Test of character

That is what this, my last semester as an undergraduate, will be.  I am behind already, however I believe I can catch up this weekend and get back in the black.  As of now, in the red.  I scored a 20, yes that is out of 100, on my first Physics quiz.  That is sooo bad, but my book hadn't arrived yet, so I was unprepared.  This,obviously, cannot happen again.

Today, I start to play the catch up game, and hopefully by Sunday evening, things will be smooth sailing until November.  My to do list isn't really so bad, but it doesn't leave much time this semester for working out.  This means I am going to have to watch my diet very carefully!  So, there will be much less beer, wine and cocktails involved!  I really eat very healthy most of the time, so besides alcohol, I just need to watch portions and cheese.  Cheese being as big of a weakness as a nice drink.

What I have to do before May:
-write a 15 page thesis like paper summarizing 2 years of research (due early March)
-pass all my classes, really only worried about Physics
-not gain any weight in absence of daily exercise
-pick a graduate program

and most dauntingly,
-teach myself calculus and pass a calculus CLEP test to get a required math credit!!!




-

Literal loss of speech

A couple weeks ago,  I suddenly found myself inspired and quickly hammered out what I imagined to be a very touching, heartfelt toast for my father's upcoming birthday celebration (tomorrow).  As I begin to pack my weekend bag, the darn thing is absolutely no where to be found!

Now I love my dad, so an off the cuff toast would not exactly be hard to throw together on the spot, but what I wrote before says all of the things we always mean to tell people we love, but sometimes forget.  Like how they have changed our lives by being themselves.  Or how we hope we can be the same kind of giving, loving person they are.  Or how their words have guided us down the right path in life.

I better get back to looking, I have to get on the road in a few short hours!

Woah-

I had to add on some extra classes last minute- looks like this semester is gonna be a doozy.

sigh.

I can't wait for May!!!!

A Few Quick Thoughts

Today disappeared so fast!!  Where did it go?  Heck, where did the break go?  I have class tomorrow!

Trying really hard to learn calculus, I have to pass a test on the 26th, or maybe not graduate.  Since not graduating is absolutely not an option, I must pass this test!  A bit intimidating to be sure.

I want to be fit again!  I want to be pretty muscles without yucky fat hanging on to by poor body.  I really miss trails.... In Austin, if I ever packed on a few pounds, I would just hike more- but there are no trails here!  No hiking, no biking, so few options.... Tomorrow, I start counting calories again in a serious way.  I will be the fit version of myself again, BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY!  Which gives me about three months.  I have ten inches I want to lose off my booty/hip area- how is that even possible?  Ten inches seems like a lotta inches!  Holy cow!

It is now pilates time.  I will trudge through the next hour of ab hell for the greater good!  For all mankind.

Ok, here we go!

Karma: A Saturday morning bitchfest

You know what they say about karma, she's a bitch.  Or maybe I am- I dunno, but somebody's definitely a bitch.

When I was younger, I used to be a lot more moody than I am these days.  I certainly had times when I ran hot and cold with people I dated. And now its my turn to get taken for a ride.  Up and down, up and down- I think I am getting motion sickness.

The problem is that I am not nearly as patient and understanding as people who may have put up with me in the past.   I am pretty much the opposite of patient and understanding.  Now that I have myself all figured out and understood, I want to be with a person who is one the same page.  No pouting, no yelling, no endless apologies- just a smooth, easy ride.  That's all, and I don't think that is too much to ask.

And since that isn't too much to ask, how about a person who doesn't break plans with you to drink with their friends because they told you they would stop drinking excessively.  I would think the realization
that drinking makes you act like a giant asshole to the person you are supposed to care about would be reason enough to not ever want to drink.

But, it is not for some people.  And I think that is ridiculous.

I also think that people who cancel dinner plans with someone they haven't seen all week to go drinking don't deserve the opportunity to ruin another evening.

And karma may be a bitch, but this girl is not about to be somebody's bitch.

Adventures in ham hocks

I cook beans frequently- cheap, healthy and delicious protein.  And I cook all sorts of beans: navy, black, black eyed, purple hull, lima... you get the picture.  My favorite beans to cook, perhaps because they were the object of my first bean love, are red beans.  As in red beans in rice, as in heavenly comfort food.

I have used many pork products over the years in the flavoring of my red beans: sausage, smoked ham, bacon.  Once I tried salt pork, which to me was so gross.  It smelled like soap.  Ugh, it was not smoky tasting, it was just a smelly,  blubbery, big hunk of fat.  This bummed me out because salt pork is a pretty traditional cut of meat for beans.  It is in my "To Try Again" box in my brain, but no time too soon!

One form of the pig which has not made its red beans and rice debut is the ham hock.  Ah, the ham hock, this is noble peasant food, and poor college students are modern peasants for sure.  Wikipedia says it is the joint between the tibia/fibula and metatarsals of the foot.  Which doesn't exactly scream delicious to me, but I purchase it anyway with hesitation.

I brace myself for the worst, upon opening the package this morning, but it isn't really bad at all.  It smells smoky, tasty, like a big hunk of bacon.  Ok, I am game- let's play ham hock.

(Am starting to think store sold me just chunks of smoked ham as ham hock- hmm... )

Seattle.

I wanna get in to school here so badly!!!!

There I said it.

And we wait.

Until March....

Keep your fingers crossed!

I wanna live in a big city!  Rachel in the City!  Yes!!! :)

Dog food

I like to make the ladies homemade dog food whenever I can because I have read some truly horrible things about manufactured dog food.  This biggest problem for me in regards to commercial dog food is a lack of regulations and accountability as to the quality of ingredients.  I have read some disgusting stories.  You can read a breakdown of pet food labels and common ingredients here, here or here.  

It is really sad to read and makes you wonder, what exactly are you feeding you beloved companion?

To quit wondering, I started making my girls food some years ago.  It really isn't a big pain or expense.  They get excited when they smell food cooking, and they love their dinner!

I try to mix up what I feed them to get them a healthy mix of nutrients and there are tons of recipes available online.  I also buy food from companies with good a reputation and clean ingredients, such as Flint River Ranch.  The ladies love their Fish and Chips formula- sweet potatoes and trout, sign me up too!

I have a default, no brainer recipe that I use when I am busy.

Dog Food:
a big tube of ground beef (5 or 10 lbs)
3 - 5 big sweet potatoes
1 pound brown rice
oatmeal
olive oil

I fill the biggest pot I have a bit less than half-way with water and turn the burner to med-high.  I add about a quarter cup of olive oil, the brown rice and the tube of meat.  While it starts to boil I dice the sweet potatoes and add them as I finish them.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, I turn the pot down, stir (it will stick to the bottom) and cover.  I simmer until the sweet potatoes and rice are soft, if they are not cooked well, your pup may experience slight digestive troubles.  Once everything is soft, I remove from the burner and add as much oatmeal as it needs to soak up the extra water- two cups or so.  Stir in.  Then, I just cover and let the hot food and oatmeal amalgamate together.  You may need to add more water throughout the process. depending on how hot it gets.  It should stay slightly soupy until the oatmeal is added.  It takes a while to cool, so I leave it on the stove for a few hours and then I store it in the fridge in large tupperware.

I feed the girls about a cup a meal (2x/day).  If you switch foods, I always find tapering the switch works best to avoid too much doggy tummy problems.

The food usually lasts a week to a week and a half.  I am trying to use less grains in their food and switch to more protein and vegetable, but protein can be a bit pricey.

One word of advice I have is, don't add broccoli.  That really made the girls tummies rumble!  It was a long week...

Happy tails!

Sissy- *creepy post*

I am the biggest sissy in the whole world.  I feel like I got about an hour of sleep last night because I kept waking up every half-hour or so thinking I heard a suspicious noise.  It is as though I am six years old!  The house I live in right now is particularly bad for a few reasons.

First of all, we did get broken into while we had evacuated for hurricane Ike, and that feeling of violation lingers. It is not hard to imagine whoever took a gardening tool  out of the garage and then used it to break though my bedroom window, doing it again.

Another bad thing about this house is the lot it sits on. It is a huge yard with lots of bamboo and bushes, good hiding places.  In fact, some neighborhood kids have a 'clubhouse' in the bamboo.  The bamboo, with its secret passages, is the 'fence' separating my yard from at least three other yards!  Yep three, I told you it was big.  I also am bordered on two sides by a road, so all day and night I hear people walking, driving, talking... it never stops.

The last, and silliest, thing about my rental house that makes it hard to sleep is the house itself.  It is kinda creepy sometimes.  It is old, probably 1940's or so, and creaky.  It is really easy to imagine things here, and if I were the type of person inclined to give into such visions, I would probably be convinced the house was haunted.  I do not, and will not cave to these imaginations, but sometimes I get the freakiest visions in my head.  The garage and the bathroom are the places here I would name as haunted, if I were playing along.  I get this creepy feeling in  both places, its like I expect to see dead people in those rooms.  Very strange, I don't normally anticipate finding a body!  

What I imagine is strange because it is always the same.  Someone, a woman, dead in the bathtub- murdered, I think.  (Which is silly anyway because the owners installed a new bathtub right before we moved in!)  And a body hanging from the rafters in the garage.  You should see the garage, you would understand.  It is creepy in and of itself!  Old wooden walls, not actually secure from the outside world, the aforementioned rafters....

I am not a crazy woman, so why do I let myself literally lose sleep over imagined creepy crawlies?  Am I the only one who still wishes she could crawl into the safety of her parents bed some nights?  Metaphorically, of course.

Meatballs and bread pudding

I guess meatball sandwiches has been in the air lately because I cooked some up last night.  I usually just use meat and herbs, but inspired by Tyly's post here, I decided to make a more traditional meatball.  I did, of course, make some changes.  If you should know anything about me, it is that I cannot follow a recipe to save my life.  I did borrow a few ideas which I normally ignore; such as the eggs and breadcrumbs, which worked out wonderfully (Thanks Tyly)!  I also added in about a cup of chopped bell pepper, a cup of chopped white onion, a quarter cup of chopped garlic, a dash of cayenne pepper and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

This my friends, is not a recipe for practicing the restraint I recently mentioned wanting to develop in my cooking.  No this was not that, this was a spicy  meatball!  As you can see below, it was flavor country!

I did borrow the cooking strategy laid out in the recipe and it worked like a charm!  Baking the meatballs first and then simmering them in the sauce was brilliant!  It was a great way to soften up all the veggies in the meat balls and they held together amazingly!  No crumbles here!

I served the meatballs on whole wheat, hot dogs buns with melted fat-free mozzerella and topped with a sprinkle of parmigiana cheese.  It was kinda messy, but delish!  And healthy- we had a big salad on the side.

Then for desert, I took some homemade bread which was leftover from the holidays, cubed it and then covered it with a mixture of 1 c. milk, 1 c. sugar, some molasses, some cinnamon, 3 eggs, some spiced whiskey, some vanilla and some chocolate liquor.  Then I let it sit for twenty minutes like this in a baking pan. After twenty minutes had passed I covered this mixture with a topping of 2/3 a stick of melted butter, mixed with brown sugar, vanilla, and some chocolate pieces.  This sat for another twenty minutes and then I baked it for forty at 350.  It is supposed to get some sort of icing, but I simply served it warm with vanilla ice cream (Low fat, no sugar added!).  It is waaay to tasty- I may have had a couple of bites already this evening.  I think all you really need is cubed bread, milk and eggs.  The rest is up to you!

Bad wine = opportunity!

It is always such a big disappointment for me to open up a bottle of wine to find that it tastes funny, or just outright bad.  I hate returning open bottles of wine to the grocery store because generally the clerk is a kid, who doesn't drink wine, and therefore doesn't understand the legitimacy of a bad bottle.  Now assuming the wine is not actually spoiled,  another course of action  is to use the wine to make sangria.

Pour the wine, white or red, over a glass of ice. Now add juice and/or liquor until it tastes better.  That is all.  Truly any juice will work, but some of my favorites include: orange juice, a freshly squeezed lemon and/or lime, pomegranate, cranberry, mango, etc.....

For liquors, if you have any triple sec (Cointreau, Grand Marnier), flavored schnapps (Peach!!!, blueberry, passion fruit, Guava)- I add about half a shot or less (a capful) of any flavor.  You can always add more, but a little Scnhapps  goes a long way!

Also, wonderful to add to your sangria is fresh or frozen fruit!  Blackberries or frozen strawberries are good.  I personally love adding frozen peaches or mango!

I use roughly 2/3 wine to 1/3 juice if the wine is ok tasting. If the taste is pretty bad, I will do half and half or more.  The flavor combination is up to you, and the possibilities are endless!  If it tastes not quite right, I have found the fresh lemon or lime does wonders!

So, next time your wine tastes bad- pour it over some ice (or in a pitcher over ice) and add... anything!  It can turn a sad wine event into a sangria Sunday... or whatever day it is!

P.S.
Adding sprite is not a bad thing- bubbles are yummy!

Cheers!

Hello Old Friend!

I got an new I-pod last year because my old one was only partially functional.  You see, the directional keys to either skip or repeat a song were inoperable, which can be quite annoying on a day to day basis.

A few days ago, I found my old I-pod tucked away in a bin of electronic cords and extra ear buds.  I have been listening to it almost non-stop since.  I don't have any of this music on the new one because my lap top died about the time I replaced the I-pod, so I lost all my old music!

It feels like an old friend has come to visit me, and it has been so lovely!  Such great memories!

Pizza of my dreams!

Oh my, oh my, oh my!  That pizza I cooked last night was everything I dreamed it would be!  I even managed to stick to the simple ingredients!  Heaven, it was pizza heaven!  Cheesy, saucy, delicious pizza heaven!

I think the simple sauce was a key component,  it was a can of tomato sauce, a can of tomato paste, a can of diced tomatoes and about a cup of red wine simmered together until the alcohol cooked out and it thickened slightly.  Then at the last minute I added about a cup (measure was pre-chopping) of chopped fresh basil from the garden.  It was simple, but perfect on the pizza!  Very bold tomato flavor and hey, tons of beta-carotene and lycopene for your health!

Now the pics:

I know here you may think it looks soggy, but so not!  The crust is crispy and not effected at all by the loads and loads of sauce on the pizza.

The pizza in its entirety, minus four pieces already eaten.  You can see the steam rising off of it, now if only this was in Smell-O-Vision because, oh man, did it smell amazing!  And these pics do not do it justice!

The pizza was pretty healthy, whole wheat crust, no meat, not greasy at all.  You might be able to substitute the fresh mozzarella for shredded low fat mozzarella, but I don't know for sure if it would keep the crust from getting soggy.  Maybe next time I will do half and half with the cheese and see if there is any difference.

Now, I have some doggies waiting to go for a walk in the park, a ballet workout to complete, a bathroom to clean and then ... the garage to clean.  Better get moving, fueled by leftover pizza, I can accomplish anything!

Culinary delights!

This has been a yummy week at the Brewton household.

Began the week with potato stew, made from leftover Christmas ham and tons of veggies!  Creamy and healthy delicious potato heaven.

Followed by a pot of spicy, Southern black eyed peas for New Year's Day.

And now a Saturday night of homemade pizza.  I am trying a to make a Sicilian pizza I saw on the travel channel.  The crust is a rolled out into a big rectangle, then you spread olive oil on it.  Directly on top of the crust, you place slices of fresh mozzarella.  The cheese is topped by a simple sauce of tomatoes and basil, which is finished with a sprinkling of parmigiana cheese.  Apparently, the crust and the cheese form a cheesy bread-type vessel to deliver the sauce, soggy crust free.

For me, the hardest part of this pizza is maintaining the simplicity.  I am prone to season food heavily, at times, excessively.  So, I am working on appreciating the simplicity of beautiful flavor combinations, such as tomato, basil, and mozzarella.

Confession: I have already added red wine to the tomato sauce and some chopped fresh garlic to the crust- but I am doing my best not to add any crushed red pepper, cayenne, oregano... etc.

P.S.
I think the best part of the cooking this evening is that I am wearing 3 inch heels and my leopard print apron.  I don't know why I like playing dress up to cook dinner? It's just good fun!

Organizing machine.

I can't stop. it feels so great to get things in order!  I feel like I can breathe easier when I look around and find my surroundings to be pleasing.

My bedroom is almost done and it looks so nice.  I can just go in there and relax now.  :)

Next is bathroom and all my beauty products, which are far more numerous than necessary.  I use about four products a day, so what the heck is all this other junk?

Last, and most daunting, is the garage.  This needs the most work.  It is where I have been hiding my messes.

The final stage of Operation Clean the House before January 13 (school starts) is the big haul to Goodwill.

Back to work!