strawberry hi-hat cupcakes

happy ojai friday! today marks the fifth day of my stay and the fifth day that i have eaten nothing but yogurt in the morning, mexican food in the evening, and a whole lot of green room hummus in between. (and i wouldn't be surprised if the entire orchestra could say the same. how does the stage not smell like one big fart all the time?) 

it's been weird not being in my kitchen all week, but exciting because i get to use my host family's beautiful sunny kitchen, and then in order to access wifi i mosey over to the hall which yields live soundtracks like brooklyn rider rehearsals and face melting jazz renditions of all of my favorite mahler tunes. 

pictured are some strawberry cupcakes that i made for betty before i left. i love that a hi-hat is both a cymbal and a cupcake, don't you? these little guys are inspired by these chocolate beauties, and they totally remind me of that smiling poop emoji. gluten-free smiling poop emoji, in fact!

the recipe is over on betty's site.

have a wonderful weekend, everyone! i am off to berkeley on monday... any restaurant recommendations would be much appreciated :)

-yeh!

a farm in ojai

right around two years ago, i rode down atlantic avenue on a bus with rob, jenny, and the human who later became eggboy. we were on our way from the governor's island gatsby party and so naturally i was dressed like a flapper. the person futurely known as eggboy and i had a conversation that still echoes in my brain every so often:

so what's you're farm like?? i really want to go live on a farm someday! i think it would be so much fun!

oh. um. ok, well are you sure? what do you imagine when you think of a farm?

i imagine myself walking barefoot through rows of dewey fruits and vegetables at sunrise. i'd wear a sundress. maybe i'd eat a mango. it would be foggy and in the distance there would be mountains. perhaps some olive trees. 

oh. well, ok, my family's farm isn't exactly that. it's basically as flat as can be and there are days when all you do is sit in a tractor for 14 hours. you don't ever want to be barefoot. i listen to a lot of radio.

rob: moll, i don't think you could handle real farming.

yes i could! yes i could! i love the radio! i can wear cute boots!

so imagine eggboy's reaction when i told him that after a year on his farm, i'm now staying on the farm of my 2012 dreams. you're never coming back are you. i'll be back, i'll be back, but not before a few more good sunrise strolls through the fields of my host family's farm.

this place is like willy wonka for grownups.

colorful little rows, each with different crops, look like a trifle at the right angle, interrupted only by the volunteer squashes that grow from seeds that have wiggled out of compost. my morning walk yesterday smelled like basil as my host farmer and his team prepared bunches to sell at the santa barbara market. as i photographed the orange trees, a small farm dog romped through the stevia and kale to come say hello. 

mountains in the distance, fog in the morning... dreamy is an understatement. maybe when my host farmer decides he's in need of some snow and the cold, he'll do a farm swap with us. 

-yeh!

ojai, day one

i awoke like i often do: to birdies chirping, the sun shining, and with a britney spears song stuck in my head. my routine bedside instagram and twitter checking was just that--routine--until i noticed the mountains and palm trees, staring at me, all vulnerable in my genghis barbie t-shirt.

in a pre-coffee fashion, i fumbled around, cranking up the shutter speed faster and faster until i could snap that bottom photo, right from my bed! (jealous yet, woodpecker?)

when i loped downstairs at the wee hour of 8 for me, 6 for them, my host farmer took me on a stroll around his farm to meet his crops and sample the herbs. there were orange trees, green vegetables, and many kinds of basil. purslane and amaranth... more on this later.

the day continued on with extraordinary versions of everyday things:

my daily exercise, done not on a treadmill in front of orange is the new black, but up hills lined with yards where ostriches and lamas played.

a burrito, not at the town qdoba, but out of doors, with a beer, a joe, and three new friends.

and a chocolate o'clock photo session that came complete with two very special assistants, one being my host farmer, who dashed out to his farm mid-shoot for the healthiest mint leaves i ever did hold and the prettiest blue flowers called bachelor's buttons. they're edible, so naturally they found their way to my almond butter cups.

the too-hot-for-pants day turned into a chilly night during an outdoor opera rehearsal, and then over quesadillas and bacon we sleepily drank our beers before bidding the mountains goodnight.

oh hi, ojai.

-yeh!

a cat cake + friday links

living on a farm means hanging out with cats. rub junior's belly. come play with sven and ole. stand right here in the rain while i go tend to jinxie. these are all things that eggboy has said at least once recently, and as a dog person, it's a little bit jarring. i'm slowly starting to warm up to cat culture though, and not without the help of this onigiri cat. this week was national pet appreciation week, so i made a cat cake for betty crocker and in doing so gained a whole new respect for coco cake land's animal cakes. they are hard to make! this little guy is decorated with marzipan and soba noodles... and he doesn't have a name yet. thoughts?

speaking of cakes, did you all see this chocolate ombre cake? tell me your jaw didn't drop when you saw it. i dare you.

and this chocolate and lemon pistachio semifreddo (!!!!)

and speaking of farms, kara's love letter to her farm is one of the prettiest things i ever did read.

in this week's drooling from afar at the sufjan stevens/justin peck ballet: the pas de deux.

check out this meat i want to eat right now: a steak salad with tahini dressing, a pretzel dog with cheddar beer sauce.

in the opposite of meat realm, i previewed kimberley's cookbook last week in las vegas and i don't know if it was because i was really drunk, but i definitely almost barfed in excitement over the beautiful vegetables that smiled at me from the pages. it comes out in about a week!

this preview of the beautiful driftless magazine makes me even more excited about the midwest.

in which of a kind got me to admit that i was once a mathlete.

hug me about these bookstores of new york.

"photography is made 20% by the light that comes from outside, and 80% by the light that comes from within you."

praise marian for making the scuttlebutt possible in the middle of nowhere.

happy friday, everyone!!!

-yeh!