Vivian Vana Stevens
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I'm Vana, and this is my blog.


Homemade Kolaches & Klobasneks

6/24/2020

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Growing up in Texas, Kolaches were always a staple for Adam and I. From local donut shops to the Kolache factory, and our favorite stop the Czech Stop Bakery in West, Texas, we have grown up with the idea of Kolaches being Sausage or Sausage and Cheese in a roll, what others might call a pig in a blanket. It wasn't until recently that we learned Kolaches are actually meant to be the same dough recipe but filled with fruit, chocolate, and more dessert-flavors. Our "traditional kolache" was actually considered a klobasnek, which is when the kolache contains meat and cheese. According to some sources, Kolaches migrated to the U.S. with Czech immigrants, while it is belived that immigrated Czech Texans that created the Klobasnek, or the "sausage kolache", while already in Texas. In some areas of Texas "kolache" is the blanket term for all of them, in other areas it is a point of controversy. In fact, in some areas north of Dallas they are just called "pig in a blanket" to avoid ruffling feathers, while more Central Texas is known for calling them by the regular terms. 

With a rich culture and something so close to home, Adam and I have missed the classic klobasneks from Texas and make a point to stop by a donut shop (or the Czech Stop itself) and have been working to make our own. Below is a recipe we tried out this week (our 3rd attempt, and the best one yet!). We really tried to diversify our options by making a deli turkey and garlic cheese option, a BBQ chicken and Gouda cheese option, a Bacon and Cheddar cheese option, a coffee cinnamon option, and a mixed berry option. Check out how to make your own below.
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Kolaches and Klobasneks

Ingredients for Bread (30 Kolaches):
6 to 6&1/2 Cups of Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Salt
4 Egg Yolks - room temperature
         (Keep egg whites in a separate bowl)
2 Packets Active Dry Yeast (1/4 ounce each)
​2 Cups Warm Milk (we used almond milk)
1/4 Cup Softened Butter
Ingredients for Fillings:
BBQ Chicken
         1/2 Cup baked/grilled chicken
         1/4 cup Diced Gouda cheese
         1 Tbs bbq sauce
Turkey
          Chopped deli turkey
          Diced garlic white cheddar cheese
Bacon
           Diced Bacon Cheddar Cheese
Fruit
            1/2 Cup Blueberries
            1/4 Cup Blackberries
             2 Tbs Strawberry Jam
             1/2 Cup Sugar
             1 Tbs Butter
             1 tsp Cornstarch
1. Pour the yeast into a bowl with 1 Tbs of sugar, then add warm milk and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
​2. In a separate bowl combine 2 cups of flour, butter, remaining sugar and egg yolks. As it finishes, add in yeast/milk and mix until smooth. We put it in our Kitchen Aid mixer with our dough hook at this point and then slowly added the remaining 4 cups of flour; but you can slow mix it in yourself and then hand knead it for 7 or so minutes.
3. Place dough in a greased bowl and grease the top of the dough as well. Cover and let it rise on the counter for 1 hour.
4. Punch and re-knead the dough, then re-cover and let sit for another hour.
5. After, on a clean and floured surface roll out dough until it is 1/4 to 1/2 inch of thickness.
6.We cut and then re-rolled some of the pieces to make the pieces thinner but you can also leave it thicker and cut bigger pieces.
7. For the meat Klobasneks we placed them on one end of the dough pieces and folded in the corners as we rolled them up to make slightly longer and thinner rolls.
8. For the fruit kolaches we left them in their squares for the time being.
9. After all the Klobasneks were finished, we let them sit on the counter for another 45 minutes to rise. Then, we pre-heated the oven to Bake at 350F and prepared an egg wash with the egg whites by slightly beating them.
10. We used a small glass to press down the centers of the squares, and then added 1 Tbs of fruit filling to each one. Then, we went over all of them (fruit and meat) with a light egg wash brush.
11. We baked all of the warm and delicious kolaches and klobasneks for 15 minutes (or until golden brown) before removing to cool.
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Balcony Gardening

6/18/2020

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In light of social distancing/quarantine Adam and I have gotten really into fixing up/beautifying our apartment. We recently re-signed our lease and this will be the first place we've stayed in for over a year together, so we are excited to not have to move this summer! One thing on the docket was starting a small balcony garden and fixing up our balcony in general. After a fun trip to Lowe's here are some of the things we decided to plant:

1. Summer Squash

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2. Green Bell Pepper

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3. Lemon Thyme

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4. Basil

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5. Watermelon

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6. Country Park Pratia

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Next I wanted to go over a few tips and tricks for making your own balcony garden at home! Especially for all of the apartment-dwellers. Check them out below:

1. Look for plants that grow well in your area

So some plants are pretty safe in most areas, one that I've found easy to grow almost anywhere is Basil, but other plants can be a bit trickier. One in particular is flowers - when it comes to selecting flowers looking at not just area and times of year they grow, but the minimum and maximum heats can also be valuable to consider. For instance - a lot of flowers we looked at told us that they should be planted after the last freeze of the year. So spring-summer is what we assumed.

What we did not realize until doing a bit more research is that the flowers won't live past the 80F temperature point. In Oklahoma we have been in 90-100F weather for almost a month now, so it is no wonder those plants weren't responding well! So make sure to double check your plants' temperature range when selecting what will grow best on your balcony.

2. Evaluate length of sunshine

A big part of our plants growing has been looking at how much sunshine they get in a day. Our porch gets little to no sunlight before 2pm, but from 2pm-8pm it gets partial to direct sunlight, so plants that can grow successfully in 6 hours or less sunlight a day are ideal for our balcony. A balcony on the other side of the building gets pretty active sunlight from 7am-1pm, opening them up to a different range of plants to choose from. 

3. Don't be afraid to re-pot

When our squash started to have problems we realized that the pot was not large enough. We had a similar issue with the basil and thyme, so we invested in some larger pots and re-planted a lot. The squash pictured in the left photo is 13 hours before the picture on the right was taken, meaning that after re-planting it to a larger pot improved dramatically overnight.
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4. Pesticides are important

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It started with our bell pepper plant starting to look a little dry and eaten. Our squash was coming out beautifully and growing at a rapid pace, then one day after putting the plants a bit closer together to hit a sunny spot on the porch, our poor summer squash started to take a turn for the worst. 

We started to increase the water (assuming it was because the soil was dryer with the increasing temperatures) and that helped a little, but not enough. We really looked at the leaves and noticed they were being eaten by pests. To combat it, we invested in a natural pesticide to help get rid of the pests eating our plants.

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DIY Wooden Chest Refurbish

6/17/2020

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I've always been a fan of do-it-yourself projects and making something found more personal through refurbishing it. This specific project came about this past May when helping a close friend move in to an apartment near ours. When moving she had this old, paint-chipped wooden chest that was her own DIY dream she never got around to. She asked if anyone wanted it, offering to donate it if not, and Adam and I decided to take on the challenge! We already know where we'd like it to go in our house, and we haven't had a big project together since building all of our furniture a year or so ago.
We found that, while not as cheap as we'd hoped to fix-up, the chest project was surprisingly easy! If you have your own furniture you'd like to refurbish or repaint, check out our process for ideas/inspiration of your own.
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1. We had to sand it down. The whole chest was originally black, with some strips of white primer sticking out. We attempted to sand by hand with just sanding paper, but about 15 minutes and 2 back aches in we bought ourselves a Black+Decker electric hand sander to save ourselves some time. The picture above is after we finished sanding!
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2. Priming the chest. This part was surprisingly easy. This is after the first coat, we ended up giving it 2 coats of primer but it was ideal! We also primed the metal parts since we planned to paint those as well.
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3. Step 3, we painted the chest a bright turquoise! This is a color that matches our bedroom color scheme that we also felt could be versatile in the living room if we ever re-located it. The goal is to put it at the foot of our bed to sit on when tying shoes, etc. We painted this with 2-3 coats as well to make sure it was really one solid color.
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4. The final product! We finished the metal with a few coats of black to really pop. While it took a few days this project was pretty simple and easy to replicate at home with furniture you find at a garage sale, thrift store, or maybe something you already own.
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Summer Fitness Routine

6/16/2020

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For about 5 weeks now Adam and I have really changed up our work out regimen and diet. This is due to a lot of things, from cooking at home more, more time from working from home/social distancing, the weather being nice enough to run outside again, etc. We have had some progress towards both our goals and towards our weight-loss, so I wanted to share where we are with our progress right now, and what some of our end goals are. 

Exercise Routine

We currently run 3-4 times a week, as well as do 2 body weight work outs either after running or on non-running days. Our running routines have been:

Week 1 - walk 1 mile, run 1 mile, walk 1 mile
Weeks 2 & 3 - walk 1 mile, run 2 miles, walk 1 mile two days; 6 400m sprints another day
Week 4 - walk/run 3-4 miles one day, timed mile, 1-2-1 walk-run another day
Week 5 - 1-2-1 walk-run two days, 3 800m runs another day, 35 minute run another day

Our body weight workouts have included combinations of:
Dips, Push-Ups, Mountain Climbers, Squats, Planks, Glute Bridges, Leg Lifts, Donkey-Kicks, Sit-Ups, Side Crunches, Bicycles, Jumping Jacks, Quick Feet, and other strength-building exercises usually in sets of 10-25 in circuits of 3-5.

Diet/Diet Changes

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Our diet has kept some habits - we are getting a lot stricter on our Intermittent Fasting and working to stick with our 12pm-8pm eating window, and sometimes even shorten it to 3pm-7pm if our schedules work out that way. This has made a big difference in helping us to avoid overeating because we are able to have our bigger/preferred meals on those days since we are looking at 500-800 calorie meals instead of the 300-400 we've always struggled to keep in the past when we at 3 meals a day. 

We have also really worked to eat cleaner. We eat way more salads than I ever thought I'd eat, and we keep our house stocked with fresh fruit and yogurt for quick smoothies or parfaits. We also eat in themes by week, for example - this week is very Southern Italy focused with lighter pastas, chicken, fish, capers, asparagus, cauliflower rice, etc. Last week we were really into trying somen and soba, with lots of fresh vegetables, and it lead into us making a veggie-heavy fried rice at the end of the week. Keeping it fun has made it really doable.

We also have started looking at what gives us heartburn/acid reflex and trying to cut it out. A big one for me is alcohol. After this weekend with family I realized how much alcohol gave me acid reflex and have decided to cut back a lot. Other areas are our guilty pleasure foods (Insomnia Cookies, Dominos Pizza, McDonalds Chicken Nuggets, etc.) If we need to eat out we really evaluate where we should eat and what we could order that won't leave us being so sluggish. Tropical Smoothie and local taco places have been a life saver as examples.

Our Overall Goals

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So all of this started because on Saturday, May 16th I woke up in a really good mood and went for a run. I set a goal for myself to run 5 miles comfortably by the 4th of July. That has since been postponed to the end of the summer to increase my mileage at a pace that won't injure Adam and I, but it is coming along. We started with 1 mile and have increased from there!

We set a goal to be "active people" which we have always defined as people that always work out, make up days they miss, and actively think about the eating choices they are making. We are hopeful that if we can keep it up it will feel more natural by the end of the summer.

For our weights, Adam has a goal of 165lb  and I have a goal of 140lb with the hope to achieve them at an attainable pace over the next year. 

Our Progress So Far

Here are different weights and dates so far for that side of our goals:

Adam -> 194lb November 7, 2019 -> 186lb May 20, 2020 -> 180lb -> June 12, 2020
Vana -> 164lb November 7, 2019 -> 157lb May 20, 2020 -> 151lb -> June 12, 2020

We took photos for progress, but aren't comfortable posting them just yet since our goals are still in progress.

We do have pictures of our running progress; for our 1 mile running time we have improved by over 2 minutes, going from a 12:30 mile time to a 10:17 mile time. We also have increased from only being able to run 1 mile without walking to being able to run 2&1/2 miles without walking!
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Refreshing Soba Noodle Salad

6/11/2020

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Adam and I are often inspired to cook based on food we see on TV. On Saturday we were watching a show and the actors were eating somen noodles in one scene and soba noodles in another. There was ice floating in the noodles for the somen and I wasn't sure why. I started looking up recipes for somen and soba, and discovered that there is more to soba than just the warm soup I'd had in the past. In Japan it is common to also be served cold as a light and refreshing meal. Additionally, since soba noodles are made with wheat and buckwheat they are less caloric than regular spaghetti noodles. We wanted to try it for ourselves so we found soba noodles on amazon and bam! We made a really refreshing 
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Refreshing Soba Noodle Salad

1 Bushel of Soba Noodles
Cucumber Slices
Sliced Carrots
Spinach
​Sauce of Choice
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
2. Cook the soba noodles for 4 minutes in boiling water.
3. Remove from heat, drain water, and rinse the soba noodles in cold water 2-3 times to get the starch off.
4. Let sit in cold water with ice.
5. Plate soba in a bowl, add in other ingredients as you like, then drizzle the sauce of your choice over the top. We used a soy-peanut sauce!
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Hawaii Inspired Parfaits

6/9/2020

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Coming back from Hawaii gave Adam and I a lot of ideas for fun food recipes and flavor profiles. One of our favorites was the fruit parfaits we had at Goofy Cafe, and we couldn't wait to make our own version once we got home and settled. With papaya, mango, yogurt, honey we brought back from Hawaii, and granola. 

Hawaiian Inspired Parfait

  • 1&1/2 Cup Vanilla Yogurt (we used light/greek yogurt but it is up to preference
  • Banana, Papaya, and Mango Slices
  • 1/4 Cup Granola
  • Honey Drizzle
We added in the order of:
Yogurt
Fruit
Granola
​Honey
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Our Trip to Oahu

6/8/2020

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The last week of February and into the first week of March Adam and I spent some time in Oahu, Hawaii and had an absolute blast! I wanted to share our itinerary and some fun stops we had during our trip for anyone planning to visit Oahu whether in general or during those months.

Where We Stayed

We were very fortunate to be able to stay on the Hickam Air Force Base in Oahu with some very close friends from college. We stayed with them for all but one night of our trip, that extra night being at the Hale Koa Hotel, a hotel designed for active and former military members and their friends and families.

While this situation is not possible for everyone, if you are traveling to visit friends/family on the island and looking for a trip on a budget, I may have some good tips for you!

What We Did

We really tried to get a combination of local life, military life, and tourist life over the week we were there. There were still some things we just didn't have the time to do, but we didn't leave feeling like we missed out at all! Here is our rough itinerary:

Night 1:
  • Land in Oahu - Brian, Dahlila, and Will picked us up with fun real-flower leis!
  • We grabbed dinner at a Local favorite (Teddy's Bigger Burgers) and then headed home to talk and pass out for the night
Day 2, Pearl Harbor and Waikiki: 
  • First things first - Adam and I woke up a little early (the time change can be an adjustment) and walked with Brian to a Starbucks on base and back (we do collect travel mugs)
  • Once back we packed sunscreen and got our group ready to head to Pearl Harbor!
    • We watched the Pearl Harbor video
    • Took the boat tour to see the U.S. Arizona Memorial
    • Grabbed lunch and drinks at Restaurant 604
    • Went on a head-phones tour of the U.S.S. Bowin (probably one of the coolest parts of our trip)
  • We also went to the Pearl Harbor Aviation museum and got to see some really cool planes, helicopters, etc. 
  • After that we went home for a quick rinse-off after a hot (and very fun) day before heading out to Waikiki for some exploring!
    • We walked around Waikiki to look at the hotels, check out the indoor and outdoor shopping and made our first ABC Store stop 
    • We went to the Ala Moana Center and into the Waikiki Yokocho under the Ala Moana. It was AMAZING! It was a ton of Japanese and Asian food concepts for order like a cafeteria, so we grabbed dinner and dessert there.
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Day 3, Waimea Valley, North Shore, Dole Plantation, Luau:
  • We got up a little early and headed to Waimea Valley for a hike in the botanical gardens and up to the waterfall swimming area.
  • That was followed by a North Shores beach stop to see some massive waves, and get our first official "beach time". From there we headed to the North Shore Food Trucks for lunch!
  • On our way back we stopped by the Dole Plantation, making our own tour past the pineapple plants to save money and only going into the gift shop once at the plantation. We were able to try the Dole Whips, candy, and all sorts of things.
  • After another packed morning/early afternoon we made the trek back to base to shower and change.
  • We drove back into Waikiki for a Luau at the Hale Koa Hotel. The Luau was plated, with a great show before, during, and after dinner! There were some wonderful moments to celebrate the veterans and active duty military members and the service they've provided; as well as some fun Hawaiian history education. 
  • From there we were all pretty exhausted and in desperate need of a nap, so we went back to Brian and Dahlila's house around 9:30 pm to get ready for bed.
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Day 4, Relaxing, Beach Time:
  • We woke up a little early again to grab Loco Mocos (as well as a mochi guava waffle for myself) and drop Will off at the airport. Then Brian, Dahlila, Adam and I headed back to base for a nap. After a long first two days we were pretty exhausted and in need of a break!
  • What better way to continue a break day? We went to a military beach on the south shore that had very calm waters, lots of space for sunbathing, and a lovely restaurant next to the beach. We swam, read books, colored in coloring books, and gabbed about our lives.
  • We went over to have dinner at the restaurant and then decided to order a group drink. A 64oz punch bowl of Mai Thais that we did not successfully finish, but we did make friends at the restuarant that were able to take over in our stead.
  • We followed that by going home to shower, enjoy some Dole treats, and play Mario Party as a group.
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 Day 5, Swap Meet, Dim Sum, Aulani Disney Resort: 
  • We all felt rested, refreshed, and ready to go to the Aloha Stadium for Swap Meet. Swap Meet is a lot like Trades Days in Texas, a lot of vendors set up tents for local goods, foods, and cheap whole-sale souvenirs. It was a great experience, and a fun place to get gifts for our friends and families.
  • Afterwards we headed to the Ala Moana Mall to eat in the Jade Dynasty Seafood Restuarant. Here we were seated in a back room at a traditional Dim Sum table. We met two of Dahlila and Brian's friends, Pua and Stephanie. They showed us what their favorite things to order were, and even brought us poi donuts to try. 
  • A mission of mine for the trip was to try poi donuts. Poi is a delicious purple sweet potato/yam commonly used in Hawaii for different dishes. A savory poi dipping sauce came at the luau, and many poi pastries, so when Stephanie and Pua surprised us with some I was so excited!!
  • We moved on from there to shop around the mall, we checked out TC Surf, the Morphe store, Adam and Brian sat in a Tesla, we grabbed coco-mocha iced coffees, and Adam and I found some really cool Hawaii exclusive hydro flasks.
  • Heading back to the house, we all debated what to do. We'd talked about different options, but Dahlila pitched going to the Aulani Disney Resort because she'd never been and had a purse there she really wanted. We found parking ($15 or free if you make a large enough purchase, which the purse was) and headed inside to explore. From there we got to see beautiful artifacts, a really neat gift shop, and all the Lilo and Stitch themed things I could have dreamed of (including a life-sized stitch carved from wood!).
    • We took some time to walk down to where the Disney and Four Seasons hotel beaches meet, took some beautiful pictures, walked up to a rock peak and watched the sunset.
  • As it grew dark we made our decent for dinner, heading back towards base and grabbing some pho to go. We played Luigi's haunted mansion and fell asleep a little early.
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Day 6, Liliha Bakery, Date Night, Hula Grill:
  • We first went to Liliha Bakery for a sit-down breakfast as well as a grab-and-go pastry set. We grabbed several malasadas (a treat I'd only seen in Pokemon Alola before visiting) and french donuts.
  • We then walked around the Ala Moana mall a little, but really started to make our way back to base to do some laundry. Brian and Dahlila brought Adam and I back to Waikiki and helped us check in to the Hale Koa Hotel, where we had our own date-night.
  • After checking in and getting showered and settled Adam and I went exploring Waikiki on our own a little; stopping in some boutiques and eventually making our way down to the Hula Grill. We were able to watch the sunset on the beach by Duke's before heading inside for our dinner reservation. 
    • The Hula Grill was AMAZING! Adam's Uncle Bobby is the head chef at the Hula Grill in Maui, so he made recommendations, and we were able to meet a lot of the staff that knows Bobby and hear stories about him, and the food was incredible. We were able to sit at a table overlooking the beach and the ocean, the environment was great, it was an unforgettable night and place. We truly had so much fun.
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Day 7, Parasailing, Makapu'u Point:
  • Our last full day in Oahu was a great way to top off the trip. Adam and I woke up early to scout out a local breakfast and coffee place called Goofy.
  • We then found some time and went parasailing before coming back to meet Dahlila and Brian for lunch. The three of us walked to the Hard Rock Cafe, then back around to Lappert's for ice cream and ground coffee to bring back with us.
  • After all of that deliciousness we made our way to the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse hiking trail. I won't lie, for something I looked forward to the most, it was a hard hike. But it was so beautiful, and absolutely worth it!
  • I truthfully have no idea what we ate for dinner that night. Leftovers maybe? I am unsure. All I know is we had some great conversation, did some major cleaning, and couldn't thank Dahlila and Brian enough for being such great hosts!
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Follow-Up:

I will post more soon about what we ate, what to pack for Oahu in February, etc. soon! I apologize for my blogging absence for so long, with COVID-19, a crazy work schedule, and other life things happening it has been hard to find time/motivate myself to write; but I appreciate you for reading!

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    I am a student affairs professional, an amateur chef, and an adventurer at heart.

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