My favorite tortellini.

Hey everyone.

So I've had a terrible night, and as you may have been able to assume, the way I comfort myself is cooking. Tonight I decided I would make my favorite tortellini pasta salad. I don't make my tortellini from scratch, but I do LOVE the Buitoni brand that they sell at Kroger (and I'm sure most other grocery stores).

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 pckg cheese filled tortellini (the biggest size they offer)
Pesto
Tomato and Basil Feta cheese
Grape tomatoes, halved
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Cumin Seed
Onion Powder
Lemon juice

Directions:
Cook tortellini according to package directions (I boil it for about 1 minute). Drain and rinse with cold water.

Cut chicken breasts in half and season with salt and pepper. Cook in 2 tbs. of olive oil until done. Remove from heat.

Mix tomatoes, feta, pesto, and all of the seasonings (to taste) in a big bowl. Mix in the tortellini. Slice the chicken breast into small strips, then add into the mix. Place the lid (if you have one) on the bowl and toss the salad. Chill for about an hour (or less) until it's the temperature you prefer.

Again, this week is going to be a terrible one. I have a court date that will (hopefully) be issuing my ex-boyfriend with an Order of Protection on Tuesday...and it's affecting my mood tonight, and probably for the rest of the week until all of this is over.

If anyone has any requests for stuff for me to cook and maybe post a tutorial for, send it to me on facebook. Thanks for all of your support!

-Erin

Food blogging, once again!

Hi everyone!

I can't guarantee that I will be able to maintain a steady interest in blogging about my culinary exploits, but I felt the urge today, so here it goes.

CJ recently taught me how to make hummus, and according to him, I have perfected his recipe. Because hummus is super cheap and I'm having company this weekend, it makes a great snack for a few people to munch on that doesn't cost that much!

My hummus recipe:
2 cans of garbanzo beans
Olive oil
1/4 cup tahini paste
(all of the rest of these are "to taste" ingredients)
Cumin seed
Red pepper
Salt
Lemon juice

My blender isn't that great (and I don't have a food processor), so I have to blend the cans of garbanzo beans one at a time.
Anyway, add one can of garbanzo beans an about 3 tablespoons of olive oil into the blender. Churn until the beans are slightly creamy, then add the tahini paste, all of the seasonings, and the other can of beans. Basically, just blend everything together until it's a pasty consistency! You'll have to keep adding olive oil to help the blender process the beans easier. Enjoy with some pita (I prefer the whole wheat kind), and you'll have a great, healthy snack!

ebdeebdeebde-that's all folks!

Well, this is it. My last few hours in Europe for awhile. Jeremy's in the shower, I should be packing, and my parents will be excited to see the both of us, on time, downstairs at breakfast at 7:15. The last night was rough, but other than that, we had a great vacation. We're not nearly on each other's nerves as much as I thought we'd be, and we've managed to not strangle each other in our sleep. We've done alright by me. I'm not at all looking forward to this 12 HOUR flight, but I'll manage. That's what sleeping pills are for :)

I hope to see all of my friends back in the states, but not immediately. I really just want to see CJ, and to try to get my sleep schedule back to normal before TOMORROW when I've picked my nightly serving shift back up. Anyway, off I go! I'll be contacting everyone somehow to let you all know I made it.

<3

Last night in Europe=NOT great success.

Dear everyone reading,

If you would like to stay somewhere practical and easy, DO NOT stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rome at the airport that starts with an 'f'. We've been here for what? 4 hours now? And we still haven't been able to access our second room. This is awful. My brother and I may not have any where to sleep tonight, because the stupid Hilton Honors people can't figure anything out.

ANYWAY.

So. Our last day in Europe. Last night we were still in Paris. My mom and brother went to bed super early, so my dad and I went out and drank some wine at the café across the street. We had a heart to heart, and I basically decided that I'm going to do something with international marketing. That works, right? After drinking our wine, we came up to the apartment, accidentally woke Jeremy up, and then we crashed.

We got up early this morning and headed to the airport. We made it! Obviously, because now we are in Rome.

We're staying at the Hilton Garden Inn right next to the Fumicino airport, and this has been the rockiest/worst hotel experience EVER. We've been waiting for like 4 hours go get a second room for my brother to stay in, and so far it's been unsuccessful. My dad is just now on the phone with Hilton Honors to try to get us somewhere to sleep tonight.

Regardless, I am happy to be heading back to the states tomorrow morning. I desperately miss CJ, and I'm sick of riding in taxis and trying to figure out random modes of public transportation in foreign countries. While I love Europe, and pretty much everything about it, I would only feel comfortable if I was actually living here. I'm pretty used to the metro system in Paris, the language in London, and the way of eating/living in Rome. I could live here, but only if CJ comes with me. I wouldn't want to do this on my own.

So for tonight, I bid everyone adieu. We're getting on the plane to states tomorrow at 10:30, and I won't have free wi-fi after tonight. I'll be calling everyone when I get back tomorrow!

"Your bum!"

Ahem.

What a day/night!

This morning, we got up and switched our flights. We are now coming back the 6th with mama, instead of staying on until the 11th. It was just going to be WAY too expensive to stay here and pay for a car, and rent hotels, and pay for food...you know how expensive vacations are.

After we were on the phone with Hertz and Delta for awhile, we headed down towards the Catacombs. It was unexpectedly busy. The line literally was almost entirely around the block. So we ditched, got coffee, and headed back towards the metro. We arrived at Cité, jumped off, and visited Notre Dame. SOOOOOO pretty. I remember seeing it last year, but this year mass was going on and the priest was dressed all elegantly and stuff. It was a really neat experience.

After that we got back on line 4, and got off at Les Halles. So, if anyone reading this ever goes to Paris, go to Les Halles. It is huge. I mean, it's all shopping and cheap/crappy eating, but it's amazing if you want cheap, decent clothes. We bought tickets at fnac (an electronics store that also sells tickets?) to Versailles for tomorrow. After that we headed toward Montmartre. Before we could get back on the metro, we went and had lunch at this cute little place. I had crudité and some sort of roasted chicken. NOMZ.

After lunch, we went back to line 4, switched to line 12, and then got off and walked to the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Again, when we got inside, there was a mass going on. We quickly toured the church, then went around and took pictures of the amazing view of Paris from the Cathedral. It was a great way to see Paris after having walked around in its guts for most of the time we've been here.

After that, we came back to the apartment, went to dinner at a crêperie where I had an amazing fish soup, then Jeremy and I headed out to one of my old haunts in Paris, Café Bonnie in the 10th arrondissement. It was awesome. We had a few mojitos with my friend Kara, and here I am now. Exhausted. Ready for bed (couch?).

We'll be getting up tomorrow, heading towards the Catacombs (for the 3rd time) and then hopping on a train to Versailles for a few hours. Hopefully my mom and I will get some shopping done before we leave on Sunday!

I'm excited to come home! I miss everyone!

Paris=busiest city ever.

Today was insanity.

And now I'll tell you about it.

We started off this morning waking up and RACING down to the Catacombs to try to get there early to avoid lines. So we get off the metro station, no real problems (besides my directing us the wrong way down the line...no big deal since the original line took us straight there anyway) until we got to the door. CLOSED. For Ascension? SO ANNOYING! So basically my brother, dad, and I walked around that area, bought some bread and cheese, and then finally took the metro to meet Dr. Romeiser and our lunch group at l'Académie de la Biere. We ate very well. I had Moule a la moutard (mussels in a mustard cream sauce) and fries. SOOOO good. I had two beer cocktails that consisted of a French beer called Maës, champagne, and creme de cassis. They were very good.

After lunch, the family (with the addition of one of my french mates, Miranda) headed to the Louvre. We were there for about 3-4 hours, and managed to see everything from the Mona Lisa, to Nike of Samothrace, to "Atéla". It was an amazing time, but thoroughly exhausting. After the museum, we stopped at a café next to the Tuileries and had dessert and drinks. I just had water, because my insides felt like they were drying up from inhaling so much dust. Apparently most of France is suffering from a drought, and you can definitely tell in Paris because of all of the wind blowing the dust around.

Finally, we made it back to the apartment, and Mom, Jeremy and I headed to dinner. (My dad wasn't hungry). We walked down a couple of streets near our apartment, but finally decided upon a café that's right next to our arch. We had all kinds of stuff. I got cheesy mashed potatoes (they were mostly cheese) and a salad, my mom got a crazy salad, and Jeremy got a steak and fries...of course. So that was great.

Since we've been back at the apartment I had a short conversation with CJ, and then I sat down and planned our day tomorrow. I've got us booked to see the Catacombs in the morning, Notre Dame after that, then we'll visit fnac (a store) to buy our tickets for Versailles on Saturday, then to Montmartre, the Sacred Heart Cathedral, and maybe the Moulin Rouge. There's still so much stuff left to do in Paris! I know we'll never get to see it all, but I'm certainly going to try!

Anyway, I need to go to bed. We've got a long day tomorrow! I'll be posting to let you guys know how it went!

Paris!

Well, today was our first day in Paris! We rode the "Chunnel" in from London (it took about 2.5 hours) and arrived here at about 12:45. The Chunnel was interesting. There was a lot more motion than I expected there to be, and we rode backwards, which I was convinced was going to make Jeremy SO SICK. Fortunately, it didn't. He was fine. We made it to Paris unscathed.

In Paris, we had to figure out the purchasing of railway tickets, which is always fun...especially in a different language. Finally we figured out that we needed to buy "Visite Paris" which is basically an all-access pass to all of the modes of transportation available within the city.

After we made it back to our AMAZING apartment in the 10th arrondissement, we headed out. We ate lunch, bought groceries, deposited them at the apartment, and then hit the streets. We ended up seeing Les Invalides, the Eiffel Tower, l'Arc de Triomphe, and basically everything else in that general vicinity that we should have seen. It was awesome!

After we saw all the sights, we came back to the apartment, then left for dinner. We ate at this cute little pizzeria that's on the corner of our streets and had a lovely time. It's kindof Italian, but it was still awesome for being in Paris.

So now, it appears that Jeremy is going to bed. I'm sorry that this post is so choppy, but I've been mid-conversation with CJ the whole time. I'll post again later!