Ugh sorry sorry sorry I know it’s been forever since we’ve had an invisible internet friend chat… but I’m back now with random things so you can rest easy. I know, you suuuuper missed me. Or something.
This is pretty much going to be one of those photo dump posts… I’ve made and eaten a lot in the last weekish and am feeling a little braindead. Back with a normal recipe post shortly…
Firstly this.
Because…. just because. I just think it’s way too good not to share. Agreed?
Just do me a favor and don’t take this out of context… no, my family does not lollop around dressed in early Californiana-esque garments… nor do we secretly own a saloon/tavern/gambling/dancing establishment. Just no. However, we did decide we needed a new family portrait. So that happened.
And then there was Father’s Day! Or rather, Father’s Day happened before all of the vintage photograph shenanigans but it’s family and therefore relatable so MOVING ON. Vati requested something chocolate and spicy, so I made him these!
Salted chocolate, cayenne and ginger ice cream sammies!!
The recipe is from The Artful Desperado, here, and I made a few changes:
1.5 c whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose (obvi)
1/2 c avocado oil instead of canola
3/4 c extra dark chocolate chips+some chunks from a 70% bar
1 c brown sugar+ 1/2 c white***
baked for 13 minutes, yield 15 cookies+ one little baby one
***As you know, I pretty much never ever make things with refined sugar any more (some of the older recipes on the blog do though)… but as Vati specifically requested something sugary and decadent, there you go. It was Father’s Day, after all, and what he says goes.
He looooved them. They are dark and spicy and PERFECT with some good quality vanilla ice cream smashed in the middle. I only caution you if you’re not a fan of spicy things, as these are not particularly for the faint of heart. Especially if you don’t like spicy desserts. If you do, however, I can’t really recommend these enough.
They got annihilated.
Dinner was this spectacular steelhead with potatoes and bacon and red wine sauce. Gastro heaven, thank you Farallon.
Reason number one why I love summer [actually might be one of the only reasons since I hate being hot so much, but regardless]:
SO. MUCH. FRUIT. Can’t stop, won’t stop.
And also chocolate. Because… chocolate.
Oh oh oh!! One last random. HUMPHRY SLOCOMBE [quite possibly the best ice cream ever] opened a shop in the Ferry Building, which means it’s only a short hop away on the Oakland-SF ferry. Winninggggggg. E and I literally ate our way into an ice cream coma last week. Secret Breakfast [bourbon cornflake]+banana beach blanket [with peanuts!!!]+bourbon caramel for me; sea salted chocolate+vanilla honey+bourbon caramel+frosted almonds for him. All hail the ice cream mecca!
I have returned from several things, the most recent was a fab wedding in Boise in which I was a bridesmaid and my best friend Ashley married this awesome guy named Jimmy! It was beautiful, I ate way too many delicious things, and now I’m back. Congratulations Ashley and Jimmy! I am SO thrilled I could be part of your beautiful wedding.
A wedding isn’t a wedding without cake…
Obviously low [fruit] sugar-peanut butter-banana-oat-coconut breakfast cookies were needed on the flight…
Because then I ate this!!! Sorry I’m not sorry. Ashley and I always got Coldstone when we were in college… so clearly it was time for a throwback day, 3.5 years later. Sugar coma? … YES.
Other random things. This is going to be one of those weird posts where I share all kinds of strange photos I’ve found on my phone. They need a home somewhere, right??
My bloglet turns three years old this month!!! Happy Birthday, bloglet!! Thank you for keeping my diet interesting and my photography skills sharpish. I will make you a three-year-old-bloglet dessert at some point but I just ate a bunch of wedding cake sooo… not just now.
I’ve been playing with my new dehydrator! Freshly dried apricots with no gunk in them?! Sign me up.
Also… I made some grain-free, refined sugar free paleo chocolate brownie cookies and they’re delicious… watch this space for further developments and I might share.
And nothing beats a good book and a delicious breakfast. This is what vacation is supposed to be like! And clearly oatmeal = an excuse to eat nut butter. Obvi.
Yoga, delicious food, and dear ones. A fabulous weekend away at a yoga retreat that I wished would never end, ever. The photos don’t quite do it justice, but I had fun taking them anyway. Vacation photo dump, wheee!
Thankfully I’ve had lots of both in my morning today, otherwise we might have a problem.
Maybe I just really like things that end in a?
Banana. Kombucha.
…
Wait okay those are all I can currently think of… and almond butter and bread don’t end in ‘a’ so clearly we’ve run into a problem here.
Also, a few random notes.
I made quite possibly the weirdest sandwich, ever. Lentils, sautéed apples and carrots, and cardamom all smashed together and sandwiched between almond butter and the subsequently grilled. Yeah. Weird but shockingly delicious..?! I might actually be making it again here sometime soon. But it was ugly so I don’t have a very flattering picture of it…
Oh. And I know you’re all curious about my oatmeal that contains pretty much five servings of fruits and veg? Mostly veg? Yep. Here it is:
Apparently that morning I went a little nuts with the nut butter, but hey. It was probably really early and I was just barely coming into proper human functionality. There is a half a zucchini, 2 c of spinach, 2 carrots, 1/4 c wild blueberries, and 1/4 c unsweetened applesauce in there. Wheeee!
But anyway. Remember when I made that banana bread a little while ago? Well yes. It was delicious on its own. BUT THEN I trashed it up and it entered a realm that might have been close to transcendental. This is third-eye banana bread. Mmm. I highly recommend trashing up some of your own banana bread, for you own good.
Nosh is a very wise, very blissed out cat. He knows what’s up, and what’s good for him… which is why he’s trying to swipe some of my banana bread. Hey now buddy, you’re already enlightened. My banana bread-third-eye-bliss!
Trashed Up Banana Bread
Recipe from my own semi-enlightened (ha) food brain. Because banana bread is always a winner. Serves… however many slices you have! So maybe just one (shhh, I won’t tell). This is so not even a recipe, but a suggestion of something mind-blowingly delicious. The ingredients below can be used up to the amount you want! Yaaayy!!
leftover banana bread, sliced thick
salted butter
almond butter (mine happened to be salted)
shredded unsweetened coconut
cinnamon
honey? If you want.
Telling you how to do this seems slightly patronizing….but whatever. You might need direction? Maybe? Here’s what I did:
Heat a small pan over medium heat. Butter both sides of the banana bread slices, and grill those babies in the pan!! I like mine a bit on the brown side, but that’s just me. Spread almond butter thickly all over the place, and then top with shredded coconut and cinnamon. And honey, if that’s your thing.
Eat (and fend off your cat. Who knew cats liked banana bread?!). With a fork, because this is a fork-type operation. Feel your third eye open a little wider on account of banana bread bliss.
Welcome to Random Friday! I have several nice lifeish photos hanging out on my phone and they need a home. And I figured I would accompany them with several hilarious anecdotes about my life, because… well, why not? My blog, my rules. And besides, I’ve heard y’all think I’m funny so I thought I’d brighten up your Friday. Ready… GO!
Purple nails and letters from Avis deVoto and Julia Child. Because I’m awesome. And because this is the pile on my end table: reinforcing my own stereotype or something?!
I love it when my chocolate loves me back!
Somehow yesterday morning I managed to get roughly 1.5 cups of raw (which then became cooked) spinach, half a zucchini, a carrot, a quarter cup of wild blueberries, and a quarter cup of applesauce into my oatmeal. If that isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is… take that, five-a-day! I think this is a new record, even for me…
Of course there was also the obligatory chia seeds, almond butter, shredded unsweetened coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a teeny bit of maple. Maybe a little bee pollen. And yes. There were, in fact, oats in there too. Sadly it was too delicious and I ate it too fast for there to be a picture. Next time..
Mmmm. And it was DELICIOUS. Naturally. I don’t bother starting off my days with undelicious things. Why bother? Life is way too short for that.
And then I added lentils to my go-to quinoa cakes. INSPIRED. Why has this never transpired before?!
AND THEN. I’ve been replacing whole wheat flour with lots of other favorite alternatives lately… but my favorite is sprouted quinoa flour in this banana bread. It’s already my fave bbread recipe, but it gets that.much.better with quinoa flour. Besides, I get rave reviews from several of my gastronomically-inclined peeps so I know it’s not just in my head…
Crystalized ginger is really pretty.
And the obligatory cat-napping photo… Jessie doesn’t want you to disturb her napping human! Alternatively… the napping human is hogging too much of the pillow…
Don’t worry, my vacation was excellent and this about sums it up, courtesy of my favorite eating establishment in Portland, the Screen Door:
Time for the semi-annual vacation photo dump! These are all off my phone so please excuse the quality (or lack thereof)…
Good friends, good food. What more could you want?
I ate at Ruby Scoops, of COURSE. Had to. Besides the (former) roomie had never been there!! What?! Thankfully that’s remedied.
Willamette, why are you always so beautiful?!
I stayed at the McCall House in Ashland on the way home—an adorable b&b that’s on the national register of historical places! There was a chaise lounge in our room so obviously I was in heaven. I spent most of my time ensconced on it pretending to be various Reubens or Degas portraits, ha. A chaise lounge is definitely on my list of furniture to acquire in the not so distant future. Who needs a couch?!
Breakfast came on a tray!!
Hello, beautiful. Thank you for making my drive home that much more gorgeous.
Bits and bobs of things I’ve eaten in the last…. week and a half. Ish.
Firstly: THIS OATMEAL.
I know. It has green flecks in it. Sorry for my unrelenting obsession with putting green things where they supposedly don’t belong (I say supposedly because spinach in oatmeal might be the greatest idea ever: you can’t taste it! Not that I mind the taste of spinach, but I don’t always want it at six am…). This also has carrots (they’re sweet!) and pomegranate seeds and coconut and almond butter, a date, cinnamon, nutmeg, some heritage flake cereal and almond milk. That’s right. I don’t do breakfast by halves!
I also ate oatmeal with cucumbers in it. It was delicious, try not to be *too* jealous.
Secondly, I had eggs. But they were REAL ugly so no photos of that one. Delicious, but ugly.
mmm pom wonderful!
Thirdly, this happened. And this. Sorry I’m not sorry, I went to the city two days in a row! Oops.
Bourbon Cornflake ice cream + Fluffernutter ice cream + bourbon caramel + a teeny bit of salted chocolate. I hardly ever eat ice cream anymore so this was a mega treat. SO worthwhile, thank you Humphrey Slocombe.
And then I did some yoga…
It’s all about balance, you know…
AND THEN! I made dinner last night. Rice wine and coconut amino marinated chicken, roasted potatoes (recipe coming), steamed green beans and broccolini, and quinoa kheer (recipe also coming!). Mmmm.
Sometimes I get creative with the grocery list:
Oh. And I mentioned I went to the city twice? Yeah. Carla and I got a little over enthusiastic in the Ferry Building. I probably ate the equivalent of a small chocolate bar in samples. Whatever, they’re a) free and b) walking while eating means that what you’re eating has negative calories… riiiight?! Right. Just like when you break something in half the calories fall out! Ha. This is science at work, obviously.
I’m back from my hiatus, and I have a photo essay for you. No recipes yet since I’ve barely been home… but you know it was a fabulous trip when you still have dirt on your face after your post camp shower!
Ughhh. Waaayyy too hot to cook, much less come up with interesting things that resemble food.
So instead, you get a photo essay of sorts, of all kinds of interesting things I’ve eaten in the last few days.
High tea! With my maaaamaaaa because we’re awesome. And, well… because I’m OB.SESSED with lemon curd and high tea is an excuse to eat it on everythingggg.
And beets. Just because beets are delicious.
And a sort of recipe. I say sort of because really it’s a lazy girl’s dinner but I thought it was pretty, so I photographed it and, well… there you go (or as in My Big Fat Greek Wedding: “and ze root of ze wort eez Greek. Zere you go”).
Tuna in a can is so under appreciated. It’s like an instameal, just add veggies! And hopefully carbs. Because really, what is tuna without toast. And butter. Pleeease add butter, do yourself a favor. And while you’re at it, avo is excellent with your tuna and carbs and butter. Trust me, when it’s a million and one degrees in the shade and it’s 6 pm, the last thing I want to do is figure out dinner. Or stand in front of a stove and cook it. I pretty much just want a genie to appear magically out of my vat of olive oil and magically make my dinner appear.
Fat chance. Like there are any genies lurking about around here, I think they’ve all run off.
But!! This time something of the sort appeared out of my tuna can… and then I smooshed it all over toast. With butter. And ate it. And loved it. Every. Single. Bite.
It’s hot.
My brain is hot. Good luck getting anything sensible out of me, besides this:
1) Procure things.
2) Toast bread.
3) Open can of tuna. Ward off any lurking cats.
4) Mix tuna with a teeny teeny bit of plain yogurt…
5) and smash on buttered toast.
6) Top with avo.
7) Disregard forks. Silverware is overrated, eat with your fingers because toast is really just like a large canapé and it’s hot and who cares?
Hot weather calls for easy food. And easy food should be delicious, obviously!
Thanks to Amanda over at Endlessly Creating who nominated me for the Liebster Award! It was definitely a nice surprise, as I usually conveniently forget that I have an audience for this thing, and that it isn’t just my [endearingly] snarky hippie-granola-random anonymous rambles. Invisible internet friends, I love you! Thanks for putting up with me.
The Liebster Award is intended to recognize up-and-coming blogs with fewer than 200 followers (or just ones that you really like with more followers than you, let’s make this easy, shall we?). There are some rules to follow when you get nominated:
Post eleven facts about yourself
Answer the questions posed by your nominator
Pass the award on to eleven new recipients
Post eleven new questions to your recipients
Post a copy of the badge on your blog (Google image search “Liebster Award”)
Notify your nominees and include links to the originating blog as well as the new recipients
*I’ll attempt to follow these as specifically as possible, but there may be some margin for adaptability…
Eleven facts about myself.
Hmm. I’ll try to make these things that aren’t readily apparent on my blog [ie. love of sprinkles] Eeek! Here goes:
1. I always played way more with Barbie food than I did with the Barbies themselves. Like, I would get out allll the food and set up the entire kitchen… and then never actually play with the dolls. Who needs dolls when you can have food instead?! I also redecorated the entire inside of my dollhouse, including copious amounts of clay food, hanging doorway beads on safety pins, and chairs that were suspended from the ceiling (doesn’t everyone want one of those?!).
2. I think my favorite food might be really, really, REALLY good ice cream sandwiches.
3. I’ve had 18 teeth pulled. No really. 18. 4 were wisdom teeth. It’s amazing I even have any more left in my face…but in spite of all that nice people still say I have a big smile :) I like smiling! Smiling’s my favorite.
4. I’ve been skiing for 20 years! Downhill only, please, and preferably on my trusty K2 Shuksanne’s (I’m including a picture because a. I love them beyond all reason and b. I went skiing Sunday so I have a recent picture).
5. This year will be my 11th year at Two Sentinels (which is also half my life)! Camp is where the heart is.
6. I’ve climbed Half Dome. I was in seventh grade and carried a backpack that was actually a semi-largeish percentage of my body weight. No big deal.
7. Even though I love baths and I love reading like no other, I have always disliked reading in the tub. What if I dropped my book in there?! It would get totally soaked and then I’d be really sad.
8. I dressed myself in tights, dresses, and patent leather Mary Jane’s throughout preschool and kindergarten. That is, until I discovered the monkey bars in elementary school, figured out I could hang upside-down, and then refused to wear anything remotely resembling a dress without the requisite bike shorts underneath. Ohhh bike shorts. You are SO nineties. Especially because I wore them in fabulous neon colors. Natch.
9. Nancy Drew will always have a special place in my heart. And on my bookshelves (all 56 of them).
10. I like polishing silver.
11. Shoes are overrated.
Answers to Amanda’s questions:
1. What inspires you? People! All day, every day. I am drawn to those who inspire me, mentor me, and fill me with their wisdom.
2. What’s your favorite book? Oh jeez. That’s a tie in a thousand different directions. The Count of Monte Cristo. The Secret Life of Bees. The Velvet Room. And that’s only three…
3. Biggest pet peeve? People who don’t pick up after themselves.
4. Are you part of any fandoms, and to what extent do you participate? I am not… nor do I. Except for a giggle-inducing obsession with Alan Rickman. Oh. And my camp name is Spock. I suppose that makes me a one-woman fandom for Leonard Nimoy?!
5. Which fictional character would you most like to meet? Captain Katherine Janeway, USS Voyager. Or Spock. Or maybe Idgy from Fried Green Tomatoes, and then we could have a food fight!
6. When you get famous for whatever it is you’re doing, who would you most want to be interviewed by? Um. Good question. I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet…
7. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grow up? A ballerina, quickly followed by an artist. Like Georgia O’Keefe.
8. Favorite/least favorite subjects in school? Fave: anything to do with reading or science. Least fave: math.
9. Why did you start blogging? Because I wanted a creative outlet that also kept my diet interesting. And because I needed a method of being accountable to myself, and a way to measure how far I’d come in my own personal journey.
10. Which is better, the book or the movie? BOOK! Always.
11. If you had a band, what would you name it? Little Magpie and the Sprinkles.
Eleven Questions for my nominees:
1. Favorite workout?
2. What was your favorite toy as a kid?
3. What do you want to be when you grow up? Yes. You read that right: if money and time and experience were no object, what would you do?
4. Favorite type of amusement park ride?
5. Most hilarious elementary school memory?
6. Your favorite food to eat in college… or now. But you have to pick only one! Muahaha.
7. If you could time travel and attend any historical event ever, what would it be?
8. What motivated you to start blogging?
9. You have a totally unscheduled, obligation-free day ahead of you. What do you do with it?
10. If you had to pick one cause to champion for the rest of your life, what would it be?
11. If you could be any fictional character for a day, who would it be, and why?
My nominees (some of you have more than 200 followers. Whatevs, I like you!)
…annnnd sorry I’m lame but I only have 6, not 11 nominees… I’ve used up all my (at the moment, somewhat limited due to under-the-weatherness) brainpower, so that’s all I got.
I love blogging. They do too! Check them out for some awesome reading :)
Ugh sorry sorry sorry I know it’s been forever since we’ve had an invisible internet friend chat… but I’m back now with random things so you can rest easy. I know, you suuuuper missed me. Or something.
This is pretty much going to be one of those photo dump posts… I’ve made and eaten a lot in the last weekish and am feeling a little braindead. Back with a normal recipe post shortly…
Salted chocolate, cayenne and ginger ice cream sammies!!
Dinner was this spectacular steelhead with potatoes and bacon and red wine sauce. Gastro heaven, thank you Farallon.
Reason number one why I love summer [actually might be one of the only reasons since I hate being hot so much, but regardless]:
And also chocolate. Because… chocolate.
Oh oh oh!! One last random. HUMPHRY SLOCOMBE [quite possibly the best ice cream ever] opened a shop in the Ferry Building, which means it’s only a short hop away on the Oakland-SF ferry. Winninggggggg. E and I literally ate our way into an ice cream coma last week. Secret Breakfast [bourbon cornflake]+banana beach blanket [with peanuts!!!]+bourbon caramel for me; sea salted chocolate+vanilla honey+bourbon caramel+frosted almonds for him. All hail the ice cream mecca!
And now I need a nap.
Wait...are those...cookies?! 