Birthdays and Best Ofs

Three exams DOWN. Oh boy, was it ever a special moment on Saturday at approximately 1:30 pm when I handed in my last completed exam of the week and walked out of the building into the bright and sunny winter fresh air. And to boot, I walked out with my graded clinical psych paper in hand that I rocked. Totally didn?t expect that one either so that was a nice little treat.

One left to go. This Friday. 3:30. Dun dun dun?

It?s a first year geo class though so I?m not investing too much stress into that one. Four days of casual studying mixed in with cleaning, Christmas shopping and general free time should be plenty.

This weekend, after finishing up my clinical psych exam, I did no school work and wow did it feel fine. Weird, but in the best way possible.

I did, however, do some cake baking for my brother?s 18th birthday on Saturday. Being a big time chocolate fan, he requested a chocolate cake. Surprise. So I used the recipe for Hershey?s ?Perfectly Chocolate? Chocolate Cake which I read nothing but great reviews for. I halved it because I kind of figured a giant double chocolate double decker cake was a bit much for our small bunch (and a bit dangerous to have those leftovers kicking around?).

My expert cake decorating skills are at it again. Yes I left the mud puddled icing like that on purpose. I kind of thought it looked cool at first? whatever, it?s not like this cake was being served to the Queen.

Just the bro. I think he handled the icing puddles alright.

Prior to cake we ate Indian food. This was my first taste of actual restaurant Indian food, no joke. I ordered Bhartha (aka eggplant curry?). Mmmm. Had never tried this dish before but I tasted very similar to an Amy?s frozen Indian meal I had once. Guess Amy?s knows what they?re doing! Wasn?t a huge fan of the naan because they buttered it. I don?t know if their butter was off or if I just don?t really like butter anymore since I so rarely eat it but it kind of ruined the taste of the naan. Guess I need to ask for it dry next time.

Oh and despite the fact that I made a smaller cake to keep leftovers to a minimum, I still managed to eat cake slivers, crumbs and tidbits at every meal. Yes, yes I did. Hey, birthday cake only happens once (or twice, or three or four times?) a year?Ehem. At least I did cool things like melt it onto my oats at breakfast! Cha cha cha.

Other than that my weekend was without excitement. I had no energy nor desire to go out Saturday night and was in bed by midnight, much too exhausted from many late nights and early mornings of studying to fathom doing anything requiring energy. Plus winter puts me into hibernation mode. Who really feels motivated to go out at night in the freezing cold?!

And since I?ve hardly updated in the past couple weeks, it?s time for?

Featuring foods that tasted (or at least looked) pretty darn good.

Naturally there has been some squash. I am once again turning quite orange (most noticeable on the palms), a phenomenon that is present year round but really kicks up in the winter when roasted squash becomes a prevalent component in my weekly diet.

At one point I made lazy chickpea cutlets without oil or lemon because I decided to see if no oil would make a difference and because the first time I ever made them I found them too lemony. These were?bland. Next time some oil and some lemon are in order. I ate them anyway.

I frequently ate plenty of Corn Bran cereal (among others)

A good amount of pretty veggieful platters

Cottage cheese and oranges. Mmmm.

And again with an egg white scramble and some morning sunlight.

And once more, with an english muffin with tuna replacing the cottage cheese and eggs.

SUSHI for the first time in ages. The grocery store version but heck I?ll take it. Sushi is sushi. Real stuff soon hopefully?!

So many apples. So much iced coffee. My study time saviours. Yes I still drink iced coffee right into the winter. Paired with many layers of clothing and a hot water bottle of course.

And I?m normally not a huge pop drinker but a few of these were pretty appreciated during some of those on the verge of crashing moments.

You know what else helped? Shots.  But not just any kind of shots, shots of?yogurt? No alcohol in sight for me for a little while now but shots of strawberry yogurt with cocoa powder and blueberries are a welcome post dinner study treat.

Some mornings were especially worth waking up for when they involved things like Brilliant Blueberry oatmeal Banana Brulee-style with a slight twist: banana and almond butter melted together, then all stirred into the already cooked oats. So. Delicious.

Lunches were cool too. I had a grilled cheese for the first time in ages. I had been craving grilled cheese for days before finally making this. It?s just that time for year for it! I made mine with half garden vegetable cream cheese and half cheddar cheese. Weird? Maybe. Tasty? Definitely.

And winter also clearly calls for SOUP. Plain and simple tomato and roasted red pepper soup, dolled up with hot sauce and spinach immersion blended right in. Ow ow.

And as much as I love starting off early morning exam days (who schedules exams at 8:30 am, really now) with bowls of instant oats with pumpkin, banana and nut butter?

I love ending them about just as much with oats cooked savoury style with spinach, salsa, cream cheese and hummus.

And that about concludes today?s The Best Of Eats, hope you enjoyed the show. Now?s about time to start thinking about studying for that last exam. The trickypart? turning those thoughts into actions. Actions I would prefer right now include blasting some tunes and making some lunch and baking some treats and building some muscles and reading some mags and dusting some shelves? anything other than actions involving studying really. Guess we can?t get what we want all the time though.
Hardy har, sigh, and ciao for now!