Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A Reggio Emilia-Inspired School


In one of my education classes, we visited an Reggio Emilia school. Reggio Emilia is a place in Italy that has a completely different way on how they do school.


The student sit on tree stumps, and the teachers don't have a huge office-like desk, so that the children feel they can approach them easily. The colors (aside from art supplies and stuffed animals) are natural and neutral as opposed to fluorescent lighting and bright, primary-colored plastic everything.


I also liked that everything hanging on the walls were from the children, rather than a "hang in there!" kitten poster.






They also teach the students yoga and its benefits! Omg.




If you want to learn more about Reggio Emilia schools (especially inspired ones in North America), check out this website!
Later!

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Monday, November 11, 2013

What Stealing Taught Me


For awhile now, I've been hearing and seeing more and more of Questlove and The Roots. Just seeing this The Red Bulletin magazine in the waiting room peaked my curiosity to the fullest.

So I stole it.

And boy, did I learn!

The only things I've known The Roots for is playing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and being musical guests on Yo Gabba Gabba... Now, I was generous enough to leave the Yo Gabba Gabba video down below. Don't knock it until you've listened to it! I swear the musical guests on that show always kill it.



Anyway, from reading Questlove's interview, I learned that a lot of talent curated in this man from the time of birth. His parents were a part of the music business, so he had the opprotunity of running every facet that show business calls for.

When asked what his sense of where new and emerging talents were honing their skills, I'd have to say his answer resonated more than anything else in the interview:

"Hip-hop kind of turned its own Ginsu sword on itself in about 1997, when suddenly only winners counted, and losers or strugglers weren't shit... You just want to watch the amazing slam dunks, not well-executed team play. Puffy started that era, in my opinion. The narrative became aspirational and all about winning. It no longer celebrated the water boy, the statistician, or the assistant coach. Those people helped the team as well." -Questlove

Questlove is like a human music history timeline. I wasn't able to finish reading the interview while at the doctor's so I slid away with it, have become enlightened and humbled because of it.

Who would've thought the waiting room was like a permanent library?

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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Cookie Dough Dip with a Bullet


I'm definitely a lover of chocolate chip cookie dough, so when I ran into a recipe for one you could eat straight and guilt-free... I made sure to make it ASAP.

You can scope the recipe here if you want a gander yourself. Within that, I modified it for my circumstance (Magic Bullet vs. quality food processor). It's from a healthy dessert blogger named Chocolate Covered Katie. Believe me, I was quite skeptical myself, until I Googled people's opinions of all her other treats, including this one. Ultimately, she has my trust, and stomach.

But I digress.

I coddled this recipe as if it were a firstborn. I read through pages of reviews on Chocolate Covered Katie's post for alterations people made, as well as any alternatives I would need to make.

For example, she wants you to use a quality food processor. I do not own a food processor, only a Bullet. So for all of my fellow "I-live-in-an-apartment-and-can-barely-make-room-for-a-toaster-on-my-countertops" patrons, I have my altered recipe that I felt needed to share with anyone else who owned a Bullet, or anything else that wasn't a food processing dream. Because one of the more common complaints I saw was the texture being off-putting. But mine was smoooooooth.

One of the first things I did was take all the skins off each and every chickpea. I only saw one complaint about it, but better safe than sorry.

I then thoroughly rinsed small batches of the chickpeas about half a minute for each cluster, to rid of as much bean-y juice as possible.
 

 As another prep step, I blended the oatmeal needed (for thickness, I assume) into a powder ahead of time with my Bullet.

Below, are the exact instructions from Chocolate Covered Katie's recipe. In red, I'll put the changes I made to ensure a smooth, cookie dough, texture:

  • 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (I peeled them skins off) or white beans (1 can, drained and rinsed very VERY well) (250g after draining)
  • 1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
  • tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup nut butter of choice I used Mara Natha's Raw Maple Almond Butter (You can get away with using only 3 tbsp. (I'm pretty sure I just used 3 tbsp instead of 1/4 c) If you use peanut butter, it’ll have a slight “pb cookie dough” taste, so if you don’t want this, try the Deep Dish Cookie Pie instead. Just don’t bake it.)
  • up to 1/4 cup milk of choice, only if needed I didn't use the full 1/4 cup. I used only half of that 1/4 cup, and honestly could've used a little less than that to make it a tad bit more dough-like. For reference, I used vanilla almond milk.
  • Sweetener of choice (see note below, for amount) (I didn't add the note, check her website I linked you to earlier! I used brown sugar)
  • 1/3 cup chocolate chips, or these: Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips  (A lot of people, including myself, substituted for mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to get more chocolate in each bite)
    • 2 to 3 tbsp oats (Ground flax will also work) I blended the oats before I started mixing anything together.
Baby steps: blending before the blender.

Chocolate Covered Katie's instructions CONT'd:

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a good food processor (not blender), and blend until very smooth. I did not do this with my Bullet!! Instead, I mixed all the ingredients pretty well in a bowl first, then blended with my Bullet in small incriments. Then mix in the chocolate chips. My Bullet got hot, and so did the "dough", so I let it chill in the fridge before adding the chips. They just melted otherwise. (Some commenters have had success with a blender, but I did not. Try that at your own risk, and know the results will be better in a high-quality food processor such as a Cuisinart.) If made correctly and blended long enough, this should have the exact texture of real cookie dough! Hence my alternative, alerting, red commentary!

The last thing I saw pretty frequently in the comments section was that it tasted best when chilled for a few hours, or even kept in the freezer for a bit. I saw one person make cookie dough balls with this recipe! Froze them and dipped in tempered chocolate.

I don't know about you, but writing this post has made me hungry. I may whip up a batch in a couple of days (out of vanilla almond milk). I hope you have the confidence to try this dip! It really isn't too difficult at all; the outcome is completely worth it!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Welcome

Welcome, all!

I am so grateful to anyone who stops by out of curiosity and/or support, so thank you.

The point of this blog? It kind of stems from this Facebook status I made a few days ago:


  
I want to share with you guys things I find while exploring not only my own city, but: recipes, music, thoughts, and harder-hitting topics... Pretty much anything that sparks me into a typing spree.

My word is definitely not law, but I just would like to express myself and bring exposure to whatever I feel needs it-- whether it be tedious, fun, or serious.

Image of Anna Lee and Jesse, courtesy of Google Search

I've been inspired by vloggers on YouTube such as annaleeandjesse who show off the beauty of LA scenery and food in their humble, day-to-day life. I'd like to expose the great cracks and crevices of Indianapolis that I feel deserve recognition. 

Image of Claire Marshall, courtesy of Google Search

I've also loved what Claire Marshall's channel has done to inspire me. She vlogs about things she finds interesting in her life; does tags when she sees fit; and just lives her great life and shares what she loves with her viewers in her own unique, and creative way.

I adore both their styles very much, and since I lack a quality camera-- as well as a computer now-- I'm going to blog and take photos mainly from my smartphone, and produce quality posts from there. Editing whenever I can from laptops I mooch.

I'm working to make this blog the best it can be. Quality over quantity.

At this point, I've got to work with what I have. 

I'm doing this because a vibrant energy has been pulling at me to do something along these lines for months now. Blogging is no stranger to me; I've been doing it for years. But hearing SO many amazing people tell me they love my writing and/or Facebook statuses clearly tells me this is something I simply can't sit on.

So with that said, welcome to my journey toward a more permanent smile in my life. : )