vinstagram: don't you just love the people?

Strong hat game with Peter Lee at Amphora Diner

Bates, downtown Del Ray

Emerson

Kat, Guajillo Cocina

Baker Nathan, Tokyo Black Porter

  

Trav & Rach. Wedding's in nine days! 

Rach and Trav

Doing the initial run-through of last Sunday's shoot with Rachel and Travis. I love that they asked me to take their photos, that I got to spend a few hours hiking at Great Falls, and that we stopped to have a picnic. Can't wait until their wedding next summer. I get to wear a pretty dress and watch my friends get married, what's not to like?

Russian Rachel: I'm thinking of packing some snacks for the afternoon. Would you nom while taking photos? Or should we just wait until dinner?
me: Hi. I'm vina. Have we met? 

death letter jubilee

The Delta Saints at Jammin' Java tonight, 7:30ish.
You should be there, because I will be there.

Hannah, Mitch, Rachel, & Travis

Oh man, my life looks like hipster tumblr.

That IS a tough one.

This is true to form with the conversations between me and her as well.
We've been talking about a hot dog night for at least three months.
I intend to collect.

comic via rachel draws

salon chairs and savory pancakes

you know, this night.
lady bones now available here.

Not my buttons! Not my gumdrop buttons!

Brought to you by the letter C

Cheddar cheese and club crackers, chocolate cake, chili, cornbread, and cider

bashful Lydia!

Cry-Baby!

Beignets and butt swords!

Travis and Rachel

Beignets! 

Appalachian Trails and French presses

Rach, stand here and hold this chocolate! Ok, move over here! No, here!

Beignet night with two of the three Semenov Sisters (A. Lydia, we missed you. B. That is totally your indie band name. You're welcome.) and the Hammill Brothers. Travis made the beignets, I made the chocolate/coffee sauce, and Carson and Rachel supervised. Ahna picked all the trashy movies. We watched RoboGeisha. Yes, that is a real movie. Don't believe me? Watch these:

On a lighter note (or not, considering all the butter and sugar), here is the recipe for the chocolate/coffee sauce. It was amazing and this is coming from someone who only truly craves chocolate during the hormonal rampage of ladytimes. What? Oh calm down, I just showed you acidic breast milk fighting. The time for tact has passed. Ladies, you know. 

Chocolate coffee sauce (adapted from Lara Ferroni)

ingredients
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup brewed (and strong) coffee
4 or 5 oz. dark chocolate (I used two bars of Ghirardelli Midnight Reverie 86% cacao), chopped or broken into chunks

- Heat cream, sugar, butter, and coffee on medium-low heat until butter and sugar have melted completely.
- Add chocolate and remove from heat. Wait a minute or two until chocolate has melted. Whisk until smooth.
- Drizzle over everything. Run of out of beignets? Use your fingers. Shoot, I did. No shame. 

Food enablers FTW

me: I kind of want a burger.
Rachel/Travis: Do it.
me: If I get fries, will you guys eat them with me?
Rachel/Travis: Uh, yeah.

(ten minutes later)

Rachel: I kind of want orange chicken.
me/Travis: So go get some orange chicken.
Rachel: I just ate a bagel and some fries!
me/Travis: So?

(ten minutes later)

me: I kind of want some ice cream.
Rachel/Travis/Megan: Go for it.
me: If I get a pint of ice cream, will you guys eat it with me?
Rachel/Travis/Megan: Yes.

(five minutes later, halfway through the pint)
Rachel: vina, I'm going to have to throw in the spoon. I'm full.
me/Travis: What? No! We're halfway done!
Rachel: I just ate a bagel, some of her fries, and fried rice with orange chicken. I'm done.
me: Travis. You and me, we got this.

There was a victory high five.
We're so good (and today so unhealthy but whatevs).

Picking peaches with five Russians and a Travis

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometime in August I went peach picking with the Semenovs and Travis. Rachel got a speeding ticket but didn't find out until a month later — darn those tricky traffic cameras. Ahna and I discovered that cutesy floral dresses are a bad idea on super windy days. I prefer yellow peaches to white peaches. That doesn't sound racist at all (frutist?). Lydia forgot her camera battery at home (Don't worry, Lyds. I have done it many a time). Ahna baked a beautiful lattice top pie for her beaufriend while Rachel and I made some Quasimodo-esque mini pies. It's alright, they were still delicious though we were stuffed from pork belly at Honey Pig. I went home with a small bag of peaches (again, it's alright. I think I ate, with no shame, at least five or six while in the orchard) and a big bag of pears from a tree in their front yard. I meant to make pear preserves but I left them in the bag to ripen and completely forgot until well into September. A-whoops.

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40 Day Dreams and $7 rugs

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating Travis's one year anniversary of turning twenty-one and testing the living room's maximum occupancy level. Kirby and Diddy Kong are the best characters on Mario Smash Brothers and Snake has a seriously tight ass. Russian Rachel does not like rum (though, after much persuading, took a shot like a champ). Lydia and I are likethis now. Kevin loves Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, and organizing his flannel shirts. Russian Rachel and I are going to live together, have our own design studio, and open a restaurant. We are so ambitious. Greg can stand on one foot for fifty-five seconds. That hard cider tasted like Christmas, me gusta. Scott looks like my cousin Eliot. Half of the people there work at REI and are bicycle/hiking fiends. I enjoy cooking for all the people. Beignets and coffee night soon. Side note, I totally took most of that from yesterday's vain vina. No shame.

Brie and Granny Smith apple on toasted baguette

Granny Smith apples, sliced
brie, sliced (or spooned as it was room temperature and very runny)
cracked black pepper (Am I that person who brings their own pepper mill to parties? Yes. Yes, I am.)
baguette, sliced
fresh thyme and oregano

Layer brie and apples over baguette slices and bake (350°) until cheese has melted and bread is crispy.
Top with fresh thyme and oregano.
Serve immediately. (They're still tasty if you wait but come on — when the cheese is gooey and the bread is hot and crispy? Good lord.)

Next time we'll add caramelized onions.

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