Jul 20
Before you think I’m talking about a “novia,” let me make things clear. I’m talking about an “amiga.” Sometimes Spanish is so much more convenient than English, at least when it comes to defining relationships. For those of you who aren’t Spanish speakers (hey, it’s okay Mom), “novia” means “girlfriend.” Like a romantical kind of relationship. Yes, I know “romantical” isn’t really a word. But it is in the Christensen household. “Amiga” is simply a “friend.” But the “a” at the end of it means a GIRL, aka a FEMALE friend. Okay, English/Spanish/Grammar lesson over. Thanks for indulging the geeky part of me.
Now that we’re finished with that, let me get back to the point of things. Every girl needs a girlfriend. I don’t care who you are, or what your relationship status is. (Though, thanks to facebook, I’m bound to figure that out.) You need one. Who else is going to tell you when those jeans really are NOT the best for your figure? Because if you don’t know, you’re never going to move on to the pair that makes you look fabulous. Girlfriends are where it’s at.
I had a couple girlfriends over for dinner this Sunday – LilSis and H20Lover. It was SO. Much. Fun! LilSis looks really similar to my actual sister Alisha, aka Absolutely. Gorgeous. Plus she’s younger than me. Hence the nickname LilSis. (Yes, I’m brilliant.) H20Lover is a HUGE fan of humidity. I think that’s kind of a crazy love, but since we all live in Missouri, I’d imagine it’s a better route than hating it. I mostly hate it. I am working on my attitude. Maybe if I spend enough time with H2oLover I’ll eventually espouse the virtues of humidity. (Yeah, I’m not really buying that either.) After spending an evening with them, I came up with a few reasons why girlfriends totally rock. Here you have it – add to it if you wish.
Ten Reasons Girlfriends Totally Rock
- If you want to try out that new recipe, you can. If it fails, there’s always microwave popcorn. For the record, the new made-up recipe was a success. But the microwave popcorn was ready, just in case!
- If you cook, they do the dishes. I wasn’t even expecting this one. Total BONUS.
- You can spend all night talking about EVERYTHING.
- And looking at pictures of cute men on facebook.
- When you walk them out and their tire’s flat, you can all laugh about it.
- And eat another chocolate molten cake.
- And call someone – because face it, changing a tire isn’t fun. Especially when you can’t even figure out how to get the spare off. (Cut us some slack – it was a pickup truck. Not anything like my little Nissan Altima.)
- When you get mosquito bites from being outside, someone’s got anti-itch cream in their purse.
- And they’ll help you get the bites on your back where you got bitten THROUGH your shirt. Stupid mosquitos.
- Best of all, they love you. And you love them back.
Tagged with: dinner • food • fun • girl friend • girlfriend • h2olover • kansas city • lilsis
May 13
You know how Cinderella turned into a pumpkin after midnight? You might not remember the story going that way, but that’s how we always told it at our house. Last night, I avoided the whole pumpkin stage and turned into a cheese ball. Well, cheese ROLL would probably be more accurate. Actually, the technical term would be “pão de queijo,” but that would only be if you speak Portuguese. And I don’t. Hence, we’re back to the whole “cheese ball” terminology. You see, I had a business debt to pay off. Remember SixFour? He helped me find my KC office back in February (when I was in a HUGE bind because the office I was supposed to move into fell through the day of the move!) and I promised to take him to (in my opinion) the BEST restaurant EVER. I finally followed through. And just so we don’t make him look bad – SixFour NEVER would have mentioned it if I hadn’t followed through. But *I* would have remembered. And felt totally guilty every single time I went without having that debt paid off. Mission accomplished. Guilty feeling gone.
I imagine most people go to Fogo de Chao for the fantastic meats. Or the great service. Or the Brazilian lemonade. I love all of those. But what I really go for are. The. Cheese. Balls. I can eat a trillion. I must have been a little off my game last night, since I only inhaled enjoyed eight. Of course, I was determined NOT to keep track. (It’s much easier to enjoy them when you don’t know how many you’re enjoying. It makes the whole calorie thing seem irrelevant.) SixFour couldn’t help himself. The minute I said not to, you can bet the econ major in him came out. I’m telling myself it was because he was trying to figure out where I put them. Whatever it was, he couldn’t help himself. Such a guy, right? Tell them not to do something and you might as well give them an invite to do it.
At any rate, my debt’s paid off. Which means I can feel free to turn into a cheese ball whenever I want, no guilt attached. That’s WAY better than a pumpkin.
Tagged with: brazilian lemonade • cheese balls • dinner • fogo de chao • food • kansas city • leila shea law • sixfour
Mar 25
Every so often, my brothers and sisters make me laugh. Well, it’s more like “often” instead of “every so often.” You could also say “frequently.” If you’re looking for more words, use the thesaurus.
Anyway, I was in the kitchen this week listening to Logan talking on the phone to Alisha. They’re only eleven and a half months apart – for those of you who aren’t math (or pregnancy) geniuses, that means for two weeks they’re the same age. Fun, huh? (Well, maybe not so fun if you were my mom. But fun now that they’re older.)
This is the conversation I walked into:
Logan: But you like olives! I remember you used to put them on your fingers and eat them!
Quiet for two seconds while he listens to Alisha.
Logan: Oh, that’s right. You used to put them on your fingers and I would eat them.
It made me laugh. The greatest part? The conversation seemed perfectly normal.
Tagged with: alisha • food • logan • olives • phone
Nov 22
I might miss the city more than I thought. If you look at how much I am driving lately, I miss it a ton. I’m about an hour and a half away from Kansas City – one way. That hasn’t stopped me from making the drive at least once a week, normally twice. Sometimes three times. (Something’s gotta give. Obviously.) A few things I miss having close:
- Concerts. Especially free concerts. UMKC has a pretty talented crowd and you can check them out often. Here’s the performance calendar. I’ve been to a handful of their concerts and wasn’t disappointed at a single one.
- Restaurants. I like variety. In a small town, your options are limited. Sushi, for instance, is pretty much out. And if you really don’t want to cook, it’s nice to not have to resort to Pizza Hut.
- Movies. One screen, one movie, one showtime. Not exactly the best way to catch the latest. (That makes the assumption you want to see any of the latest, but it’s nice to at least have the option.)
- Workout Facilities. Running on the street is awfully nice, when it’s not freezing outside. But sometimes a girl wants a nice gym with lots of machines, a few exercise classes (kickboxing anyone?), and access to a personal trainer. And bikram yoga? Don’t even get me going on how much I miss having a class fifteen minutes away.
- Education. It’s not even just the “formal” education that’s accessible in the city that I miss, but the other options that are part of city life. Hula dance classes for example. (I used to hula and I’ve started dancing again. I am still very bad. Which is why classes are important.)
- Shopping. I. Like. Clothes. Now, as a preface – I CAN live without them. But I like them. And the shopping in Kansas City is fantastic. (On second thought, maybe I should move farther away…) It’s not just clothes either – City Market totally rocks.
Looking at all this, I realize that I might be (gasp!) a fake “country mouse.” (Some people might call that a snob, but I’m not one of those people.) Of course, whenever I pictured myself living in the country (before I actually lived here), it involved a husband and a few kids. Living single in the country is a little (okay, a lot) different. Sometimes life turns out different than you planned. So you adjust. For now, I’m happy that I can entertain the idea of adjusting. We’ll see where it leads me.
Tagged with: bikram yoga • city • country • food • kansas city • missouri • movies • shopping • vegas
Nov 07
Therefore, I like to exercise.
I love food, but when you are only 4’10″, your calorie intake is kind of limited. (For some reason, when you are small, your body doesn’t need quite as many calories to run as someone who is tall.) I made peace with my height a long time ago. After all, it hasn’t changed since I was about 12 years old. So I know where my calorie intake should be and how to adapt my workout for the days when my love of food might take me over the top of that.
I love all types of food – mexican, italian, american, greek, middle eastern, japanese (including sushi!), chinese, polynesian…. Seriously. I make sounds when I eat. Can’t help it – I’ve done it forever I think.
At my house, food has always been one way we all come together. When I was growing up, we actually all sat down together to eat. For a family of eight kids, that was always a fun rowdy time. Now I make it home most weekends, and we still all eat together. What a life :)
Tagged with: exercise • fitness • food • health • running
Oct 26
My family has chickens. I think they have about 40. I’m not sure. I never feed them – that’s my brothers’ job. Which is fine with me. Chickens sort of stink, after all. But one thing I do love about having chickens close – the eggs. Beautiful fresh wonderful eggs. They are so fantastic. The drawback? Well, after having been spoiled for so long by fresh eggs (I’ve been out in Missouri for almost 5 months), I simply CANNOT eat a “store-bought” egg. As in, it’s IMPOSSIBLE. I can’t order eggs anywhere – I just cannot stomach them if they are more than a day or two old. But the fresh eggs? Well, I can’t get enough of them. Poached eggs anyone?
Tagged with: cameron • chickens • eggs • farm • food • fresh • missouri
Oct 08
So my oven doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked for over two months. But the stove does – so I’ve been making a lot of things on top of the stove rather than inside the oven. I’m getting a new unit – a stove AND oven that BOTH work (it will feel like Christmas, trust me) – sometime within the next week. In homage to my time oven-less, here’s a list of ten things you can make on a stovetop.
- Stir Fry
- Spaghetti
- Omelets
- Mashed Potatoes
- Quesadillas
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Tomato Soup
- Rice
- Quinoa
- Chili
Tagged with: bethany • food • missouri • oven • stove
Oct 01
There’s a little country store called Trails End near my parents’ place. It’s kind of like the country access point for all things organic and vegan. The owner, Kim Manning, runs a great shop with lots of different things – it’s almost like the dry section of Whole Foods. (She doesn’t carry produce, but with all the farmers’ markets nearby, there is really no need to.) I stopped in the other day and she gave me quinoa flakes and agave nectar to try. I am hooked! The quinoa flakes cook up just like oatmeal or cream of wheat (with a consistency closer to cream of wheat) and the agave nectar was better than putting brown sugar on top.
For anyone who doesn’t know what quinoa (keen-wa) is, it’s a plant seed that’s used like a grain. There are some great articles on it at Men’s Health, the California Chronicle, BodyRock.TV and Ask Men. I’ve used it (the regular stuff, not the flakes) like rice or couscous in a lot of different dishes. It’s a great way to add some variety to your diet without breaking the bank.
If you’re curious, info on agave nectar can be found here. Since this was my first intro to it, I don’t know as much about it except for the fact that I liked it.
Tagged with: agave • fitness • food • health • quinoa
Sep 24
There is something about a cupcake that makes it impossible to hate. And most of the time, impossible to resist. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s your own personal little cake. Maybe it’s the pillows of frosting that all good cupcakes come with. I have been to a few cupcake bakeries in my time – they’re called “cupcakeries.” One of my favorites is Mad Hatter Cupcakes in Las Vegas, in the Summerlin area. When I lived in Las Vegas, they were a dangerous addiction – way too close to my house and just on the way home from the gym. (Because you can justify having a cupcake after you have worked out for an hour. Totally negates the workout, but at least you aren’t doing yourself as much harm.)
Making specialty cupcakes on your own isn’t that difficult and if you do it right, they are often better than the cupcakes you can buy. They can even look stunningly sophisticated.
There are a few websites that have some great ideas for inspiration: The Cupcake Project, The Busty Baker and Bakerella. (You’ll notice that they are also listed in my “Things I Love” blogroll.)
Here’s one of my own latest cupcake creations, inspired by The Busty Baker’s own Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes. Her photography is better than mine and her directions are probably clearer. The biggest difference between the cupcakes is that my cupcakes are filled with raspberry filling. These were a big hit when I took them to a friend’s dinner party.
White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
Cupcakes:
- Your favorite chocolate cake mix or recipe. I cheat. I use a box.
Filling:
- 2 1/2 cups raspberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
Mix the raspberries and sugar together on the stove until sugar is dissolved and raspberries have been all been smashed. Continue to stir on the stove until raspberry mixture has slightly thickened.
Frosting:
- 1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened
- 1 bag of powdered sugar (2 lbs.)
- 4 squares of white baking chocolate, melted
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Mix all above ingredients. While mixing, add 1/4 cup water by the spoonful. Whip until you have a nice, fluffy consistency.
Put it all together:
Wait until your cupcakes have cooled. Cut out a hole in the top of each cupcake. Spoon raspberry filling into the holes. It will seep throughout the entire cupcake. You can replace the top of the cupcake if you want. Cover with white chocolate frosting. Voila!
PS – these are especially good if you have let them sit in the fridge overnight so that the filling really gets into the cupcake.
Tagged with: chocolate • cupcakes • food • raspberries
Before you think I’m talking about a “novia,” let me make things clear. I’m talking about an “amiga.” Sometimes Spanish is so much more convenient than English, at least when it comes to defining relationships. For those of you who aren’t Spanish speakers (hey, it’s okay Mom), “novia” means “girlfriend.” Like a romantical kind of relationship. Yes, I know “romantical” isn’t really a word. But it is in the Christensen household. “Amiga” is simply a “friend.” But the “a” at the end of it means a GIRL, aka a FEMALE friend. Okay, English/Spanish/Grammar lesson over. Thanks for indulging the geeky part of me.
I watched the 
