Nom! Sansan.

I wanted to share this recipe for bran muffins just because it turned out so good. Bran muffins are usually bland and dry, and usually slathered in butter because of that.  These muffins turned out so good, you can eat them all by themselves, which is what I plan. I should have breakfast everyday, but I can’t wake up early enough to cook.  These little muffins will be my staple once school starts next week (ugh!).

The recipe has complex flavors like toasted bran, raisins and orange zest but they combine into a very moist and tasty muffin. And it’s loaded with fiber! Sorry I get excited about fiber. Nutrition has been big for me lately. I did replace the whole raisins in the recipe for chopped pecans since I’m not a fan of raisins.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/07/nancy-silvertons-bran-muffins/

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Seth’s childhood and adulthood have a tradition of Saturday pizza nights.  I’ve attended almost every pizza night since I’ve known Seth for the past 6 years.  For the past 3 years or so, his favorite place has been Pizza Plus.  We usually get a medium pizza with fries or cheese sticks.  Sometimes we even finish all our food.  I’m pretty sure pizza nights combined with a hectic work schedule and little time to exercise made my weight balloon last year. (It’s hard to tell wearing those hospital scrubs until you can’t fit into your shorts when summer rolls around.) Since then I’ve been pushing myself to run and eat healthy in preparation for those pizza nights.

I wanted to try making my own pizza. Ever since our trip to Lombardi’s pizzeria in NYC, I’ve been craving ricotta cheese on my pizza. We bought some fresh pizza dough from Whole Foods. At $1.50 for enough dough for a medium pizza, it was a bargain for Whole Foods (or Whole Paycheck). I made a simple marinara sauce and topped the dough with ricotta and fresh bay leaves. That was enough for me, but the bf demanded meat on his pizza. So I added pepperoni. We baked it at 525 degrees on a cookie sheet and a bed of corn meal.

It turned out delish!

The bay leaves turned brown but still tasted great. Next time I would throw on the leaves after cooking the pizza. The top layer of dough was a bit undercooked. We might have to play with higher temperatures. Overall it was a success. No more greasy pizza from Pizza Plus and I can feel better about having pizza nights. This is something I would approve for more than just once a week

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I can’t seem to focus on one task anymore.  My days are planned with lots of things to do, but it’s so difficult to pull myself together to finish one task.  Today: I made breakfast, but I didn’t want to wash the dishes right away.  Instead I surfed the internet.  I decided to wash my face before I finally got to the dishes. I picked up some glass pieces from a vase I exploded (different story), but I needed to vacuum the micro glass bits. But I decided to have coffee and read a book first. Now a couple hours later, I’ve done very little and still so much cleaning to do.

Sigh.

When I have meals, I can’t help but eat it in front of the computer. If I force myself to sit at the table, I end up reading bits of newspapers and ads scattered nearby. I can be watching TV, surfing the net, eating and texting at the same time.

Yesterday I went hiking in Lake Tahoe.  It was a beautiful day to be dipping our feet into the cool waters.

The best part was driving through Tahoe City.  With it’s little shops and restaurants lined up nearby the water, it’s quite a quaint city.  Sure there are tourists, but there are the locals who are boating, walking their dogs, reading books by the water. This is the slower life I wish I could live for a few weeks. There’s no time left this summer, but maybe one weekend I can book a hotel out there and enjoy doing little to nothing.

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So I made myself one! Yum. An awesome dessert for a mediocre dinner of leftovers.

Meanwhile I made this bracelet with electric blue color, my fav color this summer. Reminds me swimming at Lake Tahoe, which I still need to do before the summer is over. Time for a picnic on the beach??

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Excuse my language but when I bit into this, that’s what ran through my mind. These marinated tomatoes are sweet, savory and pretty much foolproof.  Throw it with some feta cheese onto toasted bread and I have my favorite meal/snack for the rest of the summer.

Recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/07/missys-marinated-tomatoes/

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It’s days off like this when I can spend extra time making a yummy breakfast (instead of just my coffee on school days).  This quiche takes some time to make but it’s so worth it.  I added sausage with the spinach. And instead of a pie crust, I mixed hash browns with lots of spices and herbs with butter and broiled it to a crispy crust. So this makes it a breakfast quiche instead of a brunch quiche? I’m hoping the quiche will reheat well so I can possibly do a make-the-day-before meal.

I’m definitely enjoying my slow mornings dotted with tea/coffee.  The sunshine during summer is unbelievable.  I love that fact that it’s almost 9 pm and there is still light out.

Since being away from the bf for 2 months, I hope to spend as much time together before the new school year starts.  We ended my Las Vegas internship with an awesome (and expensive) vacation on the Las Vegas strip. When we got back home however, it was back to business. The bf gets up early every day to begin with work on the computer, then to the office, then back home for more computer time. It’s like I don’t exist.  Sigh. I know he’s busy and has a lot of projects this summer. He tries his best.

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After months of internships and gaining experience, I finally get to enjoy my last summer vacation. I’m exhausted and all I want to do is chill out at home and be by myself.  I finally get to work on my piling projects.

I did a lot of shopping in the past month.  The recent fad in arm candy looks pretty much like friendship bracelets with a modern take.  I thought about buying some at H&M, but what fun would that be? This hex nut bracelet is too cool. Braiding is easy but braiding with hex nuts intertwined was not so graceful.  It required both hands and some toes to keep the hex nuts in place.

I’m going to avoid my family a little bit because every time I’m around them, they want me to do crap for them.  I love my family but I need my summer.

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During my stay in Las Vegas, I got to play tourist.  The Coca Cola store allows you to try different flavors they sell in other countries. Only 7$!  They ranged from African countries, China, England, Italy, Argentina, etc.  Some were mystery flavors like “Beverly.” Some were not carbonated.  My fav was green apple from China, tasted like Jolly Ranchers!  The nastiest one was the dark green, uncarbonated drink that tasted mouth wash, yuck.

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Stir fry made with tofu, bok choy, mushrooms and carrots.  The sweet potato noodles were also from my Seattle trip.  They don’t taste much like sweet potato, more like regular egg noodle but with a smooth texture reminiscent of potatoes. All my posts have been about food lately, hmm…

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I picked a few goodies during my trip to Seattle, which included very expensive pasta and yummy cheese made locally.  I thought I would throw them together for mac and cheese.

The cheese tasted like curds and made a mild but creamy mac and cheese.  This is one of the few meals I’ve made in the past few weeks.  I’m so tired, hope school ends quickly and painlessly.

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