Today

Today I slept in and had a good morning cuddle with this lovely lady:

 

She's the very best, my baby girl. She really is.

Today I danced around my room to The Sounds Pandora station. Dude, it is all kinds of fabulousness. Seriously. Oh and I discovered Ladyhawke. Awesome? Yes. Especially this one.

Today I had a reunion with the elliptical machine. It was quite magical. 

Today I watched a lot of Everyday Italian. It made me very hungry.

Today I caught up with some of my very favorite blogs, Nat the Fat Rat and Bleubird Vintage.

Today I made this really red and fruity smoothie. And it looked like this:

pretty, right?

And this is what I looked like while enjoying said smoothie:

Ignore my lack of make-up please.

Today I also ate a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich. Okay two. And a half. Is there anything else in this world that is as utterly delicious as Nutella?  

I will not post a picture of me eating the sandwich. Because that is just plain silly. And embarrassing.

 Today I went to work with a positive attitude. It payed off. That and we went to In n' Out. And an In n' Out burger and shake kind of make everything all better. Then I came home to the disk of Dexter (season 4).

Today was a good day. Tomorrow will be even better! (Because I get to go back to Marin)

A hike in the Headlands

Saturday afternoon was hiking afternoon. And I love a good hike. I'm not particularly fond of super dangerous, rigorous, requires all kinds of materials hike; I'm more of a long, scenic height that allows for good conversation with friends, beautiful scenery, and gets me tired by the end. And there are lots of those in Marin. Davis, not so much what with it being flat, flat, flat. And I really miss not being able to go on hikes more often because I find them very relaxing and a way to clear my mind when anything is bothering me. Something about being in the nature and all. It's cliche, but whatever. It's also true.

So Saturday was the day. I went with Sasha and some of her friends for a hike in the Marin Headlands, right next to the Golden Gate Bridge. And it was gorgeous. Seriously, look at this:

It was an incredibly beautiful, sunny, and very windy day. Here are some more pictures from a lovely afternoon.

Me and Sasha

Everyone: Henry, Sarah, Sasha, me, Darren

Days like Saturday remind of how beautiful Marin and San Francisco are and how much I love them and am proud to say that's where I'm from. It also makes me really, really excited to move home in June. I swear, every time I go home for the weekend, it gets harder and harder to return to Davis when it's over. So I'm just sort of counting down until I get to go home. Because even though I've lived in Davis for a year and a half, it has never felt entirely like home. But I'll be back there soon, so I always have that to look forward to.

P.S. I have not been able to stop listening to The Sounds ever since the concert on Thursday. Their new album, Something to Die For, is all kinds of awesome, especially this song. Go get it. You won't regret it!

Maybe I can actually make something...

Since I have all this free time these days, I'm really trying to put it to good use...you know being productive and all. So far I've been cooking more and trying new recipes, which has been so much fun as well as incredibly delicious, but cooking can't be done all day every day. That would just kind of end up being a waste of food, right? So now I've decided that I need to get crafty with it. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I, Mallory, with craft and project ADD, have decided to take up knitting. And sewing. But knitting first, then on to sewing later, once I get a sewing machine. And this will not be like the other times I tried to get crafty, when things like school got in the way. No. I will start projects and I will finish them. No ifs, ands, or buts. And I mean it.

In order for me to take up the fine art of knitting, I needed some instruction. So, I turned to the closest, and one of the only knitting experts I know, Amelia. Friday we met up at a cafe in San Rafael, she gave me some spare yarn and a set of needles and taught me casting on, a basic knit stitch, and a purl stitch. It was slow going and a little frustrating for me, but I think I got the (very) basic hang of it, just to get me started. We went to this lovely yarn store in Sausalito, Bluebird Yarn, where I purchased a fine set of bamboo knitting needles and a couple of skeins of yarn (the cheapest, because I know I'm going to be messing up a lot in the coming weeks) and now I'm all set to begin being this new, craftier version of me.

Oh, I also picked up a copy of Stitch N' Bitch, to help me because Amelia is not always around. I started reading it last night and I'm kind of getting excited to start learning and making things.

Here's all I got so far:

It's not a lot. Like at all. But I'm still really proud of myself. Starting something and seeing it take form and eventually get completed is so incredibly satisfying and makes me feel like maybe I can actually make something and I'm not entirely incapable of doing anything. Except writing art history papers. I've always known I'm really good at that. But making something crafty is entirely different. I'm going to keep practicing and maybe, one day, many years from now, I will be able to knit cool things for people. Is it strange that this is something I really aspire to? Like, I can't tell you how excited I am to hopefully get good enough to knit a blanket...ooooh or a sweater! Oh, this is about to get real exciting!

The Sounds- a concert

Last night Sasha and I journeyed into San Francisco for a concert. It was The Sounds. I discovered The Sounds a few years ago and I have all their albums and I've been DYING to see them live for so long. But it never works out, either I don't find out about a show until it's over or they aren't coming anywhere near me for awhile. Not this time. I finally got to and I was so excited and it was so amazing.

Yes, I know my pictures aren't great...I was too busy dancing to care about taking a great picture

You know how sometimes when you go see a band or a singer live and they don't sound the same or they sounds really bad? Not The Sounds. They sounded great live and they put on one hell of a show. The lead singer, Maja Iversson, is one of those singers that swaggers around the stage with all this attitude and I love it. She's really fun to watch. And I think I have a crush on the guitar player, Felix Rodriguez.



Images via google

Isn't he dreamy in that hipster-euro boy way? How I love a cute hipster-euro boy! Plus he's and awesome guitar player. Yes, I am aware I have strange taste in men. I love 'em tall, skinny, dark haired and if they're European, well that's just fantastic. (The Sounds are a Swedish band, btw)
There were only a few drawbacks: the venue (Rickshaw Stop) was definitely too small. Don't get me wrong, it's a really cool venue, but I don't think that whoever planned the tour realized how many fans The Sounds have in San Francisco because the place was packed beyond capacity. Also, before the show started, Sasha and I were near the stage and when the band took the stage, everyone just started crushing in and spilling drinks all over us, which was just annoying. I just wanted to dance and being near the stage obviously wasn't working. I understand that people want to get close, but being violent is not cool. Maja even kept making sure the people in front calmed down so no one would get hurt. So Sasha and I moved a little farther back, and we were able to dance our little hearts out. The last thing was that there was a smoke/fog machine going above the stage and at times, I couldn't even see the band, which wasn't so great, because I came to see the band. And I couldn't.

But like I said I got to dance and get all hot and sweaty to my favorite song:

All in all, it was sooo much fun and I am so happy I finally got to see The Sounds live, it was totally worth it and I will definitely be seeing them again.

P.S. after we left SF, Sasha and I were starving, so guess where we went? The only place in Marin open past 1am, Denny's. We ate some fries and buffalo wings and they were delicious. The perfect end to a great night!

Hey now, what's this? A book review? No way!

I finally, finally have a book review. Yes, it's been over six months, but I got one. And it is good. The book, that is.

I've been reading Babel Tower by A.S. Byatt, and so far I'm liking it much more than Possession, so that's really good. But this review is not about either of those books. I might have gotten a little sidetracked. Which tends to happen a lot with me and books, you know. See, I finally got my act together and got a Yolo County library card and I went and checked out a book I've been meaning to read for awhile now. And that book is The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy.

And it was a great book. Really, I stayed up way past my bedtime last night in order to finish it, because the ending...wow. So cray cray. I'm also a total sucker for a good murder mystery, thanks to my grandmother, who started me on mysteries at a young age and let me watch Murder She Wrote as a kid. Because don't all 8 year olds want to watch Angela Landsbury solve a small town murder? Thought so. I think this is what started my obsession with procedural crime shows. Seriously, I watch so many and I never get sick of them: Law and Order, CSI, Bones, Criminal Minds..it never ends.

Anyhoo, back to the book review portion of this post. So The Black Dahlia takes place in Los Angeles in the 1940s and centers around the infamous unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short AKA the Black Dahlia, basically one of the most famous unsolved cases is LAPD history. It's narrated by a cop, Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert, and starts of with his not to great ascent in the police department until he is partnered with Lee Blanchard and they are assigned to the Black Dahlia case in 1947. The story then chronicles the exhaustive and extensive investigation by the LAPD, with nearly 200 officers on the case and how the Black Dahlia begins to take over the lives of Bucky and Lee, eventually leading to their spectacular downfalls. Throw in a mysterious woman from a messed up wealthy family, gangsters, depraved sexual tendencies, lots of police corruption, and tragedy and you have one great neo-noir thriller.

I have to say, Ellroy really made this story come alive for me while I was reading it. He uses correct the correct lingo of the time, even when it is highly racist (this was the 1940s, after all, pre-civil rights), he gets pretty gruesome when describing the Dahlia's death, (which I will not detail here as there was some pretty gross stuff), and he clearly did research into the actual murder investigation in order to give the story some accuracy. But, it still is fiction, after all. Not to mention it has one hell of an ending. Lots of twists and turns, lots of destruction both physically and emotionally, violence, intrigue. It was awesome.

The Black Dahlia is like many other mystery novels, in that there is some portions of the book which are kind of filler feeling, like recounting what Bucky does when he gets of work. Do I really care about that? No. But does it kind of add to the story? Yes. Plus the first few chapters are kind of boring in that they just set up to show how Bucky came to be a police officer and be partnered with Lee. It's kind of interesting, but I just wanted to get to the murder, which does come as a surprise and right when you are ready for some action in the story.

This book was definitely one of the better mysteries I have read in recent years, so I highly recommend it, especially for a good summer read. This book was also the first in Ellroy's LA Quartet, books let in Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s that showed Los Angeles as a hotbed of political corruption and depravity. I really like noir and neo-noir mysteries, so I plan on reading the rest of the books as well. If The Black Dahlia is any indication, I think I'm going to really like them, too.

Now, back to Babel Tower and maybe one day I'll finally write a review for that one as well!

More adventures in the kitchen

Yesterday was just one of those days where cooking seemed like the appropriate thing to do. So, following my pancake breakfast extravaganza, I conducted some more food experiments. I made this AMAZING beet and quinoa salad. Seriously, it was so incredibly good and I wanted to keep eating it, but I was sooo full.

Tasty looking, right?

Quinoa and Beet Salad
6 small golden beets, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, plus additional to taste
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus additional to taste
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 cups baby arugula
2 ounces feta cheese
black pepper

1.) Steam beets until tender, about 12-15 minutes. Transfer them to a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons each of the olive oil and the red wine vinegar; mix in garlic, salt and little pepper. Let it site at room temperature for at least 30 minutes
2.) Meanwhile, cook the quinoa per package instructions: usually 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water. Bring to a boil then let simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork and let cool.
3.) Remove the crushed garlic from the beets, and add the quinoa, arugula, and cheese to the beets and stir well. Season with a little more vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

I cannot stress how good this turned out! It was so refreshing and so filling, definitely something I will be making again as the weather begins to get warmer. Also, it keeps really well for a couple of days and gets even tastier because the vinegar and oil sort of marinate all the other ingredients, infusing them with more flavor. It made for the perfect leftover lunch today. Delicious!

Nostalgia: music from the 90s

This weekend I was hanging out with Miranda and we got to waxing nostalgic about music from the 90s. Now, I am aware that I am only 23, and was therefore very young in the 90s, but I watched a lot of MTV and Vh1 (when they both still played music videos) plus I had Miranda, who was five years older, and her friends exposing me to all kinds of music. A lot of which included gangster rap. Picture that in your head for a second...15 year old Miranda and 10 year old me...listening to gangster rap. Yeah.

Anyway, starting in fourth grade I was a latch key kid and everyday I would come home from school and do my homework while switching back and forth between MTV and Vh1. Back then they actually used to show videos during the day, not in the middle of the night or at 5am, and none of this Jersey Shore or Teen Mom crap...don't even get me started on that stuff.

Wait...what was I talking about? Oh yes, music! I would dance around my living room to all kinds of stuff, some that probably wasn't entirely appropriate for a 9-10 year old, but who cares? It's not like I had the Disney channel (which cost extra $$ to have then). So much great music and so many artists that either are retired, died, changed genres, or just went crazy (I'm looking at you Lauryn Hill). Oh and all those one hit wonders who were kind of awesome? Remember "Sex and Candy"? And when Madonna wasn't trying to act like she was 21 and she wore her infamous cone bra and the sex book?

I suppose that everyone is nostalgic for music from their childhood, I mean my dad pretty much only listens to stuff he grew up listening to, so I understand that aspect. But, despite the fact that I really do enjoy a lot of music that comes out today (like my Britney), I just don't necessarily connect in the same way. And there is just so much bad stuff that is so popular right now as well...Justin Beiber anyone? I like me some Lady Gaga, but no matter how deep or artistic she says her music is, to me it's just good music to dance or work out to. I don't turn on Lady Gaga or Katy Perry or Bruno Mars when I want to listen to music that's more than just a good beat. And there are great artists today that do create more of a connection with their music, like Adele or Florence and the Machine, so I'm not totally discrediting the music industry of today. Luckily today we have so many options. Just sometimes I miss my awesome 90s music!

With that, I leave you with some songs that I loved and still do.

And arguably one of the best bands of all time and probably the greatest song of the 90s.
You know what it is, don't you?

P.S. Do you remember Pop Up Video? I totally want that show to come back. Could you imagine how great it would be today?

Recipes! Food! I might be becoming a grownup! (What?)

I like to cook and for the past year I have not really had the time to actually cook, except for maybe once in a blue moon. No longer! Now I can actually take the time to find good recipes and try them out on all those who are willing to be my guinea pigs.

I didn't take this...It's a photo by Irving Penn (thanks google!)

Friday night was the night, I decided. I was going to try a new recipe and hope for the best. Miranda kindly allowed me to use her as my guinea pig, seeing as she would be getting a free meal out of the situation. So I went over to her apartment and cooked up a little storm while we chatted and drank some good beer. And I must say it ended up turning out to be quite delicious!

Here is the recipe:
Lemon-Thyme Chicken with Sauteed Vegetables
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped garlic, divided 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, divided 
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 pound chicken breast tenders, lightly pounded
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium shallot, sliced
1 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 medium zucchini
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1.) In a ziplock bag, combine 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 teaspoons garlic, and 2 teaspoons thyme; season to taste with salt and pepper. Add chicken, seal bag, and turn over a few times to coat chicken evenly. Set aside
2.) Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallot, remaining garlic, edamame, and tomatoes. Saute for 4 minutes.
3.) Use a vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini into long ribbons. Add zucchini, remaining lemon juice and thyme to the other vegetables in the skillet and saute for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl, stir in feta cheese, and add salt and pepper to taste.
4.) Add remaining oil to skillet and remove chicken from marinade. Saute for 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked through. Serve with vegetables and enjoy!

The meal turned out to be really refreshing and yummy, as well as pretty healthy. Miranda didn't have a peeler, so I just sliced the zucchini super thin and that worked totally fine.

For desert, we had Häagen-Dazs Five Ice Cream in the lemon flavor. The. Best. Ice. Cream. Ever.

Trust me, go get this ice cream. NOW.

In further adventures in cooking, I cooked breakfast for myself, the roommate, and a friend this morning. We had yummy buttermilk pancakes and some bacon. I haven't made pancakes in a very, very long time, but they turned out sooooo good. Super light and fluffy. I want to try some variation, adding blueberries pancakes or apple cinnamon...oooh or chocolate chip! Who doesn't love a good chocolate chip pancake?