#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (12/12)

I got a bread machine a few weeks ago from someone on craigslist. Since I got it, I've made bread twice using 2 different recipes. The first loaf was regular white bread on the super-quick setting (58 minutes). It turned out pretty well. The second loaf was Garlic Herb bread on the basic (3 hour) setting. You can really tell the difference in the timing when you look at the crumb of the bread! Anyway, I'm counting this as 2 recipes for this item because I didn't modify them at all.

As the last recipe that I made without any modifications, I'm going to count the pumpkin rolls that I made for thanksgiving. They went over really well. Here's a picture:


They are very rich, though, so they probably would have been better served at another time than Thanksgiving. Here's the recipe: http://memarielane.com/2007/11/13/how-to-make-a-rolled-cake/

#1 - Walk to work every day for a week.

This month the weather was gorgeous so I did a lot of walking. I'm not sure if I did any full weeks, but the month was definitely full of walking, so I am going to count this as complete. Pictures of my walk home from work one day this month are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29521833@N02/sets/72157608359601842/

#95 - Start recycling with the township.

Turns out that this is pretty much impossible unless I sneak around in the middle of the night and dump my recycling into the bins in front of other people's houses on the street. Which would not be cool. Instead I am collecting my recycling and bringing it to my parents about 2 times a month. I guess I'll mark this as complete/failed. Very sad.

#19 - Get a Dubloon Disaster Trophy on Neopets. (revised)

I've decided that I'm really not a big fan of this trophy anymore and the great amount of effort that would go into getting it is just not worth it. However, I have gotten 3 brand new trophies since the start of this 1001 days, so I will count those toward this goal and consider it complete. The trophies are:

Bronze Illusen's Glade
Bronze Jhudora's Cloud
Bronze Wise Old King

Not bad, not bad at all.

#18 - Obtain the MSPP(TCG) avatar on neopets.

Yesterday, I managed to get this avatar. I was so happy about this little 50x50 square of pixels that it is kinda creepy and weird. But now I am finished with this item.

Upon request, here's what it looks like!

Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

After reading the first 2 books in this series, I couldn't stop there! I plowed ahead through Girls in Pants, by Ann Brashares. At this point in the series, the girls are people in my mind and I am so excited to see where their next adventures will take them! The 3rd book is set during the summer after they've graduated high school and they are getting ready to go forward to college. I remember those times and the feelings involved, so it was very easy to put myself in the girls shoes. I read most of this at the beach as well, so the feeling of summer definitely permeated the experience of reading this book. I'm working on the 4th one now!

#86 - Buy a new or used vehicle.

I bought a car! It is a 2006 Chevy Impala with a bit less than 8,000 miles on it. It was officially mine when we signed the paperwork on 8/1/08. Pretty.


Now to learn how to parallel park it with success!

#55 - Take Mike to Indian Echo Caverns

Mike and I went to Indian Echo Caverns on Saturday. Mike had been there when he was very young (5-7 yr old) and he kept slightly remembering things. I hadn't been there since a school field trip in elementary school, but my friends worked their in high school, so a lot of things were still fresh in my mind. We had a good tour guide (go Evan!) and we suffered through (and laughed at) the obligatory corny jokes. It was fun and it was a good way to end our vacation week.

#54 - Go miniature golfing

When we were down the Jersey Shore (Brant Beach, NJ to be exact) last week, my family, Mike, Adam (Liz's boyfriend), and I all went to The Sand Trap to play miniature golf. I grew up on this course and it hasn't changed much since the first time we played there. It is still kept up very nicely and I can still get a hole-in-one! And Dad still doesn't play by the rules. So, what's new? :-) It was fun and was a good way to pass a slightly gray morning.

The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

I just finished off the second book of the 4 book series by Ann Brashares - The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. I feel like I am on an emotional high. I thought that Brashares was able to connect the reader to the girls in the story in one book, the connection that was made by the end of the second book was mind blowing. I am in a state of emotional overload. These girls have been through so much in the course of just 2 summers - I can not imagine what the next 2 books will bring. I am definitely in it now for the long hall. The last 2 books of the series are most definitely going to be read before the end of the summer. I finished this one in less than 48 hours, too. I think the speed at which I am reading them can be contributed to a few factors. A) The story jumps between girls and the change in narrative and characters makes it easier to stick with through a long sit-down with the book, and B) The way the book is written does not give you a chance to even think about putting the book down. Finding a place to stop is difficult because of the fast pace and the way life just keeps happening to these girls. I'm due at the library again sometime this week and I will definitely be picking up the next book, if not both of them. I am anticipating a lot more tears of sorrow and tears of joy. Hopefully more of the latter than the former. :-)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I picked up The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares (a name that I had to look up to find the book in the stacks!)
at the library on Thursday. I have this big stack of serious books (Angela's Ashes, Johnny Tremain and others) that I am supposed to read next, but I can't bring myself to do it. Summer is a time for reading fun books! And this is definitely one of those fun books. I kind of wish I hadn't seen the movie first because it did spoil some things. There was less questioning what would happen next or how would things turn out, but instead wondering what had been cut from the movie and how would they reach their final destinations.

Of the four girls' story lines, Lena's was the most bastardized in the movie. Her story line in the book is very drawn out and involves a lot of introspection (which very much suits her character), however, I see why they changed it to make the story come alive better on screen.

The story lines of Carmen, Bridgette, and Tibby were not changed for the movie, however, a lot of details were left out. I think I will appreciate the movie more the next time I watch it now that I have read the book.

I read the whole thing in about a day because the girls just sucked me into their stories and I could not put it down!

Pure Drivel

I was excited to read Pure Drivel, by Steve Martin. I've read at least one other of his books and really enjoyed it. I was looking forward to a similar experience.

Unfortunately, I was met by a small collection of short stories that just barely could be referred to as drivel. I read through many of the stories without smiling or laughing or even a little chortle. Nothing. Usually the thought on my mind was "is this going to be funny soon?" Then I had a feeling it was some how my fault. Was it bad to read this right after reading a Dave Barry masterpiece? Should I not have had such high expectations? The short stories were 2-5 pages long. At the end of each of them, I thought, "Well, maybe the next one will be good." Sadly, no.


I can not recommend this book. But if you want to get a taste of Steve Martin's humor without the suffering and wondering when it will be funny, you might try reading The Pleasure of My Company, which I can say is very amusing and at times laugh-out-loud funny.

#52 - Complete a 1000+ piece puzzle

Okay, so I don't have a 1000+ piece puzzle. However, I do have a few 500 piece puzzles. Being stuck in my apartment with a sprained ankle this week has given me some extra time that needed to be spent sitting down with my ankle elevated. Puzzles were right in order. First, I worked on this baked goods quizzle.

Quizzles are pretty cool. The picture above is the finished puzzle, but I hadn't done the quiz part yet. There are pieces that are all the same shape and have the names of the different kinds of desserts on them. Then you have to match up all the desserts with their names. Here's a picture of it completed:

Then, I worked on a circular puzzle that is 500+ pieces. I got this puzzle from my grandmother.
It's all different decorative plates layered together to make one image. Unfortunately, I started to expect that there were pieces missing about 1/4 of the way into the puzzle. And, I was right. There's at least 6 pieces missing, maybe more. The crazy thing about this puzzle was the shapes and the way the pieces fit together. Some pieces in the middle of the puzzle would have 2 sides that were completely flat! Some pieces were tiny, and some pieces were closer to the "normal" size of puzzle pieces. It was fun to do and it is very pretty - I just wish there weren't so many pieces missing. If it were only one or 2, I would make new pieces and put it away. But I think I'm going to give it to my sister to use for crafts. There are a lot of pretty colors.

#50 - Go to the drive-in theatre.

On June 29th, Mike and I went to Haar's Drive-in. We are really lucky to have a drive-in theater within driving distance of us. Going there transports you back in time to the 1950s when drive-ins were at the height of their popularity. The intermission animations are from the 50-60s and the prices at the concession haven't gone up very much since then either.

We caught the double feature of Wall-E and Get Smart. Both of the movies were LAUGH OUT LOUD HILARIOUS and we really enjoyed both of them. I was a little anxious about Get Smart because I had heard mixed reviews and Mel Brooks was not involved in the production, but it was great. Wall-E was spectacular. I am just amazed at how well they pulled off a movie where the 2 main characters don't have dialogue (other than noises, for the most part). Amazing.

Unfortunately, there was also a rain storm and a thunderstorm. My window had to be open to have the wire for the speaker not get severed, so I jammed the crack with T-Shirt Bags that I happened to have in the car. That did the trick for the most part (until the water that was on the outside of the window started leaching in and dripping, but it stopped raining before it got uncontrollable). The only annoying thing was having to use the windshield wipers. You can't run your car, so we were running off the battery to see the end of Wall-E. (seriously, it was POURING, bordering on torrential for about 15 minutes). Some people left in the middle of Wall-E, and some people left between the movies, but I was surprised at how many people stuck it out. We decided to watch Get Smart without the windshield wipers which was pretty good and then it stopped raining so we cleared the windshield and were fine. It also wasn't cool when the car started fogging up. :-P

But all in all, we were in good spirits and enjoyed seeing 2 movies for a total of $14 for both of us. And we brought granola bars, soda, and water (which is "frowned upon" and their concessions ARE really cheap, but I was glad we did because leaving the car just wasn't happening at all). Hopefully we will get to go again this summer!

Dave Barry in Cyberspace

I picked up a copy of Dave Barry in Cyberspace, by Dave Barry (surprise, surprise) at a yard sale about a month ago. The book was published in 1997 so I was unsure if some of the humor would be out of date or not quite as funny. I was completely wrong. The book remains fresh in this world of changing technology. This is a laugh-out-loud HILARIOUS book. Anyone who has used a computer or surfed the internet will appreciate the humor.

A Long Way From Chicago & A Year Down Yonder

A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck.

These books were recommended to me by my brother. Since A Year Down Yonder is the sequel to A Long Way From Chicago I felt that they should be reviewed together. In a way, the sequel is just the next chapter in the lives of Joey and Mary Alice (although, more so Mary Alice). The characters, especially Grandma Dowdel, jump off the page. Set in the time around and about The Great Depression, there are plenty of historical references scattered throughout in the best way possible - you hardly even realize they are there. They are just part of the story. And Grandma Dowdel is such a complex character. At the beginning of the story, she is almost scary in that she is completely unknown to Joey and Mary Alice. By the end of A Year Down Yonder, she had her grandchildren have formed a very strong bond that none of them had ever imagined.

This is a laugh-out-loud comedy as well as a story of family. You just never know what the heck Gramdma Dowdel is going to do next. Sometimes it seems that she doesn't even know what she is going to do next, but it turns out that she is much more cunning than she ever let on.

Both of these books are fantastic reads and definitely worthy of a second read someday.

#73 - Try 5 new non-chain restaurants. (5/5)

I took my mom to Tuscano for lunch yesterday for her birthday. We both had paninis (which, we pointed out were not technically paninis because they were on rolls instead of bread, but they were fantastic anyway) and we split an order of french fries and then had a slice of Crazy Carrot Cheesecake and a slice of some sort of awesome berry cake. Both were awesome. Both were shared. Much other awesomeness was had.

Would I go there again? Possibly. The prices were good and I only ate half of my sandwich (I just finished the second half now for lunch today). For drinks, sandwiches, fries, and desserts for 2 it was about $35 with tax and tip. Not bad considering we were splurging a lot.

Things my Girlfriend and I Have Argued About

Things my Girlfriend and I Have Argued About, by Mil Millington is absolutely hilarious. My friend Melissa recommended it to me, so I picked it up at the library when I was there. It was a quick read, despite being almost 400 pages long. It had me laughing out loud at every turn. I was surprised at how much the novel flowed even though it was cleverly disguised as a collection of short stories. Some of the language used is very colourful, but I would definitely recommend this to anyone. The author (and the main character) are from the UK so it has a wonderful English humor mixed with a bit of crudeness and many surprising twists and turns of plot.

Many, many thanks to Melissa to recommending this wonderfully entertaining book!

#73 - Try 5 new non-chain restaurants. (4/5)

After my tap recital in May, Dad took us out to eat at Rock Bass Grill. It is really nice and has a country club feel to it. The seafood was awesome as were their various renderings of potatoes (all the fries, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes were awesome). Dad ordered a bottle of Riesling to go along with our food which was awesome because Rieslings are one of my favourite kinds of wine. Everyone else in the family had been there before except for me, so I had lots of advice on what to get. I had swordfish, but I also tried everyone else's food, so it was like a seafood buffet!

#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (9/12)

I made Strawberry Freezer Jam using the recipe from inside the box of Certo (which is a liquid pectin). I followed it really closely because I was afraid of messing something up with the set. I haven't eaten any yet, but it is sitting in my freezer ready to try after I finish up the last jam I made. Making spreads is fun.

The Midwife's Apprentice

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman won the Newbery Medal in 1996 Newbery Medal. I picked it up when I was at the library a few days ago. It was a quick read (after all, it is at about a 6 grade reading level and short), but as Cushman tends to do, she transports you to medieval England with great characters and quaint dialogue.

At one point, I was trying to read all of the Newbery Medal winners, and I think I'll resurrect that goal.

Wicked

I finished reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire this weekend. As much as I was originally annoyed by the writing style and overuse of bizarre and strange words (aside from the made-up words of the Land of Oz), it grew on me and by the end I was not noticing it so much. I think this might also have been because most of the big words were used during the chapters were the characters were attending school. Perhaps the author thought he was giving those chapters a more collegiate feel by using all those big words that caused me to go scrambling for a dictionary (or more likely, Google).

I really liked the way the book was written around the story and characters created by L. Frank Baum. Reading Wicked was almost like reading fanfiction in this way. My only knowledge of this world was from the movie and the stage show, so I plan on adding the novel to my to-read list. I have also seen some of the more bizarre movies based on his later novels, but I am not sure how much they really influenced my reading of this book.

SeinLanguage

SeinLanguage, by Jerry Seinfeld was an extremely quick read. It only took me 3 nights to finish it off. It is basically a collection of sketches, some of which were used in episodes of Seinfeld. I really enjoyed it and laughter before bedtime was definitely a nice change after All the President's Men! I'm going to be passing on my copy to my grandma who loves Seinfeld and likes reading. I think she'll get a kick out of it.

All the President's Men

I FINALLY FINISHED All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward. I think the thing that most kept me from getting really sucked into this book was all the names and people that there were to keep straight. I don't know if I really followed exactly because of that (although, it was helpful when I recognized a name or two), but I definitely got the gist of it. There were definitely parts where things got very intense, and other's where it dragged. I think this is due to the nature of it being a true story and all. Not every part of life can be exciting! I did find that it ended rather abruptly. I'm looking forward to watching the movie again now that I've finished the book.

#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (8/12)

Someone on one of the LJ communities I follow posted a link to HillbillyHouseWife and I spent some time checking it out. This specific recipe caught my eye:

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/sausagecheeseballs.htm

When the butcher at Karns has loose sausage on sale, I always hesitate because the only thing I end up doing with it is browning it and throwing it in spaghetti sauce. This recipe seemed like a great way to put some of it to good use. (and they are awesomely yummy)

Sausage Cheese Balls

* 1-1/2 cups Biscuit Mix (Bisquick)
* 1 pound bulk turkey sausage
* 3 or 4 cups of shredded cheese

Get out a big bowl. Measure the Biscuit Mix and cheese into the bowl. Add the raw sausage. Use your hands to mix everything together like meatloaf.

It is sort of gooey, but the finished product is worth a little goo. Shape the mixture into small balls the size of walnuts or egg yolks. Place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 25 minutes.

Remove them from the oven and drain them on paper towels. These are best when they are still warm, but are still rather tasty cold. Makes about 75.

#31 - Have my family over for dinner.

For Mothers' Day on the 11th, I invited my family and Aunt Karin over for dinner. Elizabeth and Albert helped prepare things, but the biggest preparatory task was getting the apartment ready! It took me 2 whole days, but it was definitely worth it.

Here's the menu:

Appetizers - Bruchetta, Hummus, Carrots & Dip

Dinner - White Chili and Cheddar Bay Biscuits (a.k.a. Red Lobster Biscuits)

Dessert - Chocolate Fondue and Lemon Pudding Cake (seriously, this needs a better name that does not involve the word "pudding")

Also served was Wine. At dessert, my lack of a coffee maker was sorely obvious, but wasn't the end of the world.

All in all, it went really well - it took a lot of stinkin' work, but was totally worth it.

#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (7/12)

I had extra strawberries leftover from our Mothers' Day celebration, so I decided to try my hand at this recipe. I halved it, but did make the recipe. It turned out very well and made about 2 jars of jam.


Strawberry Jam

4 cups mashed strawberries
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
You basically mix all three ingredients together, bring them to a rolling boil for about 10 minutes. Check the temp to make sure it reaches 220 degrees (F). Then place the mixture into sterilized mason jars.

#12 - Get some bubbles and blow them in a public place

I finished this one and not even on purpose. At my cousin Sean's wedding, they had bubbles! And when he and his bride, Stephanie, left the church we blew them and it was pretty. I have since randomly blown my bubbles at people in various locations. But I had to take the bubbles out of my purse because I became paranoid that it was going to leak.

#8 - Tryout for a musical or a play.

Tonight I auditioned for Little Shop of Horrors at Hershey Playhouse. My song was It's a Helluva Way to Run a Love Affair from Plain & Fancy. The singing part when fabulously.

The dancing part went okay. The choreographer when to HACC with me back in the day - almost 8 whole years ago! The dance was really fun, but some of the girls there were definitely more experienced than me with picking up the steps quickly. I was solid though, and I think I had them topped with ATTITUDE!

It was an interesting group of people, too. Girls were all on the young side (I was the 2nd oldest there for women) and the Men were mostly on the older side (although, there were some teens).

Another great thing about the audition was that I got to SEE the Playhouse! The theatre has three sets of riser seating (VERY comfortable) and it is really beautiful, especially the lobby. Not handicap accessible, so I'm not really sure how that works.

Whatever happens, I had a fun time tonight and this will put me up to dancing 3 times this week! Woo!

#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (6/12)

I also made these on Sunday at the request of my boyfriend, Mike. I had threatened him with making them without any nuts what with walnuts being so expensive right now, but I ended up caving and getting walnuts anyway. Turned out that probably 1/2 cup of walnuts would have been enough. 1 cup was really too many. Did not do the optional espresso/coffee.

INGREDIENTS
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)


No need for a mixer with this recipe.

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the
mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
2) Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.
3) Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
4) Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the
chopped walnuts.
5) Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a
muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

source: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004229banana_nut_muffins.php

#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (5/12)

Sunday, I was on a bit of a baking spree. I made this yummy "Easy Lemon Pudding Cake". I got the recipe from an online-friend of mine. It turned out really well, but I have GOT to figure out where the lemon zest is in the store. I zested my own lemon this time. It was easy to throw together and would have been good with some summer berries on the side (raspberries would have been the best, I think).

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
Cake
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup milk (or soy milk)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- juice of 1 lemon

Sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup boiling water
- juice of 2 lemons

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get water boiling in a kettle.
1. (cake) Whisk together flour, sugar, powder, soda, and salt in a
bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together soy milk, oil, zest, and lemon
juice. Add to flour and stir with a spoon until just mixed. Pour into
a 8 x 8 pan and spread evenly.
2. (sauce) Whisk together sugar and flour, then sprinkle evenly over batter.
3. Pour boiling water and lemon juice over top. Do not stir.
4. Bake for 40-45 mins, until top is golden and cake is cooked through.

#23 - Take my brother to the laserdome.

Mike & I took Albert to Laserdome on 4/12/2008. Here's what I wrote about it in my personal blog:

4/12/2008: Albert's 15th Birthday! Mike & I were supposed to take him to Laserdome for his 14th birthday, so we thought, better late than never. I called ahead in the morning to make reservations for lasertag ~3:30pm. Mike showed up around 2:30 so I started getting ready to go. Mom dropped Albert off and we headed in a south-easterly direction to Laserdome!

We ended up playing Halo (in the "virtual arena") first. After 4 games of it, I had only managed to kill 5 people. That is major suckage. Of course, I guess since it was the first time I played and it took me 'til halfway through the 3 game to figure out how to stop walking into walls with any consistency. It ended up being about $13 each to play for 20 minutes, so next time we go, I'm all for skipping that. It was interesting, though. 10 people playing all at once was neat.

Right after we were done with Halo, it was time for lasertag! They did a pretty good job at explaining how everything worked and what to do in their training session. Since we had to change our lasertag time when we showed up, our group was called last. And since my code name (tenthz, of course) was last alphabetically, I was the absolute last person to get called for a vest. As is tradition with me, I was picked last for a sport. :-P We were on the Red team (the other team was blue). It was way a lot of fun and for 3 of the 4 games, Albert had the highest score across the board (out of a total of 40 players!). Mike was in the top 10 of all the scorers the whole time. They kept making runs on the other teams base which is what made their scores so ridiculously high. I only did that a few times and the rest of the time I spent guarding our base which I attribute to the fact that we won every. single. round. By a LOT (like 10,000 to 3,000). It was a ton of fun and would definitely do that again.

We each got 44 tokens when we got there so we also spent some time playing in the arcade with those. Albert and I played a lot of the games that you get tickets from and he ended up hitting the jackpot (750-ish) on one of them with his last token. Whoa. He ended up with 1300-ish tickets, so he got a nifty disco ball thing that plugs in and lights up with different colors.

It was a lot of fun, and the next time we go, I think we'll probably just do lasertag and arcade games.

#76 - Change the beneficiary on my 401k plan.

Took me long enough, but this one is finally finished. YAY.

#77 - Do my own taxes

Well, my 2007 Federal & State taxes are submitted! I have to do local & send in what I owe for my PA taxes, but other than those 2 easy things, I'm finished. I'm going to mark this as completed because I'll be done with it by the end of the night. I was kind of nervous about doing this myself, but I think it worked out really well and was much easier than I thought!

Major props to State Farm for letting me file Federal & State online with Turbo Tax for free.


---- EDIT: It's 3/31/2008 - I've gotten my refund, my State taxes check has been cashed, and I sent my Local taxes (I was even). Sweet.

#73 - Try 5 new non-chain restaurants. (3/5)

After the St. Patrick's Day Parade yesterday, Mike, Mom & I met up with the rest of the Tap Pups at a very nice bar/restaurant in Harrisburg - Stocks on Second. Mom and I had drinks and then we got a table and ordered dinner and an appetizer. Everything was delicious and we left full & happy. Prices were a bit high, but definitely worth it (helps that mom treated us. :-).

#25 - Visit Cindi in VA

I visited Cindi at the very beginning of March! I blogged about it in a post here:
http://tenthz.livejournal.com/1023971.html
on my personal blog. Lots of fun!

Faking It

Faking It, by Jennifer Crusie

I picked this up in a lot full of books I got from someone on craigslist. I thought it looked like a quick read and a nice break from reading All The President's Men. It was!

Not much to say about this one. I was surprised when it turned into much more of a "romance novel" than I had expected (mostly because I didn't read the entire book jacket!), but it was entertaining, kept my attention, and had an interesting plot with lots of twists and turns.

Back to reading All The President's Men now!

#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (4/12)

This afternoon, I whipped up a batch of Chocolate Chip Muffins. I got to use muffin pan that I got for Christmas for the first time. I used muffin cups to reduce the clean-up. I really hate cleaning muffin pans. They turned out really well - very rich, though. Probably only need about half the chocolate chips.

Ingredients:
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup light-brown sugar
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2/3 cup milk
* 1/2 cup butter -- melted and cooled
* 2 eggs - beaten
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 package (12 oz) chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans -- chopped (optional)


Preheat oven to 400 F. and grease up twelve muffin cups.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, stir together milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla until blended. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add milk mixture and stir just to combine. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Spoon batter into muffin cups; bake 15-20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center of one muffin comes out clean. Remove muffin tin to wire rack; cool 5 minutes and remove from tins to finish cooling.

Serve warm.

(Source: http://66.206.5.232/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=239)

#20 - Develop an address spreadsheet for all family and good friends and keep updated.

I started this one a while ago, but I have to collect addresses and put them in the spreadsheet. This spreadsheet actually has 3 worksheets: My family, Mike's Family, and Our Friends. Right now it resides on my laptop, but I think I am going to import it into google documents and set it up so both Mike and I can edit it.

#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (3/12)

Tonight I made a nice big pot of chicken soup with rice. I used better-than-bullion to make the broth, but I stuck to the recipe so that I ended up with the correct final product. I could have stood to add more water and broth, but now I have a much more hearty soup and I've got enough for lunch every day this week.

Here's the recipe:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/7442/good-old-chicken-with-rice-soup.html

Ingredients

* 8 cups chicken broth
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 stalks celery, diced
* 2 carrots, diced
* 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 cup uncooked rice
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
* 2 cups cooked chicken, diced
* salt and pepper (to taste)


Directions

1. Combine broth, onion, celery, carrots and garlic in a large soup pot.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Add rice and thyme.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add chicken and heat through.
6. Thin with more broth if necessary.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

#72 - # Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (2/12)

If you've ever been to Red Lobster and had their cheesy biscuits, you know that they are pretty much the best reason for going to Red Lobster. Well, I did a search for Red Lobster biscuits recipes and I found this one. When I made it, I halved it, but I'm still counting it as following the recipe because I didn't change anything. Seriously, Mike and I could probably have eaten 12, but we shouldn't. Next time, I'm going to make a full batch and see if they freeze okay. I was really pleasantly surprised how close these were to the real thing. Very awesome. And they took like 2 minutes to throw together and baked while I was finishing up with the meat sauce & the pasta.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 c. Bisquick
2/3 c. milk
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. butter
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Mix Bisquick and cheese; add milk. Spoon on an ungreased cookie sheet
(makes about 12). Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Brush with
melted butter and garlic powder.

#89 - # Find pants that really fit me and are comfortable.

Honestly, I never thought this would be completed.

But the after-christmas sales this year were very good to me. I did breakdown and buy a pair of pants before the holidays for full price. ($30 - ouch) The after-christmas sales made up for it and I managed to get 3 more pairs of pants for around $10-15 each. I've now got 5 pairs of pants that fit me. Jeans, black slacks, brown slacks, khaki slacks, and a pair of pants that are nice enough to wear to work - but almost sweat-pants-ish. Which is definitely awesome. The new pants are all either from Lane Bryant or JCPenney. I think Lane Bryant is my new favorite store. Clothes that fit me - yay!

#72 - # Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (1/12)

I thought I had written about this, but apparently not! Over the summer, my family had a get-together. For the life of me, I can't remember what the special occasion was! Anyway, I decided to make zucchini pancakes. My grandmother had given me the recipe (who knows why!) and it is still on my fridge. I don't think I'd ever make them again, but they were good. Just a bit too much trouble. Grating zucchini is not something I ever want to do for fun in my free time. They turned out pretty good, but probably weren't meant for traveling. Not everyone liked them, but they certainly did eat them all! I think there were a few leftover, but mom had them for lunch the next day.

I followed the recipe with no alterations, though! That was the main goal.

#74 - Use my fondue pot

For our family New Years Eve celebration, I decided it was finally time to open my fondue pot that I got almost 4 years ago! We had 2 different fondues - cheese and chocolate. The cheese fondue I did with no problems. We had pretzels, bread cubes, multi-grain tortilla chips, and sausage chunks to dip. It was very yummy and I think we ate almost every drop! I just used the simple white sauce recipe with the "cheddar cheese modification".

The chocolate fondue we had a bit more of a problem. Well, first of all, there wasn't enough. I had a pre-packaged thing that you just heat up and - viola - fondue! But it barely covered the bottom of the fondue pot and the ravenous masses were starting to lick their lips, so we decided to add some chocolate baking chips. It was okay until Mom suggested we add some half-and-half. Oops, adding cold milk to warm chocolate made the whole thing seize up. Mom took over from there and un-siezed it and it was very yummy. We dipped banana, apple, oranges, pretzels, and marshmallows (regular and strawberry). We didn't finish it all, but having a leftover lump of chocolate certainly wasn't a bad thing. :-P

The whole process was way easy and I plan on doing it again soon!

#73 - Try 5 new non-chain restaurants. (2/5)

The last day of work before Christmas, my boss took us all to Fiesta Mexico - a new Mexican restaurant in the area. It is, however, run by the same family that runs a local chain called El Rodeo. The menu and prices at Fiesta Mexico are very similar to El Rodeo, however, the atmosphere is very different at Fiesta Mexico. It is much more of a laid-back, may-I-please-take-your-order-sir type of restaurant. The restaurant itself is very spacious and there is plenty of room between tables. They did a great job of accommodating our large group (14).