Study Break

Look at this cutie:

Just what I need for a mid-morning study break pick-me-up. Just a square, I tell myself, a tiny little square, as a reward, as motivation, as justification. Just one square.

Wedding Nightmares

My alarm didn’t even get a chance to go off this morning. I sprang out of bed faster than you can say “breakfast is ready!” only it wasn’t so that I could eat.

I had a nightmare, a horrible, stomach-pain inducing wedding related nightmare. I am pretty sure I spent at leads 5 hours last night living through what had to have been the most ridiculous wedding ever, and it was my dream wedding too. Who says dreams are all white clouds and children laughing and lollipops?! 

Meet my Kitchen # 3: Shiny & Sleek Food Processor

Ok, so it’s been a weekend of new cooking gear, I’ll admit. And all this new has got me just itching to cook. Who knew fresh gadgets would light such a fire under my tail. I better soak it up while it lasts!

Up next we have the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor, nothing short of perfect for a small kitchen cook like myself. This sleek and shiny silver wonder chops and grinds up to four cups worth of goodies. Plus, it is seriously beautiful. I felt like I was a celebrity chef while using this machinery, like my kitchen was no longer a cramped space in the corner of my living room but instead an industrial sized mega-kitch in front of a live studio audience. I may or may not have narrated the process as I used my new toy to make Citrus Cilantro Chickpea Salad. “Next I will add the lime juice, careful not to spill….”

Laura, of Sprint2TheTable, writes a great recipe, very straight-forward and exacting with a scrumptious end result. Check out her blog if you get a chance, one of new favorites as of late. She’s an Atlanta gal, too, so her Southern locale steals my heart. I will always be a Nashvillian, no matter how far I may get.

The food processor did its job royally, creating perfect pulsed spinach and cilantro, not the least bit mushy or over-chopped. Clean-up was a cinch, too. I am still in awe over how seamlessly this cooking experiment went. Usually my kitchen is a war zone when I am done (see this post!) but today, I wrapped up with a space cleaner than when I began. Huzzah!

Thanks again Sue for this great gift, you rule!

Meet My Kitchen #2: Miracles and Milkshakes

Kitchen technology blows my mind. Perhaps this is the side-effect of having existed for the majority of my college years on a barebones kitchen repertoire, but these new goodies I have seem nothing short of kitchen miracles.

It’s time for Meet My Kitchen #2: Cuisinart CSB-77 Smart Stick Hand Blender 

 

 

 

 

 

This little beauty aids in the blending of drinks, purees, soups, and cake mixes just to name a few. I imagine a perfect plate of scrambled eggs has its start with my Cusinart hand blender. Its fine design allows for blending right in the pot or in the attached blending beaker, plus I feel oh so scientific, like a crazy mad scientist, when I take to the kitchen with the blending stick in my hand. 

On Why I Run

Running is one of those activities I love and hate. I love the way I feel right before a run, like anything is possible, and I can fly. I love the way I feel right after, heart pounding out of my chest, sweat pouring down my forehead, lop-sided grin on my face. I’m finished! The whole in-between though is rough. Feet pounding the pavement, each step a little harder, elevated heart rate, panting for air, visualizing the next big hill, groaning inside and out. It sounds a bit like torture, right? And it is, but it’s that addictive kind of torture that somehow propels me out of bed two times a week to do it over again, always with the hope of breaking my previous best.

Today, I did it (well we did it, as Chris runs with me on Sundays, but he is way faster than me so this is just him being a sweetie)! I ran 6.1 miles in 47 minutes flat. Personal Record set. Time for celebration, and celebration = a big ole’ egg sandwich with spinach and three kinds of cheese.

Before a run I feel like I can do anything, and after an egg sandwich this good, I feel the exact same way!

Meet My Kitchen

So this is post # 1 of a series I am starting today. Without further adieu, let us play “Meet My Kitchen!”

Being a college student and small apartment dweller has its serious limitations in the big, wide world of the kitchen. Capital and space are major constraints for this chef. Luckily, humans adapt to their environments, thanks evolution! Since moving to NYC and beginning my cooking career, I have learned how to create delicious week-day meals for under $5 in a space barely big enough for two people. Where there is a will, there is a way, and my growling stomach constitutes one serious will!!

Meet my kitchen utensil # 1:  Joseph Joseph Elevate Carousel with Tools

We Eat In

I am one of those people who thinks weekends mandate eating out. In a perfect world, one in which money grows on trees, and every restaurant is always open with no reservations necessary, I would probably never cook again. I would certainly never cook over a precious weekend. I just love to be pampered, what can I say! Is this is me admitting that at the core of my being, I am lazy?

Let’s get back to reality, my reality. Weekend may sing the siren’s call to dine out, but my wallet is not free-flowing. A dollar spent is a dollar gone. We eat in.

A Saturday Surprise

We woke up this morning at around 8:30am. With a big yawn and a stretch, our feet hit the cold hardwood floor and the day had begun. First order of business, post office to retrieve some packages. Sorry Mr. Postman, we just can’t seem to connect.

A surprise awaited us at the ole post office–not two, but three big shiny boxes addressed to me!

Pizza Party

Sometimes friday nights are best celebrated with a couple of slices of takeout pizza followed by a television show marathon in your jammies in the bed with the boy you love.

Two Boots Pizza, with various outposts around the city, delivers a solid by the slice option. For the veggies out there, the Earth Mother, a whole wheat sicilian crust with 5 veggies, and the Vegan, with artichokes and daiya cheese, are excellent candidates (though my slice was a bit over-cooked last night). There is also the stand-up Bella, a pizza-fied version of the classic creamy spinach artichoke dip with a cayenne kick. For meat-eaters, Chris goes crazy for The Bird, a buffalo chicken and blue cheese slice, and The Newman, nice sauasagey white pizza with a slight pepper kick. Sometimes the pizza is a bit less fresh and other times, it is straight out of the oven. It’s hit or miss, but when you’re lazy and hungry and craving some ‘za, Two Boots is a sure-fire success.

Walking on a Dream

Waking up excited to go to your job-now that’s a rare and miraculous thing. I can’t say it’s a familiar feeling in my life, per se, until recently that is……

Pinch me, I’m dreaming.

Oh wait, Serious Eats, you and I…… well it’s official, it’s true, dare I say dream come true…..

Careful lest I let my words run away with me; no need to make the rest of the world jealous. I can be muted. I can be subtle.

Who am I kidding, get a load of this:

From tasting ice creams galore; Jeni, you are splendid (me, in stripes)