August Wrap Up

Another month has flown by. I love the end of the month, because my wrap-ups make me feel pretty accomplished. Knowing that I need to write this up at the end of the month makes me more aware of living my days to their fullest and enjoying the little things, such as making good food, eating at good restaurants, and reading good books. Here are the highlights for August:

Person of the month: My friend Jen from Bowdoin deserves this "award" because she let me stay with her and her husband in the most gorgeous apartment in Chiacgo. It was on the 8th floor and overlooked the city. My goodness. This type of home is a dream for me. Practicing yoga in front of the huge window overlooking the syline was AMAZING. Simply unbelievable.

Moment of the month: I will take a different approach for this answer. The most important moment of this month was making the decision between taking the TA position and being a full time graduate student this semester and following my original plan of taking only one credit hour and going to Kripalu for yoga teacher training. Postponing one dream to pursue another was a very very tough decision. I am not regretting this, because I am very excited about teaching my Mineralogy lab one final semester. I am going to make this semester count!

Outing of the month: Chicago. Everything about Chicago was amazing. My favorite part was spending time with Jen at the Field Museum. I love science museums, I love spending time with a good friend, and I love Chicago. So it was a great outing.

Book of the month: Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand. Picking up this book was a huge coincidence. I had just bought a 6-pack of beer from Otter Creek Brewing Co. The brewery is in Middlebury, Vermont. I almost went to Middlebury College for my undergrad. It was actually the first college campus that I fell in love with. In the first page of Barefoot, you learn that the male protagonist is going to be a senior at Middlebury College. When I read this page, I immediately walked towards the register. It was a very lovely read. Highly reccommended!

Movie of the month: Ramona and Beezus! This was an adorable movie. I love feel-good family movies. Since I am an only child, I dream of the chaos that comes with a multiple child family. I cannot wait to play with my kids, bake with them, and cook for them. I can't wait to have a cool tree in the backyard to climb and tomato plants in the backyard to grow. Movies like this leave me fantasizing about my future family life!

Accomplishment of the month: Getting my proposal past my advisor. Finally. Now it is taking a while with the second person, but it will get there. I am proud of myself for sticking through this.

Restaurant meal of the month: Hullabaloo's Diner. I know, I know. I spend a weekend in Chicago and I choose an Aggieland diner as my meal of the month? This was such an excellent meal. The fries were phenomenal and the sausage I had was super flavorful. I seriously cannot wait to go there again and possibly try another sandwich. Or just order fries! Honestly, this place is something out of my imagination. I love diners.

Beer of the month: Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA. I am a huge fan of the flavor of IPA's. This beer has a very high rating (98) and definitely lives up to the reputation.

Cooked meal/dessert of the month: For the cooked meal, it is a tie between the stuffed sweet plantains with ground beef and the buffalo chicken pizza I made. Both were pretty amazing. My risottos were also delicious, but these were my favorite two meals. This month was a great month for desserts, here are my favorites: chocolate chip bread pudding, chocolate chip cookie pie, dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookie peanut butter sandwiches. Hmmm, do you see a trend? Apparently I like chocolate chips. I always buy a bag of Hershey's Special Dark when we get groceries, so that I am always able to make cookies or brownies. Baking is definitely a passion of mine. I love that I have made friends with desserts and do not avoid them like I did years ago.

To end August on an awesome note, I have prepared a colorufl and delicious dinner.

I was inspired by Iron Chef to make a puree out of brocolli and avocado. The puree has one avocado, one brocolli crown, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 cup whole milk, juice from 1 lemon, and 1 tbsp honey.

Poured over some tomatoes.

And topped with pork tenderloin.

Served with some roasted red potato fries.

These are, by far, my favorite potatoes I have ever made. They are so simple and naturally sweet! These are just red potatoes cut up, coated in olive oil and pepper and baked at 400 F for 40 minutes. So easy and super delicious. I didn't use ketchup, which is saying something, because I love ketchup with my fries.

Ad for tonights snack: Carrot Muffins

I just threw things into my Vita-mix and hoped for the best. They look pretty good!

I will let you know how they taste when I have one!

"I am playing the violin, that's all I know, nothing else, no education, no nothing. You just practice every day." ~ Itzhak Perlman (he is 65 today)

Corn and Bacon Risotto with a Fried Poached Egg

"My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed, my dearest pleasure when free." ~Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (today is her birthday! she was born in 1797 and wrote Frankenstein)

Are you a regular dreamer? I am. I still remember dreams from my childhood and sometimes I forget whether or not a dream was real. I also dream in color and in different languages from time to time. Dreams are funny, because although they did not actually happen to your body, your mind has the ability to remember them for your entire life. It is as if the event happened to your mind. So it becomes a memory. Some of my most memorable dreams:

• I saved my cousin from a pool full of sharks when I was about 5.
• I was kindnapped by the Incredible Hulk with my best friend when I was 10.
• Almost 2 years ago, I had a dream that I was officially saying goodbye to my ed in the middle of a mall. I was sitting on a mat in mourning. It was so strange but very peaceful. Individuals and families would come up and thank me for what I was doing.
• I used to have a lot of dreams where I fly. Not very high. It is more of a very long jump.
• Teeth dreams are also very common. I have lost them and have even had several sets come in at once!

What are some of your favorite dreams?

Today I was a little annoyed. Stephen was coming home late and told me to go ahead and just cook for myself. But I wouldn't have that! I had an idea for dinner and I wanted to execute it.

I made Risotto wth corn and bacon.

This risotto was made with white wine and had pecorino romano cheese, carraway seeds, and parsley.

I have been taking inspiration from Iron Chef lately. I decided to make a fried poached egg, similar to the tempura battered deep fried poach egg on last night's Iron Chef.

It came out beautifully and sat nicely on top of the risotto.

I sliced up some challah and slathered it with honey butter before broiling it.

Ta-dah. Quite the lovely dinner. I would definitely serve this to "real people". It looks good, tastes good, and leaves you moaning with satisfaction. I am pretty vocal when it comes to enjoying my food.

Today was the official first day of the semester and  can already feel the semester slipping by. I need it to slow down, because there is no way I can finisha nd graduate if it flies by!

Chocolate chip bread pudding

"Be yourself. The world worships the original." ~Ingrid Bergman

Sometimes I find it difficult to be myself, because I spent the majority of my life not allowing myself to be "me". I was always adjusting my own desires in order to please other people. If I was going out with someone, I would let them choose the activity and the place. I never made the decisions and I never complained. If anything, this was a very comfortable way to live. It is easy to just be what other people want. But it also leaves a HUGE void in your heart and soul.

I am still a work in progress (and will always be), but I have come a long way in figuring myself out and what I want to do with my days and my time.

I have learned what my values and priorities are. I love spending time by myself painting, cooking, and exercising. I love spending time with my boyfriend. I love traveling. Something I have been ignoring for far too long now, is being social with other people besides Stephen. I have made a promise to enjoy myself more and socialize this semester! To start things off, I went to wine night!

Almost everyone brought a bottle of red wine, which is fine, because I love reds!

There was lots of cheese. The one with the cranberries was incredible.

A lovely platter of cheese and crackers.

And chocolate!

I had a pretty fun time. A few of our new grad students came. It made me really wish that I was still at the beginning of my masters instead of knowing that I have a very difficult and challenging few months ahead of me. I will finish, but it is not gong to be fun.

And on to other things...

This morning, I wanted to make pancakes, but I didn't have any milk left. It is okay, though. I used beer!

Beer Pancakes

a little less than 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbsp vega shake and go powder

1/4 cup white ale

1 egg

I topped the pancakes with a blended frozen banana. It made for a very delicious breakfast.

Lunch was another awesome sandwich Sunday. I made real BLT's this time. I liked using a softer lettuce, rather than iceburg.

Dinner was burgers!

A simple sirloin burger with pesto in the patties, mozzarella and parm cheese, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and greek yogurt.

A very beautiful burger.

Aranitas (fried shredded plantains) on the side (and some brussel sprouts for me) made for a great meal!

Now for the exciting part of my day! I made my first bread pudding using the challah I made the other day.

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

I soaked the bread in a custard mixture and added dark chocolate chips.

All baked up and ready to cool off and cut up.

This is the way bread pudding looks like in Puerto Rican bakeries. Other bread pudding have huge cubes of bread, with custard poured on top. I like how solid this bread pudding is. Plus, with homemade challah, you cannot go wrong. This dessert is something to enjoy and be proud of!

In other news, I crossed of number 4, Finish a book. I finished Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand. I really liked it and am sad that I finished, because I am not going to read another new book for a while. I need to focus on my research and reading articles. Don't worry, I will still cook and paint a lot, but as far as reading for pleasure goes, magazines will be taking front stage.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Another one off my list!

Today I crossed number 14 off of my list. I donated money to a cause. I kind of did more than that. I registered to become a NEDA walk coordinator. I donated 15 dollars to get a walk kit to organize a NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association) Walk in my area! This is not going to be an easy task, but I am going to use the resources they give me and try my best to make this work! It will be in the College Station area, so anyone that lives near here and wants to help out, please do! Stay tuned, because I will be telling you how you can help out this great cause!

My sign for the 2nd week of Drop Dead Gorgeous by December. I just added to the words on my previous sign. It's silly, but it's pretty fun to remind myself of these things.

I am going to a wine night tonight with some people from my department. I chopped up my cake into squares, stuck toothpicks in the squares, and created little dessert bites for party. This was an excellent way to get rid of the rest of the cake! Hopefully people like them. I know I do!

Dinner tonight was about using what was left in the fridge and pantry. I put together tortilla pizzas topped with hummus and other goodies. They are made like a mexican pizza, with cheese melted between two tortillas and then the toppings are baked on.

Mine had lots of veggies on it, and Stephen's had lots of bacon. This was a pretty excellent and simple meal with some steamed brocolli on the side. I love it when I can create a meal out of "nothing" and it still turns out great!

Time to get ready for wine night! Have a fun Saturday night!

Challah, Cake Bites, and a Question

Today was a much better day.

I think I am coming to terms with my decision to stay here in College Station for the entire semester. I am owning the fact that I have taken a long time on my masters and will stick it through and finish. I have nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, I am brave, and strong, and I am smart, too! Today I kept myself busy, but I think I got a little too hectic with all the baking I tackled this afternoon! Does this ever happen to you? You don't want to simply sit inside of your own head with your own thoughts, so you go go go and don't stop until you realize how fast your brain is buzzing. I am good now and excited to share what I made today!

Challah!

I followed the recipe from the Joy of Cooking cookbook. I have always wanted to make challah, because it looks so pretty. I never have enough eggs, though. This week, I had plenty of eggs to use up, so I went ahead and made a loaf!

Beautiful and risen.

Coated in egg wash and sesame seeds. Ready to bake!

My goodness, isn't this a beauty? I am so proud of this loaf! We ate some of it with dinner, but there is plenty left for french toast or bread pudding!

For the rest of dinner, I cooked up some lamb that was really cheap at the grocery store! I cup up the lamb leg into cubes and marinated it overnight in greek yogurt and curry powder. Lamb is my very favorite red meat. I am not a fan of steak, but lamb is amazing. Always so tender.

Roasted potatoes and a tomato, cucumber, and feta salad on the side. It was such a delicious dinner. While I was cooking dinner, I was finishing up the bread and creating a little dessert treat for Stephen's granny. We are celebrating her birthday tomorrow by going to Waco and having lunch with her.

Cake Bites

I made a cake. This cake is made with lemon juice and a white ale (beer).

I placed jam in between the layers, cut it all up into cubes, and dipped the cubes in chocolate. Not an easy task. Especially while cooking dinner.

These are really delicious. I am excited to bring them to granny!

I have a question for you.

What would you choose to do or spend money on if you were given 50,000 dollars tomorrow?

a. A dream vacation (Italy or Singapore for me)
b. A shopping spree in New York for a new wardrobe (like in What Not to Wear)
c. A career change (go to culinary school, start a business, etc)

I would choose to travel. I would go to Singapore and them to New Zealand. Either that, or Italy and greece. I would love to travel more, and wish that it didn't cost so much money. Travel should be a birthright not a luxury for those who can afford it. Travel has made a step into my priorities, which is why I am planning so many trips in the near future.

Upcoming trips:
Maybe San Francisco in November
Las Vegas in December
Puerto Rico in January (my dad was lovely and bought my a plane ticket so that I could go see my family!

I Love Cake

Today I almost completed something from my list. Number 14- donate money to a cause. I did donate something to a cause today, but it was not money. I donated blood! It makes me so happy to donate blood, because it comfirms that my body is healthy enough to donate and to recovery properly. When I was at my unhealthiest state, my iron was super low and I wasn't able to donate blood. My blood pressure was not stable enough either. Standing up always made me very light headed. 

The past two times I have donated, my iron has been great, and  can get up and on with my day right away! Today's donation was extra pleasant, because the woman taking my blood away was really sweet. She complimented me on my veins (they are awesome for giving blood!), so I said, "Thanks. They are my best feature!" She responded, "Girl, I wish I had a small body like yours! I did when I was little and all I wanted was to be bigger. Now I want my body back." I just laughed a bit, because I never know how to react to comments like this. My body is very lean, but it is not unhealthy. So I need to own it and be proud of t. It is my body after all! 

I still need to donate money to a charity or a cause. Do any of you support a great cause?

I will spare you the baldness of my breakfast and lunch (although they were both delicious). I will share the AMAZING cake I made last night. We are trying to save money, so no more dessert on date night and no more lunch out on Sunday. This gives me an excuse to make new dessert in the middle of the week and to make a special lunch during the weekend! I love saving money! 

This week's special dessert is a yellow cake with jam and chocolate frosting.

I used a basic yellow cake recipe (from scratch, not a box) and a fudgy chocolate frosting made with dark chocolate chips.

I have come to learn that a good cake is even better the day after it is made and refridgerated. So this cake was so delicious today! I made it last night and stuck it in the fridge to get all nice and delicious. It worked!

Keeping today's post short, so I will leave you with a quote:

"Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."
~Mother Theresa

Broken Hearted and an Operation Beautiful Mission

Have you ever made a decision that leaves you very sad? You know it was the right decision for the time and for you, but your heart still feels broken? I seriously feel like I broke up with a long term boyfriend.

I called Kripalu and cancelled my registration for the yoga teacher program. I will do it in the future, but I can't schedule it yet. I have no idea how this semester of grad school will go or if I will get a job offer for the spring or summer. It is just hard to let go of something that I was looking forward to so much.

Okay, enough mopey talk!

I decided to make something nice for Stephen today!

I had so much fun creating my other collage. But I realized that I didn't put any pictures of me and Stephen. So I found a couple and make him a collage of us!

Here is a close up. There is a picture of us in the Dunn Falls in Jamaica. I love how I am screaming and Stephen is just smiling.

I crossed number 19 off of my list. I went on an Operation Beautiful mission. I love going to Barnes and Noble and placing the post its on books. I think it gets the message across so beautifully!

Yes, it is fun to take personality quizzes. But don't let the quizzes put you in a box and define you. You are so unique and incredible as you. Not as a category in a quiz.

This quote is on the Operation Beautiful site. I love it.

"Don't wait until everything is perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful." ~Mark Victor Hansen

So many people don't do things until "they are thinner" or until "they are good enough". Life is not about being good enough to do things. Life is about doing things. Don't wait until you lose weight to wear a bikini at the beach. Don't wait until the conditions are perfect to go on a dream vacation. Make the time and live your life! You are beautiful, your body is beautiful, and you deserve to enjoy living your life.

This really speaks to me right now. I am choosing to get my masters before pursuing yoga, because I am smart enough now to finish. I can push through it and start a great career. This also benefits Stephen and I, because I will be making money this semester and with the greater chances of finishing my masters, I can get a job at the same time that he secures a job, too. I have always dreamed of being with someone who supports me as much as I support him. So this is a dream of mine that I can't throw aside. He is making me go to Kripalu in the future. I will after I get my masters, because I strongly believe in finishing what you start, especially if you are 3 years into it!

I hope someone finds this note and feels better about their day. I know that there are times when I am wandering the aisles at the store feeling a little mopey and hoping for a book to jump out at me and scream "Astrid, read me!". This note is a reminder to enjoy your time today.

And, of course, a bathroom note. I hope this makes someone smile.

Have you put up any Operation Beautiful notes lately?

On to my food highlights.

I made oatbran this morning. It was my first time cooking oatbran. I cooked it up just like oatmeal.

I can't wait to make this again tomorrow. t is so fun to switch up grains for breakfast. I really do hate getting in a food rut.

A delicious sandwich for lunch on my Italian bread. Again. This one is a veggie sandwich with honey mustard and feta cheese.

I have learned that toasting just the inside of the bread is an amazing touch to sandwich creation. It keeps the bread from getting soggy. And since the outside is left soft, you will not cut the roof of your mouth! Brilliant, right?

I decided to take a nap late this afternoon. I woke up and it was past 6, which is when I usually (always) start cooking dinner. I was drowsy, so I thought it would be a GREAT idea to throw together a lasagna. Umm, yeah, lasagna is not the quickest of meals. But in my drowsiness, I managed to put together a very good lasagna is an hour.

I mixed cottage cheese, grated parm, an egg, and browned ground turkey together in a bowl. I also threw in some fennel seeds for extra flavor. I made an easy tomato sauce with canned diced tomatoes, a carrot, some zucchinni, and red wine. The lasagna was assembled and baked in a 400 F oven for 30 minutes uncovered.

This was as delicious as it looks. I loved it. Stephen had 2 servings!

Some garlic bread and steamed broccoli on the side. It was a wonderful meal.

Freshly baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for dessert! Ta-dah!

I am in need of a mini vacation in late Oct or early Nov. Where should I go and who wants to join me?