Fall semester is here! Taking 15 hours in college classes, but have downgraded from working in a cubicle to applying to fast food restaurants. I think it’ll give me a more flexible schedule for exercising and studying.

My favorite meal to cook (and eat!) right now is this portabella salad. I ordered it at a casual fine-dining restaurant in Broken Bow and have not been able to get the cravings to go away for more so I replicated it (aren’t restaurants useful?).

1. To make it really low in fat, I only put about a teaspoon of olive oil in a small pan. Then about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. I turn the heat to medium-high. I let it bubble a little to reduce the balsamic vinegar.

2. Throw in some diced red onions. You can use whatever onions you want, but red onions are my favorite.

3. After the onions start to become a little more opaque, throw in some sliced mushrooms. Any will do. In today’s, I used white mushrooms. They’re half the cost of portabella mushroom and once they’re cooked, you can barely taste the difference. Barely.

4. Add a little water in the sauce pan. This is to make the salad dressing so however much dressing you want, that’s how much water you add in. It doesn’t taste as good as olive oil, but it’s a lot less fattening. Cover for about three to five minutes (until it’s hot and the mushrooms are cooked). Then pour it over your salad (which consists of red and green leafs, diced cucumbers and chives). Pepper.

It’s delicious! I love it because the dressing is hot so it wilts the salad a bit.

These are my favorite ways to spend this year’s summer days:

1) Camping

2) Swimming

3) Barbeques

4) Drive-in movie theatre

5) Fishing

6) Concerts

7) Cycling

8) Music festivals

9) The gym

10) Patio dining

To make the sushi, buy a bamboo sushi rolling mat. This makes it so easy.

As for the rice, buy sushi vinegar (sushi-zu)  or make it by mixing rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a sauce pan. Heat it on low heat until the sugar dissolves. For every three cups of rice, add in 1/3 cup of sushi vinegar.

For toppings, don’t be afraid to add in a lot. Once it is rolled up, it can be hard to taste it if the portion of filling is meager. I recommend cream cheese, smoked salmon, and avocado if it’s your first time – you can’t miss with those ingredients!

It’s summertime! Which means no more fat, fried food for me. Something about summer makes me love the taste of fruit, tomatos (is it a fruit?), and herbs. I would recommend going to an asian market to buy herbs. There is no reason, seeing how easy most herbs grow, that a handful of basil should cost $3. Go to your local asian market and buy a bigger batch for just 99 cents.

This is a pizza I made, inspired by what Sauced (a restaurant near Paseo) made for me one day. The pesto sauce is just roasted garlic, a handful of Parmesan cheese, basil, and olive oil. Throw in a tad bit mozzarella and roasted peanuts. Blend the whole thing. Add more ingredients as you see fit. Use this as the base of the sauce instead of tomato sauce. (As you can see, I’m not a fan of measuring things out which sucks for a blog…)

Then for toppings: artichoke hearts (got mine out of a can), sliced olives (I recommend black because they’re not sour as the artichoke is already sour), mozerrella cheese, frozen spinach. Mix it all up in there. Drizzle olive oil on the top. Pepper it. Bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes (if you have a ready-made crust like me). Then put crumbled feta cheese on top. Bake for another 5. Check on it as the times may be off. I was a little more hungy than I anticipated so I opened up the oven often to check on it, which may vary the times. It was delicious and at the same cost as a pizza from Little Ceasar’s!

I’m being wry with the Stephen King novel title, but there are things I carry with me in a bulky Nautica bath bag for men. I write out this list because before I lived with my roommate Joy, I had no idea that there were so many nitpicky things that come along with being a girl. Moisturizer and pomus stone are for wimps. Just give me a cold shower and let me clip my nails as short as possible and I’ll call it a day. Well, now I know better: curly eyelashes can be for everyone and your feet don’t have to resemble a hobbit’s.

Things that I love are my shu uemura eyelash curler, Maybelline Great Lash mascara, Olay Regenerist Night Recovery Moisturizer, Burt’s Bees chapstick, Olay wipes, Bare Esscentuals powder eyeshadow, Aveeno lotion, my Sonicare electric toothbrush, and Clean&Clear Astringent. I just feel like I’m at that age now where I should get staple products instead spending money with products that don’t work for me.

All the packages for Adam for our 2nd anniversary arrived. I went and bought Paperchase skull wrapping paper. I always like to go all out for the presentation. Nothing downgrades a thoughtful gift more than it being thrown in a brown paper bag. Not that I had to buy something – my alternative plan was to cut up all the Newsweek magazines and use it as wrapping paper but I didn’t know which ones he had read. I’m excited for this Friday!

I recently quit my job so I am in a negative cash flow. I am looking to take pictures of weddings, portraits, or of any events for a minimal fee. I also can make/maintain/design webpages. Anything freelance will do.

Can’t wait until August when this is all going to start over again.

We were shown Ponca City by the department of tourism in Ponca City, which is a little less than two hours away from Tulsa and Oklahoma City, OK.

Lots of characters in this town. One was one of the wealthiest men in Ponca City, who pretty much made the town. He and his wife adopted a daughter. When she became of age, he annulled the adoption, divorced his wife, and married the daughter. Very Woody Allen-esque. When he passed away, she destroyed all evidence of their relationship. He had two very beautiful statues made to resemble them, and she paid somebody to destroy these as well. The man couldn’t do it because the statues were so beautiful so he lied and instead, buried them in his backyard. Years later, after she died, they dug it up and restored it and it is now in the Marland Mansion.