9 posts tagged “cooking”

If you could take a class right now and learn anything in the world, what class would you take?

I'd learn how to cook! I'm terribly intimidated by cooking in general and I know that if I were more familiar with the terms & techniques I likely would feel better about trying out recipes. I have this book, "Eating Well Serves Two" and I find recipes I want to try but if it's got a lot ingredient list and a long prep list I get really discouraged.

I was eating dinner by myself because Paul was wrapped up in WoW. I really wanted to eat with chopsticks so I made the last packet of shimp ramen. I wanted to beef it up though, because I don't feel that noodles alone are very complete dinner so I added large cooked shrimp and last nights mixed veggies. I called it "ULTIMATE RAMEN!"

My Dollmore order was shipped from the group coordinator today, and the person doing Linnet's touch up picked her up today and my Souldoll order would have been dropped off but I was at work so I'm going to pick it up tomorrow during my lunch. I hope that by the end of next week Linnet is in one piece, with her new wig, eyes & outfit - I'm so excited! Now all I need is the boots I ordered from eBay though I still haven't heard from the seller :(

I made dinner tonight! Whole wheat angel hair pasta, tomato sauce with spinach and cheese, grilled chicken tenders & broccoli! I was surprised that it came out so well because I really didn't "plan" it - I just thought, "Hey - I'm going to try to throw this together".

Maybe I underestimate my ability to cook like a good wife should :P

Oh! I forgot to post about this, even though it was a highlight of my week and I was very happy about it :)

Awhile ago I was following links and found this book called EatingWell Serves Two. I was really excited to buy it because we'd just bought a Weight Watchers cookbook - but the serves were for 6 or 8 people. I know that some people know how to deal with leftovers - I'm not one of them. I don't like eating leftovers. In fact, the chance of me eating something that's been put back into the fridge is little to none. I also don't like split ingredients as I always seem to mess it up somehow. So we exchanged the WW cookbook for the EatingWell book and I picked out a recipe to try, Marmalade Chicken. It was one of the few 15-20 minute recipes and that's why I chose it.

With the few ingredients needed, I took my time and read over the instructions a few million times. The last few times I've tried to cook/bake I'll either miss an ingredient (missed the cheese & mayo for this casserole dish - luckily no one had to eat it) or I'll not be ready for a step when I'm in the middle of a step already and of course it'll result in me burning something. So I read it long and hard, combined the ingredients, took my time and... I DID IT! Not only did I do it, I did it right, didn't burn anything, and it tasted so, so, so good! The only bummer was that I wanted to cook some rice to go with it - but I didn't time the rice right. It wasn't ready for a good half hour after the chicken was done and I wasn't about to let the chicken get cold and taste any less delicious than it was.

The most important thing about this whole endeavor is that its given me some confidence to try again. I told Paul I want to try to make at least one new recipe each week - let's hope I can do it!

Today's been productive around the office. I've cleaned out my queue (as best as I can) and I've also cleaned up my desk and done a lot of work I've been procrastinating on for the committee I'm apart of. I feel like I do most of the work for this committee - which sucks. I try and step back and realize that while I do a lot of the administrative tasks - it allows me to take breaks from the larger projects. Besides, I love working in Word :)

We had our departmental Christmas party today - I didn't want to participate in the gift exchange and now I regret it. Even more so when we did a "give away" and I still didn't get anything. Oh, well - maybe next year. We had some good food though - some BBQ place was catered in and now I'm stuffed!

This past weekend I went to a close friends' RN* graduation party and it was much more fun than I thought it was going to be. To top it off - the next night we went to Paul's company party and that was more fun than I thought it was going to be. I don't like how that company is run - not in the least - but I can't help but love the people now as they were so nice and friendly. I also found out that Paul has a picture of me on the desktop of his computer where apparently I look like a child and so everyone kept teasing him about how he was married to a little girl. My husband, the unintentional pedophile.

Sunday I got together with Jane and we made Paintbrush Cookies! It was a ton of fun, I'm not much for baking but it was easy and very enjoyable. The only problem we had was we were making chocolate chip meringues and I didn't realize you had to add the sugar gradually as you mixed it - so I ruined the first batch when I dumped it in all at once without having even mixed the egg whites :( We made the cookie dough for the paintbrush cookies from scratch and we also made the frosting ourselves! I mixed an wicked color green that I was terribly proud of - much more Christmas tree green than the pastel crap I was getting before. The trick you ask? Magenta dye :) I took pictures with her camera and I'm sure she'll pass them along soon at which point I'll post them here.

This Wednesday I make my second payment on my Byeol doll (still unnamed...). I still haven't gotten any response from Luts about my order - despite the fact that I've paid. I hate it that PayPal takes forever sometimes - makes me want to put a ton in my PayPal balance as that is supposedly instantaneous. It frustrates me though because Luts hasn't responded at all to my three emails. I hate poor communication with online sellers :( I just pray that her clothes get here before she does!

*RN = Registered Nurse

Would anyone believe, after all the posts I've had about the holidays, that my Thanksgiving holiday was absolutely fantastic? Its okay if you don't believe me, but it's true.

Thursday I woke up early and started making this broccoli & corn casserole dish to take with us to Paul's parents house for Thanksgiving. It didn't go that well - but I wasn't going to stress about it. I used the wrong stuffing (cubed instead of crumbs) for the recipe and I also didn't have everything ready when I needed to so on a whole it was uneatable. However, everyone ate it anyhow :) I don't know why, but that made me happy. The recipe seemed great, so I'm going to give it another try when I can - this time learning from my mistakes. We drove up with little to no traffic, so on the way back. Dinner was good, conversation was pleasant, and afterwards we watched (the first time for me) Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. It was funny, but best of all it really got me in the mood to do Christmas this year. After the movie we played a few games of Uno and I won twice! Paul wasn't too pleased - but he can suck my big toe for all I care :P

Friday Paul & I woke relatively early and began cleaning. I know this might not be anyone's idea of a great way to spend their holiday - but I was excited to do it. We started at about ten o'clock or so and even with a few breaks we were done by one o'clock. The apartment looked fantastic! I was happy that we'd finally cleaned up a few "junk areas" and after vacuuming I also worked on a few spots on the carpet with this amazingly effective, cheap, & easy carpet cleaner. I felt happy and accomplished when we went out for lunch. While at lunch my sister called.

Some back story: The Friday before last she'd become pretty sick. Abdominal pains, vomiting, fevers, headaches. She continued to feel sick through the week and by Thursday was realizing it wasn't going away and so went to the hospital and spent the entire day in the ER. In the end, they couldn't determine what was wrong, even after a CT scan, and so sent her home with the instructions to self-medicate for the pain and come back if it became worst. Anyhow, in the span of this illness, she'd successfully missed her & her husband's 1 year wedding anniversary (Nov 16th) and also Thanksgiving with his family.

So when my sister called and asked if we could do a Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment because she missed the one at her husband's parents house - I immediately jumped to do it. I wasn't going to willingly let her miss two holidays because of her being sick! I was wary though, as I've mentioned before - I'm not a cooker/baker/kitchen-y person. I know how to make a select few things well and I stick to those things. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, yams, green bean casserole, pie & mashed potatoes are not on that very short list. But, we tried anyhow and everything was PERFECT! My brother-in-law made the turkey and it was so moist and tasty. My sister & I made the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and the yams. The pie we bought for the store :)

The whole night was fantastic! My sister, brother-in-law & nephew even stayed the night (yes! that spare bed in the guest room has finally been used!!!) so the next morning we had breakfast and my sister & I watched Death Proof. It was just so much fun. I'm glad I did it and I have such high spirits for Thanksgiving next year.

Later that same day, after my family left, Paul & I went out and watched The Mist. That movie was good - until the end. I'm sure some of you out there have read the short-story, but I never had and the ending was a great disappointment. I'm not one much for irony. All that said, if you do enjoy irony I would strongly suggest you go see it because I throughly enjoyed it (until the end). We also stopped and bought a tree stand & Christmas tree lights :)

On Sunday morning Paul woke me up and told me to get dressed - he had a surprise. He drove me over to a tree lot and let me pick out a Christmas tree! It was so much fun and I loved the smell and the idea of having the tree there for a whole month! We bought it from a non-profit charity lot, the charity being a center for getting men on their feet after addictions and hardship. It made me feel better that I was helping, if only a bit. We had four Christmas tree lots in our immediate area of 15 minutes - I really did have a choice. We didn't have everything we needed to begin decorating - so we waited until later that night. Decorating (if only a bit) was fun - but Paul thinks I'm being too critical of the fact that the tree is "leaning" and he refuses to move it again. Whatever. I'm move it myself!

After Christmas tree shopping & breakfast, my friend Jane & I got together. We were going to go see a movie, but we couldn't quite decide what we wanted to see so we just bummed around. We played with Ripley (well, Jane played. I just followed behind with a towel because Ripley keeps peeing out of excitement...) for awhile, then went over to Target. We bought a tree skirt, tree bag, & stockings (for Paul, Junior, Ripley & myself). After that we went out for a late lunch which ran into an early dinner. We had a lot of fun, just talking and catching up. I also finally convinced her to join Vox :P

All in all, the weekend was fantastic and it wasn't until Sunday night hit that I even felt like it was coming to a close. Like Queen of Fractal Beauty, I feel rejuvenated :)

I feel like posting today, but I don't really have much to post. I suppose I'll do the common "Update" post :)

I don't know how many people noticed, but I finally got my Blythe doll "My Best Friend". She had been held at the post office, I don't know how long, but she was. It was strange because I wasn't really expecting it to be there. I waited patiently in line and then told the old man (who was surprisingly happy & nice - usually he's so mean I want to complain) about how I never got a package. He asked my address, disappeared for a second, and then came back with a large box. At first, I thought he was just joking because I really didn't believe it. Anyhow, I went to pull out my driver's license to show him my address and asked him if he needed to know my phone number as well. He said, "Oh, we don't need anything. You're so happy it pretty obvious its yours". So good news, good news. The buyer for the nude doll was still interested and I'll be getting payment from her soon.

I also got my Kawaii swap items too! I got this nifty hard, spiral-bound notebook that had this panda on it. I guess the character/concept is called "Real Panda?" because everything about the character is about how they're not a real panda and how they have to draw on the black spot. The cover says "REAL PANDA? I don't have...Black spots. I'm not a PANDA. So... I draw black spot. 'I wanna be a Panda!' Inside it says "Black spot disappear when it rains" TOO CUTE! I felt bad though - it cost me about three dollars to ship my thick, padded envelope to her - but I noticed that it cost her over $12 just for postage to send the package to me. That means she likely spent more on the postage than the swap itself! All in all, I really enjoyed the swap and I hope to join another one soon.

Since I bought my Green Bag from Target, I've saved a total of 6 plastic bags. Its so convenient having it in my purse! I pulled it out everywhere :) I'm thinking of keeping a tally somewhere - I don't know where - so that I keep encouraging myself to be as helpful as I can. As I said, it may be hard to do much - but I'm trying. Next stop is replacing all our bathroom vanity lights with energy efficient bulbs.

Had my sister & brother-in-law over for dinner last night and I made Shake N' Bake! I know that to some it's so silly how excited I am - but the fact is that I'd never made it before and I didn't kill anyone or burn anything down. However, I did have to cook it twice as long because of the kind of pan I used. Live and learn though, right? I'm going to make it again soon - and try and perfect it.

Todays Wednesday & I'm happy the week is going by so quickly. I've dubbed today Wednesday Whuv (aka: love)

I had such a rotten night last night.

As I posted, I had some difficulties with my Blythe customization. But what I forgot to post about was the fact that I dripped hot glue on my arm...the same arm that I burnt back in November. I'm such a clutz.

Anyhow - so with that searing pain a faint throbbing memory I decided I was going to get dinner started. I had until around eight o'clock to get it completed because that's when America's Next Top Model started (judge all you want, it's a great show for me and my sister to watch together and I love it for that). I go into the kitchen and turn the grill on and go to unpack the thawed chicken and cover it with some BBQ sauce. It was then that I discovered that the chicken wasn't thawed - not even slightly thawed. I don't know how this happened since it had about six hours to defrost and it was in the eighties in our apartment yesterday - but whatever. So I run some hot water in the sick and fight with it for the next fifteen minutes until at least two of the pieces are at least 80% thawed and then I threw them on the grill. I go to grab the BBQ sauce which is in this huge jug with a big handle on it. I pick up the jug by the handle and go to shake it by lifting it over my shoulder and then back down. Well apparently Paul didn't close the jug all the way and I successfully painted our kitchen with BBQ sauce. I guess Paul's not a "shaker" - I am. Why you ask? I've just had to many bad experiences with stuff sinking to the bottom or floating to the top. Think of "pudding skin". Think of all the good stuff at the bottom of a V8 bottle. I'm just a shaker. I like to make sure everything is mixed.

So with the burn on my arm, the eye chips not coming out, the BBQ sauce on the walls and the chicken only 80% thawed - I was done for. Paul tells me it's not too late to cancel with my sister (who I might have forgotten to mention was coming over) and I said yes it is.

In the end, the chicken cooked. The BBQ sauce came off the walls. I got one out of four eye chips out. America's Next Top Model was good and most importantly I didn't let my bad night ruin my night with my sister.

Yesterday I was pining over the BDR outfit so much and I finally just bought it. I felt better afterwards. I wonder sometimes if I have some sort of OCD when it comes to these kinds of things. Its almost as if, when I don't get what I've decided I want, my mind stands still. It happened when I decided I wanted my Sidekick. I realized I wanted it and then from that moment on it was almost a constant thought in my head. I basically decided to take the nearly $500 plunge ($300 for the phone, $175 in Verizon cancellation fees, +$35 in taxes and such...) in about 24 hours. Most people aren't that spontaneous and decisive. I wonder if it's a problem that I am. I take a little bit of comfort in the fact that I do my research before I buy usually. With my Sidekick I did a lot of research because I knew I would not only be buying a phone but also a new service provider and plan. But I'm very happy with my decision so I guess that's comforting as well.

As a note to Maura & Bookishly Fabulous, both of whom I've admitted to whole heartedly that I cannot cook, I cooked dinner last night :) Here's a picture of the finished product...

And on a positive note, it was eatable (not doused in salt as per usual) & Paul and I did not die nor spend hours whithering in pain on the bathroom floor as we endured food poisoning. Go me!

I was bored on my lunch so I watched a bit of Grey's Anatomy online. I love it that they have entire episodes. I watched part one of that two part episode but now I have to wait until tonight to see the rest. I kind of wish they had Veronica Mars online too - but there is a bit of lost joy when I have to watch them online. I'd much rather wait until they are released on DVD before trying to watch any. Tonight I'm going to work on a very serious endeavor - and apron. I made a promise to myself that I would independently make at least ONE part of my Faire costume (Jane and I do a tag team on the rest - we cut together and she sews) - and since I've been desiring an apron I thought that would be easiest. I figure the construction will be simple: One rectangle,  folded three quarters of the way down OVER the top of the apron to create one long pocket across the bottom front and then I'll sew vertically down the one large pocket to create smaller ones to hold my bits and bobs. I'm determined so wish me luck.