I Hope This Doesn't Mean I'm Not a Feminist...

...but I really enjoy crafting. Here is one of my projects this summer that I made for my friend Amy's wedding:

I thought it turned out pretty well. Like it? Love it? I hope so!

Baking!!

What's cooking in your kitchen Jess? Answer: vegan cupcakes. What?! Vegan?! And let me quickly explain the diff between "Vegan" and "Vegetarian" as I am constantly asked if I am Vegan. "Vegan"=no animal products i.e. meat, dairy, honey, eggs, etc. Vegetarian=no meat [though technically I am a pescatarian as on a occasion I like to enjoy a salmon filet or a crab cake.] Anywho, my bro turned vegan, and to celebrate this I am going to embark on a baking journey through vegan-dom.

Vegan Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, and salt. Add in the rest of the ingredients, adding the vinegar last. Stir until well combined.

2. Pour into cupcake liners and bake 30 minutes or until centers come clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

3. Frost with your favorite vegan buttercream frosting. Decorate with freshly toasted coconut.

My favorite vegan buttercream frosting:

I sifted some icing sugar into a bowl and added some vegan margarine (earth balance) and mixed until smooth. To get a creamier consistency, I added a couple of tablespoons of coconut milk. I then split the icing up into 2 bowls for 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 vanilla buttercream. Into one, I added a teaspoon of vanilla and into the other, I sifted a large amount of cocoa powder and mixed well with a bit more coconut milk. These are delicious either way!

Serves: 12

We'll find out how they turn out...yummmmm!

I Love Sarah McLaughlan and You Can To!

I don't mean you have to love her music...but I do hope you love her message. This may seem unrelated, but bear with me. The other day I was watching the news and in a sad, sad turn of events an American died in one of the terrorist attacks in Uganda. A bomb went off during a time when a bunch of people had gathered to watch the final World Cup game. The American who died was a young man who worked for Invisible Children, which is a grassroots organization that began by three young men who traveled abroad and saw the horror of war torn Uganda, and have worked relentlessly to promote peace, build schools, and stop the war.

http://www.natehenn.com/

As I was reading this article about this young man, I realized he was the same age as me...born in the awesome year of 1985. The same age as me, and he lost his life. And what is so moving and tragic about his death is that he died in Uganda, doing what he was passionate about, bringing change in a real way to the people of this place. And I began to wonder what my calling is, where I'm going in life. I mean, I guess that sometimes I wonder what big thing I'm going to do, what cause I'm willing to die for. I'm passionate about equality, but I haven't necessarily had to give up a whole lot for that passion...sometimes I feel guilty that I'm not traveling to foreign countries or giving up all my luxuries. I think that what is so incredibly beautiful to me about Nate's story is that I believe he was doing what Jesus asked of him, obedience, even to the point of death. And sometimes I wonder if I have that passion--I hope that I do some day. I'm super passionate about things--but obedience to the point of death? Obedient enough to give up my life of luxury? How am I going to make a difference? Am I brave enough or strong enough to do take that leap of faith?

I thought and thought about this all day...and all that I can do is stay true to the calling I believe I have received which is graduate school...and sometimes I wonder if as Christians we compare callings--is one "better" then another? I'm not sure...these are just the thoughts swimming around in my head. I guess I can't believe that God gave me such passion for academia and not do something with it, right? And without sociology, without people doing the research, a lot of these inequalities wouldn't be exposed--knowing these things make me have a more active faith [even though sometimes I tend to suck at follow through]. Or is this an excuse for me to stay in the comfort of school? And then I think about the professors who have impacted me in so many ways...we need people on both sides--those doing the work, and those evaluating the current systems. I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, or connects in any way. Anyways, later I was listening to Sarah McLaughlan. Like I've said before, I wasn't a fan before Lilith, but my friend Kelsey was telling me about the music video for "World on Fire," so I decided to give it a look-sy.

"World on Fire"

And I love it. Because the song is about doing what you can, what's within your means--how sometimes we just get so incredibly overwhelmed with the problems of the world, but we just need to pick one to focus on. Sometimes being overwhelmed leads to no action at all. I love that Sarah is a musician, and she uses that for change. I know that as a Christian I've heard tons about "living out your calling" and blah blah blah...but some days it just feels more real and pertinent and meaningful then others I suppose [like today]. It is the small changes, and the problems seem like so many, but maybe, just maybe, if we all picked one, we could make a very, very huge difference. Check out the lyrics...they really moved me, and I hope they move you too.

God bless you Nate--you are in paradise.

"World On Fire"--Sarah McLaughlan

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You're not alone in this story's pages
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in

The world's on fire and
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
(I try to pull my ship)
I try to bring more
More than I can handle
(Bring it to the table)
Bring what I am able

I watch the heavens and I find a calling
Something I can do to change this moment
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
Don't wanna be left alone, don't wanna be alone

Hearts break, hearts mend
Love still hurts
Visions clash, planes crash
Still there's talk of
Saving souls, still the cold
Is closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take, the less we become
A fortune of one that means less for some

Airports Have Bested Me YET AGAIN!!!

As many of you know if you have read my blog in the slightest, I HATE flying with the passion that could probably fuel the city of Seattle if they could figure out how to convert passion into energy. It could fuel the city of Seattle at best--or at least fuel a small generator. The other day was no different during my flight home from Seattle. Like a good passenger, I arrived to the airport a generous one and a half hours prior to my departure. This gave me a lot of time to dilly dally, and, all things considering, Sea Tac does have a fairly decent shopping selection. The positive thing was that I found a book for my friend's birthday. I decided to break my commitment to buying only socially conscious gifts just this once because the book is called "101 Things to Do With a Blender" and I don't know about you but on any given day I can maybe think of ten things to do with a blender at most. The other plus was that I flew Southwest and there is really just no beating them. I mean you get two free bags. Really, Southwest I am happy to freely endorse you but I am also open to payment if you ever need one of those satisfied customer actors for a commercial or something.

Anyways, the rest of my airport experience was downhill. Here's my beef with my airport [or vegetable I guess as I don't eat beef] experience. 1) No water. Now, I realize liquids are not allowed due to national security and I appreciate that, TSA, I really do. However, I get very thirsty very quickly and have been referred to numerous times as a "camel" and I refuse to pay $3 fora bottle of water. 2) The food. I am sure that we have all encountered the outrageous prices for food in the airport. Why does my normally $4 Subway sandwich cost $8, and why does it taste at least 20% more terrible? I wanted to get a yogurt to try to incorporate some probiotics, live active cultures and calcium into my diet for the day, however I refuse to pay $1.49 for a container of Light and Fit when I know it costs $.60 cents at the grocery store, not because I can't afford it, but because it is a matter of PRINCIPAL. I normally try to avoid eating at airports in order to evade the problem altogether. However, today I was starving, thus I settled on a bagel which I purchased from a very unpleasant salesperson, and that had tasted as if they had taken five pieces of bread and sort of smashed them together, trying to get them to pass for a bagel. They had jam, so I was able to mask this effect a little. Because I knew that my bagel would not tide me over, I also finagled two packages of saltines, however after eating them I so keenly realized that this did not help with problem #1 of being thirsty. 3) I put this free sample of almond butter on my hands which then made them feel way to greasy. My fault. But it was a free sample. 4) Magazines. As I previously mentioned, I had an ample amount of time to toodle around the airport (and yes, I realize the issue of magazines is not particular to airports, but it just seems like a good time to rant anyways). Thus, I happened to look at the magazine rack. Now, out of general principal, I refrain from buying magazines such as "Cosmopolitan" or "Seventeen" mainly because I've realized that such literature tends to make me feel absolutely abysmal about my body, and I do not want to support that sort of industry [unless a Glee cast member is featured...or Mariska Hargitay]. However, every now and then I do appease my guilty pleasure and might paroose one every now and then at the supermarket or in this case the airport. So there I was and I was caught by the irony of many of the headlines. For example, Self magazine's cover said, "Healthy eating made easy." Healthy eating is NOT easy. Falsehood. It is NOT easy to select foods you know you should eat such as carrots, over say, cupcakes. Or how about "Love your body--do this new ab routine." I DO love my body a lot, regardless of the fact that of if I have a six pack. I can DRINK a six pack [not of beer though...maybe some Mike's...anyone...?], or maybe EAT a six pack of cupcakes, but you know what, I love my gut. In fact, your magazine just inclined me dislike my body by putting all these very thin and toned women in this magazine. Now, I realize that they really meant that you are loving your body because you're exercising, but the last time I did eight minute abs my body did NOT love me the next day [the soreness--ahhhh]. My favorite, though, was O magazine. This month's issue was "Big Deals." Apparently a $44 pair of earrings and a $70 non-descript white shirt quantify as "deals." My friend Heather says that maybe when she marries rich, a $70 cardigan will seem like a deal. I'm not sure, but what I do know is that for me "deal" means a $21 pair of gold shoes I bought that were 35 percent off the clearance price at The Rack. Or a $5 pair of Target earrings. I mean rally Oprah? I know you give cars away to entire studio audiences but I really think you need to re-evaluate your use of the word "deal."

Seattle Radio Stations

My friend Heather and I spent a fairly decent amount of time in the car these last few days. Thus, we spent quite a bit of time listening to the radio, and being that we are both sociologists, we noticed a pattern: Apparently local Seattle radio stations have about five songs on their playlists at ny given time, no matter what station you happen to be listening to. Maybe because of a poor economy we have been forced to cut back on buying the rights to more songs. I'm not sure, but what I do know is that the following songs were played and I consequently "O.D.'d" on the following pop songs:

1. OMG: Usher
2. California Gurls: Katy Perry
3. Alejandra: Lady Gaga [and any Lady Gaga song in general]
4. My Love: Justin Timberlake--which is extremely odd as this song came out about six years ago
5. Clocks: Coldplay--see above

To detox I aim to listen to large amounts of indie folk music, broadway show tunes and classic rock.

Top Seattle Moments

My city. And I love me my panoramic lens.

As you invariably know by now, I had the immense pleasure of spending a full ten days in Seattle. This is an ample amount of time to fully soak up all Seattle has to offer during the summer. The biggest reason I love Seattle is I always leave feeling tremendously empowered to make a difference to the world. This is attributed to both the great individuals I know who reside there, but also because of the Seattle culture at large. I think the hippie blood will always run through my veins--part of Seattle just seems to weasel its wy into your soul somewhow. I love it. I love the local businesses you can support--massive mounts of compost and recycle bins that abound, or the wide variety of fair trade or eco-friendly products you can purchase at the local market. I love the bike and the bus riders who help make things more green. I love the crazy protesters on street corners--at least they stand for something. The insane amount of non-profits or the community gardens. There is always that new restaurant to try and fall and love with. Life just seems so much more rich, so thought out, more simplified, more intentional. Granted, I know Seattle isn't perfect and still has its flaws [and rain], but gosh darn it, they try. Anywho, these are my top moments of my awesome vacay [in no particular order]:

1. Lilith fair! (see post)
2. The Fourth--fireworks and friends (see other post)
3. COFFEE
4. Cupcakes/Ballard walk with Dr. McKinney
5. Sleeping IN
6. Riding the Seattle Metro here, there, and everywhere
7. Cafe Noveau/West Seattle jaunt with Britt and Cass
8. Rover's Bar with Cass and Britt and Cass's friends
9. Green Lake with Talaina
10. Massive amounts of cupcakes: Yellow Leaf, Trophy, and Cupcake Royale.
11. Molly Moon's w/Amanda
12. Walking along the Burke Gilman Trail at Sunset [NOT a fav I didn't bring my cam][also with Amanda]
13. Disney Sing It with Heather
14. Shop til you drop with Heather
15. BBQ at Heather's
16. Ballard Seafood Fest
17. Seeing Michael at Kavu
18. Bethany Community
19. Drinks with Dusty
20. A faint tan!!!
21. Berry picking and the fresh strawberry ice cream that followed
22. Thai food and sushi
23. Fremont Market
24. Theo Chocolate Tour
25. Jet City Improv and how I got the "inappropriate sanctioning" for accidentally screaming "Lady Gaga" for "things you do in art school." Oops.
26. The sign at Essential Baking Company that read "Due to our shortage of robots please remember that human beings work here and are not to be treated poorly" or something to that effect
27. Capitol Hill...need I say more?

28. T freaking C.B.Y
29. The Seattle Sun [when it decided to come out]

There was a lot of life packed into these moments.

Only in Seattle...

would you have something entitled a "Zombie Walk" to try to break the world record for most zombies in one place. Yup. They had a "Fremont Zombie Walk" in which 4233 people signed up, and made themselves into Zombies. I had to chuckle as I walked through Fremont today passing signs on local businesses that read "No Zombie Blood on the Buildings." Awes.