Banana Cupcakes Are Yummy!

10 Nov 2009 In: Cooking, Food

banana-cupcakeMy latest cupcake obsession has been Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting from my dear friend, Martha. They’re super quick and especially awesome if you have over-ripe bananas that you need to use up… way tastier than banana bread.

The first time I made them, I made 24 mini cupcakes — which was good, but 6 massive cupcakes are way more fun. Plus, with only 6 you get to say “mmmm…. I just ate a third of a stick of butter! mmm…” every time you eat a cupcake!

What have you been cooking lately?

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This is a guest post by Bing from Life in the Left Lane. We’re swapping guest posts via Twenty-Something Bloggers. So without further ado, here are 10 reasons to love Germany.

  1. Great Beer. Germany, specifically Bavaria, is home to some of the best beer I have ever tasted.  It goes down smooth, even if it is served room temperature.  Each type of beer has its own special glass to be served in, and pouring a beer with good head is practically an art.  Plus, I don’t feel like I get the hangovers I get when I drink American beer — maybe it has something to do with the lack of preservatives in it…
  2. The mixture of old and new. No matter what city you travel to, large or small, Germany has a beautiful mix of 100-year-old buildings and modern establishments.  I love how you can explore churches that were built in the 1400’s then head next door to a newer restaurant for lunch.  Since America has only been established for a few hundred years, I feel like we don’t have all the rich history and ancient structures like they do in Germany.
  3. Amazing bread. There is something about the bread in Germany that is to die for.  Whether you get rolls or baguettes, the outside is golden brown and crispy, and the inside is soft and fluffy.  I have not been able to find anything close to this in the States.  It’s good, but not nearly as tasty as German bread.
  4. Döner kebabs. Quite possibly the best late-night, drunk food ever!  Döners are Turkish sandwiches featuring thinly shaved meat (beef, lamb or turkey) that is piled into special bread pocket and topped with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and a special sauce.  They are amazing!  In my college town they had a kebab restaurant, but it’s not quite the same as the ones you find in Germany.
  5. Awesome public transportation. I love how you can get around Germany without a car.  No matter the size of the town or city, there is some form of public transportation for you to take.  I am especially fond of the train system.  I have NEVER taken a train to travel extended distances in America.  I feel like it’s frowned upon to do so.  In Germany, everyone takes trains to travel within the country or throughout Europe, and they are very nice and comfortable.
  6. Proximity to other countries. I love how when you live in Germany, you have the opportunity to travel to a variety of other nations for not a lot of money.  There are a number of airlines that offer super cheap flights or you can buy a Euro-rail pass and just explore.  Sometimes it boggles my mind that a flight to LA from Atlanta can cost almost $500 but in Germany you can luck out and get a flight for much less than 100 euros.
  7. Interesting deli meat and cheese. My favorite deli meat in Germany is bologna-like and has mushroom slices inside.  It is so good, but unfortunately you can’t find it in the States – so sad.  You can also get this Gouda-like cheese with smoked ham pieces inside of it.  Paired with the mushroom meat and a fresh roll, it’s the best way to start the day.
  8. Laid back lifestyle. Most of the people that I met in Germany were much more open-minded and live a laid back life.  The legal drinking age for beer is 16 and for liquor 18, and the laws concerning it are not nearly as strict as they are here.  I have never been carded when in Germany, but I am nearly 27 and still get carded when I buy alcohol in most places in the US.  Drinking alcohol is considered a way of life over there.  In America, specifically the South, people look down on drinking and act like it’s the biggest sin in the world to drink a beer with dinner.
  9. Working to live and not living to work. Employees receive 5 weeks or more of vacation each year, and a lot more paid holidays.  People are expected to take lunch hours.  If you want to have a beer with lunch, no one thinks twice about it.  I feel like people are much more able to put their families first as opposed to here where companies expect you to give everything you have for your job, and don’t care if you have time left over to spend with the people you love.
  10. Being multilingual. Most people you meet in Germany can speak more than one language, and especially our generation, are fluent English speakers.  Some of them are able to even speak a third language, and people are proud of their skill.  Children begin learning languages at an early age and continue to do so throughout their schooling.  I wish America put more emphasis on children learning foreign languages in school.

So, those are some of my 10 favorite things that make me happy about Germany!  If you’ve been there before, is there anything that makes you smile when you think about Germany?

Germany is definitely on my list still (next time I’m leaving the airport)! Now go check out my potty humor guest post, Toilets of the World!

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Yay for orzo! Since I’ve had a seemingly endless supply of cherry tomatoes from my garden, this has been my go-to recipe for a quick (15 minutes!) lunch. I love how fresh this recipe is — and the feta makes it a good mix of tangy and sweet. It’s also really scalable (and for whatever reason, seems to be pasta-hater approved!). Although, seriously? Who hates pasta?!? :(

Cherry Tomato & Feta Orzo with Dill

Cherry Tomato & Feta Orzo with Dill – {for 1!}

Ingredients

  • 1 TB olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 2 TB fresh dill (or 1 tsp of dried dill)
  • 1/4 tsp lemon zest (orange or lime zest works too!)
  • 1 cup of golden and/or regular cherry tomatoes
  • 1/3 cup orzo
  • 1/2 cup feta cheese (2-3 ounces)

Directions:

  1. Start boiling water for pasta.
  2. Mix together oil, salt, pepper, and chopped dill (dried dill works fine too) in a medium bowl.
  3. Cut tomatoes in half and add to the oil mixture.
  4. Cook orzo in pasta water as directed, usually about 8 minutes.
  5. Drain orzo and mix with the tomato and dill.
  6. Crumble feta cheese into the orzo and tomato and mix
  7. Eat!

You can also add random ingredients to this one fairly easily, such as: 1/4 English cucumber, chopped; 1/8 red onion, chopped; substituting 1/2 TB oil for balsamic vinegar etc.

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3 Ways To Eat Less Meat: Blog Action Day

15 Oct 2009 In: Challenges, Food

Alternate title: Mooooooo! Another year, another Blog Action Day

“Now in its third year, Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.”

Camel Burgers in MoroccoI wouldn’t consider myself an expert on environmental change, but one thing I’m fairly expert-ish at is being a vegetarian. After reading both Food Matters (Bittman) and In Defense of Food (Pollan) this summer, I was reminded again how utterly insane meat consumption — and in turn its affect on the environment — has gotten. Americans eat about 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish per capita per year (and this excludes dairy)!  So who’s eating my 190 pounds? (As a recent pescatarian, I probably eat about 10 pounds of fish a year.) And we eat twice the global average. Obviously, some of that statistic is slightly skewed from other Western nations, as developing nations can’t afford to eat as much meat, but their consumption has doubled in the last 20 years.

So I guess we could probably all agree that it would be smart to eat less meat. As Americans, we’re getting double our daily protein requirements.

3 Ways To Eat Less Meat:

  1. Eat more beans. Black beans are a staple in many Latin American countries, and are an excellent source of protein to boot.
  2. Don’t go cold turkey. Ahhahaha… sorry about that. Anyway, I’m all for balance. Swearing off meat entirely isn’t for everyone, and if you don’t replace it with something you’ll probably just give up. So try being a “Monday, Wednesday, Friday” vegetarian by only eating meat a few times a week.
  3. Think Asian. Asian countries have some amazing ways of creating brilliant meatless food, originally out of necessity, but now a huge part of their cultures… think bean curd (China), tofu (Japanese for bean curd), chai pow yu (Vietnam glutony stuff).

See how I cleverly got on my vegetarian soap box for Blog Action Day, and didn’t have to actually make any personal changes? :) I need a challenge… anyone?

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Nutella & Banana Crepes à la Julia Child

13 Oct 2009 In: Cooking, Food

I checked out Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking from the library and ended up making crepes last weekend. Yums! I turned into a total crepe-fanatic while in Greece last year. I even had a crepe routine… which consisted of stopping in at a cafe every afternoon for a cappuccino or coffee freddo and a banana and Nutella crepe. And you wondered why I was so crazy about the 30 day shred after my return ;)

banana-nutella-crepes

Although there are probably a lot of great crepe recipes out there, I really loved the simplicity of this one. After putting all the ingredients in the blender, you just put it in the fridge overnight — and voilà it’s ready in the morning… other than the “making them perfectly thin” part. Next time, I think I’ll try savory crepes.

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About

Adventures of a twenty-something Pacific Northwesterner who ditched her marketing job and MBA for a year-long round the world trip. Call it a quarter-life crisis or just the travel bug; either way, this blog documents the adventure. One year later, take a look at my rehabilitation back into daily life.

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101 Things in 1001 Days Project:
1 Quarterlife Crisis + 101 Things + 1001 Days = The Ultimate TO DO List.
57% Complete
1 Start a new blog for this project
2 Take pictures of all of my 101 in 1001

CAREER/FINANCIAL
3 Max out my 401k contribution every year
4 Increase my income to $XXk/yr.
5 Finish my MBA
6 Update my personal .com site
7 Start a business
8 Make a conscious effort on what I wear to work: heels/flats for 2 weeks
9 Join a marketing networking group
10 Write in a work journal for 1 month

THINGS TO LEARN
11 Relearn Flash (learn post 2002 flash)
12 Learn to play poker
13 Relearn Spanish
14 Learn to kayak
15 Start playing the piano again
16 Take a dance class
17 Do yoga for a month
18 Learn the capitals and locations of all countries
19 Go boogie boarding
20 Take a rock climbing class
21 Get golf lessons
22 Learn to sail

ACTIVITIES/LOCAL
23 Run a marathon
24 Go wine tasting in Oregon
25 Start Geocaching again
26 Be a Portland tourist
27 Do Cycle Oregon or Hwy 101
28 Go white water rafting
29 Play real golf (not a pitch/putt)
30 Walk to the grocery store
31 Ride bike to work for 1 week
32 Use public transportation for 1 week

SHOPPING
33 Research and buy a new digital camera
34 Buy all new underwear
35 Get a dog or cat
36 Get a new bed
37 Recycling Organizer system

TRAVEL
38 Travel South America
39 Go to NYC
40 Go to Mexico
41 Visit Europe again
42 San Juan Islands
43 See New England in the fall
44 Ride Amtrak to Seattle
45 Weekend Trip to Nye Beach
46 Go on a backpacking trip
47 Do a bike ride in another country
48 Stay out of the US for 1 month (moving counts)
49 Go to Vegas
50 Go to Bumbershoot or ACL (again)
51 Visit Canada again

READ/WATCH
52 See the all time Top 100 Grossing Films
53 See Ebert's '102 Movies You Must See'
54 Re-read David Allen's 'Getting Things Done' start weekly review of GTD again
55 For one week, go to bed at 9 and read books
56 Do 52 Books in 52 Weeks, no cheating
57 Read Seth Godin books that I haven’t read
58 Read 10 classics that I’ve never read
59 Watch all five Best Picture nominees prior to the Oscars
60 Sign up for Netflix again
61 Subscribe to the Economist

FOOD
62 Find my signature cupcake recipe
63 Make crème brulee
64 Don’t go to the same restaurant more than once for 1 month
65 Bring a packed lunch or go home for lunch for 1 month
66 Quit drinking coffee for 1 month (or the summer)
67 Go vegan for 1 month
68 Try doing a wine journal
69 Eat at every restaurant in my neighborhood
70 Go to restaurants on the Willamette Week Cheap Eats List

HOME
71 Hang pictures up in the living room
72 Finish Apartment Therapy
73 Buy a house
74 Redecorate 1 room to perfection
75 Plant a balcony garden

FRIENDS/RELATIONSHIPS
76 Date a guy who makes me swoon
77 Commit to someone, maybe… but not just anyone
78 Organize a Monthly Game Night
79 Host a dinner party
80 Make a new friend

PERSONAL
81 Other
82 Other
83 Start wearing the vintage ring that Grandma gave me
84 Take care of my nails for 1 month, see if it turns into a habit
85 Get a massage every month
86 Get a wax
87 Consciously Stop saying 'yeah' and 'like' for 1 week
88 For one week, get up two hours before work
89 Take a sick day to go play

PROJECTS/DESIGN/TASKS
90 Design a calendar for family for 2008 or 2009 for Christmas presents
91 Clean up my old computer, backup, and get rid of
92 Load the rest of my CDs on to iTunes
93 Set up at least 10 useful playlists for my iPod
94 Make iTunes season mixes
95 Journal every day for 1 month

GOOD WILL
96 Volunteer with SMART
97 Donate hair to Locks of Love (again)

MISC
98 Start going to church again
99 Go to my 10-year reunion
100 Start a new list of 101 Things on Sunday, March 28, 2010
101 Save $1 for every completed item. Donate $2 for every incomplete item.

Alternates:
Go to a concert outside of PDX area
Travel to another continent
Watch 100 classics movie list
Learn French
Learn German
Go SCUBA Diving
Apply for The Amazing Race
Finish visiting the 50 states
Convince someone else to start a 101 List
Completed In Progress
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