April 2012

March is officially over.  Can you believe it?  I sure can't.  Despite my massive amount of goals and my crazy work schedule, it flew by.  Now it is time for April and it's rain, lol.

I am so excited for April this year.  It will be my second month jogging and my first month in a new role at work.  I am nervous about both but believe both will have amazing rewards.  April will also come with a few trials.  The insurance company has deemed my car a total loss...bummer!  We will spend this month finding new ways to save money so we can buy a new car for me.  In the meantime, we have duct taped Maurice together and hope he will survive the drive to and from work for a month or two.

Even though saving money is a challenge, I think Nick and I will be better for learning how to do it now.  Don't get me wrong, we can save, but we have also become accustomed to a certain lifestyle.  We eat out more than we should and see every movie as soon as it hits theaters.  I can't wait to cook more often and to get a chance to anticipate movies while we are waiting for them to hit the Frequent Movie Goer Club at our local theater.

Have a beautiful, rain showery month of April!!!!!

Car Troubles

So, first off, I am fine.  I am not hurt at all, but my poor, poor Maurice is in pain.  On my way home from work the other day, I was backed into by a truck.  Like I said, I am fine.  My car is not fine though, which means I am grumpy and missed a run.

Alright, pity party is over, lol.

Grump

That's right folks...today I am a grump.  The last two weeks have been great.  Nick and I have had tons of time together and work has had a lot of positive moments.  Then came this week.  


This week, our cat got an eye infection that requires us to put 2 drops of medicine in her eye 3 times a day (let me just say that she no longer likes or trusts us anymore)


AND


my car broke down....like $1,000 worth of broke down.  


Therefore, on this lovely Sunday afternoon, I am baking myself chocolate chip cookies in a shallow attempt to make myself feel better.  I also plan on eating all of the carbs I can get my hands on with the help of a new cookbook Real Simple Meals Made Easy.   

I picked this beauty up at the local Borders.  Since they are all closing, so sad, I got it for 30% off.  I am excited to try the Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti for dinner this evening (expect a post soon all about it).


There went the timer.....


morsels of joy, here I come. 


Hmmmm, cookies, cold milk and a good book.  I feel better already.

California Vacation 4

It is time to get back to vacation pictures!  These are pictures from our second day in San Francisco, but last day of the vacation.  It was a very rainy and cold day....so like anyone else, we spent it on the OPEN top deck of a double decker tour bus seeing the sites.  

Meatless Monday...FAIL

"The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry."- Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck




So, I've had this awesome dish of pasta, eggplants, yellow bell peppers and cheese planned.  I bought all of the ingredients and was ready...but I never made it.  


The recipe is from the latest issue of Bon Appetit.  I hope to be making it this evening for dinner, and tell you all about it next Monday.  


I'll be back tomorrow though, with a great post!

Nail Issue

Lately, my nails have been a disaster.  At any given time, at least three or four of them are cracking or broken to bits, and I am getting mighty tired of it.  

source

According to Wedding Come True.com, split nails can be caused by constantly wetting and drying your nails, nail polish remover or a lack of Omega 3 in your diet.


I've been putting lotion on my hands a lot, but I can't seem to fix the damage or prevent it.  So on Tuesday, I picked up a new product that I am hoping will work.  


It is Sally Hansen's Vitamin E Moisturizing Nail and Cuticle Oil.  

I'll let you know how it works.  Wish me luck!

Meatless Monday

Flexitarianism has begun.  Last week our vegetarian dish was red beans and rice.  I have to admit, this dish did not turn out how we wanted it too.  We both had an idea of what red beans and rice was before we made this recipe.  The end product, however, was something very different.  

.




It looks so pretty, but the taste didn't match.  The dish had carrots, celery, onions, red beans and rice in it.  I was planning on posting the whole recipe for you, but I don't think it is good enough to share...sadly.  I would have skipped this post all together, but I didn't want to miss my first Meatless Monday post.


Do you have a recipe that just didn't turn out the way you planned?  Let us know.

Kitchen Wish List

I love my kitchen, and all of the gadgets in it.  However, there are a few gadgets that I wish I had...

1. A food processor.  I know that most of the things that are done with a food processor can be done with other gadgets or by hand, but gosh darn it, I want it to be easier. 
2. I fell in love with KitchenAid Mixers at college.  Each kitchen had their own mixer, heaven.  I want it in Green Apple (an explanation to come later).
3. A knife is pointless if it isn't sharp (ha, that's a pun).  This one is from Crate and Barrel.
4. I find that there is never enough room for cupcakes on my cake stand.  A cupcake  carrier from Crate and Barrel would keep them so much fresher.
5. We had a wok, but when we brought it out to make the disastrous stir-fry it had rusted (it was really old).  This new one from Crate and Barrel would do the trick.


Is there any kitchen gadget you can't live without or wish you had?  Let us know.

Stir-Fry Redo

Lately I have been trolling the blogging world for popular blogs to follow.  I found a site that listed some of the top blogs by category and began my search for new ideas on food, art and decor. 

One of the first blogs I decided to follow is Perrys' Plate.  The blog focuses on fresh, homemade and healthy food.  While sifting through the blog, I came across a post on some stir-fry gone wrong (much like ours).  She, Natalie, that is, did not give up there though.  Instead of ditching the leftovers, she made egg rolls out of them.  With the theory, that just about everything tastes better when fried. 

Here is a link to her post and my inspiration on what to do with Nick's, ummm, how shall I say this, not so appetizing leftovers. 

This is what we did...

Icky left overs.

We put about 2 tablespoons worth of the chopped up leftovers into each egg roll wrapper.

 Before frying.

After frying.

We also made some noodles to go with the egg rolls.

The new version of the stir-fry was so much better than the original.  I am so happy it turned out.  Nick was also excited that I salvaged his "disaster."

Nick's Vegetarian Stir-Fry

Nick here...Long-time lurker, first-time poster, I think. My name's on the blog, maybe I should actually write about something!

After having a wonderful supper at Thai Taste earlier in the week, I thought I'd try my hand at stir-fry on Friday evening. We bought broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, and I thought I'd even make the most dreaded of vegetarian foods, tofu. Lauren had ordered tofu with her meal at Thai Taste and it was honestly delicious. It was dry, tasted like the sauce, and almost had the consistency of a strip of meat, so I thought I'd be able to replicate it and make an awesome stir-fry.

I've made stir-fry in the past, and the trick is to have everything ready before you start cooking, because the pan is super hot and you need to stir it constantly to stop the food from burning. I had already pressed, sliced and dry-fried the tofu and it was marinating in store-bought stir-fry sauce with extra minced garlic. The vegetables were washed and cut so I added them to the hot oil and started cooking. The smell was great, and in a few minutes I added the tofu and sauce. Another minute to warm it all up and off the burner it went.

 

I made an easy fried rice (well, easy but time-consuming) to go with the stir-fry and then we sat down to our meal. 

The spoon that I scooped out the stir-fry looked like it was sticking out it's tongue on a face of water chestnuts and a carrot when I put in the pan...that should have been my first suspicion that something wasn't quite right.

 

We dug in to eat, ....and it was awful. Well, at least I thought it was. Nothing had blended, the vegetables tasted raw, and the tofu... oh, the tofu... it was plain gross, like really really bad. It hadn't taken any of the flavor of the marinade and tasted like something you weren't supposed to stick in your mouth. Almost like a plastic-rubber-snot mixture that was chewy on the outside but turned into cottage cheese before you could swallow it all away.

So, in case you want to keep track, it was 3 hours of work = disgusting meal. We ate some of the meal and the fried rice, but I was not satisfied and pretty angry. So we went out and I got chicken teriyaki takeout from a restaurant nearby, and Lauren got a chocolate milkshake. YUM!

Friday night supper, done.



Lauren would like for me to point out at this juncture that there is a reason that I don't cook too often. Not because what I cook always taste bad, far from it in fact. I think my meals, as a whole, are some of the best tasting that we eat. (What's a blog for if I can't brag a bit) No, the reason I don't cook often is because as a rule, whoever cooks doesn't do dishes. And I am a MESSY cook and it takes Lauren ages to clean up my disaster area. This isn't something I do on purpose, just happens.

Let me submit for evidence, Exhibits A and B...

Anybody have a good story about botched meals they want to share? Let us know in the comments. Help me feel better about this meal by laughing at your misery.