November 9, 2016

Foggy Wednesday

I've had two of these today. 

London Fog

1/2 mug Earl Grey tea
1/2 mug milk 
1/4 t. vanilla extract
1/4 vanilla bean
1-1 1/2 t. maple syrup

While the tea is brewing, warm up milk in a saucepan on stove top. Add vanilla extract, vanilla bean, and maple syrup. Froth with a whisk, then add to tea when finished brewing. 

October 10, 2016

If Jane Austen went to Starbucks...

I love Pride and Prejudice. I love Starbucks. So it was only a matter of time before this was born.

Elizabeth: iced caffé latte
Jane: iced caramel macchiato
Darcy: flat white
Bingley: espresso
Miss Bingley: green tea latte
Mr. Bennet: chai latte
Mrs. Bennet: shaken sweet tea lemonade
Lydia: iced caffé mocha
Kitty: caramel frappucino
Mary: strawberry acai
Mrs. Hurst: coconut milk mocha macchiato
Charlotte: London fog tea latte
Lady Catherine: espresso macchiato
Wickham: iced caffé americano
Mr. Collins: espresso macchiato
Georgiana: strawberries and créme
Col. Fitzwilliam: Nariño cold brew
Aunt Gardiner: London fog tea latte
Uncle Gardiner: blonde roast
Aunt Phillips: PSL
Mr. Hurst: caffé americano.
Anne de Bourgh: shaken iced green tea

Miss Austen herself would probably be like, "Where the heck is my tea? Psssh, Americans."

Taking Stock, Vol. XII

Making: ~
Cooking: ~
Drinking: coffee. Miraculously, I suddenly started liking it two months ago.
Reading: not much. 
Wanting: ~
Looking: at Hillsdale College. THEY HAVE AN A. A. MILNE SOCIETY WHERE THEY PLAY POOH STICKS I MEAN WHAT THAT IS MY CHILDHOOD!!!
Wasting: ~
Sewing: ~
Wishing: ~
Enjoying: bragging about my brothers whenever I can. tee hee. 
Waiting: for the leaves to turn.
Liking: ~
Wondering: If I'll pass my driver's test next month. Parallel parking, here we come!
Loving: re-watching my favorite Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra episodes. :)
Hoping: to go see Fantastic Beasts, Dr. Strange (that's my favorite trailer just because of the cape, tee hee), and Rogue One  in theatres. (spellcheck is still idiotically insisting that "theatre" is not a word)
Marveling: ~
Needing: to get into a yoga routine. streeeetch
Smelling: jello in the fridge. My little brother needed to do an experiment a few days ago with jello (something about enzymes), but the little bowls are still sitting the the fridge. Except for the one he ate.
Wearing: dog hair covered socks. Stop shedding, Henry.
Following: ~
Noticing: how messy the kitchen gets when I am the only one who is trying to keep on top of it (the parents are on vacation). Grrrr, can people put away the bread and lunch meat please?
Knowing: ~
Thinking: that Iron man is my new favorite Marvel hero. Aren't you proud of me, Christen? :)
Feeling: amazing now that sweater-weather is here and it rained for like four days in a row. I feel "at home" on rainy days.
Bookmarking: ~

September 9, 2016

Links: tid bits

A post from my friend's blog: "The Principles of Love Apply.

I made this chai latte recipe two days ago (we actually had all the spices, surprisingly). I only had two tablespoons of the tea left this morning, so I had the teeniest chai latte ever this morning. :)

A gorgeous Russian Orthodox church--in Antarctica

There's Polish painted pottery, and then there' Polish painted villages. Maybe I should try painting the chicken coop.

August 1, 2016

Taking Stock Vol. XI / Links

(oh, hi btw. I'm still alive.)

Making: BREAD. I've been using this fantabulous recipe from Nourished Kitchen. I replaced half the butter with oil because, as much as we love butter, this can become an expensive bread recipe (especially when you use Kerrygold butter) if it takes 1/2 cup every time.
Cooking: ~
Drinking: CHAI LATTES! Homemade or Starbucks (more on Starbucks later).
Reading: Nicholas and Alexandra for AP European History. A colorful and detailed history of the fall of the Romanov Dynasty and imperial Russia. Rasputin was evil.
Wanting: ~
Looking: ~
Playing: All Sons and Daughters and Ellie Holcomb. Apparently guitar music is my jam at the moment.
Wasting: time watching Youtube vidoes. heheheheh.
Sewing: ~
Wishing: ~
Enjoying: my new Pinterest board, "true beauty." It's a good reminder that I should "have courage and be kind" (as Disney put it) instead of stressing out about being skinny or fitting in or whatever. 
Waiting: ~ 
Liking: ~
Wondering: if I will EVER learn to park properly. I mean, seriously, how hard can it be???
Loving: our new scheme to get me to practice driving (yup, got my permit!). Dad shares my love for chai lattes, so we decided that we are going to visit every Starbucks in Lancaster and get some. But I have to drive. So I do, because chai lattes. Duh.
Hoping: one of our week old chicks (Fanny) will pull through. She's been weak since they arrived.
Marveling: ~
Needing: to get into some sort of workout schedule. I had a lot of plans concerning that this summer and poof! they blew out the window.
Smelling: ~
Wearing: lots of Gap. Their jean shorts are the bomb.
Following: Acadia National Park on instagram. My favorite things. 
Noticing: ~
Knowing: how much I love Bible reading once I finally get around to it and that I really should do it more often. 
Thinking: ~
Bookmarking: ~

May 22, 2016

Busy

I was a very busy little person. 

My imagination was my favorite toy as a child. I pretended pretty much everyday until I was twelve-ish. I thought it would be fun to write a post about the things I would pretend when I was little. It should (probably) be a funny read, and also a place to write things down that I might not remember when I'm old. 

When I was really little, my older brother (Matthew) and my little brother (Mark) would play cats. Matthew was our owner, I would be a tabby, and Mark would be a persian cat. He ate marshmallows. Another time, we three would be mice who tormented the mean (human) aunt who came to live at the house. We were some clever rodents. 

When I got older, I sometimes passed the day saving civil war soldiers as they suffered gangrene and scarlet fever. This particular game I played with one particular friend (most of my games had a specific playmate), and each time we did it, we ended up getting sick ourselves (but recovered after an extremely dire case) or marrying one of the soldiers, or both. 

Other days, I would content myself by being a squirrel (named Blossom, most of the time), who lived in our walnut tree with her little brother (who happened to be my little brother), named Bud. We would gather food to store for winter, make food, and eat food. We had one track minds. There might have been the trauma of a hunter invading our neck of the woods, but most of the time we climbed in and out of our tree house, carrying wild onions, dandelions, random leaves, and flowers to be hung upside down or stored in flower pots. 

Oh, and there were many (many, many) times I would get together with one particular friend (or two others who shared my love for this game) and play...orphans. The Wilhelm house has been an orphanage countless times, each one ruled by a cruel orphan-mistress, who beat us, made us clean through the night, and only provided us with scratchy cots and thin blankets. I'm not sure why every mistress had to be unbearably awful, but I guess it gave us opportunities to be patient martyrs of orphans. 

I was sometimes a tiny person, who rode ants and whose country was at war (it was always at war). My friend was my mother. My father had usually died years ago (so we didn't have to worry about playing him), and I usually had a couple younger siblings. My pretend mother participated in some sort of ladies aid thing, I was either terrible or amazing in school, and we owned a store at the front of our house. 

I was a nurse, a squirrel (or a mouse. That happened a lot, too), a poor orphan, or a patriotic person the size of a bread crumb. I was busy.

April 30, 2016

Taking Stock, Vol. X / Links

Making: coconut milk yogurt! I used The Kitchn's recipe (with a teaspoon of gelatin as the thickener). It's tasty. Also, these muffins. They're like baked oatmeal muffins.
Cooking: nothing, but wishing I had more time to do so.
Drinking: lemon water. In a mason jar. With a straw. Because making things special. 
Reading: Anne's House of Dreams. Also 1984, which is too gray and depressing.
Wanting: pigs! And more pigs!
Looking: ~
Playing: Mozart type pieces. I especially like Emperor Waltz. Also, songs by a Korean friend.
Wasting: ~
Sewing: nothing, but I want to finish a little felt doll for my niece.
Wishing: I could drive already so I could do more of last night; a friend and chai lattes (haha, don't I sound so hip).
Enjoying: doing some of my school outside. 
Waiting: ~
Liking: so many pretty food pictures from Earthly Taste's instagram
Wondering: ~
Loving: the sunshine, flowing trees, and the green of new leaves (one of my favorites).
Hoping: to get my permit soon.
Marveling: that God still loves me and helps me up when I'm a bumbling idiot (which has happened a LOT over the past couple months).
Needing: ~
Smelling: ~
Wearing: sweatpants and t-shirts. 
Following: Pine View Dairy's instagram (they have some pretty adorable cow pictures). I'm actually hoping to work there this summer, which will be exciting.
Noticing: what strange faces I make when I'm typing. I should take a video sometime.
Knowing: ~
Thinking: about all the things this school year has taught me. I should do a post about that.
Feeling: excited by all the warmer weather, because  I get to where aaaaall the cute clothes. Like thisthese ones, and a couple of these shirts
Bookmarking: ~