While I was kind of the worst at keeping this updated, I’m hoping to be better over at Christina Gets Schooled.
See you over there!
~Tina
While I was kind of the worst at keeping this updated, I’m hoping to be better over at Christina Gets Schooled.
See you over there!
~Tina
Double You Tee Eff?
I thought I was done with this puffer coat for the season, but then it decided to snow today. I was not happy about digging it back out again.
There was obviously only one way to cure these cold weather blues: COOKIES!
I was actually in a baking mood over the weekend, but lacking any sort of add-in like chocolate chips that I usually use in cookies. Chris and I attempted a random Pinterest recipe I found for brown sugar cinnamon cookies, but they ended up being sub-par. “And if there is one thing I don’t like sub-par, it’s cookies.” – Chris
But let’s be real, we still ate them all. (There were only about 24 small cookies in that batch that we ate over 2 days. Okay, that still sounds kind of bad. Sorrynotsorry.)
Anyway, after work today, I picked up a package of butterscotch chips, intending to bake these cookies that I have made before on many occasions. Once we spied the suggested recipe on the back of the bag, however, we decided to go with Oatmeal Scotchies instead.
Baking these while jamming out to *NSYNC and The Sound of Music soundtrack made these taste even better!
How do you cope with unexpected changes in weather? Are you a huge baby about it like I am?
~Tina
How is everyone’s weekend going so far?
We made it a Redbox night yesterday, and rented Big Hero 6 for the evening. I didn’t know anything about the plot except there was a kid and a big, squishy robot, but I thought it was so fun! I couldn’t stop laughing at this:
Anyway, would watch again. Recommended if you’re looking for easy viewing.
As for today, I had a lunch date with myself at Corner Bakery. A few days ago, I received an invite to try out one of their new grilled flat sandwiches for free (Pro life tip: sign up for fast casual restaurants’ mailing lists for all the free food! – This particular offer may still be available if you click the link). I chose the Southwest Chicken option.
Yummy! Check out all those jalapenos – Nice and spicy, just how I like it. I was worried that these sandwiches would be dinky, but this was actually a pretty decent size and stuffed with grilled chicken, cabbage, corn, pico de gallo, and spicy peppers. The flatbread was warm and doughy, too. I still would have preferred it to be bigger, but it was flavorful and satisfying nonetheless.
I also would have preferred being able to select bread or chips as my side like you usually can at Corner Bakery, but this offer only allowed the baby carrots option. Oh well, I made do.
On par for the rest of the day: taxes, cleaning, making more lettuce wraps for dinner, and possibly watching Birdman!
Any other tips for getting complimentary meals? I’m a grown adult, but I still hunt down free food like a college student. No shame!
~Tina
Dinner tonight was a college staple:
Tia, our friend Maya, and I were trying to decide between pizza, BBQ, and ramen and these spicy noodles from High Five won out. We all ordered the “Half Spice” and it was pretty damn hot. I love when the “spicy” options at restaurants are actually spicy and not, like, sprinkled with a dash of pepper.
This definitely hit the spot on this brisk evening. This is a far cry from the instant ramen packages I used to devour while I was in college, that’s for sure…
Totally kidding – I still eat cheap ramen all the time. It’s delicious!
What was your cheap, college food of choice? Do you like your food spicy or not so much?
~Tina
Happy Tuesday, friends!
Hope your week is getting along a little better than mine. Seems like the weekend food poisoning bandit is at it again – I have been feeling all stomach-funky since eating a weird shrimp sandwich for lunch yesterday and poor Chris was sick all last night from something he ate after work. Apparently, Tia and CJ have not been feeling too hot either. What is going on???
I have a feeling we’ll all be sticking to blander eats for the time being.
While the ultra-flavorful meals available through Blue Apron will not be making an upcoming appearance anytime soon, I thought we could live vicariously through my recent experience with them. My sister sent me a code for a free one-week trial a few weeks ago, and I am never one to turn down free food, so I signed up.
If you’re not familiar with Blue Apron, they are a meal delivery service that sends recipes and the fresh ingredients needed to make them right to your door. My one-week trial included 3 meals for two:
Pros:
Cons:
Overall, I was satisfied with my Blue Apron experience, but I’m not in a hurry to try it out again. Unless it’s the weekend or I’m making something really special, I hate spending more than 20-30 minutes cooking if I can help it (less is better!). I’ll probably keep an eye on what kind of food they’re offering, but would have to be really intrigued by something to actually purchase another delivery. Who knows, though? I will say that I think cooking these meals would be a great date idea for new couples to see how their kitchen chemistry is 🙂 Working on these with Chris reminded me of when we first started dating and he learned what a terrible onion chopper I was.
Anyone else ever try Blue Apron or another meal delivery service like Plated? What did you think of it?
~Tina
Guess who’s back? Sorry it’s been a while. Let’s recap real quick!
Things that have happened since Tina and Tia’s last blog post:
All right, so that totally sums things up perfectly and brings us up to tonight!
After making tacos for dinner last week, Chris had a pretty big chunk of iceberg lettuce that needed using up (This actually tends to happen every time we have tacos). I don’t know why it never occurred to me before, but last night it dawned on me to make lettuce wraps. So I made it happen:
I cooked up the filling using ground chicken, diced onion, minced garlic, chopped shitake mushrooms, chopped celery, and shredded carrots. Some soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, and sriracha held it all together for this yummy meal.
Eaten with a side of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Well, it’s good to be back and stay tuned for more!
What’s new with you?
~Tina
Hi Everyone! Hope everyone had a good weekend!
I spent the long weekend sleeping/napping, hanging out/brunching with CJ’s coworkers, having dinner with Tina and her parents who were in town, and eating cookies CJ made. GET THAT? I do probably 99% of the cooking, but the man bakes! (Actually the secret is that these were microwaved!)
Beat together until smooth, and add red food coloring to 1/3 of the mixture, and green to 1/3 of it.
Microwave for 10 minutes on 50% until the mixture has set. Spread apricot and raspberry jam between the layers, and top with melted semi-sweet chocolate.
Every microwave “baked goods?”
~Tia
Pistachio cake from Magnolia Bakery. And yes, CJ’s name is actually Chris.
Last time CJ and I went out for steak, I got scallops. They were delicious, but I started craving steak.
Now, CJ says we never need to go to a steakhouse again, that’s how much he liked the above meal. Double-edged sword 😛
What’s your favorite cut of steak?
~Tia
Happy Wednesday Everyone!
I’m finally done (fingers crossed) with a very tedious project at work…whoo! Tomorrow is my last day at the office this week. I’m taking Friday and Monday off to go New Orleans to help my parents with their business (there’s a trade show going on). Ever take off work to work some more? 😛
So here’s a WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday).
What did you eat today? Tina and I also met for Panda Express for lunch. Haha.
~Tia