Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Finals

Sorry about not posting anything in the past couple days, but it's final's week so I'm pretty busy right now. Wish me luck on my exams! Be back to posting Friday.













Friday, 7 January 2011

Inaugural Foodie Friday!

 Attention one and all! Announcing the debut of Foodie Fridays: a day dedicated to food!
 After posting about my addiction to blueberries, I decided it would be cool to set aside a day just for my rants on food. I'm always looking for new recipes to try. To me food should be colorful, exciting, and of course delicious. I hate hate hate eating the same thing over and over again! I need variety. So I've decided to keep you updated on my adventures in the culinary field.
 Please feel free to message me with any recipes or things you'd like to see me try. Just keep it meat-free(excluding seafood.)!

This recipe came from the wonderful Whole Foods app I have on my iTouch. Seriously guys, best free vegetarian vegan food app on the market. It has tones of recipes, thoughtfully cataloged by diet, course, and category.
  I picked this one because I really want to eat something other than PB&J for lunch. And it's the weekend so I can prepare whatever I want!

Portobello Mushroom Supper Sandwich:















Ingredients

2 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon prepared balsamic vinaigrette,* divided
2 pieces focaccia bread, about 6-x-6-inches each
2 slices provolone cheese
2 jarred roasted red peppers, drained well
Handful arugula leaves

Preperation

Marinate mushrooms at room temperature in 1/4 cup of vinaigrette for about 20 minutes.

Preheat broiler. Broil mushrooms about 3 inches from the broiling element 6 to 7 minutes per side, until lightly browned. Halve the focaccia horizontally and place the cheese on one side of the bread. Cut the broiled mushrooms into l-inch-thick slices diagonally and arrange them over the cheese. Place the peppers over the mushrooms and top with the arugula. If you like, sprinkle a little vinaigrette over the arugula. Close up the sandwiches and serve.
Mouthwatering no? I will write a follow up post and let you know how it is. In the mean time, why don't you try it for yourself. Leave me a comment it, and dish about the dish(Oh, I'm so clever!). Oh and a heads up; focaccia bread is the shit! I'll have to ask my mom for her recipe. I know what I'm posting next week!
Ciao my imaginary followers!  

Thursday, 6 January 2011

Sweet Sweat of Success!

So today I feel accomplished! After a month or so of continual jogging I have reached the 3 mile mark! I've been dying to get past 2--my usual length. And today I finally did it, and in less than 30 minutes I might add.
 Sweat drenched my back when I hoped off the treadmill, but it was the sweet sweat of success. Ewww!! Isn't that the most gross alliteration you've ever heard. Sorry people it's almost 11 at night, and I've had a long day. What can you expect. :)
 My older sister says I have achieved military standards for women, with my under 10 minutes/1 mile. Oh, how that brightens my day! She even went so far as to proclaim I join the track team at my school. It sounds tempting served along with the other compliments. But I'm not sure I'm ready to face seasoned runners in a race( again with the alliteration!). Also, if I were to join track I would need a zero hour for French 1--a class I started last year and quit to join a sport. Do I see a pattern emerging here?
 Last year I made the softball team, a dream of mine ever since I was turned away in middle school(probably because I was so thin the coach thought the wind would sweep me off the field. Softball seems to be dominated by the heavier set girls.) I've played rec-softball ever since I was a little kid, and loved it. So it was very heartbreaking to not make the team.
 Trying out for the school team last year was extremely nerve recking. Even asking the coach for a form and tryout dates was a test of courage. I walked past her room multiple times debating whether to go in. Then hid in a bathroom stall wrestling with my resolve. Finally I told myself: "If not now when?"( a quote from one of the best teachers I've ever had) If you don't put yourself out there how will you ever know if you're good enough? Sure there's a chance you'll embarrass yourself and not make it. But it's better to have tried. So I grabbed a form, got a physical, spent many hours playing catch with anyone who would, and went to the tryout and gave it my all. The day of the posting, I literally almost burst into tears because I'd convinced myself I hadn't made it. I went through the whole morning depressed and couldn't even bring myself to look at the list Until my friend Rijutha dragged me to the library windows and looked for me. And you know what, all my hard work did pay off; I made it( as a freshman too, I might add)!
 Most of the season I spent at the bottom of the lineup, but I look back and am proud of what I did. I finally proved that I'm good enough to play on a school sports team. And more importantly I went after something that I was scared to try.
So in the immortal words of my 8th grade English teacher: "If not now, when?"

Tuesday, 4 January 2011

Crazy for Blueberries!!!!!

I think I'm in love guys!! With whom you ask? Why, the charming and sweet Mr. Blueberry!
 I don't typically like eating them by themselves, but sprinkled throughout a pancake is another story completely....
 So I hunted down a relatively healthy blueberry pancake recipe( courtesy of madehealthier.com). Sorry about the eggs my stricter vegetarians, I am a pesco-veghead. Try adding 4 tablespoons of water in place of them, or maybe an egg substitute would suffice. The original recipe also called for vanilla, but I found it a weird addition. Feel free to add it( it was only a teaspoon. Also coffee is a substitute for vanilla as well). If you are using soy, another way you could incorporate the vanilla flavor is by using vanilla soymilk( Silk is a wonderful brand)


INGREDIENTS
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups plain soymilk or milk
2 eggs
1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 Tbsp oil 
Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
DIRECTIONS
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl whisk together the soymilk and eggs. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and start mixing( gently stir in the blueberries at this point). Be careful not to over mix, you want it to be a bit lumpy.
Put a very thin coating of oil or butter in a nonstick pan. Pour in approximately 1/4 cup of the batter per pancake. When bubbles start to form on the top of the batter, you know the drill: flip those bad boys over, and cook for a couple more minutes. 
Another way I enjoy blueberries is dried. I'm a huge fan of any dried fruit really. I had a handful today in my lunch along with dried apricots, a granola bar, and ants on a log.
So give this delicious little blue fruit a chance. All he wants is to fill you with yummy antioxidants!!!! 

Saturday, 1 January 2011

Crossing the River of 2011!

So it's 2011. Yay, we all survived! A new year begins, and as always we have our resolutions. I though I would take today to type out my goals for 2011. Since everyone else will be too. So here it goes:



  •  Become closer to the Goddess and God.
  • continue challenging myself on the violin
  • eat well-- of course
  • exercise more
  • try meditation
  • be more confident
  • hangout with my friends on a regular basis
  • I really want to be able to do middle splits. Haha! I'm like an inch away from side splits( thanks to yoga)
  • save up money to buy my own car
  • brush and play more with Cupcake( my kitty ^, ,^ )
  • get my first job in the Summer 
Now this is all nice and well written out like this. But I've learned your more successful if you create small goals within your goals. So after you have your list drawn out, elaborate on each goal and make mini achievements you can accomplish. For example:
 I say I want to continue challenging myself on the violin. To do this I can-
                keep my place in the top orchestra by having a good audition 
                practice lots of scales and other technical exercises
                Audition or participate in/for any and everything I can
                play for at least 30 minutes everyday day
                and play for 2 hours at least 3 times a week
                And most importantly have fun, because when I stress out about not being good enough I set myself up for failure   
 
Strengthing my relationship with the Lord and Lady could be done by-
                 making an effort to celebrate the Sabbats with a formal ritual
                 sitting down and working on my B.O.S once a week
                  take some strolls through places of nature--like the park.
                  learning meditation
                 or even flat out chat them up "Hey Goddess, lovely full moon we're having!"     
To eat well, I can-
                           Bring a salad to lunch 2 times a week
                           eat fruits or veggies for an after school snack. Ants on  a log anyone! 
                           get up and cook a breakfast of eggs and toast instead of just grabbing cereal
                           Have a variety of color in my meals


Exercising more could entail- 
                          Going to the Y every other day
                           and fitting some yoga sequences into my daily routine

Gaining confidence will probably be a byproduct of my other goals. But I could also do things like-
                             Look in the mirror and tell myself I'm beautiful
                             Have good posture
                             pamper myself every now and then. Maybe I should lose my pedicure virginity... ;)
                             make peace with my imperfections
                             step outside of my comfort zone and meet new people

Getting out of the house and spending time with my friends could be done by-
                             making plans in advance instead of last minute
                             inviting at least one person to the spend the night on weekends. I hear the offer is usually reciprocated if you do it enough. :)
 
Saving $$$ for a car could be accomplished by putting away $5 from the weekly $20--and of course by getting a job this summer and saving half of my earnings. 

At ant rate, you get the idea. Write out that snazzy resolution list, but make sure you lay some stepping stones to your dreams, otherwise the river will carry you downstream. 

Anyone feel like sharing their New Year's Resolutions? I'd love to hear your plans, we could swap ideas. :)