emptying the pantry

ahh Friday night.
The end of the week is celebrated by letting your hair down, throwing on jeans and kicking off heels. unless you are moving in less than a week and have 5 bags of flour in the pantry. So instead, i threw my hair in a ponytail, put on my sweat pants and ran frantically around my mini-kitchen making treats....
Spooky Witch Fingers!
ha! take my word for it, they looked bad ass. It is a basic sugar cookie recipe, with pinched "knuckles" and almonds for "nails". (dipped in raspberry jam to look like blood! AH!)
So it was fun and goofy and they tasted pretty good. 'Cept for the almonds, i gave those to the roomies...
I brushed up on my David Bowie and wiped my cakey fingers on my last remaining clean pair of pajama pants.

NOW i'm excited

the great thing about being David Bowie (by the way i'm going to be David Bowie!!! for halloween)
is that there are so many Bowies to chose from.
Androgynous David Bowie:
This would require....well...not much, since i'm already a lady and all. A strawberry blonde wig, blue eye shadow and longing looks at either sexes direction would suffice.

Aladdin Zane David Bowie:
The most infamous image of the Thin White Duke. this would be the most recognizable, therefore i would have to pull it off perfectly. Hair down and slicked back, careful face paint and bare collar bones. a chilly-er Bowie.

Incarcerated David Bowie:
In 1976 Bowie and Iggy Pop got busted for driving around upstate new york with weed in the car. Surprisingly a more mild charge than expected, and perhaps one of the best dressed mug shots in history. To pull this off i would need a suit, a lot of hair gel and a identification plaque. This sounds promising...

HAHAH....Ziggy Stardust David Bowie.
can't. even. deal.
i don't have the legs, my hips are too big....and i.....just can't deal. Next!

Party David Bowie (with Iggy Pop!!!)
Dont' let the collar fool you, Bowie was pretty...out of it here. I like the collar and sweater thing, but i would need Iggy Pop dripping from my arm, and he just won't return my calls.

so it really just boils down to how much effort/money i am willing to put into this. and since i am moving the days before Halloween, i might have to settle for a milder Bowie. (oh right i'm supposed to be packing....) But no matter i feel very confident in my choice and am shocked it came so late.



"Well I drunk a lot and I'm feeling fine
Gonna raise some kind of bet.
Is this concrete all around, or
is it in my head?
Brother I'm a dude now."

Brother, i am a dude now.

The Sunny Robot Embraces Fall

Good evening, from bustling astoria. i should be packing, but instead i made a aluminum foil swan and attached it to my rabbit ears so i could watch the simpsons. and wouldn't you know it, after that i was just too damn tired to go through my room and start packing. besides, i ate too many muffins.
muffins you ask? yep! Last night i was in Michellebletown and I made:
Pumpkin Butterscotch Mini-Muffins
I think i might have mentioned this before (if so please excuse the redunancy, i'm in a muffin/diet coke coma) but i love making muffins so so much. it's so simple and comforting and a very low stress process. Here's the recipe


mmmm, after a dinner of Vegetarian Chile and Sundried Tomato tortillas (made by Shmoops) they were a light and satisfying dessert. Butterscotch isn't so commonly used in my mixing bowls, so it was a nice change. I think the bit of ginger played through, and the combination of spices made the muffins a touch complex. They were moist and the butterscotch wasn't overwhelming at all, but the pumpkin was and that was just fine. Because it is autumn.

So bundle up,bring that extra throw blanket to bed and name the pumpkins in your room. It is fall, and by the time you look up to admire the vibrant leaves, they will be on their way to the ground.

an ode to gin

Just kidding!!

Yesterday, i toured the mother land of gastronomy, the Culinary Institute of America. The world renowned culinary school is nestled in the hills of Hyde Park, New York. we could not have picked a more beautiful day; the sun was shining and there was a breeze that carried the aroma of freshly dropped leaves. Looking out from the campus is the Hudson River, weaving it's way through the Hudson Valley, and shimmering in the reflection of the October sun.
Our tour began with a presentation, a cheesy film starring former students running around in pristine white coats, tall paper(?) chef hats, flipping skillets over fire and chopping fresh produce. each had their own testament as to why the CIA was the right school for them, and how it jump started their careers. It was goofy, but my favorite bit of information was the my hero Duff Goldman graduated from there!!! awesome awesome awesome.
From there we met our tour guide, Mandy, a perky culinary arts student who loved to talk about coffee, the history of the campus and how to make cheese quesadillas with an iron in the dorm rooms. she was cute and informative, but i still had to get Shmoops to ask my questions because i'm scared of people perkier than me. anyway.
The campus is breathtaking, the kitchens are of the caliber of kitchen stadium, and the place is swarming with young people who are all there for the same reason. TO COOK AND BAKE AND EAT AND COOK!!
SIGH.
it was overwhelming....but it was a perfect day and i absolutely loved it.

tis october

Good morning from ritzy, glitzy, and endlessly boring Park Avenue.
I am leafing through a Costco business supplies magazine and listening to The Virgins, which i read about in Metro, or Am, or one of those silly subway reads that is written to get the disgruntled through their morning commute. It's nice and fun and funky and makes me want to slink my shoulders, sip a gin and tonic and dance with James Franco.

This is what gets me through this midweek madness.


(to boston or not to boston? that is the question of the hour/week. for some unknown reason, i feel....dare i say....homesick. for new york. i want to wake up lazily and leaf through gawker and head out into the afternoon farmer's markets and drink coffee and spike my diet coke with vanilla vodka. (blech!!)
i also want to celebrate Jena's birthday was the boston crew....and i can't seem to make up my damn mind.
i feel like a turtle, whose shell is New York and who can think of nothing more than to hide in it.
a slow, thoughtful, and confused little turtle. who likes gin.
anyway.)

signing off, with that "you've got to be kidding me" look that has been plastered on my face for about 2 weeks.....
yours truly....