ocho.

so as you can see, my "days" have turned into... weeks. 

it's finals. 

deal with it. 

a place i've travelled to.

what a glorious thought. the only problem is that i keep dreaming about going back. and sometimes about not coming back... 

(i'm just kidding mom...)

looking back, going to Jerusalem was one of the biggest adventures of my life. i changed in so many wonderful ways, and i made friends that hopefully will last a lifetime. 

(i have the horrible propensity to get so caught up in my own life and problems that i neglect my friends that live more than a room away... i'm working on it.)

maybe i'll move to utah?

yesterday i made dal for dinner.

don't worry, i had no idea what it was either. but within about 10 minutes, my apartment smelled like one of the spice shops in the old city.... talk about a flashback! (it is one of the only good smells that i actually remember from living there... burning garbage isn't really my favorite thing in the whole world.)

from poppytalk

if the dal looks dry or if you want to create more of a soup, add in more water or vegetable stock. i left the texture here to be versatile - it can be eaten as a soup or stew and is perfect served over rice or alongside some naan bread.

golden lentil dal with ginger and orange
1 tablespoon coconut or canola oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2" knob of ginger, grated or finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large cloves, garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced
2 tablespoons curry paste
large pinch of cinnamon
1 cup red lentils, rinsed & picked over
4 cups veggie stock or water
a couple of squirts of sriracha sauce (or your favorite hot sauce)
1 tablespoon honey
juice and zest of 1 orange
greek yogurt (optional)

in a large pot, heat up oil over medium heat and add in onion, celery, carrot, ginger and salt until fragrant - about 5 minutes. add in garlic, tomato, cinnamon and curry paste and stir until combined. add in the lentils along with vegetable stock.

cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes over medium heat. stir in the honey and hot sauce and let it cook for another 10 minutes. just before serving pour in orange juice and zest and stir to combine.

serve over rice or alongside your favorite bread. add a dollop of greek yogurt to serve.

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school is almost over!

it has been a WONDERFUL semester, but all good things have to (and should) come to an eventual end.

especially ones that make me lose sleep.

but not all of it was necessarily bad...