It’s been a long day.
Heck, it’s been a long week! And it’s only Wednesday…
I redeemed my free drink card today and the girls behind the counter made me get a large. (They know me.)
I’m trying the gingerbread latte, in hopes it will boost my mood and energy level. Here’s to 3 hours of management and chemistry work before lab…
I made it a full year–actually 13 months–and have been meaning to get a post up about it for the last, oh, four weeks or so.
Here’s me and my bob, back in the hotel we lived in last summer:
You’ve seen countless photos along the way, including this January progress report, and below is a shot of perhaps my favorite longer-hair style, the pigtail braids:
Here I am today, all dressed up for a presentation I gave in class:
It’s SO LONG!
And then, later this afternoon, this happened:
Yup, I chopped it. In all honesty, I’ve been missing my shorter style and realizing (just as I do EVERY time I attempt to grow it out), that all I end up doing with my hair is pull it back into a ponytail. And I can’t stop twirling it–especially with all the stress I’m experiencing–and I couldn’t take the breakage anymore.
Combine all that with a DESPERATE need for a trim (my last was in July!), and you get one tangled mess each morning in the shower. So, I called the salon for their first available, which happened to be this afternoon. On my way over, I googled “Julia Stiles Haircuts” and showed this to my stylist, Karen. I don’t know what it is, but that girl–Julia, not Karen–and I can rock the same bob like no ones’ business. Works every time.
And, viola! New style:
Man, it’s good to be back 🙂
Recently, I did a group project in my Applied Food Chemistry class about fat-modified food products. My group decided to do a “Southern” theme and made comfort-food favorites, like macaroni and cheese, greens, a breakfast frittata, peach cobbler and fried chicken.
Fried Chicken.
I was in charge of the chicken, so I decided to treat Andrew to a “two-for” in one week–fried chicken twice!
My group pitted Paula Deen’s Southern Fried Chicken against Ellie Krieger’s Honey-Crisp Oven Fried Chicken (from her cookbook in my collection, no less).
I started by making the traditional deep-fried version.
I served it with mashed sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. The chicken turned out just like you would get at Popeye’s–crispy, light brown skin and perfectly moist.
A few nights later, I tackled Ellie’s oven-fried version. It relied on a buttermilk soak for tenderness, bone-in, skinless thighs for moisture and a bit of sweetness from honey. The “breading” was a heavily seasoned cornflake cereal mixture.
I served it with two cold salads: a potato salad and an apple, fennel and golden raisin salad similar to one I get at Wegmans a lot.
Our verdict: Ellie’s won! The healthier version was more flavorful and the crispy crust was just as pleasing. That, and no giant oil mess or quart of oil to dispose of. I would definitely make this again.
Here are a couple photos from the actual group project, which was about two weeks ago now.
Our class chose Ellie’s version too, by 57% percent. What can I say, she’s good.
thehealthypineapple 