I AMsterdam

This gallery contains 74 photos.

So here are the pics I can post without worry… And one of the many videos:

There’s a hole in the morals, all you can wish for is a better tomorrow

I basically breathe music; it comes out of my pores. Not in the sense that I am a musically inclined individual (I wish), but music is what grinds my gears, so to speak. It’s what keeps me going. I work so I can earn money to go to concerts and hear and see music live. I mean, how the hell else would I want to spend my money? Traveling; but a lot of the time I travel because of music — and to see the world, so there’s two things I guess that keep my feet moving.

I think that’s why I’m a writer. Writers are musicians of the pen. I make this keyboard turn nothing into something worth while. Chyeah beetches. Writers can’t play music (though we can occasionally write it… I’ve tried it a few times), so we make words flow and sound pretty. This is my humble opinion, anyway.

This is the second time today I’ve blogged; on a roooollll. I’m just not that tired right now – I only had to work like 5 and a half hours, pish posh. J’ai besoin l’argent!
Oh, but I had a very happy moment today that I would like to share with everyone. As you know, this summer I have been writing for DIG Boston. Now, this was only supposed to be a summer interning gig, but I came up with a brilliant plan: I want to continue writing for DIG throughout my semester abroad. It would kind of be a way for Bostonians to hear about my European travels, and it would also help me out because I can now tell people that I am a Press person, and hopefully score some free/discounted tickets in the process. Good idea, right? RIGHT. So, I ran the idea by my editor today and presto, change-o, success! I got the go ahead, so now I am going to e-mail about a bazillion people and try and work the press angle to hopefully save money while I am abroad while at the same time being able to go do fun things! If anyone has any recommendations, please feel free to send them my way. But yeah, I was pretty excited to get the go ahead; I also think I may be writing for The East Greenwich Pendulum while I’m abroad. I talked to the editor and he’s on board, but they can’t pay me which kind of sucks. So I’m still deciding whether or not I want to do that. If there are any people out there looking for someone to write for them and would be willing to pay a little somethin’ somethin’… I.am.your.girl.

Turns out that I am in fact tired, so I think I’m going to hit the hay. But first I wanted to share a video with you that someone at DIG posted about. The title of this post is taken from the following song. Personally, I think the lyrics are pretty much on point as far as the truth is concerned. Soooo yeah, enjoy. Also enjoy this food porn.

Rainy, Sunday Afternoon

Rain, rain, rain.
It’s pretty vile out right now, this weather is screwy!

Anyway, hello peeps. I’m now blogging as a 21-year old. Wooooo. My birthday was Thursday and I’m loving it. Funny thing though is I haven’t once been carded since the big two-one and I’ve been to a liquor store, a bar and ordered drinks at restaurants. Nonsense, but I don’t hate it.

Besides the birthday, I haven’t been up to much. I had my first day of work today… for a whooping two hours (workin’ hard), because my sisters graduated high school today!! Congrats Kiley and Brenna I’m so proud of you guys. We’ve had a hell of a year, and this was definitely a significant load off of their shoulders, I’m sure. Then I promptly stuffed my face with Filet Mignon at Yokohama Steakhouse, nomnomnom. I recommend going there for anyone who hasn’t been before, the foods super tasty and it’s never been crowded when I’ve eaten there.

I start my internship at Dig Boston on Tuesday! I’m super excited, especially since that means I’ll be spending my Tuesday nights from here on out in Boston, holla. I really need to get more hours at my work though, so hopefully that happens. If not, I’m going to go broke about halfway through Europe, if that.
Speaking of Europe, I need to get a move on with my travel book. I have like two pages left in Austria and then I’ll report back to you guys; maybe I’ll be closer to deciding where I want to go when I actually get across the pond.

Max and I cooked a full meal yesterday! We made Triple Berry Salad and Brown Sugar Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce. Both = fantastic. I’ll add the recipes below so you can re-create the meal if you so desire. You won’t regret it. There were only two minor issues we had; one being the close call of mixing the wrong ingredients and the second was kind of funny. We got our signals crossed and I put the chickens in the oven before they were supposed to go in; thankfully the issue was realized 5 minutes into the cooking so crisis averted. Someday I’ll be able to cook sans errors, I swear!

The Goods

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Triple Berry Salad

raspberries
strawberries, cut in half or quartered if they are large
blackberries or blueberries
blue cheese crumbles
spinach
1 package glazed walnuts
Girard’s Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing or Brianna’s Poppy Seed dressing

Wash the berries.  Cut the strawberries in half, or if they are large, cut them into quarters.  Wash and dry the spinach.  In a large bowl, place a layer of spinach and then a layer of berries.  Top with some blue cheese crumbles and glazed walnuts.  Repeat the layers as you like.  Serve with salad dressing.

Brown Sugar Chili Chicken

2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried minced garlic
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbs olive oil
8 chicken legs or wings
1/3 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
2 oz goat cheese
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs sour cream

Preheat oven to 425.

In a plastic bag, or a bowl,  combine the first 7 ingredients. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and rub to coat. Add the chicken to the bag (or bowl) and toss or shake bag until well coated.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, turn the chicken over, and continue to bake until cooked through, about 10-15 additional minutes (depending on the thickness of your chicken).

In a food processor, add the roasted red pepper, goat cheese salt and sour cream, process until well combined.

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Well, I think I’m going to go and try to train my brain a little bit – go here to do the same and we can compare notes. Peace out girl scouts.