veggie beet burgers (vegan, gluten-free).

Drops of liquidy red stipple the counter .... the remains of some recent mess are evidenced by the now diluted pink water in the mugs sitting in the sink .... a pair of hands working hard nearby are deeply stained with red.

Is this a murder scene? Some crime show? 

NOPE. It's all the result of working with beets! And messy as they may be, they make for great veggie (and vegan) burgers.

buffalo chicken dip.

I gave in to making this. It goes against every bone and fiber of my being that says to not eat processed food and unnecessary cheese and salt, but but .... I've been having this everywhere! At a potluck. At a work party. At a graduation party.

A person can only stand enjoying something at so many places before making it herself. So I made it, and it was delicious. I even used real chicken (instead of canned, which apparently is common). No regrets!

thai turkey meatballs.

I'm running a 5K in six days. I thought I'd share how I am preparing for this, as I consider myself an elite athletic guru.

1. Don't run for several weeks. In the meantime, stay up late both because you are hanging with yo buds and because you overcommitted yourself, so you have lots of responsibilities to take care of.

2. Make lots of tasty treats, like german vanilla cake. Also, don't hold back on dem Thanksgiving mashed potatoes and gravy.

3. Randomly force yourself to run one day. Run so much after such a hiatus that you feel very sore (but good sore) the next day.

sesame ginger noodles.

Why are people so wary of self-reflecting? I enjoy it .. it's not like I do it every second I get and look forward to it with longing, but if I find myself, say, on a 5.5 hour bus ride, with nothing but my iPod to accompany me, I let my mind wander.

And eventually, after thinking about how excited I am to bake again, speculating on my relationships with people, and still trying to get over the $14,000 on-campus apartments at BU, my mind turns to me. I don't know about everyone else, but I like seeing how much I have changed and the amount of experiences I've gone through for the past couple years. It makes me more appreciative.

tomato jam.

For my 17th birthday, my aunt told me she was taking me to a restaurant of my choice during New York Restaurant Week. Previous to her bringing it up, I had never heard of any Restaurant Weeks. So imagine my surprise and joy at finding out that, for a limited period of time in whichever city (there are Restaurant Weeks in Philadelphia, Boston, etc.), you can dine at a high-class restaurant for a prix fixe? Heaven.

Anyway, we ended up at Spice Market. It is a gorgeous restaurant, albeit dark, with the drapes and candles and other exotic decorations everywhere. Jean-Georges Vongerichten caters to people who desire a Southeast palette, and the food captures aspects of Thai, Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese food. I am not going to do a total review right now (maybe another post), but one of the more memorable of the 7 (or was it 10?) courses was this tomato jam, served with papadam. I was intrigued by the savory jam, a concept I had never given much thought, and dug in.

It was spicy.
It made my eyes water. It made my throat burn. I downed my water. I remembered water is useless and ate papadam as discreetly as I could in this sophisticated, elegant restaurant. That was a fail. I fanned my mouth with my hand ... and stopped as I noticed my aunt laughing at me.

peruvian chicken kebabs + tzatziki.

I cannot believe two days ago I was on Rutgers soil, and now, I am at home. For three and a half months. Leaving was bittersweet; everyone wanted to be with everyone else for the whole summer, but they also wanted summer vacation to come because that would be mean the end of a period of no sleep, emotional eating, and immense stress about finals.

I got the last of my final grades back today, and I am quite ecstatic. For a crazy second I thought summer classes might be a very real necessity but alas, I need to relaxeth. Allth will be fyne with mine life, especially now that I can partaketh in consumption of victuals, mostly for mine pleasure.