Hello campers, it’s Tuesday which means it’s time to find out
What Miss Plumcake is…
Reading: The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway. Sometimes it’s dangerous to re-read the books you loved in high school, but every year as spring edges its way to summer, Hemingway’s modernist masterpiece calls to me and I read it –at least sections of it– while sunning myself in the cabana, bottle of vinho verde by my side.
Watching: To Be Fat Like Me – A Very Special Lifetime Movie about a thin, pretty, popular girl going undercover in a fat suit to create a documentary on what it’s like to be a fat teenager. A masterpiece of cinematic excellence? Not even a little. Accurate? Maybe, to a point. Still, it’s smarter than it looks and worth watching if you’ve got nothing else to do.
Hearing:Siamese Dream – Smashing Pumpkins. One high school favorite deserves another. Could anyone feel my poignant, poignant pain, like the pasty-faced fuzzed-out rock of Billy Corgan et al circa 1993, when a young Miss Plumcake was so deeply, deeply misunderstood (and yet somehow not getting paid for it?) Sure it’s a little dated now, but I defy you to turn it on when you’re alone and not bliss out to sixty-two minutes of the best shoegazing the mid 90s had to offer. Available for five-dollar download at amazon.
Smelling: L’Eau d’Hiver – Editions Fredéric Malle Editions de Parfums. I guess it’s throwback week at Stately Château Gâteau because I’ve returned to one of my all-time favorite fragrances. L’Eau d’Hiver –Winter Water– is, in a word, pristine. It is the sugar crust crunch of a boot through the first snow of winter, when it’s only you and the birds in an empty field. Some people say it smells of powdered almonds, but not to me. It’s angelica and hawthorn on an highly theoretical white iris base (think a single white iris in a white minimalist living room) with just a breath of jasmine to keep it from being robotic. It’s available in the states exclusively at Barney’s, though you can find samples on eBay (I wouldn’t trust ’em) and The Perfumed Court.
Loving: Marthe Espa 2 Espadrille – Lacoste. Man, I love a good espadrille. I pretty much plan on spending my entire summer in them this year. Plus, if you’re going to do preppy, you can’t get much better than Lacoste.
Hating: Cucumbers. WTF, cucumbers? Why do you have to be in stuff I like? Man, I would be all OVER some gazpacho right now, but every place I go has cucumbers in them. And don’t tell me it’s an essential part of the dish, I don’t care. If we can put a man on the moon we can get me some damn cuke-less gazpacho. Plus, cobras smell like cucumbers and I am PRETTY DARN SURE cucumbers are working in ALL SORTS of cahoots with cobras in an ongoing effort to kill me since they didn’t get the chance when I was three. So you’re on notice cucumbers. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Wanting: Enamel Jewelry. TONS of it. Particularly these black-eyed Susan leverbacks from Kate Spade (also available in pierced) There’s just something about summer that makes me want to put away my faceted pieces and heavy metal in exchange for cool, sleek, not-too-serious enamel.
Buying: Vinho Verde – by the case. I’m not much of a oenophile, because wine tends to have a nasty habit of not being made of Scotch or gin. However, when the temperatures rise and a girl wants a tall cool drink of something light and refreshing, it’s hard to go wrong with this slightly effervescent “green wine” from Portugal, especially at about $7 a pop. Does Vinho Verde replace Jose Mourinho as my favorite Portuguese export? Absolutely not, but until The Special One realizes how happy we will be together and makes himself available for my summer enjoyment, the wine will have to do.
What about you? What’s dusting your bunnies this week?
This $5 download thing is rather ruining my life. A bit like YouTube when it first went up. It’s so awesome that I basically spend all my time listening to samples and looking for $5 downloads. I used to have friends. I used to read books. Now I just look for $5 downloads.
The other thing about vino verde is that it goes well with every single type of food, I swear.
Comment by Lisa from SoCal — April 12, 2011 @ 11:23 am
@Lisa from SoCal: AND a variety of pharmaceuticals!
Comment by Miss Plumcake — April 12, 2011 @ 1:08 pm
As a Spaniard: cucumber in gazpacho is disgusting. Works much better without that nasty thing in it.
Comment by aa — April 12, 2011 @ 1:21 pm
Cukes are properly served as a salad: slice very thin and marinate in vinegar, salt, a teeeeeny bit of sugar, dill, and a little pepper. Any other presentation is ca-ca.
Comment by Jinx — April 12, 2011 @ 1:46 pm
It is totally your fault that I just watched an entire Lifetime movie on Hulu in the middle of the day.
I still don’t know if I liked it or not.
Am going to get up and write finals papers now. Thanks for the help finding ways to procrastinate…
Comment by Church Mom — April 12, 2011 @ 2:17 pm
Gazpacho always sounds like a lovely idea, but every time I see it it’s infested with cucumbers so I don’t think I’ve ever really tried it. Not a tragedy on the level of cilantro in ceviche, but still damn annoying.
Comment by daisyj — April 12, 2011 @ 2:31 pm
Being the nerd that I am, I had to google the cucumber thing, and found that according to the Smithsonian National Zoo site, it is Copperhead snakes that smell like cucumbers, not cobras ;)
Comment by bookgirl — April 12, 2011 @ 8:14 pm
I’m totally jonesing for some enamel jewelry myself, although I can’t ever not hear Meryl Streep hissing out “Florals? For Spring? How original.” when I think about it.
And now I will have to search unto verily the hinterlands (or just Charleston SC) for bottles of Vinho Verde. As I’m certain it is not available here in Mayberry.
Comment by Phyllis — April 12, 2011 @ 9:01 pm
@Bookgirl: Well then the National Zoo is wrong. And since the head of the herpetology house at the Smithsonian was the guy who introduced me to Cathy the Cobra, I’m sure he’ll back me up. Also, as my family spent a good 20 years in South East Asia, where there are plenty of cobras and not a single copperhead, I’m fairly sure they didn’t make it up. Now take your pedantic self into the kitchen and make me some gazpacho!
Comment by Miss Plumcake — April 12, 2011 @ 11:06 pm
Can I have your cucumbers?
Comment by ZaftigWendy — April 13, 2011 @ 1:41 am
Vinho verde is delightful. I’m not a big wine person, but I love how crisp and refreshing it is. Also, it’s always super cheap. If you pay more than $10 for a bottle, you’re paying too much. And since it’s so cheap, I don’t hesitate to cook with it, either.
Comment by Mary — April 13, 2011 @ 9:10 am
@ZaftigWendy: With my blessings! Although in the cool light of day I will say I approve of cucumbers in raita and sliced up in water. Other than that? JAMAIS!
@Mary: I’m the same way. Not a huge wine person, but it’s just so refreshing. Also I can usually get a case of really decent stuff for about $5/bottle with a case discount and since vinho verde isn’t very well known in these parts, it makes an excellent summer hostess gift. I always buy a case or two around this time of year. One to drink at my leisure and one to give away bottle by bottle as needed
@Phyllis: What cracked me up about that line is before I saw the movie I had JUST said the same thing to a dear friend. A few days later we were watching The Devil Wears Prada together (having taken some good-natured ribbing from said for my Miranda Priestly tendencies, which I denied just out of principle) and as that line came out of Meryl’s mouth my friend turned and just stared pointedly at me until we both burst out laughing.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — April 13, 2011 @ 10:42 am
@Jinx: I weep for your rongness. ALMOST as much as I weep for not seeing you last week. Stupid Seether ruining everything!
@Church Mom: Yeah it’s sort of…thought provoking. Without actually being any good. Do you know what would be another good way for you to procastinate? Hanging out with your fashionable church pal for gin and tonics and gossip (but let’s make it through Holy Week first!)
@DaisyJ: While I support you on the anti-cucumber platform, I am afraid you are woefully mistaken re: cilantro. Any dish from south of the border, the Indian subcontinent and the whole of southeast Asia should come with entire handsful of cilantro, with an extra bale of the stuff on the side.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — April 13, 2011 @ 10:47 am
@aa: I am going to print out your comment and present it to every single wrong-thinking gazpacho slinger I come across. I’m planning a trip to Spain in the fall, and have no real plans other than landing at least one member of Barca and Real Madrid. Do you have any suggestions? My Spanish is good though not flawless, I’ll be going alone and I’ve got a sense of adventure.
Comment by Miss Plumcake — April 13, 2011 @ 10:49 am
Well, I live in Madrid, and — as a faithful and totally non-psychopathic reader — would be delighted to show you around town.
As an Asturian, I really think you should visit the North of Spain, which is spectacular — Galicia, Asturias, and/or the Basque Country (where Xabi Alonso comes from). But I’ll be glad to give you more detailed suggestions, if you want. Feel free to email me.
Comment by aa — April 13, 2011 @ 3:36 pm
Plummy: That sounds more in the nature of a reward for surviving both Holy Week and the finals week immediately following. If we make it to May, do you know a good joint for a Pimms Cup, or is it going to have to be the avocado margarita place?
Comment by Church Mom — April 14, 2011 @ 5:17 pm
Avocado margarita, another perfect use of cilantro.
Comment by hickchick — April 14, 2011 @ 9:11 pm
@Church Mom: While I do like avocado margaritas, I do not do the avocado margarita place since that one time I met with my editor and got so drunk that on my walk home I accidentally bought a half-dozen Save The Children kids and had to support them for the next year. You know you don’t even get real letters from the ones you bought? It’s an outrage. We could do something on the east side, or if you wanted to stay closer to the mother ship, the balcony at Stephen F’s. Obvs we’re both swamped with Holy Week and the week after is no good because your finals and my rigorous soccer-watching schedule. Email me!
@Hickchick: Innnteresting proposition. I bet cilantro a sprig of cilantro in a regular margarita (unsalted on the rocks and none of this margarita mix nonsense) would be divine!
Comment by Miss Plumcake — April 15, 2011 @ 11:20 am