Cashew Chicken Or How I Learned That I Can Really Cook

In keeping with new year and new things, I'm definitely making more of an attempt to eat healthy and cook proper dinners. Awhile back I posted smoothie recipes on here and that was also when I was trying my hand at a fit lifestyle. I realized then, I need food. Don't get me wrong, juicing and smoothies are wonderful, but I can't live off fruits and veg alone! I need more and I need it to taste good! So the other day I took a good hard look at all my pinterest boards and made a real grocery list and planned out a couple meals.

Without further ado, here is Homemade Cashew Chicken. All credit for the recipe goes to blog The Art Of Doing Stuff, thanks!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Large Chicken Breasts

• 1 Tbsp Cornstarch
• 6 Small Garlic Cloves (minced)
• 8 Green Onions
• 1/4 Cup Hoisin Sauce
• 1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar (unseasoned)
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Cashews (toasted over medium/low heat in pan)
• 1 Can of Mandarin Oranges or 1 Sumo Orange (optional)
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive Oil
• However Much Rice You Need, i.e: One Half Cup Per Person

To begin, I would chop everything (onions, oranges, chicken, garlic) and start your rice cooking. There was a lot more chopping than I was used to and I honestly extra toasted my cashews. They were still delicious, but a bit blackened :(. Separate your white parts from the green parts on the onions and chop all into about 1/2" to 1" pieces. Chop your orange segments in half. Cube your chicken. Mince that garlic!

Once you've cubed your chicken, go ahead and put it in a tupperware or plastic bag with the cornstarch, salt & pepper. Shake it up! Set aside. 

Then take the white part of your onions and garlic and begin to saute in the olive oil for a few minutes before adding your chicken. Fry the chicken for about 5 minutes or so, until all traces of pink are gone.

On medium high heat, add the rice vinegar and cook until it is evaporated. Then add Hoisin sauce and water. Stir in cashews as well. Remove from heat once sauce is thoroughly covering all and add in the green parts of the onion. Give that a quick stir and then serve on a bed of rice. Top with mandarin oranges and ENJOY! 

This was delicious and I was super proud of myself for adulting so well. Make this for yourself! Make it for your friends! You'll thank me! :)

Keep on, Keepin' on y'all!

M.

If Plant Lady Is The New Cat Lady, I'm Here For It!

Spring is right around the corner, finally! I say this even though yesterday it was a lovely 78 on Thursday and now yesterday and today have brought a chill back into our world. But it's still a good day and that's what you've got to keep telling yourself.

I work in retail and the store I work at has a junior's department with cute and ~quirky~ items for sale. We are having a serious 90's revival and one of the things we have are all these packs of patches. One pack:

The little patch in the upper right is where my post title came from. And I am definitely embracing it! I have a little succulent/cactus garden set up and then yesterday I added a lily whilst at Lowe's looking for a fern. I bought the lily to get somewhat of a start on my "goth garden". If you search on Pinterest you will find so many awesome pictures of black/white/purple/blood red flowers. It's my new goal. I'm glad I've finally dug up the gardening gene from my mom! 

Here's my little garden so far! Enjoy:

Happy (soon) Spring!

Keep on, keepin' on,

M.

It's Fall Y'all!

We're in Florida though so it's still 90 degrees outside around noon...but we have had a bit of a break in the heat in the mornings FINALLY.

I have no clue exactly what I want to be for Halloween. I know, I KNOW. I don't even know. We aren't having a party this year and without a theme or need I guess for an outrageous costume, I am just stumped. I had thought of being a skunk or Edward Scissorhands and I'm not set on either and now I've got about 2 and a half weeks to figure it all out and hope for the best haha.

If anything develops I will be sure to DIY post about it.

Keep on, keepin' on,

M.

Thanksgiving is Nearly Here!

The holidays are upon us friends! I am honestly looking forward to both Thanksgiving and Chirstmas this year. More than I have in the past few years and I'll tell you what: It's great :)

I've been in retail for going on 11 years now and as the holiday season has crept up faster and sooner, it zapped alot of the spirit out of me for many years. On top of some person drama during those years, I really gave up on good cheer, just putting on a nice front. This year things have come back to a bit of normalcy and drama has been squashed away, and even my store has gone companywide and given us a day completely off on Thanksgiving. The mall held out until November to put up their Christmas lights. I heard Santa isn't even showing up til after Black Friday!

Also, in moving over here to St. Pete, we have bonded with a wonderful block and now I have a pair of lovely ladies to craft Christmas bobbles and garlands with! We're so happy to get together and just enjoy each other's company. My parents had a neighborhood group when they lived in Chicago and they always talk of it with fond memories. To this day I'm pretty sure they still send each other Christmas cards....30 years later! This is the neighborhood we have found, this is where we'll stay :)

When I do crafting, trust that I shall put a few DIY blogs up!

Keep on, keepin' on,

M.

Life Update and Decorating Begins

Hello! So I shall start this blog off with the best news of 2015:

MY DAD GOT HIS CANCER SCREEN BACK AND IT IS CLEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have never been more happy in my life. My Dad is my rock and I was having freak outs all the time over his illness. But now we can breathe easy! Tonight I am having dinner over at my parents to celebrate. Mom is making spaghetti squash with meatballs and I'll be drinking beers by the pool with my Dad. I can't wait!

We have begun to decorate. Honestly we are prepared for Halloween year round, but I shall at least show you our fireplace mantle, as it is bad ass:

And in our bar room we have this dapper friend:

Things are coming together outside, but still in the no photo stage. All will be revealed in due time.

I had to brush out my wigs for this month, and yes I have a very large number of them because A) I like options and B) I was able to get them for cheap :)

This is maybe a third of the collection :) And yes I will most likely wear all of them depending on parties and events this month. 

SO READY TO GET MY SPOOK ON!!!!

Keep on, keepin on,

M.

Great and Wonderful Days!

So I submitted a piece to the website, HelloGiggles. THEY ACCEPTED IT!!! YAYAYAYAY!!! I was pushed towards what I want to do, did it and things are happening!!! Really going full force now and signing up for writing courses locally to expand my mind and tweak my skills. I am becoming happier every day and I think that it's really paying off karmacally(SP??).

In other news I am piecing together items to form my voodoo witch queen head-dress extravaganza. I am not sure why I have such a dramatic flare when inevitablly I know that I will hate and eventually remove this piece by my drunkeness at around 2am. But if I come out this year with some cool photos in our backyard swamp, I suppose it will be worth it. Beauty (swamp fashion!) is pain.

Using this little guy as the centerpiece starting on my forehead:

These friends as some sort of decoration on the costume. Currently they are playing Sia and swinging from our chandelier.

This is my wig. Not using those flowers, but wanted to give her a ~look~ (Feeling those Lana Del Rey VIBES)

All in all I am excited with life. I shall more than likely update on the head-dress construction. Look out for it soon!

Keep on, keepin on,

M.

Judy Blume!

     Happy Sunday! Today is the day for sleeping in (if possible) and then languidly going to hang with friends/family or run errands. So this early afternoon as I sat out on my porch enjoying my second cup of coffee and having my Sunday convo with my folks, my mom told me easily one of the most exciting things to be upcoming in a long while.

 Ahem:

JUDY BLUME IS COMING TO DOWNTOWN ST PETE FOR THE FESTIVAL OF READING AND SHE IS GOING TO HAVE A BOOK SIGNING FOR HER NEW BOOK BUT ALSO SHE WILL SIGN ONE OF HER OLDER BOOKS! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

    Ok, to start at the beginning, my mom was always big on reading to me and made up different voices for characters and would have me read aloud to her before I stated kindergarten. So my whole childhood was a wonderful world of imagination and far off places and great people that whenever I got lonely, would be waiting for me right in the chapter I'd left off at the night before. My two favorite authors during elementary school were Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. After I started middle school, Judy stayed to give me advice on puberty and friendship. Then I moved on to high school and Judy was still in my corner, never to far to advise. As a grown up I still continue to re-read her adult novel Summer Sisters . I am also currently reading her new adult novel In The Unlikely Event , which takes place in the 40s/50s up to present day. Because of this new novel, she is going on promotional tours around the US and Canada again and today mom told me this wonderful news. Down the street from my house (basically) I will be able to listen to one of my favorite people ever speak about her stories and THEN tell her hello and how awesome I think she is whilst she signs one of my favorite books. I haven't finished In The Unlikely Event yet so I haven't put it in my list, but it is very good so far.

    Also I wrote a question to Judy Blume and she answered it on Buzzfeed and I fangirled ALOT.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/pieces-of-advice-judy-blume-has-for-young-writers-readers#.yqnqdlJk13

    Keep on , keepin on!

         M.