POTD: What I Made with Baked Beans

Does everyone remember that post where I asked how I could serve up baked beans? Hmmm, me thinks not. {click here for a reminder}


A few days ago I made made myself up a plate of baked beans, complete with all the other unusual suspects.  Instead of the more traditional cornbread, BBQ, English toast, sausage or collard greens, I paired my saucy beans with crock-pot roasted parsnips, cheezy rice and onion jam. Unconventional, but it was what I had in the fridge.

This seems like the apt point to include a basic summary of how I roast vegetables in my crock-pot.  


Method: chop a variety of solid vegetables (such as carrots, parsnips, squash, onions, brussel spouts, beets, Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, etc.) into 1 inch chunks.  I usually chop enough to fill my crock-pot about 3/4 of the way full.  Place all of the veggie chunks into the crock-pot, drizzle with 1/2 to 1 tbsp each of olive oil and vinegar depending on the amount of veggies in crock-pot.  Cook on HIGH for about 2-3 hrs, or until the veggies are soft and have a slightly "crisp" exterior.   Try to stir once or twice while cooking to ensure even "roasting."


But if we are being frank, this is a crock-pot.  Don't miraculously expect oven fries with this method.


Anyone have other suggestions on how to pair baked beans?  Would you like a separate post with more detailed picture steps on how I roast food items in my crock-pot?  Please comment!


On a side note, I mentioned earlier how mid-term weeks usually entail:  increased coffee consumption, repetitive drawings of molecules and body systems on my mirror, chipped nail varnish, minimal-to-no-showering, insomniac pacing blah blah blah. As today is Saturday, here is what my hand looks like at the end of said week... in a little need of TLC.

Needless to say, I am about to repaint me nails and give my digits a break. (Does reading psychology or about the cardiovascular system count as a finger break?)


What does everyone else do after a exam-packed week?  Do you have a personal pamper ritual or special activity reserved for "winding down"?


Cheers, kaite ;]

7 Favorites from the Week ⋆

1. Cooking with friends for a "failed" Superbowl party. This week kicked off to an excellent start at a friend's apartment.  We had full intentions of actually watching the Superbowl, but one thing led to another. We spent most of our time cloistered in the closet sized kitchen and around the precariously balanced dining table.  By the time all the munchies were ready; there was all of 7 minutes left to the game. Oh, poo. Our Superbowl party quickly morphed into a foodie party culminating in a few episodes of Anime.  

2. Falling back in love with my necklaces. I am head over heels for this little pig necklace by brother gave me as a Christmas present.

And I pulled out my peanut necklace this week. Equally adorable ... in a nutty way.

3. The snow and ice has begun to thaw.  While the Spring thaw makes me a little sad (I love Winter), Spring means I don't have to wear four layers to walk outside during the day.  Yesterday, after I missed my bus, I actually enjoyed my long walk back to the dormitories. 

4. Facial masks!  In particular, the Mask of Magnaminty from LUSH. It is a rather deep-cleanse formula.  When I say deep, I mean this green clay is intense.  Within a few minutes of applying the mask, my face went numb from the peppermint oil.  About an hour after I washed the mask off, my face turned strawberry red with patches of "break-outs" along my T-zone. eeeeek.  But! The next morning my face was perfectly clear and even toned.  (Think: super-detox for the skin.)  This mask is not for the faint of heart.

5. Dabbling in my music play-lists. Currently, I am enjoying Starfucker's Reptilians Album (check out their music here), Kate Nash (here music video for Foundations is sweet), and Carla Bruni (one of my favorite songs is Quelqu'un m'a dit).

6. Learning to love my lazy mornings. This week I obsessively listened to Radiolab podcasts over my morning oatmeal and between classes/doing laundry/starting a new chapter of Anatomy and Physiology notes. 

7. The Vagina Monologues. Excellent, hilarious, and a completely superwoman, pro-feminine-sexuality production. I attended the Missoula V-Day event last night with a group of friends. We couldn't stop raving about the stories. It’s a powerful play and organization to be part of. I have full intentions to attend again next year. {learn more about V-day here}

Cheers, kaite ;]

A dormitory done right

A week ago on Apartment Therapy I ran across a post on how two girls overhauled their industrial-blah dormitory room into a rather functional and creative place to live.  And now I am all inspired.  My head is bubbling over with imaginative ways to enhance my small space.  A few more wall hangings here.  A strand of twinkle lights up under the bed.   Clusters of old jars for pens, jewelry, thumbtacks and random accumulative office supplies.  A curtain or trellis-like divider to add shape + structure.  My day-dreams are now consumed with interior-closet-like-space-design. 


My current space looks a bit like this (I apologize for the poor lighting! The snow outside makes my room painfully bright by 11.00am):

 {little glimpse of my bicycle and creative organization/stacking here}

{I figured a sleep picture might induce the right aura to subdue my pitiful insomnia.  Also, its a pretty image.  There's a Hamlet quote printed on top}

One day (or maybe in the next few months) I can incorporate a few elements of these inspirations into my cramped and cozy living space:


Oh the lights. The frames. The shelving. The dividers.  How can I possibly transplant half of this room to Missoula?  

I love the use of curtains, draped fabric and short bookshelves to divide the small room into "sections".  It adds a certain rabbit warren effect to the place. The white colors also open up of the room nicely.  Mmmmmmmmm cozy.  Now if I can just sneak in my own kitty ^_^

This one is just flat out hodge-podge.  But I still love the mixture of half-complete art projects, potted plants (that can survive my dormitory's weather), a frosting-blue desk chair, books proudly stacked/displayed to the point they are furniture themselves.  Currently, my chemistry textbooks have become a sort of coffee table for me while I read in bed.

Any comments?  Does anyone else have room design inspirations they have fallen in love with recently?


Cheers, kaite ;]

Getting back into the swing of things

I have been back in Missoula for one week. And while I thoroughly enjoyed reacquainting myself with my old haunts, I hate my school schedule.  Monday through Wednesday I don't get out of class until after 7.00pm or 8.00pm.  Tuesday and Thursday I don't even start classes until around 3.30 in the afternoon.  Then out of the blue on Friday--BAM!--and 8.00am lab. Uck.  For what feels like the first time in my life I am regularly staying up extra late (like 1 in the morning late) in an effort to wake-up after 7 in the morning.  So far, my ingenious plan has only caused me to sleep in until 8.00am and induce massive, panging headaches that even a few liters of water and coffee can't cure.


 At least textbooks only cost $300 this semester instead of $600.


I spent this weekend catching up on a few zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  Maybe I will wake up later this week, eh?


Just like my last week in Seattle, Missoula is a winter wonderland.  But unlike Seattle, the snow has not put the entire hamlet city under house arrest.  Everyone straps on their boots, piles on the coats and prays the Mountain Line buses won't be delayed. Below are a few pictures I snapped from my dorm window.

{little difficult to see in the picture, but in the center of the road between the traffic lanes is a 3 foot pile of snow.  NO ONE uses the crosswalks in this weather.  People literally just walk straight through the intersection}

In an attempt to cut down on my coffee expenses this semester, I decided to start sampling different brands/roasts of coffee I find around Missoula.  This particular brand, Blackcoffee Roasting Company (BRC), is roasted in Wyoming, but is sourced directly out of Missoula.  I picked up a bag of the AM blend at the campus grocery store shortly after determining I would be needing access to coffee well after all coffee shops close in the vicinity.  I've tried the BRC Mexican Chipatas blend before while at the Good Food Store and might give the Half Caf blend a go in the coming weeks.  

{dripping coffee before I devour a bowl of carrot cake oatmeal YUM}

Overall, I'd say I am rather satisfied with the brand.  The AM blend actually has a nice cocoa-creamy flavor even without soy milch. Tastes nice at 7am, 4pm and even at 6pm right before I head off to Psychology.

Other odds and bobs from the week:

On Friday, I got mail!!!!

And the one thing I was most excited to receive in the package was not the supply of much need socks, nor the ever elusive powdered soy milch, nor a borrowed copy of The Disappearing Spoon (although, as I am already a good quarter of the way through the book, I clearly am enjoying the read). Nope. I was ecstatic for crazy flavored extracts.  Yup. You read that sentence right.  I was over the moon to open up a box to see three little bottles of flavored chemicals.  I might one day develop cancer from consuming copious amounts of "Vanilla Butter Nut" flavor or artificial "Maple", but for now they are a guilty pleasure.  I slap happily dump a tsp in my oatmeal and coffee each morning. 

Broccoli sounded really yummy, so I made green peanut ramen-noodles.  Green because the ramen-noodles were green and the peanut sauce was green after I food processed a few broccoli florets into the  peanut sauce.

Over my winter holiday I fell back in love with an eyeshadow by MAC called "Club."  It is a green/brown/black oil-slick color.  Since coming back to Missoula, I have just continued to keep wearing the eyeshadow without abandon.  Its pretty. And mesmerizing. 

Cheers, kaite ;]

When the Weather Outside is Frightful...

Hello all. I am back from the dark-and-gloomy forest of "pre-finals."  The irony of university is: the weeks leading up to finals are nutty, but during the actual week of finals everyone has soooooooo much free time that we have no idea what to do with ourselves.  Or, at least, I don't. You mean I have all morning and afternoon for three days to prepare for a final?  Really. We didn't cover that much in five months. 

Anywho, December and the accompanying frigid weather has descended upon Missoula.  Most days are about 12deg F and snowing/icing. Yes, icing.  It just grows out of the ground in giant puddle shaped tubers. I feel like I live at the North Pole..  One of these mornings I will wake up to the sound of reindeer prancing on the roof.  I bet you those squirrel tracts in the snow are really squirrel tracks either; they're elf tracts.  Nevertheless, I am thoroughly enjoying the winter wonderland.  Even if it means I have to wear two pairs of socks most days to comfortably enjoy it.

 Transfer station for the Mountain Line (Missoula's bus system)

 Can you spot the 'M'?  On Friday it was all lit up for the Griz play-off game.

 My dormitory is antique. Everything is steam heated. Thus by 7.00 in the morning the windows are all foggied up.

The wind!  Not fun to walk in :(  The gusts practically topple me over on my way across campus...

In lou of going out in the weather to make snow-angels, I am expressing my holiday cheer by trucking out to toasty warm coffee shops.  They are all decorated up and I can listen to Christmas music while sipping steaming mugs of spiced coffee. Just keep the caffeine coming people; I have an Anatomy and Physiology exam to study/review for!  My most recent "re-discovery" is The Buttercup Market and Cafe. I haven't been here since the day before Uni started.  So, that would be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in iced-coffee season.  But, I returned on a whim since the Buttercup is the only cafe open near the university after 5pm. 

Reasons why I am newly head over heels in love with the place???????

1) Free Wi-fi. Knuff' said there really.  I would not be writing this post right now without the complementary plug-in. ^_^

2) Monday is VEGAN MONDAY!!!  You heard me right.  The bakery case is chocked full of vegan muffins, scones and oatmeal bars.  And if you swing back around on Tuesday, all of the unsold veg goodies are half-off in their day old basket.  Throw in the fact that there is always a veg option on the menu (whether it be a soup, salad, or samosa), I am a little pig in poo. Today, I picked up a lemon-blueberry muffin.  

3) nummy coffee.  While I will still rank B's Bakery and Le Petit Outre's straight up drip and Americano above the Buttercup's, the Buttercup makes a mean dry cappuccino.  When I say dry, I mean they know how to make a velvety, frothy foamy cappuccino.  No crappy, watery or bitter disgrace of a cappuccino. Also, the cafe keeps soy milch out on the counter next to the half-n-half with the sugar/stevia packets.  I can order myself a bottomless cup of coffee and keep coming back for refills without getting a stink-eye from the barista for stretching that bottomless cup for all its worth.

Not the best picture.... this is after my cappuccino sat for about 15minutes.  When the barista first gave me the cup, the foam was billowing over the top of the mug.  

4) The market!  More on this later.  This deserves a mini-post all to itself.

5) The view and decor.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves here--but anyone who uses cranberries in table ornamentation is after my heart.

6) The collection of old cooking magazines and picture books stacked up along the walls instead of artwork.  Just pull down an old issue of Bon Appetit or a children's book on Frogs whenever you need a mental break from the study-fest.

Where does everyone else go when the weather is snowy? 

Cheers, kaite ;]

7 Happenings from Last Week

Pull up a chair, it would be time to reflect on the joys (and frustrations) of the week. 

1. Autumn is here!  It is in the leaves, the mitten weather, the rain and the pumpkins.  Everything has sprouted layers of spicy, orangey hues.  Cafe's & coffee ships have added pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin french toast, pumpkin bread, pumpkin scones, pumpkin swirl rolls, pumpkin oatmeal bars, pumpkin-spice bagels, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin whatever to their menus.  Jack-o-lanterns adorn every nook and cranny of rooms.  Dormitory hall ways are decked out in paper leaves.  I might actually be going into overload. ^_^ Nah.  I love every obsessed bit of autumn--down to my frozen toes.

2. Hummus humbao and Halloween cupcakes at Bernice's Bakery. 'Nuff said.  Whoever had the genius idea to stick hummus inside of a roll deserves some sort of vegan medal of honor.  They have become my lunch-time, snack-time, just-in-the-area-time indulgence. Yum.  Also, this past Friday, the bakers brought out the frosted devilish delectables.  My favorite creations to ogle at are the spider-web cheesecakes and cupcakes.

Hummus humbao.  Seriously, I could eat one of these huge buns for lunch everyday.  

 From left to right: red velvet eye ball, yellow cake monster under the bed, spice cake pumpkin batch, vegan chocolate raspberry brain, devil’s food wolverine, mocha cream owl

Spider web cheesecake.  Aren't the little chocolate arachnids adorable?

3. Writing essays!  I had/have three due in the course of 4 days.  University writing courses officially rank below cleaning the toilets on my "want to do list."  Too much expected in too short of time.  I am by no means saying AP writing courses are not the same way, just in University I have already determined that Chemistry and Anatomy & Physiology take precedence. Thus, paper writing is done in haste over a steaming mug of caffeine at a coffee shop. Adios proper R&E (revision and editing).  The ladies at B's Bakery have gotten to know me rather well over the past two weeks.  It is to the point that they automatically put the soy-milch out on the counter when I walk in the door.  One perk of my predictability: I officially have a Bernice's Bakery loyalty card.  You heard me; I am now considered a regular customer. I purchase 12 coffees, pastries, hummus humbao, oatmeal things or any combination thereof and I get my 13th on the house.  Mission accomplished (see my earlier post).

4. The pleasures of a persnickety printer and its ink-cartridge partners in crime.  This mechanical devil was the bane of my week.  Whenever I needed to print anything longer than a third of a page, it jammed.  And unlike normal printers, this one has a possessive side.  To extract a single sheet of paper requires the assistance of tweezers, a flashlight held in my mouth, two ball point pens and much elbow grease.  Of course, as soon as the printer finally starts cooperating, I run out of black ink. Dry out.  Whenever I tried to even print in black, the printer would just shoot out a blank sheet of paper after emitting an array of "thinking" noises.  Gah.  Monday through Thursday morning I made due with printing all of my assignments in different colors.  All my professors must think I have a psychedelic child living inside me.  Shamrock green anyone?

 5. Aqua Mirabilis from LUSH.  While LUSH my over-price many of their products, this one is worth all $10.95.  For my dry, sensitive skin--which is only getting dryer as weather turns towards winter--this exfoliator bar both moisturizes and scrubs away all of the "grubbiness."   Not to mention the bar smells freaking amazing.  Almond butter and cocoa butter.  Drool. Now if only I can stretch it out a few more weeks...

6) We are watching movies in philosophy as part of our Freud/Civilization unit. Specifically, the Oscar picture, Crash.  It may be a little bleak and not exactly leave me feeling warm & fuzzy inside, but it’s better than shoveling my way through texts and writing essays. Right?

7) I got a care-pack!!!!!

A peak of what was inside:

I had to laugh when I saw the military rations.  Admittedly, they are vegan, but pale in interest when you compare them to what was below: HALO bars!!!

I hope everyone had an eventful week (in the good way).  Is it starting to look a lot like autumn where you are?  When do you look forward to when autumn rolls around?  

Alrightey, I need to go do laundry now.  All of my hiking socks would be needing some washing if I intend to not have ice-block for phalanges this week.

Cheers, kaite ;]