Two Week Hiatus

So despite my initial excitement about cooking and blogging, my life during the past two weeks kept me away from blogging. I'm not sure if it was lack of inspiration, lack of motivation, or just pure laziness that kept me away. My teenage angst always made me write in my previous blog most when I was upset, so maybe now I'm just not depressed enough to feel like I have to write things online in order to get them out. Or maybe I've suddenly been faced with adult issues and can't waste time going online to rant. Or maybe I just haven't cooked anything worth posting about and so I found it unnecessary to post. 

Anywhooodle, so prior to my online absence I actually cooked three Ina recipes in one day. I made her rapsberry tart, lemon tart, and scezhuan noodles with the addition of my own orange chicken creation. The noodles were good although the sauce definitely had too much peanut butter and not enough spice. I really loved what the seasoned rice vinegar and peanut butter did to the sauce. And the orange chicken looked so good and tasted surprisingly good too! Let me show a picture here: 

It's sitting on top of the noodles and it was delicious. I guess I could post my own recipes on here in case someone that stumbles upon my site actually wants to try it out. I'll perfect the sauce and write down the real measurements before i post it next time =]

Anywho, so while I made this dish I was also working on kneading dough for my tarts. It looked a little like this:

And the actual cooking looked more like this:

 This is the lemon curd which looked pretty revolting to start and never did actually set to that delicious consistency that makes you want to eat it. I think it's because an eggshell piece may have somehow made its way into the mix...who knows how that got in there... and below is a picture of my stovetop with more things than I could handle: a pot of nasty looking lemond curd, boiling noodles, a wok full of hot oil to deep fry the chicken with, oh and not pictured in the top right corner is the pan in which I stir fried carrots, onions, bell peppers and garlic.

The next picture is just the countertop with Ina's book and a knife that looks menacing than I meant for it to look. Haha.I'm shocked that I actually left the book on that messy countertop because I cannot stand to get stains on any of my books (the cookbook is still spotless, let's see how long that lasts, my old "new Home Cookbook" is still in pretty good condition although it has fallen victim to multiple dough stains and sugar spills.

So my hubby got home and helped me finish cooking off all of these things. For desert we stared at the nasty looking lemon curd (which I will attempt again soon...soon-ish), and then made the raspberry tart and kevin made himself a Nutella covered piece of tart because he hates raspberries (I don't get it either, but I humour him because I love him).

And how can I not love him? Look at the amazing french toast he made at some point over the two weeks. I was gone. During week one actually, when I was still in Boulder (I went back home for a week to visit my mom and family for her birthday. Sadly Kevin couldn't come with me so I missed him terribly but I had fun still).

Well enough for now, I'll just leave you with a banana bread that looked and tasted amazing and made me feel like it was quite possibly stuffed with love and hugs. That sounded so disturbing, but somehow it makes alot of sense to me and I hope it makes a lot of sense to you too. =] Kevin and I devoured it and we even covered it up in Nutella just to indulge our taste buds further. Yummy yum.

Weekend Bliss

So, despite how much I told myself that I would write in this blog every single day, I went the past two days without writing. I tried, but I just couldn't find the energy to keep myself away from enjoying the weekend away from my laptop. Go figure.


So recap on the cooking update in case that's all anyone really wants to read about ;) 
Uhm, well, I've planned several meals for this week to be purely Ina. It's been hard to keep my college studying habits away, I've had this ridiculous urge to color-code tab every page in her book based on when I plan on cooking it or what kind of dish it is. I mean they're already pre-organized, but I was going to tab them based on which week I'm going to do what. Oh! I'm really excited to try out her eggplant dip this week! I got the plumpest looking eggplant at the store today and I am super excited to see how it turns out. I am also making two of her tarts: a raspberry and a lemon curd tart. I can't wait! I told Kevin I'll start making her gooey-delicious deserts when I start working out (I haven't been able to work out the past two weeks because my knee has been bothering me and everyone who has had knee problems in the past told me to "STAY OFF OF IT!" so I am following their advice and staying off it for the most part, although I do some crunches and planks in my living room when my tummy starts telling me to quit being so lazy. Oh and I walked for an hour today with my husband =] ). Anywho, back to the real food news. Kevin and I will also be testing out her szechuan noodles, grilled lemon chicken, lemonade, french potato salad, and possibly one of her chowders. MmMMmM! I am not doing non-stop Ina because I don't wanna make us feel sick of her food (if that's even possible). Plus, we didn't feel like buying a whole new pantry stock. It's funny the things you take for granted at your parents' house, the fully stocked spices, the endless amounts of weird oils and vinegars, the nifty little weird herbs. So, being a brand new married couple, we have to take it a few steps at a time and buy stuff for a few recipes at a time rather than just run into our walk-in pantry. (By the way, our apartment is pretty small, so a walk-in pantry at this point would mean not having a bathroom. Haha.) So wish me luck this week with Ina's dishes and I will post pictures soon, although I know mine wont be as luxurious looking as hers, but we'll pretend just the same =].


Now, for my weekend in case you're still interested. 
Kevin and I went out on dates both Friday and Saturday. Let me just say, Friday was one of the absolute, most perfect days that I have had in a long time. It was all of the little things--they all just made sense and fit into place, one after another all day long--, and that hasn't happened to me in a long time. It was just one of those days where I couldn't stop smiling the entire day. Nothing extraordinary happened, no surprise bonuses or anything but the good old having-everything-go-your-way kind of day. Our date was a cheaterific meal, delicious asian food. We would have cooked, but I mean it was date night =]  after dinner, we stopped by Borders where I found some nifty books with ideas for handmade cards and paper craft ideas, so I of course got these to supplement my other plan at hand (more about this below). Then we watched a movie and called it a night. It was lovely. PS, go watch Scott Pilgrim vs. the World; it's ridiculously funny and geekily good.


Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast and went about our domestic chores. Then Kevin and i discussed more of our card collection ideas and I got overly excited and pretty much thought of nothing more than that project all day. It wasn't until about eight that night where I realized what time it was and Kevin suggested I put down the scissors and get ready to go out into downtown. the Boulder downtown is quite fun to walk around and browse. So we spent awhile in a bookstore (Oh the wonderful new book scent!) and then wandered in and out of shop windows. We discovered a new place for our fro-yo addiction and got to watch a little girl dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, as she sang and play her banjo. Street performers are starting young apparently. We actually overheard a lady comment on how the adorable little girl was "Cute, but I think her voice is soooo *gross face*" which just made me feel like that woman should have all of her uterine ova removed just to ensure the world that she won't procreate and then lower her kids self-esteem their whole life. Evil witchy lady. Anywho, so we ate our delicious honeydew and mango fro-yos, clapped at the little girl's performance until she realized it was her bedtime and packed up to leave, then we looked at the smokey little bars and wondered where all of the "cool kids" in hang out in Boulder. Our lack of friends is starting to slightly take a toll on us, but patience will help us find some real keepers I hope =] Haha. Anyways, so our night ended with a late-night food run to the grocery store where we wondered around looking at all the new Halloween decorations and kitchen supplies (of course, although don't get me wrong, it wasn't like kitchen utensil-connoisseur,  it was all cheap plastic stuff that no real home would probably have). We opted for a frozen pizza and some cold beverages ( ;) yup not for kids ). And that's how my lovely Saturday night ended. I love being a grown-up mid-newly wed era. 

As for today. Well today has involved a lot of card-making, concept creation, and discussing my card-idea with someone other than my husband. My mom. =] she was very supportive and it made me get more excited about making this that much more legitimate.  So hooray! I am really trying to continue full-steam ahead and make this project take off. I want to do it for them. The kids who will actually value my creations rather than toss them at just another birthday party or other  celebration. I am so excited! So yes. Besides grocery shopping and walking to the gym (then not going inside and instead stretching out my knee on the lawn while thinking and cell-phoning), I worked on my card project and thought about Ina's food. I was originally planning the grilled lemon chicken for tonight, but after our dinner-rush-mob visit to the grocery store, we got back to our place later than we had planned (the True Blood season finale was on and we don't have a dvr =[. And I am obsessed with Eric, well the whole show, but Eric especially. If you haven't watched the sow, just watch it, you'll understand that's it's not just another vampire sap story; rather it is a sexy, vampire porno-drama. Although as I typed that I realized that that may also not be up everyone's alley. Haha). So we rushed home and ate food so un-Ina that I wont even dare mention it (it may have involved a guacamole that was not from her cookbook...). 


Tomorrow I have an info session in CU Denver for their teaching program, so hopefully that will only add more exciting things to look forward to in my foody/crafty/dorky life. 


Oh and while I was at the grocery store today, I managed to knock down a whole rack of re-usable shopping bags at the check-out stand. Needless to say, the people around me (the store was crowded with the previously mentioned mob), stared and I'm pretty sure I heard several chuckles, although one of them was my husbands. Everyone was friendly chuckling though, like an "Oh that's so cute!" kind of chuckle. Or at least that's what I told myself.


<3 and goodnight! May tomorrow be filled with tasty things for your tummy and heart!

Sweet Tooth Restored

So for the second Thursday in a row, I had a cavity filled. Now, I haven't had a cavity since I was six years old, and other than getting my wisdom teeth removed when I was fifteen, I've had very little dental work (which is surprising since I eat sweets every day! and no I am not ridiculously overweight). So of course, I was terrified about getting these fillings, but my husband coached me through it and I made it through the fillings without crying. Plus my dentist is a huge dork like me so I am more than grateful to have picked a good one out of yellowpages.com haha. 

I've been finding most of my Boulder stops through yp.com the last three weeks. Oh the joys of being friendless in a new town. Surprisingly, not having any new friends hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I mean there are the few neighbors who I smile at and have introduced myself to, but other than those interactions I've relied on random people, mostly in customer service, with whom I have weird conversations and end up telling people unnecessary info., (much like this blog I guess).

Anywho, for the cooking update! Well, my sore mouth prevented me from any real fooding. I only ate a little bit of my gnocchi and salad tonight. It looked and smelled delicious but my jaw was just too sore and I felt like the food was stubbornly hiding in the left side of my mouth. Sheesh! My husband and I have planned a date for tomorrow night, so I think we'll go out for dinner, so I guess I will have to make something from Ina's book for lunch; something light and yummy. I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, so I am excited to go shopping for ingredients to initiate my Ina cooking after that. Well, at least I think i'll have an appointment in the morning, unless the fire makes it into town and they evacuate the area. I hadn't been very concerned about the fire, but now I am semi-seriously telling my husband that we are going to have to repack everything that we spent the past two weeks unpacking. Haha. Oh the joys of not having renter's insurance. Well, I am going to bed so that I can wake up bright and early tomorrow and get my day going. I also need to take and upload a new picture for this blog. 

----------Oh and on an unrelated to cooking note...-----------

I have a new focus for my card creations! I am going to make cards and send them to children's hospitals. I got inspired by my friend Jennifer Tran (who will soon be receiving a package full of my cutest greeting cards, but shh, she doesn't know that yet) who is a truly altruistic young lady who is in medschool and already makes kids smile with all of her efforts and sweet heart. Hopefully my cards will add to her visits to the children hospitals. Hooray!

Well my cavity-free teeth and I are excited for our brand new day of Ina-inspiration tomorrow, so bedtime! Goodnight and may tomorrow be lovely, about seventy-five degrees and a blue sky with a few, cotton-candy-ish looking clouds =] Oh and I hope you eat something delicious and new with someone you love, or at least while you're thinking about one of your fondest memories with someone/something you love.

Rainy Afternoon-- Feeling Breezy and Determined

Like during all of my moments of inspiration, the sun has managed to hide behind the mountains and the stars are lightly twinkling. I was a bit hesitant in starting a new blog at almost 11 at night, but I guess I haven't been able to completely shake off my undergrad habits just yet. But this time I'm not staying up late to cozy up with a stack of science notes--although that does sound quite good right about now, it's been a long summer--instead I am embarking on a weird new idea, sparked by my husband and our celebrity idol, the lovely Ina Garten. And I suppose my love for food and EATING are really the forerunners in my new quest. This is pretty much like the movie "Julie & Julia", but with a more modern inspiration and a much dorkier girl. I want to cook lots of new food, and I want to cook all of the food is lady Garten's cookbooks, starting from the very beginning. I've stared at her cookbooks glossy pages and bit my lip just thinking about how delicious and exciting it would be if I properly executed the dishes she makes on her shows. I've tried many of her recipes off of the Food Network website and now I am ready to just go ahead and focus on her cookbooks rather than choose recipes at random.

I love food. Well, I love most food, chicken and turkey being my prime victims in the kitchen, but also love red meats, our friends from the sea, and the rest of the world of poultry. I am not fond of olives, mushrooms, and salami, not by choice, but because my body just has a strong aversion every time I try to acquire a taste for them. Alas perhaps I just haven't found that one method that makes them tickle my taste buds; hopefully Ina's books will help me with this. 

Well, I will post my first attempt at her cooking as soon as I decide with which recipe I will inaugurate my kitchen adventures. Until then, I hope the rain keeps drizzling because I love the way it smells...