November wrap up!

November is ending on us, which means it is time for another monthly wrap up. Time to reflect on the highlights of the month and realize that it really did not fly by unnoticed. Please free free to chime in with your own favorites of the month.

Person of the month: Joanne (JoJo) Adams. She was my boss at Bowdoin's bake shop for the four years I worked there. Those four years of scooping cookie dough and baking definitely lighted the fire behind my cooking bug. I worked other positions in the dining hall, too, but the bake shop was always my favorite. There is nothing better than having to be at work at 6am as a college student and listening to country music all morning long. JoJo was amazing and wrote my culinary school reference about 2 hours after I aked her. She is phenomenal. Seriously.

Moment of the month: It is impossle to describe how I felt when I filled out the application to culinary school. It felt "right" and exciting, and like I was actually starting something big. Not sure how to explain this. This is something I have been dreaming about doing for so long now that it felt like a fantasy to finally be acting on it. It is one thing to keep saying that I want to do the culinary shcool thing, and a complete other to DO IT.

Outing of the month: If FoodBuzz in San Francisco counts as an outing, then that is my outing of the month. I can't believe I was seriously considering not going. I had such an amazing time and got to meet some bloggers I have been dreaming about meeting (Eden, Sophia, Elise, Joy, Monica, Lynn for example). And I met some amazing new friends (Jolene, Susan, Norma, Rhonda, for example). And then there's the great peple I saw again (like Suki). The weekend was so stimulating, and I loved being surrounding with people who are as passionate about food as I am.

Book of the month: Jemima J. by Jane Green. This was such an interesting book. Jemima is very overweight, and loses weight so that she can meet a man she met on the internet. She turns into this ombshell and is greeted by a whole new slew of insecurities. It conveys the truth that losing weight will not "solve" all of your "problems". Life starts now and is bmeant to be enjoyed now, not just when you are thinner, smarter, more accomplished, richer, etc.

Movie of the month: There weren't any stand out movies this month, so Harry Potter is the winner. I did enjoy it. There is something about those actors and the story that suck me in every single time. It doesn't matter that the books are better than the movies, all that matters is that I love Harry Potter. I will always be a fan.

Accomplishment of the month: Applying and getting accepted into culinary school. In about a month and a half I will be moving to Boulder and learning really cool stuff!

Restaurant meal of the month: Cafe Eccel was a lovely meal this month. I had an amazing mushroom sandwich. Of course, Hullabaloo diner is always a favorite, but I feel like I need to pick a different "winner" every month.

Beer of the month: Bison Brew's Chocolate Stout was not only INCREDIBLE, it was also the only beer I loved at FoodBuzz. So they deserve to win beer of the month. Such an excellent chocolate stout. Not as heavy feeling as Young's Double Chocolate, and still had the fizziness I love in a beer.

Cooked meal and dessert of the month: Cooked meal was definitely the venison fajitas. This was the first time that I made GOOD tortillas, and the venison meat came out awesome. I love fajitas. Stephen loves fajitas. This was a phenomenal meal. Plain and simple. There were many many great desserts this month. The favorite? The apple cheesecake pie. So amazing. Of course, I have to mention the chocolatey dreams of cookies that I made the other day. These are far too delightful.

Breakfast was simple this morning.

I toasted a sweet potato muffin and had it with cottage cheese and a banana with peanut butter.

I love peanut butter with bananas. I may like as much as chocolate and peanut butter. Then again, I ADORE my bananas.

Dinner was simple.

Crunchy roasted russet potatoes.

I love boiling the potato for about 3 minutes before coating the cubes (or fries) in oil, spices, and flour, and then roasting in the oven.

They come out so crunchy on the outside and are increidbly tasty. Potatoes will never grow old.

What is your favorite way to eat potatoes? I think fries are definitely my favorite way. Especially delicious diner fries or curly fries. Has anyone else tried Wendy's fries dipped in a Frosty? I haven't had this since I was younger, but I LOVED this combination. Something about the hot fries with the cold ice cream (the cooling effect, as Stephen calls it) plus the salty and sweet was so amazing.

Anyone want to go on a milkshake and french fry lunch date?

I made a little side of tomato and avocado with sea salt and lime juice. A great topping for the burgeres that are coming up.

A nice sauce of salsa, sour cream, lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro. Also phenomenal for the burgers.

The burger patties made of half venison meat and half sweet italian sausage. A great combo. Venison on its own doesn't make the best burger patty. It is too lean of a meat. So it is always a good idea (and super delicious) to combine it with a fattier meat.

The amazing burger. Burgers are so fun to photograph. They always look so HUGE. But trust me, when squished down, these burgers fit inside our mouths. These were served on wheat english muffins that were lightly buttered and heated up. with some cheddar cheese, and some bacon.

Mine is a lot less oozy, but I assure you it was still delicious.

A great meal to end the month! I do have to say, looking back on the month's meals, I need a lot more variety for the last month of the year. I need less burgers, and more creative sandwiches instead. I also need more rice dishes, and maybe some brand new dishes to tackle! Variety is needed, that is all I know.

Here is a quote to meditate on until I see you next month!

"I define comfort as self-acceptance. When we finally learn that self-care begins and ends with ourselves, we no longer demand sustenance and happiness from others."
~Jennifer Louden

Confessions of a 26 year old food and art blogger

I read a lot of blog posts each day and some of my favorites are ones with random information, confessions, or tidbits about the blogger. So now it is my turn to provide myself (and you) with some interesting reading material.

Confessions of an 26 year old food and art blogger:

I still love Disney and really want to buy Mickey and the Beanstalk along with Mickey's Christmas Carol. But I want the classic disney shorts version, not the fun and fancy free version. Yes, I am a total dork for knowing that.

I have not taken an art class since I was in 5th grade. I have no idea what I am doing.

I dropped a knife on my big toe when I was little and have since been scared (terrified) of knives. I am very very slow at chopping anything.

I prefer diner food to most gourmet restaurants.

My most memorable meal from my childhood was the school lunch cheeseburger from the first day of first grade.

When I eat other people's cooking I am constantly thinking about whether or not I can do a better job (awful, I know).

I have several years of food experience under my belt (apparently). I worked as a Friendly's waitress for 2 yars in high school and worked at Bowdoin's dining hall for 4 years in various positions including baker and display cook. Bowdoin has the number 1 food in the country, so I actually learned stuff.

Some of my closest friends are some of you guys.

I prefer microwaved oats to stove top oats.

I am a horrible gift giver. I still have no idea what I am getting people.

I don't enjoy Pumpkin beer or Pumpkin lattes.

I love dark beers but actually don't enjoy Guiness. I need my beer to be fizzy.

I will not read a cookbook without pictures. If I pick one up and there are not pictures, it goes right back on the shelf.

I hate watching actual cooking shows. I really don't care what other people do in their kitchen.

I never buy myself kitchen appliances, I use gift cards and presents.

When I see a new comment to moderate, I get super giddy. It really feels like Christmas or my birthday.

And now for some food fun.

These are oatmeal banana pancakes. They are more like skillet cookies, and are pretty amazing.

hefty 1/4 cup rolled oats

pinch of baking powder

cinnamon

half ripe banana chopped

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 egg

splash of milk

Stir it all together and scoop into a skillet. Cook until done on both sides.

I have a thing for tiny versions of food. So these little pancake cookies were really fun to have for breakfast.

So delicious, and pleasantly crispy on both sides.

I made the mistake of buying sweet potatoes this week. You see, Stephen does not enjoy his sweet potatoes. This means I get to use the sweet potatoes however I want as long as they do not end up in his mouth! More fun for me! I decided to make sweet potato muffins.

Wheat Sweet Potato Pecan Muffins

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of sea salt

cinnamon, nutmeg

1 egg

1/4 cup buttermilk

the insides of one small baked sweet potato

about 1/3-1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a muffin tin.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Mix in the egg and butermilk. Stir in the sweet potato. Then add in the pecans.

Spoon into 6 muffin tins. Bake for 18 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!

These are absolutely incredible, with nice chunks of sweet potato. Nice and dense and flavorful. I need to do more baking with sweet potatoes.

The muffins were a great part of my pre lab dinner. I also had an egg, roasted brussel sprouts (yes, I am an addict), some spinach, and cottage cheese.

I can now say that I love brussel sprouts. The steam in a bag variety do not hold a candle to the real roasted variety. My goodness these are so phenomenal. And they really don't make your apartment smell like feet. That is one myth I have busted!

This was a perfect meal before lab. Got me full and energized for a long optics lab. Sadly, this is the last week I will ever teach lab. This group of students has been my favorite group ever (besides my very first lab). It is going to be bittersweet to end my teaching assistant career, but it is also going to be a relief to know that I am moving on.

How was the start of your week?

What is one food that you really want to miniaturize?

A loaf of bread, roasted brussel sprouts, and super chunky chocolatey cookies

I have been thinking about my favorite things and what I can do to make sure that I am regularly filling this need to take care of myself. It feels good to spend my own money to by things that make me happy. Especially when its products that I adore.

Also, a sale does not hurt! My favorite lotions and body washes are Bath and Body Works. They had a sale of buy 3 get 3 free and  had a coupon to get $10 off. Lots of gooies for not much money! So excited, and it is very comforting to know that I will have awesome body washes and lotions for a while.

And let's not forget my love for nice clothes. I bought myself some tops that I have been eyeing for a while now at Express. Again, on sale, with a coupon, so I felt good about this purchase, too. Let's just say I am allergic to full price. But I am all for a good sale!

Do you often slurge on yourself or do you look at for sales and coupons, too?

The one thing that helps me when I shop is having someone there with me as an enabler. I like to be assured that something looks good on me or that something is a good deal. Someone to smell the lotions and spray the scents on me. Someone to help me choose the colors. It makes me have more fun, I smile more, and I am more apt to spend some money on myself. Magic, right?

Now on to my Sunday cooking extravaganza!

Today's lunch was a bacon, asparagus, asparagus, and goat cheese sandwich on wheat english muffins.

Veggies on the side for me, along with some lemon zest in the sandwich made for a delicious lunch.

Stephen's with his cool ranch doritos!

I decided to try my hand at making a loaf of bread. For some reason, I am very rarely successful at this. But I thought I would try out the Milk Bread for my Joy of Cooking book.

The dough before rising. This dough comes together to be silky, soft, and moist. It was actually really pleasant to knead the dough. And it was very light to knead, so my arms did not get as sore. Either that, or I am developing some super strong arms!

The dough after riding in the loaf pan.

And after baking! Looks good, right? Now for the moment of truth, taking the bread out of the pan...

Ta-dah!

It came out perfectly. I always have a hard time waiting to allow the loaf to cool. Thankfully I had dinner to cook, so it had some time to cool off before I sliced into it.

Can you see the crumb in this loaf? This actually came out wonderfully.

Some butter on top. This slice is ready to dive into our dinner.

But before I show you what we ate fore dinner, we are going to take a dessert break.

I wanted a very chocolatey cookie. And I found one. I made the Chocolate Chunkers from Dorie's book. These cookies have a very small amount of batter.

And a lot (a whole lot) of mix-ins. I put in Green and Blacks Dark Chocolate (85%), Hershey's special dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, pecans, and peanuts.

All mixed up. The dough is basically goodies with a little bit of batter to hold them all together.

Ready for the oven, cookie?

The baked cookies were carefully removed from the baking sheet.

And lined up on paper towels, because I do not own a wire rack.

This cookie is just oozing with chocolate. It gives you an idea of how ooey gooey and chocolatey this cookies will be.

If you are craving chocolate, make these. Here is a recipe. I cut it in half, which was a good idea, because these cookies are amazing, but there are only 2 of us. Make sure you pour yourself a large glass of milk. You will need ot to wash down the chocolate. These are not for the faint of heart. Perhaps if you use white chocolate in place of one of the dark chocolates, it will be less intense. But I am partial to dark chocolate, so I will not be trying that any time soon. How about you?

I did something brave today. I cooked a veggie I have never cooked. You see, I claim that I love brussel sprouts, but I have only had the lttle single serving steamer bags. I have never cooked them on my own! I have always been terrified of making the apartment smell like feet or something equally disgusting.

I bought a bag of baby brussel sprouts and was super exciting about prepping this new fresh veggie.

I preheated the oven to 375F. I trimmed the bottoms off of the brusse sprouts and I cut them in half.

I them tossed them with olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, sea salt, pepper, and chopped pecans. I roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

They came out nice and browned. The apartment did not smell gross. Actually, the brussel sprouts didn't stink at all. Phew.

They were quickly devoured by me (Stephen doesn't like brussel sprouts in any form), and led to a super full belly. Veggies are never safe around me, especially delicious ones. I supposed this means my first brussel sprouts adventure was an absolute success! Maybe too much of a success.

These were a side dish for venison chili that I made for the main course.

The chili has diced tomatoes, ground venison, black beans, onion, garlic, spices, and most of a bottle of Sam Adams Winter Lager. The rest of the bottle was consumed by the cook. Sometimes she needs a nice beverage.

The chili went wonderfully with the fresh bread.

It really does not get any better than fresh chili, fresh bread, awesome veggies, and delicious cookies for dessert.

I truly cannot wait for clinary school. I want to get feedback about my cooking and I really yearn to be around people that appreciate the work and creativity that goes behind making meals and food in general. I love cooking for myself and Stephen, but I always feel like I am missing something when a meal is simply inhaled or not really thought about. I want someone to talk food with, someone to get lots of cool idea from, and inspiration! But there is something to be said about cooking for a non foodie. It makes me find new ways to be creative about food.

Not a bad thing, but I cannot wait to actually learn more about this hobby to which I give far too much of time!

Hope you had a great weekend.

Favorite Things

A few of my favorite things these days:

In the music world:

Katy Perry - One of the Boys

I bought this cd last night and I have already listened to it 3 times, at least. I had it on repeat while I cleaned my closet this morning. It made the experience a lot less painful. It actually helped me want to keep cleaning. I like each one of the songs. Poor Stephen has to put up with me randomly belting out random lines from the music playing in my ears. I must say that I may have to pick up her newest cd, too. I am a fan!

Taylor Swift - Speak Now

Another wonderful cd that I can listen to over and over. I love that she write her own music and this cd actually has a couple of songs that have a completely different sound. A lot of her songs can song very very similar, but this cd packs a nice amount of variety.

Movie world

How to Train Your Dragon

The best animated movie I have seen in a very long time. Toothless (the dragon) is absolutely adorable and reminds me of Ginger. And I have decided to name my next cat Hiccup. Added bonus? The main female character is named Astrid. Finally a cool character with my name! Of course, she is a viking. Astrid means Star in Old Norse, so it was a very common viking name.

Clothing world

Leggings and yoga pants

They apparently make the best attire for loungng around the house. It makes it easy to go on my yoga mat and get into a head stand or random warrior when I feel like it. And I feel that my butt looks good at all times. Which is awesome. I really need to invest on an actual nice pair of yoga pants one of these days. I bet they are worth it, but the extremely cheap part of my brain (my entire brain) is allergic to spending money.

Sites and Blogs

Craig's List

Thanks to this amazing site, I have two homes in Boulder to decide between. They are both the same price, are in good neighborhoods, near public transit, and walking distance from a Whole Foods (!!). The problem is that I now need to decide, but Craig's List is making life a lot less stressful right now.

Kitchen Corners

I just found Damaris' blog the other day. She actually found me, and I am so amazed that I have never read her blog cefore. The pictures and layout are absolutely gorgeous. She just participated in FoodBuzz's 24 24 24, and did an amzing job. Her children are adorable and she is super talented.

Lick the Bowl Good

I found Monica's blog over a year ago. I got sucked in my the gorgeous photographs of her drool worthy desserts. She lives in Texas and is actually a very awesome person in real life, too. I was lucky enough to meet her at FoodBuzz and hopefully will have a fun baking party with her next month. I have no idea how all of her treats come out so gorgeous, but I am thankful for it. Food porn is not a bad thing.

Faith Fitness Fun

I participated in Tina's 30 Days of Self Love in September. Since then, I have become hooked on her blog. I love her honesty and her constant need to do good in the world. She loves the holidays and I do too. She also made me aware of Pandora's Christmas station, which will be playing every night that I cook dinner. She has a beautiful family that wil grow by one very soon!

Give Love, Create Happiness

Wendy is amazing. I get very excited each time I see a new post from her. She is so positive and has a new interview for inspiration every Friday. She is another blogger that I have been reading for over a year, and I know that I will keep reading for as long as she keeps writing.

Eden's Eats

I met Eden a few months ago and have become instant friends. She was my roomie in FoodBuzz and continues to be on my mind every day. Her blog is honest, funny, and creative. As both a professional chef and yoga instructor, she is living out two of my dreams! She is a very good friend in the blog world, and in real life, too.

Burp and Slurp

Sophia is one of the best writers I know. I love reading her entire posts and seeing her gorgeous photography of all the delicious foods she eats (both from cool restaurants and homemade). I met her, too, and was not disappointed. She is one of those people that makes it known when she loves something she is eating. Definitely a great person to walk around a food festival with!

I Have Issues

Abby is another great friend I have made through blogging. She is an excellent writer and super creative. She has a tendency to say exactly what I am feeling or thinking but never know how to articulate. She also has some hilarious stories about her life, and is even a calendar girl.

The Actor's Diet

I watched Lynn's movie, White on Rice, and instantly respected this blogger and actress. Then I sat next to her during the final Foodbuzz dinner and had great conversation. This girl is down to earth, smart, and really sweet. Her blog is also fun to read and I love seeing the different candies she has for dessert after her meals.

Sugar Plum

I first saw Emily on Ultimate Recipe Showdown on the Food Network. Then, a few months later, I stumbled upon her blog.  was so excited that I emailed her right away. We have been blog buddies since. Her blog is amazing. She created the most amazing desserts, and since she has been blogging for 3 years, there are a lot of awesome recipes on her blog. She also has the most gorgeous long curly hair in the world.

Chomp

This is the Culinary School of the Rockies Blog. It is incredibly inspiring to read the posts, especially those about their alums. Apparently an alum from the Chef Track program (the program I will be doing) recently started a Cuisine Touring company that is going around the world! It is called Urban Cuisine Tour. Check it out, it is pretty phenomenal.

Food and drink

Homemade tortillas and pie

Now that I have figured out the right ratio of flour to milk in the tortillas, I want to make these again and again. And I have a love for the cheesecake pies I have made lately. Both the apple and pecan pie version are far too delicious. I am now a pie convert.

Annie's wheat bunnies

Maybe it's because they are adorable and bunny shaped? But these are so delicious and do well on their own or atop a salad. I love finding new snacks that are not 100 calorie packs. (No offense if you like those!)

Vodka

Stephen and I have been taking breaks from our beer drinking. Drinking a beer a night can get exhausting and draining. So we have been exploring the world of mix drinks and vodka. Our favorite so far is Belvedere is amazing, followed by Grey Goose. I have been enjoying a small shot with seltzer water, with cranberry juice, with milk and kahlua (a light white russian), and tonight I am having a Bloody Mary (I'm excited)

What are some of your favorite things lately? Any good books lately? I need a new one!

My latest watercolor marker piece. A shoe with flowers growing around it.

Lunch was leftover turkey in a salad for me and hot dog quesadillas for Stephen.

My salad with wheat bunnies on top. They added a very lovely crunch to the salad.

Stephen's quesadillas made with the last two wheat tortillas.

With sour cream and potato cakes on the side.

I hope you had a great Saturday. Anyone else terrified that December is quickly approaching? Any fun plans for next month?