oh boy

ONCE AGAIN (two livejournals, two blogs, one flickr, now this!), I have started another online media account that I probably won't use. It's a Tumblr, and I am just using it to post a photo a day. My "inspiration" photo on my computer has gotten a little too full. Plus, its contents are too nice not to share. Here's the link.
I promise I will cook something soon! I didn't take any pictures of the honey cornbread muffins and praline cookies I made for our Creole potluck, unfortunately.

In Memoriam

Yes, I know I am over two weeks late in recognizing Alexander McQueen's death. I was totally shocked when I read about it, particularly the horrible method that he chose to use. But the real tragedy here is the loss of fashion's greatest and most eloquent showman. He may have been called an enfant terrible by the mainstream, non-fashion press who couldn't see beyond the ghastly makeup and outlandish headgear he sometimes chose, but the clothes he created were not those of an over-hyped brat. They were exquisite. Sometimes the presentations enhanced them (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?), other times they distracted from them (his last collection). But they were always so beautiful! The fact that many of them were also saleable just proves his talent. In the past few years I haven't been as rabidly obsessed with fashion as I used to be, but Alexander McQueen will always be one of my favorites. His clothes from 2004 still look beautiful and relevant today. Such a shame.
Here are some of my all-time favorite looks, from Spring 2007, Fall 2006, and Spring 2004, respectively.

My current obsession

...is this song.



Yes, this video montage is lacking, but GOD, this song!

Day 8: Fail/Day 9: Sour Cream Pound Cake

Yes, I flaked again. But today I tried to make up for it with the most un-Hansom dessert I have ever made: sour cream pound cake(I have made several pound cakes lately, much to the alarm of my very tight jeans). According to All Cakes Considered, where this recipe was taken from, this cake is also known as the "Mancatcher." Thank goodness my man is already caught, cause I don't think this cake would have done the trick. It cooked a little too well, as you can see in the photo. Overall, though, it was a decent cake, but nothing too extraordinary. Or maybe I'm just burned out on pound cake (WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THE DAY COULD COME?!?). That cookbook is really gorgeous, though, I must say, and I'm very glad I bought it, for the food styling (something I am genuinely terrible at) alone.

Rain

I just found out that my All-Time Favorite Movie is available to watch instantly on Netflix. If you have Netflix, and you haven't seen it, you should make your fingers RUN to the mouse and watch it. I was incredibly miffed that this 2001 criminally underseen Kiwi gem was excluded from every "Top Films of the Decade" list I read, while DONNIE DARKO was included. Really? Really? Really?
EDIT: This movie is super depressing, so you may not want to watch it before, say, you go out on a Friday night.

Day 7: Blueberry Muffins

Though the recipe said I could use frozen blueberries (obviously I did, it's February), it didn't warn me that they would result in ugly bruise-colored muffins. They remind of Violet Beauregarde inflating like a balloon in Willy Wonka. However, when I tried to find a video of that scene I unfortunately discovered that there is such a thing as an inflation fetish. Apparently watching Violet expand is the be-all end-all for this fetish. What about feet, people? Or legs? Or leather? Are those too normal and quaint? The comments on the video were the absolute most bizarre things I have read on an Internet forum in quite some time.
BACK TO THE POINT. I will not be linking to that video. I have no desire to attract "eccentric" fetishists to this sad little cake site. The muffins did not have any butter...never trust a baked good without butter. Lesson learned!
Seriously, I cannot get over how weird this inflation thing is. I am both amused and a little disturbed.
Sorry this photograph is so unattractive!

Day 6: Gouda Penne with Spinach

To avoid the dishes problem, I made this at my parents. However, my camera battery died while I was trying to take the photo, so there isn't one! Plus, we ate most of it pretty fast.
I made this dish in an attempt to recreate my mom and I's beloved Penne with Smoked Gouda dish from Cafe Toscana, a recently shuttered AWESOME Italian restaurant in East Memphis. That dish had asparagus instead of spinach, but asparagus is not in season and the jarred and canned versions of it really freak me out. Spinach is not in season either, but I used frozen so it doesn't matter.
I love Gouda. I'm tempted to make a terrible pun here (I LOVE PUNS), but I will refrain, believe it or not.
I'll charge up the camera for whatever I make tomorrow...there is no way I will be able to complete this project without becoming a major fatty.