Marlon Brando used to be cute...

I spent a decent amount of time in the kitchen yesterday. I'm not saying this to impress you, it's just the truth. This was originally because I needed to bake some cookies for Boyfriend. It was a little bit of a rough start to the week for all of us, and sometimes the only thing that can make it better is a delectable, soft cookie.

I went with chocolate chip, a classic. Naturally these needed to be vegan cookies, not because Boyfriend is vegan (he isn't) but because I don't have any fat-laden animal products to work with unless we are bringing my roommates into the equation. Recipe is as follows:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees! Hooray!

1.5 cups of whole wheat all purpose flour
3/4 cup of whole rolled oats
1/4 cup of brown rice syrup
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 cup of vegan chocolate chips (the more the better!)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup of safflower oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup of unsweetened dried coconut

I wisked together the wet ingredients and then gradually added in the dry (except for the chocolate chips). I prefer to add my chocolate chips in after my cookies are spooned out onto the baking sheet. This way I can count out exactly 6 chocolate chips per cookie. It tastes better that way, trust me.

I also finally got around to getting some cheese cloth. You should all know that I love pickles. All kinds except the perverted ones. Those two things may seem unrelated, but I actually acquired said cheese cloth with the intent to make my own pickles.

They're just regular pickles, nothing too special: chopped dill, apple cider vinegar, and English cucumbers. Finally they have finished fermenting and can go back into the refrigerator. Am terribly excited to eat them.

Also in kitchen news: made my first juice yesterday! I got a free food processor and juicer from my bank (part of a rewards program) and I hadn't gotten a chance to use the juicer yet! I was home for a quick minute, trying to figure out how to use up the daikon radish in my fridge. Juicing it was the perfect solution, as it was a little bit sorry looking. What a good decision. I added a carrot for some color, beta carotene, and a slice of lime for good measure.

 Doesn't that look amazing? It was tangy and spicy but still a little bit sweet.

Aside from the kitchen, yesterday was my brother's birthday. I can't believe he is already twenty three. I couldn't be there since I have school, but I did get to video chat my whole family during cake time! It was a happy time...I miss them all and it kind of made me feel like I was there.

I also had an exam today. It was awfully difficult. I studied for it for the past two days, but this professor asks some pretty tricky questions. I think I did a pretty good job, though. I also finally got my archaeology midterm back and found out I got a B+! I'm definitely happy with that.

This afternoon was spent at a graveyard in Quincy. I needed to finish my cemetery analysis project for my archaeology class, so boyfriend and I took a drive there to analyze some head stones. Creepy! It was also very chilly, so I enjoyed spending the entire drive home with my fingers against the car heater. Successful day, wouldn't you say? Hey, that rhymes!

In the news...

Okay, so something super-duper awesome happened last night! I was talking to a friend from my Roman civilization class and I showed him by blog. This wouldn't normally be a huge deal, except that he has offered himself up as a guinea pig in what will be a pretty cool experiment: the vegan for a week challenge.

I have already begun compiling a grocery list, a list of dos and don'ts, and some elementary information for him to start with. I am so excited! The challenge will begin on Monday and it will be very well documented on this blog.

In other news: I get to see boyfriend tonight! Date night, and it starts in about nine minutes so the rest of this update must be brief.

I FINALLY got to get back in the gym today. I was dying! It really made my day. You know what else made my day? Scoring a one hundred and one on my Western civilization midterm. How crazy is that? I was freaking out all this morning while I was waiting to get into class so I could just find out how I did. I definitely wasn't expecting that, though!

Cleaned my room up a bit this morning. I hadn't finished unpacking my clothes since I got back from Connecticut, and they were taking over my room. Clean floors now dominate, and my yoga mat has room to stretch out!

Well! It is that time. Phone rang, boyfriend is outside. More updates tomorrow. Ciao!

Why Whole Foods?

Interestingly enough, on Mondays and Wednesdays I sometimes find myself eating my lunch on the floor outside my America on Film classroom. A girl in my class who is sometimes waiting in the same spot asked me what I was eating today and commented that she often wonders what I am eating but is usually afraid to ask for fear of seeming nosey. I found this incredibly amusing, as I am one of the nosiest people in the world. I was eating homemade vegetable sushi (avocado, carrot, cucumber, nori, and brown rice) with some shredded daikon. This conversation led to her asking where I got the nori and me detailing it's precise location in the Symphony Whole Foods.

Already I was proud of myself today for taking two leaps at social interaction. Now, instead of dwelling on my success at being a functional human being for the afternoon, I would like to discuss Whole Foods as a whole. Why is it important to me that I buy my food there as opposed to Shaws or Stop and Shop? Someone asked me this quite recently and I would like to elaborate.

Above the simple fact that a lot of my favorite foods (or even a variety of vegan foods in general) aren't available at the average supermarket, there are the environmental and health concerns:

1. Whole Foods is an active participatant in the non-GMO project. I have no desire to eat genetically modified foods. Anything that has been genetically engineered to withstand endless amounts of Roundup (a pesticide) is not something I want to be putting in my body. Mother Nature had it right from the beginning, and Whole Foods makes an enormous effort to avoid and protest the sale/distribution of genetically modified foods.

2. Whole Foods also has a great deal of locally grown/locally created products in stock. This contributes to the local economy as well as putting less strain on the environment. They are also avid supporters of the Free Trade and Organically grown movements.

3. Whole Foods does an extraordinary job of providing proper nutrition labeling and information to their consumers.

4. Whole Foods was also listed alongside Trader Joe's and Starbucks as one of the most wholesome and friendly environments to work in Forbes. Their employees will go out of their way to help you and generally give off a feel-good vibe that really enhances my grocery shopping experienced.

These are just a few of the many reasons when I am doing my grocery shopping and I have to give my money to a particular store, I choose to shop at Whole Foods. I can feel much better about the direction my money is taking and even better about the food I am about to eat, not to mention I can feel super good about my shopping experience lacking the same stress I would be feeling at another store.

I'm excited for tomorrow. It will FINALLY be March, and I'm so very happy for that. Also, does anybody else think Orson Welles looks like a total creeper in Citizen Kane?