#BlackFriday

Happy Thanksgiving!
Well I don't know about you but I think  I'm still full from yesterday's meal! Thanksgiving isn't just about the food though, it's about family and coming together to make a massive feast for all to enjoy. I can tell you I'm certainly so thankful for that! I ate so much yesterday between lunch at my house and dinner at my boyfriends! Typical fare like turkey, mashed potatoes, and homemade stuffing, but also other things like scalloped corn, cool whip fruit salad, and grandma's homemade banana bread. Not to mention some delcious pie that I made Wednesday! :) I don't think there's any better feeling than having your 82 year old grandmother stand in the kitchen with you to teach you how to make homemade whipped cream with her kitchen aid mixer that she's made very clear will be yours someday. It was just a great day all around. 

#BLACKFRIDAY

Today, my mom and I took our Black Friday extravaganza together. Unfortunately my aunt couldn't attend due to working in Long Island to help victims of Sandy. Typically my mom and I buy only a couple things here and there, some great deals for ourself that we wouldn't otherwise get; today was a different story. While my mom still has quite a bit to buy, I'm happy to report I am probably 3/4 of the way done with all my Christmas shopping already! I helped her get a great start on gifts for the family as well. It was a lot of fun but my bed is feeling pretty good after 10 hours of shopping!

Tomorrow is family Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's family so just when I thought there might be a bubble of room in my stomach I'll eat another huge meal! After that, it's back to school on Sunday (this break flew by!) and I'm so excited to be decorating my apartment for Christmas on Monday! Although I'm not sure Noey will appreciate it, he isn't a big fan of change or the fact the Christmas tree with sparkly garland and ornaments he can swat that he enjoys so much takes over the area where his infamous green moon chair is. Let's hope he makes peace with the tree this year! 

Happy Holidays!   

One Month Until the End of the Semester

Merry Cortaca!
Well Cortaca is over now but we went out with a Bang! For those of you who aren't familiar with what Cortaca is, it is "the biggest little game in the nation" (ESPN) held yearly between Ithaca College and SUNY Cortland. It is deemed a holiday in Cortland and this little college town is filled to the brim with rowdy college students. So here's an overview of my Cortaca weekend.

Friday: I took a test in the morning, only class of the day, then came home to be Cinderella! We had one of my boyfriend's friends from his previous college coming to visit who we hadn't seen since last year. Our apartment was a mess so I wanted to get everything cleaned up before the tornado of a weekend piled on top of it. By late afternoon my chores were done and we were able to watch a movie for awhile before our guest arrived. After that we all enjoyed dinner and just catching up until more friends came over to play cards and we ventured downtown. We strategically left at midnight to avoid the crowd for hours. After making our way to a local bar we enjoyed a drink and came home to order Zonies and go to bed.... silly us had to be up in 4 hours! So we all slept for a bit then got up to start the party of Saturday.

Saturday: Cortaca game day! My parents arrived at 8 am to get stuff ready to tailgate. We found a place to park over by the stadium so we could start tailgating. We had quite a feast! Pulled pork, chili, hot dogs, chip and dip, cookies, beer, mimosa, the works! It was truly just a great time. About half an hour before the game started we made our way to the stadium to find seats. What a game! It game down to the last minute of the game to determine who was going to win! Cortland won!!! Cortland 16 to Ithaca's 10 and the crowd went wild. After the game we came back to my house to get warm and eat our next round of goodies. We were all ready for a nap at that point. I napped for a bit while the guys hung out. After waking up we decided to go to a bar and grab a bit to eat for dinner so we went to Central City Bar and Grill. By far one of the best places in Cortland to get a burger. I tried a Saranac Caramel Porter which was really great. Then we went home to just hang out for the night, witnessing a brawl on the way home. We were really wishing we had a balcony just to people watch the rest of the night. 

Which brings us to today. Today has been a day of cleaning and recovery. The apartment was picked up and cleaned not long after we got up and said goodbye to our guest since I had a lot of homework to do and couldn't deal with the mess all day. It was nice getting everything cleaned up and laundry done. The rest of the afternoon I've been studying and getting work done while my boyfriend watched football with his cousin and I got to stare at this cute little guy all day. He spent his day recovering too. 

 

What a busy weekend it has been. This next week until Thanksgiving is going to be a hectic one, it will feel so great to go home and have a short break away from school work and professors who feel the need to pile everything on right now. Plus Thanksgiving means being able to decorate for Christmas! My favorite time of the year! Exactly one month from today I will be done with my fall semester of senior year. Where has the time gone? Until then I have a few tests, dance classes, an anniversary, a christmas party, a mini dance recital and two finals to get through. As much as I don't want time to pass quickly, I wouldn't mind if these next two weeks flew by so I can get to those two weeks of December. That's all for now! <3

First day of snow

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow?
Well, it's official. Cortland got it's first snowfall today. The flurries were flying off and on all day. Supposedly we're supposed to be getting 1-3 inches between 8pm and 8am tonight, I'll be sure to post pictures if we do! I think we're in it for the long haul now. Forecast shows snow off and on throughout the week. In all reality though, let's face it that it is the first week of November, we're lucky we haven't already snow for three weeks. Besides that, we can all see that it's snowing but if you have Twitter you would know without ever looking outside! I'll leave that topic on that note. 

Organization

I spent my afternoon organizing my closet. The past few weeks I've been having trouble opening and closing my dresser drawer where I keep my jeans and sweatpants. When I finally pulled it out of the dresser the other night to see if it had come off it's tracks, I realized the entire back of the drawer had fallen apart and was just hanging on by the metal track. I tried to put it back to together but it was just too full. I decided to buy Sterilite plastic drawers to put in my closet to put some clothes in so I bought them today and spent part of the afternoon organizing. It's so much better! Mornings start a lot better with an organized closet and dresser drawers that open and close! 

Dinner  
On a cold, rainy/snowy day, what's better than a nice hot, homemade dinner. Lasagna was perfect for tonight. It was so delicious and of course I made enough for four people for just two of us. Guess we have lunch tomorrow! Here's a couple pictures of it! 

  
Enjoy your night everyone! I'm going to watch Madea's Witness Protection then spending the night with a couple of friends tomorrow night!

Happy Halloween Eve!

#Sandy
While it may have been a non-event here in Central New York, my heart goes out to all of those affected downstate and on Long Island in addition to anyone in Cortland whose family is down there. I pray for a speedy recovery to everyone down there and restoration of power as quickly as possible.

So even though I didn't need it, I did make a storm kit for Sandy just in case the winds did knock out power. Since we didn't need it, I decided to pack it away and save it for a blizzard or whatever wacky weather event that might occur. Here's a (not so good) photo of my kit that could be saved.


Here's what's inside: Canned meat (Chicken, Tuna, Vienna Sausages (gross I know but in case of emergency!)), instant coffee and powdered creamer, honey nut cheerios, water, evaporated milk, A/C power adapters (so we can charge phones in the car), baby wipes, batteries, and storm candles. An old comforter bag worked perfectly!

FOOD!
So remember when I told you I'm obsessed with food, you're not allowed to laugh when you see the next photo! 

Since we had a bunch of leftovers in the fridge from the weekend, we decided to clean them out today for lunch! This is only like 3/4 of what we had, don't worry it didn't ALL get eaten. Here's what you're looking at. 2 homemade empanadas, 2 chunks of homemade pepperoni bread, 2 smoked wings from Piggy Pats, 9 Chicken nuggets and a couple french fries. We also had some homemade chips and a small dish of pulled pork.

PUMPKIN!

 So I bought a pumpkin over the weekend with hopes to get a picture of Noey sitting next to it like the great one I got last year

So much for that thought, he may be more mellow now but he's also got a mind of his own! So today I decided to carve his pumpkin into a kitten! It was messy and unexpectedly difficult because it was so small but it worked out as you can see by the photos above and it made some pretty great baked pumpkin seeds too. Noey finally came out to see his pumpkin and he actually sat on our table and kissed it twice but I couldn't get the photo fast enough so I guess what I have will do!


I hope that everyone has a fabulous Halloween tomorrow!

  

Calm before the storm

Who would have ever thought that central New York would be preparing for a hurricane at the end of October? Certainly not me! If you live on the east coast, I hope you have prepared properly, I'm not sure I have! Heading to the store tomorrow to stock up on a few minor things just in case. With 50+ mph winds they're predicting it's only a matter of time until the power is out so I'm posting now while I can.

I spent the weekend home with my family which is always so refreshing. Definitely helps me prepare for a new week. Friday night we made a trip to that favorite Italian restaurant I wrote about before, sorry no pictures this time, I was too hungry! I had this amazing seafood pasta; it was linguini with a light red garlic sauce with mussels, clams, calamari, and shrimp in it. YUM! I know what I'm eating leftover tomorrow! I also tried a new wine, Lambrusco. I'm a fan!

Yesterday I enjoyed a girls day with my mom while my dad and boyfriend golfed. We took a trip to Utica to get pedicures, do a little shopping, and grabbed a snack and drinks at Applebees. You can't beat that quality time! 

Today was a relaxing day, as Sundays usually are. My boyfriend and I took some time to go visit with my grandparents which is always entertaining, they're 82 and 84 years old. They were so excited to see us, it feels good to see them and make their day. After that we went to Piggy Pat's in Washington Mills for some lunch and football. If you've never been there, I highly suggest making your way up there some Sunday and ordering smoked chicken wings. Trust me, they're fabulous and like nothing you've ever had. Then it was time to head back to school. Since we got home I've been working on homework, cleaning up my apartment that looks like a hurricane already hit it (embarrassing!), and making cookies. Making cookies was quite the adventure! 

If you go to make cookies ( I was making chocolate chip) and you're out of brown sugar, you can use white sugar then just a couple of teaspoons of honey and you'll never know the difference. Everything online I read said to lower the heat and take the cookies out way sooner because they'll burn but that was not my experience. So delicious! Before I put my cookies in the oven we smelled something, it smelled like something burning! I figured it was cheese or something burning off in the oven (we could pizza in there frequently) but thankfully I opened it to look, it was a potholder! It is still a mystery how it got in there but I've never been so thankful to have an electric stove that just caused it to start to melt from heat not actually ignite. The oven hasn't been used since Thursday night and there was no potholder in it when I took the pizza out! What an experience!

Mom, you shouldn't cook pot holders! We'll weather Sandy together!

This week should be interesting with this storm hitting. I wouldn't mind having to stay put in my apartment for a bit. Hoping that everyone is safe and has everything they need. If we have power and everything is back to normal I'll be dressed as a cheetah to celebrate Halloween Wednesday night. Meow! 

That's all for now, stay safe!

Happy Wednesday!

Sorry I haven't been posting lately! Life's been a little hectic! Here's what's been going on lately:

I couldn't wait for Friday night after having a test for my online class. I took the test with my friends, since it was online we could use our textbooks. We had 1.5 hours to complete 50 questions. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong... we got a 72 on it and apparently we had some of the highest grades in the course. The test was one of the hardest open book multiple choice exams I've ever taken. Every question was worded very tricky. Was so happy for it to be over! I enjoyed a great date night with my boyfriend Friday night. We went to Doug's Fish Fry for dinner, so delicious! We both got fish dinners which, if you've never been to Doug's before, consist of a big piece of fried haddock, fresh cut french fries, coleslaw and a bun. Delicious! Then we went to Blockbuster to rent a movie and ended up coming to watch Toy Story 3 while enjoying some popcorn and red wine.

Saturday was a busy day with a meeting I had to attend then running errands. The evening was spent cooking dinner, drinking more red wine, and watching more movies. Ever get the hint we enjoy wine and movies haha?

Sunday I helped a school club with an event on campus by making cotton candy for half an hour, what a mess that was! My sweatshirt, jeans, and hair were covered with it. Even once I brushed my hair to get the chunks of cotton candy out it smelled like cotton candy all day! Once I was done with that my boyfriend and I were lucky enough to enjoy the day with my parents to tour a few wineries on Seneca Lake. We toured seven wineries, 6 on Seneca and 1 on Cayuga. On Seneca we went to King's Garden, Wagner, Caywood, Standing Stone, Red Newt, and Hazlitt. We also went to Americana on Cayuga, a family favorite. It was a fabulous day for wineries! The weather was great and the wineries weren't too busy. Came home with three bottles of wine to add to the collection. We finished the afternoon with a great meal of wings and burgers at Hairy Tony's in Cortland.

The  past two days have been typical days, classes and dance. That's all for now, stay tuned for next time!

Just one of those days

Today was just one of those days. You know the ones I'm talking about. One of those days where the alarm clock rings to early but it's 8:30 am, nothing seems comfortable enough to wear except sweats, and you just want to crawl right back in bed even though it's not a bad day outside or around you. We all have those days, today was one of mine. I was jealous my boyfriend was still sleeping when I left for school at 10 am! I hope that I'm not getting sick, on top of the feelings I mentioned above, I had a sore throat and just achy all over which didn't help my day! By the middle of my second class (I have 4 in a row MWF) I was ready to go home and nap. I grabbed myself a grilled cheese and some Tomato Basil soup (Yum!) just in time to find out my second two classes of the day were cancelled because my professor was also sick. Luckily I got to head home early, stopping at the gas station to get a couple of Karma waters along the way (new obsession!) then lounged on the couch for the day. As a kid, my favorite meal when I was a little under the weather was campbell's chicken and rice bake so obviously that's what I made for dinner tonight. So simple and so delicious, here's the recipe:

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup of water
3/4-1 cup of uncooked white rice
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
uncooked chicken breasts

Put it all together in a casserole dish and back for 45 mins-1 hour. Enjoy!

Here's the link to my new favorite drink obsession, Karma wellness waters: http://drinkkarma.com/. Check it out all 5 flavors and their benefits! So far I've tried the green tea one and the acai pomberry, the other three are in my fridge to be tried over the next couple days.

Last bite of summer

So we all know that we are very clearly into Fall now and the warm sunny days of summer are fading fast. My dinner tonight gave me one last taste of summer with a side of a family favorite jalapeno recipe. Living in a small town in the country, anyone can grow pretty much whatever vegetables they want all summer. My family chose to grow jalapeno and banana peppers, what a great season for them! We were so fortunate to be able to enjoy them as much as we did. Thankfully my mom remembered to pick most of the full grown peppers we had left on our plant before the first frost the other night and let me bring some back! This recipe can be prepared with jalapenos or banana peppers or really changed any way you'd like it to be. I've included a photo below but it really doesn't do justice to the great taste of these peppers (squishing them on the george foreman grill didn't help either, can only do so much in an apartment!)

Cut your peppers in half and remove all the seeds
Create a mixture of cream cheese and cajun seasoning to your liking
Fill the pepper halves with the cream cheese mix then wrap with bacon (typically 1/2 a piece is best with the jalapenos, a whole for bananas just so the bacon doesn't overwhelm.) I used turkey bacon tonight, honestly because it was on sale but you can use whatever your preference is, just not the microwaveable stuff!
Grill the peppers until they're hot through and the pepper has cooked to remove the crunch.
Enjoy!
Keep in mind not all peppers are the same heat! I've had bananas and jalapenos that are so hot I had to drink milk and eat bread but I've had others like tonight that are mild and just full of flavor.

I really hope some of you can enjoy this recipe as much as I did while I remembered the numerous times eating it over the summer tonight.

I would also like to wish Chobani Greek Yogurt a very very happy 5th birthday! On Thursday, Chobani will be celebrating the 5th year of phenomenal business since it's creation in 2007. So proud to have been part of this team for two summers! Happy birthday CHO!

Hometown favorites

So since I've been home for break I've been able to take part of some great local favorites. I started my break by traveling to Syracuse to pick my dad up from the airport which in my family always means dinner and shopping before we go to the airport! We ate dinner at Chili's, love their chips and salsa! Then went shopping at Plato's Closet and Marshall's. First time going there and I consider it a success! Came home with pink cowboy boots that were only $40! My boyfriend called me Ted from How I Met Your Mother but that's ok lol. Yesterday my family went to my favorite local Italian restaurant. Fried calamari and salad are a given with hot bread right out if the oven. I ordered stuffed chicken Alfredo, so delicious! I'm including a photo of half-eaten (sorry!) dinner. This dish is super easy to make at home so I'm including the recipe for how I make it below. Enjoy!

Stuffed Chicken Alfredo
1 stuffed chicken breast (I buy the broccoli and cheese stuffed ones for just $.99 each at Aldi's)
1 cup pasta uncooked (its pictured with tortellini, I typically make with like ziti or rigatoni)
1/8 C jarred Alfredo sauce

Cook the chicken according to the package (the ones I buy usually just have to bake for 40 mins)
When you're about 20 mins into cooking your chicken boil pasta water, add pasta when boiling. Cook through then warm Alfredo sauce. When its warm to your liking combine with drained pasta and put chicken on top. Enjoy!

Life and snowflakes

So I know I promised food pictures and since I'm going to my favorite local Italian restaurant tonight I'll be sure to post again. Today was the first flurries of the season. No massive snowstorm or accumulation, let's not get carried away, but definitely a few flurries in the air. So what better way to spend the day than with the love of your life, snuggled up in front of the electric heater playing "Life"? You might be a 90s kid if lol! Not to mention hanging out with the cutest, laziest kitten I know, Mr noey bug. That's all for now, later ill fill you in on my fabulous dinner!

Chinese food and ice cream

Well today has been a pretty lazy day. Traveled home and back for a doctors appointment then spent the rest of the day just hanging out thanks to no class. Couldn't let go of the idea that I wanted Chinese takeout for dinner (a rare craving for me) so I just finished eating some of that and it hit the spot! Now to finish it off with a little Edy's slow churned mint chocolate chip ice cream (the best, discovered when I had the stomach bug last year!)

Two bothersome thoughts this evening:
1) The local chinese restaurant really caters to the convenience factor offering online ordering with free delivery. I'm all about that idea because it's way easier for me to tell you exactly what I want by typing it then not have to drive across town to pick it up. One problem, is free delivery really free when the order total is $8.75 and you charge $10. When I ordered from them before they had an $8 minimum so when I ordered a $6 meal they'd tack on $2 so they could deliver, fine with me. Not sure how I feel about the idea of raising that minimum without telling customers. Any thoughts?

2) SUNY Cortland giving students Friday off to make up for being in class on Monday. Now I know many colleges have classes on Columbus day, however when classes are in session while all offices are closed so that touring students can see classes in session on one of their most common days off slightly bothers me. Perhaps I'm more annoyed by the idea that no one reminds these guests to our campus that we are still in school today and that 30 people don't need to herd in one hallway blocking traffic. Then to give a one day fall break? Most students don't bother. Thankfully I have every Thursday off and live only one hour away so I get to extend my break more than others. Just a little food for thought.

Now off to eat my ice cream and watch Miss Congeniality! Fall break begins tomorrow at 2:30!

Welcome to the blogosphere?

Well, this is my first blog and first time writing a blog so bear with me! My about me gives you a little information about me but let me fill you in a little more.

Why Love, Food, Life?
- I am in love with my boyfriend. We have been together for almost 7 years, 1/3 of our lives. We are best friends, we do everything together including share an apartment with our kitty Noey, my other love. I also have unconditional love for my parents. Growing up an only child has been a 100% positive experience in my life. I have learned to be an independent woman and appreciate the relationship I have with my parents and all they've been able to give me.

- Food: I love to eat. Diets are not my friend, I love food too much. I could never imagine not having a sense of taste. My favorite foods are pizza and pasta, obviously a carb loader! You'd think I was from a huge italian family with the types of food I eat but I'm not. I try to eat healthy but the reality is I'm still a college student and will rarely turn down fried food or ice cream. I like to take pictures of yummy food I eat or share great recipes so consider yourself warned!

- Life: Life's too short to not embrace it. I try to live by the idea: Live, Laugh, Love. You'll never have these types of experiences again, most epic things you're only going to do once, so do them right the first time!

Noey is helping me type so I think we'll sign off for now before he decides to blog for everyone! Talk to you soon!