June is way awesome

I freaking love June...it's an amazing month
Here are the things that are wonderful about this June...

1. MY BIRTHDAY!!! (27th)
2. First Day of Summer (21st)
3. I am becoming a home owner for the first time
4. Going to see A Perfect Circle (this is the second time we will have seen Maynard in a year)
5. Camping trips (first one is tomorrow and then the weekend of my birthday)
6. We are going to finally experience our first 80 degree day
7. More sun
8. More BBQs
9. Longest day of the year
10. It's just awesome!

Nine Inch Nails "Right where it belongs"

Some of the better recipes I've tried

Cream cheese and Pesto Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2 Teaspoons reduced fat cream cheese

1 tablespoon basil pesto

Freashly ground pepper to taste

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 

1 egg white

1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions: 

1. preheat over to 400* F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray

2. Combine cream cheese, pesto and pepper in a small bowl with a fork

3. Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of each chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each chicken breast and place 1/4 of the filling in the center. Close each breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal.

4. Now I've lost the rest of the recipe...I think I cooked it for about 20 min, then checked it. USe your judgment. 

5. You can use potatoes, brown rice, or pasta to go with this delicious meal. 

Parmesan Sage Pork Chops

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash pepper

1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon rubbed sage

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

2 eggs lightly beaten

4 bone in pork loin chops

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 425*

2. In a shallow dish combine the flour, salt and pepper. In another shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs, parm cheese, sage and lemon peel. Place eggs in a shallow bowl. Coat each pork chop with flour mixture, dip in egg, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Let stand for five minutes.

3. In a skillet, brown chops in oil and butter for 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a greased 11in x 2in baking dish. Bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until juices run clear.  Of course use your best judgment to make sure the meat is cooked all the way through. 

Chicken Breast in Sour Cream and Wine Sauce

(It might sound gross, but it's delicious...)

3 slices bacon

1/3 cup butter

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

4 green onions (white part only), chopped

2 teaspoons paprika

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 cube chicken bouillon

1/3 cup hot water

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups uncooked white rice

2 cups water

1 tablespoon toasted slivered almonds

Directions:

1. Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium high heat, turning occassionally, until evenly browned, about 10 min. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Crumble when cool, set bacon aside. 

2. Preheat oven to 350* F. Spray a 7in x 11in baking dish with cooking spray

3. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and pan-fry chicken until brown on both sides, about six minutes per side (meat will still be pink inside). Arrange the chicken breasts in the baking dish. Cook the green onions in the hot skillet over medium heat until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in paprika and flour. Fry the flour about 1 min. Mash the bouillon cube in 1/4 cup of hot water in a small bowl and whisk the bouillon into the flour mixture. Bring to a boil. Sauce will be thick. Gradually whisk white wine into the skillet and bring to a simmer. Stir the sour cream into the sauce. Pout the sauce over the chicken breasts in the baking dish.

4. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake in the preheated over for 1 hour. 

5. About half an hour before the chicken is done, bring the rice and 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. Let rice stand covered for about 10 minutes.

6. To serve, spoon the cooked rice onto a serving platter and top with the chicken breasts. Stir reaming sauce in the dish and spoon over the chicken. Garnish with crumbled bacon and slivered almonds.

Hollister...where I spent my teenage years

Hollister

This is towards the beginning of downtown. The picture is most likely from the top of the parking garage. It's of of, if not, the tallest building in town. 

Downtown...Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant, a great place to get burritos after playing hacky sack at the coffee shop right next to it. Well, technically the coffee shop isn't there anymore. Above the coffee shop I saw the last therapist I saw in Hollister. 

The High School I graduated from. 

This is Dunn Park, the dip in the park is due to the Calaveras Fault Line which joins with the San Andreas Fault line. I used to spend a lot of time here. I remember being an idiot 16 year old and smoking nutmeg. It tasted like Christmas...

Downtown during the Independence Day Biker Rally we used to have ever year...city eventua

I may be gay, but Chino is still a sexy, sexy, man...

Snow Patrol: Run

Feeling a bit down...or more like lost today

Still trying to learn how to walk

I'm not always looking at you
Catapulted back to memories I thought I'd moved passed or at least buried,
But sometimes they're blinding
Like I've been looking at the sun too long
And I'm left seeing spots
Unable to make sense of what I'm seeing
Thinking that I'm looking at someone else
Until it's too late
And were both left in tears
Finally realizing that it was really you in front of me
And not the lurking skeletons I thought
Leaving us trying to recover from the scars under out skin,
the one's we didn't have stitches for
Only tattered bandages
That fell apart before we were able to find our peace.
I know you've felt it too,
Thought I was someone else
Both of us frightened by our nightmares
and the uncertainty of how to take steps forward
when we're both scared little children
still trying to learn how to walk


Control

I've been sitting here thinking
Trying to remember to breathe
To find some bit pf peace that's got to be out there
but I'm scared...
Trying so awkwardly to control everything
Even when I can't control myself.
Maybe it's just easier
Allowing myself to keep on running
Avoiding all those demons
That have been festering inside me for long,
But I lost my faith so long ago
That I'm not sure where to find it again
Not sure where to find the holy water
to help put out the fire
That's been raging in my gut
For so long that I'm tired,
Tired of trying to find my sanity in the wrong places
But I still keep holding on
Trying to remember how to pray for my own forgiveness


Untitled

Baby I'm scared...
Stuck in this shell that's only a sliver
Of who I want to be,
But I don't feel like I can ask you for help
So long burdened by your own dark shadows
And the burns I've left you too...
But I'm scared...
Knowing, feeling, that those walls need to come down
Those walls that I pretended protected me.
I've started searching for a sledge hammer this time
Instead of trying to chip at bricks
with a miniature rock hammer
Cause so far I've only gotten through a brick or too.
If I'm really honest about it...I'm actually quite nervous
Knowing that this path is laden with tears
That have been frozen inside me for decades
And I'm left without a life vest,
Long since forgotten how to swim.
Since It's more comfortable up here on the shore
Despite the jagged rocks and not having the best shoes...
But the ground is getting shakier and I can't stay here much longer
The atmosphere's getting heavier and I'm suffocating