Whaaaaaaaaaat? *Confused Face*

As I explained on my facebook, I don't spend much time or thought on promoting this blog. It just doesn't cross my mind.

After the ramen post, I put a link up and holy shit! I got 60 views in a day. I feel almost internet famous. Like F-List fmous but still almost internet famous. So, thanks for reading!

Today will be mildly uneventful. Just some errands then meeting up with an old friend later on. Oh. And currently binge watching Gavin and Stacey.

Tomorrow, The Husband is sending me on a guided scavenger hunt for our anniversary.  I am very nervous about it. Mostly, because I haaaaaaate not being in control. I am going to post about it throughout the day, editing the same post with updates.

Until then, thanks again for reading!

Asian Food Love, or How to DIY Ramen

Lately, I have had an insatiable need to eat Asian food. All of it. Pho? Yes, please. Chinese everything? I'm on it. Dumplings? Lawwwwwwd. I love dumplings. And ramen. Sushi. You name it, I want it IN MY BELLY, right meow.

Happy Dumplings in Gloucester (https://www.facebook.com/#!/Happy.dumplings.gloucester) is my jam. They have insanely good dumplings of the traditional (pork and cabbage, pork and chinese chives) and untraditional (beef taco is soooooooooooo good). Their dipping sauces are ON POINT. The steak and cheese eggrolls come with a horseradish dressing that is perfection. They have spicy ramen with beef or pork that you can pick you can customize by picking your noodle type (lemme holla at them (gluten free!) rice noodles, plz). Soft boiled egg, bean sprouts, bok choy (may be even DJ Baby Bok Choy)... My brothy dreams are made of this.

But their hours, at least for this month, don't jive with my work schedule. My wallet doesn't want to shell out for take-out elsewhere when this is all I want. AND I certainly don't want the pre-packaged stuff at the store, even if it is $0.60 a package. There is like 2400 grams of sodium in that! And the noodles aren't gluten free.

What's a frugal bitch to do? Make that shit yo'self, gurrrrrrrl... And by shit, I mean ramen. Dumplings are too time consuming for a week night. Is it authenic? Naw. But is it tasty? Hell yes.

Here's what you need:
1 carton of Trader Joe's Miso Ginger Broth
2 baby bok choy, cut as small or large as you like. Feel free to use more. I wasn't sure how The Husband would feel about this so I went light.
1 package of shitake mushrooms. I got mine pre-cut.
Garlic
Soy sauce
1 package of firm or extra firm tofu (I don't remeber what I used), drained, pressed, and cut into cubes
Half a package of bean sprouts
Sesame Oil
Hot Sesame Oil
Sriracha (gotta get my rooster on)
Olive oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder (The Holy Trinity)
Half a package of rice noodles
Eggs
A pinch of sugar
White vinegar--OPTIONAL

How to jerry-rig some ramen:

1. In a bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha, and The Holy Trinity. Give it a try and add more to suit your taste. Toss cubed tofu in this. I poured the tofu and sauce into a large ziploc and upt aside until I was ready for it.
2. Empty the broth into a large pot. Set the burner on low. Stir occaisonally.
3. In a frying pan, heat some olive oil, sesame oil, and hot sesame oil on medium to medium high heat. Toss the mushrooms and baby bok choy in this to coat. Season with The Holy Trinity.
4. In a medium pot, cook rice noodle as directed on package. (Boil water, add noodles, cook for 3 minutes, drain)
5. Add garlic to the veggie mix (and more oil if needed. On the second go of oil I used Olive and regular Sesame). I love garlic. I have one of those large jars of minced garlic and added two heaping table spoons. Mix together and add bean sprouts. Cook until bok choy is tender. (I like mine a little crunchy)
6. Add veggies to broth.
7. Into same frying pan, dump tofu and marinade. Cook until hot, turning to get sides browned.
8. When noodles are done, add to large pot and mix well. Bring het up to medium high. Add a few dashes of soy sauce.
9. Add Water to the noodle pot and a capful or so of white vinegar. Once the water is simmering, poach them eggs!
10. Ladle out some ramen. Make sure to get some of everything! Spoon some tofu over the top. Add your poached eggs.
11. Send me a thank you email.

Makeup! Not War!

Ok, maybe the post title is a little silly but I friggin' love makeup. I love/hate that it is called makeup... But I suppose it is kind of on point: you casn use it to make up a new image. Which, I suppose, is why I like it. I do not NEED makeup. No one actually NEEDS makeup-except maybe drag queens but that is more so they look SICKENING than necessity.

I like that foundation evens my skin tone out. I like that shimmery pressed powder makes my face shimmery. I like blush and bronzer. Eye liner? All over it. I like using black and gold liner or black and silver. Or black and teal. Or using liquid black on top to wing it out and black pencil on the bottom. and don't get me started on eye shadow!

Seriously, there has been such an increase in awesome shades of everything since I was a tween playing around with this shit. For instance, the Electric Palette by Urban Decay. It is a neo, rainbow paradise of eye shadow. Can I bring myself to pay the $50 for it? Nope. But this girl can dream! I just
want to play with it!
  

TREMBLE BEFORE ITS BEAUTY!





For the last few months, my makeup love has changed. I now covet lipstick. I spent months, literally months, searching for the right oxblood shade (Revlon Black Cherry, if your interested). I have reds and wines as well. But I am lacking any other color. Which is becoming a problem. I want pink. And orange. And black. And purple. I want it all and I am not ashamed.

I don't care about contouring. I should probably care more about priming than I do. I have lately found myself searching for hot pink, purple, and black lipstick on the daily at work. Part of me fears they will look terrible. Part of me says, "Fuck it! Dooooooo it." #YOLO

Husband-less Weekend Report

The Husband-less weekend went fairly well. I survived and he is home, so all is good. I accomplished less than I wanted to on Sunday but it happens.

Friday I worked. I took the train in and on the short walk to the station in town, I saw a fork on the ground. And by fork I mean DINGLEHOPPER. I didn't pick it up and I have regretted it since. I know, I know. I don't have a clue who's grubby hands or diseased mouth was on that thing, or anything else that could be on it from laying on the side of the street. I just wanted to take copious ammounts of selfies and send hilarious snapchats to friends and family of me using a dinglehopper. I have this bright red hair... What else am I supposed to do with it?

But, no... I left it there. Naturally after work, on my way to get some affordable, delicious sushi I looked for it but couldn't find it. Could there be another "red head" in town with my dinglehopper? There are enough seagulls around, could Scuttle have picked it up and brought it to a more worthy mermaid? Crushed, I ate my seabrethern and planned my Saturday.

 

 

Saturday... I got ready, and left early to walk to the train for two reasons: to search for my dinglehopper in the daylight and to get a spinach bagel with bacon-chive creamcheese. No dinglehopper. It disappeared, making me question my sanity. Was it ever really there? Was I just having another fantasy where I was a Disney princess? I wanted it to be part of my world. I drowned my sorrows in a coffee and stuffed all the feels back down with that magnificent bagel. For real. Whoever came up with spinach bagles and bacon-chive creamcheese is a NATIONAL TREASURE. Took the train to North Station and didn't know there was a day-time Bruins play-off game. Ugh. So many people. The highlights of people I saw in relation to the game:

• The Child wearing a Bruins jersey, Bruins foam hockey puck head piece, and a foam bear paw with claws on each hand.
• The DJ outside of the station.
• The insane ammount of women wearing cropped leggings to a HOCKEY RINK.
• The lady wearing short that were as long as underwear. Literally, the jersey she was wearing was the same length. It's an ICE hockey game.
• The homeless guy screaming about how much he loves hockey and the Bruins.
• The drunk guy that liked my hair.
• The nice guys I smoked next to explaining to someone that you knew the Bruins won because the people wearing Montreal jerseys weren't getting beat up.

 

I took the subway to Malden for the Big Thrifty event. Scored some deals and headed back to North Station. Upon arrival, a gentleman who looked like a young Henry in the show Eureka. I was so confused by it.

I could do worse, amirite?

Took the train to Salem, where I got a psychic reading after running into some friends I haven't seen in like 6 years. The reading went better than expected and I left in a good mood. I got some terrible food (worst mozzarella sticks of my life) before heading to the train station. I naturally befriended a recovering addict who was having a rough day. We, along with the other patrons of the MBTA got a real treat. We got to witness an EPIC break-up phone call. Searched AGAIN on the walk home for my lost dinglehopper but it really is gone. :(

 

Sunday was the most useless day. I got dressed and walked to Happy Dumplings. I have been talking about going there while The Husband was away for a week. I got there and their May hours do not include being open on Sunday. I walked back home with a great sense of failure, ordered some chinese food that I didn't want because all I wanted was Happy Dumplings, and binged on Cake Boss on Netflix. Made nachos which were hella good at about 9pm then did the laziest thing ever: I watched Priscilla, Queen of the Desert because it was what was still in the XBOX.

 

 

So, all in all, not bad. There were some high points and some lows but I survived. I'd prefer not to do it again for a while, though. And I seriously need some Happy Dumplings ASAP.







A Husband-less Weekend

Tomorrow, The Husband is flying to Florida for a few days. Usually, I am the one who goes away alone for a conference every year. The tables have turned and I have NO IDEA what to do with myself.

Here is the list of things I may or may not do while husband-less this weekend:

• Make fish cakes.
• Eat ramen and dumplings from Happy Dumplings in Gloucester
• Snuggle the cats.
• Go to The Big Thrifty in Malden (??? unsure on this one).
• Be touristy in Salem and get a psychic reading.
• Watch awful TV on Netflix.
• Write a video pre-show script for Rocky Horror
• Try my very best not to sleep all day err day

The only thing on this list that I know will 100% happen is snuggling the cats. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.