Vegan Carob Muffins

Today is the last day of January, and I am so glad. It's got to be one of my least favorite months of the year, at least on the east coast. But, I have tried to make the best of it, and today I did a pretty good job of that. After brunch at a hipster coffee shop and then art class, I came home and tried to figure out what to do with the carob pods my mom ordered recently. I had never had one before, but they're really interesting. 

This is a carob pod, also known as St. Johns Bread, for anyone who has never seen one before. They're very dark brown, and pretty hard. The cool thing is that they are edible, except for the extremely hard seeds on the inside. They taste really good, sort of like chocolate, mixed with honey and bread.

Carob is used as a substitute for chocolate a lot, and is considered a healthy alternative to chocolate. It doesn't have any of the caffeine that coffee contains, and is naturally sweet, so doesn't have to be paired with as much other sweetener as chocolate does. 

Anyway, enough facts, lets get to the actual recipe. 

Vegan Carob Muffins 

 To break up the pods, which are pretty tough, my mom and I stuck a knife into the pods and then banged them on the counter. There isn't really a correct way to break them (that I know of) so I'd just say that if you are using them, try a few methods and see what you think works best. 

Here is what it looks like all blended up! Make sure you didn't miss any chunks before mixing the powder into the mixture. 

If you follow the recipe above, your muffins will turn out something like this! They aren't the prettiest, but they taste really good, and have a light and fluffy inside. I baked them for a little bit over 25 minutes, and they were a bit hard on the outside. I'd recommend less time than that.

Try them out and tell me what you think! Hopefully the recipe is good. Also, if you don't have any carob, this is a super simple and good recipe for just basic muffins, or a basic recipe to start with! Enjoy:)

Keep it Unreal. (new tofurky collection!!!)

This week didn't exactly have the greatest start, understandably. It's the first week back from winter break, it's freezing and it's snowy. Today, however, it got much better! There was a two hour delay this morning, so I didn't have to go to school until ten. Then, when I got home, the greatest thing ever was waiting for me.

On my front step was a package from my favorite food company ever, which you probably guessed from the title. Yep, you got it: TOFURKY!

They knew I was a huge fan, and sent me some really, really cool stuff! It made my day. Wait, no, my week actually. It was extremely exciting.

Here is the contents of that package in photo form:

 

I think their motto is hilarious. 

Apparently it'd made from organic material. Green is the color I would've picked for the shirt, so that was another plus. 

 This is just everything laid out. There was a pamphlet about tofurky too.  

I loved Tofurky before, but now I love them even more. (Woah that rhymed! I should be a poet!!) I eat their products pretty much on a daily basis, and have been for so long, and I love them. So, not only does their food taste amazing, but they are great in the customer service department as well. 

For anyone who isn't a Tofurky connoisseur or has never even tried it, I would really recommend it! They're a great company, and also their t-shirts are super comfy ✌ʕʘ‿ʘʔ✌. 

Tea house vibes, bath bombs, and mugshots.

Sunday, Jan. 4th.
Sadly, today is my last day of winter break, and I return to school tomorrow. I am not too sad, though, because I got everything I wanted to done, and I had a blast these past two weeks. Yesterday and the day before were especially great. Here's what I did:

Friday: our friends who live two hours away drove down to visit. After a lunch of spring rolls, noodles and Asian salad, we headed to our favorite tea house, Dobra. 

The menu is the size of a novel, filled with flowering teas, lychee tea, black and green, snacks, and of course, bubble tea. 

This is a Polaroid of me and my friend Sierra. It was taken by her brother Morgan.  

We all got bubble tea. It was fantastic.

I'm pretty sure they were both oblivious to the fact that I took this. 

I could spend hours just hanging out in Dobra. It's so cozy and chill. 

Next, we went to a secondhand clothing store, but left soon since we were all full of bubble tea and needed to use the bathroom in a coffee shop next door. That's where this snapchat was taken. Morgan is wearing two pins that I made.

Our final stop was to Lush, and it was really fun, as well as kind of weird. The Lush we went to is inside of a Macy's, and there was hardly any person in the entire store. It felt apocalyptic, but no one was paying attention to us, so we could do whatever we wanted in the store. 

The Lush guys gave us a demo. 

I bought the pink bath bomb. The next picture is from when I actually used it. 

It was great, except for all of the confetti that was stuck in my hair afterwards. 

{mini post} a link to check out.

I know that technically, the Christmas holiday isn't actually over, and that it goes until January, but since Christmas day is over, it feels like it. Even though I love opening presents, and giving presents and the while shebang, I am ready to get back into my routine and get to work. It will be nice to give my silk-screening kit a try, and my Velvet Underground records a spin. This time of year is so busy, and I'm looking forward to the calmness afterwords.

Well, I'm sure you didn't come to listen to me talk about the holidays, since you can probably listen to other people doing that on about a thousand other blogs, so I'll stop, and get to the point of this post. 

Recently, I posted a picture on Instagram of sushi that my mom had made for dinner. I hashtagged it #whatveganseat, because that's a really fun hashtag to explore, especially if you're vegan. Very quickly, this account found the picture through the tag, and asked if the picture could be used in their online zine! I was so excited! It sounded really cool, and of course I said yes, and I also said that I would put a link to it on my blog. So here I am! 

The magazine is quarterly, and costs five dollars, but it's really interesting,  it's digital so you can just read it on your computer, like, right now.                                                                                                                 

 This will take you to the magazine.

If you don't wanna pay to read the magazine but just want to see my picture, here ya go. Vegan sushi!

-India

Friday Night Art Night

Since my new bedroom is starting to feel like the perfect little nook to make art, sip tea, and listen to records in, I invited my friend over to make art and hangout with me. It was a blast! We walked home  from school together, got out some snacks and went right to work! 

She was looking through one of my old abandoned journals.

Some supplies we used. Yes, sushi is a supply. It is necessary. 

It got messier the more we worked. 

 We listened to an entire Vampire Weekend record, then switched to some alt-j∆ and some other indie-synthy music. The entire situation was very "indie" Because most teens spend friday nights at the ice rink, or at a movie or something mainstream and "fun" but not us. You know in movies, how there is always that group of kids who really don't follow the main trends, and are quiet at school, and dress really cool and indie-ish? Maybe it'd just be easier to say the wallflower group. Well, my school doesn't have that. it just has the two of us. So we had our own mini party in my room, including lots of paint and music and tea. What could be better?

 My friend and I went through a bunch of Nylon mags for some inspiration. It's such a cool magazine for that.

 They're cohesive! 

I guess we had a bit of an Asian theme, green tea, sushi, and the best mochi in the entire world! I could live off of mochi. 

So overall, it was a really fun friday night! We discussed song lyrics and magazines and aesthetics (that has got to be the most difficult word to spell) and other similar topics! It's so fun to have a friend that is very much into the same things as you are, especially art! I can't wait to do it again. 

-India 

So West Coast

After one whole week of a perfect vacation, my family and I have finally departed from the west coast and are back in Pennsylvania.

The trip was what my dad called a "Southern California Sampler," because we saw so much of so many different places, in so little time. Also it was my first time in California. Starting in San Diego, we made our way to Carlsbad, Encinitas, LA, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Marina Del Rey, Malibu, Algoura Hills, Huntington Beach, Newport, Costa Mesa, and finally Santa Ana. We did all that in about seven days! It was tiring at some points, but I would redo it all over again if I could. 

Getting on the plane last night, I was overwhelmed with that feeling I used to get when I was younger at Christmas, after the final present had been opened and the surprise and excitement was over for a while. Of course, there were still all of those great gifts to look at and play with, but there's nothing like tearing off the wrapping paper and seeing them for the very first time. So, in the same way, I have all of my souvenirs to look at and play with, but I'm not there, in California anymore. But oh boy do I wish I was. Maybe it's the fact that it was 90 degrees and sunny there every single day, and that where I actually live, it is going to snow any day now. Wow, that was a painful thought to write out. I had always imagined California to be great, but it way exceded my expectations. It was almost like a whole new world, one that I still cannot believe has existed all this time and I've gone thirteen years without getting to experience it. The sun, the people, the food, the clothes, the lifestyle, it all blew me away. I saw people skateboarding to work, and people that I thought only existed in magazines and on TV. Unfortunately, I did not spot any famous people, but the area itself was so famous I didn't mind.

 This was a sketch I did while silently pleading for the plane ride to be over so I could get to the west coast already.

 This was our first stop after getting off of the plane, and our last as well. It happened to be right by the airport and 100% vegan, and also some of the best food in the world. 

 Plus, it had the cutest outside patio!!

 Vegan food makes me a happy artist. 

{Shoe Selfies}

There was sacred geometry on the streets!! What kind of a world is this and why am I not living there???

The Mission Basilica in San Diego was so beautiful and aesthetic-y. It was a bummer that I had a bad cold while we were there, so it was harder for me to take in and fully appreciate all of the beauty of it. 

 

After the mission, we drove to the Carlsbad area, and then checked out Encinitas. It was such a cool place that reminded me of teenage novels with all of the cute surfer-guys and perfect, tan blonde girls, hippy shops, record shops, and total beach vibes! Beach vibes in november….best thing ever! 

All of the days we spent in California were fantastic, but this one was one of the best. While my brother and Dad hung out at Lego land all day, my mom and I wandered the cool streets of Encinitas.

We ate lunch at a fully raw and vegan place called Peace Pies. I'm still dreaming about it. Also, Vampire Weekend was playing in the cafe and that made it even better. 

Next, we strolled to a little record shop, that had EVERYTHING! I got a Vampire Weekend record for only 15 dollars. 

We continued our walk to a bead and rock shop that also had everything (bead-wise, of course) and I found some cool little triangle beads that made me think of Alt-J∆. It was super embarrassing though, since I almost forgot to pay the guy when he rang them up. 

When we finished roaming the streets, sipping Kombucha in the sunlight, eating goji berries, and completely livin' it up, we headed back to our hotel, where I journaled a bit.

Here's a shot of the beach at Carlsbad.

The next day was almost entirely the opposite, since we did a few touristy things such as see the Hollywood sign. Let me just tell you, it's much cooler in pictures. But I guess it's cool to be able to say 

that I've seen it.

In the Hollywood Hills, there's this house with TONS of random junk and mosaic all over it. It's really private though, so we only could see the outside.

This Monet quote really made my day.

Even though all of the touristy sight-seeing wasn't really that fun or cool, I did get semi excited when I saw this. 

Next Stop, Venice Beach.

This is my new favorite shirt. 

From there we went to Santa Monica, where I went to American Apparel and got this outfit. 

This was in Santa Monica too, even though the magazine says Malibu.

Japanese markets are one of the cutest things on earth, and make me feel so kawaii whenever I go in them. 

These were a few of goodies from the day. I can never leave those stores without a mochi. Sadly, I accidentally left that mochi in the fridge of one hotel and forgot to get it before we left! It was one of the saddest moments of the whole trip. So I decided to illustrate it. 

I take my mochi very seriously. 

So, overall Venice Beach was very interesting. The boardwalk was cool, except all of the pot-smokers who stank it up. I loved seeing all of the people skateboarding, and it actually inspired me to want to use my skateboard again. I'd probably be on it right now, but unlike California, Pennsylvania is way too cold all the time for that :(. 

After Venice Beach, we hung out in Malibu, which I had only heard of before from Brandy Melville t-shirts. I guess now I know why all those Brandy girls love it. Oh, and this is a picture I made my brother take of me when we got there. 

Before we left, I put on my flash tattoo that I got in Encinitas. It's still on right now! 

Gosh, Malibu was a dream. It's extremely hard to see, but there are a whole bunch of baby sea lions on the rocks down there. There were dolphins in the water too, but they move so much, and are impossible to take a picture of!

Costa Mesa:

One of my favorite things about California is how there are vegan restaurants on literally every street. One of my favorites was Native Foods Cafe, and I got this salad there. 

In Costa Mesa, there was another Asain Market, and half of it was a bookstore! I wish I could have spent more time in there, there was so much to see! 

Some kawaii things from the market.

Right near the market was this super hipster place called The Lab, Anti mall. In it was an awesome salon, where I walked in and they gave me bangs! I have never had any before, but I actually really like them! 

Right before I got my haircut, I took a bunch of pictures in the bathroom of the mall. No, I wasn't taking selfless. It had a really cool ceiling! 

{After Selfie}

One night, we went to Snow Station. It's like a frozen yogurt place, for all you east-coasters who don't know. but instead, it has shaved "snow" and is wayyy better than a frozen yogurt place. I split this platter with my brother. 

Final Day: Santa Ana

This day was difficult, because I really did not want to say goodbye. My dad, brother, and I chilled in a little park while my mom taught an art workshop. (The whole reason we went.) I took selfies.

Last Stop, Evolution Fast Foods.

I had to get a vegan kombucha float before we left California, since I knew it was highly unlikely for me to ever get one on the east coast unless I made it myself. It may have been one of the best drinks I've ever had.