The Shows of Summer

One thing that I absolutely love about summer is the extra free time.  While I'm doing some work with a lawyer in the city, I find myself with a lot more hours than when I was in school.  This means several things.  For starters, I actually clean my apartment.  I dusted, scrubbed and windexed the heck out of my apartment and it looks pretty spankin' clean.  All future house guests are grateful, because that bathroom was not pretty before.  Believe me.

I also get to cook more.  Bake more.  Sit on my couch and huff tapioca pudding cups more.  And most importantly, I get to catch up on television.  Some of these are first times while others are repeat offenders.  I love 'em all the same.  Without further adieu, I bring you the shows of summer.

1) Gilmore Girls

This one will always and forever be on any tv show list that I make.  I watch this entire series about three times a year.  It's what I put on when I'm sad.  It's what I put on when I'm doing work and want something in the background.  It is my perfect catch-all-show.

2)  Dawson's Creek

First off, I should start by saying that I am a Joey/Pacey fan.  That's pretty much the first thing anyone will ask you when they hear you watch the show.  I actually can't stand Dawson as a character, but there are so many other wonderful things happening that I can overlook the milquetoast Dawson Leery.  Plus, there are all the awesome 90's overtones.

3) Grey's Anatomy

McDreamy.  McSteamy.  McMan.  This show has a hot doctor for everyone.  Plus, it can make me cry like a two year old who just had their toy stolen.

4) Firefly

It's written by Joss Whedon and has Nathan Fillion in REALLY tight pants.  You really can't go wrong with either of those things.

What are your shows of the summer?

Growing Pains and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending my good friend Autumn's wedding.  Autumn is my first friend to get married, and it was both a wonderful and slightly strange experience.  Friends getting married means that you are officially adults, right?  How did that happen?  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was a freshman at Loyola, anxious about making friends and navigating a new life with such horrors as shared bathrooms and laundry.

I actually met Autumn during that freshman year at Loyola.  She lived on my floor, as did the two friends who took the train with me to the wedding.  

An old picture from freshman year.  Yes, that is a Twilight t-shirt on me.  Feel free to mock.

I feel so blessed to have these friends in my life, and hope that they will continue to be a part of my life as I move on to law school.

Okay, enough schmaltz.  This weekend had me getting a bit nostalgic (and weepy) but I will spare you any additional saccharine memories.  Instead, I bring you a cookie recipe.  

These are great cookies to eat when you're feeling all weepy and nostalgic over a friend's wedding and how you are no longer eight and can't order from the kid's menu at restaurants.  They're also just really good cookies.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

(Adapted from Annie's Eats recipe)

1 cup butter (very cold and cubed)

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp coarse salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until combined.  Mix in the cocoa powder until incorporated.  Slowly add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix together.  Fold in the peanut butter chips.

Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead until the dough comes together.  This won't take too long.  Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and bake 4-6 cookies at a time for 16-20 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack.

Any of you going through some growing pains?

Chicken Salad...err...Salad

Remember that super easy chicken salad?  Well, I have an equally super easy way to use up the leftovers. You might be wondering what has me going all semi-homemade as of late.  What an I say, sometimes I like them easy.

All joking aside (seriously, though, when is the joking ever aside on this blog?) there is a beauty to having ready made food on hand for busy nights.  Or for the nights where I am just plain lazy and want to spend all night on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy.

I started re-watching the series, which always coincides with me trolling WebMD and thinking that my everyday maladies are life threatening illnesses.  There actually was a story line on one of the episodes where this guy with what appeared to be a simple runny nose ended up having fluid from his brain draining from his nose.  Every time I have the sniffles, I think of this.

Anyway, for the salad I mixed together the chicken salad and three bean salad with some chopped romaine.  The salad is filling and the mixture of the dressing from the bean salad and the chicken is pretty fantastic.  I ate this with a bun and large glass of lemon water.  The perfect summer meal.

Chicken Salad...err...Salad

Ingredients:


Romaine lettuce, chopped
Three bean salad
Chicken salad


Directions:


Combine all the ingredients.  Eat.  Eat.  And eat.

Ridiculously Easy Chicken Salad

So, this hasn't had a new post in a week.  I'd like to have some really cool explanation like I was absconding with the Avengers or aliens invaded, but the truth is that I'm back with my parents for a bit after graduation and I left my camera at my apartment.

Oh, and I also was in Virginia for half of last week.

Both of those in tandem are why all you voracious Tip Top Shape readers (the...let me count...three of you...or perhaps four) have been left high and dry this past week.  I'm back with a vengeance, though, and this site will return to its regularly scheduled programming.  

I actually missed blogging while I was in Virginia.  There's something nice about the routine of waking up, editing the post and immersing yourself in the genius of all those other blogs.  I even missed drafting the posts, something that I oftentimes find daunting when I'm planning what to post for the week.  My brother's girlfriend's sister (now isn't that a mouthful?) used to be a serious blogger, and my fingers itched after talking with her about blogging and food photography.

So, it's good to be back.

Today's recipe is so ridiculously easy that I almost didn't post it.  I'm not a big fan of semi-homemade meals, but sometimes any given night does not allow hours in front of the stove, or even twenty minutes.  This meal is for those evenings when you don't have time to cook but want to avoid the fast food trap or frozen meal quick sands.  It's nutritious, fresh and the leftovers can be used in a variety of ways.

Without further adieu, I bring you this ridiculously easy chicken salad.

Ridiculously Easy Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

Rotisserie Chicken, pre-cooked (2 cups)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

1 stalk celery, chopped

1/2 cup almonds slivers

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

Remove meat from the chicken and chop into bite-sized pieces.  Set aside with the almonds and celery. In a separate bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, lemon juice and pepper.  Add the chicken, celery and almonds.

Eat any way that you like.  My recommendations are: mixed with salad greens, on a bun or in a wrap.

Source: allrecipes.com

People I Admire

A lot of people idolize actors.  They look up to those people in front of the camera, spouting off honeyed words that make women fangirl across the globe.  Who hasn't fallen in love with Ryan Gosling after seeing The Notebook?  Or Colin Firth thanks to Bridget Jones' Diary or Love Actually?  These men say the most delightful things, sending us girls into a delirious dither, and we are hopelessly smitten.  I'm this way with writers. Because, at the end of the day, Ryan Gosling and Colin Firth didn't write those delicious lines coming out of their equally delicious mouths.  It's time we give the writers some love.

1.  Joss Whedon

My love for this man knows no bounds.  I've already featured him once on the blog.  This will most likely not be the last time, either.  The creative genius behind Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, Whedon is right up there with Barbra Streisand and Jonathan Groff as someone I would ugly cry if I met.  You know the ugly cry.

Yeah, that would be my face.

2.  Nora Ephron

I have read every single piece of writing out there that has Ephron's name on it.  I've even read the When Harry Met Sally... screenplay, despite having seen the movie enough times to recite lines by memory.  I love writers that can capture the human condition, and Ephron just gets it.  Her movies are the perfect balance between laughing out loud and crying into a hanky.  And her essays are just pure hilarity.

3.  Emily Giffin

This guy in my fiction writing class told me that my writing reminded him of Emily Giffin.  If I didn't have a general revulsion for him (just trust me -- we all did) I would have kissed him.  I happen to think that the ordinary in life can be extraordinary, and Giffin depicts this beautifully in her books.  I also might semi-stalk her on Facebook and think she has the most delightful fashion sense.

4.  Shonda Rhimes

First off, girl is a hell of a sassy tweeter.  I follow her on Twitter and her responses to crazy rabid fans are the best.  Plus, she is responsible for creating my favorite doctors at Seattle Grace.  Derek Sheperd? Mark Sloan?  Owen-freaking-Hunt?!  Shonda, there are not enough words to express my gratitude.

Who are some people (writers or not) that you admire?

Parsley-Panko Crusted Tilapia

 My taste buds have changed a lot over the years.  I used to be all about chicken.  Prepare it any way and I would gobble it up in no time flat.  There's a story my family likes to tell about a trip to Disney World when I was around ten, and I ordered chicken fingers at every single place we went to including a Mexican restaurant.  Clearly, I had a very sophisticated palate.

Then I went through a beef phase.  Barbecue beef.  Mongolian beef.  Beef beef.  To hell with my cholesterol, it was delicious!  Plus, I was in high school and I couldn't pass up the delectable option of a taco salad at lunch.  I mean, I was only human.

                           

Now, I've turned onto fish.  Shrimp.  Salmon.  Tilapia.  Coming from being only an occasional sea food eater, I felt like this entire new world was opened up to me.  I also discovered that most of these fish are ready to eat in about 20 minutes.  Yes and yes.

Whole Food sells these frozen tilapia filets that are only about 3 dollars for two.  Every time I see them at Whole Foods, I get super excited at the low price, despite my buying them each time I'm there.  What can I say, I live for the small things in life.

My favorite way to prepare tilapia is lightly breaded and cooked in the oven until it is delightfully crispy, but still tender and most on the inside.  I make Jessica's macaroon crusted tilapia pretty often, but last week I wanted something more savory.  Armed with some panko breadcrumbs from my pantry, I whipped up this simple recipe.

Parlsey-Panko Crusted Tilapia

Ingredients:

2 tilapia filets (fresh or frozen and thawed)

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1 egg beat

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

dried parsley

lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place a cooling rack (like you would use for cookies) on a cookie sheet and set aside.

If defrosting the tilapia, place in a strainer and run cold water over the filets until thawed.  Pat the filets dry.  In a small bowl, beat the egg and set aside.  In another bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs and parsley.

Dip the tilapia in the egg, shaking off any excess, and then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture.  Place the filets on the cooling rack and slide the baking sheet in the oven.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Finish off with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Pet Peeve Wednesday

1)  My TV is out.  This means no Grey's Anatomy finale.  No How I Met Your Mother re-runs.  No Sheldon Cooper.  What is life?!  Luckily I have all seven season of Gilmore Girls to tide me over until the maintenance man comes.  I should thank my lucky Stars Hollow.

2)  Lately, I've been having these annoying episodes where I get the spins but without the fun drinking that usually comes before.  I know it probably has something to do with these delightful migraines that I've been having, but I would very much like it to stop.  The spins is bad enough after a night out, but at least you did something fun before.  These spins?  Not so much.

3)  You might remember that I watched the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary DVD earlier this week.  Nick Jonas is  one of the leads, and while I know it is a publicity stint to have a "big name", it still makes me want to dry heave into a potted plant.

4)  With the above said, I could not approve more of Ramin Karmimloo as Enjorlas.  I mean, just look at that face.

Now youtube him, and listen to his voice.  That face.  That voice.  You're welcome.

5)  I have the world's most sensitive skin and every time I get my eyebrows done it looks like I got into a street brawl.  I had them done this morning for graduation and my doorman full-on avoided eye contact when I got to my building.  I must look shifty with half of my face blown up to twice its normal size.