Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween ya'll! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday one way or another, whether it's at a party, passing out candy, or watching the Rangers play baseball.

I am spending the evening recovering from yesterday's birthday celebrations. I turned a very exciting (haha) 24 and spent the day with Johnny and BFF Greer bargain hunting at the mall ($16 for 3 tops at Loft!!) and enjoying rooftop food & margaritas at El Guapo's in Tulsa. Certainly quieter than my 21st birthday, which found me staggering around The Watering Hole in Martin or my 22nd, which was spent waiting on AAA to tow Amy's broken-down car an hour back home, and anything is better than last year's totally awkward 23rd, which included my ex-boyfriend, his roommate, and two of my friends, followed by a 15-hour drive to Michigan with my current boyfriend. You can see why I was content to have a quiet day spent with two of my favorite people doing relatively boring things.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

How to Wear a Scarf?

I just received a box of birthday goodies from my mom and couldn't resist opening a couple of presents! (Haha!) Among the gifts she sent were a couple of pretty scarves- I love them. They're soft, in great colors, and perfect for wearing with...something. I just realized that I have no idea what to wear a scarf with or how to wear it at all! In the past, my scarves have all been these heavy, thick-knit things I've worn to the barn to keep warm while riding in the winter! I am new to them as a fashion accessory!

Fortunately, there seem to be some great resources out there! (What would I do without the internet??)

Time Out Chicago has a short article on a few different ways to wear scarves. I think I like the artistic way the best!


FabSugar has an exhausting 50-entry slideshow of suggestions! There are several in there that I adore, but most are a bit too adventurous for poor, conservatively-dressed me.

Even Brooks Brothers has a guide on how to wear your scarf fabulously! And they give step-by-step instructions and a slideshow, perfect for the scarf novice like me! 

How do you wear scarves?


Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Potential Moves!

Johnny and I have been doing a little job hunting lately, trying to find jobs in our respective fields in a new city. It isn't that we don't like where we live- well, I am not crazy about small-town Oklahoma, haha!- but a change would be nice. While Tulsa is a wonderful city full of nice people, interesting activities, stellar restaurants, and lots of things to do, it's still a half-hour drive. This might not seem like much, but with nothing but fields inbetween, it makes a trip to the city quite a production! So we've been looking around in new places and applying to new jobs. Here are a few of the cities we could end up in:


Boulder, CO

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This is easily my favorite! Boulder has it all- gorgeous mountains, access to a plethora of outdoor activities (including one of my favorites, whitewater rafting!), plus good shopping, restaurants, and cultural activities. It's also just a few miles from Denver, which has a lot going on in the sports department. Fun!

Honolulu, HI
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A surprising number of jobs in my field exist in Hawaii, and I would love to experience living there. Beaches, volcanic mountains, and beautiful forests every day? Sign me up! My only fear is that it would get a little too touristy for my taste. 

Syracuse, NY
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It might not seem glamorous, but Syracuse has a lot going for it! I was born there, and most of my family lives in New York. I'd be close to the family vacation home, too, which would make summering very easy. Besides that, Syracuse is an old, interesting city with plenty of art galleries, museums, restaurants, and parks.

Lexington, KY
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Ah, Lexington! I spent many summers eventing here and I can firmly say it's a marvelous town. Of course, it's an equestrian paradise- racing, ePublish Postventing, polo- it's amazing. In the city, you can find fine dining, ballet, shopping, and great college sports. It's also relatively close to where I grew up in Tennessee, so dropping home to see family and friends would be easy. And maybe I could just take up being a professional equestrian. :)




Monday, October 25, 2010

Menu Monday

My laptop charger finally arrived in the mail, so I can post more regular updates! Hooray!

Onto Menu Monday- I've been working for the last few weeks to find meals that are more budget-friendly. As a result, more and more meals that are meat-free have been finding their way into our diet. I've been surprised at how affordable and tasty they can be! Two of this week's meals are meatless and I'm hoping they'll prove to be delicious. All of this week's recipes are from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. (It is my new go-to cookbook!)

Menu for October 25-28
  • Monday: Lentil soup
  • Tuesday: Whole wheat pasta with roasted tomatoes & eggplant
  • Wednesday: Enchiladas with pumpkin sauce
  • Thursday: Chicken stir-fry wraps
I'm really excited to try the enchiladas with pumpkin sauce, especially since Hopsy over at Monograms and Manicures reviewed them so well a couple of weeks ago! It's always encouraging to find out that a recipe is delish before you make it!!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Oktoberfest


Today I'm headed to the Tulsa Oktoberfest- I couldn't be more excited! It was recently named one of the best Oktoberfests in the country by USA Travel Guide and promises to be full of polka, food, and most importantly, beer! I am a huge fan of German beers and I'm looking forward to sampling imported beers and locally crafted brews. Yay, Oktoberfest!

Friday, October 22, 2010

RIP Blazer

My beloved 1994 Chevrolet Blazer finally died yesterday afternoon. I took it out to the grocery store to pick up some garlic for last night's chili and it blew a head gasket on the way home. The poor thing has around 250,000 miles on it (249,949 to be exact), so I'm not exactly surprised by this occurrence. It will be missed; it was a hardy vehicle that survived two transmissions, three engines, a fire, college, and an obscene cross-country road trip to the Midwest.

Now my attention turns to finding a suitable replacement. I've become so used to driving a smallish SUV that it feels very foreign to drive small, low cars like Johnny's Subaru Impreza or even large pickups like my father's Dodge Ram! These days it seems impossible to find a nice midsize SUV; they seem to be so big and bloated or so small as to be totally impractical. I don't need space for people- I need space for things like saddles, bags of horse feed, the occasional hay bale, various pieces of furniture. I think I've found The Blazer's successor in a 2002 L.L. Bean edition Subaru Outback for sale locally. It's a sturdy, solid vehicle without being huge and overbearing. I'm contacting the seller this week; keep your fingers crossed for me!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Marigolds!

The garden has been looking very good over the last couple of weeks. The marigolds have really taken off-they went from scraggly looking bush to beautiful blooming flowers! Today I worked in the garden, trimming and pruning and mulching! I managed to snip a number of fresh blooms for four small arrangements. I currently have them all lined up in a windowsill, but I think I might put one on the dining table, one on the coffee table, and one on the mantle. These are such gorgeous flowers- like little vases of fall sunshine.
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Monday, October 18, 2010

Menu Monday

It's a busy week around here between work, winter garden prep, and pool closing, but I managed to put together the perfect menu of cook-ahead or quick dishes with just one little snag. You see, for tomorrow, I planned on making a perfectly delicious hot-and-sour soup with a recipe from Martha's Everyday Food; it's a favorite of mine. But Johnny and I searched high and low (well, two grocery stores in our tiny town) for tofu and shiitake mushrooms and couldn't find them! I wasn't altogether surprised about the tofu- I mean, we do live in a very small down in Oklahoma. I was really disappointed about the shiitakes though! I've found them  before at our favorite store, but this week it was nothing but portabellos and button mushrooms. Urgh! I suppose it's for the best; Johnny cooked chicken fried steak & mashed potatoes last night and with tonight's leftovers, we could probably eat for a week!

Menu for October 18-22
  • Monday: Lasagna (constructed ahead of time; just needs to be baked when Johnny gets home!)
  • Tuesday: Leftovers (glamorous, I know!)
  • Wednesday: Tortilla and black bean pie
  • Thursday: Chili (Johnny's recipe makes sooo much; we'll have plenty left for the weekend.)
  • Friday: Spaghetti with lemon-garlic sauce

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Book List

A while ago, I downloaded Barnes & Noble's nook application for my Android phone; I would rather read than play games or constantly check Twitter while lounging or waiting in line! I downloaded a few free books (mostly classics, like Pride & Prejudice, The Three Musketeers, and Dracula) but they've gone unread for the most part. I have been reading John Muir's Travels In Alaska for the last few weeks (wonderful evening reading!) but always forget to take books with me to work. (I have lots of time to read when work is very slow- ah, exciting hotel life!) I downloaded a nook app to my work computer and have been putting it to good use lately. I just breezed through True Prep today (such a fun read!!), so more books are in order. I've been scouring bargains at B&N's website, and here's what I'm adding to my reading list:


  • The Mountains of California by John Muir- love John Muir's writing on nature, and this is a steal at $.99!
  • The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- I enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes books as a teenager and I feel like now is a great time to revisit them, especially for only $1.99.
  • Age Of Innocence by Edith Wharton- a class I've been meaning to read for a while. I'm going to start on this tonight! (Another $1.99 find!)
What are you reading these days? Any recommendations? 

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Garlic Bread

Since I'm off work during the week, I tend to do a lot of baking. Sometimes it's cakes or cookies or fruit crisps. But every week I can be counted on to make challah, a traditional Jewish egg bread. I found a recipe for it in the depths of Johnny's recipe-of-the-day calendar about a month ago and have been hooked on it ever since! The recipe I have produces a lot of bread (I usually get two large loaves); rather than let it go to the compost pile, I've been trying to find new ways to eat it. It makes excellent toast, contributes to bread pudding (my favorite!), and makes for delicious garlic bread. 

Usually, my garlic bread is some combination of garlic, olive oil, butter, and Italian seasoning, but I was inspired to try a recipe I saw on a recent episode of Barefoot Contessa. This is the best garlic bread I've ever had! It's SO flavorful! The recipe calls for ciabatta bread, but I feel like any kind of loaf will do- French, challah, sourdough. You must try this!!

recipe by Ina Garten

  • 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup good olive oil
  • 1 loaf ciabatta bread
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until minced. Add the parsley, oregano, salt and pepper and pulse twice.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan and add the garlic mixture. Remove the pan from the heat.
Slice the ciabatta bread in half horizontally, and spread the butter on 1 half. Spread the garlic mixture on the other half of the bread, and put the halves together. Wrap the bread in aluminum foil.
Place the bread in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Open the foil, and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Time Out

My poor laptop is down again- or more accurately, its charger is. I'm waiting on a new one to be shipped, so I should be back to posting in a day or two!
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Thunder vs Grizzlies

Last night, Johnny and I attended an NBA pre-season game right here in Tulsa! The Oklahoma City Thunder took on the Memphis Grizzlies; I was so excited, because I love both teams.

 Both teams had their superstars on display for the first half- seeing athletes like Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, and Marc Gasol play was definitely the best part of the night.

Rudy Gay (Memphis) is defended by Russell Westbrook (OKC)
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA

Thabo Sefolosha (OKC) dunks!
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA
 
Kevin Durant (OKC) calls a play while Rudy Gay (Memphis) guards.
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA
The second half was just as action packed when the teams brought out rookie players. Memphis ended up winning 116-96; they had dominated the whole game, so it wasn't a big surprise. It was so fun to watch the game, even from our cheap seats! 

Our seats haha!
We're planning to attend more NBA games this year- they will probably all be Thunder games, but hopefully we'll be able to squeeze a Grizzlies game or a Dallas Mavericks game in there too! I love basketball season and can't wait for it to get rolling!


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Spanish



I've always admired those who are able to converse in multiple languages. A friend in high school was fluent in both Spanish and English and it was amazing to hear her switch effortlessly between the two. In high school, I took Latin, hoping it would provided a strong foundation for any other language I chose to learn and eventually help me in a legal career. In college, I decided to neither take a language nor pursue law school. So much for Latin being useful!

I recently decided to learn Spanish, though. A couple of ladies at the hotel I work for speak mostly Spanish and little English, and sometimes it's tricky to ask them questions or communicate ideas. I found a free online course and have been studying it in the evenings during downtime at work. A guest heard me practicing yesterday and being a Spanish-speaker himself offered to teach me some conversational language and critique my grammar and pronunciation. So my new amigo Victor and I spent some time going over words and phrases yesterday evening and agreed to meet this afternoon to study. He is in town on contract work for the next six months, so I am hoping I will learn a lot from him. I'm very excited to take on this language challenge!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

State Fair Adventures

Johnny and I spent nearly all of yesterday at the Tulsa State Fair; it was a fun and festive atmosphere with lots of things to see, do, and eat!

We arrived around 11:30 AM and spent the better part of half an hour looking for free parking. The map we'd downloaded from the fair's website had a whole swath of parking marked as free, but this mysterious Bermuda Triangle of asphalt was nowhere to be found. We managed to snag a space close to the entrance and headed straight into the fairgrounds. I was excited to find out we'd arrived in time to score one of the free fair t-shirts given to the first 4,000 people arriving at the fair Friday, but it was all for naught because we didn't know where to claim said t-shirts. Boo! I was hoping to add another shirt into my jogging rotation. Johnny and I made a preliminary circle of the grounds, giving the various rides, games, eateries, and exhibition halls a cursory glance. For lunch, we decided to dine on burritos from Tad's Tacos (a vendor from nearby Oklahoma City!). I tried the garlic chicken burrito- it looked, smelled, and tasted delicious!


We then headed to various exhibition halls to see all the Tulsa State Fair had to offer. Some of the buildings in the fairgrounds complex are beautiful! 


This was definitely my favorite- see the horses in the mosaic at the top of the building? Gorgeous! 

The vendors' market set up in the enormous QuikTrip Center was definitely one of the most interesting parts of the fair. All sorts of things were for sale- kitchen gadgets, handmade goods, health remedies, and so, so many tacky lamps. 

A lamp with dragons? No thanks!
There were also numerous contests at the fair, and numerous award-winning jams, jellies, cookies, and cakes could be found.


Pretty soon, Johnny decided he needed to try one of the yummy-smelling apple fritters inside the QT Center. What he got didn't look or taste quite as good as it smelled. Boo! 

We ventured into the livestock buildings after the apple fritter disaster. I grew up on a small farm and went to a college that was very into agriculture, so I was largely unmoved by the hogs, cattle, horses, sheep, and goats being shown by 4-H and FFA students. Johnny, a city boy, was delighted with these animals. We visited the large petting zoo and spent a long time watching and petting all sorts of things, from camels to ostriches to emus to llamas! 

A very dirty alpaca in the petting zoo.
We watched a few draft horses classes in the horse show and then explored the barns a bit more. We found some very soft rabbits and a lot of pigeons tucked away in one building! There was also a very neat live surgery booth where the crowd could watch a veterinarian spay a dog. The vet gave a brief talk on what he does and what the role of the veterinary technician is and the kids watching looked fascinated. I am a big supporter of Ag in the Classroom and it was great to see so many young minds stimulated!

I ended my food extravaganza with a cold Boulevard (from Kansas City, MO!) and a polish sausage.
Extra peppers and onions, please!
The fair was such a fun experience; I wish we had felt like riding rides or had more room for all the tasty food, but there's always next year!





Thursday, October 7, 2010

Tulsa State Fair


I love fairs. The exhibits, the rides, the food- it's interesting and intoxicating! Johnny and I are heading to the Tulsa State Fair today; we've been planning our itinerary all week. Horse shows, milking demonstrations, a visit to the wine garden, sugar art, cooking exhibitions, acrobats, and a few rides are all on our agenda. I think I'm most excited about the food- I can't wait dine on delicacies like funnel cakes, Indian tacos, gyros, Polish sausages, and lemonades. 

I promise I'll take lots of pictures and do a full write up this weekend! 

(Apologies for the lack of posts this week; my laptop's charger shorted out earlier this week and Johnny just got it repaired. I might post some pictures of it because it looks crazy!!)

Monday, October 4, 2010

Menu Monday

It's the beginning of a new week and that means Menu Monday is back with a vengeance! The weather has been very cool here in Oklahoma over the past week and that has me excited about cooking hearty soups, casseroles, and roasts for the fall and winter. This week's menu finds things headed in that direction with just one grilling detour along the way.

Menu for October 5-9
  • Tuesday: Chicken with poblano cream sauce
  • Wednesday: Chicken & roasted garlic risotto
  • Thursday: Pasta primavera
  • Friday: Chicken curry
  • Saturday: Grilled beer brats
I'm really excited about Tuesday's meal, chicken with poblano cream sauce. It's creamy and spicy and just enough to warm anyone up on a cool fall day. Try it sometime!

Chicken With Poblano Cream Sauce
from Everyday Food's Great Food Fast
  • 1 poblano chile
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 1/2 small onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/3 c. heavy cream
  • Coarse salt & freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (~6 oz. each)
  • White rice, cooked and mixed with cilantro
Roast the chile over a gas burner or under the broiler until charred all over. Wrap in a paper towel and steam for 5 minutes. Rub off the skin, remove seeds and ribs, chop coarsely.

Heat 1 tbsp of the canola oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook until soft (5-7 minutes). Add the chile and cream.

Puree mixture in a blender; add water if too thick. Heat the remaining tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken until golden, 4-5 minutes per side. Serve with the sauce with rice on the side.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Weekend Inspiration

A few words of wisdom from my favorite naturalist and one of the nation's first environmental advocates, John Muir: 


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"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."


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"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."


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"The power of imagination makes us infinite."