Half-way through summer and I’ve already done so much:

1) Trip to San Diego/LA. Short but excellent adventure where I got to:

A) see the first screening of the found footage film 2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift at the Silent Cinema (if you click on the link you will see my friends and husband shade tipping in the front row!).

B) Eat at Scoops a few times (where the flavors are wild and the portions/sizes are reasonable).

2) Had 8 family members visit me all during 4th of July weekend where I got to:

A) See a handful of people bring fireworks to the beach and launch them all simultaneously

B) Try not to get sun burnt

C) Finally found the Swan boats at Boston’s Public Garden. What a cute, romantic park if only I didn’t feel like my skin was baking that day.

3) Went on a day-trip to Providence, RI where I got to:

A) Enjoy some Nice Slice pizza. The vegan slices are hands-down the best I’ve ever tasted.

B) Discovered that downtown Providence actually has some great independent stores you can visit: Craftland is a shop that sells handmade goods (many local) and offers classes/workshops. Etsy.com is great to find crafts but it’s so much better to be able to look, smell (i.e. soaps) and touch them (strange sentence, i know). Also found some great comix, music books, etc at Symposium Books (which was on the other side of the street from Craftland). They have high quality remainder books (prices slashed in half or more) that you wouldn’t ever be able to find in a bookstore in Cambridge, MA.

—->But the next few weeks will be just as eventful:

1) Trip to NYC by train to visit my best-est pal Shaun, and an old, long lost friend from Japan.

2) Trip back to Montreal (after a 4 1/2 month hiatus) to attend Otakuthon with my brother and much more.

I went to NYC last weekend and met up with a few old friends from the college years. Here were some of the highlights from my trip:
-The Highline (take an old, abandoned, elevated train track and transform it into an urban eden)
-Chelsea Market (although the good eats in this market were expensive I was able to find some pretty neat and hard to find items).
-vegan soft serve ice cream from Lula’s Sweet Apothecary (with cake batter flavor)
-Harry Brown: a film starring Michael Cane as lonely pensioner who decides to take justice in his own hands (a la straight-edge revenge). This movie is incredibly violent and not for the faint of heart.

In other non-NYC news, I finally bought a plane ticket to go back out to San Diego in June. I’m looking forward to having some amazing burritos and ice cream from Scoops in LA.

Spring has been good to me. And here are few reasons why:

**fresh rhubarb is in season so I’m going to put together a little strawberry-rhubarb crisp for my friends
**Longer days – getting out of work at 5 and having the sun still be up makes me feel like there are still endless possibilities before the day is through.
**I get a chance to try out container gardening… not sure how good I’ll be at it. So far I’ve planted some lavender, verbena and forget-me-nots. Up next: chives, parsley and basil.
**Road trips up to Montreal, NYC (coming soon) and planning a little vacation to San Diego too (TBD)
**Friends visiting from the other side of the continent!

**Put together a music mix for you all :

I just got a Holga camera and am going to take a stab at analog photography. It’s pretty funny that a Holga uses professional film (120 medium format) but is made of plastic. Now all I need to do is find a place that processes this kind of film since I don’t know anything about setting up a darkroom. Hopefully they’ll turn out ok! I just gotta remember to remove the camera cover.

I’m also taking online courses from Northern Essex Community College to improve my knowledge of databases, web dev and computer programming. I was pretty skeptical about online learning beforehand but these classes are very affordable, flexible and enriching. No wonder more and more people are signing up for online programs.

Looking forward to a great new year… just wish I wasn’t feeling sick right now. Spent the past few days with barely any sleep – my head felt 10 lbs heavier.

I’m also getting homesick since I haven’t seen my ol’ friends and family for over a month now. Luckily my sister will be coming down in 2 weeks to visit me.

Lastly, my cat Nells finally sat on my lap! I didn’t think she ever would but friends of mine kept telling me that cats change overtime. It was awesome to see her fall asleep on my lap.

What remains after the holidays? Fatigue, a full 5 day working week, the need to clean my apartment. I can never seem to escape the post-holiday slump. But then there’s all these positive things as well: amazing new books/magazines to read, a juicer to make experimental juices with, a panini press to make fancy cafe sandwiches from. There’s also new non-tangible things to look forward to: spring, longer days, travels to Montreal and beyond…

Round 1: Xmas Celebration

For Tim’s Nana’s Xmas Eve bash I prepared a vegan chocolate chip pecan pie which had flax meal instead of eggs in it. At first it tasted a little too intense but once it was refrigerated over night it took on a whole new and improved  taste. I brought some to my parents house in Montreal as well and it even was enjoyed by someone who doesn’t care much for nuts.

I also baked vegan southern cornbread muffins with hot peppers added for extra flavor. These turned out pretty good, but I think I might add some actual corn and extra hot peppers in next time just to boost up the flavor profile a little.

Round 2:  New Years Eve

Here’s what I’m planning on baking/cooking/making

1) Guacamole from Alton Brown

2) Baked Apples a la Down Home with the Neelys

3) still thinking of other ideas… any suggestions are welcome

It’s been a rough couple of weeks but I finally feel like I can start to relax a little bit more now. I love how my apartment is finally cozy and looks livable. I still need to add some pictures/art on the walls which are naked right now. My cat has finally settled as well. Every evening she likes to nap on the far end of the couch while Tim and I watch the tube. However, right now she’s napping in an empty moving box.

Now that I have some more breathing room I’m really stoked about cooking some side dishes for Thanksgiving. I’m planning on putting together a vegetarian sausage stuffing, along with a maple glazed sweet potato side dish, which I will post the recipes and pictures on here later.

This past week has been non-stop action, what with moving, buying things to setup our new apartment with and starting a new job. I haven’t even had the chance to fill my fridge and pantry with much of anything. I’ll wait to take/post pics of the place once everything is settled and looks less like a storage space. Hopefully by this weekend, things will start to settle down a little.

I also discovered that my work is only a mere 5 minute walk away from where I live! I have no idea how I lucked out on this. If you know me well enough, you’d know that I have always lived far from anything and everything. It would always take me an hour to an hour and a half to get anywhere. Even when I was a kid, the nearest playground/park or corner store was a 15-20 minute walk!!! And so with that I must say that I’m really liking this new arrangement. I especially like my mornings (i was never a morning person before), as I sip my morning cuppa tea out of my Jamie Oliver mug that says “Big Fella” on it, I step out onto my back porch and there right in front of me is the beautiful Ipswich River.

My cat is definitely not as jazzed as I am. For the past 4 days she’s been turning away from me every time I tried to pat her — probably thinking I’d move her to some other strange place. She even started drinking her water by cupping it with her paw first. Only tonight when Tim and I put together some furniture and laid down a soft rug did she start to get back to her old self. She’s sleeping beside me right now.

The only thing that’s really missing right now is sharing these new experiences with my friends and family who are far away Hopefully some of you will come and visit!

When I moved down here I was prepared to wait for at least 3-4 months before I would even be able to start looking for work, and up to 2 years before I would even see any signs of my green card. But, within about 2 months of my wedding, I was able to get my work permit, a job offer, and a green card. This is a lot of change and a lot of excitement all at once. I even found the perfect apartment to move into. Things are really looking up. Let’s just hope I don’t jinx everything.

As soon as I received my green card, Tim and I drove up to Canada to surprise my little sister on her birthday. It was the best timing alright! We couldn’t stay for long but it was worth making the short trip. Can’t wait to go back again.

In food making news: I tried the Jamie Oliver Killer Mac N Cheese recipe and it was a huge success (even the family’s African Grey Parrot loved it). It was gone so quickly that I didn’t even get a chance to photograph it. The recipe called for 10 cloves of garlic, but I went with only 6 and that still kept it quite tasty. I also used shell pasta instead of elbow macaroni and cut down the amount of tomatoes from 8 to 6, which was more than enough. Other than that the instructions for the recipe and the ingredients are all a great match! Next time, I might add some sundried tomatoes, a little extra cheese or maybe even some different cheeses. I know I say this often lately, but this is the perfect meal for a rainy autumn or winter’s day.

Tomorrow I’ll be making a vegan mac n cheese and a pumpkin pie so I’ll have more to post later on.

When I was about 4 years old, potato salad was one of my most favorite dishes to scarf down on. Unfortunately, I think I ate so much that I developed an aversion to it. It took about 24 years for me to start falling in love with potato salad again. My dear friend Terzo, who reignited my love for this starchy salad, sent me her recipe and I adjusted it a little (see below). I also included my mom’s recipe for White Bean Soup, which is excellent when served on any cold autumn or winter day. Put these two together at your dinner table, add a freshly baked loaf of bread and you’re golden!

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