Food on Friday: Strawberry cake cookies!

So, since the potato wedges were so easy I felt a little like I'd cheated at a "REAL" food post.  Here's the follow-up of a sneak peek I gave at the finished product a few weeks ago.  I was alerted to this sweet pink recipe by Tiffany and the original recipe is here.


This is one of my "semi-homemade"-type recipes, just FYI.  (I seriously think that show is so underrated, but that's a rant analysis for another day.).

You can use ANY strawberry cake mix.  The first time I used this Duncan Hines one.  I bought a box of the Pillsbury kind this week at Target - we'll see how that one turns out.

Ingredients

The original recipe used only half the box ... HA!  Who does that?  I doubled the recipe and used the entire box of cake mix.  My only regret?  Not using TWO boxes!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Combine all the ingredients BUT the cake mix.  And then add the cake mix last to make the cookie batter.

It looks orange - but it was def more pink!

I don't remember if I was patient enough to chill this prior to baking ... let's assume that I didn't, but I definitely will/should next time.  I think I dropped these by the rounded tablespoon-ful - and spread them quite far apart b/c they apparently spread.

See how much they spread out?

A delightful cookie sandwich!

I wanted to make pink frosting to match the pink cookie but my sister suggested yellow would be pretty as well.  And it was!  Doesn't this just LOOK like spring in my mouth???  I might make a few different colored batches of pastel frosting and do these for Easter as well!

How adorable/appropriate is the butterfly napkin?

I realized that although I'd linked to the perfect frosting recipe, I'd never shown the process here.

Here's the flour and the milk just as it's starting to simmer.

Starting to thicken up (I probably should've taken it off the heat at this point - it really does just SET in a second).

Stirring and too busy photogging

Yikes!  Waited a few seconds too long... (no worries - the frosting might not whip up as fluffy or big as it's supposed to, but it still makes this lovely rich frosting that tastes delightful).

Mixed it with the butter/sugar mixture and added a few yellow food coloring drops and voilà!!!

If you DO make cookie sandwiches and happen to store them in a Tupperware (like I did), the moisture from the frosting soaks into the cookies and makes them EVEN softer.  They literally fall apart in your hands and you're just covered in strawberry cookie and frosting, which isn't really a bad thing.  My sister REALLY liked the softened sandwiches so I made a few for her but the rest of the time I just took out a cookie and spread the frosting on there like cream cheese (about half an inch thick TEEHEEHEE). 

Potatoes. Part 5. Potato wedges.

A casual potato snack for casual Friday!  (Hah! As if I would celebrate/participate in "casual Friday.").  These are super-easy to make and so great as a late night snack.  I always make these when I get a post 10pm french fry craving (which is to say, I make these pretty often).  This is so easy I don't even have pictures of the process because I never considered putting it up here.  But it does round out our week of potatoes 5 ways, so here goes.

This is my own recipe based on lots of others and a bit of trial and error.  It's a good serving size for an after-dinner snack for our family of 3-4 adults (depending on who's home).

INGREDIENTS
3 large-ish potatoes cut into 8ths lengthwise
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tbs olive oil

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (since I usually make a small batch I nearly always use the toaster oven for this - heats up quicker!)
Slice the potato into wedges and press with paper towel to get out a bit of excess water
Toss all ingredients together in a bowl ("What's a ... bowwwl?")
Bake for 35-40 minutes (or until done)

Here they are coming out of my old apartment oven.

These are small red potatoes

Another view (I wanted potato wedges and guac).

They're great with ANY dipping sauce, ketchup, honey mustard, mayo, sriracha, etc.  Oh, but NOT Miracle Whip.  That stuff is NOT a totally equal substitute for mayo - no, no, not in all situations.  In egg salad and shrimp salad maybe, but not as a standalone condiment.

P.S. Because I know this last post is a bit of a cop-out, I'll be back with the a-long-time-ago promised Strawberry Cookie recipe a bit later =)

Potatoes. Part 4. Italian Potato-Sausage Soup.

I've never been a big soup person.  Something about solid food in liquid just weirds me out.  It's like, why is there solid food in this bowl of flavored water?  But lately, more precisely, this winter, I've really gotten "INTO" soup.  Like, I think it's delicious and want to soak bread in there and have yummy hearty soup for lunch.  My other (old) prejudice against soup was that it was never filling enough for me.  I'm a hungry-type of gal and liquid meals just didn't fill me up.

Let's say my conversion was partially brought about by adult braces.  Sometimes, especially right after a tightening, my whole mouth would be in pain and liquid food sounded like the only appetizing thing in the world.  That and buckets of ice cream.  Hehe.

Anyway, my sister has always been a big soup person so she was overjoyed at my conversion into soup and my foray into soup-making.  A few weeks ago I made this hearty yet light soup that was GREAT for lunch.  Adding in a thick slice or two of a French baguette not only made this meal pan-European but also made it filling enough to last me the rest of a work afternoon =).

So, without further ado, my spin on Italian Potato-Sausage Soup.

Assembled ingredients (I don't recall using that cheddar ... so no idea how it snuck into the picture).

Not sure why there's cheese and bacon here - didn't use it

The recipe said to remove the sausage from the casings but my casing was pretty stuck, so I just sliced up the sausage and then used a handheld blender to break up my sausage.  As you might've noticed, I'm a pretty big fan of aidells brand sausages.  The only one I'm not a huge fan of was the Chicken & Apple, it was just a touch, ok fine, it was like a blunt hammerstrike too sweet for me.

Anyway, so I broke up the sausage and cooked it was red pepper flakes (but the Korean kind because that was the only kind I had on hand  I assumed that I used Korean pepper flakes because that's the only kind we have but actually I don't even remember if I used red pepper flakes at all - I'll have to ask my sister if the soup was any kind of spicy and report back), regular paprika, onion, and garlic.  I added the chicken broth and used Google to find out what was in Italian seasoning and added about a teaspoon's combination of the appropriate seasonings I had in my cupboard (basil, rosemary, and thyme - I didn't have some of the others like marjoram and sage and I just straightup don't like oregano).  I also threw in a bay leaf or 3 (ok, 3) because I always see chefs do it on TV so I always throw in a few bay leaves when I make soup or stew.  I looked up on Google the next day why people do it and apparently I added an "aroma" to the soup with the bay leaf.

Delicious juices swimming together

Bring it all to a boil and add diced potatoes.  I also added a drained can of black beans because 1) I like black beans, 2) they're good for your heart, 3) I believe beans make soup heartier, and 4) because I like adding beans to anything I make in a soup pot.  Cover and let simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender.  Test the potatoes' tenderness in any way you'd like that doesn't cause injury.

So the reason this "hearty" soup is not as heavy as what it wants/claims to be is the use of what I inexpertly call a "thickener" rather than just adding heavy cream or a more traditional roux.

I'm pretty sure I did this next thing as one step.  As in, I just let the cream cheese come to room temperature while I was assembling the first half of the soup and then melted it all together in a small saucepan rather than blending first then adding it to melted butter. This was a few weeks ago, so my memory might be a little off, but I can't imagine myself using more pots/pans/dishes than necessary.  (My secret specialty is making any food in one bowl/pan for easy cleanup!).

Looks like the beginning of my Perfect Frosting!

I followed directions after that, cooking over medium heat until pretty thick. When the potatoes were cooked, I added the milk mixture and chopped spinach.  As you can see below, I only halfheartedly chopped the spinach.  No big deal once it was in there.  (I was actually annoyed at having to use the whole bag of spinach and that's why I halfheartedly chopped it... I had bought the spinach originally to put into morning smoothies (you can't taste them and all the nutrients are still in there!) and was disappointed at using them in my soup instead but it all turned out fine in the end). 

I don't think I needed to add any extra seasoning at the end so I didn't (even though the recipe says to).  I just let the soup cool down (after I'd already learned firsthand why not to pour hot soup into weak little plastic Ziploc bags) and then ladled into sandwich size Ziploc bags, which was perfect for these small round containers (ooh, the little "handy tips" on the side say to take soup to work for lunch in these!  And I did!).  I lay the baggies flat on a cookie sheet in the freezer since I'd made enough for the week for both me and my sister.

Take out a baggie the night before and transfer it to the fridge.  It was thawed to a granita-like texture the next day, perfect for squishing out into the plastic soup container.  I topped it off with a little grated-at-home parmigiano (have a baggie of that in the fridge just for this purpose) and took to work with a 2" baguette slice.

Unfortunately, I got really busy/excited after the soup was actually made and have no pictures of the finished product.  Mostly I had a bit of a mini-disaster after trying to ladle the hot soup into flimsy sandwich bags that melt/rip and then trying to contain that mess while losing as little of the precious soup as possible.  And then when it came time to eat the soup, I was already starving for lunch and never remembered to snap a pic before digging in...

But my consistency was about the same as this:

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My sister actually came home from work after the first day of soup lunch and told me she couldn't figure out if it was a broth or a cream soup, but that she stopped caring after she tasted it.  So that's a win, right?

Anyway, let's just say it was really in between being too creamy a la ...

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And too watery a la ...

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Potatoes. Part 3. Gnocchi, three ways.

So, as promised, GNOCCHI!!!  This is one of those things that one of my college roommates and best friends ALWAYS orders.  You know how you have a group of people that eats together often enough and you get a feel for each others' tastes?  Like one guy I dated ALWAYS ordered fish.  This other guy was unpredictable, he loved getting something different each time.  My dad invariably gets calamari or chicken wings (at non-Korean places).  My mom will get any salad that mixes fruits and balsamic vinaigrette.  I will almost always order scallops if that's an option.  Or anything that comes with french fries hehe.

My college roommate will order anything on the menu that has beef short ribs or gnocchi.  She was the one who introduced me to gnocchi.  I never thought it'd be that hard to make but I once attended a seder where the hostess served hand/homemade gnocchi and everyone was so impressed that I assumed it was a difficult feat.  Imagine my disappointment (that I hadn't attempted this earlier) but also my excitement upon finding out just how easy this is.

My sister really likes gnocchi and I've been meaning to make some for her from scratch.  (This is how I show my love, I make your favorite foods from scratch - tell the boys! haha).  Anyway, I looked up a few recipes and was always confused at the simplicity, surely it had to be more difficult for people to be so impressed.  As it turns out, the recipe/process is not difficult, just labor-intensive.  (To be honest, I've only rolled a few of the gnocchi myself - my mom and sister are much better at actually producing the little buggers - I just prep the "dough" and cook them up).

The recipe I've relied on is from allrecipes.  It's insanely simple.  Boil two potatoes, mash 'em up, then add 2 cups of flour and 1 egg.  Mix.  Oh, here's a lazy woman's tip: dice up your potato before boiling - or at least quarter them.   They'll cook so much faster and you're gonna mash 'em anyway so looks don't matter.

Then, flour your work surface, and start rolling and cutting.  I was pretty blase about the prettiness of my gnocchi (it's going in your stomach, so the most important thing is how it tastes right?) so my mom took over pretty quickly, telling me my food was ugly.  Actually, it went something like this, I was ripping off chunks of dough and throwing them into the pot.  My mom walks over to see the cooked ones in a bowl and says, "What is that?  That doesn't look like the gnocchi in restaurants - those are pretty and round."  I said, "They have underpaid Hispanic workers doing it all day.  I just got home from work, I'm hungry now, and don't have time to make pretty gnocchi."  She then pushed me aside and started making "pretty" gnocchi.

From left to right: dough, rolled dough, pinched off gnocchi waiting to be boiled

Pop 'em into boiling water a slotted spoonful at a time.  When they float up, they're ready to eat!  You can see my ugly gnocchi in the middle of the plate and my mom's pretty rounded gnocchi at the bottom.

So, now we've made the gnocchi, how to serve it up 3 ways.  It's really simple actually.  I just made two sauces, and combined one.

I've never liked tomato sauce.  Not on pizza and not on pasta.  But I DO like it when I make it myself.  I'm sure purists would be appalled at my method.  Usually I make a super-light tomato sauce, heating olive oil and minced garlic, then adding cut up cherry tomatoes and serving when hot.  For a more "traditional" (and the word is used SUPER-loosely here) sauce, I just add a little more tomato.  I heat up a whole bunch of olive oil, throw in a tablespoon or two of minced garlic, chop up at least 4 normal-sized tomatoes, and let that all stew/simmer for 10 minutes (or however long it takes for the pasta to cook).  I break down the tomato a bit with the back of a wooden spoon (because I don't like chunks/lumps in my food but my sister likes the chunks so I leave some for her).  Here's my secret ingredient, miso paste (the original flavor).  Just a healthy squirt.  It adds a depth and umami flavor to the simplicity of the tomato mush.

Tomato sauce w/some gnocchi keeping warm in it.

Since the gnocchi gets cooked in smallish batches, I keep the sauce not even simmering (just on the lowest heat level) and keep dumping the cooked gnocchi in there.  By the time all the gnocchi is cooked, the sauce is heated through and the gnocchi's been kept warm  but not overcooked.  It's kinda like having a chafing dish, but not really.

1 way: Tomato sauce

As you've seen before, I'm also super-into carbonara sauce.  This was a bit of a failed experiment.  Unless you can figure out some genius way of keeping all your gnocchi boiling temperature at once, I would not recommend it.  That being said, if you DO figure out a method, do come back and share.  The problem is that the gnocchi gets cooked just a handful of pieces at a time.  This is not conducive to the carbonara method of using the pasta's own heat to "cook" the egg/cheese sauce.  I "solved" it (being so generous to myself) by adding the just-cooked gnocchi to the egg/cheese mixture as it was done, a few pieces at a time.  This really was an improvised measure and didn't produce the creamy beautiful carbonara sauce that I normally get.  There were clumps of unmelted/not totally melted cheese and I'm sure some uncooked egg as well.  As it was, it was edible and yummy but I wouldn't make it for friends/guests (which is my measure of confidence in cooking).

Look at the edamame and shrimp - fancy!

Seasoned edamame and chopped shrimp.

This is a real cheat, because I called it "vodka sauce" but really it's just a mixture of the 1st two sauces.  The parmesan we had bought (I normally try to get parmigianno reggiano but the grocery didn't have any) was too strong and pungent so we just mixed the tomato sauce in to tone down the sharpness of the cheese.  It was a good compromise.  For the record, I have it on information and belief that parmesan is MADE the same way as parmigianno reggiano but it's just made IN AMERICA (or outside the reggiano(?) region of Italy).  It's more of a designation marker (like champagne vs. sparkling wine vs. prosecco) than a genre/type marker.

3rd way: Vodka sauce

And just in case you think that all that work was for naught, here's the kicker - you can make a WHOLE bunch at once and freeze them (UNCOOKED) to have homemade gnocchi ready to go any day!  Place them on a flat surface (I used a cookie sheet covered in wax paper) and pop into the freezer (it's important that they freeze without touching, so they don't get stuck together).  Once they're frozen you can put them all in a baggie or Tupperware container.

All lined up to go into the freezer

I ate frozen gnocchi all last week for dinner!  I barely even thaw them.  Take out as many as you want to eat (I just filled a plate to the fullness I could handle) and let them sit in the fridge or on the counter while you wait for the water to boil.  They still pop up in only a few minutes.  I actually had them on the counter first then put them in the fridge when I realized they were starting to stick to each other in the bowl as they were thawing.  I'm so in love.

And just in case you don't even like waiting for potatoes to boil, here's the first recipe I wanted to try and still haven't.  They use instant mashed potatoes to speed it up.  I'll definitely report back if I try it.  But now that I've seen how easy these are, I really see no reason for the hack.

Potatoes. Part 2. An Idaho Sunrise.

So, Part 2 of our fun potatoes series.  Because, I seriously love potatoes, and seriously, they are super versatile.  And it's $2.99 for a 5 lb. bag at my local grocery store.  I go through at least a bag a week lately.

I came across this particular recipe by accident.  Usually I'll have a craving for something or want to use up something I found in the kitchen/pantry and start using Google to find recipes, but this time I was merely browsing through one of my favorite cooking blogs (Our Best Bites) when I came across... drum roll dum dum dum... An Idaho Sunrise: Egg-Stuffed Baked Potatoes (if you're really gonna make these, go consult their recipe, because I'm leaving out a bunch of little steps below).  I think she used much bigger potatoes, the ones I had were pretty small and I'm definitely going to use large-ish potatoes the next time I make these (the bigger they are the more STUFF you can put inside!).

Without further ado, here we go.  Bake some potatoes.  I actually baked them the night before I planned on making these for brunch (because you need them to cool down enough to handle.  Ooh, quick note.  If you like potato skins and getting every last bit of potato mush, then DO wash your potatoes before making these.  I'm not a huge potato skin person, and didn't wash the outsides, but my sister IS a potato skin person and got very mad at me after she ate her potato skin and got sick after eating too much dirt.  Oops.

So, bake the potatoes, and when they've cooled enough for you to handle, start lobbing off tops.  Like this:

Then, use a spoon to scoop out the innards (set aside to make mashed potatoes, or gnocchi! - recipe tomorrow!).  Don't go all the way through like I did on my first attempt here (you can see the bottom skin where I actually broke through) because all your delicious innards will leak out onto the pan.

DON'T DO THIS!  You should NOT see brown at the bottom!

 Fill in the emptied out potato shells about 3/4 full with your choice of toppings.  This really is versatile - I went with some sausage and shredded cheddar in mine because I eat like a little kid and only like meat and cheese.  My mom and sister also got a bit of diced onion and scallions because they like a little zing.  And actually I put in less than half the cheese into my mom's because she's not that partial to it.  I think I could see myself doing some sauteed mushrooms and truffle salt in one and eating it all sophisticated-like wearing a breakfast hat (think this, not this or this).  Then, crack in an egg right on top and go ahead and throw some more toppings on (like I said, use MUCH bigger potatoes than I did).  You still want to be able to see the yolks so you can tell when they're done.

Top right is pre-egg.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-20 minutes.  Just enough for the egg to set...

My sister already stole one off the pan before I could get a picture.

Unless you have a strong preference for well-done yolk, you want to get these out JUUUUUST as the yolk starts to set so that you can have this beautiful runny deliciousness as you cut in...

OurBestBites has much more appetizing pics!

Actually, the yolk looks pretty set in the original recipe.  But we all like runny gooey yolk in my family, so ours are a little underdone (you DO want the whites to be cooked though - the first time I popped these out to see if they were ready the whites were still clear and that was pretty grosseriffic).

All mixed up!

Seriously, these are SO easy to make and the payoff is AMAAAAAAZING.  You can probably even make these pre-coffee and let the coffee drip as you're waiting for these to come out of the oven.  (I don't drink coffee so I wouldn't know, but they were seriously SUPER easy to make).  Can't wait to try them again with BIGGER potatoes and MORE stuffing!!!

"I totally support you peeing anywhere..."

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(I had originally scheduled this for next Tuesday 3/20 but I had two different friends/readers complain to me today that I hadn't updated in FOREVER, so here you go, a Useful Thursday!).

Soooooooooo, I totally said that recently to a friend at a cafe after lunch... and realized AS IT WAS LEAVING MY MOUTH that it didn't properly convey what I meant.  So here I will explain.

What I meant to say was, "No, I don't mind sitting here alone while you go to the bathroom because I totally and completely understand and encourage going to the bathroom whenever there is one available when you are out and about and about to leave your current location."  That is what I meant to say - but I didn't have enough time to get it out (haha, pun?) before she walked away.

Where do these sentiments come from?  What is the source of my magnanimous attitude towards my companions abandoning me to use the bathroom?  Well, that answer can be found a month or two ago.  Ooh, my transformation occurred on Sunday, January 22, 2012.  That is because Google just told me that the Lunar New Year in 2012 occurred on Monday, January 23, 2012 (also, Google calls it "Chinese New Year," which I find somewhat offensive and surprisingly inaccurate).  In honor of Lunar New Year, my dad took our family to Flushing for Sunday dinner, to get some truly authentic Asian (Korean) food, it being a "new year" and all.

As per my usual habit, I had consumed at least 4 glasses of 8 oz. of water with the meal.  I like to stay hydrated.  Also, this was a habit I developed in college when my stomach was a bottomless, ravaging pit that nothing could satisfy.  My solution to neverending hunger, at least from a financial (and somewhat calorical) standpoint) was to try and fill some of that bottomless pit with calorie-free, free to drink, water.  Unless I gulped down water any time food wasn't actively in my mouth, one app, one entree, one dessert, and one drink was NOT enough to fill me up.  And really, you can't afford to spend more than $30-50 per meal in Durham, NC.  I normally had at least one full glass before any food arrived.  Another 2-3 glasses during the app/entree, and at least one more glass during dessert.  And this is in addition to any alcoholic beverage I might enjoy.

So back to the point, I had drank a not-so-modest amount of water.  As I considered the at least an hour drive back to my house, I figured I would be fine (in terms of when I would need a bathroom next).  Also, while the food at this particular restaurant was quite tasty, it was also a bit "dive-y," and so I had my doubts about the cleanliness of the bathroom.  About halfway home, I realized my body was sending me messages and I hoped we'd get home soon.  Then something happened that made me realize God (or the universe, which may even be one and the same) wanted me to learn a very specific lesson that night.

As we were rolling along the highway, a tire blew out, we had a flat.  My dad slowly pulled over to the side of the highway, a mere ONE exit away from the one we take to our house!!!  As he got out of the car I asked how long it would take and informed my parents that I was "urgent" (in Korean, if you say you are "urgent," that is a euphemism for having to use the bathroom - I learned this after a super-crazy cab ride in Korea when I told a taxi driver "I am urgent" meaning I was in a hurry but he thought I was going to use his vehicle as a lavatory).

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Anyway, to make this already long story shorter, we got the tire fixed up, raced home, and I shot out of the car before my dad could put it in park, tore into the house and relieved myself (as us ladies are wont to do).  So, THE LESSON: ALWAYS USE THE BATHROOM BEFORE YOU LEAVE A PLACE BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT COULD HAPPEN IN TRANSIT BEFORE ARRIVING AT A NEW PLACE WITH A BATHROOM.

A new regular post idea in the works.

This sums up the LOVING relationship between my sister and me.  My sister is Dexter and I am Dee Dee.

The Hunger Games. And my cultural education.

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So, I previously wrote about how tempted I was to just continue reading The Hunger Games (rather than go to bed).

I don't think I mentioned this the first time around, but I cried OPENLY, on the bus, on my morning commute, within the first 25 pages.  It's. That. Good.  (Sister love, it'll get me every time.  BUT NOT My Sister's Keeper - UGH.  Stupid girls who told me this was a must-read, I will get you back someday!)

Not only that, but I've been watching the movie trailer on repeat for a few weeks now.  I cry EVERY. TIME. I watch the trailer.  (Despite the fact that there are several GLARING incongruities from the book apparent in it... SIGH).

Just now I watched it, and through wiping away my tears I clicked on one of those "Related" links on the side.  It said the FIRST *10* minutes of the movie was leaked!!!  I WAS SO EXCITED!!!  Then this weird 80s looking dude starts dancing, and I go, "Is this an ad???"

My sister stared at me and then started laughing.  She goes, "You've been Rickrolled!"  I had NO IDEA what rickrolling was.  That made her laugh more.  ""Is this an ad???"" she mimicked me!!!  As we have come to discuss time and again, I have NO cultural IQ.  This is old news.  And yet it amuses her to no end whenever a display of my pathetic lack of pop culture knowledge rears its silly self.

Nonetheless, I can't WAIT to see this movie.  I'm also terrified of how they're going to depict certain scenes.  (In the end, I didn't go see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, mostly because I didn't think I could handle the uber-messed up s*x scenes.) 

The Hunger Games is supposed to be "young adult" fiction - but seriously the things that happen in there are MESSED. UP.  Especially freaking out about the "last" kill portion of the Games. 

Anyways, added a new little countdown widget - because I. CANNOT. WAAAAAAIT.  It's Gonna Be FAAAAAAABULOUS!!!!  (Read the last two sentences in an Oprah voice!!!)

Deathly fears.

 

In the spirit of sharing things about me you may not have known: I have a death-fear of snorkeling.  Ok, maybe death-fear is a bit strong. But I really really really don't like snorkeling. Something about fish touching me FREAKS me out!!!

There IS an explanation.  The first time I went snorkeling was in high school.  We went on a family trip with another family right after school got out in 2001.  The kind guide who wanted to attract fish so that I would have more to see just threw the fish bait/food/bread right on top of me so that fish were swimming all around me. Fish swarmed all around me, inevitable a few touched me and I started screaming bloody murder. My mom thought a shark had attacked me so they actually pulled everyone back into the boat and then when they got me on board and realized I wasn't physically harmed they asked me what happened. Blubbering, I could barely get out, "A fish touched me."

At which everyone was very annoyed and just got back in the water. Needless to say, I did not. I very much enjoy swimming/floating on top of the water and looking down at nothing. I do NOT like snorkeling when there are fish nearby. The last time I was forced into snorkeling (winter 2008) I actually swam away from the group just to look at the empty clear water. Then I somehow thought about how huge the ocean is and how tiny I am and how quickly a whale, or shark, or giant current could pull me away from EVERYTHING. And then I freaked out and climbed back on the boat as quickly as I could...

If Sherlock Holmes were a bit racist.

So, I've had a long week and made plans to meet my family at our Korean sauna after work. I've taken the bus to the sauna before when I was still living in the city. So, no big deal right?

Wrong. Now that I'm a commuter, I have a monthly NJTransit bus pass and it turns out the bus I need to take is a Rockland Coach line bus. Meaning they won't honor my monthly pass and I have to buy a new ticket. No way. I'm not paying for another ticket when I'm already entitled to a ride into NJ from NJTransit.

From my own keen memory I remember that in all my time spent on Broad Avenue (2 blocks from my destination) I've consistently seen 166 line buses. Score. I now know which line to take. But which gate???

Luckily for me, my own usual bus gate is in the farthest remotest corner of the terminal. This means I've passed lines of people at nearly all the other gates. I've also noticed that there are an unusually disproportionately high percentage of Asian folks in the lines at the cluster of Gates 208 through 214.

Aha!!! All those Asians must mean at least one thing!!! Not only is that where the Bergen County bus lines are but it's also where the Bergen County bus lines that go to super-Asian places are. Like my own destination!!!

Having thus narrowed down which bus to take and where I need to be to take it i walked towards that cluster and start looking at the tables next to each gate for the right line.

Yes. There it is. Line 166 with service to Palisades Park departing from Gate 211 Door 2. Don't mind if I do. I feel so accomplished. :)

Can you tell I really used to love Nancy Drew and that I really currently love Sherlock Holmes?

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SCIENCE! The world's youngest mother.

How could I not?

So a few weeks ago when I was trying to find out more about that ridiculous smoking toddler, I came across another strange child-story.

This 5-year-old girl is the world's youngest mother!  (A longer article with more scientific info).

Apparently she started menstruating at 8 months old. I think it's weird and sad that they never figured out who impregnated her (b/c seriously, who gets a 4-year-old pregnant?) but apparently she was totally normal and healthy in other ways.  Also, it seems like this episode got her family to supervise her more carefully because the next time she got pregnant was at the age of 38, after getting married.

Brings a whole new meaning to "children having children."

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Sacrifices that are worth it.

Left work at 8pm yesterday. But still with a smile on my face.

Why? I'm working late to do all the work I can't do next week. Because I'll be beachside in Mexico :D

Our resort

Will be pulling long days for the rest of the week but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Excited for my week of fun in the sun. Especially since this past weekend my mom bought me my BARBIE BATHING SUIT!!!

It's this top:

From Everything But Water

With this bottom:

From Everything But Water

So this bathing suit but in the above color:

I FREAKING LOVE IT!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH that I danced around the store wearing it and singing "I'M A BARBIE I'M A BARBIE!!!" until my mom just bought it for me (mostly I think to make me take it off and stop terrorizing other customers).

Then I came home and wore it for five hours and kept singing "I'M A BARBIE I'M A BARBIE!!!" until I had to get ready for a New Year's Eve party.  And even then, my mom and sister had to convince me I couldn't wear my new bathing suit to the party SADFACE.

SO EXCITED!!!!

Inspiration and Execution: Sheer black blouse and Chanel-y jacket

I have this Milly blouse that I love but could only wear it out to bars with friends because I couldn't figure out how to make it more day/work-appropriate.  So when Belle at Capital Hill Style posted this Three Ways she helped solve one of my work conundrums: how to make a sheer black blouse work-appropriate.

My take:

My jacket is a little less Chanel-y than the inspiration jacket, but it's a white knit jacket with ladylike ruffles.

I'm horribly unphotogenic even when you can't see my face (how sad is that?).  I swear the outfit was SUPER-cute in person.  I got compliments at work and even my mom was super-impressed that morning and commented that I had put together a really good outfit.

I need to figure out how to take better pictures.  This is just getting embarrassing...