Susie Homemaker

This is what happens when I have company

2014-10-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

I FALL BEHIND IN MY BLOGGING. So really you should blame for the tardiness of this post, because they were such awesome guests and I had such a good time that I got a biiiiiiiiiiiit busy. Actually I almost totally forgot to take pictures while cooking and my mom totally saved the day and became my photographer. Which is amazing. I should hire her full time or something.

So since the 'rents were here I wanted to cook something special. I asked Mike what I should make and he answered Coq au Vin. That was his answer because Coq Au Vin was the first thing I ever cooked for him ever. He also picked a side of asparagus and I'm SO AWESOME that right in the middle of cooking Coq au Vin I was like "Hey guys do you want some home made hollandaise sauce to put on top of your asparagus?" And clearly my Dad hit his head or something because he was like No no don't do that it's too much work. Word to the wise people if someone offers you home made hollandaise..... you do NOT turn that awesomeness down. Luckily I didn't hit my head so I made it anyway. Ok are you ready? If you're wondering why I always ask you if I"m ready it's because being in my head and my kitchen is kinda like being in a hurricane so you need to be prepared for that...... SO STRAP IN LADIES AND GENTS.

Coq Au Vin. This recipe "comes" from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book 15th Edition. And the "comes" is in quotations because you know I never leave a recipe alone.
What you need:
2 and 1/2 to 3 pounds of meaty chicken pieces. I always get the chicken cut up, Which is actually closer to 5 pounds but then you get to have leftovers which is awesome.
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Salt and black pepper
12 to 18 pearl onions
1 1/4 cups of Pinot Noir
1 cup whole fresh mushrooms
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/4 cup of chicken broth or water
1 tablespoon of freshly snipped parsley (Ain't no body got time for fresh herbs - I used dry so 1 teaspoon of dry)
1/2 teaspoon of dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf (bay leaves are like garlic..... you can't have too much so I put in 2! I'm a rebel)
2 cloves of garlic (MORE LIKE 2 HEADS, just kidding but like 4 cloves)
2 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of margarine softened
2 slices of bacon ( HA WHO USES ONLY TWO SLICES OF BACON, are those people mad? What's wrong with them? I used 4, maybe 5)

Ok so first things first you gotta prep things. Which means that gives you a chance to peal those pearl onions, slice those carrots, etc etc. I did all that and then measured out all the herbs and what not and put them all aside in a bowl so I could then DUMP IT ALL IN AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME. That is fun. So I set aside the pearl onions, mushrooms, carrots, broth, parsley, marjoram, thyme, bay leaves and garlic in a little bowl. LIKE THIS:

It's best when you have a person being your photographer and you don't have to worry about it. Then you've got to skin the chicken. Which is super gross. And this is one of those rare occasions that you need to use those kitchen scissors. Seriously otherwise the skin will never come off. Mom took a picture of me doing this.... WHICH I WOULDN'T HAVEN'T DONE CUZ EW. But here:

Man my engagement ring looks good even when I'm pealing gross raw chicken. Ok so what you do next is you coat a large skillet in the vegetable (PS I can't spell vegetable) oil and heat it to medium high heat and brown the chicken.

Ugh chicken is gross when it's not cooked. Look at it all pink and gross. Then you sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Then add the wine. Now... you remember that pre-prepped bowl? YOU JUST POUR THAT WHOLE SUCKER IN THE skillet! BANG! Action shot:

From there you bring the whole thing to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer and let simmer for 40 minutes. During that time feel free to put together your side dishes. PS if you dogs don't look like this during that time you're doing something wrong:

They are thinking.... If I sit here long enough she's bound to drop something. Now here is where I made the asparagus and the home made hollandaise but to make sure I don't disrupt the flow of the recipe I will do that recipe after I finish this one.

After the chicken is done simmering you should transfer the chicken and vegetables to a serving platter. Then stir in the flour and butter into the mixture in your skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. This actually takes a few minutes which you wouldn't think. Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables. Place someplace warm, fry up your bacon right quick. ALLOW THAT TO COOL BEFORE YOU CRUMBLE IT. Seriously I'm always burning myself. Then crumble the bacon on top of the delicious Coq Au Vin. You're a culinary master look at that.

Now for Asparagus and home made hollandaise. What you need:

Asparagus (duh)

3 egg yolks (that's the yellow part)

Lemon juice

1 teaspoon of water

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1/2 a cup of butter

Now asparagus is easy and only takes about 7-8 minutes in boiling water to cook. So if you're making it while doing Coq Au Vin wait until after the simmering bit ok? Which coincidentally 8 mins is how long it takes to make Hollandaise! It's like they were meant to be together! Whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice, cold water and salt and pepper. Melt yo buttah in a saucepan (low heat! Don't let it evaporate it's the good stuff!) NOW Slllllloooooowly whisk the egg mixture into the butter. Continue to whisk for about 8 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Pour into the serving thingy (I don't know what it's called but it'll impress everyone trust me- it's got a spout I think it's a gravy boat w/e).

And finally! The end result!

Oh yeah that's home made Italian bread too... But for that recipe you'll have to ask Mike. He also followed up dinner with coffees made to order which was amazing. Sigh. Delicious Meal. Awesome company. Wish I could do it all over again. <3

Don't put the German Shepherd in the Shepherd's Pie

2014-09-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Today is a double whammy. This past weekend was Mike's birthday so I made his favorite meal on Sunday night: Ground Turkey Shepherd's Pie. And yesterday I made apple pie from apples we picked at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville. So buckle up kiddies this one is going to be a doozy.

Alright before I share the Shepherd's Pie recipe with you I will let you in on a secret but you have to promise only to use it in the most dire of circumstances. Pinky swear? Looks around, *whispers* In a pinch you can use mashed potatoes from the box and simply add the spices to them. But you would never do that right? Good, then we can proceed.

What you need for Ground Turkey Shepherd's Pie:

2 pounds of potatoes (I used Russet)

1 tablespoon of butter

1/4 cup of milk (Ooooops I totally forgot to get milk at the store and used chicken broth instead- everything turned out fine)

Dash of ground nutmeg

Dash of Salt

Dash of pepper

1 pound ground turkey

1/2 onion minced

2 cloves of garlic (you know what I'm going to say here...... I never skimp on the garlic, I used 6)

1 tomato diced

2 tablespoons of brown sugar (or molasses but seriously who lets molasses sit in their house? I mean who's buying it and not eating it immediately?)

1/4 cup of ketchup

Soy sauce

Dash of cinnamon

Dash of celery salt

A bit more nutmeg

First you want to boil your potatoes on the stove top. According to my book this can take approximately 8-10 minutes. I rather make sure they're actually cooked because otherwise mashing them by hand is a nightmare so I definitely kept them on there for a good 20 mins.

In the mean time I might have taken a ton of photos of my pup being adorable chewing on her bone:

NOM NOM NOM. And back to the po-tay-toes:

Do you see that rolling boil? Oh yeahhh. Let the potatoes cool and then peel and cut into large cubes.

In a large bowl, add the potatoes, the butter and milk or if you're a doofus like me the chicken broth. Then MASH:

[Edit: If you are viewing on your phone you can't tell but there is an embedded YouTube video of the Monster Mash right here]

Until you have this glorious sight:

Add a dash of nutmeg, salt and pepper. I always end up adding more milk (or in this case chicken broth) as what the recipe calls for never seems to be enough to get the right consistency. How do you determine the right consistency? The most important part of cooking: TASTE TESTING. Mmmm.

I always get the impression from the way cook books are written that cooks either magically have minced and diced veggies or they do all their mincing and dicing before undertaking the actual cooking. And neither of those things are realistic. I minced and diced my onions, tomatoes and garlic while the potatoes were boiling. Like so:

See how helpful I am telling you how to properly time your mincing and dicing? Yeah you're welcome.

Brown your ground turkey in a saute pan on medium high heat. Add the onion, garlic, tomato, brown sugar, soy sauce, dash of cinnamon, dash of celery salt and dash of nutmeg.

Don't drool in the mixture even though it smells delish. Simmer for 10 minutes. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a baking pan. Spread the cooked turkey in the bottom of the pan. I usually spoon out the meat mixture that way you're not getting all the fat that has separated out while simmering in your Shepherd's Pie but if you want the final product to be super juicy feel free to pour the whole mixture in the pan.

Top with the potato mixture and bake for 20 minutes.

Usually I would have a picture of the finished product but it was so delicious we dug in right away...... So use your imagination or cook it for yourself and then you can see the results! ;-)

And on to the Apple Pie recipe. It's of course Dutch Apple Pie because Mike loves all things Dutch.

What you'll need:

Two Pie Crusts (because ain't nobody got time to make pie crusts on a week night)

5 Gorgeous JonaGold Apples that you hand picked over the weekend (If not store bought is fine - This is my best Barefoot Contessa impression)

1 cup of white sugar

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons lemon juice

Topping:

1 cup white sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup of butter

First I have to show you our beautiful apples because I took at least 10 photos of them before I got the one liked:

I have a problem I know. Remove the stems, peel, core and slice those suckers. Beat off any hands that keep trying to steal your apple slices...... *Looks disdainfully at the fiance*

Place the slices in the pie crusts and try to pretend like you don't notice this going on in the living room:

Next mix the 1 cup of white sugar, the 4 tablespoons all purpose flour and the 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples within the pie crusts. Next sprinkle 2 tablespoons of lemon juice over each pie.

Next mix together the remaining ingredients and spread over the pies. I did this with my fingers and it got messy but was super fun:

Bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes. Until it looks.... Just heavenly:

Careful, it's hot so don't inhale immediately.

I recommend baking apple pies while watching the Sandlot and while the boy and the pups go through his old baseball card collections..... it really rounds out the evening.

And as a final addition I must share Mike's lunch complete with a tomato that he grew on our back porch. It's so cute:

Happy eating everyone!

Going Rouge - What else is new?

2014-09-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday! Which now means it's blog update day. Oh yeah..... I'm here to stay baybeh, better get used to it.

So yesterday was an extra special Wednesday, because Jutta Koska my old roomie came to visit and share in the dinner experience. Needless to say not only was I psyched but the pups were pumped too.

I decided to make Steak and Eggplant Salad, also from Allen Lim's Feed Zone Cookbook. Mike helped! So if you're like me letting people help you in the kitchen is hard. Letting people help you in the kitchen and dealing with the begging puppies that goes along with it is nearly impossible. Deeeep breath. It might turn out awesome, like it always does. (Gotta let go of that Type A personality sometimes yo).

To make Steak and Eggplant Salad you'll need:

1 pound flank or skirt steak
2 tablespoons of spice rub (I'll include this recipe below)
1 medium eggplant cut into 1/2 inch slices (My eggplant was a monster, I don't think it qualified as "medium" I used all of it anyway. Mmmm.... Eggplant)
"2" tablespoons olive oil (Can you really have enough olive oil?)
1 cup of flour seasoned with salt and pepper (To be honest I probably used more than a cup too.... I'm just going rouge over here)
"2 to 3" garlic cloves (psh yeah more like 6 of those suckers why do recipes always skimp on the freaking garlic?)
1 tomato diced
1 cucumber diced (my addition - I can't help but add things yo - if you don't like it.... then what the heck are ya doing reading my blog)
1 cup cooked flat wide noodles
Grated parmesan
4 cups fresh mixed greens (yeahhhhhh I totally used the prepackaged mixed greens - 2 bags since we were having company) annnnnd
Lemon juice

Spice Rub (This is one of those things you make and keep hanging around for future recipes so you'll have some left overs, don't freak out):
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon celery salt
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

First things first I'm the realest...... Oh wait no that's Iggy Azalea. First things first, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Then rub both sides of the steak with the spice rub, oh yeaaaaaaah rub it good. Wait what? *looks around awkwardly* No I did not just make a rubbing meat joke.... that would be totally immature. Alright your steak should look like this:

Next ya wanna slice your eggplant. For my mammoth eggplant I needed to use santoku knife. GRATTATAAAA (clearly I'm in a weird mood tonight- I'm going to blame it on the fact that my German Shepard keeps trying to lay her head on my keyboard, yeah that's it). BAM eggplant:

Next brush both sides with olive oil. Ohhh yeah I love using my Jack Daniels paint brush.

Then place the flour, salt and pepper in a large ziploc bag. Now comes the fun bit, stick each slice of eggplant in the bag and shake! Next, coat a saute pan with olive oil, bring the pan to medium high heat. Add each peace of eggplant. Cook on each side for about 5 mins. They should be golden brown. Once they've been fried (mmm fried) you should transfer them to an oven safe dish to keep them warm while you prepare the steak. If you have a mammoth eggplant prepping the eggplant might take a while as only like three pieces fit in the saute pan at a time. If your guest has already shown up be sure to apologize profusely, and if you burn your thumb while preparing the eggplant be sure you keep cool even if that thing hurts LIKE A MOTHERFATHER!

Next place the steak in the pan you used for the eggplant. The steak should cook on each side for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and diced tomatoes to the pan. Let cook for about 3 minutes (don't let that sucker get overdone!) Remove from heat. Let set.

During the setting time I cooked the noooooodles.

Once the steak has set slice it.

Grab 2 bowls: Stick the greens, the cumbers [Edit: Cucumbers! What the heck is a cumber?] a dash of lemon juice and the sliced steak in one. In the other add the cooked noodles, the eggplant and a good dash of parmesan.

Then you have:

MMMM:

Everyone grab a salad bowl pop some mixed greens in there and put the eggplant mixture on top. The eggplant noodle combo is so juicy and awesome this salad does NOT need any dressing. Seriously.

I recommend serving in front of an episode of Doctor Who (preferably Robot of Sherwood) and debating the merits of Capaldi as the new Doctor. Puppy snuggling is an added bonus.

Jutta with the pups

And look how gorgeous this recipe looks in the Bento for lunch the next day:

So that's it for this week guys. Thank you for reading (500 views last week! I'm truly honored!)

It has been too long!

2014-09-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

It has been entirely too long since I updated. But due to someone very special encouraging me, I'm going to try to update my blog once a week. Also, from here on out when I write things in caps please imagine I'm shouting them in an angry German accent. Ya know because I'm German and it's funny!

In case you are not "friends" with me on Facebook or you live under a rock or something.... I am still living in Richmond and am engaged to the lovely, the wonderful, the fabulous Michael Puglisi. He's the one who encouraged me to update the blog once again. I personally think he just wants to show off all the delicious things he's been eating. But hey what do I know.

Michael, as most of you know, is a cyclist. Exercise and nutrition are of course very important to cyclists. We recently bought "The Feed Zone Cookbook" by Allen Lim, a.k.a. chef to some of cycling's best. This book has some great, healthy and delicious recipes. The recipe I'm sharing today is inspired from a recipe from that book. I modified it, as I usually do.

So this Wednesday I made Whole Roasted Chicken. Oh yeah baby, a whole freaking chicken. Say it with me now mmmmm. Ok. Hold on to your seat because HERE WE GO.

What you need:
1 whole roasting chicken
1/4 a cup of Olive Oil (yeaaaaaaah I totally used more than that)
1 cup of chopped Carrots (um.... I totally put like 5 carrots in here - I had a whole freaking separate pan of roasted veggies - you can never have enough veggies)
1 onion chopped(oops I forgot and used 5 green onions chopped- still yummy!)
4-6 garlic cloves peeled and crushed (I am always the person who says you can never have enough garlic... So I used a whole head. It's ok Mike HAS to kiss me.)
1/2 a cup of fresh parsley (yeah ain't nobody got time for fresh herbs..... so 3 tablespoons of dried parsley)

The book calls for optional additions:
Large chunks of potatoes, beets, parsnips and/or turnips

I love potatoes. LOVE THEM. So I used potatoes. I also would totally have used parsnips but Food Lion (aka Shitty Kitty) didn't have them, which bummed me out because I totally love parsnips.

So, FIRST:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven is preheating take the puppies on a walk. Seriously do that. Look at how cute they are, they totally deserve a walk. Are you back? Good, ok.

NEXT! Unwrap zee Cheeken! Be careful about this part. It's gross. Like Seriously gross, and the dogs will be WAY to into it. Done? Ok make sure you've gotten the giblets out, because yeah those are even grosser. Ok. Now! Rub the chicken down with olive oil and kosher salt and pepper. Good? Ok now stick that sucker "face up" aka breast up in a roasting pan.

Ok, next thing...... Chop your veggies. Like your Carrots, Onions and Potatoes:

Make sure you offer your taste testers a bite:

Did you give them a taste? Did they spit it out because they don't want any freaking veggies? Yeah? Ok you're ready to move on.

Got all your veggies chopped? And by veggies I mean potatoes, carrots, green onions (I substituted OK?) and garlic. Ok put those suckers in a bowl. They should look like this:

Coat them in olive oil (the 1/4 cup is optional seriously I put more in I just coated those suckers). This means you get to shake the bowl. It's fun. Add the parsley at this point. Mmmmhmmmm:

Add those veggies to the roasting pan with the chicken. At which point they should look like this (I had leftovers so they looked like this):

(What the heck blogspot can't put two pictures side by side? What is this the 90s? *Edit* I used a new layout and BAM side by side photos. We're cool again Blogspot *End edit*)

Wrap in foil and cook for an hour. (And by cook for an hour I mean go to the gym because you're totally going to need it). At which point check on them and baste or spoon fat over the chicken. For the remaining 30 mins roast without the foil on the chicken.

If you are expecting company maybe they'll provide side dishes (cough cough *Palmer, Kelly*). If not. I'd suggest adding more veggies because you can never have enough veggies. I made green bean and corn medley. 1 can of green beans, 1 can of corn plus a dash of salt, a dash of pepper and a good helping of thyme oh yeah and a bit of buttah. Like so:

30 minutes later your chicken should be B-E-A-utiful and ready to serve. Like so:

This is an example of the finished product:

And finally the Bento box for lunch for the next day:

That's pasta on the right. Mmmmm PASTA. Remember, when you're allowing your dogs to be your first round of dishwasher.... don't allow them to eat anything with onions, garlic, raisins, grapes or chocolate. Puppy safety first!

Whew sorry this was long. To get the most productivity out of your cooking/blogging experience I suggest calling family members while blogging and updating them about your wedding progress..... specifically your wedding venue..... ;-)

My room mate rocks

2012-09-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

As you might remember me saying my room mate is also quite a cook. So today I thought I would share some of the amazing things that she's made me in the short time I've had the pleasure of living with her.

My roomie's name is Jutta and.... She. Is. Awesome. Let's go through the list:

Doctor Who and Firefly and Castle fan (let's be real just anything Nathan Fillion is in is awesome) = Check
Loves to cook= Check
Fan of the fuzzies including my pup= Check

We also have discovered we have some pretty specific similarities which are down right eerie (how many people insist on having tomatoes on their grilled cheese?).

So the first thing that Jutta made for me? A delicious chocolate martini. Look how pretty it is!

Equal parts:

Creme de cacao

Vanilla vodka

Kahlua
Baileys

Chocolate syrup (or chocolate shavings in this case!)

On Sunday morning I woke up to the most awesome thing ever:

That's right she made us pancakes and bacon - Not to mention delicious fresh fruit.
It was amazing and the perfect way to start Sunday morning. Speaking of Sunday I found the most awesome church ever and it's so close to home. And supposedly one of their regular services has a rock band so I'm just going to have to try out all of them to find out which one it is...... mwhahaha.

And then we made dinner together one night. Steak and potatoes and green beans. All prepared on the grill.

For the potatoes we took about 10 red potatoes cut into quarters

Add some olive oil, salt, pepper and most importantly fresh rosemary from the garden!

Then you fold it all up in a fancy pouch that you can slap on the grill!

For the green beans add some olive oil, salt and pepper and most important BACOOOOOOON.

Next steps: Slap those suckers on the grill and enjoy your beautiful backyard

Then ENJOY your delicious eats!!!!!

My new home!

2012-09-05T19:26:00.002-07:00

So labor day weekend was a blast. I went to dinner on Friday night with John, Lis, Liz, Robo-cop and AJ. It was awesome - say it with me now mmmm. Steak dinner.

Chelsea was in town and I got to see her on Saturday! Which it is always amazing getting to see my first hetero-life mate. (Sorry Jen!) We had Cheesecake from Cheesecake factory - In true form we ended up ordering the same thing- Key Lime Cheesecake. Deeeeeelicous. Afterwards we went to went to Bar Louie. Mostly because everything here in Richmond closes too quickly for two NYC girls. ;-) Right Chelse?

Isn't she gorgeous? It's always fun to catch up with her! Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see the two little munchkins but hopefully next time.

The rest of the weekend I pretty much just hung out with Quemado and tried to make up for crashing at Will and Molly's house for two months by cleaning the house and spending as much time frisbee-ing and running around with the pup as much as possible. And during that time.... I made the most awesome crab dip evvvvvvvver! In the words of Jennifer Isham Nom Nom Nom.

Here's what the recipe called for (as usual I will adjust in Susie fashion as necessary):

2 (14-ounce) cans quartered artichokes, drained well and finely chopped
8 ounces fresh crabmeat, checked for shells and flaked
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Cayenne pepper to taste
Alright step one: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 1-quart gratin dish; set aside.

In case you have NO IDEA what a "gratin dish" is (ahem like this blonde right here). Quick Amazon search reveals Dis be what it look like:

Alright check the kitchen........ nope, no gratin dish. I'm not fancy enough.... so 1 quart dish that is safe to go in the oven? I got that!

Next step: In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients; stir well. This is kitchen chemistry.... my faaaaaavorite.

So allow me to modify this recipe to Susie specifications. I am not a huge fan of artichoke hearts. So I used 1 can which for those of you who can do math isssss 7 ounces! Good job! Chopping is always fun though so I chopped away. 8 ounces of crab "fresh" crabmeat check for shells and flaked. Yeaaaaaaaah you see the lovely thing is that chicken of the sea comes in these nice little cans. I used the lump crab meat which comes in 6 ounce cans and I like crab more than artichoke hearts sooooo I used 2 for a total of ..... oh crap math again 12 ounces. Whew ok we're good. Alright I totally would have put Parmesan cheese in my recipe but I forgot it while I was at the grocery store soooooo yeah no Parm. Alright next Mayo- I usually put miracle whip in everything in place of mayo but I didn't want to risk it here. So 1 cup of mayo- PLOP. Right in there! Again as I've said for my previous recipes 2 cloves of garlic?!? Who can take beautiful fresh delicious garlic and only mince two cloves....? I used 4. Alright there's nothing fancy to the rest I used what the recipe calls for let's see the result:

Alright it doesn't look appetizing yet but it never does right in the middle. STIR DAAT DISH UP. Also b-t-dubs this whole process works better if you are eating those Mickey D's chicken nuggets hiding behind the lemon juice and watching Warehouse 13 on Netflix and mixing in a little bit of faces at the puppy..... I mean you don't HAAAAVE to do it that way but I'm telling you it makes it taste better.

Spoon into the prepared baking dish. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbling around the edges, about 20-25 minutes. Serve with crackers. As you can see from the picture above I used Carr's water crackers. Voila the end result!

In case you can't tell I added a little cayenne pepper on top for a little BAH BAM!

Finally in case ya didn't know..... I moved on Sunday!! I don't have all my things yet so if you have a truck and a set of big burly arms and want to help me this coming Saturday..... I'll repay you with delicious food stuffs?

Happy cooking everyone!

Edit: 1 edit for clarification I actually moved on Monday! I lost track of days with that three day weekend. Annnnnnnnd for your viewing pleasure: My puppy on a boat:

"Susie Chicken," Purrito and an Epic Night

2012-08-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

So Palmer and Kelly weren't able to come to my birthday dinner at Bar Louie last weekend so this past week I came by their apartment and "cooked" for them. Cooked is in quotations due to the fact that I had planned on cooking the whole meal but I ended up really just supervising. They did all the work!

Ok so first things first: Inform Palmer he will be on the blog....... Witness his reaction:

He made his awesome mashed potatoes from scratch. I might have been snacking on them the whole night while cooking the rest of the meal. They are irresistible. Here's the master at work:

I made what Ms. Jennifer Isham calls "Susie Chicken." Really simple and tasty. Chicken marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Then you pop a bit of butter in the skillet and cook those suckers right up. Yum yum yum. I make this pretty frequently which is the reason Jen calls it "Susie Chicken" so I'm sorry guys I have just gotten to the point where I eyeball it and I don't have exact measurements but I'll give best estimates. We had 4 chicken breasts so I used about a cup of olive oil, a 1/4 a cup of lemon juice, 5 cloves of garlic and about 1 teaspoon of each herb.

Marinating: (doesn't look very appetizing like this huh? pink chicken ewwwww!)

And despite Palmer's protests we made creamed corn. He said he's not an old man and he didn't want to eat any damn creamed corn. There isn't really anything special to my cream corn recipe which is the reason why I'm fairly certain that Palmer actually ended up digging it!

Ok so there are corn cutters out there but I'm not that fancy I don't have one. And you can cream corn using a knife but it takes FOREVER. So I just grate it..... You have to be careful to make sure you're not being too heavy handed and getting the cob in there but it's a lot easier and faster than doing it with a knife. Kelly wanted to help in the kitchen so she grated the corn. Here she is hard at work!

The only thing I add is a bit of butter. YUM! Look at all this delicious food on the stove!!!

And of course the finished product:

And Kelly and Palmer made me a cake too! Best birthday ever. I just kept getting more and more surprises and gifts. I have so many fantastic friends and I had an amazing day and weekend. I really just felt like it was the birthday that kept on giving.

I had to grab Kelly and Palmer's new little kitten for this awesome photo op. Please note the look on his face. He's like OH SNAP IS THAT FIRE CAN I PLAY WITH IT OH PLEASE?!?!?

So I had that awesome dinner on Thursday night and then Saturday was Kelly's birthday!!! And since it's no longer a secret..... Palmer did an amazing job of planning an awesome surprise party and ...... PROPOSED TO KELLY AT MIDNIGHT! Yayyyy. <3 So happy for you guys.

Ms. Jennifer Isham came down on Friday night for Kelly's party and she and I got a swanky hotel room for the night. We went to brunch Saturday morning at Baker's Crust, it was awesome I looooove their "White Gummy Bear" drinks. And Jen and I had delicious Eggs Benedict....... but our waitress was totally trying to snag my Jennifer away from me..... HAND'S OFF SISTER SHE'S MINE. (And maybe a little bit Jeremy's). Harumph.

Anyway afterwards we did a little bit of bridesmaid dress shopping for HER wedding next year and then promptly headed to the hotel room to drink pink champagne and dance and get ready for Kelly's party!!!!

It was an awesome night. Tons of fun I met a ton of great people and I hope I made some new friends. And...... I got to see two of my best friends get engaged. Guys I am so happy for you. I hope one day I'm lucky enough to have what you have and get to share a special moment like that with all of my friends. In case you can't tell from the following video Palmer did good and everyone there was so happy for them and these two are SO LOVED!!

Also just FYI: I miss this guy:

Back from a long hiatus

2012-08-21T18:56:00.003-07:00

Hey guys... I'm back from a long hiatus and in case you don't know quite a few things have changed in my life.

Flying solo, and moved away from Amelia. I have been crashing with Will and Molly Sandel because they're awesome and amazing friends and helped me out in a time of need. However, I just got an awesome room mate in an awesome house with an amazing yard 15 minutes from my job that I will be moving into at the beginning of next month. So some sweet some sour.

Anywho this past Sunday was my birthday. And I have the best friends in the entire world so I had an awesome birthday weekend. First on Friday I got a delivery to my office. Jennifer sent me the most ridiculous chocolate covered strawberries and mini cupcakes with candles. LOOK HOW AWESOME THEY ARE!

I love the adorable touches on the box. Seriously made my day. That night I went to Bar Louie with some of my girlfriends and had an amazing dinner and a few drinks. I had an amazing time and I think some new friendships were made which is exciting. Not to mention we got an awesome designated ride home from the coolest police officer/hubby I know (I think his nickname should be Robo-cop at the moment though because he's injured and his cast thing makes him look half cyborg!).

On Saturday Will and Molly made me an awesome and adorable cake, please notice Quemado being adorable in the background begging for a piece!

Then on Sunday I did what I like to do most: COOK! I made my Irish Beef Stew and I couldn't believe I hadn't posted this recipe on my blog yet! So here's what you'll need:

1/4 cup olive oil (or you know however much you want)
1 1/4 pounds well-marbled chuck beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces (NOT extra-lean)
6 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef stock
1 cup of Guinness beer
1 cup of fine red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 7 cups)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots
Salt and Pepper

Got it? Cuz I do! OBSERVE:

Look how tasty that beef........looks. OK so lets get started.

1) Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Lightly salt the beef pieces. Add the beef and cook, until nicely browned on one side, then use tongs to turn the pieces over. This part takes me forever because they get slippery when covered in olive oil and I guess I'm not that skilled with the tongs..... maybe if there's a man in the house make him handle the tongs. Continue to cook in this manner until all sides are browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add beef stock and Guinness. I offered the rest of the Guinness to Will...... he poo poo'd it, PS THERE IS A PLASTIC BALL IN THE CAN! Weird right?

Next open the red wine and add the designated 1 cup and then pour yourself a hearty glass and enjoy it during the rest of the cooking process. If you're as little as me you might want to leave some for while you're eating or you might be really ripped by the time dinner is ready.... Next add the tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, then cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

2) While the meat and stock is simmering, melt butter in another large pot over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion and carrots. Sauté vegetables until golden, about 20 minutes. Set aside until the beef stew in step one has simmered for one hour.

3) Add vegetables to beef stew. Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are very tender, about 40 minutes. During this time.... YOU CLEARLY SHOULD PLAY WITH THE PUPPY:

I also spent this time rocking out to Molly's awesome work out music. OH YEAH SHAKE YOUR BOOTY.

Ok. Done simmering? Check? Played with puppy? Check? Shook your money maker? Alright you're almost done.

Next discard bay leaves. Or don't........ Some people think if you get one in your bowl when you spoon out the soup it's good luck. Tilt pan and spoon off fat. (OR YOU CAN BE ADVENTUROUS LIKE ME AND EAT IT FAT AND ALL yuuuuuuuum- Sorry but it's tastier like that and you know it).

Lastly spoon yourself out a heaping serving and add some salt and pepper and parsley to taste as you see fit.

At this point you should move to the couch with your awesome stew and this sight:

See that face? It says.... You couldn't possibly eat all that soup on your own.... WHY DON'T YOU SHARE WITH ME?

But then he eventually went: HARUMPH

Ok that's all for now folks. I will be updating regularly again. So check back!

Finally Settled

2011-08-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

So the bar is finally finished and B and I finally found a place, moved everything on over and are starting to settle in. We even managed to squeeze a little vacation time in there. The bar was rough but I think I was adequately prepared, of course we won't know that for sure until October. That's madness but what can you do. We found a sweet little place out in Amelia Courthouse and in case you don't keep abreast of my facebook status updates..... I freaking love it. It's so cool to be close to nature and animals and all the cool stuff I love to do in my free time. Best part? Jogging along a country road, better exercise than a gym any day, especially because the horses look at me like they're wondering what in the world I'm doing. Seriously the looks those animals give me remind me of that quote from Back to the Future III, "Run...for fun? What kinda fun is that?" Ok I'm a huge nerd for admitting I've seen that movie and being able to quote it off the top of my head. But I mean that's why ya'll love me right?

Ok now on to the good stuff. Last night was the first night I really got to cook in a looooong time. So off course I took pictures for the blog.

So I've been trying to eat a little healthier. So I picked up the magazine Cooking Light and the recipe I made last night was straight out of it. I made Argentinian pork. Yum. Ok so I'll let you know what the magazine said and then tell ya how I altered it.

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
1 cup of fresh parsley leaves, divided
2/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 shallot, chopped

Alright now off the bat..... I don't know about you but I'm no Martha Stewart I don't know who in their right mind has fresh parsley leaves or cilantro leaves just hanging around..... oh yeah just let me go out back to my herb garden.... gimme a break. I use dry herbs that I get in the supermarket as I'm sure every other sane human being does..... (if you have an herb garden, I apologize also please tell me your secret). Also I have no idea in gods green earth what cumin is and I don't need to, nor do I plan on it so I just eliminated that nonsense. I also don't use cooking spray like ever, I mean there is already olive oil in the recipe that pork isn't going to be sticking to anything why do we need cooking spray? I didn't use it if you want to use it by all means good for you. Also, I only have one kind of vinegar in my house it's balsamic and I don't buy ingredients for specific recipes unless they are things I can use repeatedly so I just used my balsamic... it worked just fine. And finally, if you know me you know I love garlic, 2 cloves? Please I used four. DELICIOUS. Yum yum yum. Ok let's get to it.

Ok step one: Combine 2 tablespoons of oil, 1/4 a cup of parsley, 1/3 cup of cilantro, cumin and red pepper in a shallow dish. Add pork. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour, turning once.

Alright I don't know what world these peeps live in but when I marinate something I want the oil to at least make a little pool in the dish....... 2 tablespoons? I mixed this up..... compensating for the fact that I was using dried instead of fresh herbs of course which means using about 1/3 of the amount specified, and eliminating that cumin nonsense.....seriously what is that? Someone is going to tell me and I'm going to feel foolish. And I had a lumpy ..... not sauce, wasn't a marinade either it was just a lump of herbs so I added about 4 more tablespoons of oil. then it looked like a delicious marinade and I followed the rest of the directions. (I might have added a pinch more red pepper because I like spice).

Step 2! Preheat grill to medium-high heat
Ok I'm not going to lie to you I read the recipe and I had no intentions of grilling. I have three grills, a charcoal one, a gas one and a George Forman. Charcoal has to be done outside...... um hello have you not seen the news about Hurricane Irene? Yeah not happening.... Also I'm pretty sure I"m not allowed to touch the gas one..... I'm clumsy I might blow up the house and the Foreman? What's the point of marinating anything if you're going to let all the juices flow off of it? So I slapped the meat and the marinade in a pan. Guess what....... that worked just fine too.

Step three: Sprinkle pork with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and black pepper. Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray and grill for 8 mins. Turn pork over and grill for 7 mins. Remove pork from grill. Let stand for 5 mins. Slice pork crosswise.
Alright so I sprinkled and cooked that sucker in the pan for about the 15 mins specified. Although when I turned off the heat I allowed the pan to sit on the stove on the burner and the pork to stay there as well. I am paranoid about serving raw meat.

Step 4: Combine 3/4 cup parsley, 1/3 cup cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon salt, oregano, and remaining ingredients in a food processor, pulse 10 times, Drizzle 1/4 a cup olive oil through food chute with food processor on. Serve with pork.
I don't have a food processor. I used my blender (thank you Asher for the awesome gift!) and it worked perfectly. Only I did not drizzle the olive oil in it while it was still on........ I value my life and my kitchen I don't want parsley and cilantro flying around! Phew crisis averted.

Ok so the recipe said serve with mashed potatoes..... um don't mind if I do! I love mashed potatoes and garnish with lemon rind curls....... sure thing! I also served with a smidgin of greens and a bit of corn on the cob.

Voila! Tell me what you think!

Also....... As if the cooking weren't enough to make this blog live up to it's name..... I'm also doing a cross-stich and I thought I would show you guys the progress as it comes along. Here is the pattern and what I have so far. It's time consuming so I only have a bit of the border but hopefully it comes out nicely in a few weeks.

I realize I have not posted at all this summer

2011-07-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

I was really trying to focus and concentrate.
There are 5 days left.
I can not wait for this to be over and I'm sure Brendan cannot either.
I can not wait to get back to blogging and having a lovely life full of cooking.

If you're friends with me on facebook or goole + or are "aim buddies" with me you already know I said this but forgive me for repeating it: Momma always used to say you do your best work when you feel your best and part of feeling your best is looking your best. I think she's a smart woman so for my last few days of bar prep…. going to be looking my best.

Also I had a terrible nightmare last night. I dreamt it was the first day of the bar exam and I somehow finished the whole thing in two hours and somehow thought that was fine and walked out...... ????? And then when walking out they, meaning the examiners gave me a percentage likelihood that I passed and somehow it was 62% The only thing that made the dream bearable was that Jennifer was there. I woke up freaked out and I'm still a little unsettled by it. Yuck ok back to studying......

Wish me luck!?

Excuse my Rudeness

2011-06-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Please excuse me. I have been and probably will continue to act like a jerk until this whole process is over. Which is surprising to me, because....... you know...... I thought I was an even-headed person. You know cool, relaxed, laid back.
I was wrong.
I even thought I handled stress relatively well.
I was DEAD wrong.

That being said. Please forgive me if I am nasty to you. I promise I will be back to my usual cheery self as soon as this nonsense is over.

I even entered INTO this thinking I'm not going to be one of those people who just complains about the whole process and freaks out. I'm not going to let it get to me. Um I was sooo wrong.
I feel bad for those individuals who do not know that I should have a "handle with care contents under extreme pressure" label stuck to my head at the moment.

Want to know the worst part too? I feel like I'm becoming one of those whiney sad people. Ew is THAT what stress does to me? Yuck.

Seriously dudes (yeah my inner Keanu just came out) if we are buddies don't hold it against me. I still love you all I'm just you know in Bar Hell.

If you're reading this and you're preparing too, <3 we'll make it through. AND- Today was the start of laptop registration. Go do that and don't forget to book your hotel room. Or you can come crash in mine lord knows I'll probably need the emotional support. We could cry like babies together over something delicious I made in the suite. Yeah. K. Back to evidence. Bleck.

edit: Also if you took offense to my please stop telling us how far along you are post: It's not that I'm not happy for you- I am. It's just that knowing that others are further along in the "Paced Program" than I am makes me anxious and I'm sure it makes others anxious too, and I thought we here at Richmond took special pride in our camaraderie - so I don't think we want to be making our classmates anxious. We don't all study the same but we all worry the same. Don't make your buds worry more than they have to. <3. In the words of BT: Be easy Brah.

Two Recent Creations

2011-06-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

I see a can of Condensed Soup as a challenge: Make me into something delicious. Took a can of Cambell's Chicken and rice, added some more chicken broth, some egg noodles a few carrots, a bit of corn, some pepper, salt, a few bay leaves a bit more rice and of course some garlic. Served up with grilled cheese. Delicious.

But that is nothing compared to what I made tonight: These should be called the most delicious cheeseburgers on the face of the planet:

I got me some "Thick and Hearty" Steak Sauce. Grilled the mushrooms and onions in the sauce, formed the burgers with the sauce, grilled them as well, american cheese, bacon and an added dollap of A-1. I'm in heaven.

Yum.

Shrimp Stir Fry

2011-05-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah that's right I still make awesome food even though bar prep is attempting to take over my life.

2 tablespoons of olive oil,

3 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 a pound of mushrooms

1/2 a pound of broccoli

1/2 a pound of cauliflower

1 pound of shrimp

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

a dash of chili powder

2 cups of rice

Delish.

Clearly just showing off

2011-05-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Y'all know how to make bacon and eggs.

I just want to show you my delicious "Br-inner" that is Breakfast for dinner.

Busy being an uber nerd

2011-05-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry gotta share this because it's awesome.

I changed my icon's to Tardiss. Tardi? Multiple Tardis. Whatever look it's awesome. Also check out my sweet desktop.

This is what happens

2011-05-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

When your food smells so good. You forget to take photos before you dig in.

Tonight I made Panko crusted tilapia with a Roasted Corn Salsa.

See it was half gone before I realized I needed to snap a pic. DAMN I'm good.

K so the salsa. 1/3 a cup of olive oil 2 cans of corn. About a cup of grape tomatoes chopped (seriously I eyeballed it, just add as many as look good, you know when the red and yellow start to even out), 1/4 an onion, pepper, salt and oregano to taste. 1 clove of minced garlic, a dash of red wine, a dash of red wine vinegar. Place in skillet and heat until TASTY.

I told you it's good to be me.

2011-05-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

So today was the last real day of summer huh?

I'm not going to whine.... Nor bore you of all the updates on my Laaaaame bar prep. Sorry just can't do it. I do however think my adventures may come to a halt for about two months. So if you're not really into the cooking bit of this blog I apologize but there might not be any other updates.

Tonight I made sweet baby ray's meat loaf. It was freaking redonkulously delicious.

1 c tomato sauce 1 1/2 tbls. Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce 1 tbl granulated sugar 1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin 6 tbls all-purpose flour 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp ground black pepper dash garlic salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the tomato sauce, Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce and sugar in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Heat the mixture until it begins to bubble, stirring often, then remove it from the heat. In a large bowl, add all but 2 tbs. of the sauce to the meat. Combine the remaining ingredients with the ground sirloin -- flour, salt, onion powder and ground pepper. Place meat into a meat loaf pan. Wrap with foil and place back into the oven for 30 minutes. Using a knife, slice the meatloaf all the way through into 8 slices while it is still in the pan. Pour the remaining 2 tbls of sauce over the top of the meatloaf. Place the meatloaf back into the oven, uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until it is done. Remove and allow it to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Damn it feels good to be a gangster

2011-05-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

And sleep until noon and then wake up and have the most delicious breakfast ever.

A.K.A. it's good to be me.

Puttering around in someone else's kitchen

2011-05-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

Seems very intimate even if they gave you permission.....

The other night I made chicken casserole. I don't remember everything I put in it. But it was delicious. Doesn't it look delicious?

And I also made the most delicious eggs ever.

Mushrooms, about a clove of garlic and grape tomatoes sauteed in olive oil. Add eggs scramble and melt in mozzarella cheese.

Just in Case

2011-05-20T12:52:00.002-07:00

The Rapture happens tomorrow I'm going to spend today doing all my favorite things.......

This means Doctor Who watching with Doctor Pepper and JUNK FOOD. Maybe a little Wii thrown in. Yeah sounds like a good day.

"Course I'm ok I'm the King of OK. Oh that's a rubbish title don't call me that. RORY THE ROMAN. That's a good title."

Just in Case

2011-05-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

I Have Adventures

2011-05-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

Ok so it's been a long time since I've updated the blog and for good reason..... I've been super duper busy. So let me catch you up on what you've missed. Alright so after turning in my final law school exam an hour later I had the Carrico Center awards ceremony. It was awesome and Tara Casey got me a lovely gift. And after some Extra Billy's BBQ B and I headed to Devon's party to check out whether or not Doctor's of the Law know how to grill out. I suspect the answer is yes because all of the "meats" he was bragging about were gone when I got there.

Graduation was lovely and there was lots of cheering. There were lots of photos taken but as I was in all of them they are not on my camera and I have yet to collect all of them yet. SO those will be to come.

Denise and Robert took us to La Grotta for my graduation dinner. So freaking delicious and there was a surprise for me when I got there. Check this out:

And of course a photo of my delicious steak:

The orchid was edible too but it was too pretty I couldn't bring myself to eat it.

Annnnnnnnnd for my graduation gift I got a shiny new macbook. So the fact that I lost my camera cable is no longer an issue because I have an SD card slot! So now I have all my old photos including my Barrister's photos and the photos from girl's night like forever ago and from the last camping trip with B. Those will come later.

I also got treated to Morton's Steakhouse for graduation. Jennifer and her mother joined me and Brendan for what was the most delicious steak I've ever had in my entire life. The funniest part of the night? When the waitress rolls the cart displaying all the food stuffs over to the table there is a lobster on the far end. I didn't realize it at the time but he was ALIVE. You should have seen Jen. Lol. She was leaning as far away from him as possible. I kept my eye on the little bugger for the rest of dinner, I was concerned he was going to try to get away and come try to invade the table. He didn't we were safe.... At the end of the night Jennifer threatened to take him home and name him and put a bow-tie on him... because bow-ties are cool but I was having none of it.

Then I went fishing at Lake Anna. I actually even got a new reel and some new gear for that trip as well, which was awesome. I caught 4 catfish and 2 sunnies. Still don't have the photos for that either unfortunately but I will get them soon. But the cool thing was that I caught my first catfish! And I learned something new about them.... they squak! Made me craaack up. The first guy was tiny so when I pulled him out of the lake I heard no squaking but the 2nd guy was about 2 or 3 pounds so he was a bit more substantial and he was squaking away. I was like, "My fish is talking to me and he's got an ATTITUDE!" He was all like Lady put me back you're going to make me late! Seriously he was cheeky.

Then, Brendan and I had to go to Pennsylvania for a family matter. I got to meet his brother Ryan for the first time in person. OMG Ryan got me a sonic screwdriver for graduation. With a note that says do not hold two together..... Hehehe I loooove nerdy jokes.

We also went fishing in Pennsylvania with Campbell and Ernest. I caught my first trout ever! And omg was she a doozy. Take a look!

So we kept her and were going to eat her buuuuuut...... Ernest stole her! TROUT THEIF. No seriously though he took her to smoke her and we were going to eat her but we had too many family obligations we didn't get a chance.

While we were in PA Greg and Jamie had their baby girl! CONGRATULATIONS guys! I'm so happy for you! I hope that Jamie and Libby Lynn Sullivan are happy and healthy! Can't wait to meet her during our next visit and I hope Papa Sullivan enjoyed his cigars!

When we got back, I got my final Graduation gift! TICKETS TO SOCIAL D. A.k.a Brendan Ellis is the best boyfriend ever. I acted like a crazy person all night, screamed the lyrics to every song.... and Kelly Webster who is awesome and came with us and rocked out CAUGHT MIKE NESS'S GUITAR PIC AND GAVE IT TO ME. She also bought me a wicked shirt. <3 it.
Funniest part about the concert? Peeps kept asking me where they could buy my wicked modified Social D t-shirt. Sorry can't buy it! Got it at a thrift store and modified it myself. Gotta make the super cool ones yourself! Pictures of the concert to come too since Kell-Kell took them and facebook is being wonky and won't let me steal them from her album.

Jennifer Isham left me this morning FOREVER. I miss her already. The other day we shared a bottle of champagne and had an indoor picnic:

Since my hetro-life mate has left me I will begin bar prep either tonight or tomorrow.

Finalllllly this is my latest creation. NACHOS!

So here is the LOW DOWN....
Brown one pound of ground beef. I sauteed mine with three cloves of minced garlic because you know what I say you can never have enough garlic. Add 1 can of condensed beefy mushroom soup and 1/4 a cup of water, 1 can of whole tomatoes sliced, 1 can of kidney beans and one fresh tomato sliced. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 10 mins.

Add 1 cup of cooked rice. Top with cheese and sour cream! YUM YUM YUM.

Whew I think that's everything.... At least enough for now!

Finished!

2011-05-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Just turned in my last law school exam.

Ran into Rob Goad on the way back to my carrell..... the man gave me a high five and wouldn't let go.... did a little dance. That sums up about how I feel right now!

*does victory dance*

Carrico Center Pro Bono Ceremony in about an hour. Gotta get my stuff out of here so that it doesn't get locked in the libs at 6. AND TOMORROW....................

GRADUATION. Whoa. Weird. Didn't think I'd make it.

Oops?

2011-05-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

I was going to take a test today but I totally didn't feel ready so I'm taking two tomorrow. Possibly the worst idea ever? Maybe but one of them is only two credits so whatever I'm doing it. Nyeh nyeh nyeh.

Jen had me join tumblr. Sigh the things we do for love. So if for some reason you are a tumblr-er instead of a blogger you can follow me here: http://suz-ehomemaker.tumblr.com/ It's not pretty yet but one day soon it will be.

BUT I WILL NEVER TWEET. I'm too old for twitter I think. I just don't get it. Plus can you imagine me trying to fit my craziness into 140 characters? Disaster. That's what that would be.

Semi-Sad Post

2011-05-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm feeling a bit.... Nostalgic? Maybe that's the right word? Reflective? I dunno. Anyway it's probably not the best time to be feeling like that you know wanting to sit around and talk to friends cuz it's CRUNCH TIME. But I thought I would take a moment out of my study schedule to write this post and tell you about a few people who won't be at my graduation but I wish really would be:

My momma.
My little brother.
My newphew! (that is not a typo- he's new and he's my nephew, he's my newphew)
Leah Rebecca Pepper Jackson
Chelsea Hodl and her entire family
Amy McDowell
Iggy Tissera
Holly and Lauren (love you girls)
Rob Byrne
Trisha Trigilio and her significant other

If it weren't for all those people I wouldn't be where I am today.

Ok now for some people that I'm super excited that are going to be at my graduation:
My "twin" - Jennifer Isham
Our third musketeer: Kelly Webster
The only person that might be more gangster than me- DeVon Simmons
Denise and Robert Ellis
Katherine and Chris Bain (hopefully! They have a newborn too)
and last but certainly not least- My PIC- Brendan Ellis!

Ahhh it's so close. Ok back to Land Use!