Art Fair

The Ann Arbor Art Fair is usually one of the craziest weeks of the year.  For one, it's always record-breakingly hot, and for another, it seems each year the swarms of tourists grows larger.  The art fair itself brings a lot of commerce and attention to the city, but to locals and students in the area over the summer, the art fair brings terrible traffic and long lines at bars and restaurants.  Most frustrating for me was my inability to ride my bike through the crowds on my way running errands downtown.  Non-Ann Arbor pedestrians really have no clue how to avoid stepping and stopping in the path of a cyclist.

My friends and I managed to make the most out of the art fair, however, and took advantage of the sidewalk sales and beer tents.

Here are some of the pictures I took while roaming the streets.

leftovers.

This is one of my favorite ways to use leftovers.  We went to a steakhouse for my mom's birthday, so I sliced up my leftover filet mignon and laid it out over a bed of arugula, cucumbers, red onion, and cherry tomatos.  Leftovers can be far from boring!

home sweet home

This past week I've been on hiatus partly due to me being super lazy... but I took my DAT so I suppose I'm entitled.  This weekend Dan and I drove to my hometown for my mom's birthday.  On Sunday I showed him around Port Huron and we spent the day lazing around the beach and swimming in the refreshing but slightly chilly Lake Huron.

After the beach, my mom made her incredible and super authentic tacos (homemade shells and all!)  

Today was our last day in town and we decided to play some mini golf and race go-karts (which I won, duh) before going to Lucky's Steakhouse for dinner to celebrate Mom's 50th.  The bread, blooming onion, and my filet were all fantastic..even though my steak was a little closer to well-done than I had hoped.

I don't make it home very often, so when I do it's always nice to relax.  I also love to see my parents and my dogs, the newest of which is a tiny toy poodle.  She adored Dan and could not get enough of him.  A good-looking man and a dog...who could resist?

Playing with Flavor

Don't think this is turning into a strictly food blog, but I write when I'm inspired, and currently I'm thinking of a great dinner for tomorrow night to celebrate finishing my DAT.  When I'm cooking I typically like to keep things simple.  For starters, I'm in college (aka broke as hell) and I simply cannot afford to keep a pantry/fridge fully stocked at all times.  Also, when too many different flavors are combined together, I typically tend to get overwhelmed (reason why I am not partial to Ethiopian food).  Therefore, I like to keep some basic essential ingredients on hand, as well as a good rotation of new fruits and veggies to try.  Some things I almost always have at home are: feta cheese, black beans, canned corn, tomatoes, live sprouted bread, worchestershire sauce, and white wine.  With these staple ingredients, I find I can usually bring a few new ingredients to the table (no pun intended) and come up with something edible, if not surprisingly fantastic.  I'm a huge fan of vegetables, and they're the main part of most of my dishes, so I love walking into a farmers market or store and picking out things that catch my eye.  One rule of mine: Never be intimidated.  If you don't know how to cook something, or how to work it in with other flavors, google it.  You're bound to learn and 9 times out of 10 it's not as scary as it seems.

This brings me to my next topic:  mixing flavors!  Like I said before, I like to keep it simple.  Also very important is using what YOU have.  If I'm following a recipe and it calls for a lemon garnish and I happen to have a lime in the fridge, I'll try it.  Start with a little and you can always stop of you don't like where the flavor is going.  So when I'm putting together a meal, I try to have a veggie/fruit with a carb/protein.  I also like to mix sweet and salty or spicy.  So if I'm making an arugula salad, the spicy peppery flavor is a little intense for say, an italian dressing..or at least for me.  Instead, I might use just a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette and garnish with fresh raspberries, walnuts, and a mild goat cheese.  Yum!

What are your favorite combos?  I love trying new ideas!

Sauteéd Carrots with Cilantro and Feta

I've decided to try something new with this post. If you know me, you should know that I love to cook...and I'm not half bad at it. I consider myself a bit of a health freak so pretty much everything I make is based off whole food and all-natural/organic. I recently went to the farmers' market so I've been cooking with my veggie finds. The photo isn't very good quality, but I guarantee this recipe looks as delicious as it tastes!

Sauteéd Carrots with Cilantro and Feta 

prep: 5 min.  cooking: 10 min

Serves 2

 

3 cups peeled organic carrots

1 roasted red pepper, chopped (I get my jarred at Whole Foods)

1/4 cup crumbled feta

1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

non-stick cooking spray

salt and pepper (to taste)

Lightly spray pan and add carrots, roasted red pepper, and s&p.  Sauteé until cooked but firm.

Garnish with cilantro and feta.

Enjoy!

, a photo by alindaue on Flickr.

Farmers Market

This morning I made a trip out to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market for the first time on my new-to-me bike.  To be honest, I haven't made it out to the farmers market yet this summer, so I was really excited to go.  The streets of Ann Arbor were cool and quiet at 7am this Saturday morning, but the farmers market was in full swing.  There were tons of vendors and shoppers selling fresh, organic produce from local farms.  For $35 I got so many cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, cherries, arugula, blueberries and more that I had to squeeze into my little bike basket on the ride home.  I'd say I got my money's worth!

Meet my vintage Schwinn!  I'm in love :)

Forgive me, I was so distracted by the market itself that I forgot to take pictures, thus I borrowed these from google.  They pretty accurately describe some of the best things at the market, so I'll stick with them :)

I am woman.

If you know me, or if you are one of my several loyal followers, you know that I love to run (I am currently training for my first half-marathon)!  I would consider myself a 'runner,' but to me that sounds more like a person who runs tens of miles a day.  I am not that intense, and even if I had the time...who the hell wants to run much more than 10 miles a day, everyday, anyways?

To me, the feeling I get while running is multi-dimensional.  For starters, the flood of endorphins interacting with the opiate receptors of my brain (aka runners' high), is absolutely euphoric!  Also, what better way is there to relieve stress than pounding out the pavement while blaring Eminem?  Thirdly, I love the overwhelming feelings of physical and emotional strength I get from overcoming my screaming muscles and the voice in my head tempting me to stop.  After a great run, I feel like a strong and powerful woman, and that to me, is the the best part about running.

Celebration

Happy Independence Day, everyone!  I love the fourth of July for many reasons;  fireworks, barbeques, sunshine, family, and friends.  All these things are great, but the best part about the Fourth of July is celebrating our freedom in the home of the brave.  Appreciate soldiers and veterans today, and everyday, because without them we may not be Americans.

Happy Fourth of July!!

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope you all are having just as fabulous of a fourth of July weekend as I am!  Where do I begin?  Ok, so Friday started off rough (12 hours of studying..yuck), but everything today made up for it.  For starters, I ran my first (self-timed) 10K of the season this morning, then I made a delicious Avocado Bleu Turkey burgers and organic baked beans for a festive lunch with Dan.  To wrap up my incredible day, I found an AWESOME vintage Schwinn bike, which I mentioned I really wanted previously.  It's even red!  It's in the shop now getting a tune-up, but I'll have pictures as soon as I get it back!

Tomorrow night is fireworks and Monday morning I'm running the Firecracker 5K downtown in the hopes of bringing home a medal!

Have a great weekend!

.peace.love.fourth of july.