I’ve never made eggplant Parmesan before. So I decided to make it tonight. Couldn’t be that hard, right? It wasn’t. The recipe I made I thought would serve just us two, but I think it could have easily fed 3-4 people.

Starting line up:
•1 large eggplant, cut into rounds 1/2-inch thick
•2 eggs, beaten
•1/2 cup flour
•1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
•Olive oil
•1 jar marinara sauce, or any sauce
•6-8 slices provolone cheese
•1/4 cup grated Parmesan
•1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
•1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

Preheat your oven to 435ºF

Wash the eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch round pieces. Add them to a large bowl and sprinkle some salt on them. This will help release some of the moisture so the eggplant won’t be soggy. Let it sit for 15 minutes or so. Then rinse them under cold water, to get rid of the salt, and pat them dry.

Get your dredging stations ready: 1 plate with flour, 1 shallow bowl with two eggs beaten with 2-3 tablespoon of water, 1 plate of bread crumbs. I added the oregano and red pepper flakes to the bread crumbs and tossed them. You could even toss them onto a cookie sheet and bake them for 5-10 minutes so they get toasty and golden brown. Totally optional though.

In a large, deep and wide skillet add enough olive oil (so it’s about 3/4 inch deep) and let that heat up

Take some eggplant, pat in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs and set aside on a plate (while you wait for the oil to heat up). Continue doing this until you have all the eggplant prepared.

When the pan is hot, add 2-3 rounds to the pan and let them cook on each side for about 4-5 minutes.

Looking good! Once they’re all cooked, put them on a plate lined with paper towel to let some of the oil drain.

In a glass baking dish, pour the sauce. We just used jar sauce since I was lazy and didn’t have time to make my own. But making a marinara sauce is super simple. Heat up some onions and garlic in a sauce pan. Add a can of crushed tomatoes, your seasonings, you can add some tomato paste to help concentrate the flavor, and you’re done!

After you’ve poured the sauce into the baking dish, arrange the eggplant pieces in the dish so they’re snuggled into the sauce. Cover each eggplant piece with provolone cheese, sprinkle some Parmesan all over the top and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and ooey-gooey delicious!

Now that I now how to make it, whether it’s the traditional way to or not, it was super tasty and was super easy to make. Enjoy!

I’m hanging on to every ounce of summer. I love fall, don’t get me wrong. It’s my favorite season, but there is one thing I absolutely love about the summer. I love eating fresh fruit and vegetables, but I especially love it in the summer time when you know it was grown fresh near you. So delicious.

REB and I went to one of our favorite restaurants in town, Zingerman’s Roadhouse and I had the most amazing salad there. They feature it on their summer menu each year, and each year we’ve gone, they’ve been sold out of it! So when I found out it wasn’t sold out, I had to have it! It was just as delicious as it sounded and was described to me. And it was light!

I recreated the dish after figuring out what ingredients they used (and what I could taste). I can in no way take credit for this dish, and I know it isn’t exact, but this variation was just as delicious. And the secret? Heirloom tomatoes!!

What you’ll need:
•3-4 heirloom tomatoes (I bought some orange, a huge red one, some green), cut into bite-size pieces
•1 Roma tomato, cut into bite-size pieces
•1/2 loaf sourdough bread (day or 2-day old is best), cut into 1-inch cubes
•1 cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (leave the skin on!)
•10-12 cherry mozzarella balls, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
•1/4 cup capers, drained and rinsed (don’t get the kind in oil)
•10 basil leaves, chiffonade
•2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
•2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
•2 tablespoons olive oil
•S&P to taste

Preheat your oven to 300ºF.

What I found best was to let the bread sit for a day or two, then cut them into 1-inch pieces (you’ll only need about half the loaf). Place on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, toss and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and toasted. I’m not sure if this is what Zingerman’s did, but I figured if it was fresh bread, it would just fall apart with the dressing. By toasting it lightly, it kept its shape and still sopped up the delicious dressing.

In a large salad bowl, add tomatoes, mozzarella and cucumber together. Add the capers, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, basil, and toss well. Add the bread in last, toss lightly. The heirloom tomatoes do it all for me. No, scratch that. The capers. I love capers. I could eat capers all day long, I love them so much. But the tomatoes are the star and they are so juicy and delicious.

Drizzle olive oil on top before serving and enjoy!

I like how sped Hank looks. I like how Gryff ripped his eye to make him look even more that way (o_O;
My favorites are special.

64 years ago, India gained its independence from British rule. August 15, 1947 is a day that Indians every where always remember and every year on August 15, the day is commemorated and celebrated. It is celebrated similar to how Americans do up July 4. It’s a day full of fun, raising the flag over the Red Fort in Delhi, parades and fireworks! It’s a day to remember that it’s finally free and can rule for itself.

India’s a very young country and even though I can’t be home with my relatives, I know we’re all celebrating together today.

Happy birthday India!!

I went to Huntsville today and my first stop was the University of Alabama-Huntsville for this building.

Six months ago our close family friend was shot and killed in this building, the Department of Biological Sciences, where he was the head of the department. The shooting took his life and the life of three other professors. I don’t know why I wanted to go there. I waffled over the idea all week (you can ask JP). I kept thinking how silly it would be to drive all the way there to look at a photo in memory and see the building where it happened.

But a part of me knew I had to go just to pay my respects. I wanted to visit his wife and daughters, but when I called them earlier this week, I learned they’ve moved. I don’t blame them. I probably would too if something like this happened to me. What still gets to me is how she sounded on the phone.

I knew this couple from when I was 7 or 8 years old when we lived in the U.P. and he and my dad taught on campus at Michigan Tech. I remember all the parents throwing parties and this couple always asked my sister and I attend to even though we were kids. They loved kids and wanted kids of their own. I remember when they had their daughter and she was just 1 when we left Michigan and moved down to the south. They were both so bubbly and happy and so kind. When I spoke to her a few days ago, it was all different. I knew it would be, but hearing her voice… She just sounded broken and it sounded like every ounce of life had left her. It was hard to talk to her, I won’t lie.

It was hard being at the campus today. If you’ve never been there, it’s a beautiful campus. In front of this building is a huge reflecting pool with a fountain and it’s just gorgeous. There’s a little parking area where you can park your car and look at the reflecting pool.

I parked there, stared at the building and started to cry.

I couldn’t even go into the building. I mean, I didn’t think I’d be able to; I’m sure the security at that campus has gone way up since the shooting. But even being there, and knowing it happened less than a year ago, is just sad. The whole thing is sad and it hit my family in a way as if one of our own family members had passed.

It isn’t fair, and it’s never fair when something tragic like this happens. I’ll never be able to know what his wife and daughters, and the other victims’ family’s are feeling (obviously), but I do know that it’s a great loss and that department has lost a great professor as well as three others. At least I was able to pay some kind of tribute. He’ll be missed, but he’ll be remembered forever.

Although I haven’t been able to take a photo every day on some days, I did keep the number up to date (sometimes taking 2 photos a day to make up for the one I missed). It’s definitely been fun. I initially started the project as a way to learn my new digital camera, an entry-level Canon Rebel XSi. I love that thing. But some of the photos were taken with my phone or with my point and shoot. Both are very reliable alternates if I don’t feel like using the big fancy one.

I’m not going to lie. I’m really proud of myself. When I look back at how I started this hobby, and how I take photos now…it’s a definite transition.

My first digital camera was a Polaroid a500#, which…wasn’t the best camera.

Washed out, kind of blue-tint, not great resolution and horrible lighting. My mind was in the right spot: ah, a moving photo of a mom and her son watching the boy’s father surfing. The outcome just wasn’t there. After that, I learned how that camera worked and when I’d put it on higher resolution, my batteries died almost instantly. The camera just couldn’t handle what I wanted it to do.

The next camera I bought was the Canon Powershot A590. I remember the exact day I bought it. It was before my trip to Arizona for work. I knew I was going to the Grand Canyon over the weekend and couldn’t bear to think of taking photos with that Polaroid, so I saved my pennies and bought this better point and shoot.

This was one of the first photos I ever took with it:

Not a bad photo, but when I first got this camera I didn’t ever use Manual setting. I always, always used the a preset or Auto and was done with it. Then my sister showed me how to properly use the camera and that’s when photo walks were born.

As you can see, she taught me well. From then on, my camera was always set to Manual and nothing else. But I wanted to do more with photography. I had wanted a DSLR for many years, but could never justify the cost. My uncle even told me to get a better point and shoot as a step up, but I knew I wanted to go the full way and graduate myself to a DSLR. I wanted to have different lenses to be able to do more and expand my photographic horizon (as cheesy as that sounds).

I’m so happy I finally did get one. It has made me appreciate photography and brought it to a whole new level. I keep learning new things and know I will continue to learn new things. I still travel for work and now my coworkers and I have started photo scavenger hunts, which motivates me to take more photos each day. The project has done that for me, too. The Flickr community has motivated me to keep clicking and I learn a lot of new things from fellow amateur photographers.

And today, six months later after I started the project, I’ve reached another level in my hobby.  It’s a wonderful thing and I love it!

But for me personally, today is kind of special. Six months ago today, REB asked me to marry him. I know, I know, it’s kind of lame to try to make a “big thing” about it, but the people who really know me, know how great it is. Before him, I had some of the worst relationships ever (if you can even call them that :P). Before him, I didn’t know what it was like to really feel like you could love someone so much. Before him, I wasn’t this mushy about stuff.

All I know is that next year we’re getting married and I can’t wait. He makes everything better in my life and I know it’ll only get better from here. I’m a sucker for silly milestones, and I never used to be. But with him, I can’t help it. He brings out the cheesy-lovey-dovey side of me and I love it.

I had the day off work yesterday, and so did my coworker and friend JP. Her and I had decided, during our flight home last Sunday, that we’d make a trip up to our alma mater to spend a day there. We stuck to our word and ventured out to Michigan State University – home. :)

I love that school. I didn’t grow up loving it since I moved around so much as a kid. So I never had the “I was destined to go there” attitude, but I knew I wanted to go there not only for their Journalism school, but because I knew how beautiful and wonderful that campus was.

It’s still just as beautiful. We did all the things we loved to do there when we were there for school. We ate at our favorite sushi place, Omi, had super strong Long Island Iced Teas from Peanut Barrel, bought some more t-shirts (I haven’t bought MSU t-shirts since my freshman year there, so they were looking kinda dingy and hole-y) and walked around campus. I had so much fun going back to the library, the stadium, Beaumont Tower, the chapel, walking along the Red Cedar River, going to the botanical garden and remembering all the fun times I had there.

Those memories can’t be touched either. That school will always have a special place in my heart. I’ll forever bleed green and white <3 :)

Much like the famed dish that stars chicken, this dish is the perfect one for vegetarians every where! It has a ton of heat, the sauce is smooth and man, is it good. We found this recipe online but jazzed it up a bit for our tastes.

Here’s what you need:
•1 block of extra firm tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
•2 1/2 cloves garlic, minced
•1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, some minced, some grated
•1/4 cup soy sauce
•1/4 cup water
•1/4 cup orange juice
•1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
•1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper (we LOVE spice, so we added more. This amount is totally up to you, though!)
•2 tablespoons vegetable oil

We served this with rice, so start by cooking some rice.

In a large, deep skillet coat the bottom with vegetable oil, about 2 tablespoons.  When it’s nice and hot, add the tofu and cook until brown on all sides.

While that’s happening in a 2-cup measuring cup (you know, like those Pyrex doohickies), measure out the soy sauce, water and orange juice. Add the corn starch, minced garlic, cayenne pepper and add some minced ginger and then grate some in there too, Stir it all together and finish cooking the tofu.

When the tofu has browned on all sides, reduce the heat to medium and add a few pieces to the sauce mixture to help warm it up to the temperature of the tofu. Then pour it all back into the skillet and then the magic happens. Almost instantly, you’ll see the sauce thicken into a beautiful glaze (ah, the beauty of corn starch! It worked in the 1950s, it still works today!). Let that reduce and continue to thicken for 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot over white (or brown) rice. Enjoy!