Text of the Week

Love is blind, but marriage isn't.  
She sent this to me from her honeymoon today. 

he ate my heart

that boy is a monster...

haunted house

haunted house |ˈhɔntɪd haʊs| 

1. inhabited or frequented by ghosts

2. an individual preoccupied with memories of a past romantic relationship; a person plagued by feelings of regret, remorse or intense longing with regards to a former lover

3. an undateable man or woman


usage-After reading his email on how he couldn't go down the path of a relationship due to residual feelings for his ex, Leah breathed a sigh of relief; she narrowly escaped moving into a haunted house.  

sleep vs. sleep

"Making love with a woman and sleeping with a woman are two separate passions, not merely different but opposite. Love does not make itself felt in the desire for copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in the desire for shared sleep (a desire limited to one woman)." 

— Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)

I love this statement but it makes me a little uncomfortable, a little squirmy.  I have a habit of cruelly kicking lovers out of my bed for the sole reason that I'm physically unable to sleep next to them (nor do I want to sometimes)  but that's not why it makes me uneasy.  Mostly reading it makes me want to fall in love and falling in love is scary.   But I don't want run of the mill 'this-is-so-easy' love, I want the kind of love that makes you ache inside, that consumes and devours,  screaming matches that end in frenzied, violent lovemaking and glances from across rooms that leave you breathless.  I want love that makes the world stop, when the lines between lust and loathing become so blurred you don't remember why you're even still in the game.  Because the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference, an absence of where emotion should be and isn't.   Call me a romantic but I'd rather fuck and fight and wake up next to someone knowing that it's the real deal than lunch at Nobu, pick out china patterns at Bloomingdales and wake up annoyed that they're breathing on my ear.  

kiss me stupid

recipe

Thanks to an obscenely expensive study called Britain's Understanding Society Project, we can all sleep a little easier tonight knowing that the solution to our relationship woes is a very simple ratio of youth, education and birth control.

According to the data gathered so far, happiness with one's partner declines with the duration of the union and with a person's age. Marriages are happier than cohabiting unions, a trend that rises for better-educated people. In turn, children are happier with their family situation if their parents are happy.

The happiest relationships are those less than five years in duration, between two people educated to degree level, who have no children and where the man is employed.

The decline in happiness is steeper for women than men. Overall, older people are less happy in their relationships.

Among men, unemployment brings with it lower levels of happiness with their partner, although income appears to be unrelated to relationship happiness among men and is only mildly important for women.

Wait, you're trying to tell me 20 years of research concluded that young, wealthy, newlyweds with no children are the happiest? That $80 million was worth every penny. Well done Britain, truly.

drink drank drunk

for those that followed the last blog--i know these posts were always praised, the drunk rants...

my thoughts on conditions.

is love unconditional? is anything unconditional? no, no it is not.

it is conditional. everything is conditional, everything you do, that i do, is built on a premise or a qualification. they people in your life that are willing to modify those qualifications are the people that you should keep closest.

"do not take me home until i am drunk,very drunk indeed." -holly golightly

and they didn't.

and when i thought it was all over, i had a little debbie brownie in lieu of a birthday cake, which was not my ideal, but i'll let those stipulations slide, because some things can be unconditional. if you want them to be. even if it confuses you at first.

these strange days

I have fallen off the wagon.

I have fallen off the wagon in every possible capacity. I'm out of focus. I'm not writing about the things I should be writing about; the string of awkward dates, my mastery of gingerbread making, how excited I am about everyone wearing capes instead of coats (I totally have one) and how I met a marvelous boy last week who managed to snatch my attention from the things that need it and focus it on him, like sunlight through a magnifying glass. Sometimes I feel as if I might burst into flames. I feel too much - I feel too much and it's absolutely terrifying. Broody eyes and crooked dimples are bringing me to my knees. He cups my chin and I'm melting into his palm.

She falls, she's fallen, she fell.

I spent the last 3 days playing victim to the blizzard, making cups of darjeeling, roasting salmon in tinfoil, and sauntering around wearing little.

It was the first time he'd ever seen snow. That kind of enthusiasm is contagious and I've never seen Clinton St look so lovely. I did finally go home to my apartment today, bittersweetly. Tonight is the second night we've slept apart. I met him 10 days ago.

well they say can't please everyone

but i'm stuck on a winning streak

well today's there's clarity

and tonight i see tomorrow

all at one the winter's here

all the lochs are frozen over

-the walkmen--while i shovel the snow

So what does a girl do to pass the day away? When life gives you lemons what do you do with them? Gossip, hum along to Madeleine Peyroux, bake.

I spent the day making little Russian Tea Cakes, Hermes wrapped around my head, video chatting with my bookend. I tweaked the ratios causing them literally melt on your tongue. You're left with a little mouthful of buttery sugar and the scent of almonds. Tiny luxuries, like tiny victories, are the the biggest joys.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup toasted and ground almonds (or hazelnuts, whatev)

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven 325, if you have parchment paper laying around, line your pan with it. If you don't, it's not a big deal, butter your pan just a little.

Combine butter and granulted sugar in a large bowl and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes. Add almonds and mix on low speed until blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat until the dough forms crumbly looking little clumps. Don't worry if it doesn't look like normal cookie dough, it's not supposed to.

To form each cookie, roll a tablespoon's worth of crumbly dough between your palms into a 1 inch ball. It will sort of melt together and take shape. Set them down on your pan firmly so the bottom flatten a bit.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned and the tops are barely colored. Let them cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cook completely.

Once cool, gently roll the cookies in confectioner's sugar to coat them. If you do this while they are still too warm, the sugar will melt and form a hard glaze instead of a powedery jacket. (I've done this) They keep for about 4 days in an airtight container, though they are usually long gone by them. Enjoy.