Hey Gang!
I’ve decided to take and put anything food related into a different blog so as to not mix them with my every day musings. From here on out, this will strictly be work and other such things (I promise there will be less bitching about lil old ladies and their demonic ways) So feel free to find anything food related over at:
http://www.themakingofachef.wordpress.com
Thanks,
Ciao!
My boyfriend and I went out to dinner at Applebees for date night this week. It was the perfect conclusion to a long week for the both of us, albeit I have it easier than he does at the moment, just going out to eat and writing reviews and such. But enough about that! In case you didn’t know, Applebees is definitely a family environment (so long as you’re sitting away from the bar) and they serve all around cuisines, mainly American with an ethnic twist. My boyfriend and I arrived a little bit after 8:30 and were promptly seated, it surprisingly wasn’t busy for a Friday night, and as soon as we were comfortable our Server came to introduce herself and take our orders
Our Appetizer
Our appetizer consisted of their Trio option, a sampler of a few items on the appetizer list, if you will. He ordered the buffalo wings, I the spinach dip, and to share the dynamite shrimp. After a ten to fifteen minute wait, and plenty of discussion on games, our appetizers came out and were definitely fresh out of the oven or wherever they had been cooked as they were hot. The waitress came back with a pair of plates and bade us good eating. Good eating it was! The platter was split into three sections, each section of the large plate had a smaller plate with the different appetizers on it. Everything was arranged around the spinach dip in a circle. I started by sampling the spinach and artichoke dip. Where most places would serve it with bread, Applebees served it with warm restaurant style tortilla chips and with a charbroiled layer of cheese on top. It tasted great with the chips and as a side note: My boyfriend, who doesn’t like to eat greens at all, in any form, enjoyed it. That’s saying something. Turning the platter, I sampled some of the shrimp. The shrimp was served over a bed of crunchy slaw type greens. The one thing I didn’t enjoy about the shrimp was the breading. It was definitely cooked perfectly, but the breading was done in such a way that when you went to cut into it with your fork, it fell right off the shrimp. That aside, to put it how my boyfriend did, the shrimp was dynamite. Finally, I dared to try the chicken. Although my boyfriend ordered it as hot as you could get it, the chicken didn’t make me sweat one bit. The heat and flavor were a perfect combination and tasted great. Something different I noted about the chicken was that instead of the usual bleu cheese that most other places will serve wings with, Applebees served them with ranch on the side.
My Dinner
Just as we were finishing our appetizers, our entrees were brought out and you could tell that they were fresh from the oven/grill. I had ordered the sizzling chicken with spicy queso blanco off of the sizzling entrees menu and he ordered their steak and shrimp soto. The chicken was served over a bed of sizzling sauteed vegetables (red and green bell peppers and onions), and was smothered in a white sauce topped with what I tasted to be cilantro. My side was red roasted potatoes and they were the first thing I tried while everything else cooled down. Though I love roasted potatoes, these didn’t appeal to me. They were very salty and moving them around on my plate, you could see just how much salt the chef used on them, as it was noticeable against the black of the plate. When the chicken finally cooled off enough to eat, I took a bite with some of the vegetables. It was like a symphony in my mouth, the sweet tang of the sauteed vegetables with the spicy hint from the cheese blending with the chicken perfectly. The chicken was cooked perfectly although when I tried a piece on it’s own I did notice it was bland. My guess would be that they didn’t bother to do anything to the chicken before they smothered most of it with cheese and served it over vegetables. For all intensive purposes, this works, however if I were to recreate the dish at home, I would definitely rub the chicken with at least some basil and cilantro before cooking it as to get rid of the bland chicken taste.
On a parting note, the service was as good as the food was and I felt as though I was over a friend’s house for dinner. I would recommend going if your looking for a fun time.
This wasn't my lunch
Today instead of getting some sort of takeout (as my mother didn’t know I was hungry when she went to pick food up) I had to use my imagination to work with what little we have in our pantry and fridge. Let me clarify, there’s a bunch in both, but there’s nothing to eat, if that makes sense. So I got creative. I had 2 pounds of pasta left over from the shopping trip where I bought 4 pounds of pasta, 6 pounds of chicken and 3 pounds of sausage, as well as 2 quarts of cream. But that’s old news. Looking in the refrigerator I spotted the block of feta that wouldn’t have otherwise gotten eaten (though feta and warm Italian bread is absolutely delightful; I do recommend trying it) and a quart of cream, unopened. Anyone else spy an idea? The gears in my mind slowly started to turn and voila! Why not make an alfredo sauce without the parmesean cheese? Substitute the parmesean cheese for feta and serve the sauce over penne noodles… brilliant, if I may say so myself.
Thinking that the feta would have overpowered everything else, I didn’t use too much; about a third of a cup perhaps? I crumbled it so it would melt easier (as I’ve never used feta in cooking before I didn’t know whether or not it would take well to the sauce) and stirred generously as I added it to the pint of cream and half cup of butter. Stirring occasionally I put the water on to boil for the penne and went to do other things while I waited. Coming back, I found that the sauce was frothy. This would be due to the cream and butter combination. I lowered the heat to three and stirred it for a minute or two before moving to put the penne in the water. I cooked the it for 13 minutes. Perhaps it was the brand I was using, but it took longer than most other pastas I use when I’m cooking. Or it could have been that I was hungry and therefore anxious to eat despite having engineered the sauce idea on the spot and being uncertain as to how it would turn out.
When everything finished cooking, I ladled a coating of sauce onto the bottom of my bowl before adding the pasta because if you ever notice, when you serve pasta with sauce the pasta on the bottom is always dry until you mix it around. Anyways, that being a pet peeve of mine aside, I put the penne in my bowl, about a cup and then put a little bit of sauce over it. Not a lot, but just enough; I couldn’t tell you how much.
So now here we are, my bowl of pasta is gone and I’m unsure as to how I liked it. The texture was very smooth and it wasn’t too thick either, albeit it could have been thicker than it was. I came to ascertain that I could have added more feta to the sauce which I will do later on. Hopefully it’ll turn out okay, but I do recommend it if you like feta, that is. Another thing I noticed as well, it probably would have gone wonderfully with chicken in the sauce too so that will be something to try, a twist on my classic favorite.
That's rather what I look like when i'm thinking. Courtesy of Disney Ratitouille
The Recipe
1 Pint of heavy cream
1 Cup of athenos feta cheese, chunk variety
½ Cup of butter or margarine, whatever your preference is
1 lb of penne noodles, again, whatever your preference pasta is
1.5 lbs of chicken, boneless skinless breast meat (optional)
The Antipasto
Being an amateur food critic isn’t the easiest thing to do. My opinions don’t see the light of newspapers or magazines. Nor will they ever, but they see a small audience I suppose and if I can convey my opinions to sway those of you who will read these then I suppose I’m getting someplace. My latest dining out adventure has been to Olive Garden with my Mum and two sisters on this fine Mother’s day. I personally am an Olive Garden junkie even though I’ve had a taste of what my grandfather calls “real” Italian food.
If you’re looking for a place to go on a fine holiday such as today, or even just a casual dinner with good friends and/or family the Olive Garden is the place to go. Today my Mum, Sisters and myself were celebrating Mother’s day. It was an overall excellent experience. I happened to arrive early and was seated promptly despite the appearance of there supposedly being a wait. Upon being seated, my Sisters and Mum arrived and were surprised at how fast I was able to get the table. Shortly thereafter, our server came and asked if she could interest us in today’s wine. Pity I’m not old enough to drink yet as I’m an avid believer of a good glass of wine with good food. That aside, we were able to put our order for drinks in rather quickly; My sister ordered the Strawberry Mango lemonada, as did our mother. My younger sister got chocolate milk and I, not feeling adventurous got an ice water, with lemon. Sounds boring, but there was nothing (besides a good glass of vino [that I couldn't have]) that appealed to me. The drinks arrived with haste and we were introduced to a new server as our server was probably leaving. Our server, a boy this time took our orders with ease and was understanding when I made a mistake about what I wanted thanks to my mother.
My Lunch
That aside, my mother and I split an antipasto (appetizer) of the spinach and artichoke dip with flat bread. My entree was the (new) four cheese pastachetti with grilled sausage. Instead of ordering their salad as I usually would this time I went with a bowl of their chicken and gnocchi soup. Our antipasto came and was displayed wonderfully. The dip was in a bowl and still bubbling, while the bread was artfully arranged around the bowl in a crescent shape. As far as taste goes, it was quite divine as always, however the bread could have been for a lack of better terminology, crustier, but that is what happens on a busy day, I suppose. The soup was a bit on the thin side, however it was still flavourful as always. A note about our server, he was very fun. Occasionally when you go out you get a server that’s uptight and… rude. He was none of that, he was very lighthearted and even had a great sense of humor. When the girls ordered a salad with their entrees we asked for it to be olive and onion free. When bringing it, he grinned and said “extra olives and onions, just kidding.” For that comment alone, he earned points in my book. The pastachetti was delightfully dished. Pastachetti, in case you’re curious is lasagna squares with four cheeses crusted with parmesan cheese and grilled sausage with a tomato and basil sauce on the side. The sausage was well done and had a kick to it but paired well with the lasagna squares. Simply put, I would definitely recommend getting this dish, it’s not heavy, nor is it light but it’s the perfect combination of the two and can easily be reheated without losing the taste. After finishing what I could without over eating (which is a hard feat to accomplish at the Olive Garden), we ordered dessert. My sisters didn’t want to get dessert as they, unlike myself had overeaten… or so it appeared until I made mention of Italian doughnuts with chocolate sauce. Not my favorite but it did catch my sister’s eye. I ordered the chocolate strata cake. It was very well presented, the black cake perfect against the white plate it was served on. As an added bonus, the chef must have been feeling creative because he drizzled chocolate and I’m thinking strawberry sauce in light patters around the cake. Being French, presentation means a lot to me, so after having studied it briefly before eating it, it was as good as I expected.
The Dessert
All in all, my experience at the Olive Garden was one to remember, the food was excellent and the service made me feel as though I was in my family’s house. I would strongly recommend going with some friends (or family) because as the old proverb goes: good food and good company makes for a great time.
Long time, no talk. Last time we spoke, I more or less bitched, whined and moaned about work… or something to those effects. I know, very unprofessional. And then, all of a sudden, poof! I was gone for almost two months without a single word, sorry about that. Work got very busy. Which was very… weird. We worked right up until this past Tuesday? I’m not complaining, work is work and I got plenty of OT. Also, as you can recall from my last blog posts, I don’t much care for some of the women I work with (and that’s putting it nicely), so April was a time of new hires and happiness. Or so I had hoped anyways. While some of the Newbies were awesome and appreciated the fact that I’m “young and personable unlike some people” there were those who, while yes I befriended them, tried to inadvertently get me fired. You should know, that young people come and go at my job. It’s not fun or easy sitting and typing all day. The supervisors prefer that we don’t talk and it’s the perfect environment to get crap done. Unfortunately, two of the newbies didn’t quite understand this. When I first met them, they were pretty awesome. It was a blessing to have people My age to work with, to have people who can see my prerogative. That didn’t last. They were disruptive and my supervisors hated it. I got yelled at a bunch because I was supposed to tell them to keep it down, yet that wasn’t in my job description because I’m just like them, I’ve only been there longer. So no, I wouldn’t tell them to hush up, I just wouldn’t partake in their disruptive conversations. Their conversations were… unprofessional, though. They spoke of sex, and drugs freely. Some of their comments were enough to get all three of us fired. But let me get something straight, their comments didn’t bother me and they didn’t bother any of the people in my row, thank goodness. However, they were loud enough so that even people up front could hear them and complain. Thankfully while I was getting lunch one day another coworker informed me of this. Obviously, I knew this wasn’t going to end well. I had a dilemma, friendship or work. I talked to everyone about it. The supervisor of whom I’m friends with in the department next door, my mom, that coworker who informed me of what she heard the two saying… all of them really helped in my decision. I decided to talk to my autre mama, the supervisor of whom the little old ladies thought played favourites with me. My autre mama had moved to second shift because during that part of the work season she is the second shift supervisor for my department. One day when I was getting some OT in, I went and found her before the shift started and we spoke. She told me to go and speak to my manager about it. Boy did the first shift supervisor get mad at me for that. And it wasn’t that I hadn’t spoken to the first shift supervisor, it was that I felt wrong bothering her. I don’t know what I was thinking but I plucked up the courage and spoke to my manager who was really awesome about it. And after the first shift supervisor caught wind about my having done this (coincidentally it was the same day that those two girls left together and never came back) she asked me why I did that because I did enjoy their company. And I stopped and thought for a moment before replying back (verbatim) “You know, they were like a poison… rather a weed. They were causing harm to my job and I wasn’t going to have that. I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am to have it ruined because I was spoiled with the company of people my age. Perhaps when mature people my age come to work here, I’ll be happy working here with them, but until that point I would rather suffer through having to work with people who are bitter because they keep me in line. Notice how I haven’t stepped a toe out of line since i’ve been here this time around. As much as I hate it sometimes, it’s a necessary evil.” She smiled at that, and later on, when I told my “other mom” she agreed and was proud of me… even though between us, she was the one who gave me the advice to go and see my manager. And as far as my quarrel with those demonic little old ladies goes? Though I may not have earned their respect, I don’t care to anymore. I’m trying to do what makes me happy and if not talking to them (yet not being rude about it) is what gets the job done, then that’s fine by me. I’m there to get my work done, it’s not about their opinions. If they want to talk crap still, more power to them. I have an agenda and there’s no room on it for their bullshit.
So working aside, yes I’ll spare you the anecdote about the guy I ran into while I was working OT, life outside of work (the very diminished social life) has been okay. That terrorist Bin Laden is finally dead, thank goodness. It’s amazing what you see on Facebook these days. There are presumably different camps of people about this. I saw a few snarky comments about how Americans can’t get anything done unless the PlayStation Network is down. That pisses me off. It’s like really? But I won’t continue with this thought, or anything else on politics because you don’t even want to hear my opinion of Donald Trump. Politics aside, and sorry for the digression, but my social life has been pretty sucky as of late. That’s what happens when you work, I guess. I think I posted as my Facebook status a few days ago when I was still putting in crazy OT hours, “Food. Sleep. Work. Rinse and repeat as necessary.” But I don’t mind, the month of April came and went with the blink of an eye.
Now that work is over, thankfully, I’m able to start doing things I would like to do. I recently started going to the gym because unfortunately and I hate to admit it, I put on weight. Every time I gripe about it, everyone always says that I look fine. Well they don’t feel my jeans (that once fit perfectly) like I do. So, having gained weight I picked up the gym membership that I was iffy about getting and I bought those gym clothes that I thought I would never wear if I did buy them before. In addition to these things, I’ve also started to utilize the fitness applications on my Android phone. They’re both very helpful when you actually bother to use them. I would know that because when I’m not working I’m usually a stickler about trying to eat healthy which, for some reason was the biggest pain in the ass to do after Christmas this year. Haha, but digression aside, I’m hoping to hit the gym again tonight so I can continue with my cardio. According to my fabulous boyfriend, my legs are already looking tighter…
… And on that awkward note, switching topics has never been so fun. Finally we get to the point of this post! Yesterday, I went out to eat with some awesome coworkers! Girl time has never rocked so much, I mean, it has, but not like yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy doing dinner with my GBFFL because he and I have some of the best conversations and I can tell him anything, but I needed a girls lunch. And a girls’ lunch I got. The girls and I went to TGIF and we had an awesome time. We talked, laughed and ate good food. Now excuse me while my inner foodie kicks in. So, the food was awesome. I ordered this funky thing where you get 3 courses for sixteen dollars or something like that. My appetizer was pot-stickers (yum), my entree was this Cajun shrimp and chicken Alfredo, and for dessert I did this Oreo ice cream thing.
Before I continue, I just thought I’d mention, when I’m not bitching about work, I’ve decided I’m going to make my blog into a food critic type deal. And by food critic, I mean I’m going to talk about everything. And it should be better than my critiques on movies/kid shows if you lot remember those.
So, TGIF has great service. The girls and I were promptly seated and served. Perhaps it was because we came at an odd time of day, around twelve-thirty closer to one o’clock ish. Our server was very nice, she gave us more than enough time and was personable enough. I don’t recall her touching her face at all in our presence (which as you know is a huge no-no and one of the first things you notice). The food was good, as I mentioned what I ordered, I might as well mention what the other two ordered because we all did split appetizers. Des got green bean fries and some sort of steak. Carley got spinach flatbread and the same entree. The presentation of the appetizers was well enough. The pot-stickers were nestled on a bed of garden greens, the green beans weren’t… arranged on the platter nor were they served over a bed of anything. And the flatbread was artfully cut into triangles yet assembled on the plate in in a rectangle as the plate was rectangular. As far as taste goes… the dumplings/pot-stickers were bland. Perhaps they would have been better with the soy sauce, but I’ve never been a fan of soy sauce and I definitely had better dumplings when I get them from a Chinese place. The green bean fries were very interesting. The outer texture of them were reminiscent of french fries but the bean on the inside were cooked to perfection and had a great taste. Imagine if you will, your mum’s green bean casserole with the french fried onions on top, it tasted rather like that with the dressing that came with them. The flat bread, too, was good. However… there was more cheese than there was spinach. As with every place that serves some sort of spread with cheese and spinach/artichoke dip, there are unique ways of doing it. It was reminiscent of a flatbread healthy pizza. TGIF demonstrated great customer service skills when our entrees came. While Carley and Des ordered steaks the server had them cut into them as to make sure they were cooked how they had requested. I’ve not seen that done except at a steakhouse so that was something noteworthy. I couldn’t tell you how their food tasted, but the Alfredo was brilliantly done. It could have been less… soupy, but that’s my only complaint and I do recommend it if you don’t want a regular old Mum’s recipe alfredo. The red peppers contributed well to the flavor of the sauce and it the noodles were perfectly done. One thing I did notice though, was that they could have put more shrimp in it. Perhaps when I try to recreate it, I’ll put more shrimp in mine, but continuing. The shrimp was cooked well, and I found no problems with it or the chicken. Another thing I noticed was how filling it was. The portions were bigger than I remembered from the last time I ate there (it’s been a handful of years). And alas, the dessert. Carley ordered vanilla bean cheesecake (I’m not a cheesecake person*) while Des and I both ordered the Ice Cream Oreo cookie. Presentation on the desserts were excellent, however the same despite the difference in the orders. What I mean to say is that Carley’s slice of cheesecake was displayed the same way the Ice Cream cookie was: the food item was on one end of the platter while there were drizzles of caramel and chocolate syrup zig-zagged down the platter to a plump strawberry. I do suppose it had a better presentation than the tiramisu cake that Larry and I split last weekend at Ruby Tuesdays (but there will be other times for a critique on RT), but it was still… unoriginal. However, unoriginality aside, my compliments go to the chef(s) who made our lunch because presentation aside (even though I am French therefore I eat with my eyes before my lips), the entrees were excellent
Not to get Poetic, Philosophical or even overly witty on you guys, but my life is a damn puzzle at the moment.
Pieces are strewn everywhere and right when I start to think that it’s actually going to be okay, that one puzzle will finally get finished, pieces go missing.
Simply put: Things are falling together as they fall apart.
College. Work. Life.
Getting to the point.
Work is going well, as you can imagine. I’m still the resident mischief-maker, but I’m happy and will do nothing serious enough to jeopardize my position. Well, not now anyways. Reason being is that a job has opened up with the bank and not the temp company. I’m out for this job like it is nobody’s business. I want this job to the extent that I’ve been working on my letter of intent and even though it has me absolutely tongue fucked and I can’t write the amount that I want to because I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO WRITE, I’m working at it. Normally my papers are long, the philosopher’s nightmare because they’re so damn fluffy. Yeah. No. Not this. I barely wrote 250+ words on it. I want to say to hell with it so bad, but I also want to be under Team Leader’s management and not Management Management. I have plenty of reason’s why, but I’ll avoid saying why while I work for this job. I mean, the job description is beautiful. It’s still seasonal. 40 hours a week, same pay… and I belong to Bank of America. Which the perks of that are going to the company picnic and their pow wows and all that snazzy awesome jazz. As young as my am, getting a foot in like this is something I want. I can go places, right?
College now has come up. I’m going to LCI… or I will be starting on May 2nd. LCI stands for Lincoln Culinary Institute. Yesterday I took a tour around the campus and visited the kitchens. Oh the kitchens were beautiful. Am I even supposed to be thrilled about how their kitchens look? I met with some of the chefs who are the instructors and listened to a short version of what goes on in my last few weeks of class there when I get that point. When we finally get to the Bistro, Chef Matt told me how week one is hell week. They rip you apart and bombard you. Something that I faced my junior in school with my horrible English teacher. But I have a feeling that because I’m 100% passionate about cooking, it should be okay. And then weeks 2-5 we switch on and off. We learn how to become servers and chefs. It becomes OUR bistro. I’m genuinely thrilled. He mentioned externships… if I start in May like I want to, my externship will start February 2013. Exciting.
So what’s the bothersome part? Oh yeah. Classes go from 10 am through 2 pm. My work schedule goes from 8 am to 4 pm. Conflict of interest, I think yes. I want to have my red velvet cake and you bet your ass I want to eat it too. Question is, is it doable? In theory, it’s a pinch but yes. In reality, probably not. The alternate theory is to take classes from 7-10pm three nights a week. It takes longer to graduate, but if I take that job at BoA… excuse me, if I get the job with BoA they could possibly want me to work split shifts (9-1, 3-8, etc). Truth be told, for the longest fucking time my boyfriend has been telling me that this isn’t doable. That no, I can’t go to school and work full-time like I want. That school is the top priority because the longer I stay away, the less likely I want to go back. To hell with my boyfriend and his dad for once. I’m going to make this work so they can watch me be successful. And so help me, if they don’t like it? That’s not my problem at all. No sir. I’m going to do this. I don’t know how, but I’m going to keep my job, even if it means going back to nights or working days and nights.
And this? All of this was on my mind last night before bed. It’s 6:30 am. I should be getting ready for work, but my own thoughts have been driving me mad. And can’t you see why? I aspire to do these things, to go far in life. And every puzzle that comes together shreds another apart. It’s like each puzzle in my life shares pieces. I don’t like it. At all.
I seemingly have no work gossip to blog about today.
Today was a bad day in general though. I started the day burning my fingertips on the hair straightener and then couldn’t get my hair to cooperate; found out there has been some bad gossip going around about me at work (nothing concerning my.. er.. none work life); and then of course there was the error that I contributed, but eh, that’s nothing too scary. Although, now that I think on it, I did notice that one of the IT guys needs to learn how to dress. And develop some social skills, but then again, the latter I already knew. Hah.
Moving on, so I figure I don’t ever talk too much about myself aside from my thoughts and cooking so, I figured I’d write ten lil facts about myself, and maybe post a picture, or two.
1. I’ve been to Paris.
Walking towards the Eiffel, my first morning in Paris
It was probably the best 9 days of my life. There was so much culture involved (except for drinking, I was a good kid). One night we baked a whole meal among the three groups that was with our tour guide. If I recall correctly it was seafood soup, roast hen in a bag with different vegetables, and pan perdu (french toast). It was the best thing I’d ever eaten. I was part of the group that made the desert of French toast and flambeed pineapple. Another night, there were extravagant dancing lessons. We danced until late into the night, getting home just before curfew. Among one of the day trips was a trip to a good amount of Chateaus and Montmartre. Funny thing about that day– we visited a few houses (my favourite being Versailles) and then we passed through the red light district in down town Paris on the way to Montmartre. Montmartre was nice, I got lost, but nonetheless had a fun time because I ended up painting and having a portrait drawn of me. Long story short, I miss the place, and I really want to find my way back there some day.
2. I was probably a baker in the past life. I like to cook, a lot. Anything from cupcakes to chicken I bake it. It’s like the kitchen is my home away from home… just not in that misogynistic way that men seem to think. It’s funny that I mention my love of cooking and men in the same thing. A quick anecdote, if I may. It was last peak when my supervisor and I were having breakfast in the cafeteria together. He’s a sweet guy, he could be my grandfather but he is lively and I swear reminds me of some of the younger men I know. But anyways, we were doing breakfast and he asked me what I was doing with my life, if I had anything I wanted to do for college, why I wasn’t in college, etc. I simply replied back, a small smile on my face (you learn to smile after a bit telling people who you know what you want to do with life) “I want to go to Culinary school. I cook, you see.” And he studied me for a minute, as he usually will, before saying, a smile touching his own lips “Ah. That way they can say ‘damn she’s got all that and she can cook’.” It made me smile, what he said.
3. Speaking of smiling, I love to smile… and stick my tongue out. Yes, both are highly unprofessional, believe me, I know. But there is hardly a time when I’m not smiling. And usually something is horribly wrong. Same goes with sticking my strawberry tongue out. It’s a pastime at work these days to playfully stick my tongue out at whoever… except for bosses and frumpy old ladies. A guy (as I look over my shoulder to make sure my boyfriend is nowhere near me because I’m sure he would have a cow if he read what I’m about to write) and I have made it a pastime to make it like a… I dunno, thing to do. He’ll surprise stick his tongue out at me and i’ll get him back hopefully before he leaves. It’s something to pass the time.
4. In addition to Starbucks I’m thinking about giving up any sorts of fast food/takeout for lent in penance of my diet. It probably won’t last, as I love to do takeout when I’m working, but I like the idea of a challenge. It should be interesting to see how that ends up. But it’s doing well so far, I think because when mom was bringing home fast food for everyone else, karma seemed to kick in and she couldn’t get ahold of me to see what I wanted (and I would have gotten a salad otherwise but they had run out. Who the fuck, pardon my language, runs out of salads?).
5. I absolutely hate basketball and hockey. Really, I do. And there’s a good reason why: my bruised boobs. Yeah. My boyfriend and I were spending time together and out of nowhere he grabbed my nipple and twisted, it’s a guy thing to do I guess, my cousins do it to each other all the time, and told me to name 5 basketball players KNOWING FULL WELL THAT I DON’T WATCH BASKETBALL, that bastard. He did the same with hockey a while back. And truth be told, I haven’t cared to learn since then as a fuck you to him, I do however rather enjoy Football and Baseball. Unfortunately, my teams are interesting. I like The Patriots and the Yankees. Which is funny because normally if you’re into sports you’ll tend to dig the same teams. For instance. If you’re into all sports around here you like the following teams: Boston Red Sox, The Patriots, The Bruins and the Celtics (Baseball, Football, Hockey and Basketball). Me personally, if I really had to choose my teams for Basketball and Hockey it would be The Celtics & Bruins. Which really fucks everyone up when they ask me my baseball team because I’m a diehard Yankee fan.
6. I have an obscene obsession with Hello Kitty & Cupcakes. I don’t know when it started, but it’s awesome. 
7. My 18th Birthday SUCKED. I don’t know what went wrong, but it was probably the worst day in the 18 years that I’ve been doing my thing. It was, in my opinion, horribly anticlimactic and a lot of things really let me down. I think it may have been partially due to the fact it was during Finals week (I had my English and French Midterm that day) and because my boyfriend and I were fighting. But who knows, let’s not have a repeat of that this year, hopefully.
8. I like to take pictures. There are currently over 600 images on my camera. I take them and before I had the laptop, didn’t have a chance to do anything with half of them. Now a good portion of this past summer and my adventures to Mohegan are on Facebook. Yes, I realise that I’m 18, but who says that you can’t go to the mall (which is horribly expensive) there while your mom plays the slots with Grammy? Which is exactly what happened. My sister and I met up with her best friend and we had a good time. I digress – there is still a whole Album on France that needs to be published too. I’ll probably get to that this weekend, if I’m lucky.
9. I love to try different places while I’m out. Even though I shop at the same stores for my clothing, my taste buds need change every so often. So if I know I’m going out, I want to try different places rather than hit up the same place repeatedly. I don’t mind going the extra mile for such places, either. For instance, it’s always tradition on either Mom’s or Sara’s birthday we go to Olive Garden. So rather than order what I always do, I try new things. I’m rather a fan of their braised beef and mushrooms, sans mushrooms and a bowl of Chicken and Gnocchi soup. Or if I’m going to Azteca’s, even though I love their chimichungas, I’d rather try new things. Simply put: I enjoy and encourage change.
10. Behind all the wiseassery, I’m a soft sensitive girl who’s been hurt a few times but knows how to rebound and get past it all. I have a handful of friends who I can say will be there 100% for me. Not all of them are my age group (as it’s hard to find a teenager who will always have your back, bitches these days)But I’m happy with my lot in life so far, and when times get hard, I keep my chin up. I hate to see the haters win.
It was a long day at work today. The hours were filled with bickering amongst the demonic little old lady and myself. But, I won’t get too much into how much I hate her, because although it’s a lot, I really can’t spend all of my blog posts bitching moaning and griping about her, especially because it’s lent. Happy Lent everyone, let the 40 days and nights of giving up things that mean most to us begin. And you’re probably curious what I, an agnostic/atheistic teenager is doing celebrating lent. Well, I figure it’ll make me a better person, not because I’m religious, but because these days I’m trying to become a better person after realizing how awful I am/can be. So for Lent this year I’m thinking about doing a few things. I want to give stuff up and do things too.
The Idea
So below is a list of things that I’ve been musing over, as far as lent goes (believe me, I muse over a lot more than lent so there will be my ever famous musings in a moment.
So that aside, I’ve been doing a bunch of thinking. Seriously. Work gets very monotonous, as always, a view into my thoughts:
…That New Guard keeps checking me out, I’ll have to revisit my People blog post and add him in somewhere. Maybe we can call him McLovin… on account that he is sort of dreamy in a way…
…So he won’t eat my cupcakes but he’ll get takeout from Giovanny’s. I see how it is, fucker….
…Lent this year, maybe it can provide the stepping-stones to being a better person, sans religion…
… Pork Chops tonight? Making Pork chops for that guy tonight. Do I really want to do that? Why did I offer to cook for him? He is cute, but do I really feel like running to the store?…
…And what will I make with these pork chops? You can’t just have pork chops by themselves. Maybe potatoes. Potatoes are nice. And so is yellow rice like the in-laws* make it. But this does require me to think about how I’ll cook them. If I use that garlic crusted pan frying recipe the garlic may over power the rice… so I’d have to do it with potatoes. But what kind of potatoes? Roasted? Fried? Mashed? And if I were to stop and get plain old shake n bake… then it would be okay with rice. Does he even like rice? What the hell was I thinking? …
… “Strawberry Shortcake but Evil” So… does this make me ‘Devil’s Food’ cake then? I’ll have to ask him about that…
…Wait. If he’s calling me “Strawberry Shortcake but Evil” does that mean I’m cute? Is Strawberry shortcake cute?…
…He stuck his tongue out at me again. There are only so many ways to do so and I’m running out of ways to reply, bugger…
…Tuna and berries for lunch, what the HELL was I thinking?…
…Steak and cheese sounds really good about now…
…Why is everyone so serious here? They need to all lighten up…
…Dear ::Smartypants:: Shut Up. Sincerely, the girl across from you whose nerves you get on…
…Who gives their kids the initials ”BJ” That’s honestly asking for trouble…
…Yet it’s hilarious. And this is why the Supervisor next door and myself get on so great: We’re both gutterminds with a bit too many hormones running around. HAH…
…How about Chicken and Rice? I wonder if he’ll eat that. Maybe? I bet he would. But I did promise him Pork Chops… Dio Mio…
So by the way, Strawberry shortcake’s hat looks NOTHING like mine. 
Her Hat is Pink, Poofy and looks like a Strawberry (oh the irony) Whereas my hat… 
… My hat has is gray with the Fleur de Lis all over it, and apparently its old school. I wouldn’t know, I’m not old.
Maybe it was the outfit I was wearing that prompted the guy to say it? I had on a black top and my jeans with the hat. Although, he did say that when I cocked a brow. Instead of having the pinks and what have you, my outfit is all blacks and grays, and you can’t forget the studded bracelet. So maybe he was on to something… hm.
My musing’s aside, I must finally get to the market, I have cooking to do. What was I thinking?
XxX Trouble Out
You know…
… Having a mobile way to blog has definitely been great for this blog. Thankfully now I’ll be able to blog more often with the laptop I have due to graduation and the recently acquired wifi. Although… I’m over my boyfriend’s place with my laptop this time. Hah, speaking of my boo, he’s hanging out with his brothher and leaving me to be blogtastic. Bless his soul… if you’re into that. If not… well more power to you.
Work has been great… if you read my post about stepping on toes then you’ll be able to catch on quick with some work gossip. Actually… I do owe Beej credit for this awesome idea to cast people with nicknames and such. So thank you Beej, you’ve made my life easier and your blog is freaking awesome. So that aside, people at work..
… As of late, I’ve been picking fights with ::Smarty Pants:: but you REALLY can’t blame me. Really, you can’t. This little old lady brings it on herself. While we’re working she’ll interject her opinions and such onto us in such a wisdom filled manner that you almost can’t help but to hate her. Why? Because even if we’re not asking ::Mother Theresa:: for help, she’s butting in. It’s… irksome. Well, i took a leaf from her book and when she was ever so eloquently griping about how cold it was, I butted in. And I not-so-eloquently chimed in: “Go next door then, it’s always warmer there.” She shut up for a bit and then not too long after, she was back at it AGAIN. This time, she had messed me up in something that I had been working on and… being the “young ignorant” teenager that I am, snapped. It wasn’t pleasant, simply put, I called her “Old and Set in [her] ways.” I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to jump up and run for my life like that afternoon. I’ve also never seen so many little old ladies gasp in unison. Oops
Making little old ladies angry aside, work is going quite well. Managed to pull in about thirty hours this week and (thankfully my boyfriend doesn’t read this, else he’d have a fit) got hit on a bunch by some guys. Truth be told– I don’t mind because, if I’ve nigh mentioned it before, I’ll mention it now, I’m a flirty little sprite myself. I like to have fun, there’s nothing wrong with looking and laughing so long as you never touch… or so my philosophy goes anyway. If it wasn’t for the aforementioned guys at work, I doubt I’d have nearly the fun. Which.. fun is good. Until you get written up (what are we, back in high school again?!) for slinging a rubberband across the room (which was okay up until as of late) (then again, a lot of things were good until late, damn corporate!).
But I must go now, as the tall handsome hunk that is my boyfriend beckons. I bid thee all good night and hopefully you’ll have fun, but do stay out of trouble as I cause enough for all of us 
… continuing where we left off:
The Class Clown: This joker could have been the class clown at his school, he’s so funny. He causes mischief and waits for someone to call him out for his behaviour. The scary thing is? He’s a supervisor.
Cinderella’s Fairy God Mum: For someone who is in charge of a lot, this woman can make a lot of miracles happen. She has a splendid sense of humor and will gladly help You out.
The Bachelor: He’s single but he’s too focused on work to really probably have a girlfriend. He’s definitely got a sense of humor. His downfall? He can be a bit narcissistic at times. If you can live with that, he’s yours for the charming.
Rasta Woman: She is “Frank’s” female counter part, meaning she works with me in my department. She’s funny and witty, but also loves Bob Marley. In her brightly Rasta coloured shirts, You can’t miss her.
That IT Guy: He’s definitely one of a kind. The love child of “Frank” and “Rasta Woman” he’s a cynic who didn’t get the wits from his “mother”. He works in IT, thus allowing him to think he’s just ohsomuch more superior to people not in IT. The actual reality of it is, though? He needs a haircut badly as his pony tail is graying and he drives a girly car. I almost feel bad for him, or I would if he wasn’t so condescending.
That Girl: She’s the one who starts wars. Trendy, but is prone to bad hair days. She has quite the temper and isn’t afraid to tell You how she feels.
