Week 1 Day 2: Eggplant and Tofu Stir Fry

Eggplant and Tofu Stir Fry

Today;s meal was a vegetarian meal, which I have no problem with but I was not a fan at all of this one. The recipe called for quite a bit of hoision sauce (found in the Asian aisle), and it was just not my style. It's very sweet, and almost tastes like maple syrup. I'm also still trying to figure out how to cook tofu. I've found that freezing and dethawing allows me to get more moisture out, but the tofu tends to crumble after the dethaw. I followed this recipe exactly and it took about 25 minutes, plus additional cooking time for the rice because I used long grain rice. Taste wise, I only give this a 3 out of 10. Not a fan of the sweetness. It wasn't terribly hard to make, and I used 2 pans, a bowl and a dish plus measuring utensils. Clean up was simple.

Real Simple Dinners, Week 1, Day 1: Beef and Mushroom Ragu with Pappardelle

The October 2012 issue of RS offers 5 recipes a week for weekday (fast) meals. I shopped for week 1 yesterday and spent around $55.

Today was beef and mushroom ragu with pappardelle. This recipe was pretty easy, and the time listed, 25 minutes, was right on. I used two pans and a couple od measuring devices, so cleanup was pretty easy too.
Sadly, I wasn't that impressed with this dish. I made it exactly true to recipe, but didn't care much for it. Although I did not make a side dish, if you want to split this 4 ways, you would need a green veggie to go with it. It wasn't bad, but I probably won't make this particular version again.

Wine Review: South Coast Grenache Vintage 2009

First and foremost, I am nothing near a wine expert. However, I find myself loving a wine, and then having no idea what it was. So here is my solution, blog it.
I'm current enjoying Temecula's South Coast Winery's Grenache Vintage 2009.  It's a light color red with a crisp flavor, nothing too powerful and not too dry. Easy to drink, I like it! Mandy rating of 3.5 out of 5.

Civy is gone :(

I know I know, my car was dying and I needed a new one. I spent almost my entire twenties with that car!! I've had her since she was just a brand new baby lease.  We've been through so much, boyfriends, stupid decisions (more than a few), many states and a couple of boo-boos.  She's always done me good though, and I'll never forget my Honda. 

On to bigger (and at this moment, more functionally better) things!  I bought a 2012 Ford Escape.  It's bright blue!  Yes, another blue car.  I will never go white or silver.  It has A/C!  It starts even if I go more than 15 miles!  It locks!!  I know, amazing things to come.   Like roadtrips!

This blog would be better with photos, but I didn't plan ahead. 

Best yoga article ever.

Is yoga even good for sex?

Quick crochet project

My first of what I hope to be a series (when I get red and green yarn) of the Mario mushroom! Only took about 2 or 3 hours including screw ups, that seem to happen every time I try a new pattern.

Crafting: Queen Anne's Lace Scarf

I've waited far to long to post my first crafts post.  About six months ago I taught myself how to crochet through books, and a YouTube video.  I'm decent on my own now, but obviously need to use patterns to know where I'm going.  I've made a few things already, but right now I am working on a scarf pattern I found on Ravelry, a website for knitters and crochet!  The pattern used a different yarn.  I had some merino wool/cashmere mix on hand, and decided to make it with that.  Here's the progress so far!

I've found this pattern to be pretty easy, except for a few times after I set it down for awhile, I forgot where to pick it back up and I made the big loop in the wrong direction and had to pull it all out :(  Oops.  I've got enough of it to make one wrap around my next and a little length on each side, but I think I'm going to finish this ball of yarn to give it a little more length (2 balls total).