Galveston vs. NYC

I recently came back from visiting 2 great friends in NYC. I had been there before about 5 or 6 years ago but this was definitely a much different experience. Last time I went we stayed in a hotel located in Times Square. This time I stayed at my friends' apartments; one in Midtown and the other in the Upper West side. I was lucky enough to stay at both their new homes and get to see a lot of NYC! This was also much more fun than staying in a stuffy hotel.

I had so much fun with my friends! We ate at some awesome restaurants -- dinner at Cafeteria in Chelsea and Sunday brunch at Red Rooster in Harlem. I must reiterate that I am no foodie, but these restaurants were really unique and I would definitely recommend them to a novice New York City visitor like myself. I mean, Cafeteria had macaroni and cheese egg rolls with cheese dipping sauce...how can you say no to that?!

Walking around Bryant Park

New York City kicked my ass. I will go ahead and say I could never live there.  I give lots of credit to my friends who can hack (and love) that sort of citylife. I thought Houston was a big city...but NYC is a just on a different level. I cannot keep up with the pace and the legit city people. One of the friends I was visiting couldn't handle how slow I walked around the city. To be fair, I had to consistently remind her that I live in the absolute anti-city of NYC -- the island of Galveston. Thus, where we (she) coined the phrase Galveston vs. NYC. NYC won this round.

With that being said, I think the culture in NYC is fascinating..hence why I almost died -- people watching and pausing to look up at the huge buildings while cabs and businessy men were staring me down and sooo ready to run me over.

We went to an antique/flea/art market

On my last day in NYC, my friends had to go to their big girl jobs (mine is just 4 weeks away now...eeek!), so I went to the 9/11 Memorial. The two huge fountains in place of the twin towers were so neat and very well done. I suggest going here (it was free) if you haven't been yet. My pictures cannot do it justice. The museum wasn't open yet but should be opening sometime this year. I am sure it will be amazing.

One of the memorial fountains with the soon to be tallest building in the US in the background

On my way back from the Memorial, I got lost about a dozen times trying to find the right subway. This is yet just another reason why I could never live here...I am the absolute WORST navigator ever. I could not tell you which way is North or South if my life depended on it. And I think if I lived in NYC, my life would consistently depend on my direction solving abilities. For now, I think I'll just call Houston home. It is the 3rd largest city, and I've signed my life away to live there for the next 4 years anyway.

Htownlove,
germs

Wine + Paint = best idea ever

A few weeks ago a group of us got together for a friend's birthday. We celebrated at Pinot's Palette in Houston. I had been wanting to try this place out for a couple years now and it was definitely worth the wait! There are two locations in Houston -- we went to the one in Montrose, but there's also one in the Galleria area.

The best part is that this place is BYOB. So, of course we brought tons of wine and goodies to snack on while we painted. The bad part: almost drinking your dirty water cup instead of your wine (yes, they warned us and no, I didn't listen).

 Now, we all know I am not the best painter in the world (we have established that previously), so I am sure you are asking how the heck did my painting turn out even remotely like it was supposed to?? Well, that is a good question. The good thing is that the "teacher" (aka starving art student) goes step by step through the whole painting process. You all paint the same thing (you can look and see what is being painted beforehand and pick which class you like best) so you can also cheat and look at your neighbor.

We painted pink peonies but seeing as how I am not much of a pink girl, I obviously opted to paint mine red and turquoise. See:

Mine is the best, right? jk. Happy Birthday CK!

Although you start out with the paint they want you to use, they have all the paint there, so you can pick and choose different colors if you like. The painting experience cost $35 and that includes the lesson, paint and canvas. I thought this was a great idea for a birthday and suggest you grab some wine and a few friends and try it out asap!

picassolove,
germs

Enchiladas -- healthy style!

Pre-planned meal #2 from last week was chicken enchiladas. I'm not the biggest fan of tex-mex food for multiple reasons. First, I always feel insanely full when I leave those places and second, I smell like the restaurant (or maybe that's just the ghetto ones in Galveston?). Don't get me wrong though, I intend to spend Cinco de Mayo in full force this weekend which means I'll probably be hitting up 2 or 3 tex-mex spots in Houston (mainly for the margaritas). 

I thought if I made the mexican food at home, and without any chips and salsa in sight, I might not eat as much and thus, feel much better after dinner. I wanted to make Enchiladas so I researched what I could leave out/add to deduct some calories and carbs. Don't get stressed when you see the directions; these sound a lot harder to make than they actually were.

Everything looks yellow but I promise it wasn't...I'm bad at instagramming food.

Ingredients

• Salt n' peppa
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 to 2 tablespoons minced canned chipotles in adobo
  
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 8 corn tortillas (6-inch)
• 1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• Sliced pickled jalapenos

 Directions

1. In a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid, bring 1 inch salted water to a boil. Add chicken. Cover; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 5 minutes; remove skillet from heat. Let chicken steam, covered, until opaque throughout, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer chicken to a medium bowl; shred with two forks. Set aside.

2. While chicken is cooking, make sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add garlic; cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add flour, cumin, and chipotles in adobo; cook, whisking, 1 minute. Whisk in broth and 1/2 cup water; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, whisking occasionally, until sauce has thickened slightly, 5 to 8 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Transfer 1 cup sauce to bowl with chicken; toss to combine.

You can see about how thick it should be.

Shredded chicken covered in adobo mixture.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour 1/4 cup sauce into bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish; set aside. Stack tortillas, and wrap in a double layer of damp paper towels; microwave until hot, about 1 minute. Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture; roll up tightly, and arrange, seam side down, in baking dish. Cover with remaining sauce, and top with cheese and sliced jalapenos. Bake until hot and bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

*Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart 

I served these with some mexican rice. 

--Germs

NAPA!

Ok, I will get my act together and write about our awesome trip to Napa. I think I have been holding out on this post because we did so much, and I don't know where to start. I think I will just give you the lo-down on how to do Napa with a student budget, aka the cheapest way possible. I guess that's what this blog is becoming --Cheap Germs. But you all knew that would happen, didn't you?

With that said, don't go to Napa if you aren't willing to spend some (a lot of) money.



1st Vineyard. I want to go back (one day) when everything is blooming.

We got in late on a weekday and stayed for 2 nights. We got a hotel last minute and decided to forego the more fancy shindigs (ther are so many awesome resorts and bed and breakfasts) for a cheaper but reliable hotel (bonus: we got free breakfast each morning!). We were still really close to Napa and cab rides are super cheap if you need to get anywhere.

Views from the wineries. So Peaceful.

The first night we met one of my best friends and her mom who were coincidentally vacationing in Napa/Sonoma at the same time! We had an amazing dinner in Sonoma and then headed to a winery that had a store downtown.  Rather than have wine tastings at their vineyards, a lot of them choose to have tastings/sell their wines in downtown Napa in a store setting. While we were there, we met a couple and the guy had graduated from UTMB a few years ago. Such a small world!



Wine tasting set up at winery #2

 In order to "see" Napa, we knew we had to take some sort of tour. I tried to do my due diligence and research all possible options but everything was just so upscale and expensive. My lawyer and real doctor friends gave me great advice but we just couldn't cough up that much. I found this thing called 'Platypus Tours' which took you around on a party bus with other people. They guaranteed a great time so we signed up the night before. The best part: they picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel so no driving was necessary. 

The tour took us to 4 different vineyards. Most of them 'boutique' vineyards, meaning they were a lot smaller and you wouldn't see their wines anywhere else. I liked these better because we got to meet the owners and learn a lot about the winemaking process. In my opinion, signing up for the Platypus tours was a great idea. We had a blast with one of the other couples on the bus (the girl had just graduated from a med school in TX and was an intern in DC). In fact, everyone was super friendly (and got even more friendly as the tour went on). After the vineyard tours, we ate dinner at Oxbo Market, aka "the fanciest food court ever". If you go to Napa, you HAVE to go there. We were told by numerous people to go and we're glad we did!

peaceloveandwine,
Germs

Planning ahead

Who else is like me in that you don't plan your meals ahead of time for the week so every time you want to cook something you have to go to the store? I am usually just missing something like chicken or ground turkey (aka the main ingredient) so it is quite annoying. No one else does this? Sweet, I'm jealous of you.  But if there are any of you out there that are reading this and are just as stupid as me, read on!

I have been saying I will plan meals ahead of time for a looooong time. I am finally doing it. Yesterday I planned four dinners for this upcoming week. I braved Wal-Mart (eeek, I know) to be even cheaper than usual. If you don't look at any of the mullets in the eye, you'll be fine. I found that buying the meat ahead of time in bulk is a) way cheaper and b) saves me multiple trips to the grocery store. Score times two. Next, I bought a bunch of fresh veggies that I will be able to use in multiple recipes.

I thought it would be fun to share my meal plan for this upcoming week. If the recipes turn out well, I will share pics and tips from them later.


Last night I made Veggie Lasagna. With a vegetarian roommate (cough --who eats meat when inebriated-- cough), I thought I would appease her just this once. Jk, I actually like vegetarian stuff and didn't mind making this healthier version at all. I added a few more veggies to the recipe. I also made this broccoli recipe found on my friend's blog, "J Lipp's Hip Tips". Both of these recipes turned out to be amazing so I suggest you make them! They were also super easy to make.

Note: This is what it should look like.

Ingredients:

3 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

1 (8-oz.) package sliced fresh mushrooms

2 garlic cloves, minced (I buy the minced stuff in a jar -- your hands will never smell like garlic again!)

1 medium-size red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium-size yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 cup chopped carrots

1 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese

1 large egg

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 jar marinara sauce of your choosing (I used a chunky veggie one)

1 (8-oz.) package no-boil lasagna noodles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven temperature to 350°. Chop up all veggies (I sliced the zucchini pretty thin) and put them in a deep pot with some olive oil. Add the minced garlic to the pot. Cook all the veggies with the top on (stirring frequently) until they are almost tender but still a little crisp. Add the salt to the veggies when they are done.

2. Stir together ricotta, egg, 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

3. Spread 1 cup Basic Marinara Sauce in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with 3 noodles, 1 cup sauce, one-third of ricotta mixture, and one-third of vegetable mixture; repeat layers twice, beginning with 3 noodles. Top with remaining noodles and 1 cup sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan.

4. Bake, covered, at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until cheese is melted and golden. Let stand 10 minutes.

*Recipe adapted from myrecipes.com

Before the oven. Sorry, I always forget to take pics during the cooking process.

Healthy Veggie Lasagna!

For the rest of the week I have planned: healthy chicken enchiladas and rice, pad thai, quinoa with peas and honey mustard chicken with brussel sprouts. I think this planning meals ahead of time thing will really help during intern year when I don't have to take any extra trips to the store or even think about what to make for dinner that night. I hope this inspires you to plan ahead too!

Happy meals!
-Germs

First Guest Post!

I want to welcome Katharine Miller to my blog for her first guest post! Since it is her wedding week (aaaaahhhh!!! yaaaaaay!!! ) I thought it would be a great time to showcase one of her many talents. She is always cooking up such healthy stuff and I am alllllways like 'hey girrrrrl, give me that recipe!'. I am sure we will see her on my blog a lot in the future.


Happy Wedding week, Drew and Katharine!
Love, Germs

Incredible and Healthy Pasta and Meatballs

I have been promising to share a recipe with Megan for a long time, and this is definitely an awesome one! This is one of my “go to” recipes and is really easy to make. A lot of the spices that I use come from a hidden Galveston gem, Maceo’s Spice Import. The spices are super cheap compared to grocery stores. If you get the chance to go by Maceo’s, don’t leave without eating a muffalata and purchasing their pepper medley. Both are INCREDIBLE.

 You can find Maceo’s in Galveston on Market Street between 27^th and 28^th St. (2706 Market Street Galveston, TX 77550) http://www.maceospice.com/

Ingredients

     1/2 Cup plain dried breadcrumbs

     1/4 Cup chopped Italian parsley

     1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

     2 Large eggs, lightly beaten

     2 Tbsp whole milk

     3/4 Cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

     3/4 tsp salt

     3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

     1 lb ground turkey

     1 lb Ground pork

     1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil

     5 Cups Marinara Sauce (see above)

     1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves

   1 Shallot minced garlic

   Wheat angel hair pasta

In a large bowl, stir together breadcrumbs, parsley, Italian seasoning, eggs, milk, 1/2 cup of the cheese, and 3/4 teaspoon of each salt and pepper. Add the turkey and pork and gently stir to combine, being careful not to overwork the meat. It is best to mix it by hand! 

Shape the meat mixture into bite-size balls.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over a medium-high flame, an iron skillet works really well. Add the meatballs in batches, and cook until the meatballs brown on the bottom (3-4 minutes). Turn the meatballs over and brown the other side. Don’t worry about the meatballs being thoroughly cooked at this step. Remove meatballs and place on a plate. Start another batch. Once all of the meatballs have been browned on both sides, add all of the meatballs back into the skillet. Add marinara sauce and bring to a boil. (This step cooks the meatballs through) Reduce the heat and simmer until the flavors blend, about 5 minutes.

Serve on top of thin angel hair wheat pasta. Top with feta or parmesan cheese.

 

DIY: Take 1

This is my first finished DIY project. I actually have a few that I have started but either don't have the necessary materials or the energy to finish them. I will though...I will. Before I give you my expert advice, let it be known that I have never painted anything before other than a friend's bedroom walls (and I think they might have had to repaint them after I left). So, even though I have zero experience with painting (let alone DIY projects), I feel like I have some good tips to give you afterall.

First off, don't paint anything you care about. I bought this bedside table at a Goodwill-type store 4 years ago for 6 bucks. I swear, the price tag is still on the back of it. I figured it was time to give it a little update. I was planning on painting and distressing it but just ended up painting it (for now).

Boring.

For those of you who know me well, you know what my favorite color is. So the decision was easy as to what color to paint it.

TURQUOISE!

Duh. Picking the color was the most fun. I recently bought some new bedding so I brought one of the pillow cases into Home Depot to help with choosing the color. The paint dude actually took my pillow case and put it into some fancy man machine and matched one of the colors perfectly! It was amazing. I suggest you goto Home Depot and try this out just for fun. They give you the little paint sample jar thingy for $3. The paint guy told me I would need more than that so I bought 2 of the jars but I ended up only needing 1. So I have a lot of paint left over. Anyone need anything painted turquoise? If so, I'm your girl.

 
 The picture on the left shows you what it looks like with one coat of paint while the one on the right is with 2. I debated whether to add a second coat (vs leaving the woodgrain showing) and I am glad I did because it looks waaay better.





I wanted to find a new drawer pull as well and stumbled upon this little coral one at a garden store in Galveston. It was the most expensive part of the project but I think drawer pulls can really add something to the finished product. Anthropologie has awesome ones for less than $10 and when you only need 1, it is way worth it.

Drum roll please.....

Isn't it pretty? Now I'll share with you some tips I learned along the way. Splurge (like $6, if you call that a splurge) on the paint brush. If you buy a cheap one, the bristles will come out in the paint and that's gross. Also, buy enough paint. It's cheap, and you would rather have extra than not enough. If you are smart enough to read my blog then you are smart enough to know that already.

This whole project cost me about $33. That includes blue tape for edging, a paint brush, paint, and the drawer pull. Pretty good if you ask me. A new bedside table would have cost me around $150 so I think I win.

I am still debating on whether to distress it or not. For now, I kind of like the solid-paint look....not sure if I want to ruin my beautiful artwork just yet.

DIYlove,
Germs