High Hopes & Heartbreak: March 2014

Hi all. It's been awhile; I've missed you. In case you didn't know, I've been sick for over a week and haven't quite shaken it yet. When I sick, I don't mean just a little bug. I literally missed almost all last week at work, and I'm out today too. I have experienced just about everything you can imagine, from flu symptoms to weird shooting pains in my side and stomach, to the worst cough I've ever had. It has been utterly miserable. That, coupled with the fact that L had to move out of his apartment by this weekend, has taken a lot out of me. I "think" I might be on the mend now, at least from the throws of the nasty cough (bronchitis), and L is now all moved out (kinda weird to see his apartment empty again), so I figured this might be a good time to at least share a fun little recipe with you. Not exactly the most exciting thing to post about on my 'first day back,' but it's about all I've got for you at this point! Stay tuned, because in a couple weeks, I'll be able to post about my beautiful new niece Theo Daisy (meet her here), and my new niece or nephew from the other Smith clan. Can't wait!! I love welcoming new babies into the family! Anyway, the recipe I'll share with you is called Simple Sesame Noodles, and it's from none other than the Pioneer Woman herself. She's amazing. Check her out if you haven't already! The original recipe can be found here, but I followed it pretty much exactly, with the exception of one thing I didn't have, so you can just get it here too!

All the ingredients!

Mince up a little garlic. You'll use that in a minute!

Now you're going to start mixing most of the ingredients in a bowl. Start with soy sauce.

Now add in some sugar.

And some garlic.

Now's a good time to throw your noodles into some boiling water.

Add in the rice vinegar.

And sesame oil.

This is where you'd add in hot chili oil. I couldn't find any at the store, so I improvised and used a little olive oil and some hot sauce ('Da Bomb'), but you could probably omit this and it'd still be fine.

Look at those noodles boil!

Now add the canola oil.

And whisk it all together.

Drain those noodles.

And toss 'em in a bowl.

Now dump the liquid mixture over top of the noodles.

Mix it all up. The noodles should be well coated.

Cut up some green onion for garnish.

Top the noodles with the green onions and serve. Voila!

INGREDIENTS

12 ounces thin noodles, cooked and drained (I used spaghetti noodles; Asian style noodles would be best)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
3 Tbsp. sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon hot chili oil (I didn't have this, so see how I improvised above; could do without this entirely)
4 Tbsp. canola oil
4 whole green onions, sliced thin

DIRECTIONS

Cook noodles according to package instructions.
Whisk all ingredients (except noodles and green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed.
Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with green onions and toss.
Serve in a bowl with chopsticks. Yummy!

Just about two weeks ago, L and I decided that we wanted to make a trip to Colby since we hadn't been there since Christmas. Was just kind of on a whim, and it worked out really well because I was at a conference in the later part of the week that got done a little earlier on Friday. We drove to Colby, had dinner at Allison's with my parents, and spent some time at the VFW like we usually do on Friday nights. Fun times! Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling that great over the weekend, so Saturday was quite lowkey. Definitely was okay with that. L went for his first snowmobile ride ever with my dad that day, so that was fun for him! We had a delicious dinner with all of my family (including all the kiddos), so that was super nice. I was a little nervous since both of my brothers and their families had all been through terrible bouts of sickness in the days and weeks leading up to it, and I couldn't really afford to get sick since I had three late nights in a row in the upcoming days at work. Fortunately for me, I have not gotten the flu or anything since then, so hopefully I'm in the clear. I have been having weird dizzy spells lately, so not really sure what's up with that, but I'll keep you posted if I find out more. Hopefully it's nothing! Anyway, on Sunday, we stuck around a lot longer than we usually do. We checked out the pancake breakfast at the Lion's Club, had some more delicious food with my parents, and stopped at Allison's for their monthly drawing - my dad won! We were in no rush, so we didn't end up leaving town until almost 7:00pm. Kinda regretted that later since we didn't get home until about 9:30, but it was nice to stay a little longer than usual. It was the first time in a LONG time (maybe ever) that we've gone to Colby for the sole purpose of just going. Normally we go because of an event or holiday, so it was super nice to just relax and have a nice weekend with everyone. Hope to do that more often! Next time I go home will probably be in a week or two to see the little new niece(s) and/or nephew(s) that my sister-in-laws (here and here) will be soon bringing into the world. Eeeee! Can't wait to meet the new little ones! Below are a few random pictures from our weekend (mostly of me and L, sorry:). Enjoy!