Spicy Tequila Lime Chicken Quesadillas

Cooking:

First, I almost forgot how to spell quesadilla.  My confusion may come from the fact that I totally forgot that I made these AND I made them back in October (if the date stamp on my camera can be trusted).  Or I'm tired.  One of the two.

I marinated these chicken breasts in a plastic bag with tequila, lime juice, cayenne pepper, olive oil, and minced garlic for about 4 hours.

I grilled my chicken, then my peppers and onions, in the same pan (so the veggies would pick up some of the seasoning from the marinade).

I topped one flour tortilla with sliced chicken, onions, peppers, and shredded Boar's Head three pepper colby jack cheese (I am OBSESSED with this cheese).  Then topped it with another tortilla and threw it on my grill.

We enjoyed these tasty treats with light sour cream, habanero salsa, and homemade margaritas.  It didn't suck.

Reading:

So you're clearly all going to think that I only read really weird books.  Or books with dark characters.  Or books with murder.  Or whatever.  And I'm ok with that, because I always let people know that the books I tend towards are different before I make recommendations.  I give you the same disclaimer, peeps.

Sharp Objects is good.  The characters are interesting (if a little exaggerated in their imperfections) and the setting is well-described and spot-on.  I felt a little like Gillian Flynn fought too hard to make the reader go "WTF!" with this one, and so I didn't love it.  (For the record, I felt this way about Gone Girl, too, but not as strongly).  Given that this was her first novel, though, it was excellent.  And her mind must be a VERY dark and twisty place, which is nice for people like me who like dark and twisty (and slightly depressing) things.

Wearing:

The fun-spending ban is still on, and since I don't consider working out to be much fun, I don't consider purchasing this tank a violation.

via

But a girls' gotta keep herself in shape (for me, to keep myself from going absolutely CRAZY [or crazier than my normal nature]) so bring on the bar(re).  Boo.

Molasses Cookies and The Shining Girls

Cooking:

Before the holidays this year, I made several different treats for the people in my life whom I really like.  The people who I REALLY like got some of these Chewy Ginger Cookies.

I say that partially, but not wholly, in jest, because it turns out cardamom is expensive.  And I used fresh ginger.  And so I thought these cookies, which took longer than usual to make and cost about $15 per cookie, should only go to really high quality peeps.

And I'm not going to lie to you, these expensive little gems not only looked better than your average cookie, but they tasted better, too.  Cardamom and ginger for the win?

Reading:

Remember many moons ago when I told you I would update you on The Shining Girls?   Well it took me longer than expected to get to starting this book because of a variety of reasons (the least of which being that I went to get my hair done sans book and had to go buy another book [more on that later] which I then had to finish before I got back to this one.  Whew.)   But, y'all, this book is GOOD.  Totally bizarre and twisty turny in an Inception sort of way but SO, SO GOOD.  If you like serial killers and kickass female characters and time travel (I realize that sounds wrong, but it's not) then pick this up yesterday.

Wearing:

I am on a self-imposed "fun spending ban" for at least two months (food doesn't count), which means I haven't been wearing anything all that special lately.  I have decided, however, that I need a perfectly vaguely oversized men's white t-shirt to wear to work so that I can look like a librarian/cater-waiter crossover.

And because I have the body of a twelve-year old boy I am lucky enough to be able to buy these "men's" shirts in the little boys department.  This one is from Land's End and will join my wardrobe as soon as this spending ban is over (and maybe I'll even make the H take pics - unless I hear violent protests from the masses, in which case I will continue to keep this blog from becoming a personal style blog).