Philanthropy.

Now that I am officially back in the swing of blogging I should mention that I am finally running in another 5k.  I should also mention that this race is a week from this coming Sunday (a little less than 2 weeks away).  While this may seem to be nothing compared to the half marathon and marathon hosted in Rochester this past weekend, the race is for more than self satisfaction and pride.

The George Eastman House "PhotoFinish 5k" is a philanthropy run in which runners raise money and support their favorite cause.  While participants were able to create their own cause on a website known as CrowdRise.com (used for raising funds), they were also given the opportunity to join a cause already started.  I chose Crosby's Fund since the cause really stuck out to me for multiple reasons.

The fund is supported by the Wish List Society, a group of young professionals associated with the Wilmot Cancer Center that came together in hopes of raising money for a "wish list" compiled of ideas from various sources.  One of these wishes is Crosby's Fund- a seed grant in pediatric research with a goal of finding effective treatment for pediatric cancer patients.

I have lost track of how many runners are supporting Crosby's Fund but the group as a whole has raised over $136,000.  I would love for you to inform yourself and to learn more about The Wish List Society and to help raise money for Crosby's Fund.  If you would like to join this cause, please feel free to donate at: www.crowdrise.com/kyliebellis

Lazy Sundays

So this past weekend was pretty eventful, at least Sunday was.  Well okay friday and saturday night weren't too bad either since I had a girls night & then went out to a Ballet Performance Group (BPG) wine night and then made my way to the frat quad afterwards.

However, the best part of the weekend was (a) being completely overwhelmed by the new Forever 21 and (b) having a cooking/baking extravaganza on sunday with my housemates.  

To begin with Forever 21 I would have to say that the new Eastview location is a ridiculously huge space.  Being as exhausted as I usually am on weekend mornings I ended up lost from the rest of my housemates and wandered amlessely throughout the store.  While it does have some perks of being divided into various sections including "basics" and "club" wear, there are multiple racks strewn in the middle of the walking aisles in which I found myself losing direction and my mind.

I woke up Sunday morning at noon after sleeping on my friends couch on campus and had absolutely no clue what I wanted for breakfast.  To be honest I could have gone with a cup of coffee and have been set for the day but my mother instructed me that I cannot wither away to nothing while living on my own.  I intuitively whipped out my recipe book and grabbed my favorite "dutch pancake" recipe, which has now been dubbed as something similar to flan.  I have never actually had flan so I couldn't tell you.

The recipe itself is quite simple and only requires 4 ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

(1) Blend ingredients together ( I personally prefer to whisk the eggs prior to adding other ingredients in hopes of creating a fluffy texture).

(2) melt 2 tbsp of butter in pie dish in oven (at 350).

(3) when melted, swirl the dish to coat.

(4) pour batter in dish & bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Sounds good, right?

Thats not all, my housemates were testing out some recipes of their own, including homemade pasta & perogies.  I do not have the recipe for either but I assume the pasta recipe was found online somewhere and the perogie recipe is some secret recipe from Ukraine.

Pasta making:

I am going to test this out myself once I purchase some semolina flour (used for italian baking, it is a finer more refined flour) and get back to you on a good recipe.

and finally, here is my first homemade pierogie.  The filling is currently sitting in our fridge while the pierogies freeze and wait to be eaten!

Hope everyone has a great week :)

A Little Logic & A Little Casserole

From my last post you may have been able to tell that I am lacking in any sort of creativity during my free time.  This may be due to a serious excess of time after classes or the fact that we are only into the third week, but phew, what a relief from last year...at least for a little while.  If you have trouble remembering back to last semester, I was a bit of a trainwreck in the sense that I lived in the library (religiously) and very seldom went anywhere else including on weekends.  Oh well, the past is the past.

Last night I managed to make a rather quick and easy rendition of a family favorite. Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole (The Healthy Version).

Recipe:

1 pkg Uncle Bens Long grain wild rice

1 pkg frozen broccoli

1/4 cup butter (you can leave this out)

1 med onion chopped

2 celery stalks chopped

1 can water chestnuts diced

2 cups COOKED chicken diced

1 can mushroom soup (low-sodium)

6oz plain greek yogurt

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1.) completely cook rice and add to oven save dish along with greek yogurt, mushroom soup and milk.

2.) meanwhile, cook chicken as desired (broil,bake, pan sear) and add broccoli, onion and celery to saute pan.

3.) once completely cooked and heated add to casserole dish.

4.) lightly mix ingredients

5.) Bake covered @350 for 30 - 45min.  Add desired cheddar cheese on top and finish baking (uncovered) for 5min.

Let sit for 5 min so that contents solidify and serve :)

I will advise you to NOT purchase instant rice but instead actually put a good few minutes into cooking the real thing because it makes all the difference.

Also, if you're trying to be healthy use low-sodium (LS) or no-salt-added (NSA) mushroom soup.  I found that both the combination of instant rice & normal mush. soup was too salty and took away from the flavor I love.

This is also perfect for freezing and refrigerating for a few days!

I mulled over some logic reading while eating my casserole.  Our professor for this class is a bit nutty to say the least but all in all knows how to teach a lecture hall of 40 freshman and a few of us upperclassmen.  The course itself is interesting and the book isn't half bad but as you can see, getting used to letters and symbols will be a bit of a challenge.  I am not looking forward to actual compound sentences and truth tables.

Taxi Driver.

Taxi Driver.

Updates Updates. I have been promising Cara & Maureen for weeks now that I would do another post.  I haven't even been that busy yet but still blogging has taken a backseat to the rest of my daily activities.  So the question is, where to begin?

First of all, I absolutely love Rochester and my housemates.  They are all so different but amazing all the same.  Did I mention they are ridiculously fun and crazy?  Just what I need to loosen up a bit and enjoy college life.

Liana and Caitlin are in this kick ass a cappella group on campus known as "After Hours," please check them out on YouTube or FB and you will agree with me 100% or else you're completely tone deaf and have no taste in a cappella music.

This is turning into the post with a million stories but hey 23409823048 for the price of 1 is never bad?  The title, taxi driver, has a story behind it I promise.  Let me get there.  My first weekend here I actually went out with Mandy and Brad at RIT.  I found their security to be a bit too tight for my liking (theirs too) and we ended up only being out for about a half hour...nonetheless it was still a great time with my munchy and we of course added some photos to our family album (sorry carolyn we need a raggedy ann doll to bring with us next time).

we're a little strange together but it works.  She was rather happy that I actually went out and I need to return the favor to her soon by inviting her to UR.

The night ended with an obnoxious taxi driver who initially hung up on my call because he thought I was a typical college girl who had too much to drink and needed a ride.  Well did I show him.  After the third call he finally decided to come get me in his mini-van but forgot where I was.  Thanks UR for supporting this taxi company (at least I got the 30% off discount).  Just kidding.  I actually ended up talking to him the entire ride home and explained that I am a local and super talkative late-nighter.  If he had just simply answered my calls in the first place we could have started off on a better note.  Anyways, first ROC taxi experience is checked off my to-do list and in the end it wasn't half bad.

The Market.

Okay so as usual I am a bit behind on my posts and for once I have no excuse whatsoever.  What have I been doing?  Next to nothing since classes haven't started yet.  Today I woke up and went for a 2.25m run since Hal Higdon (bow down to this guy) told me and everyone else following his 5k running plan to do so.  Then I met my 6th grade advisor for lunch, but I should probably mention that she is so much more than that.  She is a friend, mentor, employer and all around amazing person to have in my life.  After finishing a great southwestern salad I proceeded to come "home" to the South Wedge and began watching Grey's Anatomy from the very beginning...Yes, the first episode ever aired (thank you Netflix!)  I will most likely purchase the series at some point in my existence but like many things that fall to the wayside (oh I love corny lines like that), money and sheer forgetfulness will put me back a few months or years.

Hokay so this past weekend I was beyond bored with my life since I currently know only a few people in Rochester and the majority of them were busy this entire weekend so instead of sitting around eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's I ventured over to the Rochester Public Market. While the market is rather big I find that most vendors sell similar or the same thing minus those few flower shops and whatnot.  Don't even get me started on the folks that sell bulk canned goods and fake gucci purses, yuck!  Anyways, I tried to stay a while and snap some photos but the place was so busy I kept getting bumped into.  So enough rambling and here is what I was able to get:

Let's start with some B&W of the Mennonite folk, please don't confuse these men with the Amish since they are very different.

I've been playing around a bit with Iphoto since my Adobe Photoshop Elements slows my computer to molasses and I can't even work with the simple quick select or magic wand tool.

I thought of trying out the Sunflowers in both color and Black and White but can't decide which one is best.  For color I enhanced the saturation and contrast level and then decreased the highlights so that more of the background petals would pop through.  The black and white still has an upped contrast level and all that other fancy stuff.  They're the same exact photograph but so different, ah someone help me decide!

Moving Time.

I am finally posting from my new "house" or apartment, however you wish to see it.  I finally moved everything in this past thursday, and I must say that the two hours flew by.  Last year it seemed to take forever to actually give everything a home and get settled.  I believe I mentioned before that I am living in Rochester's South Wedge.  For those of you who are somewhat unfamiliar with Rochester the area is very up and coming.  While it isn't as developed as Park or Monroe there are some great spots.

I've done some walking (and running) around the past few days and have so far been through Highland Park and have eaten at The Beale Street Cafe.  I decided to go all out at Beale Street and ventured away from my usual entree of anything chicken.  "The Pittsburg" as they call it has pulled pork pilled high beneath cole slaw and french fries which is situated in the middle of a french roll, yum!  I hardly ever do anything adventurous when it comes to food so I was pleasantly surprised and suggest it to anyone who visits the area.  Each entree and sandwich also comes with a piece of homemade corn bread and a side (the salad has a great homemade cajun dressing but it is a bit creamy).  Oh and I should also mention that the atmosphere is casual and fun, so go for a quick bite (and even a few drinks) with friends!

As for the whole moving bit of this post and since I did happen to mention that I am all moved in I figure I might as well post some pictures.  Hey, maybe someone actually reads this blog (ahem Carolyn and Maureen, procrastinators!)

After living in a dorm for two years I decided that it was time to make my bedroom a bit more realistic.  By that I mean not some place that you move in and out of frequently but actually put time and effort into since I am there more than I am at home over the course of the year.  I tried to go with this "travel" eclectic theme and this is what I came up with:

For those of you who are searching and searching for bedding and continually find themselves returning to the coveted Anthropologie, look harder.  I found this gorgeous duvet online at some random homegoods store (though a bit pricey it was marked down!)

The two matted paintings above my bed were found at the amazing TJ MAXX.  I swear you can find just about anything there!

Storage ottomans.  These things are cute, decorative and yes they store A LOT.  I have extra sheets, a blanket and about 5 sweatshirts in this one!

A funny story about the closet: My mom asked when I was going to "sort through" my clothes at home to see which ones I should bring to school because, as she puts it, I always bring too much junk that I never end up wearing anyways.  My response?  Look at the size of this closet, I am bringing every article of clothing I own...so that's exactly what I did.

Carolyn.

This is Cara or as I often call her, Carolyn.  She's a spitfire redhead with big plans ahead of her in the next week.  I am so jealous because she is spending a semester in Florence, Italy.  Now more than ever since I decided to transfer and not go abroad I am wanting to live my life vicariously through this girl, better yet, I can still call her my best friend after admitting this.

Thanks to Cara I was able to meet Maureen.  Now this girl can bake.  Look at this amazing Chocolate Brownie Coffee Mousse Torte. Yum!   I am trying desperately to retrieve the recipe for this dessert and am hoping a blog post such as this will do the trick.  Think of it as a mixture of rich savory brownie with fluffy expresso/coffee flavor...I am in love! Combining my two favorite things all in one.  Perfection.