Worth 9,000+ Words: Fall 2012 in Words and Pictures

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Pin It Now! If you are a frequenter of my blog (granted, that would usually be if I updated frequently, which I sort of don't) you might notice there are several new entries that seem to have magically shown up in the past. Basically, I am trying to get into more of a normal blogging schedule--we'll start with any kind of schedule, normal or not and work from there.

Post-Dirty Girl Mud Run. Ew.

But also, I have recently started to exercise more. While I have been playing pick up ultimate frisbee once or twice a week with the same group of crazy engineers-and-those-who-love-them (I use the word "love" loosely here. My friends are hilarious, yes, but the kind of odd only another odd person could love. ;o) ) since 2009, I've never been what you would call an exerciser. Part of the reason I enjoy ultimate frisbee (besides the hilarious people, the fun parties we throw, and the potential for hot gossip on the sidelines) is that the exercise has a purpose, the game of throwing and catching the frisbee makes all the running and dashing and soreness bearable.

However, one of my friends from college sent out an email a couple months back about participating in the Dirty Girl Mud Run, a 5K with obstacles and mud (shocker) that is all-girl, all athletic abilities, all mud, all the time. And I did it. And it was awesome.

My newest challenge? I have started the Couch to 5K running program, which basically pieces out a training regime in nine weeks that starts at running for a minute at a time... to the whole time.

Because I think that cooking and exercise often can go hand in hand (not literally, please do not run while baking, chaos will ensue), I'm thinking I will integrate my stab at healthy habits into this blog. If nothing else, it will give me more material to write about.

So never fear! The same hilarious write-up of recipes and Foodie Penpals will continue. I just might share random healthy/exercise/life tips as well. Cool?

Now, on to the promised pictures after the jump!

Sugar and Spice: Snickerdoodles

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Everyone has their favorite dessert. My dad loves German Chocolate cake (coconut creeps me out, which is why it's HIS favorite dessert not mine). My mom always wants root beer floats on her birthday. Me? Give me a good chocolate chip cookie and I'm yours.

My younger sister's favorite? 

Snickerdoodles.

Now don't get me wrong, I like snickerdoodles fine, they just don't light me up. However, as recipes go, this one is excellent, not only because it's pretty easy, but because by rolling the snickerdoodles in cinnamon sugar, they retain all that lovely winter/fall taste and have an excellent texture and visual appeal.

 Details after the jump!

Harnessing the Power of Social Media: Link to Instructables!

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So I discovered the coolness that is Instructables. It's an amazing website that allows people to share their step-by-step instructions about basically anything.

Need to know how to make rainbow cupcakes? Check.
Super Mario question block that lights up? Done.
Anything else you'd ever want to know... yes.

While I'm pretty sure I have posted about my love of peanut butter and peanut butter cookies, I was inspired to turn it into an Instructable. The website is very user-friendly and easy to use. Of course, I had to rock a ridiculous name for the entry, but hey, who wouldn't. Don't these look delicious? Click the link to see what I did it!

Peanut Butter Cookie Perfection

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: August Foodie Penpal Reveal!

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Pin It Now! Note: This entry is back-dated as real life has intervened. My apologies!

This is the shortest entry ever (in my attempt to catch up to the present day, I didn't want to totally short shrift the awesomeness of Foodie Penpals in August. Here, in brief, is the awesome box that Ione gave me!

*The most adorable strainer ever. It's so cheerful and now sits on top of my microwave.

*Somersaults are these cracker type things that are made from sesame seeds and awesome. Super addictive, I give them to everyone who gets assigned to me as a Penpal now, it's hiliarious.

*Delicious cupcake mix and scone mix.

*Raspberry explosion of fun! Otherwise known as dark chocolate with raspberries, raspberry licorice and the aforementioned scones.

Interested in signing up? Here's the details:

Here’s a detailed explanation of the program:

-On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
- Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

Click here to find out more from Lindsey herself!

Happiness in a Box: July Foodie Penpal Reveal!

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I was reading the blog of my friend and fellow SF blogger Ariel (Having My Cake and Sharing It 2) and discovered this awesome food blogger "penpal" food swap, where every month you give and receive a box of food goodies from a blogger or reader. It's all set up by Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean, click on the image above to see more reveals and also learn how to join in the fun!

This was my first month and I got to send a bunch of funky stuff to Emily at The Vegtress, so I got to learn lots of cool things about finding healthy vegan foods to send. Go check out her blog, it is awesome!

I was lucky to get matched with Jessica who writes Fit Talker and wow, so much good stuff!

Better Late Than Never: Food Blogger Bake Sale Write-Up

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So you know when you have those to-do lists, and they have lots of important things like “Feed Cat!” and “Wash Dishes!” and then down past “Go to Work So You Can Have Money to Feed Cat and Have Food to Put on Dishes!” you have things like “Finally write the SOS Bake Sale Blog Post”? It turns out those tasks down at the bottom really don't get done.

In other words, belated post is highly belated. In fact, I STARTED writing this post on Memorial Day and… only finished it now. I’ll give you a moment to check the date stamp, and be impressed at my procrastinatory skills. ANYWAY. Here is the picture/recipe/write-up post you’ve all been waiting for! An edge of your seat thriller! Either way, read on after the jump about the awesome day, filled with food, fun, and fundraising.

Of Memories and Freshness: Pasta alla Formiana

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"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard

When I was in elementary school (somewhere between 1^st and 3^rd grade, the dates are hazy) my parents, sister and I lived in a house in Southern California that had been previously owned by my grandparents. It was a bizarre kind of doubling of childhood memories: I can remember sitting with squirming impatience on the piano bench at the long dinner table during family Thanksgiving, waiting for the moment when I would be released to sit on the back steps with my Great-Uncle, hoping he would teach me more words to “You Are My Sunshine”. On top of that is the breathless weight of lying in bed in my uniquely constructed bedroom, three walls of windows swallowing me in the hum and buzz of a summer night.

But the most lasting legacy of my grandparents’ inhabitance of that house came from a row of tomato plants that ran along the back fence. If you’ve never had a fresh-picked tomato that still carries the fuzzy green scent of its attatchment to the vine, you’re missing out: I can still taste the tartfresh slide of it against a piece of cheese and bread, the overwhelming tomato-ness of it standing up to the bite of yellow mustard.

(I never said my tastes as a child were gourmet. I still contend that yellow mustard is awesome, though I have since discovered the magic of Dijon and other varieties on a sandwich and elsewhere.)


More nostalgia and tomato-fueled deliciousness after the jump!