It's the Freakin' Weekend

OK, it's almost the freakin' weekend. So sue me, R. Kelly.

I've got a lot (a lot) going on these next few days. I'm pretty much jam-packing as much excitement as possible into one five-day stretch. Let's take a look ...

Royals vs Orioles at Kauffman Stadium  [Source: Flickr user Joshishi]

Camping for a huge birthday bash of a close family friend  [Source: We ♥ It]

These fabulous people  [Source: My FB]

And a little time with Mama Monster. CAN'T. WAIT.  [Source: Last.fm]

I'm fairly certain I won't be sleeping anytime soon. But I'm OK with that. If I happen to have a few spare minutes, I'll try and give a progress update sometime this weekend. If not ... see you next week, friends!

Tune In Tuesday: Bestie Edition

[source: my buddy Ty]

This gorgeous lady is Aja, and she is one of my very VERY best friends in the entire world. We may, in fact, be twins separated at birth. Nevermind the fact we're 364 days apart ... it's totally possible!

It's been almost six months since Aja moved to NYC, and I miss her like crazy. So this week, I'm dedicating Tune In Tuesday to the girl that has introduced me to more amazing music than everyone else I've ever met combined. Enjoy.

Mmm Mmm Monday!

Hey y'all! Today's Mmm Mmm Monday recipe is actually a two-fer. I combined my favorite bits of two separate food network recipes to make one pretty yum dinner. Hope you enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Curry with Peanut Sauce
source: Robin Miller + Sunny Anderson
prep time: 10 min. | cook time: 20 min | serves: 4



INGREDIENTS

Grilled Chicken Curry:
Cooking spray
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I used chicken tenders instead)
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1 to 2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. turmeric powder (I didn't have turmeric on hand so I used garam masala)
2 tsp. ground cumin
Olive oil, as needed

Peanut Sauce:
1 c. chunky peanut butter
1/2 c. chicken stock
1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. red chili flakes
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 tbsp. honey

DIRECTIONS

Heat a stove-top grill pan or griddle with cooking spray to medium-high heat (or use a George Forman, like I do). Season both sides of chicken with salt and black pepper and set aside. In a small bowl, combine lime juice, curry powder, turmeric (or garam masala), cumin, and olive oil, as needed to loosen mixture. Mix well with a spoon and brush all over both sides of chicken. Place chicken on hot pan and cook 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Remove from heat and place on plate.

While chicken is cooking, combine peanut butter, stock, lime juice, soy sauce, hot chili flakes, cayenne, and honey in a small saucepan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When peanut butter has melted, season to taste with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

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I served my chicken with sweet potato fries seasoned with curry, cumin, and ground ginger. The sweetness of the fries really paired well with the spiciness of the chicken. Also -- don't forget the honey in the peanut sauce like I did! It still turned out pretty well, but I'm going to reheat it and add the honey to tone down the ultra-peanutiness of the sauce when I have these for lunch tomorrow. And obviously you can play with the spices a bit and still end up with a really tasty dish. Hope you enjoy!

Sunday Share - A Year of iPhone Photos: Pt. 1

It struck me recently that I've had my iPhone for a little over a year. Translation: a crapload of iPhone photos. I thought I'd use this Sunday Share to share (go figure) some of my favorites from the first six months of iPhone ownership. I would do the whole year, but I'm not trying to put everyone to sleep with my personal slide show.

(I wouldn't normally include such a lousy photo, but since it was the very first one taken on the phone, I decided to throw it in).

Dad and Layla (his great niece)

Valley Falls, KS

Arthur Bryant's Barbeque, KCMO. Best BBQ in history.

Zipper ride formerly owned by Michael Jackson (no joke there, it's true)

Neapolitan cheesecake with the BFF

Shades

Marcus as Bret Michaels

Yours Truly as Lady Gaga

Waiting

Durian jam @ an Asian Market in KC. Gross.

Decorating for Christmas

Celebratory shots for the BFF's college graduation

Tire tracks in the snow

Christmas stockings

New Years Eve bling

Wishlist: Day 2

The proverbial creative juices aren't doing any flowing over here in the Arvonia camp. So instead of anything that requires a lot of thought, here's another item from my birthday wishlist. I actually almost bought this for myself when I learned I can use my Gap Card online at Piperlime -- BAD news for my card! -- but I was a good girl, and held off. I seriously doubt anyone would drop $430 on a purse for my birthday (but it's my damn birthday and I'll dream if I want to), so maybe it'll be this year's gift to myself.

[Petal to the Metal bag by Marc by Marc Jacobs @ Piperlime]

The birthday wishlist begins!

One month from Saturday, I will be turning 26 years old. And I'm not happy about it.

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with 26, it's a pretty trivial age. I think it's the fact that I'll be closer to 30 than 20 that's bothering me more than anything, and let's be honest ... I have SO much more I want to do with my life before I turn 30.

So to cheer myself up a bit, I'll be posting things from my birthday wishlist periodically from now until my birthday. Feel free to buy any or all of these things for me. You know, to keep a girl happy on the downhill slide toward 30.

[I heart Kansas -- from Truche on etsy]

I love Truche's state necklaces. So simple (well, especially in the case of my little chewed-up rectangle of a state), and so lovely. And she'll even put a heart over your hometown. The heart on the necklace in the photo is pretty spot-on over my hometown, which I'm taking as a sign I need this necklace. Please and thanks!

Tune in Tuesday: Rye Rye

I know she's been around for a bit now, but she's pretty killer. I'm just going to let her speak for herself.

Rye Rye ft. MIA - Bang Bang

Mmm Mmm Monday: Makin' Whoopie

No no ... nothing quite like that kind of whoopie. I'm talkin' whoopie pies! I tried my hand at these delicious cookies this past weekend after seeing the post on Bakerella, and I think I'm hooked. They're like cake and cookie combined, with frosting in between! Sort of like those Oreo Cakesters that came out awhile back, but ... you know ... good. I used the recipe on the Bakerella post (chocolate pie with peanut butter filling), but I found a number of other versions across the net. Try one out, and let me know how you like 'em. Whoopie pies are the new macaroons!

• Bakerella -- Classic Chocolate with Peanut Butter
• Martha Stewart -- Raspberry Lemon
• Martha Stewart -- Pumpkin with Cream Cheese
• Martha Stewart -- Cranberry Island (side note: don't let the name fool you ... these are chocolate, not cranberry!)
• WhoopiePies.org -- Basic / Mini Pumpkin / Chocolate / Banana

Bon Appétit!

Hey there

[source]

Just wanted to drop in for a quick hello. It's been a busy week around here, with the Fiesta and everything going on. My family reunion is also happening this weekend, so today I'll be busy in the kitchen making cucumber and onion salad, along with a big batch of whoopie pies. I'll have to take pictures if they turn out, I'm pretty excited about trying them!

On a totally unrelated note, I've been rediscovering the music of Bob Dylan this week. Back in college, I dated a guy who listened to almost nothing but 60s and 70s music (and opera, but that's another story), and he introduced me to the greatness of Dylan. The relationship with the guy didn't last very long, but my relationship with Dylan kept on going. As time went on, I got more into other musicians and sort of forgot about my long love ... until this week. "Lay Lady Lay", one of the most beautiful songs of all time (in my humble opinion), popped up on my iPod while I was at work, and my love was instantly rejuvenated. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

EDIT: OK, so apparently Sony took down the YouTube vid I was using for audio in this post. Bummer. Here's Magnet & Gemma Hayes singing "Lay Lady Lay" instead. I have to admit, they do a beautiful rendition of this song. But go find the original and have a listen!



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I'll return to my regular posting next Monday. I might stop by for another quick blip before then, but if not ... see you next week!

It's Oh So Quiet ...

Just so you know, things are probably going to be pretty quiet around the blog this week. It's Fiesta Mexicana time here in the good ol' Top City, which means I'll be out and about for a good majority of the next five days. Tomorrow (eep, today, actually!) is the first day of the festivities, and Marcus and I will be at the church helping with the food prep all day (it's a yearly tradition for his family to take over the first day of the kitchen).  I've promised myself to take more photos this year, so I hope to have some to share soon!

Anyway, in lieu of a full-fledged Mmm Mmm Monday post this week, I'll just post pretty pictures of food instead. Photos from we ♥ it, unless otherwise noted.

Hey, it's something. Give me a break! It's Fiesta Time!

In case you missed it last Monday, here's a link to my Pinterest board devoted solely to delicious recipes. Oh, and I've still got Pinterest invites left to give away, so drop me a line if you want to check it out!

Sunday Share

[source]

This week's Sunday Share doesn't actually involve me sharing anything, per se. Or sharing artwork, at least.

No, this Sunday, I just wanted to share that I added a blog roll of some of my very favorite blogs over in the right side column! It's something I've been wanting to do for awhile, and finally got around to it today. Hopefully sometime soon, I'll get around to making my own little button to share. Ideally, though, I'd like to update the layout first, so all in good time!

Moment of Weakness

OK, I've been REALLY good this week about saving my pennies. I promised myself I wasn't going to make any frivolous purchases this month. Seven days into July ... promise broken! Not that I can call Danny Brito's work a frivolous purchase. His work is 100% beautiful, and 100% necessary. Take a peek at what I just had to have.

[all images via Danny's etsy shop]

Have any of you made any recent purchases you're excited about?

Tune in Tuesday: Mashups

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of good mashups. Want proof? The second most-listened-to artist on my last.fm is The Hood Internet, a mashup-only DJ duo. I just really like the idea of taking two (or more!) songs that don't have much musical correlation and combining them into something new, I guess.

So without further ado, here's a playlist I put together of some sweet mashups. There are a lot of favorites left off this list (since they weren't available on the playlist website), but if this is something you're into, I'd be happy to give more recommendations. Enjoy!

Is there any certain genre of music you're really, really into? I'd love to hear about them!

One more thing ...

I've been setting up a Pinterest board for recipes I've found on the 'net that I'm wanting to try out. Check it out! Oh, and if you're interested in joining Pinterest, I've got 10 invites to giveaway. Hit me up if you want one!

Mmm Mmm Monday

Hey friends! Hope all of you in the States had a great July 4th weekend (and I hope the rest of you had a great weekend, too!). It has been wet and rainy in these parts, which doesn't make for ideal camping conditions, but we definitely made the most of it. I got very few photos because I was having so much fun, but there was a lot of laughter, a lot of great food (yearly cajun feast, FTW!) a lot of fun games ... and a lot of rain (boo).

One of our friends made the following dish for the previously-mentioned cajun feast (I realize it's not a cajun recipe ... it was just a fun dessert). It is SO simple, but perfect for hot summer nights. I probably would have eaten the whole pan, if there weren't 25 other people to share with!

Jello Poke Cake
From KraftRecipes.com | Prep Time : 30 mins. | Total Time: 5 hrs. 5 mins. | Serves: 16

No, this isn't even close to what the cake looks like, But it's Jello, and I thought it was adorable. [source]

Ingredients
1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix
1 cup boiling water
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

Directions
Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 13x9-inch baking pan. Cool cake in pan 15 min. Pierce cake with large fork at 1/2-inch intervals.

Stir boiling water into dry gelatin mix in small bowl 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water; carefully pour over cake. Refrigerate 3 hours.

Frost cake with whipped topping. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Happy Weekend!

I'll be off camping with family and friends over the long weekend, so I'm bidding this blog adieu until Monday. Happy Independence Day to everyone here in the States ... and for those of you elsewhere, have a great weekend! Does anyone have any big plans?

All images from we♥it