1 month anniversary!!

Hi, dearies!!! I hope everything is well with all of you. I've been being a bad girl lately. I've been really lazy with school and stuff, but the sad part is that I don't care!! I've always been a perfect student-totally reliable and it's kind of fun not being like that once in a while. I mean, I'm not gonna let myself go, but I'm just having more fun. For example: I got a boyfriend this weekend, and we've been hanging out so much for the past week. He's the guy with the Edward Cullen eyes that I talked about in my last post, and obviously, he's my lab partner. I wanted an Edward Cullen romance so bad!!! But, can you blame me?? My point exactly.

On Valentine's Day, he came over my house after he was at a car show. We were determined not to go to sleep because we wanted to be those people who go out to breakfast in the morning without sleeping in between. We did a lot of random stuff-totally G-rated (haha, I promise!!) and by 5 am, I was starving. We went to Eat N Park and I got a gardenburger. It's not raw, but lately, I've just been eating what feels right. We decided (or I decided) to put some ink on us, so I covered Corey in about 8 tattoos and I had one right on my chest. It's totally classy don't you think?? Ignore the red mark next to mine. I think I had a bugbite or something. haha

After we got home around 6 am, he asked me out and I was like "where are we going?" But of course I said yes so that's the end of that romantic girl crap.

The post today is dedicated to my 1 month anniversary of not using shampoo!!! Ahh It is so obvious that I haven't used shampoo. My hair is SOOO oily. I've been wearing it in a ponytail all the time or just wet because wet hair doesn't look so bad on me, but I could be wrong haha I'm not gonna fall back on this though. I'm determined to get good, healthy hair. One mistake I made was putting jojoba oil in my hair for a conditioning treatment. What a bad idea!!! Of course, it was on V-day and the oil wouldn't wash out of my hair. I rinsed 3 times with baking soda and I still looked like a grease-monkey. Oh well, I guess my confidence and outgoing personality surpass my shitty hair... thank God!!!

Have a great week my friends!! I think about you every day :)

Salsa in your pj's

Hello my dear friends!! Oh have I missed you so. Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I had a few tests this past week so I've been studying for those puppies. They went pretty well. I got a 90% in Statistics and an 80% in Chemistry. I will happily take both of those!! Also, I've been daydreaming a lot about Robert Pattinson of course.... BUT!!!!!! (yes, there's a but) there is this one boy who is absolutely adorable. He has Edward Cullen eyes and they just make me melt. I could stare at them all day. I sound like such a whiney girl talking about him, but I can't help it, damnit!

Besides that, I got a special delivery from my friend, Scott. He makes his own salsas and relishes by fermentation. They are living and vegan, so it's the best of both worlds. He lives in Pennsylvania and obviously, Pennsylvanians are really smart and can make GREAT food.

My sister and I really enjoyed these!! She eats the majority of the salsa in my house so the salsa vanished pretty quickly. She loved posing for pictures haha NOT. I always manage to get her when she's in her pj's with no makeup on, so that always cracks me up.

Scott sent us Mild Salsa and Hot Salsa. It was so cool because it bubbled when we opened the jar!! It was like a salsa volcano. The mild isn't very spicy so that's the one I liked more. My sister likes the hot one though.

But I'm more of a relish person myself, so I've been eating relish with everything. He sent the Garlic Dill Relish and the Horseradish Dill Relish. These are really good. In my house, we always have the regular kind with that Pelican on the jar, but Scott's is REAL relish. It tastes so different and it doesn't have that gel-like consistency of the regular kind. I ate mine on top of salads and on raw burgers.

So if you like salsa or relish, you should definitely give this a try. They are sold at some Whole Foods stores, but you can get them online at his website, too. I forgot to say that the fermentation process also makes the salsa and relish a lot healthier. Scott explains the science of it so much better than I ever could haha:

"Right now, we have 2 salsas (Hot and Mild) and 2 relishes (Horseradish Dill and Garlic Dill), all of which are preserved only through the ancient and natural art of lacto-fermentation. It’s a simple and live-giving process, where beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillus Acidophilus convert the starches and sugars of the raw vegetables into lactic acid (hence the term “lacto-fermentation”) and preserve the entire food, with its full compliment of enzymes, vitamins and minerals. We use no sugars or sugar substitutes in our products, and we use only a small amount of raw apple cider vinegar in our relishes (none in the salsas)."

So there you go. Enjoy my friends and Happy SATURDAY!! Stay warm and misbehave ;)

Daring Bakers Numero Dos

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

So let me start off by saying that I was really excited for this challenge!! We had to make Tuiles. These are crispy, thin cookies that you bend into really cool shapes while they’re still warm. These ladies managed to make beautiful butterfly cookies, but mine, didn’t work out that way. Not even close haha But they were VERY delicious and highly addictive… as most baked goodies are.

I made these before my RAW escapade so I definitely indulged on these ones. I used this recipe, but I replaced the butter with Earth Balance and eggs with flax meal.

Tuiles
65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly. Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….
Before they went in the oven, they looked beautiful!! I made tons of different shapes and let my imagine run wild. I tie-dyed some of them for a psychedelic feel and put sprinkles on them so they’d be sparkly.

When I opened the oven, I wanted to cry!! They spread out everywhere!! I think it might have been because my baking sheets weren’t cold and they recommended refrigerating them before baking. I couldn’t get mine to fit in the fridge, so I just skipped that step. Probably not the best idea since none of my cookies remained in their shape!!
I was still able to shape some of them while they were still warm, but I ate a lot because I was angry haha They were really good and I just couldn’t help myself!! You know how that is, I’m sure. I want to try this again someday with really cold baking sheets.

The next part of the challenge was pairing the cookies with a fruit puree. I made a berry soup out of raspberries, cranberries, blueberries, pure maple syrup (more like pure sex), and coconut water. It was really tasty with the cookies, but I was too lazy to put it in a fancy bowl. I don’t do that kind of stuff when I’m hungry haha

But hey, all in all, they tasted awesome so I’m not gonna complain. After all, which is more important: taste or presentation??

And last but not least, who watched Top Chef?!?! How good was it??? I about died when Stefan said he was in love with Andrea. I laughed even harder when she creamed his ass in the challenge and got all the points. He’s such a cocky hornball, but I still love him. I wouldn’t say he’s my favorite because I honestly love everyone this season! They are all so likeable although Stefan’s probably the least likeable. Haha He’s just really flirty/seductive/has a hot accent and you know how I love guys with accents ; ) I do really like Jeff, though, and I'm sad he went home. He reminds me of the sexy, British doctor on House. So I guess today is like an ode to the sexy Top Chef contestants!!