amazing.
I always used to burn kale chips into tiny shards of cancer but I did some Googling and think I finally found the right method.
getting saasy
The nice people at Saas Hot Sauce sent me some bottles of the hot stuff to review recently.
Saas is a LLC started in 2010 by a group of students looking to raise money for charitable donations (particularly to help protect traditional cultures around the world). It comes in Original and Onion and Garlic. They use no chemical additives or stabilizers in their sauces.
I love the company’s values and practices, but I have to say – this stuff is hot! A little drop definitely goes a long way. I am a spice lover and it was pretty intense for me, so while I do recommend Saas products, if you have a wimpier mouth please be careful.
For some reason the hot sauce just screamed “quesadillas!” to me, so that’s what I made for dinner… several days in a row. Original Saas went in hot wing quesadillas.
Shredded rotisserie chicken mixed with Saas, blue cheese dressing, and mild cheddar.
Onion and Garlic Saas went in black bean quesadillas.
Smushed black beans with Saas, salt, lime juice, and sharp cheddar.
All of the cheesy triangles were quite pleasing; quesadillas were definitely a good idea.
two more home-cooked dinners
First, a mac-n-cheese style casserole of farro (the 10 minute bag from Trader Joes, so easy!), cheese sauce, and swiss chard.
I made the cheese sauce out of roux, light cream, sriracha, black pepper, sharp cheddar, and parmesan.
We both liked it but if I make the dish again I would add more spice, you need a lot of flavor to stand up to the stronger taste of the farro.
The best meal of this post is the next one, and it was super easy and healthy too. Bbq kale and white beans with cheesy corn.
For the kale, I filled my 8×12 casserole dish with torn dinosaur kale, then topped it with a can of cannelloni beans, some chopped onion, and a bottle of honey bbq sauce before baking in a 350* oven.
I wrapped our corn in foil and threw it in the oven with the kale. Mine got a layer of Sriracha mayo, parmesan cheese, salt, and black pepper before it was foiled. Delicious!
If I had known how easy it was to cook in the oven I would have been making corn all of the time.
glug, glug, glug
Lots of excitement in the beverage category this week. I found several new favorites. First, we headed over to Sweet Adele’s one afternoon for bubble tea.
They also have amazing looking fruit slice candy that I want to go back for immediately. On that visit I got a lavender milk bubble tea.
What?! The flavor was more sweet than floral but it was still very exciting.
Also exciting was 7-11 day, aka July 7th (7/11).
I got a small cherry/cola for my free slushie.
There is just no topping the cherry/cola combo {more on that later}.
Finally, I found my new favorite Polar flavor.
I know I have a new favorite every week but seriously, green apple seltzer is amazing.
empanadas in the city
On Saturday Adam had a coveted weekend day off so the three of us headed into the city.
Let’s be real – blurry or not, this is the best picture anyone will ever take of Webster and me.
We walked pretty far from the car to our final destination and the dog was such a little trooper about riding in my purse! He was so adorable we could barely handle it.
The walk was worth my aching shoulder because we ended up with a great meal. The PR team for Nuchas contacted me and asked if I would like to come by for lunch.
Nuchas, started by Argentine-born Ariel Barbouth, is a empanada company in the city. They have a food truck, a Time Square kiosk, and a catering division. They bake their empanadas instead of frying them so the goods are actually pretty healthy (and portable!). They have meat-based, vegetarian, and even vegan options.
Adam and I got four empanadas to share.
See how they label them with a little embossed letter? Too cute.
The Argentine.
Pat Lafrieda’s ground beef, onions, peppers, scallions, potatoes & olives. White dough.
This one was all Adam, obviously. He was a fan, and said it had good flavor without being too spicy. There was a nice amount of meat too; they didn’t load it up with potatoes like some places try to do.
The Portobello.
Portobello mushrooms, spinach, onions, mozzarella & fresh herbs. Spinach dough.
Again, good flavor and a nice amount of filling. The cooked spinach wasn’t watery at all and this felt healthy while still tasting good. This flavor was the husband’s favorite.
The Spicy Cheese.
Assorted cheeses & caramelized onions. White Parmesan dough.
I don’t know what spices were used here, but I was a big fan. This flavor was my favorite, but it is worth noting that it was too hot for Adam’s taste.
The Cranberry, Apple, & Nutella.
Granny smith, cranberries, pear, nutella & chocolate. White almond dough.
It was fun to try a dessert empanada. This was like a slice of apple pie with nutella on top, and really, what dessert isn’t better with some nutella on top?
All in all, we were very impressed with Nuchas. We both plan on going back and spending our own money the next time we head into Time Square.
the sweet stuff
Three things to share this post in the sweets category; all will be happening again.
I spent a ton of money buying local yellow cherries at Whole Foods one day and then promptly forgot about them for the rest of the week. By the time I got to the bag, the cherries were still edible but too soft to really be enjoyable, so I baked them into a yummy dessert.
I modified this recipe from Eat, Live, Run to make a single-serve cherry clafoutis.
I could not even believe how simple this was to make.
My birthday is next week, and some of my favorite family members sent me this fun package to celebrate.
Danny Macaroons are actually made locally in NYC (which means we can get more, whee!).
The flavors were crazy, and included chocolate-dipped, Bailey’s, chocolate, and other fun combinations. This salted caramel macaroon was the best cookie I’ve had in my life.
There were two salted caramels but I ate them both before Adam even got home from work.
Finally, there is an ice shop near our apartment and we are officially obsessed.
They have a million flavors and they are all exciting. Shown here is toasted marshmallow with key lime cream ice.
That’s a small by the way; such a good deal for $3. Marshmallow was great, obviously, but last night I had the best thing ever and now I’ll never be able to order anything else again – cola and strawberry water ice. <— to die for
What is your very favorite flavor combo for frozen treats?
I try to do an apartment tour on the blog whenever we move. My mom is always dying for pictures and it forces me to take photos of our new place – I never took pictures of our first apartment together in Miami and it kills me now that we can’t look back at it.
We aren’t quite moved in – some lamps need assembling, a few rooms will be getting new windows, we need a few more pieces of furniture in the living room, etc – but I promised my family pictures by Monday so I figured I’d post the tour now even though a few things look off.
We are living in an apartment complex that is owned by Adam’s hospital so we have no complaints about the price. It isn’t quite as nice as our last place (no more gorgeous brick accent walls, sob!) but our apartment is large and it has great storage space <- – – two things you usually can only dream of in the city.
Without further adieu, here are some pictures of our new apartment (and a few of my favorite things from each room!)…
Entry/hallway (plus coat closet and pantry turned linen closet)
Kitchen
Living room
Office
Bathroom
Bedroom
I think the story behind our new desk is pretty neat, but Adam’s favorite thing is our new queen bed; apparently the dog and I took up too much room in the double bed!
What is your favorite room in your current mansion/apartment/shack/house?
Eating Chalk 