Bad muffins and bad Kittens

Ughghghghg, I hate Tuesdays. And Thursdays. Basically any day when I'm forced to get up at 6:30 because SOMEONE (ahem, TIM) signs up for 8am classes. The worst part? Our yurt is a frozen tundra in the mornings. I mean TUNDRA. Okay, I think at the coldest, it's 55 degrees, but you know what??!! THAT'S COLD. I've gotten into a habit of putting whatever clothes I'm going to wear into the dryer the night before, then when Tim gets up to make coffee, I have him turn it on. Success, warm for like two seconds.

So what did we do this weekend? I finished the Fifty Shades Books, and ya know what? I didn't like the end. I think the author didn't even know her own characters, but enough of that nonsense.

I've been looking for the perfect breakfast muffin recipe. Exciting, yes? I've been making these banana nut muffins a lot, and they're really good, but there's a lot of butter and sugar in them. So when I tried these coconut muffins the other day, I thought I had found the perfect recipe.

But you know what? YUCKO. 

I substituted local honey and a little brown sugar for the white stuff, but these tasted only of greek yogurt in the end. Tim likes them, so... whatevahs. Anyone out there have a great breakfast muffin that is healthy? Puh-leeeeease??

What happens to bad kittens that play with my jewelery? They get THE CAPE OF SHAME put on.

Super Recipe Bowl, Pinterest Diaries Pt. 3

Something strange happened this year. I witnessed the super bowl. I didn't even know what teams were playing until the day before, but hey.... Beyonce was cool. My friend Paula invited Tim and I over so the boys could watch the game, and so we would have an excuse to make lots of Pinterest recipes and drink wine. And, I think I will count these recipes as the last four weeks of having done ZERO Pinterest ideas. Shame.

So, what did we make you ask?

Zucchini Bites

Recipe adapted: The Naptime Chef

yields: 12 mini muffins

1 cups zucchini, grated
1 egg (1 large egg equals 3-4 tbsp when whisked together)
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup cheese (cheddar or Parmesan work the best)
1/4 cup bread crumbs - I used Italian style
Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.
2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- like when using frozen spinach; if you skip this part, the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy while the outside gets crispy and no one wants that.
3. In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, salt and pepper.
4. Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.

Of course I didn't really read the ingredients really well, so I used a whole zucchini (a BIG one) and had to use two more eggs. And guess what??! Mini Zucchini Quiche! I've been wrapping the left overs in tortillas for breakfast. YUM.

Apple Pie Bites

So easy, so good.

Baked Parmesan Tomatoes

We used fresh basil instead of oregano, I would recommend eating these on some toasted baguette, super juicy. Mmmm, maybe a poached egg on top... booyah.

Anyway, Paula also made some of her own awesome recipes, like sausage balls and cheese dip. Ugh, so good. I made my go-to coconut shrimp and all in all I think it was a successful day. Power outage and all.

mooooooooo

Two more random (last) shots from our xmas Humboldt trip. 

Top: We stopped to say hi to the Roosevelt Elk one very cold morning. I thought they'd come closer if I tried to look like an elk, but it didn't work.

Bottom: We only made it to 3 Foods Cafe ONCE while in town. That's sad. But they still had our favorites (the fancy tater tots and bacon mac n cheese). So freakin good.

Want to see some of the mural art the kids at Kea'au are doing?

Ever fried zucchini blossoms? Stay tuned. word.

Pinterest Diaries Pt. 1 (fo realz this time)

 

I am one for one so far for my Pinterest resolution!!! I made this easy pad thai recipe last night and it turned out AWESOME!!!!!!! SO SO SO good and SOOOOOO easy. I didntt take pictures though, because her pictures are way better, and honestly, mine looked pretty much the same. We added broccoli and shrimp though. And we tripled the sauce part, cuz I like sauce.

The end.

Oh Humboldt!

We're back in Humboldt for Christmas!! Although it is FREEZING, it's really nice to be back. We really, really, really missed Humboldt food. But I am SUPER sad to report that crab season has NOT opened AND the bay is closed for oysters. Sad.

But we did get macaroons as Brio... they were... okay.

Having only one place in Hilo to get Cypress Grove Chevre is awful (although I am very grateful that Island Naturals even carries it at all), so it was really nice to walk into the Co-op and see this yummy local cheese filled isle. 

Welcome home to COLD.

I do really miss this side of the Pacific.

freeeeeeeedom

This semester is finally OVER!!!!! I literally just walked out of my stage tech final ten minutes ago (I think I did well). Tim's farm class (or whatever it's called, I just call it 'nicole gets lots of free veggies') is also over. He brought home SO MUCH FOOD. I mean pounds and pounds of corn, green beans, soy beans, radishes, basil, beets, lettuce, on and on and on... I cooked up a giant batch of green beans for one my theater potlucks. They were a success. YUM.

This week, we also went to a 'that ain't right' christmas work party. We arrived wrapped in justin beieber (who ain't right) wrapping paper, and when you opened us up, weird crunchy asian shrimp-mayo wrapped snacks fell out. Those are DEFINITELY NOT RIGHT... although Tim thought they were delicious and ate them till he got sick.

 Last week, we went to the UH Jazz Orchestra's Blues Brother tribute. It was super fun... what wasn't fun? Having to strike the set for tech class until midnight.

 

Rich sent us this photo of him and Amy at Halloween and I could not resist posting it. Adorbs.

Chica whaaa

The kids at Keaau really love to color us stuff, like literally- our fridge is COVERED in signs and notes. It's cute, but I feel bad throwing so many away..

 One of our 6th graders was feeling very inspirational one day and covered the white board in messages..

 Now that Tim is often in the theatre rehearsing his own play, he has access to the chalk board in the hall... I found this and could only assume he wrote it... (don't worry, he did).

 Random fruit that we still can't figure out what it is...

 OMG, Hilo Tavern makes the BEST margherita pizza EVER!!!!!!!!!!

SOUP.

I had to come up with a quick costume as I worked Halloween at the restaurant and didn't want to be the only one not dressed up.. (turns out, only two of us even took the effort)... so what to do when you have NO time, but a cool red bandana?! Become Rosey of course! And I was only called a 50's housewife once! Hurrah!

I'm assigned to do makeup for one of the actors for UH Hilo's fall production of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" which opens tomorrow night.  After I get Miss Beckie all glamed up, Tim and I will sit front and center to watch. This play is great and the cast is FANTASTIC. So much talent, I'm super excited. Also, we have to go to the symphony (I totally said that in a snobby voice), because I have to write a paper about the performance for my Music Lit class. 

Want the WORLDS BEST TOMATO SOUP RECIPE EVER??!!!!! Like, FOR REALZ though... I've been obsessed with this girls blog since I found it a couple of weeks ago. I hunkered down and started from the beginning and it took me just over a week to catch up to present day. She has some amazing recipes, but when I found this soup recipe, Tim and I tried it THAT NIGHT. Oh my god, I've never tasted better soup in my life... we will seriously be making this once a week till we die, no joke. 

And because Rachelle wants more kitty pictures, I decided to show the punk side to this monster cat. I can't walk across the room without her jumping out from no where and attacking me. Literally, I will have to walk with her attached to my ankles. I have many, many cuts... water gun is no help, she's all about the feet. Brat.

Home again

Hello everyone, I'm back again after two days of hard office work in Honolulu.  Even though I'm back Nicole still has to work but she put me in charge of finishing this post. 

The first night I was home Nicole served up these homemade pot-stickers. These yummy snacks were filled with shrimp and veggies and fried to fatten me up for my next trip.  I had been eating a lot of shrimp and fish on the fishing boat but Nicole's dinner was still a welcomed change.

Saturday morning I wanted to go to Hilo for the farmers market so we got up extra early, like 9, to get started.  Nicole is making me do an early morning  photo shoot with her before we went out for the day.

I knew it was going to be a bit chilly so I wore a long sleeve shirt but Nicole decided on jeans.  She spent the morning pulling up her jeans so they wouldn't get wet while walking down the flooded pathways in the farmers market.  I however enjoyed walking straight through the deepest parts.  I thought the farmers market was really cool that day.  The constant rain brought everyone under the dripping tents and the dim lighting made for a surreal atmosphere.

That's me standing in some water in the less crowded souvenir part of the market

I bought a thing of sticky rice to try, there like .50 cents.  It's like this sweet goo they steam in taro leaves and I'm not even sure if there's rice in there.  I think they taste pretty good and they remind me of something that I can't quite place. Nicole could not be convinced to try this.

Frozen at 1:04 in the morning, I think.

After the market we went to try to get pupu's but the bar food didn't start till the bar opened.  So we had to settle for a fish sandwich instead.  Across the street from the restaurant was this memorial clock that had been set up in memory of a tsunami that had swept through this area taking many lives.  The clock had apparently froze when this tsunami hit it and the people recovered it after the flood and set up as a reminder

Reading some plaques.

We had planned on going over to Kona and then to her parent's house to cook dinner, but we had been wandering around the market far longer than we thought.  So we postponed our Kona trip and headed over to get cooking.

Along the way there are plenty of cows to moo at.  Pulling over and doing so will cause you to get a lot of stares from cows and some will even wander over to see what is wrong with you.

Horses don't like it as much as cows

After dinner we returned home with a couple rented movies and hung out for the night.  Nicole scored this awesome lei she was given when she started work.  I very much enjoy wearing this large and very fuzzy lei around the house.

On Sunday we went to the Pahoa farmers market.  This market is much more lively than the Hilo market.  They usually have people making music and lots of food.  Plus a lot of arts and crafts, jewelry, some fruit and veggie stands, and a bunch of plant stands.

Small selection of their fruits.

After the farmers market we sped home and dropped off some things we bought at the market and then headed to the other side of the island.  Along the way, some where around Captain Cook, there is the best fruit stand I have ever found, and I love fruit.  So here they have just about everything

you can find on the island.  

There are many plants that make some sort of less popular fruit and these fruits show up randomly in the markets.

Good advice.

This place used to let people take tours of the garden, which I'm sure is probably amazing.  But too many people have gone through their garden and have disrespected it and now no one can go through.

They will also sell you the best 100% Hawaiian coffee. 

Photo shoot at the fruit stand.

Yummy white guava

I picket up a weird looking lime, a purple lilikoi, a bag of dried jackfruit (flavors juicy fruit gum), coffee, a white guava fruit, and some  sort of Japanese tomatoes.

The purple lilikoi is actually quite good

One of the many large spiders at the fruit place.  Some sort of golden orb spider would be my guess.

The fruit stand has a beautiful place to go and chow down on your recent purchase.  Nicole found many of the plants quite lovely.

Isn't this one awesome.

Sunset on our way home