My blogging debut!

Well, looks like I am joining the blogosphere. I am a strange candidate for the term "blogger" as I usually avoid technological advances until I absolutely MUST deal with them. I still listen to the radio every day. I have an iPod but it's four years old and held together with Scotch tape. The battery life is good for about a nine-mile run but no more and usually I forget to charge it. I check out books on tape, DVDs and VHS tapes (along with wonderful-smelling books) from the library-- even my parents are cooler than me and use Netflix. I can't stand text message abbreviations: as an English major, I cannot help but object to such mangling and distortion of words.

I think I just find it all a bit overwhelming: we can "friend" people or "tweet" to them; we can post, comment, log, blog, email, IM, skype. All of these were at one point nouns, but now as verbs, they are an active part of our existence. I can be "googled," "facebooked," or "skyped." There are probably even more tech-y means of communication which I cannot properly parody as I haven't the faintest clue what they might be. But I think I might be able to adjust to this blogging thing. Especially when I figure out how to load pictures. Pictures make everything better!

Well, now that I've established myself firmly in your minds as a crotchety anti-tech 70 year old, let me introduce myself more accurately. My name is Katy and I'm a 21 year old college student. I go to school in Virginia at the College of William and Mary, but I grew up in the Bay Area of California. I'm currently home in CA for the summer and interning three days per week in Berkeley. I won't be mentioning the job much here, as I find blogging about one's workplace to be rather unprofessional, but suffice it to say, I really enjoy the people I work with and it is a fabulous opportunity for me.

Now on to more interesting things!

Today was one of those days where I was excited ALL MORNING for my lunch. I had packed it the night before, so I knew it was going to be good. I wish I had a picture, but I'll start to add those as soon as I get more adept with this.

I had a yuumolicious salad for lunch and some raw fruit and veggies which I ate for my morning and afternoon snacks. The secret to the salad was one fun little trick with walnuts!

Ingredients:

2 cups spinach
handful of raspberries
handful of chopped apple pieces (with a bit of lemon juice on them to give them a lemony twist and keep them from getting brown)
1/2 cup chopped chicken breast
about 7 walnut halves given the "royal treatment"

Okay I admit it, I completely invented the "royal treatment" stuff, but here's the trick:

Take about 7 walnut halves and snap each one in half to increase the number of yummy bits you'll sprinkle on your salad. Then toss these pieces into a small non-stick pan and-- on high heat--warm up the walnuts until they start to release some oil. Then throw about 1.5 teaspoons of brown sugar and a good sized pinch of kosher salt in the pan. Push the walnuts, sugar, and salt around (using a spatula) until the sugar melts and coats the walnuts. This should happen pretty quickly. You won't get a full coating with this small amount of sugar, but you don't need to use more. The full flavor of brown sugar stands up well to the walnuts and the small amount of sugar keeps it calorie-friendly and not overly sweet. And the salt/sweet combo is BRILLIANT. Simple and perfect. Maybe I should call it the Jackie-O treatment :-)

Anyway, I think that's it for now. Not sure what dinner will shape up to be but I'll keep you "posted." Warning: I frequently crack myself up with puns. Please ignore the silliness.