Sunday Funday

Sundays are my second favorite day of the week, and you know what makes them even better?  No homework... no work brought home from the office...and getting to spend some quality time with friends and family.  Love :)

I have to mention the fabulous new restaurant that Ashley and I tried today in DC.  Ah-maze-balls.  Logan Tavern is our usual go to place, but we walked by Churchkey and decided to give it a shot.  Such a good choice.  Apparently it's a Sunday hot spot (who knew?) so we agreed to take the bar-style seating towards the back of the restaurant, looking over the kitchen.  It was awesome to watch all the goings on. 

The view from our seats:

Both of us opted for the "Boozy Brunch" -- two cocktails, an order or donut holes, an entree, and unlimited coffee (that's per person ...don't be too grossed out). 

Round one: donut holes!  One chocolate, one lemon poppy seed, and one glazed...with bacon.  Bacon on a donut!  Who thinks of that?!  It was delish.

My hot date!

Next were the entrees.  I went for the fried chicken and waffles (so healthy, haha) and Ash got a breakfast sammy with cheese, ham and a fried egg on top:

Both were awesome.  I wasn't a huge fan of the chicken, but the waffle was yum.  Overall, I definitely recommend Churchkey for brunch in the city!  There's also an affiliated  bar upstairs called Birch & Barley, which has hundreds of different kinds of beer and looks awesome.  It's next on the list!

Well, I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I'm off to bed to hide from Monday....

xoxo,
Olivia

Hot Tamales

Is it Friday yet?  I've already put in almost 24 hours at the office this week and it's only Tuesday!  Hello, busy recruiting season. 

I promised a certain somebody I would post one of my favorite healthy(er) Mexican recipes -- the Chicken Tamale Casserole I first made a couple months back.  I love (and I mean looooove) Mexican food, but after discovering that traditional tamales are made with some not-so-healthy ingredients, I started looking for substitute options that would still satisfy.  This is a great option, and super easy to prepare!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (I used chili powder instead -- either works)
• 1 can (14.75 oz) cream-style corn
• 1 box (8.5 oz) corn muffin mix
• 1 can (4 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 1 can (10 oz.) red enchilada sauce (or verde)
• 2 cups boiled, shredded chicken breast (approximately .75 lbs of chicken)
• Reduced fat free sour cream (optional)
• Ranch-style black beans (optional)

Directions:

Step 1 - Boil the chicken breasts for approximately 15 minutes, until cooked through and no longer pink.

 Looks gross, but boiling chicken is really healthy and makes the meat easy to shred.

Shredded.

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine 1/4 cup of cheese and next 8 ingredients (through green chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist.  Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 baking dish (coated with cooking spray).

The corn muffin and cream-style corn mix help duplicate the tamale taste, minus the lard ;)

Step 3 - Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until mixture is firm (note: original recipe calls for 15-20 minutes, but mine needed closer to 25 minutes -- I recommend just keeping an eye on it).  Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork, and pour enchilada sauce over top.  Top with chicken and remaining cheese. 

Saucy!

Step 4 - Bake at 400 degrees for another 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Remove from oven, let stand for 5 minutes.

I like to add some black beans, and a bit of reduced fat sour cream.  Heaven...

Enjoy :)

xoxo,

Olivia

Paper Trail

Lately I've been slightly obsessed with stationary, or really anything paper-related and customizable.  I think it all started when I was looking for invitations to Sarah's bachelorette party. 

Like this "Tres Chic" invite courtesy of PaperStyle.  Totally channelling some inner Sasha Fierce.  Love!

Or, a more playful option like the "Captivating Cocktail" invite from Wedding Paper Divas.  So cute.

Now I'm looking for any excuse to order something customized.  Moving announcement?  Embossed stationary?  Thank you cards?  Yes, please. 

But wait for it, cutest idea ever... the custom illustrated and hand painted cards from Rifle Paper Co.  Just send them a picture of what you look like (or what you want) and they'll create a custom letterhead/image just for your order.  They'll even do one based on your dog!  Seriously, I just died.  Just you wait for something Cooper themed in mail :)

A couple of examples:

A-freaking-dorable.  Definitely adding one of these cards set to my 2010 wish list!

xoxo,
Olivia

Pieces of Me

As a few of you have pointed out, I'm slightly behind on the blogging front.  I've been in the weeds, just trying to manage some resemblance of a work/school/social life balance.  Slightly overwhelming, but I'm alive.  Sorta.

(Source)

Even Cooper's feeling the burn:

Thankfully, there's an end in sight.  I take my International Business final tomorrow night, then I'm officially on summer break until August.  Boy do I miss the days when summer meant sleeping in and laying out at the pool.  For us evening grad students, life just goes back to the the regular 40(ish) hour work week.  Go crazy!

Since no summer break is complete without a road trip, I'm kicking mine off with a quick jaunt to Philly next weekend to see Elena.  I can't wait and I'm super excited to see her recently purchased townhouse.  So proud of you E-dubs, you're a real adult now!  Way to leave me in the dust!

Other than that, this week should be pretty uneventful and spent playing catch up from last week's hot mess.  I have to get back to the gym, and resume that whole getting in shape project I took up earlier this year.  I'm throwing around the idea of possibly doing a 5K this summer or early fall, even though I'm still having some issues on the running front (now in my hip -- I'm officially 80 years old).  Maybe having a race deadline in sight will help me push through my issues...

And last but not least, happy Mother's Day!  My mom is in California right now (life is tough, right?) so I went the traditional route and sent her this mix of lilies from Cosentino's:

Puuurdy.  On that note, the parental unit, who have been traveling/working in Asia these past few months, are coming back home to DC this Wednesday.  Hallelujah!  It's been a long time since I've seen them and I'm tired of checking their mail.  Joking -- I'm just excited to have you guys back :)

xoxo,

Olivia

Shutter Bugged

It's been a hot weekend here in D.C.  We've had 90-degree weather both days -- and it's barely May! Hopefully this doesn't mean we're in for a rough summer.

So, I'm officially obsessed with my new camera.  I'm fairly sure my neighbors are tired of my creeperish behavior outside... I've been roaming around taking pictures of random things like cracks in sidewalks, signs, and flowers.  People think I'm crazy.  But nobody's more tired of my paparazzi behavior than Cooper.  He's had enough of me telling him to "sit pretty" for the camera.  Poor kid. 

Here's are some of the shots I've taken thus far:

This one turned out pretty well!  Typical Cooper face.

Focused in on the bush instead of the flowers, but I still like all the colors in this one.

Not really sure why I took a picture of this sign, but I got the focus right!

Way too saturated, but I still like it.

As you can tell, I'm still trying to figure all the camera settings out, and learning what lighting works best, and how to focus in on different things and get that "blurry" background (don't you love how technical I sound?).

I decided to take a quick photography workshop offered by Arlington County, which will start in a couple weeks.  Hopefully that will help me fine tune my skills! 

More to come :)

xoxo,
Olivia