Mean green cooking machine

The new hizzy!

We're on the first floor, and there are 2 units above.

Moving day was last Tuesday and went as smoothly as we could've hoped! Even though we have a ton of stuff, we neglected to bring all the furniture needed to put said stuff on. It was a gametime decision back in Texas - do we risk bringing a few extra pieces like the buffet, the bar, those end tables? Knowing that if our apartment was too small, we'd have no choice to sell them (and some were heirlooms) or even worse, just make it all fit? Then, of course, we landed this awesome apartment and now need extra buffets and bar and end tables.

That being said, the kitchen was the most complete room we had, so I set to unpacking it first. This kitchen is ADORABLE - black and white tiled floors with green walls and one small exposed brick column. I've made a habit of having a green room in my last two homes, so I was fully prepared to paint one here too, but this one came ready to go!

Being so bright and colorful, it makes me want to spend more time there (which would be great for developing my cooking skills). It's no secret that Brian is the chef around here, but I'd really love to be able to hold my own when it comes to throwing together a meal. When I was complaining about being #2 in the kitchen, he challenged me to come up with my own signature dish (his is tacos).

I can count the number of meals I've cooked more than once on one hand. And when you take away the ones that were actually really good, then you have exactly 0 left. However, my mom has explained King Ranch Chicken Casserole to me approximately 73 times, so I dug up a recipe and gave it a go.

Mind you, the last time I made this, I made a poor substitution choice—wheat tortillas instead of corn tortillas, which completely changed the intended flavoring and consistency of the dish—and I also forgot two ingredients...which were sitting on my countertop...and happened to be 2 cans of soup. The final product was a goopy, cheesy, bland mess that McAdams and Rachel helped eat. (A cheesy mess is still good and cheesy.)

This story doesn't have as interesting of an ending, but I did love my first "go" in the new kitchen. Pandora and red wine helped. The final product was decent - we spent most of the meal figuring out how to make it better next time, which leads me to believe this will not be my signature dish. But I'll be interested to see if/how my cooking changes here, especially if I can actually come home every day after work without any sort of lingering obligations besides maybe exercising. And having the key ingredients of time and a green room should be major catalysts for my cooking success, right?