apologies for the delay...i'm back, and with muffins! well pancakes...

hello! things have been pretty hectic the past couple of months moving back into the city and starting junior year, but i promise to write more frequently starting now! i actually found this recipe quite awhile ago and in a fit of procrastination, made this incredible pancake muffins. the logic behind them is basically that sometimes you just don't feel like making pancakes, so if you make muffins that are actually pancakes, you'll have them for a few days AND you can dip them in syrup. what a sweet combination. i made a few healthy substitutions in the recipe, which i've noted...so i suggest making these, even if you're trying eat well =]

Mini Maple Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins.
(adapted from bakerella)

1 cup flour (*i used whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar (*i used splenda)
2/3 cup buttermilk (*i used skim milk mixed with a few drops of lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes)
1 egg
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (*i used low fat syrup)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (*i used dark chocolate! but mostly because i prefer it...)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Sift together with a wire whisk.
• In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips. Reserve a few chips to sprinkle on the tops.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes.

Makes 12 mini pancake muffins.

Let cool slightly and remove from the pan. You may need to use a toothpick around the edges to separate the pancake muffins from the pan.
Serve with warmed butter if you like or even just with maple syrup.

something both really awesome and a little bizarre...

today i discovered these bathtubs...that are shaped like stilletos. and, while i'm a little perplexed as to why or how anyone would ever have one of these, i can't help but admit how much i'd love to have one in my own bathroom. they're designed by an art mosaic company called sicis and have their own name - the audrey. they come in three different designs and measure 165cm or 65" tall at their highest point as well as 270cm or 106" in length. i don't particularly love the designs, but i think the concept itself is kind of cool, and not to mention unusual. on second thought, i'd probably prefer one in solid white or black...

via: ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com

new obsession: pete oyler

i came across pete oyler's work the other and was in complete awe. the first thing i saw were his stretch shelves that consist of something that looks like a really wide and sturdy rubber band plus three to four (or maybe more?) pegs that go into the wall. both modern and practical, these shelves are the perfect decoration for a contemporary home. they come in fun, bright colors, too!

oyler is originally from louisville, KY, but now resides in Brooklyn after graduating from RISD in furniture design. i'd characterize his pieces as somewhat quirky and definitely unusual, two things important to cheer up any room. while you can't purchase his art through his website yet, i'm sure it will be available sometime soon...at least we can hope!

via: http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/

apparently inanimate objects can be polite...

perfect for city-dwellers, i came across this "polite umbrella" designed by jooyoun paek. because it can easily scrunch up just a touch, it's perfect for battling the streets of any crowd in the pouring rain. i'd like to somehow obtain one of these myself, but i can't seem to find a way to purchase it. nonetheless, this umbrella, amongst other clever creations from paek, can be viewed at his website: http://jooyounpaek.com/politeumbrella.html

before...

after...!!

via: http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/

i still can't get over this...

last week's contemporary routine from SYTYCD...jeanine and jason dancing to "if it kills me" by jason mraz. choreographed by the one and only travis wall (:

stages: art for a cause

this is a bit delayed because i actually discovered these awesome bikes a few days ago, but better late than never! so, lance armstrong has now collaborated with Nike in asking 20 professional artists to design bikes to raise funds for cancer awareness. the project is entitled "stages" and the exhibit to display the bikes and other artwork will continue until august 8th at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris during the length of the Tour de France. it will then travel to new york city in october before moving to los angeles. all proceeds will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and some of the bikes (designed by artists Kaws, Shepard Fairey, Marc Newson, Kenny Scharf, Yoshitomo Nara and Damien Hirst) will actually go to lance himself for remaining 2009 races. pretty awesome, eh?

via: ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com

something else i want - a cupcake tub.

despite the fact that these remind me of my all time favorite food (cupcakes), they seem to be quite useful, versatile and adorable. these "sweet cake tubs" can be found on this german website for a whopping 149 euros ($210). but, if you're using the cupcake-liner look-a-like as a pet bed, planter, sand box or wading pool, i think it's worth it. so awesome.

via: allthingscupcake.com

george watsky: hysterical poetic genius

you'll need some willpower for these...

snickerdoodle blondies!

i made these last night to take on a picnic today and they were definitely a favorite. chewy on the inside with a sweet cinnamon-sugar topping, i highly recommend making these asap. they just require the basic ingredients of any baked good and they go fast!

Snickerdoodle Blondies
adapted from Dozen Flours

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
a pinch nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and/or line a 9×13 inch pan. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside.
2. In large bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar for 3-5 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, and beat until smooth.
3. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be somewhat cookiebatter-ish, so it’s best to spread it out with a greased spatula or your hands). Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
4. Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool before cutting. Makes 20-24 bars.

via: crepesofwrath.net

threadcakes! sweet. [pun intended]

even though the threadcakes competition has been around for two years now, i just recently found out about it. in 2007, a man named chris cardinal had this brilliant idea to turn the artwork on threadless tshirts into edible art through a baking competition. contestants are asked to interpret, not necessarily replicate, the image on any threadless tshirt into an edible cake. there are two categories, 2d and 3d, and the goods produced are quite awe-inspiring. although, i would probably feel terrible tearing into one of these gorgeous babies. they do look quite yummy nonetheless!

the contest doesn't end for another few weeks (august 3rd), so if you're feeling particularly ambitious today or even tomorrow, it's not too late to enter. you can read more about the rules and competition here: http://www.threadcakes.com/home/rules

via: http://ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com

un peu d'inspiration...

via: lookbook.nu

we'll just call this..."the clara"

while i was away in north carolina last weekend, my friend danielle's mother, clara, came across a recipe for watermelon mint lemonade. and, though that sounds perfectly delicious, clara decided that adding a bit of vodka wouldn't hurt...since we were on vacation and all. in addition to the vodka, we made some other adjustments, such as cutting out the watermelon (we got hungry) and adding cranberry juice instead. oh yeah, we also didn't put any mint in because we forgot. so i mean, this is a completely different drink than we decided to make initially, but i'd say it turned out for the better! it was quite refreshing and the perfect summer cocktail!

the clara:

ingredients:

sliced lime

cranberry juice

orangina

orange/citrus flavored vodka

ice

fill 1/4 of a large glass with ice. cover ice completely with vodka (feel free to add more if you, too, are on vacation). fill another quarter of the glass with orangina or any other sparkling orange soda and top off with cranberry juice and a slice of lime. enjoy (:

adapted (if you could call it that) from: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/watermelon-mint-cooler-00000000015882/index.html

yeah i'm going to need one of these...

a british architect was designing his own home when he asked his children what they'd like to see most in their house. this is what they had to say:

the house is completely environmentally friendly too. how awesome is that? i may have to put one of those in my future home...not even for children...for me. (:

via: http://www.ohdeedoh.com/

more british awesomeness, art, and now anonymity!

i was recently shown a video portraying artwork by pseudo-anonymous  british graffiti artist banksy, who apparently took over the bristol museum in the uk...and by took over, i mean he basically filled three stories of a building in 36 hours with his work while only a few staff members and the director had knowledge of his plans. banksy's art, which commonly satirizes politics, culture and ethics, is now intermixed with the museum's usual exhibits and separated into rooms by type (installations, paintings and sculptures). for example, one of his paintings was described as having "one of the characters cut out and is instead sitting on the painting's frame, perhaps taking a break from posing." that's awesome! and to get a better idea of what i'm talking about, you should watch this:

so in case you live in bristol and happen to be reading this, which is unlikely, you should go to the bristol museum sometime between now and august 31st to see this sweet exhibit. and in case you don't, let me know so we can go together.

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

suggested by: someone else anonymously awesome (:

james roper: all-around awesome artist...and he's british!

so basically i saw some of this guy's work on another blog, freaked out, went to his website and proceeded to spend a serious amount of time looking through all of his art. he's located in manchester, england (which is sick) and he's only 26 (which is impressive). he just graduated from college for fine art a few years ago and has already had quite a number of shows around europe, as well as being published in 8 different books and magazines.

he draws inspiration from fashion magazines, animation stills, comics, the internet and his own work to create art  that he feels "registers a visual 'peak shift,' a term given to the phenomena of 'neurological attraction' that appears in both humans and animals to an extreme characterization of an object." it's also been suggested as one of the "10 universal laws of art," and while some use the concept for advertising, roper utilizes it to trigger neurological hyperactivity. how stimulating!

not to mention, roper can legitimately do any kind of fine art, and well. he paints, draws, does graphic design, sculpture and film. his concepts are innovative and mind-blowing, and all of his work is super colorful, which makes me want to just fill my future-apartment with his art. no, seriously. this one is definitely my favorite:

the last noteworthy thing you should definitely see is roper's collaboration with robert bailey from 2005, which consists of 3972 images "collected by typing each word from a pocket dictionary into an image search engine and saving the first image to appear. if there were two definitions, the first two images were saved, and so on" (below). what a sick idea. i just wonder how big it was in real life, but i couldn't find any measurements on the website. 

in other words, james roper is awesome.

http://www.jroper.co.uk/

http://jamesroper.blogspot.com/

inspired by: http://blog.freepeople.com/

sophisticated sand art: jim denevan

so basically this guy makes drawings in the sand with sticks, which would sound simple or even dull if they didn't look like this:

while these photos don't even begin to do denevan's work justice, they do illustrate the grandeur of the art seeing as there is, in fact, a tiny person situated in the middle of the designs. supposedly he works up to 7 hours and walks as far as 30 miles to make his work sans any sort of measuring tool. after his pieces are done and photographed, they end up disappearing shortly after as the water washes up on shore. sad? yes. but awesome? totally.

http://www.jimdenevan.com/

channeling the swiss family robinson and all their treehouse glory...

so i came across what can only be described as the coolest website ever, 

and by cool, i mean innovative, unprecedented and just plain awesome. i present to you: http://www.baumraum.de/

and i can honestly say i tried to pick just one treehouse to display, but i'm pretty much obsessed with each and every single one. completely revolutionary, these internationally constructed tree houses come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from locations in the woods of hungary to hills of austria. 

again, they are totally eco-friendly. the result of a research 

project "with the aim of producing a solution to green belt housing issues," these tree homes are comprised of recycled materials and self-sufficient features such as built-in solar energy, wind generating electricity supplies, rainwater collection for washing up and a self cleansing external finish. home-owners can start with one bedroom and simply add modules whenever desired. 

i can only imagine how much these babies cost, but all i can say is that it's probably worth it. if you're a fan of your childhood, the environment, living a minimalist lifestyle or trying something new, the initial expense of these future-savvy abodes would pay-itself off with merely nominal expenditures on utilities.

the only downfall to the website is that it is mostly in another language (german, i think?), but even just looking at the photos is mind-blowing. i'd suggest clicking on the british flag to start and then making your way to "designs" 

and "our projects." you will surely be amused and fascinated for hours. and then, you will fall in love with tree houses and want one for your very own backyard. (:

inspired by: http://www.stylewillsaveus.com/

s'mores bars - uhwoah.

so these girls in my dorm last year started a food blog called Nosh&Tell...and it's kind of really awesome. they usually bake and cook themselves, but occasionally they'll write restaurant reviews from nyc and their hometowns. i have a feeling i'll be borrowing a few of their recipes for my own blog in the future, but this one was just too good to pass up. these s'mores bars look totally ridiculous and they don't sound all that difficult to make either. granted, i haven't exactly tried making them myself, but i will soon enough! if you decide to make them, please let me know how it goes. 

S'mores Bars

From Lovin' from the Oven (adapted to fit a 13x9 inch pan)

3/4 cup of butter (1 1/2 sticks) room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar*

2 large eggs*

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 2/3 cup all purpose flour

2 cups graham cracker crumbs*

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 giant sized milk chocolate bars (I used Hershey's)

1 7.5 oz jar of marshmallow fluff (or more if you want a thicker layer of marshmallow)

*Healthy Swaps: 3/4 cup of sugar as opposed to 1 full cup, egg whites instead of whole eggs (2 egg whites per egg called for), and crushed Low Fat graham crackers for my graham cracker crumbs.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate medium sized bowl whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix until combined (use low speed on electric mixer).

Divide dough in half. Press half of the dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place the chocolate bars in a layer on top of the dough. I fit two giant Hershey bars side by side and then almost all of the third one, I had to take off one column of squares on the third Hershey bar and then laid it next to the other two. Whatever kind you use, if necessary break the chocolate to get it to fit in a single layer over the graham cracker. Spread marshmallow fluff over chocolate layer. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough with your hands into small square shingles and laying them together). 

Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

-makes around 28 depending how big you cut them.

http://noshandtell.blogspot.com/