Today, I ate a lot

I swear, I am a 101 cookbooks fiend. Whenever I want to cook something, and I have an overabundance of some ingredient, I just check her archives (sorted by ingredient) and pick something delicious sounding. Today, in preparation for an ultimately unsuccessful color photo printing session at my old photo teacher's darkroom, I used up all of the remaining Quinoa in my house to make "Delicious Big Bowl" but I substituted the asparagus with broccoli. It was so. good.

And after Taylor found out that we wouldn't be able to go to the darkroom, we were feeling a little bummed, so a picnic with some the Quinoa and some rice cakes was very nice. We even met a very audacious squirrel, to whom we fed some of these rice cakes.

Afterwards, we went and got some tea at Busters and perused a makeup shop. I'm not much of a makeup person, but I did end up buying some lip stain--my weakness, to be sure. I really wanted some of this pretty perfume (mainly because I'm a sucker for nice packaging and design), but my desires were quickly thwarted by its $89 price tag.

Following this, we made our way through the Farmers Market, sampling fruits and buying honey sticks. And, if you are ever buying some, you simply must try the Cool Mint Honey flavor. It's seriously tasty. Anyways, the market was fun, but hot. Soon, we parted ways and I went with my brother and his girlfriend to get some boba. Boba was then followed by a dinner comprised of a variety of tacos from a taco truck, shared with the rest of the family. I'm trying to fit in as much Mexican food before I head eastward. And then, my dad baked some chocolate chip cookies (with raisins and walnuts of course).

END RESULT: very, very full. Oof...

Oh L.A...

A (delicious) failure

Hi.

So...yeah...my dad and I attempted at making a chocolate souffle a few weeks ago, and...it was a bomb. Literally. It was overflowing and bubbling and all "bubble bubble toil and trouble." And the worst part is that we have NO IDEA what went wrong! My dad had even made the recipe before, and had it turn out quite tasty, but this time something/someone messed up.

The recipe we used was from the Larousse Gastronomique, which also has a recipe for a savory ham and cheese souffle that we had also made, with quite less disastrous results (it was excellent, in fact). I'm still a little perplexed; it was like we totally forgot an ingredient or something, because, even after we baked it for an additional 15 minutes, when we tried to pull it out of the oven it jiggled and quivered, obviously still liquified on the inside. I must say, however, it was still delicious--seriously, how can you really go wrong with butter, eggs, sugar, and chocolate?

Anyways, I leave for New York City and NYU on Saturday. It's weird--this is such a huge event in my life, and there have been so many events, ideas, emotions, thoughts, whatever, leading up to it, that now that I am so close to it, I don't know how to feel! I'm just sort of waiting for it to come...

But I am pretty excited.

Palm Springs Hike: Success

On Saturday, my parents and I went on a hike nearby Palm Springs. We had to take this rotating gondola ride up to the top of the mountain; this was fortunate because it was 20 degrees cooler up on the mountain and I wasn't really in the mood for hiking in 90 degree heat. We had a really nice time (see pictures here!) and ate dark-chocolate peanut M&Ms, which, by the way, are so delicious and always perfect for hiking.

Aside from neutralizing all the calories I was burning by eating candy, I took lots of pictures, especially of the different textures in the tree barks or lichen on the rocks.

Click images for larger view!

So yeah, it was quite fun and all. Afterwards, we ate dinner at the one restaurant at the top of the mountain, and I must say, it left a lot to be desired...except more sauce. No one would desire any more sauce--ask my parents. The food was so overpowering! I never will understand why restaurants think that oppressive flavors = better food. I like subtlety!! (Is that how you spell it? Gah)

All in all: good times. I'm about to go out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend to AOC located in West L.A. It's their graduation gift to me! Aw! Anyways, I eagerly await the cheese...

Until next time! Ta!

Epic

Because my dad always makes epic French Toast.

P.S. I am learning how to print color photographs. More on this topic to come!

P.P.S. I just found out that Urban Threads featured me a few days back for my embroidered tea bags (which, by the way, I never gave their much due credit to Craft Leftovers)! Thanks!

My Tomatoe Woes

My mom has been growing tomatoes this summer, and I just can't stand it, because they look gorgeous and I bet they taste it too, but I hate tomatoes. I don't know why; it depresses me. I wish I liked them, but something in me just hates the taste. Maybe its the texture, I don't know. Either way, it sucks that I can't take advantage of them.

I mean seriously, I missing out on this:

Sigh, it looks good.

She's also growing Black Tomatoes, the seeds of which she received as a gift, and she (and my dad) don't really like them. My dad says its psychological for him--eating black tomatoes just seems weird? My mom says they just don't taste very tasty.

They do look a little odd...

Fortunately, she's making tomato soup, and I really like tomato soup. I know, it doesn't make sense, but whatever. Cold tomato soup=yes!

In other news, I'm going to a Dodgers game tonight! That'll be fun...especially if I stuff my face with a hot-dog. Woohoo! And also, I saw Brideshead Revisited, which I didn't like. To be fair, I never read the book, but I thought the movie was really pretentious and ridiculous and the last 1/2 hour could have been made 3 times shorter. But it was gorgeous, aesthetically, and made me realize that I need a new 1920s/1930s haircut. And some clothes from Anthropologie!

Until next time...


OH MY GOD THERE WAS JUST A HUGE EARTHQUAKE LITERALLY 2 SECONDS AGO! WHOA!!

Ho Hum

Summer is flying by

Thin Mints and More Summer Parties

I swear this summer is going by all together way too fast. Fortunately, I feel that I have been using it the best to my advantage by seeing many movies and eating. I saw The Dark Knight twice, which was fantastic. I want everyone to go see it! I also saw Wall-e, which was also great! I really enjoyed it; the animation was spectacular, and it was just cute overall. I rented Persepolis as well, and I enjoyed it too. I think I've seen too many good movies, and therefore, I should see some god-awful ones to balance myself out. Next stop: The Love Guru. No, I can't do it. That's more than crossing the line.

Anyways, it was my friend's birthday (actually, I don't think her actual date of birth has come up yet...) but, point being, I made her delicious Thin Mints from 101 cookbooks. Seriously, these are the way to go. I have been (was?) a Girl Scout for 11 years, and have both sold and eaten my fair share of Thin Mints, but these take the cake. I really love how fluffy soft the actual cookie is. They are time consuming, however; the dipping-into-chocolate part takes a while and the cookies, at least for me, break in half all the time.

So, anyways (do I say anyways too much?), we ate the cookies and watched Jane Eyre. And then my friend busted out the birthday cake she made and decorated herself. Which was unbelievable. I see cake decorating in her future.

And it was tasty too! A nice white layer cake with a raspberry almond filling running through the center.

In other news, I have shot 4 rolls of 120 format color film from my Holga camera and I don't know what to do. I can develop my own black and white 120 film at home, but I have to take the color rolls to get developed some place that actually ACCEPTS this type of film. End result: pricey. I can't afford to spend $15 per roll! So, I modified my Holga camera so I could put 35mm film in it! Yes! Score! And, I covered it with this sticky paper that looks like wood, so now it's even more awesome.
Glamor shot: