Baking Gals!

Sometime in the middle of October, my lovely foodgawker RSS Feed showed me this awesome project called Baking Gals. It is a group of people from all over who bake cookies and mail them to a deserving troop deployed over seas. I thought it was kind of cool, and decided to sign up. I joined Team Sweet Dumpling and mailed cookies to Dan deployed in Afganistan. I probably was one of the last to mail my cookies, on the deadline of November 10th!, so I hope the cookies just keep comin’ for Dan!

Chocolate Chip!

My original plan was to send 3 kinds of cookies: snicker doodles, clasic chocolate chip and Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies. Well, the snicker doodles and the chocolate chip came out perfect…the world peace cookies….not so much. (Mr. Fresh found this hillarious that the world peace cookies for a soldier didn’t turn out. I just liked how chocolatey they were.)

Snicker Doodles

I included some post cards of Chicago for Dan so he can enjoy our beautiful sky line! I hope he enjoys them because I know I loved my Baking Gals experience! I can’t wait for round 5!!

Snicker Doodles ready for their long trip!

If you want to get involved too go to www.bakinggals.com and sign up! It’s super easy and gives you a change to flex your baking muscles!

Oh! Yay good news!

Sorry for the blogging hiatus, I’ve just been rather bitter about my life and nothing good comes from a bitter blogger. But! Things are coming together. I have big news, but I’m not going to share it until it all comes together. Let’s just call this life after college 2.0.

I am so excited. You have no idea.

Insert Witty Title Here

Ohhh Friday…Thank you for coming again. I  missed you. Also, thank you for being pay day. You make me and my checking account quite happy. I’m sorry I’ve sucked at blogging recently, I’ve just been completely uninspired. I apologize. I do have a lot of cooking to update you on. And perhaps a political soap box (due to the arrival of my absentee ballot).

Cooking:

I made Dinner for a year’s Tuna Noodle Casserole. Oh.My.God. So good. My parents have requested it while we’re on vacation in Florida for Thanksgiving. When I told each of them independently that I made it they both went “I Love Tuna Noodle Casserole!” I laughed equally at both of them, but I’m excited that I have one more dinner covered in Florida that everyone, including my sister the vegetarian, will eat! I also made chocolate pumpkin brownies that night. I was kind of disappointed. I love a dense chocolaty gooey brownie. This was cakey and not at all what I wanted. The boys liked it though.

So, three weeks ago? A month? We went down to Peoria to help with recruitment and I made these Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies and they were ok. I couldn’t find a grapefruit at the store, so I sufficed with juice and they weren’t great. Well, LBP came over last week and we made them again, with lemon. 2 lemons to be exact. OMG. Those, were good. I will try them again with a grapefruit now that we’re getting more into citrus season and we’ll see how it goes.

I made this interesting pasta dish for my self and Mr. Fresh. Linguine, spinach, garlic, mild Italian sausage, walnuts and chili butter from the corn experiment a long time ago. It was good. I wish i had more walnuts to put in there as it needed a crunch factor. But, it was a good warm food that was pretty easy to make.

On to the latest thing. Last night I tried to make mousse. Two mousses to be exact. One pumpkin one chocolate. The pumpkin one went fabulously. The chocolate one…not so much. I seized up the first batch of chocolate. I ended up beating the cream too long and started into an adventure of butter, which I quickly stopped. So, all of the parts that were in the works got shoved in the fridge and hopefully can be salvaged tonight after I buy more cream.

As for dinner tonight: Use Real Butters’ White Chili. Mr. Fresh requested something “hearty” and this sounds delicious.  I will let you know how it goes.

As for the rest of my life: I finally closed on my first order this week! Weeee!! I’m excited, let’s not lie. I went out with LBP and The SBizzle last week for a sorority function. It was nice to catch up and actually be social. Woah, what a concept! The SBizzle and I are going for a liquid lunch next week to celebrate her passage into the old club with me. I’m quite excited. (So excited in fact, I thought it was this week! Whoops!) My kitty is officially returning to me when Mr. Fresh and I come back from Florida. I’m quite excited about this as well. I’ve missed her. I also have a rodent problem I think she could help with. I think this is about it on the life front to update on. On to my soap box!

So, because I am technically still a Floridian, I got my absentee ballot in the mail. I’m like, sweet, one ballot in spanish one in enlgish…Nope. More like, 4 pages of ballot. Can we just say that there are some whacked out amendments on here. Things I have NO CLUE about, because well, they are about tax exemptions for home owners in very niche categories. Dudes, if you’re gonna make us vote on this shit, please put some more info in the envelope so I know what the hell is going on. It’s not like I get the Orlando Slantinel (Sentinel) up here in Chi-town to peruse. Good thing for the intertubes to inform me. So basically, Florida, get it together. Stop overwhelming me with 4 pages of things to vote on. KThanxBi.

Well, it’s on to another weekend. This is the last weekend I’m working both days of the weekend. I’m thankful for that. I need some time to decompress and deal with my house.

It’s Finally Friday!!

I’m not sure why I personally find Fridays so joyous, as it just means more work for me at my second job, but perhaps it’s the reprieve of 5 days of the same thing that makes the weekend nice. This did help my Friday though:

So, for a real update. I’ll back up to last weekend. Me, Mr. Fresh, and our friend LBP went to Peoria to help our respective Greek chapters (LBPand I are in the same chapter) with recruitment. It was nice to see every one again. It was a nice feeling when people were actually happy to see us, because some times when people graduate, it’s for the greater good. At one point, one of our sisters thanked us for bringing some sanity to what we were helping with. It amused us greatly. We went to our favorite bars, ate our favorite food, and generally had a nice weekend. I wish I had the opportunity to be more relaxed then I am, but then again, I’ve never been one to sit and do nothing (please do not reference my 5th year of college in that statement).

In cooking news: I’m making the tuna noodle casserole referenced in the last post tonight for Mr. Fresh and his dad. I’m REALLY excited. I also found the blog Cannelle et Vanille and it makes me want to stay home all day and make the beautiful things in her blog. It also makes me wish I could break free from corporate life and open a bakery. But, that is neither here nor there.

I know I feel like I’ve had more go on in my life, but this week has been rather quiet and productive and it actually went fairly fast. I’ll let you know how the TNC turns out and if I get brave enough to make anything from Cannelle et Vanille.

P.S. Why does word press think I spell “with” wrong? What the hell guys?

Boo! I’m still here…

Sorry for the long hiatus. I’ve actually been attempting to work, some days with more success then others. I also went out of town over the weekend so I’m still trying to recover from that. But, for now, perhaps this for dinner? It looks yummy to me. We’ll see what Mr. Fresh thinks.

First Mr. Farve…

…and now this. Really guys, when you say you retire, do it, damn it. Go sit in the South of France and gamble or something. Go do some community service. I dunno, get a real job?! But, for fuck’s sake, give up your sport already! There are guys younger then you dying for an opportunity to be great like you. So, suck it up, remember your glory days and let someone else have a few days of their own.

Ok, end of rant. Small update since I’ve already been productive today and it’s only 9:45. I was given two choices on my next blog entry yesterday and I decided to go with the food option since the second one was all political, and for now I’m still pretending to stick to the “I don’t talk politics rule.” Now you’re wondering “Where is the food entry, dude?” and I’m all like “Dude, chill out, I’m about to explain.”

A little back story. I read an article yesterday about KFC moving their secret recipe while they “beef up” security (any one else notice my love of “quotes” today?).  I shared it with one of my sorority sisters that I talk to all day while we deal with the working world. She had already read it and when I declared I wanted fried chicken, she said she had already gone through that desire when she read the article. So genius me goes “Ooooh fried chicken for dinner!” She then declared it “Leah’s Tooth Pickin’ Chicken.” I’m all like “Awesome, totally happening when I get home!” One train ride and a 3 minute car ride home later, I’m prepared to fry some chicken. I had even decided the cut the breasts into strips so it would cook quicker.

I pull out the chicken from the freezer, pop it in the microwave, press defrost, and let it do it’s thing. Let’s just say thank God I didn’t continue prepping for the fried goodness, because I would have been up a creek. I pull my half defrosted chicken out of my beloved microwave to flip it over and I’m like “Oh, ew, this smells.” And not the good fried chicken smell. So, there goes “Leah’s Tooth Picken’ Chicken” until another day. It was a good idea while it lasted, but it let me have my terribly delicious Spaghetti-o’s for dinner.

So there dude, there’s your food entry. Spaghetti-o’.

To follow up my last post

I found this through Stumble, which may be one of my favorite intertube features.

My Soapbox Rant

I have been preparing this rant in my head for awhile and I tend to just get so aggravated that I never seem to be able to spit it all out. Because this is my blog, I don’t plan on keeping this neutral, because I am not a neutral sort of person. So I’m sorry if this ruffles your feathers, deal.

I am a proud Democrat. I am a liberal.

I like knowing that I have the option to choose what goes on with my body and that I care about education and health care and domestic issues.

I think supporting our troops means bringing them home. I believe in diplomacy and that we aren’t the only country on this fine earth.

I believe in global warming and that polar bears are endangered.

I don’t think we should drill in Alaska or off shore or any where we aren’t currently doing so.

I think that there are enough means for innovation that we shouldn’t have to.

I believe in welfare, and medicare, and Medicaid, and social security. Do I think they are perfect? No, but I think they are important aspects to our country.

I think Democrats want the economy to grow just as much as Republicans. But when your family doesn’t have jobs it’s ok to turn to them for help.

I believe that gays should get married and should be entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples.

I believe our country should help finance higher education so that it’s accessible to every one. I think those of us that make enough money should help pay for it.

I think Russia is still making bombs for bio-chemical warfare and that North Korea can’t be trusted. I also think Iran and Ahmadinejad is capable of some pretty crazy shit.

I think we should have gun control in our country and not just every one should be allowed access to them.

I think unions are ok when they are doing what they are meant to do.

I think we’re in an economic downturn and no matter who is in the White House it would be this way.

Because I believe these things it does not mean I’m an idiot, uneducated, not well read or up for a debate. It does not mean that you have to think the same thing. It does not give you a right to make me feel inferior to you. I seem to run into this latter problem quite a bit. Most of the people I work with seem to be on the other side of the fence. Fine, great, what ever. But, DON’T talk to me like “oh, you stupid Democrat” because I’m not a Republican. It does not give you the right to hope that one day I will “see the light” and come to the dark side.  It does give you the right to talk to me, see what I think, understand it, and then give me the opportunity to do the same to you. I’m not up to getting berated, so if you’re going to argue with me, forget it.

It does not give you the right to think I am LESS of an American because I don’t think the same thing as you. Or that I am unworhty of being an American because I understand when Michelle Obama has not been a proud American. You know when I wasn’t a proud American? When we marched our asses into Iraq and just said “Fuck you” to the rest of the world. So yes, I think she has the right to not be a proud American until now. Most of the time I cringe to be an American, but I know I’m lucky to be one.  Who is to say that is right or wrong?

I think McCain is an idiot. I think Bush is the greatest idiot that ever lived. Sarah Palin is scary and the only reason Hillary supporters might vote for her is because she has a vagina. Do I think Obama is the most experienced politician out there? No, but I’m ok with that. There are plenty out there that he can surround him self with and make sound decisions with. Look, I was a Howard Dean supporter. I’m liberal. I get it. What I think is missing in American politics is a fire, a passion a DRIVE to change the things that are broken. I don’t think McCain has that. I know Obama talks it, but I’m not sure if he’ll come through. That’s what campaigns are for: promises. Office makes those promises come crashing down. I have faith though.

I got in a bit of a spat last week that left me quite upset. It in a sense ruined the election for me. I will vote. I will watch the news, but I have decided I’m done talking about it. I don’t need any one to pass their judgements on me any more. So, think of this as my signing off letter. I’m hurt that so many Republicans out there can’t seem to respect me because I think differently. That sucks. I thought the point of being an American was the opportunity to think differently then your neighbor and it’s ok. I guess not in an election year.

P.S. This is not directed at any one, this is just me being angry with American politics. It’s a long time coming and if I’ve talked politics with you recently, I promise it’s ok. I may have to break the I’m done talking about politics rule thing I stated above.

Labor Day Weekend and Such

This weekend was fairly lovely. I worked my second job (yay retail! Boo on my real job for not paying me enough to live!) both Saturday and Sunday. Which didn’t suck too bad. Then after work on Sunday Mr. Fresh came over and we had the classic taco dinner. It was yummy. A good Sunday dinner. Then I made breakfast for the next morning.

A few weeks ago my old roommate B called me said he was coming to Chi-town for a wedding and wanted to see me. Well, since I work all the time that wasn’t going to happen until Monday. So I said “come to my house for breakfast, it’ll be great.” So I made this French Toast Casserole. I also cut some strawberries and blueberries with some sugar. Put on top. Oh god. So. Good. I had some very happy customers.

(And look! My camera actually works! Even though the screen is broken. It’s like using a 35mm…you don’t know what you took until you get them “developed.”)

Then, as if that wasn’t a good enough way to celebrate Labor day, I went to my first Cubs game at Wrigley Field! Although, I’m pretty Chicago baseball neutral, it was so fun! There was just an energy in Wrigley that is unbeatable. The Cubs lost but it’s ok, Mr. Fresh got to have cotton candy, so it made up for it.

As if the cotton candy and Wrigley weren’t enough, we met up with another old roommate of mine, J and his fiance, S. (Which mind you I set up. I’ve also set up B, and he even got engaged, but the rest of that story is best left untold. So I’m 2 for 2 for the roommates I’ve set up getting engaged! Let’s see if this one goes all the way!) We had dinner with them and enjoyed telling stories about the people we all knew from BU. We completely felt like adults after that. Considering we were out with another couple and it’s usually just us. Then we managed to make our way back on a different El line and get to the line we were going for! We were even pretty adventurous suburbanites and took the El in the whole way from Wilmette. Way less stressful and totally worth it.

So, my weekend was nice. We actually did something which was also nice. I have other rants, but I think I’ll reserve a post for that all by it’s self. It’s one of those soap box sort of events.

Meh…it’s Tuesday.

I have lots of things I feel I could write about, but I can’t seem to muster up the energy. I took photos of a cooking experiment, hopefuly when I get home from corporate land i can get them on my computer and write a worthwhile entry. For now, I’m sulking in how much I don’t like my job.

Only and hour and 14 minutes until I can go home.