Just a few recent reviews I’d like to share with you!

Make sure you’ve entered my Giveaway!!! It ends this Monday!!

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Amy’s Lemon Poppyseed Cake

I never imagined how SPOT ON delicious (and nutritious) Amy’s desserts could be until I tried this cake, which by the way is 99% organic. You can find it in the freezer section since Amy’s does not add any preservatives (nor MSG or trans fats) into the product.

Stats per slice (assuming 6 slices per loaf): 200 Cals, 7g fat, 0.5g saturated fat, 170mg sodium, 31g carbs, 1g fiber, 17g sugar, 2g protein

Main Ingredients: Organic wheat flour, organic evaporated cane juice, organic buttermilk, filtered water, organic high oleic safflower and/or sunflower oil, organic lemon juice, organic poppy seeds, organic lemon essential oil, sea salt, baking soda, baking powder

Tastiness: 9/10. I couldn’t resist eating this cake straight out of the freezer (though you’re meant to thaw in the fridge for 2 hours prior to serving) and it was GOOD, really good. The top of the cake is lightly glazed with cane juice that gives is a slightly sticky, indulgent, finger-licking quality. This is not a sour cake by any means, but has all the refreshing, sunny flavors of lemon paired with the exciting littlecrunch of the poppy seeds in every bite. It is definitely sweet and dessert-like in every way, except it contains only ingredients you can feel good about!

As you can see, this pound cake appears very dense in texture but unlike regular pound cake, it’s not greasy AT ALL. To serve, I just sliced up the cake and microwaved for 30 seconds, thus producing soft, warm cake. Thank you Amy’s Kitchen for a dessert I can go to when I’m not feeling like baking (or if I’m having trouble buying poppy seeds! Haha)

Amy’s Kitchen says, “We’re not saying that Amy’s cakes are “health food”, but if you are going to indulge, read the labels and enjoy knowing that our cakes are as close as you can get to home made.”

I say, “I couldn’t agree more!”

Retail Cost: ~$4.50

My Cost: Complimentary from Amy’s Kitchen

Where to Find: Freezer section of health food stores and grocery stores such as Whole Foods.

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Miguel’s Chips

Miguel’s Products is committed to the support of sustainable farming methods that ensure great tasting foods without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides in soil that is naturally nourished.

Exotic Plantain Strips - Often referred to as “Potatoes Of The Air”, plantains are a member of the banana family. In contrast to the soft, sweet banana (which is sometimes called the dessert banana), plantains tend to be firmer and lower in sugar content.When delicately cooked, plantain take on the taste of a fine potato chip while retaining the subtle flavor of banana.

Honey Plantain Strips

Tastiness: 9/10. Yummy!! I’ve never been a fan of plantains, but these were like crunchy, yummy, dessert chips. They are extra crunchy thanks to the thin and even coating of honey surrounding the entire chip, non-greasy on your lips, and very addicting. They are also rather sweet, but not to the point that you want to gag. I highly recommend these because they taste so good AND I consider them healthy. These are just like the ones from Trader Joe’s!

Salted Plantain Strips

Tastiness: 6/10.These strips are very much like SUPER crunchy chips, almost too tough on my jaw. I like that they aren’t overly salty, and pair very well with a dip like hummus and salsa. Because it is so non-porous, the chips hold up extremely well to more watery condiments. On the flip-side, one may view it as a little more bland, but it’s nothing salsa can’t fix.

Organic Dippers – All Miguel’s Organic Tortilla Dippers are hand-crafted using secret combinations of certified organic ingredients in concert with our signature, fine ground organic corn masa to deliver a totally unique flavor experience. Our “Dippers” are gluten-free and, no artificial colors or preservatives have been used. Nothing gets in the way of their great taste and satisfying crunch.

Vegetable & Seed Tortilla Dippers

Tastiness: 8/10. The red chips are my favorite while the green ones are less so. The difference is that the red ones actually taste slightly sweeter while the green ones taste a little bit bitter to me (I’m guessing because of the green pepper flavoring.) Nick didn’t notice any bitterness, so it may just be that I’m super sensitive. I love the shapes of these dippers because they can get into hard to reach salsa jars, but they’re so crisp that you can’t pile on too much baggage or it snaps!

Everything Dippers

Tastiness: 7/10. I like that these dippers are also perfectly salted and nobody went overboard with the salt shaker – a big problem with a lot of chips these days. There are only a handful of other seasonings so you truly get the natural flavors of corn and seeds in each bite! Not an especially special flavor, but decent at the very least.

Three Pepper Dippers

Tastiness: 8/10. If you like black pepper, you’ll like these. These dippers have 3 kinds of peppers infused into the chip – red bell pepper, green, and of course black pepper. You definitely taste a little bit of sweetness from the red peppers, but for the most part, the spicy black pepper packs a nice big, bold punch. I can take a lot of spiciness, but this one gets overwhelming if you’re not a fan of heat.

Retail Cost: TBA.

My Cost: Complimentary from Miguel’s Products

Hey, Happy Thanks Giving every one. It’s thanks giving today! Some how it was yesterday in Malaysia but you see, Singapore’s recognised as an established country amongst the faces of the earth.
                                                Conclusion : It’s thanks giving today.
I stumbled upon a video this morning. You see, this is a fair video about girls. Girls love going to the ladies together. Not only do they go together, they come out together. I must say that I’ve got a few very good examples. People like *ahem and *ahem always find their way into mall toilets / school toilets / public toilets / gym toilets / restaurant toilets / my toilet ( kidding ) and as a guy we’re obviously forbidded from that no-man’s-land right?
How would we know what happens inside?
Good Question.
           I’m afraid things that happen inside isn’t as simple as peeing, pooing or  something ;  padding. I’m afraid there are more unexplainable things  going on inside. Ask youself if you’re a girl. Why do you hide these things from the public’s consience? Luckily, some genius had it all taken down on something I would like to call, Peep-Ciobu’s-Toilet-Ventures (PCTV) – an upgrade from it’s fellow dad, the CCTV.           

           Any denies will not be attended to. The truth has been uncovered, girls – come out of that bushy bush you’ve been messing with. You, I, We all know what girls true burning desires are. Toiletsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss with a hard floor. 

This is all a wicker joke. Please do not take this seriously.

The Apple Series of Poker has sprouted abounding followers in the after most brace of years. Centenarian tables are bustling up all over the apple and affable banknote centenarian are everywhere appear Friday night. Whether it is for adventure or accumulation the so alleged activity of poker has the absorption of abounding assemblage year round. While Amateurs apperceive the basics of the bold they usually get absent in all

the poker argot announced at the bank poker tables. While some is argot is fabricated up by accomplished players to bandy off the amateurs, some are absolutely able-bodied accepted agreement in the poker apple that any centenarian aggravating to accomplish it big should know. Below is a adviser to all the poker argot you could anytime appetite to affect your accompany or alarm an accomplished opponent. Booty a look.

Ante: The antecedent money befuddled into the pot to abet betting. This is done before the flop.

All In: Back a being decides to put all his chips in to bet on a assertive hand. No Limit Hold’Em is the best accepted bold and All Ins are accustomed as abounding times as a centenarian wants. In Limit Hold’Em you cannot bet added again the pot itself.

Backdoor: Backdoor is a inadvertence to back players are block a agenda that has not appear up yet but has a acceptable adventitious to. Accepting 4 cards of the aforementioned affectionate is a backdoor even draw, accepting four cards in a row is a backdoor beeline draw.

Bad Beat: A Bad Exhausted occurs back a centenarian has a ample advantage over the added and the after most agenda beats the big duke by luck. Bad exhausted is usually acclimated to betoken that the centenarian with the anemic duke should not accept been in the duke at all and it was by bald luck that he won his underdog hand.

Blind: In Texas Hold’Em, the bold uses blinds instead of antes. The blinds are affected bets to abet some money in the pot by the two bodies sitting to the larboard of the dealer. The aboriginal being to the larboard of the banker is the “small blind” and bets a abate amount. The additional being to the larboard of the banker is the “big blind” and bets alert what the baby dark has.

Bottom Pair: The everyman brace out of the cards out on the table.

Check: Back a centenarian decides to not bet he calls “Check”. This is the advantage of activity aught dollars.

Check Raise: Back a centenarian checks with a able duke acquisitive addition adversary will raise. The abecedarian again re-raises with his able duke appropriately accepting added money out of his adversary in the pot.

Drawing Dead: Back a centenarian is aggravating to accomplish a duke that will still not win the pot.

Flop: The aboriginal three cards that are “flopped” assimilate the table. These are additionally alleged association cards.

Heads Up Play: Back there are alone two players arena a assertive duke they are advised “heads up”.

Muck: A accumulation of bare cards usually in advanced of the dealer. These appear from bankrupt or austere cards. To “much your cards” is to bend them by throwing them into the muck pile.

The Nuts: Likely the admired announcement of any poker player. The Nuts indicates a duke that is mathematically angry with the cards on the table.

Offsuit: Back the two cards you are dealt are of altered suits.

Pocket: The two cards dealt to you in Texas Hold’Em that alone you can see.

Rake: The absolute bulk of money that the casino’s banker takes out of every pot.

The River: The after most agenda to be flopped on the board. The 5th agenda to appear out in a Texas Hold’Em game.

Short Stack: The abbreviate assemblage is apropos to the centenarian with the atomic bulk of chips at the table.

Tell: A acquaint refers to a players activity back he or she has a acceptable or bad hand. Some players booty off their sun glasses back they accept a bad hand. Added players tend to crawling their appropriate duke back they accept a acceptable hand.

The Turn: The fourth agenda to be flopped assimilate the table in a Texas Hold’Em game.

These are the all-important agreement in adjustment to accumulate up with the pros. There are hundreds of added agreement in the apple of poker, yet they are abundant beneath bare or too accomplished for the amateur. Learn this argot and affect your accompany or comedy at accomplished tables and wow the crowd. Lastly, poker is a abundant game, but the greatest centenarian in poker knows one this: Back to apperceive you’re beat. Everyone brand to hold’em, but sometimes you get that activity and you aloof accept to fold’em.

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I think I better stop going to dollar stores all the time. I‘ve gained a few pounds. But damn those reese penutbutter cups are so fucking good. I don’t want to be a lardass, I still want to see my dick when I look down. I wonder if it’s harder to piss with a fatter stomach, maybe you can’t see where you’re aiming it. That would suck.

And…she’s back!! Hello everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving! The holiday is officially 10 minutes away and at this moment, I couldn’t be more joyous or content (the holiday season gets me in the habit of saying joyous, cheery, jolly, etc….you understand).

How is everyone’s week going?! I’ve now been home for almost 15 hours and am lovingg it!

To put it lightly…Jeany babes and I did some major grocery shopping this morning. We hit up, oh…4 different places. I justify such actions with the need for things that cannot be eaten at school/new blog-inspired finds/cooking ingredients for tomorrow night’s dinner. Fair enough, right?

The day started with a standard bowl of quick oats + soy milk (new addition/obsession?), some cinnamon, a banana and cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butta. The flight was quick and easy, and within minutes of  landing I was out the door and headed to Whole Food’s with Jeany.

After a few hours of grocery shopping, we were equally starving and ready to feast. Soooo, we promptly assembled lunch!

A la snackface…

Let’s call this the….jalapeno popper, remix.

This had the suggested:

• tofutti cream cheese
• mustard
• spinach
• (trader joe’s meatless meat-) balls
• Tj’s chile sauce (love!)

Plus the addition of….hummus! I know this lady would approve of that last minute decision. It was everything you’d expect and more. I obviously adored it, since we all know I like it hot…I mean, er, SPICY!

+ obligatory post-lunch apple w/ cinnamon

Between lunch and some Glee-catch up, I actually took a nap! This never happens, so clearly I needed it.

And since sleeping works up such an appetite….I woke up to another new, lovely snack! Umm, THANK YOU AMY for recommending this cereal. I legitimately ate Honey Bunches of Oats every morning my sophomore year of high school. Was absolutely obsessed. But finding the Whole Food’s version?!! Even better.

As per her suggestion…I had it with unsweetened vanilla almond milk and some pumpkin pie spice. The perfect mid-day snack (or even dessert), in my opinion!

After proclaiming my new-found love for the 365 Honey Crunch & Oats , I took a nice walk with my mom and Ginger. California’s weather is perfection right now! Warm during the day, and crisp, but bearable at night.

Dinner was another bloggie-inspired affair:

Started with a salad

And ended with a burrito (inspired by this girl), lots of salsa, some steamed broccoli and chips. GOOD chips.

I’ve been craving the FSTG lime chips ever since seeing them on Sarah’s blog, a few weeks back. They were lime-y, crunchy, a little salty and goood. As they should be! They reminded me of those Tostito lime chips, but better-tasting and better fo’ you!

A post-microwaved, oozing, delicious shot:

After my mom and I decide to creep her friends & colleagues on facebook, dessert was had with a side of more Glee (had to catch up!). Mama’s offish obsessed.

Microwavable pumpkin pie, anyone??

In the bowl: 1/2 a cup Whole Food’s organic pumpkin, 3 tablespoons liquid egg whites, pumpkin pie spice & cinn microwaved for 3 minutes, topped with crushed grahams and sunflower seed butter. Mmm!!!!!! Make this. Or try jeany’s version, and top it with granola!

But now, it’s time for bed. Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone, and be thankful!! I just know that you are all loved so much, by so many people. So appreciate that, leave the guilt behind and do whatever makes you happiest. Thanksgiving’s about family and good food. So remember that!

I must ask:

Of what are you thankful for?? And, what shall you be feasting on today/tonight?! I’m thankful for my loving, supportive family who always knows how to put a smile on ma face! Looooove them. And you know i’m excited for my pop’s (vegan) mashed potatoes, my mama’s butternut squash casserole and whatever else my bros and their wifeys whip up!

XOXO, Jess

]]> http://vginnyc.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/4-people-6-dishes-23nov2009/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:48:00 +0000 Ginny Chung http://vginnyc.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/4-people-6-dishes-23nov2009/ http://eatingmachine.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/in-the-air/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:43:02 +0000 eatingmachine http://eatingmachine.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/in-the-air/

So I should be flying safely to Tulsa right now.  Fingers crossed.

(We’re flying to Tusla and driving from there to middle of nowhere Kansas)

Our first flight was at 3, and we’ll get into Tulsa around 8 pm our time (10 theirs)

And we have about 30 minutes to get from the first flight to the second.  So I packed snacks

Fruit!

And I’m so excited for this:

Travel sized hummus and pretzel crisps!

Now, lest you think this is going to be a “how to eat healthy on vacation” post

It’s not

Plus salty snacks

I don’t get motion sickness if I just sit and do nothing… but if I try and read or anything, I tend to not feel so awesome.  And I’d rather not go mad with boredom for 5 hours.  Salty snacks help keep me feeling ok.  I’ll get some ginger ale at the airport too.

So I’m all packed

Hope you have a great thanksgiving!

I’ve got some posts set up, and I am going to try and keep up with reading all of you guys… as much as I can at least!

Hopefull this weekend you’ll get a vlog from me and baby brother.  It’ll be super insightful if it happens!

Are you going anywhere for thanksgiving?

You would think that a small island,  would have the best quality seafood, everywhere you go.  Thanks to Tasmania we discovered you really need to go in search of a decent fish and chip shop to get the goods.  This is what we tried and loved of the seafood in Tassie.

Our first stop was the seafood on the wharf at Hobart, however to excited about eating we forgot to take a photo, but we did end up going back for some more.  After doing our cooking class we headed up the A10 to Burnie from Hobart.  Doing a little drive out to Stanely to go and see the Nut.  There was a pretty busy fish and chip shop so the chances of getting some goods where high.

the Seafood restaurant did have a fresh seafood shop linked to the side, note the lobster on the roof, yet the restaurant had a shark on the roof…  Our lunch

Seafood basket for 2 and apparently they gave us some extra stuff.  Now the yellow looking batter was slightly flavoured with curry powder.  This can be good but i dont think that oil they used was the freshest.  All of the scallops, seafood sticks even the calamari where frozen processed goods.  Our fish and prawns where real, that was it. A little disappointing, at least we had a bottle of coke to help dissolve the oil that we consumed and not leave our poor little bellies feeling sorry for themselves.

The Nut at Stanely, this is the warning sign of the worst fish and chips in Tasmania.

Along a better note, we went into Burnie a real town, to try another one of the delicacies here in Tassie – Seafood Chowder

I remember Roy rating this chowder pretty highly, having real seafood as ingredients.  I did not mind it but not a huge fan of cream. Obviously was not designed for me.  I had the safe option of Trevalla and Calamari.  We just finished scoffing down cheese at a cheese factory at Burnie.  So was not too hungry but just cant turn down calamari. yumm

it was really delicious, fresh too.  We bought this good lot from Fish Frenzy on the water at Burnie

Recommend the Chowder, and they have a nice range of wines to drink with the seafood, while watching the world go by on the balcony overlooking the sea.  Nice afternoon

Next stop on the seafood trail was a little place that sold oysters fresh to the Public – at Freycinet Marine Farm Bay on the way to Wine Glass Bay.  Worthy of a stop if you love fresh oysters.  Its all so BYO so you can have a drink while slurping down your oysters.

He Finished the lot all to himself.  That was one happy man, who wouldn’t be with a pile of oysters and a bottle of Whisky at your side.

Then after a few days in Wine Glass Bay, we headed down to Port Arthur along the way, we read about this place called the Ugly Duck Out which is in Swansea.  It has been called the Best Fish and Chips in Tassie.

This is the Winner of our taste sensations too, just look at it, fresh, not oily no need for absorbent paper anywhere.  Lightly salted, not too many chips all a big plus for us.  I still dream about this meal, now to find a good version of this in Brisbane or surrounds.

Lastly we made it back to the same chippy at the wharf in Hobart

Happy Monday all! Who else is TOTALLY stoked for another short work week!?

Yes, that’s what I thought…all of you! I’ve been keepin myself busy at work today getting all sorts of odds n ends wrapped up, which feels GREAT, considering how many projects I was working on over the past two weeks. Ahhhh the joy of not running around like a….well, y’know…

Maybe you read my tweets but I seem to have misplaced my camera, and since I can’t really go another week with no post, I’m going to do my best to sum up the weekend with photos that are not mine, thus the title I know, seriously I SHOULD take up a second job in comedy…har har har.

Friday I got into work, acting all superwoman like, but our MD in the office took one look at me and IMMEDIATELY sent me home. No doubt about it, peeps, I totally had a case of viral conjunctivitis. I stopped off at a rite-aid, picked up one of these, and high tailed it home.

PS, this stuff was a total rip off. $10 bucks and provided NO relief of redness or swelling. HMPH.

So I spent the majority of Friday snoozing on the couch with the pups, emailing “dad” pictures to make him jealous he wasn’t home too…

Yeah, they are TOTALLY spoiled rotten by ‘Mom’

Friday night we headed over the Brent & Ashleys house to begin our Star Wars marathon! We sat & chatted for a bit, having a drink & some snacks-

MOST fav white wine everrrrr!!

Chips n Salsaaaa 

Buffalo chicken dip (!! SO GOOD !!)

And for our entree:

 AGHHHH hubba hubba! LOVED him in the first 2 movies…we won’t talk about my disappointment during the third

So we made it through 2 movies officially, and we were all pretty much down for the count.

Something like that

Saturday morning, rise n shine at the gorgeous hour of 6:30!! Seriously. TJ had his first scrimmage of the season (he coaches 7th grade boys basketball, I KNOW, its adorable) so off he went, and I headed home to feed the pups & run out some of their energy. I drank one of these to try and get rid of my raging wine hangover-

but instead, it just left me feeling queasy & nauseas. UGH. So I numbed my brain with a couple episodes of this:

Ahhhh much better. I was almost feeling like myself again by the time Coach came home with his teams first victory under his belt! We went out to celebrate like so:

Hot wings & Beer. Budlight for him, Shock top for me. Go big or go home, right?! We headed back over the star wars casa to continue on the marathon.

I nursed a couple of these:

Old bottle- no blue mountains!

And for our intermissions during episodes 3 & 4 we had more snacks-

Chili cheese dip- low fat cream cheese, turkey chili & more cheese baked at 400 for 20 minutes. No brainer!

crock pot sloppy joes (I wish all MY pics were this great!! AHEM, I WANT A DSLR, COUGH-COUGH)

And, to get some veggies in, broccoli soup that ash beefed up (ironic, no??) with an entire bag of broccoli. LOVED it.

Fast forward 8 hours later, we finally made it through 3&4. Yeah, we took a lot of breaks. Dinner was FABBBBB FABulous! Homemade Lasagna & garlic bread OMG it was the BEST lasagna I have EVER tasted (sorry mom!!). I seriously didn’t want my piece to ever end. Paired with this red, it was one of the best saturday night dinners EVER!!!! No lie!

Sunday we headed back over for day THREE of the marathon & some football. I know it sounds like I did a LOT of sitting around this weekend, but I am so completely exhausted!

Time to get back to work, its an early day for me…gotta make it to my man’s first official game of the season! Go Lakers!!! Hope your Monday flies by as well!

Until next time folks….!

That one is for you, teej

Caitlin's Chips Wrapped In My Ignite Talk

Poor Caitlin had been waiting an age for her chips at Ignite London, only for them to arrive at the same time as her taxi. In the absence of a newspaper in which to wrap them, the notes from my Ignite Talk did the job nicely.

Morning! Well I am back with the last portion of my NYC recap, if you missed the first portion of my NYC recap, click here !!!! Mom and I woke up at 9am Saturday morning got showered and dressed and headed down to Greenhouse 36 for breakfast. When we saw steel cut oats on the menu, we knew that was exactly what we wanted.

The steel cut oats were served with dried cherries and brown sugar…yum yum!!! I also had a water and a coffee (not pictured). After breakfast we headed to the ground zero by subway. It was very strange to see the wide open space where the twin towers used to stand. They have already started construction on the new tower, so the whole area was fenced in. After looked around that are for a little while, we headed to Century 21. Century 21 is a department store that sells designer stuff at a discounted price. We looked around for about an hour and a half. I didn’t end up finding anything I loved, but it was a cool store. We met up with May and Ellen and then headed to Central Park where we were to meet to depart for the Sex and the City Tour. While waiting for the tour to depart, mom and I split a soft pretzel.

I was super excited about the Sex and the City Tour, because I am mildly Sex and the City obsessed!!!!! We got to see whole bunch of spots that were in both the series and the movie. They played clips from the movie and the show while we were driving by certain places which was great because it helped you to remember all the episodes. There were four stops on the tour as well. The first was at the Pleasure Chest where Charlotte buys the rabbit. Remember that episode!!! The second was Buudakan where Carrie and Big have their Rehearsal Dinner in the movie and where Anthony and Standford share their New Year’s kiss during the show.  Here is a picture of Mom, May and I in front of I giant vase in Buudakan.

Oh! that’s my outfit! Black flats (Steve Madden), Dark Skinny Jeans (Forever 21), Red Plaid Shirt (Walmart), Black Cardigan (TJ MAXX).

Our next stop was Magnolia Bakery where Carrie and Miranda always get cupcakes. You see them eating them in the scene where Carrie tells Miranda about meeting and having a crush on Aiden!We each got a free cupcake there!!!!

These cupcakes were soooooo good!! I loved the frosting it was super creamy! YUM! There was actually a line around the block when we got there, these cupcakes are VERY popular! After cupcakes, we headed to O’Neill’s bar, which is the bar that was used as “Scout” the bar that Steve and Aiden owned together. When we stopped in there we got…Cosmos  (OBVI!!!).

Here we are with out drinks!!!

The tour was really fun!!! After the tour we headed back to May’s hotel and hung out for a bit before heading out for Thai food. I sipped on 2 Mai Thai’s thought dinner!

My meal started with a hot a sour soup.

and a small spring roll:

For the Main Event, mom and I split a Pad Thai, and myself, May, Ellen and Mom split a chicken fried Rice. I had small potions of each.

about twice the amount of Pad Thai shown. Dessert was a fortune cookie:

My fortune said something about unexpected money coming my way! Gosh I hope it is right!!!!!

After the meal we headed to a pub down the street for a drink before calling it a night. I had a Brooklyn Winter ale. It was very flavorful and really reminded me of across between Sam Adams Octoberfest and Winter Ale.

Yesterday morning, mom and I got up, got dressed and headed down for one last breakfast at Greenhouse 36. I has a spinach, tomato, mushroom and cheddar egg white omelet.

I also had a small bowl of fruit (not pictured) and a carrot spice mini muffin.

I didn’t eat those grilled veggies you see to the right they were super greasy…yuck! After breakfast we packed up and headed to the airport. While waiting to board mom and I split  bag of pop chips (I ate ate majority).

When I got home, I was snacky again, so I snacked some Trader Joe’s Salsa and Chips.

and a Kashi Dark Chocolate Oatmeal cookie!

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting my apartment in order: unpacking suitcase, doing laundry, unloading dishes, cleaning ect. For dinner, since we had no food, Adam and I ordered takeout from Cafe Antolia. I odered the MIT special which is portabella mushrooms, roasted red peppers and goat cheese on focaccia bread. My favorite!!!

This morning I got up and got ready to be back in my routine! I had a great weekend, but it feels good to have life “back to normal”. Although, one thing was not normal, I was not hungry at all this morning. I knew I needed to eat, so I made 1/2 a normal serving of pumpkin oats.

Oats:

• 1/4 of a cup of oats
• 1/2 a cup of water
• 1/2 of a banana

Toppings

• a spoonful of pumpkin
• cinnamon
• maple syrup

I also had coffee with half and half, but my camera eat the picture!

Here is today’s outfit:

Light Gray Pants (Express), Black Suede Pumps (Michael Kors), White Tank Top ( H&M), Purple Cardigan ( I forget where I got it).

In other news:

As you all know, in Honor of Thanksgiving being right around the corner, I will be posting something I am thankful for in every post. PLEASE feel free to join in in the comments section! So for this post:

I AM THANKFUL FOR: My Mom and Dad!!!!

I am lucky enough to have the best parents in the whole wide world. They both grew up in a small neighborhood of Boston called Charlestown, where we all live now! My dad is one of 5 and my mom is the oldest of two.  They actually met for the first time at 6 years old in first grade, but didn’t like each other at all. My mom thought dad was a jerk!!!! They met again at a New Year’s Eve party at 16 years old and have been in love ever since. They were married in 1976 and had my brother Nick in 1979 and me in 1983!

Through watching my parents, I learned a lot about what a loving relationship is all about!

My parents have always pushed me to be my best, and supported me in all my decisions.

They never miss an opportunity to tell me how much they are proud of me and love me, which means a lot! Plus, we always have a great time together! My parents are very, very funny!!!

(that is mine and Adam’s first Christmas living together )

Anytime I need help or advice, I always know they will be there to help and guide me. I honestly don’t know where I would be without my mom and dad! LOVE YOU GUYS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!

Thanks for raising me to be the woman I am today, I owe so much of my success to you!!!

As a former cheese hound myself, cheese is one of the things I’ve surprisingly not missed (much to everyone’s skepticism — people definitely think I’m lying when I tell them I don’t miss cheese and it’s the first response that everyone retorts with when they hear I’m vegan, “But how could you live without cheese, I could never do that.”) I don’t know why or how, but I really don’t miss it.

Maybe it’s because my limited experience with vegan cheese has been a little traumatizing. Not only is most “vegetarian” cheese not vegan (many contains lactose, caesin or other dairy by-products) but I’d eat melted wax lips before I taste the brand of vegan cheese that I have tested again. I’m sure there’s better brands out there but for now, I’m passing on the vegan cheese.

So, when I decided to make cheese-less nacho cheese, my tester was anything but enthusiastic. He still retains his cheesehound nature and knows that melted, delicious cheese MAKES nachos what they are. Nevertheless, I forged ahead with some ideas for how to replace the cheese in my nachos (roasted red pepper hummus) and absolutely shocked my tester, who ate the nachos with Gusto!

Ingredients:
(Like the tofu scramble egg knobs, nachos can be made with whatever leftover veggies you have in the fridge. Following is my combination though):

• Nacho chips
• Can of black beans, drained
• Red peppers sliced
• Yellow onions sliced
• Portabello or other mushrooms sliced
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Tumeric
• Spinach, thinly chopped
• Tomatoes, chopped
• Roasted red pepper hummus
• Salsa
• Green onions sliced
• Avacado

Saute the garlic in olive oil and add peppers, onions and mushrooms — cooking for a few minutes before coating with a few good shakes of chili powder, cumin and  tiny bit of tumeric. Stir/shake the veggies to ensure the seasoning covers the veggies, cooking for a few minutes until then soften up a bit.

Meanwhile, line a cookie sheet with alumninum foil (makes for a heck of an easy clean up) and spread the nacho chips across the sheet. Spoon out the black beans and cover the chips with a nice even layer before sprinkling your spinach over them. When your veggies are ready, spread a good layer over the spinach and bean chips and spoon salsa on top, adding the chopped green onions, tomatoes, too. Before adding the avacado, spoon the secret cheese-replacer ingredient — the roasted red pepper hummus — on top before popping in the oven.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, you’re really just looking to heat everything up. If the chips start to burn or the spinach seems to singe, you’re ready to rock.

There is a deal going down.    K. has taken the money and we are waiting for the good stuff to come our way. In the back of the car there is quiet anticipation about the high to come. I watch him in the rear view mirror, only just in sight, he gives the money, takes the packet wrapped in plain paper, and walks back to us.

I want to make it clear that I don’t normally do this sort of thing, especially not with my godchildren. I know what their (earth) mother will say – if she ever finds out. But it’s been a tough wet day and we just need a little pick-me-up. It’s not like we’re going to do this everyday and isn’t it better they experiment under my supervision and safety? I won’t let them get addicted. We were all feeling a bit worn out after a rainy day and football training. K.’s younger brother M., has been wanting to do it for ages, I know, I’ve heard him hinting at it, even in front of his mother. This is part of being a godmother in my opinion – opening them to experiences outside of their normal world. Teaching them how to handle themselves with adult experiences. Sometimes it’s easier if you’re not the parent, you are in a halfway place. Part parent, part friend.

I drive hurriedly through the Saturday traffic back to their empty house. Earth Mother is away for the weekend. The car is filled with voices raised in excitement. We put the packet on the table and K. rips it open. I rummage through the fridge impatiently pushing organic miso aside, then I find it, behind the homegrown, hand-pickled beetroot, that red bottle of tomato delight.   The smell of salt and vinegary chips fills the room.  Our precious golden hoard is divided up enviously and with fast debate.  I squeeze ketchup  on to every plate and we begin to eat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen their mouths working so fast with so little noise coming out. Oh my god, I may find this addictive after all.

I have an 85p chocolate sponge in my bag (hey, just in case of emergency). I open a tetra pack of custard. Earth Mother would be cringing in her yoga pants if she knew. I cut the cake into four and slop on some custard.  Quiet slurps follow – they haven’t been this cute since they were babies, no, since they were sleeping  babies.  I may even stop calling them the “oh-my-god children” if this carries on.  And as if this quiet bliss weren’t enough reward, a ketchpy, chocolatey face looks at me and says, “Auntie H, you’re the best cook in the world”.

Reliq sent a 1-Wire iButton demo using the Bus Pirate:

I work in an engineering firm, and the large format color printer we have uses iButtons on the ink tanks to tell the machine what has been plugged in. These particular buttons are write-only. As you can see in the pic, I have the body connected to GND, and the cap connected to MOSI. The +5v is jumpered to the Vpullup pin.

More demo goodness after the break.

Connections

The table above shows the connections between the Bus Pirate and the iButton. The Bus Pirate’s 5volt supply powers the on-board pull-up resistors through the Vpullup pin. The iButton is powered by the pull-up resistors on the 1-Wire data line, it doesn’t need a separate supply.

Interfacing

HiZ>m <<<select mode
1. HiZ
2. 1-WIRE
…
10. LCD
(1) >2 <<<1-wire
Mode selected
1WIRE routines Copyright (C) 2000 Michael Pearce
Released under GNU General Public License
READY
1-WIRE>p <<<enable pull-up resistors
1. Pull-ups off
2. Pull-ups on
(1) >2
Pull-up resistors ON
1-WIRE>W <<<power supplies on
POWER SUPPLIES ON
1-WIRE>v <<<check voltage levels
Voltage monitors: 5V: 4.8 | 3.3V: 3.3 | VPULLUP: 4.8 |
1-WIRE>

First, put the Bus Pirate in 1-Wire mode (m). Enable the pull-up resistors (p) and turn on the power supplies (W). Press ‘v’ to check the voltage levels. If the Vpullup voltage is 0, make sure the Vpu pin is connected to a power supply (5volts in this demonstration).

1-WIRE>(240) <<<1-Wire search ROM command
SEARCH (0xF0)
Macro     1WIRE address
1.0×89 0xCE 0×42 0×03 0×00 0xA0 0×00 0xDB
*Unknown device
Device IDs are available by MACRO, see (0).
1-WIRE>

1-Wire device addresses are located using a special 1-Wire search ROM procedure. The Bus Pirate automates this in with macro (240). Every device address located is printed to the terminal.

The first byte of the address (0×89) is the device family code, the Bus Pirate didn’t know this particular code. According to this 1-Wire device command table, 0×89 corresponds with a 48 bit node address chip. That seems appropriate given the use.

The remaining bytes are a unique ID code that’s used for various purposes, these were used to identify ink tanks. It would be fairly difficult (expensive) to create an actual 1-Wire device clone with an identical ID number, but it would be really easy to extract the number from a chip and emulate the device on a microcontroller.

It’s been a very short weekend for me this week.  I worked yesterday from 8:00 till 2:00, which was over time, I don’t normally work the weekends.

Today my Mum and Dad took M. and I out for lunch.  M. has met my parents a few times, so this wasn’t their first time meeting.  Him and my Dad get on very well, their both mad on football and support their beloved Leeds Utd.  I think my Dad’s just so happy to have some male company (he’s just stuck with me and Mum at home) he’d be happy who ever I was dating.

We went to a lovely restaurant called The Midnight Bell which does amazing guest beers that my Dad loves.  My Mum and I shared a bottle of red wine and the “men” stuck to their beers.

I was even comfortable enough to take photos (they all know about my food blog) so here’s the food.

Dad ordered the steak cooked medium rare, served with peppercorn sauce and hand-cut chunky chips

My Mum ordered the fettuccini pasta with sundried tomatoes, snow peas, chunks of chicken, bacon and mushrooms in a creamy sauce.

M. ordered the traditional fish and chips with a salad and tartar sauce.  I was tempted by this, I love battered fish, but after seeing it I’m glad I didn’t I would’ve never been able to eat all that, plus the chips were rather anaemic.

And finally I ordered a chicken caesar salad, just look at all that chicken. I love these salads and they always seem to taste better from a restaurant than homemade.

Well it’s back to work tomorrow ( ) the good news is I have a week off work booked in two weeks time.  My friends and I have a week of Christmas shopping, lunches and pampering planned and I absolutely can not wait.  At last I see the reward for all that over time I did

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Taylor

Find yourself. Find somebody else. Find some chips. Eat them.

Four simple sentences that could help change your life. I believe they were passed to us straight from the Buddha himself. To be honest, I couldn’t swear to it. If I think about it, I think I might have bought the sentences at a car boot sale. From a bloke called Mike. He was a bit of a dickhead, but very wise.

qd12d12 d12

1 23 1d qws 1q

I’m sorry my blog entries are so short at the moment. I’m going to try and write a longer one tomorrow. I meant to do this today, but when I sat down at the computer it was later than I expected it to be and I was feeling more tired than I expected to feel.

I feel tired in a nice, tired-after-having-a-good-afternoon-and-evening-out kind of a way. A group of librarians, plus a curator and a journalist, went to see one of our friends/colleagues performing in a production of Calamity Jane. She was playing Katie Brown and a mighty fine job she did, too. It was lovely to see her in her element, doing what she loves to do and doing it so well.

After the performance we went on a short but rather windswept walk to a fish and chip shop and had a tasty meal of fish/veggie burger/sausage/fishcake and chips. I had the fishcake and chips.

It was good.

the female cop

dead giveaways:

-the hardest stick she has touched is her baton

-has orgasmed from the vibrations of her motorcycle

-the thought of COPS makes her drip

- that’s a girl to avoid

And because is friday… i present you our “local office pub”: The Wilmington… for us just Wilmo!  This is a quite big pub with lots of space inside and also if is always packed, we like it because it’s very cosy and all the people working there are very nice. So, on top of the fact that it’s the place were we use to have parties, weekly drinks, leaving dues and all the rest, with the time someone discovered it’s also a very nice place to have lunch…especially on friday.

In the menu there are the classic burgers, soups and english pub dishes, but what makes the place so famous in our office are its amazing English Pies!

I have to admit i never had one before just because i can’t stand the meat inside these pies…they seems so heavy and strong taste that i was never interested in trying them, but here everyone was speaking so much about these pies that i had to give a try… just delicious!

My happiness was to find there a vegetarian pie too, with goat cheese and sweet potatoes… it’s the best! I than tried a bit of the porky one, that was good too, but nothing to do with the VEG one. The combination of sweet potatoes and cheese is just perfect and the pastry of the pies is fabulous, not heavy, not salty or hard… it was just right.

I don’t know if you have never tried and english pie, but if you come to England i suggest you to go for these, avoiding the well known fish and chips or baked potatoes! It’s worth it and for lunch, it’s just perfect!

PS. Mamy queste te le devo far provare la prossima volta che venite. Invece delle solite patate che ci prendevamo, vi porto in quest’altro pub per farvi assaggiare le english pies, delle tipiche tortine rustiche inglesi. Invece di riempirle con uova, verdure e formaggio, qui le fanno con la carne e nei modi piu’ strani. Dal maiale con i pezzettini di mele, alla carne di manzo con le cipolle carammellate o con il pollo. A me quelle con la carne non fanno impazzire, ma questa vegetariana che ho provato era buonissima: formaggio di capra e patate dolci ( che pensa a me solitamente non piacciono) ed era un accostamento fantastico. E poi la pasta della tortina e’ meravigliosa. Viene fame solo a vederle in foto!

So.. I’ve posted this before on a forum and got some interesting responses, I thought I might share and put it out there to see what you peeps think!

Mm Value Meals

OK well.. Surely you’ve had a value meal at a fast food joint before (or a diner? Maybe even just like burger and chips from a restaurant?!).

Anyway.. I thought I’d like to put the question out to everyone:

In what order to you normally eat your meal?

See, for me it’s like this:

1. 2~3 fries (chips).
2. burger.
3. fries.
4. drink is in between – but always finished last.

What about you? Anything else other than the order? Such as putting fries in your burger? or putting your burger in the fries, or the burger in the.. drink!?

Haha.