A blessing in disguise?

This week I've been kind of tired and having a hard time feeling "caught up" since I had such a busy weekend last week.  I think I've technically gotten everything back to its usual order (except ohmygosh do I need to clean my floors!), but I still just can't get out of that funk.  Do you ever have that problem?  When I don't have any time to just chill at home on the weekends, I feel like it takes me two weeks to get back to normal.

Anyway, I've been forcing myself to do the stuff I know I should be doing, even though I haven't felt like it.  On Tuesday night, Matt and I went grocery shopping for the week.  We were both starving and we didn't really feel like cooking.  We went through our usual go-to's that are in the house--veggie burgers, ravioli, pasta with homemade frozen meatballs-- but none of it really seemed appealing.  I was thisclose to pulling the "can we just grab pizza?" card, when I decided what we should really have was salmon!  

If you know me, this is a weird thing for me to decide.  I have played a pretty tough nothing-that-swims diet since childhood, but I think I may be a convert after all, because I actually craved seafood.  We bought some mustard and brown sugar marinated wild-caught salmon from the fish counter to grill on the Foreman, roasted some asparagus, and made some 5 minute whole-wheat couscous.

Faster and much healthier than any takeout!

The whole meal came together in about 15 minutes, which is less time than we would have waited to get pizza and I really felt better about eating this.  Also, that mustard and brown sugar marinade was awesome!  Must remember for future dinners.   

I made another Green Monster yesterday and it was even better than the day before!  I decided that for me, I need to have the banana fresh, not frozen.  It adds a creaminess I just love.  This monster was so delish, but I had to quit half way through because I was SO FULL.  I poured the rest into an air tight drink container and put it in the fridge overnight.  I finished it this morning--and I have to tell you--it was even better after sitting over night!  Maybe the oats soaked up extra milk or the ingredients got to know each other better--whatever, I don't care what the reason was, it was so good!

Then, I set my trusty pal, The Crock Pot, to make my dinner for me while I went to work.  Today that little beauty made me Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry.  Oh.  My.  God.  I can't even express how good this was!  I used chicken leg-thigh pieces because that's what I had from our Meat CSA.  The meat was tender and juicy and the sauce was an amazing consistency.  The original poster of the recipe noted that she is not much of a sauce person, but she had drenched her rice in this sauce.  Well I totally AM a sauce person and I went back for seconds... and thirds... of sauce to cover my rice. No grain of rice left behind!  Yum.  I will totally be making this frequently.

The dishes are done, I made lunches for tomorrow (I made myself a salad of 50/ 50 blend, dried figs, a little ham, and some toasted pecans with a mustard vinaigrette.  I'm really excited to eat it tomorrow!), my face is washed, and my teeth are brushed and flossed, so I'm hangin' on the couch watching The Wonder Years.  

Now for the part that goes with the title of this entry.  Today, I was having a totally normal, casual conversation with my boss when he suddenly told me that he's having trouble finding money to continue funding my position.  I did know that my position was technically a one year appointment (I started in March), but he has previously seemed pretty optimistic that he would find funding to continue to pay me.  It seems that may have changed.  So, while I have a position until at least late February/ March, I probably need to find something new.

Why is this possibly a blessing in disguise?  Well, I don't really want to be a scientist.  I've known this for awhile and definitely knew that before I started this position.  I have actually been looking for a new job since I started this one, but I haven't had any bites yet.  Now that I have my boss's blessing to look for jobs and use him as a reference, I feel more confident about applying to more jobs.  I still have this feeling of "wait-you-don't-break-up-with-me,I-break-up-with-you!" but at the very least, I appreciate that he didn't walk in one way and tell me my time had run out and instead gave me some warning.

I don't want to end on a negative note, so I'll say that I have found some jobs I am pretty interested in and I am hopeful that this will be the break I've been waiting for.  Until next time!

Trips to the water cooler...

Being a lab technician is weird in the sense that I think sometimes my boss forgets I exist.  It's kind of nice most of the time, since I can do things like update my blog, read other blogs, play Words with Friends, etc. but since he usually stops in the lab later on in the day I have to at least look busy.

Things I do to look busy:
Write in my lab notebook
Wash dishes
Calibrate scales
Sign off on our waste removal area
Go to the bathroom and run my hands under hot water for awhile (it's freakin' COLD in here!)
Check to see if my boss is still here
Go to the water cooler and fill up my bottle

The last one is key because I've been trying to drink two full bottles a day.  My bottles look like this:

They hold about 650mL of water, so two bottles a day is about 1.3L of water.  Drinking water doesn't seem like a big deal, but have you ever gone awhile without drinking enough water?  It makes me tired and cranky, so hydrate up!

Don't be afraid of Monsters!

I meant to mention in a brief post on Thursday that it would be unlikely that I'd post anything for the rest of the weekend, as I was too busy participating in the wedding weekend of one of my best friends, Robin, and her wonderful husband, Alex!  The festivities began on Thursday night, when we gathered at Robin's Mom's house for dinner.  We continued on Friday by decorating the venue and having the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Centerpieces, all handmade by the bride and her Mom.

Christmas tree loaded with pics of the bride and groom.

Seating assignments in cute pinecones!

The bride is a graphic designer, so all of her table assignments, invitations, programs, thank-yous, etc. were impeccably done.  Her Mom is also a Martha Stewart of sorts, so they hand made all of the decorations.  It was so incredibly beautiful on Friday morning that I could not wait to see it with the candles lit on Saturday night.

We spent some time on Friday eating lasagna and dancing/ singing at the rehearsal dinner.  I sat with some of my favorite people in the whole world!

My other two best gals with our guys.

We spent Saturday morning getting hair/ makeup ready, and wrapped up on Saturday evening with one of the most beautiful ceremonies and most fun receptions I've ever been to.

Congratulations, Robin and Alex!

Naturally, on Sunday, I was totally exhausted.  However, when great things keep happening for your friends, you don't get to rest!  I got myself up and out the door for Krystal's baby shower!  You may remember that I attended Krystal and Mike's wedding back in September.  (Yes, I attended four weddings this year.  R&A's was my last 'til 2012!)  They are also having a baby boy in February!  I am SO excited for them, as Krystal has talked about wanting to be a Mom since I've known her.  

I didn't get to do any housework over the weekend, so I went into Monday feeling less than stellar.  When I got out of work, I really didn't feel like doing anything, but I forced myself to start dinner as soon as I walked in the door, followed by throwing in a load of laundry, and walking downtown to grab a few things from the grocery store.  The loop from my house to the store and back is somewhere around a mile, not much, but it actually did get me to wake up and stay energized to finish the rest of the laundry, cook dinner, and do the dishes.

Taco rice with avocado and Cholula.  Mm.

Now, finally getting to the part about where this title comes from.  I've been reading a few blogs for while that advocate drinking Green Monster Smoothies.  They are basically smoothies that are packed with spinach, giving a bright green color, a whole lotta vitamins, and (supposedly) very little flavor.  I decided that today was the day when I would try one.  I adapted my recipe from Iowa Girl Eats and used 1 cup 1% milk, 1/4 cup uncooked oats, 1 frozen banana, 1 tablespoon Almond Butter, 1 tablespoon of chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast, and 2 medium sized handfulls of spinach (I was nervous, okay!).

Enough to fill a pint glass, plus a little more.

In the first sip, I could taste the spinach, but it became less and less noticeable as I continued drinking and it was pretty tasty.  I will definitely be making more in the future to use up my outrageously expensive almond butter.  The grocery store I went to last night is VERY small and kind of boutique-ish, so my jar of almond butter cost $15.49!  Ahh!  Too!  Much!  I don't know how I didn't realize it before taking it home, I think I was lost in thoughts about its potential deliciousness.  It is really really good, but I will not be buying it there again anytime soon. 

Well, I suppose I should get to work on the never ending pile of glassware that awaits me in the lab sink.  Have a good day!

 

Work/ life balance.

After finally updating my blog yesterday and doing some other good-Lindsey things, like prepping veggies for a crockpot chicken soup, drinking 1.5 liters of water throughout the day, doing all the dishes, and premaking lunches, I was feeling pretty great.  I was feeling like I could get back into a routine that made me happier and healthier.  I went to bed satisfied.

I woke up with a slight headache and almost overwhelming nausea.  I elected to ignore it while I made oatmeal for both of us and coffee for me.  I had some water and took a Sudafed because I thought my "headache" was living in my sinuses.  I took a really hot shower (hoping to steam that sucker away!), no dice.  I went to work and continued to feel really crappy while I started as assay that I thought would take about 9 hours.  Still in pain, I gave in and took an Excedrin migraine.  It actually made my head feel a little better, but made the nausea way worse.  Note:  they are STILL demoing the floor below me and there is almost constant hammering, drilling, and shaking--not good.

I was hoping that the nausea was just that I had taken meds without eating, so I had my lunch.

Disregard the messy table.  It's not me, it's my coworkers.

I had a turkey wrap with red pepper hummus and sliced avocado, fruit salad, and some cocoa roasted almonds.  It didn't really take away the nausea either.  I expected that I would need to start the next step of my assay as soon as I was done with lunch, so I packed up my stuff and checked on my cells.  Not ready.  And I checked again and again, only to find that they had apparently stopped growing.  My 9 hour assay was now looking like an 11 hour assay.  NOT OKAY!

Fortunately, there isn't a lot of active work, so at around 5pm, I skipped out to run a few errands and grab some dinner.  (So much for my taco rice meal plan!  Although, in a somewhat serendipitous turn, I actually forgot to take out the ground beef to thaw, anyway.)  I stopped at Trader Joe's and grabbed some Spicy Thai Pasta salad.

Yum.

As far as ready-to-eat grocery store items go, this one is pretty delicious.  I have only ever eaten this meal in my car in the parking lot of Trader Joe's.  I always feel pretty weird when someone pulls up next to me as I'm taking a big mouthful of pasta, but whatever.  Incidentally, I like a lot of Trader Joe's products, but I actually HATE going into Trader Joe's.  It is such a zoo in there and there are always people standing directly in front of the food I want to look at, pondering the meaning of life or something.  

After dinner, I went back to work.  (This is a sentence I hope to never repeat.)  Fortunately, at this point, my anger at staying late at work had either distracted me from feeling ill or I was feeling better.  I finished up my work and walked out of the door at 7:36pm.  When I got home, I was still hungry, so I had some apples and warm peanut butter.

I only had a slightly sad Granny Smith apple leftover from the brie-apple-triscuit bachelorette snack, but with honey roasted peanut butter, anything would be good.  My hilarious friend, Shannon, used to talk of a mythical land where only certain kinds of apples--the kinds that she likes, naturally--existed.  I think her choices are Granny Smith and Macintosh, but I can't remember.  Anyway, I really don't like Granny Smiths, and in Lindseyland, we will eat Cortland apples and maybe Braeburn apples.

I'm now in my PJs, watching Matt play the new Zelda and planning for a better day tomorrow.  It's crockpot chicken soup day, and it's going to be great, damn it!

Back in the saddle?

It's been more than a month since my last post.  I wish I could say that I have some spectacular photographs to show off or tales of an amazing vacation or at least a run down of delicious things I've been eating, but unfortunately, I have none of those.  

Why the hiatus?  Well, I suppose there are a few reasons.  One, I have been incredibly busy with holiday planning, bridal events for a close friend, continuing to get our apartment in order, looking for jobs, etc.  Two, I hit a bit of a slump after my last triumphant post.  You see, all that raving about how amazing my dinner was going to be and how proud I was that I had it all ready to go in the morning, and then when we ate it... it sucked.  I think I said something along the lines of "no such thing as too much buffalo sauce."  WRONG.  There is such a thing and sadly, I found it.  I ended up being able to salvage the filling and make some quesadillas, but for some reason, this dinner let-down put me in a funk.

I did eat some delicious stuff over the last few weeks, but most of it was not cooked by me.  I fell off the wagon and we had a lot of pizza and other restaurant eats for the past few weeks.  Perhaps it's a coincidence, perhaps not, but we've both been feeling a bit under the weather for the last few weeks.  So, today, I'm trying to get back on the menu planning horse.  The wedding I've been prepping for is on Saturday, and I'm a bridesmaid so I've got bridesmaidly duties on Thursday-Saturday this week, so it's only a few meals, but you have to start somewhere.

Tonight, I made a pasta primavera.  Nothing too complicated, but so delicious.  I sauteed onions, garlic, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, and bell pepper with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and 2 stalks of rosemary.  I added a little chicken stock and simmered for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, I had boiled some pasta to al dente.  Tossed them together, put some manchego cheese on top, and voila!  Tomorrow, it's Taco (Rice) Tuesday.  And Wednesday, crock pot chicken soup, which I have been craving for weeks.

While I'm here, I thought it would be a good time to check in on some of my original September resolutions.  I still haven't even begun to play the flute on any particular schedule.  It really needs to be tuned up and re-padded, and I just haven't gotten around to it.  Also, the second I start playing, the dog upstairs starts freaking out and I don't want to torture my neighbors.  As mentioned, the menu planning has been off and on, but I'm hoping today is a new beginning!  I did stick to my reading resolution for all but the last week, when I was simply too busy to start a new book.  I have really started to enjoy reading AND I have the added bonus of knowing how awesome Hunger Games is before the movie comes out in March!

This is  pretty text heavy and totally lacking in pictures, so I'm going to call it quits for now.  I will try to do better on my promise to post twice a week and to arm myself with some pictures.

Who am I?

So, I've been trying really hard to do the meal planning thing for a few months now.  I'd say that I'm tending to fall more on the side of success rather than failure, but sometimes it still doesn't totally work out.  I've figured out that the key for me is planning 4 meals, figuring that on at least one of the nights we will end up going out/ ordering in and on the other nights we can have some of our stand-by meals--veggie burgers and sweet potato fries, spaghetti and homemade frozen meatballs, Annie's macaroni and cheese, etc.  It is Thursday and I have to say that this week might be my biggest planning success yet!

On Monday, I made shepherd's pie.  It's probably my favorite meal from childhood and the ultimate comfort food for me.  I don't think mine is as good as my Mom's, but we still enjoyed it.  I forgot to take pictures, but let's be honest, you know what it looks like and it isn't all that picturesque, anyway.  We managed to eat have some leftovers for lunch one day this week, too.  Score!

On Tuesday, I made baked salmon with lemon-dill butter, gingery green beans, and whole wheat couscous.

One of the healthier looking meals, I'd say.

Healthy aside from the sort of large amount of butter on the salmon.  I'm new to eating seafood and previously the only salmon I would eat had to be marinated past the point of no return in teriyaki.  This was a big step, but it was SO GOOD.  We will definitely have this again.

On Wednesday night, I made some sun dried tomato pesto with spaghetti squash.

Some of my favorite foods combined!  Can't be bad!

I made up the recipe for the pesto, but it was basically: 8 oz of sun dried tomatoes, a handful of basil, 1 clove of garlic, 1/4 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper, enough olive oil to bring together.  Pulse the first 6 ingredients in the food processor until everything is chopped finely, then turn the machine on and stream in olive oil until it is a pesto consistency.  The recipe makes more than enough for two people, so I froze the rest for another night.

Today's dinner is what takes the cake, though.  It takes the cake because it's 7:05 am and I have already assembled everything for Buffalo Chicken and Black Bean enchiladas.  I know.  It started last night when I roasted some chicken overnight in the crock pot.

Not a bad thing to wake up to in the morning!

The chicken was roasted so perfectly and fell right off the bone.  I pulled the chicken and saved the bones and other stuff from the roasting pot for a future chicken stock.  I took some cues from Megan at Running Foodie and added black beans and more cheese, and she got the original recipe here.  I also forgot to get red enchilada sauce, but I wanted things to be pretty heavily buffalo sauced, so I used a combo of about 1/2 cup pureed tomatoes to 1 1/2 cups buffalo wing sauce.  I also really like cilantro, so I mixed some in with the filling, too.

It's going to be a long day thinking about this.

And this.

Matt might have band practice tonight, so I left this in the fridge with instructions so he can make it before I get home and have something tasty for dinner before he leaves.

I decided that I might as well just go for it and do all the dishes this morning, too.  So, tonight when I get home, dinner will be cooked and there won't be any dishes to do.  This is a major success.  Did I mention that I haven't even had my coffee yet!?!?!  You'll have to excuse me, I'm very proud of myself.

Have a great day!

Me + my Crock Pot = BFFs

If you are not using a crock pot on a regular basis, you are missing out, big time.  I try to incorporate at least one crock pot meal into my weekly dinner plan.  Why?  Well, there are a few reasons.

1.  The recipes are almost always:  Put some meat in the crock pot.  Add some veggies.  Cover with some broth/ sauce/ spice mixture.  I don't think any combination I've ever used has turned out poorly.

2.  It takes a few seconds in the morning to put this stuff in the pot.  But, I left this at home when I went to work.

A delicious beginning?

3.  Then, I got to come home to this!

Falling off the bone.

What's that you say?  Those pictures don't really look all that different?  Well, it's unfortunate for you that there isn't smell-o-vision to accompany these photos because they smell way different.  Not that it smelled bad this morning.  But this evening, before I even entered our porch I could smell Asian-beef goodness wafting from my kitchen.  

4.  Those smells will make all of the neighborhood animals gather at your house.  Okay, not really.  And, I guess most people wouldn't enjoy that kind of thing, but I would.

The moral of the story here is get a crock pot and embrace it.  It wants to help you. 

Bad blog habits.

Is it possible that another week has passed and I didn't post at all?  So sorry.  It seems a little tricky these days to find time in between work and wanting to fall asleep at 7pm because it's dark out already.  It's Saturday and this past week already feels like a blur.  The highlight of the week was having April and Will over for weeknight dinner party on Tuesday.

I was in the mood for Asian and we had some pork chops from our CSA so I decided to make our favorite pork stir fry.  It is loaded with fresh ginger and the combination of the snap of fresh green beans with the sweet and tender pork is perfectly matched with the salty soy/ garlic/ ginger sauce.

I wish you could smell this while looking at the photo.

Normally, we serve this stir fry with some brown basmati rice.  Speaking of, do you have a rice cooker?  If you don't, you really should.  We had contemplated getting a fancy electric rice cooker, but decided to try our luck with a microwavable one instead.

Nothin' fancy.

It isn't anything amazing to look at, but it does really make the rice cooking much easier.  Since April is a vegetarian and wouldn't be partaking in the pork stir fry, I decided I needed to make something other than plain rice for her.  So I made up a little extra rice and then made Shiitake (Portabello) Fried Rice.

Fried rice is the best.

For some reason when I went shopping this week I wrote down Shiitake mushrooms and read it before picking them up, but my hands went directly to the Portabello bin.  Weird brain stuff must have been going on, but it totally worked and was super yummy.

Since this was a weeknight dinner date and I wouldn't be getting home until about an hour before dinner was to be served, I did all the prepping the night before.  That meant chopping veggies, cooking rice, slicing pork, and grating ginger.  I have to admit that while I was doing the prepping I wasn't enjoying it.  However, it's really nice to follow a recipe the next day and feel like you're on a cooking show and prep cooks have done all the chopping and you can just add things as the recipe says.  

For dessert, April brought over some peanut butter and chocolate covered frozen banana slices.  So. Good.  We had a great time chatting with them, as always, and I think the food was a success.

In a strange turn of events, we realized after they left that we had a Groupon to our favorite ice cream place, Herrell's.  Herrell's is owned and run by Steve Herrell, who is a pretty big celebrity in the ice cream world.  I see him in the Northampton store sometimes and he also seems like a nice guy and a good person to work for.  He is also the true inventor of the mix-in concept, which was kind of stolen by Cold Stone Creamery (no link for them!).  Anyway, we totally didn't want to miss out on using our Groupon, so we went down to grab a quart of Burnt Sugar and Butter to bring home.  Once we were in there, we couldn't not get ice cream to eat right then and there.  I don't stray from Burnt Sugar and Butter unless they are out of it (which makes me sad), but since I knew we had a quart to bring home, I decided to be super adventurous and get New England Chocolate Chip, a slightly maple ice cream base with chocolate chips.  It tastes nearly identical to my old standby, but that's beside the point.  A very sweet end to the evening, indeed!

Pork and Green Beans with Ginger Sauce (from Stir-Fries Best Ever Wok & Pan Recipes, published by Bay Books)

**We make a half recipe and it works great for the two of us, but also stretched for three of us this week.

3/4 C soy sauce

4 tbsp white or rice wine vinegar (get the rice wine!!)

1 tsp sugar

pinch of dried chili flakes

3 tsp cornstarch

1 1/4 pounds pork fillet, trimmed into thin slices (put it back in the freezer for about 10 minutes after it's thawed for easy slicing)

2 tbsp peanut oil

11 oz fresh green beans

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1.  Place the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chili flakes, cornstarch, and 1/3 C water into a bowl and mix well.  Add the pork and toss to coat well.  (I literally ALWAYS forget the water here.  It works out to being a thicker sauce and a little stronger in flavor, but definitely still works!)

2.  Heat a wok over high heat, add half the oil and swirl to coat the side.  Drain the pork, reserving the liquid, and add to the wok.  Stir-fry over high heat for 1-2 minutes, or until brown.  Remove the pork from the wok.

3.  Heat the remaining oil, add the beans and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.  Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until fragrant.  Return the pork and any juices to the pan and add the reserved marinade.  Bring to the boil and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Shiitake (or Portabello) Fried Rice (adapted from Vegetarian Cooking & Vegetable Classics, by Roz Denny and Christine Ingram)

2 eggs

3 tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil and it was fine at this heat)

12 oz shiitake (or Portabello) mushrooms, chopped into small pieces

8 spring onions, sliced diagonally

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1 oz butter

6-8oz long grain rice, cooked (definitely go with 8 oz.)

1 tbsp medium dry sherry (I forgot to pick this up, so I used a little white wine.  Whatever.)

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

salt

1.  Beat the eggs with 1 tbsp cold water and season with a little salt.  Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large non-stick skillet and pour the eggs, making a large omelet.  Lift the sides to allow all of it to be cooked (no flipped required).  Roll it up and turn it out of the pan onto a cutting board. 

2.  Heat another 1 tbsp of the oil and stir-fry the spring onions and garlic, until softened, but not browned, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove them to the cutting board with the omelet.

3.  Add the pepper to the pan, stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, add the butter and the remaining 1 tbsp of oil.  Add the mushrooms and stir-fry over a moderate heat for 3-4 minutes until softened and browned.

4.  Pour the sherry over the mushrooms and then stir in the rice.  Heat the rice over moderate heat, stirring to prevent sticking.  You can add a little more oil if it's getting really dried out, but I didn't have to.  Stir in the onions and garlic, sliced omelet, soy sauce, and cilantro.  Cook a few more minutes and serve while hot.

Today I am...

happy that:  I get to go see Shannon today!

less than happy that:  making my coffee seems like such a huge chore right now.

daydreaming about: getting my Christmas shopping started soon?  Will this be the year that I finish early?

 

Current reading:  Still going on Catching Fire, albeit a little slowly.  It's because it's getting dark so early.

Next up:  Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins 

Playing on the flute:  I blame it on the dog upstairs.

Weekend catch-up!

Happy weekend, everyone!  I got to leave work a little early yesterday so I could skip out to Worcester for my friends' wedding.  I worked with Mike at the EcoTarium and Krystal was a volunteer there.  If two people could ever really be made for each other, it's them.  They balance each other so perfectly.  Their wedding was beautiful and fun--a great kick-off to the weekend!

Me and the beautiful bride!

We got home pretty late, so it was only right that we stayed in bed a little late today.  When we got up, Matt and I went to the Route 9 Diner for breakfast.  I had a Sante Fe omelet (avocado, tomato, and onion--topped with LOTS of Frank's Hot Sauce.  Yum!) and Matt had Irish Eggs Benedict (English muffins topped with homemade corned beef hash, a poached egg, and Hollandaise--I stole a few bites and it was delicious!). 

When I came home, I forced myself to do some laundry and watched some Felicity on Netflix.  Then, I did something pretty awesome.

No, I didn't upload the incorrect picture.

Why is a closed door amazing?  Well, it's my closet door and I haven't been able to easily close it since we moved into our current apartment in June.  There are some hooks on the doors and for some reason I've been just hanging stuff up there rather than really putting it away.  My shoes were all falling off the racks and it was basically chaos.

Now it looks like this!

I should have really taken a "before" picture so it made more sense why this is a triumph for humanity, but I didn't, so you'll just have to trust me.  I got another bag of stuff for Goodwill and a dress and purse that I might be able to get some cash for from the consignment shop.  Getting rid of stuff always makes it easier to give everything a place.  Since I have a lot of clothes and not a ton of room in my dresser and closet, I have some plastic drawers that I use for off-season clothes and miscellaneous stuff that I don't use as much.  They were totally disorganized and full of stuff that I just couldn't deal with.

Those little pink things?  Post-its with labels of the drawer's contents.   Yeah, I'm crazy.

To reward myself for all of this organization, I bought myself my first-ever cashmere sweater.

Isn't it dreamy?

I've been wanting to invest in a good cashmere sweater for awhile now, but I could never decide what kind of sweater, what color, what weight, etc.  It felt like this huge commitment so I just never got one.  But, today was the day.  Oatmeal is one of my go-to colors since it goes with everything and that buckle--amazing!  Also, I really strongly favor cardigans with a sort of drapey bottom, so this is right up my alley.  It's also SO SOFT.  Thank you, Cynthia Rowley and whoever is responsible for this sweater ending up for more than 50% off its retail value at TJ Maxx.

Now I'm hanging out, finishing laundry, and planning my meals for the week while I let in a little fall air and burn my Autumn candle.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Today I am...

happy that:  the fall weather is back and hopefully here to stay!  Sweater weather is my favorite!

less than happy that:  it's starting to get darker a lot earlier these days.

daydreaming about: wearing my new sweater.  I might just keep going to pet it.

 

Current reading:  I finished Hunger Games earlier this week and I absolutely loved it!  Just getting into Catching Fire now, but I'm liking it a lot so far.

Next up:  Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins 

Playing on the flute:  I tried playing the Zelda theme song the other day (I thought Matt would like it), but the neighbors' dog was freaking the eff out so I decided to stop.  I really need to have my flute tuned up.  Yeah, that must be the problem.

The Big E is for Eating.

On Sunday, Matt and I made our annual trip to the Big E.  The Big E is a giant fair celebrating New England, which means it is right up my alley.  While a lot of people are quick to complain about our nasty winters, humid summers, impolite drivers, etc., I genuinely love New England and all that is has to offer.  There is a building for each state (fun fact: these buildings are technically in their home states, despite the fact that they are located in West Springfield) that house local crafters, farmers, artists, and all sorts of other stuff...

But mostly, the Big E is all about food.  Deep fried food.

After our first stop for mini-donuts (breakfast), we made our way to the alley between the CT and NH buildings for Texas baked potatoes (brunch).  We joked that CT is the lamest state in New England (sorry, Shannon!) so they have to take something from Texas to make them cool.  But whatever, the potatoes are delicious.  Matt and I split one--my half had butter, bacon, chives, and cheese and Matt's had all of the aforementioned goodies plus BBQ pulled pork.  As usual, when I got really excited about the food we were eating, I forgot to take pictures.  For lunch, we had pizza from the American Flatbread Company in VT.  It's so so so good.  For an afternoon snack, I had a gyro, while Matt had a White Hut burger.  And finally, for dessert we had some deep fried Oreos.  I wish they weren't good... but, they are.  They really are.  I feel like I might be missing something, but I'm pretty sure that covers our gluttony for the day.  I realize it's a ridiculous amount of food.  That's why we only do it once a year.

I did remember to take some pictures of non-food stuff at the Big E.

The sweetest little baby alpaca, ever!

Matt wants to have an alpaca farm someday.  I am actually on board with this.  Although, he really wants a llama.  Because they're so angry looking.

Hard to tell, but this is Matt and Jake riding the big, yellow slide!

This was Matt's first time ever riding the slide.  (Know that I am picturing your look of complete disbelief, April!) I seriously don't know how he got to be 27 years old without riding the slide, but I'm glad he has it under his belt now.

Aw, he liked it!

When we got home, we pretty much collapsed to the couch.  Eating that much food takes away any energy to do anything else.  While Matt and I were on the couch, Lulu found a new place to sleep.

Inside the broken drawer of our coffee table.  Cats.

Today I am...

happy that:  I finally had time to sit down and finish this post since I've been working at it for two days.

less than happy that:  there are dishes to be done.  Boo.

daydreaming about: Krystal and Mike's wedding on Friday!

Current reading:  Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Next up: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Playing on the flute:  Meh.

Success!

Science is a lot more fun when it does what you want it to.  This is what I've been working on all week.

It's pretty AND it tells exactly the story I wanted it to tell!

And since I know you'll get this, Shannon, it was really hard to keep myself from cutting off the edge with half smiles.

Blargh!

Okay, I dropped the ball a little on my resolutions this week.  Mainly, I have been having a really difficult time being positive this week.  Work has been totally chaotic and stressful, I've been coming in early and leaving late (which I make it a point to NOT do under most circumstances), and I've just overall been a bundle of nerves since Monday morning.  Since it's Friday (my favorite day of the week), I decided to do a brief check-in with the blog and with myself to remind myself to move on from this bad week and make next week better.

I did cook some delicious things this week, but aside from the Golden Tomato Soup I invented on Sunday, I really didn't take any pictures.

So yummy!

I made this up as I went, but this is a brief overview of what I did.  I think the most important thing is that you start with fresh, ripe heirloom tomatoes.  I chose one large yellow, two marbled orange/ yellows, and a small green (roughly 1.5 pounds).  Remove the skin of the tomatoes, which is done easily by either blanching them quickly in boiling water or singeing the skin with the flame of a gas burner or the broiler.  Heat 1/4C olive oil over medium heat in a saucepan.  Briefly saute one clove of garlic then squish in the tomatoes.  Try to mash them up as you go and cook for about 5 minutes.  I pureed this mixture in my blender here, but be very careful, it's super hot and full of oil.  Return to pan and add a 15oz can of chicken/veggie/beef stock.  Simmer for a few minutes and at the last minute, add a few tablespoons of cream/ half and half/ milk and some torn fresh basil.  Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan and some crusty bread croutons.

I promise to be back this weekend with better posts!

Today I am...

happy that:  it's FINALLY Friday, I might join my coworkers and boss for a beer this afternoon, and it's Big E weekend!  Woo!

less than happy that: there is a LOT of rain in the forecast.  And, it's super humid and gross today.

daydreaming about: maybe getting a haircut tomorrow and going to the Big E.

Current reading:  Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Next up: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Playing on the flute:  Meh.

Saturday...

I had  a pretty great start to the weekend yesterday.  Matt is away in NH this weekend with friends, so I used the opportunity to get caught up on a few chores and things that have fallen by the wayside in the last few weeks.  I had an unfortunate encounter with my most feared household pest--the house centipede--while I was getting my cleaning supplies to scrub the bathtub.  I am not afraid of most bugs.  I even caught a wasp a few weeks ago and set it free out the window.  Not house centipedes, though.  They are so gross.  Anyway, I was very brave after my encounter and continued on with my cleaning.

I won't bore with stories about my cleaning except to endorse my two favorite cleaning products, ever.  First, I clean our hardwood floors with Method hardwood floor cleaner.  It smells like almonds and that alone makes me want to clean the floors every day.  In general, I use Method products whenever possible.  They always smell great and have a low toxicity rating.  Next, is a product introduced to me by my friend, Shannon, of Hello, my name is Quilt.  The product is Barkeeper's Friend Liquid Cleanser.  It will make your stainless steel shiny and new and even made our very old bathroom faucet look great.

After my cleaning, I took a walk downtown to the farmer's market.

Those red and pink flowers in the front were like velvet, totally gorgeous.

I didn't have a lot of cash on me, so I didn't buy a whole lot at the market.  I knew I wanted to get some yellow tomatoes to make soup this week.  As a general rule, I only like yellow and orange tomatoes.  Apparently they are lower in acid and are therefore sweeter.  I bought some orangey-yellow marbled beauties.

So many varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

This trip was dual purpose, since I was also walking to begin the process of breaking in my new moccasins!

Finally, new shoes!

I was advised to buy my usual size even though they felt a little snug.  I've been wearing them around the house with some thicker socks underneath so hopefully this was the right decision.  It was on the chilly side (compared to being 80 and humid on Monday) so I also stopped in Urban Outfitters and bought what I think is going to be my favorite fall sweater (in purple).  And, it was almost 50% off!  Score!

I went to the grocery store for the rest of our list for this week's dinner.  As I've mentioned multiple times, I love our co-op, but for some reason they never have cauliflower, brussel sprouts, or spaghetti squash.  So, I also stopped at Stop and Shop.  I hadn't intended to have a second cup of coffee, but there's a Starbucks inside of Stop and Shop!  It isn't my fault. 

At least I got a small?

For dinner, I made Fusili with Roasted Acorn squash and Bacon.  It was so delicious and very fitting for an autumn day.

From the farmer's market, sweet and delicious!

Bacon from our farm share.

Jenn and April came over for dinner, we enjoyed some Woodchuck Hard Cider, and watched one of my favorite movies of all time, Waitress.  Today, I plan to do some relaxing and start Hunger Games.

Today I am...

happy that:  it's sunny and I still have a whole day of weekend left!

less than happy that: can't think of anything!

daydreaming about: brewing some chai/ thai tea later.

Current reading:  Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Next up: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Playing on the flute:  I did stop and look at some music yesterday, but I think I may need to revisit some of my old beginner stuff before getting into anything new.

Ogunquit, ME in our own apartment...

Every summer for the past four years, Matt and I have taken a brief trip to Ogunquit, ME.  I think I can safely speak for the both of us by saying it's one of our favorite places.  (It's also really the only place we've ever traveled together, but whatever.)  Usually we go up with Matt's parents and his sister, Annie.  This year, we had some trouble getting our schedules aligned and ended up going separately.  We missed having his family around to meet up with, but we did enjoy our brief stay in early August.

Our friends know that our trip plans typically consist of mapping out where we will eat each meal.  I used to end up eating a lot of incarnations of Caesar salad (which is totally my favorite meal, so I wouldn't complain) because I didn't like seafood.  I have gotten a little more adventurous recently and although I will never love lobster as much as someone I know...

A look of determination.

I have started to enjoy some seafood.  The primary reason I don't like seafood is not the flavor, but the texture.  I can't even write about why I don't like it because it gets me weirded out just thinking about it.  Enter, swordfish.  Guys, swordfish is so un-fish-like in its texture that I almost don't even realize I'm eating an ocean dweller!  Wahoo!  On this particular trip, we went to The Lobster Pound.  As you saw above, Matt enjoyed a lobster from the outdoor tank.  I ordered Grilled Swordfish, Cajun style with curried melon salsa.  It was so incredibly delicious that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since.  Matt and I decided to try to recreate it last night.

The swordfish was coated lightly in olive oil and liberally seasoned with salt-free Cajun spice (from the bulk section at River Valley Market), sea salt, and a little black pepper, then grilled on this sweet little set up below.

When it was done cooking, I put a little butter on top and when serving, I topped it with some mango salsa.

This was a make-it-up-as-I-go recipe, but I think I added:
1 champagne mango, diced
1 cube of frozen cilantro (a great way to keep herbs on hand!)
1/8 cup diced onion (purple would be best, but I didn't have any so I used white)
1/4 jalapeno, diced very small
1/4 tsp. sea salt
freshly ground pepper, maybe 5 turns?

The potatoes are Salt and Vinegar Potatoes from the August issue of Real Simple.  I don't feel like writing out the recipe, but it's basically sliced potatoes and onion coated in olive oil, apple cider vinegar (I could drink this stuff!), salt, and pepper and grilled in a foil packet.

Finally, we added some grilled asparagus to round out the plate.  Yum!  I felt like we were savoring the last bits of summer through a window to Ogunquit.

For dessert, we had some locally made coffee ice cream.  I think this is becoming a theme, but I love dessert so I often forget to take pictures.  It is made of sugar, cream, milk, and locally roasted coffee beans, so how could it be bad?

I realized that I forgot my little round-up on the last few posts, so here it is, again:

Today I am...

happy that: my Western blot had some sort of interesting results.

less than happy that: there are big, dark, scary rain clouds outside.

daydreaming about: finally getting new shoes for real this weekend.

Current reading:  Bossypants, by Tina Fey (about 3/4 of the way through)

Next up: Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Playing on the flute:  Sigh, still nothing.  I'm not living up to this part of the resolution, so far.

Weeknight dinner and The Office.

Since Matt and I moved in together 4 years ago, we have been trying to get into some sort of grocery shopping/ cooking pattern.  In our first apartment, I think we went out to eat quite a bit and otherwise ate spaghetti and tacos.  I actually love to cook and (I think) I'm pretty good at it, but I just wasn't quite sure of the whole planning what's for dinner and shopping accordingly thing.  In our second apartment, we made a lot of progress.  We began getting our meat from a farm share that we split with some friends.  I started planning our weekly dinner menu on the weekends and we went shopping together.  (A little aside--Matt loves the grocery store.  Okay, I do, too.  We actually went on our first technical date to the grocery store.  A sign of things to come.)  We are now in our third apartment together (we moved progressively closer to where we had both dreamed of living, and now we're here!), and most weeks we have a great system in place.  This weekend, however, the grocery shopping just didn't happen.  So, last night we had to do grocery shopping after work.

Fortunately, I did plan out the meals for the week, so I had my list ready to go and we left as soon as I got home.  Our grocery store of choice is River Valley Market, a co-op with lots of local produce, an incredible bulk foods and spices area, local dairy/ eggs, and one of the best delis I've ever seen.  I can't say enough how much we enjoy shopping here.  If you are used to big name markets, it will seem very small to you.  I've realized that it's small because they cut out all of the aisles of over-processed junk, which we shouldn't eat, anyway, so hooray for RVM!

The original plan for last night's dinner was Grilled Cajun Swordfish (I am new to eating fish and I absolutely fell in love with this style of swordfish when we were in Maine this summer) with Salt and Vinegar Potatoes, and Grilled Asparagus.  Our plans were slightly derailed when they didn't have fresh swordfish available.  No problem, we would just have the sausage and pasta dish instead.  I mentioned before that RVM has one of the best delis I've ever seen.  They source a lot of the meat locally from farms that responsibly raise their animals.  Last night, there were at least 10 different varieties of in-house-made sausage, ranging from apple cranberry chicken sausage to lamb and mint sausage to turkey breakfast sausage and chipotle pork sausage.  We picked up some Italian hot chicken sausage and were on our way.

This recipe is adapted from one in the August 2011 issue of Real Simple magazine.  It boasts that the recipe costs less than $2 per serving.  And it is SO good.


Bucatini (or Spaghetti) with Turkey (or Chicken) Sausage and Zucchini (or Summer Squash)
12 ounces bucatini or spaghetti (Bucatini is like hollow spaghetti, it has a great texture, but I can never find it in my co-op, so we used whole wheat spaghetti.)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound Italian style sausage, casings removed (the recipe calls for turkey, but I used Hot Italian Chicken Sausage, and imagine you could use pork sausage, as well.)
1 pound zucchini or summer squash, cut into discs or half moons (I used all summer squash.)
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic (I just realized I never added garlic, but it was still delicious!)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (I actually used Romano)
1/4 cup fresh oregano

1.  Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Reserve 1/2-3/4 cup of the cooking water and drain.
2.  Brown the sausage in 1 teaspoon of oil, breaking it up with a wooden spoon.  Once fully cooked, transfer to a plate.
3.  In the same pan, add the remaining tablespoon of oil.  Add the squash, onion, and garlic.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, tossing occasionally, until the vegetables are browned and tender.  We used a non-stick pan and it took quite a long time to brown, so if you want quicker browning, I'd go with a non-non-stick pan.  Double negative!
4.  In the pasta pot, toss the pasta with the sausage, vegetables, Parmesan, oregano, and the reserved cooking water (add more if the pasta seems dry.  I used about 3/4 cup).  Top with more cheese, of course!

Cooked sausage.  Drain away most of the grease, but leave a little to keep the pasta moist and flavorful.

Chef Matty!

Lots of summer squash, yum!

I must confess, I actually staged this shot.  Not very well, but whatever.  That is not  my red wine.  Red wine gives me headaches.

We were finally ready to eat dinner at about 7:45, which is kind of late for us.  We decided to catch up on Season 7 of The Office while we ate.  For dessert, we ate the remaining Apricot Chocolate Chip Espresso cookies I mentioned the other day.  I even remembered to take a picture...

Nothing like cookies and a pint glass of milk.

All in all, it was a successful evening, despite our weeknight grocery store trip and swapping of dinner plans.