Carolina Cooks: Dinner Improv

Chris had a bad day on Monday. I didn't anticipate quite how bad it would be but I knew he'd be exhausted and starving by the time he got home so I wanted to make a tasty meal for him.

A quick scan of the mostly empty fridge and pantry revealed that my options were meager. I knew I'd have to improvise. I remembered seeing a half empty jar of pizza sauce which kickstarted a pizza craving.

A tiny lightbulb went off when I remembered we had some frozen naan in the freezer.

And a block of cheddar cheese that I could shred.

5 minutes later I had gathered all the ingredients and was dicing the vegetables. Your pantry and fridge will determine what you put on your pizza but here is what I used:

2 pieces of naan (could also use english muffins)

Cheddar cheese - shredded

A few tablespoons tomato sauce

Half a jalapeno pepper - diced

1 clove garlic - minced

One slice of red onion - diced

4 pieces of large pepperoni

A few sprinkles of blue cheese

Prep

Preheat your oven to 350. Scatter about a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto naan ovals. Top with whatever you want. Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, until naan is crispy on bottom and cheese is bubbling. Sprinkle with seasonings (oregano, red pepper flake etc.) if you'd like. Easy peeazy.

For the side, I also made a box of rice and beans. All in all it took 25 minutes start to finish and Chris loved it. A little bit of improv goes a long way.

This website will even do the improvising for you. Just list the ingredients that you have at home and it churns out recipes that can be made with them. It's helped me make many a casserole.

Chris and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Now that's a bad day

Or week.

On Monday, Chris was scheduled to work a double shift at the restaurant, from 10 AM to 9 PM with a 40 min break in between. Work was slow but he was on his feet all day running orders. Then, the waitress who was supposed to relieve him called in sick. And none of the other waiters were able to stay. So Chris was stuck there until they finally closed up shop at 1:30. That's a long day. But it wasn't over. When he arrived at his car he discovered two things: his phone was dead and his car wouldn't start. Awesome.  He also needed to be at the airport the next morning at 7 AM. And hadn't packed yet.

He was able to power on the phone just long enough to call me and explain his plight. In turn, I called my mother and explained the situation. She headed out for the short drive downtown. Then Chris, who had found an outdoor outlet to plug in his phone, called me. I informed him that Loye was on her way to rescue him. We soon realized that he couldn't just leave his car there for a week so I called my mom and had her turn back for her jumper cables. Then I called Chris back and offered to help him pack over the phone.

Around 2:30, they finally arrived home. I'd cleaned the house, warmed up dinner and even laid out rose petals to help ease the pain of the day. But in general, it sucked. A lot. We woke up 4 hours later to drive to the airport. The airport was unlike any I've ever seen. I didn't even realize we were at an airport, I thought we were just taking a shortcut through an office park.

His flights from Greenville to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Philly, were smooth. But the weather that greeted him was a lot different than the mild Autumn we've had down here. It was cold, rainy and eventually snowy(!).

He started feeling sick the night he got to his parent's home in Central PA. Initially he thought it was a cold, brought on by a stressful week and the change in temperature. But it got worse and worse until on Thanksgiving he was so short of breath he couldn't talk. Today he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with bronchitis.  Happy Thanksgiving? Now he's on two medications and won't be able to drink at his friends' wedding on Sunday. Poor kid. At least he's with family and the medicine has eased his symptoms substantially. Here's hoping the rest of the week goes a little easier on him. And hey, it could always be a lot worse.

I know, I know, I'm knocking.

A new frontier

I'm tired. And I don't really feel like blogging. I spend a lot of time mentally planning what I want to write and once I do write a post I end up reading and rereading and editing it so much that it takes days before I actually post it. I'm also a lifelong member of the Procrastinator's society.

But I've been reading a lot of the Pioneer Woman blog lately. It's a blog about a single city girl turned rancher's wife and all the ins and outs that come with life on an Oklahoma ranch. Aside from provoking fantasies about living on a thousand acre ranch, her blog has made me realize that I need to just write. Even if the post seems boring or stupid, it's important to just put stuff out there so that the blog doesn't end up falling by the wayside. Some of Pioneer woman's posts are just pointless, weird musings but I lap it all up because reading about someone else's life is inherently interesting. So that's what I'm going (try) to do. I'm pioneering a new blog! I want to stop being such a writing perfectionist* and just throw some stuff out there about life on my "ranch". Eventually, I might even get more than 3 readers. (Hi Krysten, Chris and Tabitha!)

Until I lose motivation in approximately 2 hours. Bear with me, I'm no rancher's wife.

Purrthday Photoshoot

Yesterday was my lovely friend Jen's 28th birthday.  I love birthdays and want everyone's to be chock full of awesomeness. Thus, when I saw her status message yesterday, I took it as a personal challenge**.

 I would get her a picture of real live kittens in bow ties or die trying! If you haven't seen the movie Aristocats, here is a visual:

I was immediately faced with a setback: Chris doesn't own any bow ties. On any other day, this would not be a disappointing discovery. In fact, I am suspicious of any straight man who owns more than one bow tie. But or the first time ever, I briefly considered the benefits of dating a "metro"sexual.

I compromised by tying strips of fabric into loose bows around their necks. They were willing, if confused subjects at first.

Uncanny, no?

That didn't last long. In a month they have transformed from screeching, helpless lumps of fur into one- pound balls of running, leaping, exploring energy. If I open a door, they will try to run out of it, on principle alone. I soon discovered that their kitten principles extend to any attempts to make them sit still and pose angelically on a chair. They immediately began sprinting around the room, dive bombing under the couch and tackling each other. 

I should have known it wouldn't be easy. Even cartoon cats are hard to wrangle.

Eventually, one kitten (Yogi) passed out, as they always do after an hour of cardio. (They take after me). The other two kittens resisted settling down at first. 

But eventually, they began to lose ground. I choose to believe that they finally realized their principles were weak, at best. 

And finally, "success"! Hey, It's the best I could do.

 

Perhaps we can derive a life lesson from this. Artificial principles are weakened by exhaustion. We mustn't try to force others to do what we want. We just have to wait until they're running out of steam.

Now if we can just figure out how to get certain people on a treadmill.

Meow

**If you've ever been unemployed, you understand.

Cooking? Whatever

My friend Jen recently started a new blog called Cooking Whatever.  In it she'll dish on her areas of expertise: cooking, kitchen gadgets, hosting, etiquette and much more. As someone who has eaten many of her delicious meals, I highly recommend you check it out!

North vs South: It's almost December

And the weather down here is unreal. I don't know if I can ever life up North again.

Frequently asked questions

As you know, Zina Carolina is one of the most popular blogs on the interwebs. I get a LOT of fan mail but due to the sheer volume, I'm not able to respond to it all. Instead, I've decided to answer the questions that I receive most frequently.

FAQs

Does Chris have a job? Yes. He recently obtained his South Carolina real estate license and works for  for a brokerage firm. Basically, he helps people buy and sell restaurants. He also waits tables at a local brewery for extra cash.

How do you get by without a job? For the last eight months that I lived in New York, I put 700 dollars a month towards saving while paying 800 towards my credit card balance. By the time I moved here I had no debt and enough money to pay my rent for a year plus my other savings. Life down here is also a lot cheaper than up north. My half of the rent for our 3 bed  room house is 350 dollars and we cook most of our meals. Of course, I don't want to live solely off my savings and I am actively job hunting. But I'm also actively working on figuring out what I want to do for my next career. That's a full-time job in itself.

Does your house smell like cats? No. I clean the litter box obsessively and it's in a closet in the guest room.

Could those kittens be any cuter? No, they couldn't.

Does Brutus like the kittens? He was initially scared of them and still sometimes is. He lets them play with his tail and sleep on top of him which is adorable. He has come a long way. The fact that he was terrified of 2 week old kittens (and fly swatters, brooms, and nail clippers) makes me fear for my future sons.


Is Brutus gay? That's his business.

Are you engaged? No.

Are you pregnant? No, just eat too much pizza.

What are you doing with your life? Currently, I'm planning to go back to school to get my Masters in Social Work and eventually become a relationship counselor, specializing in LGBT couples. I haven't worked in a human services since 2005 so I'm going to be volunteering to get more experience to put on my application. I also need to figure out what schools to apply to, write essays, request transcripts and references and take the GRE. This is all subject to change, of course, as most of my life plans do

Is South Carolina just a buncha' crazy rednecks? No. There are a ton of people from all around the country, and even the world living her. People move down here because the economy is good and the weather is mild. Of course there are rednecks. But there are also plenty of rednecks up North. I haven't had any issues. It's a very surprising town. You expect it to be one way, and when you arrive it's completely different.

Do you miss New York City? No. It was time for me to move on. I was exhausted from the stresses of living and working in Manhattan.  I loved the experience and I have no regrets but it was time to move on. Some people just aren't meant to live in New York and I am one of them.  I had a LOT of fun but a year and a half was enough for me. Actually, I do miss one thing about NYC: Gay men EVERYWHERE. And of course my lovely friends.

What do you do all day? I wake up whenever I want, let the dog out, feed the animals, do research online (schools, jobs, volunteer ops. facebook etc.), play with the kittens, watch tv, clean the house, play with the cats, have a beer. I basically just do whatever I feel like. I never know what day of the week or month it is. Everyday is like a Saturday.

Do you miss working in pharmaceutical advertising? There is nothing I miss less. Nothing.