Hawaiian Chicken with Rice

Living Alone Lesson 4: Screaming will not kill cockroaches.

Hate is a pretty strong word. I know I over-use it and don't really mean it sometimes when I say it. Honestly, I feel privileged to say that there are only a few things in life that I truly hate.

Growing up in South Florida exposed me to the nastyness of palmetto bugs. Just thinking about them makes my skin crawl. There wasn't much you could do to prevent them from crawling into the garage or house in the hot, humid weather! Luckily I could just scream or run away and someone else would have to deal with it. 

Spring break in high school, I was in Texas with the besties. We were having a great "before bed" conversation when I quickly jumped out of bed to run to the bathroom. I flipped on the light, did my thing, then turned around to flush the toiled...AND SCREAMED! A huge palmetto the size of my middle finger went scurrying across the back of the toilet into the vanity. I woke up the whole house: parents, brothers, friends, everyone.  When they came to the rescue there was no mysterious bug to be found. I am positive it is hiding in the wood. To this day, they all probably think I was on hallucinogenics.

College came around and I was supposed to mature. There was a small, more private weight room in the basement of one of the old, dingy dorms near mine. It was beyond disgusting, smelled like feces, and the roof leaked in more than seven places. I am still shocked that I used it, but it was closer than the trek across campus in the -40 degree weather during the winter. I usually felt pretty safe around one of my good buddies and would venture to go lift over there with him as I was confident he had my back if a creeper ever decided to get me while lifting. Pretty sure it was a Sunday afternoon when my perception of this brave soul drastically changed. As soon as we entered the hell hole of a room, I recognized these HUGE, nasty antenna and immediately freaked out! (Well, I thought it was a freak out until I witnessed Ben's reaction.) He legit was in the corner screeching like a girl telling me "to do something about it." After I realized that the two of us combined yelled louder than a school yard full of children and that I would have to be the bigger person in the situation, I started chucking 25 lb. plate weights across the room. I creatively trapped the nasty cockroach, then smashed it with a mound of six weights. They sat there for the rest of the school year and I never, EVER, will go back to check on it. 

After over twenty years of my life, Jeanie can finally say she witnessed me screaming like a girl. I turned on the toaster oven for her one night and after about three minutes of it heating up, I opened it to put her bread in. Never thought I'd ever see a cockroach run from a heated toaster over, but it happened, literally, right before my eyes. I jumped to the ceiling and let out the highest pitched yell of my life. For sure thought the bug was going to crawl on my face. Just one of those things I never expected to find toasting bread, but was glad to have someone close by to take care of the bug for me!

Yesterday I was in the bathroom and saw a big, black mark on the wall behind me. At first, I was trying to figure out what dinner guest made a scuff that high up on the wall and how I would come up with a story for the house owner upon arrival. Quickly I noticed the trademark, long antenna and realized it was no mark at all. I could yell and scream all night, but that bug was not going to magically disappear and the neighbors were probably contemplating calling the police. I gathered myself together, did a little pump up speech and ran to grab the vacuum. I closed my mouth really tight, turned on the high powered thing and sucked him up super fast with one eye closed. I heard the crunch and left the machine on for a few more minutes just to make sure he was drowning in the sea of hair already trapped in the vacuum. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. 

Hawaiian Chicken

3 chicken breasts

4 cups pineapple tidbits with juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

splash of olive oil

1 cup brown rice 

1 cup white rice

2 cups water

I surgically cleaned and chopped the chicken into about 1 inch pieces and added the pineapple pieces, juice and sugar to the crock pot. After about one hour or so I added a splash of oil to prevent it from sticking together. I let it cook on high for about 3 hours total and it was moist and tender!

With about 20 minutes remaining on the chicken, I cheated and used the rice cooker for the rice. Half-white, half-brown rice and it was ready in just a few minutes!

I don't hate pineapple, or chicken, or people that kill bugs for me. I can handle fruit flies and spiders, but Lord bless me when a nasty cockroach (or any closely related relative of his) enters my home. I like to think I am making baby steps in the right direction.

Coconut Pound Cake with Rum Glaze

Living Alone Lesson 2: Hosting is fun work.

In college I always said "I am going to have parties all the time when I get my own place." I lived in the dorms all four years and was a RA so "partying" in my little abode was difficult to say the least. Although I still don't really have my own place (yet), I think I can still host. And for the next week or two I get to pretend the house is mine! :)

The awful 30-40 degree rain we had ALL last week made me want to stay in bed and drink tea al day, but yesterday and today's glorious weather made up for it! I have had spring fever for probably a month now and am definitely ready for the beach weekends and hot runs to start up again! To prepare others for the greatness, I decided to have a themed din din party. I think it is safe to say it was Hawaiian-themed. Pineapple dominated and, as we all learned, it pairs well with lots of things!

I originally wanted to host a bake-off, but I realized that most people eat normal foods and don't run off baked goods like I do. My main dish was Hawaiian Chicken served over rice (post to follow), but as the host, it is only proper to have a dessert option too just in case someone else doesn't bring one right...? Coconut and rum are both pretty tropical!

Coconut Pound Cake with Rum Glaze

1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temp

2 cups sugar

1/2 tablespoon coconut extract

4 eggs

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

1/4 cup Captain Morgan

1 cup sugar

Preheat over to 350. Cream the butter and sugar together until nice and smooth. Add in the coconut extract and beat together with the eggs until light and fluffy. Combine the flour and baking powder together. Slowly add in the flour mixture, one cup at a time, with the milk, a little bit at a time. Do not over mix the batter. Once everything is incorporated, pour into a well-greased bundt cake pan. Bake at 350 for about 60 minutes, checking with a toothpick to make sure it is cooked all the way through. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before flipping onto a plate.

the masterpiece!!
(I feel like there should be a flower or plant in the middle)

For the glaze, add the rum and sugar to a small sauce pan on low heat. Bring to a slow boil and stir. Let it boil for about one minute or until the sugar completely dissolves. Slowly pour the glaze onto the top of the cake letting it drip down the sides. When it cools it will crystallize and make a pretty pattern!

the inside was nice and moist!

My (baking) services are up for auction. Tonight I was offered a basement bedroom with a private bath. Even the non-loving coconut fans in the house thoroughly enjoyed the cake, which pretty much made my night!


I am kind of glad I didn't host parties in college. I couldn't deal with mopping up beer from the floor, picking up millions of solo cups all over the place, or finding other fun random messes in the morning. I still had a bit of work to do when everyone left and I didn't even throw a rager! I will say that the best thing about going to someone else's party is that you get to go home to a clean(er) house! :) No matter how well I vacuumed and cleaned the counters before people came, I did it all over again! 


Totally worth it! It was great to have people over and share yummy dishes! Can't wait for the next one!!

Lamb Stew!

Living Alone Lesson 1: How to de-clog the sink.

The sister is out and about enjoying pineapple, coconuts, and volcanoes. She is celebrating her birthday, her recent addition of PhD after her name, and many years with her hubby. In the meantime, I am throwing raging parties every night. The house will be clean before she gets back.

It's been nice to make a mess when I cook and not have to worry about it. Or leave my clothes all over the house. In fact, I think I have been doing it these past few days just because I can! I will admit, I did pick up and play housewife today. The counter-tops are shining and I can see the carpet in my room!

Garbage disposals are great. Don't have to worry about scraping out the crumbs or peels from the sink. Just push the little button. However, today we had a little spit up. Usually when this happens, I just stand there and look cute while Jeanie plugs the mess away. Doesn't seem too complicated and, to be honest, I have plenty of toilet plunging experiences from the good ol college days (o how I miss the roomies!) With no Jeanie to do the work for me, I was left to use my own skills...

Lamb Stew
1/2 medium onion
3 stalks celery
3 carrots
2 potatoes
6 stalks of parsley, stems removed, tops chopped
about 3/4 lb lamb meat
1 bottle dark beer
1 can Hunts tomato sauce (you can use fresh or diced tomatoes as well)
rosemary
thyme
pepper
olive oil

Peel, rinse and chop all the veggies and add to crock pot. Remove the stems from the parsley, chop the tops and add to the pot. Carefully trim the lamb meat, cut into chunks and add in. Pour in the beer and tomato sauce. Add a splash of olive oils and seasonings to taste. You can always add more later! Set the crock pot on high for 4 hours and enjoy!

my stew with some fresh French Baguette!

We all know how capable I am...so after plunging for 20 minutes, I called papa bear for some guidance. I learned how to create more pressure by using the stopper for one side of the sink and plunging on the other. I heard WOOOOOSH and magically the water drained! Thank God for cell phones, the engineers in my life, and my amazing ability to follow directions.

I am not sure if it was the potato peels or carrots, but needless to say, next time I might just throw the peels in the garbage. (My personal plumber highly recommended that) I know I should probably be eco-friendly and compost, but I don't want raccoons. I do not think I am ready to deal with them. At least not yet.