Wiggity Wiggity Weekend Update

Hey friends- I hope everyone who celebrates had a great Easter, and for those who don't, an exciting Sunday. My weekend was pretty chill- I did some shopping on Saturday. In the city we have this pretty cool complex on 116th and the East River that has just about everything you want, a Marshalls, an Old Navy, a Costco and a Target. Needless to say, I spent several hours wandering and did some damage to my bank account. but... in my defense everything was on sale...

On Sunday I caught up with my sister and her family, spending a relaxing day with my adorable nephew going to the park and taking some pictures.

Not too much else in the Rebekah news now. I was able to finally get to the Brooklyn Children's Museum on Friday with the boys and it was really cool- much better than anticipated and both kids had a wonderful time.  They had this super cute turtle exhibit that Little J literally could have sat at all day.

I plan on spending a lot of this week preparing for our trip to Barbados, we are leaving next week! I'm looking forward to getting some color on this paper white girl and not cooking for a week and a half. Priorities people.

How do you do that?

...laundromat? Make my clothes perfectly folded and creased every time, but when I try and fold the shirt it looks like a rag

... bargain shopper? Find the best deals, always, on the racks of forever21/h&m/goodwill that fit you perfectly and are then marked down another 50% at the register

...mini-skirt wearer? You are wearing an adorable skirt, your legs look great and it doesn't even seem as if your hoo-ha is about to fall out

...Chipotle? Make such delicious concoctions that make my mouth water and keep me coming back on a (more than) weekly basis

...Santa Claus? Get to every child's house on one night of the year, delivering toys to all the well-behaved girls and boys- your magic mystifies me.

... small child? Fall into the deepest sleep in the blink of an eye when I can only ponder my life away each night for hours.

Excited for this fun new link-up from Jackie over at Jade and Oak! 

These are my Confessions

Last Wednesday I noticed a lot of posts going around with this link-up, which I somehow missed in my two months of blogging. They were all funny and honest. I also recently read Erin's (from Living in Yellow) post about secrets- which you should definitely check out- and it was very eye-opening. That one, along with post-secret, we all feel a lot more comfortable about telling our secrets anonymously, but that two, a lot of our secrets are all the same.

I confess: I've lived in NYC for almost 5 years and I have never been to Staten Island or Governor's Island. Both very different things- but both things I feel like I should have done by now..

I confess: I actually kind of hate warm weather- in an every day sense. I love warm/hot weather when I can sit by a pool, or at the beach or just do nothing, i.e vacation/weekends. But when I have to function in normal life with weather over 70 degrees- I hate it. I seem to be the sweatiest person ever (tmi, I don't care) and I just feel miserable- I'm sticky, gross, usually carrying a million things- I never feel put together while everyone around me does. ugh.

I confess: I took a cab 3 times last week! I know, I know- but with my sinuses acting like crazy pants I just wanted to get home each night, and get home quick.  We can count this as emergency situations.

I confess: I now know how to decrypt and rip DVDs to a flash drive. whoops! My boss made me do research it, I swear...

Thanks for the fun link-up Kathy!

Mandarin Chicken Pasta Salad

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is having a good week so far- I know it's only Tuesday but hey.. I'm linking up this week with a tasty pasta salad that works all year long.

Ingredients:
For Dressing
1 tsp finely choppen, peeled fresh ginger
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup of orange juice
1/4 vegetable oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 (1 oz) package dry onion soup mix
2 tsp white sugar
1 clove garlic, pressed




For Pasta
1 (8z) package of bow tie or fusilli pasta
1/2 cucumber- scored, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup coarsely chopped red onion
2 diced roma tomatoes
1 carrot, shredded
1 (6oz) bag fresh spinach
1 (11 oz) can mandarin orange segments, drained
2 cups of cooked chicken
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

* my boss does not like cucumbers or red pepper, so I omit and subsitute with radishes. We also don't add almonds because of nut allergies, and I'm lazy so I just chop the carrots. I like extra oranges as well. *

Directions:
1. Make the dressing by whisking together the ginger root, rice vinegar, oj, vegetable juice, sesame oil, soup mix, sugar, and garlic until well blended. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.

2. Cook your chicken- I like to salt and pepper the chicken and bake in the oven at 350 for about 20-30 mins. Let it cool and then chop it up. Typically I use 2-3 chicken breasts. 

3. Meanwhile bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the bow tie pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or whatever the directions on the box say. drain, rinse and put in a large bowl.

4. Add your salad ingredients by tossing in the cucumber, red bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, carrot, spinach, oranges, chicken and almonds into the pasta. Pour the dressing over the mixture and toss again to coat evenly. Serve immediately- or cover and put in the fridge until you are ready to enjoy!

Probably not the recipe to post during passover but whatevs. I'm eating my matzo like I just don't care.