May
30
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I was wanting some homey comfort food for Shirlee and myself yesterday and finally settled on some chicken tenders. I wasn’t keen on the idea of using a bunch of my brand new bottle of oil just to fry up a few pieces of chicken (it’s sounded dirty and fatty as well) so I settled on baking them.
I sort of just threw in spices as I went so I’ll write them down as best I remember. Definitely a winner though :)
4 chicken breasts cut into tenders (or just buy some tenders…that works too :)
1 egg
3 TBS milk
3/4 C panko bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
3 TBS butter, melted
Beat the egg and milk together in a small bowl. In a separate bowl combine bread crumbs and spices.
Dip chicken one piece at a time into the egg mixture and then coat thoroughly with the breading. Place in a baking pan covered in parchment paper. Once they’re all coated, drizzle the melted butter evenly over them and place in a preheated oven at 400 F for 20-25 minutes.
The dipping sauce I used tasted so yummy with these and is super simple. Just mix together bbq sauce (Sweet Baby Ray’s if you know what you’re doing!) and yellow mustard with a 2:1 ratio (example: 2 TBS bbq sauce to 1 TBS mustard). Make up as big or as small of a batch as you’d like. MMMMM!
Now, these tasty looking spuds are from a food network recipe Shirlee pointed me too.
Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes with Beef Coffee Gravy. Recipe by Sandra Lee
While I enjoyed the potatoes, I don’t understand the need for evaporated milk and will most likely use whole milk if making again. I also didn’t care much for the gravy, but that’s probably my fault because I only had a vegan beef bouillon instead of real beef broth. Shirlee had made the original recipe before though and RAVED about it, so give it a try.
May
28
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Our friend Shirlee arrived this afternoon to stay the night on her journey from Miami to Tallahassee. We spent the afternoon watching the first season of Arrested Development, drinking jasmine tea, and playing word games like The Valley of the Green Glass Doors and Albatross Soup (google them and have fun with someone not in the know).
Once Matthew got home from work we piled into her car to grab some produce from Freshfield Farms and other essentials from Target. I remembered to take some photos along the way so I would have something to blog for today.
On our way to Target after buying our produce we passed this little pie shop that Shirlee was very excited to see again and that I had no idea even existed. (Matthew is rocking the socks-and-sandals combo today. As a joke, he also shaved a spot in his eyebrow again to look like he has “battle scars”. I was not pleased. It will not be happening again.)
Oh, decisions, decisions. We finally decided on splitting a slice of pumpkin bread and a piece of coconut cream pie – the latter of which tasted mainly of sugar with MORE sugar and a slightly chalky aftertaste :/
At Sodo, Matthew pointed out the new shops, all of which have a very bad construction-y smell
It’s almost always empty. Probably because it’s kinda in the ghetto :/
Look, it’s the mothership!
For dinner, Shirlee made a ginormous and very very tasty fruit salad
I made the single best pizza of my life. Perfect homemade crust with roasted garlic cloves spread on as the “sauce”, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, and basil. Yummmm 
This is Shirlee washing down a nasty vitamin after dinner
This is Shirlee watching Enchanted
This is Shirlee getting fed up with me taking her photo
And now we have Howl’s Moving Castle on and I’m ready for some tea.
Tomorrow morning – Blackberry & Brown Sugar Muffins per Shirlee’s request :)
May
27
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I’ve just had a busy weekend…if “lazy & laid back” really means busy”
I took a few pictures and many more video clips to be put together for a little vlog.
Until then, I’ll just leave you with this:
which was actually really just a scary outtake while getting a new self-portrait shot:
I actually wore lipstick and eyeshadow in these for the first time in…months…years? Go me!
May
23
Filed Under Blog | 12 Comments
This will be the longest post in the history of my blog. You might as well grab a beverage and a snack.
I recently discovered a community online through LJ spotlight called, A Day In My Life (ADIML). It consists of members from all over the world (over 13,000 of them) who show a day in their life in in 70 photo or less, with captions and time checks throughout the day.
It sounded fun. So I tried it.
This was my Wednesday, May 20th in 49 photos total.
I actually woke up at 5:30am but didn’t think of doing ADIML until an hour later. I blame my sleep deprived brain for not remembering right away. (waking up so early is not a normal occurrence, but I couldn’t get to sleep until 3am and woke up later not able to fall back asleep :/) For anyone in Orlando – yes, that is a Hot Dog Heaven cup
I stumble to the kitchen for a drink of water and cringe at all the dishes (from merely a day and a half of not cleaning up). I love our place, but I will be a very happy girl when we have our very own dishwasher (and washing machine/dryer!) next time we move :)
The next thing to do is go outside and say hello to Wilson. He is waiting on the steps as usual and had some happy meows for me.
He follows me around the sidewalk and driveway wanting some love.
Back upstairs I decide to go ahead and get this mess out of the way. Early morning productivity is rejuvenating, right?…….Right?
So, that wasn’t rejuvenating in the slightest. I’m sweaty, tired, and thirsty as hell. Time for a break.
I put on Harry Potter (ha, I spelled it “Pooter” at first) and the Order of the Phoenix because it’s my husbands favorite. I also check out foodgawker and my tummy starts rumbling.
Time check. And I notice that the rain came through my window yesterday and drenched half of my nightstand, including my phone….now there are weird green spots :/
I check my email. My mom is signed on so we chat a bit…then stare at each other blankly and decide to peruse the internet in silence. (if you happened to notice what was in my google search box…I’ll get to that subject later)
My sweetie is still sleeping so I decide to surprise him with breakfast in bed!
Matthew is slowly coming to life. Take note his “vintage” (aka extremely outdated, yet cute) glasses I’ve held together with a twisty tie so that the lens stop falling out…as much.
Ta da! Behold our breakfast! Eggs, bacon, home fries, red grapes, and jasmine tea :) We ate and then my honey went off to work. He called at 10am as soon as he got there. I hung up and promptly fell asleep within 30 seconds (seriously).
Wake up surprised at the time warp I just entered. 2 1/2 hours have disappeared.
It seems like a good time for a dark chocolate brownie with extra chocolate chips. Ohhhh yes.
I proceed to waste some time playing Flash it! I discovered this game through a comment a few weeks ago during a FFAF over at ONTD. It’s very VERY addictive, but I hate when I lose by one square :(
I notice the room is looking a bit shabby. I think a little more productivity is in order.
Much better.
I move into the living room to keep from falling asleep in bed again. Law & Order is on for the 343454029754604 time.
I’m feeling a bit slummy and greasy so I wash up. I don’t know why I made this face.
Ahhh, some powder, mascara, a hairbrush and headband make all the difference.
I get to work on editing more photos from a wedding shoot in late March. The bride is gorgeous and it was at the cutest little B&B in Amelia Island.
I want to walk to Dong-A (oriental market) or Seven Sisters (coffee house) but it’s STILL raining. I start missing my honey a lot. He makes the day so much more fun.
And there he is! 3pm already!!
Hi, baby! Sorry I made your face all blurry in my excitement to cuddle you up!
We lay down to watch tv together and I check my email/facebook/etc.
I go through some of my recipes hoping to bake something sweet then realize we’re out of a lot of staple ingredients and need to do our weekly shopping.
It’s around 5pm and I start to blog about my projects going on and Tom Thorspecken coming over to sketch me while I work in my studio. Fun!
Matthew didn’t get much sleep last night either and takes a nap.
I do the dirty job of getting the meat off of the rotisserie chicken his mom gave us the day before.
I also make a salad and use some of the french bread I baked earlier this week to have some garlic bread. MMMMMM!
We go out on the porch after dinner and enjoy the rain. I sit on his lap to take a few pictures together. I take a few more shots hoping for one where he doesn’t look repulsed by me.
Success!
This is just the window between the porch and dining room. That’s the munny I painted and some little bobble head animals my uncle (Greg Pflug, in case you know him. It seems half the world does) brought me back from Mexico years ago.
More laying in bed watching tv.
I pull out my paper and color a bit of a really quick and pathetic sketch of our back porch.
Hot cocoa time! Marshmallows for him, dark chocolate ~sensation~ for me :)
Matthew does the nasty job of cleaning the toilet and floor after the previous nights “Toilet Overflow Disaster of 09″ (He had ended up having to go out to a 24 hour Walgreens and buy a plunger at one in the morning)
This is the Ikea mirror he picked out. It’s fab. (Please ignore the multi-pastel colored sponge painted walls! It was like this when we moved in and we haven’t had the money to paint over it yet)
We watch tv for awhile. Holding hands, drinking cocoa, and relaxing at the end of the night with the person you love is the best :D
He goes to take a shower. Naughty bits censored by my strategically placed fingers.
I felt like I could use a shower. I join him.
Squeaky clean and ready for bed!
Another time check
I finally gave in and joined twitter this past week. I post a reply to Rainn Wilson, knowing full well he will never read or reply to it
We get thoroughly pissed when this interrupts Sex and the City then subsequently takes over every local station. “Tornadoes forming off the east coast and the space shuttle is outside. Oh Noes!!”
We’re both suddenly ravenous and I realize we skipped a meal somewhere in the day. I go hunting for nourishment
Wunderbar! Kraft Mac & Cheese! It is the cheesiest after all.
Ah, yes. Look at that unearthly orange glow that only artificial powdered cheese can bring into our lives
Our bellies are full and our eyes tired. It’s really time for bed now. Goodnight!
May
22
Filed Under Blog | 2 Comments
I decided I had to have some sort of muffin for breakfast yesterday. I was nearly out of oil, milk, sugar, and flour, but had just enough to throw these together.
The ingredients are basic and simple, but these have to be the most wonderfully delicious berry muffins I have ever tasted.
Ingredients:
(makes about 8 muffins)
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 C safflower oil (or any veg. oil, but this is my favorite)
1/2 C cup milk
1 C blackberries, frozen or fresh (or another berry you like)
1/4 C brown sugar to sprinkle on top
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium size bowl. Add in egg, oil, and milk and mix thoroughly, then fold in the berries (turned my batter totally purple!).
Grease a muffin pan and fill each cup to the top with batter, then add a generous sprinkle of brown sugar on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
(I did not bake this one with berry eyes on purpose, but this had to be done:)
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