Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: classroom aide, interviews, jobs, settling, tutoring
so i declined the daycare job after all
why do i seem so determined to take jobs that i don’t want?
is it some inner compulsion to be employed?
is it a weird manifestation of self-loathing?
i am NOT going to take a job until i get offered one that i REALLY want
and on that note, i have a pretty cool interview tomorrow to be a companion/classroom aide to an 8-year-old autistic girl (starting with day camps this summer!)
and i’m still waiting to hear back from a recent interview at a tutoring facility
and i should be potentially getting invited to more interviews soon
so i’m happy
Filed under: Uncategorized
it’s at a home daycare facility
it’s not necessarily the job i wanted the most out of all the ones i’ve interviewed for
but it is the one i figured i would get offered
i took it, i start thursday
and if something else pops up then i may have to leave
it’s a chill place with a nice director and cute kids
but i really need to work with older kids if possible
so, yay! i guess?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beefsteak tomato, chicken bake, comfort food, cookbooks, grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches
my favorite part of our cookbook shelf in the pantry is my recipe file.
it makes me smile just realizing that i have a file folder with recipes that i printed from the internet, that i wrote notes on, that i re-use, to browse through and get inspiration from….
Man, i’ve always wanted to be a REAL cook!
tonight we’re making a chicken and stuffing casserole “bake” from a recipe in the spiral-bound book on that shelf. it’s one of Bear’s grandmother’s recipes, Mama Bear has been collecting the family recipes and copying them into this book for Bear. He’s had a long week so we’re making comfort food.
Incidentally, i was watching a random episode of 30-minute meals the other day in which R. Ray was making Monte Cristo sandwiches – you know the ham and cheese which you dip into beaten egg and then fry on the griddle?
anyway she said something inane about how this would work with any kind of sandwich blah blah grilled cheese and tomato blah blah blah…
and then i thought “huh, grilled cheese and tomato… that sounds awesome! and we have all those roma tomatoes on the vine i got at Costco… and that one beefsteak tomato from when we made fried green tomatoes that we let ripen and it needs to be eaten…”
so sufficed to say i’ve been eating variations on grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches all week!
my thoughts – the beefsteak tomato was the best because it was so firm and thick, and strong cheddar is the best cheese, and i like them with mayo (think like a BLT)
the best variation was when i split two toasted english muffins, spread two halves with a little liverwurst, put a slice of beefsteak tomato on top of all 4 halves, covered with tasty Tillamook cheddar and stuck them under the broiler til the cheese got bubbly – DELISH
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: apple strudel, corn, gooey chocolate, L Woods, mashed potatoes, salmon
so i have to give a shoutout to L Woods
this is the second year that my parents have taken us there for my birthday dinner and it never fails to deliver!
It’s a woodsy, wisconsin supper club, fish on the walls and lots of leather type of place and i love it.
Mom and I usually get one of the salmon dishes, while my Dad gets chicken or one of the specials, and Bear loves the peppercorn-crusted tenderloin tails
this is the BBQ’d salmon served on a cedar plank, surrounded by piped mashed potatoes with a side of fresh sweet corn. FABU!
they also have a gooey chocolate cake that you have to order 45 minutes in advance which is amazing! this year i decided to take pity on my cinnamon-lovin’ family and we got the Famous Apple Strudel and it was wonderful – especially with the pot of caramel sauce to pour all over it!
CAKES! from Dinkel’s!
Dinkel’s Bakery on Lincoln Ave has been providing my birthday cakes for as long as I can remember and my family loves them and of course Bear remembered so I got cakes!
notice the plural!!!
the above pictured cake was the “party cake” – a fudgy delicious treat with light and tasty frosting that was devoured post-haste
THIS is my Princess Cake
it’s so PINK! with strawberries and cream filling and encased in marzipan (and you never really see marzipan anymore do you? and i love that stuff!)
so yummers!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: birthday, mini-beers, mini-burgers, minnie's, surprise party, wine-pong
so last weekend was my 25th birthday and my amazing boyfriend and wonderful friends threw me a surprise party! I screamed like a little girl when i opened the door and bewildered just started hugging everybody in sight!
Bear bought a ton of potted plants for the decor so my porch garden has grown a ton!
He is so devious he somehow managed to make me think that it was my idea to go out to dinner with Refried Bean and a few other friends. Perhaps i should have been suspicious when so many people were too busy, said they’d meet up with us later, and so on…. but i am very gullible and trusting, plus i just thought nobody loves me 
So we went to Minnie’s! (btdubs, isn’t it SO awesome that they actually got minnies.com as their URL? i’m always impressed by that kind of thing)
I LOVE Minnie’s! the mini-sammies, the mini-beers, and the incredible frites with the dipping sauce! seriously, you gotta go! and next time we’re having the mini-martinis for sure. plus it’s a super-cute retro diner vibe which i’m a sucker for.
My favorite sammies are the Tenderloin, the Thanksgiving Delight, the burger, the turkey burger, and the Minnie Club
look how cute that club sammie is!
(lots of people like the BBQ pork, but i thought i was “meh” – too sweet. and i’ve never tried the Cubano but i hear good things)
So dinner was excellent, the surprise party was a complete shock and a total rager – i had to kick people out around 4:00 am, after an awesome experiment called “Wine-Pong” which involved plastic cups, ping pong balls, and a bottle of Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc, and the next day barbecue complete with giant trough of ice and beers on the front porch was fabulous as well.
all in all, excellent birthday!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: burgers, ferny, green city market, heartland meats, plants
This is the last few bites of the THE BEST BURGER EVER!
Heartland Meats has a stand at the Green City Market in Chicago and this year they’ve added a new stall next door – a burger stall!
Fantastic beef, ramp aioli, specialty cheese and other seasonal goodies on the bun. The burgers are amazing, they take a while to cook and they aren’t cheap, but the prices on the raw meat are pretty reasonable and I think being able to sample the product will drive sales up.
Mama Owl took me to the first day of the market and it was quite lovely. Good cheeses, honey, preserves, and lots of plants!
and this is Ferny.
I bought Ferny when he was a little tiny baby. I bought him and his comrade at Lowe’s in Galesburg in spring of 2005 with budding artistic intentions.
I made an interesting sculpture piece with the other plant… it was cool but it didn’t go exactly as i’d planned and i ended up moving on to other projects.
So Ferny lived on my bookshelf in my campus apartment, and beyond belief he survived past graduation!
So i brought him home to the tender care of my mother and he has since trebled in size and continues to thrive.
She is trying to send him home with me now, but i am so attached to him that i’m too scared to take responsibility for him yet – is that weird?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: angie, cilantro, happy birthday, plants, trevor
Bear bought me these two plants a couple days ago and I named them Trevor (on the right) and Angie (on the left).
live plants are better than cut flowers, don’t you think?
cause they last longer!
oh, and some of my little cilantro seeds are sending up shoots!
Happy birthday indeed.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: baby cops, olives and grapes, oompa-loompa, padma, scary lisa, silly hats, Top Chef
in the previouslies – on yeah producers! way to get one more use out of Andrew’s “culinary boner” soundbite
to counter Amuse-Biatch – proof that Stephanie may be straight! eyebrow plucking!!!
wow, Andrew’s got the loser’s edit so FAST
salad is NOT hard (oh no, don’t put the sexy back, please!) oh god they take it literally and all make “sexy” salads!
45 minutes is a long time to make a salad!
does Spike hate the top of his head?
“not great chefs and their attitudes suck” oh come ON Lisa! pot calling the kettles now girl!
Why is Sam a judge? Sure he’s hot, but come on! he didn’t even make it to the final 2! and doesn’t he work at a surf shack now? doesn’t that just sound like loads of fried foods?
NO NO NO! NO “sensual beef”!!!
Whoa, Richard’s on the bottom (which I’m guessing is NOT how he likes it)
that fast food looks GOOD
haha! calling out the baby cops on their bad eating habits!
Hey! the producers finally learned the meaning of the word “advantage”!
lucky Spike!
OK, Spike’s “strategy” is basically destined to fail
1) raw food sushi? for cops? um…. maybe Andrew deserves to lose…
2) to Stephanie – sushi ALWAYS fills me up!
I categorically refuse to comment on the “sabotage” issue
Spike’s Question of the Day is: do you like silly hats?
and my love for Spike grows ever stronger (even though he’s not that likeable…odd that)
We know, we know, Andrew is crewed, buh-bye
and he didn’t even use a whole grain! damn
this is another snoozer
i can’t stand how Padma talks sometimes
what’s different about Spike during judging? facial hair? or lack thereof?
you know if they sent Lisa home I wouldn’t miss her, but I don’t think it was so bad that she pointed out the judges’ precedent that people who don’t fulfill the rules of the challenge get sent home!
ha! Lisa is scared of getting punched?! look in a mirror girl, you’re terrifying! who would punch you?!
olives AND grapes in chicken salad does sound gross – just grapes in chicken salad i know i like, and just olives sounds potentially good, but together? um…ew….
Andrew had to go because of past precedent, but i will kind of miss him and his oompaloompa-ness!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: awesome, burgers, cheese, chili, guacamole, ultimate
SO EFFING GOOD!!!
they taste like Bear’s famous chili – with cumin and peppers – just awesome
Here’s the recipe straight from Bear:
1lb of ground beef (chuck)
1/2 of a Red Bell pepper
1/2 of a White Onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 Banana Pepper
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
1 egg
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Cumin to taste
Fold in all of the ingredients into one giant mold. Place 1TBSP butter into a medium high skillet. Cut meat into 4 round balls, and drop two of them into the pan making sure to keep the round form. After 3 min. of cooking, and making sure the meat is not sticking to the pan, with a spatula flatten out burger to desired thickness. Flip burger, and repeat.
For Medium cook on both sides for 5 min each
plus i had the brilliant idea of adding american cheese and guacamole and it really pushed them over the top to amazing!!!
