Category: Uncategorized

I am working from home right now and I find myself doing more cooking as well. As I result, I have been gathering recipes that either look interesting or that I have already tried. I think this list will grow as time goes on. 🙂

Instant Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

I made this two days ago and it is a lot of food. I am still eating the left overs. It is quite tasty. The only modification I made was that I didn’t have enough beef broth, so I just added water. I probably could have added bullion for additional flavor, but I did not. I think it had enough flavor with only my one cup of broth.

I made this a week ago for my significant other. Currently, he is on a keto diet…and ugh. I am not about that life, but I am trying to be supportive. This is a great keto friendly recipe and it is especially yummy if you are a fan of dill pickles. Modifications I made to this recipe: no celery, spicy mustard instead of Dijon, and dried dill rather than fresh. I also used pulled chicken rather than the canned stuff.

Keto Crack Chicken

This is another Keto recipe. However, before this recipe, I had no idea that crack chicken was a “thing.” Had you ever heard of it before? I didn’t not do any modifications on this recipe. It got some positive reviews from the significant other just be careful what you pair this with. The significant other reported possibly coming out of ketosis when he ate the chicken in some keto friendly wraps.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

These are seriously amazing. They are my go to I need to impress somebody with who awesome I am at making things cookies. They always yield a fairly sizable batch and they are perfect it would just want to turn your brain off, but still feel like you are doing something productive.

Chocolate Rugelache

So…. I’m going to be honest. I have not tried this one, yet. I really want to, some of the ingredients were harder to come by than others. I love ruglache, but I have never tried to make it myself. I am excited to try.

I don’t have children….but as I have aged into the crotchedy old millennial I am, I have gained friends with children. This is a fairly new thing for me. And recently for the first time, I was invited to a child’s birthday who was not related to me in anyway. Then…the most unprecedented thing happened. I said yes! I will go to that two year-old’s party on a pirate ship. So….then I went and I learned some things. Here are ten things that I learned.

1. Pirate Ships (and other children’s parties, especially when the child is younger) have alcohol. So that’s something to think about.
2. I like dressing up always. If its a theme party, why not dress up? Who says that kids are the only ones that get to wear fun clothing and be adorable?
3. Pirate costumes look very similar to biker gang costumes.
4. The children will play with one another and activities will be geared towards entertaining them. I don’t know why I thought I would have to like go on a treasure hunt or something along side the children.

5. Pinatas and small children are adorable, but it takes a ridiculous amount of time for them to break them open.

6. I also realized that pinatas aren’t great for that whole concept related to ” Bobbi, we don’t pick up and eat them from off the ground.” Pinatas are such a specific exception to that rule. One of the very young kiddos started to pick up candy and little pieces of trash to put in their goody bag and their parents did a nice job of being like “no, not that…get that one…no baby, stop, that’s trash.”

7. Sometimes, if someone offers you help…even if you don’t like it… you gotta take it. We spent forever driving around trying to find a parking space (prob like 10 minutes). About ten minutes before the pirate ship was supposed to leave, my partner volunteered to drop me off and he would continue to drive around in hopes of finding a spot. This way, at least I was on the ship when it sailed away. I did not like this idea at all! But I took what was offered, because he had a point and we did not drive two hours for neither of us to be on that boat. When I waited near the boat, I felt less stressed, because I knew I would be on the boat if nothing else. But he ended up making it back before the boat left! And we got to be pirates together! It was a good reminder. Sometimes, I tend to forget…when someone is offering something, they are trying to help me. They are not obligated or burdened. They are doing it, because they care about me and want to help.

8. Watching children eat cupcakes is one of the purest simple joys a person can experience. All their little frosting faces were adorable.

9. I can’t do a classic duck face. After several iterations of trial and error, I realized all my duck faces look like fish faces. I guess, I can accept that about myself. Plus, I was at an aquarium making faces at a duck, so maybe a fish face was more appropriate...

10. And the biggest one! I shouldn’t stop myself from going to kid’s parties just because I don’t have kids. It was so enjoyable just to talk the other adults, watch the little ones run around, and eat my pizza and cupcake. Honestly, I was so worried about what it was gonna “look like” or if it would be weird and should have been more focused on thinking about my friend and wanting to be there because I love her and her little pirate.

In a few days, I will be getting on a plane and going to another country! Woo! WOO! As such, I thought I would chronicle my planning process, because I have a whole routine, but I’ve never written it down. I should explain why it’s a process. I was born in Hawaii, and the cost of living was quite expensive. My parents needed to work multiple jobs. Luckily, my extended family is quite large, so I ended up being watched on and off by all my various aunts and uncles. At some point while I was a toddler, my parents decided that they needed to relocate. They felt they would be better able to provide for me and they would also actually be able to see me more often as well. My parents opted to move to the mainland. However, it caused a little kerfluffle, because all my aunts and uncles who saw me on the daily no longer could see me without hoping on a several hours long plane ride. A bargain was struck and from then on my parents flew me back to Hawaii (sometimes by myself) to spend the summer with my extended family. This semi-routine travel throughout my childhood resulted in some wonky travel habits some awesome and others that probably aren’t great. Either way, I’m excited to share with you

Hydration Hacks

Research has shown that when we are flying in the air that our taste buds change. In some cases, our taste gets dulled a bit with things that are sweet or salty. However, sour/bitter can be preferable. I just read that more people prefer tomato juice on airplanes in comparison to in everyday life. I may have to try it out, because I am not a fan of bloody marys, but maybe I will be on an airplane.

If you are flying on a plane, bring an empty water bottle. You can fill it up with water after you get through security. There are also flavor packets now for single servings so you can make yourself some grape drink or whatever.

Thirsty at the airport? I would suggest buying something in a plastic bottle. This way you can close the bottle again if you aren’t done drinking it. The fountain soda option may seem like a good option, but if you carry it on the plane where ever will you put it? That thing tips over….it will spill.

Do you like soda? Did you know you can ask for the entire can on the majority of airlines and they will give you the whole thing?

Snack Hacks

When I was younger, I used to raid the pantry for snacks that I could bring on to the plane. However, now that I am older and wiser, I realized that this method is ineffective. I have gone on some many trips in which random gummy fruit or a bag or chips have come there and back home again with me. The tough truth is…if all you have in your pantry is odds and ends in your pantry…if you don’t eat whatever those things are in your everyday, why would you eat them while you are on a plane?

I usually need to go to the store last minute to get my flight snacks, if I do it too early, I end up eating them before I am even on the way to the airport. Here is list of what I typically get.

• Chips (Cheesy Munchies, Funions, or Doritos)
• Gum
• Fruity Candy (Hi Chew or Mamba)
• Gummy Candy (Varies depending on my mood)
• “Safe” Chocolate meaning something individually wrapped or candy covered to prevent them from melting all over (m&m’s and sixlets)
• Healthy snack (there are some grocery stores that sell little samplers with cheese, crackers, a fruit, and chicken salad)

I don’t have time to shop!

Do you have a Starbucks gift card? My family loves Starbucks and I always seem to have one somewhere. You can use these cards at the airport starbucks. Go ahead, buy yourself that coffee, gum, chips, and cake pop. It’s a good way to treat yourself at the airport without making a huge dent in your bank account.