IC Moroccan Night

The IC decided that we wanted to start doing International potlucks and our first lucky country was Morocco! After much planning and deliberating and discussing, we got together at Abbey's house for the inaugural event. One thing we wanted to do was cook together so all of us brought of ingredients and over the course of the evening, started to prepare the various dishes.

We weren't quite hungry at the start of the event so after getting some drinks together, we sat down for a game of Life. This was not the Life of my childhood: there was a lot of insulting, shouting, "douche-moves" and shenanigans that ensued. But mostly a lot of laughter.

Then we got down to cooking. Abbey had marinated some chicken and put together skewers with tomatoes and some peppers that the guys then put on the grill outside. Jon made some masterful couscous with slivered almonds while I prepared a salad made with tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, green onions and a lemon juice and olive oil dressing. Dinner was absolutely delicious. We could have eaten all night.

To work off the dinner, we went for a walk around the golf course. Then also involved some minor snowball throwing and fascination with a weird man standing in his dark living room not doing anything. It was odd and Matt and I were certainly curious. Matt's offering was a dessert of orange slices with drizzled cinnamon and honey ontop. Amazing as well. We ate this while watching "Liberal Arts", a movie by Josh Radnor, our one and only favorite Ted Mosby.

It was a spectacular night. Delicious food, good drinks, endless laughter, and most importantly, eager anticipation for the NEXT IC dinner party!

And I'm off!

The trip started off on a bit of a rough start. Because of what I'm becoming more ad more convinced is minor dyslexia, I read my 11:04 flight as 11:40. I had planned to take Addy out for a run, take a long shower, have breakfast and then grab some lunch on the way to the airport. Instead, I ended up taking a two-second shower, tried to deal with all the contacts being wiped from my phone and racing to the airport with Brooke.

However, because of a delayed flight, there was no way I was going to make my connection in LA. United decided to make up for making me sleep on the floor of DIA nine months ago and rebooked me in a flight through SFO. The first flight was simple and easy and I had plenty of time to grab a sourdough sandwich before my flight to Newark.

The flight to Newark was long, which was not fortuitous because I knew the next flight would be twice the length. I watched Silver Lining's Playbook, which I really enjoyed and then a bunch of other TV shows, including BBT and Chopped. The lady who won annoyed me. My favorite guy was chopped first.

I was siting next to an older lady who, as we were starting to land, started telling me all about these clots she got after a flight a few years ago and how they almost killed her so I should make sure to walk around a bunch next flight. "you never know when it's your time to go." Thanks, Grandma Gert. That's exactly what I needed to hear.

The transfer to the next flight made me feel like I was at Ellis Island. Israelis and Jews are loud and we were kept in this little area, secluded from the rest of the airport, I showed my passport no less than three times. I felt sick to my stomach (I blame trail mix...). They made me check y bag even though there was totally enough room. I was sitting right in front of 20 students who were loud. The people in the plane acted like their teacher had left the room and left them alone. The flight attendants were not nice nor did they serve me dinner. However, I did sleep, which was nice.

And, despite having to wait a few minutes, Amos picked me up at the airport, I had dinner with Karen, I got a shower and spent the evening with Rotem, Roee and the kidlets.

So in the end, it was all worth it...

Wednesday's List of 10

1. The downstairs neighbors (neighbor? I still can't tell if just one person lives there or if the kids that are running back and forth are just borrowed or what...) have a new dog. This thing is YAPPY. It's not a consistent yap so it really doesn't bother me and it's never woken me up or anything but man, sometimes it barks and I just wait to hear the sound of flesh being shredded. And that concerns me because what do you do at that point? It's just awkward.

2. I tried out a new recipe (thanks spark recipes or whatever you're called....). It was SUPER easy. Saute onions, peppers and carrots in oil over medium heat. Add some cubed chicken and let it cook all the way through. Then add some canned tomatoes (with the juice) and some veggie or chicken stock. I used veggie since there was already an open carton in the fridge. When that's bubbling, throw on some couscous, turn to low and let it simmer, covered, until the couscous is cooked or the liquid is gone. Done. One pan to clean. Speaking of cleaning dishes, somehow, my dishes pile up QUICKLY. I did dishes on Sunday and then two days later, the sink is filled with them. How does this keep happening?

3. Book club on Friday turned into an awkward-dating story night. We also may have seen Trent's high school dance picture and spent some time on OK-Cupid. What does YOUR book club do?

4. Target is dangerous. But cheap. Here is what I bought for under $50 last week. Don't hate.

5. I've been watching a lot of great movies lately from Netflix. I'll do a post about them in a bit. This movie is not one I've watched but it was on sale at Target. I almost got it...



6. Holy-moly, that was some heavy thunder and massive gust of wind. Except it's not raining. At least not outside my house. Also, even though I just opened the blinds, it got ruuuuul dark in here... Here's what outside my house looks like...

7. Recently, I've decided that I'm only really going to go to the office on Tuesday and Thursdays when I have class and then office hours. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays have become a routine of working out when I get up, having some coffee and breakfast, watching my Netflix if I have one (so I can get it back that day... time is money, people!), and then spending the rest of the day doing homework. This consists of lots and lots of reading, note-taking and bibliographical annotating. But I enjoy it.

8. My sister (http://austrianshiri.blogspot.com/) posted about a youtube video she watched and is now keeping a calender where she writes down one thing she did each day. I have the Hawaii calendar Yosh gave me and have decided to do the same. I've very excited about the prospects of this. Thank you daily journal and i-phone calender for reminding me what I did these last two months (except for two Tuesdays in January and one Wednesday in Freburary... clearly I have no recollection of what I did on any of those days.)

9. Guys, what the heck is the Harlem Shake? I'm seriously asking.

10. The fact that I'm planning three trips over the next seven months makes me happier than most things.

11. (BONUS!) HOLY MOLY THUNDER!

Baking, Tarentino Style....

So, because I initiaaly was blogging this one my phone, the pictures all came out in backwards order. But who says you can't bake like this! 

So, if you want to get THIS (see below), here's how we backtrack..... These blondie brownies (the child of a cookie and a brownie) just came out of the over set to 350 after about 15 minutes of baking. Of course, oven heat and time will be different so just keep an eye on it.

Make sure that before you start the dishes, you lick the beaters. This is the best part. Hand's down.

Also, while you avoid doing the dishes, feel free to relax with a glass of wine and the "Say Yes to the Dress Crew". It makes the experience more enjoyable.

Before you put the mixture into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan, make sure that it is well-mixed. Also, throw in a crap-load of chocolate chips. Yes, that is a technical term.

There is NO order to the following ingredients. This is what makes this a great backwards recipe. This is 1/4 tsp of salt.

And this is 1/2 tbsp of baking POWDER (not soda... although I don't know the difference)

Only one cup of flour necessary. I'm sure you could use wheat flour but I haven't had the best luck so I just did regular white flour. And then wrote down a reminder to get more flour.

A tablespoon of vanilla seemed a little cray, so I did a little less. Probably doesn't matter. The vanilla silk made up for this later.

I realized that I had used the last egg for breakfast earlier that day so I substituted a egg for a 1/3 cup of applesauce. Also a 1/4 cup would work. It doesn't really matter that much.

I didn't have any milk on hand so instead I added a tablespoon of Vanilla Silk Milk. It didn't seem to make a difference. Do it.

Make sure that your stick of butter is melted in the microwave before you add it.

And a cup of packed brown sugar.

And that is how you make blondie brownies backwards! Enjoy with a big glass of milk.