Under construction...

Dear readers, if you're even out there...


I've had a slight change of heart. I don't like having too many rules. I like to read whatever book I want, shop at whatever stores I want, and eat as many calories as I want. Therefore, limiting my blog to only certain kinds of posts has been making me feel anxious. I have refrained from posting lots of things because they didn't "fit my theme". So I'm letting you all know that the tone around here will be changing. Check back soon for some new topics and a new title!

Family Dinner Friday

Our apartment complex is so great in that so many of our friends live in the area. Because of this, we're having a little family dinner night. Everyone brings/cooks something and we have the meal at someone's house. I'm responsible for roasted asparagus which just happens to be one of my favorite things! Roasting any kind of vegetable is great way to eat healthy but with lots of flavor. 

Here's what I do: 

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees.
2. Trim off asparagus ends and place on a baking sheet. 
3. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. 
4. Roast for about 15-20 minutes depending on how fat your asparagus are. 
5. Eat!
6. Even better, you don't have to worry about keeping them piping hot because they are great at room temp!

I'll be making this tonight after work - I'll post pics of the dinner party tomorrow!

Take a trip through a book

Since I now have a full time, big girl job, I am not free to travel whenever I want. I can’t just skip class on Friday and jet off for the weekend. Lately, I’ve had to resort to a different kind of travel – literary travelling. This may not sound that exciting but for an avid reader like me, it’s a real thrill. Right now I’m reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin which chronicles a year of her life trying to be happier. She does all kinds of research on what makes people happy and one of the things she mentions is starting/having a collection. I reflected on what kinds of things I like to collect. This was hard for me because I am constantly eliminating, selling, giving away and weeding out my ‘things’. I don’t like clutter or unnecessary saving so I’m always getting rid of things. But I realized that I do have a collection – of books. I LOVE new books. In fact, friends always try to loan me a good book to read and I always turn it down and go buy my own copy. I love having shelves filled with books I’ve read and ones I’ve yet to crack open. For me, it’s a sign of accomplishment of fill a whole shelf with books I’ve finished. One of the unique things about my book collection is that I usually can remember when or the context in which I read a book. This is why I equate reading to traveling or vacations. Not only is digging into a good book an imaginary vacation, but I also associate books with the places I’ve read them in. For example, I remember reading the first Harry Potter book while I was in vacation in Cape Cod. I read the Zoo Keeper’s Wife while I was learning about the holocaust when I studied abroad in Copenhagen. I read all the Twilight books two summers ago. I enjoy being able to remember a good book and associate with an experience or time in my life. I’m always going to remember reading The Happiness Project at a huge transition point in my life.



So when you can’t get away, pick up a good book – one about a foreign land and take a little mini vacation in your head!

What to cook when you don't want to cook anything!

Initially when we moved into our new place, I resolved to cook a real meal at least 3 times a week. This meant no Lean Cuisines, no frozen pizza, no mac & cheese....

Easier said than done. When I get home from work at 6pm, I want nothing more than a bowl of pasta with cheese and olive oil, watch a show and go to bed. But I've really been making an effort to take 20 more minutes to prepare dinner. Lately, I've found a few quick fixes that don't take much time, are inexpensive, and don't result in a daily run to the grocery store. Here are a couple of my latest meals:

1. Grilled Chicken with Rice Pilaf and Cucumber Salad

The best way to deal with fresh protein is to buy the kinds that are packaged individually. Perdue sells chicken (in the regular fresh meat section) that comes already marinated. It comes with 3 boneless, skinless breasts. I usually cook one that night (either eat it for dinner or save it for a salad or sandwich) and then I freeze the other 2. This works great because the chicken is already in a vacuumed packed bag so it stores in the freezer really well.

Note: When you decide to eat one of those frozen breasts, DO NOT defrost on the counter or microwave. Defrosting on the counter leaves the meat vulnerable to bacteria and defrosting in the microwave always leads to cooked, disgusting edges. Just throw the breast in the refrigerator before work and when you get home you'll be ready to throw it on the George Forman.

So now you've got the chicken part down - cook it anyway you like, grill, pan, oven, but just make sure you cook out all the pink in the middle.

Rice pilaf is a really simple side dish and it's delish. You can buy a packages in the rice section. Best part is, it just takes 20 minutes on the stovetop and you don't even have to check it, stir it or fuss with it. Just boil the water, throw in the rice and seasoning, turn down to simmer, throw on a lid and you're good to go.

One of my FAVORITE kinds of salads is cucumber salad. I slice up an English Cucumber (there the "seedless" ones that come in plastic wrap), toss it with balsamic dressing and goat cheese and let marinate for 5 minutes or so. It's so delicious and really easy to make. Best part about it, cucumbers last for a while in the fridge, longer than lettuce, I think.

2. Burger and Fries

This is not your typical, greasing, burger joint meal - in fact it's a "fast food" meal you can feel really good about.

Again, I'll buy some burgers at the store - cook a few and freeze the rest. You can also just buy ground beef and make your own patties to the size you like. There are lots of ways to doctor up your ground beef as well. My mom always mixed in an egg (for binding), Worcestershire Sauce and some shredded cheese (instead of cheese on top).

Grill your burger anyway you like and top with your favorite things. Caramelized onions are really easy to make and add great flavor to your burger. Just thinly slice some onion rings and saute in a pan over low heat with a few tablespoons of olive oil and butter. This will take about 10 minutes so be patient. Low and slow is the key to good caramelization.

For the fries, I slice up a potato into sticks (just a good 'ole baking potato). Cover the potatoes in olive oil and whatever seasonings you like. I usually sprinkle on some garlic salt and onion powder. Then bake in the over at 425 degrees until browned on all sides. Give the potatoes a good shake and make sure to toss them around every few minutes so that they bake evenly. This is also really easy to go in a cast iron pan on the grill top.

These meals are great because they are easy to make for 1 and can store easily too. I'll be sure to keep you posted on my next meal creations!

Cubicle or Copenhagen?

If only I made enough money at my new job to fly back to Copenhagen whenever I wanted!

This is the end of my second full week of the real world. I have decorated my cube with pictures of friends and of my travels of course! So far work has been ok and I'm starting to feel like I'm actually making a contribution to my team. However, today I caught myself daydreaming about country-hopping and all my worldly travels last year. When you're studying abroad, you really do have so much freedom to go wherever you want! (As long as you have a credit card with a high limit!) I am someone who loves the challenge of planning a trip, finding a hostel and meeting new people along the way. In many ways, my new job has become my domestic adventure. My 10 minute 'trek' to work allows me to to catch up on my audiobook (just finished the Life of Pi which is truely an unreal adventure) and make some all-important phone calls to my friends and family. I have enjoyed new cuisine when I go out to lunch with co-workers or when lunch is brought in on fridays! So in many ways, this whole 'new job' thing can be considered a 'foreign land'. The people are new, I need a map to get around the building, and sometimes I don't even speak the same language (financial that is...).

And yet, I still find my mind wandering off to Rome...where I enjoyed great food (mainly cheese, bread and salami), spent time with amazing friends, and explored a foreign land.

(Dinner on the Spanish Steps in Rome)

Is there time for eating when you're moving?

As some of you know, I have spent this wonderful memorial day weekend, moving! This is a pretty exciting move because this is my first "grown-up" place with a garage, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and LOTS of space for all our things! Moving in with roommates can be complicated and stressful because you have to organize who is buying what and splitting things....ect. To be most efficient, my roommates and I split up the rooms we would have to get furniture or supplies for.

I obviously took the kitchen! :)

I spent my whole paycheck buying pots, spoon, measuring cups, cupcake pans, pot holders, toasters, blenders....the list goes on. Needless to say, the point of this post is about 'eating' when you're moving. We were lucky that our kitchen was already outfitted and that I already had some basic groceries. So since I am now broke from getting all the 'ingredients' for the kitchen, I cannot afford to eat out. I have several packages of Ramen, boxes of pasta, some Ready Rice, and cereal. That is plenty for several (very boring) meals. So while moving has been very glamorous, exciting and grown up....I can't even write about the cool meal I made tonight because I don't have any cool ingredients. Therefore, tonight's mean consisted of pasta with jarred sauce, Pillsbury crescent rolls, a piece of my roommates frozen pizza, and a LARGE glass of wine.

However, in the future, things will be different, starting with our very cute neighbors and the baked goods I will be making for them....

Recipe of the Day: Espresso Fudge Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

My hope is to tackle a few new recipes a week and share my experiences with you.

I LOVE to bake. This is most likely because I like rule and guidelines and I would consider myself very good a following exact measurements. So today's recipe was for a wonderfully delicious cupcake! I found this website from Erin McCabe's blog and I vowed to try making all of the cupcakes.

And so it begins...with cupcake #1 - Espresso Fudge Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

This first recipe proved to be a bit of a challenge since my empty kitchen lacked many of the necessary tools. So my day started with a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond as well as Kroger to acquire all the ingredients. Note: This recipe calls for espresso powder that I could not find at Kroger but good 'ole Central Market had me covered.

The meticulous measuring, pouring and stirring began. It is important to know the difference between tablespoon and teaspoon abbreviations because otherwise you'll have a cupcake that tastes like a strong cup of espresso instead of nice balanced flavored. I absentmindedly, added 2 tablespoons of espresso power instead of teaspoons but I realized this just in time to scoop a little out and save the recipe. The batter is this unbelievably smooth, rich chocolate color that my fingers just couldn't resist. I obviously licked the spatula clean. This recipe makes 16 (smaller) cupcakes but I'm sure you could just pack all the batter in and make 12.

The worst part about baking is waiting for something to cool. I learned as a kid that you cannot, no matter what, put icing on anything that is even slightly warm. You will just have a puddle of icing on the plate and a very soggy cupcake. The only baked good you can eat fresh out of the oven are chocolate chip cookies - which is arguably the only way to eat them.

The icing came out a little thinner than I would have liked. The recipe calls for a 'splash of milk' which could be a big splash for some and a small splash for others. I put it in the fridge to chill and get thicker which helped a little bit.

After [im]patiently waiting for my mini morsels to cool, I frosted them and topped them with marshmallows. Seven cupcakes in hand, I headed off to Banditos to let me friends be guinea pigs and try my first creation! Luckily, they were a hit and everyone enjoyed them. Now what to do with the leftovers....

RECIPE:

CUPCAKES
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsw. cocoa
2 tsp espresso powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla and egg. Add milk and flour mixture alternately while still mixing. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into lined cupcake pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out almost clean.

ICING
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tsp cocoa
splash of milk

Mix cream cheese and vanilla at medium speed until creamy. While beating, add sugar, cocoa, and milk gradually. Spread on cooled cupcakes with icing spatula. Top with chocolate chips or coffee beans.

(Recipe found here!)

I'm starting a blog...

...but I really don't think this is an original idea. Many people have blogged about food and travel, it's arguably the most common blog topic. I do not plan to say anything profound, become a famous chef, or going on extravagant trips. My intention is to simply chronicle the (typically mundane) life of a working girl trying to make time for friends, food and travel.

I vowed that when I went abroad last spring, I would keep a religious blog of all my travel experiences. I did a pretty good job keeping up with it but it wasn't remotely interesting. I simply laid out the days events and signed off.

My goal and desire is that this blog is somewhat interesting. Starting June 1, I begin my career as an Investment Analyst for a wealth management firm in Dallas. This means, future readers (and I hope that I have some...), I can only promise to blog once a week.

So here goes nothing!

(Disclosure/Update 3/11/2013: This was the very first post when this blog started and was going in a million different directions. There have been several name changes, format changes and even web host changes. But I'm nostalgic so while it might not feel relevant, I'm including it anyway!)

blogging twice in one day?

The other entry doesn't really count...it was an introduction!

I'm ashamed to say that I'm not a big 'news' reader. I just don't keep up with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal or Time magazine as much as I should. But after spending my morning catching up on some blogs, I decided to direct my browser to the New York Times. I was thrilled to be greeted with a beautiful picture of a 'foreign land' and an article below about the original Frugal Traveler who more or less WALKED around the world!

I would be delighted to share this article with you! I was inspired but the pure freedom this traveler experienced and the sheer ability to make his way from country to country on virtually nothing.

after reading a billion blogs, i got bit by the bug...

...but I really don't think this is an original idea. Many people have blogged about food and travel, it's arguably the most common blog topic. I do not plan to say anything profound, become a famous chef, or going on extravagant trips. My intention is to simply chronicle the (typically mundane) life of a working girl trying to make time for "friends, food and foreign lands".

(You can laugh at the cheesiness now.)

I vowed that when I went abroad last spring, I would keep a religious blog of all my travel experiences. I did a pretty good job keeping up with it but it wasn't remotely interesting. I simply laid out the days events and signed off.

My goal and desire is that this blog is somewhat interesting. Starting June 1, I begin my career as an Investment Analyst for a wealth management firm in Dallas. This means, future readers (and I hope that I have some...), I can only promise to blog once a week.

So here goes nothing!