Cherry, Date and Almond Snack Bars

Yesterday I did end up waking up early (woo hoo!) but stayed up too late (boo!) and for some delusional reason I made the snack bars I spoke about on Monday at around 2a.m. Anyway, I realized that today would be a more interesting day to tell you about my internship because I knew I would have something to show you, but more on that later!

Over the summer I used my lunch breaks at my internship (an ice pop manufacturer... for real) to scour the Internet for food blogs. As you all know, I am a big fan of Oh She Glows, and the site/blog really inspired me to make my own snack bars. The recipe I originally found on the site is based off of the Banana Bread Larabar (which is fantastic). Larabar's are absolutely delicious and include nothing but dried fruits, nuts and some extra juices here and there, but that's really it! They are a bit expensive, so if you are really into this sort of snack bar it might pay to make them yourself. Here's my version:


1/3 cup sliced almonds, 1/3 cup chopped dried cherries and 1/3 cup chopped dates. (A tip: buy your almonds already sliced and cut the fruit with a chefs knife to make for easy chopping) How cute are my roommate, Tina's, measuring cups?!


Place the almonds in a food processor, pulsing until they reach a grain-like consistency, and then add in the dates and cherries. Process all of this together for a minute or so and then transfer onto parchment paper. Once on the paper, drizzle with a tablespoon of honey (if you're not into honey just add some more dried fruit at the beginning).


Squish the ingredients together as you form a rectangle and then place another piece of parchment paper over the fruit and almonds. Roll a rolling pin over the paper to even out the mixture and to ensure that everything has been compressed.

Remove the top piece of paper and cut the mixture into four large bars. Fold the bottom sheet of paper over the bars, place the bars inside of the parchment paper in a plastic bag and then put them in your refrigerator. (You can use plastic wrap to contain all of the bars individually but I get sort of weirded out at the idea of the chemicals in the plastic getting all over your delicious, home-made snack, but it's totally up to you!). These bars are delicious and not too sweet because of the dates. They are perfect for those 3p.m. food cravings!

Now onto the internship... last Wednesday I started interning for Ping Pong One LLC! I loved the restaurant last semester in London and I am so grateful, lucky and excited to be a part of their U.S. venture! I am especially grateful for my friend Myca, the Marketing Manager, who I e-mailed vigorously for weeks in order to make sure my resume was going to get into the right hands. It did (yay!) and now I'm working with Myca to build the brand. I am having the most amazing time at Ping Pong and I feel like restaurant marketing/promotion/PR is the right fit for me for the future, but we'll see about that... in the future! I intern on Wednesday's and whenever there is an event so every Wednesday I am going to be hosting a Video Log to tell DC foodies all about what's going on in-store and what promotions we will be offering that week! To be fair, I do have to say that I did not yet have the internship when I wrote my posts about the restaurant and you can definitely check out my London blog to learn how much of a true ping-ponger I am.

I seem to have found myself up late again-- jeez! I'm still on my waking-up-early mission though, but let's see if it happens tomorrow!

With health,

Melissa