I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a dreamer. A big one, in fact. I dream of places that I've never been to, and imagine what life would like if I lived there. I have a running list of those must-visit spots tacked up on my fridge. Every morning, as I stumble to the coffeepot, I glance at that growing list, and think to myself, "Yes, one day. One day..."

 I tell my friends all the time about the far-off destinations I dream to visit. India, Greece, Turkey, you name it, and I probably have that place pegged. Some of my friends smile politely and nod, knowing that eventually I will shut up. Others just roll their eyes, thinking, "Oh here we go again." No matter their reactions, they couldn't stop me even if they wanted to. I might sound ridiculous or a tad overenthusiastic when I talk about living abroad for a year or picking my shit up and just hauling ass to another state, but I mean every word. In fact, their nonchalant responses probably egg me on.

You see, my mind can't help but drift to foreign lands on the other side of the world. When the real world starts to get a little overbearing, a little tedious, I escape, dreaming about all the possibilities for the future. (I blame my incessant wanderlust on my father, as he seems to suffer from the same ailment). Maybe I'll spend on summer soaking up the sun in Greece. Or maybe I will spend a year eating pasta in Florence. I find myself scouring job classifieds and apartment listings in other countries just because. Ignore the obstacles because ignorance is bliss, right?

With graduating coming up in a couple of months, I keep daydreaming about all the places I want to go, all the people I'm destined to meet. All these endless possibilities keep me up at night, wishing for these next couple of months to pass by as painlessly as possible.  But my daydreaming has hit me hard this summer, probably because my anxiety levels have been at a higher threshold than normal. A couple of weeks ago, after a fight with one of my friends, I had a full on panic attack. Now, I haven't had one of those in a while, so to have a full force panic attack that left me sobbing in my work's bathroom stall caught me off guard. I rushed home, unsuccessfully trying to focus on breathing.

Once I got home, I couldn't find any kind of relief though. I curled up in my bed, with my mom on the phone, trying to calm me down to no avail. Eventually, my shaky nerves forced me in to the kitchen. I had to do something with my hands to stop them from shaking. My mind needed a distraction so out came the cookbooks and without even thinking I hunkered down, reading Dorie's recipe for this sour cream chocolate cake. Melt the chocolate, fold in the sour cream, stir but not too much. These directions filled my mind and slowly the panic attack rescinded. A messy kitchen, dirty dishes, and an overflowing garbage was all that was left.

Honestly, I don't know how I even finished that recipe, but the cake came out beautifully. Firm but with a moist crumb, the cake was everything that I wasn't: strong, sweet, and lush. Sour cream is a great ingredient when baking with chocolate because it balances out the flavors and textures. Exhausted and drained, I collapsed on my couch, with a small chunk of cake waiting for me. I never knew the kind of power chocolate had over me until that instant because the minute I sank my teeth in to that slice, I was in heaven. I didn't care about any of life's petty drama; all I knew was that at this very instant, I was happy.

Instead of focusing on the bad, I whipped out my vacation list and reminded myself of all the fun and promising adventures that lie ahead for me. You can't change the past, but you can make your future, I told myself. I turned on my favorite movie, Amelia, and watched as the shy and well-intentioned girl scurried about Paris, and after the movie was through, I felt happy again. Things didn't look so shitty anymore. Amazing what chocolate and Paris can do for you, eh?

My point is that when the tough gets going, you gotta find a way to pick ourself up. The future is endless and it's important to keep your dreams and inspirations close to you in hard times. Because life will constantly throw you curve-balls. Arguments will always be raised. You are bound to fuck up every now and then. But that doesn't mean you should forget about all the good that is out there. In times like that, keep your dreams and simple pleasures close to your heart. Don't let anyone tell you it's not possible or that you aren't worth a damn because that's for you to decide and find out.    

Sorry for the long post. I just had to come clean about how this cake got made. It's one of the best cakes I've ever made. There is something about the way chocolate and sour cream work together in cakes that make me swoon. Plus, the frosting isn't sugary sweet but more deeply rich and chocolatey. Right up my alley. I personally enjoy loaf cakes like this one because it feels more rustic, and simple. No one could pass up on a slice of this chocolate loaf cake with raspberry filling.

Now go bake yourself this damn cake. Okay?

Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake
from Baking: from my home to yours

Ingredients:

for the cake:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 cup ( 2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup (8 fl oz) sour cream
1/3 cup raspberry jam (I used Trader Joe’s Organic Raspberry)
1 teaspoon water

sour cream chocolate frosting:
5 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup sour cream at room temperature

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 10 x 5" loaf pan and dust the inside with flour, tapping out the excess.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda onto a large sheet of waxed paper.

In an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on a medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and add the sour cream, then the sifted dry ingredients. Give the batter a last stir with a rubber spatula.

Scrape into the prepared pan, push down the middle a bit so that the edges nearest the pan are higher and bake for 60 to 75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. If after 45 minutes, the cake looks as if it’s browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the cake rest for about 5 minutes before turning it out on to a wire rack. Cool to room temperature.

To fill the cake:
Bring the jam and water to a boil over low heat or in a microwave oven. Stir to smooth it and keep at hand. The top of the cake will become the bottom layer, so if it is uneven and your cake rocks a bit on the counter, turn it right side up and use a long serrated knife to level it. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake into 3 even layers. Put the first layer (originally the top of the cake) cut side up on a long serving plate and spread half of the jam over it. Cover it with the middle layer and spread that layer with the remaining jam. Lift the top layer into place, cut side down. Use a small pastry brush to chase away any crumbs on the stop or sides of the cake.

To make the frosting:
Fit a heatproof bowl into a pan of gently simmer water, add the chocolate and warm, stirring occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Still working over the hot water, stir in the sour cream. Don’t be concerned if the cream tightens- just keep stirring gently and the frosting will become smooth and glossy.

Remove from the heat and cover the sides and top of the cake with the still warm frosting.

Frosted cake can be lightly covered and kept at room temperature overnight or refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. It can also be frozen. Freeze unwrapped until firm then wrap airtight and keep in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw, fully wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

Yields about 12 servings.

jean este un chelner timid intr-un super hotel , dar este confundat de catre irene (audrey tautou) , o materialista , cu vreun bogatas . jean isi intra in rol , dar irene isi da seama apoi si il paraseste . dar jean este indragostit si se tine dupa ea , mai apoi ii copie stilul de viata ... iar restu vedeti si voi ca e super baza!

http://community.livejournal.com/craftgrrl/3674467.html

http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-stencilb2.html

maybe this what my shirt will look like..

[gallery]

]]> http://tiemposviolentos.wordpress.com/?p=172 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:21:28 +0000 EL SALMON http://tiemposviolentos.wordpress.com/?p=172

"La vida no es más que un interminable ensayo de una obra
que jamás se estrenara"

Amélie / El fabuloso destino de Amèlie Poulain

Wallpaper de Amèlie: Descarga

]]> http://luciddose.wordpress.com/?p=50 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:37:17 +0000 lefeeverte http://luciddose.wordpress.com/?p=50 Foutaises (Things I like, Things I hate) is a wonderful short film by beloved director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (City of Lost Children, Amelie, Delicatessen).  If you've seen Amelie, you can see how he later incorporated this idea to paint the amazing characters of that film. 

PS: Os sapatos são por conta da Amélie e Juno, que fazem festas, verdadeiros bacanais, com calçados.

Lately, though, it's gotten so much so that I am having trouble picking my dessert. Sometimes, I attribute my hesitation to a partial jadedness-- "If I ever eat another crème brûlée..." Most times, however, it's because nearly every dessert tastes amazing that it's tough to choose just one.

To make matters worse, there is a Pix Patisserie within four blocks of where I live! Pictured on the right is their award-winning Amélie-- orange vanilla crème brûlée sits atop a glazed chocolate mousse with caramelized hazelnuts, praline crisp, and Cointreau génoise. Just reading the ingredients makes my mouth water...

What about you? What item on the dessert menu can you never resist?

MERMAID, from Russia, and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, from Sweden, bracketed my Wednesday's viewing at E.I.F.F. and together form a pretty neat Fever Dream Double Feature. Both deal with childhood/adolescence, both have a fantasy element and a dark side, while ostensibly taking place in the real modern world (MERMAID starts in the '90s and LTROI is set in the '80s, for no particularly obvious reason), both are commercial as hell but eschew the Hollywood manner of constructing a script like a Swiss watch (or pretending to do so while leaving colossal gaps and improbabilities, as is generally the case nowadays) and both benefit from a slower cutting rate than is standard in America and increasingly in the U.K.

One has a surprise downbeat ending and the other an upbeat, neither of which I was sure about but neither of which seemed to mar my enjoyment overall.

MERMAID, written and directed by Anna Melikyan, follows an unusual, misfit girl from aged 6, when she stops speaking after a solar eclipse, to aged 18, when first love with a dissolute moon salesman (yes, I believe people do make a living selling lunar real estate) cures her and brings about dramatic developments in her life, all of which she reads in the city of Moscow -- it's billboards and hoardings seem to carry private messages to her throughout. This I dig, as anyone who's read my "Things I Read Off the Screen" pieces will understand.

It's kind of an emo AMELIE. An EMOLIE, if you will. By this I mean that it substitutes a darker world-view and a keener sense of heart-ache for the more saccharine aspects of Jeunet's Parisian romance. Perhaps that's what you get when you trade Paris for Moscow.

As the Jeunet comparison suggests, the film is a big-budget visual banquet, but it shuns the hyperkinetic frenzy of NIGHT WATCH and even harkens back to this kind of thing:

There's a recurring, developing, surreal dream-tableau that reminds me simultaneously of old Russian sci-fi, Fellini, and David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes video.

This was my favourite of the new films I've seen at the festival, until I saw LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. I left the Cameo with a spring in my stride and a song in my knee. It restored my faith in green-haired Russian girls.

LTROI is, let's be frank, a vampire story. Shrewd in its borrowings from legend and in the slow-burn way it allows them to be expressed onscreen, it most closely resembles George Romero's melancholy MARTIN, but it doesn't avoid the supernatural -- indeed, it takes it quite seriously (which is refreshing) and plunges in feet-first.

Could I describe this film as a romance between two twelve-year-old outcasts? Yes, and it's beautifully observed. It's not often you can get a Proustian rush AND a body count. Could I describe it as a romance between a budding serial killer and a vampire? Yes, but you might get the wrong idea. It's stately, luminous, tender, harsh, it mingles realism with the fantastic in a way that illuminates both. It's directed by Tomas Alfredson and scripted by John Ajvide Lindqvist, from his novel.

"My script is about being lifted out of the darkness by love."

Fiona couldn't make it so hopefully she'll get to see it tomorrow. I joked that it's her new favourite film, only she doesn't know it yet.

Went and saw this film last night. It was good. Funny, good actors, beautiful locations, and the nice guy with no money gets the girl of his dreams to fall for him. What's not to like?

I also had an epiphany as to how to make this happen in my life. All that is needed is to move to France and buy a scooter (Audrey Tautou ends up on the back of a scooter, zooming away, happily in love, just as in Amelie).

My Amelie wont stand a chance.

I've seen some (either for the first time or another time) good films that I could use for an critical analysis post. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Bobby, Once Upon a Time in The West, even An Inconvenient Truth - a few films I've been thinking of doing the same thing I did to Amelie.

Thomas.

And if u have an iPhone, like this guy has, you can try to do something like this:

Si ustedes creen que ya conocen este tema, les diré que posiblemente estén equivocados. Esta es una versión en directo realizada por el genial Yann Tiersen y que está mas cerca del grunge que de un vals, disfrutenlo.

Les deseo una buena semana no sin antes darle la bienvenida al mundo de los blogs a ObiWanKeinobi. Su lema es "un día una canción", y de momento no defrauda.

Pues lo dicho, buena semana a todos.

We decided to try Chez Panisse before going over to the other restaurant, and they took us right in! We went upstairs to the cafe, which I am told is a bit less formal and pricey than the restaurant.

We were seating in a very tight spot, very close to another table, but we didn't mind, everyone was very friendly. They first ask if you would care for still or sparkling water and they bring it the table in a pretty etched glass decanter. It says Chez Panisse on one side, and Still on the other. There was a wonderful flavorful brown bread that was served with some very yellow butter. Angela said that the guy that started Acme Bakery nearby had worked at Chez Panisse and Alice Waters had helped him get started, so we imagined that the bread was probably from Acme Bakery. That was where our bread from Julia's Kitchen had been from, too. The busser girl told us the butter was from grass fed cows and that it was yellower because it had more carotene. Wow. I guess I didn't even know what color butter was supposed to be. I've grown up on the pale butter made from grain fed cows. It's kind of a shame.

We ordered a bottle of rose wine that was rather inexpensive and Angela said she had read it was one of Alice Waters' favorites. It was perfect! Our server was apparently in training because another server came over to open our wine while instructing her. Later I saw her trying to open the wine for another table. I wanted to help. (I could have taught her much better...)

We shared an appetiser. (I'm on a budget) It was a salad with fried goat cheese. Angela once again said that she had read that it was one of the classic dishes at the restaurant. Next we share an entree. There was a boneless chicken that they said was pressed as it was cooked to make it crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. It was wonderful! As were the herbed peas. I've never had better peas. Honestly. And then there were some homemade potato chips as well. So good! Lastly, dessert. I had a peach and raspberry tart with vanilla bean ice cream and Angela had the fresh fruit, queen anne cherries and a plumcot. We were both in heaven! Truly a meal to remember!

In between all of this, I forgot to mention that since I knew I was going to be near Chez Panisse I thought I would bring along a resume and drop it off, since I am on the market at the moment. After we were seated for a few minutes I handed our server my resume and asked her if she could please give it to her manager. A few minutes later she brought it back to me and said it would probably be better to wait until I was leaving and give it to a manager myself, that way they might have time to sit down with and talk with me. Then, once again, a few minutes later a woman comes up to our table and says, "Hi, I'm Renee, did you want me to look over your resume?" I gave it to her of course and we continued our lunch. When we finished I checked to see if she was available, but the said she was in a meeting and had my number and would call me. Honestly, that is probably for the best, I don't know what kind of interview I would have given after drinking half a bottle of wine!

Angela and I stopped and she got a couple of cheeses and some bread and salami and a lovely cold bottle of prosecco and we went back to her place, where her son Elijah and boyfriend Jesse were, and watched a French foreign film I had rented from Netflix, called Avenue Montaigne. Not Amelie, but very cute. We had the best French themed day!

Chez Panisse didn't call today. Maybe tomorrow.

P.S. I LOVE blog comments!

.

Mira el vídeo, piénsalo, y...

La respuesta, tras el salto:)

Pues... ¡cuatro!

Aunque, reconozco que me gusta más la versión de verdad, y, que esta entrada es básicamente para mostrarlos los vídeos que encontré de esta chica, Smashing2 (Lucía), en Youtube. Para tocar de oído, me ha impresionado. Mucho. Así, que aquí os dejo unos enlaces

Por cierto... ¿Sabíais que el desafortunado nombre, para la aplicación de Piano del Iphone, se llama.. iAno?

• Video de los cuatro iAnos visto en Webmaniacos

Upon the opening of my eyes, Divya decided to pop in Amélie.  We watched it with English subtitles, and from the first lines, some things were lost in translation.

However, upon the ending of the movie, I was changed.  I must make art.  I must continue with my plans to give strangers anonymous love and encouragement.  Thus, I shall make my postcard(s) this weekend.  I shall go to Barnes & Noble today.  The thing that saddens me slightly is that perhaps someone will get my message and believe that I am a sappy creep (which is exactly what I am).  Or maybe no one will get my message.  It's the anonymity that makes me happy, knowing that there's a chance that I helped someone because many people do, in fact, believe in signs (even the skeptical, sometimes).  But in order to increase that chance, I need to spread out my hits and make each note of encouragement different and meaningful.

On the way home from Divya's, I sang to myself in French, conversed with other drivers in French, and pretended that I was all-around French.  It felt good.

Eso puede dar casos como este:

I really don't want to write a long description on why I love this scene so much. Just watching it should tell you why Amelie is one of my all time favorite movies. After helping a man rediscover his lost childhood, Amelie walks down the street and sees a blind man waiting to cross the street.....The idea, the colors, the acting, the music; all are brilliant in my opinion.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, I strongly suggest you watch it soon. Actually, I think I will watch it right now before bed.

De la película Amélie

+

{Abadia Digital}

Y si no, mira lo que me pasará a mi en breve.

.

Poster de Damien Poulain.

(Como Amelie. Te acuerdas?)