Walk somewhere new

I've lived in Brookline for nearly 3 full years and usually travel along the same path either via the bus, the T or my own two feet. Yesterday after the storm passed and cool weather blew in, I decideed to go for a 45 minute walk in search for the Brookling High School and public pool. It was a little nerve wrecking walking alone in a new area. 3/4 of mile from my house, through some nice neighborhoods with old bricked houses where trees created a nice, lushious canopy, I found the high school. It's gorgeous from the outside, nothing like my ghetto high school in Vista. It didn't take me long to get to the school and it felt like I was walking in a forest on some streets. Who would have thought I could escape the city feel by walking 8 minutes SW? I plan on exploring my own area nightly, with or without a walking partner.

#28

A twist to my favorite Italian dish, garlic and olive oil spaghetti. I used a half a bulb of garlic for this as I sauteed the garlic, zucchini and broccoli with a few tablespoons of olive oil. I tossed in the cooked spaghetti and mixed it with the deliciousness in the pan. I of course topped it with Parmesan cheese. Easy, tasty and new. I think next time I might throw in some sweet potatoes and/or green beans.

# 25, 26 and 27

I was bored today so after church I went to some grocery stores to gather items so I could spend the hot day in the kitchen. I don't know why I always feel like cooking when it's over 80° out, but I do. So, first up, I made eggless cookie dough. Now, I love cookie dough and my little sis would always get mad at me at Christmas time or whenever she was making cookies b/c I would eat the dough. Now, I cant eat eggs b/c they make me vomit, but when they are in things, I have no problem. I have never gotten sick from eating raw cookie dough (and my eggs are like 3 months old). Anyway, I decided to make eggless cookie dough for ice cream (and to eat straight from the freezer whenever the sweet tooth calls).


Eggless cookie dough: brown sugar, white sugar, butter, soy milk, flour, salt, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. I then froze it while I made vanilla ice cream in my ice cream maker.

Now, I've only made L's minty mint & chip ice cream, so me making vanilla ice cream counts as #26. I pretty much followed the minty mint & chip ice cream recipe but used vanilla extract instead of mint. Half and Half, whipping cream, sugar, dash of salt and vanilla extract. I was a little worried b/c other recipes for vanilla ice cream included other ingredients like lemon juice. After the ice cream maker machine worked it's magic, I had tasty vanilla ice cream that reminded me of In-n-Out's vanilla milk shakes. Oh so yummy. I then removed the canister from the machine and poured the vanilla ice cream into my freezing canister and cut in the frozen cookie dough and stirred before putting the ice cream container into the freezer for the hardening phase.

finished product...oh so yummy!

Since I was already in the kitchen, I decided to make Moroccan Sweet Potato Stew from a Good Housekeeping recipe.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/moroccan-sweet-potato-stew


Of course, I didn't have curry powder, so I mixed some Chili powder w/ ground cardamon and garam masala as a substitute. I was able to pick some mint leaves from my garden! I also made quinoa instead of couscous simply b/c I don't have couscous and I'm not really a fan of it.

#24

Living by yourself sucks! I hate cooking for one and sometimes hate coming home having to fix myself something to eat. It would be nice if a) I had others to cook for and/or b) had someone cook my meals for me. Anyway, I made lasagna for the first time tonight. I have been meaning to make butternut squash lasagna for a year so yesterday I cooked the noodles, heated the squash and made lasagna. I cheated a bit as I used a jar of pasta sauce instead of slaving over the stove in 85° weather. Since I waited until I was starving to start making it, I decided to stick it in the fridge and cook it today. Of course, that plan backfired b/c I went to the gym and didn't get home until 8ish and lasagna takes over an hour to cook. So here I am at 9:30pm, drinking wine while waiting for the lasagna to cool so I don't burn my mouth.


-cook lasagna noodles (I cooked half the box since I wanted a smaller serving)
-heated the frozen butternut squash in the microwave and mushed it with my fingers
-drained the noodles
-sprayed my corning ware
-layer some sauce, noodles, butternut squash, ricotta cheese, cheddar cheese and monterey jack cheese, sauce and repeated.

It was good, not all that flavorful, but that's what I get for not making my own sauce. The squash didn't add too much flavor so the next time I make lasagna, I'll probably make a veggie one with carrots and broccoli. It was filling though.

That’s what I like about Sundays.

I’m not very religious. I was raised Catholic and do not call myself Christian but Catholic, even though Catholic’s are Christians. I don’t feel comfortable with those who force their beliefs on me. I don’t like seeing posts on FB quoting the bible. I can’t stand mega churches. I can’t quote the bible, I don’t force my beliefs on others and I don’t openly pray [I know there’s a part in the bible that says something about go to the farthest corner in the farthest room to pray in private]. I’m not a saint, I don’t act like I am. I enjoy going to church on Sundays. There’s something about being in a Catholic church (not a multipurpose room or strip mall building like some Christian services are held), the ritual of the mass, how I can go to any Catholic church anywhere in the world and would know what to do regardless of the language spoken.

I’d like to say I’m probably more spiritual than religious, there are some things that the Church and I do not see eye-to-eye on, but this is the case with most Catholics I know. I enjoy the 45 minutes spent in an old church, being quiet with the exception of responsorial.

This Sunday was the silver anniversary of priesthood for one of the priests. With that, we had a more traditional mass, meaning, we sang in Latin. My parish in O’side (with an Irish priest who I could listen to for hours even if he does remind me of Shrek) has one all Latin mass and then every mass has parts of text and song in Latin. So, I learned some Latin and it makes mass sound pretty to me. I couldn’t help but feel joyful at this Sunday’s mass when I was given the pamphlet that had Latin text and song in it. Yes it ran longer (an hour vs. the usual 45 minute mass) but I didn’t mind. I couldn’t believe how much the Latin speaking part made me so happy. I just wish I had that option every week.

I had a great weekend and have been smiling and in a good mood ever since I got off work on Friday and Sunday was like icing on the cake. I even started singing at home and wishing so badly I had Sister Act and Sister Act 2 on DVD b/c I was so in the mood to sing along to Whoopi and the gang. In fact, one of the songs we sang on Sunday was a song on the Sister Act
soundtrack. I was so happy to sing it and imagined Whoopi and the sisters singing during mass, lol.

There's nothing better than ending a week and starting a week with reflection and just being without outside distractions for close to an hour.

That’s what I like about Sundays.

#23

Vegetarian Shepard's Pie

This was surprisingly easy and super filling. I didn't follow the recipe exactly (it called for 2 cups of salsa, which I didn't have and didn't agree with making this a mexican dish). In the pan, I boiled/simmered a cup of corn, 2 cans of rinsed kidney beans, and 2 carrots chopped. This took about 15 minutes for the carrots to soften. I also added about a cup of water since the recipe said boil and simmer but there wasn't any liquid in the pan, so I was like "how can it boil with no liquid?" so perhaps the salsa was what would allow it to boil?? Anyway, meanwhile, I made instant mashed potatoes. After the carrots were done, I dolloped the potatoes around the edges of the pan and then in the middle since I had potatoes left over. I covered the pan and let it cook for 5 minutes. The recipe said to serve with Parmesan cheese, which I did add after serving. Cheese makes any dish better, but this recipe doesn't really need it. It's pretty tasty without the cheese.

Monroe, LA

Friday recap: Left Boston on an earlier flight, but that got me into Dallas early so I had a few hours to spare before the Monroe flight I was on the standby list for. I rode the DFW train around different terminals, hung out at the AA lounge and was fortunate enough to get on the flight to Monroe. I was nervous b/c it was close to being full and earlier in the day was red, which meant I had a slim chance of getting on. So glad I didn't have to spend the night in Dallas. I was the last one on the flight and the pilot said we were delayed while they waited for the head mechanic to sign off on some maintenance. Unfortunately, something was wrong with a steel flap or some other part of the plane and the head mechanic wouldn't let us takeoff. So, we had to deplane and were delayed an hour while we waited for a new plane. We got word that they found a plane, but we wouldn't be taking off until 9:30, over two hours late. They had us change gates, we go down there and we are informed we're at the other end of the terminal. We finally get to the right gate and board. I finally arrive in Monroe and can't wait to see Suz. I'm also starving bc I realized with all the delays, I didn't eat dinner or anything since noon when I had lunch. Got to Suzanna's place, her apartment smelled like something was burning. She had made lasagna so we had some lasagna and sweet tea. She noticed her fridge was left open. Later she notices her fridge light is burnt out. I go to pour some water from the Brita pitcher that is in the fridge and noticed it was burnt on top. The bulb must have exploded and burnt the Brita pitcher since it was right under the fridge bulb. So, we figured out what the burning smell came from. We hung out and chatted until after 1am. My phone started ringing about 1:30am and I wasn't sure what time it was when I heard it ring, but I'm like it's late so maybe it's my mom. I didn't get to it in time and learned it was mattress boy calling me, leaving me a message and then sent me a text. Good grief.

Saturday recap: Had breakfast...cream of wheat with sugar and funny tasting cinnamon- later realizing it was ground cumin that Suz gave me and I even looked at the bottle after thinking it tasted funny. Bought Coke out of a machine for 5 cents while visiting the Biedenharn museum- first Coca Cola bottler. Louisiana has a few wineries, so we drove to West Monroe and went to Landry Vineyards for some free wine tasting. Interesting wines, they had some really sweet blueberry and blackberry Merlots, where the berries are fermented with the grapes. I wasn't a fan of the local wine, the Muscadine- this wine is what most LA vineyards grow. It's a wild grape that grows in the area and people in the area are brought up on it so they like it...us outsiders were not a fan. Later for dinner, I had promised to try crawfish, so we went out and I ate crawfish for the first time. That was kind of scary- having to pull the tale, then twist it in half, then peel the shell and eat the meat. Of course I threw out more meat than I ate bc I was terrible at the whole cracking. The restaurant reminded me of a scene from True Blood, lol. Later we went to an Irish pub and sat outside talking before going off to a bar/restaurant where cougars hang out...interesting crowd. The guys in this town wear golf shirts/polos as their going out/dressed up look.

Sunday recap: had cream of wheat with sugar and CINNAMON. Hottest part of the day we went and watched MIB3. Got Sonic for lunch-didn't get a cherry in my limeade and was charged full price even though it was happy hour. Went bowling where we had to keep track of our own scores...smart phone to the rescue b/c we couldn't do the math right with the splits and spares. Drive thru daiquiris...so many choices! Hooping by the river turned into harassing the snakes, frogs and I hit a squirrel with a sick (it didn't even move...I also didn't throw it very hard). Made dinner. Made mojitos. Had my tarot cards read: big change with solo work and more money plus 2 boys fighting for my love, all the male drama wears me out, but in the end I get everything I want and am happy. Interesting...we will see what happens. No spirits visited us. Then we went to Walmart. Why? Because it's 9:30 on a Sunday night and that's what you do in the South. We bought Yahtzee sheets, koozies, UNO but they didn't have dice. We then walked around and observed the Walmart people and I got the brilliant idea of roasting marshmallows. So we bought marshmallows and metal skewers. We then stop at CVS right before it closed to get dice. Then we sat out outside, playing Yahtzee while roasting marshmallows on our metal skewers with a lighter gun.