Thinking about my dogs

And missing their goofy, eight-going-on-eight-months selves.

The past week (and a half) at a glance

Hey guys! Well, it looks like my old camera that I brought back to school with me (instead of my spanking new SLR) has gone bust; after a healthy and worldly five years, it finally crapped out last week. So, from now until April, at least, it looks as if I will have to rely on the kindness of strangers for lovely pics here. Anyways, I present to you highlights of the last week and bit for me... Some through pictures, others through links.

Blood oranges are my new favourite things

Same with Being Human (Mitchell+George=aww. I need the second season.) Image from here

Snow. Lots of it. And possibly more to come.

Cake balls! While they weren't perfect looking as they are here (and chocolate, rather than red velvet), they were delicious. Ohhh my goodness, they were.

Brie cheese. I can't get enough of it!

Cats falling asleep.

Studying theatre. Working in theatre. Graduation. Teaching. Careers. Options. Forever-ness. Arrrgghdfklhflsslkdfsk;h

The music to unwind to.

1000 Awesome Things.

Bangable Dudes in History. Hot-nass.

Remembering the days when I played the violin. Image from here

The Lil Bee! She is such a wonderful writer/photographer (her snapshot of family are darling), and I love reading the stories and thoughts she shares--very so homey and familiar. She looks to be a great mom; plus, she has another "lil bee" coming along soon! All the best to her!

And finally... The subject of weekends: it has come to the point where I don't want them to end.

And yet here we are, about to start another! Have a good one!

Image from here

Chicken avec Dumplings

You know it as well as I do: winter requires comfort in the form of warmth, staying inside, and food. Obviously, we find it best in the form of the latter! This weekend, I experimented with the slow cooker (a gift when you're living on your own), making chicken and dumplings; what a novel idea! I have never made this before, but now it has earned a place among my top comfort foods. I got it from allrecipes; I followed the basic instructions, along with some handy advice of people who had also tried it out. Since I only planned to make a small batch, I just cut up two chicken breasts and that was enough. You can also use a different cream soup (like mushroom) instead of two cream of chickens. And lucky for those of you away at school (or elsewhere), it's another dead-easy recipe! I've just put down my variation of this recipe, but check out the original for other ideas.

Chicken with dumplings

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons butter
• One onion, finely chopped (but I used a Spanish onion and only required half)
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup (or one of a different kind to your preference)
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 package of refrigerated biscuit dough

Directions:

Place chopped chicken, butter, soup and onion in slow cooker; cover and cook for 5-6 hours on high. When it's been about four hours in, drop bits of dough* in with the chicken and continue to cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

*On another note, I didn't need to use all of the biscuit dough (having broken them up into small pieces); since they were pre sliced, I used about five and baked the others. Not a bad thing to have along side it, no?

It sort of looks like a glob here... but it was delicious.