my new favorite meme.

Cable Knitting!

My first attempt at cable stitch! I can't believe it's taken me so long to try it out, because it's surprisingly easy! I found a great tutorial on the four-stitch cable at newstitchaday.com. They have wonderful video tutorials that are super easy to follow.

Good morning, blogosphere! (and by that I mean that it is 12:30 and I'm still in bed.) In case any of you don't know, I've cut my hair.

I find it so much easier to exercise to music, and Neon Indian's most recent album, Era Extrana, has been my go-to working out music lately.

writer's block?

This website gives you a new picture of a kitten with every 100, 200, 500, or 1000 words that you write. If that's not incentive, I don't know what is.

Real Estate - "Days"

I can't stop listening to Real Estate's new album "Days". It is everything I've always loved in the rest of their albums and EPs, except it hasn't already been played to death on my iTunes. It does feel strange for me listening to it in December, as I discovered them in the summer. They have such surfey guitar riffs, and a really relaxed feel, which makes me long for summer days on Martha's Vineyard. (where, being from New Jersey, maybe they have been.)

It seems I'm not the only one who feels this way, either. As NPR writer Stephen Thompson said in his "First Listen" article about the album, "Real Estate doesn't take long to set a tone of wistful, rose-colored nostalgia on Days, its second album of reverb-y beach-pop."

Finding any shared files of a band simply called Real Estate can be a little tricky, so here is a link to a downloadable zip file of the album. (the slow download is free.)

Untitled from Annika Davis on Vimeo.

This is a video I made recently for video art class.

50 majestic cats playing in the snow.

recently listening to:

Joanna Newsom, Fionn Regan, Broken Social Scene, Bon Iver

Ira and Marcel

weight loss blah blah

So my increasingly doughy stomach, my better judgement, and my ever-slowing metabolism have finally arrived at the conclusion that it is time to re-evaluate my current diet, which is heavy in cream sauce-based pastas, ice cream, video games, and general malaise, to instead adopt one that involves more working out, less dairy, drinking more water, and less coffee. I am going to start a 60-day workout program in a few days, once I decide that I can't put it off any longer. I'll also be keeping a daily food journal, so that I can look back and feel bad about all the chocolate oranges that I will probably still be eating this winter. I'll try to do some blog posts about it, too.

Book Update

I am currently reading Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen, lent to me by Nigel. I love it so far. I knew nearly nothing about Leonard Cohen before Nigel, and now I find myself so drawn to both his music and his prose.

In my pile of books to read next are Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls, Already Dead by Denis Johnson, Ulysses by James Joyce, Steinbeck's East of Eden, and I'm occasionally dipping into my Ginsberg collected poems anthology.

I do wish that I had more time for free reading during school, but hopefully winter break will get me through Beautiful Losers and into my pile.

Mini Pumpkin Pies!

This Thanksgiving, among the two other desserts I made (pumpkin cream cheese cake roll and apple pie) were these adorable mini pumpkin pies. They are ridiculously easy:
To make your pumpkin pie filling, buy a can of pure pumpkin, and just follow the directions on the can. If they don't call for you to add cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, add them! They are my three favorite spices.
Make or buy a pie crust, and cut it out into circles. (I used a round tupperware for a cutter, you could also use a large glass or circular cookie cutter.) Mold each circle into a greased and flowered muffin tin cup, and then fill with your pie filling! Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until the filling is firm.
For extra cuteness, I cut out pie crust hearts for the tops. And for extra deliciousness, I made a cinnamon whipped cream, which was just a small carton of whipping cream, whipped with a half cup of sugar, and a few pinches of cinnamon.

Nutella hot chocolate

I am obsessed with Stephens hot chocolate, which is difficult, if not impossible to find in Colorado, and my all-time favorite flavor is definitely hazelnut. After seeing a couple blog posts with recipes, I decided to make Nutella hot chocolate. Let me say: genius. I poured 2 cups of milk into a pot on the stove, added 3 tablespoons of Nutella, and 1/2 tablespoon of peanut butter (because I love it so much.) and whisked it while it heated up. The result was thick, delicious, chocolatey and hazelnuttey goodness. It's not Stephens, but it is another way to make delicious hazelnut hot chocolate.