Melted

 

I hate running late, absolutely loathe being rushed. And this morning? Exactly that. Fortunately I had a break between classes so I came home and got a shower in, as well as having the time to savour a delicious macchiato.

This may be my new favourite coffee shot…

Anyway, after my English Language/Composition and Francais 4, I lunched.

In attempt to counter the high-strung morning, I had a melty sandwich,

And devoured it, despite trying to feel mellow and smelty. Smelty? Not exactly the word I was looking for, but I’ll take it. A layer of basil tomato sauce, a sliced Quorn filet, yellow bell pepper, pickle and mild Emmental.

To keep it company in the belly I paired it with a salad of sorts – cucumber, tomato, parsley, gala apple, yellow pepper and a few dried cranberries.

 

I have a new beverage obsession. When I lived in the States it was Pom Tea, (Peach flavour, holla!), and here, its this lightly flavoured carbonated water.

It has 9 plant extracts – ready? Ok, here we go -

1. Acai
2. Hibiscus
3. Birch Leaves
4. Mulberry Leaves
5. Elderberry Flowers
6. Coriander
7. Dandelion
8. Calendula
9. Juniper

 

 

The flavours aren’t over-powering, they’re just present enough to gently touch your tastebuds. Rafraichissant!

After a big of errand running, I hit the yoga mat. It was a pretty good class, but the teacher talked a bit too much of ‘celebrating the differences of bones in your body, in your hands and feet’ and to ‘celebrate the fact that you’re able to do this pose, you’re here, you’re tangible’. I don’t mind centering banter like this, but it was a bit much for me. It was an hour class, and I was starving when I was done.

I came upstairs and ANNIHILATED a beautifully tender mango.

Yeah. I bought two. They’ll probably be gone tomorrow. Hopefully I won’t be as famished when I eat it, so I’ll have more time to take some better photos.

Have a nice day, bloggies!

Scrambled

 

Nope, still not me.

 

My breakfast, of course. With the Financial Times,

A slice of toast, Parm, and a glass of Sanguine Orange juice,

  

Pulpy and tangy. A mug of Earl Grey was also in line to get into my belly,

With a small Rusk, getting soggier and lovelier by the second.

A few hours later came a fresh bowl of ‘naner, pineapple and strawberries.

Which turned into this;

All thank to the addition of some yogurt, pom seeds, spelt puffs, ground flax and a dollop of cottage cheese.

Wait, shh, what is that?! Do you hear it? SHHHH!

Ah, man.
It’s my Econ book. Ughhhh.

Bye bloggies. (:

Toasted

 

No, It’s not me that’s toasted… Today, anyway.

KIDDING!

Woke up this morning to a nice mug of Guatemala blend and a Krisproll,

Then got cracking away on my studies. Fortunately I didn’t have any classes today, so a leisurely review of my AP materials was in order. Just the way I like it.

After I’d had enough of MPS, the Multiplier, Ben Bernanke and other Macroeconomic activities, I made perhaps the most wonderful food ever.

Toast.

With St. Dalfour wild blueberry preserves,

It’s rich, with just a touch of sweetness. I absolutely love how the berries stain everything they touch. When I’m not wearing white, of course.

See how it just seeps into the towel? That dollop wasn’t on there for more than a few seconds. Beautiful.

One simply nutty, the other covered in a lovely layer of said preserves.

With a spot of Earl Grey,

Who came together with the simple slice to harmonize,

Mmm. Grudgingly I got back to Macro, but then was distracted by my super model of a dog, enjoying the lake breeze in the balcony -

   

She’s got the ‘I’m-too-beautiful-to-look-at-the-camera-directly” look down, don’t-cha think?

If Idiots Could Fly…

This place would be a flippin’ airport!

 

That joke has been running around in my mind all day. Maybe I’m subconsciously dissatisfied with everyone around me. But not my blogsters! Oh, no. My blogsters are beyond airports.

Before I went to class I had a banana and coffee. You don’t get to see the banana today. My apologies.

So I came home from class, you see. And I was hungry, you see. So I did what a person normally does when they’re hungry, and I made lunch. Yes, lunch. Most people like the afternoon meal. Most people like food, as well. Just as Joseph Brunee’s editorial People Like Food, courtesy of The Onion, (America’s Finest News Source) I like food too. So here is what I ate.

 

A flippin’ amazing salad with a bunch of gloriousness on it.

Cucs, cherry tomatoes, pineapple, hard-boiled egg, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, Quorn, all enrobed in a lovely blueberry yogurt dressing. Scrum-diddly-uptious.

I also devoured some cornbread with a drizzle of Greek honey.

Eaten with a fork, all messy-like and in my face. The only way to be eaten. Unless it’s with chili. Or as muffin.
Also, cornbread stuffing is nice.

Back; For the 31st Time; And I Mean Business. And also an Egyptian Re-Cap

After much thinking, many days of browsing friendly foodie blogs, and meal after meal of unphotographed food, I have made a decision.

I’m back. For good this time. No more once a month posts.

Things are much calmer now – I got into my first 2 choice schools, Elon and Northeastern, and for the next few months, all that’s on the agenda is food blogging and travelling.

So what have I been doing the past few months?

I went to Egypt over Christmas with my family:

Engraved hieroglyphics in the Mortuary Temple of Hatchepsut. 

Yours truly, comforting a small statue of Horus. The Romans chopped off his beak during the Iconoclasm under Constantine.

Egyptian Pita on the back of an annoying little boy named Bakshish -

Let me tell you, this kid was QUICK. He was also quite the Con artist for such a young’n – He managed to run off with 10 Egyptian pounds from my Pop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 —

 

A Palestinian and an Egyptian, in front of the pyramids. This is perhaps my favourite photo from the entire trip. These two men were so deep into discussion, they didn’t notice me snap about 5 pictures of them. I wasn’t far away either.

My sister and I, it was ridiculously windy. We were caked in a layer of sand when we left.

The Pyramid of Khafre, the setting sun.

Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and the Sphinx.

Khufu, et le Sphinx.

Like a Bad Magician, The Mystery Drawer Reveals His Contents…

But wait, hold on y’all, the future arrives bearing another great update! It’ll be up before you can say ‘John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt”.

 

Whoa, really? Done already? You speak quickly. Or think quickly, those of you who didn’t want to be cought singing campfire songs to your computer…

I’ll leave you with something a little meatier.

Remember when I did THIS entry on the mystery drawer! Well, I’m finally going to reveal the innards. No winner, unfortunately, but I hereby declare you all winners. Awww. What a Dr. Suess world we live in, eh?

My CHOCOLATE DRAWER!

Yeah. You heard me correctly. I said a Cho-co-late-dra-wer. Southern drawl on ‘drawer’. Are you jealous? Are you going to make your own? Will I have an army of wooden boxes filled with delectable cacao concoctions congregating, my own drawer leading them all to victory in the epic battle against all other sweets, glucose and coco butter staining the battlegrounds?

Man. I read too much Stephen King…

The Hershey’s Nuggets were a gift from a friend who came to visit over the Summer, and although I love to support the good ‘ole American standard Hershey co, their chocolates just don’t compare to Cailler and Lindt. Sorry Yanks, the Swiss’ve got you there. (They’re also good at making Gluhwine and Watches.)

 

Until my next! Which will be soon! Come back again! Thanks! Don’t forget to make your own Chocolate Drawer!

Oi, I sound like the cute old man from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Beneath an Orange Sky

Oh I had a dream I stood beneath an orange sky, with my brother and my sister standing by. I said brother, you know it’s a long road we’ve been walking on. Brother, you know it is. And I had a dream I stood beneath an orange sky.

 

Good morning men and gentlewomen.

The tournament went well, we played a total of 21 hours over the weekend. It was insane. I was so sore on Monday, I thought if I had to dive for another ball my legs would fall off. I had a lot of this while I was recovering:

 

 

No, I didn’t eat ceramic. Or wood. Or shadows? Think of what goes in the mug … No? Really? Still don’t know. Sheesh. Y’all are thick. You should know me better than that.

Try coffee.

 

 

 

Just kidding. I know how smart my audience is.

 

 

 

 

My favourite fruit is in season. I eat these like my life depends on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll give you another clue:

 

 

Pay no attention to the dry skin and cuticles, it’s the colour that matters …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still don’t know? Okay, good thing I have one more clue. If you can call it that.

How do you tell the difference between a walrus and an orange?

Put your arms around it and squeeze it. If you don’t get orange juice, it’s a walrus.

HAHA! I love jokes like that, the ones that make you feel stupid. Like ’should I be laughing? I know I understand it…’

Yeah, there’s a lot of orange in my life lately. The other day I turned in my application to Chapman in Orange County. I hope the admission folks appreciate my supplemental essay comparing Chapman to Chapstick… It’s a long story, but anytime I hear Chapman I think of Chapstick. I made it work…. I think.

Oh, also, my title is from a song by Alexi Murdoch. I also just found out it was featured on the soundtrack for the OC – Orange County. I’ve actually never seen the show. But, if they like Mr. Murdoch, then they have good taste in music.

And now for something completely different.

 

I like to call this Thanksgiving oatmeal. It doesn’t roll off the tongue very well. I’ll work on the name.

With vanilla beans, wheat germ, and cranberry sauce, it’s a cornucopia of flavours,  and ingredients which were a staple in the 18th century.

It was good. Real good.

 

So good, you should make it right now. Stop reading this.

 

 

… I said stop.

 

 

Oh, you’re not hungry? I don’t care. Go make this.

 

Now.

 

Please?

 

 

You’ll be ever so glad you did…

Okay bye! Enjoy!

Breakfast, Anyone?

Howdy folks. I leave this afternoon for a Volleyball tournament in Geneva, so I thought rather than depriving you of an update until early next week, I’d give you a quicky now.

What’s a VD post without an opening cup of Joe?

This is my newest addition to the Starbucks mug collection – it’s the fall edition, can you tell what it says to you as you sip? If you guessed ‘boo!’, then give yourself a pat on the back and a gold star from me.

 

Fluffy Greek yogurt I found at leshop.ch – our online delivery grocery store. Who would’ve thought being lazy and ordering groceries from your couch was green!

Cool, creamy, filling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now, I give you a step-by-step guide to my favourite breakfast.

Bottom layer consists of a chopped Gala apple,

Then some ‘naner,

And a big dollop of Greek yogurt, with cinnamon and crunchy granola -

 

To get a filling and fresh breakfast. Or snack. Or brinner … Or any meal.

Uh, I like cutting my ‘nanaers into thick and thin slices, because if I get too many mouthfuls of mushy banana… bad things happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderfull weekend, y’all. Until next week!

Nerves; 3,000 Miles Strong

I sent in my absentee ballot over a week ago, so the nice folks at the Troy Ohio agency should be filing it away! (Or throwing it away, or recycling it, or whatever they do with the ballots…)

But holy Moses am I nervous. I can’t imagine if I were in the States today, are y’all going crazy?

I’m keeping Fox on all day. All night. At 1am my time the first poll booths will close. Will I be sleeping, warm and cozily in my fluffy bed? Heck no! I’ll be gnawing my teeth, pulling my hair, twiddling my thumbs.

Writing about this is doing nothing for my nerves. Let’s move on to the eats.

Du cafe,

Kein Krisproll today, so I had a whole wheat honey-cinnamon board. They don’t absorb the coffee as well as Krisprolls.

Broccoli et choux-fleur. Salt and lemon juice. This pictures so in-your-face. Like ‘Bow down! I am broccoli!’ 

 

Salad with steamed Zuccini, butternut squash, Quorn cubes, parsley, yellow bell pepper, and a yogurt-lemon dressing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a little Microeconomics -

Hey, that got my mind off of the Election! ‘Twas nice while it lasted.

Off to be nervous again, next time I post … Well, I don’t want to jinx it. Adios muchachos!

Nudge Nudge

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Prepare yourselves for a list of reasons as to why you haven’t heard from your favourite vegetarian disciplinarian …

 

1. I think a photo will be better than any combination of words;

 

Oh, you haven’t met? Well excuse my manners! Allow me to introduce to you Oakley, Annie Oakley. She goes by Oakley. She’s a Tibet Spaniel, and her great great great grandparents were bred to keep Monks in Tibet company. What does a Monk friendly dog do, you may ask. Well, she lolls about, cuddles in between your hair and neck, licks your profusely, and can’t stand to be away from you. She’s lovely. (But you can probably see that)

 

 

2. I’ve never revealed this before. Brace yourselves. I’m about to reveal my identity. My name is Natalie Portman.

 

….. Psych!  I’m Ansley, which you know, I’m 18, and go to an international school here in Switzerland. I’m in my last year – and just finished most of my applications. I’ll tell you more about the schools and who lets me in as the posts keep coming!

3. This is combined with the previous – I’m a busy kid. I have volleyball 5 nights a week for 2.5 hours – I captain the school team and play on a local Swiss team. Of course I do other things, and spend a lot of time being our student council president, and blah blah all that scholarly stuff, but this is my passion, and by golly, I’m back boys and girls.

Okay, I’m sick of excuses. Let’s get going, shall we? Okay.

 

Let’s start with a batch of protein bars I improved. I was going to spend a few pretty pennies on a box from Amazon, but my better judgement kicked in and I decided to make my own.

A base of protein powder, applesauce, eggs, oats and ground flaxseed. With almonds, dates, a few chocolate chips on top. 12 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber a pop.

A schmorgasboard dinner – roasted brussel sprouts with brown sugar and nutmeg, baked tofu with a tangy tamari sauce, crackers and broccolli/cauliflower.

Brussel sprouts normally disgust me, but I hadn’t had them in a few years so I decided to give em another shot. They were alright, but you won’t be seeing an appearance from them again anytime soon.

 

I eat a bowl similar to this nearly every day -

This one has banana, pumpkin, plain yogurt, and cinnamon. Can you turn orange from too much beta carotene? Because I just might …

And lastly, to wrap up this post, my star fall ingredient, cranberry compote.

On a freshly baked, flaky, buttery gipfli. In Deutsche. Croissant en Français, Crescent in American English.

Tart, slightly sweet, perfect with the aforementioned pastry.

Yum.