Julia Child...

About a month ago, I "read" (i.e. listened to on audiobook--yay Audible.com!) "Julie and Julia," a memoir by Julie Powell about how she set out to cook every recipe in Vol.1 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (500+ recipes) in 365 days, all as an attempt to rescue herself from the mediocrity of her soul-sucking cubicle (government) job. Well, I found the book pretty great, though I actually wish I had read the print version, since Julie Powell's voice kind of drives me crazy, but I suffered through. I then saw the movie version with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, both of whom I love, and I found the movie charming, if a little thin, and then I asked for Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1, and Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France, for my birthday, both of which I received from my loving parents.

So, that's how the story begins. It continues with me flipping open MAFC last week and realizing that it is sooo much more than just a cookbook! It is, in fact, AWESOME! (And please note that this is momentous for me to say, as I usually find cooking to be tiresome and annoying. I much prefer the eating part.) Bus seriously, this book is not just a cookbook. It's a how to cook book! Who knew!?

Julia and friends take you through everything, from what kinds of kitchen equipment you need (lots), to the definitions of various fancy terms used throughout the book, like gratine (to brown the top of a sauced dish, fyi), to--get this-- the ideal way to chop a freakin' onion! I've always been a disaster chopping onions, little pieces always fly everywhere and I feel like a complete clutz! Who's with me? Anyway, now, with Julia, I'm well on my way to chopping like Rachael (Ray, whom I actual can't stand, but who does know how to chop things, I have to give her that). She also devotes a whole section, before telling you how to cook anything at all, to one of my favorite things, wine. She explains which types of wines are best to cook with for various kinds of dishes, what kinds of wines you should pair with various foods, and even how to store and serve different wines! Completely unnecessary and marvelous. Theree isn't a recipe in this book until page 37. It's amazing.

Alright, so even before trying any of the recipes, my mouth was watering and I was really starting to see what all the fuss is about re: Julia Child. I decided that I would make my first attempt at French Cuisine on Monday night, one of my usual cooking nights. We had some ground turkey in the fridge, so I looked for something involving ground beef, and found Bifteck Hache a la Lyonnaise, which is really just a hamburger. No biggie, right? (Though, Julia does take time out to tell us that we need not be shocked, as the French do eat hamburgers! I honestly had never given any thought to whether or not the French eat hamburgers, but apparently this was a matter of hot debate back in 1961). Anywho, a hamburger patty's just a hamburger patty, but then...then you add a sauce on top, and that is where it becomes heavenly. I decided to try Bitokes a la Russe (Hamburgers with Cream Sauce). Now, I have to be honest with you--sauce making has always mystified me. I'd always see my grandmother or mom or dad cook some sort of meat and somehow end up with a sauce in the pan afterward, and had always been completely befuddled by the whole exercise, so the cream sauce was actually the scary part for me. But Julia guided me true, and the sauce came out just like she said it would, and it was creamy, buttery goodness, and made for a very fancy (and tasty) burger.
I'm almost done with my gushing, but I have to add another awesome thing about MAFC: at the start of each section, Julia devotes some space to explaining exactly what kinds of ingredients you should buy for each kind of recipe, what kinds of wine you should pair it with, and gives many side dish and garnish suggestions. In the "Meat" chapter, she encourages you go learn about beef cuts "step by step" and tells you how you can tell a good cut of meat. In the vegetable chapter, there are seven different recipes for peas, and you pick which one to use based on the freshness and tenderness of the peas!! And there are then different recipes for frozen peas and canned peas, because clearly you can't cook them the same way. !! Is this kind of care and devotion to preparing perfect food not incredible!? Maybe it's just me, but I think it's freakin' awesome.

I'm getting hungry just writing this post...

Anyway, based on Julia's recommendations, I made Pommes de Terre Sautees (Potatoes Sauteed in Butter) and Frozen Peas (Frozen Peas :o) to go with our fancy burgers, and I actually think I liked the side dishes better than the burger! This could because both were pretty much just cooked in butter, some herbs, butter, and a little more butter, but they were soooo good. (Sorry the picture's blurry!)



I'm planning to try out a chicken recipe tomorrow, and something more ambitious this weekend, though I'm still deciding what to try. If people are interested (are you interested??) I'll keep blogging about my culinary pursuits, though I know it's been done, and been done specifically with MAFC, but...what can I say? I've got the Julia bug. (Proof that this is true: We didn't eat dinner until about 9:45 last night, and I was prepping and/or cooking for 2.5 hours, and I DIDN'T EVEN MIND. Truly mind-boggling.)

Can't wait to taste my next French dish! To borrow from my least favorite TV cook, ooh-la-yum-o!

Stila Lip Gloss (in Apricot)...

Hello dear readers! (Reader?) I'm sorry I've been so remiss lately! Thankfully, though, my absence has been the result of my actually doing school work and gearing up for the internship match process, so at least there's a silver lining to me leaving you post-less for the past month. :) I've also been doing a lot of writing over at Examiner.com, so if you like web entertainment (my topic area), check it out!

For my return post, may I present to you... Stila Lip Glaze!! I discovered this wonderful gem of a cosmetic purely by accident when I need to add $5 to a Sephora order to get free shipping, and they were offering Beauty Insiders a 3-pack mini set of lip glazes for $8, and I am forever looking for the right product for my lips, so I thought, what the hell, and bought it...and fell in love...
The mini set came with three colors, Apricot, Starfruit, and Brown Sugar. Apricot and Starfruit looked like they would be way to light for my dark skin and lips, but I thought that at least Brown Sugar would work. Boy, was I wrong!

It turns out, Stila Lip Glaze in Apricot is the best lip gloss I have ever found!! It's fantastic. It's sheer, but shiny, but not too shiny, and immediately makes me look much more fancy and put together. And I did a little research, and Apricot is the number one color, so I'm certain that it looks beautiful on every skin tone, which is so cool, and so hard to find--trust me, I know!

The gloss is thick (which is why they call it a glaze, I imagine), and it takes some getting used to when applying, but it stays on and shiny for a long time, even through eating, drinking, and licking the lips (which I do way too much, which gives most lipsticks a lifespan of about 10 minutes with me). It comes in more than 20 colors, almost all of which are sheer like Apricot, and I can't wait to get around to trying them all! Field trip to Sephora, anyone? :)

EA Sports Active...

So, as I mentioned a few posts back, we're borrowing hubby's friend's Wii Balance Board, Wii Fit, and the exercise game EA Sports Active. I've now tried the "game"three times now (I'm attempting to do the "30 Day fitness challenge"), and though I like it, I also hate it!! It's hard!!

Every time I've done a workout, on medium intensity, I've been drenched in sweat by the end of the 30 minutes. Very intense. The trick, I think, is that the "trainer" who's constantly talking you through the exercises on screen makes you hold a lot of things (like squats and lunges) much longer than I ever would, which I guess is why it's good (and bad)to have a trainer. Ugh. It's also alot of circuit training-type stuff, doing short bursts of different exercises and quickly moving on to the next one. The Wii remote and "nunchuk" can also sense when you're not doing an exercise the right way, so it really forces you to do it right, and thereby forces you to be in pain. Good times.

With all that bitching and moaning aside, I do think it's a really good way to motivate yourself to work a little harder, which I know I needed. I'd gotten into the habit of doing a Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds DVD on mute while I watched TV, and, though I did work up a sweat, sort of, it was cleary the lazy person's workout. With EA Sports Active, lazy people are not allowed!

So, give it a try if you're looking for something to kick your workouts up a notch. I definitely find myself pushing a little harder when the "trainer" can sense that I'm slowing down and makes snide comments about "getting rid of any distractions that are interfering with my form," (in other words, "move it lard-o") and a little anger always helps when you're trying to get your butt in gear! So for that, I think EA Sports Active is a pretty good bargain...it definitely beats paying for a gym membership and a real life trainer, and this way, no one has to see you sweat :)

(p.s. you don't actually need the balance board for this "game" after all...if you do have it, you can use for a few exercises, but for most of it, you don't even use it).

Bare Minerals Makeup...

I've dedicated my entire day today (well, until 4:30) to reading up on administering and scoring the Rorschach, so to break up the monotony, I'm going to tell you all about my favorite make-up, Bare Minerals (by Bare Escentuals)!! Ooh, I can just feel your excitement :)

I discovered Bare Minerals about two years ago, when I was looking for the makeup I should use for my bridal portrait, which I'd be taking in sweltering heat and humidity, outside. In other words, my worst nightmare. I'd heard about Bare Minerals from my best friend's mom, and I think from a few other places, but I think what pushed me into finally ordering the starter kit was an infomercial I saw in the middle of the night, where Bare Escentuals founder Leslie Blodgett assured me that I could "Swirl, Tap, and Buff" my way to a beautiful, flawless face. The infomercial was very convincing, and they offered my money back if I hated it, so what did I have to lose? (I told you I'm way too susceptible to commercials, but at least this time it all worked out in the end!)

So, I ordered my starter kit, watched the instructional DVD (applying mineral make up takes a different technique than what most of us are used to using liquid foundations and pressed powders) and I was on my way!

Right away, I could tell that this stuff was fabulous. It lets you apply subtle layers of foundation, so that you can have light coverage or really full, completely conceling coverage, but it never looks like you have a pound of makeup on your face, and never feels that way either. Plus, it's actually good for your skin, so on those nights where you just want to fall into bed, you can actually sleep in this makeup! And I admit, I've done so once or twice, and it doesn't cause clogged pores at all. Amazing.

It took me about a week to figure out the right technique for me (i.e. how much to put on the brush, how many applications to do, which colors to wear, what concealer to use) but now I've found my perfect combination, and I've never looked back. My bridal portrait and wedding pictures looked pretty great, despite the heat, thanks in large part to Bare Minerals!

The products that I use everyday are the SPF 15 Foundation, All-Over Face Color in Warmth, Warm Radiance, and Glee (these are awesome products for the money, b/c you can use them on your eyes, cheeks, anywhere!), and the Tinted Mineral Veil or the Hydrating Mineral Veil (which both give you a nice airbrushed look, but you still look natural--I know it sounds too good to be true, but this stuff is a miracle!). I use an oil-based concealer from Makeup Forever instead of the concealers Bare Minerals makes (the multi-tasking bisques--they probably work great, i'm just not sure which color I'd need, so I haven't bothered yet).

Up until about a month ago, I was using the regular foundation, which did have a tendency to become really shiny by the end of the day, especially in warm weather, because of the sheen of the minerals, but last month, Bare Minerals became my even bigger hero by introducing Matte Foundation, which is even better than the original foundation, especially for those of us with oily skin. My advice: if you decide to try Bare Minerals, go straight for the Matte, you can't go wrong.

If you think you'd like to try Bare Minerals (and trust me, you really should!), head to their Sephora page here, click on the "Shade Finder" and you're off! Once you select your shade, you can watch videos about how the makeup is applied and how it works. (Note: It looks like right now if you buy the starter kit you have to buy matte foundation separately, so I'd actually recommend getting the starter kit if you've never used Bare Minerals before, b/c it comes with a lot of different products and it's a good value. Then, if you love it, which you will :), you can switch to matte when you need more foundation.) Another great thing about this makeup is that it lasts forever--I used my first jar of powder for a year before I had to buy more!

Well, I think I've done enough gushing for one post, but here's a blurb about Bare Minerals and all the good stuff in it from Sephora.com:

Bare Escentuals started the mineral makeup revolution with the introduction of their 100% pure bareMinerals, which millions of women swear by. All foundation, cheek, and eye colors have been crushed to a silky, creamy powder form, but (here's the big secret) they're not actually powders. What they are is 100% pure bareMinerals that are free of preservatives, talc, oil, waxes, fragrance, and other harmful chemicals that can irritate skin and cause breakouts. They feel like a cream and buff on like silk, giving skin a natural luminosity without the look or feel of makeup. Women with sunspots, acne, rosacea, and excessively dry, oily, or sensitive complexions claim bareMinerals improves the overall health and appearance of their skin. To boot, the silky formulas also contain natural sunscreens that protect your skin—so much so that bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation actually has the Skin Cancer Foundation seal of recommendation. Now that's what we call full coverage.

If anyone out there tries it, or already uses it and loves it, let me know in the comments! (and now, back to the Rorshach!)

(Photo: Sephora.com)

This funny website I found...

I recently joined Stumbleupon.com, a website where you enter in subjects and areas that you're interested in, and then you start "stumbling" around the internet and it takes you to random websites that other people have suggested that other people might like/find interesting. I'm not sure which of my areas of interest led stumbleupon to lead me here, but they sure do know me pretty well already, because I found this hilarious, and thought I'd share (click the picture to make it bigger):


So funny, right? I love that there's someone out there who took the time to do this. What a great social experiment.

Jill and Kevin's (JK) Wedding Dance...

Update: I just found the page that the couple created to use the popularity of their video to promote the Sheila Wellstone Institute, which fights domestic abuse. I guess they wanted to acknowledge the implications of using a Chris Brown song, and are trying to do some good. Good for them! (Also, the original video should now be embedded in this post, if I did it right!)

Here's my original post from a few days ago:

By now you've probably heard about, and hopefully seen, the video of a couple from St. Paul and their wedding party dancing down the aisle to start their wedding. If you haven't, stop reading and click the link above, then come back :)

I don't have too much to say about this video, mostly I just want to share it with as many people as possible, but I will say that I think it is wonderful, hilarious, and heartwarming, and it actually made me cry! I was also smiling and laughing, but crying, too. I was surprised to be moved so much by it, but I think it was just so full of joy, and you could see how much the couple's friends loved them, to make such fools of themselves in front of so many people (and now, about 12 million+ more, thanks to the interwebs) and, I dunno, it was just beautiful.

However, there has of course been much debate about whether or not it was "appropriate" for them to dance down the aisle to "Forever," by Chris Brown. As we all know, he was arrested for assaulting Rihanna, clearly not admirable behavior. But to say that a couple can't use one of his songs to celebrate and be joyful and do kick-ass choreography to b/c of his personal failings is just absurd to me! And yes, there are people out there saying that...so dumb.

Here's the original video, enjoy! Post in the comments if it makes you cry too!

My puppy's dedication to getting his 18 hours...

This is my puppy, Jake. Jake really likes to sleep, and tends to find some way to curl his entire, long body onto the lap of whomever is within his reach. If there's no lap to be found, he almost always finds a way to make a pillow out of something--he's even curled up under my desk while I'm working, and rested his head on my foot. My boy likes his pillow, what can I say?

Jake also has a tendency to nestle. He likes to be nice and cozy and tends to want to squish his face into small spaces while he sleeps. Trust me, it is more adorable than it sounds!

So, one evening, the three of us, me, hubby, and Jake, are lazing about on the couch, and Jake sits up with a jolt from his dozing, and resolutely begins to climb up my husband onto the top of the couch! !??! We were going to try to stop him, but then decided this could be pretty funny, so we let him go, and this is what he did:

(FYI, hubby's head was where his hind leg is. Jake also has a tendency to take other people's prime couch real estate. It's a bit of a problem.)

Anyway, then, I guess to get really comfy...

He stayed up there for almost an hour, snoring all the while. I have to hand it to him though--he knows the importance of finding a cozy place to nap!