Fantasy Football

Before I dive right into this, I feel the need to catch you up.


I traveled the Mediterranean this summer (which you will hear plenty about along the way) and it left my boyfriend in charge of our living arrangements. When I came home, it was to a house and three roommates. Three guy roommates that is. I am the only girl living in a house of boys and I love it. Mostly because each of them makes up a part of the perfect boyfriend and having them all under one roof means I get the perfect combination.


Anywho, my second week home, the boys started drafting for their fantasy football league and since its been on my bucket list forever, I persistently requested to join the league. I have to give my friend Liz for sealing the deal. I wasn't going to be left out during football season and you know what? I am not doing half bad.


Fantasy football isn't easy though. It's more strategic then I ever could have imagined. I don't think I have ever spent so much time on ESPN.com in my life. There is a never ending supply of statistics, articles, interview, podcasts, and blogs to keep on top of. You can't just pay attention to the individual player and their stats. You have to be mindful of who the opponent is, what kind of offense or defense the opponent brings, and whether it creates an opportunity for your player to score. You have to pray for quick recoveries and no injuries. I think if you play fantasy football in college you should receive credits. 


Being the only girl in the league makes me weary of all the trades being offered. I just can't help but feel that those boys are trying to take advantage of my lack of experience. I have had a lot of injuries this season and my scores are definitely hurting. With McFadden out for yet another week and Maclin injured, I brought on Laurent Johnson because I have faith he will continue to perform. After losing Schaub to injury, I traded for Matt Ryan, Stevie Johnson and Blount. Of course, Stevie Johnson was injured today, but Blount had a solid game. Despite the rocky past few weeks, I am still not in last place and playoffs are not out of the question. It isn't over til it's over. 


I will keep you updated. 


And it may be too late for this season, but if you are interested in starting a league next year check out this article I wrote for the ins and outs of starting a league at http://www.hercampus.com/school/ucdavis/fantasy-football-made-easy.


Enjoy!

Starting A Cook Book

I will have to start this one with a story. A when-I-was-young kind of story. My mom used to spend all day making peanut butter and oatmeal cookies from scratch. I loved to help and I loved the aromas that filled the house. In these memories, I always credited my mom with the recipes. So, during my junior year in college when my sorority planned an event requiring an excellent cookie recipe, I called my mom immediately. That's when I wish I had never asked. She told me to go to the store, buy Quaker Oats and the recipe was on the lid. I suddenly knew exactly how Phoebe felt on the Friends episode where she finds out the chocolate chip cookie recipe was from the Nestle Tollhouse package. 


In light of the experience, I became determined to collect family recipes. I wanted my grandmother's banana nut bread recipe and my boyfriend's grandmother's handmade tortilla and tamale recipes. That finally evolved into the idea to create recipes of my own. What I came to realize however, is that you have to master cooking first. You have to become familiar with all the spices, measurements, techniques and secrets. The only way to do that is to cook a lot. To cook new foods and old familiar ones until you are comfortable changing them and making them your own. So, that is exactly what I am going to do and hopefully my own recipes will follow. 


For my first step towards becoming master of the kitchen, I made these delightful lemon poppy seed pancakes (courtesy of pickycook.com @ http://www.pickycook.com/breakfastandbrunch/lemonpoppyseedpancakes.aspx).

I know what you're thinking. Lemon and pancakes? Not exactly the first two food items you would think to put together, but I promise you they are delicious. If you want to try them this is what you will need...

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1/3 cup poppy seeds

2 cups buttermild

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons butter, melted

zest of four lemons (grate the peel of four lemons)

Then you combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl combine the buttermilk, eggs, butter, lemon zest and poppy seeds. Add the wet to the dry. Mix just enough to combine the ingredients and don't worry if the batter is a little lumpy. Don't overmix.

Coat the pan with butter, turn the heat on medium-low and add 1/3 cup batter. You will without a doubt have more pancake craftsmanship than me, because it is impossible for me to make a perfect circle pancake.

This is Sammy, one of my roommates, and he's into making awesome food and keeping the house clean as much as I am. Oh and he loves coffee too. He works at Starbucks, so that means I get awesome fresh coffee every single morning. On Sundays he brings me my current obsession - chai tea latte. 

Here's all my boys getting breakfast. Jeff proceeded to say the following about my pancakes: "Megan, I don't eat anyone else's pancakes except for my dad's and these are some really freaking good pancakes." That's right they are that good.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will back again this weekend to cross another item off of my bucket list. Until then, GO AGGIES!

Bucket List Meet Blog

I am sure this won't come as a surprise, but starting a blog was on my bucket list.

I am not sure how to blog, or if I will even be good at it, but I know you have to start somewhere. So here it is.

I wish I could go back in time and blog about this summer or Apple Hill last weekend or my psychotic landlord or the last two weeks of fantasy football, which have been horrible for me by the way, but I feel like I would be breaking some sacred blogging rule. So, instead, I will start with this...

Hilarious, right? If you don't know what Nutella is you need to find out. It's so good there is a World Nutella Day. It's February 5th. Learn more at www.nutelladay.com.

I hope this was a satisfactory first blog. I am excited to cross off another item on my endless, forever-growing bucket list.

Sweet dreams to you all.