It has been the weekend for 2 days for me and I am just now getting this business out. With a sultry photo of Mose.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t cooked too much the last couple of days. I had yesterday off and by the time dinner came around I had the energy to make a sandwich. It was a good sandwich though, I promise. Spicy sprouts and claussen pickles make almost any sandwich fabulous.

Friday I was craving soup and grilled cheese, maybe because of all the national grilled cheese day photos, so I went straight for THIS. I don’t know why I’ve never put roasted broccoli on a grilled cheese before but I’ve been missing out. and it makes me want to steal my mom’s panini press. (via Shutterbean)

Speaking of grilled cheese sandwiches, I think this one’s totally mountaintop shouting worthy. (via Joy the Baker)

The soup? Homemade cream of tomato from Deb, first ever successful attempt at that one. Seriously I’ve tried several and this one takes the cake/grilled cheese. (via Smitten Kitchen)

I saw on the twitter this morning that Izy put up the cake she teased on instagram last week. AND I HAVE TO MAKE THIS ASAP/WEDNESDAY. Total wednesday cake to make the week better. I should make wednesday cakes a thing. (via Top with Cinnamon)

Megan made champagne toast. ALCOHOL IN MY BREAD. It just needs to happen. (via Take a Megabite)

How epic would this ice cream cake be at a dinner party?!  or maybe a wednesday cake? I just can’t handle it. coffee and vanilla ice cream FTW! (via Not Without Salt)

And for breakfast this week I totally need a giant bowl of this. I’ve tried steel cut oats in the past with much hatred following the first bite, but I’m ready to go for round two. (via xo breakfast)

I’m working on a little posty post about (re)seasoning a cast iron skillet since I had a totally defeating moment on my first try. I’m trying to pass on my excitement to all of you. Then I’m gonna make a cake in that heavy piece.

Lastly, I leave you with something to bop along to in the kitchen. I have failed on this the past few grocery lists but I won’t do it again. pinkie promise.

I have come to be slightly obsessed with the band San Cisco. They only have an EP out right now, but they’ve got a music video for I think every song and every one of them is fabulous/one of them is very dark. This is not that one.

I have this whole weekend off from work. Which means trying to enjoy the crazy nice weather we’re having and working on a take home midterm and having good breakfasts and fingers crossed busting out the grill for some of Steve’s carne asada.

It also means watching terrible tv shows whilst in bed. Maybe while eating carne asada. Not.

I am going to make perfect macaroons this weekend. I don’t have the recipe yet, but it’s supposed to involve turning the coconut into almost a paste to make the cookie creamier. We’ll see what happens.

And just in case that wasn’t enough sweetness, Megan’s got a chocolate Thursday cake that I think is acceptable to eat on the weekend. (via Take a Megabite)

Also, interruption: based off all the links I’ve compiled this is going to be a very sweet grocery list. If sweet isn’t your thing, go eat some meatballs.

I’ve been wanting to make this buttermilk cake from Joy the Baker for a while. I bought a cast iron, attempted to season it and totally failed. I have yet to make the cake. That’s real life. I’m gonna season that skillet and make this cake in the next few days and share how to properly season a skillet so your life doesn’t crumble around  you. (via Joy the Baker)

also p.s. How great is her milkshake video?

p.p.s. How great was that question?

gif wizard Izy made us all samoa popcorn. Now it’s going to be even more awkward when I turn down the girl scouts by telling them I’m making popcorn instead of their addictive cookies. (via Top with Cinnamon)

Two words: CHURRO BALLS. If frying things didn’t make so upset on several levels then I would have already made them. (via the Kitchn)

I need a birthday to go to. So I can make this cake and impress a bunch of people. (via Smitten Kitchen)

Lastly I found a box of gelatin in the back of the cupboard yesterday. It doesn’t expire for another 2 years. I think that means I should take a whack at Panna Cotta. Holy crap that looks easy. (via the Kitchn)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some french toast to make.

The other day I had this idea: I want to put some chorizo in some turkey meatballs. I thought I was genius. I told Steve and he wasn’t one way or another. That meant all systems are a go.

Actually he could have had any reaction and I still would have attempted these. I wanted to make a meatball with a chorizo flavor. I knew I couldn’t use just chorizo because that would have meant a huge greasy mess and a mild heart attack, so I needed a meatball to add it to.

I searched up ‘Ina Garten Meatball’ in Google and found she had a turkey meatball recipe.

That is laced with pork italian sausage.

That was just screaming to be replaced with chorizo, right? and the parsley? hellooo cilantro. I decided to keep the oregano, and throw out the red pepper flakes based off reviews. Overall the meatballs were easy. There’s an element of fresh breadcrumbs made in a food processor but it takes like two seconds and you can make extra and throw them in the freezer for the next time you make these meatballs.

Because there will be a next time.

I ate an unmentionable amount straight off the pan. That was my dinner last night. I am not ashamed.

For lunch today I decided to take the civilized route and attempt what was supposed to happen for dinner: a spin on the asian sub. It’s a hoagie roll with a little sriracha mayo, the meatballs, some grated carrot and cilantro leaves. I would have also accepted cucumber and about 4 times the amount of carrots and cilantro but that would have covered the meatballs too much for the photo so for the sake of blogging, I lessened it.

Don’t be me.

These are actually really fantastic meatballs: not dry at all, the perfect size and just enough of a hint of chorizo. I would totally bring them to a potluck, with some cucumber and carrot or get some really nice rolls from the bakery and serve up some sliders for a crowd. Just do it.

Right now.

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This week has been spring break for me. And I feel like I’ve actually accomplished quite a bit regardless of the fact that I’ve stayed up late, slept in, and haven’t made half the meals I’ve eaten.

Steve and I finally got a dresser after only a year. I don’t want to talk about the state of our clothes organization before that. I’ve been holding out for a solid wood dresser off craigslist for a while because I don’t trust the pressed wood for a dresser that would take a lot of abuse from two gay men and our stockpile of clothing. Everything on craigslist happens to be crap in Humboldt county. People throw around the words vintage and modern like they’re butterflies in Mariah Carey’s mansion. Not cool, bro.

On top of that there’s been a couple photo shoots to help expand el portfolio a little more, and I’ve sort of done some house cleaning and got sucked into Sister Wives and Extreme Couponing through the deep vortex known as Netflix.

And that pretty much sums it up.

I have the weekend off, and I really need to have a home cooked meal. Steve made some amazing steak quesadillas the other night and I need to figure out how to top that.

Step 1 this weekend is to make some more of this granola, subbing out the whole almonds for cashews. I’ve made it a few weekends in a row and just eat random handfuls instead of being civilized with yogurt. (via Joy the Baker)

Steve loves mushrooms. Steve will love these stuffed mushrooms that my girl Cindy has whipped up. Guaranteed. (via Hungry Girl Por Vida)

For some good dessert, you know, to balance out that healthy granola, I’m feeling these sugar cookies made into ice cream sandwiches with some coffee ice cream. Megan would totally approve. (via Take a Megabite)

Maybe I could top them in this vegan caramel, yeah? How about hell yeah. (via Oh, Ladycakes, aka incredibly funny blog)

How great are these cauliflower twice baked potatoes?! I mean, I have to eat more of them if they’re healthy, right? (via Minimalist Baker)

And lastly having the weekend off means weekend breakfasts. Which means these buttermilk biscuits slathered in sausage gravy. then some jam in the afternoon for a second breakfast and a nap. (via Smitten Kitchen)

What are you kids making this weekend?!

This is Anna. She is awesome. She is talented. She is my awesome talented friend.

Yesterday we had a photo shoot extravaganza where we shot each other to help build up our portfolios since the end of school is coming up soon and the real world is happening and we need grad invites.

(real world as in real life times, not MTV. Anna and I wouldn’t do very well on that show and we’d just be confused the whole time plus I don’t think either one of us likes dressing like a hooker.)

I am not a model. I’m always awkward in photos. Neither one of us had any clue what to do with our hands or our arms and it made for some really great awkward images. Am I supposed to smize? Does it look like I have no hands? Oh geez I think the sun is giving me cheshire cat face.

Usually when Anna and I are in a photo together there’s this cosmic explosion of awkwardness and somewhere an angel gets it’s wings.

When Anna suggested we take eachother’s portraits for portfolio purposes/grad invites I jumped at the chance. Somehow I managed to be a decent model. Anna told me there were hardly any where I was blinking or looking crazy or giving unnoticed sexy times face.

We’re going at round two later this week. A lot of the images are great for a portfolio, but obviously most of these images wouldn’t say Hey, I’m graduating!

Except maybe the one below with her hands on her hips, conquering the land.

It’s been so so long since I’ve actually picked up a camera to just shoot and it was incredibly fun. It needs to happen more. I need to go out and make some money with it. Especially since it might be one of the things I’m going to school for.

Look out world, Billy’s using his camera more.

side note: how awesome is this greenhouse?! It’s on the Humbodt State campus and although the inside is just as cool, the outside made an awesome graphic statement in the images.

Last night we had breakfast for dinner. I Instagrammed it. It was cool and sexy.

What do we call this? Brinner? Dinnekfast? Breakner? Brinner doesn’t have the red mistake line  under it as I type this so I guess that’s it.

I’ve been craving blueberry pancakes for a few days now, regardless of the fact I had pancakes for breakfast just a few days ago. It’s real life.

Since I rarely have those luxurious mornings where I can stroll out of bed, glide down the stairs, and make a nice breakfast I had to make me some brinner. If it wasn’t a school night I probably would have downed a couple grapefruit mimosas, but I didn’t want to be too sexy so I went with a large iced coffee instead.

This brinner consisted of pancakes, hashbrowns, and peppered bacon. I wish I had a good recipe for hashbrowns, but I don’t want to talk about it. I opt for the bagged variety and try to get them nice and crispy. The bacon is baked at 400 for 20 min and it comes out beeeeautiful, and the lemon blueberry pancakes are just the classics, jazzed up. I would have totally accepted chocolate chip pancakes if there were no blueberries and lemon though. It was just a jazzy pancake kind of night.

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

makes 8 large because Steve doesn’t accept any pancake scooped with less than a half cup scoop of batter.

2 c all purpose flour
4 t aluminum free baking powder
1/4 c sugar
1/4 t salt

1 1/2 c  1% milk or 2 c whole or buttermilk
2 eggs
1/4 c canola oil
1 t vanilla

Lemon Blueberry Business: a small container of blueberries, and zest of 1 lemon.

Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients (and lemon zest) in a large bowl.

Add the dry to the wet, mix just until combined. Do not overmix.

Heat up a skillet and add a small pat of butter. Use a 1/2 cup to add even amounts of batter for the pancakes. Drop some blueberries after you drop the batter.

Look for slight bubbles and divots in the uncooked side and then flip. You might need to peek to make sure that the first side is cooked. It’s all a matter of the pan you’re using and the stove top you cook on. Make sure the pans not too hot or the outside will cook and leave you with raw batter on the inside. That’s not a sexy pancake. They should take a couple min per side.

Serve with maple syrup or lemon curd or buttermilk syrup.