| Mashed potato and spinach soup |
[Oct. 10th, 2011|08:09 pm] |
One of my go-to recipes is cheese and spinach quiche because it's easy and delicious and makes 3 meals. However, I inevitably have about a half cup of half and half left over, which usually gets thrown out. Tonight, however, I decided I was going to use it in a recipe, despite the fact that I had zero plans to go to the grocery store and not a lot of ingredients.
The product of that experimentation was actually delicious, and so I share it with you!
Mashed potato and spinach soup
Ingredients:
1 left over container of half and half (half the contents of the smallest container you can get at the grocery store)
1 potato
some butter
1 small onion
a handful of spinach (maybe a cup?)
garlic
4 slices of cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1) Put the potato in the microwave on the potato setting.
2) Chop the onion.
3) Heat a pat of butter in a small saucepan on medium.
PRO TIP: Don't burn the butter.
4) Cook the onion in the butter.
5) Chop the spinach.
6) Add spinach and as much garlic as you'd like to the saucepan.
7) Cook until spinach is wilty, then turn off stove and put the onion/spinach aside into a bowl.
9) Remove potato from microwave. Realize you probably should've peeled the potato earlier, then shrug and remind yourself of all the valuable nutrients that can be found in potato skins. Chop/mash potato.
10) Dump the potato and half and half into the sauce pan, Cook on medium high.
11) Chop up slices of cheddar cheese and dump into saucepan.
12) Dump spinach and onion back in. Actually, you probably didn't need to take them out in the first place but hey, do what you want.
13) Heat until cheese is thoroughly melted and mixed in.
14) Decide this looks much more like soup than mashed potatoes and dump the whole thing into a blender.
PRO TIP: Putting soup into a blender makes it Fancy Soup.
15) Add salt and pepper to taste. Possibly also add water, because it might not be mashed potatoes but it's REALLY thick soup.
Enjoy! |
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| House hunt... |
[Jun. 6th, 2011|09:46 pm] |
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Searching for roommates right now is apparently like some crazy version of online dating. You put up your profile online, get a TON of responses, only meet the ones that are the most interested. Then the ones you like the most don't really like you, so you keep going on down through the list, revising your expectations downward, hoping you find someone who likes you enough to make it work... |
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| The Blue Box |
[Apr. 27th, 2011|06:06 pm] |
Every season, our rookie coordinator assigns each new player a "vet buddy" - a player who's been on the team for a few seasons who's supposed to check in with her rookie, answer any questions, and generally try to make sure the rookie is having a good time and wants to come back.
I was assigned to my rookie in part because of our shared nerdery, in particular about a certain British television show featuring a time-traveling alien Doctor. So it seemed only appropriate that my gift to her on Rookie Appreciation Day be modeled after a certain blue box...
( Did I mention it travels through time, as well? ) |
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| On the topic of apricot tights |
[Mar. 2nd, 2011|05:14 pm] |
Dear new pair of Danskin apricot size C tights:
I am sure you have nothing but the best of intentions, but I am afraid we have met under false pretenses. Indeed, I would venture to say that we are not off to the best of starts.
I purchased you in the color "Apricot" under the false impression that this was a euphemism for "healthy white girl nude". Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this shade could only be considered "nude" on a the delicate skin of an Oompa-Loompa. However, I can resign myself to the color: wearing you today, with my green and white plaid dress, I received many compliments on the "spring colors" of my outfit, and doubtless your peachy shade will offset my favorite brown boots nicely.
What am having more difficulty with is your size. When I purchased you, I diligently consulted your sizing chart, and admittedly was quite surprised to find that my 5'7" height and 155lb. weight put me firmly into size "C" territory. Dearest tights, I understand that our culture believes that "weight" is an interchangeable term for "volume" without recognition of the density of muscle, but I thought surely you knew better. After all, you are from Danskin - a brand for dancers! Have you ever seen a dancer? They are ALL muscle - and plenty of it.
But alas, despite my own less-than-slender calves and thighs, you insist on bagging around my knees and ankles like elephant skin. This is admittedly a lovely look for the elephant, but not quite what I was going for in office chic. Won't you reconsider? If I put you into the dryer on high, will you shrink to a more reasonable size? Or will that only magnify your elephantine effect?
I am hopeful this issue will soon be past us, dear tights, especially as it will soon be spring and even summer and I will be able to forgo wearing you and your kindred entirely.
Kindest regards,
Anne |
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| Napoleon |
[Jan. 8th, 2011|07:04 pm] |
Meet the newest member of my family: Napoleon (Polo for short), a gorgeous happy black cat.
I've wanted a cat for a long time, and about a month ago I decided that I was finally enough of an Adult to get one. (Plus, I got a raise, so I also figured I'd be fine handling vet bills). Today, one of my friends and I went to the Washington Humane Society shelter to look at my options.
I went in with a pretty decent idea of the kind of cat I was looking for - male, young, stupid and happy, probably ginger, definitely someone that could get along with my roommate's 8 year old cat (who's a total diva), and who was going to be okay if I left it alone on long rugby weekends.
There was no "It's YOU!" moment in Kitty City - a big room where all the well-socialized cats are allowed to run around and play and sleep in the sinks and what have you - but after meeting several cats I decided this big, happy, lovey, dopey, content black kitty was just right for me. I'd be his third owner - the first just decided they didn't feel like having a cat anymore, and the second had kids who weren't good with him. Third time's a charm, right?
He is such an easy-going, happy cat. He dealt well with the evil cat carrier on the car ride home. When we got here, he ran around my room putting his nose into everything, but kept coming back to me for a head scratch and wouldn't stop purring. For the first few hours, he would even cry whenever I left the room (totally heartbreaking!) When I finally came back (I had to leave several times to get his litter box, and bowls for his food, and then bowls with MY food) he curled up right next to me in bed and that's where he remains.
I am SO happy to have this big guy - he's such a sweetheart!
( More photos ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 23rd, 2010|10:16 pm] |
I have watched this video about five times today and it cracked me up every time:
And in a slightly more seasonal vein... this equally hilarious song:
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| RABIES |
[Dec. 7th, 2010|03:55 am] |
Who has to go to the ER to get rabies and tetanus shots in the middle of the night because a strange cat mysteriously appeared in her house and began freaking the fuck out and bit her?
Yeah. That's me.
No, we have no idea how the cat got in. It was trying to get out by bashing itself against windows and jumping ten feet straight in the air and destroying my bathroom and my housemate's bedroom and I'm honestly kind of worried it hurt itself but I'm slightly more worried about how a big chubby cat got into my house with all the doors and windows shut and locked.
They X-rayed me, because apparently sometimes cats leave chunks of fang in your flesh when they bite you (WHAT), and put me on heavy antibiotics because apparently cats have highly toxic mouths (WHAT).
Also did I mention I had to get a rabies shot? Except it's actually rabies SHOTS, seven total, one in each shoulder and one in each side of the bite mark (because when I have big bloody wounds, I know my favorite thing to do with them is stick NEEDLES FULL OF THICK VISCOUS FLUID IN THEM), and THREE IN MY BUTT, because actually, even more fun that having needles stuck in my wounds is having to bend over a hospital bed and have multiple needles stuck in my ass in the middle of the night.
And then they came back and said, oh, sorry, one more shot, we forgot about the tetanus. And I was like, it's cool, at this point I don't think it matters any more.
But now I'm finally home and there are NO CATS (possibly checked under the bed, just in case) and I feel like a very sore pincushion and I have to go back three times for more rabies needles and I kind of want to be angry or upset, but the whole situation is just way too fucking hilarious. I mean, magical Houdini cat! (Seriously hope it's okay.) Ass full of needles! Best excuse for why I will not be making it to work on time ever! Also you know I am pulling this story out and retelling it until I am nintey-two. |
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| Ask Me About My Weekend |
[Nov. 21st, 2010|10:13 pm] |
I sat down to type up a detailed narrative of my fantastic weekend, but realized that I didn't really feel like writing a novel tonight (even a really damn awesome novel). So, if you'd like to learn more about my lovely weekend, ask me about the following:
- last minute homemade pizza and wine (and gossip!) dinner
- taking my cousin Schuyler and her friend (who were visiting DC/my couch for the weekend) to their very first lesbian club
- sleeping in until ONE PM HOLY CRAP IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME
- post-Penn State game tailgating with spicy pickles and coffee vodka
- Schuyler's friend's friend's friend's birthday celebration, bankrolled by the birthday girl's high roller friend, with pregaming in a posh downtown hotel room and the actual celebration at a fancypants club, where we had A Table and bottle service which included firecrackers
- the dress code for said celebration, which was (apparently) "short tight black dress, high black heels, and lots of glitter" (I got one out of three)
- the gentleman at the celebration who wanted me to know that he liked me because I wasn't like any of the other girls (apparently meaning "not wearing sequins or high heels," or possibly "not four feet tall and Indian," but clearly not "lesbian"), and wanting me to eat cake because of it
- staying in bed until 4pm on Sunday, eating mashed potatoes and watching Doctor Who
- cleaning my room SO THOROUGHLY*
- cooking sweet'n'spicy chickpeas, then making spinach alfredo because my roommates needed something to be done with the egg yolks after they used the whites to make macaroons (dinner + dessert + second dinner = delicious)
- the girl I met at nationals last weekend (on a boat, yes) and texting her since. Cons: she lives in Boston. Pros: EVERYTHING ELSE (she's cute! she's smart! she's a biologist! I drunk dialed her at 3:30 am and she thought it was sweet!)
Guys. Life is so cool right now. If I keep on like this, someone is going to drop my perfect job with a 20% salary increase into my lap next week and by 2011 I'll have won the lottery. Seriously.
*You probably aren't actually interested in asking about this one, but I promise, it felt sooooooo good. Especially vacuuming under the bed. Oh, baby. |
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