my week in review

these past few days have been eventful, in both good and bad ways. on tuesday, after meetings, phone calls, future life considerations, and various levels of tearful bursts, i decided not to turn in my thesis (well, it was more or less decided for me, but i'm claiming responsibility to give myself some shred of personal credit) in may and continue working on it at bw this summer. it was a strange decision involving, as mentioned, a lot of opinions, a few of my tears, some encouraging words from my mom, and a good epilepsy joke from my dad. ultimately, i think this is what i want and it will be much better for me career-wise. i guess that's the goal, right?

because i had such a horrendous day, thursday night required some comfort-food. i've been meaning to try out some of the vegan "cheese" recipes highlighted in so many blogs, and i even found some nutritional yeast at a little co-op last time i visited my sister in dc. i mustered (pun) up my courage and decided to tackle a cheesy baked potato mash with broccoli. i combined a bunch of different recipes because i didn't want any gooey sauce, just the seasoning to mix into the potatoes before mushing them up. some tumeric, nutritional yeast, oregano, seafood seasoning (my addition), salt, pepper, garlic, and onion salt all went into a bowl, and then got sprinkled on top of my potato mash with a few dabs of dijon mustard. the result was a strange color, and after i poured on my green-grey steamed frozen broccoli, the whole thing looked utterly unappetizing and weird:

fortunately, i don't let appearance affect my taste-buds. it wasn't the cheesy goodness i really wanted (like what i used to get at the mall food court from the potato patch), but spice mix was really good and paired excellently with the potato and broccoli. i think i'll try the goo-sauce next time and make some mac and cheese... i think the liquid of the pasta water and such will make it better.

so after thursday's school-related headache, a serious lack of sleep, an exam, and babysitting, i finally got to relax on friday with my future roommates and 2 best friends. lyss, allyson, maha, amy, and i went to the green bowl for dinner and then down to 2000* to paint some pottery. the green bowl is one of those awesome stir-fry restaurants where you fill your (green) bowl with a cornucopia of veggies and other goodies, add some stellar sauces to make a really great combo (i'm a hoisin, plum, peanut, and pinapple curry kind of girl), and then wait for them to grill it all up on a the giant flat-top hibachi and bring it piping hot to your table with a cute little cup of brown rice. it's all you can eat, and i usually go for 2 small bowls. but friday night, i splurged on the first one and couldn't stuff down a second. it was so good.

lyss and i had gone to 2000* last year and painted really cute little cupcake-shaped boxes. we've been meaning to go back all year, but never got around to it. a fun girly-night was the perfect excuse. i'll have pictures once we get back what we painted after it's fired -- no hints until then!

yesterday was supposed to be a thesis marathon (that got pushed back to today), but ended up being a smorgasboard of unrelated events and impromptu actions. i went to the gym, helped with the big concert on the hub lawn, met up with my cousin who was up to visit the MBA school, took a trip to wegmans and michaels, and.. oh yeah... made the MOST AMAZING MACAROONS EVER!!

that's a little preview. i'll update with more tantalizing photos and a recipe (plus my dinner tonight) later.

stop drooling.

ciao!

J