i will be 40 years old on december 17. this year has been such a clusterfuck that i still don't really know what i'm doing on my actual birthday. if you've known me for a while, you know that this is so not how i tend to roll. usually by this time, i've already sent save-the-date emails, if not actual invites, for various things throughout the month of december, but i don't have my shit all the way together this year. part of it is because i was waiting to see if i'd be moving before my birthday (which, as of this writing, does not look likely, but never say never). another part of me was toying with the idea of throwing some ginormous soiree befitting the milestone occasion, but, y'know, adulting is hard and did i mention that 2016 has been on some bullshit? my energy levels are too low for that right now.
side note - a friend asked me what i wanted for my birthday and i drew a goddamn blank. i am not one of those super altruistic "oh i have so much already you don't need to get me anything" people, but it's been a few days since that question was posed and i still can't point to anything specific that i absolutely would love to have. y'all know me. i like chocolate, and books, and tacos, and shoes, and alcohol, and bacon, and earrings, and music, and food, and monkeys, and handbags, and pandas, and art, and really long sentences. 😏 that said, gift cards for amazon, target, binny's, dsw, starbucks, or other places you think i'd dig are always acceptable. buy a bottle of booze and stick a bow on it if you want. hell, make a card and stick a bow on it. or a pretty shiny ribbon. or a bow and some ribbon. or just buy me a drink or 3 if you see me out and about between now and martin luther king day.
at any rate, here's my current list of celebratory opportunities for december. events that i will definitely be attending will be underlined. things that i'm on the fence about will be in italics. i will update the list as warranted.
saturday, december 3 - brooke and the nice things at untitled. no cover. untitled does have a dress code, though, so check their site for details.
wednesday, december 7 - bourbon women chicago's sip and shop at binny's in lincoln park. tickets are still available as of this writing.
monday, december 12 - christmas movie night at untitled. double feature of "it's a wonderful life" and "a christmas story." free admission.
tuesday, december 13 - chef's table at jerry's in lincoln square, hosted by the local tourist. tickets still available as of this writing.
sometime in mid-december - alternative christmas double feature: mistletoe mayhem at music box. "die hard" and "gremlins." i don't know which date i'm aiming for yet, so if/when i decide, i'll update here accordingly.
saturday, december 17 - holy fucking shit it's my birthday! as i mentioned, no concrete plans as of yet, but i'm sure i will end up somewhere watching some sort of sportsball and drinking some sort of alcohol. will update when i know more.
sunday, december 18 - holy fucking shit it's the day after my birthday! #sundayfunday activities will depend on how hungover or unsober i am from the night before, but it's safe to assume that more sportsball and alcohol will be involved.
saturday, december 24 - no discussions yet, but i'm pretty sure jesusjack will be happening again this year. come to the casino (exact details tbd) and play blackjack and sing happy birthday to jesus at midnight. no, i am not making this up. yes, this is an actual thing that happens.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
recipe review: creamy lemon orzo with peas and shrimp
i did not actively seek out this recipe. i was reading the latest issue of cooking light and wala magic, here was something that would use up the remainder of the orzo i had on hand. i had no major objections to any of the ingredients, so i decided to try it out for dinner last night.
i used dried thyme instead of fresh - about one and a half teaspoons. i only used 5 garlic cloves because a couple of them were on the large side. i bought a pound of cooked 26-30 count frozen shrimp that were peeled and deveined, but still had the tails on, so off with the tails and under a bit of cold running water they went. since they were cooked, i added them at the very end with the lemon juice and cream cheese and pepper. oh, and i added a bit of shredded parmesan cheese at the end because cheese is delicious.
remember in my last post how i was feeling all kinds of blah? i bought a tiny bottle of wine so i'd have the 1/3 cup called for in this recipe because i was not committing to opening one of my "good" bottles of wine. once i measured out the 1/3 cup of wine, did i drink the rest? no. did i save it for later? no. i poured it down the drain. i voluntarily poured out (admittedly not the best quality) wine. yeah, i don't know who i am anymore, either.
anyway - i also adjusted the amount of broth because i had a little less than a cup of orzo left. i also let this simmer longer than the 15 minutes called for. i will say that this was a bit less labor-intensive than traditional risotto. i love risotto, but i do not have the patience to make it as much as i'd like. same with lasagna. i am more than happy to outsource that, so to speak, and order it from a restaurant.
i don't know if i'd make this again. i had leftovers of it for lunch today and i think the flavors got to hang out a little bit more, but something was missing. i wonder how boneless skinless chicken thighs would work in addition to or instead of the shrimp (with adjustments to the cooking time, obviously).
i used dried thyme instead of fresh - about one and a half teaspoons. i only used 5 garlic cloves because a couple of them were on the large side. i bought a pound of cooked 26-30 count frozen shrimp that were peeled and deveined, but still had the tails on, so off with the tails and under a bit of cold running water they went. since they were cooked, i added them at the very end with the lemon juice and cream cheese and pepper. oh, and i added a bit of shredded parmesan cheese at the end because cheese is delicious.
remember in my last post how i was feeling all kinds of blah? i bought a tiny bottle of wine so i'd have the 1/3 cup called for in this recipe because i was not committing to opening one of my "good" bottles of wine. once i measured out the 1/3 cup of wine, did i drink the rest? no. did i save it for later? no. i poured it down the drain. i voluntarily poured out (admittedly not the best quality) wine. yeah, i don't know who i am anymore, either.
anyway - i also adjusted the amount of broth because i had a little less than a cup of orzo left. i also let this simmer longer than the 15 minutes called for. i will say that this was a bit less labor-intensive than traditional risotto. i love risotto, but i do not have the patience to make it as much as i'd like. same with lasagna. i am more than happy to outsource that, so to speak, and order it from a restaurant.
i don't know if i'd make this again. i had leftovers of it for lunch today and i think the flavors got to hang out a little bit more, but something was missing. i wonder how boneless skinless chicken thighs would work in addition to or instead of the shrimp (with adjustments to the cooking time, obviously).
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
a case of blah
i signed up to receive occasional emails about potential volunteer opportunities through my job's corporate giving/philanthropy side. the opportunities tend to run the gamut from "sign up for a 10k!" to "let's go paint a classroom!" to "virtual tutoring fever: catch it!" and for whatever reasons, i usually scan them and delete. maybe it's a schedule conflict, or the location doesn't work for me transportation-wise, or i'm just not interested. no big deal.
in going through my work email yesterday, i spotted another volunteer opportunity message. this one involved making cards to give to cancer patients. i have no drawing ability whatsoever, but we all know that #fuckcancer is always active as far as i'm concerned, so i kept reading. the activity was scheduled from 4:30-6pm in the lower level of my office building. there was no requirement to show up for the entire 90 minutes - you could come and go as you saw fit. i went ahead and signed up, figuring that if work got too crazy, i could go downstairs after 4:30 or, if i really needed to stay and power through something, i could skip it altogether.
today was a blah kind of day. i woke up feeling exhausted even though i read for a bit and meditated and went to bed at a decent hour and actually slept for longer than 2 hours at any given point. i briefly considered working from home, but then remembered this volunteer thing and decided to head in. my boss assigned a new project to me and i didn't even bother with my customary whining about how i didn't want any more work on my plate. the blah was real. that feeling persisted all day. bff texted to say hi and ask how things were going and all i could muster was "blah." thankfully she understood.
when my "hey, you have a thing in 15 minutes" reminder popped up in outlook, i was trying to get my projects to a sensible stopping point. i think i finally made it downstairs around 5ish, which is when i'm usually trying to leave work anyway. there were tables set up with colored paper and markers and pens and stickers. the tables were divided by age range and had suggestions of what to say and what not to say depending on the age group.
did i mention the foundation that my job had partnered with focuses on children and young adults with cancer? there were 3 age groups and i figured i could make 1-2 cards for each group and then see where i was in terms of time and creativity.
6 cards and maybe 25 minutes later, i was done. i'd been hoping that the feeling of blah would ease up a bit since i was focusing on something else, but to no avail. i think a lot of us have redoubled our efforts to do what we can where we can in the past week or so, and it's possible that i'd placed unnecessarily high expectations on myself and how fulfilling this would be for me.
please don't misunderstand me here - making the cards was a great low-impact way for me to do something for a cause that is near and dear to my heart and i would do it again with little to no hesitation. and it's not that making these cards made me feel sad or depressed or anything like that, either. it's just that the feeling of blah was way more entrenched than i'd previously given it credit for.
i'm writing this after running a couple of errands and buying ingredients to make yet another orzo recipe (last one for a while, i promise) and now that i've eaten dinner and cleaned up the kitchen and gotten a bit organized for work tomorrow, i'm still feeling a bit, well, blah. i'm going to read for a bit and try to get another halfway decent night's sleep and hopefully this blah will lift at least a little.
thanksgiving is next week and i think we can all use the break. in the meantime, here's hoping everyone is hanging in there as best as you can. 💜
in going through my work email yesterday, i spotted another volunteer opportunity message. this one involved making cards to give to cancer patients. i have no drawing ability whatsoever, but we all know that #fuckcancer is always active as far as i'm concerned, so i kept reading. the activity was scheduled from 4:30-6pm in the lower level of my office building. there was no requirement to show up for the entire 90 minutes - you could come and go as you saw fit. i went ahead and signed up, figuring that if work got too crazy, i could go downstairs after 4:30 or, if i really needed to stay and power through something, i could skip it altogether.
today was a blah kind of day. i woke up feeling exhausted even though i read for a bit and meditated and went to bed at a decent hour and actually slept for longer than 2 hours at any given point. i briefly considered working from home, but then remembered this volunteer thing and decided to head in. my boss assigned a new project to me and i didn't even bother with my customary whining about how i didn't want any more work on my plate. the blah was real. that feeling persisted all day. bff texted to say hi and ask how things were going and all i could muster was "blah." thankfully she understood.
when my "hey, you have a thing in 15 minutes" reminder popped up in outlook, i was trying to get my projects to a sensible stopping point. i think i finally made it downstairs around 5ish, which is when i'm usually trying to leave work anyway. there were tables set up with colored paper and markers and pens and stickers. the tables were divided by age range and had suggestions of what to say and what not to say depending on the age group.
did i mention the foundation that my job had partnered with focuses on children and young adults with cancer? there were 3 age groups and i figured i could make 1-2 cards for each group and then see where i was in terms of time and creativity.
6 cards and maybe 25 minutes later, i was done. i'd been hoping that the feeling of blah would ease up a bit since i was focusing on something else, but to no avail. i think a lot of us have redoubled our efforts to do what we can where we can in the past week or so, and it's possible that i'd placed unnecessarily high expectations on myself and how fulfilling this would be for me.
please don't misunderstand me here - making the cards was a great low-impact way for me to do something for a cause that is near and dear to my heart and i would do it again with little to no hesitation. and it's not that making these cards made me feel sad or depressed or anything like that, either. it's just that the feeling of blah was way more entrenched than i'd previously given it credit for.
i'm writing this after running a couple of errands and buying ingredients to make yet another orzo recipe (last one for a while, i promise) and now that i've eaten dinner and cleaned up the kitchen and gotten a bit organized for work tomorrow, i'm still feeling a bit, well, blah. i'm going to read for a bit and try to get another halfway decent night's sleep and hopefully this blah will lift at least a little.
thanksgiving is next week and i think we can all use the break. in the meantime, here's hoping everyone is hanging in there as best as you can. 💜
Saturday, November 12, 2016
recipe review: orzo with crispy pancetta and chives (and broccoli!)
sometimes you buy a box of orzo because you need 1/2 cup of it to make soup, and then you find yourself wondering wtf you're going to do with the rest of the box. if you're like me, you start going through other recipes for something that could work. i had friday off (thank you so much for your service, dear veterans) so i knew i'd have time at some point this weekend to do a bit of cooking. i settled on this combination because there's nothing about it that i don't like.
the pancetta i bought was 3 ounces, so i used all of it. the drippings weren't as plentiful as you might think, so i had to keep an eye on the orzo to make sure it didn't take a sharp turn from toasted to burnt. i keep frozen broccoli on hand because costco sells frozen organic broccoli in a package of 4 one-pound bags and it is one of my standbys, so i decided to thaw a bag in the fridge overnight and add it to the orzo right before i added the chicken stock. i think i let the orzo cook for closer to 12 minutes and once again, your mileage may vary depending on how al dente you'd like the orzo to be. i didn't add salt because the pancetta was salty enough for my taste, but i did add some black pepper toward the end.
i had a couple of spoonfuls yesterday after i made it and decided to save it for later, since i knew the apple cider vinegar gave it a bit of tang and i wanted to see if the flavors would mellow out a bit. they didn't, really, so i would probably dial back the vinegar a bit if i made this again. the broccoli was a great addition, imo, and i'm sure you could add green beans or some other vegetable if you wanted a more well-rounded side dish.
the pancetta i bought was 3 ounces, so i used all of it. the drippings weren't as plentiful as you might think, so i had to keep an eye on the orzo to make sure it didn't take a sharp turn from toasted to burnt. i keep frozen broccoli on hand because costco sells frozen organic broccoli in a package of 4 one-pound bags and it is one of my standbys, so i decided to thaw a bag in the fridge overnight and add it to the orzo right before i added the chicken stock. i think i let the orzo cook for closer to 12 minutes and once again, your mileage may vary depending on how al dente you'd like the orzo to be. i didn't add salt because the pancetta was salty enough for my taste, but i did add some black pepper toward the end.
i had a couple of spoonfuls yesterday after i made it and decided to save it for later, since i knew the apple cider vinegar gave it a bit of tang and i wanted to see if the flavors would mellow out a bit. they didn't, really, so i would probably dial back the vinegar a bit if i made this again. the broccoli was a great addition, imo, and i'm sure you could add green beans or some other vegetable if you wanted a more well-rounded side dish.
Saturday, November 05, 2016
recipe review: chicken and vegetable soup
i was home monday night and decided that i was in the mood to make soup. it's possible i was having a nesting moment or something, but i knew i'd be home on friday night and therefore i could make soup.
off to the recipe files i went. i wanted something new to me and this seemed manageable enough. i updated my grocery list accordingly, shopped for said groceries last night, and got ready to cook.
quasi-landlord had some baby carrots in the fridge so i cut up a handful of those, instead of buying a bunch of carrots when i'd only need one. jewel only had "regular" fire-roasted diced tomatoes and not the no-salt-added variety, so that's what i bought. jewel also sells shredded chicken from their leftover rotisserie chickens, so i had both white and dark meat to put in the soup. i used dried thyme instead of fresh and i just eyeballed the amount. i also eyeballed the salt and pepper and adjusted to taste throughout the cooking process. oh, and i also used some yellow and orange bell pepper - we had some in the fridge for salads so in they went. i think i used 2 cloves of garlic and 1 medium-ish yellow onion.
do not follow the direction to let the pasta cook for only 5 minutes. i mean, you can, but you will have crunchy orzo and green beans and that is not good. i think i wound up leaving it on for a good 10-12 minutes or so, checking it every so often for al dente orzo and crisp-tender green beans.
i didn't actually eat any of this last night, but i had a small bowl earlier this evening and i'm happy. there's a container in the freezer that i'm sure i'll use for lunch/dinner when i'm feeling lazy, uninspired, and/or broke.
off to the recipe files i went. i wanted something new to me and this seemed manageable enough. i updated my grocery list accordingly, shopped for said groceries last night, and got ready to cook.
quasi-landlord had some baby carrots in the fridge so i cut up a handful of those, instead of buying a bunch of carrots when i'd only need one. jewel only had "regular" fire-roasted diced tomatoes and not the no-salt-added variety, so that's what i bought. jewel also sells shredded chicken from their leftover rotisserie chickens, so i had both white and dark meat to put in the soup. i used dried thyme instead of fresh and i just eyeballed the amount. i also eyeballed the salt and pepper and adjusted to taste throughout the cooking process. oh, and i also used some yellow and orange bell pepper - we had some in the fridge for salads so in they went. i think i used 2 cloves of garlic and 1 medium-ish yellow onion.
do not follow the direction to let the pasta cook for only 5 minutes. i mean, you can, but you will have crunchy orzo and green beans and that is not good. i think i wound up leaving it on for a good 10-12 minutes or so, checking it every so often for al dente orzo and crisp-tender green beans.
i didn't actually eat any of this last night, but i had a small bowl earlier this evening and i'm happy. there's a container in the freezer that i'm sure i'll use for lunch/dinner when i'm feeling lazy, uninspired, and/or broke.
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