Light and Love

Many people have asked why it is that I stopped writing and disappeared from the blogosphere for so many months.  My first answer was that things had ceased to make me happy so I simply had nothing to write about. 

Life has changed drastically, many times over, since last I posted and while this statement was honest, it was too simple.  Rather, I seem to have lost my way and instead of subjecting you to all the gory details, I will instead talk about the international network of family and friends that helped me back to where I now stand.

I don’t think we ever realize how truly blessed we are by these networks of love and light until whatever crisis we are dealing with is so big that we cease to give anything back.  Instead, it becomes a one-way relationship of unending support, met by the same bleak, negative, pit of despair response.  Far from self-pitying, it is simply that hard to see past the darkness sometimes.  But coming out on the other side of it and realizing that it was those who love you most that kept you going, regardless of what you couldn’t give them at the time, is truly humbling and inspiring.

So instead of describing my woes and the harrowing adventures that brought me here, I would like to thank my family and friends for their endless support and say to you, that it is because of your love and belief in me that I can once again begin to stand on my own and believe in myself.

In short, I am back, no, I have arrived at a new beginning; not because of what I experienced but because of the people who helped me through it. 

Thank you.  I cannot think of a better way to kick off the Christmas season than to acknowledge that I would not be the same without you.

Merry Christmas

~ Let your faith be bigger than your fear; faith in yourself, faith in the unknown, and faith in others.

Things I Should Not Have Done

Cooking is for once, among the ill fated categories of things better left alone; specifically cajun cooking.  I can cook a basic étouffée, crab cakes, and the best beignets you've ever had but mention the word cajun and expect 'chargrilled' instead of 'blackened' and 'roof-of-your mouth burning' instead of 'mouth watering.'

What my 'cajun blackened, trout po-boy,' should have looked like...

We all have that one thing we just cannot cook or bake and sadly I attempted mine this past evening.  What started out as an attempt to throw proverbial caution to the wind and master my food nemesis, ended up a, for once not chargrilled, but overly salted and peppered, fried trout mess.  Being my stubborn self, I ate it anyway as it was not completely inedible and jubilantly ran it all off this morning.

What it more closely resembled.

I bring this to light, not as an adventure or inspirational feature but as the comical musings of a sleep deprived grad student, obviously just close enough to the edge of crazy to cook something that I know will end up looking like the charcoal it was supposed to be grilled over.

I think i'll leave the cajun food to the experts and happily wander back to my soups, salads, non-blackened main dishes, and of course, baking : )

The "Mean Reds"

As Audrey Hepburn a la Holly Golightly once put it, some days you get so low that the blues are replaced with the reds and all you can do is go to Tiffany's.  Since I don't have time for a visit to Tiffany's, my solution is a bottle of brilliantly colored nail polish, my new favorite candle, and a good edition of Vogue.  It's easy to get swept up in the everyday pressures of life, school, and the social world but as a few of my friends at Stiletto for Beginners and La Rue Neuve have recently written, it's all about perspective and trying to stay positive.  Here's to today not being Monday, being one day closer to St. Patrick's Day, an endless supply of coffee, bottles of bright red nail polish, and of course, to Tiffany's.

Veganism Continued

Happy Friday!  My foray into the vegan diet has gone well thus far and I am excited to continue my exploration throughout the weekend.  I'll save you the run down on exactly what i've been eating but here are a few of my favorite recipes and ones I intend to try, vegan style, over the weekend.  See you on Monday!

My new favorite Grilled avocado, tomato, and basil sandwich: 7 Grain bread, tomato, avocado, fresh basil, and a bit of thyme, garlic, and pepper, with a drizzling of olive oil.

Pancake recipe from the Repressed Pastry Chef.  You can substitue soy milk for buttermilk (even substituting regular milk tastes fine in place of buttermilk), maple syrup instead of sugar, and bananas (1 mashed to one egg).



Instead of buying Oreos (vegan!) I decided to be adventurous and make this homemade Thin Mint recipe from the blog Baking Bites.  Unfortunately you can't substitute with maple syrup for this one, you'll have to stick to granulated sugar, but you can still substitute the eggs with bananas, the butter with margarine, the milk with soy, and as long as the chocolate is 60% or above, it should be vegan friendly.  If the consistency is too thin because of the margarine substitution, add more cornstarch to thicken the batter without changing the flavor.  Good luck and happy baking!

Ps. Most of these recipes call for white
flour and since it is not strictly anti-
vegan, I am going to use up the massive
amount I have left before trying more
pro-vegan alternatives.  If you are
looking to try an alternative however,
I have been recommended whole wheat
pastry flour in a smaller quantity than
white flour.

Vegan Update #1

Refried Bean and avocado quesadilla; my new favorite!
(This one includes soy cheese, which I have not had time
to explore yet.  If you do not feel like experimenting, the
dish will taste fine cheese free)

I have officially been vegan for two days now and thus far all is well!  Tomorrow will be my first distance run on this diet so we will see how my energy holds up.

As for what I have been eating the past two days, I will give you a short run down.
Monday: Breakfast: 7 grain toast with honey and a banana, Lunch: cous cous with lentils and grilled red peppers, Snack: Soy peppermint mocha from Starbucks, 1/2 piece 7 grain bread and tomato and olive hummus, mixed nuts with raisins, Dinner: Refried bean, salsa, and fresh basil quesadilla.
Tuesday: Breakfast: 7 grain toast with honey and a banana, Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich (the avocados for today weren't ripe yet), Snack: Soy peppermint mocha from Starbucks, large raw fruit, nut, and oat Nakd bar, Dinner: Refried bean, 1/2 avocado, salsa, and fresh basil quesadilla, radishes and tomato and olive hummus.

Throughout the past two days I have stayed full and energized.  I have yet to miss any of the foods I gave up and I can't believe that I can eat so much and still be well under my normal calorie count.  Respectively I don't need to eat as much because I always feel full!

Everyone has been very supportive and I have received both tons of recipes and some strange misconceptions about Veganism.  Fact: many vegans consider honey to be outside the vegan regimen, as well as anything sealed with tallow, beeswax, or made with gelatin, as those are derived from animal byproducts in minimal amounts.  This is however open to personal interpretation.  Things people reported as vegan but actually aren't: black coffee and processed food.  I have also been finishing the Veganist by Kathy Freston and though I do not share her adamant stand on cruelty to animals or religious reasons for Veganism, I have found all of the aspects important to vegansim fascinating and informative.

There are so many things to take in and so much to discuss.  Leave your thoughts and comments and I will keep you posted on my progress!