Rachael and Mari

I feel like Julie!

Another successful recipe from Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats cookbook.

We cooked #83, Ginger Vegetable Chicken Noodle Bowl. It worked out fantastically because Josh was the chopper and dicer and I was the stirrer and combiner. It was a lot of fun working in the kitchen with Josh, and I didn't have to do the part that I hate.

The noodles were DELICIOUS. Seriously, I had some of the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. It had the perfect amount of ginger. I would add more bean sprouts next time. Josh wants to try it with shrimp too. That'd be so yummy!

I can't wait to make this one again!

Tagged

Del tagged me to do this meme quite a while ago, but I've been trying to compose my post in my head. I'm supposed to list ten things that my readers don't know about me. Ten things is a lot of things! Here goes!

1. I think my husband is a better parent than I am. He has more patience with them and seems to enjoy playing with them more than I do. It makes me sad, but at the same time, it makes me very proud of my husband for being such a great dad!

2. I am the youngest of 3 make that 7 , no 9, okay, definitely 5. I have a confusing family! My parents were both married and had 2 kids each before marrying each other, then they had 3 kids together. (7 kids so far) When I was growing up, one of my brothers, who was in the military, got a divorce, and his two kids came to live with us for a while, so that makes 9 kids, but I wasn't the youngest of my niece and nephew! I've actually never met my dad's two sons from his previous marriage, so.... I'm the youngest of 5 kids. My oldest brother is 15 years older than me, and my sister, who is the closest to me in age is 5 years older than me, so it was kind of like I was an only child!

3. I desperately want to move to Australia, but you knew that, didn't you?

4. I ADORE shoes. I know it sounds like a cliche, but I really do. I think it is because there are so many beautiful shoes out there! AND, it is far easier to find gorgeous shoes that fit perfectly than clothes that do!

5. I really like watching reality tv. I know that they are dumb, BUT I enjoy the drama. I like hearing and watching drama, but I HATE being a part of any drama. I am actually passivitistic when it comes be being a part of drama, but watching it and talking about it is fun. :)

6. I love playing poker. I really like any kind of board game or card game. I'm very competitive.

7. I have one leg shorter than the other. It really only becomes evident when my body is tired. Also, when walking in a line, I walk crooked. I could not pass a drunk-walk-the-line-type test.

8. I'm not a morning person. I could easily sleep till noon. I'm not a night person, either. By 10pm, I'm ready for my nightly glass of wine and my bed. I used to be more of a night person-staying up til 2 or 3am during college, but then once I started teaching, I couldn't do that any more. I'm a little more of a morning person than a night person, waking up naturally around 9am. My whole family usually sleep until around 10:30 or 11.

9. I hate, hate, HATE driving or even walking behind someone slow. When I want to go somewhere, even if it is just to another store in the mall, it annoys the hell out of me when someone gets in my way!

10. Josh says that I'm primal... When I'm tired, I'm grumpy RIGHT AWAY. When I'm hungry, I want food RIGHT AWAY. It comes out of nowhere, but it comes on strong!

THAT DREAM

Have you ever had that dream where you are getting ready for work-you have a shower, brush your teeth, get dressed, etc, only to wake up and have to do it all over again?!

Well, last night I had an even WORSE dream! I dreamt that (for some crazy reason) we had a teenager staying with us, and we had set up a bed for her in our room. It was cuddle night, so I was trying to sleep with Night. Night and the other girl kept talking and arguing and keeping me up. WHAT A HORRIBLE DREAM-a dream that you aren't getting any sleep!

To top that off, the dogs actually DID wake me up at their normal time of 5:30am, begging to go outside.

How was your night?!

Makin' Mum Proud

Tonight, I made # 69 in Rachael Ray's 365 No Repeats Cookbook, Garlic and Mint Lamb. Oh my gosh, it was delicious!! My host parents in Australia have sheep, so I'm always looking for ways to support them!
I'm actually kind of scared to cook lamb, since many times my meals don't turn out as planned. Lamb is an expensive meat to fuck up! Anyway, it turned out wonderfully, and the recipe made enough for about 5 extra lamb-patties, so we've got enough left overs to last a few days! I'm going to try to find some mint-jelly, which is almost impossible to get around here. It will just make it perfect.

My Family Left Me...Again

My kids and handsome husband went back up to Indiana to visit his family for about a week. They will be back Sunday night. I stayed here because I had a few inservices for school, but most importantly, we needed someone to take care of the FOUR DOGS (what were we thinking-four dogs?!).
Here is how it has been so far:
Day One: Bliss. It was so quiet, calm. Did I mention QUIET?
Day Two: I cleaned.
Day Three: I got drunk. (Okay-it was Night Three, but that didn't fit the pattern, and I didn't really get drunk, I just had two glasses of wine, but with my new eating style, not having food to buffer the alcohol, it made me drunk!)
Day Four: The novelty of having the house to myself has worn off. I'm counting down the hours until I had have someone to mess it up and make it loud... Well, maybe just one more day to myself will be okay.

Why is It?

That when I put the trash out the night before, the trash dumpster doesn't show up until 10:00, but when I forget, he's there promptly at 7:00am?!

Don't worry~I remembered last night!

Mid-Week Evaluation

I just feel a sense of FREEDOM from my new way of eating. I haven't felt guilty one time since I've started eating according to my "thintuition." I've eaten pancakes, cookies, salad, biscuits, sandwiches, peanutbutter, apples, chips, cheese, veggies, rice, chicken, Indian food, ice cream (no cupcakes yet, ironically). Whenever I get nice and hungry, I eat whatever sounds delicious at that time. I've even been thinking about baking and cooking, but yesterday's attempt was a disaster, so I might not revisit that idea for awhile!
I like not having to worry about anything. It is nice!