Well, if you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed me tweeting about some random recipe assignment and not really known what I was talking about.
I think it was Tuesday that my favorite author (who I follow on Twitter and quote a lot everywhere) tweeted a link to her blog calling for recipe testers for her upcoming book.
I have been looking forward to this book (which is her first cookbook-ish book with recipes) since I knew she was working on it and of course I jumped at the chance to participate. Also: I say "cookbook-ish" it will also include Shauna's essays and stories that I have come to love this author for. Most of the recipes I believe will share a story around them. Anyway, I found out yesterday that I get to be one of the testers (here is how Shauna chose them)! I didn't make a request for a special type of recipe, though I did her assistant know I'm a total newb when it comes to cooking meat. I think that is why she sent me a recipe for meat:)......a recipe for pork tenderloin that sounds amazing. And, though I fear I may mess it up, I am so excited to give feedback on the recipe and to hopefully have a yummy meal to share and enjoy!
I won't include the specific recipe title or the recipe because I want to respect Shauna's work and the book is not due out until April of next year, but I will link to the pre-order of the book here!
I was first introduced to Shauna Niequist by Megan who blogs at Casita Cory. Megan was actually also the first person to introduce me to Donald Miller, another one of my favorite authors, in a Tribe Cheerleading small group my freshman year. When I was in graduate school, Megan (who was working in Williamsburg and a part-time fitness instructor at the Rec) started another small group with some fitness instructors and undergrad girls. We read Shauna's first book, Cold Tangerines, together and discussed it every Wednesday over Trader Joe's snacks and coffee. In the craziness of graduate school, something about Shauna's writing healed me and gave me a place to think about what really mattered and to ask myself the hard questions without needing to find immediate answers to them. Shauna's writing is described as this on her website: "Shauna writes about the beautiful and broken moments of everyday life--friendship, family, faith, food, marriage, love, babies, books, celebration, heartache, and all the other things that shape us, delight us, and reveal to us the heart of God." Unlike any style of writing I've ever experienced before, her voice is extremely genuine, comforting, and honest. Her books always re-center me whenever I'm feeling out of balance.
This past Christmas, when my sister asked what I wanted for Christmas, Shauna's 2nd book, Bittersweet, was what I asked for. It has been a slower read than Cold Tangerines mostly because a lot of it is about motherhood, but I still read it whenever I need a self-care moment and, when I am done with it, I may go back and reread Cold Tangerines.
I will leave you with one of my favorite essays from Shauna in her book Bittersweet called Twenty-Five:
http://www.iamaxis.org/twenty-five/
Weekend is so close!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Food Trucks and Adventures in Adulthood
This past weekend was a grand one. After work, my youngest sister arrived bringing me lots of goodies from home like coats! (yay fall wordrobe), books, and framed pictures to hang up in my space (some prints of photos she has taken). I know. She's the best.
After her arrival, we immediately headed to Trucktoberfest (a gathering of DC food trucks outside Union Market (a DC Farmers' Market)). We met Alex and Mike there who were already well into their 2nd course. They had already also discovered that sharing is the best way to experience a food truck festival. That way you get to try lots of things:) So Kim and I had some catching up to do. Before the day was over, between all of us, we had tried pork barbeque, a chorizo sausage sub, mango lassi, chicken tacos, ice cream cookie sandwiches, an apple cider float, and beer.
Thankfully, I found the Petsmart okay. There's even a parking garage undereath it! And even though, the trip with Rupert was a little chaotic, I was rewarded by finding a Trader Joe's across the street from the Petsmart! And now I know where the nearest Trader Joe's is to my house. It's technically in Maryland, but that's okay.
After her arrival, we immediately headed to Trucktoberfest (a gathering of DC food trucks outside Union Market (a DC Farmers' Market)). We met Alex and Mike there who were already well into their 2nd course. They had already also discovered that sharing is the best way to experience a food truck festival. That way you get to try lots of things:) So Kim and I had some catching up to do. Before the day was over, between all of us, we had tried pork barbeque, a chorizo sausage sub, mango lassi, chicken tacos, ice cream cookie sandwiches, an apple cider float, and beer.
The boys devouring our ice cream cookie sandwiches. My favorite combination was gingersnap with black cherry ice cream.
Aviators....
I think we got extra ice cream because Mike knew the guy who runs the cookie truck. Yay!
Then the ice cream melted. Then Mike told someone to drink it. No takers, so Mike did the job himself.
One apple cider float. Four straws.
On Sunday, I had an adventure taking Rupert to the vet. His tummy had not been feeling well. I hate driving to new places in the city. Rupert hates the vet. It was a recipe for an adventure.
Mommy, why you do this?
Thankfully, I found the Petsmart okay. There's even a parking garage undereath it! And even though, the trip with Rupert was a little chaotic, I was rewarded by finding a Trader Joe's across the street from the Petsmart! And now I know where the nearest Trader Joe's is to my house. It's technically in Maryland, but that's okay.
Rupert and my Wren building blanket. We were both exhausted after that trip.
Monday was my day off and I went to the doctor as well as the DMV. If you think going to the DMV is bad, it is a whole other bad thing in DC. There is a long story (about how I ended up at the DMV without my cell phone because I thought the police officer was telling me phones weren't allowed inside the building when actually she was probably talking about the swiss army knife on my keychain) that I won't go into that much because it was just so so silly. I did get time to read a book without the distraction of a cell phone, though, and I did get my parking pass for the next 6 months (of course the price was $35.00 higher than listed on the website).
In other news, I had something really exciting happen to me today that I'll hopefully have time to blog about in my next blog post! Get excited:)
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Pumpkin & Sweaters & Boots, OH MY.
Warning: Today is the first day of Fall. Prior to today I had to carefully control and moderate my use of the following: sweaters, boots, drape-y scarves, molasses, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and an autumnal color palette, getting my hopes up about the Redskins. (Thank you, Davia for appreciating the restraint that went into my "transition to Fall" outfit. last night. But TODAY I am officially allowed to go crazy on all of the above (and I WILL believe in you Redskins!). Yes, for the next 3 months (or however long until it snows in DC), I plan on jumping in leaves, wearing sweaters and scarves, curling up with books in coffee shops that graciously feed my pumpkin spice latte addiction, listening to harry potter soundtracks, and spending every second possible outside running, walking, skipping, etc. (I already warned some that Fall Kelsey can be a little MPDG, so consider yourselves fairly warned too.)
To kick off the season, I would like to offer a list of some of my go-to favorite ways to cook with pumpkin! Besides the pancakes, I already shared, these recipes are a lot better because they are actual recipes written and tested by other people (many from my favorite blogger, Angela at Oh She Glows). These are some healthy and easy ways to start off with. We may get a little more advanced later in the season.
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| See. I even had to take a picture this morning. No. Restraint. |
- Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal (Oatmeal does not get more comforting than this.)
- Homemade Pumpkin Butter (I want to put it on everything!)
- Pumpkin Pudding Parfait with Gingerbread Cookies (Who can resist a parfait?)
- Pumpkin Gingerbread Smoothie (This smoothie is as delicious as it is healthy! Love molasses in smoothies.)
- Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dip (Two of my favorite things married together. Apple optional. Spoon not.)
Thanks to Oh She Glows and Cookin' Cowgirl for making it easier for me to get my pumpkin fix.
Have a great weekend all!
Friday, September 21, 2012
Fridays!
It's Friday! We wait the entire week for this day! I'm so excited I can't wait to get off work at 6pm and do all of the things I can't do during the week when I'm working! There's just a little problem. By 6pm, I am absolutely exhausted from working all week. Too exhausted to really take advantage of the first night of the weekend. This isn't how it works in the movies!
In the movies, young, hip working women get off work on a Friday only to make a flawless and instantaneous transition to happy hour. Really? Seriously? At the end of any workday I am in no condition to be seen by other people. All I want to do is drive a traffic-less commute back home, put on some pj's (the ugly, comfy ones) and have no one talk to me for about two hours (because that was all I did at work).
Oh Friday, what am I going to do with you? A mocha latte would fix this, but I am not about to pay $5.00 for that fix. Enter: my favorite mocha knockoff = hot chocolate packet + coffee. And if your office has coffee and you can find a hot chocolate packet in a lobby or cafeteria somewhere, it is free. Yay!
So I will ride this caffeine and sugar wave until I get off off work with (hopefully) enough energy leftover to run home to do the adult things of laundry and dishes, and then put myself together enough for a happy hour. And then I will get home and in bed in time to get a reasonable amount of sleep because guess who has her first Saturday office hours tomorrow? This girl. Oh, yes.
But my youngest sister will be visiting tomorrow after I get off work so that will get me through the 7am wakeup:)
Have a great weekend!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Hello Fall!
Okay so maybe Fall still technically isn't here quite yet, but DC's weather definitely did the switch last week. Just the slight change in weather is an instant boost to my mood. My youngest sister started to make fun of me for my excitement last week saying "Are you one of those girls who won't stop talking about pumpkin in the fall?" Um, yes. That's me. And that's why I was forced to make pumpkin pancakes this weekend.
I also celebrated Fall with two runs this weekend! Because when the weather is this nice, I can't not run. It's really good for my workout routine. Besides the awesome weather, this weekend also just rocked in general.
Friday Night: I've not yet adjusted to how exhausted I am on Friday evenings. I just have zero energy after the work week and it's so hard for me to motivate myself to hang out and not immediately go to sleep. Welcome to adulthood. However, Selena was in town! So wimping out was not allowed. Mike and I met up with Will and Selena on H Street for a late dinner at a Moroccan restaurant called Souk. Conclusion: over-priced, not enough food, they did the falafel wrong. But I was so hungry it didn't matter. Afterwards, Will took us back to his brand-new super trendy apartment building. It's like one of those buildings you see in movies. The most important feature of this complex was the free espresso machine in the lobby. Just what I needed! That cappuccino saved the night.
Saturday: The 10k running group (Mike, Kelly, Alex, and I) went for a run and Mike found an office chair for free that he proceeded to run with all the way back to his apartment. Incentives for running! Then Mike, Jeff, and I got burritos from Chinito's Burritos on Florida Avenue.....my new favorite Mexican spot in DC! It's actually Mexican-Asian fusion, but, when you go (because you must), you have to try to Tex-Mex egg rolls and the Szechuan slaw. Mike and I also hit up the H Street festival for a little while (we really shouldn't have eaten before going there) where there were tons of artists, shows, and ample opportunities for dog watching.
Easy Pumpkin Pancakes:
- one batch of pancake mix prepared according to the box (I used TJ's multigrain)
- mix in some pumpkin puree from a can until the mixture is pretty orange-y in color (I used 1/2 a can per 2 cups of dry mix that went into the recipe)
- add pumpkin pie spice or just cinnamon if you don't have any
Pluses: chocolate chips mixed in the batter before cooking and REAL maple syrup
I also celebrated Fall with two runs this weekend! Because when the weather is this nice, I can't not run. It's really good for my workout routine. Besides the awesome weather, this weekend also just rocked in general.
Friday Night: I've not yet adjusted to how exhausted I am on Friday evenings. I just have zero energy after the work week and it's so hard for me to motivate myself to hang out and not immediately go to sleep. Welcome to adulthood. However, Selena was in town! So wimping out was not allowed. Mike and I met up with Will and Selena on H Street for a late dinner at a Moroccan restaurant called Souk. Conclusion: over-priced, not enough food, they did the falafel wrong. But I was so hungry it didn't matter. Afterwards, Will took us back to his brand-new super trendy apartment building. It's like one of those buildings you see in movies. The most important feature of this complex was the free espresso machine in the lobby. Just what I needed! That cappuccino saved the night.
 |
| See, I told you! |
Sunday: After another morning run, the pumpkin pancakes happened, and I saw the Redskins lose a sad sad game. Well RG3 did what he could. Then Kelly came over to see my new place and have me some new place decorating tips which I have summarized here: ( Tip 1: Ikea, Tip 2: Pinterest).
I was supposed to head to the Bon Iver concert with my sister on Saturday night (she found out Friday night that she had an extra ticket), but I have been fighting off some virus for the past couple of days and wasn't feeling well. This was bound to happen at the start of the school year since I work with students, but I'm drinking tea and taking vitamins like it's my job so I'm not giving up without a fight.
This Saturday is my first weekend shift at work (8am-2pm) so I'm hoping it's an easy coffee-drinking and catching up on paperwork kind of day. I think it's worth it to have next Monday off of work!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
"You Can Be Where Your Feet Are"
I am starting to feel like I belong here.
Not too long ago, I recall a time of nothing short of terror about my future. While there are still certainly things I'm anxious about, particularly taking on all of the 'adult' things that come with being out of school and on your own, I finally feel like the overwhelming things are of a manageable size. I can take them as they come. Even in my new job, I can feel my Type A self starting to creep towards "But what do I do after this job? How is this going to further my overall career? Do I want to be here forever?" A mentor of mine who knows how much difficulty I have living in the present once told me, "Kelsey, just be where your feet are."I would argue back, "But, I don't know how to be where my feet are. Don't you know me? I can't walk anywhere....I have to run."
It's true I do run a lot. But yesterday was the first day of Fall-like weather in DC. You can't miss the day when it actually turns from Summer to Fall. The sky is bright blue and the air has an exhilarating crispness about it. I decided for my lunch break I was going for a WALK. About a mile each way to Catholic University for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. (It took me less than an hour into the first day of my job to find out where the closest Starbucks to campus was located, but this was my first venture there.) While walking, I was reminded of what my mentor told me and what it for me at the point I'm at in my life. It is not necessary to have every single step figured out. Or every single path. Sometimes we just need to know the very next step or to be comfortable with being still and finding our feet.
There are so many great things that have happened in the midst of the craziness of the past couple of weeks: celebrations, transitions, lessons. I want to be able to really experience them in the present. Here's a recount anyway:
Not too long ago, I recall a time of nothing short of terror about my future. While there are still certainly things I'm anxious about, particularly taking on all of the 'adult' things that come with being out of school and on your own, I finally feel like the overwhelming things are of a manageable size. I can take them as they come. Even in my new job, I can feel my Type A self starting to creep towards "But what do I do after this job? How is this going to further my overall career? Do I want to be here forever?" A mentor of mine who knows how much difficulty I have living in the present once told me, "Kelsey, just be where your feet are."I would argue back, "But, I don't know how to be where my feet are. Don't you know me? I can't walk anywhere....I have to run."
It's true I do run a lot. But yesterday was the first day of Fall-like weather in DC. You can't miss the day when it actually turns from Summer to Fall. The sky is bright blue and the air has an exhilarating crispness about it. I decided for my lunch break I was going for a WALK. About a mile each way to Catholic University for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. (It took me less than an hour into the first day of my job to find out where the closest Starbucks to campus was located, but this was my first venture there.) While walking, I was reminded of what my mentor told me and what it for me at the point I'm at in my life. It is not necessary to have every single step figured out. Or every single path. Sometimes we just need to know the very next step or to be comfortable with being still and finding our feet.
There are so many great things that have happened in the midst of the craziness of the past couple of weeks: celebrations, transitions, lessons. I want to be able to really experience them in the present. Here's a recount anyway:
- The Weekend of Birthdays!
- I went to Ben's "Paris in the 40's" surprise birthday party on a Friday night (I tried brandy for the first time), played a role in a scavenger hunt for Goo's fiancee Emmanuel's birthday (reminiscent of sorority clue weeks a little bit), and celebrated Alex's birthday on Saturday night (a little Barrett reunion!).
- That Sunday, I accidentally almost signed a contract for a really expensive gym in the city (actually it's just a normal rate, but everything is twice as expensive in the city as I am used to or can afford). The salesperson pushed me into it very sneakily (he told me I had toned arms!), but promised me I could cancel after 2 weeks. I met up with Mike afterwards who had been in a meeting and couldn't even make eye contact because I was so ashamed. However, I'm grateful that when I showed Mike the contract he made me march straight back to the dude and demand an immediate refund giving me things I could cite as ground that the contract was void already. (Sometimes there are perks to dating a future lawyer.)
The GGSS kids are so great at costume parties.
- Moving/Labor Day Weekend
- First, I had plans to see the UMD-WM game with friends at College Park! (Hello football season!) The Tribe always plays a division above us for the first game of the season so we were definitely the underdogs in this game, but we played really well! Unfortunately we led the entire game until the last half, but I have high hopes for Tribe Football this season.
- The next day was moving day and Mike (being the awesome boyfriend that he is) braved animal allergies and took some time away from law school work to help me move in. He made an instant friend in Gilbert who took no time before crawling up into Mike's lap. We finally got on the road and I got to spend most of Labor Day unpacking and organizing my apartment.
My Person (Kelly) and I cheering on the Tribe in our old cheer gear.
View from the stands.
Gil, you are such a ham.
Cupcakes my landlords left me as a welcome present! Well, Mike and I ate the first two.
- This Past Week(end)....
- Dan Snow had a going away party. I will always remember Mike introducing him to me as the guy who sounded like Mufasa (because he has SUCH a great voice). It was nice to celebrate with all the lawyerly folk. Steph helped to provide much of the food, of course, and I am constantly in awe of her ability to feed the masses with the tastiest of noms. I mean there were pretzel rolls, c'mon!
- I have started to run again. I was really nervous about this when I moved to the city, but once you've accidentally taken a 4 mile off-roading loop on an interstate and had to sprint home to make it to work, you kind of stop being afraid. It is also pretty cool to live in a city where your favorite routes are notated by "To the Capitol and Back", "To the Washington Monument and Back", and "The Soldier's Home Loop Around Lincoln's Cottage". #thankful
I will leave you with some pictures I took yesterday and today of the pretty Fall weather!
(Yesterday) Cross on top of Trinity's steeple. Sky was SO blue.
(Yesterday) Picture of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on
The Catholic University of America's campus.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Where I took my lunch break today. One of Trinity's lounges for faculty that is decorated like an English parlor. It's one of my new favorite nooks.
Have a great week!
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