Mozarella Cheese Sticks

The other day, I tried this recipe out from the Gimme Some Oven Blog: 

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/baked-mexican-cheese-sticks-with-salsa/

Ingredients

• 12 sticks part-skim mozzarella string cheese
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup flour
• 5 tbsp Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp. oregano
• cooking spray

I didn't follow the directions to a t since I was only making 8 sticks for me and the little one.  But I basically had the flour, egg, and plain (not italian) bread crumbs.  I had no panko or oregano or garlic salt, but it's ok.  I used sage instead and some garlic powder and it tasted pretty yummy.  I didn't measure it out - just sprinkled the spices onto the bread crumbs and mixed it in.  I think the trick here with these is the more frozen your cheese sticks are the better.  I froze them for an hour as directed.  I didn't cut them in half and put on a plate.  I cut in half while they were still in their original wrapper and threw them in the freezer.  That's one less step you have to do.  Then you unpeel the wrapper of the frozen pre-cut sticks and directly go to dipping in the plain flour, then the egg and then the bread crumb mixture which has all the flavorings and placed them on my non-stick lined bake sheet. 

I baked them in the oven at 400 degrees.  You're supposed to keep them in for 8-10 minutes just as soon as some of the cheese begins to melt and seep out.  I might have left them in a tad too long because when I went to turn them over some of them had already melted into cheese blobs instead of sticks.  I immediately took them out of the oven and pushed the melted cheese close to form and it was fine.  My son enjoyed about 3 of them so I will judge that as a success.  This means I ate the remaining 6 - which means I ate a total of 3 whole mozzarella cheese sticks in one sitting.  Probably not the healthiest thing to do but they tasted that good. 






























 

new year's here already!!???!!

ok i must be the worst blogger ever.  i haven't written a post since March.  It was a pretty busy year adjusting to a full time job, going to school and just the every day hassles of life.  And now the year is almost over and a new fresh year begins.  
2014 brought a milestone birthday for me so I'm ready to welcome the year 2015.  A new year is always exciting because you just never know what's in store. 
My son has been growing and getting pretty wild.  I don't know if it's the environment at play school, me not being around so much anymore or just the normal craziness and hyperactivity of a 3 year old boy.  yowzas.  sometimes it's hard to keep up.  i find myself telling him to "calm down" alot.  this kid would jump off walls if he could.  or maybe smash them in.  i wonder what goes on his head. 
his speech while not perfect has definitely progressed for the better.  i would say there are still pronunciation or is it enunciation issues, but in general he has been stringing together more and more words so I think I am less worried about speech now.
Christmas came and went so fast - it was the first year opening presents actually meant something - more toys?  more clothes?  mine mine mine mine. 
Ok so we are still working on the sharing issue, but I think he has a gotten a little? better.  The tantrums seem to be rising though and it's hard to know how to handle them especially in public where you just want him to be quiet as quickly as possible, which means giving in? to his demands, which I know is not the right way to keep tantrums at bay.  I know he knows they will eventually work to get what he wants and that's why they may continue indefinitely.  But we need to hold our ground and ignore the tantrum even if that means our neighbor will hate us for the loud disruption to their meal or shopping experience and even if it means people will stare at us when he's lying on the sidewalk or screaming on a subway car.  Joy upon joy of parenthood.
The other thing I learned this year about my son is he's one of those kids that throws up a lot.  Man this year I have cleaned up so much puke.  He was sick often this year which the pediatrician attributes to being at daycare and being surrounded by germs, but I mean it felt for awhile that this kid was sick every other week.  Often times, it involved puke.  I never imagined I'd be cleaning up so much of it, and I have a pretty sensitive stomach so while I'm cleaning up his mess, I often end up gagging the whole time.  It would probably be funny if you were watching the whole situation from afar.  He hadn't really gotten the hang of the concept "if I have to throw up, i need to find a receptacle to puke in".  It has been more of the let me projectile vomit wherever i'm standing.  Our last vomiting episode happened in the car on the way home from the Christmas festivities.  Oh it was not pretty.  Not only did he throw up all over himself, but then my sister caught a whiff and started gagging.  She had to stick  her head out the window.  It was bitter cold.  We pulled over on the road somewhere to try clean the poor kid up because it was just pools of throw-up everywhere.  The bag was not given in time and I'm not sure if he even used it once he had it.  I was driving at the time so I couldn't even tell what was happening back there...Anyway, it was freezing cold and here I was trying to wipe the puke off him and the car with the only diaper wipes I had.  I started gagging because it was just really nasty looking.  Yes I think it was more of a mental image that caused my gagging instead of an olfactory issue.  My sis took the puke covered coat off and was able to change his shirt but it was freezing out.  So we left the pukey pants on and just headed home to finish the clean up.  I told my sis to tell my hubby to be ready upon our arrival for some major cleaning. Glad she was there to help.  Bet she didn't feel the same way :p
I have a half day at work tomorrow for new year's eve which is awesome since I didn't take the week off like most people did.  I'm ready for some exciting new beginnings for 2015..and here's to wishing you some happy changes for the year to come. 

New York, NY what a wonderful town??!!

Ah New York..the mystique, the marvel, the art, the culture, the most opinionated people in the world who aren't afraid to tell you what they're thinking.  Ha.  A couple of months ago while I was at Ikea, I had a woman ask if my grey hair was real or if I dyed it on purpose because I looked too young to be so grey...Um yeah.  I guess I am old enough to have grey hair because it's definitely real.  The other week I was at the grocery store, and this older lady told me not to dye my hair because the grey was coming in great.  Other people would be jealous of how good it will look once it all grows in. I told that was good since I was getting really self conscious about my grey..and in my head (nice of you to point out because this really means this grey is becoming really quite noticeable).   We were in Chelsea the other weekend, and the newspaper man - the man who wears shredded newspapers as an outfit - told me I should have my son take karate lessons.  He was like, "you see that right?"  Ok, yeah sure - he's half asian - he should take a martial arts class of some sort eventually.   It is NYC afterall, and I do tend to expect to hear random comments thrown at me as I walk down the street.  It always has been that way.

The problem nowadays with NY is I feel like we are getting priced out.  If you're not the upper 5% , it really is difficult to live.  I didn't feel it as a single person I guess because I didn't have that many expenses.  Whateves if I needed to and was low on cash, I could eat Ramen for a week.  But now with a kid..you need more space, you need daycare, you need more food - and healthy food at that, you want them to have a good education and extracurricular activities.  How do you pay for it all when most of your money goes to rent?  You also want to live in a nice neighborhood and am I willing to sacrifice the neighborhood for cheaper rent?  Do I want to live miles away from Manhattan to get that cheaper rent?  What should the sacrifices be?  Or is it even worth staying in NYC?  I could have a house with a backyard for the amount I pay yearly in rent for a 1 bedroom apartment.  What does NYC have that no where else in the country has?  The convenience of public transit?  The way you can find a restaurant or deli somewhere open at any time of day?  The variety of cultures all present in one place.  There is a lot I love about NY.  I suppose I used to love it more when I took a very active part in the nightlife because you really can't beat it.  I love the vast food options.  I love summers in NYC when there are all those free concerts.  Do I love being packed like a tuna during rush hour to get to work?  Do I love the smelly subway platforms and the smelly streets especially in summer or when it rains?  Do I love all the dog shit my neighbors so kindly leave on the sidewalks of my 'hood?  Do I love my really noisy neighbors who love to hang out on the stoop at night especially on hot summer nights when you have the windows open?  There's always the good, the bad and the ugly in any city, town or village that you live in.  You've either got to take it all, but there's nothing stopping you from leaving it too if you so choose to do so.  Maybe one day we can pack it all up and move to a European city by the sea.  But I'm still very unsure of where to live if I lived outside of NY.  I've never lived anywhere else..

10 Japanese Travel Tips for Visiting America

George Takei posted this on facebook and it made me laugh.  Just shows the cultural differences of different countries :)

10-japanese-travel-tips-visiting-america

Sneak peak at  #8:

8. You won’t be getting your groceries anytime soon, so checkout lines are a great place to make friends.

Cashiers are slow. Abysmally slow compared to Japan. I get frustrated when I’m in a hurry. Americans wait leisurely even if you’re in the special checkout for buying just a little something. I thought Americans were going to be quite impatient, but in reality they are extremely laid back. I thought about what I should do with my time while waiting in the grocery matrix, and began to speak at length with other guests.

A must read for those of us at 39

If you click on this link, it will lead to someone's musings about being 39 and it sounds right on the money.  

This is 39

New Year!

I might be the worst blogger yet. So inconsistent with posts.  Anyway, Christmas came and went. New Year's came and went and here we are at the start of a new year - 2014.  A new engagement, a couple of pregnancies (not me) - this year is looking to be quite eventful.  I am still on the search for a job.  With the senate debating emergency unemployment, it looks like it has run out December 2013.  That's a bit worrisome for me.   Sometimes I'm not even sure what I'm qualified to do, given I hardly get a call back for an interview.  But I shall keep on searching and applying.  I need to truly brush up on my interview skills since it's rare to get an interview and if you don't ace it..which I obviously haven't yet, then you're stuck with nada.

In the meantime, I'm still watching the little man.  Now that it's getting pretty cold out, I hate to be outside. It's like torture for me.  But then again, the little man needs some fresh air and a place to run around so I have to just suck it up.  I' ve caught a case if the sniffles which sucks.  This is my 2nd cold this fall/winter season.  

The other day I was giving him a bath and he farted in the tub which he thought was pretty funny. I thought it was pretty funny too because the water bubbled up around him. Then I told him   jokingly that I hoped he didn't poo because that would be gross.  And he totally freaked out and thought there was poo in the tub. He pointed to his floating bath toys and jumped out immediately.  I thought to myself whoa what an over reaction. Then I thought ohoh what if he did really poo in the tub? What would I do?  Anyway, I cleared the tub of water, suds, and toys and the coast was clear. Shew!  Ha the little things that make you laugh.  It was pretty hysterical.