chocolate chip whoopie pies, with espresso filling.

I reformatted the blog!! It was a lot of work .. had to code HTML and adjust tons of image sizes. I like the new look. It puts more attention on the pictures, which is what usually catches people's attention. Besides my highly entertaining writing, that is.

My hair's in a crazy bun right now. I have headphones in my ears, but no music on. The yellow light of the little bed clip-on lamp is casting dramatic shadows on my hands, emphasizing my newly acquired tan (50 minutes outside is all I need) and sculpting crevices, making everything more angular. It's 11:55 pm and although that's not particularly late, I'm questioning why I'm up.

I feel like the novel I've been reading is influencing my writing a lil bit. Anyway, what I'm not questioning is my decision, an hour ago, to have another one of these whoopie pies. I'll tell you why.

whole wheat breakfast muffins.

I'm in that mood. You know the one. Where you lay in bed, headphones streaming music from the iTunes playlist dubbed "Mellow" (the Drake & Linkin Park songs that belie the actual mood) and thoughts, instead of focusing on the relaxing chilling session earlier with the bestie, cannot progress past ce;swlfuehsfi;.

It may've been eating dinner so late (9:30 pm). It could also be something else.

It's probably the dinner. Weirddd. These muffins are weird, too. They have so many random (super healthy) things in them, because I made the recipe up totally by myself. I'll keep the focus on the muffins.

homemade oreos, rose + peanut butter filled.

So I was eating turkey chili just now before I sat down at my laptop to start writing this post. Of course I got distracted and checked up on the food & fashion blogs I regularly read, all my email accounts (way too many), and tastespotting before finally arriving hurr.

Then I got back up to get my new favorite "chapstick" because my lips were simply parched, and I saw that I hadn't finished all my chili .. !!!

Best feeling. The same thing happened with these oreos. I'll explain.

vanilla baked alaska with browned butter cake.

My brother's been asking for baked alaska for ... ever. Probably a year. Every time I would come home from college, he would ask where it was. One late afternoon, after a long day of indulging in old video games, I decided to just make it.

There are three components to the entremet - a base of cake (traditionally sponge, but more commonly pound cake), the ice cream, and meringue. I forewent the traditional domed shape. I found my individual assembly style cuter, albeit slightly more difficult.

It's one of those, the sum is greater than the parts, things. It's totally worth the effort.

baked cinnamon mini doughnuts + cream cheese glaze.

I'm really excited about these. They're mini doughnuts. Everything is better mini .. well, most things.

They're adorable, healthy (baked, not fried), and virtually fat-free. I usually don't like cinnamony things, but I love these.

The texture is perfectly fluffy. I could pretty much drink the glaze on top, and the way in which it settles and slightly soaks into the top of the doughnut ... you are going to need to try these.

randoms.

I have these random food pictures all over the place that I decided to just collect into a post. I usually like reading these types of posts on other blogs, and it seems fun to write, so here it goes!

layered chocolate birthday cake.

I just backed up my computer. I feel so accomplished .. for two reasons. One, it's break. Almost everything qualifies as productive. Fix my hair? Awesome. Change my clothes? Go me. Leave the house? Woah I'm wild! And will need to sleep by 10pm to compensate for the exhausting day I had.

Secondly, I feel like backing up a computer is something that's always advised to do, and no one really does it.

I'm trying to do things I should be doing more. Like backing up my data. Not eating PBJ's everyday. Exercising. Stimulating my brain. Keeping up with responsibilities. All these things juxtapose what I said earlier, my idealized vision of break.

But long term .. they'll help me, right?

pineapple cream cheese blondies.

I realized why I have so much more to blog about when I come home. Because when I'm at college & have something (anything) to say, someone is usually around to hear it.

I guess that someone is you, now! I think my parents have become proficient in tuning out the random stuff I think about.

I hope you're excited. You can hear about how I recently found out that one ostrich egg is the equivalent of about 22 chicken eggs. And how Rutgers is working extra hard to recruit more students directly from China. This greatly baffles me. Also, how the Affordable Care Act is going to affect our lives. I was not aware that it extended coverage for young adults! I can stay underneath my parents' plan till 26 now! WOOP WOOP.

Oh, and I guess you can hear about these blondies. I mean, if you really want to.