let's cook!!

While attending a wine party back in May, a number of recipes were distributed along with information regarding the wine and one in particular caught my eye (anything with shrimp will do that!). I completely forgot that I snapped a picture of the recipe until recently and I'm happy because this dish was delicious!

The dish was titled "Creamy Linguine with Asparagus and Shrimp" - I decided to use angel hair because of preference and was very simple to make.

Ingredients:

8 ounces of pasta 

2 tablespoons of butter

1 pound of asparagus- trimmed and sliced into 1 inch pieces

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 pound of jumbo shrimp

4 teaspoons of Tuscan seasoning

1 teaspoon of Sicilian sea salt

**In addition to the above ingredients, I also used about 2 teaspoons of olive oil**

According to Wine at Home, this dish would nicely be paired with Somersvile Cellars 2011 White Meritage which they described as a Bordeaux-style blend with citrus, floral and hazelnut aromas.

After gathering all the required ingredients, a pot of water was put on the stove and I began preparing the shrimp. When I went to the grocery store, peeled and deveined shrimp was on sale so I decided to give it a try as I find deveining shrimp to be a pain in the butt. When I unwrapped the shrimp, I saw that in fact it was not deveined and I had to do it anyways so I was slightly annoyed.

After I deveined and pulled the tails off the shrimp, I went on to the asparagus.

I cut approximately an inch and a half off the bottom of the asparagus and then proceeded to cut the asparagus into one inch pieces.

After the asparagus was prepared, I placed the butter and garlic in the skillet over medium heat and once warm, the asparagus was added.

Once the asparagus is placed in the skillet, I drizzled olive oil over the aspargus and cooked it until tender, approximately 5 minutes.

Once the asparagus is tender, I added in the heavy cream, lemon juice Tuscan seasoning and sea salt. At this point, I added about half of the seasoning, sea salt and lemon juice and added the remaining when the shrimp was added.

I used the McCormick seasonings from their gourmet collection and I do recommend these.

 Once the asparagus became tender, I added the 1 cup of heavy cream.



I mixed the heavy cream with the asparagus, oil and butter and brought it to a boil, still on medium heat.

By the time the shrimp needed to be added, the water was ready for the pasta and since angel hair requires a small amount of time to be cooked, it was perfectly timed.
 

When I added the shrimp, I also the remaining seasoning, sea salt and lemon juice and cooked over medium heat.

Once you can see the shrimp changing from grey to pink, you know it's time to flip!

I continued to cook the sauce over low heat while I was waiting for the pasta to cook to keep the
shrimp from becoming too hard.

 
Once the pasta is ready, remove the sauce from heat and serve!
 

Add shredded (as opposed to grated) Parmesan cheese to the top and enjoy!!

Now if you choose to follow the original recipe and decide to serve with linguine as opposed to angel hair, I would put the water on earlier as linguine takes a significantly longer time to cook. I definitely think that I will be making this dish again!

twitter 411

So you just joined Twitter and you are ready to tweet your little heart away but you're not sure where to begin. While twitter may seem confusing at first, especially if you're a loyal Facebook user, it really is not difficult at all and I am here to help!

Here are some twitter basics and tips to get you tweeting like a pro:

140 Characters
Each "tweet" on twitter must be made in 140 characters or less and if you go over, Twitter will not allow you to tweet. I know for myself, that going over the 140 character limit is rarely an issue unless I am trying to tell a quick story. If you do go over the 140 character limit, here is the time to become creative and and use abbreviations or symbols to get your point across.

So here are some tips to keep your tweets under 140 characters: 
take advantage of symbols such as: &,%,$,# etc.
use contractions
ignore grammar basics but ensure that the tweet is still understandable
remove any pictures that are attached since they tend to use a large amount of characters
be creative with words and use numbers to substitute words such as: before= be4 or even b4, today=2day

Retweet
Find a tweet that you want to share? Retweet it! Retweeting a user's tweet will allow those that follow you, see the tweet that you found interesting. You will also see tweets on your timeline that are retweeted by those you follow. If you decided that you do not care to see retweets, you are able to disable the feature and it will remove all future retweets from your twitter feed.


Favorite
Come across a tweet that you like? Favorite it! Just like "liking" someone's post on Facebook, favoriting a tweet on Twitter will let the user know that you liked their tweet. All favorite tweets can be found on your page and can be viewed by others.


Twitter Feed
Similar to your News Feed on Facebook, your Twitter Feed will show you all recent tweets and retweets made by those you follow.

Hashtags #
While browsing on Twitter, you will see the hashtag symbol (#) followed by a number of characters such as a word, string of words or an abbreviation such as #TGIF, #laborday, #football and so on. Hashtags are a way for users on Twitter to express themselves in such a way that can be searched on Twitter and when a hashtag becomes popular on Twitter, it will be considered to be "trending". These trending hashtags on Twitter represent popular topics and typically revolve around world events, popular television programs, holidays and so on.

So here are some tips to best use hashtags:
Keep them simple, hashtags that contain a large amount of words can be hard to read
Be creative & unique
Use trending hashtags to join a discussion

Common Hashtags
Throw back Thursday #tbt: this hashtag appears on Thursdays and is usually followed with either an old memory or photo. This is one of my favorite hashtags, I love both posting and reading them!
Follow Friday #ff: Like the previous hashtag this is specific to a day of the week and Follow Friday gives users the chance to reccomend to their followers, which users to follow.
Now Playing #nowplaying: This hashtag usually follows a band, singer, song, radio station and other musical designations to state what the user is currently listening to.
One of my Followers #oomf: The use of this hashtag lets the user tweet about one of their followers without specifically identifying them. Why? I have no idea, I have never used this hashtag but it is rather common.
To be Honest #tbh: My #tbh would be that until two weeks ago, I had no idea what it stood for and I had to google it after I saw it reoccurring on my twitter feed.
Shaking my Head #smh: Yet another hashtag acronym that I had to google in order to understand what it had meant. #smh is typically used after the user comes across something they normally would not agree with or that they are disgusted by. Either way, it is a way to further express themselves.


@ Symbols
The second most popular symbol that you will see on Twitter is the "@" sign. The use of the @ sign desingates a user on Twitter and the @ sign is used directly before the username, such as @twitter, @postsecret, @jimmyfallon and so on. If you would like to directly tweet to someone, you would tweet the user's name before your tweet and if you would like to mention a user, place their name within the tweet itself.

So now you're ready to use Twitter, but who do you follow?
I recommended following a news outlet such as @cnn, @cnnbrk, @nbcnews, @msnbc or @foxnews and consider following your local news stations for weather and area updates. Consider following your favorite celebrities to see what they are up to, my favorite is probably @jimmyfallon as he is hilarious. And here's a tip, follow your favorite stores as the often tweet coupons, deals and sales. Victoria's Secret is known for the "show this tweet to the cashier and save 10%", not bad! If you're in college or a recent graduate, follow your college for upcoming events and updates. Follow your favorite sports team or even specific players, you will receive up to the date sports updates and see exclusive photos. Still having trouble? Use the "Discover" tab on the bottom of the Twitter Application and search for those that share your interests. And if all else fails, follow me! @alilee89!

bring on fall

I cannot believe that I am saying this but, I am ready for fall!! Yes, summer is my all time favorite season but I am sick and tired of this endless heat and I am ready to cool down! I think this may be the first time since I can remember that I am actually excited for fall and I think that it has to do with the fact that I no longer associate fall with school.

So here are my favorite things about fall:

Changing colors of the leaves

This is the first designation that fall is officially here and you have to admit, watching the leaves change colors during the autumn months is beautiful! I can not wait to take pictures of the changing colors this fall.

Football

Football season officially begins next Thursday I am ready to break out my New England Patriots gear. I cannot wait to spend my Sunday nights watching football and since I finished school, I do not have to worry about homework or studying!

Apple Picking

Spending a Sunday afternoon at an apple orchard debating on which perfect apples you are going to bring home with you is my ideal fall Sunday and I cannot wait!!

Pumpkin Carving

I'm not sure what's more fun, going to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin or deciding on how to make it your own. I have both carved and painted pumpkins in the past and while carving is messy, I believe it's more fun!


Hot Chocolate

There is nothing that describes fall better than a tall mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream to warm you up. I swear by the Cold Stone Hot Chocolate mix that you can buy at the grocery store and the trick is to add half and half to make it even creamer.

Haunted Hay Rides

Or hay rides for those who do not like the thrill of being scared by teenagers dressed up as ghosts and masked murders. There is just something about bring outside during the fall season.



Apple Cider Donuts 

You cannot possibly go through the fall season without eating fresh warm apple cider donuts! They are the flavor of fall and they go very well with hot chocolate.

Jeans

Goodbye shorts, bring on the dark washed denim jeans that complement warm and neutral tones for the fall season. I am now on a mission to find the perfect jeans for the fall season.

Cute Chunky Sweaters

To go with the perfect pair of jeans, you need to cute chunky sweater to keep you warm. Ditch the hoodie and jacket and cuddle up in a big sweater!


Adorable Boots

Fall means goodbye flip flops and sandals and hello cute fall boots! These would actually compliment the dark washed jeans!


Scarves

This maybe one of my ultimate favorite fall items! I am absolutely in love with scarves, no matter the color, the style or size. No outfit in fall is complete without a scarf.



Leg Warmers

As they say, fashion repeats itself and it stands true with this particular accessory. let's bring back the 80's. This will be a new for me but I am determined to purchase a cute pair of leg warmers to go in an adorable poor of boots and over the perfect pair of jeans. 

And finally, some "fall bucket lists" I found:

 

I personally agree with the final item on this one ^

I can not believe I forgot moccasins!!

 

And a corn maze! That's it, I'm ready for fall! 

 

... & stay away winter

sunrise

While on vacation, I took to opportunity to watch my very first sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and it was absolutely breathtaking. We arrived to the beach a little after 5:30 in the morning to ensure that we would have plenty of time to watch the sun rise over the ocean and we were extremely lucky as there was not a cloud in sight.

I was completely in aw at the colors of the sky prior to the sun rising and I could not believe how calm the ocean was and since the majority of the world was still sleeping, it was quiet and so tranquil. I think I took close to 50 pictures, if not more and I had a difficult time which ones to use for this post (I know, I'm crazy!!) but here they are:

Here you can see the sun making the first appearance of the morning

I love the reflection of the sun on the ocean below, especially because it is pink.

 After a short few minutes, the sun is almost in clear view.

I love how the sun dramatically makes the change from pink to yellow.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning!!

No filters were used on the above pictures :)