My day in pictures and stories

This post may be all over the place because that's kind of how my mind and my day has been today.

For starters I'm pleased to tell you the cookies I mentioned from the last post actually came out pretty well. Just don't eat them fresh out of the oven (which I don't like doing anyways. Hot cookies? Yuck.). I substituted half the butter with Greek yogurt (one of my favorite substitutions) and the peanut butter with PB2. The PB2 isn't as sweet as regular peanut butter so the cookies, therefore, weren't as sweet as I've known them to be. It's not bad, just different. I ended up adding about 1/4 cup of regular smooth peanut butter to the last 2-3 batches and those ones tasted better. Anyway, the staff liked them a lot. And they were healthier. And soft. And moist. Yum. Score!

Now yesterday I came home from work and fell asleep for about 50 minutes and woke up to my neighbor's obnoxious chihuahua barking. And not just freaking out barking but he would bark three times and pause for 2 minutes and bark three times. I wanted to kill him because a) it was annoying as ever and b) caused my dog to whine, whimper, growl, and bark as he ran around my apartment in frustration. Grrr......So I walked outside to make sure everything was ok and I think my neighbor and his girl were arguing. Ooooh a little drama next door! (Maybe?) After about 40 minutes the stupid dog stopped. I was NOT happy. And I think I got overheated when I was napping so I felt sick. Sad day. And I really wanted bread but I didn't have any, at least none that I wanted. I wanted french bread. 

So. I showered, felt better, and then made some bread. 3 hours later (@ 11:45pm), voila!, I had bread.

YUM. French bread=a very happy Gabe

Next.

When I was in college my roommate Emily (hi Emily!) had this great conditioner that made her hair look and smell AH-mazing: Matrix Sleek and Shine. So I tried it and I loved it and then for whatever reason I decided to move on to a different brand. I think I'm always looking for the brand that makes me hair look, smell, and feel amazing. Well, years later after being unsatisfied with most of the products I've tried, I one day had the brilliant idea to go back to this brand because so far, it's been the best. Well, this stuff is hard to find. 

No matter.

Amazon has everything AND I got shampoo and conditioner for the price of one. Score! 

And they arrived today. Good thing because when I washed my hair last night, I was sad. My conditioner is almost gone and I don't like my shampoo and my hair needs some TLC. 

Next. I checked my mail today and almost threw this out. 

What's this?. Another frozen yogurt place near me that I have a 50% coupon to and just have to go try?  Well darn... 

Then I went to yoga. I love Fridays because it's my yoga day and I think it's a swell way to end the work week. I had a really hard time concentrating tonight. I couldn't focus on anything, I found myself forgetting to breathe properly, and my quads are aching and I don't know why. It was a great practice but geez it was hard mentally. You see I was thinking about Clary and Drew and Noah today and how I can't wait to see them hopefully in the near future. And....

I met with my manager today because I've decided we need to revamp our patient menu and include more gluten free stuff so I pitched a few ideas to her. I'm excited. She's letting my take the reins on this. BUT she decided to take the time to go over my goals since our annual reviews are coming up (....).  Apparently she thought I hadn't met one of my goals, which technically was ok (according to her) since I can still play the "I'm-a-new-dietitian" card (muahahah). The goal is to do an activity each month with the rehab patients I work with on one of the floors. Little did she know I had completed my goal. Apparently I am supposed to tell her every month when I do this. I couldn't tell if she was surprised that I had done it and not mentioned anything to her or if she was slightly annoyed that I had done it and not mentioned anything to her. I didn't realize I was supposed to make a big deal out of it. Once again my independent nature works against me. Curses.

So that whole incident was playing through my mind. I don't know if I feel embarrassed, sheepish, or stupid. Either way, I did what I was asked so lesson learned. Be more vocal. (Still feel stupid).

So after yoga I decided to hit up World Market to browse and pick up some Ghiradelli chocolate chips because I am sick and tired of having to use low quality chocolate chips in my baking!!! NO MORE. Two bags of 36oz. Ghiradelli chocolate chips later and I am a happy woman. And so is my chocolate chip jar. 

As I was browsing I stumbled upon a few things I just had to have: 

*The Republic of Tea's Apple Cider Tea

*Zhen'as Gypsy Tea's Firelight Chai Herbal Red Tea (which I am sipping on now with a dash of milk and 2 packets of sweetener. Its' goooooood)

*THE BEST chocolate chips (one bag 60% cacao and one bag semi-sweet. Hallelujah!)

*Ginger

*Maple leaf cookie cutter

If you couldn't tell...

I am SO ready for fall.

I have decided that I have created a fall challenge for myself: make a fall-themed meal and dessert every weekend. Bring on the pumpkin, butternut squash, and apples (Macintosh please!!!), among other delicious things. 

Jeepers I can't wait for fall. Too bad tomorrow it's supposed to be 91. Gross.

And tomorrow is September 1st. My birth month. Let the month long celebrating begin!!!!

(The month long celebration idea started in college with my dear friend Shawna who celebrates her birthday the entire month. Brilliant! So I have adopted this practice and let me tell you, I am a fan). 

CB comes to MB

Clary came!! 

Prepare for a picture overload...

(and I promise we did more than eat...these are just the moments I happened to think to take out my camera. Basically I've been slacking in the photo-taking department. And the blogging department. Sorry!)

Thursday, I picked her up from the Charleston airport and then we headed to our hotel, which was in North Charleston. We contemplated going into Charleston that evening but to be honest, we were both pretty tired (I was wicked tired from a very long work week) so we went to a Greek place for gyros and stuffed grape leaves and chatted, caught up, hung out. Love Greek food. I mean, if you read this blog you know I love food but I especially love Mediterranean food. Then we went to the Tangor Outlets near our motel where I got some SWEET new Nike running kicks for a grand whoppin' total of $32, originally $90. WHAAAAT!!?? I know, I know. Beam with me here. I love a good deal. And the shoes are so cool. Then we hit up Wal-mart for some ice cream and we just couldn't decide so we got these:

I am happy to tell you we did not finish them all. The new Greek Yogurt Ben and Jerry's flavors are good. The peanut butter banana was pretty tasty, though I thought the small amount was perfect; any larger and I might not have liked it as much. 

Friday we slept in (yaaay!) and then wandered around downtown Charleston. It's very cute. It has a lot of fun shops, neat architecture, history. It was very cool.

I love these trees!

We had lunch at an Italian place and then we wandered around a little more and then decided to head to back to Myrtle Beach. We didn't stay in Charleston too long because a) it was blasted hot with the sticky humidity, b) we both wanted to get home, c) we wanted to beat the traffic because it was, after all, Friday on Memorial Day Weekend. 

But first.

We stopped at Whole Foods because this is the closest one to me and as we were wandering around we came upon gelato and we tasted some (a must!) and then we decided to be crazy and taste this weird flavor they had: pineapple basil.

OH. MY. LANTUS.

TO DIE FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we split one. Oooooh so good!

We got home safely and in good time and hung out. We were pretty tired. It was nice! Clary recommend the series "Once Upon a Time" so I started watching it a few days before she came. I LOVE it. I have no qualms admitting that I love fairy tales so I was hooked on this new show that weaves in all the fairy tales into one rather complex but well done story line. It's quite clever. Well, we finished the series while Clary was here. I can't wait for the second season! 

Saturday I had originally planned to take Clary to Wilmington, NC but being that it was a holiday weekend and I didn't feel like getting up early to beat traffic, nor did I want to spend most of Clary's vacation here in the car, we opted to just hang out here in Myrtle Beach. I took her to Broadway at the Beach (aka Redneck Riviera...bahahahah!) and showed here one of the hot touristy spots. I really don't care for this place but everyone needs to go and see it. We went into the crazy candy store "It's Sugar" and had some fun in there. 

I found this particularly amusing on a GIANT box of gummy bears!

Ok. Let's talk about Black Biker Week. This is my first time experiencing this and let me tell you...it was something. I'm glad it's only once a year. Bikers/motorcyclists in general make me nervous because they weave in and out of traffic as they want (and are apparently the exception to several of the driving rules???), but when HOARDS of them show up in loud, revving, obnoxious groups, I am not a fan. Nor am I am fan of their lady passengers who are scantily clad in booty short, thongs, and/or bikini bottoms because these bikes are not your typical motorcycles; they slant up so you get a very unfortunate view of booty. Again, not. a. fan. 

Our tradition whenever we are together is to get sushi. This dates back to when Clary and I first became friends and she introduced me to sushi. I am indebted to her for my love of this stuff!!!!!

Monday I had to, very unfortunately, work so Clary bummed around my apartment all day. When I came home we worked out and then decided to go see "The Avengers" since she had not yet seen it. But first, we made Margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella and fresh Basil from my little plant. We weren't super hungry so we snuck it in to the movies (I have some very sneaky skills) and dined while we watched the film. If you have not seen "The Avengers" you need to go stat. It is very well scripted with excellent dialogue and fabulous humor. Plus it's action-packed! REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good. Go see it!

Her visit was, of course, too short but I'll be venturing to Tucson in August as we are both bridesmaids in a friend's wedding. She left early Tuesday morning and I had to get to work so it was kind of a rip-the-band-aid-good bye. Sometimes it's better that way. 

And now I have a doctor story. 

I worked this weekend and was consulted to manage a patient's tube feedings. This patient has been on tube feeds for 3 years and in situations like this, these patients are typically pretty stable so I figured it would be quick and easy. FALSE. The patient was pretty underweight so I wanted to alter his regimen a little to give him some additional nutrition. Well, his wife would have none of it. Every single thing I suggested was shot down completely. I'm learning to very carefully pick my fights with certain patients and this one was one I bowed out of because I could tell she wasn't going to let me do anything. So, I made my suggestions and told her I would let manage his feeds. I was looking for his chart to write my notes in and the doctor following him had it. I hadn't met him before, though I've heard/seen his name several times and know this doctor is one of our regulars, well-respected, etc., so I approached him, introduced myself and told him I was going to continue to allow the wife to manage the feedings because she wasn't interested in letting me take over.

"Chicken." 

My thoughts: Chicken? Give the patient chicken? What? He's NPO. He'll aspirate. I can't do that!

"What?"

"Chicken. You're a chicken aren't you?"

It dawned on me he was teasing me so I laughed and told him I had spent about 30 minutes throwing out every suggestion I could think of and she wasn't buying it. He laughed with me and told me it was a smart move. Whew. I didn't want to look like an idiot, you know????

I bought this beaut at Home Goods yesterday. Pretty right?!

I'm in charge of a youth activity in a couple of weeks and I'm going to teach the girls to make homemade rolls so naturally I had to try out the recipe first. 

Mmmmmm.....fresh rolls! Sunday baking is one of my favorite things!

And in other news.... 

*I am running a half marathon in October, October 21st to be exact. Training is coming along. I've been really busy so it's been tricky to get started but I'm PSYCHED for this. I hope I'm ready.

*This month is going to be insanely crazy: my youngest brother's high school graduation this week, my mom's wedding the next weekend in California, and then my other brother's wedding in Washington state the weekend after that. This is a partying month! So, you'll be sympathetic if my blogging is a little sparse this month, right?

But what I'm most excited for is....

*HOME!!!!!!!!!! NEW ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!*


P.S. Apparently I can no longer use playlist.com to play music on my blog. This angers me. 

Bread. The Elixir of My Life.

One day I'm going to write a book called "How Baking and Cooking Saved My Life...and Other Random Thoughts." 

It's a working title.

It will be filled with recipes and...stories. And humor. Because that's an essential ingredient...to good writing (that was so corny BUT you loved it didn't you?!?)

So if you didn't catch my recent post or this post, you've missed out of my indescribable desire to go to Europe. Legit. I can't even describe it except to tell you that when I go, I probably will not come back. So, to satiate my on-going and exponentially-growing desire, I had to do something and, well, baking and now cooking, and yoga are my calming techniques. I found a fabulous, easy (no really, it's so easy it's ridiculous) recipe to make French bread and by joe, I love bread so I was determined to make it. 

And make it I DID.

Recipe below. 

I learned how to properly form my dough into a boule (the youtube video is faaaabulous)

In they went...and I was nervous. 

Out they came...and I was really nervous. 

Sliced it. 

PERFECTION. 

Crispy outside and melt-in-your-mouth inside. HOLY CAT SCANS. 

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I MADE IT! I DID IT! I MADE (whole wheat) FRENCH BREAD!!!!!

And you had better believe I ate it.

 I indulged in every. last. bite.  

And I managed not to eat the entire loaf. Quite a feat. 
Dang it's good. 

Recipe (adopted from CookingForSeven):
Ingreds:

• 3.5 cups of lukewarm water
• 1.5 Tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1.5 Tablespoons coarse salt (I used coarse kosher salt...like the kind you sprinkle of pretzels...oooh yum!)
• 6.5 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)

Directions:

1. Place the water, yeast, and salt in a big mixing bowl and then dump the flour in. Mix with a wooden spoon until all mixed together and moist.

2. Cover loosely and let it sit until it has risen and deflated a little (I waited a painful 20 minutes). Now bake it or store in in the fridge until you are ready to use.

3. If you chose the baking route read on (this is like those books where you had to choose which page to turn to and it kept going on and on and you could have alternate endings, you know? I hated those books)....

The recipe said to wet your hands to prevent your hands from sticking but I floured my hands and that worked fine so it's up to you (more choices, gosh I'm cruel). I split the dough to make 2 loaves (obviously...since you looked at the pictures). Form the dough into a boule (which is a ball--and if you have no idea how to do it, click here. It's easy, I promise, and fun!).

4. Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment paper (YES) or cornmeal-dusted cutting board (or cornmeal-dusted parchment paper...that's what I did). Let the dough rest for (yet another painful) 40 minutes.

5. About 20 minutes before you're ready to pop the bread in the oven, put a cast iron skillet or pizza stone on the center rack of the oven and place a roasting pan (or a 13x9-inch pan <---I used) on the bottom rack. Preheat oven to 450 degree Fahrenheit.

6. Dust some flour over the top of your risen bread and cut a few slashes into the top about 1/4 inch deep (this was my favorite part; I felt so legit). Transfer the dough onto the skillet or pizza stone, *quickly pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the roasting pan and shut the oven door QUICKLY to keep the steam inside. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is nice and brown. 

7. Cool completely before cutting (uh...yeah...ok. I did not do that). 

8. Indulge guiltlessly pretending you're in France eating a legit baguette because you're half way there! 

*NOTE: If you forget to add the hot water for steam, you'll be ok. Do not panic. 

I ate my bread with Havarti cheese (sliced...lame! I need a chunk to be really legit!) and frozen grapes. Frozen grapes are my new favorite snack right now. Try it. Or frozen blueberries. SO. GOOD.