Etsy Finds

I follow Super Kawaii Mama on Twitter and yesterday she posted a link to a really nice seller on Etsy called glamtownvintage. SKM was admiring a vintage dress they were selling, which led me to browse their shop. I ended up with two super cute things and I can't decide which one I like more!

Then today I was browsing Etsy again today and used the "pounce" function, which randomizes sellers for you to check out by either shops who have just made a sale or shops who have yet to make a sale. I took pity on the latter because I hope to open my own Etsy shop someday and will be anxious waiting for my first sale. So I "pounced" a few times and was finally led to srzimmartist. She had three paintings for sale and when I saw her "Tree of Dreams," I was hooked.

One Picture Sum Up

My weekend: 

Thanks to all who donated their time and backs to the project!

Moving and Reconnection

As promised, I'm going to get back to updating my blog since I have now moved away from my friends that I have enjoyed getting to know for the past two years. I have moved back to my hometown, which is still surreal after being here almost a month, but I still feel like a part of me is still in Nashville. Although part of me is still there because I still have to move the rest of my things this weekend!

Since my things are mostly packed up and not at my parents' house, I've been having a hard time getting past the feeling of being home for the holidays. The kitchen is the same as it always was, but the things that I know are going to be in my kitchen are not there. I didn't do a whole lot of cooking on my own growing up aside from baking, so I'm having to learn my childhood kitchen. Isn't that weird? Now, I always hung out in the kitchen with Mom, but I would mostly talk or she'd hand me something to stir while we were chatting. I did know where a few staples were without question, like the lemon pepper, bouillon cubes, pots, measuring cups, and other things I used on a regular basis. Mom told me last week she bought some canned salmon and I should make salmon cakes. I got all excited for a moment before I started wondering, "Where are the breadcrumbs?" That was when I realized I'm out of touch.

Last night I decided to do a test run because I was missing the simple domesticity of my life, so I was going to cook some soup. I had recently had some delicious She Crab Soup and I wanted to try my hand at it. I went to Old Bay's website and in their recipe archive, I found a recipe for Cream of Crab soup. Close enough. Plus it's Old Bay, so how can I go wrong?

CREAM OF CRAB SOUP

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1 cup)

1/3 cup flour

4 cup milk or half-and-half

1 tablespoon OLD BAY® Seasoning

1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Parsley Flakes

1 pound lump crabmeat

3 tablespoons dry sherry or cooking sherry (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan on medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 5 minutes or until softened. Add flour and Old Bay; whisk until well blended. Whisking constantly, gradually add milk.

Stir in crabmeat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in sherry, if desired. Heat 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with additional Old Bay, if desired.

I didn't measure the sherry, but only added a little for fear of it overpowering the soup. I also didn't add any parsley flakes because I was in a hurry and kept reading the instructions over and over again without looking back up at the ingredients at the top. Additionally, I used a scant pound of crabmeat because I used two little cans of lump crabmeat rather than buying it fresh. The soup turned out delicious and made quite a bit. I used a quart of half and half to make it rich, so I recommend if you do the same, you only have a cup or so of soup with something else. I had a bowl of it and a garlic breadstick and was ready for a nap afterwards. I brought it for lunch today and we'll see how that goes in the afternoon slump.

With all the hoopla of moving and all, I hadn't been able to cook in a long time so it was nice to be able to come home, truly home, and have a recipe success.

Experiment Progress

Well, it's Day 5 of my experiment and so far haven't had a problem with not eating out.  Until yesterday.  Yesterday, I was downright twitchy needing a fix.  Yes, I know I'm sad.

Mondays are mine and Giraffe's usual going out to eat night because it's one of the few he has off from school and work.  Plus I'd had a blah day and enjoy going out to be in a cheerful environment.  To me, endless refills make for a cheerful environment.

Like I had said previously, the only stipulation to my experiment was I could eat out if someone invited me.  Coincidentally, one of our friends had a gift card to Applebee's.  Of course, Applebee's had a special where you could get an appetizer and two entrees for $20.  So we went whole hog: appetizer, entree, and then to the mall for ice cream at Marble Slab.  Dang you and your amaretto ice cream with strawberries!  I did have the smallest cup possible, which equated to about a cup.  Not so bad, I hope?

Anyway, I'm back on the horse today and feeling good.  I haven't trained for my race since before the weekend, so I need to get back on that horse as well.  Maybe I need a new metaphor since riding two horses would be tricky.  Today I might try running outside for the length of the race since I've only ran on a treadmill.  I like the comfort of the constant weather of indoors as well as the TV.  There are no headphones allowed in the race so I need to mentally train myself as well.  Being in a competitive environment will most likely cause me to have a better running time than usual, but I still need to be as prepared as possible.

Three Birds with One Stone

It's four months into the new year and so far I've been good about one of my resolutions.  I have managed to make something every month even though some of the things have been small.  It's still progress, right?  Anyway, my mom's work hosts a 5K run every year and in the past I have helped out with the festivities leading up to the run but never actually participated.  I never ever would have considered doing it before college.  I was content to be in marching band and eat whatever I wanted before I realized the mechanics of diet and exercise.  (See: Freshmen 20 within first month of college.)

So recently I'm looking up local races because I had decided that I was going to find a race and train for it.  Then I find the website for the one at home and it clicked.  Why haven't I thought of this before?  Not only do I know the people organizing it, but I get to have family and friends cheering me on while I run through the pretty residential area.  Giraffe is doing it too so that'll be nice even though I will totally be eating his dust as he laps me over and over again.  

I have been training for a few months now running on a treadmill regularly, but that ceased when I went to Europe for a week and came back with my knee giving me fits.  However, we did a whole lot of walking around so at least it was some sense of physical activity daily.  Unfortunately, I was in a lot of pain by the time we left and stayed away from the treadmill for over a week.

So that brings us to a couple of days ago while I was talking to Victoria about needing to find the motivation to start training again for the race, which is two weeks from this Saturday.  I started out small again by doing strength training for 10 minutes then ran for 15 minutes and walked for 20.  My quads are still sore, but I actually missed that feeling.  I plan to do some more running this weekend, possibly running outside for a change if the weather's nice.  Giraffe found a greenway that is about the length of the race so we might head out there to get some "real" training since it will be outdoors and not controlled by a treadmill belt.

In preparation for the race, I have decided on conducting an experiment alongside the race.  I plan to take on another New Year's resolution by not eating out for 2 weeks.  This has an exception, though: being invited out by a third party will not penalize me.  This has to be the everyday lunch and dinner struggle that I face.  This experiment, if all goes well, will be beneficial because:

1. I can put the right things into my body while training for the race.
2. Save some money and see what my account is like since most of my spending is eating out.
3. Learn to cook more freely and fearlessly.
4. I will lose some weight while training, potentially checking off another resolution on the list (lose 5 lbs).

There will be an ultimate reward for completely all this, even though the list above is more than enough to be rewarding.  After the race and I drive back to resume normal life again, I plan on getting a message at my favorite spa place.   Just thinking about all those Aveda products are putting me in a coma. 

Our Heroes

Oh yeah.

Pantry Organize

The clutter had taken over the pantry and it was getting out of control.  It was time.

Notice all the cereal on the top shelf.  And the chips up waaaay too high so that I could never reach them.  (To self: Must try this on things I overeat.)  The second shelf down was originally supposed to be the canned good shelf.  It's now home to instant mashed potatoes, jam, funny shaped Coke bottles...I started putting stuff up there because it had the most space, which went downhill very quickly.  (Sidenote: Can anything really go downhill slowly?)

Here's a close-up of the shelves I most wanted to tackle.  I started off meaning the "baking shelf" (3rd down), but it ended up being all three. 

This is the reason I wanted to do the baking shelf.  I had all this room in a cabinet that the baking stuff would fit perfectly in.  I have my vanilla, almond extract, cinnamon, cloves, ginger...you get the idea.  The inspiration came from when I was having to find a place for my new Dutch oven (<3!).

Here is the after of the pantry.  I'm praying people can notice a difference.  First off, the cereal is not as high.  I rediscovered my cereal bin (amazing what you can find when you clean up!) and put the two boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios (shout out to Victoria) in it.  Then I moved the chips down to normal people level so in case I do get a hankerin' for chips, I don't have to get the chair.  Or Giraffe.  Next shelf turned out very well.  I put the cans so you actually see what each thing is and grouped them accordingly.  I still have a few non-can items on the shelf, but at least they're in a neat little row out of the way.  The baking shelf doesn't look that much better in the picture, but it does in person.  I can see everything, which was not the case earlier.  I also did the last shelf, which didn't need that much rearranging, but it used a wee bit of tidying nevertheless.

The best part: it only took five minutes! That's including screwing up the pictures because I'm too short to get a good shot.  So there was lots of holding the camera above my head.  Good thing I moved the chips.

Exciting news: Astro and I are going to Europe!  We leave in 2 days and are hitting up London and Malta for 10 days.  Europe will never be the same.  I can't wait!