Spring Cleaning = Blacking Out

Confession #93857 ( do you see a trend here? If this is your first time reading, then you'll just have to see). 

I BLACK OUT CLEAN. 

No. I don't pound a handle of Taaka and grab a mop.

At least once a week, I mop/sweep/vacuum/dust/scrub/disinfect/wash everything. I like to clean, and I realllllly love to vacuum. I don't know why. Sometimes, I open the windows, put on a good playlist and really just get down to it. Every so often, under the influence of a full moon (not really, but let's pretend) I lose control. I have literally woken up and been on hands and knees in my bathroom scrubbing stubborn grout between tiles. I don't know how it happens, but it does. I have likely inhaled highly toxic levels of bleach/cleaning product.

I seriously feel like this sometimes. SO.VERY.CLEAN&HAPPY. (source)

So in the spirit of spring cleaning, I did that this week. It was the day of the chicken roasting and the mirror hanging. The chicken was cooked, the mirror wasn't hung, and I had a schnazzy new vacuum my Mama let me borrow to Spring Clean. 

Well, it started with being absolutely certain my kitchen was a Salmonella/Shigella free. (What is Shigella? Google it. Or don't. I had it when I was wee, and apparently I almost died. Serious). 

First came the sweeping, a gentle flick of the mop, dusting, then the common vacuuming; then I literally woke up and had the little special vacuum nozzle on and had my bed in the middle of the room and was vacuuming floorboards. How does this happen? But my apartment is now clean? Sigh. #neatfreakproblems

Do you have any Spring Cleaning quirks? Tips? Tricks? Holla, and a very merry Spring Cleaning to you, my amigos. 

Chicken Wing Wednesday

I have to admit something to y'all. I can be a scaredy cat. Fine. I AM a scaredy cat.

I know, it's embarrassing. So, one of my fears is chicken. I will hug and squeeze and pet live chickens, but when it comes to raw chicken meat.... not so much. 

I seldom cook chicken for the sole reason that I don't like touching it, and I always overcook it to a tough and nasty consistency. Notwithstanding, I like a challenge so I have recently been conquering my distaste for cooking poultry by roasting a whole chicken. Some of you might be asking yourself, "why doesn't she try searing up a chicken breast first instead of going for the whole enchilada?" Because I like to go big y'all. (Remind me to tell you the story about when I had to hook a live worm for the first time. No, it wasn't 1996...it was like 3 months ago.)

A few weeks ago I roasted a chicken and quite honestly, I surprised myself. It was literally finger lickin' good. So here's how it goes down:

BOW CHICKA WOW WOW CHICKEN:

- 1 whole chicken (I go all granola here and get the free-range, hormone free, raised in a chicken mansion with daily relaxing aromatherapeutic massages)

-1 bunch of your choice of herb, (the legal kind...or not, whatever I'm not here to judge). I like to use Sage or Rosemary. 

- 1 preheated oven to 450

-6-7 roughly chopped cloves of garlic (another anti-vampire recipe...you're welcome again)

-Veggies of your liking. I recommend carrots, beets, potatoes, corn, turnips, anything roastable. (yep,that's a word...to me!)

-Salt. I always cook with "Celtic Sea Salt". Sounds majestic, no? Well, I believe it has more flava and it's also apparently better for you. Buy it here. 

-Lemons. I go wild here. 2-3 lemons, washed, sliced, and ready to rock. I also set aside one whole lemon to squeeze over the bird. A lemony bird bath.

GET 'ER DONE:

-Stick your hand down into the nasty chicken cavity and pull out all the crazy things they stuff in there. Gag a little maybe. Wash the chicken WITH WATER, not soap you sillies. THEN wash your hands furiously with scalding hot water and soap #fordays.

-Rub salt all over that bird. Cut some small holes in the skin, shove garlic down there and whatever herbs you're using. Crack some pepper on there as well. (repeat obsessive hand wash)

-Place  3-4 lemon slices and remaining garlic in the cavity. Place your lemons wedges all over the bird. (hand wash)

-Now, if you want to be naughty (it IS "why not Wednesday" so go ahead) put a few little slices of butter on top of the skin. (hand wash)

-Place your veggies all around the birdie. Squeeze the lemon over errrrrthang. And sprinkle your veggies with some salt as well. (hand wash)

-I like to add a dash of veggie or chicken broth to the bottom of the pan to avoid sticking. This is up to you, different strokes, different folks. 

Finish it off with a final hand wash (your hands may or may not be raw by now) and then proceed to obsessively clean and sanitize all surfaces for fear of salmonella and bird flu.

SO IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS:

Beets & Corn (and probably Salmonella since it's raw)

When your oven is at 450, pop in the bird, and let it roast at 450 for 20 minutes. After the 20 min, lower the temp to 375 and go for about 1.5 hrs. Your meat thermometer should say the meat is 165 degrees. When you think it's done, pop it out and let her rest. She's tired and hot. If you think your veggies need to go longer (usually not the case) then transfer them to a sheet and roast for however longer you may need. 

VOILA. Chicken mastered. 

#nomcity

The grocery had the weeniest corn, so I'm not happy with what happened here. Also, I'd like to point out that I did not cook a mutant chicken, the neck is just resting next to a leg. I realize how that sounds, but there's nothing I can really say/do to make you feel better right now other than to say....

Quick Update In Case I Don't Make It...

GUYS. 

Here's the scenario:

5'4 woman. 

4 foot long mirror

Wall

Nails

Hammer

TROUBLE. 

I am trying my hardest (and faillllllling) to hang a new mirror I just purchased. It fell on top of me already. Of course I have it PERFECTLY aligned and ready...I just can't really lift it high enough.

I just felt the need to post this in case it falls on me again, concusses me, and you can guess the rest. If you don't see a new post tomorrow....you know what to do. Love you Mama. 

Pollen is the New Black, Tennis, NomCity and Greasy Tex-Mex

Hola amigos! This weekend was a bit of a whirlwind and I found myself drowning in work on Monday, so you know how that goes. I feel yesterday I was prancing around in my new Christmas PJ's and now it's darn near Easter. 

With spring, comes pollen. You Houstonians know the drill. BUT this spring takes the cake, my allergies have been out of control. My car is permanently yellow/green instead of jet black, and I can't seem to make it stop! Now, even though my eyes have been a little itchy and my throat has been a little scratchy, my penchant for the outdoors will not be broken. 

Saturday we headed out for a nice morning round of tennis (we watched, they played) at the Men's Clay Court Championship. I love watching tennis, and these guys are real pros. 

German brothers with skillz.

After that, we ambled around town, hit up a crawfish boil and decided on a last minute group dinner at Provisions. As in The Pass & Provisions, as in, utter delight. We had all indulged in a few cocktails prior, so as we settled into our patio table, our appetites took over and we ordered half the menu. Pizzas, mussels, cheese, meats, hamachi, shisito peppers, rabbit ravioli, bucatini, sazeracs, sexy Italian reds and a plethora of desserts. You jealous? Anywho, I love this place, GO get the rabbit ravioli. It made my heart sing. 

An empty plate and a very satisfied tummy.

You thought my culinary adventures were over? Wrong. Sunday evening I went to a greasy little Mexican place in my Mama's neighborhood with her best friend (who happens to be my second Mama and my best friend's Mama) and our "adopted uncle" who has known us since we were 5. The weather was grey, damp and cold, so I opted for a frozen marg, taco al carbon, half a gallon of queso and a cheese enchilada. Zero calories (because it was Sunday and rainy, duh!)

polished.it.off.

So there you have it. I was so full from my weekend culinary gallivanting that I couldn't post on Monday. Stay tuned this week for some delightful spring recipes, concert happenings, Easter delights and playlist magic. I hope you had some delightful weekend meals as well (tell me about them in the comments!) and as always,

Meathead Friday

Feliz Friday folks! It's actually here, and it's not longer "Thriday" (someone asked me if it was "thigh-day"..soo Thriday isn't going to happen anymore.)

For starters, Meathead Friday is not necessarily going to be an ongoing "thing" but I figured I'd give it a shot.

¿Qué es Meathead Friday? You might be asking...Well my friends, it's a bit of a one two punch. First we shall discuss fitness, then we move on to how to undo all the fitness....FOOD.

Sidenote: My amiga Kelsey over at Foodie Photo Blog and I ran out from work for a quick #nom on Thursday and came up with the term...#nomaste. like namaste but..not. Cheesy, yes? Did we get a kick out of it? Obviously. And that's what matters. Frequent and hearty laughter is the answer.

 As you may/may not know, I'm gearing up to run a 1/2 marathon in San Diego this June. So I've been running a lot (duh) and have peppered in a few "Tabatas". Tabatas are also known as "15 minutes of constant muscle burning". But I LOVE them. Sometimes you feel like you might die, but you always want to hug your sweaty self after you're done. I noticed an increase in strength and muscle tone after a couple weeks. I also pair these with the iPhone app "Nike Training". You can build and customize workouts and they also make me feel a little bit like fainting, but in the healthiest way possible. Below you will see the Tabata link that someone showed me, and then I'll include a Nike link. See? This way you can be fit and eat all the foods. 

SOURCE

Here's the NIKE LINK.

Now. Onto the foods. I love red meat. I eat it very sparingly as I used to not be able to eat it at all, so I have to eat it in moderation. That being said, every once in a while, all I want is a delicious, juicy, well crusted and seared STEAK. 

Back in the old days when I was just a fledgling cook, my idea of cooking a steak was handing it to my Daddy and watching the magic happen on the grill. NOW, after some total meat fails, I have tweaked and perfected my method. I don't think it's "unique"  by any means, but it's amazing. 

MEAT RULES:

1.) Find a sexy steak at your butcher. I usually go with a NY Strip. Hug it, take it home. 

2.) Let the steak sit out till it's room temp, pat it dry with some paper towels and SALT that thang like you've never salted before. Cracked pepper too if that's what you like to get down with. 

3.) Heat your skillet. I mean HOT. Preheat your oven to 350.

4.) Do not be afraid of smoke. Maybe you should turn off your smoke alarm and open a door/window. Serious. 

5.) Slap your dry steak onto the skillet and enjoy the sizzle. Now, I'm a firm believer in the medium rare/rare move. So I usually go 2-3 minutes each side. Once both sides have seared and cooked for the desired amount of time, put a large pat of (gasp!) BUTTER on top of the steak and pop it into the oven. 

6.) Baste. Baste like you've never basted. Take a spoon and baste your steak with the melted butter for about 3-4 minutes. Now take it out, and let it rest another 4-5 minutes. 

7.) My favorite method is to slice up the steak and serve with a nice pretty salad or some hearty mashed potatoes. VOILA.

hi you.

And there you have it amigos, 'Meathead Friday'. Lemme know what you think! 

#TBT but not really...

Today is one of those Thursdays that really really really  feels like a Friday. And those are the most painful. Now, I know Thursdays are when you're supposed to get down with the #TBT's and what not, so I'm doing a hybrid #TBT/music post. Because it's a Thursday/Friday kinda day....Fursday? Thriday? I digress...

Tonight I'm going to McGonigel's Mucky Duck to see Folk Family Revival. I had the pleasure of seeing them way back last fall after the first UT football game of the season against NM State. While I always will remain a stalwart SEC fan, (Go 'Dores) I will forever root for Texas (FIIIGHT!) 

Horns up y'all. 

After securing the win, MainSqueeze and I headed to Cheatham Street to catch a show. Folk Family totally brought it. They sounded great live, and I highly highly recommend catching them live tonight. After reading a short bio about them, I learned that they are avid squirrel hunters, so what's not to love? 

Grab some amigos and head on out tonight. After all, it IS Thriday right? Tomorrow on TheSizzle, it will be 'Meathead Friday'. A combo of workout skillz and how to cook a sexy steak.

Y'all have been AWFULLY quiet. Leave your comments and tell me what you think!

peacelove&Thriday