Laodicean

L-A-O-D-I-C-E-A-N (ley-od-uh-see-uhn). Whoa.

Some little girl from Kansas correctly spelled that word to win this year's spelling bee. I have mixed feelings about the spelling bee- I am a sucker for competition, especially nerdy ones that require contestants to spell things right. But at the same time, I feel so sad for these kids. The spellling bee might very well be the single greatest highlight of their childhood. Clearly these children are not cut out to be captain of any Varsity squad, or crowned their high school Homecoming Kings. Nerdom is so bittersweet.

However, they will probably go on to Stanford, get their Masters degrees in two years, then develop a some crazy Google-like startup, make a kabillion dollars, and hire me to clean their house.

Check out more Images via the Daily News

Also, you may not have known this, but check out my little moment of glory:

Santa Clara County Spelling Bee, circa 1994

Tanya and I wore our John Muir Wildcat t-shirts for school spirit. Nhut Pham went all out and wore a shirt & tie.

If I remember correctly, I got all my words right. I spelled Rendezvous perfectly. We got 2nd place, I think. Ahhh, the finer moments of my childhood.

DF

Went to dinner at Petite Abeille last night with Tanya and David, who are living in the city for the summer! Triple yay for excellent company, moules frites, and Chimay Red Ale. Yumyumyum!

You must be awfully confused right now. that picture above is OBVIOUSLY not of mussels nor fries nor any cute Belgian restaurant in NYC. What it is is a delicious-looking Taco stand in Mexico City. We started talking about Mexico City since that's where David grew up. Tanya and David have traveled there several times (but let's be real, where have they NOT traveled?), and mentioned that I would really love it there. After that, I did nothing short of invite myself to David's family's next Christmas get-together. Ooops, better dust off some of those high school Spanish textbooks. I've never been to Mexico City but have heard nothing but excellent things about the place- from it's native citizens as well as tourists who pass through. Everyone raves about how vibrant, how cultural, how bustling, how CHEAP! the city is...(Tanya really sold me on the $2 ceviches and guacamole)

It really got me thinking about my future travels, where I will go next and how long I will want to go for. That, and how I will fund the means to do so. Well flights to Mexico City are no more than $300 during off-peak season, so maybe you will see me there after the summer! A couple months in Mexico City to pass the cold NYC winter blues? I mean, porque no?

Image via Oishii Eats, one of my favorite LA foodie blogs!!

Holga + Wedding season

Holgas and weddings, what a perfect match!!!!

...see more lovely Holga pics and wedding pics (two of my favorite things), by Ashley Garmon

oh hi

I'm back in NY!

The month of May was a little crazy for me, I had my sister's graduation in Michigan, went home to San Jose & LA for 12 days, and then went to Toronto this past weekend for a Memorial Day getaway. I've been in New York for a total of about six days this month. Most of the time spent away from New York was also spent away from the computer, so my email and google reader are bulging at their unread seams, which drives me a little nuts-o. I also have two HUGE piles of laundry to do and a ton of mail to go through (ahem, a ton of magazines to read...) However because I am so so insanely tired and thankfully, unemployed, I am going to watch Da Vinci code right now, take a nap, and post some pics from my trips later this evening.

Oh, in the meantime here's a recipe for a delicious smoothie that I'm drinking right now:

3/4 cup carrot juice

3/4 cup vanilla soy milk

1/4 cup frozen peaches

1/4 cup frozen cherries or blueberries

Directions: Combine & blend, duh. This seriously makes the best-tasting homemade smoothie I'

ve ever had. The carrot juice makes it perfectly sweet, and the vanilla soy milk makes it slightly creamy. I think peaches and cherries/blueberries are the best combinations, but if you want to be gross and add bananas I won't judge you.

I use this nifty Cuisinart Smart Stick hand blender, it's one of my favorite appliances! Ahh, how I love versatility in a kitchen tool. (But, let's face it, every kitchen appliance is my favorite appliance...)

Dear Guido

Dear Guido on the treadmill next to me at the gym,

Please refrain from dumping a bottle of Cologne on your greasemonkey coiffe and hairy pits before your workout, lest I choke to death while running.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

It sounds intimidating, doesn't it? And what is olive oil cake? Who eats olive oil cake? Oh, I do. And you will, too.

The Times featured this recipe mid-march- I remember reading it and thinking "ooh, that sounds interesting", immediately bookmarked it and as most bookmarks in my browser go, it went unread for a good two months (most of the time they are never re-visited). But when it was time to think of a great, portable dish to bring to a picnic two weeks ago, it popped back in my head. Genius! I've really gotta say, this is one of the easiest recipes for cakes I have ever come across. Even easier than banana bread, since you don't have to deal with yucky mushy bananas. And not to say that it's healthy per se, but it really does not use that much sugar, flour, nor any butter- all pluses in my book. I cannot stress how easy it transports, how great it is for picnics and lunches and tea times (because you know we all have tons of those), and really sounds a lot fancier than it is.

It was such a hit at the picnic, you can really taste the rich olive oil flavor, complemented by the nice orang-y lemon zest. Moreover the cake is UNbelievebly moist, like pound cake, but minus the pounds!!!! Anyway I've decided to make it again for a lunch date I have tomorrow with two girlfriends. I added one more orange and nuts to the recipe, as I thought they would be welcomed additions to the already flavorful recipe, and it turned out brilliantly (or at least, it looks that way). It's not exactly blood orange season, but I was able to find the bright little fruits at my local health/gourmet/overpriced food store near my house (at 79cents each. hmph.) I can't cut into it tonight but I PROMISE I will take pictures tomorrow.

without further ado, here is the recipe:

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

Prep time, about 30-45 min

Bake time, 50 min-1 hour

+cooling time

Butter for greasing the pan

4 blood oranges

1 cup sugar

greek yogurt (roughly 1/2 cup)

3 eggs

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup walnuts or almonds, optional.

Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan (9x5 inch preferred) with butter.

Grate the zest from 2 oranges and place in a large bowl with

sugar. Using your fingers, rub these two ingredients together until the orange zest is evenly distributed in the sugar.

Supreme 2 oranges, break or cut segments up into small pieces, about 1/4 inch in size.

Halve the other 2 oranges and squeeze their juices into a measuring cup. This will equal about 1/4 cup of juice. Add yogurt to the juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether and mix well. Pour this mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well.

Whisk in 3 eggs, one at a time.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour (sifted), baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gently whisk in dry ingredients into wet ones.

Switch to a spatula and fold in oil a little at a time. Fold in pieces of orange segments, then nuts, if you choose to add them.

Scrape batter into the pan, make sure batter is smooth and compact.

Bake cake for 50-60 min, until it is golden and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on rack (in pan) for about 5 minutes, then invert out of the pan and cool until room temperature.

EAT!!

** Like with all baking recipes, I really recommend sifting the flour. Especially if flour has been sitting in your pantry for longer than a few weeks, you'd be surprised to find how clumpy it can get. Since I'm not fancy enough to have a sifter, I just use a fine-meshed sieve and sift the flour about 1/2 cup at a time. Works perfectly.

**In case you don't know how to supreme an orange, or what that even means: Cut off the bottom and the top of your orange so the fruit is just barely exposed and you can sit it upright on a cutting board. With your knife, follow the curve of the fruit and cut away both the peel and the white pithy bitterness. Hold the now naked looking orange in your non-cutting hand, and with the knife (duh) cut the orange segments out of their connective membranes. ta-da!

**Also another tip- don't bother using gross extra virgin olive oil. It's really worth it to use the nicer stuff.

oh Diana.

I really want this nifty little 120mm film camera- which also comes with a 35mm film backing. Of course, I would buy the fisheye lens outfit too. See the great pictures it takes here.

the Straight Angle

As indecision rules my life, it has made an appearance yet again. I've changed the title of this blog.

I'm three-fourths into reading Murakami for the first time and I'm slowly falling in love with him. I rarely remember specific lines to movies let alone any line in a book, but for some reason this one line really stood out to me. I found it ironic, funny, succinct, and so true. The perfect quote, no?

Lots of people have suggested to me picking up a Murakami book, and one friend specifically advised me to NOT read The Wind Up Bird Chronicles as the first one. A strange bit of advice. When I asked him to clarify, he said it was so good of a book that I would only be disappointed if I read any of his other books thereafter. So at Spoonbill I made a conscious effort to pick up the lesser-known A Wild Sheep Chase instead, and disappointed I am certainly not. My favorite line of the book jumped out to me right away, on page 37:

"Tell me straight, because that's my favorite angle"

Page 249 is pretty sweet too.

Street Signs

Made a trip out to Ann Arbor this past weekend for my sister's graduation. More about my crazy bout of nostalgia later. In the meantime...here is a sign I saw several times driving along the main roads of the city. You think it means you'll be fined $7,500 and receive 15 years in the slammer, or does the sign mean you may owe $7,500 or higher over 15 years, or maybe does it mean you pay $7,500 and more over the course of a 15 year period? I'm just sayin', if they bothered to put the sign up at all they really should clarify.

congrats V!!!!!!