the 10 commandments of sxsw.

hey, y'all!

so i just got back from a fabulous few days in austin, texas, where i achieved my bucket list dreams of attending the south by southwest music festival with my good college pal, gleni. and we had a BLAST eating, drinking, seeing almost 40 bands from wednesday through saturday. in that time, we developed a collective list of "10 sxsw commandments" that we think will be beneficial to future festival-goers (and us next year, because we're totally gonna try to make this an annual thing). enjoy!

1. thou shalt get free stuff.

calling sxsw a "free-for-all" is really no exaggeration. in fact, besides spending money for sit-down dinners, a few drinks and bartender tips, we often found ourselves realizing that we hadn't spent a cent by like 4pm every day. given the extremely high concentration of sponsored day parties with free beer and food, you can't swing a dead cat without being able to chow down and get liquored up for no cost. prime example - the free margaritas and food at the rachael ray party. i'm talking flank steak tost-achos, pulled pork tacos and chipotle sliders, people (see photo). it was highly depressing to go back to actually paying for things on monday. wahh wahh. also, work those connections! i never have any, but i tend to know well-connected people. thanks to gleni, we got into the badge-only barsuk showcase and badge-only sonicbids party fo' free, and drank in the VIP tent at the dig for fire lawn party. just sayin'.

2. thou shalt resist temptation to buy a badge.

despite my comment above about the badge-only thangs, SERIOUSLY IT'S NOT WORTH THE $700. those two events were rare in that nearly everything else we went to let us in, no badge, no wristband, no problem. i actually laugh now to think about the first night when we arrived and i meekly walked up to the bouncer of the showcase we had decided on. "do you need a badge?" "no, it's $8." works for me.

3. thou shalt stay hydrated.

one of my most-used words during the week was "WATER". a) you're walking and standing and all that jazz b) it's texas. it's hot. despite the fact that you're not sweating that much you're still getting totally parched. c) the alcohol combined with the heat can be a bad, bad thing. so thankfully, almost every venue has a huge water cooler that you can use for refills in between draaanks. or just ask the bartender. they get it.

4. thou shalt eat breakfast.

the fact that our hotel had amaaaazing TEXAS-SHAPED WAFFLES aside, even a habitual breakfast-skipper like me realized that i was going to need to fortify myself for each long day if i was going to survive. also, we really had no clue when we were actually going to eat next. so, dammit, we woke up by 9 every morning to make the continental breakfast...sleep be damned.

5. thou shalt sit down for dinner.

i was going to make this one "thou shalt wear comfortable shoes", but i'm not even sure your feet would make it out alive in even the comfiest of sneakers. seriously, my ankles and feet SWELLED UP. how does that even happen?! but i digress. the most appropriate plan of attack is to utilize benches and anything you can sit on during the day, and make sure you find a sit-down restaurant for dinner, even if it's super-casual. chances are that you ate your lunch from a truck, so it's important to rest the tootsies before the long night of showcase fun ahead of you.

6. thou shalt enjoy the weather.

omg i miss patios so much. while i guess it's typical for it to rain at least one day during sxsw, we had absolutely perfect weather every day we were there - sunny and 84 during the day, clear and probably in the high 60s at night. fortunately, while the festival is held in bars around downtown austin, you're not limited to dark dingy spaces - a bunch of the venues have patio or deck space for shows as well. try to go to some! you'll be reminiscing fondly on them when you're getting 4 inches of snow at the end of march upon your return (no, i'm not bitter). :)

7. thou shalt go with the flow.

with literally thousands of bands playing sxsw every year, plus hundreds of day parties, there's no possible way that you'd ever be able to see everyone and everything. gleni and i decided from the beginning that we would never let ourselves be in a place of "we're doing this, so we're missing that". and we definitely had a better time because of it! you should still make a schedule, if only to outline your options of who's playing when and where, so you can be prepared to decide what you feel like doing when that time comes. but stay open to random fun, too - we had thought that rachael ray party was invite-only, but wandered down to find out that they were letting just about anyone in. schweet!

8. thou shalt wear earplugs.

it may sound nerdy now, but your ears will be thanking you after you've seen about 10 million bands. even the cheap ones from walgreens or cvs will eliminate that terrible post-show ringing and if you have long hair (or some sort of shaggy 'do - you hipster, you) it'll cover the 'plugs with no one being the wiser if you're still embarrassed.

9. thou shalt make new friends.

sxsw, we determined, is a "rock 'n' roll summer camp by day, and rock 'n' roll mardi gras by night". and it's so true! in both of those situations, everyone's just out to have a great time and chat, and sxsw is no different. so talk to everyone - from bartenders to waiters, to shuttle drivers and passengers. ah, the shuttle. we had signed up for a shuttle from our hotel to and from downtown (dubbed the "drunk shuttle" at 2:30am) and it quickly became one of our favorite times. we took it once with a norwegian rock band who warned us not to be irish whores on st. patty's day, and another with a smart-ass san franciscan with whom i traded "that's what she said jokes", a wasted kid on the phone with someone he referred to as "drinking buddy" and more.

10. thou shalt tweet and update facebook statuses frequently.

f the jealous haters! sure, no one will respond to any of your tweets or updates, but they're reading them, and it's still important if only to keep a live blog of sorts with your adventures so you can remember them later. trust me, the 4 nights and 3 days become a big blur once you get to the end of them, so it's good to be able to look back for reference.

calling all funny adoptees: seeking submissions!

are you adopted? are you hilarious? do you like to write?

as an adoptee who doesn't take anything, including myself, too seriously, i think it's about time that there's a book about adoption that ISN'T heartwrenching, tear-jerking, super-sad, etc. etc.

so, if you have a funny, TRUE story that relates to being adopted in some way - whether it's speculating about your birthparents, getting an unexpected reaction from someone about the fact that you're adopted, or something completely different yet utterly chuckle-worthy, i want to hear it! i'm collecting these essays with the hopes of compiling them into a published, printed collection.

WORD COUNT: your submission should be between 1,000 and 5,000 words and double-spaced.

DEADLINE: may 1, 2011

DETAILS: please send your submission as a microsoft word attachment to kimwindyka@gmail.com along with your full name and contact info, and any relevant background information. feel free to email me with any questions as well.

thank you!

100 things to do in 2011: month in review

HEY! so february was a liiiittle slow, but i managed to whittle down the list a bit more. check it:

9. complete my book proposal: STARTED.

so, after researching classes there for like, months, i signed up for a class at boston's grub street writing center (called "finding your book") and it was amazing. for 6 weeks, i got to hang out with great, nice writers for 3 hours on monday nights while we workshopped each other's ideas and excerpts. i got to flesh out my idea, and now have a decent chunk of my proposal done, PLUS another idea which you'll all read about soon. YAY! :)

14. dine at 50 new restaurants: CONTINUED.

okay, so despite dining out a ton this month and even spending $55 on a tab, i sadly only visited one new-to-me restaurant, foundry on elm in davis square, somerville. i DID have poutine for the first time there as well (y'know, the dish all the canadians love that's basically french fries covered in gravy and cheese? nom), so that has to count for something, right?

36. see a stand-up comedian: COMPLETED.

if you missed my previous entry, i saw sinbad with my dad a few weekends ago and he was nothing short of brilliant. just a legendary man.

61. make $1,000 in freelance: STARTED.

i snagged a great gig writing daily boston deals for the groupon-y site (but bettah!) homerun.com, and i've already made over $100 in my first month. oh heyyy.

"quit makin' faces at me!!"

oh god...oh god. if you only know sinbad from such CLASSIC movies as "houseguest", "jingle all the way", and "first kid", you're missing out. in middle school, my dad and i were watching tv one saturday afternoon and happened upon an old sinbad stand-up special that was on comedy central, and proceeded to ROFLOAO for the next hour and a half. i was introduced to a brand new world of hilarity that i never knew....the genius that is sinbad.

so clearly, when i was trying desperately to come up with a great christmas present idea for mi padre this year and saw that the man/the myth/the legend was on tour and coming to the wilbur theatre, i knew it was the perfect idea.

seriously, i had tears rolling down my cheeks and my face was in PAIN from howling with laughter. the entire audience was just dying the entire 2+ hours (!!!) the man was on stage last night, talking about everything from boston drivers to online dating to sending a ragtag army of serial killers overseas. and, as i knew from seeing his previous material, the man is FUNNY AS HELL without using any word worse than "damn" - i'm no prude, but it's just refreshing and totally awesome that he's so hilar on his own that he doesn't even need to pepper anything extra in. seriously, see him if he comes to your town. check out some of my two fave clips - one from that special that started it all, and one from his most recent special, "sinbad where u been?" LOVE.

slow it down...

totally crushing taylor-hanson-style on this man right now and would pretty much do anything for him:

who is he, you ask? his name is jaren johnston and he's the lead singer of southern rock outfit american bang. it doesn't hurt that their music is totally better than kings of leon (as a brilliant youtuber said, "this is what happens when the black crowes, tom petty, and kings of leon have a threesome and don't use protection. awesome band." more beauty/awesome below!! ok i'll stop now.

100 things to do in 2011: month in review

hello again, friends! i come to you a month into the new year, still feeling pretty good about 2011. i've been keeping painstaking track of the items i've completed and made a dent in from my list of 100 things to do in 2011, so let's take a look, shall we?

12. finish the crossword every day for a month: COMPLETED.

i'm currently completing today's usa today puzzle, and am shocked that i actually knocked this one off in the first month. full disclosure...while i didn't have time to do a puzzle every single day, i made sure to make up for any missed ones in the following days. commitment!!

14. dine at 50 new restaurants: STARTED.

slightly disappointed at my pathetic showing of eateries in the first month, but i guess i was too busy focusing on my fast food avoidance (see below). however, i had an amazing breakfast at blue moon grill, a nommy pre-bowling cheeseburger at kings, and killed 1.5 birds with 1 stone at the beehive.

19. win a contest: COMPLETED.

i enter contests like it's my job, so i'm not incredibly shocked about this one. when white castle announced a twitter giveaway for telling them what you'd do if you were stuck in a white castle restaurant for 24 hours, i was all over it. clearly, i'd pretend i was the queen of white castle, decorate the restaurant in regal fashion, and sit on my throne and eat sliders all day. bam. the next week, i get a cardboard crave case filled with a white castle baseball cap (STYLIN'), a scented candle (literallysmellslikeburgerswtf), a coffee table book, a car magnet that reads "craver on board", a t-shirt and a bunch of other awesome junk. what makes it even more amazing is that i've only actually been to white castle once in my life.

25. try 5 new foods: STARTED.

can you believe i'd never tried veal? me neither. i think it had something to do with being told it was cow tongue when i was like 8, and never bothering/caring to actually find out if that was true. but i finally did it...in the form of a veal parm sub. MEH.

32. try one new recipe a month: STARTED.

i made an absolutely godawful crock pot meatloaf during a snowstorm. i was all excited to eat it after a horrible shoveling experience, and couldn't even get through a slice. lesson learned: meatloaves belong in the oven.

47. spend a day in newburyport: COMPLETEDISH.

okay, so basically what i meant by this is that i just wanted to go to newburyport because i'd never been. emily and i wandered around for a little bit and went into some cute shops while digesting our cupcakes from eat cake!, so that was sufficent for me. semantics...

75. go to a jazz brunch: COMPLETED.

i met up with an old roommate for brunch at the beehive in boston, a cute lil' bistro with live jazz on saturdays and sundays. we wolfed down delicious omelettes while some soft sax played in the background. just lovely, really!

81. whiten my teeth: COMPLETED.

i found a package of crest whitestrips that i'd abandoned and have been surprisingly diligent about remembering to use them. i'm almost done, but i can see a difference already!

94. go a month without fast food: COMPLETED.

ooooh, this was a doozy. towards the end of the month, i started having dreams about being stalked by 1/3 pound angus burgers and swimming in vats of ketchup with french fries. but folks, i did it. and you can too! but for real, if it wasn't for being ridiculously snowed in right now, i'd be parked at some mcdonald's with 5 bags in the passenger seat. :)

"a red apple in a pile of green apples, y'know?"

weirdo 16 year-old redheaded floridian child auditioning for american idol? naturally he has won my heart. also....he seriously sounds like a soulful black woman. i can't get over it. you go, brett loewenstern!

p.s. steven tyler is making me LOL so much this season. "to my melodic sensibilities....that was delicious." WHO SAYS THAT?!

let's go on a cupcake crawl!

i loooove me some cupcakes. and earlier this week, my friend emily & i decided to go on a veritable cupcake tour of boston's north shore this weekend (or a "cupcake crawl", as one of my twitter pals so ingeniously dubbed it)....just for fun and because we're that cool. all in all, we hit up 3 different cupcakeries -- and in truth, that was far more than enough, based on the cupcake coma that followed. when the day was done, we decided that we should rate each place in a hiiiighly scientific manner with respect to 4 different criterion: ambiance, selection, presentation, and of course, taste. drumroll please...the results!

1. cupcake cafe & bakery, beverly

our first stop was a little shop in beverly that had gotten rave yelp reviews, and we were excited to see what the fuss was about. we almost drove by the unassuming storefront, tucked in between a couple other businesses, and were quite underwhelmed upon walking in. while we were greeted warmly by the girl behind the counter, the atmosphere seemed cold, uninspired and uninviting.

given that it was just about a half-hour before closing time, we were quite impressed with the selection of cupcakes in the display case: vanilla buttercream, chocolate mousse, and chocolate peanut butter cup, if i remember correctly. we also grabbed a menu that listed all of the cafe's cupcake flavors - there were probably 15-20, which is also worth noting. emily & i ordered the vanilla buttercream and chocolate peanut butter cup to split, and they were both very adorably decorated, with cute frosting flourishes and multicolored sprinkles on the buttercream and a chunk of peanut butter cup dotting the top of the second cupcake. we had to stop the counter girl from bagging our cupcakes as we planned on eating there. as we had surmised from the lack of ambiance, this seems like a takeout kind of place!

continuing with the underwhelming trend, the buttercream cupcake was truly not much better than your standard grocery store variety. the chocolate peanut butter cup was tastier, and very rich, but the frosting was still subpar. i'd be willing to give this place another try at another time, but am not too optimistic.

ambiance: 2

selection: 7

presentation: 8

taste: 5

2. eat cake!, newburyport

i think i'm in love! i have emily to thank for suggesting this place, as she used them for her wedding, but it is a little off the beaten path in downtown newburyport, so i likely would have never been here otherwise. while the owner, hilary, does most of her business through weddings and private events -- in other words, not really a sit-down-and-snack type place -- the open-kitchen atmosphere was cozy, adorable and inspiring. in fact, she was working in the kitchen as we wandered in, and came right over to tell us enthusiastically about the cupcake flavors of the day. even more bonus points for creativity: the flavors change every day, but we got to choose between:

• a chocolate-dipped cupcake with a snickers bar in the middle, topped with vanilla buttercream frosting that's covered in honey-roasted peanuts (YES, that's just one cupcake)
• a chocolate-chip, chocolate-dipped poundcake cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting & chocolate sprinkles
• a coconut cupcake with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream frosting topped with fresh coconut
• red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting
• key lime pie cupcake

is this real life?! i really wanted to try them all, i really did....but i went classic and chose the red velvet, while emily got the coconut.

cute packaging too, huh? as we dug into the box in the car, we felt like we were on an episode of "true life: i'm addicted to cupcakes", complete with awkward food moans and all. this was legit one of the best (if not the best) cupcakes i've ever had the pleasure of eating. frosting was perfect, texture was perfect. just fabulous all around.

ambiance: 8

selection: 10

presentation: 10

taste: 10

3. coven, salem

as some of you may remember, emily & i visited this place back when it first opened in may of last year and were less than impressed. she'd been back since, though, and encouraged me to give it another try. i'm so glad i did!

as i mentioned in my previous post, the atmosphere is SO FUN. weird fairy tale reenactments playing on the tvs, board games stocked on the shelves, and strange toys and dolls everywhere. so it was just as cool-looking as i remembered it. and far from just being a bakery, coven has sandwiches, salads, and soups as well, making it a great place to just hang for a late lunch on a lazy afternoon...or for cupcake-saturated 20-somethings to detox before going in for round #3. we both ordered the turkey chili (which, sidenote, was very good), and a vanilla buttercream cupcake as it was the only variety available. i'm giving them a little leeway with that since it was late in the day, and they're not strictly a bakery. plus, they at least had four different colored sprinkles on the cupcakes. and who doesn't love sprinkles?!

the cupcakes were quite good, if not a bit too sickly-sweet for my taste in terms of the frosting. the cake itself, was moist and delicious, though, and honestly i was just happy to try one of their cupcakes after being let down last time around. i'll definitely be back!

ambiance: 9

selection: 5

presentation: 8

taste: 7

as you can see, the official winner was definitely eat cake! we plan to hit some of the other cupcakeries in boston proper at some point, too. any suggestions for must-visit places? also, anyone wanna hire us to do this full-time? :)

i hate myself for lovin' you

for some reason, i've noticed a pattern in my life: i tend to like people that the general public hates/strongly dislikes. not purposely....it just happens, somehow. especially with celebrities that notoriously annoy people. i like to think i have a pretty good perception of people in general, so i can spot a good egg under some grease and douchiness. are there any celebs/people you love that anyone else hates? here are some of my examples:

1. david spade

talk all the ish you want, this man is hilarious. ever since i saw him on the tonight show describing how he saved a drowning gardener from his pool in hysterical detail, i've been a fan. so good!

2. kevin federline

i've always had a soft spot for k-fed...especially after he split from britney and went on celebrity fit club all fat 'n' bloated. i think he's a slightly misguided, slightly trashy, nice man who needs a second chance. oh. i was also the only person to like his "song", popozao, and would blast it in my suite sophomore year of college. po-po-po-po!

3. vienna girardi

moving down the list in terms of fame, i loved this "bachelor" winner from the first episode when everyone was talking trash and calling her fake. okay, her boobs were clearly surgically enhanced, but chicky kept it real until the end. i hate most girls too, so i can't blame her for doing her thing and letting haters hate. and remember months later, when she and jake the snake were on tv? HE was the crazy one, not her.

whoaaa rock & roll!

keeping it simple this week. i've been in a down 'n' dirty rock & roll mood and have been discovering & rediscovering some great tunes. get yo' grit on!

the parlor mob - "can't keep no good boy down"

i first heard these dudes the other night while looking at some of the bands that are lined up for this year's sxsw, and kind of wondered where they've been all my life. love it!

bona roba - "the slip"

this was one of one of my favorite songs way back in '06, when i was turned onto rockstar inxs contestant neal carlson. turns out he had a great rolling stones-y band called bona roba, which coincidentally included lady gaga's current boyfriend luc carl. RANDOM!

rock 'n' roll soldiers - "anthem"

unfortunately, the memory i associate with this song is feeling badass and happy as i listened to it in the car, leaving my morning shift at dunkin' donuts when i was 19. still good though!

injected - faithless

a good 1/8 of my sophomore year of high school was spent trying to convince everyone that these guys were good. i still believe it!

100 things to do in 2011.

who's ready for 2011? THIS GIRL! 2k10 was a fab year, for sure, but as a huuuuge list junkie, i relish the chance to figure out the fun stuff i want to do in the upcoming year.

besides my bucket list, and my 30 before 30 list (a subset of the bucket list - yes, i'm crazy), i bypass that whole "new year's resolutions" business and make an annual list of 100 things i want to accomplish/do. some i've done before and just think would be fun to do again, some i've never done, some are pulled from my bucket list. and a select few i'm not sharing :). but i plan to keep track of all of the following on this blog as i go throughout 2011. i crossed off about 40 on my 2010 list, which i'm a little disappointed about, but now i'm even more motivated to get crackin' on this one. what do you want to do in the new year? to new beginnings!

100 things to do in 2011

1. go to south by southwest

2. visit chicago

3. meet andrew jenks

4. get my passport

5. dance on stage

6. host a dinner party

7. take a cooking class

8. go on a picnic

9. complete my book proposal

10. party with celebrities

11. go on a cruise

12. finish the crossword every day for a month

13. see 50 new movies

14. dine at 50 new restaurants

15. sell something on ebay

16. do volunteer work

17. sleep under the stars

18.visit 1 new state

19. win a contest

20. get a tattoo

21. perfect a dish

22. go to the cape

23. visit providence and newport, r.i.

24.see 10 bands live

25.try 5 new foods

26. go to a celtics game

27. skinny dip

28.go hiking

29.take a dance class

30. kiss in the rain

31. go to a drive-in movie

32. try one new recipe a month

33. take a duck tour

34.drink an egg cream

35. bake cupcakes

36.see a stand-up comedian

37.cultivate a great new friendship

38. get 100 blog subscribers

39. get a spray tan

40. visit a local winery/vineyard

41. take a guided tour

42. learn the "single ladies" dance

43. go swimming at night

44. go fruit picking

45. audition/try out for something

46. go out for fondue

47.spend a day in newburyport

48. reconnect with an old friend

49. get a psychic reading

50.yelp about 10 places i've been

51. go to a strip club

52. be on tv

53. win at trivia

54.tailgate

55. eat at pinkberry

56. learn to parallel park

57. lower my cholesterol

58. read one book per month

59.make my bedroom a cozy sanctuary

60. sing karaoke

61.make $1,000 in freelance

62. tone my stomach

63.floss once a week

64. eat at ruth's chris for free

65. hit 4,000 twitter followers

66. improve my posture

67. get a mani/pedi

68. go to a book signing

69. nurture a plant

70.go to a farmer's market

71. go out for tapas

72. visit the isabella stewart gardner museum

73.assume a fake identity for one night

74.play a board game

75.go to a jazz brunch

76.perform a random act of kindness

77.eat breakfast daily

78. take up a new hobby

79. watch an entire tv series on dvd

80. go backstage at a concert

81. whiten my teeth

82. ride in a limo

83. smoke a cigar

84. eat fried pickles

85. hang out around a bonfire

86. go to an art gallery opening

87. organize my itunes

88. write a fan letterand get a response

89. participate in a flashmob

90. kiss a foreigner

91. go on 2 dates with the same person

92. visit a historic landmark

93. donate money to a charity

94. go a month without fast food

95. see a sunrise and sunset in the same day

96. balance my checkbook

97. win money at a slot machine

98. learn the "thriller" dance

99. request a song on the radio

100. make a toast

bake, bake, bake, senora

ah, snow days. i hate the white stuff, but don't mind the opportunity to bake stuff all day at alllll. i'm still working on cooking, but baking is totally my thing. could it be because of my insane sweet tooth? perhaps. but i thought i'd share with you some great recipes that i snagged from pillsbury - one for a quiche that i made the other day, and another that i'm about to whip up (fingers crossed for yumminess). bon appetit!

tomato-bacon quiche:

INGREDIENTS

1

frozen deep dish pie crust

6

slices bacon, cooked, crumbled

4

medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)

3

medium plum (Roma) tomatoes, seeded, chopped

1/4

teaspoon salt

1/4

teaspoon pepper

1

cup half-and-half

2

tablespoons all-purpose flour

2

eggs

1/2

cup shredded Swiss cheese (2 oz)

1/2

cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place cookie sheet on oven rack. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove crust from freezer; let stand 1 minute. Prick crust with fork. Bake on cookie sheet 9 to 11 minutes or until very light golden brown.

2. Sprinkle bacon, green onions, tomatoes, salt and pepper in crust. In medium bowl, stir together half-and-half, flour and eggs. Stir in cheeses. Pour over tomato mixture.

3. Bake on cookie sheet 25 to 30 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

sweet cheese delights

INGREDIENTS

2

packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1

cup sugar

1

egg yolk

1

teaspoon vanilla

2

cans (8 oz each) crescent dinner rolls

1

cup chopped pecans

1/2

cup packed brown sugar

2

tablespoons butter, melted

2

teaspoons ground cinnamon

Powdered sugar, if desired

DIRECTIONS

1. In large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla; beat on low speed until blended.

2. Unroll 1 can of dough into 1 large rectangle; press seams and perforations to seal. Press onto bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish. Spread with cream cheese mixture.

3. In small bowl, mix pecans, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Sprinkle half the pecan mixture over the cream cheese layer. On lightly floured surface, press or roll out remaining dough into 13x9-inch rectangle. Place over filling. Sprinkle remaining pecan mixture over top.

4. Bake at 375°F 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly on cooling rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cover and refrigerate leftovers.