A Perfect Movie

It takes a lot to impress me at the movies. There are many movies that I like, but only a few that I actually think live up to the artistic value that I think cinema should/can have. I haven't seen a movie like this in ages, but out of the blue, completely, but charmingly unexpected, I watched one the other day. The movie is called "The Girl in the Cafe" and it is pitch-perfect. Heartbreaking, lovely, funny, powerful, thoughtful, smart, sad, and brilliant. I have been thinking about it nonstop since I watched it last week and I urge you all to watch it (good luck finding it though!). Absolutely perfect. Enjoy!

J-thanks for the movie. So was he guilty or not? I am very confused by it all, but it ended up okay I suppose.

Easter (take out the s-er)

Easter is for eat! After 50 days of lent I was ready to gorge (okay, I actually didn't observe lent this year, but I did go to church four times during lent!). There of course was the obligatory Easter candy replete with every variety of Cadbury egg...Yum! For dinner we made lamb chops with a savory thyme-mustard gravy (that I wanted to roll in), asparagus with fresh Parmesan shavings and a sweet pea salad. Finally I made shortcake from scratch, homemade whipped cream with dollops of honey and vanilla, and a mash of strawberries. Holy moses, this was definitely not a day of solemn reverence, but it all tasted so fabulous and finally put me in the mood for spring. And tomorrow B will be here so we are going to have to make our damn finest Celiac meal (and maybe hide all the candy, so as not to tempt her evil no-wheat-processing belly.)

What a Fabulous Spring Break!

Oh yeah, this is definitely one of the best spring breaks I have ever had! I have spent all of the past three days in the library--yippee! How fun! It was either this or Cancun, but I think I definitely chose wisely.
Just so you know, it really wasn't by choice that I am spending my time studying. Two of my professors thought it would be so fun to schedule tests the week after spring break, one of my professors thought it would be cool to assign 3 assignments due the week after spring break, and another professor thought it would be great to make a 10-page research paper due the week after spring break. Aren't they just the best??

Alright, enough sarcasm...I have to put my nose back in the books.

But first, here is a picture from where I was a year ago...my favorite museum in the whole entire world...the British Museum. See if you can spot me!

10 best of SF

In homage to Mike receiving the Jones lecturer position at Stanford, here are my 10 favorite things about San Francisco. (I was secretly praying that M would get the job so I could visit them for two more years. Yippee! Now all they need is a house in the Presidio and a greyhound).

1. Seeing Britta and Mike, of course
2. Farmers' Market on Saturday
3. Blue Bottle iced coffee, the best non-alcoholic drink in the city
4. Reading on a sunny patch of grass in the Park
5. Dolphin watching off the Golden Gate bridge
6. Cheese pizza at Escape from New York. Hands down, the best pizza I have ever eaten.
7. Pain au chocolate at Tartine.
8. Vegetarian burrito at Cancun, made all the more interesting by trying to eat while homeless people stare at you.
9. Feeling not like a tourist when I am with M and B.
10. Pain de mie from Acme with smears of lemon marmalade and fresh butter. That is actually where the name for this blog came from!

Cupcake Happiness

This is a picture of the beautiful cupcakes that B and I made in early January. I was dreaming about them today, but sadly I just don't have the time to bake right now so I thought I would simply post a picture instead.

FRUS-$%#*&^-TRATION!!!!!

Somehow in the past 2 weeks I have managed to lose a $100 jacket and my physics lab manual. Frickin' awesome man! Aaargh! I hate losing things and feeling so helpless at finding them. Especially a new $100 coat...

Blah, I should be celebrating the fact that I got 100% on my biochem exam, but instead I am just overcome with frustration. Anyone have a suggestion for getting rid of the frustration (outside of just finding the thing)?

Stale Bread

I originally started this blog so I could talk about my favorite thing: food! Anyone who knows me knows that I love to eat, cook, bake, find new recipes, read cooking magazines, and try new restaurants. So instead of only writing boring updates on my life I am going to take a new approach and write about food issues that I am digging at the moment.

My latest food obsession is oatmeal with wildflower honey. I eat it every morning for breakfast and it is the perfect balance of sweet and warm and filling that I need to start of my long, cold days of school, studying, the lab, and work.

Last week B and I made my perfect vanilla cupcakes, and yes, they truly are perfect. The recipe is everything I have ever desired in a cupcake: dense and airy at the same time, moist, vanilla-y, and not too sweet. The frosting is really the...well, the icing on the cake! A simple mix of butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Yum!