Product Review: Nature's Pride bread

As a member of Foodbuzz's Tastemaker program, I occasionally receive an offer to try new products and review them right here, on home sweet blog. I have two lovely loafs just begging to be written about from Nature's Pride Oven Classics line of sliced bread - Oatmeal, and Whole Wheat.

You don't have to have read much of this blog to know that when it comes to bread, I am obsessed addicted a real enthusiast. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to try a brand I've never had before - let's see if there really is something better invented since sliced bread!

[Leave me and my insistence on using cheesy adages alone pleasekthanksbye.]

Oh bread. How I do love you.

Especially when covered in dark chocolate almond butter and smashed banana.

But this post is not about toppings - let's face it, what are nut butters for without a vehicle upon which to put them?

Enter: bread.
This bread.

Nature's Pride Oven Classics

I tried the Oatmeal bread first, mostly because it was all white and fluffy and shares a name with one of my favorite breakfast foods ever.
Appearances were not deceiving.

Dark chocolate almond butter (addict? who, me?) + raspberry jam.
This combination might not have been as good, however, if not for the soft, honey-sweet bread beneath it. While I usually don't like white bread - the crust always tastes weird to me compared to the white part - this made a mean pb &j. And no high fructose corn syrup to boot? Win.

I really liked the Whole Wheat.

Yes, that's right - enough to eat it plain. (So I eat plain bread. If that's weird, I don't wanna be normal.)
It had that nostalgic, homey taste - like, "this is what mom packed in my lunch every day" homey. It really had a nice flavor, not just blah dry wheatness. Now, I have had plenty of other good-tasting wheat breads - they're kind of hard to avoid nowadays - but what I love about this is that it has no HFCS involved. Seriously, get your creepy overprocessed crap out of my bread. Major props to Nature's Pride for keepin' it real. Or natural, as it were.

I will admit, I am not a huge fan of sliced bread. Tasty as it can be, it still has an overprocessed feel to it. Bread is so easy to make and it always tastes better when it's fresh and, um, not found in plastic bags. BUT - and that's a big but (teehee) - I am the first to recognize that not everyone, myself included, has the time/ability/patience/etc to make their own bread or buy the fresher stuff, and sliced bread is just so convenient. I love seeing products like Nature's Pride stuff that aims to keep it natural and without the preservatives, fillers, and words with more syllables than should be allowed in any language in the ingredient list. This is not just a crunchy-granola-head-organic-eating-locavore rant - this is based on my own experience. I not only enjoy bread more without all the icky stuff, but I feel better physically. And that's where I stand :)

As much as I miss my dearly beloved bakery and constant access to fresh bread in Florence...

Yum.
....maybe that's a memory to keep in Florence. Corner bakeries aren't exactly a cornerstone of American culture, and I think that's an important thing to acknowledge. I talk a whole lot about how much I love & miss Italian culture and the lifestyle there, but I wouldn't necessarily want to impose that culture on my own country, which has its own interesting culture and foods and peoples. It's so easy to go abroad and look down on your own country for what they don't have - but for me, I've realized that there is no 'better' or 'worse', just different. That's why studying abroad is so important - you gain that respect and understanding not just for other cultures, but for your own. That's pretty important too.

America, land of sliced bread? Well, yes. But we've got some darn good sliced bread.

~Namaste~

Productive

Wait...what could this be...an update???? Surely thine eyes deceive!

Nope. I'm here, and [mostly] in one piece. What prompted a sudden revival of posting, you ask?...a weekend of blatant procrastination. I am none too proud of it, but the past 3 days have been painfully unproductive. And with 6 1/2 weeks still left in the semester, it's not making me happy.

Today, however, for the first time in two months, I actually read blogs. I blew the dust off of my Google Reader and read. And I've decided, it was possibly one of the more productive things I've done yet during this absolute hell ,ahem, busy semester.

As I'm sure any current college senior can attest, that ubiquitous question "so what are you doing next year?" is the hot topic of the moment. And I will say it is quite a relief to a) know the answer and b) be able to ignore the GRE-mania that has taken over my friends and fellow tormented classmates. But, I can't say I'm immune to my own self-questioning of is this what I really want. As I've been running around, making arrangements for gaining my 6 months of food prep experience required by the CIA, I can't help but hear that very teeny voice in my head saying "oh, but this could be BAD. WHAT do you think you're doing?" etc, etc - that same voice that held me back before Florence figuratively slapped me in the head.

One of the blogs I depended upon in Florence for restaurant recommendations had been left ignored, like all the others. I caught up on it today, and it all came hurtling back to me. Everything I learned - everything that Tuscany taught me - about food, and food as something inexplicably more, flooded my senses. Oh right - this is why I love it, why I want it. Duh.

I really do miss those yellow apples.

BUT, a number of other exciting things have happened in those few & far apart moments when I'm not metaphorically [usually] bound to my desk chair researching recipes from the 1940s. (My thesis and I....it's a love/hate relationship. Not sure if I'm the love or hate...but that's another post for another time.)

Fall Break was last weekend, and I spent it with my aunt & uncle in Georgia. Not only did I get to hang out with these adorable faces for 4 days:

Bosco, Banda, and

Buster!

...but I am also hoping (planning? let's not jinx it just yet.) to spend the summer with them while getting the aforementioned food prep experience at a restaurant just down the street from their house. We went there - Three Blind Mice - for dinner and a little good-natured schmoozing with the owner/chef to check out that possibility.

My initial reaction to the restaurant itself was something to the tune of "too good to be true." And I hadn't even tasted the food yet. The decor is pretty perfect - you walk in and there is a wall of wines ordered by country of origin in front of you; a look to your left is a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf filled with culinary literature*.

*Side note: As a result of my thesis, I now have a venerable wealth of knowledge concerning what to call "food writing": this includes, but is not necessarily limited to, 'culinary literature,' 'culinary writing,' 'cookery books/literature,' and 'gastronomical literature/writing.' Just in case you thought I was only trying to use fancy words...I wasn't. That's just a broad enough title.

But let's get to the menu, right?

Now, I don't know if you can see it, but if you look under appetizers, you will see a affettati board, which is Italian for literally 'slices', usually referring to meat. Look a little further down. Any die-hard Gillianasana fans remember finocchiona???  (Hint: here and here!) Only my favorite.sandwich.EVER. from my beloved sandwich shop/wine bar, Casa del Vino!! Y'all, I just about had a heart attack. I have not had the pure unadulterated joy of finocchiona since my last day.second-to-last sandwich in Florence. 

 ...and then our waitress brought out the bread.

Ok, no olive oil & balsamic, but it is in middle-of-nowhere suburban Georgia. Let's not push it, shall we?

I was seriously torn come decision-time, but I went with the Nicoise salad. I'm a huge fan of tuna in salad - but I hate 'tuna salad' (mayonnaise makes me gag. and shudder. and then gag again.). I actually make it all the time at home. That, and when my family and i were having lunch after touring Pompeii, my mom and I got this salad with tuna, corn, olives and arugula that blew our minds. Italy kinda does that.

Loved it. Especially because it was over arugula, my love for which knows no bounds. 

My aunt ordered the Panzanella after I had another mini spaz attack over it (another fave of my mom's & mine), but I actually didn't love it. In another appeal to its audience, it included chicken and that was just kinda wrong to me. That and my pescatarian ways are slowly taking over. My uncle got the shrimp & grits (you see how awesome this restaurant is - it had rigatoni abruzzese just under shrimp & grits...genius.) and near licked his plate clean.

But, I will never forget the sage words (haha, get it? sage? like the spice...oh, never mind.) of my Italian cooking professor when he told us that the way to judge a restaurant is by its appetizer menu - CHECK - and its dessert menu. 

We ordered 3.

My uncle ordered a chocolate-raspberry fontaine, a pastry of deep dark chocolate and raspberry filling enclosed in a flaky phyllo dough 

I had a bite or two, but found myself a little distracted by the meringue-topped key lime pie...

 ...was amazing, mouth-watering, and basically exactly what I think of when key lime pie comes to mind, only maybe a step above. Even my aunt who hates key lime pie - and really desserts in general (I don't know how I'm related to her either) - had a couple forkfuls. It was so light and perfectly tart, and didn't have any of that icky gelatinous artificial mouth-feel that waaay too many key lime pies do. My fork was momentarily panicked when it could find nothing but a few graham crust crumbs left. Of course, then it found...

 ...the sticky toffee pudding.

Ok, now I am well aware of the reputation - or perhaps infamy - of British cuisine. That being, in layman's terms, that it sucks. But I had heard of this dish before and being the dessert aficionado that I am, I was curious if nothing else to see what it was.

I did not expect it to be one of the fluffiest, most moist and caramel-y cakes ever steeped in a heavenly bath of liquid toffee. My aunt - you know, the one who "doesn't like dessert" - and I dueled over the last toffee-soaked speck like two cats over catnip. I promptly texted my brother to inform him that his birthday present this year was going to be my recreation of this. It will be done.

The prospect of working here for a whole summer? Exciting is a sufficient but mundane word to describe how I feel about that! 

And on the summer, I just might have a life again. A thesis-free life, at least!

I'm also writing a weekly blog for Converse (my college) - because, you know, I need something else. But it's pretty fun :) And the next post (up tomorrow I believe!) is all about my favorite topic - Florence! 

Ok, back to...Henry James, a paper on Emerson, or chemistry problems. Gosh, what thrilling prospects.

Here's to being productive.

~Namaste~

Reflecting.

No, I am not belting out the Christina Aguilera song from Mulan.

If you read this entire post, you may end up thinking "well, someone's PMSing!" or "oh gawd, another one of those English majors who has to turn every moment of life into a poem." That is your right, if you so wish. Freedom of thought is a beautiful thing.

But so is the freedom that comes with writing. And that is what I intend to do for my weekly blog post (yes, I'm still bitter about the fact that I can only update once a week. I'm working through it.). It may be rambling, nonsensical, even *gasp* boring (perish the thought!), but I think it is what my current mental state is asking of me. Bear with me. Or jump ship. Your call.

Last fall, something happened. Something I have avoided mentioning in any kind of detail not just in this blog, but just in daily life. For other reasons, I'm still not completely comfortable with stating explicitly what; but for now, I will say that I fell apart. And by 'I', I am referring to everything that is encompassed by the pronoun - my physical and emotional stability, my memory, my work, my life. All of a sudden, I was no longer up to the task of being the perfect straight-A student with great friends and family and smile on her face. I was, if you can bear the overused teenage-angst-filled word, broken. My plan to go abroad to Italy was one of two reasons that I made it through the semester, and even then I was hardly what you could call 'in one piece.'

Today, my email inbox informed me that it is closed because I have kept too many emails over the past 3 years. Well, since some days I spend 50% of my time emailing, this was a problem, and I entered into the ever-so-thrilling process of reading all my old emails and determining which ones were deletable.

Is there a quote about the 'presentness' of the past? Somewhere? There should be. Maybe I should make one.

Either way, I came across emails from last fall of conversations I had with my mother during this time. My family is [almost abnormally] supportive and they are, without a doubt, that second reason I made it through the semester. 

These emails were...enlightening. I remembered the incredible, unbearable pain with each word I read, and it was hard to see myself as that tiny, hurting person again. This journey to the not-so-past past, however, was not for naught.

One of the biggest stress points was that constant dark cloud hanging over every college upperclassman's head: the future. The word just sounds scary, doesn't it? I was torn between three different paths. 

I know what I want to do. I want to learn Hindi, and teach English as a 

foreign language in another country. I want to learn more about nutrition 

and help people with eating disorders. I want to study language and grammar 

and all that crap that everyone else thinks is so boring. I want to go one 

whole day without feeling stomach acid burning a hole in my esophagus and 

making noise that I'm pretty sure [my roommate] can hear sitting over at her desk. 

I want to go one day without feeling like I could drop dead from exhaustion. 

I want to stop basing my own opinions on what everyone else thinks. But not 

a single one of these things seems even remotely possible.

Sound familiar? You were probably a confused college kid too, once. But this went beyond just a fear of life outside the campus bubble. I didn't understand what it meant to live anymore. I was grasping not for a career or a goal to achieve, but for a purpose. A voice that said "you are needed; don't give up." I was desperate; but it felt like I was dying.

Enter my very own deus ex machina (Google it): my mother. In the response to my virtual cry for help, she said:

"No one gets to live the perfect life. You just get to live the life you get."

(Little did she know, I'd be immortalizing her words only a year later on the world wide web. You're welcome, Mom.)

I don't remember a lot from last fall; it's still a little raw for me. But I know this email had an impact because just rereading those words was like a ton of bricks on my head - and I mean that in the best possible way. That purpose I was looking so hard for? Where most important things tend to be: right in front of my nose.

What is life if not a span of time given to you - to us - to me, in order to discover that purpose. Destiny, fate, *insert lofty abstract concept here*. [And yes, I just tried to define life - roll with me, I've been discussing too many abstract literary theories to count recently.]

I'm the first to admit that senioritis is most definitely setting in. I now sit in my Survey of American Literature I class, diligently taking notes on the significance of Puritan sermons and the attitude towards the natives with my 1000-page anthology open on the desk, and all I can think is, "why am I here." I could be reading about M.F.K. Fisher, doing yoga, or....researching M.F.K. Fisher (I love my thesis topic but it's taking over my life), but instead I am in an hour-and-a-half class discussing works which in other real-life circumstances you couldn't pay me to read, much less analyze the crap out of. But I have to go back to that perhaps unintentionally sage advice - I only get to live the life I get. And if Puritanical literature and endless hours of research are a part of it right now, then I better accept it fast so I can just do it. Because this semester - this 3-month period of time - isn't much compared to what is waiting for me. 

At some point in the near future, I will reread this post and say, "what the hell was I talking about. My life involves burying my head in a book or screaming at the New York Times archives because it won't let me view an article I paid 4 dollars to view. How can I just "accept" this???....I was definitely PMSing." Well, that's okay too. But I will get through it. And I will move on. And I will not be broken at the end. In fact, I'll probably be stronger. What doesn't kill you, right?

Enough of these musings. I have to go annotate chapter 3 of my chemistry textbook. Joy of joys.

...What? I said I'd accept it. I didn't say I'd do it with a smile.

~Namaste~

Challenges

Y'ALL. This is killing me. Posting barely once a week....pathetic. And frustrating. I MISS writing whatever insanity pops into my head. Instead, I'm chained to either a two-ton anthology or writing about the underlying racism in James Fenimore Cooper (you think I'm making this up...nope.).

I am resigned to the fact that my dear beloved blog may very well turn into a weekend activity, much as it pains me to say. My job with my study abroad program is going to start getting a bit heavier AND I'm going to start blogging once a week for my school. All of which I love and am very excited about...but MAN, does it leave precious little time for, um, life. I'll admit, it's all my fault.

But I do have something important to say other ohmygodfourenglishclassesatoncewhatwasIthinking. 

I know I've said it before, but I can't help it: I am constantly amazed at the effect Italy had on me. At this point in the semester, I would be in total freak-out mode. I would stay up til 3 because god forbid I don't read every single page assigned and put 100% into each and every paper, be it 2 pages or 12. 

But I'm not. I have my priorities, I take it week by week - sometimes day by day - and I breathe, and laugh, and sleep, and the world (or at least, my world) doesn't implode when I go to class a bit less than ideally prepared.

So...ready for what's been going on down here in Sparkle City (a.k.a, Spartanburg, South Carolina...if you really want to know, google it.)?

I think you are.

Daphne (my car) is legal to park (in the yellow or green lines only, of course).

Graduation GOWN. *insert mini-spaz moment of anxiety about graduating here*

Before I continue, let me explain. At Converse, if you enter on an odd year (like 2007, when I was a fresh[wo]man), you are a red devil.

Meet Richard the Red Devil mascot:

He's basically a hottie.

If you enter on an even year, you are a pink panther. You get picked by a junior (who is also a devil or panther) who is your Big Sister. It's NOT a sorority thing - we are a small women's college of about 1200. We are basically one big sorority anyway. So, for a week in September your Big Sis delivers you presents - in my case, all revolving around RED. There is SO MUCH red in my life now. And it's awesome.

During Formal Opening Convocation - big ceremony where our lovely President officially declares this school year open - seniors wear our gowns, our horns and tails (which our Big Sisters made for us), and of course...

Red Converse sneakers. (No, our school name has nothing to do with the shoe company. But come on...how could we not?)

Ok, got all that? ...yeah, it took my parents a while too. Don't worry about it.

The night before Opening Convocation, we paint the campus red (or pink...ick). It's pretty fabulous.

2011 - Little piece of heaven! (C'mon, say it with me: "aaaawwwwwww!")

Before we jazz up campus, we go to "Hats On", basically a party for the seniors where we wear crazy hats and eat cake. I'm sure there's some symbolism in there about "hats on" and getting ready to graduate....whatever. It's all about the cake.

Had to represent my homeland, right? [GOSOX.]

And as for eats, there's been plenty o' salads...

Most not as delicious as this one, which was from a deli across the street. It's called "the hippie." It has hummus and goat cheese. 'Nuf said.

And some banana oat bran. Of course. 

Some things never change.

And I can't forget about the best.frozen.yogurt.EVER.

Compliments of Blueberry Frog!

Pomegranate + plain tart with mangos + raspberries. Or, as I prefer to call it, heaven in a cardboard cup.

Good ole SC has been treating us to some gorgeous sunsets:

Find the symbolism yourself. This English major is off the clock.

Until tomorrow, of course. Chaucer, here I come.

~Namaste~

Okay.

It is SO good to be back. And by back, I mean back online. The language that I have been using in the recent past is far too adult to be published, but let's just say...I didn't have internet and I was NOT happy.

But absence makes the heart grow fonder, no? I have been in desperate need of an outlet to babble about food on. Don't get me wrong, I love discussing the Gothic elements in the works of Washington Irving and the Middle English dialect of Chaucer...but I need to write about food.

Classes are back in full swing, and it is increasingly more apparent that I overbooked myself this semester. Now, pre-Florence Gillian would have multiple panic attacks and drop a class faster than a baking pan of cookies without an oven mitt, but something about me has definitely changed. I am shocked, quite frankly, at how much more relaxed I am about everything. As much as I talked about "adopting the Italian lifestyle", there was always a little voice in my head that said, "oh please, you know you will just go back and turn into that crazy control freak perfectionist you always are." And yes, that is still very much a part of who I am, but I feel just a little more clear-headed about all the work I have to do. I may not get everything done perfectly, but that's okay. It's a ridiculously liberating thing to know that not being perfect about everything all the time is okay.

So, food? I'm still going to write my senior thesis (someone please explain to me HOW I am a senior in college??) on my hero (heroine?) M. F. K. Fisher. If you haven't read any of her works, you must! Her writing is so pleasurable to read, even after hours of poring over literature anthologies with font size 0.2, I open up one of her books and immediately feel relaxed.

In less than 24 hours, I will be in my professor's office with 3 topic ideas for a paper and I have to "sell" them to her. Y'all, I'm shakin in my Rainbows! So I am going to enlist your fabulous opinions, if you don't mind ;)

Why do you think food writing is important? What do you get out of reading about food - be it a blog, a cookbook, or an anthropological text (that last one applies to....um, me?)?

I will post pics of my roommate's & my AWESOME hippetastic room soon!

Oh yes, it's good to be back.

~Namaste~

[I apologize for the photoless post - Herman (my big laptop) was not moving all too swiftly tonight. He just got internet back, so maybe he's feeling a little overwhelmed.]

On The Road Again

I completely forgot to mention that as of Wednesday, mia mama and I hit the road. We are driving to Georgia, were most of my material life is residing all packed away in boxes at my grandparents' house. On Sunday, we're driving up to South Carolina to move me in! I'm SO excited to reunite with all my friends - haven't seen them since December!

That said, it will be a bit more difficult to blog for the next few days. 

BUT, I went and missed yesterday's Over-the-Humpday Challenge, and feel the need to make up for it...with a restaurant review!

Mom & I rolled into Charlotte after a very long day of driving. We were hungry, exhausted, and just wanted a nice, rejuvenating sit-down dinner. Charlotte did not let us down.

At the concierge's recommendation, we walked down the corner from the hotel to LaVecchia's, a seafood/steak restaurant.

[The pictures aren't super clear; in LuLu's defense, the lighting was not exactly food-blogger friendly.]

They had really funky decor - I love it when restaurants use the industrial look of the space to their advantage. I think it looks really modern & fun!

Lots & lots of metal fishies hanging from the ceiling. As true fish-lovers, we took this as a good sign.

Things only got better from there:

Bread baskets just make me happy. This arrived warm with a light but doughy interior and a perfectly crispy crust. Never mind the basket - bread alone is enough to make me grin like an idiot. I had 2.5 pieces, and I'm not ashamed to say it.

Mom ordered a salad as an appetizer:

Arugula with beets, blue cheese, and candied walnuts in a lemon-y dressing. It was delicious - she all but licked her plate! I helped her out a little ;) Although it would have been better with goat cheese...but I'm getting to that.

For dinner, I ordered exactly what I was craving: a big bowl of spinach.

Well, alright. Spinach with goat cheese, caramelized onions, tomatoes, pancetta & spicy grilled shrimp. The shrimp was actually a little too hot for me, but I'm a big fat baby when it comes to hot-spicy. I'm also a big fan of shrimp, so I still ate every single bite.

I was not expecting the pancetta - I don't think the menu mentioned it - but much to my surprise, it was perfect on this salad! I'm not much of  bacon person at all and since basically giving up red meat, I haven't really had it in years - and when I have, I always remember why I don't like it. But on this salad....holy pork.  (I think it was pancetta because it both looked & tasted more like it than bacon, but I could be wrong.) It was diced into teeny tiny pieces and was absolutely drool-worthy when combined with the caramelized onions. It totally had that sweet-salty thing going on. I am a little in love with this salad, actually. Spinach + goat cheese is one of those to-live-for combos in my book. If you haven't tried it, please do. You can thank me later ;)

Mom's entree was beautiful, in more ways than one!

Almond-crusted tilapia with blue crab beurre blanc and mashed potatoes over roasted corn, baby asparagus and red peppers.

It was in a cute little edible tower with the veggies hidden on the bottom, the taters, the crab, and the fish on top.

Ok, I was one of those kids who ate everything on her plate separately and freaked.out if one section of my plate touched another. Woe to anyone within ear range if my baby carrots began mingling with the ketchup for my hot dog. Thus, I was a bit skeptical about this stacking situation currently going on on my mother's plate. 

But damn if it didn't meld perfectly! I would never have put mashed potatoes with tilapia, but they actually complemented each other quite well. It definitely helped that the fish was super fresh and delicious. The crab beurre blanc...well, put it this way: I only got one bite. The vegetables underneath also went well with the potatoes (which weren't in and of themselves amazing per se, but they tasted like my mom's mashed potatoes, and there is certainly something to be said for keeping it simple and comforting!). It was just a great dish overall.

I will add that my mom ordered 3 different white wines, all of which were rather disappointing. But it's hard to tell if that was just due to bad luck on her part or something else. Either way, the food made up for it.

And of course, I can't not have some form of dessert. It's simply a must.

Yep. Definitely a must.

That is mango sorbet - and downright delicious at that. I think sorbet is actually the perfect summer dessert. It's cold, light, and refreshing, and satisfies a sweet tooth without causing that pushing over the edge into too-stuffed-to-move land. Although it didn't have a smooth and creamy texture like, say, a certain gelato place, I could definitely taste how fresh the mango was and I think that's more important anyway. It was exactly what I wanted. Don't you love it when that happens?!

A lovely meal in a lovely city.

Now that is delicious.

~Namaste~

Unexpected Austin

Wednesday, August 11th 2010: Wake up far too early for a sunny day in August. Eat some melon. Head to airport. 

Destination: Austin, Texas.

Purpose: Training as a Peer Mentor for Academic Programs International.

[Just wanted to set the scene for y'all. Why the James Bond writing style?...If I told you, I'd have to kill you.]

Once I passed through security - always a barrel of laughs, that process - I proclaimed it breakfast time. And whaddya know, but there was a UFood Grill in the American terminal. I have heard of this particular restaurant and have always wanted to go, but all its Massachusetts locations are in downtown Boston, and it's not easy to just hop down there. (Mostly because I refuse to drive in Boston. I value the lives of myself and my car far too much.) It's a super casual dining place that features all health-focused fresh foods - AND tart frozen yogurt. If I haven't mentioned it before, I have a frozen yogurt, erm, problem. The problem being that I love it and will get it at pretty much anytime of the day or night, irregardless of actual hunger. It's usually worth it.

But, I also saw they offered smoothies, and that sounded perfect so early on in the day. I grabbed a yogurt and the Mango Madness smoothie - mango, banana, and orange juice.

It was a little heavy on the OJ flavor, but it was pretty tasty. And it made me happy to see a substantial healthy breakfast option in the airport. It made me smile.

I had a layover at OHare in Chicago, and was equally as successful in finding a healthy lunch option!

It was lacking in the protein department, and was seriously screaming for some avocado, but it was really fresh and tasty. The cilantro made ALL the difference, and I was really impressed that it was even there! When I think of airports and herbs together, I see a flight attendant asking me if salt counts. Go OHare and cilantro!

Got to Austin and eventually found the other 3 Peer Mentors who were with me - we were on the same flight the whole time!

I'm just going to say it now: I have never, EVER in my life experiences humidity like I did in Texas. It was what I think rain forests and green houses are like. It was intense and inescapable. But I actually kind of liked it - the air conditioning never felt too cold! 

Despite all the heat, we still saw plenty of runners and bikers and strollers out and about, sweaty and smiling. It was impressive. Insane, but impressive.

After getting to the hotel, my roommate Gab and I chilled in the room and literally talked for 2.5 hours straight. She had studied with the API Toscania program, and it was absolutely incredible to share our mutual Italy experience/adventures. In fact, the entire time in Austin was like the best therapy I could have asked for in the transition back to home life. I loved hearing about everyone else's experiences and even though we all went to different places, we all had the common ground of loving every minute of it and it was amazing to connect with that. It was just the coolest group of people. I kinda wish we got to work together more as Peer Mentors. But before I get too wish-washy...

On to the FOOD. We definitely ate well in Austin. The first night, we went to a Tex-Mex place. As we should have.

 

[Insert here bowls of some seriously delicious salsa, guacamole, and queso. I always thought queso was just glorified melted Veleveeta cheese....I was wrong. It's amazing.]

I went with the fish tacos for my entree. It was a tough choice, but I've always wanted to try them, and I do love me some grilled tilapia. It was a good choice :)

The corn tortillas were soft (my fave!) and tasted homemade, and I never thought I would say this, but the best part of the dish was the Chipotle Ranch dressing drizzled on top. I usually opt for no dressing, because the plate typically arrives drowning under a cloying, bland, cheap-tasting white goo. But this was unlike no other ranch I've ever tasted. It was light but wonderfully creamy, well-spiced but not too hot, and accented the dish without taking any other flavor away. Basically, exactly what a sauce should be. One of the best tex-mex experiences I've ever had. (The only one that was better was a seafood enchilada in downtown Boston when I was around 9. It remains in my head as one of the tastiest seafood dishes yet to reach my mouth. I could eat one right now.)

After dinner, the group of us wandered around downtown Austin (ha! that rhymes with Boston!...maybe I need to get out more.). Austin is such a cool city! It reminded me a lot of Charlotte, North Carolina which I was totally not expecting. Most of our group ended up doing a bit of bar-hopping on the [in]famous 6th street, but my 20-year-old status and very tired self prevented me from doing the same. Luckily, my roommate and one other girl were also still 20, so I wasn't alone. Yay for the youngin's!

After a none-too-restful night, I awoke groggy but excited to get started. It was so great to actually meet the people I had emailed obsessively and see the building where that rather hefty check was sent to. The API Staff is just awesome. And a lot of them are Gillianasana readers, which just makes me grin like an idiot to know. [Hi everyone!!!] And the office decor is SO cool. The creative director Mark is, well, creative. It's really colorful and fun, and I have plans to decorate my future apartment a la API. You're all invited to my housewarming party. Bring chocolate.

We went out to lunch & I had my first one of these:

A fried pickle! And the consensus was that it tastes like...um, a fried pickle. Yep.

Dinner was really exciting. Like, really really exciting.

Italian! What else would get me so excited?

[That was some delicious focaccia. Nothing like the focaccia I had in Italy...but delicious nevertheless. Crispy, cheesy, chewy. God I love bread.]

Remember my first garganelli experience? I loved the shape, and when I saw it on the menu simply done with a tomato & basil sauce, my mind was made up quite quickly.

Simple is always a good way to go.

The dining experience in Austin was really fun. Great food + great conversation. It was, well, great!

And lo and behold, what was across the street from this Italian restaurant but a frozen yogurt shop. I was all over that like white on rice.

This was my first experience with pay-per-ounce fro yo, and I must say, I am jealous of those of you who have one nearby. Although my wallet sure is happy without them.

But who can say no to this??

Not I. 

I went the next night too.

The next and final day, we all gave our presentations about our personal study abroad experiences. It was so much fun to hear everyone's, and made me want to go back. And then go everywhere they went. Global tour, anyone?

Earlier, we met with our program managers, aka the person I stalked via email for 3 months when I was dealing with the massive amount of paperwork involved. [Note to all those study-abroad hopefuls I just scared: most of it is now done online. I am jealous.]. Mine was absolutely awesome, despite the fact that I emailed her 3 times in a row in a period of 10 minutes, and it was so cool to meet her (and see a pic of her adorable son!). 

Another highlight was lunch.

Turkey+sprouts+lettuce+tomato+mustard+"avocado". Apparently in Texas, when you see avocado on a menu, it means guacamole. Only one more reason I love Austin. More places should adopt that principle.

But dessert basically eclipsed everything else. There is a "cookie delivery service" nearby that the office orders from often, understandably. But the kicker? The cookes are delivered fresh from the oven.

In one word? GENIUS.

That was hands-down the best M&M cookie I've ever had. It was all gooey and melty and warm and if I didn't have enough reasons to up and move to Austin, this would do it. I want to open a fresh-from-the-oven cookie delivery service. Seriously. Possibly one of the best business strategies I've ever heard of.

After our training was all over (*tear*), a small group of us decided to check out Barton Springs Pool, which is a public outdoor swimming area with natural water. (I don't know how else to describe it; by "natural," I mean not chlorinated. So before you start giggling about the concept of "unnatural water"...shutup.)

[I love that there is an award for "Best Swimming Hole."]

We ran back to the hotel and I fought with the hotel printer, and before I knew it, it was dinner time! We met at a tapas bar (we were going for barbecue, but the was an hour-long wait, and it was already 8 o'clock. Not happening.).One of the group studied in Barcelona, so needless to say, we asked him for recommendations. I

went vegetarian.

It was some fresh bread with some of the best grilled veggies I've had - and I have had a lot! It was leeks, artichokes, and asparagus in smoked olive oil + sea salt. The leeks literally melted in my mouth. That romesco sauce on the side was none too shabby, either. I wanted to partake in the bottle of wine, but that pesky age limit and my conscience stopped me. Oh, to be in Italy again.

It was really a great trip. Even better than I expected, and I was pretty excited to begin with! The job will be a lot of work, but studying abroad is something I'm pretty passionate about & I think it will really be fun. 

That wasn't the only surprise; the trip seemed to trigger a bit if reverse culture shock. Perhaps it was all the talking about living in our respective countries and how much we loved and grew from it, but either way, I came home happy but a little hurtin'. But what it really did was remind me of what a crazy, confusing, beautiful experience studying abroad is and, for me, was. And I'd do it all over again.

Thanks, Austin!

I think I'll be back ;)

~Namaste~

[P.S. - if anyone read this earlier, my mouse clicked the "Publish" button of its own volition when I was halfway through writing it. Hate it when that happens.]