food, Food, FOOD!

I just ate a burrito the size of my face. It. Was. Awesome. I've been craving a burrito for the past two days for dinner and tonight we finally made them. It's a (slight) break from our usual dinner dish - Mark and I haven't been terribly creative as of late, and we have about 4-5 go-to recipes that we cook EVERY WEEK. And this week, something snapped, and if I had to look at another dish of sauteed peppers, mushrooms and onions, or another pizza, or another veggie quesadilla, I'd just stop eating altogether. So, granted, a burrito isn't TOO different from a veggie quesadilla, but there's something amazing about the goodness of rice, beans, and avocado in a crisp, slightly buttery tortilla.

Fortunately, I've not tired of my chocolate vegan cookies. Bonus points that they are super quick and easy to make - I whipped up a batch after my workout last night at 9:30pm. I spiced them up by adding slivered almonds AND shredded coconut. I'm enjoying this cooking and baking thing. Had you told me five years ago I'd be a little Suzy Homemaker, I would've laughed in your face and gone back to eating my boxed Mac and Cheese. But something has clicked and I think I cook dinner more often than Mark does now (fewer nights that I have to do the dishes!).

In other news, I think our dog is going through the adolescent stages of testing our authority. I've caught him (TWICE) getting up and food surfing off the counter. He's also unnecessarily rough with the cats. And he HATES it when I take my computer out, because it means I'm not paying attention to him. Attention whore. Our neighbors must think that we have a pack of elephants living in our house - elephants that love to rumble up and down and up and down and up and down the stairs at 10pm every night. I thought only cats had bewitching hours, but apparently dogs do too. Oh well, I guess it makes us even for all the times our neighbor plays Call of Duty at 1am and the walls in our house shake.

Speaking of neighbors, we have a set of neighbors who have these (horrible) yap-yap dogs. Every morning my day starts with: 1) Our neighbors walking their dogs around the complex, all the while barking at absolutely nothing; and 2) me peering out a window while expressing my sheer dislike of said dogs. It's a routine now - my day wouldn't be the same without it. This morning was particularly comical - the yap-yap dogs were being walked around the neighborhood for the umpteenth time (how many pee breaks do they need?!?) while Mark headed out the door to go to work. On his way to the car, Mark saw three of our other neighbors out, all walking their (well-behaved) dogs. ALL of them, INCLUDING the owner of the yap-yap dogs, all rolled their eyes and said "I hate those dogs" IN UNISON. At the same time, I poked my head out of the door, looked at Mark, and said "I hate those dogs." So, I guess the feeling is mutual across the neighborhood.

Anyone (far, far away from Arlington) want two yappy, obnoxious dogs? I'll bribe you with oreo balls.