Last weekend I was in Austin, Texas visiting my cousins. It was my first time ever in Texas and I loved it so much I’ve already planned a trip to go back. The atmosphere was amazing. I’m used to the city of Chicago where everything is so crowded and busy. Austin was completely different. It’s a lot smaller and a lot… quieter?

6th St. is where all the bars are and  I have to say, I’ve never experienced anything like it. I had a blast. We went out to 6th all three nights that I was in town and each night I experienced something a little different. I met great people, ate at amazing restaurants, got to be a part of the University of Texas at Austin’s 2013 graduation ceremonies, and I got to spend quality time with family I rarely see. If you’re ever in Austin, you HAVE to try Hopdoddy. It’s a “burger bar” and it is AMAZING. The food is excellent and it’s an upbeat atmosphere. If you order their Soco Sweet Tea: BEWARE. It tastes like regular sweet tea and you forget about the amount of alcohol it contains. Let’s just say it’ll getcha We also went to a restaurant called Sullivan’s. We went for a celebratory dinner after my cousin graduated. We had a 9pm reservation for a party of 16 people. When we got there, the table they have arranged for us to sit at was still occupied by the previous party. We didn’t get seated until nearly 10pm and needless to say, my uncle was furious. We had a couple senior citizens in our party and getting seated for dinner at 10pm is not ideal for them. The manager was extremely apologetic and to make it up to us, he sat us in a private room and gave us several drinks and appetizers as a courtesy. Despite the wait, I must say that the place was amazing! I have never experienced such a lovely meal before. We were served caviar, shrimp, asparagus, multiple salads, crab cakes, and much more for appetizers. My main dish was mushroom stuffed filet mignon with mashed potatoes and 4 cheese macaroni. I have never been to such a fancy restaurant before! It was worth the wait.

My two cousins and I went kayaking in the river that runs along the outskirts of the city. It was beautiful. We had a perfect view of the skyline but we were still surrounded by nature. There were swans and turtles swimming right beside us. The weather was absolutely perfect. The sun was shining and it was 95 degrees. 

I made a promise to myself. I promised I would start doing all the things I’ve always wanted to do, big or small. One of those things included riding a mechanical bull. I figured what better time to do it than while on vacation in Texas! On my last night in Austin my cousin, a few of her friends, and I were out at a bar that just so happened to have a bull. I kept saying I was going to do it and hour after hour the night was coming to an end. I was chickening out! The bar was so packed you literally could not move in the place. I was nervous that I would look stupid and make a fool of myself. When we were finally getting ready to leave I knew I would regret it if I passed up the opportunity. So guess what? I RODE A MECHANICAL BULL! It was so much fun! I got my cousin to do it also. I am so happy that I did. Something so silly turned out to be a great time and a memory I will never forget. 

All in all, I LOVED AUSTIN! I am going back to spend New Year’s in the city with my cousin and make more life changing memories.

Lesson of the day: Take chances and don’t let opportunities pass you by. No matter how silly or irrelevant they may seem

Until later, xoxo

I apologize, it’s been way too long. Finishing up everything for school has been absolutely overwhelming. Luckily, I am almost done! Time for these last few days of school, my senior recital, and then graduation. I can taste summer!

Anyway, my latest obsession has been green smoothies. I realize that I am extremely late in joining this movement, but I am certainly glad that I have jumped on the train! All I have to say is YUM. These are perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Or I suppose in between would work too. Below I will list my basic recipe, and some of my favourite fruits/vegetables to use. I feel refreshed just writing about it!

My Very Own Green {Monster} Smoothie

1/2 C Almond Milk
1/2 Banana (or a whole, whatever you want)
1 Apple (I like to sub 1/2 mango or 1 orange)
5-6 Strawberries or a small handful of raspberries (a Kiwi is good too)
1 Good handful of Spinach
2 Ice Cubes

Blend it up well and enjoy!

I will definitely get back to posting more frequently very soon. This summer will certainly be spent in the kitchen!

Love,
Anna

After the first of two episodes aired back-to-back, I asked my wife if Save Me was an ironic, satirical look at faith or an outright spoof of everything involving religion and belief? We decided that the initial episode’s introduction to Beth Warner’s (Heche) broken family relationships with her husband (Michael Landes) and teenage daughter (Madison Davenport) merited another look, and checked out what the show had to say about Beth’s gradual exploration of her newfound faith.

The second episode launches off from the set-up. Beth wants to return an expresso machine that she stole from one of her friends, gets rebuffed, and tries to give it away. In the midst of this, she explores a friend’s church and attempts to organize a house potluck like she used to before she lost herself in the uppity life of the culture she lives in. She asks the local priest if he thinks she’s crazy for claiming that God speaks to her as they both experience a man (pretty obviously mentally challenged) who presents with his “talking stuffed chihuahua who is also God.” It’s a fair question that Beth’s husband’s mistress also wants to know the answer to: is Beth crazy or really “connected”?

But the “wow, we’re really doing this” moment was when, because of events in the first episode, the power goes out in the neighboring homes (or does something else cause it?) and her unwilling friends show up for a spontaneous potluck. In that moment, we recognize that Beth’s newfound faith has actually provided her with a redirect, a healing, a course correction that brings her back into community, and works toward her wholeness. We know Beth’s fragile relationships with her husband and daughter are segueing back to center, but over food, we see forgiveness and unity enter the picture.

There’s more to religion and faith than just community, but when “church” is doing its best work, it’s providing people the opportunity to be forgiven, overcome their differences, and establish a family of love and support. Taking it a step further, it’s also symptomatic of the way that church can and should be like Alcoholics Anonymous when it shows off community’s best. Consider these steps of the Twelve Steps which all take place in the first two episodes:

-Admit that our lives have become unmanageable.

-Believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore our sanity.

-Make a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of that power.

-Admit our mistakes to God and others, and attempt to make them right.

Suddenly, this frivolous summer “filler” of a comedy has more going for it than might have first appeared. It’s certainly deeper than expected, whether you like it or not.

Here’s a quick summary of tweets posted by @nycework between May 19 and May 24, 2013:

3D-modeled vertical farm
(Image credit: Cjacobs627 at en.wikipedia)

• A quote by Robert F. Kennedy about the achievement ability of people who aren’t afraid to fail;
• an article about scientists’ discovery that our bodies harbor kinds of bacteria that affect our health, our weight and our mood;
• an article about a student’s experiment that found 70 percent of tested fast-food ice was dirtier than toilet water samples taken from the same establishment;
• an article about how vertical farming using skyscraper greenhouses could produce sustainable, city-grown, inexpensive food;
• an article about 5 quick ways to cut household bills; (NOTE: the section on tax savings might be outdated, so consult your accountant or tax specialist for up-to-date tax-saving strategies);
• an article about 5 old gadgets that didn’t become popular because they were ahead of their time;
• and, a link to @nycework’s previous tweet digest that includes a post about how information you share publicly might be used to predict your future.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~

May 19

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”~Robert F. Kennedy | http://wp.me/p1M3rB-fH #qotw #quote

Last week’s highlights: Would You Trade Personal Info For A Peek Into Your Future? … & more | http://wp.me/p1M3rB-fc

May 20

#FYI: Our Bodies Harbor #Bacteria That Affect #Health, Weight & Mood <via @yahoonews> | http://is.gd/uXwz9z [r/t @nycediapers]

May 21

Student Researcher Says 70% of #FastFood Ice Dirtier Than Toilet Water | http://is.gd/g3MgFc #health

May 22

Can We Grow Our #Food In Our Cities? <via @the_daily_green> | http://is.gd/JxObZi #sustainable #farming

May 23

5 Big #Household #Bills You Can Cut Fast <via @Bankrate> | http://is.gd/zA3lzv #budgeting #money

May 24

5 #Gadgets That Were Ahead of Their @Time | http://is.gd/TJR5Rm #tech @lifewitheeepc

R e l a t e d  L i n k s:
@nycework tweet digest: 05/12-17/2013
@nycediapers tweet digest: 05/19-24/2013 (instablogg.com)

Went for fondue downtown a while back with my friend, JG. I got a sparkling blueberry fresh fruit iced tea and honey graham with my fondue. 

Ingredients

1 oz. truffles
0.33 lbs. clams
12 eggs (separated)
salt, pepper
1 laurel leaf
1 branch of rosemary

Preparation Instructions:
1 Crack the eggs and beat them in a bowl with a whisk.

2 Cook the clams in salted boiling water. Use sea water if it is available. Once the water boils, drop the telline. You know they are cooked once the shells have opened up. At which point remove them with a strainer. Take the clams out of their shells and place in a dish.

3 Heat butter in a saucepan. Cook eggs, minced truffles, salt, and pepper. Add the clams with the egg mixture to finish cooking.

4 To make it lighter and smoother, beat egg whites in a separate bowl until foamy and add it to the recipe. Don’t hesitate to add a little bit of pepper because truffles go very well with pepper.

5 Place scrambled eggs on a serving dish. As a final touch, decorate with bay leaf and rosemary.

The whole story behind this gas station/restaurant is that the owner could not get a loan for a restaurant from the bank. The bank would, however, give him a loan for a gas station. So, he opened up a fully functioning gas station and expanded the back to add a restaurant.

The food that I had was amazing. I started off with the Lobster Bisque (which is a meal on its own), then ordered a Monte Cristo, and finished the meal off with Bread Pudding. Everything was delicious. I was too full after the Lobster Bisque to even attempt to finish the Monte Cristo. I ended up getting a to go box for the rest of the sandwich.

I will definitely be back to try the various menu items, including, their fried chicken; cleverly named: Better Than Sex Fried Chicken. With a name like that, how could you not order it?

Hope everyone’s having a good Memorial Day weekend! <3

If you’re like many people, chocolate is not a luxury; it’s a necessity. Often considered the fifth food group, chocolate has inspired one of the most widespread and passionate of people’s love affairs with food. While the taste is nothing short of amazing, our fascination with chocolate since its discovery over 2000 years ago has included other benefits as well.

This recipe is a two-step process – first, to make the clarified butter, and then to mix in the ramps.

Ingredients:
- 1 lb of high-quality unsalted butter (I am using Organic Valley Pasture Butter*)
- Several ramps, minced (I only used the bulbs and saved the leaves for salad, but I think using all of it would work too)
- High-quality/Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

In a medium-sized saucepan, slowly melt all the butter over low heat. When the butter has completely liquefied, remove from heat and let stand for about 5 minutes. Skim the white foam off the top (trash it) and slowly pour the remaining butter into a container. If you get some more milky solids from the bottom of the pan, just scrape those off too. It will taste best if you scrape off as much of the white as possible, I left a little bit and am regretting it now (though my sister loved it).

Once the butter has solidified somewhat (not all the way!), slowly drop in the ramps – one small handful at a time. I didn’t mix mine, the ramps hit the butter and dispersed themselves a bit naturally so I left it that way in a flatter container. If you see the ramps starting to sink to the bottom, wait for the butter to harden a little more and mix it to move everything around.

(Note: Clarified butter will keep, in an air-tight container, for about one month in the refrigerator or for about four months in the freezer.)

That’s about it!

* For the clarified butter, I’m starting with two 8oz. packages of Organic Valley Pasture Butter, which is made from cow’s milk ONLY during their “pasture season” from May to September. From the Organic Valley website: “Produced without antibiotics, or synthetic hormones and pesticides, Organic Valley Pasture Butter is seasonally produced in small batches at the height of pasture season, providing higher levels of vitamins, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), and balanced omega-3 and omega-6 fats.”
This was recommended to me by an employee at Whole Foods (it was not the most expensive and it was on sale, so I was inclined to believe him) and I have no other reason for purchasing this butter. If there is another butter you swear by for making ghee, please let me know!

Unnecessarily ornate displays of fruits, vegetables and cheese. And you know Angela and her salad.

Hor d’Oeuvres: Shrimp Wellington, Maryland Crab Cakes, Fresh Mozzarella with Sun Dried Tomatoes and too much more for me to type.

Appetizers: Fresh Mozzarella & Sliced Tomato / Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad

Now for the Gourmet Buffet:

Shrimp & Seafood Alfredo        Grilled North Atlantic Salmon

Sliced Steak ala Pizziola        Chicken Francaise w/ Mushrooms

Eggplant Rollatini        Chicken Parm (A David essential!)

Did I mention the Italian Pasta Station, Carving Block Station, or Pan Asian Wok Station?

AND MORE, believe it.

Then it’s Cake Time!

And for those of you wondering (or worrying), there will be an Open Bar. You’re welcome!

As a Christmas present for my mom, I told her I’d treat her to a vacation back home on the east coast. And we’re heading off tomorrow! Yay!!!

Luckily, I was able to save enough airline miles to get us there first class for free. My sweet little 74 year old mommy should be able to enjoy a nice, wide seat and good food, so I did everything but hook on the corner to get airline miles saved for the last year (I plan my Christmas presents WAY in advance). Thankfully, I was able to save enough with 300 miles to spare!

We’re going to hang out in our old home town and then head to the beach. I’m going to eat more blue crabs than anyone on earth. I can’t wait.

I hope you guys all have a wonderful long weekend (for those of you in the States)! I’ll be back in the next couple of weeks.

Love ya!

Morels and milk skin

An amazing experience

Each dish is something so special

Quick and simple recipe here for ya! I (literally) threw this recipe together in about 10 mins. It is savory AND sweet, so the best of both worlds!!
I use it to stuff my wraps, top salads and rice cakes, or just eat straight from the bowl
Thankfully, there’s only a few weeks left of school! I think not even two full weeks (hooray!) Once school finally comes to an end, I will have a bit more free time to post here. I honestly can’t wait! I have so much to share with everyone as far as life and new recipes!
Speaking of new recipes, no school leaves SO much time for experimental healthy cooking and baking. Eep, I’m so excited!
With the excess free time, I may start a couple new pages on this bloggie. Key word, I may! I’d love to start a fitness/workout page, and a food beauty page.
I feel like being healthy on the outside is just as great as being healthy on the inside
…. That, and a lot of home made beauty tricks save SO much money on stupid products that sometimes don’t even do what they claim to do…

Anyway, back to the recipe!

Black Bean Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
-1 diced mango
-1 can of black beans (rinse well!!)
-1 can of corn (make sure no added sugar- a lot of canned corn has it!!)
-1 diced red pepper
-1/4c diced fresh cilantro
-2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/4tsp cumin
-1/2tsp chili powder
-1/4tsp salt

All you do is mix everything together with a large spoon and you’re good to go!
Super quick, easy and delicious!
Hope you all enjoy this as much as I did
No one in my family likes cumin, or cilantro (crazy!!) So I had this whole big bowl to myself. I ate it 1-2x a day, for three days before running out haha!
Next time I make it I may add some coconut sugar/brown sugar to boost the sweet factor- raw honey may even work too!

Look at that nice flat bread wrap. Don’t you wish you could make a fancy wrap? Well you can. 

This is a really great healthy wrap I invented one night with things I found in my refrigerator. It takes next to no effort and can be made with the basic food one might have in one’s kitchen. That’s the best kind right?

Ingredients 

Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise (vegan is what I used) $3.17
1/3 cup ketchup Who doesn’t already have this? Ugh. $1.64
1/2 tsp. onion powder $1.25
1/4 tsp. salt C’mon you got to already own salt. 
1/8 tsp. garlic powder  $1.25
3 Tbsp. sweet pickle relish $2.30

My advice is to not use all of the dressing because this makes a crap ton of dressing. 

Flat bread $2.99

1 avocado all mushed up   $0.86

Dill weed ta taste $1.25

1 Orange bell pepper diced, sliced, however you like $2.00

Tiny ass carrot slices $1.39

Steps to getting food in your belly 

Spread the dressing on the flat bread.

Spread avocado on the bread.

Wish you did step one first because the avocado doesn’t spread easily.

Sprinkle the carrots, peppers and dill weed to taste.

Try and cut into cute pinwheel thingys but fail miserably and just shove it in your face.

Total: $18.1 but c’mon people you most likely have those seasonings at your place.

Hope you like my first recipe! I’ll try to post one every week!

Balsamella, more widely known as bechamel, is a thickened milk sauce with a wide variety of uses.  One of the four ‘mother sauces,’ balsamella uses a roux mixture to thicken milk, creating a velvety sauce or base for such dishes as cannelloni, macaroni and cheese, creamy sauces, and more.  Depending on the ratio of flour and butter used to milk, this sauce can range from thin to rather thick and may be used plain or flavored with herbs, spices, cheese, and more.

For my Lasagne al Forno, I needed a creamy balsamella that was somewhere in the middle.  While I didn’t want the sauce to run all over the place once I sliced the lasagne, I also didn’t want something overly gloppy.  The recipe below provided a wonderful creaminess to my lasagne, a nice departure from the ricotta or even cottage cheese layers some recipes include.

Balsamella (Bechamel)
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups hot milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a medium-sized heavy  saucepan over medium heat.  Sprinkle over the flour and whisk for 1-2 minutes.  The roux may become golden, but don’t let it get brown.  Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking as you do.  Continue to stir until thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, about 10 minutes or so.  Control the heat as needed to prevent boiling and scorching.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lately, I’ve been eating a lot of salmon. Whether I’m dining out or eating at home, I’ve been choosing salmon as my source of protein. Why salmon? I’ve been doing some research about health and nutrition. Salmon seems to come up a lot when it comes to healthy eating.

One of my favourite foods is Sushi. Salmon sushi and sashimi are my favourites. So it’s natural for me to choose salmon when I’m dining out. Recently, I tried out a Japanese Restaurant close to home. I ordered Sockeye Salmon Sashimi as an appetizer. Together with a bowl of rice, it was a perfect meal. Tasty and nutritious.

When cooking at home, I like pan fried salmon. It’s so easy, anybody can make it. All you do is season a salmon fillet with salt and pepper. Then, pan fry it. That’s it. No other preparation or ingredients required. How easy is that?

Salmon is nutritious, delicious and easy. Easy to prepare and easy to cook. Next time you can’t decide what to have for lunch or dinner, try salmon. You will love it!

Dennis Cha lives a fun, happy, yummy life in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. If you have a question about salmon, contact him for expert advice, professional service and excellent results. Call: 604-781-4849. Email: RealtorCha@gmail.com. Visit: www.dennischa.ca.

Having come to terms with being in an ‘All Inclusive’ holiday resort on the next day I set to be positive about the experience.  The hotel, I have to say was exceptionally good, the rooms were large and well furnished, the public areas were spotlessly clean, the food was quite exceptional, the staff were wonderful and the service was fast and efficient.

On the down side the all inclusive beer was a bit weak which meant that every now and again I had to put my hand in my pocket and buy some cans of Efes at the hotel shop.  And this wasn’t the only thing that had to be paid for because even though it was all inclusive there were a range of optional extras – a la carte restaurants, branded drinks and a Turkish Spa experience. On the first day, given away by our pale complexions, someone tried to harass us into a Turkish massage and body scrub but at an eye watering £50 a session I explained that actually I was quite attached my dead skin cells so I would pass up on the opportunity thank you very much!

On the first morning we were hurried to the children’s slide pool and after a period of about twenty years or so since Blizzard Beach in Disney World, Florida, during which I have been nowhere near a water park I was obliged to plunge down the aqua slides over and over again.  It’s a wonderful thing about young children that they have no concept of age difference and make no concessions to the fifty year gap between us as they repeatedly took me to the top of the water chutes to accompany them down to the bottom in a never ending Groundhog Day sort of loop.

Later we walked to the beach to what has to be said, was a very fine beach indeed with course grey sand and a gently shelving drop into the water which was perfect for the children to play on.  Actually, this being only early May, I found the water to be a little cooler than I really like it so this was my one and only swim in the Mediterranean sea on this particular holiday because I usually prefer it in September time when it has had all Summer to warm up.

One thing about the all inclusive arrangements that seemed rather mean to me was that ice-cream was only available for two hours each day between three and five o’clock.  At around about half past two the crowd started to gather around the freezers in something reminiscent of the waiting period before the start of a European Cup Final or the US Super Bowl.  As the tension mounted they began snorting and stamping like impatient bulls waiting to be released into the ring, agitating like ancient warriors preparing for a deadly battle and arranging themselves like combatants in a French bus queue.

Five minutes to go and the tattooed ones start to perform a HAKA and terrified men behind the barriers suddenly drop them and run for their lives as a tsunami of greed was released.  The whole thing was rather like the first set scrum of a British Lions/New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Test Match, muscles bulging, eyes popping, sweat dripping, elbows flying and fingers gouging and this, let me tell you was only the women!

And the rough stuff wasn’t only at ice cream time because it could also be rather competitive in the dining room at evening meal time.  The majority of the hotel guests were from the UK but there were also quite a lot of people from Russia and Scandinavia and from most other countries in Europe and the nationalities all behave differently when lining up (or not, as the case may be).  Russians and Ukrainians especially don’t like standing in line but I was at an advantage here because I had been to Russia only last year so I knew not to hang back when these people are around and I sharpened my elbows and got straight in!

If pushing in was an Olympic sport then Eastern Europeans would be picking up a lot of medals especially if there was a category for barging in because this would require no finesse at all and would be based on simple brute strength as they muscle their way to the front of the line.  Italians would do well in the stealth category because they can push in with the speed of a stiletto knife and I’d back the Greeks in the Opportunistic category because they can slip into a space as thin as a cigarette paper almost as though they had been beamed down from outer space.

Sadly for all of them however they would be destined to be like a British tennis players and they would only ever be left fighting for second place because they would never be able to beat the undisputed champions of pushing-in – the French.  The French don’t believe in distraction or sneaky moves they just move right on in ahead of anyone and then look you straight in the eye with a Gallic sneer that says, “I am French and it is my God given right to push in”.  They really believe this and with the advantage of this being hard-wired into their national psyche they would win over and over again and would be especially good in the being completely rude category.

Along with the UK, other countries that would not do so well in the games would be the Americans and the Germans  who both display discipline in line but absolutely the worst at this would be the Swiss who I can guarantee would come last every time.