{Thankful November} 3: MAC Lady Danger Lipstick
November 3rd, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
I know, it seems trite in the wake of my previous post about my family to be writing about a lipstick shade, but I consider it to be one of my greatest finds over the past five years. It is timeless and versatile, and anyone who likes looking a little bit glam should have it in your arsenal.
I think red lipstick is one of those magical things that has a greater effect psychologically than it does physically. I’ve seen it happen with other people, and I feel it happen to myself when I put it on.
I don’t know when or why I first started wearing red lipstick. It was some time after I moved to New York. I started experimenting with different brands to see which one actually stayed on, and one fateful day I stopped by the MAC counter at Bloomingdales to see what they had to offer. The makeup artist immediately directly me to a classic shade of red called Russian Red. She said it was the color used the most in magazine spreads and advertisements. I decided to give it a go.
Russian Red should have a cult following. It is the perfect shade of red — not too orangey, not too purple — and stays on all day. On more than one occasion I have been eating dinner with someone who stopped halfway through to comment on the fact that the color was still on my lips and not on my glass. Its a matte, so some people might find it to be a little dry, but that is what helps it stay on so long.
After two years of Russian Red, I returned to the MAC store this past spring to see if they had something a little different to try. I told them I loved the timelessness of Russian Red but wanted something a little more funky. That day I was introduced to my newest love, Lady Danger.
Lady Danger is a much brighter shade of red with a distinct orange hue. I’ve had random people on the subway and in stores and even customers at work ask me what the shade is. For anyone out there who is already a lover of red lipstick, Lady Danger is fun way to mix it up.
Lady Danger on the red carpet
Lady Danger at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island
Lady Danger on Cinco de Mayo
Lady Danger on everyone!
Perhaps you think red lipstick is too bold or conspicuous for you. Perhaps you have a negative connotation associated with red lipstick. Whatever your hang up is, open your mind enough to try it just once. I think you are going to like what you see.
Thank you MAC Cosmetics and thank you Lady Danger!
{Thankful November} 2: My Family
November 2nd, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
I was born into a family of engineers whose names all start with the letter “J”. Perhaps it was no coincidence that I was named Rachel because I definitely did not inherit my parents’ (Jay and Jackie) technically-minded brains the way my brother did (Josh).
My mom and me supporting my cousin Julia at the Miss Oklahoma Pageant (2007)
My mother majored in mathematics as an undergrad, got a masters in industrial engineering, and is now finishing up a doctorate in software engineering (all at Auburn University). My dad studied civil engineering at the same university and has worked as a civil engineer for various facets of the federal government my whole life. He’s actually currently using his engineering expertise over in Afghanistan.
And this is my dad’s excited face
My brother studied mechanical engineering at Clemson University before moving out to Seattle to work for Boeing as a stress analyst, and at one point moved down to Las Vegas to do the same for a crazy billionaire who is trying to develop the world’s first space hotel. He is now back in Auburn getting a masters in something aviation-related. Its hard to keep up with what he is doing because when he talks about it, my poor liberal arts-minded brain can only comprehend about 1/4 of the words coming out of his mouth.
My brother and me on a first day of school (late-90s)
My brother and me at my cousin Paul’s wedding (2009)
Even with their respective methodological geniuses, the Three J’s also have active right sides of their brains. They all are lovers and participants of music (mostly singing at this point, although my dad can play just about any instrument with strings). My brother and my dad share my love of cooking (albeit in a very America’s Test Kitchen kind of way, such as my brother’s use of fancy thermometers to figure out exactly how hot the pan is).
My mother was the queen of DIY growing up, making everything from Halloween costumes to birthday cakes to a three-story mansion for my Barbie dolls out of a bookshelf to matching Auburn University outfits for my brother and me. She even sewed her own wedding dress. She’s also the reason my brother and I always had impressively polished projects in school. She wouldn’t do them for us, but she would give us advice and stay up with us into the wee hours of the night as we scrambled to finish them before class the next day (procrastination is a trait my brother and I share).
My family has definitely shaped me into the person I am today. My parents have always been extremely supportive without being the slightest bit pushy (much to my annoyance when I asked to get paid for my good grades… they refused and said they’d love me no matter what my grades were). They fostered an environment where my brother and I could decide what we wanted to do and have the support to make it happen.
I wanted to play piano? I got a piano and lessons. I wanted to switch to violin? I got a (rented) violin and signed up for the strings program at school. I wanted to be in band? I got a clarinet, years of band fees, transportation, and a personal cheer squad. I wanted to go to the Air Force Academy? I got a personal trainer (my dad) to help me get in shape for the fitness test (ultimately I decided I wanted a more “normal” college experience and went to The University of Georgia).
Going to law school was 100% my idea, but the Three J’s immediately got behind me, emotionally and financially. And now that life is once more veering off into a completely different direction, they are still there. My dad and I were driving to Charleston last Christmas when I shared with him my growing uncertainty about working at the law firm. His response: “I know you rose to financial success very quickly, but eventually you are going to have to figure out what makes you happy.”
Late this summer when my parents were visiting me in New York before my dad headed off to Afghanistan, they again affirmed their support in whatever I decided to do with my life, and when I told my dad I felt like I was losing my mind for leaving the legal field, he assured me that going to law school and practicing for several years was time well-spent and has given me practical knowledge that I will take with me no matter what I do.
Particularly at this junction in life, the Three J’s are lot to be thankful for. (Did I mention my mom volunteered to drive to New York from Alabama to help me move even though her schedule is slammed with school? I declined her generous offer.)
Thank you mom, dad and brother!
With my parents at my cousin Julia’s wedding (2009)
Me with the fam at my high school graduation (2001)
Me with the fam at my law school graduation (2008)
The Hundleys – Christmas 2010
{Thankful November} 1: The Basics
November 2nd, 2011 | Rachel
I just started this on Facebook and realized it’d be easier to record for posterity if I moved it to this blog. For this month, I am giving thanks to something specific every day. I’d love for you to join me in the comments or in your own blog!
Today (which I am still considering to be November 1 due to my night owl habits), I am thankful for the very basics: a roof over my head, a comfortable place to sleep and never having to worry about having enough food to eat.
Photos of my last apartment in New York City
These are photos from my last apartment in the city. Sorry about the quality… they were taken with my iPhone 3GS (ugh… so passé!). Randomly, this apartment was featured in Time Out New York Magazine last year. As a result, if you google 2BR Murray Hill, I’m the first search result.
Thank you also to my former law school classmate Jeni Smith for the idea behind Thankful November (who got the idea from one of her friends). In my recent transition from the corporate legal world to bakery owner, I’ve already been making lists of things that I am thankful for in an effort to reconnect with my own core values. Now its time to go public.
What about you? What are you thankful for today?
Round Peg, Square Hole
October 18th, 2011 | Rachel
Square Cake?
It’s amazing what a difference following directions can make. Having rated that last yellow cake recipe a lowly C-, I decided to give it one more try, this time using the instructed quantities of milk and eggs.
The result was a very tasty and moist cake, although it felt a little bit gritty. I have a 5 lb bag of organic cake flour coming in the mail this week, and I am curious to taste and feel the difference. FYI, if you find yourself in need of cake flour and only have all-purpose flour, cornstarch and a flour sifter on hand, I find the ratio of seven parts all-purpose flour to one part cornstarch sifted together at least once to be a perfectly decent substitute.
Speaking of flour sifters, does anyone know the proper way to wash them? I’ve been rinsing mine, but I hate the little hardened pieces of flour that get trapped inside.
Steve and I have less than a week until our California trip, and I couldn’t be more excited. I think I am still a little traumatized from my last job when it comes to planned vacations. With that job, no matter how far ahead a trip was planned, there was always this lurking fear that something would come up and the trip would either have to be cancelled or I’d have to spend half the time typing away on my laptop. That never happened to me, of course, but I heard stories.
I was recently reminded of a fateful weekend back in 2010 when I decided to take Steve on a last minute trip to Nova Scotia for the Fourth of July weekend. The plane tickets were going to be $800 each, but I cashed in some frequent flyer miles and found us a beautiful lodge up in Cape Breton.
A couple of days before the trip, I got an email at work looking for a few extra people to work on a document review project. I needed the extra hours, so I volunteered for the project and explained at the meeting that I was going to be out of town for the weekend but would work as much as I could before I left and after I got back.
Apparently, I was expected to either cancel my trip or spend all of my time in my hotel room reviewing documents because I got a scathing “I’m disappointed in you” email from the partner when the project was over and an even more scathing review at the end of the year — one that the practice group leader made sure I never forgot. It didn’t matter that my other reviews and day-to-day feedback (on projects that were actually substantive) were overwhelmingly positive.
For a long time, I looked back at that experience with mixed emotions. I felt I had made the right choice, but I knew within the context of being an associate at a large law firm it was the wrong choice. When things started to unravel at the beginning of 2011, part of me wished I had played it safe so I would have gotten a big end-of-the-year bonus (the denial of which was attributed to that very same negative review) and job security.
Only recently did I realize that the decision to go on that trip isn’t quite the albatross that I’ve been making it out to be in my head. As some of you know, I am an avid traveler (this year alone I’ve been to China, Tibet, Nepal, Taiwan, and France, in addition to California wine country with my mom and Yellowstone with my brother), and one of the ways that I have traveled so much is I have made it a top priority ever since I took a three-week trip to Australia and New Zealand when I was 18. I still plan on living abroad one day.
There were a lot of things I enjoyed about working at a law firm, but being too afraid (and overworked) to make vacation plans — as most people seemed to be — isn’t the kind of life I want to live. Life is too short for that :-) So, as it turns out, making the decision to go to Nova Scotia with Steve wasn’t me sacrificing my cushy, New York law firm job. It was me choosing to stay on my own path and not get trapped on someone else’s.
Now that I have been away from that job for six months, I am started to see a completely different future take shape ahead of me. It might not be as lucrative, but it is going to be a whole lot more fulfilling.
Stay tuned.
Hiking in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
:-)
A Moose!
Whales!
Driving the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Sunset in Nova Scotia
Follow The Yellow (Cake) Road To Bakerytown
October 4th, 2011 | Rachel
Hello!
Although I haven’t been writing about it the past month or so, Operation West Coast Bakery is in full effect. There are about a thousand things that need to be done, but right now I am focusing on recipe development and educating myself in the area of business management.
For the latter, I am reading this book, which has proven to be a great overview of the necessary steps and components to opening a small business:
I have also begun the process of developing my recipes.
The owner of the Three Green Ducks told me her business started with her recipes, and she has made product quality a top priority ever since. It’s taken 20 years to get where they are now, but the bakery has earned itself a dedicated repeat customer base and are regularly ranked the “best of” in New York City.
I agree with this approach, and therefore I have drafted a preliminary list of recipes that need to be perfected:
Like the Three Green Ducks, my bakery is going to focus on classic American baking. I’ve done a little bit of market research to see what other kinds of bakeries currently exist near the area Steve and I think we want to live, and so far I’ve only found a few large-scale baking operations with a decidedly European influence.
My favorite item on the menu so far is the puddings. I’m going to start with chocolate pudding, but the plan is to offer a standard selection of puddings (vanilla, butterscotch, etc.) and rotate a menu of more interesting flavors. I think pudding might be on the verge of a comeback. I said the same thing about pie when I was in law school, and I was right about that. It’s too bad chocolate pudding is so far down on my list.
I figured one of the most basic bakery recipes is yellow cake, so that is where I am starting. I collected a number of yellow cake recipes that received rave reviews and put them into a chart so I can compare the proportions of each ingredient. With the exception of baking soda and in one case buttermilk, they all use the same ingredients but in markedly different amounts.
As an additional step, I had to learn the volumes of the different pans so I could take that into account when comparing the recipes. Who knew baking was so scientific and mathematical (other than Alton Brown and America’s Test Kitchen)?
Unfortunately, I’m not going to be sharing my bakery recipes with you. Its trade secrets, so I hope you understand. I will still be mixing in some french cooking into the blog and maybe some other random recipes, and those I will definitely be sharing.
The paranoid lawyer in me is nervous about sharing any information about the bakery. I’ve actually come up with a name and a prototype for a logo, but I am still weighing the pros and cons of publishing it this early in the game. If anyone has thoughts on that matter, I would love to hear them.
I’ve always been a little intimidated by made-from-scratch cakes. The boxed cake industry has done a great job artificially creating super moist cake mixes that are hard to recreate texture-wise with just the traditional ingredients. Fortunately for us bakers, the flavor of the boxed mixes can’t compare to the real deal. And that is why we take the more labor-intensive road and make our cakes from scratch.
That being said, my first recipe wasn’t dry at all. I was making half of a recipe and failed to notice that the full recipe called for 8 egg yolks. I used four whole eggs in my half recipe. The result was a very eggy but moist cake. I also left my cake pans at my apartment (right now I am living at Steve’s apartment), and I tried using a ceramic dish. This clearly effected the way it baked. Ceramic is good for recipes that need to be slow-cooked — like pies. I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect cakes benefit from the fast cooking of metal pans.
Perhaps I’ll add that to my list of variables to test.
If you are in the New York City area, there will be some tasting parties in a month or two after I have some recipes figured out. Stay tuned.
