Cake, please.

A couple of weeks after I turned 18 I began fitting my life into little cardboard boxes.

Tucked away in the spaces between those cardboard constructs have been piles of clothing, stacks of books, neatly folded posters, boxes of tea, and other knick-knacks that somehow I've subconsciously labeled as "essential for life".... and with those boxes and the various objects that resided within I have joined in the seemingly necessary crusades that one must take across the country, world, and, more recently, a home state, to college, where I unpacked them, settled temporarily, re-packed them, and left again. Onto a new march.

I can't tell you how many times I've done this and how many times my friends have done this. I can't tell you how bizarre of a process it is....how, at the end of the day, I can't settle, I won't settle, and I somehow know that I shouldn't settle... not for the next few years at least. I can't wrench that idea from my mind... no matter how appealing it may be to do so.

But there's also that shocking and lingering realization. The realization that we can define our lives in stages- by the moments that we spend between the ever-looming and oh-so ritualistic unpacking and re-packing of those cardboard boxes.... and the fact that we can derive so much comfort in the steps we've taken in the frigid air towards our front doors, with the turning of that brass doorknob, the opening of that creaky wooden door, the first heavy step we take into our apartments, and the bombardment of our senses with the familiar smells of a temporary home.

How enchanting, the blend of the permanent and temporary.

I'm about to pack again. Can you tell? First, I somehow have to get through four finals.... but until then I've discovered a slightly healthy (mostly, just "not unhealthy") cake to help. It requires very few ingredients, nothing exotic. Oh. and it tastes really good too.

Vegan Chocolate Cake
adapted from Cucina Nicolina

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup wheat bran)
3/4 cup sugar (I think you could get away with 2/3rds)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder (or 1 tsp soda and 1 tsp vinegar)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Mix dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Add wet ingredients. Stir until mixture is incorporated. Pour in a pan and bake for 45 minutes (or until it passes the clean toothpick test).

Enjoy. I ate mine with almond butter. mmm.