inspiring looks from lookbook!

 

(snow = my life for the past 2 months in new england)

now that I'm taking oil painting...

 these SUPER REALIST paintings both astound and motivate me...how are these paintings?!
I especially love the oil paint tubes, just because those have become a familiar sight for me as I've been spending late nights at the studio...

tuxedo strawberries - wow! (and such a lovely antidote to all valentine's day themed desserts...)

 

chocolate-covered strawberries are one of my all-time favorite desserts. they're healthy, right? it's fruit, so it's totally justifiable that these strawberries are covered in chocolate, right? 

in addition to the fact that dark chocolate has antioxidants and strawberries are very good for you, these tiny tuxedos are just super artsy and cool and dress-y. 

via cafe fernando, istanbul

pretty images

via the Sartorialist and cupcakes and cashmere!

oatmeal obsession by association

 

Okay, so recently a certain family member (...Teta, my aunt...) has been obsessing over oatmeal! and especially oatmeal from an unlikely gourmet source called Chez McDonald's. While I admit I was skeptical at first, lounging around and helping my mom go through her closet while eating $2 oatmeal from  a fast food chain was about as delicious as it can get. With the dried cranberries, raisins, and brown sugar, this oatmeal was fantastic. The next day at the airport I decided to try Starbuck's take...and it was also a very satisfying little meal! I liked the texture a little more than option number one, probably because it was thicker and less runny and also included nuts as a topping! About a week ago, I also tried the Jamba Juice option with bananas and brown sugar (this steel cut option was probably the winner!). 

Anyway, oatmeal is definitely the new cupcake.

also, check out all the different kinds of oats used in oatmeal below!

• oats:

  this is the general term for the grain. It’s pretty much the equivalent of saying “wheat” or “rice.”

• oat groats:

  whole edible oat kernels that come out when the two protective outer (inedible) husks from oats are removed. These are the least processed form of oats (unless you straight pick oat grains from the field), so they require longer preparation in the kitchen, e.g. soaking, longer cook times.

• steel cut oats:

  oat groats that have been chopped into a few pieces by steel blades. Steel cut oats take about 15-20 minutes to cook on the stovetop. They are also called “coarse-cut,” “pinhead,” and “Irish” oats.

• rolled oats:

  oat groats that are steamed to soften then flattened (i.e. “rolled over”) into thi flakes, steamed, then toasted. Because they are thinner than steel-cut oats, they take a shorter time to cook. Rolled oats can be “thick-” or “thin-rolled,” and “old-fashioned,” “quick-cooking,” or “instant.”

• oatmeal:

  we are thinking that this usually term refers to any form of cooked oats, which almost always looks like a porridge, but in a specific sense, would be considered a ground form of oats. We could be wrong.

• “old-fashioned”:

  refers to rolled oats that you cook on the stovetop (or in another way) because they aren’t “pre-cooked” to make them quick-cooking or instant.

• quick-cooking:

  a form of rolled oats, but they are cut into smaller pieces, then steamed and rolled. Like the name says, they cook quickly.

• instant:

  cut, rolled oats that are cooked then dehydrated. You only have to add water to eat them. These usually come with sugar and “flavorings” added, so we are not fond of these (as we mentioned earlier).

• oat flour:

  oats finely ground into a powder. Oat flour can be used for baking, but behaves differently from wheat flour because oat flour does not have gluten.

• oat bran:

  the outer husk of the oat that has the bulk of the grain’s fiber. Whole oat groats are separated into the bran and the oat flour

• Irish Oats, Irish Oatmeal:

  same thing as steel cut oats. Popular brand: McCann’s Irish Oatmeal in the metal canister.

• Scottish oats:

  this is the one that confuses us. First of all, we can’t figure out if Scottish and Scotch are two different things. In either case, these can be ground oat groats that cook faster into a porridge, or these are the same thing as Irish/steel cut oats.

• muesli:

  a mixture of rolled oats (and other grains sometimes) with dried fruit and nuts.

• granola:

  like museli, made of rolled oats (and other grains, sometimes) and dried fruit and nuts, but toasted. Granola usually has added sugars/sweeteners.
  
  via tastespotting.com