Talking Tuesday

I am so appalled at some people's lack of parenting skills. I know that I may not have very much room to talk as I'm not a parent myself, so I don't have any parenting skills at all at this point. But I do like to think that when I do decide to reproduce that I will use good parenting skills to not create little brats.

Over Thanksgiving I encountered a family that definitely had a child that I would consider to be incredibly bratty. Surprisingly her parents were on her case a lot, but not about the things that I thought were actually bratty and definitely if it were my kid would have been stopped. They were on her case about things like not eating before dinner (even though there was a snack table), about not eating too much turkey, and about not sitting on her dad's lap. What didn't they stop? They didn't stop this little brat from giving an answer of "don't know, don't care" to almost any question directed at her. I don't know in what world it is appropriate or cute for a 4-year-old to give that as a response to an adult and to have her parents hear this answer AND ignore it.

I'm not the kind of person who believes children should be seen or not heard. I love kids, I love to play, but at the same time I think there's certain things that are acceptable for little kids to say and do and certain things that are not.

For instance, when I was growing up I wasn't allowed to run around restaurants like a hellion. There's times and places for things.

If you want to make a good impression of what kind of parent you are, maybe you should make sure your little brat isn't being incredibly impolite. Anyone who says "don't know, don't care" is being rude. Maybe you should keep your child from being rude.

Meal Monday

I cook dinner almost every night. I won't take credit for the recipes I use, because frankly I'm just not creative enough. But the physical act of cooking takes this load of stress off and seriously is cheaper and healthier than eating out, by far.

The stroganoff tonight was asked for by my boyfriend. Delicious!

Meatball Stroganoff

Ingredients

MEATBALLS

6 1/2 oz ground beef
8 oz Italian sausage
1 tbsp onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp bread crumbs
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup egg substitute
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil

PASTA & SAUCE

12 oz egg noodles
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 cups beef broth
1 cup 1% milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a bowl combine all the ingredients for the meatballs, except for the olive oil and flour. Mush together with your hands. Make golf ball sized balls out of the meat mixture and coat in the flour.

2. Put the olive oil in a skillet over high heat. Place the meatballs in the skillet and cook for one minute. Cook for a minute on each side.

3. Remove the meatballs from the skillet and place them in a baking dish. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

4. While the meatballs are baking, wipe the skillet out. Melt the butter and saute the mushrooms for several minutes. When they are nice and brown add the 3 tbsp of flour into the skillet and make sure to coat the mushrooms with flour. Pour in the milk and broth and cook until thick, stirring continuously.

5. Follow the directions on the noodle package to cook the egg noodles.

6. Serve the meatballs and sauce over the noodles.

(Source: here)

Anything Goes

I hadn't been home for Thanksgiving in years. The last few years I was working at Radio Shack and since I had to work on Black Friday it wasn't ever possible for me to get to my parents' house to do Thanksgiving. Two years ago my friends who lived in the town I lived in had a big celebration at my boyfriend-of-the-time's house. He cooked the turkey, delicious. Last year I had to work on Thanksgiving day, so the two other coworkers I worked with that day (which also included the same boyfriend-of-the-time who actually wasn't my boyfriend at the time) brought Thanksgiving with us to work and ate there. We didn't have very many customers (because who shops for electronics when they could be eating turkey?) Because there was only three of us I made a chicken. We also had stuffing and mashed potatoes and green beans. It was a fun day at work, even though I would have rather been somewhere else.

So this year I got to go home. I was responsible for making dessert and biscuits. For dessert I made a Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie (which comes from here) and for the biscuits I made Chives and Brie Biscuits from Cooking Light or Sunset magazine, or something (I can't remember at all.) Dinner was delicious and it was nice to be home and get the big Thanksgiving with the family. And my boyfriend came with me and it was his first long weekend at my parents' house. It went well.

On Thanksgiving morning we went to the San Francisco Zoo for the Beast Feast, where they feed some of the animals Thanksgiving meals. The lemurs got an all-out celebration. The 'turkey' in the middle of their table was made with their lemur chow and held together with bananas. They also had native veggies on the table and goblets of pomegranate juice. Surprisingly they ate neater than most people (despite keeping their feet and butts on the table) but they didn't even spill a glass!

Fashion Friday

Due to the fact that I'm hoping for a future in law and the public sphere, I don't think it's necessarily smart to put my face online in a place where I'm also expressing things (which I may do somedays). So, my face is a smiley. It's a beautiful, happy smiley.

I have no style. And I'm hoping that one day I will retain some information from those I see on the web. Currently I'm not buying very many new clothes because I've been losing a lot of weight lately (on purpose). I've lost 30 pounds and gone down three pant sizes so far, so I just see it as being silly buying a new wardrobe before I hit my goal weight.

Today my boyfriend and I wandered out Haight Street and then saw Metromind. It was a mellow day after Thanksgiving.

Headband: Castor and Pollux Headband by Bebecha
Scarf: Two-Toned Knit Scarf by Gap
Shirt Underneath: Ross (dress for less)
Jacket: Roxy
Jeans: Curvy Jeans by Gap
Shoes: Solid Color Slip-On by Vans

Thursday Meal Plans

Happy Thanksgiving! This meal plan was actually made on Tuesday (2 days earlier than my usual), but because I'm out of town until Saturday night I figured it was a better idea to get it done than to wait.

MONDAY NOVEMBER 29
Beef Stroganoff

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30
White Bean Mash
Grilled Portobello Mushroom, Roasted Red Pepper, Tomato Burger

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 1
Tilapia w/Roasted Corn
Spiced Potatoes

THURSDAY DECEMBER 2
birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory

FRIDAY DECEMBER 3
Turkey Chili
Jasmine Rice

SATURDAY DECEMBER 4
Easy Cheesey Chicken, Rice, and Broc

SUNDAY DECEMBER 5
Rosemary and Lemon Pork Stew

On Mondays I'll be posting on of my favorite meals made in the past week, pictures and recipes!

Window Shopping Wednesday

Every Wednesday I'm going to post things I saw throughout the past week that I wish I could afford, but alas am living off of a student loan and am poor.

KITCHEN


Zoku Quick Pop Maker


Rolling Pin


CLOTHING/ACCESSORIES

Casco Bay Boat Mocs


Rosette-Front Full-Skirt Dress by AGB


Tea Time Traditions Dress from ModCloth


That's Amore Dress from ModCloth


Grenadine Lemonade Dress from ModCloth

Just Starting Out

I'm a 23 year old law student from California just doing my thing. I've always thought about starting a blog, but never have actually succeeded at it.

Structure is my thing, so my blog is going to have certain things on certain days:

Monday - Monday Meal
Tuesday - Talking Tuesday (talking about things on my mind)
Wednesday - window shopping Wednesday
Thursday - Meal Plans
Friday - Fashion Friday
Saturday - anything goes
Sunday - anything goes