addierose444

[addierose444]

Easy Workday Breakfasts

Throughout much of high school and college, I rarely ate breakfast. This is primarily because I’ve never been much of a morning person so waking up any earlier than strictly necessary didn’t seem worth it. I’m also not a huge fan of typical breakfast foods. In college, I always hated the weekends because rather than providing a proper lunch most of the dining halls only served brunch. And while I do like some breakfast foods, buttermilk pancakes for instance, in general, I don’t consider them to be real food. I do consider eggs to be real food, but for roughly a decade I couldn’t stand the taste of them. As of January of this year, I’m now able to eat eggs and in a typical week make a spinach omelet for dinner two nights a week (with the leftover spinach from my tofu spinach salads). I hope to share the full recipe soon, but the secret for me has been adding cheese directly to the raw eggs. 

Now that I’m working a full-time job, I typically eat breakfast (during the workweek that is). To make my mornings easier, I tend to gravitate towards meals that I can prepare the night before and eat at work. I tend to eat the same breakfast every single day for a few weeks or months after which I’ll mix it up. In this post, I’ll go through the weekday breakfasts I’ve enjoyed over the past ten months as well as some commentary on why I started or stopped eating it. 

Yogurt with Granola

This was my go-to breakfast during the first two months of my job. This breakfast can be made the morning of by simply spooning yogurt into a bowl and topping it with a handful of the granola of your choice. The granola simply provides flavor and a crunch. To enjoy it in the office you’ll need a container for the yogurt as well as a separate smaller one to keep the granola dry. (Alternatively, you could store the granola in your office as it doesn’t need to be refrigerated). My storebought granola of choice is the Kind Peanut Butter Whole Grain Clusters. I’ve also successfully made my very own peanut butter granola by combining rolled oats, peanut butter, maple syrup, and avocado oil on a sheet pan and baking. (I made this as a snack for my hike up Mount Si, but unfortunately don’t have an exact recipe). If I remember correctly, the yogurt I used to use for this breakfast is low-fat vanilla. It would also work well with a higher fat and/or plain yogurt with a little bit of maple syrup. As for why I stopped eating this breakfast, part of it is that I stopped eating breakfast in my apartment. Additionally, the store-bought granola was a bit pricy and it wasn’t until this spring that I tried making it myself. 

Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

This is one of my absolute favorites! It’s somewhat similar to the previous breakfast but has a different texture and ratio of ingredients. To make my overnight oats I simply stir together half a cup of rolled oats, half a cup of milk, two large spoonfuls of peanut butter, and a splash of maple syrup. The oats then sit in the fridge overnight to absorb the milk. The next morning the oats can be enjoyed cold straight out of the fridge. Milk as compared with yogurt has some pros and cons. The pro is that I could get free 8oz milk cartons from work. The con is that I had to remember to grab milk when leaving the office. As for why I didn’t just buy milk at the store like a normal person, the reality is that I’d end up wasting a lot of milk as I only needed two and a half cups per week. (I don’t drink milk and would only cook with it on the very rare occasion to make mac and cheese). 

Oatmeal with Dried Cranberries 

In the winter, it can be nice to have a hot breakfast. Thus for a time, I turned to hot oatmeal instead of overnight oats. The easiest way to make a single portion of oatmeal is in the microwave. Simply combine half a cup of rolled oats, one cup of water, and a small pinch of salt in a deep microwave-safe bowl. Cook on high for two minutes, stir, and cook for an additional 30 seconds. To serve, add a splash of maple syrup and a handful of dried cranberries. The one downside to hot breakfasts is that they to be eaten at home or prepared in the office. For that reason, this breakfast only really stuck for about two weeks. That said, I think it’s still worth recommending.

Peanut Butter Toast or Rollup 

I don’t have a toaster so the toast version of this was just a sad piece of bread that I thawed overnight. Yeah, doesn’t sound great, but peanut butter is delicious and pulled its weight. I can’t exactly remember why I started eating this breakfast, but I think part of it was that I was missing peanut butter but not ready to return to something fridge-cold. One downside to this breakfast is that it isn’t particularly filling. That said, at the time I was eating a very early lunch with folks on my team so a filling bowl of oatmeal was overkill. Over Thanksgiving, I ate store-bought yogurt cups. After Thanksgiving I, by and large, reverted to being a no-breakfast person. I guess part of this was due to those early lunches and all of the rich holiday meals. In mid-January, I temporarily returned to eating peanut butter for breakfast this time spread over half of a flour tortilla and rolled up. 

Strawberry Yogurt

By the end of January, I returned to having a yogurt-based breakfast. The motivation for this breakfast was to incorporate fruit into my diet while also being more conscious of the amount of carbs I was consuming. Despite being for health reasons, I genuinely do look forward to this breakfast each morning. To make this breakfast, I start by making a maple yogurt base by adding four tablespoons of maple syrup to a quart of plain whole milk yogurt. For the strawberry part, I finely chop or grate frozen strawberries. To make a single serving, I combine ⅕ of the yogurt (just over ¾ of a cup measured as three serving spoon-sized spoonfuls) and ⅓ cup of the strawberries. I’ve not yet tried mixing all of the strawberries directly into the quart of yogurt, but don’t think it would come out as well. For starters, the yogurt container is already full to the brim after adding the maple syrup. More importantly, once fully thawed the strawberries add a bit of water to the yogurt which could mess with the texture. Finally, I don’t know how long the thawed strawberries would last in the fridge. 

#breakfast #workday #overnight oats #yogurt #recipe

[addierose444]

First Eight Months at Microsoft: Loop in OneNote

As you may already know, I’m a software engineer at Microsoft working on the OneNote team. While I don’t typically write about work, I wanted to finally share that for the past eight months, I’ve been working with my crew to integrate Loop components into OneNote Web. 

For those unfamiliar, Loop components are collaborative pieces of content that can be used across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem to help facilitate ideation, creation, planning, and more. As for how they integrate into OneNote, users can now create them directly in OneNote via the insert ribbon or by pasting in existing ones. If you’re a programmer like me, I’m sure you’ll love the code block component type! For more about Loop in OneNote, do check out this blog post written by my project manager! 

As for why I’m sharing this now, we’ve recently rolled our feature out to 100% GA (general audience) which means that you can now start using Loop components in OneNote Web! Refer to this support article for more information, but note that you’ll need to be logged into your work account and that your organizational admin must not have disabled Loop components. The other purpose of this blog post was to share this personal milestone of having my code out in the world! It really is so cool knowing that real users can now use this feature that I’ve been working on for months. As for what comes next, I’ve actually already started working on my next project: Copilot in OneNote. This one is a bit different in that the feature is already publicly available, but it’s still a new and exciting space to be working in. I know this post was pretty high-level and re-directed you to official articles, but if you are curious do check out this post about how I used OneNote as a student. Despite no longer being a student, I do still use OneNote in my personal life and hope to eventually write a post about that. 

#microsoft #microsoft onenote #microsoft loop #loop components #software engineering

[addierose444]

April 2024 Rock Climbing Update

I finally have a real answer to the hobby / what do I do for fun question. Spoiler, it’s rock climbing. I know it’s meant to be an easy question, but it’s one I’ve struggled with in the past. While I don’t feel the need to be super interesting and try not to care too much about what other people think, it is also true that don’t exactly want people to realize how boring my life is. And to be clear, I like the way I choose to live my life and don’t personally find it to be boring. Unfortunately though, having one hobby doesn’t seem to satisfy the people who ask, so there’s often still the follow-up question of what else I do for fun. The most truthful answer right now is not much or listening to music and podcasts. There are other things I enjoy doing but I don’t presently make time for them (playing the guitar) or my primary motivation for doing them isn’t enjoyment (cooking). Part of me wants to have more hobbies, but if I’m honest with myself it’s more just that I feel like I should as opposed to being something I truly want. 

As for the rock climbing update, while I still can’t put into words why I enjoy it so much, I am thoroughly obsessed and would be climbing every day if I could. In addition to it being a ton of fun, I also like how it gets me out of my apartment and moving (without it feeling like exercise). And in all seriousness, climbing has the power to turn a bad day around. Part of how I know I truly love climbing is that it’s something I’ll happily do on my own. That being said, I have more recently started getting to know other climbers at my gym. While I don’t love that I’ve found an expensive hobby, the fact that I’m willing to spend money on it is a real tell that it’s something I genuinely care about. In my November 2023 bouldering update, I mentioned that I’d been climbing on average 2.78 times per week. Nowadays four times per week is pretty normal for me. Despite injuring myself two weeks ago (minor ankle sprain), my love of climbing has only grown and I’ve ironically been climbing more than ever. I’m not yet fully back to bouldering, but have been doing a fair amount of top roping and am now able to warm up on easy boulders. Regarding my current bouldering grade, I’d still consider myself to be a V3 climber but have now successfully climbed two V4s. As for my top rope climbing grade, I’ve been primarily sticking to the 5.10s (including the pluses and minuses).

#rock climbing #bouldering #top rope climbing #hobbies

[addierose444]

Polenta with Sausage and Peppers

In this post, I’ll be sharing the recipe for another of my go-to quick and easy meals. As with most of the meals I prepare, this one is simple enough not to require an actual recipe. That said, I’ve been finding it fun writing up these recipes and doing the ingredient price breakdown. If you missed it, I shared my tofu spinach salad last month. From start to finish, this polenta with sausage and peppers meal comes together in under 25 minutes. It’s very easy to prepare, but do know that bringing it together so quickly involves multitasking and that it’s pretty much all active time. (Therefore it’s a particularly good idea to fully read the recipe before starting). Note also that the end result will be slightly better if you take a little extra time to brown the sausage and further cook down the peppers. Regarding the quoted time, I did actually time myself making this meal on Thursday night. I started the clock the moment I stepped into the kitchen and stopped it after serving, taking photos for this post, and putting all of the ingredients away. As for clean up (not included in the time, sorry), it’s easy enough provided that you let the polenta pot soak while you eat.

While tasty enough to enjoy year-round, I will note that it’s best suited to the winter months when you’re looking for something warm and comforting. This recipe makes two servings, which makes it perfect for dinner and a workday lunch the following day. To reheat, simply microwave a portion for 60-90 seconds. The polenta won’t be quite as creamy the next day, but it will still make for a very satisfying meal. (I don’t recommend freezing it though and as I’ve established it’s quick to prepare fresh). As with most simple homecooked meals, it’s relatively affordable with the per-serving ingredient cost under five dollars. 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 sweet Italian (or apple) chicken sausages

1 red bell pepper (frozen peppers also work well)

¾ teaspoons Better than Boullion roasted chicken base, divided

½ cup yellow corn polenta

4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese 

1 tablespoon salted butter 

Preparation:

Add 1 ½  cups of water to a small pot, place over high heat, and bring to a boil.

Add the olive oil to a cast iron skillet and preheat over medium heat.

Dice the sausages and pepper. Add to the skillet along with ½ teaspoon of the roasted chicken base and stir to combine. 

Cover and allow to cook, stirring occasionally.

Once the water comes to a boil, add the remaining ¼ teaspoon of the roasted chicken base to the water and stir to dissolve.

Add the polenta and cook over low heat for five minutes stirring regularly at the start and occasionally after that. 

While the polenta is cooking, grate approximately ½ cup of cheddar cheese. 

Once the polenta is cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the butter and cheese. 

Divide the polenta into two serving/storage containers and top with the sausage and pepper mixture. 

Ingredient Price Breakdown:

Extra virgin olive oil, $11.99 for a 33.8-ounce bottle at Trader Joe’s

Sweet Italian chicken sausages, $4.29 for a package of four at Trader Joe’s

Organic red peppers, $3.49 for a pack of two at Trader Joe’s

Better than Bouillon roasted chicken base, $8.39 for an eight-ounce jar at PCC

Bob’s Red Mill organic yellow corn polenta, $3.89 for a 24-ounce bag at PCC

Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese, $13.99 for a 32-ounce block at QFC

Kerrygold butter, $4.49 for 8-ounce block at Trader Joe’s

Calculation: $11.99/67/2 + $4.29/4 + $3.49/2/2 + $8.39/38*3/4/2 + $3.89/15 + $13.99/32*4 + $4.49/16/2 = ~$4.27

#recipe #cooking #polenta #peppers #sausage #quick and easy

[addierose444]

Why I Eat A Predominantly Vegetarian Diet

Tofu and tempeh have become staple ingredients for me. Accordingly, whenever I talk to people about the food I make, I almost feel the need to explain how I’m not actually a vegetarian and do enjoy eating meat. While I by no means aspire to be a vegetarian, as it happens only a small fraction of my meals contain meat. The main reason for this is that I do not like cooking meat. And while there are ways to eat meat without cooking it, I generally prefer making things from scratch with simple ingredients. Some fully cooked meat products that I do buy from Trader Joe’s include sweet apple or sweet Italian chicken sausages, Italian-style beef meatballs, and pork gyoza. Additionally, on the rare occasion I eat out, I typically order something with meat in it. 

Another reason I don’t eat a ton of meat is that I don’t fully trust the meat at the grocery store as I was arguably spoiled growing up on a small family farm where we raised our own grass-fed beef and chicken. While I somewhat wish I had meat more often and should get more comfortable cooking meat I do genuinely enjoy the food I eat and have found that it saves me a lot of money. Regarding cost, it’s always a consideration, but not the end-all deciding factor. For instance, I choose to buy organic items most of the time and will pay more for products I deem to be of higher quality. At the same time, I actively price compare within and between stores and strive to stick to a defined shopping list and budget. I’m still optimizing how I create my shopping list each week, but will share more as I learn more. 

#food #groceries #meat #tofu #tempeh

[addierose444]

Mount Si

The past few days Redmond has had the most beautiful weather. Between that and the beginning of daylight savings time, it has been incredible to see the sun again and feel it on my skin. I’ve done simple things like eating outside at work and just sitting outside on my mini patio. And today, I went on my first hike of the year. Specifically, I hiked Mount Si which is located roughly 40 minutes away and is eight miles round trip. Bouldering roughly four times a week likely has me physically stronger than I’ve ever been, but turns out hiking is a totally different kind of workout. And yes, I’ve been hiking plenty in the past and did know this, but still. Despite having my calves burn during the first part of the hike, overall the climb up was fantastic. We really lucked out with the weather as it was sunny enough to brighten my day but still cool enough to be relatively comfortable (which isn’t to say it wasn’t a sweaty experience). The view from the top was another highlight. The hike down on the other hand was quite rough on the knees and honestly not very fun. 

Going on the hike was a very last-minute plan, so figuring out what to eat was a bit of a challenge. For starters, none of my regular meals are particularly hike-friendly. Specifically, the cold meals I eat are yogurt with frozen fruit and tofu spinach salads. Furthermore, as you may know, I’m all about meal planning and would typically spend part of my Sunday doing some basic meal prep for the week. I ultimately decided to do my meal prep late Saturday night between returning home from the climbing gym and going to bed. The planned prep was baking tofu for my salads as well as making rice and baking tempeh for my rice bowls. However, I also ended up baking some of the tempeh in a slab form to make an experimental sandwich for my hike with Colby-Jack cheese and a cheese bagel I got from a work event last week. Honestly, a bit of a strange combination, but it worked out well enough. The other addition to my planned meal prep was making a simple granola as a snack for the hike. I eyeballed everything, but essentially just combined and then baked rolled oats, peanut butter, maple syrup, and avocado oil. It turned out to be delicious, but as it happens granola is sort of difficult to eat on a hike. 

#hiking #mount si #pacific northwest #washington state #meal prep

[addierose444]

Post Graduation FOMO

I’m still very much a new grad, but with 2024 commencement rapidly approaching I’m suddenly realizing how far removed from college I am. I know I always say that I can’t believe how much time has passed, but seriously I’m genuinely floored by the fact that I graduated college nine and a half months ago. 

I’ve been told that the first summer break hits particularly hard. And while I can see how that may be true, if like me your closest friends are a class year younger, their senior spring hits very hard. Even though I’m less stressed than I was in college and I do enjoy my work and the new life I’m creating, I really miss my college friends and have recently been feeling a lot of FOMO as my friends make the most of their senior spring, plan a fun spring break trip with some of their new friends, and figure out their post-grad plans. 

Fortunately, I will get to spend time with them in just over two months as I’ve decided to visit for senior week. However, I can’t help but feel a bit nervous about how things will have changed in a year and that I’ll realize how much I did miss out on. Things aren’t this simple as I almost certainly wouldn’t have made the same friends or had the same great experiences, but part of me does wish I could trade away my sophomore year to be a senior now. I know it’s not at all helpful to dwell on this, but I also do think that being honest and capturing these feelings is generally a good thing. 

At the end of the day, I am grateful for having made the friends I did during college and that I’m able to call them friends today. I also recognize my great fortune in having a college degree and an incredible job straight out of school. Finally, two of the best parts of my post-college life have been cooking for myself and bouldering regularly. 

#class of 2023 #post grad problems #FOMO

[addierose444]

Initial Digital Minimalism Experiments 

As mentioned in recent blog posts, I don’t love how much I’ve been using digital technology in my day-to-day life. I’m required to be on a computer all day for work, so limiting my use of technology in my personal life just makes sense. In general, I’m looking to be more intentional about the way I spend my time. Not sure what I’d like to be doing with whatever time I get back, but the current priorities are rebuilding a reading habit, continuing to make time for rock climbing, and getting better about going to sleep on time.

I’m proud to say that I’ve never had a FaceBook, Instagram, or TikTok account. Obviously, I have this Tumblr account, but it’s not a problem for me as I don’t scroll through Tumblr. Even when I don’t have much to say, I benefit from writing blog posts as it allows me to be a creator not just a consumer of content. Content has become a bit of a cringy word, but that’s what it is. I will note, however, that procrastinating these blog posts does impact my sleep. While it would be cool to engage with readers, I’m so glad it’s a one-way interaction. Additionally, I do have a LinkedIn account, but I rarely check it and spend at most ten minutes scrolling through posts when I do.

For me, YouTube is a real-time suck. I genuinely enjoy most of the videos I watch and often just listen to the audio so it’s not always real screen time. Even so, it’s just too much. The changes I’ve implemented thus far are unsubscribing from several YouTube channels, disabling YouTube on my phone, and putting a 0-minute timer on the website itself from the web browser of my phone (via the Digital Wellbeing app). While they weren’t necessarily time sucks, there were several other apps I deleted to further declutter my phone. I’m still working on a full overhaul of my phone’s home screen and various settings but will be sure to keep you all updated. One thing I've done in the short term is add the screen time widget to my home screen for awareness. If you are curious, you can check out the what’s on my phone post I wrote during my sophomore year of college. 

Here’s a sneak peek into some digital technology that plays a positive role in supporting my hobbies and goals. First of all, I get my books through the Libby app to either read on my Kindle or listen to directly. (If you haven’t heard of Libby it’s an amazing app that allows you to borrow ebooks and audiobooks from your local library). I also use Goodreads to keep track of the books I’ve read as well as my want-to-read list. These climbing apps are less critical but fun to share. The KAYA app enables you to log climbs and watch beta videos. I also just downloaded the Kilter Board app which is used to control my gym’s new light-up climbing board and to log attempts/accents. While these climbing apps are cool to have, the most useful one is the simple habit tracker I created in Google Sheets. Speaking of Google Sheets, the other key digital tool is my expense tracking spreadsheet.

In thinking through where/how/when to use my various pieces of technology, the other big change I’ve made is moving my computer and its charger out of my bedroom. The plan is to only use my computer at my dining room table (the only table I have). While I may let myself use it on my couch from time to time, I’m hoping to have that space to be primarily dedicated to reading. Moving my computer is something I should have done a long time ago and I’m hoping sticks.

#digital minimalism #rock climbing #reading #technology #digital wellbeing

[addierose444]

Rebuilding a Reading Habit 

In last week’s post, I reflected on the misalignment between my current day-to-day life and my core identity of being a lifelong learner. I also lamented that I’ve been spending too much time mindlessly on my computer. Upon further reflection, I’ve determined that rebuilding my reading habit would be a great place to start. 

I hate to admit it, but I only listened to six audiobooks in 2023 and didn’t read any physical books or ebooks. Let’s rewind the clock to the summer before college (2019) during which I read a total of 25 books. (Note that this figure includes books read on my Kindle, audiobooks, and one physical book). While my initial motivation for reading so much was that I expected to be super busy in college and therefore not have the time to read, the experience led me to the realization that reading was something that I needed and wanted to prioritize in college. Accordingly, I set up a 30-day reading challenge of reading a minimum of 20 pages per day. Over time, I by and large stopped literally reading books but listened to audiobooks pretty much every single day. With this daily habit in place, I averaged a book a week in both 2020 and 2021. I was on track to do the same in 2022, but then senior year happened. I ended the year having read a total of 41 books but had only made it through six books during the fall semester. As I reflected on this in my post about my 2023 intentions, numbers only tell you so much; the real tragedy was that reading was no longer a daily habit nor something that I prioritized. At the end of that post I wrote “in terms of media consumption, I look to reprioritize books and podcasts and be more intentional with my use of YouTube.” Well, I managed to incorporate podcasts back into my life but I utterly failed to rebuild my reading habit and wasn’t nearly intentional enough with my use of YouTube. 

Back to the present. This week I re-listened to Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism and started two new books (an ebook and an audiobook). Having two books going at once may not be sustainable, but I like the idea of having an ebook to read before bed and an audiobook to listen to while doing tasks that don’t require much mental attention. I also began the process of decluttering and reorganizing my phone, but that’s a topic for another post. I may need to put some systems in place to help facilitate the rebuilding of my reading habit, but the past few days have already reminded me why I love reading and listening to audiobooks. 

#reading #audiobooks

[addierose444]

Reflections on Being a Lifelong Learner

What I miss most about college is my friends and how easy it was to spend time with them. But believe it or not, I also genuinely miss taking classes. What I don’t miss is the homework, exams, and resulting stress. Well before graduating college, I determined that being a lifelong learner was a core part of my identity. And while I’m constantly learning new things at work and just through navigating adult life, I’ve come to realize that I miss learning for learning's sake. 

Maybe not the best example as this is a practical skill, but this weekend I had so much fun working on my finance spreadsheet in part because I got the opportunity to learn several new-to-me functions in Google Sheets. Also, I’m just nerdy like that and love spreadsheets and personal finance. You can read more about the expense tracking part of my spreadsheet in the linked blog post. 

While I’ve been careful to avoid falling into the trap of needing to “be productive” outside of work, the reality is that since graduating college I feel like I spend too much time mindlessly on my computer and could direct some of this time/energy to more fulfilling things like learning. Bouldering three to four times a week has been incredible and does have mental aspects to it, but I’d also like to challenge my brain in new ways on the days I don’t climb. I don’t yet know what it is I want to learn next, but this is something I plan to actively think about and reflect on in the coming weeks. 

#lifelong learning

[addierose444]

Tofu Spinach Salad

To incorporate more vegetables into my diet (and fewer carbohydrates), I’ve recently incorporated salads into my regular meal rotation. I’ll be the first to admit that for the longest time, I didn’t consider salads to be a real meal and just saw them as a side. On the rare occasion I did eat a salad during college it was simply because there was nothing else I was willing to eat. In other words, salads were my absolute last resort. And while I still don’t exactly crave salads, I’ve genuinely been enjoying eating this tofu spinach salad for lunch. The crispy tofu serves as a source of protein and also sort of acts like croutons. While a recipe isn’t really necessary for such a simple meal, I’ve been having fun trying to document my meals and meal planning in this way.

Speaking of meal planning, I make this salad four times a week. And that’s an exact number because part of my whole meal planning thing is all about preventing food waste and knowing exactly how each purchased ingredient will be used before buying it. In the case of this salad, one package of tofu is enough for four salads, the red peppers I buy come in a pack of two, and the blue cheese is enough for the four salads with a little extra. As for the spinach, two bags is significantly more than I need, but that does force me to make another two meals per week with spinach. Still developing the recipe, but one meal I’ve been using extra spinach for has been a spinach omelet. Sidenote, but even with predominantly organic ingredients, each salad costs me less than $3 to make. I didn’t do a price breakdown for the vinaigrette or the tofu ingredients, but the other ingredients total $2.46 (see price breakdown at the bottom of this post). 

Ingredients:

2 ounces baby spinach

½ red bell peppers

1 ounce blue cheese 

For Crispy Tofu (4 Servings):

14 ounces extra firm tofu

1 tablespoon cooking oil (canola, olive, or avocado) 

1 tablespoon tamari

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

For Apple Cider Vinaigrette:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon maple syrup

Preparation:

Make the Crispy Tofu:

Drain the tofu and press out excess moisture with paper towels.

Cut the tofu into small cubes. (As shown in the photo below, sixths in the x-direction, eighths in the y-direction, and quarters in the z-direction).

Add the cooking oil, tamari, and tofu cubes directly to a quarter-sheet pan. Move the tofu around to coat each side with the oil/tamari and then spread it into a single layer.

Broil the tofu on high for 20 minutes stirring every five minutes. Before the final five minutes, drizzle over the sesame oil.

Prep the Rest of the Salad:

While the tofu cooks, you can prepare the rest of the salad.  

Cut the red pepper into thin strips and then quarters. 

Combine the vinaigrette ingredients in a small leakproof container.

Add spinach. 

Crumble the blue cheese over the top of the spinach.

Top with a quarter of the cooled tofu. 

Ingredient Price Breakdown:

Organic baby spinach, $1.99 for a six-ounce bag at Trader Joe’s

Organic red peppers, $3.49 for a pack of two at Trader Joe’s

Organic extra firm tofu, $1.69 for a 14-ounce package at Whole Foods

Blue cheese, $7.99 per pound at Trader Joe’s

Calculation: $1.99/3 + $3.49/4 + $1.69/4 + $7.99/16 = ~$2.46 

#spinach salad #crispy tofu #meal prep #meal planning #recipe

[addierose444]

Current Thoughts on Blogging

As has become typical, there isn’t anything of note to write about this week. To be honest, maintaining this blog has become a bit of a chore and this post is being written after my artificial deadline. I spent the evening unsuccessfully attempting to brainstorm a topic for this post. I eventually opened up this document and added some unrelated sentence fragments. But mostly, I was just switching between staring at the mostly blank document and hunting around my Google Drive to see if there was anything I’d already written that I could post. 

I care and don’t care about missing said artificial deadline. I care in that it’s a goal I set for myself and it would be better if I’d met the deadline and could be sleeping right now. On the other hand, the truth is that way too many of my recent posts were posted right at the deadline and then edited for the next thirty or so minutes. In other words, I’ve not been perfect at meeting the deadline in a real way. That said, I’m not stretching the truth much when I say that I’ve been posting weekly blog posts for my entire adult life. I started this blog during the final month of my senior year of high school and am now eight months out of college. (Sidenote, but last week was my official six-month job anniversary!). I’m proud of this level of consistency but have also gotten to the point where maintaining the blog isn’t for the love of it. While it’s important to acknowledge this and truly evaluate if blogging should remain a part of my life, the reality is that I’ve felt like this before and have found my way back to the blog. Part of the problem is that I don’t prioritize the blog enough really do this reflection and struggle with the idea of stopping it cold turkey. 

The thing is I’m not totally uninspired and without ideas. Just two weeks ago I was feeling a newfound optimism about the future of the blog. Specifically, I was excited to write more about meal planning and share my recipes. And while I still hope to write some of these posts, I’m currently in the process of overhauling and rethinking my entire diet. Furthermore, there’s just a higher level of dedication required for these posts and I don’t yet have enough motivation to get started. 

The other challenge with blogging is that my life isn’t really interesting enough to share with the world. I enjoy the life I’m currently living, but it’s arguably very boring. Seriously, I’m not just saying that because it’s my own life. My regular life consists of work (which I can’t blog about) and rock climbing (which there isn’t much to say about). And even when I do have other things going on, there’s only so much of my personal life that I’d feel comfortable posting on a public blog. One area that I find very interesting and think about often is personal finance and budgeting. However, I’m not an authority on the topic and once again can’t post too much private information. 

#blog #blogging

[addierose444]

University of Washington Greenhouse

In this post, I’ll be sharing a few photos I took inside the University of Washington Greenhouse. I visited the greenhouse as a part of an event organized for fellow young members of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), the national honor society I’m a member of. I don’t recall writing about this previously, but back in October, I attended a PBK networking happy hour at Big Time Brewery. At the greenhouse visit, it was nice to see some familiar faces from the first event and also meet some new folks. After exploring the greenhouse, we had lunch at Shultzy's Bar & Grill where I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and raspberry rhubarb cider. If you enjoy this collection of flower photos, you should check out my posts about the Smith College Bulb Show next!

#flowers #university of washington #uw greenhouse #plants #Phi Beta Kappa

[addierose444]

My Kitchen Essentials 

One of my favorite things about having my own apartment has been having my own kitchen. Furnishing the rest of my apartment was an expensive and sort of stressful process. The kitchen however has been a lot more fun because I inherently find kitchen gear more interesting and had enough of the basics to get started without breaking the bank. Because I keep my meals simple and only work with ingredients that I enjoy, I genuinely love cooking for myself. I shared my peanut butter overnight oats and tofu rice bowl recipes in a post about Sunday meal prep a few months ago, but am hoping to share more of my go-to meals in a proper recipe format. 

The core essentials that I brought from home include a 10-inch cast iron pan, a 1.5-quart stainless steel pot, a small wooden cutting board, a pairing knife, a chef's knife, and a pair of scissors. I also brought a basic set of dry measuring cups (¼ cup, ⅓ cup, and ½ cup) and measuring spoons. While I haven’t done any baking here and don’t follow recipes when cooking for myself, the measuring cups have been really useful for cooking various grains. A few items that I brought but haven’t used include a lemon juicer, a garlic press, and a silicone pastry brush. As for non-cooking kitchen basics, I was fortunate enough to be handed down a set of both dishes and silverware and to be gifted a nice wooden salad bowl. I also brought a utensil crock, a mini teapot, two mugs, two glasses, and a few food storage containers from home. 

To further round out my setup, I picked up a sieve (which I use for rinsing rice), half and quarter-rimmed sheet pans (which I currently primarily use for baking tofu and green beans for my rice bowls), a wooden spatula, and a potholder. I love cheese, so a personal essential of mine is a grater. I use it to grate cheddar for my cheesy polenta (which I serve with chicken apple sausage and peppers), pecorino romano for carbonara, and parmesan for Caesar salads among other things. I may eventually add a box grater to my setup, but have thus far been happy with this paddle-style grater that I picked up on my first full day in Washington State. Another item that I bought immediately, but have not personally used is a pair of kitchen tongs. (They did come in handy though for a work picnic). While I don’t regret the purchase per se, this just goes to show the true value of starting with the bare minimum and slowly building out your setup as you discover the limitations through experience. Other kitchen essentials that I picked up but that aren’t directly used for cooking include an airtight container for my rice, a glass food storage container for my lunch, a dish drying mat, sponges, and dish soap. 

It’s not essential, but one fun recent addition to my kitchen is the rice cooker I got for Christmas. The resulting rice is notably better than my stovetop rice, but I will note that it doesn’t exactly save time as the rice is supposed to soak for 30 minutes, cook for 15, and steam for another 15. Another important note is that the measuring cup that comes with the cooker is only about ¾ cup. Thus, when I made my first batch of rice I was a bit thrown off and only had enough rice for three rice bowls instead of my usual four. I made a double batch the second time around which allowed me to create five rice bowls instead. 

While I’m not set up for baking or cooking for a crowd, I truly do have all that I need to cook for myself. Nonetheless, I’m excited to continue building out my kitchen! A few items that I’m considering adding at some point in the future include a kitchen scale, a larger pot, a mixing bowl, a meat thermometer, an immersion blender, and an ice cream maker. We’ll see though because I’m not yet convinced that these items would get regular enough use to justify the cost and space they’d take up in my small kitchen. 

#kitchen #cooking #kitchen essentials #cooking for one #first apartment

[addierose444]

Visiting the Hokusai Exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum 

After many months, I finally had the chance to see Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence! For those unfamiliar with the name Hokusai, you surely know his famous work, the Great Wave. This woodblock print was very cool to see in person and is physically much smaller than you might expect. 

I first learned of this art exhibit back in June while I was visiting a friend in Boston and we were looking for fun things to do on a rainy day. For context, this show was at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston between March and July of last year. We ultimately decided against seeing the show due to the added cost on top of the expensive regular admission ticket and the fact that we weren’t particularly interested in the rest of the museum. In retrospect, the show was large enough that we wouldn’t have had time/energy to see more of the museum anyway. Even so, I’m not a huge fan of the pricing model. 

My friend did end up going to the show a few weeks later and had only good things to say. Thus, when I later discovered that the Hokusai exhibit would be at the Seattle Art Museum between October and January, I was ecstatic and knew that I couldn’t miss it a second time. That said, despite penciling the show into my calendar/budget back in July, it wasn’t until its second to last weekend that I finally made it to the show. It was a bit crowded, but I fortunately got in before the crazy line formed and was still able to enjoy the show. I didn’t capture a photo of it, but one of my favorite works was a scroll of a waterfall with tortoises. 

It also worked out financially to see the show in Seattle instead of in Boston as I was able to get free museum tickets through my employer (and the tickets were cheaper here anyway). Taking a few photos was a bit of a last-minute thing that I did just for this blog post, so hopefully you enjoy them!

#Hokusai #great wave #seattle art museum #art

[addierose444]

Back to Washington Post Holidays

After nearly three weeks in Vermont, I’m finally back in Washington! While getting away for a bit and spending time with friends and family was nice, I’m really glad to be back and am looking forward to settling back into my normal routine. A few things that I’ve missed include my apartment, proximity to a climbing gym, full control over my meals, general independence, and my office. I didn’t miss the rain, but I will say that I love that it’s not nearly as cold here as in Vermont. 

While I’ve been back the entire weekend, it was pretty uneventful as I spent most of the time sleeping and resting to recover from my cross-country trip. As a result, I sadly haven’t yet made it back to my climbing gym. While I did get to climb more than expected while in Vermont, I know for a fact that I’ve lost arm strength. Before my trip, I was climbing about three times a week. As I’ve said in the past, rock climbing is something I do just for fun which means that I try not to focus on improvement. With that said, it doesn’t feel great knowing that I’ve almost certainly gotten worse. 

As for missing my office, I was not a fan of working from home. Specifically, I enjoy having a dedicated place to work that is equipped with two full-sized monitors and a comfortable desk chair. That said, I am of course thankful for the flexibility of my job. And while it’s nice to be able to cook a meal and more easily snack during the day when at home, access to the kitchen can be a bit of a distraction and involves more decision-making. 

What I did get done this weekend is a draft meal plan for the month, a sizable grocery shop, and some basic meal prep. I also picked up some note cards so that I can finally write my Christmas thank you notes.

[addierose444]

2023 Holiday Food Photos

It’s New Year’s Eve as I write this and hence my final post of 2023. Even though it’s not yet the new year for me, I thought I may as well say Happy New Year! As almost all of my photos from the past week are of food and I’m not inspired enough to write a real post, I’ll just be sharing a few food photos.

As a special Christmas breakfast, I made some homemade cinnamon rolls with buttermilk icing. I made a yeasted version back in 2020, but this time tried a simpler recipe (from the same cookbook Baking Illustrated) that used a buttermilk biscuit-style dough. 

I was pretty happy with the rolls and the icing, but do wish I’d been able to compare the two versions side by side to see if the extra time for the other recipe was worth it. 

I didn’t take any photos of them, but I did get to eat several delicious soups this week. On Tuesday, I made a pork noodle soup with ginger and toasted garlic. On Thursday, I got to enjoy my mom’s chicken and rice soup. On Friday I ordered the chicken noodle soup at Pho Capital in Montpelier.  

On Saturday I went to Cold Hollow Cider Mill to try a flight of their ciders. My ranking of the ones I tried is Soul Shifter, Barn Dance, Trust Fun, and finally Grateful Sled which is a seasonal cider. 

Next, I went on the Ben & Jerry’s factory tour and got to sample their delicious Butterscotch'd ice cream. For dinner, I ordered the penne alla vodka (without the crushed red peppers) at Sarduicci’s. 

Finally, this evening I made a cheese and beef lasagna with garlic bread. I was generally happy with how the lasagna came out, but as with everything I make had a few critiques. 

#food #cinnamon roll #cider #pasta #lasagna