Superstah

i love britney and i think everyone knows that by now. tonight there was a special on mtv which highlighted her best videos with commentary by some of her fans. during the show i was talking to ms mia madison. it was then when we realized how many things in our lives we did because of britney.

- both wanted her red abercrombie pants from baby one more time video
-we put walkmen on our waistbans and pretended they were mic sets and sang brit songs
-watched crossroads
-wanted fedoras
-laid on the floor and re-enacted her scene when she’s wearing all white in the oops video
-still watch the diane sawyer interview and cry everytime she talks about justin (and of course wishing they’ll get back together)
-and of course try to recreate britney costumes

britney: for the record will air november 30th at 10pm on mtv…be there

p.s. sophia’s ringtone for her brother is “womanizer”….hilarious!

More Rhino!

up until 4 pm today was great.  i baked some goodies like red velvet, monster cookies, blondies, and reese cookies.  i carved a pumpkin, and it actually looked like the spider that i was shooting for.  i, also, took an adventurous ride through the country on a vehicle known as the Rhino.  but then i noticed a sore throat.  on a day filled with so much fun, i had to wonder if my body was punishing me for it.

since i thought it was just a sore throat, i went to the gym and laughed back at my body, thinking things like, “take that!”  but eventually it wasn’t funny anymore, and my body was at its wits end.  i took my temperature…100.4. so i go to a walk in clinic and here comes the throat swabbing (i’ve become a pro at these, i get many more than the average person).  so what’d they find?

nothing….yet.

Oh Jeff…

after a long day at work (actually it went by fast, but it was a busy 8 hours…busy days always go by fast), i just wanted to stop by the bank then get back to my apartment.  i walk into the bank, even though its raining outside, because i was talking on the phone and completely missed the drive thru entrance.  i fill out a deposit slip, because i never remember to bring my own and hand the teller my id because i never remember my bank account number is either.  while i’m standing there, i experienced something shocking.

a few weeks ago when i first moved to the area i went to the bank to set up an account and dealt with a teller named jeff.  he was quite opinionated and went on and on about his “crazy” nights.  from then on, sophia and i would often make jokes referring to jeff. 

so there i am at the counter when jefff walks by.  i laugh to myself, then stop at the instant he says “hi ava.” woah, he remembered my name…why? he deals with lots of different people every day and it’s been a month since i first saw him.  did i do something for him to remember me? or does he have a vast memory?

before i left, i made sure the teller wrote my account number down, so i can avoid this in future days.  unless of course, i need quarters (ya know…laundry)…i don’t need a reoccurrence of that commercial for coinstar where the coins in that compartment to send to the teller explode in the bank.

Losing One’s Direction?

Last night i had a very interesting conversation with a friend from school who reminded me of myself at this time last year.  I was very comfortable with the way my life was, and didn’t want it to change.  I didn’t want to leave college and enter the real world.  And like my friend, not only did I have no idea what i wanted to do in this new life, but i had no way to figure it out.  I knew that i liked to cook, and knew that i loved my family and friends but i still had no answer.

Instead my cousin approached me when she found out she was heading to nebraska for grad school, she asked me if i wanted to join her.  I figured “hey, why not?”  It’s the one time in life where you have no responsibilites and can do whatever you want.  But this didn’t mean that i gave up on my dreams of cooking, like my friend probably figured it did.  So he asked me, what happened to my passion for cooking?

In addition to watching food network, going to farmers markets, and reading food blogs, I wrote my first cookbook over the summer.  This is when i realized i never shared the final draft with you.  Here’s some of the recipes:

Dips

Hummous

Babagnoush

Spinach Dip

Crab Dip

Not Your Average Joe’s Bread Dip

 

Breads

Banana Bread

Monkey Bread

Crusty Italian Bread

Blueberry-Lemon Loaf

 

Sides

Brussel Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots

Caramelized Butternut Squash

Succotash

Loobee (Lebanese green beans with tomato sauce)

Ginger Rice

Green Bean Casserole

 

Main Courses

Pecan Crusted Chicken                   Chicken Cacciatore                           Rosemary Chicken

Chicken Tenders                               Company Chicken                            Honey Chicken

Turkey Meatballs                              Turkey Burgers                                  Turkey Meatloaf

Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin                Mac and Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli

Spicy Baked Macaroni                     Pasta with Shrimp, Asparagus, and Tomatoes

 

Desserts

Monster Cookies

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Reeses Mini Cup Cookies

White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies

Coconut Macaroons

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

I’d love to publish it, but this book was many a compliation of recipes i’ve loved from other cookbooks.  So now I’m working on my second one tentatively titled “Restaurant Worthy.”  They’re all dishes that i’ve had at different eateries, but since i don’t have the recipes, i’m writing my own. 

So although i couldn’t tell my friend what to do with his life, i found a direction for myself.  Food is great, and i will always want to share it with anyone who will listen.

We Need Dora

Sophia and i are known for getting into circumstances were we get lost quite often, and today was the first time in the new city.  First we were just looking for Super Target, aka our new favorite store.  Since we had just been there days before we figured we didn’t need Dora (the explorer), known to some as a GPS.  We got off Dodge (the main road in Omaha that everything is on) onto 132nd street.  Everything looked familiar, but no Super Target in sight.  So we pulled into a BBQ place and tried to get directions from a man who spoke poor english, but realy we just got more lost.  We had to stop and ask for directions three times before eventually finding it.  And going home was no easier.  We drove down the street as the numbers descended then took random turns until we saw tall buildings and assumed we were going in the right directions.  This time that assumption was right, but it took 20 minutes as opposed to taking the highway that parallelled the street and getting there in 10.  Oh well, better luck next time right?

So we go to dinner, and we find it no problem.  After a fine meal we walked around, went to our favorite candy shop, and then walked back to our car.  It was at this time, when we couldn’t remember where we parked it.  I continued to laugh hysterically as I walked through the cross walk as tears started to leave my eyes.  We did soon find our car by using landmarks to trace our steps, but maybe next time I should bring breadcrumbs.

Turkey Burger Throwdown

Today presented an interesting challenge since today was lunch Tuesday.  Normally I meet my cousin for lunch out somewhere but with the heat being the way it is we decided to hang out at my house by the pool.  So for lunch we made our own feast.  We made turkey burgers topped with homemade salsa and placed on fresh homemade buns.  The burgers were juicy and delcious and so was the salsa with the perfect amount of salsa, but the buns needed improvement.  We were getting too anxious to wait for the dough to rise so instead we just baked them off anyway.  They came out looking and tasting more like biscuits than rolls.  They were not light and airy like rolls should be instead they were very thick.  However it was a good attempt.  If you want to make your own turkey burgers we just combined ground turkey with some emeril’s seasoning.  As for the salsa here’s the recipe:

1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with the juice

2 tsp chives

1 tbs lime juice

1/4 onions diced

2 tsp hot chopped peppers