Obsessed with Overnight Oats

We all want the same thing on weekday mornings: quick, easy breakfast that also tastes gourmet. And when you’re left with either a bowl of Lucky Charms (minus the charms, because you ate them all) or a piece of toast with peanut butter, it’s hard to think that either of those is inherently gourmet. Insert: overnight oats. This Pinterest trend was something I always overlooked. Months ago, when I first saw a pin about it, I thought it seemed strange to eat oats that hadn’t been heated up with water in the microwave. Furthermore, my oats expertise hadn’t diverged much from Dinosaur Eggs oatmeal, the OG oatmeal of my childhood. But overnight oats are on the rise, so I decided to give them a try. And I’m SO glad I did.

Overnight oats are the perfect easy meal, and it’s portable for those mornings when you really need your breakfast on-the-go. I’m also a fan of the fact that you can mix and match ingredients to your liking. My favorite: blueberries. Blueberries are perfectly in season right now, and they’re just so delicious.

Necessary for making overnight oats: use steel cut oats instead of rolled oats for a much less soggy morning crunch.

Take my advice and take a leap of good faith. These oats take seconds to prepare the night before, and taste like a party in your mouth the next morning.

 

Simple Overnight Oats

Yields 1 Serving

Prep time: 3 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup steel cut oats (I used Quaker)
• 1/3 cup 2% milk
• 2 spoonfuls vanilla greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
• 1/2 cup (or more) blueberries
• Sprinkle of brown sugar (I used Domino pourable brown sugar)

Directions:

• Combine oats, milk, yogurt and berries in that order in a mason jar. Tighten lid on mason jar and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, sprinkle on brown sugar, and enjoy cold!

Home Decor Wishlist

Living in a sublet sucks. Well, let me clarify my statement. It doesn’t really suck that much when you have pretty cool roommates and a great room. It’s just not fun when half of your belongings are still packed away in Sterilite containers, all the furniture in your room technically isn’t yours, and you don’t know where you’re going to be after three months from now. So yeah, that sucks.

The interior decorating and DIY guru inside of me NEEDS to be satisfied. And due to my inability to decorate my bedroom now, I’ve been spending WAY too much time on Pinterest and on home decor blogs.

I’m stuck with the satisfaction of decorating a virtual pin board instead of DIYing my own decor and making myself at home. Here’s a look at my current obsessions and desires: AKA my home decor wishlist as described by near perfection from Pinterest.

1. A Makeup VanityI used to have a built-in standing vanity in my last apartment. It was everything ANY beauty lover would want. And now that I’ve moved, it looks like I’m going to have to invest in a sitting vanity. I want one that can double as a work station (aka enough room for my laptop and maybe some folders), but stylish enough to be decorational as well.

   

    

2. A Coffee CartJorge and I are both avid coffee drinkers. Our coffee guzzling lifestyle NEEDS to be fulfilled with a fully functioning coffee cart that houses our numerous mugs and the Nespresso maker that I might one day be able to afford. Plus, DAMN, they are so cute.

   

    

3. New Throw Pillows 

   I LOVE throw pillows. The more, the merrier. At my last apartment, before I moved in with my boyfriend, I had several gray throw pillows that matched my crisp white bedding. In our new apartment, however, Jorge and I bought a new dark gray comforter and this comforter deserves new throw pillow covers.

    

4. A Reading NookEvery perfect bedroom  has a cozy reading nook where you can curl up with a novel at the end of a tough workday or you can read the best of the style section in the Times on a Sunday morning. And I totally know that I’m WAY ahead of myself (rather, my salary) when I say that I want a reading nook. But it’s worth the splurge for a comfy chair, a throw blanket and some soft pillows.

   

The Diner Diary: Brunch at 983

I’m a brunch kind of person. So when Jorge and I woke up this past Sunday morning, there was no doubt that we wanted to find a brunch place, and STAT.

After an intensive research of our neighborhood’s brunch spots (AKA a quick Google search), we found a place nearby that had chicken and waffles, one of Jorge’s favorites. Reviews on the restaurant, 983, said it was an affordable spot, so we were sold.

Affordable it was indeed. The menu ranged from classic sweet items like pancakes and french toast to more savory brunch items like breakfast sandwiches, scramblers and salads. The best part: everything was around $10, AND the coffee was cheap as well as delicious.

I settled on an order of strawberry pancakes and a coffee, while Jorge ordered his chicken and waffles and a coffee.

While waiting for our food, we couldn’t resist from people watching. The foodies at 983 are classic Bushwick hipsters with full beards and tasteful outfits. But even better than the foodies is 983’s ambiance. Trademarked as “Bushwick’s Living Room”, the ambiance is unexpectedly chic, with a bar that extends the length of the restaurant and a wide array of art strewn across the walls.

This spot is without a doubt a new favorite. Affordable and fun: it’s the perfect recipe for a Sunday brunch.

The Diner Diary: La Lupe

It’s hard to find restaurants that serve good Mexican food. And even after finding this nearby restaurant, La Lupe, I still have a long way to go to find something that tastes up to par with my old favorites from both Colorado and the hole-in-the-wall I loved in Madison, Wisconsin (#SO to Taqueria Guadalajara). When Jorge and I walked by this place on our first day in town after moving to Brooklyn, we were both excited to try it. The restaurant is a tiny but seemingly well respected joint on the corner of Jefferson and Myrtle Ave.

I ordered a margarita, two chicken tacos and one carne asada taco. Jorge ordered a beer and two of their chicken flautas. Together, we grabbed an order of elote and some chips and guac to share. All in all, it was a pretty expensive meal (for two young poor recent college grads), but we were able to get a really good feel for the food and what was the restaurant’s best to offer.

For starters, the tacos were delicious: a warm corn tortilla shell with fresh meat and a salad of veggies on top. The chips and guac, though, might have been my favorite of the bunch. It’s hard to mess up guacamole. Because really, it’s avocados. But this guacamole is fresh, creamy and full of cilantro flavor.

The elote was a new experience for both of us. Jorge grew up eating elote and introduced me to the Mexican street corn delicacy sometime last year. This elote was VERY different from the few kinds  I’ve had in the past. For starters, it was grilled and sweet. There was more of a peppery spice to it rather than a chile kick. And although there was still a creamy mayo taste, there wasn’t any butter to give it that deep finish. Still, though, it wasn’t bad. It was just different.

Finally, I can’t forget to talk about the margs. I’ve been on a strange margarita kick for the past couple weeks, and this one was delightful. The tequila wasn’t overbearing, and the salt rim had different spices added on for extra flavor. I’m just regretting the fact that we chose to go to the restaurant on a Saturday evening instead of hitting it up during the weekday when they have $5 margaritas during happy hour (keeping that in mind for next time FOR SHORE).

Although I’m not one to put things on a rating system, I’d have to guess that I might give this restaurant a 3.325 out of 5 stars. But that’s just an estimate.

Top 5 Illuminating Products for Summer

I cannot put into words how happy I am that the whole “Matte Makeup” craze is over. I have VERY dry skin, and mattifying products make my skin look flaky, patchy and cakey. Enter: illuminating, dewy makeup. This trend is nothing new, but the spring into summer timing right now is absolutely ideal for creating a fresh summer glow without any side effects of unnecessary sweat. I can’t hide my love for illuminating products any longer. So here we go: these are my five ride-or-die products for achieving a subtle nourishing shine.

 
1. TooFaced Hangover Primer

Cost: $32.00

When I got a sample of this primer in one of my monthly makeup subscriptions, I thought it was just another dumb sample of silicone-like primer. Boy was I wrong. This primer is a complete savior for dry skin, and it is going to be the most wonderful base for the summer when you want your makeup to stay but you still want an illuminating look to your skin. This product definitely does both.

 

2. Laneige BB Cushion Foundation

Cost: $34.00

Cushion foundations are EVERYTHING at the moment. And when I jumped on the cushion train a couple months ago, I wanted to make sure that I was investing in the best one for my shade and skin type. Laneige products are sold at Target, and despite their drugstore nature, the price point is far from. However, at a closer look, this foundation is a steal for the price: you get not only one, but TWO cushions in one package. So basically each foundation is only $17 each. Not bad. Other benefits of this product: the light-coverage foundation has a subtle but pleasant scent, a moisturizing finish and a nice feel on the skin (never oily).

 

3. Wet n Wild Color Icon Bronzer (Reserve Your Cabana)

Cost: $3.99

This is the strangest product. Labelled as a bronzer, but tinted more like a highlighter, I would compare it to more of a BECCA shimmering skin protector dupe at a fraction of the cost ($4 vs. $20). My favorite way to wear this product is after my foundation and concealer. I go in with a powder brush very light handed all over the face and then finish with a translucent powder on top.

 

4. NYX Baked Blush + Illuminator + Bronzer (Wanderlust)

Cost: $7.00

This product is the newest to me out of this bunch. I’m definitely NO stranger to blushes, and it seems like my collection of blushes is never-ending. This blush is seriously perfect though: with one swipe on the apples and high points of the cheek, I can get an illuminating fresh peachy glow. This is a great product for lazier days or those “I overslept and need SOMETHING to look awake” days (those happen far too often for me).

 

5. Makeup Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter (Peach Lights)

Cost: $6.00

Finding the perfect highlighter is tricky, especially when you’re on a fresh-out-of-college budget and don’t have $$$$ for BECCA x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Pop or Hourglass’s Ambient Lighting Palette. This baked highlighter has been doing a pretty good job for the low price point. I like applying this product VERY LAST, even after my setting spray, so that it really pops on my skin. A fan brush or the side of a blush brush does the trick, just make sure to really get a lot of product on the brush since this is not a very pigmented highlighter.