I'm Back!

Hello blog world! I've missed you so much you don't even know!! I've been MIA on the web because there's been so much action going on for me that I literally have had no chance to report until now. It's been such a long time that I'm not going to even attempt to do a massive catch up but rather jump to my time in Israel!

First a little re-cap is in order. So not only did I have finals to worry about last week but I was also moving moving out of my apartment, packing for my six week trip to Israel, and grading about 600+ Human Sexuality finals. Luckily for me, my mom came down to help me and she really was the brains of the whole operation and I would not have been able to do it without her. I would have been so much more stressed out without her! So, in between studying, and helping mom with organization and packing, I would dash over to the house of one of the graders where all the finals were, whip out my red pen, and grade like a crazy person. While grading one of the graders, Dave, went for a food run to the Co-op and picked up a vegan turtle cup for me! As promised, it is being fully document on the blog as officially: amazing!

Dave, you made my grading that much sweeter. Thank you!
Carmel, puffed rice, and peanuts....soo good!
The packing was no small job. We spent at least, at least three days getting my life in a box. I know I have a lot of stuf... don't judge!

So, I don't know that the next few days that I'm about to post will be interesting to anyone at all but I figure, on the off chance that someone is interested in how a vegan would travel to Israel, I'll just post everything I can. I would mention that I think it's healthy that when I travel, I loosen up a little and am not as strict about eating vegan as I am at home. I go to new places to experience and learn new things and sometimes that has to do with tasting new things. I don't want to go crazy and start eating everything in sight but I also don't want to hold myself back from enjoying little things. With that said, I still will probably be avoiding eating meat as an entree.

Anyways, when I got the the airport I had a bit of a fiasco. I had an interview early that morning so I didn't eat breakfast. I figured I'd have plenty of time to get something at the airport and leisurely enjoy my departure. Alas, that is not at all how it went. Long story short, I was at the wrong terminal just long enough to miss the flight I was supposed to be getting on to make my connection in New York. Thankfully, the crew at El Al was kind enough to get me onto a direct flight! I was so happy that I wasn't going to have to stay in LA an extra night that it didn't bother me as much that by this point I was starving.

Snack

My mom grabbed an apple for me from the hotel which I gobbled as soon as I got in my seat.

Without me even noticing, my mom also slipped this bag of candied ginger into my bag and thank goodness she did! This little bag of sweetness been saving me left and right.
I like this kind of candied ginger much better than the crystallized.
When the inflight service started they served these little corn chips which I remembered really liking from the last time I flew El Al.

Linner

I was not aware that this meal was actually our dinner since I hadn't eaten breakfast and meals are always kind of crazy on long, international flights like this. I avoided the chicken and dug into the rest which was quite tasty to a starving girl like me.
I also throughly enjoyed this little dessert :)

Breakfast

After making a significant dent in my book The Alienist by Caleb Carr (which was getting crazy intense I couldn't put it down), and watching all the inflight movies I could handle, I slept for maybe an hour if that. I woke up starving again which is really not a fun way to travel. Luckily breakfast service came and I gobbled it up. Refined gobbling that is.

Dinner

Again, my meal schedule was all mixed up and I arrived at Neve (the seminary I'm learning at) after lunch time. Dinner was couscous, salad, chicken broth soup with veggies, and potatoes cooked with beef. I avoided any chunks of meat, no worries.

Mini lesson: Keeping kosher involves never mixing milk with meat. All the food at Neve is kosher which means that a kosher kitchen must be kept. You may begin to notice that there is a color coding of the dishes that reveals the type of meal being served: Pink= meat meal Blue= milk meal. On shabbos I look forward to meat meals mostly because I know there won't be dairy in anything!
I finished my meal with an orange that was not the sweetest. I have a feeling I'm going to get good at spotting the tasty ones in the next few weeks.

Breakfast

Breakfast on Wednesday morning was a bit of a challenge but I remembered from last time that I would be able to make oats. Only problem I arrived towards the end of serving time and had to rush! I topped my plain oats with peanut butter and a little sinfully good chocolate spread.
I also had a slice of bread with peanut butter. On the way out I grabbed another half slice of bread and mistakenly spread it with the sweetened peanut butter. Regular peanut butter and sweetened peanut butter are not the same, let me tell you.

Snack

Snack time rolled around between classes so I enjoyed this little apple. The apples are much sweeter here in Israel. I wonder why?
At the next break I bought an iced coffee for 10 shequels which is about $3.50 US dollars. It's like a slushy iced coffee and it was soo good! I appreciated that there was a sign noting that one serving is about 190 calories. Better than I had estimated!

Lunch

At lunch time I was ready to load up on all the veggies I could. You will probably begin to notice that each meal includes a soup of some kind, lots of veggies and salad, and a main course that is either meat or milk based. The soups usually have a lot of fresh dill which I didn't use to like but have grown to appreciate. Also, there is almost always fish at lunch but I haven't decided to cross that bridge quite yet. What do you think? Should I go for the fish?
For a little mid-day dessert I enjoyed one of these Rugala.
These things are so ridiculously good! They have a very subtle chocolaty flavor.

Dinner

Dinner was a chicken broth soup with carrots, roasted potatoes (yaaaay roasted!), peas, cucumbers and peppers, a soy/corn patty with mustard that has more of a horseradish flavor, and for a super treat some summer melon.
On my way out I grabbed another slice of that melon. It was too good to pass up.

Snack

On our way to evening classes I snacked on my candied ginger. There's Sam, my awesome roomie in the back!
After class I had this juicy orange and then hit the sack! I passed out I was so tired. The jet lag is still affecting me.

Breakfast

Finally at today! This morning I was determined to make the oats situation happen. I decided to ad some of this yogurt to my concoction to make it a little creamier and topped it all with PB&J, reminiscent of oats at home. I also enjoyed a little coffee with sugar.

Lunch

Lunch today was a dilly, veggie soup, and pasta with a bunch of mixed veggies.
After laying around in the grass for a bit and a cool shower some girls and I made the trek down the hill to the mini strip of shops. We hit the ice cream shop first of course where I got a scoop of strawberry sorbet and a scoop of lemon mint. Super refreshing in this crazy hot weather.

Dinner

For dinner I had cooked squash, rice, a soy patty, and I'm happy to introduce to the scene: hummus!! I made sure to buy some when we went to the grocery. I didn't end up eating my soup because I found a hair in it. Yuck.

Snack

At the break during evening classes I snacked on this apple. They are perfectly small for snack size.
So, the internet situation was all mixed up until tonight so as soon as I got the chance, I jumped in the internet room and got working on this post! I actually just finished this bag of ginger :( Luckily we are probably going to the market tomorrow where I will definitely be buying trail mix.
I only have internet access after 9PM so my posts will be whole day posts rather than the daily ones I try to do at home. Also, tomorrow is Shabbos!! This means that I will not be using the internet (or any technology for that matter) until sun down on Saturday.

I am really enjoying myself here so far even though a part of me really misses home. I hope to be able to contact my family soon and I will be making facebook appearances when I can! For now, I am really tired and I wanted to try and catch a run in the morning. (we'll see what jet lag has to say about that!)

Good night (or good afternoon for most of you) and Good Shabbos!

Beauty and The Beast Oats

Breakfast

I know it may be hard to believe but I am actually posting breakfast at breakfast time! It's been a while, I know. This morning I decided to make butternut squash oats.

• about 3/4 cup frozen butternut squash chunks
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup oats
• small handful raisins, I got a little excited with the raisins this morning
• 1 tsp. chia seeds
• 1 tsp. milled flaxseeds
• shake cinnamon
• splash vanilla
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• scoop peanut butter
• soy milk

I put just the frozen squash and the water in the pot first to cook the freeze out. Then I added all but the peanut butter and the soy milk on top and made oats as usual.

I like putting milk on top of my oats because it always makes me think of that scene in Beauty and The Beast where they sit down to eat breakfast together and the Beast just doesn't know what to do with himself. Hahahaha!

Half caff hazelnut coffee, water, and a Women's One a Day to go with my Beauty and The Beast oats.

I can't believe there are only two weeks left of school! I have some big plans this summer and it hasn't really hit me yet just how quickly it's all coming on. My cousin Lindsay is getting married next month (woohoo!!), school ends on June 11, the lease for my apartment ends June 17, and I leave for Isarel for six weeks on June 14! This translates into a few important things that you will be seeing soon:

• Initiation of the "Eat it So You Don't Have to Move It" operation
• Cramming for finals and writing a paper or two
• A trip to Arizona
• A visit from my Mamma
• Lots of long skirts, hummus, and Hebrew!

I have recently, um...last night, discovered online shopping!! I can see how it could become addicting but that is why I used my own credit card which is my own hard earned money that only gets replenished if I work. I think I spent wisely. The only think I couldn't seem to find any deals on is Rosetta Stone for Hebrew. I would really like to try and learn a little of the language while I'm in Israel and I have had good luck with Rosetta Stone in the past, it's just so darn expensive. Does anyone know of a way to find a discounted price? Or possibly other language programs that are equally as good? Anyways, all I should be focusing on right now are the papers and finals at hand and maybe also the Kilimanjaro of laundry that is taking over my closet.

Time to get ready for Baroque Music. I actually really like this class and I'm even going to remember to bring my anthology for once, yesss!

See ya later!

Good Shabbos!

Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I can't believe how long it's taken me to finally get a chance to finish this post! Despite what the time stamp may say I'm actually only just now at 4:05 getting a chance to sit down and blog.

Uh oh, guess who went to Student Health this morning?? Yeah, I woke up feeling pretty icky so I just decided that I may as well go before it gets really bad. I got set up with some new allergy meds and got a referral to a local allergist. Hopefully I can get retested and start allergy shots soon! The nurse who saw me warned me that the meds may make me a little wired. I didn't really believe it and I figured anything is better than the Benadryl knock out but man, I'm all cracked out! I was such a busy bee at work and I'm still sort of buzzin!

Because I was on the go this morning I decided to make a breakfast smoothie. Sorry to my roomies who were sleeping while I used the blender! :/

In the blend:

• 1 cup frozen berries
• 1/3 cup coconut milk Kefir
• 3/4-1 cup soy milk
• 1 Tbsp almond butter
• 1 tsp. light agave syrup

This was the first bottle of Kefir I ever tried and I can only describe it as something in between yogurt and milk. By itself it isn't the most delicious but it's awesome when mixed with fruit and stuff. Kefir is actually a grain that is mixed with fermented milk and constantly stirred. The product is a yogurt-like liquid chalked full of probiotics. An awesome addition to a dairy free diet since us vegans don't consume probiotic dairy yogurt.
I've never done this before but I thought I would give PB&J Pita a try. I toasted half a pita bread on low and smothered the inside with peanut butter and apple butter. It was sooo tasty! Definitely a new staple of mine and by the way, toasting it made it that much better.
Lunch today is a spinach salad with the last of the roasted brussel sprouts, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes, yellow onion, and some of that super tasty Annie's Naturals Lite Italian Dressing. Sliced mangos and a Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo bar to round things out.
The breakfast smoothie in all it's glory, so yummy! The almond butter is the secret ingredient.
The Dynamic Breakfast Duo.
After my doctor's visit I still had a good 30 minutes before class so I decided to treat myself to some Fair Trade Hazelnut brew with a splash of soy.
I think this is the way to go from now on with coffee. Not only is it cheaper to just get brewed coffee, I can control exactly how much soy goes in my drink and I know it's soy! Sometimes I get super paranoid that the baristas used regular milk. Of course every now and then I'll have to switch back to my classic cappuccino with soy cause I love me some foam. But this really hit the spot this morning.
Another beautiful day at UCSB.
There's me putting on my happy face and being a good sport even though I feel lousy.
But I'm still a gangsta!

I can't believe what a good flow I've been having since I made the trip to Student Health. And to think, I was considering not coming to classes today when I woke up super drowsy and feeling like a sicky. The main reason I knew I had to come was because I had studio and work today.

Studio is a class that is connected to voice lessons and is an opportunity for all the students of one teacher to meet and sing for each other. It's a time where we get some performance setting practice with an accompanist, give and receive constructive criticism, and hear each other's progress. I really enjoy studio because performance setting practice would be hard to come by without it. I'm so glad I decided to stick it though today because I had an awesome studio. I got to run through the songs I'm performing tomorrow and my teacher was getting really nit picky. I feel really solid with the songs and today we got even more into the mood behind the words and the relationship to the music. It was just awesome and I'm really confident for tomorrow. The performance is at 11:30AM and I'm ready to get up there and do my thang!

So last night I mentioned that I had an important announcement and I do! I haven't talked much about it yet but I've recently been getting more into my Jewish heritage. This winter break I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of a two and a half week trip to Israel through a group called Jewish Awareness Movement, JAM. I was so lucky to be able to go with my brother Eric whose very presence made the trip that much more of an awesome experience. We learned so much about Judaism and Israel and came back with a definite sense of pride in our heritage. (My profile picture is of the two of us it Tzfat!) One important lesson I learned about embracing this new part of life is that you must take it in baby steps. Doing too much all at once can have a backfire effect. One of the things I've decided to try and take on is Shabbat. Shabbat is a traditional meal (or meals) that commemorate the day of rest during creation and begin at sundown on Friday night and end at sundown on Saturday night. During that time the concept of rest is taken to the extent that no electricity is turned on or off, no writing is done, no cooking, no driving, no television, etc... I'm far from an expert on all this but like I said: baby steps. I just want to give everyone a heads up that I will not be posting on Friday nights or Saturday during the day. I have to break Shabbos this weekend unfortunately because I have a performance but at least tonight I can do whatever I can to stay in the spirit of Shabbos.

The ideas behind Shabbos are really beautiful and I look forward to dinner at the Shushan's all week! I also think this will be a good way for me to take a break from blogging so that I don't come to resent having to blog. I really enjoy keeping this little online journal and it's something that I get to do!

Anyways, the plan now is to make some more progress on the ominous motet paper so that I can enjoy my weekend. There Shusan's are hosting a BBQ this sunday for their son's first haircut (which may sound like a silly reason to celebrate but in orthodox Judaism, little boys are not supposed to cut their hair until age three). I really want to go chill with them without stressing about the paper.

I wish you all a relaxing (or productive depending on your goals) weekend and you will be hearing from me again soon!