michellefelt

Weekend Recap No. 1

I want to practice more journaling so here we are with a weekend recap.

Let’s start with Friday

I’ve been working at catching up on subscription box reviews over at FYS and I feel satisfied and overwhelmed at the same time. Jeremy has asked me if there is a point I should just call it even and not worry about back posting. The thing is they’re a resource for myself and anyone else, so I don’t think I can let that go so easily.

Friday workout was a streaks (everyday), 13 mile bike ride, and a walk around the neighborhood.

While walking I’m always inspired with writing ideas that I never have time to come back to or the flow isn’t the same when back in front of the keyboard. Today I thought up chapter titles for a memoir.

Bulimic for a Week.

That Lesbian Haircut.

I also came up with a recipe that I made for dinner when I got home. It used Gardein beefless tips, white mushrooms, spaghetti—which I thought was angel hair, but wasn’t—onion, and beefless vegetable stock base.

I cooked the tips and set them aside. Sliced the mushrooms and onions and started sautéing them in a little bit of olive oil. Brought water to a boil in a too-small pot. Whisked up about a cup of broth and 1/2 cup of plant milk with 2 tablespoons corn starch. Brought broth to a boil and added cornstarch milk mixture to create a savory brown gravy. Cooked the noodles. Then mixed everything in a big pan: noodles, gravy, mushroom-onion mixture, tips, and a few extra spices. I would call it a stroganoff, but I don’t know. It was really good!

While eating we started the movie Sicario with Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro. Highly recommend. A++ The music was fantastically different and went straight into my veins. Love that! The soundtrack is available on Spotify.

Saturday

I got up and made these pancakes from ground up oats (oat flour), banana, pb, baking powder, and plant milk. They were good, but not as stiff when it came to flipping as I would like. I would modify the recipe and add a little chia flour or something. I’ve made so many pancakes that are healthier leaning that have a moist center. Is that just the way healthy vegan pancakes are? I don’t remember standard omnivore pancakes and their texture. My go-to vegan buttermilk ones at FYS aren’t like that so I’m not sure what it is. Maybe the chia flour makes all the difference.

I worked on FYS posts for quite awhile and then decided to venture out for errands. Jeremy was resting from his cold so it was a rare solo adventure.

I dropped recycling off at the recycling center, which I don’t normally have to do, but the ones at our complex have continuously stayed full. Also, dropped off a box for Goodwill.

Then Safeway. The day before the Super Bowl. In the afternoon. I’m brilliant.

Maneuvering around the store wasn’t bad just the checkout lanes. I bought potato varieties, broccoli, parsley, cilantro, juices, kombucha, mushrooms, bananas, oranges, apples, frozen fruit, bread, seltzer water, and probably some other stuff.

It seemed like a lot of stuff or about what we normally get, but like half the price. I don’t know if it’s Jeremy or the combo of us together, but we like to impulse shop and I seemed not to do that whilst by myself.

Got home and started making homemade fries and a potato-based nacho cheese sauce. Inspired by High Carb Hannah’s latest video.

Went upstairs and wrote some more.

Later around eight we watched The One I Love (imdb) with Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss. Written by Justin Lader. Directed by Charlie McDowell. Produced by the Duplass Brothers.

I’m now convinced I’ll watch anything the Duplass brothers are involved with.

Because this movie doesn’t go anywhere you’d expect and that is so invigorating. Maybe that means the trailer was really good too, because it was misleading. I remember feeling that way about Fight Club too.

A few months back we watched Creep, another movie with Mark Duplass and I think written by him too. Same similar invigorating suspenseful feelings. Very original stories and concepts.

Sunday

Made hash browns from a package, but added mushrooms, red pepper, and onion. Cooked them in the griddler for about 20 minutes-until the top was crispy. Very tasty and a go-to lately.

Then I spent all day writing old posts/reviews.

Had leftover noodles sometime in the middle of the day with kalamata olives, nooch, peperoncinos, and mushrooms. Very good. Obvie.

Didn’t watch any of the Super Bowl except came down for half time. I go through phases with football and I’m currently on an out phase. I was thinking about how I don’t like Coldplay while watching them, but then thinking that I would be dancing and having fun if I was there sooooo why not just ‘be’ like you are there and enjoy it? Does that make sense?

Wrote some more. Then decided to wax my bikini area with these strips I had. That was only the second time I’ve waxed down there, the last time was when I was 20 or 21 and it didn’t go well. This time went significantly better in the sense I didn’t get hot wax on a favorite shirt and hair actually came out. What even?

There’s nothing more rewarding or satisfying then knowing you didn’t scream while looking at tufts of pubes matted into floral-esque pink wax.

Wrote. Went to bed. Couldn’t sleep. Read more of The Boys in the Boat and finally succumbed to sleep around 1 am.

Eat more veggies. xx

Uncategorized

I’m Now on Bloglovin’!

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This post is really just an excuse to claim my url with Bloglovin’, but hey what better way to get the word out too?!

Bloglovin’ is probably one of the more popular reader aggregate sites. It allows you to keep track of all of the blogs you’d like to follow.

You can save posts to collections, much like Pinterest and go right to the post to easily comment.

Also, all readership ???? supposedly goes to your own analytics.

Are you on Bloglovin’?

travel

Wyoming Question Mark

All I know for sure is that today is January 3, 2016 and I took these pictures on Wednesday September 19, 2015.

I think it’s Wyoming. There are cattle and straight highways.

We left Eastern Washington Tuesday night and then drove to Missoula to stay at the Quality Inn before heading East and than South.

Before the sun set we passed a lot of cows.

I always feel happy to see them until I realize their future. But then happy that most of their day is like this versus a stockyard.

Cool diagonal clouds.

Nice straight flat roads that are void of traffic, but not as boring as Nebraska.

The sun is sneaking away leaving us to imagine we’re in a Western with really fast horses.

Good night Wyoming question mark. xx

Tags roadtrip, sunsets, wyoming

Reflection

The Addictive Nature of Espresso Making

Post author By Michelle Felt
Post date December 31, 2015
No Comments on The Addictive Nature of Espresso Making

A dream came true this week. Jeremy has been pining after an espresso maker for years. It’s just never really made sense, but then one day it did and he ordered a refurbished Breville.

Happy coincidence it arrived on Christmas Eve. A nice little self-gift that doesn’t take up as much counter space as I once thought.

For the record I’ve never been a coffee drinker. I can take it or leave it. Much how I was about smoking when I considered myself a non-smoker that smoked occasionally usually socially.

When I started my first office job I would take coffee, but then quickly counteract the dark brew with milk and sugar. About 50-50.

Fast forward a few years to when I started seeing Jeremy. I practiced taking coffee black. I forget the purist reasoning behind it, but it seemed like the thing to do. Really appreciate something for what it was not what you turn it into.

My cycle with coffee goes something like this. I drink it black. I drink it with a little almond or soy milk. I drink it with a little hazelnut agave. For two or three days. Then I stop. I’m just over it.

On the fourth or fifth day I get a caffeine withdrawal headache, I take an Excedrin, and don’t touch a cup of coffee for several months.

Then I’ll have this thought that a cup of coffee sounds really good and I’ll have some again. Repeats cycle.

The headache is what really weirds me out. A physical dependance. That then turns into needing coffee to function. Isn’t it strange that some truly need it in order to feel alive and happy? Or to push a headache off to the edges?

I myself feel more cheery when I drink it.

But, I don’t like something to have that level of control over me.

A legal drug. So strange.

But what I’ve noticed in the last week since we have this gleaming caffeine machine, is that I’ve drank more ‘coffee’ than I ever have. Ever.

It’s not just the addictive nature of the coffee bean. Making and consuming espresso combines with any OCD tendencies you might have.

Have you ever made an espresso? It’s a very scientific process for something with only one ingredient. More scientific than baking.

The beans must be ground just right. Too fine or too coarse and the water won’t flow right.

Once you have the grind there’s the weight of the grind. We’ve been making double shots, because why would you waste time with a single?

We’ve figured out 14 -14.2 grams (or .3) is what we need to achieve a close to perfect shot of espresso.

Now that there’s a mound of coffee–you have to tamper it into a puck. Supposedly using 30 pounds of pressure.

What does it feel like to push 30 pounds? I’m still not sure. I know what lifting 30 pounds feels like.

I would rather know the coffee is pressed 2 cm into the portafilter.

Too much pressure and the coffee could be too compacted and again the water won’t run through. Too loose and it won’t reach pressure?? That’s a guess. I’m not really sure.

Then as if all those things weren’t enough to figure out, there’s this little gauge that tells you you failed. Try again. Soon. Like right this second. Weee! ☕️

All the scientific measuring of grams and if the pressure goes outside of the dial’s grey zone you will get 1/16th of the espresso that you should have.

I just brewed one where the dial shot up, started pouring right before the first screw, then pushed to the second screw almost in the danger zone. Holds breath. It stopped just past the second screw before backing up and settling between the two screws.

I wahood! Loudly.

I did it! A ‘perfect’ cup.

For me. Relatively speaking.

What did I do differently than yesterday when I got 1/16th of a cup? Did I tamper better?

The OCD drive to achieve a perfect cup means you want to make another one even though you wouldn’t normally drink another cup of coffee.

You want to see if you can win the game and make another perfect cup.

Refining the process while mentally keeping track of each step.

Chasing perfection.

Tags addiction, breville, coffee, espresso, obsessive, ocd, perfectionist

travel

New Pets Available at Devils Tower

Post author By Michelle Felt
Post date September 23, 2015
No Comments on New Pets Available at Devils Tower

Last Thursday we visited Devils Tower on our way down to Denver.

It was my first time taking in this sacred space and I loved every minute of it.

On our way out we urgently pulled over to take in the community of prairie dogs.

Sadly and probably fortunately they are not really ‘pets’ available for sale. ????

Please don’t feed them as they are quite adept at foraging for roots, seeds, grasses, and the occasional insect.

Some interesting bits I learned about Devils Tower prairie dogs:

In Idaho whistle pig is slang for prairie dog
Prairie dogs live in colonies or ‘towns’
Copulation occurs in the burrows, Jeremy and I spent some time theorizing this before I verified in Wikipedia their non-voyeur status
Most ‘families’ or coteries have one male and up to 3 females—if there is a 2nd male, one will always be dominant over the other
They like having their photos taken
Communicate through yips and barks—kind of sounds like a dog’s squeak toy
Ground trampling by pronghorn and deer help maintain a ready supply of flowering plants—a prairie dog diet mainstay