70. Ask 5 friends for book rec’s, then read read 5 of the suggestions

The Art of Racing In the Rain -


Did this one as an audio book driving to/from work during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This book is a tragedy in the best sense of the word. Devastatingly sad, but a great story narrated by a dog about the life of his owner. It’s definitely rated R for language and some sexual content, but it’s a really interesting way to look at a different worldview with fresh eyes. And I must say I thought twice the next time I spoke to a dog after finishing this book.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville -




This one wasn’t a favorite of mine. I did finish it though, and in a fairly short amount of time, so it did hold my interest (I may have a tendency to quit books), I just didn’t get much out of it. It’s a biographical book by the woman who took over Ann Landers’ advice column and tells the story of her family and personal life. Nothing too earth shattering here, just someone sharing their story with world. Which is nothing to discredit, just wasn’t something I found particularly riveting. I give it a solid “ehh.”

84. Go to an indie movie at E Street Cinema

E Street Cinema in DC is owned by Landmark Theatres and they have a sister theater in San Francisco at the Embarcadero Center with the same set up, right down to the hot tea with free refills at the concession stand (I had vanilla black tea), so I crossed this one off my list while out there for work.


Sometimes full theaters are nice, but other times it's kinda better to be one of 7 people there on a Monday night.

Saw a great little film called "Made in Dagenham" about women who worked for Ford Motor Company in England in the late 1960’s and were fighting with their union and Ford for equal pay.



Lively, entertaining, and dare I say, a bit inspirational.

97. Do a blog entry for each of the 101 things I do

I am backlogged on blogging - but I have been crossing things off the list, so keep an eye out for an onslaught of new entries....ok, well maybe not an onslaught...more like 5 or so.

30. Surprise a coworker with a drink from Starbucks

Because sometimes Pumpkin Spice Lattes do make the day a little easier. Was glad I got to encourage a colleague with a little seasonal pick-me-up.

27. Cook my way through Paula Deen’s cookbook, “The Lady and Sons Cookbook”

Another multiple update ---

I just finished a large helping of Paula's pot roast recipe...how is something so simple so delicious? Pot roast is just a great thing to cook. Easy, makes your place of dwelling smell amazing, and can feed one single female for almost an entire week's lunches and suppers (with the help of some side dishes).

Alright, so here is what the fallapartjuicydeliciousness looks like after cooking in the crock pot for over 8 hours:



Plus you get this amazing gravy or au jus or whatever you'd like to call it, that went well over the brown rice I fixed, and also would be AMAZING on mashed potatoes. I'll have to make some of those later this week.
Recipe here---by the way check out the picture of her pot roast -- this is not the prettiest meal you'll eat by any means.

Other recipes I've made: Sweet potato chips

Different, tasty. I give them a yes.
(I also had some fun with my phone camera)

Can't figure out how to rotate pictures on Blogger...but don't these look sort of like pralines? But...not. Yeah, not. Anyway, they tasted good. That's about all that matters.

Recipe here

Sesame Chicken Strips
I used panko since Trader Joe's didn't have "normal" bread crumbs. The panko and sesame seeds were a great combo if I do say so myself.

Mix it up.

Coat the chicken. (maybe this is why I'd never make it as a food blogger...)

Recipe here

5. Go see a live music show of a local band that I don’t know much about

Alright, so this was a one-man band, but it still counts. He was opening for a non-local. And honestly, this is a difficult post to write.

Christian musician. Terrible songwriter. Awkward performer.

I tried to crop the photo so that you'll never be able to know who it is. I don't want to be mean or discouraging, but, honestly, it was really awful.

I thought about expounding at length upon why arts are critical and what I get out of good live music shows, but I'm going to keep this brief instead.

Can we all just agree to help each other out here?

Let's all take a pledge together:
I, (your name here), promise to encourage friends of mine that are pursuing the arts by pushing them to create good art, not rewarding and applauding bad art. I acknowledge that flattery and empty praise only hurts them in the long-run and that the last thing we need in the art world is people who are told they are good when they aren't, and then they end up humiliating themselves during American Idol auditions.


And if you are a Christian, please continue the pledge with this addendum:

I also promise to not settle for bad Christian music just because it contains true words. I will not feel guilty for not liking a Christian artist's work and I will push my fellow Christians who are artists to keep striving for good art, not just easy art.


Thank you~

27. Cook my way through Paula Deen’s cookbook, “The Lady and Sons Cookbook”

This one is a two-fer because, well, I made two recipes this week and only feel like writing one blog entry about it.

First up - Spicy Shrimp Casserole.

My goal was to cook a large dish so that I could have a little something to take for lunch every day to work (I'm trying to work on number 32 over there). I also knew I needed to get started on these main dish recipes or I'll never make it through this cookbook. Paula Deen, being right there on the water in Savannah, loves her seafood, so this one seemed pretty simple for my first seafood dish.

Now, once I got started, I realized that "casserole" is a very generous, all-encompassing kind of word. And I've eaten a lot of casseroles in my life. Some people don't like them -- everything for your meal kinda lumped together in one dish, but they really are very efficient and practical meals, and I have no aversion to them.

This one, however.....not a winner. It's basically like you're making a shrimp pasta dish with a cheese sauce....and calling it a casserole. And honestly, it didn't have a ton of flavor. By Friday at lunch I was glad to be eating the last of it. Five days in a row of anything can be a little much, but when you aren't crazy about it, it makes it that much more difficult.

Without further ado, I present the before:


and after:



Eh. Wouldn't recommend it.

To redeem this disappointment, I also made Broccoli Salad to take to my Community Group's potluck dinner on Tuesday. It's very very similar to the recipe my mom uses for hers, and is my MOST preferred way to eat broccoli. Let's just say the leftovers I brought home went fast:



I highly recommend this recipe, although I did omit the tomatoes. Mainly because I was rushing to get this ready for CG, but also because they didn't sound good to me in this salad.

Nobody makes broccoli kind of unhealthy like we Southerners do. Recipe here.