I was so excited when I woke up this morning! It was like “yeah! Its gotta be at least 10, maybe 11. Fuck yeah, I slept in!” I was so excited you have no idea. So I pull on my purple boxers, and bounce down the stairs. I head straight for the kitchen, planning on some melonless brunch and what I see breaks.my.heart. IT’S 6:30! Life.shattering.
Breakfast consisted of some cornflakes, fortified soymilk, granola, vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips and expired grapes. Oh, vitamins & Yaz too…
I wandered aimlessly around our house, until my father suggested going to Wellesley College Lake to look for some wood so that I can start putting fish in that tank. On went the long underwear, the pj pants, the shirt, the hoodie, the coat, vest, shoes and gloves.
Once there, it took us roundabout an hour to find a suitable piece and after taking a break to let a very nice lady borrow my mobile we cut it down. Yes, it’s alive. For now. It really is quite the beauty, five feet long and lots of tendrils. I plan on chopping the lower stuff off and gluing the good bits back on in more practical places. I would have taken a picture, but I dropped the damn camera in the snow and it’s glitching really hard. So I need to wait until Mom leaves so I can sneak her camera.
Anyways, this peice of wood marks a significant milestone in this aquarium. So understandably I was psyched beyond belief. So I dragged it around back and hopped on the Interweb to learn about how to cure driftwood. So I read, read, read and oh crap. This goddamn piece of wood is going to need to soak in a 1:50 bleach solution for a season or two. Fuck my life. Here is the article I read, theres a lot of good advice on driftwood. So yep, a few months. Hopefully it will get waterlogged and cured during the bleach process. Dear god I hope it gets waterlogged and cured during the bleaching process.
In unrelated news, macrobiotic food is very chewy and Gluten Free Dreams cookies are epic. I made mine larger than life and so they were kind of crispy and crunchy. I used Enjoy Life VEGAN(!!!) chocolate chips for my cookies. Enjoy Life is maybe my new favorite thing, they make chocolate chips, granola and god knows what else. Best of all their products are clearly labeled with ‘V’ for vegan. So no reading the small print!
All in all, it was a very good day. I even managed to make 2 pages worth of headway on my Tempest final. Now if you’ll excuse me, Dr. Who is on.
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I make a point to ALWAYS have at least on tub of Tofutti ice cream around. Usually vanilla because it tastes like cakebatter and cakebatter is yum. Sometimes chocolate, though I’ve found that to have a decently strong coffee taste that I have to be in a specific mood for.
Anyways, I’ve been trying to find a really yummy granola brand for quite some time. Today I picked up Enjoy Life Cranapple Crunch Granola and some vegan chocolate chips (store brand) to go with my Gluten Free Dreams sugar cookie mix, to go with my cookie press thingamajig. And so I was dipping into the aforementioned stash of vegan ice cream and I decided, on a whim that I’d throw in come Crapple & chocolate chips and I think its safe to say that this was my most delicious desicion in a while. The only way I think I could have improved this recipe is with Utz Ruffles. There is just something about those ridges that makes me SO DAMN HOT.
*ahem* anyways here’s a simple equation to sum it up: ice cream + granola + chocolate chips = SHEER EPIC BRILLINACE
Any time I see a Hot Topic core I have the overwhelming and nearly uncontrollable desire to commit grevious bodily harm. However, one must always think of the legal and social reprocussions, like if I killed someone would that cute barista still make my hot cocoa with soymilk for no extra charge and buy me cigarettes?
Hot Topic is one of my favorite examples of moronic consumerism (second only to Apple, which affects a wider range of people), not stupid, not mis or uninformed, moronic. Hot Topic is a shining beacon of individual and anti-authoritian clothing, CD’s and other knick knacks by the 14-16 demographic of kids who’s father didn’t hug them enough as a children.
- Do you know how many other people own those same knee high converses? Thousands at least, possibly millions. So does that make you an individual?
- When you buy a CD or a T-shirt from Hot Topic how much of that money do you think the band sees? Answer: Not much. Buy a ticket, see a show, get merch there or how ’bout an independent retailer like Newbury Comics?
- It is expensive out the ass. You know those parents you hate because they just.dont.understand? Yeah, while you’re on myspace or stickam or what-the-hell ever they’re WORKING. FOR THE MONEY. WHICH BUYS YOU THINGS.
- Hot Topic sells pretty low-quality stuff. I have never actually “road” tested anything, but a half-assed examination of the stitching on a given article of clothing will tell you that you’re not dealing with premium threads.
- The preposterous level of elitism that radiates from the staff, oozes from their double zeros. Not to mention the peircings themselves are quite preposterous, if I can stick my tounge through it (but I wont, except for once, but I was tipsy) its TOO BIG, MAN.
- Hot Topic is first and foremost a business. And what do businesses want to do? MAKE MONEY! (Hot Topic’s 2009 Revenue was 761.1 Million) They aren’t interested in you, how your day was or when you’re going to give in and “gauge” your ears. Why do I love going to Hootenanny? THE BEIRDOS! DUH! These two guys and their epic beards are the funniest shit ever. I don’t go to the ‘Nanny all that often but when I do, they recognize me.
- Betsy McLaughin. Yeah, you know that band shirt? Those pre-drawn on Chucks? Yup, you just bought her a third BMW. And you know that band who’s shirt you just bought? Nothing. Nada.
And now we have come to the solution portion of this post. Me just complaining about how much Hot Topic sucks would get you nowhere and would be kind of pointless. So here’s a list of “alternative” stores that rock and with which you can slowly wean yourself off of Hot Topic.
http://www.daddyos.com/
http://www.cutesygir.com/home.aspx
http://www.dcspecial.com/Site/default.asp
http://hotrodvoodoo.com/hrv/
http://www.interpunk.com/
http://www.kreepsville666.com/
http://www.mybabyjo.com/
http://www.mytwocentsclothing.com/servlet/StoreFront
http://www.infectiousthreads.com/
http://www.crustpunks.com/
http://www.rebelrouserwear.com/
http://www.reprodepot.com/
http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/
http://www.sunsetstar.com/
http://www.sailorjerry.com/index.php
http://www.shopgoodwill.com/default.asp
http://www.speedcult.com/
http://www.plushliving.net/
http://www.vintageswank.com/
http://www.whirlingturban.com/
http://www.retrorebels.com/
http://www.collectif.co.uk/shop/home.php
http://www.gojane.com/
www.deadlyisthefemale.com
www.suzyretro.com
www.angryyoungandpoor.com
www.sourpussclothing.com
http://www.smarmyclothes.com/
http://store.derangeddesigns.com/
http://thevintagedoctor.com/vintagestore/index.php
http://shop.heartbreakerfashion.com/main.sc
ttp://www.machetemfg.com/
http://www.angryyoungandpoor.com/
http://www.dp-77.com/
http://www.infectiousthreads.com
http://www.cuteandevil.com
http://www.steampunkcouture.com
http://www.theatomicboutique.com
http://www.vixenchic.com/index.html
http://www.peachberserk.com/store/index.php
So why dont you go apologize to that indie retailer/band/artist that you just screwed out of rent/food/beer (beer is IMPARATIVE to the creative process) and get shopping!
This recipe is perfect for days when you woke up at 6:30, pulled a few pine boughs out of your road because apparently it snowed last night, dove through a blizzard to Home Depot to get castors so you could get to school and make a doghouse spin. Yes, those were the unusual circumstances under which I first received a bag of these muffins from my good friend, Eric.
After a lot of munching on my part I decided these were the ultimate in vegan muffins and that they must be shared. The recipe is loosely based off Betty Crocker’s pumpkin muffin recipe.
Easy Vegan Pumkin Muffins (12ish small-medium muffins)
You’ll Need:
-Cupcake or muffin liners. I use the adorable ones from greenpartygoods.com. Biodegradable AND adorable. What more could you ask for?
-A Large bowl.
-I always like a soundtrack whilst baking. I believe this particular recipe was Muse’s The Resistance (which by the way if you don’t own, you should).
-A mixing spoon
-Various measuring implements
-A muffin tray
-A coffee grinder, mortar and pestle or perhaps a small food processor with a grind setting.
Ingredients:
Wet
-1 tbsp flax seeds
-3/4 cup soy milk (I used Silk organic vanilla, because it was all I had but I liked the hint of vanilla. Vanilla and pumpkin are an OTP.)
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-1 cup pumpkin puree
Dry:
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-3 tsp baking powder (also known as 1 tbsp)
-1 tsp salt
-1/3 cup raw sugar
-1 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp ground ginger
-1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
-1/4 tsp ground cloves
Step One: Preheat oven to 400 F
Step Two: Finely grind the flax seeds in a coffee grinder and whisk with 3 tbsp water in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 10 minutes (this helps with consistency)
Step Three: Whisk in soy milk, vegetable oil, and pumpkin. This will take a while because the oil doesn’t really want to mix with the milk. It should have a smooth even consistency by the time the oil gives up and mixes in.
Step Four: Slowly mix in the dry ingredients, (especially making sure to spread the salt and baking powder evenly), and end with the flour.
Step Five: Mix only until the flour is somewhat wet. The batter will be kinda lumpy, but that’s okay, you don’t want to over mix.
Step Six: Divide the batter evenly between muffin cups. They should be about ¾ full, or so because this recipe rises pretty well. I like liners from greenpartygoods.com, they’re eco-friendly and they have some very pretty designs.
Step Seven: Sprinkle the tops with raw sugar. This is optional, but I find it’s a yummy touch and a little sparkle never hurt a thing : )
Step Eight: Bake 20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). I’ve found that when baking with soy milk things take a few extra minutes in the oven.
Step Nine: Eat. I enjoyed these as breakfast muffins with a little Smart Balance Vegan Butter and as treats just by themselves. I wish I had taken pictures, but my familly pitched in on the eating front and they were gone all too soon. I’ll make another batch for Christmas though!
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