Jan 21st – Day 21

Saturday I was at Hacienda on Henderson for a birthday dinner and a movie was being filmed there.  See the guy in the picture above, I tried googling him and looking him up on IMDB; no luck!  Supposedly he is or was on the Lying Game but I couldn’t find any proof.

Jan 22nd – Day 22

It had been over 3 weeks since I had last seen my nephews.  So I had a blast hanging out with them Sunday afternoon.  E has gotten so big, and W still doesn’t like to have his picture taken so the silly face was the best I could get!

Jan 23rd – Day 23

Monday night I was determined to finish reading “The Marriage Plot” by Jeffrey Eugenides that I forced myself to sit and finish it.  Now I can say I’ve read it and won’t ever recommend it to anyone, see Monday’s post!

 Jan 24th – Day 24

I had no idea that Starbucks did Valentine’s cups, but how cute is this one! Now if only the Cup Magic App was up to date!

Jan 25th – Day 25

Going to a Scentsy party was fun and dangerous…I walked away ordering way more than I probably should have, but I can’t wait for my new scents to arrive!

Jan 26th – Day 26

I love my new business cards so much I can’t wait to hand them out!

Jan 27th – Day 27

Borrowing this from yesterday.  Last night I finally made it to Del Frisco’s Grille and tried the Apt 5D martini that was delicious.  Look for a review coming next week!

This was my first time to knowingly try a Rioja wine.  I’m sure I’ve had one before, but I couldn’t tell you when or which one.  This one was a gift (thanks Gabby & Jeremy) which made it even more fun to try!

While full of flavor, this Rioja is surprisingly light with a hint of pepper.  Almost seems like it’d be a great summer time red because of it’s airy quality.  This reminds me of a Tempranillo.

In an effort to learn a little more about Riojas I looked it up on wikipedia and shocker….Rioja is a blended wine. . No wonder I liked it.

I opened this bottle up a good 30 minutes before trying it and by the time I had my 2nd glass it was perfect.  So I definitely recommend giving it some time to breath before drinking it.

A couple weeks back, during the cleanse, I was determined to find a meal to prepare in my crockpot.  I had been so excited to get my crockpot from Beth for Christmas, but then got way too busy to use it and next thing I knew we were doing the cleanse and I was afraid I’d have to wait even longer to use it.  Until I stumbled upon this recipe fro “Slow-Cooker Mexican Chicken.”  It fit all of the requirements of the cleanse and seemed really easy, so I decided to give it a try!

I’m a big fan of spice, so I decided to add a few things to this recipe including: 2 jalapenos, a bell pepper and an Anaheim chili.

I did all the chopping the night before so that I could just throw everything in the next day.

Needless to say the next morning I was entirely too giddy about cooking my first crockpot meal!  I got to work and was telling my officemates about my recipe and the immediately told me that I was going to have a smoky, burned mess when I got home because I didn’t add any water to the crockpot.  I was freaked out!

What if I got home and this:

was inedible?  Fortunately that was not the case!  Look how good it turned out:

I was so relieved and excited that not only did the meal turn out, but it was SO good!  I had picked up a bag of Uncle Ben’s Instant Brown Rice and we had a cleanse approved  meal.

This probably isn’t the most picture, but this is what it looked like on the plate:

If you clicked on the recipe link above, you’ll notice my chicken has a lot more “flair” to it, if you will (not sure why since you can’t really even see the additional peppers I added), than the picture from Tosca Reno’s post.  Maybe my small jar of salsa was bigger than the one she used?

I have no made this meal 3 times and each time it has been a little different.  Second time I didn’t add in all the extra peppers but I did add in some garlic powder and onion powder.  The first two times I added in frozen diced onions because I already had them.  And all three times, because I love it, I added cilantro.

You can definitely make this dish your own! A twitter follower told me they added avocado to it.  I also saw a very similar recipe posted elsewhere that included added cheese.  So be sure to have fun with it!

Do you use a slow cooker? What are your favorite recipes, post a link or share a recipe in the comment section I am anxious to try more crockpot receipes!

This Christmas my dad hooked me up with a Kindle Fire; naturally I felt pressure to make my first Kindle purchase a good one!  So I pulled up a few best seller lists and every place I looked I seemed to come across “The Marriage Plot” by Jeffrey Eugenides. I have not read either of his previous books, “Middlesex” or ”The Virgin Suicides” so I had no idea what I was in for.  If I’ve read a book by a Pulitzer Prize Winner before, it was because it was required reading for a high school or college English class.

This book is about Madeline, an English major/graduate of Brown College in the early 1980s (I say major and graduate because the chronology of this story bounces around quite a bit; in parts she is an undergrad and then at other times she has already graduated), and two love interests: Mitchell and Leonard.

Madeline, finds herself lost in a romance similar to one that could’ve been written by Jane Austin; one of her favorite authors.  Madeline wants so desperately to be in love that she is willing to inject herself in the painful life of Leonard, while Mitchell is willing to do anything to have Madeline.

The story begins the morning of graduation and then the reader is taken back in time to learn why Madeline ended up hung over and being woken up by her parents to go have breakfast before her graduation ceremony.

Despite being an English major, I found myself lost at times as Eugenides went on and on about different authors and their works because the detail was so tedious.  Let me take a moment right here to pause and say, I was an English major with an emphasis on literature and not grammar.  I am sure this is not too surprising of a revelation.

At first I found this book to be interesting but the further I got into it I just wanted it to be over.  Since this was my first book to read on the Kindle, I had no idea that my progress would be tracked in percentage and with this book, that has made reading it even more painful.  As much as I want to give up, I’m not going to. I will follow through and finish up with this book, hopefully tonight because I am 81% finished at the time of this post.

Leonard has manic-depression and is learning how to cope with this “Disease” as he calls it, while Mitchell is traveling the world on a spiritual journey.  This leaves Madeline playing the role of Leonard’s nurse while thinking about Mitchell and wondering “what if.”

I am still hopeful that the culmination of the these three story lines will make my perseverance a worthwhile cause.  Once this book is finished I will have finished book 2 of my goal of 20 books this year.  Not too bad!

Have you read this book? What did you think?  Trust me, you will not see me running out to pick up another Eugenides book any time soon!

Saturday night we had some people over for dinner, hence why we cooked that pot roast.  And everyone was required to bring a bottle of wine.  It was after all a “Wine Dinner.”

I probably should have branched out beyond my neighborhood Kroger to find a wine, but I didn’t.  Since I shop there all the time, I didn’t want to pick a wine I’d had before.  So, I brought this wine:

Not only had I never had it before but I’d also never noticed it before and figured, if it was a “Top Chef Selection” it had to be good right? And it actually wasn’t bad, not sure it’s a new favorite but I’d drink it again.

My favorite two wines of the night were the wines that Teal & Michael brought.  Teal went out to Sonoma last fall and found some EXCELLENT wines from wineries I’d never heard of before.

Hopefully on my next trip out there I can check them out.  Since she found these wines at the wineries I’m not sure if they are available around Dallas; if you’ve seen them let me know!

The first one was the 2007 Allure Meritage from Williamson Wines. It was delicious and full of flavor.  Though, as I’m sure it is becoming blantanly obvious, I’m obsessed with red blends.  If you can get your hands on this one, give it a try! 

She also brought this 2007 Topel Pinot Syrah.  I don’t know about you but I’d never heard of a Pinot Syrah varietal. I’ve heard of a Pinot Noir and a Syrah…but a marriage of the two…it was amazing.  I’ve got to try this one again!

That is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the other many wines that were brought to dinner, because I did!  I don’t think there were any wines I didn’t like.

Now on to a more important concern…when’s the next wine dinner?

Last week during the cleanse, I was running out of ways to creatively eat enough servings of vegetables every day.  Then my friend Kandice told me about her roasted cauliflower recipe (actually both recipes are from Kandice).

Roasted Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower, I used white but you could do purple, green or yellow

3-4 cloves of garlic chopped

Olive oil

Red Pepper flakes

Kosher salt

Cut the cauliflower florets into smaller, bite size pieces discarding the stems.  Then chop up the garlic cloves, I think I did 3 and that roasted garlic was so good I wish I’d done a few more.  Throw cauliflower and garlic into a bowl then drizzle it with olive oil making sure there it is all nicely coated.  Then sprinkle in red pepper flakes (warning: a little goes a LONG way) and kosher salt and toss it all together.  I actually left out the salt because of the cleanse.

Then pour the mixture into a deep pan that is lined with foil.  Roast at 375-400 for 20-30 minutes until they are slightly browned and softened.  Stir occasionally so no one side gets too burnt.  This was absolutely delicious!

Pot Roast 

This was a really easy recipe that I definitely want to try again.

3-5 pound pork or beef pot roast

1 jar pepperoncini peppers

4 small or 2 large beef bouillon cubes

Season the pot roast with salt and pepper than place in the crockpot. Next pour the juice from the pepperoncini jar into the crockpot.  Then cute the stems off the peppers and toss the peppers into the crockpot.  Add the bouillon cubes and then 1/2 a cup to a cup of water.

Cook for 6 hours on low or 3 hours on high.  Add more water if necessary.  The meat should pull apart easily.

I wish I could have let this cook a little longer or that I hadn’t taken it out right at 6 hours because we didn’t eat dinner for quite a while after that and it just sat.  Sadly I didn’t get to try it, because we didn’t have any left overs, but this would be great for sandwiches.

If you haven’t read Tina Fey’s book “Bossypants,” I highly recommend it.  I found myself literally laughing out loud as I read it and I think you will too!

I always find it fascinating to read biographies and learn how people become who they are. This book won’t reveal anything shocking or unexpected about Ms. Fey, but it’s just interesting to hear how she came up with the idea for 30 Rock. Though I have to confess, I don’t watch the show.

I’ve never been a consistent SNL watcher, but I could’ve sworn that Tina Fey did more than just the Weekend Update during the show, but apparently I was wrong.  She said she tried doing a few other sketches during her tenure there but no matter the sketch she said she just always looked like Tina Fey but in a wig.  I would have never guessed that; to me she was one of the biggest stars of SNL while she was a cast memeber.

Apparently if you get the audio book, it is read by Tina Fey…now I kind of wish I’d done that!

Well it is on to the next book!

(That’s one book down in 2012, 19 to go!)