le printemps pousse

In French, the lovely phrase above is what one uses this time of year. Figuratively, it means that Spring is arriving, or growing, but it literally means "the Spring is pushing," pushing up from the dark place it has slept all year, pushing the fine, bristled seed pods full to bursting. Here in New York I am on spring holiday, and am afforded this time to fully take in the beauty of this time of year.

To be honest, I never appreciated this time of year until I moved East. Growing up, I always thought of this time of year just as the beginning of the hot season I so disdained. Winter, with its mild rains and bright clear frosts was my favourite time of year, and as soon as the thermometer read over 85 degrees--which it did on a good fifth of the days of the year--I just headed inside, away from the sun.

Here in New York the spring has an entirely different meaning, in context with--GASP--other seasons. After several months now of wool coats, thick stockings, layers upon layers of petticoats, my poor fishy-white feet were rewarded today with this:
How wonderful after seeing no grass for months to finally dig your toes into some good, healthy sod. I couldn't help but grin like a fool as I walked about barefoot, shoes in hand, and enjoyed a bounteous dose of vitamin D. Here are the other fruits of my leisure today:





How many wonderful things are "pousse"-ing just now! Don't those daffodil buds just make the winter worthwhile?

I have one more work shift tomorrow morning, and then once again off to Manhattan, where I will buy a paté sandwich and meringues at my favourite French cafe for lunch, and then visit Erin at the photo shoot where she will be working--she is helping me knit my first hat, which has been a rather testy project, but will prove my competence as a knitter if it does not look awful. The weather the way it is, I may just be able to leave my coat at home for the week. :)

witch baby!

Happy post-Halloween withdrawals to all who are suffering from the same 2/3-through-the-semester hump as I am! Aren't we happy that The Best Holiday in the World Because It Revolves Around Food is drawing near? Certainly I am. Here are pictures of my Halloween festivities with my housemates friends:
Me, of course, as ever-snarling Witch Baby. Note the bug shoes. Also, I made the tutu.
My other half, the G train.
From left, housemate and bestgirlbuddyinthehouse Claudia (no costume), and friend Hailey (some sort of lesbian cowgirl from her favourite book?)
Max, playing Devil's Advocate. There's a Powerpuff Girl in the background.
Housemate Dan and his new ladylove, Raven (the hair is not natural).
Santos, whose costume consisted entirely of props. Hailey's bloody cowgirl wounds in the background.
Jamie as Robin Hood or Peter Pan, depending. Sorry about the quality of these next few... I scanned them from disposable camera shots taken by my housemates.
Me, more snarling, this time with my full costume...The camera was essential. Note Santos in the foreground and a confused Hailey behind me.
He got used to the snarling and biting as the night wore on. Also, note the REAL Halloween decorations--pretty classy for a college party, no?
My favourite picture of the night, partially because I think I look so much like Witch Baby here, and because of all the great back and forth motion, with Jamie blocking both MB's camera and the one that took this photo.

And now we march onward toward the end of the semester! It's officially the end of fall here, and temerpatures are dropping rapidly.... I can almost smell the first snow.

A Happy Birthday Blog

This is a blog to celebrate a whole array of birthdays from these past ten days:

Happy birthday, Charlie! (April 19)
Happy birthday, M. Benjamin, my dove! (April 26)
Happy birthday TK! (April 27)
Happy birthday Carly! (April 29)

And for good measure:

Happy birthday, Kevin! (May 5)

I must admit that my blogging has been at a minimum lately due in part to the semester coming to a close very very soon (two weeks left after this one!) and partly due to my starting a new job in Manhattan, which has kept me scooting back and forth on the train every minute of rest I am allowed. Next weekend, though, is the event that this blog has been leading up to for several weeks now: Jónsi in concert! My sweetheart and I are going to see his show at Terminal 5 on May 8, and be sure that there will be an excited blog entry the next morning.

In addition, he and I are in the process of printing our limited-edition, twenty-copy chapbook, möbius strip, or (filaments) caught in growth, "filaments" for short. It contains four poems by him, and three by myself, including my semester-long, five-part project, "möbius strip". In addition to the limited edition (which we are mostly only gifting to family and friends), we are also printing conventional chapbooks, which will be available through either of us at the end of the semester. Please let either of us know if you are interested!

Well, onto the next phase of my day: class and muchmuchmuch writing of my conference paper...

At JFK--Again.

I am at JFK airport, waiting in the terminal for my flight back home to California to board. If there is one thing in particular that I am rather thankful for right now, it is free WiFi in the jetBlue terminal. Makes my life soooo much happier before a long flight.

I had the lovely fortune today to share a train ride from Bronxville to Grand Central Station with my biggest friend-crush (don't you just love that phrase, "friend-crush"? It's so accurate at a place like Sarah Lawrence where you see all these neat people you wish were your friends) on campus, Emma. We had a wonderful conversation about crafting and cold weather, and played a bout of cat's cradle with the twine wound round my wrist, which delighted me to no end. I though Kevyn and I were the only two people our age who still know how to play cat's cradle! Not the case, to my happy surprise. Anyhow, Emma, if you're out there in the blogosphere, thank you for your company--it was a pleasure.

Still have near an hour before my flight boards, so I'll go dig into my dinner of cranberry Stilton with wheat crackers, radishes and snap peas, and pumpkin seeds. I'm so happy that my cute little reusable snack bags came out so well. The little sailboat print is darling, I think, and they've held up well to washings. Not to mention they're so much more sustainable than Ziploc baggies. Remind me to post pictures sometime...

Snow Angels

The tyrannical sun has nearly melted the two inches of snow we received last night. I've never been so disappointed to see nice weather in my life.

Last night, with the snow as deep and as pretty as it was, I met up with a few friends and acquaintances for snow-angel-making and a bit of a snowball fight. I love winter so very much. When I come back to New York after break, all will be whited out. I can hardly wait.

I'm off the brunch with Jamie now, while my camera charges for some more pictures of the snow. Happy winter, all...

Serendipity in NYC

Well, I've finally made the long journey home to California to spend Thanksgiving with my family, friends and sweetheart. It was a long flight (after a long, networking journey on public transport in NYC and before a long journey home from the San Francisco airport in my parents' car) but so nice to return to my home and eat a long-awaited soft-boiled egg on buttered toast--a small luxury that gains worth with the inaccessibility of a kitchen to in my residence at school. However, before I record my domestic joys, I'd like to mention a wonderful experience I had the night before I left the city.

Thursday night, I attended a fabulous show in the city, at Webster Hall, on the prompting of my favourite blogger, one Mary Catherine Garrison, with whom the opening act was staying for the time being. I'd heard of the Watson Twins before--although I was admittedly unfamiliar with their music--and I'd certainly known about Joshua Radin, the headliner, for many years, so a few lady friends and myself took the train in for the evening to enjoy the music. Although Dana, India, and Annette were newbies to all of the performers' music--and did not share my underlying hope to meet the blogger I'd been following for nearly a year and a half--they became quick fans of both acts, and I have to admit that the show was, in effect, one of the best I'd been to. The Watson Twins were so much fun, and Mr. Radin turned out to be much more of a charismatic charmer than his introspective, moody whisper-rock suggests. Despite the fantastic time I was having with the music itself, my night was made truly special when one of the Watson Twins girls was kind enough to introduce me to Mary Catherine.

I was so excited with the warm response I received from her--reading her blog for so long, I've always felt she was a kindred spirit of sorts, and I was excited that she was so warm and happy to meet me. She looked adorable--but, then again, I always love her taste in la mode. We traded thoughts on the "blogosphere" and haircuts and parted with a hug. Anyone who reads (and likes) my blog should definitely investigate Little Red Fox. She writes about all things artsy, craftsy, domestic, delicious, and vintage--her life is a beautiful one to feel a part of through her blog. I hope to bump into you again, soon, Mary Catherine!

Well, 'tis time once again to don the apron, as I have radishes to pickle and artichoke-crab dip to bake before my dovely arrives from his long journey South to meet me. I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving feast--to be sure, this Holiday is the only dedicated to eating, of which I approve with all high opinions!

An Image from a Particularly Lovely Sunday...

Reading for my conference project (Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible 1840-1900), one of my saddle oxfords with a cup of herbal tea from the TeaHaus, and the edge of my purple pic-nic blanket. Does it get any better then this for a balmy November afternoon?

Went to see the play that my roomie was in this evening, as well, a beautiful production of The Children's Hour. So tragic and beautiful, and set in the gorgeous 1930's. Sarah Lawrence puts on a wonderful open-stage play. Lauren was wonderful, as well, and it was great to see her on stage. Hats off to the ladies and gentlemen in our theatre department. (Isn't it awful that spell-check doesn't recognize "theatre"?) Not to mention that I never mind an excuse to dress a little more than usual (tonight, in a teal babydoll dress with fine black polka-dots and lace at the sleeves, navy wool trench, black, back-seam stockings, and my dark red patent t-straps). Anyhow, the play was definitely one I'd recommend for someone who wants something tragic--apparently Audrey Hepburn starred in its film adaptation in 1961. Worth checking out? Certainly perhaptual.

Goodnight, all, and off to Hartsdale to the craft store there tomorrow morning. Looking for fabric paint and cherry-printed gingham. Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday, Annette! We MacCrackers Love You!

Today is Good Buddy Annette's birthday, and the girls and I had a night out on the town last night in celebration. Here's a collage of our evening in words and pictures:

Exhibit 1: Massive quantities of Thai food at Aura on 9th Ave. consumed: Tom Ka, a soup of lime and coconut juice with herbs and mushrooms, Pad Thai, lemongrass chicken with green papaya salad, beef salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, and lots of chili, cashew nut chicken, and Thai iced teas and coconut juice. Here are Annette and Dana with the leftovers. They actually had to pull over another table to accommodate all our food. :)

Followed by coffee on Times Square's Red Steps. India provides Dana with her caffeinated sustenance.

My abnormally high body temperature regulates Jamie's abnormally low one. So does my scarf. I look like I'm giving her a power headlock, though.



Bright lights, big city.
India looking like a villain on the subway. Jamie looking pensive. That's Annette's arm in the red.
All of us on the Red Steps in Times Square: me, Annette, India, Dana, and Jamie. I wish Parisa had been there, as well, but she's home in California for her cousin's wedding. Sound familiar? Anyhow, that was our fabulous celebration of Annette's eighteenth in the city (New York is The City for me now. So intensely strange) and we had a lovely time. Happy birthday, my friend!

A Happy Samhain to All, and to All, a Good Night

Yesterday was Halloween, the overwhelmingly favourite holiday of myself and my peers. The holiday this year was made particularly pleasant by the presence in New York of my own darkling, one Mister Michael Benjamin Herndon. We spent the day at the New York Botanical Gardens, in the Bronx, with a couple of all-garden passes and pic-nic for two. It was a beautiful, mild, drizzly day and we ate a delicious lunch of goat's milk brie, baguette, tortellini salad with cherry tomatoes, and Bartlett pears before we meandered about the garden taking in the phenomenal autumn colours. Here are some photos--







You can see how bleakly beautiful October is here. I wish I could just bottle it up.

And, of course, it simply isn't Halloween without a party or two! My lady friends here on Campus invited me to a party at the Harlem apartment of a friend of theirs, so M. Benjamin and I dressed up (he as a Red Hat Lady, and I as Artemis, the goddess of the hunt) and went with Jamie into the city for the evening. We met Dana, Annette, India, and her boyfriend Nick there and stayed till nearly one before heading back home. Here are more pictures for you:


There's Michael Benjamin as a Red Hat Lady. Stunning, don't you think? I particularly like the post-menopausal whiskers he has going on there...


India and Nick getting sexy with the pizza.

The MacCracken Ladies, from left: Dana, India, me, and Annette. Jamie had already left and Parisa hadn't come along, but with those two, the six of us plan on living together next year.

So that's it! Hope your Halloween was as much fun as mine!

A Friday Night

Here are some photos of my Friday night--Will and I spent a few hours in the Black Squirrel, he shooting pool with some other guys and I drinking Nutella hot cocoa (CAN you believe it!?) and taking photographs. I guess it was somewhat fruitful, although the lighting was poor...


Here's Will shooting.


Green felt huzzah.


Will's feet and cue.

I've spent more time than I care to admit drinking various Nutella beverages and watching all the boys shoot pool than I care to admit... but there are certainly worse ways to spend an empty Friday night.

From the Top of the Rocks

Well, yesterday was Laura's birthday, so we spent the evening in the city. It's a funny thing, but the whole experience made me feel, for the first time, that I'm actually living here in New York.

We took a train into Grand Central and then hopped the Subway from there to our first destination, a lovely Mexican restaurant called Rosa Mexicano. While the entrées were priced a bit outside our budgets, we took advantage of their sizable and reasonably priced appetizer menu to build for ourselves a meal. Jamie and Laura each ordered the tortilla soup for a "first course," and were surprised to see it come to the table in two vessels apiece: they were each given a bowl with a little heap of chicken, fried tortilla strips, queso fresco, and avocado, and then our server poured in over the mound a thick, brick-red soup. I ordered the house salad to start off, which was a pile of mixed greens, shredded carrots and jicama, quarters red and yellow grape tomatoes, and a delicate, sweet-and-spicy vinaigrette with mint and sweet peppers.

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we got our second dishes. Laura and Jamie had ordered the flautas and taquitos, respectively, and I ordered a dish called "Zarape de Pato," which will go down in history as one of the most delectable dishes that has ever passed between these lips. It was made of tender, juicy, seasoned duck, shredded with spices and sandwiched between two soft corn tortillas and drenched over with a smooth, sweet, creamy puréed corn sauce. It was fantastic, sweet, spicy, smokey, and the duck was cooked as I've never seen it before--not chewy, not stringy, not tough, and not overly gamey. We left very full and very happy, and walked next to Rockefeller Square, where we had previously purchased tickets to go up to the "Top of the Rocks," at the top of the Rockefeller building. I need say not a thing--here are the photos:





Some of them are a little blurry, but I think it only adds to the charm.

You always here people describe the lights of New York City, the silver and neon, the sky that's never black, but it's another thing entirely to see it, and from above. Looking out over the city, with the golden September moon above me, I cannot say that I felt as though I were home. But I can say that this whole experience no longer felt like summer camp.

We walked about the city a little more after that and then caught a 10:30 train back to Bronxville. We were tired and our feet were thrashed, but we'd had a lovely time.

Interviewing Begins in the Hudson River Valley! We All Go Dotty! Yippee!

I don't know that anyone who reads by blog will recognize the subtle Sufjan Stevens reference in the above title. Maybe Sean.

Anyhow, the arduous process of interviewing our professors for classes has begun. This experience, set to the sometimes subtle, sometimes unbearable soundtrack of clicking high heels, frantic asking for directions, and summer cicadas, is unlike any I've ever had. I will admit that despite its anxious effect on my nerves is somewhat counteracted by the fact that searching for all these people's offices has led be to some beautiful and yet-undiscovered corners of the campus, like Andrews House, with its round stone tower, winding staircase, and archways, and the campus Greenhouse, all abloom with all sorts of roses and hydrangeas.

The stress of interviews has caused my friends and I a bit of counter-stress craziness. Observe our anti-dance dance party:


This is Jamie rocking out to some of her excellent music. She should never eat cookies, as they cause her much injury.


Laura loves to wear robes and does an excellent slow-motion seagull dance.


Jamie and I rock the Molly Ringwald. In this picture, she has evolved into full-fledged Anglophile by means of this epic jacket.

So that's a sneak-peek at our reaction to this process.

Below, I want to publish a slightly more nostalgic picture--this is the crew of tried-and-true friends who saw me off to Oakland so very early on Thursday morning. Look how wonderful they are...


That's my darling Peach, Michael Benjamin, myself, Navaz, and Kevyn. How I love them all!

Orientation at SLC

I've moved into my dorm now and am thoroughly thrilled. My roomie is great (her name is Lauren) and the building is beautiful. Our room was actually a kitchen until the early nineties, so it's a little funky, with slanted tile floors, lots of extraneous pipes, and a stripey wall texture. I had meant to post photos, but I don't know if that's in compliance of SLC policy yet, as blogs are considered a sort of publishing. Hopefully though, pictures will follow shortly.

I've made friends with a pair of roommates down the hall from Lauren and me. Their names are Jamie and Laura, and the four of us have taken to attending many of the mandatory functions together. I've gotten lucky so far with the food--if it stays this good all year, we are in for a treat. there have been tons of fresh vegetables, marinated tofu, and today we got crabcakes for lunch, with a decent Hollandaise! Not bad for dorm food.

Today we had to sit through a three-hour lecture on fire safety and campus security and such, and we have another lecture at two. Fun Stuff.

Well, I'll post picture when I know I can, but until then, my writing will have to suffice.

Girl's Day Out

Yesterday found my best friend, Amina, and I in a flurry of beautiful things. We skipped our morning jog and, instead, dressed up to make a jam cake--which we ate out on the patio-- as well asvisit a few antique stores, make a stir-fry for lunch, and watch two absolutely terrible movies starring Jackson Rathbone: S. Darko, and Twilight. They were both awful, but we had a beautiful, lovely day.

Here are some pictures of our delicious jam cake, recipe from Gourmet magazine, December 2007, to follow.



Jam Crumb Cake

For Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 stick butter, melted
1/2 milk
1 large egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam
For Crumb Topping:
3/4 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in the middle. Generously butter a 9-inch square or round cake pan.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Whisk together butter, milk, and egg in a large bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.
3. Pour batter into cake pan. Dollop jam all over surface, then swirl into batter with a spoon.
4. In another bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated.
5. Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of cake.
6. Bake cake about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Enjoy with a mild, fruity tea (we had a pomegranate green tea) or a smoky black.

Mon Français Est Déjà Rouillé.

I have returned from Quincy having finished two very lovely books: The Bell Jar, written by the infamous Sylvia Plath, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which is a by Jonathon Safran Foer. Both of the novels were beautiful and sad (my favourite sort of book since my literary taste was informed by Walk Two Moons) and it was nice to revisit an old favourite like Plath's work. Both recommended, to be sure.

I've tried to practice my French today (much to my mother's dismay, as she cannot understand a word I'm saying) but I'm afraid that I've already lost much of my vocabulary and several verb tenses. Perhaps I should subscribe to a French blog to keep up...

Amina and I have begun our running! We are two days in, and very thankful we've not run into anyone we know along our jogging path. Tomorrow, I'll take pictures of the two of us in our ridiculous athletic ensembles--we're only a few pockets away from wearing fanny packs.

TribalFest Number Nine, Number Nine (3x3)

So, I spent the weekend in Sebastopol, CA, for TribalFest 9, only just about the coolest belly dance festival on the West Coast. It was a brilliant (if not without its drawbacks--it was over a hundred degrees in that community center) show full of once-in-a-lifetime performances by big names--Princess Farhana, Ashara, Unmata, Suhaila Salimpour, and Solstice Dance Ensemble were all crowd-pleasers. I particularly enjoyed Zafira Dance Company, Colleena Shakti, and, of course, the always lovely Indigo. They provided the festival's closing performance, along with live bands the Gallus Brothers and the Crow Quill Night Owls, who truly turned the show into a 1920's, ragtime, vaudevillian act. It was truly the most astounding, most amusing, best-spent hour of my year. Here are some pictures of the whole number:

This is the combined bands and their motley--and ultra-cool--assortment of instruments. They participated a ton in the show: the Gallus Brothers with their serious banjo-and-juggling skills, and the Crow Quill Night Owls with their hilarious additions to the girls' dances.









The beautiful, talented, and awesome Rachel Brice. She performed a drop like I've never seen before during this solo.
















The clown of the group, Zoe Jakes, during a hilarious Flamenco-inspired dance-skit in which the "expressiveness" of her dancing increased proportionately with the amount of wine she played to consume.




























The phenomenally talented Mardi Love, in her delicious Flapper ensemble. And finally--















The three of them, as the Indigo, in the finale dance of the evening.

This show was a truly magical experience. These beautiful, talented women have positively stolen my hearts with their incredible dance skills.