The Mindy Project

You know I love Mindy. She hilarious - as Kelly Kapoor, in her book, Twitter, and in every blog she's started and abandoned. And now she has her own TV show, It's Messy The Mindy Project!  She plays an OB/GYN (like her mom is in real life) slash Bridget Jones-like awkward yet totally cool single girl looking for a man.  Did you watch the trailer? No? Well go on then, the link's right there. I will wait.

What did you think? It was a little awkward, right? But it did have some good moments so I can see it evolving into something watchable. I mean, I'm going to be obsessed with it no matter what, but it may take other people a little while. 

And hey, did you notice she's Indian? You didn't, right? This is huge, you guys. I mean, what other ethnic people are the stars of a show that isn't on BET, Telemundo, or My9? And her co-stars are two guys, so it doesn't feel like a chick show. She's also cute and fabulous (check out the Louboutins!), but real enough (check out those curves!) that you don't kind of hate her a little. And even though the premise is that she wants to get married, she's also an independent, educated, professional feminists would approve of. Well played, Mindy, well played!

Summer To Do List: Part 1

Christina, Pam, and I had a "Spring's Here, Let's Come Out of Hibernation an Hang Out!" reunion recently at Beecher's.  It was lovely! The seating area is downstairs and dimly lit, so it definitely has a basement feel, but the bathroom was nice! It's unisex, so don't be surprised if, as your washing your hands, the guy you worked with 6 years ago comes in, but you don't say anything because it's the bathroom and he probably really needs to pee and you're like "eh, he probably doesn't remember me anyway" even though you're facebook friends, and you wouldn't facebook friends if you weren't real friends, RIGHT?   

While enjoying our cheesy dinners, we started talking about our plans for the upcoming warm weather. Pam whipped out the To Do list on her phone (she's so organized :)) and I just blurted out the random things I'm interested in. That's not going to work, is it? Alright, here's my list which, now that it's out there for the world, will hopefully hold me to itself. It's long, so here's part one: the "New Cities to Explore" list.

1. Bond with Jersey City - my new home. Eeps! That sounds so weird to say! I'm still not used to this place, but that's exactly why I need to explore.

• There's Barcade - a bar with $0.25 aracade games
• Mana Contemporary - NOT White Mana, the nearby White Castle-like burger place, but actually a very cool 125k sqr ft arts and performance space.
• I'm actually interested in looking around what I call India Town. So many restaurants and shops, all run and owned by real life Indians. My mouth is watering just thinking about it*
• And I'll definitely be hitting up a few of the many festivals they have all summer.

I'm excited! JC has a bad rap, but it definitely has a lot going on and it's very up-and-coming. Maybe I'll have some mad cap adventure and in the end realize this is where I truly belong. Oh god, I hope Jersey City, New Jersey is not where I truly belong. How 'bout I just realize "this place ain't so bad"? Yeah, that's good enough.

2. Explore Brooklyn. Land of artists, vegans, and Polish people!  I could so easily see myself fitting in there.  But just because I became a corporate cog doesn't mean I can play pretend on weekends, right?  I'm hoping Brooklyn Ambassador Pam and I will soak up as much as we can in the next few months and do things like

 - go to Smorgasburg (get it?) - a food flea market. Just go to the site and see how delicious everything looks!! If you find the one person taking pictures through a real camera and not Instagram, that'll be me, so come over and say hello!

- go to the Goonies screening at the Brooklyn Museum. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I've never been to this museum, and ya'll know how I like flaunt my cultured...ness, so why not!

3. The Hamptons. I'm not going lie, I really just want to go because I watch and love Revenge and am hoping to get caught up in some billionaire's scheme to ruin the local royalty. Who knows, maybe I too can score a job as a party planner/personal assistant/stylist/photo shoot director/media representative/web designer. 

Next list: the "Hit the Haps in Central Park"....

*Because of the restaurants, not the Indian people.
Photos from Pinterest (but the added apostrophe is all me) and Smorgasburg (credit:Kate Glicksberg)

Real Disney Princesses

Check out these realistic Photoshop renderings of Disney princesses by some Jirka. Ha. Sorry. He does a great job with the faces (thank you for not making Jasmine look like Kim K!), and is getting much better with the bodies. Much better than anything I could ever do though! Or is it...(spoiler alert: yes):

Punjammies

            

I'm a huge fan of pajama pants. Here's a secret - I actually only wear men's pajama pants. Since this is a public blog I have to restrain myself from publishing all the jokes I really want to write. I actually just wrote three different ones and deleted each of them. 

I digress. 

These look pretty comfy, right?  And they're kind of exotic and stylish, so you can probably even wear them out if you're the shop-at-Walmart-in-your-PJs type. And the good feeling won't just be physical! 

These Punjammies "are made by women in India rescued from forced prostitution seeking to rebuild their lives. Proceeds from the sales....provide fair-trade wages, savings accounts, and holistic recovery care."

Get them for your mom, your bridesmaids, the pregnant friend/new mom who just wants to be comfortable damnit, but would enjoy a cute alternative to sweats.

Plot 43

I just got a plot in the building's garden and I'm so excited!

The only things I do not care to grow are flowers. Yes, they're pretty, but it's so much more exciting and gratifying to eat what you've grown yourself.  Must....resist...."fruits of your labor" pun!

What should I grow? Perhaps a root vegetable so I can be surprised when I finally pull them up? It'll be like having a baby...and I'll send out announcements: Baby Carrot - 3 oz, 2 inches. Or maybe some gongura leaves so I can make one of my favorite chutneys, while using its similarities to a certain illegal substance as a fun ice breaker for my fellow gardening biddies. You know how I like to multitask!

Photos from home. Those tomatoes and that pepper were still a little orange and dark green, respectively when I plucked them, but apparently you're supposed to do that and let them finish ripening on your windowsill. Well, I don't know if you have to, but that's what my mom said and look how bright red they got!

Nutella Puff Pastry

You know how all those food blogs have beautifully styled food, pristine dishware, amazing lighting? I would love to have one of those. Instead, I'm Lakshmi and I do things like this.
My friends and I had a potluck not so long ago, and I decided to make these Nutella puff pastries I found on Pinterest. Nutella + marshmallow + puff pastry. How could that not be a hit? They're supposed to look like this:

 

That would've been really impressive, right?

Here's how mine turned out...

Origami Kittehs

I can't decide which version is cuter.
Happy Friday the 13th!
From How About Orange

Russian Doll Measuring Cups

How cute are these?  Pretty darn cute, I'd say. These were the awesome Yankee Swap gifts I stole from my friend (he's a guy, so he probably didn't want them anyway, right?). Both the top and the bottom of each is a measuring cup! I love them so much, I've been measuring my cereal by serving size. Thanks Ana, for the awesome find!