I'm sick.

It's been about a week of this incessant coughing.. and it's not letting up. I guess I've been over coughing all day long. Since last Thursday.

What else I'm over? It's been about a year in the "real world", and here's what do I know.

-I don't like a lot of types people. Very few do I really enjoy their company enough to want to hang out with. Picky, I guess.. at least with my friends.. err. But be clear, I'm a super nice person. Great sport. And always down for a good time. And my friends are top tier in every way.

-I hate innately lazy people. I don't get it.

-People are usually inconsiderate of others.. I used to think it was the opposite. I know I got sick because a coworker walks around all day coughing into midair. No attempt at covering their mouth. Even the gallon of hand sanitizer I have used this month can save me now. Swine flu, people. I probably have it now.

-Everyone does not have common sense.. even if they are in medical school. It kills me. Before I work with you, if you don't have it.. find it. And yes, there are dumb questions. I won't answer them.

-A lot of people are haters. I've met young ones, old ones. They're all the same. And they get on my nerves. Grab some confidence from somewhere and stop checking for me.

What I do love since I've began working:
-Living on my own. People say it's lonely.. it's not. Get a dog if it is (hence Cooper.. which was more of a guard dog since I live in Durham Hood). I don't share anything with anyone. Watch what I want to watch.. well you get the idea. Wouldn't trade it. Living alone until I get married (or if I ever live in a city where living alone requires a trust fund, a la S$).

-Free nights and weekends. Mostly.

-Seeing my friends as adults, and having adult friends.

-Being able to say that I'm not in college, with a scoff.

-Independence for the most part in my work day.. scheduling it how I want. Eating lunch when I want. Blogging on my lunch break.

-All around, being a pseudo-adult. I'm saving my full-fledged status when I'm in med school living in a city where I probably know no one.

-And this handsome guy (sorry for the gratuitous pic of my dog.. can't help it!):

Daily Wear Wednesday - 8/19/09

Here's this weeks DWW -- and I'm still not very good at getting the full length shot. I'll work on it, b/c I need to get the whole outfit in the shot. But here we go.


Going out; Dress: H&M; Belt: JCrew







Typical lab DW; Skirt: Nordstroms; Shirt: Gap; Shoes: UO

Labwear to PBP peptalk; dress: vintage (etsy); belt: JCrew

Aunt Judy's Cheesy Chicken Bake

This is one of my favorite recipes -- a classic. My Aunt Judy's Cheesy Chicken Bake. I'm feeling a little under the weather lately, so this was exactly what I needed. Here's the recipe:

Materials:
1 rotisserie chicken -- fully cooked
1 can of chicken soup
Minute Rice (if it's not minute rice, they won't cook properly in the casserole, and you'll have crunchies in it. trust.)
Milk (skim works, hippies)
Cheddar cheese -- sharp is the best
Ritz crackers

Method:
Take the full chicken, and take all the meat off the bones. Rotisserie is very flavorful, and any grocery store kind works great.

In the casserole dish, pile the meat in, and add the can of soup. With the same can, measure a can full of rice, and a can of milk. Add a few (or many) handfuls of cheese. Then crumble a whole sleeve of ritz crackers and put it in the dish as well. I used wheat ritz, or you could try low sodium as well if you want to be healthier.

Mix it all up with a large spoon, top with more cheese -- add salt and pepper as you wish. Bake for about 35 min at 350 degrees F, or until it looks done (cheese melted, smells delicious, etc).
I know it looks all beige-y and yellow.. and sometimes the best foods are. This one is super simple and the perfect comfort food. I feel better already..

Mother Goose's HoneyBun Cupcakes

The medical students in the basement labs are leaving for the year -- and to send them off right, we are having a mini-dessert party... and I've decided to bring RSJ's wonderful mother's (Mother Goose) honeybun cake to the party. I've adjusted it a bit.. and made them into cupcakes so their friendlier for a larger crowd. It's delicious and super easy.

Here's how it goes:

Materials --
1 box yellow cake mix
8 oz sour cream (small tub)
1/2 cup water
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
3TBSP cinnamon

Method --
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the cake mix, sour cream, water, eggs, and oil all together.. blend well.
The easiest way to fill cupcake cups is to pour all the batter in a large ziploc bag.. then cut off one of the corners (very small incision) and slowly squeeze out the batter into each cup.

The best part of this recipe comes from combining the brown sugar and cinnamon.. mix with a fork for easiest results.

Then add the mixture to the tops of all the cupcakes.. and put a dollop more of batter on top of the cinnamon/sugar.. mix around in each cup.

Bake at 350 for about 17 minutes for cupcakes (30-40 min for cakes). Once they're cool.. I iced them with either strawberry or chocolate frosting with some chunky crystal sprinkles.


Results? They taste as good as they look. Trust. Some of them did seem a tad less fluffy for cupcakes than I would have hoped.. perhaps it was all the oil. Next time I'll def cut down on the oil.. or add some applesauce instead. It's bound to be a hit tomorrow for sure.

In other exciting news.. I got an interview for one of my dream medical schools! Case Western! Its in about a month and a week.. so I have a little amount of time to prepare. Very excited!

Daily Wear Wednesday

From much inspiration from the blogger world, I have decided to do a daily wear of sorts. I'm going to try to post my outfits for the week -- both of working and going out. It will give me a little more incentive to put some diversity in my wardrobe. Here's some of the DW bloggers that I really like:
{Darling Dexter, and her DW flickr}
{The Uniform Project}

And here's my first DW.. I'll get better at taking gratuitous pics of myself. In general, my style usually has at least one bold colors.. and today is no different. You'll never really see me where pants in the summer, except for days like today.. a little cooler and rainy. Don't get used to it. I'm not much for pants.

obsessed.

I'm a sucker for red.. especially in the kitchen. It's very bold, yet classic. And these kitchens have just the right vintage edge. This is exactly the feel I want out of my future adult kitchen..

(via Apartment Therapy)

Cook when I'm exhausted?

No way. But.. it does get me thinking about some things I can do when I'm too tired to cook, without eating two bowls of cereal (like today) or fast food (like other days).

(courtesy of)

Meatloaf:
Make a ton of it.. then cut it up before you freeze it (slicing up a giant slab of frozen meat is obnoxious).. then nuke it (or if you're SH, put it in the oven haha), add some swiss cheese.. and it's a home cooked meal in a flash.
My go to recipe
Materials --
Tomato Relish:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 onion finely diced
2 large spoonfuls of minced garlic (using the canned kind is the easiest, and still fresh)
2 bay leaves (take these out before you finish cooking)
2 bell peppers, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup (handful) of diced italian parsley
1 bottle (12 oz) of ketchup
2 seconds pour of worcestershire sauce
ground salt and black pepper

Meatloaf:
4 slices of white bread, edges removed
Enough milk to cover the bread in a bowl (about 1/4 cup)
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2 eggs
3 sprigs fresh thyme
salt/pepper
4 slices of bacon (or if I'm making this at home.. a half-full pound.. yum)

Method:
Preheat oven 350 degrees
Coat skillet with oil over medium heat -- saute the onion, garlic, and bay leaves to create a base flavor.
Add the peppers.. let them soften
Add the tomatoes
After about a minute, add the parsley, ketchup and worcestershire, salt/pepper
Simmer relish for about 5 minutes
Remove from heat, and let it chill out

Place bread in a bowl, soak in the milk.
Squeeze the milk out of the bread..

Pile all the meat in the bowl, add the milky bread.
Combine the thyme, half of the tomato relish, and eggs to the meat -- and mix it up with your hands.

Once you've got it all combined.. form it into a long log (the descriptions here are terrible, I know) on a broiling pan (shallow.. the bacon lets off a lot of grease), lightly oiled (although if you use a lot of bacon, it won't really matter)
Pile on the bacon.. and cook it for an hour to an hour and a half (the bacon will tell you how much you'll need to cook it... a meat thermometer doesn't hurt).

Any additional relish you can pile on the meatloaf before you cook it, or after it's done cooking.

Adapted from Tyler Florence

lovely images..

These images remind me of all the things that are right about summer and being girly. I decided to go through my old "likes" from my tumblr dashboard and found these lovely images.



























images from:
mary ruffle
house of elle
beautiful paper

Day Off!

Tomorrow is my day off.. a Friday, I know.. but I'm not a slacker, I promise. I have to go into the lab all weekend.. so there's a trade off. It will be my first full day off since I moved into my new duplex, and that means, an overhaul on unpacking and organizing. First things to tackle: my kitchen. Then my bedroom. Here's some ideas I love:

DIY Bookshelves from recycled cardboard and wallpaper:




Found on: I Suwannee


I live in an older home turned into a duplex, and my general style has some vintage undertones. I love these cute kitchen ideas:







These kitchen images found on Apartment Therapy.

My kitchen storage space is very limited, so these makeovers are right up my alley. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out!

Birthday Cupcakes

While trying to find a good recipe for cupcakes (John's birthday is tomorrow!) I came across some of these delicious looking confections. I wish I had the time Martha Stewart put into these.. but unfortunately.. I only have a few hours after work to whip something up. But here's some inspiration for another day:

Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcake with Toasted Marshmellow



These cupcake-pops are the cutest idea, seen on The Kitchn:



I'm probably going to stick with something simple.. who knows.