Saturday, January 14, 2012

Same as Coffee

So Chris shared this little gem with me the other day, and I thought it was brilliant and was in love with it. Except there is one fatal flaw to it--parallism issues. The author switches between "me" and "you" in the list about things coffee does. This flaw prevented me from really being willing to share it. I know that is weird.

So I have solved the problem by wasting 30 minutes of my Saturday creating my own more correct version. Here it is, thanks to Paint and Photoshop. (I started in Paint, but I wasn't enjoying the difficulty of text editing, so I switched to Photoshop.)
 It really is the most charming idea ever. Who ever came up with it is a good person. :)

Friday, January 13, 2012

Cooking at New Place: Dinner #1

Okay, so I've lived here for 3 weeks. Obviously, I have cooked in my kitchen before. Tonight is my first fancy cooking night, except when Chris was visiting.

So here's what I'm making.

I got 2 adorable little beef round steaks on sale. I am currently marinating them in 3 T honey, 1 T fresh lemon juice, 1 T fresh ground ginger, 1 T low sodium soy sauce. The little tupperware they're in also has 2 cloves of garlic and some thai chilis to add a little zip.

I'll probably throw it in a skillet on medium high with a blend of vegetable oil and sesame oil. Sesame oil has a great flavor, but it's a bit pricy. I usually dilute it with vegetable oil to get the flavor and make it go further.

Then I sliced a giant sweet potato into fry-like sticks and tossed them in olive oil with paprika, salt, and pepper. I spread the little sticks out on a cookie sheet, sprinkled some rosemary and parsley over them, and they're baking in the oven at 375'. I think they will take about 20 minutes.

To conclude my fancy meal, I'm making asparagus. This I will also toss in olive oil with salt and pepper. I'll put it in a glassware baking dish, sprinkle some mozzarella over it, and then bake it at 375' for 20 minutes.

Pure genius.

When it's done, I'll provide a review, but I think it will be a win. :)


...Several hours later, I have eaten! Sweet potato fries and asparagus were pure win.

The steak left something to be desired. I think I will stick with my usual soy sauce, ginger, crushed red pepper, minced garlic, and lots of brown sugar for the purposes of steak. Lesson learned.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Social Fitness

So I've decided to go for the YMCA membership for social reasons as well as fitness reasons, but I'm not cutting the internet just yet.

I don't want to pay for both, but the installation fee for internet was hefty. I don't want to join the YMCA, not like it, and then have to pay said installation fee again to get my internet back.

Instead, I'm joining the Y on a trial basis. I get to have both a Y membership and internet service for one month. If I decide in a month that I don't like the Y, I will keep my internet. If I decide that I like the Y, the internet goes.

Tada! Pure genius.