fashion swap

When browsing Forever 21's website I found this necklace, which looked very similar to this necklace from J. Crew that I've been thinking about. It's not a perfect swap, but they have the same feel. We're comparing $88 to $12.80. What do you think?

Sometimes Forever 21 has items that look exactly like designer items; I've seen basically copies of Marc Jacobs and Vince, for example, in their stores before. When cleaning out my closet recently, I found myself getting rid of several things from Forever 21. It convinced me to buy less from the store and really consider how much I'll wear what I buy. Sure, a party dress for $30 is a good deal, but is it going to fall apart or look dated in a year? I haven't had quality issues as much as style issues with pieces from the store, but there seem to be a lot of loose strings to clip when you first put the clothes on. However, yesterday I wore a blouse from there that looks expensive, goes with everything, is seasonless, always gets me tons of compliments, and has stayed together with repeated wearing.

list

I stole away from school for lunch today, and when B picked me up, we headed down my street and started debating where to go. We settled on B's barbecue, drove a loop around the whole neighborhood to head out the way we needed to go, and then I realized that it's Monday and B's is closed...

Since it was so nice outside, I picked Sup Dogs from my list of places to go in Greenville. We ate out on their porch along Reade Street, right at Fifth Street. I realize that it's a hot dog place, but B told me that they have good chicken tenders, and that's more my thing. They were pretty good, too. They serve everything with Sup Dog sauce, which was tasty and not what I expected. It reminded me of Chick-fil-a sauce, a favorite of mine. I always thought of Sup Dogs as a place people go only after bars, but I enjoyed it for lunch on a day with good weather for porch sitting.

banana chocolate chip muffins

Yesterday, B brought me a big bag of sweet potatoes from a roadside stand and five overripe bananas. Those are the kind of gifts I like. More on the sweet potatoes later -- I signed up to bring sweet potatoes to my class Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday. Instead of studying, I used my break today to bake. I wanted my mom's banana bread, but without loaf pans, I turned to this muffin recipe. I have made it once before, and I found that the muffins freeze well. I changed the recipe a little, so here's what I did:

1/2 c vegan butter (1 stick)

1/2 c packed brown sugar

3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t kosher salt

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

3 mashed bananas

1/4 c honey

2 eggs

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c all purpose flour

3/4 c chocolate chips

Cream together the butter, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract. Stir in the bananas, honey, and eggs. Gently stir in the chocolate chips and flour. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. It made 12 muffins when I filled the cups full.

The first time I made these, I used 2 c whole wheat flour as in the original recipe. They were very dense, so I subbed in all purpose for half of the whole wheat flour. I like the result even better this time around. There's still the whole wheat taste, but they are lighter.

more eating

In the last week, I've been to eat at some favorites and tried out one new place.

On Wednesday, we went to Parker's. Barbecue, fried okra, boiled potatoes, and corn sticks are good to me. Ask for fried okra even though it's not on the menu. Bring cash. Parker's is a must in Greenville.

Thursday night, we went to Wasabi 88. They have buy one, get one free sushi rolls Sunday-Thursday, so we try to get our sushi fix then. We ordered a hurricane roll, a spicy tuna roll, and two salmon rolls - one with avocado, one with cucumber. It was awesome. I could eat sushi every day, and Wasabi has the best I've tried in Greenville.

Saturday morning, B and I tried Harvey's for breakfast, as recommended by some friends. I got a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. The bacon was kind of too done for me, but it was still tasty. However, as soon as we left, I was in a lot of stomach pain. I'm not sure if I'd recommend that place or not. They had some great lunch specials listed, but the servers' shirts said "the breakfast place," so it remains to be seen whether I'll go back.

applesauce

I've always liked applesauce, and it's something that quickly disappears in my house. B eats it out of the little containers without a spoon... weird. I saw this recipe on Skinny Taste, and I had to make it. Easy, inexpensive, and something I eat all the time. Well, inexpensive because I decided to just sprinkle in a little cinnamon instead of buying a $5.99 container of cinnamon sticks.

First, I peeled, cored, and sliced 10 small Gala apples - a bag's worth. I couldn't find a vegetable peeler at my house. That was fun.

I put them in my lined crock pot along with a little lemon peel, a teaspoon of the lemon's juice, 5 teaspoons of brown sugar, and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

This is what it looked like.

About 7 hours and a few stirs later, it looked like this. Actually I squished the result with the back of a metal spoon. Thankfully, that worked, because I don't have an immersion blender, and I'm not crazy about chunky applesauce.

Try this. It's easy, and it would be incredibly easy if you have an apple peeler/corer/slicer (Mom). Plus applesauce is delicious warm. And your boyfriend will be really impressed. Well, maybe he was impressed because I served it with chicken tenders, roasted vegetables, and baked sweet potatoes. What did you do all Monday afternoon?

tipsy teapot

I checked off another place on my Greenville list today - Tipsy Teapot. When B texted me that he was there studying, I couldn't get out of the clinic fast enough. I found him at a table for two in a curtained, bookshelved area, I ordered some tea on his tab, and we studied/read/wrote papers.

I asked the girl working the counter for recommendations, and she gave me three that I don't remember, from which I chose casa blanca. It is a berry and hibiscus tea that to my surprise is pink! I drink black or green tea at home, so it was different than what I'm used to, but I liked it. At first, it tasted like juice, and then it tasted like roses. The counter girl asked if I take my tea with cream and/or sugar, and I requested honey. It felt a little wrong, but that's how I make it. I just don't know about milk or cream in tea.

If you're not a hot tea drinker, I also spied sandwiches, smoothies, and beer offerings. I was on a hot tea mission, though, so I'm sure there is more. It seemed like a great place to study all day, if you're cool with a little background noise. It's also a (used?) bookstore.

On my way to and from Tipsy Teapot, I saw a few of the places on my list, and I was tempted to hit them all today! Scullery, Courtside Cafe, and Copper & Vine-- I'll be back.