Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

In honor of the holiday, I wanted to make something special! I love coordinating food around a theme and, even though green food can be kind of a turn off, I found a lot of inspiration for this St. Patrick's Day.

First- the internet is amazing! My first stops for planning food were tumblr, pinterest, and food network. Ironically, non of those places helped me! I ended up coming up with the following dishes (mostly) on my own! 

Lime Float

The picture doesn't do it justice. I made a lime float to drink and it was so refreshing! I'm definitely going to keep this recipe for summer! Best part- super easy! Lime sherbet + Sprite. Yum! The end.

Fried Ravioli with Basil Pesto

I don't know how much credit I can take for this one. Similarly to the drink recipe, it's pretty simple. Just store bought ravioli, breaded and fried, topped with store bought basil pesto. I suppose I could have tried harder and made all the pieces myself but, eh, I'm all for making my life easier (especially when it comes to saving me time and money!)

Mickey Mouse Cake-pop

The creme de la creme! Dessert! You can't really tell from the picture but, that is most definitely a cake-pop, with marshmallow ears to look just like Mickey Mouse! My inspiration for this wonderful confection was Disney Food Blog. I love Disney more than anything (after my boyfriend of course- he comes first!) so, I'm going to take advantage of any chance I get to incorporate Mickey into the food I make! Warning! Cake-pops are nothing but sugar! I was barely able to finish mine! (I actually probably shouldn't have but, it was so darn good!) 

For two seconds I'm going to remove my modesty and just say- I am a DARN good cook!! All of the food I made was SO good I can barely believe it! I normally don't have that much luck! I'll typically make one dish that is ok, one that is outstanding, and an other that is awful! But, this time, somehow for some reason, the cooking gods were smiling down on me and everything turned out delicious! I would offer some kind of recipe for what I made but honestly, it was a little bit of this and little bit of that, nothing set in stone. And I didn't take any recipes from anywhere online. (another reason to pat myself on the back- this all came out of my own head and I excelled with flying colors!)

Song of the Day:

Nicki Minaj- Super Bass

Spring Break 2012

My last spring break has been nothing like I planned. I've never really had a "real" spring break. I'm not referencing the "Girl's Gone Wild" kind of spring break; just the get-away to a relaxing location far away from home kind of spring break. So, I decided to go all out for my last ever opportunity at a true spring break. The plan was: me + a group of my girl friends + an island off the coast of Georgia (that's about as much as my budget could afford) + lots of sunshine! I was stoked!

Until... our plans fell through. Actually the plans never really made it past the drawing board. We talked about spring break all through winter break and then when spring semester came, nothing. I fell into a studying pattern and spring break fell out of view. 

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little crushed for a while. That was my last chance at something that I had always wanted to do. But, my boyfriend, being the amazing man that he is, came through with a rather fantastic alternative: his home town!

Let me preface with the fact that my boyfriend lives in the middle of nowhere in central Georgia. Now let me repeat that: THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! Being from the suburbs most of my life and having a fondness for city life, you can say I was more than skeptical of visiting my boyfriend's farm. (yep. farm.)

Well, I wanted a memorable spring break and that's exactly what I got! 

And it was certainly not what I expected! While it certainly is the middle of nowhere, it is more like where my dad grew up in rural Pennsylvania than the spread out, run down, slow town I was expecting (picture South Dakota or Wyoming, or the Beverly Hillbillies for that matter, and you'll be picturing what I was imagining). His house is beautiful and his farm is immaculate. There are so many pecan trees stretching into the distance that when the sun is rising or setting I would even go so far as to describe it as breath-taking! I loved it! And I loved every minute of being there! I even found a house right off the town square that I wanted him to buy for me! ;) 

Here's a quick run down of my trip.

It was:

my first time to his hometown; my first time to his home; my first time meeting his family; my first time trying his mom's cooking (delicious!); my first time riding on a Gator (not the animal kind, the 4-wheeler kind); my first time jumping on a trampoline. 

He showed me everything:

his schools, and the baseball & football fields, and the track, and the oldest State Park in the country, and a couple damns (with beautiful waterfalls), his farm and his sheller (for the pecans). 

We went to a zoo, and to a mall, and a couple sporting goods stores and out to eat, and a botanical garden, and his neighbor's house. 

We played putt-putt, and baseball, and basketball, and pool, and went running. 

And of course there was the normal: talking and cuddling and laughing. 

I never wanted to leave. Ever!

Song of the Trip:

Jay Sean- Down

My boyfriend sings the Lil' Wayne part

Recipe of the Trip:

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad