Moo Cows

In our home we have two identical "moo cows". They both have equally had their stuffing ripped out of them, and have equally bit and chewed. It matters not, because this always happens.

They fight over every thing, but the "moo cow" thing is the most funny/frustrating (depending on how I'm feeling.) Even if I hand them each one toy, they both want whatever one the other one has. Oh my doggy children.

Anti-Microwaves: How to Reheat Pizza

I hate microwaves. I hate microwaving food in general.  Its one of the reasons I rarely eat leftovers and we have the constant struggle of whether to take or buy lunch.  Microwaves leave food gross.  So when I find a suggestion of how to reheat food, not in the microwave.... I take it!

I found this on (take a guess, yup!) Pinterest!  I would add, that when he says "on Medium heat" he means it. I put mine on high because it was taking several minutes and i was HUNGRY.. and I got a little burned.

But I also got deliciously melty crunchy pizza.  Delightful!

So go here to the foodwishes blog for great instructions on reheating pizza.

Recommended Blog: Pansies!

Tracy, the wonderful florist who did my wedding flowers has a great blog post out about potted pansies.  Even though the holidays are here, winter always leaves me longing for green grass (or weeds in our case), flowers and fresh veggies in the garden.  The idea that it's time to plant pansies makes me very happy!

Read away! (And hire her if you have a wedding coming up. She's excellent!)
http://springwellgardens.blogspot.com/2011/11/diy-for-spring-weddings-think-pansies.html

Amazing Frosting Tip

I am a new convert to Pinterest.com (and I adore it).

This means that I see lots of neat ideas, crafts, tips, and articles each day, and I share them there. However, i just saw a video linked from Pinterest that needed immediate sharing on my blog. If you use frosting tips and bags EVER... watch this video.  (Here's the source)

Cross Culture at Home

Last weekend, I went to a bridal shower for my friend Keerthi, and thrown by my friends Niha and Gagan.  It was an amazing experience!  I have learned so much about India from Keerthi and several of the other friends who were at the shower, but this felt somehow different.  Well, mostly, because of all the beautiful saris!!!!  I love clothes from India!

I mostly spent time with some new friends, Vedika and Marisha who are the wives of two of my coworkers. We had some really fun conversations. Vedika is a Hindu, Marisha a Muslim, both born and raised in India, and me a Christian, but from the US. We had some really fun conversations about religion and culture.  And of course, about the difficulty of being in a new country away from all your friends.  As I start trying to figure out what the future holds for me, I start really empathizing with these sorts of conversations.

Then we ate a giant plate of delicious Indian food. I proudly went to tell Keerthi how brave I was and how I didn't even cry because it was too spicy. She said "yeah, I told them not to make it too spicy." :p Oh well!  It was delicious, even if I wasn't as brave as I thought!

Then, after some really fun shower games, Arti sang some beautiful songs for Keerthi to celebrate this time in her life. They translated them for me too so I'd understand, but I was just overwhelmed by the beauty of her voice filling the room, unaccompanied.  Then there were some mild attempts at dancing... now... I'm not good at American dancing, but Indian dancing requires a grace and confidence that I simply do not possess.  But boy was it fun to watch the others!

It was quite possibly one of the absolute coolest things I have ever done. Thank you Keerthi for letting me part of this day!

My coworkers

Carpet Magic!

This weekend I came home and the whole house smelled like dog.

Jasmine had an accident, but more than that. The whole bedroom just smelled like dog, the living room smelled like dog, the couch smelled like dog... And I was just not happy about it.  Especially since, now that we're treating Tolpel's allergies, he actually smells like a nice regular dog instead of a stinky dog.

And it had been a long weekend, so there was much crying and sighing as I looked around unhappily.

I've been reading a lot of blogs and articles lately about natural cleaners (including Heather's Natural But Normal blog), so I thought "Hey, let's see what some baking soda and vinegar can do."  Amazing things. That's what it can do.


Amazing thing number 1: Stink remover!
I sprinkled baking soda on my rugs, on my carpets, and on my couch. Then I sprayed the couch down with a half vinegar, half water solution and rubbed gently with a cloth.  For the floors, we had borrowed my mother in law's wet vac (and still haven't returned it, oops!), and so I put vinegar in the "soap" part and wet vaccuumed the floors. My house smelled like vinegar for about an hour, but afterward, everything was neutralized and my house looked great!

Amazing thing number 2: Spot remover!
I had 3 main spots areas I was concerned about.
 - A food spillage spot on the couch that had been there since we got married (so 2 years ish)
 - A previously sticky spot that was on the rug when we moved in (and had resisted a whole slew of cleaning chemicals)
 - A dark spot on the carpet where mud got ground into the rug and carpet cleaners didn't help.

All I did was rub some baking soda into the spot, spray thoroughly with vinegar/water solution, and watch it bubble. Then I scrubbed a little with an old toothbrush and MAGIC, all gone!  No discoloration of the fabric, but perfect spot remover.  I was honestly stunned.

Anyway, I share these things because I am NOT Martha Stewart. I haven't bothered to clean my carpets since we moved in, and I only vacuum when I have to. I hate cleaning, I hate knowing what cleaning supplies I even need... Having a spotless house is a large and impossible waste of time.  So when I figure out something quick, easy, cheap, that works on stains that I haven't bothered to get out in 2 years... well, that's something worth sharing with the larger community. :)

Kitchen Tricks

As much as I love cooking, I can get easily overwhelmed by complicated meals.  I have started doing a few things that I'm sure every cooking 101 class covers... but here are my favorite cooking tips!

1. Read the recipe first.  Not all recipes are equal. Sometimes they aren't obvious that the 2 tbsp of butter are divided.  Sometimes they have that treacherous word "meanwhile". *shudder*. A quick read of the recipe before you start makes sure the "meanwhile"s don't defeat you.

2. Prep the food!  If you need 1/8 cup onion chopped and 1/2 cup bell pepper chopped, chop before you start! I only recently started doing this, and the onions would start burning while I furiously chopped peppers.

3. Relatedly, the most amazing "prep bowls" in the world - a muffin pan! Isn't this ingenious?! Only one dish to wash!

4. When measuring multiple scoops of something, count while pouring each scoop clockwise.  Let me explain.  Say you need 2 TBSP of sugar, but you only have a tsp clean. Fine. You need 6 tsp.  No big deal.  But inevitably around tsp 4... Or was it 5?  Oh no, you've lost count.  When I do this, I put tsp 1 at the "12 o'clock" and the second tsp at "1 o'clock" in the bowl.  When I lose count, I can actually see where I am by where I just dumped my last tsp.  Brilliant!

Does everyone already know these? I feel like I'm the last one coming to this party.  And share your awesome tips with me!

Dinner Diva

That's right, I'm back!

Just a little sampling of the meals I have made in the last few weeks.  Apparently I am completely sick of fast food and have really missed cooking, because I was pretty adventerous the last few days.  Here are my last 3 from-scratch meals:

1. Pineapple Southwest Chicken (previously blogged about.)
2. Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms
3. Chicken Fettuccine, homemade savory herb bread, fruit salad

Monday's meal was pretty involved for me, but the fruit salad was extremely quick and the perfect end to the heavy (delicious) fettuccine.

Mary Beth's Fruit Salad:
Yields 8 servings:
1 apple (honey crisp or other sweet variety), chopped
1 orange, chopped
1 cup pineapple, chopped (leftover from my southwest chicken)
1 TBSP agave nectar (a low glycemic index sugar substitute that is the consistency of syrup so it sticks it all together.)

Stir. Enjoy.

Nutrition
- Calories: 33
- Fat: 0.1g
- Carbs: 8.4g
- Fiber: 1.4g
- Sugars: 6.5g
- Protein: 0.3g