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Stockholm Street Style

I know this is from Fall RTW 2010, but man, I love this. Sometimes you just wanna wear something sparkly..
Lets see if London this week will gimme something hot

"A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl. "

- Bernstein, Citizen Kane

The past few days have been difficult. The weather is not cooperating, and new guy has been out of town for a week. I need a pick me up. Last night I made risotto which was a bust because i decided to add in kale last minute, and well... it just tasted weird.

I DID use up the rest of the pie crust that I made for the quiche and made an apple galette via my new alice waters cook book.

here goes (in oversimplified directions):

take pie crust, rollout. refrigerate while cutting the apples.

slice around 2 large apples thinly. add 2 TB sugar to apples and (my fav, a little lemon juice).

arrange apple slices in an overlapping circle on the pie crust. fold over the edge so the apples are tucked in nicely.

beat and egg and brush over the exposed crust. Sprinkle sugar on entire tart and bake at 400 for 45 min.

tada! delicious.

Zucchini Quiche:


Crust (makes 2) from Alice Waters:

12 TB butter
2 cups flour
salt
1/2 cup ice water

cut butter into the salted flour, work together until crumbs start to form. add a little bit of water. work together into a ball. add more water if necessary. may not need all of it.

divide the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The other dough ball can be used for later or frozen.

Filling (adapted by me):

Sautee 2 pieces of diced bacon with 1 sprig of rosemary until it begins to brown.
Add 1/2 chopped onion.
cook until translucent.
slice 2 Zucchinis into thin rounds. add to onion/bacon mixture. Cook until almost soft.

Roll out one of the dough balls on a floured surface. Add to a pie dish. Trim any excess dough from the sides.
Place the Zucchini mixture into the raw crust and spread out evenly.

Add 1 1/2 cups grated gruyere on top.

Mix together 3 eggs, 1 1/4 cups cream or whole milk. dash of salt, pepper and nutmeg. pour egg mixture over the zucchini.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden at 375.
Let rest 5 minutes.

The bad thing about being a freelancer is that there are moments when i am temporarily unemployed. I feel that way because for the past two weeks i have only been working maybe three days a week. Technically i still have a job, but i suddenly have more time on my hands. The good thing about such time is that i can try out some new recipes.

With that said, i am officially in love with chef john from foodwishes. My favorite food blogger is still smitten kitchen, but chef john's incredibly easy to follow youtube videos really get to me.

Last night i made his vodka sauce recipe. I thought of taking some photos, but why not just watch his video?
I dunno if new guy actually loved this penne or if he was just being nice, but I loved it, so that's the most important thing.



Vodka sauce has always scared me a little bit because my mom refuses to eat or cook with cream. Therefore i have no previous experience cooking any kind of cream sauce unless mac and cheese counts. Then i saw on jersey shore that snooki made vodka sauce and i realized i could probably do it if she could.

mission accomplished. this was fucking awesome.

BEAUTY FAVORITES

So i'm having a lot of fun doing these. who knows if anyone else is. here goes, beauty fav's...

1. Moisturizer. I love keihls, but it tends to make me break out if i use it everyday. therefore i have begun switching my moisturizers around every few days and it's been working. At night, i like Benefit's Dear John cream.

2. Garnier Facial Wipes. I use these to take off my makeup before washing my face at night, but sometimes when i'm in a rush, these can count as washing my face too. It really is true that your skin will improve ten fold if you take off your makeup before bed. I wish i had started doing this years ago.

3. Maybelline Mascara. I have a favorite mascara for a while and then find another favorite, but i think the Maybelline ones are the best. Currently digging the colossal volume in black. Always in black.

4. Mac Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle. MSF's slightly confuse me. There are two kinds. One is a regular face powder (I have this one too) and the other is a shimmery, golden highlighting pressed powder.... thing. This is the latter. I sweep this on my cheekbones, a little on my brow bone and down the bridge of my nose before some blush and i look like i've had a decent night's sleep and also maybe i've been outside (which i haven't).

5. Nars Sheer Glow Foundation. Almost feels like a tinted moisturizer. It is so light, you can't feel it. Only use less than a pea size amount for your entire face.

6. Sigma Duo Fibre Brush. This used with number 5, and it won't look like you have any makeup on. Having a few really good brushes makes such a difference in how your makeup looks. I don't think its necessary to have 20 MAC blending brushes unless you are a professional makeup artists, but something to apply your foundation, powder, whatever you use everyday. The other day, new guy said i didn't look that tired after staying up all night working. Seriously, thank god for makeup. '

7. Baby Shampoo. This is to clean your brushes weekly. When I started cleaning my brushes regularly, my skin improved. You're not putting all the grime from your brush right back onto your face.

VALENTINE'S DAY EDITION:

I'm def. not a chocolates and teddy bear kind of girl. In fact I dont even like sweets that much. It's all about the salt baby. so in preparation for tomorrow (and yes, i do have plans with the new guy), here's my idea of the perfect valentine's day....

1. A bottle of... you guessed it, Pinot Noir. Scotch works well too.

2. Something from Agent Provocateur. NOT IN RED.... Let's keep it grown up people.


3. A room at the Ritz. In case that 1,000 dollar silk robe shown at the top isn't available, i'm sure the terry ones in a suite will do.

4. A steak from the 21 club.


As Lady Gaga once said, a good valentine's day would include "a good fuck... and some carbohydrates"

FOOD FAVORITES. WINTER EDITION

so I have many secret (or not so secret) internet obsessions: fashion blogs, youtube makeup tutorials and food videos on foodnetwork.com.

On most of the makeup tutorial sites, there are the makeup "haul videos" that for some reason are endlessly entertaining, and also the "monthly favorites". These are fun. These are pointless. so here goes a food version of my favorites:

1.Pinot Noir. I know! What a cliche, but honestly, i don't know what i would do without wine, let alone red wine, and as we all know pinot noir is king of reds. pinot noir is better than therapy on a cold dreary night.

2. Good crusty bread. A good loaf of bread can make any meal better. scrambled eggs on toast is boring. scrambled eggs on a hot crusty slice with olives is delish. roasted chicken with... crusty bread croutons? how about bread pudding?

3. Butter. Obviously this goes without saying.

4. Sharp Knives. Nothing bums me out more than trying to mince something with really dull knives.

5. Cheese. I will not include all of my favorites and make this an overarching topic because otherwise i would be here all day. I can say with total honesty that i have never tasted a cheese i didn't like. make it moldy, smelly, creamy, nutty, hard, soft. they are all perfection. I really do feel terrible for people who are lactose intolerant. There is nothing better than a piece of cheese, and while this wasn't planned, if you combine everything on this list, it would make for a pretty awesome saturday night.

who knew thomas jefferson was the founder of mac and cheese ?

argh, fuck this weather.

seriously, i'm not over it.

i went to work at 1am (happy wednesday to me), only to leave work at 9am to see 3 inches of ice on the ground (if you don't believe me, google CT weather for february 2nd), and my entire car encased in a solid inch of ice. It took me 25 minutes to thaw out my car before driving all the way home at 20 miles per hour. on the highway...

my current screen saver is this:


(tahiti)
which is not really helping matters.
Maybe i wouldn't be so bitter, except that i feel like the world is taunting new england.. like those commercials about Florida, or checking out my fav fashion blogs that usually distract me from the depths of darkness. Except seeing those bitches in shorts isn't making me forget that i got hailed on while i attempted to scrap the ice off of my windshield in 20 degree weather.

i would LOVE IT to see how hot they can look in 4 feet of snow (again, i'm not exaggerating), and an ice storm. yes, i slid down my driveway, in my office parking lot, and on the highway.

Not to sound like a little byotch considering the rest of world news. I just want some sunshine.