Saturday, August 21, 2010

Update on life

First of all, I need all my bloggy friends to send prayers/healing thoughts/whatever you prefer to my best friend, Christen.  She's been dizzy, nauseous, and has had a headache for about two weeks now.  She went to the doctor, they gave her some anti-nausea stuff with directions to use it until Wednesday and directions to call if the symptoms came back...they did.  So, she has to go back to the doctor, they have to check more things, and I'm terrified and helpless.  So, good thoughts, hope that it's either nothing or something simple, like, maybe she needs a new eyeglass prescription.

In other, happier news...totally dating my roommate now.  Crazy, right?  Whatever, I've known him for six months now and for most of those six months, the thought was in the back of my mind and I kept finding ways to push it away because I figured it was a bad idea.  Who knows, maybe it's still a little crazy, but I couldn't keep ignoring what I felt or inventing things that "annoyed" me so that I could try to push the feelings aside.  He's a nice guy, the last few days he's been totally respectful, and before I went ahead with anything I laid all my relationship issues on the table and he was really understanding about it all.  We decided to maintain separate bedrooms for a while to try to make it a little less like we're "living together" even though, well, we are.  So, there you go.

And, on another happy note, my mom and I depart for PARIS today!  I'm so excited.  I can't even describe how excited I am about this.  On that note, I'd better go pack!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Spicy Taters and Eggs!

Okay Ginger, here's my recipe for the month.  I didn't even think to take a picture, I was just experimenting and then when I was almost done eating it I thought, well, this should be my recipe this month!

So, some background.  When I was a kid, my dad used to make this thing for breakfast that he called Taters and Eggs.  Like the name indicates, it's sliced up potatoes and scrambled eggs, all mixed up in the pan.  Pretty simple, but I've always loved it.  I'm not usually a fan of the sweet breakfast foods like pancakes, so when I wanted something "special" this is always what I craved.  Well, today I went to make some, but I decided to kick it up a notch and make it a bit spicy.  I thought, hey, I like spicy potatoes, and people put Tabasco sauce on their eggs all the time so I can't imagine they'd interfere with the spice.  Anyway, it was delicious.  So, I'm going to share the recipe.

Ingredients (for one serving):
One medium russet potato (or whatever other kind of potato you'd like to use, just make sure it's approximately the same size as a medium-sized russet potato).
Three eggs
Olive oil, about 1/2 a tablespoon
Chili powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper


Wash and peel the potato (or don't peel it, whatever).  Cut it into lengthwise quarters, and then thinly slice up the quarters.  You want the slices to be somewhere around 1/8 inch, thin enough to cook quickly in a frying pan.  When you've started slicing the potato, start heating the olive oil in a ten-inch skillet.  When it's hot and the potatoes are sliced, throw them in and get them cooking.  When they have a nice even coating of the olive oil, grab your chili powder and give your potatoes a nice, even, light coating, then stir the potatoes around to get it all over all of them.  Chili powder is a pretty mild spice, as spice goes, so don't worry too much about accidentally going overboard.  Take the paprika and lightly coat the potatoes and stir them again, just like with the chili powder.  Then take your cayenne pepper and really, really, lightly dust the potatoes with it and stir them around again.  The cayenne pepper is the one you want to watch out for, go too crazy and those will be some SPICY potatoes.  Of course, if that's what you want, then go for it, just keep in mind that I like spice and even I have nearly out-spiced myself with the cayenne pepper.

Once you've gotten the potatoes all spiced up, keep moving them around every minute or so to make sure they cook evenly.  As soon as they're just about fully cooked, turn the heat down to medium and give the pan a minute or two to cool down.  Once the pan cools, take your three eggs, whisk them up in a bowl like you would for scrambled eggs, throw in a dash or two of salt and get that mixed into the eggs, then pour them in right on top of the potatoes.  Quickly stir the whole mixture and get the eggs fully cooked, for about a minute or so.  Immediately remove the pan from heat and serve.  Enjoy!

Ginger, I know you can't have eggs.  I don't know how you'd improvise scrambled eggs, but you could always just make the spicy potatoes on their own as a side dish.  =)