Smack in the middle
Most of the time, I love to cook.
I can’t wait for a chance to try out a new recipe or make an old favorite for dinner (all while singing “Bringing home a baby bumblebee,” doing a ridiculous dance or orchestrating a Tupperware drum solo). Other times, I want my food delicately placed on the table in front of me, while Liv sits in the high chair next to me eating puffs and waiting for bites of my food and a side of avocado. In this type of situation, I’m not wearing pajamas, and neither the Pilot nor myself have to do the dishes.
That’s pretty much what I was in the mood for yesterday, but since the Pilot was home last week, we went out to eat more often than usual, and the cost adds up quickly. We have plenty of food in the house, I figured we should eat dinner at home.
Even so, I wasn’t feeling anything labor-intensive (like the original eggplant curry I had planned), so I grabbed this jar from the pantry (curry destiny),
and let something else do the work:
All I did was add the sauce to the slow cooker with 1 C veggie broth,
chopped eggplant and zucchini,
1/2 diced onion and two cloves of garlic.
Set it (on high)
forget it (for 5 hours)
then feast.
An easy, healthy vegetarian meal, accompanied by quinoa (cooked in the rice cooker) and Malbec. I wish I could say it was insanely delicious, but it was ok. Usually when I make random on-the fly-meals, they end up being gold stars or golden fails. This one was smack in the middle. I wonder what would have made it taste better.. probably some of my own spices added in and some lemon juice to cut the jar flavor? I dunno.
It ended up being a pretty low-key evening and the Pilot had to take it easy with his ankle. I spent some time reading, catching up on emails, and painting my nails orange. I ended up skipping the gym since I might have to teach more classes the next couple of days (our schedules are posted every morning and while we have an idea of what we’re teaching, it could always change. We have to be prepared to teach any class), so I’ll be extra refreshed.
This morning, I’m off to do the work thing but in the meantime, some randomness:
1. I’m trying to teach myself how to glide. When I’m joking around with the Pilot, I pretend to glide around him, except I look like a giant goober because I have no idea what I’m doing. I watched and studied a couple of YouTube videos like this one and have been practicing so that eventually, I can glide around him in a circle and blow.his.mind.
2. We get asked this fairly often, but we have no idea where we’ll be living 2 years from now. It’s thrilling and kinda scary at the same time.
3. Usher and Shakira are replacing Xtina and Cee Loo on the Voice next season. I’m kind of excited about it- I LOOOOVE Shakira (would love to teach an entire Zumba class to Shakira songs one of these days) and Usher… well, he’s nice. Very, very nice, indeed.
4. I’ve lost a lot of my Spanish-speaking abilities, but still understand it like I always have. I lived in Tucson most of my life and my family speaks Spanish fluently, but when we lived in Georgia, I rarely heard it. It seems to be kinda like “use it or lose it” because after that 4 years away, my Spanish is choppy, even though I can always understand what everyone else is saying.
5. This article is fantastic– a great reminder to live in the present and focus on yourself.
So tell me, friends, will you be living in the same place in two years? Do you speak any foreign languages? Read anything lately that inspired you?
Hope you have a very happy humpday!
See ya later on the Fashion page.
xoxo
Gina
New on the Family page: 1 month of baby food- round 2!
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Love the randomness of this post! I should get myself a slow cooker ’cause they seem super handy! I will probably still be living in Toronto in two years from now, but who knows!
I have this same curry sauce but haven’t used it yet, do you think it would be good with some coconut milk and sriachi (sp?)?
I’m the same way with Spanish. I lost most if not all of it after not speaking it for a year. I’m not fluent but I was really good at it. I can still understand it fluently but I can’t speak it fluently. I have tried to get better. My brother and mom and I will speak Spanish together but we don’t do to well. Do you speak Spanish to oliv? Do you want to raise her bilingual?
Love, love, love that Essie orange color, perfect for Fall! I have not tried the TJ’s curry sauce, but looks yum! All of the lovely ladies whose blogs I read on a daily basis inspire me. Enjoy the rest of the week!
I have no idea where we’ll be in two years. My boyfriend graduates college in May and is highly considering the military after that, so who knows what will happen! It’s a little exciting like you said…but right now I’m more scared than anything haha
I would like to say I know where ill be in 2 years but being married to coach at a university level there is always a chance that everything could change any given year. Its a case of the ‘you just never know!
I am a huge slow cooker fiend. I will usually make something on Wed’s in the crockpot because I take a 4:30 spin class and there’s no way in hell I’m making dinner after that. It’s so nice to walk in after my sweat sesh and have dinner all ready. If I had to say why your slow cooker dinner didn’t blow you away is because, as you’d said, it needed more seasoning. Lot’s of veg + a small jar of flavor = not quite enough pizzazz. Also think that adding some garlic and onions would help.
On being bilingual… I was actually born in Germany (Mom was in the military when I was very little) and German was my first language. I had a perfect accent and when my grandparents came to visit me from the US, my parents told me they freaked and had to teach me some english. When we came back to the states, I stopped speaking it and could understand everything. Soon, I couldn’t speak it anymore and now I can only understand what a 4 y/o might. Def a use or lose situation. The nice thing for you is you can practice! If you do, it’ll totally come back.
Just wanted to say LOVE the new look of the blog 🙂 I have been having fun re reading some of your old posts 🙂
I think its very scary not knowing where you will live in the future especially when you mix a child into it. Is it hard on you? When I moved to Georgia from MA 3 years ago it was really hard to start all over again, but it was pretty easy to make mommy friends 🙂
<3
thank you- i’m so glad you like it!
it is a little stressful and will probably be even more difficult when liv is in school. many families in the squadron have kids that stop and start different schools during the year, and that would be rough. we’ll see how it goes.
God I hope we’re still living in the same place in 2 years. We got married in ’09, had a baby in ’10, moved/bought a house in ’11 and has another baby in ’12 (4 weeks ago). We have told our families that we hope to have absolutely NO life altering announcements to make for at least 3-4 years 😉
Omg I got married in 09 and baby in 10 and house the next year haha are we twins? No second baby for me though 😉
I really need to start doing more slow-cooker meals. I have that same curry sauce in my fridge and I LOVE it – I bet it would be amazing on the eggplant!
I haven’t tried that curry sauce from Trader Joe’s but I have tried the marsala simmer sauce and that one is really, really good. Just sayin….
The thought of you gliding around the Pilot just made me laugh out loud! Please please PLEASE film this if you ever master it.
i totally will! and i WILL master it haha 🙂
I thought we were done guessing about our living arrangements now that Patrick is out of the Navy – HA! I just moved into this place in April right before he got home and now he’s sending me listings of places in Huntington Beach asking what I think of them. I mean, I’m not complaining about HB – as long as we hire movers and I’m not 7 months pregnant this time haha. He’s been interviewing and most of the offers he’s entertaining are down in OC. I think growing up in the military, then being in the military and THEN marrying into the military gives me a sense of peace with the whole situation. I’d probably get bored sitting in one place too long haha.
Something else random – my husband is half Mexican. In 3 years of dating, I had barely ever heard him speak Spanish. We hop in the back of a cab in Costa Rica on our honeymoon and he starts spouting off to the cab driver in espanol like they were old buddies. I was like ummm where did THAT come from?!?
LOVE your nails. Have you seen Essie’s “Smokin’ Hot”? Its my new favorite.
I hope I’m not living in the same place 2 years from now! Definitely not the biggest fan of LA. Don’t lose your spanish! It’s definitely useful. I speak a little bit of Spanish and I’m fluent in Arabic!
i think arabic is gorgeous to listen to!
I will probably still be living in Boston considering I have been here for the past 23 years!
I have no idea where we will be living in 2 years! I’m looking for a full-time teaching job so I have no idea where I will find one.
I love that nail polish color!
I’m sure we’ll be in the same place in two years… twenty-two years, even! I was an Army brat and I always wondered what it was like for people who got to stay in one place for more than three years at a time. Now I’m married to a born-and-bred Texas boy, and we have a baby with two sets of very attached grandparents nearby. Looks like we’re here for the long-haul (good thing hubby likes to travel!)
Oh- and the gliding looks like so much fun! I think I know what I’ll be doing during nap-time!
When you cook grains in your rice cooker, do you just use the same amount of water the grains would normally require if cooked on the stovetop?
pretty much, yes- i don’t really measure, but try to make sure there’s double water to grains
Hey, you could always speak Spanglish like I do! Drives the hubby nuts, but I’ve been doing it forever and it’s a hard habit to break.
me gusta hablar in spanglish all the tiempo haha
i bought some of TJ’s curry sauce as well. i tried to convince myself that i really loved it because it hurt my little heart to not like something from there…but i really wasn’t wowed. in the end i figured that as easy as it is to dump some spices and broth together to make my own curry, i may as well just do that. but i’m totally with you on the nights you just want everything to come from a jar haha…it happens to me all too frequently.
I have to agree with the comments about the sauce! I had high hopes and it turned out bland! The directions (if I remember correctly) say to add something like 1 cup of liquid to the sauce, and I think it was way too dilute. Maybe adding just some liquid to taste?
I, too, have no idea where I’ll be living two years from now. My husband is a third-year medical student and could go anywhere for residency. I always joke that he should try for Hawaii or if there any American med school programs in the south of France, but it’ll probably end up being… I don’t know, Sandusky, Ohio! (Nothing wrong with Ohio! I’m a Midwest gal!)
Two years from now… I will probably not be living in the same place. I will be doing my Dietetic Internship and my boyfriend is going into the Air Force. So, hopefully we will be together, engaged in a new place!
I have no idea where I’ll be living in 2 years either – hopefully back in Canada but depending where my husband gets a residency spot it could be anywhere!
In the past 3 years I have lived in 5 different homes in 4 different states (a spread of over 5000 miles). We just PCSed here and hopefully we’ll still be here 2 years from now. 3 years from now? Who knows. When I married into the military I thought I’d hate moving so often, but now I love that we’re ordered to go to all these places I’ve never been. I don’t love leaving friends, but with the world growing ever smaller, it’s getting easier to deal with that part of moving.
It’s been a little while since I’ve stopped by and I love the new layout of the blog. Looks great!! The orange nails are very pretty and festive too!
thank you! 🙂
Gorgeous nail polish! Slow cooker meals are the best – looks delicious and, most importantly, easy!
In two years I really hope my husband and I will be in our first home. With our surprise baby, we sorta had to put house hunting on the back burner (babies are expensive!!) and will probably not start looking until next winter. *Fingers crossed*
My husband is a Spanish speaker. He was born in Mexico, I took several classes but never got it down. I understand a great deal, but wish Hector would speak it more the house. I pray we can have a bilingual baby, luckily my mother-in-law will likely see to it that that happens 🙂 – However, he too finds that because he rarely uses his Spanish, he too is loosing it! I often can understand this as Spanish was is first language. <3
Thanks for sharing that article, I need some positive reads 🙂 I'm dealing with a serious case of postpartum anxiety/guilt and need to remember not everything needs gets done… I'm doing the best I can.
I’m hoping to not be living/working in Iowa/Nebraska anymore. I’m ready for a change and to move on from here. Maybe Denver, maybe New York. Who knows?
We’re PCSing to San Diego in January!!! Absolutely cannot wait… 18 month orders though and then who knows where? Maybe Bahrain!
oh you’re going to LOVE it! I was stationed there for 3 years.
oh my goodness- enjoy SD, it’s so beautiful
Love the randomness at the end!
I have no idea where I’ll be living… thought I’d still be here in DC bc my (then) bf got assigned here for the next 4 yrs (he’s Active duty), but we recently broke up 🙁 so now I have no clue. I’m thinking of moving back to the west coast (maybe Tuscon actually) where I’m from.
i can understand spanish and speak a little brokenly, but am i fluent? heck no. same with my hungarian, which is even a harder language to understand. sometimes the wires get crossed and i speak spanish to hungarian relatives and visa versa. lol.
when we have a kid, i told my parents they have to speak in Spanish (mom) and Hungarian (dad) to them because I want them to know languages! My Dad grew up in a Russian (hello soviet union), German and of course, Hungarian speaking household.
as for the curry sauce, I added more spice to it to flavor it up. i have garam masla, tumeric and curry powder and even added in some new mexican chili spice and california pepper spice and it works wonders. flavor to taste as usual 🙂
in two years i hope to be a successful author(writer) and successful artist doing the CA gallery and festival circuit. Day of the Dead work and animal portraits. and maybe get a yoga teacher certification?
I can’t even imagine not knowing where you’re going to live….my hat is off to you and all military families who go through this!
And love a well-stocked pantry of sauces – just having a good sauce can make dinnertime meal prep go so much easier!
I have tried that TJs sauce before, it’s not one of their best. I much prefer their red or yellow curry sauces that are found next to that one – just a suggestion!
Also, I didn’t know that about Xtina and CeLo re: The Voice. Makes me kind of sad – I think both of them add a lot to the show and CeLo is so eccentric – love how he has a parrot on his shoulder during his interviews…who does that!? Amaze.
I dont see my self living anywhere other than Vancouver in 2 years but after years of being quite the wanderer I’m really excited about it. For the past 15 years or so I haven’t lived in the same place for more than a year so having some stability is really nice.
I had no idea about the voice, to be honest i’m kinda upset, I really enjoy watching (only the blind auditions) and I really like xtina and celo
my go to slowcooker I dont want to cook meal is any protein, an onion and a jar of salsa… I just feel like its always a win 🙂
I will probably be in the same place for the next two years. I have lived in the same state (NC) my whole life and probably wont leave since all mine and my husband’s family is here.
I did Not know Xtina was leaving the voice, but I would much rather see and listen to Shakira, I am a little tired of looking at Christina’s cleavage. I wish i could give her a makeover sometimes.
yeah i’m not a fan of her styles, either
Umm….it is super weird that I just thought “Where will I be living in two years” as if I confidently knew the answer – only to realize I do not. I will be done with graduate school in one year, and in two years my boyfriend will start his clinical rotations. So who knows if we will be in Chicago, or living together…
Crazy!!!
I love this post, especially the randomness. 🙂
I took Spanish all throughout high school, but never really felt like I could speak it. Now, 9 years later, I only remember some vocab words. I would love to be fluent.
My hubs is in the Navy, so we definitely won’t be in the same place in two years, and I’m happy about that! We’re hoping for San Diego. Maybe I can learn Spanish while we live there! 🙂
The “where will you be in 2 years?” question struck a chord…..because we are likely to be moving within the next 2 years. We’re currently in the midwest, where I am from. But my hubby grew up in SC and really misses it. His parents are down there, and we are close with them…they are fantastic, involved grandparents. So hubby wants to actively pursue heading back down South. I am so, so torn about it, but ultimately willing to go. We’d like to complete the move, if we are going to do it, within the next 2 years before our oldest starts school. Time will tell…..
My fiancé’s brother just got transferred to Hong Kong for at least 5 years and I am so excited for them
(and pretty jealous) that they get to live overseas!!! I taught English in Argentina for 6 months and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go back!!
I love crockpot meals! Unfortunately mine died, so I am waiting for Black Friday to get a really really good deal on one!
Great randomness in this post, how fun. And now I’m ready to break out our slow cooker. 🙂
My Pakistani friend has spoiled me for all Indian from a jar/box/can & any curry-style recipe with less than 7 spices. I love and hate her for this. I’m gonna lean toward you probably needed more spices. Toast cumin, coriander & star anise, add to crock. Maybe top it with cilantro when you finish your dish. I don’t even know where we’ll be living in 2 months as I’m in the midst of a job search. I’m simultaneously happy and anxious about this. I JUST WANNA KNOW!!
ahhh the waiting is the worst part! seining good wishes to you!
My boyfriend and I will more than likely be in our tiny apartment in the next two years (which I secretly love). I do not know how to speak another language but would love to learn! And I just finished “State of Wonder” which was absolutely amazing. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it.
Oops you probably meant an article… but that book was inspirational at times. 🙂
coconut milk always makes curry taste better (and lime juice). it’s not super low cal but a little goes a long way!
LOVE coconut milk
We just got posted, so we’ll probably be here in 2 years, but not 3. I learned Spanish when I lived in Texas, but have lost so much of it being up north! It’s one of those things I’d like to get back.
Gina! I just saw this…and even though I don’t “know” you, I knew you’d love it. it’s just about the funniest/cutest way to ever look at fruits and veggies
http://eatwhenripe.tumblr.com/
i loved it! thank you!
I also wasn’t super impressed with that curry sauce! It was just “meh” to me, I think if I were to buy it again, I’d doctor it up a bit.
Do you all get to put in “requests” for where you go? My husband is Army and while it’s not definite, we’re about 90% sure of where we are moving to in 2014. Not sure if it works the same for the AF (I had a Navy pilot father and he also had some measure of control, like this), but it makes us feel somewhat more in control plus it’s fun to choose where we want to go (like Hawaii, where we are now!) as well as good for my career, as I avoid ending up in middle of nowhere Kansas where I’m not likely to find a job in my field 🙂
that’s awesome you already know! we get to put in a top 5 “dream sheet” but we could get anything.
Will you share your top 5 when you put them in?? I’d definitely recommend Hickam/Hawaii if it’s an option;) You’d have so much fun making Livi a beach baby, and there’s an awesome fitness community here! Plus friends and family will want to visit regularly.
are you stationed there now? we have friends there 🙂
i would LOVE to go to hawaii
We’re stationed at Wheeler (the Army airfield) but live in Honolulu and love it here! You pretty much never have an excuse to not be outside, when its 75-85 year round (never more or less) and always sunny. Endless options of activities and things to do as long as you enjoy the outdoors and being active… hiking, snorkeling, crab hunting, kayaking, SUPing, surfing, tons of fitness options (even yoga ON a SUP!), many healthy restaurants and food options (including 2 WFs and Down to Earth, an all vegetarian grocery store), tons of awesome farmers markets. All we need is Trader Joe’s and this would be heaven!
I am from Argentina, moved to the US 4 years ago to specialize in Autism( i am a pediatrician) met my veryyyy American husband that does not speak a word of Spanish. I am 26 weeks preggers andplanning to speak to my child in spanish. I can see you enjoy Malbec, so happy you like spme of the wonders of my country:) . Tip: Luigi Bosca makes the best Malbec, as well as Rutini wineries.
that’s wonderful your baby will be bilingual! congratulations to you <3
good to know- malbec is one of my favorites 🙂
I read this just after reading news that Shakira confirmed today she’s preggo! So exciting. 🙂
Also LOVED that article. needed that!
NO WAY!!! baby is going to come out shakin’ those hips!
I speak Italian and am learning German, seeing as this is my niece and nephews language and it’s embarrassing when they have to translate for me, or (worse), inform their friends to either speak English or ‘speak reeeaaallly slowly because Aunty Sara isn’t good at German’. My niece got a new respect when we went to Italy together and, for once, I was the one translating and she was the one saying ‘what did they say? What does that mean?’. Justified!
However, as I live in NZ I don’t get to practice Italian much and, yes, it is hard – not the understanding, but the sticking a sentence together. I sometimes draw a complete blank on a common word, mix up similar sounding words, and use english grammar forms. I have also got the ‘shocked’ look by accidentally addressing people I don’t know in the familiar instead of the formal.
If using a curry paste, I throw in a stock cube and some vinegar. That usually gives it a gruntier flavour. I think the level of veges I put in there tends to dilute the sauce a lot – probably the same for you.
that’s a great point
i’m not surprised at all that you can speak almost 3 languages- you always amaze me 🙂