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My wonderful husband bought me tickets to go see Coldplay for my birthday. He really took the time to plan for this one. We left at 2 on Monday, 3/20, and reached A's house for a break and dinner. We ate at Cafe 56 and headed to the Arena at 7:30. As the security walked us to our seats, I was screaming, hugging, kissing, and jumping up and down because we were 15 rows from the stage. I was going to be that much closer to Chris serenading to me. When we arrived Richard Ashcroft, he’s famous for Sweet Symphony, was performing. Funny guy, made jokes about how the president was visiting Cleveland and screwed with his plan. (and I screamed, BUSH SUCKS, as he does!! Mind you, if given the opportunity to bash the president, I am there!) Ashcroft was on for 45 minutes and thereafter Coldplay crew set up the stage. I don't think I've ever been so excited to hear Coldplay. When the music started, everyone cheered, screamed, jumped up and down, myself included. Towards the end of ‘til kingdom come, he dedicated the song to Johnny Cash because they were supposed to have a duet together before his passing. After the dedication he said “I wrote ‘til kingdom come for Johnny Cash, as June wrote this for him” and sang part of Ring of fire. Everyone was surprised and impressed at how well he sang it.
Overall, the show was worth seeing. They write and play great music and of course Chris Martin is a good looking man. After seeing them live last year at HFStival, I knew I would make it a point to see them again, live. Words will never describe how thankful I am to the husband for a wonderful gift.
With the overwhelming love he shows me, this is nothing for him, but means the world to me. Thanks, I love you!
This has been long overdue for me. I have wanted and needed to blog and vent for days but haven't had the chance to, so here I am. While I was visiting DC last week, my college made it to the Sweet 16, Elite 8 and even to the Final four. That was one of the most exciting things that could happen because they were an underdog. No one expected them to make it to the the Final Four so when they beat a top ranked school, everyone was shocked. I watched the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games at friends place in VA and had the best time of my life. A, one of TB's close friends, had a house party at his place for one of the games and that was fun.
It amazes me that I've had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people during college. AV was awesome, as always. Looked gorgeous as she always does but even more so because she had this aura about her. I am not sure if it was her or if it was her gloating about having a wonderful bf glued to her the whole time we were there. I couldn't think about AV without thinking about V. My entire week with TB was worthy and unforgettable. She has an excellent apartment in the city and works couple blocks away. I am truly happy for her and pleased to say that this is just the beginning of many of her great adventures to come. She hosted like a great friend she is, and treated me to some delicious food. She treated me to good pizza and that's more than I could have asked for. She's one of the greatest people I know and I am very proud and fortunate to have a friend like her. There are some people that make life worth living; she is certainly one of them. I guess at this point, anyone else would say what are good friends for. Now it's her turn to come visit and I hope she comes soon.
I met up with the some other girls at a bad FRANCHISED restaurant on the Baltimore Harbor. The restaurant has no class and the food is probably worse than fast food. The name rhymes with sleazecake factory. Ahh what a horrible experience. I can't believe I was forced to go there. I had a suggestion to go to a tapas place, directly above this restaurant. They offered lots of vegetarian options and she wouldn't have had any trouble but of course she didn't budge. The dinner was okay, just okay. Outside of that, I had a great time with all the friends. One friend in particular has lost more weight than normal and I don't necessarily agree with it, but she didn't want others' opinions. Sometimes for people that are so stubborn, you have to allow them to be left alone until they learn on their own that anorexia is a disease.
I was able to spend time with my cute little nephew and that was great. He's growing up so much, so fast; time flies when it comes to little kids growing up. The last time I saw him, it was his first birthday. That was fun, but at the time he was much more whinier, crankier, needy, and loud. Now he's walking or in this case, running everywhere, wants to be his own person, won't allow anyone to feed him, needs 'alone' time. My sister told the doctor the changes everyone sees in him and the doctor clarified that this is the time when kids feel mature and want to be their own person. I hope my sister takes something away from that lesson and lets my nephew make some of his own choices, allows him to eat his own food, play on his own.
After some great days in DC, I headed north, to South Jersey better known as dirty jersey. I made a trip out there for couple days to spend some time with my parents. Ever since Christmas (which was the last time we saw them) they kept asking me about visting them. Spending time with them was fun but being away from the husband for so long was taking its toll on me. I missed him. It was the first time we had been apart since we moved in together so I was ready to be home again. I have a wonderful house here, my space and I was ready to be in it again.
The journey was long from NJ to home but worth it. I reminisced about my trip. I also had my Sirius radio with me so that helped. Listened to some really good music for long long time. One song that sticks out in my head is "be gentle with me" I had never heard of Boy Least Likely to.
On Thursday last week, E came over to make sugar cookies for St. Patty's day. She brought her mixer and we made about 65 sugar cookies. After the dough was made for the cookies, we made delicious but not green enough icing. We mixed dried egg whites (I think?) with confectioner sugar in the mixer and added 2-3 drops of green food coloring. That was just the beginning because by the end, we had added half of the food coloring to attain the deep forest green color, which we couldn't. To move the process along, we had an assembly line. I rolled out the dough, baked the cookies and E was in charge of icing and sprinkling them with sprinkles. It took few hours to make the cookies but they were totally worth it. They tasted really well. Hats off to Alton Brown for a great sugar cookie recipe. The husband, E & I all agreed that the sugar cookies weren't too sweet so that made them taste much better. For that matter, all of the Friday night guests said the same thing about the cookies. They were thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
The next day, we had a farewell party for NG and celebrated the Irish holiday. We invited about 12 people and they all showed. It's always good to have a full house at the party. Fortunately it was potluck therefore I didn't have a lot to make on my own. I made aloo tikki, deviled eggs for appetizers. N & S came early to help with early preparation and to hang out before it got too loud. N & I made pulao, which was succulent. Some friends brought chicken dow pyaza, mutter paneer & chicken tandoori. All very tasty. Although I had never heard of chicken dow pyaza, it was one of my favorite chicken dishes. Someone brought a huge bottle of Jack Daniels. One of our friends from Cleveland, AS brought beer, lots and lots of beer. I think he was under the assumption that the party was for the entire weekend. :) I must admit out of all of the husband's friends I enjoy AS' company the most. He really knows how to have a good time, makes jokes and appreciates life to the fullest.
That Saturday, it was a girls night out to celebrate my birthday. I was really excited to invite E, N, & B for the birthday dinner at Cactus Pear. Cactus Pear is one of my favorite southwestern/Mexican restaurant in the area we live in. It's owned by an Indian guy who also owns some Indian restaurant in the city. It has a modern flare but the food has the fusion kick. E & I shared portabella & Caribbean chicken fajitas. I liked the chicken but I loved the mushroom fajitas. We also ordered a pitcher of margaritas and everyone enjoyed them. Even N, who hasn't had a lot to drink in her life, had a glass. I think she said this was her second time drinking, ever. Not that I am a big alcoholic, but I couldn't imagine going so long without having a drink, or at least trying alcohol. I think this reflects her young years. She grew up with a very conservative family where even eggs are forbidden. B got me a plant that she had in her backyard. I have to plant it in mine to see what it is. I hope it isn't anything illegal. ;) E bought me a crockpot, which I've wanted for months. It'll be great to have especially now that I have a job so I can cook something all day just to have it ready when we both come home from work. N gave me an authentic Rajasthani (from Rajasthan, a state in India) necklace with earrings and a bracelet to wear with American clothes. I was really pleased with everyone's gifts. I am truly grateful to have good friends like them.
That Sunday, we went to N & S' place for lunch and then to J & B's (friends of E& D’s) place for our cooking club. Fortunately I didn't have to make anything for lunch so I had some time to prepare food for the evening. I made stuffed cabbage which I think was a hit. Everyone was pleased to know that I stuffed my cabbage with lamb, rice, onions, garlic, green peppers & celery. Since it was a Hungarian/ Eastern European dinner, I used lots and lots of Hungarian paprika. I also made browned onion kugels. E, one great cook that she is, prepared potato & cheese pierogies along with mushroom & lamb pierogies. She really put the time and effort into them, and it showed because they were simply delicious. B made chicken paprikash which was really good and had a little taste of Indian spices. The husband and I agreed that was really impressive, however we weren't as impressed with the dumplings that go with the paprikash. They were too doughy for us. As always T prepared yummy cookies and black forest cake that wasn't heavy. Heavy in the sense that it didn't make you feel full/stuffed after the first bite. The cake was rich in taste but very light, just how I think black forest cakes should be. T is a great cook but she's amazing when it comes to desserts. She has a niche for making impressive desserts. During dinner at J & B's place, we finalized that the next cooking club will be at our place since the theme is Indian food. Excited might be an understatement.
All in all, the entire weekend was great fun.
So it's late on a Wednesday. I had my interview with Kroger today at 1:30. For the interview, I woke up fairly early, 9:45, ok that's early for me. I've gotten so used to sleeping at 1am and waking up after 10:30, I am going to regret staring work. After waking up, I had my favorite breakfast, milk & cereal (simple, just the way I like it). Thereafter I researched Kroger and its background so I could throw out some important information I learned during the interview. Prior to my interview with BP, I had to fill out a 20 page (or at least it seemed liked) application for the company. In my opinion, the questions were ridiculous. She asked me couple questions about my experience and why I left my previous job. Then the talking began.... She talked, talked, talked, and talked some more. She told me all the responsibilities for the position. It all sounded really well until she dropped the salary bomb. The number of responsibilities she listed, I would have hoped for a higher salary for this position. Some of the responsibilities include recruiting (which I love), training/orientation (I can handle), payroll (eh...) and signs. At this point I said to myself, signs? What does she mean signs? Before I could ask her to explain, she took it upon herself to explain. Every week, this person would have to post signs in different departments. i.e Sale on a pound of tomatoes or, sale on the Toilet Roles. interesting, I thought but certainly not impressive. But than again, every job comes with its pros and cons. By the end of the long interview, I wasn't sure if I was impressed with the position or the woman speaking with me. But who knows maybe she felt the same about me.
Since I had eaten breakfast and didn't have anything in my tummy, by the time I got home at 4 I had a giant headache. I was hoping after eating some food, the headache would go away but that wasn't the case. I ate chicken, chips and yogurt but nothing helped. Headache or no headache, I had to get some work done. This involved researching Hungarian/Eastern European recipes for this weekend's cooking club. The theme is Hungarian food because one of the hosts (J) is 3rd or 4th generation Hungarian. I hear he's very prideful about his culture and food when questioned. So I found the following recipes, which I hope everyone is as pleased with as I am. I've always wanted stuffed cabbage and through my research found that Hungarians love their stuffed cabbage. So here it is, Stuffed Cabbage Martha Stewart Style. Google rocks, because I found another gggggrreeat recipe for stuffed cabbage. It's by a hungarian woman (I think) and sounds authentic. So combining the two, stuffed cabbage will be my main dish for Sunday. The other two recipes I found were on epicurious. I'm impressed with the following recipes because they both look and sound very very appetizing. Brown Onion Kugels, for those of you that don't know (I didn't either), are a baked pudding of noodles or potatoes, eggs, and seasonings, traditionally eaten by Jews on the Sabbath. I'm really excited about the kugels because even the reviewers had positive ratings. Finally, I am making these delicious hazelnut cookies. That's tenative because I am not sure how tired I will be on Sunday. I've got a busy weekend ahead of me so, we'll see.
So after a long and busy (somewhat) day, I am exhausted but I am also very excited. Tomorrow's a fun filled day for me. E, a close friend, is coming over in the morning, so we can have lunch buffet at an Indian restaurant, shop at Jungle Jim's for all of our cooking needs AND come home to make St. Patrick's Day sugar cookies for Friday. March 17th as most of you know is St. Patty's day so everything must be green.
We're having a farewell party for one of our friends and celebrating St. Patty's day on Friday. It's not just a party, it's a Keg party. I never knew I'd say this but I'm married and having a keg party. I love it! ::big smirk::
For now, spending alone time with my one and only. Night
So, this is my first posting after getting a blogspot. I posted and reposted many blogs to find that none of my pages were being updated. The husband tried to find new ways to fix the problem but he couldn't resolve it either. Finally, he suggested to delete the cookies and cache, and it worked! Andddd my blog is finally up and running!
I am really excited, however it's late and I have to get to bed soon. I will certainly make the most of my blogspot but I always welcome reviews, critisms (constructive) and comments. A new person always benefits from suggestions on how something works. I am also open to meeting like minded bloggers.
