How To Make The Perfect Baked Potato

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Poke holes all over potato.
3. Spray liberally with cooking spray.
4. Sprinkle on generous amount of salt.
5. Pop in oven, right on the rack, for around 1 hour. Depends on size & age of potato.
6. Cut open, enjoy the crispy skin and fluffy interior.

I love baked potatoes. On Thursday in high school, we had potato bar at the salad bar. I would always load mine up with sour cream and cheese. I can't have sour cream OR cheese now, so I just dab on some margarine. With this perfect texture, I am completely satisfied with my bare-bones potato.

Tennessee Or Bust!

I really want to make it out to Bonnaroo this year! 4 days, June 11-14. I hate camping but will just have to suck it up! The lineup is very appealing to me:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 Shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello Solo
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov’t Mule
Andrew Bird
Band Of Horses
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury Band
of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross


meowwwww, who's up for a road trip?

Do Not Shop At Karmaloop.com

I ordered those lovely boots I posted about earlier from Karmaloop.com in December. I received a package right before my vacation to Florida containing the completely wrong items: a men's hoodie and t-shirt. I didn't have time to return it, so I had to do it when I came back. I paid $8 for shipping the package back with the promise they would reimburse me if I emailed them the receipt. I did so 2+ weeks ago and still haven't gotten that money back. I bugged and bugged them about receiving my package and sending me the right thing back and was assured they would process the return in FIFTEEN DAYS. Today I received an email saying the item I originally ordered is now out of stock so they're refunding my money. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS??? I wish their customer service actually picked up the phone so I could bitch at them for a long, long, long time.

The Next Six Weeks

Fitting perfectly into a pair of pants that you didn't think would make it past your thighs is possibly one of the greatest feelings in the world.

For Lent I always try to do something instead of giving something up. I'm going to try to work out 4 times a week. This means mostly in my bedroom with my secret little plan, but I am also going to try to walk a couple of miles when it's nice outside since I can't run. I think this will really improve my neck and back problems now that I'm out of physical therapy.

I also want to do a volunteer activity. There is this program with elderly people I wanted to check out last semester but I will this semester. My only problem is that I'm trying to return to my second job and obtain a third, so I don't know how much this will help.

A third thing for Lent is to reach out to more friends. I started today by setting a homework date with a friend in all my classes & setting up a weekend get-together with a friend I don't see nearly enough. It's really hard for me to reach out to others so I'm really working on improving that.

Working out gives me a lot of energy. I'm dancing around in my undies to Girl Talk. I'll have to start homework sometime soon.

CARBS RETURN

Food For Life's rice almond bread is SO good. I bought it for a hefty $6 for a loaf that's about half the size of a regular loaf a bread, but twice as dense. It tastes just like regular bread. It doesn't really toast (I think it has to do with the density) but it tastes good with a good amount of topping - jam, black beans, apple butter, whatever. I can't wait to make toad-in-the-holes with this!

Aw Yeahhh

In Existence Just For Me

Precious Tongues: Bunnies

Sunday Night Supper Club 2/1

I'm going to start documenting what we create because I have a feeling it'll be getting more creative and labor-intensive.

This week we decided to do a Caribbean theme with jerk marinated chicken breasts, rice & black beans, fried plantains, and pineapple slices. I wish whole pineapple wasn't so expensive in Minnesota so we could have had it fresh. The fried plantains were the most fun to make. We marinated the chicken in KC Masterpiece's Spice Caribbean Jerk 30-Minute marinade and baked it. It turned out moist and delicious. The rice and beans were a nice side to it all. The previously-posted cheesecake brownies were the perfect finish. I would have liked to do something tropical-themed for dessert (like Key Lime Cupcakes I made once before) but everyone was craving something with chocolate and cream cheese. Here's a snap of Blake's plate:



Next week we're thinking Italian. Eggplant or Chicken Parmesan? Turkey Meatballs? Who knows what'll turn up.

Cheesecake Brownies

I made these once before for my physical therapy office using a brownie mix, but for Sunday Night Supper Club last night I made even the brownie part from scratch. I like how these are just the right mix of sugary sweet from the brownie and tart from the cheesecake. I got the idea from the cookbook Favorite Brand Name Bake Sale and the brownie recipe from Cooks.com. I wish I had gotten a picture of the plate of brownies all cut, but they honestly disappeared too fast for that to happen. I think everyone had two of them.



On a side note, I find it personally offensive when my roommate bakes 4 packages of premade cookie dough. Just give me the $8+ you spent and I'll make you something that actually tastes good.

Microphone - Coconut Records

Lovin' this song. I just decided to check out Coconut Records for the first time a week or two ago and I really like it. Some of the songs really start to get old after a few listens, but this song is my favorite off of both releases. It's the right amount of catchy.