open letters

Dear Boy,

I miss you like crazy, all the time, and am starting to wonder if I'm ever going to stop missing you. If I'll be turning 25 and still wanting to wake up next to you, wanting to kiss your neck. But yeah. I would really like you to be here.



Dear New Mexico,

You are too far away.



Dear Europe,

I'll make it to you, someday.



Dear mosquitos,

I don't know what I've done to deserve your hatred, but I apologize and will send you a bouquet of your favorite flowers if you'll agree to stop biting my legs.

pup appreciation

I'll admit it, I'm a bit prejudiced. You probably anticipated that: I'm from East Tennessee, we have a reputation for being biased and "backwards" and all things antiquated. My prejudice is a bit different though: I inherently distrust people who don't like dogs. We can be getting along perfectly well, and the instant I hear that about someone, I pull back. It's nothing personal – you're just wrong, and you're directing all of that wrongness towards the most loving, adorable creatures on our planet. You understand why we can't be friends, right?

I mean, look at this pup. Chloe is a person. She can tell when you're having a bad day, and she'll curl up right beside you and lick the back of your hand and let you hug her all you want. She is one of the most caring individuals with whom I've ever had the pleasure to interact, and I don't know what is wrong with you if you don't like her. Just look at that face.

^ brooding, intense, thinking about Foucault and Pup-Peroni

 ^ those eyebrows, that mustache & beard - she's the little old man of the puppy set

^ observing her kingdom

^ "I caught it!! Now I'm going to take a nap, OK?"

^ a "come hither" glance

black bean tacos with slaw and feta

So, it's time for me to reveal my not-so-secret love affair with The Smitten Kitchen. The website, written by Deb Perelman, was founded in 2006, but I found it in 2012 when I was faced with a brand new kitchen, a local Trader Joe's, and no clue what to buy or cook. Her cookbook, published in 2012, was part of my Christmas present last year. Deb's recipes have never led me wrong, and I feel so much more confident in the kitchen with her kind words and lovely anecdotes by my side. Go check her out, if you haven't already. Today's recipe? Black bean tacos (already right up my street) with homemade slaw and feta cheese. Yum, yum, yum.

On the night that I made these, I was out of ideas for dinner. Cooking chicken – or any meat, really – seemed too strenuous. I was too hungry for a salad, too broke to order takeout, and too proud to drive to my mom's house and mooch off of whatever she was having. That left me on my phone in a Wal-Mart parking lot looking at the "Weeknight Favorites" section of The Smitten Kitchen. This recipe was waiting for me. Ten ingredients, all under $5, and two of which were already sitting in my pantry. I ran inside, picked up a cart, and the rest was history. These could have been done in ten minutes, though I'm a "cooking in parts" kind of gal, so I made the slaw when I got home, heated the beans while watching TV, and did the assembly a bit later. They are so simple to make, and it would be easy to add meat if you wanted to – ground beef or ground turkey would be particularly good, I think – though the recipe doesn't feel like it lacks anything without it.

 Yields 4 tacos
slightly adapted from smittenkitchen.com

1 15-ounce can seasoned black beans, drained (I used Bush's Seasoned Black Beans)

cumin, to taste

1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 cups coleslaw mix

1 green onion, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

4 corn tortillas

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

hot sauce, salsa, & sour cream, to serve

Whisk together 2 teaspoons of olive oil and lime juice. Add coleslaw mix, green onions, and chopped cilantro. Mix until combined, and add salt and pepper to taste – I ended up using a lot of salt and not very much pepper.

Pour drained beans and cumin into a small saucepan over medium heat until the beans are heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mash beans partially once heated.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat, and pour off the excess oil. Add tortillas, as many as can fit into your pan without overlapping. Spoon approx. 1/4 of the bean mixture onto the middle of each tortilla and cook for 1 minute. Fold tacos in half (I found a spatula/wooden-spoon combo helpful here) and cook on each side until golden brown, about 2 minutes total. Fill tacos with feta and slaw, and serve quickly with hot sauce, salsa, & sour cream on the side.

Bonus: Guess who set off the smoke alarm! The produce bag from the cilantro earned its keep today.

happy birthday, america!

For the week of the 4th of July, my grandparents rented a house on Oak Island, about a hour north of Myrtle Beach in North Carolina. I hadn't been to the beach in 5 years, so my mother and I packed up our bags and drove the oh-goodness-how-much-longer distance to spend the week with them.

saltwater sandals, even better when you're actually in saltwater!

what a view!

my precious mother and myself, riding backwards on a golf cart & scared out of our minds

"take a picture of those trees!" -my grandmother

the grandparents, being adorable and checking out the walking sticks at the annual 4th of July craft fair. the fair, I noticed, is much less interesting when you're too old to make sand art and be really excited about wind chimes.

my mother, matching the greenery

matching sunhats & sunglasses, because we're unintentionally adorable like that

photo credit goes to my mother, who took approx. 900 of these pictures "trying to get one that looks right!"

my little cousin, amazed by sparklers

the beach, mid-hurricane

I hope you all had a great 4th of July! Can you believe we're more than halfway through 2014??

a one-pot wonder

Lately, my mother and I have been trying to cook dinners together more often. I looked at my bank account a few weeks ago and realized that I would have significantly more money if Sonic & Chick-Fil-A went out of business, and decided I needed to make a change. My mother then came to the same realization about her bank account & McDonalds.

One of the first recipes we've cooked together was this one-pot pasta, which Italian brothels supposedly used to make to serve to the ladies between clients. Whatever the roots of this recipe, it was quick and easy and oh my goodness, an apartment has never smelled more heavenly than while this was cooking. Added bonus: if you use non-dairy cheese, it's completely vegan!

One-Pot Pasta

adapted from soydivision.co.uk

12-16 oz spaghetti noodles (I used plain spaghetti, but think whole wheat would thicken the sauce more)

2 oz sliced black olives

1/2 cup cooked chickpeas

4 sundried tomatoes, sliced

1 small onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained

3 large handfuls of arugula

2 tbsp italian seasoning

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes*

salt & pepper, to taste

4 cups vegetable broth

shredded parmesan cheese, to serve

Add the uncooked pasta to a large pan (the wider the better!).

Top with the rest of the ingredients, less the parmesan, finishing by pouring the vegetable broth over the whole mess.

Cover the pan & bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to the lowest heat at which the broth still bubbles. Stir often, as it will stick to the bottom regardless of how much you stir, so you might as well run damage control.

It will be done in, no joke, about 10 minutes. Serve with a generous topping of parmesan.

*adjust based on your spice preference. the recipe i followed said 1/2 tsp, and our tongues were burning. the spice permeates the broth like crazy, so be cautious.