Cooking Blogs!

So right as I start my own little cooking blog, I got an invite to join in one with some friends.

The site is: ieatsoicook.blogspot.com

It should be fun to be part of a group blog. I'm trying to post different things on each blog, although I'm sure that some will overlap. So, check it out!

“Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely.”~ P.J. O'Rourke

I love my new vacuum! Being able to vacuum up my room is AMAZING. Seriously, so good.

"Strict punctuality is perhaps the cheapest virtue which can give force to an otherwise utterly insignificant character." ~ John F. Boyes

You know what important value has been forgotten in our world today? Punctuality.

People these days are late for everything. What is with that? Since when did it become acceptable to

Events you should never be late to:

1. A date. I don't care how many girls have kept you waiting in the past, that doesn't mean that this girl is going to keep you waiting, or wait around for you.

2. A movie/play/anything that has a set starting time. If they weren't planning to start at 7pm, they would have told you otherwise.

3. A dinner party. If someone has spent all day cooking for you, and timing it so that dinner is going to be hot on the table when you get there and you're late . . . how do you think that makes them feel?

You know what? I was going to make a list of things you should never be late to, and a list of things that it *might* be okay to be late to. Then I realized something: IT'S NEVER OKAY TO BE LATE. If someone doesn't care what time you get there, they will tell you they don't care. "Oh, anytime between 4 and 6" means between 4 and 6. Which means that "7" means 7. So just don't be late. There is a reason that you are given a time to be there.

The most annoying thing ever that sparked this blog post? Being almost two hours late to meet to drive together from Salt Lake City to Saint George. Yes, I do want to get home as soon as possible. No, I don't want to sit around with absolutely nothing to do because I didn't everything I needed to so that we could leave at that specific time. I generally try not to complain about people on my blog (because you never know if they're reading this) but that is just ridiculous.

"I stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem."

It finally happened! An Echo in the Bone came out yesterday, and you know what? It was totally worth the 3 year wait. Of course, I have my complaints, but as a whole it was great. And, it gave me something to look forward to after the end of Harry Potter. Now I have another 3-4 years and then . . . ? I don't know if I can go on after all the series I am following end! Seriously, after the last Harry Potter book came out, it was like my life had ended. What more was there? What could I look forward to? And then I remembered: Outlander. There was still a little more to life. But after this . . . rumor has it this is the second to last book. Rumor being Diana's website. But, maybe she'll start writing number 8 and realize that it's not really the end. Let's hope so. For my sake.

Aloo Phujia

I love Indian food. Although, generally only when I make it myself. I have seldom gone to an Indian restaurant I have enjoyed. Why is that I wonder? Could it be because the restaurants aren't good, or is the Indian food I make just not authentic and it's actually not even Indian food that I like?!

Whether it's really Indian food or not, I love these potatoes!

Aloo Phujia

1 chopped onion (red because they are prettier)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 lbs. potatoes peeled and cut into cubes

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp. ground turmeric

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

3 tomatoes, chopped

Directions:

Heat oil in a frying pan and light brown the onion.

Stir in salt, cayenne pepper, turmeric, and cumin.

Add potatoes and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add tomatoes, cover pan, and cook until potatoes are soft (about 10 minutes).

Szechuan Chicken!

You know what I was thinking, I should really take pictures of the food I make to put on this blog! Of course, then I kind of doubt I would ever post anything . . .

Anyways, today my good friend Sunny came over for dinner and I made Szechuan chicken. I have loved this ever since I went to a restaurant called Little Village Noodle House in Honolulu. Szechuan chicken is so delicious! I don't have an exact recipe because I just kind of wing it. But the nice thing is that it calls for all ingredients that I always have on hand.

So here goes:

Ingredients

Chicken

Cornstarch

Oil

Garlic

Soy Sauce

White Wine Vinegar (or normal White Vinegar)

Sugar

Water

Green Onions

Cayenne Pepper

Directions

Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes and lightly coat with corn starch

Heat some oil in a frying pan, add minced garlic (I like a lot)

Add chicken and fry until all sides are white

Add soy sauce (I would say for 1 lb of chicken it would be about 3-5 tablespoons)

Add vinegar (for the same amount of chicken 1-2 tablespoons)

Sprinkle with sugar

Add a couple of tablespoons of water. It just depends on how strong of a flavor you want and how runny you want the sauce.

Add diced green onions and cayenne pepper. You can make it as spicy as you want.

Anyways, I know these aren't very good directions, but it's really good so you should try it!

Mediterranean Potato Salad

Since Ray is leaving on a mission to Italy, for the party tonight we've made a bunch of Italian food!

This is my favorite so far:

Ingredients
2 lbs potatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 cucumber, sliced and quartered
1/2 cup sliced red onion
8 oz. crumbled feta cheese
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup Italian-style salad dressing
salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm. Drain, cool, and chop.
Combine the potatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, red onion, and cheese.
Whisk together the lemon juice, salad dressing, salt, and pepper. Pour over salad and toss to coat.

This is really good if you serve it with pita bread! Or just eat it by itself. Whatever you want!

Parmesan Chicken

I'm going to start with this delicious new recipe that I found. My favorite place to eat is Noodles and Company. Noodles and Co. makes a wonderful Parmesan chicken that I sometimes dream about. In order to cull my cravings, I decided I would try to find a recipe and make it myself. I'd tried this before with one of their noodle recipes, but it was never quite as good. This Parmesan chicken, however, is even better than the original!

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter (melted)

1 clove minced garlic (or more, I really like garlic)

1 cup dried bread crumbs

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (you can use either grated cheese or that powdery stuff. I prefer the powdery stuff because then your chicken isn't as greasy)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

Italian seasoning (to taste, a couple shakes should do it)

2 lbs. boneless chicken (either cut into strips or 2x2 pieces)

Directions

Preheat over to 450 F

Combine the minced garlic with the melted butter in a bowl

In another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients

Dip the chicken into the butter, and then coat it in the crumb mixture

Place the pieces on a baking dish and drizzle with the leftover butter (not too much!)

Bake for about 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through

Missing Recipes

I often cook delicious things from recipes I find online, and then I lose them forever! In order to put an end to this, I've created this blog to keep all my recipes so that I'll always be able to find them!

"Darling, I don't know how to tell you this, but there's a Chinese family in our bathroom."

I just saw my favorite movie. Well, I suppose I shouldn't go as far as to say that. But, I highly recommend watching (500) Days of Summer. Even though it cautions you in the beginning that it is not a love story, it's one of the best love stories I've ever seen. Seriously, go see it.

“It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis” ~ Margaret Bonnano

I am so tired of love stories that don't end with "happily ever after". I know that everyone says that's something made up by Disney, it never happens, blah, blah, blah . . . but if we all know it's not realistic and it's not going to happen to us, what's the harm in reading about it?

This summer I finally read Gone With the Wind. I know, it's so weird that I had never read it before. In fact, maybe I have and I just forget? No matter. The point is, I LOVED it. It was a wonderful book. It pulled me in and I couldn't put it down. I haven't had that sort of relationship with a new book in a very long time. It was wonderful. I tried to read as slow as I could so that the feeling could last.

***don't read further if you plan to read this book***

Although Scarlett's life was full of disappointed love and fruitless marriages, I remained convinced that in the end all would work out and she would live happily ever after. After all, Gone with the Wind is known for being a wonderful epic romance. But in the end, Scarlett is left ALONE. She finally realizes she's in love Rhett, after he no longer gives "a damn". I know it's supposed to end upliftingly with the last lines "After all, tomorrow is another day." but that's not the point! It's supposed to be a romance. No one cares that Scarlett is going to be able to live her life alone, we want her to get together with Rhett! The only thing that kept me reading was the hope that one day she would realize she loved Rhett and they would like happily ever after!

After this disappointment with Margaret Mitchell, I finished up my summer reading with a string of sci-fi/fantasy novels. If the author throws any romance into those, you always know it's going to work out.

After a few months, I decided to give romance another try with Forever Amber. Published 8 years after Gone With the Wind, it was not quite as gripping, but still highly entertaining and followed a similar pattern. Girl is young and falls in love with man. Convinces herself she's in love with him, and spend rest of book trying to be with him. Not remembering my past disappointment, I read on, concluding that in the end, Amber would end up with Bruce. But it never happened. Not only did the book not bring Amber and Bruce into the realm of happily ever after, I got the feeling that the book never actually ended! It's as if Kathleen Winsor simply got tired of writing so she stopped.

Well, enough ranting and raving. I actually would recommend both those novels highly. Just not to anyone looking for romance in their lives.

“From the moment I was six I felt sexy. And let me tell you it was hell, sheer hell, waiting to do something about it.” ~ Bette Davis

"We forget that what matters begins with the imagination." ~ Terry Brooks

So guess what I did last night? I met Terry Brooks!

And yes, I have read ALL of his books. It was so lucky that I got to see him! I happened to go to the bookstore, and saw a sign that said "Meet the Author: Terry Brooks, Sept.11 6:30 pm" then suddenly I realized that it was Sept.11! Of course, this doesn't quite make up for the fact that Diana Gabaldon is touring pretty much every city except Salt Lake City (scratch that, she's also not going to Vegas, since I would have been willing to drive there for her too). But still!!! It was quite exciting, and he even wrote happy birthday to Ray in a book! And of course he signed a book for me too! "Wishing you magical journeys", yep, that's right! Terry Brooks wishes me magical journeys! I wonder how many years of book signings it took him to come up with that phrase . . .?

"I am what the librarians have made me." ~Bernard Keble Sandwell

I feel like a lot of things have happened, yet I can't figure out what to write about!

I've started school! Yay! Here are the classes I'm taking:

Introduction to Information Access and Retrieval

Management of Information Agencies

Introduction to the Information

So, it should be a fun semester! Actually, these intro classes seem like they lean a little more towards the boring, but it will lead up to fun classes! I made a 2 year plan and everything. So I'm all set to graduate August of 2011! That is going to come up fast.

I would go into more detail about my classes, but it would just bore, and plus I've got to spend time working on my homework instead of my blog!

"If you're too skinny, it looks like you're near death". ~Kirstie Alley

So . . . Fall is coming! With that comes exciting things . . .

Such as these:

And these:

And all of these:

It would seem that this will be a wonderful Fall. I finally live in a place cold enough that I could wear the aforementioned boots without looking crazy, and there are adorable boots to be bought in every store!

Unfortunately . . . I have disproportionate legs!!! I've tried on boot after boot after boot, and they fit perfectly until they reach my calves . . . and then they just fall into floppy ugliness . . . Not a boot will stay up. . . I knew I should have played more sports as a child. Then maybe I would have wonderful large calf muscles that can hold up a boot. . . .