Why This Week is Awesome. A List.

1) Andy came over yesterday and made fried rice. The best. OMG. Veggies, tofu, bamboo shoots, habaneros, Thai chilis...amazing.

2) He knew that I was having a bad day (the whole 12 hour shifts on the weekend were getting to me) and surprised me with chocolate, Almond Joy, and Sour Patch Kids! My favorite!

3) I fell asleep during half time of the Steeler's game, and when I woke up, all of the dishes were done. Aw!

4) Lisa is coming over tomorrow morning!!!

5) A good friend is moving to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, and I get to see her on Thursday! Yay!

6) HOMECOMING IS THIS WEEKEND! Better than Christmas, better than delicious craft brewed beers, homecoming. This weekend. Good friends, blue skies (hopefully), lots of cheap beer.

7) Four day weekend. Oh yeah.

8) Most likely buying a new laptop this week/weekend. My screen is currently orange in the corners. It also turns completely purple if you tilt the screen back farther than about 50 degrees. Annoying. 

If there are any other awesome things about this week, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I'm going to bed.

12 hours.

I'm pulling my hair out. My marbles have been lost. 24 hours is just too long for someone to work...in addition to her 40 hour week.

Occasionally I have to work a weekend. This happens about one weekend a month, on average. I can't decide whether to like it or despise it.

Pros: Overtime. Double time on Sunday. 24 hours. Sweet paycheck.

         Time to think about life, do word puzzles, read new books.

Cons: No life. No boyfriend. Stuck in a lab the whole weekend.

         Unable to ever make plans. I end up missing baby showers, get-togethers, etc. LAME.

So I have decided, I hate it. I am over the "pros." I am 23 with very few responsibilities. I have no reason to want to work the weekend. Is it so terrible that I want to cling to the last of my precious youth and actually engage in activities with my friends on the weekend? Is it awful that I'd rather see my boyfriend who lives 30 miles away than be confined in a lab all weekend where my only human interaction is with AARP members? (Sorry parents)

Well anyway, because I am working the weekend, I decided to treat myself to some tasty snacks throughout my workday.

2:49 AM - a cup of chamomile/honey tea, one cranberry raspberry fruit bar

5:59 AM - Raspberry Chobani yogurt mixed with blueberry/flax granola

8:32 AM - Annie Chun's Miso Soup

It was a food-happy night.

On another happy note, Andy is coming over tomorrow afternoon to make me veggie fried rice! I can't wait!

I did it!

I "followed" a recipe and it ended up looking like the original picture...pretty awesome. So, as previously mentioned, I bought a large butternut squash with no idea of what to do with it. Then, thanks to Smitten Kitchen, I found an amazing recipe that looked pretty easy. Yay! This warm butternut squash and chickpea salad just called my name, and I knew I had to make it. I love every ingredient that goes into hummus (who doesn't?), I love fall squash, so really, it was made to be made!

For such a relatively simple recipe, it was sadly one of the more labor intensive meals I've ever made. This meatless meatloaf was probably the most difficult thing I've made (which pisses me off because the food network gives it an "easy" rating), but mostly because of all the ingredients and my lack of a food processor. But man, it was amazing. I need to make that again very soon. Don't pay attention to the three out of five star rating. The people that rated it are just bad vegetarians. And assholes.

I really need to get a real camera...these phone pictures are terrible.

I peeled the b.n.s. with a vegetable peeler, cut it, and scooped out the innards. 

Her recipe called for all spice in the squash coating, but I didn't have any. I did, however, add red pepper flakes and agave nectar (with the olive oil, garlic, and salt) just for funsies. I made it reaaally awesome.

I roasted the cubes at 450 degrees, because I think my oven runs low. Or maybe I'm just impatient. I roasted them until they started to get juuuust a little brown. I tried a cube and started laughing because it tasted so good. They were perfectly roasted...delicious and creamy. I would have been perfectly happy stopping here and eating the entire squash like that, but I already had made the dressing and chopped the onion.

See? It kind of looks like her picture! Well...way worse quality...deal with it.

I pretty much followed her recipe for the dressing (garlic, lemon juice, tahini, water, olive oil), but I didn't measure anything. I also added a wee little bit of cumin.

If you ever make this, be prepared that when you add tahini to a bowl of lemon juice and garlic, it turns into a nasty curdly paste. Gross. But after you add the water and olive oil, it all gets better. :)

In the end, I could have done with waaaay less red onion. I have nothing against red onions, but the rest of the salad was so tasty that the onion was just getting in the way.

Just to make all of you readers jealous, here is a picture of a spicy dragon roll I had the other day. YUMMMY!!!

Happy Friday! :)

Soups!

As I mentioned before, I am having a love affair with soups. Here are two of my store bought favorites.

#1 - Tom Yam soup from Trader Joe's. Oh. This was amazing. It was frozen, and you had to thaw the broth (spicy coconut milk and other deliciousness) then add the spinach and mushroom dumplings. It also came with kaffir lime leaves, chili peppers, and lemongrass. You couldn't eat them though. Impossible.

The dumplings were so chewy and tasty. The broth was perfectly spicy and very sour. According to some websites I looked up, Tom Yam (or Tom Yum) is used to cure colds and other ailments. Although apparently authentic Tom Yam doesn't use coconut milk - only a fish sauce broth. This soup was vegetarian though and I thought it was wonderful the way it was. I mistakenly thought you could eat the lemongrass (those tan ovals) but there's no way. It's like eating wood. Very flavorful wood.

The soup was so cheap too, low on calories, made a very hefty amount, and can be made if you don't have a microwave (I don't). Next time I'm there, I'm totally stocking up.

Thank you, TJ's, thank you.

#2 - Annie Chun's Miso Soup. Awesome! These are not my pictures, by the way. I ate this soup at work, and cameras are eeeeevil at work. Not allowed. Illegal. Dangerous. Secret-telling.

Anyway, this soup was fantastic. Perfect for my 3AM lunch.

I was very worried at first. I opened up the container and there were noodles, miso paste, and a strange green packing peanut-like cube. This didn't stop me. Add water, microwave, and voila! Miso soup! 

source

The packing peanut thing dissolved and transformed into tofu cubes, scallions, and either kale or spinach or something similar. The miso flavoring was delish. The soup also did that "thing" like real miso soup where the particles settle, then you stir it and the broth becomes  more opaque again. You know what I mean. Whatever.

The noodles were awesome. Chewy, long, and tasty. Very slurpy soup, so I recommend eating with other people who are also eating it, or just eat it alone.

This soup was relatively low in sodium, which is pretty rare. I wouldn't exactly call it low sodium, but at about 800 mg, it was a lot better than your typical 2200 mg pre-packaged soups.

source

Now, anyone know if you can drink almond milk that sat out for 10 hours? I mean...it's non-dairy...

Oops.

Things you didn't know.

* I'm not wearing pants right now. You can typically expect this anywhere from 7:08 AM until... whenever I leave my apartment. One of my favorite things to do is to tell my mom on the phone that I'm pants-less. I can't tell if she's amused, proud, or worried.


* There are two guys at work that screw on my sample jar lids SO TIGHT and it really makes me mad. Sometimes I get so peeved that I have to step back and take some deep breathes. Sad, I know. But really, why screw it on so tight? Look at my hands! They're small and incapable of doing large man hand tasks! Especially in the middle of the night.


* I live less than a mile from a Sheetz, but I rarely go there. Isn't that odd? I thought when I moved here I would spend many hours of my life there...spending lots of money and consuming lots of terrible (but delicious) food.


* I'm having a love affair with soups. I guess it's the cool weather. I'll tell you more later.


* I bought a butternut squash two days go, and I have no idea what to do with it. I thought about ravioli, but that's a little too labor intensive for a nocturnal individual. Maybe I'll just roast it and mix in in with spaghetti and some cream or something...hmmm...


* Homecoming is taking over my every thought. I can't stop thinking about blue sky, crisp and cool WV air, wearing fall-appropriate clothing, eating cheese cubes with a full solo cup in hand in the middle of a giant parking lot surrounded by gazebo tents and hundreds of stumbling BC alumni. Ahh :) Oh...and there's the football game...yeah whatever.


* When I was back home over Labor Day, Andy and I went to see fireworks with Brie. Within the first few minutes she looked at my hemp and yarn-clad wrists and said with a frown, "Kelly, are those camp bracelets?" I laughed shamefully and said, "you really know me too well." She really does. She was there when my 6th grade gym teacher said I was absolutely not allowed to wear my purple, green, and black string necklace in class anymore. Brie snipped my necklace as I tearfully held on to the string and transferred it to my ankle. It stayed there for at least another year. When it finally disintegrated and fell off, I hung it on my bulletin board. Weird? Yes.


* There are approximately 130 ridges on a ridged paper clip. You know, the ones with the little divots all the way around? Why are they even there? Do they provide extra grip on the paper?


* I think I found recipes for my butternut squash.  Warm butternut squash and chickpea salad, and squash and chickpea Moroccan stew. Ohhhhh yeah. I think I'll make both.


* I miss Boston. This is thanks to Lisa texting me frequently about her ridiculous Bostonian adventures.


* Speaking of the northeast, I am currently enjoying a Whale's Tale Pale Ale from Cisco Brewers in Nantucket. The label is really cool.


* I've been running almost every day. I'll give you a minute to pick yourself up from the floor...
...yes. Running. I'm almost enjoying it too. Andy says my times are "actually pretty good!" He's too sweet.


Goodbye for now. Enjoy your day.

Faux Toe of the Day.

Haha get it? A photo of a faux toe?

Okay but really...a photo! Of the day! In honor of the weekend, here is a peaceful, relaxing picture.

This was taken at the top of a mountain at Nordmont in Sullivan County, PA. So pretty!

Enjoy your weekend! :)

Curry!

I made curry the other day.

Actually it was last week.

I've just been too lazy to blog about it.

I was going for the type of curry you get in a Thai restaurant that you eat with rice and it's totally awesome and delicious and you'd rather swim in the bowl than eat it with a spoon. It turned out very tasty, but it wasn't Thai-ish enough. I think it needed lemongrass or something Thai-sounding like that.

Here's the stuff that went in: eggplant, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, tofu. Yum.

I fried the tofu. It turned out better than it usually does, but I can never get it to look like they do in restaurants. Maybe they deep fry it, where I just sauté it in a whole bunch of oil. I used olive oil, and that was probably a mistake, but that's all I had.

I looked at a million recipes online and most said to use curry paste. I don't have curry paste. I do have hot curry powder though...so I added water to make my own paste. Is that wrong? I don't care. I also put vindaloo powder in it for funsies which probably took away from the Thai and added some Indian flair, but again, I don't care.

I sautéd the veggies to deliciousness. I thought the red peppers looked so pretty sliced that thin.

I added the "paste" and some more seasonings like salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

I added coconut milk, water (the coconut milk was really thick), and tofu, and voila!

I didn't make rice...probably should have.

Oh, and next time I'm definitely buying lite coconut milk. Walmart didn't have any, so I'll try someplace else. I didn't look at the nutrition facts, because I realllllly didn't want to know.

In blog related news, Kristie at Notquitewhatihadplanned.com is not blogging any more :( I'm so sad! She said on her blog that people can just add her on Facebook, but I thought that would be a little creepy of me to do that.

I also found an awesome blog that was mentioned on the Today Show website, The Daily Nail. She's creating a new nail design for every day of the year, and they're SO PRETTY! Emily, you'll love it.

And...Iowa Girl Eats put my guest post on her blog!!! She's in Italy and had people send in guest posts, and she picked mine for one of them! WOOHOO!!! :)

Off to dance around my apartment and digest some of Kay's leftover mac n cheese.

I tried.

Taking a picture of a dog is hard enough...

But when the dog is...well...

...crazy,

adorable, but crazy,

it makes taking a picture of her pretty difficult.

Wait! She's laying still!

There we go :) now I need a camera that isn't inside my phone so the pictures actually turn out.

I love you Maggie!