Time. . . what is that?

I seemed to have gotten caught up in the hoopla of school. For the past few months its been a complete focus around passing tests, doing homework, once and awhile home cooked meals with more lesser meals and skipped breakfasts with graduation peaking above the horizon. I haven’t had much time for anything these past few months, let alone time to sit back and read through the cookbooks I got right after christmas! I have comics left unread, books never opened and movies never watched. It seems that I have been sinking in the middle of the pond, waiting for that hand to pull me back up to the surface.

With one more day of classes, two MORE new cooks books given to me by sean for my recent birthday (an amazing surprise!) and tons of movies, books and comics to read I think I am ready for the summer. As I sit down and finish my last study cram sessions, pull those all-nighters and pass out on the couch with sean after yet again more long days, the prospect of completely nothingness filled with cooking, reading, sean and relaxing seems just around the corner. In that new hope comes the excitement for my blog, which shall fill up with the stories of my lazy days, busy beach days, food adventures and photographs because this is after all just about catching the memories in a moment to be recorded from a lifetime for just myself and those who take the time to read my posts on a passby. Enjoy :)

Where is Spring?

It seems like only yesterday it was hot and sunny out all the time. I really do miss that! Winter seems to want to over stay her welcome, bringing cold rain and snow more often then sunny days. Being so busy it makes me sad that i haven’t had time to cook or bake anything. However, as i see the open window of spring I have some hope that the kitchen will soon be a more often than not place of refuge.

Adoption and Berries

Winter time seems to be the busiest time of the year. We have the hustle and bustle of school, work, errands and more work and school. Its not like the summer time when we have days off to just lay around in the sun and do nothing. Its seems, however, that there is always something to do. Papers to write, reading to do and no time to relax.

Recently though, Sean and I went out and decided to take our relationship to the next level. . . .yes I mean we adopted a HAMSTER! A cute, fluffy, little ball of fun! We seriously went crazy with it, buying it all these toys and cute accessories for her cage. This little thing (named ally) now stays at seans place (not allowed at mine!). She is the most adorable thing in the world. I think we are slightly obsessed with her and sean is so cute with her. Its adorable how much of a softy he can be!! But shushhh don’t tell him I told you!

She is so cute!

Well for a quick recipe you should try these Mixed Berry Smoothie’s. They are a good healthy snack that fills you up!! Now I do not fancy myself a professional cook, or even a cook. Sometimes I mess up a recipe so badly I wonder if i should ever cook again. I cook often, alot with sean but rarely do I remember to take photo’s of them. You know, your cooking and you get caught up with sauteing, mixing and not burning things you forget to get that snapshot. Sometimes even when you do the picture is simply horrible. I sometimes go to edit them and get on here and have tons of photos I cant even use! That drives me crazy. Now I am not a professional photographer, but i do love taking photos, editing them and all the hoopla. Sometimes it is amazing the shots you can catch.

So I hope that even if your simply a one time, passerby you like my photos, recipes and randomness. I’m not here to become some amazing famous blogger with millions of hits. Simply a person who loves life and sharing stories. Let me know what you think! I am always interested in other blogs too so feel free to comment and like so I can check out yours!

Mixed Berry Smoothie:

Ingredients:

• 150g frozen berries

• 1 banana

• 1 tsp honey

• 4 tbsp natural yogurt

• 150ml orange juice

Method:

1. Chop up the banana into manageable chunks, throw everything into a blender and blitz until smooth. If it seems a little thick add more juice, or if it’s not quite creamy enough add more yogurt  If you wish remove the berry seeds pass the smoothie through a sieve, but don’t worry too much!

Procrastination In Its Finest

I have been saying this every week “I’m going to start a food blog; I’m going to write in my food blog, food blog food blog. . . . .” Whelp. Hello. I have a passion for cooking, cleaning, Guys show Dinners, Drive In’s and Dives and Sean. In a way I want to completely start over. I may, I may wipe clean most of my old posts, maybe save them in my computer somewhere to get dusty, full of cob webs and start a fresh new slate. I think I will. There is something completely satisfying sitting down at the kitchen table with family and friends and watching them take the first bite of the recipe you just whipped up. Recently my kitchen adventures have been complete failures; I have ruined everything I tried to make. When I say everything, I mean everything. However, this past weekend I think I broke through that lull.

Sean and I took one of our recent trips to the mall to do our exchanging of wrong size presents and catch all the after Christmas deals. As usual, we did our normal circle go through our favorite shops and hit the café for Starbucks Coffee and Hot Coco. We always get the same wraps from the food court; I think it’s the only healthy thing there to eat and I can’t even name it! Sean always orders it and I scout for a table. This time we walked through the book store to see what they had going on and you will never guess what we found! Deals on cook books, I think I died. Half off cook books, 60% off and they were all the ones with the amazing recipes! I instantly melted and Sean of course ushered me towards them where I believe I got lost. After spending twenty minutes simply staring in awe, I finally picked out two books that I could not resist owning. The first one was The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook which I shall be posting my first recipe from it here. The second one was A Year Full of Recipes which as you can gather is 366 recipes (one extra for a leap year). I think I have spent the entire weekend reading through them, gawking at the recipes trying to memorize every single one.

As I have said I have got my mojo back in the kitchen! While my kitchen is not the “perfect” kitchen I desire I make do with everything I have. One day I will have that ideal kitchen with all those gadgets to use! I have told Sean a thousand times that our kitchen will be my domain! He can have the rest of the apartment to do with as he pleases. Those cook books are my first official purchase towards that dream. As the New Year sets in and school begins again hopefully I can begin to save up again for that dream and start gathering those gadgets. That is my plan! It’s always good to have a plan and I like it.

My first recipe I attempted was Smoked Cod Chowder. I have to say it was so delicious!! I am not normally a fan of fish but being determined to cook my way through some cook books I was determined to make everything! This is an easy and fast recipe for any night especially those cold ones. With regards to the vegetables, make sure you chop the potatoes into small cubes because it will help them to cook faster. The first time I made this I cut them into different sizes and it added about 15 minutes to the cooking process! Also, while the recipe said it servers 4 I found that it only was enough for 3 hearty dishes so double this if you would like left overs!

Smoked Cod Chowder:

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons salted butter

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 Small celery stalk, finely diced

2 Potato’s, diced

1 small carrot, diced

1 ¼ cups boiling water

12 ounces smoked cod fillets skinned and cut into bite-size piece

1 ¼ cups whole milk

Salt and pepper

Fresh flat leaf parsley springs, to garnish

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat; add the onion and celery, and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, or until soft but not brown.
2. Add the potatoes, carrots, water and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the fish to the chowder and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
3. Pour in the milk and heat gently. Taste and adjust the seasoning adding salt and pepper if necessary. Ladle into warm bowls and serve garnished with parsley springs.

Well now I may have lied . . . . only a little

 

I know I know, I said I was going to keep this a a strict food blog! But sorry after finals, then celebrating and with Christmas right around the corner there has not been much time. I did however want to take a moment to show off these card designs. Recently (As of yesterday at 7:00PM) Lucent Playing Cards designed by Sean Whelan officially went live! Now those of you who have not had a chance to take a look at these you should! These are hand designed playing cards that are a limited addition. They are AMAZING! Now WAIT!!

Before you click away, I really urge you to go ahead and check out the cards. Even if you never felt of much of a card collector these are worth taking a look at. I have seen the hard work that went into them and believe me Sean Whelan spent alot of time on them. SO check them out! You will not be sorry there are some amazing deals : D

 

Here is the official link : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1293645903/lucent-playing-cards-by-sean-whelan

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

We begin our journey! Do you ever have those day where you wake up and it seems like the day just passes you by. You turn around and all of the sudden you realize its 9PM already. The day just flies by you with the hustle and bustle of Christmas and work and the holiday seasons. Before you know it its time to sit back, relax, study for some finals and watch some t.v.

Today I ran into one of my old school teachers, I remember her exactly. She was my third grade teacher and I had loved her. For some reason I can remember everything she ever taught me, down to how to write my name in script. We went into the whole dance of catching up and peeking into each others lives. Even now as I write this late at night I am slightly saddened to see what I found. The beautiful smiling women had stage four cancer. They told her two years ago she had 4 weeks to live, yet 2 years have gone bye. I looked at her in disbelief, I can honestly say I did not believe her. I can still picture our conversation in my mind it seemed like the world seemed to move on around us, but we were in our own universe. She was having some old pictures printed, they were beautiful photos of her family. What got me was everyone was smiling, it was truly a memory in a moment. I know they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and i honestly believe that. But what got me most about today was how strong she looked, yet when you really looked at her you could see the edges starting to crumble. I stop and think about everything I have going on in my life, everything my family, my friends has going on and I realize how much we take for granted. I feel that if someone would have taken a picture of that moment when the world slowed down, felt it start to wobble, it would have been one of those pictures. A picture worth a thousand words.

She is added to my list of people who inspire me. For her strength.

Do you ever get a pounding headache. You know, the one that you get from being up so early that pounds right in the front of your head? Those are the worst additives to the day. It will always hit you at the worst possible moment too. You could be enjoying yourself, maybe visiting someone on their break at work and BAM it hits you. You then realize the positional this headache has over you. It has the power to ruin an entire evening. Even an entire week. Its like the all mighty and powerful because once you have a migraine the world seems to slow down and begin to pound. Its like a throbbing pain that enters on one side of your head and decides its there to stay. I always wonder if people can see the pain, can they see the pulse you are releasing? The power that something so simple has over you? It always scares me how much pain someone can get in because of something so small we cant even see. I wonder what would a headache even look like? On those rainy days like today, with a pounding headache you just want to curl up in bed cuddle with someone and take that cat nap that seems to solve everything. Today was an especially rainy day, one of those misty dark days that makes it seem like its already night time when its only 2:00. My favorite thing to do on these days is to make a cup of tea.

The perfect recipe to ride your self of a headache is a cup of black tea with a tea spoon of honey. I know it may sound bland at first but trust me, it is the perfect relaxer. While hot coco may be more ideal for this cold and stormy weather, there is something about making yourself a cup of tea, sitting back and watching the rain fall. Of course it would be better if it was snowing out, but rain is good too. So if you are ever having one of those days, i recommend this. Have a cup of tea, sit back with someone you love and relax. Enjoy life.

The Beginning

I AM AND WILL BE BACK! This is my post. One really quick until I have time to write my full post with everything that i want to. I am transforming!! It is official I have decided to turn this into a complete food blog. I figure why not? I have one week left of classes, finals all week. I will have a month off. A WHOLE MONTH. I was think that on my days off i should try and post something, even if I don’t have a large audience (maybe all of 1) but hey you never know right?

I would like to post at least once to maybe three times a week. If i can do more then hell YEAH! I will hopefully be starting tomorrow (12/16/12).The rules for me? As follows:

1. Post 1-3 times a week

2. Post a recipe (something legit not like peanut butter and bread)

3. Build a audience

4. Always include pretty pictures of the path way and the included dish

5. Have fun : D

This is my plan!! I hope if you are reading this you enjoy it and don’t laugh at me too much : D

Avengers and Brownies

So tonight for the SECOND time I decided to go see the avengers again with sean and his brother. OMG. Now I was at the original midnight showing of the avengers I would like to state. But seeing it a second time?!? HOLY COW! It was just as amazing and totally worth it, spending the money again. I have to say Iron Man is totally my favorite! Now i kno a lot of people are like ‘why??’ cuz man, hes a complete dick! like he has the best lines and deff just has the best personality, plus a super cool suit that goes right through some weird giant monster thingy blowing it up from the inside.

Avengers is and was amazing. Simple.

Last night after working i decided to make Cookie Brownies. Mhmmmm. I saw them on a box once and have made it a couple of times but last night I decided to make it from scratch, both batters. It came out rele good minus the fact that while I was in the kitchen I was so distracted that i kept messing up the ingredients and adding and measuring everything in wrong. It was a complete mess!! but after everything was said and done, i broke the oven (literally i broke the handle) and added way too much brownie mix it was not bad! so if your interested in making these do experiment! especially with the different types of brownie and cookie mix there is out there.

Cookie Brownies:

1. Take any cookie batter you want ( i used the regular choco chip that was on the back of the choco chip bag). I suggest you make that one first and put it in the fridge. That makes it cold and easier to handle once you need it.
2. Take any Brownie mix ( I used the Hershey’s Brownie Mix recipe from online ). Make this batter and pour into desired pan after it has been sprayed or buttered, i personally like to use butter i think it comes out better. (tip: don’t use all the brownie mix in the pan because it will rise and once you have the cookie dough on top you don’t want it to over flow)
3. Next take out the cookie dough and put spoonfuls covering the brownie in the pan. Leave a slight edge around the pan. Make sure to fill in any gaps in the centers.
4. place in oven at 350 degrees and cook for about 45 to 55 minutes depending. Use a tooth pick to make sure brownie is cooked through (that means the cookie is done too)

Enjoy these tasty treats!

Experiments gone wrong, yet another sunny day

Today’s recipe I owe all to asweetspoonful.com . With out her extremely inspiring page and blog I would have never had the chance to butcher the amazing looking recipe that she posted the other day. The recipe that I will post on here is all hers, so I am giving her full credit for it. I did not, however do it any justice. Sure the bread part of this recipe came out delicious, kinda had a pretzel taste to it. But unfortunately I don’t know if that was how it was supposed to taste or not, but the middle area was extremely bitter and tart. Now coming from someone who can just eat lemons as they are, that’s saying something. I plan on taking this recipe and messing with it, because I will not give up yet. I am determined to make a version of it, prob with cheese of some sort though.

The look of this dish however, did look pretty cool. And I have to admit it was a lot of fun to make. I have never made my own dough before, so doing so yesterday caused me quite a challenge! Especially when I forgot to flour my hands, touched the dough and by default got it everywhere. Now when I say everywhere I mean everywhere. It was a huge mess and i ended up spending most of my Sunday in the kitchen! which was okay after all considering sean was working the whole say so its not like i stood him up!

The final result looked pretty delicious if I do say so myself. Yet looks can be deceiving! I’m not saying that it was horrible cuz it rele was not, we still have another entire one and i plan on taking a bite into at lunch. But it was not as good as it could have been. I’m deff going to have to retry this recipe the moment i get a chance. The rele good thing about this was the ingredients were not expensive at all! I like when i go to the store for recipes and don’t spend $40 dollars.

Here is the recipe straight from asweetspoonful.com . I suggest you check out her blog! It is simply amazing and that is also the reason why i started blogging in the first place :)

Lemon, Herb, and Sea Salt Foccacia
Adapted fromCanal House, vol. 3
Because this recipe essentially makes 4 rounds, I froze two sections of the dough to use later. If you go this route, you’ll obviously want to cut the topping quantities in half (only 1 lemon etc.) For the herbs, use whatever you like and have fresh on hand; I loved the combination of fresh thyme and rosemary although I think dill and chives could be really nice, too. And if you have a mandolin to slice the lemons, this is the best way to get them super thin.

1 envelope (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
6 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups bread flour + more for kneading
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons fresh herbs, chopped (I used rosemary and lemon thyme)
2 large lemons, washed and very thinly sliced
Coarse sea salt

For the dough, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water in a medium bowl. Stir in 1 1/4 cups water and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Pulse the flour and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Add the yeast mixture and process until a rough ball forms, about 1 minute. Briefly knead dough on a floured surface until smooth. Shape dough into a ball.

Put 2 tablespoons of the oil into a large bowl. Roll dough around in the bowl until coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm spot until it has doubled in size, about two hours.

Pour a thin film of oil into each of four 8-inch round cake pans. Quarter the dough and put one piece in each pan (if you’re making two rounds as we did, only oil two pans and wrap two quarters in plastic wrap and freeze). Using your fingertips, spread dough out in each pan. The dough is elastic and will resist stretching. Let it rest for 5 minutes or so after you’ve stretched it as far as it will go. Eventually it will cooperate and fill the pan.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Cover the pans with damp dishcloths and let the dough rest until it has swollen in the pans a little, 30-60 minutes. Uncover the pans, sprinkle the dough the your herbs.

Using your fingertips, poke dimples into the dough in each pan, then drizzle with oil so it pools into the little crevices. Arrange the thinnest rounds of lemon on top, drizzle with more oil, and sprinkle generously with sea salt.

Bake for 20-28 minutes. Drizzle with more oil when you pull it from the oven.

Chernobyl Diaries, among other things

Do you ever sit down to a movie thinking ‘okay woop woop im pumped for this! this is gonna be epic!’ then the previews start. And every single one is about some scary movie where something creepy happens. Following this you start to feel the fear rising in your stomach. Soon you begin to realize that, well this awesome movie might just scare the shit out of you! So now im sitting there, next to sean about to go crazy. My mind knows that it wont be that bad, it is after all just a movie. And besides this could never happen. . .THEN it clicks! This freaking movie is based off a real place, somewhere where there rele was a nuclear explosion that caused everyone to leave.

Now i sit through this who movie thinking its about ghosts. And i love ghosts so that would have been cool with me. But NO! It has nothing to do about ghosts, only about people who were effected by radio activeness. So after jumping at every little thing, and burying my face in sean’s shoulder the entire movie I made it! And I have to say it was amazing after all. The concept was just awesome and everything about this movie made it epic. Even though after the movie was over and i was back at sean’s place and i still needed him to be in the hallway while i walked to the bathroom just to be sure i diddnt get attacked by monsters or anything, i would totally see this again! If your looking for a perfect suspenseful movie deff check this one out!

Has anyone ever tried the shakes at Dunkin Donuts?? If your ever near one go inside, ask for the cotton candy one. Its PURPLE. And seriously its like drinking heaven! Im a big DD fan thanks to sean, so i go there way too often. But man that was just perfect for the hot day we had today. And i think the fact that it was purple just made everything better!

One of the hardest things to do is sneak food after 11PM in my house. We have 3 dogs who like to bark at the wind, so when your trying to sneak into the kitchen after you just get home they decide to go crazy. However, if your ask skilled as i am, sometimes you are able to sneak into the kitchen and open the fridge with out making a peep. Of course, once you open the fridge is a different story. Saturday nights are the greatest because my dad goes food shopping in the morning, which means that at night we have a fridge full of food. Surprise!! Yet tonight was the greatest because i open it to discover that we now had pickles!!

I don’t know about anyone else, but pickles are one of my major weaknesses. They taste so delicious and go with any meal. I love how at dinners they always give you cole slaw and a pickle, which is after all the perfect combination. But pickles are like the ultimate summer snack.

The issue with tonight tho was getting the jar open!! Of course i get the toughest jars that doesn’t want to open for me! its as if god knew it was past my bed time and i shouldn’t be eating any snacks that late. But if he only knew! i stay up until late into the night never able to sleep! Insomnia and me seem to know each other real well. After a fierce battle i was able to hear that click of the jar slide open. I love the crunch of rele good pickles, they can not be soggy or you deff have a bad one, you should spit that right out!! And there are so many different brands of pickles too! i know, i sound like a complete nerd for going on about pickles but when you taste something that is just unforgettable, you’ll want to talk about it.

So as you can tell tonight’s topic is pickles. How often do you eat them? Most people think ‘well pickles you just eat out of a jar’. Have you ever tried them a different way? For me i like to experiments with them. They rele do taste good with anything but there are just some classics that beat everything else.

Salami and Pickle Sandwhich

2 slices of bread

couple pieces of salami of your choice

one slice of cheese ( or more i usually add 2, but im also a mouse)

handful of hamburger pickles (the cut up ones to make it easier on the sandwich)

mustard

Using all the ingredients above build your mighty sandwich! I promise you its the perfect combination. Other ways to change this would be to toast the salami first. Believe it or not it salami tastes so good when it is toasted or even just fried. It crisps up and tastes just like bacon!! Enjoy your sandwich perfect for a summer day when you want something fast and easy :)