QuarterLife Ventures

A twenty-something nurse, runner, and world traveler.

Friday, March 1, 2013

I'm back!

After a much needed glorious six weeks in the US, I am back in warm, sunny Grenada. While I am extremely happy to be settling back in here, I definitely needed the time at home, working, to rejuvenate and feel like myself again. After typing that I realize how ironic that sounds; most people go to the Caribbean to rejuvenate. However, after a month and a half of nearly 60 hour weeks, I was ready to leave the sub zero temps of St. Paul and be reunited with my boyfriend, and our new feline addition.

Our adopted Grenadian kitten. I am pretty much obsessed with her. 
I have pretty much returned to the same routine as last term, but I think I've been a little more secluded. I am overly focused on getting into grad school; something I fear may not actually happen, and thus have been spending a large amount of time writing and rewriting essays, scouring admissions profiles, and narrowing down the schools I hope to get in to. More on this later.

I have jumped back into running, and I'm surprised how quickly my body was able to bounce back after taking nearly 8 weeks off. Since we've also started to incorporate yoga into our weekly workouts, running has been much easier this term (click the link to see Grenada's Fountain of Youth Yoga Studio!). Cayley and her husband are planning to run the Aspen Valley marathon in Colorado this summer, and I have flirted with the idea of joining them. Altitude running is not something I think I'm ready for, but hey, it will be pretty at least :)

Since I was working so much and jumping between couches, I didn't cook much while I was home. Now that I'm back in Grenada, I have become mildly obsessed with it. We have also added "supper club" to our week with our friends Courtney and Brian and Nick and Cayley. Each week one couple hosts and makes dinner for the other two couples. I made grilled cheeseburger wraps (thanks to Cayley for the recipe) and roasted potatoes during my week to cook. Aside from slightly burning some of them, they turned out pretty good! It was also my first time cooking for more than two people, so I guess that fear has been squelched.

Since I don't have much room on the scooter, I decided that meal planning was the best way to make sure I get everything we need for the week in one grocery trip. It takes some time, but I think it will help in the long run, and I am hoping to stick to it. I also want to get better about blogging the recipes we have tried so that I can remember them for the future (when I have less time to sit for hours searching the internet!).

Monday: Three bean chili- this is a modified recipe- the original one was found on our SO recipe swap facebook page, and it was fantastic- We ate it over bow-tie noodles.

Tuesday: Crispy Quinoa Bake- another one I found on the SO website. It was pretty good; Pat is not a huge fan of quinoa but he did finish the pan so it couldn't have been that bad ;)

Wednesday: This was Courtney's turn to cook and she made phenomenal chicken fajita's (I will have to get the recipe from her!)

Thursday: Crispy Tilapia and roasted potatoes.

Saturday: Mussels in White Wine Sauce: I have never cooked with mussles and I'm not even sure if we like them, but they were extremely cheap at IGA and I surprisingly had everything needed for this recipe already in my kitchen, so I look forward to trying them!

I also made Zucchini Bread this week, one of my favorite foods, and it turned out better than I ever could have expected. I subbed half a cup of white sugar for brown sugar (simply because I ran out of the former) and I think that helped make the bread even more moist and amazing.

Final updates: We started playing on a kickball team with Courtney and Brian and some other friends we met first term. So far we have won two out of three games and I really look forward to spending time with Pat in this atmosphere. He even had a home run this week! Other than that, he is pretty much study, study, study all the time. He is also facilitating DES anatomy sessions (review sessions for first term students) one day a week. I am dorkishly proud of him.

Most of our kickball team: Kickaholics Anonymous (please ignore my awkward stance..)

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