Yocky Yocky!

I have plans to go out tonight, so the likely hood of making this squash recipe below is pretty slim. However, I will make this in the near future and sit and indulge. A note on squash: When I was a wee girl, I really didn't like squash, or any vegetable for that matter. But since I was a compliant child until the age of 12, I just went along with what my mom made for dinner, and didn't say a peep. Well one night, maybe around the age of 8, and a squash night too, I sat there swirling and mashing my squash into oblivion, wishing I could have something else to eat. "Why must I eat this gross squash", I thought to myself, "It tastes like crap and smells funny too!" So in one triumphal move, I raised my fist to the sky and in a loud voice I chanted, "YOCKY, YOCKY!" Not Yucky, but Yocky! Maybe I thought by saying "yocky" I had found the loop hole out of punishment. Yucky is not something you say to your mother's cooking, but maybe yocky would make a statement, without getting disciplined? So as I was pumping my fist in the air yelling Yocky Yocky, my brother joined in, and together we had our own version of Mutiny on the Bounty, or Mutiny on the Squash I guess.... Needless to say, my mom didn't find it too amusing.
Now I love squash, no rebellious cries any longer. But once in awhile my brother and I will be eating and we will look at each other and declare, "Yocky, Yocky" just for giggles...

ROASTED ACORN SQUASH WITH CHILE VINAIGRETTE
2 (1 1/2 - to 1 3/4-lb) acorn squash
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 to 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh hot red chile, including seeds
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 450°F. Halve squash lengthwise, then cut off and discard stem ends. Scoop out seeds and cut squash lengthwise into 3/4-inch-wide wedges. Toss squash with black pepper, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons oil in a bowl, then arrange, cut sides down, in 2 large shallow baking pans. Roast squash, switching position of pans halfway through roasting, until squash is tender and undersides of wedges are golden brown, 25 to 35 minutes.While squash roasts, mince garlic and mash to a paste with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Transfer paste to a small bowl and whisk in lime juice, chile (to taste), cilantro, and remaining 1/4 cup oil until combined. Transfer squash, browned sides up, to a platter and drizzle with vinaigrette.

Purple Fish

Yesterday on my most favorite day of rest, I went about cleaning and watching the Food Network for tips, turkey tips really, but I will get to that later. I rested yesterday, Sundays are good for that. My kitchen got a thorough scrubbing down, and after all that I thought, I should cook in my sparkly clean kitchen. I had Talapia that needed to be eaten and a pretty little summer squash that i needed to cook up. And in the door of my fridge, wedged between tomato paste and horseradish was a sad looking half of an onion that was just begging to be eaten. It's as if it was saying, "Pick Me, Pick Me!"... So in the saute pan went the onions in some olive oil and then some garlic, because when don't i cook with garlic! Then went the sunshine yellow summer squash. I sauteed them with the onions and garlic, salt & pepper & parsley & my can't live without red pepper flakes. I removed the squash when they were done. And to get the little bits off the bottom, i added some red wine, just a little drizzle, and a bit of butter. I placed the talapia fillets into the pan and the wine turned my fish purple! It was a strange site to behold and i wish I would've taken a picture. I've never eaten purple fish, and although they looked a little scary, they tasted wonderful. I served them up on top of the yellow squash... and then it was a Vikings meal on my plate! Too bad the Vikings SUCK! But don't get me started...


This week is jammed packed every night from Monday until Sunday, and then I will rest.
Wednesday Kelly and I will be having our Thanksgiving Dinner Super Power Summit. I had the brilliant idea a few weeks ago to host Thanksgiving. And then Kelly volunteered her home to accommodate the dysFUNction. So together we will be preparing the feasts of all thanksgiving feasts, sans green bean casserole! Which speaking of GBC, i was just telling my mom the other day, "Mom, we are making a healthy yet deliciously simple gourmet meal, with NO green bean casserole." That night, my mom said to my dad, "Sabrina and Kelly are doing Thanksgiving." My dad said "I don't care where we go, I just want some green bean casserole." OH PUKE DAD! I think we will be making him his own portion in a ramekin.

Wednesday night, the recipes will be chosen and the meal will be planned. The big question is the turkey. Neither kelly or I have ever made a turkey. But I have been reading up on it, and getting lots of tips... lots and lots of tips. Turkey will be my middle name when I am through with this holiday!

Did you know that on the original Charlie's Angels there was a Sabrina and a Kelly? Kate Jackson was Sabrina and Jaclyn Smith was Kelly. Farrah Fawcett was Jill, and since we have no Jill, Kyle can be her. I always thought Kyle would make a good Farah Fawcett... hmmmm...

Feasts A'Plenty...

Do you ever have one of those nights where it just isn't pleasant? You just feel off and nothing seems right in your life. And as you go to bed, you think "Tomorrow has got to be better than this, Please let it be better than this." Well Friday night was like that for me. I won't go into details, but let's just say it wasn't the most happiest nights of my life. Thank God for fresh starts in the morning. I've come to believe that 99.97% of my woes can be solved with just a simple nights sleep. Funny how perspectives can change in a 7-8 hour time frame.

Saturday I woke up and headed out to Here's Life Inner City. It is a program that was set-up to bring food and a message of God's love to people on major holidays. "Boxes of Love" are put together with a complete Thanksgiving meal for a family. A group of my friends and I went to volunteer there for the morning. We had a great morning, getting the boxes ready and making bracelets. The bracelets share the gospel message of how God loves us, through different color beads. Here is the website link to Here's Life Inner City to read more about what they do: http://www.hlictwincities.org/index.cfm

While we were there, Sarah brought along her friend Karrie. Karrie and I used to go to college together in Rochester, 11 years ago! It was so fun to catch up with Karrie. She is just as sweet as she was when we were in school. It is so cool to get re-connected from friends from ages ago. I am amazed at all the people I have been meeting and getting re-acquainted with this year. It is a blessing to have so many amazing people in my life! After we finished making boxes, we headed over to Sarah, Ellen's and Stacy's home to eat a delicious chili lunch! Sarah went all out, cooking the night before for all of us. A few more people came over and we had a little party. The chili was spicy and delicious, and all the other food was amazing too. I ate until i just couldn't eat anymore. I didn't have my camera or I would've taken pictures! I always say, few things could be better than good food and good friends!

And if that wasn't enough food and friends for the day, I went home to get ready for another fabulous meal. My cousin Kelly put together a dinner party, with a friends theme. She invited 3 friends, Heather, Tabitha(Kelly's Tabitha; I have to clarify because people always get that confused, cause I have a Tabitha too) and myself and in turn we were to invite a friend. Kelly invited Toni, Tabitha invited Crystal, Heather invited Lana, and I invited Ellen. So 8 lovely ladies enjoyed good, NO, AMAZING food and conversation. Her house looked beautiful as always, and her table setting was tre chic! Kelly will explain all the names and recipes of her meals on her blog, but here are a few pictures of the courses:

When I left last night, I made my way home and got ready for bed, and as I climbed into bed, I said my prayers... and I thanked God not only for delicious food and amazing friends, but that today was indeed a better day, and oh how truly blessed I am!

And on a completely different note that has nothing to do with blessings... I hardly get chances to dress up for parties. So because I was invited by Kelly to her chic dinner party, I decided to wear my best Blair outfit from the show Gossip Girl, a new favorite of Kelly's. If you haven't seen or heard of Gossip Girl, it is a show about young people living the glamorous life in New York's Upper East Side. One of the main characters is Blair Waldorf and she is very glam-preppy. She can usually be seen wearing cute dresses and her signature headband. This show is total smut, but the clothes are great to look at... So I put together my own version of a Blair outfit just for Kelly! And as Nothing But Bonfires does with her outfits, she always says where she got the piece of clothing or accessories. Like her, my clothes are very inexpensive, so what if they don't have New York's Upper East Side prices, better yet, they have St. Paul's Upper East Side style!

Dress: Target, Sweater: Sears, Shoes & Headband: Walmart, Clutch Purse: Thrift Store.

The Ranch is Rockin'

Back in July my parent's house had a fire. Lightening struck while they were away. And although the neighbors were able to call the fire department in time, and they were able to contain the fire; the whole upstairs had to be gutted.

So the past few months my parents have been working hard to get the house ready to move back into. But while they were at it, they decided to some major upgrades. First being the flooring. We ALWAYS had carpet in both houses my parents built. I really am not a huge carpet fan, but my mom loves the stuff. So to my complete shock my mom opted to just do carpeting only in the sunken living room and her bedroom! The rest is this beautiful hardwood that her and my dad and a friend of theirs installed.

The house also has a new fireplace stone wall:

New counter tops:

And in the basement to keep with the whole western theme, my parent's refurbished barn wood from their neighbor Earl's 100 year old barn.

They have worked so hard to get the house finished by the holidays. Next week they will move in, just in time for Thanksgiving. House fires are never fun, but as my mom said as me, my mom and dad and brother were driving together, "I have everything I need right here in this car."

The things we would tell ourselves...

I like this whole blogging thing, but i like reading other people's blogs better. Some people just have the words, some people actually get them down for others to read. I've just read two great blogs. People i don't even know, but I read their blogs religiously now. I've only recently found them and I am inspired to be a better writer, not to be famous, but to maybe touch a few hearts as they and others have touched mine. Two blogs I read are Gluten Free Girl, this one brought me to tears a few days ago: http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2007/11/coming-home.html
and then I am reading Nothing But Bonfires (thanks Rach, for enlightening me) this post, made me cry too.. (the tears were good tears mind you, not the sad kind, much better good then sad!)
They may be silly little stories of love and loss and love again, but they are beautiful. I am a silly cry baby girl sometimes. What do I care?
Nothing but Bonfires was talking about what we would tell ourselves if we could go back.
For example, if I could go back to high school, I would go back to the girl I was at 17 and tell her to slow down, to try and not be in such a hurry to grow up. To enjoy the moments and the never-ending laughter. That silly high school crushes aren't the end of it all, and that boy you liked for 3 years, you actually remained friends with all these years later. I would say Sabrina, enjoy these moments, because being an adult has it's freedoms, but not the freedoms that you have now.
Maybe I would go back to myself at 20... On my way to New Hampshire to begin a new phase of life. Oh but I was so sad and heartbroken. Having to say goodbye to your first real love can be devastatingly hard. The tears, the agony. But you made it ok, you had one of the best years, good and bad of your life! You really did!
The things i could say to myself if i could just only go back. The tears aren't forever. The pain will go away, and soon you will be ok!
But you can't go back can you? There is no time machine. There is no rewind button. But you can go forward. You can learn from all the experiences that have shaped you and you can choose. Choose to live life or choose to let life live you. Learn from your mistakes, your heartbreaks, your oops i did it again moments! But learn from the loving and the laughter and the beauty of ordinary happy moments. Take it all in, and know that in the end, You will be ok. You will, you will, you will! God is good and grace is enough.
Which reminds me of some words i wrote in may fake poem book many years ago. it's a fake poem book because i don't know if my poems qualify as real poetry. some do, but i don't think this one does. I wrote this after a sad break-up with a boy a bunch of years, maybe 3 now? ago. I can't believe i'm going to actually write it out... if i don't melt from embarrassment i may write some more of my poems down in the future. but don't hold your breath.

this is me and the story of
moving on. how does that work? does
the clock strike the time and you pick your
head-up and pick your tissues up and rub the smudge of
mascara a bit messy but nonetheless battle wounds
for the showing. turn the morose music off angry music too
and put on that dance record. maybe walk to the coffee book
shop store. maybe laugh out loud LOUD to prove that
you still can. maybe even dance to that dance record
mentioned earlier. jump up and down with shades up
and then you stop the hang up phone calls and the late
night drive-bys you don't have to forget the memories because
you know you can't. but you don't re-read the letters you don't
entertain the thoughts you can cry but soon less and less and less and less.
you come to the end of your day you realize you only had one, maybe two
thoughts about him. and that is ok because honestly silly girl how many thoughts
did he have of you.
plus don't forget this
you will love again
and chances are
you will be loved
again too
more more more
you will you will
you will.

We have ESPN!

My cousin Kelly and I have this strange thing going on. It's as if there are moments when our brains have melted into one and our actions and thoughts mirror each others. At first it was amusing, now it's getting a bit creepy. We are related, we share the same grandparent's, great grandparents and so on and so forth. But I am not like this with Aunt Barbie or Uncle Todd or Cousin Chris. Somehow over the years Kelly and I have begun to think a lot alike, or just know what the other person is doing or is needing. For example I made a bumper sticker for Kelly that says, Should=Shame=Puke. And at the same time Kelly was making a bumper sticker for me that says, Should=Shame=Puke! We did not tell each other we were doing this, we just did it. The other day I had a hunch that Kelly may be enjoying her favorite Bruegger's Bagel Combo of Pumpkin spread on a cinnamon crunch bagel. I texted her, joking that she was probably in the middle of feasting on her bagel. Sure enough, She was! There are all sorts of little things like that... The other day, I was craving these wasabi crisp crackers. Crunchy and spicy and makes your nose tingle from all the wasabi. As I was going to lunch, i sent Kelly an email saying that i was off to lunch... but all I really wanted was the wasabi crackers. And of course, why should I be surprised, Kelly had bought me a bag that morning!
So I have no clue why we are this way... my one suspicion is that they tried to make us be the same person, when they made us dress alike growing up... you tell me!

Just Click Your Heels Three Times...

I didn't plan on spending my weekend shopping... I just don't have the funds for such luxuries, but when my mom asked me to shop with her on Saturday, how could I say no? I didn't buy anything, but it was fun to spend time with my mom. Which is really funny that i can say that now. When I was a teenager, I don't think we liked each other a whole lot. I had a constant attitude, and my mom had no desire to put up with it. But thankfully, we get a long just fine now. My mom even gave me money to get my hair done. Typically, I am fine going to Fantastic Sams, but awhile back my mom treated me to a cut and color at a nice salon, and the lady did an amazing job. I'm not saying I'm hooked, but if my mom wants to help me out, I'm not saying no either. I was thinking of the Katie Holmes cut, but i am realizing just how attached to my long hair I really am. If I had a picture I could download, you would see me about 7 years ago when I cut all my hair off. I'd say at one point it was about 1-2 inches long. It was not a pretty sight, and i looked like a boy. Man it was UGLY! I was so traumatized that I vowed to grow it out and never cut it again. Of course, as I look at what styles the ladies are wearing these days, typically I don't see a lot of long curly hair out there. Mostly, I am realizing how out of place my hair looks when I am with my friends and others. Even my BFF Rachel who always had long curly hair, now wears is strait and chin length. She looks amazing... so I am curious if i could pull it off too? Maybe my hair fits my personality? I always feel a little on the oddball side, not necessarily out of place, but not necessarily cool. But then again, at 30 I am very much past the stage of trying to be cool. I am just trying to be me, and that is the best i can do.

Can you believe that it is almost a new year? What an interesting year this has been. I can't even begin to explain the things that have taken place in my life, sadness mingled with joy... but all very transforming. I wonder if God knew what he was doing? I think He did! Sometimes it takes a little nudge from God and sometimes it takes a huge shove to get me going in the right direction. But like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I too, had it in me the whole time.