It's Been Awhile...

Oh no! I got on here to check something yesterday and realized I haven't posted anything since... MAY! Ahhh! And now it's June... oh, no, July, July 1st already!

Well, since May 7th I made the Big Decision to move home, to Ohio, for the summer. So things were crazy for awhile as I crossed all those things off my "To Do While Living in New York" list (and had a pretty fab time doing everything) then had the fam with me and all those sad goodbyes with my friends then packed up the last year of my life (actually, I couldn't really get myself to pack up like anything so thank goodness my family understood and could do everything for me -- thanks Mom, Dad, and Bec!) and headed west, back to Ohio.

I've been back for a week and a half and so far it's been pretty great. I've done some odd jobs, painting and such, a little unpacking, a lot of fun cooking, and gotten to enjoy the slower pace of life that comes with the country and not being in New York City.

How long I'll be here, I can't say for certain. I'm weighing a lot of options right now and doing a lot of praying. I could go on a new adventure somewhere else in the world/country, or go back to New York. For now though a break was needed and I'm content to enjoy where I'm at and treasure the time I have with my family :)

One Lucky Dinges

Soon after moving to New York, I saw a video online or read an article or something, about the best food trucks in NYC. Two of those food trucks went on my list of things I had to do/see/try while I was living here (at the time it was only going to be a 3-month period of time).

The first food truck was the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. I haven't actually seen the truck ever but I did visit their store location in the East Village when my room mate from college visited me over the summer. Yum!!

Fortunately, I did get to stay longer than 3-months because I never got to try the second truck, Wafels & Dinges, until today. I'd seen the truck once, before I even knew what it was, on the street where I had my first internship in Brooklyn. I was still new and didn't realize that the truck wasn't always there until one of the other interns came into work wondering aloud if anyone else had seen "the magical waffle truck of happiness?"

I haven't seen the truck again since that day but I have seen a food cart set up in Central Park and been tempted to pay it a visit, the timing wasn't right however. Today though, I went to pilates and noticed a Wafels & Dinges cart set up right by the subway stop I got off at. It was a lovely day and since everyone seemed to have plans or work to rush off to right after pilates, I went back to the cart and looked over the choices.

I'd heard of their savory wafels -- chili con carne, pulled pork, bacon and syrup -- which all sounded amazing, however this cart was a smaller version and didn't seem to have those options. There were a few different "wafels" to pick from -- brussels or liege -- then you could top them with one "dinges" or pay extra for more dinges.

I went with a liege waffle (more caramelized than the brussels variety which is more like what Americans know as the "Belgium waffle") topped with strawberries, which were fresh, not the syrup-y strawberries I half expected, and topped with powdered sugar.

Oh. My. Goodness. It was sooooo good!! I can't wait to go back (hopefully the cart is there again next week!) or actually catch their truck, and try something else. I hadn't had a real Belgium waffle before, not like the kind my mom always describes as being her favorite part of visiting the Netherlands, and it was awesome. I'm hoping to take my friend who is visiting me this weekend and see how they measure up to the waffles she ate in Belgium last summer.

Mmmm, just writing about these is making me hungry all over again! If you're ever in NYC, you must try out a waffle from Wafels & Dinges. If you have Twitter you can follow them @wafeltruck to find out where their truck is any given day.

After my wafel, I wandered to a Barnes & Noble to buy a new journal (I have so much time to write while I'm on the subway they've getting filled up really fast since I've been in NYC!) and moseyed around there for an hour or so before heading to work. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon :)

PB&J Oatmeal

This morning I woke up hungry for PB&J, probably because the last thing I ate last night was half of a PB&J cupcake from Hill Country (yum!!). I refrained from eating the rest of the cupcake as my breakfast (although I have to admit that I do eat cupcakes for breakfast on occasion...) and tried to figure out how to satisfy this craving in a more breakfast-y way.

Grilled PB&J? A PB&J smoothie...? Toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam?

Then I thought about oatmeal. Since coming to NYC I've found oatmeal to be a tasty, versatile  quick, and healthy breakfast. Having tried out many recipes from the internet, I was finally feeling comfortable with it enough to try making up my own recipe and I think it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself :)

But try it yourself and you be the judge!

PB&J Oatmeal

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup milk

dash salt

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons peanut butter

1 Tablespoon grape or strawberry jam/jelly

peanuts for garnish (optional)

Cook the oats with the milk and salt according to package instructions (either stovetop or microwave). I put them in a microwave-safe bowl and nuked it for about 3 1/2 minutes. Add brown sugar and peanut butter to cooked oats and stir to mix. Top with a dollop of jam (I used strawberry) and sprinkle with peanuts, if desired.

Enjoy this grown-up spin on a childhood favorite with a big glass of milk!

The peanut butter oatmeal would also be good with chocolate chips stirred in, instead of jelly :)

Springtime Smoothie

Hello all!

It's been a long time between postings... again :( I apologize. Time is just flying though! Can you believe it's already May?? I have a few fun updates to give then have a refreshing and delicious smoothie recipe to share in celebration of the fantastic sunny weather that most of the country is experiencing, on and off at least.

Exciting news! I got my first (big) freelancing job last week! Redoing the site for an actor/comedian/musician who I'd met eons ago (as in during the summer) and just got into contact with me again asking if I'd still be interested in the job. Of course! I'm super excited for this chance not only because it's, like, a job but because New York is FULL of actors and dancers and bands and singers who will need sites at some point in their career and if I can get started and into that niche now... fantastic!

I met with the guy today (that sounds unprofessional... my client?) and got a starting plan and outline figured out, now I just need to buckle down and get to work! Which is really what I should be doing instead of blogging... but it's been too long since I've posted... so here I am :)

I went to pilates again on Monday. It was a rainy day, the type where you were too warm with a coat on but chilly without one. I woke up and wasn't sure I'd been going but after a perky text from Summer (having her as both my friend and my instructor works great for accountability!) I knew the class would be well worth the money and trip. Sure enough, it was a great time with Ebony and I being the only students that day. It was great with just two, although there's so much talk now in the restaurant about the classes I expect it to be blown up with people next time. Afterwards we went out for frozen yogurt, which may have cancelled out the workout, but was absolutely delicious!

I have some big events coming up that I'm also really looking forward to.  Next weekend, one of my closest friends from college is coming for a visit. One of the choirs from our college is coming out to perform at Carnegie Hall and she's coming out with them. Her dad is head of alumni relations and often travels with the choir, which works out really well for us not only in that she's able to come with them as well, but we get to tag along with them for a Broadway show and to watch their Carnegie Hall performance. Some sweet bonuses in addition to seeing my lovely Kara :)

The next weekend is my aunt's wedding so I'll be going home for that, just for a few days. I'm happy to be going back already though.

Now for this smoothie. It stemmed from a random seeming assortment of fruits I had lying around and turned into a lovely combination. This is a very sweet smoothie, I'll warn, but also refreshing light. To turn down the sweet, you could use water as the base and add some lemon juice, rather than the pre-made lemonade. I think it's a great springtime smoothie, since it's not tropical, and is aesthetically pleasing even before being blended up. It's perfect for sipping on while you're reading a book in the back yard to sneak in some outside-time.

 Grearberry Smoothie

(Grape, pear, strawberry)

1/2 cup prepared lemonade

6-7 strawberries

1/2 cup green grapes

4 oz Dole fruit cup of pears, drained (or about 1/3 cup chopped pears)

Place all ingredients in your blender in the order they're listed. Blend until smooth. You could also add ice if you prefer a slushier or colder smoothie. Pour into a pretty glass and enjoy in the sunshine! Or on a rainy day when you wish there was sunshine...

**I have a single-serving sized blender which is super handy since I'm just one person :) Just don't get thrown off by the blender being full of liquid and thinking this recipe makes a ton of drinkage. It seems to be right around 16 ounces.

Pilates and Burritos

Does it cancel out the good if you eat a burrito right after a Pilates class? I hope not!

I get in such a health conscious mood when the weather turns nice -- like it's been doing lately! The sunshine and warm days inspire me to exercise and eat healthier and drink lots of smoothies!! (I still enjoy a good ol Salted Caramel Cupcake though...)

Today I tried Pilates for the first time ever. My friend Summer, a server at Hill Country, teaches Pilates and set it up so that  HCers could go in once a week for a group class. Today was the first one and even though only 3 of us were there, I think it was very successful! 

It was a small enough group that we could still get one-on-one attention from Summer which was great and we could all easily go out for Mexican afterwards :) 

The biggest difference I noticed between Pilates and many other forms of exercise is how much you have to focus on various muscles and body parts as you're working out. It will definitely take some getting used to, but I really enjoyed Pilates and hope to return in the next few Mondays!

Love Us Some Hummus

I love hummus.

I first tried it while in college. One of my more health-conscious friends had it to snack on, or for when meals at the caf just weren't up to par. At first I wasn't quite sure about it, and my room mate agreed. I don't remember what we even tried it on, crackers of some sort maybe? However, later that evening, we found ourselves returning for another try. And thus it began. We soon bought our own container of roasted red bell pepper hummus at Wal-Mart to keep in our mini fridge, sneaking potato bread from the caf to eat it with.

When I was home for the summer between that freshman and sophomore year, I remember telling my mom about my newfound love for hummus and asking her to buy some for them to try. She wasn't too keen on the idea and suggested I try making it myself. So I found a recipe and whipped it up. Excitedly pairing it with Wheat Thins and carrots at suppertime and eager for my parents to try and love it as well.

Well. To put it lightly -- it was awful. I'd added waayyyyy to much garlic powder and it wasn't very creamy. Just thick and lumpy and spicy, garlic-spicy.

Disappointed, I decided I'd have to find a recipe that was a little lighter on the garlic and a little more reliable before trying to re-introduce my parents to hummus.

Back at college, another friend was bragging up her mom's hummus recipe which she made for all family gatherings. I begged for the recipe and got it over text when I was home for Fall Break. Unfortunately, it called for tahini which neither my mom or I had never heard of and couldn't find anywhere among the spices. So I tucked the recipe away and the can of garbonzo beans my mom had bought along with the first recipe, just waiting to miraculously find some tahini somewhere.

Fast-forward 1 1/2ish years and here I am in New York City. I learned that tahini is not a spice but a paste made from sesame seeds. I scoured the aisles of my local grocery store as well as any store I happened to wander into that sold groceries. Surely here in New York, tahini would be a common household good, right? Wrong. I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked by the spices, I checked by the peanut butter and various nut and seed butters, I searched up and down the racks in the exotic or specific-culture food aisles. Nothing. Well lots of other stuff. Sunflower Seed Paste and Duck Sauce and Caribbean Jerk Chicken Rub, but no tahini, no sesame seed paste.

As I mentioned in my last post (Playing Catch-Up), last weekend I went to my friend Mindy's dance gala. Before heading to work, my friend Selina and I wanted to grab some lunch in the area and Mindy suggested Bread and Honey, a deli and market on 8th Avenue. After getting a BLT to go, I was wandering the aisles in search of the beverage aisle and low and behold, in the first aisle I walked down, my eyes fell upon jars of tahini, right there by the peanut butter. Imagine that. Just for kicks, I also checked if they sold rice noodles, something else I haven't been able to find but want to use for homemade Pad Thai -- sure enough, they had those too!

I didn't get either item that day since I was on my way to work, but happened upon another Bread and Honey, closer to my job, the very next day and found that they also stocked tahini (though no rice noodles) that was actually cheaper than at the other location. I'd call that Fate.

I did find it funny: tahini must not be a big seller there -- the girl ringing me up had no idea what it was and didn't quite understand that it went into hummus.

Finally, I could make this infamous hummus! And boy was I excited.

To start, I'd like to say that I don't have a food processor so I used a blender to make mine. If you have a food processor, use it! It's completely possible to make hummus in a blender, but it definitely involved a little extra work of stopping the blender to push the beans down. Many, many... many times. But in the end, this hummus was totally worth it! I also halved the recipe (hence some of the funny measurements) because it's just for me, not a family get-together. Lastly, I didn't have bulbs of garlic so I used garlic powder. The original recipe would have called for 1 1/2 cloves of garlic + 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder.

This recipe is for a basic "original" hummus, but I think you could easily add red peppers, roasted garlic, olives, or whatever additives you like :)

Jan's Original Hummus

1 15 oz can garbonzo beans, drained reserve the juice

1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon + 5 shakes garlic powder

1/4 + 1/8 cup tahini

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil

Add all ingredients to a food processor (or in my case, a blender. But, as I said, a food processor would be much easier). Blend the ingredients until smooth and add 1/4 a cup of the reserved bean juice for thinning. Add another 1/8 of a cup until you get the consistency you want. 

**Using the blender, I had to add the 1/4 cup bean juice from the start so that it would all blend together and I thought that gave it a good consistency. I also had to stop the blender and push the beans down or stir it up with a spatula multiple times so be prepared for that if using a blender.

Playing Catch-Up

Hello my friends!!

I know, I know, it's been too long. At first it was because nothing that interesting was happening (well except for a spray tan that left me darker than I've ever been in my life...) but don't worry, after nearly a month, I have plenty of fun happenings to report :)

I went home to Ohio for a week over Easter which was wonderful! Except for the part where I had a major cold... which quickly became laryngitis. Oh, then I had to get my wisdom teeth all removed :/ It's alright though, I'm just glad that I was home for all of that and could be taken care of by my sweet parents.

Ohio was filled with family events, church, ice cream dates with my sister, recovery, amazing home cooked meals, and a little thrift shopping. But I did, for the first time, actually miss the city and especially my friends here.

Back in New York, I jumped right back into work at Hill Country. Arriving on a Thursday afternoon (after many delays and what ended up being a 16-hour bus trip) and heading into work that night.

Last weekend I felt like I was living at HC. After working there 8 months I finally had my New Hire Orientation (a 3 1/2 hour event, it did include pastries from our sister restaurant so that made it worth it). It wouldn't have been so delayed except the last orientation was scheduled on the same day Hurricane Sandy rolled into town...

I'd taken my laptop into Manhattan and got to relax at the wonderful Birch Coffee, a new favorite spot of mine, between orientation and the time I actually went into work.

Friday morning, there was a semi-secret concert by Brad Paisley at HC. NashFM, the first country radio station in NYC has been hosting a few little events in our downstairs area and let me tell you, when I picked up the phone my first day back from Easter to hear a guest wanting to make reservations for after the Brad Paisley concert, I got pretty excited! I woke up early and headed into HC once again, and got to watch Mr. Paisley live and up close, playing for just a couple hundred people, packed into the club level of HC. What a great perk of my job, no?

I had another fun, cultural experience on Saturday. My friend Mindy is part of the company at Elisa Monte Dance which had their 32nd Anniversary Season Gala last weekend. After some schedule shuffling, Selina and I, as well as some other HCers who we saw there, were able to go out and support our girl! It was an awesome show.

I'd never been to a dance gala like that or seen much modern dance. I was in awe of the grace and synchronization of the dancers as well as the abilities and endurance of a well-trained human body.  My dance repertoire is mostly fun and I hadn't experienced pieces that held so much emotion and stirred up feelings like these did.

My latest new experience was last night -- I went to my first Broadway show!! My high school always has a senior trip to NYC (I didn't actually go on the trip my senior year, having gone to France the summer before and not having the money for both. Oh well, I thought, NYC is close enough to Ohio, I know I'll make it there someday... Little did I know that 3 years later I'd be living here!) and lucky for me, one of the chaperons is not a fan of the Broadway show part of the trip, and gave me his ticket! Yay!

Yesterday morning I found out there were two tickets up for grabs if I could find a friend who wanted to join me, so I called on Samantha who also had never been to a Broadway show! I have to admit I was a little skeptical of seeing Spider-Man: Turn Out the Lights on Broadway... I mean, it's action-packed Spider-Man! And what, now he's gonna sing? But it was great! It took me a bit to get into it but by the end I was loving and very impressed with the stunts and special effects. They stayed true to the comic book nature of the story as well as bringing in the musicality and choreography of Broadway.

It was a nice night (loving this warm, spring weather!!) and we kept it true to New York form. Grabbing dessert at Roxy Delicatessen in Times Square before hitting up the Broadway show then finishing the night by meeting up with Selina for supper (at 11 o'clock at night... we run on a different time schedule than most) in Koreatown.

I hope your last few weeks have been just as delightfully eventful as mine! And I'll really try to do better at consistency... TTFN :)

Happy Friday :)

I'm heading home to Ohio for a week over Easter and I couldn't be much more excited!! I've made a list of all the foods I want while I'm there, have appointments made, tickets bought, list of things I need to take there and bring back with me, lists of what I've just gotta do while I'm there..

Today I stocked up on some travel-snack-junk food (buy one, get one free mini boxes of Cheez-It and Oreos, say what?!) I also went to the library and stocked up on new books for the trip as well as my time at home since I'll probably be getting my wisdom teeth taken out and have plenty of down time. All I need is one of those travel neck pillows (something I've been wanting for the last couple years and need to just hurry up and buy!) and I'll be all set!

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy New York and all it offers :) Tonight I'm going out for a late supper with a friend. I said I was craving mac n cheese and she suggested a couple places that specialize in and only serve mac n cheese, because stuff like that happens in the city! (Hehe, it still kindof amazes and ahhs me). And later meeting up with some friends at a ping pong lounge place.. Should be a fun night :)

My Confession of Love for Dessert

I love sweets, just in case frequent readers haven't realized that yet ;) My largest board on Pinterest is the one I have devoted to dessert recipes (with over 200 pins to date) and I am especially obsessed with chocolate and cupcakes.

My version of a "Super Sweet 16" party meant that all my guests had to eat was colorful candy in pretty dishes and a few desserts. Seriously. They begged for veggies. Fortunately we had a platter of those made up just in case. My graduation party was also all desserts. Cookies, cupcakes, mini cheesecakes, some scones...

One of my favorite desserts though, is cheesecake. I have weirdly vivid memories of eating All to Myself Cheesecakes at various rainy Easter celebrations and in high school I once tried to woo my crush by bringing a chocolate cheesecake I'd made into class on my birthday. I love eating at the Cheesecake Factory and I fondly remember the days when our family friend Patty got on a cheesecake experimentation kick, my favorites from those being Turtle-Brownie-White Chocolate and White Chocolate-Strawberry.

The point of all that being, well, I really love cheesecake! So, naturally when I saw a recipe for Cheesecake in a Mug, I had to try it! When I'm trying something new, I like to make things according to the recipe the first time, then make some changes the next time.

Since I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake that's totally plain, I decided to mix it up with some peanut butter (another of my favorite things) and Nutter Butter cookies I've had in my cupboard. The results weren't aesthetically beautiful... I'll still have to work on that for the pictures, but it was delicious:

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

2 oz cream cheese, softened

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 egg

2 Tablespoons sour cream

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 Nutter Butter cookies

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

In a mug, combine the cream cheese and sugar until smooth with a fork. Add the egg, vanilla, and sour cream and mix thoroughly. Break the cookies into smaller pieces or crumbs and add them. Drop the peanut butter into the mixture, about a teaspoon at a time. Stir or swirl the peanut butter and cookies into the batter then microwave about 1 1/2 -- 2 minutes or until the edges are set but the middle isn't quite (cheesecakes continue to bake a little after they're removed from the oven, or microwave). Let cool and keep in the fridge until you're ready to enjoy you're super quick and easy cheesecake.

There's so many alterations that you could make to this cheesecake! I can't wait to try it with Oreos, chocolate chips, cookie dough, try adding a crust... Endless possibilities! I'd love to see some comments with what you try! Happy nuking! 

Oh, Is This What A Weekend Feels Like?

I'll be the first to admit that I don't always take advantage of the fabulous opportunities that come with living in New York City. Honestly, my free time usually consists of hanging around my apartment. Isn't this the city with something for everyone? Don't I love adventures? So what am I doing?? (Well saving money mostly.) 

Yesterday though, I had the day off and decided I was going to go out, take a "me" day, and do something new and fun! I still didn't want to spend a lot of money so I gave myself a limit of $30 to spend and came up with some fun ideas that would be cheap. 

I thought about going to a museum with my sketchbook and sketching some of the sculptures and whatnot, something I've seen others doing and love the idea of (I really want to get back into drawing, I haven't done much since college but I loved it when I was doing it everyday). I also thought about going to a coffee shop and being one of those people on their laptops who just sit and take up a table for hours (I figured I could get more done in terms of job searching and getting important stuff done in a different environment). 

I had some other ideas too and ended up meeting a friend for lunch at Qdoba before she went in for work. Then I went thrifting! Which is something I absolutely love to do and hadn't done yet in New York. There's two places on the same street as HC and I always walk by and want to go in, so yesterday I did! And I found some really awesome stuff! If only I wasn't on a budget... But I did find some stuff I've really been needing, a pair of skinny jeans for just $8.50 then I went to a mall and grabbed some basic stud earrings I've been eyeing. Both exciting purchases :)

Still in an adventuresome mood, I paid my first visit to Trader Joe's and oh my word! I fell in love! Haha, everything was cheap and organic and awesome! I really love that it's all store brand products. The line discouraged me from buying anything, however, I will most definitely be returning :)

I had the day off again today (this is feeling like an actual productive weekend!) and am writing this from Argo Tea, a great little tea place with stores throughout the city. Where I plan to chill for a couple hours, maybe meet a friend, and overall get some work done so that I can start to have a better answer to the question, "What are you doing with your life?" 

xo ash

Baked Oatmeal In A Mug

It's back! Another installment of Mug Monday! After a very long sabbatical...

Ever since my days at summer camp, I've loved baked oatmeal. In fact, baked oatmeal is actually one of the best-loved and well-known breakfast meals at Camp Luz.

When my parents opened the Cream & Sugar Cafe while I was in high school, we found a recipe that my sister and I decided was close enough to camp's and the love of baked oatmeal spread throughout West Liberty.

Now, in New York, I still love to make baked oatmeal. However, like everything that requires an oven, it was a little inconvenient to have to carry all my supplies to the kitchen one floor up.

Then I got to thinking, I can make regular oatmeal in a mug. And I can bake muffins in a mug; I wonder if I can make my baked oatmeal in the microwave?

I did a little experimenting, cutting down the recipe, adjusting ingredients, and I found that yes, yes you can make baked oatmeal in the microwave! The best part is it's super quick! Just 2 minutes at most to mix up the ingredients and 1-2 minutes to cook it! Plus it's filling, healthy, delicious, oh, and gluten free!

Baked Oatmeal

(Gluten Free)

1 Tablespoon butter

1 1/2 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 egg white

1 Tablespoon milk

dash salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

2 teaspoons cranberries, raisins, dried cherries, chocolate chips, etc. (optional)

Melt the butter in your mug. Add the brown sugar, egg white, milk, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. Mix together then add oats and any extras. Stir until oats are coated and liquids aren't settled at the bottom.

Microwave 1-2 minutes (my microwave takes exactly 2 minutes but it's not a very powerful microwave, I would guess that 1 minute 30 seconds would do in most microwaves). When it's done, the oatmeal will pull away from the sides.

Give it a couple minutes to cool, as this is very hot when first out of the microwave, then enjoy warm with some tea, milk, or coffee.

Failed Projects and A Star Studded Life

Hi All!

Sometimes, I really want to blog but just don't know what to write about. Which is why my posts are kindof sporadic.

Today is one of those days. I knew I wanted to blog from the moment I woke up, so I thought "I'll do something from a Pinterest board then share it with everyone!"

So I did. I did this hair mask which was egg whites, olive oil and water. You massage into your scalp and let sit for 20 minutes then rinse out and wash your hair as usual. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for me... Even after rinsing and repeating. Then letting my hair dry and washing it again. The mask was supposed to leave my hair shiny and healthy but it just looks oily. Good thing I had the day off work! And got to try a new hairstyle... Looking back at the 'recipe' I realize I was actually supposed to use egg yolks instead of whites... Haha oops! Maybe that was my problem?

Anyways... Next I tried a new mug recipe for a s'more mug cake. And because I couldn't imagine putting almost FOUR TABLESPOONS of butter into a single mug cake, I cut that down. Then the cake was a little dry sooo there will be a little tweaking of the recipe before I share that one.

I did do my nails pretty but I don't feel that's worth sharing haha and in the meantime watched some movies: Peter Pan because I don't want to grow up, Legally Blonde because it's just a great movie, and now When In Rome because it has Angelica Huston in it and one of my friends here teaches her Pilates. Which is really cool :)

In other celeb news, one of my girlfriends and I went out for coffee with a movie director/screen writer and his marketing guy over the weekend! We'd both met these guys on different days while at work and they promised to get us into a screening of the movie they're working on (starring Alexis Bledel!!) at one of the colleges here in NYC. And I know all of that sounds crazy and sketchy BUT it's actually legit. First, I have a pretty good sense of people when meeting them, second, we were very careful about the whole meeting and we ended up grabbing coffee at Birch Coffee and having a great time!

The movie, Violet & Daisy, doesn't have a trailer yet (they're working on it now) so I can't really vouch for it but I'll let ya know how that screening goes ;) if it goes.

Love from New York!
Ashley

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Similar to bananas, tomatoes are another thing that I find difficult to eat all of before they go bad. The last time I bought a little case of cherry tomatoes I decided that I was not going to let any go to waste! I ate them on everything, purposely making a lot of salads, sandwiches and even scrambling them into my eggs but I was still left with a handful of slightly wrinkly cherry tomatoes...

Then I had an idea.

Oven-roast the tomatoes! Sun dried tomatoes are delicious and make any normal salad or sandwich seem fancy while adding some extra flavor and seasoning. They also can be frozen and keep awhile. Since it was winter I wasn't going to try anything crazy involving actually sun-drying the tomatoes so I earched for how to oven roast the tomatoes. After adapting the instructions to suit my toaster over I went to work and was not disappointed with the results :)

To anyone looking for something to do with tomatoes that aren't going to be very good much longer, I'd suggest oven roasting them. And to anyone who doesn't have an oven, keep reading and see how it can be done in a toaster oven!

First, gather your ingredients. I use cherry/grape tomatoes since I just have a toaster oven but I believe roma are the common roasting tomato. You'll want some olive oil, seasonings (I like Italian seasoning and garlic salt), and a muffin pan (for me that's what fits in my toaster oven if you had a tiny cookie sheet or baking pan that fits use that! BUT don't use aluminum foil!! Usually when I'm baking something here I just use a sheet of aluminum foil and roll the edges a bit but the acid from the tomatoes will have some sort of chemical reaction to the aluminum and bad things will happen.) 

Pour a little olive oil into each muffin tin cup. Then swirl it around to coat the bottoms.

Wash your tomatoes, then cut them in half. For the muffin pans you can fit 3-4 halves in each cup. I used a 6-cup pan so I cut up 11 tomatoes but do what you feel.

Put the tomato halves into the tins, swirl then around to coat them with the oil and sprinkle with the seasonings. On the far left I used just Italian seasoning and on the far right I only used garlic salt then in the middle column I mixed them. 

Pop them in the toaster oven for about 20 minutes at about 375* If you were using a real over you'd want to roast them at 450* but as I learned the hard way that will make a toaster oven spit oil everywhere and smoke up and probably be a possible fire hazard... So keep an eye on the temperature and attitude of your toaster oven :) The higher temp the better for the drying process but if you can't have it very high, bake them a little longer. 

The timing is pretty approximate but once the tomatoes are pretty dried out you can remove them from the oven. 

Let them cool a couple minutes then move them around with a fork or spoon to keep them from sticking to the pan. Once totally cooled they can be bagged or packed up and eaten or frozen or refrigerated. Supposedly they'll last 6 months in the freezer and 3-4 days in the refrigerator. I have not tested this but one of the sites I was originally learning from gives those times.

7 Things To Do With Ripe Bananas

Ok, I'm kindof picky when it comes to bananas. I like them a little green, or just yellow. As soon as they have a couple brown spots, or are getting darker yellow, I don't eat them. Not unless they're in something. They have a totally different taste!

It's always been a bit of a problem, especially in the summer when bananas turn super fast. And since it's difficult for one person to eat a bunch of bananas in the two days that they're actually at their tastiest (in my opinion) I've had to come up with a lot of ideas of things to do with them when they're no longer in their prime.

Lucky for me, bananas are extremely versatile and can be used a lot of different ways. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who doesn't like their bananas too ripe so I thought I'd share what I like to do with bananas when they're past the point of me just peeling and eating it.

Things to do with bananas when they're no longer green:

- Make banana-peanut butter toast! Just toast a piece of whole wheat bread, spread it with peanut butter and top with a sliced banana. A delicious, nutritious and filling breakfast that will stick with ya til lunch.

- Make a Chunky Monkey Smoothie!
1/4 cup milk, 1 banana, 2 TBSP chocolate milk mix, 2 TBSP peanut butter, 2-3 ice cubes and blend

- Make a banana-peanut butter-granola wrap! Take a whole wheat soft-shell tortilla, spread with peanut butter, sprinkle with granola then place banana in the middle, roll up and enjoy! This could also be for an on-the-go breakfast.

Things to do with bananas when they're ripe/overly ripe:

- Make banana pancakes
a) Mash up a banana and add it to you regular pancake recipe or mix

Happy food!

b) Healthy, gluten free banana pancakes
2 eggs, 1 mashed up banana, a little cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of vanilla - mix is all together and cook like you would a regular pancake. I was afraid these would be really eggy but they weren't actually, they cooked up just like regular pancakes! I topped them with a little cream cheese and cinnamon-sugar and they were quite delicious!

- Make banana bread! Or banana muffins which are easy to share with friends as I've been doing :)

- Make Peanut Butter-Oatmeal-Banana Cookies! For breakfast!!

These are soooo yummy! I made some last week and not only could I bake them in my lil toaster oven (!) they made my whole apartment smell like this delicious peanut butter-banana scent. The original recipe calls for vanilla protein powder and butter extract but also said it was optional so I didn't use them... I also didn't have any nuts to add so I just used crunchy peanut butter. And I only made a half recipe which made about 9 cookies.

Basically my recipe looked like this:

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/4 cup + 1/8 cup chunky peanut butter

1/3 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/8 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350* (or don't if you're using a toaster oven like me). Combine the banana and peanut butter in a medium-sized bowl. Add applesauce and vanilla. Then add oatmeal and chocolate chips. Let dough stand for 10 minutes then drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet (or greased piece of aluminum foil with cleverly folded sides in my case) and flatten. Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven and  how done you want the cookies. I went about 23 minutes.) 

These cookies can be eaten right away or stored for later. If you can only work in small batches like me then the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for later also :)

Clearly I'm a big fan of the peanut butter-banana combo hehe. I've also read that bananas can be mashed up and used as a moisturizing facial mask but I kindof don't want to waste a banana on my face when I can make one of these magical foods instead... I'll let you know if I try it one day though!

How do these sound? What do you do with old bananas?

Guide to Letting Go

I'm sad about my time at WeSell ending, but not bitter or hurt. I understand the reasoning and am still hopeful for a position there in the future. I'm very thankful for the opportunity, the friends I made and all of the skills and knowledge I acquired there.

That being said, after I left my internship for the last time yesterday, I headed to Hill Country where I was surrounded with comforting, supportive friends. I decided to let myself be sad last night but really my night was pretty great.

Here is how I let go last night:

What Next?

Well, my internship is not turning into a job. Pretty disappointing but due only to money, not to me or my skills.

Guess this means it's time for a new adventure :) Where or what that will be is still to be determined, in the meantime I'll be picking up a lot of hours at HC and am open to suggestions.

I'm very sad to be leaving behind such a great group of people but, as always, excited for the new possibilities that are opened up and the new adventures to be had.

Source: amazon.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Snow, Cafeteria, and Singles Awareness Day

Hello all!

It was a snowy weekend here in NYC, we got about a foot up in my area of the Bronx. I'm not a fan of snow or cold weather in general. But I do feel that if it's going to be freezing cold it should at least have the decency to snow as well. And snow is pretty. I'm always in favor of a good photo op and walking to the subway Friday night after work provided just that. It's a nice walk anyway, right by the Flatiron Building and through Madison Square Park, and with snow coating everything and more coming down it was lovely.

Monday, I went out for supper with a friend from HC for a birthday celebration! My birthday was at the end of January and she wanted to take me out so we went to Cafeteria in Chelsea. I hadn't been before and it was de-lish! 

Cheesy Macaroni and Cheese Spring Rolls, Spicy Pork Meatball Sliders, and White Chocolate Raspberry Bread Pudding to finish it off! A-mazing!

Last night I made banana muffins to take into WeSell today. We had a huge discussion last week about muffins versus cupcakes and what was the definition of a "plain muffin." It was very inspiring. In the sense that it made me want to make some delicious banana muffins which I must say wowed the office and brought everyone together like only food can do :)

Tomorrow is the day of truth. I'm supposed to finally have my evaluation and find out where this internship is leading. I've been there almost 4 1/2 months and am a little anxious about it all but will be happy to have a definite answer, whether good or bad. Wish me luck!

Oh, and since it's after midnight Happy Valentine's Day! Or Singles Awareness Day as I secretly like to refer to it as ;)

XO Ash

Teasing Weather

Brrrr....

Wasn't it just 50* last week?! Yes, yes it was. And now, it's FREEZING! Literally. 27* doesn't do much to encourage me to leave the house. In fact after waking up this morning and getting all dressed and ready I turned on my white Christmas lights I have in my bedroom, made a cup of hot Toffee Almond Supreme tea and crawled back into bed with my laptop :) I'm doing work though, don't worry, it's just so much warmer and cozier under some covers!

I've been working on sprucing up my resume and looking into other options for jobs/internships/service... pretty much anything, in case things don't work out with my current internship. Applying for anything else is just such a long process, there's editing the resume plus updating my portfolio then actually writing up a cover letter and applying...

Now though, I am going to get out of bed and do a little shopping with my birthday money before work tonight :)

Cheers!

(Random fun fact - I don't think it really fits me but I really like it when people end a conversation or as a goodbye say "cheers!")

500 Miles/Titanium

I think I already mentioned that I love the music from Pitch Perfect and this song is also really great, although it isn't in full in the movie. How fun is this mash-up of 500 miles and Titanium?

Mmm Pasta

How great is it that you can cook pasta in the microwave?! So much more handy than having to get a pot of water boiling on the stove and wait for the pasta to cook. And especially if you're only making one serving, like me :)

It's been forever but here again is Mug Monday:

Pesto Pasta

1 serving of your favorite pasta

Enough water to cover the pasta

Dash salt

1-1 1/2 Tablespoon pesto (to taste)

One slice of tomato

Mozzarella cheese (I use string cheese and chop one of them)

Pour water over pasta in a mug and add salt. Cook in microwave until pasta is tender (my microwave isn't very powerful and it takes about 7 minutes for rotini). 

While pasta is cooking, chop up the tomato and cheese. When pasta is fully cooked, drain the water off of it and stir in pesto (it's super easy to make! So if you can do it! But right now I'm just using store bought) until noodles are coated then add tomatoes and cheese. Enjoy :)

Gangnam Style at Hesston

This is where I went to college! A hilarious version of PSY's Gangnam style put on by staff, faculty, and students around campus. Oh how I miss these guys :)

What a Wonderful Thought...

Isn't it though? :)

I'm a Paid Artist!

Hello all!

I've had some excitement this week starting with friends visiting this weekend. As usual, we had crazy-full days but had some awesome experiences! From strolling through Central Park to eating noodles from a street vendor in Chinatown, from walking on the beach at Coney Island to having a drunk guy ask to sit with my friend and telling her he just wanted to bite her... it was a classic NYC experience :)

It was great to see my friend from college again as well as meet new friends and make memories. We watched Pitch Perfect every night and listened to its soundtrack every morning - I hadn't seen it before and I'm now obsessed! Overall it was a lovely weekend and I couldn't have asked for better house guests :)

It's so fun to have extra people around! Having visitors helps me remember how fun and exciting this city I'm living in can be!

In other news, I am now a paid artist! In college, I had drawn a picture of a sunflower in a storm which actually turned out pretty good. One of my professors saw it and said it would be prefect for an award he sends out in the winter and wondered if I'd be interested in selling him the rights (he offered to buy the drawing also but I couldn't bear to part with it just yet). I said of course and today in the mail I received a sample of the award as well as a check.

It's so exciting to have your work out there, even if drawing isn't my forte or target area. I do still love it and it feels awesome to have something I've created be recognized and appreciated. And worth money :) I feel honored to have been asked to offer up my work and feel so blessed for the opportunity. And am as excited as ever to see what else God has in store for me!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Hi All!

It's been awhile since I posted a Mug Monday... Today though, I would like to share a recipe I was very excited to find: pineapple upside down cake in a mug!

I found the recipe from an awesome Taste of Home forum that has a bunch of mug recipes. Then made my own adaptations according to the inngredients I had :)

The original recipe called for a pineapple ring which would be brilliant in a mug... but I just had a can of pineapple chunks so I used that and chopped the chunks smaller and didn't have any maraschino cherries around so, although that's usually key to the presentation of pineapple upside down cake, mine was missing that. feel free to add your own though!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Topping:

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon pineapple juice

Pineapple chunks (or a pineapple ring)

Cake:

6 Tablespoons flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 large egg

1/8 teaspoon vanilla

2 Tablespoons butter (melted or softened)

2 Tablespoons pineapple juice

Mix the brown sugar and pineapple juice in the bottom of a mug and spread out. Drop the pineapple chunks in (I just estimated on amount, as pineapple-y as you'd like it) and microwave for 1 1/2 minutes to get the brown sugar/pineapple juice all bubbly and delicious. 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, egg, vanilla, butter, and pineapple juice until completely blended. Pour the batter into the mug and place in the microwave for about 4 minutes.

Hold an inverted plate at the rim of the mug and flip the mug and plate over so that the cake falls onto the plate, topping side up.

My Year in Review

Happy New Year everyone!

I love journaling.

Usually.

Sometimes, I get really distracted and can't write, no matter how many awesome things I have to say. I'll literally just sit, pen in hand, and stare into space, usually thinking through the words I want to write but my hand can't keep up with my mind and the words are lost....

But usually journaling is very therapeutic for me. It's how I put my thoughts together and record memories. And one of the best rewards is going back through old journals and remembering fun or hard times and seeing how God pulled me through situations that seemed earth-shattering at the time.

Some days I like to pull out an old journal and flip through to see what I was doing on that date (or around that date...) one year ago. At the end of the year, I like to flip through my journal from the past year and see how my thinking has changed or look at all the things I went through, all the fun times I had, and how things ended up. Plus, there are so many beautiful journals out there, how could you not want to write and fill it's pages?!

I usually go through one journal a year but this year was a big year for me and I went through two! Since it was such a big year I wanted to share some of the big adventures :) and hopefully encourage you to look over your year!

2012
January: Felt real old, like an actual grown-up, turning 20!
Spent my birthday on a college visit :P but with one of my besties!
Visited home twice!
Got my first internship at Doric Concrete Vaults (designing tombstones ;)

February: Hmm lots of ups and downs in that month....

March: Spring Break! at home... it was fun though!
Dressed as Tinker Bell for Pick-a-Date
Played Cobweb (rocker fairy!) in Hesston's 80's style Midsummer Night's Dream

April: When the schedule became - class, lay out, Sonic :)
Was offered internship in Brooklyn at Resource

May: Got my helix triple pierced
Graduated from Hesston
Said goodbye to all my friends :(

June: Becca graduated!
Visited New York City for the first time.... and moved there 2 weeks later :)
Road trip to Iowa! For Jodi's wedding
Started web design internship at Resource Magazine

July: Celebrated the 4th on the roof with popcorn and chocolate covered strawberries
Used my days off to visit free museums and attractions
Saw Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
Had my first visitors! Gingeriches
Boob Auction...

August: Started working at Hill Country BBQ Market as a hostess
Visit from Wendy!
Moved Becca to college

September: Decided to move back to Ohio at Thanksgiving.... yeah that didn't actually happen
Internship at Resource ended
Visit from EMUers

October: Started graphic design internship at WeSell.com
Extra time = gone (working every day)
Hurricane Sandy

November: Granny passed away - went home
Emily's wedding in Indy
Thanksgiving at Hesston!
First Black Friday shopping experience

December: Worked 60 hours every week
Home for one week at Christmas
Visitors! Mom, Dad, Becca, Grandpa

My resolution: Start a new adventure :)