White Peach Sangria

My, oh my.  This day has been full of frustration and anxiety as we are trying to tie up some loose ends while our summer "vacation" comes to a close.  Not to mention trying to mentally, physically, and financially prepare ourselves for the new school year to come!
But, instead of ranting and raving like the lunatic I can be about things I cannot change, I will write about......SANGRIA.
My friend had mentioned that she made a peach white wine sangria for a party  that soon became the hit of the night.  So, in honor of the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games, I decided to toast the athletes with my own version of said sangria.
I am horrible at writing down recipes because I am very much the type of person who doesn't usually cook or bake new meals using measurements; rather I prepare and alter my dishes based on taste.  I will share the ingredients of my concoction, though, I cannot provide you with an accurate measurement of each.  My apologies.

Ingredients
2 bottles of Trader Joe's 3 Buck Chuck Pinot Grigio
Peach Schnapps to taste ( around a cup)
Sugar to taste ( about 2 tablespoons)
1 white nectarine, 1 orange, 1 apple
Frozen pureed mangoes

I started off my drink by combining one bottle of wine with a half a cup of Schnapps.  Then I added my sugar and fruit.  Well, one bottle of wine does not fill a pitcher and I soon realized that I needed more.  So, I sent my boyfriend out to pick up an extra bottle, dumped that in, and added some more Schnapps to taste.  Whewwww it was way too...hmmmm...what word can I use...alcohol-y?  I read a lot of recipes online that recommended adding some type of juice to the sangria but I didn't want the added sugar.  After sampling it, I quickly realized I was in need of that sugar.  The problem was I had no juice and had already sent Mike out an emergency run!  Frantically, I looked in my freezer and spotted some frozen mangoes and thought to myself, peach and mango - yes please!  I threw in a decent amount of mangoes and water into my Vita Mix and blended them until I had a nice liquid.  I poured that into my sangria and WOW.  It made a tremendous difference in a very, very good way!

It seems as though my audience also enjoyed my sangria (both men) as they gulped down two glasses each.  It was a bigger hit than the opening ceremony, that's for sure.
I enjoyed a glass last night and it tasted even better than the first night since it has had time so soak.  Yum!  I think another glass is in order today!

Yummy Sandwich

After squatting in our family's homes for over three weeks, I could not wait to return to my own home, specifically to reunite with beloved kitchen.  There is nothing like having a refrigerator full of fresh produce that accommodates my own personal taste, or having cabinets that overflow with my favorite dried and canned foods that have been absent from my diet for way too long.  It has taken several trips to three different groceries to get us back in business, although I foresee another trip in my near future.
I was most eager to get back into the swing of cooking because of an IMPECCABLE sandwich I consumed while dining at my favorite vegetarian hang on LBI called Livin' On The Veg.  I wanted to recreate their version of one of their specials, Tofu Tulum.  I am proud to say it was a success!  I have not come up with my own name for it yet, though I think Get In My Belly would be a pretty good one.
Here is Livin' On The Veg's version

Here is my version

Ingredients:

Dijon mustard

Avocado

Tofu

Cucumber

Grated carrots

Tomoto

Sprouts

Veganaise

Shlop all of these ingredients onto whole grain bread and WHA-LA.  

How convenient.  

A gift from both mom and dad before leaving NJ - Crispin from daddio and mason jars that my mom picked up (for 25 cents a piece at a yard sale!!) for our home.  This drink was much needed after learning that our water tank in our apartment was shot and had started leaking while we were away.

That was a long hiatus...

I know.  I have not been doing a good job keeping up with my blog.  My life has been compact with traveling in the past few weeks:  Florida to Paris, Paris to Florida, Florida to New Jersey, New Jersey to Long Island, Long Island to New Jersey....and then back down to Florida on Sunday.

I won't bore you or myself with what I've been up to during my summer "vacation" through written words about visiting various friends and family.  Instead, you can view these pictures.

 Seashells after the storm in the gulf

We drove from Florida to Delaware without

hitting any traffic.  We get to NJ and was greeted

by a monstrosity of a delay.

 Vegan buffalo cesar wrap from Livin' on the Veg on LBI.

 LBI.

 Favorite breakfast spot on Long Island.

Blueberry stuffed french toast, coconut pineapple pancakes,

and a "side" of hashbrowns.

 The massive bag that got stuck to the pipes

under my car.

 Me and my new hat.  

Drinking wine out of a tiki straw with mom.

Onto today's news...

My mom and I decided to get a pedicure.  Upon arriving at the salon, I noticed that there were no female employees.  Instead, three men were sitting at their stations listening to their iPods or playing on their iPhones.  Sweet.  I turned to my mom and said, "Are we really going to do this?"

Now, maybe I was being unfair.  Anyone should be allowed to perform a job no matter their age, sex, or race.  Right?

We proceeded with our pedicures.  I hopped up on my chair and sank my tootsies into lukewarm water and sat looking down on my pedicurist (I am not quite sure if that is an actual word.  If it isn't, well, then, I just made it up.).  He was probably in his late twenties or early thirties while my mother's was in his forties or fifties.  Her pedicurist babbled about one thing or another a few times throughout the session while mine remained silent.

My pedicure started the normal way a pedicure does - removal of toenail polish followed by a good scrub with a pumice stone.  At first rub my foot jolted in the air and almost involuntarily kicked the guy in the face.  Fortunately, contact between my foot and his face did not happen thanks to his quick reflexes.  He then proceeded to scour about three layers of skin off of my feet with caution.  Pay back?

While this was going on, my mom was dealing with her own issues.  After her pedicurist removed her polish, he came back with something that reminded me of this scene from Dumb and Dumber:

"What are you doing with that?!" mom yelped.  It turns out, the apparatus was not some type of chain saw for her toenails but rather something to take the dead skin off of her feet...scary times.

After my feet were nice and raw, the man cleansed my legs with an exfoliating scrub and proceeded to lather up them up with some lotion for the massage portion of my pedicure.  And now the reason why it's extremely uncomfortable for a man to give you a pedi - during this point of a pedicure you are supposed to relax and enjoy having your muscles soothed and loosened.  Sometimes, it feels so nice that one can't help but release a big sigh or even a little moan of pleasure.  When it's a woman rubbing my feet and calves, it's no big deal.   HOWEVER, with a man at my feet with a probable view up my shorts, the last thing I want to do is make any noise that could remotely be associated with pleasure.  Na ah.  I sat in my chair reading about the Nazi war criminal who was just arrested in Hungary on my iPhone to avoid any sign on my face that might read 'oh this feels good.'  Am I being ridiculous here?  Or am I speaking with some validity?

An hour and $23 later my toes don't even look that good.  There is polish all over my feet! I think it goes without saying that the next time I go into a nail salon and see a bunch of men playing on their gadgets, I am walking out.  Call me sexist if you want.  No man besides my boyfriend is touching my toes again!