Thanksgiving!

Ok so, I know I never seem to post that much anymore, but things have been kinda crazy and busy in my life. Especially because I work overnight, I have a hard time finding the energy to do serious cooking, and because of my ridiculous student loan payments, I don't typically have money to make the big extravagant meals that I used to. But Thanksgiving is an exception!

Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday, and in addition going home to cook a big fabulous dinner with my mom, I typically make a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with Mario and all the boys, who are practically my brothers anyway.

So this year, the Dollhouse (mine and Lindsay's place) is hosting the big event. All the boys and a few more friends will be joining us for Turkey Day: the prequel.
So here's the menu

Turkey (DUH!)
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Sweet Potato Casserole
Bacon Green Beans
Glazed Carrots
Sweet Corn Souffle
Cranberry Sauce
and Rolls

I never really bother with dessert because everybody is always too full to eat dessert anyway. I'm very excited though. I love the planning and shopping and obsessing over every detail like dishes and centerpieces and all that stuff. Just as much as I love the actual cooking part. And having everybody over, and feeding them all. Enjoying a great meal with friends. I love it all. So anyway, most of my shopping is done, my recipes are all set up and I am more when it comes to a dinner party than I ever have been with school work or thesis or my bills. Pretty sad actually...ANYWAY. I'll be sure to keep you updated as I make progess and I'll also make Mario take some progress pictures, as well as pictures of place settings and the dinner itself, and all of our friends who come to share the day with us!!

Cats

This is going to be a post about cats. That's it. Just cats.

I used to think I was kind of a cool kid but I suppose that really depends on your sadly warped definition of cool. In all seriousness, I'm the weird lady who works night shift and tries to feed everybody like they are my children and lives in a house full of cats. So a post dedicated to my very favorite roommate and our feline frenzy.

Molly, Fatboy, and Dennis....

Also, please check out this great website ....and donate if you feel so inclined. If I had more free time between cooking and thesis and cleaning and the madness of our own cats, I would love to work with her on her charity and volunteer work.

My Web Show Debut...Almost

This is just the most basic cut. Mario had to do a lot of strategic editing to get it under his 2.5 minute limit but get excited for the 5 minute version soon to come!! :D



So yeah, this started out as just a video editing project for Mario, but it was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed myself so expect some more.

Long Time, No See...

So I haven't posted in about 6 months. Pretty bad, I know. Things got a little hairy there towards the end of the semester. I got really busy with classes and tests and papers and projects, and my little cooking blog fell by the wayside. Then, even after the semester ended, I was on the hunt for a new job, filling out dozens of applications every day and getting very few call backs for somebody with a great job history and a college degree. And then a tree fell on my car. That's right, you heard me. Part of a 100+ year old oak tree fell and crushed my car to bits. And I cried. It was my baby, and though I complained about it on a nearly daily basis, it was my car, and it was still running, and most importantly, I wasn't having to make any payments on it. I was more than a little discouraged. Pretty tough to get a job with no transportation, but fortunately the insurance company came to the rescue with a rental car, I finally found a job working the front desk at a local hotel, and eventually got a new car, plus car payments too. I lost 35 lbs during the summer, but have since gained it all back :( I'm also desperately trying to get my thesis done. I'd really like to get a better paying job now that I have to start paying on my student loans soon, and there is a lot of family pressure to be done with it already. So I'm struggling but I'm still here, still cooking when I have the time and money.

Things are great with the (not so) new apartment. Lindsay and I (and our THREE cats!) are really enjoying it here. Currently listening to rain on the tin roof with a cat in my lap and avoiding folding the rest of my laundry. I'm stressed out about school and money stuff but mostly pretty happy. Mario and I's three year anniversary is in about a week and a half, we are actually going to be staying the night in the hotel where I work. It's sad, I know but I get a good discount, and it will be nice to take a little mini vacation.

So I've got some big plans to get back on the cooking scene. Yes, my degree is in Psychology, and it would be great to find a job in my area but jobs in the field seem really discouraging right now. Psychology just seems like more of a chore than anything to me at this point. I haven't loved it like I used to in years. And what I feel really passionate about these days is cooking. So I'm still working on my cookbook plans and thinking about creating a website. I'm interested in maybe starting a small catering business, though my lease states that I shall not operate any business out of my unit...haven't found a way around that yet. And I was helping Mario with one of his film class projects when we had a really phenomenal idea. He needed to do a short instructional video and asked me to cook something for him, and so this weekend, we made a how-to video for making bananas foster. It was a ton of fun, and got me thinking, I would love to have my own cooking show, so what's stopping me?!?! Mario and I are going to attempt to film, edit, and produce a cooking web show. If it works out, it would be something great for both of us to put on our resume, so we are going to give it a shot. He's got access to professional camera equipment as a film production student and we are aiming to create at least one episode a month, plus I could do some video blogging too. His class project within time restrictions should be up on youtube by the end of this week, and an extended cut to follow soon after. Food Network, here I come!

So I finally got around to telling my parents that I moved. Things did not go well for me. I haven't even asked about the TV cabinet yet, but they might come up and visit soon, and I plan on going down to visit soon as well, so hopefully I can get that and some other things, like my sewing machine, that I have a place and a use for now. Lindsay and I are commandeering a small table/stand/cart from Mario's house that we are going to set the TV on for now, and then once we have the other TV cabinet from my parents, we are going to move it into the reading nook and use it for our coffee makers and supplies and a cookie jar. Lindsay is getting some clothesline today. I started a little herb garden for us this weekend, and once I save a little more money, I am going to start hunting again for a little china cabinet and one more squishy chair for the reading nook. We are thinking of doing a citrusy kind of theme in the bathroom now. Anyway, I seemed to have lost my camera again, but I promise promise promise that I am going to post some pictures soon.

Ok, lots of things have been happening since the last post. I secretly lived in the new house for awhile, got locked out by the repairmen, lived with Mario for a little while, and then finally got the keys!

I found a super comfy loveseat at my favorite thrift store for only $10. It is in really rough shape but I am going to recover it in a pretty blue fabric and then some matching throw pillows for the other couch and hopefully it will pull all the furniture together nicely.
I planted some tiny gardenia bushes in the front flower bed so maybe we will have pretty smelling flowers sometime this summer.
I also got some cheap fabric on sale at walmart, and I am going to try to make kitchen curtains for it. I also got a nice little microwave cabinet and put it together all by myself, and I must say it looks pretty awesome.

We still need:
a coffee table
a china cabinet
one more squishy chair for the reading corner
a bigger tv
new curtains
a living room clock
new bathroom stuff once we finally decide on a theme
patio furniture since I ended up leaving those chairs when I moved out
fabric to recover the loveseat
clothesline

and I would also like to get some night blooming jasmine to put on our fence and some tropical plants like hibiscus to put around the patio.

and I also need to confess to my parents that I moved AGAIN and beg them to bring up the old tv cabinet that they saved for me. I think our tv might sit on the floor a few more weeks...

Times, They are a Changin

Prepare yourself for another post that has absolutely zero to do with cooking or Mario, but a furious rant about how very angry I am.

Firstly, I paid 6 months worth of rent in advance when my student refund came in. nearly two grand which would last me to the end of the lease, I no longer owed the apartment complex anything. I knew I was probably going to end up leaving a little sooner than that, but I told my roommates that they would have some time to find a new person to take over my room without having to worry about paying extra rent. I thought this was the nice thing to do. And should they move somebody in earlier, the reciprocal nice thing to do would be to pay me my rent back. One would think right...

Came home yesterday to find a contract declaring that by my vacating the premises, I am relinquishing my rights to any advance rent paid as well as my security deposit. So needless to say, I vacated the premises immediately and cancelled the electricity. I was absolutely livid. As long as I was losing my deposit anyway, I decided it was time to get gone. So I am currently semi-homeless. Molly and all of my things got moved into the new house by about 11 pm last night, I unpacked until about 2am, finally got a few hours sleep, and now back at work until about 7ish tonight. I have a test tomorrow that I haven't even started studying for yet. Waiting for Jackie to give us the keys "mid March". Specifically when does mid March start, I wonder? Regardless, I left the back door unlocked so I can feed Molly and get clothes as needed for now. I am absolutely exhausted, and still pretty damn mad. I've been nursing a raging headache for about 16 hours now, and I still need to start studying for this test. Too many things to worry about right now.

A super productive day for me. Leaving in about two hours to look after my girl, but so far I've managed to actually sleep in a little (yippee!), do a load of laundry, pack another car load for this weekend, eat some nachos, organize what's left of my room, and make two lists worth of things which still need to be packed up, but mostly have to wait until I have somebody's truck or I'm a little closer to the point of officially moving out and not coming back.

My room:
Bed + my 800 pillows
Dresser
Tv
Shelves (2)
Nightstand
Mirror
Desk + all the junk on top of my desk
Desk Chair
Hamper + Laundry Basket
Cat and all cat accessories
Trash Can
Last bit of clothes/shoes/odds/ends

Rest of the house!!
Deck Chairs
My Dining Room Table
Vacuum Cleaner
Couch
Step Stool
Wine Glasses
Kitchen and Bathroom Garbage Cans
Shower Curtain and Bathroom Rugs
Games
VCR/DVD/Remote
and all my holiday stuff buried somewhere in the storage closet.

I'm dreading the last one a little. But I definitely feel like I'm making some progress. Once all my stuff is out, I am going to rent a carpet cleaner and spackle up the walls a bit, and all will be well and I will say siyonara and that will be that.

and then I get to live happily ever after in my silly crooked little cottage home.

the end.

I can hardly believe I get paid to play candyland and watch matilda. We also drove through the car wash. I have a great day at work every time.

Also, I am nearing about 50% moved into the new house. Lindsay asked her to unlock it yesterday to bring in her new mattress, meanwhile I was at home packing up stuff and texting Lindsay about how much I wished I could just move out today. She told me the house was unlocked today, and a few hours later I moved one whole car load worth of junk into the new house. Score one for me! Next to tackle is my desk and shelving, and all my craft supplies. lol. Big step.

Everything is Changing,..Again

Should have posted an ad for nannying years ago. I am getting more emails than I can shake a stick at. And I am telling them all, I already have a primary family that I work for, but if you tell me when you need me, and I am available, I'll watch your kids too. I am going to make a killing this summer. Crazy.

AND in the next two weeks, I will be out of the hell hole I currently live in. Hello, sunny days. Everything is about to get a whole lot brighter.

Just got a new job, I'm the nanny for a 9 year old girl!

I am so very excited!

Spent a wonderful weekend with Mario and crew. We drove down Friday morning to visit his parents and hung out on the beach and drank too much. Did plenty of thrifting as well, and picked up a few new things for the new place. An old milk bottle, a terra cotta garlic roaster, a lovely set of ceramic canisters and scoopers. Lindsay and I are moving in TWO WEEKS. I am absolutely thrilled to get out of my old place, which is becoming more and more hostile. Nobody gives a damn about washing any dishes or taking out the trash and yet they are upset with me because I am sticking them with paying the whole electric bill. Like maybe if we could turn off a light every now and then, or you know, not need the air conditioning when it's only 65 degrees out, then maybe it might be a tad more affordable. We haven't had an electric bill less than $200 in months. And let's keep in mind that I paid 6 months worth of rent in advance, and was prepared to take that loss whether they moved anybody in or not. But now they are moving one of their other friends in like the day after I move out. Who wants to bet they won't pay me the other four months worth of rent I've already paid in even though their friend will probably pay his third, or my $300 deposit. Or my share of the $200 gift card we got from our cable company and he just pocketed. But whatever.

Also, potentially found a job. It's not official yet, but the manager made it seem pretty clear that they were desperate for help and they wanted me. Meet Cassi: fiancee, mother to Molly, graduate student, office assistant, secret aspiring chef, and now night clerk of a hotel. It's bittersweet but I need the money so it's all good for now.

I watched Corrina, Corrina today. It's such a good movie. Also, because I haven't seen it in years, it never occurred to me, the little girl is Deb from Napoleon Dynamite. But anyway, point being I felt a little jealous. Not of having a black maid of course. I certainly don't want to go back to segregation and social injustice, but I definitely admire the style and simplicity of that era in a lot of other regards.

I am starting to think maybe I was born in the wrong time period. When I was in high school, the thought of ever being a housewife was completely abhorrent. Who could ever be content to stay home with the kids and cook and clean and have dinner and a martini ready on the table when their husband got home?! I never wanted to be a June Cleaver type. As I have gotten older though, I can understand the appeal. After moving out of the dorms, I realized just home much time and effort can go into keeping a place tidy. And as much as I love to cook, with school and work, there are absolutely times when I am just too exhausted for anything other than ramen or a bag or popcorn or mac n cheese. Add children to that and when would a person ever have time to breathe and relax? I have been amazingly lucky to have the opportunity to get an education, and the right as a woman to pursue whichever career I please, it's wonderful. And maybe it's just because I've reached the point of being completely burnt out, but all I want to do with my life right now is make a pot roast and decorate a layer cake, chase after small children, have a house where all the furniture matches and my mattress isn't on the floor. Have nice things. Practice the piano. Paint the house. Always be working on a new project. I would have enough time to thrift for funky stuff and refurbish it, and learn to make my own clothes. I would wear an apron nearly all day, nylons, low heels, a hat. Maybe gloves too. Always pearls. Invite ladies over for tea. Get milk in glass bottles. Garden. Serve fresh lemonade in a big belly pitcher. Always have fresh flowers. Sell Mary Kay or Tupperware. Read all the "classics". Listen to records.

Who knows, maybe then I would have felt oppressed and felt compelled to do anything to push the envelope, and I would have been one of the Vargas girls or something. Or longed to go further back in time. I'm fickle that way.

One chair all scrubbed up, one more to go...

and the finished product.two old chairs left out to pasture, all new again

What's on my agenda today? you ask...

Funny you should ask really, found some filthy old plastic adirondack chairs sitting by the dumpster yesterday and decided to repossess them, scrub them clean and give them a fresh coat of paint. My only concern is they were kind of arranged in a sitting area....next to the dumpster. I thought they were trash but my roommate thinks they are supposed to be there, next to this little fountain that isn't hooked up to any water....by the dumpster. They are absolutely disgusting and nobody ever sits in them, but I feel really guilty now. I don't want to steal stuff that isn't mine, but I also really like them and once they are cleaned and freshly painted, I think they will be lovely. I'm very torn between putting them back so I don't feel like a terrible person who is going to be thrown in adirondack chair jail or keeping them because I am the only person who cared about them enough to take care of them and keep them looking nice. Guess we will see when the complex comes knocking, maybe I will just say I'm sorry, thought they were trashed, cleaned and repainted them, how much do you want for them?

.....(insert angry words here)

I am very annoyed and disappointed :/
I got turned down for the bagel shop. I got a generic and impersonal email (with grammatical errors, no less) saying that my application was not being selected for further consideration....even though I am an alumni of their town and they employ almost entirely college students and I have legit bakery experience and would be available for the holidays and all summer like they asked. But no, go ahead and hire some clueless freshman who will screw around and turn off customers and then quit in two weeks. Karma, baby. What goes around will surely come around. >.< In the meantime, I am on boycott of the only bagel place in town.

Foiled Again

So I'm moving back towards my old stomping grounds pretty soon and since the money is starting to dry up, I've started sending in applications around town, even though I don't actually live there yet. I scanned craiglist and I've seen lots of postings, mostly for sales jobs which I just don't think are a good idea but a few office staff jobs and other stuff. I applied for a bed and breakfast job and then I saw a nanny job, and I realized something. I would be a great nanny. I cook and clean, do crafts, sing and dance and play games. I'm really still a child at heart. I'm even CPR certified. I applied for it and felt wonderful. I felt like I had a really good chance of getting it, and that I would simply love it! And then I found out it was a scam. I spent an hour thinking of Mary Poppins and Sound of Music and what fun it might be to be a nanny, now completely devastated. Then I applied to my favorite bagel shop. In actuality, it would be the perfect job for me. It fits perfectly within my schedule, just the right amount of hours, I could walk to work, I have bakery experience already, and I would be working in the food industry. I'm just still so disappointed that it's hard to see the good in anything else.

I think I'll probably get the bagel shop job. Hopefully it won't be too awful. Who knows, maybe they will let me do a bit of inventing. Fingers crossed!

Molly

my snuggle bunny :D

All in All, Best Weekend in a Long Time

what a day! what a weekend really...what a month, year, life. something like that. :D

to start with, I gave Mario his birthday present...a pretty big one.
Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology

I think he's pretty happy about it. Then we went to visit my parents which was fun. We had to wait for Mario to get off work, and then drive about an hourish so I didn't end up cooking after all. We just ordered a few pizzas and that was that.

Saturday morning, Mario and I went to the farmers market. It was AWESOME! They had a lot of stalls selling produce and things like handmade jewelry and assorted whatnots but they had other stalls with people making and selling all kinds of food. Mario got a few jars of homemade pasta sauce and roasted garlic and I got some kettle corn and bottle of pure raw honey from some local bees. We also taste tested some Maryland style crab bisque with fresh bread and it was great. It really got me thinking a lot: Opening my own restaurant would be a big step, what with finding a location, leasing and furnishing it, getting a license or permit or whatever I need to legally serve people, deciding what the heck I want to cook, and then getting people there to eat it. Opening a stall at a local farmer's market is more of a tiny inch in the right direction. Plus, if I can ever finish my cookbook, it would be great publicity. My summer has found yet another goal. So anyway, Mario and I came home and used his new pasta sauces, and my new honey, got a nice tablecloth and moved the dining room table out onto the deck. I arranged some nice flowers, made fresh squeezed lemonade with a lovely pitcher kinda like this one
made a fresh salad and had a great dinner with our friends. It was absolutely picturesque.

TODAY, Lindsay and I got an open house day at the new place. Jackie unlocked for us in the morning and we had all day to move things in and hang out and plan out and just enjoy our new place. Frankly, the construction is absolutely horrifying. There is hardly a straight edge to be found in the whole house. Nevertheless, I find it to be nothing short of adorable, charming, perfect for us. Which leads me to another summer goal: getting that place absolutely spotless, and refurnished, and painted and prepped for painting. It sat empty for awhile and is just old and grungey but nothing a weekend with open windows and some scrubbing with the radio up loud couldn't fix. I'm feeling very much like Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy where she moves into that dusty old place. There is definitely cleaning and repairs and a fresh coat of paint to be had but I plan to enjoy every last bit of it. Brown Eyed Girl is definitely going in my "working on the house" playlist. :]

Dinner Party!

Possibly cooking for my parents and grandma when Mario and I go visit on Friday. Mom says she doesn't have the time to worry about it....my cue to step in and wow them with culinary kung foo. whats on the menu....no clue.

time for me to get crackin. :D

So apparently I need to change this blog to "Cooking mishaps, my love life, and the home and garden adventures of Lindsay and I". LOL

As I said yesterday, we paid our deposit this weekend so that's out of the way. Jackie is planning on giving us the keys to our new digs sometime in mid March but since we are living next door to her parents, we can ask them anytime to open it up to move furniture and whatnots inside.

Aside from acquiring various furnishings, the really only necessary items are silverware and a gas sensor, but before we get all crazy now there is the painting to consider. I think I've picked out colors for my room. Behr's Twilight Pearl or Weeping Wisteria with Tropical Dream trim and accents. I think I would like to try to get in contact some old friends at my alma materto try to borrow an overhead projector and try to do some stenciling on the wall. Some sort of nice flourish or stars or a tree and birds silhouette. Something cute.

I think I've found some nice colors for the kitchen as well. Need to go over with Lindsay still but I think we might be doing stripes of Cancun Sand and Canton Jade which I think would be absolutely charming.

Living room, dining room, bathroom, and reading nook are still somewhat undecided. The living room is going to be some shade of purple, with probably some other Antique or Cottage White Accents. Dining room will probably also be some shade of purple but I think it might be nice to do some more green accents to bridge the gap between the green in the kitchen and the purple in the living room.

We are also looking to do something with a nice dark red and black and white stripes either in the reading nook or the bathroom but here is the dilemma. Do we match the reading nook to the living room and be crazy overwhelmed with 4 purple rooms in the house, or should we paint it something entirely different and have it make a big statement as being something entirely separate from the living room space. It is filled with windows and pretty small so I think it can really stand to be a really boldly colored space without it being weird or out of place.

What to do about that bathroom...? I have no idea really. We've decided to not do anything nautical or fish or shells. I think multicolored stripes, squared or polka dots might be nice, or maybe a soft yellow with honey and bumble bees. I think aqua and yellow with rubber duckies could also be really cute.

Also, busy trying to guesstimate the approximate wall square footage to find out how much paint we need and how much this might cost...eesh!

Mario and I went to see Gnomeo and Juliet in honor of Valentine's Day, it was really adorable. Also,I made boiled peanuts this weekend, and they were really fantastic.

AND Lindsay and I paid the deposit on the new place, landlady Jackie is going to let us paint, and start moving stuff in a month ahead of time. Big smiles. We talked about potentially having a house warming get together once we are all settled in, I think a luau theme would be perfect!!

I would talk sooo much more but I'm really behind with all the homework I haven't done so far this weekend so here's to Sunday night catch up time.

Struggling to do ANY of the readings for my thesis. Skipped my classes today to sleep in. I'm so over school right now. I can't drop out now that I've invested so much time and money into it but I absolutely despise it. I'm dreading the next meeting with my thesis supervisor. It will be all I can do to keep from trashing his office and storming out. I keep telling myself I just need to do whatever I need to in order to get it done but I could really just care less. All I can think of is how much I can't wait to move, to get back to my old stomping grounds. To live in a charming little house in an absolutely lovely historic neighborhood with my "gal-pal" Lindsay, be closer with Mario, reconnect with my years-ago roommate Meg, cook and entertain for all the boys. Get the chance to take some cooking classes. Be closer to my parents. Move out of the big city and back to that quaint little town I adore.

Lindsay just texted to see how I feel about a purple themed living and dining room...how do I feel about purple?? Only my favorite color EVER! Just wish I could move tomorrow instead of six weeks from now. Just wish I could get another job so I can afford to move six weeks from now. Just wish.

Jackie, the landlady, said she would probably give us the keys in the last week of March. So if she were to give us the keys to the new place on March 25, I would be moving out in 43 days!!

And I could cook fancy things every dayyy.

And see Mario every dayyyy.

And be with friends every dayyyy.

More Goodies

Not cooking goodies but dish goodies at the thrift store. Got a few cute glasses and appetizer trays for a $1 a piece. I got two decent sized sundae cups and a set of four glasses that are probably more meant for some sort of alcohol but they are low and after the stem, they are flat on the bottom and I think they would be much better served as fancy dessert cups. Tasty puddings and parfaits in lovely little crystal dishes. Adorable.

WIN!

So yesterday after work and school, I went to a moving sale to look for anything nice to furnish the new house before I headed to Mario's for the evening. I found an absolutely gorgeous solid oak (I'm pretty sure its oak) dining room table and four chairs. It is lovely and for only $75, quite a steal! I had planned on maybe getting some cheap things, repaint and/or distress or make covers for it til it all matched, but this was such a beautiful light wood with virtually no damage (except the scrape on the edge which I inflicted trying to get it through the parking lot of my current apt complex. I don't think I could ever paint over it, so last night Lindsay and I discussed making some cute little cushions for the chairs, getting a nice runner, and then a pretty vase or some other kind of table topper and just letting it be. I can't wait!!

Stopped by my old job but the lady who has taken over the bakery section since I left was off for the day but I left my phone number so hopefully will get a call back. I think things have gotten a lot better since I quit, and though I really would prefer to not go back (I worked for a here "nameless" grocery store chain, and there were times it was absolutely horrifying) I know I could make plenty of extra money to afford my cooking and crafting and decorating habits. LOL

Our place also has this awkward little alcove-y thing off of the living room that at first we weren't really sure what to do with but I am thinking now that I might have a cute idea for it. We could paint it a really bold color since there are so many windows there, we could really pull it off easily. But we could stick two squishy arm chairs and a little coffee table or end table in between them and maybe some shelving on the walls overhead and have it be a little reading/snuggling with kittens/enjoy morning coffee little nook.

We are paying the deposit on Saturday and meeting the landladies mother, who is also our new neighbor, at which point we can ask about painting, gardening, attaching things to the walls and ceiling, and potentially getting that GOD AWFUL heater out (although I'm not really holding my breath for that one but a girl can dream right?).

Lindsay and Cassi's Little Dream Home Wishes
Two Queen Sized Beds
One (or Maybe Two) Decent Sized Dressers
A Nice Loveseat
Three or Four Squishy Armchairs
Cute Hutch or China Cabinet for the Dining Room
Hanging Bookshelves for Possible Reading Nook
Shelving for the Laundry Room
Pretty Little Patio Chairs
Assorted Coffee Tables or End Tables
Hanging Pot Rack
Microwave
Microwave Cart
Over the Toilet Medicine Cabinet
Gardenia Bushes for the Flower Bed
and maybe, maybe, maybe, if we really save up enough.... A HOTTUB!!

I know this post had absolutely nothing at all to do with cooking or my love life but I am super stoked for making our house awesome and adorable and Cassi-and-Lindsay-esque! Think I am going to head to the thrift stores now while Mario is in class and see what good deals I can find today!! :D

An email from my favorite professor:

"Thanks, Cassi! You da best!

Dr. T."

I don't understand why they like me so much better as an office assistant than a thesis student...hmmm.

Ta Da!

So thanks to my lovely fiance and aspiring photographer, Mario, I finally have some pictures to share of some of the things I've been testing lately. :D

This is Chorizo Beans and Rice with a Sour Cream and Cheese Sauce

These are the Roasted Asparagus and Prosciutto Canapes which were to die for!!

Blueberry Cream Filled Cupcakes! Yummy!

and finally...The Roasted Corn and Cuervo Salsa!

(please disregard ipod charging cord and assorted junk in the background)

I've got a test tomorrow, plus so much thesis stuff to do this week and I just don't want to do any of it. Would much rather browse craiglist for furniture and other stuff I can't really afford just yet and look up interior design websites and work on my cookbook and call Mario and text Lindsay and pack and shop online and scheming about getting the hell out of this place.

Mexican casserole was tasty. Moving out will be a whole lot tastier.

For no particular reason, decided I really wanted to make hollandaise last night. Complete and utter mess of a failure. I will definitely try again soon, perhaps with a blender next time. Finally told my mom I was "casually" considering writing a cookbook and was then informed that I actually have to write my own recipes to do that. LOL oh, mothers of little faith.

Also, my friend Spencer, (and Lindsay's betrothed) told me this weekend that his parents have a friend who moved to California where he has a cooking show or something to that effect. Essentially, I may have found some friends with friends with friends with connections, meaning once my cookbook is finally finished, it might not just sit on my shelf for years but go somewhere and be big like I am desperately hoping for.

Lindsay and I are so very excited about the new place. Hoping to chat with our landlady soon about potentially doing some painting when we move in, so long as we paint it all back white when we are done (and of course carefully mind the new carpet!) and going in and doing some gardening as soon as it warms up a bit. We both would love some gardenias in the front flower bed, and potentially a little vegetable garden around back. I would also love to have a little kitchen window box with some fresh herbs! We have lots to buy and do. Unfortunately I am going to have to go back to my old job or find something else. Definitely need a second job to afford to pay a few months worth of double rent. Excited about the gas stove but lots of tweaking to be done for our tiny kitchen. Approximately one square foot of counter space. Maybe 6 cabinets. Maybe. I'm hoping Jackie (the landlady) would be OK with us getting something like this for above the stove. It would certainly free up some space and personally, I think it would be a cute addition to just about any kitchen.

I've got a couch and an entertainment center, but we would also like a few nice armchairs and a dining room table. I also would really like to get a new bed. I broke my bedframe in the last move, my mattress is falling apart, and my boxspring is completely shot. :/ I am all about thrifting for used furniture but I am really considering, budget permitting of course, about getting a brand NEW bedroom set. If I could get a good deal at one of those liquidation outlets, I'd be a very happy girl. I seriously need to win the lottery so I can just move now and cook happy things with Lindsay and we can be regular little homemaker, Martha Stewart types. :D

Making plain old Mexican casserole for dinner tonight. And getting a vicious migraine and getting really zero work done on my thesis so far today. Really need to study for my test tomorrow but also really don't feel up to it. Mostly feel like vomiting and sleeping but preferably not at the same time.

Success and Failure

Saw the new house today with my gal Linds and GUESS WHAT? The realtor offered it to us instead of the other people, we can move in April 1st!!!

Made some fancy meatballs for the big game tomorrow, they turned out really great.
Also made honey orange glazed chicken and fried rice for dinner. Turned out not so great at all, lots to fix. Made Blueberry cream filled cupcakes to celebrate Lindsay getting hired at the hilton today and being excited about our possible new house, (and then later being offered the new house!!) and they were really good but also really time consuming and really messy too. Delicious but not super practical.

Going to sleep earlyish hopefully. Making ribs and pigs in blankies tomorrow and then going home to my apartment to start packing. ahahahaha!! :D

New Toys

Also, I was so very sleep last night that I forgot to mention that grocery shopping for a few test recipes got a bit pricey. I couldn't resist though, I got an electric mixer and a little food processor for a great deal. Maybe they will break in two weeks, who knows? But maybe they will last me until I am such a rock star chef that I can afford on of these. KitchenAid KSM150PSWH Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer, White

Oh dear, that is sexy. :D

Anyway, honey orange chicken and fried rice is up tonight, and my services have been requested for a superbowl party tomorrow so I need to come up with a few menu plans tonight. Busy busy day. My favorite girl in the world, Lindsay and I, are going to a house showing in a little bit to see if we can rent it. I'm super stoked to be moving so much closer to Mario and SUPER stoked to live with Lindsay because she is nothing short of a DOLL and she is such a supportive person. The roommates I have now, well there's definitely a touch of friction lately but they are picky eaters and that makes it difficult to test new things on them. Anyway, I, of course, adore Mario and love Lindsay to death and living in the neighborhood will make it so much easier for me to cook a lot more often and test a lot more things. Better days all around. Fingers are crossed for super low rent less than a mile from my fiance and hers. <3

According to the lovely Julia Child, a canape is a type of hors d'oeuvre literally translated as couch. However, they are typically small decorative pieces of bread or cracker "canopied" with butters, cream cheeses, meats, relishes, and other assorted tasties. Base, spread, main item, garnish.

Tonight I made prosciutto and roasted asparagus canapes. They were AMAZING! I really seriously hate to brag on myself about it but I just wanted to test them out and they were AMAZING! Going in my cookbook for sure.

Nowmustsleepgahhh.... night all.

honk-shooo

the end.

In light of the absolutely horrifying thesis meeting I had this morning, I am really going to have to be a lot more diligent about my research, which, to me, reads as "Hurry up and finish compiling those recipes so you can get to the testing part, lady! And maybe get published some time this century, perhaps even before your thesis is ever done!"

I have come up with a total of 77 recipes. Not all of them I've made before so they make require a bit more testing time. I am a little concerned though. Of all the things I have made before, I do my best to make it my, but some of my recipes are...shall we say "other recipe inspired." At what point is it plagiarism. And what about any other potentially copyrighted recipes out there that I have never even seen but happen to be rather similar to...? I don't want to steal anyone else's glory, just like I wouldn't want somebody to take a recipe I worked hard to create, change one small thing and then take the credit for it in their cookbook. I really have no idea how the whole cookbook publishing thing really works to be honest. I guess my plan right now is to finish it as soon as I can and then mail it to as many influential people in the field as I can think of really.

Also, since I am trying really hard to make my cookbook stand out from everyone else's as much as possible, I am trying to give lots of my recipes clever nicknames, or name them after all the people I know and love as a thank you for their support while I worked on this. I am hoping for every recipe that's named after a friend or family member, I could include a nice picture and short little blurb about who they are and why they are so important to me and how they made this project possible. I think of it, not only as a way to make myself more unique and marketable, but to give me a chance to really dedicate my work to all the people who really deserve it. <3

Anyway, I'm pretty interested to see how a few of the new things work out. I feel like I put use chicken way too much so I am trying to include some other things for more variety. Like lamb. I've never even seen it in stores or eaten it, much less prepared it for other people. hmm. Please, if any one out there ever reads this at all, tell me something about cooking lamb. I could make tiny lamb sliders and then call them lamb-burger-inis. lol. Will anybody out there please comment and tell me I'm clever. I'm desperate for some affirmation here.

Onward march to testing. Oh, my aching wallet. :/

as my graduate career and thesis project continue to head south, I am having more and more trouble seeing myself with a career having anything to do with psychology ever again. Congrats university, you win. I can't wait to be finished and then move back closer to Mario and possibly even take cooking classes. I found an ACF accredited program very near there, and depending on my work situation and how much it costs, I may go for chef certification. Assuming I ever even finish my thesis, I'll have a master's degree, and end up going back to a technical college but who cares? I'll be doing something that doesn't make me want to crawl under the covers and cry anymore.

Had brinner, or breakfast for dinner tonight. One of my all time favorite meals. Bananas Foster pancake syrup, and what my roommate refers to as "Magical Grits" :D

Visited a Corningware and Corelle store at the mall, but didn't see anything I just couldn't live another day without. I was hoping to find a garlic roaster like this
but didn't see one there. :/

headed off to Spice Traders, smelled lots of goodies but nothing I absolutely had to have...until I passed by the bagel place next door. Whole wheat everything bagel with cheddar garlic cream cheese. You are my friend.

I really want to learn to make my own bagels. I LOVE bagels. :D

To Pineapple or Not to Pineapple?

So Mario and I and some of his roommates had a few tacos for dinner and after we were all cleaned up, I went ahead and trashed the kitchen again with a few new recipes of my own creation.

First up, I made some roasted corn salsa with fresh peppers, cilantro, lime juice and tequila. I attacked the boys for gratuitous feedback to ensure maximum awesomeness before I decide to include it in a potential cookbook. The overwhelming conclusion was that it had great heat and the perfect consistency but would be just right with the addition of a tropical fruit, pineapple in particular. Mario, who does not appreciate any sweet or fruity salsas vehemently denies this. After a long discussion about the flavors, we arrived at a decision: I am redoing and canning for his mom and her friend, Amy. I am going do everything pretty much the same except for a few ingredients that seemed to get lost in the mix: I am going to double the roasted corn, add a lot more salt, some more cilantro, and CAREFULLY more tequila. Then I am going to separate and add the pineapple to half. Then we will do the whole sterilized mason jar + hot liquids trick, and take them to the other side of the state for more opinions from serious foodies. Depending on their feedback, I will either add and subtract til its just right, or "Sweet Corn and Cuervo Salsa" with be a ready recipe for the still nameless cookbook project.

Rice and Beans with Chorizo and Creamy Cheese Sauce. Rice and beans, pretty standard as far as Mexican food goes, I think. But I also added chopped chorizo, which I was thoroughly excited to use for the first time. Basic cheese sauce with a touch of sour cream to top it off. End result, too much beans, not enough rice. The boys ended up eating it with tortilla chips like it was bean dip. It also had a really chili-ish flavor to it, which I suppose was good but nothing outside the box, and I definitely did not get any chorizo impressions from it at all so I absolutely need double or even triple the amount. I felt like the cheese sauce was good but didn't really stand out much from the rice and beans. It was delicious and super rich on its own, but it was meant to be a cool contrast to the spiciness. Maybe more sour cream next time. Who knows?

Anyway, heading to Spice Traders tomorrow, always a delight! Whole vanilla beans imported from Madgascar, how can that not be exciting?!? Hopefully I don't spend too much. Also hoping to head back to World Market soon, that place is great too. Also, Whole Foods was recommended to me today. Temptation, thy name is unique and foodie-coveted goodness.

Taco Tuesdays

Heading to Mario's for dinner tonight, the boys have decided (with no input from me) that they are having tacos, and if I want to cook, I need to go with the taco theme. :/

I enjoy some southwest/tex-mex kind of food, but as far as cooking goes, I wouldn't call it my forte. I've been trolling for a bit on allrecipes.com but I have decided in light of my recent commitment to adventure, I am going to wing it. I am going to go to the store, buy cilantro, limes and some other veggies, make whatever the heck seems right, and if the boys rate it 10/10, well then into the cookbook it goes!

I can always use the practice and my cookbook could always use a little more variety, right?!

so just throwing some ideas around, I am thinking about making a roasted corn salsa, and some sort of spicy rice and bean type dish with a creamy cheese sauce to cool it down a bit. I think I am going to start having Mario take pictures of all my test recipes, and perhaps build a chart for the boys to rate all my test recipes.

Also been reading my "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" a bit today, and I really want to try to make hollandaise sauce soon. I really just need an electric mixer though, anytime I have to whisk anything to thicken it, it never turns out. I just can't seem to whisk fast enough :[

Suggestions, Anybody?

On an entirely unrelated note, I watched Julie and Julia again last night, probably for the millionth time. I absolutely adore Meryl Streep, and I see so much of myself in both stories. It's cute and funny, and I guess just because I'm so frustrated with school and really just wanna cook and not do much else, I just bawled pretty much the whole movie.

SO...I would love any recommendations for any similar cooking movies. <3

Decisions, Decisions

A few months ago, I let this blog fall by the wayside. Nobody was really reading or commenting, and I tend to get lazy with my cooking sometimes. especially when I'm broke, which by the end of the semester, I usually am. But I am in a new semester now, hopefully my last, and I have hit a crossroads of sorts. I love psychology. Or at least I used to. I love psychology in it's purest form. I am utterly intrigued by the inner workings of the human mind, and it seems that a career in psychology would be the right path for me, and for a long time, it was. Working on my master's has stolen all the joy of psychology from me. With advanced statistics, constant problems with my thesis and/or thesis advisors, and never ending red tape, the bureaucracy of a major university has killed everything inside me that loved learning anything and everything I could get my hands on. Now it is all about getting through that next paper, that next test, that next class. This is the beginning of what is supposed to be my final semester, assuming my thesis gets done on time. And I take no joy or pride in that. It's my name on a piece of paper, a really expensive insurance policy.

Psychology was the dream job and cooking was just a hobby, but those tables are starting to turn. Psychology is absolutely fascinating to me, but maybe just on my own terms. But I am day dreaming about dropping out and running away to cooking school, being the next Julia Child or Paula Deen, having a best selling cookbook or a television show, opening a restaurant, having people hear my name and say "God, I wish I could cook like that one day."

I want to be an icon. A kitchen goddess.

I've cooked a few dinners in the months since I've been MIA, tweaked a few dishes, even invented a few recipes of my own. I feel that I have really come into my own as a cook. I have decided I am going to continue on with this degree, finish it as quickly as I can, hopefully finish this semester and graduate on time. But in the background, I'll still be here. Blogging, cooking, testing, and writing it all down. Mario's mom gave me an empty recipe book for my birthday last year, and as I test new recipes, substitute things, tweak to my tastes, and make it my own, I am adding it to the blank pages. This semester, I am going to finish my thesis, but more importantly, I am going to write something that will actually make a difference, that somebody might give a damn about. A master's degree might make my mother proud but I think publishing a cookbook might too.