Friday Love List: Cooking Up A Storm & Kids These Days

Embroidery on photographs is an amazing idea. I fucking love this.Via Candy Ping Pong; More here!

 

The back of the ladies’ toilet door at Enigma cafe on Courtenay Place

 

That door is always covered with the notes and scribblings of local misfits. Enigma happens to be the best cafe close to Cosmic on Manners St, which has been my focus at work lately (and I will be back to it soon: heal, leg, heal fast!). The courtyard out back is a really good spot to just hide away for a while – every now and then, I plonk myself on a table in front of the heaters with a pot of fruit tea and do some planning. I always have a few flashbacks to the old days, when it used to be Espressoholic (“open 8am ’til late am”) and I would regularly be in there to lounge around, smoking and studenting, sipping on the best soy chai latte around.

 

Nathaniel Goldberg for Harpers Bazaar, via Ffffound

 

Right now I have a whole lotta love for:

♥ Plotting from my couch throne.

♥ Six Barrel Soda Co.  A boutique soda shop and cafe on Eva Street – I can’t wait to check this place out.

♥ It pleases me greatly that Karl Lagerfield is a crazy cat lady. From the article: “She eats with Karl at the table, twice a day, and her every action and emotion is recorded by the maids in a journal…” Love it.

♥ Auckland! NZers stereotypically love to hate it, but I think it is awesome. My being such a mess when I lived there five-or-so years ago got in the way of a full appreciation of the the place’s charms. It actually wasn’t until a holiday last November, spending a week chillin’ in the CBD sunshine, that I realised how cool it is. The inner city is so great, especially around High Street and the Britomart precinct. I miss the big sky; the more diverse, busier city; the tall, old buildings and everything being open late.

♥ The Wire. We just finished watching it through for the second time. Such an amazing, smart, hype-transcending TV show.

♥  Finding it hilarious how old and nefarious this article makes me feel: How Rave Music Conquered America

♥ “It’s the most valuable collection of western modern art outside Europe and the US.” Former queen of Iran on assembling Tehran’s art collection

♥ Cookbooks! I decided to grab a handful of vegan ones recently because, even though the internet is a jaw-dropping resource for all things food related, there is an indefinable something about flicking through a good book of recipes that makes cooking a lot more fun. Also, I can never return cookbooks to Central library on time, ever; checking out How It All Vegan every few months was becoming an expensive habit. Finally, it’s on my bookshelf permanently!

 

Heels by Hades, via Hades on Amazon.
As much as the words ‘steampunk fashion’ tend to colour me cynical, these shoes are fucking awesome.

 

Keeping My Head Up + Monday List of Goodness

Belt by Mother of London. I covet every single item in her webstore!

Right now I am in recovery mode.

Thank fuck for the energy and strength that embracing wholefoods has given me, I would be a complete mess instead of a mini-mess otherwise.

What happened? I was standing up, giving my kittie a hug (she rules!), when I moved my leg and slipped a little, which caused something unfortunate to happen internally. Aaaargh! My doctor reckons I ruptured a blood vessel in my upper thigh. All I know is, I had been able to walk comfortably again, even run a little, do a little yoga and now I can’t. I had been able to sew again and now I can’t.

After being on the road to recovery for so long, finally feeling the warmth of the light at the end of the tunnel, I gotta admit I have been feeling really challenged by this new bump I gotta get over.

I have been laid up for a week and it is frustrating as hell – I’ve cried my way through a lot of tissues lately, that’s for sure. There have been a lot of deep breaths. I know that what I have to do to get through, though, is try to focus as much as possible on what I can do.

I can stretch out on the sofa with the laptop and write, research, set goals for Kitchen Rebellion. I can cross stitch and chart new designs. I can cook, carefully. I can dive into my documentary collection. I can motivate my shy ass to start networking online.

Dress by Marianna Barksdale, via Lancia.

Lissa’s List of Goodness:

♥ Recently Marilyn Manson was part of the Guardian’s ‘This Much I Know’ series. I think it’s a fun read.

♥ Starting Kitchen Rebellion! My brand new healthy food blog. I am excited and motivated about this project and have big plans! Watch this space: www.thekitchenrebellion.com.

♥ Obsessing over the kitties – they make such amazing shapes! I am such a cat lady. Vive le furry creatures!!!

♥ Being assigned a new role at work recently, and bringing myself around to seeing it as a great opportunity to flex different muscles and level up my management skills, instead of a sidetrack from visual merchandising. I am looking forward to making a lot more progress with my mission when I am back on my feet.

♥ JUICING. I asked Cam for a juicer for my birthday. Best idea ever. We have been juicing fruit and vegetables at least once daily since it arrived at the house mid-June. Love love love.

♥ Another birthday treat was a massage, and a haircut with one of the artistic directors at Cathy Davis Hair Design & Day Spa. I wish I could remember the name of the woman who cut my hair, she is truly fabulous!

♥ Havana’s organic espresso blend.

♥ The seaside drive from Owhiro Bay around to Lyall Bay. God help me if I ever live far from the ocean.

♥ “Senior citizens occupying a house is something we’ve never seen before.” Berlin’s ‘oldest squatters’ have taken over a community centre that has been marked for closure due to being in the way of someone’s real estate development plans. The youngest person involved is 67, the oldest 96.

♥ My lowriding black bloomers. Slinky.

♥ John Robbins: Life on the Frontlines of the Food Revolution.

Today I have been appreciating the grey, misty sea view from my kitchen window, leftovers for late lunch (vegan stuffed capsicum – YUM) and snuggling up in my fluffy fur scarf.

Kitchen Rebellion

Via Ffffound

I’ve started a veganish food blog, called Kitchen Rebellion. It’s my new baby, check it out: http://www.thekitchenrebellion.com

Rolled Oat Revelations

Dreams of Space by Fleck, via Ffffound

Pre-dawn lifeplanning over blueberry porridge.

I’m trying my best to get into breakfast lately. Right now it’s all about the rolled oat combos. Favourites so far:

1/3 cup rolled oats, 1 cup rice milk*, plus:

• chopped dates and cinnamon with walnut pieces on top (the simple one)
• frozen blueberries, cinnamon and LSA, with brown sugar & chopped walnuts on top (the fancy one)

I’m loving this being-up-early scenario. Sleeping city, quiet house, tea brewing, pottering productively. I’d love to be awake at 6am every day but the only time I am is, like today, when I wake up in the early hours and can’t get back to sleep again! I’ve been awake since 3.30am! Insomnia isn’t the sole culprit this time around, though, one of my molars has decided to start yelling “DESTROY!”.

Hopefully the ‘ol head-in-sand ignore-and-it’ll-go-away response bears fruit, because there is no way in hell I am paying for dental work right now.

The sun just began to shine outside.

Time for some balcony-seaview-cup-of-tea action.

I think I’d be lost without the ocean.

* So.much.better than soy; get on it

Tuesday Love List: No Diggity, No Doubt

 Via Ffffound

♥ Ginger beer; huge-ass 750ml bottles of ginger beer. Hell yeah.

♥ Making a game plan to cope with my frazzled nerves: I’ve let myself become super stressed out, worrying about things that I don’t need to. Time to refocus, move past this bump & get positive again.

♥ Date night! Just what I needed; I have the best boyfriend ever. Cam & I went out to the Roxy in Miramar, to see the Avengers (which was awesome; I love you, Robert Downey Jr) and have a lush dinner at CoCo, the theatre restaurant, beforehand. It was my first time at the Roxy and it was so, so much more satisfying than slumming it in the Reading complex. Tickets are cheaper, too, only $15 for an adult. The food and service (and cocktail list) at CoCo was amazing, we’ve already planned our next feast there! The Miramar locals are spoiled, I swear. There’s a lot of action happening in that little community.

♥ Baking a dozen vegan chocolate cupcakes. Icing them. Eating six.

♥ Visiting Newtown, which I hadn’t done in way too long. Opportunity for Animals ftw! I really like Newtown, it’s an eclectic as fuck part of town, real unpolished and down to earth. Reminds me of rainy student op-shop days & Port Royal rollies. In a good way.

♥ The following t-shirt, 100% on my want list:

Via Ffffound. This rocks my world so hard.

♥ My merchandising contract being extended! This has been my main work-related goal for the last three months, I’m proud that the hard work paid off. Part of my new game plan is going to be working out how to best keep cranking my Cosmic gig without it taking up space in my brain that 100% needs to be reserved for Acid Cult. Things feel kinda crazy at the moment, but I’m gonna figure it out and grow from the madness.

♥ Making a list of Wellington restaurants that have tempting menus, for future dining adventures.

♥ Taking the train out to Petone for the first time in years. Petone has this weird kind of charm; I lived there for a brief, mad whirlwind and have had a soft spot ever since. I love how the railroad from Wellington to the Hutt runs right alongside the harbour, the view is so wonderful. This particular day, my mum met me at Petone train station, and we drove out to a little cafe in Lower Hutt, called Shine, for a belated Mama’s Day lunch. Delicous food, good coffee (!!!) and it was fun hanging out with mum. It’s always good to catch up with her, get the family gossip!

♥ Spiderbait‘s victorious cover of Black Betty.

♥ Speaking of which, I’ve been thrashing a ridic new walking soundtrack recently. Highlights: Blackstreet – No Diggity; Marilyn Manson – Little Horn (& also the Death Song); Sean Paul – Get Busy; Incubus – Certain Shade of Green; Tupac – California Love; Spiderbait – Black Betty; Eve – Who’s That Girl?

Via Ffffound

It’s gonna be allllll good.

Vegan Goodness: Masala Baked Tofu, Roast Potatoes & Isa’s Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy

 By Frieke Janssens, from her series The Beauty of an Ugly Addiction, via Ffffound

MASALA BAKED TOFU  ♥

From Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

For the masala marinade:
3/4 vege stock
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce/tamari
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
2 tbsp curry powder
3 cloves garlic, minced

Tofu:
You’ll need 1 block (about 400g/14oz) of extra-firm tofu, pressed.

If you know how to press tofu: awesome! FTW! Skip this next paragraph. If not, read on. Pressing tofu is the key to unlocking its awesomeness. It’s really easy. You’ll need paper towels, a heavy book, a couple of cans. Stack ’em in this order: paper towels, tofu, more paper towels, heavy book, cans. Let the stack sit for 30 minutes, then flip the tofu, restack everything & leave another 30 minutes. Viola! Tofu ready to marinade.

What to do:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F.

Combine marinade ingredients in a wide, shallow bowl (I make the marinade in a small bowl then transfer it to a 9 x 13″ baking dish instead, work with what you’ve got, it’ll be all good)

Cut tofu widthwise, into 8 equal pieces. Slice these corner to corner to form triangles. Marinade for at least an hour (up to 12), flipping after 30 minutes. Remove tofu & set aside marinade.

Spray baking sheet w/ nonstick spray (I put a layer of lightly canola-oiled tinfoil in a roasting pan instead). Place tofu down in a single layer (I drizzle a little extra marinade on top of each piece as well). Bake for 20 mins. Flip the pieces. Spoon a little marinade over top. Bake another 10 mins.

Serves 2 hungry people, 4 snackers.

 Via Retronaut

EASY AS FUCK ROAST POTATOES ♥

What you need:
5 med. unpeeled potatoes, washed & roughly chopped
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp herbs & spices that you like (I mix 1/4 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
1/2 tsp sea salt*
black pepper to taste

What to do:

Preheat oven to 190C/375F. Pour olive oil into a large ziplock bag (or reuse a clean plastic shopping bag) & add potatoes; seal bag & shake so oil covers potatoes. Add herbs & spices, salt & pepper. Seal & shake again.

Lightly oil the bottom of a roasting pan and spread potatoes evenly in a single layer. Bake 40 – 45 minutes, flipping after 20 mins, until potatoes are cooked through. Stab with a sharp knife to see if they’re done.

So simple, soooo good. Serves 2 hungry people, 3 snackers.

 Via Retronaut

LISSA’S VERSION OF ISA’S PUNK ROCK CHICKPEA GRAVY ♥

In case you don’tevenknow Isa is a badass vegan chef & author; her book ‘Vegan With a Vengeance’ is a bible for conscious eaters everywhere, and is where the original recipe for this gravy comes from. Until I made this last month I didn’t think that fucking amazing, mouth-watering vegan gravy was possible.

What you need:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
I onion, diced
2 tsp mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed, then mashed (mash ’em good!)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground coriander
3 tbsp soy sauce/tamari
Juice of 1 lemon

What to do:
Sift flour into a bowl & slowly add water, whisking while you do so to destroy any evil lumps that wanna emerge. Set aside for later on.

Heat a large frying pan/skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and let heat for 20 seconds or so, then add onions & mustard seeds; cook for about 10 minutes, until onions begin to brown. Add garlic & saute 2 more minutes.

Add chickpeas, herbs & spices, soy sauce & lemon juice. Mix well. Lower heat & pour the flour mixture into the pan. Mix well. Cover & check every couple of minutes until gravy starts to thicken, then stir constantly until it’s as thick as you want it. If gravy is too thick (or if you fuck up and forget that it’s on the stove for 10 mins), add water by the tablespoon until it’s lookin’ good.

Set aside to cool a little (about 10 mins) before blending it* (blend it on high until you’re satisfied, or use the puree setting). Transfer to medium saucepan & reheat just before dinner is served.

Makes about 3 cups of gravy. That’s heaps ♥

* if you don’t have a blender, you can totally eat the gravy in it’s chunky form. The original recipe doesn’t actually have a blending step, I just love smooth gravy, so I puree it. Nom nom.

Tofu + roast potatoes + boiled broccoli & peas + gravy all over = the happiest of bellies. It’s perfect for a rainy Sunday.

If you love awesome vegan food, I write a hippie-free plant-lovin’ food blog called Kitchen Rebellion, check it out!

 By Alexandros Vasmoulakis, via Ffffound

Tuesday Love List: Acid Cult & A Birthday Party

Jellyfish photography by marine biologist Alexander Semenov, via Ffffound

Nom nom hot cross bun season nom nom nom. Midnight snack? Check. List of radness? Check:

♥ The new bunch of Pennyroyal statement pendants! 😀 They’re in the Acid Cult shop right this minute – check ’em out here. My favourite is the Owlsies pendant, I made one for myself before I made one for anyone else haha.

♥ Having a love affair with the Naked & Famous‘ EPs.

♥ Being a visual merchandiser instead of a shop manager! Over the last month I’ve been settling in to the new role, making plans & getting a feel for what magic could happen. Getting paid to be myself is excellent. I recommend it to everyone.

♥ People going their own way. A few weeks ago I had a particularly rad couple of days of totally productive working-from-home on Acid Cult‘s next lines in the living room along with Cam who was working on a bunch of amazing future-tattoos & our friend Paul who is in the process of giving Evil in Eden‘s ( heavy as fuck) new tracks the producer’s touch. All humming away in the same space; creative bubbles aplenty.

♥ Phase three of my ultimate brownie recipe experiment, this time throwing in some chopped dark almond chocolate. I might post the recipe to this one, I think it’s approaching Sussed. Other exciting foodstuffs: vegan chilli quesadillas, funtimes with tofu jerky (!!!)

Livraria Lello bookstore in Portugal, via Ffffound

♥ How to Dance Goth. YES! 😀

♥ Discovering that it is HEAPS easier getting back into a routine if you don’t beat yourself up for falling out of it for a little while. It’s all about the big picture perspective.

♥ Super-exciting new jewellery supplies. I am having a love affair with sterling silver right now.

♥ The fact that your body will reward you so fast once you figure out how to be kind to it. For me this is: super-low dairy, no eggs, no processed foods & no meat except for fresh fish occasionally. BAM. That’s my deal. I’ve come to it over the last couple of years while I’ve been figuring my physical health out. It’s been a long, interesting road. I’m planning to start writing more here about getting healthy – wellness via amazing food is a topic I’ve become passionate about.

♥ Incubus’ album S.C.I.E.N.C.E. One of my favourite things about the late 90s. Scotty & I had an Incubusfest at Cosmic Manners St. on Sunday; nostalgia as. I still know all the words to some of those songs. A Certain Shade of Green 4 Lyf, y’all.

Coffee Cookie Cup, via Ffffound.  I want one of these so, so bad.

♥ Watching an excessive amount of documentaries. First, there was Documentary Heaven. Now I have added Top Documentary Films and Documentary Storm to the list as well.

♥ Rekorderlig Strawberry-Lime cider. Mmm, candy.

♥ Maximo Riera makes bespoke furniture and it is unreal.

♥ Having black hair again!!! It was time. I am loving it. I always end up changing my hair big-time whenever I’m going through a transitional phase, it’s a part of the process for me, I think. It took a little getting used to, I didn’t recognise myself for a few days.

♥ Maia flying down from Auckland for her 21st party this weekend! She arrives Wednesday – we’ve got some plannin’ to do. Yes, indeed. It’s going to be a wild success! A couple of other friends are over from Melbourne in the next few days, and they’re staying at our house as well, so it’ll be a crazy week 😀

Leif Podhajsky’s Ascension, via Ffffound

First Display Window!

I’m three weeks in to my new contract as the Cosmic Wellington merchandising-magic lady. The verdict? Hell. Yes. Having a part-time gig like this is basically a dream come true and I plan to make the most of it. Merchandising is an intuitive, second-nature kind of thing for me; I love it. I even have to resist the urge to merchandise other stores when I’m shopping. Yes, I am a total dork. It works out ♥

The photos above are some snaps of my first ever display window for Cosmic. It was so much fun to put together. We decided to go with an Autumn theme, since it’s getting chillier about town. Incidentally, my hunt for autumn-style faux foliage  was a complete fail* because, apparently, it is “still summer.” Uhhh. I’m standing in front of counters wondering if these businesses realise they are operating in Wellington haha.

Next week’s Easter window is going to be so awesome…

PS: New neckwear up at Acid Cult. Just sayin’.

* A victory in the end, though. The roses I found instead are way better!

Wednesday Love List – Kicking Against The Pricks

This popped up, next to the Mill carpark in Wellington central, at the end of last year. It was awesome watching this slowly evolve into a complete piece; I love it. By BMD

Right now I am so fucking pissed off at the audacity of my property managers (do they ALL use their powers solely for evil?!); I have decided to channel that rage into a Love List, in an effort to redirect my energy towards something more positive than wishing a plague upon their collective houses.

The following things are awesome:

♥ Deciding to visit a Naturopath. Best money I have ever spent on my health, hands down. When it comes to chronic conditions, traditional western medicine is like the emperor with no clothes. That was one of the big lessons of 2011. I now have a treatment plan and an ally in becoming & staying well, and feel empowered about my ability to take control of my own health, rather than being at the mercy of an army of medical specialists.

♥ The sexy new Utorrent interface.

♥ Sushi for breakfast! Recent obsession; turns out that a vege snack box + large miso is an awesome way to dive into work.

♥ Treasure hunting for supplies and striking gold

♥ Binging on Atmosphere

♥ Geeking out with vegan cookbooks; I’m afraid to ask the library how much I owe them in late fines, so I snuck some new food love through when Cam needed a fantasy top-up!

♥ On the non-vegan food front: Inventing an awesome dairy-free tuna bake; cooking experiments are sooo satisfying when they turn out

Next to Aro preschool; makes me smile every time

♥ The beautiful shapes that my cats make; I love the kitties SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA (unless you, too, are a crazy cat lady*)

♥ Getting hit on by an amazing, drunk Karen Walker fan (the first time wearing that KW tee with the pearl necklace screen has paid off, to be honest! It looks great but is kinda unsatisfying to wear because the cotton is bollocks; there is no excuse to half-arse a t-shirt) while dining solo at Hede recently. I love the ruckus in there.

♥ Sucking it up and following my intuition; instant, life-changing payoff.

♥ Ditching mainstream media in favour of the blogs. 2011 was my year of the Media Diet; the lack of junk food news resulted in my becoming simultaneously much better informed and vastly more cynical. My New Zealand news is currently coming from: No Right Turn, The Dim Post, Tumeke (I ♥ Phoebe Fletcher), The Hand Mirror, Maui Street & Gordon Campbell (!). Fearfacts Exposed keeps an eye on the sordid situation at Fairfax Media. Outside of bloggers, Scoop is a great resource.

♥ My black wine glasses, that somehow make drinking feel sexy.

♥ Feeling as though I’m learning to let go of what’s unhelpful

Fruit painting by Dennis Wojtkiewicz, via Ffffound

♥ Mission accomplished as far as setting up an awesome foundation for the Cosmic Clearance Shop goes – my biggest job yet, and I cranked it hard.

♥ Blobbing out on the couch, eating snacks & watching Real Housewives of Atlanta with Maia before she moved back up to Auckland; so good. Am having withdrawals.

♥ Getting paid to be myself; the best gig ever. Recommended for every single working human being on the planet. I’m convinced that everyone who feels straightlaced by their work environment needs to take immediate steps to remedy the situation, because their well-being depends on it. Life is too short to go with the corporate flow.

♥ Impromptu dinner dates with Cam; tonight we went out for Japanese. Nom nom Kazu nom nom. On the way home we met an amazing bernese mountain dog (the fluffiest, happiest most gorgeous lump of a dog ever!) 😀

♥ Learning to be a priority ninja

Yeah. Lotsa stuff.

Time to do some more treasure hunting.

*btw, crazy cat lady is a gender neutral term!

Change, Change, Change: Acid Cult & Moving Forward

Busy, exciting times!

This year is so big already.

I’ve decided to ditch the Etsy shop and sell my range of Pennyroyal wares via my new online shop, Acid Cult.

The name Acid Cult has been kicking around in my head for years. For me, it’s a succinct line in the sand. Pennyroyal didn’t feel right as my Shop name, but it’s always felt right as the name for my cross stitch & accessories. And Etsy just hasn’t been working – I don’t want to have to censor any of my cross stitch photos. I’m not down with that at all.

Simultaneously, I’ve resigned from my job managing the Cosmic Clearance shop and will be moving behind the scenes for a part-time gig as the visual merchandising fairy.

Change has been brewing for a while.

Time to pour a lot of energy into my own lil business and focus on building the life I want.

I’m superpsyched about being offered a merchandising contract with Cosmic, too. I have so much fun with it already, I can’t wait to be part of making all of the Wellington stores look stellar. In the midst of getting everything in place for Melz (who is going to rock it so hard) to take over managing Clearance, I’ve been formulating a game plan for the new job & how I’m going to make it work as well as I know it can WITHOUT having the new part-time hours take up full-time creative energy.

(I love this image and frustratingly didn’t note where it came from)

I’ve spent tonight tweaking the new shop, and slowly clarifying my direction. Saturday night geekouts are The.Best.