Long Weekend Recap

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Hi there! Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a lovely (perhaps extended?) weekend and are starting the week feeling nice and refreshed; I certainly am. This is the penultimate week of classes for me, so life is a teeny bit crazy, but when is it not? Today is a pretty packed day of classes and meetings, but let’s talk about the fun weekend happenings instead. Sound good? Excellent.

I flew home late (too late) Thursday night, thankfully fueled by delicious airport snacks. And airline peanuts.

{Those Popchips are reeeeally good}

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I crashed around 1 am, and was up again by 6:15. Life does that. I went for a quick run before walking my dog, getting ready, and heading to my interview (I’d say it went pretty well?). I went home and changed before heading to bring my mom and a teacher friend lunch from Panera.

After lunch, I had the opportunity to talk to some middle school students about high school and college.

Insert super attractive picture of me talking. Oh, well. It was a lot of fun, and they asked some really excellent questions that I wouldn’t have thought to ask at their age.

After hanging out at work with my mom for a bit and going for a nice (but way too warm) dog walk, my parents took me to dinner at Milestone 229. It was fabulous.

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That would be skillet mac & cheese, jumbo lump crab cakes, and buckeye pie. Perfection. We then came home and relaxed for a while before heading to bed in decent time, having been up pretty late the previous night.

I somehow slept in later than my dad the next morning, but when I did get up and we both had breakfast, we went for a nice run. And then he made egg sandwiches for all of us because it’s tradition and they’re delicious.

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Yolksplosion. It was messy, but so worth it. A little more relaxation, a dog walk, and a round of packing later, and we headed to the airport. We enjoyed a super early dinner at Max & Erma’s before I got on the plane and came back to Chicago.

{Plus a ton of ketchup}

I was pretty exhausted, so after a quick (but still super fun) run to Target, I curled up in bed with Netflix and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie for a very necessary chilled-out evening.

The rest of the weekend was filled with a mix of schoolwork and helping run dorm-related events - a video game tournament on Sunday and a Memorial Day barbecue on Monday.

And now I’d say you’re all caught up. It was a wonderful weekend full of fun, delicious food, and fantastic company, and now it’s time to get back to work and finish out the year.

What are your favorite on-the-go snacks?

Do you like ketchup? What’s your favorite condiment?

What fun things did you do this weekend?

Snack Chat

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On Thursday, I finally acquired some Pop-Tarts.

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And they are just as lovely as I wanted them to be.

On Saturday, I was chatting with one of the cashiers at the convenience store downstairs in my dorm about things you ate as a kid that disgust you now. (Her mom put gummy bears in her oatmeal as a kid and now she can’t eat either.)

I’ve been saying for a while that we need to talk nostalgic snacks. Time for some snack chat.

Things I ate as a kid that disgust me now:

  • Grapes with chip dip

My grandma makes amazing chip dip. Unfortunately, I loved it so much as a kid that I put it on everything, including grapes. She still makes it for every gathering, and I watch family members load up plates with cheese, veggies, chips, and dip… but I can’t bring myself to eat it anymore.

  • Ketchup on bread

Um. I think there was sometimes meat on a sandwich (with ketchup) that I just didn’t appreciate, so I’d pick it off and just eat the ketchup and bread. This morphed into just eating ketchup and bread.

  • Jelly and Ritz crackers

I used to claim I hated peanut butter, so my dad’s snacks of peanut butter and crackers wouldn’t do. Instead, I slathered jelly on crackers and ate that.

Snacks I ate as a kid that I haven’t had in way too long:

We always had about 157438 boxes of cereal in my house, and this was usually one of them. It’s sweet and crunchy and delicious. But I know raisins are polarizing, so I guess not everyone would agree…

  • Carrots and Ranch dressing
  • Cinnamon-sugar toast

My grandma made this a lot. It’s just buttered toast that’s been sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, but it tastes like magic.

  • Chocolate Fudge and Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts
  • Colored Goldfish

They were better than the regular ones.

  • Melted chocolate chips and pretzel sticks

Chocolate-covered pretzels (sort of)!

Snacks I ate as a kid that I still eat regularly:

You know this.

  • Peanut butter and apples (also peanut butter on a spoon)

And this.

  • Trail mix

My love for trail mix started at my grandparents’ house, where there was always a Tupperware container of the sweet & salty stuff ready for consumption

  • Berries + bananas + Cool Whip

I’ve never really liked fresh whipped cream, but I really enjoy the processed magic of Cool Whip with fruit.

Your turn! What are some of your favorite (and least favorite) childhood snacks?

Hard Choices - Round 2

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I’ll be back with some more college-y/life-y posts soon, but I’m still getting back into the swing of all that, to be honest. While I get my bearings and figure out a routine for this quarter, we can enjoy some more food talk right? I hope so - it’s one of my favorite things to talk about. 😉

The rules for this are the same as last time. Pick one of the three choices in each category to eliminate for the rest of your life. Ready… go!

  • Apples, oranges, or bananas?

The loser: Oranges. This is honestly nothing against oranges - I think they’re delicious. However, I eat at least one apple and banana pretty much every day. Actually, oranges are a pain to peel, so maybe it is a little bit about that.

  • Almonds, peanuts, or cashews?

The loser: Ahhh why did I do this to myself? I love them all! Ummm. Let’s pretend we’re excluding nut butters and just talking about the whole nuts themselves, okay? In that case, I think I have to go with peanuts. But I don’t have a real explanation; I’d be sad about losing any of them and I’m grateful every day that I’m not allergic.

  • Rice, pasta, or bread?

The loser: Rice. Something about the texture has kind of freaked me out for a while (though the last few times I’ve had it, I’ve hated it a little less). A bunch of my friends tell me that this is just an “American rice” thing and if I’d had Indian rice or something I’d feel differently. Feel free to send me some 😉

  • White, milk, or dark chocolate?

The loser: White. I like it with things, but by itself it’s way too sweet for me. I’m a dark chocolate person!

  • Oatmeal, cereal, or granola?

The loser: Granola. It’s usually too sweet or crunchy to me. Also, I feel like it gets stuck in my teeth and that’s annoying. I would never want to give up cereal (pretty sure I could live on cereal), and oatmeal makes for a nice change of pace sometimes, especially when I want something warm.

  • Cookie butter, Nutella, or peanut butter?

{Source}

The loser: Nutella. I know. Everybody loves Nutella. I’m not that crazy about it. I do, however, love peanut butter (if you weren’t aware 😉 ) and I adore the graham-y, cinnamon-y flavor of cookie butter.

  • Salsa, guacamole, or queso?

The loser: Queso. Okay, I cringed writing that. I love them all, but I feel like I’d really miss the freshness of salsa and guac.

  • Corn chips, tortilla chips, or potato chips?

The loser: Corn chips. Tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole is the best. Also, they make excellent chili/soup toppers. And they’re fabulous. Potato chips… sometimes I just crave them. Corn chips? They can’t do anything tortilla chips can’t, in my opinion.

  • Ketchup, mustard, or mayo?

The loser: Mayo. Does it have a flavor? Is it just a slimy substance? What am I missing here? I love the tangy flavor of mustard in pretty much anything, and ketchup is a lovely addition to French fries.

  • Cookie cake, cake, or ice cream cake?

The loser: Cake. Excuse me, but how can I turn down a massive cookie or a giant pile of ice cream? That’s right - I can’t. Also, these delicacies are unimpaired by too much frosting, so their own deliciousness shines.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on some (or all) of these - do we agree? Tell me what you think!

How’s your week going?

What’s the best April Fools’ Day prank you’ve pulled/someone has pulled on you?

When Life Happens

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Sometimes… you have plans. Sometimes life gets in the way. If this weekend had a theme, that would be it. And while it’s not always fun, it’s not catastrophic, either. It happens - and it turns out just fine.

On Friday afternoon, I got hit with a massive migraine. I tried to sleep it off and failed. I was determined to go to the fashion show, but I skipped out on a nice dinner out in favor of all the salt and carbs and water, because I felt awful.

Though I did feel horrible, the fashion show was so well done and I was amazed at the time and talent that went into everyone’s designs. My angle was weird, so no pictures of the designs, but here’s the set-up:

Also, I got a pretty nice swag bag

After the show, we gathered up my friend’s designs so she could go to the after-party, grabbed a car, and came back to campus. I crashed.

Saturday was supposed to be my super-productive essay-writing day. I woke up feeling not great, but not as bad as Friday night, and managed a workout and my morning meeting. But then? I got pummeled by a migraine again and my productivity kind of plummeted. I tried to start writing and retreated to my dark room… with sunglasses on.

I chose to forego my dinner-making plans for endless crackers, cereal, a couple apples, a protein bar, and three peanut butter sandwiches. The thought of anything with much flavor made me feel sick, as did the spicy smell emanating from the kitchen. I was really not a fun person on Saturday night, but before I crashed for good, one of my friends made me tea and offered some human interaction, which was much appreciated.

Sunday! Everything turned around and my headache was gone when I woke up, so I ate breakfast and started to actually make progress on my essay before squeezing in a workout, grocery shopping, and paper-editing. Sunday turned into the day Saturday was supposed to be. But I managed to get everything I needed to do done, despite my sort of lost day.

Sunday evening our house attempted to have our “formal hall” for the quarter, where we dress up all fancy and go to the dining hall.

As you can see, not that many people came, but it was a nice try. Also… that’s the picture you get when you ask a (very sweet) little kid to take a photo of all of us. Oh, well. It’s candid 😉

So… that was my weekend. It’s not how I planned it to go, but it is what it is. Life happens, and that’s okay.

How was your weekend?

When was the last time “life” happened to you?