{Stroopwafels and the flu}

after being very busy and contracting regular flu and strep throat, i am finally well enough to do things!
i suppose that i was exposed to the germs on the dance floor at a club i went to
but at least i was only deathly ill for 2 days; my 101.7 fever is gone now!
i unintentionally gave blood before i got sick
i mean, i meant to give blood, but i didn't know that i was gunna be sick 3 days later
so that put a bit of a hamper on my recovery time

yesterday i went to henry's; i needed something with sugar.
i know this may sound like an excuse for a relapsing sugar addict, but the sugar coats my swollen tonsils which in turn lessens my coughing fits

i couldn't find dry lavender soda so i meandered down the rest of the aisle into the cookie aisle and saw them.. stroopwafels!!i couldn't believe my luck that the kind i found were vegan; shady maple farms certified organic stroopwafels.. the maple kind!

stroopwafel = a dutch waffle cookie with a caramel-like syrup filling.
it originates in the town of gouda in the netherlands
being sweet, it is traditionally eaten with morning coffee or tea

the history of the stroopwafel is surrounded is mystery!
the earliest documentation of its creation was during the late 18th century or early 19th century.
a baker wanted to use up leftover crumbs so he sweetened them with syrup and.. the stroopwafel was born!
in the 19th century there were around 100 stroopwafel bakers in gouda and today, only four of those are still open and running.
stroopwafels weren't even made outside of gouda until 1870, and in the 20th century, were factory made.
another tradition says that napoleon may be the one to thank for stroopwafels
apparently, in the 1800's he dictated that sugar was to be grown in holland, which at the time, was a part of the french empire
not unlike certain situations today, napoleon wanted to free france from reliance of foreign goods [sugar], and not long afterward the stroopowafel made its appearance in gouda
stroopwafel recipes are guarded secrets that are passed down from parent to child, generation to generation like a family secret

they are made with two waffle-like wafers that have a caramel-esque filling
sometimes hazelnuts or other add-ins are added to the filling

i plan to veganize a stroopwafel recipe in time..
i'm not exactly up to cooking a whole lot right now

{Coffee: black juice of life}

Everyone knows that Scandinavians love coffee.
My family comes from Norway
Therefore, we drink coffee.

A lot of it.
I've been drinking it since I was twelve and it didn't stunt my growth.. I'm 5' 10".

Anyways..

Trader Joe's has it some good coffee!
 

Their bay blend ($5.99 for 12 oz) is dark, dark and dark.

Very reminiscent if the coffees I would order at cafes, growing up in the bay area of California (San Francisco).

It is a blend of Mexican high grown and Colombian excelso beans roasted extra dark.It's like coffee to the tenth power!
 

I've been hooked on the Scandinavian blend ($6.99 for 13 oz) since I discovered it last winter.

This one is a combination of medium and dark roasted beans.

The dark beans hail from Colombia and Peru, while the medium beans hail from the Dominican Republic
 

Last winter I also came across gingerbread coffee!

There is actually real ginger and spices mixed in with the beans.

Once brewed, cloves and ginger mingle with the coffee-aroma.

Very Christmas-y.
 

I've always wanted to visit New Orleans.

I find the architecture, history, culture, cuisine and cemeteries very interesting!

So when I spotted this Cafe Du Monde chicory coffee ($5.20 for 15 oz) at 99 Ranch Asian Market, I just had to buy it.

I would have preferred that the beans were whole.. I love grinding my own coffee beans.

But they weren't and tasted great anyways!

Spicy coffee.

 

This is where my coffee lives.. inherited from my Mom..

{Birthday bleach}

Hooray! Today is my birthday and I'm 22!
It's kind of odd..
When i was little I never thought that I would live to be 20.
It just seemed so far away.
But now i am beyond that

and fine
 
I baked my birthday cake
Still need to ice it though.Got the recipe from wholefoods.com
vegan maple-almond cake.
I baked two circular cakes because I needed enough cake to carve into the shape of an owl.
I tasted a scrap of cake and..
I loved it!

It wasn't tooth-shatteringly sweet.

The recipe doesn't even call for sugar.. maple syrup is the sweetener.

{Whole foods wonders}

Trip to whole foods was a success!All of these recipes can be found on wholefoods.com!

I purchased the ingredients to make:
-mushroom ceviche
-chocolate pumpkin truffles
-vegan tiramisu
-savory wild rice forestiere
-maple pecan birthday cake
 

Along with a pumpkin spice latte (to die for), vegan gumdrops, my favorite dorset cereal (berries and cherries), pumpkin butter and a few other things.

It was great to talk to the employees there.. when I used to live in Hillcrest I went there so often I got to know all of the employees.

Made mushroom ceviche for dinner.

The real reason I wanted to make ceviche is because of the character on Chowder.

I really like ceviche's leotard and voice and how he's hopelessly in love with Panini.

The actual food ceviche is a citrus-marinated seafood dish hailing from Peru.
In the non-vegan version, the meat was marinated in a citrus-based mixture and allowed to marinate for 3 hours.
The long marinating time allowed the meat to absorb the citrus, pickling it.
In the recipe that I made, the dryness of the mushrooms worked perfectly to absorb the juice.

The zucchini was crisp and the chives were fragrant.

The only thing that went wrong was that I didn't have any lemon juice so I used the juice of half a lime.

Arranged the ceviche in a dish, ate it with chips and listened to awesome 80's music while sewing Viking garb.

I still watch arthur so I bought this to make and eat during the program.

{Day 1}

3 days until my birthday, which means 20 until halloween.

tomorrow i get to visit my old second home.. whole foods!
i have 5 new recipes to try, including birthday cake
plus veganizing more recipes from the scandinavian cookbook that my grandma gave me
potatoes and lingonberries = good stuff