Halloween and Fall links

Here are some fun things I've tagged for the fall season!

Homemade Candy Corn from Cakespy at Serious Eats

Evil Mad Science Laboratories has an awesome Halloween Project archive

Yes, We Carve is leftover from the election season, but I think it's pretty awesome still...

Skull Cards

Pumpkin Pancakes at The Iscream Truck. I've made these. They're awesome.

My favorite (and that's saying something!) recipe at Smitten Kitchen: Pumpkin Bread Pudding

I can't get enough of the orange this time of year.... Pumpkin Biscotti from Simply Recipes

I made this a few years ago, in orange and green (less strange than it sounds) and it's my favorite scarf!

Happy Fall!

The death of Reality TV?

For the last few years I've been watching a lot of what TWOP would refer to as "Competitive Reality Shows" rather than "Candid Reality Shows" (The Real World, Real Housewives..., Jon and Kate, etc) or "How To Reality Shows" (Trading Spaces, pretty much everything on Food TV that's not competitive).

I really enjoy watching Project Runway, Top Chef, America's Next Top Model and over the years have been at different times, a little too involved with liking/disliking different "characters" (aka people). However, this season I feel this has slowly been changing. Rather than analyzing every nuance of interactions between the participants, trying to decide who is winning and losing as it goes along, I have been tuning out until the runway show/dinner/photos when everything is done and I can see the final product. I don't know if this is me trying to be lazy even in my trashy television watching habits, or if reality television is finally losing its evil hold on me.

Nearly every episode of PR I've had to rewind because I've realized I have no clue what the challenge is (hint: make a pretty dress. out of fabric. yawn). I peek back in during Tim Gunn's comments, because, well, you know. Tim Gunn. He's funny, he's snarky and he always wears a suit. Then I watch those pretty dresses. And though I hate to admit it, I barely looked up during Tyra's antics on ANTM and even the narrative during TC has been leaving me cold.

Guess it's back to the good ol' television Drama. Once I start tuning out during Dexter though, get worried!

Summer Resolutions

Unlike most of the Western world, I don't jump on the New Year's Resolution train. Sure, January is a fresh start in many ways, but it has a lot of stuff working against it. It's cold. I need to finish off the Christmas cookies. The days are short. And, like most people, I have a job. Though the thought of starting fresh and getting into new habits is intriguing, but not really enough to get me out from under a fluffy blanket, snuggled on the couch next to my husband with my dog at my feet and a plate of chocolate filled butter cookies on my lap.

But this June, as the school year was winding down, I thought long and hard about all the things that I said I would do "in the summer. When I'll have time." It was at that moment that I realized that though I am not an advocate for the New Year's Resolution, I should start a new tradition- that of the Summer Resolution. So I made up a list of things that I wanted to accomplish this summer and ways to better myself. Now to make progress on it!

1) Stop being messy.
As mentioned previously, I am not a clean person. Much to the chagrin of my husband, a perfectly clean room on Sunday slowly devolves through the week as every item of clothing I own somehow ends up all over the floor and bed frame by Friday. My footsteps to bed are muffled because my feet don't actually touch the floor (J- that should be in your "pro" column). It's time I come to terms with the fact that if I'm sifting through a pile on the floor to find a shirt to wear for the day, I have a problem.

I am in fact taking this one step further than just cleaning and organizing my things, which are all nicely now either packed away in boxes to be stored for the summer or folded beautifully in drawers waiting for me to wear them. I cleaned out the little bedroom and the refrigerator (2 years and a fridge gets gross!). Next on my list are my shoes/ closet. I'm sure that this list will grow weekly!

2) Stop being lazy.
I don't like exercising. Though I will enjoy the occasional Yoga class or long walk (owning a dog is good for something! Those suckers like to walk. And they will look at you sadly with big, beautiful eyes if you don't want to), I'm not much for... organized exercise (much like organized religion. In fact, most people I know are much more devoted to their exercise regime than to G-d). However, this summer I have vowed to get off my lazy ass... which is often sitting on the couch... and start the couch to 5K program. I'm in week three. I still don't like running, but I'm pretty sure I look hotter already!

3) Take advantage of NYC
 
I hate to admit that 3 weeks into summer vacation, this is the one that I'm kind of slacking on. I want to make a date to go into Manhattan and do an activity a week... maybe a museum or the park. I haven't been as on that as I would like, but it's on my to-do list. I still haven't seen the high line!

4) Do school work

Teachers may have the summer off, but September will be here before I know it! If I'm teaching seniors (and I might be) I need to design an advanced curriculum and will have to hit the ground running! There is no faking it for a few weeks while I throw something together. I haven't started this yet, but I'm forming some ideas.


So, those are my basic summer resolutions. Hopefully I'll stick with them well past August into the new (school) year.

Trend-spotting: Vampire Edition

Now, I know I'm a bit behind the vampire fiction curve (I only read the Twilight series this year, and twilight itself was first published in 2006. The main "plus" to this is that I did not have to wait with baited breath for each new book to come out. JK Rowling, I hope you're taking notes. There doesn't have to be a 10 year gap between the first and last book in a series), but I like hopping on these literary waves as they fly by. So seeing how the vampire wave is just about to hit the shore and fizzle into the sand (am I carrying the metaphor too far?), I figured I'd try to get one more blog entry out of it. A friend lent me Dead Before Dawn, and I just couldn't help but notice...

These are just some things I have noticed are trendy in new vampire fiction:

• Telepathy. It might be the vampire. It might be the girl. But someone can read minds... and the person they fall in love with is the one person whose mind they can't read.
  
• Mainstreaming. These modern vampires want nothing more than to live among the uh, living. They want to hang out in bars, drink anything but human blood (synthetic/ animal), and have loving relationships with humans. Their favorite hobby seems to be mooning over their present relationship in a disbelieving "I can't believe I'm so in love with you" haze.
• Crime Solving. Mysterious deaths in town? Mass murderer in Seattle? These vampires will get to the bottom of your problem with their trusty gal friday! Vampires... they're the new Sam Spade!
• Socially awkward girlfriends who are mysteriously much more beautiful than everyone else, but don't really notice it. It's kind of amazing. These girls are the social outcasts that everyone is seceretly in love with. Much like me in high school, I must admit.
• Bad vampries who dress all slutty and want to kill everyone.
  
• Shape-shifters who turn into dogs/wolves and are also in love with the socially awkward girl, but she love the vampire more. But she really loves him... *as a friend*

And speaking of clothing in Dead Until Dark (et al), none the clothing that Sookie dresses in sounds pretty. She wears lots of things that I think would get her put on What Not to Wear, or that indicate that the books are set in 1991 when they were written a good 10 years later- white dresses with roses, jeans that lace up the sides in leather, blue dresses with daisies. The worst part is that all of Sookie's outfits are described in minute detail, making it so that I can't even pretend that she's dressed like a grown up. "But Amy," you're probably saying right now, "you said yourself that the female characters are socially awkward. She's probably supposed to be dressed badly as part of her characterization." However, I am mostly convinced you are wrong. I think you are wrong (yes, you are wrong) because EVERYONE comments on these outfits favorably. Everyone is like, "Wow, Sookie is dressed in clothes a decade out of fashion. She looks great! How sexy!" That just messes with me even more.

Liveblogging the Oscars: 2009 Edition

Kajal is out of town and likes my live-blogging, so Kajal... this is for you! I'm out of practice blogging- I should really start up again. Maybe the Oscars are the right time to get back on the proverbial horse! And straight off, from every news source I borrowed red carpet pictures from, I apologize. I just need the visual.


The Red Carpet...
Got a little bit of a late start here. Sorry. I probably missed all the good stuff.

1) TIM GUNN is doing the red carpet! That's amazing. Give whoever decided to do this a raise!

2) So is this lady I don't know at all. She's probably famous or something, but I don't know.

3) The cast of Slumdog Milllionaire is adorable.

4) Mikey Rourke is crazy looking. And wearing a ton of makeup.

5)I didn't realize that Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron were "America's sweethearts"... I haven't ever seen one High School Musical movie, and barely know who these kids are.

6) I love Viola Davis' dress. I don't know who she is, but she worked with Meryl Streep, and the gold dress is so pretty.

7) I love Tim Gunn.

8) Miley Cyrus' dress is a little age-inappropriate. What's with all the tweens anyway? I want grown-up actors!

Plus, when she starts talking, she's annoying. Plus, it just makes me think of that clip from a junket during Bolt! that The Soup always uses for her. I'm sure that's part of the fact that I just can't listen to her.

9) Ahhh... Anne Hathaway. Beautiful dress. Not to mention... LOVE Tim Gunn. Seriously, her dress is amazing. Like a disco ball, but pretty.

10) Amy Adams looks pretty good too. Or was that Inga Whats-her-name. They look a lot alike.
Okay, maybe not so much there.(Ilsa Fisher's picture is not from the Oscars, but is the only red carpet picture I could find where she had similar hair.)

11) There go the dorky guys with the winners. Tim is telling us about their outfits, but really, they're just boring tuxes.

12) Meryl looks good, but the dress is a little boring. Her daughter is striking though. I think Meryl should have worn a necklace.

13) Penelope Cruz is wearing a pretty cool dress, though it's a littlebridal. I love the fact that it's vintage however. Not sure how I feel about the bangs.


14) Jack Black has a SEXY wife. Though I wish her dress was a little more formal.

15) Marissa Tomei- Her dress is kind of like something Leanne from last season's PR would have made with all the pleating.


16) Did Seth Rogan lose weight? He looks pretty good. Maybe he was just heavy during Pineapple Express.

The Oscars!!

8:30: Starting right on time. Good job Oscar-people! Lets see if we can stay on schedule!

8:31:See how much I follow this stuff. I had no idea that Hugh Jackman was the host. That's a little strange right? He's not a comedian or anything...
Kate Winslet looks pretty.

8:32: My sound keeps knocking out. This will piss me off before long. Hopefully it will fix itself.

8:33: Kate Winslet's hair doesn't look all that great. The front does, but the back is strange.

8:34: Craigslist dancers? AH! funny...

8:35: Anne Hathaway is wearing a different dress already? This one looks kind of like an ice-skater's costume.

8:36: A Frost/Nixon romantic drama might have been nice...

8:37: Okay, The Reader part was super funny. "I didn't see the reader...I meant to see it"

8:38: I'm Wolverine. Okay, maybe Hugh wasn't a bad choice. Still a weird choice, but at least he's funny.

8:39: Meryl Streep's daughter is afraid that Hugh Jackman is going to do something crazy to her, you just know it.

8:40: Love Angelina's green ring.
Is Meryl Streep the Susan Lucci of the Oscars? No, she won in 1979. Nevermind.

8:41: Whoops. The curtain isn't opening for the montage! Kind of a dull montage, so just as well.

8:42: Tilda Swinton is kind of adorable. I love that she doesn't wear makeup. Or at least lipstick and eye shadow. It's adorable. Did I say that already? Well, she's wearing lipstick now, but she wasn't the year that she won. Unless she ate it all off.

8:44: Uh, what are they doing to Viola Davis? Oh, she's nominated for best actress.

8:45: Whoopi, that was funny "It's not easy being a nun." And Amy Adams is adorable. And I LOVE her necklace. Though I better watch out- J thinks she's pretty cute too! Did two of those women who got nominated come from Doubt? Amy and Viola? Hmmm... I don't think I even heard of that
film!

8:47: Huh? This is only best supporting Actress. Really? Hmmm... That's quite a set up! Yay Penelope! Joe and I didn't see this film yet.

8:49: Uh, why is Penelope still talking? Isn't there a time limit? And anyone want to give me the Spanish?

8:53: Tina Fey looks beauty-ful! Steve Martin looks dashing too! Love her earrings!

8:54: They're pretty funny.

8:58: Sorry, I was in the kitchen beginning to heat up some Trader Joe's Coconut Shrimp to nosh on. J and I ate dinner at like, 4. We're a little hungry. Hopefully the deep-fried aspect won't make me sick so
I'll miss the rest of the Oscars, and dead-blog (uh, regular blog) the Oscars later. Fingers crossed.

9:03: Team Jen! and Team Jack! (He doesn't necessarily need a team, but he deserves one). I kind of like her hair.

9:04: What's with the closeup on Brad and Angie? For what it's worth, they're laughing and look fine. Of course, they're friends with Jack Black. Right? Damn, I'm behind on my celebrity gossip- I haven't read an US
Weekly in a month!

9:07: Is anyone surprised that Wall-e beat Kung Fu Panda?
I watched Mamma Mia on Friday, and might I just say that I am thrilled to get to see Meryl not wearing overalls.

9:26: What's with Robert Pattinson's sketchy facial hair?

9:32:That's an interesting color for Natalie Portman's dress. Kind of Barbie-pink. Don't know how I feel about it. Hmmm... Ben Stiller is doing a kick ass Joaquin Phoenix though.

9:34: The camera man is more interested in the clips than in Ben Stiller's being funny. People
are laughing and I don't know why. Good. He caught up.

9:35: Who was that who was returning to their seat? Aren't there ushers to stop this kind of thing?

9:57: I'm a huge musical fan. Why is homage to the musical number leaving me cold?

10:01: My puppy is fast asleep. Adorable.

10:08: I didn't even see The Dark Knight, but I'm glad Heath Ledger won for Best Supporting Actor.

10:10: Stupid E! Online won't let me copy their pictures.

10:13: Did the documentary lady just curse because she cursed? Funny.

10:27: I haven't heard any songs. Are they not doing that this year? Usually at this point I've heard like, 5 songs that are up for an Oscar. I didn't miss it, did I?

10:29: The Dark Knight is doing well. I still can't believe I haven't seen it yet.

10:40: I'm bored.

10:43:Aw. I want to give Jerry Lewis a hug.

10:46: Seal is hot. How do Heidi Klum and Seal even exist in the world without it imploding from their combined beauty?

10:51: Ah, here's the music.

10:54: Zac Efron has gross looking hair
Slumdog Millionaire is doing pretty good too! Another one I haven't seen. I barely watch movies. It's embarrassing.

11:01: Oh, I just realized, another Barbie-Pink dress. Is this in honor of her 50th Birthday?

11:05: Uh, are we really living in an age where a commercial where a woman is looking at vacuum cleaners as her love is appropriate (Woman lusting after Hoover Platinum while "At Last (my love has come along)"
plays- I couldn't find a video)? Is feminism really dead?

11:18: Reese Witherspoon is wearing an interesting dress. I don't know how I feel about it exactly. and the whole HD thing is making it so I can see all the flesh-colored supports that are supposed to blend from
this distance. Well, I suppose that answers a lot of my questions about celebrity clothing. But in general, I'm pro-Reese, so I won't get too picky.

11:26: Ah, here we are, the money awards... or as they say, the "highly anticipated" ones. Sophia Loren is still alive?

11:27: Halle Berry is so cute.
Anne Hathaway is back in her beautiful dress. Whew.

11:30: We are officially over time now. Meryl looks amazing. Sophia Loren should lay off the plastic surgery. Wowzers. Sophia Loren then Sophia Loren now.


11:31: Maybe I'm just a sucker for Nicole Kidman, but I love her sparkly feathers and her adorable hair.

11:32: Anne Hathaway had the most joyus and genuine reaction for Kate Winslet. That was sweet.

11:34: The whistle thing was adorable.

11:35: "I think we all can't believe we were in a category with Meryl Streep at all!" ADORABLE!!

11:40: What happened to Adrian Brody's hair?

11:41: Anthony Hopkins is super awesome.

11:43: Sean Penn won for Milk. Which I assume he was great in. Give yourself a cookie if you realize by now that I haven't seen it either. Sigh.

11:44: "You commie, homo-loving, sons of guns." Love it!

11:46: REPEAL PROP 8!

11:47: Steven? Stephen? Spielberg. I'm still a little bitter with him over Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Yes, I've seen that. Sigh. I'm an embarrassment.

11:53: Slumdog Millionaire won best picture. Excellent!

11:56: Done. Not too shabby! G'night!

On Demand

I have always ignored the on demand channels on my cable box, because I get no fancy cable channels, so i figured they would be worth nothing to me. Then a few years ago I found out about exercise tv on demand (channel 1025 on Time Warner Cable NYC), which is free and lets me pretend to be healthy while not leaving my living room.

But today I was looking to see which channel exercise tv was for a friend of mine (I never said I actually used it), when I discovered that there's a lot of normal tv on demand. I can watch My Super Sweet 16 on Demand. The Barefoot Contessa on demand. Demetri Martin on demand (channel 1012 on TWCNYC). This is facinating. I don't know if I'll ever use it, but it's kind of neat to know that the option is there.

Blogging Sandra Lee- A Very Special Christmas Present to You!

Some of you might know the infamous food-tv host Sandra Lee, whose show, Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee, has given hours of amusement to me, Brianna and Gillian among countless others.

One assumes that somewhere in the world there are people who actually like Sandy with her crazy tablescapes, boozy cocktails and re-purposed food. Luckily, they don't invite me over for dinner. When I noticed that Sandy had her very own Christmas Special this year, I decided that I had to watch it and blog it so that you could avoid having to watch it yourself. So grab a beer-garita, make a centerpiece out of car parts, and enjoy.

1- Sandy is not looking too hot these days. She's kind of... orange. And her decollage is really tan and looks sun-damaged. She is fair, she should be more careful.

2- Sandy, honey, lay off of the bedazzler. That shirt has been jeweled within an inch of its life.

3- Self-serve cocktail bar. Actually, that's a pretty sweet deal. One place where Sandra Lee doesn't mess around is her booze.

4- Sandy is a little too excited about the fact that she doesn't have to "play bartender" her whole party. Somehow, my guests have always been able to mix their own drinks themselves for years.

5- Secret for faux-mojitos that look "professionally made": fresh mint. How do you make a mojito without fresh mint? And the names! Mistletoe mojito?

6- She's making a turkey. So far I see nothing semi-homemade. Seems normal turkey-making to me. She's pouring broth in the bottom of the pan. I have no clue why. She also seems to think that stuffing compound butter under the turkey skin will make it "self baste" and therefore save time. I don't think she understands what basting is.

7- I'm not even going to comment on her "cranberry glaze". All I have to say is: canned cranberry, orange juice and orange marmalade.

8- She stuck candy on the edges of all her guests cocktail glasses. That annoys me.

9- She's making stuffed mushrooms, and so far I'm kind of impressed of how little of this is semi-homemade. She de-stemmed her own mushrooms, chopped the stems, cooked sausage, chopped leeks, but now she's using pre-packaged cornbread stuffing. The way she said this was as if people who were not semi homemade might be spending all of their time making cornbread from scratch in order to use it to stuff mushrooms. Thank goodness we have Sandra Lee to save us from ourselves!

10- Special tip from Sandy. If you light candles, you don't have to tend to them the way you would a traditional fire, and will have more time for your guests. Seriously. That's her time-saving idea.

11- She seems to be serving passed appetizers. Herself. She buffets the drinks but then spends her time passing around mushrooms on a tray?

12- Ah, here's some semi-homemade. Canned potatoes and cream of potato soup in the potato-leek soup. Whew. I was getting worried.

13- Cream of potato soup and organic chicken broth in the same pot... sigh. Sandy, Sandy, Sandy.

14- Her tablescape this year is very black and silver. It feels very 80s to me.

15- They just showed a basting shot. How dare she lie to me!

16- Crap. Sandra Lee has fire. We should all run for our lives!

17- I wonder how much they pay the people at Sandy's party... right now it seems they pay her in booze.

18- My friends are way to lazy to do this build-your-own-cocktail bar. But could she not garnish just one glass?

19- Who does all of their cooking during their party? Wouldn't you do most of this before hand?

20- Why is she so amazed that cupcake batter is so thick? Oh- because she "semi-homemade-ed" up the box-mix by subbing out water for milk and adding instant coffee. So thick! How amazing!

21- She's making these cupcakes in mugs. Can you just put a mug in a 350 degree oven? That sounds wrong. I think you would just end up with crappy cupcakes in a puddle of ceramic shards.

22- Sandy's friend just called cool-whip "your famous whipped topping". Scary.

23- Just stop it with the garnishes. Why can't these women lay off the garnish?

24- Princess bites?

25- Her turkey looks gross- I think she just pulled out the raw turkey. I swear it's still pink.

26- She's cooking on a gas stove top, but there's no flame. How peculiar...

27- It's cocktail time (again)!

28- She's got a heavy hand on the white chocolate liquor.

29- Oh! A garnish-less glass. How did that lady luck out? Of course, maybe luck is too strong a word. After her first sip, she looked like she wanted to hurl.

30- She just used about $20 of fresh herbs as garnish for her turkey. And a bunch of fresh cranberries. And some pears, but at least she can use those again! Seems semi-homemade is not too easy on the pocketbook or on the stomach.

31- Oh! we're using pre-made cupcakes as a base for our dessert. First, we take chocolate cupcakes with no icing (she did say "cupcakes or muffins" so they might be muffins) and chop off the top. Then we scoop out the middle and fill it with the most amazing filling. Yes, you guessed it right. Cherry pie filling. There is your cherry center. Then make a "beautiful presentation" by making a shell out of aluminum foil. Now, for the wreath, use pre-made icing with peppermint extract and make little stars. It seems we just dicard the tops. Excess. Why do they make cupcakes with tops? And OF COURSE a wreath needs a big bow. It's very easy. So first get a fruit strip. I don't know what this is. It looks kind of like a skinny piece of red and green fruit rollup. Then take the ends and roll them into a big bow. Pinch it in the middle and boom! An edible bow! "How sweet" Then she just sticks it onto the icing. Now, if you want to get "fancy" we can kick it up a notch. Put a dab of icing in the middle of your "bow" and put a red hot in the middle. The final touch- green sugar sprinkles. How festive and pretty..and gross.

32- Winter white wonderland meets disco chic with black and white. That is her theme for her tree and her tablescape. The executive editor of InStyle magazine just complimented it. Remind me never to buy that magazine, as their taste is obviously suspect. Oh, and now she's helping put together the tablescape. So black and sparkly. Just screams Christmas. Her table cloth is just from the fabric store- beautiful black velvet with sparkles! And finally, where you would expect food to go on your traditional table is a big oval mirror covered with cake pedestals of various heights with one black or white ball ornament in it. How does she come up with it?

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get this post written in time for your holiday festivities, but hopefully you can use some of these *amazing* tips for your next party, or even start planning for next year.