(Almost) Vegan Cinnamon Buns

I start my last semester EVER of college tomorrow - say wha??  On one hand, I'm stoked.  I just want to get this semester over with and be done with school already.  On the other hand, I'm also a bit anxious about this whole graduating and finally-being-an-adult thing.  I mean sure, I won't have anymore annoying papers to write or exams to study for.  But at the same time, I will no longer be able to travel and take vacations/"mental health days" as I please - I'm actually going to have responsibilities and work obligations (which I suppose I'm lucky to even have, considering most recent and soon-to-be grads still have to worry about even getting a job).

Anywho, even though I pretty much have a job for after graduation at a company I love, I'm still going to miss the travels, the escapades and the general bumming around I did over the past 8 months of glorified vacation (otherwise known as study abroad). 

Sooo....what does all of this have to do with cinnamon buns?

Yay for Chocolate! Chocolate Orange Bread and Chocolate Walnut Bars

We got our very first snow day of the season here in Baltimore today!  Though for "snow" it was a measly one inch of accumulation.  But the roads were rather icy so I was pretty much stuck in the house all day.  And you know what that means?  Mya Lwin goes on a baking binge!  Today I was in a very chocolately kind of mood (PMS?), and so I decided to bake not one, but TWO, chocolately treats!

The first is a yeast-raised chocolate orange bread.  Chocolate and orange is one of my favorite combinations of all time.  In fact, my favorite gelato when I spent three weeks last summer studying abroad in Venice was this chocolate-orange gelato from my favorite gelateria, Il Doge, which happened to be literally at the doorstep of my school.  There's just something about the combination of dark chocolate and orange essence that really works.