Look Ma!

Can't wait to cook it!

Little Tidbits

Been pretty busy trying to get my life in some semblance of order.  So this is going to be a slightly random post.

First off: here are some of the delicious dinners I've had lately:

These are my bacon-onion-cheddar "sandwiches".  YUM!

And surprisingly, not terrible for you, because I trim a lot of fat off the bacon, and cook a whole rasher with four large onions, so it's mostly onion, but delicious onion.  And it's so filling!

Seriously, I trim a LOT of the fat.

Was on a breakfast-for-dinner kick and bought $5 of breakfast steak, resulting in meals such as this:


I got a lot of meals out of that $5 so I'm pretty proud -


I made a LOT of chicken soup the other week:

When I say a lot, I mean a LOT!

I also made some ribs the same day as the chicken soup, because they were on sale -


Last month I made a lot of Mexican food, and invented the "taco pita", which is strangely delicious and really easy to put together quickly:


Two months ago I had a LOVELY steak and I just want to share its awesomeness, in case I haven't already.


Okay, now that the picture part of the post is over.  I really haven't been doing anything exciting lately.  Still swimming, but not every day because it's hell on my hair.  So I bought a bottle of strengthening conditioner ($1.19 at CVS) and I'm combing it into my hair AFTER I get out of the shower.  I figure it's worth a shot, especially for just about a dollar.  I'll keep you updated on its effectiveness.

Dr. Lipo has been sending me critiques that I can really use now, so I think I'm getting somewhere - especially with Brian's help.  Nothing like friends that you can really, really count on!  But I basically get up in the morning, eat something, check my email and get myself sorted for the day, and then get to work on what I'm doing with my life.  Dr. Lipo just sent me another critique today, so I think I'll look at it again once I'm done with this post, let it stew in my brain while I clean, cook, and then watch Project Runway, and have a go at a rewrite once PR is done.  Then I'll look at it again tomorrow morning.

Little interjection here - I hate vacuuming.  HATE IT!!

Okay...yeah.  I really do hate vacuuming though.  I love my Swiffer - keeps my tiny kitchen in good order, although my linoleum always looks dirty, no matter how thoroughly I clean it.  Maybe lye would make it squeaky clean, but I'm not that anal-retentive.  And I have to clean my stove...ugh, maybe I can put that off.  I had to buy Draino (or however you spell it) to clear the clogs in my shower.  It's SUCH a relief to shower without having an inch or two of water around my ankles!  Now I just have to wait a week or two and buy a couple Mr. Clean Erasers and scrub-a-dub-dub my kitchen and my bathroom into sparkling submission.

I'm glad football is back on, it's taking my mind off things and I feel a little less stressed about life in general even if I'm still broke, jobless, and in a really tough spot.  If only I could sell Rebecca...getting a book published would be such a mental lift, even if the $$ isn't luxurious.  Then again, I can't even afford beer, so even a $ would feel luxurious right about now!

Weight loss is pretty meh.  I'm almost the same weight every time I weigh myself (I mean, I do swing 3 pounds this way and that, but that happens if you weigh yourself daily), and no matter how closely I keep my Livestrong account, and swimming and walking and strolling (and pacing my apartment for hours) doesn't seem to help all that much.  I've been dieting more (and less) seriously for a year now and only lost ten-fifteen pounds tops.  I don't want to take four years to lose the remaining forty!!
I guess I should go back to smoothies, but they're not great for winter food, and the weather is cooling already so it'll be chilly soon.

Okay it's 4 pm.  I have to start cleaning so I can cook at 5 and eat at 6.  Trying to get on a "normal" schedule for eating and sleeping, instead of having breakfast at 1 pm and dinner at 3 am.

Workin' hard

Happy Wednesday everybody!  Despite everything that's happened, today was actually quite a good day.

Last night I stayed up til 5 am, trying to work on my novels, but didn't get much done.  I was tired, miserable, and desperate.  Let's face it, I'm broke (got a couple hundred or so in my bank account if I'm lucky), no job, no boyfriend, and my thesis has begun to assume the proportions of King Arthur's Quest for the Holy Grail.

Today I got out of bed at 11 am, tired, grumpy, and convinced that life was drab and gray and useless.  I turned on the computer, and FINALLY my professors had gotten back to me!  Well, two of them.  Dr. LeMaster told me where to register for GS700 (basically, you're a grad student done with classes, but need to be registered as a student for various reasons) and Dr. Lipo with corrections for the stuff I sent him two weeks ago.  And thank heaven, they were real critiques that I can understand, and I've already started rewriting it, and feeling much better about the whole thing.

I went down to campus, registered for GS700 (had to put the $351.00 on my credit card, and beg Mom and Dad to pay it when the payment is due in a couple weeks), and walked home in the broiling hot sun - okay it was only 85F, but that's a lot when you're walking a mile to the Foundation Building and a mile back!  I went swimming, and only swam for half an hour, but it was worth it. Mostly because I only got a little bit of sunburn on my nose and face even though I forgot to put on sunscreen.

Then I came upstairs, showered, and started writing (re-writing?) my statement for Dr. Lipo, and made sausages for dinner.  I did the dishes while they were cooking, so now I only have my dinner plate and the frying pan in the sink.

Now I have Restaurant Impossible on tv, and am taking a mental break by working on Rebecca for an hour or so, and then I'll go stew over my statement again.  Rinse, lather, and repeat.

So I'm going to keep jobhunting, because even if I leave soon it'll make me feel better to DO something about my penniless condition, and if I don't get to leave soon...well I'd much rather have a job, you know??  And I have a date Friday, which I'm almost afraid to be excited about in case he cancels.

My new mantra about grad school is: How would I eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!

Curiosity

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately...trying to work on my novels and failing miserably.  Doing what little I can on my thesis while Dr. Lipo is still on vacation.

But tonight I watched the JPL stream of the Curiosity landing, and man, it just brought me to tears.  I remember Dad telling me about Neil Armstrong landing on the moon.  I also remember Dad saying the guy after him said, "Well, it may have been a small step for Neil, but it's a giant leap for me!"

Of course, I get to follow Curiosity on Twitter, and we got live updates with only a 14 minute lag (only 14 minutes!!!!)...but still.  There is no comparison between the two, other than that they are giant leaps for understanding and science.

When I heard "touchdown confirmed" I just burst into tears...I really am the world's biggest crybaby.  But the emotion from JPL!  The Ustream I was watching was from inside the JPL lab and the looks on their faces...probably the look on my face if I ever found the lost kingdom of Atlantis!

Someone on one of the forums I'm on posted this, and it made me cry again, but it's also true:




I guess it makes sense that that is what's changed in America since I've been here.  Because it really has...my generation is just as much a lost generation as was Hemingway's expats in Paris.  Only who is our Hemingway?  And what are we going to do about it?

My Adventures in Cooking: Trying New Stuff

Dr. Lipo hasn't gotten back to me with his comments yet, so I've been pretty on edge recently.  I decided it was time to cheer myself up, so when I went grocery shopping today not only did I only buy healthy stuff (with the exception of my ice cream, but that's my sanity tax!!!), but I bought only stuff that I like.

One thing I got was 1.8 pounds of pork baby back ribs for $5.  Once I got home I snooped around the internet and decided to make a honey-garlic teryaki ribs, and they're now marinating overnight.  Tomorrow I will bake them at 250F for 8 hours and they will come out utterly and perfectly delicious.

I'm making some more homemade chicken stock, so that I can make couscous for lunch tomorrow.  I have a chicken thigh and a potato in the oven and they'll be ready in half an hour.

I'm utterly starving so I made myself some juice to last me until dinner is ready...I couldn't find any chia seeds in the stores, so I'll have to go to Trader Joe's or Bristol Farms or somewhere to find them.

I'll try to post pictures of the ribs tomorrow.  Now, I'm just watching some Miss Marple and waiting for dinner to be ready.

Progress for progess' sake...

Well I turned a new thesis proposal in to Dr. Lipo, so I'm feeling a combination of terrified and relieved.  I also have to stop by the library tomorrow and return some books.  Hopefully I can take them out again soon - surely since I'm still working on my thesis and will be in that GS700 class I'll still get to use the library, even if I have no access to the campus health clinic.

Now I'm up for at least a couple more hours, so I think it's time to put some work in on my novel.  I mean, I can hardly work on my thesis until Dr. Lipo has gotten back to me, now can I?

Linguine Bolognese

I made bolognese for the first time yesterday, and now have a week of meals!  Yum!

 Linguine Bolognese

Ingredients:

- Whole wheat linguine

- Freshly grated cheddar cheese

- 1 lb ground beef

- 23 oz tomato sauce (18 oz can, 5 oz can)

- 5 cloves garlic

- 1 whole onion

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- two handfuls baby carrots

- half bell pepper

- oregano to taste

- thyme to taste

- black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mince garlic and dice onion.  Heat oil in pan, and sautee garlic and onion until onion is translucent.

2. Shred carrots in food processor.  Dice the bell pepper, and add them both to pan, cook for five minutes.

3. Empty pan into bowl, and put ground beef into pan.  Cook until meat is browned and in small crumbly fragments.

4. Put vegetables back in pan, add tomato sauce and oregano, thyme and pepper.

5. Simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes while covered.  Stir occasionally.

6. Boil linguine

7. Drain linguine and put on plate.  Spoon Bolognese over the pasta, and top with the freshly grated cheddar cheese.

Note: If you use 2 oz of linguine, 1 cup of Bolognese, and ¼ cup of cheddar cheese, the meal will be approximately 470 calories.  Enjoy!