Good Eats

Mike and I have been eating mostly vegetarian for about two years now, so the recipes I share on here are going to look a little different. I say mostly vegetarian because if we're able to get local, sustainable fish, we will eat that and I fully plan to eat some meat in Paris. But we try our best. Here are some delicious recipes we have tried lately:

From Feasting at Home

These are so so so so good. They are filled with flavor, protein, and are super filling and satisfying. There are great layers of flavor and a little bit of everything. You feel super full, warm, and happy after one. Except, you also want to immediately eat another one. 

From BBC Good Food

Okay, truth time. I didn't know what halloumi was for YEARS. I'm pretty sure I thought it was a type of fish. But no, it's hearty, salty, delicious cheese! We've made a couple variations of this recipe and we love them all. This one is good and so is this one.

From Bon Appetit

THIS SANDWICH! This sandwich gives us emotional feelings, let me tell you. Mike actually found it in a Bon Appetit magazine while waiting in my fertility doctor's office. He spent a lot of time waiting out there while I got poked, prodded, and pinched. We didn't get a baby out of it, but we did get this sandwich which is...yeah not the same, but the sandwich is really effing tasty. Being veg, I miss just running to a deli and getting an easy sandwich whenever I want, so finding good veg sandwich recipes is so rewarding. This one is damn good and it turns your poop pink because of the beets, so that's fun right?

From Happy Veggie Kitchen

Oh man, these eggplant meatballs are so good. First off, don't add the feta. It's unnecessary. And I'm saying this as ME. The person who literally finished off a log of goat cheese the other night while Mike was asleep. It just doesn't need it and the feta didn't really go. Mike uses garlic breadcrumbs when he makes them, chickpea noodles for less carbs, and Rao's pasta sauce because it's freakin' delicious. We have used this recipe a couple ways: the one shown above with pasta, as a meatball sub, and as filler for raviolis. All were good, dude. These balls are gooood.

Currently

So, I used to link up and This Sunday Currently every Sunday and I actually really liked it. It was kind of a fun way to look back and see what I was reading/doing/thinking about. And it's a free blog post every week, so suck it.

Currently I am...


Reading: I just downloaded Outline by Rachel Cusk per an instagram post by Natalie Portman because I am very influencible (is that a word?). The night before last I finished You All Grow Up and Leave Me which was a really good mix of true crime and memoir. I liked it a lot.


Writing: Earlier I was writing job applications (hashtag unemployment) and now I'm writing this blog post, emails to my sister about RHWOA and emails with my mom and sister about the things we're grateful for today.


Listening: My pug Emma barking at me to pay her attention and the drying going. Soon, I'll be listening to the click of the dogs nails on the sidewalk when we take them for their daily walk. 


Thinking: That I'm so glad I've been pushing it so hard at the gym and holy moly my shoulders are going to hurt tomorrow. 


Smelling:  The orange I just ate. 


Wishing: That I will get a job I actually want, that our Paris trip will go well, and that my new therapist will be better than the last one.

Wearing: Grey workout leggings from Forever 21 that I got on super sale for like five bucks, a tank top from Mike's barber shop Proper Barber that is a barber sign in rainbow for gay pride, a hot pink sports bra, and some Nike's. 


Loving: That the weather has been so nice lately, sun!


Wanting:  This book that I requested for someone while volunteering for the library and it sounds good, this for our patio, this coat that I could never afford, and this pizza in my belly right now. 


Needing: To start doing ab workouts at the gym again, to start reading my new book, and to get up off my butt and go walk the dogs. 


Feeling: Anxious as always, happy because I just at half a pb&j and peanut butter always makes me happy, and excited for our upcoming trip.


Clicking: gmail, blogger, goodreads, facebook, amazon, pinterest, and the IMDB trivia for Captain Marvel since we finally watched it last night (so good!). 

Also...

My friend Ryan works part time for City on the Side and does side car tours of Denver and he took me out last week. It was super fun and a cool way to see the city. Go do it here!

After hearing Georgia on My Favorite Murder say that getting a pet camera helped her travel anxiety, we decided to try it out. It's also pretty fun to spy on the dogs. I caught Emma howling yesterday though, so that's not great...We bought this one. 

Things I've Bought Recently That I Really Like

Good title, no?

Here are literally some things I've purchased recently that turned out well:

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I know I may get grief for shopping at Walmart, but you can take a girl out of Ridgecrest, but you can't take Ridgecrest out of a girl! Also, Walmart has really stepped up their workout wear game and this Danskin tunic is soft and perfectly comfy.

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These are obviously not the most exciting purchase, but my old no show socks were really thin like pantyhose and would slip down. I needed good, thick ones for my upcoming Paris trip to wear with my Chucks and/or Rothy's. I wish I could wear those without socks, but they both rub on my pinky toes. These socks don't slip one tiny little bit, they are great.

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I have been trimming my own bangs for years. Because 1) I'm lazy and don't want to go to a hair person multiple times every couple of weeks and 2) I honestly think I do my bangs better than any hair person has. I don't know what it is, I like them better my way? I've been cutting them with office scissors for years. I basically HACK through my thick ass hair with shitty old scissors. It's not great. So these help a ton.

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I started collecting cute pins and were putting them on my backpack that I used to commute to work, but I inevitably would have one pop off when I got squeezed into a tight spot on the train and I didn't want to lose them. So I got this and put my current collection on it. I love it so far!

This is my current collection: boobies, beer, My Favorite Murder, more beer, Upslope Brewery, wedding pins from our gift bags, Gilmore Girls, random sloth, more My Favorite Murder, Michelle Obama, Harry Potter. Boom.

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Okay, I technically got these back in July, but I haven't blogged in two years so this counts as recently. I finally got good hiking boots! We have lived here four years now and I've still been hiking in my trail running shoes. Which means my feet hurt like hell afterwards and I constantly twisted my ankle on shit. These are so supportive for my ankles and I trip a lot less. I don't wear them with rolled socks like that every time, I swear.

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So proud of my Valentine's Card for Mike this year. He loved it.

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PUZZLES! I became obsessed with doing puzzles during a particularly stressful time at work. I would come home and work on it while Mike cooked and would even stay up late to work on it while Mike slept some nights. It was a nice way to turn my brain off from all the stress and anxiety and it's kind of fun. So I have a crapload now and this is one set I got that was really fun.

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I know the owner of this company so I've been buying her beans since the beginning, but they are seriously the BEST coffee. Mike loves it so much, he saves them for the weekends so we don't run out too fast. Worth every penny for these hand roasted, humane, and awesome beans. (Also Starbucks is not humane, google that shiz)

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I got this dress for $18.00 and it's so comfy and cute and just ugh, good.

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I've wanted to get tattoos (other than my ever so classy college tramp stamp) for years, but I just can't commit. I ordered this temporary pug tattoo from Inbox and I can't wait to try it out.


Alright, most of this shit was from Amazon. I'm not that exciting...

Amsterdam

Last March, we went on a semi-spontaneous trip to Amsterdam. Mike is always wanting to take spontaneous trips and I always dream squash him. I need to plan everything and worry about money and etc., etc.  I had recently subscribed to Scott's Cheap Flights (do it, do it now) and we had been talking a bunch about when we were going to do our next big trip. We both had good jobs, no kids, and loved our new dog sitters so WHY THE EFF NOT. One day at work, I got a Scott's Cheap Flights email for tickets less than $500 each round trip to Amsterdam and I forwarded it to Mike and said, "Book it." He was so excited that I was the instigator and we quickly booked and were ready to head out a couple months later.

(We also started hardcore fertility treatments that same month which is a horrible idea stress and body-wise, but that's a story for another day.)

Go to Amsterdam, everyone. It's gorgeous, walkable, has delicious food, everyone was friendly and spoke English, and even in shite weather, it was still worth every second.

Hotels are pretty pricey there and we didn't plan to spend that much time in ours, so we stayed at CityHub. It's basically a really nice hostel slash pod hotel. It was super cool and modern and the hosts who work there were crazy nice. You get a wristband at check in that gets you into your room, you can use on the vending machines, and can use to pour your own coffee, tea, beer, and wine in the self service bar. I had a tiny panic attack thinking about how small this pod was going to be for my semi-claustrophobic self, but once I crawled in, it was totally fine. Not the easiest to change clothes in, but the bathrooms were huge and clean, so it worked out great!

Let's pretend this isn't totally obnoxious and is just to prove how me-sized these pods were?

Looking down the hall, pods could be upper or lower (we had a lower)

I wish I could look back on the trip a year later and give you our full itinerary and intelligently talk about what we did, but honestly we walked about 12 miles a day, did a couple museums, drank a ton of gin, and ate our faces off. THE CHEESE. You guys, the cheese. Here are a bunch of photos, both phone and fancy camera. Side note: CityHub gives you a portable wifi for your stay so that was awesome and very handy.

On the way there!

We took a red eye flight that we barely slept on, got to our hotel, showered, and then headed out to breakfast. We were exhausted, but the food was amazing and we rallied hard.

It was gloomy as hell during our trip, but still gorgeous (and cheaper because of the season)

If I remember correctly, this was either in a museum or on the side of a building? I'm helpful...

In a museum. This 100% would be what my child would have looked like.

We of course found a brewery. Cold wind makes me PRETTY, guys.

This is such a walkable place, look at this random street! Swoon!

Fun fact: I was eating cheese while touring this church.

Get ready for all the canal photos.

In another life, I am living on this houseboat, walk to work every day, and am much nicer to strangers.

Did we wait in line for the tour? Nope.

Those shutters!

There were awesome markets everywhere and this one had CONES OF GOUDA TO GO AND YES I BOUGHT ONE AND YES I WOULD NOT SHUT UP ABOUT IT.

Gin goblets! 

We went to a nice restaurant and did the rice table per Anthony Bourdain's recommendation.

One of the funnest things we did was cheese tasting at Reypenaer. We showed up to the shop and there a giant line outside, so we dip inside and ask if that line is for the tasting. They laugh and say no, it's for the weed shop next door. Mike and I are so confused why people would wait in line for weed and not cheese. 

The tasting was great though. They gave you a ton of cheese, some wine, some info, and let you cut that shit yourself (never would fly in the US). Have I mentioned cheese yet? The cheese shops you walk by just let you try everything! It was a god damn dream. We brought so much home. Side note: we claimed all the cheese on our forms on our flight home and when we went through security or immigration or whatever the guy looked on our form and was like, "You brought back dairy?" We explained that we had a couple blocks of cheese. He then looked at us like we were total idiots and told us to keep walking. Apparently you don't need to claim that...

This is still on the fridge, I'm so proud.

Another really fun thing was jenever tasting at Wynand Fockink. It's been open since the 1600's so it's this cool, dark, old pub building. They fill up your glass until it almost spills over and you have to bend down with your hands behind your back and suck some off the top before you can pick it up. We were prepared because of Anthony Bourdain (we watched all his Amsterdam episodes before this trip, obvi) so they didn't have to school us. It's like gin, but easier to sip and we definitely brought home two bottles. 

Amsterdam rules! Go travel! The end!

CHEESE!