I Haven’t Done This in a While…

Full blown grocery trip.

Bizarre, right?  Espesh if you know me.  If you know me, you know I like to cook.

But my job is crazy these days and this is THE FIRST WEEK I WILL SPEND IN MY APARTMENT SINCE JANUARY.  I actually had to buy enough groceries to last me the week as opposed to the quick meal things I grab for the two days I’m normally only here.  I’m slightly excited and slightly scared!

I’m excited because of course it’s nice to be home, in your own space, with your own furniture, cooking in your own kitchen, and not living out of your suitcase.  I can cook things and eat the leftovers (I love leftovers)!  These past few months I’ve only made things that I finish in one sitting or that I know I’ll be okay with eating all weekend as my only meal.  Tonight I made tacos and am looking forward to having the leftovers this week!  Especially as a delicious taco salad!  Mmmmm!!!

I’m scared because I’m worried I’ll be bored!  When I’m in a hotel I usually hang out in the local Panera or Starbucks for a while doing work and eating dinner.  And I try to take advantage of where I am by exploring the town through walking or visiting the local shops.  And now that I am home for a week I have to entertain myself!  I find it is so much easier to seek things out to do when you’re on the road in a town that isn’t yours, yet so much harder to find the motivation to do the same thing in your own town.  Sometimes I forget that this town is still new to me since I’ve only lived here for 5 months.  When I first moved here I was really good about walking the town to explore.  I was also good at remembering to take pictures… been slacking on that lately.  Sorry friends.

Lucky for me this town is the town of festivals and celebrations and they have St. Patty’s day events going on all this week.  And I guess I’ll just have to hang out all day in the local Panera and Starbucks when I’m not on campus.

Anyone else find it difficult to entertain yourself in your own town?  How do you remember to act like a tourist where you live?

Farmers Market Saturday

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures.  I should have.  Bad blogger.  See, today I went to the Allentown Farmers’ Market with two new Bethlehem friends, Megan and Caitlin.  I was excited to go and get some fresh veggies for my veggie soup I’ll be making tomorrow (look for the post!) and to spend time trolling the booths.  Megan kept talking about a mean Mediterranean food booth that had awesome salads and couscous so I was excited to stop by there and pick up some prepared foods for today’s lunch and dinner.  And I love perusing the lovely veggie stands with all the bright colors, fresh foods, and endless possibilities.  And of course, you might pass by a delicious baked goods stand that you just have to stop at and get the most yummtastic cupcake.  With all of these wonders in my mind and excitement built up I was a little sad to get there and see the overabundance of meat stands.

This is a farmers market, right?  Where farmers come to market their foods and people come to buy said foods?  There were about 3 fresh veggie and fruit stands and about 10 meat stands.  I started to get annoyed passing by all the meat stands.  A few is acceptable.  But how many meat stands can one farmers market need?  And then I remembered I’m in the Lehigh Valley where vegetarians, vegans, and quesitarians are not the norm.  But, ew, gross.

However, I was not disappointed in the variety of prepared food stands.  There was a delicious looking Mexican stand where Caitlin picked up some foods.  And a wonderful cheese stand where Megan was swayed by the samples set out.  And, of course, the bakery where I got a wonderful Peanut Butter and Chocolate cupcake.  Yummmm.  (I wish they had put a business card or sticker on the bag because I can’t remember their name!  But I will return to the farmers market for more).  The Mediterranean stand was all Megan (and Caitlin confirmed upon arriving) promised.  I got a delicious veggie something (can’t remember the name!), a Mediterranean salad mix, and a spinach and feta something.  Damn, I’m really bad at this.  I scarfed it down, I guess that’s all that matters!

All in all, it was a good day and fun to get out with new friends, but I hate to say I was disappointed in the fresh foods selection.  I got my veggies for my soup but I might stick to the grocery store… unless I find a better farmers market!

Anyone in the Bethlehem area know of any good farmers markets?  Have you ever been disappointed or surprised by what was at a farmers market?

A Doodlehem Friend

One of the nice things about moving to a new town is meeting new people.  One of the worst things about moving to a new town is finding ways to meet new people.  I’m going to try my darndest not to talk about that this time since I’ve almost beaten that topic to death.  (Since it isn’t quite dead yet I do reserve the right to talk about it again at some point… possibly multiple times because the topic will get stronger if I give it time to heal.)  And after last night’s very angry, very sad post I thought I’d write a little happier one about how exciting it is when you realize a friend from home actually lives about twenty minutes away from you because you both magically moved to the same relative area.

Miss Lauren B is a friend of Emily’s.  We both happened to meet Lauren on separate occasions and, unbeknownst to us that we were talking about the same person, we both expressed an interest in wanting to be Lauren’s friend.  See, my cousin and I, as I’m sure most of you do but you just aren’t admitting it, have a creepy way of meeting people and then deciding that they would make just about the most awesome friend, and then pursuing that person like we would if we were trying to date them.  After talking about Lauren to each other and saying the same things about her we realized we were talking about the same person.  And we had a good, long, extremely long laugh about that.  Classic JEmily.

So after I moved up to Doodlehem and posted on Facebook that I was in Doodlehem, Lauren sent me a message that she lived close by and, joy of joys, did I want to get together?  Heck yes I did!  And so now I have a wonderful friend that was already my friend but is now a Doodlehem friend.  Friend friend friend friend friend.

Lauren and I at a magical dinner

Clink!