MY KIND OF COFFEE

Teehee.

Tree Hugger Keurig Pods? Yes Please.

FILL IN THE BLANK TUESDAY?

It's been a while since Fill-in-the-blank Friday has made an appearance on my blog. But we're back and in action for my favorite edition yet...the Food Edition!

1.  If I could choose my last meal it would be       chips, queso, guacamole and salsa for appetizer; tacos for dinner (with an ice cold Dos Equis, of course); and chocolate cake with caramel ice cream for dessert   .

2.  My favorite person to share a meal with is      Kyle and Steph    because,     we love all the same food!  I don't find that too often .

3.  The best meal I've ever had was       Whole Foods salad bar after 3 months in the DR   .

4.  The one food that makes me feel instantly better when I'm having a bad day is       ice cream. Cold, creamy and delicious  .

5.  My absolute specialty in the kitchen is     baked goods. Cookies, breads, cakes, muffins; ya know, everything that's best for you    .

6.  The city that has the best food is      Austin     and my favorite restaurant there is        so many to choose from!...is it bad if I say Jason's Deli? Just kidding (kind of)...can SnoBeach be considered a restaurant? Or maybe Rio Grande (before it shut down), or El Arroyo, or Trudy's, or Iron Catus, or Abuelos...anything mexican or with outdoor seating.     

7.  My favorite healthy snack is      popcorn; stove-top popped with not butter and sea salt. In my mind that's healthy!      .

8.  In my opinion the nationality which has the best food is      Mexican, hands down (well does tex-mex count?).      .

9.  If I could learn to cook anything in the world (and be really good at it!) I'd choose      Indian food.  Anything with curry and tofu in it      .

10.  The most outrageous dessert I've ever had was      $6 ice cream at Phileo Yogurt (like Yogurt Planet for all you austinites); I stuffed a taste of five different flavors of soft serve and a bagillion toppings into that cup. So good, so worth $6     .

Now go check out Lauren at the little things we do!

THE MOMS BDAY CAKE:1, KARA:0

The Mom turned the big 6-0 this year. Her birthday's the week after mine. Since I raved so much about the cake she made me, I thought I'd return the favor. I had plans to make her favorite Jewish Apple Cake with a vegan recipe that I adapted to fit into a bundt cake pan rather than a square pan.


I thought I had it all figured out and was honestly pretty proud of myself, until I tried to turn the cake out onto a plate and a chunk of it slopped to the floor...the cake was cooked (thank goodness), but apparently I put entirely too many apples in for the cake to hold.


But, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade, right?


So I scooped the cake into a bowl and stuck a candle in it. It's the thought that counts anyways. And the Cake, or should I call it Cobbler, actually tasted really good, it just wanted to be eaten with a spoon instead of a fork!

The Dad's cake for the Mom

Aaaaand my cake for the Mom

Yikes...sorry Mom?

AND WHILE I'M HARD AT WORK

So is this little one:

Mowing the grass with Grandpa

In her cute little dress from Aunt Kara

HARD AT WORK

Fact: Spray painting furniture is probably not the best long-term idea.

Fact: Moving furniture 3+ times and storing it for 25 months means chipped paint and and scuff marks everywhere.

Fact: I have a lot of work to do.

Every weekend it feels like since I've been back from TX, has been spent fixing up my furniture. I'm thrifty, so instead of buy new I'd rather rehab my old furniture to make it feel new. So far it's working. I'm really excited how everything's turning out.

Here's what I've done so far:

I have a couple teak lounges that look kind of like this one, except they were in bad shape. I sanded them (huge task), stained them and scrubbed the cushions; they look a hundred times better.

My end tables circa Sophmore year of college were in not-so-hot condition, but a quick coat of black spray paint and they look brand new. (Tip: I used Rustoleum Hammered paint and it's the bomb;so easy and it makes the paint not look so flat and boring.)

My kitchen table and chairs,, also from sophomore year of college, needed a good sanding and new coat of paint. I haven't quite finished this one yet. The table and chairs are sanded and painted a vintage cream color, but I want them to look antiqued, so I still have to go back and apply the antiquing glaze. I think I'm subconsciously putting it off because I've never antiqued anything before and I'm afraid I'll mess it up. Any tips?

MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT TO YOU

I'm not kidding, that Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake was so delicious. With the consent of the mom, I have been given permission to share the secret recipe.


(Vegan) Wacky Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon white vinegar
5 tablespoons melted veg butter (the Mom used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks)
1 cup luke warm water
Frosting:
1/3-1/4 veg butter (see above) softened
2-3 cups confectioners' sugar
2-3 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Almond milk (the mom used almond breeze) as needed to reach desired consistency


Instructions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift dry ingredients into ungreased square cake pan; shake pan to level ingredients. Make three indentations with tablespoon. In the first hole put the vanilla, second hole melted butter, third hole vinegar. Pour warm water over entire pan and mix until chocolate syrup consistency. Bake for 30 minutes and let cool.
To make the frosting, cream together all ingredients with wooden spoon; add tiny amounts of alomnd milk until you reach a fudge-like consistency. Spread over cooled cake and enjoy!


(Suggestion: Now double that recipe; it goes fast and you'll definitely want more! :) And I love it served chilled if you can wait that long to dig in.)


Now go make it and tell me you can't tell that's vegan!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY...

...And I forgot to document it! Until after the fact. Oops!

That's not to say it wasn't amazing, though. It was wonderful. You can tell by the half-eaten Vegan Chocolate Cake the mom made me:

And the birthday shrine the mom surprised me with at work. She sure knows how to make a girl feel special!

I was semi-hoping my 24th birthday would just kind of slip under the radars and no one would remember, but instead I had birthday presents before work, presents and lunch with Germie, Janet and Elaine (some sweet old co-workers), then wine and birthday dinner with the parents. All topped off with the most delicious vegan chocolate cake.

And I was in bed by 9:00 p.m. Now THAT'S a banner birthday if you ask me.

GOD'S POST-IT NOTES

The Mom forwarded me this cute e-mail of a bunch of God's Post-it Notes.

Thought I'd share a few:

Remember this and have a wonderful week! ♥ 

J IS FOR NEW-JOB JUNE

I am officially all in one place now.

Things, body and mind: all in one city. All in Philly.

The past month leading up to this being all in one place has been crazy, but I can finally take a breather to explain.

You probably saw my post about my previous company being acquired; working for a small start-up company that's what it's all about. So unlike many buy-outs, it was a good thing! It also gave me some time to evaluate my career path thus far and decide where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do next. I had a few ideas and cities I was looking at, but ultimately God's plan (thank goodness!) prevailed and after a few weeks off, I was offered and accepted a job right here in Philadelphia. 

I actually work in the same exact building, same exact floor that I used to work in. Kind of strange, but comforting at the same time. At least while getting used to a new position and new company I didn't have to transition to new surroundings too!

Most of you already know that Philadelphia was probably not on my list of cities to job-search in during the transition :) But I feel SO blessed, overly thankful and strangely really excited excited to not only have a job, let alone one that I love, but to also finally be settled again and not feel as 'temporary' as I have for the past two years.

Life is good...GOD is good.

HAIR BACK PLEASE

Worst idea of 2010: Cutting my hair.

I want it back. Now.