Cooking

As I mentioned, I have been doing a lot of cooking this past week, and I wanted to share some of my recipes with you. 

The other night I whipped up this Shrimp and Green Bean Fried Rice dish in no time at all. I sautéed shrimp in butter and poured this over rice I had whipped up from Boil in a Bag (so easy and makes cleaning up a breeze). I then stirred in green beans which I had steamed in the bag, and cut up quickly with kitchen scissors after they were steamed. I then tossed the mixture with some fried rice seasoning. I had meant to also mix in a touch of soy sauce but forgot. It was good but most of all it was so quick and healthy. 

Last night I made this Crispy Cheddar Chicken Dish that I found on Pinterest and it was very delicious. 

For the chicken you put it in milk, then roll it in shredded cheddar cheese, then roll it in crushed up Ritz crackers, and then bake. The sauce is just cream of chicken, sour cream, and butter. 

Here is the link to the recipe:

http://m.justapinch.com/recipes/main-course/chicken/crispy-cheddar-chicken-4.html

I also made this last week for the boyfriend 

and I, but it was not very quick. I made baked potatoes

spinach, and steak with mushrooms and onions.

The steak was cooked perfectly, one of my best,

but the potatoes took forever to cook. To make the 

steak delicious he first rule is you can't cook it if 

it's cold - I try and let it sit out for at least an hour

before I cook it. After you cook it, you have to let 

it rest for at least 3 mins before you cut into it. 

I try and keep it very simple when I cook steak: 

sautée it in butter or oil (I prefer butter) on med to 

med low heat. I flavor it with McCormicks Grill

Mates, which is mainly just salt and pepper, and 

if the steak is thick I put the heat on low and put

the lid on to help it cook through. It should take no

more than 5 mins to cook. 

Hope to have more recipes coming soon - I 

pinned a bunch of recipes on Pinterest I hope

to try soon!

Staycation

At my work, our vacation days start Oct 1 and ends Sep 30. I had 2 extra days I had to use or I would loose them, so I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off. I had such a nice and relaxing day the past 2 days! I cleaned my apartment from top to bottom, I transitioned out my summer clothes and transitioned in my winter clothes, I made a bunch of meals and froze them for later, and I just relaxed and enjoyed myself. It was glorious, and the best part is its already Wednesday!

This past weekend the weather was beautiful so I tried to be outside as much as possible. Friday I went to crossfit after work, Saturday morning my friend Jesica ran her first 5k at a Color Run so I went to cheer her on, then I had my women's league game in the afternoon (the boyfriend surprised me by coming to watch - he had to work but finished up early), and we went to Georgetown that evening to switch out my Nike FuelBand since it stopped working on me.  

Sunday I went to the boyfriend's soccer game and then he played with my team later that day. It was quite an active and fun-filled weekend!

Below are pictures from Jesica's race:

Pre-race 

Mid-race

Finishing the race

So proud of her!!!

Long Weekend!

Can't believe September is already here, but August ended on a high note with the boyfriend's sister coming to visit. We did lots of touristy things including the Museum of Natural History where we saw the butterfly exhibit. We went into this room where there were butterflies everywhere, of all shapes and sizes. They were so beautiful!

We also went to the Portrait Gallery which has the most beautiful courtyard. 

Another adventure was going to the top of the Old Post Office Building which has magnificent views. 

We also ate and ate and ate! So much eating delicious food, I am still stuffed from the weekend. 

Friday night I went to my friends place for a homemade meal of traditional South Indian food. I wasn't sure what to expect but the food was delicious. Not too spicy, full of flavor, and I definitely didn't miss the meat (the meal was vegetarian).  

Making dosas

Dosas

Eating dosas: my bro-in-law, my sister, Jeet, and myself

Sisters :)

Sunday we also went over to our friend Ros's for a small get together/BBQ. It was really fun, relaxing, and great food (per usual). 

That pretty much covers it. The weekend was lots of fun and went by way too fast. Now it's back to reality time. 

Upcoming this week is soccer on Tues and hopefully crossfit on Wed, Thurs, and Fri...lets hope that's not too ambitious and that I can walk by this weekend, since my new ladies soccer team's first game is on Saturday, and my regular soccer league's season kickoff is Sunday evening. 

Recent Happenings

-  Today is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I have a dream speech. The boyfriend attended the festivities but I had to work. We were able to meet up for lunch though which was very nice:

-  This past weekend our friend Jeet invited us to the DC United game which was really fun (and great weather too)

-  My eye has been bothering me lately, it's been red and irritated, most likely from allergies. At work today it started bothering me and my Irish co-worker suggested putting a (cold) tea bag onto my eye ball. Apparently this is quite common in Ireland. Not sure how I feel about this. 

-  I saw this on Instagram and couldn't stop laughing:

-  Tomorrow I have to move cubes at work. I really like my location now as I'm sorta hidden away. Now I will be on a major walkway. I will also be located directly outside my boss's office. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I'm building it up to be. 

-  The boyfriend's sister is coming to visit this weekend - this LONG weekend. How is it already the end of summer - it just began!!!  

That's all for now, more updates coming soon!

Weekend Update: Baseball and Soccer

I can't believe it's already Monday again, and that there are only 2 weeks left in August! This summer flew by!!!

Friday the boyfriend and I, along my 2 co-workers, went to the Bowie Baysox game where we met up with my sister, my brother in-law, and their 2 friends. My brother in-law's baseball team was having a charity home run derby after the game. The game was tons of fun, although I didn't watch all that much of it (I was too busy eating and chatting). The weather was unseasonably cold though so we were freezing! 

Saturday mornings we usually play soccer, but since it was the kick-off of the English Premiere League, we decided to watch the Arsenal game instead. The turned out to be a disaster - Arsenal lost, there were tons of injuries, and received a red card. It was not the start I was hoping for. After the game the boyfriend went to work. We met up later that evening and had a lovely night in where I made dinner, we watched TV, and cleaned my apartment. My bathroom was glowing white it was so clean. 

Sunday I babysat at the boyfriend's soccer game for these two little rascals:

They are so cute and full of energy!

Later that evening was my team's playoffs, and we had the boyfriend play with us. We won the first game (the semi-finals) after it went to penalty kicks but then lost the second game (the finals) so we ended up getting 2nd place overall. We were the champions last season so weren't able to defend our title but it was still a fun game. After the game we got 2 Amy's pizza to celebrate. 

Now it's back to work time. On tap for this week is crossfit, pick-up, and lots of meetings at work. 

Weekend Update

Last week was such a busy week, and i was still recovering from the dentist, so I tried to relax during the weekend. Friday the boyfriend and I both got out of work early so we went to a late afternoon movie. We saw Elysium which starred Matt Damon. The movie was very enjoyable and I would definitely recommend it as a rental when it comes out on DVD. It was by the same director as District 9 and if you liked District 9 then you will definitely like Elysium - they didn't have the same plot but had the same feel. After the movie we shopped and walked around Clarendon. It was a very enjoyable night. 

Saturday we played pick-up, and took a detour to a monastery on our way there. After soccer we just hung out at my apartment the rest of the day which was so nice and relaxing. Sunday we played pick-up in the morning and then I had a soccer game in the evening. The boyfriend had to work so he wasn't able to come to my game. We lost, only our 2nd loss of the season, but we play the team again this weekend in the playoffs so hopefully we will get revenge. 

All in all the weekend was a nice mix of relaxing and active, just what I needed. 

The Monastery

Ouch

Last week I had to go back to the dentist to get my cavity filled. I tried to prepare myself for how bad it would be but I failed. They gave me the novocaine to numb the area and then left me alone for a few minutes for the numbing to take effect. When they came back they told me I had taken a bite out of the inside of my cheek (no wonder I was in pain). It was bleeding everywhere, which was right where they were trying to work at, and had to rinse my mouth with an antibacterial rinse (twice), put a metal piece in separate my cheek from my tooth so the blood wasn't getting in the way of my tooth, and then, after all that, they had to drill for my cavity. 

It was quite an awful and painful experience. I could hardly open my mouth and I couldn't chew on the injured side. It took about 4 days to fully recover and I'm going to try everything in my power to never get a cavity again because the experience was awful.