My Life is Slipping Past Me...

...at an alarming rate! Where are my weeks going? This is going to be short and sweet, because my life is boring.

Baking Highlights: Monday I made my mini croissants, which were more like crescent rolls than flaky buttery pastry. C’est la vie vegan. Wednesday was hazelnut biscotti in three varieties: plain, chocolate, and chocolate-covered. I actually baked them twice, so they were legitimate. Friday was peanut butter balls (dangerously delicious and deadly) and some chocolate-covered oat bar for the Shabbat potluck that night. Oh, and that slab of chocolate, it's gone - well almost. It's currently the size of my fist. Gold is in site...

Olympics Highlights: I stayed up too late again for most of the week. Mad about the stupid tie-breaker on bars giving gold to an underage Chinese gymnast! Paid half-attention to the closing ceremony last night.

Weekend (Non) Excitement: Went to the Friday night Shabbat services and potluck, but since I knew no one, was sort of lonely. Saturday I had dinner, tea, and chocolate with Amanda – who’s apartment is fabulous and CLEAN! Jealous. Lebanese food was good, after they traded the ground-beef-topped hummus with the plain one we ordered! Yesterday, I started the movie 1900, which I put in French but can’t actually hear on my computer. I still have two more hours to go…

That’s my life. I have a week left and then my life will get even more boring, so I will discontinue blog posting.

I’m Reading: Oryx and Crake

Baking Heaven

This is to illustrate that I don't only take photos of food - Oh, lemurs, how I miss you!

And here is the picture of food - see what I have to distract me? It's terrible!

So, this is what I do instead of do work (which I will be doing right after this and finishing my croissants): Bake 'n' Blog! The week and a half that I have to share is really only the former half, though ...REALLY.

I believe we ended our story on Wednesday, August 6th. Thursday, I ate out twice in one day! I went to lunch a pretty high-up lady in the paper lobby - who is probably crazier about recycling than I am. This was at Organic To Go! Kind of ironic how my first experience at this Issaquah, WA based eatery was in DC...Dinner was a lovely catch-up with a friend at Amsterdam Falafel. Not a huge fan of falafel, but the toppings made my day (and it was all vegetarian). Friday night I went to my first Shabbat service all summer, which was followed by a vegetarian potluck.

Saturday was nothing too exciting, just farmer's market, and a 5-mile run ending at TJ's. Bought chocolate, sugar, peanut butter, and some useful things. I think I tried to work at Starbucks for a while (that may have been Sunday, tho).

Sunday began as a typical one might. Swimming, a quick stop at Whole Foods to see if they finally got my yeast in (they hadn't). Then, that evening, as I'm watching the Olympics, I get called over to the cabinets being cleaned for our newest house member...lo and behold - there is unclaimed peanut butter, sugar, honey, oatmeal...oh, lovely. Then, the slab surfaces. This huge chunk of Ghirarrdeli dark is just screaming for some love and attention. My housemates present me with the ultimate challenge: use the entire block by the time I leave in three weeks! Will all the training pay off? Can she win the gold? Tune in during primetime to find out LIVE.

Turns out, having large slabs of chocolate around me is very dangerous. Sunday night I made some delectable peanut butter fudge, which involved two bowls to make (and therefore lick when done). During the week, I also made brownies twice (first time, too fudgey - although yummy, but the second time fantabulous), and pudding a few nights. Half of my croissants will be Pain au Chocolat, and this week's line-up includes hazelnut biscotti (some chocolate, some plain, and some chocolate-dunked) and buckeye balls. I did not eat ALL of these products - I brought them to work to feed hungry government employees. However, I have consumed a good deal more chocolate in the past week than usual (supplemented by my purchases at TJ's) and have had considerable my trouble falling asleep at night (that silly theobromine - look it up).

Can you tell that was the highlight of my week (and next two weeks)? Well, I did a few other things this week...like watch a lot of Olympics, not get enough sleep, go on a tour of three Traditional Neighborhood Developments (you can ask me if you actually care), go out to Java Green twice, and see a bizarre Italian movie, La Notte, at the National Gallery. There was a reunion of sort at my house last night, which unfortunately used my deck, but they were nice folks.

Is today already Sunday? And almost 5pm? Ok, stop distracting me...I have important work to do! Make sure to stay tuned to see what chocolate delicacies I cook up next (and if I can live up to the challenge)!

I'm Reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (and you should, too!)

Are You My Mother?

Do I only ever take pictures of food? I have one of my bread, too...

Start Time: 1:54 pm

I’m sorry it’s already Wednesday – the days just fly by right now. I will try to recount with amazing detail (hehe) what has occurred since the last post…as I eat my delectable cake and pretend to do important things at work (which I really should be doing, but I can’t concentrate on one thing for extended periods of time). Alright, ready, begin:

Saturday July 26th, I spent a lovely evening at Wolf Trap’s Broadway Rocks! I love musical theater…Sunday, I ran the 3 miles down to the Holocaust museum, where one of the founders gave a group of Stanford, Yale, and Harvard students a little spiel on the history of the museum.
I probably could have spent a couple more hours there, but I hate crowds and the number of people inside kept growing. So, I set off on my run back to Adam’s Morgan…with dark, menacing clouds in front of me. Well, that was motivation – although, not motivating enough apparently. Just as a I start heading up 18th street (about 8 minutes from my doorstep), the sky opens up; thunder and lightning right over my head. Actually, quite unnerving. Needless to say, I did not feel quite the need for a shower that I had earlier in my run!

Ok, moving on. Monday and Tuesday are not worth discussing. Wednesday, besides engaging in the weekly viewing of Project Runway, my mother came. I lost my bed, but gained someone to do stuff with! Thursday, I met my mom’s college friend (I know you’re reading this…), which is fun – makes me realize that parents had/have a life outside their children.
I had a dinner party on my deck that night, with a few friends. It was a vegan smorgasbord of pasta, quiche (again), sundried tomato basil bread, and more. Mmm…

Friday, I took the day off of work! We went to the zoo early-ish, then headed downtown for a vegetarian Indian Buffet (dcnirvana.com) – at which I ate WAY too much! Was interesting, because I had never had Rajasthani cuisine before. Went to the National Building Museum, which I believe my mother enjoyed ;). That evening we went back to Wolf Trap for a Rogers and Hammerstein medley on-screen! It was fantastic.

Saturday was a late start – meaning I went to the farmer’s market and then ate half a jar of peanut butter (all-natural, don’t worry) before we got moving. We spent the day in Georgetown, wandering around with one of my favorite people – Laura McDonald ! Got stuck in a thunderstorm and sought shelter in the nearest Trader Joe’s, of course. For dinner, we met up with my mom’s cousin (once removed for me?) and we ate at a lovely Lebanese place!

Sunday, sigh. I had my usual bout swimming and grocery shopping in the morning. We went to Sticky Fingers Bakery for “brunch”, but I will have to go back when I am not in a bad mood (don’t ask). National Archives was next on our list – very cool exhibit on Campaign Political Cartoons. Walked a bunch – like all the way back to Adam’s Morgan. Chipotle for dinner and Persepolis as a close to the weekend.

I realize this has gotten very long. Nothing much happened Monday and Tuesday, except that I baked an excellent cake with an impromptu frosting with a hint of raspberry. Rave reviews at work – forgot to take a picture…And now have realized that my lunch consisted solely of cake, frosting, and a peach. So much for my health. Until next time –

Finish Time: 4:24 pm (granted, I was working too!)

I'm Reading: The China Study