self-fulfilling prophecy. . .

Well, It’s been approximately forever since I’ve posted.  I sort of knew that would happen when I started, just because I have a long history of empty journals and diaries in my past.  I’m a terrible photographer for the same reason. . . I’m too busy actually doing the thing that I’m doing to stop and take pictures/write about it/whatever.  Case in point, I had a Halloween party last weekend, and it was really fun, but I didn’t think to take ONE picture the whole time. You’ll all just have to imagine what me in an owl costume must have looked like.  :)

My DIY owl headband for my Halloween costume. It was a “hoot”! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!)

However,  I’m determined not to let the embarrassment of failing to be a “good blogger” get me down, so here we go again.

Lest you think I’ve been a total flake, I can offer some proof to the contrary:

I finally found and purchased dining room furniture

I halfway refinished and built a dresser (details and the finished product to come!)

. . . and I made a fall wreath for my front door for about 12 bucks!

Before I go, I thought I’d share one of my absolute favorite recipes.  I discovered 5 (five!) bananas in the back of my freezer.  Pretty often, I can’t get through all the bananas I purchase before that last one goes over the edge into the “too ripe” category.  Not wanting to be wasteful, I usually throw it in the freezer to save for making banana bread (too ripe, mushy bananas make the BEST bread!)  I’ve tried a lot of recipes since I moved out of my parents’ house, since I made the mistake of not writing down the one my mother uses. However, nothing comes close, in my humble opinion, so I finally had her email me the real deal just a few months ago.  It’s actually a recipe for zucchini bread from an old church recipe book she’s had for ages, but substituting bananas for the zucchini works just fine.  I usually just take the bananas out of the freezer and put them in a bowl to thaw.  Once they’re mostly defrosted, you can just sort of just squish them right out of the peel, and finish mashing them with a fork.  Also, I love it with walnuts, but it’s good without, too. Seriously, try it!

1 1/2 c flour

1 c sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 c nuts (optional)

1/2  c oil

1 medium zucchini (or two mashed bananas)

2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients. Add eggs, nuts and oil.  Add bananas and pour into greased and lightly floured pan; bake for one hour @ 350.

 

 

A reminder of why my friends are so great!

I had such an amazing  (and slightly stressful) weekend over Labor Day break.  I traveled back to PIttsburgh, got to see lots of my very best friends in the world, and witness the love-filled (and fun!) wedding of Jamie Rose and Dave.  I also lost my keys and got no sleep going into Tuesday morning, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’d make a terrible event photographer, mostly because I get so caught up in having fun and enjoying the moment that I forget to take pictures altogether.  I did an ok job this time, but once we got to the cake cutting, that all went out the window. It doesn’t matter in the slightest, though, because Jamie and Dave had a phenomenal wedding photographer, and one of the coolest things she did was set up a laptop on the cake table during the reception to show off a slideshow of the pictures she had taken during the ceremony.   Instant gratification!  I loved it.

So, here are the few pictures I did take.

Flowers in mason jars lined the aisle

The beautiful bride and her father!

It was such a nice ceremony.

Husband and Wife!

I didn’t manage to get a shot of the Matron of Honor walking down the aisle.

It was a really nice ceremony, and it fit Jamie Rose and Dave really well! The reception was also really beautiful.  We took time after the cocktail hour and pictures were finished to set up our tents for later in the night, since we’d be camping where the ceremony took place.  Setting up a tent in the rain with a dress on was certainly a first for me, but it was pretty quick and painless.

The barn where the reception was held

The cake!

Aaaand. . . that’s where the pictures stop. I was having too much fun to keep my phone with me, haha.  There was cake-cutting and toast-making.  Dinner was sooo good; it was a barbeque feast (we all know how much I love food!)  Then there were first dances, and everybody got down!  We did the limbo under a necktie (sure sign of a good time!) and the cupid shuffle.  It was such a fun party, and I remember just having a moment where I looked around at all of the lovely laughing people around me and was so thankful to have such good friends!  I am excited to be in Houston, and I feel like I’m settling in just fine, but it felt so good to be back where everyone is familiar and knows me so well.

After the official reception was over, we moved the party down to a big bonfire set up near the pond where the ceremony had been.  It was really nice to have an after-party, especially because I wasn’t ready to go to bed, I was having too much fun catching up with everyone!  :)  Also, it was sort of fun to not have to worry about getting home, and just crash in a tent!  My family always went camping over Labor Day weekend when I was growing up, so it felt nostalgic.

The wedding was definitely the highlight of my weekend, but it was nice that I didn’t have to head back to Houston until Monday evening, so i had some more time to spend with friends.

Before we left for the airport on Monday so I could go home, I realized I couldn’t find my keys.  We tore Meaghan and Megan’s house apart looking for them, and I called every place I’d been since Friday, to no avail.  I had a quick moment of panic (my keys have my house key, my lab keys, my car keys, basically my whole life) but I got over it quickly.  This was definitely a situation where three heads were better than one.  We came up with a plan b assuming I would never see my keys again.  We scheduled a shuttle home from the airport for when I landed, and I begged one of my classmates for a ride to stats the next morning. I called my other classmate and her husband who were dogsitting for me and had my extra house key to let them know that I’d be locked out, and I felt way better.  I was so thankful to have such smart ladies help me figure it out, and it didn’t feel nearly so catastrophic!

We went out and had a late lunch, and then they dropped me off at the airport.  When I went to check in for my flight, the woman at the counter told me that there was a note attached to my itinerary to pick up lost keys at baggage claim in Houston!  It was some sort of miracle that they bothered to figure out who those keys belonged to, but I was so happy to hear that they were waiting for me.

End of the story, right?  well, not quite.  I canceled my shuttle ride so I could get a refund since you have to cancel 4 hrs before.  However, when I landed in Houston a little after 12 am, the lady at baggage claim had no idea what I was talking about.  She showed me a basket of keys and told me it was all she had.  It was one of those situations where I had been so relieved, and it was doubly disappointing to be stranded at the airport.  By the time she finished looking in the computer system and making a note, it was after 1, and I still had no keys.  I lost it at that point and started crying in the back office of the baggage claim.  It was embarrassing.  I chewed a piece of gum, took a few deep breaths, and pulled it together.  I went out and re-scheduled the shuttle I had canceled, and got home by 2:30.

It was stressful and not the best way to end my weekend, but I went back to the airport yesterday to get my car with my spare key, and checked again with the office and they were there!!!   I am so happy to have my keys back, and that someone cared enough to do some detective work and figure out who the keys belonged to and put a note on my itinerary.  (I think they must have plugged the flash drive that was on my keys into a computer to figure it out).

I don’t know when I’ll next make it back to the ‘Burgh, but I’m so happy I was able to make it for this trip, and I miss all of you already!!!

 

Orientation Week

I know it’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything, but that’s because this week has been really busy!  (Also, I’m pretty sure that’s the direction my life is headed since classes start next week, but I’ll do my best to keep writing when I find a little pocket of time.)  I spent all day in orientation Tuesday, and also on Wednesday morning.  I completed a bunch of administrative tasks, like registering with the payroll office and enrolling in classes. I did enough running around campus to start to have the layout figured out, and I don’t need my GPS to get between home and campus anymore (woo-hoo!)

Last night, I had most of the other first year clinical students over for a potluck to get to know one another better before our schedules get really crazy.  It was fun, and it turns out everyone’s a pretty good cook!  :)

I made this zucchini casserole recipe.  I also made the red pepper aioli the recipe mentions, but I totally spaced and left it in the fridge instead of putting it out with the casserole.  Duh!  I guess I’ll just put it on the leftovers.

Speaking of which, I made a few freezer meals last week to have for the middle of the semester when I’m sure I won’t feel like cooking, and I finally finished setting up my office space and got a chair delivered.  I’ll take some pictures and post about that soon.

I already have a good bit of reading to do, so I’m going to try and get caught up on that tonight so I can enjoy the rest of my weekend.  (what and exciting Friday night!)

 

For the Love of Pickles!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love all things salt and vinegar.  Potato chips for sure, but other things too.  French fries at a football game doused in vinegar and ketchup.  Olives, capers, anything brined. But most of all, I love pickles. I’ve never met a pickle I didn’t like, but my favorites would have to be a tie between dill and bread and butter.

Because of this mild obsession, I’ve been hoarding pickling recipes with the good intention of trying to make my own.  And I have to tell you that I made and teeny tiny batch out of two pickling cucumbers today, but it can hardly be called pickling because I ate all of them after they had spent about an hour in the fridge.  Seriously, all of them.  They were delicious!

Before I had eaten quite all of them, I remembered to take a picture. Haha

I used Recipe Girl’s recipe for Bread and Butter pickles, and only made a few slight changes.  I approximately quartered the recipe for the brine since I had such a puny amount of cucumbers, and  I only used white vinegar since that’s what I had.  Also, I used a red onion instead of a white, and I impulsively threw in a very thinly sliced jalapeno, which made them sweet and spicy pickles.  I am definitely going to have to try this again with a regular sized batch, and not eat them all on the first day so they have some time to really “pickle.”

On another pickleish note, I finally decided what to do with the black-eyed peas from my farmshare box.  Most of the recipes for fresh black-eyed peas (or purple-hull peas as they’re sometimes called) involved some variation on soaking in a vinaigrette after they’d been cooked.   I found this recipe for purple hull pea salad from Homesick Texan, and decided to loosely follow that.  It’s basically salsa or guacamole but with beans instead of tomatoes or avocados.  I decided to throw in some red onion, and once I tasted the final product it was quite spicy (i put in cayenne and two jalapenos, so it better be!)  which I like, but I threw in a pinch of white sugar to balance it out a little.  Also, I decided to put in some corn which I had in the freezer, which is also sort of sweet.

The “cast of characters” as The Pioneer Woman loves to say: cilantro, tomatoes, jalapenos, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, red onion, cumin, cayenne, and salt and pepper.

 

After being simmered for 40 minutes the beans turned an ugly beigey color, but they were nice and tender.

The finished salad. I think it will be yummy as a dip for tortilla chips, or on a bed or greens as a meal.

And finally, if you’re in need of some comedic relief, I took Tilly tubing on the Guadalupe River yesterday.  Unfortunately I don’t have any photographic evidence, but a shot of her in her ridiculous doggy life jacket should give you a pretty good idea.   I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about the whole thing, so I invested in the life jacket as an extra precaution (also, it had a handle on the back which made her easier to grab if I needed to).  She was so not pleased with me for putting her in a tube in the middle of a river, but she was a good sport about it, so it turned out to be a really fun day anyway.  

 

 

My first farmshare box!

I’ve been researching CSAs for a while (Community Supported Agriculture)  but I never committed to one in PIttsburgh. I think they’re such a great concept, and I love the idea of having fresh, delicious produce every week.  One of the consistent complaints I came across was that people would get boxes full of items they had no idea how to cook, but to me that sounds like a challenge rather than a problem.  I love to learn about food and try new recipes, and alien vegetables would be the perfect opportunity to do just that.

There were a bunch of cons, though.  The dropoff locations weren’t convenient, and most of all, I’m only one person and most boxes are meant to feed a whole family.  Since moving to Houston, however, I have found a few farms that offer a partial share box for less money each week. It seems like a more reasonable amount of produce, and there are really convenient pickup locations right near my house.   After researching a few different choices, I settled on the partial share from Wood Duck Farm.  The nice thing about their system is that, if they have shares left, you can buy partway through the season for the remainder of the weeks.  Which means that I was able to buy two weeks of the summer season, and I can try it out before making the commitment (and investment) of the full 12 weeks of the fall growing season.

I picked up my first box tonight, and this is what was in it:

two bell peppers, pickling cukes, two zucchini, an eggplant, an acorn squash, a handful of jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, salad greens, some sort of sprout, and a whole mess o’beans.

I’m not kidding when I tell you I could have eaten the whole bag of tomatoes standing in my kitchen.  They’re so good!!  Everything is something I’ve used before, except for the beans.  I tried to do a little detective work to figure out what they are, but can’t find anything online that matches.

The beans out of their shell

The closest thing I could find were Borlotti, or Cranberry beans, but these look different than those on the inside.

Let me know if you know what those beans are.  I’m pretty excited to have all these great veggies, now I just have to figure out what to do with them.  :)

On a sort of unrelated, but still vegetable-filled note, here’s what I made for dinner tonight:  Pan Roasted Chicken and Veggies.  I followed this recipe, but I was a little bit more liberal with the seasonings.  Also, I threw in a bell pepper just because.

Potatoes, Onion, Garlic, and Green Pepper all drizzled with olive oil and lots of S&P

After about 25 minutes, I threw in the chicken. This is about 15 minutes later, after the chicken is done.

After I let the spinach “wilt”. . . I may have gotten distracted and let it go for a little bit too long. Oops!

The final product. It was really yummy (and quite healthy, all things considered).

 

Experiments in the Kitchen

One of the things I’ve learned after a few years of cooking for myself on a consistent basis is that the week always goes better if I’ve got a plan.  Whether it’s not knowing what to make, or not having all of the ingredients, it’s the worst to have to go to the grocery store multiple times a week or resort to eating out (especially on a tight budget).  One of the chores for the weekend is to plan out the whole week and go shopping.

Yesterday I was in the mood to try a few new recipes, and so I picked a few from this list that sounded interesting.  65 Cheap, Healthy, One-Dish Meals with Good Leftover Potential. . . what’s not to love about that?  Genius.  

First up, Shrimp-and-Rice Stuffed Tomatoes.  After I went shopping, this was the recipe I was most excited to make, so i did.  :)

Rice, tomatoes, onions and garlic, lemon, oregano, feta cheese, and shrimp. Sounds simple enough, and it really was.  There were a few things I did that were slightly different than the recipe, but nothing drastic.  First, I only had basmati rice, so I used that.  Also, the tomatoes I found were outrageous mutant enormous tomatoes, so I only got three.  Also, I got raw shrimp still in the peel, so I had to peel and de-vein it myself.  This can be a little bit time consuming, but it’s really not hard, and it makes the shrimp much cheaper (I got a half pound for something like three dollars and change).  If you’ve never had to clean shrimp before, this video is a good tutorial.  

Because I only had three tomatoes, I had some extra stuffing at the end, so I just filled a ramekin and baked it in that.  I baked the ramekin about 10 minutes less than the tomatoes.  The reason I felt the need to share the recipe was that it was really delicious and satisfying for a little bit of work and time.  I love recipes that are a high rate of delicious return on your small investment of time/money.  They turned out great! The stuffing on top got browned and a little bit crunchy, the cheese got soft, and the shrimp were really tender. It was a nice light summery meal.  

Also, I was in the mood for a cocktail, and the peaches grabbed my attention in the produce aisle, so I made Peach Margaritas following Martha’s recipe.  The first step was to cut up the peaches and let them soak in sugar, a little bit of salt and triple sec.

I could have eaten them out of the bowl just like this!

After tequila, lime, and the blender. I’m not fancy enough to have actual margarita glasses, so I’m living it up with plastic tumbler. haha

They turned out pretty well too!  It was a really great summer evening meal.

 

Bookshelf Inspiration

One of the things I’m most focused on doing before grad school starts is making sure I have a quiet, cohesive organized space to do work.  If I wait until the work has started, it will never get done ( I know this from experience).  Since I didn’t take my desk with me when I moved, I’m starting with a totally blank slate, which is pretty exciting.  After searching through photos on the internet of beautiful home offices, one of the things I was continually drawn to was very simple lines with walls of built-in bookcases.  Since this is a little bit (read way) out of my budget or the scope of my know-how, I really loved how this space has some of the same atmosphere.

From simplybcreative.blogspot.com

After a quick bit of searching, I found a desk and bookcases that would help me get a similar look at Target. I chose this desk and these bookcases to go with it.  I like that they’re not as narrow as the ones pictured above.

The Carson 5-Shelf Bookcase in White

The Carson Anywhere Desk in White

 

Let me just tell you that after they were delivered and I took the time to put all three pieces together, I didn’t want to look at them for about three days or so.  I was so sick of wrangling tiny little screws!

Now comes the fun part: I didn’t know that there were so many ways to decorate (or “style”) a bookcase, but I wasted a good bit of time investigating all the different suggestions. This article from Centsational Girl made lots of really great points.  Here are some ideas that I loved.

What a cool backdrop, and it looks really nice to use horizontal books as a bookend.

Picture frames and interesting accessories break up the monotony of only book spines

Love the bright, geometric backdrop on this one from Eddie Ross.

This article from The Art of Doing Stuff shows seven (7!) different ways to stack books.

I think this one is my favorite!

I haven’t gotten very far yet, but I decided that I for sure wanted to cover the back panel of the cases with an interesting and cheerful pattern.  The comforter in the extra bedroom is a cool gray and yellow graphic pattern and so I wanted to stick with something that would go with that.  Once I found this contact paper on Amazon, I was sold.  (also, it was only $5.50 since I added to an order of things I had already decided on. . . can’t beat that!)

 

I just received it this morning, and couldn’t wait to get work!  I’ve only done one bookcase so far, but I loved the results so much that I really wanted to share my progress.

The first bookcase with contact paper finished. . . I still have another one to do.

 

I put the contact paper onto the front side of the back panels before I screwed the panels onto the bookcases to that it would be easier to get the edges exact and not have to worry about cutting the corners inside the bookcase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think?  I love how cheerful they look now that they’re not just plain white.  Have you ever done something simple like this to make a pretty big change in the way something looks?