10 things I hate about you, 12th grade

There’s no amusing introduction to this post. I’m getting straight to the point.

1. No naps. And I don’t mean I wish I could go back in time and take all the naps I refused to take when I was little. I mean more along the lines of why do little kids get naps and we don’t? It’s like “Golly gee am I tired from playing with all those blocks for 20 minutes straight. And don’t even get me started about how exhausted I am from all the hand-eye coordination I had to do when I was finger painting.” So toddlers get naps after doing absolutely nothing and we’re expected to go, “Well, I don’t know about you, but all that trigonometry and AP French and filling out college applications has sure rejuvenated me! Oh and luckily I love every single person in my class, so I get to have fun classes AND be around fun people! Who needs naps?” Um, seniors need naps. We also need to have a pass that allows us to punch one person in the face every day and not get in trouble. Figuratively punch? And maybe literally too. Oh and speaking of not taking naps, when I was in Kindergarden at “real school” (not homeschool), I didn’t take one nap. Ever. Why? Because I had convinced myself that if all the kids fell asleep, the teachers would set the building on fire and we’d all die. Yeah, those were the things 5 year old me thought about. Dear everyone in my Kindergarden class, I deprived myself from sleep just to save your life. You’re welcome.

2. Speaking of college applications, well, college applications. Especially the essay part. “Write about a topic of your choice.” Well, that’s not vague.

3. Senioritis. The worst part is I’ve only been doing school for a week. This is going to be a long year.

4. Being homeschooled as a senior. Because now the “Wait, are you gonna like homeschool for college and stuff?” questions are in full force. NO. NO ONE DOES. Now stop asking.

5. Having this be my daily schedule: Wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, do 1 1/2-2 hours of anatomy, 1 hour of history, eat lunch, 1 1/2 hours of advanced math, 1 hour of logic, 1 hour of an introduction to college writing course, 1 hour of Latin, 45 minutes of piano, dinner, take a breather, read, fall asleep/pass out. Rinse and repeat every day. I like to shake things up a bit sometimes, just to keep it interesting. For example, I volunteer at a daycare Monday nights and last week a 4 year old spit in my face. Then yesterday my little brother decided that potty doesn’t always need to go IN the potty, and I got to scrub the bathroom floor with Mr. Clean within an inch of its life. Ugh.

6. Having my best friends be either at college far away, or at college close by but super busy with work, or close by and doing an online college but being super busy with life and thinking about rum cake 24/7. You know who you are. Or they’re online friends that I’ve never actually met and they live in Florida or Arizona. So I’m just sitting here like, Crap. This is kinda lonely.

7. Realizing that since I’m homeschooled and I don’t have a “set” reading list, I really haven’t read most of the books other highschoolers have read. So I’m kind of frantically reading right now. I’m currently working on Cancer Ward, Woman in White, and Lord of the Flies. Only problem with reading so many books at the same time is sometimes I’m confusing the plots and characters. No really, yesterday I was replacing Pavel with Piggy when I was reading Cancer Ward. I need a nap. See #1.

8. Not having time to cook and blog. I know once I get in the swing of things with school my life will settle down and I’ll have more free time. At the moment I’m just too unorganized to think about cooking AND THEN writing a blog post that won’t bore people to tears. But tonight I forced myself to make snickerdoodles. Mainly because they’re my favorite cookie ever (next to white chocolate macadamia nut cookies) and I needed to unwind a bit. This recipe is so good too.

9. Having to decide on a major. I know I don’t need to pick one out right away, and I can always switch, but I’d like to commit to one. Do I go straight to nursing school, or do I major in Philosophy or Classics and then take a 1 year nursing course? Decisions, decisions. Yay?

10. Growing up. Don’t get me wrong, growing up is awesome. (I now don’t feel guilty about watching Y-7 tv shows like I did when I was little. I remember being 6 years old and watching Pokemon at my friend’s house and thinking I was such a rebel for watching it and not being 7 yet. I was the kind of kid your parents didn’t want you hanging around with. I can’t be tamed.) But growing up is not nearly as magical as it was when I was in 2nd grade and all highschool seniors seemed like gods. Really tall, gorgeous, popular gods. Funny how your perception of things as a kid is totally different than how things really are, huh? Now the “real world” is in the back of my mind. Where do I want to move after college? Where do I want to work? What about having kids? Why are all my celebrity future husbands so much older than me and and why are most of them are married? STUPID CHRISTIAN BALE. I hate you.

Aside from all the things I hate, I know this last year of highschool will be awesome. I really love all the classes I’m taking, I’m keeping in touch with all my friends, and I’m eating snickerdoodles. Um, delicious.

And yes, I kind of got bored while I was waiting for the last batch to be done. I got up to stacking 7 cookies on top of each other before the tower fell. You wish we were friends in real life.

Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (leave out if you’re using salted butter)

2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.

Chill dough and an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge. Yes, stick a cookie sheet in the fridge. Cooking is so weird sometimes.

Meanwhile, mix 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

Form dough into 1-inch balls (about the size of a little bouncy ball. That’s the only thing I can think of…), place into the sugar/cinnamon mixture, and roll it around until it’s completely coated.

Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.

Remove from pan immediately.

Attempt to enjoy them while you cry over the fact Christian Bale is only 6 years younger than your dad…awkward.

Getting to know you, putting it my way, but nicely, you are precisely my cup of tea.

I’ve done this blog for a year and a half and just realized that unless you are one of my readers who knows me personally (hi mom), you probably know absolutely nothing about me. So since I have no witty story to write about today, let’s go ahead with semi-pointless facts about the famous (?) Piccola Italiana, shall we?

Contrary to my about me picture, I don’t have a rectangular body, I don’t walk around with a spoon in one hand and an Italian flag in the other, and I stay away from high heels, especially bright red ones. I am pretty average, to tell you the truth. Brown hair, brown eyes, kinda short, and according to Wii Fit I’m at risk of being obese. Unfortunately, the Wii lies. I’m a perfectly normal weight, you wonky electronic stupid technology thing.

I still am and forever will be scared of the dark. If I stay the night at a friend’s house I’m always like “Hey, could we leave on a light…or 5?” Once when I was little I got so scared that in the middle of the night I put on my friend’s winter coat and snow boots, thinking they would protect me from whatever Norman Bates was hiding in her closet. Needless to say weird looks were exchanged that morning. Oh and when I say I was little I mean it was about 2 years ago.

I pass out when I get my blood drawn. Well actually, I don’t pass out pass out. I just feel sick and I go all pale…aannnddd last time it happened I couldn’t see or hear anything and fell to the ground. It’s a wonderful characteristic I possess. Ha.

You could put Toy Story or the Disney version of Robin Hood on repeat, stick me in front of the tv, and I’d be watching it all day.

I’ve played violin since I was 3 1/2, piano since I was 7, and I took organ lessons for about a year. I also really don’t like Mozart or boy bands. Just in case you were wondering…

I’m homeschooled. When I tell people that, I quickly follow it up with BUT I’M NOT A DORK. I’m one of those rare homeschoolers who actually has social skills. And, no, I don’t do school in my pajamas and I do have friends. Shocker, right?

Once I get out of highschool my plan is to major in Philosophy, then do a 1 year nursing program to get my BSN. Afterwards, I want to move to New York and work in the emergency room of a pediatric hospital. Because kids are adorable and adults aren’t.

And those are pretty much all the important facts about me. I’m much more interesting on the internet. Although, aren’t we all?

Spicy Tequila Lime Marinated Chicken

Adapted from tastykitchen

1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 Limes). I made the mistake of using key limes and had to juice 21 itty bitty limes just to get 1/2 cup of juice. NEVER AGAIN…
1/2 cup Tequilla
2 ounce, fluid Triple Sec
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 Serrano pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
8 chicken thighs

Combine all ingredients listed (except chicken, obviously?) into a food processor, or if you’re too lazy to lug out your food processor, use a blender. Pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixture is smooth.

Pour marinade into a shallow dish and place chicken in dish to marinate for a 3-4 hours. Flip the chicken once about halfway through the marinade time.

Place a grill pan over medium high heat and sear the chicken on each side. It should take about 4-5 minutes per side. Reserve excess marinade.

After both sides are golden brown, remove chicken from pan. Put the chicken onto a cutting board and slice chicken into strips, about 1/2 inch thick.

Return chicken to a sauce pan type thing. I’m not sure what they’re called…I used a wok…and add the excess marinade. Stir everything to combine, cover, and let simmer for another 5-6 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through.

I served the chicken in tortillas with lettuce, tomatoes, and homemade guacamole. I don’t use measurements in my guacamole – just avocados, lime juice, and sea salt. Just experiment with the ingredients until you want to eat the entire bowl right then and there.

Goodbye ACT

Goodbye dumb ACT test that I took at 8am this morning. 8 in the morning. On a Saturday. SATURDAY.

Goodbye hours spent memorizing the difference between 30-60-90 triangles and 45-45-90 triangles, writing essays off of prompts about why highschoolers should have a curfew, and blankly staring at science graphs, realizing I don’t know and, frankly, don’t care what they’re about.

Goodbye man leading the ACT who told me my name wasn’t on the list to take the test. Luckily I was in fact registered and he was just tired…or something. I’m not going to miss you.

Goodbye scary mom who followed her daughter into the ACT testing room and then totally flipped out at her when she forgot her calculator.

Goodbye random girl from California who just as half asleep as I was and stumbled through a conversation with me during our break.

Goodbye to the five panic attack-inducing words that I got to hear multiple times today: “You have five minutes left.”

Goodbye to the guy next to me who obviously was a bit unprepared because he would just stare at the booklet, fill in random answers, and put his head on the desk. You boosted my confidence. Merci.

Goodbye slightly spastic essay that I wrote about social networking and the advance of communication. I feel very sorry for whoever has to grade that. No, seriously.

Goodbye to the Reese’s peanut butter cup I ate devoured promptly after the test was over.

Hello normal life. I’ve missed you dearly.

So, first off, did you all have a lovely Easter? Yes? Good. I made some food last week (um, actually I only made chocolate mousse with kahlua…), but was feeling very uninspired. And I’m not a very happy person when I’m uninspired. But now I am just peachy and will be back to cooking. And eating. I prefer the eating part.

So yeah.

Here’s a picture of Freddie Mercury.

Hey, this post needed a little something-something. Not sure if that was it, but…umm…you know…I’ve been up for over 13 hours and my brain no worky. The end.

Pesto chango

I’m barely alive. Well, obviously I’m alive. As cool as it would be to blog from beyond the grave, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Sorry if I got your hopes up. But back to being alive. Why am I clinging on to my life here? Because I took the stupid PSAT yesterday and my brain is totally fried. That’s why. Any more questions?

I really hate standardized testing. Well, maybe hate is a strong word. How about I really really really really really don’t like standardized testing? After spending all day Monday and Tuesday taking 4 practice tests (that’s over 8 hours of tests. GAHHHH!), I took the real deal on Wednesday at a highschool. Yes, I had to break out of my homeschool comfort shell and interact with people who go to real school. Scary.

After hours of test taking, plus lots of cramming, my brain is in slow-mo today. I’m so worn out that a few different times today I would realize mid-sentence that I had no clue what I was talking about. At times like this when I’m really not in the mood to make real food, I turn to my new best friend. Pesto in a jar. Pasta+pesto=instant delicious.

Now that I think about it, a lot of my best friends are inanimate objects. Allrecipes.com, my Newsies DVD, Waldo my Wusthof knife, and now pesto. Is there something wrong with me?

And apparently my brain is so fried that I though having “pesto chango” as the title of this post was clever. Yeah, there’s definitely something wrong with me.

Speaking of messed up, I opened my blog earlier to look at my stats and look at what some awful person typed into Google to find me.

I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that my blog pops up when you type that in, or the fact that some human being out there actually hates Damian Joseph McGinty, Jr.

In food news: I bet you’re wondering, “what’s on the menu this week, Picco?” Glad you asked. Tomorrow? Red velvet cake balls. The day after that? Pesto cake balls. And I’m so tired right now those actually sound good. Yeah, I’m going to stop talking now.