A Tribute to the Homeland, My Time Recently Spent There, and My Buddy, Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both

             

And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

     

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

                      

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

~Robert Frost

I hope you all had a merry Christmas, have a safe, happy, and healthy new year!

I'll be home for Christmas.

It has always been very important to me that I spend holidays with my family.

That being said, after spending most of my Thanksgiving virtually alone in an office, I cannot be more excited about the prospect of getting to spend my favorite holiday in the good old Green Mountains with my favorite people.

However, since I will be gone for an entire week, I have been relatively bogged down at work.  I keep telling myself that "if I just make it through a couple more busy days, I'll be home."

Which is true.

On a somewhat related note, I had a bit of a moment with myself about a week ago in which I thought: "It's almost Christmas."  (Yes, Katie.  When all you hear is Christmas music and there are wreaths  EVERYWHERE, it is, generally, that time of year.)  I think what really got to me though, aside from the panic of realizing I'd done none of my Christmas shopping, was that this means I've been living in Asheville for almost three months.

The time has flown.

So, in order to lift my spirits a bit in terms of my workload and to pay some due respect to my new little home, I gave myself a project.  In regard to the former, I decided to spend my weekends and my free time visiting my favorite places (and some new ones!) in Asheville, and in regard to the latter, I decided to photo-document these little trips (as well as some of my favorite things) and post the pictures here.

I wish I had though of this project earlier so I could share more pictures, but for now, these will have to do.

Downtown Asheville.

Downtown getting in the holiday spirit.

Hibiscus-rosehip tea at Waking Life Espresso.

And a shot of espresso.  Always a shot of espresso.

So Patrick graduated last weekend (yay!) and his amazing, adorable, beautiful little dachshund pup, Cocoa, came to stay with us for the weekend.  She may not be from Asheville, but she's too cute to not get a shout-out.

And last, but not least:

(Drumroll please...)

FRENCH BROAD CHOCOLATE LOUNGE!!!

Adorable interior (lots of seating!)

Unbelievable espresso drinks and baked goods.

And...

Are you ready?...

Are you sure?...

OH HELLO BEAUTIFUL.

Oh, I forgot the most important one of all:

(He's going to hate me.)

A shout-out to this little cutie, my roommate, Patrick.  I can't thank him enough for being so accommodating and making the "NY-CT-VT------Asheville" transition so smooth for me.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas.

Much love!

Qui-NO-a, Qui-YES-a

I need to preface this post by apologizing for the title.  It's stupid, I know.

I would also like to make a promise to any "food blog-haters" that this is not going to turn into a food blog!

However, I made up a recipe last night and I was rather proud of myself so I thought I'd share.

It's a very simple, summer-y salad that is better if it has been chilled over night (as I discovered this morning.)

All you need is:

White quinoa
Spinach
Olive oil
Raisins (whichever kind you prefer)
Lemon
Salt and pepper (amount is subjective, due to the preferences of one's taste buds)

Instructions:

1. Depending on how much quinoa you are using (I used 1 cup of uncooked quinoa which yields several cups when cooked) bring the appropriate about of water (about double the amount of quinoa) to a boil.  Don't forget to rinse the quinoa before you cook it! Sometimes the outer shell tends to have a slightly bitter taste that goes away when rinsed.

Rinse meeeee

2. When the water is boiling, mix the quinoa in and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes or until quinoa is done.

The consistency should look something like this when the quinoa is done cooking.
 

3. While the quinoa is cooking, chop up some garlic (I used one large clove), pour some olive oil in a pan, and sauté the spinach until it is cooked all the way through as shown below.

4. When both the spinach and the quinoa are done cooking, drain any excess water out of the quinoa and pour it into a serving bowl with the spinach.

5. While the quinoa is still hot, add the raisins.  The heat will allow the raisins to swell making them extra juicy and delicious.  Top it off by squeezing as much lemon as you would like on top of the salad and adding your salt and pepper.

6. Voila! Enjoy.

Photos courtesy of THE Patrick Ingram.

A.R.T.

As many of you know, I made the decision to move to Asheville knowing full well that I would have to deal with the public transit here as I had sold my little Hyundai last May.

After going to school in New York, I was unfazed by the notion of public transportation.  In fact, I was excited to continue using it.  I thought I would be saving money and supporting this particular part of my new city's infrastructure (which, to a certain extent, I was).

The bus system in Asheville goes by the acronym A.R.T.

Asheville Redefines Transit.

I find this rather funny as the public transportation here is some of the most inconvenient that I have ever experienced.

I know I need to stop being a snob and recognize the fact that smaller, more residential cities are bound to have less developed transit systems due to population and the fact that people that can afford cars have them.  But let me do a little comparison for you.

Time it takes me to get to work from home by car: 10-15 minutes.

The same trip by bus: An hour and a half.

As my roommate so eloquently put it:

"I don't get how Asheville is redefining transit...by making it extremely inconvenient?"

However, I have been blessed by generous friends and co-workers that have basically served as my personal chauffeurs in the months that I've been here and, after Christmas, I will have a car and hopefully I will be able to truck them around to pay them back.

I'll still kick myself sometimes: I should be supporting public transit, people-watching at the bus station can be fun, I would be saving myself money, etc.

However, as much as I like the ideas of all of these things, I also like that extra hour of sleep.

Give thanks.

Despite its rather obvious title, I have noticed in recent years that many people seem to be under the impression that Thanksgiving is more about turkey and cranberry sauce and less about giving thanks.  Don't get me wrong, I love food.  Especially turkey and cranberry sauce.  However, I do think that it's important to take the name of the holiday to heart.  

Too many people take too many things for granted and, while I think it's important to give thanks every day, I know that it can be easy to forget.  That's where Thanksgiving comes into play.  It's basically some cosmic power being like: "Okay, you've all been selfish, whiny assholes all year.  Appreciate life for a day."  We are literally being given a day to redeem ourselves.

Growing up in a family of vegetarians, my Thanksgivings have varied from year to year and have followed a less traditional path.  However, even my weird, quirky, vegetarian family has their own Thanksgiving traditions.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Cornish game hens aside, every year before Thanksgiving dinner, we go around the table and say what we're thankful for.  It's a bit of a joke in my family that I am always the first one to give thanks and I always say the same thing.

In 1912, my great grandfather (on my father's side of the family) bought a ticket for the Titanic.  Being a poor jockey, he would have likely been fated for a watery grave.  However, at the last minute, he was asked to ride in one more horse race and he forewent his trip on the "world's safest ship" in order to take advantage of this opportunity.

So, here I am.

As well as the rest of my wonderful, wonderful family.

And, although it has turned into a bit of a joke in my family, I hope that the sentiment is not lost on anyone.  There is really nothing I could be more thankful for.  If my great grandfather had ridden on the doomed ship, none of us would be here.  And, let's be real, what on Earth would the rest of the world do without the Cawleys?

Unfortunately, this is the first time I have not been able to spend Thanksgiving with my family.  In order to boost my spirits, I decided to think of all of the things I am thankful for as well as to take the liberty of asking some of my closest friends what they are giving thanks for today.

I've included some of the responses I've gotten.

***

I am thankful for:

...for having a good job.

...YOU. And my dog. And beer.

...my family and awesome friends.

...being able to travel, beings able to live and work in NYC, for good family, friends, and food.

I am thankful it's snowing! and for family!

....for the crazy people that love me.

...that fact that I just woke up. (At 11:02 AM.)

...for having a best friend who I love.

...Marty. (Her cat.)

And my personal favorite:

I am thankful for so much, but perhaps most of all for the fireplace my parents just had put in... my life has been changed.

***

So that's that.  My cheesy Thanksgiving post.  I just want to express my gratitude and give thanks to everyone who takes a few minutes out of their day to look at my blog!  

I love you all!

"Don't wear beige. It might kill you."

My roommate and I have a bit of a joke going.

As he approaches graduation and I learn to cope with the aftermath of graduation, we are both struggling with the discovery of some of life's harsh realities.  

We joke that, despite these realities, as long as we live as fabulous a lifestyle as possible, everything will be alright.

Okay. Fine. It's not a joke.

Regardless, after a moderately fabulous brunch on Saturday morning, we ran some errands and decided to reward our productivity with some late afternoon/early evening mojitos. 

As we sat on the couch sipping our drinks (fabulously, I might add), Patrick stumbled upon a 47 minute documentary about 6 women over the age of 73.  The documentary, entitled Fabulous Fashionistas, tells the story of these 6 women, all of whom have a passion for fashion and hold the firm belief that age is irrelevant.  They hope to prove that it is indeed possible to be just as fabulous when you are 87 as it is when you are 22.

Reassuring.

I won't go into further detail, but instead, I'm providing a link for any of you that may be interested in viewing the film.  I would highly recommend it.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/fabulous-fashionistas/4od

For those of you that remain unconvinced I'm going to include some pictures of these delectable divas.

Prepare to be inpsired, my friends!

That stare though.

THOSE GLASSES THOUGH.

She's 85.

Just watch it.

The beginning.

So I graduated from college in May.

Although it's only been a few months since my graduation, those months almost seem like years.

Growing up, all any kid wants is to be done with school.  Forever.  However, when the imminent college graduation actually occurs it has a tendency to leave aforementioned "kid" (now a young adult that is, most likely, struggling their way through a quarter-life crisis) with a school-shaped hole in their life.

Over the months since my graduation, I have added quite a few things to the "Things Katie Never Thought She'd Say" list.  Among them:

"I miss school."

"I miss homework."

"Is it weird that I want to write a paper for fun?" (Yes, Katie. Yes, that's weird.)

However, what I have discovered since May is that I can work to fill this vastly empty hole with all of the things that I never had enough time to do when I was a student.

I suppose writing (for fun) is one of them.

So here goes?

I don't necessarily have a goal or a theme that goes along with this blog. 

And I guess it's just as much for myself as it is for the public.  

For me, I hope that it can serve as an outlet for my recently rediscovered creativity as well as act as a place where I can share things that inspire me.

For all of you (whoever you end up being) I hope that it can be.... something.