the nitty gritty

Remember yesterday how I said I'm moving to Colorado??

Well that is still happening. And I am still a tad freaked seeing as I don't have a place to live or know more than one person there and all of that, but yolo right?

I'm sorry, I still love yolo...I think it's great.

Here are a few more feelings related items that I am feeling in regards to this move....

The Good:

-I will be in a city again! Filled with glorious food, shopping, museums, concerts, and all the things I love.

-There will be hiking a plenty.

-It's gorgeous, I mean gorgeous. Like Beyonce gorgeous in Colorado.

-There will be music galore in my life, I have already mentally purchased at least 48,000 dollars worth of concert tickets in my head.

-I have a great friend out there. We reconnected when I flew out for my interview, and her support has already been so amazing.

-There is hippie food all over the place. Not the case in my small town, which makes my clean eating freak of a self miserable, that will no longer be a problem and I can't wait.

-My new job sounds pretty much amazing.

-I got a rather substantial raise.

-I will no longer live two hours from an airport.

The Bad:

-It takes 30 hours to drive to Colorado from Maryland. Fred the dog, me, and everything I own in a Scion for 30 hours....woof.

-I have some incredible friends here in Maryland that I will miss like crazy. I know all of one person in Denver.

-I love my job here.

-It is going to be friggen expensive as can be to start fresh, live by myself, and buy all new furniture and house stuff. And since I am so wise with money, I have been racking up my credit card buying all sorts of things I don't need like new coats and shoes so I will look cute out in CO.

The Ugly:

-Manfriend is not coming with. It would not be smart for him career wise right now and it breaks my heart and that's not cool.

the Fresh Prince said it best...

Hi guys.

Sorry it's been a while, but in my defense...my life has been crazy lately.

And when I say crazy I mean crazy like a fox.

Or to put it in the immortal words of the Fresh Prince, "my life got flipped turned upside down."

Don't you worry, flipped like in a  good way. At least I think. Only time will tell.

You see, a few weeks ago I applied to a job.

About a week later I had a phone interview for said job.

The next day they called to schedule a face to face interview.

Ten days later I boarded a plane and had that interview.

The very next day I accepted that job.

So now I have a new job...in Colorado.

I am moving in just 14 days and that freaks me out more than you know.

Mostly I am just really excited, but I would be a big fat liar if I didn't say I'm a bit of a mess too.

I have been at my current job for three years, it has been an amazing run. I have made some terrific friends and above all else I am comfortable here. I don't have money troubles, I'm good at my job, I have a routine, all that shit. It took time to get to this point but I did. And now I'm leaving.

In like two weeks I am packing all my worldly possessions into my Scion and Fred and I are driving 30 hours out to Denver where we have no place to live....

And that's that.

Manfriend will not be coming, at least not for a while. And that means a bunch of pieces of my heart will be staying put in Maryland and that scares the bajeebies out of me.

I can't really say too much more right now because I am still a bit of a raw nerve.

Don't get me wrong, I am beyond excited. This is where I want to go and the job is a dream. But it is hard too.

So that is the scoop. And that is why I might be a terribly blogger in the coming weeks.

I have a lot to do at work before I leave, you know like going away parties and such....but really I'm pretty swamped. Thanks for being great as always.

Some Changes...

My life has recently undergone some changes.

I want to keep you all on the edge of your seats, because it's fun....but in the meantime in honor of these secret new changes, I have changed the name of my blog.

Pretty mind blowing stuff I know.

This bad lad will be called the Downdog Blog from here on out, or until I change my mind again.

I just think it fits me a little better right now seeing as my favorite things in life (aside from food and wine) are dogs and yoga.

So there you have it.

I hope you will still stick around, though to be honest I am not sure how much blogging I will be doing in the coming months. I've just got some other stuff on the horizon. Maybe I will write more, and maybe I will hardly ever...your guess is as good as mine.

But just know I like you all a lot. Like almost as much as dogs and yoga.



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old about me section

Hey you,

My name is Erin and I'm 28.  Yikes, this is getting really awkward for me already.

I guess I won't be able to try match.com if my boyfriend ever dumps me because I don't know how to convince people to read my blog, let alone sleep with me.  However as you can see below, I am an incredibly attractive woman so this will probably never be a problem.

I grew up on the mean streets of Detroit selling weed and pimpin' hoes.  Just kidding, I atually lived in a really nice suburb outside the city, but I did spend my fair share of time underage drinking there so I can still call it home.  Despite what you have heard, Detroit is a really great place to live, they just don't have much going on in the economy department.  I decided to make a career change a few years ago, and wound up in an extremely rural part of Maryland for a great job opportunity. 

This small town living is not exactly my thing.

I have two roomates, my dog Fred (who moonlights as my best friend), and my boo Jose

 (who I met the old fashioned way, in a bar).  They are both pretty cool.

For now I am trying to make the best of whatever life throws me,

and when I can't make the best of it I get drunk instead. 

This blog isn't really about anything in particular just me writing snotty stories I think are funny even though me and my mom are probably the only ones.  Who am I kidding, my mom doesn't always think I'm funny, she thinks I swear too much actually.  

Oh yeah, I have a toilet mouth. 

Don't read this if that offends you.

double the meat, double the fun

I recently broke one of my cardinal rules guys.

I prepared a dish that had two kinds of meat. This is something I usually just don't stand for.

I just think it is over kill most of the time. Like if I have a burger it don't need any bacon, come on now. One animal at a time please.

I decided to give in for my manfriend's sake though and made a little dish with double meat. Chicken and ham yo. And it was Delicious even though it goes against all that I stand for. (I am totally being a little sarcastic FYI, I am ok with double meat in the form of a club sandwich 100% of the time)

So anyway, here is the recipe for those of you who want to walk on the wild side like I did and double up your meat.

You Will Need:

(makes 3-4 servings)

-4 Thin slices of boneless chicken breast (I bought the pre-sliced stuff but you could always get regular chicken boobs and slice them your self)
-4 slices of ham (I used the big chunk of ham whatever that's called and not lunch meat)
-Shredded mozzarella cheese
-4 green onions
-Olive oil
-Salt and pepper

Directions:

-Pre-heat your oven to 350.
-Slice your chunks of ham into four nice slices (you may want to use a little more if you go with lunch meat) Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
-In a skillet begin heating olive oil.
-While you oil is getting nice and hot lay out your thin slices of chicken.
-Place your ham, green onion (sliced in half), and about 1/2 tbs of shredded cheese onto each boobie.
-Roll the chicken up keeping all the goodies inside and close with toothpicks.
-Place the chicken (crease side down) into the skillet. Brown on all sides then transfer to a sheet pan.
-Bake chicken in the oven for 20 minutes or so depending on the thickness of the chicken.
-Serve with a tasty ass side and enjoy your double whammy of meat.

up close look at the goods

Happy Day

Just wanted to say a quick Happy Valentine's Day to all of my readers out there. I love you all for visting this crazy mess that is my blog. It means more than you know.

I hope you are all surrounded with chocolate, flowers, and maybe even some people you love today.

But mostly Chocolate.

I am sitting at an airport right now waiting to board a big jet plane so I can spend a long weekend with my mom.

I could not be more excited. I haven't seen that crazy woman since Christmas and we are going to eat and drink our way around Austin until Monday. It will be glorious.

Love,

Erin

how the sticks have ruined me....

...or maybe they have made me better, I think the jury is still out.

The other day I wrote a bunch of nasty things about where I live. And while those things are all true, I also love it here in my own way. I wanted to be a little more positive today and focus on all the good stuff, plus I am trying to be a bit more sharey from time to time, because why the hell not.

Once upon a time I was a Coach purse carrying, hair highlighting, make-up applying, high heel wearing kind of gal.

And now I just can't.

I moved out to the middle of nowhere and so much changed.

I got really crunchy and stopped dying my hair. The thought of it freaks me out now. Honestly I don't usually even brush it...I've got the beachy wave thing going on (or at least that's how I justify it)

I started hiking like all the time. I get sad if the weather is crummy and I miss going every week. Fred is cool with my addiction, he always comes with.

I started worrying a lot about what I eat. Now it is not so much worry as I just don't eat anything I consider crappy. Like ever. Don't get me wrong I love chocolate and the like but it best be organic. I have never felt better in my life.

I don't drink very much. I was a bar star once upon a time, then I moved to the middle of nowhere and for a long time I didn't know anyone so I rarely went out. Then I slowly started to realize how wonderful life is when you aren't hungover all the time and I really cut back. I drink and all, but not like a wild woman I used to be. I hope this doesn't change when I eventually move back to a city but I am only human after all. I guess I should note, my definition of drinking a lot and the average joe's might be a tad different. When I say a lot, I mean I don't drink heavily five nights a week anymore...I'm still pretty rowdy I won't lie about that.

I love nature so much. It makes me a little irritated when I think of how hippie dippy I have grown over the last few years. I used to make fun of people like me. But I am surrounded by pretty outdoorsy shit and I just can't help it.

I cook all the time. There are not many restaurant options in my neck of the woods so I have really honed my cooking skills, feeding my friends has become my mission in life.

My dog became my best friend. Moving to a place where I knew no one, then having many of the people I meet move away as soon as we become bff's because they are usually in the military around here has resulted in me spending lots of time with Fred. And he is the best friend a girl could have, I mean it. I have had dogs my whole life and loved them all, but he is my number one homie.

It's funny how much a place can change you.

I think ultimately moving away from all my people has made me value relationships a lot more. I have realized it is more important to have a few quality friends than a ton of mediocre ones. Sure, I miss knowing everyone and their mom like I did back "home", but I also value the few amazing friends I have made out here so very much.

Speaking of friends, I am amazed at how little changes even when you move a zillion miles away when people really love each other. I still talk to many of my friends back in Michigan on a daily basis. Distance can't hurt a real friendship I have found, and that is pretty neat.

I am awed by how quickly you can become attached to someone as well. I have met a handful of people out here that after a few weeks of knowing them I cannot imagine my life without. It's funny how certain people come into your life for a reason.

I have also become a lot more confident. I can't just rely on my family to get me out of problems like I once did so I am more self sufficient, I won't lie though, sometimes I really miss having my dad deal with all my car troubles. That was swell.

Not sure where I am going with all of this, I guess I just wanted to post some positive things since I got a little down on my tiny town the other day. (Look at that poet and I didn't know it).

Have you changed because of where you live?

quinoa is more than just trendy

I love quinoa guys. Not just because it is the cool thing to do either, I just think it is the cat's ass.

I swap it for rice all the friggen time and I just love it. They say its good because it has lots of protein and all that jazz but let's be honest we really all love it because it tastes good and it's what all the cool kids are doing.

Well not the real cool kids, the real cool kids don't eat gluten or they are paleo or whatever.

Anyway, I got my qunioa fix the other day in the form of stuffed peppers and they were bad ass if I do say so myself.

 

 

You Will Need:

(makes 2-3 servings)

-2 bell peppers (I went wild and did one red and one green)

-1/2 pound ground chicken

-3 cloves of garlic

-1/4 cup chopped onion

-1 can diced tomatoes

-Cayenne pepper

-Honey

-Salt and pepper

-3/4 cup cooked quinoa

Directions:

-The thing that made this batch of peppers so friggen awesome was that I roasted the peppers in advance. It gives them a lot more flavor and keeps the filling from drying out. So all I did was rinse and dry my peppers and then place them on a sheet pan (whole) drizzled a smidge of olive oil on them and roasted them for about 20 minutes at 350. Check them from time to time you want them to get a little charred but not totally falling apart because you still need to stuff um.

-While your peppers are roastin, heat some olive oil in a skillet and add your ground chicken and onion. Season with salt, pepper, and as much cayenne as you can handle (for me that is like 30430 shakes because I like it hot).

-Once your chicken is thoroughly cooked add your garlic and can of tomatoes. Squeeze in about 1/2 tbs of honey and continue to simmer. While you are cooking your chicken prepare 3/4 cup of quinoa according to the package (it's similar to rice) and don't forget to keep your eye on those peppers.

-Once the qunioa is done add it to the skillet and simmer in the mixture for a few minutes.

-When your peppers are done take them out of the oven and allow to cool. Cool off your chicken mixture as well.

-When both are cooled slice your peppers in half lengthwise (making four cups) and fill with your chicken filling.

-You can make these bad lads up in advance so you can just pop them into the oven when you are ready to eat, or if you want to do it all in one step just be careful handling the hot peppers and be careful they don't tear.

-The last step is to bake the peppers with the filling. Everything is cooked so you just need to heat. I left mine in the 350 oven for about 20 minutes and added a little shredded cheese for the last ten minutes. I served them up with mashed pataters and they were divine.



things I never thought I would say...

"I just want to go running"

-Yeah, I legit said that the other day. Up until the last two weeks (as a result of freezing temps and lots o ice) I have been running consistently two or three times a week. I never imagined I would be that guy but two weeks off and I missed it like crazy.

"Just throw the hay over there"

-I coordinate outdoor events at a place that was once a big ass farm. I handle hay all the time. It might actually be straw, I really don't know the difference.

"I have a meeting with a war reenactor tomorrow morning"

-I don't even know what to say about that one, but it happened last week...

"You have to wait until your omelet is cool"

-I cooked Fred an omelet the other day. I don't eat omelettes. I dirtied a pan and prepared a dish just for my dog. I have lost it.

"What are the ingredients in that mascara?"

-My need for everything to be organic is truly getting out of control. I know it, and I feel like the first step is admitting you have a problem, but I can't stop....it's just getting worse.

"A 4 year old is my favorite person on Earth"

-It's true. My niece. The greatest person in the world, I still don't understand most of what she says, but I love her the best regardless.

this weekend v. every other weekend....

Remember how I said I wanted to lay off the carbs (just the simple ones ya'll), sugars, and gasp...the booze for one week?

Yeah, well beleive it or not I did it. Even this weekend I didn't cave. And you know what happened?? I had the most productive of all the weekends known to man. I am not really sure if it was the absence of all the delicious afore mentioned things in my body, or the fact that manfriend worked all weekend but let me tell ya I got a whole lot done.

And while I am still a firm beleiver that a wicked hangover is a fair price to pay for an amazing night out, I will admit it was pretty nice feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed all weekend. I don't plan to make a habbit out of abstaining from the drink or anything, but once in a while it might not hurt.

So here is the way a typical weekend in my life looks:

Friday night:

Go out drink a shit ton of Miller Lite and Fireball Whiskey.

Saturday:

Wake up feeling like a big sack of death. Force self to attend spin class and look around as others judge the fact that your sweat smells like cinnamon flavored booze. Go home. Utilize investigative research to piece together the previous night's shennanigans. This includes scrutinizing credit card receipts found in purse and asking questions of others. Take twelve or fifteen showers throughout the day. Lay on the couch with Fred watching reality TV. Order Chinese carryout...eat so much I need a nap. Start feeling better around 8pm. Repeat Friday night but sub red wine for Miller Lite.

Sunday:

Repeat of Saturday but sub Mexican food for Chinese food.

This weekend looked a little different though:

Friday Night:

Went to zumba, came home and made dinner. Watched the Olympics with manfriend and Fred. Learned Russians are in fact a scary lot. At least the ones in the audience at the opening ceremonies.

Saturday:

Woke up at 6:30am (you read that right) Went to a 90 min yoga class at 7:30. I thought I was really good at yoga, then I took this class...I still can't move my arms.

After yoga, I went grocery shopping to get some goodies for dinner (I invited some friends over for dinner). Got all the groceries and even a special treat for my son.

 

Returned a broken humidifyer to Lowes (without the receipt booyea!), took myself out for breakfast at this wonderful gormet bistro known as Panera Bread, went to another grocery store for the last of my dinner needs, bought a new suit, came home and showed Fred his froyo surprise. This was all before 11:30 mind you. Then I suited Fred up and we ran five miles, came home and had crepes for lunch (both of us yes).

 

After lunch, I cleaned a little then went and got a hair cut.

 

 

My new hair looks just like my old hair minus a few split ends.

 

Came home, started getting dinner ready and did a little more cleaning.

 

The friends came over and we had a fabulous time chit chatting and stuffing our faces. I made pork loin (always good to try somethying you have never made for guests...luckily it was good), mashed potatoes (cruel to make mashed paterers when you are off the carbs), and a nice salad.

 

After the friends left Fred and I headed over to my girlfriend's house for a play date and movie night.

 

The dogs did aborable shit like this:

 

And this:

 

Sunday:

 

I woke up feeing great again because of the lack of delicious booze the previous night. I went to spin class in the morning, then got a coffee and came home.

 

Cleaned the rest of my house.

 

Made cupcakes for Jose's birthday (it's today!). I am not much of a baker, but I actually was sucessful this time, and whipped out some salted carmel cupcakes. And by sucessful I just mean I didn't burn anything or use salt instead of sugar like I've been known to do in the past.

 

Took Fred on another play date, this time at the dog park. Came home and watched a movie (he layed on top of me of course). Then we cooked dinner for manfriend and watched the Olympics some more.

Fred is pooped to say the least.

 

tooting my own horn.

This might sound crazy, considering I write a blog that I share with the whole wide internet, but I find it hard to write about myself. 

I mean I love to tell you all my drunken antics and funny crap that happens to me, but spilling the real beans is still hard to me. But I guess I am feelin crazy today because I am going to get serious.

JK. I'm not, but the above statement is totally 100% true. I am working on it though.

I will tell you some things that make me prouder than punch though because I feel like I need to focus on the good today, because sometimes we all need to and I have been feelin a little stressed truth be told. And you should too.

-I am a great dog mom. For reals. Fred has it made. I pride myself on making that big furry mess of chocolate fur's life as good as it can be. His smile is all the thanks I need. And yes he smiles. He's mostly Pitt, google pitt bulls smiling, they have the best smiles in the world.

-I can out drink most grown men. Well maybe not, but I sure can hang. It takes a lot for me to get sloppy drunk and I like that. I am pretty darn good at pacing myself and staying up late with all the hardcore kids. Trust me if you are the first one to pass out you miss a lot of good stuff.

-I am strong. My mom used to call me the pack mule because I have always been a bit of a beast. I am the one people make lift all the heavy stuff, and I don't mind. Now that I work out like a mad woman I am even stronger. I can also carry a whole lot of junk at one time thanks to all my waitressing days. It comes in handy more than you would think, especially in my line of work...event planning is not for the weak, we move tables a lot. Glamorous I know.

-I am learning to dress better. I should say re-learning because there was a time when I was quite the stylish little devil. Then I got super fluffy, moved to the middle of nowhere and took a job with no dress code and that all went out the window. I have, as of late made a conscious effort to get dolled up more often and I have found it results in men buying me gas station coffees from time to time in the morning. That I will take.

-I am becoming less of a jerk. I can be a bit of a snot here and there and ain't nobody got time for that. I have noticed myself becoming much nicer in the past year and for that I am really happy. I think it is a combination of learning to pick my battles and feeling better about life and being content and all that zen crap, but whatever it is I am even more of a delight than I was a while back.

-I have become real outdoorsy. And not just in the sense that I like to get drunk on patios (though I certainly do). No, as a result of moving to the middle of nowhere I am now the type of girl who goes hiking for fun (even by myself sometimes), can start a fire, and genuinely enjoys the company of nature. I like that about me. 

That's about it for now because otherwise I am a bit of a mess, what are you proud of??? A lot I hope, because we are all pretty cool in our own way. 

why god why...

Ya'll know if you read this blog very often, I am not a big fan of diets. I am more a fan of the seefood diet where I pretty much just eat all day everyday.

Don't get me wrong, I eat clean, like 99% of the time and I work out a lot so I am not just stuffing my face with crap, but I honestly don't worry a whole lot about calories or fat or any of that jazz. Mostly because it is just depressing to think about how many calories are in cheese and other delicious foods I love, and partially because I just don't want to do any sort of math.

Then the other day I decided to step on the good old scale. I was taken by surprise when I realized I was just ten pounds away from my high school weight. I was shocked to be honest, and even though I do genuinely believe weight is just a number and it should not be all one cares about, I am also a girl...and I would love to be able to weigh what I did ten years ago (yea I'm old guys) and you know then I can wear my prom dress to all the galas I attend.

So I decided to cut the carbs and sugar and get this....booze. For one week, to see how it goes.

And it goes sucky. I miss carbs a lot.

And chocolate. I am only on day four and I am hoping I can last the rest of the week.

Pasta has never sounded better. I even went so far as to buy Flaxers the other day. That's not a typo, those would be crackers that are made entirely of flax seeds. I was hoping I could fool myself into thinking it was a cracker. I was wrong.

Boy was I wrong.

If I see any change in the scale after a week I will probably go on for a while longer until I can reach the ten pound goal. If not, I am having some quinoa stat.

Anyone else off the carbs?? If so, let's stay strong together.

spending freeze update

So, as I mentioned before, I have been trying to not spend any money for a little while.

As someone who is really, really good at spending money this is a hard task for me.

So far, I have been doing pretty good. Not great, but good.

What is it about saying you can't do something that makes you want to do it so bad?

 

I was forced to go into Target and Marshall's the other day in order to buy my mom a birthday gift (birthday gifts are excluded from the freeze obviously) and everything I saw I just wanted to buy so bad. I swear, I am normally not that much of a shopper. Most of my spending is done in the form of bar tabs, restaurant bills, and pedicures, but right now I just want to shop.

I behaved though. Difficult as it was.

I have however already caved in the coffee department and have bought about 38 coffees despite having a perfectly functional coffee maker in my home. And that was just the first week. This one might be the hardest to break. I just love gas station coffee so much.

As for eating out, another thing Jose and I are terrible about, we tend to eat out more than most food critics, we have not been doing a bang up job. Like not at all. I am less than proud to report we have dinned out about 50 times since the freeze began.  In fact we went out several times hte first week alone. Once for dinner (it was to meet up with friends we hadn't seen in ages so I am cool with that one) I decided to get carryout for lunch one day, which was real dumb because I had 34534 tons of fresh food in my fridge but whatever, I used a ten dollar bill I found in Jose's pants when I did his laundry so I technically didn't spend any money. Then we had a snow day and we decided to eat out for breakfast and lunch because we are chubs....but in our defense we were a little hungover.

In terms of buying shit I have been good. I have not purchased anything that was not a necessity yet. Why is it that when you can't shop everything looks so damn inviting?

What do you guys do to keep from spending all your money when you are trying to save a little? I need help I am no good at this!!

Textual Messages

So this may sound a little cray cray given we live together but the manfriend and I don't see each other much during the week.

Here is the thing, he gets up friggen early. Like out the door by 4:30 am early so he goes to bed before your grandma or 3 year old I guarantee it.

I on the other hand do not care to rise before 7am and like to watch TV into the wee hours of the night. I get off work around five and then head straight to the gym every night. That puts me home between 7:45-8:15 every weeknight.

Manfriend is in bed by 9:30 so you do the math. We pretty much eat and then he hits the hay.

We do however keep close by sending each other roughly 49,030 text messages per day.

Here are some of my recent faves.

True story, I fell over in my office. Luckily no one heard me.

Jose realized his wallet was missing right when he got to the Thai place, we go there so much they let him take it and pay later. Turns out his wallet was at the Mexican restaurant we went to earlier that day, where I had left my purse just a few weeks before. We drink and eat a lot what can I say.

This was our convo the other day leading up to Adult Snow Day 2014, don't worry I stopped eating the broccoli. Jose also freaked me out when he said his boy got arrested. I assumed it was one of our hood rat friends and not the Beebs.

Poblano chicken chili

Winner, winner chicken dinner. That's what this bad boy of a recipe right here is, take my word for it.

Well I guess it's only a winner if you like your food spicy as shit like I do. But I suppose you could always mellow it out a tad if you don't.

I like it because it is way lighter than regular old chili (which I still happen to love thank you very much) and it is just a little different.

You Will Need:

(makes about 8-10 servings of chili)

-2 poblano peppers
-1 jalapeno pepper
-2 cans chicken broth (I use low sodium organic cuz I'm a dirty hippie)
-2 cans great northern beans
-1 can corn
-1 can diced tomatoes (read the back if you are clean eatin yo, some tomatoes have weird shit in them)
-1 package ground chicken
-3 cloves garlic
-1 small onion
-cumin
-chili powder
-salt and peppa

Directions:

-Pre-heat oven to 350.

-In a large pot begin browning your chicken in a little olive oil. Add in your diced onion and diced jalapeno.

-While that is cooking, place your poblanos on a sheet pan drizzled with a dab of oil. Stick them in the over and roast for 20-30 minutes (I flipped the little suckers once)

-Add chopped garlic to your chicken. Season with salt and pepper, and about 2 tsps each of cumin and chili powder.

-When the chicken is cooked add in your broth, tomato, drained beans and corn.

-Once the peppers are nicely roasted (they will be a little black) remove the tops and seeds and chop them finely. Add them to the pot and simmer for an hour or so.

I hooked manfriend up with a cheese quesadilla to accompany his chili. I decided to skip it because we only had flour tortillas and I just can't get down with those, corn is the way to go.