My encounter with Seitan

Another one bites the dust! Walk the entire outlet trail has been checked off my bucket list! It was a fantastic hike with Jessie through the wilderness of Penn Yan and Dresden.  At the beginning of the hike I felt like the first 30 seconds of this clip, but then at the end, I felt like this. Overall though, the dehydration and bugs were totally worth it to see all the cool ruins and animals. The path follows a route that used to be a canal with 28 locks, and then a railroad track. Apparently at one time there were many thriving mills and towns along this tract of land. The remains that we walked through were part cool and reminiscent and part spooky. The pictures are of  a ghost town we walked through...creeeeeeeeeeeeeeppy. There used to be all kinds of factories and mills, a tourist information center, a tire store...and all the windows were left open, like someone left in a hurry....

On a less creepy note, we also saw 3 blue herons, 2 cardinals, a yellow bird of some kind, a bunny, some frogs, and a whole bunch of turtles! It was super cool.

So that was yesterday. Today I had my first encounter with seitan. Not Satan, but seitan, a meat substitute kind of like tofu. Jessie and I took a mini roadtrip to Syracuse to meet Maddie and eat at this all vegan restaurant they have there. It was cool because Jessie got to order anything she wanted off the menu (which is rare, because she usually has to get a salad when we go out to eat) and I got to try something new!  I got the cajun seitan, which was very good, and super spicy!   The only bad thing was that at first I bit into the sandwich expecting meat consistency and toughness, but the seitan was much softer, so I ended up clanking my teeth together like an idiot (kind of like when you're walking down the stairs in the dark and you expect another step but there isn't one and you end up stomping the ground like the hulk). Luckily though, no one noticed.  Also they have like 6000 different kind of milkshakes at this place, all named after famous people. I got the Roberto Clememte, and it was like liquid peanut butter heaven. Not only was it freaking delicious, but I could also convince myself that it was healthy because it was vegan! Double points!

Bucket list bits

So I read an article commenting about how bucket lists are stupid and how little of them people actually accomplish. Well clearly I disagree, and I am proud to say I've accomplished a fair number  of my bucket list items already. But I did find one of the author's suggestions to be useful - to break your list up into smaller chunks...like a 5 and 10 year plan. So, here's my breakdown:

5 years:

complete a travel OT assignment
walk the entire outlet trail
visit the Ben and Jerry's factory
learn to change a tire
help build a habitat for humanity home

10 years:

ride a mechanical bull
learn to surf
learn to ski/snowboard
ride a skateboard
go zorbing
go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras
go mountain climbing
go scuba diving
go whitewater rafting
get published

Another Bucket List Item Down!

So today I got to cross riding a horse off my bucket list. It was way cooler than I expected, and my friend Heidi had a really fantastic time, which makes me very happy. My horse's name was Casper and he was super cool. I definitely want to do that again (minus the t-rex arms hopefully!).

I also went to the lilac festival with my family, and we sang along to the radio very emphatically on the shuttle bus...and people wonder why I'm so strange.

And I got a nutella milkshake! I'd call that a successful weekend!

Food Baby of the Year

So I'll get right to the title...in case you were ever wondering if it would be a good idea to down an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's chocolate ice cream in one sitting...probably not. But for the sake of experiential learning...I did it. In my defense, it was in celebration of my friend's 22nd birthday...and there were three other people sitting in the deserted wegman's cafe doing the same with me.

A pint of ice cream is four servings...now, I am of the opinion that serving sizes are there to just mess with your head (it's a miracle I'm not 400 lbs, right?)...but really, 4 servings is a lot of ice cream. I comfortably ate 2...then stuffed the other two down with it, well, because. There are kids starving in China after all!

Anyway, let's just put this whole story to bed by saying that my digestive tract did/does not agree with that much chocolate ice cream at once...not to mention I felt like I was prego with the biggest food baby in recorded history. Did I mention that we drank a fair amount of wine before this whole affair? I feel like there's something unethical about pregaming a food baby that big with wine...eh, whatever.