| Creamy Parmesan Orzo |
[09/21/08] |
Creamy Parmesan Orzo
Ingredients
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 cup orzo
* 1 1/4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1 1/4 cups water
* 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 4 teaspoons pine nuts, toasted
Preparation
Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add orzo, and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in broth and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until liquid is absorbed and orzo is done (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat; stir in cheese, basil, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle with the pine nuts. Serve immediately.
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| Chicken Parmesan |
[09/21/08] |
Chicken Parmesan
INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 7 ounces seasoned bread crumbs
* 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 12 ounces pasta sauce
* 6 slices Monterey Jack cheese
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Pour beaten eggs into a shallow dish or bowl. In another shallow dish or bowl, mix together the grated Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Dip chicken breasts into beaten egg, then into bread crumb mixture to coat.
3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add coated chicken and saute for about 8 to 10 minutes each side, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.
4. Pour tomato sauce into a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Add chicken, then place a slice of Monterey Jack cheese over each breast, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.
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[11/14/07] |
So, who are the folks that vote for People magazine's sexiest man alive? Evidently a bunch of dodos from Matt Damon's PR camp. Matt Damon is NOT the sexiest man alive. I assure you. Ew.
Is there something I don't see in him???
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[11/14/07] |
I found a kick-ass elementary music position. I'm nervous though, because the posting has been up since September and the application has about ten million hoops to jump through. I hope the position doesn't close before this weekend, when I'll likely get the app finished up. I know I'm being paranoid, but still!
After drinking Sprite for years, I'm loving caffeine free diet coke. Sometimes you just want that Coca Cola flava. Yeeaaaaah!
Dude. I am in a goofy/hyper mood. I do not want to go to bed yet! *Pouts like a tantrum-throwing schoolgirl*
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[11/07/07] |
I feel like poop, yick.
I have 2 applications out to school districts- cross your fingers for me.
Other than that, just housework, work-work, and insomnia.
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[10/28/07] |
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I got pretty freakin toasted at a Halloween party tonight. Hooray for liquor making one feel better.
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| I found this highlarious |
[10/25/07] |
An Open Letter to James Thatcher, Brand Manager, Proctor and Gamble
Dear Mr. Thatcher,
I have been a loyal user of your Always maxi pads for over 20 years, and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core™ or Dri-Weave™ absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants.
Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from "the curse"? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my "time of the month" is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call "an inbred hillbilly with knife skills." Isn't the human body amazing?
As brand manager in the feminine-hygiene division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers' monthly visits from Aunt Flo. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy! The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in capri pants. Which brings me to the reason for my letter.
Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: "Have a Happy Period."
Are you fucking kidding me?
What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness—actual smiling, laughing happiness—is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything "happy" about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlúa and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreens armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory. For the love of God, pull your head out, man. If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like "Put Down the Hammer" or "Vehicular Manslaughter Is Wrong"? Or are you just picking on us?
Sir, please inform your accounting department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flexi-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that's a promise I will keep. Always.
Best,
Wendi Aarons
Austin, TX
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[10/24/07] |
Do you know what I have stuck in my head right now???
"I like to oat oat oat oples and banonos, I like to oat oat oat..."
AAAAAH! Phonemic awareness should diiiiiieeeeeeeee!!!!
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[10/06/07] |
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Why am I so damned introspective all of a sudden? *shakes a fist at impending major life changes* I'm not sad-introspective, or mad-, or negative-, or sappy-introspective a la my usual, which is a good thing, but I just don't really feel like examining where I fit in the world right now- I'd rather be sleeping. You know sometimes, you just don't really want to think about anything except how nice it feels to sit back and prop your feet up after a long week. Yeah, I think I'll solve all the world's problems and paint it with sunshine and rainbows tomorrow. World, please standby as I am NOT getting my butt out of bed before 10:30 AM. So until then, goodnight!
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[09/25/07] |
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Oh and Matt and I went looking around at wedding bands for him today and evidently the jewelry salesperson ogled my rack no fewer than three times. I, of course, never noticed. Am I the only oblivious one out there or are we all getting ogled on a daily basis and just don't realize it???
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[09/25/07] |
Matt surprise-visited me after work. My crap day turned great in 2.5 seconds. I love that boy :-).
A couple of weeks ago I bought these lush Egyptian cotton pillow cases at Macy's. They were regularly fifty-someodd dollars but I got them on clearance for sixteen. They don't match my sheets, but who freakin cares- they're pillowcases. Egyptian cotton, oh-the-comfort-is-almost-unbearable pillowcases I might add.
I participated in a psychology study on body image today in Borders, done by a couple of girls from a local college. They bought me a slice of banana bread before I started. The banana bread was totally part of the experiment, but I'll be damned if I didn't chow down on a freakin slab of banana bread. I was hungry! Hopefully I didn't mess up anybody's data! :-)
Peace out guys!
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| Weddings, oh my |
[09/12/07] |
I interviewed a potential videographer today. Talk about craptacular. This guy was a balding mid-fifties full-time Sparkletts deliveryman with an impossibly frizzy (oh the horror!) combover! He got into shooting weddings after his daughter's wedding video turned out badly. He was aghast that I didn't want the reception filmed. (Seriously, how awkward would it be to have some mildly creepy guy roaming around the banquet room for four hours when there probably won't even be 130 people there?) Then he kept on patting himself on the freaking back as he showed me wedding video samples which were so low in quality that I actually shuddered. And then I asked him about how he gets along with photographers. His philosophy is that the photographers are there to shoot a picture here and a picture there while he's there to get the whole thing on videotape, so the photographer had better not get in his way. Yeaaah. Having the ceremony videoed is kind of an afterthought. I'm having one of the most sought-after wedding photographers in the area. The photographer is the biggest splurge for a reason. I care a hell of a lot more about pictures than about a stinking video. So he goes on to describe these tiffs he's had with photographers who have gotten in his precious way. Brother. And then? And then I watch a couple sample ceremony vids with him. Dude, the guy EDITS OUT THE VOWS AND REPLACES THEM WITH CHEESY MUSIC! IT WAS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A BAD 1990S HORROR FILM!!!! I literally glanced around to see if the fine folks from Candid Camera were about to pop out.
Anyway, so we're back at square freakin' one on the videography thing.
Planning a wedding is a lot of fun and also a lot of work. Some of the vendors just plain suck though. You can bet I got seriously feisty with the country club woman Tuesday. We decided on this reception site right away and planned our date around it. Emailed the people to save the date, yadda yadda, but the coordinator woman was going to be out of town for two weeks, so call back on Tuesday the 11th. The date is reserved, it's all taken care of, just call back after my vacation and we'll set up a contract appointment. Okay, fine. I call her Tuesday and she tells me I'm in luck- that day is completely free on the calendar. I'm like excuse me? There's NOTHING on the calendar?! How about the emails that the date is reserved and the fact that I've put down deposits for other things based on that information? She wrote down my reservation for that date on the freakin calendar by the time I got off the phone, I'll assure you. "Hmmm, I don't know why there's not a sticky note on that date." I'm like screw it with a sticky note woman, the only reason a deposit isn't down yet is because you've been traversing the flippin Victorian countryside for the past two weeks.
Work is still uber lame. I'm taking advantage of the free time to study my merry ass off for the TExES (teaching) exam that I'm taking in October. I've decided to concentrate my energy on getting out of the job I can't stand rather than focusing my energy on not being able to stand my job. It's made me a happier (while utterly determined) person, this new perspective. Hopefully my work experience will help me get the next job. I'm thankful at least that my employer will look good on a resume. We're a very small circle of people who've been enlightened to precisely how jacked up the whole research infrastructure is there. How nice it will be to get a cushy salary and not have to pay $110 a month for parking (to go to work!) and Social Security.
Petri is the funniest little guy. I fed him some of my salad earlier. He tore through the lettuce and devoured the carrot slice. As for the piece of cucumber I put in front of him? He gave it an unconvincing lick then looked up at me like "what the hell are you trying to do to me." lol. I love my mr. good bird. He keeps me entertained.
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| Opinions please! |
[09/10/07] |
The Medical Center is holding a photography contest for employees and I'm going to enter to try to win some $$$. Help me decide which picture to enter. The categories I'm interested in are nature and cityscapes.
Here:
( Read more... )
I'm thinking the first one since it's more unique as far as cityscapes go? I'm guessing there'll be a lot more "nature" entries since everybody and their mama who thinks they're the next photography big shot fawns over their million and two pictures of bare tree limbs and dew covered flowers. What do you think?
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| ROCK ON! |
[09/01/07] |
Houston, we have a reception site. We don't have anything booked yet, but they have 2 Saturdays in June open. We should have the church and the reception site booked by this coming Tuesday.
The site is this really badass country club that has a rustic cabin in the woods feel with stone walls in the entry way. The main dining room itself is walled in by floor-to-ceiling glass. It looks out onto the golf course and the lake. We met with the head chef himself. He was so awesome. He's serious about his job, I'll tell you that. While most places price hors-de-oeuvres by the piece, this place has the pricing laid out, straightforward, and they just keep on filling up the buffet for as long as there's anyone that wants to eat food. Their rates include standard centerpieces, set up, and servers. A lot of the stones in the entry way jut out and they set up the entry way with a ton of little votive candles set onto those stones and all over everything. It's so pretty. Lauren is a very very happy girl :-). I've been stressing about picking out a reception site. After we get this taken care of the only big thing left to get is the photographer. After that it's only fun stuff left planning-wise. Like trying on lots of pretty dresses :-).
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[08/26/07] |
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A very special good luck to Matt and to Michelle on starting their new jobs tomorrow!
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| "Shit" in Church |
[08/19/07] |
Some of you may remember my high school senior voice recital, which took place in my voice teacher's church. Long story short, I forgot my words and quietly said "oh shoot!" Well, I said it as I was turning my head and the mic only caught the "oh sh..." so everyone thought I'd said shit in front of the whole church! As fate would have it, I DID say "shit" in church this weekend. Actually, I yelled it. After the ceremony, the whole gang was gathering to take pictures. There were candles in these clear glass bowls lining the railing in front of the altar. I stood behind one of said candles. Just as I was thinking "Hey, that's really stupid to have those there, someone's going to catch my dress on fire," one of Tracie's uncles knocked it over with his arm. With fire, hot wax, and now-breaking glass shards headed straight to the base of my synthetic dress and my open toed shoes, I scream "OH SHIT!" as I jump backwards into a couple of groomsmen. Luckily the hot wax put the flame out on the way down and I was able to get back enough to only get a few glass pieces on top of my feet- no wax and no cuts. But yeaaaaah. I said shit in church in front of my entire family, Tracie's new husband's grandparents, and a pastor. Score one for Lauren, aka one bad little bridesmaid.
Other than that, it was one seriously rockin' wedding. I danced my merry heart out, partook of some yummy white wine, and saw a bunch of folks I hadn't seen in quite awhile. The best thing was I did all of this with my new fiance by my side. :-) So in honor of the new bride and groom, Brost!
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