Nightmare Weekend

So this weekend was a total nightmare. I had this great date planned for Ryan, an old roommate, and his birthday.

I was over at Ryan's the Sunday before his birthday and we were talking about this and that when it occurred to me that Dani has never seen Nightmare Before Christmas, the best. I asked Ryan what he thought I should make for Dinner to go along with the Movie. We discussed dark Grape juice, savory food... all to fit into the dark, but classy, feel of the movie. We could have also had Christmas themed cookies and food too, but that was just too much for the roommates that will not listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving!!

Ryan mentioned that his Birthday was coming up, and that we should go dancing for a date too. Then I realized that making a bunch of 'Nightmare' food and then eating it would be a great birthday bash for Ryan. So Ryan and I planned his birthday dinner to be the Night after his birthday! We had Boyd, Joyd Bohnson come too.

I found a great theme night from a Rachel Ray and changed a couple recipes to fit the people that were eating and Ryan and I got to work. I made Ryan read all the recipes and take charge of most of the cooking, as I did a lot of busy work. My goal whenever I cook with Ryan is to make him cook most of it and convince him that he really is a good cook! We had Curried Carrot Cobweb Soup, Bloody Steak Fingers and Anti-Vampire Shrimp Scampi, really good if you do not want to sit close to your date, so we called it anti-date shrimp scampi too! We had amazing grape juice to go with the meal, and for dessert/movie candy Ryan and i popped popcorn and drizzled it with melted chocolate and mixed in skittles. New favorite, for sure.

We did have one setback... one of the roommates had moved out for the summer term and accidentally taken all of the bowls and dishes from the whole apartment, so I had to call Dani to bring some. But they looked awesome with all the bright food. And the food was really good; Ryan gets all the credit on this one.

Well as Ryan and I were talking to our date and cooking at the same time we found out that Dani had seen 'Nightmare before Christmas' and it was one of her favorite movies, so it all worked out in the end.

The fridge that really just messes up your food.

I am sitting on my couch listening to the hum of my new fridge and a very full mini-fridge. The old fridge will never be missed. It was about the size of 2 mini-fridges stacked one on top of the other. We never got along and could never be friends.

Upon first arriving in my new apartment, my fridge, who I do not miss, was defrosted and luke-warm on the inside. (The last tenants had not cleaned the fridge out and the apartment manager had come before me and cleaned a little.) I had just arrived from San Diego with my best friend Moose, 6'3", 320 lbs. with food in tow.

While I was in San Diego with Moose, Moose's father, Mark, gave me a gift. Moose and his Dad the day before had come back home from Yuma, Arizona. They drove there to buy 20 half gallons of a very exclusive ice cream called Blue Bell Ice Cream. It is rarely sold outside of Texas and neighboring states. Oh and Yes, I had one! I love Blue Bell; I was introduced on my mission to Texas. It is like homemade ice cream on steroids.

You may see where this is all leading to. My fridge, which would have a nickname, but that would involve acknowledging the darn thing, was not cold, but it was cool enough. I informed management that the fridge struggled and was not cold enough. I wanted to suprise a favorite mission companion a few weeks later, and I checked the ice cream... but, to my suprize the ICE cream, was NO-ICE cream. I was crushed.

Told management about it. The rest of the fridge had gone out too, losing a bunch of food. Management came by and 'fixed' the fridge. I was still dissatisfied with the coldness. But it would have to work for now. Well a couple weeks later I made Moose a birthday dinner. I had bought tons of food to make Cafe Rio pulled pork burritos and salads. It was a huge meal. Frozen drinks, Brazilian lemonade. 8 lbs. of pork alone. Tons of Romaine lettuce and rice. Salsas, dressing, and even tortilla strips. Moose had at least 5 burritos, and half the meat. Everyone else ate their fill too.There were left overs to feed me and all of my friends for weeks.

2 days later, the fridge went out. This time melting a Kroger half gallon of ice cream and a half bag of ice on the contents of the fridge, thus trashing every carton and container. Management was called, and last night, finally replaced the fridge. This fridge is bigger, better, colder but still empty, losing a full fridge of food is hard to come back from. Well now that all is cold or will soon be now I can get management to get me working appliances and bathroom too.


Recipe For Pulled Pork Burritos and Salads