Chicken and Cookies Challenge - Week 8

Mr. Wonderful supplied the chicken this week... Chicken quesadillas from Qudoba... he just loves that place so much... then there was chicken nuggets on Saturday and chicken curry on Sunday.

We didn't do much cooking this week as we were celebrating our monthly anniversary and V-day...


The cookies were my V-day present to my Mr. Wonderful... Dunkin Donut's chocolate munchkins (a favorite of his).


~Emme

Chicken and Cookies Challenge - Week 7

This week I went over to Mr. Wonderful's as we were going out to a play and visiting Nauticus and the USS Wisconsin.

 Mr. Wonderful treated me to chicken burritos from Qudoba and I supplied Shortbread cookies I saw on Secret Agent Josaphine's blog... of course the recipe was in grams... and I had to do some calculations:

I rounded my measurement conversions to make it easier on myself, it worked fine for me... if you don't trust me go ahead and redo them for yourself.

25.25 Tablespoons All Purpose flour
1.25 Tablespoons Cornstarch
21 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
11.25 Tablespoons Confectioner's Sugar
1 vanilla bean (I used 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

Now I did not have all sorts of cookie cutters or icing tips so I just made some round with chocolate drops and one big round one. It works out for us....

~Emme

Chicken and Cookies Challenge - Week 3

This week was an easy week for me (challenge wise). While going through my Google Reader's backlog of goodies I found out about this great website called No Take Out. Of course I jumped right in and I found Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Chicken. Which is supposed to look like this:










 

Of course if you know me I will look at the ingredient list... ignore the things that I know my family will not be too keen on and switch things around to make them more... Emme... dangerous, probably wrong, but super fun in the long run. Also there were 8 people to feed not 4... so this needed some work for us.

Feel free to follow Jamie Oliver's Recipe... it looks pretty good. Of course you could always go for my rendition:

(Mind you... I have no food photographers and used the Droid's camera.)

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs bag of red skinned potatoes (Sam's Club buy)
• 1 bag carrots (or you can realize when it is too late to run to the store that you only have half of a bag and then substitute the missing half with half a bag of baby carrots...)
• 4 onions
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 bunch mint
• Rosemary, thyme, sage (from spice cabinet)
• 2 lemons
• 2 (4 1/2-5 lb) chickens
• Black pepper and salt (from spice cabinet)
• EVOO
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic from fridge
• I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (spread)

Preparation

1. Realize you have no idea how to roast chicken.
2. Tell everyone you are making roasted chicken so that you don't bail out.
3. Find the largest roasting pan you can... you're going to need it.
4. Preheat the oven to 475F.
5. Convince dog the meal is not for them.
6. Wish you had bought some wine.
7. Fill a large pot 2/3 full with water, add salt and put it over a high heat.
8. Scrub and carrots, celery, and onions (well... just peel the onions).
   
9. Chop vegetables and throw them into the big roasting pan. It's not rocket science just throw them in. Save the greens of the celery for step #12.
   
10. Sprinkle garlic on top.
11.  Have Agent Papa clean the chicken (you're still peeling and chopping). Save the necks and livers and shove them back into the chickens after removing the plastic bags food lion put them into. 
12. Shove in the greens part of the celery you saved.
13. Stab the lemons all over with a fork or a knife and shove them in to plug the holes.
14. Drizzle veggies with EVOO.
15. Place chicken on top of veggies.
16. Drizzle with some more EVOO.
17. Realize you did not put the spices into the chicken... *whoops*
18. Sprinkle sage, rosemary, and thyme on top of chicken.
19. Wonder what you're supposed to do with the mint and why you have a pot of boiling water...
20. Place some mint springs on top of the chicken... make sure everyone notices how you used the mint.
21. Have Mr. Wonderful put the roasting pan into the oven... it's dangerous and heavy... 
22. Take care of burns.
23. Turn heat of oven down to 400F immediately after putting it in because Jamie Oliver said to.
24. He says it's going to be 1 hour and 20 minutes... get ready for at least 4 hours.
25. Realize the water is for the potatoes... turn off the heat.
26. Clean potatoes and cut into small chunks for quicker cooking... you have the time... but... meh... place the potatoes off to the side in a bowl of cold water.
27. Remember you have a huge bunch of mint and no wine... make mint tea.
28. About 2 hours in check the chicken. Notice how it is still not done but the veggies are starting to stick to the bottom... picky eaters don't like burned in this house so I threw in a can of chicken stock. Put chicken back in oven.
29. Set table.
30. Boil the potatoes, drain when tender and place butter on top followed by pepper and salt.
31. Realize the mint was supposed to go on the potatoes.
32. Try to figure out why you would want mint on potatoes.
33. Take chicken out and check to see if it is done. If it is... it might just fall off of the bones (see picture):
34. Make a simple pan gravy with drippings, flour and water. Blend with the immersion blender. Add the livers if you would like to the gravy for some extra flavor and vitamins.

The cookies are from one of my favorite blogs: Cupcake Rehab


BISCOTTI DI NATALE AL CIOCCOLATO (Chocolate biscotti)

Feel free to go check out her website for the instructions. I followed them about perfectly... but I did double the recipe and add 1 1/2 cups of crushed almonds (omega 3's).

They came out wonderful... but they needed a little something something to make them Mr. Wonderful approved:

Mr. Wonderful loves chocolate pudding and he loves cookies. His favorite kind of cookies are the kinds that can be made into bunnies... Here is Cupcake Rehab's Biscotti as a bunny!

~Emme

Chicken and Cookies Challenge

Last week Mr. Wonderful and I took a wonderful journey in slightly-above to slightly below freezing temperatures to Northern Virginia (NOVA) to house sit and tour DC. On Tuesday, December 8, we toured the American History Museum to visit Julia Child's kitchen. Okay... so we were there because we LOVE museums, tours, history... and I have a secret obsession (okay... not so secret) with cooks and crafters I remember seeing on television when I was growing up. Julia Child, Carol Duval, and Martha Stewart... gave me the inspiration and training to do so many wonderful creative things that my family simply lacked the know-how and will power to do. After visiting her kitchen I amazingly talked Bee into renting Julie Julia from a RedBox and Mr. Wonderful into watching it with me! Then he had a challenge for me...

You see, Mr. Wonderful and I have a Friday tradition that started our first Friday night together over two years ago: Chicken and Cookies. Now the chicken could be substitute for chicken. Cookies could be brownies, cakes, or bars. Friday night could fall on a Saturday or Sunday if we were traveling and there was no way we had access to either chicken or cookies. I can only recall a few times when we were traveling overseas and when he was off on a boys weekend.

Now we have a few go-to recipes that we enjoy to no end, but we're ready to try something new. So here is the challenge: 101 different ways to cook chicken and cookies. I am not bound to any book, any genre, any chef. 202 recipes total... 2 new recipes each week... not repeating.

Week One

Chicken:
Crock-pot Taco Chicken
(Given to me by the receptionist at the agency)

4 chicken breasts
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
*Note: I substituted for low sodium and low fat options for all ingredients where possible

Her Instructions:
Place all ingredients except for sour cream in crock-pot for 6-8 hours and then add sour cream. Serve over tacos, straight up, or on nachos.

What happened:
Place chicken (still frozen because it refused to thaw), salsa, taco seasoning, and soup into crock-pot. (Throw in can of chicken stock because it looks like there is not enough liquid and that makes you nervous...) Cook on low all night (the chicken was frozen remember... and slightly freezer burned). Be amazed the chicken smells good in the morning... though disappointed it looks terrible. Stir, turn on high and go shopping for the next 6 hours. Return home and remove incredible smelling chicken from salsa/soup mixture. Be shocked when the previously frozen, freezer burned chicken flakes apart and is super moist and fabulous looking. Shred chicken and place it back into the crock-pot. Wait until Mr. Wonderful calls and says he is close by (long commute) and add sour cream. Die over how incredible it tastes. Revive yourself and serve family of 8 (4 choose beef option instead) with tacos topped with delicious chicken stuff. Wonder what to call the chicken stuff and how to use leftovers...

Leftover options:

• More tacos
• Nachos
• Straight up
• Sandwiches.... Mr. Wonderful said it is a great faux BBQ and we are all excited to try it.

 Cookies:
Alton Brown's Sugar Cookies (From Food Network website)

I have never made sugar cookies (that I can remember at least) as I cannot really tolerate sugar and they seemed so boring I never really put up the effort. A cookie when removing them from the oven so I tried a bite... meh... I wasn't too impressed. They needed something in the line of flavor... other than: "There's butter, sugar, and flour in me..." and I added some vanilla to it as well...

My grammie said they were bland, though everyone else seemed to enjoy them. After our chicken dinner Papa, Mr. Wonderful and I decorated the cookies here is Mr. Wonderful's present to The Bloggess for sending him a holiday card:

Till next time,
Emme

No Spending "month"

It supposedly takes 40 days to form a new habit. Can 40 days really erase something I have been conditioned for over 8700 days? I was intrigued last year while reading Shopaholly's story of a year long freeze on spending.
A whole year would be a little much for this secret agent.

As I sit at Aroma's and enjoy my last few moments of needless spending (side salad and a Cafe Breve), here goes the rules (my rules, as in using someone else's will never work).

1. No needless spending... (sad for the expensive coffee habit)
2. Write down and hold off all crafting/clothing purchases. All purchases still deemed "necessity" can be purchased the after November 23.
3. Can still buy groceries (girl has to eat... you know); however, no more than $30 a week and any more than $30 is not rolled over, but put towards loan and credit card bill. This includes my wine for wine reviews (yikes!).
4. I still have to pay my bills (it sucks... I know) as no one pays them for me.
5. Expenses for shipping (cards, swaps I am already registered for, birthday presents, sales) is alright as they are prior commitments.
6. No more than $10 a week shop expense (not including Etsy's commission... I really have no control over the sale of my items). This does not include supplies for new projects, I have enough in the works to not purchase new for 40 days.
7. Sorry Mom and Grandpa Wonderful... your birthdays fall into the no-spend zone... you'll have to enjoy some handmade gifts this year... but just think about it. People pay for my crafts as it is... you should be happy with them. :)
8. I must blog about it. A girl needs accountability of some sort. The possiblity of billions of people knowing I slipped is a pretty big accountability.

~Emme~

Wine Thursday - Middle Sister - Rebel Red

As I was walking around Target looking for get well goodies for Grandpa Wonderful (he's been a bit under the weather lately), I walked down the wine asile. I LOVE the wine asile at Target. They have some of the silliest labels that I've ever heard of. Then I saw the Middle Sister labels and they all made me giggle. So I chose Middle Sister Rebel Red... mostly because I'm rebellious... HA! not really... secret agents can't really do that. It is a red table wine. And as such is a mixture of all things good. According to the website:

"38% Zinfandel, 34% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah, 2% mixed red varietals.
100% California grapes with 42% from the Lodi appellation."

For those of you like me... that means... hmmm... let's go for some taste description then:

"...a huge mouthful of ripe summer berries. The fruit goes on and on, ending in a luxurious finish."


But really... it reminds me of one of the best berry pies that I have ever had the pleasure to eat. Not bad for under $10. This... I will definitly have to find a reason to buy for Bee. I believe that as a sister in the middle she would definitly enjoy it!

~Emme

New Haircut

Now that my hair is lighter... it is a bit curly. Thank goodness I spent way too much money getting a perm back in April... wow... there it is... at least not looking like the evil Victoria in Twillight!

~Emme

Wine Tuesday: Moscato D'Asti

Moscato D'Asti is a DOCG wine from Beviamo in Italy. I have been having a hard time finding their website so I give up... or maybe I give up since I'm on the second glass. Though you know which one I'm talking about... the beautiful, odd-shaped blue bottle from Sam's Club.

I am not sure why but this was the hardest wine I've ever tried to open. The cork split in half. In half! So I popped in a decorative stopper that I bought to save for an exciting occasion. That one split too... maybe the lip of the bottle isn't designed right. Who knows?

The wine itself tastes like drinking old pineapple juice with a little bit of blubbly. It is very syrupy. Mostly I bought it since it was on sale and I know of another agent that owns a kiln and can melt it down into something lovely. Now I'm on the second glass, mostly as I have no way of closing the bottle back, but I really don't want anymore.

~Emme

New Haircut

I could so not wait to show off the new haircut. I haven't had one from someone else in about a year and a half nine months (thanks Mr. Wonderful) now. It looks super cool since he straightened it with a hair straightener. I usually abstain from using irons on my hair, but it should have some serious waves when I let it go natural after the shower tomorrow. :)

  Here's the haircut slightly blurry and backwards as I am taking a picture with my phone when sitting precariously on the ledge above the stairwell to get a shot in a mirror.

 Here it is with my camera not backwards as I am using my super cool self photograph skills.

 Then I thought it would look cool if I took one in the mirror. Excuse the mess on my table I totally just finished making a purse today.

It really isn't that messy... hmmm... guess I need a backdrop or something in that nook.

Over all I'm happy. I hope Mr. Wonderful is... Mr. Wonderful?

~Emme

Wine Thursday - Layer Cake Primitivo

Layer Cake's Primitivo is their Zinfandel. I'm not sure I would have purchased it had I known. I'm not usually fond of Zinfandels. This is what one finds out when reading the back (which is what sold me):

"My old grandfather made and enjoyed wine for 80 years. He told me the soil in which the vines lived were a layer cake. He said the wine, if properly made, was like a great layer cake, fruit, mocha, and chocolate, hints of spice and rich, always rich. 'Never pass up a layer cake', he would say. I have always loved those words."

You know what... so do I. I love those words. It made me remember seeing the layers of dirt while working at the dig site.

At first glance this red wine from Italy is not what I would look for. It is not from Chile, Australia, or even California. It is from Italy. This wine even comes with a screw top cap... no cork. I'm inwardly really grateful that it is missing a cork. My good arm is killing me still from the hospital run the other day.

It smells like the table wine I drank in England when I was 17. I do not remember what it was, but we had a lot of it. It was a good adventure, complete with rabbit and an opera singer... only one of which was eaten... I'll let you figure out which.

I'm going to have to give this a try some other night to make sure I like it as much as I do. It is not as if I've already had a shot of sake and a glass of that pinot noir from Monday. I'm still waiting for the pain to dull in my shoulder.

Good job layer cake. I'm not sure I would often spend $16 on a bottle of wine... but I couldn't pass up the layer cake.

~Emme

Day at the hospitals

Yes. I did use plural there for hospital.

It started off with my mother rolling around in pain moaning that she could not take her meds since she had to drive herself to the hospital. I informed her I would leave work early to take her.

After leaving work and arriving home I find her still un-medicated but ready to go get her MRI.

As she cries our way to the hospital... over... *looks around*... she informs me she has not taken her medicine as no one was going to drive her to the hospital...

I go to the hospital gift shop and find her some Tylenol and get her some water to help ease it a bit.

The doctor did not fax over the MRI order like he should have. She cried... again...

I filled out her paperwork for her, checked her information, and spelled out her initials for her.

She is given a pink bracelet and announces proudly that it is because she's a female.

The nurse informs her it is because she's a fall risk.

She cries...

Thanks, nurse... that was a lot of help.

We go to sit down to wait for the MRI staff member to come and retrieve her. Once seated she becomes angry that the nurse considered her a fall risk.

Seriously... the lady who has been crying off and on for hours, isn't walking straight, is limping around on a cane, and is there to have an MRI of her feet... is seriously angry about being considered a fall risk. I inform her it's on her records from the last time she was here.

Then she becomes concerned that her shoes might have to be taken off since they have metal. I remind her she's there to have an MRI of her feet and the shoes AND socks might have to come off.

She cries... she doesn't want her shoes off.

After the MRI I push her around (250 lbs of her) around the hospital to make sure her pain pump is still turned on then walk her to the car and deposit her back off at the house.

Then I wen tot the hospital to check on Papa. He's doing much better. He'll soon be up and Sam's clubbing with us again.

~Emme

Wine Friday - Pepperwood Grove Cabernet Sauvignon

As I browsed the wine aisle of my local Harris Teeter I spotted one bottle left of this Pepperwood Grove Cab Sauvignon. It is a 2006 vintage and imported from the Valle Central... somewhere in the circled regions of this map:

The label does not give ANY description of what the wine might taste like... but it fit the wine picking requirements Mr. Wonderful gave me:

1. Must come from the Central Valle or California
2. Must be mostly gone
3. Not too expensive

Wait...

Mr Wonderful, I have a question for you:

1. Does anyone else have good wines?
2. What if they just stocked the wines?
3. Have I told you how much I love you?

Mr. Wonderful's responses... no I did not bother asking again... I know the answers:

1. Yes, but you're not likely to pick the right one
2. I can't help you there.
3. Yes, yes you have.

Oh! Back to the review...

Pepperwood Grove did not bother to give a description of the wine so I went into it blindly. Had I gone to their website I would have found this:
"Dark ruby color with a nose full of raspberries, cedar, and subtle savory herbs. After the inviting nose entices you to take a sip, you will experience the flavors of rich blackberry cobbler, fresh raspberry jam, and caramel oak tones with integrated hints of basil and fresh figs."

It is very woody and makes me feel like I should be sitting in a country side farm eating some sort of pot roast. Yes, Mr. Wonderful, I do remember that I do not consume meat from cows... but that seriously is what this wine makes me think of. It would be a perfect wine for cooking some sort of roast (not poultry). At first I was against this wine... I mean I do not consume red meat and I'm not so sure I have ever come across a fresh fig... but the after the bitter sharpness when you first take a sip there is a pleasant raspberry aftertaste that is to die for. It is like you just ate a handful of fresh raspberries minus the seeds. While I probably will not buy this again (Mr. Wonderful does not care too much for raspberries), I would be willing to try some more Pepperwood Grove wines.

Cheers!
~Emme

Hard day for a secret agent

Today started off as a wonderful day. Everyone was excited over my fabulous vintage find of a skirt... went out to lunch with some of the other agents. Generally excited over being told by my jefe that they are, in fact, going to keep me on as an agent and not to bother about asking about part time benefits as they were going to see about making me full time next week.

Then was the blow.

The agency manager took me aside and said that not only was I not part time, I was still listed as a seasonal agent. I apparently should not have been given that PTO I had applied for (and had been approved for), nor should I have received holiday pay for the 4th.

BUT they decided to "gift" me that time... yeah... that's the word they used. Instead, they said they're not allowing me to do admin work anymore while I wait for more missions to work on. I must just go home. That's going to cut me back at least 10 hours a week. I'm a rather smart agent... that's about $200 every pay I will no longer be getting. Personally, I would rather just pay them back for the time, but apparently seasonal employees don't have that option.

AND they won't hire me part time as they are on a hiring freeze... even though they hired two new people a month and a half ago... just not me I guess...

Should I seek a new agency? I don't know. I LOVE what I do, who I work with, overall my job. But I'm already squeaking by with all of my bills and I want to go venture off and find a home. I need benefits and steady pay. What do I do?

~Emme

Wine Friday

Mr. Wonderful and I went to Carrabba's with his parents and we were in the mood for some Sangria.

At Carabba's you have 3 choices for sangria:

Red
White
and Berry

... no joke... I think the Italian restaurant is being patriotic or something... wait that's not Italian colors... hmmm....

Mr. Wonderful's Mom, Summers, was excited to try the Berry. It wasn't bad. It tasted like grape juice with black berries in it... overall not too Sangria-ish... I think it was lacking alcohol.

The Red tasted like cinnamon... I mean... you must LOVE (I don't think I can stress that enough) cinnamon.

The white... the waitress said it was made with white wine... then made a face. If it is that good, why do they even offer it?

BECAUSE IT'S PATRIOTIC!

Oh yeah... I forgot about that. :)

The results... if you're going to get Sangria at Carraba's go for the Berry.

~Emme

Post office Closed on Saturday?

What? The one day when I actually have time to get to the post office and it is now closed on Saturdays... what in hell am I supposed to do with these packages I have to mail?

Anyways... Mr. Wonderful and I went to Kings Dominon with his sister, Blue Eyed Educator (Bee for short). Here are some shots of our adventures:

Mr. Wonderful it turns out is almost too tall to ride some rides... he's about one inch away from being too tall.













Some of the rides looked really really scary... maybe Bee could demonstrate the fear better... Bee?













Yep, the rides were pretty scary.










We had some adventures...













There were bears and everything.

Actually it was a beautiful park and they have 13 (seriously) roller coasters... soon to be 14. I'm generally okay with most thrill rides... I mean I take on most of them at Busch Gardens all the time. I do not ride the Big Bad Wolf or the Loch Ness Monster anymore... they shake me up too much. Save for the Volcano and the Stunt Track I was beat up. My ear took a pounding on Mr. Wonderful's shoulder. Not since I was little did I come off of a roller coaster crying. Thank goodness there's no bone in the ear, it is still killing me...

Mr. Wonderful and I have decided to not return to the park until we've forgotton how bad we hurt the day after from such violent rides. Beautiful park... expensive food... no signage anywhere... lots of rollar coasters to choose from, and most of them hurt (11/13... that would be approx. 85% waiting to cause you pain).

Perhaps it would have been cooler if we had children. I mean there were tons of little kid rides, costumed characters, etc for kids to have fun with.

Perhaps it would have been cooler if Mr. Wonderful and clorine got along better.

Perhaps it would have been cooler if it wasn't the start of ragweed season.

Perhaps it would have been cooler if it wasn't 95 out.

Perhaps it would have been cooler if we were all able to fly and could live without sleep for weeks on end so we could actually accomplish everything that we had to accomplish this weekend.

Yeah it was one of those kind of weekends. So... long story short... go to Busch over Kings if you're looking for value of money. You'll have a far more enjoyable time... that is... unless you find this girl:

















Sometimes I wonder what possesses people to wear certain things and decide they look good enough to walk out among the general populous... :)

~Emme

Hump-day Musings

While I do enjoy the joy I get from assisting others as a secret agent, but it makes me anxious sometimes to connect my work to actual people. Hmmm... but still... for some reason I think I want to switch to maybe the IRS or something... at least if people did not like me, then I would still be getting government pay and benefits... that would make me one happy agent.

On today's adventures, my handy dandy sidekick (Mio) decided to take me through a college campus instead of to the correct destination. At least this time he understood that the place I wanted to existed... just was slightly confused on how to get there.

THEN! Between missions I stopped at Subway. Don't get me wrong, I am usually pretty excited about getting a 6-inch sub. This time I was pretty excited to get a salad. I've been sick for awhile so craving a salad is pretty good for me...

... Clue #1... there was no one in there... I know right... no one in a subway? I'll let you figure out the clue numbers from here.

Kid behind counter is confused as to what I would want other than lettuce in my grilled chicken salad. After convincing her that I would, in fact, prefer the chicken hot as to cold... she starts sniffing and rubbing her nose up and down her arm.

I'm a little grossed out, but hey, I'm already on antbiotics...

After removing the chicken from the microwave she has serious issues with holding the (presumably) hot chicken and tosses it off the wax paper and onto the counter to cut it instead. I am assuming the counter has magical cooling properties.

After it is eventually dressed with complicated requests like: tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, green peppers, and cheese; I am asked if I would like salad dressing.

"Yes." Of course I want salad dressing, it is the only thing that can make me forget that I'm eating iceburg lettuce, which, while tasty, has no nutritional value.

I am then informed that it only comes on the side. I'm not sure how many people want the sniffling lady touch any more of their food than she already has, so I confirm that it's okay and ask for ranch.

I pay by card. "You problem want a receipt with that." She glares and hands it to me (still wearing the gloves!).

The manager comes out from somewhere and informs me as I am putting the receipt into my purse: "You can leave now."

Oh, did I mention... there is NO ONE but me in line... let alone needing service just hanging out in the restaruant. I guess they figure I'm like some evil secret agent or something.

So I get to the next mission (5 minutes away) and I sit down to have my lovely salad. The chicken is cold like it had been sitting on ice... magical countertop I guess... the cheese is not melted so it never really was hot.

Then I notice they have given me Fat Free Ranch. I know I need to shed a few pounds and all (10 more to target weight and all), but how rude to assume. USUALLY... I'd go for regular Ranch... it has less sugar so it's better for me. So I put on this salad dressing to cover my cold chicken salad. The only thing worse than Fat Free Ranch dressing...





...




... Fat Free Ranch dressing that has gone bad... as in... EXPIRED! Though I could not find an expiration date at all on the package that was the worst tasting anythng that I have put in my mouth in awhile...

... sad to say salad found its way into the garbage... and this secret agent went hungry...


... Emme (sad)

Try something new Monday

Now let me start off by saying I usually do not eat pre-made meals. Usually if I don't have the time or energy to throw together a lunch at home I have an Atkins shake. What? A shake? Yes. I drink shakes, but only the Atkins shakes. They are low in sugar so I do not have to worry about getting sick from drinking them as I cannot tolerate sugar. I am such a lucky person you see. My body does not have a clue how to process sugar. So first I get queezie then if I continue to eat more or don't come into contact with some allergy meds I can develop fun things like uriniary tract infections, kidney stones. Yeah... I tried telling it what to do with sugar, but it still can't seem to get it right. I'm about up to 6 grams at a time now. Yeah, I'm excited to. Although whatever was in my burritto earlier is not cool with my tummy. Damn you yummy burritto.

Back to trying something new. My mother picked me up a ZATARAIN'S® Ready-to-Serve Blackened Chicken with Yellow Rice. As I was sure it wouldn't look anything like the picture on the front it sat in my desk drawer before I got up the nerve to try it. Yeah... I needed to get some nerve for this. Picture myself... the fearless secret agent... hesitantly opening this package. One of my fellow co-agents came up to me and said: "What's wrong Emme?"

And I'm all: "I am just so afraid this will end up tasting like catfood just as that Hormel ready to eat meal did."

She's all: "It's Zatarains it can't be that bad."

So I got some curage from that and made myself some Ready-to-serve Blackened Chicken with Yellow Rice... which that name, by the way, is wrong. If it is ready-to-serve I just need to take it out and eat it, but no... you have to microwave it first... though I guess ready-to-serve sounds better than hope-you-have-a-microwave-or-you're-going-hungry. That's a lot of letters... it would have cost them a fortune in advertising.

So I made my meal.

And I took a bite...






Sorry Zatarains I would rather eat some fast food than eat that again. The texture was gummy. The taste... horindous... and if you didn't like it when eating it... I so wished I had a toothbrush or a Whisp or something. It took 2 sugar-free cinnamon candies, a sugar-free pepermint, some over-steeped chai tea I made myself... AND a burritto and an iced-tea...


...


...


...

Oh yeah... I'm still tasting that stuff. So if you're looking for something quick for lunch as you head out the door grab an Atkins shake! They're pretty good, low in sugar, and they don't linger with you... forever.

~Emme

Blogger make me organized!

Yeah... like that's going to happen.

For some reason I've decided to share the happenings inside of my studio... er... barn.

Had I been smart (and super cool) I would have had someone else ask me questions, but in the absence of a second person here goes:

Who am I?

Agenta M... Emme for short

What do I do?

When I'm not working at my exciting desk job as an accountant *cough* secret agent, I enjoy spending my time in my finished barn loft with all sorts of secret agent-ie stuff. Of course, I could be crafting... or just relaxing... you never know with secret agents.

What was I talking about?

I'm a small town girl whose small town has turned into a thriving city. Yikes! I work in an industry where I am for some reason expected to be cultured, disciplined, and for some reason... expected to dress in designer clothes... yeah... on my budget... right. Yeah... I wake up in the morning and think: oh yeah, I have to look pretty today. But I refuse to spend gobbs of money on clothes.

What is it that I do:

I thrift, I craft, I sew, I quilt, I swap, I cook, I drink (occasionally... for my health of course), and I spend time with Mr. Wonderful... there's also the whole trying to diet, exercise... and oh yeah... save the world from something or another. Yeah I'm bored with this post too... let's try for something more fun...


~Emme