BYOV: bring your own vegetables: December 2009

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas everyone!

Watch out world, I'm armed with a plastic camera and some black & white film. Lots of mediocre amateur photos coming your way. In a month. When I pay $$ to develop the film.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Anthropologie Reed Shirt Dress ($118) + Anthropologie Glimmer & Glint Necklace ($58) + Need Supply Maxine Studded Wedge ($153) + Karis Ring (£320) = 1 bajillion dollars
No, these items are not supposed to go together (well, maybe the dress and necklace). This is the if-I-had-a-million-dollars-to-spend-on-myself-and-it-wasn't-Christmas want-list.

~~etsy/marmas Secret Garden Print ($35)~~ + ~~etsy/chainchainchained Amethyst Geode Chain ($46)~~ + ~~ravelry 'A Little Ruffle' scarf~~ + etsy/lemonadestandnyc's 9 French Macarons (sold out)

Maybe after Christmas...
[Edit 12/20: I'm terrible. A snow day made me stir crazy and I already bought the Secret Garden Print, the Amethyst Geode necklace, and the yarn for the ruffle scarf!]

[Edit 12/23: It gets worse. I now have the Anthropologie Reed Shirt Dress and the Anthropologie Glimmer & Glint Necklace in my possession. I think there's a few plastic parts in the necklace, not sure it was actually worth $58. BUT it is gorgeous.]

Success: Fried Egg Sandwich

Saturday, December 12, 2009

By special request, a sandwich I eat about 5 times per week, adapted from TheKitchn's "Spanglish" sandwich recipe.

It's essentially some good quality bread [toasted], a fried egg [over hard] in a bit of butter, spring mix of greens [radicchio, tango, romaine lettuces], monterey jack cheese, tomato slices, and mayonnaise. I like to put the newly fried egg on the cheese, so that it melts a bit.

Found in East Liberty Goodwill: YSL Leather Skirt

While I don't generally make a habit of wearing leather, this $3 Yves Saint Laurent leather pencil skirt was irresistible. Did I mention it cost THREE DOLLARS?! Anyways, thank you Pittsburgh!

Chai Coffee Cake (Redux)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

¤ Guest Post ¤

For my inaugural post, I thought it apropos to start with this Chai Coffee Cake, since this blog (and its creator) were the inspiration behind my baking it for a daylong marathon Thanksgiving. I second the original post; mine was almost gone by the time dinner hit the table.

It also lent quite a nice aroma to the kitchen.

I used Tartlette's modification of layering the topping and the cake batter.

My only qualm was that the freshly ground cardamom I used overpowered the other, packaged spices in the cake; I might in the future use all fresh or all packaged spices to negate that effect. Despite the accentuated cardamom, it still came out quite tasty.

Introduction

I am giving my friend, rainmelon (although, those who know her probably know her real name...), some space on this blog to post about her random food+craft adventures. She voiced an interest in starting a blog, but had determined she wouldn't post nearly often enough to make it worthwhile. So, be forewarned: all the kookiness in this space may no longer be mine alone.

Holiday Food Event II

Monday, December 7, 2009

The end of the semester means I host a dinner party for 9 people (mentioned briefly, here).

Last year's recipes were good, but I wanted something even simpler. Although those meatballs are terribly time consuming (but soooooo tasty). Each year, I need to make it progressively more like a potluck.

Please don't mind the purposefully-blurrified photos. I think the place looks pretty great.
Menu

Jeffrey Morgenthaler's eggnog
BYOV Jasmine Green Tea and Black Tea with simple syrup (1.5 parts sugar to 1 part water)
TheKitchn's Rosemary Garlic Meatballs (although I used Herbs de Provence in lieu of rosemary)
TheKitchn's Best Sugar Cookies with Dark Chocolate Ganache icing
Pumpkin pie, recipe from the back of a 15oz Libby's canned pumpkin and a handmade crust recommended by Wikstenmade
Guest-brought tomato+mozzarella+basil
Guest-brought spicy chicken shish kebabs

Holiday Decor '09

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

I returned from Thanksgiving, and had to decorate for my Holiday dinner on Saturday. There will be 10 people, and I only own 8 forks. We'll manage.

Overall, I think the place looks rather chipper...and similar to last year.

Apartment Layout

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

An image of my apartment's layout, just because. (I have more furniture than a grad student should be allowed to have)

[Edit 7/4/2018: I noticed I didn't have a single post collecting photos of the first Pittsburgh apartment in all its glory, so I'm locating them below.]
Living Room