Things, Life, Whatnot...

So most of the time if people find out that I have a blog they scrunch up their nose and ask me -- What on Earth do I write about on a blog? And I usually answer one of two ways:


1. God only knows.
2. Reading, Cooking, and Life.


So in the spirit of Number Two, (Did the 12 year old boy inside of you just laugh a little? Ok good then you should stick around) here are a few updates with respect to those topics.


READING


Currently Reading: The Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
I’m about 2/3 through this and I really like this so far even though a good amount of the characters are annoying to me. A testament to Moore’s writing skills? Probably. There is one part of the book where someone is described as being the annoying type of person who never laughs at things but instead just says “Oh that’s funny.” And as soon as I read that I just thought I TOTALLY KNOW THAT PERSON! And it is stuck in my head now. I love the description here. I kept hearing about this book and was sort of uninterested, but then Elizabeth’s Review  sort of tipped the scale, so I reserved it at the library. So far, so good.


Recently Finished: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
So I should probably say that I recently finished a stint renting this book, not actually finished reading it. It was overdue at the library and even though it was so good – it wasn’t willing-to-pay-25 cents per day good, so I had to return it. I will probably put myself back at the bottom of the reservation list again though because Safran Foer has such a great voice and the book really felt like him thinking out loud and not at all like a preachy, vegetarian manifesto.


Recently Scrapped: Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
I can not capitalize HATE enough to fully communicate my feelings about this book. I just Did. Not. Get. It. And almost 200 pages in I just had to tell myself that life is too short! But I hate doing that! What was this book about? How did it get so popular? Did you read it? UGH, all of that time I will just never get back.

Next up in the Queue Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
You guys, I just need a little fluff.  I need a book that is the equivalent of a nice big stick of soft pink cotton candy washed down with an ice pink lemonade.  I really hate the term chick-lit -- I prefer to call it hot-pink lit -- but I'm not gonna lie, I needs me some, STAT!   


COOKING


So yes I have been doing A LOT of cooking lately. Man cooking relaxes me like nothing else does. I wish getting on the treadmill and running eleventy billion miles while eating only lettuce relaxed me like cooking does because then I can assure you my ass would have an entirely different shape, but something about coming home after work and chopping and sautéing and smelling and tasting is like the exact recipe for lowering my blood pressure after a long day at work. Speaking of long, do not go back and edit that last sentence - hello! run-on.  But I love everything about cooking – even the meal planning and grocery list making and kitchen organizing aspect of it – though I still can't get myself to love the shopping part always.

Here are a few winners I’ve made lately:


Mediterranean Orzo Salad --  There are tons of great additions and modifications for this recipe and they are all fab!

Wheat berry Salad -- Crunchy, yummy staple to have in the fridge.


North African Meatballs --  This was so freaking delish people…and I had majorly low expectations and they were all EXCEEDED! In fact, I don’t even know why I ended up making this because I was so uninterested in the recipe, but boy am I glad I did!


Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats --  I know this recipe has been around the internet so many times that you are probably rolling your eyes right now and thinking this is nothing new, but if you have yet to make these rice crispy treats, I am promising you THEY WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. And I rarely make promises, yo.  The browning of the butter and the salt really do make a difference – like in an eat the entire pan in one sitting kind of way. We are addicted STILL at our house, even though I made my first batch like months ago. It’s the Go-To dessert of choice.


LIFE


Ah, life.


Despite the rice crispy recipe I just posted, Garrett and I have really been making a conscious effort around here to eat better and exercise more. And we were kicking ass and taking names until a few weeks ago when there was all sorts of falling and wagons and such – you know the drill. Then we had talked ourselves into getting right back on it and then BAM! – Trip to Seattle – and I don’t need to remind you how that went, do I? So we are trying to get back to snacking on fruit and veggies instead of on whatever is within arm’s reach, trying to get back to the gym instead of spending our evenings in front of the tube, but man lately my life feels a bit like a bad reality TV pilot where six figures from Greek Mythology are picked to live in a house and work together in New Jersey T shirt shop to see what happens when people stop being nice and start getting real. And FOR REAL, I am totally Sisyphus and my ass is his god damn boulder although obviously with much less GTLing. (OH MY GOD, GTL has a wikipedia page.  Kill me now.)  Somebody call The Situation, because yo, I have got one going on in my house.  So yeah, it doesn’t make for great blog fodder – but really everything is good.

Life, is good.


And in the end, I guess that’s what I try to write about as often as possible on this blog.