Warm Quinoa Salad with Spinach, Carrots, Goat Cheese, and Walnuts

Well, well, well.

Hello, dear readers. It's been awhile.

(......does anyone even read this blog?)

Whatever, writing is a nice way to get through class vent about my life :D

It's been a crazy three weeks since I've gotten back to Wesleyan (holy god I'm a junior). My summer finished with a bang--I was a bridesmaid in my awesome friend's wedding and it was a blast. The friend is none other than Anna, the genius behind Bashful Bao. Check it out.

Anyway, the bachelorette party was crazy. We started the night off at Shabu Zen in Chinatown for some hotpot. One of the maids of honor made us all sashes...like so.

Yes, I know--we're adorable.

Next up was Jacques' Cabaret....aka a drag show. It was a riot. Many dollar bills were, uh, thrown. Or taken. Or coerced.

....you get the idea.

I cropped out the guy making out with his girlfriend. I figured it was imperative for the integrity of the picture.

It was a blast. I'd never seen a drag show before, but I highly recommend it. Bring lots of singles.

Two days later, it was Sunday. Aka the day of the wedding. My mama dropped me off at Anna's so that the limo could pick us up and drive us to the hair and makeup salon. Of course, Anna was the antithesis of Bridezilla. She was calm and collected, even when the limo didn't show up (apparently the company couldn't get through to the driver, so they sent another one...but it wouldn't be able to get there until about an hour from then). Anna had one of Luke's friends drive us to pick up the other bridesmaids, and then from there her relatives drove us to the hair and makeup salon. The limo met us there, and then it was off to the Crane Estate!

It was breathtakingly gorgeous. The grounds and the mansion both. And it was a beautiful day! We hastily headed to the bridal suite to get ready. I had a little trouble zipping up my dress....

Anna to da rescue!

Then, Anna got ready. She looked positively radiant.

The ceremony occurred quickly afterwards. It was short and sweet, just how Anna wanted it. But alas, after the ceremony, we had to wait to stuff our faces with hors d'oeuvres and down champagne because we had to take pictures forever. They're very pretty though.

The bridal party.

The whole wedding party.

After that, it was champagne, hors d'oeuvres, dinner, dancing, dancing, and more dancing. All in all, it was a wonderful night.

I returned to Wesleyan two days later to move in and then started ResLife training on Thursday. It was fairly excessive but I met some cool people. I've also become obsessed with the show Daria. I remember watching it with my older cousins when I was little (in Vermont, of course), but never understood it. Now I do. I relate to Daria quite a bit. I think I'm going to be her for Halloween.

Also, Ellen moved in the Friday before classes and I finally got to meet Woodrow (aka DP aka Da Pups)!! He is adorable and the snuggliest and cuddliest. Just look how cute he is omg.

Sleepy puppy. 

He's always confused.

He's been a wonderful addition to Turath.

Speaking of Turath, the new house is great. Huge kitchen. I haven't been doing THAT much cooking because my sleep schedule is screwed up and I have more work than I expected, but the dishes Ellen and I have made have been delicious. We had house dinner the other night, and I made Thai peanut pumpkin hummus and a warm quinoa salad with spinach, carrots, goat cheese, and walnuts, with sesame oil. And the latter is the recipe you'll get today. Lucky you!!!

Sry for the shoddy pic. I had to take a picture of it quickly.

Warm Quinoa Salad with Spinach, Carrots, Goat Cheese, and Walnuts, Tossed with Sesame Oil
Ingredients

• 2 c quinoa (uncooked)
• one small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 11oz. spinach (a large bag)
• 2/3 c carrots (chopped)
• however much goat cheese you desire
• 1/2 c walnuts, toasted (place them in one layer on a cookie sheet in a preheated 350 F oven for about 8 minutes)
• sesame oil
• chipotle chili powder
• ground ginger

Instructions

1. Cook quinoa according to directions (usually yields about 4 c cooked).
2. In a large-ish saucepan, sauté the onion in a bit of sesame oil until translucent. Add garlic, then gradually add spinach until it's all wilted. This may take a while, but you can always yell "WILT, SPINACH, WILT!!!" like I did.
3. Add the carrots and however much of the spices you want.
4. Once the quinoa is done, add it to the spinach mixture and toss well. Add some salt to taste. Add more sesame oil if needed.
5. Put it all in a salad bowl and toss in the walnuts. Right before serving, add the goat cheese.
6. Indulge.

It's pretty damn delicious. I'm surprised it turned out that tasty, considering I panicked about screwing up approximately 7.6 times. Approximately.

Anyway, my mama is coming in a few hours, so I should pay attention get some work done.
(Update: this post was written yesterday...so Mama left already :( Love you, mommy!)

Song of the Day-- Gangnam Style by PSY. Don't look at me like that. It's amazing.
Recovery Link of the Day-- A perspective on eating disorders by Marya Hornbacher.

By the way, it's officially been 4 weeks since I've purged! Go me!

Daria-ly,

Carina

"I don't have low self-esteem. That's a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else."