Monthly Faves : April

• A gorgeous and haunting photo series: Elderly Animals by Isa Leshko
• The 10 Best Ways to Eat on the Cheap from Big Girls Small Kitchen
• Really interesting: How to Design a Neighborhood for Happiness. This is a topic that relates more to my day job, but I thought I'd share it anyways because I find discussions about community and shared spaces fairly fascinating.
• If only all graffiti would look like this.
• Does anyone else get sad that they'll never be able to get to all the films and books that they want to during their lifetime?
• If you're sick of lunch hours spent at your desk, give a read to this post from Yes and Yes.
• I'm in love with Oh Joy's Lunch Lady series. I'm clearly a total food-voyeur.


• I'm continuing to fuel my desire to be a food stylist with this promo video for Tartelette's new book.
• A lovely little stop motion video called "Make It Beautiful."
• Sarah of My New Roots puts her own graphic, wordless spin on a cooking show. I can't wait for more episodes.
• There's something totally romantic and cozy about bread.


• While this isn't my normal style of music, I can't deny that Kimbra has one heck of a set of pipes {via Kate Miss}
• Pretty amazing: A beatboxing cellist! {via Diane from The Dew Drop Inn}


• Ask yourself: Is there any way I can incorporate more creativity into my everyday routine? In an effort to have a little more creative time, I decided to make little 10-minute mini collages and use them as my headers for my Monthly Faves posts.
• Make your own chalkboard paint, in any color.  I really want to know if this works.
• I think this pom pom bib necklace will be one of my next weekend projects.
• Salted. Caramel. Nutella. Twix. Bars. *Head explodes.*
• This could be really old, but I'm enjoying the inspiration in ReadyMade's 100 best projects.
• I love finding new ways to incorporate more ampersands into my decor!


Monthly Faves is a series featuring my favorite links and bits around the interwebs.

Creative Tithing : April

Creative Tithing for the Month of : April
Artist : PPOD Design
Item : Felted Wool Slippers in Barley {note: they have increased in price since I purchased my pair.}

My first creative tithing purchase was purely spontaneous. I happened to see these slippers from PPOD Design in a treasury on the home page just last week. Even though we're well beyond chilly winter days, I still find myself with icy cold tootsies far too often. My inner grandma had envisioned myself with a cozy pair of slippers just like this, so when they appeared on the home page I just had to stake my claim on them!

As an added bonus for my project, I was the 8th sale for this seller. It makes me a wee bit giddy that I was able to support an up-and-coming shop and hopefully encourage their indie business dreams. And as for my slippers? I do believe I contemplated whether anyone at work would notice if I wore them around the office. Perfectly warm and cozy :)

Snapped Snippet : Etsy Favorites

My Etsy Favorites

Lately, I've been having so much fun on Etsy, shopping around for my Creative Tithing project. Usually, I only browse Etsy to buy gifts for other people, so doing this just for me feels quite indulgent and exciting! I'm glad I've only pledged to purchase one item a month or else I might get just a little too carried away.

Here are some of my recent favorites {click the link under the photo above to go to my favorites page for product sources and information}. I'm loving the black and white feel mixed with bits of soft grey and pops of greenery. Seems perfectly fitting for these April showers, doesn't it?

Just last night I received my very first tithing purchase for the month of April. Photos and a review are coming as soon as I get a little break in the rainstorms to take some decent pictures!

Snapped Snippets is a blog series in which I share bits and pieces of my creative life that I capture on camera. {ETA: or when I cheat and use my Etsy Favorites to count as a personal photo.} :)

A Home Is Where My Heart Is

Country Home by photonooner

This month marks three years of home ownership {or more accurately, condo-ownership} and three years of living in our current town. I've mentioned before how much I love our little town. I've practically written love letters to it, speaking of its charm and walkability and abundance of beautiful homes... Beautiful homes that make me just a wee bit jealous.

Let me explain.

When I describe our condo as "cute" and "quaint" and "cozy," I'm actually just trying to be polite, because I wouldn't want to offend it and be cursed with broken appliances or overflowing toilets. Like a real estate ad on Craigslist, a little reading between the lines translates "cozy" into "shoebox" and "quaint" into "yeah, you're totally going to hear your neighbor singing Bob Dylan through the walls. Badly. And the lady upstairs? She won't give a second thought to vacuum at 1 a.m... In high heels." {True story.}

The only outdoor space is a tiny sliver of shared grass running along one side of the building, which just doesn't lend itself to al fresco dining or lounging without numerous passerbys peering on. We learned the hard way that welcome mats outside our door are strictly verboten. Who knew. We still have to pay for laundry, and our condo assessment {covering lawn care and maintenance of two vestibules} costs us more than I paid in rent each month for most of my college apartments.

I'm certainly not ungrateful, because the condo is OURS. We're free to do whatever we please {aside from welcome mats, aparently}-- like adding sparkly crystal knobs to all the cabinets or painting the walls any color of our liking. And we are certainly taking advantage of that. Case in point: we're about to paint the living room / kitchen for the third time {a light greyish sage green, if you're curious}.

But, still... <Insert home jealousy here>

I'm rolling my eyes at my own case of "first world problems," but that doesn't stop me from dreaming about a house to call our own. With a yard where I can sit with my cereal bowl and hot tea in the early morning light, hugging a fragment of stillness before the rush of the day begins. And a porch where we can watch thunderstorms roll in, or sip lemonade while chatting with the neighbors, surrounded by twilight and fireflies. A place where "just the two of us" can perhaps grow into three or four.

Sadly, as much as I love my current town, it don't know how long we'll be here. Aside from condo buildings, it's not really a "starter home" kind of town. Even the most modest 2-bedroom bungalow houses are out of our price range with starting prices hovering around $350,000. *Sigh.* I'm left wondering where it is that we will someday find a home. I'm thinking a lot about the balance between dreams and reality, I'm weighing the culture of urban areas against the openness of the country, and I'm {cautiously} challenging the idea that a part of my soul will die if we move to suburbia {especially if it means I'll have a little plot of land to tend to}.

But for now, I'll settle for trying my darnedest to make our condo a home.

Foodie Friday : Earth Day Edition

I love that Earth Day is falling on a Foodie Friday this year because environmental concerns played a huge part in me changing the way I ate -- from a fairly typical Standard American Diet to a diet heavy on whole foods, whole grains and mostly vegetarian fare. And local whenever I can help it :)

The reasons I transformed the way I eat are many, but it basically boils down to my uneasiness with how much waste is an inherent part of the Standard American Diet and food system -- both in terms of physical garbage/packaging as well as the energy required to grow, process/manufacture, package and transport the processed foods that line the majority of grocery stores' shelves. From there, I learned more about factory farming and agri-business and couldn't ignore how un-sustainable these industries are. Basically, I eat greens to be more "green" :)

I'm not going to go into any more detail because there are already tons wonderful resources out there-- books like Food Politics, Eating Animals, Diet for a Hot Planet; documentaries such as Food Inc, King Corn, The 11th Hour; and podcasts like Vegetarian Food For Thought {especially the episode "The High Cost of Cheap Meat"}. Just thought I'd throw those out there in case anyone's curious :)

What I would like to do is join Ashley from Our Little Apartment in taking a look at what I'm successfully doing to reduce my environmental impact, as well as my ideas for what else I'd like to incorporate. I'm going to focus mainly on food-related ideas, but that is of course just one of many areas I'm inspired to be more green.

Things I Do Already:

• Participated in a CSA the last two years through a farm in southern Wisconsin-- there's nothing like fresh, local, seasonal veggies!
• Signed up to participate in a CSA with a different farm this year that is even closer to us in Illinois {and therefore reducing the transportation costs and environmental impact of getting the veggies to us}
• Only drink tap water or tea and stopped drinking soda -- no bottles! {I've read that only 10% of plastic bottles get recycled. And they have a potential lifespan of 450 years. Horrifying.}
• Save my veggie scraps and make batches of vegetable broth every few weeks, which I then freeze into cubes or small containers
• Carry my reusable mug when I think I might want to grab a soy latte
• Keep a set of dishes and a drinking glass at work instead of using disposables {I won't go into detail about how much it irks me that they use disposables as the regular option at work, especially when they have a dishwasher in the kitchen.}
• Keep canvas shopping bags folded in my purse and use them whenever I'm shopping
• Reuse plastic produce/bulk bags whenever possible {I'll clean and fold them up for the next time I'm at the grocery store}
• Buy in bulk for nuts, beans, popcorn, oats, and rice
• Recycle like crazy, down to the littlest things like toilet paper tubes. We have a bin for glass/plastics/cans, and a bin for paper and cardboard.
• No plastic snack baggies. Food for work gets put in containers we already own. Same goes for leftovers.
• Clean and save glass jars from jelly or salsa for storing leftovers
• Rarely eat fast food, as to avoid the highly-processed food and the wasteful packaging

Things I Plan to Do:

• Buy and use reusable produce bags instead of the plastic grocery produce bags
• Start making my own cereal and granola {both saving money and avoiding cereal packaging}
• Make jam again
• Can and preserve some of our CSA vegetables
• Regularly bake our own bread
• Try to patron restaurants using local ingredients whenever possible
• Eliminate convenience or single-serving foods. This is something I've gotten a little lax about since I started working. This means getting a big container of yogurt instead of single cups and cutting out the occasional frozen entree and individually-wrapped granola bars.
• Remembering to throw a food container in my bag when going out to a restaurant in case I have leftovers, instead of using the restaurant's styrofoam or plastic boxes
• Compost {someday}. It's not really an option in a condo. The condo board was considering a composting bin, but some people are objecting, boo.
• Have a vegetable garden {someday}. No lawn or personal outdoor space means no garden yet, but I'm dreaming about the days when I'll have a sunkissed nose, dirt under my nails and a basket full of my own produce.

Do any of you have tips you'd like to share? {Not necessarily food-related -- any green suggestions are welcome!}

Earth Day Reminder

Happy Earth Day.

Reflections on a Year Unfolding

Reflections by KM&G-Morris

Answer me this: How is it that we are almost a third into the year already? It seems like just yesterday I was selecting a new One Little Word for 2011 and celebrating my birthday with a list of goals and intentions. Then I was caught up in a whirlwind of life changes that landed me in a new job position while I dealt with the emotions that came along with giving up a freelance lifestyle. As life begins to mellow again and I'm able to relax and breathe into a more consistent schedule, it's a perfect time for me to assess the goals I set for myself earlier this year and determine if I'm headed towards a happy place or if my ship has drifted a little off course.

One Little Word : Cultivate
In respect to my one little word, I feel that it's been a useful guide. I feel like I'm much more conscious of all the choices I make, and I'm growing stronger in putting my efforts towards only the important things. I'm decreasing the amount of time I spend online, I've cleared out and freshened up my blogroll, I'm simplifying my home and I'm setting aside some earnings each month to support both non-profit organizations and independent artists/crafters. With a focus on my thoughts and actions, I'm finding that my general attitude has been given a boost, because I'm realizing that I have a choice in everything-- happiness is always a choice. {This is a daily lesson, especially now that I'm driving 40-50 minutes each way to work on the congested Chicago highways, paying $4.29 a gallon for gas every 9-10 days. Lesson: At least I have a job to drive to! And a functioning car! And podcasts to keep me company!}

If there's one area that needs a little more loving care, it'd be my friendships. When I got clear on the choices I've been making in my day-to-day life, it was a hard wake-up call that I've let these relationships slip through the cracks. I'm not proud of it {quite the opposite, in fact}, but I've failed to return phone calls, I missed birthdays, and I've generally been too occupied to be present for important people, and/or I've been holding too tightly onto past hurts {a bad habit of mine}. This needs to change, stat.

Birthday Intentions : 28 before 29
Well, folks, not much to report on this front. Literally, the only thing I can check of this list is #20-- I saw a theater performance of "God of Carnage" at the Goodman Theater {which I learned will be turning into a movie in 2012 starring Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster!}. I haven't been to a non-musical play since grade school, and it was so refreshing to be in the same room as the actors, watching their performances unfold in front of me. I suspect this won't be our last theater jaunt.

As for the rest of my birthday intentions, at least I have a little more than 2/3 of a year to finish them, right? :)

Side-note: Do you know what else? I really need to start taking more photos again. I'm missing that personal touch on my posts!

My ABC's

I typically shy away from posting memes on my blog {although I always enjoy reading other people's factoids!} but I blame a serious case of writer's block that's keeping me from stringing together words in anything but this rudimentary way. And I'm pretty sure that's why memes were invented, amiright? Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with something more original to say, but for now, you can learn all about my undergarments and x-ray experience :)



Alphabet by [martin]

ABC's

Age: 28
Bed Size: We recently upgraded to a queen after spending seven years in a full. It's GLORIOUS.
Chore you hate: Um, all of them? Probably the worst is doing the dishes {because having my hands in the water makes my feet itch. I'm weird.}
Dogs: Yes, please. I want a scruffy smallish-medium sized mutt from a shelter someday. I'm also obsessed with Labradoodles, but I'm generally opposed to buying designer dogs.
Essential start of your day: Shower. And a bit of blog reading over breakfast.
Favorite Color: Lately, I love the dark blue, not-quite-navy {indigo?} that's all over Target right now.
Gold or silver: My wedding ring is white gold, but after a long anti-yellow-gold ban, I'm coming around on it.
Height: 5'4 and 1/2 {that 1/2 is important.}
Instruments I play (or have played): Clarinet in middle school. I wanted to play saxophone or flute, but the teachers told me my lungs were too small {um, wot?} and that I didn't have the lips for the flute {again, WOT?}
Job Title: Marketing Coordinator by day. Freelance designer and blogger by night.
Kids: One spastic fatty kitty named Misfit.
Live: Just outside Chicago
Mom's Name: Cathy
Nickname: Does Caiti count? And Caitidid was my nickname from grandpa {as well as Kitty-Caiti. And a college friend called me Caiti-Waiti.}
Overnight hospital stays: None!
Pet Peeve: NO TURN SIGNALS! Close-minded people. The oxymoron "FOX News." Bad design. Husband leaving the cabinet doors open EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Leggings as pants. Being interrupted. Backhanded compliments. I could go on...
Quote from a movie: "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in." ~Ricky Fitts, American Beauty
Right or left handed: Right
Siblings: One younger brother
Time you wake up: Alarm goes off at 5:55 if the cat hasn't decided to poke me in the face with her paw before that point.
Underwear: As in, do I wear it? Usually :)
Vegetables you dislike: Water chestnuts {what are these things??}. Cooked beets. Pumpkin or sweet potato used in sweet applications {pie, casserole, etc.} That's about it. Loves me some veggies.
What makes you run late: Drying and straightening my hair. Which is why 99% of the time I don't.
X-rays you've had done: None!
Yummy food you make: A very unhealthy four-cheese pasta sauce, tomato-vodka pasta sauce {both vegan and very-not-vegan cream-laden versions}, Greek pizza, butternut squash and leek soup, chocolate cherry bomb smoothies, GUAC.
Zoo animal: Penguins!

{meme via Tenpenny Splendid}

Foodie Friday : Asparagus Revisited

Well, friends, you can just call me Betty the Blog Post Recycler, because I definitely posted these recipe cards almost exactly one year ago. But seeing as though I actually made asparagus quiche with goat cheese and mushrooms this week and was reminded of how delicious it is, I felt compelled to share the recipe {again}. And I figure that only a small handful of people were actually reading my blog back then anyways. To those few people, I do apologize for the repeat :)



To download your own copy of the cards containing recipes for Asparagus Quiche with Mushrooms and Asparagus Pesto Pasta, click here. This link will take you to Google Documents preview, where you can download the PDF from the link at the top of the page. {And the Google preview might look a little fuzzy, but once you download it will all be perfectly clear - no worries!}

The size of the recipe cards in the PDF match the standard large-sized recipe cards {5.75" x 4"}, so if you'd like, you can cut the printed asparagus recipes out and adhere them to a standard card for sturdiness. Just paste the picture on one side of a recipe card and the instructions on the reverse side.

A side note: When we made the quiche this week, we used a pre-made spelt crust from Whole Foods. I thought it was pretty tasty, and a nice break from typical pie dough.

Enjoy!

Creative Tithing

The Butterfly's Noise treasury by ireneigh

Now that I have a wee bit more disposable income to enjoy, I've decided to finally start a monthly practice of "creative tithing." I've been enamored with the term ever since I read this article on Scoutie Girl proposing the idea, which boils down to consciously investing in the handmade creations of others on a regular basis, as a way to support their dreams and strengthen the handmade community as a whole. {The article says it much more eloquently than I just did, so definitely read it if you haven't!}

I love the intention behind creative tithing-- I think it means more if you take the time to actually think about how you are supporting the creative business owners in the world. Plus, I usually feel guilty about spending money on myself and end up just hearting a million items on Etsy or adding them to my cart, but never actually purchasing anything {...yet somehow I always find myself at Target with an armful of items I don't particularly need. Funny how that works}. This way, I can feel a little less guilty spending money on myself because it's for a good cause, right? :)

I'm going to place my April order this weekend, and my mind is swirling with pretty possibilities. A piece of jewelry? Handmade chocolates? Something vintage?  I'll be sure to blog about my monthly purchases throughout the year!
 
PS - I have to give a shout-out to my blog friend Megan at Lilac Saloon, who is doing a similar monthly purchase-- she wrote about her April purchase today, which looks amazingly delicious. Who else wants to join in? I promise it's fun :)

Snapped Snippet : The Camera Collector

Over the past few years, I've amassed quite a little collection of vintage cameras. Some of them, like the Brownie and the collapsible one on the far left side are just for show. The charming TLRs are my favorite, both because I can actually use them with TTV photography, but also because each time I hold one at my waist, peering down into the viewfinder, I'm transported to an earlier time. I can imagine myself in the 1930's traipsing the streets in a swing skirt and surreptitiously snapping photos like Vivian Meier.

I also own a full set of darkroom equipment that I bought at a garage sale years ago-- enlarger, film developing tanks, and wash pans. It'd be a dream to someday set up a real darkroom in my house. Too bad that by the time I get around to doing this, I'll probably have to sell my firstborn child in order to afford film and chemicals!

Currently Loving...

Spring in Indiana by rsteup on Flickr

... The teases of spring weather we've been having in Chicagoland, even with the bouts of rain {which I secretly love as much as the sunshine and fresh breezes}.

... Wearing cute clothes on a daily basis again. I never stopped being a pajamas-only girl when I was freelancing from home, so it's actually really refreshing to wear real pants to work :)

... Sore arms after a {very} long break from weight training.

... Making homemade tamales for the first time. The results: not bad! I'm not up to par with my husband's adorable Mexican grandma, but then again, I expect I never will be :)

... Lazy Sundays.

... Listening to new episodes of my favorite podcasts. 

... A pile of new-to-me reads including Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz {Starbucks CEO}, Jen Lancaster's Such a Pretty Fat, The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner and a pile of magazines.

... The snippets I've been sneaking from Tina Fey's autobiography Bossypants each time I'm in a bookstore. I'm so excited to get my hands on a copy soon. {and did you hear that Ms. Fey is pregnant again? I'm so happy; the world needs more Tina Feys.}

... Being surprised with flowers from the hubby last week. Without him even knowing that I had a bad afternoon, I came home to a bouquet on the bed!

... What are you loving these days?

Snapped Snippet : Embarassing Childhood Photos Edition

Twelve-year-old Caiti thought she would one day be Mrs. JTT

I can hardly believe I am posting this on the internets, but I find it too funny not to share. I'm pretty sure the back of my bedroom door was also covered with pictures of Britney and Jessica Simpson, in some pathetic pre-teen attempt at wishing myself thin and blond.

Next time I'm at my parents house I'll take some pictures of the binder full of magazine clippings and internet printouts of Leo from his Jack Dawson days.

{I'm so glad the pre-teen & teen years are over!}

Do tell: who was your childhood crush? Did you plaster your walls with photos torn from Teen Beat and J-14? {and if you were a child of the 90s and need to jog your memory, this article from Pop Sugar is gold: "The Boys Before Beiber"}

Snapped Snippets is a blog series in which I share bits and pieces of my creative life that I capture on camera.

Design Inspiration: Black, White and Brown

Thanks to each of you who kindly commented on my last post regarding my job situation! I enjoyed reading a bit about your lives and careers, and recognizing both the similarities and differences among us all. I love it :) And funny enough, right after I wrote the post this weekend, I got another freelance design job! It'll be interesting and fun to continue to learn how to balance the day job and freelancing.

Today I thought I'd offer up some eye candy. A quick peek at my Pinterest design inspiration board shows that I'm clearly digging the combination of black and white graphics with touches of brown, whether it be the use of kraft paper in the design or wood backdrops for product shots. I love this color combination in
 all its forms--retro, contemporary, natural or minimal.



Retro perfection from Product Superior {via Oh So Beautiful Paper}

*Insert instantaneous design jealousy here.* These woodland papercut invitations by artist Naomi Shiek are pretty much the prettiest invitations I've seen in a very long time. {via Oh So Beautiful Paper}

I'd love it if every barber shop out there had this cool of an identity package. {By Richard Arthur Stewart, via Design Work Life}

Perfect chalkboard invitation suite From ElloThere  
Never thought I'd utter these words, but that is one awesome invoice {By Hans Bennewitz, via Design Work Life}

Lovely calligraphic touches {By Papermade, via Snippet and Ink}

Identity Package for the Lower Depths Restaurant {By Richard Arthur Stewart, via the Behance Network}

Shifting Priorities on Work and Life

"Office Toy: A Portrait of the Artist as a Cube" by Chris Blakeley*
When I was working at my last job, it was easy for me to imagine life as a freelancer. You know, waking up whenever I felt like it, wearing comfy clothes all day, working with highly inspiring clients, taking breaks for tea and lunch at local cafes, and, most of all, creating a job that was more in line with my interests and true to who I am as a person. It all seemed vastly preferred to sitting in an office for nine hours a day working on projects I wasn't particularly engaged in.

Then I was laid off. And those daydreams suddenly had to turn into reality, like, yesterday.

Yet here I am today, a few weeks into a brand new office job. So, what has happened to my freelance dreams? What caused me to shift back to a more traditional path?

In my daydream, notice how there was no mention of paying bills, hustling to find new clients, the total lack of social interaction the majority of my days, or the pressing feeling of always being at work since my office was always a room a way. Not to mention the lack of savings or retirement accounts {things that are actually super important to me}. Or the fact that I live and own a condo in Chicago--which makes my cost of living much higher than, say, Missouri or Oklahoma, where some of my self-employed heroes live. No matter how much I love design, these things really took an emotional toll on me. I was a stress-y mess 99% of the time.

I feel like there's a trend among design and craft bloggers {not to mention the glut of lifestyle/location-independent bloggers} to idealize the idea of working for yourself as the be all end all. This is not to say it's not an amazing goal to chase after, because it is, and I truly admire the people that go for it. What I will say that it is not a realistic or desirable goal for every designer or crafter. My experience doesn't make me a failure, or someone who is selling my soul to "the man," or being inauthentic. Self-employment just doesn't work for the kind of life I want to lead right now.

The truth is that I am okay with trading my time for a steady, reliable salary. I was able to find a job similar to what I was previously doing, which involves marketing communications, design, event planning and social media, and it's connected to a field I feel passionate about {education}. Without the pressure of freelance life, I feel like I can take on occasional side-projects that I really love and are more representative of my style, rather than the ones that I take just because I need the income. Same goes for my Etsy shop. I am now a true believer that it really is best to let my designing/crafting grow organically on the side before taking the leap to self-employment. I happened to be shoved off a cliff through the layoff rather than being in control of the leap, leaving me flailing quite a bit. {Maybe at some point in the future I'll be more ready to take that leap, but I want it to be my decision.}

This past year also taught me about the things that I really love-- like yoga, traveling, investing in my health through quality food and exercise, planning for a future family, and living in my gorgeous {albeit overpriced} town just outside of the city. And, hello reality, every one of those things costs money to do. If I continued to pursue a freelance life, I might be doing the job I like, but I wouldn't be able to take part in my other loves as easily. And as a Renaissance Soul, I need those other things to bring me balance and variety.

So this is where I am at in my journey. I'm still so inspired by the stories of self-employed creative folks, and nothing will stop me from placing a priority on creativity in my life, both at my day-job and outside of it. I'm happy to see where this direction leads me.

I'd like to thank these two articles for giving me the confidence to write this post {which was hard for me to put into words}:
- Honey, There's No Shame in Having Health Insurance from Kate at Your Courageous Life
- Ode to the Entrepreneurial Spirit: An Apology to 9 to 5r's Everywhere from Danielle LaPorte

*I thought this picture was pretty funny, but thankfully I am working at a fairly cool company with hilarious and fun people, my own office {!!!} with not a cube in sight {most employees are in a big open workspace}. I can't complain about much :)

Foodie Friday : Taste Tripping!

{Photo via my friend Dani}

Last weekend was a friend's birthday, so to celebrate she decided to host a Miracle Berry/Taste Tripping party! What the heck is THAT, you ask?

Well, it's definitely not as scandalous as it initially sounds, and has absolutely nothing to do with mind-altering substances {I promise}. I first heard about this magic fruit through a NY Times article a while back. Miracle Berries are a West African fruit that when chewed temporarily alters your tastebuds, making everything you eat after it taste much sweeter. The effects are especially apparent with acidic foods.

For our tasting party, we had a selection of nibbles including oranges, grapefruit, lemons, vinegar, chocolate, strawberries, and condiments like hot sauce, pickles, mustard, and ketchup. We gave everything a little taste before eating a Miracle Berry to remind us what they normally taste like. Then we all chewed the cranberry-like fruit at the same time, holding the juice in our mouths for about a minute.


{Photo via my friend Dani}

Then the tasting began. And let me tell you, it was straight out of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory! {Although no one turned into a blueberry.} Lemons tasted like lemonade. Ketchup tasted something like the sauce from baked beans. My favorite was the bright candied taste from grapefruit, which is something I normally find bitter and unpleasant. But some foods like strawberries that are already sweet became almost too much to handle.

It was quite a fun evening! And I was interested to learn that the berry isn't all fun and games-- it's being studied for uses with chemotherapy patients who don't have appetites during their treatments, as well as an option for diabetics to help control sugar cravings.

Kind of neat, right?