alice

i like awesome alices. it's rare that i come across an alice my age so imagine my delight when i came across this amazing artist, alice stevenson. i love her style. above is from a live-paint piece she did in london for hugo boss. yay, alice!

spring dinner

i've been very busy cooking and pretending it's spring despite it being the '2nd rainiest month in boston ever'.

tonight's recipe as follows:

• 2 red potatoes


• green beans


• 2 ripe tomatoes


• brie cheese


• angel hair


• olive oil


• salt


• fresh pepper


• rosemary


• lemon (optional)

cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes (smaller the better), toss in olive oil, salt and a tiny bit of chopped rosemary. stick in the oven to roast until golden and tender... around 375 for 30 minutes

dice tomatoes set aside, cube brie cheese & set aside

boil salted water, cook pasta...reserve water by draining into another pot

bring reserve water back to boil, put in roughly chopped green beans, cook 3 minutes. drain and save about 1/4 cup of reserve water

toss pasta, cheese and 1/4 reserve water with a little olive oil until creamy. then add the rest of the ingredients, toss and serve with lemon slice. i like the lemon squeezed at the end. brightens it all up!

next time i will substitute parmesan for brie to make it more creamy and i will wear an apron as cute as this one from anthro

my bike

it's warming up and i really miss riding my bike around oakland.

wish i had brought it here but cruisers are such a pain to check at the airport. bummer.

until we meet again, dear bike, i will think of you fondly.

specialty food shops

cardullos in cambridge, oh how i like thee. i could honestly spend hours and thousands of dollars in that little store. to prepare for hours of back to back queer as folk we stopped in to grab snacks. yes, this was right after lunch. don't judge.

we picked up a great bottle of viognier, stilton cheese, baguette and a bar goat's milk dark chocolate. honestly, i'm not sold on the chocolate. the bitterness of the dark chocolate with the sourness of goat milk made for an odd combination. not bad at all, but not quite right. i would like to try a more sweet goat chocolate to balance it a bit more. the cheese on the other hand was just how it always is.....blue and amazing. and it made the wine so sweet when paired. into it.

sunday lunch

a thai sunday lunch. som tum, tom kha gai, dumplings and pineapple fried rice, hold the dried pork topping, please.

it was great. a little place in cambridge called tamarind house. they don't have a website that i can tell but they are super nice and the food is fresh. i have a friend who loves that word: fresh.

love good thai food on a lazy sunday afternoon.

queer as folk

oh, i like it. i like it a lot. today i will embark on a queer as folk marathon and i couldn't be more excited. wine, snacks, lunch, snacks, wine. all while watching my new favorite old tv show. recipes of snacks to come. my only wish is that i had this valentino bag to wear today. it reminds me of one of brian's shinny shirts. gotta love the year 2000.

denim

it's back. and i haven't quite figured out if i like it or not. denim jackets and now this. i used to have so many pairs of overalls. my ck short overalls were my uniform in the dorms. and in middle school i couldn't wear my dad's pair enough. i thought i looked so tough and cool with my bodysuit and plaid boxers underneath. yikes.

i'm afraid i may be too old for them now. the jury is still out.

sharing sportello

yes. i like to share. wellll, most of the time. i really do love to share food because then i get to try twice as much! take last night. sarah and i went to Barbara Lynch's sportello and ordered off of the restaurant week menu.

in total we had:

baby greens w/rye croutons, mustard vinaigrette and walnut creme

cured smoked salmon w/ celeriac creme fraiche & myer lemon puree

bigoli w/ green garlic pesto, potato & green beans

pork belly w/ fennel and parsley salad

a PLATE of cookies, and

chocolate walnut torta w/ salted caramel

a glass of barbera and prosecco

Highlights: pork belly and the salmon.

Best part overall: Barbara Lynch was there! I saw her and even took a picture, but you really can't see her so i won't bother posting. awesome night. i like.

spring snow

really? i like snow fine when it's during winter.... but snow in spring is just annoying and necessary. so much for keeping this blog positive, eh? ok, i'm cold but i need a coffee so i will brave it. i mean, if the people of dc could do it during the snotorious B.I.G, only to discover that even starbucks had shut down, i can manage. and i won't forget my reusable cup.

drink

i haven't said it yet, but i like (to) drink. it is, by far, my favorite bar in boston. to order, you can just let the bartender know what you like generally and they will create something magical for you. before dinner upstairs, sarah and i stopped in. i ordered "something with whiskey and elderflower" and sarah ordered a classic mint julip. both were perfection. also love how there are no booze bottles. simple. amazing.

dancin'

ohhhhhh, it's thursday and thursdays are soooo sweet. 1-i have a short day at work....only 4 hours. 2-it's the day i go to tap dance! and 3- after tap dance i try a new restuarant in boston. tonight will be barbara lynch's sportello....but more on that later. until then, picture me dancin' like gene kelly because i totally do

get this gene kelly and frank sinatra poster at the uk company, easy art

here's to dancin'....not in the rain!

weather

its not raining and not freezing therfore i'm wearing shorts. i'm also indulging in an old favorite: iced peppermint soy latte. i know, i know, another straw....i do have my own cup, at least. uh, which i totally forgot today on the way out because i was too busy talking on my cell phone to one of my favorite people whilst discussing my new favorite show. seriously, rico, you'll love it! and if you dont, blame your roommates not me.

this weather is making me want bigger and better. actually smaller and warmer. i so wish i was in the middle of the south pacific on this bed (from anthro) and enjoying tropical cocktails from these glasses (yay! whimsicalvintage)

family

i was wrong! there was a new modern family on tonight. brilliant as usual. hilarious and warms my heart at the same time. not unlike this picture of my mama & grandpa jim

vanessa bruno

vanessa, where have you been all my life? i like this. a lot.

Discover “ Le bel été ” with Lou Doillon and Gonzales. http://www.vanessabruno.com

because my new favorite show, MODERN FAMILY, is a repeat i went dream shopping and came across this diane keaton throwback. thank you chloe! i want to be lookin' like this but with a cuter bag and hair, geez, saks...

i could totally listen to the four tops on this baby. if you have $350 layin' around and want to make me insanely jealous, visit the vintage supply co

homemade sauerkraut, people

thats right, i did it. i made my own homemade sauerkraut. and i like it.

i looked up a few recipes online. i needed one that didn't involve jarring it for weeks before consuming. i'm impatient and i already had the bratwurst in the fridge. here's how i did it:

Ingredients

• 3 large shallots
• 1 med/lrg green cabbage (shredded)
• 3 (ish) cups of apple cider vinegar -- see the picture below of the vinegar, it was full....now only until the "h"
• 1 (ish) cup apple cider -- again, see the picture
• Salt
• Water

Directions

• saute shallots on med/high heat in olive oil until soft w/ bits of dark
• add apple cider vinegar, apple cider, salt, cabbage and enough water to cover all of the cabbage
• bring to boil
• down to low for 1-1.5 hours, until the cabbage is very soft
• let it cool & eat!

i think it turned out really good. some spices would be nice but i didn't have any (caraway seeds). be warned though, the smell is pretty strong. a bonus if you want to irritate your roommate who uses the hand wash you bought as body soap. suh-weet, revenge!

make believe

pretending. i like to pretend that walking to the local market(s) can replace a good ol' fashioned workout. in my defense there is a pretty hefty hill on the way there and i had to carry all of this stuff.

i also really love having an armful of local produce from johnny d's and a soy latte from cafenation. these are 2 reasons that i have been able to survive this otherwise boring neighborhood.

now it's work time. dislike.

i like straws. but i also like the environment. conundrum. i participated in a marine debris study (riiiight, so i picked up trash on the beach) and i discovered that cigarette butts, balloons, and my little friends, straws, are most likely to end up on the california coast. boo.

years, and hundreds of straws later, i found a solution that doesn't involve biodegradable material--i love the cups but the straw material is pretty bad. like nail on a chalkboard in my mouth, bad. while perusing my favorite hometown blog sfgirlbybay i found: BROOK FARM GENERAL STORE. they have a multitude of obsessable items not the least of which are these straws. i do realize there are many variations of reusable straws but really, are any this adorable? i don't think so.

the second i am no longer living between coasts, i will buy these.

big f*cking deal

i like big deals. i especially like it when they are a long time coming and when the vice president recognizes that the deal is SO big that it warrants using the f-bomb on national tv. (i know, he wasn't mic'd but come on people....everyone is watching).

doing my part to reduce healthcare costs, i took myself to the Y(mca) and nixed the sausages and homemade sauerkraut for dinner. instead i will enjoy black bean burritos and all the clips of the vp and his potty mouth circulating the internet.

because today is a big fucking deal.

the beginning

i've never blogged before. i love reading other people's blogs so i thought i'd give it a shot. to be honest, i actually like looking at the pretty pictures of other people's blogs but that's beside the point. while i could easily make this a blog of dislikes, (people who don't shovel the snow in front of their house, cockroaches over 2 inches in my bedroom, the list goes on...) i've decided to focus on the positive. maybe because i just survived my first new england winter and it is finally sunny, i am feeling unusually cheerful.

spring has sprung! and not a minute too soon.

something i could still be bitter about: breaking down in winnemucca, nv on my way from san francisco to boston which meant i did not have a car through the hellish winter and was forced to walk and wait for the T in snow, rain and hail. ah, but then i wouldn't have visited a place that butch cassidy visited once... and that would be shameful.