Romanticizing camp

This time of year, I always start missing camp. Yes that camp. The good, old-fashioned summer camp. I have this weird romanticized obsession with it. Although I am totally not an outdoors, let's jump in a canoe, sit outside and get eaten by mosquitoes, type of person. I much prefer a summer spent on a beach. But in the rear view mirror, oh those camp days look fine.

I wanted so badly to scan some of my old camp pictures for this post, but unfortunately they're all in storage with the rest of my stuff pre-2002. So instead I'm gonna pull on an old fashion spread done for a magazine that is no longer, but that I once loved and worked for. This stuff never goes out of style.



Yeah, that's the one.

Of course I never looked that lovely and refreshed at camp. I spent my summers at this camp, in central Louisiana, and it was always hot as hell and we had no AC in the cabins and were in constant state of sweaty grossness. And we liked it that way.

Our days consisted of meal times and game times and a little bit of prayer times. Yeah, it was that kind of camp. I can remember getting daubed with paint on my cheeks to designate my team and then tearing down the hillsides in a bout of capture the flag or something similar to the sounds of "It's the End of the World as We Know It" blasting over the loudspeakers.



We made friendship bracelets like they were going out of style (um, they were) and wasted our afternoons playing four-square and gorging on junk food from the canteen. We went to dances and stood awkwardly in corners and we ended each day with milk and cookies in the dining hall. We bonded for life.

To this day I can't smell Pantene (especially Pantene in a musty, non-air-conditioned bathroom) and not think of my time there. Ah memories.



It's totally the wrong season for it, but all this talk of camp reminds me of my burning desire to one day own one of these camp blankets. The Pendleton Glacier National Park blanket never goes out of style. Add it to the wish list.

And of course at camp, I'd need a bandanna to wear 'round my neck or my forehead to keep the sweat at bay. These days, I'd pay homage to my dear sweet Astoria (and therefore Queens) with this uh-may-zing new bandanna from the great Etsy seller Hand Over Fist.



Oh my gosh, add it to the wish list. Now.

Meanwhile, who am I kidding? My camp days are solidly behind me, so instead I'll just settle in and listen to the "Notes on Camp" episode of This American Life again. It's probably my favorite. Well, one of them. There are so many after all.

Happy summer everyone!

High on pie

I am so lime'd out right now. And yet I keep going back for more... Back in early May, I spotted key limes on sale at Newflower Market and decided I needed to tackle a key lime pie from scratch. Certainly, you can make a key lime pie with just regular limes, but I doubt it tastes as yummy.

The only downside to making it as intended? Those key limes are tiny, and you've gotta squeeze a heck of a lot of them to get the juice you need. Luckily they usually aren't too expensive. I think Newflower had them on sale for 20 for a $1? But that was a couple months ago (I'm a slooow blogger). What you really need to focus on is the patience in squeezing them all. And dang, it is so worth it.



I think this was the last slice. I'd already blown through most of it (and shared some with good friends) before I remembered to take a picture. As for the recipe, I just did some googling and found there wasn't a lot of variation in what goes into it. So here's the recipe I used, swiped from Epicurious:

Key Lime Pie

For crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 crackers (yeah, I got the boxed graham crumbs - I'm all for saving steps.)
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh or bottled key lime juice (But don't use bottled. Short cuts are okay when it comes to graham crumbs, but not citrus juices in my opinion. This took me about 30 key limes.)

For topping
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch glass pie plate. Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack. Leave oven on.

Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice and whisk until well blended (mixture will thicken slightly). Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven for 15 minutes. Cool pie completely (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.

Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream. (Full disclosure, despite having some heavy cream on hand, I also had a half-empty thing of Cool Whip from when I made 'lazy man's strawberry shortcake' the week before. That's right, canned biscuits and Cool Whip were involved. So make the real stuff if you want to, but if you go for the frozen "whipped topping," I won't judge. The lime juice on the other hand...)

By the way, did I mention before that my oven seems to run a bit hot? A tad? Well, I bought one of those in-oven temperature gauges and it says that it runs one hundred degrees above what it's set at. No wonder everything's been burning! However, now I'm noticing that when the oven is totally off, that same temperature gauge says it's like 300 degrees in there. So I think it's broken too. Will the oven mystery never be solved? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, it's no wonder that my latest and more recent lime creation is an icebox pie. Better to be safe than to be without pie.



That's what I always say.

Shoe Love

Ever since the spring, every time I go into a DSW, I find these shoes, and I pet them. I think they're fabulous.



Unfortunately, they're also $300 (or at least they were - they may have made it down to $200 by now). Too rich for my blood. Surely by the time they are in my price range, there will be only size 9's or 6's left and so it will never be.

But last time I saw them a couple weeks ago, I tried them on and took a picture so I'd have something to remember them by. If I owned them, I would rock them like nobody's business this weekend. Cos, you know. It's 4th of July. Oh yeah, and they're Marc by Marc Jacobs, in case you're curious.

Instead I probably won't be rocking anything this weekend. Just sporting headphones to block out my rowdy neighbors and their firework popping. And reading. Just the kind of three-day weekend I'm craving right now. My new job is going well, but June's been a rather busy month, and I'm due for some quiet R&R. And some baking. Any requests?

First day of school

It's tomorrow! For me anyway.

All evening, I've been watching "The Big Band Years" on KERA (the Dallas-area PBS station). They'd compiled all this footage of performances by Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman and others playing some of my favorite old big band songs. It was what I imagined MTV would have looked like had it been around in the 30s and 40s.

Ages ago, I bought a double CD set of the Glenn Miller Orchestra's greatest hits and I still love listening to it. If you don't want to invest the money, you can always listen to KNCT, broadcast out of the Central Texas College campus in Killeen, Texas. On Sunday afternoons, they play nothing but great big band music from 12 to 6 pm (that's central time, y'all). I caught it once on a drive back from Austin and now listen to it on the interwebs when I can.

Assuming I ever get married, and it's to a man with lots o' money, I want a big band at my reception. It would be fabulous. They would play "Pennsylvania 6-5000" and "In the Mood" and "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and of course "Moonlight Serenade." And I would have forced the boy to take some dance lessons before-hand so we could tear up the dance floor. There'd also be lots of champagne involved. Gee, wouldn't that be swell?

Clearly I've got a thing for the 30s and 40s, as evidenced by my love for this music in addition to my obsession with any film starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But that's a whole other post. For now, enjoy Mr. Miller and his players!

C'est moi

Did you ever have one of these done when you were young?



I never did. At least not that I could recall. So when I was at the Dallas Arboretum in May to sign up to volunteer (an awesome gig, I should add -- I highly recommend it), and I saw a lady with a table set up selling her silhouette sketching services, I walked right up and put down my money. Only midway through did I realize it'd make an awesome Mother's Day gift.

I think I look like I'm 8 years old in that picture, rather than 28. I think that's exactly how my hair looked at that age too. And as her next client was rolled up in a stroller, I had no shame. Even grownups should have a silhouette done. Go do it.

Speaking of me, me, me, next we go to diaries. I got one of my final publishing job-related freebie goodies in the mail last week. I'm definitely gonna miss those.



My Keel's Simple Diary is white. I probably would have chosen blue or green, but receivers of freebies can't be choosers.

I've missed having a diary. My last one is dated to my college years. About a year ago, I pulled it out and found it to be the funniest thing I'd read in ages. Honestly, it's a riot. This one is a little more restrained. Some simple questions, thought-provoking prompts, and you're done. Just the simple continuity of it feels nice. I dig it.

Strange days

Such a strange strange month it's been. Don't you think? Or is it just me? It has been so tumultuous, full of goodbyes and hellos and big changes.


Photo by the amazing Pete Souza, The Official White House Photostream. (Yes I'm still obsessed with it.)

Aren't graduations fun? I love 'em. I didn't get to attend any this spring but I know plenty of people who did. I miss that ebb and flow of a school year. How September is the new beginning rather than January. New outfits, freshly sharpened pencils, go pick out a new Trapper Keeper with kittens on the cover. Vacation at the holidays, then back to school. Spring Break. Tests. And the end rolls around in May. School's out for summer (for ever).

Students follow this schedule. TV sorta does too. I wish I did sometimes. I wish summer had that lightness to it like it did when I was young. So I'm changing direction a bit. Trying something new. Leaving magazines for the time being and going back to that school environment. I hope I like it. And I hope this means I'll have more time for my blog, and keeping everyone up to date on the latest polar bear news and etsy favorites and all that nonsense. You'd like that, wouldn't you?

So give me a couple more weeks and I'll soon have my business sorted out. Fingers crossed.

By the way, did you know that there is this crazy abandoned mini-golf in a spaceship business right alongside I-35E just south of Dallas? It's at the exit for Italy, and it is superfun to take pictures inside of. Case in point.



Dork.

That's right, you're not from Texas

A good friend is coming to visit this weekend from my New York years, and she's never been to Texas before. For some reason, I'm a bit anxious about it. I desperately want the state to put on its best face: perfect weather, gracious welcome, easy hospitality. I'm looking for a Willie Nelson-like welcome. Yep, that's my favorite side of the state, I'd say. The Willie side. I think that's a side she'd appreciate.

I mean, what's not to like? Sure sure, we're a red state, but let's look at the good side here. I mean, we all like a good beer, yes?



Well, except for me of course. I'd prefer a margarita. But I'm a little odd like that. And we all likes deh football.



Speaking of, I heard a hullabaloo honked today (and the responding "whoop") in Uptown Dallas. Weird. That's right, Dallas can has it too.



We love big open skies. And cows.



And speaking of the cows, we love Whataburger. (Oh sorry vegetarian friends. We love you too.)



And BBQ. Yep, we heart the smoked meats.



Man, has she got an awesome weekend ahead of her or what? I really hope she likes it. After all, she likes me, and I'm from Texas. I'm tempted to make her a CD for the drive from Dallas down to Austin. A few tunes to get her in the mood. First track, naturally, would be this song..



That's right S, Texas wants you anyway.