The Peanut Butter/Nutella Quesadilla: A Simple Slice of Paradise

Peanut butter is one of those foods people either love or hate.

Those that hate it seem to be either violently allergic to it or just have a significant distaste for it.

I, however, am in the love camp. Peanut butter is among the greatest foods ever. It’s just so versatile I can’t really think of any other topping that goes from stirfry to dessert to snack food so effortlessly.

In what turned out to be a very good decision, I even picked peanut butter over a boyfriend, in my younger dating years. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but after showing up too soon after eating peanut butter and nearly giving him a huge reaction … twice, I decided if I really cared about him I’d probably would have remembered to stay away from the M&Ms, trail mix and peanut butter bars.

It is a great protein source especially for people who are lower income.

And this evening I created, what could actually be, the greatest snack ever. I managed to eat it in entirety even before remembering that I was going to take a photo of it. I’d make another, but honestly I wouldn’t be able to resist it and it’s not exactly the most low-fat snack in the world.

It’s simple and fantastic with a glass of milk — A Peanut Butter and Nutella Quesadilla.

Before anyone has a fit, quesadilla isn’t really the greatest descriptor as there is no cheese, but it’s the easiest way to describe it.

1. Grab a tortilla
2. Fold it in half and reopen to its original shape, so there is a line down the middle
3. Spread one half with Nutella, the other with peanut butter
4. Close
5. Place in fry pan (no greasing required)
6. Wait till crisp or even browned
7. Turn it over and wait until crisp again.
8. Cut into sections
9. Eat (and by that I mean completely devour)
10. Follow with a glass of skim milk
11. Smile and experience paradise

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Kissing Insomnia Goodbye

It’s like coming out of a fog.

After spending the last two or so months with extreme sleep deprivation, I’ve started sleeping again. That is something worth celebrating.

For the better part of the last few months, anything over four hours of consecutive sleep was a small miracle.

Nothing worked and it was a horrible cycle.

I’d turn my computer off and leave my blackberry on silent, soak my feet in warm water,  drink warm, caffeine-free tea, consume warm milk and honey and meditate (not all at the same time obviously, I’d either drown in the tea or the foot soak). I’d gently stretch, climb into bed, try to count downwards from 100, breathe deep and nothing.

Most nights I’d lie away thinking about what I needed to do the next day or what clothing I should wear for a run or whether or not I was happy and what I needed to make me happy.

Historically I sleep better when there is someone around. The situation was getting so dire that I enlisted a single, plutonic male friend to climb into bed with me. All that did was make me cranky, as I listened to him sleep. And I think it is poor form to push someone out of bed for sleeping, especially after inviting them there to sleep.

As time went on I was more and more exhausted, yet more and more perky and upbeat in public. It was virtually impossible to slow down, let alone sleep.

I’d lie awake being angry at the fact that I wasn’t sleeping, which would just make me less able to sleep.

Then on Monday I hit a wall, the 16-hour work days, being on-call 24/7 and not sleeping, caught up with me. In place of a normal conversation with another manager, my eyes started watering and before I knew it I was crying.

It was embarrassing, but apparently all I needed. I headed home for a nap, then that night I slept.

It’s a bit of a fragile peace right now, that’s why the posts are few and far between. If I feel tired when I get home, I try to give my computer a wide-berth.

However, as I start to catch up on a two-month backlog of rest, I’ll start posting more … in theory. I still work the stupidly long hours, so time is at a premium, but I’ll try.

 

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When Life Gives You Lemons, Cook until there is Nothing Left

When I get stressed out, or overtired, I bake.

Currently I am stressed out, overtired and really overworked, which means, I wish you luck if you have to work with me, but good news for those who get the baking.

When I have pretty much used up all the available ingredients in my house, I take photo of what I have created.

Then I go back to work.

Soft, chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

The key to my heart

Lemon Blueberry and Chai Spice

One of the lemons that started it all

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Winning My Trust, One Peanut at a Time

I think I am being pursued by a man that I like to think of as a friend and occasional lover.

The reason I say I think is because he knows me and he is being very careful.

He knows I don’t want to date, he knows I don’t want to stay in this Podunk little town and he knows that I want only to be his friend.

And yet, I feel like one of those small animals being lured in by peanuts.

You know, when people leave seeds or something out for a squirrel, for example, and on the first day the little guy grabs at the nut and bails. But the next day he is more confident and gets a little closer, and a little closer, and eventually he is quite close, until something startles it, like a sudden movement or a shadow, and he bails again.

Eventually that little animal will even let you pet it, as long as he feels there is no harm to come of it.

I have a lot in common with the squirrel.

The status quo is watching movies or something at his house. I don’t really want to go out in public, that would lead to questions and I’m not really looking for people to judge me —he is quite a bit older than me.

A couple of weeks ago, because he goes out of his way for me all the time, I invited him over to my place. We had coffee and chatted. It was good. Safe.

Then about a week and a half of more status quo, he asked me to a restaurant for breakfast. I stepped way outside my comfort zone and met him there. It was a little awkward, but okay.

Then he insisted on paying and I started feeling like it was date.

Then he was teasing me for what I ordered,

“You are an expensive dat” — he drifted off and his eyes flicked over the top of bill at me – “person to take for breakfast.”

Lame recovery. It was like that person feeding the squirrel shifted. I was out of there.

Then things went back to the status quo. Until today. He wanted to take me for coffee. It has been normal and fine, safe, so I agreed.

We ran into people he knew, well. They were looking at me. Staring. He didn’t say who I was. We left. There will be questions. I’m coaching him that the answer is “FRIENDS,” but he doesn’t look like that’s what he wants to say. But he does agree he will.

This squirrel is headed for the trees and she is sitting up there for a while.

It is definitely not safe to come down.

 

 

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