Author Archives: Emily

Happy Birthday Husband

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Today is Adam’s 24th birthday. Finally, I’m not the older woman any more! 🙂

I am actually throwing Adam a surprise party this evening, so today is going to be crazy. I kept the guest list tiny, but it’s a dinner party and I’m making his mom’s lasagna for the first time, so I’m betting things will be a little hectic.

I promise to do a full recap later, but for now I won’t have time to be posting. Instead, I’ll leave you with a list of 12 (half of 24, which seemed excessive) fun facts about the husband –

  1. He had tuberculosis his senior year of high school.
  2. He loves to scuba dive.
  3. He speaks German fluently. He’s taught me bits and pieces, most notably a poem about hedgehogs.
  4. He volunteered with Teach for America in NYC for two years between college and med school.
  5. He’s a mega dork – he plays both the saxophone and table tennis.
  6. As a microbiology major in college he worked on studies in HIV, Leprosy, and anti-aging.
  7. He calls me Mouse and I call him Bear.
  8. He loves moss, like a lot.
  9. He has no sense of smell. He wasn’t born without one, his sister tricked him into inhaling smell salts when they were kids.
  10. He has a man crush on Gerard Butler and Ryan Reynolds.
  11. He used to collect national park stamps.
  12. He can skin a human in two minutes (medical school fact!).
  13. I love him a lot!

Do you have a pet name for your significant other? Super cheese or are you on a first name basis? We always always say Mouse and Bear now (unless Adam’s calling me a turnip!) but we’ve pretty much never used names. If Adam called me Emily I’m not sure I would know he was talking to me.

Last Lab

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It’s official – I’m finished with Chem 101 Lab!  Yesterday, when I wore my pajamas to class, I got called up to the front for a demonstration, so I made sure to look cute today, albeit a bit crazy eyed.

I didn’t get many of my errands done, but we did at least make it to the post office in time to pick up a birthday gift from Adam’s brother.

He sent a variety of foodstuffs, all of which inspired my graze like a hippo gazelle dinner.  I like to work in reverse, so I started with dessert.  A macadamia cluster,

followed by two small petti  fores.

I have to say, I’m a bit of a candy snob, I could tell the chocolate was cheap and it wasn’t really worth it.

Dinner was more of a success.  I made a tasting plate!

Turkey pepperoni,

cheese log,

Sabra Jalopeno Hummus,

saltines,

and chopped pregnant red pepper, see the little green pepper baby we found inside!?

Everything was delicious.

I loved the combination of flavors, smokey, savory, sweet and spicy all together.  My fullness took a while to kick in though, I definitely snacked on 5-8 more unphotographed saltines post-dinner.

Adam and I watched all the newest Scrubs episodes while we ate, pretty good so far!  We were o.b.s.e.s.s.e.d with the old show – I talked about it in my wedding vows!!!! – and agree that while this isn’t quite as good the bar is set pretty high.

Post dinner I cleaned the entire freaking house!  Everything looks much neater and I feel a gazillion times better.  I do not function well in mess.  Now I’ve got to hit the sack, it’s Adam’s 24 birthday tomorrow!

Where do you set the bar when it comes to chocolate?  90% coco from the French only or whatever you can find?  I can occasionally enjoy a bite of the husband’s Snickers, etc. but in generally I’m pretty snobby.  My favorite as of late is the Lindt Sea Salt bar, yum!

Blizzard Provisions

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I haven’t accomplished much since breakfast.  But really I can’t blame myself for being distracted – it is practically blizzarding outside!  Maybe not a blizzard to you Northerners, but the snow is coming down sideways and that’s enough for an island girl like me!

I wasn’t sure what I wanted for lunch, but when I saw a yam on the counter I knew there wasn’t really a choice.

Even more exciting that sweet potato fries is the fact that my oven is glowing purple like that for the picture.  I chopped up a small sweet potato, sprayed and sprinkled liberally with evoo and salt, and put it in a 475* oven for 30minutes or so.

It took longer than I expected and I ended up having a few snacks.  First, I tried this new cheese.

Kerrygold Aged Cheddar.

I only had a small square, but I know this will go perfectly in a grilled cheese sandwich sometime later this week.

Post-cheese, I was admiring the holiday tea set my m-i-l gave me,

when I remembered something very seasonal I had forgotten in the cabinet:

Rice Nog!  I’m not gonna lie, I bought this in October and squirreled it away for the proper season.  Be warned, this is good, but not even close to Silk’s Soy Nog.  I had 1 cup, which I heated for a minute in the microwave before topping with nutmeg.

I ate it by the window, but I didn’t need a warm to drink to remind me why I’m glad to be inside today –

Eeek.  Sweet potato oven fries were the perfect warm meal.

I made some – better tasting than looking – Thousand Island Dressing for dipping purposes.  2T sweet pickle relish, 1T lite Miracle Whip, 1T ketchup.  There ended up being way too much, you could probably cut those measurements down to teaspoons.

If you’re wondering why I squeezed the taters onto that small plate, it’s because I was reusing my apple plate for this morning.  I’m into dish conservation!

I’ve got lots of cleaning and a little bit of class work to do before I have to run some errands.  Thank goodness Adam is driving me tonight, there is no way I’d be going out alone!  I probably would choose to not go out at all but tonight is my final lab (yay!) and I have to check out in person or face a $100 fine.

Are you stocked up on “in case of emergency” provisions?  What items does your family stock?  We are not stocked, a fact we need to rectify this weekend.  There’s really no excuse, my dad has called to remind me at least 10 times since November!

Breakfast Like a Local

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Good Morning!  And for once this post is in the actual morning, not my 11am morning/afternoon hybrid 🙂  I cancelled my pt this morning because my foot is super sore from the doctor’s appointment.  Nonetheless, I got up at 7, I took a nice refreshing shower, and got ready for a tasty breakfast.

A crispy gala apple,

and this amazing local find.

White Cow Dairy is right here in New York.

The apple got sliced,

and the low fat maple yogurt was eaten straight from its adorable glass jar.

Mmmn.  The yogurt was actually a bit tangy, so it was the perfect flavor combination with the apple.

The next week, basically until I go home on the 21st, is going be crazy busy but I’m making it my goal to post at least twice a day.  Hopefully it will help give me some balance.

What is your favorite local find?

Jam Flavored Stuffing

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The title is what I imagined when I put these two phrases together:  1.”Running around like a chicken with its head cut off;” 2.”Jam-packed.”  I guess you could pack the chicken with the jam?  Consequently, those phrases also both describe my day today.  It’s been go-go-go!

First, I went to my pt appointment.  Good news, I can run again!!!!  Only a few days a week and I have to start slow, but it’s great news.  I ran a mile during my appointment and it felt glorious!

I had some time between that appointment and my doctor’s appointment so I ended up killing an hour in McDonalds.  I bought some apple dippers to tide me over.

Yums.  And I loved most of the nutrition information on this packaged for kids item.

The only downpoint in my opinion is the zero grams of fiber – the apples had fiber to begin with if they’d just leave the darn skins on!  I guess I shouldn’t have nutrition outrage when I’m guzzling a diet coke at 9am.

I also started a new book – Under the Table, by Katherine Darling.

I’m loving it!  Darling is a good writer and culinary school is my ultimate dream.  I had to wait for more than an hour at the doctor’s office and normally I’d have been seething but today I was just glad to have an excuse to read!

I also got some news from this doctor.  2 out of 4 plantars warts are gone (for good hopefully!).  The other two I’m going to continue with the home-acid for, and I now have a prescription for an oral medicine that boosts your immune system – part of the reason I’m having such a problem is because mine isn’t responding properly.  I’ll take the medicine over break and I’m scheduled to have the wart cut out on January 4th.  This will most likely keep me immobile for a week or so, and could possibly keep me from running for up to a month.  It’s pretty devastating that training (which has barely begun) might break 2 months before my half, but it’s better than running the half with my foot hurting.

After that appointment I went to two separate pharmacies and then drove home for the quickest stop in ever.  I didn’t even take a shower, just washed my face!  However, I got two blocks from my house before I realized the reason I was in the car wasn’t in the car with me!  I left the giant bag of stuff that needed to be dropped off at Goodwill at home!

FYI – we designate a spot in our hall closet for things that can be donated.  Old clothes, free products, gifts that aren’t our style, etc.  Once we’ve got a sufficient pile we drop it off at Goodwill rather than throwing those things in the trash.  It’s better for the enviroment and our society.

When I went home to pick up the bag I realized I was clearly a bit distracted by hunger so I grabbed the can of soursop juice I bought the other day.

YUM!  Handsdown, sour sop is one of my very favorite things.  It is one of my favorite childhood taste memories and I was so excited to see some form of it sold here in Buffalo.

[I told you I didn’t shower!]

After Goodwill I went to Target for some Christmas-ing, and then finally the grocery store.  On my way out I hit up the salad bar.

I filled the small top halfs with yummy things – pesto pasta and mac and cheese.

And the larger bottom half with healthy things – baked tofu and brussels sprouts.

I didn’t say healthy isn’t yummy though, the brussels and tofu ended up being my favorite part!  The tofu was unbelievably chewy, I’m dying to know how they cooked it that way!

I gave myself some time at home to relax while I ate (and typed this post and watched some tv), but now it’s time to get back to jamming the headless chicken – lordy that sounded dirty!

Hopeful list of to-do’s from tonight

  1. put away laundry
  2. clean up the kitchen
  3. Chemistry reading
  4. e-mail regarding class scheduling trauma
  5. dinner?
  6. pt exercises
  7. go back to pharmacy
  8. shower – this one isn’t optional!

How do you say you’re busy?????  I usually go with busy beaver, but I’m also partial to “busy, busy, busy, busy*.”  *Said in the magician voice from Frosty  the Snowman.

*****Update – I managed not to do a single to-do.  I did, however, finish my entire 400+ page book!  And yesterday?  I watched Rose Red; a 4.5hour Steven King mini-series 😉

Wind Blown

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Hello, hello!  I didn’t mean to be gone for the last day or so, I was having computer and camera problems.  The camera was my fault, I misplaced the charger, but it’s a bit concerning that my internet seems to go out whenever the wind blows.

Today is filled with doctor’s appointments, ugh!  I have pt at 7:30 and then a foot appointment at 10:00.  I don’t know how I managed to get myself up at 6:40, but I knew I needed breakfast.

Banana, 0% Plain Oikos, Crofter’s Asia Superfruit Spread, peanut butter.

I’ve got to hit the road, I’ll see you for lunch.

Sugar High, Gotta Have It When I Need It to Get By

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So you know – Adam has yet to turn 24 and we have only been married for 1year and 11months.  Those events don’t take place until December 11th and 28th respectively.  Thank you for the well wishes though!!

However, if you assumed I didn’t post all day because I was busy eating crap, well then you were correct!

I woke up so hungry today!  I actually broke into the snickerdoodles Adam’s mom brought him before I could even get started on breakfast.

For breakfast I was inspired by something my mom sent –

These are actually cookie cutters, but can easily be used to make fantastically cute eggs.

I made an onion bagel with chive cream cheese,

then topped each half with some egg love.

Delish!

Eggs are so tasty.  And very filling. 

I wanted to enjoy a leisurely meal but Adam rushed me out the door and to the movies.  We saw “Brothers” which was very enjoyable.  Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire; I’d say it was very well cast.

Dark Chocolate Cookie Dough Bites were on sale for $1 so I ate some.

After the movie we spent some more time at the mall.  Adam’s parents gave him a gift certificate for his birthday so we spent a looong time in Joseph A. Banks.  He made it up to me by driving to Anderson’s afterwards.

I’ve been yammering about the peppermint soft-serve for weeks.  Worth the excitement?

Yes!  I had mine mixed with Oreos.

I’m not quite sure what the dinner plan is, but if it follows the rest of the day’s eating I’ll just inhale a big bowl of sugar 🙂

How cool are you – what movie does this song remind you of?

Celebrations Galore

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What a fabulous Adam’s birthday – Christmas – 2 year anniversary day!  We had celebrations galore!

We started the festivities with Adam’s 24 birthday (actually taking place next Friday) –

Barb made a yummy looking cake.

I passed, I had my dessert for the day already picked out, you’ll see later.

Next up was Christmas.  Among a bunch of fabulousness – most of which I’ll be showing on the blog over the next few weeks – were some awesome drawings from our niece.

Smurfs!

Finally our 2-year anniversary.  Adam and I celebrated by making matching fools of ourselves.

Aren’t our race windbreakers awesome?  I will certainly be wearing that.  And I scored the very last extra-small so it fits perfectly.

Adam’s choice for ‘birthday dinner’ was Red Robin, so that’s where we headed.

We ordered chips with salsa and guacamole for the table, here’s my plate –

I always ask for side plates when I’m sharing an appetizer, if I picked I would have eaten 4x as much.

Here is the reason I passed on birthday cake earlier in the day –

Oh yeah, that is a gingerbread milk shake!

So yum!

I ate some grown up food too.

Jamaican Jerk’d Chicken Burger spicy Jamaican Jerk’d chicken breast, topped with pepper-jack cheese, grilled pineapple, cool mango mayo, and lettuce and tomato; served on a jalopeno cornbread kaiser roll.

I ate about 3/4 of my sandwich and 2/3 of my fries.  Running kills my appetite sometimes.

The family is safely headed home and we are settled in for the night.  Adam might actually go see a movie (Ninja Assassins, gag) but I’m all set to curl up with some recipe planning.  Have a great night!

What month has the most holidays for you?  December is our busiest month.  We go Adam’s Birthday, Christmas, Wedding Anniversary – 11, 25, 28.  And we celebrate Hanukkah in there too!