full house ramen noodle soup

When serious hunger strikes I usually resort to cooking anything I find in the kitchen.

My most recent creation was with the 'ultimate college student meal' - ramen noodles. I'm not the biggest fan of ramen though, because I think that even with the seasoning they give you....it's just tasteless. So usually if I make it I add my own seasoning to it (like garlic and onion powder, parsley and basil).

This time around I really wanted a hearty soup.....so of course I had to find a way to make the basic soup more interesting and find ingredients that would make it more filling than merely noodles and broth.

So I went on a mini hunt around the kitchen hoping to find ingredients that would give the soup some life. After about 5minutes I found:
          - carrots
          -a quarter of roasted chicken
          - flour

At this point the most logical thing to do was to cut up the carrots and the chicken, and to make dumplings (flour, salt, seasoning and water) for the soup....and that's exactly what I did. To try and make the broth taste the same as the chicken I cut the chicken into pieces and boiled it for a while with the other seasoning before putting the noodles and dumplings in. Of course since the dumplings would take a longer time to cook than the two minute noodles I had to put the dumplings in before I added the noodles.

It took about 45minutes max for preparation and to cook the meal (of course I was watching tv in between so I'm not 100% sure of the time.) As it relates to serving size, I was cooking for two and since my sister had already eaten by the time I was done....I ate it in two sittings. Anywho, I call this my full house ramen noodle soup here's the 'recipe'....or as close to a recipe as I could get:

Ingredients:

- 1pack ramen noodles

- quarter of roasted chicken

- 1 carrot

- 1/2 cup flour

- 2 cups water

- pinch of salt

- preferred seasoning (or lame ramen seasoning)

Process:

1. cut up the roasted chicken and place it in a pot with the water and seasoning

2. while allowing pot to come to a boil, make dumplings and place them into pot

3. when water comes to a boil add ramen noodles

4. add more seasoning to taste if necessarily

Kim's full house ramen noodle soup....let's ignore the fact that the bowl is kinda messy

 By the way...yes...I love herbs! lol (hence the hundreds of parsley and basil bits in the soup)

Hope you get yours to taste as delish as mine...

looking a lot like Christmas

In my house it's customary for us to have up Christmas decorations from the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is my Mom's favourite time of year so getting decorations up and making the house look 100% Christmas inspired is just as important to her as studying for exams!

Usually the boxes of this and that are out in the living room from Thanksgiving day, decisions about what we'll put up happens by black Friday and by Sunday evening everything is as it should be....all to Mother dearest's liking of course.

This year my Mom left the island to spend Thanksgiving in the U.S. so things started a bit earlier and ended a bit later (with a few days of nothing happening while she was away of course).

Based on where we live now, decor is strictly inside the house alone, and to be honest based on how precious Mom's decorations are to her, I don't think she has any interest in putting anything outside anyway!

So here's an idea of what we have going on in the living/dining space:
- the Christmas tree
- Mom's miniature town...all placed on a 'sheet of white snow'
- the 'Christmas family' (Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus) 
- the wreath-wrapped staircase carefully adourned with decorations and the 3 stockings which hang below the decorated wreath

All in all it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at home and although there are reasons for me to not be too jolly this season, the decoration help keep spirits up.

Will post pics soon.

yawning...tired...but can't sleep

Over the last few weeks my sleep schedule has had little consistency.


Some nights I'm 100% tired by 6pm like some kid, and more often than not, that's the night I have stuff I need to stay up and get done. Then there are other nights there I'm tired at what I consider acceptable hours.....that's like 10pm.

Then of course there are those dreaded nights when I'm wide awake until the wee hours of morning. Those nights are worse when I need to go to bed early so that I can be awake for an engagement the following day, but I cant seem to go to sleep. On those nights when I'm just up for no reason...but have things to do the following day; my mind seems to just keep going with ideas and thoughts that usually seem like my best ideas yet....until I remember that I need to sleep and need to stop thinking!

Now don't get me wrong, there are some nights that I actually have something constructive doing, but then there are other nights when I'm just up, staring at the TV (watching a show I've seen before) or just laying in bed waiting on the sandman to feel sorry for me and pay a visit.

Sadly, tonight is one of those nights. Nothing to do tonight and no specific engagements tomorrow (except work at 11am). Problem is................I'm super tired but I just can't sleep. =(

Anywho, I just yawned again so I'm gonna try and see where that yawn will take me.....hopefully it's to a night of lovely slumber!

Bedtime (I hope)

watch what you post folks

As much as I use social media everyday, and love the fact that it keeps me in touch with my friends around the world, I think I still find it a bit fascinating how much info is presented and how much info is misinterpreted via the internet.

Everybody has something to say and personal opinion is great....without it blogs like mine would mean absolutely nothing. The problem is, ever so often personal opinion is shut down or misinterpreted. There are other times of course when someone is intentionally trying to shut down someone else.....but that is just another story.

I guess the whole idea is this: you want your opinion to be respected right? Well then it would only be fair that show the same respect to the other persons who you call your 'friends on Facebook.'

The same goes for Twitter. It's140 characters of personal opinion.....regardless of how random and silly it may seem. Half the time you tweet knowing well that nobody really cares about what you've said but that's ok cause all that matters is that you get to say what you want.

The problem starts when you offend someone for their personal opinion....or when your personal opinion offends someone..................

I think most people don't remember that in the same way that you can be offended by what others say, someone else can be offended by what you say.

All in all, while I support the idea of being able to express your own opinion, but be careful about whether or not you offend others.


#JustTryingToBeNice

worldAIDSday - Know your status!

December first is celebrated as World AIDS Day. Each year there is a theme selected and this year the theme is

Getting to Zero - Zero New HIV Infections, Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths

This theme is backed by the United Nations 'Getting to Zero' campaign that runs until 2015 and it is expected to be the overall World AIDS Day concept for the next four years. Personally I like the theme, it promotes prevention overall, empathy and equality for those affected, and the promotion of research and assistance to those living with the disease.

Like most other countries around the world, Jamaica's National HIV/STI Programme and a few other organizations have various events planned for the day. Although some events are not open to the general public, the following events are.

World AIDS Day Concert at Devon House: This event goes from 8am to 6pm. There will be free HIV testing, information booths and entertainment.

HIV Testing at Emancipation Park: This is another opportunity to get tested. They will be working from 9am to 4pm and will have various activities targeting the youth.

Candle Light Vigil at the Jamaica AIDS Support for Life: At 6pm a candle light vigil will be held to remember the lives lost to the disease.

It is important for you to know your status for the sake of your own health! You can know where you stand with a quick mouth swab. Because the test is done in private the only persons who know are you and the tester. Testers are trained, aware and are willing to answer all those sex related questions you have but have never been able to ask.

Getting tested is something that should be done annually, and of course because my passion is children, I believe it is important for persons to know their status because an unknown status could result in a child being born with the disease.

The goal of getting to zero is possible. With routine testing, the right information and each of us playing our part, we can minimise or even eliminate the spread of AIDS.

Get tested and get in the know!