Hey Good Lookin', What You Got Cookin'

I was so blessed this past week to have my best friend and her boyfriend come to visit me.

We spent time playing Euchre, sight-seeing around Seattle, and catching up.

We also did a lot of cooking and we cooked some delicious meals that I thought I would shared with you!

My go-to breakfast dish is what I like to call Breakfast Sausage Casserole.

If you search how to make this, you will probably find multiple recipes for it.

But here is my advice: always go for the one that requires bread, sausage, cheese, eggs, and milk of some sort. Almost all of them call for mustard, but who wants mustard with breakfast? I sure don't!

Here's the closest recipe I could find: 

Breakfast Sausage Casserole by Trisha Yearwood

I was a great hostess and gave this to my best friend and her boyfriend for breakfast.

Later on, I took leftover chicken and made chicken salad sandwiches.

This is how she and I literally survived college on a cheap budget.

All you need is chicken which can be canned or oven-roasted, mayo, and grapes.

And if grapes are too fancy you can get rid of that.

Take the chicken mix it with the amount of mayo you find necessary and dice some grapes.

Spread it on some bread and wa-lah!

Delicioso!

For dinner, we got adventurous and tried a new recipe I pinned the other week. 

Chicken Mozzarella Pasta with Sun-dried tomatoes

You need to make this right away.

For one you feel like a chef while making it while also having a semi-easy cooking night.

I will make the dish for the rest of my life.

 Smiles on their faces is how you know it was good.

Then we decided to have a friendsgiving where I made candied carrots.

A quick and simple side dish to bring to any party.

We used to have these every night at the restaurant I first worked at and they are delicious.

Candied Carrots

The recipe says it takes 40 minutes, but it really only took me 20.

I guess it truly depends on if you like squishy or crunchy carrots.

My last and final meal was to honor the time spent with my bestie.

In college, I stumbled upon a meal called million dollar spaghetti and it is the best meal in the world. She asks for it every time and I cannot resist saying no because I love it just as much. 

You can find the recipe on pinterest or by going to this blog Made from pinterest

It's kind of like lasagna, but not exactly.

Just make it and decide for yourself.

Basically I was a cook-a-holic this weekend and I loved every second of it.

What should I make next?

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Sometimes...

You just need one song to play on repeat to write the three papers that accumulate to 13 pages that are due next week.

Last week it was this song:

And this week it's this song:

I heard in a store a few weeks ago and forgot all about how I loved it.

Then the Lord came down to tell me loves me and put it on the radio.

Did I write it down like I told myself to do while it was playing?

No because I was lost in Seattle again even though I've lived here for over a year now.

But I am a great detective and found it this morning and have been playing it for the last hour and would you believe it?!

I have one paper/5 pages done. Only 2 papers, and 8 pages to go.

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To the guests of restaurants...

There's just this little thing I need to get off my chest.

Yesterday a family left me a $0.07 tip. 

This happens usually at least once while working one of my shifts.

It sucks every time, but it is out of my control.

I typically throw a little fit for a minute and then move on reminding myself there are other decent people in this world.

Here's the thing with yesterday though.

I watched this family place at least give $100 bills on the table.

So it wasn't the fact they couldn't afford a tip that was the problem.

The problem they had with me was the silverware.

It was dirty and I had not noticed since I didn't set the table and had a full section.

The mother yelled at me for the silverware being dirty and the complained that it was not rolled in napkins.

These problems she had were out of my control.

I did not set the table and I am not in control of deciding how we display silverware on the tables. So her excuse for leaving me $0.07 was because the silverware was dirty.

For some reason her tip will hit me this time.

To me, it seemed as if she told that my service was only worth $0.07.

And I took it as me not being worthy of even a dollar which wouldn't even be close to a 10% tip. While I know I shouldn't have taken it so hard, the point in sharing that with you is because that's how most servers feel when this happens to them.

She didn't have enough respect to even tell me why she thought I was only worth of a $0.07 tip.

Some servers are in the restaurant industry to make the money that can come with the job.

But some servers, like me, are trying to make means meet or work towards a goal.

I didn't join this industry willingly. I joined it because it meets an always changing school schedule and allows me to live in an expensive city and make my ends meet most months.

And I especially did not join this job for you to tell me what I am worth, but that doesn't stop you from telling me. You think you have a right to define what I am worth, what I am qualified at, and what I deserve. Do you realize you hold in your hands the ability for me to pay my rent, to pay for food, and gas to work?

I know we all work with people who make our jobs miserable at times, who make us want to get ugly in their faces and tell them how we truly feel, and who make us feel like screaming at the top of our lungs. I write this only to remind you the holiday's are coming up. This season is the busiest for the restaurant industry. Sometimes it brings in the most joyous and grateful people around and sometimes it brings in the most ungrateful and rude people around.

If you're going out to eat this holiday season, try to keep in mind that the people serving you are human just like you. They make mistakes, they mess up, and they are trying to survive like you. Also keep in mind, most servers want to ensure you have a quality visit. We do not show up to work with plans to ruin your visit and your meal experience with family. If anything, we just want you to be thankful for us. 

So be joyous, be grateful, and be thankful.

If you cannot leave a tip then at least do the above because all people deserve that.

Sincerely,

The girl just wanting to make your holiday as bright and merry as possible

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Avoiding Paper Writing

So I have this 3 page paper I am supposed to be writing right now and I just have no desire to do it. I've got 5 weeks of school left and I have been working hard. There is something about this paper though that I do not even want to do. I do not want to do it so bad that I contemplated not doing it at all and taking a zero. Now, will I do that? No, of course not because I am better than that.

I will tell you what I am excited about at the moment though.

1.) I started Christmas shopping early and I have gotten some great deals. The besties are done, the little brother, the nephew, the niece, the mother-boyfriend-in-law. Pretty much they are the easiest to shop for so I should not be giving myself too much credit. I still have to shop for the hardest people which I am not looking forward to at all.

2.) My bestie from L.A. is coming to visit in two weeks. When you live in Washington, it's ridiculously expensive for people to come see you. I am not sure why, but since living here I have not had many visitors. I am so excited to spend a few days with her since we haven't seen each other since February. And the best part is she is bringing her boy-toy or boyfriend, whichever you prefer to call it.

3.) There are only 5 weeks of the semester left. A break is in the near future and I am still two-weeks ahead of the schedule which hopefully means I'll be done with everything at the beginning of the semester.

4.) The Holiday season is upon us which means my job will pick up again. For the last two months its been ridiculously slow so money has been minimal in my life. I am thankful for the next month and a half to work hard and start to save again.

5.) I started paying off my lowest student loan in January this year. It was around $6,000 and I am just under $2,000. I don't know about you, but that's pretty impressive to me. I'd like to have it all paid off by the end of December. I know that's a pretty steep goal, but I'm hoping with the holiday work hours and Christmas money that I may just be able to do it. I still have a larger loan to pay off, but making it to just one loan is so exciting! Maybe if I win some of these giveaways, I can get there. Fingers crossed!

What are you procrastinating on and looking forward to?

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