Penne with spicy jowl bacon and cream. AND CREAM.

me: That just screams "cholesterol medication" but I want it.
Fábio: I'd eat that so slowly and sexy like...

photo via May Yum, via The Other F-Word

my word of advice to you is just relax; just do what you got to do, if that don't work then kick the facts

Dave Chappelle's Block Party in theaters is one of my favorite AVT crew memories ever.

Arlington Earth Week Community Fair poster

I like this one more than the Fairfax concert poster.
Need to fix: widow on last paragraph and make address a couple pt sizes smaller. wait on feedback for orange type.

Proper words of wisdom right here.

me: fuchsia is one of those words I can never spell.
Stephanie: Do what I do. Type until the red squiggles disappear.

I love you, bed.
We should spend more time together, none of that "quality time on the weekends" nonsense.

Red is not a color that should be appearing in weather forecasts.

Tonight

- seared scallops with a rendered bacon/white wine/lemon zest/mushroom/cream sauce.
- grilled steak with roasted baby reds and asparagus.
- arugula salad with simple vinaigrette.
- vanilla bean buttermilk cake with fresh raspberries and whipped cream.

The Amisi necklace? I think you mean the croissant necklace.

image via wanderlustings

Saturday morning

sounds like: Deniece Williams, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, and the Contemporary Impressionists episode of Community.  

tastes like: seared beef tongue at midnight to celebrate the completion of a French literature midterm exam, muddled frozen blackberries and pomegranate juice (1 part blackberries, 1 part pomegranate juice, 1 part water, and a lot of ice). 

feels like: we skipped spring and went straight to summer, sundress straps slipping off my shoulders, hair out of my eyes because I went at my bangs with a pair of scissors, and the sweet weekend before me. nature blossoming to life from our barely-there winter. 

smells like: icy blackberries, books (I renewed my local library card today! I think it expired when I was still in high school), muggy afternoons and now cool night breezes through the new leaves. 

photo via my instagram. Try to contain your jealousy over my shiny new library card, complete with two keychain cards. Baller. 

Mason Earth Week Concert

11x17 poster

napkin holder insert

This is your mission, should you choose to accept it: Design a poster for the opening ceremony of residence halls Whitetop and Rogers. Fun and creative. Earth Week 2012, free food from Everlasting Life, OH YEAH WE NEED THIS IN TWO DAYS. 

just kidding, I had a little over a week to do this one. The two days thing is for the Arlington campus poster. 

.....hooray/I GOT THIS.

just walk it out

Look at Mayer Hawthorne getting all Mr. and Mrs. Smith with it!
Soon, Mayer, soon.

hello, blog.
i miss you a little bit.
boo on school and work keeping us apart.
don't worry, i have a few stories to tell you and then we can listen to some tunes.
in the meantime, here is a photo of a smiling dog.
love you, vina.

p.s.: we might need some time apart if i'm writing "i miss blogging" letters after five days.
p.p.s.: nahhhhhh.

Let's bump the beats till beddy-bye

some days it feels like summer strawberry cake

 

I was going to bake this cake yesterday when it was all warm and sunny. That didn't happen (hey, there was a new episode of Community!) so I baked it this morning for breakfast. Turns out that a summery strawberry cake is just as delightful on a chilly and overcast morning.

6 Tbsp. butter at room temperature, plus extra for the pan
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup of raw cane sugar (next time I'll try brown sugar)
1 large egg
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pound of strawberries, hulled and halved (hulled and halved! that would be a good tumblr name. I'm on it)

- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan or a deep dish pie plate. 

- Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Mix in egg, milk, and vanilla. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth. 

- Pour in pan. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter in a single layer. (I stopped reading the recipe once I made the batter so I put the strawberries down first and then the batter, generally making an upside down strawberry cake which was still good.)

- Bake for ten minutes and then reduce heat to 325. Bake until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about fifty minutes. 

- Let cool in pan, dust with powdered sugar, and serve with whipped cream. I didn't have any whipped cream so I ate it with a cold glass of milk which is almost as good. Almost. 

recipe adapted very slightly (all I did was use raw cane sugar in lieu of granulated sugar) from Smitten Kitchen

SEXUAL CHOCOLATE

aw, nuts.

me: oh what the fuck, there are walnuts in this cake!

Lisa: What's banana bread/cake without walnuts? Bah!

me: GOOD BANANA BREAD! I don't like walnuts in my banana bread because it's like soft soft soft ow wtf.

(aside from the impending broken tooth, this banana cake with whipped chocolate frosting is on point)

be strong, saith my heart

Yathrib, one of the strongest people I know, is starting her first round of chemo today. 

Thribs, you got this. 

illustration by Stephanie

to be not sinister in purpose and to never be unkind

I will always see Jena Malone as the bratty girl who kissed that male model with the long hair in Stepmom (6:19). 

Word to the wise: don't Youtube search words like stepmom, kiss, and scene unless you want dirty time things and don't watch Stepmom clips before bed unless you're ok with crying a little bit and have something happy to watch afterward. 

Side note, this is how it went at Starbucks today:
hey this song sounds like Paul Simon.
I'm going to Shazam it.
Hey, the guy's name is Harper Simon.
I'm going to Wiki him.
Hey, he's Paul Simon's son!

(the information age makes me both happy and sad.)

She knows me so well

Sofia: Today when I walked outside and saw people walking bare-legged I thought, "I bet vina isn't wearing leggings today." then I thought, "I sound like a creep."

I tried to talk my sister into buying this dress.
No dice, though I did convince her to buy a cute ladies trench coat.
She talked me into buying black flats about five minutes later.
It's a vicious cycle.

:)

Meekus: (via Tumblr) 15% of the 122 blogs I follow is the same person.
me: hahahah oh no, is it me?
Meekus: Yes ma'am.

The vegetable mist always startles me

Just call on me and I'll send it along with love, from me to you.

I'm behind on posting, sorry.
In the meantime, here is a photo of Steve Martin eating cupcakes.
Happy Friday!

WiFi options in Richmond

Saturday morning

sounds like: Ben Howard, zombies moaning in my ear while I run (Terrifying. Run faster!), midnight drunken phone calls from a girl I've never met (Why, thank you, kind stranger for all the compliments!), and The Everly Brothers. 

tastes like: fresh strawberry juice, savory french toast (olive/rosemary bread, red onion, red pepper flakes, seared grape tomatoes, and feta cheese), and roasted cauliflower soup or purple cabbage risotto. Shoot, maybe both. 

feels like: the sweet rush of adrenaline after a good workout and the sweet sense of accomplishment (an organized closet! a clean bathroom! books read! studying done! designs designed!). 

smells like: lingering rain in the air, disinfecting bathroom cleaner, lemon zest, clean laundry, and brewing coffee. 

photo via Terrible Reflection

Settle down.

You go, Kimbra! You dance with the creepy dolls!

Wake up! It's time to go to sleep!

 

Lex’s 24th birthday/Clyde’s Shame Spiral: Malbec, mushroom soup, et moules frites at Mon Ami Gabi, Barbie balloons, planning a lazy river lane from Reston to DC (HOV? I think you mean HYB/Hold Yo Breath!), French braids and a stranger’s love life story in the bathroom, turning things up just one notch at a time, Claire/Blair and Whitney Blueberry, faux Toby Maguire and his nemesis James Franco, Libby’s lady bones, forgetting to close out my eleven dollar bar tab and the ensuing drive of shame back to Reston the next morning, and Alexie’s red lipstick. 

SHUT IT DOWN.