fresh fridays

This week went surprisingly quickly.  I am very glad it is over because it was a stressful one.

Happy Weekend friends!

1.  I have been spending this week writing a thesis chapter and preparing for my next interview.  It is always difficult to get started writing, but really rewarding once I get something done.  Finishing by May is slowly looking possible.

2.  Tuesday, January 31st: High of 61 and mostly sunny.  What??  I walked into Squirrel Hill to meet Devin for lunch and did some writing at the coffee shop like a real hipster.  I truly hope that this is our (mild) winter and it is not snowing in June on my birthday (because that has happened).

3.  Abby is Awesome day - I forgot to talk about this last week.  It is really a very boring story as to how the day was created.  I believe it started in September 2003.  Devin's roommate and bff had a calendar under his bed that started in January 2004.  I decided that on the 28th of January (28 is my number) to write in "Abby is Awesome."  That was sort of the end of it, until January 28th rolled around and Mark (the roommate and bff) decided to celebrate the day.  We celebrated it every year that I was at Fredonia and it still pops up on the calendar even though we haven't done anything for it in 6 years.

This year it fell on a Saturday and I happened to be going out.  Unfortunately it was for a going away party.  I am actively choosing not to accept the fact that these people are actually moving (in a couple short weeks scratch that, they are leaving in exactly one week - so sad).   I made an amazing dessert for this occasion.  Gary is not a fan of sweet desserts, but he recently admitted to liking salty desserts.  I went on a quest and came up with the Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.  They are certainly sweet, but the salt in them just puts it over the top.  They were banging and a huge hit at the bar!  Gary liked them, so I considered it a success.  I unfortunately do not have a final pick of the bars.  They got sampled before I remembered to get a pic.  Here is a pre-bake shot.

4.  If you remember last week, I quoted Ron Swanson "when I eat, it is the food that is scared."  Now you get to see it!

5.  Lobster mac n' cheese.  I mostly followed this recipe.  I halved it, substituted veggie broth for white wine and didn't have any tomato paste.  It came out very tasty!

6.   I have been continuing on my quest to drink more water.  It has been going very well.  I sort of just feel better.  People swear by drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning, in fact that is the Bob Harper challenge this week (last week was to eat breakfast every morning).  I am giving that a try.  It is sort of tough to get down a full glass of water first thing in the a.m. though.  Here is an article that I saw about some of the surprising benefits of drinking more water.

7.  I absolutely have to make this.

8.  Oh yeah, and this.

9.  I can reply to blog comments now!!   So if you leave me a comment, expect a response!!

10.  I added a new page on the blog called "Staples."   Check it out.

11.  The new Thundercat album is my new album of choice.  It always cheers me up.  Especially this silly song.

12.  Making Chicken Finger Subs for the superbowl.  Boom.

*oh and don't forget the puppy bowl.
** oh and go giants!

So Long!