Misc.

Funny Blog Keywords

February 12, 2013 by Erica

Funny Search Terms | coffeeandquinoa.com

I was just looking back through my recent Analytics data, and chuckled to myself over some of the funny and random search terms that landed users on my blog. I couldn’t help but share with you. Dear searchers for the following things, I don’t think I have what you’re looking for:

– cheese that looks like chocolate

– chocolate from goat

– cobwebs in quinoa

– coffee flavored quinoa

– girl scout cookies political correctness

– his and hers simple wedding cakes with blue

– how to harvest quinoa in the fall

– i got you a goat but

– quinoa adapting

– who is the author of garlic coffee

– yoga cakes

And my personal favorite:

– what to call a girl when they call you peanut

I get lots of random searches for quinoa that land on my site. (More on that later in the week!) Do you see any patterns like that in search terms for your blog? Any funny ones?

Liebster Award Nomination

January 24, 2013 by Erica

Guess what? I’ve been nominated for a blog award by the super cute Nicole of The Sheas! Thanks Nicole! Stop by her site and check her out.

The Liebster Award is a way of recognizing new bloggers who you think deserve to be recognized for their blogging. Here are the details of receiving it:

List 11 facts about yourself.
Answer the 11 questions given to you.
Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award.
Choose 11 bloggers with 200 or less followers to nominate.
Go to each blogger’s page and let them know about the award.
Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

So here are mine!

11 facts about me:

1. Purple is my favorite color.
2. I only have one dimple, and I wasn’t born with it – I fell on the handlebar of my scooter when I was a kid.
3. I skipped first grade.
4. I’ve never died my hair.
5. I think heels are too much trouble.
6. In college, I majored in German.
7. I start every morning with a mug of coffee.
8. I can drive stickshift.
9. The toilet paper roll has to be on in the right direction. If I come over to your house and your toilet paper rolls under instead of over, I will fix it for you while I pee.
10. I want to attend Hogwarts.
11. I wear a ring on my left ring finger, even though I’m not engaged or married. Always have!

Answers to Nicole’s questions:

1. Where do you see yourself in 3 years?
Still in Salt Lake City, running and cooking, and hopefully in a career centered around food!

2. What’s your most embarrassing moment?
Serving an unbelievably garlicky pesto, speckled with splinters of wooden spoon that got caught in the blender, to all my roommate’s friends, including a guy I had hooked up with. Why didn’t I just open a jar of pasta sauce???

3. What is one of your proudest moments?
Watching Nate win the San Francisco marathon this summer!

4. Do you have any obsessions?
I may or may not own more than 30 Urban Outfitters dresses.

5. Favorite date night idea?
This past Friday, we went out for sushi and then watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi. It was pretty ideal!

6. If you won $1,000 and had to spend it in a day, how would you spend it?
Not gonna lie, I would probably go shopping and just let myself go crazy at Banana Republic. My wardrobe is in need of a serious makeover.

7. What are 3 positive qualities about yourself?
Genuine, smart, laidback.

8. What is 1 thing that you love about your spouse/significant other/or hope to find in a significant other (if you’re single)?
I love Nate’s sense of humor. He can find the funny side of any situation!

9. Favorite ice cream?
Mint chip 4 lyfe.

10. What is your New Year’s Resolution?
No injuries in 2013!

11. What is your dream job? Why?
Dare I say it? To write this blog full-time. Why? Because I want to get paid to wake up and cook things for myself every day!

Here are my questions for my nominees:

1. What was your first job out of college/school?
2. Who would play you in a movie on your life?
3. What is your biggest pet peeve?
4. If you could live in another country for a year, where would it be?
5. What is your first childhood memory?
6. What is the one possession you couldn’t live without?
7. Beer, wine, or neither?
8. Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?
9. What is the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?
10. What is your favorite post from your own blog?
11. Which was the first blog you started following?

And finally, here are the 11 blogs I nominate (in no particular order):

1. Alisha of Alisha’s Appetite
2. Becky of Olives ‘n’ Wine
3. Anna of Herbivore Triathlete
4. Sara of Fitcupcaker
5. Natalie of Cooking Quidnunc
6. Rossi of A Baking Girl
7. Jules of Bound
8. Carly of Snack Therapy
9. Angela of Another Bite Please
10. Aparna of Not A Leaf
11. Jemma of Celery and Cupcakes

Take a look at their blogs! Thanks again Nicole :)

I’ll be back with another recipe tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2012 by Erica

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are celebrating with your loved ones and lots of delicious food…

And documenting it all.

We’ve been singing many Christmas carols over the past few days, so I can’t help but say:

“Although it’s been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you.”

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2012 by Erica

Merry Christmas (Eve)!

It would be lovely if I had some sort of Christmas-y recipe for you today. But instead I have this Foulser family Christmas photo for you, circa 1992. That is TWENTY years ago! My sister Caitlin and I (years before Alban came along!) in San Francisco in our little matching Madeleine outfits. Look at her little cheeks and smile! Pretty much the cutest thing ever.

So yes, I’ve been too busy hanging out with my family to have a recipe today. Yesterday was one Sunday I did not spend in the kitchen.

I got into Boston late Friday night, and stayed up til 2:00 talking with my sisters. Yayyy sisters. It is so good to finally be in the same state as them again, even for a few days!

On Saturday Caitlin’s husband Ben arrived, and we had an action-packed Foulser family day (starting out with all 4 of us jammed in the back of Mom’s Subaru):

Ben and Alban look slightly green. That is not real life. That is my iPhone.

We did a beer tasting at Night Shift Brewery (and bought lots of beer – how I have missed Boston beer!):

Sampled chocolates at Taza (and bought lots of chocolate!!):

Drank tea at the Friendly Toast, one of my faaaavorite Cambridge spots:

Got weird at the MIT museum:

And ate delicious, non-vegan fare at Amelia’s Trattoria in Cambridge.

(Those are Alban and Caitlin’s gnocchi! Yum!)

Then I went over to my good friend Martha’s apartment and drank wine and ate Whole Foods cookies with her.

We don’t like to eat or anything.

Today Caitlin and I went on a quick run and did abs and push-ups, which I never make myself do on my own. There is talk of a full day family push-up contest tomorrow… however many push-ups you can accomplish over the course of the day! I was already docked some points though for asking if I can do girl push-ups (since I was immediately sore after completing my 3 sets of 10 girl push-ups this morning). Apparently the answer is no. Anyone have suggestions for what my strategy should be? Sets of 10? 2 push-ups every 15 minutes? I think I might be more competitive in the wall-sit competition that is apparently also happening. I just realized that this is starting to sound like we are doing feats of strength for Festivus. Whoever pins Dad wins!

Anyway, other than exercising competitively today, we did a bunch of eating, of course. My grandma arrived from New York and we went over to my aunt and uncle’s for dinner, where my cousin (hi Katie!) cooked us a deliiiiicious meal. I didn’t manage to get a picture of all of it, but the salads were pretty beautiful.

Then we had about 12 different kinds of homemade cookies plus strudel! It was amazing.

Tomorrow is going to be a full day of cooking, I think, at least when I’m not doing push-ups. Poached pears for dessert (along with more cookies!), and I think we’re also going to make as many recipes from the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook as humanly possible. We got it for my mom for her birthday in November, and it is even better than I expected, if that’s possible. I’m so looking forward to trying a few things out!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday with family and friends! Merry Christmas!

Healthy Balance

December 10, 2012 by Erica

There are a couple things I’ve made lately that haven’t appeared on the blog.

White wine cake.

Rosemary and cheddar scones.

Vegan brownies.

Why haven’t I posted them, you ask?

Because they tasted terrible.

Over the past several months, a few vegan baked goods have come out well enough for me to be proud of. But the three above – in their non-vegan version – happen to be some of my favorite treats in the entire world. And try as I might, I just can’t make them taste good without butter or eggs.

Baking has been one of my favorite things since childhood, long before I ever enjoyed savory cooking. I love the certainty that following a recipe will produce a delicious end result… the smiles and exclamations from friends/family/co-workers when they eat something amazing I’ve baked… not to mention the fact that I love the taste of baked goods. So you can imagine my dismay when recipes don’t turn out and my friends/family/co-workers and I are unimpressed by something I’ve spent so much time on.

Can you guess where this is going?

It’s going in the direction of butter and eggs.

No more vegan baking, guys. A step back from this vegan thing in general.

This is really no big deal. I still plan on eating mostly plants, and when something can be made vegan or healthier without compromising flavor, that’s what I’ll do. But I’ll also start posting non-vegan and even non-vegetarian recipes and baked goods with eggs, butter, etc. I like making that kind of thing, so I want to share it with you as I go back a little toward the meat-eating side. We’ll see how it goes.

Is this just a holiday cop-out so I can eat my mom’s turkey meatballs and mint meringues when I go home for Christmas? Maybe.

I love that the “whole foods, plant-based diet” advocated in The China Study has given me a new framework for considering what’s healthy and what’s not. Those turkey meatballs are probably more of a splurge than pre-vegan me would have thought. And I love all the healthy new dishes I’ve been trying (and sharing here) because of my 6 months of veganism. Plant-based cooking is way more delicious than I ever could have thought, and I’ve fallen in love with many new veg-based meals. This is not the end of that story!

But let’s move more towards “healthy balance.” A lot of plant-based dinners and healthy snacks, and also some of the awesome desserts that I love sooooo much.

Phew, I’m glad to get that off my chest! Now I can start sharing my Christmas dishes tomorrow (some vegan, some not) guilt-free!

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