A Post For The New Year

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Eve.  I hope that if you're the type to make resolutions that you are able to keep them throughout the year. I hope that if there are other holidays you celebrate this time of year that you were surrounded by loved ones and that you were able to make many great memories.

This year I haven't decided on any concrete resolutions. I mean there's always the one about working out more and eating less junk food, getting out and taking lots of photos, and embarking on lots of adventures. I figure two out of three of those will be easily doable, and one will take a swift kick in the pants.  I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Monarch Grove, Pismo State Beach, December 2013

2013 was an interesting year.  I spent lots of time with some good friends, I had the opportunity to watch one of my closest friends fall in love and get married, found out that another friend of mine will be expecting her first child this spring, spent a weekend in Santa Barbara at the fabulous Fess Parker Double Tree Resort, went to a gallery opening with my cousins in Los Angeles, attended the Dallas Cowboy's training camp in Oxnard, fell in love with the TV show Sons of Anarchy, went to a couple of concerts, read some good books, shelved some less than good ones, and posted more here on the blog than EVER before.  Yes there have been some frustrations and times that were less awesome than others, but I have to say looking back at all the fun I've had, the good definitely outweighs the bad.

2014 hasn't exactly started out with a bang, so far I've been sick all year (thank goodness it's only the 2nd), but maybe I can get this out of the way now and have a healthy and fantastic year to come.  There should be quite a few changes at work, so it should make things more interesting, at the very least it will keep things from getting monotonous.

I hope to keep up the pace from last year and post frequently, whether that be with photos, recipes, or whatever comes to mind. Stay tuned.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Last year I had this dip at a football party I had attended and I fell in love.  Shortly after the recipe popped up in a blog I follow and I saved it for future reference.  I just copied and pasted the instructions from the blog, and my notes are in the parenthesis.

It's safe to say that this dish is not diet friendly, but I guarantee that it will make your taste buds dance (that is if you're a fan of hot wings). 

I made it myself for the first time yesterday for a Christmas Party I attended last night and it was a huge hit, it filled a 9x13 pyrex pan, and by the end of the evening only a small portion remained.

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless cooked chicken breasts shredded or diced (I used Swanson's canned chicken, it's like tuna, and it worked out great, 2 large cans, 1 small)
• 2/3 bottle of FRANK’S BUFFALO WING SAUCE
• 2 bars of cream cheese (softened)
• 1 16 oz. bottle of blue cheese dressing (I used Bob's Big Boy bottled dressing, it was delicious)
• 3-4 cups of shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used a mixed bag of cheddar/monterey jack because I couldn't find pre-shredded Monterey Jack at the store I was at and didn't want to go to another store)
• Tortilla Chips for dipping (Tostitos Cantina Chips are my favorite dipping choice)

Directions:

• First, layer the chicken and Franks Buffalo Wing sauce in the bottom of a 13″ by 9″ pan.  
• Mix together the cream cheese, blue cheese dressing and 2-3 cups of the Monterey Jack cheese. (SAVE THE REST OF THE SHREDDED CHEESE FOR THE TOP) 
• Spread over the chicken.  
• Put remaining shredded cheese on the top.
• Bake at 350 for approx. 1/2 hour. It is good hot ,or warm!

Ex Photosynthesis

When you find yourself single, or not, and you're reflecting on the caliber of people you've dated in the past sometimes you find that you've wasted a lot of oxygen talking about someone who in the long run of your life, didn't matter a whole lot. Perhaps you regret how you treated someone, or maybe the person you dated was such a monster, their entire life appears to be a waste of oxygen... either way rain forests are being murdered with all the carbon dioxide we're creating talking, breathing about people who are no longer our significant others.

The Elitist and I were discussing this very thing the other night and we thought it would be an amazing business idea to create a company (perhaps a nonprofit charity, save the trees type thing) where you can plant a tree to replace the wasted breath you've spent on a particular insignificant other. My mind took brain storming to hurricane levels and I came up with some types of plants that could be planted. Break my heart? I'm breaking ground on a Vegetation Meditation Garden to get over you, and create cleaner air for future generations, who's winning now?

Anyway, without further ado, here are some samples of trees that can be planted in honor of wasted breath. Do your part and give back to the planet already.

• A Healthier Way to Pine
• Hive-y Ivy
• Don't Bitch, Birch
• Shrubs for Flubs
• Leaves for the Left Behind
• Feeling Grappling Sapling
• Stop Being a Crab Apple
• ExMas Trees
• No More Weeping Willows
• Talk to the Palm
• You're Coconuts!
• What a Dogwood

As you can see, I'm highly amused by puns, feel free to add you're own in the comments section... or if you'd like to start a kickstarter to get this going for real, I'll let you have the idea for a small percentage of sales.