Spring ahead - spring has sprung!

Today was an exceptional day! It was about mid 50s today, sunny and a true reminder that spring is just around the corner. In fact, this morning I went for my first outdoor run this year! I have been working out lately - thank you for decent prices Planet Fitness -and I have been running on the treadmill. Running on the treadmill is fine in the winter and can be good for keeping up a good pace, but overall I much prefer to run outside. When I run outside, I find that I am not over-thinking my form and I can de-stress. It is AWESOME. Today was no exception!

While I was running I saw the most amazing sight: the first crocuses beginning to sprout!


This vision lifted my spirit so much! I love all of the seasons in their time, but I am ready for spring and warmer weather. I have enjoyed the cold weather, but where I live there hasn't been much snow this winter. Therefore, bring on the spring! I also saw a rabbit on the way home from church tonight - it is official!



One thing I am going to try this year is "gardening". I currently have no yard, which makes it harder, but I do have pots to plant, well.. plants! I am a total newbie at this - I want a Christmas cactus again, although I killed the last one I had. Yes, I can kill a Christmas cactus. I feel as though I should try again! Other than that, I am not sure what to do - do I want to start with other green plants just for decoration? I don't think I want to plant flowers because I don't want Filbert (my awesome cat) eating them and I don't have many good places that he can't reach. However, I was debating planting and growing herbs inside and start my dream of growing ingredients!

Speaking of, I just found a book, also on my walk home from church - it is called The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed My Family for a Year by Spring Warren. I am excited especially because Novella Carpenter, who wrote one of my favorite books called Farm City, commented on the book. Hopefully this will be another favorite book with great insights to providing for myself and my future family!

Stay tuned to find out my feelings on the book and PLEASE feel free to send me some comments - what should I plant?!

Thank you, Paula Deen!

Yes, I am a newbie cook. I really never cooked when I was younger; so, in college, the extent of my "cooking" was Easy Mac and Ramen. Needless to say, after college, when I started living with roommates I had to pull my weight a little bit more. I stopped burning eggs, cooked some chicken and beef, and was able to venture away from boiling water and eating pasta. (Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE pasta and eat a ton of it!)

Now, I am definitely more willing to experiment with different foods. However, I am still a beginner, so I am not always sure what foods to mix with others. As such, I rely heavily on recipes and watching the Food Network. I have to admit that I absolutely LOVE watching Food Network. Some of my favorites are: Paula Deen, The Pioneer Woman, and Giada. These shows have accessible recipes that even a newbie like me can make, and they help me to have the faith in my cooking ability.

Tonight, I did not experiment, but went with a recipe from Paula Deen's show. This was a recipe that her brother, Bubba, came on the show to make... and it.. is.. DELICIOUS! I made the Creamy Spicy Seafood Pasta, which includes linguine, a vodka sauce, red pepper flakes, scallops and shrimp - YUM!



Lessons learned tonight:
-> Do not rest a plastic spatula on a heated stove coil. We lost one tonight! Oops.
-> For some reason my sauce was not as creamy as it was liquidy. Something to think about and review for next time I make it.

This recipe was definitely a keeper and other than some fine tuning, tasted amazing!

Prost!

Yes, I know that this is March and maybe I should be celebrating my Irish heritage rather than my German heritage.

However, after traveling to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland this past summer, I was feeling nostalgic and thought to make a German dinner tonight. Below are pictures of the bratwursts and potato cakes with a mustard sauce. (Yes, I know, I need to work on my presentation skills haha).



My thoughts post-dinner are:
Brats are delicious as well as the mustard sauce.
The potato cakes, while still tasting good, I know that I need to change up a little bit. They are supposed to be a mixture of sauerkraut and potatoes. Instead, they were pretty much cooked sauerkraut cakes! Thankfully, we still like sauerkraut!

Food for thought for the next time I make this meal. ; )

This coming week I am making several other new meals which I hope to blog about, so keep posted.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Yes, CHEESE!!!

One thing you should know about me is that I am a foodie. I love food. I love to cook, I love to try new things, and I absolutely love to eat. Not only do I love food, but I aspire to grow my own food someday.

I read a book in the past year that was absolutely inspirational called Farm City by Novella Carpenter. In today's society food is often taken for granted and most of the time I see individuals (including myself!) eating such processed foods or not having any idea where their food comes from. I strongly believe farmers are under appreciated and I try to change that by attending local farmers markets. In the future, when I have my own yard, I plan to grow as much food as possible. What I cannot grow, then I would love to visit local farms and continue to visit local farmers market. I want to know what I am eating and where my food comes from.



I look forward to starting my plan to make my own food by learning to make cheese!!! I know a kit isn't totally natural (DUH), but it is a step in the right direction.

Stay tuned for some fun cheese making pictures and posts! :)

To write or not to write ... right?

For as long as I can remember, my most consistent desire in life was to become an author.
As a child, I became engrossed in books and fantastical stories.

As a young teenager, I wrote several stories of my own. I shared these with certain friends and family members. I have always received encouragement from these individuals to publish. However, I think there's always been a doubt in my mind of whether or not I should. Honestly, whether there is any talent present.

Currently, I am trying to rewrite some of my old stories. WOW, do I have some work ahead of me. Granted I was age 13-15 when I wrote them, so my grammar is not what it currently is, but also there are chunks of the storyline or character development that really need to be improved. Not to mention, I wrote my first stories on a very old computer, on a floppy disk. Yes, that's right, a floppy disk. Thank God that I had the sense to save my hard copies of these stories, because now I am in the process of taking the hard copies and re-typing them. Then I will work on revising and editing. I am lucky that I have such talented friends with different views because I have an awesome team of individuals that I know I can call on for help.

That being said, this is an overwhelming process in which I find myself doubting more and more. However, as one of my longest real-life dreams, I am committed to working hard and to get these stories into my computer. I have faith that I can revise and edit, then get these stories published. How cool would that be?!

I am psyched for the challenge and I appreciate all the support I have gotten in my past, present and the support I will get in the future!