Adventurous?

Today I bought lunch at the Chinese restaurant in the Union. Which is significant, because no one ever eats there. Not sure why though. I guess it looks kinda sketch.

But because of the above, it also always has the shortest line. And seeing as the Quiznos line wrapped around the corner, and I'd forgotten to eat breakfast that morning, a short food line looked preeeetty appealing.

I decided to be adventurous and try it out.

Verdict: Not bad. Probably wont eat there again, but the chow mein was delish. It's hard to mess up chow mein.

Sorry for the blurriness. Photo was taken on the sly.

Also, I like how my definition of adventurous now includes ordering Chinese take-out.

What is my life coming to?

Things I'd Never Tried Before Coming to Oklahoma:

I think I'm getting all nostalgic for Oklahoma already. And I still have three months left. It's because the "I'm not ready to leave this place yet" conversations are rolling in thick and heavy at my house. I think we have one just about every other day now. 

It's depressing. 

I keep thinking about all the things I'm going to miss about this strangely backward, strangely awesome place that I've come to call my home. 

Tonight, my mind is on food. 

So is my stomach. 

My torso is making sounds eerily similar to a water cooler. 

Anyway, I decided to make a list of all the foods I'd never tried before coming to Oklahoma. I guess some of these things could fall into the "I don't remember previously trying" category, but either way, these are foods that I now love -- and they'll always remind me of good ole Oklahoma. 

1. Cinnamon Toast

This one comes first because I JUST tried it.

Delicious.

Photo from The Pioneer Woman

Mind blowing. 

I didn't think that kind of thing existed outside of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

But it does. Sha-bam! 

Excuse me while I go make myself a piece.

*recipe courtesy of the ever-awesome Pioneer Woman.

2. Queso 

This one actually has a funny story. When I was a freshman, my friends and I were getting dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Campus Corner when I asked them what this strange menu item called "queso" was. Chaos ensued as everyone stumbled over one another to be the defender and champion of queso's incredibleness. 

It didn't make any sense to me. It was like nacho cheese, but it wasn't like nacho cheese. White, not yellow? Dip at a restaurant, not a jar from the grocery store? Whaaa? 

But I decided to try it. After all, I was a freshman, and one does a lot of stupid things as a freshman. So I boldly stepped up to the counter and ordered. 

"... and I'd like some queso cheese, please."

Everyone behind me laughed. 

I thought it was because of my awesome rhyming skills. 

It wasn't. 

I guess queso actually means cheese in Spanish. 

Anyway... I can assure you that the most embarrassing moment of my freshman year (or at least the only one I still remember) definitely didn't diminish my love for the stuff. Quite the contrary, actually.

Queso is probably going on the Top Ten list of things I most love about Oklahoma in general, right after my roommates. Yup. It's that good.

3. Fried Okra

So tasty. And one of my dad's favorites.

4. Sweet Potato Fries

'Nuf said.

5. Fried Catfish

Mmmmm. The best fried catfish I've ever had was right inside the Oklahoma border. The guy I was dating at the time and I were driving back from Arkansas and just happened to stumble upon an old catfish joint just sitting by the side of the road. 

Random tip about small town dining: Always go where there are the most cars. Always. Because if the locals will eat there, then it's safe for you to eat there too. 

Anyway, definitely the best fried catfish I've ever had. And it was All-You-Can-Eat King Crab day. Need I say more?

6. Raising Cane's Chicken

Possibly the best chicken in the entire world. And that saaaauuuce...... ZOMG.

Loving Me Some Food Blogs

My newest obsession is cooking blogs. I can't get enough of 'em. I keep finding new ones, reading through them, falling in love and getting really hungry. I've taken to copying all the tasty (easier) recipes onto blank Word documents with the intent of printing them when I get to Norman.

It started out innocently enough. My first love was Pioneer Woman, though I loved her more for her wit and entertaining stories than for her cooking. But I did try a few of her recipes (one of which I have now cooked three times over the break for different people) and I love them.

After Pioneer Woman came The Menu Mama, who is actually an old friend of the family's. Heather has two little kids and focuses her blog on helping people plan for the week ahead, including a grocery list for the beginning of every week (which I think is brilliant). She's also great because her meals rely on ingredients that I could easily find in my own pantry -- no fancy-schmancy spices and impossible-to-pronounce cheeses.

These blogs I admired passively, browsing through and appreciating but not needing.

Then I went to Montana for part of Christmas break and took it upon myself to help my dad find some easy new recipes that he can make on Sundays (and in turn, find some good recipes for myself). And of course, where would you go for recipes except online?

So with that challenge in mind, I went through the links on Ree and Heather's blogs and found Bakerella, Smitten Kitchen, and a plethera of other awesome, delicious, super cool cooking (and baking) blogs.

With all these blogs to browse through, I don't think I'll ever purchase an actual cookbook now. What's the point? It's all online.

Kinda makes me feel bad for the poor publishing industry.

Until I google how to make the perfect brown rice and I immediately get a good fifty or sixty recipes.

From now on, I think I'll just grab my favorite recipes from all these great blogs and combine them in a binder or something. It's better that way anyway, because then it's personalized.

Cooking for One

In general, I have very little motivation to cook for just myself. Why go through all the effort if I'm the only one around to enjoy it? I mean, if it's seulement moi doing the eating, my specialties are tuna melts and turkey sandwiches. Nothing fancy.

(My expertise also barely extends at scrambled eggs and Kraft mac & cheese, though I do make a mean french toast breakfast. I hate to brag, but it's the truth.)

So, with that said, I must admit that I feel a bit like a phony right now. All this week, my dad and I have been discussing ways for him to meal plan, store leftovers, and try out new recipes -- and I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cookies

It was a productive weekend. Just Valerie and I were at the house, so it was quiet, the house stayed clean (it's way easier to clean up after just two people), and we got a lot of work done. And yet, even though getting a ton of homework and studying done should make me feel really accomplished and all, I actually consider our little try at baking as one of best parts of the weekend. 

We made peanut butter cookies. But not just any peanut butter cookies. These babies are special.

Why, you ask?

Because they are quite possibly the easiest thing to bake on the planet, and I can almost guarantee you have every item in your kitchen cabinet/fridge (except maybe chocolate).

The kicker: It's only FOUR ingredients. Easy as pie. 

The Easiest, Most Delicious Peanut Butter Cookies on the Planet

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

Hershey's kisses (or chocolate chips)

Directions: 

Mix the peanut butter, sugar and egg in a bowl. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. While the cookies are cooling on the sheet, press the kisses in their centers (or melt chocolate chips in separate dish in microwave and then pour in the center of the cookies). 

Viola! Pure deliciousness!

Last cookie on the plate, prior to being devoured by me.

I will become a Super Cook!

The lifesaver of every person who has ever looked in their pantry and said, I have nothing to make! No ingredients! Oh, what to do?!

Supercook.com to the rescue! Just plug in all the ingredients in your pantry, and it will look for ALL THE RECIPES that use only those ingredients. Brilliant.

Some Interesting Food Preparation Techniques

Since coming to college, I have discovered that there are a few things I learned growing up under the guidance of my mother that are not the ... er... typical way of doing things. Most of these discoveries have come from the area of food preparation and storage. 

For example, most people don't keep their peanut butter in the fridge. It's usually in a less petrified consistency, making it easier to spread, when it lives in the pantry. Also, expirations dates exist for a reason. They are not negotiable.

Today, I learned that most people think storing hotdogs in the freezer is weird. I guess hotdogs usually stay in the fridge? This was news to me. Mom always froze our hotdogs, and they would thaw as they boiled. Also -- you can microwave them. Crazy, right?!

However, today my roommate kindly pointed out to me that this freezing business was unnecessary. After all, "hot dogs are 20% meat and 80% preservatives." Too true.

Coffee with the Hortons

A week or so ago, I had arranged to meet with an old professor of mine on Monday (today) to catch up on our summers. But we'd forgotten that today was Labor Day and therefore he wouldn't be in the office. But instead of canceling or rescheduling, he invited me over to his home for a cup of coffee with him and his wife.

I have been to their house a couple times before for various networking/dinner parties that they hold every so often for creative minds in the Oklahoma area (they call it a Writers Block Party), but never have I been to their house on a quiet Monday morning for coffee.

It was so much fun! The two of them, along with a group of old friends, had taken a trip up to Montana this summer to explore Glacier National Park, so they told me of their adventures and put on this DVD in the background that was basically a slideshow of gorgeous pictures of the park. It made me so homesick. I miss the mountains!!!

We also talked about my plans for after graduation and about my internships in France and Philadelphia. They have children right around my age, so it was interesting to hear their insights as parents into the recently graduated life, etc.

And then, right before I left, we were talking about gardening and the wife mentioned that they had an overabundance of peppers in their garden that she didn't know what to do with. Well, I swooped in and took that opportunity to mention that I live in a house with a bunch of girls and that I was sure we'd love to take a few peppers off her hands. Not a problem.

Sure enough, she came back with a HUGE basket of delicious-looking little red, green, and yellow peppers. All of me! She doesn't know which ones are the hot ones though, so that should be an interesting experiment. And then, after gushing about how wonderful it would be to have fresh vegetables in our house, she invited me to come outside and look at her garden. And then she gave me MORE vegetables -- a pile of fresh baby tomatoes and a bunch of fresh basil leaves. Yum!

I can't wait to get all fancy-shmancy with my cooking, now that I have some wonderfully fresh ingredients to use. Anyone know of anything good to make that involves peppers, basil and/or baby tomatoes?