Growing up, my grandma wasn't really around. She and my mom had a falling out about who knows what when I was young, and she didn't make an appearance until I requested so when I was about 15, but that's a post for another day. The point is, she didn't cook. And neither did my mom. I grew up in a family where the men did all the cooking. (Probably why one of the things on my partner wish list is that they must cook.) So I don't have memories of my grandma or mom's "famous" anything. I didn't even start learning to cook until I graduated college, when I had to in order to eat. I've never made meatloaf before, but I knew I liked it, so last week I decided to try to make it. And it was GREAT. I actually made this up using 3 different recipes, based on what I had on hand. So I present: Not My Grandma's Meatloaf. I hope you enjoy it!
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 C milk
1 C dried bread crumbs
1 Tbl butter
1 Tbl minced garlic
1 Tbl Italian seasoning
1/4 cup minced onions
1 Tbl Worcestshire sauce
1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce, divided
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp pepper
Topping:
3 Tbl ketchup
2 tsp Italian seasoning
(other half of the tomato sauce)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic 5 minutes, until onion is tender. Remove from heat.
In a large bowl, mix the onion and garlic, beef, breadcrumbs, egg, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 of the tomato sauce. Gradually stir in the milk 1 teaspoon at a time until mixture is moist, but not soggy. Transfer the mixture to a greased 5x9 inch loaf pan.
Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees and continue baking 15 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix the remaining tomato sauce, ketchup and 2 tsp Italian seasoning. Pour over the top of the meatloaf, and continue baking 10 minutes.
Because all cooking goes well with wine
nomnomnom
served with potato salad and green beans,
because I was too lazy to make mash potatoes
Bingeing (and finishing) a show within 48 hours when you have been anticipating it for nearly a year will leave you with feelings of sadness and restlessness
The word "bingeing" looks really weird, but it must be the correct spelling because otherwise it would say "Binging" and there is no Chandler here.
"Litchfield Lemonade"
When consuming large amounts of alcohol, do not use fancy glass cups that hold meaning for you, because you your friend may break it. And then your friend would feel really, really terrible about it. Stick to plastic.
Kraft macaroni and cheese is still my favorite.
I have no qualms about eating canned chili, especially when it means more time to do what i really want to do, which in this case was continue to binge-watch.
prison food: chili dogs and Mac n Cheese
I still do not like pulp in my OJ.
Themed meals make binge-watching and eating more fun.
Explaining Pinterest to a noob is hard. "So wait- you just pin things and that's it? [Yes. It's a way to keep things you find interesting. And there's an add-on you can add to Chrome so you can pin anything from the web. And then you can organize it to like, vision boards you create.] Do other pinners get mad when you pin their stuff? [No, it's expected.] Oh... so what's fun about it? [Le sigh...]
Big Boo's Screwdrivers
I like prosciutto in small doses.
I also like stuffed chicken. This was the first time I tried it.
I require sides with almost all of my meals. I already knew this, but it was reinforced over the weekend.
I am so excited for tonight. Finally, the return of Orange is The New Black! We are going all out and have a few menu items to go with our binge-watching. Bring on the chili dogs, sloppy joes, tatter tots, "Taystee" cakes, screwdrivers (he he he) and a new one- Litchfield Lemonade!! I also hear that we're supposed to be getting thunderstorms so it's the perfect weekend for staying in! Let's kick it off right with some favorites from this week.
Favorite Song:
Favorite Reads:
So apparently "selfitis" is a real thing. Luckily, I don't suffer from it too badly. I wonder what treatment options are available and if they are covered under Obamacare?
Even though I know it's natural, it's still gross, especially when you're caught in confined spaces for long periods of time. I support this fine.
Dunkin Donuts is going to start delivering and I could not be more happy!!
One of my favorite linkups, "Show Us Your Books!" went live earlier this week. I always find a bunch of new-to-me great books from fellow bloggers. Need more? I found this list with 17 new books coming out this summer.
Joey hit the nail on the head with this accurate comparison between Andy Grammer's song and the idea of commitment. (The video is cute too!)
I stumbled upon this linkup hosted by Kelly Lorene a little too late last month, but wanted to participate this time around. Like her, I had always enjoyed the linkup "Blogger Men Tell All" hosted by Becoming Adorrable, but alas, I have no man to annoy with these questions. Enter The Blogger Best Friend Diaries! I have a few best friends, but I decided to interview Blue since she's probably the closest to me most recently and she knows that I actually have a blog :) 1 | What is something your blogger does that drives you crazy?
Have you met my blogger when she's had too much to drink? #PartyGoblin
2 | Which movie/TV friendship are you?
We are Alice Piezecki and Tasha Williams from the L-Word. Alice is care free, funny and charming as hell, and more likely to get in trouble while Tasha (military background) lives by a code of following the rules and not putting yourself in bad situations. Despite what seems to be gaping differences, they have a great time together and always manage to find common ground. Or.....we may just be the two drunk British chicks from Absolutely Fabulous.
3 | Who would you pick to play each of you in a movie about your friendship?
My blogger would be played by Mindy Kaling, and I Melissa McCarthy. In fact, there would never be a more spot on casting. (based on personalities more than appearances)
4 | What is your favorite memory with your blogger?
My blogger and I spent a week together in Puerto Rico earlier this year and it was fantastic. The food, the booze, the weather were only upstaged by the company.
5 | What is his/her best quality?
Just one? Yeesh. She's funny, witty, sarcastic (yes, that's a best quality), extremely thoughtful, caring, loyal, smarter than she'll ever admit to, modest, sassy, organized and will not take shit from anyone. She's an old soul with a modern paradigm. (D'awwww!) What are some things your best friend would say about you?
I'm finally linking up with Steph for "Show Us Your Books"! The first book I actually read a few months ago, but I didn't get a chance to review it; the other two I read last month.
Dark Places- Gillian Flynn
From Goodreads: "Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.
Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?
She begins to realize that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find." My Thoughts: I already had a good idea of what to expect with Gillian Flynn, as this was the third book I read by the author. This was probably my least favorite, but it was still very well written and a solid thriller. I never thought Ben did it, but I was wrong in who i thought it might be, and I love being proven wrong. I took me a while to really get into this book. I just thought Libby was really whiny and self destructive, and she could have had a much better life if she actually tried living it at some point. I feel that she should have thought about different angles and other possible suspects before she's used up all of her money and the Kill Club enters and basically forces her to look at the massacre differently 24 years after the fact. Also, who walks into a weird isolated looking building with some stranger just for money?? She was lucky but it seemed really irrational, especially since she points out that she's quite petite and scrawny.
Hyacinth Girls- Lauren Frankel
From Goodreads: "Thirteen year old Callie is accused of bullying at school, but Rebecca knows the gentle girl she's raised must be innocent. After Callie is exonerated, she begins to receive threatening notes from the girl who accused her, and as these notes become desperate, Rebecca feels compelled to intervene. As she tries to save this unbalanced girl, Rebecca remembers her own intense betrayals and best-friendships as a teenager, when her failure to understand those closest to her led to tragedy. She'll do anything to make this story end differently. But Rebecca doesn’t understand what’s happening or who is truly a victim, and now Callie is in terrible danger.
This raw and beautiful story about the intensity of adolescent emotions and the complex identity of a teenage girl looks unflinchingly at how cruelty exists in all of us, and how our worst impulses can estrange us from ourselves - or even save us." My Thoughts: This book was not what I was expecting when I read the cover. I was thinking of a cliched YA bully story, and this was nothing like that. Callie comes across in the beginning of the book as a popular, blonde, clique-leader (think Regina George and the Plastics from Mean Girls). Both of her parents died when she was young and Rebecca, her mother's best friend, steps in to take care of her. Rebecca has never had children of her own, she struggles to make ends meet, she doesn't have any love interests, and she basically comes across as a loner who is also suffering from the death of Callie's mom. She has known Callie from birth and tries to raise and understand Callie, but constantly comparing her to her mother puts a strain on their relationship that Rachel doesn't see until it's almost too late. I admit that I didn't believe Callie was all innocent like Rebecca believed, but I didn't expect the outcome whatsoever. I liked that this story flipped back and forth in time between Rebecca and Joyce as teenagers, the original "Hyacinth Girls," and now. I really got enthralled when we got Callie's point of view halfway through the novel. It was unexpected and what (finally) captured my attention. I know that in Callie's part we are given a glimpse into how she is coming undone bit by bit, and the fact that she didn't want to be noticed anymore, but there was too much of her imagining that she was turning into a tree or grass to be believable. Also, once my questions as to how her parents died were answered, I became more invested in finding out the ending. What I found somewhat remarkable were the actual emails, texts, and Facebook messages. It made the story feel so much more real, because we use all of those things today, and I could easily see how this could have played out (and probably does) daily. I really wish I got to see Robyn's side of the story, or more from her, particularly at the end, but overall I think this is an important read for anyone who works with, or has, children. *I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
Feng Shui and Charlotte Nightingale- Pamela Ferderbar
From Goodreads: 'Feng Shui and Charlotte Nightingale' is an uplifting and hilarious fable about empowerment and perception, and the magical things that happen when we begin to see the glass as half full.
Charlotte Nightingale has the worst luck in the world. Her cluttered apartment is the poster child for *shar chi* - poison luck in the realm of feng shui. Her boyfriend's a jerk, her job sucks, she s broke and her own family seems to hate her. Every day is a bad hair day. Kwan, a handsome Chinese food delivery man and aspiring feng shui practitioner, takes pity on Charlotte. While Charlotte searches for the money to pay for the Emperors cashew chicken Kwan has delivered, he surreptitiously begins to move things around in Charlotte s apartment in accordance with the ancient art of placement - hoping to improve her life. My Thoughts:
I absolutely loved this book. It was light-hearted and funny. Charlotte is a hot mess. Her boyfriend is an unemployed jerk. She seems completely unrelated to her thoughtless and uppity family. Her job is a joke, as are her employers, who treat her like dirt. She lives in an overly cluttered (aka messy) one bedroom apartment that seldom even has proper running water, and the worse feng shui of all, she lives in dreaded #4. In walks Kwan, who takes it upon himself to "fix" her messy apartment when she's not looking. Her luck seems to go from bad to worse, but then turns around for the better.
I'm not sure if I liked this so much because I was already somewhat intrigued by feng shui, or because I found Charlotte and "Frank," Kwan and his friends to be easily relatable, even if they were a caricature of themselves. Though the whole bit with Dirk was a bit far-fetched, to say the least, it did add a touch more ridiculousness to Charlotte's life which seemed to fit right in. This was a quick, fun summer read. *I received this book from Netgalley for this review.
Reading:Lies I've Told by Michelle Zink. It's a YA novel, which usually I enjoy, but this one is beating me over the head with the theme and it's making it hard to get through. I dislike repetitiveness.
Listening To: the new Florence and the Machine album (Ship to Wreck is my jam), and Zella Day- Hypnotic. On repeat.
Wearing: sweaters becuase it's been kinda chilly here for June, not to mention my workplace loves to blast the AC.
Playing: 94%. It's so addictive. I've literally lost sleep thinking of "Guy names that end in L." Thanks a lot, Kathy! Watching: Lost Girl on Netflix, and Game of Thrones on HBO. Lost Girl is a fantastic Canadian show about a woman who finds out she's not human, but rather a succubus, who feeds on the sexual energy of humans. She doesn't want to pick the dark or light side of the Fae (fairy) world, but rather wants to live among humans and help them using her special powers. SyFy recently picked it up for its fifth and final season airing this fall. Needing: to organize my bills/paperwork, etc.
Wanting: These completely sacrilegious candles.
Anticipating: putting up new blinds, cooking some new-to-me recipes this week, and of course OITNB.
Avoiding: making doctor appointments.
Wishing: that it would start feeling warm around here for more than a day at a time. Trying: the S'mores Frapp from SB. They put too much whip cream which melted too quickly in my first one, but I may try it again later today. I liked it, but I didn't think it was as Earth-shaterring-ly delicious as everyone made it seem.
Buying: new blinds for my new windows, crafting stuff and an American flag shadow box frame for my Grandfather's flag from his burial (Michael's is having a big sale- check it out!), 2 pairs of flats and some cute sandals from Payless, wine, and used books. The 3 on the right were 25 cents each! I love the library.
this is basically my happy place.
Worrying about: my work situation. A member of my team was recently let go, and it seems like that was only round one of the "restructuring" plan. It doesn't help that another department is trying to cut my department out of a new tech system upgrade because of some pissing contest between higher-ups, thereby leaving us with hardly any work to do. I should probably start looking elsewhere just in case.
Planning:allthefunthings for summer. Well, all the fun yet inexpensive things for summer. I've done enough spending for this month and need to pull in the reigns a bit. Loving: my new windows. This was my landlord's decision and I couldn't be happier about it. Finally I don't feel drafts seeping in everywhere. This will definitely help with my utility bills.
I could not be happier that it's finally Friday. I know I said last week felt like the longest week ever, but this one definitely rivaled it. I know it's mainly because of what's going on at work right now (update next week), but still. I'm SO ready for the weekend! Tonight I'm going to see Avengers, and tomorrow night I have a game night, including apps, drinks, and one of my favorite games, Cards Against Humanity. I can't wait. So let's start this weekend off right with some favorites from the last week!
Favorite Song: Did anyone else not realize this was Maroon 5? They certainly have changed their tune (pun intended). Maroon 5- Mother of a Summer
Favorite Reads:
Aziz Ansari is right on regarding modern romance. I can't wait until his book comes out.
I wasn't going to say anything about Ciatyln Jenner, but I felt Jon Stewart was right on with his commentary regarding her.
I shared my goals for June and my summer bucket list earlier this week, but in case you wanted some more ideas, check this out.
I really think of Taco Bell has hangover cure food, but now they're opening ones with beer, wine and cocktails.
Will Ferrel and Kristen Wiig confirmed that their campy Lifetime movie is a go, and I can't wait.
