anjeme

may the force be with you

2012-02-11T12:35:00.001-06:00

(i want puppy chewbacca to be mine!)

i've had a little bit of a cold for the last few days, so last night i took some nyquil before going to sleep. right before i woke up (after 10 hours of amazing sleep), i had a dream*:

tom hanks was making a new star wars movie, but this time it wasn't fiction. tom hanks was actually friends with R2-D2 and C-3PO! the only problem was that tom hanks could not understand a word of what R2-D2 was saying and was sick of pretending to understand and writing appropriate reactions into the script. he and his other friend ron howard (this part's true! they actually are friends!) were going on a space mission and took R2-D2 with them and - miracle of miracles! - as soon as their spacecraft left the earth's atmosphere, suddenly R2-D2's beeps and blips transformed into english! (and he had a french accent?) this made script-writing really easy and both tom hanks and ron howard were really excited.

....... um, what?! i always have really weird dreams when i take cold medicine, but this is by far the most bizarre. i haven't seen star wars in about 10 years and i didn't even see the super bowl commercial above until this morning! dreams are funny things, yes? especially when impacted by cold meds.

*it was actually a 3-part dream, but this was the weirdest/most hilarious part

new year: new wall color

2012-02-05T12:59:00.000-06:00

hello, GREY!

with the ink still drying on my re-signed lease and plans in place to stay in this cozy little apartment at least another 12 months, i decided this weekend was the perfect time to switch up to color of my bedroom walls...

before:

(in case you missed it, map details here.)

during:

after:

(the trio of cincinnati-themed picture will be hung on the wall above my dresser later this week.)

19 in rio de janeiro

2012-01-29T13:57:00.002-06:00

"the views here are phenomenal - this city is so colorful! a rainbow appeared as we reached the top of [sugarloaf] mountain... it was such a gorgeous view. we watched a rain shower over the water before it shifted in our direction and we got a bit wet. nothing major. i saw two monkeys up there!"

"i am beginning to think there is no ugly spot in this city! i am constantly walking around with my mouth hanging open. ...even the slums (favelas) are colorful and full of character."

"ate lunch at an italian cafe on [copacabana] beach. the waves are bigger than any i've ever seen!"

"when we got back to the hotel, i went down the street to a market right on the beach. it was so colorful and casual... people had their goods laid out on tables and everyone was speaking portuguese and spanish. i talked to a man from argentina about t-shirts for a long time. that was my first time really speaking spanish and succeeding! it's so exciting!"

-excerpts from my journal, rio de janeiro, july 2005. rio is by far the most visually stunning city i have ever visited! i was 19 when i went to brazil and that was my first trip outside north america and also my first airplane ride. i remember being spectacularly excited about all of the new and beautiful things i was seeing and experiencing. it's funny to look back at my journal now and see what i thought was important and exciting... like rain showers (i was still studying meteorology then!), seeing monkeys in the city, and finally succeeding at spanish conversation (in a portuguese-speaking country, no less). :)

(see my past posts about rio here, here, here, and here... and the preview for a fantastic movie about life in rio here.)

wintertime eats

2012-01-27T11:09:00.003-06:00

winter means less plates/forks, more bowls/spoons.

coconut granola with vanilla coconut milk + clementines

whole wheat spaghetti + pasta sauce made from our garden's tomatoes
spinach salad w/ onions, almonds, and balsamic

sweet potatoes + soy cream cheese + thyme + nutmeg + s&p
stuffed into quesadillas

the same sweet potato filling + puff pastry

the world's easiest chili:
cannelini + kidney beans, onion, pepper, garlic, soyrizo, oregano, water

with brown rice

avena smoothie!

oatmeal + frozen apple chunks + soymilk + vanilla yogurt + cinnamon
inspired by this recipe.

PS: i also made spicy noodles (TWICE!) and it got rave reviews from everyone who tried it! i added tofu (marinated in soy sauce + sesame oil), shaved carrots, spinach, diced red onions, & basil.

a lady never reveals her age

2012-01-24T21:48:00.001-06:00

BUT. this lovely lady becomes a nonagenarian tomorrow! and, as my friend kami said to me recently, "a life well-lived is worth celebrating every day." and so, happy birthday to my sweet grandmama!

ps: jeanette has always been super-glam! last year when we went through dozens of old pictures, i kept gasping at how pretty she looked in every picture. so now, to remind myself to dress more nicely so my grandchildren one day think the same thing about me, i have this picture sitting near the mirror where i check out my outfits/put on makeup. :)

i've decided...

2012-01-16T16:53:00.000-06:00

photo from.

...that 2012 will be the year i get michelle obama arms.

PS: happy birthday, flotus!

the dream

2012-01-16T10:22:00.002-06:00

"but though i was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as i continued to think about the matter i gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. was not jesus an extremist for love: 'love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.' was not amos an extremist for justice: ' let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.' ...and john bunyon: 'i will stay in jail to the end of my days before i make a butchery of my conscience.' and abraham lincoln: 'this nation cannot survive half-slave and half-free.' and thomas jefferson: 'we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...'"

photos from the sweet auburn district & king memorial in atlanta

"so the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. will we be extremists for hate or for love? will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? ...perhaps the south, the nation, and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

-letter from birmingham jail, 1963

PS: i am watching "the help" right now. it's a lovely story, but check out this thought-provoking article about hollywood's obsession with white savior stories.

de colores, part 2

2012-01-10T16:07:00.005-06:00

rio de janeiro is one of my favorite cities, so i was really excited when i saw these pictures of brightly painted favelas. the city itself is so striking, with gorgeous ocean views, mountains rising up out of the coastline, and thousands of tall white buildings in between. and despite the overwhelming amount of poverty, the colorful, dense slums (called favelas) added to the city's beauty... but this paint job certainly made them more beautiful, didn't it?

the favela painting project was sponsored by the firmeza foundation, which, according to its website, "supports the creation of striking artworks in unexpected places." trained artists collaborated with local residents to turn one of rio's biggest slums into an enormous work of public art. you can read more about the partnership here. amazing, right?

ps: since we're on the topic of brazil, i love that michelle obama wore green & yellow when she and the president visited rio's slums early last year. :)

have you ever wondered what english sounds like to a foreigner?

2012-01-10T15:47:00.004-06:00

i certainly have. spanish used to be complete nonsense to my ears, but now the words mean something. and, when i watched "the kite runner" earlier today, i didn't understand most of the farsi words, until the scene at amir's birthday party when everyone kept saying salgirah mubarak (happy birthday!). english, however, hasn't been foreign since i was a baby, so i have no idea what it sounds like if you can't understand it.

but then i found this awesome video, which emulates what it must sound like to a non-english-speaker...

recognize some of the words in there?

awesome.

2012-01-10T15:41:00.000-06:00

via: bike hugger

talavera

2012-01-10T15:34:00.001-06:00

in mexico, across the street and down a bit from my university's campus was a tiny little talavera factory and salesroom. it was super secret and you had to ring a little bell to get in, but i used to love spending afternoons there, looking at jewelry made from tile bits and browsing through rows and rows of handmade tiles, dreaming about tiling the kitchen floor in my future home in deep blue. i only bought a few things from the shop - a talavera necklace for a friend, a wall hanging with a dove on it for my mom, and one single blue tile, which i now use as a coaster on my nightstand.

i've always wished i'd brought more tiles home with me, so i was delighted to discover the website mexicantiles.com, where you can buy talavera online for a really good price! while, when the time comes to buy a house and re-do the kitchen floor, i'd love to go back to puebla and handpick a hundred tiles by hand, let's be honest - that probably won't be in my renovation budget. so this website will come in handy.

you can buy a pound of broken mosaic tiles (art projects!) for just $1.75 (USD), gorgeous house number tiles (i love calla lilies), AND individual blue tiles like i'll someday use on my floor, and so much more!

and once you buy some tiles, you could throw a mexico-themed dinner party and use mini talaveras as part of your table decorations, like in this 100 layer cake post. so pretty!

juicy juicy mangoes*

2012-01-10T15:13:00.001-06:00

there's about to be a blog-splosion around these parts, guys. today is potentially my last weekday off work for a long time and i'm spending it cleaning out the starred posts in my google reader. i'm putting recipes i want to make on pinterest (you can click here to see them!) and have found several other great things to share with you.

first up: this awesome video about harvesting fair trade mangoes in haiti.

amazing, right? some of my other favorite fair trade products produced in haiti are this delicious coffee and these beautifully unique oil drum wall hangings. the people of haiti are still struggling two years after the earthquake, but you can help by supporting small producers! and seriously, that coffee is AMAZING.

*500 points if you can tell me which movie from my high school days referenced "juicy juicy mangoes." (hint: it involved soccer.)

because my heart is in ohio

2012-01-06T11:14:00.000-06:00

my hometown is all kinds of lovely. i miss that river, those hills, the monster building, fountain square.

via: urban cincy

PS: some interesting thoughts (and comments) on staying in cincinnati vs "being stuck" there.

surviving an upper midwestern winter

2012-01-02T14:45:00.001-06:00

winter sucks a lot, guys. luckily, chicago has been really mild so far this year - most days it's felt like winter in cincinnati, but occasionally it even feels like atlanta! but i woke up this morning to a dusting of snow and bitter cold wind. it's supposed to be back up to the mid-40's by the end of the week, but i know the wicked cold will be here to stay soon enough. and when the cold sets in for a few months, a bunch of negative things happen: my skin gets all dry and crackly, i get grumpy, i avoid going outside, and (these might not be the worst things...) i contemplate a move back to mexico while drinking way too much hot chocolate.

but this year i'm prepared. i recently decided to stay in chicago for a year or two longer (after 2 1/2 years of having one foot out the door), which means i need to make the most of this city's godawful winters. while i haven't gone so far as to buy a sun lamp, i

1: used my holiday bonus to buy a humidifier. dry, crackly, itchy skin: be gone!

2: can't eat dairy and don't want to get osteoporosis, so i take a calcium supplement, which conveniently is also a vitamin D supplement! while i doubt it will have the same effect as direct sunlight, i hope it boosts my mood at least a tiny bit.

3: am a major burt's bees advocate. soap, chapstick, lotion, body butter. it all makes me feel awesome.

4: watch a ton of shakira music videos. hellooooo, sunshine and dancing!

i'm determined not to let winter get me down this year. bring it, chicago.

2012*

2011-12-30T22:58:00.003-06:00

photo: via

last year when i made new years resolutions, i referred to them as "suggestions-that-might-help-me-direct-my life-in-a-positive-direction... but no pressure! none at all." yet despite the minimal amount of pressure i put on myself, i've made a lot of positive changes in my life in the last 12 months! in an effort to keep the forward momentum going, here are some goals for 2012...

1: swear less. i feel like every other word out of my mouth is a mala-palabra, which is no bueno. time to clean it up!

2: pursue pastimes/relationships/opportunities that make me happy. which means ditching pastimes/relationships/opportunities that make me unhappy. happiness is the ultimate goal, right?

3: read at least 20 books. and.... go!

4: spend free time studying spanish, reading books about mexican history, doing yoga, skyping with long-distance friends, cooking healthy food, or studying for the GMAT. (related: take the GMAT and apply to grad school.)

5: visit friends in faraway places!

6: continue working on previous resolutions (check them out here: 2009, 2010, 2011). most of them were pretty awesome.

happy new year, y'all!

*the world's not ending, guys. the mayan calendar is round and will just start a new cycle this year, so stop freaking out.

planes, trains, automobiles, and a freak attack or two...

2011-12-22T10:01:00.002-06:00

i was supposed to go to cincinnati this morning, but i overslept and missed my bus. luckily, i'll still make it there today, except instead of getting in at 3pm and spending the evening at a play with my family, i'll be on a bus until nearly midnight.

it's been a tough year for me a travel (remember this, this, and this?). okay, so this morning's mishap was definitely caused by my own stupidity (and my fancypants phone's really unreliable alarm). but air travel is more of a hassle than ever before, traffic is terrible, gas prices are through the roof, and i always seem to sit next to the weirdest creepos on buses and trains. i love traveling, but sometimes i wonder why i do this to myself.

answer: because if people refused to travel, 2011 would have sucked. i wouldn't have:

celebrated two weddings in ohio with my family,

eaten fried rice with friends in st. louis,

had an afternoon sorbet date with my grandmama,

spent a rainy summer afternoon at the beach with meg,

wandered around downtown with leah one afternoon,

brought the whole ATL gang back together for one epic weekend,

visited with LJ and the gordito three times (once with kelly!),

visited three capitals
(austin, washington DC, and jefferson city... but i only took pictures of the first two),

or spent a day in the country, celebrating a marriage, drinking watermelon wine,
& picking pumpkins with college friends.

after all the hassles and cups of coffee (or cans of beer) i've consumed out of frustration, it turns out it's been a really awesome year, thanks to the trips i've gone on and the friends who've traveled to chicago to see me. in eat, pray, love, elizabeth gilbert said,

"i am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as i have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. i feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby - i just don't care what it puts me through. because i adore it. because it's mine. because it looks exactly like me. it can barf all over me if it wants to - i just don't care."

and that basically sums it up for me. at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if my plane got delayed (or canceled), i missed my bus, the car broke down, or i forgot to pack my straightener (ack!). all that matters is that i end up at my destination, where new adventures, exciting museums, pretty beaches, and (most importantly) smiling, friendly faces await me.

here's to more awesome (and infuriating) travels in 2012!

PS: the pictures at the top of this post were taken in sao paulo (planes), bumble-eff, texas (trains), and atlanta (automobiles).

time for a book update, part 2!

2011-12-18T20:38:00.007-06:00

photo: taken at a bookstore in denver in 2008.

one of my new years resolutions this year was to read more books than last (when i only read... three). in june, i quickly reviewed the books i read in the first half of the year. here are numbers 8 through 16.

8. anil's ghost, by michael ondaantje: a story about a forensic anthropologist commissioned by the UN to uncover the secrets of mass graves found in sri lanka sounds like something i'd love, right? wrong. i've never read the english patient, so maybe i just don't michael ondaantje's writing style or something, but this story didn't ever really come together for me and i didn't really feel connected to any of the characters. if you think you'd like am international, human rights-y mystery, though, it might be for you.

9. traveling with pomegranates, by sue monk kidd & ann kidd taylor: i read this book at my mom's suggestion and loved it! it made me want to plan a trip (or two or three) and made me feel a lot more at peace with the transitions that are happening in my life right now. good timing as always, mama.

10. from the mixed up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler, by e. l. konigsburg: um, why did little-girl-anni never read this?! the snarky, independent main character is the kind of girl i loved to read about as a child and it reminded me that i've been meaning to visit a museum (then i went to the field). a must-read, even if you aren't in elementary school.

11. muggie maggie, by beverly cleary: continuing the theme of sassy young protagonists... only i read this one when i was a kid and just re-read it at erin's house the other night. i finished it in a half hour, but i'm pretty sure when i was little it took a whole week.

12. bossypants, by tina fey: this book made me laugh out loud while on the bus. multiple times. thank you, tina, for being hilarious and awesome and real.

13. spiced, by dalia jurgenson: this book, my friend libbi's kitchen reader pick for october, was an expose of life in a restaurant kitchen. i think a lot of people think the sweaty, high-intensity life of a restaurant cook/chef is glamorous, but reading this book made me really glad i no longer spend any time in the kitchen.

14. alone in the kitchen with an eggplant, a collection of short stories edited by jenni ferrari-adler: another kitchen reader pick... you can find my review here.

15. the sugar queen, by sarah addison allen: kitchen reader again. my review for this one is here.

16. the power of one, by bryce courtenay: i've been reading this book on/off for about seven months now. it's like pride and prejudice all over again... only this one i'm enjoying! it's a great story, but it's a pretty slow read and for some reason i keep getting distracted. finish in january? that's the plan.

sooooo, i'll be honest. i really wanted to get to 20 books this year. i exceeded my goal of reading more than three books within the first month, but then things slowed down in the second half of the year - probably due to a combination of a crazy work schedule... and an addiction to netflix instant. sixteen isn't too shabby though, right?

next year, i'll hit 20. next year!

PS: thanks to my two book clubs for adding six books to this list!

marcel.

2011-12-17T11:55:00.002-06:00

my friend kelly sent me the first marcel the shell video last week and i think it's the cutest thing ever (especially how she* tells her lint-pup that she loves it!). the second is even cuter (the zzzzz's typing on the computer screen in the background? smiling 'cause it's worth it? sigggh.). the sky might be grey and the sun might be setting at 4:30, but this should bring a smile to your face. happy holidays!

*guys! is marcel a boy-shell or a girl-shell?

why i love used bookstores (and mexican history)

2011-12-04T13:32:00.002-06:00

does washington DC have more used bookstores than your average city or do i just do more used book shopping when i'm in DC? i'm not sure.

while wandering around georgetown last weekend, i stumbled upon a tiny used bookshop called the lantern and found the coolest book ever - it's called "practical guide to latin america: preparation, costs, routes, & sight-seeing," and it was published in 1908. nineteen-oh-eight!! i didn't spend four years getting a degree in latin american cultural studies to just leave a book written 100+ years ago about latin american culture behind. and it only cost $4. SOLD.

the next morning, i went to busboys and poets (another favorite DC small business!) with my sister for brunch and a dramatic reading of my new book. in 1908, you had to travel to latin america by boat, passports were still not that common (though advised), english was already widely spoken in the region, and women's shirts were apparently called "shirtwaists" (they were advised to wear silk, not flannel, because of the heat). puebla could be reached by the interoceanic railway (via veracruz and toluca) had a population of 99,000, which made it the nation's second-largest city at the time (behind DF). pulque, the book says, "may be investigated, but is not recommended." (ha!) and there is an entire section on "the west indies," a region now called the caribbean.

i haven't yet read it cover-to-cover, so i'm sure there's plenty more to discover. while flipping through the pages, i've been imagining a woman (she probably looked like this) who bought this book right after it was published so she could plan a trip to mexico. the mexican revolution didn't begin until two years later, and i would love to know what it was like to travel there at the time! so different from my experience ninety nine years later, i'm sure.

seriously, i know i'm more interested in latin american history than your average person, but if you have the slightest interest in the region, this book is fascinating. and now i want to go read a million more books about mexican history. :)

note: the book's copyright has expired, so if you're interested, you can read the entire book online here.

de colores*

2011-11-30T07:40:00.000-06:00

if i don't live in a house with a colorful front door by the time i'm 32, i will have to consider my life a complete failure.

taken in 1: georgetown, 2011. 2: savannah, 2010. 3: new orleans, 2008.

*did anyone else grow up listening to this song... just me? i didn't even speak spanish when i was little, but i loved dancing around the room while it was playing. (for an english translation, click here.)

kabul

2011-11-18T14:23:00.001-06:00

i came across this picture of kabul, afghanistan, earlier this week and was stunned. despite a decade (plus) of hearing stories on the daily about events occuring in afghanistan and reading about the region (and its terrain) in three cups of tea, i had never seen pictures of how naturally beautiful this place is.

photo via: foreign policy & peglegmeg

seriously, i can't stop staring at these mountains.

studs.

2011-11-12T08:31:00.000-06:00

for the longest time, i wore big dangly earrings or nothing at all. if i wasn't going to make a statement with my ear-wear, then why bother? but then i went shopping at the silver markets in taxco and bought a pair of silver cube earrings and couldn't get enough of them. i wore them on the daily and for fancy occasions. they were so small, so subtle, but so classy. no one else had silver cube earrings! i pretty much loved them.

but then my purse got stolen and my beloved silver cube earrings were inside. i was so distraught, my ears felt naked for months afterward. since then, i've been trying to build a collection of small stud earrings, so if i ever lose a favorite pair, there are plenty of back-ups. here are a few i'd love to add to my collection:

dia de los muertos earrings pack: fred flare, $18 (for set of 6)

red hot geo earrings: a merry mishap, $13.99

tagua square stud earrings: by andean collection from greenheart shop, $17.95
(ps: they're fair trade!)

night time pearl stud earrings: river gum jewelry, $14

nom nom nom

2011-11-12T08:12:00.000-06:00

to ward off the impending winter blues, i've been cooking up a storm! cooking for wintertime without dairy is a very foreign idea for me (what good is chili without cheese?!), so i've been googling vegan and dairy-free recipes like it's my job. last weekend, i cooked four things to freeze for later. on those dark/dreary/lazy/snowy/frigid nights, i can come home from work, put in hardly any time, and have a delicious meal ready in minutes! major win.

here's the rundown:

new orleans white beans: in the crockpot, simmered on the stovetop with a few pinches of flour to thicken it up at the end

lentil, sweet potato, & spinach curry: also in the crockpot!

santiago salsa: minus the cheese (though i might buy the soy kind...)

tomato sauce: from tomatoes that we grew! peeled tomatoes + onions + garlic + olive oil + balsamic + basil + red wine + red pepper flakes... simmered on my stovetop for hours.

aaaaand, today i made vegan spanikopita (in pie form). mmmm mmm. :)

hi there

2011-11-07T09:51:00.000-06:00

i'm still here! i've been a busy bee, which apparently means i'm a really bad blogger. the break's been nice, but i think i'll be back on a more regular basis soon. curious what i've been up to during this absence? here are a few highlights...

my team won the world series! :)
spent a weekend in cincinnati with my family, drinking whiskey, laughing, singing old irish songs, and remembering the life of my sweet grandma.
turned 26! i feel a bit like a viejita.
reading! the power of one (i'm still only halfway done), spiced, and anil's ghost.
running! my friend jess and i have been doing couch-to-5k and i can't believe how much i've come to love cool, evening-time runs. (ps: my running route often takes me past rahm emanuel's house and i'm pretty sure i spotted him in his kitchen a few weeks ago.)
finally visited the beautiful chicago botanical garden. on a 75-degree day!
watching felicity. i'm in the middle of season 3!
reunited with several college friends for a wine tasting in a barn... and a tractor ride!
visited the hull house museum... so inspiring.

regular updates and recipes and stories and funny pictures coming soon! xo.

a more leisurely pace

2011-10-09T09:19:00.002-05:00

my schedule's slowed down significantly in the past couple of weeks and i've been adjusting to having much more time to do what i want to during the day. this has translated into preparing (healthier) food for myself more often, frequent leisurely breakfasts, baking cakes, reading on my back porch in the sunshine (it still feels like summer!), drinking lots of red wine with my friends, watching endless episodes of felicity on netflix instant (12 years later, i've decided that i'm definitely on team noel), and some much-needed apartment deep-cleaning.

leftover vegan spanikopita & coffee for breakfast

pb + strawberry toast & coffee for breakfast

lunch: grilled sandwich w/ pinto beans, avocado, cucumber, onions, & dijon
+ kiwis!

lunch: the same grilled sandwich
+ microwave potato chips & homemade ketchup :)

i could definitely get used to this more laidback, slowed down lifestyle...

in praise of rail travel

2011-09-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

it could just be because air travel's been a nightmare for me this year (see: one, two, & three), but i'm convinced that my ride on amtrak between austin and dallas was the smoothest, most laidback travel experience of my life.

i spent 6 leisurely hours in the "lounge car," sitting in a seat facing the window, disturbed by no one (i didn't even have to listen to my ipod to deter people from talking to me!), watching the state of texas roll by. traveling by train is a great way to see parts of the country you'd otherwise never visit. my train went through small and medium-sized towns all across central texas - places i surely wouldn't choose to go to on my own - but i got to see town squares and neighborhoods and interactions because of this train ride. my lunch (an organic veganburger, pretzel crisps, and a bottle of water) only cost me $10... for travel food, that's a steal. and we even arrived in dallas early!

see how dry everything is?
texas has been experiencing a major drought this summer!

i've taken amtrak before and the experience was not this smooth. for one, i was going from washington DC to chicago - a trip that took nearly 24 hours. that's long enough to give anyone ants in their pants! the people on that train were weirder/creepier and i don't remember the food being awesome, but i was traveling with a friend and luckily, that can make even the worst travel experience much more fun.

regardless, if you're up for the adventure (in the sense that trying something new = an adventure) and are traveling between cities that are only a few hours away from each other by car, you should try taking amtrak! less security and hassle than air travel, less stress and traffic than a roadtrip, and basically just hassle-free. seems like your best bets are going to be along the east coast or in texas. hop to it!

ps: the vice president loves amtrak too! oh, joe.

people i get to snuggle with in 8 days, exhibit A

2011-09-13T17:16:00.000-05:00

it's been 4 months since i last saw baby P and now he's practically all grown up: eating real food, crawling, playing with friends at daycare, rocking a full head of blond hair... i skyped with him and his mama a few weeks ago & can't believe how big he's gotten!

eeeeeps! i can't wait to squeeze this little guy!!!

ps: see you soon, LJ! :)

back to the start

2011-09-12T20:10:00.000-05:00

willie nelson sings coldplay's "the scientist" beautifully in this (very) short film about factory farming, and one farmer's return to conventional farming...

2001

2011-09-11T09:54:00.003-05:00

i've been thinking about writing a post about the year 2001, about how at the age of 15, i was forced to face violence and/or death up close three times, about the internal struggle i faced because of the conflicting reactions of those around me to these events, and about how my worldview and my friendships were significantly altered by everything that took place that year, but i'm not going to. that post may come at some point (in a week? in a year? in a more private journal?), but right now, 10 years later, i don't feel like i have sufficient words to sum it all up for people who didn't know me as a teenager.

so, on the 10th anniversary of a day that saw the deaths of thousands of people, devastated populations worldwide, and kicked off years of horrifying international conflict (when will it end?!), i'm only going to share a song.

this song is from the "playing for change: peace through music" project. according to their website:

"Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world."

you can read more about the project here. my dad sent me the playing for change cd/dvd set a few years back and i can't stop listening to these songs. they're so hopeful and, i think, a perfect tribute to the work so many people i know and love have done to bring peace to a very broken world in the last 10 years.

the kitchen reader: alone in the kitchen with an eggplant (confessions of cooking for one and dining alone)

2011-08-31T11:00:00.003-05:00

this month's kitchen reader book was alone in the kitchen with an eggplant: confessions of cooking for one and dining alone.

this was my book choice and i loved it, as expected! it's a collection of short stories about people's experiences of eating solo. i was afraid it would be a single foodie's manifesto, but luckily this collection illustrates several experiences with and reasons for eating alone - after a breakup, attending grad school in the middle of nowhere, while traveling for work, when your kids and husband are all out for the evening, because sometimes, you just crave a solitary moment where no one is interrupting your culinary bliss. the stories in this collection were funny, touching, personal, and often very relate-able. who hasn't dined alone?! (but seriously, if you haven't: you should.)

several writers divulged details about a particular dish or ingredient they turn to when cooking for one. and a lot of them shared recipes they like to make for themselves. so while i bet you'll enjoy the stories on its pages, you can also use this as a cookbook!

i've gotten really good at cooking for one and eating alone the last few years, which is probably why i enjoyed this book so much. there's strength in numbers, a bit of solidarity on these pages, even when writing and reading about something done completely alone. i've become a pro at cooking a meal just the right size to feed me tonight and provide leftovers for lunch (or breakfast) tomorrow. and i absolutely love dining out without a partner (albeit with a book)... it's not about mystery or intrigue or loneliness (though all of those are sometimes present at the table with me), it's about spending quiet time alone with myself and my food and a good book. no interruptions. there's something to be said for spending time alone once in awhile!

a big theme in the book was special recipes or special ingredients the writers turn to when they don't have to worry about feeding anyone else. one ate tons of eggplant, another asparagus, and another enjoyed heaping servings of egg noodles covered in cottage cheese when eating alone. if this book were written by me, it would be called alone in the kitchen with an avocado (or two or three). oh my gosh, i love avocados. so here, for your pleasure, is my favorite cooking-for-one recipe...

AVOCADO BEAN DIP/SPREAD/MASH

photo from cheap healthy good, the inspiration for this recipe

2 ripe hass avocados
1 can of beans (white or pinto), drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion, diced
1 tomato, seeded and diced
juice of one lime
a handful of chopped cilantro
something spicy (a jalapeno, sriracha, valentina, cholula, chili powder, etc)

basically this is guacamole + protein (beans). mash it all up in a bowl and then go to town. you can spread it on toast or into a corn tortilla, plop a huge spoonful onto a taco salad, use this is the main ingredient in burritos (if you're veg), or dip crackers or tortilla chips in it. i'd be lying if i said i haven't just eaten it by the spoonful, too.

check the kitchen reader blog on september 1st for more reviews of this book and - hopefully! - more cooking-for-one recipes.

feelin' good

2011-08-30T09:06:00.002-05:00

my cousin's wife* posted this video on facebook yesterday. isn't it the perfect song for a lovely day?

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*click the link to see her etsy page! she's super creative and crafty!

bookworm

2011-08-29T17:05:00.001-05:00

i've been biking to work for the last 2 months (and to the garden... and to go get sushi... and to friends' houses...!) and am terrified of getting doored, so i spend a lot of time staring at the cars parked ahead of me. all this car-staring means i'm noticing bumper stickers more than ever before. i might just be seeing the same car in lots of different places (parked at clark and southport, parked in front of the library, in the walgreens parking lot...), orrrrrr this bumper sticker might just be everywhere:

it's a constant reminder: read more books... and be more sexy. :)

but seriously, i love a guy (or lady) who reads. i need to surround myself with more bookworms. let's have a book chat. tell me what you're reading!

what to do with tons of tomatoes when you're not actually a huge tomato fan...

2011-08-21T22:14:00.000-05:00

can you believe how blood-red these guys are?!

option 1: make salsa (or fruit salsa)

option 2: make ketchup

option 3: make freezer spaghetti sauce (enjoy fresh tomatoes during winter!)

option 4: make your own sun-drieds

...stories & fotos from all of these kitchen adventures coming soon!

lactose intolerance sucks.

2011-08-16T23:00:00.000-05:00

this picture was not staged. miss you mucho, ice cream.

guess where i am?

2011-08-11T21:31:00.001-05:00

my flight to cincinnati tonight got cancelled (ya heard me), so i'm staying at the hilton in the suburbs for free tonight! so i'm enjoying a huge white bed (with clean sheets!), air conditioning, cable tv (though i'm wasting it by watching the republican debate), and the best hotel shower i have ever seen (confession: i'm obsessed with hotel showers).

my delayed vacation is a major buzzkill, but i am a happy, happy camper. :)

vacation... kind of

2011-08-08T20:30:00.001-05:00

i love this picture of me and my cousin catie from our cousin's wedding party in cleveland a few weeks ago. i barely made it there (this ridiculous adventure involved 1 flooded runway, 3 trains, 1 bus, 2 shuttles, 2 tiny airplanes, 1 car, 4 upper midwestern airports, 1 stained shirt, 2 wasted cups of coffee AND i'm proud to say - NO tears on my part!), but i'm so happy i did, because i spent the weekend laughing, drinking beer mixed with lemonade, and sweating (LOOK at those bangs!) with my family!

catie looks SO much like my grandma in this picture!

the weekend also included lots of amy winehouse music (i found out she'd died while on a layover at the detroit airport), a pizza date and walk to a cliff overlooking lake michigan with my friend mark, meeting and playing with my cousin jake's adorable little girls, watching say yes to the dress with my brother's girlfriend (ha!), and some hotel showers (my favorite kind). weekends away are awesome.

i'm going to cincinnati this weekend for another family wedding and am so excited to see friends, the other side of my family (for the first time in over a year!), and to FINALLY meet little baby beckett!

happy birthday, mr. president

2011-08-04T09:08:00.001-05:00

happy birthday, barack obama! nevermind what the haters say, i still think you're awesome (and soooooo handsome :)).

photo source

oh and thanks for celebrating your 50th birthday just down the street and not inviting me, you jerk.

july's kitchen reader review: the sugar queen

2011-07-29T11:04:00.004-05:00

this month, for the kitchen reader book club, we read the sugar queen, chosen by karen of shortbread. the back cover of the book boasts a story full of things i love - magic, superstition, and southern charm, sugar-y foods, books, a love interest with blonde floppy curly hair! i was really looking forward to reading this book.

the sugar queen was a quick read and i enjoyed it while i was actually reading it... but as soon as i set the book down and started thinking about how i'd review it, it became clear that the story fell short. the plot was fairly predictable, the characters' hopes, fears, and relationships seemed shallow, and i was disappointed by how small of a role food played in the story. chloe's signature grilled tomato and cheese sandwich sounded delicious, but the random mentions of little debbies and chapter titles inspired by store-bought candies just didn't do it for me. i had hoped to read a story about an oppressed woman who used food as a creative outlet, not one who is ashamed of her sugar addiction and hides in her closet nibbling on processed foods until she's rescued by a man (who kind of thinks she's chubby, anyway...sigh).

as a fluffy beach read, this is a great book. it's quick, it's cute, and it doesn't bog you down. but if you're looking for good food writing (or good southern writing, for that matter), i'd pass.

etsy: because all babies are beatles fans, right?

2011-07-27T11:13:00.001-05:00

it's been awhile since etsy's made an appearance on this blog. but as i was perusing the beatles-related goods on etsy this morning (shhh, don't ask why!), i couldn't help but notice that the babywear market is saturated with beatles-themed items. since so many of my friends/family are having babies, i thought i'd share my favorites... because babies are born to be beatles fans, right?

my childhood was filled with the beatles: beatles records, then beatles tapes, then beatles cds. beatles movies, beatles books, breakfast with the beatles, the beatles anthology, free-ee-ee-ee-ee as a bird, and beatles trivia (did you know that eric clapton's song "layla" was actually about george harrison's wife? paul wrote "hey jude" for julian lennon when john & his first wife christine got divorced? some guy named pete best was the original beatles drummer?!). my dad is a HUGE beatles fan, so that's just the way it was in our house. if you didn't like the beatles, you could get the hell out (but be sure to leave through the same door you came in through, in case you ever want to come back... per irish tradition).

aaaanyway, since i was clearly raised right, allow me to show you several options for outfitting your future beatles fan:

handpainted beatles abbey road onesie

$9.99, by sweetbabyjs

the beatles crossing the road onesie
$14.99, by myittybittyboutique

john lennon imagine onesie
$14, by smokinchix

john lennon new york screenprint onesie

$14, by smokinchix

the beatles baby onesie

$14.99, by myittybittyboutique

the beatles umbrella screenprint onesie

$14, by smokinchix

beatles russian nesting dolls onesie

$14.99, by trulysanctuary

beatles paul mccartney baby onesie

$16, by landofsparkle

and in case you were wondering: yes, of course i was listening to the beatles while i wrote this post!

secret confession

2011-07-12T12:06:00.002-05:00

guys. i'm a little bit ashamed of myself, but i've been listening to a lot of country music since i visited texas in april. i honestly cringe a little bit every time i switch pandora back from MGMT to a carrie underwood station. i even invited erin and gabe over for a barbecue-eating, country music-listening dinner party (and erin was understandably shocked by my choice in music!). but i can't help it... even though there was nothing country about my upbringing... i love songs like stuck like glue and need you now! so much.

...this video is hilarious, by the way. love me some crazy (fictional) ex drama!

i politely refer to this song as "the booty call song." i mean, really.

my brother just sent me an external hard drive full of new music and i'm absolutely LOVING neko case right now. she's got the familiar female singer-songwriter sound i've loved since 1998 (what up, lillith fair) but has also got some country twang going on. so i can stay true to my roots AND enjoy my new guilty pleasure! how perfect.

ps: a fabulous article on how to survive as a vegan in texas... or at least in austin.

the day van gogh painted the chicago sky

2011-07-05T22:45:00.002-05:00

last friday, meteorologists warned us that temperatures in chicago could soar to over 100 degrees with crazy high humidity. basically, it was going to be a miserable day.

...how wrong they were. temperatures hovered around the 75 degree mark most of the morning, followed by the most beautiful cloud cover i've ever seen in the afternoon. and it was so windy my patio furniture blew away*!

do these clouds look familiar to you? the view from my patio was like my own personal art museum!

*we recovered it later.

fact: i'm still doing fun things in the kitchen (even if i don't blog about it as much as i used to)

2011-07-02T17:35:00.010-05:00

before:

after:

recipe:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/hors-doeuvres/prettyinpink-pickled-radishes-119588

verdict:

sweet, salty, crunchy, holy shi.........
these will garnish some falafel sandwiches very, very soon. :)

OMGeeeee!

2011-06-29T20:35:00.000-05:00

i gasped then couldn't stop smiling when i saw this billboard outside the montrose blue line stop today. i feel like i've been waiting for peach season for-ev-er and even though i've never been to dominick's, this has convinced me i need to make a trip there ASAP. someone needs to give the guys in their advertising department a raise...

ps: hi jess wu! look, i'm talking about advertising!

laundry day

2011-06-28T13:30:00.001-05:00

remember last spring, when i was dyingggg for a clothesline? well, laundry day has finally become more economical/eco-friendly...

i seriously love having a back porch.

summertime departamento

2011-06-24T09:15:00.001-05:00

my roommate and i are planning on subletting our apartment before our lease is up (more on that news coming at a later date...), so a few weeks ago, right after she moved and we'd put everything away and snazzed the place up, we snapped some pictures of the apartment looking AMAZING!

if you saw this place listed on craigslist, you'd totally want to live here, right?

ps: let this post be a lesson in frugal living... i got most of my furniture on craigslist, in an alley, from family friends, or in my parents' attic (which means it's probably from a yard sale). a slipcover here, a new paint job there, some new colorful hardware from anthro, and it's good as new!

end of june garden update

2011-06-23T23:25:00.000-05:00

okay, so everything's still really small... but the temperature has finally stabilized and we're looking at temps above 70 degrees from here on out (fingers crossed!), so everything should start flourishing soon. right?

we have a couple of green tomatoes near the ground on our 3rd plant and several flowers on the other two plants. the middle one is the tallest - probably only about 2 feet tall though. grow babies grow!

our row of lettuce is adorable. we'll be able to pick a whole salad in a few weeks probably! we planted a second row this week (so we don't look like complete garden failures) and will probably replant a few more times throughout the summer. salads every day for 3 months straight!

there are flowers on the strawberries! these plants are growing like weeds... there's tons of new leaf growth out every day. seriously hoping this means we'll have at least a small harvest this year.

meanwhile, our green beans keep getting eaten by baby bunnies, our broccoli has stagnated at about 1/4 inch tall, our spinach is slowly but surely creeping up out of the dirt, and our pepper plants still look exactly the same as they did when we put them in the ground. seriously, chicago needs to warm up so i can grow some stuff! geez louise.

bien educadas

2011-06-14T11:49:00.002-05:00

my baby brother graduated from COLLEGE this past weekend! i had to stay in chicago and missed the festivities, but it sounds like it was tons of fun and only a few tears were shed (all of them from john boehner). i was delighted to see a picture on facebook this morning of my brother and sister - with elizabeth was wearing pete's cap. this photo has become a tradition in our family the last 10 or so years, as we've all graduated from high school and now college! see?

here are pete & elizabeth, at his graduation last weekend:

and elizabeth, wearing my cap at my (cooold!) graduation from college a few years ago:

and me, wearing pete's bright blue cap at his high school graduation 4 years ago (when he still had hair):

congratulations on your fancypants new diploma, petey!

(...apparently no one photographs elizabeth's graduations. sorry, lady!)

edit: some friends have told me this is actually a tradition in lots of families. well damn.

time for a book update!

2011-06-09T19:06:00.000-05:00

one of my new year's resolutions was to read more this year than last (when i only read four books!). even though there have been some dry spells - especially since i started my new job - i'm really proud of how well i've done so far!

about half-way through the year, i've read (and, now, quickly reviewed):

1. i'm a stranger here myself, by bill bryson
this book is hysterical! it's a collection of short stories, so it went really quickly. the author and his family moved to a small town in vermont after years of living in the UK and he writes about reacclimating himself (and his brit-kids) to life in the US... such a funny look at american society.

2. the girl with a dragon tattoo, by stieg larrson
okay, i totally didn't think this book was as much of a page turner as everyone else did (i got lost in all the similar-sounding swedish names!), but it was really well-written and toward the end, when it all came together, i really started to enjoy it. i'll probably read the rest of the series at some point this year...

3. water for elephants, by sarah gruen
i would never have chosen to read this book if not for my book club. but, surprise, i loved it! i was a little freaked out at first because it's about life with a traveling circus during the great depression (eek), but i really enjoyed the characters and the plot and the crazy twists and turns at the end! read it. don't watch the movie first. trust me.

4. pride & prejudice (woo! finally!), by jane austen
omfg, i hate you jane austen. but i'm glad i can finally check this book off my list... and watch the movie(s)!

5. my life from scratch, by gesine bullock-prado
you can read my review of this book here.

6. julie & julia, by julie powell
i bought this book on my last day in fort worth (when i was serrrrriously sick of p&p) and had literally devoured half of it before my flight landed in chicago that evening. it's a super quick read and i thought julie was more funny than whiny (which is apparently a common criticism?). her relationship with (the) julia child (in her head) was awesome and i seriously respect her dedication to her project!

7. the little prince, by antoine de saint-exupery
i read this short (pop-up!) book while i was waiting for a haircut and the plot was not at all like i thought it would be... that being said, it was a pleasant surprise! what a sweet little story... i wish i could read it in the original french - maybe someday?

i am currently reading: the power of one, by bryce courtenay

and some upcoming books:

1. bossypants, by tina fey
(for my chicago book club)

2. blood bones & butter, by gabrielle hamilton
(for the kitchen reader book club)

...and i'd say it's about time for my annual reading of divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood, right? :) hope your summer is filled with days stretched out on a beach blanket with a good book (and some lemonade)!

a morning-time routine

2011-06-07T08:45:00.000-05:00

i wake up in between 5:15 and 5:45 most mornings, turn on npr and put on a pot of water to boil to make some oatmeal. after that's done, i boil more water in the kettle and stir pb & brown sugar into my oatmeal, then grind some coffee beans while i wait for the water to boil and my oatmeal to cool down. once the kettle whistles, i pour the coffee beans into my french press, add the not-quite boiling water, and set the microwave timer for 4:00 exactly. then i go out onto the back patio to eat my oatmeal and water my plants. the big pot of basil gets a full cup of water (and it is thriving!). the baby broccoli and green bean shoots get a couple of big dribbles each - i'm afraid i'm going to drown them. every couple of days, i add a bit more compost to their soil. i've been marveling at the concept of compost lately - we grow our food, eat what we can, then break down the scraps to feed the new food we're growing. how cool is that? by the time i'm done marveling, my oatmeal's gone, my coffee's done, and it's time to get dressed, put on way more makeup than i've ever worn in my life, and do something about my hair. then out the door for the 25 minute walk to work!

i've never been a morning person, but i've really come to enjoy this quiet morning-time routine i've started. the city's still quiet and dewy (and sometimes seriously foggy!) and it's just me, my breakfast, and my plants on the back patio, getting ready for the day. we're taking the broccoli and green bean shoots up to our garden plot later today, and i'm kind of sad it will just be me and the basil out there from now on. once we put those in the ground, everything will be planted and i'll just have to go to the garden more often to visit them, i suppose. :)

pictures to come soon of our (hopefully) thriving tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, grean beans, and strawberries! i'm not a huge fan of green beans, so please share recipes that use them... since i'm growing them, i want to eat them.

PS: my morning-time routine reminds me of one of my favorite songs!

running!

2011-05-31T08:56:00.000-05:00

i want my legs to look bangin' in heels like this lady's...

so that's why last night i went running. finally! now to keep it up for more than 2 weeks...

PS: i wouldn't mind her adorable dog, fabulous red dress, or crazy cool bedframe either. picture via apartment therapy.

coming to terms with my natural hair

2011-05-29T19:58:00.004-05:00

over the past couple of years, i've slowly been making changes and embracing a more natural lifestyle. the summer after college, i became a vegetarian. while i lived in atlanta, i started using green cleaning products (or sometimes making my own) and natural soaps/shampoos. after moving to chicago, i completely revamped my diet and started eating more fruit & veggie heavy meals. then i switched over to green cosmetics. this past winter, for the first time in ages, i embraced my natural wintertime skin color. and this summer, i plan to finally embrace my natural hair... FULL TIME.

my hair has a mind of its own. it's naturally curly... ish. depending on the day, it can look like this:

or this:

(come back, mexican tan!)

or even this (haha!):

i wear my hair like this most of the time, though:

for shame! my summertime goal is to learn how to manage my natural hair, whatever its state - whether it's really curly, really big, really frizzy, really wavy, or really flat. there have to be cute, functional hairstyles to accommodate my hair in any of its moods, right?

this decision has been a long time coming. i don't enjoy spending 20 minutes with my straightening iron every morning, i don't enjoy thinking about all the damage that exposure to intense heat is causing my hair, and i certainly don't like giving off the impression that i have straight, manageable hair when that's so far from reality. if i'm embracing a more natural lifestyle, i should be embracing my natural hair, no?

after browing through the blog hair romance and wishing i could just twist, pin, and forget about my hair (this is my new favorite updo!), i finally invested in some eco styling products, including ren-pure organics deep deep deep conditioner (to condition out some of the frizzies once a week), organix coconut milk weightless mousse (to enhance the curls straight out of the shower - it smells so yummy!), and garnier fructis pure clean styling gel (to control the frizz right before my hair is done drying). for the last couple of days, i've been more relaxed about my hair - washing, adding a little bit of mousse and gel, and forgetting about it. and surprise! i've loved the results!

ultimately, this might become a summer of ponytails and poofy bangs, but for now, i'm enjoying more sleep, less time with my straightener, coconutty hair, and no stress (or hair-covering hats) in this rainy weather! all good things so far.

the big dig

2011-05-25T07:49:00.001-05:00

our little garden project has begun!

yesterday we planted tomatoes, strawberries, and peppers (2 bell + 1 jalapeno!). still to come: spinach, lettuce, broccoli, and green beans. seeds are germinating on my back deck!

cross your fingers these crazy storms don't kill these little plant babies before i can get my hands on them!

it's only 9am

2011-05-20T09:03:00.001-05:00

i've been trying to get started on a running routine for the past 2 months and have been failing miserably. first because i was traveling and didn't want to pack my running shoes/interrupt my visits with friends to go for a jog, then because i was starting a new job and routines were impossible because my training schedule was all kinds of wonky. now i'm all trained (and managing a restaurant!) and my schedule is set in stone, so i can actually pencil in running sessions... and i swear i'm going to start soon.
i was hoping to start this week, but i have shin splints from walking all over pilsen on tuesday in cowboy boots. whoops.

really, though, i could keep making these excuses forever: it's raining. it's too hot/cold outside. my shins hurt. i'm tired. i don't have enough time to run, shower, and refuel before work. i walk a mile and a half to and from work every day, so do i really have to run? yes!

i came across a blog this morning (i woke up at 6:45, thanks in large part to my new routine of waking up at 5 and starting my workday at 7:30... and falling asleep at 9:30pm) that will hopefully help me find motivation. it's called healthy motivation (click the link!) and features daily pictures of people working out and/or looking really healthy, pictures of healthy food with recipes, and little-kick-in-the-butt sayings that will make you feel kind of guilty for laying in bed when you should be working out. exactly what i need! maybe i'll make it my homepage so i see it every morning.

(haha!)

point of this post: i am going to work out this morning (pilates, to be kind to my shins) and as soon as the pain goes away, i'll start running. ask me how this is going next week, please. :)

PS: you (yes, you, the couple of friends who are also trying to find motivation to be healthier) should definitely check out this blog too!

nom nom

2011-05-18T08:40:00.000-05:00

baby P is teething, so this is how most of our visit went down:

...nom-nom-noming on my fingers.

it's a good thing i love this little guy (slobber and all)!

besitos

2011-05-07T20:23:00.000-05:00

how adorable/hysterical is this video? these little ones kiss and the boy starts cheering (and telling everyone around that he kissed a girl on the lips!). have you every wanted to cheer after someone kissed you for the first time? cuz i may or may not have wanted to do that once or twice...

also: love how he got in trouble for kissing her a second time. movin' too fast, little guy!

talk derby to me

2011-05-04T10:17:00.000-05:00

this saturday is the kentucky derby! it snuck up on me this year and i actually have to work that day - but luckily the actual race isn't until after i'm off. i'll have just enough time to run home and whip up a batch of soy cheese grits and john dalys, throw on a pretty dress and hat, and plop down on the couch before the race starts. whew!

my schedule never works out in a way that allows me to go to louisville for the big event, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming about what i'd wear if i was in attendance! here are this year's picks...

the hat of my dreams: spotted online here

the dress of my dreams: true watercolors dress, available on modcloth.com for $109.99

the shoes of my dreams: inspired christian louboutin declic leather pumps, available here for $195

and, an accessory: deep green beach glass bracelet, available from azalez on etsy for $18

grab a julip and place your bets, yall! happy derby week! :)

i'm typing may's recipe email as we speak...

2011-05-02T22:27:00.001-05:00

hello, yum.

(photo source)

ps: it's dairy-free!

the kitchen reader: sandra bullock's sister's book

2011-04-30T10:00:00.004-05:00

(that's the actual title of the book!)

disclaimer: okay, i confess. i called this book "sandra bullock's sister's book." the thing is - i love sandra bullock. she often plays characters who are adorably quirky and slightly awkward, which i'd like to pretend are two of my most endearing traits. while reading this book, i tried to pretend like it wasn't sandra bullock's sister who was writing, but i have to admit i perked up every time she mentioned her sister. i was mesmerized with how down-to-earth she made sandra bullock sound, gobbled up all the stories about their childhood in germany (i thought she was from texas!), and cringed when she mentioned baking the cake for her sister's wedding - we all know how that ended. point being: i tried to read this book like it was only awesome because it was about food... but clearly failed. i love sandra bullock.

so, on to what i thought about the book, not the movie star who happened to grace its pages from time to time.

i loved it! i couldn't put it down. i read it at the breakfast table in the morning, on the bus before work, in bed at night. i think i actually read the whole thing in less than 3 days.

i seem to really enjoy stories where people follow their dreams. you know, the people who are bored and frustrated with their current job/relationship/house/lifestyle, but instead of sighing and rolling with it (and complaining about it until the day they die), they just change some things. in this case, sandra bullock's sister (see what i did there? from now on we'll call her SBS.) worked in hollywood and hated the in-authenticity of it all. so she and her husband packed up their lives, moved across the country to vermont, and she opened a bakeshop. i should note that SBS never went to culinary school - she just started baking because it made her happy... and then she just decided to open a bakery! because she could. i find stories like this very inspiring, like even if i get really down in the dumps and things aren't going the way i'd like, there's always hope. just gotta be a go-getter!

i love how this book highlights what a great community-builder food can be. SBS places a lot of sentimental value on many of the desserts she bakes. they remind her of a particular person she's known and even a specific time they ate together. and she lives in a relatively small town in vermont (or so it sounds to this city girl!) and knows many - if not all - of her customers personally. in getting to know her neighbors and customers, she has shared her stories with them and vise versa. at the beginning of the book, she was clearly baking for herself (mission: de-stress after years in hollywood), but as the book goes on, it really seems like she's baking for her entire community. her cakes and tarts and scones and macarons (one o!) make people happy and in turn, seeing their happiness makes her happy. it really is a beautiful cycle.

and now, let's talk about the food in this book... oh my gosh, the food! each chapter includes an anecdote about a certain pastry, with the recipe at the end of the chapter. i've always thought that german food was bland and boring, but this book has absolutely changed my mind. clearly i always gave up during the sauerkraut and mettwurst course (ick) and completely skipped dessert! there are recipes for sticky buns, cherry pie filling (!), cream scones, and a quintessentially german pecan chocolate torte, among others. i especially love these recipes because SBS just uses old family recipes and writes them out as such - the recipes seem totally accessible, even for me, the girl who frequently ends up with egg yolk on the floor and flour in her hair every single damn time she bakes a cake.

i'd absolutely recommend this book to friends, especially the ones who love connecting with people over food or are just super bored with their lives (you know who you are). it's great proof of the healing powers of food, community, and big dreams. just be prepared to be a little bit distracted by the semi-intimate details of sandra bullock's family life (sigh)!

ps: in case you were wondering, this is my first kitchen reader book review! details on the book club here. :)

when it comes to gardening, fourth time's a charm?

2011-04-27T23:36:00.003-05:00

i have some big news! my friend sarah and i have successfully acquired a 9x11 plot in our neighborhood's brand spankin' new community garden. and i am pumped! i am currently obsessed with broccoli, so i can't wait to grow my own endless supply!

that beautiful, lush vegetable garden above? that's my mom's. all i've succesfully grown is 2 inch-long yellow peppers and an aloe plant... i've failed 3 times in recent years to grow my own food (i blame bedbugs, kudzu, and a lack of sun), so i need any and all gardening advice you can give me. please help?

speaking of gardening, here are some links i've been meaning to share...

want to be a little bit subversive? become a guerilla gardener! snag a couple of visualingual's seed bombs (what up, cincinnati!), or a greenaid seed bomb machine, or a suck uk flower grenade and toss them into the empty lots in your hood.

or, make the city a little bit prettier by planting flowers in the cracks in your sidewalks.

scared of bees (like me)? fear not. you can be a beekeeper anyway!

this cool movie about bees is coming to my neighborhood soon! can't wait to see it.

also in chicago, the botanic garden is giving a series of classes on urban farming in the little village neighborhood this summer!

and... neighborspace and growing home urban farm are joining forces to start more farms/gardens in chicago's food deserts! amazing.

want to start worm composting? here's a list of exactly what to feed your worms so your box doesn't get smelly/infested with fruit flies. (you can also buy the supplies to start a worm bin on this website!)

speaking of worm composting, here are the no impact man's thoughts and tips. because we all know i value his opinion on everything eco. :)

happy planting, watering, and harvesting, yall!

coachella

2011-04-25T09:06:00.000-05:00

i love you, kanye west :)

on gender identity & children

2011-04-14T23:29:00.011-05:00

i realize that most people agree that fox news is a joke, but that doesn't mean their commentators don't royally piss me off from time-to-time. lately, i can't go more than 24 hours without hearing on the news that so-and-so on fox news was running his or her mouth about some hot button issue... most of the time they're talking about defunding NPR or planned parenthood (i'm a big fan of both organizations, by the way), hating on muslims and/or latinos (i'm a big fan of both of them, too), or prattling on about the "controversy" surrounding the president's birthplace (shut up, donald trump).

but apparently this week, what's got the people at fox news all riled up is a little boy with pink nail polish on his toes. a little boy. with pink nail polish on his toes. god forbid!

apparently all this hoopla started when j. crew's website featured a picture of one of their designers laughing with her young son, whose toenails are painted bright pink. my first thought when i saw the picture was that it is adorable. i bet this little guy's mom gets regular pedicures and he wanted in on the fun - so she whipped out a bottle of pink nail polish (she says it's his favorite color!) and painted his toes, too. kids do this a lot. they mimic what they see their parents and older siblings doing. i've met little boys who insist on wearing their hair in ponytails because that's what their older sisters do. i've met boys who want to paint their nails because that's what their mom does. and i've met tons of little boys who prance around in skirts - because skirts are awesome and make spinning around in circles so much more fun! for more on little boys dressing like girls and how that does not mean a child is gay (but if it turns out it does, he's still your child and you should love him anyway), read "my son is gay." it's good stuff.

anyway, back to fox news. apparently this j. crew ad really offended some people over there... because they chose to print an op-ed piece entitled "j. crew plants the seeds for gender identity," which states that the ad "...is a dramatic example of the way that our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity—homogenizing males and females when the outcome of such “psychological sterilization” [my word choice] is not known." say what?! painting your little kiddo's toenails is "psychological sterilization?!" psychological sterilization... there is so much drama in those words. i'm appalled that an innocent act where a mother and her child are having fun and bonding has been turned into something negative. for real, click on the link above and read the entire piece. this writer actually claims that by painting her sons nails, this j. crew designer just pushed her son to be transgendered. and he outright discourages parents from letting their kids explore their identity, instead saying they should force their child to "be comfortable with what they're born with." we can't change our skin color, he argues, so we shouldn't be allowed to gender bend either.

okay, for real. i'm going to avoid my long-winded rant about how race is related to the amount of melanin in your skin and where your ancestors came from, as opposed to gender, which is much more fluid, and instead skip ahead to the part where i mention how appalled i am by how closed-minded and scared the tone of this article is. why is the writer so personally threatened by a mother allowing her 3-year-old boy to wear nail polish? when he asked to paint his nails, should she have said, "no no, sweetie, only girls get to wear bright colors on their fingers and toes." no! because this little dude wanted colorful toes and if that's what he wants, give him colorful toes. he doesn't associate nail polish with femininity, he just thinks its awesome.

one of the things i love most about little kids is that they haven't yet been tainted by societal standards and do tons of things that grown ups would never dream of doing. they awkwardly stare at complete strangers for uncomfortably long amounts of time. little boys dance around in sparkly dresses and sing disney songs. little girls who are just learning about anatomy yell things like "mr. rogers has a penis!" in the checkout line at the grocery store (what up, eliza). the little guy i babysit likes to randomly shout "aj poopy!" in public as though i'm the one wearing a diaper and he needs to change it. they're learning and they're exploring and they don't yet realize what we've deemed "normal" and "not normal." little boys who wear nail polish aren't doing so to proclaim to the world that they are thinking about sex-change surgery or that they are attracted to men... they are simply exploring.

so, my point: don't hold your kids back. let them explore freely. and if (gasp!) your kid some day comes out of the closet, it's not remotely related to the time you gave him a bright pink pedicure. it's just who he is. so stop being a hater.

sundays

2011-04-12T21:36:00.000-05:00

this picture on re-nest just caught my eye - there were several of those big orange saarinen womb chairs in the lobby area of my university's library and they were my absolute favorite thing on campus! i miss the many sundays i spent snuggled up in one of these chairs, with a coffee from grinder's and one of the shins' older albums playing softly from my friend erin's nearby ipod. most of my friends spent sundays at the library so people would always be coming and going and it always seemed like i did more giggling and napping (these chairs are comfortable!) than studying... not quite how it should be, eh?

what i don't miss: doing boatloads of homework. it'll be awhile before i suck it up and go back to school, people.

ps: i'm in between jobs (i start the new one next friday!) and TRAVELING! just returned a few hours ago from five days with friends & family in missouri and leave in just over 48 hours for five days (filled with lots of snuggles with LJ's baby!) in texas! this is the good life. :)

meg's got the whole world in her hands

2011-04-06T08:55:00.002-05:00

helloooo friends! i have a veryimportantrequest.

my friend megan is currently in the middle of a super-competitive contest to become an intern on a beautiful little island off the coast of panama. if she gets the job, she'd be exploring the island, getting to know the people who live there, and then using social media and other means to promote the island to travelers interested in sustainability and authentic travel experiences. you know the type - the ones who immerse themselves in every place they go, fall in love with the people and the language and the food and the art and the culture, and leave a little bit of their heart in every place they've visited. so, basically meg is perfect for this job.

you can watch her video cover letter here:

aren't you so jealous of all the amazing things she's done?

okay but here's where the favor comes in. can you click on THIS LINK and give her a thumbs up (just click the button right above the video)? the more thumbs up meg gets, the more likely she is to get this fabulous job.

thanks!

PS: you can only vote once from each computer (otherwise you better believe i'd be encouraging some chicago-style early & often voting), but you CAN vote once per browser! meaning, if you've downloaded both mozilla and google chrome, you can vote once from each. internet explorer and safari, however, are both being huge buzzkills and don't let you vote at all. but yes, i voted twice on my computer and twice on each computer i could get my hands on at work... join in!

una receta para abril

2011-04-04T15:36:00.000-05:00

i've got april's recipe all ready for you! it's a delicious homemade salsa de jitomate, perfect for dipping chips, topping tacos, or just eating by the spoonful. check your inbox in the next hour or so.

(viva méxico!)

leyendo

2011-04-03T11:42:00.000-05:00

one of my new year's resolutions was to read more. i'm normally a book-eating machine (i think i read 6 books the first month i lived in atlanta! and in mexico, i spent literally every single afternoon lounging in the sun devouring books.), but last year i only read four books. all year!

i was so ashamed of myself that i've joined two books clubs - one with a group of friends of friends here in chicago (first meeting today!) and one that's online, called the kitchen reader (you'll see my reviews for those books here). this means i'll be reading at least two books a month... which means i'm on pace to read 20 more books this year than i did last year. is it possible? we'll see.

i've spent the morning on the couch, drinking black coffee, listening to ingrid michaelson, and reading sandra bullock's sister's book. life is good. :)

PS: still haven't finished pride & prejudice... ugh. it's so dry!

oh hey, baseball season

2011-03-31T20:58:00.004-05:00

the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd... it's back!!

happy opening day, yall. :)

i STILL haven't been to a game here...

do the tomahawk chop!

that's david ortiz

proof i don't ALWAYS sit along the 3rd base line

PS bonus points if you can tell me which pictures are at which of the following stadiums: great american ballpark, busch stadium, turner field, wrigley field, shea stadium, us cellular field.

how i spent my earth hour

2011-03-27T15:35:00.002-05:00

have you heard of earth hour? people all around the world stop using electricity from 8:30-9:30 on march 26th - to show their commitment to protecting the environment. they even turned off the lights in the sears tower downtown, and i meant to go out onto my back deck to the check out the darkness... but forgot. anyway, meghan and i celebrated by eating dinner by candlelight (veg potstickers with the most delicious peanut dipping sauce!), sipping bubbly pinot grigio, and making yarn puffball animals. yes, you read that correctly: after a looooong day at work, i spent my saturday night in the dark, making a yarn puffball duck & chick.*

meet geoffrey the sassy chick and grey the shy baby duck. they're hanging out on my windowsill enjoying some shade from the flowers my friend cath sent me last week (thanks!). :)

in case you think crafting animals out of yarn is as cool as i do, you can find directions for making them here.

*which is funny, because i was supposed to see a musical duo called duck & goose play last night! my friend emily is 1/2 of this duo... check them out!

things i love

2011-03-24T21:23:00.003-05:00

i think i've mentioned this before, but in case i haven't: while in high school, i kept a journal - not to be confused with diary! in it were lists of things i loved and things i hated. no elaborate stories were told, but based on what's on the lists i can name almost down to the week when i wrote them. lists of little things (or sometimes very, very big things) that made my world go round (or made my skin crawl) provide a perfect window into my world at that particular moment. so, since i can't spend much time on this post, here's a little peek into my world as of 9:23 pm on thursday, april 24, 2011...

things i love:

documentaries about environmental issues
(like this one...yep, still obsessing!)
smoothies made with vanilla yogurt, frozen strawberries, & green juice
my new nude heels
baseball!
listening to jazz music
(coffee/dinner/margarita) dates with my friends
waking up to morning edition on NPR
(sidenote: please please please don't defund NPR!)
corn tortillas (with scrambled eggs & valentina)
seeing the first buds on trees!
anticipation of my new job!!!!
the little boys i babysit
$4 margaritas
spring scarves
reading in the big brown chair
my fan
staying hydrated
the bakery across the street that sells cheap intelligentsia
pictures of my grandparents when they were young
planning upcoming vacations to missouri & texas
my new platform bed
springtime & sunshine :)

comfort

2011-03-20T23:42:00.000-05:00

currently obsessed with the idea of sitting in this chair all day long, reading water for elephants (my new book club book!)...

i love how lived-in and well-loved the chair looks. and the color coordinated shelves! oh my.

via: alice in designland

zero impact

2011-03-17T10:12:00.005-05:00

i've watched the no impact man movie twice in the past 5 days. no joke! i think i'm obsessed.

i remember reading the no impact man blog with jordan in college and thinking the project was really interesting... but watching the movie and seeing how this family gradually makes big and small changes to bring down their environmental impact was awesome. basically, the no impact family (colin, michelle, & isabella) tried to reduce their environmental impact to zero over the course of a year. they made changes to every aspect of their daily lives - no non-local food (so no coffee!), no disposable paper/plastic products (no tp! no magazines!), no tv, no electricity, only self-propelled transportation, etc. it was really interesting to see how their lives were enriched with every change they made. you can read more about what the project is all about here.

i particularly enjoyed what colin's wife michelle brought to the story. she reminded me a lot of myself - she's a city girl, constantly throws it out there that she "doesn't like nature," is completely addicted to caffeine, but really wanting to make some changes to help the state of the environment. she's such a champ throughout the whole movie. even when the changes they're making inconvenience her or seriously alter the way she's lived her life thus far, she goes along with it because she's determined to make the project a success. and in the end, you can tell she's really pleased by the positive ways the project has changed her life.

my favorite scene is when the family does their laundry by soaking it in borax and castor oil in the tub, then they walk on it to get it clean. you can tell michelle's totally irritated by the project at that moment, but colin and isabella are clearly having a ball walking back and forth over the laundry, so she joins in on the fun. they're just such a cute and loving family, i can't even handle it.

here's a preview (there's a small snippet of the laundry moment at the 2 minute mark!):

you should definitely watch this. it's on netflix instant! and if i were roger ebert, i'd give it 2 thumbs up for sure. :)

PS: i miss discussions about movies like this with my ATL roommates! but last night, meghan and i had a nice little chat evaluating the project after we watched it... totally refreshing. i need more socially conscious conversations in my life.

psssst

2011-03-13T19:48:00.002-05:00

i know, an hour of internet a day. you weren't expecting to hear from me for awhile. but i just wanted to let yall know that you can now subscribe to my blog via email! just scroll down to the very bottom of that column over there to the right --->

type your email address, hit subscribe, and you never have to come back to this site again to catch up with me. but please still visit the real site and leave comments and stuff. i like you guys. :)

have a happy week!

i gave up the internet for lent

2011-03-10T18:44:00.002-06:00

well, that's kind of a lie. but i've made drastic cuts to my internet use for the duration of lent... down to just one hour a day! i'm not really a religious person, but i'll jump at any chance to force myself to become a better person. so in this case, i figure there are a bazillion christians making cuts, too, so why not join them?

this means there will probably be significantly longer breaks between blog posts for the next 40 days, because some posts can take up to an hour! i'll still post some recipes and probably pictures of things i've been up to, but don't expect anything long-winded. instead, i'll be reading and baking and hopefully going for runs in the warm(er) sunshine and hanging out with my friends and maybe doing some home improvement projects. but don't worry, i'll be back after easter!

here's some stuff to hold you over until then...

some of my favorite recipes:
sweet potato quesadillas
cheesy grits
coconut chocolate chip scones
spring rolls
BBQ tempeh sandwiches

some books my friends recommend:
bel canto, by ann padgett (recommended by 2 people!)
the lacuna, by barbara kingsolver
gang leader for a day, by sudhir venkatesh
ellen foster, by kaye gibbons
the joy luck club, by amy tan
the help, by kathryn stockett (recommended by 4 people!)
building social business, by muhammed yunus
cat's cradle, by kurt vonnegut
a farewell to arms, by ernest hemingway
the red tent, by anita diamant (recommended by 3 people!)

some books i love:
eat, pray, love, by elizabeth gilbert
three cups of tea, by greg mortenson
a thousand splendid suns, by khaled hosseini
divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood, by rebecca wells
the soloist, by steve lopez
gone with the wind, by margaret mitchell

some websites i like to waste time on:
the sartorialist
tastespotting
when parents text (hahahaha)
urban outfitters' sale page
apartment therapy

some movies i love:
good will hunting
promises
away we go
slumdog millionaire
the departed
roman holiday
the princess and the frog

and some songs i can't stop listening to:
simple life, by the weepies
what i wouldn't do, by a fine frenzy
i'm a lady, by santogold
changes, by tupac
midnight train to georgia, by gladys knight and the pips
young forever, by jay-z featuring mr. hudson

happy fasting yall!

cambodia

2011-03-07T08:39:00.000-06:00

my friend megan is working on her master's degree in beijing and she recently took a few weeks off to tour southeast asia. she's been updating her blog with beautiful pictures and journal excerpts for the last few days and i'm gobbling it all up. she posted a picture this morning from cambodia of two little girls wearing bright dresses, and i can't stop staring at it! everything about it is perfect.

(congrats, meg, two blog mentions in a row!)
(and for real, people, click that link up above and look at more of her beautiful pictures!)

sunset

2011-03-03T18:25:00.001-06:00

i went to college in indiana and i'll be honest, i mostly think it's a place that lacks any real natural beauty. teeny tiny towns surrounded by flat cornfields that stretch on for miles just don't do it for me.* BUT on the night of my 22nd birthday, indiana proved me wrong by providing me with a sunset that looked like this:

i know it's march right now, but october sunsets are the best!

*apologies to those who grew up there! i'm looking at you, m lee mcgee.

some sunday love

2011-02-27T15:20:00.007-06:00

today was amazing. here are some reasons:

1: i slept in until 9:00 (that's late for me!) and woke up to the sun shining brightly through my window! then i ate avocado toast for breakfast and drank some iced coffee + soymilk.

2: i walked to uptown in the sunshine and bought a rice cooker at target. then i came home and ate BBQ tempeh leftovers for lunch!

3: i listened to the first cubs exhibition game on the radio (relax, i'm wearing a cardinals shirt!) while making delicious strawberry scones... this might be my march 1 recipe. there are secret ingredients, so stay tuned. :)

4: i chopped up the leftover strawberries and mixed in some chopped up kiwis to eat while watching the last 3 episodes of pushing daisies on netflix instant. washed it all down with a cerveza victoria!

5: and now, i'm watching the academy awards, eating some amazing homemade thai curry (with rice made in my new rice cooker), and marveling at all of these beautiful dresses! :)

now it's raining, with promised sleet + 3 inches of snow on the way before morning. instead of grumbling about winter, i'm choosing to be grateful for the beautiful sunshine i got to enjoy this morning. spring is coming! slowly but surely.

what i'm reading

2011-02-25T08:26:00.000-06:00

photo from the bennet sisters

oh yikes. i've started - but not finished - this book no less than 5 times in the past. this time i'm determined to make it through! then it will be time to finally watch the bbc movie starring colin firth! mmmm.

PS: one time i watched bride & prejudice, but otherwise i know nothing about the story. did bride & prejudice even have anything to do with pride & prejudice?!

feliz cumpleaños a ti

2011-02-24T17:57:00.000-06:00

last year on rachel's birthday, i put hanukkah candles in her breakfast cheesy grits... and the blue dye from them leaked everywhere. whoops!

this year i'll do better. meghan and i are already planning her present (hint: it will be great!) and what kind of cake we're going to bake her (same hint: it will also be great!)... but because of last year's tie-dyed grits disaster, i'm already thinking about what kind of candles to top it with.

how about beeswax birthday candles by herriott grace? no funky dyes or chemicals to soak into the cake, plus they smell nice and are handmade! and they're pretty. :) what's not to love?

you can buy a package of 20 for $8 online here.

(think she'll notice there are 4 too few candles on her cake?)

should you let it sleep in a crate or the supply closet?

2011-02-22T21:32:00.000-06:00

i laughed for 20 minutes straight (seriously) the first time i saw a picture of a mop dog. i think i've only laughed so hard that i cried a handful of times, and this was one of them. there were tears running down my cheeks! is this thing for real?!

photo via: 3thirtythree

pssst, i know the best cure for the wintertime blues!

2011-02-20T11:24:00.002-06:00

...it's a trip to visit tropical plants at an indoor botanical garden or conservatory!

at thanksgiving (loooong before the wintertime blues hit), i visited the botanical garden in washington with my family and made sure to soak up the humidity, the sun shining through the roof made out of greenhouse-style windows, and the overabundance of tropical vegetation for the long winter months ahead. seriously, i completely ditched my family and wandered slowly through each room, smiling from ear-to-ear and taking pictures of all my favorite flowers and trees from mexico that i hadn't seen in so long (i actually gasped when i saw a lot of them because i'd completely forgotten about them)! here are a couple of my faves...

a beautiful bird of paradise

a life-size palm tree... unlike the poser in my living room

cacao pods!

i THINK these are papayas...

vanilla beans grow on this plant!

the agave cactus: provider of both agave nectar & tequila

nopales (they're edible!)

and... i saved the best for last: my favorite little red mexican puff flower!

the city thawed out last week and all that snow the blizzard left behind has melted (finally!), but i'm afraid that springtime in chicago is still a long way's off. while i try to be patient and not to get too bummed out by grey skies and the wintry mix falling from the sky, i'm planning visits to both the lincoln park AND garfield park conservatories. i'm determined to make this living-in-a-city-with-a-really-long-winter thing work for now and i think frequent visits to buildings full of tropical plants might be key to making this happen! yes? yes.

PS: both chicago conservatories are free (!) and company's welcome... if you want to join me on my tropical field trips, let me know!

ella ella...

2011-02-16T23:52:00.001-06:00

i'm not a huge glee fan (a gleek?), but i happened to catch the gwyneth paltrow episode a few weeks ago and nearly died during the performance at the end... all those guys dancing around in vests, all that water, the most fabulous mash-up ever?!

coming to terms with my wintertime skin

2011-02-10T22:26:00.006-06:00

i have always dreamed of being more exotic than the irish/german person that i am. i grew up in cincinnati, and everyone there is irish, german, and catholic. everyone, just like me. so i started telling people that i'm part-lebanese, or part-philipino (?!), or part-puerto rican. lies! i'm as european-american as they come.

however, a couple of years ago, i discovered that - when left out in the sun for a few hours each day and for months on end (wearing sunscreen, promise!) - my skin can turn this color:

i basked in the glory of that fabulous mexi-tan for about 11 months, but eventually, it wore off. and every summer when my tan came back, it was a shadow of its former self. wintertime was even worse. let's be honest... in my current life in chicago, illinois, by mid- to late-winter, i'm actually more like this color:

the one lasting souvenir from my mexi-tan is FRECKLES! i realize they are probably a sign of long-term skin damage, but for now... i think they look adorable on my shoulders.

for the past 3 winters, i've cringed at the sight of my super-white skin, coating my cheeks in bronzing powder and regularly slathering self tanner over any skin that might potentially be seen, pretending that in mid-winter i'm still holding on to a slight summertime glow. ha! sike.

a couple of months ago, i had an epiphany. i was sitting on my couch, comparing the skin color of my arm to that of a friend whose family is from pakistan and i said something along the lines of, "see? i'm not that much paler than you!" let's put aside the fact that i'm clearly delusional and am definitely much paler than he is, and instead focus on the fact that by wishing, hoping, praying, and striving for browner skin, i'm pretending to be someone who i'm not. which is not okay.

the fact is: 10 out of the 12 months each year, my skin is really, really pale. i've been trying really hard to embrace my paleness this year. i've put my bronzer away for the season (the sun isn't tanning anyone's skin in this city this time of year, who was i kidding?!) and have switched up my makeup regimen to involve just foundation (the palest color option... wah wah wahhh), a little bit of blush (the irish always have rosy cheeks, right?), and some eyeliner/mascara. instead of using "hint of sun" lotions that gradually turn my skin a bit more bronze-y, i'm using tons of regular old body butter. and i'm wearing all of the colors in my wardrobe that look good with really white skin (adios, goldenrod!). i'm resisting the urge to dye my hair darker brown (in my head that looks better with pale skin, but in reality it would probably just make me look goth...?) and am embracing the coloring that comes naturally to me.

so far, so good. but you better believe i'm dyyyying for spring/summer to roll around so i can get out in the sunshine again and let my warm weather coloring show. sigh... baby steps.

PS: if you're wondering if my struggles with my racial identity are always this shallow, fear not: you can read this essay i wrote a few years back while living in atlanta about how people perceive me because of my skin color.

PS

2011-02-07T22:13:00.001-06:00

i have to brag for a moment, because i love a good bargain and recently i've snagged two very good deals:

1: this $170 duvet cover for $45 (from urban outfitters)

2: this $150 coat for - get this - $19.98 (by pink martini)

now just keep your fingers crossed i don't splatter coffee or ketchup or balsamic vinaigrette on either of them. white things make me nervous.

2/17 edit: i spilled coffee down the front of my white coat while riding the 78 montrose bus this morning... sigh. it was inevitable.

llena de amor

2011-02-07T21:43:00.001-06:00

that title means "full of love" and that's how i feel right now. i just booked a trip to dallas in april to visit my friend LJ and her sweet cowboy boot-wearing baby boy (who is also the proud owner of a board book about mexican food)... i'm so excited to see her and hug her and eat chilaquiles with her and - of course - cuddle with her little one. and kelly will be there at the same time!

i get to hang out with these two lovely ladies in texas!

but i want to be everywhere. i'm going to dallas and will get to see two friends, but i also want to spend time with my friends who live in cincinnati and atlanta and knoxville and st louis and denver and washington dc and san diego and seattle and cholula and beijing and san francisco and houston and oklahoma and kathmandu and minneapolis and...

sigh. i am too full of love and don't have enough time/money to spread it around. can't you all just come visit me in chicago? and soon?

holy moly

2011-02-01T07:00:00.001-06:00

i don't know if you have heard, but there's a blizzard coming my way...

see all that dark orange? blizzard warning. people keep talking about warm, moist tropical air meeting up with cold arctic air right over chicago and are saying that something like 24 inches are going to fall over 24 hours (!). i'm fully prepared to be snowed in and do nothing but bake scones for a couple of days. :)

(ps: current map of watches & warnings comes courtesy of the NWS)

ballet flats for baby

2011-01-28T20:13:00.000-06:00

confession: i have baby fever.

to be clear, that does not mean i want a baby of my own. it does mean people near and dear to me keep having babies and now all i want to do is spoil them rotten! so it seems i'm on a baby shopping spree. so far i've gifted baby cowboy boots, a book called hola jalapeno (never too early to start their education on mexican food, verdad?), and a cozy homemade wintertime aviator hat. next up, i think i'll have to buy these adorable "ballet flat" socks. it's also never to early to teach little girls about the world of fashionable - yet super comfortable - footwear, right? next up are due dates in march and july... so clearly i have to start shopping now.

buy 6 pairs for $26 (!) here. aren't the gold ones fabulous?!

february's recipe

2011-01-26T11:44:00.000-06:00

...will be a delicious strawberry swirl cheesecake with a gingersnap crust. this was a collaborative effort between me (filling), rachel (crust), and meghan (strawberry swirl), and a mix between 3 different recipes... and it tastes delicious! i'll send the recipe on the 1st. and there's still some in my fridge, so if you're in chicago, stop by and try some!

happy birthday, jeanette!

2011-01-25T09:37:00.008-06:00

my grandma (and middle-namesake) turns 89 years old today! i think she is the most fabulous lady in the whole wide world. (and my grandpa was a goofball, yes?)

addicted

2011-01-23T17:23:00.001-06:00

while i disagree with the idea that we need a phone to save us from our phones, i think this is one of the greatest commercials ever! we've all been there, right? i can't even text and walk at the same time. instead of inspiring me to buy a newer, more user-friendly phone, this commercial is a great reminder that i need to put my phone down occasionally... and focus on the here and now.

sucio/limpia

2011-01-20T17:37:00.001-06:00

when my life feels particularly out of control or stressful, i like to go on a cleaning spree. sometimes, i'll even create a mess just so i can clean it up. counterproductive? probably. but last weekend, after a couple of weeks of insanity finally came to a close (and you could see the insanity of those weeks reflected in my bedroom's decor), i went on a huge cleaning spree. and it totally chilled me out. i'm a little bit ashamed to post pictures of my room in such a messy state on the internet, but.... here are some before & after pictures for you to enjoy.

before
(things to note: massive heap of laundry needing to be washed, then piles of clean laundry that had been laying around for days, seriously unmade bed, random books/newspapers/lotion bottles everywhere, the fact that it looks like my closet vomited on my floor... and my chair...)

after

(things to note: my floor!!!, empty space, made bed, pile of clothes to donate to the thrift store, a closed closet door, my newfound sanity...)

PS: ...oh shit!

some thoughts on positivity

2011-01-15T20:33:00.003-06:00

we're only 15 days into the new year, but i already have to toot my own horn: i'm doing pretty well on my new years resolutions! while it's true i haven't yet booked a flight to mexico (one way or de ida y vuelta?!) or conquered paneer-making (though i did make this delicious spinach curry that subbed tofu for paneer last week...), i have been surprisingly successful at not complaining!

you see, i didn't have a plan to make this happen. i made this resolution very last-minute. the decision was inspired by this post on a cup of jo - it's a challenge to stop complaining for one week. but really, one week's not enough for me... how about for a whole year? and then maybe for life? i just planned to wing it, see if maybe little by little i'd become more aware of how often i complain and then start to nip it in the bud. but no, somehow i ended up going cold turkey. no complaining. nada.

it's true, i've found myself complaining about small things like being tired before i have my morning coffee or about being hungry when my stomach grumbles, but the big things that actually really bother me? i stopped complaining about them. and once i stopped complaining, i started taking action. somehow (i guess not shockingly), this no complaining thing has led me to become a lot more assertive. and asserting myself when i really need to has never been my forte - i normally get annoyed, let things stew, pretend to suck it up, and then, inevitably, bitch bitch bitch to anyone who will listen. but since i've stopped blabbing to everyone about every little thing that bothers me, i've had to stop dwelling on those things and instead find myself thinking about constructive changes i can make, which leads to confrontations with the things/situations/people that i've been irritated with. and i've been pleasantly surprised by all of the positive changes this has brought to my life! i have to say, complaint-free living might be the way to go. now if only i can keep it up for 11.5 more months...

(yep, those ARE two pictures of me being blissfully happy, because when i'm not allowed to complain, i'm actually blissfully happy!)

PS: since i wanted to stop complaining about my back hurting all the time (and also because i decided i deserve a little pampering after that rough december), i booked a massage for tomorrow morning. yes, yes i did. :)

taxco de mi corazon

2011-01-14T09:08:00.001-06:00

it's cold and grey in chicago right now (helloooo, january!) and i find myself dreaming of my favorite town in mexico this morning, called taxco. i'm currently obsessing over the few january days that i spent enjoying its sunshine, scenery, and fabulous, fabulous silver markets...

the view from my hotel room (at night)

the view from my hotel room (in the morning)

the view from the rooftop restaurant on the zocalo that some random guy took us to

(where i had curry for the first time in mexico!)

(can you spot the church in the morningtime picture?)

PS: read more about the prettiest little town in mexico here! and see more lovely pictures of it here.

it's normal to have dreams about desserts, right?

2011-01-09T23:14:00.002-06:00

i lived in mexico four years ago (four years!). and one day, after lunch, i ate a delicious teeny tiny single serving strawberry and kiwi tart. it had a decadent, slightly-sweet, super-creamy custard-like filling and was topped with the thinnest slices of fruit. the crust was perfectly buttery and kind of crumbly, kind of soft soft. i can't even remember the spanish word for kiwi (is it actually just "kiwi?"), but i've been dreaming about this delicious little tart for years, wondering if i will ever eat something so fabulous again.

what? you think i'm crazy for spending 4 years obsessing over a dessert i ate once in a foreign country? clearly you've never tasted something so divine. so, as far as i'm concerned, i have two options:

1. i could go back to the smaller cafeteria in the centro social at la UDLA (i think it was called cafe santa catarina?) and ask if they still make tarts de kiwi y fresa. then i can buy 15 of them, pack them on ice, and bring them back to los estados unidos with me.

2. or i can try to recreate the magic in my own kitchen.

since plane tickets to mexico are upwards of $300, i think i'll have to test out my skills in the kitchen. LUCKILY, i just randomly stumbled upon this recipe for a vanilla custard strawberry tart on the not derby pie blog. i can't remember if the custard in my dream tart tasted like vanilla or not, but i'm going to have to give this a try. and of course i'll add kiwis on top. :)

PS: they looked a lot like this!

neighborhood caramels

2011-01-09T17:28:00.004-06:00

i'm all about sugary food. especially homemade sugary food. cakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes, streudels, chocolate truffles, pralines... you make it, i'll eat it. i'm also a big fan of neighborhoods. as in, learning about the people who live in different neighborhoods, visiting neighborhood coffee shops, seeing how architecture varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, and all the other little things that make each neighborhood unique.

so a couple of months ago, when i saw an article in the red eye about city caramels, a small one-woman company based right here in chicago that makes neighborhood-themed caramels, i was intrigued. there's a lincoln square caramel (with toasted hazelnut - an ode to the germans), a bucktown caramel (with dark chocolate covered espresso beans - an ode to the hipsters?), an oldtown caramel (with pretzels), and my personal favorite: a pilsen caramel (with toasted pepitas, cinnamon, ancho chile, and chocolate abuelita - that's "cho-co-LAH-tay ah-bway-LEE-tah")! mexican caramel! oh my.

i haven't actually tried these caramels yet, but the anticipation is so great that i thought they were worth sharing before i could even give them my endorsement. if anyone eats them before i do, let me know how they are!

if you're in chicago, you can buy city caramels at southport grocery, drew's eatery, or chicago's downtown farmstand. or if you're not in chicago (and have no idea where these neighborhoods are or what they're like, but think these sound delicious!), buy them on etsy here. you can buy a lot of the same kind or a mixed bag of all four. so many options!

and you can read more about the company here.

must. eat these. soon.

back to life, back to reality

2011-01-08T21:33:00.004-06:00

after a holiday season that wasn't nearly as relaxing and fabulous as i'd hoped (i missed seeing one side of my family at christmas because i had the flu, then unexpectedly got to spend new years with the other side of the family because my grandpa passed away), coming back to chicago and going back to work was a bit overwhelming.

luckily, my friend meghan sent me a welcome home email that contained a link to the following video:

what a perfect way to cheer me up! one of my favorite songs sung enthusiastically by a child? hell yes.

meanwhile, after a weird start, i'm extremely optimistic about all the adventures 2011 may potentially bring... :)

january's recipe

2010-12-30T16:42:00.001-06:00

due to an unexpected death in the family, i'm heading out of town tomorrow and will be gone for the entire holiday weekend. so, in an effort to not be late again, january's recipe email will go out tonight or tomorrow. that's right: it'll be early! here's a photo sneak peek (the picture's originally from here). enjoy!

PS: happy 2011!

under the weather

2010-12-29T11:18:00.000-06:00

i am sick. wait wait, let me rephrase that: i've been sick for six days.

i got the flu on christmas eve and spent the holiday shivering, sleeping, and watching old episodes of the office on my parents' couch. notice the lack of enjoying time with family and opening presents and eating good food? what a buzzkill.

now i'm back in chicago and cannot for the life of me kick the horrible cough that came after my fever broke. i've missed 3 days of work and just got back from the doctor, who told me it may linger for a few more days. days! and that i should consider myself contagious as long as i'm still coughing.

and new years eve is in 2 days and i have a friend coming into town tomorrow and plans with lots of other friends over the course of the weekend and... am i complaining? hell yes. i need to kick this thing before tomorrow night. in case my prescription-strength cough and sinus meds don't do the trick, do you have any tips?

PS: yes, that's a picture of brownies. because all i wanted to eat the first day i was sick were my sister's delicious triple chocolate brownies.

some good things the french have invented:

2010-12-20T21:01:00.001-06:00

this list includes things like french fries, french tipped nails, and french kissing (ooh la la!), but today i'm going to talk about french press coffee, because it's a rather recent addition to my caffeine-addicted life.

photo: surlatable.com

a couple of months ago, i made a trip to the brown elephant in andersonville to look for some things for our (then) new apartment. i'd been dreaming of buying a french press for months, but due to the $40 price tag for a cheap new one, i'd never gotten around to actually getting one. enter: the thrift store, where i found one for $4 and clearly could not pass it up!

ever since then, i've been working my way toward making the perfect cup of coffee. right now i'm grinding just a 1/2 cup of beans, heating the water to juuuust before boiling, filling the french press pot until it's about a 1/2 inch away from being full, quickly pumping it about 3-4 times, letting it steep for exactly 4 minutes, and pouring it into my mug immediately.

it's delicious and you should probably go to the thrift store and get yourself a french press immediately (um, and wash it well before using!)... or you could shell out $40 for a new one. but really? try the thrift store.

resolutions

2010-12-16T18:51:00.001-06:00

i've been surprisingly successful at following my new years resolutions this year (minus the re-learning spanish part...). so now i'm thinking about 2011, and how i'd like to change my life in positive ways this upcoming year. as always, i'm going to call them something like suggestions-that-might-help-me-direct-my life-in-a-positive-direction... so no pressure! none at all.

here's some ideas:

1. read more. because, really? i only read three whole books this year (animal vegetable miracle in march, the soloist in august, and gone with the wind - which i'm currently 100 pages from finishing!)... shameful.

2: GO TO MEXICO. for real.

3: learn to make cheese cake, paneer, and a bundt cake that doesn't come out of the pan half-crumbled.

4: stop complaining. like, really stop it all together. this one might take awhile, but i think it will be a very positive change!

any other suggestions? (book suggestions welcome, too!)

no one on the corner has swagga like us

2010-12-13T22:04:00.001-06:00

sunday was kind of a crappy day. after a bears loss, several plans getting cancelled, horrible weather (high wind/heavy snow/dropping temperatures), and bad food, i did what any girl would do to make herself feel better.... i made a new playlist on itunes. and appropriately named it "crappy day." it was filled to the brim with all of my guilty pleasure songs, the ones that aren't necessary high quality (though some are!), but are so fun to dance to and always make me smile. in case you're having a rough day, too, i'll share a favorite.... or you can check back sometime when you are having a bad day and are in desperate need of a smile. :)

this is one of my favorite songs ever - it's the ringtone on my phone, it's on the soundtrack to one of my favorite movies (slumdog millionaire), and i have tons of fond memories dancing to this song in my bedroom, at bars in atlanta, at weddings, etc. MIA = awesome.

(new) MIA - Paper Planes Official Video
Uploaded by homhom. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

PS: this song's been remixed a million different times (see here, for a gunshot-less version) and also, another of my favorite songs from the slumdog soundtrack (and some fabulous dancing!).

'tis the season (part 2)

2010-12-09T19:10:00.000-06:00

yesterday evening, i found myself transferring from the red line to the brown line at the belmont stop... at rush hour. the platform was completely full of people, it was freezing, and an express train had already passed us, when the santa express train rolled up to take me home. yes, you read that right: the santa express train.

things that make this train unique:

1: there is a sleigh, santa and all, right there in between two of the cars.
2: it's decorated - inside and out - with sparkly holiday garlands and big red bows and christmas lights.
3: santa announces all of the stops: "ho ho ho! we're at southport! mind the gap! ho ho ho!"*
4: it smells like cinnamon. (note to CTA: can you make all trains smell this way please? it was pleasant.)
5: there are CTA employees in all the train cars handing out candy canes.
6: there is loud christmas music playing inside.

here's a blurry cell phone picture i took inside the (packed) car. i was slightly horrified by the entire thing, but most people were smiling, so... props to the CTA for that.

PS: i heard this song for the first time this christmas season today. i'm happy to report that 2010 was indeed a much better year for me! :)

*no one who works for the chicago transit authority really says "mind the gap" but sometimes i like to pretend like i'm in london.