Saying farewell to the Magic City

We definitely had our fair share of adventures in the windy state of North Dakota, but alas it is time for us to depart.  Even though my heart is breaking having to leave all of the beauty……ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTT just kidding, we’re making like trees and getting the hell out of here, Minnesota here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  All kidding aside Trevor and I made the best out of moving away and I couldn’t think of a better person to live each day with in the armpit of hell.  Below are some pictures of the ghetto 1970’s/ 1980’s (I can’t decide which decade the design scheme is from) duplex that we lived in on the North hill of Minot.

This is the front of the duplex.  Check out the awesome cedar tree landscaping.  The nice part about this duplex was that the units were attached by the garage so we didn’t have a shared common wall.  The shared driveway wasn’t too bad considering our awesome neighbor would snow blow our driveway for us. 

There she is folks 2138 6^th Street NW.

This is the backyard deck that we spent many a Saturday on after our long walks with Charlie boy.  If you are wondering yes there was usually a beverage or two involved and probably a plate of nachos.

Charlie liked to chill in sunshine and since the backyard had a beautiful chain link fence we would often times leave the screen door open for him.

I decided to put his bed out on the deck so he could be more comfortable.  This was after I had closed the screen door with Charlie on the other side, called his name and watched him run full bore into the screen.  I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my cheeks.  Trevor called me a meany devil woman, so I figured pampering C-boy a little would make up for his humiliation.

A glorious view from the deck.  I know everyone is jealous of the beautiful wildlife we were able to see on a relaxing Sunday funday.  Check out the awesome red dumpster.  When the wind was blowing just right we often times got a wiff of the sweet scent of decaying meat/ produce/ rotten pizza, oh what paradise.

This chunk of wood was in the fence when we moved in.  It endured all of the harsh forces nature had to offer and was still there when we departed.  I like to think of it as a present for the new renters.

Now let's stroll on inside so we can get the total picture.  In previous blog post the ghetto 80's kitchen can be viewed towards the end so I will not repost a picture.  Below we have our basement bathroom aka lifestyles of the rich and famous camode.  Please note the metallic flowers on the green wallpaper, it's all so very fancy.  This picture was taken after Trev had taken out the glass and metal sliding shower door that was covered in mildew and mold, DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!! 

You really couldn't see the how ugly fancy the wallpaper was so here is a close-up. 

Now onto the family room.  Nothing says class like wood paneling, cream and brown wallpaper and blue shag carpeting, yeah baby, yeah.  Please excuse the mess this picture was taken while were packing up to move home.  The red fire billow, poker and scooper were there when we moved in as well.

Going up the stairs.







Trev and Charlie relaxing on the couch.

All joking aside we were lucky to get a nice pet friendly place in Minot which was in a great neighborhood and  we did enjoy our time there.  So goodbye fare Minot we won't miss you too much, but we will miss our nightly walks (in summer, spring and fall), the wonderful Barley Pop Bar, Sunday Funday on the deck,  Lord of the Rings and True Blood Marathons, cooking fun and different meals, puzzles, the game of life, being so close to Trev's family and the new friends we made out there.  Even though I complained a lot about North Dakota I would not take back that year and a half because it brought my best friend/ husband and me closer together.  We told each other stories, some of which were told numerous times before, and some were brand new and hilarious.  I loved every minute of being with such a wonderful man and I thank God everyday that I get to live my life with someone so amazing.  Farewell Minot it's not you, it's me.  We can still be friends..... I'll call you.

Corissa's Minot Cuisine to the Extreme

Well if you have read some of my blogs you know I am hard pressed to find exotic and out of the ordinary items in the Magic City of Minot.  So I was a little hesitant to try this next recipe, but fortunately for me I was able to find EVERYTHING, well minus the Thai chilies which I substituted with dried chile peppers.  This recipe comes from, you guessed it folks, my favorite blog thefoodinmybeard.com.  Here is the Thai Chicken Tacos that I copied from him.  I highly recommend following and /or checking out his site daily. 

So my first decision is should I take the easy way out using the store bought red curry paste????...

It looks like it might work, you notice I say might...

Well it would cut a lot of time out of roasting spices, grinding them up and also making my own curry paste out of garlic, lemongrass, shallots and fish oil.

I REFUSE TO TAKE A SHORT CUT YOU SPICY TEMPTRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ooooooooooooooohhhh now that's more like it.  Way to buck self and make this recipe the correct way.  The ghetto 80's cupboards are making their token appearance in at least one picture.  All jokes aside if you have time, roasting your own spices and then grinding them up makes a whole world of difference.  In the lovely Magic City I could not find a spice grinder so I ended up buying a coffee grinder.  If you use this contraption make sure you are never going to use it for coffee beans again, unless you would like curry flavored coffee, although you could pass it off as an exotic blend from over seas to snooty friends.  I roasted all the spices for around 2-3 min make sure when using cardamon seeds that you split them in half and use just the inside teeny weeny seeds.  These are very potent little suckers and the recipe that the food in my beard guy posts does not specify this step for people like me who are not curry savvy.

Now onto the cucumber salsa.  I usually make this ahead of time due to the fact it is somewhat time consuming and also is better after marinading.  I start with mixing the rice vinegar, sugar, lime juice and minced garlic. This salsa truly makes the tacos pop due to the fresh taste of the mint and cilantro combined with the cucumber, tomato, red onion and green pepper .  If you have anyone that has an aversion to cucumber *cough, cough Dad* you could also do some pico de gallo.

Me likey!!

WHOA that's quite a close up, but you can see all of the beautiful colors that make up this lovely little topping.

Well since we are having tacos we should probably have a fun drink to pair them with.  This is my version of the skinny Margarita.

The recipe is as follows 2 shots tequila ( I prefer Jose Quervo), 1 shot of Cointreau ( or if you're like me and want to take the cheap way out Triple Sec) and a good glug of lime juice.  They are yuuuuummmmmmmmy!!  The glass looks so big because I bought a mini bottle of tequila.  Also in front the lovely beverage is my awesome penguin pot holder compliments of my mom.

For a garnish I added mint to mine.  I know it's not traditional, but it looked so pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next we move on to the chicken.  When I make this I don't fry them in oil as the recipe calls for, I boil them in water on medium until cooked through.  I fry the curry paste in oil as the recipe instructs, but instead of high-test coconut milk I use the lite.  I really can't taste too much of a difference and it cuts down quite a few calories.  I then add the half can of water, a few dashes of Worcester, 1/4 cup of light brown sugar and 2 tbsp of molasses ( I don't know if the molasses is necessary, but I skimped on every thing else so I figured what the hay).

 
Sorry for the quality of the picture I was in a hurry and the sauce smelled so good.  After letting it simmer for 20-25 minutes I shredded the chicken and let all the curry goodness soak in.

We also added mashed up avocado and feta cheese, which is best if you buy it in the block and crumble it yourself.  These tacos are what I refer to as a party in your mouth, hey get your mind out of the gutter folks, in other words it was full of spicy curry perfectly paired with the cucumber salsa, crumbled feta and mashed avocado.  I would give this recipe a solid 9 out of ten.

The finished product.  It's a little blurry, but only because I was way to anxious to take a bite out of this sucker!

And after the dishes are almost done it is time to relax.  What's that you say?? I'm watching an Iron Chef America after cooking and scarfing a most excellent dinner, yes I am, game set and match beotches.

Puzzles, Forts (not farts) and Golf...We refuse to grow up!!!!

"If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!" - Peter Pan

Trevor and I always marvel that at a certain age people use the phrase, "well then I had to grow up", or "at that age I realized I needed to start acting like an adult".  I myself refuse to ever "grow up".  Yes I will take on adult responsibilities and act somewhat mature in certain situations in life, but I will not stop finding humor in life, will not resist the urge to do a cartwheel on the fairway, will not quit making goofy faces in the mirror, will not discontinue dancing like Elaine from Seinfeld, will not refrain from making up weird songs for Trev and Charlie, will not quit my random outbursts that I yell out at a really loud volume (which often times weirdly sounds like Buddy the Elf), will not give up building forts made out of quilts and a couch (or even a card table for that matter) and will not quit playing games. Sorry for all of the "will nots" in that sentence I know I could have made that sentence more grammatically correct, but I preferred it this way. I have so many more childish antics that I partake in, but I won't bore anyone with listing anymore of them.  Plus many of them could be considered in bad humor and/or very embarrassing.  So here's to never growing up.....Oh and some pictures showing how Trevor and I practice our immaturity and carry on our quest to fight off boredom.

"Golfing".......

I know golfing does not necessarily make us kid-like or seem less "grown-up", but the way we golf does.  This is the platform they have on hole #5 at the Minot Country Club.  The purpose of the platform is to see over the hill that lies in the middle of the fairway, otherwise you wouldn't know when the people in front of you have exited the green. 

Below is me showing my rock star pose.  Nothing says rock star like cropped cargo pants and golf shoes with white Hanes socks showing.

Next we have me still on the platform yelling, " I am on the front of this boat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a/k/a "I'm the King of the World".  This was an homage to  Larry King's interview with James Cameron and the cast of "Avatar" about the making of the movie.  Larry tries to quote the most famous line from the movie "A Few Good Men", and fails miserably by saying, " remember that famous line,' you wouldn't know the truth'".  This quote can be found when he is speaking with Stephen Lang towards the middle of the whole transcript I have linked above.  So here you go Larry...

One picture is missing from the golfing excursion and that is my cartwheel on the fairway of #4.  Sadly my Kerri Strug-like abilities are way too awesome and could not be caught in action, or Trevor just didn't have the camera out yet.  Y'all can decide for yourselves which one is the truth *wink wink*.  We are also missing a picture of Trevor riding his driver like a bucking bronco.  It is quite amusing hopefully I can capture it in the near future, but for now you'll just have to take my word for it.

"Forts"...

Next we have a photo showing what it is like in the Seely household on a rainy and very windy Saturday.  This is the start to a most lovely Fort that Trevor built for me so we could watch a marathon of  "Lord of the Rings", which once again is an indication of our coolness.  Don't worry more quilts were added for extra protection from the harsh conditions that we must withstand in our living room.

And the side view...

 Please note the dog bone that was hiding underneath the "davenport" as my Grandparents would call it.
Here comes the single mattress that will provide extra comfort for our movie extravaganza. 

Inside the most awesome Fort we have a man with his most loyal and fierce companion, that was said in the crocodile hunters voice by the way.

"Puzzles"......

My sister-in-law Julie gave us this idea to fend off boredom.  She absolutely loves puzzles and pretty much has one done every week.  Sooooooooo Trev zipped on over to Walmart, where let's just say the selection was not the greatest, and bought us one of the best ones in the joint.  The puzzle was a picture of the castle Neuschwanstein.  It is a 19th-century Gothis Revival palace that lies on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenshwangau near Fussen in Southwest Bavaria.  The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner.  There's your random piece of knowledge for today folks.

As you can see there were a lot of pieces, 1000 to be exact.  Unfortunately our end result was only the outside pieces and a few that were right next to them.  We were sidetracked by me moving back to Superior and Trev packing up the duplex, I will post about that in the near future. 

And if you are wondering, yes the glasses in the background contain a beautiful white wine (adult kool aid) and yes those are plastic wine glasses from Walmart.  Better to be safe than sorry or something like that, WAIT that's something a "grown up" would say.  Hmmmmmmm hand me a firecracker and let's see how far this plastic sucker can fly.  There that is much better

Sunday Funday Snack Attack

I love sundays, they could possibly be my most favorite day of the week.  Sunday means time with family, a day consisting of total relaxation.  Sunday means a trip out to the cabin to sit by the lake with Grandma and Grandpa eating wonderful non-diet food.  It means watching some sort of sporting event, falling asleep on the couch and taking THE BEST nap of your life.  Sunday is visiting my in-laws out in Tioga, ND talking, laughing and singing with the most amazing man in the whole wide world on our drive out and back.  It is going to church at Our Saviors Lutheran when we are back in Cloquet and then sitting out on the deck with my brother and parents in the lovely sunshine watching the dogs run in the yard. It is sitting on the couch in Minot catching up on DVRed trashy television, House Hunters International, Iron Chef, Swamp People, anything on Discovery Channel and many more mindless/fabulous TV shows.  Finally one of the best things about sunday is planning out some fun meals for the week, shopping at the grocery store with Trev, coming home to make some awesome snack food a/k/a my favorite food and eating it on paper plates (we don't do dishes on Sunday Funday) at the coffee table in the living room.  Below are the two snacks that I made for this Sunday's Snack Attack. 

I was really craving a margherita pizza and was looking for a quick solution to my craving that would not involve having to make dough for pizza crust.  I perused through the cupboards and noticed that we had some pitas that needed to be used up.  I have used pitas for making chips for different dips that I have and figured they would crisp up much like flat bread.  I threw a couple of halves on my pizza stone for about ten minutes on one side then flipped them over drizzled some olive oil, then added some fresh chopped garlic and sliced up on the vine tomato.

Above is my chopped garlic, fresh basil, sliced on the vine tomatoes and fresh mozzerella ( I wish I could find buffalo mozzerella out here, but it's impossible).

Please note the fancy paper plate that I have use to capture the essence of the ripe tomato.  Like I said earlier we don't like to do dishes on Sunday Funday.  After letting the tomatoes and garlic roast up for around 5-8 min I added the cheese, let it melt and added the basil right before serving.  This pizza would be awesome served with a balsamic reduction, but I was too lazy/ impatient to wait for that.  So instead I just added a side of balsamic to dip in.

Now that's some cheesy goodness.   YUMMMMMM YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM. 

I have often said that if I was stranded on a deserted island the one food that I would choose to have day after day would be pizza.  Recently I am having a hard time deciding between pizza and nachos.  So for this sunday I decided to make both for Trev and me.  These nachos are vegetarian, but you could add any type of beef, chicken, turkey ect.  I seasoned the black beans with cumin, chili powder, lime zest and juice.  They were very zesty and fresh mmmm mmmmmm good.

This isn't the best picture of black beans, but I wanted to show some of the spices and the lime zest.
We had some pablano, red and green bell peppers, green onions, cilantro and tomato that I needed to use up so sliced those suckers up and threw them on top.  For our chips I cut some low-carb tortillas up into wedges and cooked them up on my pizza stone at 410 degrees for about 10 minutes.  Real chips would be awesome with these, but I didn't have any in the house.

Soooo much goodness on this lovely, once again paper, plate.

I can hardly wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was before going into the oven.  I did two layers of chips with all of the yummy goodness piled on top.  I try not to over load them otherwise they tend to get a tad bit soggy and nobody, I mean nobody likes soggy nachos.

The T-dogg in all of his Sunday glory.  Please note the awesome hair on my dude, we call this bed head Chic  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Testing out the goods.  I think he gave me a one and a half thumbs up on these nachos.  They were lacking meat and there wasn't enough jalapenos for two thumbs.

The other thing that I love about our sundays out here is that it is perfectly acceptable to wear a Concordia Hallet Floor 5 t-shirt from freshman year at Concordia College including a lovely tomato stain and holey armpits.  Yes folks we are a fancy couple out here, I know you are jealous.  Here is proof of our fashion savy ways.

This is me laughing at my dorkiness in the ghetto 80's kitchen.  I feel it's always good to laugh at yourself otherwise life is being taken way too seriously.  Plus if I didn't laugh at myself, who would?

Of course one last thing is needed  for a great Sunday Funday Snack Attack.  If you know me well this should be no surprise whatsoever, the last ingredient for a relaxing sunday is a glass of wonderful vino.  White wine goes with vegetarian nachos and margherita pizza, right???  Well according to me it does.  For my birthday my sister-in-law Julie gave me a wine coozie to keep my glass cool in the summers.  In an effort to will summer to get here I decided to slap that baby on my glass and keep the positive thoughts rolling instead of focusing on the 45 mile per hour winds we have going on today. 

It's called a woozie, which I find hilarious.  Well here's to summer hopefully getting here soon, and here's to a Sunday Funday for everyone out there.  I hope you love and appreciate sundays as much as I do.

On a final note, Charlie boy also enjoys a relaxing sunday as well.  His day involves going from the couch to his favorite chair in front of the window where he basks in the sunshine coming from the west.  Trev and I often joke it must be a rough life when all you have to worry about it a treat, the occasional table food and a few sips of a beer.

Chicken Boobs and red bell peppers

As I've gotten older I have realized a true passion that I have and it probably goes without saying, but that passion is cooking food.  I have a true appreciation for fine and interesting cuisines using weird and exotic (well as exotic as I can find in Minot) ingredients.  This past year I started reading several food blogs that have really inspired me to get away from the traditional meat and potatoes type of cooking and really experiment with unique cooking methods in the kitchen.   I made the following recipe for a going away party for our friends The Schauer's with a few other co-workers in attendance.  I wanted to pick something that was tasty and yet healthy due to the fact that several of us were on diets at the time.  The risotto was the only rich and unhealthy part of the menu, but worth the splurge and the portion I took was small (wink wink).

To start off with I wanted to make something for everyone to snack on.  I had some fresh basil that I wanted to use up before it went bad and also some sun dried tomatoes.  I decided I would put together a little sun dried kalamata olive tapenade over low fat cream cheese.  I started by chopping garlic, kalamata olives sun dried tomato, basil (parsley can also be used) and then adding sherry vinegar and a splash of olive oil (this can be omitted for a healthier version).

This is me mixing all the ingredients by hand and then I spooned it over softened low fat cream cheese.  I also had some pitas that I needed to use up so I cut them into wedges, slapped them on a pizza stone and cooked them at 425 degrees for around 10 min. 
                                                                                           

And another picture showing the consistency and our lovely sink.  After everything is ready I try to garnish with some extra basil leaves.  I don't have a picture of the finished product because it was gobbled up so fast.

For our main course I used a recipe from  the food in my beard blog that I read it is called Chicken Tuscany and can be found right here Chicken Tuscany .  I didn't have my meat tenderizer here so I had to use a hammer from Trev's tool box.  Below is me hammering the chicken boobs so that they are very thin and will roll easily.  I also put the chicken in between two pieces of saran wrap to prevent chicken juice from going everywhere.   

This is our ghetto 80's kitchen in the duplex.  It might be ugly, but it has a ton of counter space which is A-Okay in my book.

Some of the ingredients.  Now to start marinating the tomatoes in the red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Moving on to hollowing the red bell peppers out getting ready to roast them under the broiler.

                                                                                Drool

Please pay no attention to the dirty stove.  I have made pizza previously and apparently used too much cheese that resulted in a cheesy landslide.

After roasting the peppers I stuffed them with the thinly pounded chicken that was wrapped with fresh spinach and mozzarella cheese.

Now lets giddy up with the risotto.  While instant risotto is good and tasty there is nothing comparable to homemade.  It does take awhile and you do have to constantly stir, but trust me your time and patience is definitely worth it.

Seriously this picture doesn't do the yumminess any justice.  It truly is one of my favorite dishes.  I love how the cheese is dripping off the side of the pan.  Please note the tinfoil over the pan due to my lack of dishwasher and hate of scrubbing dishes.  I am classy I know this.

The end result a/k/a buffet of goodness.  Please note the awesome mixer in the background that Trev bought for me including awesome dough hooks, I am in heaven.

Recipe ( if anyone wants it) for the tapenade


2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
1/4 cup ( 1 handful) sun dried tomatoes chopped I prefer the ones kept in oil and then rinse them off in a colander
1/4 cup Kalamata olives chopped (1 handful)
6-8 basil leaves chopped
2 tbsp of sherry vinegar
1/2 tbsp Olive oil (optional
salt & pepper to taste
1 pkg of low fat cream cheese
pita chips (from store or cooked as suggested above)

Enjoy