March 2014 Favorites: Food

Excuse my crappy photo-editing and quality.

I tried, and failed. Haha. 

Anyway, I'm on to my personal category number two: favorite foods of March! Let's vein, shall we?

Honey Roasted Almonds and Pecans:

I take 'em from raw, to addictive crack in a few simple and easy steps! I'm almost one hundred percent positive all the nutrients are zapped from them by the time they're done, but hey! They're mighty tasty!

I first visited this recipe when I realized we had a HUGE tub of almonds from Costco, and no one was touching them for months.

So per usual, I looked up "easy/simple/quick"_________ recipes. And voila! I came up with this delicious outcome in about 20 minutes or so. Maybe even less time.

In a nutshell (no pun intended), you basically: roast the nuts, mix salt and sugar in a bowl, put a tablespoon of salt/sugar mix into bowl for your prepped nuts, and mix the roasted nuts (once they're ready) in honey, water, and oil-- so the salt/sugar mix can have something to adhere to.

Let 'em sit and cool, then chow down!

I get requests from my mom, dad, and grandma to make them quite a bit.

... I actually might make some this weekend now that I'm typing about them, haha!

Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar French Bread Dip

Oh laaaaaawd, I was eating this to DEATH this month! To me, olive oil is just as satisfying as butter on bread (which I'm grateful for, due to the health benefits of extra virgin olive oil).

I like doing that dipping combo, but then I decided to add a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

My heart went to heaven.

Just lightly toast some French bread for dipping and MMMMMMM.

Turkey Hill Coconut Cream Pie & Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

I THINK Turkey Hill is a brand only sold at Kroger, but boy is it good! 

My dad read my mind while he was at the store the other day, and thought I'd like a coconut cream pie ice cream. He purchased a winner.

It tastes just like a Marie Calendar frozen coconut cream pie, minus the awkward anticipation of wanting a pie you can't fully enjoy because the center's still frozen.

Maybe you'd assume the ice cream is just vanilla with coconut shavings and some type of sweet crust thrown in the mix. Nope. The actual ice cream base tastes custardy to me, and coconut prominent, and the crust bits decadent, like small nuggets of cheesecake-type decadent.

I think stray bits of the crust gems here and there really pull this frozen dessert together.

The Cookies and Cream has just always been a staple of mine. PLENTY of cookie chunks and a creamy ice cream base surrounding all of that cookie goodness.

Ever had a Chick Fil A cookies and cream milkshake? I think this ice cream is the dessert version of that. Again, the ice cream doesn't just taste like vanilla, but richer.

Together? They compliment each other beautifully.

I know this month's favorites were lacking, but I'm still learning how to plan and schedule. I'm glad to have given you some sort of content, though!

Wish me luck with future posts!

Until next time!

March 2014 Favorites: Viewables

Since I can be kind of picture-heavy, I've decided to do monthly favorites in sections during the last week of the month. Plus, it'll be easier to navigate doing a category per post rather than bunching it all together-- all pictures and sections. The categories will purely depend on what I'm into for that month.

Sounds good? Good.

Today, I'll talk about the things I've viewed this month that have really stole my heart:

Breaking Bad

Shut up. I know, I'm late... Extremely late... Hush...
Anyway I FINALLY finished Breaking Bad during my Spring Break, and IT. WAS. SUPERB.

I had pretty much all of the 5th season to watch, and toward its end, I was completely engulfed (per usual when I've decided to have a Breaking Bad marathon). Every time Netflix had a grace period between episodes, I'd yell "NOOOOOOO!! MOAR!! NOW!"

It's only natural.

The whole series was great, and the end was a roller coaster and masterpiece. I am over-the-moon about this work of art and every spec of brilliance involved in it from start to finish.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

This is another series I finally finished this month. I realized in the midst of a Netflix marathon that the whole show wasn't on Netflix.

A big ol' FAT "boooooooo."

Once my laptop was fixed, I went ahead and looked up the last chunk of episodes when I had the time. It was a very good choice to make, because the further it went along, the more I fell in love.

The ending was good, but I was honestly taking everything in because it's just such an awesome series!

In a nutshell (as best as I can describe), the show's about two young alchemists (people who can take chemistry matter, rearrange its molecules, and create something else or remold it) who try to bring their dead mother back. Bringing someone back from the dead is thee ultimate alchemist taboo, and they pay dearly for it.

So they go on a journey to find a way to make things right, and learn if it really is possible to bring back the dead.

My synopsis doesn't do the show justice at ALL. Each episode layers into more thought-provoking, and philosophical levels of awareness. The characters develop beautifully throughout, and there's plenty of twists and turns, and even tears (I've lost count at five... I've cried at least five times watching this series).

I'd highly recommend it! (P.S. I'd advise you to watch the first four episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist first, to kind of grab you in from the get-go and explain things a bit faster in the beginning, THEN start watching Brotherhood from start to finish. I did this on accident and loved the route it took me)

source: google images

This picture may not be giving the show its full effect... So here's my two favorite theme songs from the whole series (including what I've seen of FMA):

and

Loooooove it!

The Last of Us: Markiplier's Gameplay

So I'm into well-written zombie things now.

The Last of Us is a plot-heavy, moving, brilliant, video game (on the PS3 counsel) about the zombie apocalypse.

I know. My generic summary equals BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, SAME OL' ZOMBIE ISH. But wait! The reason I love this Let's Play so much is that it's so rich in its storyline. The characters develop, and are flawed. They aren't heroes... They just are trying to survive and make the best decisions during their conflicts (if they have a say in the matter, that is). I love how "statistic-y" this storyline is with its different kinds of zombies (bloaters, clickers, people that are newly turning, etc) and their ambiguous reasons for why each zombie exists as they are. 

Markiplier's commentary throughout keeps the watchers engaged with the story line, too. He brings up points and short discussions throughout his gameplay (I watch him all the time anyway, so there's that bias).

Things are getting.... Sad.
(source: youtube screenshot)

A clicker is a-comin'!
(source: youtube screenshot)

There's no slow start to this game. It kicks-off with a knee right in your feelings. And hey, if you'd rather watch the storyline and not Markplier (weirdo), then there are people on youtube who've recorded all of the cutscenes and played straight through with no interruptions to keep the story streamlined. Some people have it on easy, some had just the cut scenes... I'd suggest watching the one a little over 6 hours if you'd rather not hear commentary and not miss anything.

And if you'd like to skip all of this, there's been news for an actual movie based on this game in the making!

Ermo (1994)

I came across this movie on Netflix and the one-word, unknown, name caught my eye as well as the crazed-looking lady on the thumbnail.

Reading the synopsis, I found out that the movie is a satire on Western consumerism. A "keeping up with the Jones'", if you will. 

Set in rural China, a lady named Ermo tried to make a living for her sick husband and little boy by selling twisted noodles on the street. Her "advertisement" for her twisted noodles becomes a mantra throughout the film. 

Eventually, she gets a ride with a neighbor into town, and finds the biggest TV anyone around has ever seen.

Knowing her neighbor/rival even has a TV, she wants to get one, too (and stop her boy from going over to her neighbor's hour to watch television).

It becomes her focus. Her obsession as her husband worries about her priorities when he wants to put their money into their house instead.

How does this story end? Does she make the money? What kind of mess does Ermo get herself into while being possessed by consumerism?

Watch and find out-- sucked me in deeper than I thought it would. Couldn't bring myself to turn it off once it got a few minutes it.

I'm glad I finished it.

A little lengthy, but I hope you guys have enjoyed my favorite viewables for this month!

I'll try to get the next category up sometime this week. More-than-likely food'll be up next. ;)