Weekend Recap

Oh let's see, what did I do this weekend.....


Friday- I was stuck in the office all by myself. My boss and coworkers were all gone, so I left at 4:30, came home, talked to Yogi for a bit, who tried to convince me to drive up and see him in Keystone, but I declined. I was planning on doing nothing but hanging out on the couch when he said that I had to get out of the house. Good point. I ended up doing just that. I went to dinner with my mom at Outback where I finally told her I was going to Vermont next weekend, and could she give me a ride? Yeah, I didn't give her any of the juicy details. Later that night I went out barhopping downtown with M and another friend. It was a success.

Saturday- I slept in. Oh my how I've missed uninterrupted sleep. I don't think I did anything important. I did go to church with my mom, and then hung out with my brother who came home from college for the weekend. We ended up seeing The Ugly Truth at the cheap movie theater--when I say cheap, I mean cheap. Tickets were only $3.50. FTW! It was a good movie too, I laughed alot. I still need to see the Proposal and the Hangover. After the movie, we came home and caught up on things, and then I logged onto Facebook to check my crops on Farmville, because I'm so cool like that. Turns out the Asshole was online, and he basically called me out asking why I keep blowing him off. I told him how I just can't make anymore effort anymore and he called me passive aggressive. Yeah, it was a nice conversation. Not. He never apologized but instead said he misses me and wants to talk things out. I really don't know how I feel about it. I'm just too nice. I did agree to meet with him tonight to talk things out aka I want to yell at him and make him feel like a jerk. So at least that will be cathartic for me, considering i never did yell at him before when he ditched me.


Sunday- I slept in again, took our dog to the blessing of the pets at church, and then headed over to M's place. Her mom joined us and we made homemade pizza from scratch! It was definitely a success. I will post the recipe and accompanying pictures later this week. After her mom left M and I ate our creations and caught up. It was a great day. Then I headed to dinner where I met some alumni. It was okay, and I obviously wasn't hungry, but I did go. Dinner lasted two hours too. oy. But all in all, it was a good weekend.



How was your weekend?

Chicken Pot Pie

Last month M and I made Chicken Pot Pie, courtesy of Oprah.com. It didn't take long, and it used up some extra chicken we had in the fridge. I would make it again, but next time I am going to reduce the amount of cornbread. I like cornbread but I felt like it took over the filling and I like my pot pie nice and juicy. Also please note--we didn't use any Tabasco sauce.

Yum!

Here's the original recipe:

Filling:

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 medium Onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups chopped Roasted Chicken
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet petite peas
• 1 potato, diced and boiled
• 1 1/2 cup chopped, cooked carrots
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Cracked pepper
• Dash of Tabasco® sauce

Crust:

• 3/4 cup white or yellow cornmeal
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil

To make filling: Preheat the oven to 400°. Spray a 2-quart casserole with cooking spray. In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil and unsalted butter together. Add onion and sauté until tender, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add in flour until blended. Slowly stir in 2 cups of heated chicken stock, whisking well. Cook mixture over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, about 4 minutes. Stir in chicken, peas, potato, carrots, salt, pepper and Tabasco®. Pour into a 2-quart ovenproof casserole dish coated with cooking spray and spread mixture evenly.

To make crust: In a bowl, stir cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Stir milk, egg and canola oil until well combined. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Spoon the batter evenly on the filling. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes.

I made funfetti cookies last night!! Pictures to come soon!!!

TGIF

YAYYYYYYY! This week is overrrrrrrrrr. Man, this one felt like a long one.

I don't have much going on this weekend--it's S's birthday tomorrow and the GABF party is on Sunday. Possible ideas of things to do this weekend include:

1. Spending time outside including going for a hike or taking pictures of the beautiful trees and landscapes. I think that would be relaxing.
   
2. Journaling
3. Shopping for a pair of new boots
4. Dropping off dry cleaning/getting jeans altered
   
5. Going to the Family 9News Health Fair to get my blood tested.
6. Possible breakfast plans with my family and grandma

I went to a cooking class last night with M at our apt complex. We didn't get to do the cooking, but we certainly got to eat it. The guy who cooked everything works at the OMNI Hotel as a sous chef. His name is Patrick and he lives in our building on the third floor. He made tomato and mozzarella and basil as an appetizer, pasta carbonara as the main dish, and cannolis, which he dipped each side in crushed pistachios and chocolate chips. It was super yummy, and fun to eat. (I should've taken pictures) I also met this girl Stacie whom I have seen walking in the mornings. It was fun. They are planning to do it again next month with a thanksgiving theme. Can't wait!

Side note: I hate the new layout of iGoogle. I want my tabs back on the top!

Dessert please

I've never heard of peach cobbler cake, but now that I know such a thing exists, I want to try and make it. So far I've had good luck with the recipes I've tried. I made my own egg salad last week, and shrimp linguine the week before that. Desserts can be really hard to make, but it's worth trying.

Another thing I want to try and make sometime are ginger snap cookies. Those sound yummy!

Just Peachy

On Saturday, M and I made her favorite dessert--peach cobbler. This is what it looked like coming out of the oven. It was SO good! SA gave me this recipe. It's from weight watchers and has less sugar in it--so it's low fat too! Yay! I also learned a trick from M to get the skins off the peaches easier. You boil the peach in water for about 30 seconds, then put it under cold water, and vwa la! The skin will come off!

M was totally excited, and I was happy to make it for her as a belated b-day gift. I still have to get her a card and stuff, but I'll make it a priority soon.

What prompted this you might ask? Well, this week of her b-day, one of her co-workers asked her what she wanted for the birthday luncheon. Yes, her work is that cool that they have b-day luncheons. Anyways, she said she wanted peach cobbler or any kind of cake. Well, then later on that week or something, she asked me if I could be a dessert, what would I be? She obviously said she would be peach cobbler, to which her dad said it was because she's "wholesome." LOL. After thinking about it for all of like a minute, I said I would be a cupcake because I'm sweet. (insert gagging noise here). I know, that's a cheesy answer, but I really do enjoy cupcakes! I even poised the same question to S while we made brownies. He said he would be cherry pie with really good crust. Of course my mom agreed with that answer--she loves cherry pie.

Saturday night I spent time with B and friends. We grilled out and played rockband. It's such a fun game! Although I suck at guitar, it's too much coordination I think. Haha.

Sunday was good times as usual. It was our last jazz in the park weekend, which was bittersweet but still fun. S made it and he brought Max! It was exciting. Josh came with Kristen and Jake even made it, despite this 40 mile hiking trip. And John, Ashley, and Eliana came too! We made our 7 layer dip which was soooo freakin good, and had cherry limeades--the perfect summer drink. It was a great way to end the jazz in the park stint. I look forward to next summer!

An Update of Sorts...

Don't fret--I'm alive. I just haven't felt like blogging or haven't had the time to do so.

It's been a crazy week. But it has gone by fast. Over the weekend I was in B's wedding. It was fabulous & lots of fun. We had a sleepover the night before, and then got our hair done and drank mimosas in the morning. B looked absolutely stunning her in her dress. I was so excited and happy for her! (This pic was taken before the wedding in our "dressing room" at the church. R to L: maid of honor, Shannon, myself, and we're missing another bridesmaid, Tam, who presumably was taking the picture.) Then Sunday, I went swimming with M, and then went to jazz with the crew. I was just so tired.

Monday, I didn't do much, just worked hard. The web filter is down so I took full advantage of listening to music on Pandora, going on Facebook, and checking LJ. On Tuesday, I met up with K, Ashley, John, baby Eliana, and Jackie and her bf. We went to Parry's which is owned by two guys originally from Syracuse. They even had a wall of SU stuff, and I totally wore my orange SU NCAA finals shirt. On purpose. I know--I'm a dork. The pizza was good; I had cheese with pineapple, and then once the guy knew we were all either associated with SU or Syracuse or Upstate NY, he made us pizza fretes, aka fried dough with sugar and cinnamon. SO freakin' good. It totally reminded me of the times when the dining hall would have special dinners and make fried dough. Yummy! I will totally go back; the downside is that it's clear out South, like far, far, away. Like in Englewood apparently.

Work has been crazy because we are in the midst of shipping, and the layouts have changed and i've had to cut, and then add, and then find images, and write stuff. Yea, it's been busy, but I've actually stayed till 5:30 all week, and it's kinda rewarding. Last night I came home from work excited to make a fancy dinner--spaghetti with meat sauce, a salad, garlic bread, and wine. Yay for fancy dinners! I haven't cooked in a long long time, so it felt good. M and I definitely enjoyed our din din.

We have an ice cream party tomorrow at work, so I'm going to make brownies with my mom and S tonight. Should be fun times. I just have been craving a good brownie all week.

Matilda is doing wonderfully!! I'm so happy. She's had a few brown leaves, but I've been checking to make sure her soil is nice and moist. I decided to cut a few of the droopy flowers, but I also realized that Matilda is blooming! Yes, she has two new flowers already and about 8 very small ones that will probably bloom in the weeks to come. I'm so excited that she's doing well! I must be doing something right! Yay!

Other than that, weekend plans include M's birthday which is tomorrow! Saturday involves a festival of sorts and seeing Transformers with S. Sunday= church, another festival, family party, and jazz. Should be a fun weekend!