hysterectomy pants

beauty!
brains!
breeding!
bounty!

the morning light, still can't close my eyes

two things today.

number one, i think jake gyllenhaal should take me as his next girlfriend. i think he and i would have more in common than he with reese.

and second, i don't think about cheese very much but this sounds ridiculously good.

kahlua-pecan-brown sugar baked brie

ps. if you happen to want to call or text me today, i am without the bb. that's for all 2 of you who read my blog and for all 1 who have my number. so email me or call me at the shop.

in defense of flushing.

i hate it when people do not flush toilets in public places. it's not right to hate things that people do unintentionally, but i don't think this is the case. it's never just pee and a few squares of toilet paper, it's always half a roll of toilet paper or the absolute worst case of the runs ever. or feminine hygiene products. used. sick.

that is to say, it was obviously a memorable experience for the person who left it behind so it's unlikely that they would just up and forget that the toilet wasn't flushed. in addition, it happens more often in restrooms with multiple stalls and less often in one-person set ups. the likelihood of being caught is lower, the more stalls there are. can you imagine leaving your mess of smeared tootsie rolls at a starbucks restroom, snickering inside, only to open the door and find that someone is waiting to get in? you're caught brown handed. so i have to conclude that, by and large, i believe that toilets are left un-flushed on purpose.

it bothers me for two reasons. one, it is so easy to flush a toilet. it's only a little bit of extra movement (even if you're a foot flusher) and to get the flush going only takes engaging with the lever for two seconds or so. the second reason is that if it is done on purpose, it's so offensive because of its passive aggressive nature. maybe it's some weird way of getting back at the man or at humanity in general, but really, i think if you really want to stick it to the man, you ought to go and try to hold a group of people hostage or at least try and rob someone. but not flushing? that's so ridiculous. don't be such an anonymous, limp criminal. really.

rest your steak!

great and thorough article on why you should let meat "rest". here

a great sweet dish for a holiday party

rice pudding with dried cherries and raisins
recipe here

the gift that keeps giving

why YES! i would love a potato ricer for christmas. thank you for asking...

spelling beekeeper

today, i spelled "heimlich" and "seamy" correctly on the first try. yeah. take that, griff.

an apple a day

i'm not paying to extend the lives of smokers and fat people.

fete accompli

here are the designs of an up and coming designer, who likes to refer to himself as monsieur moon. his creations - more like visions - are amazing, ethereal, compelling.

a daring cropped capsleeve from resort 2011it can be worn open as an easy vest, so genius but so accessible.with his signature his hand-knotted scarf, look at the silhouette it creates, doesn't it take your breath away?
and the addition of the one armed, ghost sleeve, he is the most avant garde designer of our generation.
the designer, in his studio, dressed casually with another signature piece, the t-shirt tie.

a couple more homecoming pics

well, it seems that i really like baylor homecoming...maybe this town is really doing a number on me. this concludes the photographic montage of last week's festivities. please note how perfectly cute and mischevous the swartz kids look.

happy halloween, love the today show

can anyone find ann curry? a clue "luke, i am your father." maf, i hope you are dying laughing.

homecoming bonfire of the vanities

mute mathematics

wow, the mute math show on friday night was, by far, one of the most entertaining music concerts i've ever seen. when a band puts so much effort into performance/effects, the musical quality generally suffers. but this show was equally as satiating musically as it was visually. lots of energy, i am usually a statue at concerts but cannot deny that my head involuntarily bobbed at times. a bit of foot tapping too. part flaming lips, part killers, part stevie wonder.

origin of species chic

oh, how can i say, alexander mcqueen spring 2010...if you look at the pictures below and think "who would ever wear that" or "i would break my legs wearing those shoes", then there's no need to disparage yourself or his collection. let's move on. but anyone - regardless of background - who views his designs, season after season, feels something strongly towards it. god it's heavenly.

engrish is punny

oh gosh...

storing for winter

this cold and rain really changes my appetite to warmer, cozier foods.

i made roasted corn pudding in acorn squash today. it was really tasty! i would have posted my own picture but it looks like something from luby's/collins cafeteria and was not commensurate with how delicious the dish really is. so here's a photo, from 101cookbooks. marcy, have the birthday girl make this for you, you all will love it!

tomorrow i will try this garlic soup (photo also courtesy of 101cookbooks).


i normally eat around 1 so come over if you want to have some with me!

calorie in, calorie out

all of the rain has been hard. for texans who like to spend time outside, fall is traditionally one of the best times of the year because it's so temperate. but this year it's been raining all fall and getting outside has been tough.

yesterday, cookie and i waited all morning for the rain to let up so we could go for a ride. it never did so by noon, we decided to man up and go. it was a great - albeit windy, wet, cold - ride and by the end we were hungry.

we decided to go to panera, and i felt lucky to have this somewhat nourishing, somewhat indulgent chain in town. warm food, tea and cormac mccarthy completed the afternoon.

six hours later, when i still had no appetite, i started to wonder just how much we ate.

so, for your analysis/judgment...

cookie:
cinnamon roll - 620
asiago roast beef on asiago bread - 710
chips - 160
french baguette - 150
butter - 100
chocolate chip bagel - 370
cream cheese - 100
coffee - 10
total calories: 2220 calories

roache:
half turkey artichoke on foccacia - 370
black bean soup - 110
chocolate duet cookie w walnuts - 450
tea - 0
total calories: 930 calories

of course, cookie, with his indy car metabolism (a whole lot of fuel for a short but fast ride) was hungry by the end of the day, but i didn't feel hungry until breakfast. i really am amazed how easy it is to eat a whole lot of food.

karma police

i was happy to find out that while my bumper is being repaired, the insurance company covers a rental vehicle. then i saw what i would be driving.

pretty sure that on the way home from enterprise, a pt cruiser tried to race me.

ps. went to the HOT fair this weekend with yd, cookie and friends, caramel apples are my new favorite fair food.

raining, still raining

i had no idea you could win the nobel peace prize by making good speeches. you don't really have to have accomplished anything!

top five reasons why new york might be going soft

5. even the dog walkers have iphones
4. "no honking" signs with a 500$ fine
3. seedy convenience stores on the lower east side are now carrying ezekiel cereal, amy's burritos, and local, in season, organic hydroponic alfalfa sprouts. (i looked for chex mix for five days).
2. it has somehow become the place where trends go to die (too many sightings of rollerblades, beanie babies, and scrunchies)
1. the meat packing district has no meat

set it and forget it

today i used the ronco showtime rotisserie. i truly did set it and forget it. and then i made stock. then chicken salad (almonds, apples, raisins, garam masala), chicken and rice stew and tomorrow a lovely chicken, arugula and new potato salad from a recipe i tore out over a year ago. maybe ron's best invention, save the cap snaffler. of note: i did not use the flavor injector, still feels a little bit too nightmare on elm street to me.

julian plenti is skyscraper

i really love interpol (the band). last night, front man, paul banks, debuted his side project called julian plenti at the guggenheim. great show...i started out in the balcony/mezzanine but the echo was too much to handle so i moved to the main floor. this picture was taken while i was still up on the second floor, even after a guggenheim security person told me that photos were not allowed to be taken above the ground level. i pretended i was text messaging...


time and timing is very special, in itself, but it seems magical in new york. no life changing epiphany, something way better! the dry spell (which has been ongoing for four years) is over. i have decided on a new hand bag. don't you wish you knew what it was. off to investigate...

the road

i just finished cormac mccarthy's 'the road' last night. it is not easy to read but it is so good.

the bigger apple

i am in new york for this week and next.

last night, i had dinner at blue hill. i burst out laughing while eating the chocolate bread pudding because it was so disgustingly good. also visited the chelsea market and one of my favorite nyc shops, abc carpet. while in the meat packing district, mary and i took a left turn onto 22nd street and 11 ave (filled with small private galleries, some with amazing installations) and came upon the comme des garcons boutique. i've never seen one in real life. it was otherworldly. this coat is calling my name. down a bit was the balenciaga store. and as things go, there is one dress there which will not leave my mind. grey, long sleeve, knee length wool knit with special pleating around the neck. it must relent soon, lest i blow my fall winter 2009 - spring summer 2015 budget.

tomorrow i am planning on visiting park slope and dumbo, and maybe hang out with my friend if he is recovered from swine flu. no more market appointments until next week. YES.

i hear that the bodies exhibit is showing down around the seaport. but i also hear that most of the cadavers are, suspiciously, chinese men and i don't know about that. i also don't know if i want to know what a preserved weiner looks like.

edible art

isn't this of the most beautiful things you've ever seen? its luna bread from a bakery in portland maine. i feel the insulin levels spike in my body just looking at this...yummm!

the reel deal

yesterday, i touched a gun for the first time (two, actually). and i had big plans to shoot one until my conscience stirred. my principles do not conflict with hunting guns (as in, not the kind that hunt humans) but handguns are a different story. i have my sights set on participating in skeet/trap shooting before the fall is up. so if you notice the following changes in me over the next several weeks or months, you will have an indication of my progress.

1. a glassed over, copacetic facial expression when the song "to arms in dixie" plays
2. consistent and continual use of the word "varmit"
3. repeated style references to "sherman's march to the sea-chic"
4. an obsession with playing h.o.t. fair games in hopes of winning a 8x10 framed picture of a confederate flag draped over a trans-am

cookie wishes he had one of these, scary:

my house, my home

obama reminds me of a mother who is more concerned about being friends with her children than an authority figure. joe wilson's outburst may have been inappropriate, but obama's regular appearances on talk shows, afternoon happy hours on the lawn and wife who refuses to ever cover her arms (and consistent, dismal imitation of jackie onassis) don't really illicit the traditional deference a president is given. ugh. you can't have both, man.

if loving tortoise is so wrong, i don't wanna be right

i'm sure everyone has been pinching their pennies, saving. so maybe it's time that you live a little and break open your piggy bank for some of these.

pot bellied pygmies

well, i'm not so sure what to think about this...

waters under the bridge

oh god i want to be the one who discovers the silo of cheetos in alice waters' pantry.

krebs bicycle

two important announcements

1. in case you were wondering, i am not going to law school this year. i was accepted to some, rejected by some, and decided in the end that i needed another year. i am very happy about this, actually, and am finally able to make plans for the fall. yes i'm still going, yes i'll apply for next year.

2. if you are a patron of nail seasons on lake air, ask for john (there are two, one is the owner, one is the brother in law, ask for the brother in law). he will give you the pedicure of your life. when i glanced down after he was done, i didn't even recognize my own feet! really the best pedicure ever. and if not the best, then top two.

cuisine + art

my best kitchen investment of summer 2009, the cuisinart griddler. YES.

10,000 major leagues under the sea

does anyone think that emeril legasse could pass for an umpire in major league baseball?

up again, old heart!

while enjoying the last rainier cherries of the season, my dad announced that he will be a ufc fighter in his next career. on that note, i've never noticed how eerily happy people look right as they pass out.

"everyone blames the lake..."

a fun day at lake waco...

jane

ella, biggie, lesley, jane, brock and rowan

drake and bella

jojo, rev, amy and lesley

rev, melanoma and the joanna "school zone" gaines

birthday suite

today i am officially closer to 40 than i am to 20. i do value wisdom over youth but i have to admit that i'm mostly glad to be 31 because i can still pass for 25. you can never tell how old asians are. right-o! people came over and we ate indian food, which i was nervous about sharing with the wide spectrum of people in attendance, but it seemed to go over well, which was amazing. the gospel of naan is worth sharing, for realz.

birthday bootie:
a panini press
a starbucks giftcard
cold hard cash
two juliska drinking glasses
a bonsai money tree
a potted plant (amy's signature)
soap and ceramic soap dish (i am, at heart, a bar soap kind of girl)
crate and barrel gift cards (contributions to the dining table i'm saving up for)
bottles of wine

activities included eating, conversation and official/unofficial height measurements.

i prioritize my anonymity over most all else. and yet on a night like tonight, i am overwhelmed by how wonderful it is to be known. the temperature is staying in the triple digits but friendships like this make the heat tolerable, even glorious.

ray (lamontagne) of light

yesterday, i watched ray lamontagne in concert at the hollywood bowl. i am still trying to catch my breath.

steel is real

before sunset is great. the dialogue is a tribute and triumph to hemingway, no doubt. both ethan hawke and julie delpy dissolve their characters, it's mesmerizing...two enthusiastic thumbs up!

byte by byte

if black people hate cops so much, why do they drive cop cars?

poseidon rises

ink, everywhere. like staring into the ocean from st john. except it's all over my duvet and sheets and it's not like i'm on an exotic resort at all.

full court press

a few notes, all about men.

no less than four guys in the last month have remarked on "how many girls have told me that i have pretty feet." i didn't know that having a pretty anything was the sort of thing that guys were proud of.

the way a man enunciates his words has much more to do with how appealing he is to women (me) than a six pack or a square jaw line. mellow, with intensity, good strong emphasis on "s" and "v". stretching out the last word in a sentence. 1. john malkovich 2. peter sarsgaard 3. ben kingsley

there is a supposed trend of men who are tired of being objectified. i don't buy it. i think being objectified is something that men envy about women.

enlightening bolt

mix almond butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and sea salt. slather over a toasted cinnamon raisin english muffin. a sure fire way to turn that frown upside down...

ringing in my ears

to be great is to be misunderstood.

but just because you're misunderstood does not mean you're great.

one of my very favorite examples of necessary vs. sufficient.

the big apple pie

i started back from new york at 4am today. i de-planed in waco by 11. weird interruption in my time space continuum.

top five list (in no particular order)
5. going to a "neon" party (was like a rave in williamsburg attended by a bunch of american apparel models, a contestant from the bachelorette and five middle eastern guys)
4. the jane hotel
3. the richard avedon installation at the icp
2. reading emerson at grounded coffee shop
1. the west village, period.
0. eating the falafel sandwich of my life at taim
-1. happening on the first day of the bi-annual sale at APC (one pair of pants looks a bit "asylum chic", but i like them)
-2. finding the perfect levi's
-3. spending time with old/old-new friends
-4. i love integers!

i am generally unimpressed when i go to ny, given the sheer volume of trips i have made there and the context for which i go. but after this weekend, i feel as if the city has taken on a new face. maybe in the past i spent too much in uptown when i am, at heart, a downtown girl. all that to say, i know that wanderlust is often indicative of a type of mental unrest, but for those few days, it felt like home, but better.

the new york times ten

a concern, slightly. netflix keeps making the following recommendations to me (based on my interests):

who framed roger rabbit
full metal jacket
super size me
spongebob square pants

i remember that i bought this series of tapes once to improve my memory. to improve memorization of lists, you were supposed to build a mental picture including all of the elements on the list. so if i did that with the list above, i would imagine roger rabbit, wearing camo, eating a quarter pounder with cheese while posing existential questions to his bunk mate, spongebob. OR roger rabbit, following a trail of french fries into a barracks looking for jessica rabbit, but finding spongebob dead in the bathroom with a few chunks of brain matter splattered onto the wall.

on that note

yesterday, i was accused of training my dog "to hate black people". fumes.

"this might be my most memorable memorial day ever"

a great memorial day, really. went to airport park with the swartzs and blaggs (who were camping out in their airstream) and grilled, played, fished, swam (mostly jake, then bella, then claire, then rowan)...the weather was perfect and i even got home without a single mosquito bite! but poor fischer, allergies got the best of him. still, great way to start off the summer.

my 12 carat grill

a story from the wall street journal on the end of the bling era.

a sign that i might be having a hard time letting go

i found her, she's in florida...

a little birdie

well this morning, i found a dead bird in my car. i left the windows open yesterday while at the shop and i guess it flew in. i would have taken a picture but i feel weird about taking pictures of dead things. so i didn't. before it died, it did poop three times, maybe to stick it to the man. claire wouldn't get near it - it makes me wonder what would actually happen if she caught a bird or squirrel. probably nothing...

a request

would anyone like to go with me to london this summer (on my birthday, no doubt) to see doves in concert?

call waiting room

two fantastic movies: let the right one in, and, helvetica.

the difference between you and me

to ___, who ruined my day.

just because i think the color of an avocado is pretty, it does not necessarily occur to me to buy a top or paint a room in my house the same color. just because i admire how someone does her makeup, how she walks or even speaks, it does not mean that my immediate response is to try and replicate that for myself.

possession ruins beauty, it does. and the purpose of beauty, of art, does not unequivocally end in consumption. can't we all be a little more respectful?

playing dress up

there is no better place or occasion to dress, than for a gala thrown at the met by the costume institute. last night celebrated the opening of the new exhibit, 'model as muse' (one that i will definitely be making a trip to see), and reviewing the fashion, the costumes, made me feel absent from the time space continuum for just a few moments (or 45 minutes).

model as muse gallery

weekend getaway...

i cannot go to jamaica because steel drums and rasta/island reggae make my skin itch.

true love is...

plus

"you complete me"

just like magic

three step magic trick.

1. an ordinary picture of an ordinary back seat...but what are those faintly visible badger paws?

2. suddenly the head of a dachshund plus becomes apparent...
3. voila! i present to you, the magic, the illustrious, houndini...

rascally rabbit

here's the new ride, i learned a lot about buying cars. more than i'll ever want to know. so much that i might share some tips and lesser known laws involved, they might come in handy one day.

what snuggies dream about at night

the sealpelt

hello my strain is

i just found a few granules of salt on my left eyebrow. i don't know how they got there. i haven't added any salt to my food today and it can't be from yesterday because i've showered since. makes me feel disoriented, like when you think you are drinking water but it's sprite. like that.

gangreen thumb

i am ready for the slugs this year...they ate the strawberries last year : ( x 10
one piece of real estate is being reserved for kale
rosemary, basil and cilantro potted
the new color scheme for 2009...
my first real lemon!

even the sago palm re-emerged...

what i planted this year:

basil
cilantro
oregano
thyme
lavender
dill
chives (2 types)
sage
flat leaf parsley
green onion
green beans
cucumber
roma tomato
cherry tomato
cantaloupe
strawberry
bell pepper
lemon
kale
lettuce

new favorite place...

claire's favorite place in The Benz...