It feels like Spring outside and...

I rode my bike to work this morning, and the weather is AMAZING! This is the winter that never was and on the last day of February the azaleas are in full bloom. It smells amazing even when you're just walking by. There are even strawberries already at the farmer's market and Abita's Strawberry brew came out three weeks early. I love it. It makes everything seem lighter and happier and reminds me that summer (and two months off work) are right around the corner.

Some other things on my mind:

1. I'm thinking about getting a second job. Like waitressing or bartending or something. Christian is always working late on Friday nights and throughout the rest of the week, and I kind of miss the drama. But it has to be somewhere that's non-smoking, will give me the exact schedule I want, and doesn't mind that I will be taking off whenever I need to. So we'll see...
2. I had a house guest for the past two nights. She's a teachNola candidate and is interviewing for the same program I am in right now. I really liked her and am hoping she gets it so she will move here and be my new friend.
3. I have only 4 classes left for my English certification and only 2 classes left for my Special Ed certification! I can't believe it! I will finally be certified! Oh, and I also only owe them three more payments which will also be huge. It's been such a relief to pay that each month and not have to have more student loans
4. I passed my recent Praxis tests with flying colors: I did really really well. And I was really nervous about the results because I knew I had screwed up on the constructed response. One test left between me and my certification. I'm taking it March 10th

Christian comes back to NOLA tonight, I can't wait! He'll be here through the weekend shooting on Paper Cranes and  I am excited to make us dinner tonight. I'm thinking chicken tacos. 

Paula Deen Un-stuffed Cabbage Soup

This recipe is so good! My mom and I saw it while watching her show the other day and I really wanted to try it. I started with spaghetti sauce that I had already made on Thursday as the base, then added all of her ingredients, but I left out the raisins because I didn't have any and the lemon juice because I was afraid it would make the soup bitter when re-heated. Also, I used ground turkey for the meat balls. And I didn't have enough ketchup, so I probably only used a table spoon. The soup is pretty sweet, because of the brown sugar but tangy and delicious! I think if I made it again I'd cut the brown sugar down a bit. I also think I would precook the rice. If not all the way, definitely a bit. It is still a little too crunchy for my taste even though the meat balls are cooked through.

Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cabbage-soup-recipe/index.html

Spaghetti base 

The recipe calls for "sweating" the garlic and onions. I'm not sure what she meant by this in reference to garlic, onions, and olive oil so I just sauteed them on really low heat. 

Pulsing soup in the food processor 

Brown sugar ready to go in 

Meatballs in the soup

Final product, topped with plain yogurt.

The Carnival Has Ended

Mardi Gras season ended last Tuesday and Lent has begun which also means I have to go back to work tomorrow after a week break. Christian's back in Baton Rouge. Here are some highlights from the week of festivities:

Apocalypse Ball:

 Muses Parade (the all female krewe that throws decorated shoes, I got one last year, but no luck this year)

Mardi Gras Day:

Zulu Parade:

Zulu throws decorated coconuts. Here are the two I caught:

Celebrating Valentine's Day

This is a little past due, but I still want to share with you what we did. We had to celebrate on the Sunday before because Christian had to go back to Baton Rouge that evening.

We started out at the new restaurant in our neighborhood (adding to a very short list): Maurepas Food. It was really good!

Cheese plate

Strawberry salad

Oyster stew with a puff pastry top!

Goat Tacos

After lunch we headed to the quarter on the scooter for a couple massage. We weren't able to get far before we were stopped by Barkus, the dog parade. There are some pics below, but they are dark...

After massages we went to my favorite restaurant in New Orleans, Dickie Brennans's Bourbon House for more oysters!

tired!