Try that bowl of salsa!

My best friend from home came to visit this weekend. We met in third grade, when I was the new girl and sat next to her on the first day of school. We have one of those friendships where we don't see each other very often, but when we finally do, the time and distance fade away, and the memories and laughter bring us back together. There was one thing about Jillian that I did not know about before - her hidden talent of balancing objects on top of her head. She can balance anything and everything upon request, and she does it with grace and ease! My favorite part was when we asked her to balance the glass pitcher and she goes, "ok, but that's easy. Anyone can do this one." Ha! She belongs on David Letterman!

La de da!

Lately, Steve has been mimicking the humming birds and waking up in song. He sings random, cheesy, pop songs that he hears at the gym and mixes them all togethe, adding his own nonsensical words. I can only wonder how he wakes up so happy. While he is crooning away, I am still groaning and trying to open my crusty eyes. I look over at him and his huge hair and bright eyes and can't help but laugh. The sad part about this story is that no one else will ever get a chance to hear his lovely singing voice unless I secretly record him. Oooh, that's a great idea!

Mango Chicken

If you want to impress your friends with an easy, delicious, fresh, and PRETTY dinner, cook this:

Chicken with Mango Salsa

Salsa:
-Dice a mango in small cubes. Mango should be ripe, but not mushy.
-Cut up a red bell pepper into small pieces
-Add some chopped green onion
-Add a small bunch of cilantro
-Mix ingredients together
-Squeeze a lime over the mixture
-Do not add salt to the salsa
-Put into the fridge until chicken is ready

Chicken:
-Pound out the chicken breasts so they are flat. This also helps the chicken stay very tender.
-Put some olive oil into a pan on the stove top and warm it up.
-Sprinkle Kosher salt and pepper onto the chicken breasts
-Put chicken onto hot pan and cook about 3 minutes per side, or until you think the chicken is ready!

Spoon Salsa over chicken and enjoy!
Serve with a side of couscous....they go great together.

Substitions and additions:
-Add avocado to the salsa
-Add a glaze to the top of the chicken
-Substitute different types of bell pepper for the red
-Substitute pineapple for the mango if you can't find any ripe mangos.

Please Note: I do not include amounts of the ingredients because it depends on how many people you are cooking for. I usually only cook for two people, so in this case I used two chicken breasts, half a bell pepper, a whole mango, about 6 green onions, and a handfull of cilantro. When I cook, I hardly ever measure things out, so just play with it and experiment in your own way! You can add other spices and seasonings as you wish, but the salsa really adds a lot of flavor to the chicken!

Mango Chicken

If you want to impress your friends with an easy, delicious, fresh, and PRETTY dinner, cook this:

Chicken with Mango Salsa

Salsa:
-Dice a mango in small cubes. Mango should be ripe, but not mushy.
-Cut up a red bell pepper into small pieces
-Add some chopped green onion
-Add a small bunch of cilantro
-Mix ingredients together
-Squeeze a lime over the mixture
-Do not add salt to the salsa
-Put into the fridge until chicken is ready

Chicken:
-Pound out the chicken breasts so they are flat. This also helps the chicken stay very tender.
-Put some olive oil into a pan on the stove top and warm it up.
-Sprinkle Kosher salt and pepper onto the chicken breasts
-Put chicken onto hot pan and cook about 3 minutes per side, or until you think the chicken is ready!

Spoon Salsa over chicken and enjoy!
Serve with a side of couscous....they go great together.

Substitions and additions:
-Add avocado to the salsa
-Add a glaze to the top of the chicken
-Substitute different types of bell pepper for the red
-Substitute pineapple for the mango if you can't find any ripe mangos.

Please Note: I do not include amounts of the ingredients because it depends on how many people you are cooking for. I usually only cook for two people, so in this case I used two chicken breasts, half a bell pepper, a whole mango, about 6 green onions, and a handfull of cilantro. When I cook, I hardly ever measure things out, so just play with it and experiment in your own way! You can add other spices and seasonings as you wish, but the salsa really adds a lot of flavor to the chicken!

Celebrate Reactions!

It's official - BillyGoat and I are moving in together starting in August. We will be looking for a 2 bedroom (I get to decorate the "pink room" for people to come Bisit!!), 1-2 bathroom house or condo in either SLO or Morro Bay. Our only requirement is that it has a washer/dryer or hookups. If you know of anything available, let me know!!

My cottage will be up for rent starting either Aug 1 or Sept 1. It's a studio over a garage with a kitchen (oven, stove, microwave, full size refrigerator), patio with balcony, driveway parking spot, shared garage for storage, and quiet location. The rent is $850 including utilities (but this might change, I'm not sure). This place is an awesome little cottage for one person. I will definitely miss it!! If you're interested, let me know!

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."

"The Danger is Half the Fun"

I'm totally going to have this in my house one day.

From DesiretoInspire. Check out the website for more really, really inspiring home decor and photography.

OMG

John Mayer is performing at the Mid State Fair in Paso Robles in July!!!!!!! All my dreams are coming true!

WTF

Wednesday is trash day, so every Tuesday night I put out the trash and recycle bins. I share these bins with the adjacent house (5 college guys). If I don't put the bins at the curb every Tuesday night, it won't get done at all, and the bins fill up very quickly so I can't stress enough how absolutely necessary it is to put them out every week!

Last night I ran outside in my pjs at 10:00 to put out the bins (giving them a chance to do it themselves, but of course they didn't). Anyway, the trash collectors come at 11am, and the recycle company comes at about 12:30pm. I got home on my lunch break today at 12:15. Both of our bins were nowhere to be seen. I figured they had already been emptied and one of the guys was nice enough to put them back into the garage. 15 minutes later, the recycle truck came!!!!! I went down to look in the garage to see if our bins had been emptied, and they were BOTH FULL! WTF!!?!?!?

Why would anyone in their right mind put the garbage bins back into the garage BEFORE the garbage collectors came? I am sooo annoyed!!! Why are people so stupid???

Ahi

I tried seared Ahi Tuna for the first time tonight, and I was pleasantly surprised! I've always wanted to try it since everyone I know absolutely loves it. I signed up for a cooking class where a chef from a local restaurant demonstrated how to prepare a seared Ahi appetizer, sliced over guacamole, lettuce, and a blue tortilla chip. OH. MY. GOD. Here's what it tasted like: buttery, extra lean, filet mignon! Yes, ahi tuna tastes like filet mignon. And boy o boy do I looove filet mignon. So, please edit your note-to-self to read, 'feed Jaime filet mignon OR seared Ahi right before she dies.' Ok? Thanks.

Ahi

I tried seared Ahi Tuna for the first time tonight, and I was pleasantly surprised! I've always wanted to try it since everyone I know absolutely loves it. I signed up for a cooking class where a chef from a local restaurant demonstrated how to prepare a seared Ahi appetizer, sliced over guacamole, lettuce, and a blue tortilla chip. OH. MY. GOD. Here's what it tasted like: buttery, extra lean, filet mignon! Yes, ahi tuna tastes like filet mignon. And boy o boy do I looove filet mignon. So, please edit your note-to-self to read, 'feed Jaime filet mignon OR seared Ahi right before she dies.' Ok? Thanks.

Got Gas?

Gas prices at Ragged Point, Hwy 1

Can you imagine handing the gas station attendent a $5 bill every few seconds to fill up?
Yeah, me neither. This is just crazy.

Country Friends

What we do on the weekends:

All that fiber must be working...BIG NEWS!

Fiber=bowel movement. You know the saying, right? (Jon F, you know what I'm talking about) So, what am I talking about? Well, last weekend Stephen asked if I would like to move in together. At first I was stunned, and sorta just sat there with my mouth hanging open thinking, "are you serious?" because no one has ever asked me a question like that before...not even close! Once I got over the initial shock, I was all smiles and told him I'd love to! It's still not 100% official since our leases aren't up until August, and we don't know what will happen between now and then, but I have a good feeling about this!

Anyone want to move into my cottage?? I am so sad to leave it!