Eating Into the New Year

Being vegetarian in the South can be tough. When I lived in Charleston, where shrimp is a vegetable, I had a bit more trouble than I’ve ever had in Atlanta or Athens, but for the most part, it’s never a problem to eat out— there’s always at least one pasta dish on the menu that can be easily altered into vegetarian-dom. This month, in particularly, has seen a lot of incredible food. Here’s a glimpse at what I’ve eaten (or, in the case of meat dishes, watched other people eat) in January.

Sweet potato fries with fire-roasted marsmallows, goat cheese-stuffed fried green tomatoes with chipotle aioli, and white peach lemonade from Ibiza Bites + spinach salad with goat cheese, fresh strawberries, and walnuts with a mediterranean veggie sandwich from Highland Bakery + gol gappe on New Year’s Eve + first King of Pops of the year— raspberry lime.

Just Loaf’n shrimp po’ boy + sesame fries with Sriracha cheese dip and stir-fried tofu taco with spicy Asian BBQ sauce from Yumbii. // I can’t say enough good things about Atlanta’s food truck scene. Love that you can find 10+ gathered for lunch or dinner multiple times a week!

Lately I’m Loving..

It’s the first day of what’s going to be a very long week for me, so I thought I would put together a quick post about some of my favourite things right now. (This has nothing to do with the fact that I’m supposed to be writing five posts a month and the month ends tomorrow, I promise.) Check out what I’ve been loving lately and let me know what items in your life have been helping the new year go a little more smoothly.

DIY Instagram Magnets!

Instagram is kind of taking the world by storm. So many people I know are completely obsessed with it, and some of them— some of them— are really good at using the application. If you are one of those people or, like me, you know somebody who is (who also conveniently happens to have a birthday coming up), then this DIY project is for you.

A few months ago, I came across a website that creates magnets out of Instagram pictures— 9 magnets for 15 dollars. I thought it was a great gift idea, but you have to give the website access to the account from which you want to pull the pictures and I wanted to use someone else’s photos, not my own. So I ruled that website out and decided to DIY some magnets myself. The largest problem I encountered was that I couldn’t save pictures from Instagram myself. This was easily remedied by a quick Internet search, which led me to Copygram. Copygram pulls up the Instagram app in a web browser, which allowed me to save the pictures I wanted to use onto my computer. NOTE: Don’t use pictures from other users without their consent, as that’s illegal.

Once I had the pictures saved, I got started creating the magnets. I am so bad at Photoshop, y’all. I mean, I can very basically edit a picture, but beyond that I’m completely lost. I’d had “Photoshop proficient” on my resume since high school, but I took it off immediately after I frantically gchatted my friend Elias demanding help resizing images and made him talk me through the program for half an hour. ANYWAY. Here’s what you do.

Introducing 101 in 1001!

If you asked me to make resolutions for this year a week ago, I’d probably say that I wanted to stop eating whole meals that consist solely of brie+fig preserves or goat cheese+local honey on crackers or to stop buying so many books in hardcover. But a standard I set for myself a few months ago was to be less negative— to stop “calling people out” when I don’t agree with them, to compliment strangers and commend excellent service, to be optimistic and uplifting and supportive. In that vein, I decided to make a list of 101 goals I want to complete in 1001 days instead. They center around doing things and bettering myself (as well as my relationships and my surroundings) rather than simply trying to eliminate bad habits.

Twentyeleven Review

Last year I:

Came back from a perfect trip to Dubai, Delhi, Bombay, and Kurukshetra Sunset over Burj al-Arab from Burj Khalifa

Temple in Kurukshetra where the Pandavas prayed before battle

Saw more snow than Georgia could handle— we didn’t get mail for a week! Went to New Orleans

Then California Then as many Braves games as I could (and one in June in San Francisco, too!) Said goodbye to Athens  Ate an inordinate amount of popsicles and stalked food trucks like nobody’s business Then went back to California and went hiking in Muir Woods Fell in love with my favourite city, Charleston, over and over again  Attended Atlanta’s first flash mob picnic

Streaked my hair purple

Assisted in the opening of an absolutely wonderful independent bookstore

Went DIY crazy from Diwali to Christmas— which is another blog post in and of itself. Happy New Year! What were your favourite parts of 2011?