Twizzlers and Jelly Beans and Cadbury Eggs, Oh My!

Joy of all joys.  My class ended an hour early tonight!  I really should stop expecting this class to take the entire time, it's a seminar so we are all writing a major research paper and basically just meet to go over things like how many pages it is and what the organization should look like.  But still, it's over and now I have an entire, blissful hour to myself!  Well, technically I suppose I should be working on my 25 page paper due Wednesday or my 8 page paper due Thursday...but my Google calendar says I don't start on that stuff until 8:00, so I am going to use this time to blog and eat candy.

That's right, candy!  My loving mother sent a gigantonormous box filled with candy of all sorts as an early Easter present.  So the roommates and I have been mowing through it at a pretty solid pace.  I also gave some to some friends in the suite down the hall because, well, type 2 diabetes (like love) should be shared.

Other than the candy, I have been eating pretty well the past couple of days.  I went to Whole Foods for one final grocery shopping trip before the end of the semester.  I was almost out of soy milk and cereal, so I pretty desperately needed it.  While I was there, I treated myself to a bowl of Adobo Black Bean soup and a peasant roll.  Yummy.

I love Whole Foods with a passion that is almost scary in its intensity.  But it was a terrible, rainy day and soup really hit the spot.  That is one of the ways that you know that spring really has sprung in DC.  It rains, a lot.  I actually don't mind it all that much, it means that my superhero rain boots are used pretty frequently (they're bright red and go up to about my knee).  The other way you know it's springtime at American University?  The squirrels reappear!

The oh-so elusive black squirrel in its natural habitat, the quad.  In all seriousness though, I am a tiny bit obsessed with the black squirrels.  As someone who grew up in an area with just the plain old grey ones, I just think that the black squirrels are da-bomb.  I also wonder whether they ever feel any desire to rise up against the man and protest grey oppression in squirrel-dom...or perhaps I am just anthropomorphizing them a bit too much.   And in my last bit of news...

Yes!  I am officially a blogger!  Now I have an awesome t-shirt/blogging uniform that I may or may not be wearing right now....it's sooo soft.  Anyway, my dad found this shirt at one of my favorite stores, Raygun, in Des Moines and thought it was pretty awesome.  And he was right!  Thanks Dad!

Well, that's all that's happened in my life recently.  It's coming up to that most dreaded time of the year...finals.  I have many essays to write, a couple of tests, and the odd presentation to round out my year.  That said, I am going to try and keep posting about twice a week.  I have somehow (through begging) convinced my roommates that we need to do a falafel dinner at my favorite falafel place, so look for a review of that in the upcoming week!

Until next time!

Good Morning Sunshine!

Hello bloggies!  I hope you are having a fine Monday morning!  It is supposed to be 88 degrees here in D.C. today, so I am breaking out the old flip-flops and trying to get a tan on my way to class.  The recent change in the weather has me thinking about breakfast food!  Well, almost anything makes me think about breakfast, but that's not the point.  I usually don't like eating hot foods when it is hot out, like coffee or oatmeal.  But, I do love oatmeal.  Seriously, I would eat oatmeal for almost every breakfast if I could.  

However, I do not love the long walk down the hall from my room to the lounge (where the microwave is).  It’s not a pretty sight.  I stumble down the hall, hair uncombed, wearing an incredibly oversized t-shirt with Bugs Bunny and a pair of sweats.  Yikes.  So, I don’t end up making oatmeal as often as I would like.  And once it gets too warm for oatmeal, I have even less of an incentive to make my favorite breakfast. 

However, I found something recently that could change all of that.  Overnight Oats in a Jar.  The idea behind this dish is that you prepare oatmeal with water or milk inside of an almost empty peanut butter jar.  That way, you are able to scrape all the goodness from the inside of the PB jar with your oats.

I was a bit skeptical about this endeavor.  Cold oatmeal?  I love my oats, but I wasn’t sure if the idea of eating them cold in the morning was palatable or not.  But, some of my favorite bloggers have mentioned it, and I have seen it too many times for it to just be some cruel internet joke created to make me cringe.  So, I decided I would have to try it.

I had this idea about four days ago.  I was going to wait until my peanut butter jar was almost empty and then ta-da!  Oats in a jar, here we come!  However, I still had a lot of PB left, and not a lot of patience.  I can usually go through a jar of PB in about three weeks, but that was going to be too long for me to wait!  Hmm, writing about peanut butter makes me want peanut butter…resist urge to get spoon, must not eat PB straight from the jar…OK, I think I’m better now. 

So, anyway, I decided to make OOIAJ.  I followed a recipe I found online, but instead of using the almost empty PB jar, I spread about a tablespoon of PB on the bottom/sides of an old jam jar.  See?  Patience is overrated, who needs patience?  

OOIAJ

1 almost empty jar of PB

½ cup instant oats

1 banana

½ cup water

¼ cup soymilk

Put ½ of the banana (chopped) into the jar with the PB.  Top with oats and add in the soymilk.  Stir.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  In the morning, stir again and top with the remaining ½ banana.  (I also added a couple of dried cherries I bought at the Farmer’s Market)

                                                     Awesome oats, after a full night in the fridge, getting all happy.

                                                     The results, tasty, tasty, results.

Despite my previous concerns, the OOIAJ turned out really well.  They were super creamy and yummy.  The combination of peanut butter and banana is always a winner for me, and the cold thing was actually kinda nice.  Since there is no microwave required, this was a really easy way for me to make something other than cereal for breakfast.  And I don’t even have to wait until I have an almost empty PB jar.  Take that internet!  Of course, I suppose you could make this without the peanut butter, but, for the life of me, I can’t even figure out why I wrote that. 

                                                     Overnight oats, after being sufficiently nom'ed

Until next time!

Domo Arigato Mr. Yogato

It’s that time, I have to stand behind all those food review promises and start writing non-intro blog posts.  I had the most terrible time deciding what my first real post would be about, I contemplated many different options; post-modern art, existentialist perspectives, the panopticon in modern society, and eventually I decided to just write a review of a fro-yo place.

But not just any fro-yo place, I would go so far as to say that it is the best fro-yo place in the entirety of the District of Columbia, nay, THE WORLD!  Seriously though, this place is pretty damn awesome.  It’s called Mr. Yogato, and if the name wasn’t indication enough, it’s a fairly quirky place. 

                                                                                                *Picture from DCist.com

It’s on the lower level of a random building a couple of blocks from Dupont Circle and if you didn’t know it was there, you would probably never stop.  And that would be a terrible life choice, just terrible.  They have four different flavors of yogurt every day, two fairly standard (soft and tangy) and two that are actually flavored.  My personal favorite is the coconut, or blackberry, or guava, or possibly white chocolate.  The flavors plus about a million and a half different toppings make it just like any other yogurt place in the city. 

However, there is something about this place that makes it unique, special, a bit weird.  Mr. Yogato, you can compete in games to get money off your yogurt. 

You heard me.  If you can do the Michael Jackson “Thriller” dance, quote the entire Stirling battlefield speech from Braveheart (with Scottish accent), answer some random bit of trivia or are willing to let them put a stamp on your forehead, you will get money off your yogurt.

Needless to say, I can’t dance and I have never watched Braveheart all the way through (sorry, guys), but I can cheat on trivia like nobody’s business.  Thank you iPhone for your magical googling powers, I will leave a sacrifice on the altar of Steve Jobs later this week.

So, super awesome yogurt plus amazing trivia and other contests that make said yogurt cheaper.  Mr. Yogato is pretty much the most awesome place ever.  It is also relatively healthy, as far as desserts go.  It’s fresh yogurt with even fresher fruit, what more could you ask for? 

Until next time!

It's A Brand New Blog!

Well, it was bound to happen eventually.  I'm on Facebook and Twitter.  I spend more time on Sporcle, StumbleUpon and reading blogs than is strictly healthy for my eyesight (which was poor to begin with).  It seems like there is only one logical progression for me to make in the realm of internet usage and social media.  I have started a blog.

The main impetus behind starting this blog was my sister, Kristen.  She told me that since I am studying abroad in Belgium next summer, I should begin a blog to keep everyone back here connected with my travels.  And, surprisingly, I agreed with her logic.  So, I decided to start a travel blog!!!  But not just any old travel blog, oh no.  One that explores the deeper metaphysical issues of spending time abroad in a foreign country.

~If a waffle falls on the ground in Belgium, does the five second rule still apply?
~Do I take the path less travelled, or have I gotten lost by accident?
~Is love the true universal language?
~Are brussels sprouts called brussels sprouts in Brussels?

The answers...yes, I should have just followed the other tourists, no (and these lovely French people have no idea what you're talking about), and I have no idea.

As you might have noticed, I said I was going abroad in the fall and it is definitely not fall yet.  In fact, it's barely even spring.  Well, I think that I have the personality for blogging.  A tad obsessive, schedule oriented, opinionated, I could do this all day.  So, I wanted to start this now because I feel like I should get into the routine of writing a blog, build a fan base (that is probably mostly related to me, let's be honest), and I want this blog to be a blog about my life and food and travel in general, not just this specific trip.

So, I am going to start writing this blog now!  I will definitely update twice a week, but possibly more.  There will be reviews of cheap eats in DC (where I live now), food reviews in general, recipes tailored to those of us that are space and equipment poor, and random thoughts.  I hope that you stick around for the ride.

Thanks!