Review of Nice Knees- "Falling into Sand"

I'm free-bleeding on my fake oriental rug while my foot falls asleep listening to this new band. Or maybe it's just one person.

Do you know what it feels like to miss your past so much but realize you could never go back? Because you're too different. It wouldn't be the same.

Nice Knees is the kind of music I fawn over. It gives me more of a feeling I try to tap into. It makes me feel like the depravity of the commercialism ridden 90s and idyllic summers of my teen years before social media and internet made it different. It's like I know I'm going to die and everything sucks and not everything is safe but it's ok. I'm going to love myself and live my life while I have it.

This EP is called "Falling into Sand". "Sss" track is on repeat for me. The oscillating beats of "Yeah/Uh" bounces me back and forth on light waves.

Find this on bandcamp.

I made that zine btw

making short posts to guide the way to better posts. My Chromebook keyboard crapped out making it not fun to type on. Blah

I have found so much shit on the ground

seriously. A coat. Two pairs of pants and shirts all together.

Nashville trip: Graze

graze is an all vegan restaurant in nashville.

mac n chz  with chorizo 

carbonara

Found Something and What I Ate

I found a bag of black pipe cleaners with googly eyes to make a spider. Unopened. Score.

I ate coffee with sugar. half a chocolate chip cookie shared with Andrei. He graciously brought biscoff cookies which I proceeded to eat 8 of. A wheat bread sandwich with relish, mustard and tofurky and toms. Smoothie with cucumber, mango, and banana, and spirulina.

Soup for dinner with white crackers! green bean cabbage and lentil soup.

Then I had banana ice cream with vanilla, 2 bananas, peanut butter(jif), granola (engine 2 diet) and some cheapy chocolate syrup.

Look at this cutie.

But seriously how about this one.

paka- basically "bye" in russian.

Stuff I found on the Ground and Indigo Hippo

I feel very lucky to have a art thrift store in my neighborhood. It also has a pay-what-you-think-is-fair system. So they have colored stickers on everything as a guide to how much things might be worth. 

I got this 4-pk of posters and pack of markers for $2.50! The stickers were pink and the price they thought it was worth was $1 to $3. I'm going to make a BLM poster for Wed. 

I found this cool bag right outside my house on the ground. 

The kittens are so cute. My neighbor came to look at them, she might get one or two. It's hard to tell. 

I had coffee today with soy milk and sugar. I ate a chocolate chip cookie. I ate a whole wheat bread sandwich with tofurky and mustard and tomatoes. I made a cashew cream curry with potatoes and carrots and cabbage. Then I made a stir-fry with green beans and cabbage but it tasted bad. The curry was good though. I ate some crackers. Shit. Did I eat enough?  Hm. 

Ok, bye. 

I Found Kittens! And I'm Making a Zine

   I've been feeding the cats in the alley behind my house in the hopes that my maine coon cat would come around. So far I've got three cats coming around. I feel guilty because I should have trapped them all and got them fixed. One of them had babies. And this morning my mom said she found two kittens all alone. I scooped them up and realized their little tails and paws were bald and their little faces were all dirty. My house is also next to a busy street. Later in the day I found three more kittens and the mom jumped over the fence but the kittens couldn't follow. The fence into the alley is very very high. So I can see how the kittens maybe were getting hurt following her around. Poor babies. I bought some formula and wet cat food! Definitely not vegan but we make the best choices we can. 

 One kitten ate the wet food. And I bottle-fed the rest. 

This black kitten is very upset in this picture. But now the gray and white kitten is very hissy. 

I've been thinking about making a healthy and poor zine for awhile now. It's sad that poor people get a raw deal when trying to make healthy choices. We shouldn't have to choose between good health and eating.  I'm brainstorming tonight all the different sections and I still have physics problems to do. 

What I Ate Today

Today I practiced Taylor series expansions.

I drank coffee with sugar.

I had a strawberry, cucumber, banana smoothie.

I ate a salad. A sandwich with tomato, onion, tofurky slices and mustard.

I ate a so delicious caramel ice cream bar.

I ate 2 Kashi GF waffles with maple syrup.

I ate a noodle bowl from Cilantro, a Vietnamese restaurant in Cliftion near school.
I went with Danny's dad, Bobdad. He's really awesome.

Well, I'm going to go prep some food for meals tomorrow. 

Review of Paradise Kittens (Cincinnati)

I saw Paradise Kittens for the first time last night. They're in the noise genre of music.

It was at a place called Rake's End in the Brighton neighborhood or West End. The DIY scene reigns supreme here. It's the working class here, the artists, the activists. PBRs are a steal at  $2. Most of the buildings on the street look empty. The night air was balmy. I took turns listening to bands and then sitting outside with friends to talk on stickered-up benches about zoos and menstrual cups.

Paradise Kittens is a one-person band comprised of Ashley Bowman, someone I've known for 6 years which was told to me by fb the other day. When I gather round to listen I see she has blue lipstick all around her lips and a hooded robe with the hood on. At first the sounds are jolting and I jump from fright a couple times. I feel like I'm in a horror movie which is cool because I love horror movies. I stare at a slow-moving fan with a deflated green balloon going round and round entranced by how the sounds are making this simple machine seem insidious. This is part music and part artistic show.

The last song makes my hair stand on end. They say it's about sexual violence. Speaking into the microphone giving two parts of a relationship she conveys the realness of damaging relationships. I feel her pain and spiral down with her. I appreciated how personal it was. I can't wait to see the next show and what changes and what stays the same.

Stuff I Ate Today and Vegan Egg Patty Fail

      So I picked up my kittens today! They were so lovey when they got home. Especially my orange tabby. Then I walked to school. I just got accepted to grad school for physics. Over the summer I'm working with my adviser to study for the qualifying exam and work in our lab. Me and my fuzzband are taking a break for the month. Not something I would usually share but I'm starting to share these things because I don't want to act like my life is perfect. I think it's good to know all of us are going through different things. 

Strawberries. I actually let them sit in fridge too long so I cut them to freeze for smoothies. 

My Vegan Egg (Not vegan egg brand) Patty Fail! I tried to follow a recipe from Hot for Food but I didn't use medium firm tofu. I used extra firm. And I didn't add tapioca flour but xanthan gum. 1 tsp. They wouldn't fry up firm so I baked in the oven for a half an hour. They kinda hardened up. I'll still eat them anyway.

I used a veggie sausage and some english muffins to make a sandwich. The vegan egg patty was so-so. If this had vegan cheddar slices that would have helped. Definitely sticking to the Follow Your Heart Egg next time. I need to get more. 

My local grocery puts corn tortillas in ziplock baggies and I reuse them. My sandwich has Tofurky slices, spinach, mustard and tomato. 

I ate an entire small cantaloupe on the way back from school. 

Tomorrow I'm riding my bike to school. I've been really lazy about working out since school ended. Probably because I'm walking back and forth.

WOTD is elucidate- to make clear or explain. 

Edamame Hummus and What I ate today and 5 recipes!

Today I have real bad cramps. It sucks. I woke up at 6 am to bring my two kittens to get neutered. My kittens are 11 months old now! No! Wow I didn't realize I waited so long to get them fixed.

So today I had a weird eating day.

Breakfast was...coffee with sugar. With Back to Nature lemon cookies. I ate about 11 of them.

I ate 3 bananas.

A sandwich with roasted portabello mushrooms and edamame hummus.

For dinner I had a homemade potato soup, a salad with portabello mushrooms, carrots and cucumbers and homemade croutons from old bread. Italian dressing.

Whoa there is at least super easy 3 recipes in here.

For dessert, my mom had some accidentally vegan pillsbury apple cookies and it's my friend's birthday so I whipped them up. They have food coloring in them which is not vegan!! Because it's tested on animals but technically it is not made of animals. I don't feel that bad because my mom didn't buy it she got it from a free store where big box stores donate food. And my mom had had it for a year! And was going to get rid of it. I don't know about how all vegans feel about food coloring because for the longest time I was eating shit tons of swedish fish and skittles when they took the gelatin out. But it's bad for animals and it apparently is bad for us too.

I ate about 7 of those cookies.

Later I'm going to have some sleepy time tea.

 Potato Soup

2-3 medium potatoes
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 T veggie bouillon
1 cup carrots
3 cups water

Boil potatoes and carrots until soft. Drain. Add everything to blender and blend. Done.

Edamame Hummus

I got this recipe offline and tweaked it. No olive oil so I subbed vegetable oil.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/edamame-hummus-recipe

Ha yup that's it.

Roasted Portabella Mushrooms

Portabello mushrooms
balsamic vinegar
oil of whatever kind

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grab a baking sheet or glass pan and line with baking parchment. Put mushrooms upside down like umbrellas and drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar then stick in oven for 15-20 minutes.

Homemade Croutons

These are best with breads without all the preservatives and shit. I used white plain french bread with three ingredients.

Old bread
italian seasoning
onion powder
garlic powder

Cut the bread up into little crouton sizes and put in a layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with all the spices. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until crispy but not super burnt.

Those some sad-ass recipes, huh. Oh, well. Cooking already takes too long! But I do it anyway because it's way cheaper!!

Got a free cantalope and dollar bunch bananas from the farmer's market! I always get good deals. 

And that's it. Can't wait to see my babies (my cats) tomorrow morning!!

Asian Food Fest in Over the Rhine! Vegan Options!

Asian Food Fest was held at Washington Park this year and at first I wasn't that keen on going but my friend Jess alerted me that there were vegan options and that their menus were posted online. I checked it out and saw that I could get filled up and menu items ranged from $2-6. 

                      This cashew cream sauce was curry flavor and as soon as I got home I cooked it up with some red rice and broccoli. I enjoyed how quick it was to make this as a meal. It was kinda salty and I added some maple syrup for a sweeter curry.

                     My friends Jess and Athena got Mango Sticky Rice with coconut milk sauce. It was really good. Could have used more rice though for $5.

                                        This is Athena and Jess. They do hair. And have great hair.

                                           Music Hall is right on the border of Wash Park where the
                                          Asian Food Fest was. It's under construction right now.

                                           There were long lines everywhere and some booths even ran out of food.
  I didn't take pics of everything I ate but I had a tofu taco at Red Sesame, Pang Rice Balls, Berry Berry bubble tea at Boba Cha, Samosas at Indigo and a Thai Basil popsicle from Streetpops. Indigo also had cabbage dosas that were vegan but they ran out!                                      

Here's where I got my bubble tea! Has everyone had bubble tea? It has giant tapioca pearls at the bottom and I love the gummy texture and huge straws. 

Starting New Post themes: Minimalism (or just getting rid of shit) and Stuff I found on the ground

My apartment is too crowded. I need to get rid of shit. I know it's going around that minimalism is trendy but it's reasonable that after 60+ years of consumerist/factory line lives and our throw-away culture that a minimalism culture would come out of it. Unless we thought the hoarder mentality would become cool.

So I'll be sharing shit that I get rid of in a sustainable way or fixing broken things I own so they are not just taking up space. Today I will decide on some books I don't want and donate them to the library.

Stuff I found on the ground!!

I find stuff on the ground all the time. I find hair ties on campus all the time. Three weeks ago I found a giant black umbrella in the trash that was totally usable. Two days ago I found a cute cardigan laying on trashcan rim in perfectly good condition.

So Delicious Cashew Milk Dipped Salted Caramel Bars!

Ok, wow. This was as good as it sounded. 

On a side note though. I rode my bike to school then drank a bunch of coffee and then rode home from work with drinking only a small amount of water. My hand proceeded to go numb and my vision went all weird. I definitely won't go without adequate amounts of water ever again. After I drank about 3 tall glasses of water it went away. Whew. I got scared there for a minute. 

So I got these scrumptious bars at a Kroger in Clifton, Ohio. I was choosing between these and Ben & Jerry's chunky monkey. They melted in my mouth and I was glad to just have a single serving instead of a whole pint. The caramel flavor was rich. Perfect flavor combo. 

Review of "Mondo Barbie: An Anthologie of Fiction and Poetry"

I got this book years ago at The Ohio Bookstore on Main St. downtown. If you've never been you should go. You get to search 7 floors of books and you're left alone by the staff. The prices are very reasonable too. Everytime I see the book laying around I'm drawn to its pink pages. I bought it for $3.50. It's interspersed with short stories and poems all about Barbie. The themes go from capitalism to classism to feminism to just plain existential and weird to the identity of our toys and how it shapes our identities. Some stories are very sexual or sex body part oriented. It's very provocative and contemporary.

Plain Vegan Cole Slaw with Mayo Recipe

So it's real easy:

Easy Vegan Mayo


1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy milk

Blend. I used a vitamix. Unsure of other blenders.

Add seasonings as you wish. I added salt and pepper.

I makes about a cup and a half.

It will look just like it!

Plain Vegan Cole Slaw

1 white cabbage chopped up
1 small onion diced
2-3 carrots chopped
salt and pepper to taste
3 T vinegar, I used white
3 T turbinado with 2 T water and heated up to melt
3/4 c. vegan mayo store-bought or half above recipe.

Mix everything up.


I'm super tired from today. My bus pass ran out and since school is over I've been stuffing myself with food.

Ok, bye.

Done with School! Happy Chicks Cake!

So that's it, I finally did it. I got my degree. Whew! I still don't feel all the way normal. I had to finish a capstone with a poster, a presentation and a lab report. I ordered cake from the vegan bakery in Northside, Happy Chicks. I love that place. They have amazing  tofu quiche and chickpea nuggets. 

                                          Chocolate-chocolate cake from Happy Chicks Bakery.
                                                                   It was very good.

                                          My friend Robin's birthday was the same night so I celebrated that too.

Me and Danny

Me and Danny Korman. Past Owner of Park+Vine 

(all vegan general store that closed early January 2017)

                                                      My cats: Top- Pema Chodron
                                                      Bottom- Eckhart Tolle

I'm going to write about the cole slaw I made for the Grill Out for Sam Dubose and my homemade vegan mayo tomorrow!

Almost Done with School!

My undergrad will be done this April!! On May 3rd I'm going to Nashville for an A Perfect Circle concert. I'm really excited to try out their vegan restaurants. I saw four all-vegan ones.

Thinking I really need to travel for a vegan festival or expo sometime. It looks really fun. I'm watching a lot of Vegan Zombie. He has a really cool vegan ouija board t-shirt, btw. I need it bad.

Well, I gotta sleep and study.

Bye!

My Cat Got Cancer and Park+Vine Closed

So it has been a sad week and a half. Foxy got diagnosed with lymphoma. Thankfully when I started a gofundme I was given some money and started her chemo treatment as soon as possible. She is still only given 6 months to live but it is better than 4 weeks. Look at my cute baby.

I was already freaking out because I barely have any money to finish out the school year but I am spending as little as possible. And with the help of my partner I think I will be just fine.

Because I am spending so little I am forced to eat whatever I have and not add on all the nice extras. Since the place I used to work at (an all vegan store!) closed it has been easier not to spend anything. Trying super hard to keep it local. I can still go to vegan-friendly places like:

OTR
Pho Lang Thang-  Vietnamese restaurant
Gomez- Taco window
Bottle and Basket- deli with kombucha and vegan chocolate and soups
Findlay Market (Madison's and Dean's Market mostly)- veggies and bulk food stations

Clifton
Clifton Market- Co-op just opened!
Clifton Natural Foods- used to be on bus route to school but moved farther down. Good place for v sausages and chz

Thinking about Green Bean Delivery now too since it has local stuff and I am super busy at school!

Physics BS almost done!

Kinda of a hole in my heart now that Park+Vine is gone and my cat is going to die prematurely. Feeling super guilty about not doing enough activism and volunteering. But I do what I can.

Today I made my own granola bars and banana bread. I used brown rice syrup for granola base. Turned out pretty well.

Ok, that's it. Bye.