Monthly Archives: August 2010

how to be epic

Posted on August 28, 2010 | 11 Comments

Based on the comments from my most recent post and the well-liked statement ¨… I am epic and so is my life,” I have decided to elaborate on the concept of being epic and what it means to me.

1. Always believe in yourself. Be you and don’t worry about getting judged.

2. Be nice, but don’t be afraid to show your inner-bitch (when appropriate). Firmly stand by your beliefs and never be sorry for them.

3. Appreciate the epic-ness of life. If something particularly awesome happens, call attention to it.

4. Don’t half-ass anything. Do everything to the fullest and never fear failure.

5. Eat chocolate daily, just for good measure.

6. Find something you love doing and do it every day, even if its just 5 minutes.

7. Listen to inappropriate music too loudly with the windows down in your car. Head bang and fist pump when necessary.

8. Laugh often but allow yourself to cry when you need to.

9. Have no fear and take no prisoners. Need I say more?

10. And, finally, to steal a popular British phrase, “Keep calm and carry on.”

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Posted in deep thinking, epic win, motivation

owning my choices

Posted on August 25, 2010 | 29 Comments

Well I know I have been gone for a few days, but grad school is hectic, people! Today my classes officially started and Wednesday is going to be my busy day. In addition to 2 classes (that are hours apart), I’m going to hold my office hours in the middle of the day to get it all done and over with. Smart? Maybe. Long? Yes.

But I have to get something off my chest that I’ve been wanting to share with you lately, and since I was so inspired by Rachel’s 4th Rule and her latest post about owning things, I want to own my choices. This is actually a concept that I’m familiar with because in college I was an RA and our bosses, when speaking of our strengths, always told us to “own it.” I make my own choices and I own it. That means that I am fully aware and fully acknowledge something, own up to it, and embrace it.

I’m choosing to not get exercise bulimia and concentrate on my health and not following the blogger trend of crazy racing schedules and exercise obsessions.

I’m choosing to blog less but try to write about things that are more meaningful.

I’m choosing to rediscover my inner writer and find an outlet for her. I can’t believe all I ever do is academic writing!

I’m choosing to stumble my way through adulthood and figure things out on my own. So I may end up with a few bruises on my shins, a broken heart, and some life lessons learned? We all have to learn some how!

I’m choosing to remember how beautiful I am.

I’m choosing to own it and not be sorry for who I am. Sorry I’m not sorry, but this is me. I’m not always polite, I offend people daily on Twitter, I hate wearing socks, I’m a terrible dancer, I put my bookshelf together backwards, I trip, I burn toast, and I love my life. And you know what? I’m not sorry at all for who I am and for what I do.

Every day I make a new choice and a new change in my life that helps me become the person I am, and isn’t that what my epic change is all about? Sorry I’m not sorry, but I am epic and so is my life. I’m going to make my choices and own them.

Oh and I’m choosing to quit my half marathon training.

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Posted in deep thinking

Veg-Mex and bats

Posted on August 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

Since I now live in the land of amazing Tex-Mex food, and since all the grocery stores are filled with my old favorites from my time living in Mexico, I’ve been craving my absolute favorite Mexican dish: Chicken with Molé sauce.

See the obvious problem? Yes, the chicken. When I lived in Mexico, I wasn’t a vegetarian! At most Mexican restaurants there is a decent selection of vegetarian-friendly options. But never a dish with molé. So I made my own variation.

Tofu grilling with traditional spices: cayenne, chili powder, garlic, and lime juice

I cheated... store bought molé paste! (no ingredients on hand for the homemade stuff)

After following the instructions on the mole, let it simmer with the tofu.

Finished product! Serve with fresh lime wedges, tortilla, brown rice, goat cheese, and veg! Oh, and beer.

It was delicious! If you don’t know, molé is a sauce made from chocolate and chiles. Yes, that is right. And it is delicious. It is traditionally topped with queso blanco or queso Oaxaca, but the goat cheese was my personal twist. The saltiness and creaminess of the goat cheese went really well with the sweet and spice of the molé sauce. And always squeeze fresh lime juice over Mexican food. Trust me.

After my vegetarian twist, I headed out to the BatFest held on one of the bridges close to my apartment. Caitlin met me at my apartment and we took the bus to meet up with some of my new grad school classmates!

Blog lovin'

Austin (and apparently all of Texas) has a large population of bats and there are a ton that come out at the Congress Ave bridge at night, so we were hoping to see a giant swarm of them. Unfortunately they were not cooperating and we only saw them flying around solo. But I still thought they were cool!

And see why I’m in love with Austin?

View from the Congress Ave bridge (facing S 1st St)

After a short stint at the BatFest, we went to a couple bars looking for anything exciting. My classmates left early but Caitlin and I are wild party girls new in town and looking for a social life, so we stayed out and had a fun night together!

This morning I got my act together and met a friend at the gym then bought my books for class. This upcoming week is going to be crazy, I’m glad I had some fun this weekend!!

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Posted in chocolate, cooking, dinner, epic win, friends, recipe

special sauce

Posted on August 19, 2010 | 5 Comments

Do you have ingredients that are particularly sentimental to you? Or even a dish that is very strongly connected to a memory, person, or place? Well, for me, that ingredient would be none other than Newman’s Own Sockarooni spaghetti sauce.

My special sauce

Yes, jarred spaghetti sauce. This sauce isn’t the most incredible thing I’ve ever tasted, though it happens to be my preferred jar of choice, but it is special to me for other reasons. Growing up, one of our favorite family meals was spaghetti and my dad almost always made the sauce. He always, without fail, used Sockarooni and “doctored it up” with his own combination of spices. I open the jar, smell it, taste it, and instantly can picture myself standing barefoot in the kitchen with him, throwing spaghetti noodles on the wooden cabinets to see if they stick (a sure sign they’re perfectly cooked, FYI), and tasting the sauce. This sauce is a bittersweet one, but not because of its taste. It is bittersweet because, as many of you know, my father passed away in November 2008. Anything I can do to keep him fresh in my memory is so important to me, and when I picked up this jar of sauce at the grocery store, I knew exactly where it would take me back to. So tonight’s dinner of pasta with Sockarooni sauce, is dedicated to my Daddy.

I had a long day on campus doing grad school orientation and that, coupled with me crying as I tasted a spoonful of spaghetti sauce, told me that a glass of wine might not be a bad idea. And in an effort to add more wine reviews to the blog, I indulged.

HRM's Rex Goliath Cab Sav

I have to say, for under $6, this was a kickin’ Cab Sav. Cab Savs happen to be my favorite type of wine because they’re bold, but not too bold. The almost bitter taste of red wines comes from tannin and this has a great balance of fruit and tannin. I did my tasting, ate dinner, and when I got around to blogging I checked the HRM Rex Goliath website out and was shocked to see the wine’s description went right along with my own opinion. I am, by no means, a wine expert, but apparently I’m doing alright. It had a very fruity, almost sweet taste up front and it had the traditional red boldness of the tannin on the back of the palate as you swallowed. Honestly if you’re into red wines and you don’t have a big budget (like me!) I highly recommend it. It tastes more luxurious than it actually is!

One happy camper!

Now I’m going to relax a little and think fondly of the special sauce and the amazing person it reminds me of. I think food is a very important aspect of memory and association — it goes to show how powerful food truly is!

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Posted in cooking, deep thinking, dinner, family, wine

beer, bloggers, & balance

Posted on August 17, 2010 | 2 Comments

I just had a great night!!! I got my teaching assignment for being a TA, I successfully navigated the public transit system, and I had a blogger meet up with some lovely ladies!

Cara, Caitlin, Teddy, Sarah, Carina, and I met up for a great dinner! I have “known” Caitlin for a while through the blogosphere and she, too, just moved to Austin the same week as me! And Cara and I found each other when I announced my move to Austin, so I’ve been reading her for a few months. The other girls were fun new finds! Sarah actually went to college in Virginia so we have some VA love to bond us!

We started out with a pitcher of Austin’s finest… Lone Star!

Lone Star (a Texan beer)

And then some pizza!

White pie (this + another small slice!)

And my lovely dinner buddies!

Left side from bottom: Carina, Teddy, Cara; right side from bottom: me (duh), Caitlin, and Sarah!

Thanks, Salvation Pizza, for some yummy pie! I normally am not a huge fan of thin crust (it has a carb deficiency) but this was quite delicious! We had originally planned to go to the restaurant next door and it was randomly closed :( But this turned out to be a great alternative.

Salvation Pizza on 34th

So let’s talk about my food intake lately. Yes, it appears as if I’ve been doing nothing but going out to dinner, drinking beer, and eating pizza. But, as you should know, I am a huge advocate of balance. So what if I eat pizza for dinner? I don’t apologize for what I eat. I’ll have a lighter lunch and make sure I get some good healthy fruit & veg in somehow. Having a healthy relationship with food means finding balance. I don’t believe in swearing off a food (except maybe meat if you’re a vegetarian like me… but that is a different issue). Labeling a food as “bad” creates bad food vibes and a bad relationship. There are foods I tend to keep out of the pantry, but I would never swear it off for being unhealthy. And I hate the word “moderation”. So you eat a few too many cookies? Keep making good food decisions and eventually they’ll outweigh the not so good decisions. Balance, people. Balance.

Life is too short to give up pizza and beer!!

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Posted in deep thinking, dinner, friends, restaurant

bike ride & a new neighbor

Posted on August 17, 2010 | 5 Comments

Yesterday, I joined some of the current graduate students in my department for a bike ride to start learning my way around Austin. No one warned me that my department was so athletic!!! They’re all really strong riders and athletes, for a “social ride” it was a decent workout. My thighs are burning this morning! But I have to say, I loved socializing during exercise. I don’t always want a sweat buddy, but sometimes it is nice to have someone to talk to. It makes the time go by faster!

I didn’t snap any pictures because I was busy overcoming my fear of riding my bike in traffic, but we did stop at a really cool place to have lunch. For lunch, we went to a grocery store called Central Market where there is a small restaurant inside and a great patio. I had a Green Machine smoothie (orange, mango, and spirulina) and a granola bar. I was shockingly NOT hungry, just HOT and THIRSTY! The ride started around 10am and we wound around the city, ate lunch, and finished up around 1:30pm. When we were done it was nearing 103 degrees outside so I spent the rest of the afternoon chugging water and sitting in the pool at my apartment.

After recovering from the bike ride, I got a text from my friend Mary (the one in town looking for a place to live & my dinner buddy from the other night). It turns out, she signed a lease on an apartment in my complex!! My complex is made up of 2 different communities, but they’re all run out of the same leasing office. She will be about a 5 minute walk down a parking lot from me!!! We went out to dinner, again, to celebrate!

At North by Northwest Pub & Brewery, I enjoyed a carb fest. I sat down for dinner and realized it was 7pm and I hadn’t eaten anything since my granola bar & smoothie at 11:30am! I was ravenous!

Northern Light from the brewery at NXNW

Our appetizer... Skillet Fried Cornbread with goat cheese & wild mushrooms

Bleu cheese & artichoke pizza with caramelized onions (came with chicken & I subbed with artichokes!)

The pictures didn’t turn out great because of the lighting in the restaurant, but at least you were able to see my carb fest! I ate half the pizza and have the rest to eat for lunch today!!

So do you enjoy social exercise? And more importantly, do you enjoy the occasional carb fest? Carbs are not evil!!!

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Posted in dinner, friends, restaurant

tex mex & a famous sunset

Posted on August 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

I have some time to kill this Sunday morning and, in the spirit of relaxation and down time, I figured I would share my dinner experience from last night!!

My friend Mary is moving here at the end of the month, so Mary and her mom are in town looking for apartments. They got in around dinner time last night and wanted Tex Mex, for obvious reasons. I had heard about this restaurant called The Oasis at Lake Travis and how it was famous for the view and for the margaritas.

Well we all hopped into my car and I drove us 25 minutes east and we arrived at the biggest restaurant I have ever seen.

I think I'll slip on down to The Oasis...

We had to park about a mile away and take a shuttle (glorified golf cart) to the front door, where we waited in a very long line JUST got get a buzzer for a table. I had NO idea it was such a big place!!! They’re doing a big expansion right now and the construction will make it even more of a massive mini-city. While we waited in line, Boy Scouts peddled popcorn, jewelry was being sold, and there was a man drawing caricatures! When we finally got our buzzer, we were shocked to hear that the wait was only 30 minutes for a table!

We headed up to the 3rd floor where a band was playing live music and there were 2 bars. We found a table and ordered some famous margaritas!

Me & Mary with our famous margaritas

After some music and brain freeze (that would be me with brain freeze), our buzzer went off and we were seated on one of the cliff-side patios. Seriously, I should have taken a picture, this restaurant is HUGE! In addition to the 3 floors, there are all these patios built into the cliffs! As we were seated, we were greeted by this view:

Another famous, perfect sunset over Lake Travis

The view was incredible as we ate our chips and Mary and her mom sipped margaritas. I was the DD, so I switched to water. Another bonus? You got to take the water cups home! They’re big, plastic, touristy souvenir cups… right up my alley!

Our food arrived and I was in love. I thought it was slightly over priced, but I think you pay for the atmosphere. The vegetarian selection wasn’t very ample, but the cheese enchiladas sounded great. I love Tex Mex, and thankfully I live in the right place to find it. I was impressed by the red sauce on my dinner, it was sweet but quite spicy… perfection!

Vegetarian Cheese Enchiladas with rice & black beans

With the breeze, the view, the company, and the love I’m developing for Texas, it was a perfect evening! I dropped Mary and her mom back at their hotel and finished the quick drive back to my apartment where I fell into bed and woke up this morning, totally in love with Austin.

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Posted in dinner, epic win, friends, restaurant

cajun tofu fries!

Posted on August 12, 2010 | 6 Comments

Well hello and happy Thursday! I’m in a great mood today!

Yesterday afternoon I Tweeted about my desire for ketchup, a love that is the subject for another post, and my need to use up some tofu. Well my friend Christine, author of Honoring Health, responded that I should bake tofu and dip it in ketchup like fries. And thus was born Cajun Tofu Fries!

Cajun Tofu Fries with ketchup (of the non-HFCS variety!)

Cajun Tofu Fries (serves 1 — easily amplified, though!)
1/5 block of extra firm tofu, pressed and patted free of excess liquid
olive oil
salt, pepper, cajun seasoning
After pressing and patting the tofu free of excess moisture, slice into small, French fry-shaped pieces (careful, they can be fragile!). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and give it a quick spray with olive oil cooking spray. Place tofu slices onto the sheet and mist them with the olive oil, as well. Sprinkle on salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning to taste. Place in a 400* oven for 10 minutes, stir them around and season again if desired, and allow to bake another 15-20 minutes. The final product should turn out crispy like fries but not burnt :) Dip in ketchup and enjoy!

These were killer, and my roommate even remarked how much they looked and smelled like good, quality fries! I paired these tasty things with a big old salad topped with roasted butternut squash (co-roasting alongside the fries!)

Spinach salad with avocado, grapes, cucumber, carrots, butternut squash, and olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

So while digesting dinner and watching old episodes of Sex and the City, my friend Trevor (who I know from a summer camp in high school!) texted me that he’d had a long day and wanted to go out for a drink. Since he’s virtually the only source of my social life until I meet more people in Austin, I jumped out of bed, refreshed my hair and makeup and sped off to Draught House Pub & Brewery. I hung out with Trevor, his friend Steven, and Trevor’s dog Tucker while enjoying a couple pitchers of beer. And yes, I did get a chance to flash that new, giant, temporary, paper license of mine :)

This pub had an outdoor patio with picnic tables where several people had their dogs hanging out with them, it was so adorable! I’m a sucker for any and all animals, and Tucker and I are now best friends. He is a big old goofy German Shepherd and I plan to steal him and take him to the dog park near my apartment as much as Trevor allows.

I woke up this morning, way later than planned, and unfortunately it was too hot to run. I got 1.25 miles in before I started succumbing to heat exhaustion. It gets hot much earlier in the day here than in VA! I came home and did some work with the resistance band, abs, and random aerobic stuff in the living room to make up for it, so even though my run was a fail, my workout was not :)

Off to clean and meet a classmate for coffee! While I’m doing that, please check out Mama Pea’s latest post. It really resonated with me, especially the part about label-less eating. I hope you enjoy it, too!

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Posted in cooking, dinner, friends, recipe

epic taco win

Posted on August 11, 2010 | 6 Comments

Happy Wednesday! Today is a good day because I am officially a resident of the state of Texas! I spent an hour and a half at the DMV this morning to emerge victorious…. and with a giant, paper, temporary license. Seriously, in Virginia you get a real license immediately! Here they hand you a paper and mail you the real one. How the heck am I supposed to go to a bar with a license that looks like I printed it out from home?

Well to fuel myself for the DMV, I made myself a delicious dinner last night. I made one of my staples: the perfect baked sweet potato.

Baked sweet potato topped with vegetarian baked beans & goat cheese; cactus pear

To make the perfect baked sweet potato, simply rinse off and dry the potato with water, drizzle/spray a bit of olive oil onto the skin, rub it down with some salt and pepper, and place it on a baking sheet for 45 minutes in a 400* oven. And you have perfection. As for the cactus pear, or tuna as I know them from my summer in Mexico, they are impossible to find in VA but bountiful here in TX! I sprinkle them with lime juice & chili powder, just as I ate them for an entire summer in Guadalajara!

This morning I had a baby green smoothie & toast and headed off to the DMV. I also got very angry with my bank and joined the UT credit union here in Austin shortly after leaving DMV. Yay! After all that excitement, I was hungry again. Thankfully I had lunch plans/a social life!

Yesterday I geniusly thought to use the departmental mailing list to find friends and classmates to hang out with. One student, Sam, said he wanted to check out Resistencia Book Shop which is a shop of Latin American literature (what we’re both studying in grad school). It is in a cool part of town, so we figured we’d find a restaurant near by for lunch.

Resistencia Book Shop

It said it was closed but they had a sign in the window that said they’d be back at noon. So we waited until 12:10pm and then figured they were running late and decided to grab lunch next door at Somnio’s.

Somnio’s serves “South Austin Cuisine” and it is a good thing I live in South Austin because “South Austin Cuisine” is local, organic, and mostly vegetarian. That is a cuisine I can get behind! Also, Somnio’s serves nirvana, known in the food pyramid as a TACO.

Somnio's in South Austin

Nynavae's Tacos (panko crusted mushroom fritters, slaw, amazing sauce, wheat tortillas)

I have a new religion: mushroom fritter tacos

Thank you, Somnio’s Cafe for making the best vegetarian taco I have ever had. Seriously, these were epic. And for offering whole wheat tortillas! Even their daily specials sounded incredible, I had such a hard time picking what to order. I mean spicy watermelon gazpacho?! Don’t be surprised if I go back soon…

We went back to the book shop after lunch and, of course, it was still closed. Sam and I parted ways, but hanging out with him was really great. It was nice to get back in touch with my academic side and it has made me start thinking about grad school and my classes. I got a lot of responses to my email about meeting up, so hopefully I’ll meet more students soon!

Off to hang by the pool for a bit :)

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Posted in cooking, dinner, epic win, lunch, moving to texas, restaurant

new table!

Posted on August 10, 2010 | 8 Comments

My apartment is feeling more and more like a home. Kind of like Austin!

I’m still virtually friendless here, but yesterday, while driving across Town Lake, I saw a the beauty of the city and the skyline behind it and I realized: I think I might love Austin. I semi sort of know where I’m going when driving and hours of staring at a map is helping me to muster up the courage to try the bus system (I get to ride free as a UT student!!).

Yesterday, while trying to explore the city, I had brunch with an old friend! Emily was my roommate and co-volunteer the summer I lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, and she happens to be from Austin, originally! She’s in California now for law school but her visit home coincided with my move. It was divine intervention, we had to meet up! She’s a vegetarian, too, so she suggested a great place, The Omlettery.

Black olive omelette (with egg substitute) with a side of watermelon & wheat toast

This omelette was amazeballs! It had fresh tomatoes, big slices of black olives, and this delicious lemon sour cream sauce inside it. I ate just over half, plus the toast and fruit. Perfect brunch — thanks, Emily!! It kept me really full and I just had snacks throughout the afternoon to hold me over to dinner.

Dinner was extra special because we finally have a table!!!!! I found one on Craigslist and since my roommate, Kelsey, has an SUV, we took her car and drove out to get it when she got home from work yesterday.

Table!!!

Complete with the place mats I appropriated from my mother, we have a real eating area! I’d show you the living room, but it is still a mess. My roommate’s boyfriend (who also went to college with us) is currently living with us between leases and his couch, dresser, etc. are in our living room! Once he moves out, we’ll have a couch (that needs a slip cover) and a fouton, and possibly decorations and a sense of style. I’ll keep you posted.

To celebrate my table, I made a delicious dinner to enjoy on it :)

Grilled, marinated tofu with blue corn chips & salsa and a spinach salad

I slept like a rock and this morning I pirated my way into the local YMCA. I still technically have a membership through a family membership, so I used the AWAY privileges to get in an (indoor) workout. I was supposed to run 3.5 miles, but I only got 3 in. I had to take a few walking breaks because I felt sluggish and horrible side stitches. I don’t get it! I know I’m still coming off an injury and building my endurance up, but how the heck did I run a 10k in March and now I can barely get in half that distance?! Very frustrating.

Anyways… In the spirit of apartment organization, does anyone have suggestions about how to store our bikes? We currently have them behind the TV, which makes the TV stick way out into the living space. My closet is big enough, but that is annoying. Any creative solutions?

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Posted in cooking, dinner, epic win