Four Things...

Four things that make me happy:

1. Cooking\Baking\Recipes

2. Christmas

3. Traveling

4. Eating with Fun Eaters

Four Movies I would watch over and over:

1. Dumb & Dumber

2. Little Women

3. It's a Wonderful Life

4. Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Four favorite drinks:

1. Mojitos

2. Mimosas

3. Wine

4. Ice Cold Water

Four places I have lived:

1. St. Paul, MN

2. Hillsboro, NH

3. Beijing, China

4. Bemidji, MN

Four TV Shows that I watch:

1. The Office

2. Gossip Girl

3. ANTM

4. Lost (if it ever comes back!)

Four Things I like to eat:

1. Chicken Pad Thai Spicy Spicy

2. Pizza

3. Seafood

4. Wedding Cake

Four favorite colors:

1. Pink

2. Red

3. Yellow

4. Silver

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Spain

2. Bahamas

3. France

4. Trinidad

Four things on my floor right now:

1. Shoes

2. Flower pot

3. Christmas Tree Skirt

4. My Cat

Four blogs I read regularly:

1. All my friends' blogs

2. Orangette

3. Nothing But Bonfires

4. Gluten Free Girl

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Getting a pedicure/manicure/massage/hair cut

2. Fiji

3. Going to dinner with friends

4. In my kitchen

What a Crock!

Yesterday, I needed to make something for dinner, but i needed to have it ready when I walked through the door. Enter ye ol' Crock-Pot or as my cousins' call it, "Vlach-Pot" (they can do so many fun things with their name!) Anyway, I was to a bring a meal over to a very lovely person named Heather. I met Heather through my cousin Kelly, and I instantly thought she was sweet and wonderful! Plus she has a great blog too! Heather also has her hands full with a 2 year old and a 5 month old, so I can only imagine how time-consuming that must be, hence me thinking, "oh gee, maybe she would like a meal delivered?" It's not delivery, it's sabrina! Ok, so I didn't have a lot of time to make a meal after work, so I thought the crock-pot might be the best option. I do get a little nervous leaving a hot, plugged-in item going all day, but I said a little prayer and hoped for the best. My prayer was answered, and when I walked into my place, the aroma of pot roast greeting me at the door, along with my cat, desperate for a little morsel of beef meat & fat! I made a ginger-snap pot roast and some Parmesan Orzo (thanks for the recipe Megan, delicious!) and then I scooted off to Heather's. Now, I have only seen pictures of Heather's kids, but in person both Miles and Asher are sweet and adorable. Miles is so smart and has the funniest things to say and Asher was all smiles and giggles! Heather's husband Ryan was great and has got me extremely interested in watching a show called Flight of the Conchords about some wacko New Zealand band. Can't wait to check it out! What a great little family Heather has got herself, and she's not half bad too! :)

Gingersnap Pot Roast

2 lbs beef chuck roast
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
8 gingersnaps, crumbled
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon beef bouillon, granules
1/8 teaspoon red peppers, ground
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & quartered
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces or 2 parsnips, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 bay leaf
Trim fat from roast. Cut if necessary to fit crock-pot.
In large skillet brown roast on all sides in hot oil.
In a small bowl combine water, gingersnaps, vinegar, bouillon, and red pepper.
In crock-pot, place potatoes, carrots or parsnips, and bay leaf. Place meat on top of vegetables.
Pour gingersnap mixture over meat.
Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 10-12 hours or high-heat setting for 5-6 hours.

December 11, 2007

Glorious Amaryllis

December 10, 2007

Winter Wonderlands

I'm a big kid now!

I have a busy week ahead of me. Something every night, and a lot of cooking\baking! I was nerdalicious and planned out what i had to do every night after work in order to be on my game for the days ahead. Tonight is Bible Study, followed by grocery shopping and food prep for Tuesday night... How did I ever become so organized? It is not in my nature to be organized. I have a weekly planner, but i rarely write stuff down, I have bills to pay, and I am at the mercy of my brain to remember to pay them. I follow no rhythm, rhyme or reason and there is no method to my madness. Although this weekend, I got some dates mixed up and thought this party I was supposed to go to was on Saturday, and since i had plans I didn't go. But then I got a call on Sunday wondering if I would be at the party that night. Ooops! Instead my old roommate from my college days dropped by for a visit last night, and i still didn't make it to the party. I am not spacey, because I do have my head screwed on pretty tightly, and I am fairly grounded. I wasn't always this way. Does this mean I am mature and grown-up?
When I was little and even throughout high-school, I was always amazed at how my parents could have a conversation with anyone, including strangers. I couldn't figure out how they came up with things to say. I just had a tough time talking to adults, kids were fine, but adults, nada. So I didn't know how i would ever be an adult and make conversation with other adults. Last night was the first time I realized that I do this phenomenon all the time now, even with strangers. And then I thought, "Hey I must be an adult!" Fun!

December 9, 2007

Christmas Movies!!!

Oh what fun it is to...take all your money!

Ha Ha Ha..Ho Ho Ho! I will get to the title of my blog in a bit. Bear with me until then. Yesterday, as I was feeling much better, not too sniffly not to stuffy, i went to visit my parents. I spent the day hanging out with my mom and dad. My dad, all on his own purchased a ginormous tv and was so proud to show it off. He kept saying, "what do you think, is the color crystal clear or what? to which i would say, "hmmmm I don't know, it's a little on the small side, and the color is a little blurry and drab." just to tease him. The tv was a gift to themselves for the fire... they are so happy to be back in their house! Like a weight has been lifted!

We all hung out and wrapped presents and ate pizza, then me and my mom and my brother made a ginger bread house. This time though, my mom bought a kit where the house was pre-assembled, then you just decorate it. One year we bought a kit where you had to assemble the house yourself, and that was a total disaster! A wolf wouldn't need to huff and puff and blow the house down, all he would have to do is look at it funny! BOOM! So we did much better this year! We then watched ELF and laughed and had fun... what a great family I have!

After all that hoopla, I met my friend shannon at her most favorite weekend job (not really) which is a restaurant\golf course club. She was just getting off of work, so we sat at the bar and she counted her tips and we chatted about girl stuff. Soon all the patrons left, and everyone was finishing their shift, and it kinda felt like a movie, (ok fine, a low budget movie) where the staff at the restaurant lingers a little longer, the cook whips up some food, and everyone has a beer... and they talk about how the night went, as in who tipped lousy and other scandalous restaurant business stuff. It was fun to see these little exchanges... maybe i want to work at a restaurant now? maybe.

So the cook said, "Hey lets play some dice". Now, I only know one dice game, and you play that with quarters, and it can go on forever. But this was just a simple dice game of luck and chance and it's quick quick. Plus you play with 1 dollars so the kitty can grow pretty fast. I call the "pot" the "kitty", I don't know where i picked that up, but kitty it is. We played and laughed... I spied Jerry Garcia on tv, living as a hermit in canada with the owls. Shannon and I busting a gut laughing loud and long and unabashedly! They all thought we were loo-loo... I said, "You should've seen us in High School!" Well the fun part, is that I have extremely amazing beginners luck when it comes to games... happens all the time. And so therefore, I took home the whole Kitty! MEOW!

Too much fun for one night... dashing through the snow, with a lot of $1 dollar bills... over the roads I go laughing all the way home.... ha ha ho ho! Merry Christmas!

Question: if i use this $$ for the salvation army bell ringers bucket, is that bad, cause I won it gambling? hmmmmm.... But do you ever walk by the bell ringers and feel a smidgen guilty, but really you have no cash on you... and if you did, you would surely give it! I feel that way all the time... maybe this is my redeeming moment? But it is also a catch-22 at the same time. Oh, What would Kenny Rogers do?

Today is movie #3 on my Christmas viewing list, Miracle on 34th Street, the original version with Natalie Woods and Maureen O'Hare. The best part is at the end, when little natalie, keeps repeating "I believe, I believe"... I always think, and say that to God, when I want to trust Him, but it's really hard... "I believe, I believe". I DO BELIEVE!