they draw and cook

A lovely new find: They Draw & Cook, a collection of artist-submitted illustrated recipes. All so different and beautiful and not to mention delicious sounding!

things I will probably never get an award for (list 12 of 52)

Things I could improve on but probably won't, a list:

                                           Source: maryruffle.tumblr.com via nole on Pinterest

1. Organizing my email inbox
2. For that matter, remembering to respond to emails
3. Making caramel (working on it)
4. Parallel parking
5. Driving a manual car (sad, I know)
6. Doing/listening to one thing at a time
7. Braiding my own hair
8. Putting on eyeliner
9. Talking to 6 year olds
10. Sitting still/quieting my monkey mind (an endless process)

those shoes

Charlie Winston "I love your smile" from HK Corp on Vimeo.

Love it. Everything about this.

everything is amazing

Louis CK on Conan.

This is old but I love it so. 

guiltiest pleasures (list 11 of 52)

+Dairy Queen vanilla softserve with that hard cherry coating..I know it's not real food

+An abundance of accessories, tops and skirts that don't match with anything I own

+Cheese fries, with real cheese, and then covered in parmesan

+Good olive oil

+Sub-par horror movies, old and new

+Embarrassing nail polish colors

+Wedding blogs

+Sample sales

+Old-school rap

+Coke floats

+Friends

+Bacon, on anything

vivre la langue

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

I love these videos, they're ads for a language immersion program and they have them for other cities too. Fantastic. It makes me want to go back to France so badly. Reading Julia Child's books and shopping at Anthropologie will have to suffice for now. Paris, tu me manques. 

reasons why I probably won't go back to school (list 10 of 52)

truth

• finals
• midterms
• money
• commitment issues
• I want to do too many things
• I don't think I'm cut out for normal school
• math
• because I want to teach yoga and cook more than I want to do chemistry problems
• planning is hard

dinners of note

Reasons why I just want to go to culinary school...

Potage parmentier avec artichauts à la sauce hollandaise

just kidding...

or not.

I have been slowly making my way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking but with considerably less drama than Julie Powell. I don't know if it's because I'm having some kind of quarter life crisis too but I think I'm doing it more as just a fun cooking project and because I love all things French. Contrary to the book's ample criticisms, I've enjoyed cooking from it quite a bit so far. What makes this book so not-user-friendly is why I like it. I like the precision and detail that makes a recipe 4 pages long. I relish in the process of making a meal and have never much been drawn to the ready-made age of Rachel Ray. Granted, I don't really intend to cook kidneys, and I have witheld a tablespoon or so of butter here and there, but I'd rather spend hours with Julia Child than 30 minutes with Rachel Ray any day.

reasons I might go back to school (list 9 of 52)

rationalizations, listed

• to learn (really?)
• to be qualified for work I actually want to do
• for a more stable career
• vacations
• schedules
• study dates
• new pens
• packed lunches

...not very convincing

your tea time

Sanctuary T, a New York City (of course) based tea-restaurant, is showcasing a gallery of tea-times from   around the world. Contribute your own image of what Your Tea Time looks like.  There are some gorgeous submissions. What a great wintertime idea, doesn't it just make you want to sit at a favorite cafe with a book and a delicious cup of tea?