my posts have been so lame lately. i was planing on getting some pictures of my weekend up…but then i woke up to some sad and disappointing news in my inbox and i sat on my couch and moped all day instead. 
unfortunately, there’s nothing i can do about the situation now, so i’m going to move on. i promise to have a “real” post up tomorrow!
’til then, here’s something that is the opposite of sad. in fact, it made me laugh for the first time today:
girly boy butt pictures. i have so many questions i want to ask the person who searched that phrase.
some would include:
what are girly boy butts? do i want to know?
how many google result pages did you have to click through to find my blog?
did you find what you were looking for?
and if not, how much would you be willing to pay for some girly boy butt pictures?
i may know someone…
this:
but oh how yummy it was 
yup, tom and i had wings for dinner tonight. we wanted to try out a new place that opened up…well that’s my excuse anyway. thankfully, i ended up filling up on those carrot sticks and not as many wings cus the “after-burner” buffalo sauce was crazy hot. it had jalapeno seeds all over it that i tried in vain to pick off. anyway. i may have had to gulp down my glass of wine to counter the heat and now i’m having trouble staying awake!
i promise to be a better blogger tomorrow! i’ve been getting some projects finished! goodnight!
hi guys..hope everyone had a great weekend…i sure did. today, tom and i went to rattlesnake for a yelp brunch. we ate some yummy food and hung out in boston for the rest of the day. the weather was absolutely perfect today, so we just walked around the city, acted like tourists and did a little window shopping.
i saw this ad in city hall plaza and had to snap a pic for the blog.
how would you fill in the blank?
well, that’s all i’ve got for now. i’ll post more pics tomorrow. good night!
my morning went exactly as planned!
first up, dunkin’ donuts. i got a small ff pumpkin latte and fall munchkins!
sprinklessssss <3
i ate the whollllle box.
j/k
with coffee and donuts in tow, we headed over to the old navy grand re-opening in framingham. they remodeled the store and gave out door prizes to the first 200 customers. i was wondering if there would really be people lined up…and there were! i never wake up this early on the weekends so it always surprises me to find out that other people do 
we made it just in time! early bird just barely gets the worm!
(please pretend i don’t have wet hair- eww)
at the door, we were handed an envelope that corresponded to our ticket number with a”prize” inside. as i was walking in, they they announced that there was still a $200 and $500 shopping spree left so i had my fingers crossed since my odds (10 people left) were pretty good!
was i a bigggg winner?!
ehh…
i won a pair of denim. i swapped with tom though cus that boy needs new pants and took his free tee.
it was a circus in there- literally! old navy was so crowded and there were balloon animals, games, a cotton candy machine and a popcorn machine. i asked for a balloon and looked like a total dork walking around with my green balloon and a bag of cotton candy
oh! and they had a bedazzling table! i bedazzled a comet on my free spiderman tee that i picked from the kid’s section.
would you believe i was the only one who wanted to take advantage of the free bedazzling? are kids these days too cool for stuff like this? i was sooo excited!
yay! on our way out we were handed a slice of cake. i didn’t need more sugar…but umm…free cake!!
after the old navy fun, we drove to sweet meadow farm in sherborn. this cute little farm is only 1.5 miles away from my apartment and i had never visited before!
i picked up some fresh eggs and a butternut squash.
there was one lone goat in there with the chickadees…
look! an egg! so cool being able to see where my eggs come from
the girl below was such a ham. she really likes getting her picture taken.
i made brunch with our eggs when i got home. we had scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and i had tomatoes while tom had toast.
here’s a video of a rooster crowing at the farm. if you haven’t guessed…i’m easily amused 
did/do you have a bedazzler?
of course i did! i think it might still be at my parent’s house.
happy saturday guys!
i have a random morning planned…
first, we’re going to dunkin’ donuts and getting fall munchkins and pumpkin lattes. fall munchkins are just like regular munchkins except with fall colored sprinkles. do you ever wish you could order just two or three munchkins instead of having to buy a whole box of them? i wish this all the time so i’m taking advantage of a special occasion to get a whole damn box.
actually, it’s not really a special occasion at all…it’s really quite lame. last week, i was walking by old navy and found out that this store was having a grand re-opening celebration. the first 200 people get door prizes and the flier i was handed totally makes it seem like there will be a line outside. i began to wonder who the hell wakes up early to stand in line outside of an old navy? and then i realized that the only way to find out is to stand there myself. so i’m dragging tommy along to wait outside of old navy (with our munchkins and coffee) and *fingers crossed* get one of those cool $5 t-shirts that say OLD NAVY on it. 
hey, i’m #notinSF this weekend so i gotta create my own excitement!
afterward, we’re stopping by a local farm to pick up some free range eggs, and making brunch at home.
should be fun, right?
have you ever camped out in line for anything?
a few years ago, my sister and i drove over an hour to a walmart north of LA for a paris hilton book signing. the night before, we had showed up too late to meet her at a book signing in hollywood and i was heart broken. but as we were driving away, we noticed a line outside of virgin and ended up meeting the cast of will and grace instead i love LA! anyway, someone told us about the walmart thing, so we went and it was huge. i had a blast waiting in line with the other crazies. everyone was wearing pink and half the girls had their teacup chihuahuas in tow. i also stood in line and met paris a second time at my local mall when she was launching her perfume. i now own two bottles of paris hilton perfume, which smell horrible, but she told me she liked my dior clip-on earrings so it was absolutely worth it
<3 debra messing
LOVES IT <3
i keep paris in my bathroom
so how’s that for the most random post ever? i seriously wasn’t planning a post on paris hilton…i just felt like rambling.
as planned, i had my turkey-less “gobbler” aka thanksgiving sandwich for lunch.
the yummy layers between the arnold’s multigrain sandwich thin:
- sabra jalapeno hummus
- cranberry sauce
- alfalfa & radish sprouts
- stuffing
- mashed pumpkin
with carrot sticks and cucumber slices with jalapeno hummus on the side for a little crunch crunch.
just as yummy as i imagined! it’s a bit windy and chilly out today and this was the perfect “comfort” meal.
what are your weekend plans?
i won’t be in san francisco, but i do have some fun things planned (including a food related event!) i’m ready to get my weekend started!
i had a such a yummy lunch today! i ate a hummus & veggie sandwich with a pear on the side.
between the arnold sandwich thin slices: cabot colby jack cheese, radish & alfalfa sprouts, red onion, tomato, broccoli slaw, and sabra jalapeno hummus (love this flavor!).
*chomp!*
my afternoon snack was a pumpkin muffin frosted with some pumpkin butter. what do you think of the fall sprinkles? they make me so happy
my dinner was made with one goal in mind…to make a sandwich tomorrow with the leftovers. are you a fan of gobbler sandwiches? i just love them!
i had a big plate of thanksgiving sides: sauteed spinach, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mashed steamed pumpkin.
i like getting a little bit of everything in each bite!
it was a yummy fall dinner and i know it’s gonna be even better in a sandwich tomorrow. i’m so excited!
the perfect ending to this meal would be some pumpkin pie but i am currently stuffed! (how appropriate, right?) there may be some edy’s pumpkin ice cream in a couple hours though. i’ll let you know
hi there! i never know whether i should start my posts with a greeting or just jump right into it. what do you do?
wednesday started with one of my all-time favorite breakfast combos: greek yogurt and a crumbled muffin. in this case, trader joe’s greek yogurt and homemade pumpkin muffin. i tell ya, it’s like cake and icing.
i skipped a “real” lunch…i don’t know what i was doing but i got caught up in it. i had a couple spoonfuls of almond butter and some snacks that escaped the camera.
my dinner was really easy to make and so delicious. i heated a microwavable pouch of tasty bite mushroom takatak that i got from the vegetarian food festival and ate it over spinach and microwave organic brown rice. i have another pouch of the takatak which i’ll review in the future. i love reading reviews on other blogs, so i want to write more structured review posts as opposed to just throwing in “it was good” here and there.
earlier in the day, i was feeling a bit grumpy so i did some “cheer myself up” things which included putting on a face mask, and reading old magazines while sipping eden roasted green tea.
i also went grocery shopping!
i’m super duper broke so i was trying to put off buying groceries for another few days but i caved. i need fresh fruits and veggies in my life, yo!
my favorite impulse buys (can you tell i got suckered in by all the holiday displays?)
west soy chocoalte peppermint stick soy beverage and whipped cream! i don’t know what soy beverage really is but i have high hopes!
stove top stuffing…in whole wheat. that totally means this stuff if healthy, right?
cabot cheese to remind me of vermont and asparagus probably from somewhere far far away.
i’ve been feeling homesick lately and feeling sad i won’t be going home for thanksgiving. i think i was trying to make up for it by purchasing holiday-y foods. i’m also bummed about missing the foodbuzz festival this weekend but if i’m paying money to fly out to cali, as much as i love blogging and y’all…i’d rather be visiting my family. it’s funny cus when i was in college, sometimes i’d visit just once a year, and even that seemed like too much. but now, everyone is so much older, especially my grandparents, and i’m afraid that i will regret not spending enough time with my family. shows how much more mature i am now! anyway, it’s not too bad…i’ll be spending thanksgiving with tom’s family and i’m visiting my own for christmas.
how often do you see your parents? and how often do you want to see them?
i stopped by the boston vegetarian food festival on sunday afternoon.
i’ll start with the pictures…i didn’t take too many…my hands were busy grabbing shoveling yummy samples into my mouth.
the festival was held at the reggie lewis athletic center…it was crowded and crazy in there. not the ideal location, but i can’t really complain about a venue that provides free parking in the city!
this was a great opportunity to sample some popular “blog-land” products that i’ve been curious about.
vega: i tried a few flavors of their whole foods health optimizer protein powder. the taste was good enough mixed with soy milk, but i’d probably prefer it mixed into a smoothie.
amazing grass: i had to ask nicely to sample of a bar and the guy cut up a berry whole food energy bar so i could get a taste. it was just okay…not good enough to pay for. i really wanted to try the chocolate flavor but decided not to push my luck. i also tried the berry superfood powder. again, just okay. i don’t know why they were being so not-generous with their chocolate flavors since that’s what i’m always hearing rave reviews about
edward and sons: i tried their rice toasts and rice snaps with nacho cheese dip. i love how crunchy the rice snaps were! i was hesitant to try the cheese dip since i’m not vegan and i didn’t see how this stuff could even compare with ooey gooey melted nacho cheese…but it was good! i was pleasantly surprised which is a good thing because i’m seriously considering cutting back on the amount of dairy i eat.
pure bar: already in love with this company! sampled all the flavors (my favorite is cherry cashew) and grabbed a big handful of coupons
equal exchange: mmm…organic and fair trade dark chocolate. what’s not to love?
peanut butter & co: another company i’m already a fan of. i had a spoonful of cinnamon raisin
vegan treats!!! there was a huge crowd surrounding their table…i’m still kicking myself for not buying anything!
hippie chick bakery: the frankencookie was delicious
other products that stood out that i didn’t get a chance to snap include:
- manitoba harvest hemp bliss hemp milk (which i plan on review in the future)
- teather fruit snack strips. boston based fruit strip company with really unique flavors.
- tasty bite had a few different products to sample. yummy and i love the convenience of the pouches.
- fed by chuck & co. dessert hummus!! an exciting find!…but it was the end of the day and they only had a couple flavors to try. ’twas good stuff though. hope to see them in stores soon.
- max and ruffy’s vegan dog treats. i accidentally and embarrassingly popped a pumpkin treat into my mouth. and you know what? it wasn’t bad
some of my swag. i went at the end of the last day so a lot of people were out of samples
question of the day: have you ever eaten pet food?
what’s up buddies! how was your tuesday? i’m kinda ready for the weekend…
actually, the last two days weren’t so bad. i spent monday at the mall and today i got my bake on. not bad at all!
monday morning, i had a breakfast burrito. i’ve been craving salty over sweet in the mornings lately.
and then i went to the mall and tried on like two gazillion things at forever 21.
this hippo ballerina makes me happy! but why is the shirt so long?
i love love LOVE this dress. the skirt on it is organza. pin a big ol’ flower on it and it’s totally carrie bradshaw in paris…right?
back in the day, if you searched for “SATC carrie” on ebay, you could find the cutest vintage dresses. does anyone else love ebay?! i used to be such an addict.
my comfy shopping outfit for the day:
cus all the cool kids wear sunglasses and their hood up at the mall.
anyway…i bought nada cus after my first two stops (sephora and vs) all i had left in my bag was $1.20 and no credit cards (accidently left at home! oops!) in the end it was good for my bank account. i’m going back for that carrie dress though!
shopping always makes me abnormally hungry…does this happen to anyone else? thank god for this larabar in my purse! cherry pie is the best flavor ever!
i also ate/drank 2 teavana chai tea samples, 1 smoothie sample and 2 garlic bread samples from sbarro.
even though i had no money, i spent a good chunk of time at the mall and made some mental notes for christmas gifts. when i got home it was dinner time and i was starrrrving. i made myself a quick pita with half a pea burger, broccoli slaw and peanut sauce.
also had a piece or three lindt dark chocolate squares.
and now onto today which i spent hacking up a halloween pumpkin.
i came across this recipe for pumpkin bread by alton brown and was intrigued because unlike most pumpkin recipes, it calls for fresh pumpkin.
Alton Brown’s Pumpkin Bread
courtesy of foodnetwork.com
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups sugar (i used half brown sugar)
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups shredded fresh pumpkin
- 1 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (my pumpkin only produced half a cup of shelled seeds)
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (my addition)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla. Combine both mixtures and fold in the shredded pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. Once the ingredients are all incorporated pour into a non- stick 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan. If your pan is not non- stick coat it with butter and flour.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. At this point a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf should come out clean. Cool for 15 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely. For muffins temperature should also be 325 degrees F., but bake for 30 minutes.
it’s a miracle that i still have all my fingers because cutting and shredding pumpkin was not an easy task! i shredded a third of that pumpkin for the recipe, steamed a third and i have a third left that i don’t know what to do with. any ideas?
the whole time i was shredding that pumpking- i kept thing this BETTER be worth it…and oh, how it was! the pumpkin bread turned out really well!
the bread has a nice crust on top and it’s soft and moist in the center. tastewise, the pumpkin flavor comes through and it’s not too sweet. now that i think of it, i guess adding shredded pumpkin isn’t that unique- it’s pretty much the same idea as zucchini bread.
i made a small loaf that is currently hanging out in my freezer
and i also used this pumpkin patch pan that i bought from crate and barrel ages ago. it was my first time using this pan and my pumpkins didn’t come out looking so cute. i thought about making some frosting and adding leaves and stuff…but grating that pumpkin took half the day .and i was sick of being in the kitchen.
i stuck the two halves together with some pumpkin butter…MMM!!! the pumpkin bread is just sweet enough, so pumpkin butter is perfect to spread on it if you want a really dessert-y treat! yum!!!
i’m not gonna bother posting my meals from today since this is already really long and it’s pretty predictable stuff.
have you ever cooked with a halloween pumpkin?
earlier this year (in february) i used a leftover halloween pumpkin (yes, i still had it around in feb!) to make veganomicon’s pumpkin baked ziti with caramelized onions.
what’s your favorite (fresh or canned) pumpkin recipe?
i’m gonna have to go with good ol’ traditional pumpkin pie.
