lady mary; or how natural reserve translates to a brilliant Halloween costume

yes, yes, yes. Halloween is over. Mid-week Halloween translates to parties before and parties after, and sometimes really late parties. For once, I didn't actually throw a Halloween party, but simply attended one at a dear friend's house.

I've been planning a turn as Minnie Mouse for years, ever since I got a red polka dot dress that's a bit too short and a bit too low cut to wear without some tights and covering layers. It, a black sweater, black tights, my favorite yellow patent leather flats, and some gloves would put me ninety percent to Minnie. It's my default costume. I even made ears and a bow on a headband. Everything was ready and hanging on my door.

but, I couldn't commit. I'm not fond of cutesy and Disney, and I am absolutely against Halloween as a way to encourage women to dress in a manner they'd be horrified to do any other day of the week. I'm all for an excuse to dress up, but I've a lingering disassociation with all things Disney. I don't quite get it, but there's a visceral dislike, for me, of the attendance of the parks and of the grown people putting on mouse ears. No matter that it might be the most easily recognizable costume I'd put on in years...I just couldn't feel comfortable.

Then, wonderfully, the night before the party {upon Halloween itself} it came to me: Lady Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey, played by Michelle Dockery. She's pale. I'm pale. she has dark hair. I have dark hair. The character is reserved, sometimes downright snotty. Believe me, I'm reserved and absolutely snotty. Stick my chin out, look down my nose, we're good to go.

I did go through quite the closet overhaul, looking to find just the right 1920's but not flapper sort of look. By the point in the fourth season {series, if you're British} the British audience is currently watching, Lady Mary is coming back out of herself after a horrific tragedy. She's got the dropped waist and boyish figure part of the fashion, but she's an aristocrat. There won't be flappers at Downton Abbey, unless we count her young cousin.

I wanted something immediately recognizable as Lady Mary, so it was an absolute stroke of luck that my mother has a cocktail dress in her wardrobe that is both the burgundy purple Lady Mary often wears, and boasts the sort of sheer overlay the character just wore in the most recent episode. Alas, it was far too short.

the internet led me to this photo, from S4, E6

After much creative pinning and cutting and fussing, I managed to overlay mom's dress, a chiffon ankle length dress, a sheer wrap, and numerous brooches. A bracelet masquerading as a tiara completed the effect, as did some marcelling of my hair...though I may possibly have wondered where my lady's maid Anna had gotten off to when I desperately needed help.

The only thing missing were black elbow length gloves, but I cut the legs off a jumpsuit from our Halloween bin and sewed up the insides for a fingerless variety. I was in such a tizzy to be off, only one good picture captured on my phone showed my complete effort.

Still, the party was most delightful, I was in a room filled with Downton watchers, and my costume made me feel like Halloween should: dressing up but as an awesome other version of me. It's why so many people dress as superheroes.

"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Keillor

A Midsummer Night's Dream: or a final hello to my twenties

this August 27, I turn twenty-nine. Frankly, this number is far less stressful than twenty-five was, even if it is the start of my final year as a twentysomething. I've greatly enjoyed my twenties, and I'm looking forward to my thirties.

Perhaps it is a growing maturity, but all the things on my mental checklist that freaked me out by their lack of completion by twenty-five aren't such a bother with thirty looming. Thirty doesn't even seem to be that great at looming. It is just there, the next milestone, something else to celebrate on the road of life.

Even though I'm approaching thirty with a friendly wave and a cheery "hello," I'd still like to mark the final year I get to be in my twenties with a bang. As such, there's to be a party.

I've invited as many people as I can {which is still a fairly small number} and have planned a fancy dress party. If Jay Gastby threw a "Midsummer Night's Dream" themed party in my backyard, this would be it.

Planning and prepping for this boho bacchanalia reminded me that while I often blog here about my menus and post photographs from this or that bash, I've never really explained how I go about dreaming and planning a party.

styling; or how the internet confuses me into a larger closet

the other day, I tweeted & Facebook-ed a simple thought: "sometimes I think about what I want to wear tomorrow and forget that the things I've pinned on Pinterest aren't in my real closet."

Quite a few of my friends responded positively...we've all been there. You look and look through Pinterest at all the pretty clothes and pin outfits and styles, thinking "I like this and I don't like that, oh that would be pretty with that skirt over there, and shoes!" It is a great time killer, while you still feel as though you might still be creative. It gets worse when you add Polyvore to the mix. 

I'm still on the fence with Polyvore. I like Pinterest the way I like tearing photographs out of magazines, as an inspiration for styling myself and my home. I like seeing how the women on the street look, how the stylists make them look, how one adorable skirt looks great in one photo and not so great in another, depending on the cut, the rest of the outfit, and the woman. 

A piece I love by itself I might hate on a woman who is built like me and love on a woman like Christina Hendricks, or maybe Mila Kunis or Karlie Kloss. With Pinterest, a lot of the time it's about the feeling in the photo...so long as we're thinking Pinterest for clothes. It also does a lot of the best and worst looking recipes to be found online, has home decor stuff, and is possibly the widest range of workout motivation/fat shaming quote boxes I've ever seen. 

But regarding clothes, I can be a lot more difficult to see how that blouse you have that looks like that one picture would go with that pair of jeans from another, until you get to Polyvore. It's where every person in front of her computer gets to become the stylist. I've been there a while and admittedly still don't understand the following other people function, because most of those styling boards are on Pinterest anyway. That doesn't stop me from styling away though.

Polyvore seems to bridge the gap between Pinterest's aspirational clothes and what is actually hanging in your closet. You won't find exactly what you already own, unless you're covered by designers who show at the Paris haute couture shows, but you will find lots and lots of things that look remarkably like what is hanging in your closet. It might be an easier way to decide what accessories to pick up to go with a dress you already own. I've played around a bit:

Like I said, I'm still on the fence, and I still tend to spend more time on Pinterest than Polyvore. Still, it is nice to have a site where you are the active participant in creativity instead of the passive consumer of it. 

"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Keillor

party time! let the holiday season begin

it really does begin with Thanksgiving: that mad rush of forced family visits and catching up with friends, adding an extra dash of glitter to hide the snowboots, twinkly lights, romantic dreams, and a pushing mass of humanity, all searching for something the holidays can't give, if it's not already there.

that paragraph makes it sound like I'm a total Grinch, I know. That is only because I haven't yet explained how I've fallen asleep on the couch every night since I put up my twinkly decorations, with all the other lights off and a puppy snuggled into my side.

The first snow fell the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, the morning nearly my entire family trudged across the road and through the field to have breakfast at the restaurant next door. I put up the decorations that afternoon, my mom and her sister bickering over how to deal with their mother, that grandmother telling me I'd missed a spot on the tree, and my favorite {only} girl cousin studiously readying herself for finals, more than 2/3s of the way through her BSN in Nursing.

I love Christmas, the early snowfalls, the baking, the extra family time, and the joy of finding just the thing to make everyone happy when they open it on that special morning. This year is going to be particularly busy: not quite a week before Christmas, my best friend and I head on a journey to Indianapolis, St. Louis, rural Illinois, and back to throw a baby shower, visit her family for the holiday, and make it back to mine on Christmas Eve. It is going to be hectic, stress-inducing, and fabulous.

But for now, I'm kicking of the season right: a slumber party. Yes, a number of nearly thirty year old women are spending the night at my house. We'll be ogling the best of British actors with a triple feature of Bridget Jones' Diary, Love Actually, and The Holiday...all whilst stuffing ourselves with bread and cheese and curry, veggies, gingerbread cookies, and wine. I'm putting a huge pile of toasted bread on my coffee table, with all the dippings and chese scattered around it and calling for a free-for all. Movie nights call for informality and frivolity. and popcorn later.

To keep things in a festive mood, there is bubbly Pinot Grigio in my fridge chilling right now. Plus, to keep us up for 369 minutes of movies, I'll be mixing up some creamy Holiday cheer {equal parts Bailey's and hot espresso, shaken over ice until frothy and cold, poured in a martini glass}. It's all a recipe for a fun and delicious slumber party, right down to the cozy party favors. We're all thinking lounge clothes and are happy for at least one holiday party that doesn't require something with a control top or high heels.

I've already worked out my ideal version of Saturday's outfit on my newest time waster: Polyvore. Even though I can't find a reindeer jumper, I did manage to pick up some fleece leggings. score.

holiday slumber party by vmrvictoria

I'm not kidding. This is cozy time & friend time, and a time to stop all the crazy and just enjoy the season for what it is: a time of love and gathering. What do you do to escape the crazy and share the love this time of year?

"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Keillor

lips; or how do other women wear lipstick

this is not an advertisement. I wish I had been recompensed for the glowing review I'm about to give, in any matter at all, but I have not. See, I love to hate lipstick. I'm pale, my lips are pale, and I'm a Chapstick kind of girl most of the time.

That is, until I see scores of pictures from New York Fashion Week, pictures that will bleed into London and Paris and Milan Fashion Week pictures. I'm transported by the pretty and interesting clothes, transfixed by new footwear designs, and completely flummoxed by the makeup.

I manage just fine with what works for me {lotion and translucent mineral powder, concealer, bronzer, eyeliner, mascara, and blush}. I play happily with eyeshadow and face paint as necessary for smoky eye or Halloween occasions.

Then I swipe some Vaseline {petroleum jelly, ick, I know, but it works}, chapstick, or a light lip gloss on my lips and head out the door. I've played with lip sticks of the long-wearing, no running variety. I always leave a stain on my coffee cup or the color bleeds unattractively across my face. Even tinted glosses don't quite work: either they leave my lips chapped or look all sticky and shiny.

I do not care for lacquered lips, or ones that look a particularly unnatural shade. I do, however, care to play with another feature of my face, one of which I am quite proud. That is why I finally followed Emma Stone's contractual advice and bought some Revlon.

Let me first admit that I'm impossibly cheap. I glory in Rimmel, N.Y.C., and CoverGirl makeup. I love the looks of Chanel and Dior palettes and nail polish, but my personal makeup cost threshold is somewhere around $5. Nail polish, about $2. Foundational powder, about $7. Eye shadow, about $3. Something that I'm going to wear once on my lips and hate forever more? about ninety-eight cents, because that's how much mint flavored Chapstick costs.

Still, every now and then I see a pretty color or look at the packaging and say, "sure. why not?" That is exactly how I end up with dozens of lip colors that get given to my mother a week later. She can wear lipstick.

Finally, again, I went ahead and sprung for the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable lip stain. {in other randomness, what marketing department comes up with these names? obviously they work, as I've just bought five different colors, but "just bitten kissable" is not a collection of words, beyond kissable, that I want to hear put in that order regarding my lips. just give me something called "no-run, moisturizing lip color"}

It is pretty, comes in a bunch of colors, lasts all day with just one or two light reapplications, and best of all has a mint flavor that doesn't tingle even chapped lips. It claims to be a good moisturizer, but you'll still want Chapstick so that you're not constantly building too much color on your lips. Now, though, that clear white stick won't wash out your lip color.

Various colors work well from summer to fall and winter, and with no eye makeup and a dark smoky eye. Take a look for yourself, as I pout unnecessarily at the camera while wearing, from top to bottom, "Charm Creme," "Sweetheart Valentine," "Smitten Eprise," and "Romantic Romantique."

"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Keillor

new year; or why we should be fun & festive in the dead of winter

true, it isn't winter everywhere in the world. In some places it is summer, in others the weather doesn't actually approach the traditional thoughts of winter. Still, there is no reason that we have to pretend that since the "holiday" season is over we still don't sometimes want an excuse to dress up and gather together. Here in Pennsylvania, we need the accumulated body heat over the next couple of months.

Christmas and New Year's is over, bringing an end to the traditional gorging on family gatherings, cookies, and tipples. Most are still sticking to their resolutions; it's still only the second of January. But when that time comes that most have completed their yearly resolution let down, be ready to throw  a party. Right now, we are all sick of seeing each other...or not seeing the people we want to see, having been forced into family stuff {not me, I see my family every day, but I've just had two days where we closed the store in the span of one week. I'm energized and ready to go}.

For my family, New Year's Eve is generally a night for a bit of fancy dressing up, then sitting around the kitchen table eating and drinking. Usually a few friends drop in, we watch the ball drop, drink something fizzy, eat some more and go home. It's pretty low key and completely enjoyable, so long as I don't lose the Trivial Pursuit game that may or may not pop up most years. Mom always spends a bit of time playing with the bayberry candles to be certain they burn out properly and completely for good luck...and this year was no exception. Dad hand dips the candles because it is nearly impossible to find bayberry tapers to burn each evening from Christmas Day until they burn out completely for good luck before midnight on New Year's Eve.

I got a bit carried away with my new "remote commander" for the camera and some fashion-y, vaguely arty shots before my Christmas decorations came down. Enjoy, keep reading, and look for more food, fashion, and randomness to come throughout the year!

"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Keillor

magic; or how cozy evenings of roast beef & a fire kindle the holiday spirit

traditionally, autumn and winter are times for warm food prepared in a hot oven. The sort of thing that heats a house and heart with spice and aroma, that sticks to ones ribs and feeds a primordial hunger for meat and fattening for hard times. Even now, when we can get any tropical fruit shipped to a snow-bound suburb, we tend to congregate about the hearth and hot meals. Hot cocoa, warm puddings, anything fed with flame warms us in the winter months and holiday season.

In this time, I so enjoy a cozy knit and the idea of red wine in front of a fireplace. I have the knits, and the wine, but no fireplace. Still my house is pretty cozy without it. When the snow begins falling softly and seems to cover all other sounds with whispers, the idea of a sizzling roast in the oven and mashed potatoes on their way seems all to decadent. When I consider how easy both are, it makes me smile and break out the invitations.

Lately, I've also been more excited about the traditional in my clothing. Sweaters that used to belong to my mom combine so nicely with old skiing socks that were my dad's. Boots and the simplest of jewelry combine to make a basic but most cozy outfit. In a few months I'll be going crazy, begging for sunlight and warmth and freedom from layers, but now it's still a novel experience to bundle up against the elements. The sky is still a windblown, heather-filled, lavender blue and snow is so close you can smell it. Once Thanksgiving ends, Christmas begins. It is a magical time of year for the child in all of us: the one who still turns out the lights and leaves the fairy lights to glow in the tree, falling asleep on the couch to Bing Crosby and the scent of fir and vanilla in the air.

Roast Beef
1 large chunk of beef (usually to be found at your grocer or local butcher, labeled beef roast)
kosher salt
pepper
2 to 4 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

Turn your oven to 400 degrees and heat a large cast iron roasting pan or high-sided skillet on top of your stove. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan and allow it to become hot. Place the roast in the skillet, sprinkling with the salt & pepper. Allow the roast to brown, then turn and brown again so that all sides become browned a slightly crunchy (this will take a minute or two per side). Once all sides are browned, coat the top with a bit more salt and pepper, also any herbs you like (such as rosemary) with beef. Remove from the heat and place, covered, into the hot oven. Allow to roast for 2 to 3 hours, depending upon the size of your roast. Even a small roast (four pounds or so) will feed four or five or more people.
Continue to check the water level in the pan as you are cooking, as you will want the bottom to become slightly dry but never burn. If all the liquid evaporates, add enough water (or red wine) to cover the bottom of the pan.Once the roast is cooked through but not dry or overdone (you'll want the internal temperature to be no more than 160 degrees F as you remove the roast from the oven).
Remove then place on a carving plate (just a regular dinner plate is fine). Allow the meat to rest while you whip the mashed potatoes and make the gravy.

Gravy
Place the hot roasting pan backonto the top of the stove on high heat. Allow any liquid (ideally, there won't be much or any at all) to come to a boil or the drippings to begin to pop, hiss, and spit. Add enough water to come up an inch or two on the sides of the pan, scrapping the flavorful bits into the liquid. Allow it to come to a boil. If you do not have enough drippings in the pan to make a dark broth, add some canned or packaged beef broth to the pan and allow it to boil.
Mix no more than one cup flour and enough water to make a smooth slurry together in a separate bowl. This is your thickening agent. Slowly pour this into the boiling broth, whisking everything together to prevent lumps. Add only half of you mixture at first until you see if the gravy is the correct consistency. Add more if it is too thin, more water if it is too think for you & your family's preferences. Allow it to again come to a boil to cook the flour, then place in a serving dish. Slice the meat with a large sharp knife and serve.

 

"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Keillor

basics; or why mashed potatoes should never come from a freeze-dried packet

all too often, I get into tight fixes. I use my judgey face on my friends, they laugh at me for having grown up in the metaphorical 1950’s. It turns out, freezing milk in ice cube trays to simply pop into one’s cup of coffee in the morning is a silly way to save the extra milk one doesn’t want to spoil before one might drink it. Also, musicals are no longer a widely viewed from of entertainment.

Somehow, that also translates into the idea that people are shocked by parents that pulled a chair up to the stove, popped a four year old on top, handed her a spoon, and told her to keep an eye on the sautéed onions. I’ve always been precocious, but it may well have been encouraged.

So, for me, the basics of cooking came through some sort of olive oil osmosis. I watched, I was handed a spoon, things were explained as they happened. All too often, I fully expect my closest of friends or just acquaintances to have the same knowledge. That is exactly where my judgey face comes into play. What I think are the simplest of things aren’t for everyone. They simply did not learn how. All too often someone needs to put me in my place and remind me of that simple fact. When no one teaches something, no one can learn it either.

It is hard for me to understand how grown men and women don’t know how to cook, how to even read a recipe and end up with a simple dish. It is particularly the simple ones that get to me. Rationally I know it is just a lack of education, but still, sometimes I’ve just got to reign it in.

and so, like some sort of traditional cooking fairy, I bring forth the easiest of recipes that all too often gets shoved into a packaged, freeze dried, and reconstituted with boiling water. For shame! {this is my judgey face} Bring on the comforting, easy food!

Mashed Potatoes (seriously. super easy.)

For four-five people

4 medium potatoes

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons butter

¼ cup (or less) half & half or whole milk

Peel the potatoes and cut into 1 inch square chunks (no need to make them actually square, just about that size). Place in a large pot, cover well with water, add about 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and boil, with the lid on, for about 45 minutes. The potato chunks will give easily to a knife slid into them. If you’re in a hurry, cut the potatoes into smaller pieces and they will take less time to cook.

Drain the water from the pot, then add the butter. Mash into a fine meal, then add some of the half & half. At this point, you can either use a whisk to beat the potatoes and dairy into a fluffy mass or an electric hand mixer. Add more cream if necessary to thin the mixture, but you’ll recognize the appropriate texture when you get there. Don’t add to much cream or it will be runny. It is always better to have to add more than have too much liquid.
For a variation, you can peel only half of the potatoes and leave the skin on the rest, or toss in a couple of chopped cloves of garlic when you begin cooking.

"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Keillor

tradition; or how Americana works as an homogenization of the immigrant experience & enchiladas

some days are all about Americana. The Fourth of July. Thanksgiving. Those traditional days where you remember what it was like as a kid, where things may or may not have looked like a Norman Rockwell painting but you sure thought they did. As the traditional "holiday" season begins here in November, things seem to speed up. The end of the year is just two months away. It brings up all sorts of hurry and rushing and pushing for the right gift, the right event, the right party, the right partner.

Everyone has their own memories and traditions, their own versions of Americana. Somehow, it usually seems to involve some idealized 1950s version of a happy home and the perfect roast turkey...or at least some attempt at creating that. But, it's just not that easy. Families squabble. Silences erupt at all the wrong times. The dog eats the turkey. Your cousin refuses to eat the turkey...it's entirely the story of the American dream.

Except, the American dream comes directly from people who weren't born here, or whose parents, grandparents, or ancestors traveled here for just that dream. I am always fascinated by the immigrant story, because we are all immigrants here. It's what kills me about people who are terribly concerned with people who aren't "real" Americans. Either anyone here who chooses to be is a real American or no one is. and, sometimes, the most American of things are things that have been rooted in something else and adapted, bastardized, made a bit more homogenized.

I have a terrible time when my non-American friends ask me to cook them a traditional "American" meal. I know of nothing we still eat that is really an American meal, that does not have roots in the myriad cultures that have shaped the American experience. We have taken pizza, spaghetti, tacos, pommes frites, myriad Chinese dishes, and many others, taken them, changed them, and added them to the repertoire of even the most anti-immigrant American cooks.

Some days cry out for bubbling cheesy goodness. It's really one of the most American things I can think of, right up to the point that I remember that bubbling cheese is also really a Swiss tradition. ah, well, such is life. Currently, one of my favorite bits of cheesy goodness also works great as a leftover pit as well as a testament to the American tradition of adapting the food of our more recent immigrants. Enchiladas involve spicy goodness, a hot oven, bubbly & crispy cheese, and a snazzy way to use already cooked meat.

Enchiladas (recipe for a red sauce and actual enchiladas)
First, you'll need to make a batch of salsa roja. This makes about six cups, which is more than you will need for one family-sized batched of enchiladas. The best idea is to make the sauce, then freeze the extra. Then, you'll have just enough waiting for you to throw everything else together.

Salsa Roja (only barely adapted from The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors)
4 ounces (weight) dried red chiles
3 cups hot water
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 onions, diced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
4tablespoons flour
2 tomatoes, diced
1 and 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Remove the stems and seeds from the chiles, then soak (covered) in the hot water for an hour. Then blend and set to the side. Saute the onion, adding the cumin and flour when it has begun to caramelize. Continue to saute for another five or six minutes. Add the blended chiles, chicken stock, and vinegar. Cook for another five to ten minutes, remove from the heat and blend. You can use an immersion blender or stand blender for this. You'll need about a cup of this sauce for one batch of enchiladas.
To freeze, either place all the sauce on a sprayed cookie sheet and freeze, then break into chunks and separate, OR place 1 cup servings into individual small plastic containers and freeze.

Enchilada Filling
onion, chopped
Bell pepper, chopped
shredded or chopped cooked meat (chicken, beef, or pork)
salsa, homemade or from a jar

saute the onion and pepper in a bit of oil, adding the meat, then salsa. Y0u may need to also add some water to add moisture to the already cooked meat. Cook for five to ten minutes until the filling is hot. Sometimes, a bit of corn is a delicious addition.

For the enchiladas, mix enough filling for two enchiladas (about two tablespoons per enchilada) per person. Use smaller corn tortillas, lightly heating them in a skillet just before you fill the tortilla. Add a bit of cheese, rolling the enchilada, and placing it in a sprayed casserole dish. Fill the dish, spreading the salsa roja across the top. Add a bit of water, then cover everything with cheese. Bake at 415 degrees until the cheese has bubbled and crisped across the top. Allow five or ten minutes of cooling time before serving.

 "Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Kellior