I bake in high heels

I am not domestic, and I certainly do not bake. However, I've spent 3 years cultivating and nurturing a very fertile lemon tree that bears beautiful, fragrant, gigantic lemons. I adore them and I was so excited to pick the first ripe one on Wednesday, but once I held it in my hands I had no idea what to do with it. After staring at it every morning in my kitchen I finally decided that I needed to set aside my baking reservations...temporarily...VERY temporarily...and make a cake with it.



This is the first cake I've ever made, and after tasting its delicious perfection it will be the only one I will ever want to make. You must try it. I have a couple slices left, I'll give you one. ;)

Here is my pictorial baking journey and corresponding recipe. I like to weight things and my brain operates in the metric system, I'm a scientist, I can't help it, but if you need conversions to inexact means of weight determination they are in parenthesis and greatly discouraged :)

210 grams (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
113 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
100 grams (1/4 cup) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
120 ml (1/2 cup) milk
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Lemon Glaze:
66 grams (1/3 cup) granulated white sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice





Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter the bottom and sides of a loaf pan. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.


Beat the butter until softened with an electric mixer or a strong hand (I discourage the latter). Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.


With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.


Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the 66 grams (1/3 cup) of sugar and the 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

When the bread is done, remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Pierce the hot loaf all over with a wooden skewer or toothpick and then brush the top of the loaf with the hot lemon glaze. Cool the loaf in the pan for about 30 minutes then remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.



If you can't resist the smell, you may eat it while hot with ice cream (like I did).

To Keep You Warm

I was too sick and scared of the 25F weather to leave my house on Friday night- Luckily, the TPWP music contributor was there to tell me and you all about it - Here is his review:

I'm finding it exceedingly rare to see a rock show with influences that span more than one genre, let alone more than one generation. That's why I was so surprised to see one on Friday with influences ranging from The Kinks to The Killers, Social Distortion to Sam Cooke, Morrissey to (Charles) Manson. Iota Club and Cafe, in Arlington (gasp, suburbs, I feel the same way as TPWP but we'll soon see that it was worth the trip) is normally home to folky singer songwriters and their bohemian ilk, but on Friday it hosted a ROCK show.

The Payola Reserve opened with a selection of songs from their two proper albums and their forthcoming third. The Baltimore four-piece mines influences from rock, pop, country and R&B and fuses them into lush concoctions of melody and noise that throw you on the ground, pin your arms back, and scream "LISTEN TO ME!" The rhythm section of drummer Ken and bassist Danny keep the band in perfect time and add exciting flairs while lead guitarist/keyboard player Al's distinctive styles move to the forefront between verses delivered by singer/rhythm guitarist Ben in his lonely lilt. Their signature original song, Lost Wind Craze off their second album, "200 Years" was the show stopper...was...until they closed the set with a blistering, face melting version of Revolution Blues, Neil Young's Charles Manson character study from his seminal 1974 release, "On the Beach." Much like the Manson family itself, the Payola Reserve's rendition of this chilling song deconstructed as it went on, disintegrating into a beautiful, captivating mass of lonely, crying notes and drum beats, Ben's howls and Al's shrill guitar lead buttressed only by the repetitive pistol pop rhythm from Ken and Danny.

Following the Payola Reserve was DC's own US Royalty. TPWP has already sang their praises in this space, so I won't belabor the point beyond echoing her sentiments. Their influences are primarily modern (they are quite young), but quite good, and they deliver their tunes with a confidence and sincerity that belies their age. Lead singer John is a budding rock star, a ball of energy sitting to pound his keyboard, jumping up to shake a tambourine, running back to the mic to deliver a verse, you can't take your eyes off him. That's not to discount the rest of the band, who are much more than a vehicle for his showmanship. The musicianship is tight on all fronts and you can't help being sucked in by such strong songs, a logical evolution of bands like The Cure and Franz Ferdinand.

They are the two best (and coincidentally fitting for this blog, most well dressed) local bands I have seen in 7 years in the Baltimore-Washington area.

2 of a Kind

The TPWP architecture contributor called me a few days ago exclaiming "I just visited the best furnished clothing store in the city." A very grave statement from a very discerning guy - so I rushed to visit this store, expecting, I dunno, something shockingly different. Instead I found a very simple and subtly creative store which he describes as a great example for aspiring retailers that are looking to stand out - without spending too much.

For The Greater Good is a 2-month old Menswear Outpost in the newly nascent shopping hub of the 1700 block of Florida Avenue. They have an eclectic mix of young designer labels and contemporary mens fashion brands such as Comme Des Garcons, Stone Island, Maiden Noir, Public School, Red Wing, Clarks, Common Projects, Fullcount Japan, APC, Shades of Greige.

This is what our contributor finds special about the design of the store - They started with a great blank space of concrete floors and white walls and created a sophisticated interior aesthetic by using simple walnut boxes to display clothes and to create a register





They used simple, inexpensive materials to build their clothing racks




They injected character with a clever addition of inexpensive vintage speakers


They elevated the design of the space with a Bertoia Diamond Chair in the dressing room and an Eames walnut stool in the store.




Successfully AND inexpensively they have created a space with a clear statement relevant to their store and their clothes - conversely to many big-box-retailers who over-design spaces, spend thousands of dollars, and end up with a space with an undefined point of view.

After Christmas Drinks

My favorite thing about the Target designer capsule collections is their element of surprise. How we are kind of in the dark about what they're going to do next and suddenly you receive an email about them partnering with your favorite designer (I'm still waiting for that day) and it's kinna like a small Christmas, because now you know the date of release and you wait excitedly for the goodies to arrive to the Christmas-colored store.

I had that giddy feeling when I read that Target had partnered with designers Toni Hacker and Ben Harnett to launch a limited-edition handbag collection, Hayden-Harnett for Target®. I fell inlove with their designs at HH:Design Shop in Brooklyn, their charming little store in which you can find much more than just bags. This is definitely my favorite handbag collection so far, at least in pictures, they look beautiful and so well designed. The bags range from $19.99 to $49.99 and will be available in stores right after Christmas from December 28, 2008 through March 15, 2009.

These are my favorites:

Corner Clocks

The TPWP architecture contributor showed me this brilliant idea of a wall covered in panels made from a vintage map of Washington DC (picture at left from Apt Therapy). Since I love everything vintage I became obsessed with the idea of recreating this for my non-existent blank wall - so I set out searching for antique maps, and then my search evolved to anything I could find that was vintage-DC-related and found some marvelous little treasures - a lot of 9 DC area high school yearbooks from the 1930s, a 1859 complete issue of "The Semi-Weekly Constitution Newspaper," a porcelain license plate from 1907, and most fascinatingly - a dozen images of streets and people in Washington DC from the 1920s.

The city is so charming in those pictures, so cosmopolitan it seems, so vibrant. Delightfully for me, most of the pictures were taken around my current neighborhood - and now I've spent hours analyzing the images, wondering what each of the little people in the photographs was doing there, where they lived, how they got there, what they thought of the city. I've also been trying to figure out what the un-labeled buildings were, and researching the labeled ones. Below are my favorites:

Oh yeah, and you can purchase the reproductions of these images for ~$15 by following the links under each.


11th and F St. NW Washington DC - Trolley Scence from 1918 - can you recognize this corner?


9th and G St. NW Washington DC - The famous Moore's Rialto Theatre - 1925


New Hampshire Ave and 8th St NW Washington DC - Traffic lights with old Model-T - 1925


F Street NW Washington DC - Treasury building in the backround - 1915


13th and F Street NW Washington DC - Rapid transit bus - 1925


905 F Street NW Washington DC - 1920s - A record store that also sold sporting goods (right window), this is actually one of windows of the current McCormick & Schmick's, back then each window was a different little store.


9th and F Street NW Washington DC - Movie theatre street scene - 1928

Topman USA

This Fall edgy men have no more reason to complain about lack of fashion-forward items at a reasonable price in the US. Lucky for them Topman, the male counter-part of the cult-favorite Topshop, launched its US website in September.

If I was a guy, Topman would become one of my major one-stop-shops - not only are the items very fashionable, but they range from formal wool suits to socks and umbrellas, and are very reasonably priced. One of my favorite things about Topman is their capsule designer collection, because to my knowledge there aren't any other major stores in the US doing designer collaborations for men - and it's not fair that we (girls) have all the fun. The newest of these available this Fall is called Priceless, by Antony Price, the meticulous master craftsman who is known for dressing rock and roll royalty. You can also buy other edgy brands on their website - Self, H by Hudson, Swear & Nanny State - any of these is otherwise very hard to find on this side of the Atlantic.

It was hard for me to pick my favorite items from Topman, there were so many colorful and fun cardigan sweaters, I could've made an entire post about just them. Alas, here are my selections - all the items are under $200!



Items clockwise from top left (sorry outgoing links don't work): Self jersey blazer with vintage metal buttons, Premium grey bomber jacket, Knit vest, Denim western style button down shirt, Retro watch, Indigo slim jeans, Blue patent retro high top, Red reflective plimsolls, Black low profile dress shoes, Green canvas bag, Smart Umbrella, Bright cotton cardigans, Knit scarf.

Anglomania

So sorry for the extremely long absence.... I've spent the last two weeks laboriously preparing for a presentation and tragically the effort monopolized ALL my time.... I'm so glad it's over.... I really missed you :(

I am sad I wasn't able to share these pictures with you earlier, but here they are. They are from the Vivienne Westwood Trunk Show at Muleh - the event was so much fun, specially playing dress-up with Rachel, she tried on our favorite dress from the collection, and she looked like a princess in it. I also photographed Carrie's wedding dress from Sex in the City, it looked surprisingly small, I think because it was missing the train, but it was nice to see it in person.


The Party:










Models parading clothes from the collection:









This is me trying on one of my favorite pieces - this gunmetal grey raincoat:



Rachel twirling around in the dress:



Carrie's wedding dress: