All Hallow's

Happy Halloween!

Sconehead

Yum. Chocolate chip scones. One of my favorite things to make. The dough itself isn't terribly sweet, so the chocolate chips add just enough sweetness.

Three's a Party

I'm going to a party tonight (which I am nervous as hell about. I'm not all that rad at social situations), so I decided to make some cupcakes, just because I'm old-fashioned and I think you should always do something nice for someone if they're having you over to their house. Because this is Olympia, you can bet that there'll be a couple vegans wherever you go, and that gave me a reason to try vegan cupcakes Martha-style. (In case you didn't pick up on this, I'm sort of secretly obsessed with Martha Stewart. I should hate her guts but at the same time, I adore her. It's kind of how Katie and I feel about Giada "Tits 'n' Teeth" de Laurentis. Should hate her but don't.)

The recipe only makes 12 but I doubled it.
3 c. cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (once Kara or Amy tried to make vegan nutella with unsweetened cocoa powder & peanut butter and it was gross. So don't do that.)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees & prepare muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Mix together dry ingredients.
3. Mix together wet ingredients.
Oil & water separate! This is science, people!
4. Mix wet & dry ingredients together. The resulting mixture will be very thin! Chocolate soup!
5. Fill the cups up 3/4 of the way, then pop those suckas in the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating halfway through.
6. Go mess around with the self-timer on your camera!
Two things I do a lot: give a thumbs-up & fiddle with my bangs. One thing I am not good at: self-timer pictures. And yes, I am wearing an apron.
Then go watch some Golden Girls.
7. Take 'em out o' the oven. Admire your handiwork. I made an icing out of powdered sugar and water then dusted them with cocoa powder but you could do whateva you want.

You'll get it right some time, you will, I tell myself that every day

You may or may not know this, but October is depression awareness month. It's overshadowed by breast cancer awareness (which is also really important), but I think more attention needs to be paid to this illness.

Here are some signs of depression from the National Institute of Mental Health:

• Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood
• Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed

According to the Uplift Program, 9.5% of adults suffer from depression. I've been struggling with it since I was a young teenager, and was officially diagnosed at age 15. I've been to rock bottom but I'm doing okay now. Too many people dismiss depression as "teenage angst" or "a phase" but ask anyone who has it, and they'll tell you that it's a serious condition. The simplest things become tasks of Herculean proportions when you're depressed. Sometimes it's all I can do just to get out of bed in the mornings. I've missed out on a lot of things because of my depression. I know that this will effect me for the rest of my life, and I'm doing the best I can to manage it.

I'm not alone in this. Many people I love also suffer from depression or another mental illness. I wish that mental illness wasn't so stigmatized, and it was easier for people to understand. I'm lucky in that I have people who love me and care about me (even if they're far away from me), but not everyone is. If someone you love is depressed, the Uplift Program offers 9 rules to follow:
1. Understand the disorder.
So many popular misunderstandings about the illness and so much denial about its origins exist.
2. Keep in mind that he/she can't "snap out of it."
Remember that the other person has a real illness. Like someone with cancer, they can't simply "get over it."
3. Ask about his/her feelings and his/her childhood programming.
4. Admit your own powerlessness against the disorder.
Many people believe they can cure someone they love just by the sheer force of their love.
5. Do not try to rescue.
6. Don't make excuses for him/her.
7. Encourage him to seek help.
8. Discover your own programming.
His/her behavior may seem to give you an excuse to vent angry feelings, or an opportunity for you to play the knight in shining armor or perhaps a reason to excuse your own real or imagined shortcomings.
9. Tell him/her what you need.
If you aren't honest about what you're getting from the relationship, or what you want to get, you will make the other person feel even worse about himself.

Here's a couple songs I like to listen to when I'm feeling down.

Save Your Generation - Jawbreaker


Keep on Livin' - Le Tigre

Bork

There's Never a Reason Not to Party - Latterman

You Sound Like You're Sick

I'm sick! I've been chugging Emergen-C like a fiend and washing my hands every 5 minutes, but my weak-ass immune system doesn't care. I used to never get sick and now I get sick all the time. I'm glad I don't have class today. I hate missing class. However, because other people do have class (or go home for the weekend), no one is around to watch Time Bandits with me.

Anyways, on Tuesday (another day off, hooray!) I made some coffe cake muffins. These muffins were so good that Katie proposed marriage. We're getting married in Vegas by an Elvis impersonator. I'm so glad we share common wedding dreams. (I'm serious, the only way I will agree to marriage is if it can be in Vegas, by an Elvis impersonator. Or at Voodoo Doughnuts. I'm a little bit flexible.) They're really, really good.They're not the most gorgeous things I've ever made but I'm not a decorator. Plus they're delicious.

P.S. You know you go to Evergreen when you go down to the corner store to get some yoghurt or sour cream for your muffins and all you can find is Tofutti dairy-free sour cream.
People keep inviting me to shows and stuff and it's really weird because it's not like we're really friends or anything. I'm always suspicious when people invite me to stuff. I'm afraid they just want to humiliate me and dump pig blood on me and then I'll have to unleash my telekinetic powers and wreak havoc on the prom and I really hope you've seen Carrie or else this sounds crazy. Maybe I should just get over it and go. Maybe people do actually want to be my friend.

Keepin' it real.

Thank you, Razorcake.

C is for Cookie

So I'm back at college, (almost) all moved into the on-campus apartment I share with 3 of my friends. (One of whom loves to cook--even more than I do! Last night we made a fabulous egg drop soup. So easy. Easy as pie, which is the dumbest expression ever because pie is super time consuming, so not that easy. Easy as egg drop soup. And one of whom loves hair metal as much as me.)

Classes start on Monday. (Eep! I'm not ready! Not all my textbooks have gotten here yet!)

Anyways, on to the foodstuffs. Last night I was watching Glee (which I am mad about--if you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?) when the cooking roommate (Katie) popped out & asked if I'd like a beer. Please, is that even a question? 2 1/2 Newcastles later, I was pretty tipsy (I'm such a lightweight. I don't drink very often, and I'm not a particularly large girl. Height-wise, I'm kind of a beast, but I don't weigh all that much.) We wanted cake, but we didn't have the ingredients for it, or a cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eater cake mix, so we decided on chocolate chip cookies, which we didn't have the ingredients for either. A quick Google search later, I'd found this recipe. They turned out great. However, a warning--they don't give you a baking time! The timing is very vague & it varies. Ours were slightly burned on the bottom (but we were slightly intoxicated so it's okay). But they're still delicious!

Check out that perfectly round shape. These are some gaaaw-geous cookies.

And our stove, which is way nicer than my stove at home.