giving thanks to deliciousness!

thanksgiving this year has been an interesting one. first off, since i was just home a couple of weeks ago for cornhuskin' at MC, my family opted to come visit me. and by visit me, i mean the four of us have been living in my little 1-bedroom apartment in Fort Collins for since this past saturday. trust me, i love my family--a lot; however, we are definitely in tight quarters with my brother and me sleeping in the living room and my parents in my bed. nonetheless, it's been a great week...a good break from school and a better bonding experience.

with thanksgiving, obviously, there is also the cooking and the turkey. oh, and did i mention that we were in my apartment? it's fine...it worked out well enough...but i definitely don't have the space or the amenities like my parents' house does for cooking a thanksgiving dinner. oh, and another roadblock...we fixed everything on monday (the family flies out on thursday and i didn't want too many left-overs) only to find out at about 5pm (yeah...we're late turkey dinner-eaters) that the turkey was still frozen, too frozen to cook. so, there may have been a few stress-related tears shed, but we made it all work by eating a quick thanksgiving lunch on tuesday, and it was delicious. so delicious, in fact, that i felt it necessary to share our recipes and inspiration.

because we were cooking in my apartment, we decided to switch up our dinner a little bit. we had the staples--turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, rolls, and cranberry sauce--and a few new things--roasted brussels sprouts with grapes and broccoli and gruyere gratin; everything was delicious!

i thought i'd share a little bit of our thanksgiving dinner!

 I may be that weird girl who likes brussels sprouts, but our whole family loved these from real simple. they're super easy to make and likely delicious year-round.

 if you don't like gruyere cheese yet you should. this is the yummiest gratin i've ever had.

 black olives are a staple at our thanksgiving meals. our grandma never quite favored the way my brother and i would eat them off our fingers, but i mean...it was tradition. 

also in the background is some of the yummiest cranberry sauce i've ever had. i kind of used this recipe, but as per my usual tendencies, i didn't follow the directions exactly. i added a splash of OJ, about a quarter cup of blueberries, and cinnamon and nutmeg. YUM.

 yummy garlic smashed potatoes: mom makes these sans recipe, just with a little half&half, salt and pepper, parmesan, garlic, yum.

 another real simple recipe--mushroom and rosemary stuffing. we decided we'd take out one egg because it was a little too runny, but otherwise the mushrooms were deee-lish. this one will happen again.

 here's a little demonstration of the tight quarters. it worked...but it was tight.

and happy holidays from me (and the fam)! after dinner yesterday we did a brew tour at new belgium brewery (fat tire) in fort collins. there's more of that to come, but we actually got a good family pic! 

happy thanksgiving!

a high altitude learning opportunity

if you've never lived at high altitude, you've probably never noticed that every boxed baking mix includes high altitude instructions. scientifically, the usda tells us that altitude causes water to boil at a lower temperature (and therefore be unable to become as hot) and that leavening in breads and cakes expands faster. fortunately, when you're using a boxed mix, the instructions also tell you specific instructions to work with cooking at high altitude. it does not, however, lend itself to tips on every sort of cooking disaster that may happen due to the altitude.

well, fort collins' 5003 feet above sea level lent itself to me this morning. in such a way that my oatmeal simply exploded. and it wasn't even cooked. it was just one of those UGH moments where i wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

so, next time i fix oatmeal i'll be more careful with my chemistry--and i'll definitely use a bigger bowl.

oh yeah...my blog...

okay so, i know i said i was going to blog more in 2010, but things have been nuts. however, in the midst of my life becoming crazy with work and school and grad applications and getting sick on top of all that, i have done a decently excellent job of working on my resolutions--and i didn't even know it, really!

so...in the past two weeks:

- my friends and i celebrated carolyn's birthday with a KILLER hipster party, which was super fun. and really good times with the friends. (resolution 1!)

- i've been cooking some really delicious dinners including this one from the latest Real Simple mag. and i've been eating vegetarian only...and that hasn't included pasta in a really long time, so that's a major improvement from my usual veggie self. (resolutions 3 & 4!)

- and friday i submitted my application to the Family & Developmental Studies masters program at Colorado State. i really can't anticipate my likelihood of getting in...but going into this program in Fort Collins would be an absolutely ideal next step for my academic career, so i'm going to be keeping my fingers crossed for that one. (resolution 2 CHECK! and still working on 7!)

as for the camera, that's where i'm still lacking most. i'm very much looking forward to some free time and some sunnier days so that i can get out and take some pictures. but i'm still fiddling around with my beautiful camera as much as possible and will be working on the daily camera usage as much as i can!

and there should be some pictures coming soon of the beautiful children i'll be keeping this week while their parents are in key west. my mom says that they were raised as meredith angels since their mom is a staff member here--even if they are boys!

happy week. and i leave you with a shot of my amazingly cool and wonderfully hip friends.

delicious

tonight, my dear friend Adam came over to fix (and eat) dinner. we've known each other since we were in sunday school together in 4th or 5th grade. and were inseparable and up to major mischief in middle school. and have somehow always kept up throughout high school and college, despite the fact that he goes to App.

one reason why i appreciate Adam is that he knows that i've bounced around with vegetarianism, and is totally into trying new delicious vegetarian dishes with me. so, when he requested that we cook dinner in and cook something meat-free, i was totally game...especially since it pushed me toward a couple of my 10 for '10 goals.

Adam and i fixed a delicious dinner--crispy black bean cakes--paired with some guacamole i whipped up and some greek yogurt (my personal favorite alternative to sour cream). we tied everything together with a side of an easy salad and some 2 buck chuck. it was absolutely delicious. and a meal i will definitely fix again. and best of all, adam let me be a little dorky so that i could take a picture of my plate! yum.

10 for '10

one thing i've always struggled with is making short-term realistic goals. i've decided that it would be to my advantage to determine 10 things i'd legitimately like to accomplish in 2010 and to really work on accomplishing them (really in no particular order). so, as the door opens to 2010, here are some things i'd like to do in order to help myself be the best possible marie--not just at the start of this year, but at the start of this decade..

1. to spend as much time as possible with my family and friends who mean the most to me.

2. to apply to graduate school. at least at colorado state. and hopefully get in.

3. to decide whether or not to be a vegetarian again...and stick with it.

4. to continue creating new, delicious dishes. and eating delicious things.

5. to participate in some sort of physical activity at least twice a week, preferably more.

6. to laugh as much as possible.

7. to move to colorado (or definitely out of raleigh...but preferably to somewhere in colorado).

8. to take as many pictures of everything as much as possible.

9. to continue working on finding a balance between my type A and type B personalities.

10. to be as positive and happy as i wish others would be. and to surround myself with the things and people who will help me to be positive and happy.

happy 2010!