home is grand && these are the reasons why...

i have been trying to upload photos for the past 4 days, but the internet is extremely shady here so i finally succeeded today.

these are frozen mango and cherries. i 'snacked' on these the first night home--and by snacked i mean ate half of each bag.the coffee everyday is terrible for me, but it's honestly what i look forward to. the morning routine i have going is pretty blissful for me right now so i am going to go with it.
last friday, i apartment shopped all day. good news is that i got everything squared away and i had a delicious meal at thai pavillion. i am going to be frequenting that place many times next year. the actual dish looked much tastier than the leftovers.
this is asparagus from my dad's garden. it is covered in liquid smoke, onion and garlic powder, and garlic. i shouldn't have cooked the garlic, rather i should have added it afterwards as i normally do. still so great!
the glassware i am using was my great aunt's. it's from the depression era and is called---wait for it--depression glass. it's been sitting in my mom's china cabinet so i asked if i could use it. i thought it was pretty cool.

we grilled out for mother's day. my brother is an expert griller. i marinated the red peppers, onions, and asparagus in spicy dijon mustard, a bit of soy sauce, olive oil, and onion and garlic powder overnight. he grilled everything for about 10-15 minutes. it was so delicious! my mom really enjoyed the onions. :)

i've been in the mood for an icecream like treat so i've been making the frozen banana concocotion in the food processor quite a bit. i don't use the food processor as much as i thought i would. sorta wish i didn't get it, but i guess it's worth it for this:
this is a little drink i made. [non-alcoholic]. haha. it has diet 7up, a little bit of lime juice and water. so, bascially it is watered down diet 7up. but i like it...

such a busy little girl!

i have been doing lots of things lately and my life is a whirlwind. i don't feel like it will ever stop.

this is a little rundown:::

lots of raisins to eat on sunny days on the quad between classes


pizzzzzzzza! i had crust in the freezer so...i made pizza twice in one week. it was divine. it had artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, onion, and garlic. YUM.



i got some bubble tea yesterday b/c it was HOT outside. it's blueberry. i think i'm going to try somewhere else b/c it wasn't fabulous, just so-so. i really like the tapioca balls inside though--such a great idea!

today was the first farmer's market of the season in urbana. i made the 45 or so minute walk over there this morning. boy am i glad i did!

i've heard a lot of hype about this place called veggie trails [their website: HERE]. i am writing my last column for my vegan column on this little food stand. how great for urbana! i had to wait a long time for them to begin serving lunch, but it was well worth it. this is the texas bbq wrap. my review will be up sometime next week.
i got some cilantro so that i could have it on hand at home. i wish i had more hands so that i could have gotten some basil and oregano. perhaps, i will get some when i am home again.

i got some pumpkin butter made by the people in the amish community of arthur, il. my best friend's husband's friend is from there so i thought it was special.
i also went to a march and protest regarding SB 1070 that was signed into law on april 23. it allows police in arizona to pull over people they suspect to be illegal immigrants. my question is this: how do they decide that someone 'looks' illegal??? and also, let's think about the arbitrariness of borders and the idea that they are these fixed geographical loctaions when they are fluid and it's obvious in the fact that they have been changed in the past. anyway, that's my spiel about that--if you want to read more about things of this nature you can check out my other blog.


when i got home, i was in the mood for something cold and yummy. soooo, i made banana ice cream. i've seen this on so many other people's blogs and i have wanted to try it for so long. lucky for me my bananas were overripe [too overripe to eat even for me] so i froze them last night. i used the food processor on them even though i'm not sure it was so great for the blade since they were frozen solid. hmm...oh well.
as you can see i went a little overboard with the chocolate...
oh! i also got asparagus which i'll post when i make it this week.

t-minus 5 days til moving day. yiiiikes! it came so quickly.