temporary hiatus.

just posting to let you know i'm here and i'm not going to abandon my blog.
life has been too stressful to bother making nice and pretty food, let alone snapping pictures of and writing about it. not to mention i've been letting myself get distracted by reading all of your lovely blogs instead of writing papers and studying... bad alaina!

so for the foreseeable future (or at least until nutcracker is over and i have my college stuff under control) i will be taking a break from blogging. i'll be back probably in a few weeks with tons of pictures so expect a painfully long post!

maple-fig glazed acorn squash.

i had two sad little acorn squashes that i'd been neglecting for a few weeks. every time i would open the fridge i could almost hear them pleading for me to cook them into something yummy. it was getting so annoying that i finally broke down. actually, i'd been thinking about what to make but with my busy schedule i can usually only cook on mondays and wednesdays and maybe one weekend day. needless to say, those are my favorite days of the week.

i know these photos are practically identical, i just couldn't decide which one was better so i'm posting them both. ;P



maple-fig glazed acorn squash
2 acorn squashes
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup fig preserves
3/4 tsp ginger

preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
slice the ends off the cute lil squashes. if you're a weakling like me you may want to microwave them for about five minutes first so they're a bit softer and easier to cut. next slice the squashes into four rings each and scrape out the goop.
place the rings on a cookie sheet (line it with parchment paper, or spray with oil). bake for 15 minutes (around 10 if you nuked them first).
meanwhile whisk together the maple syrup, fig preserves, and ginger in a small bowl.
after squash is ready take it out of the oven and brush with the glaze. put it back in for 15 minutes. then take it out and brush it again, and bake 10 more minutes or until tender.

i scraped out the insides of my rings to eat it. i wasn't sure if you're supposed to eat the skin... yes? no? at any rate, this recipe is quite good if you basically want to eat candy for dinner.

p.s. i've been tagged by josie!

the rules are to write seven things about yourself, then tag seven other people to do the same.
so, here are my seven:

1. i've played piano ever since i can remember, and i've taught it since i was 13.

2. i've also done ballet since i was 3 1/2 and i used to be in a pre-professional company but i left this year since i decided i wanted to devote my time to other things.

3. i love, LOVE sweaters. especially the grandpa variety.

4. when i was little i thought it would be fun to put my arm on a conveyor belt at the wal-mart checkout counter and it got sucked under almost all the way. and yes, i was pretty traumatized.

5. if i'm not studying, i spend my weekends hanging out around coffee houses and bars with my friends. also, most of my friends are college-aged because i kind of hate highschoolers (hypocritical, yes?)

6. i have a weakness for tattooed and pierced boys... yummy.

7. my dream is to someday live in austin in a little hippie house and paint the whole thing in east indian-type murals.

i don't know who to tag... everyone's already done it! so if you're reading this and haven't filled it out yet, consider yourself tagged and get to it.

pumpkin cranberry scones.

wow. what words are there that would adequately express my new love of veganomicon? i honestly can not think of any.



before cutting--scone pizza!! i made my circles a tad too thin i think :P consequently i got some impressively large scones. seriously, these mommas were big. not to mention freakin' delicious.



sorry for the poopy pictures. i decided that i am just not a photographer at 9 in the morning.

oh, by the way, can someone tell me why colin powell insists on having his name pronounced "colon"? did his parents seriously name him after an organ? that's like me naming my kids "spleen" or "pancreas." or, "small intestine." gross much?

(you don't actually have to tell me, this has just been bothering me for the past few days.)

lasagne marinara with spinach.

quite an exciting election, yes?! this was cool for me because it was the first time i actually knew/cared about what was going on. i'm a libertarian and didn't really like either of the candidates. but i'm sure that even though i don't agree with alot of his views, obama will make a good president.

okay, so, FOOD.

veganomicon has been checked out from my library for FOREVER now and it finally came in!
my first thing to make was the lasagne marinara with spinach.



this is weird, but when i was little i somehow developed this psychological thing with lasagne where i was convinced it would make me throw up if i ate it. luckily since then i have become more open to eating different things. so, i think this is the first time in about ten years that i've had lasagne. ha!

it turned out FANTASTIC. the tofu ricotta was especially good. i was expecting it to taste, well, tofu-y, but it really was right on.

my brother had about three pieces and my dad had four.



there are too many yummy looking things in this book! what should i make next!?

halloween!

october went by so fast! i'm sad, because it's my favorite month and i practically missed it. i didn't even get around to carving my pumpkin (my favorite halloween tradition) until the actual night of. and i don't have pictures of it either because i can't find my camera, but i promise it's cute.

since i don't have my camera i can't upload food pictures, but i can show you a few pictures from halloween night that my friend took!



i was molly ringwald from pretty in pink. didn't have time to thrift store shop for a pink prom dress so i settled for her grandma look. my friend went as an owl!







drinking coffee (what else?)

my night was fun but consisted of no illegal activity, unfortunately ;)

a food catch-up post to come soon, i promise.

hey, did you know it's world vegan day?!
yeah, neither did i. oh well, i'll celebrate the remaining 30 minutes.