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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Bye Bye Weekend

So I'm sure everyone is curious what I did on my Memorial-Day-weekend-that-I-did-not-have-off. And even if you aren't wondering I'm obviously still going to tell you.

I worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday (double time WOOP WOOP YEA I'm gettin paper) and have to work today as well...and then after Wednesday--THE DAY I MOVE IN--every day until Monday. I'm a working lady now...get at me.

But even though I was pretty busy making money this weekend I still did some super fun things.

I ate some food.


This was an awesome sandwich from Dillweeds in Bel Air. Its a cute little sandwich, soup, and salad shop that reminds of Panera but better because they don't kill you with the fatty and commercialized food products. This sandwich is called the Veggie Powerhouse and it has lettuce, baby spinach, tomato, onion, cucumber, mushrooms (?), and the guy making it threw on some honey mustard because, in his words, he didn't want us to be "complete rabbits". I thought it was funny. I got the cucumber tomato salad on the side which is alright but I think it could be made with a little more flavor. My mom got the same sandwich but with sweet potato fries on the side which were bangin'.

Also, as you can see I forgot to take a picture of the food until I was halfway through eating it...oops.

This great lunch interrupted a day full of SHOPPING for my NEW APARTMENT YAYYY. We (as in I picked it out, and my mother graciously paid for it all) bought lots of kitchen stuff. Honestly, the kitchen in this apartment is all I care about right now...I could sleep on a bare mattress and be OK with it as long as we had measuring cups, a few pots and pans, and baking sheets in the kitchen.

The other thing I did this weekend is really strange.

I got my eyelashes extended.

You're probably saying "whaaaa..?"

They look exactly like this

You obviously want to know how they do it so that you can get it done too, right? Well they take each lash and pull on it really hard and stop just before it pops out. Bam! You're eyelashes are immediately awesome looking.

What, you don't believe me?

Well, good, because that's not right at all. Basically I look like this now


Yeah, still kidding. But for real this is my after shot...I would have a before but its on my mom's phone and she's not here...wehh.

Ignore the bulging alien eyes. It was early in the morning...


They're pretty legit. People keep telling me I have great lashes and then I feel like an imposter. But the story behind them is that I won them in a raffle (more on that raffle later...it has a much longer story attached) and figured, why not? I never win anything...I don't win bingo, I don't win silent auctions. The closest I got to "winning" something before this was having a good lottery number to get a nice room my sophomore year of college.

So I went to the salon and basically you lay down, the lady puts some stuff on your eyelids so they don't stick together, you fall asleep, and you wake up looking like Kim Kardash! The "X-Treme Lash Specialist" attaches a synthetic lash to each natural lash with some sort of adhesive. Its pre-tt-yyy cool if you ask me.

In addition to the lashes I got my hair darkened also...so basically I'm a whole new version of me. Except I'm not a fan of mirror pictures or self shots ever since this picture (from, like, freshman year of high school) appeared in my graduation slide show.

Why was this OK?
So ever since that traumatizing event I just avoid taking pictures of myself at all costs. So I didn't get a picture of my hair. Sorry....

Alright well this didn't really even encompass all the stuff I did this weekend...or all the fun things I made and ate and forgot to take pictures of. So maybe I'll post again later, but right now my dad is subtly hinting at me to go workout...except not so subtly.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Getting the hang of things

Have you ever been so excited to do something, and you build it up in your head, and you get started and realize its going to be kind of hard and probably not all that you thought it would be? This blog is a little bit like that. This is how I pictured it going:

1) Awesome cool amazing pictures that totally blow your mind and make you think that I've been practicing photography for years (when really I'm just incredibly talented at everything I do, no big deal). Like this


Except of food so actually more like this guy



2) I would know exactly what to say about my day and wouldn't have to spend time thinking about what I would write. I would just sit down and my fingers would tap away greatness.

3) All of my friends would be like, "You know Rachel? You're such an amazing writer, and so witty and funny that I totally encourage this blog writing activity. Go you."

What really happened:

1) I realized I don't own a camera. The only thing in my possession that captures images to memory is my Crackberry. I made cookies...really, really good vegan cookies. They're chewy with a little bit of crunch on the outside and are not that good for you at all--but they taste so good. And gosh, they are beautiful. But my poor little phone could just not handle these cookies' greatness.

This was the result...


I know, you're put into a state of rapture by this picture. I am too.


My attempt at being artistic. If I do say so myself, I think it looks pretty dang good for a "water" damaged Blackberry and good 'ole iPhoto retouching. I put water in quotes because we all know kids don't actually damage their phones with water....lets be real.

2) I want to write about so many things that I just can't decide what to do, so I just try to stay as clear of this blog as possible. I don't know yet what I want to write about...really I just want to look at pictures and recipes of food all day and bake and cook all of them. And then I want to take pictures of my meals and show you what I eat. BUT we know we all can't do that. We have to do things like work, and go to jury duty, and get false eyelashes put on. I also just get too eager to eat my food that I forget to take a picture and then I'm left staring at an empty plate thinking "Damn, I really wanted to take a picture of that. It was pretty cool."

3) I only told two friends I have a blog. They happen to be two people I lived with last year and will be living with again starting June 1st. They laughed at me...but said the title was good. I know that I have chosen the right friends because honestly, everyone needs a little bit of humility in life. We can't take everything so seriously. These same friends laughed at me when I told them I was becoming a vegetarian and that only made me work harder to prove them wrong, and now I'm flirting with trying a vegan diet and have no intention of returning to a meat eating diet. So I really was not expecting them to glorify me. Its not our style. I love them.


What this post comes down to is that I'm excited for this challenge that is blogging. I'm excited to save up for a really nice camera and to learn how to use it. I'm excited to have something to write about and share with you everyday. Even though it might just be my parents who are reading this *shout out Mom and Dad*.

What I'm not excited for is having to clean up my dog's vomit now that I just found her eating her face off in the closet with all the dog food.

Feed me?


But she's just so darn cute.

Oh and for your pleasure:

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from www.veganbaking.net

2 tbsp flax meal
3 tbsp water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp brown rice syrup (the original recipe calls for molasses)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (the 60% Ghiradelli are vegan)

****I changed this recipe a bit the second time I made it. I halved the sugar and did 3/4 light brown sugar and 3/4 white sugar. I added 2 T of apple sauce at the end because they were not sticking well.

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the water and flax and let sit for about 10 minutes until the mixture solidifies

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon).

3) In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and margarine until well combined. Add the water and flax mixture, followed by the brown rice syrup and the vanilla extract.

4) Add the dry ingredients about a 1/4 cup at a time until well-combined. Add the chocolate chips.

5) Form 1 1/2 inch balls and pull them apart in half. Put the 2 torn halves together so the torn parts are the top of the cookie (this makes the cookie bake in a chunky fashion). Put the balls on parchment paper lined baking sheets. 

6) Bake for 15 minutes on the middle rack, turning the sheet around halfway through. The cookies bake to be golden brown so pay attention and do not overbake.

Woop woop yea and there ya go some bangin' cookies.

Thanks! Until next time dudes,
Rachel

PS: my brother just said they taste just like regular cookies. Amen.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Introductions

Hello all! Or I guess I should say anyone out there who is listening, BUT I'll ere on the optimistic side and assume someone is reading this. Which I think is safer to start with because, if you think about it, blogging with no one really listening is like talking to yourself...and that's just a little sad.



Anyone ways, I figured I would provide some background information on myself. Like I said in the first post, I'm a college junior--I attend Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA and I love it. I'm an English-Creative Writing major with a "concentration" in Environmental Studies. I discovered a passion for sustainable living during the spring of my freshman here and since have been highly interested in sustainable eating. I guess I should say now that I have been a vegetarian since Thanksgiving of last year (2010) and I feel so great about myself in making that decision. I am currently taking the plunge into vegan-ism but I don't know if I'll be able to keep it up throughout the academic year (we'll see and obviously I'll keep you all updated).

Me, obviously studying hard to get into college.

I play field hockey for my college and I don't think I could have have gotten the transition to college without the help of the incredible strange conglomerate of girls that is the F&M field hockey team. I love them with all my heart, I have a passion for the sport that can't be beat by any multitude of bad practices and games. I'll place money on me becoming one of those crazy old ladies playing field hockey in 20 years in the old lady's leagues (anyone my age who plays field hockey against older women knows exactly who I'm talking about) and I have absolutely no problem with that. Those ladies kick a**.

As a matter of fact, this picture was taken seconds before I scored my first college goal. Woop woop yea


I grew up in Northern Maryland, in what I like to call farm country but is arguably a wonderful place to grow up. My mom and dad have supported me in everything that I do, and have forced me into a lot of things that helped me discover who I am: Girl Scouts? not so much; Field Hockey? they scored with that one. I used to live, breathe, and ride horses up until my freshman year in high school. It's something that I know I'll return to one day when I have the time and money. I have an older brother who I look up to for a multitude of reasons, but when it comes down to it he still makes me want to smack him upside the head sometimes. After all, he is a brother.

Just one of our Christmas Cards.


I'll go into more detail on my baking, cooking, and diet in another post. It deserves its own post as it has been a major factor over the course of my life, particularly in the past year.

Until next time lovliessss,
Rachel.

And so it begins...

Alright everybody, my first blog post.
I’ve always wanted to start a blog–well scratch that. I haven’t always wanted to blog. Frankly, this all pretty daunting. I have always been proficient in reading and writing and during my senior year of high school I discovered that writing is what I want to do with my life. Only recently have I discovered the wonderful, expansive, and fascinating world of blogging. Through my absolute addiction to foodblogs, I have been able to fuel my interest for cooking, baking, healthy eating, and subsequently healthy living and exercise.
I was only recently inspired to take action and begin my own blog, and by recently, I mean last night. My brother’s girlfriend mentioned in conversation that if I had a blog I would definitely have a lot of followers. This quick statement by her struck me. I had just met this girl a few hours before and she already seemed to know exactly what I aspired to do AND she had faith that I would succeed. I decided to take action this morning.
I’m only just getting started and realize that right now, no one out there is reading. BUT the next few posts I intend to make will be those that shed light on what I intend to do with this blog. I’m still figuring it out, but have a basic idea.
Bear with me. Hopefully it won’t be too boring.