Bad blogger

Hey all-

I've been such a bad blogger this past week, work had been crazy! I also left my camera at work, which was originally suppose to aid in blogging (I was going to post pictures during my free time-as it would turn out I had no free time).

Tonight I had to post because it's one of the better new music Tuesdays in a while.

First up Lady Gaga:

Last night on gossip girl, Lady Gaga made a brief cameo after the former NYU student (she was my year and apparently lived in my dorm freshman year) was talked about throughout the episode. She performed "Bad Romance" off her new mini album out today.

This was a big day for the star as the official music video for Video Phone by Beyonce Ft Lady Gaga, also premiered today.

Next, Vampire Weekend:

Ok, so they don't have a new album out today; however, I found out today that they will be releasing one January 12th and will be in New York Jan 17-19 to promote it. You can also go to their site and download the single Horchata for free!

Other releases today-Them Crooked Vultures with self titled album. I haven't had a chance to listen to this album, but it's going to be my background noise tomorrow while I work so I'll get back to you all!

Finally, Happy Birthday to my Mommy who will be another year older tomorrow!

Night,

Nicole

Still not orange

This past week I've had something orange to eat just about everyday, whether it's pumpkin in my oatmeal, sweet potato fries, or carrots. It leaves me wondering just how much beta carotene you need to consume to actually turn orange, not that I'm going to do that experiment. Before you ask, yes, you can turn orange from eating too much of the vitamin A precursor beta carotene, but I'm full proof that this has to be a fairly large amount of orange goods.

I wasn't always a huge fan of plain oats, don't get me wrong, I've always found oatmeal a more filling alternative to dry cereal, but from childhood on I always stuck to the flavored instant packet variety. Once I started limiting refined sugars from my diet instant oatmeal seemed too sweet and I became a lover of plain. From time to time I do like to jazz up my oats with nuts, peanut butter, fruit, maple or agave syrup, dried fruit, and PUMPKIN!

In the mix for pumpkin oats:

1/3 cup oats

2/3 cup water

1/3 pumpkin

dash cinnamon

splash of vanilla soymilk

drizzle pure maple syrup

Basically boil water, add oats, cook for 2-3 min (if quick cut oats). Add pumpkin and cook for 2 more min over low heat. Take off heat and stir in cinnamon. I like to add the milk for the vanilla flavor, creamier texture, and to cool down the oats quickly so I can gobble up their yumminess.

Nicole

Girls' Night

The ladies of my school got together again recently for mojitos and some Latin American cuisine. Mixed together some rum, mint, sugar, lime juice, and seltzer water and we were set!

To nibble on we had Sweet Potato Croquettes:
Recipe-

• 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes, about 4 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• fine dry bread crumbs, plain
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon water
• oil for deep frying

Vegetarian Ceviche (made with hearts of palm):

Ceviche made with Tilapia:

Ceviche is a citrus marinated seafood dish originating from Peru. While the fish is not cooked with heat, it has the consistency of cooked fish from the 6 hour bath in lots of lime juice. According to my friend who made both Ceviche dishes, you basically add fish/veggie, onion, and lots and lots of lime!

We also had tortilla chips for dipping, salsa, and guacamole. Yummy night!

Nicole

PS Let's not talk about the Phillies :(

Halloween and Music Review

Happy 1st of November!

Many of you will recognize Leighton Meester here from her role as Blaire from Gossip Girl. Most recently she has also entered the music scene, initially with guest vocals on Cobra Starship's hit Good Girls Go Bad. While nothing special vocally, she does add a nice sweet but edgy appeal that seems perfectly fitting to the songs title.

That said, she should stick to cameo appearances. Her just released single Somebody to Love fails both lyrically and vocally, and her collaboration with Robin Thick did nothing to boost the songs appeal. All and all, Leighton has proved once more that actresses cannot make the music jump!

On to Halloween, photo recap!

Me as a fairy (lost my wand):

Angel and Witch:

Gladiator rockin' the pleather skirt:
At my school's party with the Tin Man:
2 Amish boys on their rumspringa (the year Amish teens are allowed to explore the freedom of the "English" world):
Mad Men:
Nicole

Halloween Cupcakes

As part of a friend's birthday in conjunction with Halloween, I decided to bake up a batch of Halloween cupcakes this past weekend. Since my friend has a gluten allergy I made a batch of gluten free cupcakes and a semi-regular batch of cupcakes. Below are the gluten-free variety:

Below I have the "semi-regular batch." Semi-regular, because I added a 12 oz can of diet root beer to a box of chocolate cake mix in order to cut down on calories.

Next it was time to decorate. I made a gluten free chocolate icing and also used store bought vanilla icing. Decorations included carmel candy corn, gummy warms, reese's pieces (one of my favorite guilty pleasures), ground up graham crackers (the dirt), licorice, red hots, and shredded coconut.



So much fun and I totally over indulged...here comes the holiday temptations. I think a post on that issue will be in the works.

Night,

Nicole

Chicago Part 2

Last travel post from Chicago.

After another day of meetings and poster presentations it was dinner time! I met up with my roommate and coworker at Heaven on Seven. I absolutely love this place and recommend that anyone who loves hot sauce (look at the wall of hot sauces!!!) and creole inspired dishes check this place out. They have a few restaurants throughout the city, we went to the Rush st location.

I think I tried about every hot sauce on our table and asked for them to bring out the deadly sauces http://www.insanechicken.com/Da_Bomb_hot_sauce/.

Margarita special for the day.

My order, vegetarian black beans and sweet potato polenta. Everyone had a bit of my polenta, is was INCREDIBLE!!!! So smooth, rich, and a bit creamy, I'm definitely going to have to recreate this dish in the near future.

My roommate had a cajun enchilada, I must admit, I was a way too into my dish to gather the details of what the enchilada contained.

My coworker order Orzolya-a jambalaya made with orzo pasta.

We all ate till we were stuffed! The food was amazing and the portions were large. That enchilada above was actually under the appetizers.

Other specialities from Chicago that I indulged included garrett's popcorn. Go for the Chicago Mix-includes caramel and cheese covered popcorn, and make sure to order with a friend. This stuff is addictive, and you could easily consume by yourself (although with a sick tummy afterwards)!

On my last night my lab went out to Gino's East, a deep dish style pizza place. The only deep dish pizza I had in the past was an inch deep in cheese, and just made me rather sick. I must say Gino's changed my opinion of deep dish pizza. We ordered a family sized salad, which I ate a healthy portion, along with a slice and a half of deep dish pizza with spinach. The pizza was pretty good and I would go back again. The crust had a cornmeal consistency, and a small layer of cheese which was covered with tomato sauce and spinach. In other words, low on the cheese, heavy on the sauce...and I'm a sauce girl! Give me a tomato pie any day and I'm happy!! Sorry no photo, don't be mad.

Talk with you soon!

Nicole

Movin along-Chicago!

For conference #2, I flew halfway cross the country to Chicago. My flight didn't get in till 11pm, so once I reached my hotel, I was ready to crash.

I was pretty bummed to miss out on a Saturday night in Chicago, but enjoyed a goodnight's rest. I woke refreshed, hit the gym, and met a coworker for Sunday brunch at a place near her hotel. I had a veggie omelet with feta cheese, whole grain toast, and home fries:

It was tasty, but nothing too special. I think the white egg and feta wrap I had at Starbucks a few days prior was actually a bit better.

Originally, I had a list of restaurants I wanted to try while in the city including the Chicago Diner and Bongo (known for their pancakes), but my time in the city flew by and was mostly engulfed with my conference. I need to return and spend a weekend that is for pure leisure.

I returned to my hotel room, and picked up a few things I needed for the conference. This included a teappuccino:

Basically, a cappuccino but made of tea. I had one of these last time I was in Chicago for an interview at Northwestern. I love this place! They brew fresh loose leaf tea in a variety of flavors. The place was right across from my hotel so I had 3-4 different cups throughout my stay. I think the Vanilla Creme Early Gray was my favorite. I also bought a bag of chocolate green tea mint, loose leaf tea to bring home!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, they said they will be expanding to New York in the coming season...this could be dangerous ;-)

Following an afternoon attending meetings and looking at posters, I did a bit of sight seeing with my coworker Sarah. Sarah-"This looks like a double helix!"...oh scientist.

Lake Michigan:

The Navy Pier and the entertainment:

View of the city from the John Hancock building:
FYI-If you didn't already know, the best views from this building can be seen from the ladies bathroom!

After a long day we were ready to relax, have a drink, and catch up on Sunday football. When searching the menu for a pumpkin ale or Chicago speciality, I failed to come up with anything and settled on a magic hat. Promptly after ordering I saw the table placement advertising both pumpkin ale and the Goose Island Harvest Ale. I ended up having the Goose Ale a few days later and wasn't impressed, but still, I was annoyed at myself for missing such an obvious promotion.

For dinner we walked over to the Rainforest, which was...interesting. The atmosphere was fun and elaborately decorate with animals of the rainforest (actually since when do Rhinos live in the rainforest?). There was also entertainment in the way of thunderstorms. No, I didn't get wet, but the trees moved around, and the lights stimulated lightning.

The food, however, was not so great. I had a simple salad with pecans, cranberries, and cheese crumbles. It was okay and satisfied my hunger mostly because I wasn't extremely hungry.

Conclusion of my trip coming up.

Nicole