Tag Archives: the atlantic

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Alexa is crushing it— though I am not sure what she is doing.

Hello everyone. My apartment is chaos. Packing has begun in our apartment, and there isn’t much room for boxes. It is like a puzzle of moving some boxes to make room for more boxes, then emptying boxes, partially filling others, and then emptying it out again because space is such an issue. Last night my husband and I sat down, ate dinner, watched some TV, and I got up and had a flash of deja vu from when we first moved in. I think the only thing worse than boxing stuff is dealing with my very delicate husband. I haven’t moved often when I was younger, but I lived in a very small house. In fact the house we are buying is BIGGER than the house I grew up in. Okay, there are less rooms, and no yard, but square foot by square foot it is larger. My husband has already thrown his hands up in the air and declared the apartments officially “too full” for anymore boxes. And I have to keep calm and try and make it manageable for him while still getting the job done.

I am also so scared of boxing the wrong things too early. Like we broke down our hutch that we holding booze, stemware, kitchen appliances, and office/art supplies. So we have a bunch of art and office supplies in the living room, and I keep looking at scissors thinking “I know we need these… but I am not sure why I would need it for the move” It stumped me all day what I would need the scissors for and then sudden it hit me this morning, OPENING BOXED WHEN WE MOVE! Duh! Everything in the kitchen I am stumped about which we should pack up, or what we will need the day of closing. Shit, if I could I would just have someone pack my stuff and I would happily just move boxes all day. The heavy lifting is the EASY part.

Well, with all the moving I might not be on that much this week. I already moved my photo post from Saturday to Monday (expect that tomorrow) since we were just so busy. This will be an unpleasant week. Mostly with mediocre food as we plan on just trying to get things cleaned out. Though we will have lots of beer seeing as we keep picking up more beer boxes to pack books (they are the perfect size, just big enough to hold a lot, but not too big to be unbearable heavy). So I will try and enjoy my sweaty days and drunken nights.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
2 quart of green beans
1 large summer squash
A few small kohlrabi
Garlic Scapes
2 small spring onions
3 asian eggplants
1 small bunch of carrots and greens
1 small bunch of collard greens
1 almost quart of blackberries (oops we were only suppose to have 1/2 pint)

What I’m cooking:
Nappa Cabbage Stir-fry (yeah I still have nappa cabbage from the end of may)
Collards Greens & Black Beans with a tahini dressing
Kohlrabi, squash, pea, and pasta casserole
Green Bean & Eggplant Stir-fry
Carrot greens in shakes (btw this actually tastes bad! Don’t do it!)
Handfuls of blackberries for dessert- maybe served over strawberry Daiya Cheesecake

Food:
I’m always trying to brainstorm ways to use my CSA produce in new ways. I get in the habit of making the same thing over and over again (like that eggplant and green bean stir-fry I linked, it’s good btw). One such dish are cherry tomatoes. I toss them in a salad, and that’s yummy but can be boring. So I was happy to see this Polenta Tart with Garlicky White Bean Spread. *drooling*

My old roommate from college is FINALLY getting married. I am so happy for them, as we were all (bride and groom, me and hubby) friends in college. So I was looking at the town near the reception and found this awesome vegan restaurant called Glory Doughnuts. Now I am not sure which I am more excited about- the wedding or the food?

Important Reads:
Apparently airplanes can use farm waste and animal fats to power engines. Although I am not loving the idea of using animal by-products, it is interesting to hear that planes are trying to use more environmentally friendly ways for fuel.

A short article about Killer Whales or Orcas that challenges what SeaWorld claims about orcas. Basically spotlighting an 103 year old orca grandmother.

I’ve been following the US soccer team in the Women’s World Cup, and it has been very exciting. Apparently the game was the most watched soccer game in the United States to date. Which brings up an issue to the world, why aren’t equal pay in sports a feminist issue?

There is a huge stigma with miscarriages and stillborns. I’ve linked this article by NPR about the issue before. But I bring it up again because I’ve read a moving blog post by author Katie Coyle. I think we need to talk about all the awkward parts of miscarriages and still borns because it is currently a secret club. Sure things have gotten better over the years. I have slowly been learning more about my Uncle Timmy. He was a still born. My Nanna and Pappy have some regrets. My Pappy said he wished he took a photo of him, my Nanna was never allowed to see or hold the baby. They were young, going through their first birth so I am sure it was especially traumatizing. With that said, I’ve gone through a miscarriage, and I am trying to be more open about it. My experience has been VERY different from Katie and grandparents, and maybe I will write about it on the blog in the future.

Videos:


So several weeks, maybe even months ago, Alexa sent me this video and I was like “I’m at work, I’ll check it out later” SO after a few weeks I checked it out. This makes me so happy. Side note I loved this interview with her as well. Oddly, what she was going for works on an international level. Mindless animal talks that makes people happy.


How have I not seen this video before? Although cat park is also pretty good too.

If you are like me, the economy is confusing. No matter how many times people explain it I am left a big “huh?!” I mean I know how to deal with my money responsibly but I have no idea how it fits in the larger economy. Point is that John Green explains the whole Greece issue pretty well and everyone should watch it to know what is going on.


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Alexa meets her dream man- Daniel Bryan <3

Hey guys, I had a HUGE scare this weekend. So on Friday night my husband and I were talking about what we were planning on doing since my computer is 8 years old, and it isn’t fast enough to process up to date browsers. To put in perspective, to have chrome and firefox open at the same time, it uses up HALF of our processing speed. Ouch. That is how my husband and I function, I use Chrome, he uses Firefox. So after coming up with a replacement plan, the computer crashes the next day. UGH! I freaked out, shouted, then came up with an emergency plan, then magically the computer started working again. I backed our harddrive up and I am just waiting for our computer to crash again, you know at some point. Oh and when the computer WASN’T working I managed to spill hot coffee on me, freak out if the mac store would be open on the 4th of July (it is BTW), cut my thumb badly, and almost hit a deer. It was a great morning. DX

But I hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July (or Canada day, or good weekend) I got to see two fireworks, one from our apartment window on the 3rd and the other in person. There are so many places doing fireworks within a 2 mile radius from our apartment, hell you could even hear the fireworks going off in the next town WHILE watching the fireworks.

We are also going to watch the Women’s World Cup Game because USA is awesome.  If you need a little refresher before watching the game, here is a little preview of the game. Honestly, I don’t know if it will be nearly satisfying as it was to watch the US beat Germany. I love seeing upsets. But really how did Sausage miss that kick?! Well, I am glad they got eliminated since it was so hard to hear the announcers say sausage so many times. Side note- google WANTED me to add sausage at the end of the search “Célia Šašić.” I betcha she HATES sausages.

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
2 quart of green beans
A handful of snow peas
buttload of sweet basil & parsley
1 large yellow squash
A few beets with greens
A few radishes with greens
1 small bunch of carrots with greens
1 small bunch of collard greens
garlic scapes

What I’m cooking:
Snow Pea + Nappa Cabbage Stir-fry
Buffalo Hummus Wraps with lettuce cucumber and radishes
Carrot Top + Parsley Tabbouleh
Summer Garden Pasta (for company BBQ)

History:

My friend who is an art history buff (and has a masters in it) found this interesting article that has proof of same sex marriage in 100 AD! Okay so it isn’t quite the same being that they only have males and that can marry each other and it seems less about love and more about legally joining bank accounts. But still very interesting regardless.

I found this article about the history of the tampon really interesting. I think we should all be a little open about periods and all the embarrassing stuff. I was so engrossed by the article that by the end of it I felt like I should be watching lifetime and eating some yogurt.

Food:

Bryant Terry has contributed some recipes to the Kitchn, and I am drooling! I seriously need to pick up his cookbooks. It is past the 4th of July but maybe some other day for a cookout.

These baked cauliflower in a manchurian gravy looks amazing. Just enough crunchy to match the tender cauliflower and flavorful sauce. Mmmm..

These banana nut muffins are probably the best gluten-free muffin I’ve ever made. They are slightly gritty (a little much flax egg) but still super yummy. Totally recommend making these.

I was never a chicken and waffles fan, but these would want me to give it a second chance.

Franklin Fountain is doing a dairy free BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM! BRB I’m just going to run into Philly to get a cone. Alton Brown also named them as one of his top ten restaurants in the US! Wow.

Think Pieces:

I love Raechel’s Mindfulness Mondays. I like her newest post about leaving things better condition than when you found them. I personally find this mindset relaxing, taking care of what you own. And she goes even further and talks about leaving your friends and family in a better mindset 

So my husband and I started to watch the women’s world cup (yes! tonight USA vs Japan!) and it got me thinking, why don’t we watch more women’s soccer? I know the WNBA is fairly popular, and I feel like soccer is just as interesting with women as it is with men. I got even more confused when I read this article about why the USA always has a solid female soccer team. It is a really interesting read, but it is a shame there isn’t more recognition for the female soccer leagues overall. 


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Who is this moody hawt babe? It’s Alexa enjoying her friends wedding. Lately Alexa has been super busy helping with the planning as she is part of the wedding party. And I know from my wedding, if Alexa is part of the party, she helps out a buttload. I am sure her friend Tara got a kick ass wedding, and got tons of help from this lovely lady.

Has anyone been watching the women’s world cup? Whenever they have their games aired on TV my husband and I watch, even when it is in spanish. Thank goodness for Telemundo. I kind-of want to watch it with my nieces since one of them is playing soccer right now. But I am also aware she is just going into kindergarden, so you know, she only kind-of interested in soccer. 

Farm Round Up:

What I got:
5 cucumbers
1/2 bag shelling peas
1 quart strawberries (last of the summer)
1 bunch of beets & greens
1 bunch of collard greens
1 bunch purple kale
2 heads of lettuce
1 head nappa cabbage
1 head spring cabbage
4 small squash
garlic scapes

What I’m cooking:
Pickles (some kombucha pickles, other brined)
Shelled Peas and went straight into the freezer
Banana Ice Cream with Strawberries
Beets Chips (beet greens for smoothies)
Buffalo Collards & Chickpeas (will be on the blog Monday!)
Kale, black beans, and rice with a tahini dressing
Chickpea salad wraps stuffed with kohlrabi (last week) and lettuce
Stir-fry with nappa cabbage and kohlrabi (last week)

Food:

1) I am usually not into cutesy food recipes and 2) these are totally not vegan, BUT I find these cute bacon shortbread cookies a great idea for vegans baking for omni-dads. I try not to buy non-vegan products as gifts for people, but my Dad is uh… stubborn about his meats. But he sure love sweets. I would love to try making these vegan for maybe his birthday?

These lentil and roasted cherry tomato dumplings are making me drool on my keyboard. I hope the tomatoes are strong this year from the farm.

I would LOVE to try out this new Vietnamese restaurant Same Same. Hopefully they mean vegan when they write vegetarian.

Fashion:

If I lived in Philly I would buy this dress in a heartbeat for night biking!

This outfit.

Need more cats in your wardrobe? Here is a great tutorial on how to make cat socks.

Other:

I love how Lacy writes, it is to the point and has a lot of meaning. Her recent post talks about “eating clean” and hits so many topics on the nail. I love eating well, I like eating things that make me feel good. But I don’t like some of the culture as it gets over analytical and therefore damaging. When I talk to people there is a lot of confusion of what is healthy and what isn’t, and a lot of it have to do with “clean eating” concepts.

I think is honestly the best Daily Show episode ever recorded.

Talking about the Daily Show, there is an interesting article asking where is the conservative Jon Stewart?

Find all the sheep on google maps!

National geographic has a great article talking about the structure of a dolphin’s brain. Really interesting for all those animal nerds out there.

And here it is, your moment of zen.