i'm twenty now.

I should be packing right now. I should be cleaning and packing and getting my act together for real.

But it's my birthday. 

I live a pretty blissful life. Nineteen has been something. 

Twentyish things I've learned in the nineteenth year. 

I'm currently not the best at making pancakes, but I am the best at making granola.

The amount of people your age that are certain about what they're going to be doing for the rest of their lives is nowhere near everyone. You have time, my dear. You have lots of time. That mind up their inside your blonde-haired head? It's capable. And it's only been twenty years--there's quite enough days left to figure out (or not) what you'll spend your time doing.

Joni Mitchell

"a: it's just inevitable. the soul wander in the dark, until it finds love. and so, wherever our love goes, there we find our soul...if we're lucky and if we let ourselves be blind...instead of always watching out." True story, y'all. You can yell at me for being sappy now.

Still, call your mom. Call your grandma. Tell your sisters everything.

Grandma was right: McDonald's has the best ice cream.

Kale deserves to be knighted by the queen of England.

The people that matter will continue to matter. Make time to write them letters. Make time to inform them of when little things make you think of them. Make time to bake them quick breads.

Red flag: your best friend having a bad feeling about something. You need to reconsider. She's probably right.

You're not always right. But sometimes you are. (mostofthetime.)

Staying in on a Friday night is a great and very acceptable decision. Especially if you plan on knitting and watching Degrassi.

 Kombucha is the strongest placebo in the whole wide world.

My very most treasured people are the ones that will agree with to have breakfast with me. And stay a while. Because mornings are precious.

Bras from Target don't last too long.

Persistence is key. Just like your mom said.

Craft your heart out.

Therapy: writing angry letters but not sending them.

You're quite capable of solving your own problems. You know what's best. Don't wait for someone else to do it for you. However, other people can help. Speak up, no weaknesses will show through.

Girl needs to get some patience.

You have every right be extremely, extremely thankful. And you best do that.

Happy birthday to me. Happy Tuesday to you. Get it.

this is a list of autumnal recipes.

(This image is from my sister, Samantha Feld, her work is bomb. So check it out.)

This might be a little premature...but I don't care a bit. Fall is my season and it's slowly (please. faster. please.) approaching. I am at my prime during fall. Sweaters and dark nail polish come out to play and I'm all about apple picking whenever I can. So let's talk about this. Because I spend the majority of my free time on food blogs, I've come up with an extensive list of fall recipes I'm dying to try.

You need to be ready to take on autumn in all its glory. You need to be armed with a plethora of spice-filled recipes that make you feel all kinds of cozy feelings. This is why I will share with you...

Danie's List of Fall Recipes That Should be Enjoyed While Wearing a Sweater

Pumpkin Parties

[sweet]
pumpkin cake with brown butter icing
vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
pumpkin butter and pepita granola
pumpkin rice pudding
pumpkin spice granola
vegan pumpkin walnut bread (the bestbestbest)
pumpkin scones with spiced glaze
pumpkin cranberry chocolate chip granola bars
vegan pumpkin chocolate brownie cake
pumpkin rice krispie treats
vegan pumpkin pancakes
pumpkin butter
pumpkin snickerdoodles

[real people food]
vegan black bean and sweet potato soup
moroccon spiced spaghetti squash
vegan spicy pumpkin chili
five things to do with pumpkin seeds

Applefest

[sweet]
apple crisp
apple coffee cake
applesauce and honey glazed applesauce muffins
chai spiced apple oatmeal bread
apple pie (obviously)
apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies
apple cider muffins

[real people food]
vegan carrot apple ginger soup
tomato apple dal

Other Cozy Flavors

[sweet]
brown rice pudding
harvest cake with vanilla cream
almond and cinnamon coffee cake
brown butter spice cake
soft vegan ginger cookies
coffee pancakes
maple squares
chocolate coffee graham crackers
plum crumble

[real people food]
tomato lentil soup
vegan chanterelle cream soup
roasted tofu and kale with pine nuts
vegetarian african peanut stew

Clearly I make more of an effort to seek out dessertish recipes. So what, who cares?

I'm ready to rock this, are you? There will be more recipes added, I can assure you. One can never have enough fall recipes. I am much to excited about this.

And...break!

for someone that's going somewhere.

To my favorite Zoeface.

Everything about you is the meaning of your name. 

I can't think of anyone more driven than you. Your energy and never ceasing optimism is contagious. You constantly remind me of the importance of play and the fact that our paths crossed enough to eventually make us friends makes me one of the luckiest. 

Everything about you is lovely.

Seattle is lucky to have you, ladycakes.

Lovelovelove,

Danie

just peachy.

Summer's almost done, kids. Which means it's almost moving time.

And I think I'm going to miss this house. Despite having to wear an outrageous amount of layers for sleepytime in the winter, it's done a pretty good job of being my home this year. A good first house.

I've done some great things in this kitchen. A lot of lazy coffee laden mornings, a lot of experiments, a lot of dancing, and a one-time fire when I neglected a pot of popcorn on the stove.

But it's time to move on to a different space with the capacity for even more love. As a tribute to the end of the summer: a sweet peach treat in the form of coffee cake.

Vegan Peach Coffee Cake

Cake

3/4 cup non-dairy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil (I subbed applesauce for half the oil)

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 ripe peaches, peeled and diced (BLANCH 'EM: score your peaches at the bottom, put them in a pot of boiling water for a minute, submerge them into a bowl of ice water, peel off the skin.)

Crumble

1 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup non-dairy spread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 8x8 cake pan.

In a large bowl combine non-dairy milk and vinegar. Let sit for five minutes. Mix in sugar, oil, and vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and combine. Stir in diced peaches.

Prepare the crumble: Combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Mix in non-dairy spread, using your fingers. Mix until large clumps appear.

Pour batter into pan and sprinkle crumble over batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Coffee cake is a little bit like a hug. Give yourself a coffee cake hug. You deserve it.

dream weaver.

Did I just reference a 70s song that I was first introduced to as a child? Yes I did. Fathers are for getting you acquianted with special kinds of music. I happen to be pretty decent at identifying the artist of many popular songs from the 70s. I'm pretty proud.

I'll tell you what's really okay with me.
1. The last of week of day camp counselorship has me leading preteens to musical theatre camp.
2. I have a new cookie sheet that is bomb. The joy this pan brings me is remarkable.
3. It's Sunday today. Sundays are for baking and crafts, so here's a project for you. It's good for lazy summer Sundays because it takes some time. So pump up your folk rock and channel your inner dream weaver. You know you want to make this.

DIY Dreamcatcher Necklace

Materials: 

• small metal hoop: mine was an old keychain 
• leather cord 
• large bead
• waxed linen cord

1. Measure your cord to the length you want for your necklace. Tie it onto the metal hoop using a lark's head knot.

2. Slide your bead onto the cord, all the way down to the hoop. Tie your linen cord onto the hoop. I used about a yard of the cord.

3. Now comes the weaving. I followed the diagram below. If you need the instructions written out, this website does a good job of explaining it. It's pretty basic once you get the hang of it, it just takes a little time. It helps to hold the end of the cord and use it like a needle to weave through all the loops. 

4. Using the same method, continue around the hoop again. 

5. Continue around the hoop one last time, ending the weaving by the lark's head knot. Carefully untie the starting knot and then double knot the two ends of the cord.

6. Center the knot in the middle of the lark's head (you might have to redo the lark's head in order to ensure the cord knot is in the center). Trim the ends of the cord and slide the bead over the ends to cover them.

You're a dreamcatcher master now! You can decorate it anyway you want. Feathers, beads, all the things! I just liked mine the way it was.

I'm pretty sure my new necklace has the power to stop bad daydreams in their tracks. I'm stoked. I will now make one last dream reference. If you're my age, you'll appreciate this THROWBACK.

ten good things about this week.

1. Fifteen dollar t-shirts over at Everlane. Do you want nice t-shirts that aren't a million dollars? Yeah, me too. Sry, American Apparel.

2. Today a child told me an extensive story about how when it's nighttime, he sneaks into a nearby pool and swims all my himself. These nighttime rituals include being able to fart in the pool, calling up another counselor to come swim with him, having breakfast from the concession stand (he leaves money for them, don't worry), and other pooltime mischief. We also planned an impromptu trip to Disney World.

3. The fact that peaches are in season. Make yourself some peach things, you guys. Brown Eyed Baker has a whole list of them.

4. Next week will feature my very close friend and I accompanying eleven campers 3.5 hour long musical theatre instruction. They have no idea what they're getting themselves into.

5. This week I found myself loving on Marilyn Monroe pictures.

Classy lady right there.

6. I've found myself longing for fall flavors. You can expect the next post to be something introducing them back into our lives. Pumpkin, I've missed you. You can come back now, my love.

7. Planning to move in to a new house. I constantly dream about kitchen storage containers and wall hangings. 

8. Just do me a favor and get your ears over to the Joy the Baker Podcast. 

9. Welcome to my favorite YouTube video that ever existed. This is Henri. Today we met again.

10. This is Hipster Food. They got some good recipizzles for your vegan tastebuds.

My next blog post is going to be bomb. You wait.

you know you need a flower crown.

Since the beginning of the summer, my sisters and I have been planning a stellar surprise birthday party for my lovely mother. This past weekend, I (secretly) went home for the party. It was the loveliest. If you ever have a chance to plan a surprise party for someone you love, you should totally do it. It's definitely worth every second of planning.

One of the things I contributed was a flower crown. In my opinion, birthday girls should always wear something special and this was the perfect something for my mom.

Flower crowns aren't just for birthdays, though! They're for you too! Haven't you seen all the lovely tutorials attacking the interwebs? They're the easiest of all things!

DIY Flower Crown

1. Get your supplies. We've got a cubic poop-ton of fake flowers, some sturdy-ish floral wire, and some twine-wrapped wire I found right next to the green wire at the craft store.

2. Cut your base wire to fit your head comfortably. I made mine double and twisted it.

3. Choose your flowers and cut them off, leaving at least an inch of stem (you need something to wrap the wire around).

4. Now's the time to get funky. Place the stem of the flower on the headband base and wrap a piece of florist wire around, securing the flower onto the headband. Make sure there aren't any sharp ends sticking out! Crafts should not result in cranium abrasions!

5. Keep going! I only did the side because that's the way (uh huh, uh huh) I like it. Feel free to continue placing flowers all the way around!

I also made a baby headband to go around a top knot! THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS when you have some wire and fake flowers!

Go forth and wrap, kittens!

P.S. How about you listen to some music too.