Mr. Darcy

i have found my newest and only muse at this time.  unfortunately, jaime oliver is married with kids, but i still find him to be so terribly cute! the way he cooks outside on an open fire, how he cans and pickles and makes his own ketchup- oh he’s just so fantastic.  maybe someday, when i’m pursuing my passion, i’ll meet someone with similarities to jaime, and then, if fate permits it, we’d get along famously.

i’m planning on doing a lot of cooking this week, so look out Vin et Grub, recipes galore tba asap.  i survived standardized testing today, actually, i’m quite confident.  i made some progress on b108, and i cleaned the kitchen and reorganized all the cabinets.  i also took a trip to the market, and picked up some food for the upcoming week.  i’m rarely excited enough to talk about what i will be cooking- but i think i’m elated tonight, so i may as well share.  tomorrow evening’s menu: seared mahi mahi wrapped in a thin layer of russet potato with brown butter and sage sauce.  monday evening: roasted stuffed tomatoes, with artichokes, chevre, and panko, served with a watercress and black cherry salad.  tuesday evening: roasted chicken, basted in champagne vinegar and aged balsamic, with tarragon, three-variety mashed potatoes, stuffing, and brownies.  wednesday evening: fagiolini in umido, and fried chicken.  thursday evening: tandoori tofu, and basmati rice.  friday evening: a trip to local, or perhaps figa/new miyake.  so excited for my week in food.  in addition, it’s obvious that i’ll be swamped in homework, and also, i’ll be baking a black plum raspberry pear pie tomorrow night.  it’ll be more like a free form tartette, but it should be wonderful nonetheless.  i’m headed to sonny’s tonight to visit with some folks, and party just a little bit.  tomorrow: so much homework, so much baking, coffee, and lots of sleep, plus a brunch date.  VERY EXCITED FOR MONDAY NIGHT @ SPACE.  DARKDARKDARK= BRIGHTBRIGHTBRIGHT.

enfin

sans une tete

it’s been quite the weekend- rather long, beginning friday at 10am ending in about 7 hours.  it goes without saying, i always have a nice time on memorial day.  lovely things that happened included, seeing miss bela b and having a brief relapse in old habits, standard baguettes with mon petit frere followed by vin blanc and a late night trip to dairy queen, splurging on a never worn, perfect fit lily pulitzer white cable knit sweater, minding my caffine at l’arabica, not sleeping, making meringue and listening to the ultimate tunes.

summer is rapidly approaching, i’m trying to lose ten pounds by eating yoghurt, berires, and small helpings of protein, but i doubt i will.  almond milk is my h20, i suppose i should try and fix that.  my camera has run out of batteries and the others are out of film, and i am out of all monetary funds.  i’m really excited for this upcoming week to end- and sort of begin, because i get to see quite a few people who i haven’t been able to enjoy the company of in quite a while.  with the weekend comes a sigh of relief, a clothes swap, and an endless study session. exams begin the 8th and end the 11th.  then i’m off to dc where i will be for a mere five days, however, i plan on visiting cambridge on the way back.  end of the year celebration is scheduled on june 11th at bresca at nine. reservation for two, and mr. i will be accompanying me i presume. due dates are diminishing and my school sac is growing lighter by the day. oh what a joy to be this close to liberty. highlights of the upcoming week: darkroom processing, farmer’s mkt, west end picnic with liliiiiy, milkshakes and car-ride with camjones, and sharing moments with miss bela.

 

9 days

enfin

sober nobody wants you

the magnetic fields need to chill out a while, so i can stop listening to them ‘cos they’re my good gods. like bob dylan, they’re narrating my life. miss bela stole me away today and we engaged in gluttony…. consuming fries, blood red orange sorbetto, chocolate cake with chili pepper and coffee frosting, and mac & cheese.  we did not have the munchies mind you.  and we’re planning on seeing prince of persia tomorrow and then off we shall go to a photo excursion.  then i’m celebrating the end of the year at local with a over dinner and drinks and dessert.  off i will head to washington dc on june 13th! i’m looking forward to it as well as sos and hopefully skor.  we’ll find out soon. saturday: expecting visitors! brother cole and made brandi are coming down to celebrate summer and tests and stressful weeks ahead.  sunday i believe i will be headed to a wonderful yard sale and then i’m working 5-11.  driving to higgins monday where we’ll eat strawberries, indulge in the sunshine, drink some wine, and let loose.  thank mon dieu for giving me the break i deserve.  i’m developing tuesday, from 2-5 and then off to local for jazz, wednesday i’m scouring the farmers market and going on a picnic with miss lily who i haven’t seen/heard from in ages! the end of the year is certainly shaping up, thus i can’t help be anything but jubilant! ooers, thank the heavens for summertime. (cue sublime and l’s).

enfin

postscript: trout smells like gym sneakers…. & i gotta get too drunk to dream cos dreamin only makes me blue.

uptown girl

this past weekend was rather lovely for a few reasons.  the first being being in the company of my family, who i adore ever so much- and enjoying the marriage of my cousin and her fiance.  they’re off to italy for ten days as of tomorrow- venice, florence, rome, and sicilly.  a nice deal to tell you the truth.  i’d like to be in their place right now- not to say that i have a fiance, or anything close for that matter, but it’d be nice to travel to italy for the next ten days.  i stayed up a bit too late last evening & drank too much wine (but i had an excuse this time, because it was in fact a big italian wedding).  but the night turned to day and a & i made our way into cambridge once more to enjoy the 80 degree weather and two bacon cheeseburgers at tory rowe.  as an afterthought we spent sometime in LUSH and i ended up shelling out a bit too much cash on some soaps and masks and toners and all that lovely stuff.  we ended our day eating tiramisu frozen yogurt from JP licks and then travelling back to portland, only to be met with great sadness.  not to get my hopes up or anything, a is looking for work down in boston, so perhaps in a year or so we will be relocating (and that would be FINE in my book).

when this week ends, i have two weeks left- so bring on the finals, bring on the studying, the relentless weather, the miserable teachers, and antsy children, bring it on, and expect to be defeated by june 11th, 2010.  summer plans are getting ironed out so that they’re crisp and clear as of june 7th.  i’m hoping to travel to DC and south korea, as well as spend a good chunk of time in boston in the latter part of august as well as june.  july is jam-packed with all sorts of things (the SOS program, my grandfather, family gatherings, birthdays, and… maybe the pitchfork music fest!) i just would like to see how everything sorts themselves out, and i’m open to whatever happens. 

the fog is rolling in, my eyes are drooping like wilting petunias and i need to take my beauty sleep. i’m making a surprise dinner & dessert tomorrow…and on tuesday evening i will be listening to some jazz over drinks.

oh, and LOST, so insane, and i can’t even say if i liked the way it turned out yet. tomorrow, tomorrow.  go and sleep blogosphere.

enfin

revival

today is a day of recovery… especially from last evening.  leaving & scouring for vintage and falafel and then a good long writing and reading sesh, accompanied by some research.  my cough is getting worse and that’s a sure sign that i need to get healthy as soon as i can.  can’t miss classes before finals- just isn’t suiting.  enjoying the sun on the roof for a little while before it disappears and trying, oh so desperately to prepare for the upcoming week.  a little excerpt from last evening:

enfin: yeah my grandmother- a 65 year old petite vietnamese woman, has had an identity crisis since her living in the US.  recently, she really thinks she is a ghetto black lady who watches cops and refers to me as her cracka.

anne: oh i know. it seems as though all asian cultures drop their traditions and mold to the US way of life.  i’m referred to as yellow.  my other friend as blacki khaki, and then my chinese friend? fortune cracker.  my cousins however, they think they gotta keep it asian- whereas whenever i see an asian male, i’m just like, oh shit, he’s related to me.  doesn’t matter if he’s korean, or chinese, or japanese- i’m not too picky choosy.

enfin: exactly! the asian men wonder why we don’t date them, it’s because we’ve been taught that everyone who is remotely asian is related to us in one way or another.

anne: yes! incest… obviously is frowned upon here, yet over in asia….

enfin: anything goes.

enfin

qu’est-ce que c’est?

i can’t wait to do this with friends dans l’ete.

enfinoui got a makeoverr. sorry if things aren’t visually pleasing right now, i’m still making changes, but i thought it was time for change, yes? this past weekend went rather quickly. i spent a wonderful amount of time with bela dearest, and i watched chocolat with isaac & then some rather terrifying crime show yesterday. a and i brunched at local today, celebrating how she is a wunderbar mother to me, not to mention our stumble down the congo 8 hours earlier than usual & drinking arabica’s beans & then falling asleep listening to bobdyl. needless to say i have pent up energy, and best yet, my buddy is coming up tomorrow! he is my grandfather and i love him ohh so much. if you knew buddy, you would too, he’s just the kind of person you love. i also have to play a tennis match, go to dinner, complete a rather lengthy english assignment as well as a math one too, & in addition steep some lemonn squeezer tea. did you notice that when you give up your hope for something, that’s when it usually happens? i dislike that… very much. i hope hell goes by incredibly rapidly tomorrow- i don’t need to dabble on those premises. summer time is embroaching, and i hope i can spend it with people i want to spend it with. do we think that’s a reasonable request, deities of summer? i hope you consider it an easy task.

enfinlove (whilst floating over babylon)

whatever happened to shams?

why hello. i’m taking a little break from my long evening of homework to endulge in a bit of the blogosphere. i have one or maybe… nine observations to make about today.  the first being- its only 10:20pm and I have finished all my homework due tomorrow and about half that’s due wednesday? whatever has gotten into me… i’m not quite sure, but its certainly fantastic- whatever it is.

secondly, i played a wunderbar match today. i won, 6-1. without difficulty. my partner- e the second and i work wonderfully together, even though most would take that with a grain of salt. we want to get matching uniforms… ie neon spandex and a visor for me and a baseball cap for her. i’m not sure if she was entirely serious though.

third, i feel as though may has turned into this wild month- a: i have spring fever, i’m drowning in deadlines, tennis matches, debate banquets, family visits, pyac commitments, final projects, mainiaining my 98.1818 gpa, while still having a social life of some sort.

my last day of exams is: june 10th, unless we have a freakish blizzard, which i wouldn’t put past mother nature. afterall, i do in fact, live in maine. i’m rushing to get my stuff ready for SOS or the ocean program i mentioned, what was it- friday? my personal deadline for that is wednesday, that’s why i’m clearing my schedule for tomorrow evening, so i can dedicate it to writing and getting everything in nice order.

i haven’t been working lately. not that i feel too bad about this- you see, my job is dead, work is dead. nothing is going on. and i don’t quite feel like helping at the nextdoor business, so i am focusing my energy and my time on tennis. plus if i didn’t do that, my doubles partner would just about have my head.

the clouds parted today and let out this flurry of sunshowers, it was insane to tell you the truth- mainly because i was stuck in a mini van listening to two unsocial geniuses discuss pain killers and migranes. i also had to mind my manners and make sure not to drop any discrepencies in polite company. doug made me white toast today. it was delicious- but i get the feeling i should be more concerned with my health now. i suppose as of the end of this week, i’m going to start going to the gym so i can run. crazy- yeah? i though so too, but here’s to good health.

i will write fiction when i have the time, but right now, being it may, i feel overwhelmed, and i’m trying not to experience any anxiety or stress until the week before finals.

updates will be more frequent as this week nears an end- unless i get unfocused and off task- then you can count on seeing a lot more of enfin in the blogosphere.

ENFINLOVE.

a snapshot

oh summer, can’t you hurry up? today was the last day of my vacation, and my banal life resumes tomorrow at 7am once again.  45 day countdown though, that’s always promising. this upcoming week is ridiculous.  three tennis matches, two work days, endless projects due, college visits, and meetings galore. i can’t say that i’m excited to getting back to routine, seeing as i hate routine anyway. but one week down, means one week closer to summer and finals. i need to contact the bakery for darkroom rentals, pick up some film, writesome ficitons, watch entourage, and get some sleep. i feel drained already. i need to make money also. can’t say i’ve been good at working lately. i also suppose the busier the week, the quicker it’ll go by. wednesday is johnny cash tribute night at SPACE.  it’s also 10 months since my father passed. crazy how time does fly. currently, my head is throbbing in endless pain, and i really could use an asprin. i have been babysitting for quite some time….. can’t say i’ve had the best time. i just want to sleep. and cook. maybe i’ll go home and eat some of that chocolate cake i baked the other day. i’m so excited for the summer, can’t wait for sunrises, pinot grigio, weekend getaways, finishing stories, developing film, and biking around.  OH. i bought this wonderful pair of heels from neimans…. i believe they’re from the 70s, but they’re wonderful. perhaps a photo tomorrow. but until then…

enfinoui

 

portland hardcore

i was disappointed waking up to a rainy (and not to mention dreary) monday.  i was even more disappointed when i figured that i needed to get to class seeing as i don’t need anymore lates for the quarter.  the last thing that made me disappointed was the portland hardcore scene! i was going to go to the Apohadion on what was it…saturday evening? but i didn’t because i fell asleep watching House… go figure.  I could’ve really used going to a show because for the past few weeks i wouldn’t exactly say that my life has been the definition of the word “fun”.  i have been banasuic to say the least.  i haven’t seen many folks who i enjoy, but come to think of it, do i enjoy anyone? no… not really.  maybe a few people. but that’s not the issue.  the issue is that i missed the show and i could have prevented that by not being so sad because on saturday the entire world avoided me and my shenanigans. thus i fell asleep albeit being wide awake and ready for whatever saturday evening threw at me, which happened to be a futon and a tv with loaded cable, and a frozen dinner.  i was a bit sad yesterday but i suppose my sorrow has been expressed in the correct manner today.  in addition to how terrible my monday has been thus far let’s take a look at what’s to come.  well, i’m only in first block, thus second, third and fourth, promise to be just as forboding as well as disappointing as the weekend.  math especially.  i don’t even understand how to use a calculator to my benefit.  then again i haven’t been trying, so i suppose my inspiration level has sunk to new levels! french and latin are never fun, i’ve bitched about them many times, and today doesn’t promise to be different from any other class this entire year. but oh no! my day doesn’t end there… it ends after tennis ends, which promises to be wretched in every single way.  its my fault really.  i’ve had a gym membership since january 6th and i haven’t gone.  so much for trying to elongate my life span.  being out of shape isn’t my problem, i’m rather slender and i haven’t put on weight, but my endurance SUCKS and i probably can barely stand to run a mile.  that makes me sort of sad, but all in good time, all in good time, right? I sure hope so.  right, so tennis is from 3-5, which is not my ideal time span.  can’t say i miss the sport.  i suppose i only have one more season after this current one to participate in.  guess that’s something to look forward to.  i know i complain an awful lot about my high school life, but its really terrible.  not as bad as it could be, sure, but i hate it nonetheless and i don’t think i can appreciate it, no matter how hard i try.  i ruined film again.  so much for being me.  i suppose the only thing i’d like to do today would be finish my story, drink a few cafe au laits in arabica, and watch the food network from the comfort of my home! too bad that won’t happen.  too bad nothing will happen.

i need to remember perserverance and school will be over in five hours.  that’s what i have to remember.

rain rain go away enfin hates you and everything else!

enfinlove (hate today)

we will hustle hustle hustle to be free

I awoke with the dreaded thought that it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon, but it wasn’t! ’twas only noon, so i was a bit happier than i initially thought.  i watched a bit of stupid cable, and then i headed to arabica for toast and cafe noir and some camraderie with anna.  while there i eavesdropped and heard about this wonderful little yardsale that cap’in hanna was having! she’s a great tattooist and she is moving all the way to san fransisco! so i went up and i scored… i don’t even know how to put it any other way than that.  i got a very sweet vintage skirt, about eight lovely t-shirts, a cowboy shirt with plaid trim, a crocheted framed picture of dauchsands, and finally a spectacular framed poster of the exhibit FAMILY ALBUMS! the thing that made everything so great was the price! i only spent ten dollars, and i don’t think i will have the need to buy shirts for quite sometime! yay! over time pictures will pop up, but right now i’m really lazy and don’t feel like taking a picture of everything i got.

when i got home i was locked out, so i sat in the hallway and had to listen to my neighbor’s atrocious soundtrack of buck cherry and killa 80s bands.  i don’t know how long i sat on the floor for, and in addition to my waiting, i had no phone, ipod, and obviously no key.  pure torture, but sheer amusement.  when i finally got let in, i busied myself with laundry and sunday chores, and then finally got to cook! i made gnocchi (homemade) with brown butter kale sage sauce with white wine. i don’t know what to call the sauce because all the ingredients are equally delicious! i also made chocolate ice cream sandwiches with the popovers and chocolate sauce.  i’m planning on posting the recipes tomorrow! i also did about two hours of biology homework, and i skipped studying for history and studying the west nile virus.  i hate third quarter more than anything in the entire world. well…not really.  although this week i think i get out early wednesday, thursday, and friday! that means either i get to work longer (equals more cash earned) or i get to take afternoon naps which are always so helpful!

how was your sunday? for some reasons i just love sundays…perhaps because they are so banasuic, but also because they are comforting.

i am feeling: tired and tummy aches, not ready for the rain or for forty degree weather, i hate mondays i hate mondays!, curiousity kills de cats….i want to have a haus party with dinner and white wine!

enfinlove.
ps: i kinda want to make a blackberry plum tart! this week i’m super inspired to cook.  tomorrow i’m making a radish cucumber vietnamese salad with white rice and miso soup, wednesday i’m making cauliflower and kale soup, and thursday i was thinking honey dijon chicken with beets and sauteed mushrooms! coookity cookity cook! i wish i had someone to cook for.