Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Officially Obsessed

I haven't mentioned it yet, but I have been fasting with Jonathan for Ramadan. For those who don't know, Ramadan is a 30 day fast, where you do not eat from sun-up (around 4:30am) to sun-down(around 7:30pm). Surprisingly, after the first 10 days you get pretty used to it.
However, this does not stop me from having really obsessive thoughts about delicious food. I was thinking of all of the amazing treats we had in Spain on our honeymoon and have spent the last 45 minutes trying to find a particular recipe of a dish, as I am now pretty sure the restaurant made up on their own.
This obsession is also relevant to the fact that we will be going back to Texas tomorrow for a long weekend. I should be thinking of ways to spend time with all of my loved ones, but mostly, I have been carefully planning out where I want to go for every meal!
So, as I have no better things to do on my "lunch" break, let's take a gastronomical journey through our honeymoon. 

Breakfast


This is pretty much what I ate every morning we were in Mallorca for a week. Goat cheeses of various textures with fresh bread.

In the city, we went for the old standby of cafe con leche and croissants. Not pictured is the even more amazing chocolate croissant that is always an upgraded choice!


Morning Snack



Raspberry Chocolate Tart. duh.

Lunch


No, not my hamberguesa, that was Jonathan's and it was the size of his head and it had a fried egg on it! Scary.
I opted for the "bocadillo" sandwich with jamon serrano and a semi-firm cheese. Also, seen here is a staple of my Spanish diet, Coca Cola Lite. Not to be mistaken for Diet Coke, Coca Cola Lite is a-mazing and I even managed to smuggle back a six-pack, which I rationed out carefully to myself.
Those patatas bravas in the middle of us were also much better than the ones I've had before, as the sauce really makes it a hit-or-miss item.

OR

This, my friends, is THE meal.  Jonathan was the smarter of us and order the elusive dish that I cannot find on the internets ANYWHERE!
It was a baked fish with delicious seasoning on a bed of french fries. And, I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining things, but I believe there was a fried egg in between the fish and the fries.
My fresh pasta with crazy amounts of cheese was a pretty good contender, but could not surpass the dish of awesomeness.
To accompany, Mallorcan aioli, olives, and bread.
Oh yeah, and wine. Let's not forget the wine.

Afternoon Snack



Churros and Hot Chocolate. Double Duh.

Dinner

We didn't get a lot of dinner pictures, but we did end up making quite a few of our dinners at our cottage, which was really fun.






Everything was so good and the main reason I want to go back is to eat. My fat kid heart is on my sleeve today, if you couldn't tell.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Ceremony Pictures

I had promised a while back that I would eventually post a little bit of the wedding photos. I already posted the preperation shots, so we are moving on to the ceremony. And can I just say again how much I loved our photographer. A-mazing.



Short,sweet, and overdue post, but I still love to look at these photos!

Friday, August 13, 2010

My love/hate story of Lady Gaga



So, we had the chance to see Lady Gaga last Friday night. I was super excited because I actually really liked the stories I had read about her journey to the top. Plus, her music makes me dance anytime, anywhere.
Our experience at Lollapolooza was an interesting one. Since we were seeing her at a music festival, it was first come, first sere with standing room. We ended up standing for about an hour and a half, scrunched between a bunch of teens that were uber excited that they bought some overpriced pot and smuggled in some Malibu that their older sister bought for them. Obnoxius and smelly, but I knew it was going to be worth it.
So, Gaga finally starts up and the energy is at a crazy level. The people around us were obsessed with her! Costumes, screaming, and claws were all around us. The curtain lifts and there is a very produced stage with tons of flamboiant dancers moving around. She gets through the first song and then tells us all about how she had been here 3 years ago and had dismal reviews, but now she is back and headlining! We all cheer, very exciting stuff.
If that had been all I had seen, I would have left with the same idea of her, but the show was two hours and in that time it basically seemed like a political stage with purposefully offensive material and lectures to 14 year olds about how she hates money, loves gays, and that Jesus loves gays, too. Now, even though I may share one or more of those views, I would never stand in front of 80,000 people and tell them that is how it is.
The show's concept was also very Britney Spears-ish, as it was her going through scenes to introduce songs and they even had the "fame-monster" come out, which looked like an anglerfish. Uh, I don't get it....
  So, in short, she is just a girl in an overly produced pop star role. What I thought would be weird/cool just ended up being weird with a bunch of screaming 15 year old gay boys.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

1,000 apologies

So, apparently enjoying married life equals not updating my blog for way too long! Sorry, everybody.
Today marks the first day of Ramadan, which I participate in with Jonathan. For those of you who don't know the cycle, it is 30 days of only eating while the sun is down. I will probably be blogging much more now that I won't be seeking out food for my hour lunch break.
Let's see, in the last month we have...
Competed in Muddy Buddy:
This was a 6 mile race that we switched between biking and running as a team, then hurled ourselves through a huge mud pit, seen here.

It was super foggy when we started the race at 7am and it was an hour away, so we had to leave at 4:30 in the morning from our house! Totally worth it.

We also attended Lollapolooza here in Chicago, which was a blast!
I was really excited to see Lady Gaga, but now that I have, I wish that I hadn't. That will be a post for another day this week, since I have more to say on that.

This post is bouncing around a lot, but is more like word vomit, since I haven't been on in so long. I had actually started a blog post the day after my last one in July, so I will leave with that for now.

The post was going to be titled something quircky and profound about what I have learned and have yet to learn, but I will let you make your own decisions on what it would have been called

It has been 2 years since I graduated from college and moved up here to Chicago. 2 years isn’t a lot of time, but much has changed in my life. The move, the marriage, 3 jobs, and 1 new cat are among a few of those things. In this time I have dropped 15 pounds, become a much better rock climber, and have started to become more organized, in general. These changes certainly don’t make me brilliant or unusual, but it has taught me a lot of little lessons about myself and about the world, quickly. I thought I would share a few of those now:



1. It isn’t where you intend to go, but where you end up that counts

2. I like things to be cleaner and neater than I am normally able to accomplish

3. My life is much better simplified

4. Always get important things in writing (and make a copy)

5. No amount of clothing or accessories will make you more or less beautiful

6. I want to keep a job that won’t keep me there for more than 45 hours a week(on average) , unless it is my own business

7. Compromising in decisions isn’t as awful as I thought it would be

8. If I haven’t had sleep or food, no one can make me happy

9. I like to obsess over ridiculous, cute things even though it is illogical to have them at the moment(French bulldogs, roof decks, houses in Austin)

10. A “thank you” and a smile can get you out of many situations

11. In my case, being drunk is always a better idea than in actual practice

Bye for now, blogger friends!