Day 37: "It's What I Drink"

So, I'm getting a whole lot better at giving up some control and accepting change/surprises. Finally, right?

Plan B is one of my favorite places to go and grab drinks with some of my favorite people. Depending on my mood, I will either get a Grape Kool-Aid or a glass of wine... each time, every time.

So, tonight, I went out for drinks with my girlfriend, Ginny. She and I have both been experiencing some stress in our personal and work lives as of late, and needed a good "we" night to let it out. Though we intially planned on trying the new frozen yogurt place in town, Sweet Frog, we opted for our regular spot at Plan B. We plopped ourselves at the bar, where Ginny grabbed a Grape Kool-Aid, and I asked the bartender to give me whatever he wanted: red wine sangria. After the first round, Ginny asked for another Grape Kool-Aid, and I asked another bartender to give me whatever she wanted: "No name, it's what I drink" was a pomegranite mix drink of some kind. Not bad... I'm starting to like surprises, well kind of.

Red Wine Sangria and grape Kool-Aid

"No name, it's what I drink" and Grape Kool-Aid

Day 36: Jigger What, Jigger Who

Like most of the home-cooked meals I've made in the past, I've liked my at-home adult beverages simple: pour a glass of wine, done; open a malt beverage, done; take a shot, done.

I've never been able to mix drinks successfully... I've always added either too much cranberry or too much vodka, or I've mixed an alcoholic beverage with the wrong non-alcoholic beverage; it always ends up being a disaster and someone else has to remake my drinks.

So, last night, I made my first mojito: I used a "jigger" to measure out rum and club soda, muddled mint leaves, added sugar, and poured it over ice. It was delicious and much needed after a long workday, which included a 70-minute presentation on pediatric feeding and swallowing.

Mojitos for two and a jigger

Day 35: Scrapbooking!

Before "60 Things in 60 Days," there was the now-defunct "30 Things Before 30."

About a year and a half ago, Andrea and I were having our weekly Wednesday Hump Day at Diamond Bar and Grill in Glastonbury... wine, apps, and gossip to get us through the rest of the workweek. One night, we were reflecting on how our lives had changed so much since graduating from college. We then realized that the big 3-0 was just around the corner. Andrea and I decided that we were going to embrace the idea of hitting 30 by setting some goals for ourselves before our big birthdays. The plan was to blog about the fun we would embark upon in the next 2 years; we grabbed a napkin from the bar, borrowed a pen from the bartender, and began to scribble down our plans. After a few glasses of wine, you come up with some pretty creative ideas. Well, flash forward 18 months later, and we've probably accomplished a combined 10/30 goals... and we've only got 6-7 months left. While I try to remain optimistic these days, something tells me we won't hit every goal we set for ourselves.

So, tonight, I decided to cross one of our "30 Things" off the list (and counted it towards my "60 Things" as well): scrapbooking. Yes, scrapbooking. Today, I spent a considerable amount of time at Jo-Ann Fabric buying scrapbooking materials. Between middle school, high school, college, and beyond, I've probably taken thousands of pictures. From my neon pink 110mm camera to my 35mm bar cameras to my digital cameras, I've captured an immeasurable number of memories, both good and bad. I have countless photo albums, webshots albums, and facebook albums capturing me in my awkward glasses and bangs days to present day. While I have a few ideas for my first scrapbook album, I don't want to share until the project is completed.

Day 34: Milk and Sugar

Coffee... one of my favorite things in the world.

I didn't start drinking coffee until my sophomore year of college, thanks to my roommate, Kristen. We would walk from our dorm room in the jungle to Dunkin Donuts, where she would get a french vanilla iced coffee light and sweet, and I would get a strawberry coolatta with whipped cream. She always urged me to try her coffee, and I always politely declined. I finally gave in one day during finals... flavored coffee with extra cream and extra sugar was amazing! So began my obsession with coffee. Over the years, I've gradually decreased the amount of cream and sugar I put in it, ordering french vanilla coffee cream and sugar.

So, this morning I decided to make myself a coffee with milk and sugar because 1) I wanted to be healthier, and 2) I needed my coffee strong today. Ummm... I didn't really like it. At all. I probably put in a 1/2 cup of milk by the time I was done. Maybe I'll try it again in a few days. But I probably won't.

Day 33: Converting

Back on Day 17, I blogged about how I ate everything except sushi and Indian food. By the end of Day 17, one of my friends made me a sushi convert. That same friend made me an Indian food convert yesterday.

Over the past 33 days, one of the things that I have come to appreciate the most about myself is my newfound willingness to open up (even if it is only in the smallest of fractions). I have a tendency to be closed off... in more ways than one. I've passed up new experiences to avoid possible failure. I've stayed away from doing things differently to avoid negative perceptions. I've bottled up emotions to avoid confrontation. I've put up walls to avoid being hurt. And, I've shunned new foods... because I'm stubborn. These really don't look so great lined up one after the other, but I'm working on it.

So, last night, my friend offered to help me with my new thing for the day. He wanted to surprise me. I don't like surprises. He eventually told me we were going to make a new food. We went grocery shopping, which gave me no clues at all: chicken breast, ginger, cashews, buttermilk, tomato sauce, and rice. He brought the rest of the ingredients from home (cinnamon, bay leaves, cilantro, cumin, turmeric, and other stuff I don't remember). I initially thought it might be a Chinese dish, and that my "new thing" would be cooking Chinese food. Turns out, we were cooking and eating an Indian dish Williams-Sonoma Slow Cooked Chicken Korma. The verdict? It was really good. We ate out on my deck, and I even finished my dinner before he did. Pleasantly surprised all around.

Day 32: Blueberry Picking

Did you know that it takes up to 20 times trying a new food before you can definitively say whether or not you like it? That's a little factoid we tell families during feeding team evaluations at the hospital.

Since my semi-successful blueberry muffin attempt last week, I've been craving blueberries like whoa! I bought a pint of blueberries and had leftovers... but I don't eat fresh blueberries. Weird, right? I like blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, blueberry waffles, blueberry Nutrigrain bars... just not plain blueberries. Well, with all the leftovers, I had no choice but to eat them. And I liked it!

So, with my newfound love for fresh blueberries, I decided to go blueberry picking with my mom yesterday. She laughed when I told her I wanted to pick blueberries instead of shop. I'd never had the desire to pick blueberries, because I didn't like them. So, it was off to Rose's Berry Farm in Glastonbury! We rode in a cute shuttle to designated rows of blueberry bushes. We wound up with 2.5 lbs. of blueberries, about 1/3 of which I had picked myself.

Mom: Look at all my blueberries! Why did you pick so few?

Me: Well, I only wanted to pick the ones that were perfect.

Mom: That sounds familiar.

Me: Huh?

Mom: Nothing, you're just picky with a lot of things. Maybe that's why you're still single.

Me: I love you, too, Mom.

Picking the perfect blueberries

Mom

My mom's bag vs. mine

Day 31: Plan D(inner by Candlelight)

Well, I hadn't planned on attempting my pesto sauce so soon, but plans for my "new thing" fell through. So did my back-up "new thing." And so did my back-up to my back-up "new thing." Good thing there was a Plan D!

I was excited to go to the Festival of Jazz at the Bushnell tonight with my friend, Ginny, but she was feeling under the weather and bowed out. Luckily, I had also planned to go golfing with my friend, Nick, this afternoon... but the rain kept us from going. So, I called my BFF and offered to make her dinner, and she accepted. The only stipulation? She needed to come over on a full stomach. I told her to eat dinner before she actually came over to eat my dinner... that way, if she didn't like it, she could say she was full from dinner #1 without making me feel bad. Well, Andrea canceled on me, too. But I'd already started cooking, so I couldn't really stop.

So, I decided to make the most of it by spoiling myself with a romantic dinner for one by candlelight. I told my mom about my plans to make pesto, and she let me borrow her food processor. Check. I bought a cheese grater at Home Goods. Check. I went grocery shopping to buy chicken, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese (and asked a kind stranger what kind of pasta to use with my pesto... she went on for about 5 minutes before putting penne in my basket). Check. I also had wine, chocolate, and candles on hand. Triple check. And you know what? Even though I wasn't able to go to the Festival of Jazz, I still listened to Jazz on Music Choice while cooking and eating my dinner. Although I couldn't sport a cute outfit on the golf course, I used my chef's costume from Halloween 2010. Despite not being able to cook dinner for a guest, I thoroughly enjoyed a brand new dish that I made on my own. While my day didn't turn out the way I'd planned, I guess I can't complain.

Jazz and a cute outfit

Pesto from scratch

Dinner by candlelight