Creamy Dreamy Shrimp Rolls

Have you ever seen the mini series the 10th Kingdom?  It's pretty cheesy, but kind of fun!  My mom bought it a while ago because she loved it so much, and now it's a fun thing to pop in when I'm sick or something (you don't have to use your brain much). ;)  

Anyway, it's an all-star cast, and the story is all magical & fantasy - with a modern-day girl & her dad getting trapped in their world.  Honestly if I had seen it when I was between the ages of 10-14 I would have gone bonkers for it!  Anyhew, there's a "wolf" (part man part wolf) played by the ridiculously cute Scott Cohen (who was also in Kissing Jessica Stein - another one of my favorite movies).  But I'm getting off track!  The wolf pretty much has love-at-first-sight for the main girl in the story, and he keeps referring to her as a "Creamy Dreamy Girl!" throughout.  It's kind of silly, but cute.  

Hence the name of my post.  
Nah, it wasn't too far off track, was it? :) 

I made these for our last beach vacation to Pawley's Island, South Carolina at the end of last year.  It was one of my favorite lunches, and after making my last post about beaches, I decided to replicate it last night!  It wasn't the same as eating it on the beach, but it was still just as yummy. 

Creamy Shrimp Rolls

Adapted from the Real Simple recipe

Serves 4| Hands-On Time: 10m | Total Time: 10m

Ingredients
    1/4 cup mayonnaise (or Veganese)
    1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
    kosher salt and pepper
    1 1/2 pounds cooked medium shrimp, cut in half crosswise
    2 stalks celery, chopped
    1/4 cup minced red onions
    4 whole wheat hot dog buns
    1 small head butter lettuce, torn into pieces

Directions
    In a medium bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
    Fold in the shrimp, celery, and onions.
    Line the buns with the lettuce and fill with the shrimp mixture. Serve with a side of fresh sliced watermelon!


This is great to have on a hot day with an ice cold beer.  SO delicious and creamy AND DREAMY!! :D 

Sigh, I'd love another beach vacation soon...

I'm almost all out of vacation days for the year (and money for that matter - haha!), so it looks like I won't get to do a beach vacation this year.  Sigh!  That's one of my favorite things to do!  

Luckily I DO have another trip planned to visit my big sister in NYC, so that's awesome.  Not quite the same as a beach vacation, but it will do!  And I can't wait to see Amber too - it has been a while! 

I don't get to do a beach trip every year, but I like to try & get in a good relaxing vacation at some point.  This time it might have to wait though... 

Me and my little sister in Kauai, Hawaii - about 4 or 5 years ago.  Look how long my hair was!  CRAZY!!
It was so beautiful there, and we spent most of our time just lounging on the beach... right where I like to be. :) 

All of the pictures above from we heart it!  
I just loved this picture of this tattooed chick - super CUTE, and I love the colors!!

Another pic from Kauai - on our adventure to Queen's Bath.  It was so magical there!  I think it's funny how teeny tiny I look in this picture, but I guess it's appropriate for the location! 

These next shots are from our Pawley's Island, SC vacation last year!!  Sigh, it was so much fun.  Here's one of Katy shaking out her towel...

One of my most favoritest lunches on the trip!!  Shrimp salad on a hot dog bun with butter lettuce, and a Yuengling.  I actually got some shrimp the other day so that I could at least recreate the lunch!  Maybe I'll grab some beer at the liquor store too, sit on my back porch in the sun, put my iPod on "beach sounds" and imagine I'm there again...

Yep, that's where you can find me when I'm beachin' it!  I love that place.

 Beautiful beach sunrise...

Hangin' with the girls!

Yeah, I definitely need another beach vacation soon!!

GRASS by Sheri Tepper

A couple of book club's ago we chose the book GRASS by Sheri Tepper, a sci-fi book that Katy chose to put into the pot.  Unfortunately the book was difficult to find in stores, and it's about 450 pages long, so not many of us could finish it before our next meeting (when we chose Bossypants by Tina Fey).

However, since my mom was the only one that finished Grass, and she LOVED it, we decided to carry it over to the next meeting so that we could discuss it AND Bossypants at the same time.  Very different books, but whatever! 

I just finished reading Grass last night, and it was amazing.  The beginning of the book was kind of hard to get through for me - just because I had NO idea what was going on, and it was as though the author just wanted me to pick it up right away without explanation.  I was confused and frustrated.  

As I read on, the plot began unfolding.  There's a planet called "Grass" where an aristocratic group of people (bons) go on hunts, similar to the way they would go to hunt a fox on horesback on earth.  However, in this story, they ride Hippae - terrifying creatures with spikes along their neck and sharp teeth... and they hunt creatures called Foxen - claws and eyes and barely recognizable by their camouflage.  


Marjorie is the main character who has arrived on Grass with her family to hopefully find a cure for a Plague that has been killing humans across the universe, and yet is somehow not found on this strange planet.  


The mystery of the Hippae, the bons, the Foxen, and the planet of Grass unfolds into an exciting turn of events that I could not stop reading.  I was pouring over the pages sucking up all of the details, all of the imagery, the excitement, the underlying meanings.  It was a thrill, and very stimulating.  There is a great review here if you want to check it out (but you may want to read the book first, as it gives away some aspects of the story). 


I would highly recommend this book, not just to sci-fi fans, but to anyone looking for a great read!  I can't wait to talk about it at our next book club meeting!
 

Easy Soba Noodle Dinner & Sparkly Eye Makeup!

Last night I made this ridiculously easy thing for dinner, so I thought I'd share.  It's quick, easy, healthy, delicious, AND vegan!  WOOT!!  So much amazing all in one place! 

Soba Noodle & Shitake Mushroom Bowl
Serves 1

1 tbsp coconut oil (or vegetable oil) 
Buckwheat Soba Noodles (I used the pre-cooked kind in the refrigerated section.  I love this stuff - you just heat it up for a minute in boiling water, and it's done!  You can use uncooked too of course.)
Red or yellow onion (about 1/4 of a large one, sliced into strips)
3-4 cloves of garlic (minced)
6-7 medium-sized shitake mushrooms (sliced)
Braggs Liquid Amino Acids (OR Soy Sauce), about 1 tbsp
Hoisin Sauce
Hot sauce (optional), Syiracha is my favorite!

Cook the soba noodles according to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the coconut oil in a large pan on medium heat.  Throw in the onions & garlic, and cook until slightly tender.  Turn up the heat to medium high, and throw in the mushrooms.  When they've slightly browned (about 2 minutes), turn off the heat, and splash with the Braggs or Soy Sauce (stir well).

Put the Soba noodles in a bowl, and top with desired amount of Hoisin sauce (I used about 1-2 tbsp).  Mix thoroughly, then top with the veggies and hot sauce.

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On another note, have I told you how much I love my Urban Decay glitter eyeliner?  It's FANTASTIC.  Not your boring old black-or-brown eyeliner.  It GLITTERS!!!  And it comes in all kinds of fun colors.  No, I'm not getting paid in eyeliner for this.  Although I should be.... 

Here's where you can find them!  You can also find them at Sephora (my personal choice).  

Today I wanted to spice up my usual makeup choices.  Here's how I got this look: 

After applying my usual concealer & powder, I used some of my lavender purple eyeshadow.  Underneath I took a thin brush, and lightly tapped some white shimmer powder in the corner & bottom of my eye.  

Then I took a reddish / pinkish lip liner, and lined my eyes.  A lot of places don't sell these colors as eyeliners, but lipliners work fine!  I like to use something in a similar color as a base to the glitter eyeliner, because they're slightly sheer, and this way they stand out more.  Just be sure to not let the liner meet your eye - leave a little gap (this should be pretty easy to do). 

Take a long lasting black eyeliner (well sharpened), and fill in the gap that you left with your reddish / pinkish liner (along the lashes). 

Whip out your glitter liner, and paint it on top of the reddish / pinkish liner.  

Put on your mascara, and you're done!  Yay!

 

Moving In...

So, it looks as though this crazy fellow and I are going to be living together in just a couple of months!  Kinda crazy!  Personally, I've never lived with a fella before.  I've had roommates, sure - but never a BOY roommate, let alone a BOYFRIEND roommate.  

Although I did move back in with my parents for 2 years.  That should give me some extra points on the "patience" and "compromise" charts. 

Anyhoodle, we're figuring out how to make this work well for both of us.  John has had experience w/ this sort of thing, and I haven't.  Since we'll have the space though, I'm going to have my own room.  What I mean is, that it'll be a room all to myself to do with what I like.  It'll be my little "Beth" space! :)

Also, we'll get to have separate bathrooms, which is pretty awesome.  Not that John has a typical "boy" bathroom - he's actually rather clean!  But it will be nice to have all of my girl crap in my own space.  

There's something about separate / togetherness that just feels right to me.  I've been independent and living on my own for so long, that it will be quite an adjustment.  I'm sure it'll be an adjustment for John too!  I know we'll have a ton of fun together though, which puts me at ease.  It's a big step, but I'm sure it'll be a fun one!

Memorial Day Weekend CAMPING (and a new camera - YAY!)

This weekend a group of friends & I went up to the mountains to enjoy the great outdoors.  We did a lot of hiking, a lot of laughing, a lot of eating things heated over a campfire, and a lot of soakin' up the sun.  It was wonderful just to get out of town for a couple of days! 

Stacey & I on our first hike of the weekend!  It was a relatively easy hike, but we walked for a good 2 1/2 miles.  We goofed around a lot...

And John played "explorer"! :)

Sigh, don't you just love Aspen trees?  I LOVE THEM!!!  Their leaves are so magical looking when they flutter in the wind.  Holy crap, I sound like a hippie.  They're pretty okay??

A failed "mid-jump" picture.  Hey, I just got a new camera.  I'm still getting used to the shutter timing!

Love this boy.

Our humble (yet awesome) campsite!!  It really was a perfect spot!

I love this picture - hilarious!!

This new camera has amazing quality - this is with the macro setting, and it captures really great details!  Even with shaky & unsteady hands like mine.  Which means you guys are in for some awesome food pictures!  YEAH!

Speaking of!  :)  I had this for lunch.  Ezekiel sprouted bread with Jarlsberg cheese, Yves "Ham" slices, red onions, butter lettuce, mustard & Veganese.  I wrapped it in foil, and cooked it on the grill until it was slightly browned on both sides & the cheese had melted.  It was DELICIOUS!

Roasting food & marshmallows over the fire.... one of my favorite parts about camping!

 A perfectly cooked marshmallow.  I love when they get a little charred on the end - it means they're DONE!  And one word... caramelized.  That's all that needs to be said.

We all piled in the back of Phil's truck like a bunch of hillbillies to reach a hiking trail.  It was worth the bumpy & dusty ride!

ACKK!!! It's eating my head!!!

I thought this rock looked like a face.  I had John demonstrate. :)

We got REALLY high up there!  I think it was called "Devil's Peak" or "Devil's Head Peak" or something of the sort.  At the end of the hike you could climb up a gajillion steps to the ranger look-out station.  You could see for miles & miles - it was pretty amazing.

Mmmmm.... smores. :)

How was YOUR Memorial Day Weekend??