Taking a break

Due to the headaches of moving and having to switch everything over and blah blah blah, I am having to take a break from my lovely blog... I hope to be back soon :)

Week Recap

Hey Lovelies! As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been a little busy with work and trying to downsize all of our unneeded "junk" from the past 4 years or so before we move into the house... Needless to say I didn't realize how much stuff we owned and haven't been using! The Salvation Army/Goodwill will definitely be happy once I drop everything off. All in all last week was filled with sorting things out as well as packing. Sounds fun right! 

Earlier this week I took a visit to one of our local Farmer's Market's and picked up some peaches from one of my customer's whom grows a variety of fruits and vegetables ( they are literally the juiciest most flavorful peaches I have ever had in my life). With that said I have a girls night planned this Thursday with one of my good friends whom, I haven't seen for a good month or so.. I'm definitely looking forward to catching up with her! The next few weeks should be a little more interesting since I have a bridal shower and bachelorette party to attend.

I hope everyone enjoys their week!

Fresh local peaches, literally the best peacehs I have ever had!

It's been a long time - BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

Hey lovelies, it's been a hella long time! It seems like every time I had a chance to actually sit down and write a post something always came up. I'd been doing so well with keeping up with a weekly post. So much has happened and I don't know where to start.

To begin, sometime towards the end of May and beginning of June one of my co-workers quit and I have been helping in a different department as well as still completing my own work (hey who doesn't like a little overtime right!?). I actually didn't mind at all because it gave me the opportunity to talk to customers face to face on a daily basis, which sometimes I don't get to do. I'm happy to report we have finally hired someone new after almost a month and a half. My annual review is coming up, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed :).

Now on to happier news, I have quite a few friends whom are either expecting a little one or have gotten engaged. With that said, I have seriously been slacking in the wedding planning department, but I am happy to finally announce we have finally chosen a wedding date and location (June 2015 in Florida on the beach). Also our house is finally coming along, so much so they gave us a move in date! The next month or two will be busy for me needless to say. 

Family: Two of my siblings have decided to move out of the city to "explore new adventures" My baby brother decided to move to Georgia sporadically (good thing my oldest sister lives there), which is a little sad because I'm use to seeing him on a normal basis. My second oldest sister has also decided to move to Florida which won't be all that bad because I visit Florida 5 or 6 times a year.

Lumpia and Vegetable fried rice " my version"

While living in Japan, I was fortunate enough to discover different types of delicious Asian dishes and while some are easier to make than others, I have always enjoyed Lumpia and fried rice.. Last week I was craving the hell outta Lumpia, so I thought I would just buckle down and make a big batch of them. Of course this is my take on the wonderful little meat filled egg rolls and easy vegetable fried rice

Lumpia and Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients needed for Lumpia :

• Small Cabbage (shredded)
• 1/2 pound of ground pork and 1/2 pound of either ground turkey or ground beef
• Carrots (shredded)
• Finely diced onion (small to medium)
• Salt and Pepper for taste
• Spring roll pastry wrappers
• Sweet Chili sauce for dipping
• Fresh Garlic (2 or 3 minced cloves, personal preference)
• Oil for frying
• 1 Egg/water mixture for sealing "food glue"

Use whatever vegetables you either currently have or some of your favorite vegetables, I used the left overs of the filling I had for the Lumpia!

Ingredients needed for Vegetable Fried Rice :

• Small Cabbage
•  Sodium soy sauce (personal preference for the fried rice, basically just coat for extra flavoring)
• Rice (I used brown rice)
• Fresh Garlic (2 or 3 minced cloves, personal preference)
• Sugar snap peas (bite size pieces, 1 cup)
• Carrots (bite size pieces, 1 cup)
• Jalapeno for heat
• chives "green onion) diced for garnishment (color for the dish)
• Salt and Pepper for taste
• oil to lightly saute the veggies and to keep the rice from sticking
• 3 eggs scrambled

Preparation:

Lumpia

To begin prepare your vegetables by dicing the cabbage, carrots and onions into pieces smaller than bite sized pieces, but not finely (does this make sense?) and mince your fresh garlic and set aside. Next, combine your two preferred choices of meat in a bowl and add in the veggies and minced garlic. This next step I forgot to take a picture of, but pull your pastry layers apart to make it easier when you begin to roll, make sure you keep a towel covering the pastries while in between rolling or your pastries will become dry and this will be a no bueno situation. Finally, take a tablespoon or two of your meat mixture and place on one corner of the pastry and roll like a burrito (chipolte/qdoba burrito style) and seal with a little of the egg/water "food glue mixture"... you basically want to make sure none of the meat filling is able to escape when it comes time to fry the rolls.

Vegetable Fried Rice

First, cook your rice (amount depends on how many you are cooking for). Next, take any of the left over veggies, either from the Lumpia (make sure there is no cross contamination) or veggies you already have on hand. Preheat your wok or a big non stick skillet with a few tablespoons of oil on high. THIS NEXT STEP GOES PRETTY FAST! Once the oil/skillet is nice and hot add your onion and garlic and constantly stir. Once the release of the fragrances of the garlic and onion have filled the air throw in the veggies and constantly stir to make sure nothing burns, at this point use your best judgement on adding extra oil so you don't burn anything. When the veggies are almost done throw in the rice and turn down the heat to low/ medium and constantly stir to combine all ingredients at this point add your soy sauce (amount depends on personal preferences). Once done cover on low and take out a small skillet to scramble the eggs (if you don't like eggs, skip this part). Once the eggs are done combine to the fried rice and whaaalaaa you have homemade fried rice. 

Small Cabbage, Vidalia Onion and fresh peeled Garlic

Sugar snap peas

Chives (green onion) and Jalapeno

Carrots

Spring Roll pasty (keep covered or they can dry out fast)

Lumpia

Vegetable fried rice

House update part 2

Soooo... I'm going to pick up from where I last left off a month or so ago. We were still waiting on the construction loan to close before they were able to turn "prep" the land for the pouring of the slab. Around the beginning of May the builder called and scheduled a meeting to go over the plans to make sure we were all on the same page before they started any preparations. A few days later the slab was poured and I kid you not the frame was up within a few days or so. The first day we drove by to check if the slab had been poured and it had been. A few days later I drove by again to see if they had completed anything else, and basically the entire freaking house (lumber) was up! UMMMMM... The crew must have seriously worked from early morning to dusk to get this house up, hey we aren't complaining one bit!:) I guess the next order of work are the shingles and for the electrician to complete the wiring for the basics and the alarm system. The plumbing is in; however, I'm not sure if everything is complete on that end, we will see. With that being said I have uploaded a few pictures showing the progress from dirt (slab) to brick (everything is bricked except for the top part of the covered patio and an area by the window on the left side of the house).

Front yard (slab is down with pipes)

Slab and construction crew

Front and Back view

They have started to brick the house, covered outdoor living area

Side view with brick

Entire house is bricked except for a window area on the left side of the house as well as the top portion of the outdoor living area.

TGIF...

Have you ever had one of those days where you literally want to strangle someone!? No? Yes? I really hate when I let people get to me because I'm typically a happy go lucky smiley person, but damn incompetent people just make you go crazy sometimes...

Salmon with a sweet and spicy glaze PLUS fruit crepe!

 

Sweet and Spicy glaze for Salmon

As crazy as it sounds this was my first time preparing "fresh salmon." I have had salmon patties, but as gross as it sounds the salmon was from that canned nastiness! I saw this recipe on YouTube and thought I'd give it a try (I slightly tweaked the mustard ingredient to what I had on hand)

Ingredients needed:

• 3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons of hot mustard ( I also added a tablespoon of Dijon mustard)
• 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar
• 4 Salmon fillets (mine were maybe an inch or two thick)
• Salt and Pepper for taste
• foil and cooking spray

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil and then remove from the heat ( should turn into a semi-thick glaze)

Place the fish on a lined (foiled) pan and lightly coated with cooking spray, at this time lightly season with salt and pepper.

Place the fish in the oven for 12 minutes, once the timer is done remove from the oven and preheat the broiler.

Brush the glazed mixture evenly on the tops and sides on the salmon fillets. When the broiler is ready place the fish back into the oven for intervals of 3 minutes (I did mine a total of 9 minutes, really depends on oven and thickness of fillets)

You can tell when the fish is ready by taking a fork to make sure it is flaky!

Since I love pictures, I have inserted a few to show the progress throughout the cooking:)

Fresh Salmon from the meat department

Needed Ingredients

Combined ingredients

Salmon with salt and pepper

Salmon after 15 minutes of cooking with glaze before I placed under the broiler

End Results! Salmon w/ brown rice and mixed veggies (orange bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, onion and Spinach all sauteed)

Ingredients needed for Crepe "shell"

I found this simple recipe on the Weelicious website for easy crepes, they have all types of easy recipes that are family friendly as well as quick meal ideas!

Ingredients needed:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

 Preparation:

Once you have combined all of the following ingredients simply pour enough of the mixture into a nonstick skillet (comparable to cooking pancakes; however, there wont be any bubbles).

You are basically browning both sides to your liking.



This recipe literally had to be the easiest recipe known to man, you can either make a dessert crepe or a heartier crepe, have fun exploring with different ingredients! I explored with fruit and OMG it was amazing, so amazing that I seriously contemplated on making a second one!
 

Nutella, Strawberries, Bananas and Blueberries

Girls night out and bloody fights!

Friday, for lunch a co-worker and myself went to Olive Garden to take full advantage of their tasty lunch specials. Typically, I like to add everything imaginable to my salads to make them as unhealthy appealing as possible, but there is just something about this simple salad that was ooh so yummy in my tummy (as I'm looking back at the picture of the salad, the lighting looks horrible, please forgive me :0))! After lunch I was craving a Starbucks, so we decided to go there before returning back to work..That place is seriously like crack in a cup. I typically don't drink caffeine, but this refreshing beverage ($6 rip off because it's gone in a matter of minutes) has a special little place in my heart <3.

Olive Garden: Chicken Flat bread and Salas / Starbucks: Caramel Ice Machiato with two pumps of raspberry

Friday evening Steve, my mom and I all went to Las Delicious, surprise surprise right! I love this place... I could literally eat this place everyday if I had too, definitely healthy for the gut. 

Las Delicious: Steak tacos (Steve) and Nachos (mine)

Saturday night my friend and I had girls night out at the Landers center to watch live UFC "MMA" fights, and let me just tell ya.. We use to go often, so it's been a good minute since, I have seen a live show and it was AMAZING... I don't know how these fighters "willingly" want to get hit in the face bare knuckles... This time around I saw more blood than I had ever previously seen. Seriously one dude walked out with his face completely mangled and swollen to the max! Not a chance in hell would I ever "willingly" get punched and side kicked in the face, but hey I guess they get paid enough money right!?

Fight Night (5/17/2014)

Fight night

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! :)

Greek Fest, Redbirds & Mothers Day ohhh my!

This week was a pretty busy week for me.. I started the beginning of the week (Monday) with a cat scan due to the fact, I had been having this horrific headache on top of a Migraine on and off for roughly a month. Needless to say the results came back as Sinusitis (I have literally never suffered with sinus issues or allergies so this was a pleasant surprise, but very grateful it was nothing serious). On a happier note Friday, I started my weekend off with lunch from the Annual Greek Fest, which was delish and can I say I scarfed down that Baklava, amazing one of my favorite Greek pastries!!

Annual Greek Fest: Chicken and Rice, Greek Salad and Baklava 5/9/2014

I woke up Saturday morning, and took a glance outside and was quite surprised on how gorgeous it was considering the forecast called for rain on Saturday as well as Sunday. Lucky us not a single drop of rain in sight! So what better to do than take FULL advantage of this beautiful weather before it starts feeling like hell outside..(a) our humidity is horrific and your face will literally melt the hell off and (b) my hair is natural, so no bueno to the nappy look, not cute honey child!

Great view to the start of our day - Our balcony 5/10/2014

 Steve's mom was in town for a few hours, so he decided he wanted to take her out for lunch somewhere different than the norm, since we were going to a Redbird's baseball game later that evening. We ended up eating at the Crepe Maker! I love this place, Steve and his mom had a boring ham and cheese crepe, which wasn't very picture worthy in my opinion, so I took a shot of mine instead:) I had the Cordon Bleu as well as the dessert crepe which had cinnamon apples, ice cream and caramel syrup yummy!

 

Crepe Maker: Cordon Bleu 5/10/2014

Later that evening we headed out to my moms annual work picnic. We had all you can eat BBQ, and drinks.. UGH seriously who doesn't love free food and entertainment!? Not to mention the weather was legit perfect for the evening and the Redbird's were 13-1 by the time we left..Go Redbird's!

 

Redbirds Game 5/10/2014

 

Redbirds Game 5/10/2014

  Sunday, my siblings and I decided to take my mom out for brunch/lunch, so we took her to Cracker Barrel for a quick bite to eat, and not only was our food pretty damn good (I always forget how good this place is) , but our service was on point.

Mothers Day brunch/lunch:  Mom, Sister and niece 5/11/2014

  For dinner the diva my mom was craving seafood, so we decided to have a seafood boil since it was "her day," I mean whatever happen to "children's day"!? Needless to say I had a wonderful busy weekend, and as I'm looking back at all of the pictures I took this past weekend, I feel like all I did was eat! SMH, hey at least I had delicious food right! I promise I have more of a life than just eating; however, I do love food. On a more serious note Happy Mother's Day to all of the mommies, caregivers, providers out there!

Mothers Day Dinner Seafood boil - Crab legs, sausage, potatoes, corn and shrimp 5/11/2014

 

Fabulous start to the weekend!

I started my weekend off with a little lunch date with one of my fellow co-workers. I can't begin to explain to you how delicious and authentic tasting this place is, I guess the name "Las Delicious" soot's them well right!? Not only is this place extremely affordable, but you definitely get more than enough food. The nachos below are legit an appetizer. Needless to say we both were miserably stuffed when we got back to work.

Las Delicious (5/1/2014)

Saturday 52 (5/3/2014) of us chartered a bus up to St. Louis to visit the popular eatery Sweetie Pies (comes on the OWN channel) filled with yummy goodness of soul food! Now with me living in the good ole south, I can just about always get my hands on some down south, fattening arteries clogging food but it's just something about this place that draws me in. Not only did we enjoy a good lunch, yes I know WHAT! all that for lunch!? We did 4 hours of shopping at some fancified (is this even a word) outdoors mall, that had just about every type of store you could imagine besides a Ross and Old Navy (Coach outlet, Michael Kors, Cole Haan, Nike, Express, Wilson's leather) you name it they had it, and what's even better is they were all outlet priced stores.

Sweetie Pies!

A quick Selfie while shopping!

My mom & I

I was so tempted to go shopping for myself; however, I put my big girl panties on and made the "adult" decision to start buying little things here and there for the house. Pat on the back for being an adult.:)

Last, but not least Sunday (5/4/2014) My brother in laws birthday was Wednesday and because pretty much all us work work an 8-5 Monday through Friday job, so we really didn't have the time to meet up, so on Sunday it was on like Donkey Kong! Typically I'm not a fan of Chillis food (I'm a local food junkie), but I sucked it up and ordered the Chicken Fajitas and I must admit....I'm not sure if they have changed their recipes or what, but they were amazing!

Happy Cinco De Mayo 2014

While we didn't actually go out to party for Cinco De Mayo, we did have our own little fiesta at our la casa.. I'm talking cheese dip, Spanish rice and refried beans, soft tacos and chicken.. I almost want to pat myself on the back for job well done. Not only did we have a little fiesta we also thoroughly killed some of our brain cells watching the premiere of L&HH ATL.... Sorry not sorry ;) ...  I honestly don't know if I should (a) be embarrassed to admit that I watch the show or (b) more embarrassed that I have officially gotten Steve hooked to the ratchetness of a show.. YOLO right!?

Still playing the waiting game...

So, from my last post I stated, we are in the process of building a house, and we receive weekly updates letting us know of the status of the construction loan...Last Friday as I was impatiently patiently waiting to receive that oh so wonderful email from Ms. Lindsey, it never came.. Nooooo, she must not be aware that I look forward to our weekly chats about the pre-construction stuff.. On a happier note, my mom is actually building behind us a few houses down (future free babysitter ) and her loan closed the other day and they have already turned the dirt as well as prepped for the slab (by the time this is posted the slab should be down). 

 

Also we drove by to see if a sign had been placed in the yard and O to the M to the G... they have finally PLACED a sign.

 

 

 

 

 

On another note this past weekend we went to this local "biker bar" type place called Slidder Inn, which happens to be one of our favorite local places which serves a little of everything from vegan/vegetarian friendly to complete cow lovers:)

 

 

 

Left to Right: Jerk pork, Falafel, Memphis Slidder

  

 

 

 

Until next time :0)