Birthday Week

It’s my birthday week! I might be the only person who has been celebrating my birthday week, but it’s been a good one so far, so I’m just going with it.

Saturday: my cousin Tad and his girlfriend Kelsey came up for a visit. I met them at their hotel downtown Seattle and we went to see the Gum Wall before wandering into Pike Brewing Company for a beer. We spent the rest of the evening watching some football with friends, catching up and talking about cats.

Sunday: I roasted a chicken:

And then I made Bhan Mis with the chicken I just roasted:

My Banh Mi recipe: 

• Crusty bread (I used baguette)
• Spread on some Sriracha mayo (I do 2 parts mayo to 1 part Sriracha – I don’t like spicy or mayo but this is my favorite, don’t skip on this part)
• Layer on some chicken,
• Pickled carrots,
• Red onion, and
• Cilantro.

So good!

I also made stock with the chicken carcass.  Pro tip: if you make stock in your crock pot, and you accidentally leave it on high for like 13 hours, the stock will be incredibly rich. I wasn’t disappointed.

Monday: Monday was super normal. I worked, I went to Zumba, you know, the usual.

Tuesday: I went to Katie’s house after work for dinner and we ended up booking flights to Ecuador(!!!!!!!!!) to visit Katie’s dad for Christmas! Happy early birthday to meeee!

Tuesday was a high this week for sure. There’s just something about draining your bank account on a flight (OMG I can’t believe I did that) that really puts you in a great mood.

Wednesday: I went to Zumba after work and my Zumba teacher made me the Zumba birthday princess. It was so fun. My neighbor/Zumba friend brought cupcakes too and we danced to Luke – It’s Your Birthday.

 
After Zumba I ran to Acupuncture (like straight from Zumba, ew). Have we talked about Acupuncture yet? It’s seriously like some sort of miracle cure for everything. Last night I was having some sinus issues + allergies for literally almost a year straight, so my Acupuncturist put needles straight in my face. I was legit cat status. But you know what, it helped.

^^red faced from my fitnesssss #dontjudgeme^^

Thursday: And then there is today. My last day of 27. Nothing amazing has happened yet, but Dustin is supposed to make me dinner tonight so there’s that!

I have dinner and drink plans tomorrow night and I’m looking forward to that, mostly because calories don’t count on your birthday. Or do they when you get into your late twenties and your metabolism starts slowing down? I’ll have to consult someone older than me and I’ll get back to you on that one! Ha. Also, late twenties… YIKES! I guess that’s happening tomorrow… Sooo…

some recipes and some random too

I have been experiencing a bit of writers block recently. But the best way to get over something is to get under it, or something. Maybe that’s a dirty joke? See what I mean, this is getting out of control! Anyway…

Saturday Dustin and I drove down to Hood River for his Grandpa’s surprise 80th birthday party. We were only in Hood River for the day, but we got into town a few hours before the party started so obviously that meant we had time to stop by Double Mountain for a few beers:

 
That place is just the best.

Dustin’s parents both did a really great job of taking pictures at the party. I however, did not. I did, though, do a really great job of sleeping the whole 4 hour drive home. Thanks for driving me, Dustin! I really needed that 13 hours of sleep… 

Today we are going to a BBQ at Dustin’s friend’s house. I made crack dip to take. If you haven’t made it yet, make it. It’s super easy and it is definitely a crowd pleaser.

I also made some quiche for breakfast while Dustin slept in. If you want to make quiche too (your boyfriend will be stoked if you do):

Cook some bacon then chop it up and sprinkle it in the bottom of a pie crust (use a frozen one if you’re having a lazy morning).
Sprinkle some shredded cheese (I used 2% cheddar) on top of your bacon.
Then, in a bowl, whisk together 6 eggs with 1 cup milk (I used non-fat), and season with some some salt and pepper.
Slowly pour your egg mixture over the cheese and bacon in the pie crust.
Pop that in the oven and bake your quiche at 400degrees for a while; like 30 minutes, but you’ll want to check on it, because clearly my directions aren’t the most precise.
That being said, the quiche was good, and easy, and so I win.
#besteverchef

This week I will be busy working at both of my jobs and trying to get back in shape because regular exercise while I was studying for the bar just didn’t happen. Also I’m still having bar nightmares, so that’s awesome.

Happy Labor Day everyone! What are your plans today? Do you have any easy, awesome recipes to share with me? I always love adding new recipes to my repertoire. Cheers!

sickness is cured by chicken and dumplings, fact

Something terrible happened last night. I was sleeping all nice and having nice dreams then out of nowhere in my dreams I started having difficulty doing things, and my dream stomach started to hurt. So bad. Then I woke up and my awake stomach hurt SO bad. Like, worst stomach ache of my whole life bad. On the top part of my abdomen. I had convinced my 4am, sleepy self that I had an ulcer. It had to be. Nothing else hurts that bad, right?

So I got up and went to the bathroom. Then I curled onto the bathroom floor. Then I vommed my guts out.

But here’s the thing, it wasn’t from alcohol. And it was just so miserable.

My stomach still hurt. I still feel a little nauseous.

I called in sick to work. I couldn’t make it to class. I just couldn’t. The thought of vomiting in front of my peers at school was just too terrifying.

But one thing I did manage to do today was make myself chicken and dumplings (it was sort of delirious, the cooking). But they were delicious! Chicken and Dumplings is one of the things that I make well. Everyone seems to like them. And they just happen to be the perfect sick/comfort food.

Here is how I make my Chicken and Dumplings:

Heat up some olive oil (butter works too) in a big pot (like quart size probably), add 1 chopped onion and sauté over medium heat for about 7 or 8 minutes, or really until the onion bits become translucent and soft. Add a clove of finely chopped garlic. Stir that around. Next add some chopped up celery and carrots (I added 3 big peeled and chopped carrots and three big celery stalks). I let those new additions sit in there about 5 minutes – or the time it took to chop up about a pound of chicken breasts into small pieces. Then you add the chicken to the pan. And immediately after adding the chicken, add some chicken stock. I used one of the big cartons of it. Then I added some water. Enough so that the liquid was covering all the goodies with a little extra to spare (some liquid will evaporate and some will be soaked up by the dumplings). While I was bringing that to a boil I added a bay leaf, some dried basil and some thyme (to taste). I also added some pepper and some salt. I then reduced to a simmer and covered.

Next, I went into my room and watched a couple episodes of Friends on my laptop while laying on my heat blanket on my bed. I also drank some ginger ale. All super pathetic and feeling sorry for myself, of course.

After about 45 minutes of the pity party, while the soup part had been cooking over low heat, I dragged myself out of bed to check and make sure everything was tender and cooked and things. It was. So I mixed up the dumplings. I combined 2 c. flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Next I added 4 tablespoons of melted butter and mixed that all together. Then I added 1 cup of milk and stirred it up until it was combined. And then I decided that the mixture, it was a little too gooey. So I added about a tablespoon of flour. It was still sticky (not dry at all) but wasn’t runny or overly sticky. Then I just took a tablespoon spoon and glopped  parts of the dumpling dough into the soup mixture. It wasn’t pretty or measured. But I dumped the mixture in spoonful by spoonful until all the dough was on top of the soup (and at this point the top of the soup was basically completely covered by dumplings). Then I covered the pot let everything hang out and cook on medium/low for 15 minutes. When I took off the lid, magic.

I felt a lot better after eating my delicious chicken and dumplings. You should make them someday. You will like them. Or you’re weird. True story.