Where ya been?

I’m not the best at keeping things up to date. I let my car go without an oil change for a few weeks, I put off appointments, and I generally wait until it’s too late to do anything about a bad situation. I think the best evidence of my wait-too-long abilities is this blog. My last entry was March 7. That’s almost two months ago.

I’m sure the question for anyone who ever did monitor this blog (no one), is “where the hell have you been, Steph?”

A better question might be “Where the hell haven’t you been, Steph?”

In the past two months:

  • I have become a fan of Instagram. Almost all of the photos below are from my instagram account.
  • I got a new job! Same company, same office, new duties.
  • I visited my dads in Silver Spring for Easter.
  • I finally met my best freindesess (that’s the plural of friend, right?) baby. She’s kind of amazing.
  • I went to my friend’s birthday party, which was a joint “Titanic Remembrance” party… So there was a Titanic drinking game. And Absinthe. And rum. And brandy. And a long night.
  • I flew to Orlando for a conference. I stayed in the biggest hotel that I’ve ever seen, ate a lot of awesome food, and had a genuinely awesome time with my co-workers. I couldn’t work with a better group of people.
  • I carved out some time for Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney. I’ve spent a lot of my adult life thinking Disneyland was pretty stupid. I’ve changed my tune.
  • My parents came with me to Orlando for their first vacation since I was in high school.
  • I saw some pretty random Disney merch in Orlando… like a hipster Mickey shirt at the Orlando airport…
  • I volunteered for my company’s booth at the Shepherdstown Earth Day fest. It was rainy and cold, but the food we all consumed after was a pretty bright part of the day.
  • Soba noodles became my favorite food of all time. I eat them with soy sauce, or sriracha, or miso tahini sauce. I eat soba noodles with brussels sprouts, peas, bean sprouts, chickpeas, lentils, black beans, sesame seeds. You name it, I’ll find a way to eat them.
  • Also sweet and sour tofu. Mmm.
  • Now I’m hungry.
  • I give up.
  • That’s all! I need food!

   

  

 

 

 

Celebrate Adoption!

Two years ago yesterday, I picked up my soulmate… aka: My dog. I decided to celebrate her adoption by picking up one of her favorite treats — cantaloupe and honey dew melon.

At first, there was some hesitation. I think she thought it was a trick…

Ah, finally! Time to chow down!

Don’t worry. She’s just eating on the couch because it’s where the ONE window in my living room is located. ONE WINDOW. Such a sad life I lead.

Then it was nap time.

Happiness really is a warm puppy.

April 26, 2012 - 2:27 am

anastasia - i love her eyelashes!! SO pretty.

You Get on My Nerves

I suppose it’s time for an entirely personal post. This blog used to tend on the personal side of things, but I took a break from all that, I guess.

The reason I haven’t been posting recipes is because I’m fresh out of energy. For the past year or so, there’s been something severely wrong with my shoulder. I took some drugs, went to physical therapy for a few months, and started to feel a million times better. Then, out of nowhere, my wrist and forearm started to hurt. “Ah, carpal tunnel,” says the physical therapist. “Here’s a neurology consult.”

Now, whenever there’s something wrong with me, I never have high hopes that a doctor will figure it out. I had stomach problems for months, and a doctor finally told me that my body was having a reaction to changing my birth control… six months after I changed it. Tell that to my bills, guy.

So, I thought this would be the same. Expensive visit to the neuro clinic, “ah, there’s nothing wrong with you, sweetie! Go home and sleep it off. Work out, it’ll do you some good.” I go, they tell me that it sure sounds like carpal tunnel, come back for a nerve conduction test.

Whatsthatguys? What’s a nerve conduction test?

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerve_conduction_study

It’s a test where they look at your nerves by 1) shocking you with this little cattle prod thing, and 2) stick tiny needles in your  muscle  to look at and hear your nerve function. It’s an extremely annoying test, and it leaves little bruises on your arm where they stuck a needle into your muscle. I’ll know more on Friday when I go back for my follow up appointment. Hopefully I’ll have a “plan of action,” so I can stop being so exhausted, cranky, and in general pain all the damn time.

So here’s my question: has anyone else had experience with this kind of thing? Anyone had a pinched nerve, or carpal tunnel, or a strange burn-y pain sensation in their shoulders and neck all the time? Help a girl out.

I haven’t felt well in the last few days. The smallest amount of house work leaves me unable to function for a few hours. It just hurts, guys. I haven’t been doing much, least of all thinking up fun new things to good. Mostly I order chinese food, do homework, or watch terrible movies.

Oh, and I decided that donuts were a good breakfast.

And that cuddling with my dog is the best thing on a Sunday morning.

Best of Brussels (mustard brussels sprouts)

My friend sent me this recipe a few weeks ago. My first attempt was … just an unmitigated disaster. I should have known it would be. One, I don’t like shallots. Two, I don’t like brown sugar in anything that isn’t a cake or a muffin. I actually shed a tear when I threw away all those brussels sprouts… So sad to see them go, uneaten… because they were terrible. I’m sure the recipe itself is amazing, just not for me.

I decided to give this a second try, but to do it in my own way. And… it worked out. Really well.

This, like everything I make, is super easy. I’m not a very good cook. I can bake, but that’s because baking is exact. Cooking can be, but if you do one thing wrong, or don’t time something right, whatever you were making is ruined.

Now, I can eat all these in one sitting, but for the normal person this makes 2 or 3 servings and is a great side dish. Keep scrolling for the nutrition info according to this recipe calculator.

 

Here’s what you need:

  • 1 lb of brussels sprouts
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp brown mustard
  • 1 tsp amber agave nectar

Here’s what you do:

  • Wash your sprouts, dummy.
  • Cut the hard stems off the sprouts, remove all the gross looking leaves, then cut each sprout into four pieces. I don’t slice, I cross cut them.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, preferrably non-stick
  • Put the brussels sprouts, Agave, and brown mustard in the pan
  • Mix all the ingredients together, and make sure they’re mixed together really well
  • Cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so they don’t get welded to the pan
  •  The sprouts should end up looking a little browned and bright green, kind of soft, but not mushy
  • Eat, enjoy, tell me if you love them!

 

This is for the TOTAL recipe, and the calories are almost all in the oil:

Spicy ‘tater “chips”

I love potatoes. Love. Mashed, baked, sliced, fried, roasted, turned into chips… I love them. Potatoes just aren’t really that good for you…

I posted awhile ago about needing brain food recommendations. While this isn’t brain food, it’s certainly a nice snack while reading for class. It doesn’t take much prep or cook time. Where I would usually microwave a frozen something or eat ice cream, I now have a healthy (uh, … well, healthier, I guess) option.

 

This is really simple. Almost everything I make is really simple. A monkey could make this.

This recipe makes what I would recommend as 2 servings. I used a nutrition calculator, and this looks to be about 640 calories, 104 carbs, and 11 grams of fat total. Halve that and it’s not nearly as bad as a bag of Lay’s, and definitely a lot more filling!

What you need:

  • 4 medium sized potatoes — I used Russet, because they’re mild
  • 2 tbsp melted vegan butter, or butter, I don’t care. — I used Earth Balance’s Soy Garden Natural Buttery Spread
  • Chipotle chili powder — WARNING: If you don’t like spicy food, just skip this step
  • Baking sheet and cooking spray (or your preferred method of non-sticking a baking sheet)

What you do:

  • Preheat oven to 500 degrees
  • Oil/spray/cover with foil the baking sheet so the potatoes don’t stick
  • Wash & scrub your potatoes
  • Slice the squeaky clean ‘taters however works for you. Thicker slices will need longer cook time (duh)
  • Add a couple sprinkles of the chipotle chili powder to the melted butter
  • Brush the chili powder/butter mixture on both sides of the potato slices
  • Place the slices flat on the baking sheet, spreading them out so that they don’t touch
  • Sprinkle however much off the chili powder over the sliced potatoes
  • Bake for 10-15 minutes – the potatoes should be starting to turn brown around the edges
  • Flip the potatoes over, sprinkle with some more chili powder
  • Bake for another 10-15 minutes
  • Remove from oven, put on plate, and eat eat eat!

I know that a recipe like this is common sense to most people who aren’t lazy sad-sacks, but I had to put in effort not to just grab the bag of chips off the top of the fridge and stuff my face. Now that I know there’s another, more filling way to snack, I’ll definitely be making these more often.

T w i t t e r