Recently Consumed

A list of things consumed by my head, heart, eyes, ears and stomach lately.

IMG_5848

Carrot Hummus at The Pig and The Sprout

We chose this spot for our Tuesday Date Night and when they posted a picture of this luxurious looking carrot hummus on Instagram that day, I KNEW I had to order it and see what was up with those “funyun” chips.  Turns out there’s no chickpeas involved in that hummus, hence the creamy texture and those chips DID have the exact flavor of Funyuns.  We dug it!

Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino

Forgot to mention our March book club read!  Probably because I really wasn’t into it.  Basic Plot: Grad student/aspiring writer borrows a very buzzed about book from her roommate and discovers it’s about HER (very troubled) past and was written by her long lost childhood best friend turned first love.  Ugh, just writing that description reminded how annoying this book was.  The entire cast of the book seemed to cater to this very selfish and immature main character and I was not about it.

Girls Final Season

The highest respect to TV writers who had reviews of the final season of Girls out the night of the finale.  It’s been weeks and I still can’t make sense of my feelings on the show in its entirety.  I meant to write about the finale and I didn’t.  I meant to post about my favorite episodes from all six seasons and I didn’t.  I meant to figure out why I’m so conflicted about this show and I haven’t.  I will say, that final scene between Hannah and Adam was easily one of my favorite moments of the entire series.  They said so much by saying so little and though it was heartbreaking, it felt right.  Also, I will continue to pretend “Goodbye Tour” was actually the finale because Hannah and Jessa reuniting (even if only temporarily) was so touching and the whole dancing scene interspersed with snapshots of Hannah’s future was really the only ending I needed.  Plus I really hated “Latching.”

Well that “quick blurb” certainly got away from me…

Broken Angels by Gemma Liviero

This book reminded me A LOT of both All the Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale, both in the setting (Europe during WWII) and the formulation (characters from different sides of the aisle whose stories eventually combine).  That being said, I felt the effect was damaged because I kept thinking “I’ve read this all before!”  And I liked the writing in both of those other books more than this one.  Still, I liked this one well enough and wouldn’t dissuade anyone from picking it up for themselves.

Sweet Corn and Zucchini Pie

Well I’ve mentioned this recipe on the blog approximately 7,000 times, sooooo HAVE YOU MADE IT YET?  If not, I don’t know what you’re waiting for, but I’m actually not waiting for summer to eat corn and zucchini.  JOEY cooked this for ME and even though we were short a few ounces of cheese, it was still SO GOOD.  So that’s probably why I’ve talked about it so many times.  Paired with the best sweet potato fries (Joey makes them so much better than me!) and I think this meal actually willed the sun out of hiding that day.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

GUYS.  OMG.  LITERATURE!  I tried to explain to Joey — in a lengthy and cocktail induced speech — the difference between what I read in book club and actual literature and how damn refreshing it was to know within seconds of starting Beloved that is was the latter but he was probably mostly hoping I’d just stop talking 🙂  But seriously, the writing is so poetic and the story is so deeply painful and beautiful and I don’t know why it took me this long to finally pick this novel up but I’m so glad I finally did.

*************************************************************

Happy Friday/Cinco de Mayo/Birthday to my mother-in-law!  We are celebrating all those things the best way we know how… with burgers, fries, beer and a Rockies game!  Bet you thought I was going to say tacos and margaritas, huh? 🙂  What are you up to this weekend?

Weekend Things

If I told you the best parts of the weekend were making friends with a group of regulars at The Med just so we could snag their table after they left, eating a slice of cherry upside down cake while watching The Little Mermaid and laying in a bunch of sample beds until it stopped feeling weird and started being a little too fun, would you need more explanation?

IMG_5833IMG_5799

On Friday, the snow clouds rolled into Boulder the same time we did, but we had plans to celebrate my sister getting a new job with happy hour at The Med and snow wasn’t going to stop us.  We also neglected to make a reservation for our party of six and were quoted 1 1/2-2 hours for a table.

There was ONE big table in the bar so Joey, Wayne, my sister and I were hovering and ready to pounce, when we overheard someone at the table explaining “when we start getting our checks and you can see people closing in, pretending to look off in the distance but they’re really waiting for us to leave” and Joey turned around and said “you pegged us!”  And next thing we knew, they had invited us to sit down with them while they finished their drinks.  They’ve been having drinks at The Med every Friday for 20 years!

So with our prize table in hand, we proceeded to eat, drink and be merry.  Such a fun and perfect night with my family ♥   Also, Joey and I went home and watched A Goofy Movie afterwards, so doesn’t get much better than that.  I maybe fell asleep but woke up in time to sing along with “I2I.”

IMG_5803IMG_5836IMG_5837IMG_5834

On Saturday, I woke up to Joey saying “those meteorologists weren’t kidding with the snow!”  It was coming DOWN.  So we did what you do on snowy Saturday mornings: make oatmeal and drink too much coffee on the couch in your pajamas.  Truth: I felt SO OUT OF IT all morning and couldn’t figure out why or how to make it stop.  Eventually decided to take a trip to the gym, ran on the treadmill and felt 100% better afterwards.  I like to call that feeling a “brain cloud” a la Joe Versus the Volcano and if you get that reference, let’s be friends forever.

Treated ourselves to lunch at il Porcellino afterwards and we’ve officially added a new weekend sandwich shop to our arsenal because that lunch was goooood.  Then a quick trip to the grocery for snow day necessities.  The world’s biggest sweet potato, a can of refried beans and three (unpictured) chapsticks is all you need in desperate times, okay?

IMG_5816IMG_5818IMG_5814IMG_5819

Should probably tell you how we sat on the couch and read for an hour and how it felt really good and perfect, but let’s just get to the crowing jewel of my life of the night: EASY ONE-BOWL UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE!  I’ve had the recipe pinned for a month and am trying to be better about baking stuff and enjoying it instead of playing that mind game where I convince myself I don’t “need” to be eating dessert for no reason.  Life’s too short, ya know?  And this cake’s too good!  The recipe mostly makes it sound like “anyone can make this!” but I’m still going to feel crazy impressed with myself for how perfectly it came out.  Also, sweetened whipped sour cream on cake??  So good, who knew!

We watched Harold and Maude during dinner because I’d never seen it and I have a feeling that movie would not fly (especially as a comedy) in this day and age — we’re all a little more easily offended, aren’t we? — but I kinda liked it and the soundtrack is real good.  Followed that macabre vibe up with something a little lighter, aka The Little Mermaid.  Joey fell asleep and I had to try really hard not to sing “Poor Unfortunate Souls” loudly into his ear.

IMG_5824IMG_5840IMG_5835IMG_5842

Sunday was a magical day that felt like it had a million hours in it, so we could fit in breakfast at Devil’s Food (first time and we already have plans to go back next weekend!), grocery, laundry, food prep, buying a new mattress, watching the Rockies game, cleaning the entire kitchen/bathroom, making dinner and still getting in bed early enough to read.  Can all Sundays feel that long, please?

Mattress shopping is the weirdest experience!  You go to a big store and just pretend to sleep in a bunch of different beds with strangers who are also doing the same thing.  We maybe also had too much fun and were just about to ask if they had any glasses of wine so we could test out that jumping on the bed thing but decided to hold back.  I thought buying a house together or getting married would be the “real adult couple” experience, but nope, it came when we bought a new mattress together!  😛

In other news, this post is way too long and I’m way too happy that it’s May!  Wishing you a Happy Monday!