Being home from college makes my food life a much more interesting task than it would usually be at school. I can make and know exactly what I'm eating. But, with the heat and freedom of summer comes the Summer Daze or so I call it, those of you who have it will understand the symptoms: Dizziness , heaviness of limbs, overwhelming urge to do nothing. Yeah, so making food isn't always top of the list (although eating is). So I'm always looking for something cooling, quick, and easy. The tricky part is getting those quick and easy eats to be healthy.




"Overnight" Oats

First up, Overnight oats. Overnight is in quotes because although you get the best results from leaving your oats overnight, I sometimes forget to make it or just simply don't have the patience to wait overnight. I think the cutoff point for edibility is around half an hour, though...

All you really need is oatmeal and some sort of liquid that you choose to your taste, but I like to add and change up the mix of things I add in.

My basic formula is 
- 2 parts oatmeal
- 1 part accessories
- 3 parts liquid

Oats
Different types of oats absorb liquids at different rates, I'm using regular rolled oats although sometimes I prefer quick oats if I want a more tender texture and a shorter wait. Rolled oats give a more hearty and substantial texture.
Liquids
You could choose anything from juices, to milk, to almond milk, soymilk, etc.
I used almond milk at college because I loved the rich and nutty taste, and also milk wasn't being kind to my digestive system.
I've gone for orange juice here, partly because I'm avoiding dairy, partly because we didn't have milk, and partly because I was too lazy to mess around with sweeteners, orange juice is nice a natural sweetener.
Accessories
I like to call these accessories, because they aren't really needed but you want them, they're always nice to have, and they change the tone of the entire ensemble. I'm just going to list a few but really... you could put anything in here if you wanted. I'm quite partial to frozen fruit because of the way they soften and blend into the mix when they thaw.
-Nuts
-Fresh or Frozen fruit
-Dried/Freeze dried fruit
-Protein Powder
-Chia seeds
-Flax Seed
-Red/Green Bean
-Taro


So, basically fill your container (mason jar is always handy) somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up with oats depending on your preference and what you're adding to it. If I'm adding fruit, or chunkier bits I'll go for half, if I'm adding finer textured things (like in this case) then I'll go about 2/3.



 Here I have (going clockwise) rolled oats, hemp protein powder, and finely milled flax seed. I like to tread the line between herbivore and omnivore, but I've been inching slowly over to the herbivore lifestyle. Because of this I like to know what foods boost the nutrients I might be lacking. Flax seed contains high amounts of fiber, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, manganese, and vitamin B1. 2 tablespoons of good hemp protein powder can provide 13-14 grams of protein, as well as provide omega-3s that are more easily metabolized and therefore more easily converted into fuel for your muscles!


Once you've chosen your desired pieces just chuck it all in and combine somehow, if I'm feeling particularly lazy I'll just close the jar and shake a few times and drop in in the fridge. Stirring is definitely a more effective method  in general though... especially for thicker and chunkier pieces.

It's so easy to promise you're going to do something with all the best intentions of doing it, and just never getting around to doing it.... Like keeping up with a blog during the school year.

Well as it were, I have been keeping up with snapping the odd photo every now and then just to capture the moment. And so I have all these pictures filled with memories and as this blog is a diary of sorts, I'm just going to plop all of that stuff here. A commentary on the passed year...

The cafe's aesthetic is timeless, and really revolves around the history of Lancaster City, Not only is it located straight across from maybe the most historical theatre in the entire city (The Fulton Opera House). It's kind of a historical museum in itself. The cups actually have an old map of Lancaster printed on the entire exterior; you can even find where we are on Prince Street!

 If anyone is wondering, I ordered a triple soy latte. Not my wisest choice of the day, my heart nothing short of exploded on the ride home but I would say it was worth it. My friend got an Earl Grey. By the way, their coffee and teas are a whole different menu to be reckoned with.

In the picture below if you can find "FULTON OPERA H." on the map and find the little box across the street, that's right about where we are in the cafe!


Remember what I said about local products? Check it out! Ebenezer Wholistic Foods! It looked like most of the other flavors had sold out, but I wasn't about to turn my nose up at the Standard Original Chocolate. Alongside of that, I also got a bottle of Sweet Greens Rijuice. Rijuice is a local cold-pressed juice company. They do offer delivery for their juices and cleanse packages, however, they prefer to do so locally as this allows them to have truly raw, un-pasteurized or pressure processed juices. This allows the juice to retain all of its nutrients and enzymes. (This also, is a whole different blog post to be done)

  The desserts use a base of dates which is the reason for the fruity tones. Dates are fruits from the date palm tree which are heat dried which causes them to have a syrupy, caramelized flavor.

  They also add carob powder into the mix along with cocoa. Carob comes from a pod just like cocoa does and tastes similar, but instead of the beans, it's the pulp that is used. Carob does not have the caffeine that cocoa has and also has higher fiber and calcium contents, however carob does not have the same texture or level of flavor as cocoa and so must be used in conjunction or in higher amounts than cocoa.


  The Goji Berry Original Chocolate allows the more fruity tones of cocoa to come through, it is probably my favorite product out of all of them

Longwood Nursery

"I must confess, the view from where I sit has been rather grey." 

It's getting to that point of the year when I start to lose hope. When all the trees and green things start to seem like they'll never come back to life. When the sun starts to lose its color, and no amount of warm blanket seems to be enough to hold me over for the night. It's at this time that I look back, back to warm memories and happier times.

Courtesy of Phia, aka lovely vegan roommate. It seriously has the creamiest texture, and it's the simplest thing to make!

As college students, we don't always realize the resource that are available to us at our university and are part of what we pay for when we despair about our tuition. Palmer museum is an excellent example of that we have so many priceless pieces so close to us and yet we never even stop to glance at them. Here's to hoping that will change.

The Brazen Serpent- the story of Moses and the Israelites

David and Goliath

It has been far too long since I've posted on here. Things have been very busy. But I thought I might just show you some of the things that I've been busy with. They look kind of like play models but they're supposed to be loose representations of ideas that might have multiple meanings. They are vegetation designs based on the 6 major archetypes of landscape architecture : sea, promontory, cave, island, harbor, and sky. They are also supposed to be represented using 1 one of 3 mediums: metal, cotton, or wood.