Hipster Housewife Goes Hard

Hot Italian Beef

2013-09-18T22:06:00.001-07:00

This is a recipe for a hot sandwich, that tastes sinfully delicious. It's juicy, warm, filling and as good as the tender meat is, I feel the veggies are even better.

Don't you just want to eat the monitor or phone or other device that you might be using? Damn, I just put that in my belly and I am still salivating. Okay here is how you make it.

Start off by heating olive oil in a heavy, oven safe pot over medium high heat. I chose my favorite kitchen purchase of all time, Les Creuset. Generously salt and pepper your roast, for this recipe I chose a chuck because it has decent marbling and its cheap. There is really no reason to worry about the fat since the method used to cook the meat is a slow heat that pulls out most of the fat.

Add your beef to the pot and sear each side until golden brown. Note, when using cast iron, enameled cast iron or stainless cookware, your meat will stick to the pan until it has formed this crust as shown above. Just be patient and let your tools do the work for you. When the crust has formed the meat will release from the pan.

While your meat is doing its thing, chop celery into crescents. Cut onion and bell pepper into slices and mince garlic. Leave the basil leaves whole. Once the meat has seared on both sides add water, worcestershire sauce, vegetables and Italian seasonings.

Bring up to a boil, cover with lid and place in an oven preheated to 325 degrees for one hour, reduce heat to 250 and continue cooking for another 2 hours. Add more water if the meat is less than half way covered. Cook longer if the meat doesn't pull apart easily with a fork, because it should.

Pull apart meat into chunks and serve on a hoagy bun. I like to let the juices soak into the bread before eating it.

Ingredients

3lb chuck roast beef
2 TBSP olive oil
2 cups water
1 package of Italian salad dressing mix
2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
One 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, Italian
Pepperoncini and Jalapenos, as many as you like about 6 or 8 each
1 green bell pepper
2 celery stocks
half an onion
4 sprigs of fresh basil leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 325. Heat oil in heavy oven safe pot over medium-high heat. Add salt and peppered beef to pan. Sear on each side until golden brown. Add water, chopped veggies, seasonings and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in oven. Bake for 1 hour, reduce heat to 250 and continue to cook for another 2 hours. Serve over hoagy buns.

*this recipe easily converts to a crock pot recipe for all you busy house makers. Just brown the roast then add all ingredients to crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.

Asparagus Bisque

2013-04-30T11:51:00.006-07:00

Spring brings so many wonderful flavors to our table and my favorite by far is asparagus. It's easy to find at your local grocery store but did you know that its actually a weed that grows in ditches along the road?
When I was growing up in Idaho, I remember driving real slow out in the country. The doors of my sisters van open and our eyes were sharp to spot the flowered weed. We would come home with grocery bags full of it and have big bbqs with sautéed asparagus dipped in lemon mayonaise.
Asparagus season is upon us and this recipe is a great way to use up the bunches in your fridge. It will also give you a good reason to use your immersion blender, I am always looking for ways to use that handy tool.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs Asparagus (two big hand fulls)
1 medium carrot
1 bell pepper, I used yellow.
1 small onion, use whatever color you have.
1 stalk celery
2 cups chicken or veggie stock. I used home-made because its FREE, for the recipe check Free Stock
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt, pepper
croutons and asparagus tops for garnish.

Directions:

Coarsely chop all veggies and add to stock in a sauce pan, bring to boil then turn down to a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until veggies are tender but still vibrant in color. Blend with immersion blender or by adding veggies to blender or food processor until its pureed. Add your cream and adjust seasonings. Serve with croutons, asparagus and a dollop of cream. Enjoy within 5 days or freeze.

5 Ingredient Pumpkin Beer Cake

2012-09-01T18:56:00.002-07:00

Now that I have your attention, I am going to spoil your day and tell you that the reason this is only a 5 ingredient cake is because I didn't say we would be frosting it, if you use the frosting I did then in reality this is a 7 ingredient cake. Not too bad but 5 is a magic number, just like 42.
This cake is very simple and even healthy, as it has no oil, I replaced oil with pumpkin and water with beer... Beer is a vitamin. That's what vitamin B stands for and you can take that to the bank.

Ingredients.

yellow cake mix
1 can of pure pumpkin (not the pie mix)
1/3 cup of golden wheat beer of your chose, drink the rest nom nom
2 eggs
1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, which is nutmeg, cinnamon and clove.

Putting it together couldn't be more simple, just mix all of the ingredients on low for about 3 to 4 minutes. I love the color of the batter, perfect!

Pour equal amounts of batter into two round cake pans and bake for 35 minutes at 350.

I topped the cake with the whipped cream and cream cheese frosting recipe that I used on my Fireworks cake. Its really simple and tasty. I gave this cake to my new neighbors who said it was really good, I got to have some too, it was very moist and light. I think I will make cupcakes with this recipe for Halloween. Enjoy!

Copy Cat Recipe: Tomato's Bacon Spezie

2012-08-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

When I am in the small town of Twin Falls, Idaho I have to go to Tomato's Bar and Grill and get their Bacon Spezie. It is a spicy, cajun inspired alfredo with bacon, chicken and mushrooms. I am serious when I tell you it's amazing.
I was craving this dish at home in Alabama and decided to google it, it is original, like no one, not even the internet has this recipe except for a small restaurant in small Twin Falls, Idaho. At least they got that going for them. But I NEEDed it! So I tried a recipe and failed and tried again and voila! It is perfect.
Here is my gift to you internet world! And everyone who has been wanting this recipe for their home.

Amendment 2025- Hey, this is Tori. I went back to Idaho after my dad passed away and a surprising amount of people recognized me from this recipe! I just wanted to say I'm happy you enjoy this copy cat recipe for bacon spezie which is definitely not authentic Italian and dont even ask nona to share her recipes because she doesn't do that.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
5 slices of bacon
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups italian blend shredded cheese
1/2 cup chicken broth or more for thinning
2 TBSP butter
8 white mushrooms, washed and sliced
3 to 4 green onions
a healthy heaping spoonful of sun dried tomatoes
1 TBSP minced garlic
cajun spice mix ( 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 dried thyme) This is approximately how much I used.

Directions:

Start by slicing chicken in thin slices and cutting bacon into 1 inch pieces. Fry together, on medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Season with cajun seasoning. Add garlic, mushrooms and butter. Once the mushrooms, chicken and bacon are golden, (in bacon case crisp) turn down the heat to a simmer and add cream, chicken broth and green onion. When simmering add cheese and let melt. Adjust any seasoning to taste and enjoy. Serve over penne.

Tomato's does melt a smoked gouda over the top under the heat of an oven. Although really tasty, I chose to leave this step out because I don't have any gouda ATM. I hope you enjoy this dish, it is seriously delicious.

Firework Cake

2012-06-29T20:05:00.002-07:00

I am throwing a small get together for the forth of July this weekend and I have been busy working on all of the preparations. Owning a house is work and so are parties, like lots of work. I swear after this weekend I am going back to being a hermit that only comes out for work.
Tonight I finished decorating my cake and I am really excited to show you how it turned out plus share the recipe.

Slice your fresh strawberries tops off then into thin slices and arrange by size.

Level your cakes then cut in half to make impressive layers. Note for smarter people out there, dont double the recipe and pour it into two cake pans then over cook your cakes because you are scared when you see that they are twice the size you expected... not that I did that or anything.

Stiff peeks, also most amazing frosting every. Think of all the possibilities! Add maple syrup to it for stuffed french toast with bacon, or chocolate bacon cupcakes, nom. Add nutmeg and cinnamon to go with a pumpkin cake, okay, I am salivating.

Here I am brushing sugar, vanilla water onto my cake because I saw it on a tv show. Not because I overcooked my cake and was afraid of it being too dry!

Filling in the layers

Fucking gorgeous. Let the fruit do the work for you.

Cake Recipe:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 oil

Combine dry ingredients and sugar in a bowl. Add oil, milk and vanilla and mix together. Add eggs one by one and mix. Pour into two 8 in pans. Bake on 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Whipped Cream Frosting:

1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Start by beating cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a mixer on medium speed. Once its creamy add whipping cream slowly, raising the speed to high. Stop beating when it forms shift peeks.

Deviled Eggs, 6 Different Ways.

2012-04-04T19:45:00.005-07:00

My family has a kind of unofficial deviled egg competition each year for Easter and each year everyone swears that their own, are the best. Unless of course my great grandma has made eggs that year, hers are the best.
The younger crowd is what has made this competition interesting. Bringing in new and exciting flavors and relying heavily on presentation, as far as those categories go, its in the bag, piping bag that is.
I am going to bring this family tradition to my family in Alabama now and I am really wanting to start it off well. So Ryan and I had six different kinds of deviled eggs for dinner that were all extremely different and extremely tasty.

I started by gathering ingredients, basically anything goes, it was a little like making pizzas, 6 tiny pizza eggs. I do want to start off by saying that I made these recipes up as I went and I didn't write down measurements of each to save time however, I do have a rough idea and am going to give the recipe for each in a batch of 6 eggs.

Here they are, entry one through three.

Entry four through six. Lets begin!

Number one: Bacon Ranch

The first eggs recipe was inspired by loaded baked potatoes and that is exactly what it tasted like. Ryan and I thought this egg was good but it was a novelty egg. Ryan renamed it, "Loaded Egg" and I think this really discribes the taste. Good, non- traditional, and it makes a nice presentation.

Recipe

6 hard boiled eggs, cut in half length wise

1/4 cup mayo or sour cream to taste

3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 chopped green onion

1/4 cup shredded cheddar

pepper

Number two: Shrimp

Ryan didn't try the shrimp one because he thinks they are the cockroaches of the sea, bugs. With that in mind, I thought this egg was delicious! It was tangy and mustard rich. I honestly believe that if I hadn't told Ryan it had shrimp in it, he wouldn't of known and actually liked it, a lot. Which brings up a note of improvement for that part. I think that sautéing the shrimp first with parsley, butter and garlic would be key for the perfect seafood deviled egg.

Recipe

6 boiled eggs

1/2 cup small shrimp

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon garlic

1 tablespoon parsley

1/4 cup mayo
1 1/4 teaspoons harvest grainy mustard, dijon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and pepper

paprika for garnish

* saute shrimp in the butter, garlic and parsley, salt and pepper. Chop shrimp, making sure to reserve 12 for garnish

Number three: Curry

This egg was tasty, like really good. I was happy to make this egg because of an Indian dish I had once where the boiled eggs were the most prized part and for good reason. Curry and eggs work, well.

Recipe

6 boiled eggs

1/4 cup mayo

1 chopped green onion

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon yellow curry powder

salt and pepper

Number four: Greek

This egg was bold in flavor and had the most potential as being a favorite made over and over again. PLUS it is healthy, no mayo was used in the making of this egg.

Recipe

6 boiled eggs

2 tablespoons pesto

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

6 kalamata olives chopped

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Number five: Traditional

This is the traditional deviled egg that is a crowd pleaser. Its sweet, its creamy and delicious.

Recipe

6 boiled eggs

1/4 cup mayo

2 tablespoons sweet relish, I likes em sweet, reduce if you don't.

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

salt and pepper

paprika for garnish

Number six: Bacon Dill

This egg was really good. The texture was pleasant and it didn't taste like a potato inposter, it tasted like the insides of an egg sandwich. I liked this egg better than the first one, Bacon Ranch.

Recipe

6 boiled eggs

1/4 cup mayo

3 slices cooked, chopped bacon

3 tablespoons cheddar cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon dill weed

So there you are, deviled eggs six different ways. I would have to say the Traditional one was my favorite with the Bacon Dill and Greek being very close seconds. The Shrimp was also very good as was the Curry but I was not a huge fan of the Bacon Ranch. Don't let that stop you from trying any of these recipes and making up your own. Let me know if you try any of my recipes!

Butternut Squash Alfredo with Bacon

2012-04-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

I bought a clearance can of butternut squash the other day because it was clearance. I have a slight to major problem when it comes to clearance, especially clearance food but it makes things interesting.
Before I started I tasted the butternut, its pretty blain and the texture is less than desirable being that it is fiber rich, so mixing it into something else was key. I also googled some different recipes for butternut and when I found it paired with bacon I knew what to do.

First I gathered my ingredients and I cut three slices of bacon into one inch squares and put it into a skillet on medium-high heat for about three minutes before putting my thinly sliced chicken in. I aslo added garlic at this point.

Let your bacon and chicken cook through and get a nice brown. It takes about seven minutes.

Then add reduced sodium chicken broth and simmer for another five minutes. You don't want to skip this step because the fast cooking of the chicken slices with the bacon will dry out the chicken so be patient and let it simmer.

Next step is to add the canned milk or cream or the milk you have in your fridge, the can of butternut puree and freshly grated nutmeg. I can not stress enough the importance of fresh nutmeg in alfredo!

After everything is well incorporated you can lower the temperature and add cheese. A basic rule thumb when making alfredo sauce is to add the same amount of cheese as you have in liquid. Ryan, Beau and I however, are all on diets ;) so I go with half of the amount of cheese. After adding the cheese be sure to take it off of heat so the oils don't separate.

Serve over penne pasta, whole grain is tasty, top with some cheese and parsley and enjoy! We did!

Recipe

3 chicken breasts
3 slices of bacon
2 tablespoons of garlic
1 1/2 cups of reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup of milk, cream or evaporated canned milk
1- 15oz. can of butternut puree
1 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
some peppa
1 cup italian blend shredded cheese
fresh parsley for garnish.
6 cups penne noodles

Makes 6 servings.

Shredded Asian Pork, Slow Cooked In A Dutch Oven

2012-03-28T18:11:00.002-07:00

While driving home from work today, I realized I had a problem, missing potatoes. No potatoes for dinner is a huge problem for a girl from Idaho who learned how to cook from her Grandma, who also lives in Idaho, growing potatoes. So when faced with this problem and having already commented to pork loin roast for dinner I had to think of what else you can do with pork loin, so I shredded it!
Since I haven't made this before and I wasn't sure if it would be any good or if I had wasted a couple pounds of pork, I didn't take a lot of pictures and really only could snap one in between Ryan taking bites. Well it turned out, how could it not, I am a genius!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Place pork roast in dutch oven and add soy sauce, water, ginger, garlic, brown sugar and sriracha. Cook for 2 hours, basting every half hour. Add carrots when there is half an hour left of cooking time.
Make you som rice. I used the minute version but be warned, it actually takes five. (grrr)
When the pork is done cooking, let it rest and then slice it into about 4 chunks and put it in your mixer with the paddle attachment for a minute until shredded.
Put it all in a bowl and mix it up and eat it. Nom!

Mmmm look at that caramelization, this is why I love my french oven and its so easy to clean.

Recipe

2 pound pork loin
2 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon sriracha
2 tablespoon garlic
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 to 4 cups of carrots

Germany

2012-02-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

We may get to go back to Germany, I hope we do, there are a lot of things that we did while we were there that I would like to do differently. The last time was kind of spere of the moment and not well planned. Mainly I would like to brush up on my French a bit more and give Paris some more time than we did.
When we decided to take the weekend to go to Paris, well we didn't book a hotel room and we ended up having to stay in Versaille. After eating the most amazing breakfast in the world, fresh chocolate crissants, we asked where the palace was, I am really surprised the guy didn't laugh in our faces when we asked if we needed our car. We drove there, which was a mistake because it was only a couple blocks away and we waited for a parking spot for an hour. Then we stood in line for an hour just to find out that American citizens are suppose to stand in a different line first... FUUUUUUUCK. Our entire day was exactly like that and I blame the car. Really I do, don't drive to Paris unless you are going to spend a week site seeing.

I know you can't tell but those are "lines"

The places that we enjoyed ourselves at the most were places that we found just while driving. Not having any idea what to expect or what to go see. Like when we found this old church, called Notre Dame.

Brussels was my favorite place that we visited and it was again, totally spur of the moment. We woke up that morning and thought, "how about Belgium waffles for breakfast?" So we did eat waffles, and chocolate and beer. We went to a beer store, they had more than one and the store was filled with beers from top to bottom, totally overwhelming but we found a book in the store and purchased what they had suggested.

Actually just all of western Europe was great, yeah, all of it. But if I had to pick just one country to stay in, I would pick Germany and here is why.

The gardens

The strawberries taste better

Nothing goes to waste

Hard work

The history

Because around every corner you find something like this.

The nature

And there are castles

Super Easy Mini Quiche

2012-02-18T19:34:00.001-08:00

Mini quiche is kind of the soup of breakfast. What I mean by that is if you have eggs and cheese, you have mini quiche. Just throw whatever you have left over in the fridge into your quiche, makes it interesting and its always tasty. Use the rinds of cheese hunks, that last bit of sandwich meat thats not enough for a proper sandi, the spinach thats about to go bad, the one spring of green onion you are not sure why you didn't chop up, really whatever.

Melt you some butter. It's not necessary to melt it in a pan but I don't own a microwave.

Crush up some crackers in a ziplock or croutons, or hard bread or just use bread crumbs.

Fill muffin pan cups with butter and crump mixture and smash down with whatever you can find.

The hardest part of the whole process is chopping up veggies and cheese and whatever meats you find.

If you are using white onions and mushrooms, saute them in butter, and then eat the remainder of the stick.

Layer the cheese on top of the crumbs, mix the cheese, don't mix it, I don't care what you do.

Then put everything else on top, filling it to the very tippy top.

Crack a couple eggs, pour about 1/2 cup of cream in and give it a generous grating of the nut of meg. Use fresh nutmeg, really it makes all the difference in the world.
At this point you can either fill each cup with egg mix and cook in a 300 degree preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or you can keep the egg separate from the rest of the quiche and make it later. Like Sunday morning.

Ingredients

1 cup of crush crackers, bread crumbs, croutons, whatever you have. I used crackers and italian bread crumbs for flavor.
5 TBSP of melted butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cheese
other toppings of your choice
nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 300. Melt butter and mix into crumbs, add about a tablespoon of mixture to each muffin tin. Smash into place with fingers or glass jar that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Layer with cheese then other toppings to nearly the top. Mix eggs, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg then pour over muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Balsamic Vinegar and Blackberry Chicken

2012-01-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

This is the "So good your boyfriend will do the dishes," chicken recipe I have come up with. I am still working on the "Proposal," chicken recipe which I have heard rumored exists but only married women know how to perfect it and are definitely leaving something out of their shared recipes. Anyway, I will share mine and not leave anything out. I have served this chicken with mash potatoes, and pumpkin gratin or sautéed spinach and mushrooms, it goes well with just about everything.

Balsamic Vinegar and Blackberry Chicken Recipe

Ingredients list makes 4 servings

4 chicken breasts

salt

pepper

1/2 tsp sage
3 cloves of minced garlic.

1 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup blackberries ( I used frozen)

1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing or 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

Putting it all together

Heat some olive oil over medium low heat and place your chicken breast in the skillet. Salt, pepper and add garlic and sage and half of the chicken broth. Flip the breast when you can see its cooked about half way through.
When you flip the chicken add the rest of the broth, blackberries, honey and vinegar. The idea is to simmer the chicken into juicy, sweet submission. Yummy.
After your chicken is done, serve the the yummy glaze over the top of your purple chicken.

Lately we have been enjoying sauteed mushrooms and spinach. Just slice up about 4 or 5 baby bella mushrooms and saute in a tablespoon of butter, then add 10oz. of fresh baby spinach and salt and pepper lightly. I also grate about an ounce of asiago cheese on it at the last moment.

So like I said, not a proposal but definitely get your dishes washed.

Things You Can Freeze

2012-01-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

From a little experience of my own I have found that some things freeze better than others and some things were a drunken mistake and you should just move on. Okay well here are a couple things that can and can't be frozen.

Good to freeze

Washed sliced mushrooms. I find it very convenient when making omelets and pizzas to have sliced mushrooms on hand always.
Berries! Great for fruit salad, yogurt and hot cereal, as an extra bonus it cools down your cereal just right.
Shredded cheese. Buy it in bulk or on sale and freeze what you don't use.
Vegetable scraps. Keep the peels and tops of scrap vegetables in a freezer bag then later on make stock out of them, you can freeze the stock as well.
Alfredo sauce.
Cakes. Make a cake in May eat it in September, it will taste just as moist, just make sure to wrap it in clear wrap then foil.
Left over Thanksgiving turkey. Wrap your left over meat in foil then store it in a freezer bag to keep off freezer burn.
Grapes. They are delicious grape popsicles, but don't expect them to unfreeze well.
Minced garlic. Buy bulk garlic, put it in your food processor and store it in a freezer bag, break off a chunk whenever you need it.

Do Not Freeze

Potato soup. I do and have done it a couple times but it will come out grainy.
Yogurt. Unless you are looking to have a tasty frozen treat don't try to unthaw your frozen yogurt. It gets a grainy texture and will loose its creamy thick texture.
Eggs. hehe forgot about that boiled egg I wanted to cool off quickly.
Beer. BIG mess.
Lettuce, but everyone probably already knew that.

The amount seen in the food processor makes a substantial amount more than pictured in the Mason jar.

Dog Cookies

2011-12-23T17:36:00.000-08:00

This time of year I tend to go through a lot of butter, like Julia Child amounts of butter but the other day I baked a dish that was in fact butter-less. It is a hard biscuit made of wheat flour, pumpkin and peanut butter, healthy. Plus I made up a frosting for it using ricotta cheese (because I didn't have cream cheese) and peanut butter with a bit of honey. The ending result some something like a dog treat!

Recipe for cookie:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees
Using a wooden spoon, mix together all ingredients in a bowl. The dough will be dry and using your hands is unavoidable. Add a bit of water if you need. Roll into a 1/2 inch thick sheet and cut out shapes. Place on a baking stone or cookie sheet.
Bake until hard, about 35 minutes.

Recipe for doggy frosting:

1/2 cup cream cheese or ricotta
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey

Mix all ingredients together and frost. It will crack if it dries, I like it, you may not.

German style

2011-12-19T16:11:00.001-08:00

Red cabbage, sauteed golden apples and brats with mash potatoes and mustard reduction.

Homemade Make-up Setter/ Mixing Medium.

2011-07-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

I have heard of setting sprays made by high end make up lines, I myself have never invested in one. I knew that if I tried it, I would like and have to buy it over and over again as it is something that I have heard nothing but good things about.

Retails for $19.00

Retails for $29.00

You can use setting sprays to moisturize your skin, set your make up, and add some shine to your hair. If you look cakey with too much face powder you can use this product to make it melt into your skin. It is great in the summer months because it prevents your make up from moving or if you are one of those girls who wears makeup to the gym. If your foundation dries before you buff into your skin all the way, you can spray it on your brush and then finish applying the make up. Pretty much everything and anything.
Now lots of companies also make a mixing medium, sold with your pigment eye shadows so that the loose powder doesn't fall on your face. Mixing medium is also very versatile in its uses. The funny part is that its the very same thing as finishing spray just in different packaging... damn!
Now the really funny part (the not so funny but more the part that is going to piss you off) about all of this is that finishing spray and mixing medium are both nothing more than glycerin and water. That's right sugar water! $&*%*$*@$!!! Sorry...

Recipe

1 part pure glycerin (You can find it in the facial care, pharmacy, cooking, or even craft stores)
3 parts Filtered water (not sure where to find that...)
Something to put it in (spray bottle is the best idea I can come up with)

All you do is mix 1/4 glycerin to 3/4 water inside a spray bottle and use. That would be if you have combination skin. If you have oily skin try 1/5 glycerin to 4/5 water and if you have dry skin try using 1/3 part glycerin to 2/3 parts water.
If you have redness in your skin you can add 1 part rose water, that will also give it a nice rose smell. I like to put one part witch hazel in mine personally because it makes it feel less sticky. If the stickiness is still a problem for you, try just a little rubbing alcohol.

Glycerin is also used in cooking, many beauty products and medicines. Its a lubricant, moisturizer, and heals burns, its also good for colds.

I hope you enjoyed this, I know that I did, I am so happy to know that I could make a gallon of this stuff for under $5 bucks! SWEET!

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I Give Up.

2011-07-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

You can get just about anything delivered in Abu Dhabi. Your laundry, groceries, and of course, food. Delivery is really offered anywhere and everywhere. All you have to do is call them up and place your order. The problem that I face however, is language barriers.
Ryan is gone most of the day and usually gets home right before things close so getting meals delivered from outside the hotel just makes sense. Apparently no one in any of Abu Dhabi's restaurants has any idea where the Intercontinental is? It's the huge building with the giant "I" on it.

Oh yeah, that one. I have tried a couple times to call for delivery, I usually just give up after about five minutes of asking for them to repeat what they just said and end up hanging up. I figure that there is absolutely no way that they are going to get my order right even if they do manage to make it to the right place.
Lately I have been seeing this advertisement for a one delicious looking food thing in a box, I didn't know what it was because I had only seen it will driving past it at night, plus its in Arabic. While watching tv I saw it in a commercial for PizzaHut!

It's called the Mighty Variety and it serves 6, so way too big but I still wanted it! Ryan could take the left overs to work and I could get supreme and he can get whatever it is he likes. We tried to go to pizza hut after he was off of work and it was closed. What pizza place closes at 2AM? So if I wanted it I would have to make the call.
The plan was made, we knew what we wanted and I had the hotels address, phone number and money. I called and the guy asked for my area code, shit. This is the hotels phone number +971 2 666 6888, please, if you can pick out the area code, HELP ME because its not 971... The guy got so frustrated with me that HE hung up!
The pizza guy hung up on me because I could not understand him. All I wanted for the Fourth of July was a freaking pizza and he hung up. My country freaking invented that pizza!
I guess I will go and get chicken shawarma. It's a local dish, kind of a like a gyro, but made of chicken and served with fresh mint leaves and hummas.