3 Word-Bending Novels

The first really "absolutely-freaking-weird-as-hell-but-still-pretty-darn-cool-because-I've-never-seen-anything-like-it" book I ever read was House of Leaves. That book is awesome. Of course, you kind of have to approach it with a VERY open mind and at least somewhat know what you're getting yourself into before you attempt to read it. My senior year of high school I recommended it for one of the four books we read for book club, and that turned out to be a pretty big mistake. Those 14, 15, and 16 year-old kids just weren't really prepared for the 700 page mess of wordy sentences, copious footnotes, constantly changing fonts, and the necessary flipping between appendixes, exhibits, and chapters. Very few of them managed to finish it in 9 weeks, and what they did read pretty much went right over their heads. My English teacher didn't care for it much either, probably because it's full of run-on sentences, drug abuse, and unnecessary narrative- but that's part of what makes the book what it is.

Besides, I mostly only recommended it so that I could get my own free copy.

The Little Things

I sat around for the last few days feeling utterly unmotivated and rather glum. My DARLING roommate decided to invite her boyfriend to come stay with us for a few days(I found this out by reading something he posted on her Facebook, not by her actually telling me). He was supposed to be here from this Thursday (tomorrow) until this Sunday. Only, Last Saturday night my roommate walked in and announced that he was actually going to be arriving the next day (last Sunday) and staying until this Saturday. No checking with me beforehand (like she's supposed to do), no willingness to maybe, y'know, have him get a hotel for a few nights of this busy week in which I had a 10 page research paper due AND a midterm, no witnessing my shock and irritation and realizing she had crossed the line, nothing at all. And so, for the last three nights I have been sharing my room with my already tiresome roommate and her camo-duffel-bag-toting, neon-orange-hat-wearing, godzilla-roar-snoring boyfriend. I can't believe it's only Wednesday.

Saturday Night Tunes: Iron and Wine

In writing the first few posts of Girl of a Thousand Faces, it's become clear to me that the best way for me to make sure I keep trucking away at it and maintaining lots of variety is to have some structure. I'm a world-class procrastinator and I don't always put 100% effort into everything, but I do, for some strange unknown reason, thrive on lists and calender dates and memo books. I get satisfaction from crossing things out to mark their completion and I get excited when I have weekly or monthly appointments or commitments to look forward to. This doesn't necessarily include stuff like going to work in my college phonathon on Sunday and Monday evenings or going to Biology lab at the ungodly hour of 8:50 AM every other Friday morning. Only the fun stuff- like writing this blog [almost] every day!

Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate

I just finished watching Julie and Julia. I adore that movie. The first time I saw it was last summer, when S worked at a little movie theatre and we spent a whole afternoon and evening watching movies for free, taking a break only to go out to dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant. I hadn't seen it in it's entirety since then because, although everyone admits it is a good movie, most people don't want to rent it for a movie night or spend the money to buy it. But me, being a foodie, cooking blog geek, and new blogger myself- imagine my delight when I discovered it had been added to Netflix's list of instant movies!

Julie and Julia is a great movie for aspiring food bloggers and chefs alike, because that's exactly what it's about- two women who love to cook and are able to fill a void in their lives with food. Isn't that what a lot of bloggers and casual cooks are doing? We want a hobby, something that makes us happy and brings new dimensions to our lives. Plus, it gives me hope. If Julia Child didn't know how to boil an egg when she got married and Julie Powell didn't get readers until 60 days in, just imagine how far I can go. At least I'd like to hope ;)

St Paddy's Countdown: Day 1 and Spring Break!

So... This is going to be a terribly sad and boring entry for the time being because I left my beloved camera/USB cord in Arizona... so, until I get it in the mail, Girl of a Thousand Faces will be tragically devoid of pictures. Still, I didn't want to get out of the swing of writing so after giving it a good 5 days to see if a temporary cord would magically turn up, I opted to just suck it up and write an entry anyways.

As you know, I was in Arizona for spring break. It was amazing! Spending lots of quality time with my family, boyfriend, and friends in the glorious sunshine with a car to drive and a kitchen to cook in- what more could I possibly want or need? Needless to say I did a LOT of cooking (and movie-watching, and lounging around, and sleeping... not blog writing though! S and I both lapsed into lovey-dovey too busy for the computer mode.) and got to try out a few new things. For instance, the colcannon I made with my Grandma's mashed potatoes- AMAZING. I'm both happy and disgruntled to say that the two casserole dishes I made of it (incredible how adding a head of cabbage makes a mashed potato recipe grow in size!) disappeared entirely before S and I had a chance to eat more than a couple servings of it.

St Paddy's Countdown: Day 2- The Irish Car Bomb Situation

Day Two! That means... Tomorrow is St. Paddy's! I've been thinking more and more about how to make this year different from past years, and I've come to the conclusion that I need to change up the Baileys+Guinness combination.

Most people have at least heard the term "Irish Car Bomb". This is a drink that's been around since the late 70's and actually evolved from a couple other versions titled "The Grandfather" and "The IRA". All three of these drinks were coined by Charles Burke Cronin Oat, current instructor at Connecticut School of Bartending, and former owner and bartender of Wilson's Saloon. The Grandfather" was originally a 50/50 shot of Bailey's and Kahlua. Apparently Oat thought the shot needed an extra kick, though- so he added some Jameson whiskey to the top of the shot. The reaction of the hard liquor on the creamy liqueur created an immediate foaming and bubbling action to occur, and the resemblance to a bomb caused Oat to remark, "the IRA just showed up!" (bombs being the weapon of choice for the IRA at the time). Hence, the second generation of the drink.

St. Paddy's Countdown: Day 3- Irish Colcannon

I'm so very excited, because not only will I be in sunny, beautiful Arizona with all my favorite people in less than 48 hours, but also because the same day I get there is St Patrick's Day! This is my second favorite holiday of all time, falling only slightly behind Halloween... But of course, whenever March 17th comes around I always feel like this is really my favorite holiday.

Why, you might ask, is this, one of the most unrecognized holidays of them all, my second favorite? Well, how could it NOT be?! I'm partly Irish- I'm not entirely sure how Irish, exactly, but quite a good amount. That right there is reason enough to get decked out in green and orange and celebrate, but of course there is so much more about this holiday to take advantage of. Any culture that is best known for potatoes, drinking, and general merriment is one I'm happy to be a part of. So, the next three days I will be having a St Paddy's Countdown, posting recipes and such in preparation for the actual holiday.

10 of My Favorite Things on the Web

This has been a very busy time, because I'm filling out a leave of absence form (I'm going to be spending next fall going to school in Arizona), managing classes (it's midterm time!), working for my school's phonathon, and getting ready to head back to the desert for spring break this Wednesday (my flight leaves at 6:30 in the morning!). Somehow in the middle of all that I still find time to slack off and spend hours upon end on the internet watching dumb videos, writing blogs, and clicking the stumble button on my browser hundreds of times. I would consider myself a pretty well seasoned stumbler, and I've found some pretty cool things on the internet that I can resort to when my laziness reaches the point where I can't do any "real" work. Below are some of my favorite net finds. Some of them are strange and you might not like them unless you are also an easily-amused college girl with far too much time on her hands. However, a lot of them will probably be useful or amusing to a wide demographic- so check 'em out and see if there are any you've never seen before.

Microwave Brownies

I said before that my "kitchen" consists of nothing more than a mini fridge and a microwave in a dorm room. This isn't entirely true- my residence hall has one small kitchen on the first floor that anyone can use. I've used it twice, and both times vowed never to use it again. The first time was the first weekend of the fall semester, when my roommate K and I made vegan ginger-molasses cookies. Many months passed before the second time I ventured back down there, which was this year's Superbowl Sunday. It wasn't to make vegan hot wings or pizza (although those are both awesome), but to make Smitten Kitchen's Homemade Oreos to send to my boyfriend S in Arizona for Valentine's Day. It was out of pure fondness for this hallmark holiday and adoration for S that I sucked it up and carried my heaping pile of ingredients, mixing bowl, and single cookie sheet down into that dingy kitchen for the afternoon. The experience could only be described as catastrophic.

Stocking a Vegan Kitchen

True, I am a mere dorm-residing college student, bound to a required meal plan and without much more than a mini-fridge and a microwave for a kitchen. The microwave doubles as a table for my printer, and the mini-fridge is usually stocked with fruit I "liberate" from the dining hall and really not a whole lot else. However, in my dream world I would have a big kitchen and it would be full of all the wonderful wholesome necessities of a vegan diet.

Luckily, the caterers for my school take vegan-ism into account, so I don't have to scrounge very hard to find decent things to eat. I still keep a few of my favorite things on hand though, for those times when I can't stomach another cube of poorly roasted tofu or slice of gelatinous berry pie. Following is a list of not only my favorites, but also pretty much everything else that is essential for a vegan or vegetarian kitchen- for all you who have to go grocery shopping on a regular basis.