Hot Child in the City

Never in my life will I take for granted a good central air system, because it is absolutely scalding here! Every time I mentioned being from Florida the standard response  is “oh so you’re used to this!” but no…no I am not. There is no heat like the heat rising off searing hot pavement, which was litereally so intense the other day it was starting to burn my feet through my shoes. We’re downright spoiled in Florida – sure it gets hot but we’re never more than 20 feet from the nearest pool, icy cold AC-ed room, or car, also with a fully functioning AC. We dash from the cooled off house, to the cooled off car, so that we can drive to the beach. Poor us. Here there is no escaping it – the city, the packed subway, its just hot everywhere.

Most of my time has been spent in what I like to imagine (it makes it slightly more romantic,) a very Gatsy-esque manner- wearing the lightest clothes I can find, sipping iced pelligrino, fanning myself off as I listlessly try to read a book sitting right up next to the AC unit. I think it’d be a little easier to take if I were sprawled out on a couch, sipping a mint julep in one of those great white mansions on the shore of East Egg,  but it’s as close as I can get.

Recent haul from the Rittenhouse square weekend farmer’s market. Beets are my newest food obsession.

When it’s this hot I see no reason not to eat baked french toast (recipe here) for breakfast and lunch, which is exactly what I did today.

Lunch by the famous Philly LOVE statue. Next time I will be jumping in.

City gardens are one my favorite things to stumble upon on a walk.

Stay cool everyone!

Chambray and Cakes

It seems crazy and not quite real to me, but in a week from tomorrow I’ll be flying out of Tallahassee – er, make that moving of Tallahassee, for the first time in my life. Having opted to stay here for college, so as to not graduate with a gajillion dollars worth of student debts, I’m officially an adult who has never been out of their hometown for more than a month. Seems weird when I say it like that, but that’s the gist of it.

Obviously, Eliza and I will be a bit more than an inch apart, which, as our blog name, is not only a comment on our (very insubstantial) height difference, and tight-knit relationship, but also a pretty literal comment on how spatially close we’ve been for most of our lives. Seems pretty bizarre that I won’t be able to just holler down the hall when I want to tell her something, or sneak into her Martha-esque craft station whenever I need some aquamarine glitter or baker’s twine (both of which, yes, she actually keeps a supply of.) Suffice it to say, I’m feeling equal parts stoked at the idea of three months in Philly, and a little bit odd at the idea of it…

Onto happier things though, because it’s going to be a fabulous adventure, and Skype is a very real thing, and a week full of pilates, pool side parties, and cookouts still lies ahead of me.

Happiness, exhibit A:

My search for the perfect chambray dress has been successful! I couldn’t find a good picture of the exact dress I bought, but it’s from Gap and it’s gorgeous and I fully plan on having it very heavy rotation this summer. Something about traveling and shirt dresses go hand in hand, no?

My shirtdress inspiration for this summer. Being a supermodel is probably a nice added bonus, but I’ll take what I can get.

…and exhibit B: This cake.

Carrot cake is a birthday cake staple around here, but for my mom’s birthday this year it was decided we would branch out to a Hummingbird cake, which is my favorite cupcake flavor but not something I had ever baked myself. It was a very wise decision, and with everyone sneaking seconds (and I suspect thirds,) this cake only lasted about 2 days I think.

Classic Southern Hummingbird Cake with Vegan Buttercream Frosting

From Southern Living

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten $
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped banana

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not beat.) Stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 cup pecans, and bananas.
Pour batter into three greased and floured 9-inch round cakepans. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

Super easy – super adaptable, and no one missed the called-for cream cheese icing a bit (even me, the vegan-skeptic of the household!)

1 package powdered sugar (16 ounces)
6 tablespoons Earthbalance (room temperature)
3 tablespoons plain soymilk, more or less
1 teaspoon vanilla

Using a beater, mix the sugar, butter, and vanilla. Add the milk a little at a time until it’s the right consistency for spreading. You can add a little more (or less) if you need to. I ended up having to double, and I think eventually triple this recipe since the cake turned out to be three, ginormous layers. It’s easy to whip up a second and third batch though in a minute or two, midway through the icing process.

Apple Cake and Other Nice Things…

Is it just me, or is this week flying by? While sitting in class the other day numbly mulling over bleak facts such as : I have approximately 8 projects to complete in the next few weeks, and oh yeah, an oral exam in spanish, I realized there is a surefire equation to improving an otherwise awful monday. It’s nice to have a solid equation to rely on sometimes.

Sucky Monday (or any day really,) + any of the following things:

1. Wearing borderline ridiculous red pants (any of these should do nicely.)

2.  Having a delish breakfast to wake up (such as Baked Banana Oatmeal)

3. Pilates! I’ve gotten obsessed, because you can easily work out this way at home with zerooo equipment, and no obnoxious musclehead guys throwing weights around and grunting. Aren’t those the worst? (This site is the awesome for at-home Pilates routines.)

4. Making this cake (keep on reading…)

= a MUCH improved weekday. It’s a mathematical certainty.

I guess a good blogger would be making cakes like this everyday, and posting as soon as it popped out of the oven, all the while having perfectly cute, pinterest-worthy nails, but sorry…this is real life. I totally made this cake like, um, November-ish? In real life I’m eating salads and lettuce wraps all week in a determined attempt to actually stick to the Passover diet that I usually cheat horribly on each year. For those of you without a temporary carb restriction on your life, bake away please!

Apple Cake

Adapted very slightly from Smitten Kitchen

5 apples, I used organic honeycrisp and they were wonderful
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean

There you have it - the perfect weekday cake, especially with a cup of tea.

Forever 21

     Or, as I should say – finally! It’s funny how life works out – I distinctly remember saying, half my life ago or so, how once I turned 21 I would only have one more year to shop at Forever 21, because how lame would it be to shop at a store called that when you were 22?! How ridiculously old, I thought. Well my little former self, not sure I’m gonna be sticking to that plan…hate to break it to you. I can’t imagine giving up my favorite source for all things cheap and of-the-moment in just under a year from now.

In the spirit of getting old, I’ve spent this St. Patty’s day, the biggest drinking day of the year, not guzzling green beer, but sleeping in and listening to Mika and Lily Allen, which reminds me of my senior year of high school, which makes me feel extremely old. Which I guess I am now, right? Remembering that wonderful, carefree summer before my senior year when I lived at Wakulla Springs and listened to “Grace Kelly” by Mika and Ratatat’s “Wildcat” every waking moment really makes me feel ancient, and it seems crazy that highschool should seem soo long ago.

First legal night out on the town...whoop whoop!

Sinfully good (vegan!) chocolate cake with ganache...

Birthday treat mani. One of two in my life..I'm fancy like that.

B-day dinner heels are a must

Hope you all had a happy St. Patty’s Day and Happy Birthday to all my fellow Pisces out there (is it just me or are there a crazy amount of Birthdays in March? Popular month!)

Think Pink

Yikes…averaging one post a month is pretty lame eh? Promise I’ll work on that…

January is allegedly the most depressing month of the year; grey and dismal,  drenched in gloom and already-fading resolutions, but all in all it didn’t seem too painful to me. Though I realize of course, this might be different if I lived in a part of the world where winter meant cold weather (not sundresses and flip flops.)

Cruising right along into February, I’m a tad puzzled on the whole boycott-Valentine’s-day attitude that seems to run rampant this time of year, inspiring certain local bars to thrown annual “Valentine’s Day Sucks” parties, and candy companies to stamp mean little jabs onto candy hearts. Seriously…if you’re really angry and bitter about love and all, a pastel candy heart with “Jump In a Lake” written in food dye isn’t going to do the trick. (However, might I recommend kickboxing – my new favorite thing, which might just help.)

I for one, will be eating as much chocolate as possible while wearing lots of pink – nothing awful-sounding ’bout that! I’m taking a leaf out of Amy Poehler’s book this year and celebrating “Galentine’s” Day with my best girlfriend! It should be, as Amy Says (on Parks and Recreations,” a national holiday. Lets make it happen people!

Joy The Baker has the perfect rose flavored cupcakes - good for your gal date and yourself of course!

Jason Wu for Target has some pretty Galentine's Day appropriate blouses, in pretty soft pink.

How amazing would it be if pink Repetto flats were at all affordable?! I want one in every color...they look like candy:)

Of course you'll need a fab updo for a night out with your date, gal or otherwise. This one's super girly and pretty, no?

And there's no better time than G-Day, as it will now be known, to rock the super red lips. Even if you're a little weary of the fire-engine red trend, this holiday's the perfect excuse to give it a go.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Galentines or Valentine’s day, filled with chocolate and the people they love, whether it’s a best friend, a significant other, or a box of candy and a ticket to see The Vow with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams (don’t judge me, it’s totally on my planner.)  xoxo

Year of the Dragon

Do you guys ever read your horoscopes? I kinda do… I’m not saying I base my life decisions on the fact that a Thursday might be a bad day for financial decisions for a Pisces, but I do check up on mine from time to time.  The beginning of a new year seems like an especially good time to do so, and mine mayy have been just a tad creepily spot-on. “You may experience some kind of radical peak around the full Moon eclipse in June impacting your career house.” Um yes…big changes are scheduled for June actually. “The second half of 2012 could have you consumed in a hunt for a new home” Funny….I’ll be moving into a new house in August. And so on and so forth…one bizarre accurate prediction after another. Creepy. Read your 2012 horoscopes people…it might get weird.

On that note, 2012 has such a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Good things are in store. 2011, while I won’t go so far as to say I hated it, was just a warm up for 2012. It’s the year of the dragon! 2011 was the year of the rabbit…you decide which sounds cooler and more promising.

2012’s got some big stuff on its plate. I’m making plans. I plan on showing this year who’s boss.

looking forward to a change of scenery in 2012...

100th anniversary of the Titanic = re-release of Titanic in 3D. April is going to be awesome.

In 2012, buy some kickass shoes that make you 7 feet tall! Embrace your absurdly giant stature.

2012 seems like the perfect year to class things up a bit. I'll be making an attempt.

 

Fun fact: At the ripe old age of 13 or so, I was completely paranoid about how old I was getting.  Rather irrational I know, but I dreaded birthdays, New Years, freaked out about taking the SATs, panicked about what to do when I graduated from college….it was pretty bad. This year (although the post-college issue is not yet solved,) I can finally say I’m getting better about living in the moment and taking things a day at a time, which is what I intend to do in 2012. What exciting plans are on your horizons? I hope lots of good change is headed everyone’s way this year:)

 

Holly’s Apartment

There is just something about Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The book, the movie, anything to do with Holly Golightly – I’m just completely obsessed with it. So you can see why I got ridiculously excited and had to share when I found out Holly’s New York apartment from the movie is up for sale!! That’s right, for a mere $5.85 million, you could live right where Ms. Golightly threw her wild cocktail parties (complete with the foot long cigerette holder,) drank champagne with Paul (while Cat watched from his perch,) and kept her collection of alligator shoes and black dresses. How I would love to spritz on perfume (kept in the downstairs mail box of course,) and dash outside to hail a cab. Quel fabulous!

http://curbed.com/archives/2011/12/09/holly-golightlys-breakfast-at-tiffanys-house-for-sale-1.php

*So apparently most of the interiors were filmed on a sound stage, but whateverrr…a girl can dream. If i had 5 or so million dollars to spare I would simply redo the inside (complete with sparse furnishings and an bathtub couch) to look just like her apartment.

If you could live in any movie/book character’s home, whose would it be? Personally, I’m quite sure that living in Holly Golightly’s apartment would be enough to keep away any case of the mean reds (or blues) for me!

Downton Abbey Vogue

Is there anything better than a dramatic, British period drama set in the Edwardian Era? Because if so, I haven’t found it.  Obviously I’m talking about Downton Abbey, which I am massively obsessed with. (Thankfully they’re releasing a Christmas special, which I can’t wait for!)

Recently the three actresses who play the dramatic and catty Crawley sisters were featured in both Vogue and Vogue UK and the photos are gorgeous, needless to say.

Who’s your favorite Crawley sister? Despite her brattiness, I can’t help but feel for Mary, even though she is incredibly stuck on herself, I felt sorry for her through all of season 2 (which I stayed up late watching online, I couldn’t wait till January!)

In (Somewhat) Recent News

I am a very bad blogger. I realize this. In my defense, these past two weeks have included 7 back to back days of morning to night rehearsals, three performances of The Nutcracker (the most fun I’ve had in years,) and inordinate amounts of fake snow, sequins and toe tape. Somewhere in there Thanksgiving also happened, which was a wonderful and much-needed break for my sore feet, and allowed my face a brief chance to breathe without an inch thick coating of makeup and fake eyelashes.

I don’t even understand how it ended up being December, but it is, which means it’s (past) time to start holiday shopping, dressing up in sparkly party dresses, and of course, planning for New  Years, which for me means the third annual jump into Wakulla Springs at 10am on New Years Day! (A natural spring in town with a 15 or so foot tall jumping platform. A 1st of the year tradition for me and a brave group of my friends.) It’s definitely a refreshing way to start the new year off with a bang, in an icy, teeth-chattery, hypothermic kind of way.

Here’s what’s been cooking and happening ’round here.

Shiny, pointe shoe-ed feet taking a break from rehearsals

An assortment of merlitons and flowers backstage

My first attempt at a sweet potato pie

 

and Ida's attempts to snag a Thanksgiving dinner

A super simple and delicious homemade pudding I'm dying to try

Hearty and filling mushroom bourguignon - recipe coming sooon...

Gorgeous holiday Banana Republic ads make me want to dye my hair red again...sigh.

 

Hope everyone is having a happy December so far!

Half Empty or Half Full?

With only one week of regular classes left before finals, I’m at the point where it’s just about impossible to stay focused on school. My mind has apparently already left for vacation. Unfortunately for me, there’s the slight issue of the remaining 5 or 6 (I refuse to count) papers to be turned in, oral exams, presentations, and final exams to be taken. Doubly unfortunate, is the fact that really all I can think about is my end-of-the-week reward of a Starbucks peppermint mocha that I’m so looking forward to, and mindlessly watching every episode of Sex and the City with absolutely no studying or flash cards that require my attention. On that note, I should probably get back to editing essay #5…

It’s times like this that the following poster really needs to be hanging on my wall.  I first saw these for sale in London two years ago, and now they’re allll the rage.

But admit it, how much more hilarious and awesome is this version? I think much more…

Just a wee bit more fitting for the week before finals, I’d say….

And on that note, how funny of a present would this glass make for someone who needs a little cheering up, or just always looks on the bright side?

http://www.fredflare.com/APARTMENT-kitchen-and-bar/Fred-and-Friends-Positivity-Glass/