All American Chili Cook-Off & My Girls

Genna's momma sent spices to make chili, cornbread mix, and ghirardelli chocolate brownie mix, so Genna and I decided to prepare a feast for the ladies tonight at Genna and Lindsay's house. Lindsay baked the cornbread and the brownies, Genna cut the red peppers, and I made the chili... natually-- I'm the product of my father, the worldclass chef. The chili turned out really well, but I wasn't hungry anymore once I finished cooking, so I only had a few spoonfuls. I really hate cooking for just myself, but I love it when I'm cooking for other people. I also bake a lot when I feel depressed; it's just a habit I've picked up since entering uni. Anyway, I figured I'd post a tribute to Sweet Home AMERICA with a few pictures of our chili cookoff.

Me at the start of the process... before people came over and pestered me to speed up the slow-cooking process.

Lindsay, Alex, Genna, Mon-Mon, and Chels (my buds) eating.

Mon-Mon was really hungry and wouldn't let me simmer the chili for as long as I had hoped. I fed her scoops of beef to hold her over.

Linds and Chels cutting the cornbread-- Lindsay being the author of the sweet bread that provided us the southern comfort we've been missing. Chelsea was also super hungry and hovering over us to get at the food.

Sweet Baby Genna faithfully chopping red peppers for me.

Other than that, I haven't done too much today. I went for a long run when I woke up further up the Crookes Hill where I live and ran into this park featuring cliffs overlooking the Sheffield hilly skyline. It was pretty sweet. I wish it was convenient to carry my camera with me on runs, but it's just not, so every detail is carefully memorized and stored in my brain for later. Once I got back, I jammed to Anna Nalick and a few other randos that turned up on my iPod shuffle mix and proceeded to do some push-ups and sit-ups. Good times. I'm getting tired of my cold. I can't run without snot shooting out of my nose. It really pisses me off. After that, I cleaned my room some more, even though I just received a congratulatory note from the dorm inspectors telling me that my dorm room exceeded the university's cleanliness expectations... I guess you could say I'm turning into my sister, but a lesser form. Now, I'm just obsessed with disinfectant wipes. Thanks Melissa. Then, I showered and met up with Linds and Genna for a grilled chicken, tomato, and pesto sandwich and research/study time a la biblioteca. That's when we got back here to Genna and Lindsay's house and started cooking. Now, Genna is taking a break from us pretending to do work up in her room when really she is facebook stalking. The other girls are sitting around watching the kitchen table eating tubs of icing and other baked goods and watching episodes of Friends. I'm in my happy place chilling on the couch and blogging. We were gonna go out tonight, but I slighly convinced people that we should just stay in and catch up on our tv shows and stuff. I can't get motivated to pay 5 pounds to enter a club anymore... I just can't. That's like $7 U.S. and I'd rather save it for a rainy day when I want to buy clothes. Yep... or save for Spring break.

Which brings me to another talking point. For Easter Break, Genna, Alex, Lindsay, and I are going on a 10 day Eurotrip thru Amsterdam, Munich, Rhineland, the Rhine Valley, Lucerne, Florence, Venice, and ending in Paris. We're also driving thru Tuscany, which I'm freaking pumped about. And we get to see real glass blowers in Venice. We're going on a couple boat trips too, but that's all paid for in the package we bought... don't worry. It was a one time purchase, which broke me, but at least it's all taken care of. Then, we head back to London on April 13 and all hang out for the night together. Then, on the 14th we split up and head opposite directions. Alex and I are flying from London-Gatwick to Shannon to meet up with her family and tour my sweet Ireland for the following week. It promises to be freaking amazing. I really would like to go to Casablanca, Morrocco at some point, but I'm not sure if that's in the cards for me. I might just go by myself on some random weekend. Lindsay and Genna are going to Prague after our trip, which I would also love to do at some point. I'm thinking I'll head there and meet up with Lisa during my month of exams or something. That'd be schweet. I really don't have the money for any of these trips, let alone survival for the next 3 months, but I'd rather give up food and other things in order to afford those cheap 10 pound ryanair flights. I'm thinking of stealing a cardboard box out of the nearby recycling bins to create a portable shelter to take with me. These are just dreams-- I probably won't get to these places, but now I have the travelling bug and want to see and do everything. So, God-willing, I have a lifetime of trips to plan ahead of me.

That's really all. I have to start doing some work now to prepare for Easter break... I need to write a 10 pager for Shakespeare and a 4-5 pager for Irish. Econ is due sometime in May, so I should probably start my research, but I'm putting that one off for now. I'm going to go catch up on 24 and Lost illegally, but I'll catch y'all lata. Shabbat Shalom.