kitchen table.
new apartment
freshly ground and pressed coffee.
windows open.
what more could a girl need?? seriously though, i could survive off this for a few days i think and not perish.
so jax --> boston --> new york --> dubai --> oman --> mumbai --> boston. this was all done in 9 weeks. i'm tired! to say the least. actually, my body is tired, but i have had a ton of energy. the flight back from dubai was a DANG miracle because never ever in my life have i slept for longer then maybe 2.5 minutes on a plane without the help of drugs. and i don't mean melatonin. this girl needs more then a flippin vitamin to sleep on a plane. so this time, unequipped, i was nervous. 14 hours nonstop calls for drugs and i had none. the person on m left popped something and i thought to ask him to share but the person on my right looked like an undercover person of some kind and i figured he'd tell on me. so, here i am, 2 hours in, watching a movie and eating plane food that they name dinner, and i get the proverbial uh oh ache in my knees. WHICH usually doesn't happen until like the 8 hour mark. i'm thinking I'm doomed. this is going to be hell and back. i rubbed my knees, got up and walked around (to my drugged out and soundly sleeping neighbors disturbance) and drank a of of water. begrudgingly, i walked back to my seat and tried to get comfortable. this included indian style, crossed legs, feet out front resting on the back of the armrests in front of me (you know this position - the birthing position) (and yes i was wearing a dress... I HAVE NO CLUE WHY.... and yes i was covered in 2 blankets). I started to feel sleepy and so then........................ wait for it..................
I WOKE UP!!!!!! ha! hahahahaha. i'm tellin you i have absolutely zero recollection of falling asleep. good lord it's such a miracle i can't even stand to not talk about it all day long. i tapped my finger on the tv screen in front of me and it said there were 3 hours left on the flight. i laughed out loud! ha. man. i couldn't even believe it. therefore, i had zero jetleg which has been awesome because we have had a crap ton to do.
so i arrived late thursday night and stayed in a hotel since our keys weren't available until noon the next day. dave arrived friday morning around noon. we picked up the car and left our stuff at the hotel while we ran 2 trips back and forth from the storage unit. we had a tiny storage unit, like a 3x5, but dang it had some heavy boxes in it. want to know how i know? check out my awesome thigh muscles after countless trips up and down our 4 flights of stairs. that's right. you read it right. next time you pull into your driveway and walk 5 steps to you door, be thankful :)
saturday we went to ikea. which is heaven and a gift from God. want to know what else is a gift? amazon prime. we should have paid hundreds in shipping but instead paid 6 for amazon prime pantry. which you should go look up now.
for the first few days the house (by house i mean room) was super messy. we had boxes everywhere and were sleepin on a thin ikea twin mattress that dave kept in storage. his head at one end and mine at the other. super sexy huh?
then our amazon shipments slowly started coming in and now we have a mattress, cooking utensils, vacuum, wifi, a toaster, cleaning products, cooking products (amazon prime) and it's starting to look like a home and not just a house! our air conditioning window unit should arrive today and then we'll be GOLDEN and comfy :) i'll post pics of something online as soon as it's not all cardboard and clothes.
so, let's talk food. the closest grocery to me is a trader joe's and for weeks before moving here i read blogs and articles on the best items to buy. i didn't buy it all at once, because... budget, but I have gotten a few of the good name-dropped and talked about items.
here are the "I'd buy again's", the "I'd try something else" and the "not ever again" purchases thus far.
also, just to let you know we get all our groceries here. so this includes milk, eggs, shredded cheese, veggies etc. some stuff seems a little bit higher but not so much higher then normal that i'm going to try to find another store to WALK to to get just one item. i like a sale. but not if it's over a mile away :)
I'd buy again's (I rated these between 2 stars and 3 stars):
** guilt free guac - holy moly this stuff is good. creamy avo and small chunks of onion and tomato. it's very good. i usually like my guac with a little more lime and dave likes to add a kick, so when we make it thats what we do, but when avo's are $$$ (at trader joe's the big hass avo's are 1.39 a piece... eek!) then I'll buy this for sure.
*** guilt free kale and spinach yogurt dip -
*** to go with it, the soy & flaxseed tortilla chips are very good. large, crispy and healthy!
*** this morning we tried our coffee for the first time. we bought the joe's dark coffee - dark roast and ground it ourselves. dave likes it dark and i like it smooth and this is a really great bean!
*** they have a really nice selection of nuts and berries and trail mixes but i decided to make my own. i bought a bag of raw sunflower seeds, raw almonds, raisins and the orange flavored dried cranberries, which i'd read about, and made my own mix. it made 3 huge jars and next time i can change it up!
*** multigrain british english muffins. very good. airy and yummy. toasted and made a breakfast sandy this morning.
** bite size everything crackers. tj's has a ton of crackers to choose from and i randomly grabbed this one. they taste like small everything bagels and are really good dipped in the hummus
*** dark choc covered caramels - i know you're probably thinking, "how could these be bad?" and you're right. but dang these are good. one after dinner before bed and you'll never miss dessert every again. they are about 1" x 1" in size, and the dark choc is super yummy and the caramel is super creamy. ugh. it takes me like 10 minutes to eat just one with a cold glass of milk. soooooo gooooooddddd. and also the only sweet thing we have in the house right now (other then these fantastic organic blueberries that taste like candy), so i'm geeking out on the sugar.
***organic lowfat yogurt - super yummy, smooth & creamy
***salsa especial - this surprised me! it tastes like the salsa that ground really smooth that you get from hole in the wall mexican restaurants. dave and i really liked it!
***chicken sausage - spicy jalapeño - these were yummy! I added some coconut oil to my cast iron pan, sautéed these so they'd get a nice char on all sides, added a little water to deglaze the pan, then threw in some green beans with just a few minutes left and covered the pan to steam the green beans. one pot wonder! They were spicy but not overpowering and had really good flavor. i'm pretty sure these are a knock off of the flavored brand sausages you can get at publix and target (the name is escaping me), but, they are about the same price, maybe a little cheaper, and MUCH less salty, which is why i didn't buy the other brand.
***thai shrimp gyoza - these are pretty big potstickers basically. I was not paying attention when i picked up the bag that the serving instructions said to serve with your fave dipping sauce, but, they didn't really need it! I served it with steamed broccoli, and the shrimp filling was very flavorful. a sauce packet included would have been nice, but we didn't feel like it was "missing" something. i pan fried then as the directions stated to get a little crust on them, then added water, covered and steamed. YUM!
I'd try something else:
* hearth oven bread - seeded multigrain. so, it's good. i don't want to say that it's bad. but i buy bread for 2 reasons. eggs in a basket and sandwiches and this wouldn't be good for either. i had it as a sandy yesterday and it's way too dense. we'll finish it, because i bought it, but i will definitely try something else more bready. i usually buy a seeded mulitgrain but this has the density of a loaf of christmas bread or something. just way too thick. not airy fluffy bread. not really sure what I'd buy it for, but the taste is great!
* broccoli slaw & kale salad with chicken and sweet & spicy vinagarette - eh. like it because it's healthy and has seeds and stuff in it but the dressing wasn't a vin at all and i'd try something else.
* pomegranate limeade - dave loves it! i had to water mine down. really good flavor and i like that it's refined sugar free and has no preservatives, but dang it's strong. very sour then gets sweet. good, but i'll be looking for another juice to try.
* wine country chicken salad with pecans and cranberries- good chicken salad but i like mine with celery and a bit saltier. i've eaten almost half the container with the everything bagel crackers, so it's not horrible, but I'd rather make my own.
* multigrain pita chips with sesame - small tasty salty crispy. exactly what you want from pita chips. but SUPER salty. maybe it's just me, or maybe i'm used to the stacy's brand, but these are very salty. i'll look for something not so laden.
not ever again:
*well, it's a pre-prepared frozen dinner thing. tj's is known for their selection of this type of stuff and while this isn't something id' read about, i wanted to buy fish and this seemed yummy. i was wrong. the wild salmon with orzo in a mint and yogurt sauce with zucchini sounded good to me. i baked it in the oven as directed and it was just all wrong. the orzo was mushy and the sauce has zero flavor. seemed like it was there simply so that the pasta wouldn't dry out. the salmon tasted like it'd never touched a flake of seasoning in it's life and was kinda dry. i don't know what i was expecting but this was not it. fail.
*ancient grain pizza with asparagas and cherry tomatoes - the picture on the front of the box looked very enticing, but i PROMISE there was no sauce on this pizza. it was crust, a liiiiiiitle cheese, cherry tomatoes and, like, inch and a half long spears of asparagus...... which btw is not easy to bite into. the chunks needed to be smaller.... and they forgot to add FLAVOR. no go.
things i have not tried yet and will update on soon:
medium cooked frozen shrimp
frozen veggie mix
mini croissants (i don't have a sheet pan yet but i want to DEVOUR these so bad!!!)
so! there you have it. our so far trader joe finds. at this point, i am just getting staples and meats, veggies. i'm guessing the reviews that come after this will be on pre-prepared stuffs. and cookies. and goodies :)
much love!
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