From The Garden To My Kitchen

I go through tubs of hummus like it's nobody's business. Party-sized? Ha! You ain't got nothing on me. Especially when I am armed with a bag of carrots. I keep a well-stocked pantry and typically have most of the ingredients for hummus on hand. However, something else inspired me to make hummus the other night.

It all started with this:

Images like that make me wish I had a scratch-and-sniff computer screen. How beautiful is that basil? When I saw that basil in my garden, I knew I immediately had to make something. We were in the middle of a heat-wave and the idea of pesto was unbearable at the time. I needed something cool, refreshing, and quick because I was starving and hot and starting to get cranky.

The recipe is at the end of this post, but before we get there I have two quick things to comment on. 

1. The recipe I was referencing called for 3 tablespoons of tahini paste. In my opinion, this made the end result a little heavy on the tahini. Tahini is quite strong and I think 3 tablespoons masked the taste of the fresh basil and sun-dried tomatoes. I will definitely only use 2 tablespoons from now on.

2. I have the olive oil quantity listed as 1/2 cup(ish). This is because you may use more than 1/2 cup or less than 1/2 cup. It all depends on how you want the consistency to turn out. 

Sneak peek:

The best part about making hummus is that there is barely any clean-up. You don't have to dirty any knives or cutting boards or counter tops. You literally throw everything into your food processor and turn it on. It really couldn't be easier.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Hummus

Prep time: 5 minutes
Time until you are eating: 2 minutes
Yields: 4 cups of hummus
Warning: This is a lot more hummus than most people can eat. If you don't down hummus the way I do, you may want to cut this recipe in half.

Ingredients 

• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons tahini paste
• juice from 1/2 of a lemon
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup(ish) olive oil
• 1 8 ounce package sun-dried tomatoes (Mine were not packed in oil, but you could certainly use the oil packed kind.)
• Fresh basil (I just grabbed a fistful from my garden so I can't provide an accurate measurement. The recipe I was referencing said 1/4 cup, but I used more than that. If I had to guess, I would say I used about 1 cup of fresh basil.)

Directions:

1. Place everything in your food processor.
2. Let her rip!
3. Wait 30 seconds to a minute.
4. Stream in olive oil until hummus reaches desired consistency.

That's it! Had I known hummus was this quick and easy to make, I would have been making it years ago. I don't think I will ever eat store-bought hummus again. I have been enjoying this with veggies and pita, but it would be delicious on sandwiches as well. Next up, roasted red pepper hummus.

June Dress, July Coming Soon!

Ugh! I have had little free time lately due to something I can't blog about just yet, but let's just say that it is very time consuming, involves a lot of writing, and is not in the form of a novel. I have to keep this post short because I am under a tight deadline and since it is Friday (yay!), I do not want to have to stay late at the office.

I know this isn't the best view of this dress since I am sitting down at my desk, but it is the best I can do under the circumstances. Due to my "Month Without Credit Cards" experiment, I had to wait until June 30th (payday) in order to purchase this dress. Yes, I was literally down to my last few dollars by the end of June. I think this dress would look adorable with a string of pearls. It has a tie in the back which helps create a waistline and hits me just above my knee making it appropriate for work.

The specs for this dress are below. The link will lead you to a full-length image of the dress.

Dress #2: Jane Doe Dress
Condition: New
Purchased at: Francesca's Collections
Cost: $38

A Month Without Credit Cards - FAIL

It is next to impossible to survive in this day and age without the aid of a credit card. Until I was not "allowed" to use my AMEX, I never realized how much of my life revolves around making purchases, reservations, and performing secure transactions online. I am not one of those technology fanatics. I don't own a fancy smart phone that has me connected to the internet 24/7 and I do not hyperventilate at the thought of not checking my email or Facebook profile for a weekend, but I was absolutely flabbergasted at how difficult it was to go a month with using a credit card-online. I also had high expectations of saving a ton of money and having this eye-opening experience where I would never use my credit card again. In truth, I think I save more on a month-to-month basis by being a smart internet shopper. I caved and used my credit card on Sunday, June 28 because I found my shampoo and conditioner in a liter size for almost $100 less than retail price. The site was also offering free shipping and a free gift for orders over $50. The sale ended at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday and I decided that my blogging experiment wasn't worth $100. I guess I can't say the entire experiment was a fail. I learned that I am smarter with my money than I give myself credit for and if you live within your means, pay bills on time, and save money every month you shouldn't feel guilty about spending what you have leftover.

Where In The World Wednesday - Washington D.C.

I have spent a total of five nights in my own bed in the last two weeks. I do not tend to sleep well in foreign beds so I cannot tell you how excited I am to be home. Yes, even avid travel lovers enjoy the comforts of home and the ability to sleep in their own bed.

This is me in front of the White House in Washington D.C. right after my little brother obtained his Master's Degree from Johns Hopkins University. As you probably guessed, he is clearly the smarter of the two of us. We took the slightly longer route while walking from his ceremony to Bistro Du Coin in order to swing by the President's home. If you like mussels, Bistro Du Coin is the place to go. On the advice of my brother's girlfriend, I had "Moules Roquefort" and they were tender and delicious and surprisingly not heavy. I expected Roquefort to be thick and rich, but this dish was divine in every sense of the word. Back to the photo, I love this picture because it captures me with a true smile. When someone points a camera at me and starts to count or says, "Smile!" I end up with this toothy grin that is somewhat squarish on the bottom half of my mouth and it just looks goofy and all wrong. My brother is a pretty cool cat and always makes me laugh.

The photograph to the right was taken at my brother's graduation just before the one above was taken. Notice how scholarly he looks in his graduation gown. We have had some really amazing times together over the years and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is going to make a huge impact in the world and I hope he doesn't become such a big wig that he doesn't have time to travel with me or visit anymore. <3

A Month Without Credit Cards

This seemed like a better idea when I read about it a few weeks ago. We are three days into the month of June and I am already struggling without my beloved AMEX. :( I am not close to being out of cash by any means, I am just not used to carrying cash. Resisting the urge to pull out my credit card for things like gas and groceries has been tough because I usually pay for these things on credit without a second thought. I earn 5% back on gas and 2% back on groceries so it makes sense. Why not earn a little money back on something you have to purchase anyway?

At any rate, this is a money-saving theory I read about here and here and I am curious to see how much truth there is to it for someone who is paid once a month. Yes, you heard correctly. I am paid once a month. I get a big, fat check on the last day of the month and after paying bills and putting money into my IRA and savings account there never seems to be much left by day two of the month. This is where my credit card comes into play.

Now, I never carry a balance on my credit card which could be the reason I never have oodles of dollars left to spend frivolously, but there has to be a way to keep the balance more at bay so that I can spend more money on fun things. I will post throughout the month with updates, obstacles and (hopefully) successes. We'll see how much of a difference it makes come bill paying time... 27 days from now.

Where In The World Wednesday

I love this idea (an idea I got from Classy in Philadelphia) for two reasons: a) last week I turned 30 (yay!) and I realized that I have only stepped on the soil of 15 countries. That may seem like a high number to most, but to someone who HAS to show up to work every single day because I practically use up all of my vacation and personal days before I earn them, that number is very small; and b) because when I originally started this blog, I wanted to focus on writing about my travels. So far, I only have this one lonely post about my first night in Thailand and I only have myself to blame for that. Where in the World Wednesday is very simple. To partake, all you have to do is post a picture of yourself someplace in the world. It doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. It just has to be a picture of you somewhere that you consider traveling. Sweet. I'm in!

I am going to start this off with 2 photos from my most recent venture in Thailand again for two reasons: a) because you can't tell where my boyfriend and I are in the photo below just by looking at it and, b) because I am insanely excited about this new feature and had a hard enough time narrowing down the country to choose images from much less the photo.

In the photo to the left, my boyfriend and I were on a 2 week trip to Thailand to partake in his best friend's wedding. This photo was taken on the morning of our 1 year anniversary while watching the sunrise on the beach in front of our hotel on Ko Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. We were there for five days following our friend's wedding in Yasothorn. I wouldn't have wanted to be there with anyone else. I love this man with all of my heart and am incredibly grateful everyday to be his girlfriend.

This second photo was also taken on Ko Samui. Later that day, we rented scooters and drove to the other side of the island and rode elephants! Riding an elephant was the #1 "must do" item on my list. I was about as excited as and the 8km ride there seemed like it took an eternity. I thought scooters were faster than that. I guess not. Contrary to what most think, elephants do not stink like barnyard animals. In fact, they were surprisingly clean and didn't smell much like anything. Their skin is extremely soft (I thought it would feel tough and wrinkly) and they are so sweet and massive. It is easy to see how they earned their nickname, gentle giants.

Tomorrow, I head to D.C. to see my little brother accept his Master's Degree. I am excited as I have never seen cherry blossoms and they are in full bloom right now!

Six Months, Six Dresses - Dress #1

I stole this idea from Georgia over at The State That I Am In who got the idea from Kyla Roma who is trying to give her wardrobe a feminine overhaul over the next six months. I, myself, have been caught in a state of limbo between girly girl and tomboy for most of my life. I don't wear make up or do my hair all fancy on a daily basis, and I certainly do not wear things like high heels unless it is absolutely necessary, but I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a tomboy. I think I am pretty girly overall, but I could stand to beef up my wardrobe a bit and give myself a more polished look on a daily basis. I often wear yoga pants, t-shirts, and sneakers to the office which is very comfortable but is not very professional. I know this and yet I can only seem to break away from this for a few days before I fall right back into my comfortable, sporty style. Sporty. That's a much nicer word to substitute for the phrase "somewhat sloppy." So, here begins my stint to girly up my wardrobe.

Dress #1: Layered Commotion Dress
Condition: New
Purchased at: Francesca's Collections
Cost: $34