Sunday, April 27, 2014

I'm In Love

When I went to St. Louis over spring break, I was definitely not expecting to find love. In retrospect, I should have seen it coming all along. The location, the situation - it was the perfect set up for destiny to happen.



It all started at the Soulard Farmers Market in the Soulard (crazy, right?) area of St. Louis. It was just before lunch time, and I was getting a little hungry. We walked by stalls of fresh produce, crafts, homemade pasta and bread, flavored olive oil, fancy cheeses and exotic-sounding meat. (Oxtail? Chickens feet, anyone?) I have money burning a hole in my pocket and my stomach was loudly threatening to start digesting itself if I didnt do something to appease it soon. So, yeah, I guess you could say I was in a vulnerable position.



As we neared the last stalls of the market, I smelled bakery smells. As in,
my very favorite kind of smells. They were delicious and smelled like carbs and ohmygosh I had to get me to where they were coming from. Approximately 2.8 seconds later, I was standing in front of an abundant display of baked goods. After a short term flirtation with the cinnamon bread (which was never going to happen, because it was sitting on the counter giving itself to anyone who happened by- so promiscuous!) I saw them. The macarons. And I wanted one,which was weird to me because they were pretty trendy recently and I never like the popular one, because he's usually a jerk and just because his hair looks perfect and he's gorgeous doesn't mean that he's a good person! You're just going to get hurt, like in You Belond With Me by Taylor Swift without the happy ending. You just follow him on Instagram instead.



Wait, what are we even talking about here?



Back to the baked goods. Anyway, so I asked the vendor because he was the macaron expert here, and he recommended the salted caramel. So yeah, I bought that sucker right up and when the vendor asked if I was going to eat it right now I just kind of looked at him like ... Duh. I mean, I wasn't sure if it was going to work out but I thought I'd better just jump right in and get my heart broken now rather than later, if indeed that was to be.



The only picture I took of it was, regrettably, really ugly because I was shaking with excitement. Sorry.


 And angels sang and I told everyone I could about how happy I was with my macaron.



Like all loving relationships, separation has been really hard for me.
I intend to be reunited with my new favorite pastry as soon as I can get my hands on some kitchenware and gluttonous amounts of sugar. Until then, you can probably find me on the couch,
crying, watching chick flicks, and cheating with the ice cream.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Oatmeal Energy Bars (that were actually a success)

I've had fourish, (I think) if you're into keeping track of how much you eat and stuff. Personally, I think that once your consumed four of anything, be it oatmeal energy bars, Oreos, bowls of ice cream ... you should probably just let loose and stop keeping track, work through whatever feeling you're trying to eat your way out of, and try again tomorrow.

Really, though, I'm pretty sure I've just had four.

Four whats?  you ask.  Based on the title of this post and some subtle context clues (i.e. "be it Oatmeal Energy Bars") you may have guessed that we're talking oatmeal energy bars! Or, if you're like me, you probably figured it out right away and skipped to the recipe part because hello, FOOD!

You may have also deduced from the title that I'm not usually good at these. Virtually every time I've tried to make these in the past, something has gone wrong. They burned. They were under baked. The crumbled to pieces Shen I tried to get them out of the pan. I tried to add vegetable and they were just as gross as that sounds. This time was different. These bars stick together, taste great, fill you up (but not so much that it isn't possible to squeeze fourish of them in your food tank), and even appeal to the taste buds of my teenage brother, who usually turns up his nose at my healthy food baking attempts in favor of barbecue sauce, cheese, sour cream, and as much root beer and cream soda as he can get his hands on.

So if you want these to yourself (cough cough me), keep them a secret. Don't make them while other people are around. And above all, do NOT bring them on your family car trip. Just don't.

Oatmeal Energy Bars
-1 1/2 cups oats
-3/4 cup almond meal
- 1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
- 1/4 cup flax seed
- generous 1/2 cup mashed banana ( that's about half of your average banana)
- 1 egg
-1/2 cup nut butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup mixed berries
- 1/4 cup nuts
- sprinkle of cinnamon

Basically, you can just throw all that in a bowl, mix it up, and throw it in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes. When they're cool, store them in the fridge in an airtight container  and they should keep for about a week! If they make it that long ...

Happy bar making!

Love,
Allie



Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Runninrunninandrunninrunningadnrunninrunninandrunninrunnin

You know that song, that song that starts and ends like, "Runnin', runnin' and runnin', runnin and runnin' runnin" for ever and ever? I'm not even sure what song it is.

Runnin' runnin'

Runnin' runnin'

still runnin' runnin'

...


I just Googled it, and apparently a bunch of other people have also Googled "Runnin runnin and runnin runnin song" because they didn't know either, so you can stop laughing at me now and saying how I live under a rock.  It's Let's Get It Started by the Black Eyed Peas, for those who were wondering.

We're talking about runnin' runnin' and runnin' runnin' and runnin' runnin' and runnin' runnin' today in honor of the first track meet of the season on Thursday (!!!) I found out today that I have to get to run at least one 800, which is two times around the track. When I say it like that, it sounds easy. Like, come on Allie, 2 is not a lot. 800, on the other hand, is a big number. 880, which is how far I'll be running in yards, is even bigger. So on Thursday I will run 880 yards, and it will be fun.

35 years ago ish, my dad ran his first 880, as a 5th grader. Want to know his PR for that season? 2:47. Want to know my time currently? 3:19.  That translates to about 32873 years in running world, and he was a 5th grader. As in a 10-year-old. Soooo, that lights a little bit of a fire under me, and I'm here to proclaim to the internet that newest life goal is to someday, somewhere, run a 2:46.

Well, now I have to do that because I just told everyone. Wish me luck!

*Luck, Allie*

Thanks guys.