Fairest Vanity

And there it was.

2007-12-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for the holidays. Although Christmas isn't my favorite holiday of the year, I enjoy it immensely. My favorite thing about Christmas is the store displays that sucker you into believing that the time of the year is truly magical. I love the whimsical forms of skinny supermodels with snow and colorful lingerie who decorate the sprawling Victoria's Secret store. I love the icy forms of snowflakes made from fine crystal at the Swarovski store. Most of all, I love the frenzied feeling that I get when I walk up and restrain myself from pressing my nose against the glass of the Williams-Sonoma.

"Williams-Sonoma? That's for serious cooks," said a dear friend.

"Yes, I realize that because it says it on the plaque on the door," I replied.

"See, I didn't even have to read the plaque to know that it's for serious cooks."

But I couldn't help myself. I was so engrossed in the magical display of professional Kitchenaid mixers, which I will most likely never need, despite how beautiful it would be, covered in flour on top of my kitchen cabinet. As much as I was attracted to the mixer, I was equally attracted to the small patch of fake dough with a cookie cutter on top of it. So I bought the stylized copper ballerina and thought of how I would decorate her skirt and bodice with white icing.

Until I actually begin baking gingerbread cookies and using my new cookie cutter, I have to do my least favorite domestic task: cleaning. I hate to clean. I am probably the messiest person that you know, but I am getting better. Until I actually clean the kitchen, I can't bake. Until I clean the living room, I can't have company. Until I clean the bathroom, I can't have a nice relaxing bath. I've been working hard on the house, so that it doesn't look as if 25 frat boys share this house. I'm leaving for Maine soon, so the amount of posts will be even fewer.

Mom's Recipe Box

2007-11-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

While cleaning out the kitchen a couple of days ago, I found a yellowed plastic box with a nubby texture. The lid of the box was attached to the side of the box by a hinge. Inside the box, were recipes from 1971-1992. The newspaper clippings were so delicate that they threatened to crumble with a careful touch, but they contained a wealth of easy recipes that my mom had tried over the years. My mother, queen of takeout and microwave ovens, had once baked beer bread and hot fudge sundae cake on a fairly regular basis. I couldn't believe the recipes that it contained. I have decided that I am going to explore cooking through a variety of resources, including the tattered cards, lovingly handwritten by relatives (many of them gone). Each recipe is a small treasure from the past, and I'm determined to preserve that past. No more takeout.

Aunt Maggie's Rolls

2007-11-21T07:47:00.000-08:00

Aunt Maggie's Rolls
1-2 packages of dry yeast
3 cups lukewarm water
1 T. sugar
1 T. salt
8-9 cups flour
Butter, to taste
Oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Dissolve 1 or 2 packages of dry yeast in 3 cups of lukewarm water. Add 1 T. sugar and 1 T. salt. Stir well.

Measure and sift 8 to 9 cups of flour and start adding it cup by cup to mixture.

Keep adding flour until dough is stiff and leaves the sides of the pan. Turn onto floured board and knead until dough springs back when kneaded down.

Turn into greased (with oil) bowls and cover with a damp cloth. Set in a warm place to rise.

Let rise until the height of the dough approximately doubles. Punch the dough down and separate into buns or loaves.

Let it rise until the height of the dough doubles again

Bake at 375 degrees F until golden brown.

Brush on melted butter or use a stick to rub the top of the bread.

Kneading Bread 101: Make sure that the board is floured well. Work the flour into the dough by using the heel of the hand to punch down the dough. Turn the dough a quarter of a turn as it is being kneaded. Keep pushing flour underneath the dough.

Secrets to Especially Good Bread: Use new flour. Oil works well in the bottom of the bowls. When the dough is placed in the bottom of the bowl, flip the dough over so that the oil is on top of the dough. The dough won't stick to the sides of the bowl. One package of yeast is plenty, but two packages of yeast gives the bread a bit more flavor. Places with incandescent lights or running motors are good places to allow the bread to rise.

Hauling Samsonites Underneath My Eyes

2007-11-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is coming up. Of course, I will divulge the secret for Aunt Maggie's Rolls. Until now, there have been examinations, essays, research papers, recitations, labs, lab reports, tutorials, and orientations that all of a sudden showed on my face last week. It was a mess. Dark circles were underneath my eyes threatening to turn into Samsonites. Blotches of dry skin from the autumn wind covered my nose and lips. Blackheads and pimples from the last paper I had to write exploded on my tired face. This weekend I had to pamper myself.

Saturday I went to a mall filled with Christmas decorations and cashmere. The luxury of it all overwhelmed me, knowing that it had been too long since I had shopped for winter clothing. My thin tee shirts would not stand up to the treks across campus, where the closest parking is at least 15 minutes away from the classroom. Needless to say that spending a total of seven hours going to every kind of store and perhaps the region's largest Victoria's Secret was not quite the idea of pampering that I expected. I wasn't quite ready for the shock of Santa and Rudolph.

Today of course, I stayed at home all day and trashed some of my papers that I will no longer need. I cleaned out my car and all of the Jamba Juice and Starbucks cups. I must admit that I am a total slob. So where did my idea of a pampered weekend go?

My pampered weekend, dear lack of readers, amounted to me using Cetaphil to wash my face, a cup of peppermint tea, and one of those $1.99 packages of pre-mixed face masques, and the lip balm in my makeup bag. Surprisingly, taking five minutes out of a hectic schedule to take care of myself ended up doing wonders for my face. One doesn't have to go to the spa all day to feel relaxed and beautiful. The bags disappeared. The blemishes have gone down. My nerves are soothed. I am the much happier for my five minutes of peace.

An uncensored glimpse inside of my makeup bag reveals that I have a slight obession with Burt's Bees and moisturization. Everything except for the flash drive, the Estee Lauder lipstick, and the Diorshow Mascara was bought at the student store, but the Burt's Bees kit can be found here.

Contents:

Overnight Bee-uty Bag

-Coconut Foot Crème

-Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

-Naturally Nourishing Milk & Honey Lotion

-Radiance Lip Shimmer

-Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil

-Shea Butter Hand Repair Crème

Estee Lauder Pure Color Crystal Lipstick in Elizabeth Pink

Diorshow Waterproof Mascara in Black

Attache Flash Drive

(Late) Friday Favorites

2007-11-10T16:22:00.001-08:00

Life as an engineering major, as always, has gotten in the way of Fairest Vanity. I would love to sit and cook all day and figure out things to do with ingredients in my head and various concoctions I would love to make someday, but honestly I didn't have any time over the past two weeks. So here are a few updates and Friday Favorites posted on a Saturday night.

I'm loving:

The various types of winter squash in stores: butternut, acorn, and turban. Who could forget the pumpkin though?

Corn muffins and all their uses.

Heidi Swanson's inspirational cookbook, Super Natural Cooking with its recipe for homemade thin mints.

The strange concoctions that the luxury market decided was a good idea. Juicy Couture now makes pawfume and nail polish for Fido. Ringo is quivering on his haunches in fear right now.

The roadside stand on the road by my home that sells bags of potatoes and whatever seasonal crop is available. Before potatoes, it was $5 watermelons from Rush Springs.

The fact that if I miss my turn to get to my house, I end up in another town before I can make a left turn and turn around.

A Transformation

2007-11-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

I remember when I first saw my new bedroom in my new house. It was in short, a pink nightmare. Perfect for a preteen but hardly compatible for a college student. I envisioned the cathedral ceilings in shades of white and with white curtains and a black and white comforter that would be warm in the winter but cool in the summer. I envisioned my new room to be a fairytale bedroom that would be completely comforting and would not look as if Hannah Montana lives in it. The shade was atrocious; Shy Little Piglet plastered the walls.

Then I set about working on the room, watching my mom and sister paint and eventually painting the ceiling with a roller that would not lock when it was extended. I painted it two shades of gray: Thin Ice and Secret Passage from Olympic Paints. Suddenly, the room seemed calmer, more peaceful, and then I looked at it and said, "It looks like concrete!"

After I got over the initial shock of a concrete bedroom, I had to deal with the french windows and the broken blinds and the "Marey Christmas" written on the panes of glass in green crayola and the "C me write" scribbled on the back of the door in black Sharpie.

Suddenly I was in over my head. I still slept in the guest bedroom. I accepted the fact that my twin bed was now too small for Ringo and me. I bought a full-size duvet and begged for another full bed to go into my room. Then I still couldn't sleep in the room-the wooden blinds were broken and warped with moisture. The solution: a black curtain from Target and an Audrey Hepburn photograph.

Ringo likes it. I like it. It's not finished completely, but it's a start and I can sleep on 200 thread-count sheets.

Friday Favorites (From Modern Domesticity: 10/26/2007)

2007-11-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

I'm loving: Large trash days when upper middle class neighborhoods are full of wonderful junk that is just waiting to be given a new life. I walked down the street wheeling a wrought-iron chaise that the neighbors deemed garbage. I left the sherpa fleece pet stairs behind.

Katy McColl as correspondent at Pink of Perfection, and especially her makeover of the most hideous piece of junk furniture I have ever seen.

How the cops in Norman like to pull over unsuspecting motorists after a donut sugar rush. I'm just kidding. I'm loving the fact that I got a warning instead of a ticket.

The Baroque World of Fernando Botero at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. If you haven't looked at any of Botero's work, it is strangely comical yet violent at the same time. If you haven't seen the obese sphinx (in an undignified pose) in front of the Fred Jones Jr. Art museum, it's well worth a look.

Listening to Clair de Lune on cool Autumn days while drinking raspberry hot chocolate.

Light fuzzy sweaters.

My room with a view of the front lawn filled with miniature pumpkins, large pumpkins, and ghost pumpkins.

Hello!

2007-11-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Fairest Vanity, where all your fairytale dreams come true and where your coach doesn't turn into a pumpkin at midnight. As life becomes increasingly demanding and complex, here is a quiet corner on the web to relax, enjoy and laugh at my awkwardness.