For about the past month and a half, it has been beautifully, unseasonably warm in Maryland. So naturally, the week I decide to plan food for warm weather, we get a wintry nor'easter. Dammit.
Mr. Wino texted me at work about dinner today. "Can we switch tonight with something all-around warm?" Clearly, he was having a frigid day and had a problem with the cool summery quinoa salad we had planned. I agreed with him (it was cold and rainy), but I wanted to still use the same ingredients. A quick trip to the grocery store for tortillas and cheese, and my improvisation cooking night was on.
The results? Delicious.
Improvisational Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup salsa (I used Pace)
Flour tortillas
Monterey jack cheese, shredded
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute garlic until fragrant, then cook chicken in pan until golden brown and cooked all the way through. Add bell pepper, beans, and salsa, and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Spoon filling into tortillas and roll into enchiladas, then arrange enchiladas in a 8x10 casserole dish. Top with shredded monterey jack cheese, then bake for 15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and browned.
Improvisational Creamy Avocado Quinoa Pilaf
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
2 avocados
Juice of 1 lime
1 clove garlic
Rinse quinoa, then bring to a boil in 2 cups water. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes, or until quinoa is done. While quinoa is cooking, puree avocados, lime juice, and garlic in food processor. When quinoa is cooked, add avocado puree to quinoa and mix well. Serve immediately.
_____________
Mr Wino's first reaction was, "Oh, thank god this is warm!" And then, "You should keep this recipe. Write it down!"
So I did.
If you make it, I hope you enjoy it. If not, improvise a little until you do. That's the whole point, right?
Monday, April 23, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Things I wish I'd known in College
Whelp, the good ole DoD looks like it's starting to cut folks, and I may be on the chopping block. But fear not, loyal readers, nothing is for certain, and I most certainly wouldn't mind. I have this wonderful Post-911 GI bill, which means I get to go back to college without the soul crushing despair of poverty looming over my head.
Huzzah!
The first time around I didn't handle the collegiate lifestyle very well. So, for my benefit, and maybe somebody else's somewhere down the road, I give you a list of lesson's learned from screwing the pooch so badly the first time around that I had to join the military to get my life back on track.
1) College is NOT for partying: Let's face it, there's a totally unrealistic portrayal of college in the media, and my younger self totally drank the cool-aid on that one. Going to a big party once in a while is cool, even healthy, but partying every chance you get will burn you out, and become a major obstacle to you finishing those pesky "classes" you pay so much for.
2) You can't count on student loans: I went in to college without any scholarships. This wasn't because I wasn't smart enough to have gotten any, but because I was too lazy to fill out the applications before the deadline when I was still in high school, and too busy partying to keep my grades high enough to get them once I actually got to college. Every single penny is important, and I went in having not even tried to get my hands on free money.
So I tried to finance my education, and the well dried up, well before my senior year.
3) You CAN'T be whatever you want when you grow up: There is such a thing as a stupid major. You need to go in to college as a freshmen thinking about how you want to enter the work force after college, even if you aren't sure exactly what you want to do. Some majors are much more marketable and versatile than others. Fine Arts, for example, is not generally going to ensure you put food on the table. The same goes with most of your Liberal Arts. When your parents tell you College is about maturing and gaining life experience, they're referring to a time long past. You're there to study a craft and become competitive in a market full of unemployed English or Philosophy and Art majors. Find something you like, but make sure it pays well too.
4)Plan for Grad School: A Bachelors degree nowadays will get you as far as a high school diploma got you in the fifties. If you want to really do well, you need to master a trade, and that means a Masters degree, or some kind of advanced certification.
5) Take your Professor or TA seriously: Even if you hate them. Even if you can't understand their lectures, or if you have trouble staying awake. Even if they change the syllabus suddenly or assign insane last minute projects. Even if they tell you to read entire books overnight. They control your grade, which means they control your future. If they give you a stupid assignment, that sucks, do it, and do your damn best at it. If they create ridiculous deadlines, oh well, pull that all nighter. The real world is nowhere near as forgiving as College can be, so put yourself in the habit of working to the standard your bosses set for you.
6) Writing is a valuable life skill: Those annoying six page research papers every professor assigns over the weekend are for your benefit. If you want to move past entry level in any workforce, chances are you're going to have to generate reports. You're going to have to provide written analyses. You're going to have to write six page research papers. Suck it up and drive on.
7) Participate in an extracurricular activity: I burned out hardest when I decided that I had to buckle down and spend all of my energy working or studying. Everybody needs an outlet, find one and have fun with it. Make some friends.
8) Greek isn't stupid: Frats and Sororities have a rep for being either party obsessed or snobby, and sometimes they are, but finding the right Greek organization can give you valuable networking opportunities, and that counts for a lot, more than I can put in to words. Furthermore, you get more from life on social skills than actual competence, and if you're both competent and well socialized, you're more likely to be successful. Unfortunately this is something I probably can't fix at the ripe old age of 25. I will be older than most of my TA's, and rushing will be super weird for all parties involved.
Anyways, this is mostly something I can hopefully look back on later to remind myself of what's important once I get back in the classroom and start struggling to stay focused.
Huzzah!
The first time around I didn't handle the collegiate lifestyle very well. So, for my benefit, and maybe somebody else's somewhere down the road, I give you a list of lesson's learned from screwing the pooch so badly the first time around that I had to join the military to get my life back on track.
1) College is NOT for partying: Let's face it, there's a totally unrealistic portrayal of college in the media, and my younger self totally drank the cool-aid on that one. Going to a big party once in a while is cool, even healthy, but partying every chance you get will burn you out, and become a major obstacle to you finishing those pesky "classes" you pay so much for.
2) You can't count on student loans: I went in to college without any scholarships. This wasn't because I wasn't smart enough to have gotten any, but because I was too lazy to fill out the applications before the deadline when I was still in high school, and too busy partying to keep my grades high enough to get them once I actually got to college. Every single penny is important, and I went in having not even tried to get my hands on free money.
So I tried to finance my education, and the well dried up, well before my senior year.
3) You CAN'T be whatever you want when you grow up: There is such a thing as a stupid major. You need to go in to college as a freshmen thinking about how you want to enter the work force after college, even if you aren't sure exactly what you want to do. Some majors are much more marketable and versatile than others. Fine Arts, for example, is not generally going to ensure you put food on the table. The same goes with most of your Liberal Arts. When your parents tell you College is about maturing and gaining life experience, they're referring to a time long past. You're there to study a craft and become competitive in a market full of unemployed English or Philosophy and Art majors. Find something you like, but make sure it pays well too.
4)Plan for Grad School: A Bachelors degree nowadays will get you as far as a high school diploma got you in the fifties. If you want to really do well, you need to master a trade, and that means a Masters degree, or some kind of advanced certification.
5) Take your Professor or TA seriously: Even if you hate them. Even if you can't understand their lectures, or if you have trouble staying awake. Even if they change the syllabus suddenly or assign insane last minute projects. Even if they tell you to read entire books overnight. They control your grade, which means they control your future. If they give you a stupid assignment, that sucks, do it, and do your damn best at it. If they create ridiculous deadlines, oh well, pull that all nighter. The real world is nowhere near as forgiving as College can be, so put yourself in the habit of working to the standard your bosses set for you.
6) Writing is a valuable life skill: Those annoying six page research papers every professor assigns over the weekend are for your benefit. If you want to move past entry level in any workforce, chances are you're going to have to generate reports. You're going to have to provide written analyses. You're going to have to write six page research papers. Suck it up and drive on.
7) Participate in an extracurricular activity: I burned out hardest when I decided that I had to buckle down and spend all of my energy working or studying. Everybody needs an outlet, find one and have fun with it. Make some friends.
8) Greek isn't stupid: Frats and Sororities have a rep for being either party obsessed or snobby, and sometimes they are, but finding the right Greek organization can give you valuable networking opportunities, and that counts for a lot, more than I can put in to words. Furthermore, you get more from life on social skills than actual competence, and if you're both competent and well socialized, you're more likely to be successful. Unfortunately this is something I probably can't fix at the ripe old age of 25. I will be older than most of my TA's, and rushing will be super weird for all parties involved.
Anyways, this is mostly something I can hopefully look back on later to remind myself of what's important once I get back in the classroom and start struggling to stay focused.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Celebration!
I think we're trying to make up for our absence by overwhelming the blog with new posts. But we just couldn't help ourselves. Mr. Wino and I are now the proud uncle and aunt of a beautiful baby girl!
We are celebrating by drinking a sparkling wine and smoking a cigar (Mr. Wino only).
This sparkler was unusual. Usually you see a bubbly clear or pink champagne. This tasty sparkler was made of shiraz, a red wine. Nonetheless, it was absolutely delicious. It was very sweet and flavorful, with fruity/berry undertones. It's not an everyday champagne/sparkler - it might be best split amongst more than two people, because it's heavier than your normal sparkler. Definitely a break from the usual.
We are celebrating by drinking a sparkling wine and smoking a cigar (Mr. Wino only).
Saturday, February 18, 2012
*insert Rocky theme here*
I've been telling everyone I know that I signed up for a 5k in May and that I'm training very hard for it. That's my way of making sure I do it, because otherwise, my coworkers and customers will publicly shame me.
Now, loyal reader(s), you all know too. Bring on the potential shaming!
Today I reached the halfway point in the couch-to-5k program I'm on (this one), which has been a good choice for me. The challenge right now is to muscle past the point at about one minute of solid running where my lungs and calves refuse to run any further. I walk, and then I start it over again. Mr. Wino, the consummate runner, comes with me once a week and cheers me on - today I was dehydrated and loopy and tried to sing the Rocky theme for the last three minutes... you know, maybe that isn't something I should share with the general public.
Now, loyal reader(s), you all know too. Bring on the potential shaming!
Today I reached the halfway point in the couch-to-5k program I'm on (this one), which has been a good choice for me. The challenge right now is to muscle past the point at about one minute of solid running where my lungs and calves refuse to run any further. I walk, and then I start it over again. Mr. Wino, the consummate runner, comes with me once a week and cheers me on - today I was dehydrated and loopy and tried to sing the Rocky theme for the last three minutes... you know, maybe that isn't something I should share with the general public.
This meme seemed appropriate.
In other news, I got a raise today! I celebrated... by buying more clothes for running in. It's an endless cycle, y'all.
This kinda got away from us.
Sorry folks, life has gotten crazy for us. I'm working at a five sided building in DC now, and between the work, the commute and my running, I have about enough time left over for maintaining our marriage and about six hours of sleep.
Excuses, excuses.
There's lots of stuff to catch up on! The other half just got a small raise and is weighing some career options that could make our life and finances go a little easier. My Dad gave me an entry into a 50 mile race this summer as an early birthday present, and I'm super stoked. We've just celebrated our third anniversary, sadly our first one together. Winette is training for a 5k and kicking ass! She's been counting calories and keeping us healthy and I'm proud of how much she seems to be enjoying herself (plus she looks even more amazing than before. You other ladies don't stand a chance!)
We've been waxing a bit existential lately. We both feel like we're not living up to our full career potential, and boy howdy that's depressing. On the bright side, we're both stable and working out of our college debts.
On a total tangent, I work with a guy who has been photographing the highest levels of our government for about 36 years. His name is Jerome. He's a very charismatic guy, he tells great stories, and his cubicle is right next to mine. Behind us there's a tv that's almost always tuned to either cnn or fox news. The other day we were watching some inane argument between senators, and I made a comment about how ridiculous it is that people buy in to some of the garbage politicians say just to attack other party.
Jerome immediately blows my mind. He starts telling me stories about how bitter rivals on tv usually are best friends. I won't go into details, because I feel like it would violate his trust, and it's all second hand anyways.
At first I'm pretty upset. Here's this old hat, been around the block DC figure telling me our government is an oligarchy and the whole system is a show. But then I started thinking about it, and it would be a really smart way to run a conglomeration of governments like our own. I tried to type it out in detail but it's pretty convoluted, so in summary, my thought is if you want to keep a large population with a variety of local governments stable you have to divide them against each other just enough to keep them bickering and out of the real details of governance, but not so much that things get violent. It saves you the trouble of having to rule with an iron fist, and all you have to really ensure is that you keep the middle class sustained enough to maintain a tertiary economy and by extension global influence.
Or maybe it's a load of bullhooey. But it's been on my mind. Feel free to comment.
Excuses, excuses.
There's lots of stuff to catch up on! The other half just got a small raise and is weighing some career options that could make our life and finances go a little easier. My Dad gave me an entry into a 50 mile race this summer as an early birthday present, and I'm super stoked. We've just celebrated our third anniversary, sadly our first one together. Winette is training for a 5k and kicking ass! She's been counting calories and keeping us healthy and I'm proud of how much she seems to be enjoying herself (plus she looks even more amazing than before. You other ladies don't stand a chance!)
We've been waxing a bit existential lately. We both feel like we're not living up to our full career potential, and boy howdy that's depressing. On the bright side, we're both stable and working out of our college debts.
On a total tangent, I work with a guy who has been photographing the highest levels of our government for about 36 years. His name is Jerome. He's a very charismatic guy, he tells great stories, and his cubicle is right next to mine. Behind us there's a tv that's almost always tuned to either cnn or fox news. The other day we were watching some inane argument between senators, and I made a comment about how ridiculous it is that people buy in to some of the garbage politicians say just to attack other party.
Jerome immediately blows my mind. He starts telling me stories about how bitter rivals on tv usually are best friends. I won't go into details, because I feel like it would violate his trust, and it's all second hand anyways.
At first I'm pretty upset. Here's this old hat, been around the block DC figure telling me our government is an oligarchy and the whole system is a show. But then I started thinking about it, and it would be a really smart way to run a conglomeration of governments like our own. I tried to type it out in detail but it's pretty convoluted, so in summary, my thought is if you want to keep a large population with a variety of local governments stable you have to divide them against each other just enough to keep them bickering and out of the real details of governance, but not so much that things get violent. It saves you the trouble of having to rule with an iron fist, and all you have to really ensure is that you keep the middle class sustained enough to maintain a tertiary economy and by extension global influence.
Or maybe it's a load of bullhooey. But it's been on my mind. Feel free to comment.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
The Obligatory Resolution Entry
So, we did diddly-squat for Christmas. I'm even still procrastinating on gifts. I need to send those out, preferably yesterday, so the dear husband stops needling me about them.
2011 was a pretty good year for us personally. We went on our first cruise; Mr. Wino ran his first marathon; I got a promotion and a (teeny) pay raise; we adopted a second cat; and at the very end of the year, Mr. Wino got to leave the unit he hated so much. Sayonara, suckers!
So what's left for 2012? Lots. We have resolved to:
Happy new year!
2011 was a pretty good year for us personally. We went on our first cruise; Mr. Wino ran his first marathon; I got a promotion and a (teeny) pay raise; we adopted a second cat; and at the very end of the year, Mr. Wino got to leave the unit he hated so much. Sayonara, suckers!
So what's left for 2012? Lots. We have resolved to:
- Tighten our budget. We finally figured out a way to probably make it work, and we'd really like to have enough money to buy a house when Mr. Wino gets out of the military.
- Tighten our belts (literally). As much as we love the vino and the delicious food, it's not doing either of our triglycerides any good. I'm making it a personal goal to minimize the processed foods we buy in an attempt to make us both healthier.
- Tighten our booties (okay, that one doesn't really work). Mr. Wino ran a marathon last year and this year he wants to run a 50k, because he's crazy. I walked/ran a 5k last year and this year I will run at least one.
Happy new year!
Monday, December 26, 2011
Fish Tales
A few weeks ago, we went on a cruise to the Bahamas, and now we wish we could go back.
That's about all that needs saying about how awesome it was.
Fun story time!
Wino and I went snorkeling - me for the first time. Which was awesome, and also hilarious. Wino and I had gotten out a little bit far from the rest of our group, so when we heard the tour guide calling, I assumed he just wanted us to come in further to keep an eye on us. After looking at all the pretty fishes, I started paddling back closer to the catamaran, and then the tour guide threw a piece of food right by where I was swimming.
About two hundred fish swarmed around me to get the food, so I did the natural thing. I screamed, flailed wildly, lost my snorkel, got nibbled by fish, and swallowed a giant gulp of saltwater as my life jacket got pressed against my cheek and began to deflate. Meanwhile, both Wino and the tour guide, who had seen the entire thing, were laughing hysterically. I told Wino later that I should have just thrown up the seawater then, because it made me feel sick for a few hours afterwards, and he laughed. "The fish would have seen it as food!" he said. "You'd have just started a cycle."
Feeling thoroughly embarrassed, I paddled back to the boat. Adding insult to injury, the tour guide threw the little life-saver donut at me! I sniffed, set it aside, and swam back to the boat myself, goddamit, and pulled my own mortified ass back on board.
That night, I had dreams of tiny fishes dragging me underwater to their sea dungeon. And that, folks, is my fun (and funny) story from the cruise!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Cajun Chicken Pasta and Cruz Alta Chardonnay
Today, Wino and I went for our very first walk. We're getting a head on our New Year's resolutions; we've started walking in the evenings, and we've worked out a "tighten-your-belt" budget that we've already started. Crazy!
Since we burned all those many, many calories walking, it was a good night to make Cajun Chicken Pasta.
Basically, it's delicious. Wino tells me that if I made it every single week, he would never get tired of it. I have a sneaking suspicion that I could eat it every day, and he would never complain... although we would both get extremely fat. It's the kind of meal that is so good you feel obligated to have seconds.
So, if you get a chance, try that recipe. Or come to our house, and I'll make it for you!
With dinner, we had Cruz Alta Chardonnay.
It's the white wine little brother of our "house red", the Cruz Alta Malbec, and we enjoy it. It's sweet, but it doesn't linger on your tongue. It's also perfect for chicken (I cooked with it as well as drinking it with dinner).
Now if only I would do the other things that I meant to do today: laundry, cleaning the guest room, video games... but I'm just so content and full of pasta.
Since we burned all those many, many calories walking, it was a good night to make Cajun Chicken Pasta.
Basically, it's delicious. Wino tells me that if I made it every single week, he would never get tired of it. I have a sneaking suspicion that I could eat it every day, and he would never complain... although we would both get extremely fat. It's the kind of meal that is so good you feel obligated to have seconds.
So, if you get a chance, try that recipe. Or come to our house, and I'll make it for you!
With dinner, we had Cruz Alta Chardonnay.
It's the white wine little brother of our "house red", the Cruz Alta Malbec, and we enjoy it. It's sweet, but it doesn't linger on your tongue. It's also perfect for chicken (I cooked with it as well as drinking it with dinner).
Now if only I would do the other things that I meant to do today: laundry, cleaning the guest room, video games... but I'm just so content and full of pasta.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving, Belated.
This is what was happening Thanksgiving morning, about 8 AM:
Let me back up and explain. (That isn't our oven in the picture, I just found it because pictures are worth a thousand words.)
Wino and I were asked by his unit on Wednesday to cook a turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. He agreed, but since I was at work all day Wednesday, it was left to him to actually cook the sucker by himself.
Which he did, and by all accounts his turkey was delicious. It was also, however, extremely juicy. He told me that it dripped into the extremely deep roasting pan and overfilled it, spilling all over the oven floor. But lest you think that's what set the oven on fire, remember - it was only Wednesday.
After a delightful Wednesday evening with friends, we both woke up at about 4 AM Thursday determined to clean the entire downstairs and get a dinner cooked up for our friends coming over for Thanksgiving. So, at about 5 am, I scrubbed out the oven (which was covered in some pretty nasty burned-up turkey drippings) with oven cleaner. This smoked a little, but we got the house aired out, and at 7:45 am, I began to preheat the oven for a pie. Unfortunately, after the house got extremely smoky, we checked the oven... and IT WAS ON FIRE.
Let me reiterate.
We're very lucky people, folks. Wino immediately doused the fire with a fire extinguisher, we called the housing company for the neighborhood we live in, and we had a new oven in our house in two hours. On Thanksgiving.
And then we had to clean the kitchen of that nasty fire extinguisher powder.
So, what do you think it was? The oven cleaner, or the turkey drippings from the day before? We've settled on the third option - the oven was extremely old and was going to go anyways (we've had issues with it for almost a year) and we just gave it the opportunity.
Let me back up and explain. (That isn't our oven in the picture, I just found it because pictures are worth a thousand words.)
Wino and I were asked by his unit on Wednesday to cook a turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. He agreed, but since I was at work all day Wednesday, it was left to him to actually cook the sucker by himself.
Which he did, and by all accounts his turkey was delicious. It was also, however, extremely juicy. He told me that it dripped into the extremely deep roasting pan and overfilled it, spilling all over the oven floor. But lest you think that's what set the oven on fire, remember - it was only Wednesday.
After a delightful Wednesday evening with friends, we both woke up at about 4 AM Thursday determined to clean the entire downstairs and get a dinner cooked up for our friends coming over for Thanksgiving. So, at about 5 am, I scrubbed out the oven (which was covered in some pretty nasty burned-up turkey drippings) with oven cleaner. This smoked a little, but we got the house aired out, and at 7:45 am, I began to preheat the oven for a pie. Unfortunately, after the house got extremely smoky, we checked the oven... and IT WAS ON FIRE.
Let me reiterate.
We're very lucky people, folks. Wino immediately doused the fire with a fire extinguisher, we called the housing company for the neighborhood we live in, and we had a new oven in our house in two hours. On Thanksgiving.
And then we had to clean the kitchen of that nasty fire extinguisher powder.
So, what do you think it was? The oven cleaner, or the turkey drippings from the day before? We've settled on the third option - the oven was extremely old and was going to go anyways (we've had issues with it for almost a year) and we just gave it the opportunity.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Why I can't take Wino anywhere.
Do you really hate grocery shopping? Not as much as my delightful husband. It doesn't matter how disgusting the kitchen is; he will always opt to clean the kitchen rather than go with me to the commissary. Today, though, I managed to "convince" him to come with me. Also known as whining.
Things my husband does in the commissary:
1. Complains about how fast I walk.
2. Walks really slowly.
3. Eyes every tasty looking thing that isn't on the list.
4. Sighs heavily.
5. Convinces me to pick up things for him (and me) that I would normally never get.
Basically, he's a large, mostly well-behaved child.
Today, he had managed to talk me into getting some nut/fruit/granola mix and a bottle of green tea for him, and a glass bottle of lemonade for me. I was actually a little excited about the lemonade, which is why it will surprise no one that while loading the groceries onto the conveyer belt, Mr. Wino dropped the glass bottle onto his foot, where it shattered.
His foot is, thankfully, fine. Our dignity was bruised pretty hard; almost all the friends I have who work at the commissary witnessed it, and my subsequent sigh of, "THIS is why we can't have nice things!"
So, the moral of the story is that I should probably shop alone.
Things my husband does in the commissary:
1. Complains about how fast I walk.
2. Walks really slowly.
3. Eyes every tasty looking thing that isn't on the list.
4. Sighs heavily.
5. Convinces me to pick up things for him (and me) that I would normally never get.
Basically, he's a large, mostly well-behaved child.
Today, he had managed to talk me into getting some nut/fruit/granola mix and a bottle of green tea for him, and a glass bottle of lemonade for me. I was actually a little excited about the lemonade, which is why it will surprise no one that while loading the groceries onto the conveyer belt, Mr. Wino dropped the glass bottle onto his foot, where it shattered.
His foot is, thankfully, fine. Our dignity was bruised pretty hard; almost all the friends I have who work at the commissary witnessed it, and my subsequent sigh of, "THIS is why we can't have nice things!"
So, the moral of the story is that I should probably shop alone.
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