Dive-bombing bumblebees. Mice scampering over my feet. Thunderstorms approaching. Me Caribbean-rapping. Plus everything you need to make a great emergency car kit. Essentially, you haven't seen one of my vlogs till you've seen this vlog. I about died laughing.
Balsamic Maple Oranges
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Do you ever get tired of the same breakfast or dessert toppings? I freely admit that I'm always a sucker for chocolate shell on ice cream, caramel sauce on ice cream, and hot fudge on ice cream. I'm always a fan of butter on toast. I'm usually a fan of almond butter, I avoid peanut butter unless I'm really incredibly un-thirsty. I don't find maple syrup terribly amazing. I adore sauerkraut...but you don't put that on breakfast foods or dessert unless you're the most dedicated German monk or something. So when a random flavor combination wins points by making totally inedible attempts at recipe-less gluten free pancakes edible, you know it deserves a post of its own. Meet supreme'd oranges with balsamic maple syrup:
Balsamic Maple Oranges
1 large orange or other citrus fruit, supreme'd (video instructions here)
2 tablespoons high quality balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons real maple syrup
1.) Mix all ingredients together and serve over-top vanilla ice cream, pancakes, or on biscuits with a dollop of whipped cream.
And in other news? Never try to make gluten free pancakes without a recipe. It just doesn't end well. I was being lazy and instead of looking up a recipe I thought, "*snort* Gluten free pancakes don't taste good anyway. What could go wrong?" Yeah. Let's just say, I was very, very thankful for my little balsamic maple oranges. They made breakfast bearable and I could have drunk some of that maple balsamic, it was so good.
Interested Vs. Interesting: The Millennials' Conundrum
Saturday, April 16, 2016
A few days ago I
came across a quote shared by an account I follow on Instagram:
“Strive to be interested, not interesting,” the graphic read.
A subtle
difference, but one that struck me deeply enough that it has played
on in my head ever since. People who try to be interesting are the
people who spend their time tastefully arranging everything from
their Instagram posts to their musical tastes hoping that other
people will give them the grace of their “like.” People who try
to be interesting wear styles that don't suit their personality or
body, buy name-brands they can't possibly afford, and carefully
cultivate their tender feelings in a little greenhouse of public
approval. Interested people, on the other hand, do things for their
own sake. Interested people might, on the surface, do exactly the
same thing as people who try to be interesting but there is a
fundamental difference in their motive: those interesting wannabes do
what they do to get attention and approval. The interested people do
what they do because they enjoying doing it.
Interested people
are largely un-self-conscious because they realize that life outside
their own range of experience has something to teach them. They are
not threatened people, but adventurous people. They explore the world
because of their own curiosity. They try new things not because that
is what popular bloggers do, but because they're curious. An
interested person will create a playlist on Spotify filled with songs
they like because they like them, not because they ought to
like them. They'll go to Iceland not because it's the place cool
people go, but because the tickets are cheap and the landscape
swallows you whole and you can see the Aurora Borealis when you look
up at night. Or they'll stay home in their small town and make
waffles because they like their small town and its train-graffiti and
the same waffle recipe they've had for years. Interested people keep
up with new artists and playwrights not because they're afraid
they'll fall behind pop-culture but because they are truly excited
about experiencing the work of and learning about the fresh
creativity brought to us by minds outside their own. An interested
person doesn't need constant adrenaline because he's going to find
something in everything – in dirt-bike ride, yes, but also in a
Saturday morning trip to the farmers' market.
I want to be an
interested person. I always have wanted that, yet in some moments the easier, "smarter" choice is to try to be interesting and I know I have sometimes chosen that. So much pressure is put on us to appear
interesting. But to be interested? Here's something I've learned: the
most interesting people are those people who are most
interested. There is value in setting aside your desire to be liked
for the liking's sake. There is value in shutting off your phone and
watching a sunset without ever once reaching to take a photo. There
is also value in taking the photo if you want, if that is the way you
best enjoy it. There is value in letting yourself be interested and
spending your time on pure, unfettered, unapproved curiosity in
matters. To help all those who seek to be interested, here's a list
of ways to get started:
#1 – Read a
book (a real book): Read a book you disagree with. Read a book
that was once banned someplace. Read a book recommended by someone
you respect and read a book no one you know has ever heard of. If
you've ever been interested in a subject, even in passing, find a
book about it and start reading. For expanding your concept of the
world, I recommend picking up a non-fiction title on any random
subject you find mildly interesting. One of the best parts of reading
is how one subject leads you to another, ever down a rabbit hole,
until you look up and no longer remember where the trail began. It's
such an intoxicating thing.
#2 – Go on a
road-trip by yourself: Road-trips with friends are one of the
most fun ways to get in good friend-time. But to see a town as a
loner lets you experience it in an entirely new fashion. You're not
distracted by socializing or deep conversations. You notice things
you never noticed before and there's nothing that can quite equal the
thrill of stepping out of the car and knowing you are, for the time,
quite alone in the world. Going someplace doesn't have to mean a solo
trip to Vienna like that taken by one of my friends. It can be
driving two towns over and stopping in a restaurant whose doors
you've never before darkened. It can even be riding the metro one
stop past the farthest you've ever gone, or taking a different hiking
trail in your usual park. Guys, if you want, it can even be taking
your normal hiking trail backward.
#3 – Strike
up a conversation with a stranger: this one freaks me out – the
initial conversational break-through is one thing of which I'm still
terrified. I mean, you're interrupting someone's solitude and that
can seem like a huge Thing Not To Do. Look for someone who isn't
entirely absorbed in their business and say something. The main thing
is to get the conversation going. Maybe it'll peter out. Maybe it
will be a story you'll tell at dinner parties for the rest of your
life.
#4 – Try
something new at least once a week: food, skills, art-forms, or
music. Clothing styles, hair-styles, nail-polish colors, gum-flavors.
You can interpret this anyway you choose. The main thing is to
consistently introduce something that breaks you out of your chosen
mold and helps keep ever before your eyes the idea that there is a
whole world unexplored and that it begins outside your own ken.
#5 – Read
foreign newspapers: one of my good friends swears by reading
foreign newspapers online to supplement her American news feed. And
it's true that while foreign news-service shouldn't be the total sum
of your media exposure, it's a fantastic way to keep abreast of
stories that might not break American radio-static. In addition to
providing you with fresh news, reading foreign papers' takes on our
news is a good way to determine how our national events are being
reported abroad. I've yet to try this tactic, but I'm keeping it in
my back pocket.
#6 – Ask
questions: way too often I don't ask questions where asking a
question would lead me into a whole new zone of knowledge. I might
have a perfectly decent answer for whatever my original conundrum
was, but you miss out on so much when you don't ask follow-up
questions. Ask advice of your friends, even when you (think you) have
it figured out. Ask what someone else thinks of a topic when you've
expressed your opinion. If someone asks a question of you, give an
answer and then ask it back. This way, you'll always learn new
things.
#7 – Don't
fear failure: I know successful people say this all the time but
guess what? That's because it's true. Don't be afraid of failing.
Don't be afraid of trying something and seeing that, yep, you're new
at it. Don't let terror of un-photogenic results keep at bay the part
of you that wants to do something. I want to get better at drawing
portraits. Yes, they look like I put a picture of your face in a
blender and then paper mache'd it back together. But if I don't start
somewhere I will never improve.
#8 – Share
your failures: This is top in my list of being interested. An
interested person doesn't wait for everything to look or be perfect
before they share their work. I like people who have the guts to
tweet a photo of some art project that flopped, or a line they wrote
three years ago and can't stand now. I like people who play an
unfinished song on their ukelele for me, or start singing a ballad
and forget half the words. I like people who talk about how they
forgot to feed their goldfish and it died. I like people who admit
that they burned the bacon this morning or left a lighted candle and
forgot about it. I like them because their openness tells me
something about who they are as a person: they're not a finished,
filtered, sharpened Instagram shot. They're a picnic photo printed
out and hung up even though there was a fingerprint smudge on the
camera lens and sand had blown into the Oreos. They're into the
moments, not what they want you to perceive of the moments.
Interested. Let's
be interested. Interesting takes care of itself.
Volcano Roll, Dutch Pancake Edition
Thursday, April 14, 2016
One reason I'm so excited about this breakfast is that it comes with plenty of protein from the eggs and salmon, gives you a shot of morning vegetables from the julienned cucumber and sliced avocado, provides you with some lovely Omega 3's from the salmon, and then makes you generally feel amazing because you created something magazine-worthy with very little trouble or vexation. I think it's pretty much impossible to mess up a dutch pancake. I mean, it's supposed to flop. So that means that, darlings, you've even got Monday morning beat.
Volcano Dutch Pancake
Serves 4-6
For the pancake
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 Tablespoons of melted butter, plus one more tablespoon for greasing skillet
3/4 cups whole milk, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large cast iron skillet
For the toppings
smoked salmon fillets
1/2 cucumber peeled and julienned
Red onion slivers
1/2 avocado, sliced
1.) Put the skillet in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the skillet in the oven for about 20 minutes while you prep the pancake batter.
2.) Crack eggs into blender and blend until very frothy. With motor running, gradually add in the milk and melted butter. Pulse in the flour, pepper, and salt.
3.) Remove skillet from the oven and immediately drop in the extra tablespoon of butter. It will brown quickly so have the batter at the ready and pour immediately into the skillet.
4.) Return to oven and bake 20 minutes or until pancake is puffed and golden around the edges.
5.) Remove from oven, top with the "volcano roll" toppings, or other toppings of preference, and enjoy warm with a cup of black coffee or tea.
Because who wouldn't want to start off their morning this way?
Art Lately
Saturday, April 2, 2016
The title says it all. My recent art has included a spontaneous and well-turned go at illustrating a vintage Dior piece, a sketching "scavenger hunt" with my younger sisters during their spring break, city skylines, and a couple other random goes at artistic expression when I've had a spare moment.
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