Eff This Heat

I like how the weather forecast for my area is accurate that I can really plan my week: expect temperatures in the mid to high 90s with a chance of thunderstorms every day. Today we actually had a storm that lasted about 15 minutes and then went straight back to being sunny and muggy again. About three hours later we had another rain squall that lasted another 15 minutes and then disappeared. The combination of heat and the threat of thunderstorms has made it impossible to plan anything that involves being outside so I'm getting a little stir crazy. I don't want to waste my vacation inside and I hate the treadmill! Luckily, I'll be heading to the UK in two weeks to visit my family for a much-needed 2 week long English vacation complete with ice cream, cider, and lots and lots of fish and chips.

The food front here has been pretty typical. I'm really trying to get as much of our food eaten as I possibly can before we go out of town. I got rid of some cans in the pantry and some of the tomatoes my parents neighbors have been bestowing on them by the pound by making a nice homemade chili. It was really good and I put every vegetable in it that I figured would agree with it, but it's so hot out that chili isn't really the most appetizing meal on 90+ degree days. The cornbread didn't disappoint since I added my secret ingredient: creamed corn! It was sooooo good I nearly ate it all by myself.

I also experimented with a new recipe my friend and co-worker Kimmy discovered at Trader Joe's. They conveniently displayed mozzarella cheese sticks next to the pizza dough and proposed the idea of stuffed-crust pizza. Kimmy tried it and liked it, so I decided to give it a whirl. It was awesome. I tried to counteract the fat-assedness by making it an all veggie pizza but after eating......4 slices.....I felt like I was impregnated with a food baby that did not really go away until 10am the next day. WAAAAAYY too much cheese for me in one dish. I may have felt like I ate 6 pounds of cement mix, but the pizza was awesome. The veggies were crunchy as well as the crust and it really was a success.

Yesterday (which was Sunday), I was out of my mind bored. I had cleaned the whole apartment Thursday and Friday and had nothing to do. Brian was enjoying a new video game and it was way too hot to even take a short walk. Instead I went to the grocery store and picked out everything we needed for an awesome dinner which included and big juicy steak for Brian covered in mushrooms with garlic french beans, an herb salad and rosemary olive oil bread. I had the same thing except substitute the steak for a fillet of Alaskan Salmon. It had been sooo long since I'd had a really good piece of fish. I always seem to overcook it and Brian isn't much of a fish fan. I'd seen a recipe on PBS the day before where the guest chef pan seared the salmon fillet for a few minutes and then slow cooked it in the over at 300 degrees for a few minutes. Oh my god, I'll never make salmon another way again. It was easily the best fish I'd ever made and since I got a giant slab-o-salmon I made another fillet tonight on top of a bed of kale with an ear of corn. Another awesome food fact I learned was that cooking corn in the microwave with the husks on (1 1/2 minutes per side on high) makes the easiest and most tender corn EVAR! I didn't even butter it because it was sooo good!

Right now I'm just counting down the days until I'm off to the motherland. I've got a cute new carry-on that Brian lovingly got for me and I'm ready to see all of my family! I'm sure a lot of people think I'm really weird for wanting to be around my family so much, but being an only child with almost NO family living close to you it got really lonely sometimes. It was pretty much my parents and my cats...that's it, so I really enjoy seeing everyone when I go to England to visit. I'll definitely be updating while I'm there with all of my delicious findings. Until next time, have some good eats!

Oooooohhh Dear

I know I haven't update in a quarter part never, but if it helps at all I've really been making the most out of my summer vacation, as much as I can at least. I only work three full days out of the week (I made that super clear to everyone at work) so that I can get as much relaxing, working out, getting the apartment fixed up, reading and writing done as I possible can (in that order actually). I nearly had a crazy attack during my first year of grad school and this summer I really just wanted to do things on my time and get the things accomplished that I wanted to. I'll admit that the writing thing has been pushed aside by all of the other things I find popping up during my time off, but I've got some ideas brewing in my head about more than a few poems that will hopefully spew themselves out soon. I've also been hard at work at cooking! I've been diligently searching through cookbooks and magazines to find new recipes that are easy to eat and that are enjoyable for The Brian. Tomorrow night is homemade stuffed crust veggie pizza with a Field Roast Italian style veggie sausage. I'm pretty excited about folding the string cheeses into my pizza dough and seeing how it comes out. One thing I've really made a lot of this summer is cornbread. I freaking love cornbread and pretty much an bread on the face of the earth. I've discovered that cornbread is made even better when you half the listed ingredients (I used boxed kinds) and substitute in a whole can of creamed corn < EFFING AWESOME. You'll probably projectile vomit in delight only to make room for more delicious cornbread. I've actually been on a real bread kick making frequent trips to The Teet (Harris Teeter) for their rosemary olive oil bread and, Fresh Market for their ciabatta loaves and.....wait for it.....WHOLE FOODS! Yes my ass finally got to go to a Whole Foods 2 hours away in Richmond, Virginia. It was magical, a food bar lovers delight. Unfortunately my mom and I ate at the Cheesecake Factory before going and had NO idea we could get something cheaper at Whole Foods' awesome cold/hot/salad bars. I was blown away and violently angry that Hampton Roads doesn't have a Whole Foods. I basically flipped a truck and punted a child in a burst of passionate anger. Their bread was, as the kids call is "off the chain" and all I want is more MOAR!! I also enjoyed their vegan candy bar selection and their health and beauty sections and it really puts target to shame (I'm sorry Target).

I've also spent my fair share of time at the beach. I got EVERY Friday no matter what (except rain, der!) and I always frequent my favorite frozen yogurt establishment, The Skinny Dip. They're putting one at the end of my street sometime at the end of the summer and I'm so afraid I'll be featured on Discovery Health as "World's Fattest Bitch Ever: For Real". Luckily Skinny Dip's flavors are only like 120 calories for 4oz. so it'll take a lot of frozen yogurt. The beach and ice cream are pretty much my two favorite inanimate objects that can't speak so I really enjoy that the two are within close proximity of each other.

I've also invested in a new toaster oven! Brian and I had been toasting toast in our normal oven since we moved in last November so we decided to be green and actually get one. We've been making lots of waffles and Brian has a new favorite way of preparing food. His new most commonly used phrase is "can I cook this in here" (points to toaster oven hopefully). Frozen waffles are pretty much the shit because I can put all sorts of crap on them like all the delicious summer fruits we have available. I usually have blubes, raspberries and some almond butter with mine along with some Earth Balance or my fancy french butter.

On the exercise front, it's been sporadic and I haven't really settled on one form of exercise. I go from running outside, to elliptical at the gym, to p90x, to hot yoga, to yoga videos with a little Jillian Michaels thrown in. I'm kind of irritated with my workout ADD and I wish I could stick with just one program enough to see results. I have a tendency to half-ass everything and I know I'm doing the same thing with my workouts. I went for a run this morning but made the mistake of cutting my toenails the night before so now they all feel as if they've been jammed into my toe flesh and my ankles feel really tight. Ugh, I'm such an old person. Anywho, I'm glad I've gotten to throw in an update and now that I've done it I feel better about adding more. I'll let you all know how the pizza turns out! Have good eats!!