My New Cake Substitute

I just discovered the best thing ever. 

Vanilla Almond Granola Cereal + Greek Yogurt = Vanilla Cake 

I have a serious sweet tooth and would eat cake all the time.

I'm also boring and LOVE vanilla. It's definitely one of my favorite flavors. 

Given the choice, I'll get the vanilla ice cream every time. 

(Unless I feel guilty about not getting a "fun" flavor, which is more often than I'd like to admit.)

Luckily, this does not spoil as quickly as real cake.

And the rich creaminess of the Greek yogurt makes it seem less like a healthy substitution.

(I have to trick myself into any attempts at being healthy.)

Given that granola has a high fat content and this cereal has a bit of sugar in it, this isn't the healthiest if you, say, eat the entire box in one sitting. I usually go for about half a serving of the cereal with just enough yogurt to coat all the granola and feel satiated enough. 

Do you have any health(ier) substitutes for dessert?

Patterned Walls

I have never been brave enough to paint a wall, er, rather... I've never had a wall that I could paint. One can still dream, though. One day, when I find a place to stay for more than 10 months (woes of a wanderer), I will paint a wall. Since I'm pretty sure that I'll still have an irrational fear of painting a wall fire engine red or mustard yellow, I'll probably go with something similar to one of these toned down, but equally amazing walls. The most amazing part? There are both DIYs!

Stripes by Andrea of Tales from Washington D.C.

- AND -

Stars by Laura of Life and Laura

They definitely took a good bit of effort,

           

But  the results are AMAZING and completely worth it, don't you think?

The most inspiring part is that these women are both really busy; Andrea is a busy young professional in Washington D.C., and Laura is a brand new mother. If these two can take on such big projects for their abodes, I can probably do something far more simple- like clean my room <insert look of shame here>.

You can read more about their inspirations for these walls and how they went about completing their projects here: Stripes by Andrea and Stars by Laura.

Note: The photos in this post have been taken by the respective authors of the original posts and have been used with their permission. 

Chocolate | Single Origin vs Blended

So what's up with "single origin" chocolates that you hear about once in a while?

Different soil compositions is the main reason why beans from different countries/regions/plantations can taste very different, or have different flavor notes. This is also why single origin, meaning that the beans used in that chocolate are all from the same region (usually country) chocolates have become popular. Single plantation, are a type of single origin chocolate where all the beans have actually come from just one plantation. They allow you to really understand the beans (and thus the soil tendencies) of that area.

On the other hand, blended chocolates are usually more balanced, and often have more flavor notes, with each flavor more pronounced than the flavor notes of single origin chocolates.

So which is better?
Depends on what you like.

I like both.
Single origin chocolates can be really great if the beans are really high quality and the resulting chocolate has been carefully blended and crafted within the confines of a region so that one flavor note isn't overpowering. I also think that they are great when making hot chocolate. It gives you more control over the resulting flavor of your beverage.

Blended chocolates are more of a guarantee that the overall flavor will be balanced.

Chocolate | Flavor notes

via

I love chocolate.

There are few who would not agree with this phrase.

However, I am a little weird (okay, some call this particular) about my love of chocolate. I'm not a huge fan of things that taste like chocolate and currently prefer eating chocolate in bar form over confections because I feel that adding too many ingredients can mask the different chocolate notes that make chocolate tasting so fun. That's not to say that I don't like confections, it's just like mostly drinking black coffee, but getting a milk-sugar-and-flavor infused espresso drink one in a while.

So what are these flavor notes?

• Nutty 
• Roasted 
• Red Fruity 
• Citrus 
• Floral 
• Earthy 
• Chocolaty 
• Acidic 

Okay, so these will differ a little depending on who you talk to, and many of them can be broken down into more specific flavor notes. These are just the ones that I personally look for. I'm also going to emphasize that these are flavors that you can pick up from chocolates that have been made without additional ingredients that will skew the flavor. For example, chocolate with raspberry filling will obviously taste like red, ripe fruits and chocolate with nuts mixed in will obviously nutty. The thing that absolutely fascinates me, and the reason I love chocolate so much, is that you can achieve similar flavors without these extra ingredients. Crazy, right??

PS- high quality beans are necessary to pick up these notes, as well as a high cacao percentage, so please don't go out and purchase some Hershey's or Dove chocolate bars and tell me that I'm crazy. I'll be introducing some of my favorite chocolates here soon!

Until then, what are some of your favorite chocolates? I'm always on the look out for some tasty treats!!

On Work

I absolutely adore that Yogi Teas are not only organic, but come with a short, yet sweet quote. 

"Work, but don't forget to live"

This quote is kind of funny to me right now because I'm currently funemployed (except for the occasional translation) and in general, looking back at how I've lived my life since graduating from university, you'd see that the advice that this tea should really be giving me is "Live, but don't forget to work." 

Though working contract and/or volunteer positions are not the most stable or lucrative, I must admit that I've loved every job and I'm very grateful for the opportunities (especially the opportunities to travel) that these positions have given me. This doesn't mean that I never doubt this path. AT ALL. Especially when I'm funemployed. During these periods of no paycheck and a future that's completely up in the air, I spend every waking half-moment doubting every decision I've ever made concerning my career. 

I was recently at a dinner with some friends (one old, one new) and we were talking about our current anxieties when it comes to our professional careers. From my point of view, they are very much on track for a successful career and I really admire them for the work that they've put into getting where they are now. What absolutely blew me out of the water, was hearing them say that they really respected how I currently choose to travel and take opportunities that allow me to work on personal development through seeing the world. I think that my favorite was when they described me as the grandmother who would round up her grandchildren and say "when grandma was 25, she took up sword fighting with baguettes and rode only camels as a source of transportation." Ok, so neither of those are true, and they didn't say that exactly, but it was along those lines. 

Sometimes I have doubts about choosing this road (still often less taken) so I'm especially grateful to have friends both old and new, who remind me that it's a good one, and one to be grateful for. 

The Met

The Metropolitan Museum is known to be a must see for anyone visiting New York City,

but it's also a great place for people who live here, too.

Especially when the temperatures are well below freezing.

And our noses are about to freeze off. 

If I need to clear my mind, I like to relax in the gallery that houses the Japanese art.

They have pottery from the Jomon Period (approximately 10,500-300 BCE)

and always have some breathtaking folding screen called "byobu."

Some Fun Facts: 

The pottery during this time was made by rolling clay into ropes and the coiling it on top of each other. Actual rope were then pressed into the finished product to give it some designs. This is also the period during which they created haniwa, clay figurines that were often buried with the dead, especially the leaders of the period, who were buried in huge graves called kofun. I find it quite interesting that burial rituals in ancient Japan and ancient Egypt are so similar. I wonder what other cultures have similar rituals.

Ogata Korin is the artist from the Edo Period that belonged to the Rinpa school of art in Japan. Though I do love the irises in this screen below, I especially like his screens that depict rivers. I absolutely love the texture that he puts into the water. 

Have you been to the Met before?

What's your favorite gallery (if you can even choose just one!).

How To | Origami Crane Box

Simplicity is Beauty. Origami is the Japanese papercraft of folding delicate pieces of colored paper to create various objects simply by folding it. This tutorial is how to fold a crane box, as seen in my last post. OK, so after looking at all these steps, you may say "hey! I don't know about you, but some of those steps don't look so simple" and you would be right. But it's made out of one piece of paper! Entertainment that ends with a fancy box doesn't get any simpler than that.