Awesome tango video :)

I've had this link hanging around as an email in my inbox for quite some time. ...I didn't want to delete it, because it's awesome.... and I also didn't want to put it in my folder titled "fun" because there's a lot of stuff in there...and I wanted to remember what this looked like and actually watch it again. So, if you were wondering what tango looks like and wanting to break it down a bit, please click the title and get directed to youtube/watch below. (No.... I don't do tango quite like this, if you were wondering. Still learning ;)

And I will call it Lavender, Goji, Chocolate, Banana Bread!

I tinker in the kitchen from time to time pretending to cook. I am pretty lazy about it (some people might call that creative...so we'll go with that). There are never really all of the ingredients that I need to create whatever item I've selected ....so I just use the closest thing in my kitchen at the time. It's also cheaper that way (we'll call that good for the environment because it allows me to rarely waste food. I think I've thrown out half a can of beans, the ends of a loaf, and a grapefruit this month.) Anyway, this laziness resulted on veering off drastically from the actual recipe this time - so I'll call it my own and tell you about it! :)

I'll write out the original recipe for your compare and contrast amusement, and after that, I'll list what I used. The cooking instructions are almost the same ... I'll make notes on how they differ for you.

Original recipe (from Vegan Planet page 472)
Banana-Split Tea Bread
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
3 medium-size, very ripe bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup soy milk or other dairy-free milk
1/4 cup corn oil
3/4 cup sugar or natural sweetener
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts or other nuts
1/4 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips
1/4 drained crushed pineapple
1/4 dried cherries

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the four, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
3. In a food processor combine the bananas, soy milk, corn oil, sugar, and vanilla and process until smooth. Add to the flour mixture and mix well. Fold in the peanuts, chocolate chips, pineapples, and cherries, then transfer to the prepared pan.
4. Bake on the center oven rack until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool in a pan on a wire rack before removing from the pan and slicing.

Here's ingredients I used....

Lavender, Goji, Chocolate, Banana Bread!
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt (pink cuz I'm on a new kick)
3 medium-size, very ripe bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 veggie oil
3/4 cup sugar ...the raw cane stuff
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
about a handful or so goji berries to replace the cherries
about a teaspoon or more dried lavender to stand in for the peanuts. Idk, it made sense at the time.
about a teaspoon or so cocoa powder to replace the chocolate chips

I pretty much did what the instructions said for the original Banana-Split Tea Bread recipe, but I added all three different ingredients (goji, lavender and cocoa powder) at the end (instead of the cherries, pineapple, peanuts, etc). Also, since my roommies were asleep, I mixed the bananas and milk and stuff with a whisk instead of a food processor, which made the mixture chunkier than I'd imagine it would otherwise turn out.

All in all, I'd say that's a super different and new recipe and I'm very excited about it! It turned out delicious ... enough so that I put it online for people to enjoy :)

Great things the DMV can do for you!

So, I got a ticket a few days ago for expired tags. Yes, it's that time of year again and I know that I'm not the only one who was procrastinating, right? Right.

I was totally bummed out! ....and decided to go register my car the next day, in fear of amassing another ticket. At 60 bucks, that's almost paying to register twice! I went right over the the DMV at Fell and Baker at around 4:30 this weds and there were surprisingly very few people there at the time. Five minutes later, a bunch of other people came, but luckily I was right ahead of the wave. So, for those of you who avoid the DMV for it's lines, 4:30 on a Weds - not that bad. ...4:35 probably not as good. I'm guessing 4pm is primo DMV time.

I sat and waited to be called for a whopping 2 minutes and paid my registration fee .... while wondering in the back of my head the whole time if DMV could do anything about the ticket I got one day too late. I almost didn't ask them because I wondered seriously if it was worth asking. But, I figured what the heck? The worst that could happen is that they say no (and maybe laugh). The lady on the other end of the counter seemed pretty nice, so I thought I was safe from mockery.

It turns out she is very very nice. She also informed me that the DMV can indeed fix my ticket! That's amazing! Apparently, it's a little secret to know that the DMV will do this, because no one I told over the next few days knew either. I'm guessing the DMV doesn't go about posting it all over their website or whatnot. ...I've never heard them rattle on about it over their messaging system. The DPT wouldn't be too happy with them I am sure if they went around telling people they could avoid $60 tickets. Anyway, the lady told me that all I had to do was to put the new sticker on my car, drive up to the DMV driveway, and ask the woman standing over there (she pointed) to sign off the ticket. I would have to pay a $10 processing fee to DPT though. Really, a $10 fee is not nearly as bad as a $60 fee. I was elated! Make note: the DMV doesn't do this towards the end of the day, so luckily I just made the cut off time. If you plan on going to the DMV past 4:30, this option might not work for you...try to go earlier.

I was so happy that I handed the lady who signed off the ticket a See's candy lollipop. (She likes butterscotch.) This made me even happier!

All in all, this was the best DMV trip I've ever had. :)

Christian the Lion Cub

wow.