Blogtember: A time I was afraid

Friday, September 6: A story about a time you were very afraid.

This may sound very silly but I can think of one time in my life where I was so scared & lost, that I didn't know if I was going to get through it.  

It was 2008 and I had decided to leave Georgia and my live in boyfriend, who I thought was the love of my life.  I can hear you already... stupid girl, break ups are not the end of the world.  Well, when you move across the nation (I'm from Washington State), having just graduated college with no career, leaving your friends/family and everything you know to follow your boyfriend to medical school who you thought was going to be your Prince Charming, just to find out that A) You hate Georgia *sorry I'm not sorry* B) You cannot live your life for someone else and C) Your relationship is not what you thought it was going to be... it is scary.  When your whole life plan and the only thing you saw in your future is crumbling, it is scary.

  

Have you ever read Eat, Pray, Love?  

"If I love you, you can have everything. You can have my time, my devotion, my ass, my money, my family, my dog, my dog’s money, my dog’s time—everything. If I love you, I will carry for you all your pain, I will assume for you all your debts (in every definition of the word), I will protect you from your own insecurity, I will project upon you all sorts of good qualities that you have never actually cultivated in yourself and I will buy Christmas presents for your entire family. I will give you the sun and the rain, and if they are not available, I will give you a sun check and a rain check. I will give you all this and more, until I get so exhausted and depleted that the only way I can recover my energy is by becoming infatuated with someone else." 

-Eat, Pray, Love

Well, that had become me.  That had consumed me and it scared the hell out of me.  

 

You know what else is scary?  Admitting that I failed.  Admitting that I just didn't have what it took to stick it out and see if it got better.  Admitting that he wasn't enough and that life wasn't what I wanted anymore.  Admitting that I had no idea what I wanted.  Admitting that I had changed.  

 

So what do you do when you've become someone you no longer recognize?  You leave.  And so I did.

 

 I packed up my things into a 10x10 partition on a moving truck, bought my plane ticket, gave up custody on one of my dogs in an effort of peace and moved back home... jobless, defeated and heartbroken with no plans. 

 

That is one of the bravest, and scariest things I have ever done. 

 I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and without this, I wouldn't have the life I live and cherish today. Without the darkness I would not have found the light. 

 

When were you most afraid?  Did it ultimately make you stronger?  How did you over come it?

Until next time...

Recipes were made to be broken!

In the spirit of trying to grow my little baby blog I'm going to participate in Blogtember!  This fun little prompt/challenge is hosted by Jenni @ Story of My Life.  I had a lot of fun doing her last link up so I thought, what the heck!

Today's prompt reads: Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered.  I'm going a little outside the box here! 

Well said, Julia!

I believe that recipes were meant to be broken!  If you always follow the rules then you'll miss out on the passion and creativity just waiting to come out!  I have a passion for cooking and a lot of great information to pass on!  Stick with me kid and you'll never go wrong!

1.  I cannot stress this enough... I've learned that it is SO important to salt things!  Have you ever tasted something and thought, hmmm this is SO good but I need a little salt?  Fail.  No... epic FAIL.  Taste buds are always subjective but 99% of the time, a little salt can make something perfect!

2.  No, I'm not going to tell you to always drink wine while cooking- but it can't hurt!  That is, unless you're really drunk and can't taste things and end up burning down the house-oops?  Try different things and don't be scared!  Wine, balsamic vinegar, cooking sherry and scented oils are great additions that can really give you cooking a little kick!

3.  Oh so true.  If you don't enjoy it, it's going to taste like that.  If you have a passion and love for it, it will taste so much better.  Do you remember Mom's special ingredient that made everything taste so good?  It's salt LOVE!

Those are a couple of tips to get you going on your path of fearless abandon in your kitchen.  Break the rules and experiment with your passion for cooking!  Who knows, maybe it'll create another kind of spice in your life?  *meow*

Until next time...

Zuppa de Anna

Have you ever had the Zuppa Toscana soup from Olive Garden?  

This is SO. MUCH. BETTER!

You're welcome, in advance.

Since Cordova has neither an Olive Garden, nor any other chain restaurant so I decided to create this soup!  This wonderful creation was inspired by copycat recipes I found here!  Well, I should actually say this was inspired by my Full Circle ingredients and ended up containing more of them than I originally intended. Hey, when you're in the Last Frontier you improvise!

Let me introduce you to Zuppa de Anna!!

Excuse me... You're drooling...

You will need:

• 1 lb Italian sausage (I like HOT sausage so we used pre-cooked chicken sausage)
• 2 large russet baking potatoes, sliced in half, and then in 1/4 inch slices
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup bacon bits (or more)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups kale, chopped
• 1 package of mushrooms
• 2 stalks of leeks
• 2 (8 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 quart water
• 1 cup half in half 
• sauté pan, soup pot and pot for potatoes

 

Chop or slice sausage into small pieces

Brown sausage with onions, garlic & mushrooms in your soup pot.

 

 

 

Add chicken broth and water to  soup pot and stir. 

 

Place potatoes in a separate pot and boil until done.  For gosh sakes season the poor buggers!

 

 

Sauté bacon until crispy- set aside.

  

 

Sweat the leeks like a teenager trying for first base- oh, you didn't sweat?  Liar If you're a little rusty on your leek preparation, look no further!  Don't forget to sweat them in bacon, um yum!

 

Add bacon & cooked potatoes to soup pot and simmer for 10 min

 

 

Turn heat to low and add kale & half/half (way less calories than cream!)

 

Heat through and devour!

 

 

 *Warning, this makes a LOT so be prepared to share/freeze or eat for days!*

 

Just another recipe brought to you semi-homemade with Annalee!

 

Until next time...