Apple Picking and Jammers

These are a few shots from last weekend...fall is really heading to Portland in all its rainy, cozy glory. The Jammers up top are a new recipe from the Grand Central Bakery cookbook and they were really, really good...light and flaky and salty-sweet. I'll try to post the recipe soon. 

Summertime!

So I'm glad that I gave you the heads up back in April (was it April?!?) when I last posted that I'd be on a bit of a hiatus while all these major life changes happened. Since then I've finished my thesis, finished my job, finished my two internships, packed up my stuff in my parents' wee little Mazda, collected my boyfriend from the airport and drove my worldly goods halfway across the United States. So you may be able to understand if I've been a little AWOL. My next posts should be more along the lines of the recipe-per-post sort of thing but this one is going to be a bit more like a pictorial diary of what's happened between April and now.

THE ROADTRIP
 (in no particularly coherent order):

A visit to Taos pueblo. I haven't been back for so long; it's always really strange to sort of half-remember a place and to remember where certain streets or shops are but not the overall layout. It was a beautiful morning stop between Santa Fe and Laramie. 

Carrot-Orange Muffins with Candied Ginger

There's a bakery in SE Portland called Tabor Bread that is definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the neighborhood. They mill their own flour and have wood-fired ovens and do lots of lovely nice things like leave extra bread outside on Sundays with a little box for donations. But my favorite thing about Tabor Bread are their muffins. Let me clarify: a muffin is not a cupcake. It does not need frosting. It isn't supposed to be a sugar bomb. The muffins at Tabor Bread are hearty, wholesome and not-too-sweet; precisely the kind of thing you need for a 5 a.m. airport run. I kept the Tabor Bread ethos in mind as I developed the recipe for these lovely little muffins; keeping them chock full of orange, carrot and little explosions of candied ginger rather than sugar.

Black and White Ball 2012, or How to Score a Man-Friend

One year ago, on February 18th, Just People hosted their first Black and White ball in Portland. My bus date was my best friend Peter (continuing a tradition of bus dates that stretched back to our first meeting at the 2011 Masquerade Ball). I performed with the band, the two of us went back up to the band's Lodge for the afterparty, then we wound up trekking back to my house in the wee hours of the morning. The next day we smooched. I think the general sentiment among all our friends was less "Yay!" and more "FINALLY. Dear God." 

So, how does one capture the fancy of a young man? In my vast experience, it is best to start with a top hat.

Road to the Superbowl, Day Two

So the 49'ers lost. There was a lot of tension during our party, let me tell you; far more emotion than I was expecting. I even found myself yelling at the screen a couple of times. There were tears, emotions, Beyonce...pretty much everything you could ask for. What wasn't there at the end of the Superbowl? These wings, that's what.

One Man's Leather Jacket...

Who wears this mysteriously attractive leather jacket? Where is he from? Where is he going? Most importantly, does he appreciate the music of Kanye West? (Answer: no).

Deciding that this year's Masquerade Ball outfit was going to be Steampunk-y on my end was a pretty simple decision. But the thing that really clinched it was the prospect of making a really sweet-ass leather jacket for Peter to wear onstage--I mean, the guys were opening for Blackalicious at a Masquerade Ball. Come on. For those who don't know him, Peter is not a "ripped-tank, funnel-the-groupies-in-my-direction" sort of musician. He's the "get unjustifiably excited at the mention of a B7th-diminished chord" sort of musician. I am under the impression that for years his bandmates have tried (unsuccessfully) to get him into something other than a t-shirt or button-down onstage. And I, dear reader, have triumphed where lesser fellows have faltered. I created that leather jacket. And boy, did he look good.