Please see me at my new blog

An interlude ...

... for FPC.

Quick and tasty, for your chocolate cravings

I enjoy cooking up fancy things, but sometimes it's really satisfying to bake something from what you have lying around. I baked these fun cookies yesterday with just what I had on hand. Here's the recipe, originally from Veganomicon, rewritten with my modifications:

Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies

Makes about 15 cookies, give or take.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raspberry preserves (I used strawberry, actually, because it's what I had.) Try to find an all-natural, less-sugar kind.
1 cup sugar (Better to use organic sugar that has not been made with bone char, as most refined white sugars are. Also, feel free to reduce amount. I used more like 3/4 cup, which was still a lot.)
1/3 cup canola oil (I feel like this could be reduced for healthier cookies, too.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix together preserves, sugar, oil, and extracts.
In separate bowl, mix all other ingredients.
Add the dry to the wet in three batches, stirring in between. You may have to use your hands to mix in the last bit.
Roll into ping-pong sized balls, then flatten with your hands. Place on baking sheet that's been sprayed lightly with cooking spray or oil.
Bake 10 mins, cool for 5, remove from sheet and cool completely.

These seriously took me like 20 minutes, including bake time. And they're not bad!

Note: Photo is of actual cookies I made, on my elephant plate. :)

Glorious Foodness

Everybody go look at this blog: What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway? Love the title! And if there's anything almost as much fun as eating great food, it's enjoying beautiful photography of great food. This blog is a vegan foodie's dream—delightfully gourmet and fun. (Thanks for the link, Dhaval!)

And for some fantastic ideas about how to realistically make your own awesome food all week long, read this in the L Magazine (for non-vegans). Eating in For a Week.

A bunch of New Yorkers venture to a house in NJ...

... and it was just like a Seinfeld episode.

Well, not really. But it was a great time and a beautiful evening, and I'm very grateful to my friend's friend who was house sitting and let us all come over. The backyard was simply gorgeous. We never wanted to leave.

(Note, this patio has a NY Giants helmet logo laid out in stone. Awesome.)



Jon and Krista observe some water sports.


Michelle and Ashley make use of the giant hammock.


A lively game of water basketball breaks out.



Action shot!

Later on, Alex holds court.


While Matt and Krista tear it up on the air hockey table.


Watermelon smile.


OMG! LOTR pinball!

Next morning, we terrorize the quaint town of South Orange with a Power Ranger.


Look at those cool guys. They totally just played the heck out of that xylophone thingy.

NJ Transit. Don't eat the magazine.

At some random station in New Jersey.

Maine is a wonderland of loveliness

I'd like to share with you a few(ish) of the photos from my recent trip to Maine. They represent a tiny slice of the experiences I had. (Count yourself lucky I'm not subjecting you to the 100+ photos I shared with my family.)

First sunset, Bar Harbor.




Beginning an awesomely strenuous hike up and over a mountain in Acadia National Park.

This ledge was high above the valley floor.


Windy hair!




Leslie enjoys the sky.
Sierra and Koda were mountain goats in their past lives.




Enchanting little pond at the top of the mountain.


We finally reached the tippy-top summit!


Cool paper birch.

Down at the pond, off the mountain, snack time.


Neato triangle rock.




Jordan Pond.


Back in Bar Harbor, we walked at low tide across a sandbar to a perfect little island.

Lupine.

I like this lupine leaf.


I is in a field.


I really wanted to live here. Just build a little cottage and live here.


The town of Bar Harbor was every beautiful thing that New England is supposed to be.


But no hippies.


Here's me waiting for other people's lobsters to die. Contemplating life. And death.


Back in Acadia, along the seacoast on a sunny morning.



Next day, I got to wander around Boston, eat great food (see previous post), and visit my favorite spots, like the Public Garden. Yay!


Thanks for looking!!!

Things I Realized on my Trip to New England

- JetBlue’s new T5 terminal is crazy cool! A Whole Foods-like buffet, fancy schmancy restaurants, free wifi, healthy hippie snacks ... very nice.

- Lilacs = ubiquitous in Maine = the whole place smells delightful.

- You never read as much as you think you will on vacation.

- You always eat more than you think you will on vacation.

- People in Maine all drive a pokey 70 mph in 65 zones on the freeway.

- But Maine tollbooth operators are really nice.

- If you have two beautiful huskies with you, everyone will stop to pet them!

- In nowheresville, Maine, there's suddenly an insanely modern, striking, scary bridge, that I got to drive over! Whee! (It looks kind of like it ripped off the Zakim Bridge in Boston, architecturally, but whatevs.)

- Diet Pepsi Max is crazy focus-inducing. Thank you, bajillion milligrams of caffeine I consumed on the Fung Wah bus.

- Maine is downright idyllic in springtime. (Note, this was discovered while I accidentally drove a two-hour detour on the way back.)

- Nonesuch River! This is an actual name of a river in Maine! Cutest thing ever!

- It’s outrageously inconvenient to stay overnight in a house without a usable bathroom.

- Lobsters have feelings, too.

Lilac photo by me. Photo of Penobscot Narrows Bridge by brentdanley on Flickr.