I’m thankful for…
Family
This guy
Old Friends
New Friends
Health
Travel
And so much more.
Happy Thanksgiving!
New Orleans Farmer’s Coop
Today, I went to the Marigny to check out the grand opening of the New Orleans Farmer’s Cooperative. Local bands were playing, local food and health producers were there to talk about their products, and it was generally a really impressive experience.
I bought kinds of random local produce and weird health foods like chia seeds and fava beans, and it was grand. I realize I’m the biggest dork ever to have so much fun grocery shopping, but truly, this is a happy place. Just look at the building!
Welcome!
This place has a great selection as well. I was very impressed. Think smaller Whole Foods with fewer rude people, flowers, baked goods, and alcohol. I’m not sure if it’s good to have fewer of some of those things, but it certainly was a friendlier atmosphere.
My pictures aren’t very good because I tried my best not to be a total weirdo taking pictures, but it gives you an idea of the experience.
Most of the produce was from the U.S., and quite a bit was from Louisiana and Mississippi.
In the past few years, and especially after living in Ecuador where most produce is regional and local, I’ve become quite interested in being responsible about my food choices both for health and for the impact I’m making on the environment and local economy. This is just one of many great examples of ways to invest in the local food economy in New Orleans.
Till next time!
Fresh Pear Bread
This title might sound weird, but what else do you make when you are tricked by grocery store sales into buying 15 local pears for 1.50?
Obviously pear baked goods.
I found this great recipe with normal tasty ingredients and only made a couple changes. Subbed walnuts for roasted pumpkin seeds based on what I had on hand and subbed applesauce for oil (did not affect texture) and halved the recipe to make only one loaf.
Here is the finished product! 🙂
Nope, I don't own a real bread pan.
The month I don’t sleep, eat, or breathe without staring at my computer screen simultaneously
Also known as November.
Today’s task? 5 page paper. Fairly easy undertaking. Success.
Now only a 30 page research proposal, 25 page research paper, 12 page research paper, 2 exams, and a 5 page paper left before I get out for Christmas break. One month from now. Ironically, I picked this time in the semester to start blogging again with regularity.
While at the beginning of the semester, I was so excited to be back in classes, undertaking the exciting new world of graduate school. I’m sure I looked like this:
I love learning 🙂
At this point in the semester, while I’m still over the moon to be in graduate school and I still love learning, my library look is more like this:
NBD. I’m just part of the Occupy Tulane’s Library Movement, what about you?
Initiative 26
On November 8, Mississippians will vote by referendum on Initiative 26, or the “Personhood Amendment,” aimed at redefining the moment that a “person” has full rights as a “person”–eloquent way to put it I know–essentially establishing the moment at fertilization (though this is murky in itself). While I’m not currently living in Mississippi, I feel like it is a second home since I lived there longer than any place besides Tennessee (where my family is from and currently lives). Who knows, I might even live there again someday. Sadly, I can’t vote on this one.
From close friends and Facebook “friends” still in Mississippi, I’ve heard plenty about the Initiative, mostly very negative. From my perspective, it’s extremely confusing and all that seems clear to me is that I would vote against it. In my view, any initiative that threatens implications for in vitro fertilization or certain types of birth control is not even worth considering. Since I’ve already proved here that I’m neither qualified nor articulate enough to fully inform anyone or argue constructively, I’ll just share the following link to several articles written by professors at the Mississippi College Law School. I recommend them to anyone who is registered to vote in Mississippi, and also to those of you like me who care a great deal about the future of the state.
Banana oatmeal muffins
All of my former roommates, family, and close friends can attest to an obsession of mine: baking muffins. They are just the perfect snack or breakfast. I’ve made almost every variety of muffins you can imagine. Some ingredients I always keep on hand are bananas and oatmeal because I eat this just about every morning for breakfast. Obviously, when I got home this afternoon after spending all Saturday in the library writing research papers(#gradschoolproblems), I wanted to bake muffins to decompress. What ingredients were available? Bananas and oatmeal.
I saved this recipe and altered it awhile back. It was originally from allrecipes.com, but I can’t find the original one because I changed some things though I can’t remember which things. Anyway, that’s my lame attempt at giving credit.
my breakfast for about 3 days. Yes, I always eat at least two.
Banana oatmeal muffins
1 c. oats
3 tbsp. sugar
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 mashed bananas
1/4 c. milk
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce (or canola oil)
Makes 8-10 regular size muffins. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes.
A day for baking.
Today it is raining in New Orleans. Rain makes me want to read a book, bake, and watch movies. I don’t have a good excuse to read a fun book or watch movies as I have research papers to write, but I have a legitimate excuse to bake!! Since I have this fabulous holiday cocktail game night to attend tonight, I stayed inside after this morning’s class and made the cake batter cookies I was talking about yesterday!
I got this very unhealthy but delightful recipe from a small town Mississippi church cookbook called the Merry Hearts Cookbook. Cute right? Obviously this is not on the internet or I would show you. However, I’m pretty sure the nice ladies who collaborated to make this cookbook wouldn’t mind my sharing the recipe.
yumyumyum
Oatmeal Cake Batter Cookies
1 box yellow cake mix (I used Pillsbury Extra Moist)
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup sprinkles–>Actually the recipe called for pecans which would also be great here, but I wanted them to be cute 🙂
Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-15 min.
This is obviously not a surprising recipe as I’m pretty sure it has been around for awhile, but sometimes it boosts myself- baking-esteem to make a ridiculously easy, can’t go wrong recipe. Though in the interest of full-disclosure, I almost went wrong bc I spilled the cake batter all over my counter and had to sweep it up into the mixing bowl. #imabakingdisaster
Cake batter cookies
=
Exciting and random ingredients + eggs and canola oil= totally very not healthy exciting cake batter cookies.
I actually had more of a post typed but somehow it got deleted.
These are more exciting anyway and are my contribution to a holiday cocktail game night I’m attending tomorrow! Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!! Time to move on to Thanksgiving celebrations!
Weekend Brunch in Uptown
Il Posto’s Veggie Bagel + salad
This pre-Halloween weekend, a couple of best friends came to visit from far-away Oxford, MS, giving us the perfect excuse to have brunch both Saturday and Sunday. Best. Idea. Ever.
Where we chose: Il Posto and Oak Street Cafe. I had visited both places before, but tried new things that were equally as wonderful as the previous choices. I also realized I always lean towards bagels and bagel sandwiches when eating breakfast out, despite the fact I hardly ever eat bagels at home.
My tidbit of brunch advice at these restaurants: The bagels are fantastic, but then again everything looks great. My friends enjoyed omelets as well. You can’t go wrong.
Oak Street Cafe: omelets and hashbrowns
Oak Street Cafe
Soy lattes
I’m a confident person. So why the jealousy?
Something I’ve recently noticed about myself is the tendency to be jealous or angry at people who seem to be doing something I want to do(exciting jobs, research,travelling etc)–or even something I’m already doing like grad school. The grass is always greener on the other side, but why would I possibly be jealous of someone on the same side?
This is something that I haven’t felt in awhile. In high school, I was unhappy with myself or at best not confident as I should have been. But since starting my undergraduate degree, I’ve felt much more confident–even overly confident–of my personal strengths and qualities, unconcerned with those areas in which I do not excel. So why do I have these flashes of jealousy lately?
This is what I think, and here comes that self-confidence–I’m a pretty self-aware person. I think that starting grad school put me at the bottom again. My everyday interactions in class are mostly with other graduate students who are in their first year or older than me. Other interactions at school are with highly respected professors and advisers. No one is younger or less experienced at social science research than my fellow first years and me. So all those people out there feeling confident and on top of life make me uncomfortable about my sudden lack of confidence.
This is where it turns around. I was told once that no one in social science/humanities grad programs thinks they are worthy of being where they are. We all feel like frauds–even the seemingly most confident. No one knows the ins and outs of their discipline or field (or multiple disciplines in the case of a interdisciplinary program like mine!). No one has published multiple articles or books at this level. We get platefuls of “constructive criticism” daily. We have to put on a brave face and carry on.
I’m currently in a Master’s program with plans to apply to the PhD track. I love academia for all its quirks and flaws, but if I plan on surviving, I have to buck up. This is a long race, but it doesn’t matter if I’m at the back of the pack right now. I just need some endurance!
The Scarlett Letter 
