All Things Amai: December 2016

It's been forever once again.
I'll never be prompt with this shit.

OH WELL

We have gotten SO much fucking snow.
And it's been so cold.

Look at this fucking shit.-3 degrees?

Why?

It's literally been colder than that. I'll admit I was fascinated to watch the thermometer in my car drop into the negatives. I didn't really know it could even do that lol

View from my friend's office.

THERE WERE TWO MOOSEN RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR APARTMENT ONE MORNING. I was like holy shit when I opened the door and saw two giant brown things in the way lol

They were just licking salt off the sidewalk. I wonder if that's one of the reasons they don't salt the roads here?

*shrug*

Even though I complain about how cold it is, there is some really beautiful winter scenery going on. All the things are white. I don't just mean that in a white supremacist kind of way.

One of my rare makeup to work days. There's just no point anymore.

Did I mention that we hatched some long-tailed lizards at work?

There were originally three eggs but only one survived.

This little dude was SO KAWAII.

Sadly it passed away a month after hatching. Not entirely sure why. Wondering if it accidentally ate substrate and compacted itself. So sad ;-;

I miss having mice. They're so damn cute. They don't do shit but they're fun to have. Also helps they're so easy to take care of too.

This cat reminded me so much of my bf's brother's cat that went missing. Same temperament, color, and everything. Super sweet.

AND THIS CAT JUST HAD THE DUMBEST CUTEST FUCKING FURRY LITTLE FACE

LOOK AT IT

So on Sundays we feed ALL THE SNAKES.

It's like my favorite shift lol. I must just be an awful person but feeding snakes is some super gross, fun shit.

When you defrost frozen mice they totally get super squishy and fall apart in the middle. All the guts exploded out of this mouse when this python started to constrict lol.

Gnarly.

I'm sure you all know it's the holiday season. *cough* Like duh.

There were a couple birthdays that passed.

It wasn't MY birthday but of course I had to take this rare makeup opportunity for some vain selfies.

It was actually the hubby's bday. Too broke to get him a decent gift but I at least took him out to dinner.

Making up for lack of birthday presents with christmas presents though!

Then it was new friend's birthday! I thought the theme of the cake fitting.

Look at how much he appreciated the edible stereotype.

Halloween happened right?

Yeah.

Didn't do much. Wasn't really expecting to. New friends were having a halloween party so I had to make something to bring along of course.

I made dirt cake! I had another friend over and we hung out and she helped me decorate. It was pretty fun. Super long time since I've made dirt cake. I used milano cookies as tombstones, processed oreos for the dirt and threw in some gummy worms. I also tried a new frosting recipe using pudding and whipped cream. Holy shiiiiit. This cake was something else.

Everybody loved the fuck out of it.

I also made jello shot worms! No clue if anybody actually had any but they're fun to make and look pretty realistic lol.

Also loaded with shit ton of vodka.

Wasn't in the mood for a costume so I just wore my brain slug again. Glad I didn't go all out though. Only person to dress up besides me was another guest's child ;-;

Oh well.

Then thanksgiving! I should have taken photos of this spread. I cooked and baked a shit ton and probably gained like a million pounds but it was so good. We also gave deep frying a giant turkey a try but it came out looking like a lump of coal and it was dry as shit. At least some parts were still edible. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed though.

I'm so happy to have found such great friends so early on in the move. Makes the holidays way better.

SAY CHEESE

ONTO RECIPES

THERE'S SO MANYYYY

First off, there's shepherd's pie!

This was pretty easy and super yum! Will definitely make again. Followed the recipe exactly.

Next there's turkey chili!

Listen, I'm not a picky eater. But goddamn there's something going on with my tongue when it comes to chili. Place a bowl in front of me and I become the pickiest person on the planet. I made this recipe with no modifications and it was just okay to me. I really didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping. But honestly it could just be me.

There was another birthday that passed recently. Another friend of mine requested a strawberry cheesecake.

Yo dawg. For a first attempt this came out fabulous as fuck.

Idk about you but this shit is beautiful.

The recipe is also to die for. It was so good.

I also made some cookies! Chocolate chocolate chip to be exact.

Fantastic recipe! There were sinfully good.

Then there's chicken pot pie turnovers.

There were goooooooooooooood. I wasn't sure what they meant by empanada discs (like if you bought them or if they had to be homemade) but I just substituted with homemade pie crust. Definitely a keeper.

Next I made some pork chops

Not my favorite but they weren't bad. I think I would consider making again. They were certainly easy.

Then we have some guinness cupcakes!

The only change in the recipe is I used hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder since I can't find any pure dutch processed cocoa here. They turned out great anyway and only slightly boozy ^^

So Kraft has like the best recipes for when you're hungry and on a budge but still love to cook.

Like this mexican style lasagna.

Tasted so bad for you but it was pretty legit. Super easy to make too.

Next is chicken and corn chowder.

Chowder is the best. Bacon makes everything better too obviously.

Then I made sausage pasta.

I have made MANY a sausage pasta but none as good as this one. Oh man it was SO fucking good. Only thing I did different was to reduce the sauce a bit longer than the recipe stated. I think that definitely made the difference.

More dessert! Cheesecake bars.

This was a strange recipe. The crust threw me off because I had never seen a cheesecake recipe that didn't use a graham cracker once. It was surprisingly yummy though. I would totally make it again.

Last is tandoori style chicken.

Dude I love me some indian food and this recipe was insanely awesome. Will most DEFINITELY make again.

Actually there's like three other recipes I left out but I'm too lazy to post them. I just need to make posts more often so this doesn't happen lol. I'm in the kitchen too often apparently.

I've been pretty productive with sewing too.

...most days

I've been slowly working on personal sewing projects while simultaneously building my inventory so I can sell at the local con next year.

I made 8. Count em, EIIIGGHHHT of these at the SAME TIIIMEE.

It was a little rough but once I sat down and got to it, everything was much easier. Plus they came out super kawaii!

Also made a couple of these again. It had been SO LONG.

My husband is the best at presents.

THIS HOODIE IS THE BEEESSST. AAAHHHHHHHH <3 Key and Peele.

TIME TO BE VAIN AGAIN. I've gotten a pretty decent collection of false eyelashes lately. Nothing beats wearing falsies with makeup. They just really top your look off.

SNAPCHAT TIIIIME