Life in Denim and Flip Flops

I put up my first Christmas tree today. Ok, not my first tree. It's my first real-size Christmas tree I've put up by myself. I've got an interesting collection of ornaments. Most of which have stories and significance. I thought I'd tell a few of them here. :) It's not a Christmas tree without a pickle ornament. It's a German tradition to hide a glass pickle ornament on the tree for the kids to find. Mine's not hidden very well, but it was the first ornament I put on the tree. I don't know if you had these, but not only did we have these little teddy bear ornaments, but we also had this awesome quilted advent calendar wall hanging . I've got 2 bears on my tree. They're handmade stuffed little ornaments that my sister and I insist must show up on our trees somewhere. This one is a Becky and Mandy original. I hate to think how many of these we made over the years. This one I inherited from my grandparents. Those are the little six-sided plasti...

And in case you forgot what it looked like before...with the same flower for contrast.

I read an article in the past few weeks about how a really high percentage of blog posts are basically apologies for not posting in a while. Of course I've both forgotten the stat and lost the original article. Sadly this is just a preface to another one of those posts. I'm not sure what happened. I was doing so well posting 3 times a week, and then it just fell apart. Not really work or personal life related, just got lazy and didn't really have anything super exciting to post. And once I'm out of the habit, I'm screwed. My goal is to get back on track this next week. And now that I've posted this, I've got witnesses. So thanks for being my accountability buddy. Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Tomorrow is Spirit Day as we come to the conclusion of Homecoming week. So clearly I'll be dressing up. The board of trustees will be here so nothing too crazy. This year's homecoming shirt and brown cords. And some accessories. Oh right I don't have any blue accessories. I went to Hobby Lobby to find some blue flowers for my hair. I ended up with both flowers and jewelry pieces and this crazy blue beaded flower arrangement accessory. After an hour of playing with it, I ended up with earrings, a bracelet, and a necklace. I'm sort of surprised with how well they turned out. :) Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.2

Ok, I'm making it official. I'm doing the new-food-a-week challenge. Last week parsnips , this week red lentils. I'm thinking that I'll do one of Aarti's preparations . They look pretty similar and use the same technique of adding hot spiced oil to the lentils after they're cooked. Ironically Amy is also cooking red lentils this week, using her friend's recipe . I also bought orzo pasta while I was at my favorite store, Calico Bean Market . I went in for some durum flour and came out with orzo, red lentils, and some munchies. I love it so much. It's got all the spices and herbs I need for my recipes at ridiculously low prices. I mean I bought sesame seeds, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, corn chips w/ flax seeds, plus the orzo and lentils for about $11. How ridiculous is that? Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions for next week. What new food should I make??

This is what I made for lunch today. Chicken marinated in black bean and garlic sauce, parsnip puree and homemade applesauce from earlier in the week. Unlike last time, I pulled out the blender today to get a super smooth texture on the parsnips. The marinade was from a jar, but oh so good. Yay for the organic (or hippie as my boss says) section of the grocery store! These are my contribution to the family reunion tomorrow. They're Italian semolina rolls. Semolina flour is the only real difference in the dough, but it taste just a bit sweet. I haven't made biscuits yet but I think they turned out well. The sesame seeds really make it. :)

You may know that I watch a lot of food-related television. Now in the past, I'd watch because it was fun to see how things were put together and see how something can be transformed from boring vegetable to delish sidedish. But in the past 2 years or so, I've really started applying what I saw on those shows to what I do at home. I've picked up a lot when I wasn't even trying. And now I'm learning that some things I assumed would be difficult really aren't. I can handle spices and fresh ginger and baking my own bread, who knew? Where's this all going, and where the hell are the parsnips, you're asking? Well, it starts in the grocery store last week. There have been a few things I've been looking for recently and have been unable to find. One of which is celery root necessary for a salad I'd made. Suddenly after looking for a few weeks, it shows up in the organic section. While I was back there, I noticed the parsnips sitting next to it. If you...