Currently Reading: Sarah's Key

HELLO THERE!

I made a new year's resolution to read 52 books this year, and I'm not even coming close. But I am reading a really good book right now, and thought I'd share.

Source: books.google.com via Sarah on Pinterest

It is Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay. It takes place during World War II, which is my favorite time period to read about. Plus, it's called Sarah's Key, and that's my name! Any book about a Sarah has to be the bomb, right? So far, I'm really loving this book.

From what I understand, all of my father's relatives who were living in Europe were murdered during the Holocaust; that side of my family are Polish Jews. My paternal grandfather changed his last name to an English name shortly after The War, and I was told repeatedly as a young child not to tell people I was half Jewish. Of course, I never do what I'm told, and I told anyone who would listen that I was half Jewish, only to be told by real Jews that I was not because my mother is not Jewish. Go figure!

Anyway, the book is jumping back and forth between 2 stories, one of a woman in "modern day" (10 years ago when the book was written), and one of a little Polish Jewish girl (named Sarah) living in Paris in 1942. I was hooked from the first page, and I can't wait to see how the two stories will come together.

Although I haven't finished it yet, I highly recommend it!

I'm going to the beach in a few weeks, and I need a good lighthearted beach book to read. Something funny, perhaps? Any recommendations?

The Summer of No Cooking Episode I: ...Cooking

Have you reached the point where you do not feel like cooking ever again for the rest of the entire summer (or let's be honest, your life)? Was that breaking point approximately 3 weeks ago? Have you not made anything for dinner that took more than 15 minutes since that very date?

Me too, my kindred spirit. Me too.

Due to this elongated and potentially permanent case of The Summer Lazies, I, Mrs. S. J. Poopy-Shit, Esq., officially dub Summer 2012 The Summer of No Cooking.

Ok I lied. It's pretty much impossible to never cook for an entire summer (especially if you eat fried eggs for breakfast every.single.day.). But I will dedicate this summer to cooking as little as possible. And maybe, if you're lucky, I will bring you along for the ride. But don't hold me to that. My history shows that I am anything but a consistent blogger.

And in being true to myself and keeping it 110% real, I will start out this series (If you can call something with no guaranteed part 2 a series) with....cooking. I know. I am a liar. But I promise, the cooking is minimal. And besides, I'm not even sure it can be called cooking; more like un-rawing some chicken. So that we don't die. Totally does not count.

Anyways, here's to no cooking, part uno!

On today's menu:

Chicken Caprese

(Kind of)

It's not like I followed a recipe or anything. That would be against the no cooking rule. Recipes = cooking. Heating up raw chicken to kill bacteria = un-rawing. Just to reiterate, totally not the same thing.

Here are the steps to making this un-rawed but totally not cooked meal:

1. Get home from work. Throw your shit on the floor. Greet your totally amazing pooch. Watch her do the Winnie pants dance (similar to this). Take her for a walk. Pick up her poop in little plastic bags. Sweat your balls off. Remind yourself that this is why you aren't going to cook. This step is vital. It's real life, B.

2. Open a package of chicken thighs. Dump into ziplock. Pour in some shitty salad dressing that you bought thinking you'd like, but that actually sucked balls. "Light" anything works well. Even creamy light Caesar. Don't be scurrrrrred. I used some crappy vinaigrette we will never actually put on lettuce. Ever. Put that chicken back into fridge. Carry on with your evening for a little bit.

3. Un-raw that chicken in a skillet until it will no longer kill you.

4. Cut some grape tomatoes in half. Mix with some fresh mozzarella balls. Tear some leaves off of the barely-surviving-the-heat-basil plant you have on the patio. Throw that shit in too. Pour in some olive oil and balsamic if your feeling fancy.

5. Take out some plates. Throw some fresh spinach on that bitch, then some chicken, then that other shit you made.

6. Eat that shit. Munchy. Chewy. Yummy.

Ingredients: 8
Prep time: 45 secs
Cook Un-rawing time: 15 minutes
Dishes dirtied: skillettongsbowlspoon2forks2knivescuttingboard 9

Word.

Happy Birthday Joe Part 2!

No Birthday is complete without crabs! Happy Birthday Joe, part deux!

Baltimore 10 Miler & Happy Early Birthday, Joe!

Yesterday I ran the Baltimore 10 Miler race. I was very nervous even though I knew I could do it, because it was my first double-digit race. I set what I thought was an overly optimistic goal of 1:30:00, or 9 minute miles. I'd been running 10:40 miles in all of my practice runs, so I was very scared that I was setting myself up  for a big ole let down.

But I did it! Even better, I beat my goal by a minute! Here's the proof: an auto update posted to my Facebook profile:

 Winnie bear was very proud of me!

I had to get up at 5:00am to make it to the race on time, so after the race, I ate lots of food (obv), then took a several hour nap. I was so tired & it felt really good.

Then we headed over to my mom's house for a BBQ and Joe's birthday pie. It was raspberry cream pie. And it was perfection. My mom makes the best pies.

Happy 25th Birthday, Joe! 

This...

...is the best news I've heard all year!

This Weekend at a Glance 6.11

The Bone Theif

 

 

 

Crab Fix 6.1

This blog is called "Crab Cakes and Football, Baby." I rarely talk about crab cakes or football these days. They are both out of season, but not forgotten.

I think that I should sing it to the world every time I have some crab, just to be more loyal to my title. Today I will belt it out, Xtina style.

Today me and some of my co-workers escaped to Claddagh Pub for lunch.

We had Crap Dip. Proper.

It was freaking delicious! So smooth and creamy with huge jumbo crab lumps. Backfin, obv. (That's crab-talk for the best part of the crab, the back end inner body meat).

There are three types of crab dip in the world. Homemade MD crab dip, which you get at Maryland potlucks and parties. Delicious, but it doesn't quite rank up to the restaurant style MD crab dip, shown above. I don't know what these restaurants do to bring crab dip to the next level, but it is FANTASTICAL. (Side note: DO NOT ORDER "MARYLAND CRAB DIP" IN A RESTAURANT IN ANY OTHER STATE! I REPEAT, DO NOT ORDER "MARYLAND CRAB DIP" IN A RESTAURANT IN ANY OTHER STATE!)

Lastly, there's all other crab dips, which are simply not worth eating, and quite frankly disappointing. You find these specimens all over the interwebs and throughout the rest of the states. A true Marylander would not bother to click on that link, unless they want to be simultaneously let down and grossed out. To all the non-Marylanders out there, use that link to educate yourself, then schedule a trip to B'more asap to find out what you are missing out on.