Cold Today

I wish it was this warm in Manhattan...

(More of this series of photos to come)

It's here

I can't believe it, it's finally happened! Smile today!

Some Pictures of Some Places

So winter break is over this Sunday. I'll be leaving the wonderful 83 degree California weather and entering the realm of 30 degrees and quickly dropping weather of New York City. I'm not that excited about that aspect.

But I had a really great break, and if it was any longer, I think I would really start to get bored. Over the summer, I hope I can get a job or internship, otherwise I am really screwed. All I want is to work at an adorable knitting store! Ah, dreams.

In other news, I made these Lemon and Honey Tangerine (I actually used Clementines) Gratins from Tartelette, and let me just say how delicious they are! It was a lot like a zesty creme brulee with Clementines sitting inside. So good. So bad for you. Whatever, this break did not set a good example of healthy eating.

When the task came to caramelizing the brown sugar on top, the recipe recommending using a flame torch, so my dad grabbed his (which is by NO standards a culinary flame torch), and it didn't work. Maybe we just didn't have the right hand technique or something, but it just burnt the sugar crystals instead of uniformly browning the surface. So instead we put the gratins in the oven at the top shelf and set the oven to broil for a few minutes. That worked perfectly, and made the surface hard when you tapped it with a spoon. Perfect!

I also went on a hike that was very pretty and snowy! I probably saw more snow there than I will in New York, but I'm probably going to eat those words in a few weeks.

Anyways, I will leave you with some adorable pictures of my dog, kissing a plastic hunk:

Tea Party Photos, As Promised

Oh my god, I love tea parties. Especially the ones that my friends host, because they are always undoubtedly completely divine! Honestly, who can resist butter wafer cookies with lemon curd and raspberries on them? Or crostinis with olive tapenade/bruschetta? How about a really pathetic, underisen, dense, too chewy, ladybug-esque shaped Challah bread? (Yeah, that was my contribution, and it was pretty lame. Photos on my flickr...I'm too embarassed to post it here). But really, in the end, it's all about dessert, right?

One of the main activities at this particular tea party was cupcake decorating! The overall theme was a "Children's Tea Party," so it made all the sense in the world to start covering funfetti cupcakes with pounds of sugar and candies. Good stuff. Nauseating, at times, but overall quite fun. I didn't eat one, however; maybe I could have 10 years ago, but today, just...too...much...

Let me show you what I mean by "sugar":

Granted, on this cupcake, my friends and I just tried to cram as much crap all over this one cupcake as physically possible...it's not like we would eat it (right? right.)

Oh god. Pretty disgusting, in retrospect. Fun at the time, to be sure; but now...ugh!

Aside from decorating cupcakes, we gossiped, giggled, talked about inane things, listened to Indeep, took thousands (more like 300) closeup pictures of our faces making ridiculous expressions, acted way too girly, and had fun, blah blah blah. Whenever I tell my family or other friends that I have these tea parties, people look at me funny, but it's true: my friends just like to get dressed up and make food and be fancy. It's ridiculous, but I love it. Oh, and the 75º weather and sunshine is pretty great, too.

Until next time!

Another Tea Party

Went to another lovely tea party, don't you know.

More pictures to come tomorrow, when I am less sleepy. Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely,
Lizzie

MWMH :: Gone Pro, Chocolate too

Remember when I used to update my blog? Good stuff.

Anyways, I'm going to be able to do just that again, because I bit the bullet and went pro on Flickr. Check out my photostream, if you feel so inclined. One day, when I have lots of time (which is actually right now, during winter break, so maybe I should get around to doing this) I will merge my old Flickr account with the new pro one so all my photos are in one spot.

Anyways, today I am making Challah for a friend's party. It's a themed party (as all of ours are) and her theme is a children's tea party, so I am going to make the challah look like this! I'll post pictures of the final result when finished. In the meantime, here are some photos from my early birthday party at Max Brenner (Chocolate by the Bald Man) in Manhattan.

It was really fun, in my opinion, but some people were less than thrilled at the prices. Yeah, it's absurdly expensive, but equally absurdly delicious. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating, but the hot cocoa and desserts are sooooo good. The dessert on the top right, the cookie, was $7. Yeah. And we chose to split it, in order to get the cost down, thinking that there would be, oh, three cookies, or something. Not one! Ah, whatever, it was excellent.

Yum yum yum. Today I am also making lacey curtains for our foyer, as my father requested. Doesn't that sound fancy? Yeah!

Hope you had a very nice New Year and Holiday or whatever. Until later!

First Post :: Oh Nine

Bye 200GR8!

Hello 200FINE!

(Marquee work credit: Taylor, thx gurl!)

I haven't updated in a long while, I realize this. But I've just uploaded my 200th photo onto Flickr, so I have to go Pro and pay $25 before I can upload more photos. Until then, I can't update. Boo hoo, sorry Claire. Happy New Yearz!!!1