Chicken thigh with romesco sauce

This is a long overdue post, but I'll keep it short since the photos do more justice than words. I went to London last month and went to the lovely Barrafina for dinner in Soho. Teresa and I sat outside and went to town on the tapas menu. Every dish was more delicious than the last, and it was made even better with never-ending glasses of wine, sitting outside and people watching. If you ever find yourself in London, Barrafina is a must!

Razor clams

Pan con tomate

Octopus with capers

Classic tortilla

Brill

Chocolate tart 

I'll pretend like I haven't had german pancakes 7 times for the last 2 weeks for dinner. If you haven't had these, you have to try them. My mom, who is not a breakfast or brunch person at all, makes exceptions for this, and it is SO easy to make. They always remind me of her because she always makes these for me when I'm home! They're light, thin, chewy and perfect with simple lemon and powdered sugar. They turn out wonderfully in a trusty cast iron skillet, but I've made them in a pizza pan too. The best part? You can make them with only six ingredients that are most likely to already be in your pantry.

I halve a recipe I've adapted from All Recipes and it's perfect for a single serving in a 15-inch cast iron skillet. 

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 TBS butter, melted

Recipe:

1. Place your cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F 
2. Whisk eggs and milk in a bowl.
3. Add flour and salt to the egg and milk mixture and stir until mostly smooth
4. Once oven is preheated, add the 2 TBS melted butter to the cast iron skillet and roll the butter around to cover the bottom and sides of the skillet
5. Pour batter into the skillet and bake for 20 minutes. The sides and middle will pouf up and may be bubbly, but that's ok - it's the best part!
6. Remove from oven, and garnish according to taste.

To serve, I always opt for squeezing a lemon and dusting with powdered sugar, but butter and syrup, pumpkin butter, mixed berries and powdered sugar all work too!

My beloved Michigan Wolverines made it to the Sugar Bowl and won (don't blame me, blame the BCS ranking system).  Michigan Football is back, baby - GO BLUE!

I joined a new team at work (three guesses who the client is) and they quickly found the key to my productivity...easy access to SNACKS!!

I woke up at 6 am on a Sunday to hit up the Jason Wu launch at Target. Picture the running of the bulls, except with women and fashion. I did things I'm not proud to admit, but pretty impressive haul, huh?

Oh you know...TGIF

Another less fun thing I've been dealing with is the rando re-appearance of Harry Potter Boy (HP Boy for short).  For those of you just joining us, he's a guy I had a brief summer fling with and then he just fell off the face of the earth - no text, call or explanation.  He resurfaced this winter, out of the clear blue, via text message. At first I didn't know who it was because I did what any normal human would do after being screwed over and I deleted his number from my phone.

Try as I might to deflect/ignore him, he kept popping up (ergo my Voldemort reference - why won't Harry Potter boy just die??!!).  And I would get messages from him at random times in the morning/afternoon, so he couldn't even blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol.  I thought that I had finally lost him until I woke up early on a Saturday to hit up my Dailey Method class to find another one from him..this time, late night.  His latest text had me scratching my head again until I realized what holiday was right around the corner (oh yeah, Happy Valentine's Day all!).  It was like a light bulb went off in my brain....HP Boy has turned into the Holiday Bandit!!! 

As you'll see from the incriminating text chain below (identities have been concealed to protect the guilty), he always texted me before a major holiday, which all of us single folks know can be a breeding ground for crippling feelings of loneliness and seemingly endless despair (oh ok, just me then??). 

Members of the jury, I give you Exhibit A:

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, sometime in the am

(Can't tell you when because I had deleted it)

Is it too late to apologize for not getting back to you?

A few days afterwards

(again I deleted it, so don't know exactly when)

I'm probably going to regret asking this, but who is this??

Nov 27, 2011 - 1:22 pm

Should prob just leave it at that but this is [bleeep] from eharmony

Nov 27, 2011 - 2:27 pm

Got it - mystery solved

Dec 10, 2011 - 7:51 am

So Is it safe to say u forgive me for being a dick?

NO RESPONSE, but TC's internal monologue:

Ummm....no - that would NOT be safe to say. Leave me alone, please

Feb 11, 2011 - 3:18 am

Can u at least think about giving me a second chance? I have a pretty significant reason for going MIA on you earlier

****

So now I'm not only annoyed that he just won't leave me alone, but I'm PISSED that he thinks he can just come crawling back to me whenever he's feeling blue. So I do what any self-respecting girl would do...I text him back that I'm seeing someone now (total lie) and tell him to stop texting me/delete me from his phone.  Because I do not want to be dealing with this sh*t on President's Day.

How about you guys? Any exes that still try to text you whenever they're alone?!

TC out :) 

Did you know you can plug in your website into the below to see what photos and content other people have pinned from your blog? I love it! It's fun to see what other people find interesting of yours. And also, it really is embarrassing how much time I can spend on that website. PINTEREST. ADDICT. 

Here's ours! http://pinterest.com/source/twentysomethingtestdummies.com

You can check yours by plugging in your blog here: http://pinterest.com/source/INSERTBLOGNAMEHERE.com

"Happy pinning!" :)

Was thinking I was gonna settle into 2012 a bit before diving back into the online dating pool (you know the first few weeks after the New Year when you can't get a machine at the gym to save your life? Yeah, that with online dating times a gazillion weirdos).  But I've been emailing with this boy from OkCupid who's making me want to break my own rules...but my inner cynic can't help but second-guess this down to the smallest detail.

Let's call this one Triathlon Guy.  He seems normal and dorky-cute (just my type), plus we have a ton in common.  For example, we both love Arrested Development and The Walking Dead, have similar tastes in food/Chicago restaurants, believe Bell's Oberon is one of the best things about summer, he does triathlons and I watch them - off to a good start, yeah? But now I've taken to obsessing over the fact that Triathlon Boy gets back to me almost too quickly (i.e. he responds to my emails within a few hours and he asked me out to drinks with less than 24 hours notice).

I know, I know...I didn't say that this was a rational thing that I was doing.  But what must be wrong with this guy that he is just so damn available?  Could it be that he's a stage 5 clinger who reeks of desperation? Or is he a psycho that trolls around OkCupid, writing personalized emails to every chick he comes across until he gets a bite? Or heaven forbid - could he just be some dude that is legitimately interested in me and doesn't play games?

If the situation were reversed and I wasn't hearing back from him, I would be pissed (see Exhibit A).  So can a guy ever win with me?! Perhaps I'm just so tired of going on bad dates (like this beaut) that I'm coming up with any excuse why it's already not going to work out.  Have I just been so pre-conditioned by d-bags as of late that I wouldn't know what to do with a nice boy if he just dropped into my lap and asked me out for drinks? 

In any case, I think I've come up with an actual resolution this year...stop thinking so much.  And I'm sidelining all my cynicism (for now) and we're going out for drinks on Thursday.  Alright, feel free to tell me I'm crazy, a fool or maybe just a teensy bit justified in being cautious after my stellar online dating track record.  And thanks for letting me vent my crazy...y'all are just so easy to talk to ;)

~T

My Life in a Nutshell

image via www.amazon.com

I constantly get called out by my family as being a bit too attached to my iPad. (Could it be because I spent hours of our family vacation in August streaming “Friday Night Lights” on Netflix?) So for my birthday this year, they got me this cute book – “Goodnight iPad: A Parody for the Next Generation” by Ann Droyd.

Obviously a play on “Goodnight Moon,” it does a solid good job making fun of the technological dependent like myself…

“In the bright buzzing room

There was an iPad

And a kid playing Doom

And a screensaver of –

A bird launching over the moon

There were three little Books

With ten thousand books

And a huge LCD Wi-Fi HDTV

With Bose 5.1, six remotes and 3D…”

Definitely an easy and fun gift for the overly wired.

Ever since the juice detox I did a few weeks ago, I have been craving fish like crazy. I know, there could be worse things to crave. Like cigarettes, tater tots or poutine, for example. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I haven't had any meat but have been consuming sea bass, shrimp and salmon pretty much on a daily basis as an effect of the juice detox. As part of this fresh fish kick, I tweaked this Cooking Light salmon recipe and after making this four days in a row for dinner can safely say it is deeeeelicious. The edges get perfectly carmelized - it is the best part.

It's perfect for a weeknight meal and works well if you make it a day ahead to marinade and just grill or throw on a pan for dinner. Part of why I like it is because it tastes VERY similar to the Nobu miso black cod/sea bass recipe I am unnaturally obsessed with, only it's a more wallet-friendly weekday version! 

Ingredients:

• 6 TBS brown sugar (I used brown sugar Splenda blend)
• 6 TBS sake 
• 4 TBS low sodium soy sauce
• 2 TBS grated fresh ginger
• 2 TBS lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 6-ounce skinless salmon filets
• Thinly sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds, for garnish 

Mix the first 6 ingredients in a long tupperware container. Roll salmon filets around the marinade, cover and leave in fridge for an hour, or better yet, a day before to soak up the flavors. 

When ready to cook, use a nonstick pan and spray with cooking spray. Turn heat to medium-high. Lay filets down on the pan, but don't pour the marinade over the fish in the pan as it will burn. Press the filets down a bit with a spatula so the outside of the filets get a nice sear. Don't worry if it gets a little smoky, you want that bit of char to get carmelized. Cook each side for about 4 minutes, or until preferred doneness.

When the second side has about 2 minutes left and has had its turn to get a good sear, take the remaining marinade left in your container and pour into the pan over the fish and to let the alcohol burn off and thicken a bit.

If you'd like, this is a good time to throw in spinach or green beans to cook in the marinade too. Once the veggies are done cooking, serve fish and veggies with brown rice and some spoonfuls of sauce. Garnish with green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

While I cook with my mom and dad, my grandparents go crazy gambling at a mah jong table with my aunt and uncle..

The table's set first thing in the morning...

You sneak breaks from the kitchen to read or nap by the fire...

Or play with Benny...

A special batch of sticky rice is patiently made by my little brother - a family favorite that's always made for the holidays!

Check out my mom's special curry glass noodle spring rolls! We stand side by side stuffing and rolling wonton wrappers with curry glass noodles instead of the usual cabbage mixture.

And then dip in Thai sweet chili sauce... the best! 

I plan on repeating everything above this year with a slap happy grin on my face. What about you? What are your favorite - or better yet, kooky - family traditions for the holidays?

Aren't these sweet? I love how delicate they look - so feminine! In addition to perfect (and reasonably priced!) treats for yourself, I think they'd make great birthday presents for girlfriends too.

via Tiny Armour etsy shop

Here are the highlights:

• Baby prostitute skin! No one could tell because I wear bulletproof, impenetrable MAC pro longwear foundation on a daily basis, but I could tell - my skin was dewy and glowy by the third day. That juice cleanse myth is no lie.
• Mmm fish! By the third day, all I was craving was (real) fresh fruits and grilled fish. I have consumed either sea bass or salmon or tuna every day since the end of the cleanse. (I made my favorite Nobu recipe, twice. Yes, I will eventually stop talking about it... eventually).
• Pre-Cleanse Prep is good. Tapering off caffeine made it 1000x easier and me 1000x less bitchy than a hard stop. Don't even want to imagine that.
• Accidental Pescetarian! I haven't been able to eat meat since the cleanse. One attempt to eat simple, lean ground turkey made me ill and Teresa's mention of stuffed burgers had no appeal. Like, what?! I'm sure that will go away with time, but if you know me, you'd realize the irony of this. 
• Two words: Pumpkin Milk. The pumpkin milks were amazing, but I couldn't finish all of them because after the first 5 juices, it tastes pretty rich. Best treat to look forward to.

It wasn't cheap, but I would definitely do it again. I'd probably stick to one or two days next time. If you want to "splitsies!" let me know.