Like Hood Rich, But Better

I spent the entire day reading in bed. The light meandered from the golden of early morning to the that flat glare of midday until finally the last grapey rays of evening poked through the windows. Post graduate unemployment has it's perks, namely being time rich. R. and I jogged in what can be identified as an evening leaning towards fall. We had miso soup and a super crazy-tonsa veggies stir fry with an agave + chinese mustard sauce (like honey mustard, but sweeter/spicier) for dinz. Off to see if I can beat my Harry Potter record and finish 'The Poisonwood Bible' in less than twenty four hours ;}

Amanda Blake

Reminds me of tapestries.. I really enjoy her palette, and the landscapes in these pieces, as well as the ambiguous narrative present. Her website.

RAP

The Riverside Avondale Historic District and Riverside Avondale Preservation from Riverside Avondale Preservation on Vimeo.

I found this video on someone's Tumblr and thought I'd share it - a lot of history about the area. So happy that I finally get to live in such an amazing little niche of Jax :}

Friday

I should be filling out applications and printing more resumes, but I'm brain deep in 'The Jungle' by Upton Sinclair and can't find a good stopping point (is there ever such thing..?).

It's been deliciously overcast all day. Please rain please rain please rain, pleeeeeaase! I just want snuggles with my love and my gato and a book and maybe some tea or coffee set to the sound of a drizzle outside, does that not sound divine or what.

Tryin'

Aardvark Manifesto

Raphsodic Cooperative Company Bakery & Store

Okay, so today is blog-central since I haven't lately. I've been meaning to write about Saturday, when R. and I (on a whim) drove down to Orlando. Lazy weekend? Friends and their days off? Un petit roadtrip? Why not! We went firstly to Ikea (bananas on the weekend) and then to Christy and Jason's, awesome best friend/hair twin and photographer extraordinaire, respectively. We met the new familial pup, Frannie, saw Arthur's sister Amelia and the ever pudgy Ishmael-tiger. After the Loving Hut for dinner, we went to the Raphsodic Cooperative Company, a vegan co-op bakery.

While the art on display was so-so, the cupcakes were pretty fabulous. In a rare twist of events, I somehow lucked out and chose the best flavor of the night (usually I have order-envy after trying everything else). I picked the Lavender Cupcake, with Peach and Blueberry sauce drizzled on top. The vanilla frosting was fluffy and light. The peach jam inside kept the cake moist. The lavender taste wasn't overdone at all (I would venture to say delicately perfect..). Christy and R. both chose the Red Velvet Cupcake, which was good despite being a little hard and a tad dry. Jason chose a Lemon Poppyseed Cupcake I believe. It was a bit overwhelming, far too sweet, so much so that you could taste the agave used as a sweetener (not a good thing, despite how it sounds) and the icing was good but so incredibly rich! Maybe applied sparingly it would have been better. I am a dessert fiend and could only muster a single bite. Sadface. I like lots of bites.

A bit pricey for only one of four cupcakes fitting the label of 'delicious', especially since I could probably bake them myself, but I enjoyed the fun shop and more importantly, what they're about. Local business + lots of people working together + underlying message of compassion = awesome in my book. And I'm definitely game to go back and try their cookies, brownies, cakes and pies.

Furry Babies

(1. Arthur's new favorite place to nap, 2. Reaction to a cracker he insisted upon trying, 3. Not a cat but a boy, albeit one with similar behaviors to a cat - ornery yet affable when in the mood, prone to the extremes of being either very playful or very sleepy, serial snuggler - der neffe, baby Masey, at his first Tee Ball game of the season!)

Nibbles and Quibbles

I made a fake chicken (ficken?) casserole. 'Twas 'baller', one might say. The patties were from Gardein and I simmered them in white wine, lemon juice, basil and Earth Balance. I found a recipe for béchamel and veganized it (white sauce, sauce blanche, just the fancy pants Frenchie name) and mixed it with parsley, onions and diced fresh garlic over the pasta. Cut up the pieces of ficken, included those in the heavenly mix and put the whole shebang in the oven for half an hour. Serious yum-mage.

However, that was the only recent success. It would be unfair, unrealistic of me to post only kitchen wins. I was making a huge batch of sweet potatoe fries and burnt them all! ALL! Even R., eater of burned things and constant ego-booster could not stomache them (that's saying something, haha). Then I made gazpacho. It was not that it was bad, just boring. Excruciatingly so. I turned it into salsa instead by adding Texas Pete and a boatload of spices. Still, disappointing, since I never got around to finding and imbibing gazpacho while in Spain.

Anyhow, we had fresh/raw DIY burritos last night (because Yours Truly did not feel like doing dishes). I think the avocados were trying to say something :}

House Shapes

Musical Intrepidness (or Lack Thereof)

While listening to Thursday this morning I realized it may be time for new music.