Tips and Tricks: Iced Coffee

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Ashley| 3 Comments

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This might seem surprising, but I was off coffee during most of my time as an undergrad in college.  I had been a coffee fiend during the later years of high school (as a result of SOMUCHWORK and the inherent “coolness factor” of going out for coffee with friends when you’re seventeen and can’t yet enjoy the bar scene).  However, sometime at the beginning of my first year of college I dropped the coffee.  I usually had late classes (woohoo 10am start) and a pretty manageable course load which consisted of reading lots of literature- which was kind of like heaven for me.  Also, we were in college.  So that means when you can spend money on coffee or alcohol, you’re going to pick alcohol, amiright?

So basically, I didn’t drink much coffee.  BUT THEN this past Christmas my boyfriend’s parents gave him (aka us) a beautiful lovely wonderful amazing coffee machine.  This thing is fancy, and OHSO convenient.  So of course I can’t just let le boyfriend drink sixteen cups of coffee a day without getting in on some of that sweet convenient caffeine.  You guessed it, I’m back on coffee.

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My reintroduction to coffee comes at a convenient time in my life, as I am embarking on a fall/spring of extreme business.  So hurray for caffeine!

So why the arduous story?  Well, I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but the summer heatwave is just now hitting Oakland and I have been melting all week.  Rather than forgo my helpful beverage, I decided to bust out the iced coffee.  And I know that some people make big batches of coffee and then stick them in the fridge so that they have cold coffee at the ready, but I am realllllllly bad about using all of the stuff in my fridge.  If I make coffee and then stick it in there I just KNOW that it’s going to be forgotten until November.  That place is a black hole.

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Alternately, some people have no problem dropping a few ice cubes in the coffee and then heading out the door.  But I am picky and I don’t want watered down coffee (it annoys me to no end when coffee shops do that…. it’s like, seriously? Did I just pay full price for a cup of ice?).  SO I decided to borrow a trick from a (smart, non-ripoff) coffee shop I went into once: coffee cubes.  Yes, that’s right, freeze coffee in an ice cube tray and you are good to go.

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And because they’re so cute and funky (I’m talking dollar tree ice trays that are tiki man faces) I definitely wont forget them in the freezer.  In fact, I might be in danger of drinking too much coffee just for the excitement of the little icemen.

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You don’t really need directions for this tip, but I’ll give ‘em anyway:
1. Brew up some coffee
2. Pour coffee into ice cub tray (I am a mess so I must do this over the sink or risk bunchofcoffeeonthefloor)
3. Wait a few hours or until next morning
4. Brew a cup of coffee
5. Add milk/cream/half and half/sugar/stevia/WHATEVER to your liking
6. Put some of those ice cubes in the coffee <——–MOST IMPORTANT STEP
7. Enjoy your cool, caffeinated life

Maybe you already knew this simple trick?  Have any more awesome coffee suggestions?  Like I said, I’ve been drinking coffee again and I am down with an excuse to fire up that coffee machine.  Enjoy!

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What Could be Better than Fruit? Add Alcohol!

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Ashley| Leave a comment

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Hola folks, it’s true, I’m actually back again! Surprising, eh?

Today I want to share a fabulous summer drink recipe that I could honestly drink all day erryday. Especially right in the middle of this sweaty summer.

It all started with these two posts my lovely mother put on her blog The Foodie Affair. They are both resplendent with watermelony goodness and as soon as I read them I was overcome with the need to drink all the watermelons in the world in tasty drink form.

The first one seduced me with its simplicity, and then the second with its alcohol content. Since I had neither tequila nor triple sec, but DID possess a tasty bottle of rum, I decided to go with the first recipe and booze it up.

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Since I had a birthday barbecue to attend I figured what better than gifts of boozy watermelon refreshment?

Check out my mom’s recipe. I followed it exactly (just quadrupled) and used her advice and skipped out on ice and froze the watermelon instead. Then I added some rum (arguably the most important change I could possibly make). Basically it was in typical recent-college-student-fashion: I added a shot for each serving then some extra splashes for good measure. My main squeeze Miguelito pointed out that since the recipe has coconut water it ostensibly cures the hangover before it even begins! (Did you know that coconut water cures the alcohol related ills? Srsly yo).

Needless to say this drink is a complete success. Fresh, bright, and easy as (boozy watermelon) pie! TRY IT

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CRAZY CAT LADY

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Ashley| 2 Comments

 

River Island cat jewelry, $1.56 / Meadowlark cat jewelry, $165 /

 

Okay I made myself wait a day to post this one.  I have so much to offer the world right now, I am trying to hold myself back so that I don’t overwhelm THEDRUNKSQUASH with too much wonder.  But seriously, this took so much effort to hold back on.

Anybody who knows me personally (IRL 4realz) knows that I am most definitely going to become a crazy cat lady.  I am already one at heart, but am currently apartment living rather than farm living and so cannot house one million kitties (I am also holding off on the chickens, goats, dogs, and sheep).  Also, my baby hamster would not be happy with a bunch of predators pawing her cage.  But regardless of the reality of my situation, I am unmistakeably a crazy cat lady at heart.

I have a cat vest at the bottom of my dresser drawer as we speak.  Haven’t worn it in a while.  But that is the key phrase: it in a while.  Yes, it’s been worn.

Anyways, the point of all of this cat lady pride is the fact that I have seriously been dying over the amount of cat rings out there in the internet shopping world.  I know some people wear them ironically, but I am one of those completely dead serious cat jewelry lovers.  As I was planning to bookmark some to save for Christmas List ideas, I realized that I don’t have the patience to wait until Christmas.  I want a cat ring and I want it now, as my soulmate Veruca Salt would say.

KITTY KAT

So instead of dying over the rings, I decided to get diying (haha GET IT?).  This is why craft clay is so amazing.  Check out the process, it basically consists of:

1.  Get a nugget-sized piece of clay and warm it in your hands.
2.  Roll the clay out until it’s about 1/4″ thick.  Or as thick as your fingers want a ring to be.
3.  Cut out cat ear shapes and round it out to make a cat face shape.  This is not exact science.
4.  Use a round pen cap (or like item) to create a guiding hole shape.
5.  Widen the hole.  If you have a ring mandrel, you can check for size periodically as you shave out the shape.  If you don’t have a ring mandrel, you can use a ring that you already have as a guideline.
6.  Bake according to clay directions.
7.  WEAR ALL DAY EVERY DAY.
STEPS
It can also be used as a weapon in lieu of brass knuckles if you’re walking home alone late at night.  I always think about the weapon capability of my rings.  In my humble opinion, rings should be both beautiful AND functional.  Or at least make you feel safe.  It’s like a cat security guard- which is something I have always wanted.
KITTEH
Anyways, this is getting weird.  JUST GO MAKE A CAT RING RIGHT MEOW, it just might be the best thing ever.

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I Have an Obsession

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Ashley| 5 Comments

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Forgive me, but you are about to enter into my weiird obsession.  If you are reading this right now, you have no choice, so just go with the flow.

So basically, here’s the deal.  I am obsessed with buying glasses.  I get all of those weird emails from Eyebuydirect and Coastal and Zenni (I swear that this is not an advertisement, it’s more like a confession- so search for them yourself if you have a problem too, I guess?).  And most of the time I can ignore them.  Most of the time I’m like, oh cool glasses sale whatev.  But sometimes, for no apparent reason except my mind is tuned to the SPENDMONEYONTHINGSYOUDON’TNEED channel, I am drawn to those advertisements like a near-sighted moth to a flame.

I spend hours- yes, I believe hours is correct- scouring the sites for the best frames.  Or the weirdest frames that I think I can pull off. And all of those sites have that funky function where you can upload a picture of yourself and then virtually “try-on” frames.  But no matter how you angle your head or light the picture you always look odd, so basically you just have to trust your gut or ask your boyfriend incessantly DOYOUTHINKTHISWILLLOOKGOODONMEEEE???

And that is why I have five, yes FIVE, pairs of glasses that all have the same prescription.  I have been meaning to store them in different places so that my near-sighted self is prepared for the contacts-less apocalypse.  I will be the most stylish zombie hunter.

And because I want to justify this obsession, or maybe just share the tip with some poor sap like me who wants to own all the glasses in the world, here they are.  The five glasses that I do not really need but still somehow justified buying/wearing:

BIZ CAZJHNORMSHIPSTAKOOKZWEIRD

The last pair is my personal “B-52s/Librarian” favorite.  But unfortunately they only really look okay on me if I have a tan, so they don’t get too much wear.  But who cares, because I LOVE THEM.

So yeah, there you go.  If you have an eyeglass obsession like me, don’t waste a hundred bucks on fancy ones from the store, seriously go spend $12 on a weird website for ninety million pairs.  They’re not fancy brands, but you will have a fancy face when you fight the zombies.  Like me.

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