I’m not much for resolutions or goals, but these aren’t resolutions. These are small things I’m going to do this year because I’m going to need a reminder of the things I thought about doing at one point when I’m bored and can’t remember what I want to do. These are all blog focused because I have loads of ideas, and then I forget about those ideas the moment I sit down to write anything at all.
Make a point to see more murals in Houston.
Try new restaurants.
Take better and more unique pictures.
Be better about sticking to the schedule I set for myself.
Create a list of my favorite coffee shops in Houston.
Write about the things that are important to me.
Go on more Blips for Trips (short, drivable day trips) in my spare time.
Learn how to create a mailing list.
Write about the Iowa Law Library. (finally)
See more of Texas.
Support as many wonderful women as I can.
bisous und обьятий, RaeAnna
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Shrimp and grits is a southern staple. Depending on the region and the chef, the recipe varies drastically. Some sauces are similar to etoufee, a broth, a red sauce, or something in between. I like to make mine with a tomatoey, chickeny broth. I like to saturate the grits with as much cheddar cheese as physically possible because cheese is delicious. I’ve made this for friends and all over the country. As my grandpa would say, it’s a solid B+, which is high praise, and he requests it every time I visit.
This is one of my favorite dishes to eat and make for people I love.
Ingredients
Shrimp (raw)
Scallops (raw) (Optional)
Mushrooms (Optional)
Brussel Sprouts (Optional)
Artichokes (Optional)
Bell Pepper (Optional
Garlic
Onion
3 large Tomatoes or 8 oz package of cherry tomatoes
Bay Leaf
3 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1 tsp. Turmeric
1 tbs. Honey
Olive Oil
1 cup Grits or Yellow Cornmeal
½ cup Milk
1 tbs Butter
1 ½ cup Water
1 cup Cheddar Cheese (or more to taste)
Salt/Pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°
Chop mushrooms/bell peppers into bite sized pieces. Half brussel sprouts and artichokes. Place on a cookie sheet and coat veggies with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 15 minutes or until browned.
Chop onions and garlic. Cook in sauce pan with 2 tbs. olive oil until translucent. Add in cumin, chili powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper. You can add more or less spices depending on your tastes.
Chop tomatoes if using large/Toss in whole cherry tomatoes into the pan with the garlic and onions. Add one tbs. of water. Cover and let simmer for five minutes.
In medium saucepan bring water, milk, butter to a boil. Slowly add grits or yellow cornmeal, whisking constantly to avoid clumps. Let mixture come to a boil. Then, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. Stir often to avoid burning.
Tomatoes should reduce and have a decent amount of liquid being very saucy. Add ½ cup water and stir to mix.
Make sure to be checking grits. When the liquid is almost gone….
Add shrimp and scallops to tomato mixture. Cover. Shrimp and scallops should be thoroughly cooked in five minutes.
Stir cheese into grits. Cover and set aside.
When shrimp and scallops are done, add the roasted veggies to the tomato/shrimp/scallop sauce.
To Eat Place grits in a bowl or plate, then ladle a generous portion of the shrimp/scallops/veggies tomato sauce on top. You can garnish with green onions or chives. Dig in!!!
Variation You can always add in some andouille sausage to give it a NOLA kick or just add some extra yum.
I also love playing with the veggies you use. You can use as many or as few kinds of veggies as you want. In my opinion, the more the better!
I’m going to be embarking on a lot of new things here …on the B.L. Because I love blogging and writing, but I want to do more of the things that bring me happiness and fulfillment. Books and book reviews are great, but I need to write about other more important-to-me things. The things I’m going to be writing about more don’t always exude happiness and rainbows. I don’t want to be a total downer because I spend most of my time laughing, so being Eyeore all the time on the blog would be an utter betrayal of who I am.
On Mondays, or on as many Mondays as I can manage, I will be posting 11…, which is a new blog series I’m introducing today! It will be a list of eleven things, people, places, whos-its, whats-its, and randoms on whatever topic I decide to write about on that particular day. Most of them will be humorous, some will be informative, some will be dark, and there will be everything in between. For the very first 11… I will be talking about myself because I haven’t done a random list of things about me in a good while. So why not now!
5’10” I am super tall for a lady and technically for a man. The global average height for a man is 5’9”, so technically I’m better than over half the men in the world. Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself. (I have tiny feet for my height: a size 7. This is directed at all the weirdos who message me about my feet on Instagram. Now you know, go away.)
Musically Inclined Fun fact, I’m a classically trained pianist. I’m rusty, but it’s all there still! I can play the flute and was in a super select flute choir all four years of high school – I hated it and regret it, but it’s a fun(?) fact. I was also in choir in college – it’s how I met Alex of the many blog posts – and have a five octave range. My car singing is legendary, and everyone who’s experienced it is now deaf.
Bollywood I have an undying love of Bollywood movies. In my dreamer’s heart of hearts, I want to be a Bollywood star. They make me happy when skies are grey. I have been obsessed since college. If I ever get the chance to be in a Bollywood movie, I would die happy. So please let me know if you know of an opportunity.
PTSD I have it. It’s a long-ass story, and I will get to it, but today is not the day!
Carousels I LOVE carousels. On my 23rd birthday, I made Kelsey (my best friend til death us do reunite in the place I will never again experience a chill) ride a carousel with me eight times. The only reason we stopped is because she gave me the look. If I see one, I will squeal, jump, and point. Words will not come out of my mouth, but I will grab your arm and tug – pull with great force in the direction of the carousel – to indicate I want a ride or twelve.
Polyglot Technically, I speak five languages. I’m a native English speaker. I have proficiency in French and Russian. I can get myself around the respective countries with my German and Spanish.
Chinese Food I believe with absolute certainty that Chinese food has magical healing powers. When I am sick or suffering from any ailment, Chinese food will help if not completely fix the situation. I have yet to be proven wrong.
Professionally Trained Ballerina For a very long time, I dreamed of being a professional ballerina. I worked super hard at it and didn’t completely suck. I ended up quitting due to injuries and being super tall and my parents’ poverty. I still love dancing more than just about anything. Fun fact: Ballerinas are not tall individuals.
Private Plane I secretly not so secretly want a private plane. This is absolutely unrealistic, I know. I want one because I want to see the world with my dog, and I think this would be far easier if we had a private plane because we could go wherever whenever without worrying about a dog on a plane with other people and their allergies. Really, it would be a public service. I did the math, I only need 99.99 million more dollars to responsibly buy a private plane and the staff it requires. I’m saving.
Pantsless I am pantsless 87% of the time because I’m a stay-at-home dog mom. Kidding kind of… I’m a dog mom, and I stay at home, but really it’s because I work from home. I’m a freelance writer, editor, and translator. It’s a great gig. I love it, even though my social life pretty strictly involves baby talk to a nonhuman. If you need a writer, hit me up. I promise I will try harder with your work than with my blog.
Three Majors and An Emphasis in Four Years I somehow managed to graduate college without ever checking into a hospital for exhaustion in four years with degrees in Literature, French, and Russian with an emphasis (basically a minor) in Literary Analysis and Translation. It’s basically a degree in reading super good.
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When I was young, I couldn’t wait to be old enough to wear bikinis. Then, I got old enough and didn’t love them so much. I felt exposed. Then, I got even older, and I just don’t give a fuck anymore. I love swimsuits because they mean I’m at the beach or by the pool. My apartment has a pool, and I don’t spend as much time by it as I should. When I first moved to Texas, I had very few swimsuits. Now, I have a whole bunch. It didn’t stop me from buying a few more for my cruise last month, though.
I found several from Asos and JustFab and Target. I love one piece swimsuits; being as tall as I am, they are kind of hard to find. So I have a renewed love in bikinis. I’m a huge fan of high waisted bottoms because I can binge on shitty food and not feel totally exposed. Here are all the swimsuits I brought with me on my cruise. I definitely overbought, but that’s fine. They are all on sale, and I adore all of them. Truly. They look so cute!
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Worth a Read Meh Length 368 Quick Review An old man looks back at letters written during WWI. The narrative is 98% letters. It’s a sweet wartime love story.
Last Christmas in Parisby Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb is my last holiday read of the season… a month late. I actually finished it a few weeks ago, but I have been so busy I didn’t get around to writing this review. Oops. Oh well, that’s life.
The most interesting part about Last Christmas in Paris is the narrative style. It’s told mostly through letters from the past between several people during WWI. An old man tells a story in the “present,” which is the 1960’s. There wasn’t anything remarkable about the style or plot. It was a good historical fiction piece. It’s not terribly Christmas oriented, so it works for any time of the year. I liked the characters just fine. It was a fairly bland story. The fact that the narrative was driven by letters made the reading process go really quickly.
My favorite relationship in the book was not the romantic one. That one was very boring. Sweet but boring. I liked the friendship between the two female characters. They were supportive, kind, blunt, and had fun banter.
There was a lot of talk about “war neurosis” in Last Christmas in Paris, which is old timey speak for PTSD. I’m glad this was a part of the book, but it was a fairly minor part of the book.
Overall, it’s a really good mindless read to take your mind off life. It’s pretty forgettable, though.
Memorable Quotes “I know you are convinced that my heart was stolen by Tom Harding years ago while I wasn’t paying any attention, and I’m beginning to think you may be right, darling.”
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Title: Last Christmas in Paris Author: Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb Publisher: William Morrow (HarperCollins Publishers) Copyright: 2017 ISBN: 9780062562685
There’s just something about a sleigh and a Christmas tree that makes me happy. | Standing in Von Maur at Valley West Mall in Des Moines. | These BCBGeneration Pumps are the literal best!!!
Christmas was one month ago. The holiday season has passed. I’m finally going through all the pictures I took over the holidays and finishing reading my Christmas list. I was so busy traveling, moving, and working during the first three weeks of January, so pretty much nothing else was accomplished. I had planned on writing a post about my favorite holiday traditions before Christmas. I failed. So here it is a month later. Let the spirit live on!
I have spent every holiday season in the Midwest – either Iowa or Chicago – outside of the Christmas of 1999. I’m big on traditions. I like them. They make me happy. Of course traditions have changed and varied over the years along with where and who I spend them with. I’m gonna talk about the traditions I have in my hometown with my family.
Von Maur is the Macy’s of Iowa. At least, I think it is. It’s a high end department store with several locations around Iowa. My favorite location – I have been to many – is at Valley West Mall in Des Moines. It’s two floors full of pretty things. The decor has not changed at all in my life time, but that doesn’t mean it’s not luxurious. Personally, I think their dedication to Christmas decorations is what everyone should aim for. In the center of the ground floor between the two escalators, a tree is set up every Christmas. A black grand piano is always there along with couches and chairs for shoppers to rest their feet. Growing up, my family would always go to Von Maur to sit and listen to the pianists play Christmas tunes. They were almost always elderly and so very kind. More than anything, they were phenomenal pianists. I still love listening to them play. This past year, I was in Iowa for Christmas, so I took myself and Dylan on a mini shopping spree to Von Maur and listened to the Christmas carols.
As Des Moines has changed over the years, I have started going to the East Village more and more. I now love heading there at Christmas time because it looks so beautiful covered in snow. This past year, there was no snow. Not only the was the wind bitter, but so was I.
Christmas Eve in the Rekemeyer family has always been pretty formulaic. I have helped bolster this formula by insisting certain things are traditions after I enjoyed it the year previously. You just can’t mess with tradition guys!!! Growing up we would always head to the 4:30 church service, followed by dinner, then a movie, and on our way home we would drive by Christmas lights. My mom used to make my brother and I Christmas jammies, so we would get to open them on Christmas Eve before heading to bed. As I got older, my mom and I started going to midnight mass at church, which is candle lit. That became a tradition after one year because I liked the singing. This past year, we did all of those things, but everyone was too tired to go to midnight mass, so I took Dylan. I’m not at all religious, but I like going to see the people I grew up loving and see so rarely now I live across the country.
On Christmas morning, my brother and I would wake up before the sun. A rule about not waking Mom and Dad up before 5 (then 6 a few years later) was instituted. William and I slept in the same room until I was eight, so we would play board games and talk about what we wanted. When we got older, we would always share a room on Christmas Eve in his bunk beds for old times’ sake. Although the no waking Mom and Dad up rule went out the window when we were teenagers because they didn’t have to worry about it. We’d have breakfast and hot cocoa in front of a fire while opening presents. We would open them one at a time, William went first because he was the youngest, then me, then Dad, then Mom, and back to William. It was great fun. Christmas lunch always varied in size depending on if people needed people to spend it with, and we’d finish the day with Christmas movies in our jammies by the fire.
This past year, nothing changed much. William and his wife stayed at my parents’ house on Christmas Eve and I teased them I would sleep in between them with their dog Frank. I didn’t, but I thought about it. Beau stole my breakfast, which was the last piece, so I gave her a stern talking to. We opened presents and hung out by the fire. A few people came over for lunch, and we finished the day with Christmas movies.
Things don’t change much on Christmas for me. I like progress and change in every other part of my life, but the consistency and traditions are something I crave at the holiday season. As I get older and have more money in my pocket, things will start to shift, but for now as the poor twenty-something I am, this is good.
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The BCBGeneration black patent leather pumps are one of the best footwear investments I’ve made. I found them at Saks Fifth Off Fifth for $49, which is a great deal because they’re not that cheap anywhere else. I wear them all the time. So comfortable and durable.
