House Chow Fun - Delicious wide noodles.

Pennsylvania Roll - I forgot to write down what was in this roll, but it was quite yummy.

Fortune Cookie

Panda Heaven
118 Coventry Square Mall
Pottstown, PA 19464
(610) 970-6953‎

Happy New Year! :)

]]> http://www.futilesniff.com/2008/12/progress/feed/ http://www.futilesniff.com/2008/12/struggle/ http://www.futilesniff.com/2008/12/struggle/#comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:40:35 +0000 Meg http://www.futilesniff.com/?p=2152

About a year or two ago my parents decided to get the floors redone in the house. At this time I was away in Los Angeles and had not control over what was going to happen to my room. Consequently, everything I owned was placed half-assedly into boxes. No method to the madness. No consideration either - after finding a bottle of baby oil leaking on top of personal sentimental items such as high school yearbooks and other mementos. In past visits home, I have avoided my bedroom completely so I wouldn’t have to deal with cleaning it up and slept in the tv room. Fortunately or Unfortunately, this lazy avoidance did not work out this winter. My allergies have gotten worse or this house has gotten dustier (safe to say that it’s both). A house with 5 cats, 2 dogs, and tons of dust collecting furniture has made this trip hard to breathe. Recognizing the importance of clean air, I moved back into my bedroom. I have opened up the window to air out the room (it’s been a closed room with stale air for probably a year) and have began to deconstruct the boxes. It is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. It’s going through over a decade years of “stuff” I have accumulated. I am more of a pack rat than I remembered. From the looks of it, I archived everything! Every magazine I ever read, every stuffed animal I ever received, every bag I ever used… somehow I had kept in my room. Ridiculous. I found my drivers permit, tons of photos, my “Blossom” hat (circa ‘92), all my high school notes, grades, papers, a plethora of cd cases (with no cds), individual socks missing their partners, clothes, etc. It’s an intense and slow process to sift through these things. Each picture I want to look at, each old shirt I want to try on. Reflection on the way it used to be. Quite the purging / detoxing experience. But, this is what I have been doing the past few days. As no-fun as it sounds, it is making me feel more comfortable at home. This trip has been unexplainably hard for me and now I am thinking it was because I didn’t have my own space. Because I am FINALLY going through everything, I am making it comfortable for the 25 year old Meg (and hopefully the future Meg) and not trying to live in the messy space the 18 year old Meg left behind….

Service = rude
Food = overpriced and bland.

I know what you’re thinking. Maybe it would be better without the traditional cheez whiz. You might be right, but it was by accident that I got stuck with the traditional, nasty “cheese.” I ordered my “pepper cheese steak” and by the time I had realized the man at the window had not asked me what type of cheese I wanted (like I had heard him ask my friend ahead of me) and was probably going to give me the cheez whiz, I said “wait!” but, the man didn’t listen and poured the cheez whiz on it. I said, “I wanted provolone cheese,” but he gave me the face similar to one of a d-bag and said “too late.” I was livid of this soup nazi-esque experience. I wanted to just throw it out, but it cost 8 dollars to not get what I wanted. I gave it a try, realized it sucked and decided I would write about it. The meat was dry. The peppers too oiled up to really add anything to the sandwich except more oil. Rip Off. All and all, gross and boring. Go to Subway instead.

Sorry Philly… you’re not my city.

Pat’s King of Steaks
237 E Passyunk Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 468-1546

Mashed Potatoes

We made NY Time’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie (I found the recipe at Diana Takes A Bite). I really enjoyed these cookies, but my boyfriend found them a little too salty. Which is funny because it seems like he adds salt on everything else he eats.

Then the Gingerbread Cookies. I found the recipe online at the Recipezaar. I don’t own any cookie cutters, which made this to be a fun opportunity to practice our creative, free hand drawing/cutting. I really liked the gingerbread. It was not too sweet, but not too boring. I enjoyed making thicker cookies (less crunch and more chew).

Classic Gingerbread Man

Gingerbread Quadrapus

Gingerbats (And the Dark Knife)

Heart & Mustache

]]> http://www.futilesniff.com/2008/12/cookie-party/feed/ http://www.futilesniff.com/2008/12/pennsylvania/ http://www.futilesniff.com/2008/12/pennsylvania/#comments Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:51:59 +0000 Meg http://www.futilesniff.com/?p=2121 Last night I took the red eye to Philadelphia. Getting through security and boarding the flight went quite smoothly, but sadly I was unable to sleep on the plane. I sat in darkness pretending to sleep, which will only make adjustment harder. I am excited to be at home and with my family (and the many pets!). My parents and I all seem to have some sort of cold or sinus infection going on which makes me want to cook some chicken noodle soup for the house. From scratch. But, I have no recipes. Any ideas of where I should look? Family secret recipes you want to share?