tacos + jurassic park

The scores of people milling around campus should make me feel incredibly jealous. Should being the key operative word because who could be jealous of people outside where it's warm and sunny when I'm in the physics building on a Saturday working on a group project about lithium abundances in stars. Oh wait... I suppose the *amazing* slurpee I'm currently consuming can ease the blatant jealousy. Maybe. Fun fact: apparently, the state of Michigan consumes more slurpees in the month of January than California does all year. I'm not sure if I believe that, but some hipster kid told me that on a date once in high school.

We made tacos last night. I say "we" because the only thing that freaks me out more than raw, ground meat is fire. And grease+heat == fire returns true. Colby was draining the pan of the grease and he sort of spilled some on one of the burners. Scary! Oh well. At least it wasn't like that one time I tried making elephant ears in my apartment. How many ways can you say mistake?

I tried making "Mexican rice" (good lord, that sounds vaguely racist), but it didn't turn out so well. Mostly I added salsa and corn to the water and it kind of sort of flavored it. I added half a squeeze of lime as a last ditch effort, so whatever. I'm not too heartbroken over it, though. I guess I'll try again next time, though it probably won't be in this apartment. *sniffles* Actually, no, not sniffles, this kitchen sucks, I have half a refrigerator, and it gets to be like 5777 K in my apartment when I use the oven... so screw you DTN, I'm moving to Texas!

Okay. Yeah, so tonight is curry soup because I need to clean out my pantry and use that potato before it rots. Also the chicken. Also, what does one do with leftover taco meat besides make more tacos? We already made "omelets".

Una tasa de cafe

Coffee from Sparty's is an abomination to taste buds everywhere.

Also, is it wrong to want to seduce people with food? I guess at this point, I mostly appease Colby with chocolate when he's grumpy, but I want to be good enough to seduce. I feel like if I had worked more at baking well, this skill might have come to me by now. Instead, I wanted to focus on cooking and for the most part, it's edible and fit for consumption. le sigh. I suppose I could try serving foods that have been traditionally known as aphrodisiacs, but I don't like oysters. This could be because my dad has always called them "snots on the half shell." This also may explain why I hate pimento stuffed green olives (which were deemed as "monkey eyes"... ass.) I am very highly caffeinated at this point, because, even as disgusting as Sparty's can be, it's not nearly disgusting enough for me to believe that I can actually stay awake and write a paper on rotationally induced slow mixing in F and G disk stars. Or at least, part of a paper.

In sad news, I will just miss the Okemos farmers' market. I'm kind of way sad about that because I <3 farmers' markets because you seriously can't beat the produce. Oh well. Also, I'm totally looking forward to having (I hope) year-round farmers' markets in Austin. Also, there are apparently TWO Whole Foods in Austin! Yay organic! In other someone related news, I was called a yuppie today.

and finally, story of my life, minus the Poe.

::addendum::

I just ate blue box. I'm kind of ashamed, but in my defense, I did mix in chipotle salsa. Also, in my defense, I'm now experiencing extreme acid reflux, so maybe I've learned my lesson.

Dolsot Bibimbap

I should figure out twitter. Also, I should probably be sleeping, but it's kind of hard after all that iced tea. I have this incredible weakness for AriZona Iced Tea because it's essentially an Arnold Palmer, what with all the sugar and lemon. Note: sweet tea is gross; this is not sweet tea.

So it's been decided that this is going to become a ~personal~ blog as well, because... why not? Mostly about food though. I had dinner at Charlie Kang's last night. This isn't new or different, except it should be stated that though I love gochuchang as much as the next person, it does not feel good going through my sinuses. I have a horrible, disgusting story for those so inclined. I bet you aren't.

We're visiting Austin in May so we can scout out housing for June. I'm putting in an application to live in university housing as well. This is all rather frightening and adult of me. As much as I've become "independent" in college, moving away like this is far different. Maybe this is why I've stalled on all things pertaining to me getting the hell out of here...

Stuffed Shells

Finally, a recipe! After the ravioli fiasco (oh yeah, they definitely didn't turn out that well. Sadness... and I have all these left over wontons. What to do? What to do?), I wanted to do some sort of stuffed pasta right, so I opted for jumbo shells stuffed with ricotta cheese.

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 c mushrooms chopped
fresh basil
10 oz? ricotta
8 oz shells?
spinach

I've stopped following recipes. I took minced garlic and mushrooms and sauteed them in butter and olive oil with a little bit of salt. When they were almost done, I added some finely chopped basil and then incorporated this into the ricotta which I then put into the shells which I then covered with (gasp!) jarred tomato sauce added some mozzarella and parm over top and then baked at 375 for 15 minutes. Serve over wilted spinach and w00t. The sauce that I used was terrible. So next time I'm not going to dick around with that. I have about 5 oz of ricotta left and I'm not sure what to do with it. I was thinking about something along the lines of a berry dessert.

Spring Cleaning

I've come to the point of no return with my kitchen where I'm beginning to use up certain items and not replace them. I just used up my last bottle of stir-fry sauce. It was, however, a tasty tasty meal that converted well into a single bowl dinner for Colby and me complete with the Sports Night DVDs that I got for my birthday. Muy excelente!

My dad put down a down payment for the hall for the wedding. It's exciting. I'm a little bummed that I didn't get to try out caterers, but I guess it'll be okay. I'm just looking forward to getting a new, bigger, better kitchen in Texas. I think. Maybe South Carolina. Not sure, but either way, I hope to have a stand mixer by the end of the year. woo hoo wedding registries.

why I shouldn't go grocery shopping whilst hungry or stressed

I can't control food purchases. I can only control my nail polish-buying slightly better... which is why I walked out of Meijer without the four dollar bottle of Sally Hansen, but was armed with baby corn, blackberries, and ricotta. *However* I intend to make Thai-something-curry soup with chicken, potatoes, and other stuff; stuffed shells with ricotta+garlic+basil+mushrooms atop a bed of wilted spinach?; and stir-fry with lots of baby corn, broccoli, mushrooms! Go me. We'll see how much of this I actually cook before it all rots. I forgot the mozzarella!!

I need to make corn bread again soon. I think it's draining my soul.

This has no recipe, but thought I should share

I made the "alfredo" sauce, which turned out really well. Added some broccoli as well. Yummy! Also it definitely was a one bowl meal which is for sure my favorite kind. :) I hope that we're not one of those couples that make people sick to watch. Anywho:

(01:10:40 AM) Julie: I am the master of cooking things I can't eat.
(01:10:47 AM) Chris: :)
(01:10:50 AM) Julie: oh my god
(01:10:51 AM) Chris: what did you make?
(01:10:52 AM) Julie: so much pain.
(01:10:58 AM) Julie: like an alfredo sauce
(01:11:10 AM) Chris: yeah, that is like the very definition of "Not for you"
(01:11:42 AM) Julie: which was 1 c cream, 1/2 c whole milk, camembert, mozzarella, a bit of parm, some s+p and garlic
(01:12:26 AM) Chris: wow...so the s+p+garlic then?
(01:12:29 AM) Chris: parm is probably ok
(01:12:39 AM) Chris: but milk/cream/soft cheese/soft cheese?
(01:12:43 AM) Julie: lol
(01:12:43 AM) Julie: yes
(01:13:05 AM) Chris: it's like you're new at this
(01:13:20 AM) Julie: but it was *so tasty*