Itching to create

I have been wishing and hoping and wanting to make things. I have a half finished painting in my living room (so sad), endless recipes in my kitchen, and a head (and drawer) full of patterns I want to make into pretty clothes. But alas! I cannot seem to find the time to sit down long enough to make anything. So until this free time falls into my lap, I will just daydream of putting my hands to work. And blog about it. Starting with pretty things to wear.

Like I said, I literally have a drawer full of patterns begging to be sewn. I even have fabric ready to go. And I have had a few patterns stuck in my head that I can't wait to put into action.

Look at this dress. Look at that BOW. I need this dress in my life, asap. I'm not nuts about those color choices in particular, but I do love the color blocking. Maybe blue and orange?

Also, this please. Is this not the prettiest thing? I want to make one just like this. That white fabric is perfect. It looks soft and breezy and it's feminine in the best way. It also looks fairly challenging, which is always fun.

The bad news is that these two patterns (and the one below) only seem to be available online via printing it yourself. And that was a fiasco the last time I tried it, so I'm not too keen on doing it again. But we'll see.

And, since fall and German festivities are just around the corner, I'd love to make a new dirndl. The one I made last year is a tad too big now and this pattern is more modern. Although I'd shorten that skirt quite a bit and obviously not make it all black. And check out those kiddos. Too damn cute!

I also bought a pattern for lederhosen (!!!) for Mr. Hogan. He felt a little left out last year, so this time around he'll have some German garb. Since he is the only German of the two of us, I guess he deserves it.

Now if I could only find the time to put all my plans into action. I'm sure when Brendon starts school I will have significantly more time on my hands. Silver lining to pharmacy school stealing him away.

Spaghetti sauce is the boss

I'm not a great cook. I'm a slightly decent cook, though I'd say my forte is baking. But, I have a few foolproof dinner recipes up my sleeve, thanks to my momma. My mom is the guru when it comes to yummy meals, and thankfully she has shared some of her secrets with me. When I first moved away from home my mom emailed me a few of her signature recipes, one of them being her spaghetti sauce. I made it a couple times, then lost the recipe and email, so I just started making my own via what I could remember. I did that for a few years and then this Christmas my mom gave my sister and I the secrets to life, aka a cook book of her recipes she makes, including her almighty spaghetti sauce. Turns out I was pretty close! I still make my version of her spaghetti, although Brendon (by himself!) made her recipe a few weeks ago and they taste almost identical. Like mother, like daughter.

So here is my version of my momma's spaghetti sauce recipe. You need:

- Tablespoon of butter
- 1lb of ground beef
- About half a cup of wine or beer
- Salt and pepper
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- 16oz can of tomato sauce
- 16oz can of Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
- 6oz can of tomato paste
- Few cloves of garlic
- A tablespoon or so of sugar
- About a tablespoon or so of various Italian seasonings dried or fresh (I use whatever I have on hand, this last time was dried thyme, oregano, fresh basil, and a couple of bay leaves) - really you can use whatever you like!

First I melt the butter in a big ol' pot over medium heat, then add the ground beef. I break it up so it's into the smallest pieces possible, as this is meat sauce, not meatballs (although you can totally do this whole thing with meatballs, I've tried and it's delicious, just a little more work). Then I season the ground beef with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. I pour about half a cup of beer or wine in too. Then I cook the beef until it's browned.

Next I throw in the canned tomato goodies and season up my sauce with all the other ingredients (including another round of garlic and onion powder, salt, and pepper, about a tablespoon of each). I just kind of wing it and season it to taste, I never use measurements, which is why I'm saying "about" a lot. 

Once everything is mixed in I bring it to a boil then turn it down to super low, so it's just barely simmering. Then I let that nonsense cook for a couple hours. The longer the better. I check on it every now and then to make sure it isn't getting too hot. It will go from looking like this:

To this swampy deliciousness:

And you've got some boss sauce!

This stuff is unbeatable in my book. Throw it on some noodles and enjoy. Or do whatever you want with it! We made my moms lasagna recipe this past week with a batch and it was pretty phenomenal. I've been loving the leftovers. You can also totally freeze half for later. It's amazing stuff. Mad kudos to my momma for teaching me well.

Support

As I'm sure you've gathered (as I have been saying incessantly), life has been busy lately. Mostly because of work. I previously said I've never worked so hard, ever, and that's the truth! The past three weeks have been intense. I've never been so tired. But it was all worth it and I feel very accomplished. I love working hard. Actually I don't know how to do anything else really!

Anyways, throughout all of this, my dear Mr. Hogan has been nothing but absolutely supportive and wonderful (with only very minor whining once or twice ;)). He was there to tell me I was doing a good job and that it was okay for me to be a big whiner. He didn't complain when I was constantly sleepy, when I passed out during every movie we watched and on the shortest car rides to and from dinner (and once at 7:30 in the evening). He told me he missed me and he wished I was home more, but he was never angry or short with me. I could tell he was grumpy (now he knows I how I feel when he's in school!), but he did such wonderful job of keeping his cool. And he did all kinds of dishes, cooked all kinds of meals (!!), and cleaned our little home. I should be crazy busy more often!

I don't know what I'd do without Brendon. He's my rock, my happy place, and my home. He is also hilarious and adorable which doesn't hurt.

Thankfully life has returned to normal this week. We have a few more weeks of summer until pharmacy school steals my husband away again. How is it already that time again? How it is August? June and July where did you go? Come back! I said at the beginning of the summer that I was anxious about this summer since last summer was a rough one, but I had a feeling this one would be better. And goodness has it been! It's been such a wonderful summer. Everything a summer should be, lots of sun, lots of fun! It's a good thing fall is my favorite season, or I'd really not want to let this one go.

Tomato Pie

It's been a long while since I've posted any food up on this blog. I blame it on my zero time/energy to cook. And laziness. And Home Slice pizza.

A couple weeks or so ago, before my life got extra cray, we made tomato pie! I'd heard rumors of it on the internet and then my step mom made one not too long ago and it looked amazing. So we made it happen. It's super easy.

I used this recipe, but altered a bit. Yes, that is half a cup of mayonnaise on the ingredients list, I don't play around. And anything with fresh basil is usually a winner. That basil plant on our window sill was the best investment ever. I left out the onion (because I'm not a fan) and added squash, zucchini, and mushrooms. So I guess it was less of a tomato pie than a veggie pie. Variety is the spice of life. I ended up cutting up WAY too many veggies, I probably could have made two pies. But it was okay, we threw them in a ziploc baggie and had them a couple nights later with cheese sauce, bonus! Cooking/smothering the healthiness out of vegetables is my specialty.

Anyway, this pie nonsense was good. It was hella rich, but yummy. It would be perfect for winter time, which is a bummer since tomatoes are summer veggies. But it was good and if you aren't scared off by the mayo, I suggest you try it. And you could totally leave out the mayo anyway. It's a great one dish meal that you can throw in the oven, forget about, remember, and then eat.

Go buy some fresh 'maters and try it y'all!

Two cats and their human

 
It has been too long since these furry babies have graced my blog. I've said it before (possibly a gazillion times) and I'll say it again, I don't know what I'd do without Sophie and Greg. These two, man. They are too wonderful.

Greg is much more photogenic than his grey sister. When I take pictures of him, he looks like this:

And when I take pictures of Sophie, she looks like this:

Seriously. 90% of the pictures I take of her, she has the "ghost head" as Brendon and I have taken to calling it. She wont stay still for crap. I think it has to do with the fact that she is way too cool to have her picture taken. She's too cool for a lot of things. Like cuddles, most of the time. But she can act tough all she wants, she's a big softy. She is the first to greet me at the door when I come home and usually the first to wander sleepy eyed with me into the bathroom when I wake up (even at 3:30am). And she always loses her cool when we are gone for long periods of time. She is a big fan of us, she just doesn't like to admit it. Little tough sweet baby, what would I do without you?

Greg on the other hand is always about the love. He is the most affectionate cat, probably on the planet. Also perhaps the weirdest.

I have felt bad lately, because I've hardly been home to hang out with these guys. So today since I had free time after work, we had a cuddle party on the floor. Which is pretty much their favorite thing ever. You want these cats to love you? Lay on the floor.

Greg basically lost his mind with happiness.

The whole time I was taking pictures with Greg, Sophie was directly behind the camera, looking like this:

Classic bitch face. She's not Greg's biggest fan. And she turns into the green eyed (literally) monster whenever he gets attention.

But of course she got some love too:

But it didn't last long, because she's a brat like that and had to escape asap. Unlike Greg, she is not a fan of kisses or hugs.

Cat love. It's endless. And I'll leave you with this lovely image:

Greg looking incredibly special. Surprise!