What We're Made For

Sooo remember that post about a week ago where I talked about locking myself in a closet for 5 hours to force a song out? Well, it seems that psychotic discipline has paid off.

The song is complete! And although you may think it's slightly cheesy, I couldn't be prouder with the finished product. It's called "What We're Made For", and I think the message is fairly relevant right now. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's always relevant. When you're down in the dumps about the way people treat other people, you should give this song a listen.

If you'd like a FREE download (yeah, free) of the song, you can get it here: "What We're Made For"

This song is for my new friend, Sam, who so graciously donated to my Kickstarter project back in March. If you want to hear her amazing story and see me play it live, watch it here:

"What We're Made For"

People can be crazy
Yes, it's true
Everywhere, there's suffering
People struggling
People used

But I don't know if you've seen it
I don't know if you've seen what people do
When you need them most
They can surprise you

'Cause everyone will one day lose something
And no one's saved from all the pain
that comes with true living
I don't know if you know it
I don't know if you know what people bring
When you need them most
They'll give you everything

Like love
When your heart needs the warmth
And steady trust
When yours is broken, tired, and torn
When you've had enough
Don't you know
that people gather where it hurts?
That's what we're made for

People are exactly what you need
Fill up all your emptiness with words and warm bodies
Throw away all the pills
and take a dose of a visitor for free
Your lonely heart is waiting

For love
when your heart needs the warmth
And steady trust
When yours is broken, tired, and torn
When you've had enough
Don't you know
that people gather where it hurts?
That's what we're made for

Like love
When your heart needs the warmth
And steady trust
When yours is broken, tired, and torn
When you've had enough
Don't you know
that people gather where it hurts?
That's what we're made for
That's what we're made for

Interning in the Greatest City on Earth (in my opinion)

It's official.

I've just accepted an internship for the upcoming fall semester...

In NEW. YORK. CITY.

For those of you who might not know me super well, I absolutely love New York City and have always said that if I had the opportunity to live there (for even just a short amount of time), I would jump on it. This little lifelong dream became a reality a few months ago, when I was accepted into this wonderful program here at school called Belmont East. Along with about 25 fellow Belmont students (and NYC fanatics), I'll be traveling up on August 16th and staying through December.

Although I was accepted into the program awhile ago now, I think it has only just recently hit me that I will be living/studying/working/hanging out/eating/exploring/frolicking in the greatest city on earth. I keep sitting here thinking, NEW YORK CITY. ME? A WHOLE SEMESTER. WHAT?

As far as the internship goes, I couldn't be more excited! It's with a little sync/music licensing company located in the Financial District called Bank Robber Music (Heh, get it? Gotta love their humor already).

A sync/music licensing company may sound incredibly boring to you, however, it's anything but. These are the guys that pitch artists and their songs for film, TV, commercials, etc. It's the greatest job on earth. Not only does Bank Robber Music have an incredible artist roster (that includes Bon Iver, She & Him, The Tallest Man on Earth, Beirut, and M.Ward to name a few), but they have SO MANY great placements (ranging from music placed in Subaru commercials to episodes of Grey's Anatomy and House). They have a small team at Bank Robber Music, but they know what they're doing. And best of all, they all seem incredibly friendly and welcoming.

...The other awesome thing about this internship is that they only need me two days a week. So, the rest of the time, I can do all that eating/exploring/frolicking I was talking about. AH. Not real, right?!


Life can be so fantastic so often.

<3
Nat

Balanced Meal: Healthy Dinner and a Super Unhealthy Dessert

So, like practically every other girl in the United States, I have caught the Pinterest disease. Actually, it's a very persistent sickness... I've had it for over a year now, and I can't seem to shake it. I don't care who you are. At some point or another, you've probably found yourself wrapped up in the plethora of images linked to DIY projects, photography, fitness plans, motivational words and phrases, or delicious recipes. With the site's endless scrolling mechanism, it is oh, so easy to waste away hours of your day without even realizing it.

(Taking over the world, one pin at a time)

So, I admit it. I've got the disease.

In particular, I am addicted to the "Food & Drink" section of Pinterest. For someone who loves to cook, it is an absolute dream to have so many tasty recipes at your fingertips. Typically, I try to "pin" items that have a healthy flair to them (which can be difficult, when there are SO many jaw-dropping treats on there), but occasionally, I throw in something extra terrible for me, for those days when I just need some comfort food.

Yesterday was one of those days.

A chocolate dessert was a must. That I knew. But, to counterbalance this, I decided to make a healthy dinner.... which ended up being absolutely, ridiculously delicious.

I present to you: the recipe for Blackened Chicken with an Avocado Cream Sauce and Cilantro Lime Rice (original recipe can be found here. "Sarcastic Cooking" made quinoa instead of rice, but the grocery store near Bobby's house didn't have any, so I switched it to organic brown rice. Either will work!). I've had this recipe on my Pinterest "Eat Me" board for awhile now, and I am so glad I finally made it. The flavors balanced perfectly, and I will definitely be making this again.

(Don't be scared by the number of ingredients or amount of steps in the directions! This is super easy. Promise.)

Ingredients:

* 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 1/2 tsp paprika
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp pepper
* 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I didn't have this, so I used red pepper flakes instead to give it a little "kick". Next time, I will definitely use cayenne pepper, though. Not enough spice to it)
* 1/4 tsp onion powder
* 1/4 tsp cumin
* 1 tsp olive oil
* 2 cups low sodium chicken stock
* 1/2 cup water (if using rice instead of quinoa. If using quinoa, just stick to the chicken stock!)
* juice and zest from 1 lime
* dash of salt and peppa
* 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
* 1 avocado
* 2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt

Directions:

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Season both sides of the chicken with this mixture! Put the olive oil in a pan and heat on medium for a minute. Then, throw the chicken in and put the top on the pan. Let them cook for about 7 minutes on each side.

At the same time, put the chicken stock (and water, if making rice) in a pot. Cook on high until the stock and water come to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, pour the rice in, and leave with the lid on for about 30 minutes, or until all of the liquid has been absorbed. (If making quinoa, this will only take about 10 to 15 minutes, so watch it!).

After the chicken breasts are cooked all the way through, remove them from the heat, and let them sit for a few minutes before slicing them. Believe me, you want to wait. I almost burned the fingers on my left hand off. 

When the rice is done, add it to a large bowl. Throw in the lime zest, lime juice, salt & pepper, and chopped cilantro. Mix to combine. 

For the avocado sauce, just mash the avocado together with the Greek yogurt. If you want a "saucier" sauce, you can out these ingredients in a food processor. I like the chunks of avocado though, so I stuck with mashing.

That's it! Serve the blackened chicken over the rice, and serve the avocado sauce over the chicken. Healthy and beyond delicious. (Bobby went back for seconds, if that tells you anything). 

...And now is right about the time when things went from super healthy to super terrible for me. And it was the best decision I made yesterday. 

If you are an avid follower of the "Food & Drinks" section of Pinterest, you've probably seen this next recipe pop up over a half a million times. It's constantly there... beckoning you to break away from the healthy choices and indulge in its chocolate madness.

I present to you: Slutty Brownies. Yes. That's right. I didn't make the name up.. the original recipe comes from the blog, The Londoner, and I felt it wouldn't be right to change it. The whole thing is too good.

I must admit that before I went out for the ingredients yesterday afternoon, I thought to myself, "How can I make these healthy?" I spent about 10 minutes looking up alternatives to the Slutty Brownie recipe... but it didn't take long to quickly realize I was missing the whole point. These are meant to be unhealthy. Meant to be so chocolatey, your head should feel like it's exploding from the intense sugar rush. I decided I was crazy, and I put the healthy thoughts in my head to bed. 

Ingredients:

* 1 package chocolate chip cookie mix

* 1 package Oreos

* 1 package brownies

* oil

* butter

* eggs

* water

Directions:

Literally the easiest recipe in the world. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. First, make your cookie dough. Just follow the package instructions... and you will want to add a little more oil or water to the mixture, because it will be baking longer than usual. 

Smoosh the cookie dough into the bottom of a 9x9 pan. If you want to use parchment paper, go for it. I do that for an easy cleanup later. If not, make sure you grease it.

Next, place the Oreo cookies on top of the cookie dough.

Then, make the brownie mixture based on the package's instructions. Pour this on top of the Oreos, and place it in the oven.

Leave for about 30-45 minutes... I know that's a huge gap of time. But, The Londoner girl says hers take about 30 minutes. Mine, however, took 45 to completely bake all the way through. Just keep watching it, and you'll know it's done when a knife comes out clean!

Thanks for the cute plate, Paulie :)

Dundundun. There it is. In all its deliciousness. And if you love chocolate as much as I do (which might not be possible), you will be in heaven. Just a word to the wise, though: Don't eat any more than two in one sitting. I'm telling you, these babies are rich.

 

SORRY for such a long post! I just reallyyy wanted to share both of these today. They are both wonderful, and they both deserve a spotlight in the blog.

<3
Nat

The Art of Imperfect

Isn't this just wonderful?

It's stories like this that always seem to shake up my sometimes-too-rigid way of approaching art. And when I say art, I mean music... I was not blessed with the amazing visual creativity that this man possesses. As much as I would love to etch one of Degas' ballerina pieces into the peel of a banana, I just have to accept it will probably never happen. Not unless someone swaps brains with me. And hands.

               And I'm okay with that.

Right now, I'm in the middle of a gigantic creativity block. After not writing songs for over a year (for fear that I would love them too much and just have to add them to the "Savor" album I released recently), I've found it incredibly difficult to get back into the songwriting swing of things. I mean, I literally had to lock myself in a closet the other day and stay there for five hours (with the occasional food or bathroom break) until I finally came up with just the mere skeleton of a song.

Forgetting my excuse of not wanting to write even more songs for the album, another reason for this little lull could have something to do with this lifelong struggle I've had with always trying to make my music "perfect". I mean, I have always written songs for me and for the joy of it, but it's hard to forget that others are going to listen to the finished product and probably have some opinions about it. Did you see the movie Black Swan? Yeah. I did. And it slapped me in the face with the message that attempting to be "perfect" doesn't always end in your favor. I can get too wrapped up sometimes in trying to formulate a song to its absolute perfection. Who am I kidding? What does perfection even mean? There's always going to be at least one person that doesn't like what you do. Does that mean it's imperfect?

But, watching that little video up there makes me remember (just as Black Swan did) that it doesn't matter. Don't matter. Nope. No way. No how. "Perfection" is just a ridiculous word. And besides, how cool is the art of imperfection? Way cool. It's like the girl we all envied in high school that seemed to always look so incredibly fashionable yet claimed she literally just "rolled out of bed and put something on". Cool.

Lastly, to wrap up this ridiculous creativity/art/perfection/imperfection rant I'm on, let's talk about you. And me. And he. And she. And everyone everywhere. I know this is going to sound "overdone" and "cheesy", but each and every one of us was blessed with some form of art. It's there. Promiseee. It just might be hard to recognize.

        For instance, my brother has this amazing ability to play practically any instrument you throw at him. He can hear a song one time and immediately turn around and knock it out.
        I have friends who can draw masterpieces (just like Mr. Hansen up there!). I can describe to you what a Bengal tiger looks like, but I can almost guarantee I won't be able to highlight the details (such as the exact shape of the nose or the proper curve of the whiskers) like they can. 
        There are those that can communicate effortlessly. (And in multiple languages, too).
        Others (like my mother) always seem to give the best advice, no matter what the advice is for. 
        Something I was definitely not blessed with is athleticism (unless you count the one time I beat out a bunch of other extremely young kids in my tennis class for a Krispy Kreme gift card), but some excel in sports (there's a kid from my high school who was just signed with a pro baseball team.. how cool is that??). 
        I have encountered people in my life that are far funnier than I could ever hope to be. They have an effortless wit that can put an entire room in stitches (good stitches). Never thought of this as an art? Might be one of the best ones, actually.
        I mean, even my dog, Yogi, possesses an art. He can kick a ball with his head better than I can with my foot. 

There you have it. Take it or leave it. Love it or hate it. I just woke up from a weird nap, so I could read all of this later and question my sanity. But for now, I'll just wish you all happy evening.


<3 Nat

Lake George

Everyone needs a place like this:

A place that isn't necessarily "home", but feels like it every time you visit, no matter how long it's been since the last time. A place that holds so many precious memories. A place that doesn't need to beg for you to want to introduce it to other people... you love it so much, you want everyone to experience it.

Okay. Enough of the Nicholas Sparks descriptions. 

Like I said, everyone needs to have a place like this. And for me, that place is Lake George, New York. Just look at that photo. There it is. In the flesh. In all its glory.

Okay, okay. So, Lake George may not have anything on the postcard beauty of a Lake Louise or the tranquility of a Lake Matheson... but it is so very near and dear to my heart. And that's way more important. (And look how beautiful that sunset is! Just put an extravagant, little cottage on one of those islands, and Thomas Kinkade couldn't resist painting a masterpiece).

I've been visiting Lake George every summer from the moment I was born, and I don't plan on ditching that tradition anytime soon. My wonderful grandparents (Grammy and Grandpappy) live a mere ten minutes from the village, and every year, my family makes the trek up to visit.  (Ps- Just so you know, my grandparents are the coolest. They have their own website: Check it out here).

There we are. In the flesh. In all our glory. Unfortunately, we were missing quite a few people this year. Some of my cousins won't be there for another week or so, and my uncle wasn't there yet because of business. But, this ragtag group before you still made the most of the trip. It's impossible not to have a fantastic time in Lake George.

Now, on to why Lake George is so awesome. Here's a mini description of our adventures this past weekend:

The absolute first thing we do every year when we arrive is eat a giant, heaping plateful of Belle's Spaghetti. Belle was my great-grandmother, and her recipe for spaghetti is, hands down, one of the best. Ever. Just look at the chaos ensuing in the photo below. The food had literally just been placed on the table. My grammy doesn't even know what to do with herself.

I know you are drooling on your keyboard right now. The incredible photo quality just really makes the spaghetti shine here. But have no fear. One day soon, I will post the recipe for this delectable dinner. 

Another unbreakable tradition is the daily (sometimes twice daily) trip to Martha's Dandee Cream. This ice cream oasis is famous for their smooth and creamy soft serve as well as their incredible array of toppings and insanely large portions. They've been featured on the Today Show. That's how good this stuff is. My go-to order is my own, mini version of a Double Chocolate, Double Fudge, Raspberry Truffle Sundae (say that ten times fast, whydontcha?). It is heaven in soft serve form.

There it is on the left. (Pardon the strange face I decided to make). And there's Bobby with his Mint Chocolate Twist ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. Mine is a kiddie size. You don't even want to know what the large looks like.

I know it might seem like our Lake George traditions center exclusively around food, but I promise we add some strenuous physical activity to our agenda every year as well.

Case in point: mini golfing at Around the World. 

Thanks for the guest appearance, Bobby.

Around the World Mini Golf is definitely the best mini golf course I have ever been to in my entire 21 years of life (and I've done a lot of mini golfing, lemme tell ya). It was even featured in a Yahoo article based on the top mini golfing courses in the United States. Impressive, right?

There are two course options to choose from when you get there: Either the traditional, "Around the World" side, or the "Around the United States" side. Both are pretty great, although, this year, we decided that "Around the World" was better. I'm pretty sure we change our mind on the "best side" every year. 

Time to quit the chitchat. Let's get down to the question I know you are all itching to have answered: Who won?

I don't want to brag, but I'm going to. I rarely ever win in mini golf. We played three times in total while we were in Lake George, and I don't know what was going on (maybe everyone else forgot to take their mini golf vitamins?), but I won. Every. Single. Time. If this whole music thing doesn't work out, I may consider going pro. 

There ya go. Just a little taste (see what I did there?) of our 2012 Lake George Adventures. There's much more to Lake George than I could ever cram into a blog post, but I hope you can see why it's so special to me.

And if this blog post doesn't prove anything to you, then maybe you want to check out the song that I wrote recently about Lake George.

You can listen to "Lake George" and get a FREE download of the track here.

And here's the semi-rough live version, if you want to get a kick out of me awkwardly talking to a Macbook computer camera:

Happy listening,

Nat :)


Ps- Check out how stylish my brother is. He saw this in a shop in Lake George Village, and couldn't resist.

 

Don't forget: YOLO.

Party Dip and Cobbler Slabs

Okay, I know I published my first post only a few hours ago... but that was a mere introduction. I didn't want to unleash this puppy into the wild, wild world without first posting something about food. So, here we go!

Unless you live under a large boulder, you should be able to recall that yesterday was July 4th. (Hopefully you can recall this).

We (along with many other patriotic citizens) decided to have a little celebration. 4th of July is my boyfriend's favorite holiday... I mean, I'm pretty sure he enjoys it more than Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. That calls for a celebration. 

Secretly, I was just excited to have an excuse to make my bean dip (that I literally make for almost every event involving more than 6 people) and my dad's blueberry cobbler. I've had a lot of people ask me how to make the former, and although it's probably the easiest recipe (if it can even be considered a recipe), I thought it would be nice to post it here. I'm also posting my recipes on here just in case I ever completely lose my mind and need a refresher.

EDIT: I COMPLETELY forgot to give credit to my wonderful Aunt Paula for this bean dip recipe! She is the one who introduced this deliciousness to me many, many years ago. :)

PARTAY DIP

Makes 1 bowl of delicious dip. Feeds about 10 people. For about 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

* 1 can white corn, drained (make sure it's WHITE corn, not yellow)

* 1 can black beans, drained

* 1/2 cup Italian dressing 

* 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

* 1/4 cup chopped green onions (scallions)

Directions:

Literally just throw all of these ingredients in a bowl and mix them around. Let it sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes to meld all of the flavors together. Serve with tortilla chips.

Easiest recipe in the world. AND IT IS SO GOOD. Seriously. So. good. And so addicting. (And what makes it even better is that it is much much healthier for you than many other dips out there). 

Anddd, because I am feeling extra patriotic (and because I really just want/need to document this for my own self), I'm going to share my dad's blueberry cobbler recipe with you. It is also SO GOOD. My dad used to make this every summer... his version calls for a lot more butter and sugar, and because I usually eat the entire batch, I decided to tame it down a bit and add more blueberries. The result? Delish (and slightly healthier). 

Here it is! From my wonderful father to you. 

DAD'S DELICIOUS BLUEBERRY COBBLER

Makes about 20 slabs of cobbler. Mmm... cobbler slabs. 

Ingredients:

* 1 stick butter

* 1 1/2 cups sugar

* 2 cups all purpose flour

* 1 cup milk

* 3 pints blueberries (2 pints if you want more "cobbler" and less "blueberry")

* 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

* couple dashes of cinnamon

* creamy vanilla ice cream (or, if you're trying to be even healthier, whipped topping)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt stick of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. In a bowl, mix together sugar, flour, milk, blueberries, vanilla, and cinnamon. Blend until it is the consistency of pancake batter. Add more milk if need be! Take this delicious batter and blend it with the melted butter. Pour this new batter into a 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean and the top is slightly browned. For optimal deliciousness, serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

Hehe.

That's it. One real post. Two real recipes. BOOM.

Hope you all had a safe and fantastic Fourth!

<3 Nat.

I have jumped on the blogwagon.

You are now reading the very first post of my very first blog. Ever. Seeing as, in this day in age, there are blogs written by everyone and for everything, I consider this a defining moment in my life. (Okay, maybe not super defining... but this whole process does kind of terrify me a bit).

You might be wondering: Why? Why is she writing a blog? What could she possibly blog about that I would need to stop everything I'm doing for about four and half minutes to read what she has to say?

Really, the answer is very simple. You don't have to read this. I'm not going to hunt you down and force you to read my every word. I'm only doing this for fun!

If you enjoy reading about the life adventures, delicious (and sometimes failed) recipes and maybe-not-always-so-interesting-thoughts of a happy, 21-year-old singer/songwriter, then this is the blog for you! If not, I completely understand... that's kind of a lot to take in.

Recently, I've had a lot of people come to me asking for certain recipes of mine, so if anything, this can be a place where I post those. I'm also leaving on August 16th for an entire semester in the fabulous land of New York City, so this will be where I talk about those exciting adventures. And I'll post about music endeavors as well. Just a hodgepodge of information to throw at you!

 

To wrap up this little (first ever!) post, I would like to explain the title of my blog. The words, "give every moment a taste", are actually lyrics from one of my old songs, "Nine Lives". I thought the whole "taste thing" went well with my whole "recipe thing".

I know, I know... suppeerrrr cheesy. But think of it this way: Reading my blog can satisfy one of your three servings of dairy daily.


Badumpcha! Man, I am on a roll today.




... Hope this didn't scare you away. Have a lovely, lovely afternoon!
<3 Nat.