I've always been a sucker for the cheesy resolution lists and vows to be a better person every time a new year rolls around. Maybe it's partly due to my love for writing lists in general, but I think it's mostly because I love the idea of self improvement.
2016 was pretty bad. It was a year full of political horrors, significant deaths, and an all-encompassing blanket of sorrow seemed to smother us all, more and more with each passing day. My ability to feel empathy so strongly is both a blessing and a curse. It allows me to be compassionate, kind, and caring to everyone - but it's also very overwhelming for me to see such horrible things occuring all around the world. It breaks my heart that people are living in such terrible conditions. It breaks my heart that some people are punished simply for being who they are. And, simply put, it absolutely kills me that I cannot do much to help them. I feel like I've grown so much in the past 12 months. My eyes have been opened to so many things, and I've grown passionate about so many issues. I've also realised that most of the western world doesn't care about a lot of these things that mean so much to me. Most of us don't actively care about people across the world who are suffering, or what's happening to our planet. 2016 was a year of frustration for me. I was so frustrated that bad things were happening everywhere, and even more frustrated that most people didn't seem to care. I wanted so badly to grab each person by the shoulders, shake, and tell them to snap into reality and make a change. I wanted change on a large scale so badly, that I lost sight of the small impacts I could have on my own. 2017 will be a year of healing. I will channel this years frustration, which was only fueled by passion, into my own actions. I have come to realise that sometimes, the only thing you can do is lead by example. This past year, I learned where my morals lie. I discovered the things that I care about, and that give me a purpose. The things that I want to climb a mountain and yell about for everyone to hear. Going vegan triggered such a significant transformation within myself, and I feel such a deeper connection to my own mind. I had many ups and downs with mental health, but I feel better now. I staggered through fits of helplessness, self doubt, and loneliness. But now I feel at peace. On a personal level, 2016 wasn't all bad. I've learned so much about myself through the hardships this year has thrown at me. I've said those words before, but I don't think I've ever truly meant them until right now. I don't believe that everything happens for a reason, but I do know that all these things that happened to me had some sort of impact on who I've become, and it all worked out in the end. This coming year, I will be gentle. I will cherish relationships that I've realised are important to me. I will be kinder, and I will spread love wherever I can, including to myself. I will continue to grow and heal. I will flourish. I've never been so excited to watch the clock strike midnight. I wish you all the best as well. C
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Ahem... let's skip the awkward reintroduction of myself and my blog, since I haven't made a post in two months. Sometimes school and life get a bit crazy, and thats all I can really say. Not that anyone actually reads this thing, but I guess just to my future self who will look back on it - it's okay to slip up sometimes. Tonight, a friend of mine is hosting a holiday party with the theme of sustainable vegan food! I was so excited to get invited, since it meant I would have the chance to make some treats of my own. Since we're going to be eating a whole dinner, I decided to control myself, since I had quite a few ideas of sweets to make. In the end, I settled on two little nibbly bits that hopefully everyone will enjoy: salted caramel cookies, and chocolate bark. As the queen of lazy baking and cooking, I feel a bit silly including recipes. But I mean, this is a food post, so I guess it's kind of necessary. Here we go. Salted Caramel Cookies
Mix all of those together. Roll into balls. Whack 'em in the oven. Vegan goodness. A lot of people are surprised to hear that a good number of premade cake and cookie mixes are actually accidentally vegan. Just make sure to check the ingredients, substitute non-vegan additions to the mix with vegan versions and you're good to go! Chocolate Bark
To make your own DIY double boiler, boil some water in a pot. Rest a glass or stainless steel bowl that fits snug in the opening of the pot, and pour in whatever you're melting - in this case, chocolate chips and a couple of teaspoons of coconut oil. In all honesty, I obviously have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to baking. I've just heard many people say that the coconut oil helps the chocolate melt easier and makes it silkier, so I just followed their lead. I added the second pack once the first was melted, and then poured it onto a flat pan lined with parchment paper. Not gonna lie, this whole process made me feel like a Lindt chocolatier in one of those commercials. Except I was a lot more anxious about the boiling water and having to remember to put my oven mits on every time I held the bowl so I didn't burn my hands off. Smooth the chocolate out evenly across the pan, as thick or as thin as you'd like, and while it's still melted, add your toppings. You can add anything, really, but I just crushed pretzel sticks and oreos in a Ziploc bag before sprinkling them on. Once it's finished, stick it in the freezer to harden. Once it's done, you can break it - possibly use a knife, this is way too hard to break with your hands - into irregular shapes, and you'll have some fancy looking chocolate bark. It's so crazy to me that Christmas is already coming up this weekend. 2016 seems to have sped by, but at the same time, feels like it just kept dragging out. It was definitely a difficult year for the world, and also for me personally. I know it's cheesy, but I can't wait for that "fresh start" feeling of the new year. I know a new calendar doesn't really mean anything, and not much actually changes, but I do have a few resolutions for myself in 2017. Maybe I'll make a post about them - one of them is blogging more frequently, anyway. I hope you all have a wonderful end to the holiday season, whatever you do or don't celebrate. Let me know what vegan goodies you've been baking and cooking to celebrate!
C |
Authoradmirer of beautiful things, amateur artist, perpetually confused. Archives
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