Leftover Cauliflower, Kittens, and my Bucket List

Hello there again.  Two posts in one week?  Who am I?

Today I have decided a few things:
1.) I'm making a pizza crust out of cauliflower, egg, basil, and red pepper flakes
2.) There are a few things I WILL accomplish in a few weekends as well as a few in Spain
and 3.) Today I will be posting a lot of kitten pictures

The pizza. We had some raw vegetables last night as part of our dinner, and Mother said that she was going to throw away the cauliflower.  I said, "HOLD UP ONE MINUTE SIR." No, I did not actually say that, but secretly I wanted to.  I have pinned so many recipes for cauliflower crusts or breadsticks (and by so many I mean 3).  I decided that I will be successful with cooking this today.  Right now, it's on its third round in the oven, it smells nice, but it looks like it has a suspicious texture. Wah.

Bucket List. A few weekends from now, I will be hosting several of my friends from BG at my grandparents' cabin.  I mentioned this before, but I figured I would say it again because I know some of you don't read as religiously as you should. Tisk, tisk.  Two things will be accomplished that weekend: sleep in a tent with 12 other people and go star gazing.  Now, before you get your panties in a bunch, I have been star gazing before.  Duh.  Who hasn't? Well, that's just it.  I'm sure at least one of my friends will have never had the chance to star gaze out in the country where there are no lights or buildings to obstruct the view.  And, I like to complete items on my bucket list consciously and with thought.  So there.  Sleeping in a tent with 12 other people? Yea, that's been a goal of mine for quite a few years now.  You can ask Paigey and Coley.  They'll vouch for me.

While I'm in Spain

PAUSE, a few words please.  Sometimes I do this thing where I get so excited to make something new that I start it without making sure I have all the ingredients I need.  It happens a lot.  Today is one of those days.  I made cauliflower pizza crust.  We have no pizza sauce.  We have no mozzarella cheese.  Those are two important ingredients for pizza.  Good work, Kelsey.  Good work. I will be enjoying a pizza wanna be with no sauce.  Fail.  Pause over.

I will accomplish a few more things than in a few weekends.  I will hopefully:

Write a rap song. Why? Because I want to feel like a badass.  K? K.

Milk a goat.  Milking a goat is a common thing in Ohio, I would say.  That's why I want to do it in Spain. That's something entertaining.

Bake Thanksgiving dinner.  New country.  New family.  New traditions.  I want to bake a Thanksgiving dinner that I would have at home for my host family and maybe for my BG friends as well.  (There's this weird custom there that you don't invite your friends to your home to hang out or for dinner.  You go out together and meet at a cafe or whatever.  It's kind of cool, yet oddly different.  So dinner may just be an exception if my host family agrees to it.)

Ride an elephant.  Let's be real, who doesn't want to ride an elephant?  I know I may be the only person in the world who sort of wishes they would figure out how to make a miniature elephant like they do dogs and pigs for pets (even though that whole process of making animals mate and do weird things creeps me out and all), but I know I'm not alone when I say I want to ride the majestic beasts.  Beautiful creatures.  Scary as heck, but pretty cool.

Travel to Greece, Italy, and Australia.  I'm going to be so close that I'll be able to taste them.  I will go.  No matter what.  (Except the civil war thing going on in Greece, that may stop me from going any closer than the outer most island.  But that's ok.  The island will be pretty enough and close enough for me.)

And finally, send a message in a bottle.  How cool would it be for me to send a message in a bottle while I'm in Spain?  Basically the coolest thing ever.  I can't wait to do this one.  I just can't think of a good message.  I want to send the most epic message ever.  EVER.  I'll do it.

This brings me to my closure, Kittens. I love kittens.  And cats.  And elephants, but let's stay on topic here.  Kittens are great.  Cute.  Small.  Cuddly.  Just all around great things.  Here are a few of my favorite kitten pictures (courtesy of Twitter and Bridget):

That is all.

Happy reading.  Stay excellent, ME.

It's Already the End of June? WHAT?

And here we go:

Skipping the usual apology for my lack of blogging, there is far too much to talk about today.  (You know I send my sympathies anyway.. Bleh.)

Hi!!!!!!!

I have missed this so much, and I have no idea why I keep stopping.  It really is just a great chance for me to be sassy as all get out and just say whatever I feel like saying.  BOOM.

Currently, I have some banana oatmeal breakfast muffins in the oven.  I am so excited to try them.  Of course this was another recipe found on Pinterest, and of course I added chocolate chips to make it better.  Whoops.  

Here's the recipe: It's super easy and it took me no time at all to throw everything together.  I didn't use a food processor (because I don't have one), but I think the muffins are still going to taste great.  That's kind of why I added the chocolate chips, to counteract the texture of the oats.

2.5 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup plain low fat greek yogurt

2 eggs

1/2 cup of honey

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 Tbsp. flax seed (I also didn't add this because I don't have it and I think I poop enough already.)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ripe bananas (Even if they aren't ripe, just mash the crap out of them.  They will become ripe.)

Mix it all up, put it in muffin tins, bake for 18-20 minutes (I chose 19) at 400, and done.  The pictures on the recipe show 12 HUGE muffins.  Of course I took that as a challenge to match those 12 huge muffins.  I only hope that Mother doesn't yell at me for making a mess in the oven. (Here's the link, Fit and Healthy with Debbie) Also, by the end of this post, I will most likely have  been able to taste these muffins, so I'll let you know how that goes.

Moving right along...

New York City.  That's right, I went to NYC for a few days with my cousin Bridget and my aunt and uncle.  We started in Pennsylvania at the Hershey Chocolate Factory.  I made my very own custom chocolate bar with butterscotch chips, heath pieces, and pretzel pieces.  Delicious.  We then visited Bridget's cousin's (on the other side of the family) wife's parent's house.  It was nice.  MY MUFFINS ARE FLAT. BOO. Anyway, I got to meet some new family members!  Their house was beautiful and they were so kind to us.  

The next morning we left for New Jersey where we stopped at Carlo's Bakery.  It was magical.  I ate the most delicious cannoli a girl could ask for.  PURRFECT. 

And then it happened.  We arrived in NYC.  MY MUFFINS SMELL SUSPICIOUS. It was the most joyous moment of my life.  Now, although I never really felt rested the entire time I was there, I really did enjoy everything that I was able to do.  We went to the very top of the Empire State Building and got to walk down the stairs to the observatory deck.  When we made it down, the man working told us he had been working there for many many years (he was kind of an older fella, if ya know what I mean) and had NEVER been allowed to walk down those stairs.  We're pretty awesome.  

We also went to two Broadway shows.  Not just one, but TWO.  I am so blessed to have such amazing family members who enjoy the things that I do!  We saw Wicked and Phantom of the Opera.  Both were absolutely mind blowing!  

Wicked^^, Phantom below, obviously. 

We literally saw everything in NYC.  I don't even know how to talk about it.  You have to go and see it for yourself.  We saw the Statue of Liberty (my favorite), Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller, Times Square, Little Italy (sort of, we ate in a cafe close to there, and I decided it counts), Greenwich Village, the 9/11 Memorial grounds, Central Park, and so much more!  If you ever get a chance, go to NYC.  It is so worth it. We were there for 4 days, and we saw so much!  Even one day would have been great. 

9/11 Memorial

The adorable Italian place close to Little Italy.

The turtle pond in Central Park.

I almost forgot, we went to CANADA!  The lady working at the border who checked our passports was very unpleasant.  She quickly was referred to in a disgusting Russian accent and became the butt-end of all our dinner jokes.  We had dinner in a revolving restaurant that overlooked Niagara Falls.  No, I didn't puke, and yes, I had the best fillet mignon of my life.  I almost cried when I tasted it.  And the creme brûlée was quite wonderful as well.  

I also texted my Ceramics professor while I was in Canada, which cost me $1.25.  I was very disappointed that he never responded.  Jerk.

It's time to talk about my sunburn.  That's right folks, as if I haven't tweeted or facebooked enough about it already, I'm going to talk about it again.  I can't remember the last time I got this burnt.  I mean, I've had my fair share of sunburns growing up.  Look at me.  I'm as white as chalk.  It happens.  But this time, man!  It was awful.  I got burnt behind my knees and inside my elbows.  I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy.  That was rough.  Rant over.

The muffins.. Oh goodness.  They are tasty, but the texture is almost too much for me.  They taste a little like straight up oatmeal.  And that's weird when it's supposed to be a muffin.  If you like oatmeal, try them.  If not, stay clear.

Here is a picture of my future kittens.  Enjoy: 

The black one is Winston and the orange one is Peaches.  My dreams will come true one day. Don't doubt me.

And the kittens bring me to Devon.  He's nice.  :)

Which then brings me to my upcoming campout!  Woo!  I cannot wait for my APhiO friends to come and hang out at my grandparents' cabin with me!  They have no idea what kind of life we live around here, silly city slickers.  Prepare yourselves!

HERE'S MY SHOUT-OUT TO THE GREATEST WING-WOMAN EVER, Jody Schwyn.  This girl went to get her visa today.  She called me immediately after and told me what I will need to bring that she didn't have.  She's a real life saver.  

This coming weekend, Mother and I will venture to Chicago to get my visa.  I'm excited, but mostly I can't wait to get this whole process done with .  It has literally been 4 months in total since I started gathering documents for my passport and now finally for my visa.  It's a pain in the rear end.  

So that was my May and basically my June.  July appears to be promising as well.  I'll keep you posted.. 

Happy reading.  Stay excellent, ME.