the perfect meal

here is a photo journal of the lovely dinner i had with alisha at the wedge earlier this week. it was perfect. and yes, we ate every last bite! a food coma shortly followed. (but not for too long because studying got in the way!)

the appetizer.

the main course. (i almost forgot to take a picture! gah!)

alisha has an unhealthy obsession with marinara sauce.

the surprise dessert! melt in your mouth amazing!

i could not have asked for a better study break. thanks alisha!

at this point, im hoping laura immediately goes out and eats! haha

love.

weekly lovelies

my weekend involved lots of frozen yogurt. delicious! i love berries.

maybe it doesnt look all that appetizing, but it was amazing! the store was out of asparagus so baby broccoli was the replacement for it in my goat cheese pasta. i made it essentially half noodles half broccoli and it was perfect! it also made for lovely lunches throughout the week.

 

maybe this next week will involve something besides food. probably not though. i just love it too much! haha

love.

it's my own garden now. my own secret garden.

~the secret garden

i have decided to begin a weekly post about things i enjoyed during the week that was inspired by many other blogs i read. part of me wishes that i could have finished my 365, but it became something i didnt enjoy doing once school became absolutely horrible. so instead, each week i will post a few pictures of things i loved/enjoyed. i am not stressing myself out by having to meet a specific quota so some weeks may have one picture while others may have ten. i hope you enjoy it!

even though i am really frugal about purchasing unnecessary things, i chose to buy the cheapest bouquet of flowers at target. (i did try to find wildflowers, but i never found any!) i must say, i may begin to put flowers on the necessity list. i find myself looking at them constantly and they give a lovely feel to the apartment. so far they have lasted an entire week with no wilting! and one bouquet filled three vases! they are perfect. perfectly beautiful.

apparently i have never tried blackberries before. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! they may have surpassed blueberries as being the best fruit ever. and they tasted awesome on my chocolate soy milk french toast. yum yumm!!!

lets just say that i ate waaayyy too many cookies this week. but they were so delicious!

the weekend was filled with a great amount of time by the pool with people i love. it was so enjoyable and relaxing that i even forgot that i dont have a summer! these chairs were super comfortable and so bright and cheery. all my time was spent floating in the water though because it was so hot that i could hardly breathe!

love.

monthly macaroni 4 and 5

i ran out of time in may to make a macaroni so i made up for it by making two in june. unfortunately, both seemed to land in failure town. at least in respect to all the others i have made.

the first one i attempted was baked caprese that used fresh mozzarella. i am not quite sure what happened (i am going to blame it on the fact that i used kraft shredded cheese for the first time instead of market pantry), but when i made the sauce the cheese immediately turned into a goopy ball! goopy really is the wrong word though because it was more elastic or rubber band like. it was the strangest thing i have ever encountered! the only things that were different when making this particular macaroni was that the stove was different and i used kraft cheese. i did everything else exactly the same! never again will i use kraft cheese!

(look, you can even see the rubber band of cheese in the picture!)

nevertheless, i chose to try and stretch the cheese over the noodles in hopes that the cheese rubber band would melt in the oven. once again, i was wrong! it stayed like a rubber band and was even difficult to cut and especially eat. but despite all of these drawbacks, this macaroni had an absolutely amazing flavor! dare i even say perfect flavor. ill just say it, i loved it! im not sure if it was the basil, the oils from the cooked tomatoes, or the melted fresh mozzarella, but it was amazing. i am going to make it again in hopes that the cheese will respond normally and melt. it deserves another try. and i would like to taste the deliciousness in the way it was supposed to be enjoyed!

the second one i made was broccoli and squash and used monterey jack as the main cheese. i was unable to find frozen squash so i bought a fresh organic one and pureed it myself in the magic bullet.

i was happy to discover that the first disaster was not caused by my stove because the cheese melted beautifully this time! i also chose to freeze half of it so that i wouldnt have to eat the same macaroni and cheese for at least 12 meals in a row. it also made for a super quick meal a week or so later.

this macaroni and cheese smelled very delicious and looked super delicious since the sauce wasnt a rubber cheese ball, but the taste just didnt live up to the smell, or the work i put into it. i think it may have partially been due to the fact that i didnt have enough parmesan. the monterey jack had a plain taste to it and i feel like if i used more parmesan it would have had more flavor. if i didnt have many other macaronis to make, i would probably try it again using a good amount of pecorino romano. it has such strong flavor and tastes amazing when mixed in a dish (thank you kelly for that discovery!) so i think it would kick this one up a lot and get rid of the bland taste.

well, i hope that my next one is more of a success! i may take this month off, i havent fully decided yet. and in the words of hosty, eat your mac and cheese! ah! ah! ah!

love.

lovely things

i hope everyone had a very lovely holiday weekend and got to participate in some exciting patriotic celebrations (i will share mine soonish). i seriously cant believe that july is already here! i have finished up my first rotation and am in the midst of the first week of my second one. i am really enjoying them so far, but am also missing my relaxation time at the pool with a frozen margarita that was so prominent in all of my past summers. i guess the good news is that i will soon be paid for this work i am doing instead of ending up in the negatives! and with that, here are a few lovely things.

even though this summer does not get to hold the same activities as the last, i cant get away from eating my most favorite summer meal: chocolate soy milk french toast topped with blueberries! such a perfect summer taste.

these little guys gave me the hardest of times while making the IVs at the hospital one day (i even had to take breaks to rest my hands). i was frustrated by them and then noticed how pretty they were and that they matched my nails perfectly. this little discovery made everything better!

 

i was attempting to be productive by getting some studying done for my hospital exam, but then tulip was being super cute in her new resting spot under/on the table. i just couldnt stop looking at her!

 

i am still planning on showing some pictures of my new apartment, but there are a few things that i am still missing and i would really like to have everything in place before i do. hopefully i will find them soon. if not, i guess i will share without them!

love.