Easy Peasy Mac & Cheese-y

Ever since graduation, I have had the biggest craving for Boundary Bay's mac & cheese in Bellingham. With gas prices climbing higher and higher every week, a trip up to my alma mater went from being plausible to pretty much impossible in a jiffy. In desperation, I began my search for mac & cheese recipe that could rival the original. At last I found one from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com (see link after the jump). I made this recipe the other night for my family and friends--it's so easy and, chances are, you already have all of the ingredients hanging around your pantry! 

JUMP!!!

Fun With Google Maps: Kihei, Hawaii

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I am a bona fide world traveller! ...thanks to Google maps...

Ho-hums and Hobbies: Life, sans a 9 to 5 job...



I'm three months out of college, fresh off of a PR internship and now out, flat, on my sweet derriere

While I've been hanging out in employment limbo, I've channeled all of my pent up energy into miscellaneous projects: I ripped out a juniper bush; planted vegetable seedlings inside and built a vegetable garden outside; baked two loaves of bread, a dozen bagels, a mess of pretzels and five different kinds of cookies; taught myself how to make lumpia, hot and sour soup, homemade tomato soup, baked mac & cheese, corned beef, pad thai and veggie noodle stew; sanded and refinished a storage trunk; read four books and started going back through my online Spanish textbook from Fall Quarter.

...Lately my hairbrained ideas and spontaneous projects are requiring the use of more and more tools--I'm one awry stapler gun staple away from a visit to the emergency room. I hope I find a job soon.

Entry Level Exasperation: Getting a Foot in the Door...

25 days and counting until I wrap up my first agency internship--It's that special time of lost sleep, sporatic sweating and anxiety eating that I wish I wasn't so familiar with. As each day flies by faster and faster than I would like it to, I'm running out of time and John WM Macy's Cheese Crisps.

So for all the post-grad, job-seekers out there, here's a few links that might be helpful:

For the job search...

• Top 25 Entry Level Jobs for College Grads
• Top 10 Best Paying Jobs for College Grads
• Top Entry Level Employers

For when the job search isn't going well...

• Comfort
• Relaxation
• Distraction

Happy hunting!

So Good: Put your foot in it...

"Rose Printed Satin Platform Court Shoes" by Nicholas Kirkwood

Retail: $650.00

Slingback Scoops: February 1, 2011



• People who should just go away: Kristen Stewart to play Lois Lane in new Superman movie. Dlisted

• Europeans having a little too much fun with the new Facebook profile. Mashable

• Fish frenzy. BBC

• Shades of Cruella de Vil--John Galliano @ Fashion Week. La Parisienne

• Another Disney ingenue bites the dust. Ministry of Gossip

• 400 years later, Hamlet is denied a plea of insanity. Associated Press

Featured Slingback: "Leather Slingbacks" by Fendi

Interning: Week Five, Stayin' Alive



One month of answering phones, compiling media lists and commuting by foot, car, bus and train later, I've reached that terrifying point where I realize that I have no idea what I'm going to do next.

Going for a $10/hour internship would mean committing to a life of interning at a firm for at least six months, although the experience I would gain there would be invaluable in furthering my career. If I look for a real job, it might be great for a few years (and I could expedite the move out of my parents house!) but I'm afraid I'll end up getting pigeon-holed into a position that offered few opportunities for advancement.

While thoughts like this have kept me tossing and turning the past few nights, I think the best thing to do is to let things unfold organically and to not stress out about it...until I have absolutely have to. And to help me with that process, I'm going to drink less coffee, look into evening yoga classes, live out my big city dreams at the only cocktail bar in Kent and pray that providence decides to step in soon!

K'nish in a pinch

One of the challenges I have discovered this past week has been trying to come up with food I could just grab-and-go on my way out the door in the morning and actually feel like eating by the time my lunch hour rolls around.

My solution for this next week is the Jewish staple snack: K'nish.

It's small but filling, it's portable and delicious.

Recipe: Is that my Bureka?

*The only thing I changed was that I doubled to dough recipe and added copious amount of Hungarian paprika and sharp cheese to the filling. Also, mine look considerably more misshapen than normal k'nishes.*

He is, the most interesting man in the world.

Best. Christmas gift. Ever.

I saw this fascinating man hanging in a forgotten corner of an antique shop in downtown Kent; my mom caught me staring at him in wonder and couldn't believe why I was interested in something so bizarre and tacky. In my opinion, there is a very fine line between abhorrent and awesome; and this man, I believe, encompasses all that is and ever will be awesome.

Six months later, I found him waiting under the tree.

When I have my own place, my plan is to decorate my apartment in a way that is very minimalist and chic--except for this painting that will be hanging in the entry way or above the fireplace and of which I will never acknowledge of make reference to. He will simply be there, out of place, unrelated and eternally awe-inspiring.

New Year, New Clothes, New Job

This week, I broke in 2011 with a new, intern-appropriate wardrobe (lots of sweaters and low heels), a commuter rail pass, a fresh-off-the-printers diploma and a brand spanking new internship at a public relations firm in downtown Seattle!

One week of 6 a.m. alarms and 9 to 5 work shifts later, I'm still reeling from culture shock!

While in college, I would wake up at various times between 7:30 and 10 a.m., throw on a pair of jeans and the least-wrinkled sweater I could find and walk the scenic trails of the Bellingham arboretum to go to class...nowadays it's a much different story...

I'm up at 6 a.m. every single day, my outfits are stiff and unyielding-ly "workplace appropriate," and instead of walking through gorgeous woodland scenery, my daily commute is full of battling other drivers for prime parking garage spaces, running for trains, running for buses, running for crosswalk lights and running for coffee. Overall, it's a lot of unexpected running.

The strangest part of the whole commuting experience is being a part of the crowd. The special group of nine-to-fivers all traveling together at the same time from our small Seattle suburb into the big city in the morning and back again in the evening. 

Everyday I'm reminded of that scene in Edward Scissorhands when all the fathers leave the neighborhood at the same time (in one pastel-colored line of cars) and file back to their homes, in the same uniform, just in time for dinner. It's a very surreal experience.

As for the internship itself, I am enjoying it immensely and will post more soon!

So Good: Put your foot in it...

"Shoe Boots with Kiltie" by Nicholas Kirkwood

Retail: $931.17

Foursquare: Yet another social-networking service I'm the last one to know about...

The world is becoming more stalker-friendly.

At least that's the first thing that I think of whenever someone explains this up-and-coming social-networking outlet to me.

Foursquare is a smart phone app that allows you to 'check-in' at certain public locations and post reviews and tips about that hotspot for all of your friends to see.

I really don't think, as an individual, I could ever see myself using this. It's just plain creepy. However, I was at a meeting where a woman from Seattle Weekly was discussing using the service under the name of an organization in order to promote events and the businesses of local partners/neighbors, and that's pretty brilliant.

While Foursquare may not be the most familiar of the social networking giants, 41 percent of its traffic comes directly from Facebook (500 million users) and Twitter (100 million users) as users share check-ins (That Agency via Hitwise), and that's a statistic to take notice of.

Slingback Scoops: December 21, 2010

• You go to college for four years and the neighborhood goes to hell--Shooting; Human Skull.
• Despite the popularity (and my own obsessive love) of shows like Teen Mom and 16 and Pregant, the CDC reports that birth rate among teens age 15 to 19 is the lowest its been in seven decades...go figure. NPR
• Ho ho ho-ly moly that's a lot of Santas, someone going to have to explain this to the children... Fremont Universe
• Expect fewer buses and higher fares over the holidays under Metro's two weeks of "reduced service," Merry Christmas...My Wallingford
• Hope he has insurance. Queen Anne View

Featured Slingback: Stella McCartney

GRADUATION!

The countdown has finally run its course and I am no longer an undergrad! So long lecture halls and late-night library lock-downs! Adios 20 page papers and tear-inducing accounting homework! Adieu pointless, GPA destroying GUR's--I'm free, at last!

Fun with Google Maps: Cassis

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In my French Culture class this quarter, we have been learning about the south of France. The tiny,

très chic village of Cassis is about a 30 minute drive from Marseille. Someday...someday...

F.I.N.A.L.S.

After several weeks of blizzards, presentations, papers, group projects, exams, quizzes, desperate last- minute preparations, farewell dinners, birthdays, 62 cups of coffee, a dozen e-mails, too much turkey and a few tears--I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

My 3.33 years as an undergrad and as a Bellinghamster are finally winding down; while I will in no way, shape or form miss trying to decipher Montaigne's essays or being dumbfounded by accounting and finance classes (that I never should have taken and should have just left it to the aspiring CPA's/masochists), I will definitely be a little heartbroken to leave behind the City of Subdued Excitement!

I will be posting a list of Bellingham "musts" before I graduate, based on my time here, so that future Vikings will know that there's so much more of this city to experience beyond Holly & Railroad. 

How to Walk in High Heels: Courtesy of InStyle

InStyle article link after the jump...

JUMP!

Midterms

Please excuse the blogging hiatus--midterm has been killer!

Bellingham's Best Late-Night-Food Battle: Man vs. 'Meni

The Contenders...


Man Pies:

Man Pies opened its doors at the beginning of the summer on Railroad Ave. and gave the the impression of being a late-night comfort food establishment that could rival its long, unchallenged neighbor-- Pel'meni.

These pies are sure to fill up even the hungriest of men and are entirely capable of soaking up copious amounts of alcohol. The best thing about Man Pies is the price-- a fixed $5.99 per pie across the menu; The worst? The pies.

I have had these pies before; I've made them; with Bisquick and canned meat; a recipe probably not too far off from what's actually used. The pies serve their purpose--to fill you up in a hurry--but if you have a choice, just stop by Haggen and buy one from Marie Callender. 

Pel'meni:

Pel'meni--a tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant on N. State Street that serves not-your-everyday Russian dumplings. Instead of using the traditional unleavened dough, the restaurant makes the dumplings with eggnoodle and serves them up piping hot with curry, cilantro, hot sauces, various spices, sour cream and a fat slice of homemade bread.

With only two options on the menu (potato or beef dumplings, either is the standard $6) it's easy to be skeptical; however the long lines and packed tables at 2 a.m. prove the point that quality always triumphs over quantity.

Pel'meni currently operates out of Juneau, Alaska and Bellingham--the restaurant has also been a vendor at Sasquatch, Bumbershoot and Bite of Seattle and is currently in the works to open up another restaurant in Seattle. *Fingers crossed!*

The winner?



Pel'meni.

Sorry Man Pies; You can't beat a classic.

Whatever happened to spooky paper bat cutouts?