Ode to an Inspired Life

Oh hai Vivienne Westwood

Tea time just got a little more haute now that you can have your favorite fashion folk over for a cup. Prêt-à-porTea, a 5 tea party pack offers up some fashionable faces to adorn your pretty tea cups. The party invites include Yves Saint Laurent, Naomi Campbell, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood and what looks like …

I might not eat land meat, but I can definitely appreciate how glamorous it would be to serve a golden turkey to your unsuspecting guests next Thanksgiving. Replace the turkey with a golden piece of tofu and I’d be ecstatic. Of course, since it has been about two years since I’ve eaten meat, maybe my meat eating readers are shaking their heads at my insanity?

The Deli Garage, a “food cooperative” and makers of this odd but super cool “food finish” assure that it’s food safe; completely harmless and tasteless.  If golden turkeys aren’t your bag, what about golden olives for a super fancy dirty martini? Or …

If you’ve walked into a Starbucks in the past year, you’ve probably noticed these tiny treats lining the display window.  Cake and frosting is mixed together and covered with a chocolate candy coating and of course, presented on a long lollypop stick. These fancy little treats look labor intensive, and while there are a few steps, they’re not much harder to make then a cupcake. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t get the hang of dipping the first time around, just look at my lumpy but totally still cute (and delicious!) pirates.

Pirate Cake Pops
(recipe adapted from Bakerella)

Makes about 25-30 pops

1 Fully Baked Cake (I used Duncan Hines French Vanilla)
1 Can Frosting (or make your own! Recipe to follow at bottom)
1 Bag White Candy Melts
1/4 Bag Red Candy Melts
Black  Edible Food Writer or Black Gel Food Coloring
25-30 Lollypop Sticks (I used 8 inch, but they were pretty long, 6 inch is probably better)
Styrofoam

Let’s Make Cake Pops! …

via thedecorista.com

Last summer, I found the apartment of my dreams. Spacious but cozy, with high ceilings, big windows and lot’s of natural light, it was almost perfect. Why almost? Well, the apartment needs a complete renovation. With a gutted kitchen, uneven floors, doors with cut out holes for (I suspect) cats, and a bathroom that looks like it’s housing several diseases,  this is no “move-in” ready deal. With a little imagination though, you can definitely see its beautiful potential. Plus, it’s  in the same neighborhood that I already live in and have grown to love, and even after doing a full-renovation, it will still be way under the price of other “move-in” ready apartments I had seen in the same area. So, after months of struggling with a co-op board to be able to begin remodeling the place, we’re finally on our way. Of course, this means the hard part has begun. …

As a thirty year old suburbanite, I need something to entertain myself while I wait in the long checkout lines in the grocery store after a long day at work. Frankly, I don’t care who wore it better or who is dating who in Hollywood. My sex life is fine thank you. So I usually flip through Marie Claire because, despite thinking Nina is the worst judge on Project Runway, I enjoy the how-tos and the product reviews. Every fall, many magazines do a piece on how to pick the perfect jeans for your body type. Many women don’t know how to buy the proper pair of pants; upstate NY might be the world’s capital for muffin-top. There’s nothing worse than body-spillage to make a person look misshapen and larger than they truly are.

I have my own personal interest in the matter. Sir Mix A lot raps that some girls have an L.A face, but an Oakland bootie. This is my fate. It’s called having an hour-glass figure – narrow, high waist and a full hip, thigh and, well, you know. The junk in the trunk. No matter how much weight I lose, I cannot lose my caboose. …

Breakfast tostada at La Boulangerie Lopez

A New York City staple, brunch is the time to nurse our hangovers, boast conquests and rue defeats from the night before, and eat a heaping helping of the delectable menageries that arise from the simple, yet glorious, union of breakfast and lunch. I know that sent you running for your nearest menupages.com, but I’m here to help – in a hyperlocal, microcosm type of way. Below you’ll find the top spots, well known and obscure, to eat this satisfying meal in the still-grungy (and therefore more awesome) South Slope/Gowanus area of Brooklyn. …