Gluten-Free Breakfast Apple Crisp

I wish I could say that I went apple picking and picked all the apples used in this crisp myself, but that would be a lie.  A big, big lie.  It would also be a lie if I said that I loved apple picking, because I've never actually gone.  It's unfortunate, because I'm sure I would love it, and also because there are lots of great apple farms on Long Island's North Fork.  I've made it my mission to go, and hopefully I'll get to go once before the season is over.  I'm ready to wear my flannel and pick as many apples as I can, and buy a good amount of cider and homemade preserves.  I have my plans all set, and now it's just a matter of actually, you know, doing them. It'll happen.  Until it happens, though, I've gone ahead and purchased the best apples I could find over the weekend, and made some apple treats.  I had a craving for all things apple, and just because I didn't have freshly picked apples didn't mean that I would leave that craving unfulfilled. 

I wanted to start off my apple baking with something that was simple and unfussy.  I wanted pie, but it required a little bit more effort than I was feeling over the weekend.  I decided to leave apple pie on my to-do list for another weekend, and taking the warm, bubbly apple cue from the pie, I decided to make a crisp instead. Juicy, sweetened apples with a buttery and crunchy topping...that's just what I needed!

Mini Berry Flag Tarts for the Make and Takes Blog!

Can you believe that we're at the end of June already!? I can't.  I'm in denial that we've already reached the end of the first month of summer.  Sure, there're two months left, but that seems like such a short amount of time, considering that there's all kinds of summery activities that I still need to do.  I still need to get my hands on a Mister Softee cone, an Italian ice from Ralphs, a burger from All American, and a Long Island lobster roll.  I can't let summer get by without these four things escaping from me (there's more, obviously, but these are my priority). While I'm still going to have to come to terms with the fact that it's practically July, I'm actually really excited about Independence Day next week.  A holiday that celebrates cookouts and barbecues and berry desserts and has fireworks at the end is my kind of holiday!  

I have a few themed desserts for the Fourth in mind, but I'm starting out with something super simple.  Having intricate desserts is nice and all, but sometimes, we just need something we can put together fast, with minimal effort and without needing to heat up our kitchens.  These mini berry tartlets do just that.  Little mini phyllo shells are filled with a delicious white chocolate filling and topped off with fresh berries.  They're incredibly simple to make, and when arranged in our iconic stars and stripes, are the perfect dessert for the Fourth of July (or, if you're a World Cup fan, for tomorrow's game- USA! USA!).  Head on over to the Make and Takes blog for the full recipe and more photos.  Enjoy, and happy summer!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

I can't explain to you how happy I am to finally be sharing the recipe for this strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.  No, it's not that I've been waiting and waiting until the perfect moment to share the recipe.  It's also not because I made it several weeks ago and just forgot to share it.  No, my excitement has nothing to do with that.  I'm mostly excited about sharing this recipe because I was able to simply make it.  You wouldn't believe the amount of trouble I had finding rhubarb this spring.  My local supermarket typically carries it for a super short time in the spring and you just have to be lucky enough to be in the supermarket at that time to buy it, but this year, they just weren't carrying it.  In fact, none of the markets near me were stocking rhubarb.  I called several stores to ask if they had any rhubarb, and while a few of them actually said yes, by the time I made it over, it was all gone.  This meant that in the ten minutes it took me to get from my house to the store, some lucky person grabbed the last of the rhubarb.  I was getting frustrated and disheartened.  I'd been searching for the stuff for three weeks and just couldn't seem to catch a break!  My craving for rhubarb-anything wasn't going anywhere though, so I knew I had to keep trying. 

Fortunately for me, my mom decided to help me out with my rhubarb search, and she actually got lucky and found it!  I don't know how she did it, but I was so glad.  The search was over!  I came home on Saturday night to five beautiful stalks of ruby red rhubarb sitting in pitcher of water on my kitchen counter, and it was an amazing sight to see.  It was also perfectly timed, because my mom was having her best friend come over for dinner on Mother's Day, and she goes crazy for anything with rhubarb and strawberries.  Now that I had secured the rhubarb, it was time to figure out what to do with it!

New Year Smoothies, Two Ways!

I thought we'd ease into this new year of blogging with something quick, simple, and refreshing.  I'm a huge fan of eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables as often as I can, whether it's in the form of an extra salad, a blended drink, or simply as a light snack.  Smoothies are one of my favorite ways of incorporating some extra fruits and veggies, and I love them because they're so effortless to prepare and can come in a zillion and one different flavor combinations.  Fruit smoothies don't really have any kind of science together, so they're a really great way to use up random bits of fruit or veggies that you may have left over from other recipes.  Smoothies are also perfect for using up fruit that's just starting to get a little bruised.  Whenever I have fruit in my house that's no longer at its peak for eating fresh, but doesn't really deserve to be tossed out just yet, I throw it into my blender with a little juice, yogurt, or milk along with some ice, and I instantly have a great healthy snack that will hold me over until my next meal.  

Since smoothies are really no-brainer recipes, I figured I would offer two different variations for you guys to start playing with.  The first smoothie is one of my favorites, and is made with banana, blueberries, and oats.  Now, oats blended into a smoothie may sound a little strange at first, but it's definitely something you should try out, because it's really delicious!  In fact, avena, a cold, blended oatmeal drink that's popular in Colombia is one of my favorite drinks to enjoy in the summer, and this smoothie is like a quick, instant version of that.  I added a little peanut butter for extra flavor and some crushed ice to make the smoothie seem almost like a shake. So good! The second smoothie is a gold old green smoothie.  I love using spinach and avocado in my green smoothies, and for this version, I decided to sweeten it up with a little frozen mango, for the sake of convenience, and some orange juice, something that's always well in stock at my house.  The measurements listed below for each smoothie are approximate, and you should feel free to adjust them to your taste, especially for the liquids in the smoothies. Add more or less juice or milk depending on how thick you like your smoothie, and of course feel free to make any flavor substitutions you like based on what's lying around in your kitchen.  The best type of smoothie is one that not only tastes good, but also helps clean out your refrigerator!  Experiment, and see what flavor combinations you can come up with.  Cheers to 2014!

Fig and Raisin Granola Bars

I'm sure I'm not the only one around here who had their fair share of favorite school lunch snacks.  I know that my personal favorite, ultimate, best-school-lunch-ever snack was a bag of Entenmann's Little Bites blueberry muffins.  Their brownies, chocolate chip, and banana muffins ranked pretty high on the best snack ever list, but the blueberry muffins simply couldn't be beat.  I have no idea why they were my favorite, but I do remember feeling a slightly irrational sense of happiness whenever I opened my lunchbox and saw that my mom had packed me some blueberry muffins.  Other favorite lunch box snacks included Rice Krispy treats, strawberries, the occasional chocolate chip cookie, and granola bars.  Chewy bars, to be exact.  You know, the ones that are loaded with sugar, chocolate chips, and other unnecessary sweeteners?  To be fair, the lunches my mom packed weren't all that bad.  They typically consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread (I was the sad kid in elementary school without a Wonder Bread sandwich, but in retrospect, I'm eternally grateful for that), a small juice box, a fruit, and one of the previously mentioned sugary snacks.  After elementary school, I guess I outgrew Rice Krispy treats and Chewy Bars, and chocolate chip cookies, muffins, and brownies became treats to enjoy only on very sporadic or special occasions.  After a very long time without having a Chewy bar, I happened to come across one during my senior year in college, and I decided to eat it, for old time's sake.  

Let me tell you.  That was a huge mistake. Ok, maybe not huge, but it was nevertheless, a mistake.   

I legitimately wasn't able to finish the Chewy Bar.  I got maybe about halfway through it before I had to get rid of it.  I was in shock at how overwhelmingly sweet it was, and I felt my throat and chest hurting with every bit that I managed to swallow.  I couldn't believe I actually used to like them when I was younger.  My taste buds have obviously matured from when I was 8 years old, and I find most of my favorite childhood snacks to be staggeringly sweet.  I really just happen to find most things to be too sweet in general.  I'm constantly watering down juices, adding less sugar to almost every recipe I try out, and using very skimpy amounts of frosting when I frost a cupcake for myself.  But, I digress.  The point is, that Chewy Bar left such a bad taste in my mouth (literally), that I got an urge to make myself a granola bar that I would actually want to eat.  I really love granola, and since it's so simple to make, I knew I had to come up with a batch of perfect granola bars. It took me longer than I thought to get around to making them, but I figured they would be the perfect snack to bring along for the long car ride up to New Hampshire when we helped my sister move into school. These granola bars feature a healthy helping of dried figs and raisins, and are sweetened with honey and applesauce.  Chopped walnuts provide a little bit of crunch here and there, and they are such an improvement over the granola bars I used to eat when I was younger.  These are thick, chewy, a little crunchy, and loaded with dried fruit in every bite.  Homemade granola bars are really infinitely better than any granola bar from a package.   

Nectarine, Pistachio, and Gingersnap Tart

Now that the summer is essentially almost over (SAD REALIZATION), I feel like cranking out every last summery recipe I can think of, knowing fully well that even if I do manage to make those five other ice creams that I wanted to try, and that awesome tropical panna cotta that looked sooo good, and just one more thing with fresh berries, I wouldn't even have time to share everything with you before summer actually comes to an end. It's sad, but it's the truth.  The silver lining, though, is that fall, aka the best season ever, is right around the corner.  It's no crazy revelation, that's for sure, but it excites me nonetheless.  Spiced things, hot cidery things, brown buttery things, and nutty things...I'm getting so pumped just thinking about all the possibilities that await me.  Apples and cinnamon and ginger and even pumpkin things are going to be heavily featured on the blog soon, but until that happens, let's just take a moment to savor the last few days of summer and make the most of them.  Let's make delicious treats with the last few good things summer has to offer. 

Fruit tarts with yummy stone fruit are just perfect for this sort of time of year. 

There's something about fruit tarts that I just love.  I love that they're so simple to prepare.  I love that they're just beautiful to look at.  I think the combination of a slightly sweet and crunchy crust, sweet cream, and fresh fruit is just stellar.  I love how deceptively difficult they seem; they appear to be labor intensive, and thus, the perfect dessert to top off any fancy occasion, when in fact, they're just the opposite.  They're quick to assemble, meaning that they should instead be considered to be a dessert that is fitting for any occasion.  I love all these things.

This is a fruit tart that combines all these things I love.  It's got a crunchy gingersnap and pistachio crust, a heavenly mascarpone frosting, and beautifully arranged slices of fresh nectarines.  It's perfection, in fruit tart form. 

Lime Sour Cream Cake with Fresh Blackberry Sauce

Hello again!  Remember a few weeks ago when I was complaining that it still didn't feel like summer in New York? That it was still way too cold?  That I was still wearing a leather jacket and boots to work, even though it was June?  Well, friends, those days are long over.  It's definitely summer now!  We've been having a pretty big heat wave for the past several days, the kind of heat wave that also comes with a ton of humidity.  This is the kind of heat wave where you want to go outside, because it looks like a gorgeous day, but you change your mind the second you step out the door, because it feels like you're drowning in the hot, unnecessarily humid air.  This is the kind of heat wave where, if you're brave enough to get past the whole drowning thing, you end up wanting to go back inside because after only three minutes of being outside, you're completely soaked all the way down to your underwear.  I know, it's gross, and perhaps a bit too much information, but let's face it. We've all been there multiple times this week.  Maybe even multiple times today, if you're that unlucky. Fortunately, today feels slightly cooler than it was this weekend, and I even felt a soft breeze as I walked from the subway stop to work (5 street blocks uphill isn't really terrible, unless it's 95 degrees outside).  It was a breeze of hot air, but hey, I'll take what I can get.  A hot breeze is better than no breeze.

I'll be honest with you guys though, I don't actually mind the heat as much as I make it seem.  Outwardly, I am almost always the first to complain about the hot weather, because it can get pretty annoying.  The heat and humidity can do unspeakable things to my hair, and when that happens, it somehow almost always will coincide with me not having anything to pull my hair back with.  I also have to take the subway at least twice a day, and wait on the train platform in Penn station as part of my daily commute, and neither of those situations is very pleasant once the summer arrives.  Basically, I hate the sweaty and gross consequences that come with the heat/humidity combo, but if that part could somehow be removed, I really don't think I would mind the heat at all.  I really love being outside, and hot summer weather is the perfect excuse to run after the ice cream truck in an attempt to get a chocolate dipped soft serve ice cream cone.  I mean, a girl's gotta cool off somehow, right? 

Strawberry and Blueberry Hand Pies

Things are a bit weird around here. For starters, I'm bundled up in my fuzziest sweatpants and hoodie and am sitting underneath a mountain of fuzzy blankets as I'm writing this.  The weather has been crazy these past couple of days, and it's been cold and then hot, and then super rainy and super windy, and then suddenly, it's a perfectly calm day, only to be interrupted ten minutes later by gray skies and heavy wind.  I don't know what's going on with the weather, but what I do know is that it's brought out all the pollen in the world, and I'm dying because of it.  Sheesh, two days of not taking my allergy medicine because it was packed away while I was packing up all my belongings to move back home from school has left me in a serious funk.  My allergies are driving me nuts, and wait....move back home from school?  

Yep.  I'm home for good.  

It's so crazy to think that I'm actually finished with college.  I don't think it's really sunk in yet, because it just feels like I'm home for summer vacation right now, but I know that sooner or later, it's going to really hit me.  I'm both happy and sad about finishing my time at Columbia- I know that it was a huge accomplishment to get to this point, but at the same time, I feel like a huge part of my life is just missing right now.  Leaving campus for the last time on Thursday morning felt so indescribably strange, because I knew that there would be no "next year."  Nevertheless, as bittersweet as this time is, I know that I've gained so much from my time at Columbia, and I'm so excited to see what comes next!  

Mini Strawberries and Cream Eclairs

I woke up on this lovely spring morning (so happy I can finallllyyyy say that), with a plan.  I had planned out the night before to wake up early, run to the library, and sit myself down to do work for three hours on my independent study project.  Then after that, I was going to get lunch, grab a coffee, and go to class.  During my time at the library, I was supposed to write this blog post about strawberries and cream eclairs, and learn a thing or two about prefabrication.  Note that I used the word "supposed." I use that word because, of course, my plan didn't actually work out.  I did wake up early, and I did get to the library right when it opened, but then that's where the plan fell apart.  After I did my fifteen minutes of online procrastination (you know, Reddit, Foodgawker, etc), I kinda just lost it.  

I kinda lost all the motivation I had to do work and be productive.  My productive spark just died, and I could feel it.  I developed a splitting headache while sitting at the library, and no matter what I did, I just couldn't focus on anything or read the several books that were sitting in front of me. My body just wouldn't let me, as much as I was trying to force myself to do work.  So then, I decided that the only thing to do was to try to sleep this headache off.  Rather than walk back to my room and sleep in a bed like a normal person, my laziness (and also my desire to eventually get some work done) got the best of me, and I decided to just take a nap right where I was, right at my desk in the library.  Yep.  I was the girl who was passed out in the library, and it was only 9:30 AM.  #senioritis

Plum Crumble

We've finally reached the tail end of summer, and are in that sort of weird, slightly awkward time of year.  You know what I mean.  This type of thing happens all the time, not just know...when it's chilly in the morning and then blazing hot in the afternoon, and you just can't decide what to wear that would be considered weather or seasonably appropriate.  The answer to this predicament is to simply bring along a nice, light cardigan for the morning, which you can simply remove once the afternoon heat begins to creep in. This however, is too simple of a solution for me.  See, I like to complicate my life a bit more than I need to, and sometimes, I just don't feel like having to carry around that cardigan that weighs absolutely nothing at all, because I just dont feel like it. This of course leads me to be uncomfortably cold in the mornings, but I've decided that changing my ways at this point is not happening.  I'll just deal with being cold. 

This, obviously, is exactly what happened to me yesterday.  The first day of classes of my senior year was yesterday, and even though I knew that my first class was in a building that is notorious for blasting their air conditioner at ridiculous levels, regardless of the season, I decided not to bring a sweater.  It was a dumb decision, to say the least.  I spent more time trying to figure out how to keep warm instead of paying attention in my tiny seminar, but it's ok, because I'm not going to make the same mistake again tomorrow (it's just a tad awkward when you don't pay attention in seminar courses...it's only slightly obvious).  In any case though, this delicate time of year in which debating whether or not to bring along a cardigan will soon come to pass. Similarly, the weird struggle to decide whether to bake up just a few more summery treats or get a head start on spiced fall goodies will soon be over.  I decided to be rational in that matter though, and went with a more summer-inspired dish to prepare, since I figured I would end up regretting it if I didn't...so I baked a plum crumble.

Cherry and Peach Galette

Soooo...it's August 1st today.  Um, what?  Really? No way dude, it can't be August already.  Summer can't be almost over and school can't be just around the corner.  That just seems ridiculous. Sure, fall and school and the promise of warm drinks and cozy sweaters and the changing colors of the leaves seem like nice things, and they of course are, but it's still troubling that the summer is almost over.  What's going to happen to me when I can no longer get massive quantities of fresh summer berries and mangoes and papayas and cherries and peaches!?  I suppose I'll just have to make way for spiced apple cider and cranberry pie and warm pumpkin muffins...not exactly a bad tradeoff!  But, until that happens, let's celebrate what's left of the summer with a dessert that truly highlights the best of summer's fruits.  Cherry and peach galette, anyone? 

I've had it stuck in my mind for a looongg time that I had to make a galette.  I didn't know which type of galette I wanted to make, or where my infatuation with them had come from (I hadn't even eaten a galette prior to making this one), but all I knew is that I HAD to make one, and it had to be soon.  I think it must have had to do something with the simplistic, rustic quality that they have.  They're sort of like, half-pie, and half-tart, but stopping somewhere in the middle because you get too lazy to break out a fancy pie dish or get intimidated by the thought of having to neatly crimp the edges of your crust, weave a lattice, or blind-bake a tart shell.  Laziness can actually be good sometimes, though, and in the case of a galette, I wouldn't even call it laziness.  Intentionally making a half-pie/half-tart is just as satisfying, and just as delicious.  The beauty of a galette comes from the fact that it is so darn easy to prepare, and just seeing a heaping pile of lovely roasted fruits surrounded by a ring of crisp, golden brown cust is enough to make anyone's mouth water.

Key Lime Pie

I was never really much of a beach person (shocking I know, anti-beach people like former-me actually exist) up until this summer.  I don't really know why I never liked the beach, I just knew that it was soooo not my thing.  My parents aren't really beach people either, so I didn't really spend a lot of time at the beach when I was little.  I mean sure, I went to the beach a handful of times growing up with my cousins, and I did spend a week in Santa Marta (a city off the coast of Colombia) going to the beach every day I was there, but other than that, I can't say I have too many memories of myself at the beach.  I hated getting sand all over me, I though seaweed was gross (I still kind of think this), I was convinced that beaches were dirty, and the idea of being totally exposed to the hot rays of the sun with no possible chance of shade relief seemed like a terrible idea to me.  Hot weather and I just don't mix very well at times...I'm probably the only person that has somehow managed to end up angry at Disney World.  Yes, despite Disney World being the happiest place on Earth, visiting Orlando in the middle of August when there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it felt like 125 degrees in the shade just made me livid.  The part that makes this even sadder is that I wasn't even that little when this last happened...I was like 16 years old or something.  My parents still rub this story in my face every chance they get, but I digress.

Back to the beach.  

Something happened this summer where I decided that I needed to give myself a mild attitude adjustment.  If the marjority of the population actually likes going to the beach and everyone seems to be having a good time there, and if it's become a normal and socially accepted summertime activity...then maybe it couldn't be THAT bad.  I set a goal for myself this summer; I was going to learn to love (or at least appreciate) the beach, and you know what...it's kind of working.  I wouldn't say I LOVE the beach just yet, but I definitely won't turn down any beach day invites in the future.  I'll admit that I found the beach to be relaxing, and even enjoyable.  I still hate getting sand everywhere, but I suppose that just comes with the territory.  All I needed was the right mindset, and I ended up learning to enjoy something new.  Crazy how that works, right?

Blueberry Pie

It happened again this weekend...the amazing blueberry sale at the supermarket came back.  Last year, the sale was offering blueberries at 99 cents a pint.  This year, you could buy a case of 6 pints for $7.00.  Maybe not as good as last year, but whatever...this sale was still pretty legit, and I made sure to take full advantage of it.  My love for fresh blueberries is just too much to let something like this pass by.  I think I bought two cases on Sunday. I think my mom went back and bought a couple more cases this week.  That's a lot of blueberries. Here's the sad part though...we don't really have that many left...

 

You'd think that buying tons and tons of blueberries like we did would ensure that they would last quite some time, but you'd actually be wrong.  My sister and I kind of just...ate them.  We ate SO many.  I didn't even get to freeze any of them!  What is wrong with me!  What am I going to do later in the year when there are no fresh blueberries to be found!?  Thank goodness for rainchecks...phew!  I still have a chance to get some more berries, and I promise to stick those straight in the freezer and store them for later in the year.  But until I get myself to the supermarket to do that, let me tell you what I did with the berries that I was able to restrain myself from eating straight out of the container.  I made a fresh blueberry pie! 

Summer Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

I've recently gotten addicted to the show Lost...you remember that show, right?  Yes, I know that I'm only several years late, but that's alright.  I don't usually watch very much television, and my excuse for this is that I'm always at school, and I don't have time, or access, or I'm busy working in studio at night, so keeping up with the latest shows has never really been a priority for me.  I did start watching tv shows on Netflix, like Breaking Bad (I cannot wait for the next season this summer) and Mad Men (I still need to finish catching up on this!), but my most recent obsession is Lost.  I haven't been able to stop watching it; I haven't actually done anything today except watch it on Netflix (I really just need to find out what the deal is with the Others, I HAVE to know).  I don't know how people managed to watch this show while it was actually airing; I can't imagine having had to wait a whole week in between episodes! 

Needless to say, I had to pry myself away from Lost for a brief moment to finish writing up this post.  I had actually started it a couple of days ago, editing all the photos and stuff, but then I got on the whole Lost thing, and things just went downhill from there, because I just needed to keep watching episode after episode.  In any case though, I managed to get away from Netflix for a few moments- a good thing, because I have something delicious that deserves just as much attention as Lost.

Mini Strawberry-Rhubarb Pies

Every now and then we think up an idea that at the time seems brilliant and amazing, and no matter what, we HAVE to go through with it.  This happens to me all the time.  Last summer, I got the idea of making a sour-cherry lattice top pie stuck in my head.  I just HAD to make one.  Mind you, I had only made like...one pie before that in my life, and it had a crumble for the topping; it wasn't even a double crust pie!  I'm not really sure how I figured that I would be able to put together a lattice crust given that I had practically no experience with pie dough.  Other fun factors that added to this situation was that I decided to try a completely brand new pie crust recipe, despite having made a pie crust successfully before.  I'm not sure why I didn't choose to simply reuse that recipe that I knew worked, but I just HAD to try out a new recipe for some reason.  To make matters even more fun, I also didn't have a cherry pitter...and I still don't (this fact will change soon, I'm sure). I decided to give myself the added pleasure of pitting about 2 pounds of cherries by hand.  These were clearly all great decisions on my part.  

Strawberry Ice Cream

For as long as I can remember, I have been a lover of all things strawberry.  Strawberry jam, cake, or just served with whipped cream, I loved them.  My mom actually tells a story that when I was really little I went through a phase where all I ate was minestrone soup, mushrooms, and lots and lots of strawberries.  What an interesting assortment of food...but in any case, that was legitimately all that I ate for like, a three month period or something.  Apparently it was just a phase, although I still really like minestrone soup, mushrooms, and strawberries in particular.  I don't think that'll ever be a phase.  Strawberries are delicious in just about everything!

Everything except ice cream.

Wait, what?  No strawberry ice cream?  Are these not photographs of strawberry ice cream?  Yes  these are photos of strawberry ice cream, and yes, I meant it when I said that I like everything strawberry except ice cream.  I honestly don't know why.  It's such a classic flavor that seems to be loved by the majority of people that I've met, as it is delicate and light, and not nearly as heavy as some of the rich chocolate ice creams that I happen to crave 99% of the time.  Strawberry ice cream never did much for me I guess.  My dad happens to love strawberry ice cream, so when there was a pretty nice sale on strawberries at the supermarket, I figured it was time to make some ice cream and get over my anti-strawberry ice cream self.

Pavlova with Mixed Fruit

If there is one thing that I really, really, REALLY hate doing is unpacking.  I really just can't stand it.  I spent so much time today unpacking, it was ridiculous.  Yes, I know I moved home on Friday, and that it's been several days past that already, but I just didn't "get around" to unpacking until now.  I haven't even been busy doing very much of anything.  I've been doing a lot of nothing and a lot of Mad Men-watching, so there really just hasn't been any time left to unpack.  I've just been too caught up with other things. 

Ok, ok, ok.  Clearly the things that I have been doing instead of packing are clearly not that important.  I mean, doing nothing is actually doing "nothing," and watching Mad Men, while fun and a good way to spend time, is not exactly the most productive way I could be spending my days.  My priorities may seem to be out of place, but I think it's ok.  Just give me like a week to chill and do nothing post-final exams, and then I'll get back into super-productive mode...or I'll attempt it at least.  Take today for instance.  It may have taken me eight hours to unpack and put away two suitcases full of clothes (one of which was half full with puffy winter jackets), which seems like an unreasonable amount of time for accomplishing that sort of task, but it's ok.  My closet is unbelievably organized, with clothes sorted according to type and color coded, and my shoes neatly arranged in rows along the bottom.  My closet, in short, looks beautiful.  It was an eight hours well spent. 

Hummingbird Cupcakes

Finals are over, at last!  Ahhh, it felt like this day would never come, but it finally did, and it was seriously about time. It's so nice to just sit back and just do nothing.  Well that’s not entirely true I suppose.  I got out of my last final exam this afternoon and did my last load of laundry and then watched more episodes of Mad Men than I’m going to admit (I’m attempting to catch up as quickly as I can, I only jumped on the Mad Men bandwagon a couple of weeks ago.  I’m already up to the middle of season three!).  I guess that’s not much to brag about, but hey, I just finished exams and I did a load of laundry...that has to count as productive right? I’m going to pretend it does.  I should technically be packing right now too, as I’m moving back home tomorrow, but let’s just say that the process is going much slower than I would have hoped...I guess that fact that I have Mad Men playing on Netflix as I pack isn’t really helping things move along.  But that’s ok, because school is over and it’s summer (sort of)!  My things will just have to pack themselves; I’m sure they’ll manage.

Simple Homemade Strawberry Sauce

Sometimes, life just gets to be too busy.  There's always a million things to do, and then they all kind of begin to overlap with each other, and then the little Moleskine notebook that you use to keep your entire life organized to maintain your sanity begins to overflow with notes on upcoming assignments, random sketches, a to-do list that just seems to get longer and longer everyday.  Let's not forget the little hopeful reminders of weekend fun that get hastily scribbled onto the top corner of a page.  Those little reminders are like little promises that fun times lie ahead (provided you survive the week before them, obviously).  But anyway, this is what my pretend Moleskine looks like.  I say it's pretend because while I actually have a real little Moleskine notebook, I don't actually use it.  Sketches go inside some other sketchbook that I have, my desk and computer are literally full of sticky notes, I keep the to-do lists inside my head, and my weekend plans get a countdown-widget on my computer dashboard.  My Moleskine notebook is really just a cover-up.  I just like to seem more organized than I really am.  

Browned Butter Blueberry Crumb Muffins

Remember way back in the day, back in the really early days of this blog when I made a Blueberry Buttermilk Cake?  It was around that time of the summer when my mom and I went a bit insane and nearly cleared out the produce section of our supermarket of blueberries, since they were at the amazing price of only 99 cents a pint.  I used some of the blueberries I bought while they were still fresh, I ate maybe about another pint entirely by myself, and I froze the rest.  There was one afternoon last summer where my freezer was literally full of trays of blueberries being flash frozen before I transferred them into large freezer-safe bags. Having these frozen blueberries on hand has been such a huge advantage; I've used them countless times since, and I still have about another two bags of blueberries left!  I made some pretty awesome blueberry muffins with them.