updated photos
Posted: June 8, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment »Hey gang!
Wanted to post some updated photos of the garden.
Enjoy!
Indescribable
Posted: April 16, 2009 Filed under: Videos 4 Comments »Hands down, one of the best videos I’ve seen in a while!
El jardín
Posted: April 14, 2009 Filed under: Environment, Food, Life Leave a comment »Ok folks, for those who haven’t seen it on facebook. Here are photos of my garden. I’m really excited about it. For real! Anyone need/want any lettuce?
Soundtrack to my Life
Posted: April 8, 2009 Filed under: Life 1 Comment »Ok so in addition to April being the month of my birth and National Grilled Cheese month it is looking like it will be the month of microblogs from me.
After talking with a friend today, he reminded me of this concert by one of my favorite (ok maybe THE favorite) band of mine. This is the video of a concert they put on at MoMA and it pretty much rocks my face off. I decided that if I had to choose one band to write the soundtrack for my life, these guys would be it!
Enjoy!
http://current.com/items/89173668/sigur_r_s_moma.htm
Epiphanies
Posted: April 7, 2009 Filed under: Food, Life 3 Comments »It just so happens that April is the month of my birthday and I have recently had the following epiphanies about my birthday.
1. I have always had a national celebration to kick off my birthday month. St. Patrick’s Day is exactly one month before my birthday. It was so kind of the Irish and America to do this for me. Also, it is quite fitting that my name is Erin which is another name for Ireland!!!!
2. April is national grilled cheese month! http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/04/april-is-national-grilled-cheese-month.html I LOVE GRILLED CHEESE so it fits!
That’s it for now…Hope you are enjoying my birthday month as much as I am!
Gourmet’d
Posted: April 7, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »So I have this site that is very dear to my heart. If I ever need a little pick me up in my day I just go here and can usually get quite the laugh, sometimes to the point where I’m laughing so hard I’m crying. Yesterday I made my first contribution to the site. Check it out! http://ruminations.com/ruminations/44113. Very apropos I think. If you feel so moved, please gourmet me!
Olé
Posted: March 26, 2009 Filed under: Food 3 Comments »I am a HUGE tortilla chip fan. I can pretty much sit down with a bag of them (no salsa required) and go to town! I would have to say my favorite chips were the ones made by Qdboa. They are wonderfully crisp and have coarse ground sea salt on them. I once told my husband that instead of bringing home flowers he could bring home a bag of those chips and I’d be set. I know. I’m weird. It wasn’t until recently I discovered how easily it was to make my own tortilla chips at home. I decided to try my hand at making my own chips after my husband kept asking me to make this salsa recipe I stumbled into several months ago while shopping at our local Flea Market. I was tired of buying bags of unsatisfactory grocery store chips that were fried and not baked so I decide to try and make my own. After trying several varieties I came up with these which, to me, taste just like the ones from Qdoba. I’ve also included the salsa recipe. Enjoy!
Homemade Tortilla Chips
1 package corn or flour tortillas
1/2 cup canola oil
coarse ground sea salt to taste
Preheat oven to 400°. Stack tortilla chips on top of each other. Cut into 4 wedges. Use a pastry brush to brush top of the wedges with canola oil. Place chips in a single layer on several cookie sheets. Grind salt over chips to taste. Cook chips for 12-15 mins shaking the trays once during the cooking process to keep them from sticking to the cookie sheets.
Husband Approved Salsa
Roma Tomatoes
Cilantro
Onion
Red Pepper Flakes
Lime Juice
Seasoned Salt
Chop up ingredients in a hand-operated food processor (making sure you put the tomatoes in last)
Punk’d – Amish style
Posted: March 16, 2009 Filed under: Environment, Food | Tags: amish, baggu, Environment, farmer's market, Food 5 Comments »Ok so I lied. I’m not the wholly adverse planner I make myself out to be. I do plan…one thing. I plan my grocery list and menu two weeks at a time. While I love to go to the grocery store, I’m not a fan of going every day or feeling like I have to go after work or at lunch to pick stuff up for dinner that night. So with that being said, here is the story that goes along with the title…
I went to the Farmers Market this weekend to buy some veggies for this go ’round. The first booth I see when I walk in is manned by an Amish couple. I make my way over and begin perusing their wonderful wares and decide to buy some whole wheat bread and cinnamon rolls (which were divine). I tell the lady (who really looked to be about my age) that those two things would be all. She tells me the price and begins to put my breads into a plastic grocery bag. I’m trying to do my part to help reduce my carbon footprint, part of which involves me carrying around my own shopping bags…it helps that these bags are totally cute and fashionable but that is beside the point 
So I whip out my grocery bag. I’m feeling pretty good about myself thinking I’m doing my part and ask her to use that. She sweetly agrees and then asks me with what I later realize is a coy smile on her face, “Did you make this?” OH SNAP!!! At that moment I realize I am not nearly as environmentally conscious as I think I am and the thoughts start to flow, “No. I’m sorry, unlike you, I live in a place that isn’t self-sufficient and relies on electricity and internet. I don’t have a sewing machine at my house to make one of these bags, much less my own clothes. I have to result to buying these bags online from someone clear across the country that I don’t even know…oh and yes, I am a female wearing pants.” Thankfully none of this actually makes it from my brain, through my lips. I just smile at her and say “No”. Nothing quite like getting your carbon footprint checked by an Amish lady…
Polite Dance Song
Posted: March 12, 2009 Filed under: Videos Leave a comment »These guys are one of my favorite bands and this is by far one of my favorite videos of theirs.
Hope you enjoy!
FYI, I think I might want to be Inara George…or at least get one of the hats she has on here.
Nascence
Posted: March 11, 2009 Filed under: Life 4 Comments »Well it is official. I have a blog. After refusing to start a blog without first giving it a name, I had an epiphany at exactly 3:21 p.m. CST as to what my blog would be called. While talking to a good friend of mine about naming oysters, “fat face” emoticons and always being hungry, I proceeded to tell her about this meal I made last night (which is one of my faves) and how it had “no thawing required”. At that moment the light bulb went on (or is it off) and I decided that is what my blog would be called.
In my house I am the meal cooker (my husband is the meal cleaner…most of the time). I love this title, especially since I love food! I love to cook it, read about it, grow it, suggest it, whatever. I’m down for pretty much anything involving food, except when it comes to thawing. See, I’m not much of a planner (chalk it up to me being the youngest) and I really don’t like it when I have to set out food to thaw before I cook. I will usually end up forgetting to set it out in the morning before work and thus am relegated to running the food under hot water, only partially thawing it before I cook it. Or if by chance I do remember to set the food out in the morning, I feel confined to having to eat at home that day. So if a friend suggests we go to a favorite restaurant for Two-for-Ones or my husband’s folks call and want to go to dinner, I feel like we can’t because I’ve already got the food out thawing for dinner. I like to be mobile, not tied down or confined to just one thing. I like my options.
So all that to say, I’m starting this blog in hopes to share my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants (aka loathing-of-planning) journey. This will definitely be a work in progress but I hope those who are interested enjoy the ride as much as I do.
