Mmmmm thai food!

What: Pinterest drives me crazy because it just makes me a) jealous and b) hungry. I have been making it a point to only pin things that I'll actually make or buy (one day). I have tried lots of Pinterest recipes and I thought this one was worth sharing.

Why: My boyfriend is obsessed with thai food. Everywhere we go, he says "I'm really in the mood for thai food." But really, he is never in the mood for anything else. I'm usually okay with that because I like pad thai. I'm not one to branch out at restaurants where I only every 10th word on the menu. If you're ever in Charleston, SC, go to a place called Basil. I would say it's the best thai food we've had, by far. And I've been to a lot of thai restaurants... Anyways, I wanted to be cheap (surprise, surprise) and try to make thai food at home.

Spicy (?) Thai Noodles

These noodles can be as spicy as you want them to be by adding more/less red pepper flakes. You can also add or subtract some of the ingredients as you wish. You can eat these cold or hot. You'll need a fine strainer for this recipe as well.

Ingredients:
-1 box wheat linguine
-1 TBSP red pepper flakes
-1/4 cup veg oil
-1/2 cup sesame oil (about $4 for 1 cup just FYI)
-6 TBSP honey
-6 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
--Garnishes: chopped green onions, chopped peanuts, cilantro
--Other additions: chicken, broccoli, bean sprouts, anything really!

Directions:
1. Make noodles
2. In a small pan, put both oils and red pepper flakes. Heat on medium while stirring so pepper doesn't burn. Do this for a few minutes. Then strain the red pepper flakes out of the oil and discard them (it's ok if some of the flakes are still in the oil; the more you leave, the spicier it will be).
3. Whisk in honey and soy sauce to oil.
4. Toss noodles in honey/soy sauce/oil mixture.
5. Garnish and enjoy!

If anyone knows an easier way to get spice into this dish, I would love to know! There must be a spice you can just add however much of to make thai food spicy. Straining that red pepper out was a task.

--Hope you caught some good Germs!

Etsy Favorites

I love Etsy but it is virutally impossible to find anything specific on that website. It just overwhelms me and I feel like I'm searching aimlessly for hours. I have found 2 stores that I love and I wanted to share them with the world (aka the 4 people that read this blog).

The first is a store called Selflesh. She is an artist that gets her inspiration from anatomy and nature. I like that she uses anatomy in her art but it's not nerdy. In one of her signature pieces she uses vintage maps that are cut in the shape of anatomical hearts. The best part?? You get to choose the map! For Christmas this past year, I bought my boyfriend one that had Galveston in it since a) thats where we met and b) that's where we go to med school. The bonus is that he is thinking about specializing in cardiothoracic surgery so the heart shape was pretty perfect. 

Here is an example. You can customize your map. The red lines are actually strings -- makes it more artsy.

I think of these pieces as an abstract way of saying "home is where the heart is". I think these would also make great wedding presents. Especially the ones where you have two connected hearts. One heart can be a map of where the bride is from and the other where the groom is from. By the way, everything she sells is super affordable!

The newlyweds can hang this over their bed!

These prints are usually 8x10 which makes them easy to frame. She also does neat stuff with constellations. Check her out on Etsy here: Selflesh

I also love jennijewel on Etsy. She sells handmade, delicate jewelry that is really reasonably priced. And it's so pretty. I feel like a lot of her pieces are very anthro-esque. I recently saw this gem on Pinterest and impulse purchased it:

I am obsessed and want everything in her store. Here are a few other things she makes/sells: 

All are $25 and under!

This everyday necklace would be great for layering.

Thinking about buying these for our Match Day/St. Patty's Day party

Clovers are in right now.

What are yall's favorite Etsy shops??

--Germ

Secrets of: eBay

I debated awhile to even share these amaaazing eBay secrets with yall but... I caved and you can thank me later (approx in the amount of time it takes to get a small package from China).

I have been obsessed with eBay for as along as I have known about the internet. I can even remember the good ole days when I used to sell stuff on the site. But I have learned my lesson and I no longer do that. There was this one time in college when I made my friend (try to) sell this ugly lime green fake Prada bag for me on eBay and she almost got kicked off the site forever. 

Secret #1:
I have a few searches that I make all the time, hoping for a good deal. One of these includes "vintage necklace lot". For like $5 you can get some awesome necklaces.

These are a few of my favorite ones I have scored over the years.

   This lot is only 99 cents and you get like a bazillion necklaces! 

Looks like there may be a neat vintage locket in there.

Now, you might not like every necklace in the lot and there may be some sick-ass, clip-on earrings or a cat brooch thrown in there. In the end, though, you usually get an awesome necklace or two out of it for only a few dollars. Try it.


Secret #2:
One of my favorite things ever is getting snail mail. It's even better when you least expect it. This obsession plus my insane boredom these past few months have gotten me into a pickle with online shopping. Buying things from China is the best because a) free shipping and b) since it takes forever and a year to get to you, its surprise snail mail at its best! I often forget I even bought the stuff and then one day I get a fun package! This is sad, I know. But in less than 4 months my life will be over so let me have my fun. 

Do you know how much this turquoise "bubble" necklace retails for at J Crew?? $150!

 Do you want to know how much my roommate and I paid for these look-a-likes? $17.99 with FREE shipping! Of course, you must know these come from China. Now you're asking how could they possibly ship them to the US for free?! Don't ask me. Just take it and run.

Here are the pictures of the necklace we most recently bought. Can you tell the difference?





My roomie bought the turquoise one and just received it in the mail the other day (this is the actual necklace on the left). I just bought the red one on the right yesterday and will receive it in approx 3 weeks. They have other pretty colors like coral, light pink, black and cobalt blue too! Just search 'J Crew bubble necklace'.

Now go get addicted to eBay like me!
-Germ

Secrets of: The Gap

If you do not already have one, I suggest you get a GAP card. I have a Banana Republic card, but they are all the same. I'm sure some of you think the Gap is gross but I love it and most of my wardrobe is from there. At first glance, you're like, why would I pay $80 for jeans at the Gap when I can spend $50 more and get nice designer ones from Saks? Well, I never ever buy anything full price at the Gap. Once, I got some jeans for $7. Jealous? You should be.

Why should you get the Gap card you ask? Well, just the other day my roommate and I got emails from the Gap saying "Click here for your SECRET savings!". When I clicked on mine, I got 40% off and she only got 30% off. HA! I win. We acually don't know why she lost that game but we both came to the assumption that it's because I have the magic Gap card and she does not.

Another reason is that you get $10 off emails randomly all the time.

Gap is good for basics but even for trendy things sometimes. Right now, colored jeans are in. My friend, Lauren, told me the Gap had them in turquoise, and if you know me, I would buy a turquoise house if I could. So of course I bought them. But not at the $69.95 sticker price. Nope, I got them 40% off. Now you're jealous.

Old Navy also has awesome colored jeans for like $30 but my roomie says you have to go up a couple of sizes and I refused.

That's all for now.
-Germ

Germ in your life!!!

Who: My name is Megan German, but people have called my sisters and me 'Germ' our whole lives. I'm a 4th year med student living in Galveston (but not for long! hopefully...). I have 3 weeks left until I find out where I will be doing my Ob/Gyn residency!

Why: I am one week away from being done with med school forever! Then I will have 4 months off before I start residency, aka mylifeisover. I am going to have tons of free time and I wanted to at least have something to show for it. This will make me actually do the things I have been saying I would do like paint and make an herb garden.

What: A blog. duh. Here are some things I will be blogging about (I really hate that word blogging, btw). Food, traveling, arts and crafts, photography, gardening, EVEN working out (gasp!)... these are some of my "hobbies" that I haven't actually touched in a while. Disclaimer: Most of you know my sense of humor, but if you do not, just remember this: if you think I'm being sarcastic, I most likely am. If you think I'm being rude, I'm probably being sarcastic. If I sound cheesy, I'm being sarcastic. But who am I kidding? No one I don't know is going to read this. Heck, no one at all will probably read this.

When: The plan is to write as much as possible in these next 4 months. We will see what happens after that...

First Post:

I've been cooking everything these days from recipes on pinterest. I'm really big into healthy, cheap (duh, I'm half Jewish) and easy things. When I find a new recipe and I have every ingredient already it makes me incredibly, weirdly happy. This first recipe isn't like that. I made 2 batches of these and found out some things that might be useful to anyone wanting to make these. Also, I gave up sweets for Lent so I tweaked the ingredients a bit so I could eat them.

No-Bake Energy Bites

I did not take this picture. Obviously. Here is mine:

Ingredients:

1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)

1 cup toasted coconut flakes

1/2 cup dried fruit or chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup ground flaxseed (this is pricey! I'm going to have to find recipes to use this in now bc I have a ton!)

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract or almond extract

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Directions:

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until mixed.  Let chill in the refrigerator for at least half an hour. Try to go longer if you can because I found that the longer you wait, the less messy it is to roll them.  Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like.  (Mine were about 1″ in diameter.)  Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Makes about 20-25 BALLS.

Tips:

 --I'd never toasted coconut: Lay it out flat on a baking sheet, put oven to 350 and bake for ~20 minutes while stirring it up every 5 minutes.

--I made 2 batches: 1 with dried cranberries and 1 with dried cherries, and I chopped up the fruit pretty well. I used almond extract in the batch with the cherries because I thought "Cherry Almond" sounded good. This batch was definitely my favorite. 

Hope you like these!

-Germ