Where the HELL are my beans?!

So tonight I was all by my lonesome. Yeah, so? Cry about it.. So I decided since my roommate is gone on vaCae, my sister is working, and everyone else in the world is unavailable, that I would just stay in [the condo] and cook myself a good dinner. I would cook a lot back before I escaped my parents’ house and tonight was a good time to take up as much space as I needed in the kitchen!

My meal of choice was going to be a Mexican dish – the ever effortless *

Any kind of Mexican dish, really. Let’s see, we got your peppers, lettuce, onion, tomato, cheese, rice, meat, salsa…So easy. I took a pack of Knorr’s Spanish Rice and some Chicken Taco Seasoning I found at the Wal*Mart.

I chopped my veggies and prepared the cheese, left both in the fridge to chill till the meal was ready.

Next, I began cooking the rice and set aside my wraps to be warmed in the toaster oven. While letting the rice do its thing, I began to slice up my chicken cutlet into small flat pieces.


Then I place them in a pan with oil till they were all white and boiled them with the seasoning mix +water, let that simmer till rice was done!

Meanwhile, I start setting the table and then I chop up the romaine into nice crispy shreds of lettuce. I pop my wraps in the oven and take the chicken out of the pan, pop ‘em on paper towel to absorb any oil and then I am ready to eat!

Unfortunatly this is where my blog changes from informative happiness to annoyed and exhausted complaining-obnioxiousness…

The wrap destroyed my meal. I make myself this nice soft taco with all the fixins’ and the piece falls apart in my hand! This is why I have no photo –no 3rd hand…
Heating up that wrap was a mistake. I kind of feel like I knew that was going to happen, but that didn’t stop me from disappointing myself…The food did not go to waste, my green friends, because I plopped this pathetic excuse of a taco onto the plate, and it opened perfectly, so I ate it like a salad…it tasted good despite its flaws! The chicken taco seasoning was pretty good, but my meat was too cold at this point. I’m also missing something…some kind of sauce – perhaps taco sauce??!! I used some salsa to remedy that situation..i’m still missing something though…what is it….??

THE BEANS!!!! Where the HELL are my beans?!?! Damnit…and when I was in Wal*Mart I was staring at the canned black, red, and pinto beans….i’m pretty sure my roommate has those beans at the condo but I just couldn’t remember…and clearly I forgot all about the beans anyways cuz I didn’t check and now my meal is letting me down….

LUCKILY! I am a prepared individual, for I have heated up 2 wraps and this time around I was gonna get her done right! So, my problem with the heated wrap is that it couldn’t hold all my ingredients without ripping apart…so, I used my brain and made it a thin wrap which called for a small strip of filling but enough rolled layers that it would hold together!

Gosh, I’m a meal-saver!

I then had enough room on top that I could put more of my meal in the space! What a great way to NOT use another wrap but eat all the parts of my meal! It was so nice and thin that I was able to hold it in one hand and use my fork to pack the other pieces in the taco. I have really small hands so this was really really great.

As a bonus, I found some Taco Bell salsa packs and topped my toppings IN THAT! WOOT!! I wanted to shout out “I’m King Of The World!” but I knew that would have been stupid so I kept it to myself. Till now. And you’ve read it…..::sigh:: embarrassing…

I really wish I had the beans, but you live and learn and next time it’ll be even better!

On a side note: I found myself very amused at something I thought aboutwhile cooking tonight, that I think will make a great title for my cookbook; “Never Cook In A Dirty Kitchen!”…(as you will come to learn I am guaranteed to mention every time I blog that a situation I was in needs to be shared because it was funny that I’m so amused by me, if that makes sense…I’m basically making fun of myself in my blog at my own expense, really)

See, what had happened was…


My kitchen is shiny**, as my mother would say. And, she would! She came over and helped me clean it! The “before” was something I should have taken a picture of to give you the visual, but I don’t, so I can’t…BUT I can show you how the fridge looks NOW at least!!

I just can’t imagine cooking a meal in a dirty kitchen. It was such a pleasure and I’m very happy to say I look forward to cooking again now that my kitchen is clean & shiny!!

Cheers!

*I call dibs to use that as a band name!

**Thanks, to my Mom!

Runaway Pretzel?! I don't think so...*

Being on my own is great! I really love my independence. I can come and go as I please, I can lock my bedroom door and nobody complains, AND I don’t have to share my bathroom! Even though all this is fine and dandy, I forgot that only caring for myself isn’t always a luxury, it’s a hassle!

Man, it takes a lot of responsibility to make sure I survive! I’ve been so busy moving into the condo, painting, cleaning, buying stuff, assembling stuff, washing stuff, unpacking and organizing stuff that I forgot I gotta find time to eat! Sure, I make my bed everyday and I floss almost every night, but between my commuting to work, spending 8 hours in a chair behind a desk, running errands, trying to find time for some fun and normalcy, I never got the chance to go food shopping!

I’m so exhausted from looking at a computer screen all day that I don’t even have the energy to cook! AND I have no ingredients! None!

Luckily my sweet mother met up with me at the park for a nice August Evening Walk and she packed me an apple. How I miss fruit…I pocketed that shit faster than a squirrel buries a nut…stupid analogy, I know…it’s all I got right now so…

SO TONIGHT (after running some errands with my roommate), I cut up that delicious red fruit, added 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter and topped it off with some pretzels and a cup of O.J. to wash it all down.

sooooo gooood! It may not be the BEST dinner, but hey, I’m getting’ some protein, vitamins and carbs! And it all tasted great! I guess I’m doing pretty well…I’ll survive another day :)

*Sometimes I say stupid things but I am highly amused by the reactions I have. See, what had happened was…I almost dropped one of the pretzels but caught it before it hit the floor! Dork…I know!

bloggin' like it's my job!

Wow. What a night. Ok, so...been a long while since i last posted. I've been busy. AND life has made a turn in a direction i've wanted to be headed in...for a looooong, long time.

I'll start slow.

Tonite I had a nice moment with my bird. This stupid little green parakeet is now - my buddy. I talk to this bird constantly. My sister thinks I'm crazy. No, I just think it's funny. But mostly just for my own amusement :) I don't care that this daily interaction is probably really stimulating for my budgie, by getting her excited and happy, and she bounces all over the place and talks up a storm! I like to pretend we're having a conversation lol...dork! I know!

I think it's that I like to talk and I think i like to...hear..myself talk? Jeez, that's so damn self-centered!...I'm not really like that, i swear! Some people probably think i'm crazy and some people probably think I'm incredibly immature for a girl..i'm 28 and I haven't really changed my personality since i got it. Does that make any sense?

Anyway (haha) after my relaxing shower of hot water + songs from glee to get me through my shampooing & conditionizing, I sat in my room air drying - that's the way I like [to dry off], I start internetting; checking emails + FB + whatnot, and realized i was listening to all songs by artists named "Sara" from my library..."what a GREAT idea!!" I thought to myself....So...I have Sara Bareillis and Sarah McLachlan playing. I Iike to leave music on for my budgie (whom I will now try to just refer to her as "Oliver"...yes, that's a boy's name...that can be another blog if someone actually gave a shit and wanted to hear that story...) and I am just chillin' to it, it's great! I was listening to the song "Good Enough" by Sarah McLachlan off her live album "Mirrorball". Man, she is just perfection...

So i'm sayin to my bird "Oliver! Do you hear this?! This music is so beautiful! Wow!" She makes a couple of click noises and beeps but nothing too impressive. Just...gentle....and I'm air drumming, harmonizing, dancin' in my seat and she's watching me - all in the nude, remember...it's like i'm punishing her for no reason lol....and uh, yeah, she starts chippin' louder the way budgies do, and she's bouncing from wall to wall in her cage. She wants out, but the fan is on. And i'd have to get up for that. Not while I'm blogging!...so, it was just cute cuz we kept going back and forth with the talking and whistling...what's sad is that i'm mad that i have a more impressive sound effects library than she does. I am...pathetic. She's so cute tho! She's making little kissy-noises right now and sitting to the most adjacent wall to me. Oh man, i need a break!


11:50pm......

12:08am......

Oh boy...gotta go to work again tomorrow...wow, a 7-day work week. crazy.

Anyway, the music was really good. I would like to suggest along with these 'Sara' artists, if you wanted to expand you female music library, i have a few suggestions and Oliver agrees: In alphabetical order: Alanis Morissette, Amy Winehouse, Beyonce, Chantal Kreviazuk, Colbie Caillat, Evanescence*, Gwen Stefani, Ingrid Michaelson, Jewel, Joan Jett, Kelly Clarkson, KT Tunstall, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Miranda Lambert

~Side note: i'm always interested in trying out new music, so if you want to reccomend a female artist you think i should listen to, let me know!! I have from 9-5 to listen to music :-)

That's what i got in my library thus far as my favorite female artists. i'll talk about young bands with femlale leads and other music genres singing ladies that i keep in my playlists!

Good talk.

Good night :)

*i'm not going to consider Evanescence a band because to my knowledge she's the songwriter, she's a phenomenal singer and she is completely different. In fact, i like to think that all those women i have listed are all completely individually musically diverse.

Digital Photography

Been a LOOOONG time since I posted anything, BUT something has finally happened in life that makes me WANT to blog about my experience! Hooray for getting out of the house!!

Ok, so April 19, 2011 I went on a Photography Workshop to The Bronx Zoo and had a blast! I have had my Nikon D60 for quite some time now but have truly used it the way i want to use it until now :)

It was great to have a brush up on how to use the digital camera.
Whats crazy is, it is digital, yes, but i was using it as a manual camera. Automatic is great for quick shots, but there's nothing like setting up your shutter speed, ISO and focus on your own and taking shots that barely need touched up in photoshop if anything!

SO, please visit this link to check out my photos and read my description. I get a little artsy fartsy and technical, but the pictures are nice :)

Click Here to View Photos