teacups and cinnamon

You guys!!!!!!!! I have SUCH exciting news!!!!!! After years and years of searching, I have finally found the perfect brownie recipe! Yes. I said it. Perfect. They have the perfect texture (not too cakey, not too fudgy) and the perfect taste (chocolately and rich). 

I found the recipe somewhere on allrecipes.com (can't remember the exact link because it was a while ago) but I did change up the recipe quite a bit. I added melted bittersweet chocolate to the recipe. I just feel like it gives the brownies more of a chocolate flavor and a nicer texture. I also added a ganache topping. It makes the brownies very fancy and rich. I have made the brownies without the ganache and they were still very delicious. So if you don't like ganache (if such a person exists...) you can just skip it entirely or use store bought white or chocolate frosting. 

Click below to see the recipe :)

Every year my friends and I throw a small Christmas party. This year my friend Kayla (the girl in the bottom row, left) threw it at her new Seattle town house :) Fancy, I know. At these annual Christmas parties we just eat good food, listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies. But mostly, we just talk and catch up. Since we only get to see each other on school breaks!

Anyway, there's not much else to say. I tried taking pictures but that didn't really work out *sigh*. Everyone begs me to bring my camera and then when I do no one wants to take pictures. I did get a few shots though! 

Happy Christmas!

Click below to see more pics :) 

Hi guys! Long time no talk! Seriously. :( I have no excuses for my long absense (except for the fact that i'm in school or doing school stuff 24/7!) Anywho, I'm finally on winter break so I'll be able to give this sad blog some attention :)

I have a few recipes coming (so stay tuned). But the first one is Potato Leek Soup. I've been making this soup for a year now, and it's one of my favorites! It's very easy to make, requires only a few ingredients, is very quick and best of all, it's HEALTHY! Oh and it's pretty good too. I found the recipe here. Make sure to click that link and see the picture they have (which is chunky, i'll explain this if you keep reading). 

Hi guys! Long time no talk :( Sorry for this long hiatus, I've just been pretty busy these last few weeks! I had guests coming in from Russia so I had to spend a week doing a lot of chores and then a week spending time with them. During this time I also started volunteering at a food bank, which just drains energy out of me, lol. And lastly, I had jury duty (which luckily I was able to get out of before actually getting on a panel, but still, it sucked.) 

Anywho, I'm back for now and have a few blog posts to share for you guys, and the first is this really yummy chocolate cookie recipe! It is seriously sooo good. The texture is very soft and light, almost like a brownie or cake. And they stay soft for several days. They are pretty sweet, especially with the sugar coating (which is so pretty and fun!) and they go perfectly with tea or milk :) 

Last Friday I took my good friend Kayla and her two younger sisters, Amy and Daley, on a fun photo shoot! I had been begging them to let me take photographs of them because 1, they are gorgeous, 2, I thought it'd be fun, and 3, I needed practice. This was my first ever "professional" photo shoot that I had done. I'm always taking candid pictures of my friends and boyfriend, as well as a bunch of nature shots. But I had never actually gone out for the sole purpose of photographing. Until now. And let me tell ya, I had SO much fun. It was fun playing with the camera settings (I shot all in manual) as well as the poses and scenery.  I shot about 430 pictures, which is wayyy too much, because narrowing them down was difficult. I narrowed them down as best as I could, but there are still lots of photos (you've been warned;))

Taking the pictures wasn't the only fun part--I also really enjoyed editing them. I have come to realize that each photographer (I'm not saying I'm a photographer by any means) has their own style, especially when it comes to editing. And I guess I fall into that category, I guess I have my own style. Woo!! 

Though I did mess up with some camera settings, especially towards the end of the photo shoot, I am still really pleased with and proud of the pictures. This was my first time, after all. I am still learning and trying to figure out both the camera as well as photoshop. I've got a few more photo shoots that i'll be doing in the upcoming weeks, so hopefully my photography gets even better :)

And finally, I'd like to thank Kayla, Amy and Daley for putting up with me for 2 hours :) love ya girls!

Oh and p.s., my dog Fedya and their dog Sam had a puppy date during our photoshoot, so you'll see some pictures of them too. They did get in the way a bit (especially my dog -.-) but photoshop does wonders ;)

Anyway, I hope you all like the pictures, let me know what you think <3

Hi there! So a couple of friends and I decided to throw our friend Julie (in the blue shirt), who had just come back from a month long yoga school in Costa Rica  (lucky!), a welcome-home surprise party. At first we were planning to do it at my house but then decided to do it at a small beach in Seattle, which was perfect! It was a bit crowded, but thankfully my friend Kayla (in the pink sunglasses) and her boyfriend Ryan went to the beach early in the noon time and reserved a fire pit. Julie's boyfriend told Julie that they were just going to a park to have a picnic and it worked! Julie was completely surprised, at least she says so. We all brought food, potluck style, and just enjoyed the afternoon and evening. We cooked hot dogs on the fire, which is something I had never done before. And I loved it! We also made smores and ate cupcakes (that had completely melted in the heat). 

I had a really good time at the beach even though I did get stung by a bee (ow!) and was freezing cold most of the time. But it was nice seeing all my friends, especially Julie! My boyfriend and I were able to take a few pictures, which I have posted below. So enjoy :)

Hi there! So yesterday my lovely boyfriend and my awesome dog went swimming!!! yeah!!! :D We were originally planning to just chill around the house, maybe try to do some garage saling or thrift shopping, but the weather was too nice to pass up! So we decided to go up to Lake Tapps (which has been our favorite lake this summer). 

Hi there! So yesterday my friends Kayla and Ryan and I went hiking at this incredibly gorgeous Snoqualmie/North Bend trail, Annette Trail. We were originally supposed to go to a different hike near by, but after some difficulty planning we decided to drop that place and go here. And I'm so glad we did! Washington is such a beautiful place and it has so many trails that still need to be discovered! I literally found this trail by going to Google-Maps and looking for little lakes. Annette Lake popped up and looked so beautiful. 

Michael Pollan, author of many food books, including the famous In Defense of Food (which I still need to read) asked people to send in their rules about eating, and I've posted a few of my favorite here. There rest you can find in this NY Times article. 

I think a few of these are really good! They are simple and easy to follow. Being healthy doesn't mean you can't eat this or that, or you must eliminate something all together. It doesn't mean counting calories or eating only "low fat" foods.  It just means eating in moderation, eating real foods, making your own food and not over eating (and of course more, but those are just the ones that pop into my head at the moment). 

Anyway, I'll keep this post short of my ramblings. Just read the "rules" below and really try to apply them to your life (I know I do). :)

Wow! I cannot believe that it's already August! :( I know, I know, it is so cliche to talk about how time passes so quickly and how we don't even realize it. But it's true! I've been on vacation for 2 months already, but it's really only felt like a few weeks. Life kinda sucks I guess. 

It's a bit bittersweet when the months roll by... Bitter because life is short (which sucks) and sweet because I get to make a cake to celebrate!!! hahah, jk. But no really, I really made a little cake to celebrate the beginning of a new month. I mean I didn't tell anyone why I made the cake. My excuse was because I was bored (which was also true)... But really it was a celebratory cake, even though it wasn't all fancy or celebratory-looking. Ah well. My cake decorating skills could use some work. 

It's a little Russian cake, with layers of white poppy seed cake and layers of chocolate cake. It's all layered with a my-own-recipe cream cheese frosting type frosting. It's kinda hard to explain. But hey, it's yummy and it suits the cake! This is the second time I've made the cake and it has finally turned out almost perfect. Almost, because I didn't make enough frosting (whoops!). But that ended up being perfect, because I got to save on calories (and sugar and fat) and it gave the cake a little bit of a rustic, vintage look. All I needed were some cool cake toppers or something! But the cake was delicious nonetheless:)

My dear cousin Irena K. and her love Andrey B. got married on February 2nd, 2013. I attended the wedding with my family and I brought along my camera. They had a professional photographer (who btw, was incredible!) but I decided to bring it to capture a few candid shots. And for practice of course. At that time, the camera was fairly new, and I had no idea how to use it. So that's why some of the photos are a bit funky. But nonetheless, i think a few of the photos turned out really nice :) It's taken me months to get these photos up because I was always so busy with school and other things. But finally I found myself two days where I could just sit down and go through a couple hundred pictures and work on them. I know they're not perfect, but hey, they capture the day and the happiness of the newlyweds. Enjoy!

Hey everyone!! I've got a really tasty recipe for you all today! :) These are twice baked, stuffed potatoes! Filled with a load of delicious ingredients (cheese, sour cream, half-and-half, butter!), these aren't the healthiest per se, but hey, having them twice a year won't hurt ;) 

Hi there! First of all, I gotta let you know that you are about to see the most amazing looking muffins you've ever probably laid eyes on (no joke). And second of all, those amazing looking muffins you are about to see are delicious. Nuff said. 

So this last Saturday, my boyfriend Vitali and I went hiking! woooo! :D It probably wasnt the best idea for me, because i had a pretty intense workout the day before, so i was sore as heck! And hiking with sore legs is no bueno. We headed up to Mt. Rainier National Park and hiked up at Sunrise Hiking. Click read more to view the rest of the pictures :)

Hi guys!!! So my parents finally let me go camping without them! I know I know, how lame... I'm 20 years old and my parents still treat me like a child. But that's ok, I liked camping with them ;) they would provide all the food and all the cleanup and I didn't have to pay for anything.... ;) But, in all truth, camping with parents is BORING. So so boring. Camping with friends is a million times funner, better, more exciting, more awesome, and all the other adjectives that can describe it.

I can't believe another year has gone by! It felt just like yesterday that I was getting up early and fearfully taking the bus to my new school, Seattle Pacific University. I remember that day so vividly, as if it was just last week. I was a little nervous about starting at a new school, especially one so different than the University of Washington. It was such a tiny school and everyone was greeting each other and hugging, something that you would never see at the gigantic UW. My classes were also tiny, and everyone knew each other--which again gave me a nervous feeling, since I didn't know anyone. But only after a few days, I had made several friends (who are really great people!) 

It took me a little while to adjust to SPU, which is normal I suppose. But I adjusted much quicker than I did at UW. I made great relationships with some fantastic professors and made lots of friends who were also studying Nutrition, which was awesome! Though I did have several awful classes, it wasn't as bad as the awful classes I had back at UW. There was still someone I could talk to during class (and complain with, lol). 

There were a few quarters that I was incredibly overwhelmed, especially spring quarter. But I got through it. I didn't realize how difficult nutrition could be, especially since chemistry and science aren't my best subjects (as most anyone would know, lol). A lot of times I found myself overwhelmingly stressed out and anxious about my grades. There were moments that I didn't believe I could do it. But I overcame it, with the help of some friends who told me I could, and now I'm happy I didn't give up!! 

I've been in school for two years now, and that's so hard to believe! I know this is cliche, but it still feels like I just graduated high school... Time flies by so quickly--i wish it'd slow down!! But anyway, this was my little reflection about my year at SPU. Obviously there is so much more I could say but I don't want to bore you. Overall, I am so happy that I transferred to SPU to study something that I love! UW is a great school, but it wasn't for me. I found myself unhappy and depressed so many times. I felt like a nobody, pressure was getting at me. SPU's close-knitness really suits me :) I also love the fact that it's a Christian university.

I'm excited for next year--not for the rigorous classes I'll be taking, but for the people and events. I'm going to be a volunteer at SPU's Community Kitchen along with some good friends, and I am excited!! But for now, I am going to forget about school and relax, for I am exhausted! Finals really took a toll on me this year. 

This picture was taken at SPU during winter. I wish I had a better picture at school, but unfortunately I don't. Next year I'll make sure to take some pictures!! (I also don't have pictures from UW, which is incredibly sad.. oh well.....)