New Template!

This is the first time I've changed my template in...two years! I'm not completely satisfied (it's quite...large and wide, I think I want to put the archive column on the right, but that means switching to the right-side template...), but it's progress. It's really easy to customize (lots of font colors you can define yourself, columns are pretty easy to add), and I recommend the site I got it from. The photo is a sunrise in my backyard from about 2 years ago, right after I got back from Japan and my sleep schedule was super messed up.

What do you think?

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Goodbye terrible food laden with fond childhood memories.

Holy crap, two posts in one day! I haven't done that in years. And the original goal was to blog once a week!

Anyway, back to the title--I can't drink Nestle's Hot Chocolate anymore. Well, it doesn't make me ill like some other foods, and I'd drink it if you served it to me, but I'll probably stop buying it. Lately I've been drinking hot cocoa using this "cocochino" mix from Market Spice, a bulk spice shop in the market (behind the fish throwers) and it's pretty awesome. I think it's a mix of cocoa powder, cinnamon, and almond powder, which might also contain sugar. I would sprinkle it on cereal, if I were into sweet breakfasts. It's that good.

Tonight I tried drinking hot cocoa using the Nestle's mix (must hoard last bits of cocochino), and it's really different. A little salty, and I can still feel the oil coating the insides of my mouth. I wasn't really surprised, considering the first ingredient is sugar, the second ingredient is corn syrup solids, and cocoa comes right before the "less than 2% of the following..." garbage. But it's still kind of a bummer. We always drank hot cocoa when we went camping, melting a giant handful of mini marshmallows was always thrilling, and my mother even packed me a small jar when I moved up here, just so I'd have something to put in my empty pantry. Yes I acknowledge it's silly to be attached to a processed drink mix that comes in 1.73 pound canisters, but it's still disappointing.

(Hey, can you tell I just finished reading The Omnivore's Dilemma? It's funny, ever since I came back from Japan, I've kept an eye on the ingredients. Some foods just make me feel gross, almost ill, after not eating them for three years. But after reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, not only do I feel ill after I eat severely processed foods, I feel guilty. Thanks Michael Pollan.)

And because I like lists, here are the things I can't eat anymore, but kind of miss in that foolish, nostalgic way:

• Fig Newtons
• Triscuits (and I miss triscuits!)
• Pop Tarts
• Kraft Mac n Cheese
• Nestle's Hot Cocoa

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Kitchen Antics: Steel Cut Oats in the Rice Cooker

Note to self: 3 cups of water is too much for 3/4c of steel cut oats when preparing it in a rice cooker. It turned out a little too creamy (goopy!), and it left a puddle of slime under the rice cooker that I didn't notice until much later. Like 12-14 hours later. Ew.

I give it a B, as it's still edible, and I'm very grateful nothing exploded or burned or gooped all over the carpeted kitchen floor.

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I had coffee with someone new! Kind of.

So I went out for cupcakes and coffee with this girl from high school (and middle school and elementary school) who ended up in Seattle. It was nice chatting with someone new. We talked about food and shopping and her desire to visit a farm in Oregon run by dwarfs. Seriously.

Amusingly, her boyfriend is friends with the guy who got me my first temp job. This cracks me up. It would be hilarious if I got to meet him in real life.

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My Seattle To Do List

1. Eat a corned beef sandwich from Market House.
2. Woodland Park Zoo
3. Seattle Aquarium
4. The Asian Museums (Wing Luke, Seattle Asian Art Museum)
5. Bainbridge Island
6. A meal at Pasta Freska, where the chef comes out and asks what you like. He then proceeds to serve you things you can't eat, if you've specified such things.
7. A cupcake taste-off: Cupcake Royale vs. Trophy Cupcakes
8. A doughnut taste-off: vegan, organic Mighty-O Donut vs. Top Pot Donuts
9. Actually go up the Space Needle
10. Spend more than 45 minutes in the Experience Music Project (I did that in 2001.)
    
11. Hike somewhere near Mt. Rainier
12. Take an expensive food tour of Pike Place Market
13. Do (go to?) dim sum. Try not to be intimidated.
14. Go ice skating somewhere, Fisher Pavilion maybe.
15. Buy a bike. Learn to ride in traffic. Bleh.
16. Visit that goat farm I got a business card from.
17. Maybe join a CSA. Maybe.

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