#19: Cook 5 new-to-me dinner recipes (recipe 2)

I will admit that I stumbled across this recipe as I was in the grocery store, searching on my phone for something that met the following requirements: healthy, easy, and tasty.  My point in prefacing this blog entry with that statement is that I didn't put a whole lot of thought into what I was going to prepare - which is unlike me, especially when it comes to following a recipe.  I have commitment issues when it comes to preparing meals from recipes - I will flip through cookbook after cookbook, followed by every issue of Food & Wine and Gourmet that I own, rounding it out with a perusal of multiple food blogs, and still not feel "strong" enough to just pick one and see how it goes.  I could psychoanalyze the hell out of myself based on that story alone, but I'll save that for another time and another type of blog...   

I settled upon a recipe from Food Network's Ellie Krieger.  I have never actually watched her show, but evidently it has something to do with healthy eating.  The recipe I chose was Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers - which made me laugh a little, as the addition of feta cheese seems to automatically qualify a food item for consideration as "Greek".  I did make a few changes - namely that I used ground turkey instead of ground beef and I also only made 3/4 of the recipe.  Oh, I also made the fatal mistake of using fat free feta cheese instead of regular.  Don't ask.  It was a momentary lapse in judgment and I may never forgive myself.  The dish was very easy to prepare and I assembled the first half of the recipe on Sunday night with the plan of topping it with the stewed tomatoes and feta cheese and baking it on Monday night.  

I'll be honest, this recipe was just okay.  It wasn't BAD, per se, but it also wasn't fantastic.  Shannon, who had the torture pleasure of eating the peppers with me agreed.  After the first bite, her facial expression didn't QUITE resemble this, but it was pretty close. 

SAD FACE

Only kidding.  In fact, she reminded me that even though it wasn't the best recipe ever, it was still good experience to give it a try and then have the opportunity to think about ways that it could have been better!  I think my main complaint is that the peppers didn't have a lot of flavor.  I don't do well with food that is underseasoned, and this definitely was that.  Shannon noted that the fat free feta had a very "odd" consistency.  I think "odd" is putting it lightly.  Again, I still haven't forgiven myself. 

It also could have used a little spice - and when I ate it, I actually did add a lot of the delightful Cholula Hot Sauce on top!  Yum!  Nothing a little hot sauce can't fix!

So, in conclusion, this recipe won't be winning any awards in my book, but it was quick, easy, and healthy - and with a few additions, it could end up being added to the dinner rotation...maybe once every couple years... :)

#26: Bake something from scratch once a month for 6 months (month #3)

I was waiting until today to write this post as today is the birthday of one of the most important people in my life:  my best friend, my mom.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!  I LOVE YOU!

My mom has been there through it all:  the good, the bad, the happy, the sad, and everything in between.  And since I think, unfortunately, it's not always a given - I must mention how open-minded, understanding, compassionate, and caring she is.  She never comes to me in judgment, instead she approaches me with the willingness to listen and the openness to accept. 

On one of my favorite shots of my brother, mom and me

Me and my beautiful mom

My mom is also one of the most hardworking women I have ever encountered and her job (as an ER physician) is one of the most grueling out there.  She unfortunately had to work her entire birthday weekend so this past Thursday, she and I went out to Home 231, a restaurant in Harrisburg, to celebrate her birthday.  The night we went was actually the last night that the restaurant was BYOB was they got a liquor license and were planning to transition the next evening. 

As a present to my mom, I decided to make her favorite dessert, creme brulee.  This was my first time ever making creme brulee and it actually was a lot easier than I thought it might be!  I searched the internet for what I thought might be a good recipe and ended up deciding to make a version from Alton Brown.  My mom did have to bring over her kitchen torch (which my brother and I got for her one year for Christmas) to get that beautiful carmelization that really makes the dessert one to remember!  Mom gave the creme brulee two thumbs up!  Obviously she could have been lying to me but judging by the fact that she ate the entire dessert and took 3 home with her for later - I'm fairly certain she was being forthright!

Cooking away with ramekins in the background

The finished product

I'll end this blog post with a video of a favorite song of both me and my mom.  This song will always remind me of my mom because I know how much she loves when I sing it.  It was in my repertoire when I would sing at school concerts and when my Mum Mum and I were on "the nursing home circuit." 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!  I love you so much.  Thank you for being you!

"Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world..."

#17: Ride a segway

I am sooooo unbelievably behind on blogging!  I love working in higher education, but with the start of school comes LONG days with very little sleep.  I actually have two entries that I am tardy in posting, but for now, just this one will have to do!

I was really excited when my mom told me that as part of my present for my 28th birthday, the fam and I would be venturing out on a SEGWAY tour in Hershey, PA. We arrived at the Hotel Hershey at bit before 2pm, excited and (at least in my case) a bit apprehensive about the adventure to come.  I would just like to note that part of the reason I was nervous was because on the way over to the hotel, my brother, Tom, decided it would be the perfect time to tell me that CEO of Segway died after driving a Segway over the edge of a cliff into a river.  SERIOUSLY? 

We were greeted by our amazing tour guides/teachers, Bruce and Trish.  I wish we would have captured a photo of this incredible couple - they amused us during our 2.5 hour afternoon of Segwaying with tales of life during retirement.  They star in local commercials for retirement communities; volunteer their time as actors playing the roles of "man with kidney failure" or "woman with Alzheimer's" for medicial students at Hershey Med; hand out programs and direct people to their seats as they usher at the Hershey Theatre; and, obviously, lead Segway tours at the Hotel Hershey. 

Learning to drive a Segway was an interesting experience.  I must admit, I had no conception of the mechanics associated with driving a Segway - I honestly assumed that the handlebars had something to do with the operation of it, but this not the case at all.  The basic premise lies in the idea that to go forward, you must shift your weight forward on the foot platform (literally, you can just press down with your toes ever so slightly), and to go backward, you shift your weight backward.  The handlebar comes into play only to turn.  It was a bit disconcerting at first to be on the Segway, mainly because the sensation of driving one is unfamiliar, but after some time practicing it was almost like second nature.

Ohhhhh yeah.  Looking oh so cool... :)

We had a great time driving around the grounds of the Hotel Hershey, learning a bit about the history of the area, doing a bit of "off-roading", and stopping to feed some koi.  For those of you who may not know this about me, I have a "strong dislike" of large groups of items, particularly living things.  I feel like this has something to do with a childhood incident in Palms Springs, California when I innocently started to feed a few geese that were gathering outside our hotel room only to then become surrounded by what felt like hundreds of geese trying to get food from my tiny hands!   So when we arrived at a pond on the grounds of the hotel to feed a massive amount of koi, I was less than pleased.  I actually think all of us were in agreement that the entire incident was rather disgusting.  

Imagine this photo times 20! YUCK.

Spending the day with my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law, Kate, was an absolute blast.  I feel so fortunate that we can still spend quality time together, trying out something new, laughing, and enjoying each other's company.  One of my favorite parts of the day was near the end of the tour when we put our Segways to the test racing each other up and down an open, grassy hill - going over 12 mph, baby!  We wrapped up the day having a delicious birthday dinner at Trevi 5, a restaurant inside the Hotel Hershey. 

Mom, me, Tom, Kate

Dad, me, Tom, Kate

28 years old!

#26: Bake something from scratch once a month for 6 months (month #2)

Honestly, where did the summer go?  How is it mid-August already?  As I look at the remainder of the month, I realize that I might as well just kiss August goodbye and say hello to September - that's how crazy busy I'm going to be.  Because of this fact, I realized I needed to jump on month #2 of #26 on my list:  bake something from scratch once a month for 6 months.  When my colleague and amazing friend Peter emailed to say he was having people over to celebrate his new house in Carlisle, I knew I had the perfect opportunity to bake! 

Peter's just precious.  I love him. 

I turned to one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, for a recipe I knew I wanted to try for a while: Big Crumb Coffee Cake.  I did make one substitution in the recipe as Giant did not have any rhubarb and I did not feel like driving all over the greater Harrisburg area to find some - so I used blueberries instead.

One of my favorite parts of my 101 in 1001 project thus far has been having the opportunity to complete many of the tasks with other people - and August's baking experience was no exception.  My baking partner for the evening was the beautiful Shannon, who commented that she was certain that the Big Crumb Coffee Cake would surely be "crumby".  As if that amazing joke wasn't already an indication, Shannon is quite the funny gal, which means we get along quite well considering I am probably one of the most hilarious people you'll ever encounter... :)  She's a super duper awesome lady - so I was happy to spend some time baking with her, not to mention the fact that she is damn good with a whisk!

Here are some things Shannon enjoys...

Speaking...or not speaking...Spanish

Monarch Butterflies 

Stealing concert posters

Awesome socks and matching them to her clothing

This recipe was pretty easy to make although there were multiple components and many bowls used.  Shannon and I were both a little anal retentive about the size, shape, and placement of the crumbs that were put on top of the cake - next time I think I need to remind myself to let my hair down a bit and just go a little crazy with that part - they definitely do not need to be uniform. And yes, I just used the phrase "let my hair down" in regards to baking a crumb cake...

Isn't it prettyyyyy?

I took my lovely cake over to Peter's house last Friday night.  I wish I had some of the "before" pictures of Peter's house so that all of you could have the full understanding of how much work he put into making the place look simply amazing.

Love the mirrors

Totes cute

Seriously...you should have seen this place before...when I own a home, I'm forcing Peter to be my personal interior decorator.  I plan to pay him in Dunkin Donuts coffee. 

Look how nice the crumb cake looks on Peter's table

Peter is quite the kitchen enthusiast as well, and has recently been playing around with various combinations of flavors in order to make different types of Cake Balls.  My work friends and I discovered the phenomenon that is cake balls/pops after my colleague Tricia encouraged me to order them for my Leadership Recognition Ceremony.  We ordered them from a company called Stick & Pop, and although they were delicious, I think Peter might be giving them a run for their money!

German Chocolate and S'mores Cake Balls

Seriously YUMMY

Peter, who can't resist a strong marketing campaign, also had some Watermelon Beer on hand so OBVIOUSLY I had to give it a try.  The watermelon flavor was refreshing - not too sweet or overpowering.  

And I'll end this blog post with a photo of the most beautiful person at the party - little Kate, daughter of my amazing friends Annie and Phil.  Isn't she the cutest?  

#96: Fly a kite

I am so excited to report that I have officially completed one of my tasks to entirety!  Given the fact that Brett and I were forced to spend an entire week together, we decided we might as well work on accomplishing one of our shared 101 in 1001 goals...you know, so we could at least pretend like we like each other or something.  Since we're on the subject, I'm also fairly certain that Brett stole this one from my list (which I guess is okay, considering I definitely snatched a few from him as well).  Anyway, we determined that the beach in Duck, North Carolina was the perfect location to FLY A KITE!

Within minutes (yes, we are THAT perceptive), we realized that we would first need to purchase the kite, that up to this point existed only in our storybook dream world, in which we were both laughing, running, skipping, and jumping through a field of wildflowers, butterflies, and unicorns - all while flying a picturesque kite accented by a perfect rainbow off in distant, clear blue sky. 

Since I decided a kite would be a good investment and something I would use again in the future, we headed down the road to a kite store and purchased a BEAUTIFUL tie-dyed butterfly kite.  Don't mind the not-so-beautiful photo of me - it was early, makeup free, and a forced pose.  :)

After a day filled with sun, sand, and surf - and a giant fishbowl drink from the Sunset Grill, we were ready to put on our kite flying pants.

Most of this post will be narrated by the following videos.  I included some photos as well.  The only thing I will note, is that I have childhood memories of my dad in an all out sprint, holding a kite above his head, praying to God or Goddess or whoever to PLEASE lift the g-d kite up into the air.  Evidently on a very windy beach, it requires little to no effort to get a kite to fly.

When I added this task to my list, my train of thought surrounded my interest in experiencing a bit of nostalgia in doing something that I have not done since I was a child.  I was not intending on having the opportunity to witness the pure, unadulterated joy of a young girl flying a kite for the first time.  Brett's niece, Claire was so excited to be on the beach, flying a kite with us that she was not even able to put her feelings into words.  She hopped up and down, she squealed, she shrieked, and she giggled over the multi-colored butterfly floating so high above her.  It was a reminder to me, or maybe even more accurately, a challenge for me to attempt to live my life a little bit more like Claire:  to hop, squeal, shriek, giggle and appreciate the little things in life.

Brett setting the scene

Us attempting to put the kite together - we definitely should have thought about this in advance...

Me flying the kite!

 

Very natural pose, obviously

Mission accomplished!!!!

#19: Cook 5 new-to-me dinner recipes

I am accomplishing so many of my goals on this fabulous Outer Banks trip with the Murphy family!

Brett and I volunteered to cook dinner tonight (Monday) for the family.  I am a big purveyor of food blogs and after reading through a ton of recipes, Brett and I decided to make Spicy Grilled Fish Tacos and a Chopped Vegetable, Watermelon and Feta Salad.  Deeeelish!

We woke up and decided to get started on the Southwest Slaw for the Fish Tacos so that we could maximize our beach time and still have dinner ready at a reasonable hour.  The Southwest Slaw included chipotle chile in adobo that contrasted nicely with fresh lime juice and mayonnaise. 

 Here I am adding the Chipotle Chile in Adobo Sauce

Here I am stirring the slaw...thanks, Brett, for all your hard work!  Just kidding, he actually did do a lot!

Brett and I spent the rest of the day on the beach and afterwards made the decision to run (yes, run) to the fish shop to get some fresh fish for the tacos.  After a nice jog through some sprinklers along the way, we finally made it to the fish shop.  The recipe called for tilapia, but after the young man working at the shop told us about the fresh, local grouper, we decided to purchase that instead.  We then walked our fish back to the house and got started on prepping the rest of dinner.  

We started the marinade for the fish and chopped all of the ingredients for the Chopped Vegetable, Watermelon, and Feta Salad and made the avocado cream for the tacos.  

 Here I am, mixing the salad

Mixing the salad

After some refreshing showers, we grilled the fish and the corn tortillas for the tacos.  Our timing was a little off, so dinner was a half hour or so later than planned, but I think it was worth the wait!  I personally thought the entire meal was delicious and everyone else seemed to agree!

 We ate outside on the upper deck - such a beautiful setting!

Nice shot of the taco and salad

After dinner, we walked about a mile or so down the road for some ice cream.  

As I sit here writing this blog, the Murphy/Bushnell adults are playing a riveting game of Uno.  It's pretty intense - I may pretend that I am still writing my blog so as to not have to join this highly competitive game.... :)

P.S.  All photo credits (or all photos that don't look like total poo) go to Brett Murphy and his fabulous new camera!

#25: See all of the films that, since I was born, have won the Academy Award for Best Picture (The King's Speech)

I feel like I should change the title of my blog to "erica's 101 in 1001 plus all my adventures with my best friend."  This week I am so grateful to have been invited to vacation to the Outer Banks with my best friend, Brett, and his parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew.  His family has truly become MY family over the years and I'm excited to spend the entire week with them.

Since they are too cute not to feature, here are some pictures Brett took with his new camera of his absolutely precious niece, Claire, and nephew, Ian.

Now onto my 101 in 1001.  Brett's sister Erin got "The King's Speech" on Netflix, which was the most recent winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture and brought it for us to watch on vacation.  Last night seemed as good a night as any for the viewing.  This film stars Colin Firth (who won me over with his broken Portuguese wedding proposal in the film "Love Actually") and apparently half of the cast of the Harry Potter films.  No, seriously though.  We saw appearances from...

Albus Dumbledore

 Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew

Bellatrix Lestrange

Bellatrix Lestrange, aka Helena Bonham Carter, plays King George VI's (Colin Firth's character and the protagonist of the film) wife Queen Elizabeth.  I think she did a fine job in "The King's Speech", but there were honestly a few occasions in which I found myself wanting to scream "No, King George!  Don't listen to your wife!  She's a death eater!  She tortured Neville Longbottom's parents!"  I think Helena Bonham Carter is doomed to be associated with Bellatrix Lestrange for me, in the same way that Dave Coulier will be always be Joey Gladstone.  

I thought the film was great and I can definitely see why it won the award - especially in terms of the performance by Colin Firth.  I thought he was absolutely phenomenal.  There was a bit of a conversation afterwards about this film compared to one of the other Oscar nominees, "The Black Swan."  I have not seen it yet, but everyone else seemed to think it was a better overall film than "The King's Speech." 

I guess this just means I have another film to watch... :)