BurgerQuest!

John and I are on a mission. It's called BurgerQuest. We want to find the best burger in Chicago. None of this fancy schmancy dancy burgers with horseradish ragu sauce. No. The best plain old cheeseburger money can by. We have made a spreadsheet that keeps track of where we've been, where we want to go, and how we felt about the burger itself.

We talked about engaging in BurgerQuest long ago, but now it is happening. YES.

The first place we went (Well, we've been to The Counter too but before we were keeping track) was Five Guys. It is a chain, yes, but holy crap, yum. The burger was so good. Check out these happy photos of people consuming a cheeseburger at Five Guys:

MMMMM, so yummy my eyebrows went up.

So yummy Jeannie had to run across the street from her illegal sublet apartment and join in on the yummy.

So yummy John had to stare up at the ceiling in pure yummy-ness.

So yummy.

The burger was melt in your mouth good. The cheese was so gooey. Everything was so gooey I got mushy bun. Mushy bun is the best. Not like a wet mushy bun, but you know, when the mayonnaise (or mustard if you're John) and the cheese and the greasy meat all run together and the bread warms up because the flavor is so hot and bothered...you know. That.

I wish I could say the same about the fries. They were too done on the outside and not done enough on the inside. I ate all of them though. I have these weird thing where if you even remotely fry a potato in some form and set it in front me, I will eat it. Period. All of it. The end of potato. El fin.

We decided to order regular cheeseburgers everywhere we go. Should make Kuma's interesting from what I hear. But that's okay. I don't want my burger masked in flavor, I want to know your burger is the bet tasting on it's own. With cheese.

I will keep you posted on our next BurgerQuest locale.

Weekend Project

The real title of this blog post should be: I Am Awesome. It felt too vain. But really, it's true.

John agreed to help me hang shelves in my place this weekend. When he arrived he announced that he would show me to hang the shelves but then I was responsible for hanging them myself. What a great challenge. And I aced it. John supervised and had to help push in a few screws, but other than that, yours truly became Shelf Queen (self-proclaimed). I. Am. Awesome.


The bathroom shelves were also hung, like so:



Now if only that ugly completely difficult to use medicine cabinet would go away, everything would be grand.

Well actually that's not true either. I may have newly hung shelves all over my place, but this has only made realize I have nothing to put on them. I have been on a huge clean-out-everything spree, which is good, but now I have no books, no candles, no vases, nada. I have some pretty artwork I ordered off of the internet, but no frames so they sit in plastic sheets and cardboard tubes.

I think I feel an Ikea trip coming on...who's in? I. Love. Ikea.

Peaches and Cream

When I was little, my parents took me to a doctors appointment at this really pretty glass building with a fountain in front. After the appointment they said, "Throw a coin in the fountain Molly and make a wish." I wished for a Peaches and Cream Barbie Doll. When we got to the car, there was a Peaches and Cream Barbie doll in the backseat waiting for me. How awesome is THAT?

Pictures From My Phone (Pt 2)

And we're off on another CRAZY adventure...

I'm excited about the next 3 pictures because they are pictures of food. I love food. I love to cook. I made this meal for John and myself to enjoy on a nice fall evening. My parents were really into the whole "Next Food Network Star" show or whatever it was called. They talked about it all the time so I started occasionally tuning in. The winner was Melissa D'Arabian (or something French sounding like that). On the first episode of her show (her ""prize") she made this menu: Salad with Homemade Balsamic Vinegarette, Potato and Bacon Torte (yes, I just had a Dan Quail moment and almost put an "e" on the end of potato) and Applesauce Granita for dessert.

Wait, are you supposed to capitalize recipe names? I just did. So yes, in my world you are.


This salad dressing is amazing. You should google it and make it. She got the recipe from her French mother-in-law. Secret ingredient: soy sauce. No lie. It's so tasty. Use field greens. Put down the bag of Romaine. You've overdone your life with the Romaine. Try something bitter and peppery. I dare you.


That is not an "M J" for Michael Jackson, it stands for Molly and John. Hoooooow cute. This was the most delicious fattening thing. Lots of heavy cream, and Gruyere (melt my heart), bacon, butter and pastry crust. I did not make my own pastry crust because I didn't want to. Someday I will though. I will.


Okay so the granita was not that great. It was topped with a yogurt sauce that was really yummy but the granita was just cold and watery tasting. Oh well. If only there had been chocolate involved. It also made so much granita that it eventually froze into a giant applesauce blob that was completely inedible.

Cooking is fun, delicious, stressful, therapeutic and messy. It's great.

Pictures From My Phone (Pt 1)

I have been reluctant to blog lately because I don't have a digital camera that 1) takes good pictures and 2) connects to my computer.

I discovered I have an abundance of pictures on my phone for whatever reason. They pretty much document the last 9 months or so of my life in one way or another.

Here are a few to start off with:

This was August of last year, sometime around Lyndie (my niece) and her rockin' 1st birthday party.

My sister has tons of pictures of just Lyndie. No one else in the photos, just Lyndie. It's as if Lyndie has no parents or family and instead has a photographer following her around, taking pictures at her every waking moment. There are a few pictures of her with my sister, her husband and some other miscellaneous family members but it could be argued that they are random strangers found by the photographer since they only appear once or twice in a given photo album of 300+ pictures.

To combat this, I always try and ask someone to take pictures of Lyndie and me together. It never works out because Lyndie never stays in one place. Ever. She is too used to being to star of the show or something. My attempt at having a picture together failed miserably in this instance. Instead I look slightly amused by grass and Lyndie looks like she found a cupcake growing out of the ground.


This is my grandmother (and me). She is one of my favorite women in the all the land. She's amazing. Super strong-willed, independent, caring, loving, and stubborn as a mule. I hope to be just like her forever. Including the stubborn part.

This day we took her Luna De Noche. One of my favorite Tex-Mex places back home. Margaritas that are so tasty, salsa that is so tasty and sour cream enchiladas. And awesome chimichangas. And lunch specials. Oh man. Now all I want is Luna. Sucks that there isn't any good Tex-Mex in Chicago.

This is the harbor by my condio. I had lived in my place about a year at this point and honestly, had never walked east. I had no idea how close the lake actually was. There's a lake, a golf course, a giant soccer field with a hug hill (fun to run up and down), and pretty views of downtown. I don't know why I had never walked east. Just hadn't.

That's all for now. I know these are pretty exciting pictures. There are more I will post eventually.

Oops, There I go Being All "Responsible"

I don't make enough money to cover all of my expenses. It's a fact. I know this. It's why I originally took on my other 2 jobs. Of course that means I am making the same amount working 3 jobs that I make working the more hours at the 1 job. (Those 2 extra jobs are almost done, hurrah!). I am lucky enough to have a supportive family and other income that I can rely on from time time (read: stripping*). It all works out because I don't worry to much about it.

However, I recently decided to redo my budget so that it actually works for me and isn't a sometime success and sometime total guessing game.

That was a mistake. I should have just kept going the way I was.

The sometimes guessing game/sometime success strategy, kept me from worrying and put my faith in something bigger than me to take care of my needs. I'm a big fan of not sweating stuff that I know isn't entirely in my control. It's hard, but a good thing to remember. Some might say, "But Molly, your job is in your control. You can quit! Get something that pays better." That's not the case. I'm an actor. That comes first. That means I have to have a job with extreme flexibility, which is what I have. Trust me. That is hard to find. REAL hard to find. The only other thing more flexible than my main part-time position is unemployment. I'm not kidding. It's that flexible.

I am good with money, so it's not like I'm crazily spending or anything, I know my limits. I always pay of credit cards each month, actually rarely use them at all, and the only debt I have is my mortage. That I'm okay with. I guess I just didn't realize the reality of my limits.

Some of this strain is because I own a condo. Actually, most of it is because of that. I don't mind it that much. Fine, I have to fix my a/c. Fine, I have to get my chimney swept. I like that I have my own a/c and a chimney.

My new budget doesn't actually change anything at all. It keeps me in the same place that I was before. But because I took the time to really figure out how I made it through last year, it scared me and sent me into a mini-freak out.

This does make it hard to keep friends and boyfriends around.

You: Let's go see a movie!
Me: Ummm....
You: Better yet, let's go drinking, and dancing, and take cabs!
Me: You should do that! Have fun!! Call me after if you want to sit on my couch and eat Ramen together. But you have to bring your own Ramen, I have exactly enough to last through Saturday.

Or

John: Let's get dinner tonight.
Me: We got dinner last night.
John: We have to eat.
Me: No we don't. We can survive for at least 3 days on only water. People who fast can do it, so can we.
John: Are you just trying to get me to pay?
Me: Never...yes.

We've all been here. I know. A lot of you are probably there with me. I'm getting over it though. At least I have a job, a roof over my head, clothes (although, they are deteriorating into stringy messes fairly quickly), some semblance of food to put on my table, and love. Cause all you need is love right? If only that weren't true. I'd be a bajillionmilliontrillionaire.

Someday I'll be a full time working actor, I will, and then it won't matter. You don't believe me. But that doesn't matter. I believe me.




*Not really. There are several sources of other income, acting gigs, savings, mom...you get the idea.

Happy Thoughts

Winter is really killing me right now. Here my happy things for today that have made me slightly brighter and a little less sad:


Thank you Sweet Leaf Iced Tea for your refreshing flavor and your nice little words:


Thank you little yellow bracelet. Yellow like the sun, blue like the sky. Someday I will meet those two friends again:


Thank you Lost for being awesome, set on an island for the most part AND for keeping my on my toes:


IcandothisIcandothisIcandothis...

Speaking of Lost...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALT!

That was a good season premiere last night. I'm so excited to see what happens. And to know who the Others really are (I think that's who those temple peeps were...). AND that we got to see old characters all over again.