I got my first blog request last night-woohoo! I was talking to Emily and telling her about how I had recently been "cleaning out my closet" (figuratively, not literally)....she then proceeded to sing a bit of the Eminem song, because that's what we do. During the cleaning out process, I replaced some pictures that had been in frames. When I told her what/who I had put in the frames, she cracked up and said "Will you please blog about that?!" How could I not grant a fan's wish???
I think Taye and Brad look pretty good in those frames for now. Although it did help me think of a resolution: take AND print more pictures in 2009! I got myself some black-eyed peas, too, in hopes that next year will bring me good luck....like meeting either of the above gentlemen and having them ask me to join them on a romantic getaway....
(On a not really, but sort of semi-related picture note, I took my sick laptop to the doctor yesterday and he found all of my files!!! Now I just need to save them onto something else and start looking for a new laptop...Apple Store, much? Yes, please! The doctor had never seen anything like what is wrong with my computer...awesome.)
Um, I am not sure what happened at my house while I was gone to San Antonio for Christmas, but according to the Middle-Eastern GENIUS at Dell, I did something to my computer (while I was approximately 250 miles away) that caused it to be "restored back to factory settings"...i.e. Mary lost every picture, paper she'd written, file, Itunes song, and Internet favorites pages she'd saved on this lovely computer. I calmly explained that I did nothing different that I've done for the past 2 years of using this laptop and that it must have been an angry ghost. Not really, but I wanted to say that-he was making me so mad!! Never mind that I could barely hear/understand what he was saying. I could have paid $70 for him to walk me though some recovery process. I asked for free instructions, got them, but it didn't work. I haven't shed tears in days, but I got really close today: 1.I got stood up by a lady who was supposed to be showing me a cool apartment. 2. Some of my material possessions are gone. Happy Monday to me!!!
Now I have the pictures I took over the break on this computer...temporarily....because every time I shut it down EVERYTHING is gone.
I went to the Spurs game with Kerry on Tuesday night over the break. Go Spurs Go!! Of course they won AND my love, Mr. Tony Parker, scored lots of points for them. Eva was nowhere in sight...perhaps they're on the verge of a breakup??...Tony and I did make eye contact...I felt sparks, I am sure he did too.
Mazie actually explored my parents' backyard for the first time, and she became BFF with the tree. She ran to it first thing every time I let her out and then she would just perch on a branch.
I got to play with Meredeth and Christine when I got back on Saturday-oh my, what an evening! At least Meredeth got her entertainment center up into her house! :)
I think I have fallen off the wagon a little bit when it comes to posting recipes. My bad. Life has been a bit crazy lately and I also don't want to bother posting so-so recipes (such as a Rachael Ray pesto/gnocchi/chicken weirdness)...I only want to share the best with my loyal three readers. So here you go:
Lighter Eggplant Parmesan: Serves 4
1 large eggplant (2 pounds), sliced 1/2 inch thick crosswise 1 tablespoon olive oil Coarse salt and ground pepper 1 cup fat-free (skim) milk 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 cup homemade or best-quality store-bought marinara sauce 1/2 cup grated part-skim mozzarella 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Arrange eggplant on two rimmed baking sheets. Brush eggplant on both sides with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until golden brown and very tender, 20 to 25 minutes, turning slices and rotating sheets halfway through.
Meanwhile, make sauce: Off heat, in a medium saucepan, whisk together 1/4 cup milk, flour, and garlic. Gradually whisk in remaining 3/4 cup milk and 1/2 cup marinara sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, and cook until pink sauce has thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Spread cup marinara sauce in the bottom of a shallow 2-quart baking dish. Alternate layers of baked eggplant with pink sauce. Dollop with remaining cup marinara sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake on upper rack until browned and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes.
*This is oh-so-yummy and easy!! The sauce is amazingly flavorful!
Olive-Spiked Pork Tenderloin Serves 4
1 pork tenderloin (1.25 lb) trimmed of silverskin if necessary salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 C stuffed green olives cut in half crosswise(I used Gorgonzola stuffed ones) 2 TB balsamic vinegar 2 TB olive oil 2 TB light brown sugar 2 T Dijon mustard 1 T dried oregano cooking spray
Season pork all over with salt and pepper. Using a sharp knife, make several slits in it about 1/2 inch deep. Stuff the olives into the slits as you go. Place the pork in a Ziploc bag. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, brown sugar, mustard, and oregano. Heat in microwave for 3o seconds if necessary to dissolve sugar. Pour the mixture all over the pork and seal the bag. Refrigerate for up to three days.
Preheat over to 400 degrees. Coat a roasting pan with cooking spray. Remove tenderloin from the bag, place in pan, and pour marinade over it. Bake until thermometer reads 160 degrees, 30-35 minutes. Let the pork stand for 10 minutes before slicing crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices.
*This is SOOOO good! The marinade would be good on its own if you don't want the olives. My olives were HUGE, so I ended up cutting them into smaller slices.
I have been having my hair girl gradually darken my hair each time I go to her. I'm tired of the blond highlights and wanted to do something different. So on Thursday I said, "Rosa, I want to go really dark." She got out her stuff and looked in her little book to see the color she used last time on my hair...low and behold, she'd only used two shades darker than HER natural color, which is really dark brown (hence her name is Rosa). Needless to say, my hair is obviously not nearly that dark, nor do I want it to be. I'm just thinking more brunette than blond for now. It is going to take a few times of really dark color to get it to saturate my hair and for my hair to take it. So for now, my hair is darker than before ( I think it's probably pretty close to my natural shade)...we'll keep working on going darker. I tried to do a cool side-by-side picture thing, but I have no computer skills so this is what ya get! New darker-ness About a month ago
Since my lame attempt at Christmas shopping in San Antonio did not pan out, I realized I really needed to get on the ball. School is going to be keeping me busy these next two weeks with projects and a final...plus, our awesome 2nd-grade-team-secret-Santa-margarita-and-laughing get-together is a week from tonight so I must have at least one gift ready by then!
I decided to make a list of folks I need to get gifts for, and then see if I could come up with any ideas before venturing out. I came up with a couple, but since I was planning to head to Southlake, I knew any and every store I would want to go to would be available. I successfully took care of my sister, friends, the majority of stuff for my parents-and that was all accomplished in 2.5 hours-booya!! I just need a few more small gifts and I'll be done for 2008. Sweet.
I was so proud of myself that I picked up a shirt I had been needing from Gap (I really did need it!) and a stinkin' cute dress at Francesca's...I worked hard in a short amount of time, I felt I deserved a reward.
I also ran across the street to the Central Market out there because I needed a few things and figured I would knock that out while I was out. I'm so jealous of that store's layout...the one here drives me nuts!
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! :)
Oh, and Kerry called me on the way home to see if I could come help her trap and release a large lizard that had scurried into her house. Took care of that, too! What a productive day!
Let me begin by saying that I hope I still have a mom who loves me after this! She didn't know I was recording her skills and definitely didn't know it would end up on my blog...love you mama!!
I headed to San Antonio Tuesday afternoon in hopes of beating some of the crazy Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving traffic. I think I beat most of it. Claire was already there by the time I arrived. She and I went to North Star Mall on Wednesday...it was my attempt to get some Christmas shopping done early. Well, if I were shopping for myself, that would have worked out perfectly. I got two things for me and one thing for a friend. So, basically I have not begun Christmas shopping and it's about to stress me out. I have big hopes of spending one Saturday or Sunday afternoon in Southlake and knocking it all out....which means I must come up with a list and ideas for gifts for my peeps!! And seeing as how there is an Anthropologie out there, I'm predicting that, again, I will find something for myself that I just can't live without. Thank goodness my career pays me so well.
Oh, Austin on Thursday was great fun with a great big group of great people!
On to the real purpose of this blog...My mom got my dad a wii system for his birthday in March. We all played a little bit at Easter, but apparently my parents play it rather frequently even without any youngins in the house. I was sore by Sunday from bowling...I was trying to go pro but barely missed the mark! I also tried golf because my mom kept talking about how fun it was. And it was! Nevermind that I was pretty good for never having picked up a real club or wii remote before. THEN she says she has really been wanting to try boxing. Uh huh. Seriously. Well, you can see the progression below of her boxing skills.
*I played too (but of course it wasn't captured on film) and knocked out my opponent in the middle of the second round. Booya! I videotaped my dad playing too, but it's on my sister's camera so you'll have to wait for that hilarity.*
Video 1 is my mom's first go-round with her "opponent."
Video 2 is her in the 2nd round, not knowing there was a 3rd round.
The Maze and I are headed to SA in a couple of hours-woohoo!! And while there will likely be time for blogging, my parents have pretty much the equivalent to dial-up Internet, so I seriously doubt that will be happening....which is why I'll post a Thanksgiving-related blog a few days early.
I'm so very thankful: ~ for Martha, Brian, and Claire...being home makes it feel like I never really left...I can make 1,000 mistakes and they'll still love me ~ for Emily, Margaret, Suz, Emily, and Meredeth...these girls know me better than most...for better friends you could not ask ~ for the ladies I "live" next door to and across the hall from at work: Deneise, Carrie, Meredeth, Emily, and Christy...they make "work" not feel like it at all...they also have hearts of gold and are some of the most supportive and encouraging people I've known ~ for the 22 babies I spend my weekdays with...they make me laugh and make me cry, they allow me to make mistakes and to apologize for them, and they let me attempt to make each of their days a little brighter ~ that I have an entire week off this week! ~ for my little four-legged furry friend who greets me at my door...she is the most perceptive animal I've known ~ to be able to attend graduate school and to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel ~ as corny as this sounds, I'm so thankful that I rarely get sick...if you've ever had to leave substitute plans, you know that you'd rather be feeling like crumb at work than leaving plans for a sub
I hope you and your people have a very, very happy Thanksgiving!!! :)
Yes, I did brave the crazed teenage girls this weekend to go see Twilight. Although, luckily, Margaret and Emily had suggested going to the Angelika in an attempt to avoid some of the crazies. The movie, for me, was really disappointing. I know the books are geared towards teenage girls...however, I don't really understand why. There's really nothing juvenile about them. Anyway, Twilight (the book) was super romantic...Twilight (the movie) was super cheesy!! People were laughing out loud in the theater because of the cheesiness. Also, I realize I am in the small minority when I write this, but Edward (the lead vampire) was so NOT attractive to me. Suzanna agreed with me. The facial expressions were the most difficult to not roll your eyes at. I thought they stayed fairly true to the dialogue of the book, so that didn't bother me....all except the "spider monkey" line. Seriously?
Two friends of mine had read all 4 books in record time and assured me that I would enjoy them and become addicted like they had. I was hesitant because it's hard for me to enjoy and want to read a book about something that is not real....i.e., I never opened a Harry Potter book. I did finish Wicked, although it took me forever. I just need real people doing realistic things. I was not really into Twilight until about the last 100 pages. And then I had to stop reading one night with only 60 pages to go because it was too scary. I knew one of two things would happen: 1.-I would be up waaaay past my bedtime finishing the book, and/or 2.-I would have scary dreams because of the book. Considering I'd already had two separate nightmares about my appraisal last week (in one, I had double the class size I have now, and they were all boys....the second one had some person I didn't know appraising me instead of my vice principal), I decided to avoid potential causes of anymore nightmares for the week. Also, since I started taking fish oil my dreams have been much more vivid and I remember many, many more than I ever did before...interesting!
I started on the 2nd book last night. It was much easier for me to get into and not want to put it down. Hopefully the rest of the reading will be like that!
Even though the movie was a bit of a letdown (I'd give it a B-), I was so glad to get to hang out with MJ, Suz, and Emily! Those girls are hard to beat.
I have some new items that I am currently obsessed with. One is totally vain and one brings joy to my ears...
#1: My new mascara. It.is.amazing. I have lashes that did NOT exist before!! I bought it in "glam black"...because...really, why not?? I highly recommend it! #2: New Taylor Swift CD. I would really like to be friends with and/or be her. I think she is precious and fun and I really enjoy her tunes! You should give it a listen or two.
Also, because I can't skip my Asian experience this week:
1 package (16 oz) coleslaw or broccoli slaw mix (I buy both and mix them)
2 cups cooked chicken (I usually buy a rotiserrie one and shred it)
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
2 scallions, both white and light green parts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break up the noodles and place them and the almonds in a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until noodles and almonds turn light brown, 6-7 minutes. Meanwhile, pour red wine vinaigrette into a measuring cup and stir in the packet of seasoning from soup mix. Set aside. Place the slaw mix, chicken, cilanto, and scallions in a large serving bowl. Toss to combine. Just before serving, pour the salad dressing and toss to coat. Scatter noodles and almonds on top.
*I make my own dressing with:
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
3ish T red wine vinegar
2 1/2 T sugar
pinch of black pepper
1/2 packet of the seasoning from the soup mix
*I also throw in some shelled edamame to bump up the protein.
