Author Archives: Jennifer

08-03-14

Dress: Amanda’s Closet | Earrings: Gifted | Pin: Vintage | Sticker: MetMuseum | Shoes: Modcloth

This weekend I went into New York City with my Mom to go see the Charles James exhibit. I have to say this is one of the few specialty exhibits that really blew me away. Although I like clothing and fashion, I don’t actually know much history. So I didn’t know anything about Charles James. I only really wanted to go because of a video segment on Gertie’s Blog for Better Sewing. I’m glad I went because there was so many cool things about the exhibit.

I thought the trip would be a great excuse to wear my new dress that I got from Amanda’s instagram shop from Junebugs and Georgia Peaches. (My dress is in the bottom right corner of this photo) I didn’t go too crazy since I knew I would be walking around a lot and the temperatures change often in museums.

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Another week went by. Been busy, but I really can’t say what I have done. Yeah, just one of those weeks. But we should have some fun posts coming up for you guys this week! So stay tuned. In the meantime, here is our next collection of reads (and a watch) for everyone to check out.

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It Takes HOW Much Water to Make Greek Yogurt?!

People rarely actually ask why I don’t eat dairy. Maybe people just assume I am some crazy hippie going through a phase. The biggest reason for not drinking milk is that it isn’t very sustainable. Mother Jones relates milk directly to the drought in California by asking exactly how much water is needed to make a glass of soy milk or your cup of yogurt. 

The article is a few months old, but I only recently stumbled upon it. It is pretty interesting to the visuals of water to compare each item to. But as I a vegan, I find it most interesting how much more water is needed to make almond milk. I love it, and it is so easy to make. But after reading the article I might want to cut back on it.

Vegans Are Not Annoying: Here’s 10 Reasons Why

I am sure you heard the joke- “How can you tell someone is vegan? They’ll tell you they are.” Working in food service, you hear this one all the time. The joke is sad since I do recommend that any vegans, vegetarians, or people with allergies inform us when buying food. That way, we can help and prevent any mistakes or help you avoid ordering food that goes against your diet. But I am getting off topic- vegans and vegetarians are labeled as annoying and preachy. In all my years, I’ve only met one person who fit the “crazy vegan” stereotype.

Kathy comes up with a pretty good list of reason why vegans are actually the opposite of annoying. She points out that vegans are compassionate and will make you food. I think the making you food part is the most important as I am always making baked goods for parties and get togethers. 

Welcome to the C.S.A!

The New Yorker has a humorous post about C.S.A shares. As a C.S.A member, I am glad to say that we never have too many vegetables that we can’t handle, although lately, it’s been a bean overload. I STILL have a frickin radish in the crisper. Oh and kohlrabi. Nobody knows what to do with kohlrabi.

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MetPublications

This isn’t anything new, but a friend recently informed me that there are many free e-books to download at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website. I am a HUGE Met fan. I’ve written a review one of their books earlier, and I will be writing about my recent visit to the Charles James exhibit. There is something for everyone at the museum, and they do so much to preserve art from the past and today.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art publishes many books relating to their art and their exhibits. Not every single book is available online. Most books that you can download in their entire form are older books currently out of print. New books, such as the new book about the Charles James exhibit, can be read online in a small excerpt (sort of like the previews on Amazon). The Met plans on releasing more of their books, possibly all of them. But for now there are close to 400 titles that are fully available online, so you have a lot to choose from including a book about Ingres that is sitting on my bookshelf.

A League of Condone

My husband told me about this story while driving me to my sister’s house, and I knew I had to post an article talking about it. But then Jon Stewart talked about it in his show instead, which I think does a great summery. I know most health food, book, or fashion nerds are not into football, but I enjoy the sport.

So in a nutshell the NFL is getting a lot of criticism about the minimal punishment they handed down to Ray Rice. The NFL takes great pride in trying to make the sport family friendly and sending positive messages to younger viewers. So hearing that players gets a smaller punishment for domestic violence compared to a misdemeanor such as smoking pot is unsettling. There seems to be more violence-related problems with NFL players than drugs, so maybe the league should start re-evaluating how things work. 

Uggg… what a downer of an ending! I’ll remedy that by showing a video from Eat Your Kimchi of their lazy cat.


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Sorry guys that I have been a little absent lately. These past two weeks haven’t been fun. My fridge died, which resulted in porting my freezer contents over to my sister’s house, borrowing a mini-fridge and salvaging my food. I don’t think all of the food survived, so I got some food poisoning. Ugg… In short my digestion tract is shot, and food is pretty much on the bottom of list of things I want to talk about.

I am not a huge fan of weekly posts like “Friday Favorites” or the like, but I am really getting into the idea of Weekend posts that feature articles. I am finding that Weekend Reading is my favorite thing to read over on Choosing Raw. So I figure I would give it a try.

So every Sunday, I will post whatever I find really interesting that week. It might be a new article, a recipe, video clip, or blog post. And since I’ve been so sick, my first post features nothing about food. Good right?

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jajangmyeon1 So the other day I was making Jajangmyeon and went into my blog archives for the recipe that I posted almost a year ago. To my horror, the instructions were TERRIBLE! I mean so bad that I was embarrassed to keep the recipe up. The image was broken, and the original photo was terrible. I wouldn’t think so much improvement with my posts would happen in such a short amount of time. But Jajangmyeon is one of my favorite dishes, and I just had to keep the world in the loop of this yummy dish. I originally grew up eating this because of my Aunt Hannah. She is Korean immigrant who married into my family. She would bring packages that looked like ramen that she called “Black Spaghetti.” She taught me her special way of cooking them. If I was in an Asian food market I would snatch up as many as I could. When I went to college in Philadelphia I had access to Korean restaurants. I became obsessed with finding one that would serve these black bean noodles. When I finally found one, I became sold on fresh jajangmyeon. They were pricey, so I learned how to make the noodles myself. Since I had it fresh, I found out those dinky ramen packets were pretty terrible. Continue reading


There has been a lot of buzz about Sailor Moon Crystal, the newest installment in the Sailor Moon franchise. Naturally when the show aired, we both had to watch it, and we naturally had a lot to say.

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If you aren’t a huge Sailor Moon fan, let us explain something about this review.Many people know that in the 90s there was a cartoon called Sailor Moon. It featured teenage girls fighting crime and spawned a resurgence of “magical girl” themed animes. But the show was based on a manga series, named Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon (translating to Pretty Soldier/Guardian Sailor Moon). The story has been reimagined several times, starting as a manga, animated series, musical, and a live action TV series (with a puppet cat).

So what is Sailor Moon Crystal then? 22 years after the first series debuted, the story went under a facelift. The show isn’t a continuation, or re-imagination of Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon Crystal follows the same base storyline as the original animated series – but claims to follow the manga much more closely. But this incarnation uses new animation techniques to appeal to a new young audience. This happens often, just think about My Little Ponies and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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Summer is in full swing and that means it is the season for frozen treats. The bad thing about not having dairy is that it really limits your options. Most store bought snacks have milk or full of dyes and chemicals. And the ones that are better for you have a high price tag. I would make my own ice cream, except it makes a lot of dishes to wash at the end of the night. So I’ve been trying to make popsicles as much as I can. It is an easy clean, and I only need two things: a blender and popsicle molds.

So I’ve been making a bunch of different pops, experimenting and learning in the process. I have even posted a recipe from awhile ago on Mexican Chocolate Pops. I recently made a new favorite- Matcha and Avocado Pops. It might sound weird, but hear me out. They are REALLY yummy.

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One thing I hear often from people when I mention exercise is that they aren’t the “work out” type. But let me say that I don’t think anyone is really the “work out” type.

I certainly wasn’t. My husband was shocked when I told him that I was the laziest person in my house growing up. My sisters were on different athletic teams, and pretty passionate about it. They might not have been the best at their respective sports, but they poured a lot of time and energy into it. I, on the other hand, was a big bum. Most of my hobbies involved sitting: sewing, embroidery, web design, jpop, movies, etc. I did one year of swim team, because my Mom expressed concern for my health. However, I quit soon after, and the next closest thing I got to exercise was marching band. Otherwise I lived a sedentary lifestyle. I was quite a pudgy girl who would eat a whole box of macaroni and cheese for lunch.

That said, I was good at walking. I went to college in Philadelphia and walked everywhere. I had the reversal freshmen fifteen, losing 15 to 20 pounds. I walked up several flights of stairs everyday (How many people actually walk up 15 flights of stairs to go to class on time?) I wasn’t necessarily trying to better my body, just doing what I felt had to be done. There were several elevators, but only 2 of them worked. If there was a line out the door for the elevator, I had to use the stairs (my classes were usually on the top floors). If I wanted to see a movie sometimes that just meant walking 2 miles to the closest theater (because taxis are dangerous* and expensive).

I didn’t start “working out” until I graduated and went back to the suburban world. I noticed I was gaining weight and felt restless. I figured it was probably because I stopped walking everywhere. Instead of walking 15 minute to a grocery store and carrying all of my groceries by hand on the way back, I hopped in my car and drove 15 minutes to the grocery store. To counter this, I started using Wii Active. This was the first time I made the conscious decision actively to work up a sweat for the sake of health.

I didn’t necessarily enjoy it.

Nope, I don’t think I really start to love the sweat until two years ago. I forced myself to workout and slowly started to see benefits. I found that I had more energy, could breathe easier, and had a toned body. The more I kept going, the more I noticed things I liked. It was a great way to relieve stress, which was a life saver for my wedding. The better I felt after working out, the more I ramped up the workouts.

If I had told myself 8 years earlier that I would be training to run a half marathon I would laugh. I would simply think my body wasn’t cut out for it. I would have just assumed that people are split into 2 types: those who are naturally athletic and those who are not. I was made for crafts, cooking, and reading, not running.

Not to say that people are lazy, but starting is the hardest part.  Just think of Newton’s laws of motion. An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an external force. By nature our bodies want to rest and conserve energy. But your mind can be that external force. Give yourself that kinetic push. We’re all capable of it. And the more you do it, the easier it becomes. In the end, you’ll thank yourself.

* Note taxis are mostly dangerous because of, you know, hitting people. Heck, I’ve been hit by a taxi. And by hit I mean lightly tapped. I don’t want to be in a taxi when it hits someone else.


One of the first few blogs I started to visit frequently as an adult was Oh She Glows, written by Angela Liddon. It seemed I kept finding my way back to her blog whenever I googled recipes. I found her recipes reliable and delicious at a time when most blogs had me questioning whether or not the authors even attempt to make the recipes about which they write. When I scrolled upon a post by Angela in which she mentioned she had a book in the works, I became both excited and skeptical. Many bloggers have been published but yield disappointing cookbooks. But of course, I knew I had to get her book. I’ve read The Oh She Glows Cookbook front to back and tried some recipes. I’m ready to share the results!ohsheglows01Shop on Amazon

Note: All photos are from the cookbook or the Oh She Glows website.

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The bonus of some blog cookbooks is that they are filled with lots of beautiful photos. Each main recipe is accompanied by a photograph. There really aren’t any photos for “how-to” instructions for things like beans, banana ice cream, flours, etc. And that is fine. I don’t think we need a photo of a food processor filled with almonds. 

I also liked how her pictures were realistic. Unlike the wax and clay food photography you often find in the professional world, Angela’s food photography looked like I could have made it myself. Granted, my freezer pizza didn’t look nearly as nice as the photo, but that is partially because I didn’t care enough to drizzle the chocolate. Nor did Angela try and bore us with individual photos of each smoothie. She grouped some together and found interesting ways to shoot the teas.

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Dress: Urban Renewal | Necklace: Flair | Shoes: Nature Breeze

I haven’t done a fashion post in almost a month! So when my husband and I went into Philadelphia this weekend I knew I had to take a photo. Plus, the side streets are always great scenery! I was able to wear this dress my sister handed down to me. It is super soft and quick to put on. We went to go see Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. It is one our favorite Miyazaki films. My husband says he can’t pick between Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro as his favorite, but I can easily say Spirited Away is my favorite. 

I love how the main character is a female but the end of the story is not about how she fell in love. She saves her parents (spoiler alert her parents don’t get eaten… which is pretty obvious considering it is a kids movie) and helps many people around her. His visuals are amazing, and he uses animation in creative and beautiful ways.

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detoxkimchi1

I love detoxes. I mentioned in the last post I was doing a smoothie detox. For three to four days all I eat are smoothies and soups. Usually they are all raw, but they are hardly skimpy. They are packed with lots of nuts and fats to keep me full and going. I like a smoothie cleanse over a juice cleanse since you are getting a larger range of foods. Emily from This Rawsome Vegan Life did one for 7 days, which is longer than I have ever done.

I usually do a detox after big family get togethers and holidays since I usually eat foods I wouldn’t normally eat. It is nice “reboot” for some eating habits. If I am suddenly craving beer and cake every single day, I will usually go on a detox. I find that it makes me want to eat healthier foods. I am still going to want to drink beer and eat baked goods, but I know I shouldn’t be eating them everyday.

Of coarse I don’t like the connection people make with loosing weight with detoxing. Yeah, most of the time you loose weight, but it isn’t permanent. A lot of water weight is loss and quickly gained back when transitioning back to a normal diet. Which is why I like how Emily refers to it as a “Liquid Feast,” since you are feeding your body.
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