Category Archives: Friday

by | July 24, 2010 · 9:14 am

Arrogant Bastard Riding a Fat Tire!

     FRIDAY! I’m having the most amazing Friday night ever –  it involves homemade foods and brews. What else could a girl ask for? I’m such a homebody.

     The day started off early with me prepping for work. I was feeling extra lazy, so I decided not to make the Green Monster and have some frozen waffles instead.

Two of Trader Joe’s frozen blueberry waffles with agave-maple syrup and a HUGE mug of coffee!
     My roommate was blending up a Monsta for herself as I was headed out the door, watched as I longingly stared at the blender, and added some extra spinach for me. She put it into a to-go coffee mug with a straw sticking out, and I drove out to work, happy to be sipping away :). Roomie, you be amazing! No pictures, because I was driving, and that would just be unsafe.
     Work was very mundane. I read. A LOT! I read about 100 pages of my book before lunch. I headed out midday, prepared to try something different, but ended up getting the usual mini-spicy tuna roll with brown rice. I was planning an amazing meal of fried, syrupy, double-fried foods, but decided that my body would prefer something boring and healthy rather than artery-clogging.
     I got home, ready to enjoy my Friday night with some friends. We started with an old classic.
Fat Tire! This beer holds some amazing memories for me. Every sip is a link to my past :).
     I spent about an hour sipping and reading the last few chapters of my book: The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I am officially done! This book took longer than normal because I haven’t had enough free time, and now that I’m done, I’m very bummed. Does that ever happen to you – you feel really depressed because you’ve finished a book that made you feel like you were part of the story? This is an AMAZING book! It’s so well-written and riveting! I’ve been recommending this to everyone I know – including you! Tell me as soon as you’ve read it!
     Next came dinner! It was a Friday-Grill night! We started with the remains of the jalapeño-cheddar bread from Great Harvest.
Left: a mix of onions, zucchini, red bell pepper, olive oil, salt and pepper. Right: Jalapeño-cheddar bread brushed with olive oil.
     The bread was a success! Although, it’d be pretty difficult to ruin this, even if you burn it, as I have before. Personally, I think a little charcoal makes it taste more rustic.
Those jalapeños were put into the bread WHOLE. No seeds were removed! This bread is torture. Amazing, delicious, painful torture!
Those grilled veggies were placed on a whole-wheat pizza crust, which was topped with provolone cheese and fresh basil. Ridiculously healthy and ridiculously happy :).
     I tried out a beer that I had tried before, but didn’t really like. Arrogant Bastard – loved the name, hated the taste. However, with my newfound appreciation for beer, I decided to give it another go.
This beer is VERY fragrant – almost perfume-y. It has a floral scent, a clove flavor and a very BITTER aftertaste. I had my last sip half an hour ago and I’m still tasting the bitters. Blech. Not my cup of tea – or glass of beer. The bottle and cap make it a little better:
“You’re Not Worthy” – To see the bottle description, go here! It’ll make your day :).
     After dinner, we listened to some music and just enjoyed the peaceful night. This party will be ending early for me. I have to get some sleep so I can be awake and alert for another day at work – I need to refuel my bank account after the extended weekend hanging out with my cousin. I hope you have an amazing weekend!
Which part of Arrogant Bastard is your favorite? Mine is definitely a tie between “Do” and “Not”.

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Filed under Arrogant Bastard, beer, Fat Tire, Friday, friends, grill, waffles

by | June 26, 2010 · 8:47 am

In Love with a Russian… Stout!

     FRIDAY! What a wonderful word! I’m sitting on the couch listening to one of my favorite bands, Mumford & Sons and typing while a cool breeze rolls in through the windows and candles flicker on the counter. It is possibly my favorite way to spend the evenings – I’m such a homebody!

     I set my alarm for 7am today and woke up to my lovely Owl City tone (a GREAT way to wake up!). I rolled out of bed, brewed a cup of coffee and rudely awakened my roommates with the blender.

I NEED my GMs in the morning, especially on a work day! This had 3 cups of spinach, 1/2 a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/4 a cup of frozen berries, 1/2 a frozen banana and LOTS of lemon juice – the spinach was on its last day and needed the lemon to make it drinkable :P.
     The spinach has almost turned, so I don’t think I’ll be Monsta-ing tomorrey… I don’t know what I’ll do! Maybe I’ll try Vegan Overnight Oats again? I’m not sure, I’m pretty scared after last time!
     After a thrilling rally at work to get company moral up (give me a break, seriously! I could have still been in bed during this!), I opened all my registers and was berated by my stomach for not feeding it often enough. I grabbed a coupon and headed to Subway for a cheap Sunrise Melt.
This was an english muffin with an egg, turkey, black forest ham and goat cheese, toasted. It was edible, but I much prefer a scramble with lots of veggies!
     I got a lot done at work! Very, very productive, if I do say so myself.
I made these cool little paper ladders and read about 100 pages of “Insatiable” by Meg Cabot over the course of the day.
     I was craving unhealthy things at lunch, but restrained myself and instead had some sushi.
A mini-spicy tuna roll with brown rice.
     After lunch I took to my couch and read even more of my book, and also found some time (and room in my stomach) to fit in Paciugo.
I had a child size of soy chocolate and strawberry-balsamic sorbet. If you think strawberries and balsamic vinegar sounds like a bad combo, you need to try this right away!!! It will change your life – it’s that good!
     I stopped to pick up ice after work because my roommate had called to let me know that she found Magners Cider locally!!
This was the beginning to my Friday night. Notice the cool new Pumpkin Ale glass – a gift from my wonderful mom! You’re jealous, I know.
     For dinner, my roommates and I ordered Pizza Hut. Personally, I think some Fridays just beg for junk food and brews.
I got a personal pan with double pineapple and green bell peppers. There’s green on it, therefore it is healthy. I ate half of this. 
And then I ate the other half…
     Yesterday I decided that instead of drinking my standards in beer – Fat Tire, Franziskaner, Spaten Optimator, etc., I would start purchasing different beers that were well-rated in my beer book, review them and learn even more about the brewing process via tastings.
    Tonight, I got to break open the first of the fancy beers I picked up yesterday – Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout.
WOW! This beer is incredible! It’s similar to 1554 by New Belgium, but a lot richer and thicker. This had a dark coffee aroma, sweet, but not overbearingly so, and a very light bitter aftertaste. I normally don’t enjoy any bitterness in my beer, but this was very well balanced! The aroma and taste became a little more bitter over time as the beer came up to room temperature. 
I’m in love!
     After sipping this beer for over an hour, I feel like someone wrapped a warm blanket around me and covered my eyes with fluffy pomeranians.
Who wouldn’t like that? Awww, my baby Buddha!
     I am ridiculously content now after a single bottle of that beer (it is 9% alcohol though, so drinkers of legal age, beware!), and am now ready to retire to my book while listening to some relaxing music. There is no other way I’d want to spend this night. How do you typically spend your weekends?
Happy Friday to you all! Relax, breathe and LIVE!

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Filed under Buddha, Friday, green monster, homebody, Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, pomeranian, sushi

by | June 20, 2010 · 6:22 am

Friday Recap!

     I’m back!!! I finally got to come home instead of driving to the other sad, empty LBM house after work and relax! Aaaah!

     For this blog, I’ll be recapping my Friday since I wasn’t able to be home and log on to tell you all about it. The morning started off with a BIG breakfast. My work shift was from 7:45am until 4pm, and I needed all the energy I could muster to fend off the crazy customers.

I had a VERY Green Monsta, and an omelette that had one egg, a teaspoon of goat cheese and a huge handful of… SPINACH!
     The day was completely insane with Fathers’ Day coming up – it seems to be crazy during all the holidays. Everyone seriously just spazzes out and goes into psychopath-mode. I needed to escape and take a breather, so for lunch I met with the most special girl in the entire world: my mom!
     We stopped by Lazy Dog for lunch and split the small plate of Togarashi edamame. Deliciously spiced and so hot it’ll make your lips burn!
What? Beer? No way! Okay, maybe I did have a SMALL glass of their Lazy Dog Amber Ale. It’s always nice to try something different!
     I ordered the Mediterranean Pizzetti (also from the small plate list).
     The menu says that this has roasted veggies, carmelized onions, mushrooms, goat cheese, tomatoes, basil and balsamic reduction. They failed to mention that on THIS particular pizza, they had also put parmesan cheese on :(. Boo. I ate it anyway – an hour for lunch is not long enough to reorder. Oh, and that’s half an avocado I stole from my mom’s salad.
     Needless to say, we polished off our plates.
That’s my mum! Ain’t she purdy? 😀
     Then I had to go back to work, but only for another two hours, which sped by. I decided that since I couldn’t go out (I had to work again this morning at 7:45am, plus clean up around the LBM house), I was going to have me a date night with myself! A quick stop at the grocery store and the Redbox and I was set.
I’m not entirely proud of this layout… Spinach, Fraziskaner, cookies (oh noes!) and Zombieland for the movie!
     I opened the bag of spinach first, thank you very much, and made myself a taco salad with spinach, a small corn tortilla shell and fat-free refried pinto beans. Brace yourselves for the picture: I made it small so you wouldn’t have to be totally grossed out, only minimally grossed out.
     This was followed by one or two of those amazingly delectable cookies and the Franziskaner. Apparently I was feeling very weak yesterday…
     Zombieland. Was. Awesome! I’m not a squeamish person at all, but the gore in this movie had me cringing a bit. Overall, it was hilarious and Woody Harrelson was genius! Bill Murray was incredible! Loved his cameo. It’s definitely something I’ll see again with my pops, who appreciates all things gory.
     That sums up my yesterday! Coming up later tonight is today’s blog. I was very, very weak in the food department again. 
Oops.

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Filed under Amber, beer, Bill Murray, date night, edamame, Emma Stone, Franziskaner, Friday, green monster, Lazy Dog Cafe, little blurry monster, Mom, pizzetti, taco salad, Woody Harrelson, work, Zombieland

by | June 12, 2010 · 7:08 am

Friday? What’s That?

     Ahhh, the bliss of a Friday –  a day that everyone looks forward to so that they can start their weekend. Wait, a weekend? What’s THAT?

     My schedule is quite sporadic. I generally work every weekend, and random days during the week with my acting class every Tuesday. I miss the old days when I had a regular school schedule all week and worked towards the weekend, and finally summer.

     Tonight is graduation night. I’ve been listening to the performances of, “I Will Survive,” reverberate through the canyon up to the house as all the seniors bid farewell to their safe little high school bubble. I never attended my graduation – never really saw the point (I’m weird, remember?), but I listen to this and enjoy what I didn’t mind missing back then. Did all of you attend your graduations?

     Today was an early day at work. I woke up and made a GM for myself. My measurements were a bit off, and I ended up having a little bit extra.

These had spinach, half a frozen banana, 1/4 cup of blueberries, soymilk, ice and a tablespoon of flaxseed peanut butter. I finished them both 🙂
     I was hoping the extra Monsta, plus the peanut butter I included would keep me full until lunch, but alas, my metabolism has gone into overdrive. Luckily, I’d thought ahead and sliced up the rest of the strawberries from yesterday’s farmers’ market to take with me.
What? I don’t read at work! I take my job very seriously! 😛
     I packed my own lunch for work today. I’ve been desperately trying to save my money to move out to the lovely Santa Monica so I can have the LA experience while enjoying some unpolluted ocean breeze. Today I had the last of the chana masala and the other half of the TJ’s garlic naan.
     I FINISHED Julie and Julia finally! Not at work… I would NEVER read at work, no matter how dead quiet it was, even if there wasn’t a single customer in the store and there was nothing better to do… I actually ended up enjoying the book! Not a fan of all the kidney/liver/organs-that-filter-out-toxins recipes, but it ended up being a good read. Although I must say, her filthiness really got to me – I can’t stand a dirty kitchen!
     After I finished lunch, I had another hour at work before my stomach began insistently calling to me. To abate it, I went to See’s Candies and got a dark almond cluster – or 4.
Not the smartest move, but 4 of these have 260 calories total, with the fat mainly coming from the roasted almonds, which help keep you full longer. I’m okay with paying that price to calm the tummy.
     I snacked on those almonds throughout the rest of my day whenever my stomach started hollering. When I got home I wasn’t very hungry, but decided to get some more veggies into my system and up my daily green count. I chopped up two small zucchinis and 5 stalks of asparagus.
     I heated up a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat, then tossed all the veggies in and let them sear for about four minutes to create a nice brown crust.
   
     After they’d gotten that crust, I liberally sprinkled a big pinch of herbes de provence and a small pinch of salt, then placed a lid on top. If you’re like me, you can’t fancily toss the vegetables without getting them to fly all over the place, so I put the lid on top, then lifted the pan and gave it a good shake to disperse the salt and HDP. Then, I left the lid on for another 5 minutes to let the asparagus and zucchini soften in the steam.
     Now I’m relaxing watching “Build a Better Burger” on Food Network, and prepping for my Friday night! I’m going to enjoy it, even if I do have to work another full shift tomorrow before picking up a roommate at the train station.
     And now, I must admit, I lied to you all last night. I didn’t get a second So Delicious ice cream bar. The Fat Tire filled me up. I promise now that I will have two tonight to make up for the falsehoods that I claimed. I’m so, so sorry. Never again will I lie to you. Now I’m off to enjoy my Friday night! I hope you all have a lovely Friday as well!
Many blessings and happy eatings 🙂

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Filed under asparagus, Becki Kregoski, burgers, Fat Tire, Food Network, Friday, ice cream, so delicious, work, zucchini