What I’ve realized this week

*I don’t like how the price of Dunkin Donuts coffee is increasing. At first, I thought I was going crazy because the iced coffee seemed to more expensive here than in Charlotte. But then I did a little research and turns out the price of their iced coffee and breakfast sandwiches at certain locations has gone up and may still go up. And of course, I think Dunkin has rockin iced coffee but not really a fan of their hot coffee. And vice versa for Starbucks.

*I have an unusual obsession with Mob Week

Mind you, they play movies that I’ve seen a hundred times. However, something about that it’s on for hours on end really excites me. I didn’t want Mob Week to end but of course, all good things must come to an end. Perhaps they should create a mob station? I would totally subscribe!

*I miss Lost. A lot.

‘Nuff said.

*As much as I complain about how hot is it outside and how I can’t wait for winter to be here, I’m going to miss salads come fall and winter. I’ve been chomping down on them a lot lately and eating a salad in the fall or winter just doesn’t do it for me.

*Bonding with mom isn’t so bad. My mom and I are close but not like Gilmore Girls close. I don’t tell her my secrets, indulge her with information about who I’m dating and admit, I can be pretty secretive with her. She is unemployed at the moment and wanted to go shopping to get out of the house and do something with someone instead of sitting at home alone. We  went shopping, had coffee and it was nice to hang out. I think I can definitely do it in small increments like three or four hours. Otherwise, we will likely kill each other.

*Once again, I need to cut myself off from all things Groupon. South Florida not only has one or two Groupon options, they have three! I get the emails for Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach daily and while that’s nice for saving money and trying out new businesses, I need to stop buying. I bought this Groupon awhile back when I lived in Charlotte for my parents to use and my dad insisted on my mom and I going for lunch the other day.

I don’t know how I have the ability to pick out places that are dead but we were the only table in there

It was a bit creepy but way better than being surrounded by noisy people. Our server told us that it picks up at nighttime and I can see why. Hello drink specials! And I noticed that they are all day drink specials so I guess if I have nothing to do and feel like a good day drinking session is in order, I know where to go.

Not only are the lunch items cheap, you get a salad with any lunch item

I got the chicken franchese and the chicken took up half of the plate

That’s what I’m talking about! More bang for my buck!

To top it off,  you get dessert with any lunch entrée!

It’s been too long since I’ve had a decent cannoli. The ones I had in Charlotte were pretty crappy but this here was the real deal.

*I love to spoil my dog

Lincoln isn’t having a dog party anytime soon since A) that’s ridiculous and B) momma has student loans to pay before throwing her non existent money towards a dog party. But that doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy a fun treat right? I got him a martini doggie treat and he scarfed it down, like momma like dog.

*I love riding my bike again! I usually scoff when I hear people say that once they find something they truly enjoy, it doesn’t feel like exercise anymore but I kind of know what they mean. I love going out there without a plan and seeing where I’m going to end up. I felt ambitious on Sunday and went for a four mile ride in the afternoon. I felt like I could have kept going but I underestimated how much water I would need. I rested for a bit then went out again that night for another four miles.

And that’s it…..for now at least. I’ve realized a whole lot more but I am just about dead to the world with a headache from hell. My sister has been in town so we have been going around non stop. She is getting married in October and lives three hours away so when she comes to town, she wants to get as much done as possible. Plus, on a happier financial note, I am going to work tomorrow! My friend is a recruiter and hooked me up with a week and a half long gig doing reception work. The girl is going on vacation next week and is going to train me the next three days and then I will be on my own next week. Get out of the house and get some extra cash? Sign me up!

What have you realized lately?

Tell me something fun going on with you! I am so behind with reading blogs, checking Facebook, etc.!

Tempting Tapatio

Sup homies? So, the last few days have been anything but exciting. They’ve been pretty boring so here are the highlights:

#1. Operation eat leftovers is still in tact

Leftovers of enchiladas that I made on Friday

Taco salad with leftover chicken than I made on Saturday

I spiced it up by adding my homeboy Tapatio. At first, I picked him up the other night in Wal Mart and wasn’t going to take him home. But fate had a different plan. See, what happened was that I picked up one bottle and dropped it on contact. All. Over. The. Place. I’m talking my flips, capris, legs, toes-the Wal Mart floor was covered in Tapatio. It was quite nasty and I feared that there would be a midget who was craving the hot sauce around to lick it off my toes. So I walked up and down the aisles of Wal Mart searching for just one employee but couldn’t even find that. I found some paper towels around so I could de-Tapatio myself off but the entire night I reeked of it, even after showering, Even though he is a slippery bitch, I still got nothing but love for him.  I love the heat he brings to the table and how cheap he is. What more can you ask for in a man?

#2. I’m legit and got a library card here!

They have a huge selection of books plus I found these. When I lived in Charlotte, I would have had to wait a month or two for these. I’m especially excited about The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest In since I’ve been searching for the free or cheap version everywhere but can’t find it. Plus I only have it for two weeks and it’s a little over 500 pages.

#3 The YMCA sucks here. I found out that I can only go 14 times in one year not 14 times in one month as I thought. They have the basics there but I am used to more variety in a gym. They have a small cardio area but older versions of machines and mostly treadmillsI went yesterday and had a less then stellar workout.

So I am going to attempt to the scam the system and go to the one here then go to the one in the county over since it’s only 15 minutes away.

#4. I’m going to start swimming. I used to be a huge swimmer and oddly enough, that was when I was in my best shape —a long, long time ago. My parents have a pool and even though it’s obviously not an Olympic size pool, I can do laps, not have to worry about bumping into anyone else and now feel like I can be serious about it since I got some goggles after the Great Tapatio Mess of ‘11.

#5. Operation make food at home is still going on as well.As mentioned before, my parents go out to eat all the time. I told them I would be more than happy to cook for them to save some money and eat at home. Tonight I make breaded chicken cutlets and Triple Tomato Sauce penne from Food + Wine. I didn’t have a few of the ingredients on hand so I used what I had and make my own sauce, my revisions are in red:

1. 1 pound penne
2. 2 medium tomatoes (5 ounces each), cut into 1-inch dice one can diced tomatoes
3. 4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained 1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
4. 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1/4 cup
5. 4 large basil leaves 1/4 cup chopped parsley
6. 1 garlic clove  about three tablespoons minced garlic
7. 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

I mixed the ingredients in my magic bullet then put it on the stovetop on low and threw in some sautéed mushrooms. I pounded two chicken breast then made smaller cutlets out of them. Then dredged the chicken in flour, eggwash and breadcrumbs with oregano and pepper mixed in then fried on the stovetop in vegetable oil.

Only three of the four burners on my parents stove work and of course every time I try to cook something, I forget which one it is so cooking in this house is super fun. However, I was quite impressed that my parents had some organic whole wheat penne on hand

And they scored it for $.99-nice job parents!

I really loved the sauce and it took no time to make. In the past I have used diced tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, wine and various spices but I haven’t used tomato paste all that often.

Another great thing about this recipe? It made a crap ton of food which means lots of leftovers-looks like I’ll be eating this the rest of the week.

#6 This living with my parents thing is not going to last long. I already had one freak out session so let’s hope I can make it to October without us at each others throats. I will be out of here for most of September however I have August and the early part of October to get through. I’m going to try to look for some temp work for the month of August so I can get out of the house and earn some money and of yeah, keep my sanity.

#7 As frustrated as I am, I still have the fur babies to keep me company

If you’re a fan of the heat-what’s your favorite hot sauce?

Have you ever lived with your parents as an adult? If so, how did you keep the peace or was that not an issue?

Around Athens

Attention all four legged friends and the people they own—Athens, GA is a very dog friendly city! Perhaps it’s the memories of penny pitches, fake ID’s or unhealthy food at your disposal any time of day…. but I love college towns. Especially college towns in the summer time when it’s not insanely packed and you can get a chance to walk around and check it out. A majority of restaurants/bars on Broad Street in Athens have patios right along the sidewalk where you can sit with your pooch. I guess I wouldn’t expect less seeing how University of Georgia’s mascot is UGA, the bulldog.

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While looking for restaurants where I could bring Lincoln, I saw a few  places but when I looked at their menu, nothing popped out at me especially not at the prices they were offering. I read about De Palma’s and didn’t get a chance to check out their menu beforehand. When we stopped by there to check it out, we saw they had a lot of tables open on the patio with very reasonable prices.

We sat outside and thank god the patio was covered began the clouds were rolling in.

After sniffing out the patio, DePalma’s was Lincoln approved

We ordered right away since we were hungry and got some wine. A perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon.

We got some fresh bread out to us before we got our meal. There is nothing like fresh bread and olive oil!

Lincoln got a whiff of the bread right as the server brought it out. He wasn’t pawing at me or anything but you could tell he was intrigued.

Since it was June in Georgia and we were sitting outside, pasta or pizza was the last thing on my mind. I ordered the Insalata Cecilia-grilled shrimp, scallops, pineapple & tomatoes with feta over field greens with jalapeño–citrus vinaigrette

My mom and dad got a medium pizza with pepperoni and green peppers. As you can see, there is only half here. They brought it out that way. The reason being because my mom, Lincoln and I sat outside while my dad sat inside at the bar. No bad blood or anything, he was just hot. So was I but I had a fur baby to deal with. I guess he had prime seating location since he waved over the server when he saw them bringing out the pizza. So they gave him half and then brought out the remainder to my mom. This is how my family rolls. I tried a sliver of the pizza and wasn’t too impressed. The pizza was bogged down with sauce and make it soggy plus the sauce was very sweet.

Lincoln began to pout once he realized he wasn’t getting any food and wouldn’t respond to me when I called his name. So I did what any good dog mama would do and fed him a few pieces of pepperoni from the pizza. His admiration for me set in right away until yet again he realized he wasn’t getting anymore.

Torrential rain hit just as we were leaving so we walked Broad Street trying to find a patio to sit in until it passed. We ended up in the stairwell of a bar and watched the rain….and watched….and watched. 15 minutes later it finally started to let up and I saw something with the letters “YOG” I gave my mom my dog and bolted over there in hopes that it was fro yo.

Indeed it was fro yo, it was Yoguri.

I dug this location since it was a historic building just sooped up. However, I soon found it wasn’t my beloved self serve kind of place, it was a traditional fro yo kind of joint. Boo. It reminded me of a Pinkberry knockoff and I’m not a huge fan of the Pinkberry. But once I saw the fro yo, I had it on the brain and needed to get something there. I ordered the small green tea with blackberries and strawberries.

Ok, so they hooked up with the strawberries and blackberries but I definitely didn’t want all of that. When I have a fro yo craving, I want a little portion and craving gone, which is why I dig the self serve places. This SMALL portion cost $5.30. Mind you, it tasted wonderful but I could get a meal for that much (at a seedy place or the supermarket deli, not Ruth Chris of course)

I hope I get to go back to Athens one day…..with Lincoln of course!

If you went to college, did you go to a small or big school? I went to WVU, it has around 25,000 people when I went and the fact that it was voted #1 party school may have swayed my vote to go there just a little.

Throwing deuces

This heat sucks.

There I said it, it’s out and that means I will be complaining about it for the rest of the summer….or will I? I am outta here June 30 and some of you have asked where I’m moving to and the answer is still I don’t know. I am throwing a pair of deuces to Charlotte, driving to the NC beaches for July 4th then going up to DC for a week. Afterwards, I may drive up to NYC and Boston but that’s still in the air. And of course at some point I would like to check out Colorado but I’m not sure if I would drive there or fly. If I flew, I would drive back to Florida where all my stuff will be at my parents then fly from there while they dogsit Lincoln. And then there is Italy in August or September for a few weeks and then Phoenix in September. So I am hoping to have an idea of where I will be come October but we’ll see.

You all remember this bitch of a bedframe?

Well it broke….again. So I threw the deuces to it and now have my mattress on the floor. I feel like I should be in a movie about heroin addiction with my mattress on the floor, it’s just weird. Now I just have to figure out how to dissemble it. I heard a rumor that you can go to Ikea and buy the made-for-Ikea-only tools there but I’m not sure if that’s true-anyone know?

I made my way to the gym on Wednesday morning and had a better than expected workout. I’m so unmotivated to even move when it gets hot out much less go work out. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical then did one mile on an Expresso Recumbent Bike, has anyone else ever done this?

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When I hopped on, you had to either log in or you could sign in as a guest. I’ve never seen it before so I just logged on as a guest then from there you pick your route. I just did a mile since that was the first option and kept beeping so loud whenever I tried to go to another option, I just wanted it to stop. It was cool because you can see right in front of you where you are going, the course, your heart rate, calories burned, gears, distance and other competitors (a few guys looked hot from the backside) but I couldn’t figure out how to steer! I tried moving the handles near the monitor and the ones on the side and nothing. I will have to do some research. Besides the little issue of not being able to steer, I enjoyed this. It’s been forever since I biked, I really would like to get back into it. When I was in high school, we would ride our bikes to beach, stay all day, ride back, stop for lunch, come home and pass out. I miss those days.

I made a chicken tacos for lunch with a side of kale chips. I bought a huge bunch the other day so I need to burn through those babies.

I went to Manifest Disc to find a Zero Seven cd. I discovered them thanks to my friend Pandora and have really been diggin their sound. I also had a $7 left to use there so I got three cd’s for $6, not too shabby

Yes, I like disco and am not afraid to admit it. I wish I had a video camera so I could record Lincoln and I doing the Hustle yesterday afternoon. Ok, well I was doing it and I was motioning his arms in the air. This right here is reason #298 why I don’t have a boyfriend: because I dance with my dog to disco music.

Afterwards, I went to Panera to steal some Wi fi. I just wanted something to drink but forgot they have Pepsi products—boo. I got their low fat Black Cherry smoothie

Let’s talk about the straw

Look at how thick it is (twss)! I thought McD’s had the thickest straws out there but this bad boy was huge and I felt naughty. So after I finished my smoothie, I took it home with me. Unfortunately, the smoothie wasn’t anything to write home about. It tasted chalky and too artificial.

I made Stephanie’s Eggplant Manicotti. Well, kinda, my meal was an adapation from it because I strayed in so many ways. I wanted to make this months ago but apparently there was an eggplant shortage. Good for the shortage though because I found eggplants for $1 each this week at Bi-Lo.

I am not a ricotta fan so I subbed cottage cheese for the ricotta. I’ve never done this before but heard it’s a good substitute. I also didn’t have any spinach on hand or enough breadcrumbs so this was going to be an interesting turn out. Oh, I didn’t mention how I forgot to save or print out the recipe so I couldn’t find it did I? Yeah, well that happened as well so I was kinda just going with it.

 

I chopped up some onion and parsley then added to the mixture along with garlic, red pepper flakes, thyme and black pepper.

I breaded the eggplant and baked them instead of frying them as the original recipe goes for. All in my quest to drop some poundage, as I am all about the fried stuff.

Good thing I stole some toothpicks last week because these didn’t want to stay put

But then I couldn’t remember in the recipe how she sliced them so I sliced one of the eggplant long ways and then I had a few eggplant sliced rounds sitting around so I used those. When I put the filling on the rounds they looked like little eggplant tacos!

I don’t have any jarred spaghetti sauce on hand so I made my own using frozen diced tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, red pepper flakes, pepper, salt and merlot with the help of my friend Chuckie Shaw

It didn’t make too much sauce since there weren’t that many diced tomatoes.  I poured a little in the pan, topped with the eggplant manicotti, covered the rest in the remainder of the sauce, sprinkled with mozzarella then let bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees

 

The result:

It didn’t look too much like Stephanie’s but it turned out fantastic. I would bake the eggplant a little more next time (because there will be a next time) since it didn’t seem too done but all in all a great tasting meal. I can’t wait to have the leftover, thanks Stephanie for providing the recipe!

Oh yeah, I have a giveaway going on if you would like to enter! It is a sweet package consisting of the following:

*Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade Desserts

*Three 2.25 oz jars of Cloister Honey

*Trader Joe’s Vanilla Cake & Baking Mix

*Box of Samoas

Some of you may be thinking “Tiffany, this all stuff of yours that you are trying to pawn off on other people” and the answer is yes. This is stuff that I will throw away if I don’t use, none of the food has been opened and instead of throwing it away, I’m throwing deuces to it as I’m sure someone else can get better use out of it.

Ways to enter:

1)  Tell me your favorite smoothie combination

2) Link this comment back to your blog and leave a comment letting me know you did

3) Follow me on Twitter (@TiffanyNico) and leave a comment or a comment letting me know you already do

4) Tweet about this giveaway : “@TiffanyNico is hosting a sweet giveaway  http://wp.me/pMfHm-18N“

 & leave a comment letting me know you did

Contest ends Thursday June 16, 2011 at 11:59pm EST, open to US residents only (sorry internationals!) Winner will be picked via random.org

Good luck!

Oh Anthony, you’re so silly

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