May 4th marked my one year anniversary with Georgia. A lot has happened in that year, but I can safely say that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
The Big Bang!
5 JulIf you follow me on any other social network, you probably already know that I suffered a nasty concussion on Sunday. However, I’ve yet to go into true detail about what happened and all of the confusion around it.
My boyfriend, Rene, lives in NY, but when he was last in town I was able to meet his family who I now love as if they were my own. So even though he’s far away, last Sunday I went out to Elliot Key with his family on their boat. We had a really great time and even made plans to return on the 4th of July since everyone was going to be off of work, but everything changed on the way back to the Marina.
I was standing up on the way back, holding on to a metal pole, chatting with Aunt Betty. The ocean was very calm and flat that day so the ride wasn’t rough at all, but thanks to a fellow boater, we got hit with a wake and then suddenly, BANG! I don’t recall the actual impact or the pain right after, but I do remember Betty holding up one of the legs to my sunglasses, which had shattered right off of my face and everyone telling me I had to go sit down while I kept saying that I was fine.
The next thing I remember is Lauren, Rene’s sister, pulling up to my driveway in my car, dropping me off at home. I remember getting out of the car and waving bye to her and the family in their truck. Then the next thing I recall is giving my uncle the keys to my car so he could repark it, him asking me if I was “Drunkiepooh” and me saying yes.
Next thing you know it’s Midnight and I wake up in my bed with a massive migraine, wrapped in a towel, with another towel on my head, thinking “WTF??”
I woke up the next morning, after 15 hours of sleep, thinking I had blacked out from alcohol, even though I only remembered drinking 3 beers, which is child’s play to me. I got ready and went to work, driving really afraid and with a hazy mind and vision that was a bit off. I felt like crap and I didn’t know why. I called my mom and had difficulty expressing myself, like I had a delay in my speech. I wrote an email to Rene’s mom apologizing for having been trashed and if I misbehaved in any way, but she responded almost confused with why I had sent that. She said I had barely drank at all and that I was far from drunk. That I was totally ok, but she had Lauren drive my car for me because of my hit to the head; And that’s when it all made sense.
I called my doctor’s office and they had told me to get there as fast as I could so my mom left work at took me there. I had no idea how bad this all was until I was at the doctor’s office and the Nurse ran out to get the Doc mid-story in a bit of a panic. He explained to us how my “drunken” behavior was a neurological reaction to the impact and suggested I go to the ER to get a CT Scan due to fear that I could have some swelling or bleeding in the brain.
Thank goodness there was none of that and I was able to go home, but not without being prescribed some major pain killers and with orders to rest and not even attempt driving until Saturday. I just feel extremely lucky that I made it through everything without any major damage. Many people have died from these kinds of incidents so for that I’m grateful. Now I just need to make sure to be extra careful whenever I go on the boat again and stay far away from metal poles! No more concussions for me!
Recipe: Bacon, Mushroom and Chicken Pasta Alfredo with Garlic Bread Crumbs & Italian Margaritas
23 JanToday I was eager to cook something simple yet full of flavor. I decided to go the Italian route by choosing pasta Alfredo and garlic bread. I honestly could have made it easy on myself by tackling the Alfredo Sandra Lee-style (Semi Home Made) with a pre-made sauce, but wanted to challenge myself by making it from scratch for the first time. I’ve also been watching a lot of Chopped and was inspired to use some left over hot dog buns I had in my fridge for the garlic bread instead of using more obvious choices. I had to take the garlic bread idea one step further though. I wanted to process the bread into crispy and flavorful crumbs. And of course, as a Bartender, I wanted to marry this meal with the perfect cocktail.
Now, after having made dinner, sitting down and reflecting on it, I really wish there was hidden cameras in my kitchen. I was running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off. I burned my garlic bread crumbs so I had to create a new batch of garlic spread and start all over again in a mad dash.
Well, I’ll stop babbling now and get to the good stuff. Below you will find photos of the finished products and the recipes (all modified by me to my liking). The photo of the meal was indeed taken by me, but the Italian Margarita photo is not mine. I was not able to rim the glass with sugar due to lack of counter space and the bread emergency and I forgot to buy an orange to garnish it, but the Margarita photo below is what it would have looked like had I done it right.
BACON & MUSHROOM ALFREDO SAUCE
1 Pint Half & Half
3 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Flour
3 Garlic Cloves, Minced
1 Shallot, Minced
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated
1/4 Cup Parsley Chopped
1/2 Pound Bacon, Cooked and Chopped
1/3 Cup Baby Bella Mushrooms, Chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil (maybe a little more)
Salt and Pepper to taste
In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add 2 minced garlic cloves and stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in flour until well-blended. Add half and half.
Stir sauce over medium-low heat. Do not allow sauce to boil or stick to bottom of pan. Reduce heat if necessary. Allow sauce to thicken (about 20 minutes), stirring frequently.
In a separate saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sautee mushrooms, shallot and remaining garlic until translucent and tender. Do not brown.
When sauce is near desired consistency, add Parmesan cheese. Stir to melt cheese for 2 minutes. Toss in most of the bacon and parsley (leave some to top your dish), salt and pepper to taste and mushrooms. Stir for another 1-2 minutes. Remove sauce from heat.
GARLIC BREAD CRUMBS
1/2 Cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, Softened
2 Large Cloves of Garlic, Smashed and Minced
1 Heaping Tablespoon of Freshly Chopped Parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
Splash of Olive Oil
Bread of Choice
Simply mix all ingredients together. Ideally make this early on and refrigerate so that the flavors develop and really penetrate the butter. Soften again before applying to bread.
To create the bread crumbs, use any bread of your choice, and make sure it’s sliced fairly thin. Cover bread in garlic spread place on baking pan and broil. All breads will vary in time so just keep your eye on it. As soon as it looks toasted, pull out of the oven. Chop the bread into smaller pieces and grind up in a food processor until chunks have become crumbs.
Place crumbs back on baking pan and put back into the oven. This shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes. Be careful not to burn.
FINISHING TOUCHES
The chicken was seasoned with salt and pepper and sauteed over medium heat in olive oil with fresh garlic and shallots.
I chose to marry the chicken, sauce and pasta together before plating. Once plated I topped it with the bread crumbs, remaining bacon and a little bit more of chopped parsley for an extra burst of color.
ITALIAN MARGARITA
1 oz Amaretto (Almond Lequeur)
2 oz Sweet and Sour Mix
1/2 oz Tequila of choice
1/2 oz Tripel Sec
Sugar for Glass
Garnish with an Orange Slice
Top glass with ice, poor in ingredients, shake and serve. If you want to get fancy, rim the glass with sugar and garnish with an orange slice.
If you’ve never rimmed a glass before, the easiest way is to get a slice or lemon or lime and squeeze it around the rim of the glass. Then tip glass into a small plate with sugar. Pat the rim around on the side to make sure the sugar sticks all around the border..
So now that we’re all done, I just have to say that dinner came out sooooo incredibly delicious and I’m quite proud of myself. And though I think these recipes are perfect as is, I’d like to know if any of you would do this a little differently? Are any of you inspired to give this a shot for yourself?? Comment to let me know and come back and comment again with pictures if you do!
-Emily Sixx
And the Twilight fans are barking…
13 DecMy intern, Marjorie, is the drummer in a band called Brand Name Punk. A little over a week ago she posted up their latest music video on YouTube and started sharing it with the world on Facebook. Of course, like any other unsigned band, their goal was to somehow go viral and get as much attention as possible. Well, let me tell you, I think they nailed it!
The song is titled “Hopes and Dreams” and it’s about a guy who is so obsessed with Kristen Stewart he manages to kidnap her and in his own little fantasy world believe she’s in love with him too. In the video they act this all out with a life size cardboard cutout of said actress. The band member with the obsession ends up spending way too much time with her and his bandmates decide it’s time for the affair to end. They kidnap “Kristen” again and destroy the cutout for the sake of the band’s survival. It’s silly. It’s cute. It’s HARMLESS!!!!
Well, I’ve seen their total view count go from 300 to over 18,000 in three days and let me tell you that it’s causing quite a stir from Kristen Stewart fans! Most seem to be taking this video quite seriously and believe they actually want to kill the girl! The nasty comments are numerous! Here are a few:
“It’s amazing what people do to get views and publicity. This disgusting thing should get banned and censored. Trying to steal fame out of our Kristen, and hurting her image in that form… so shameless, so repulsive.”
“Everyone who is a true fan of Kristen would NOT think this was funny. It doesn’t matter what they were actually trying to say with this video, they fucking BURNED a cardboard cutout of her. This is like porn for her haters. And if you think you’re a Rob fan and like this video, think again, because he’d lose his shit if he ever saw his girlfriend being disrespected this way. Fucking insensitive assholes. I’m flagging the shit out of this until it’s taken down.”
“horrible. way to promote killing an actress who already has too big a share of haters just itching at the bit for some inspiration to take it further than expressing their 1st amendment rights. fuck you!”
Bottom line, it probably IS illegal to use her image in the video without her consent. I honestly can’t say for sure, because I don’t know those laws, but come on! Seriously people?!?! These Twilight fans are way too much. You should see some of the comments that were left in Spanish!
Take a look at the video for yourself and let me know what you think!