Limbo

I feel as though I am in a serious state of limbo, with many things.  I am literally in between apartments at the moment.  This was moving weekend, part one.  Practically all my things, with the exception of the living room furniture, bed and TV are at the new apartment - including my entire kitchen!  But, I will not be living there until next Sunday, when I move all the 'big stuff' and the cable/internet will not be turned on in the new place until a week from tomorrow.  So this entire upcoming week I will be in limbo between the two places.  I think the thing that throws me the most is the fact that this week I won't have a kitchen!  I will probably try to head to the new place after work to cook and then come 'home' for the night.

I guess the other state of limbo has to do with employment.  I am in a good place with my job but there are possibilities on the horizon and I would love to know if they will work out, if they do, it will definitely be for the better!  There are other states of limbo happening but at the end of the day I just need to remember that if it is meant to be it'll all workout.

Happy Memorial Day!    

Yum!

Here are a few dishes that I made this past week!

Salmon and roasted vegetables!  For the salmon  I placed a layer of lemon slices on greased tin foil/baking sheet, placed the piece of salmon on top of the lemons, seasoned with a little salt pepper and butter and then placed a few more slices of lemon on top.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

This was super easy and very delicious!  Spicy chicken, veggies and pasta in a cream sauce.  I cooked the cubed chicken in a mix of olive oil, green peppers, garlic and crushed red pepper, then I added a cup of marinara sauce and a 3/4 cup of alfredo sauce - I let it simmer for a while, added broccoli, peas and whole wheat pasta!  Top with a little parmesan cheese and enjoy!

I am moving this weekend!  Mainly car loads and then the 'big stuff' will go next weekend!  My new apartment is awesome, I will be sure to post pictures and a video once I am more settled.  But for right now I am working on packing, unpacking and setting up my new place!

Virginia

This past weekend I traveled to southwest Virginia (Roanoke) to watch my sister graduate from Hollins University.  Here are some pictures!

One of the many stops on the journey.

Best place ever!  One of the serious downsides to living in NY.

Hotel Roanoke with all its castle like qualities.

Roanoke Railroad from the covered sidewalk.

Oooooh gotta love hating on the North!

Hollins Graduation

The family pre-graduation

The family post graduation all decked out in our Hollins attire.

Now I'm back in New York and back to the grind!

Masters Degree

I officially have my Masters!!  It has been a VERY LONG three years but I finally have it!  My degree is an M.A. in Women's Studies with a concentration in Women in Public Policy & Politics.  I would be lying if I said I enjoyed my time at UAlbany but in the end I am happy that I have my Masters.  I knew that if I did not go to graduate school right after undergraduate I would never go back so for the past three years I went to school part time and worked full time.  Two weeks ago I finished my Master's final which consisted of writing two (long) essays based on the 30 or so books that I read over the past two semesters and then last week I presented the essays (and was grilled by a committee of professors) at the oral examination.  It was hard and stressful but it is over and I am now Abigail Lemon, M.A.!  Yay! 

      

Wine, Movies, Tofu and ... Rochester?

Wow it has been a while since I last blogged, I promise to try and do better - life has been crazy lately!  Work is going well but is also ubber stressful, we launched the program this week and I have been inundated with referrals for potential clients; I also traveled to Rochester, NY earlier in the week for a series of meetings and now that I am back with a to do list that seems to be about a mile long!  

 So about two weekends ago my friend Rebecca decided that it was time for her to use a Groupon that she had purchased a while back for a vineyard tour and wine tasting at Robibero Family Vineyard in New Paltz, New York.  I had never been to New Paltz, which is about an hour and a half south of Albany.  It is a small college town with a definite hipster vibe; lots of locally owned shops, amazing food (we ended up eating at Mexicali Blues which had AMAZING chips and guacamole) and a downtown that is great for walking around.  The tour and tasting was fun, I am not that much of a wine girl but I would definitely say that wine is growing on me.  The best part of the trip though was sitting on the porch with my friends overlooking the vineyard while we drank wine and caught up!

Barrels o'wine

Awesome magnet

View from the porch of the vineyard, and the Catskills

 Fast forward to last weekend and an awesome celebration of cinco de mayo!  To celebrate I made some delicious chicken enchiladas which I sauteed with taco seasoning, black beans and a little green peppers and onions and although I failed to take a picture, they looked a whole lot like this.

After the enchiladas it was off to see The Avengers!  It was my first time seeing a 3-D movie and although I have never been big into 'super hero movies' it did not disappoint!

And lastly I cannot forget to blog about my latest creation - a chocolate peanut butter tofu pie!  It was awesome and you would NEVER know that it was made from tofu (trust me I tested the theory ... twice).  It was very dense so you only needed a little piece to fill you up and if I make it again I may try using tofu that is a little less firm, but here is the recipe and the result!

Recipe!  I used skim milk instead of soy and smooth peanut butter.

Ta-da!  I found some Reese chips in the pantry so I added them to the top.

Happy Wednesday!

Deliciousness

Last night I decided to venture into the 'comfort food' category and man was it yummy!  I have made this dish various times over the past couple of years and it never disappoints - it also makes a TON (I normally double the recipe and share with friends - which is exactly what happened last night!) so I have lunch and dinner and the next couple of days.  And did I mention that it is also SUPER easy to make! 

Hearty Chicken Noodle Casserole

Ingredients

1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 cup milk

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

(About) 2 cups of cooked egg noodles

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

~ Cook the chicken and noodles - combine all the ingredients (except the cheese) in a large bowl - place the mixture in a greased casserole dish - sprinkle cheese on top - bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes ~

Trust me, mine did not look nearly as pretty and staged as this but I forgot to take a picture.

So after my desire for comfort food had fizzled I then had a desire for dessert!  The requirements were - something simple, easy to make and that I already had all the ingredients in my fridge/pantry.  I decided on ...

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1 stick of butter or margarine

3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups oatmeal (old fashioned rolled oats)

~ Place the 3 cups of oatmeal in a large bowl and set aside - mix the sugar, butter (melted), cocoa and milk in a medium saucepan - boil for 1 minute - add the peanut butter and vanilla - mix quickly until the peanut butter melts (if you would like them a little more peanut buttery than chocolatey - add a little more peanut butter) - pour the mixture over the oats and stir until well blended - drop spoonfuls of the cookie mix on tin foil or parchment paper - allow to cool (I placed them in the fridge) and enjoy! ~

Yum!  Yum!

And last but certainly not least!  What three songs am I obsessed with this week? 
Well they happen to be ...

'Some Nights' - fun.

'Somebody That I Used To Know' - Gotye featuring Kimbra

Usher - Climax

Happy Hump Day!!

Hammer Time! (And other fun weekend activities)

I had a pretty fabulous weekend - it was filled with good food, even better friends, an awesome movie and a little hammer throwing - what more could you ask for!  And despite the fact that it was cold and rainy for a good part of Saturday and nearly all of Sunday and that I had (still have) a 30 book annotated bibliography hanging over my head - the weekend was still pretty great.  I failed to take very many (good) pictures so I am relying on Google imagines quite a bit for this post.  

Koji Murofushi - love him

Saturday morning started out with a trip to the Troy Farmer's Market (which I blogged about here); I had not been there in a while and it was still inside despite being unseasonably warm for this time of year.  I was able to pick up some apples and a few awesome cookies for later in the day.  After that I made my way up to RPI to participate in one of my favorite past time - watching a track meet!  The Liberty League Championships to be more exact.  I ended up staying for the men's and women's hammer as well as most of the men's discus; I brought my quilt to sit on and packed a lunch, it was pretty awesome and I dare say some of the other spectators were jealous of my preparation (but after nearly 10 years of track meets every weekend, you learn to come prepared).  And I must say watching the throws and observing all the coaches, it REALLY made me miss coaching (not actually throwing - just watching them throw made my back hurt).  After the meet I ended up visiting some friends and chatting with my college roommate, it was SO great to catch up. 

After sleeping in (or rather falling back asleep) Sunday morning, I was able to indulge in a little coffee, couponing, french toast and Meet the Press (typical Sunday morning).  Working out was followed by grocery shopping and a little more procrastinating on my annotated bibliography.  Then that afternoon I went to go see Cabin In The Woods.  Let me preface this by saying - I do NOT like scary movies, I always tend to get really freaked out and at night I think I hear whatever bad thing from the horror movie outside my bedroom window.  BUT this movie was a complete mind f**k!  It was SO good!  I would see it again and I do not say that about many movies.  It was nothing what you would expect and I was thinking about this movie well after it was over.  So this movie definitely gets my recommendation - go see it!  After the movie I indulged and bought two new (and very cute) pairs of shoes!

After the movie I worked on creating a pretty delicious dinner - foil packed chicken!  This is how it went down.  

Ingredients

Chicken (I used tenderloins), stuffing (chicken flavored, if not homemade), bacon (I used turkey bacon) broccoli, cheese, ranch dressing and tin foil.

~ Preheat the oven to 400 degrees - prepare stuffing and bacon - place (however many you will be making) tin foil squares on the counter and spray with non-stick spray - let the layers bring - 1st stuffing, 2nd chicken tenderloins (I used 2 per foil pack), 3rd turkey bacon, 4th broccoli, 5th cheese, 6th ranch dressing drizzle - once the layers are prepared fold the sides of the foil pack so that the layers are enclosed but there is still room for it to cook, do not pack tightly - bake at 400 for about 20 - 25 minutes (depending on the thickness of the chicken) ~

Holy moly it was delicious!  I will definitely be making this again!  

Here are some pictures ...