July 23, 2011

Look at me, taking after my dad :)

Let me preface this post by saying this: I do NOT plan on making this a cooking blog. But, I'm constantly trying to find meals that I can make single-serving. This one actually came out really well, so I'm sharing it here.



Farfalle with (Imitation!) Crab

3/4 cup dry farfalle

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (you can use more if you like, I'm not a fan of balsamic in large doses)
1/4 tbsp soy sauce
3-4 drops of lemon juice
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Cracked pepper to taste
1 small sprig of fresh cilantro 

1/2 cup imitation crab meat

I'm bad about measuring water to boil pasta, but typically, I fill the pot about halfway. Once boiling, pour in the farfalle and reduce heat. Cook for 13 -14 minutes. 

While the pasta cooked, I combined all of the dressing ingredients (that middle section up there) together in a small bowl and whisked it all together. I was really lazy about chopping up my cilantro. If you don't mind the big leaves, feel free to be as lazy as me, but I'd recommend a finer chop. 

Once the pasta is cooked, strain and transfer to a bowl (I used the fancy blue ones since I was going to take pictures). Pour dressing over pasta. I added my crab straight from the fridge, but if you prefer to heat yours up, go for it. 

And bam! Yummy delicious pasta for one. Plus the recipe is pretty easy to multiply for more people.


A raring cooking success by me. I deserve a freaking medal. 


-Sam

May 19, 2011

I have a problem with everything, I guess.

I can't even sign on to Facebook without being pissed off. 

It seems like EVERYTHING these days is so fucking dramatic!! I don't know why every time I log into my social networking sites, all I see is complaining and bitching and DRAMA (although I guess I'm a hypocrite, because I'm bitching and complaining right now). I just don't freaking understand why everbody has to post snide, bitchy little comments. It's like the cool thing these days to post rants to unnamed people airing every little detail of any existing drama. I just really don't understand why people hide (because that's exactly what they're doing) behind a computer screen. Because it doesn't run them the risk of getting hit in the face? Let's be honest, that's what some of these people deserve. A good old fashioned bitch slap.

Now don't get me wrong here: I'm not trying to crucify anyone who posts about having a bad day or feeling negative. I get it; some days, you just feel like shit (believe me when I say I have soooo been there). But when you post shit that is meant to hurt someone's feelings, the SOLE REASON being because you know that person will see it and be hurt by it....I just can't understand why people have to do that kind of thing.

I don't know....maybe I'm being a hypocritical dumb ass right now. But doesn't it seems like we can keep our private issues, oh, I don't know.....PRIVATE?!?




-S

May 10, 2011

Look, I renamed my blog.

So yeah....

Finals Week!

I hate finals week with the passion of a thousand burning suns. This is the time of year where I'm staying up until 4 in the morning before an 8 am exam to finish writing notecards. Yes, I know, you do better when you sleep, but somehow, this doesn't apply to me. I took my English exam this morning, and either I was completely delirious from lack of sleep, or I fucking ACED IT! Red Bull is my friend more than ever this week....I must...surviiiiiiiiiive.

I've gotten fairly lucky this year in that I'm taking finals that I'm either really interested in or aren't that hard to study for. {Did I mention that procrastination is the lovely cause for all these 4 am study sessions? Yes, I know, bad Sam.  -_- } I have a feeling that I've actually done well enough over these courses to make some really solid grades on my exams. Hopefully this means I'm getting better at school-ish type things and what have you....

Theatre Banquet

For this year's Thespian Banquet at my alma mater, my former theater teacher is being recognized for his tenth year at the school. The tech theater teacher got in touch with me and asked me to come tell a couple of stories and talk to the crowd. I think it will be fun...I went all geeky and made a notecard of what I want to say so I don't go off on some crazy ass tangent and start dropping f-bombs in front of my former teachers. I mean, I'm a pretty blunt person, but you gotta have some respect for the people that forced you through the awkwardness that was being a teenager. We'll see how it goes; I've always gotten good grades in public speaking. Not to mention, I'm an actor and want to do this kind of shit for a living....see....there I go again.

9:58: Banquet was great. Didn't cuss or make a fool of myself. And I have to say, its really a wonderful thing to see that the kids who go to my high school now are just as passionate and excited about acting as I am. Gives me hope.

-S

February 6, 2011

Getting healthy (finally!)

No, this will be not a blog rife with sarcasm and social commentary.

Ok, maybe it will. But this one will be a little more focused.

First things first. I love myself. I know that I'm smart and beautiful and funny. And honestly? I think everyone should know those things about themselves. I tend to be a pretty sarcastic, and maybe even a little skeptical, but I really think that even my worst enemies should feel like they're worth something. And I say that because I know that when you can't be happy just being yourself, its hard to be happy about anything else.

That being said, there are things we all want to change. For me, my weight is one of those things. I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin, but I also know that if I could lose weight, not just for the sake of looks, but for my health too, I would be that much happier with my life.

So I'm doing it! I'm getting in shape, damn it! I don't want my high school body back, I want to look BETTER than I did in high school.

But how, you ask?!

It's actually pretty easy so far. I've been using MyFitnessPal.com, which my lovely mother introduced me too. At first I figured having to type in every little morsel I eat was going to be a huge pain in the ass. Oddly enough, though, I'm actually really enjoying it. It's nice to be conscious of what I'm putting in my body. And the beautiful thing is, I'm NOT on a diet!! I'm eating all the food I've always loved, but with attention to things like calories, fat, and most of all, portions. Do you know how easy it is to eat way too much because you aren't thinking about it? VERY VERY EASY. Writing it all down has forced me to stop doing that. And the thing I like so much about MFP is that they have an amazing food database that has almost everything you could ever think of with calories, fat, carbs, and protein already there. Click and add food -- and you're done.

Working out is the more challenging venture in this weight loss expedition. But, I've been doing some kind of exercise nearly everyday. How, you ask?

I'm working out with my mom. We keep each other motivated, and have come up with a few different ways to keep ourselves on track. It's really nice to have someone who will make me work out even when I don't want to. And on days when she's not feeling the workout, I motivate her. It's an elementary concept that works so well if you actually just DO IT.

So far I've lost 1.5 lbs. It's a start that I'm very proud of, and I'm sticking to it. And someday, when I get down to the weight I want to be, I may even show you my before and after pictures ;)

-S

January 20, 2011

Blogging on my desktop feels like cheating.

Hello Internet.

My laptop is out of commission at the moment. I get to write blogs on my desktop for a while. Which makes me sort of feel like I'm cheating on my laptop. My laptop has speakers that work, and everything bookmarked so that I can get to what I want when I want it. My desktop is the "I need to check something right now" computer for me. I don't write on this thing since I got my laptop. I'm rambling...I digress.

School is kicking my butt this week. I'm all out of witty commentary and adorable sarcasm, so I'm not even going to try to make this into more than it is, which is just an update.

Wah wah wah. I'm gonna finish my frozen pizza now. Yummeh!

January 13, 2011

Murphy's Law makes me want to punch something.

When it rains, it pours.

If you wake up and it's way too hot, you will inevitably also have gut-wrenching cramps that make you turn into a raging dragon woman.

If you need to take a shower, there will be no hot water left, and as you try to shampoo your hair, you will do the "Ice Water Dance", in which you dodge around the shower as nimbly as possible without falling to a slippery death, and pray to God that that frigid water will STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM YOU until you're good and ready to hear your own teeth chatter.

If you survive the shower, your hair will tangle and frizz until you are more focused on trying to make the bedhead look work than actually trying to look like a put-together human being.

When your hair gets as close to cooperating as possible without just saying, "Fuck it," grabbing the clippers, and shaving it all off, you will then find that you have nothing to wear in your closet that doesn't make you look like a beached whale escaped from Sea World.

And when you finally look into the mirror at the result of this catastrophe of a morning....

...you realize you don't have to be awake for another 2 hours....


P.S. And then you realize that your zodiac sign of nearly 20 years is now changed....except in comparison with the rest of the day, it's pretty much a non-issue....

January 9, 2011

Snow was way more exciting when I was little.

Don't get me wrong.
I'm not hating on snow.
In fact, snow is pretty cool as long as I don't have to drive in it.

But when I was little, snow was FUCKING AWESOME.

Snow days always began the same way. I would wake up at some unholy hour for school (back when I still thought getting up at 6 AM made me a total badass), and I'd stare out the window. Most days, there was absolutely nothing exciting going on outside. At this point, I would sulk around the house in a pitiful slump all morning, dragging my feet and getting dressed as slowly as possible, just in case some fleeting flakes would come down. In theory, this was probably a really dumb idea, because any snow that would've come at that point would be nowhere near enough to make any sort of impact on my ability to go to school that day....but I digress.

But on the mornings when I could see snow on the ground, it was on. Once the news confirmed that there would be no school on that day (and there never was, because this is Texas after all), I became a snow-crazed, attention deficit, hyperactive force of God made for nothing more than tearing into that snow like my entire existence was dependent on it.

But before I could barrage my way through the front door like Indiana Jones looking for the Crystal Skull, I had to endure the massive wardrobe session that came with being five years old and determined to trek through mountains of freezing cold slush for hours on end.

By the time I was decked out in layers upon layers of sweaters, jackets, sweatpants, boots, mittens, and any other various winter items I could find in my closet, I was hardly mobile. I should probably point out that I was insistent on dressing myself for these winter wonderland extravaganzas. The result was something akin to what I imagine my closet exploding would look like. But I was warm, and since I was five, my mother likely assumed it couldn't hurt anything to let me go out looking something like Rainbow Brite on crack.

When I would finally bust through the front door into the glorious, magnificent snow that I'd waited so long for, there was no stopping me. I made snow angels, snowmen, snowballs, snow forts -- if it could be fashioned from snow and required less than 3 minutes of my attention, I would create it. Every few minutes, my mother would peek out to check on us and make sure that in my hell bent attempts to conquer snow, I wasn't managing to get myself or my sister hurt. This was fine with me, because I had no intentions of hurting anyone. My only goal in life was to make that snow my bitch for as long as I could endure the cold wind whipping in my face and the melting snow seeping into my pant legs.

Inevitably, the constant sprinting across the yard tethered down by what was probably half my weight in clothing would tire me out. My sister and I would make one last attempt at snow angels before shaking the snow from our hair, pants, and sweaters.

The rest of the day would be consumed by hot chocolate, cartoons, and sleep. I wouldn't be able to feel my feet for the rest of the day. But those moments in the snow were so worth it. The front yard became a snow castle. And I was the snow queen.



UPDATE: Major kudos to my dad for hunting down this picture:















It gets (slightly) bigger if you click it. That's my sister on the left, me on the right. No, I'm not five in this picture. But you get the idea.


Champion wardrobe, self. Truly.