Tuesday, June 28, 2011

more thoughts on cooking, and a summer list

Well, today was FUN. Except not. I suppose this is going to lean towards a "whiny" post, but just bear with me. I try to avoid them, but sometimes I can't help it. As I mentioned earlier, I'm married now (woo!), but along with that came a new hour-long commute to work (and then one hour home). I. hate. it. The sky opened up on me twice coming home today (I'm talking everyone was driving 40 mph down the interstate), I was already drenched from running out to the car, had a mini-panic attack after almost hydroplaning like five times, and that's all I've got.

Speaking of the long drive, I'm now one of "those wives." The ones that are like "but I'm too tired to cook tonight." And we've only been married for a month!!!! This is not good. But I've at least learned something about myself. I fall apart without a plan. If I don't have a planned out list of meals for the week (along with the ingredients in my cabinet already), it ain't happening. You can just go ahead and pre-order all your takeout for the next five days because that's what's for dinner. I know, this can also be remedied by having a few easy stand-by meals, I just have to figure out what those are.

For all that cooking I don't have time for, I finally invested in a sort-of food processor! I originally planned on just going for the big one and getting a 12 cup food processor, but I opted for the 4 cup mini-prep food processor instead. I just re-read a few reviews on each, and I'm kind of second guessing myself now. Most people said I didn't need the big KitchenAid, in fact, most said they didn't even have a food processor. The primary reason I'm buying one is chopping, and slicing. I want to be able to put half a potato in and it come out chopped. The manual for my mini food processor said I had to cut onions into "1/2 inch pieces" before putting it in the chopper. Wtf is the purpose in even using it at that point? I might as well chop them up one more time and get the size I want. I mean, seriously. Opinions, anyone?? Recommendations for a good chopper? I know I'm kind of contradicting myself, since I just said I don't have time to cook, but I think the food processor might lead to more cooking since it (the KitchenAid) can do so much. Or maybe I just like the finer things in life, like $200 KitchenAid 12-cup food processors.

In other news, I can't believe how quickly this summer has flown by. The month of July is going to be super busy, but in a good way. I think one weekend will involve a visit to the US National Whitewater Center - should be awesome.

List of other things to do/start/finish this summer:
• Finish reading Love the One You're With. Started reading on our honeymoon, haven't picked it back up since (but I was really enjoying it).
• Start some kind of daily workout routine. Thinking about trying out the Purre Barre dvd's. There's a studio in Charlotte, but the classes are way too expensive...plus, there's the whole being-around-other-people thing.
• Eat healthier. I downloaded a calorie tracker app on my Droid, but so far, it hasn't been motivating.
• Go to bed earlier, as I sit here typing at 11pm. Seriously, one week I'm just going to take the plunge and start making myself get in bed at 8:30pm. Yes, I said 8:30. The drive to and from work wears me out, so I need to be compensating.
• Come up with a very set daily cleaning routine (different tasks on different days), so I'm not waking up on Saturday morning and dreading doing it all in one day.

That's all. Actually, it isn't, but the list would get a whole lot longer if I kept going. Really, the list is more of a start-at-some-point-eventually kind of list, but preferably before the summer ends. We'll see.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

the married life!

There's definitely a whole lot of "new" in my life right now. New husband (well, first and only husband), new town, new apartment, new hour-long drive to and from work every day. Other than the last item on that list (which sucks as bad as it sounds), I am loving it all! The past couple months have been a whirlwind, and it's finally settling down a bit.

Post-wedding thoughts:
The first three months or so after being engaged, I was seriously considering eloping. I still think it is a great idea, and I don't think I would have regretted going that route. With that being said, having so many people I love and care about in the same place was so wonderful - all the planning, time, money and stress was worth it ten times over. So I guess where I'm going with this is do whatever you feel like doing. We would have come out just as happy and as married as we are now if we had eloped, but we chose the big wedding. I say do whatever makes you happiest. Not sure our wedding day could have gone more smoothly, and I am definitely thankful for that!

On another topic, cooking has been a fun new adventure for us. And when I say "new," I really mean it. Living at home with busy families meant that Ross and I spent most our time eating out before we were married...and I'm gonna be honest, cooking has never really been my forte, although I haven't tried much. I am really excited about trying new things though, especially with all the new cooking gadgets and makers and cookers etc that were given to us. I'm very proud of the first thing we made, Mushroom Turnovers. I know, definitely not anything to brag about as they are really simple...but trust me, it was a big step for someone who hasn't really done much more than heat up frozen pizza before. They turned out really great, and I'm sure we'll eat them again! And when I refer to "we" as in "we cooked them," my husband and I have cooked everything together so far. It's fun, but is also probably a good move on his part to ensure the safety of ourselves and everyone in our apartment complex. Saturday morning consisted of a not-so-successful attempt at making breakfast. Our mistakes were cooking the eggs first (which meant they were cold when we ate them, of course), and also burning the bacon, and subsequently setting off the fire alarm. If you ever thought breakfast was too easy to screw up, you thought wrong.

Luckily, since we are now living right outside of Charlotte, there are plenty of restaurants around in case the whole cooking thing doesn't work out. :) I haven't really been able to enjoy living in a new town since ten hours of my day are spent at work and driving there and back. Ready to get out of that situation asap.

I plan on posting a few pictures of our wedding and honeymoon (spent in Nassau - we had a blast) soon, and maybe even reporting on a few more newly found/newly attempted recipes!