Went to a BBQ with some old friends, should have taken more pictures but was too busy swatting away flies. This was the highlight of the evening, watching the grill suddenly burst into flames. At least that was the last batch of meat on there.
More festivities to come when everyone finishes with finals and graduation. It’s so nice to be able to let loose and relax now, since I have only one more exam to take.
Also, new layout!
Why haven’t any of the major chains thought about doing this? I suppose the cost to add extra perforations to the box isn’t worth corporate’s time but I wouldn’t mind paying a couple quarters extra for encouraging better use of resources.
I gave him away today. Had him since November to keep Sam company, but over the past few weeks we reached a breaking point. Budgies are extremely hyperactive and very social and his craziness was too much for the cockatiels to take. They attempted to ignore him, but Nugget would get frustrated and start pulling feathers and biting their feet. When he started drawing blood…I posted an ad on craigslist to find him a new home. Found him one, with a nice hispanic couple who have over a dozen other birds. I think he’ll be much happier as part of a flock. Going to miss the little guy.
Since I was in Round Rock anyways to drop him off, I stopped at IKEA. Bought some casserole dishes, shakers, grease splatter shield, lingonberry preserves, and a 2.5lb bag of frozen Swedish meatballs.
Yes, those meatballs are one of my guilty pleasures. At first I thought having an restaurant in IKEA was insanity, but they have some pretty decent food for cheap. This is how they serve the meatball platter, sometimes with a mini Swedish flag stuck in the potatoes:
I was tempted to buy a lot more crap I don’t need, but thought better of it this trip. Maybe next time when I have a nice juicy paycheck in the bank.
I went to World Market to get some Tim Tams for an acquaintance and for myself to pig on. Except I kind of went overboard and scoured every aisle in the store. It’s one of my favorite places to shop because they have such a wonderful collection of unique imported items you can’t find elsewhere.
Picked up a black potted fake bamboo plant, a oil torch candle for the patio, a teapot shaped tea infuser, and a vanity shelf. When I went to checkout, the cashier eyed my 6 boxes of Tim Tams (I had cleared the shelf) and went “Cookie binge?”. Wallet is crying, I’ve blown my entire shopping budget for the month only 11 days in which means no more spending. I guess it’ll force me to stop eating out and clear out the food in the cabinets and freezer.
I found a cappuccino maker (Bialetti Mukka Express Cappuccino Maker) sitting on a bottom clearance shelf. I picked it up, balked at the $44 price tag for what is essentially a glorified kettle, then remembered reading about it on an espresso blog which gave rave reviews for it. Also remembered that it retails for $90 and used that fact to justify a purchase. Decided to indulge myself and threw it in the basket, then picked up some amazing smelling espresso beans as well. I have a french bodum press, espresso machine with a frother, a Senseo pod machine, and a Vietnamese coffee filter. Of all those, only the latter makes a nice strong aromatic brew but is only suited for iced coffee. Now that I have the Bialetti I can stop wasting more money on coffee paraphanelia and sell the other crap on Craigslist.
It took a few attempts to get right. The manual that came with it was in Italian so I had to google instructions. Apparently not following them down to a T involves messy explosions. After I’d cleaned everything up from failed tries, I found the English instructional DVD at the bottom of the box -_-
Attempts
1 am on a Friday night, I get hit with a craving for cookies. This is probably the third or fourth chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve tried, and possibly the last. Next time I need to add more chocolate though.
So it’s Thursday night, after a major human genetics exam this morning and a absolutely riveting lab session. Watched some Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice, made some stir fry for dinner, and now I’m completely out of things to do. My desktop is pretty much useless since the brand new wireless laser desktop set I bought just a few weeks ago died due to the USB receiver malfunctioning. Fry’s took the return back without a fuss, but didn’t have anything in stock that I wanted. Which leaves the option of ordering one online. I found a asian thrifty-ness approved deal on a new logitech set, however the vendor is being extremely slow about actually shipping it out to me. I have been keyboardless for a week and counting. My laptop is portable enough for classes but doesn’t pack much oomph.
Bored out of my mind, so what does a responsible adult do in my position? Break out some of the alcohol. We brought back two bottles of O’Riley’s Jamaican Rum Cream from our trip, and it’s amazing. Kicks Bailey’s ass. To my dismay, I can’t find a retailer that sells it in the states. I guess that would explain why our fellow cruisers were pushing CASES full of the stuff back on the ship. There are a couple places who sell it online, but the shipping is ridiculous and we got a decent deal in Jamaica.
Guess I’ll have to go back to Jamaica again. Load myself on some jerk chicken, Red Stripe, and rum. And hopefully avoid catching dengue fever like my poor darling boyfriend did.
Canary Island Cilantro Soup
Recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/32441
I grilled some salmon to put in there, topped it off with feta cheese because the flavors are perfect for it. And instead of beef broth, I used the vietnamese pho base.
Pan seared catfish with parsley cheddar mashed potatoes and sour cream
No recipe really for this one, threw a bunch of things together because I wanted to finish off the catfish before it got freezer burned
Vanilla cupcake with blackberry filling and cream cheese icing
1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups of sugar
Beat well, then add:
Add 2 large eggs
2 Teaspoons of pure vanilla
½ teaspoon of salt
2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
2 ½ cups of flour
1 ¼ cups of milk
Beat well, fill cupcake liners halfway and use piping bag to add a generous mound of blackperry pie filling, then continue filling liners with cupcake batter, and bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes. For icing, recipe is here.
Coconut-Lime cupcakes with lime sugar glaze
From: Martha Stewart
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 T unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 c + 1 Tb sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup lite coconut milk
2 large egg whites
5 Tb shredded sweetened coconut
Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 6 muffin tins. Beat butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour, baking soda, salt & milk in three parts, alternating dry & wet, starting & ending with the flour. Beat until just combined. Set aside.
In a clean bowl beat the egg whites on high until stiff glossy peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter until combined. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites & coconut.
Fill muffin tins half full. Bake for 20 -25 minutes until golden or a tester comes clean. Allow to cool completely. Makes 6 cupcakes
Lime Glaze
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 t lime (about 1/2 of a lime)
zest from 1/2 lime
milk
shredded coconut (optional)
Mix sugar, lime juice & zest together. Add milk 1 t at a time until desired consistency, usually between 1 & 2. Glaze cupcakes & sprinkle with shredded coconut if you wish. Let sit until glaze has set. Makes enough glaze for 6 cupcakes
I can’t think of good dish titles. Anyways, Sunday night, came home after 8 hour shift at work. Was interesting. One particular boy had to get some blood drawn. And this boy had to have been at least twelve years old, so he wasn’t some screaming toddler.
So we’re in the lab draw room, he’s sitting down in the examination chair with the standard rubber band on arm, antiseptic wipe, etc. Needle goes in, then the mother and I’m assuming aunt whip out a BIBLE and start quoting a passage that said “May he not feel pain” or something along the lines.
Really now. They’re allowed to subscribe to whatever belief they choose, but get the kid some water or hug him. Not stand outside the doorway reading from a book because when a hard metal object goes through your skin, it’s going to hurt no matter what god(s) you follow.
Dinner…I thought I had nothing in the fridge since I haven’t gone shopping in awhile and when you cook nearly every night of the week, food goes out fast. Dug through the freezer and fridge, found some frozen catfish, spinach, then had a tomato and half an onion, lots of random scraps of food items I never finished. Whipped em all together on a whim and made the best dish I’ve ever invented so far.
Raw catfish nuggets drenched in italian dressing, dash of cumin, black pepper, salt, sauteed until fish is browned
Tomato, onion, spinach, and a clove of garlic all diced up
Dump fish out on a plate, because italian dressing is olive oil based typically, just saute onions and garlic until caramelized
Add tomato, spinach, etc. No pictures, but add in cooked rice, a handful of colby jack cheese, and 1/4 cup of milk. Stir fry it until cooked through, add salt to taste
Sprig of parsley, voila. Toast some french bread, grab a glass of iced tea…yumminess
I made these the night before my ecology exam. Procrastination owns.
Mocha Cupcakes
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee (or 3 shots of espresso), room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
Beat butter and sugar together until flufffy, beat in egg, mix in dry ingredients. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
Ginger cream cheese frosting
4oz cream cheese, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick of butter, room temp
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Whip butter and cream cheese together, add in everything else, spread or pipe to cupcakes. Add more powdered sugar depending on how thick you want the frosting. Grate some chocolate on top for extra prettiness.
