Spaghetti Squash

I forgot to take pictures of the pumpkin pancakes because they didn't last long. Everything Jane bakes turns to delicious and disappears - just take her pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, for instance. This photo was taken 24 hours after she baked her nuggets of vegan gold:

I walked into the other room and it was gone when I returned.

Inspired by VeganMoFo madness, I've taken to photographing my meals more frequently. Unfortunately for you all, you will see what I eat. It's not very exciting and it's always cheap. I only buy things on sale - unless it's a staple item like cashews or broccoli.

Tonight I baked a spaghetti squash (79 cents a pound at Kroger- whud up) and prepared what I like to call "curry rice" (aka 2 cups of brown rice + 4 cups water + about 2 Tbsp red curry powder + about 2 tsp garam masala + about 1 Tbsp vegetable oil) in my handy dandy rice cooker. Check it:


Sorry I don't have a light box or anything. My pictures are sub-par. But wouldn't it be kind of ridiculous if I glorified brown rice and plain spaghetti squash? I could go on a tangent about how awesome s squared is, though. it GROWS like that. Just look at all of that fiber; eating the entire thing is probably the equivelent of taking like 2 laxatives. Fuck yes.

Another amazing freak of nature are pomegranites. Last week I discovered the joy of adding the seeds to my cereal (Kashi Heart to Heart Cinnamon, at the moment). SO GOOD. You have to try it.

BTW I got that Westsoy Plain Soymilk at Krog for about $3 and it's huge. I love sales. (Don't tell me how much it's actually worth. I have self esteem to protect and I get my self-worth from my sale-hunting skills.)

I added black pepper and some fresh basil to the squash. Yum.

I do cook,

contrary to what you may believe from the status of my blog. Guess I'm not cut out for blogging. I can live with that.


One of my room mates made these (vegan!) pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to celebrate the return of canned pumpkin to our local Kroger. They are seriously the best cookies I've had in a LONG time. They're fluffy and sweet, with the perfect amount of chocolate to balance the earthiness of the pumpkin.

The Kroger in Athens only gets its pumpkin (and many other items) in-state and apparently Ohio did not produce enough of it last year. To celebrate the coming of nos amigos gordos y naranjas we've stocked up on enough pumpkin to sufficently theme the weekly post-church brunch that we host for all of our friends and acquaintances. Pumpkin pancake photos to come!! Hopefully they'll turn out as well as the paw paw pancakes.

I've been super busy with my job with an afterschool child care program, which I absolutely love. I should really work with kids as a career. Forget journalism. Once I stopped obsessing over Cosmo I haven't wanted to work for a magazine anyway. We shall see where I end up...I'll leave it up to God.

I'm really into Zooey Deschanel's band, She & Him. I blame my room mates. But really, she's a talented actress who doesn't take herself too seriously, she's a vegan, and she just married Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service. That's a celebrity I'm willing to respect.

Back in the Swing of Things

Classes started yesterday, and I only had two. I was in class from 9:30 to noon. If I get to do college like this, I want to stay here forever!! It's a whole different atmosphere when I have a house off campus and a car in case of emergencies.

We're decorating the house slowly, but nearly every box is unpacked at this point.

The walk to class is a bit taxing, which I love. Anyone who knows me knows that my only regular forms of exercise are walking and riding my bike. Yesterday I rode my bike to Kroger (there's a bike path along the river that goes straight past the back of the stores in Athens), but I over loaded myself...On the way home I dropped and ran over my big box of lettuce! I thought it was hilarious. The roller bladers who had to go through my mess thought differently.

That's basically as eventful as my life is these days. As far as food, I've shifted from cereal to salads. Still no pictures for you. I plan to start cooking recipes in the next couple of weeks.

We've already done a couple of dinner parties here at the house. The first featured eggplant parmesan, by Anna. The second was breakfast-for-dinner, by Jane. Jane has been a vegetarian for five years and we call Anna the 3/4 vegetarian. She doesn't buy or cook any meat herself. She makes a mean veggie burger and rocks out hummus on a regular basis. She still orders chicken at restaurants, but she plans to give that up in the name of animal rights.

So that's my life right now. I'm learning the quirks of this old house and starting a new semester at school. But I love my life and the amazing girls in it!!

Kashi cereal is sustaining my existance

I moved into my house in Athens last night YAAAAAAYYY :)

I don't have any furniture with me yet, so I'm sleeping on an air mattress and living out of a suitcase. It's kind of fun. My room is being painted right now, so I'm just chilling in the living room, setting up my empty picture frames. I'm not sure if it's creepier to have no decorations or a bunch of pictures of strangers posed in department store fashion.

There's nothing for me to show you because all I'm eating is Kashi cereal and raw cashews. Oh yeah and the occasional piece of dried mango.

I'm applying for jobs like crazy town. So far I have one interview on Thursday for a kids after school homework help position.

One major downside to my house is the odor from the KFC across the street. It keeps wafting in through the windows, ugh!!

Retiring from babysitting and some tasty cous cous

Today was my last day of babysitting EVER. Seriously, I'm retired. I'll babysit my nieces and nephews, or my friends' babies, but no more prostituting my ego and gas money for me, measly pennies.

It's strange how no diss hurts more than one from a nine-year-old. Children state the obvious about the way that you look unabashedly. I wish they understood "polite" conversation does not include imitating the shape of a person's nose with sound effects or relating to the clarity of a person's skin with that of a raspberry. ouch.

Luckily today I only had the 13-year-old, since the younger two started school. We went to Easton to visit Teavana, my new favorite little shop. You should check them out. The salespeople teach you a lot as you select your loose leaves.

The picture above shows Brittany modeling some stilettos at Steve Madden. I still shop like a middle schooler: always touching and trying things on without actually buying. That's what happens when you're perpetually broke. At least I clean up after myself, though.

I came home starved, as I'd only eaten a Clif Bar for lunch (Blueberry Crisp flavor). I threw together a tasty concoction you can see below:
I browned some onion with garlic and added basil, terragon, and chili powder. Then I sliced and added a tomato we grew in my parent's backyard and some chickpeas. Then I poured in 1/3 cup of whole wheat cous cous and 1/3 cup water and let it soak up the water for five minutes. At the end I stirred in a small handful of raisins and sliced avocado on top. I've been obsessed with avocados lately.

Speaking of obsessions, babysitting got me back in the loop of the good shows on Disney Channel. I'm watching (and laughing out loud at)Phineas and Ferb as I write this. It's about two boys spending their summer vacation building insane inventions. It's so sarcastic and witty. It speaks to me.

My absolute favorite is Wizards of Waverly Place. Far from Harry Potter, the main character is super sassy. Disney has sure amped up their comedy from that sitcom trash they used to play.

Tonight I'm going to see Inglorious Basterds, which is supposed to be good. Cool.

Go listen to: Ben Folds and Regina Spektor - You Don't Know Me

If I could hire a private chef, I would hire someone who was born in India. I went to dinner at Taj Mahal last night, tomorrow I'm getting lunch with a friend who really wants to eat Indian (any suggestions as to which restaurant we should go to?)tomorrow afternoon, and I'm getting dinner at Banana Leaf to celebrate the first day of Ramadan with Sheema, (my fellow non-muslim friends) Katie, and Ashley.

Afterwards the less morally inclined of us will join my parents party already in progress. To paint a picture for you, one year I was greeted at the door of the luau by our family friend, Stu, dressed in a coconut bra and grass skirt over only a pair of khaki cargo shorts. The loud and confusing encounter prepared me for what was inside.

Okay, my family is sane most of the time, but we sure know how to let our hair down.

I will finally be finished babysitting on Wednesday, which will be a relief. On Tuesday we went to Cedar Point. I skipped out on some of the really big coasters, but I revisited some old favorites like the Magnum, Blue Streak, and Gemini. It brought back a bunch of memories from going during Halloweekends when I was younger.

Mmmmm - my mom just brought home a ton of chopped bok choy, bean sprouts, and romaine lettuce from her friend the caterer. Hello, salad.

This summer, in between babysitting and church meetings I've been watching a LOT of treash reality TV like Dating in the Dark, More to Love, and Hell's Kitchen. Unfortunately, the only movies I've really seen were with the kids: Aliens in the Attic, G-Force, Paul Blart Mall Cop, and Transformers 2, but also Funny People and Night at the Museum 2 with Katie.

I hated everything except Night at the Museum! I never saw the first one so I plan to soon.

In my spiritual life I felt pretty stagnant at the beginning of the summer. A couple of weeks ago I finally voiced those feelings to the people around me. The girls in my homegroup didn't really react...at all. Mom mom, on the other hand, offered to start studying with me every morning before we both go off to work. It's been such a great experience praying and reading the word with her in the morning! It has completely transformed the spiritual tone of my summer. Now, I feel as if God has been usuing me this whole time. He's blessing me with the comfort of my parents' home for the last time. In a little over a week I'll be moving into my first house, where I'll live for two years, until I graduate and move God knows where.

Big changes lie ahead...I'm excited more than anything. Life begins here.

I'm Mad at Myself

Go listen to: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

I'm mad at myself for not posting this summer, like, at all. What the hell.

Well, I may as well update you on my life as of late. I babysit throughout the week for a family with three kids. They're a major challenge but I love them.

My hair has purple in it, thanks to my cousin Ashley who works at Jolie Laide. There are purple extensions throughout the sides, cut to a match the length. I'm in love with it. If you live in Columbus, consider going there for your next cut. I'm completely honest when I say it's the best salon I've ever been to. Penzone's included.

I've been doing as much of my shopping at the Clintonville Community Market as possible. It's right next to the school that I went to for eleven years, so the whole area makes me nostalgic. Plus I like to support the co-op, of course.

I have a few photos of food that I prepared at the beginning of the summer. I'll load them very soon - for now I'll tell you what I've been into more recently:
-Peanut Butter Puffins cereal
-Ezekiel 4:9 bread (that's nothing new)
-Almond Breeze, vanilla unsweetened
-Medjool dates
-Whole wheat pasta covered in nutritional yeast, olive oil, and black pepper
-Biting into an apple, then eating a pecan, and repeating

I hang out with my mom a lot. We drink a lot of wine and sit in the backyard talking about everything. It's nice but I'm really bored in Columbus. I'm itching to get back to Athens and to move into my HOUSE!!