Mama Day

I just finished reading this book for my African American Women Writers seminar, and it has just entered my top five favorite books ever list. I'm not actually sure what else is on that list other than Gone With the Wind, but this is truly one of the best books I've ever read. It's witty, heartbreaking, magical, real, poetic -- I love adjectives only slightly less than I love chocolate, so I'll stop there, but simply put, it's beautiful. After reading this masterpiece by Gloria Naylor I feel that anything I write will pale in comparison, so I'll just leave it at: read this book. As soon as possible.

Picnic

I am a notoriously picky eater (yes, another understatement). However, this means that picnics are perfect for me. So this past weekend I headed to Lake Anza in Tilden Park on a sunny, albeit chilly, day.

The perfect picnic fare, as far as I'm concerned, centers around cheese -- preferably Brie, although I've fallen hard for Irish Dubliner cheese lately as well. When you only eat about five things, it's important to be truly passionate about those categories.

I probably could and would eat this whole wheel if given half a chance.

Pair the cheese with some delicious, flaky, buttery crackers like Trader Joe's Social Snackers. They are possibly one of the most addictive snack foods ever. Add some grapes, focaccia bread, chocolate to top it off, and a refreshing beverage, and you have a recipe for the perfect summer meal.

The perfect picnic beverage.

Mother's Day

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I am not usually very crafty (understatement? Perhaps). But the one thing I do pride myself on is my homemade cards. To a person who actually does artsy things, they don't look like much, but to me, and anyone who knows me, they are a triumph. So since I'm not going home for Mother's Day, I decided to at least surprise my amazing mom with a handmade card (which apparently most people stopped doing around the 3rd grade. Who knew?).

I went to a craft store downtown and got bright yellow paper with embossed flowers, light green vellum, and a green ribbed ribbon (which sounds funny now that I write it).

{inside}

I proceeded to use fabric tape to secure the green paper inside the card (having discovered I was out of glue sticks after getting home) and cut out hearts to stick inside as well.

{outside}

Then I tied a ribbon around the outside (harder than it looks. Don't laugh) and pasted another contrasting heart on the back. Looking at it now (after it's sealed in the envelope, of course), it occurs to me I should have actually put something on it referring to Mother's Day. Well, she'll just have to figure it out. Luckily, she doesn't read this blog (like most of the rest of the world. But I sure do appreciate Kenda and Kyle!), so this won't ruin the (very small) surprise. 

On a side note, any kind of crafting always reminds me of big little week, which I now remember as only a blur of puffy paint and rhinestones. 

{baskets}

But I won't lie, I was pretty proud of how her baskets turned out. Mainly because I included lots of baked goods (in puffy painted tupperware, obviously), which is where I really shine. If only I could have mailed my mom a homemade chocolate cake with Cool Whip. 

Unexpected combinations

Before discovering Ben Heine, my favorite thing from Belgium was the waffles. However, after happening upon these photos by the Ivory Coast native/Belgian transplant, it seems the delicious breakfast treats might have competition. I can't stop looking at these unique, entrancing photo/sketch combinations. Their appeal seems to stem in part from the unanswered questions they provoke: namely, why? What made the artist, Belgian "painter, illustrator, portraitist, caricaturist and photographer" Ben Heine, come up with these, and why did he pick the pictures he did? And why such a surreal take in some, and realistic portrayals in others?

Even more puzzling, why include fire by actually putting some of the drawings to flames? The effect is certainly powerful, but how could he bear to destroy such beautiful work? Perhaps these drawings didn't take the time I imagine them to, as my lack of artistic talent means doing just one of these would take me weeks and never reach the level of these, but regardless, it just doesn't seem worth it to literally burn your own work -- maybe I have too strong an attachment to my own creations, but I can hardly stand to delete a sentence I like from an essay, let alone set fire to such a carefully executed drawing.

Regardless of his reasoning, the fire certainly adds to the mood of the pieces. Although all of these are beautiful, I can't help but feel there's an almost melancholy, cynical tinge to some of them, such as the panda holding a "Lonely" sign at a table by itself. On the other hand, some are distinctly whimsical and hopeful, such as the boy above or the Mickey Mouse "If you can dream it...you can do it" drawing. Still others are just extremely amusing; but I'll leave it to you to peruse the collection on your own.

They're all extremely original, but I was pleasantly surprised by the artists' inclusion of the hand itself in this one --- just when I thought I had the art form figured out, he threw a new curve. 

The carefree, summery feeling of this one puts it in the contenders for my favorite. You can see more of his work at his professional website. 

Dessert disappointment

So the cookie dough brownies did not live up to the hype. Maybe I was too excited, maybe we didn't get the ratio of cookie dough to brownie quite right, or maybe the recipe was simply not as good as it looked (I don't like to fault my own baking skills; much better to blame a faulty recipe). However, the fact remains, my freezer is now full of a pan of would-be delicious brownies smothered in an overly sweet cookie dough topping that overwhelms the brownies in a way that simply cannot be ignored.

But, I'm a firm believer that a failure just opens the door for an even greater future success -- or at least it will look better in comparison to the previous flop. So, this is my next plan:

{recipe}

Gooey, warm peanut butter cookie topped with melty chocolate chips and rich vanilla ice cream. I've tried making homemade pizookies before (no BJ's Pizza is one of the biggest downfalls of living in SLO) with little success, but this recipe claims to be foolproof. Now all I need is to get my hands on a ramekin, which apparently is what that little white dish it's baked in is called. I'll be honest, I kind of thought a ramekin was somehow related to a yarmulke before seeing this recipe. Who knew?

In other, non-chocolate related news -- but don't worry, still food -- I had penne alla vodka for dinner tonight for the umpteenth time. Not that I'm complaining, as it's undeniably delicious, but it did make me wonder if perhaps it's time to explore other recipes. Obviously, I don't want to stray from pasta, so my first thought was of this recipe I happened upon a couple weeks ago: pesto and cheese stuffed shells. Although I'm ambivalent about pesto, any combination of pasta stuffed with cheese is a winner with me, so I'm hoping to test out this recipe sometime in the upcoming week. Here's hoping it goes better than the cookie dough brownies!

Baking dreams

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{recipe}

Is your mouth watering yet? Mine hasn't stopped since I spent half of my Spring Break looking at baking blogs and recipes. I even tried making cinnamon sugar pull apart bread and lasagna roll ups with my mom (not together. Don't worry.). That bread.......heavenly. There are no words. It kind of makes every other breakfast feel like a waste now. 

But I digress. The recipes above have currently been occupying the part of my brain that should be switching back into school mode, but let's be honest: what's more important, making delicious cheesecake-peanut butter frosted-chocolate cake combinations, or studying? I thought so too. Hence why I spent the better part of last night looking up these recipes to fulfill my chocolate craving. Though the second one may be a bit ambitious (but definitely something I am going to try eventually), the first one looks almost too easy to be true. I never thought of combining these two particular favorites (raw cookie dough and rich brownies), but now that I've seen the magical results, I can't wait to get my hands on some. And, yet another plus, the cookie dough doesn't contain raw eggs (though I think if I was going to get salmonella, it would have happened already after the countless batches of cookies that have never quite made it to the oven), so there are no health risks! Unless you count morbid obesity from consuming entire pans at once. Which I don't. 

Baking blogs have been my new obsession every since I stumbled upon foodgawker's most favorited recipes a couple weeks ago. Due to Spring Break fortunately coinciding with this discovery, I actually had time to make the aforementioned recipes, but that has only made me hungry for more -- which, unfortunately, coincides with the beginning of a new quarter. However, I'm already scheduling in baking time for the quarter around my massive reading assignments, and while that may not be good for the upcoming swimsuit season, I feel confident that it can be nothing but good for my overall happiness and well being, which is a tradeoff I'm willing to make. Stay tuned for the outcome of the as-yet untested cookie dough brownies -- hopefully to be made this weekend!

Travel from caves to capsules

      

Poseidon Undersea Resort in Fiji

Cave hotel in Turkey

I love stumbling through websites like this. This particular one includes a list of 12 creative hotels, but not much information, so I did a little more research. I was so excited by the Poseidon hotel that I even watched the intro video, which made me want to get on a plane right away. Just begun in 2010, this hotel offers week-long stays with two nights underwater and the rest of the time on beachfront bungalows on a private island in Fiji. There are also adventure options such as scuba diving and piloting your own submarine. Given the comparable chilliness in San Luis this week, coupled with finals stress and the beginnings of a cold, I would kill to run away to Poseidon.

While Poseidon boasts being the first and only of its kind, when I googled "cave hotel Turkey" I was surprised to find there are actually several such resorts -- Esbelli Evi, Gamirasu, and Kelebek, to name just a few. Apparently, "cave rooms" are quite common in Turkey. These hotels range from "small inns" to sprawling resorts, but all are built right into the cliff walls, and all have an ethereal yet cozy feel to them. And if you're worried about lack of activities in the Turkish countryside, don't be. Gamirasu, for example, offers entertainment ranging from horse riding and massage services to Turkish cuisine cooking classes and performances of the 13th century meditation dance of Sufism, also known as the Whirling Dervishes.

Capsule Hotel in Japan

On the other end of the spectrum, there's the Capsule Hotel in Japan. Apparently, their clientele is mainly Japanese businessmen who don't have time to go home, but I have to say, even if I were pressed for time I think I'd make the journey home rather than spend the night in a coffin-sized enclosure. Something about the stacked, claustrophobia inducing capsules located in the red-light district of Tokyo just doesn't appeal to me. 

Of course, given my limited budget as a college student, it's unlikely I'll get to travel to any of these destinations in the near future, but they offer a nice distraction from finals and are definitely now on my bucket list.