ode to oatmeal

breakfast is a beautiful thing. 

Sorry for the lack of an intellectual post today, I'm just really happy about food right now. recently I've become quite obsessive about oatmeal. I think it was the realization that I can put ANYTHING on top of it and still fool myself that it's a healthy breakfast. Not like I'm garnishing my breakfast with chocolate cake or anything, but nutella? coconut? white chocolate cranberry larabars? (ohh that was the best breakfast ever.) I used to think oatmeal of as a bowl of bland white mush, so if this has been your limited experience as well, please please change your life. SO GOOD.

1/2 C oats (old fashioned, rolled, steel cut. I personally prefer steel cut, but if Walmart as opposed to Whole Foods is your grocery stop, they may be more difficult to find.) 

1/2 C milk

1/2 C water 

dash of salt (secret: I never use this. I understand using a pinch of salt in anything with yeast or baking soda/powder, but oatmeal? I fail to see what it adds. So if you're a compulsive salt-adder, feel free to frown upon my rebellious cooking habits.) 

1/2 banana, cut into chunks

1 tsp PURE vanilla extract (never ever ever use imitation! please, for the love of all that is delicious!)

Combine all ingredients (minus vanilla) in a small saucepan over medium heat. I normally just let mine sit (no stirring yet) while I get dressed, do dishes, whatever. Because I hate waiting. When the oats have absorbed most of the liquid, stir/whip around the edges to make the bananas nice and fluffy. yum. Add vanilla, and whatever you want on top. Excellent combinations include raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, walnuts and extra bananas, peanut butter (trust me, it's fantastic.), trail mix, peaches, apples and cinnamon, pumpkin, almonds and coconut, pumpkin seeds, maple syrup, crumbled cookies, muffins, breads, or plain brown sugar if you're boring. ;) there's no wrong here. NO WRONG. (lots of caps in this post... and parentheses... it's just one of those days.) 

also, yesterday I had a revelation. Bananas were made for nutella. And any kind of chocolate goes wonderfully with oats (these cookies? delish). So... nutella-banana-oatmeal is definitely going to be tested in mornings to come...

other favorite morning foods? As wonderful as oatmeal is, I'm looking to expand my breakfast horizons. ;)

finals week means food. LOTS of food.

Finals weekend is here.
This means several things: Fleet Foxes and This Will Destroy You are on continuous replay in my room. If chocolate supplies are low, bad things will happen. Chances of eating lots and lots of Mexican food are much higher (three times already this week and counting). It also means I crave comfort food and procrastinate like crazy (funny how the majority of this list involves food...)

So this week, procrastination has been manifesting itself through cooking. I've made apple spice cupcakes, cranberry-orange pancakes, 101 ways to cook mac and cheese, pumpkin pies, and enough curry to last me a month. But the most delicious thing by far is this curried sweet potato soup. It really only came into being because I had a whole bag of sweet potatoes sitting on my counter that were soon to be fit only for the compost heap, so I needed a use for those babies asap. I've never really been one to sing the praises of sweet potatoes (more of a pumpkin girl); I didn't even start liking them until last year. But this soup... ohhh man, this soup. I made it for five of the pickiest eaters on earth (aka my younger siblings), and by the end of the meal, they were all volunteering to be my slaves for life. Okay, not really. But they all loved it.
ENOUGH TALK, here's the actual recipe.

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

Makes about 4-5 servings, depending on how hungry you are. 

3 large sweet potatoes 

1 can chicken or veggie stock (15 oz)

1 can coconut milk (12 oz)

2 large garlic cloves

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 tsp ginger

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of chili powder

black pepper to taste

fresh rosemary (dried is fine as well, though not as flavorful)

Mince garlic and briefly saute (about 3 min) in olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add chicken stock. Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1-2 inch pieces, add to pot. Try to keep them submerged in the broth (this will shorten cooking time). Cover and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are soft. 

At this point you can either use a fancy-schmancy immersion blender or transfer it to a food processor. I however, being a poor college student, do not own fancy kitchen techware. I use a good ol' masher. This is also because I don't like my soup 100% pureed, I like to keep some texture. 

After blending by your method of choice, add coconut milk, rosemary, and spices. I usually add a good sized sprig of fresh rosemary (the equivalent of about 1/4 tsp dried). The spice measurements here are quite subjective, I switch up how much of each I add every time I make this. 

Pour into a bowl and eat with a blissful expression. 

So my procrastination here result in something somewhat productive... right? Back to studying Thorndike's law of effect and schedules of reinforcement in punishment and alternative folk medicinal remedies! And by studying what I really mean is that I'm going to cook brownies and watch Doctor Who.
good luck to all of you with final exams coming up! Eat this soup. It seriously helps with studying. :]

highlights of the weekend

no, these aren't in order. they're just numbered. because I like lists.

1. making the perfect cupcakes.
yes, I know, I know. I feel like such a hipster wannabe blogging about cupcakes.. argh. :smacks forehead: just pretend it didn't happen, okay? I'm just too proud of them not to brag. you didn't see this here...
I made lemon-blackberry and chocolate almond. soooo yummy. (if I do say so myself.) plus the lemon icing turned out the perfect shade of yellow. I can see why the hipsters are so obsessed. I mean, one half of me is saying, come on, they're just pretty, iced muffins... while the other half protests loudly. they're just so much fun to make. next time I'm using ALL of the different cake decorating tips for the frosting...

2. my adorable nephew.
this is the new favorite game. taking all the stuffed animals off my bed (yes... those are... all mine... *cough*), arranging them on the floor, and then, taking turns with each, lying on top of them. what a cutie.

3. making a list of 100 things to do before I die.

4. finding two cute dresses at the thrift store for $10 (score)

5. Hem
love
love
love this band. do yourself a favor and go listen to half acre.

6. editing this picture.

album I'm listening to:

Rabbit Songs by Hem. of course.

quoting:

"forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the wind longs to play in your hair."

You make my heart scream color.

^ amazing song. I'm obsessed with it at the moment. Look it up. Colors by Barcelona.

So I was sitting on my bed, finding things on weheartit, when this comes bursting into my room....

This is my favorite little 5 year old brother. (shhh, don't tell the others...) I liked the boxers-shirtless-batman cape-spiderman mask combo.

It makes me so sad to think that someday (and probably soon) he won't let me do this anymore. :(

Today I made creme brulee for my older bro's birthday. But I made him use the torch, because it scared me. =P Cracking the top of it made me feel like Amelie. :)

I've really been thinking about getting my tattoo a lot, recently. Or, the tattoo I want. Really the only things that are holding me back... money, the possible effects it might have on me, and future regrets. I'm pretty broke right now, (especially broke after seeing my financial aid letter for this year... augh... my empty bank account is crying...) I have this weird habit of blacking out in situations of high stress or high excitement (usually the first - I always get light headed and have sometimes blacked out when getting shots or blood drawn, ew), and finally.... I think if I got one I might regret it later. Not like, a year later... but like, 60-year old woman with a tattoo regrets. I just can't imagine myself as a granny with a tattoo. Is that not a somewhat strange mental picture? Plus I promised myself that I'd make myself wait for at least a year before I get one, just so it's not a spur of the moment thing, and I've had time to make the decision.

But I want one soooo baddd right now.

If anyone would like to offer words of wisdom, advice, "don't do it", I'll read every comment. ;)

Pieces of my weekend

Amazing butternut squash-potato-corn-ham soup that cannot be described in words. With homemade biscuits. :)


Aren't these so beautiful? I love the greenish-blue ones.


And they turned into this lovely bright yellow omelet. =]


I promise I did other stuff besides eat last weekend. It's just that when I'm at home there's so much amazing food, and so much free time that I can finally use to cook that I have to take pictures of it all. ;)


Me and the sis. (Note to self: Sunscreen is always an alternative to the lobster look.)


My beautiful beautiful sis. I love this one.






Yay oil pastels and prisma colors!!! I felt creative this weekend. :D

Ten Things I Love

10. Fabric stores

I just love walking through and running my hands over all the different textures and colors... some colors just seem to feel differently. I always think deep reds and purples have a different feel from citrus-y yellows and oranges, and then white has a completely different feel altogether. Pure.


9. Peeling the thick white stuff off of an orange

I know this one is really weird. But there's just something so satisfying about pulling off that thick white inside peel... especially when it comes off in big chunks.












8. Auguste Toulmouche

His colors are so rich, and the fabrics look so real. You can almost feel them just looking at the painting. One of my favorites by him (besides this one) is The Reluctant Bride. It's just hilarious, her expression is so perfect.













7. Old diners and gas stations

There's something terribly nostalgic and romantic about old, deserted diners. Gas stations, too. I love the old fashioned pumps, and just the colors that were used in old diners. I'd love to have a photoshoot in front of one sometime...



6. Creamed butter and sugar

Just the act of creaming butter and sugar is so much fun, but then the smell.... *sigh* I'm convinced that only one thing (see #1) is better than the smell of creamed butter and sugar. If you've never done it, you're missing out. It's my absolute favorite part of cooking. =]



5. Paint swatches

Every time I go to Lowe's I take a few. It's my dream to cover a whole wall, and eventually a room with them. Something like this - http://blog.hgtv.com/design/files/2009/04/paint-swatch-headboard.jpg. Only with less space between each swatch, and with only one color, just different shades.



4. Old books

First of all they're so much prettier than new books. The paper feels nicer, and the covers aren't all covered with slick plastic. This is the main reason I love to work in special collections at the library, because I get to shelve all these beautiful old books. Sometimes I just walk through the shelves, looking at all the different colors and fonts on the spines, and smelling the different old smells of them.



3. Crayola colors

Atomic Tangerine? Blush? Inchworm? Wild Blue Yonder? Sugar Plum? Fresh Air? These never cease to amaze me.
After all, who wants to color with grey when you can color with Leather Jacket? Or orange when you can have Mango Tango? Yellow instead of Macaroni and Cheese? And finally, my favorite, Fuzzy Wuzzy. What color do you imagine Fuzzy Wuzzy would look like?




2. Snuffing candles

When I was little, we used to have a "candle snuffer", and my sister and I would always fight over who got to snuff the candles. It always made me feel like I lived in the 1800's, snuffing candles instead of using a lightswitch before going to bed. Now I've graduated from a candle snuffer to just using my finger. It's almost as fun.



1. Cedar

I'm completely obsessed with cedar. I can pick out the scent of it whenever I walk into a lumber store, and it's the only reason I ever would go into any kind of hardware store with my dad. I'd always wander away to the wood section, and he'd find me sniffing away at the cedar like some kind of druggie. (By the way, I'm still convinced that I've gotten high off of cedar before...) It reminds me of birdfeeders, autumn, old hope chests and dresser drawers, school supplies, and the Botanical Gardens in DC (the only live cedar trees I've ever found.. I'm in heaven there...) I'd really love some of these for my drawers - http://www.signsealedelivered.co.uk/ekmps/shops/ssdshop/images/cedar_balls.jpg.