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Happy CYBER Monday, people!

So who’s gonna be at it with me today…flying from site to site with over-caffeinated clicker fingers knocking off Christmas list items left and right all while enjoying the comfort of a fuzzy robe and slippers? Because, as I’m sure you know, the best part about being patient through all the Black Friday sales that seem to start earlier and end later each year is the fact that on Cyber Monday there are NO crowds, NO lines, and? NO PANTS!

Witchaapow!

Current Confession:

I honestly have no idea what I’m getting anyone for Christmas this year. I’m sorta keeping my fingers crossed for sudden inspiration while cyber shopping today. And I do solemnly vow NOT to buy anything for myself…unless its a REALLY good deal! 😉

Current Book:

With the holiday, last week was a bit of a blur. I haven’t been able to pick up another book since my last book binge. But all that will have to change next month…and quickly! I only need to read TWO more books to hit a whopping twenty-four for the year. Funny, it wasn’t so long ago that my goal was twelve books in a year and I came up shy by eleven.

Current Music:

So I figured it’s about time I posted this. I’ve been listening to Halsey’s debut album for about two months now, but haven’t had a chance to mention it due to all the concerts I’ve been going to lately. This album is one of those play, shuffle, repeat albums. It has everything I love…a great beat, electronic feel, and of course, explicit lyrics. Because we all know how much I like to sing four-letter words. 😛

Current Guilty Pleasure:

Taking Jason to McKay’s to trade in four boxes of HIS books and then buying stuff for myself with the credit. Though I hardly put a dent in it with my $4 purchase. What can I say? I’m a bargain shopper!

Current Entertainment:

Since I just finished reading A Clash of Kings at the beginning of the month, Jason and I re(binge)watched the second season of Game of Thrones. I have to say it was MUCH easier to follow having read the book. I used to always get so confused on who was who when I first watched it.

Current Wish/Need:

I might as well break the news now…I don’t think Elvira will be with us much longer. We just celebrated our fourth year together, but apparently her transmission doesn’t feel the love. I’ve kinda been ignoring the problem for a while now, but I know it’s only a matter of time. I definitely don’t wish it, but I guess I will need a new car soon.

Current Food:

Soup, soup, and MORE SOUP!! The temperatures are just started to dip, but Jason and I have been prepping for weeks. And if it’s not soup, it’s something saucy that we can dredge some hearty bread in. In other words, comfort food!

Current Drink:

Coffee, coffee, and MORE COFFEE! I try my best to keep it to one cup a day (physical, not actual…who the hell only drinks eight ounces of coffee at a time?!), but I’ve been sneaking in an extra cup a day here and there. It’s just so damn good!

Current Triumph:

Hello, my name is Heather and I would like to be praised for cooking not only one but TWO Thanksgiving dinners in two days. And I only had one eensie weensie panic attack when the garbage disposal backed up and I burned the brussels sprouts (but they still tasted good!). Please refer to Instagram for drool-worthy plate pics and a dessert spread lined with sugared up ~~creepers~~ kiddos.

Current Bane of Existence:

My thumbs? I know I’m getting old and all, but I swear I’m too young for arthritis to be setting in. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but I haven’t been able to stretch out my palms without pain for about a month now. Hmm, maybe I should go to the doc before my insurance deductible renews.

Current Blogger Crush:

Sorry, I’m gonna have to duck out of this one as my tech time has been miniscule this month. Though I can’t really apologize for that…coming from someone who used to have the hardest time unplugging.

Current Indulgence:

So I kinda fell in love with this oversized plush unicorn at gas station a couple of weeks ago. And I kinda didn’t tell Jason NOT to get it for me. And I kinda acted surprised when it was waiting for me in the car after I came back from the restroom. Everyone, meet Twinkle Toes. I may be turning another year older next week, but…fuck it, I don’t need an excuse. Look at him, he’s adorable!

Current Blessing:

Being able to cook for and host Thanksgiving for mine and Jason’s family this year. The surprise of getting the girls last Tuesday and having our first Thanksgiving as a little family. This is something I’ve wanted for so long…but only now realizing it.

Current Outfit:

Please see beginning of post for Cyber Monday dress code. 😛

Current Excitement:

Did you see it up there? Next week is my BIRTHDAY!! For the last few years, the birthday wishes have been less and less (oh look at that, I’m growing up) and honestly, after spending two whole weeks organizing all of mine and Jason’s stuff, the last thing I want is more STUFF. So, in lieu of presents, I have made one simple request…froyo with
ALL THE TOPPINGS!

Current Link:

http://berrybearyogurt.com/flavors-3/

Crossing my fingers that they’ll have the PSL flavor next week!

Current Mood:

I know I’ve used this before, but well…I’m still content. 😀

If you celebrated Thanksgiving last week, what was your favorite memory? Favorite dish?

What is your current blessing?

Posted on November 30, 2015 by kissmybroccoli | 6 Comments

My Week in HighBITES

Posted on November 23, 2015 by kissmybroccoli

Happy Monday, blogworld!

I’m popping in again for another round of Week in Review with Meg and all the gang to share with you guys the highBITES of my week…you know, like highlights, only tastier! 😉

Jason and I could not WAIT for last Monday to get here. Since we knew the cold weather would be moving in, we were looking forward to a good lazy day at home. The ONLY thing on the agenda was to heat up some leftover soup and break out the ingredients for mulled wine that I’ve been hoarding since my birthday last year.

After a few hours in the crock pot, the house was smelling ahhhhhmazing! We took ride on a wine-scented cloud and made our way into the kitchen. We ladled out two mugs, tipped our glasses, took a second to document on Instagram, and…? Curled up our lips and scrunched up our noses. BUT!! Luckily I didn’t pour it out because after it cooled overnight, we tried it again and it was GREAT! Who’d’ve thunk it?

The next day was not only cold but rainy, but it was the perfect day to start reading a new book because I could.not.put.it.down!

Jason found this when we were moving him in and told me it was a good read, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so freaking hilarious! I can’t remember ever reading a book that had me laughing out loud so much. And as a slow reader, I shocked the hell out of myself by finishing it in a day!

Sidenote: You have NO idea how excited I was once I realized this book fit perfectly with the theme of this post. Lol

When it came time to make something for dinner, I could barely be bothered. I needed something quick and easy. At first, I was thinking Asian, but once I got to pulling stuff out of the fridge, I was overcome with a need for comfort food (could have been the fact that this was the first time all day that I’d come out from under my blanket on the couch). And what screams comfort more than food swimming in a pot of gravy?!

Chicken, mushrooms, celery, carrots, and shallots all mixed and mingling with half a jar of Trader Joe’s garlic cooking and simmer sauce, some wine, and a bit of flour to thicken it up…hit THE spot!

On Wednesday, I finally left the house! I went to visit my mom and my newly adopted baby brother. For all you who don’t follow me on Instagram (which is a shame indeed), Gizmo is the newest addition to the family. He’s a chihuahua terrier mix with all the energy that comes with both breeds. In other words, it took 23956 tries to get this photo. 😉

Mom and I shared the last of the leftover soup that I had made over the weekend using the rest of the broth from the gumbo I made, some chicken, veggies, and Israeli couscous. Think chicken noodle soup…with a Cajun flare. Have any of you guys ever eaten Israeli couscous? I’ve had a thing of it in my pantry for umm…two years? and just tried it for the first time and it’s fantastic! It’s great in soup because it soaks up all the flavor.

When I got home later that night, I whipped up a quick curry-ish dish for dinner. I forgot to snap a pic because it was one of those, I’m gonna chew my arm off if I don’t get this food in my mouth NOW kinda moments, but it looked similar to this chicken and veggie curry I made last year…only it was saucier and served with bulgur.

On Thursday, I was feeling thurstay! Sorry, I had to! 😉

While whipping up dinner with Jason, I cracked open a bottle of Blue Moon pumpkin ale that I’d been saving and HOLY CRAP! That’s some damn good beer! It’s so smooth and not overly spicy like most pumpkin/fall ales tend to be.

There’s something to be said about a meal made together as a couple (while dancing around the kitchen with your respective alcoholic beverages). This meal is going down as one of my favorites to date. Pork chops in a mushroom gravy sauce with mushrooms and shallots, roasted kabocha, and Jason’s green beans with bacon and potatoes. Unpictured: some fantastic Italian bread that I picked up on the clearance rack at the grocery store.

On Friday, I woke up and made a HUGE batch of bacon cheeseburger soup for us to eat on over the weekend (in addition to all the other leftovers…like seriously, who am I?!). I started looking at this recipe. Then this one. Then I went off and did my own thing entirely, but it came out pretty good if I do say so myself. Like a creamy potato soup with little burger bits in it!

Now if you don’t mind me, I’m gonna slip down to slumber town. My work week(end) is done and I’m ready to start putting the finishing touches on our menu for Thanksgiving! We’ll be celebrating with my family on Wednesday and Jason’s on Thursday and I’ve got a LOT of stuff to make…I’ve already been to the store THREE times to buy ingredients…and I’m pretty sure I’ll be making at least one more trip before it’s all said and done. Oy!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday…or for those not celebrating, Thursday! I’ll see you next week for a little recap of it all! 😀

What was your best BITE last week?

What’s on the menu for Turkey Day?

Posted in Week in Review | Tagged beer, books, Gizmo, Jason, soup, wine | 2 Comments

All Work & Then Play!

Posted on November 9, 2015 by kissmybroccoli

Happy Monday peoples!

So I was taking a step back the other day and realized that somewhere along the line, between all the unpacking, cleaning, sorting, organizing, and REorganizing to be had in several rooms of this house of ~~mine~~ ours, that I’ll be damned if it hasn’t all come together quite nicely. After several days of back (and nearly toe) -breaking labor (no comment), I did a complete 180 (complete with jazz hands) and let loose for the weekend.

Heck, if I’m getting all dance-y this early on in the game, I might as well throw down a little Week in Review alongside Meg today. If you didn’t know, Meghan happens to be the queen bee when it comes to getting shit done, tooting her own horn, and dancing along to the beat, and I love her for every bit of it. So how about it? Let’s jive!

On Monday night, I logged in an extra shift at work in order to finagle the following weekend off. After ten long hours, I carried my zombie butt home and snoozed for a handful of hours on Tuesday morning before migrating to the couch where I spent the rest of the day cuddled up with my love marathoning Walking Dead (We’re starting over at the beginning since I’ve only ever seen season one)…though I did take a long enough break to throw half the fridge into a pot and called it soup!

On Wednesday, I was up bright and early-ish for day one of Mission: Make Sense of This House which in the beginning started as a never-ending, swallow-you-up-like-a-black-hole sort of task. Somehow, I managed to cook for two days in a row (I’m a maniac I tell ya!) and whipped up this chicken and pasta dish that started with Trader Joe’s garlic simmer sauce and cream cheese and ended in pure and utter deliciousness that was washed down with TWO glasses of wine (thankyouverymuch).

Thursday, I was back to the grind. More or less my standard process with these sort of things. Start to organize a room, realize I need/forgot something from another room, get sidetracked, end up lost in an abyss of boxes and piles of junk, crawl into a corner in a random closet, try in vain to hide from it all, figure there’s no way it’s all going to get done on its own, and set back to work on aforementioned room. I’ll tell you, it’s a bit of a cycle, but obviously it works because in two days the garage went from this…

To this!

BAM! Uh huh, you see that tool rack hanging on the wall in the background? I hung that all my myself I did…with a drill! 😀

After that, my body went into self-preservation (slash reward system) mode. I spent a luxurious half hour in a nice hot bubble bath complete with bunny ears and Bronze Radio Return streaming in the background. Oh do I love me some unintentional alliteration. 😉

Though I had intended for Friday to be more of a laid-back day, the cleaning/sorting bug was still giving me the itch so I went even further and organized under both bathroom sinks and the linen closet. In case you were wondering, my go-to strategy is “Storm Before the Calm”. Like I told Jason, it only matters that ‘I’ know what’s going on in the middle of it all. “Trussssssst in meeeee!“

I worked like that all the way up until time for us to leave. Where were we headed? Well, first we met our friends for some flights and fries at the Flying Saucer (hot damn, I did it again!) and then we were off to Nashville to see one of my favorite bands, Little Hurricane. Ahhh, remember them? How about they put on one FANTASTIC show! And? We actually caught them in the staircase on the way out and were able to tell them just how awesome we thought they were. I totally played it cool. Yep, totally.

Saturday afternoon we were out for another adventure! Meet back up with friends. Travel four and a half hours by car. Stop on the way to get my go-to road food. Sidetone: Did you know McDonald’s has brought back happy meal boxes…actual BOXES?! I haven’t seen these since I was a kid! Park in Covington, KY (just across the river from Cincinnati) and dance/jump/sing our asses off to the sickest tunes that only Robert Delong can produce. After the show, I was literally out of breath. It was that intense. Oh and then, before we left, I almost passed out when this happened…

That is Jason AND ME with ROBERT DE-FREAKING-LONG!!!! Do you see that?! We’re touching him! Like actually touching him! Oh yeah, I totally kept my cool. All the way up to when I found myself only capable of asking if I could have a hug…luckily, my friends helped me get an autograph.

And with that, I’m right back to another Monday. This time fully relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready to take on another week! This time with less cleaning, more relaxing, and lots of hugging on our monkeys when we go visit. Hope you guys have a great start to YOUR week.

Tell me, how did you get your R&R this weekend?

What are you looking forward to most this week?