What’s been happenin’:

• had a great 4th of July with great friends
• made a White Sangria for a 4th of July party that was totally yum
• made my Aunt Judy’s potato salad for a different 4th of July party that was delicious (but not vegetarian)
• finished the yearbook
• got all the wallpaper steamed off the kitchen walls
• decided to paint the cabinets a nice dark brown, but couldn’t figure out when that will ever happen
• went to a family reunion in South Carolina
• teacher meetings
• back to school craziness complete with being at school for 13 hours straight one day (back to school night)
• went kayaking and loved it after I got a single kayak
• teach, teach, teach
• busy, busy, busy
• grade, grade, grade
• answering approximately 30 emails per day
• went mountain biking for like 10 minutes and will never do it again
• teaching British Literature and loving it!
• went to Austin, Texas to visit J’s brother and grandma and sight-see
• ate some awesome Korean and Vietnamese food in Austin
• visited an Asian grocery store
• tried Boba or Bubble tea
• ate way too much meat in Austin which made me realize why I became a vegetarian to begin with (albeit a bad one from time to time)
• had an avocado margarita–wowza yum!
• went to a Jewish/Presbyterian wedding in St. Louis, MO

Future blog topics:

• Aunt Judy’s potato salad
• White Sangria with a green apple twist
• Vietnamese spring rolls
• avocado margaritas
• almost fat-free blueberry chocolate carob cake
• marinated tofu and Outback-style sauteed mushrooms (veg style, of course)
• galub jamun–those delicious fried dough balls in the rose and cardamom syrup.
• my favorite restaurant in Hendersonville: Chef Rakka on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (“Sauced and Spiced” rerun on Food Network this Friday 10/15 at 8 p.m and 11 p.m.)
• You should definitely DVR this show because Chef Rakka is the bad-assest dude ever.
• my favorite Indian Vegetarian restaurant and their Chai tea that I have dreams about

After being sick, dealing with ants in the kitchen, having our German friends in town, dealing with mice in the kitchen and in our walls, finishing out the school year, taking the kitchen wallpaper down, and generally being attached to the computer screen all summer to finish the yearbook, I really lost my gusto with the cooking.  I got into the frozen vegetarian protein, and I really only had cravings for pizza, tacos, and veggie burgers.  That’s how I’ve always determined the meals at our house: what are we craving at the moment?

I’ll be honest: I knew these frozen delights were not the best for us.  Last week, though, I was newly inspired to get back into the unprocessed way of life after seeing that processed soy products have isoflavones or some sort of fake hormone that can possibly lead to cancer.  Plus, we had just gotten back from Austin, TX where we ate at the best restaurants ever.  I had my fill of meat because it WAS Texas after all, and I felt miserable the entire time.

So I’m back!  And I’ve got some great new ideas, food interests, and exciting things to try.

While the Germans have been in town, we have gone dancing 3 weekends in a row.

So it’s ridiculous how long it’s been since I posted!  I pretty much had to stop all activities except for grading.  Well, that and hanging out with our German friends.  They come every year for a school exchange, and I must say that they are pretty fantastic people.  In the past month, we have done lots of eating from Pei Wei, Margo’s kitchen, Glen’s grill, and Marcus’s fabulous Thai dish.  It has also been prom season around here, and I have chaperoned, fixed hair, done make-up, and taken tons of pictures.

Our Germans’ month here has turned into almost 6 weeks because of the Iceland volcano.  They can’t fly home!  I really love having them here, and I wish they could stay forever.  But I know that they really want to get home, and their 24 students want to get back to their families.  We just want them to be safe.

Marcus and Daniela are “our Germans” and they are fantastic!  Every time we are all together, the laughing is uncontrollable.  Have you ever had this kind of laughter, where your sides hurt, over and over again?  These Germans–it’s like we’ve known them our entire lives.  And they have a way of bringing out the best and funniest in all of us.  This past Monday night, Marcus cooked a great Thai dish that I will be posting the recipe to soon.  It was their last night in town (or so we thought anyways).  There Marcus is, cooking this beautiful Thai dish with dried chilies from Margo’s garden that she has hanging over the stove, chopping vegetables and things.  We are all sitting around, drinking wine and talking.  It is a warm place, cozy with friends and good-natured familiarity.  Everyone is really laid back, the conversation is always interesting, and I look up to see  that Marcus is wearing a t-shirt with a tiger face on it.  The tiger has a patch on one  eye and a tear rolling out of the other eye.  It read, “Eye of the Tiger.”  You just can’t beat that.

Tonight we will be going dancing again…for the third weekend in a row.  Daniela is always a fun dance partner, and she is really beautiful, too.  Last weekend, as we left the dance club, I looked up to see several forlorn looks on guys’ faces, quite sad to see her leave.  Marcus and Daniela have definitely inspired a trip to Germany in the future for us.

Joe’s birthday was also this week.  I did have time to make him a most beautiful trifle with lemon-scented vanilla pudding, angel food cake, Creme de Cassis liqueur, whipped cream, and some excellent fresh berries.  It is delicious and light enough to enjoy on a warm evening.

Lemon-scented vanilla pudding just means that I zested a lemon and squeezed some fresh lemon juice into vanilla pudding after it set.  It livens up the flavors of the berries.

Ingredients

• big package of vanilla pudding
• whipped cream or cool whip ( I used light)
• large package of fresh blackberries
• regular sized package of fresh blueberries
• regular sized package of fresh strawberries, sliced as you go (save one or two pretty ones for the decoration on the top)
• angel food cake
• Creme de Cassis Liqueur
• juice of half a lemon and its zest

The layers are as follows:

• Mix vanilla pudding and whipped cream (or light cool whip) for the first layer in the bottom of the dish.
• Place evenly sliced pieces of angel food cake on top of that.  Make sure that however thick you want the cake, you definitely don’t want to cut too much of a wedge so that your layers will be more even.
• Brush the cake with Creme de Cassis liqueur.  The angel food cake will soak it right up.
• Place clean, fresh berries on the cake slices.  I mixed them all together, but you could have a layer of just strawberries (then, blueberries on the next round, then blackberries on the next round)
• Spoon on a layer of lemon-scented vanilla pudding
• another layer of angel food cake–keep in mind that you want to cut smaller pieces, too, to fit in the little, unfilled spots
• brush cake with liqueur
• another layer of berries
• pudding
• top with whipped cream
• make a nice design with the leftover berries on the top of the whipped cream

Save some berries to make a design on top of the trifle.

Meanwhile, I am on spring break, so I promise promise I will be posting a new recipe this week.  Tonight we are having Blanched Asparagus and Cheesy Grits.  I got the idea from my favorite vegan blog that I regularly link to.  Her recipe is called Polenta…something.  But isn’t that just fancy for grits?  (I would link to it, but every time I open a new tab, my laptop locks up.) So I just decided to just make my southern version of her vegan dish.  I ain’t hatin’ on dairy for this recipe because Stonyfield’s organic vanilla yogurt has saved my life this week.  Seriously.  It is so good and not too sweet.   MMMMM.  Wait–this wasn’t supposed to be about food.

So first about the title: I’ve been knitting like a crazy woman (except during the depths of despair…it hurt to pick anything up, even knitting needles).   On a recent trip to JoAnn’s, I found this 100% Peruvian wool in the most fabulous fuschia color called “Passionfruit.”  It is by Debbie Stoller, author of the “Stitch ‘n Bitch” book I was given for Christmas and consequently learned how to knit from (with some random youtube videos when I needed a live demo).  And it is only like $4.99!  I visited my local yarn store (LYS in knitter speak), and their 100% natural fiber stuff is crazy expensive.  I already suspected as much because my grad school roommate would visit the yarn store there in in our little college town, and I would marvel at the amazing colors, textures, and variety (I am such a lush for variety)…and wonder how many hanks or skeins of those $22 yarns it would take to make a sweater.  Yeah.

I am also a lush for office supplies, but don’t get me started on that.

On another note, some things that are annoying me that I was just thinking about today:

1. The game show portion of Regis and Kelly: I freakin’ love Kelly Ripa.  I would move to New York if I was guaranteed a spot as her BFF.  But that portion of the show where they call up someone and give them 20 seconds to answer a question about a previously aired show–It makes me nervous as all get out.  I don’t know why.  I figured it out today that my heart rate slightly increases.  I guess that’s why I was never any good at video games.  I can’t take the heat.
2. Johnny Quills: I don’t know if this is actually what they are called, but that’s what my mom always called them. They start peaking their head through the dead grass, say, oh, right about now, even though it is still cold as all heck outside.  Then they start to bloom their happy little yellow flowers.  It’s like a signal that I need to be ready for spring and planting some stuff.  Problem is, the previous owners did not place these johnny quills in a very smart spot.  It’s taken us forever to convert the huge area that they planned as a flower garden (that is only feasible if you have a million dollars to hire a landscaper) back to regular yard…And by yard I mean crappy grass and weeds.  Now these little buggers are sprouting up everywhere.  They’ll bloom once, and then they are done.  And ugly for the rest of the summer.  Ugh.
3. Praxis Tests: I had to take yet another on Saturday.  Thank you Mississippi for putting “(Alternate Route)” on my full teaching license.  Because of those 2 little words and the nasty connotation of those 2 little parentheses, I had to take another test to prove my teaching worth.  It made me feel good, though, that most of the questions were no-brainers….or maybe I’m just a good enough teacher now that I can recognize these things.  But it was the principle of the thing, ya know?  There is a short answer section, which really means “short essay” where you have to analyze the particular teacher/situation.  It took all I had not to write: “Mr. Yakimoto needs to stop being a pansy and not let his kids walk all over him,” and, “Ms. Wilson is a dumbass for thinking she could assign a project like that without explaining it first.”  I think my count of Praxis tests is now at 6.
4. Nosy/Pushy Apartment Office Ladies: I went looking for apartments with one of my friends yesterday.  She also doubles as family…because I married in to the best family ever.  So cousin-in-law, Ash, and I are driving around, looking for her a new apartment.  I forgot how expensive they are…and how pushy the ladies in the offices can be.  “So you can move into this one immediately…”  This after we had already explained Ash’s timeline.  Oi.
5. Thinking a particular movie came out already, and it didn’t: That’s pretty much all I have to say about that.  I guess I was really out of it last week.  I even repeated a whole story to my fellow culinary friend last night on the phone before realizing I had told her the same story last week.  Man.
6. Nay-sayers: Why do we always believe the negative things people say (and the negative people) when there are a million things and comments to the contrary?  I got my hair cut and colored today by my genius hair stylist.  I’ve been going to her on the advice of a high school girl for 3 years (they always know where the goods are if you ever move to a new city).  She is amazing, inside and out.  I could very literally talk to her all day because she’s just an all-around great person.  And one afternoon, we almost did because I was being weird and couldn’t make my mind up.  She also had a baby last year, and he is flipping adorable.  If I didn’t love my teaching job so much, I would have been inspired to go to beauty school.  She is just that good.  My wedding photographer even complimented her, and you know they get in super close to touch things up.  Anywho, we were talking today, and she wants to cut her hair short like that adorable red head on American Idol.  She’s afraid, though, that she’ll look like a soccer mom and she keeps thinking back to a comment a girl made to her about her age.  When she had shorter hair before, this certain person thought she was way older than she actually was (She is only 28!).  Now let me tell you, my stylist is no soccer mom.  She could never be.  (Not that there’s anything wrong with soccer moms…but I have a fear of having a Kate Gosselin hair style, so you know what I mean.)  It just annoys me that the girl could even say something like that.   You never admit that to women.  That goes in the “are you pregnant?” file.  Plus, my stylist is a master of product.  She is going to look amazing.  I mean, she’s already gorgeous anyway.  Also, don’t you love the smell of your hair after it has been professionally washed and styled?  MMMMM.
   

   I love this American Idol contestant. I love her red hair, her dewy blue eyes, and her song choices even if Randy "isn't feeling it, dawg." If I hadn't lived 23 years of my life with short hair, I would want this hair style, too.

I have to apologize for being out of circulation for so long.  A second strain of the stomach bug hit me Monday, and I have not been so quick on the mend for this go-round.

Some fun “Gabby” stories from the week to keep you thinking (and maybe laughing).  Warning: they are not really appetizing.

• I got my grades in on time this week, but it took a lot out of me being so ill at the same time.  I had to tip-tap with one finger whilst laying on the couch surrounded by dogs and papers.
• I drove up to school with a 99 degree fever to get the graded papers so I could enter them onto our online system on time (at home of course), and I had to call some of my dearest and most trusted students to bring them down to me.  Of course, 4 of them came down.  There I sat, no shower in at least 24 hours, a tiny trash can in the floor board, no make-up, pajama pants, PITIFUL.  “Oh, dear, Ms. Gabby, you really should never try to sell drugs…this waiting in the parking lot look is not working for you.”  I reply with a meek, “Please forget you saw me this way.”  Of course, one gets out his iPhone as a joke.  Dear Lord I hope he didn’t snap that picture for real.
• I have acquired a “primary physician” because of all this mess, and he is super nice. My reply to his nurse (the 8th person to ask me if I had considered being pregnant): “Oh honey, I wish!  But seriously, if this is what it’s like, I want no part of it.”  She thought I was funny.  I did feel funny…just not the “ha ha” kind.
• All of my other students came up with all kinds of reasons we teachers are all sick this week.  One involved the plague.  Another involved our love of coffee.  Kids think of the darndest things!
• My hubs called himself “hardy” and announced that he was not afraid of the last virus and he would not be afraid of this one.  He makes me smile.  =)

I am on the mend, though, so the cooking fun will be back soon.  I don’t know how soon I’ll be trying the vegetarian “hot wings” recipe now, but at some point, I will be back to normal and craving that spicy goodness.  I’ll be posting an earlier draft of a recipe I saved to keep you company very soon.

Also, it is now spring break.  Brang on the Food Network inspirations, y’all!

It was even better (he continued to rave) because his office friend had this great coupon from this cool site called Groupon.  “You can pay like $20 for their coupon, and the deal is that you can get like $5o worth of food.  I just became a member today.  They send you these daily emails, but the deal only lasts 24 hours…”

At this point, I shreiked something like, “I TOTALLY TOLD YOU ABOUT THIS LIKE 5 MONTHS AGO!!!”

Let me explain.  It was around October when I signed up for this Groupon thing.  I saw an ad for it on Facebook, and I signed up that evening.  By the next day, I had a fresh email about this great zipline tour through parts of Middle Tennessee that was like less than an hour’s drive away.  Totally up mine and Hubby’s alley, and it was something like 70% off.  It was a steal for this amazing ride through the air in the fall!  What could be more cool on a Saturday afternoon?  I said these exact same things to him.  (I have to “sell” ideas because he can be stubborn sometimes.)  I even brought up their site on my laptop and asked him to watch their little demo video before he came to bed.  He was on his computer, doing who knows what, and he just kept giving me these annoyed looks.  It was about 10:00 p.m. at this point, and I only had 2 more hours to get this deal.  He obviously thought it was some scam, and I just let it go.  I have yet to order any of the coupons off this site for fear that no one would go with me to the restaurants, etc.  Yeah.

I guess we have entered into the stage of marriage where the husband watches football and pretends to listen to the wife.  What makes me laugh, though, is that my husband’s “football” is Fallout 4,  some post-apocolyptic game like that, or a ridiculous video that one of his friends sent him.

So there’s that.  I just had to share the good laugh I had last night…which is why I forgot to get the stir fry recipe.  But I do intend on trying this great recipe for fake hot wings this weekend.

On a separate note, I started knitting a while back.  I love it.  I will have to post pics of my latest projects.  Fun Fun!