surprise!

I never posted a picture of my surprise from this post, so here you go;

;)

DC Part 2

Saturday night Dad and I went out to a restaurant called busboys and poets which was almost as delicious as the previous night. After a bit of a wait, we were seated. The restaurant itself was very noisy, energetic, and alive. After a quiet day in a very quiet city, it was different and interesting. I ordered the vegan pizza, and my dad got catfish. This pizza was seriously the best pizza I've ever had. I would take a train to Washington just to order this. The pizza included a whole wheat crust, garlic and olive oil sauce, daiya cheese, vegan pepperoni, onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel, and I did more homework; yay college.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, and took the subway over to the Lincoln Memorial.

Next up was the Korean War Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial. The MLK memorial was definitely one of my favorite things to see this weekend. It was well done, looked awesome, and really sent a powerful message.

After those memorials we walked through the mall to the Holocaust Museum. On the way we saw some other monuments;

After the museum my Dad grabbed lunch, we went back to the hotel, then we both had to leave to go back to NYC for me, and Cali for him.

Overall, this trip was awesome. I love DC- and I'm glad I went for the first time. I saw really historical awesome stuff, and ate good food. Now that I'm back in NYC it's time to focus on finals and get ready for winter break.

DC Part 1

For the past day I've been in Washington DC with my Dad, exploring and learning about our country's history. I've never been to this city, and its one heck of a place. So far I've seen the white house, the washington monument, the capitol building, the library of congress, a procession of obama driving somewhere, and a lot of delicious food.
I got here on Friday pretty late, after taking a train from NYC. After arriving at the hotel, I took a run towards the white house, and then circled the washington monument. It was a pretty historical run, as far as I'm concerned. Our hotel is amazingly big- and has a full kitchen.

After I showered, Dad appeared; so we went to a vegan place near our hotel for dinner. The restaurant is called cafe green and was absolutely delicious. Disclaimer- this is all my own opinion, Cafe Green doesn't even know I'm posting this review. We had an appetizer, and split two entrees and a side. Our entrees were mac and kale, which was gluten free mac and cheese in some vegan cheese sauce, and lemon sauteed kale. So delicious- especially since I LOVE kale. The other entree was some sort of korean bowl, with brown rice, more kale, sweet potato noodles, and a scallion soy sauce. Both entrees were gluten free, except the soy sauce. My dad and I both agreed that the sweet potato noodles were out of this world! For dessert I picked up a bag of kettle corn, since I was craving salty and sweet.
This morning (Saturday) we got up, had breakfast in the hotel, then set off on a day of tourist attractions.

First stop was the library of congress and the capitol building. We only went inside the visitors section of the library of congress, but it was interesting. We read about the beginning of the declaration of independence, the constitution, and the bill of rights. I think I learned more from that half hour tour than I did my entire american history class in high school.

After that quick stroll we went to the newseum, which is a museum about news. We spent almost five hours in the museum, learning about all types of interesting things. It was a really neat interactive museum, probably the best I've ever been to. At one part you could see almost all of Pennsylvania Ave, by going outside on an observation type deck.

After that we walked towards the international spy museum. On the way we saw a holiday market, and decided to walk through it. The spy museum was pretty interesting, although nothing compared to the newseum. The information was really different, and seeing all of the actual spy equipment was awesome.

By that point, I was pretty hungry, so we went to a chain place near the spy museum. This place was called teaism and was actually really delicious. I got two sides; green beans, and a sweet potato salad. My dad got an oatmeal cookie that he said was absolutely delicious. My food was also very good, but nothing compared to what else I purchased at the restaurant.

This, my friends, is the best chocolate I've ever eaten. Thats a lot coming from me, since I really usually don't like chocolate. The only reason I picked up this expensive chocolate bar was because I love peppermint, and I thought it might taste like peppermint bark. Oh man, this is so delicious. I can't even begin to describe how delicious it is!!!! When given the chance, I say spend the money and get it.

Now I'm doing homework before we are off to dinner, tomorrow I believe we're visiting Lincoln, and maybe seeing another museum before I'm back to NYC!

Yosemite and breaks

Two days ago I was sitting in the beautiful Yosemite valley on top of a sparkling granite boulder. It smelled like trees, dirt, and fresh air. I miss it already, but I'm thankful to be back in NYC.

I've never bouldered in the Valley before Saturday, and boy is it hard.. The ratings are nothing like I'm used to. I struggled on V2's, but sent a few V1's. Regardless of the grades, the climbing was awesome. I went with a co-worker (of course..) and we accidentally ran into an entire group of other co-workers. It was really neat to be with a bunch of people that I miss a ton when I'm in NY. We climbed with all of them, until people started dispersing to other boulders around the valley. We ended up climbing till about 5, until we couldn't stand the cold anymore. It was pretty cold in the Valley, in the 40's or so- but it was good to have a different perspective besides trad climbing.

Above is one of the boulders we climbed. You can see the white chalk marks everywhere. It was really good to get outside, and be able to sit on top of a rock and stare at trees.

Although Yosemite was amazing, and I had an awesome time- it's time for me to take a break from climbing. I recently hurt my shoulder pretty bad (I think at Brooklyn Boulders), and have taken ibuprofen to stop the pain. Every time I've climbed since I tweaked it, its gotten worse and worse, to the point where its painful to raise my arm. Therefore, to allow the rotator cuff to heal and get strong again, I'm making a pledge to not climb until January. If I miraculously feel better (HOPEFULLY!) halfway through December, I'll try roping a bit. It's going to be hard, but I'll supplement with lots of weight training and push ups.

All the best, happy climbing.. I'm off to catch up on all my homework.

gluten free thanksgiving!

I know that looks like a small plate, but I went back for seconds, I promise!
This thanksgiving I had a gluten free meal, just because that is how I've been eating recently. My family had "regular" meals, with gluten and chicken and such. However, here what was on my plate:

sweet potatoes.. yum!

roasted butternut squash with cinnamon

roasted vegetables..

and, vegan gluten free stuffing! The bread is from a bakery in so-cal, that my sister brought up with her on the drive. DELICIOUS!

I also made a gluten free pumpkin pie not shown, and had many cupcakes and such from Oregon via my twin sister. It was a pretty good thanksgiving overall-hope yours was too!

pumpkin pie and jobs

For about half a week of my life, I worked for three gyms at one time (five, if you count my temporary hold in California at the two Touchstone gyms, until I work again this summer). The gyms are two NYU rock walls, and I recently got a job at Brooklyn Boulders, the biggest climbing gym in NYC. It's pretty exciting, since now I can be part of a climbing community, but also make money. My first day of work was yesterday, and although hectic, I feel right at home. Brooklyn Boulders is not Ironworks, but it's a pretty solid gym. Thats whats up in my life, I'll be spending more and more time in Brooklyn, and less time in my dorm and in Manhattan. That is totally fine with me, climbers are the best people.

I am going back to California in two days, but it felt appropriate to make some thanksgiving type vegan item; pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is my favorite thing to eat at this time of the year, so it felt just right. This is pretty simple, and not very time consuming at all. I used the recipe for the pie part from; the vegan man cave, and made the crust up via memory and imagination.

The crust itself was really simple, and tastes pretty good. Also, we don't own pie pans in our dorm, so I used a square brownie pan...

Ingredients:
-2 cups crushed cinnamon cookies (i.e. trader joe's cinnamon schoolbook cookies)
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp nutmeg
-6 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce

Method:
-preheat the oven to 350 F and grease pie pan
-place cookies in blender and blend until crumbs
-mix in spices
-mix/mash in applesauce
-press crust into pan
-bake for 8 minutes, and let cool completely before use

pie crust before baking:

For the pie, I used exactly what was said in Brian's blog, except that I added 3/4 tsp cornstarch, because my pie seemed very runny.

Since my pie is in a square pan, I cut it up as soon as it cooled for an hour, since I didn't like the square pie look.

I think next time I would cook the crust a bit more- but I'm off to eat some pumpkin pie :)

mini cinnamon rolls and surprises

I haven't posted in awhile, not since I was back home in California. Not much has changed here; still haven't been out to the Gunks to climb. I went out to Central Park to boulder today though.. I've been working on a v4 that I almost have. I bruised my knuckles a bit, but besides that I'm feeling pretty strong.

In other news, my stomach feels better! I've been eating gluten free for the most part, and it feels awesome.

I made mini cinnamon rolls, vegan and gluten free. They are a bit different with gluten free flour as opposed to whole wheat flour. I might change up the ingredients a bit next time. Overall, I liked them, as did people on my floor.

Ingredients:

1 cup gluten free flour

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

A pinch of Kosher salt

2 tablespoons applesauce

1/3 cup almond milk

2 tablespoons applesauce

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method:
-Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Spritz a pan with some canola oil.
-Whisk together the whole wheat flour, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
-mix in applesauce
-mix in the almond milk
-Roll out the buns dough on a lightly floured work surface. You should create a skinny rectangle that's about 5 inches by 18 inches. 
-mix applesauce, brown sugar, and cinnamon and pour on top of tough
-Roll it so that you get an incredibly long and skinny tube (so not a bit fat one). Use a knife to slice the tube into 24 tiny rolls, or leave in logs like I did.
-place rolls on pre-greased sheet.
-Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until cinnamon buns are golden brown. Let cool for five minutes, then remove and finish cooling on cooling rack.

I also made some glaze out of powdered sugar, maple syrup, and almond milk. Simply mix to the desired consistency!


My surprise has something to with my ankle.. A good surprise though. I'll show you a picture next time ;)