You better come on in my kitchen

There is a serious sigh of relief coming out of me right now. Why? Because I just finished the first final exam of the second semester of my first year of vet school. And that exam was in Parasitology. And you will never understand the sigh unless you have taken a class like this parasitology course. Whew. It's over! And next: Pharmacology! The two worst ones first - EXACTLY how I like it. Smooth sailin after Wednesday. 

To help with the stress? I do some yoga (went to class yesterday evening - a 2 minute downward dog has my shoulders feeling more tense than before, but it was well worth it) and COOK! 

In the words of Robert Johnson, "you better come on in my kitchen, cuz it's gon' to be rainin outdoors..." 

(figure of speech - it's actually GORGEOUS outside!)

This past Friday night, I invited a friend over for dinner, which turned into 3 friends, which was totally exciting and doable, and I decided to make some Vietnamese-style spring rolls. Now, normally you would use pork and/or shrimp in these guys, but, since my audience was primarily vegetarian (and I have absolutely no problem with that), we left out the meat. I looked around Tastespotting.com (my Go-to for amazing recipes) and Epicurious, just to get some feelers out, and mixed and matched a few things, coming up with These Guys:

Now, this is actually a repeat that I did yesterday, where I substituted the spinach I used Friday night for cut Romaine (just because we had used all the spinach). Here is my semblance of a recipe:

Boil some rice noodle vermicelli (according to package instructions, I suppose, although my package told me it would only take 3-5 minutes and I had to go at least 12 for mine to be right at al dente); after cooking, strain and douse with cool water, leaving to cool for the final product. 

Cut up some veggies:

• Red bell peppers

• Cucumbers

• Carrots (I actually used some that I had sitting in some dill pickle juice from previously delicious pickles cauliflower - but regular carrots will do just fine!)

• AVOCADOS! This was our meat-replacement, although I feel like avocado can never hurt, whether you have some pork/shrimp or not...

• Lettuce/spinach/etc. (we did spinach the first time, which I liked better than sliced romaine, although I think leaving the romaine in whole or half leaves would have been better; also, I want to try arugala next time!)

• Mint! Or basil! Or both! For the last little bit... (we had lemon mint in the garden, so that's what we used)

Get a pie plate/regular plate and fill it with water (some recipes say it needs to be hot/warm, mine was anywhere from cool to lukewarm, between the two tries, and all of it worked just fine!). I have not perfected this part - my pie plate was way too small, then I tried a regular plate, which was too shallow... But they both worked well enough, so, if you don't have a better solution, follow my lead, but don't expect simple perfection! 

Get your rice paper ready - have a second plate ready for wrapping rolls. Dip rice paper in water for about 15 seconds total (I had to alternate sides/sort of spread the water around, so it was a guessing game), until paper is just slightly softened (almost still papery?).  

Place the rice paper on the second plate. I would start with the lettuce/spinach/arugala, then the noodles, then the sliced veggies (+/- meat, if you wanted to add it), ending with the avocado and the mint (I used 2 full leaves of mint per roll). 

I made about 2 per person, without a lot of pre-planning, which I will work on for next time, but you get what I'm sayin...

Now, you can stop here, if you aren't looking for any sauce, or if you have just some bottled peanut sauce or hoisin. But I did not, so I stumbled upon a recipe for "Spicy Thai dipping sauce" and did what I could...

Per this recipe (with a few modifications, mostly because of availability in my fridge at that particular moment):

• (didn't have fresh ginger, so none)
• 2 cloves garlic
• Used leftover peanut butter (which was no good, since I had forgotten that one of my friends that was coming is allergic... oopsy!) + some almond butter I also had (appr. 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp lime juice (I only had the bottled kind, which made me sad, but... it was necessary!)
• A splash or so of Bragg's Liquid Aminos (which is what I usually use in the place of soy sauce)
• A bit of sesame oil (I don't understand measuring these things...)
• Drizzle of agave nectar (that's more like it!)
• Drizzle of Sriracha (YES!!)

Food processed, and VOILA! Delicious!

I'm pretty excited to have this one in my repertoire, especially with the upcoming availability of most of the fresh ingredients this summer! Ahhh, I will live off of tomatoes and these fresh rolls, I cannot WAIT...

Now, I also pulled out some close-to-rotten bananas I had placed in the freezer several weeks ago, thinking that some banana-nut-bread would be a wonderful study treat... And of course, while I should have been studying parasitology this very morning, I was making some bread in my CAST-IRON SKILLET! Hah, I couldn't pass up this recipe (which I modified kind of extensively, but the skillet thing... that was the most important part):

Preheat oven to 350. 

Mix up: 

For the dry ingredients: (in smaller bowl)

• 1 1/2 cups organic white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (I just don't like granulated)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Chopped pecans (I just put as many as I liked)
• Ghiradelli chocolate chips (I just LOVE chocolate in banana nut bread!

Wet ingredients: (in bigger bowl)

• Little big less than 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup 2% yogurt (my buttermilk was bad... boo!)
• Mashed bananas (probably more like 5? but they were REALLY overripe, so they were pretty compact)
• 2 eggs (straight from the Garrison yard chickens!)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Before mixing everything together, I placed the skillet in the oven with a little pat of butter to get her ready... 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in parts. Take out the skillet and pour the mix into the skillet. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes (mine was a little juicy in the middle after 30, so I probably kept it in there for upwards of 45)

Ahhhh, I love finding new ways to just a cast-iron skillet! SOOO moist and delicious!

Also, SCHOOL IS OVER IN A WEEK AND A DAY!! WOOOHOOOO! ANNNNND I GET TO SEE MY GIRL JESSICA!!

Life. Is. Good.

Shake em on down

I LOVE the Blues, ya'll. 

And what a great place to live if you love the blues. Just look at our state's Welcome Sign:

(OK, I actually miss our old sign:

but... I understand the change. Because, well, I love the Blues.)

Anyway, last weekend was the long awaited (by me and mine, at least) yearly Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, MS. If you don't know about Clarksdale, and the Delta in general, you should look into it. It is certainly the part of the state that the welcome sign is talking about, home to such musical wonders as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, R.L. Burnside, and Mississippi Fred McDowell, just to name a few. It is a region full of cultural and historical significance, and, most importantly, music with a lot of SOUL.

Here are a few of the highlights from our weekend, so you can get a feel for the whole thing:

An adorable donkey at the petting zoo
(and a pretty cute kid photo-bombing)

An incredibly interesting dancing duo

CRAWFISH!!

Pig races + America

Stax Music Academy - these kids were AMAZING!

Kids' train that rides around town

R.L. Boyce & Steve Toney

Ole T-Model Ford
(can't play anymore, but he was pickin' away at the air)

My friends are the coolest

Sporting a ukelele and a John Prine jam for the walk

Dancin with the regulars

Shoes-optional soccer by Sunflower River

Ahhh, I just want to go back RIGHT NOW!! The Blues was made for gettin' down, and that's just what I love to do...

Next up: Sunflower Festival in August (10-12)!! (Fair warning, if you're interested -- it's gonna be HOT!)

P.S. Ever heard about Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil in order to play the Blues? Listen to this episode of Radiolab to hear a little more about it!

Tattoos like mile markers

An ode to my new (and only) tattoo:

Photo cred to ma boy Jamen Berk

The funny thing is, this is NOT the tattoo I have been thinking about/mulling over for the past 6 to 9 months. I had, in fact, just recently thought of a cast-iron skillet as an option, maybe a month or a few weeks before getting it done. I don't know, it just felt right... 

People love to ask the meaning behind tattoos, so I thought I'd sum up mine:

First - there's the food. Food has and will always be a very important part of my life. In my family, the act of cooking and eating has always been special, even sacred. Between my mother, my godfather, my dad, my brother, our friends... There is always amazing food to be made and had in the Garrison house. We love food, and we love to share it, and we love to make it, and we love doing all of it together.

Then - the cast-iron. Like any good Southern woman, my mother has collected cast-iron throughout her life, having never less than four pieces of cast-iron cookware hanging from the oak beam that makes up much of the storage for the Garrison family cooking vessels:

Just a few examples

There's just something different, better, about the way a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet fries an egg, or crisps up the bottom of a pan of cornbread. Be it roasted vegetables, a frittata, fried okra - a large percentage of the wonderful dishes that are made in the Garrison house have come out of a cast-iron skillet.

So, in a word, my tattoo means home.

Hell, if you want to delve deeper, maybe span a little wider, it's about the South, and Mississippi. I love this crazy place, despite (and possibly because of) its flaws. Sure, she's got a few blemishes, but don't we all?

Anyhow. Here are a few examples of what I've created in my very own cast-iron skillets (because, of course, my mother has purchased several for me, from flea markets everywhere):

Roasted brussel sprouts

Fried green tomatoes

Fried eggs (over-easy, please)

Cornbread

That last picture: was the original plan. A tattoo on my forearm of my mom's cornbread recipe (because every time I try to make it I forget how much baking powder/baking soda). A pragmatic tattoo, in a way. I mean, it's a tragedy when you mix up the soda and powder, let me tell you...

Maybe next time.

See the cat? See the cradle?

Currently reading:

This is a re-read for me, because, when my friend Addie brought it up and starting talking about the deeper meaning of the words on the page, I couldn't even remember the main character or general synopsis. Too many Vonnegut novels ago. But, it was my first, the one that started the journey, so I thought that this deemed a repeat literary adventure necessary.

I've gushed about Kurt Vonnegut on here before (and even cross-stitched in his honor), but I do truly feel like, there's a man who gets me. I mean, sure, his writing can be utterly devastating, but in that "good hurt" kind of way. He digs his heels into the truth of the way our world works, and, however demented and strange his conclusions are, they make sense to me. He makes no real judgement. He doesn't even really come to conclusions, come to think of it. Maybe that's what I like about it. Just observation. And some seriously poignant ones, in my opinion:

'What is the secret of life?' I asked.
'I forget,' said Sandra.
'Protein,' the bartender declared. 'They found out something about protein.'
'Yeah,' said Sandra, 'that's it.'

How about:

Busy, busy, busy is what we Bokononists whisper whenever we think of how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.

 Like I said, not exactly inspiring, but. It inspires ME, in some weird antithetical way.


Currently drinking:

This beer. Is, as I have so often exclaimed at the top of my lungs in a field of daffodils with baby farm animals crowded around me*, spring in a bottle. I made a serious to-do about grabbing a few six-packs while we were closer to its' hometown down in Gulfport this past weekend. All while on a school club trip, dosed on cold medicine and unable to clear the mucus from my nose and throat. (this to emphasize the amount of fuck I did not give - I NEEDED that Abita Strawberry!) And thank goodness for my handy-dandy Abita iPhone app, or it may never have come to pass! (Also thanks to Dr. Huston, our fabulous chauffeur/club sponsor, for the Winn Dixie stop.)


In other news, I was inspired today by the lady at the Co-op, when I was picking up some local honey, to make homemade biscuits to go with the sugary deliciousness:

I made them with half whole-wheat flour (hm, confusing - as in, I used half white, half whole wheat - there, that's better), balanced out with actual lard, from actual pigs, to make them pretty much just as bad for me as usual. But. DELICIOUS. Southern desert, ya'll.

Speaking of delicious food, I've been on a role this week:

On Tuesday (or Monday?) I decided I wanted to use some of my flower-bed collards, so I came up with the idea of putting them in pesto, since I already had lots of Parmesan cheese and almonds. AND I have beautiful parsley in my yard as well, so I mixed some blanched collards with the parsley, shredded some cheese, chopped up some garlic, added some almonds and olive oil, and, voila! It was perfect! And ridiculously tasty...

Over whole-wheat pasta

Finally, for my last delicious dish of the week:

Thai green curry!

I had stopped by the Asian market on the way to perform a different errand one day after school, just to see if they had these amazing fresh shitake mushrooms I had gotten this one time (they didn't, boo), and I decided I would get green curry paste and bamboo shoots, because, well, I LOVE green curry with bamboo shoots! I didn't even plan on using them. But. Since it was the night before an exam (and I do pretty much anything that keeps me from studying the night before an exam), I decided at 8 o'clock last night to wing it. I had gotten shrimp (that my mom had bought, peeled, and put away for me - what a wonderful woman!) out the the freezer that morning (I guess I was subconsciously planning something), and I had asparagus and yellow bell peppers, plus some coconut milk and chicken broth and, again, voila! More deliciousness. I didn't have rice, so I ate it over red quinoa.

Oh, I love being the weird girl with the red quinoa and Thai curry at the lunch table... My poor friends don't know what to do with me half of the time!

Ok. So this looks like a reading/drinking/food update. I have more in the realm of veterinary medicine, but I'm getting ADD, and I have a Pathology quiz to take before officially letting my brain off for good behavior, and...


SPRING BREAK!! See ya'll bitches in a WEEK! Meghan and I will be in Austin! (And this is why it's good to be back in school..)


*Note: hyperbole.

I'm every woman, it's all in me.

Let's start with a little Whitney tribute:

My friends and I were in a bar for a bathroom break during Mardi Gras when we heard the news, and I have to admit, I was seriously sad! I think our obsession with movie and music stars in America (and the world at large, I suppose) is a little strange, but it is true that media shapes our lives somewhat, and part of that, for me, was a lot of early '90s R&B dance parties with my Mariah-obsessed  older brother. These dance parties often included this and other Whitney jams, so my nostalgia runs deep. I'll miss you, Whitney!

Speaking of my fabulous brother, he just had a birthday on Friday, during which my parents were there to visit him (JEALOUS!), and I sent them with the gift that I completed probably a year ago now, but JUST got framed:

Seth's birthday cross-stitch (a year-long project, obviously!)

The quote is from the movie Clueless (Cher says it to Elton when he tries to make a move on her, right before she gets out of the car and gets held up in the gas station parking lot, just FYI), which was another of the things Seth and I did together, endlessly. Seriously. I know pretty much every line, and I like that about myself! Also, Seth is mildly obsessed with Twin Peaks as well, so I thought the quote was pretty appropriate.

So yay, finally a blog update featuring a craft project!

Wait, make that 2: next up are some picture frames I made for these amazing photos of my parents that were dug up during the search for Mawmaw's 85th birthday photo layout, and I just couldn't bear them not being on display.

I'm not sure why I found these lyrics (Erykah, obviously) to be so appropriate (heh)

Young parents.

Sometimes you just need to remind yourself to maintain vitality
like those who raised you did so well!

The project basically included some gold spray-painting, the ghetto rendition of a stencil pattern, and craft paint. It truly isn't my best work, and maybe I'll find the time/energy/desire to spruce it up a little, but, that being said, I like it. 

Now to the life update portion of the evening.

This past weekend, I went with a bunch of my vet school friends to NOLA for Mardi Gras, which was pretty damn fun! Although I am truly no Tour Guide Barbie.. Good thing Khalid was there to help a sister out! So basically, we stayed at the Chateau Orleans, played in the Marigny/French Quarter on Friday night and some of Saturday, went to an uptown parade Saturday night, then did the late night thing at The Saint, and Sunday: *duh duh duh* BARKUS PARADE!!! (Doggies in costumes. Nuff said.)

Our room (the other was Marie Antoinette...)

Ready to roll!

Mardi Gras princess

Masked ladies!

Riding the New Orleans poodle/mouse thing?

Katherine gives her Dad and sister a taste of the action!

Our guide

Festive!

Look at that neck full of beads!!

Khalid's new friend

Ready to head out again

DJs at The Saint

Slider Shak guy makes Sliders

Street corners everywhere

Love a dog-friendly city!

Barkus Begins!!!

What a cute little clown, has something in his ears!

Scarlett and Rhett! (gotta love the gays)

Oh. Em. Gee. Best thing we saw all weekend!

If only this were a video, that Pekingese was waddling like a pro!

Happy Mardi Gras from a little hot dog!

I'm going to need a few days to recover, which I, of course, don't get, but. It was well worth it! 

Here's to a fabulous week!