I’m not so good with technology

And I keep just saving my posts and not publishing them. Whoops. So instead of posting all my old posts at once, how about I summarize and combine into one amazing post?

Recipes: One of my coworkers keeps asking for recipes whenever I cook something, the problem is, cooking isn’t an exact science. I know the basics, but it’s all about how I feel that day or what I have on hand. So I made a vegetarian chili this weekend and it really was a combination of what I had on hand, what was on sale, and the few essentials. I can give you the run down, but there is no set in stone recipe. I get that many people do need recipes. Either they struggle with eye-balling amounts, or they just don’t trust their instincts yet. There are tons of books, shows, websites, apps, etc for these people. One of the best things about culinary school, is that they really do boil it down (really crappy pun intended) to the method, not the exact amounts.

Living Alone: Why does everyone assume that because I’m a single female, living alone, that I am worried about my life? I live in a decent area with a variety of neighbors. Plus a dog who would kill whatever person decides to attack me. Should we all live in fear? No. I had my apartment broken into years ago and I moved on. It does shake you up a bit and makes you rethink your living arrangements, but it gets better. The other thing I hear a lot is, are you sad you aren’t married yet? The answer is always no. If I got married before, I probably would not be following my dreams right now. Plus Guinness does not do well with sharing.

Running: I’ve been slacking a ton on working out at all. I finally dug deep and found my old exercise dvds and I’ve been doing some of the quick 15 minute segments. It’s nothing great, but it’s keeping the desert pounds off. I think I need to find a race to do so I have to train and keep focused. I found an awesome 6.66 miler (around Halloween, of course). I’m just not sure how quickly I can build up my base again, because I’ve gone out for a run twice since I moved here, TWICE. That’s 2 times, in 1 month. I feel like I’m starting at the old run 1 minute, walk 5. I know I have more in me than that, but this is a giant step forward for me. 1 month to 6.66 miles? I need some serious motivation.

Finally, some desert porn, don’t mind the crappy quality, they are from my phone (which I’m not supposed to have on me in the kitchen or dinning room, so shhhh)

More pics to come as I sneak more pictures! Those poached pears were life changing and I wish I could eat one a day for one of my servings of fruit.

And finally, the most important news in my life lately:

When I moved, I “lost” my blender, considering it wasn’t mine to begin with. I’ve been living without my smoothies for awhile and it’s been rough. Really rough. I feel in love with the Ninja blender and knew that I wanted one for myself. I’ve been creeping all the stores and found one on sale for $20 off! Amazing, right? Wrong! I also used my store card to get an additional 5% off. Now that’s amazing. Reunited and it feels so good! I’ve made sure to blend something every day since I picked up the new roomie.

 

Best new purchase you’ve made in awhile?

Totally my new blender. The Ninja is amazing because it was blades all the way up, plus a great motor, so nothing gets stuck and left as a giant chunk. And it’s affordable for the average guy, unlike the vitamix blenders.

Do you take food porn pictures?

I used to take a lot more, but now I’m more about the flavors and completely forget about the pictures until I’m half way through eating. But these deserts are amazing. I feel the need to bring in my DSLR and frame the pictures.

Wiping off the dust, adding in some randomness

Dear blog, I missed you. Love, Alisa

Yeah, it’s been a busy couple of weeks and it will just keep being busy. The way my school works out is that I have five labs that each meet for nine days. So we do one lab at a time for nine days then move on to the next. I’m in class for at least 6 hours a day. Plus I work full time-ish. So you can imagine how crazy things are. If I’m not in class or at work, I’m studying and reminding Guinness that I do in fact live with her.

Harsh. I have to pay for your expensive ways some how, dog.

The good news is, they do feed us there and the meals are fancy shmancy. Meals that would cost in the triple digits before you even include booze. Everything is freshly made, bread, soups, salad, dinners, desserts, everything. I’m enjoying getting the chance to eat all this fresh seafood for free. Be jealous. Plus the desserts. OH the desserts. Orgasmic is the best term. Fancy plated, amazing spun sugar, desserts. Real chocolate, and fresh baked pastries, desserts. Need another napkin for drool, desserts.

And because I spend all day cooking, I just don’t cook at home. My fridge literally only has apples, spinach, a water pitcher, and dog food. And my freezer is full of meat from the awesome sales I hit up after I moved here and frozen berries for smoothies. But I’m making some amazing vegetarian chili this weekend, so I will share that with you guys once it’s made. And by share, I mean take a picture and pretend to care that you’re drooling. Get excited, because chili is always awesome.

Other things to know, my bestie moved out here around the same I did. She claims it’s for school, but I think she just knew she would miss me too much. She already has a masters and is going for at least one more, probably two. She’s weird like that. While I’m working towards another BA, she already has one masters. Gross, who does that? But she has a blog and all of you should go visit and make her feel welcome in the blog world.

This was back when we were young and in college the first time around.

One reason I’m so excited for the BFF to be out here is that I’m socially awkward and she puts up with that. My new friends are finally figuring out that I’m not that weird, I just don’t know how normal people act. The best case in point is that I don’t know how to flirt. I just can’t do it. And the other night I was out with some classmates and was “flirting” with a friend of a friend. My friends later told me that I looked as though I was a child molester and he was seven years old. Yikes. (maybe this is why I’m still single)

But in more important news, everyone is doing a giveaway, so here’s the roundup:

SUAR is giving away some jewels

Miss Zippy is giving away some clothing for your naked self

Gourmet Runner is giving away some wristbands to keep all your worldly possessions

SkinnyRunner is giving some awesome Mission products

HungryRunnerGirl is also giving some clothes because of the great blogger nudist scandal (totally made that up, but that would a great TMZ story)

And breathe. That’s a lot of giveaways. How much do you want to bet that I don’t win a single one? I don’t have the DNA for winning.

 

How close does your BFF live to you?

When we were in Illinois, it was just under an hour to drive to each other’s place. Now it’s almost 1.5 hours. But in New England, curvy unmarked road ways, that’s probably closer to 2 hours.

Any other giveaways I’m missing? Don’t hold back!

There is always at least one floating around. I’m still waiting for the lifetime supply of Larabars and brand new eco-friendly car giveaway. One of these days it will appear in my reader.

Are any of you socially awkward? Any reformed awkward kids? Tips please!

I just want to flirt normally! Or at least not look like a pervy old man.

Tastes like fall.

After some crappy cold, rainy days, the weather finally turned around. It’s crisp and warm out here. I woke up yesterday morning knowing that I had to get out and run, first, because it had been so long since I ran and two, because it was perfect running weather. I found a new running path that was pretty packed, but it’s a paved path along the river and right to the ocean. I didn’t go to the ocean, because that would have been about 10 miles further than I wanted to go, and also because then I would have to turn around and come back. 28 miles? Better believe I didn’t do that. But the 4 miles I did felt good. It was the most natural my running has ever felt. Hope I feel that way again soon. Some days the running gods just look down and smile on you, right?

It’s strange to see all those fall favorites at the market. I bought a bunch of squash and apples (locally grown, of course). So when I was considering what type of muffins to make for quick, go-to breakfasts, I knew pumpkin had to be included! So, I made some amazing banana-pumpkin muffins.

Banana-Pumpkin Muffins (I will add a picture later on, somebody let my camera battery die. I’m blaming G-dog.)

1 15-oz. can pumpkin (get the real stuff, not the filling)
4 large eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 medium mashed bananas
1/4 cup oil

3 cups flour (any combination)
1/2 cup quinoa flakes (if you can’t find these, try oats)
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup flaxseed
1 tbls cinnamon
1 tbls pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 muffin tins or use paper cups (I did 1 regular size and 1 mini-muffin).
2. Mix eggs, oil, honey, sugar, pumpkin and banana.
3. Mix in dry ingredients.
4. Pour into pans and bake 15 minutes for mini or 25 for full or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

In case you guys were wondering, school is going great. I have my first battle scar too. I chopped a chunk of my thumb off this week. I won’t show pictures of this, but trust me, it’s disgusting, but healing. It’s funny because I have never cut myself on a knife in my life. Until I go to culinary school. The stuff I’m learning right now is pretty basic, stuff I basically know, but now have an actual term for it. I will wow you guys in couple of classes from now. My schedule between work and class sucks, so I don’t know how frequent blogging will be. I still read though!

 

Is it feeling like fall near you?

Even though temperature isn’t quiet fall like yet, the whole going back to school thing and squash around every corner is making it feel like fall. Plus, Starbucks has pumpkin spice out, which is a clear sign it’s fall. I love getting the syrup in my doppio espressos, It’s a nice change.

Favorite use of pumpkin:

Baked goods! Bread, muffins, cookies, etc. It makes my feel healthier for eating something indulgent.

The Tour, Part Dos

So last time I gave you a glimpse into the beauty I’m experiencing here. Now let’s take a glimpse into my apartment. (Dear creepers, don’t stalk me now.)

Please ignore the clutter, some things are still finding a home here and others have yet to be taken to the dumpster (I’m looking at you broken lamp and random boxes.) Also, I still have mismatched furniture (aside from the bedroom set) and I’m totally okay with that. There are some themes slowly forming here, so when the money appears, things will fall into place.

So onto the tour: When you first walk in my front door the bedroom is on the right:

(Don’t you love the wall of mirrors that is my closet? Amazing if you ask me. And totally unflattering.)

If you walk to the closet and turn left, there’s my bathroom:

And then the door leads you back out to the living room, while passing a coat/storage closet:

I know you are all jealous of my New York Times newspaper rack! Free! And the best part of the living room?

Squirrel O’Vision playing 24/7 out the window. I even moved that chair so G-Dog could get a better view. She will even lay down on the chair with her head propped up on arm rest.

So you keep walking and you hit the dinning room. Which I’m using as a workstation since I don’t really dine much (I just eat).

Can you spot Hoops and Yoyo? Do you even know who they are? The final spot to visit is the kitchen with the world’s smallest freezer! Seriously, what’s the point of meat going on sale super cheap if you can’t freeze all that bulk.

If you are wondering what’s all over the fridge, that would be my ridiculous magnetic poetry collection. It’s a bit out of hand. And took forever to put up. To the right of the fridge is my laundry room. Full size washer and dryer baby! There is also tons of storage and you can walk into it. They don’t just face out. Amazing.

So you’re sick of my tour? Sorry I didn’t feed you. Here’s the door, don’t let the dinosaur guarding my movie collection bite you on the way out!

 

In reality, I start classes tomorrow. I’m a tiny bit nervous, but mostly excited. I won’t be cooking dinner regularly, which stinks, because I have class until 8 at night, most nights of the week. And then, I work mornings. Eww.

Running has been interesting to say the least. I’m experiencing real hills for the first time ever. Not only have I been going a lot slower, but I can’t go as far without my ass giving out. Not pretty. I hurt the first time I did them and only did about 2.5 miles (was supposed to be 4 miles, but I kind of got really lost).

 

What’s new with you guys?

Give me something awesome, I know it’s in you!

Have you checked out Amanda’s awesome art contest?

I’m so excited that I don’t even know where to start!