Sticky Sweet Chili Thai Wings

I LOVE wings, but I never make them. I found out that they are pretty easy, but take some time. These are so good that we could have each had 10 more (we only had 6 each...so sad). I took a recipe from Cafedelites (https://cafedelites.com/2016/02/15/sticky-thai-chicken-wings-recipe/) and from Allrecipes (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/87872/sweet-chili-thai-sauce/) and tweaked them a bit with stuff I had in the house.

Ingredients:

Wings:
About 5-6lbs of wings (we only had just under 2lbs and had WAY too much sauce)
Salt
Pepper
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder

Sweet Chili Thai Sauce:
1/2 cup of white vinegar
1/2 cup of sugar
little bit of water
2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
2 cloves of fresh grated garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes (or more or less)
2 tsp ketchup
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp fish sauce
2 drops lime essential oil (I know...weird, but I didn't have lime juice)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 cup of soy sauce
salt to taste

How-to:
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Rub the wings down with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder, then place them on an oiled baking sheet (I used tin foil to help clean up) and bake for 15 mins on one side. Flip and cook for another 10 mins on the other side.

While the wings are cooking, combine all the sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and heat until the vinegar is cooked off and it thickens.

After the wings are cooked, cover them in sauce and boil them until crunchy!

I stole this picture from the CafeDelites website

I want more right now... I just ate.

Mediterranean Pizza

I just made some extra yummy pizza tonight and I really want to remember how I did it?

So, here's what I remember.

"The Big Ugly: Look like Hell, Tastes like Heaven"

Crust:
2 teaspoons - dry active yeast
1 cup - warm water
1 tablespoon - brown sugar
~ Mix ~
2 cups - white flour
Some salt
Some garlic powder

This got really really sticky. So I added a bit more flour and then covered it with oil and let it rise while I washed dishes.
It still was really sticky so I kneaded it with more flour and stuck it in the oven for 15 mins at 350 degrees.

When it was half cooked (after the 15 mins) I topped it with some
sun-dried tomato pesto and red sauce,
cheddar,
artichoke quarters,
capers,
tomato slices &
two garlic cloves pressed

Cook for twenty minutes. So good.

Good Old Rice 'n Beans

We needed something quick and filling tonight before we went to a play. What did we do? Rice and Beans, of course! It was super yummy and I'm still comfortably full after almost 5 hours. 

Here's what I did:

Cook 1 cup of rice with chicken broth (1c. rice to 2c. water)

Dice up red some red pepper and a whole onion then cook in olive oil

Add two or three garlic cloves, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika and some Worcestershire sauce. 

It didn't look quite right, so I added a can of diced tomatoes with green chilis with the liquid (I got it at Aldi) and some hot red pepper relish. Then I added a can of white beans (Maybe black beans would be better? I just had white and it was great)

After that had cooked up and the rice was done, plated it with the beans and veggies over the rice along with some shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream and a few corn chips! A+

Curried Lentil Bugers

Hello hello!

We just had some delicious lentil bugers tonight. It's something that I certainly want to make again, but certainly won't remember how. So here is my super easy recipe.

Sauté 1/2 an Onion, 1/2 Green Pepper, about a teaspoon of fresh Ginger, a dash of Cheyenne Pepper, and some crushed Coriander Seeds.
In the meantime, cook about a 1/2 cup of Rice with Chicken Bouillon and 1/2 a Tomato.
In a bowl, combine about a cup of Cooked Lentils, 1 Egg, Cumin, Smoked Paprika, Tumeric, Chinese  5 Spice, Chicken Bouillon and Garlic Powder.
Once the onion mixture is cooled a bit, add it to the lentils.
Add more oil to the sauté pan. Form the lentil mixture into small balls and add to the hot pan. Flip when browned on one side. Cook all the way through (about 15 mins)
Serve with rice and sour cream (if you like sour cream)

Yum yum yum!

I stole this picture too. 

Bathroom Before and After

The upstairs half bath was the most yucky room in the house. It was dirty, but do much more. It had an ugly shelf-like thing in it and it was half painted/half primed with stains all over the walls.

I'd like to show the before and after pictures. ^_^ I'm so proud.


I had to clean the whole thing, bottom to top before I painted. I knew that stains bleed through paint quite easily and I didn't want to repaint the next day.

It still needs a lot of work, but for just the cost of some "Mess up" paint at home depot, a paint brush and roller, and some $1 L.A.'s Totally Awesome Cleaner with Bleach, I think it's a great improvement.

You Have to Clean Walls??

I didn't know this, but walls get really really dirty.

Our new house has the most disgusting walls I've ever seen! I think the previous owners must have smoked inside...a lot.

Fig. 1

There is also this lovely wood paneling in the hall (see fig. 1) that is so amazingly dirty that I think it must be wood-stain that never really took.

The bathroom also had this stunning wood paneling (see fig. 2) that I, of course, make my first project to paint over. I found that, even after a good wipe down, the dirt/stain bled through the Killz primer! I did two coats of heavy duty primer and the walls still look a bit dirty (see fig. 3).

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

So, before I can paint over these lovely walls, I have to CLEAN them. I've been experimenting and found that ammonia works wonders. I've also found that L.A.'s Totally Awesome Cleaner works wonders and it's $1 at Family Dollar!!

So, today I sprayed down each panel with a 1:1 solution of the LA stuff, scrubbed it with this brush thingy (see fig. 4) and wiped it clean with a sponge. It took forever, but it's clean and ready for primer... or, more like ready for putty to fill in cracks, sanding then primer!

I hope you can learn from my mistakes and my poor writing skills. Cheerio!

Kale and White Bean Soup

I stole this picture...

I don't think that I'll ever be so on top of my life that I can take pictures while I cook, but here is the basic over view of the fantastic soup I made the other day.

Again, this is for me to remember what I've done because I tend to not to remember what I've eaten the day before, never mind remember how I made it. Here goes...

8 cups Water
6 tsps Chicken Bouillon
1 Onion
2 stalks Celery
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch Kale
1 can White Beans
2 Carrots
1/2 cup rinsed Quinoa
1 Bay Leaf


Instructions:
Chop it up and put it in a pot. Woot woot!

New Home/New Living

Sooo.... It's July of 2015. It's been about 2 1/2 years since I last posted. Where do people find time for this stuff?!?

UPDATE:
Ian and I were married Aug. 3rd 2013 on a beautiful overcast summer day in my parents' backyard. ^_^ We had the perfect ceremony and left immediately for our honeymoon in Montreal. It was perfect. Perfect. Perfect.
We stayed in a little apartment for 5 days in the Gay Village right near St. Catherine's St. So beautiful and so fun. We had good food, went to every tourist attraction and even got kicked out of a large, well known music festival. Perfect.

The reason I'm back blogging is because we just bought a house! We did! It's a cute little 1940s barn style place with a back yard and gardens! ...I have no idea what I'm doing! So, I thought (for my own sake) that I would keep track of some of the things I have been doing (Cleaning/cooking/saving/gardening) so that, in the future, I can look back and see what worked and what didn't. I don't think anyone else will read this...except maybe for the recipes.

I hope I can look back on this and remember. ^_^

Our lovely living room!

Fairy Tale Time

If I ever want this is amount to anything, I'm going to have to be more consistent! I'm sorry to anyone who happened across this page. I think it would be great fun to be a blogger, but as I cannot yet keep myself constrained to one book at a time, I very much doubt that I can be trusted to write a blog.

In most recent news, I've started watching Dr. Who starting with 9. I'm in love...well, more obsessed. I'm a creep.





Also, I've been listening to Jane Austen's Emma, on audiobook. I like it more than I care to admit. I love the language and I love that the things that concern them the most are the silly things that concern us today! Who is dating who, what so-and-so wore to the party. It's great and it's said in such pretty and frivolous ways that can help remind me not to get caught up in it in my own life.









The biggest and most wonderful thing that's happened is... Ian asked me to marry him!! I know! It happened!

He asked me on December 8th, my birthday. HE made me the most amazing breakfast and sang me a "Will you Marry Me" song in bed. I wish I had a recording. It was so perfect. I cried. He cried. I almost didn't get to say "yes" because it was so obvious that I was so happy. I took the time and told him "Yes, yes I will marry you."

We told all our family. We were planning on going to the MFA that day, for my birthday, but after all the phone calls, we didn't have time. Haha! We went to a museum in Brattleboro, VT then out to dinner at Fireworks. So wonderful!

Ian's here for dinner, so I gotta go!

Turkey Bowl

So there is this tradition in Winchendon that we play Narragansett everything Thanksgiving day at 10am... and the band plays. So last Thanksgiving and this one, I'll be spending with my kiddies in the cold on a football field.

It's not so bad really. It's better than doing nothing, I suppose.

This year, I will be there with my beautiful red eye. My students called it Tomato Eye today. It's more descriptive than Pink Eye, I think.

Two of my kiddies. ^_^

All I'd like to say today is, I am thankful that I have time off this week to recover without anyone getting mad at me.


I am Thankful.

Pink Eye Thanksgiving

I am thankful for the fact my pink eye doesn't itch. 

The Evil-Eye

I woke up yesterday with a red, yucky left eye. I was sent home from school at 11am after the school nurse told me that I had pink eye. No good! 

They told me to stay away from 24 hours. I'm glad that I have the time off, but I don't like this whole looking like I was in a fight thing.

Moral: Don't TOUCH your eyes!



This weekend was Jon and Jess' wedding! It was perfect. It went off without a hitch. Well planned, Jess. ^_^ 

It made me realize that I wanted a real wedding, but NOT a fancy wedding. Too much money and planning and compromises. It's romantic to be married in your parent's backyard, but it's not a ceremony. I'd like something slightly formal, like Jon and Jess' and slightly like a big party, like Sam and Alex's.

I'll leave it up to Ian to get the right balance.

Black tea and honey rinse in my eye worked quite well! Try it! 

Nearly November

School started. Can you tell? I haven't had a moment to myself for a long while.

Things started off well, then got crazy! We are doing The Wizard of Oz and just cast lots and lots of amazing young actors and actresses. I can't wait to start!

As far as the whole Life this goes. Jon and Jess are getting married in a few weeks! I'm excited. I'm getting my dress on Wednesday and Jess is getting her final fitting, but you don't care about any of that.

Thought of the Day: If you life is so amazing that it's almost like a movie ending, is it actually too good to be true? Is something truly terrible about to happen and I will never be this happy again? I'm so so in love and now have a little secret that I can't write down. ^_^ AND I really do love my job, even if it is amazingly stressful. My family is perfect and healthy. My friends are incredible and love me. What is wrong with my life? Will it last? Here hoping for a life time of this!


I planned my first real party recently. Jess' Bachelorette! It was wonderful.








 We went apple picking then back to Alex's house for a home made, delicious, gluten-free dinner. ^_^ 
Games and presents followed.















My amazing cousin, Eil, married the beautiful Miss Megan and they are now living happily ever after. 



I took a few pictures of the wedding. They did an amazing job. I am so happy for them both.






Other than that. It's been a nice fall. Our 6 year anniversary is coming up soon. We are going to the zoo! I've never been!

That's all for now. I'm going to make a rug out of some old clothes. OH! The table came out so so well! I'll have to take a few picture. It has music notes all over the top. So cute!

Summer is ending...

...and I'm not ready! What happened to the dance classes I wanted? or the painting class? I've only managed to repaint my kitchen and make some really awful art. The good news? I get every summer off forever and ever. ^_^ 

"Really Awful Art"

                                           Thoughts for the day:

"Beach" day

If you have friends, then you have something to do! 

Times goes by so fast that there isn't anytime to be sad.

Make things; it can make you happy.

I've started another project. It's a table that my friend and I found at Salvation Army for $7. I'm not sure what colors its going to be yet, but I'm looking for a good book to tear pages out of to decoupage. 

I'll put pictures up when it's all done. 

The boys had a great concert Sat. Honest Thieves is their name and they played at The Dover Brick House with a band called Red Sky Mary. They sounded amazing. I was so proud. 

Just Paid the Rent

     Each month I pay $441 to a lady I never see for this lovely apartment. I really do love this place and my roommates, Sean and Nic, but I've put so much work into this place and I'll be leaving in May (maybe).

     This summer, I decided to repaint the kitchen. It was AWFUL in brown, white and black. Now is it less awful in cranberry and cream. I still feel like there is something about owning your own home though.


     Our apartment is cozy and we aren't responsible for the up keep (painting, insulating etc.), but I really would love a place of my own that Ian and I can transform into a home together.

Just a thought.

Thought of the Day

     As far as my chick-flicky life goes, there are weddings everywhere! I find that I can still be a part of the movie and it isn't quite the "fade to black" age of my life, it's just a different movie! The "Warring couple finds love" movie is over and now I am starring in the coming of age movie where my friends are all settling down with no place to go and I'm stuck in work and real life without a husband.

Our Friends' Engagement Photo!

    Ian (my perfect boyfriend) and I introduced one of my best friends to the guitar player in one of Ian's bands. It was love at first sight and within six months they were engaged. It really is a beautiful story that I am  so grateful to be apart of. I do have a problem though. Ian is not really into the getting married thing yet. Isn't that what we assume happens after the NYC kiss and the credit roll? They get married! Sometimes we even had a wedding montage at the end! Yes...yes we do!

What our engagement photo might look like

Here is the math for our relationship

Dating from 2005-2012(present) = 7 years - 1 year apart = 6 years together = 72 Months

Here is the math for a our friends' relationship

Dating from August 2011 - November 2012 = 15 Months...period.

   Just saying. He will get there, right Ian. ;-)

I knew it...

     Well as I guessed, my life was crazy busy from the end of winter break until summer break. I didn't write a single blog (which is fine because no one is reading it anyways) but I made it through my first year teaching. Let me tell you a few things about my year (without mentioning names because that is illegal).

     I teach 6th grade general music and it rocks! ...sometimes. I had kids going through dating drama at age 11, kids conquering stage-fright, kids finding that they really like good music and kids crying because their dad was going to jail again. I made friends and I found that, at age 11, a teacher that makes you feel loved and important can be a huge part of growing up.

     I teach high school band and chorus and it makes me cool. I have a high school fan group that will be with me until I'm a little old lady baking cookies for the kids on my block. They have made me feel so at home and slightly more confident in what we are trying to accomplish as a music department. I am the only music teacher in the middle-high school, so we have to work together as teacher and students to make the magic happen.



     My chorus made HUGE strides (I was trained as a vocal teacher but I teach band as well) and are now understanding that singing in a chorus takes a lot more than a good voice. My band is something. I have 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 1 alto sax, 1 electric guitar, 1 electric bass, and 2 percussionists. I'm scared to death of what we are going to sound like this year. I am arranging pieces myself for us to play, but I'm still not confident in my abilities to lead them.


   I am proud to be a teacher. School starts in 3 weeks and I am getting ready to meet it head on with as much enthusiasm as I can muster!

Starting Off

My life feels like the end of a movie and I have no idea where it's going from here. I am at the credits or the "Happily Ever After" part and I'm only 24! You see, the problem is that I've based most of my life off  of what I've seen on the screen and now there is no guide line. No dialog. No exciting plot development. All I've got is credits, which sounds great and it IS great, but also quite scary.  Allow me to explain...

I met my wonderful, perfect boyfriend at the age of 16. We started dating in high school and everyone thought we'd be done by the time second semester of college rolled around - We weren't. We lasted 4 1/2 years until he hit a early life crisis and dumped me for an amazonian, bleach blond with an inferiority complex and I started dating a busser from my work...followed by the guitarist from his band...ouch. After a few months, he realized his mistake and I realized mine. It took awhile for him to gain my trust again, but we are now together and convinced that we are indeed "Soul Mates" if such a thing exists. I have a job teaching music to 6th-12th graders, which has been my goal since I was 15 and I just got a cat. My life is the end of a movie (A movie that will be written someday...mark my words).


Now, it's the day after Christmas - my favorite time of the year! I want to start this blog to remember what "The year I had everything" was really like. I want to chronicle what happens in a chick flick after the warring couple finally find each other again and kiss on the NY City street corner. Ian and I are so happy and I feel like Meg Ryan or Amy Adams. This is an experiment to find out if a chick flick can be made of a stable relationship (the only one I've seen that has has been Julie and Julia). I think it can be done.

I'm a super busy teacher (50+ hours a week) but I will do my best. For hope!

-MaybeMe