Disclaimer: This recipe was originally posted a very long time ago in a land far, far away. I am reposting the recipe as a blog post to reflect the direction that this blog is headed in. Thank you for understanding! 🙊🍌
I have a challenge for you! Using everything you have in your cupboard, come up with a recipe and actually make it. You can “cheat” by referencing google for inspiration if you need some ideas. Tomorrow, do the exact same thing. I bet that you will come up with two different recipes without the need to buy any of your ingredients. Keep repeating this process and make a mental note to add your recipes to a database for easy access. If you do this for 30 days, then you should end up with ~20-30 unique recipes for your family.
I live in Canada and our degrees are measured in Celsius, not Fahrenheit. For baking purposes, I use Fahrenheit because it’s universal and easier to follow. But if you tell me that the temperature today is 45 outside, you’re not fooling anyone given that it’s the middle of November and there is snow on the ground. I will assume that you have mastered teleportation and are probably enjoying a Daiquiri on some tropical island….. and you didn’t invite me, how rude.
This week I made banana bran muffins and the batter was delicious. However, the muffins were dry and slightly overcooked, so I would suggest baking them for 15-18 minutes at 350ºF instead of 20 minutes at 375ºF. You can find the original recipe here.
BANANA BRAN MUFFINS
Servings: 12 Time: 40 minutes Difficulty: easy
INGREDIENTS
1 cup mashed bananas (approx. 2 medium bananas)
1 1/2 cups bran mix
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flaked coconut (optional)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
Combine bran with whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and coconut (optional).
Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk the egg. Then add milk, mashed bananas, milk, and oil to the egg mixture. For a smooth consistency, use a blender to pulverize the wet ingredients. I use my Vitamix blender but a simple blender works too.
Add wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir gently with a plastic spatula until ingredients are evenly mixed.
Let’s face it. Most of us are nosy people. At some point, I am guessing that you were probably curious about my life. I consider myself to be a fairly private person for the most part. Tiani Angela, who runs a blog called tianiangela.com, inspired me to write this vulnerable blog post. You can read her original blog post here. Like Tiani’s blog post, my blog post is extra-personal as well. Please read without judgement and keep and open mind. Thanks. 😊
10 Interesting Facts About Me
1. I am an only child. And I am not happy about it. I was never happy about it. I always felt like I was meant to have a sibling and being an only child felt “wrong” to me. When I was 18, I learned that I was a double-rainbow baby which explains a lot 🌈🌈 When I was 12, I asked my parents to adopt an orphan from China and sadly, they said no. I think that is where my fascination for Asian culture started.
2. I married an Asian boy. The fascination for Asian culture continued into my adult years. Although I have long graduated from reading manga and seldom watch anime these days, my husband has taught me a lot about his Asian roots, specifically Singaporean roots. I met him in January 2013 and we have been together ever since. He is my rock and we have been married since May 2016.
Celebrating Mother’s Day. with the hubby. You can’t go wrong with a cake from Costco!
3. I am mother to a Eurasian toddler. Most of you already know that I am a mom since it’s in my About Me section, yet people often seemed surprised when I tell them. I am a Millennial in my late twenties so I am not that young anymore. I try to follow other bloggers who are also in their 20’s+ but a few younger bloggers have slipped through the cracks. My daughter is a rambunctious 4-year old who loves life. Her favourite thing to say is, “Mommy, be happy.”
4. I had a miscarriage in October, 2015. My daughter was planned and she is a rainbow baby. Prior to having my daughter, I had a miscarriage and it was devastating. I feel like miscarriage is a topic that often gets swept under the rug even though 1:4 women end up having a miscarriage in their lifetime. Miscarriage is more common than people think and it shouldn’t be ignored. For anyone who has had a miscarriage, I want you to know that you are not alone. 👼
5. Given the choice, I would be a fruitarian. I ❤ Fruit! I find the fruitarian lifestyleintriguing and it would be my diet of choice if boundaries did not exist. However, I have a background in nutrition and neutraceutical sciences (NANS) from the University of Guelph, so I know that a fruitarian diet is not the answer to long-term health and longevity.
6. My pupils are different sizes. And this is concerning to neurologists. Ironically, my first clinical placement this semester was on an acute neurosurgery/neurology unit. I cannot tell you how concerned some of the staff was when I told them that I was born this way. When pupils are two different sizes, this usually indicates some kind of brain lesion or altered level of consciousness (LOC).
7. Also related to eyes, I am a carrier of Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy (FEVR). Even though I am asymptomatic, my daughter is one of the unlucky few who is symptomatic. She was born blind in her left eye as a result of FEVR. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, FEVR defines a group of inherited diseases with abnormal retinal angiogenesis leading to incomplete vascularization of the peripheral retina. Every 3-6 months, my daughter gets routine surgery and receives laser surgery if necessary. Laser surgery is dependent on the progression of this eye disease. If she does not receive routine checkups, there is a risk that she could become blind in both eyes because the disease typically affects the eyes bilaterally.
Despite FEVR, she is a happy child 🌞
8. I was anorexic when I was 13 years old. I hate it when people try to glamorize anorexia to get attention or pretend they have an eating disorder when in fact they don’t. You’ll often notice this in the blogging sphere and social media and it’s is one of my pet peeves. I can tell you that anorexia is NOT glamorous. It is an eating disorder (ED) that the individual cannot control. These individuals know that it is wrong; they have insight but they lack judgement. I wish I had pictures and clothes to show you what I looked like at 98 lbs. but I don’t have any “memorabilia”. My parents threw out those memories without my permission.
9. I attended 3 different universities. I am not making this up, unlike some people I know. I attended University of Guelph from 2010-2014 and obtained a degree in biological sciences. I also minored in nutrition and neutraceutical sciences (NANS). Sadly, I realized that I would not be able to truly thrive with this degree so I took some courses through Athabasca University, an accredited online university in Canada. Now, I am nursing student who is living in Alberta and I plan to graduate by the end of the year. It’s been a long journey and I am really, really tired of school.
10. I own a 210ish year old violin. Or something like that. I lost track of its exact age; my violin is ancient. It’s been passed down in the family and got sold at one point. Fortunately, my dad was very lucky and managed to rescue the violin for me, which I received as a birthday gift. I named my violin Matilda the III and she has a very rich, pure sound. I haven’t played her in years since she doesn’t live with me, but I love the way she sounds.
Well, there you have it! Did anything in my list surprise you? If so, what did you find most surprising? Do you know me as well as you thought you did? Please join the conversation and leave a comment below ↓ If you decide to write a similar blog post, please let me know so I can check it out. 🙂
Oh, and I added a pun too. That’s Vee, the blogger who runs a site called milleniallifecrisis.org. In case you haven’t seen her blog yet, please do me a favor and check out her blog. This blog post will make more sense if you read her blog post first (see image below for a preview). Thank you, Vee, for your lovely shout-out! ❤
Meeting Vee
We both happened to be in the right place at the right time. The other day, Vee and I agreed to meet each other and chat over coffee at a local Starbucks. There is something quite relaxing about the smooth jazz usually playing in coffee shops, muffled chatter, and the smell of fresh brewed coffee. Vee is the first blogger who I had the privilege to meet in person from this wonderful WordPress community, so I am feeling very #blessed right now. Did I seriously just use the word #blessed in a sentence? Yes, yes I did.
I believe that every friendship needs to be built on a foundation of trust and respect. Meeting Vee made me feel at peace, and my social anxiety quickly subsided. In a way, I feel like we have been friends for a long time even though we had just met. Also, I felt a strange sense of familiarity as if we crossed paths before.
Fortunately, I learned that socializing with new people does not have to be scary. I often let social anxiety dictate my life so last week, I was really impressed by myself for stepping outside of my comfort zone. Because I am an introvert and a bit of a recluse, I prefer to hide in my house all day, everyday. However, I know that hiding is not a healthy coping mechanism. Not only that, but I recently learned that I actually prefer talking to people in person rather than video chatting or calling them on the phone. There is a stereotype that Millennials dislike making phone calls, so I guess I fit that stereotype! 🤷♀️
Finally, we should all celebrate our victories in life, no matter how big or small. As someone who deals with social anxiety and shyness myself, I understand how liberating it can be to push boundaries and face fears. In fact, I was initially drawn towards nursing school because I wanted to see if I could get comfortable with social anxiety.
“Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph: a beginning, a struggle, and a victory.” ―Mahatma Gandhi
I am grateful that I had the rare opportunity to meet Vee in real life, and I hope that we will see each other again in the future. I am wondering if YOU ever met someone from the WordPress community. Who did you meet? Where you excited or nervous prior to meeting them? Please join the conversation and leave a comment below ↓
This post may be a day or two late, but I can explain. Still, I am not the proud owner of a laptop and am having a difficult time blogging from a cell phone. When will this madness stop?! May 7 is a special day for my husband and me because it marks our 2 year anniversary. When people ask me how I know that he is my soulmate, or ask me for relationship advice, I tell them this:
“I just know he is right for me because my heart says yes. I do not have to think about it or question where we stand in our relationship. It feels right to me so therefore, it must be.” -Hilary Tan
Love is simple, love is kind, and love does not have to be a complicated hot mess. A relationship is only as difficult as the two persons make it out to be. Your fate is manifested by the mutual exchanges between you and your partner. A relationship cannot work if both parties aren’t committing to each other or communicating effectively.
Our 2 year anniversary and 5 years of being together is another reminder that we are doing something right. ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎
I am writing this post on our anniversary, May 7, but it still needs editing and further tweaking. Tonight we binged on Limoncello cake from Costco. Oh Costco, you really do have the best cake. I love this cake! 🍰 So much for my diet and my goal to quickly lose the rest of my pregnancy weight this summer.
Who says you have to get fancy cake at the bakery? Costco is where it’s at; not to say that the Costco bakery isn’t fancy but you know what I mean.
I snapped a few photos of this lovely cake at home but I don’t think that the photos turned out well. We recently moved a bunch of stuff into the apartment so it’s very disorganized and cluttered right now. It’s not the most ideal place for snapping pics that are supposed to last a lifetime. However, there is one noteworthy photo to share – the lovely orchid that my husband got me to celebrate our anniversary! He is so thoughtful 🌺
The orchid is cut off in the photo (left side). This is the extent of my photography skills. My hubby seems to be enjoying the cake very much 🍋
Anniversaries don’t have to be expensive or extravagant if you don’t want them to be. For us, we are perfectly happy with our $17 cake that tasted amazing and the lovely orchid thank you very much. I am slightly annoyed by the Mother’s Day advertisements that were shoved in my face last weekend while we were at the mall. It’s just another reminder that we must BUY ALL THE THINGS!!
I could not find a decent BUY ALL THE THINGS! meme so I give you The Simpsons.
Why are we celebrating our special moments in a simpler way? Less stress. More savings $$$. We are embracing life as frugal Millenials not because we have to but because we want to. The cake was our splurge and it was totally worth the money and the calories. This purchase wasn’t senseless. When we see most of our peers living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to make ends meet, we realize that this is not the lifestyle that we want to manifest for ourselves. We are willing to embrace the frugal life if it means living more comfortably. Having a bunch of expensive jewelry and other bling that we apparently desire based on what society tells us we want won’t make us happy in the long run.
This post may be a day or two late, but I can explain. Still, I am not the proud owner of a laptop and am having a difficult time blogging from a cell phone. When will this madness stop?! May 7 is a special day for my husband and me because it marks our 2 year anniversary. When people ask me how I know that he is my soulmate, or ask me for relationship advice, I tell them this:
Sereneluna 
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