Sorry, sorry, sorry!

     I know, it's been AWHILE since I've posted.  Life has been a little crazy this past few weeks- quitting my job, looking for a new one, weddings, end-of-semester craziness, spring cleaning, etc. I haven't really had the time to cook consistently (especially things that I care to admit to (TJ's mac and cheese with BRIE, anyone?)), and have had even LESS time to lurk muh blogs.  I'll be back on track really soon, promise! Also, wish me luck finding a new job soon! Otakon's coming up!! :o

AMERICA

Fuck yeah.

Welp, the day has finally come.

     I quit my job today.  Nothing dramatic happened, like a few people have assumed.  It was just time to move on.  I'll miss you, Hot Topic family! RIP job, 2008-2011.

Post-Easter detox day three and one looong update

     As I mentioned in my last post, this week I'm being a total kiss-ass to my own body after totally gorging it all this past Easter weekend.  I guess I almost always eat extremely healthy, but I'm trying to keep it to eating ONLY extremely healthy for now.  That means a whole lotta theeese

                                                                       and some-uh theeeese

                                                                        and even some of this!

     To be perfectly honest, I'm not huge on soymilk in general.  Aside from chocolate.  But for some reason, one day last week I had a strange urge to pick some up.  I was at the only store between wherever I was leaving and home, and they didn't carry the brand of rice/almond/soy/etc milks I usually buy for supercheapz at Trader Joe's, hence this one of the overpriced variety.  And the fact that I brought home the Omega-enhanced type was purely accidental.  However, I was actually really pleasantly surprised at the taste.  This kind seemed to have a creamier, more pleasant taste than regular.  Or, probably, I was just imagining it.
     I didn't really have a full meal yesterday, I was really busy and shamefully relied mainly on bits and pieces.  My dinner was basically this-

 A rice cake with some salted/lemon juiced avocado, with a pear sprinkled with salt and cinnamon (DON'T JUDGE ME!).

Going backwards to Monday, which was a very pretty day.  I guess Monday's dinner was similar, although my lethargic ass put just a bit more effort into it.  I had a sandwich.  Smoked Tofu and some half-assed yet delicious guacamole. 

                                   (just a nice photo of the trees behind our back yard, near sunset)
Later on my mommy made me some yummy vegetables in plain tomato sauce.  I don't usually like pizza or pasta sauces because I hate the combination of seasonings like oregano with the concentrated tomato flavor, so plain was lovely.  Was gooood.

 Dessert (prior to my surprise veggies) was a mashed up, very ripe banana mashed with some cocao powder and lots and lots of cinnamon.  Might look kinda bleh, but this stuff was good.

     Today I worked my butt off all day cleaning, and during the afternoon mostly just snacked on fruit.  For dinner, though, I put together another nice plate of veggies-

Mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, garlic and spinach sauteed with toasted almonds, sesame seeds, lemon juice and cayenne.  With this I had a bowl of tomato (fresh and sun-dried), avocado, garlic, and feta (all from TJ's, all awesome)

                                                                      God, I'm adventurous.
 
     Dessert was strawberries and cantaloupe over some Greek yogurt mixed with cocao and cinnamon.  Trend here?  Gosh, I loves me some cinnamon..
     And going back about a week or so, I tested a recipe from my cookbook baby.  It was a polenta-pear cake, and the recipe itself was almost entirely vegan, which I quite liked.  The cake was delicious, but the texture was all...awful.  I'm not gonna tell you the stupid mistake I made, though. 
     Ok, I will.  I didn't use instant polenta.  I used..regular polenta.  Go on, mock me. Here it is, anyway, before baking, while baking and the finished product.

     Speaking of baking, yesterday I hung out with a good friend of mine and we made snickerdoodles and chamomile cookies.  Not EXACTLY detox, buuuuut hey.  The chamomile ones were awesome, I love the idea of cooking/baking with tea. 

     And one more thing- my thoughts go out to those affected by the tornadoes all over the side of the country over the past few days.

A slighlty belated very Happy Easter!

     Only slightly, only slightly.  I, for one, had a great past two days.  Yesterday began with a nice breakfast with my mom and my boyfriend (and early Easter Baskets), and ended with my family's early Easter dinner.  Today we visited my boyfriend's Grandparents and then headed over to his family's for their Easter dinner in Easton.  Totally worth the hour and a half drive, even over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in a storm.  I love those people.
     Needless to say, I haven't really had the time or need to cook all weekend.  Hand-in-hand with that is the fact that I definitely haven't been eating in a way that makes my body happy, although this holiday has been DELICIOUS.  So tomorrow begins some serious detox.
     Happy Easter, everybody!

Mr. William Donald Schaefer

     I know it's a couple of days late, but I really would like to send a shout-out to a man who was an amazing leader, who made an immeasurable impact on the city and state where I've grown up, Mayor/Governor/Comptroller/Awesome dude William Donald Schaefer.  I'm not old enough to really remember him being in office, and I wasn't even born when he began changing, really helping to DEFINE the city of Baltimore forever.  But when I look around the city, I'll always know who the man was who brought so many things in it to reality.  The Harbor Place, The National Aquarium, and so many other landmarks wouldn't have been possible without Mr. Schaefer,  and I know that just by being him, he impacted countless lives (and communities) for the better.

Rest in awesome peace, Willie-Don.  And thank you.

Antipasto, or something like it.

     It rained for the better part of today.  I couldn't enjoy any luscious sunshine, so  after running a couple of errands (including taking care of something that may or may not bring some big changes to my life for the better) and cleaning my ass off, I had nothing to do but, of course, cook.  This was alright, I needed some time to myself in the kitchen.  Actually, I stretched out the cooking time for everything I made just to pass the time.  So anyhow, I decided to put together a nice plate of assorted roasted veggies, a la that awesome antipasto plate I sometimes go to Bertucci's to waste money on (extra asparagus instead of the prosciutto, please!)  Here's mine.

Roasted yellow pepper, mushrooms with minced garlic, garlic cloves, carrots, eggplant, mozzarella and, in the middle, homemade dill hummus.  It looks good, but for some reason nothing on this plate wound up really resonating with my moody taste buds, aside from the garlic.  The garlic was perfect.  The eggplant was pretty good too, I guess.  The closest I've come to getting that texture I've been striving for. Not even the usual tomato/avocado/garlic salad I've been so fond of lately had me feelin' the love.  Sad.
     Just for funsies, here's some photos of the befores:

Hummus, pre-blending.  It needed, dare I say, more lemon.

     Dessert was an apple, a lemon zest Luna bar and a Cadbury Egg, which felt like a splurge, but hey.  It wasn't until about a half hour before sunset that the sun actually APPEARED.  Lame. 
     In the next couple of days I'll be testing a pear-polenta cake that I've had my eye on for forever, and that I hope is good enough to bring to Easter with my family, and maybe even my boyfriend's.  The recipe is from my favorite British-ass vegetarian cookbook, my BABY, which at the moment is being borrowed by my best friend.  YOU BETTER KNOW I TRUST YOU, EMMA! That is all.