jenrazzle

Back in February I posted an ad looking for dog walking or dog sitting jobs. A nice person emailed me and asked if I would be available to take care of her dog for a few weeks in March while she was on vacation with her family. I immediately said yes (he’s so cute!!!) and Curry came to stay with me and my boyfriend on March 4 and just left today, April 2. We are already missing him a lot! Here…

I finished grad school so I can blog again

The title here is very self-explanatory. I created this blog a few years ago when I was working full-time, had an income, and was able to explore my interests. Grad school being grad school.. Meant that I had no time for anything other than being miserable and suffering through grad school. JK. Grad school was an experience and I highly recommend it.

The categories at the top of my blog will be…

During the second lesson that I attended (the final lesson in the series) the class focused on vegetarian cooking. I personally prefer to have a meat dish with every meal but it was fun to learn how to cook some alternative meals options such as chickpeas and zucchini. Though they were intended to be vegetarian main courses, both could be eaten as a side dish.

When we arrived at the library, we walked into a room set up to view a cooking demonstration. At the front of the room were several ingredients, spices, and cooking tools. Each seat had a copy of each recipe that was being prepared as well as a survey for everyone to complete toward the end of the program.

After everyone arrived, the organizer of the event said a few words. Huma Siddiqui then took over the show. She explained to us that she had moved to Wisconsin from London and was startled by the lack of flavor and spices used in American cooking. She started to share her recipes and cooking experience and began to teach cooking classes in the Madison area. The spices are for sale on their website and at Woodman’s grocery stores.

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  While she was sharing her background, she began to prepare the meal. First, she started to prepare the lentils, then the chickpeas, and finally the zucchini. She did a great job giving tips about each dish to us and answering questions while the food was cooking. For those of us who weren’t familiar with all of the spices that were being used, she passed around the jars (which are a product that she sells) which allowed us to see and smell each one. We also had the recipes in front of us so that we could take notes on how to properly prepare the food for ourselves at home.

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After the food was ready, we got to do the fun part. We all lined up and were able to eat as much of the food as we wanted. Everything was incredibly delicious, and I was especially in love with the chickpeas. I went back for seconds.. and thirds! It was hard to eat the chickpeas because they were incredibly spicy due to the chili pepper, but that certainly didn’t stop me from eating as much of the delicious food as I could.

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Madison Public Library will be hosting another set of these cooking classes this fall and registration is currently open. The classes are also periodically available throughout the community at a low cost and information about upcoming classes can be found on the White Jasmine website.

I haven’t yet had the chance to make one of these recipes, but I am pretty sure the chickpeas would be a great fall meal. I also really enjoyed attending this class with my mom and one of my friends, it is a fun way to try out something new in our community.

Review: Yardbird Las Vegas 2017

My family recently enjoyed a meal at Yardbird Las Vegas and it was absolutely incredible. The restaurant is known for its fried chicken, and it was some of the best fried chicken that I have ever had. Yardbird is located inside of the Venetian and it’s recommended to arrive with a reservation. My brother ordered the chicken wings with okra. The chicken wings were good (I would have preferred the…

Style: 2017 Backpack Picks

Apparently now that I’m going to graduate school I need to do things like study and carry around textbooks. I was very disappointed when I saw that my econ textbook is the standard gigantic and expensive disaster that you think of when you hear someone mention college textbooks. I still have my backpack from undergrad but I’m not all that interested in using it. It’s a trusty old North Face that…

We had a really easy time getting to Vegas. We used Frontier and our flights averaged to about $240 direct from Madison to Vegas. They would have been closed to $200 but we added on checked bags. Everyone was very happy when the realized we were flying direct rather than traveling to Milwaukee or Chicago.

Not only was our flight convenient, we had a great crew that kept the trip super exciting. They did a couple of different games like a raffle, an age guessing game, and a trivia and gave away assorted prizes. It helped make the last hour of our flight go by quick.

As soon as we got to our hotel (we are staying at The Venetian) we all realized that we were hungry and started looking up options for dinner. We decided to go to The Buffet at Wynn. I was excited because it was very colorful and seemed to have a lot of food options. My family was excited because they were hungry and it was nearby. We were a little disappointed when we arrived to find out that it was $45/person as the website we had used to find it had said $25-35, but we decided to try it out anyway.

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I loved the food and was excited to try new things. I tried a couple of things that I didn’t like, but I found out that I love quail. I also really loved the pork belly buns, the duck and the potato latkes with cottage cheese. Who knew that was an amazing thing?

Dessert was on another level. The room was amazing. There were so many options and I ended up getting butterscotch bread pudding, creme brulee, and banana sticky toffee pudding. Twice. Literally my only criticism was that the sticky toffee pudding was banana, I would have preferred traditional.

I was also really impressed with the Wynn. I would definitely consider staying there in the future. The setting was so beautiful. And I won $100 in the casino.

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I’m pretty excited about my winnings. My daily gambling budget is $20, so no matter what I’ll break even at the end of the trip.

After dinner and a brief foray into gambling, we walked back to our hotel but stopped to watch the fountain at the Wynn. It’s very lovely for a few moments but the songs are limited and get repetitive fast.

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We ended the night with some pool time at the Venetian and hang-out time in the hotel room.

Have you been to Vegas? What are your favorite things to do? Give me your recommendations!

Adventure Travel: Missouri Ozarks Roubidoux Spring

Prior to the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse, I met my family at a hotel in St Robert, Missouri. We found a really nice hotel for only $50 a night, perfect for a quick stay. We arrived around 6pm and wanted to explore the area a little bit. Since St Robert is in the Missouri Ozarks, I googled trails in the area to see what our options were. I saw that Roubidoux Spring was less than a ten minute drive…

I received Tony Moly Inked Cushion Eyeliner (aka Harry Potter eyeliner) from my dearest best friend Jennifer. I completely forgot that she picked this up for me, so it was a nice treat! We are both mega nerds when it comes to Harry Potter, and we both like makeup, so of course this was a no brainer.

So the first time I put it on, I didn’t realize that the brush wasn’t already in the liner, the way an inkpot works. It took me a hot second to realize that I had to unscrew the bottom.

Once I figured all that out, it took me a second to get used to the quill. As someone who usually uses drug store liquid liner pens, it was a new experience. I am pretty low maintenance, so I’m not used to washing out brushes after putting on my makeup.

Tony Moly’s description of the eyeliner is:

“Formulated to go on intense like ink and glide on light as a feather, our liquid gel-type cushion liner never skips, clumps, or drags, helping you achieve the perfect winged look. The cushion pot helps control the amount of product that is picked up and the built-in brush is designed to work perfectly with the formula so you always get an intense payoff with precision and ease.”

I wouldn’t necessarily agree with the description 100%. I had no problem with the consistency of the eyeliner, it was smooth, but the brush was really thick- too thick to have a winged look. Maybe I’m just not skilled enough with eyeliner, but I also am a former art major so I don’t think that’s the case. I like the color, and I would agree that the black was very inky. It was easy to make sure that the liner got close to/ in my lash line, so there was no gap near my eyelashes.

All in all, I love the novelty of using this, I love the richness of color, and I love how close I can get to my lashes, but I still pull out my more precise liner for a wing.

  Are you interested in guest posting on jenrazzle.com? Send a pitch to [email protected]. Thanks Kara for the wonderful review!

I also found several rocks around the memorial. When I flipped them over, they said “Joplin, MO” on them. Does anyone know what these signify?

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Travel: Ledges State Park, Iowa

I was in the mood to do some hiking last week while I was in Iowa and one of my friends suggested we take a trip to Ledges State Park. I grew up close to Ledges, and even went to girl scout camp about a minute away, but had never been to the park before. I didn’t know what to expect but we had a great experience. The first thing we saw was a swampy area. I personally love areas like this, as long…

Travel: Iowa Hindu Temple

During a recent hiking trip in Iowa, we stopped off to check out a hidden Hindu Temple. It was completely unassuming and located between cornfields. I had never heard of it and didn’t know it was there, so I was pretty surprised by the spectacular beauty. This was my first glimpse of the temple. I was very excited! And there were elephants!!! The details were remarkable. We left an offering with…

Review: Solar Eclipse Glasses

I am SO EXCITED for the this year’s solar eclipse! I am going to be in Joplin, Missouri which unfortunately isn’t a part of the full coverage path, so I am planning to drive to St Louis. My family is taking the day off to drive down and we are going to watch it together. Please let there be amazing beautiful weather! Needless to say I was really excited to have the opportunity to get a 10 pack of…

I’m not sure about you, but I spend an unreasonable amount of time trying to take a picture on my phone, finding out that my storage is full, and quickly deleting whatever I can out of frustration. Because of this I’ve never been big on putting music on my phone, which means that I’m generally at the mercy of listening to whatever is playing on my car radio. A few weeks ago I had the genius (and…

Product Review: Activated Charcoal Konjac Sponge

Getting packages in the mail is the highlight of my life. I love getting things because I often forget what I’ve ordered by the time it arrives, so it’s exciting to find out what’s inside. This time I received a konjac sponge to try out for my blog – I enjoy using konjac sponges and wanted to try one out with activated charcoal. The konjac sponge arrived wrapped as they usually do. It was…

If you were hanging out with me in July you probably saw literally all the emotions come out of me. I started the month out super stressed, was wiped out by a cold/fever for a week, and then ended the month on a super positive note. Mostly I’m really glad it’s over but also pretty worried about the fact that school starts in ONE MONTH. How did this happen?? I definitely need to say thank you to…

In June I was hanging out in Missouri with an adorable baby who is now a 12 year old.

Then me and my friend Cassie went to Chicago. My hair is a huge struggle in every picture. Can anyone tell me why we wore tank tops like this? Probably for the boobies.

August looked a little boring. I took a LOT of selfies. Many of the selfies featured strongly held opinions which I shockingly still agree with today!

In September I got drunk. And felt it.

What were you up to 11 years ago?

Comprehensive List of Places I’ve Traveled

I wanted to put together a list of places that I have traveled for myself and so that others can ask for travel tips. I love traveling more than anything else – there is nothing better than hanging out in a random cafe in a foreign country, completely cut off from your everyday reality. United States Alabama Maxwell Air Force Base Montgomery Mobile Arkansas Ozarks / Bentonville California San…