travel writing and reading.

it's time for the book club update...

i finished the bell jar last week. it didn't end quite like i was expecting. the book ended a little ambiguously, allowing the reader to come to whichever conclusion or fate they want esther to take. next, i have decided to pick up eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert. from what i've read, some of her travels based on self-discovery and the no obligations philosophy takes me back to several months ago during my soul searching european travels. while i left for europe under much different pretenses, some of this book (albeit she is still in italy) it reads much like my diary. and i am forever envious of anyone who gets to travel and get paid for it. if only they could share the wealth!

on another note, and as mentioned in my previous post, i've mostly been glued the to tv watching the olympics. also, friday afternoon we got about 3"-4" inches of beautiful, fluffy snow. of course the sun was out bright and early saturday morning so it was very short-lived. also, i am failing at the job search. someone please help, i'm going crazy!

two years of waiting.

and olympic season is finally here!

i prefer the summer games, but the winter games are a nice filler every two years. i'm totes an olympic junkie, so see you in two weeks!

the king of pop.

yesterday, i watched this is it. (yes, the michael jackson movie.) as a child, i remember listening to, and loving, billie jean. i always liked him. obviously during his dark ages, i became a quieter fan, but that phased out sometime in high school. in college my friends and i were all huge mj fans. i think this was a solid foundation to our friendship, that and being architecture majors. we even took it so far as celebrating a friend's 21st each as a respective michael era/song (with the appropriate attire and not to mention music) in the comfort of our apartment. all the bases were covered...baby michael, billie jean, thriller, black and white, even trial michael. (in case you're curious, i was thriller michael.) sorry i won't be posting any photos. those of you who know me have facebook privileges. to get back on track, i was quite shocked when i learned of his sudden death. not only because the king of pop had died, but because this forever ruined my chances of ever seeing mj perform live. no, i did not have tickets to his up and coming show. i remember having arguments with people about whether or not he still had 'it'. i did not doubt that he had still had 'it' because performing truly was his essence. even numerous scandals, bad press, and countless plastic surgeries could not affect the pure talent it takes move your body like he could. after watching this is it, my hypotheses were proved fact...michael still had 'it'. even at 50 he could move just like he did at that billie jean performance when he captivated millions with the moonwalk. the july show would have been unforgettable, and michael was planning on pushing the boundaries yet again. i am sorry that he never got the comeback he planned for. bottom line, if you like mj, you can't go wrong with this movie. it's nonstop rehearsal footage of all his best songs with the complete dancing, stage, etc, etc, etc. for now i will leave you with one of the most iconic moments of pop culture and the music industry.

neiman marcus cookies.

a few years ago, i tried some homemade neiman marcus cookies. i've been wanting to bake them ever since. my baking adventure today involved these cookies. i must admit, i make a mean chocolate chip cookie. therefore, i am always a little skeptical of a different chocolate chip cookie recipe. i decided to be bold and experiment with the nm recipe. these cookies turned out b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l and taste great as well. i did some slight tweaking of the recipe, but next time i will do a bit more. i also altered the baking time, but the cookies turned out a bit crispier than i prefer. the original recipe is below.

NM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

Ingredients 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 1 cup light brown sugar 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Directions 1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds) 2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds. 3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips. 4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

the dough just before baking.

if you like softer cookies, i would suggest baking the cookies for 12 minutes. i baked them for only 15 minutes and the cookies came out quite crispy. as a general rule of thumb, i always add a little more salt to my cookies.

a warm cookie + a cold cup of milk = perfection.

book club.

seeing as my life is fairly uneventful, i have taken full advantage of this by immersing myself into books. i am currently reading by 6th book already this year. i most recently finished the help by kathryn stockett. i think it might be the best book i've read this year. it takes place in jackson, mississippi during the heat of the civil rights movement. the book centers around skeeter phelan, a rich white girl, who is secretly involved with several black women, the help of many of her married friends. skeeter and the help are writing a book chronicling the good, the bad, and the ugly throughout years of raising young white children on top of doing all the cooking and cleaning for wealthy southern families. i found myself laughing throughout much of the book and crying towards the end. i definitely recommend this book to anyone out there. i finished never let me go last week. i'm not sure whether i liked or disliked the book. overall, it was a good read and i wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it. however, upon finishing the book i wanted more out of it. mostly, i think i just felt sorry for the characters and the book ended much as i expected or what i could anticipate while reading it. not that that was a bad thing, i was just hoping for something better for kathy.

currently i'm reading the bell jar by sylvia plath. i spent much of my high school english classes reading her poetry, and have been wanting to pick up this book for several years. finally i am. from what i've read, it reads much faster than i thought it would, considering it contains such a dense and morose subject matter.

in case you're interested in other books i've read or talked about the list is as follows:

the brief, wondrous life of oscar wao by junot diaz

the glass castle by jeannette walls

her perfect symmetry by audrey niffenger

never let me go by kazuo ishiguro

my favorite things.

one of my favorite things is the hours between 6 and 8 monday through friday. why, you ask. it's because of the world cafe broadcast. although i don't listen to it nearly enough, i do stalk david dye's website and music selections. the guests are always great, and much of my new music discoveries, i must attribute to dye's ear. plus, it's npr. how could you go wrong?

growing up, my parents constantly listened to npr. we (my 3 siblings and i) used to moan and grow tired of the constant talking and world updates. to this day my mom still cooks listening to all things considered. my parents have even seen michael feldman's whad'ya know? live. although, i can't get totally into some of these shows i think they're happy that npr has rubbed off on me.

maps.

i found this cool website the other day and thought i would share to any of you who may or may not be out there. if you haven't figured it out, it's a link about maps. strange maps.

yummy cupcakes.

i've somewhat turned to baking as an outlet for my boring life. well, i suppose i've always been a baker and also enjoy cooking. lately, i've been trying to concoct slash perfect my cupcakes. i'm a big fan of chocolate. (if you hear or believe otherwise then you obviously haven't met me.) when i was last in nyc, i stopped by crumbs bakery. i was tempted by all of their delicious flavors, but went with the ever simple squiggle cupcake. ever since, i've been trying to figure out how to actually insert a frosting filling into a cupcake. i've also been curious about making my own frosting and have become quite adept at making some dark chocolate frosting. below are some pictures of my very own creation.

looks pretty good, if i do say so myself.

first, i make a box of chocolate cupcakes. i don't get too inventive when it comes to the cakes.

while the cupcakes are baking i suggest making the chocolate frosting first.

1 c. sugar (i usually use about half the sugar)

1/4 c. cocoa (i used hershey's special dark)

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

melt all ingredients and let bubble for 1 min. set aside and cool. after the mixture is cool mix with mixer for approximately 5 minutes or until it looks like frosting consistency. it should look something like this:

while the chocolate icing is cooling, mix the white frosting for the filling.

1/2 c. sugar

1/3 c. milk

2/3 c. crisco (i suggest using less, i think the frosting tastes too much like crisco on its own)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. water

1/2 c. powdered sugar

beat all ingredients, except powdered sugar for 7 minutes. then add powdered sugar and beat for 5 min.

then comes the fun part...

i tried both a turkey baster and a syringe to insert the frosting. the turkey baster is much, much more frustrating, but inserts more icing. with that being said, i would probably stick with the syringe though. (i was too sticky and slightly frustrated to take any pictures of this process.) after inserting the filling, ice the cupcakes with the chocolate frosting. to top them off, i put the remaining filling into a plastic bag, and cut the tip off. then add the squiggle or your own design on top. overall, the process itself is frustrating, but worth it, if you like the people you are making them for. the first go round i did all the making and baking and my sister inserted the filling. so doing all of it this time proved to be a little less fun. but look how pretty! the taste is worth bragging about as well.

enjoy!