Drama queen?

Drama queen

Two definitions from UrbanDictionary.com:

- An overly dramatic person.
- Someone who turns something unimportant into a major deal. Someone who blows things way out of proportion when ever the chance is given.

Is this a word I would use to describe myself? Most days no. Lately, perhaps. It's not that I purposely attempt to see the world through overly analytical eyes or that I want to make every single thing that bothers me seem like it's the next coming of the antichrist, but sometimes, I just can't help myself.

Co Co's cooking!

I woke up pretty early today (not as early as I usually have to for work) and I decided I wanted to make something delicious for supper. Unfortunately, my kitchen was pretty bare and lacking in anything promising besides the staples, so I had to go to the grocery store. While at the grocery store, I came across some interesting ingredients in the ethnic food aisle: coconut milk, curry paste and basmati rice, vindaloo sauce. The wheels started turning in my head and I knew right away that I was craving beef vindaloo. Now, I'm not partial to buying pre-made sauces in jars for ethnic dishes, I would much rather try to create the dish from scratch. I bought the things I went to the grocery store for, and also picked up: thinly sliced steak, a vidalia onion, red and green peppers, basmati rice, coconut milk, mild curry paste, cilantro, and naan bread. When I got home I put all my ingredients on the top of my counter and began to get to work. The final product was amazing. Here's the recipe and some photos of the process. Yum yum!

All the ingredients:


The recipe:

You will need the following:

* 1 tbsp (or to taste) Patak's Hot Curry Paste (or similar other brand. My fiance is a bit of a spice wimp so I used Mild paste)
* 1 medium onion
* 1/2 (each) green pepper and red pepper
* Coconut milk
* 1 tbsp minced garlic
* 1 tbsp minced ginger
* 1-2 tbsp EVOO
* Thinly sliced beef steak
* Cream
* Yogurt
* Naan bread (I like the garlic naan from Zhers/PC)
* Butter
* Curry Powder
* Cooked basmati rice

Recipe

1. Pre-cook beef. Thinly slice all the veggies (onion/peppers) and set aside.
2. In a frying pan or wok, heat the oil and add the garlic and ginger. Cook on med-medium/low heat. Drizzle coconut milk on top.
3. Add beef to the pan, allow to heat through.
4. Add the veggies you cut and put in a bowl earlier. Stir-fry with the meat for about 2 minutes.
5. Take curry paste and add it to the pan. Stir to coat the meat and vegetables.
6. Slowly add creamer or more coconut milk to the pan until a sauce forms. This really is a matter of preference. If you add too much cream, don't worry - it will thicken.
7. Spoon mixture over basmati rice and drizzle yogurt or more coconut milk over the rice. Helps to tone down the spice.

If desired, serve with naan bread. Heat in the oven for a few minutes, put a bit of butter on the hot naan bread, cut into quarters and serve alongside vindaloo.

Enjoy!

The curry simmering away on the stove:


The final product:

I'm back....

Hello again to everyone...

So I kind of took a two and a half month hiatus from blogging. I was finding that I just didn't have enough time in the day to keep up with things. Since March, numerous things have gone down in my life.

I've moved back in with my fiance and we're trying to get back into the swing of things. My dog Louie is getting along peachy with his new home. We've been taking him to puppy classes at Petsmart and he's really doing well in terms of his fears and shady shyness.


I had a falling out with my step-mother because I have chosen to continue me relationship with my fiance. This has been very hard on me and I'm not sure how to go about rectifying the damage that has been done. My cat escaped the safe confines of our home and was impregnated..two days ago she delivered 3 kittens. Now we need to find happy homes for three little fuzz balls. They are super cute! A god friend of mine had a lovely little bundle of joy named Aryana! We've taken to calling her "Squeaks" because she always seems to be making sqeauky noises.


The best thing that happened to be is in terms of work! I was the successful applicant for a full-time contract position out in the county,but now I am finding that I have too much time on my hands. On a good day in this rural little village, our truck is lucky enough to get called out to one standby for a nearby busier town. Most days I find myself twidling my fingers, reading books (I've recently become a crazed fanatic of the Sookie Stackhouse Series [LOVE LOVE LOVE!! And I've already read all 10 novels currently in circulation]), scrapbooking my life away, playing Bejewelled Blitz on Facebook or downloading and then using applications on my new iPhone (LOVE IT!!!). I absolutely LOVE knowing my scedule and being able to plan things in advance without worrying about whether I am going to be called into work. The contract is only supposed to be about 7 months, but 7 months is better than nothing at all, and I can't really complain because I haven't been working for a year yet and I already have this position so...GO ME!


Tonight I am starting an 8-week fitness challenge. I joined a bootcamp!!! It's called Booty Camp Fitness and is offered only to women. With 93 locations all over Canada, I'm seriously hoping that this is going to be (1) uber fun, and (2) give me results!!! A girl I went to highschool joined the classes and has been talking about it a lot on Facebook and I had to look into it. The 8-week course costs $300, has two 1-hour classes and week (I picked the Tuesday/Thursday option) and has many additional bonuses (check the website if you're interested). I'm going to post pictures soon of me now (the dreaded BEFORE shot..dun dun dahhhhhh!!!) and we'll see how I change over the next 8 weeks. Here's hoping the course lives up to its motto: "Fun, friendly, fitness!"

More to follow! I hope all in well with everyone else in the blogging world!

- Co Co

Ouch

And so...my first running blister...


What did I learn? Wear socks that fit! As soon as I put my socks on today I thought..these feel a little small. Sure enough, they fell down, but I didn't stop running and ta-da..the blister arrived.

Running

(here)

So I've decided to try running. That's not to say that I have never ran a day in my life...I've ran..I just haven't ever enjoyed it. The other day I was at my local Goodlife Fitness Club when I noticed a posting for a "learn to run" program being offered by a woman named Laurie. I have been saying for several years now that I am envious of people who love running. When I see random people out on the street running, I can tell by looking at them the level of intensity and passion they have for the run. I can only hope that one day I can understand that passion and partake in it. Laurie has promised to make me love running and eventually be able to easily take down a 5k run. The program only costs $85 for 16-1 hour classes, something I feel is quite reasonable. I signed up. Today I got a phone call from Laurie, giving me the run down on what to expect from the program. I've got to admit, I am pretty scared to try this out. The fear of failure I guess. 2 days a week, 2 hours a week isn't too intense, but getting this to coincide with my work schedule could be a problem. Laurie says she will be sending us home with "homework" after class...wonder what that will be.

(here)

Before I started this thing I needed to verbalize or formulate some goals. (I'm kind of goal oriented...it's the sports psyhcologist in me [LOVED that in university])

1. To feel comfortable running on my own
2. To be able to run 5k non-stop
3. To willingly decide to "go for a run" because I love it
4. To meet friends I can go for runs with
5. To attend at least 1 class a week

Having formulated some goals and decided to join this group, I realized that I did not have appropriate footwear to do nice running. I've only recently discovered that you should only keep a pair of running shoes for 300-500 miles...who knew! I needed to go out and purchase a good set of running shoes. I went to the Running Room only to find out what I already knew was true - I have wide, long feet. There were several amazing pairs of shoes, but the store only had 2 pairs that really fit decent. Neither made me feel great. I ended up leaving the store, after a 1/2 hour shopping time, empty handed. I trekked it over to Sportcheck and saw an even larger selection of running shoes. The clerk brought out several boxes of shoes that were good for wide, long and high arch feet that have tendencies to evert. I tried on 2 terrible pairs and then...the magical pair and I met. Immediately as soon as I put my feet into the shoes I felt it. The cushiony softness of the gel insert, the sheer width of the shoe, the way the shoes breathed (I mean the way air flew through them),the roominess...I knew they were the ones for me. The Asics Gel 310 fit the bill. While I can't say I love the colour immensely, they were amazingly comfortable. I can't wait to try them out at the gym tomorrow to see if they treat me nicely on the treadmill. Here they are:


(here)

Wish me luck. I'll try to post about how I am doing with my running goals and how my opinion changes about running.

p.s. update on my 30 before 30 list:

- I am learning German and can carry on a very basic conversation in terms of whether I understand, or know, something, how I feel, where a certain street or place is, whether I am hungry/thirsty and how to ask someone if they are. Woot woot

P.S........

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY (even if I had to stay sober because I work first thing tomorrow. Hope the rest of the world is having a hay-day!)

I love my friends!

Right now I am living roughly 1.5/2.5 hours away from my closest bunch of friends, roughly 21 hours from my BEST girl friend and roughly 17 hours from my BEST guy friend. I relish every chance I get to spend time with these people, although it seems more and more often that I am being forced to choose taking shifts at work over spending time with my friends - a fact that is really starting to get to me sometimes.

Unfortunately in my profession new hires are considered the bottom of the food chain. We are the last ones to get called for available shifts, given the crappy shifts with other medics who are grumpy bumps and forced to fight amongst each other for seniority ranking in order to have a chance to one day successfully and skillfully acquire a contract. Most often it is only a couple of hours that separate one person from another on the seniority list, but those few hours really make a difference. Currently I am 5 from the bottom. There are many full-time contracts coming up within the next couple of months due to maternity leaves. Ideally, I should be eligible for one of these contracts...but I can't take time off or turn down shifts. I always have to have my cellphone handy in case I receive a phone call from one of the supervisors asking me to come into work. Now, this can be really annoying because these calls come at all hours of the day and night. I have been called in at 2am, 4am, half an hour after a shift has started....it never ceases to amaze me. This joyous factoid has made getting together with my friends and making plans extremely difficult. How am I supposed to be able to drive 1.5 hours to visit my friends, think about consuming alcoholic beverages, or make plans if at a moment's notice I have to come running back to work. I have had to back out of some really amazing plans at the last minute due to these wonderful call-ins. Whenever this happens I have to think to myself, "at least the money is amazing!"

Well, back to the "friends" topic. I have always considered my friends to be the family that I choose for myself and I don't let just anyone into my family. Being in a newish place without this circle of comfort and joy is very hard. I find myself without the time or opportunities to venture out on the town to try and make friends. Sure, there are work friends here, but no one who I have actually clicked on a deep spiritual level or even slightly considered including in my so-called "family." This past weekend I decided to book some time off work to spend an evening of bliss with my friends. I missed them all terribly and I was willing to take any repercussions by marking myself unavailable (it ended up being an okay thing though. Shifts have been few and far between lately).

My good friend Amy recently bought a home and joined the 1/4 century group on Saturday. We all went to her house for a house-warming and birthday get-together. It was great to see my friends. We did shots, laughed hysterically, ate delicious snacks and spent quality time together. It's times like these that keep me going. I was lucky enough to not get called into work on Sunday, so I took a road trip to Waterloo and spent some more quality time with two of my other great friends. I love my friends!

Here's some shots from the weekend.