My roommate is sick with some cough/cold thing. Last night I spent five hours in silence because she was lying in bed, moping. Then she went to the library/home and I haven't seen her since. I'm kind of freaked out that I'm going to get sick because her germs are probably living in our room. I'm so bored though! It's nice to have someone to talk to. We've basically not lived in the same room for more than a day since before spring break.

About a week ago I made hummus for the second time from a different recipe. I didn't really say much more about it but I will now because the hummus is incredible. AMAZING. I've slowly been working my way through the container and it is manna from heaven, if I were Christian. And anything goes with it - pita bread, cut-up veggies, falafel, rice cakes, regular bread, toasted bread, a spoon.

For some reason I've stopped really drinking coffee. I definitely didn't consciously decide to do this; I've just noticed that over the past few weeks I don't think I've had any coffee at all. Strange, considering I was slightly addicted to it for a while. For whatever reason I just don't really have any desire to drink it and I'm trying to "get into" tea because its so good for you. I've been having success with getting green tea and a splash of soy milk at Starbucks. (I know, I know, its Starbucks for God sakes, but I have to spend 100 dining dollars by May 8th, tea is only 1.70 or something and either they don't charge me the extra 40 cents for soy or I just don't tell them I got soy). My mom bought me a box of green tea at Costco in December (you can imagine how large it is) and after not being opened for three months, I finally did. I don't have a teapot (as desperately as I want one; I predict that when I have the money I'll collect funky teapots) so I've been using my coffee maker as a multi-purpose tea creating machine. I pour water into it and put a filter in, and I put a teabag or two into the carafe (I didn't know what a carafe was until five months ago, so don't feel silly if you don't either; it's the glass thing that coffee drips into and waitresses walk around with it in diners asking if you want more coffee) with the teabag strings expertly tucked under the lid and then I heat up the water, so the carafe effectively becomes a teapot... with a hot plate underneath. It's been kinda working well; some weird things have happened though. I forgot to turn off the thing yesterday and my roommate did four hours later, and when I inspected the carafe the tea water inside had flakes of brown crap in it? What? Something to do with leftover coffee from the last time I used it to make coffee (at least five weeks ago), maybe. Today I heated only two "cups" of water (which, in my experience, is only enough for one hearty mugful) and after I'd drunk the two cups, I opened the lid to pour in some more water and the filter area like starting smoking and making popping noises. The carafe kind of smells burnt, but the tea is fine, I think it's the glass. Mr. Coffee is not very happy with me right now. But it still heats the water and the tea bags steep and I have green tea pretty quickly. Please tell me if I'm doing something terrible that will result in an explosion or electrical fire. So yeah, green tea with a little soymilk is my new favorite drink. Thank God I'm out of the mocha phase, the chai latte phase, and the misto phase. I feel sneaky doing this too - I'll ask the people at Starbucks to make me a hot tea with a chai tea bag and to fill the cup with a quarter of the way with steamed soy milk. The chai tea bag steeps in the soy milk and you can add sweetener on your own. How sneaky is that! A chai tea latte for 1.70, or at most, 2.10. Their expensive chai lattes are made from Tazo Chai Concentrate and they're not that good for you - its concentrate, seriously. Do it yourself, that seems to be my motto for the last month.

**I've just had a brain flash. What if I heated the water but waited to add the tea bags until after the water is done? Right now I put the tea bag in it as the water drips, and I think that's why there are little floaty bits at the bottom. I think the teabags are being torn slightly, somehow. Maybe I'm just crazy.

I hate having to eat meals in my room. I don't eat dinner, I graze because I don't have anything dinner-worthy. Grazing is not satisfying.

Bored bored bored. Gym tonight; that'll break the monotony a bit. It was 80 degrees today, supposed to be 89 tomorrow. What the fuck!

11 April 2006

rescue

I'm at work, and I'm so bored. You'd think that having nothing to do and going online for four and a half hours would be fun... but this is only fun in moderation. At least I'm getting paid to do nothing but I'd love to have slept in or gone to the gym or read a book. I'm quitting in three weeks when the semester ends. They just don't have much work for me to do since the big annual conference finally happened the other week, and I'm not commuting down here every day in the summer.

I really don't like people who talk to you just for the sake of talking, and those who ask you questions or bring up pointless details about themselves just to validate their own opinions or concerns. A select few of my co-workers do this, and it drives me crazy!

No new fun vegan food until I'm at home again, which might be tomorrow so I can escape the insanity of eating rice and beans every night. And I left the dhal I made on Sunday in the refrigerator at home, which pisses me off because it was really good and there's a lot left.

Basically: complain, whine, bitch, moan. That's what I feel like doing.

09 April 2006

another

I love my math professor. He's old and Asian and knows everything about math and understands everything people say and has a pretty adorable accent. He smiles a lot and seems very wise and zen. He could totally play the old Asian sage in the movies who just knows everything about everything. In class the other day he was introducing integration step-by-step (the long way first) and a kid says, "So... why are we doing this?" My professor turns around, his eyes twinkling, and replies, "You will see... something MAGIC will happen!"

So. Cute.

On an unrelated note, the one thing I like about living in my dorm room is that my bed here is so much nicer than the one I have at home. It's longer than I am, the mattress is brand new, and I have a comfier duvet at school. So even though I groan about my room (and how it always needs to be vacuumed and neither of us ever takes out the recycling and the windows don't open and... even though I'm not here half the week), it's nice to know that when I am, my bed for that night is kickass.

08 April 2006

ultimate

One day last summer my mom bought a beautiful stainless steel pot with two steamer baskets. We have used the same things in our kitchen for years - a testament to their durability and high cost - almost everything I use now I remember watching my mom use when I was little. But last summer I was not a cook so I did not know how exciting this purchase was. And I ended up christening the pot. I had recently become vegan and was very enthusiastic about everything. I bought The Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook, an earthy, informative cookbook by the owner/chef of several successful vegan restaurants in Southern California. I found in it a recipe for Gandhi's Bowl, a concoction of brown rice, steamed vegetables and blackened sauteed tempeh covered in a curry sauce. Tempeh sounds gross ("fermented soybeans") but its really just a square patty made of packed soybeans. You always cook it and I actually really like tempeh, much more than jiggely tofu. So, one night last summer I turned on some jazz (like I always do), went into the kitchen and made the recipe. When I was done the kitchen was a mess, bottles and bowls were everywhere, spilled grains of spices dusted the countertops, but it was my first successful vegan meal that consisted of more than spreading hummus on bread. I remember feeling so elated when I was done. This is a picture that I took that night:

It still tops the list as the best meal I've ever made, so tonight I made it again and it was just as glorious as in July. There are five different things to be made and it was a little easier because I made the blackening spice, deglaze, and curry sauce, cut up the vegetables, and prepared last night's brown rice all before I started cooking, so the only actual cooking part was sauteeing and blackening the tempeh, and steaming the vegetables. I've learned that it is much easier to do this than try to throw together all the different ingredients while cutting up things and heating pans and boiling water. It was easier, less stressful and a tiny bit less satisfying in the end. But it still tasted amazing.

07 April 2006

minirant

Don't worry, I'm not pregnant or anything :) After a few anxious inquiries from friends today I realized that what I said last night was vague enough that it could imply something very serious. But to keep things non-gross for the boys, it's just "uterus problems". Why are our body parts named the weirdest things? Uterus, fallopian... it keeps things mysterious (in a bad way) and scary! I vote for changing to words such as "cloud" or "raindrop", haha!

The point of this post was not the re-naming of reproductive organs, it was to say that I finally went to a vegan restaurant the other day! It's in Tempe, is called Green and has only been open for one month. It was pretty busy when we were there; all kinds of people were eating - university students, old people, a single businessman, punks. It was fun. I must say, the decor was a little cheap with plastic cutlery, plastic baskets and bowls, paper napkins, paper menus, and cafeteria-style tables and chairs. Ali and I were trying to figure out why this is. You'd think that at a vegan restaurant there would be reuseable cutlery and bowls, and good quality, long-lasting menus and furniture (out of environmental values) but maybe since the restaurant is so new the costs of a dishwasher outweigh its benefits and buying plastic cutlery is cheaper, at least for now. I do hope that if they stay open and make a profit they will redecorate, redesign, hire a few more people and make Green more of a restaurant. It's half-way there; there is ample seating but you have to go up to a counter in the back of the restaurant to place an order and pay for it then and there, which definitely detracts from the "going out to eat" experience, in my opinion. I like to sit at a table with metal cutlery and real napkins, have someone be my server and refill my water, and have nice lighting and ambiance. But hey, I'm a purist. As for the food: if you look at their menu, you will see that much of their food is salty and/or fried; I think it's going for a familiar American-style soul-food vibe that just happens to be vegan. Most of it is definitely not that good for you. Because I don't eat fried foods, food with a lot of salt, food that comes in packages/plastic/boxes, anything processed (with a few exceptions like soy milk), or imitation food like soy hotdogs or faux chicken, I had to pick my way around the menu as many things fell into one or more of these categories, including most of the starters and house specials, and all of the po-boys and sandwiches. It sometimes takes trial-and-error at restaurants to find out what to get. Being a naive excited little vegan, I ordered the samosas for a starter and the orecciette pasta, a house special. The samosas were dripping in oil; I began to blot them like people do with pizza slices but then gave up and I decided to eat just the filling (curried vegetables). When my pasta dish came, I took off the "no harm chicken parm" (which was thankfully just placed on top) but then it turned into simply pasta with tomato sauce (I don't remember getting too many fresh vegetables), which was disappointing. Also, these two items were quite small in size so after my two tablespoons of curried vegetables and half a cup of pasta, I was not satisfied. Because I don't mind supporting a fledgling vegan restaurant and I know it has potential, I ordered the jerk tofu salad. This was really good albeit very very spicy. The "fresh greens" turned out to be just lettuce (I hate that) but the dressing and jerk spice were great and I didn't even mind the tofu being warm spicy triangle wedges. For dessert I had to try a tsoynami (I still don't understand the name with the 't' in front) which was soft-serve vegan ice cream with your choice of toppings mixed in, not unlike a McFlurry (do they even sell those anymore?). I asked for strawberries and chocolate syrup but the girl didn't listen to me fully and gave me strawberries and oreo crumbles (this seems to happen to me a lot; people hear the first part of my order, assume they know the rest of it and then make me something I don't want. This happens at Starbucks a lot with soymilk and "no whip" requests. Honestly, people need to slow down and listen). However, the oreos were really not a huge difference than chocolate syrup so I didn't bother pointing it out, and damn that tsoynami was good. Ali had a luckier time navigating the menu; she got the coconut curry bowl (with no faux meat or tofu) of which I had a bite. YUM. I think the "bowls" are the way to go at Green if you are like me, and their pizzas seem to be a good choice too if you choose the right toppings. At the end of our meal, as we put our plastic baskets on top of the fast-food-style trashcan complete with swinging door, the chef Damon came out of the kitchen, cornered us and talked to us for a few minutes about our meal. He was really sweet, had obviously seen us sitting there for the last forty-five minutes and was genuinely interested in our opinions. I didn't actually say most of what I just wrote because I didn't have time and because I think it's great that vegan restaurants are even being established. Also, I'm probably an anomaly and the food they offer is perfectly wonderful food for many people. Ali had no problem with any of the things on the menu.

I don't eat fried/salty/processed/refined things because I don't feel well afterwards. A common misconception people have is that I make a concerted effort to deny myself of all these common American foods in order to feel righteous and superior. This is not true. I have no internal conflicts by not eating most of the things Westerners eat every day. I've learned to pay attention to my body and my moods and I do not feel good when I do eat these things so I just don't anymore. It's not hard for me to pass on a handful of chips at a party, for example. I don't have a voice inside saying "no, katherine, you cannot eat that". I have no desire at all. Somehow I've transitioned to a whole foods diet full of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes. I avoid white flour and white rice (whole wheat/brown instead), white sugar (I use raw sugar, maple syrup, molasses, etc) [white = refined] and canned things with lots of sodium (for example, I use dried beans whenever possible and feasible). It's really not hard. Some people think it's such a difficult, pointless, expensive way to eat ("Oh, I could never do that", "Don't you just crave a big, juicy burger sometimes?" (no), "I love cheese too much", "If you don't eat meat OR dairy, then what the hell do you eat?") but I don't think so. It's definitely cheaper, and I feel great so yay!

06 April 2006

details

Tonight for dinner I did not have a clear feeling for any certain food, but I needed to make something relatively quickly and I didn't have time to go out to buy any specific ingredient. In the pantry I found some brown rice left over, I am certain, from last summer when I was one enthusiastic vegan. I put it in a saucepan and had 45 minutes to figure out what to make to accompany it. Looking through our fridge - a clash of healthy vegan stuff, too many bread products in plastic bags, tupperware boxes of steak and chicken, and bottles of salad dressing, soy milk, and all kinds of dairy cartons - I found a lot of random things that needed to be used up - mango, mushrooms, half of a bell pepper, a can of black beans. So I found a recipe from Susan's awesome collection, mentally altered it a little, turned on my jazzy mix on iTunes and got to work. In a large pan I sauteed the onion on a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes, then added two cloves of minced garlic for a minute more, then 1 tablespoon of cilantro and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. After letting the spices heat up for a minute or two, I added just less than one cup of mixed lemon juice and orange juice, [we didn't have any orange juice in the fridge, so I ran outside and pulled off five oranges from our trees and juiced them right then and there] , one sliced mango, mushrooms, cut-up baby carrots, and the leftover half of a red bell pepper. I let it cook for about seven minutes, and then added a few big scoops of black beans. Five minutes later they were cooked through and it was done! I was anxious to try it because of the odd pairings - cayenne pepper and mango - and it was crazy. I put a bit too much cayenne in it; it was really spicy, but a few seconds later the sweetness of the mango came through and kind of softened the spiciness. The beans were dark and earthy. The veggies were crunchy (carrots), spongy (mushrooms) and fleshy (peppers); everything absorbed the flavors really well. The brown rice was perfect; I absolutely adore brown rice and the plump, nutty grains were perfect with this dish.

I know, it looks just like every other thing I make. I'm attempting to try new things; tonight was a start (flavors-wise).

Ugh, it's been a rough day. Doctor (a girl's least favorite one) and some potentially-not-good news, terrible grade on a test, worrying about next year and what the hell I'm going to do if nothing works out, not getting to the gym, loneliness. And I just remembered my roommate said she won't be back tonight, so I'm all alone, like always. Party Shuffle is attempting to lift my spirits ("Everything Will Be Alright" by The Killers, "The Remedy" by Jason Mraz, "Better Together" by Jack Johnson). Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

10:55 p.m.

You know what I really want right now? A cup of chai with hot soy milk. I made another batch of chai on... Tuesday, but it's in the fridge at my house and I'm at school. I was at home a few hours ago. No!

05 April 2006

mahogany

It's already Wednesday; I feel like each week flies by faster than the one before it. For me, Wednesday is like being at the top of a ski run after riding the chairlift for fifteen minutes. Before you know it, the week is over/you are back at the bottom of the mountain and you have to take the blasted lift again. But... every day that passes means I am one day closer to finding out if I got into dream school A and/or almost-as-dreamy school B, so I welcome the haste.

I had my hair done (finally) last night. I actually asked for a "warm, rich, summer brown" but she didn't do what I asked so my hair is now the darkest it's ever been; I still like it. It's dark, dark brown with a bit of gold that shimmers when I'm in sunlight. It's not any shorter because I like having it long, and although I got mixed reviews from my family (Will was the only one who liked the color), Ali did too and I do so who cares!

The only things I had eaten before 7pm yesterday were oatmeal, strawberries and a small fruit salad, so when I finally got home I was ravenous and needed to make something that would be ready quickly but extremely satisfying at the same time. So... last night was curry night! I like to think that curries are my speciality but more likely they are just versatile and easy which is why I make them several times a week. The lovely thing about curries is that as long as your proportions stay the same, you can put whatever you want in it. I was originally going to make just a spinach + chickpea one, but there was a head of cauliflower begging to be eaten and I had a carton of mushrooms left over from my pizza madness the other night, so I made a chickpea + spinach + cauliflower + mushroom curry. Since I added two more vegetables, both being pretty spongy ones, I just added more tomatoes to the base at the beginning and more water at the end. It was a wonderful success and was just what I needed after a long day. I didn't take a picture because I wanted to get on with eating it, but I usually make enough for leftovers so if it looks good when I eat it tonight or tomorrow, I'll glorify it forever for you.

The second part of last night involved me wanting something a sweet vegan cookie, so I pulled out all my cookbooks and leafed through the cookie recipes until I found one for which we had all the ingredients and didn't take long to make. The result was Banana Oatmeal cookies from How It All Vegan, but the name is deceiving because the banana is not a prominent star in them, it's really there to replace the eggs and be a binder. They taste like cinnamon oatmeal raisin cookies (with a hint of chocolate chips) that are hearty enough to be a healthy breakfast scone or something. I'm not too enthusiastic about them as a dessert because they're really too healthy to be a treat, but they're still wholesome and nice. Again, no picture yet, but there will be one soon since I'm the only one who eats anything I make and there are a lot left over at home. Surprisingly, my mom and dad took one each for their lunches today but I'm expecting a response similar to the ones I've gotten from them in the past - "well Kath, they're... healthy!" My quest for vegan baking perfection continues.

The other day I spent a good amount of time outside lying on a bench in the shade talking to Julia and then two CC friends, and it was so nice. I'm jealous of those of you who are having such a wonderful time in college, even those of you who are having more of an "introspective" time. Hopefully in one year I will be able to say the same.

02 April 2006

unconventional

It all started yesterday when I decided to make pesto from VWAV. The basil we had was one day away from its grave and pesto is so easy, like hummus: you just put everything in the food processor and its ready in five seconds, so I did. I also threw in some sun-dried tomatoes and I had not anticipated that the green basil + dark red tomatoes = brown pesto. Haha. I was going to use it last night but since my plans changed, I postponed its debut until today.... so this morning I decided to make (more-or-less) Isa's Pizza from VWAV, so in the morning I made pizza dough and in the afternooon I made pizza sauce. Everything was so easy. Partly because Connor B came over for dinner, my family had steak so just as the meat was being put on the barbie I stretched out my dough somewhat creatively (by accident), spooned on the tomato sauce, created little mounds of the pesto all over, sprinked on top the mushrooms, sundried tomatoes (I'm kind of in love), and black olives, and brushed olive oil around the crust. Voila! My only tiny complaint is that the crust could use a minute or two more in the oven. It was my first completely homemade pizza and I was swelling with pride when I took it out and it looked so perfect! I expected my siblings to at least say it looked good, so I was kind of sad when they came into the kitchen, raised their eyebrows and say, "Wow, that looks... vegetably". Ah well, I forget that a "normal" pizza has a lot of yellow on it. It tasted amazing.

We have two orange trees in our garden and around this time of year, there are dozens of beautiful fresh oranges hanging from their branches. We have a really good juicer and each week buckets of oranges come into the kitchen and become containers of orange juice. I find it therapeutic to juice them. I slice each orange exactly in half, place it precariously in the guillotine and, before it falls off, I quickly pull down the handle, excitedly waiting to hear the first sprinkle of juice fall into the cup. It is a remarkably fast process; I made three pints in fifteen minutes. I'm not a big juice person; it's too much sugar (albeit natural) for me, but this juice is special. Born and raised around the corner from my bedroom window, our oranges have never seen a road or a truck. I think that's so cool.

My final culinary adventure for the day was another batch of hummus. While I had success with the one I made the other week, it was almost too healthy. There was little oil in it, so it had the consistency of mashed chickpeas. I love Pita Jungle's hummus which I have assumed is made with a lot of tahini and olive oil simply because it is so freaking good. While I'm sure I could never get PJ's recipe for hummus, I do have the one from The Candle Cafe in New York City. Restaurants generally know how to make great hummus, so I followed their recipe to a T. More oil and tahini make it thinner, so be sure to add an appropriately large amount of chickpeas. Testing and tasting is the best way.

In non-foodie things, I have a paper due Tuesday about A Tale of Two Cities that I'm really not prepared for. I obviously won't write it until tomorrow night and between now and then, I'm going to inhale as many pages of the book as I can while trying to come up with a controversial thesis that can get me through five pages. The only positives are that it is only five pages which is pretty short... and most people in our class are drowning which our professor is aware of. I hate papers. After tomorrow night I'll be a happy girl.

I saw V For Vendetta this weekend and loved it! Natalie Portman's pathetic British accent irked me a bit considering she had a voice coach, but other than that it was so good. It made me want to be part of a huge global event. Viva la revolucion!

01 April 2006

dashes

I drove. It reminded me of one night last October when I finally met Eric. I got into his truck and we drove down I-25 for an hour. I went to my favorite place on the top of a road in the hills by my old house. It was so quiet. I felt like I was not myself, not caring that I was sitting in a car in a potentially precarious situation with someone I barely knew. I was so fed up with my life at that point that I didn't care if we drove all the way to New Mexico. I rolled up my sleeves to my elbow. I liked the way my arm looked when I put my hand on the top of the steering wheel. I don't think we saw a single person, only pairs of lights that finally, climactically, passed by with a flash of metal and glass. I saw no one until the very end, when some kids were screwing around in the middle of the road. It broke the mood. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted something bizarre. I leaned against the car on the top of the road and looked at the city. I couldn't decide whether the lights were twinkling or my eyes were dilating. What are we doing, really?

"That is what people do. They stay alive for each other." The Hours

31 March 2006

sniffum

After months of failed attempts, I have finally made an edible vegan muffin, thanks to the ppk. I whipped these up this afternoon after getting a little container of plain soy yogurt - the secret ingredient! Eight of the twelve are simply lemon poppyseed. I decided I didn't want to start messing with the recipe on my first try so I made most of them normally, and threw in a level handful of chocolate chips for the last four. I don't know, have you ever wondered what lemon chocolate chip muffins tasted like? I hadn't until yesterday, but they're really good! Next time I'll add a bit more of the sweet stuff: either vanilla extract, sugar, or vanilla soy yogurt instead of plain. Duh, lemons are naturally bitter and the name of semi-sweet chocolate chips says it all. And they were a tiny bit too dry, so more yogurt will help that next time. But minus that, they were great!

Look at that! I poured the soymilk into the canola oil and of course, it separated but into perfect spheres and they slowly started to bubble. Weird.

I used whole wheat pastry flour which is whole wheat flour that is finer than regular whole wheat, making it good to use in things like muffins where you don't want a coarse texture. I also whisked the wet ingredients together and sifted the dry so that helped the consistency a lot. Beforehand I went to Sprouts to get a few things, and I love that they have bulk bins of grains, nuts, beans and random things like sesame sticks. It's so nice buying only what I need and its a lot of fun pouring scoops into bags and weighing it and all. It's also much cheaper; I was going to buy a 5-lb bag of Arrowhead Mills whole wheat pastry flour for just under $5 (yes, $5 - it was organic though) and as I walked to the registers I noticed that whole wheat pastry flour was in one of the dozens of bins. So I bought 4 lbs for $0.50/lb, and also some dried chickpeas (I don't like the added salt in the cans!), dried red and green lentils and some unsalted walnuts. All from bins. I love Sprouts! It's amazing how cheap dried beans are. The plastic bags they provide are the same ones used in all grocery stores for fruits and vegetables, but when you pour flour into them, the flour forms to the bag and hugs it, the plastic completely unwrinkled and smooth. I really like that.

Don't you want to dig your hands into this and let the flour pour between your fingers?

30 March 2006

eggshells

One more thing.

If there was one reason why I'd stay at ASU, it would be for the hot guys. Actually, it would be for the guys who go to the gym, because a good percentage of them are hot. Let me explain with a really long story. I get this feeling, usually about an hour after eating a meal but also sometimes randomly, that I can't really describe but I get happy and excited and I have enough energy all of a sudden to go run. This doesn't happen every day, and the window of time where I'm "in the zone" to get to the gym is only about fifteen or twenty minutes. Once I'm at the gym I always will stay there and work out, but this little sprout of energy is crucial to getting me to actually change into workout clothes and get to the gym. I had planned to run tomorrow morning before class after the success of running early Tuesday morning, but tonight at 8:30 I got the feeling that now would be a perfect time to go for a run. I have to act fast in these situations, because if I dilly-dally or do "one more thing" on the internet or think about how much homework I have for too long, the energy all of a sudden disappears. But I can do homework at any hour of the night and I cannot run whenever I want to, so I changed, put on my running shoes, grabbed my keys+ID, towel, and water bottle, turned off the lights, locked the door, set my iPod to Ashlee Simpson (she's good pump-up girly fun music) and walked over to the SRC. I walked in and there were a ton of people milling around the lobby and behind the treadmill area, so after I fill up my water bottle I check out the situation. There was a mens racquetball competition going on, and the racquetball courts are behind the rows of treadmills, so there were like seven courts of four guys in each, and then behind the glass doors of the courts, fifty or sixty spectators were watching and cheering them on. I found an open treadmill, set my iPod to Panic at the Disco!, and started running and the whole time, hot guys were just walking around. God, are they hot! They're great motivation to bust my ass and push myself and get hot myself. So I had an excellent run and ran the longest I've gone without stopping. The last few minutes were the hardest because they were the first "new" extra minutes I hadn't run before (if that makes sense) but I pushed through, it's mostly mental anyway. And I've been running outside for the last two weeks because I've been at home and I don't have a gym membership up there, so it was kind of weird at first running on ground that was moving. It really is easier to run on a treadmill and not as fun as being outside. But whatever, it has to do. And about two minutes before I was going to decrease my speed and cool down, a hot guy gets on the treadmill next to me and runs at a pace slightly faster than I was going. So I matched him because that's what I do, and I went for an extra minute than I planned. Finally, when I was all done (and looking sweaty and pink and pretty gross), I walked out and saw my roommate Noreen walk in with a friend. I'm so proud of her for going! We both have trouble actually getting to the gym sometimes, and she is so busy with pre-med classes that she has little free time to do anything let alone workout. So good job Noreen! The show playing at Gammage, Stomp!, had just ended and throngs of people were walking to Parking Structure 1 by the SRC. I felt pretty good walking back, knowing I'd worked really hard, and what song comes on but Sexy Boy by Air. My post-workout ritual is to drop everything on my desk, take off my shoes and socks and for five minutes, lie on the floor on my back with my feet flat on the ground and arms above my head. My heart is still beating really fast and I lie in silence, breathing fast, listening to my heart pump and feeling the blood pulse through my veins. It's similar in purpose to the resting position you do at the end of a yoga class. And then I feel good for the rest of the night!

I re-registered for comments so that's why they're all gone! Sorry. Just write more. Hopefully it'll work now...

30 March 2006

alreadythursday

You know when you have so much homework to do that you just lose sense of its weight and become numb to the mounting dread? That's what I'm doing right now. Starting with last night, I've had so much work to do. Exams, papers, busy work... it's all piling up as classes ingeniously manage to reach the 'overdrive' meter at the same time in the semester. Part of it is my procrastination, but honestly, part is the actual classes themselves. I pre-registered for classes for the fall (just in case), so I'm signed up for Human Event II, two English classes, Microecon, History of Food, and Statistics. I changed my major to English with a concentration in Linguistics kind of out of the blue the other day but I plan to double-major in Economics too, I just don't want to do all the double-major paperwork here when it will most likely be a waste of time. It makes no difference what major(s) I am here if I'm not staying here. But to be prepared, I'm slowly cracking into the requirements for both English and Econ while still trying to take some electives. Damn the gen-eds.

I'm actually in my dorm for once. I get sick of my family after seeing them so regularly; although I enjoy having a nice home to live in with a kitchen and lots of rooms, there is tension sometimes when I want to live my way yet I'm under the house rules too. I can't wait to finally be a college student with college friends living away from home in September (knock on wood). So a night away in my dorm for once is refreshing, but it's quite unenjoyable not having real food to eat or even an actual place to sit (I sit in my papasan chair, but that's where I sit to do homework and internet, so I never feel like I'm ever eating a real meal because it's always in snatches with lots of getting up and down). I did go to TJs with Ali earlier, but because I don't have a stocked kitchen and because I don't eat frozen or premade meals (even from TJs), my dinner tonight was hummus, pita bread, baby carrots and an apple. At home this morning I threw together a KISS salad (keep it simple, stupid) for lunch which despite its simplicity looked quite pretty with spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, a green bell pepper and edamame. Of course, I left my photo transfer data key thing at home so pictures will have to wait. Recipes anticipated for this weekend include lemon chocolate chip muffins (par request of Ali) and tofu-stuffed peppers.

I've been feeling nostalgic for England lately, and every weekday on NPR at 6:30pm the BBC World News airs. For half an hour, I listen to wonderful British accents with all the appropriate dips and nuances that come with news broadcasts. I usually only catch it if I'm running errands with the car at that time because if it's been a long day, it's soothing to drive to voices instead of heart-pumping rock music, and I love phrases like, "he was returning home from holiday...". So I love streaming radio on the internet, which is offered for free on the BBC Radio website. NPR also does a live stream, but I think it's on East Coast time. But whatever, I still love NPR. I'm missing England! I'm sad that the only way I can be there in six months is if I either go to a sub-par university (Richmond) or spend three years learning only about art history (which I actually can't do anymore since I withdrew my UCAS applications).

March needs to be over. It's time for April.

28 March 2006

currrrries

Tonight I made Spinach and Chickpea Curry from Vegan with a Vengeance (VWAV). It was really good - easy, quick and tasty. Saute onions in a little olive oil until brown, add spices (cumin, cinnamon, curry powder, cardamom pods, corriander, ginger), add juice of one can of tomatoes, then add the tomatoes, then the spinach until wilted, then the chickpeas, and finally cover and simmer for 20 minutes. It's almost exactly what I usually make when I make curry, although I've never used spinach. Tomatoes are in everything (they're the most commonly consumed vegetable in the US, usually in the forms of pasta sauce and ketchup or a pathetic little slice on a burger) so it's nice to have another veggie as the main star in curry for once. The one odd thing was that I put in a tiny amount of salt, like an eighth of a teaspoon, and it still tasted extremely salty. I just checked the cans and there was indeed some salt added to both the tomatoes and chickpeas (makes sense), so for next time I know not to add any additional salt if I used canned stuff, which I don't really like using but sometimes it's much more convenient instead of soaking beans overnight. The good thing about the salt sensitivity is that it means that my senses are getting more astute as I've been vegan for three weeks, with no intentions of stopping. Pretty cool! So other than the salt, the curry was great, and I loved the addition of the cinnamon.

I've felt like a lump of potatoes for the past few days. I ran long and hard this morning at 7am to clear my head and attitude. The rest of my week is pretty packed - I have a math exam tomorrow, important economics homework due Thursday and a French exam (as well as a not-important English essay due) on Friday. Of course, because I can't do things ahead of time I've left everything to the last minute. Honestly, right now the only thing that I get excited about is cooking... and of course, I'm also looking forward to get my hair done next week, to fresh color, trimmed ends, an overall clean-up.

27 March 2006

moneybags

I had a panic just now when I thought that the first draft of my really important Human Event essay was due tomorrow, but I just checked and it's due in a week tomorrow. Phew! Nothing's due tomorrow at all!

On a sidenote, I got into Richmond! (The one in London). This is not that thrilling because I knew I would, and because they didn't give me a partial scholarship which I had assumed would happen because I'm definitely in the top end of their applicant pool. I did apply really close to the deadline though, so maybe all the money's gone.

27 March 2006

numbers

Today I've sort of been getting freaked out about getting accepted at the three selective colleges I applied to... just in regards to the overall strength of my application, grades, recommendations, etc. I don't even really have a reason to be worried but I'm still going to be anxious after knowing for seven months that I need to go to another place. I won't hear back until (at the earliest) mid-April. But just now, I let go of all the anxiety and you know, whatever happens, happens. And that's that.

I too am happy the comments are back, although I'm still trying to fix the minor glitches, so that's why it still says (0) although there aren't 0, and why all the comments appear every time.

25 March 2006

seventeenbeansandbarley

Hannah and I decided to go to the library today, so I borrowed The Candle Cafe Cookbook. I was skimming it to see if the recipes were actually doable in a normal kitchen with common ingredients (which they were) when I came across Spring Vegetable Minestrone. It's been a quiet day, soup was just what I needed, and we had every single ingredient so I decided to make it for supper. It is a medley of onion, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, beans, vegetable broth, basil, celery seed (since we didn't have any rosemary), salt, pepper, and olive oil. So simple and so good! In the pantry I found a bag of dry mixed beans from TJs and obviously since I just thought of making soup today I hadn't soaked them overnight as you're supposed to with dried beans. Because of this, they were still quite firm after an hour of simmering but it actually didn't detract from the soup at all. We had fresh basil too. I toasted two pieces of bread and put a bit of vegan margarine on them, and swirled torn-off pieces around my bowl.

The zucchini cake from yesterday, before the middle collapsed slightly.

I know I take pictures of this mug all the time, but that is only because it is perfect. So is hot homemade chai.

I've basically decided that I want to live on a huge estate in England with my family and several dogs and run a bed & breakfast. But before that I want to have a little apartment in London and work in a vegetarian restaurant and eventually own one, so when I'll be able to afford to live comfortably in the country. I want a huge old house surrounded by flowers and trees, with a huge kitchen and stone floors and creaky wooden stairs and a vegetable garden.

Time for Lord of the Rings with my mom and Hannah...

25 March 2006

inhale

Why the fig and flower?

The fig because I love food, especially figs. They're saucy and seedy and earthy, fed by the ground and the sun. Much of what I write here will be about food. I'm continuously learning about it, about how to be healthy and nurtured, about how to put together different foods to create something spectacular, about how to listen to my body to feed it what it needs. I've been exploring vegetarianism for the last five years and veganism, on and off, over the last year, both for ethical and health reasons. Right now it's on, perhaps permanently. Food is powerful.

The flower because it basically wraps up my life. I love flowers. I love colors. Simplicity. Being inquisitive. Intuitive. Aromas. Beauty. The cycle of life. Purity. Water. Earth. Leaving as light of a footprint as possible. Being proud of who I am. Finding out what makes me happy. Spontaneity. Blooming.

I want this blog to be the union of the fig and the flower, where I will write about both my life and my food, because they cannot be separated. Food is nourishment, and life must be nourished, by food as well as everything else.