Rachael's Restaurant Reviews- Brasa

Andy and I found ourselves with a rare night off last night and decided to have an impromptu date night.  I had been wanting to try Brasa for a while now because I consistently hear amazing things about it.  So off we went to North Minneapolis in search of "comfort food inspired by the creole cooking traditions of the Americas and Caribbean."

Brasa: Premium Rotisserie, 600 E Hennepin Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55414

Rating- 7

 Brasa's menu is organized by proteins, sides, bowls, breads and sandwiches.  Most items are designed for sharing (or not).  You can order small, medium and large sizes depending on whether you're trying to feed the table or just yourself. We decided to order one bowl, one protein and two sides. 

The Order: 

Smoked Beef- "Braised & Seasoned with Sweet-Spicy BBQ Sauce"

Here's the thing, I was underwhelmed by this dish but Andy loved it. So perhaps take my review with a grain of salt?  I also admittedly feel like my being underwhelmed is party my own fault.  Braising means you sear the meat and then slow cook it in a cooking liquid of your choice to break down the connective tissue and make the meat very tender.  So, I was expecting juicy beef that had been braised in BBQ sauce. I wanted the sweet and tangy goodness to be infused in every salty rich bite.  Instead I got what was nicely braised beef (meaning it did reach desired tenderness) with a small ladle of BBQ sauce added on top right before they bring it to your table.  To be fair, the description says "seasoned with" BBQ sauce, not "marinated in" BBQ sauce. My fault.  Even still, braising is a method of cooking that can infuse meat with an incredible amount of flavor, and I felt this dish was lacking the intense flavor I was hoping for.

Pork & Over Easy Egg Bowl- "Yellow Rice, Jalapeno Spinach & Red Sauce" 

If you are just ordering for you, and not planning to share, I recommend ordering one of the bowls.  This is a lot of bang for your buck people.  It has rice, spinach, slow roasted pork, egg, crispy onions and sauce all for about 9 bucks.  The rice was a wonderful golden color, flavorful and fluffy. While the spinach was good, I couldn't detect even a hint of Jalapeno. Since I like spicy food, that was disappointing. The slow roasted pork was tender and savory, good marks there. The over easy egg was perfectly cooked and when you broke the yolk it infused the dish with that extra layer of depth you want from good comfort food. Brava Brassa! The red sauce, on the other hand, like the Jalapeno was hard to detect. 

Crispy Yuca with Citrus & Garlic

I'm not always a fan of Yuca. When it's done well, I LOVE it. When it's not crisped correctly, it's terrible.  Brasa's Yuca was fantastic.  Nicely sized slices of Yuca fried up to perfection.  Good and crispy on the outside and fluffy, not dry, on the inside. The citrus garlic dipping sauce they came with? I would drink that with a straw if they had brought me one.  This was probably the best dish we ordered.

Cornbread & Beans

I love cornbread.  It's essentially an excuse to eat butter and honey in heaps.  Everyone likes their cornbread differently. Some like it dense and substantial. Others like it fluffy and more cake like.  Some prefer it served hot, others feel it's better at room temperature or even slightly chilled. I like mine warm, and somewhere in between the dense and fluffy consistency. For me, the cornbread at Brasa was too dense and too cold.  It also lacked any flavor standing on it's own.  It was significantly improved by the butter and honey (but really what food isn't?). The baked red beans were perfectly cooked, but again lacked the intense flavor I'm looking for in Creole inspired cooking.  They didn't have that deep molasses flavor that's balanced by the starchy beans and tang of BBQ sauce. 

I know it might read as if I didn't enjoy my meal at Brasa.  Don't get me wrong, the food was good, I'd venture to say most people who eat there would say it is really really good.  But as someone who has had exceptional creole inspired comfort food, I just wanted to take the flavor nodule on everything and crank it up, up, up!

A Letter to My First(never)born

-- The following is a guest post from our secret lady friend who chooses to remain anonymous until a baby kangaroo is officially put into her mama pouch -- 

Dear Baby,

I saw you for the first and last time today. You were small, the size of a dime on the black and white screen. It was the first visual proof I had that you were real after weeks of only getting the levels of hormones in my blood. I tricked myself into thinking I could see your heart beat when the nurse moved the camera this way and that in my uterus. But that would be impossible. You never got big enough to grow a heart.

I had been so looking forward to this moment, the moment I’d first get to see you, since the glorious morning I learned of your existence. I’d convinced myself it was another wasted month, and was entirely expecting another depressed morning after another negative test. Instead, it said, “Pregnant,” clear as day. I gasped and raced down the stairs to your dad. “Look!” I choked through the tears. He smiled and hugged me tight and we laughed and cried and couldn’t believe it. You made us so happy, Baby.

I spent the next week smiling to myself with the knowledge you were inside of me. I found myself resting my hand on my belly, protectively. Everything I ate and did was in service of making you  stronger. You were too small for me to feel you, but I could feel my body changing around you. My ab muscles ached where my womb was stretching and my breasts grew heavy and full.

We narrowed down the list of names we started two years ago. We thought about whether we should start clipping diaper coupons and stock up now. We argued about whether we should turn the office or the guest room into your room.

We couldn’t wait to tell our parents and friends. You were so wanted, Baby. I imagined them shrieking and weeping with joy when we shared the happy news. I wanted to spill the beans right away, but I also wanted to be careful about telling them too soon. My HCG (the pregnancy hormone) was low to begin with and continued to have a very slow rise. I had blood draws every few days—to the point where I had bruises on the insides of my arms—and every time I expected the doctor to call and say the level had finally doubled like it was supposed to and I could stop worrying. 

Instead they called me on Tuesday to say they thought it might be an ectopic pregnancy. There was still a chance it could proceed normally, they said, and I clung to that hope for dear life. They called me Thursday and told me I would definitely miscarry. The grief was…is… almost overwhelming. We had imagined a whole, wonderful future for you. We already loved you so much, Baby.

There are some who don’t understand this consuming sadness. We never got to hold you in our arms, never got to talk to you or read to you or sing to you, never got to kiss your little head, and to them that means we should chalk it up to a loss and move on. But that doesn’t change the fact that you changed me, changed us, in the short time your cells were dividing. 

I’ll always be grateful to you, Baby, because I got to be your mom, even if it was only for a little bit. No matter what comes afterward, you’ll always be my first(never)born.

Love,

Mama

Rachael's Restaurant Reviews- Blue Door Pub Longfellow

Last night Andy and I were both craving burgers, fries and beer so we headed to The Blue Door Pub's new Minneapolis location in the Longfellow neighborhood.  We like to order two different things and then go half-sies so we can try two different menu items.  Just one of the reasons I love that man.

Blue Door Pub- 3448 42nd Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55406

Rating- 8.5 (Would have ranked higher if they had better fries and a larger tap beer list)

The Order:

The Humpty Burger with Fries- "Ellsworth cheese curds fill the inside, while a slow poached egg and Irish rashers huddle up on top."

 Ok, I had no idea what an "Irish rasher" was when I ordered this.  Turns out it's Irish Bacon which is probably closest to what we'd call country style ham. Great! Now when they serve this to you, they bring an egg still in its shell to your table, they have you lift off the bun and they crack the egg right on to your burger and then smash it with your bun allowing for all the amazing runny yolk to drip into the ham and the burger meat.  To me, this is an extremely soft boiled egg.  Delicious, yes. But not a poached egg. A poached egg is cooked by cracking it into boiling water.  Am I mistaken? Am I being too harsh? Honestly it doesn't matter because the end result is amazing. And if that isn't enough squeeky melty cheese curds ooze out of the center when you take a bite. Sign me up to eat this every day until my heart gives out. The fries were a bit under seasoned, good crispy texture but underwhelming overall.

The Jiffy Burger with Cajun Style Tots- "Crunchy Peanut Butter, a little mayo, pepper jack cheese, pickles and bacon." 

 Ok, stick with me.  You might be thinking Peanut Butter on a Burger?! With Mayo?! As the menu says "You've got to try it to be a believer." We almost ordered it without the Mayo because we were scared. I'm glad the bar tender talked us out of it.  The mayo is so subtle you can't taste it but it really adds to the experience by marinating the burger so that it stays juicy, balanced and the peanut butter doesn't become too sticky in your mouth.  This burger was such a crazy wonderful combination of salty, savory goodness with the bacon and pickles and then the subtle sweetness of the white bun and peanut butter just pushed it over the edge of deliciousness. The Cajun style tots were just what you want out of a tot.  Nicely flavored, good and crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. 

Point is, GO! GO now if you want delicious, unique burger concoctions.  Andy and I decided we want to try every burger on their "Blucys" Menu, maybe you can join us!?

Rachael's Restaurant Reviews - Bone Yard

Hello Lady Bits! The reason I love to cook is mainly because I love to eat delicious food, so naturally I also love to go out and try new restaurants. And I've decided to start reviewing them for you!

Bone Yard: 2841 Hennepin Ave. S. Minneapolis 55408
Rating: 6.5 out of 10 (I'm pretty tough!)

Recently my best friend James and I tried the new Uptown restaurant, Bone Yard http://boneyarduptown.com.  It's a country-style upscale cowboy type atmosphere.  Think plaid western shirts and jeans, exposed wood beams and cast iron skillets on the wall. For you local folk, it's where the Old Chicago used to be. We arrived around 6:40pm on a Monday and were pleasantly surprised to find out they were still on happy hour! 4pm-7pm M-F for you thrifty bits.  So we went a little hog wild and ordered enough for the entire restaurant. We ordered the Fried Chicken Po' Boy with Cottage Fried Potatoes, Beef Brisket Tacos, Fried Mac N Cheese Bites, Crab Hush Puppies, Pit Ham Sliders, and Smoked & Spicy Dry Rub Wings.  When they brought out the food the two hostesses continued to pass by our table with confused looks until James and I spoke up and assured them that "yes all that food is for us. Yes, they did have the correct table number and yes we do plan on eating it all."

 The Brisket Tacos were the highlight.  The brisket was flavorful and juicy, the pickled onions added the right amount of acidic tang and the smoked chile ailoi gave the necessary kick to pull together a nicely balanced taco.  The Pit Ham Sliders were also quite delicious.  Nice thick smoked ham slices on cheddar biscuits with homemade hot pepper jelly.  The salty sweet of the ham combined with the spicy peppers all on top of a  fluffy but still substantial biscuit? Render this diner happy.  The wings were standard, nothing to write home about but certainly satisfying enough to order again.  The Fried Mac N Cheese Bites were disappointing, bland and in need of a sharper cheddar (and double the amount) as well as a dash of cayenne (or any spices really!).  The Crab Hush Puppies were also just so so, as the corn meal was nicely prepared but the crab meat was used so sparingly they might as well not used it at all. But the spicy curry mustard aioli dipping sauce the crab hush puppies were served with? Delightfully delicious. I'd order that stuff on the side forever!  I have to admit I didn't get to try the Po' Boy as my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I was done by this point in the night.  But I will say it was huge for a Happy Hour item. It came with a whole basket full of twice fried potato medallions (cottage fried potatoes) and two big pieces of fried chicken on top of fluffy white bread with lettuce, tomato and jalapenos.  I'm not sure Po' Boy is the right name for it, as it just looked like a fried chicken sandwich. but I guess I'll just have to go back and try it for myself.

All and all I'd say The Bone Yard is worth the trip especially on a Monday night when you feel like eating your weight in country fried food. Which I do, most of the time.

A check in with Infertile Myrtle

-- The following is a guest post from our secret lady friend who chooses to remain anonymous until a baby kangaroo is officially put into her mama pouch -- 

Since the last time I checked in, I tested positive as a carrier for a one genetic disorder, the mister’s swimmers tested positive for awesomeness, I started on hormones to make me ovulate, I signed up with a new pregnancy app called Glow, I ovulated (yay!), I convinced myself I was pregnant, and I convinced myself I was not pregnant.

I’m currently at the tail end of my “Two-Week Wait” – the 15 days post-ovulation before your period comes when all you can do is overanalyze every twinge in your abdomen and wonder what exactly is going on in there. I excitedly went through a list of early pregnancy symptoms with Hubs last weekend, fairly certain that I had enough of them to indicate I had a baby baking. Tiredness? Check! Bloatiness? Check! Lower back pain? You better believe it! His response was, “[Wife], you literally spend every night farting and begging me to rub your back before you fall asleep on the couch at 9:00.” 

Fair point.

After about a week of fantasizing about an adorable tot drunk-baby-walking through a beautiful meadow at sunset, I woke up on Wednesday feeling pretty certain this wasn’t my month. Nothing changed, per se; I just had a strong sense my womb was empty after all. This feeling was further validated by my plummeting basal body temperature, which is an indication Aunt Flo is on her way.

I just want to be done with this, you know? My insurance doesn’t cover infertility, so each doctor’s visit is hundreds of dollars out of pocket. Each ultrasound to check my follicle growth, despite lasting less than five minutes, is another $100 or so. We’re so fortunate that we can afford it, and that we’re not yet at the point where the visits are costing in the thousands instead of in the hundreds. But still. Boo.

The upside is that if I’m indeed not pregnant, I’ll be able to sign up for short-term disability insurance so I can have a source of income during maternity leave. I was completely naïve about how that worked… I had always assumed I would just get paid for the full three months I’d be out. Not so; my employer will continue to cover my benefits during that time, but I’d have to use up my sick and vacation time to get any cash money. Did you know that out of 185 countries surveyed by the United Nations labor agency, America is one of three countries (and the only western one) that doesn’t offer at least partially paid maternity leave? Call your representative and tell him/her that that shit is whack.

I’ll know for sure what’s going on in there early next week, but I’m steeling myself for another round of the hormones. Hopefully the second time’s the charm!

*****

Part of my infertility journey has been figuring out how much of it I want to share. As I mentioned in my last post, I feel strongly that if I had known how incredibly common it was to go through infertility issues, I probably would not have felt so devastatingly alone and scared upon getting diagnosed with PCOS. I’m not yet at the point where I want my name attached to these posts (though my identity is one of the world’s most solvable mysteries), but I still feel like it’s an important conversation to have.

I went to lunch on Friday with a coworker who struggled to get pregnant for several years before having twins this spring via surrogate. We talked about how lame it is that most people know nothing about infertility until they’re going through it. They don't talk about it in sex ed; that's for sure. She said it wasn’t until she miscarried that a whole cadre of women came out of the woodwork to offer their support.

Now, when people tell her how great she looks for having just given birth to twins, she’s very open about the fact that they were carried by a surrogate. She’s not ashamed – and why should she be?

We teared up several times during our meal, particularly when she said these two things:

“You have to keep sharing your story.”

And also:

“It was so worth it. Everything. All of it.”

What Type Of Salad Are You?

I walked into my coworker's office the other day to eat my lunch (because I'm a people person and eating my lunch at my cubicle gets boring), and she took one look at my salad and said "that is the crunchiest salad I've ever seen." I looked down and saw she was totally right. In my glass pyrex bowl (which also immediately upped the crunchyness) was kale, quinoa, edamame, sliced almonds and avocado. And the first thing that I thought of was that if there was Buzzfeed quiz about salads, I would totally be the Whole Foods Saladbar person. Now a small little part of me hates being that person, but I also fully embrace it because my salad might be crunchy but it is DELICIOUS. And the best thing is that you can make it at home and not spend all your money at the salad bar!

The Who Needs Whole Foods Salad
(ironically, all these ingredients were bought at Whole Foods but that's neither here nor there)

1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 bunch of lacinato/dino kale
2 avocados
1 bell pepper
Half a bag of frozen shelled edamame
Handful of almonds, sliced
Two lemons
Olive oil

1) Cut up your kale into tiny little bite size strips and put it in a bowl. Cut your lemons in half and squeeze lemon juice on top of the kale. Add a bit of olive oil (depends how lemony you want your salad) and mix it all together. Let it sit and absorb for a good 30 minutes.
2) Boil up some water and cook your edamame. Drain and let it cool.
3) Cut up your bell pepper and almonds.
4) Mix everything together! Add salt and pepper to taste.
5) Cut up your avocado and place on top.
6) Enjoy!

All these ingredients gives you about two and a half servings and I actually make it in bulk and then just cut up the avocado for when I'm ready to eat it. Then the kale gets even softer and yummier to eat the longer it hangs out with the lemon juice. In the fridge it should last 2-3 days depending on how fresh your produce is.

Behold the bun maker!

I'm feeling bunnier than ever.

I bought a Conair bun maker from Walgreens a year ago but my hair was not long enough to use it at the time. (Due to a rogue bleaching experience, I have determined that my hair grows approximately one and a half inches per year. The average is 6 inches per year.) 

Cut to a year later, I pulled that saucy bun maker out of the closet last night and WHAMMY — my hair is long enough now. 

It's very easy to use. You just make a pony, wrap the bun maker once around the top of the pony, wrap your hair around that and cover up all the mesh parts, then put a hairband and bobby pins around all of that jazz. Bing bang boom. Voluptuous ballerina hair for $3.49. Enjoy yourself!

How to make your feet and shoes stank way less

One of my favorite comedians is Amber Preston. I feel like she is a comedian of the people. If those people are me.

In her set, she likes to give you some fun facts about herself right off the bat. One of those facts is that she uses a special foot powder from New Zealand to curb her foot-smell issues. She later circles back to this fact, letting you know that so many women ask her about the foot powder that she simply worked it into her set, and then gives you all the details about where to find it and why it's so great. Which is one of the many reasons why SHE is so great.

Here it is, friends. Gran's Remedy! Here to solve all your foot stank problems. You just sprinkle a little bit in your shoes after you wear them, and it dries that shoe right up overnight while eliminating odor. I find it particularly useful for Toms-brand shoes, which are the stankiest shoes in all of shoe land.

I ordered my jar straight from the company, but you can also get it on Amazon. My little jar has lasted me over a year and it's not even half gone. I even got all fancy-like and bought a makeup brush to brush the powder on the footbed of the shoe instead of using the provided sprinkle spoon.

Amber, thank you for sharing this amazing product with the world. And thank you for sharing your comedy with people who love you not despite your feet stank, but BECAUSE of it.

How to make hair static go away for the rest of your g-damned life

A few years ago I was so fed up with winter temperatures and things like coats and scarves making my hair full of static that the only thing I could think of to do was go to the hairdresser and get a bunch of my hair cut off. 

But as any of you who live in a cold climate know, shorter hair just means shorter hair still filled with static. So I just lived with it, trying to dunk my hair in water every time I went by a water fountain, or sometimes becoming so desperate that I used my own saliva to mat it down. 

Until my hairdresser turned me on to THIS little guy. Moroccan Oil. I don't know anything about it except what you can see on the bottle, and that it came from the place I get my hair cut (The Fox Den at 704 W. 22nd St, Minneapolis).

If I spray a little spritz of that golden static juice, my hair stays straight down all day, only touching me in appropriate ways. Not clinging to my face for dear life, trying to get into my mouth and eyes and driving me nut-balls crazy. 

If you're not able to get down to The Fox Den, I was able to find it on Amazon. Enjoy your new life!

An update from Infertile Myrtle

-- The following is a guest post from our secret lady friend who chooses to remain  anonymous until a baby kangaroo is officially put into her mama pouch --

You know what’s weird? Seeing a guy in army fatigues walk into a doctors office and know exactly why he’s there: dude’s about to get his swimmers tested. Today I sat in the waiting room of the U of M Reproductive Medical Center and watched the couples coming in and wondered what their stories were. But a guy there on his own? Semen analysis. 100%.

 ***** 

Hi, friends! Maybe you were wondering whatever happened to Possibly Pregnant Polly. It’s more likely you didn’t give me a second thought. But hi! I’m back. And still sans enfant. Please allow me to fill you in on what’s happened (and hasn’t happened) in the past seven months.

What hasn’t happened is my period. After Flo came to town in July, she abandoned me, seemingly for good. I was expecting this, since I had gone for long… er… periods of time without menstruating the two times I went off the pill during my decade- long Birth Control Bonanza. Both times my gyno prescribed me a hormone called Provera to kick start a period so I could get back on the pill.

Anyway, back in October I had a physical with a new GP who seemed completely unconcerned when I told him it’d been many moons since I’d had my womanly courses. He told me not to worry.

But worry I did. I started a routine of taking pregnancy tests every three weeks or so, because I couldn’t be sure if I wasn’t having a period because I was pregnant or because I was broken. (One of the notes in my pregnancy tracker app says, “Today I answered the question of bloated or pregnant with ‘bloated.’”) Each time I promised myself I wouldn’t be upset when I got the inevitable negative. Each time I cried a little bit, and left the test out where my husband could see it so he’d know why I had The Sads that day.

By the time December rolled around, I confided in a close gal pal that I was coming up on six months without a period. She made me promise to see my regular lady doc, which I did in January. She ordered a bevy of hormonal tests, put me on Provera to force a period, and referred me to the clinic’s infertility specialist, Dr. K. I saw Dr. K the next week, and he told me that based on the results of my blood tests he suspected I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

WHICH TOTALLY SOUNDS LIKE CANCER.

I freaked out and started blubbering while he asked me if I had noticed an increase in acne or male-pattern hair growth on the face, chest, or belly (no to all). He explained that it was a genetic disorder that causes an imbalance in the hormones, leading to cysts on the ovaries that cause women to menstruate infrequently or not at all. It’s also associated with diabetes. All I heard was: YOU HAVE MALE HORMONES AND YOU’RE GOING TO GET DIABETES. He ordered more tests and I went off to work, trying (and failing) to keep my shit together.

My health provider lets you check test results online, but the only information they give you is your value and what a normal range is. No other context. According to my results, all of my hormones fell within the normal range. This led me to convince myself his diagnosis was wrong, which made it all the more crushing to return to Dr. K’s office, this time with Hubs in tow, and have him say, “I was right. You have it.” He launched into an explanation of the hormone treatments he wanted to put me on— Provera to stimulate menstruation and then Clomid to stimulate ovulation—but I barely digested any information. I was spiraling way, way down into The Dark Place, and all I could do was sob uncontrollably. 

We went home. I sobbed. I called my mom. I sobbed. I texted my close friends. I sobbed. I had never cried this much in my life. I cried so hard I puked—and I NEVER puke. All the while I tried to synthesize why this news made me feel so devastated. It’s not like I had cancer. No one was dying. But I felt the pain of discovering that something you spend your whole life thinking is a given, something that is obviously in the cards for you, suddenly… isn’t.

I think the reason I felt that way is that infertility is not something you hear about unless someone close to you is going through it. Facebook, at least at this stage in my life, is a constant deluge of pregnancy and birth announcements. Not one of my friends has posted a status about the rigors of IVF, or the tragedy of a miscarriage. If people talked about it more, maybe it would normalize it, just a little. Maybe it wouldn’t feel so devastating. 

 ***** 

Flash forward to today. I saw a new doctor at the U’s Center for Reproductive Medicine, one with whom I felt more comfortable right away. Dr. L talked me through my previous lab results and explained everything to me, making sure I had my questions answered. She did an ultrasound to confirm the PCOS diagnosis, and sure enough, I’m a “classic case.” She ordered a few more blood tests for me, including a genetic screening, and had some special tests for the Huzz as well. We’ll be back in a month to review the results before I go on the hormones, which I feel much better about. It sure would suck to put my body through so much stress only to find out that there’s a problem on his end too.

The most important thing I left the office with is a new sense of confidence about my chances of conceiving. Dr. L told me that if I had to be infertile, this is the kind of infertile I want to be. I’m young, I’m healthy, and I have plenty of eggs; I just need a little help coaxing them out so they can become behbehs.

For the first time in months, I have a positive outlook.

This Friday, Husband will be going into the RMC by himself, and I bet you can guess why. Please send happy thoughts that his swimmers will swim straight and true.

Dress up that Dresser!

When a friend of mine moved a couple of years ago I became the new owner of her old Ikea dresser. Being the frugal lady bit that I am I gladly welcomed this new addition even though the all white color is not exactly my style. Recently I moved into a new apartment that has white walls and white carpet, so this all white dresser became disturbingly boring! Time to make a change! I ordered this contact paper by Isaac Mizrahi for sale on Amazon ($9 for 30 feet!) and went to work.  I think it turned out rather well, what do you think?

                                                                       BEFORE

                                                                       

                                                                         AFTER

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

I went to an Apple Orchard this fall with some friends and came home with a mountain of apples.  So what to do with all those apples? Make homemade cinnamon applesauce! It's so easy  I almost don't want to tell you, so you can continue to be uber impressed that I made applesauce from scratch!  But lucky you, I'm in a good mood, and will let you in on this secret.

Ingredients:
6 apples peeled, cored and chopped (I used Heraldson Apples)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4th cup water or apple cider (I had cider on hand from the same orchard trip so I used that)
1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a slowcooker
Heat on high for 3 hours or low for 5

basically heat it until when you put a fork in and stir, the apples fall apart and you have applesauce in front of you.

Done! Now go impress some people with your culinary prowess!

An Idaho Girl: Homemade French Fries and Fry Sauce

I am from Idaho, born and raised.  Potatoes are my favorite food, and French Fries are the Queen of Potatoes. Making homemade fries is actually really easy, healthier (because they are baked not fried), and soooo yummy.  Now be an Idahoan and eat those fries with Fry Sauce.

French Fries
Ingredients:
- Idaho Russet Potatoes
- Olive Oil
- Salt

- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Wash and dry the potatoes, don't even think about peeling those skins off.
- Cut into thin strips, you know, like fries.
- Fill a large bowl with salted ice water.
- Place cut potatoes in the ice water.  This draws out some of the starchiness and will help them to get crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside.
- Drain water and use a paper towel to dry off the cut potatoes.
- Toss potatoes in olive oil, until coated but not sloppy.
- Sprinkle with salt.
- Spread out on a baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake for about 10 mins and then use a spatula to flip the potatoes.
- Bake for about another 10 mins, take out of oven when they are lightly browned and crisp on the outside.

Fry Sauce
Ingredients:
- Mayo (I like Helmanns)
- Ketchup
- Sriacha or BBQ Sauce

- Mix equal parts Ketchup and Mayo with a splash of either Sriacha or BBQ Sauce. You can adjust the ratios depending on your own taste.

Eat up!

Creative Decorating- On the Cheap!

I really like finding wall art and other decorating items in unlikely places.  One of my favorite finds was a French cooking book that was left in the free book exchange at Escuela Falcon, a language school I was teaching at in Guanajuato, Mexico.  (Want to learn Spanish in an immersion setting in a lovely Mexican town? visit http://escuelafalcon.com/)

I love how the images inside are simple and have a fresh but bold color palate.  Perfect for a rental apartment where I can't add any color by painting the walls.  To turn my find into usable and basically free art, I simply cut out 6 of my favorite images, put them in some $1 frames from IKEA and voila' kitchen art taken care of.  And I can easily change out the pictures if I get tired of them!

Another great find was this old scalloped window frame I found at an antique shop for $6.  All I had to do was string wire through the screen, get some picture clips from IKEA and then it became a fun way to display photos and show postcards. My former room mate even borrowed it for her wedding to display photos of the bride and groom.

So keep your eyes open, you never know where you might find items that can be turned into fun decoration.

Rachael's Homemade Vegan/Vegetarian Chili

Chili! I love chili, especially during fall when it starts to get chilly outside (see what I did there?).  This recipe is one I've been messing with for a couple years and it continues to morph and change every time I make it.  It's vegan before you add the cheese or sour cream, and vegetarian either way. So it's a great dish to make for a group with a lot of different dietary preferences!

Chili with red onion, cheese, cilantro and sour cream topping!

Ingredients:

3-4 big carrots, finely shredded

1/2-1 Serrano pepper*, finely chopped (with seeds if you like spice, without seeds for mild)

1/2-1 Jalepeno pepper*, finely chopped (with seeds if you like spice, without seeds for mild)

1 bell pepper each of yellow, green, red, and orange; seeded and chopped

1 white onion, coarsely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes

2 cans black beans

3 cans kidney beans

vegetable broth

olive oil

cumin

chili powder
salt & pepper

* For a mild chili, you can add only 1/2 of these peppers without the seeds.  For a really spicy chili go for the whole pepper.  The seeds are what really give the pepper it's kick, so use about half the pepper and a few seeds if you'd like your chili somewhere in the middle. Remember it's always better to use too little, since you can always add more peppers as a topping to spice it up at the end.

-Finely shred the carrots or pulse in a food processor until very very finely chopped

-Saute carrot in a pan with some olive oil, a little salt and pepper and a dash of vegetable broth until it is thick and soft, with a pulp like consistency (this is what will thicken your chili)

-Move carrots to crockpot (or very large soup pot) 

-Saute all bell peppers, Jalepeno pepper, Serrano pepper, garlic and onion with 2 tablespoons cumin, a    dash of chili pepper and salt and pepper in olive oil. 

- Saute until soft and beginning to lightly brown/sear

- Move to crock pot

- Add cans of tomatoes to the crock pot and stir, adding cumin and chili pepper as needed, it should smell like chili

- Add all the cans of beans, including the liquid in to the crock pot

- Add vegetable broth if you like your chili a little thinner in consistency

- Cook on high for about 30 mins if you need to eat it soon or if you'd like it to stew a little (better flavor) set the crock pot to low for about 3-4 hours. 

Feel free to make it your own by adding or omitting different kinds of vegetables! Maybe don't use all 4 colors of bell pepper or you could add zucchini or spinach! You can also turn this into a meat-eater's dream by adding browned ground beef sauteed in cumin and chili powder. 

Toping options: chopped green onion, chopped red onion, cheese, crackers, crumbled tortilla chips, cilantro, sour cream, chopped fresh Jalepeno, the sky is the limit!

Enjoy!

Vagina Talk: Let's Go Shopping For Health Insurance!

Adorableness made possible by http://adorablecareact.tumblr.com

Despite my obsession with health insurance, it was really only a few years ago that I realized it was a big deal. I was 22, a recent college grad and suddenly found myself with a part time job and no health insurance benefits. I did a little research on temporary plans and vividly remember seething at the computer screen as I saw the amount of money I'd have to pay for basic emergency care coverage. Little did I know, but in that moment my love affair with health insurance had begun. This obsession grew as I started working at a low cost community clinic and realized just how many people were un or underinsured. Every day I would witness a new story - a pre-existing condition that prevented them for getting health insurance, recently losing a job, a necessary prescription that wasn't covered in their plan or a high deductible that caused them to always pay out of pocket. But in the end it was always the same: people were forced to decide whether or not they could afford health care, causing many to forgo important preventative care and treatment. This shifted my whole world view. So much so, that when I went home to England for Christmas one year, I turned to my mother on the bus, and said in utter astonishment, "All of these people have health insurance just because they're British." At that moment, I really appreciated what it was like to live in a country where healthcare was viewed as a human right, and I knew I wanted that reality for both of my home countries.

That's why today is such an exciting day! As of today, October 1st 2013, Health Insurance Exchanges around the country are open for enrollment, inching us one step closer to an America where more people have access to health insurance. What are Health Insurance Exchanges you ask? Well, Health Insurance Exchanges are part of the Affordable Care Act. They're basically like a Travelocity/Expedia/Kayak for health insurance that individuals or small businesses can use to find the best insurance option for them. Over the next six months, individuals and small businesses will be able to start enrolling in health plans for 2014. If coverage is purchased by December 15th, health insurance benefits will begin January 1st, 2014!

Individuals will be eligible to buy insurance through these Health Insurance Exchanges if they aren't able to get insurance through their employer. The Exchanges will be a place where individuals can compare health plan prices, benefits and even learn whether they qualify for Medicaid or financial assistance. Since health insurance can be pricey, part of the Affordable Care Act involves tax credits to help make coverage more affordable. Tax credits will be available for people earning between the federal poverty level ($11,490/year for one individual) to four times that ($46,000/year for one individual). Subsidies are also available for individuals with incomes up to 250% of the poverty level ($29,000/year for one individual) to help cover the cost of copayments and deductibles. Individuals who earn up to 133% of the poverty level, will also now be available for Medicaid benefits for states that have expanded their Medicaid program.

In an ideal world, I wish that the Health Insurance Exchange was like a My Favorite Things Oprah episode, where we'd all just be sitting in a room screaming as Oprah yelled "And health insurance for you and you and YOU!" Unfortunately though, awesome things normally require us to put in a little bit of effort. But don't you worry because I've compiled a few resources to help make your health insurance shopping that much easier!

• HealthCare.gov - If you have questions, the best place to start looking for your answers is from the experts themselves. Health and Human Services have created a great website, with a nifty online tool to help you figure out your options. 
• Subsidy calculator: Want to know how much money you could save through Obamacare? Use this nifty calculator! 
• FAQs galore: The National Women's Law Center has an awesome list of FAQs that clearly explains all of the nitty gritty details of health insurance, Obamacare and almost all the logistics you'd want o know. 
• And if you're a visual/audio learner this one's for you!

Oh, and don't you worry. The Health Insurance Exchanges are still open today despite the government shutdown. Why the Republicans thought they could try for the 43rd time to repeal Obamacare and be successful is beyond me. In many ways today is a weird day. The shutdown is a blatant and sad reminder of how government sometimes doesn't work, but the launch of the Health Insurance Exchanges is proof of how government can really help their citizens. So let's celebrate the latter and remember that our right to healthcare is not a political bargaining chip. 

So there you have it friends. I wish you all a Happy October 1st and hope you celebrate this historic day. But don't forget - enrollment ends March 31st! 

P.S. This is my favorite tweet ever about the Affordable Care Act: 

Vagina Talk: Creepy Uncle Sam Spreading Lies About Obamacare

Have you seen the Creepy Uncle Sam video spreading lies about Obamacare through scare tactics? Did it make you want to scream and yell? Yeah, me too. 

If you're lucky enough to have not seen this video, it's a new ad campaign by Generation Opportunity to convince people to "opt out" of Obamacare. It follows a young female going to get an annual with her new insurance and a nurse judgmentally asks her about her signing up for Obamacare. If that isn't bad enough, once the woman is ready for her exam a creepy Uncle Sam comes in and... you get to the picture. Basically it's as unsubtle as you can be about not wanting the government in your exam room. 

This is wrong on so many levels. First of all, Obamacare is not about the government coming into your exam room or getting in-between you and your doctor. Doctors aren't suddenly going to be working for the government, and the government isn't going to be telling you what tests or procedures you can and cannot get. If anything, Obamacare has enacted provisions to make more preventative and routine tests covered by insurance. 

And more importantly, you don't "sign up for Obamacare." You sign up for health insurance. Not just any health insurance, but private health insurance, mostly through insurance carriers most people already use. This is the main component of Obamacare: increasing access to health insurance. Obamacare is HELPING people get insurance by providing cheaper options, offering subsidies and expanding Medicaid coverage. BIG DIFFERENCE. Last time I checked, being able to have health insurance is a good thing. 

If that isn't bad enough, the fact that they made this ad focus on the annual exam is so twisted. They are deliberately playing into the confusion surrounding forced restrictions on women's health to make it seem like Obamacare is the one mandating all these impositions. It's actually pretty ironic as Ilyse Hogue, President of NARAL sums up perfectly, "This ad is brought to you by the same people who force Uncle Sam between our legs when it comes to reproductive health. It's un-American to mandate forced ultrasounds, restrict abortion care, and deny contraception coverage while trying to trick students into forgoing Obamacare, which will help them get preventative care and end gender discrimination in insurance coverage."

Listen, I know Obamacare isn't perfect. Health insurance is still going to be expensive, and mandating health insurance is going to feel like a burden for some people and businesses. But the truth of the matter is that our healthcare system is broken. We spend far more on healthcare costs than any other developed country and we are embedded in an employer based health insurance system that makes our health benefits tied to market successes, while also leaving out large segments of the population who work part time, don't work, are retired, students or self-employed. For the time being, Obamacare is the best option we have to start trying to fix our broken system. 

It is time for health care in the United States to be seen as a human right, and not a privilege. In 2012, 84 million people in the United States were uninsured or underinsured. How can we call the United States one of the greatest nations on Earth, if we fail to provide a basic human right to so many of our citizens? The fact that starting January 1st, 2014 millions of people will be able to access health insurance and then go to the doctor and access necessary health care is amazing. So Creepy Uncle Sam, you may have your scare tactics but that doesn't deter my excitement and optimism for Obamacare. I cannot wait to celebrate the day someone tells me that it's their first time at the clinic because they now have health insurance thanks to Obamacare. What a wonderful thing! 

This Buzz Feed List makes me want to SCREAM

 

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/h2/fbsp/slimfast/11-things-powerful-women-say-to-themselves

 

Ok.  First let me say that recently I watched the documentary, Miss Representation on Netflix Instant.  It's about how women are portrayed in the media, and while it does get cheesy at points, over all I think it is well done.  Now, I've seen a lot of these "women in media" documentaries, but this one hit me in a different way than others have.  I think it's because it wasn't just your standard "all women in the media are skinny" type of documentary.  I have noticed those documentaries seem to take on a very whining tone.  They also seem to demonize skinny women and take an us vrs them approach.  I won't even get started on the "real women have curves" issue.  (umm hello! some "real" women have curves, some don't, some are black, some are white, some are tall some are short and on and on.  We are all REAL WOMEN!)

 

Ok, sorry, I'm back to my point.

 

Miss Representation focuses more on Politicians and News Anchors and the way these women in power are portrayed. For example, Senator "woman" COMPLAINED that the bill... vrs Senator "male" STATED that the bill.... and that type of thing.  This documentary spoke a lot to how women in "power" are constantly being pushed back to being defined by their sexuality, relationships to men, and their looks.

 

So, now to the Buzzfeed list.  "11 Things Powerful Women say to Themselves."  All but 2 of these "things" we should be saying to our selves are about the way we look; what we put in our bodies, or what we should do in regards to a guy.  Ridiculous. Even the 2 things I am so generously saying aren't about image really are when you boil them down!  The very first "thing," on this list, I will wake up motivated today isn't about looks per se BUT it is directly followed by an image of running shoes saying I will go to the gym!  Ok, taking care of your health is important for everyone but as a "powerful" woman is my motivation in the morning supposed to be about working out so that people will think, "girl look at that body- yeah cause you work out" like the caption indicates?!  Should it be about "spreading my sunshine"?!?!?! 

 

The second potentially non-image based "thing" powerful women say; I will Dominate Any Task at Work Today.  Cool! Great! Yay! Finally!  But then I read the caption, which brings it down to being a "warrior princess" at work.   I'm sorry but if this was a list about powerful men, it would not say "Does your boss know they have an office warrior prince on the payroll?"  Come on.

 

I might be willing to be more forgiving if this article had been titled, "11 things to Say to Yourself Today" but it isn't, it is titled "11 things Powerful Women say to Themselves."  And for that, this article gets an F-.  As powerful women we have a lot more to say to ourselves and to the world than, go ahead and eat that cupcake. 

 

Lady Bit Out!

 

 

Map Your Food: Twin Cities Eats!

An amazing thing happened to me on Saturday. It was a sad day since I was leaving Austin after an amazing 8 weeks there, and I had a layover in Atlanta which I was less than pleased about. While walking to my gate, I saw a restaurant called French Meadow out of the corner of my eye. My heart felt sad since French Meadow is one of my absolute favorite restaurants in Minneapolis and I was annoyed at the blatant reminder that I missed Minnesota and couldn't go to my favorite restaurant for dinner. But looking closer I couldn't believe my eyes. It was MY French Meadow! By an amazing twist of fate, there is a French Meadow in the Atlanta airport and not only that, they had my favorite sandwich! I quickly bought my curried chicken croissant sandwich, texted all my Minnesota besties my news and sat down ready to eat perfection. I was so happy, I felt giddy. With all the excitement and expectation, this story could have ended badly. One of my dear friends even tried to lower my expectations, saying that it might taste like the worst sandwich ever, but thankfully that was not the case. French Meadow tastes just as good, if not better, in the Atlanta airport!

My happy place in the Atlanta airport

Needless to say, I love food. I also love Minnesota. During my time in Austin, an awesome lady sent me a map she made for her friends of all her favorite restaurants in Austin in an effort to help them narrow down their ideas of places to try. For a geography major and a foodie, it was a genius idea and one I knew I had to replicate. With another friend of mine heading to the Twin Cities soon, I finally took the time to make my Twin Cities Food Map. While it inevitably made me slightly homesick, it was also so fun to map all my food memories and think about all the wonderful people I have eaten with at these restaurants.

After making my Twin Cities Food Map, I realized that making Food Maps is the perfect way to remember all the delicious food I've eaten. It creates a fun digital diary of memories, while also a useful reminder of the places I want to go to again. It's also a really useful tool! I can now send it to friends who are visiting, or even use it myself when I find myself without dinner plans in a different part of town. As someone who tends to get hangry and consequently indecisive, I am hoping this will also be a breakthrough in preventing hangryness. I'm now planning on making a Food Map for each new city I go to. Thanks to Google Maps, making a Food Map is also super easy, especially if you have a google account. Go to "your places," and "create a new map." You can then placemark everything manually or just search for it and add it by clicking "save to map". Voilá! Food map created.

So Lady Bit friends I wanted to share the love and pass on my Twin Cities food map. I hope you enjoy it! Where are your favorite places?

View Food! In the Twin Cities! in a larger map

Vagina Talk: Nobody Puts Plan B Behind the Counter!

Congratulations world! Plan B One Step is now available over the counter for people of all ages! That means no more asking a pharmacist for it - you'll now be able to find it on a shelf in the pharmacy like any other drug. YIPPEE!!

It's been a long time coming, a hard fight and there are a lot of people to thank. Emergency contraception has been around for decades, but the actual brand Plan B first became available in 1999 and required a prescription. Since 2003, there's been a long fight to get Plan B available over the counter. This debacle has been wrought with political ideologies and motives overriding proven science and evidence that shows that access to emergency contraception is safe and necessary in preventing unintended pregnancy. Finally in 2006, Plan B became available over the counter for people over the age of 18. That age restriction changed to 17 in 2009, and over the last few months there has been a flurry of court challenges, rulings and FDA guidelines that have paved the way for Plan B to finally become available over the counter for people of all ages. Hurrah! (Side note: it can get a little confusing since the terms emergency contraception and Plan B tend to be used interchangeably but it's important to remember that Plan B is only one brand of emergency contraception.)

So why are we celebrating that as of today, August 1st, Plan B is available over the counter for people of all ages? Because it's a big freaking deal. The reason why we have been fighting for this long is because access to emergency contraception is really important. In the United States half of all pregnancies are unintended. There are a multitude of social and systematic reasons why half of all pregnancies are unintended (which I promise to write more about one day), but apart from addressing those underlying issues of reproductive injustice and inequality, increasing access to better health care and services is one way to fix this problem. In an ideal world, everyone would have access to comprehensive reproductive and sexuality education, and birth control that was 100% effective. Sadly, that's not the world we live in. So instead, access to emergency contraception offers a viable alternative to prevent unintended pregnancy because it's a back up plan people can use when their Plan A fails. Because let's be honest, accidents happen no matter how prepared we are.

But there's a lot of misconception about Plan B and emergency contraception out there, so let's take a few moments to debunk some pretty common myths.

1. Plan B is NOT THE ABORTION PILL. Say it with me! Plan B is not the abortion pill! (If you remember one thing from this post, please please please let it be that). Why isn't it the abortion pill? Well first of all, it's a totally different type of drug. Plan B is a high dosage of levonorgestrel, or a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone found in birth control pills. The abortion pill is a different drug called mifepristone or RU-486. Plan B is also not the abortion pill because it works in a totally different way, so much so that it won't affect an existing pregnancy. It works to delay ovulation by basically giving your body a high dose of hormones to confuse your natural cycle in a way that makes your ovaries say, "heeeyyyy wait a minute, maybe we shouldn't release our precious egg just yet." That's why the timing of when you take emergency contraception is so important because the sooner you take it, the higher chance you have of delaying ovulation. This gives you a higher chance of not getting pregnant since you're giving the sperm in your uterus time to die before an egg is released and they can go pounce on it. Because of the way it works, emergency contraception WILL NOT affect an existing pregnancy. See, there's even studies to prove it. 
2. Plan B can be taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. Like I said above, the earlier the better but you do have a window period, with some practitioners even saying you can take it up to 120 hours (5 days) later.  
3. While Plan B is awesome, it shouldn't be used as a regular form of birth control.This isn't because it's going to do anything terrible to your body (because again, it's basically just a high dosage of birth control hormones) but because if you really want to prevent pregnancy, the best way to do this is to be on a more effective and reliable form of birth control. 
4. Emergency contraception comes in a lot of shapes and pill sizes. On the one hand you have the type of emergency contraception made from levonorgestrel, like Plan B, Next Choice and Levonorgestrel. While they're all the same drugs, the most recent court ruling has only allowed Plan B One Step to be available over the counter. The other generic versions will still be available but will require a prescription for those under 17. The other type of emergency contraception out there is called Ella. It's relatively new to the US market and always requires a prescription because it's an alternate drug and works a bit differently. 
5. It is safe to have Plan B available over the counter! The hormone in Plan B mimics progesterone, which unlike estrogen that's found in some birth control pills, doesn't have the same risk for blood clots or heart issues. Related to this, having emergency contraception available over the counter to all ages will not increase sexual behavior. Going back to the facts, while the teenage pregnancy rate in the US has been declining over recent years, we still have the highest teen pregnancy rates among developed countries so let's face it, teenagers are having sex. Having emergency contraception available over the counter will therefore hopefully give teenagers and adults access to more options to control their fertility and prevent unintended pregnancies. 

But while we celebrate today, remember the fight is far from over. Just because Plan B will now be available over the counter does not mean access is guaranteed. Plan B is still pretty pricey and cost is always going to be a factor. The good news is that theoretically the Affordable Care Act will cover Plan B through the women's preventative services requirements. I say theoretically because the thing about insurance is that if you want it to cover your medicine, you have to have a prescription for it. The name "emergency contraception" implies that for most people, when you need it, you don't have time to go to your doctor, get a prescription and then take your pill before the 72 hours are up (not to mention you really want to be taking it as soon as you can). So with that in mind, there's still a lot of work to do to try and work with clinics/doctors/practices to set up standing prescriptions that individuals with insurance can use when the need arises, as well as lead massive education campaigns to make sure that everyone knows what "coverage" means so they can access the care they need.

Either way, we have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for today! This is a huge step and I for one, am super excited to see Plan B One Step available over the counter at my local pharmacy.