Viva Mexico!

Recipe 11: Found this delightful recipe for home-made blender salsa on Pinterest, and I'll definitely use this recipe again. The assembly was easy--Toss all ingredients in blender and blend to desired consistency, and presto, you have a delicious mild with a little bite salsa that goes perfectly with your favorite chips. The recipe made about 2 small jars full of salsa, so I have plenty for later. I could eat chips and salsa every day, and now I have great recipe for my arsenal. 

Recipe 12: Michael brought home a recipe from Kroger for Chicken Tinga, which is basically a chicken taco. It was simple to make. It's just chicken, tomato soup, chipotle peppers, onions, queso fresco, and tortillas. I made my tortillas crispy by frying them in a bit of oil before assembling the tacos. For a garnish, just a bit of cilantro.

Recipe 13: For breakfast last weekend, I made a Chocolate Dutch Baby, which is basically a chocolate pancake. It was super easy, just dump all ingredients into a blender, then into a cast iron skillet with melted butter, and into the oven. Then, I topped mine with bananas and chocolate chips because that's what I had on hand. It was pretty yummy, even though it stuck to the pan too much.

Quitter

Book 14: Quitter: Closing the Gap between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job by Jon Acuff is about finding your true calling in life and going after it while working to pay the bills. Acuff uses his life story of being a "serial quitter" to encourage readers to take the steps necessary to start working toward your dream job while working your day job. His message is pretty simple, work hard at your day job and your dream job, and when the time is right, quit your day job and go full-force with your dream. See, simple. Just the way I like.

This book is a good read if you're currently in a job that you hate, and you'd like to figure out how to move beyond that. What resonates most to me from the book is the idea that your work life and your non-work life will never be entirely separate. While your work doesn't necessarily define you, it's difficult to separate the two. You can't spend 40 hours a week doing something and not have it affect you, so you can't afford to remain in a job you hate. Yes, bills need to be paid and people fed, but if you're not fulfilled in your job, you may need to work toward quitting, so that you can find something meaningful. If that's you, I recommend that you find a copy of this book and read it.

The Godfather

Film 11: It took me a long time to finally watch The Godfather. I've had it for months, I think. I've seen the beginning so many times, but then I get distracted. It's hard for me to justify sitting and watching a 3-hour film without doing something (folding clothes, grading, cleaning, etc), so my memory of the film is still fuzzy, but I sat through it, and I'm going to review it anyway.

Let me start by revealing that all that I knew about The Godfather was from cultural references to it in other films or television. The Hubs has been trying to get me to watch it for a while, but I kept telling him that I'd already seen, and I'd say stuff like "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" to prove to him that I had in fact seen it. In reality, I only know that line because Tom Hanks quotes the line to Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail, which I've seen so many times that I'm embarrassed. Boy was I surprised when I heard that line in The Godfather! (Spoiler alert: it's after someone gets shot).

Likes: The music, cinematography, performances are all top notch. Funny story--I had to look up who Al Pacino played because I didn't recognize him as Michael. Also, didn't recognize Diane Keaton as Kay. I've only seen them in more recent films, and they have both changed considerably. Give me a break, people. 

Dislikes: Well, I suppose there's not much that I dislike about the film. I mean, it's what I expected, lots of killing and crime. I don't really know the plot. Still don't understand why guys like it so much--it's kinda long and slow.

Bottom line: It's really not my type of film, but it's a well-made classic.

Honey Glazed Carrots

Recipe 10: I wanted to try a veggie recipe, and since it was close to the end of the month, I had to work with the ingredients that I had, so I made Honey Glazed Carrots.

This was not my favorite recipe. Carrots are already pretty sweet on their own, and adding the honey and cinnamon to these didn't suit me. Maybe, I'm used to carrots being seasoned savory instead of sweet. I don't know, but this is one recipe that I can put bed.

Side Note: Check out the white plates that I bought just for this blog. Taking the pictures on dark plates didn't make the food stand out. Hopefully, the pictures will start to look better now.

The Fault in Our Stars

Book 13: It's been a long time since I've read something that made me cry like John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, and now I'm not sure I even want to see the movie. The last book that made me not want to watch the movie was Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. I still haven't seen the movie, I was that mad at Picoult and the ending of My Sister's Keeper. I'm not mad at TFIOS. It makes me sad, makes me think, makes feel grateful for what I have. I'll probably see the movie at some point.

TFIOS is the story of Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters, who meet at a support group for teens living with cancer. Their friendship and love grows through the complications of their illnesses. It was a smart, witty, and perfectly paced book, and unlike other YA (Young Adult) books that I've read, the characters and plot are realistic and relatable. I was truly surprised by the turn in the middle of the book. I'm not into giving away spoilers like some people (aka my husband), so I'm not going to say much about this book other than that I enjoyed it--all the humor and the poignant moments.

17 more books to read. I am half-way through a few, but I would have to finish a new book every 3 days to complete my challenge. I can totally do it!