best friend ever

kerry's here!!! she arrived at midnight last night. with a box of macarons from manhattan in hand. best friend ever.

homemade granola bars

this summer, with no classes to occupy all of my time, i wanted to enjoy every moment in the kitchen + make more recipes from scratch. especially for drew. his graduate program in creative writing just started, he works three jobs + he plays in a band. needless to say, he's a little busy and therefore grabs the easiest (and cheapest) food to get him through his crazy days. one of the most unhealthy items he was relying on for fuel were store-bought granola bars full of high fructose corn syrup and other unpronounceable ingredients. it kills me that these bars are marketed as healthy when they're not made from real, whole foods. 

so, in between my hectic schedule of shopping, yoga + reading in the park, i squeezed in the time to make granola bars. these are so easy to make, it seems silly to ever buy them from the store again.

homemade granola bars 

1/2 cup all natural peanut butter 
1/4 cup honey 
1 banana, mashed 
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 
1 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats 
1/3 cup coconut 
1/4 cup organic dark chocolate chips 
1/4 cup crushed cashews

preheat oven to 350 degrees f. mix peanut butter, brown sugar, honey, banana and vanilla extract until smooth and set aside. add in oats, coconut, chocolate chips + cashews and mix well. press mixture into an 8 x 8 baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. allow complete cooling, then cut to your liking (i made 10 thin shorter bars so they resembled their evil cousin, the chewy bar).

scenes from the weekend

this post should actually be titled, "scenes (of food and booze) from the weekend". browsing through my pictures today, i realized that all i did this weekend was eat and drink. not that i'm complaining, i'm just feeling a little guilty because i should have been saving my (nonexistent) money for this upcoming week. my dear friend kerry will be visiting from wednesday to monday and we have so much eating, drinking + shopping ahead of us!

1. tequila, fresh lime juice + grapefruit soda.
2. cute back patio of new (vegan!) bar, the sweet hereafter.
3. falafel with grilled eggplant, carmelized onions + greens from wolf and bear's.
4. park lounging with jill.
5. loot from the local farm stand.
6. matching grapefruit + champagne cocktails at gold dust with mary.
7. tofu, egg white, brown rice, black bean + broccoli brunch at isabel pearl. 
8. lovely sign.
9. my adorable fur child taking a snooze.
10. homemade granola bars for drew (recipe to come).

raw corn, tomato and avocado salad

during the summer, it's difficult for me to get the same high vegetable intake that i get in the fall and winter months. my favorite way to eat vegetables is to roast them until they are brown and crispy. cauliflower, broccoli and brussels sprouts roasted in a 450 degree oven don't exactly scream summer to me. luckily, i found a way to enjoy a healthy, colorful + delicious salad that requires no oven at all. it looks and tastes like summer in a bowl.

raw corn, tomato and avocado salad with basil oil dressing 

3 ears of corn 
1 pint of cherry tomatoes 
1 large avocado 
1/4 cup olive oil 
juice of half a lemon 
pinch of salt and pepper 
1 clove of garlic 
1 small shallot 
big handful of fresh basil

shuck the corn, cut the kernels off with a large knife + place in a large bowl. cut cherry tomatoes in half, add to bowl + set aside. in a food processor, puree garlic, shallot, basil, salt + pepper. gradually add in the olive oil and lemon juice until all ingredients are incorporated. serve corn + tomato in a bowl, add chopped avocado right before serving (to avoid browning) + drizzle the basil oil dressing over the top.

thoughts

today i had my first meeting regarding the orientation that i'm planning and conducting this upcoming september for my grad program. considering the fact that i'm the admissions assistant for my department + my interest lies in student affairs, it made sense for me to volunteer my time + put together this event. i'm both extremely excited and nervous. i am a terrible public speaker, so i'm also doing this to prepare myself for my thesis presentation (which is open to the public). for the next month my brain will be occupied with catering orders, rsvp lists, finding alumni guest speakers, googling ways to not throw up while giving a presentation, etc.

but for the brief moment i had to myself, sitting outside in the campus center before my meeting began, it struck me that i have almost been here for a whole year. i can't believe how quickly time has gone by. a year ago i was sitting in the same place, with a textbook i had just bought, reading before my first class. i was terrified + did not know what to expect. though i'm still finding my footing in this new place that i will call home for the next two years, i've learned a lot about myself. i'm hoping to translate some of this new knowledge into my presentation at orientation, with the hope that i can make a few nervous incoming students feel at ease and assure them that everything will be just fine.

balance

every morning should look a little something like this --

macaron, book + coffee.

and every evening should look a little something like this --

caramel ice cream + salted dark chocolate from ruby jewel.

with a lot of vegetables, tofu, brown rice + salads in between. you know, for balance. and throw in the 21 day yoga challenge i started yesterday as well for good measure.

scenes from the weekend

we had a beautiful weekend here in portland. though we were on house arrest for all of friday (due to keeping an eye on my sick, heavily sedated cat after a nightmare trip to the vet), we still managed to get ourselves outside on saturday + sunday to make up for it.

the other night, as drew and i were walking home, we got to talking about how much our view of portland has improved since the weather has changed. as much as we gripe about it in the rainy months, it's hard not to fall in love with this place when it's sunny, 75 degrees + no humidity. everyone comes out of hibernation, the streets are lined with people enjoying outdoor happy hours, street fairs are abundant, and gorgeous flowers have bloomed everywhere. there's something so satisfying about walking to all of our destinations in this gorgeous weather that i will most certainly miss when summer is gone.

 

1. organic eggs + veggies + homemade corn tortillas at the farmer's market

2. drew digging in

3. espresso macaron with coffee buttercream filling

4. a trip to powell's, drew's version of heaven

5. pretty sidewalk

6. margarita in a mason jar made by jill

7. lily

8. sweet old scooter

9. failed attempt to take a picture with mt. hood 

10. j.crew dress snagged at a tag sale on the walk to mt. tabor for $2!