huh, there was a lot of food this time.

Hello there everyone! How are you today?
I am well. It’s been over a week since I last talked to you guys, so I figured I should give ya the low-down on what’s been happening.

Well first, KNOP is going through a major shake-up. I mentioned before how both our News Director and a meteorologist were leaving – which they did. But, late last week the new News Director was announced. A long-time evening anchor was promoted to News Director.
The news received. . . .mixed reviews. To say the least. Personally I’m fine with it, I’m sure it’ll all be fine, I hope she just let me do my own thing for the most part. But let’s just say our new ND is a bit of a character. But she’s super sweet and I’m sure it’ll all be fine. She doesn’t come into the office until later ( around 11 .a.m. when I’m already gone) and so far she has not taken over the Midday show as our previous ND did, so we’ll have to see how this one goes.

But in all fairness — no complaints yet.

That has been the major, major development over the past week or so. The news came on Friday (last Friday) and then Saturday the reporting staff held a Goodbye Party of sorts for meteorologist. We played Super Smash (I won a round with Pikachu), swung by a drive-by birthday parade wearing all sequins, stopped at Applebees, came back to a coworker’s apartment for drinks and JackBox games. It was a really fun night. A late night, but a really fun night of all of us just talking and being ourselves outside of work. We should do that more often as a whole group.

But anyway, moving back in time a little bit, I made Peanut Butter Blossoms and mailed them off to one of my directors. He had tried some of the last batch and requested some of his own, so I happily obliged. He quite enjoyed them. I also have been discovering something recently — I like to cook; as a stress reliever, as a hobby, as a way of making food that I’m hungry for. I like to cook. But the thing is, it’s getting really bad lol. A coworker of mine was saying how she doesn’t cook a lot and has been working super long hours, so I naturally offered to made her a casserole she can just stick in the oven and then eat. Which I did.
I asked her what ingredients she liked (which I actually asked about and researched when we went to Kearney for the shopping spree) and decided on one to try. I modified it a bit, but it is essentially a Southwest Chicken Casserole; shredded rotisserie chicken, salsa verde (which I added), cheese, black beans, corn, and some little pasta noodles with tomatoes. Ya mix that up, top it with cheese, and stick that bissh in the oven. I actually made it for her on a Saturday after I got my groceries and texted her saying I had a casserole for her. Which was very well-received, partially becasue she was hungover at the time lol. But she appreciated it and I loved making it. I totally have to make it for myself sometime. Also I forgot to take pictures of it so there is no evidence.

Actually, speaking of — at the Goodbye Party, my coworkers were like, “Oh my god Erika, your brownies are so good…” and yadda yadda about the stuff I bake and bring into work sometimes. And I was like, “You want a casserole? I made X one,” and he was like, “Really?” and I was like “Yeah, I’m not kidding, lemme know.” And I was telling my directors about it and they were like, “Whoa, u too nice.” It’s kinda funny — like, I myself can only eat so much food. But still love the idea and the action of following a recipe and producing something. It’s honestly a lot of fun. I also gave my coworkers some of the Peanut Butter Blossoms since I ended up making too many to send to Lincoln, which also received raved reviews.

But enough about my cooking psychosis. I am also trying something super cool. So Nebraska has a summer program called the Nebraska Passport Program, which is this game of sorts where you can travel to different tourist spots around town (restaurants, museums, galleries, bars, coffee shops, gift shops, etc.), get either a digital “stamp” with the app or get a physical stamp on the passport itself, and get earn prizes. It’s really cool, and it is a really cool way to explore the state. It’s dampened a little bit (in fact this whole experience of living in a new state and all) for obvious virus-related reasons, but I really want to do as much as I can without driving too far.
So, for example, an ice creamery in town, Double Dips, made the Passport Program, so I went to get a shake and an actually physical stamp. It’s honestly super cool even if I don’t end up with a prize of sorts.

Let’s see — my company once again expressed it’s appreciation for all our hard work for last three months with a free Little Ceasers pizza and crazy bread. WF is also here for a bit on a visit! I really want to show him some of the Passport Places and go on a bit of a road trip. I want to not drive too far with him — limit travel to only a few hours — but I really want to go on these mini adventures. But anyway, it’s kind of a shame my full summer in Nebraska is the way that it is; all the big annual summer events are cancelled so I’m not getting the full experience, and I don’t even know if I’ll be in the area come next summer. I dunno. But ya know, it is what it is.

NOW — onto the thing on which the title of this post is based — FOOD.
– Peanut Butter Blossoms