Hi Again! :)

Wow, it has been nearly a year since I last wrote anything on my blog. I had a very very busy year. I wanted to write something for a couple of times but I was either tired or wanted to do something else. In the meantime I'll just go over what I have been up to. Well, first of all I am now a PhD candidate :). I think I am done with half of my PhD education but I still have so much work to do. For the first time in my life I wasn't taking any classes this Autumn semester, that was great! I attended my first conference and presented my work and met with friends from undergrad :). 

I have become obsessed with finding deals, coupons etc. I feel like I am addicted to deals... Even if I don't need something I want to buy it because it is such a good deal :). For example today I was going to spend $80 on a Starbucks gift set (You can find it here) but my husband stopped me because he said we don't need that much coffee and chocolate right now and unfortunately he was right! If you need some coffee and chocolate check out Starbucks' end of year sale :). However, I did buy some fragrances today :). L'occitane has a lot of items on sale right now and if you use the VIPSALE promo code you get an additional 10% off :). The sale will last 2 weeks (starting from today) but hurry because some of the items are already out of stock. I bought two fragrances and a shower gel for myself and a fragrance for my husband. Paid about $100 for all of it. I am also getting 2 free samples and a gift box. I love their boxes! Let me show the pictures of the actual items that I got,

Eau du Badian EDT (this is for my husband)

Fleurs Merveilleuses Shower Gel

Fleurs Marveilleuses EDT (Eau de Toilette)

Rose des Champs EDT

Thats it for today but I have also started making jewelry, I'll post a couple of photos next time. I really enjoy making jewelry and giving them to friends  :). 

The Help

I finally got my hands on a copy of The Help. I was looking forward to reading this book for a long time. First, I thought someone would be willing to swap their copy of The Help with one of my books that I had listed on swap.com but I soon realized that the books I had listed on swap.com were not drawing any attention :). Having waited a while I decided to buy my own copy. I had a gift card from Barnes and Noble that I wanted to use so I checked their website. They had and still have a good offer for paperback books. You buy 2 paperback books and get the 3rd for free. The selection is kind of limited but I think they do include great books. So that is how I bought a copy of The Help. And of course I did get 3 books. I am also looking forward to reading the other 2 books that I got with the deal :).

The Help - Original Book Cover

   

I have a couple of comments that I want to share with you about The Help. Unfortunately, I am not that familiar with the African-American Civil Rights movement (1955–1968). However, having watched movies and documentaries about the era I have some idea how it was like back in the 50s and 60s for African-Americans. I am still fascinated by how a country like the United States could have gone through such awful events. I think we take for granted most of the rights we now have and it is pretty hard to imagine how life would be if, for example we were not allowed to attend a school because of our ethnic background. Of course, as human beings we still have lots of growing up to do in terms of learning how to treat others. However, we don't even have to be nice, just be respectful and even this will be appreciated.

Going back to the contents of the book. Again I'm not that familiar with The Southern dialects, especially the ones that existed 50 years ago but I did some research and found out the different pronunciation(s) of some words that are found throughout the book. For example, the word "Law" in the book means "Lord" and the author tries to imitate the dialect of a southern black woman in the 60's by using Law instead of Lord. The story is interesting and if most of it is an actual representation of the South during the 60s then I think by reading this book I learned something, i.e. the life of African-American women who were "The Help" to the white ladies. It is weird how the white ladies didn't seem to have regular jobs, yet they had help raising their children, cleaning the house and cooking. Nowadays, if you're a housewife (or a stay home dad) then you are expected to at least take care of your children. Of course, if you're rich then you don't even have to do that but the point of becoming a housewife is to take care of your home with occasional help from outside. In the book, it seemed like if you came from a somewhat middle class family then you would be able to afford help on a regular basis. As I was growing up we only had cleaning ladies that would come once a week and my mother was not a housewife. So, I have to say I feel like the white ladies were supposed to look pretty and organize some social events during the 60s and organize their housework but don't actually do the work themselves. I may be wrong but that is what I understood when I read the book. 

I found the story interesting and I suggest you read the book before watching the movie. I still haven't watched the movie but I'm looking forward to it. The Help is a nominee for the Best Picture and we'll see if it will snatch that Oscar today :). 

That's all for today! Hope you always have a good book and a warm cup of tea to keep you company this winter :)

A break from a hectic schedule - Cooking class with Phoebe Lapine

This quarter has been tough. Lots of homework, exams, grading and doing some research... So like anyone that has been working constantly I think I deserve a break before I can continue working and find myself at the finish line.

Each quarter we pay some dollars to our "Ohio Union" so that they can invite famous people to OSU, sell cheap restaurant gift cards, tickets to events, have movie screenings, give occasional free food samples, cooking classes etc. As a PhD student I think I am not able to take advantage of these activities as much as I would like to so when I got the email that there was going to be a cooking class this Friday, I said why not? I think I deserve a break, and since I love cooking what better way to spend my free time. Well, obviously it is not free time when I will have to work late the day before so that I can make my deadlines for work but I'm willing to work late the day before to attend a cooking class the next day :). It will be a great reward for me, I am sooo excited!

Ina Garten and Phoebe Lapine on Barefoot Contessa

The cooking class will be given by Phoebe Lapine. OK, I had no idea who Phoebe Lapine was when I first read about the cooking class. However, her face seemed to be familiar. I did some research and found out that she had made an appearance on Ina Garten's show, Barefoot Contessa, i.e. my favorite show on Food Network! I became even more excited about the cooking class. Also Phoebe is really young, just a couple of years older than me so I think hearing her experiences about her journey in the "food world" will be very inspiring. She created a food blog with her best friend (Cara Eisenpress) after she graduated from college. The blog is called Big Girls Small Kitchen and its target audience is 20-something's like me :). After that they also became authors of their first cookbook, In the Small Kitchen. I think I'm going to have a great time cooking with Phoebe. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post afterwards :).

By the way, if you're curious our menu will include the following dishes:

1) Chickpea and Walnut Burgers with Mint Raita
2) Basic Fried Rice
3) Ginger-Honey Chicken Wings
4) Arugula Salad with Lemon-Cilantro Vinaigrette

and it will be around 10 bucks!

NYC Trip, New Year, Gifts and Celebrations!

Hello to everyone! I wanted to share some of my experiences and gifts from our NYC trip. We were lucky to get together with our friends in NYC for 5 days, including New Year's Eve! It was such a fun trip, lots of memories were made and of course lots of belly filling with all the delicious food from the red apple was done. It definitely was a nice break from our everyday lives...

This was not my first time in NYC but you can always find something new to do there. We had so many places to visit but so little time...We got up early everyday and were outside before we had breakfast. Going around this big city, where everyone must visit at least once in their lives, observing the breathtaking views, taking many many pictures in case our memory failed us was our job for 5 great days...

Let me write down the places you need to visit to make your belly very happy :).
1) Chelsea Market
2) Shake Shack
3) Extra Virgin
4) Lombardi's (America's First Pizzeria)
5) Murray's Bagels

But note that you may need to wait for your food. As expected there are almost always long lines to wait so be prepared for that and don't give up!

And of course if you have the time you need to go to the MET but I doubt you'll be able to see all the exhibitions and collections at the museum in a single day. So if you love history and do not want to miss anything I suggest you dedicate two days to the museum. However, if you don't have that much time I think getting your picture taken in front of the MET will also be memorable since the building itself is very very beautiful.

Now onto my gifts... We (me and my husband) love to give small gifts to our friends to celebrate the New Year and well maybe just to create an excuse to buy gifts :). And getting gifts is not too bad either :). Here are my gifts for this year,

Thank you Gokce and Korhan! A great memory from Bryant Park, NYC

My pink, comfy and warm slippers. Thank you Gonca!

A great gift for a book worm like me. Thank you Ezgi!

My kindle touch from my lovely husband. Thank you husband!

I have to tell you a story about my kindle touch. My best friend was thinking about getting me a kindle and she appointed the job of  "secretly asking" my thoughts on the new kindle touch to my husband. At the time I told my husband that I loved holding the books while I was reading and didn't think that I would want to buy a kindle. However, my thoughts changed after I learned that my best friend was thinking of buying one for me. At the end my best friend got me a very special gift(s) that was not a kindle which I adore and love :) and my husband ended up getting me the kindle :). We laughed a lot about me changing my mind and starting to love the kindle touch. By the way, if you're in doubt I think you should definitely get it because it is really light weight (which I was really surprised about), you can store thousands of books in it (knew it), the E ink technology is brilliant(knew it but hadn't tried it out for myself) plus it is touch screen(really got used to that after using an iPhone for a while). How can you top that for a book worm?

Back to our NYC trip. One last thing I want to share with you. Our marble coasters we got from Soho.

Coaster 1

Coaster 2

Coaster backs

Have a great 2012! Let 2012 be the year that you make your dreams come true, be good to yourself and enjoy life to the fullest!

Barefoot Contessa - Ina Garten

I have to admit I am a food network junkie. I can watch food network all day. I love cooking and I have learned so much by watching the different shows on the network that is all about food :). From blanching vegetables to how to use the -so many- kitchen utensils that are on the market... 

My favorite show is Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa. I love her talking style, bright kitchen and how she balances the flavors, texture and color in her recipes. She currently has 7 cookbooks and I think if I had the time I would buy all of them and would go through all the recipes.

I already enjoyed cooking but seeing her in the show inspires me a lot. I wrote some of her recipes that I tried out. Of course I didn't have everything on the ingredients list for most of the recipes but I think you can always change a recipe. Add something special and make it your own recipe :).

Try,

1) White Chocolate Lollipops
2) Croissant Bread Pudding
3) Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
4) Zucchini Gratin

and Enjoy!

My favorite trail mix :)

While I'm sitting at my desk and working I always have to eat and drink something. However, it is really easy for me to snack on "empty" calories like lots of chocolate. That's why I've been preparing myself a custom trail mix that consists of all the things I love and by this way I can keep track of the calories and nutrition value that I gobble up.

Here are the ingredients for the trail mix:

1) 5 reduced fat Ritz crackers (70 cal)

2) 1 tablespoon of Nestle Premier White Morsels (70 cal)

3) half a cup of dried cranberries (65 cal)

 

4) 15 kernels of unsalted pistachios (60 cal)

This trail mix has 265 calories and you can snack on it in the afternoon until dinner time. Of course a hot cup of coffee will be great with this :). Enjoy!

And take a look at YouBars where you can create your own shakes, trail mixes, cereal and bars. You can also put your own name on the packages which makes it really personal :). I love it when you can make something special for yourself.

The Hunger Games

Me and my husband decided to exchange books to make it more fun. In other words, I buy books for my husband and he buys books for me so we each get a gift about twice a month :).

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The first "book" my husband bought me was the "The Hunger Games Trilogy". Well, it wasn't a single book, it was actually three books. I love sci-fi series so I really enjoyed them. I actually finished all three books in less than a week. Well I have to admit being on holiday may have helped :).

The story takes place in the future where in place of North America there is a  nation called Panem that consists of the Capitol and 13 districts. The book starts in district 12. As a punishment for a previous rebellion to the Capitol by the districts the Capitol organizes "Hunger Games" each year. One boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen from each district for these games. These selected "tributes" have to fight to the death in an arena prepared and controlled by the Capitol until only one remains. The last living "tribute" is declared the winner. A 16 year-old girl, Katniss Everdeen, (heroine in the trilogy) from district 12 volunteers for her younger sister. In the first book we follow Katniss Everdeen in the arena. I don't want to talk about the 2nd and 3rd book because I don't want to give any spoilers but I believe all the books were fun to read. However, I believe the first book was the best one and the worst one was the second book. I think the story has a different ending then you would guess. I suggest you read the series if you have some time to spare for fun. You will enjoy Panem if you're into sci-fi books and liked the movie "Gladiator".

Additionally, there is a film adaption of the first book and it will hit theaters this year on March 23rd. I will definitely go and see the movie.