Memories of Music

     Growing up one of my favorite things to do was to ride around with my dad when he would run errands. We both liked the same things most of the time and one of those things happened to be music. I can remember watching the volume knob turn further and further to the right and feeling the music vibrate through my body. We'd be driving down the road bobbing our heads to the beat and singing our favorite parts of the songs.
    One of the most frequently played artists on our errand runs, was Steven Curtis Chapman. Ever since I was little we've been listening to this music, but I never really stopped to think about the inspiration of these songs. They were good songs, but I never realized just how deep they went.
    Recently I started reading Choosing to SEE, by Mary Beth Chapman. The book is about her life and the joys and hardships that she has encountered along with her family, including the death of one of her adopted children. The great thing about the book is that as she is describing the events of their lives she puts the song lyrics that were inspired by these events. It gives new meaning to the songs that I've been listening to for forever.
    I've been reading the book while riding the train to and from work everyday, and I've been finding it difficult to keep myself from crying at the events of her life. She is so real, open, and honest about how she has felt through everything. It has definitely made me want to read some more biographies! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

Thumbs up for sure!

 

Jamba Juice

    Yesterday evening I decided I wanted to find a Jamba Juice close by and try it out. I have been wanting to try it for quite some time, but never really wanted to spend the money for it. Anyway, I probably stood in front of their menu board for like 15 minutes trying to figure out what I wanted. To be honest I was also trying to find something that didn't have a weird name that I would have to say out loud. For instance, I was envisioning myself at the register saying "Hello, I'll have the mango-a-go-go-go". Come on people, can't we just call it the mango smoothie?
    Finally, after changing my mind about 5 times and getting in and out of line just as many, I found myself at the register asking for the Pomegranate-Pick-Me-Up. Not such a bad name...it was better than Razzmatazz or Strawberry Surf Rider. Anyway, it was delicious and I wanted more. I thought to myself, hey, I can make this stuff myself! I forgot I had a juicer of my own hiding in the back of one of my cupboards.
    This morning after my workout, I went to Aldi to scope out their fruits and vegetables. I left with quite a heavy bag, which prompted me to take the bus. Once I got home, I whipped out my juicer and started shoving stuff into it until I had a nice cup full of orange liquid. I ended up juicing some oranges, cucumbers, mango, and carrots. After juicing them, I sent them through the blender with some ice, for a nice icy treat.

Remember that Dunkin Donuts coffee from yesterday? Well, I saved the cup and washed it out.
Makes a perfect traveling cup for my juice.

Good Morning

   

Oh Happy Day!

 Despite the fact that I am not a morning person, I love mornings. How that works out I am not entirely sure. Perhaps my dislike of it comes from the fact that any time I get up early I start getting a cold, and in turn makes me grumpy. However, mornings like today are lovely, but short. I got up after nine, walked down to Planet Fitness for a nice invigorating workout and then skipped down to the closest Dunkin Donuts for some coffee.
     I think coffee has to be one of my favorite parts of the morning. Not black coffee though-I'm not sure I could ever be one of those kinds of people. I need a little bit of sugar in my life. Today I indulged in an iced coconut coffee  (with cream and sugar of course). The sun is shining, I've had a good workout, and my coffee has been drunk: Oh happy day.

     I love Frank Sinatra. This is definitely good coffee music. And as a side note, someday I would like to get a good espresso machine that makes good foam so I can do awesome foam art.

Pineapple Chicken

    Warm juicy pineapple cooked with peppers and onions, poured over crispy Barbecued  chicken and sprinkled with sesame seeds=Bliss. This wonderful meal worth daydreaming over was what Steven and I had for dinner this evening. It was rather hard to have any conversation because I was caught up with the flavors that were swirling around in my mouth.

The recipe is as follows:

-2 Chicken thighs
-Half a pineapple
-Half a yellow onion (chopped)
-1 green bell pepper (chopped)
-Soy sauce
-Olive oil
-Barbecue sauce
-Sesame seeds

    First I covered my chicken thighs with the barbecue sauce and put them in the oven at medium heat for about an hour (or until it's done). While that was cooking I combined  my onion, peppers, and pineapple in a frying pan. I put it on the stove at medium heat. While mixing them around I poured in a bit of olive oil (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan). Next, I poured in a bit of soy sauce (not a lot, just enough to give everything a bit of a brown color). While continuing to mix everything around I sprinkled in the sesame seeds. Once everything in the pan was cooked and starting to brown I put the stove on low heat and let it sit there until the chicken was done. Finally, once the chicken is done you put it on the plate and pour the contents of the frying pan on time and then sprinkle some more sesame seeds on top of that. Then your done and it is absolutely delicious!

Twas certainly a nice meal to settle down with at the end of a very long work day
(which involved having to get up at 3:00 AM in order to get to work by 5:00AM) 

New Frames

    Two and half years and two prescriptions later (whoops), I decided it was probably time for a new pair of glasses. I guess I probably waited so long because glasses are EXPENSIVE! However, insurance is a wonderful thing and made it all possible. 
      I love the place where I got my glasses and exam (Custom Eyes). Despite the city surroundings they felt like such a small town cozy place. I went in and the lady at the desk talked to me for a little bit and helped me decide which frames I should get by giving me good honest feedback. Anyway, I love the glasses I got. I've realized that the bigger frames, which are in style, are actually a bajillion times more practical than the small frames. I can actually see what's around me instead of staring at the top of my frames all the time!

Yes, there is a bit of a glare on the glasses, but I wasn't going to spend
an extra $50 just for anti-glare glasses...I usually wear contacts anyway.

I took these pictures outside our apartment on the roofish area because there is
no natural light in our apartment.

The end.

Carrot Snack

    Two posts in one day? Is this acceptable? In light of the fact that I'm not a very consistent poster I'll say yes. So, I was hungry, craving something sweet, and unwilling to sit down with any junk food. A few months when my family came to visit, my mom brought some dehydrated green beans to share. They were slightly sweet and very delicious.
    Well, I didn't have green beans or the patience to wait for any to dehydrate, but I went with the idea of sweet vegetables. I chopped up some baby carrots lengthwise, covered then in honey, olive oil, salt, and flax seeds. I popped them in the over and waited for the carrots to get a bit softer. It turned out to be a very delicious snack. The carrots were soft, but the flax seeds made it crunchy, and of course the honey made it sweet, and the salt increased it's flavor.

Happy Belated Easter!

    Despite the fact that Easter was two weeks ago, I say it's better late than never, and I am going to go ahead and write about my Easter. Our weekend celebration started off by celebrating Passover with some friends. No, we aren't Jewish, but you certainly don't have to be Jewish to remember and celebrate what God has done. I spent my entire Saturday bustling around the kitchen in preparation for our delicious meal, consisting of: Turkey, rosemary roasted potatoes, Mediterranean seasoned green beans, Chicken soup with matzo balls, applesauce, and for desert I made some chocolate filled macaroons. While in the kitchen that day I also made some baseball sized peanut butter eggs (which I have neglected to take pictures of) and some Easter Bread for Sunday morning.
    Of course no Easter celebration is complete without some egg decorating! Steven and I spent a lovely couple of hours decorating our 14 little eggs.

Here's a few of our eggs inserted into the Easter Bread.

My cute little grasshopper egg.

Winking eye

On the reversed side is the open eye.

Our lovely colors.

Strawberry! Yum!

Cracked egg.

Pikachu!

Reversed side: Pikachu tail!

Steven admiring our handiwork.

Steven's masterpieces.

     Easter day we celebrated our risen savior at Emanuel Bible church, we gobbled up our Easter bread and feasted on Passover leftovers.

                              Happy Easter Everyone!

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