Inspired

I think one of the best parts of being a part of the ‘blogworld’, specifically the food blogworld, is the inspiration you find at every turn.

I am motivated by the other women whose blogs I read.  Sometimes what they share terrifies me.  Other times what they share make me a better person. A better, happier version of me.  While I never aim to be them, I do try to emulate all the good I see in their lives.

Too often though, I fail to let these women know how much they inspire me.  For the record, if you see my comments on your blog, even when they’re random and nonsensical, I am inspired by you.  At times the comments are themselves short because I feel broken or touched by something written.  Forgive me for not letting enough of you know how incredible I think you are.

That being said, I was inspired in a different way today, and not by a food blogger, but by a food blogger’s husband.

Yeah, sometimes guys are ok. Sometimes. (I mean not the ones in around me at the moment but apparently there are some out there :P).

Tina’s husband, Mal, ordered the best looking sandwich ever yesterday.  Since I’m not heading to BeanTown anytime soon (:() I decided to try my hand at it on my own.

*sigh*

I want to marry this sandwich.

I was going to skip the mayo but added a light layer and am so glad I did. The avocado was ripe and perfect.

The onions just warmed enough after a quick browning.  Okay, truth, I walked away for a second and came back to them like this… but I’m so glad because they were perfect.  I cooked them because I didn’t have red onion like the original, and I don’t care for white/yellow onions when raw.

The cheese melted just so- I popped on top of the egg just as I turned off the stove.  It was on just long enough to melt while I grabbed my spatula to place it on the bread.  The egg just fried to perfection (in organic whipped butter of course).

The toast, just lightly done, since I can’t stand dark toast!

The perfect sandwich.  Seriously, we’re picking out China patterns. I want something demure and simple but Mr. Fancy Pants wants some wild pattern 😉

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I saw The Proposal last night with one of my co-workers.  We had so much fun.  The movie was cute and admittedly, I’m not a big movie person so my standards are low.  If I can pay attention for 90+ minutes then I consider it a hit.  I just would wait for it to come out on DVD and rent it though since it wasn’t really movie theater worthy (only movies with lots of special effects are in my opinion).

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I had to stick up for my parents yesterday.  Let me rephrase that.  I felt that I needed to stick up for them.  I’ll be the first to admit that I let people “overuse” me at times.  I’ll also be the first to stop others from doing the same to my parents. Their “friends” like to stop by unannounced and take over their house with their (bratty) kids.  Hey, my parents work, my dad gets up at 3am, my mom has health issues, and hey I want them to be around to play with my (bratty) kids not waste their energy on someone else’s.  So, I said what I had to say, politely, in an email.  Got a phone call. Got lied to. Got insulted.  Remained cool although I just wanted to say “Helloooooooo, lady. No one likes you. That’s why no one actually invites you over.” I refrained.  They said something about my mama, then hung up.  Thankfully, my mom’s attitude is relief mixed with amusement over their stupidity.

All in all.  It was a good lesson to us both.  Sometimes we fight to preserve friendships that aren’t very healthy for us because we think the other person needs us more.  Come to find out they didn’t really care that much and were just users to begin with.  Good times.

But seriously, it’s a huge weight off my shoulders because I wanted to say something four or five years ago but let it go too long.  Now they won’t be a problem.  And if they do show up.  Well, then someone’s flying up to Buffalo to handle some business!

It’s also pretty nice to stick up for the people who’ve stuck up for me forever.

Oh, and since I don’t believe that anyone could ever be too distracted to say goodbye.

I’ll say goodbye for now. I have a list of baking projects I want to tackle which may commence tonight!

 

Tell Me What We’re Gonna Do Now

I’m back in DC/MD no   I miss my family already, but I do seriously love my place.  I’m definitely conflicted, but I’m glad that I have such supportive people around me who will back me whether or not I stay in MD or move back to NY.

Just to clear something up from my last post, I’m completely okay with being single and childless, for now… afterall, I’m only 22, I’m not exactly ancient yet 😉  What I meant is that, since I am those things, I can go work in Africa during the summers teaching English without worrying about how that will affect too many other people’s lives.  You know what I mean?

Anyway… I’m so late because Thursday was my baby bro’s birthday… I would put up a picture but I don’t really have any handy at the moment… Based on the number of girls who called/texted/facebooked/showed up at the door to wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’, I’m guessing he looks ‘ok’ 😀

That morning, I was craving something cool and simple.

Enter the greek yogurt + banana + honey combination.  There was maybe half a teaspoon of honey drizzled over the top, mainly because no more would come out of the container lol.  It wasn’t cold enough, so after a few bites I popped it in the fridge for five minutes then it was perfect.

Afterward, my dad, brother and I went to the happiest place on Earth Apple Store.  I got a new Macbook.  Now, my dad has my old one and I think we’re both pretty happy.  I think my favorite thing about the new Macbook is that the keyboard just feels so fabulous.  I know that’s so weird- of all the upgrades I’m loving the keyboard the best 😳  Someone said, oh “you got a new computer for Joel’s birthday!?”  Lol.

After the store trip, we visited my aunt and cousins who live near the mall.  It was actually really nice to see them even though it’s (sadly) a rare occurence.

By the time we got home I was ready to eat everything in sight.

Instead, I made a leftovers wrap.  I took chicken, spaghetti squash and green beans from Wednesday night’s dinner, threw on some feta cheese, popped it in the micro and had a fabulous lunch.  If dinner’s good, leftover wraps can be really fabulous.

Then I went on a baking mission.

Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Cups inspired by Roni’s recipe on Green Lite Bites. I made various changes, so I made a recipe page for them.

My mom loved them, my dad didn’t try them, my brother hated them.  One of them is picky discerning, the other doesn’t like anything if he hear’s it’s healthy, and the other one is my mom and has to say they’re good 😉  I personally loved them, and since they’re such an easy project and make a great portable, healthy snack I say go for it!  Let me know if you try it too!  I liked them so much I had two!

Then I had dinner

Fresh from the backyard asparagus, soaked in salt water, then dressed in a little EVOO, and grilled to perfection. Yum yum yum.  I thought it was silly to waste the time soaking them in the salt water, but it really kicks up the flavor.  I will definitely do this from now on.  Then I had one two hotdogs.  Here’s the problem… these are Sahlen’s hotdogs aka the ‘Official Hotdog of the Buffalo Bills.’  I mean come one, look at what they’ve done for the quality of football played by that team- not one, not two, but four Superbowls lost.  Jk… I love the Bills, loses and all, I’m no ‘fair-weather’ fan.  These hotdogs are just fabulous.  No other hotdogs compare, and they’re only available in certain states.  Just like restaurant pizza, they’ve been added to the list of ‘only eat in NYS’ foods!

Then, I baked some more- yes yes yes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies– some regular, some with Macadamia Nuts.  I used my special recipe (most of which is in my head) but subbed some white flour with whole wheat flour, about 1/3 of what the recipe calls for.  Joel and his friends didn’t know that I’d done that.  One of his friend’s said “these are the best cookies that I’ve ever put in my mouth.”  Two others just said they were amazing.  My dad said that although he could tell there was a difference and they weren’t quite the extravagant affair they usually are, he still managed to eat all the ones he packed for work without sharing as he’d planned!  I will say that he is actually discerning and pays enough attention to notice changes, but he’s also the one who handed me the container with the WW flour in it- so who really knows.  Obviously, my mom and I loved them.  Apparently, the four dozen I made on Thursday have dwindled down to 10 cookies!

Yesterday was traveling day.  I had a breakfast sandwich from Tim Horton’s that my bro got me (Thanks Joel) but the picture is on my new cell phone and I’m not going to wrestle with it to get it on the computer, lol.

Lunch was much needed after an hour delay on the flight, followed by the “we’re not going to serve anything due to turbulence” announcement (there really was none).  So at 3pm when I landed in Baltimore, I was starved and I practically ran to the McDs in the terminal.

I was in a hungry daze (seriously my stomach was hurting) so I ordered something that sounded healthy.  Grilled Chicken Club.  I forgot club meant mayo and bacon. It tasted great and I guess it’s okay… but I forgot that I wanted to boycott McDonald’s since seeing Supersize Me a few weeks ago (I’m late, I know).

Dinner was also from a restaurant which kind of bother’s me…

It was good though, grilled chicken over greek salad with warm pita bread.  I got it from a restaurant aptly titled The Greek Place. They have a great menu, good prices, and give great portions.  All their food is fresh and high quality, not to mention the service is fantastic.  It was really satisfying!

Today, I starting a new PT job tonight.  Wonder what it could be… stay tuned

 

My beautiful Dominicana GF-blog sister Amy gave me this beautiful award (but not as beautiful as she is)….

Run to her blog it’s gorgeous, she has the cutest daughter, AND dance videos.  Therefore I must throw this award right back at her 🙂

There are so many beautiful blogs that I read, and I could never pick among the rest so I’ll just redirect you to my blog roll, you can’t go wrong there 😉

Now, I have some strange pictures because there are some gaps 😳

Tuesday, I made my “little” brother breakfast, guess what? he’s turning 20 today.

My dad says he wanted his “big” sister to take care of him, so I obliged and made all of his requests, pancakes, eggs and turkey bacon. (I’m guessing he didn’t really want it to be turkey bacon but that’s what we had!)….

The rest of the day, I literally ate out of the fridge.  What a bad habit I have, and I only do it here, at home.  Just reverted back to that 😦  Then I went out to dinner with my best friend here.  It was nice to catch up in a form other than text message!

I started my day with more fridge eating… oh well… and skipped lunch in favor of a really long nap.  It was so hot today.  Definitely, not a Buffalo norm!

For dinner, my family all made contributions.

My dad’s marinade on the chicken, my brother picked the green beans out at the store (big contribution, right?), my mom cooked it all, and I made the dressing and stuff that went into the spaghetti squash.  The other day, I made a dressing with 1 part EVOO, 2 parts lemon juice, basil and oregano and a bit of garlic salt.  I tossed half of the spaghetti squash (a large one), about two tablespoons of the dressing, and feta cheese.  It was a fabulous dinner.  Definitely had seconds thirds of the spaghetti squash… all the pleasure, none of the guilt

My mom and I have been planning to have a guacamole date this week and since I’m leaving Friday afternoon, we picked today.

Yummy yummy guac, with hint of lime tortilla chips.  Everyone had some chips, only mom and I had guac (the boys are picky discerning).  Doesn’t the guac look gross?  Tasted fab though.

Then we watched some reality TV and the Philanthropist…. I’m loving this show, but that’s just because the topics/scenes/etc. touch my heart.  Makes me want to go work for Unicef one summer, teaching… I really need to do that, especially since I’m (basically) single (unmarried) and childless… Gotta work on that one!

Oh, no exercise… still waiting for the ankle to fully heal!