Thursday, July 29, 2010

Vegetarian eating: in and out

Vegetarian Recipes


Quinoa stuffed pepper:

1. Cut a pepper in half. Clear out the seeds and anything you don't want to eat.
2. Fill it with a mixture of cooked bulgur wheat and/or quinoa (which both have a lot of protein), shredded bread, ricotta cheese (not pictured), grated parmesan cheese, apples, vegetables (i.e. zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, celery), and oil (it should be pretty moist so the stuffing doesn't get crunchy).
3. Optionally, top with a slice of tomato and shredded cheese.
4. Cook in the oven/toaster oven for more than 10 minutes.



Pretty healthy frappe:

1. Add: Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, plain Greek yogurt (good source of protein), soymilk, honey, and vanilla extract.
    Optional: add one or more of the following:
             -Fruit juice (especially orange juice, cranberry pomegranate juice, or cranberry grape juice)
             -Frozen berries
             -Pretty much any fruit
             -Chocolate syrup, hot cocoa powder, and/or chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast
             -A banana
2. Blend in a blender.

Tip: I find that using a straw greatly increases my enjoyment of any frappe.



Eating out: Where to go and what to get

Subway: Veggie Delite   $2.99 six inch, $5.00 foot long
A sub with lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers (I think), red onions, green peppers, banana peppers, olives, pickles, and cheese. (I like to get it with monterey cheddar cheese on Italian herbs and cheese bread with chipotle southwest sauce.)

D'Angelo: Vegetable Quesadilla   $2.99
A quesadilla with grilled mushrooms, peppers, onions, and American cheese in a flour tortilla. This is pretty greasy, and a little less filling than the Subway sub.


Chipotle: Any burrito, taco, or salad without meat    about $5.00-$6.00
Lots of vegetarian options, and beans are a good source of protein.


A deli
Not many delis offer a wide selection of vegetarian meals, but most will make you something special if you ask. Fresser's Delicatessen in Randolph is my recent favorite. They make a vegetarian sandwich for me that has lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, onions, roasted red peppers, oil, and provolone cheese. It is so good! And they're really nice.


A pizza place
Pizza is usually around $2.00 per slice, I think.


A sushi place
Most sushi places have a vegetarian section of the menu. My favorite vegetarian sushis (plural of sushi?) include: sweet potato maki, avacado maki, and spinach maki.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Birdcage Mobile

I made this birdcage mobile for Ashley as a birthday present.



I made the frame of the birdcage out of pipe cleaner (double stranded) and wrapped it in strips of fabric, sewing it into place where necessary (only a couple of places). Then I tied three pairs of strings of varying lengths (and colors: white, tan, and brown) to the bottom of the birdcage, and tied a clothespin to the bottom of each string pair. I tied a green ribbon to the top of the birdcage so it can be hung.



The easiest way I found to tie a clothespin to a pair of strings so it hangs straight:

1. Start with two strings.
2. Put one through the circle in the clasp of the clothespin from the left so it comes out the right side.
3. Do the other string the opposite way.
4. Tie the two ends of the strings together above the clasp.



I went to a Bon Jovi concert last night for my mom's birthday.


There were so many people! It was at Gillette.


Also, I saw this outfit at Merry Go Rounds yesterday. It reminds me so much of the cards I've been making!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Military advertising

Air force billboard I've seen all over the place recently:



How I read it:



I really think advertising should be strictly informational, not persuasive. But everyone tells me that will never happen. Also, why is the air force reserve's domain name .com, not .gov or .mil?

Monday, July 19, 2010

New jewelry, new creative opportunity, and new experience

I recently taught myself to do the "Herringbone weave" and the pendant on this necklace is my first attempt. It's not as neat as it could be, but it doesn't look bad on.


I was hoping for a more dramatic look when making this next necklace. I'd like for the beads to be bigger, but I don't have any that would work. I almost never buy beads since the reason I started making jewelry was to reuse pieces from unwanted jewelry, and the pieces that are usually salvageable are the beads.


I found a ton of peacock feathers at a yard sale, and only paid a dollar for all of them. I'm not sure what to do with them yet, but I think they have a lot of potential.

Also, my mom got me this new plant for my birthday! I love the yellow planter.


I cleaned my bureau for it.


We went to Waterfire in Providence on Saturday night. I had never been before, and it was really cool. I got some good photos.


I like the light sky in the background of this one.




I'm making an Etsy shop soon, so it will be easier to buy jewelry!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Card making, website making

I've been making cards with a bunch of little squares recently. It's a little meticulous, but I like having so many images on one card. Instead of measuring each square, I cut out a stencil square from a thick piece of paper to trace. 

I think I'll make some to look like window panes. I made this one into the header of this blog!




I put another art table in my room. The other one is always covered in jewelry pieces, so I wanted a big, empty place to work on everything else. It doesn't match my furniture, but I like having something useful and not pretty in my room so it doesn't feel staged.






Merry Go Rounds is getting a new sign within the next few days, so I redesigned the website to match it.

The old site:

 


The new site: