Sort of Rant: The Uninvited....

I was over at a friend's house recently, hanging out and directing him on how to make a fairly fancy cake he wanted to attempt for his girlfriend and her family. He had an incident and ended up with batter all over his face, in his hair and down his shirt and decided he would go take a shower quickly before a second attempt. 

I hung out in the living room and while waiting, his brother's girlfriend came storming into the room mumbling and fuming about something. I looked at my phone hoping that if I avoided eye contact that she would ignore me, as usual. I don't care for her and she isn't a fan of me either. I'm a curious person but when it involves someone I don't like, I generally couldn't care less. I don't care much gossip and drama with people I like so the business of someone I dislike is even more dis-interesting. However, she wanted to vent and after several attempts at dialing people on her phone to no avail, she turned to me.


"Hey," she said.


"Yeah?"


"So my friend Mariella, well not my friend, but we are co-workers and we sort of get along at work because we're professionals and know how to be cordial but I don't really like her but she doesn't know that. Anyway whatever. So Mariella is pregnant and she's having a baby shower next weekend. Mariella created a Facebook event page for her baby shower and of course I saw it because we have each other on Facebook. So I go look at it and the page isn't even private to only invited people can see. She invited like 54 other people including some other people from work but not me. I waited a few days and checked again and saw a couple more people were added to the invite list but still not me. I'm pissed off because she's inviting a handful of people from work but not me even though we get along okay enough up there and she thinks I like her."


At that point, she tried to keep rambling but I cut her off with a question.


"Did you even plan on going if you did get an invite?"


She snorted, rolled her eyes and said she wouldn't go even if they were giving away cash at the door for showing up because she doesn't like her.

"So why do you even fucking care about not getting invited if you don't want to go and don't like her anyway? Seems stupid to me."

She rolled her eyes again and stated it was "the principle of the thing" and went on a little rant about office politics, being polite and probably some other stuff but honestly I stopped listening. She ended up tossing a pillow off the love seat me, then she rolled her eyes, told me I had to be a male stuck inside my decidedly female body and stomped off trying again to get someone on her phone presumably to rant to.
 
She's not the first person I've heard have a  bitch fest like that before. 


"So and so didn't invite me to this. I didn't want to go anyway but at least they could've invited me!"

"I don't like her but I can't believe I didn't even get an invite!"


I will never understand that. I've had a couple people try to explain their various issues behind it and all I get from the explanations are that they're being stupid and petty along with some other unflattering adjectives.

In the case of my friend's boyfriend's sister, chances are her co-worker isn't as dumb as she thinks and is likely aware of her feelings toward her. She probably doesn't care much for her either, obviously. 

If someone I don't like doesn't invite me to something, I don't feel insulted by it. I don't feel left out and I honestly just don't think or feel anything about it at all. I personally feel relieved when I don't get invited to things I wouldn't want to go to anyway. Not that I mind declining invites nor do I mind having to explain why I don't want to attend if the situation calls for that to happen. It's just easier to not have to deal with that if I don't have to. 

I get that not everyone is going to like me. I sure as hell don't like every single person I come in contact with. Sometimes they're annoying. Sometimes there's just no common ground. Tons of factors play into it. I absolutely don't feel a need to be liked by everyone, especially people I don't even like. If more people would get over that, they would be a lot better off. At least in my opinion anyway.

Happy Tuesday, y'all!

50 Things That Make Me Smile...

Life has been pretty rough lately so I'm going to do one of my favorite writing exercises to lift my spirits a bit. Any time life hasn't been going so well, I like to write out a list of things that make me happy or make me smile. I don't put a lot of thought into it, just list of things as they come to mind. It's kind of an easy reminder that while things suck right now, there are still plenty of things to be happy about. Plus, I always end up feeling a little better spirit wise after doing this. Here we go.

50 Things That Make Me Smile.....

• The Dark Knight Rises being so so so good.
• Christian Bale.
• When people love the food I create.
• Swimming.
• My adorable niece always being so happy to see me. (And no, that doesn't change my mind in the least about wanting a kid. I still don't want one, at all. ;))
• Rollerblading.
• Cinnamon rolls.
• The smell of a brand new sketch pad.
• The Avengers.
• Ice skating.
• When a song I actually like gets stuck in my head but only for a little while.
• DIY Projects.
• Watching my youngest brother play hockey.
• Adorable bunnies.
• My new haircut. 
• The movie Brave, for having a lead female princess who isn't looking for her prince charming.
• Also, the beautiful soundtrack in Brave. Gorgeous Celtic music.
• Sweet tea.
• Sweet tea lemonade.
• Days where I can actually sleep in.
• Video games.
• Walking into a wonderfully air-conditioned house after being out in the Texas heat.
• Comic books.
• Finding Batman and Avengers socks at Target.
• S'mores. 
• Making people laugh.
• Getting an actual handwritten letter and/or a card in the mail.
• Sending a handwritten letter or a card to someone randomly.
• Finding gift cards I had long since forgotten I had.
• Boobs.
• Evenings with my boyfriend and friends at Top Golf driving range.
• New cookbooks.
• Unexpected gifts.
• Fruit.
• Comfy clothes.
• Lazy Sundays.
• Doing something nice for someone I care about.
• Thunderstorms.
• When my boyfriend has a day off & we spend all day doing fun stuff.
  
• Jello shots.
• Air hockey.
• Massages.
• Doing something nice for someone I don't know.
• Brunch.
• How good freshly cleaned sheets feel.
• Doctor Who.
• A shower after a long day.
• Hugs.
• Funny movies.
• Loud rock music.

Happy Wednesday!

Recipe: Fried Mac & Cheese Squares

I had fried mac and cheese at a restaurant and contemplated making them for a special occasion after that. I'm not a huge fan of fried foods but mac and cheese in a crunchy Panko crust with a creamy cheese sauce just oozing out? Not bad.

A week ago, a friend of mine asked if I could make some fried mac and cheese for a party. I agreed and then decided, like with all things I've never made before, I'd do a test run of it. My boyfriend was fine with being my guinea pig for all of this.

Most recipes I found cited using boxed mac and cheese. That didn't work for me and I already have a great recipe for mac and cheese. So I just decided to go at from there and it worked out. I had several people from Facebook and Twitter ask for the recipe so decided I'd put one together since I winged this dish and put it up on the blog for sharing.

Fried Mac & Cheese Squares

Ingredients:

• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk, warmed, plus 2 tablespoons for egg wash
• 1 pound grated Cheddar
• 1 pound grated smoked Gouda
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

Cook the macaroni according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again and set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour into the butter and stir it with a whisk, cooking for about 2 minutes. Whisk the warmed milk into the flour mixture, working out all the clumps. Cook until the sauce thickens, for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the cheeses and stir until melted and smooth then season with the salt and pepper. Fold the cheese sauce into macaroni. Pour the mac and cheese into a shallow pan. It needs to be refrigerated until cold, at least 3 hours.

After that, shape the cold mac and cheese into small squares by cutting them evenly and removing them onto a waxed paper-lined tray.You can use a table spoon or ice cream scooper if you prefer a ball to a square. Freeze the macaroni squares overnight.

Next day, beat the eggs and 2 tablespoons milk together to form an egg wash and pour it into a shallow bowl. Put the bread crumbs into another shallow bowl. Mix the garlic, onion powder and paprika into the bread crumbs. Remove the mac and cheese squares from the freezer. Dip the frozen balls into the egg wash then into the bread crumbs, making sure to coat thoroughly. Put the squares back into the freezer until you're ready to fry them up.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Fry the mac and cheese squares until they are golden brown and center is hot, about 4 to 5 minutes.

You can serve them as is or marinara or alfredo sauce goes nicely with it as well.

Happy Thursday!

TMI Tuesday: Blankety Blank...

TMI Tuesday: Blankety Blank

Complete the sentences by filling in the blanks.

1. I could spend all day listening to music but couldn’t stand five minutes watching "reality" TV shows about any housewives anywhere, following famous people around all day, pregnant teenagers, baby daddy drama, random people being thrown together to attempt cohabitation together, competing for "survival" on an island, bridezillas.... you get the gist of where I'm going here.

2. I would love to have a robot in my house to do laundry because no one else ever does I hate doing it.

3. The older you get the more adventures you get to have. (Or maybe that's just me but whatever :D)

4. I want to smash rude and/or annoying people's heads through the glass door's of the frozen food section when I go grocery shopping at a normal time.

5. My appetite for books, laughter, music, coffee, hockey games, good times, air hockey, bbq, ice cream, rum, fun, giant Jenga, smoothies, comic books, Italian food, art, Discovery channel, kissing, whiskey, baseball and Pixar movies can never be satisfied.

Bonus: If I were a hoarder, I would hoard hockey jerseys, vinyl records, Captain Morgan bottles, Batman related stuff, shot glasses, books, colored pencils and pirate treasure. 

Happy Tuesday!