Rambunctiously Soft-Spoken

I like nature, I like being outdoors.. but I’m a little intimidated by it.  Poison ivy, animals that could potentially harm me, getting lost without food or water, frogs- it’s all kind of scary!  However, most of the time I’m able to push myself past these fears and get right in there.  I’m always pretty happy when I do!

As I wrote about before, I’m hanging out in Florida for the week.  Right by where we’re staying, there happened to be a huge state park!  Nice!  I made by way down there today to spend a little time with nature!  Within 5 minutes of arriving, I encountered a fast moving turtle, a few huge lizards, a bunch of frogs.  I can handle the turtles and lizards, but frogs really freak me out.  It’s something about the jumping.  You never know what they are going to do next!

I didn’t make it too far into the woods because it had to be a path around a lake- and I knew there were going to be way too many frogs and I was super afraid that I’d encounter an alligator.  I stayed in the park picnic area, but I did get a few nice photos!

This photo makes me want to vomit.

What a beautiful day!  I’m actually feeling pretty horrible today though, so besides this little nature walk I had going on, I’ve been stuck on the couch all day.  Booo!  I’ve watched and embarassing amount of The Hills today.

This summer has been so wild when it comes to traveling.  North Carolina, a failed attempt into Canada (maybe I’ll get into that in another post..), and now I’m blogging to you from Orlando, Florida!  I’ve been spending time with family here in Florida and I couldn’t have asked for a nicer trip.  We’re staying at someone’s beautiful house and it’s just so lovely!

However, it wasn’t only the family-time that brought me to Florida this week.  It was the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!  We woke up quite early to snag a spot close to the front of line.  Apparently, we didn’t rise early enough because we had to wait at least 40 minutes to get in when the park opened!  It was absolutely insane.  The line wrapped around the area surrounding the Harry Potter part, spilling over past Jurassic Park!

It was worth all the waiting when I turned the corner and caught a glimpse of Hogwarts!

Oh my gosh.  I’ve been waiting so long for this day!  I’ve been reading Harry Potter books since I was 10, and finally at 21, I’m able to experience the world of Harry Potter in real life!  We rushed right over to the Forbidden Journey ride and waited in line for close to two hours.  I was getting pretty restless, but it was worth all the waiting when we entered the castle.  Unfortunately I had to leave my camera outside of the castle, but the inside of Hogwarts is amazing!  All the details, from the House Points counter, the talking paintings, potted Mandrakes.. it’s incredible!  The ride itself is incredible as well.  I don’t even know how to describe it!

After experiencing Hogwarts, I wandered around for a bit and browsed some of the less-crowded shops.  I stopped in Honeydukes and I planned to buy some candies, but I figured they’d all melt before I left.  We’re heading back tomorrow, so I’ll hopefully get to pick some up then!  I tried to wait in line at Olivander’s wand shop, but I gave up after waiting for an hour.  It was just too hot and I wanted to join everyone else with lunch.

We ventured out of the Harry Potter area and into Jurassic Park for some vegan food.  The options were quite limited, but there was veggie burgers and fruit, paired with pumpkin juice from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!  The pumpkin juice was AWESOME!  It tasted exactly like pumpkin pie.  I want to make my own soon.  I also made a little salad out of shredded lettuce and pickles.  I did what I had to do.

We checked out the rest of the park for a little, but it was getting way to hot to stay in direct sunlight for much longer.  We’ll be heading back into Universal Studios tomorrow, and I’m really hoping I’ll be able to experience quite a bit more Harry Potter delightfulness!

You know, I had thought I’d made this post a few days ago but I somehow never realized that it had disappeared.  But anyway, a few days ago I was commissioned to make a non-dairy ice cream cake!  How exciting.  I’ve never made one of these, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out.  It was, however, hard to assemble with one arm in a sling (I dislocated my shoulder a few times last week)!

Unfortunately, I don’t have a cross-section shot, but the inside was all kinds of awesome.  The bottom layer was chocolate soy ice cream and the top was vanilla soy ice cream, with a layer of creme-filled cookies between them.  I frosted the cake was plain vanilla frosting and threw some cookies on the sides and sprinkles on top!  How fun is that?

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I’m going to start posting more.  I’ve got blogging fever back.  I’ll be in Toronto for a bit, but when I get back I’m coming full force!

Georgie’s Diner- West Haven, CT

So delicious and even more easy.  All I did was saute some onions and chickpeas together and added in a packet of taco spice mix.  Served on warmed, corn tortillas!

Just a simple avocado roll from Miya’s Sushi!

After blogging at Another One Bites The Crust for over two years, I decided it was time for me to move on.  I started to grow tired of just having a blog based around food, with little structure, so I decided to just start fresh over here at Rambunctiously Soft-Spoken.  I’m going to keep Another One Bites The Crust up because there are a ton of recipes over there, but I’m going to work on slowly remaking and photographing all of them!

But for now, a new recipe!  Honestly, most tofu scramble recipes are all pretty similar, so I don’t think I can claim this as my own, but I basically just combined a bunch of things found in my parents cabinet into this dish.

Tofu Scramble

1 package of extra firm or firm tofu

1 bell pepper (diced)

1/2 onion (diced)

2 cloves garlic (diced)

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

turmeric

thyme

curry

salt & pepper

I sauteed the onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a medium-sized pan, with a little olive oil to coat the bottom and prevent everything from sticking.  When the vegetables were softened, I crumbled in the tofu.  After crumbling the tofu in, I seasoned the whole thing with salt and pepper.  I cooked it all together for about five more minutes before adding in the rest of the seasonings.  I don’t have exact measurements for these, but basically I just used enough turmeric to turn all of the tofu yellow and seasoned with the rest of the spices, to taste.

I served the tofu scramble along with some potatoes that I boiled, then browned in a large skillet with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and this random seasoning mix that I found in my parent’s cabinet.  I topped it all with a few avocado slices, just to add a little more flavor.

I think that this came out pretty well!  One of my sisters is also a vegan, so she’s used to (and likes) tofu, but the rest of my family is always a bit apprehensive when it comes to it.  Rather, apprehensive to eating it when it’s disguised in a chocolate pudding recipe- I don’t know one person who can’t get down with that.  But anyway, I digress.  We all enjoyed this dish a whole bunch- including the tofu-shy ones.

Off to enjoy this beautiful Saturday!