Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Ten on Tuesday: Pasta Edition

 Today's Ten on Tuesday post comes from Kristen @ St. Monica's Bridge and it's all about pasta.  As pasta is one of my favorite foods ever I couldn't resist.

1. Red Sauce or White Sauce?
I like a little combination of both.  Or, even better...make a red sauce & add a little cream (and syrah!)

2. Do you prefer pasta you can twirl or stab?
I like both, but we do a lot of angel hair so there's some serious twirling going on in my house.

3. Baked or boiled?
Mostly boil, but on occasion there is a casserole around here.

4. Do you like meat in your sauce or do you kick it vegetarian style?
I think if I didn't include meat in the sauce M might kick me out of the house.  I used to do veggie because I had a serious phobia of raw meat, but I'm getting better.

5. Where have you had your very best pasta ever?
Probably at my grandparent's house.  My grandma gave me the recipe and I make it almost weekly.  But it's super basic...chicken, carrots, broccoli, pasta, swiss cheese, cream & garlic.

6. What is your favorite pasta dish?
My step dad's chicken parm w/pasta alfredo is pretty awesome.

7. Do you serve meatballs when you make spaghetti or just do a meat sauce?
Mostly do a meat sauce unless meatballs are requested.  I don't really like balls or loaves of meat (insert joke here) so I break it up a lot.

8. Why type (rice, whole wheat, egg, etc) of noodles do you use?
Umm...whatever the standard is.  I don't go out of my way to buy gluten free or anything extremely nutritious.

9. What type of meats or vegetables do you put in your sauce?
Mostly hamburger & spicy ground sausage, but I had leftover zucchini one day...threw it in and I loved it.  M on the other hand requested I never put it in again.  So sad.

10. Do you make a “Sunday gravy” to use throughout the week or do you just open a jar of whatever and heat it up? (No judgment on this one!)
That would probably make more sense, but I'm more of an open up a jar kind of girl.  At least for the base, adding herbs, onions & garlic along with the cream & wine from above makes it taste almost completely homemade.

In other news tomorrow I head on vacation to Kansas of all places.  M went to college there so he's giving me a complete tour even with a football game.  The weather's supposed to be way nicer than at home, so I plan to relax and enjoy.  Now if I can only get everything done before we leave...that's a whole different ball game!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Can the planners of the world please stand up?

[source]
Do you think you're a planner out of necessity, because it's your nature or something else?  I think I'm a little of the first two.  In my job I'm an office manager.  While the image of this is usually payroll or accounting...in my situation neither of these really apply.  I work in a building that is probably 4-5 times the size for the people we have which means facilities management.  I work with people who need a lot of hand holding.  But most of all, I plan EVERYTHING.  Office parties, moves, board meetings...you name it - I'm the glue.  And the only way I can keep track of everything is a massive to-do list.

But I'm also a planner in every day life.  Whether I'm planning a vacation (especially coordinating with lots of friends), figuring out the menu for the week (yes, I write it all out) or scheduling things for the weekend it's what I do.  But is it ALL I do?  Am I a planner at home because I'm a planner at work?  Or am I a planner at work because it's in my nature and I'm getting paid for something I do well?

Sometimes it's exhausting.  In my group of friends there's a lot of planner types and I will just step back and let them take the reins.  Just tell me where to go, what to do and how much it's going to cost.  I need to turn my brain off.  Is it surprising I have anxiety?

If there is any of you out there, please feel free to share your tips to make things run smoother or thoughts in general.
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