My day has been spent in the kitchen.
Dirty dishes await my attention, but I needed a breather before I tackle them so I decided to blog and hang out with you fine fellas.
Several hours passed by in the kitchen as I experimented and played around with tons of tomatoes sent to me for a freelance recipe development project for Lipman Produce.
I’ll be sure to share the final project with you guys once it’s published, but for now here’s a little preview of my end result…
If I don’t chop another vegetable for a month, I’ll be a happy camper.
Back Up
Let’s back up a bit because I did do some fun stuff other than chop endless amounts of tomatoes today.
Around 9 a.m. Ryan and I met up with Ryan’s childhood friend, also named Ryan, at a Starbucks.
We picked a coffee shop located along the interstate since Ryan W. was passing through Ocala on his way back up to his home in North Carolina and we didn’t want him to veer too far off track!
(Yes, it was another dreary morning.)
The two Ryans grew up together in Parrish, Florida and stayed close throughout the years. (They were also groomsmen in each others’ weddings!)
We caught up over drinks (a hot Refresh tea for me) and talked about planning a hiking trip together in North Carolina in the coming months.
Since Ryan W. still had a good nine hour drive ahead of him, we didn’t hang out at Starbucks for too long and said our goodbyes around 10 a.m.
Ryan and I still had a good hour to kill before 11 a.m. church, so we decided to wander into Barnes & Noble to browse around for a bit.
I finished off my tea while feeling nostalgic in the children’s books section.
Remember this lovely read from elementary school?
Apparently the kids of today are reading that classic and this little gem…
Fart Powder! It’s not only a book, but a series. Get it while it’s hot!
I also walked by this book which made me shudder.
Fahrenheit 451. My least favorite high school assigned reading book of all time. It’s about burning books and, ironically, it’s the book I’d most like to burn.
Lunch
After church, Ryan and I ran to the grocery store before heading home for lunch.
I fixed myself a bagelwich with roast beef, mustard and chipotle gouda cheese served with apple slices on the side.
And then it was time to turn our kitchen upside down as I chopped, tasted and perfected three recipes.
Now I’m ready to relax.
An easy dinner and lots of reading are on the agenda for this evening!
P.S. The Fashion page was updated today.
Question of the Evening
- Since we’ve already talked about the best assigned reading books from school, what was your least favorite assigned reading book?
Fahrenheit 451, without a doubt. I also remember finding The Grapes of Wrath rather slow-moving, which is odd because I loved Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.
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chopping vegetables is so annoying but all 3 of those end products look delicious!
I didn’t really mind Farenheit 451! Funny how that goes. For me it was the Once and Future King. I literally had to try reading it in different places because I fell asleep reading it. Every. Single. Time. Eventually I gave up and bonded with Sparknotes…:)
Worst reading assignment was The Pearl in 7th grade. Hands down. (Another Steinbeck!) It was a short book, but I never finished it. I’m beginning to wonder if it was an age thing. I recently read Cannery Row and loved it. Hmm..
I forgot about The Pearl, I hated it too!!!
that’s easy: the odyssey! UGH!
Ooh, your salsa looks delicious! I haven’t had salsa in way too long. Can’t wait to see your finished recipes! I looooove Refresh tea – it’s so delicious. I agree that “Grapes of Wrath” was very slow-moving. The summer I had to read that book, I also had to read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and “The Jungle” – they’re all great books, but they’re also all suuuuper long and depressing! Not exactly my idea of enjoyable summer reads.
Ugh I hated Fahrenheit 451…another one that was awful was 1984..
I mean i get that their classics- but NOT my cup of tea!
I haven’t read 1984 but I enjoyed Orwell’s Animal Farm this year for assigned reading and wanted to check 1984 out. What didn’t you like about it? I’d really love your opinion!
ha! i’ve had 1984 on my “to read” list, too! 🙂
1984 is one of my favorite books of all time. It is so well crafted. Although a bit depressing and scary at times, I still read it once every summer. You should definitely read it.
I found it boring and depressing and just could never get into it… this is also the “high-school me” we are talking about…but to each their own, you might totally love it… 🙂
The Wringer! It made me so sad what they did to the birds 🙁
Your salsas look delicious! Can’t wait to see the final recipes. Thanks again for working with Lipman!
thanks for the opportunity, jenni! i’ll have the photos and recipes to you tomorrow! 🙂
Julius Caesar. Totally anything with Shakespeare. BORING. And that comes from a (teen) gal who read Liberty and Tyranny ( Mark Levin) in one sitting. I even enjoy C.S. Lewis and whole bunch of other classics ( is Captain Underpants considered a classic?) but not Shakespeare. What a weirdo.
I liked Fahrenheit 451, but I also really liked the teacher who taught my sophomore English class. I absolutely hated The Scarlet Letter; Hawthorne was too heavy handed with his symbolism and I’m not a big fan of Puritanical settings (exception, The Crucible). Maybe I should re-read it, but as an angsty 17 year old, I thought TSL was total crap.
Oh – The Heart of Darkness – ugh! Du calm du calm…what???
I was hoping somebody would mention this book. I was like “Oh, it’s only 79 pages. This should be easy.” UGH! I wanted to rip my eyes out.
The Heart of Darkness was one of my favourites in High School. I think I liked reading about the emptiness and depravity that lurks in the human soul. But I re-read it last year and it didn’t thrill me like it did when I was 16.
How sad! Fahrenheit 451 is always one of the most popular books I have my sophomores read! I did, however, probably permanently scar a batch of freshman when I had them read Pride and Prejudice. I think well-intentioned English teachers expose students to great books when they’re too young to appreciate them. Have you read it again as an adult? I’ve reread some of the books I disliked in high school and appreciated it much more as an adult.
I didn’t think Fahrenheit 451 was that bad. Then again, I read it post undergrad. The book I hated the most in high school was Lord of the Flies. It still makes me shutter all these years later.
I hated reading “The Great Gatsby” in high school. I gave it another chance in January and I loved it! I guess sometimes you just need to give a book a second chance.
I loved the “Outsiders” in middle school. Did you ever read “The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles”? haha- funny name but I was hoping maybe you had-just a cute book from 2nd grade I think! I love your book discussions 🙂
oops- I was supposed to say what I hated! “Grendel” was NOT fun to read- yuck.
That’s funny you don’t like that book, its totally a dystopian one! I really loved it growing up.
Lord of the Flies was pure torture. Which is sad, because the concept of the book if pretty intriguing.
I also could barely get through All Quiet on the Western Front.
A few years ago, I was taking a physics class, and there was some problem relating sledding and velocity down a hill at a certain angle. The situation sounded familiar from some book I read but I couldn’t place it at the time. All of a sudden, I remembered – ETHAN FROME! And I groaned a little. 😉
Ethan Frome and SIlas Marner! Both summer reading assigned books in high school. One of these was assigned in 10th Grade summer reading along side Farenheit 451 and Farenheit was a treat compared to the other!
Say it ain’t so! Haha I love Ethan Frome!! It’s so tragic and the ending is quite shocking and depressing, but I thought it was so good! I also read it in high school. I have weird taste in literature though haha
Sorry! I love Edith Wharton’s novels, but guess I like happy endings. I hate when I’ve invested so much time in reading a book and it doesn’t turn out “right.” It’s probably horrible to say that because I have my MA in English and should be above that by now 🙂
Where are those adorable bowls from that the salsas are in? I love them!!
anthropologie!
Heart of Darkness, without a doubt. I was an English major and tried to read everything that was assigned, but I didn’t make it through that one (even though I’m pretty sure I wrote a paper on it…)
Now that I think about it, I know there were books we read I didn’t like, but I can’t remember their names! I probably blocked them from my memory…
Mmmm. Those salsas look tasty, Julie! At the time, I hated anything existential – especially “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. However, I see it referenced ALL THE TIME, and I’m thankful I can understand the context. My best high school girlfriends and I always exchange texts laughing/groaning when we come across any existential literature. 🙂
It might be worth a reread some day!
I actually really liked Fahrenheit 451 haha! I really hated reading Turn of the Screw. It was written in 18th century english and I had no idea what was going on. Worst book ever!
^ I loved Lord of the Flies! Haha. Funny how certain books are loved and certain ones are despised. I couldn’t get into Pride and Prejudice. One of my most favorite, though, is Watership Down. I can still recall all of the names of the various rabbit characters. L-O-V-E that book! Anyway, thanks for the great blog. I read it all the time and appreciate your recipes AND your cardio routines! It’s nice to change it up and I know I can rely on your site to find something new and challenging.
I was stuck with “Can-Con” aka Canadian content.
A Separate Peace….puke
Edible Woman … Still makes me leery of laundromats
Handmaiden”s Tale … Baffling bs
Stone Angel … Amazing! Yay!!!
I read 1984 in grade 10 in 1984 … Meh. Animal Farm was great due to my teacher Brian Trothen!!!
None of the re”quired reading” led to me hating reading … I plow thru 500+ books a year now!!!
I’m an English grad student and i found Edible Woman to be amazing! So much good stuff about women and their body image in there. Lady Oracle wasn’t as good though.
I liked Edible Woman … Atwood is like God here in Canada so we revere her!
I had an Engish minor (LibSci major) and really struggled w/Beowulf … Loved Cantebury Tales (so dirty for it’s time)
I find now I read as much non-fciton as fiction (cookbooks are my “porn” and have read my kids “if you give a mouse a cookie” so many times it’s memorized!
Bridge to Terabithia is the next book I’m reading out loud to my class! We’re actually starting tomorrow!
I had to read David Copperfield the summer before 10th grade. 800+ pages of pure droll. Useful only because one of the character’s names (Uriah Heep) frequently shows up in crossword puzzles.
I actually read Farenheit 451 by choice after college. But I still haven’t attempted any other Dickens!
Grapes Of Wrath…worst book EVER….and the Awakening as a close second. The salsa looks yummy. Hopefully the chopping was worth it 🙂
I dreaded getting through any Shakespeare… I definitely respect it but it’s just not fun to read!
As an English teacher, I really enjoy reading everyone’s comments! 🙂
I hated reading Great Expectations in 9th grade… ugh.
Can’t wait to have those recipes!!
I hated “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” ugh
Where the Red Fern Grows…I remember actually crying quite hard while I was reading! I also wasn’t a fan of a Tale of Two Cities.
Haha, I’m an English teacher and we refer to seventh grade as “the dead dog” curriculum—Where the Red Fern Grows included!
Yes! Being a dog owner, thank goodness I teach first and next year will be teaching third where most the reading is happy. I give you a lot of credit! I remember reading the axe in the stomach part. Still scarred I guess haha!
Oh my gosh. I stayed up and cried all night reading Where The Red Fern grows. I get teary eyed just thinking about it. I can’t believe they require children to read that in school. 🙁
Some younger grades are requring the children to read teh Hunger Games now too…very controversial
Oh, I LOVE F451! I wasn’t into Brit Lit until I got to college, so I remember absolutely loathing The Canterbury Tales in 12th grade. I also have a clear memory of throwing (yes, throwing) Things Fall Apart across my bedroom when I finished it. That’s how much I hated the ending. What can I say? I take my literature very seriously!
LOL! I threw “Call of the Wild” across a (rented) beach condo when I finished it before 9th grade. Obviously I broke a lamp with it. That book has so many strikes against it.
I really liked Farenheight 451, mainly because of a huge fan of dystopic fiction. My least favorite assigned novel was Crime and Punishment. So long and depressing. Russian lit is not my thing. I’d also have to agree with those who said Heart of Darkness. Talk about dense…
Okay…so you’re gonna love this…
but I read “Fart Powder” just a couple weeks ago ….
🙂
and I’m not joking
I love to read and love to write and love to explore different genres and love to explore the magic of middle grade reads at times
i like though provoking books, silly books, fun books, magical books, supernatural, dystopians, …
i’m up for anything
particularly anything my library has available to me
i try to read whenever my mind will let me focus (which is a lot less than i should…hence my flocking to the computer or tv and wasting time)
but yeah
Fart Powder wasn’t literary greatness
but it was pretty darn fun
😉
(there’s a book for everyone out there)
hahah! so awesome!
Animal farm was the worst to me. I dont remember whats even about. I just remember not liking it haha. Pygmalion was a great read though. I love my fair lady:)
as for required reading…
i remember:
– Lord of the Flies, Lord of The Rings (fell in love with this), Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet
In university: Great Gatsby, Pygmalion, etc
read Huckleberry Finn in both high school and university…and have read it a few more times on my own because I love it…
lots more..
p.s….wish there were jobs for “full time readers”…
it’d be a lot better than the situation i’m in now with a job i loathe and a mountain of debt…figures
I wasn’t a huge fan of the Scarlett Letter. In fact, in high school, it was tough to read anything by Nathanial Hawthorne. Yet, Shakespeare? Not so much. I actually enjoyed it when we read Macbeth.
I can’t think of any novels I didn’t like in high school, but in college I hated Dante’s Inferno.
Least favorite … Moby Dick, without a doubt. Bleck, so boring.
My favorite was actually from 6th grade. It was called “The Giver” and I LOVED it. I’d actually love to read that book again haha! 😉
The end result photos look tasty! Isn’t the worst part of baking/cooking/experimenting the dishes at the end?!
I’ve never read Fahrenheit 451; I’m a little intrigued.
My biochem book!- bored to tears … Exam tmrw..CANT WAIT TO SELL IT
Love your dress! So cute!
I couldn’t stand The Scarlet Letter. I have a feeling I might like it a little more now, but in high school, I hated it.
But I LOVED The Great Gatsby!
I think 11th grade reading (American Lit) was the WORST. We read Moby Dick (OMG SO BORING and LONG), Grapes of Wrath (snore), and the Scarlett Letter (OK, but dude what’s with the hype?).
I remember reading Where the Red Fern Grows ALOUD in class in 6th grade. It was horrible. Everyone was sobbing and all of the boys were making fun of the girls. I can’t say that was a teachable moment. I think we also read Old Yeller at some point aloud too — what’s with the dead dog literature???
I didn’t know Ryan was from Parrish! My grandparents live there, I love the outlet mall nearby.
i love those outlets, too!
Your creations look delicious! I have to agree with you on F 451. Definitely not my favorite!
Julie, can’t wait for those salsa recipes!! i live for dips. and desserts. god i wish i could just live off of those two food groups. 😉
OH GIRL!!! Get a processor or alligator. The alligator is way cool–tv infomercial–purchased by my grandmother for me. i love it! e