CHICAGO FROM THE SEARS TOWER

One goal I had during Year 25 has been to see Chicago from the Sears (Willis) Tower. The world certainly has a weird way of bringing things together because as it turns out, I now work in the Sears Tower! (Same job, my office moved). So I technically get to see Chicago from the Sears Tower every day, Monday through Friday!

The other week, one of my coworkers retired, so my company hosted the party at the 99th floor of the building. There were incredible panoramic views and all my coworkers and I spent the first half hour of the party wandering around the floor before we sat down to lunch.

 After the party we went up to the Sky Deck on the 103rd floor where The Ledge is. 

The 103rd floor has these translucent window boxes that jut out a couple feet and you're able to walk onto them and look down from. I don't know why I was so unfazed by them (I had to convince most of my coworkers to step out on it with me, but I had such a fun time jumping around and looking down 103 floors to the street level. 

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but my coworkers are really great. I think it's partially that we have a small office and partially that you get what you give (I've noticed that I'm much more extroverted/way less socially anxious after hiking last year), but I was super hesitant to take this job. It's by no means my dream job, but I really appreciate the people it has brought into my life. 

LAVENDER LEMON "CHEESECAKE"

I was going to wait until I'd made two desserts to share them here, but I'm so excited about this lavender lemon cheesecake that I'm sharing it today! The recipe I used is from the blog This Rawsome Vegan Life, which is one of the first two blogs I ever followed. After following it for 5+ years, I finally decided it was time to make a few recipes from it this year so put this as #8 on my birthday list.

This cheesecake... it's magical. Magical, not only tastes incredible, but because for being raw and vegan and mostly nuts and dates it tastes exactly like the real cream cheesy thing. It really is nuts! The only reco I have for making this on your own is making sure that you have a really good food processor or blender to make sure everything is really smooth.

Here's the recipe with a few notes for directions/substitutions I made.

LAVENDER LEMON CHEESECAKE

Crust:
1/2 cup dates
1 1/2 cups nuts (I used 1 1/4 cup of walnuts and 1/4 cup of almonds)

Cheesecake:

3 cups cashews (I soaked them in warm water for 2 hours)

3/4 cup lemon juice

2/3 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon salt

Dried lavender (the original recipe calls for 1-3 teaspoons - I did 4 + extra for garnishing)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cover the inside of a cake pan with wax paper (I used a 9-inch springform pan, although next time I'll be using an 8-inch springform pan for a slightly thicker cake). Pulse dates and nuts in a food processor/blender until you get a sticky mixture that you can pat down into the bottom of the cake pan. Set in fridge/freezer to chill. 

Blend all cheesecake ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Pour onto the crust in the cake pan and set in the freezer until it has the hardness you want (it was 3 hours for me - although I ended up storing leftovers in the freezer too). Pop the cake out of the pan, peel off the wax paper, slice and eat/enjoy/experience the magic. 

Recipe from This Rawsome Vegan Life 

PS: This Rawsome Vegan Life's Instagram account is amazing. 

THREE SALADS

Since my typical salads almost always consist of arugula, a few slices of onion, and balsamic dressing, one goal on my birthday list this year was to make three salads from recipes. I'm excited to report that this goal is complete as of last week (it's my first completed item out of twenty-five actually), so yeah, here they are!

01. Chopped Asian Salad from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken
This salad required so many ingredients. Like two colors of sesame seeds and two colors of cabbage! That being said, it was so crunchy and good. I also learned that I like cabbage way more than I thought. I can making myself making this one again, but not until I have an occasion or need to impress someone at a potluck or something.

02. Winter Salad with Farro, Butternut Squash, Kale, and Cranberry Dressing from Kitchen Confidante

So many delicious wintry flavors packed into a filling salad. This one was wonderful for lunches and lighter dinners.

03. Crowd Pleasing Vegan Caesar Salad from Oh She Glows

Caesar salad was my favorite growing up and I ate it all the time, but haven't at all in the 8+ years since becoming a vegetarian. This salad required lots of ingredients and didn't taste 100% like the real deal, but it was so good. Maybe even better than the real thing! I already made a double batch of the dressing since finishing round 1. 

25 FOR 25

I've made birthday lists the past six years (and loved doing so), so keeping with tradition,  here's 25 for 25...

01. Finish reading War and Peace

02. See a Cubs game

03. Run the Chicago Marathon

04. Watch The Shawshank Redemption and Top Gun

05. Finish the online HTML/CSS/Java courses I started

06. Register to be a bone marrow donor

07. Make three salads from recipes

08. Make two desserts off of the blog, This Rawsome Vegan Life

09. Host a vegan dinner party

10. Memorize all of Alphabet Aerobics (for my next party trick)

11. Watch Stranger Things

12. Visit a Midwestern city I've never been to before

13. Buy a used credenza

14. Watch all of Friends

15. Get a lemon tree

16. Visit a Chicago museum

17. Watch all of Parks & Rec

18. See Chicago from the Sear's Tower

19. Move into a 1-bedroom apartment

20. Host three friends/family members in Chicago

21. Have my planned quarter life crisis (because I'm going to live to 100) and get a tattoo

22. Make a list of 25 places to eat at in Chicago and eat at half of them

23. Find somewhere to volunteer in Chicago

24. Get back to the Appalachian Trail and do some trail magic

25. Knock off three things I have yet to do from past birthday lists

24 FOR YEAR 24 // PROGRESS

I meant to share this yesterday since my birthday is today, but yesterday was so busy. 

In case you haven't been following along for very long, I've made a "Birthday List" every year since turning 19. My birthday list encompasses a variety of things that I want to accomplish during my coming year of life. I didn't check off as many items as I expected to over the past year, but my 24th year was one of the best yet full of some big changes. Over the year I left NYC, thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, moved in with Joe in Chicago, and recently started work in Chicago.

Here's my full list of updates:
(25 for 25 to follow tomorrow...)

01. See three Broadway shows. (2/3 complete)
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime with Joe (amazing) 
Fun Home with Dori (also amazing)

02. Visit the Top of the Rock and The Met. (1/2 complete)

Dori and I went to explore The Met the day after snow storm Jonas. 

03. Hike an Adirondack High Peak in the winter.
Nope, but I'm really hoping to do one next week with Dan!

04. Make/drink a shrub.

I made the most delicious strawberry shrub a few days ago. 

05. Attempt to through-hike the Appalachian Trail, (Started 3/16/16)

06. make it one month in on the AT

07. make it halfway (Pine Grove Furnace in PA)

08. make it to New York,

09. and finish all 2,200 miles of the AT. (Finished 8/29/16)
Without getting too sappy, I think this is the best thing that I've ever done in my entire life.  

10. Dye my hair.
I was going to dye my hair purple on trail. I even bought the dye. Then I chickened out. 

11. Bake linzer heart cookies
I made them twice!  

12. Move to Chicago.
On September 24th I drove by myself from New York to Chicago and I've lived here ever since. :)

13. Get a job in Chicago.
 So it might be a temporary position (for now), but I am living and working in Chicago! 

14. Try a SoulCycle class.
I literally did this last night lol

15. Buy a real purse since I've never really owned much outside of tote bags.
I bought this one used off eBay a month ago. 

16. Rent a car in Chicago and road trip to a midwestern city I've never been to.
I didn't rent a car (I'm going to ignore that part), but I went to Madison, WI last winter!

17. Read a Charles Dickens book.
 This was a fail. I made it 80% of the way through David Copperfield and then hit the trail and stopped. 
Then I tried it on audiobook from the beginning and well, I'm still working on it. 

18. Bake baklava.

19. Travel to Iceland.
(A girl can dream...)

20. Do BBG 1.0.
I did some BBG workouts... 

21. Double date with a high school friend. 
With Laura and her boyfriend David last January for Japanese desserts. 

22. Be able to do an eleven minute wall sit. (I'm currently at 4.5 minutes)
Still working on this one.

23. Knock off two things

24. I never did in my previous birthday lists.

Total : 15.17 / 24 ( 63.2% )

Past lists can be found at here: 23 / 22 / 21 / 20 / 19.
You can also find birthday list related posts here.  

TWO DESSERTS

Before I forget, I want to share two desserts I made earlier this month. 

Both were on my birthday list, so check and check!

LINZER COOKIES
I followed this recipe and they were so nice that I actually made them twice!

BAKLAVA
I followed this recipe using a combo of almonds and walnuts.
Also, being stubborn and wanting to make it from scratch, I made my own phyllo dough.
It isn't as good as store bought, but hey, now I know for next time! 

(Also confession... I probably had a piece of baklava (or two) for breakfast four days in a row.
Actually maybe it's not a confession because I don't really have any regrets). 

Sunday At The Met

Another (half) item from the Birthday List chickity-checked off! After Snowstorm Jonas was over and done last weekend, Amie DB and I went to The Met on Sunday. 

The last time I visited The Met I was in a stroller, and I had no memories of ever visiting it so I figured it belonged on my list this year since it's one of those iconic things to do in NYC and in a month and a half I won't be in the city on a regular basis anymore. 

*Insert ten freaked out emojis here*

Amie DB is a seasoned Met pro and knew here way around when we walked in (whoa). She made sure that I didn't miss the key exhibits... the Egyptian wing, the American wing, the Jacqueline de Ribes fashion exhibit, and more. The Met is such a beautiful and unique and HUGE place - I don't you could cover it all even if you went every day for a month.

And here we are after Amie DB's grand tour, just having a quick Gossip Girl moment before heading home ;p #callusSerenaandBlair 

On our way home, we walked through Central Park. It was so weird walking through after our double, quiet snowy walks the day before. I definitely wasn't prepared for how many people there were. There were definitely lots of sights to take in and you had to look around you every minute or so to make sure a sled wasn't about to take you out. We taking another busted sled, but we didn't have snow pants. Also, museum exploring works up quite the appetite.

A Double Date

Reporting in to say that I have officially checked off my first item on 24 for 24! On New Year's Day Night (is that an oxymoron?), Joe and I double dated with my high school friend, Amie L, and her boyfriend, D. Even though Joe and I have been dating for more than four years, we've never been on a double date with any of my high school friends, so it was definitely long overdue.

The four of us went to Mei Jin on the Upper East Side for a delicious array of Japanese desserts and teas. Even though we were exhausted from New Year's (and everything that came before it), it was a fun little outing and I'm hoping it'll happen again at some point.

Oh and just figured I had to throw this in too... As of New Year's Day Night, I'm officially a professional couples photographer! By that, I mean, L and D compensated me with a penny for my troubles immense enjoyment for photographing them in the past (see here and here).

24 For Year 24

So I fell asleep before I could post this yesterday on my actual birthday. As it turns out, turning twenty-four really tired me out. As for yesterday, I had a half day of work, went on a short birthday run with my mom in Central Park (we share the same birthday!), and then we met up with my brother Dan, my dad, and my mom's BFF for dinner at The Smith, before going to check out the Rockefeller Tree. It was a perfect day. Now here's 24 for 24!

01. See three Broadway shows. (2/3 down)

02. Visit the Top of the Rock and The Met. 

03. Hike an Adirondack High Peak in the winter.

04. Make/drink a shrub.

05. Attempt to through-hike the Appalachian Trail,

06. make it one month in on the AT

07. make it halfway (Pine Grove Furnace in PA)

08. make it to New York,

09. and finish all 2,200 miles of the AT.

10. Dye my hair.

11. Bake linzer heart cookies

12. Move to Chicago.

13. Get a job in Chicago.

14. Try a Soul Cycle class.

15. Buy a real purse since I've never really owned much outside of tote bags.

16. Rent a car in Chicago and road trip to a midwestern city I've never been to.

17. Read a Charles Dickens book.

18. Bake baklava.

19. Travel to Iceland.

20. Do BBG 1.0.

21. Double date with a high school friend. 

22. Be able to do an eleven minute wall sit. (I'm currently at 6:09)

23. Knock off two things

24. I never did in my previous birthday lists.

23 For Year 23 Progress

Since my 24th birthday is tomorrow, I'm here to share progress from this year's list today! In case you're new here, every year, I make a birthday list. A birthday list is a list that is made up everything you want to do during the coming year of life (and corresponds to your age for that year).

This year's list is below and updated. Tune in tomorrow evening for 24 for 24!

01. Visit California and road trip on Highway 1 between San Diego and Napa.

02. Visit my aunt, uncle, and two cousins in Singapore. 

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Completed June 12th - 20th

03. Go to the Belmont Stakes.

Completed June 6th. 

04. Spend a day in every New York City boro. (Even you, Staten Island!)

Manhattan Favorites: Stumbling upon Cake Boss, Matisse at midnight, Jacobs Pickles, cupcakes, 

cronuts, and pride, discovering Buffalo Exchange, Doughnut Plant with Joe, Daily Show

Some from Brooklyn: Smorgasburg, Easter Sunday, Owen Pallett, sunrise on the Brooklyn Bridge  

Queens: Mets Game, Belmont Stakes

Staten Island: aka: the only time I've ever been

Bronx: Wave Hill, Botanical Gardens + Arthur Avenue 

05. Build a well-stocked bar. 

I should've been more specific. While I had 5 or 6 different bottles at most times, I was envisioning something like this. 

06. Find somewhere to volunteer. 

07. Take the GREs and/or LSATs

08. Move into a New York City apartment!

Completed February 1st. 

09. Decorate a New York City apartment!

10. Make a list of twenty or more places to eat in New York City and eat at at least half of them.

Part 1 / Part 2 

11. Make my own baking extracts.
See #5 here. I guess extract singular, but still counts. 

12. Get promoted. Or a raise. Or to travel more for work. Or invited to more things with free food.
I'm not exactly one to talk about promotions, or raises, especially not online, but I'll say this much... at the minimum, there was more travel and free food. (Example 1, Example 2)

13. Be able to run five miles or more without knee pain.

14. Make it through all eight minutes of 8 Minute Abs (because I'm at 1.5 now...)

15. Get into a beauty routine

16. Buy a breathalyzer. Safe is always better than sorry!

See #7.  I've been having tons of fun with this ever since!

17. Work on this blog some more. Maybe even give it its own domain! Maybe.

Going to give myself half a point for this. I did upgrade the template, but no domain. 

18. Hike (at least) 3 more Adirondack high peaks.
Ended up with 6! +2 here and +4 here. 

19. Finish all the Netflix shows I'm in the middle of (Gilmore Girls, Breaking Bad, Grey's Anatomy).

20. / 21. / 22. / 23. Knock off a few I never got to in past years.

From Lists 19, 20, and 21: Teach a (boy)friend to ski.

Completed January 2nd. 

From List 22: Get my wisdom teeth out. 

 Completed May 1st. 

TOTAL: 15.5/23 

 (Or 67.4%. Aka: I passed.)