Tonight was that night!

We returned home from classes tired and hungry and not at all in the mood to cook something new…enter leftover barley soup. It was just as good tonight as it was on Saturday…maybe even better!

We also enjoyed warm bread on the side:

I was really tired after my teaching today, but after a nice glass of red wine and some warm, crusty bread, I was feeling much better! Now I’m catching up on Bachelor Pad…I think it’s going to be an early night!

I promised you my thoughts on Eat, Pray, Love, which I saw last night.  Honestly—I liked it! I really did not like the book, and in fact didn’t even make it past the Italy section.  There was just something about Gilbert’s voice that drove me crazy! Despite this (or maybe because of this?), I actually enjoyed the movie much, much more.  Did it change my life?  No.  But, the food looked amazing, the scenery was awesome, and it co-starred Javier Bardem.  Not too shabby.

Off to bed for me.  See you tomorrow!

I promise I’ll give you my thoughts on Eat, Pray, Love tonight—I’m running late, so I gotta get out the door, or I won’t have time to eat lunch!

Speaking of lunch…

Guac sammie:

And look who’s back…

Honey Crisps!!! Woo hoo!  My absolute favorites.  Welcome back, my love!

Off to mold young minds.  Today is our first day of workshop in my creative writing class, which is always a bit chaotic.  Wish me luck!

Even though we’re no longer running the Hershey Half (boo!!!), my sister and I are still planning on doing the Shreveport half-marathon just before Thanksgiving, so yesterday I made out a new and improved training plan that reflected my new training schedule.  This morning, I took my first training run—an easy three miles in the crisp fall air!  The neighborhood was full of rabbits and chipmunks—it was a fun run!

I got my first batch of student poems on Thursday, so I’ve been working all morning on my responses.  It’s not much of holiday…but we had enough fun this weekend to make up for a labor-filled Labor Day!

On Sunday, we went hiking about an hour outside of town at a place called The Thousand Steps.  They weren’t kidding—there really were a thousand.  The hike up the steps wasn’t that bad—it definitely reminded me of doing the Stairmaster at the gym…but in a much nicer setting! Here are some highlights from our hike:

The dogs, of course, had no trouble making their way up the steps.  They are literally impossible to wear out. Ryan and I were dying at the top, and they were ready to do it ten more times!

After our hike, we had another fun activity planned—a baseball game! We met up with our friends Casey, Rachel, Lee and Steve at an Altoona Curve baseball game.  It was the perfect night for it—cool and clear! Lee and Steve are officially no longer our next-door neighbors   , so we were especially happy to see them!

Anyway, after such a fun weekend, I can’t really complain about having to do work today! Plus, today won’t be all work—we have plans to meet up with Casey and Rachel for Eat, Pray, Love later.  I’ll be interested to see how I like it, because (and I know, this is heresy) I wasn’t crazy about the book.  Honestly, Gilbert kind of got on my nerves—she was so whiny and self-involved!!

Funny for a blogger to complain about someone being self-involved, right? 

Speaking of which…here is my lunch for you to look at! Fascinating!

Scrambled eggs + daiya vegan cheese on an Ezekial wrap:

Check out that colorful egg! I got these eggs at the farmers’ market on Friday—you can definitely tell a difference between store-bought and farm-fresh eggs!

After having seen the daiya cheese around the blog world, I picked some up on Friday at the natural foods store.  I’d heard good things about this “cheese,” so I had high hopes, but honestly, it was just okay.  No better or worse than Follow Your Heart.  To tell the truth, I think I just don’t really like vegan cheese substitutes—they always taste kind of…off, to me. I’d rather have the real deal or just go without.  But—if you like the FYH cheese, you’d like Daiya.

I topped my egg-wich with some salsa and wrapped it up for a little huevos rancheros wrap.  Yum!

Plus some carrots and tortilla chips on the side.

See you tonight! Enjoy your holiday!

Yesterday at the farmers’ market, we picked up some beautiful fresh chard.  Today was cool, off-and-on sunny, and downright fall-like—perfect weather for soup!

With my new cutting boards, I got to chopping:

The chard stalks remind me of those old-fashioned striped licorice candies!

We enjoyed this (funny) wine while we were cooking:

The soup was really tasty! Here’s the final recipe:

Chard, Barley, and Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp. olive oil

One bunch of fresh chard, chopped

salt and pepper

3 cups vegetable stock

2 cups water

1/3 cup pearl barley

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into bite-sized cubes

Directions

In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat olive oil.  Add garlic and cook for a few minutes.  Add chard, and cook down for 5-10 minutes, until chard has slightly wilted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add liquids, barley, and sweet potato.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until sweet potato and barley are fully cooked.

We enjoyed ours on the back porch with some red wine and nice, crusty bread:

Perfect meal for what felt like the first day of fall!

Our fall dinner didn’t end there.  For dessert, I whipped up a few easy, individual apple oat desserts.  I chopped an apple into thin slices and tossed with a teaspoon of maple syrup, then layered the apple slices into ramekins.  For the topping, I mixed 1/3 cup of oats, 1 tsp. maple syrup, 2 tsp. Earth Balance vegan butter, and some cinnamon and salt to taste.  I mixed this with my hands until everything was mixed together, and topped the apple ramekins with it.  Popped it into the oven at 350 and baked it for 15 minutes, and voila! Dessert!

Hope you’re having a great weekend! Good night!

Ryan and I headed over to State College this morning to take advantage of the farmers’ market—it’s SO much better there than in Altoona!  The students are back in session, and the market was packed! In fact, all of State College was…it was kind of nice though! It becomes such a ghost town in the summer, like many college towns do.

Before we hit up the farmers’ market, we headed over to the East-West Crossings Cafe.  Danielle and I had lunch there during our first get-together, but my camera battery had died, so I didn’t get any pictures.  This time, I made sure I was blog-ready!

I ordered the same dish that Danielle enjoyed last time: the lotus salad with sweet potatoes and yellow rice.  It also comes with a sweet, spicy dipping sauce.

I just love the lotus slices—I think they’re so pretty!

Plus fresh pomegranate green tea:

So good!

Ryan got a veggie burger, with some of this delicious cucumber tomato sesame salad on the side:

After our delicious lunch, we headed over to the farmers’ market where we picked up some fresh veggies—beautiful chard, grape tomatoes, peaches, and apples.  This time of year is definitely my favorite time for fresh produce! All of the apples and pumpkins and gourds and sweet potatoes are starting to arrive, but the berries and fresh peaches are still good as well!

After picking up almost more than we could carry at the market, we headed over to campus so that I could sign up for…photography classes!! Penn State’s student center has nightly arts and crafts classes that go all semester long.  They offer everything from knitting to ceramics to painting—even stained glass and belly dance classes! The classes are open to students, faculty, and staff, and are pretty cheap for six sessions. 

I’m taking a class called, “How To Make Digital Photos Better.”  There’s a second session of more advanced digital photography that starts right when this first one ends, so I guess if I like it, I can keep on taking it all the way through December!

I’m excited to be the student and not the teacher for once. 

After signing up for my course and walking around town a bit, we checked out a natural foods store that we hadn’t yet visited—Nature’s Pantry.  It was nice! Pretty big, with some items that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else in town.  Though we walked in needing nothing in particular, I found a lot of things that, of course, we absolutely HAD to have.  Funny how that works.

Enjoy your Friday, kids! 

I’m glad you all liked my break-up letter to Summer…sounds like maybe some of you had to end that relationship too!  Does that mean we’re all dating Fall together?  It’s kind of like being on The Bachelor, minus the std’s and fantasy suites (hence, the std’s). 

Today was an easy day up at school.  In my comp class, we’re talking about analyzing visual texts, so we watched a bunch of really awesome Michel Gondry music videos.  He directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (among other things), so his music videos are pretty wacky—they’re really fun to watch!

After making the trek home from campus, I whipped up a quick veggie burger.  This was an Amy’s quarter pounder, and it was BIG!!! This is definitely the biggest veggie burger I’ve ever seen in the frozen food aisle.  Plus, it packs a whopping 21 grams of protein—yowza!  The taste, much like Michael Scott’s breath, was good, not great.  It was a little “smoky” for my taste, but definitely yummy all the same.

Talk about a tall order:

Yum!  See ya tomorrow, folks!

Well, it’s been a great three practically five months.  We had a blast together, didn’t we?  I’ll be honest—Winter left me feeling pretty horrible.  You know, I’m not one for name calling, but if Winter isn’t a nasty ho, I don’t know who is.  She was all up in my grill with snowstorm after snowstorm.  She ruined my travel plans more than once.  She had all of the control in our relationship—always dictating what I could do and when…she even controlled what I could and couldn’t wear!! It was all very Fred Savage/Candace Cameron in the Lifetime movie, No One Would Tell.  Except, you know…Winter didn’t kill me.

But then, Summer—you came along.  Sure, there was a fling with Spring.  I mean, I don’t know if I would even call it a “fling.”  We hung out, sure, but—it never meant anything to me.  Really! I was thinking about you the whole time!  Anyway, Spring was nice and all, but…there was just nothing there, you know?  There was no real connection.  I always felt like something was just…off. 

And then, Summer, you entered my life and swept me off my feet.  The higher temperatures…hour upon hour of daylight…the long vacations.  When the sun shone, there were hikes and long walks on the beach.  And Summer, when the rain came, we spent an entire day watching Felicity reruns together and eating peanut butter from the jar.  It’s okay—you don’t have to be embarrassed!  It’s not embarrassing, Summer…it’s beautiful!

And the meals, my gosh, the meals.  Bowls overflowing with fresh fruit, homemade ice cream, veggie burgers and corn hot off the grill.  Cold beers and hot nights…Summer, we had it all.

And that’s why it pains me to write this letter.  You see, lately I’ve been feeling like we’ve grown apart—like maybe the best of this relationship is behind us.  You’ve seemed…distant.  Or maybe I’m the one who’s been distant…it’s so hard to know.  I’m not trying to play the blame game, Summer.  We’ve both made mistakes. 

I think we both have to accept the fact that things aren’t what they used to be.  The corn that was once so sweet has lost its flavor:

On the other hand, sweet potatoes are just now coming into season.  I know I shouldn’t say this, but the sweet potatoes I had tonight were fantastic, Summer.  I’m not trying to be cruel, just honest.  Sweet potatoes have never really been your thing, but I have to say—I’m looking forward to them.

I know this is going to be hard for you to hear, so I’ll just say it: I’ve been hanging out with Fall.  I know, I know—he’s not really my type.  But Summer, I think that’s just it:  I’ve changed.  It’s not you, Summer—it’s me.  I know that sounds like a line, but it’s true.  Fall understands the new me—the me who likes slightly colder temperatures and changing leaves.  The me who doesn’t want to sweat like a hog every time I open the front door.  Fall gets me in a way that I never thought anyone could…he gets me more than I get myself.  It’s deep, Summer.

I know what you’re going to say—he’s only going to hurt me.  And that might be true.  He hangs out with a different crowd—I’ve even heard his name associated with Winter once or twice.  But Summer, he swears those rumors aren’t true.  Am I foolish to believe him?  Maybe. 

But as D.H. Lawrence once said, “Love is the flower of life, and blossoms unexpectly and without law, and must be plucked where it is found, and enjoyed for the brief hour of its duration.”

Or, as the Miami Sound Machine sang in the opening number of Three Men and a Baby, “Bad, bad, bad, bad boys…you make me feel so good.”

So, anyway…I hope we can still be friends.  Maybe I’ll see you around sometime?  Maybe the three of us can even hang out together—no pressure!  I’ll always cherish the memories of what we had, Summer.  I love you, but I’m not in love with you.  Someday, you’ll find someone new who can give you the things that I’m just not prepared to give. 

Always Yours (in June, July and August),

Anna

Hello, hello! This morning, I wrote in bed for about two hours (!), took care of some online work, and finally wrapped up my work around 11:30.  I wasn’t quite ready for lunch yet, so I decided to strap on my running shoes and hit the ‘hood for a little walk.  Once I started walking though, I felt the itch to run—so I did!  This run was completely unplanned, but it was exactly what my body wanted, for some reason. I did 3.2 miles, and got home feeling sweaty and good. 

I try to plan out my workouts—I know which days I’m going to run, which days I’m going to do strength work, and which days I’ll probably just rest on.  Still, my little running spurt this morning taught me a lesson—never stick to your workout regimen/schedule so closely that you ignore what your body is telling you it wants.  Running was definitely not on my schedule this morning—I have a training session with Eric later this afternoon.  But, once my feet got moving, I felt like running, so I did.

I follow this rule pretty well when it comes to our meals—I try to listen to what my body wants, and plan our meals accordingly.  So, when we go to the grocery store, I’ll buy the ingredients for four or five dinners, but I’ll leave it up in the air in terms of what night of the week we eat which meal, etc.  But, for some reason, I have a harder time letting go of my workout schedule—I like to have a fixed plan! Today was a good example of why you sometimes just have to throw that plan out the window!

When I returned home, I put together lunch: another chickpea smash.  This time, the smash was literal:

This chickpea smash was: 3/4 cup chickpeas, 1 tbsp. golden raisins, 1/4 cup greek yogurt, 1 tbsp. yellow curry, 1/4 tsp. cumin seeds, and salt to taste.  I LOVE the flavor of curry, but you could definitely put a little less in there and still get that great curry flavor.  The cumin seeds added an extra layer of Indian flavor to the dish.

I served my smash over an Ezekial wrap and fresh greens, garnished with a little shredded coconut.  Yum!

I can’t believe it’s already 2:30…where did the day go?  I always feel like time slips away from me on my days off…although I suppose the fact that I just spent half an hour watching the Fashion Police on E! doesn’t help matters.  I can’t believe they voted Anna Paquin worst dressed over January Jones?!?  You know I love me some Betty Draper, but that dress was awful. It looked like a big pile of smurf vomit.

See you tonight!

Greetings, friends.  Another school day has come and gone…are we really in the second week?  Before I know it, the semester will be halfway through.  My classes were great today…I hate to jinx myself, but I really seem to have gotten a strong group of students for all three classes.  Here’s hoping I’m still saying that at the end of the semester!

This morning, I did all of the prep work for a delicious Asian noodle dish for dinner tonight.

First up, tofu:  I pressed a firm tofu cake in my tofu press for a few hours, then dried it off and covered it with my go-to tofu marinade.

Go-To Tofu Marinade

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. mirin

1 tsp. plum wine vinegar

1/4 tsp. ginger (optional, depending on the dish you’ll be using the tofu for)

1 tbsp. shoyu (or soy sauce)

I cut the tofu into one inch cubes, toss it in the marinade, and pop it into the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Voila! Perfect tofu!

*       *       *

We were using the tofu for an Asian seaweed noodle dish.  After reading about some of the benefits of incorporating seaweed into one’s diet the other day, I spotted various types of Seaweed packets at Wegman’s and snatched up a bunch to experiment with.  Today, hijiki was on the menu.  Hijiki is black and comes dried.  When you reconstitute it with water, it grows in size and becomes slippery…it almost looks like little tadpole tails or something!

I covered .5 ounces of hijiki in water for thirty minutes, then drained and rinsed it.  While the hijiki was soaking, I julienned two carrots and cut a red bell pepper into thin red strips.  When the hijiki was finished reconstituting, I added it to the veggies.  Before I added the hijiki to the veggies, I tasted a little bite of it plain.  It tasted pretty salty and kind of…well, kind of like the sea! It almost reminded me of caviar, in a way.

To the veggies and hijiki, I added a very simple dressing that was a lot like the tofu marinade: 1 tsp. sesame oil, 2 tsp. plum wine vinegar, 1 tsp. mirin, and 2 tsp. shoyu. 

Once the tofu was done cooking, I let it cool and then added it to the veggies.  Stirred it all together, and popped it into the refrigerator, where it marinated and the flavors melded all day while we were teaching.

Finally, when we returned home from campus tonight, we cooked some rice noodles to toss in with the salad.  Before we added the noodles, we ran them under cold water so that they would go well with the cold salad. 

Whew! This was a simple dish to put together, but I guess it needed a lot of description! Anyway, the final product was absolutely delicious…a great meal to come home to after a long day of teaching!

It’s been in the 90s here today, so this was the perfect cool dinner.  Enjoyed…yep, at the table!

Have you ever cooked with seaweed before?  I was a little nervous about it, but it definitely gave the salad an extra something special!

See you tomorrow!

Lunch is quick (and on the small side because I prepped for our dinner tonight this morning, and ended up taking quite a few tastes of our dinner in the process…it’s going to be a good one!).  One cup of chickpeas mixed with a fourth of a cup of Greek yogurt and a half a cup of salsa.  Easy, fast, and tasty!  I just hope it doesn’t spill into my bag!

I’m also bringing this apple and pb packet for snacking later. 

See you tonight for a fishy dinner…