Cupcake Week

In case you haven't noticed, I enjoy cupcakes. A lot. Imagine my delight and surprise, then, when I found out that it is Cupcake Week on the Martha show! Woot woot. Let's have a parade. Or not.

All week long, Martha will be talking down to us as she shows us how to make her favorite cupcakes. Clearly, no matter how hard we try, our cupcakes will not be as perfect as hers, but we dare to dream, friends.

Today, Martha had the ladies of Cupcakes Take the Cake on her show, which was pretty cool, and showed us how to make her favorite coconut cupcakes with seven minute frosting, while shamelessly plugging her Macy's line of products.

My favorite part was when she was all, "I carved open a coconut from my very own self-sustaining Tahitian coconut farm and made coconut chips for the topping. Then I carved the shell into a decorative bowl. That's on my website."

Okay, maybe I embellished a bit, but don't real people just buy the pre-flaked sweetened coconut in a bag, toast it in the oven, and call it a day?

In any case, if you enjoy feeling inferior and if you have the love-hate for Martha as I do, tune in this week and watch her in all her cupcake glory.

Photo Credit: marthastewart.com

Serendipity, sort of

In a bizarre episode of things falling surprisingly well into place, I'm going to Paris a week from today. I received a research grant from my school to go do research in the Bibliothèque Nationale, or national library, which is still a bit hard for me to believe.

My school is sending me to Paris? For free? Who DOES THAT?

In any case, I'll be spending 6 days in my favorite city. It seems so bizarre to me to book a flight overseas with about two weeks notice - trips to Europe still seem monumental to my student mind, something that should require months of planning. But no, I'm jetting off, just like Lauren and Whitney, with a slightly less fabulous wardrobe but with, at least I like to think so, slightly more intelligence.

"Paris, like, changes you."

"Yeah. Like, I need a change. Instead of working at Teen Vogue and covering fashion events, I want to like, work at fashion events. In fashion. In the fashion industry."

Needless to say, I'm not going to have a lot of play time, and when I do have free time, I'll be all by my lonesome. That's where you come in.

Any suggestions where I should go? What I should do? (In the evenings or at night, preferably, since during the day I'll be holed up in the library...) One night I'll hopefully be meeting up with the woman I lived with when I studied there, but other than that, it's looking increasingly like I'll be watching "Prison Break" dubbed in French in my grotty hotel room.

Either that or getting shots bought for me by French bachelor parties at The Long Hop at Place Maubert Mutualité. A classy time to be had by all.

Local Linkage

Here are some links for DC-area food blogs that I've been into recently. Enjoy!

So Good - An "absurd look at the world of food"

Cookography - great food photography and recipes

eatWashington - food news, restaurant reviews, and recipes from the nation's capital

French Laundry at Home - a brave blogger attempts to make every one of Thomas Keller's recipes at home

Spork and Knife - "adventures and misadventures" in a D.C. foodie's world

DC's answer to Pinkberry

Tried Sweetgreen tonight on M Street in Georgetown. It's a tiny little salad shop, where customers can make their own or choose from a list of "chef crafted" salads. I, however, skipped all that leafy stuff and went for the Sweetflow, or frozen yogurt.

It was Pinkberry-style, meaning that it was more tart than sweet, with a range of toppings to dress it up. I had a small ($4, and plenty big) with almonds, raspberries, and bits of chocolate chip cookies, and it was delicious. I'm sure Pinkberry, the yogurt chain that has exploded in California and New York, will eventually make its way here, but until then, Sweetgreen is a nice alternative.

Happy Easter!

Good Lord, I love Peeps.

I don't know why - it's not even as if, when I'm eating one, I think it tastes good. It's the bizarre texture, I think, that speaks to my soul. Or something.

That and anything that triples in size in the microwave is automatically a good time.

More will come soon - right now, sorting out a possible hop across The Pond, a senior thesis, my poor, poor, broken camera (apparently people like to sit on electronic fun-capturing equipment on cruise ships), and various other bits and pieces that make up my mish-mash of a life.

Apologies

I'm sorry to any of you who may have been wondering where the hell I was this week. Well, I'll tell you. I was cruising the Carribbean for my last hurrah of college, which was a mighty fun time, might I add.

I was going to post before I left letting you know not to waste your time checking back every day, but Blogger, lovely tool that it is, was not working last Saturday before I left.

I hope you had a lovely week, with minimal sunburn!

Yam is my new favorite word. Also my landlord sucks and I love zucchini.

Soupage. Also some yams.

I hope Brangelina names one of their kids "Yam."

"Like Pam, but with a 'y.'"

"So your name is Yam Jolie-Pitt?"

By the hammer of Thor, our ceiling is fixed, I'm back in the kitchen, and I've learned that my landlord is an expert in the art of douchebaggery.

On the bright side, I made this and this, like I wanted to, and they were both absolutely delightful. I licked the soup bowl and went back for seconds, with very little shame - it's almost all veggies but has such rich flavor - love it! And the sweet potato wedges were just perfect; the red pepper countered the sweetness of the yams (which are very difficult to cut into nice wedges, by the way...) These are two recipes I will definitely keep in the arsenal. And by arsenal I mean a blue 3-ring binder filled with random recipes. I'm not cool enough for a Trapper Keeper, but I hope to get there someday.

As for my landlord, I hope your wife is a terrible cook and that everything she makes tastes of sawdust and sweaty socks, because that is what you deserve.

Also, before I move out, I totally intend to flush an entire phone book as well as a huge package of adult diapers down every toilet in this house. Just so you know.

Really, Martha? Really.

Am watching Martha Stewart try to convince me on her show that an $18,000 Hermes bag is a wise investment.

She actually just encouraged the audience not to eat for a month, because owning an expensive handbag is REALLY important.

And now she's going through her Birkin and showing us its contents.

Glad to see that prison time really gave her some perspective.

The Power of Nuts

Doubly funny at 1:28 a.m. when you're supposed to be studying for a midterm.

Why I will have veto power over everything my daughter wears

"There's nothing slutty about, like, showing your stomach. It's not like it's a private part or anything." -A pre-teen girl in Forever 21, giving fashion advice to her BFF

Wishin', and Hopin', and Thinkin', and Prayin'

Decidely not in the kitchen for a while, but were I able to cook and eat countless calories without them going straight to my thighs, here are some things I would make:

• Zucchini Garlic Soup from The Kitchn
  



• Deb's Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges
  



• Ken Hom's Peking Duck Stir-Fry



• Clotilde's Yogurt Cake and Lemon Curd from the Joy of Baking



• Ina's Strawberry Scones



• Dorie Greenspan's Hot Chocolate via Orangette
  

Le sigh.