best meal i ever made

last night my roomie and i made dinner from our Food Network kitchen cookbook. this cookbook (that i couldnt find a picture of and i will get back to you on) has some amazing recipes. we've been pretty good about preparing dinners together at least once a week.

last night we made Chicken Saltimboca. and let me just tell you, if i could eat my monitor right now i would. i think this was one of the best dishes we have made together.

easy recipe: Chicken, prosciutto, sage, mushrooms, garlic, wine, creme fraiche (hard to find but i'm pretty sure you can use sour cream instead), and parsley.

1. preheat oven to 375
2. lay a few sage leaves on top of the chicken breasts
3. wrap with a slice of proscuitto
4. dredge the breast in flour (the recipe called for Wondra, or instant flour, we just used sieved regular flour)
5. saute the chicken so that it is brown on both sides, transfer to a baking dish and bake until done. (this will depend on the thickness of your chicken and how long you sauteed it for, we did about 20 mins of extra baking)
6. make the sauce: saute mushrooms (half a package of presliced mushrooms) and garlic (2 cloves)
7. add a half a cup of dry red wine (or marsala), let it reduce
8. take it off the heat, stir in a third of a cup of creme fraiche and some chopped parsley
9. spoon the sauce onto plates, top with chicken and FEAST!

this weekend was also the Metropolitan food cooking bonanza show.

thanks to livingsocial roomie and i and some friends went and saw Giada in the morning and wandered around to our heart's content. we tried every dip and sauce they had out.

we saw giada do a demo on a huge stage. it was fun, but not as exciting as i anticipated.

the real fun came when we hit up a different stage. there were chefs from local restaurants in northern va and dc that came to do demos in a more intimate setting.

i learned some cool stuff about making turkey and another hottie chef taught us about salmon and slow cooking it. it was amazing.

the most exciting part was seeing and meeting Mike Isabella, head chef of Zaytinya. he was also a contestant on this season of Top Chef. he just got the boot but that means he's back in dc making awesome greek, turkish, and lebanese food.

are we still talking about halloween?

i know i'm behind on the halloween recap. i already showed you my work halloween costume but this was my official halloween costume.

you are looking at Elle Woods and Blair Waldorf (me).

that is all.

trophies make winning awesome

the "spice" girls won Funniest Costume at the work party

here is our sweet sweet pumpkin trophy

be jealous :)

winner, winner chicken dinner!

...and the winner is.....................

the number 3!

that means Rachel @ Rachel, Rachel I've been thinking won herself a sweet tshirt!

Congrats missy!

(send me your info)

:-)

Thanks for playing all, i really appreciate it.

also, the jokes = awesome.

GIVEAWAY!

WOO HOOO! free stuff! everybody gather round and see the cool shit i'm giving away!!!

Mental Floss is basically a sweet site for nerds like me. i actually dont read it very much, but their tshirts are HILARIOUS.

basically i'm going to be giving away a Tshirt of your choice. take a look around the store and pick your fav. click HERE

all you have to do to enter is

1. Leave a comment INCLUDING: the shirt and size (also specify mens or womens)
2. Blog about it, or tweet that you entered my super sweet giveaway. sharing is caring people.
3. in the comment you should also include your best one line joke. (i like to laugh and you people are awesome at making me laugh, so bring on the funny!)

only one entry per person

YOU HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY NIGHT TO ENTER!

I WILL DRAW A NAME ON SATURDAY AND ANNOUNCE THE WINNER!

now take some time to look at some of my favorite tshirts.

i have the hyperbole one below. it's awesome :)

200 posts! WHAT?!

ok seriously. this blogging thing is way cooler than i ever could have imagined. not only does it give me an outlet to talk about my shopping addiction but i have met some pretty cool peeps online and in person.

i honestly didnt think i would stick with it but you all keep me going. yesterday i realized that i have written 200 posts. that is pretty damn kick ass if you ask me. so there will be lots to celebrate by the end of the week, all culminating in a GIVEAWAY! yay! i'm actually really excited about it and i hope you all dont think i'm the lamest person on the planet when you find out what it is i am giving to you.

and dont worry, the three guys that read this blog, there will be an option for you too. i'm no sexist!

until then i'm going to keep complaining about how sore my body is because i decided to start shredding on level 2 yesterday. yeah i dont regret that decision at all.

:-)

new look. new name

dont be alarmed! it's still me!

PROMISE!

and stay tuned later this week. to celebrate i'm going to have a giveaway so keep checking back for updates :)

my parents were awesome

i think my parents are still very awesome. i told my dad about seeing this and he just couldnt resist sending me some photos. i figured id share one of them with you all.

the creepiest thing about it is that my dad and my brother and a few other males in my family happen to all look the same as children. seriously, at around 3-5 years old all the men look THE SAME! so what i'm tell you is, this could be my dad, or my brother, or my cousin, or my grandpa.

those are my two aunts in the background.

wasnt my dad such a cutie pie!?

tgif ...no seriously, TGIF

what a week. nothing particularly exhausting happened this week but i am drained. it is gray outside which will lend to me feeling tired and sluggish all day.

i wanted to share this video a while ago but i couldnt find it and i was lazy about looking for it again. i'm not sure how many of your are avid Daily Show viewers so you may have already seen this.

it's a really inspiring story and i am at a loss for words on how to describe it's awesomeness.

watch and enjoy :-)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

halloween and cooking class!

i'm just going to throw this out there... my office knows how to party. we have an event's committee that meets once a month to plan parties. last night was halloween, one of my favorite events of the year.

basically, everyone decorates their office/ hallway and people bring in their adorable children around 3:30 to trick or treat. we have a kids party complete with face-painting and cookie decorating as well as a magic show.

then the adult party starts at 5. food, booze, and a costume contest. my friends and i definitely had one of the most creative costumes. we were the "spice" girls. as in, we each decorated a tshirt with the McCormick spice logo on the back. I was Ginger (far left).

oregano, wasabi, rosemary's baby spice, cumin and ginger

awesome. i know. i cant take credit for the idea though.

after knocking back a few with our coworkers, jacky (roommate) and i went to cooking class at Culinaerie. we got that sweet deal a while back from livingsocial to go to a class of our choice. we went to 30 minute meals. we were working in groups of 4 to put together these meals. some of the steps were already done for us so it helped everything run more smoothly.

working on the quinoa (kinda like a rice pilaf if you will)

all finished!

pan seared salmon, quinoa, ratatouille, and lemon and sage chicken, and salad with grapefruit walnut dressing.

:-)

if you are in the dc area and like to cook i would recommend checking out culinaerie (located by thomas circle). the prices listed online are a little expensive but definitely worth it from the livingsocial deal.

facelift

Hi All,

sorry i have been a bad blogger, and bloggy friend lately. even if i dont comment, i promise i've been reading!

i've been doing some thinking, and at the urging of one of my more tech savvy friends i am going to give my blog a little facelift.

i started this blog with the intention of pointing out all the the little things in life that make me happy. some of it seemed trivial and some of it was silly. i still live with this outlook everyday even if i dont blog about it.

for instance, i saw a white pigeon on sunday and it was so striking and gorgeous. i tried to take a picture with my camera phone but the lens was covered up my my fortune cookie fortune from the night before (i slipped it under my phone protector case).

anyway, i want to be able to write about so much more than i already do. i want to be able to find the time to discuss everything that pops into my head. so i'll be changing things up around here. dont be alarmed, i'm not going anywhere, but the times... they are a changing.

stay tuned!

let's talk about facebook

so i know everyone has been talking about facebook and the new news feed. yada yada yada... i dont really care. facebook changes.

the one thing that bothers me is the ads, i try my darndest to get rid of them but they always come back more stupid than the one before.

but today, i think they're trying to send me a message. guess what ad showed up just now, as in right now that i had to stop what i was doing (online shopping at GAP [use code FRIEND for 20% off]) to tell you about this.

Plan B One Step.

yes. as in the, "Oh shit, i might have gotten pregnant last night" Plan B. The best part, the "Like" button underneath. seriously?

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I can finally ask my pharmacist about what to do when the "unexpected" happens.

oy. what a way to start my monday. thank you facebook. you just reminded me to take my pill.

mashup heaven :-)

first of all, i just want to say what a fab time i had at the union of LiLu and Maxie on saturday night. i met some really freaking awesome bloggers.

i really do hope i get the chance to hang out with these bitchin' ladies again! (and patrick, but i already know him in real life) :-)

in other exciting news, i got my indoor grill and made a feast on sat night before the alcohol intake began. grilled tuna with papaya pineapple salsa, grilled tomatoes and caesar salad. can you say yum? (why yes i get all my recipes from the food network website)

and for the actual meat and potatoes of this blogpost, i found this little video of mr hottie mchotterson Justin Timberlake mashing up some kings of leon with cry me a river. enjoy!

happy tuesday lovers!

best present EVER

check out how badass these shades are!

(yes that would be my reflection, attempting to take the picture with my camera phone)

it's ok to be jealous.

:-)

my friend jason found these in his closet and knows how much i love me some wayfarers. i've pretty much been talking about how i wanted a pair since last spring. however my target knockoffs were doing me just fine until now.

now i can channel my inner 80s superstar. watch out!

GLEE

I'm not sure how many of you out there are watching Glee, but if you arent you need to start, PRONTO. and if you are, let's be friends. the show is amazing. every time the kids break out into song and dance i get so excited i jump up and down on my couch and giggle like a 6 year old.

anyway, for all you glee lovers out there, here is a clip from this week's episode. i think i'm going to die. i love rachel and finn and i want emma and mr shu to do it already!