Horse races and apple pie... oh my!

Well it doesn't get much more American than horse races and a dinner consisting of hot dogs, mac and cheese, and apple pie.  So here it goes... the all american blog post.  


To start, I will once again copy smittenkitchen and post some pictures of last Thursday's delicious meal:


Hot dogs
Mac n' cheese (http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/10/cheddar-and-elbows-exalted/)
Zucchini and squash
Apple Pie ( http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/cinnamon-sigh/ )

The mac and cheese was to die for... and so easy.  Although, it was a little hard making, as I didn't enjoy adding 1 Ib of cheese to it.  It also doesn't re-heat well.  However, if you are looking for some comfort food that is not lacking in calories and fat, then this is it.  jackpot.

Next up: the best apple pie recipe I've ever come across.  While it wasn't the easiest to make, it was certainly the most delicious.  The recipe called for a lot more butter and shortening in the crust than what I'm used to using.  Because of this, it was really difficult to roll out and manage when getting it into the pie pan and such.  Smittenkitchen made a few suggestions on tweeking her recipe that she posted (and they were great suggestions):

• I used half of the lemon juice and skipped the lemon zest.  For some reason, the apple pie recipes I've always used call for SO MUCH lemon.  It overpowers the pie.  not a fan.
• Double the spices.  you can never have too much cinnamon.  that might be my new life motto.
• Roll the dough between two large pieces of plastic wrap... keeps the dough from sticking to everything (the butter and shortening has something to do with this I think).

Overall, best apple pie I've made. 

On a side note... I know I brag a lot about smittenkitchen, but because of this blog, I finally know how to correctly peel, core, and slice an apple.  This may not sound like a big deal, but I've always had to buy twice the amount of apples the recipe calls for because I waste so much apple by inappropriately peeling, coring, and slicing them.

Now on to the pictures...

Okay... now on to this weekend.  It was a great time with great friends and great weather.  Doesn't get much better.  And who doesn't love horses!!! (well... karly I guess ha:) ) I'll just post some pictures.

I just had to.

The post that was to be...

So I meant to write this yesterday during the lovely spring morning, drinking my coffee in bed, and listening to the birds sing... very disney-esque.  However,  as most of you know, that obviously didn't happen.  So here it is, the post that was supposed to be written yesterday. Fortunately, today is a lovely spring morning, I'm in bed drinking coffee, and NOT listening to birds sing (apparently those nasty, stupid, foul creatures are capable of learning lessons!)

Well it's spring break, and while I'm not sitting on a beach drinking a corona somewhere, I am having a great little hiatus from school.  For those of you that are terribly interested, I AM working on my thesis and it's going well.  I have full confidence in myself to whip something up in the next seven days that will hopefully do justice to my 2 year research project.  We shall see...

This will be a quick one, but I couldn't resist doing another food post. I'm going to rave again about smittenkitchen... I had four bananas that were pretty far gone (like to the point where fruit flies were about to convene over the very ripe fruit).  If you're like me, you don't want to eat them or throw them away. so what do you do? you find a fabulous banana bread recipe.  and guess what? type in banana to smittenkitchen.com and you get that oh so fabulous banana bread recipe.  She even added a shot of bourbon to hers (I did not, as I did not have any bourbon).   So here it is... http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/speckled-for-the-freckled/

It's delicious, fun, and easy to make... Don't even need an electric mixer.  I loved cooking with a wooden spoon and just 1 bowl.  I felt like I was a 1950's housewife or something... it was so fun.  I even put on my pretty apron that matches the oven mitt in the picture.  yeah I know. I'm ridiculous.

moving on... This next thing had to be the most difficult thing I've ever made.  Watch out people, this is not for the novice cook:

Green Beer
1 light beer
3-4 drops green food coloring

Begin by selecting your favorite light beer. Lightly tilt your favorite clear glass and poor the beer down the side.  This minimizes the foam head and delivers a nice, crisp first sip.  Then, add the 3-4 drops of food coloring to the beer.  Take your favorite spoon, and mix it.  Only to be enjoyed on St. Patrick's day.

I enjoyed my green beer over some biochemistry notes.  Not what is recommended to really complement the green beer, but still enjoyable.

I'll leave on a cute picture (or two)

Tad's birthday dinner in KC

How do you think he sees?

The Birds

I had full intentions of waking up to a lovely spring morning, getting my usual coffee and cereal, hopping back into bed, writing a witty/ creative/ awesome blog, and then writing my thesis.

Didn't happen.

I woke up to the sound of scratching in my apartment.  I didn't think much of it as I have been hearing some birds burrow and make a nest in the crawl space above my bedroom.  Then I realized, this scratching sounded a little closer, a little more desperate.  I opened my bedroom to find the noise coming from my laundry room. I then made the unfortunate/ naive mistake of opening my laundry room door. Out flew a nasty, creepy- crawly, black bird with just nastiness written all over it.  I scream (naturally) and run back into my bedroom (naturally). In the couple of minutes it took for this situation to go down, I developed an irrational fear of birds.  So... picture it. There is a nasty nasty bird flying around in my apartment, getting it's nastiness all over everything, and I'm huddled in my bed making desperate phone calls to anyone I knew. The general response was a laugh and a "uhhhh... open a window".  That's all fine and dandy but what the hell? open a window? what... you think I can just WALK out there and get the nastiness all over me? what if it flew at me? got in my hair? scratched out my eye? yeah couldn't do it.

I called pest control... they laughed at me (which made me seriously lose faith in the population group that is supposed to save us from critters).  Called my parents... they laughed at me.

I was alone to face the nastiness.


So I geared up...

And went after the bird...

The bird is gone... but I'm still stuck in my bedroom.  If anyone knows how to now overcome the irrational fear of bird germs, let me know.  I do need to leave my bedroom eventually.
  

Bon appétit!

So here it goes...my first food blog.  Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed doing it :)

Tuesday night's dinner consisted of recipes selected from smittenkitchen.com... I am obsessed with this blog, and anyone else who loves cooking like I do will become obsessed as well.  It's a woman in NYC who blogs about her cooking.  She is also a photographer, and she takes pictures of everything she makes.  Her pictures are AMAZING.  Every day is a new recipe and they are simple, practical, and so fun. Oh, and all of her recipes are archived and categorized... since 2006.  Like I said, obsessed.

Thank you, smittenkitchen, for the inspiration for my Tuesday night dinner.  This cooking/ picture taking/ blogging about it will definitely become more frequent.

Tuesday night dinner: (recipes for the pasta and cookies are in parentheses)

• penne a la vodka  (penne à la vodka + belgian brownies )
• vegetable foccacia bread
• baked zucchini and squash
• salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies (crisp salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies )
• cabernet sauvignon

*note: these recipes are healthy for the soul.  That's about it.

I'm going to post my pictures from the evening, although they do not even compare to the quality of smittenkitchen.

To start off, I baked the cookies.  They took me less than 10 minutes to prepare and are officially my favorite cookies I have ever made.  I have 2 dozen if anybody would like to take some off my hands :) The sea salt on top adds the perfect touch.  I'm posting the before and after pictures of each item.

Next, I made the vegetable foccacia bread.  I found this recipe elsewhere but have adapted it so much over time that it's hardly the recipe I initially found.  It's fool proof and you can do just about anything you want with it.  (Erin, I made this before with you but tweaked it just a little bit more this time).  The name fools you, but I actually used asiago bread instead of foccacia.  I cut the round crust off the top to leave a flat surface.  I then cut and sautéed 1 sweet red pepper, 1medium zucchini, and 1 yellow pepper.  Sprinkled the top of the bread with olive oil and garlic salt, topped the bread with the sautéed veggies, sprinkled parmesan cheese, basil (fresh), and parsley(fresh) on top, then salted and peppered to taste.  Baked at 500 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Sliced into wedges...perfecto.

Now the baked zucchini and squash, I'm proud to say, is my own little recipe.  I know, I know.... not much to it.  But I still like to think I invented it :) I'd also like to say that this is Tad's absolute favorite thing I make, and we have it about 2-3 times a week.  It's so easy and delicious.  I usually cut up 1-2 squash and 1-2 zucchini (depending on how many you're serving) into coin slices.  Douse them with olive oil and Carolina Seasoning (Thanks, dad... this stuff is amazing), bake them at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until completely soggy.  Sounds gross, but the less crunchiness of the veggies, the more delicious.  (Like I said earlier... healthy for the soul). I'm sorry to say, I forgot to take a picture of the after picture.

Next up: the main course.  This pasta is again probably my favorite pasta I have ever made.  fool proof, takes MAX 15 minutes to make, and just utterly scrumptious.

I truly don't think I've had this much fun in a long time.  I'll never be able to trump smittenkitchen, but I can certainly have fun trying.

everything's coming up... lavender.

Hi everyone,

remember me? remember how I used to blog on this thing? yeah... sorry it's been a while.  I'm back though and ready for action.

To start off,  I would like to do a couple reviews from the weekend... No this will not turn into a theme like my fellow blogger, sauce boss, has. I would like to have themes, such as the restroom reviews or pick six,  but unfortunately my readers must endure my lack of creativity and just read the random thoughts that pop into my head.  here it goes..

Saturday night we tried a new sushi restaurant, Bluefin. It's located on Dickson street by Jimmy Johns.  The inside decor was okay, nothing to write home about.  The food was superb: we tried the Red Dragon roll with shrimp, avocado, and cream cheese, topped with scallions, chili rub, and tuna.  I've never had such a delicious sushi roll...scallions on sushi? YES. delicious.  We had another couple of amazing rolls, but they weren't terribly unique, so I won't bore you with their descriptions. Anyway, the bill finally arrives and I must say, the review turned sour at this point.  The price was equivalent to a steak meal at Shogun's.  Given the inside decor, if I'm going to pay that much for a meal, I would like to see the price in my surroundings. Maybe that's not the appropriate way to judge a restaurant and it's prices, but why pay for an expensive meal at what looks to be a non-expensive place?  That's just deceiving.  Overall: great food, but not worth the price. You can get great sushi elsewhere that may be just as expensive, but won't have the decor comparable to qdoba.  Next time I want to spend that much, I'll be making my way to Shogun's.

On Sunday, we went to Alice in Wonderland in 3-D. I'll leave the review at this: If anyone wants to go see that movie, I will go see it again with each and every one of you.  all at separate times.  I love Tim Burton. and 3-D movies.  and Disney.  Hello, I'm 6.

Okay so I'm going to stick to those two reviews for now.  Take my advice, or leave it.  For some reason, my opinions in these matters always seem to be the opposite of the majority, but I like to think I'm right. :)

Now on to more important things that people would rather hear about... Spring cleaning.  I cleaned my entire apartment this weekend. Including throwing away old clothes, mopping the floors, and dusting every nook and cranny.  I'll post pictures of the new spick and span apartment.

Now, for those of you who have stepped into my apartment before, you probably can't see much of a difference.  I have a tendency to keep things pretty clean....I'm that person that can't fall asleep if I know there is a dish in the sink or if the couch was slightly pushed to a weird angle.  Tad claims my apartment was already clean and didn't need a days worth of cleaning, but I'll say this: I have officially turned into my mother.  I can finally understand her need to pick up the dog hair off the floor that nobody could ever see, or her want to dust the entire house because of the dust that was invisible to everyone.  It's there, you know it is, and you can't sleep till it's gone. It might be invisible to everyone else, but YOU know it's there.

Part of me thinks my apartment loves me now.

I'll leave on one little fact: Febreeze is not harmful to humans.  I know this from experience.  Holding the febreeze bottle 10 inches from your face trying to figure out how to unlock the squirter will ultimately lead to a mouthful, eyeful, and nostrilful of Febreeze.  But no worries kids, no significant damage was done.  A slight burning of the eyes for about 3 seconds was the only discomfort.  Well, that, and tasting and smelling lavender for the remainder of the day.

these are a few of my favorite things...

So I'm having one of those days... not necessarily a bad one, but things just don't seem to be on my side today (yes, I'm talking about lab... going on 6.5 hours straight, 3 more to go...getting a bit old ).

Okay so I've decided on a project of the day: my favorite things list.  ha my 5 followers are probably jumping up and down with excitement right about now. I know I know, try to contain yourselves though.  really.

Part of this inspiration came from the Shabby Chic blog I follow... the link is on the side of my blog, and it is amazing.  Rachel Ashwell ( a designer of home furnishings, Shabby Chic line) is incredibly creative and everything I want to be.  Mainly, because she loves the color pink and anything that has to do with it.  With anyone like that, I'm totally on their side.

Here it goes, in no particular order:

1. This one is fitting, as I just mentioned it in the last paragraph.  I'm going to generalize it here and just say the color pink. This is what I want my house to look like when I grow up:

Copied this from the Shabby Chic blog, so ignore the captions above and below.

2. Enya.  Nothing in the world soothes me more than her music. That and it brings back very good memories...

3. Coffee. This is really the only thing that gets me up in the morning.  Cup of coffee with 1 Tbsp of fat-free creamer makes my day about 50 points better.  I think it's safe to say I'm not the most pleasant person to be around when I haven't had my coffee.  Aside from the caffeine kick it gives me, it just tastes good. end of story.  I do have a confession though... starbucks is NOT my favorite coffee. I mean it's good, but not a favorite of mine.  It will not be going on this list. Dunkin Donuts coffee is where it's at. 

   

4. PUPPIES. Now this may seem very cliche, but honestly, I don't know what I would do if I could never see/ be around a puppy ever again.  You know what... I'm going to generalize this even more. I'm going to say dogs. cute dogs, that is. Not those nasty, yappy ones that have so much attitude they might as well be a cat. I'm talking about the big, cuddly ones that think they are a lap dog when they most certainly are not. The ones that will forever have the puppy eyes, and will always love you no matter what. yeah, those are my favorite ones.  As most people who know me can attest, I'm happiest when I'm around a dog.  If I could post a picture of my Kate, I would (don't have one on the new computer).  Our new dog millie has quite the attitude these days but she's a cute one. 

5. Rainy Days. Who doesn't love rainy days? Sure they ruin your hair and give most people a gloomy feeling all day... but what's better than being in bed, watching a movie/ reading a book, listening to the rain? OR... how bout those thunderstorm nights? yeah, I like those too.  Makes me feel cozy. 

6.  Last but most certainly not least... CHRISTMAS. I'm pretty sure all of you reading my blog do not need any further explanation on this.  If you spent more than an hour with me during Christmas season, you KNEW this was going to make the list.  Mind you, my Christmas season begins in October and ends in late January.  For those of you who are terribly interested, I bought a San Francisco christmas ornament.  I wish I could have a tree up all year round so I can display all of my ornaments all the time.  How glorious would that be?

So these are my absolute favorite things... I might add more later, we'll see. For the time being, enjoy.  

heartache in the laboratory...

I think I need to break up with Interleukin- 1 alpha.  This protein and I are just spending too much time together.  Our eating times, sleeping times, and partying times are simply not compatible.  It also requires far too much attention.  I had to take care of it from 7:30 this morning till 5:30 tonight, with no breaks.  In my opinion, this just isn't a healthy relationship, and it needs to end.

I've decided on a break- up date: April 20th at 1:00 pm.  In order to really make this a clean healthy break-up, I will be ending it in front of a panel of our friends, namely, Dr. T.K.S. Kumar, Dr. Jean McLaughlin, and Dr. Paul Adams.  I have a slight suspicion that Interleukin- 1 alpha and Dr. Kumar have a secret fling, so hopefully on April 20th he will take their relationship in a new direction and Interleukin will soon forget about me.  It's been a good run, but in the end, it just wasn't meant to be.

I'll keep you all updated in the time being.  For now we're getting a long, but we'll probably be at each other's throats next week. Hopefully Interleukin will cooperate till April 20th... wish it was tomorrow.