Amazing Places

In some of my other posts, I have shown pictures of places that I love or would love to go too.  I love to travel and adventure so I like to save these places that I find when I am browsing on Pinterest. Today I found the most amazing place/idea for a lodge I have EVER seen.  Check it out....

What you are looking at right now is a lodge/hotel in Finland where you can sleep in a glass top igloo so that you can watch the northern lights!  Who in their life has not wondered what it would be like to sleep in an igloo??  That would be the coolest place to watch the northern lights too.  I would absolutely love to go to this place and stay for a night. It would be two dreams come true.  Sadly when I clicked on the link of this picture it did not have a name or an exact location of where it is.  But I am sure that if you did a little bit more digging you could find out.  Even if not.. now you have something new to dream about. Enjoy.

Cleaning a glass oven top-bogus!

Some of my favorite Pinterest pins are the ones about cleaning. I found this one on how to clean a glass stove top.  I have a glass stove top and  I awaiting the day that I get a new oven that is not gladd top but until then I am dealing with what I have. So when I found this tip on Pinterest I thought I should try it becaue our stove has a lot of stains and stuff I have tried to get off but never could, from the previous home owners ( who also cracked the top, I want a new oven!). 

It seemed simple enough.   Just take 2 dish towels soaked in warm water and soap and lay them over baking powder that you sprinkled over the glass top and let it sit for 15 minutes.  Then you use the wrags to wipe off the baking soda.  Here is how mine looked.

I know what you are thinking, that my oven does look cleaner.  And yes that is true.  BUT this was supposed to help get rid of burn marks, which is totally did not.  Further more this created a big mess. When I went to wipe it up and I lifted the rags, the baking soda was all balled up and it went all over my floor. It was so annoying! My husband literally looked at me and said asked why I was making such a mess.  This is a totally BOGUS cleaning tip.  It is time consuming, messy, and it does not do a better job than just spraying some good old 409 and wiping it down.  I would NOT recommend this for anyone that has a glass top.  It is lame. Just stick with what ever technique you have already.

Memes

Lets talk about all of those memes out there on Pinterest.  Some of them really make me laugh.  This post is dedicated to the ever popular meme.  Behold some my most favorite...

I mean really.. we are all guilty of thinking... and doing this! No Shame!

This one needs no explanation. 

I love it

The last one I will share in this post is by far one of my very most favorite.  First, because I love the old Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and second because I own a couple North Face jackets.  So naturally when I saw this meme I fell in love...

So there they are some of my favorite memes.  There are so many of them out there that I am sure I will do another post that is an ode to memes some time in the future.  Feel free to share with me some of the memes that you enjoy, I would love to see them! But keep 'em clean please!

Spices!

I was so excited when I saw this picture.  One of my biggest complaints about cooking is that I have no idea what spices work well together or with what foods they work with.  I try and "experiment" and sometimes it turns out okay but most of the time it's a total disaster.  I found this chart on Pinterest and I have followed some of the suggestions on it and I love it! So I am passing it on to all of you because seriously it is a big help in the kitchen!  Enjoy!

Baked Asparagus

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I did pretty well this year and did not feel like I wanted to burst after it was all said and done.  This year my husband and I went over to his moms house and for the first time in the 4 years we have been married she called and asked me to bring something.  It was a big deal for me and I wanted to make sure to bring something super YUMMY.  So I browsed through my Pinterest boards and was inspired by...baked asparagus  I thought that would be the perfect thing and that it would look vibrant next to all the orange and brown foods.. you know carrots, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes stuffing's.

Unfortunately I was in such a hurry Thanksgiving morning and so strapped for time that I TOTALLY spaced taking pictures and everything.  So I am SO sorry but you will just have to take my word for it. The pictures used are not my own here but still they are exactly what I did.

Before getting started I looked at a few different versions of this recipe.  The one I have posted on Pinterest says bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.  I ended up doing 425 degrees for 6 minutes. Like I said I was on a time crunch and every minute counted!

I bought the thinnest bunch that I could find because I personally do not like thick asparagus.  I washed it then chopped off the bottoms and then placed them in a Ziploc bag.

Some of the recipes say to just drizzle but I wanted to coat mine in my seasonings.  I used a gallon size bag and I prefer the slider bag like this picture is of.  I just feel it is more secure.  I placed the asparagus inside then I poured in some olive oil, minced garlic then salt and pepper.  I sealed the bag and then placed it on my counter and rolled my hand over it, making the asparagus roll around in the seasonings.  

Then I unzipped my bag and spread the asparagus evenly on my cookie sheet with parchment paper ( this is a must , it made clean up so much easier).  Then of course I popped it in the oven.

at minute 5 I opened my over pulled out the tray and sprinkled parmesan cheese over the asparagus then popped it back in for another minute. 

And even though this is not my picture I can honestly say that they really did look this green and delicious! 

Actually mine looked yummier than this.. they were a very bright green.  And when I took it over to my mother in laws it was a hit with almost every spear eaten and people were wanting to know the recipe.

Usually making asparagus is hard for me, I always over cook it so it is droopy and soggy but this recipe was amazing because I finally cooked a perfect textured asparagus.  They still had a nice crunch but were not raw and they tasted great! I would recommend this to everybody!

Amazing Places

One of my favorite things to see people post on Pinterest are beautiful pictures of different places in the world.  One of my boards that I have titled " Our beautiful world" is dedicated to this.  Recently I found this amazing photo of Gimmelwald, Switzerland. It is absolutely stunning.  I have been to Gimmelwald and it is such a beautiful place.  It, like many other cities in Switzerland, is high up in the alps and you reach it  by train, gondolas, or hiking.  This city in particular you actually take a train, then a bus then a gondola.  We did that and then hiked back down.  It was SO beautiful.  Honestly one of the most stunning places I have been, and this photo really expresses how this little town truly is.  Enjoy it.

Baking Eggs

Eggs anyone?  I Saw on pinterest that you can bake eggs in muffin tins at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. So I tried it out.  I was not really sure how they would turn out, but honestly I loved them! SO EASY! and so great for egg sandwhiches, or if you are making pancakes and want some eggs, forget about the griddle, the smoke and the smell of eggs in your hours.  JUST BAKE THEM!

I greased my pan with Pam.  Cracked my eggs into the muffin cups and seasoned them...

 (adding things like spinach, bacon bits and other things would really make these even better)

I popped them in my oven for 15 min.

and

TADA!

Seriously everyone needs to try this! For a big breakfast for the whole family this is a great way to cook eggs. It lets you multi task for making pancakes, waffles, bacon, mixing juice, or setting the table! They also save for up to a week. I made this last night and re-heated one this morning and put it on my toast. Super yummy. This is a perfect recipe for those special breakfast mornings and to keep on hand for later in the wee! It gets a full  A+ !