Currently: Rants and Rambles

WORKING ON: Getting Dresses up at my etsy store! I am having dress form problems  but once that is set, IT IS ON. I have already measured and acquired some great pieces...soon they shall be up, soon. I am also working on gettin ga new job! oh yay! Man, the last thing I want is to dive into another job right now, but man mine has become shitty. Excuse the language  but I just don't know how many times I can get dicked around there. Lots of broken promises, raises that never happen, and now apparently where a necklace with an otherwise required black scope next t-shirt and black trousers is too gaudy...and I was required to take it off. As well as my earrings. Because both of those change how great a server I am...we live in Fairbanks, AK Silver Gulch Brewery. Know your population.

THINKING ABOUT: TRAVEL. I am officially heading to Ajijic, Mexico and Austin, Texas for SXSW in Feb/March 2013 and am so excited! I will be gone for almost a total of 3 weeks. All around this is exciting b/c I have never been to either of these destinations, and I will be with people I love and adore at both! My grandmother lives in Ajijic, and has been down in Mexico living for 12-13 years. My whole (immediate) family is going as Christmas Presents to ourselves. VERY excited, getting to see family and explore new areas, SCORE. From there I will be heading to Austin for 8ish days for SXSW. At this point I do not plan on buying an actual pass as those are SUPER pricey, but friends who have gone in the past say that there are enough other and free shows that it doesn't really matter. I will be meeting up with friends their and (hopefully) crashing with them for the most part, which will allow me to save some $$.

ANTICIPATING: An AWESOME HOOK themed Thanksgiving with my friends! You heard right, HOOK THEMED. How rad, right? We are using the creepy basement of a friend and going all out with decorations, neon pies, fruits, roasted things, lanterns, lost boys costumes, you name it!

(I have always wanted to do this. I mean, DREAM OF DREAMS)

WATCHING:  A lot of the usual (New Girl, Walking Dead, Mindy Project, HIMYM) And a few reallllly guilty pleasures that can go un-named....

EATING: So, it is only day 5, but for the month of November I swore to not buy any food out! This is esp. hard WORKING at a restaurant  and I will admit to eating a pretzel for lunch yesterday since I worked the 12-8 shift... but I dint buy it! I feel not buying food out combats to things I need to curb: Spending ridiculous amounts on food at restaurants  and not cooking enough. And hey, it could be a handy diet too, b/c when I DO cook, I cook veggies (mostly). So, Let's see how this November goes! I AM allowing myself to have drinks out though....tea, beer, decaf coffee. I consider these all social aspects though, haha

PLANNING FOR: life?

Photo An Hour: A June Sunday

Photo an hour. I was skeptical if this would work for me, but I will say, I plan on doing one a month. Why? Because it taught me a lot about how I use my time, for starters. I mean, i am sure it depends on the day, but looking at my photos I realized my life revolves around two things: Food, and Junk (dump, thrift). Am I okay with this? Somewhat. Do I want to do a Photo an hour that starts at noon and goes until 10 or so at night? I think that would be a good contrast. But, Overall I know I want more outside in my photos... and less food? No who am I kidding... the food is staying.

8:45 am: French Press Coffee to start the day. Oh Coffee, I love thee so much.




9:45 am: And, now the food starts. I love sitting on the porch in the morning eating breakfast, or drinking coffee. I don't have a big porch, and have a single chair on it, but man, in the morning with the sun shinning, there is nary a mosquito, and living in the valley, that is something to be cherished. (Nigel also was super jealous at my attention to anything other than him at this point, so he became a model...)






10:45am: As I am about to head back inside to get clothed and such for the day, I realized I spotted the first Fireweed of the season. Man, I have such a love/hate relationship with spotting Fireweed...I am sure any Alaskan understands.




11:45am: On my way to town, I always make a routine stop at the transfer sites. Though there was quite a bit of large furniture, someone has also cleaned out Christmas supplies leaving boxes upon boxes of pretty color laying around




12:45pm: SOLSTICE FAIR....so of everything I take a picture of what? The Hot Licks Ice Cream Truck. Later in the day ( not pictured) I def. got some Earl Grey Ice Cream. new favorite flavor? Easily.




1:45pm: Still at the solstice fair, Nick and I discover that we are sporting AWESOME blue Slush Puppie tongues. Keepin' it Classy 24/7.




2:45pm: Next excursion! On our way to Value Village, there isn't much interesting in the car... But I had on a sweet yellow sundress, and I always want to carry a worn leather purse. 




3:45pm: Oh man. Value Village makes me so happy. I now can live the dream of being big bird. ALL THE TIME.




4:45pm: Scrambling to get to work, I set up A make shift bed for my sister under my own! BUNK BEDS! I had found two very large furniture cushions earlier at the transfer site, and they fit perfectly in the lower bunk! I love when that happens...




...and that is where it ends. From this point on I worked for 5 hours, and then watched True Blood. Coolest lifestyle ever, right?

DIY: Foodie Edition!

              BAKED CREAM CHEESE WON-TONS!
I don't know about you, but I am a HUGE fan of the cheese won ton. HUGE FAN. I cannot enter a Chinese establishment without ordering cheese won tons. I get VERY upset if they are crab Rangoon, as I don't eat meat. I just want the CHEESE. So I decided it was time to try and make my own. I started out with a VERY basic recipe, just to make sure the general concept wasn't lost on me... recipe as follows:

Ingredients: 

2 tbsp sour cream

8 oz cream cheese

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tea. ginger puree (I used 2 tea. i like ginger...)

.5 tea soy sauce (I used 2 tea. i like soy...haha)

Wonton Wrappers

Olive Oil

Simplest recipe ever. Preheat over to 415 degrees F. Step two? MIX EVERYTHING TOGETHER. (well... except the won-ton wrappers and olive oil). Put mixture in center of won-ton wrapper, wet edges and fold wrapper into triangle formation. Make sure to really push and seal edges together... I did not, and had a lot of seepage.  

Place Filled Won-Tons on foiled sheet, sprayed with some olive oil on top of won-tons so they get all golden-like, and bake for 12 minutes! TADA! Cheese Won-Tons! (side note: I used to buy stuff like Pam, etc. but then realized I could just buy a small squirt bottle...OR WATER GUN ....Oh man I just thought of that... anyway, small squirting bottle or gun, put olive oil in it, and BAM. tasty way to use oil without pouring loads!)


The fact that these are so easy makes me realize that I could put so many more things in them. Planned right now? Sunday im gonna do salmon ones for a party I am having. future? Mushrooms, scallions, cranberries, you can make them savory or sweet. SO MANY OPTIONS.

Shares: I Want Them All!

Can we talk about how great this Etsy Shop is? I discovered it today, and it is just wonderful! All of these items...edible candy! YES YES Y'ALL!

Andiespecialtysweets

Shares: I am realllllly craving....

Some delicious Dolsot Bibimbap.

For those who dont know what this is, here is what wikipedia has to say:

Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating.^[2] It can be served either cold or hot. Vegetables commonly used in bibimbap include julienned cucumber, zucchini, mu (daikon), mushrooms, doraji (bellflower root), and gim, as well as spinach, soybean sprouts, and gosari (bracken fern stems). Dubu (tofu), either plain or sautéed, or a leaf of lettuce may be added, or chicken or seafood may be substituted for beef.^[2] For visual appeal, the vegetables are often placed so that adjacent colors complement each other.

A variation of this dish, dolsot bibimbap (돌솥 비빔밥, "dolsot" meaning "stone pot"), is served in a very hot stone bowl in which a raw egg is cooked against the sides of the bowl. The bowl is so hot that anything that touches it sizzles for minutes. Before the rice is placed in the bowl, the bottom of the bowl is coated with sesame oil, making the layer of the rice touching the bowl golden brown and crispy.

...obviously mine would be just veggies or with tofu instead of beef. NUM NUM NUM.

I will always be 10 years old in my taste buds.

I realized, no matter how much I grow up, the same foods as when I was a child, are still my favorites. Now they may be somewhat modified with age, but it all remains the same, really.

French Fries: THEN, Any fast food variety, covered in ketchup...or ranch NOW, Sweet Potato Fries. especially hand cut ones, baked. YUMM
Pizza:THEN, exactly as above. maybe a meatlovers, or add some mushrooms.

NOW, Exactly as above basically. I love white pizza (...oh the racism jokes that ensue), I no longer eat meat, and the flatbread variety is VERY tasty!

Mac and Cheese:THEN, the blue box of childhood. Not gonna lie, that blue box still is EXACTLY what I want still to this day, sometimes. Nothing like soggy noddles and powdered cheese like stuff. with lots of butter.
NOW, Baked mac and cheese. usually with a cheese other than cheddar. A mixture of cheeses really. and always cayanne spinkled in. or creole seasoning. And then, if I am feeling guilty, it becomes vegan. oh life.

Potato Chips:

THEN, just something to crunch on. The more neon, the more taste. Duh.

NOW, I am ADDICTED to kettle chips, first off. Second I love the salt and pepper variety the best. Third, to make me more of a dork, I usually get them in the 'baked' variety cause they are always a little burnt...and I like that.

Nutrition my ass

This Pisses me Off.

..this is not an article on nutrition, this is an article on 'calories'. The fact that she has authored books on nutrition makes me angry. I hope she is getting fat paychecks from all the gross perservative filled fast foods she promotes. *soooooo angry*