Friday Five

I am going to Wegmans grocery store today, which is very exciting for me. Why do I love Wegmans? Let me count the ways...

1. There are multiple restaurants inside the grocery store - buffet, soup, salad, sandwiches, Asian, pizza, pasta, Mexican, seafood...options galore!

2. Speaking of options - there is a huge variety on meats, produce, desserts, cheese, specialty items, and everything else. There are so many things to look at it leaves me in quite a happy tizzy. Options, options, options!

3. The employees of Wegmans are super friendly and helpful. I've never felt any urge at all to work in a grocery store, but I do with Wegmans. Maybe when I retire?

4. As a general rule, I don't buy store brands. I'm really quite picky about my food. At Wegmans, however, I have found that I actually like the store brand. Very cool.

5. Basically, it's my favorite grocery store ever. I am exceedingly sad that the closest store is over an hour away. If Wegmans ever opened up a store within 30 minutes of me, I would probably weep with joy. I'm not kidding. As far as I'm concerned, Wegmans is the mecca of grocery stores. I heart it. A lot.

BONUS!

An open letter to Wegmans.

{ahem}

Dear Wegmans,

I'm very happy that you are opening up more and more stores in Maryland. If you could move south just a bit more, say to Waldorf, I would be eternally grateful. I would visit your gleaming and pristine store nearly every week. That's a promise!

Love and grocery wishes,
Rachel

Friday Five

1. The night before we left on vacation, there was a huge storm. Rusty was asleep and I was beginning to doze off when I began to hear the sounds of a storm. At first I dismissed it as a normal thunderstorm, but the howling wind kept getting louder and louder. I sat up in bed, unease giving way to worry. Rusty stirred and I asked him, "Do you hear that?" I got out of bed and grabbed my iPhone to look up local weather warnings as the wind continued to roar.

"Is that a tornado," Rusty wondered out loud? That's all I needed to hear. I speed walked to that bathroom, still fumbling with my iPhone in search of information. The wind raged as I sat shaking in the still damp tub with Rusty crouched beside me. I prayed for safety as branches and twigs hit the roof for what felt like an eternity. The power went out at some point. As the terrible wind finally died down, I had the presence of mind to find our local news station's website on my iPhone and touch Listen Live.

I used the light of my iPhone to find the camping light we had recently purchased on a whim (or what it?) which Rusty then used to find our big flashlight. He walked around our house, checking for damage and then shone the powerful flashlight out the front and rear doors. We had lost the top half of one of our 100' tall trees. Thank you, Lord, that the tree fell in the yard and not on our house. We shut the house up tight and let Gus out of his room, since we were now wide awake.

According to the news, there were no tornadoes, just a crazy storm with 80 mph straight winds. We got power back on late the next day (Saturday) before we had to leave on vacation (thank you, God). And the tree? It would have to wait until we got home from vacation in...

2. ...Virginia Beach! Ah, yes. I love getting away for a few days where the biggest decision is whether to start our day by floating in the pool or enjoying the beach. We all need that kind of relaxation every now and then, don't we?

3. The other important decisions while on vacation revolve around food. What should we do for lunch? PB&J in our room or eat out? Where should we go for dinner? Most of the places we went were successes. In fact, the only bomb was the Chinese place, where nearly everything was so overcooked it was nearly inedible. I still don't know what was in those deep-fried dumplings (they are supposed to be pan-fried, people, PAN-fried)! :shudder: (And no, I don't mean what kind of animal meat...they were meatless.)

All the other food we ate was fabulous - gyros and stuffed grape leaves at Ammos; topped crab flounder with a white wine lemon sauce at Il Giardino; steamed king crab legs at Captain George's, and table-side guacamole and fish tacos at the Side Street Cantina. Drool.

4. We came home on Thursday to a lonely 11-month old kitten, piles of laundry, and the tree in our front yard. On Saturday, Rusty and our brother-in-law, Barry, fired up chain saws while my father-in-law and I carried logs, limbs, and sticks. With their help, we got it completely cleaned up even though it was so hot I thought I was back in tropical Taiwan.

5. The only bad part about our vacation (beside the cost of it) is that Rusty ended up with swimmer's ear. Ouch! His right ear began hurting enough on Sunday to cause him to ask me to make him a doctor's appointment on Monday. That is saying something about the amount pain and irritation that Rusty felt, folks!

Friday Five

1. I think we finally had a birdie visit our new bird feeder on Wednesday. We heard Gus go a little nuts and then Rusty saw the feeder swinging back and forth. Yesterday afternoon Rusty saw a cardinal munching away. Finally some success!

2. It has been very cool this week with lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s. Wonderful! Glorious! Beautiful! It certainly doesn't feel like June in Maryland.

3. We decided to stop taking Gus outside until the weather cools off and the bugs die down (even though that is actually his favorite part). We were getting eaten alive out there! Also, we found three ticks in the span of 2 weeks, when neither Rusty nor I have ever had a problem with ticks around our house (even though we are surrounded by woods). We decided that it was the best thing for us and for Gus (even though Gus wouldn't agree). I was afraid that Gus would be inconsolable, but he's taking it like a champ. I suppose it helps that he's a cat and he therefore doesn't really know how long it's been since he's been out? It's not like he can tell time, right?

4. This week has been painfully slow. When the annoyingly loud alarm (which, by the way, has to be loud to wake me) jarred me awake Wednesday morning, I groaned inwardly thinking that it surely must be Thursday and not only Wednesday. (I'm not at all melodramatic in the wee hours of the morning.) Thursday wasn't any better - it felt like Friday. I imagine today will be, um, interesting?

5. We are going to a Thai restaurant for dinner tomorrow. Yum. Oh yum! One of my bosses was warming up a frozen dinner of the Thai variety earlier this week. I have been craving Thai ever since.

Friday Five

1. I attempted making a Fresh Strawberry Pie by Weight Watchers last week. While the flavor was great, it didn't thicken up like it was supposed to. I went back and read a bunch of reviews and got a few ideas. I bought more strawberries this last weekend and tried it again. This time it turned out great!

2. We started back to the gym last week after an unintentional month long break. It's frustrating to feel like you are almost starting over again, but alas, it is what it is. All we can do is get back at it.

3. I sat outside while eating lunch one day last week and it was gorgeous! The sun was warm and the breeze was cool. The perfect day. The next day it got hot.

4. I went to a friend's house for crabs and shrimp Memorial Day weekend. We were afraid it was going to be really hot. While the day itself was very hot and humid, the evening ended up being beautiful. The food was good and the company was a lot of fun.

5. I hung up a new bird feeder on Monday, but have yet to see a single birdie eat from it. I guess it will be a while before they learn that they have a new restaurant in town. Epic fail?

Ingredients 101: Star Anise

Classification
Dark-brown dried fruit from a small evergreen tree or bush. It is star-shaped and has seeds present in each of its eight segments.

Flavor
It has a strong licorice like flavor and aroma similar to regular anise, only stronger. Its pungent flavor is due to the presence of essential oils present in the walls of the star anise.

Cooking
Star anise is usually added whole (not broken into pieces) and discarded before serving.

Substitutes
A good substitute for meat dishes with a gravy base is Chinese five spice powder. Chinese five spice powder is made by mixing five spices – Szechuan peppercorn powder, cinnamon powder, ground star anise, ground cloves, and ground fennel seeds.

If you are making a dish that calls for whole star anise, you can use equal measures of aniseed and fennel seeds. Aniseed has a flavor and aroma that is very much similar to that of star anise. Fennel seeds have a milder and sweeter taste. By using both these spices together, you can replicate the flavor of star anise in your dish.

Recipes
Beef Noodles

Friday Five

1. The Dixon family has had a rough couple weeks. One of Rusty’s cousins passed away on February 19th and an uncle passed away on the 21st. His cousin’s funeral was last Saturday and his uncle’s funeral was on Wednesday.

2. It rained cats and dogs and birds and hamsters on Wednesday during the funeral – puddles and mud abounded. Yuck. But the time spent with Rusty’s family was good, nonetheless.

3. I want to make this recipe for a whole chicken in a slow cooker tomorrow. After I remove all the meat, I want to make chicken broth in my slow cooker using a combination of these two recipes, #1 and #2. I found these three recipes on Pinterest!

4. We have been to they gym twice (TWICE!) so far this week, and we are planning on going again today. Go us! We may or may not be sore.

5. I can't believe I watched 6 hours of American Idol this week - 4 of those hours were live. I'm really glad that next week will be the normal length shows. LOL!

Friday Five

1. At Weight Watchers a few weeks ago a woman talked about eating apples with sugar-free caramel pudding. I was intrigued. I tried it this week and really enjoyed it! I ate it as my afternoon snack this week. It took me a while to finish and felt like I had eaten a lot. Great snack for only 2 points!

2. I was sad to hear the Whitney Houston passed away this week. It's very sad that she got caught up in addiction, causing her life and talent to be wasted. Sad.

3. I did pick up Gus a new jumbo litter box last Saturday. We haven't put litter in the box yet, and Gus has had fun playing in it. Yesterday he actually took a nap in there. LOL!

4. Are you excited that American Idol is back on? I'm not a fan of the first few weeks, but I enjoy it once they make it to Hollywood. I have a few favorites already.

5. Rusty had to work some nights this week. Night work is brutal on him, but it's work. And work is good.

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Friday Five

1. Gus now weighs 8.6 pounds. When do cats stop growing? Wow – I’m going to have a giant snow tiger on my hands!

2. Speaking of my jumbo sized kitten, I’m going to have to pick up a jumbo sized litter box this weekend. Back when I was getting ready to look for a kitty, I bought a large litter box. I thought, “Surely I won’t need one of those gigundus litter boxes until my kitty is around a year old. They look huge! I just can’t see getting that right away.” And I thought I was right in my assessment after bringing Gus home. After all, he was only 2.5 pounds. Boy, was that a mistake. My kitten started outgrowing a large litter box before he was five months old! Now he just dwarfs the litter box. One jumbo size coming up!

3. We have been trying to use up items in our overly-packed freezer. I found a bunch of Mexican style chorizo sausage tucked away. I adore chorizo with its wonderful paprika flavor. I decided that having so much delectable sausage must mean that I should make my Chorizo Stuffed Peppers. Oh my. I love those peppers. The chorizo flavors the rice stuffing in an amazing way! So. Very. Tasty. You should try them.

4. I’m looking forward to a day at home today. I’m going to try my best to be motivated to get a bunch of big and little things done around the house. Maybe Gus will help me finish labeling my files?

5. I can't think of anything else to say. So. Um. Have a nice weekend!

Friday Five

1. I met up with two HP friends (Lizzie & Peggy) of mine up in Baltimore on Saturday. We had a great time! We ate at The Cheesecake Factory where we savored decadent avocado eggrolls, noshed on delicious chicken lettuce wraps, and finished up lunch with a light and sweet lemon raspberry cake. Sooooooo good! Then we went to the aquarium and marveled at many of God’s creations, our favorites of which included the octopus, puffins, and dolphins. After that we walked around and shopped/window-shopped and finished the day at Panera for dinner. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

2. I made a yummy crab stuffed flounder this week. The smell of the crab and fish drove Gus crazy! He jumped up on the trash can – something he hasn’t done in months. I realized that I had kind of set him up to fail by putting crab scented stuff in the trash. I should have put everything into a small bag and taken it out as soon as I was done. Good thing the trash bag was mostly full anyway, so we could just take it out. Poor Gus thought he was being tortured with yummy smells!

3. Speaking of Gus, he had his first adventure outdoors this week...on a harness and leash, that is. Rusty really wants to be able to take Gus out on a leash. Tuesday evening we slipped the harness on Gus easily, since he didn’t know what it was. He did not like it and was slinking around the house at first, like the harness was weighing him down and keeping him close to the ground. I got one of his favorite feather toys out and got him to play and realize that he could still jump, but Gus still kept licking at the harness. Wednesday evening we put the harness on again (without too much trouble), attached the leash, put him in his carrying kennel, and took him outside. (We used the kennel so he could feel safe and come out at his own little pace.) It took him a minute of hesitantly taking little steps, but he came out of the kennel and walked around with curiosity mixed with nervousness. He was sniffing everything, of course. We are looking forward to the next warm day when we can take him out again.

4. I made some delicious lettuce wraps this week. I looked up a bunch of recipes and went from there. They turned out great! Recipe coming soon...

5. We had some beautiful weather this week...in the 60s and sunny! Loved it. Loved. It.

Friday Five

1. We went to dinner and a movie last Saturday evening with friends. We had a great time...except for the part where I started coughing uncontrollably. Good grief! Luckily, my cough attack happened during the previews and I only missed the first few minutes of Mission Impossible 3.

2. I'm slowly getting over the cold I got last week. All that is really left is this cough. I'm really tired of coughing.

3. I went to a post-holiday lunch this week at work. We couldn't all make schedules work in December, so we decided to just make January work. I had a nice mixed greens salad with a yummy crab cake. Drool.

4. Gus lost a tooth this week. He was play attacking Rusty when he started acting weird. Rusty said that Gus just spit the tooth out and was licking his mouth like it felt really weird. Rusty saved the tooth so I could see it and I, like any good furmommy would, took a picture of it.

5. You would think that coming up with five things to talk about each week, but it can be surprisingly difficult. Or I just live a boring life. Ha!

Ingredients 101: Sweet Sausage

There are street vendors in Taiwan that sold small sweet pork sausages. The vendors had small grills that they would cook the sausages on. Talk about delicious! If you have a Chinese grocery store that sells meat and you like sausage, pick up some of these tasty things. You can eat them by themselves or in a recipe.

Recipe
Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage

Friday Five

1. Last weekend was wonderful and long (I had both Friday and Monday off).

2. Tuesday I was back at work, "enjoying" a crazy busy day. It was so cold in our building - it felt like the air conditioner was on! Then I got to stand outside in the cold rain when the fire alarm went off. Shiver! Good times.

3. Tuesday evening my throat started feeling irritated. Uh oh. Was a cold coming? Why, yes, it was a cold. Along with a serious case of the grouchies. Can you blame me? This cold is spreading around my office like wild fire!

4. I had great intentions to blog all this week, but the business and sickness got the best of me. I should be able to keep up better next week.

5. Oh, speaking of that. One of these days my Taiwanese Tuesday series will come back. Maybe in a week or two. I thought I had a couple posts figured out, but then my recipe didn't turn out like I wanted. Back to the drawing board! I would like to increase my Ingredients 101 and Technique 101 posts. Any requests for that? :)

Out of the Shadows

I had my first migraine when I was 10 years old. I have been managing migraines and other headaches (tension, sinus, hormone) ever since. About a month ago I woke up and decided that I was done living like this. Why am I putting up it? Why am I living this way? Because I know I don’t have it as bad as some other people? That’s just silly, Rachel! It affects your way of life. Do something about it!

And so I am.

I met with my doctor and he asked me if I have ever actually been diagnosed with migraines. I said no. He then asked me why I think I get migraines. I smiled as I pulled out a piece of paper that contained a list of triggers, symptoms, descriptions of pain, and more.

My doctor looked at the list and asked me, "Are you sure you don't work in the medical field?" Ha!

I left the appointment with a prescription and instructions to work on getting rid of possible trigger foods. The list is a long one.

Some of the foods are:

• Additives found in aged, canned, cured or processed meats (nitrites, nitrates, tyramine?)
• Aged cheese
• Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners
• Avocados
• Caffeine
• Certain beans
• Certain Fruit
• MSG
• Chocolate
• Cultured dairy products, sour cream, buttermilk, yogurt
• Olives and pickles
• Onions
• Peanuts, peanut butter, other nuts and seeds
• Pizza
• Potato chip products
• Smoked or dried fish
• Canned soups and broths
• Sourdough bread, fresh baked yeast goods
• Sugar

There are many days where all I want is to lie down in a dark quiet room. If I’m being completely honest, I am a little afraid that giving up certain foods forever will leave me a deprived and depressed mess. Cheese? Bacon? Onions? Chocolate? Say it isn’t so! No really, please tell me that I will be able to eat those things again before I start sobbing! I may be tempted to crawl back into my comfy bed in my dark quiet room. Except life and work don’t afford me that option very often. And it isn’t what I ultimately want.

I want to come out of the shadows. I want to live in the bright light of day with all its hustle and bustle, and without fear of pain or struggle.

I plan on blogging quite a bit about my headaches and all the things that I need to adjust, temporary and permanent. You get to be along for the ride. Lucky you.

Friday Five

1. Work has been painful this week. Painfully slow and boring!

2. Our little suburb went pretty suddenly from having zero Chinese restaurants to having three! 3! What on earth?! We've only tried one of them so far, and it was ok. Well, Rusty liked it, but I thought it was just ok. We plan on trying the other two and will hopefully find our favorite.

3. We also just recently got a Mexican restaurant...it was delicious!

4. Yes, sit-down eateries are a BIG dealio for us...before this sudden influx we only had one sit-down place.

5. I had to work today. Yuck. I would have much rather gone shopping. I don't do the crazy Black Friday shopping, but I do like to go and do some shopping.

Friday Five

1. You are looking at my department’s newest employee of the month! Yep. That’s me. The best part about it is getting a reserved parking spot. That’s a hot commodity here, people. HOT!

2. Seeing how today is Veteran’s Day, I need to pause and say a big thank you to the men and women that have served and currently serve in our military. Freedom is not free and I have each of you to thank for the freedom that I enjoy. Thank you!

3. We have some friends coming into town this weekend. Today the guys are all hanging out. I don’t know what they will end up doing. Us girls will be cooking a Thanksgiving feast to be enjoyed at dinner. Yummy! I am supplying the Green Bean Casserole (recipe to be shared later), Pumpkin Cake (also to be share later), and some other odds and ends.

4. Tomorrow the guys will be going to the Maryland vs Notre Dame football game. It’s a night game so they won’t be getting home until late. Very late.

5. And while the guys are doing manly football things, the girls will be going shopping! I really need to get cracking on my Christmas shopping.

Ingredients 101: Tofu

Flavor
Tofu has a very light and somewhat bland flavor. Tofu picks up whatever spices and flavors are in a dish, so I like to use it in recipes that have bold flavors.

Nutrition
Tofu is low in calories and fat, and high in protein and iron.

Texture
Fresh tofu comes in several different textures, from soft/silken to extra firm, all of which are packaged in water. It's texture resembles soft to firm custard. Fresh tofu can also be “dry.” Dry tofu has not been dried out, but rather it has been pressed in order to get rid of a large amount of liquid.

Varieties
For fresh tofu, I prefer using extra firm because it holds up better in cooking, whereas softer tofu can fall apart and get mushy.

An example of dry fresh tofu is spiced tofu. Spiced tofu has 5-spice seasoning in it and is much firmer than regular extra firm tofu.

There are also some processed varieties, such as pickled tofu and stinky tofu.

Cooking Preparation
Fresh tofu – cut tofu into pieces (shape and size depends on recipe), and place in a mesh colander over a bowl. This will allow extra liquid to drain from the tofu pieces.

Dry tofu does not need to be drained. Simply cut it up as the recipe indicates.

Recipes
Here are a few recipes that I have used tofu in:
Schezuan Bean Curd (Mapo Tofu)
Zha Jiang Mein (Pork Sauce Noodles)

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Leave any questions you have in the comments.

Friday Five

1. I am making Chinese for dinner tonight. Yum. Fried rice, sweet buns, and fried dumplings. I am using frozen premade dumplings that I got from an Asian grocery store. I tried cooking them a few different ways. I think today I will boil them first, then fry them. I didn't have any rice already made, so I had to cook some so I could chill it (you have to use cold rice).

2. I can wait to try this. Mix a cake mix and a can of pumpkin. That's it. Yum. I'm going to make it into cupcakes. Can't wait!

3. I love having every other Friday off. Love! ♥

4. Gus is sleeping on Rusty's chest. So sweet!

5. I am loving this cool fall weather. Oh yes, I dig it. Awesome.

Friday Five

1. I still do not have my kitty. And I don't really want to talk about it. :(

2. Tomorrow is supposed to be down right chilly! Highs in the low 50s. Brrr! Time to break out the cozy fleece. Yes!

3. Cool weather gets me thinking about soup. What kind should I make this weekend? Taco Chili? What I really want to make tomorrow (but it's a lot of work) is Beef Daube Provencal. Maybe I'll save the Taco Chili for next week. Or, better yet, make it on Sunday and eat it for dinner on Monday! Genius.

4. IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS: Pumpkin spice creamer and gingerbread creamer are now being sold in stores. CAUTION: Please do not exceed the speed limit in your mad dash to the local grocer in search of this sweet goodness.

5. I. Want. My. Kitty. That is all.

Technique 101: Ginger Root

There is the right way to peel ginger, and then there is my super-duper easy and quick way. No matter which method you use, peeling and cutting up ginger is very easy and simple.

Substitution: if you do not have fresh ginger on hand, you can always use some ground ginger, at a ratio of 1 to 6 (or so Wiki tells me).

Flavor: pungent and spicy but sweet

Storage: ginger should be stored in the vegetable crisper section of the refrigerator. Wrapped in a paper bag, it will last for up to a week. For longer storage, tightly wrap in a plastic bag; the ginger will last for up to 1 month.

This is how you are supposed to peel ginger. Use a spoon to peel the thin skin away so as to not waste any of the gingery goodness. This works really well, but I’m lazy and want it all done faster, so…

I just cut the sides off a piece of ginger like this. See? I’m lazy.

Next, let’s cut this thing of spicy beauty.

First, thinly slice it into coins (if you’ve peeled it with a spoon) or squares (if you are lazy like me). Some recipes call for larger pieces of ginger, this is how you would slice it up for those dishes.

Other recipes may call for strips of ginger. Stack the thin coins/squares of ginger on top of each other and julienne.

Most recipes call for ginger to be minced. To do that, pile up julienned pieces of ginger and mince.

Friday Five

Oh my. Pinterest is taking over my life. And I love it. I now have crafting ideas, recipes to try, and new blogs to follow. Here is some of what I’ve fallen in love with:

1. Painted wall art from Two Girls Being Crafty - I have a great idea using this basic idea. I really hope it turns out well. I'll keep ya'll informed.

2. Skinny Taste

3. Slow cooker Baked Apples from Skinny Chef

4. Magic Sauce from 101 Cookbooks

5. I’ve pinned lots of different ways to wear scarves. I love scarves…and it’s just about the right weather to pull them out again. Woot!