To Bake or Not To Bake

Often times during the summer I find myself wandering around my home trying to keep myself busy. Waking up at half past noon, settling into the deep and dark crevices of the couch, and boring my eyes into the screen of my computer that's discovering information that will never in my life help me is not exactly the model of a productive summer.

I've never been one to join week-long camps, and if I ever travel, it's only for a day or two, or in my case a momentary distraction from my ever so boring summer. For the past few summers, my "vacation time" has hardly seen beach, sunlight, or travel but rather library visits, 16 hours of Tivo to watch, and a forever disheveled bed.

After two weeks of this nonsense during this current summer, I decided to make a change.

One day while in the dark depths of my living room couch, I came across Food Network. After watching thirty minutes of Paula Deen's fantastic southern cooking ( and of course, quietly laughing to myself about the amounts of butter found in her recipes ) did I decide to try the culinary crafts myself. I quickly climbed out of my coffin, I mean couch, and pulled up a recipe online for Cinnamon muffins. Before you know it, I was actually using my legs and creating the creamy, brown batter that I promptly poured into the baking cups.

Only after I had sprinkled the last bits of cinnamon and placed the muffin tray in the oven did I realize how much I loved working around the kitchen. My parents has always been great cooks, always preparing a home made meal even if it was past the regular dinner time, but it had never occurred to me to try to cook or bake myself. You couldn't imagine my joy when my family complimented my work on the muffins when I offered them as a little after dinner treat! I was beyond delighted, and I swore to myself at that moment that I would never return to the sluggish and lazy state I was in earlier that day.

Today i've mastered various recipes, from blueberry pie to cinnamon roles, and i've enjoyed every minute i've spent in the kitchen. I have finally found a hobby that I genuinely love, and apparently other people too! My mother can't stop asking me to bake, and I'm always happy to oblige to her request.

Now, I've had my eye on Paula Deen's recipe for strawberry & cream pie and I intend to master it today! But first, I'm gonna need to do some math to reduce that butter measurement . . .

Rated M for Most People

Now-of-days you may hear of children being hurt or sent to jail for repeating things they’ve seen on video games, but should the fault for their behavior go to the games or just to the people who play them. For some odd reason, many people believe that video games have little cultural value and contribute to aggressive, violent behavior, but in reality, or how I see it, it actually is helping the world move along.

Video games are just a misunderstood art form that brings out the truth in our hearts while “having a good time.” These games no longer deserve to be considered a “child’s diversion,” as many teachers call them, but they should be seen as a valuable educational tool. That explains why video games are being used as part of a course at UCLA that involves observing artificial realities in hopes of gaining a glimpse into our anthropological beginnings.

As I see it, the games of today are rarely one-sided. They all aren’t just telling you to shoot this person and steal that car, but they run more on a system of morality. They don’t just force you to do all bad or do all good; instead they let you make the decision, choosing a path of good or evil, whichever suits you. You have the choice to help people out as you go about your adventure or to kill anyone in your way just because you needed to blow off some steam. These games aren’t brainwashing the youth of today, they’re unmasking the evil in their hearts.

I understand that there are games out there that are pretty much one-sided, for example the grand thief auto game series, that is all about doing bad and all you do is bad things. But think about how your children are introduced to these games; is it the game companies allowing the children to play? No, it’s their job to make the game and provide a label that suggests the age limits for these games, not to keep them from your children. It’s the job of the parents to keep whatever they don’t want in their child’s life out and if they do a bad job at it then it’s just oh well, deal with it.

Many workers benefit from video game training since video games can enhance visual-motor skills, hand-eye coordination and visual attention. One of these jobs is being a laparoscopic surgeon, who is a surgeon who uses a technique in which operations in the stomach are performed through small incisions. It has been proven in an article, “The Cognitive Neuroscience of Video Games,” that surgeons who played video games more than 3 hours per week had 37% fewer errors, were 27% faster with using the drill and 33% better at task than those who didn’t play video games. That shows that better video game skills equal better work skills.

Video games have proven they’ve done more good than bad in its lifetime so far. So do games have little cultural value and contribute to aggressive, even violent, behavior like many believe? Looks like the answer to that questions just might be no.

Sweet Summer Travels

Traveling is my passion, I love to see how different people and places are just a few miles away or across oceans.

Just a couple of weeks before school ended I spent a few days in St. Augustine which made my urge to travel grow and made me be set on traveling as much as I can this summer. I fell in love with the Old City and made sure to remember every bit of its fascinating history.

The culture up there is so different from what we have here in Broward, it's a different world altogether! But it is beautiful, everyone is extremely nice and helpful, and it gives you a glimpse back into the past and as to how the Spanish used to be. Definitely a place to check out for any history buffs out there. I fell so in love with the city I'm even considering applying for their college.

We're already a few weeks into our summer vacation and I've already started my travels and planned more for the weeks up ahead.

The first week of the summer started with a trip to Orlando and the surrounding area. Everyone loves Orlando because of Disney World, of course, but this time I wanted to see how the city is from a local's point of view. My family and I ate and shopped at local places whose profit doesn't directly come from tourism. The hospitality was still there though, and that's something I really love about Orlando. Whether in the middle of the tourism market, or on the outskirts hanging with the locals, the warm feeling and treatment of the people never changes.

Now I'm getting ready for a trip down to Key West this Sunday. I'm taking a tour of the city with my dad, always fun to travel with him. He is a person who loves traveling close to how much I do. I'm hoping the trip turns out great and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures (another one of my passions)!

Treats and Eats

With the first month of summer coming to a close, I have to say that so far, it's been pretty fun. Not to mention, it's also been relaxing. I mean after all the stress from the SATs and boatloads of school work, I finally get to sleep until 12:00 p.m. in peace.

After going through an extremely boring summer last year, I made sure that this summer would be filled with new experiences that would appeal to my trendy personality. I thought there would be no better way to kick off this summer than go out with my cousin for her sweet 16th birthday, which was exactly two weeks ago.

My cousin decided that she wanted to have a spa day with all her close friends, so we all went to Contour Day Spa in Plantation, FL. I personally never been to a spa before and I absolutely loved it! The staff and service were amazing. After getting a massage, manicure and pedicure, I forgot that it wasn't my birthday (it sure did feel like it).

After the spa, we headed to the Cheesecake Cake Factory in Sawgrass Mills. This was the first time I had been here as well and I have to say, it wasn't at all what I thought it was. I've had the cheesecake there plenty of times before (yum!!), I just never dined and ate there. The service wasn't that great and several orders were messed up, but for the most part, I'm happy that I was able to go to a new place.

Today was another first for me. I finally went shopping at the Shops at Pembroke Gardens. Despite the sudden down pour of rain, it was a treat for me, after all there's nothing I love more than fashion.

While there, I also got to eat at the Asian restaurant, Stir Crazy. Unlike my experience at Cheesecake Factory, the service at Stir Crazy was great and the food was even greater. I personally recommend the Sweet & Spicy chicken and the Teriyaki chicken.

Here's the link to my blog! I'm not constantly updating it, but I wanted to try and make it like tumblr. xo

http://rachelepstein11.blogspot.com/

The Southern Most Point Soothes

The school year is finally over, and the buzz of summer is taking control. I have high expectations for the upcoming two months: I plan on sleeping in as often as I can, but still have a blast.


This past school year I've worked extra hard, and I'm so glad that I finally have a break from all of the pressures of the FCAT, etc. Next week my family and I are going to Key West for a few days just to relax and see the sights once more. Key West is one of my favorite places in the world, and here's why:

It has that New York City vibe, a small island packed with people and shops on every corner. The sights and sounds are a playground for the senses, everywhere you turn there's a guy on stilts or chickens happily strutting around.

There's a lot of cool places to visit, like Ernest Hemingway's House (filled with six toed cats), The Truman Annex, and Duval Street which is filled with awesome shops.

I've been to Key West many times, but I've never been on a haunted tour. Personally, I love learning about the paranormal, so the tour that I'm going to take with my stepdad is definitely going to be one of my highlights of the trip. I want to meet Robert the Doll, who's supposedly possessed.

Ghost Tours aside, Key West is truly a relaxing place. I plan on just chilling on the beach and soaking up some sun.

History Bowls and Freddie Mercury

(http://www.allthetests.com/quiz23/picture/pic_1197252008_8.jpg)

So I'm a bit on the nerdy side and decided to go to a History Bowl a few weekends ago with some friends for no real apparent reason other than that we had nothing to lose.

All we really wanted to do was get at least one question right and not embarrass ourselves or our school.

We didn't study or really take it seriously, but once we beat the first team that we played against, we figured that we at least had a shot at doing some serious damage in the competition.

Although we got creamed by the second team we played (you could tell that they studied for history all the time, they knew every answer), we won 3 and lost 2 rounds.

Somehow we managed to semi-final and got to play one last round against the school that we got creamed by. However, we played their B team which was different from their A team that we originally played.

They were a really good team, so we were a bit apprehensive to say the least.

We actually held our own against them, with one of their teammates saying at one point, "They just did a 50 point sweep..."

We were all on edge, hoping that by some chance we could maybe beat them.

The reader started reading this question about a man who was born in Zanzibar before moving to India and learning piano before moving to England and starting a band... somethingsometing Sheer Heart Attack... somethingsomething died in 1991 of AIDS...

I hit the buzzer so hard and yelled, "Freddie Mercury from Queen!!!!!!"

Out of all the pop culture questions to ask, they asked one that I had just read about a month before.

I was ecstatic that my knowledge of Queen-- one of the greatest bands to ever exist-- could come in handy in an academic competition.

Recommended song(s): Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites the Dust, Don't Stop Me Now