The poetics of things

One of my favorites:

Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver, Dream Work

AppleBucks

This weekend, I passed by a man snorting coke in the middle of a street just outside Chinatown. It was sunny, windy -- early in the morning. Nate and I were walking to Chinatown Coffee, where we bought a a big pot of French press and sat at a table amongst hipsters, listening to old school rap. He ate gourmet potato chips; I ate yogurt and granola. It was kind of a bizarre morning. 

Later that day we walked to the botanical gardens near the Capitol, which we stumbled upon accidentally after visiting the Museum of the American Indian. It totally sucked. The botanical gardens were amazing though, and it made me thankful all over again for living in such a cool city, and for the chance to explore it with my best friend. If Nate had moved to DC with me back in 2011, I don't think we would have ended up doing all these touristy things that we do whenever he visits. I think we would have felt like we had all the time in the world to see the sights, and we would have taken them for granted. So I'm thankful for that, too-- I like that even though we've been apart, we have all these memories of discovering the city together, across so many different seasons. 

This morning, for his last breakfast (before he comes again next weekend for his interview), I made buckwheat pancakes. I'd never made real pancakes before, so I'm not sure what made me want to try... especially because I don't believe in cake for breakfast. Everything in moderation? Anyway, I used a mix, added grated apple, and they were delicious! Then, Nathan and I walked to J.Crew and he bought the most beautiful suit... I almost threw up, I was so panicked about the price and simultaneously excited about how good he looked in it. 

Photo cred (including the staging):
Nathan Lockett

Apple Buckwheat Pancakes (serves 2-3)

1 1/3 cups organic buckwheat pancake mix
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 tsp canola oil
1 tsp honey
1 1/2 cups almond milk
splash of vanilla
cinnamon to taste
2 medium apples, coarsely grated

Combine all ingredients, fry in batches on lightly greased pan.

These are delightfully thick, and amazing drizzled with syrup and almond butter. Nate ate 3. I ate 6. Just kidding I also ate 3, what?! Where's my appetite?

Pasta with lemon yogurt sauce

I finally decided that I should make some of the recipes I post on pinterest each day, which explains the influx of new creations in my diet, and on my last post. I almost wrote "on my posts lately" but realized that was a liiiitttle on the optimistic side. 

Having recently discovered that greek yogurt serves as a great substitute for traditionally cream and milk-filled pasta sauces, I threw together this lemony concoction last week: 

I used this recipe as a guide-- all the same ingredients minus the Parmesan, but I didn't really measure anything. I do know that I added way more zucchini than I was supposed to (sexcellent choice) and sprinkled cilantro on top (it was about to go off, as my British/German roommate says). The cilantro was kind of random, but it's essentially my favorite food so whatevs-- like mother, like daughter. I think I probably made enough for two servings according to the recipe, but ate it all in one sitting.

In other news, Georgetown announced their five-year financial plan this week, which includes a freeze on all staff salaries, but not on faculty. Everyone is up in arms! There have been lots of meetings and petitions (most  of them spearheaded by the faculty and deans) but I've been too busy to get involved. As soon as the plan was announced Deborah kindly assured me that she would make sure I received a raise each year out of her own pocket if the decision wasn't reversed, so I feel at ease. But I feel terrible for everyone else!

Also, I gave Schuy a bath this week. He smells like grapefruit. And I'm anxiously waiting for the Dunham twinz to arrive.

AND-- I get to hang with my man this weekend!

Recipes I've tried lately and liked

 

This Grapefruit and Olive oil cake. 

These Masala lentils -- I increased the amount of lentils to almost a cup, and used a full can of both tomatoes (diced instead of stewed) and coconut milk. 

This Broccoli soup -- I increased the amount of broth to 4 cups, used a little over a pound of broccoli, and added a couple handfuls of fresh spinach. I didn't add parmesan, but definitely splurged on pine nuts this week! Next time I think I'll swap leeks for the onion.

Lactose-friendly Vodka Sauce

I'm just going to ignore the fact that I haven't posted since October.

THIS PASTA SAUCE IS DELICIOUS. I don't think I've had vodka sauce since college... this one is packed with healthy protein, and it's amazingly creamy. I should probably mention that it might not actually taste like vodka sauce [college was 5 years ago], but I seriously loved it.

What to do:

Whisk equal parts marinara sauce (I used TJ's pomodoro sauce) and plain Greek yogurt.
Toss in some red pepper flakes and salt.
Pour over cooked pasta (mine also had kale thrown in because I needed to use it up).
Devour.

Maybe I'll post again next week.

pumpkin carrot chocolate chip muffins

Okay so.... I am the worst blogger ever. I made these muffins when Meghan visited weeks ago, and am just now getting around to posting the recipe. To be fair, it took me a very long time to go back and search through all the recipes I looked at before making these to try and remember what I actually used in the final product. The good news is these are pretty much my own recipe! The bad news is I'm not positive that these measurements are exact. In any case, these muffins are AWESOME. Dense, and not too sweet. Perfect for breakfast or snack or dessert!

umm... I didn't take this photo, i found it online. #sryimnotsry

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup oats
1 can pumpkin (14 oz)
1 cup finely shredded carrot
1 egg
3/4 cup almond milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sucanat (or white sugar)
1/2 chocolate chips



Combine dry ingredients. Mix oats, pumpkin, carrot, egg, and milk and add to dry ingredients. Mix in chocolate chips. Pour into muffin tins-- the batter is quite thick and doesn't really rise so it's fine to fill these close to the top. Bake at 375 for... I have no idea. Until they're done. I'm thinking 20 minutes? Test them with a fork. Eat them crumbled on top of banana soft-serve or yogurt, or plain, of course!

P.S. I don't care about this shizzz, but making them with sucanat lowers the calorie content and is better for you or something.  Sucanat is whole cane sugar instead of the refined and processed stuff we typically use. All the vegans are doing it. You could do it too, if you want.

Banana pancakes

I kind of want to eat these every day. Here's what's in 'em: 

6 eggs, beaten

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tbsp. chia seed

4 tbsp. oat bran

cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Melt some butter in a small fry pan (enough to coat the pan) over low to medium heat. Pour about 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan-- cook until browned, covered. WATCH THAT PANCAKE CAREFULLY. Flip it. Repeat. Serve with peanut butter (my favorite), cookie butter, maple syrup, jam, pumpkin butter, or whipped cream. Or eat them plain, seriously. This recipe makes 6 pancakes. 

AND THEY'RE HEALTHY.