RIP MCA

Images via NYMag  by Ebet Roberts/Redferns

I am a big lover of many types of music.  Music was a huuuge influence in my life from a young age.  My parents always had music playing in the house...and the yard...and the car.  And like most teenagers, I spent many evenings blaring music in my bedroom, riddled with the typical teen angst....and blared it driving around town with my friends, thinking knowing I was the coolest.

One of my favorite bands of all time is the Beastie Boys.  It started 6th grade when we had a "free day" where it was a day filled with games and parties, and we were allowed to bring in cassettes from home.  A friend brought in Licensed to Ill, and we played "Girls" and "Paul Revere" on repeat all day. Of course, the Beastie Boys officially condemned their own song "Girls" and stopped playing it because of it's misogynistic message later in their career, but at age 12 and not truly understanding the lyrics, I was hooked.

I had the pleasure of seeing the Beastie Boys in 1998 with Rage Against the Machine (another personal top 5 band of all time), and then again, two nights in a row in 2007 at Central Park and McCarren Pool in Brooklyn. That was their first show EVER in Brooklyn, and to say that hearing them play "No Sleep...til Brooklyn" in Brooklyn didn't bring a tear to my eye would be lying.  

So the reason I decided to mourn the passing of Adam Yauch on my blog this week is not only to share with you my love of the Beastie Boys...but to let you in on a little secret.  Every time I'm doing anything crafty, I sing this song in my head. Every.Single.Time.

Anyone else feeling a little more than sad about MCA's passing?  Sure, I went out to sing Whitney songs at a karaoke bar the week she passed...but I find myself truly mourning his death. Isn't it amazing how someone you've never met can affect you sometimes? I feel an emptiness right now.

This is the best remix of all of his opening lines that I've found so far.  RIP MCA...you ARE missed!

Foodie Fridays - Grape, Corn, and Black Bean Salsa

Last weekend I had my Book Club meeting, and since neither of the books we read had very much to do with food (we read Look Me in the Eye and Before I Go To Sleep, both of which I liked very much), and since the weather was pretty stinking nice for April, I decided to try out a salsa recipe I had my eye on from none other than my gal Cathy at NoblePig.com (she has no idea who I am, but I love every recipe I've ever tried of hers).

I like anything that gives me an excuse to eat tortilla chips, and when I saw this grape, corn, and black bean salsa, I knew I had to try it. How often do you go to a barbeque and 5 people brought the same jar of tomato salsa with them?  This recipe sounded different enough to stand out on a table of pot luck items, but the ingredients are are still familiar that people aren't going to be afraid to try it.


Grape, Corn & Black Bean Salsa
via NoblePig.com2 pounds red seedless grapes, each grape quartered (this is time consuming)
1 jalapeno, seeded, de-veined and diced
1/2 a medium red onion, coarsely chopped
One whole bunch of cilantro
Juice of one lime
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
3 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt


Toss the beans, corn, vinegar, salt, and lime juice into a bowl. Chop up the grapes and add to bowl.  Dice up jalapenos into small pieces, add to mixture.  Coarsely chop red onion and remove stems from cilantro, and place in a food processor. Pulse until you have a red onion-cilantro paste. Mix well.

My suggestions: A good rule of thumb when serving up any dish that has several chunky ingredients is to always try to cut your items to approximately the same size.  This often helps everything to cook more evenly (think carrots and potatoes in a stew) and also makes it easier for people to eat.  So when you are buying your grapes, don't make the mistake I made, and make sure you try to buy small grapes.  I had to pick up two packages, and although I took a quick peek for bruising, I didn't think about the size of the grapes.  One package had significantly longer grapes that took me an extra long time to chop up because I had to cut them into sixths, instead of just quarters, and trust me, the cutting IS time consuming!

As I was making the red onion-cilantro paste, I admit, it looked like A LOT of cilantro.  So I decided to slowly add it to the rest of the ingredients, and continue to taste.  I ended up adding everything - but I was definitely nervous when I first saw how much my "bunch" of cilantro had made.  I went against my gut to change the recipe and I'm so glad I followed it to the T! I would also suggest making this a few hours before serving, as it gives all of the flavors a chance to really meld together.  I'll definitely be making this a few more times this summer!

Getting Organized - Sorta

 

I fight a never-ending battle with the clutter in our middle room.  This weekend I took one step closer to dealing with the mess.  I'm sure you've all seen different uses for over the door pocket organizers.  What was once just for shoes is also great for cleaning supplies in a mud room, bite sized snacks in a pantry, or in my case, craft crap in my middle room. Let's take a closer look at what I managed to squeeze into my 24 pockets, shall we?

My handheld heater for embossing ink, and various embossing powders and  tools

Christmas stampers

Can you ever have too many foam brushes?

Fabric paints and dye, paint brushes, ink pads, and some miscellaneous dollar store finds for a secret project

Bakers twine, raffia, glitter, ribbon, and rope

An array of spray paints, glues, and sealants

I wish I could say adding this eliminated all of my storage and organization needs...but alas, I've still got piles like this in front of the book shelves, and well, the book shelves jam packed with stuff other than books:

And the top drawer of a dresser where we keep our extra towels and sheets looks like this:

I'd like to say a lot of this stuff will be gone after the wedding, but I didn't even take pictures of that side of this tiny room...yeah...it's like that.

Foodie Fridays - Chicken, Artichoke (and Sun Dried Tomatoes!) Casserole

So don't think for a second that just because I haven't posted a recipe since January that it was because I just didn't have time to post anything.  I literally did not cook or buy food for about 8 weeks.  Straight delivery for 8 weeks, my friends.  I'm not proud of it.  But that is what happens during busy season.  I actually even had a weekend here and there when I could have cooked or baked, but I just wasn't feeling it.  So imagine my surprise when I finally came home at my regular 7:30 on Monday night and was actually in the mood to cook. Squeeee!

I generally am not a huge fan of chicken, unless in the wing form (be it buffalo, or bonchon), but one chicken dish I can get down on includes artichokes and sun dried tomatoes.  So I literally googled "chicken and artichoke recipes" and this one came up.  I made a few alterations (mostly because the idea of baking mayo makes me gag, and  hello, I wanted sun dried tomatoes) and Tom and I agreed it turned out FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. This could be because it was the first non-Indian/Middle Eastern/Chinese/Thai dish we've eaten in months, or it could be because these ingredients just sing together so well. Plus, whenever I see "casserole" in my head I think - yay - only one dish to clean! But that is never really the case.  I actually had to wash a pan, a pot, three knives, two forks, and a measuring cup, and eventually the baking dish.  But it was totally worth it.

Chicken Artichoke (and Sun Dried Tomatoes!) Casserole
via Taste of Home

• 2 cups uncooked bow tie pasta (I used shells)
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1 can (14 ounces) water-packed artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained and chopped
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mayonnaise (I used 1/3 cup)
• 1/3 cup 2% milk
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup onion and garlic salad croutons, coarsely crushed (I skipped these because I forgot to buy them)
• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped (not part of the recipe, but you MUST include these - they pack a double punch of taste and color)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the cooked chicken, artichokes, soup, cheese, mayonnaise, milk, garlic, onion powder and pepper. Drain pasta; add to chicken mixture.  

Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with croutons. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

Both of these photos are of the casserole before it went in the oven. It was so good that we ate it before I  remembered to take a shot of it fully baked!

My suggestions: I thought it tasted just great with less mayo, but if you are the type that likes to follow recipes to the T - let me know how it comes out.  Also, it's not really a chicken, artichoke and sun dried tomato casserole without the sun dried tomatoes.  After I chopped a few up, I mixed in about 2/3s of them with everything else to evenly distribute, then the remaining amount I sprinkled on top just because they really popped against the rest of the mostly cream colored ingredients.  

Hot New Blog Alert: Lots2Consider!

That's her on the left!

One of my very best friends has started a hiking & photography blog...which you should definitely check out! She lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York State, and as a physical education teacher, she is into all things sport-y and outdoors-y.  She hikes often and takes her camera with her to get some truly breathtaking shots.

She also has one of cutest homes and is extremely crafty in her own right.  I'm thinking the next time I'm up there I may take a few pics to share with you guys! Please check out her new blog "Lots 2 Consider"!

March Madness has nothing to do with basketball...or Busy Season Sucks

...or Why this may be my last post until mid April.

So, I'm a tax accountant.  And I'm busy. And I'm pretty much not doing anything but taxes right now...and for the rest of March...into April. So without further ado, all you're getting is a few funny cat pictures to tide you over, and one of me in this past year's Halloween costume.

I wish...if you knew how much I spend on my three cats a month with their special cat food you would be disgusted.

I think we can all agree this is the complete truth.

I wish I was staying late for a red dot.  Sounds like much more fun than TAXES

And if you're curious if ANYBODY got my costume at the Halloween party I was at - one person.  And he didn't even find it that funny. You can't really tell in this picture, but I actually have poster board with construction paper strapped to my back to match the Business Cat meme.  Yeah I am that cool.


Pictures from here and here.

Wedding Fun Wednesdays...Teasers!!

So I swear I've been doing stuff...wedding stuff at least...but I can't really show you any of it.  Gotta have some surprises for the big day!! I promise in a few months I'll unveil all of these projects.  Can you stand the suspense!?!?!?

These pictures remind me of a childhood magazine where they would show zoomed in pictures and you had to guess what the objects were - 5 points if you can guess that magazine in the Comments Section!

It's also busy season for me at work, so I haven't been cooking at all.  Delivery and frozen foods until April. Maybe I'll actually have a post that isn't about wedding stuff by then...