White Trash Wednesday!

There are no words this week.

Because this time I am actually speechless.

Every week I set off to find a new white trash recipe.  And every week I’m surprised at the results my search turns up. 

One week it’s Spam Fondue.  The next it’s a Potato Chip Sandwich.

It never ceases to amaze me what sort of white trash recipes are waiting to be discovered.  This week is no different.

 

Mountain Dew Apple Cobbler

* 2 apples
* 2 cans crescent rolls
* 1 cup butter
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 1/2 cups Mountain Dew

Preheat oven to 350F. Green apples are best for this recipe. Peel, core and slice into eighths. Wrap each piece of apple in a segment of crescent roll dough. Place wrapped apples in greased baking dish. Melt butter and stir in sugar until dissolved. Spread over apples. Pour Mountain Dew over everything and do not stir. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, uncovered.

 

I kid you not.

Thank you Ghost Traveller for this week’s White Trash Wednesday recipe.

I owe you one.

is gray even a color on the color wheel?

That my friends, is what stress does to me. It turns my dry, flat hair gray.
I hate gray.

It’s not like it’s a fun color.

It’s not exciting.
It’s not inspiring.
It’s not young.

And come on, I’m only 34 (yes, I said ONLY). I shouldn’t have gray hair. I mean, I’m still in the prime of my life, right?
Right?
Hello? Is this thing on?

So I’m trying to eradicate stress from my life altogether. Should be a fun undertaking considering that my job is stressful.
Granted, I’m not saving lives or anything, but still, it’s got it’s own levels of stress. The kind that apparently turn my hair a heinous shade of white and leave me even more stressed.

See…it’s a sick cycle.

Yesterday I wrote about changing my attitude.  I’m hopeful that this new state of mind will help keep the grays at bay a little longer. And I’m happy to report that day 1 of this so-called positive transformation actually turned out okay.

Is my hair still depressed?
Yeap, but I didn’t want to launch anyone out of a window.

That’s what I call success.

Oh and as for my hair, it will be back to it’s happy random shades of brownish-red Saturday morning starting at 9am.

This positive transformation may help my sanity, but it sure ain’t gonna turn back time.

cooking with pork

This time, I’m switching it up a bit. The weekly dinner menu has started to take a turn for the boring lately so I turned to my favorite little Food Network star, Giada de Laurentiis, for inspiration.

But as I’ve mentioned before, I tend to take the lazy man’s approach. So this recipe comes from Giada, but is dumbed down by me.

Also, I cook for two so if you want to, just double everything.

You’ll need:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup, Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 pork loin chops
salt, ground pepper
1 tbsp butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil

To make:
Place the flour in a bowl. Place the eggs in another bowl. Mix the bread crumbs and Parmesan in a third bowl.

Using a mallet, pound the hell out of the pork chops. (I didn’t work today, so I had less aggression.) Pound them down until they are 1/4 inch thick. (I tend to place the pork chops between two pieces of wax paper, but plastic wrap works well too.)

Sprinkle the chops with salt and pepper.

Dredge the chops in flour, coating lightly. Next dip them in the egg, allowing the excess to drip off. And finally, coat the chops in the bread crumb mix, pressing gently to make sure it sticks.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter in the oil over medium high heat until hot. Add the pork chops to the oil mixture and cook until the chops are a light golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.

And that’s it.
Enjoy kids!

Changing my attitude

It’s been a rough couple of weeks at the old workplace. And that’s putting it mildly.

I’ve been feeling as though things are ridiculously out of my control. Just know that it hasn’t been pretty.
I won’t bore you with the details, because “details” is just another word for boring.

So after talking to my husband, my mother, my in-laws, my sister, my friends, and just about anyone else on the planet who will listen to me complain, I’ve come to the realization that I must change my attitude.

I’m going to be positive.

I’m going to be pleasant.

And I’m going to smile.

And when I get home at night, I’m going to write in this:

And then I’m gonna smile a lot more.

Update: Not quite the favorite

 

*Just with prettier graphics*

So I’m not quite Atlanta’s favorite local blogger and I’m okay with that. If you get a chance to check out the other winners, you’ll understand why.

But to be honest, for me, showing up on the list was pretty funny, shocking, and I loved every second of it.

Thank you to those who voted and commented because just by doing that, you’ve already brought more readers to this place.

And for that, I’m eternally grateful.

 

 

Blink and you miss it

Hard to believe, but the weekend is already over. Ashley’s parents are at the airport ready to head home. Ashley is sitting at his desk working. And I have one last day to enjoy before stepping back into a world of daily panic attacks.

Didn’t his parents just get here? Where did the weekend go? I’m always amazed how fast time goes by and am constantly wishing they could last a little bit longer. Maybe it’s because this particular weekend was chocked full of entertainment. I mean we managed to see Georgia’s homecoming, dine out at 14 different restaurants (exaggerating of course), and still had time for some sightseeing.

Before I post any pictures, I know what you’re going to say. “Oh my god she went back there – AGAIN.” Well I did. I can’t help it. I’m obsessed. But in all honesty, my mother in law had never been before and if you love Atlanta, you want to learn more about it’s history. There’s no better place to learn than Oakland Cemetery. And no, I won’t bore you with all the details, because trust me, neither one of us has that kind of time. So in typical Katie fashion, I’ll just show you pictures.

(okay, so I lied…that’s the state capitol in the background)

(This is “Tweet”…and it was someone’s pet mockingbird. Just ignore the fact that there’s a lamb on the headstone…)

And I promise it will be at least a month before I mention this place again.

I hope you all had as great of a weekend as I did.
Happy Monday everyone.

good thing I walked today

With the in-laws visiting this weekend, there was no doubt we’d be eating well.

Last night was no different. Didn’t matter that we were in Athens, Georgia. Wouldn’t have mattered if we were in Kansas City. All that mattered was that we were going to be eating good food. And eat good food we did.

At a little place called 5&10.

It’s a fair assumption to make that I love this restaurant.
It’s quaint, cute, and it’s local. (not a chain.)

{risotto with lobster and bacon}

{blackened redfish}

Because who are we kidding? You certainly aren’t getting food like this at a chain…

(Not shown: lobster bisque, stone crabs, and copious amounts of wine)

a place called home

Even though I haven’t lived in Athens, Georgia since 1998, part of me still feels like it’s home. I know it’s probably just me getting all gooey and sentimental, but truth be told, that little town makes me happy.

Ashley and I took his parents up there for Homecoming and although his dad had been there before, this time was different.
It was sunny.
And a sunny day in Athens can make you forget about all of your troubles in the world. Clearly, it was exactly what I needed. Who needs meds when you can take a quick drive to Athens?

Long story short, Georgia won their Homecoming game, scored lots of points, and looked pretty fantastic on the field. But I don’t go for the football. I go for the pomp and circumstance. I go for the excitement. I go for the people watching.

There are no words. These hats are bloody brilliant.

And this shirt pretty much speaks for itself because if you’re a Georgia fan you despise Auburn, Tennessee, and Clemson, but somehow this shirt leaves out the most hated rival of all, Florida.

I kinda forced the in-laws to pose for pictures too. Once I get that camera in hand, I tend to get a little bossy.

Cute, right?

And I realized that this post reads like a Faulkner novel as I have a serious issue with typing in a stream of consciousness type manner. Could be that I had two glasses of wine earlier…or could be that I’m exhausted.

Do you know much I actually exerted myself today?
Hello? My days are spent sitting in a chair in a wildly small cubicle. The most I do is walk 2 feet from my desk to the printer. Not exactly what I would refer to as taxing.
Now hiking through campus today was taxing. Exhausting even.
And now I’m tired. And you’re reading the most random post ever.
I promise though that tomorrow I’ll be on my best behavior.

Brownie’s honor.

A Friday filled with food.

The in laws made it into town safely today and not long after they landed, we headed to our first eating adventure. Unfortunately, I was ill-prepared and left my camera hiding in my purse. However, if you’re interested…we had a late lunch at TAP…a gastropub.  And although the food was perfectly fine, the highlight for me was the bathroom.  I know, a bit bizarre, but trust me, it was pretty cool. I mean how many restaurant bathrooms come equipped with city views?

Exactly.

So after hanging out  for the remainder of the afternoon with the in-laws and our pups, we dined at Fritti, which might just be my most favorite pizzeria ever. And no, it’s not your typical pizzeria.  Fritti (Atlanta) is the only pizza restaurant in the city, and most likely the south, to have earned accreditation from the Vera Pizza Napoletana Association. 

In layman’s terms, Fritti is special.

And I enjoyed my most favorite pizza Fritti has on the menu- the Quattro Stagioni.

Can I tell you a secret?
I don’t even bother to open the menu.
Nope.
This is what I order everytime. And I don’t foresee my tastes changing anytime soon. Oh and if you’re wondering what all those incredible toppings are, they are artichokes, cotta ham, mushrooms, and olives. And even though I devoured half of the pizza a little over 2 1/2 hours ago, I’m already craving the rest of it.

Bad Katie.

Have I mentioned I love food?

Have I mentioned I love pizza?

One day of eating down, two to go.

I’m thinking it would have been wise to have invested in elastic wasteband pants…but I could be wrong.

this weekend cannot come soon enough.

Today was my Friday and I couldn’t be happier about it. So far I’m only 5 days into November and this month has already chewed me up and spit me out. If you’ve never felt that way, then count your lucky stars because it’s actually quite painful. I’m confident though that tonight will be night terror free {yea!} and that this weekend will be fantastic.

Did I mention that my in-laws are visiting this weekend?
Did I also mention that I love my in-laws?

No really. I do. They are incredibly awesome people and I’m one very lucky girl to have married into a family as sweet and loving as the one I did.

And they love food. Almost as much as I do. So this weekend I’m looking forward to all of the food that will be eaten. Because see, that’s what we do when we get together. We eat at really good restaurants.
And we do fun things.

So instead of sitting at home and checking my blog stats 4,917 times, I’ll be seeing things like this:

(My mother-in-law has never been to Oakland Cemetery and clearly I need no excuse…)

and this:

And luckily will not be eating things like this:

Yeap, life is good.