Jeans- Seven for All Mankind; Top- J.Crew; Vest- J.Crew; Flats- Tory Burch; Necklace- Kate Spade. Side note: I’m obsessed with down vests and wish I had one in every color. And also that the marshmallow look were in.

Skirt- J.Crew; Sweater- J.Crew; Tights- Target; Boots- J.Crew; Bangles- Kate Spade. Side note: I actually bought that skirt at Plato’s Closet when I was there selling some stuff last week. For six bucks. Yesss.

Jeans- Abercrombie & Fitch; Sweater- J.Crew; Scarf- bought off an NYC street vendor; Flats- Tory Burch. Side: I get a little annoyed with myself every time I type that my jeans are from A&F, because I can’t stand the a) smell, b) music, and c) wall pornography in the store. But their jeans are freaking awesome. 

Cords- J.Crew; Shirt- Madewell; Loafers- J.Crew; Headband- Goody. Side note: I’ve had those loafers since I was 15. I bought them my sophomore year of high school and wore them pretty much every day, and they’re still in great condition. 

Jeans- Citizens of Humanity; T-shirt- Gap; Blazer- J.Crew; Flats- Steve Madden; Necklace- Forever 21. Side note: I cannot freaking wait for spring and warm-weather dressing. My hot pink jacket today was blatantly inappropriate for mid-winter, but I do. not. care. Thursday is supposed to get up to 63 degrees!

 What’s the most embarrassing thing in your closet? The best deal?

The segment was about a recent study that gave both males and females the same menu, then asked them to pick what they’d like to order. Apparently, men tend to shy away from terms like “yogurt,” “fresh” or “white wine” when it comes to food, even if it’s not a main component of the meal- say, a yogurt sauce on a spicy dish, or seafood in a white wine sauce. Instead, if something has the words “hearty” or “gravy” in the description, they’ll go for it.

It got me to thinking, and I realized that in my experience, those generalizations are often true. There are always exceptions and I have no problem with this scenario myself, but when was the last time you saw a group of guys all ordering a salad with strawberries and fancy goat cheese for their entree, dressing on the side? Even if a man eats healthfully or is watching his weight, his choices will typically be markedly different from those of a woman with similar goals.  It’s a shame that so much of what we eat is influenced by social cues, and gender is a huge part of it. I’m not making an argument for or against anything here, I just think it’s kind of funny. In the end it’s all just food, right? So why do I think of my brother when I’m cooking a meat-heavy lasagna, and not one of my burger-loving female friends?

One listener called in and made a really great point: a lot of this comes down to advertising. Think about Yoplait commercials; they always feature a young, attractive woman in pastel clothing, usually eating her yogurt like it’s the time of her life. They never show a group of men spooning out of their little cups while watching the Super Bowl. It goes both ways, too- ever notice how commercials for things like Bagel Bites or  Chunky Campbell’s usually feature young guys? The irony is that in my experience men actually prefer women who will eat a full meal without whining about calories. It’s like girls are expected to stop having an appetite at 12, but men are expected to keep stuffing their faces with junk. Neither approach is rational. And for the record, both the Yoplait Chocolate Mousse yogurt and Bagel Bites are delicious.

So that’s my random diatribe for the day.

What are your thoughts on the girl food v. guy food issue? And what’s one “manly” food you absolutely love?

source

In case you’re a bit discriminatory with your movie choices, The Vow tells the story of a young married couple, Paige and Leo, whose perfect nuptial bliss is interrupted when Paige loses her recent memory in a car crash. She wakes up from a coma remembering nothing from the past four years, which happens to be the time frame in which she stopped talking to her parents, ditched law school, became a hipster and met Leo. The movie basically chronicles Leo trying to win Paige back. Complicated.

The verdict? Meh. Like I said, I set the bar pretty low for this one, and in some ways, it did pleasantly surprise me. The first half of the movie was pretty funny and romantic- lots of deadpan sarcasm and loving glances from a shirtless Channing Tatum. Can’t complain. I really liked that the couple was kinda weird; that’s what makes relationships fun, and I think a lot of chick flicks gloss over the goofy stuff. However, the movie took a pretty bad nosedive in the last half hour, becoming insanely cliched and boring. The ending isn’t hard to predict, but I felt like the buildup could have been a little more interesting. The Vow does get major props for being based on a true story, though. I’m a sucker for real-life fairy tales!

So, overall? Go see it with a girl friend if you’re in need of a chick flick outing, but don’t get too psyched. And I wouldn’t advise bringing your male significant other unless you’re ready to go see Ghost Rider in return…

Have you seen The Vow? What’s your favorite “chick flick”? If you need to ask me what mine is, then you’ve somehow overlooked my passion for for shipwrecks and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The cardinal rule of dinner party cooking is that you’re never supposed to use a new-to-you recipe. So, since I’m throwing a dinner party for some friends in a few weeks, I saw that as an opportunity to bake a cake- never mind the fact that I’ve actually already made it before. I used this recipe for tiramisu cake, only using a homemade cake instead of a boxed mix and doubling the coffee content, then decorated it with a generous amount of coffee liqueur whipped cream frosting (I’m thinking of changing it to buttercream, since whipped cream means it has to stay refrigerated) and edible glitter. It’s amazing.

By the way, let’s just pretend it’s totally normal to spend your Saturday morning being OCD with a piping bag…

Apparently it’s slacker week on Une Vie Saine.

All of the “recipes” I’ve posted have been basically childproof. Infused vinegar? Melted chocolate and graham crackers? And now, rice? 

Pay attention, though. Though this rice is ridiculously simple to make, it’s by far my favorite way to eat the stuff. You see, I don’t really care for it in Asian restaurants, when they bring you a big ball of it to go along with your entree. Cooked grains in general are kind of meh to me; I’d rather have bread or sweet potatoes than quinoa or rice. But this cooking method, albeit incredibly simple, turns boring old rice into an insanely delicious side dish or even breakfast. And with only one ingredient!

(By the way, I realize that I’m not the first person to come up with this concept. This is just the technique and ratios I’ve found work best.)

Coconut Rice

Yields about 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 14 ounce can full-fat unsweetened coconut milk (do NOT use light!)
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup short grain white or brown rice

1. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the coconut milk and water and bring them to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to low. Add the rice, stir once, cover, and let sit for about 45 minutes, or until most of the liquid has cooked in. The rice should have the consistency of cooked oatmeal.
3. Eat immediately. The leftovers store really well in the fridge, and actually taste better the next few days- the coconut makes things kind of gooey and sticky.

Grains- take ‘em or leave ‘em? I think one of the reasons I failed at vegetarianism was because I just don’t love beans or grains…

Yuengling + fig & goat cheese pizza (At Uno’s, of all places. Who knew?) + fries + a giant peanut butter cup sundae*, all shared with one of my best and oldest friends. It’s the best Valentine’s date I’ve ever had. Romance is overrated.

*Cookie crust bottom, peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough filling, dark chocolate exterior with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Do itttt.

Tell me the BEST thing you’ve eaten recently…

Sweater dress- BCBG; Tights- Target; Boots- Steve Madden from DSW; Nails- Essie Bachelorette Bash

Jeans- Citizens of Humanity; Top- Jason Wu for Target (last one when I went last Sunday night!); Sweater- J.Crew Factory; Boots- Banana Republic

Jeans- Abercrombie & Fitch; Shirt- J.Crew (I wish the picture had turned out better, because it’s one of my favorites…navy blue silk with buttons and ruffle detail); Blazer- J.Crew; Flats- Tory Burch; Bangles- Kate Spade

Skirt- Banana Republic; Shirt- Ralph Lauren; Tights- Hue; Boots- J.Crew; Watch- gift from my madre; Earrings- gift; Nails- Essie Mademoiselle

Pants- Anthropologie; Sweater- Ann Taylor; Tank top- J.Crew; Pumps- bought in Italy in 2005; Headband- drugstore

My favorite part of this week’s outfits? These shoes. They’re kind of ridiculous and extremely impractical, so I only break them out at Valentine’s. What, you don’t have holiday shoes?!

Do you tend to dress for holidays? I was out to dinner last night and noticed that every woman was wearing red or pink in some way.

In case you didn’t already know, it’s Valentine’s Day!

I’m really not a huge fan of this holiday. It’s a nice idea, but in execution I think it’s kind of silly. I’m not single and bitter about it, either; even when I’ve had a boyfriend, all the hoopla just kind of sets you up for disappointment. Valentine’s is kind of like New Year’s- it’s never as good as you think it will be.

That said, there is one quality that redeems the holiday: chocolate. It’s everywhere this time of year. Over the weekend, I decided to make a simple little Valentine’s Day treat to bring into work with me, just to celebrate my favorite food!

S’Mores Cups

Yields 20-24 mini cups

Ingredients:

• 12 ounce package dark chocolate chips (I used Hershey’s special dark)
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 3 sheets graham crackers
• 1/2 tablespoon butter, melted

1. Line 24 mini muffin tins with paper liners. Crumble graham crackers into a bowl and stir in the butter, then sprinkle the pieces evenly into the tins.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl on medium heat, melt the chocolate chips a minute at a time, stirring frequently until all the chips are melted. Working quickly, spoon the melted chocolate evenly into each of the muffin cups.
3. Top each cup with a few mini marshmallows. If desired, you can use a lighter to slightly burn the tops of the marshmallows.
4. Allow to set in the freezer for at least 20 minutes. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

These aren’t particularly fancy or involved, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the first person to come up with the idea for them. However, they are good- there’s just something about the chocolate/graham/marshmallow combination that’s absolutely classic. The mini size makes them perfect for a little treat, or something sweet with your Valentine’s lunch!

Hope your day is filled with lots of love

Edited to add: I forgot to announce the winner of my Valentine’s giveaway! And the winner is…

#16, Jamie!

Congrats love!! Shoot me an email at uneviesaine [at] gmail.com

What’s your favorite Valentine’s candy? Are you eating any chocolate to celebrate the holiday?

Everyone knows that there’s something about restaurant salads that are just better. I’m not sure what it is, but no matter how healthy the menu description makes something out to be, the deliciousness of a fancy purchased salad makes me suspicious. Do they butter the lettuce? Inject the tomatoes with sugar? (Well, depending on the place, I really wouldn’t be surprised.)

I think what it really comes down to is the dressing. Oil and vinegar is good but gets boring, and even the bottled stuff just tastes…bottled. Really good restaurant salads usually have fresh, fun-flavored dressings. That, and they tend to use a lot of it.

While at NGI, we had a class on infusions- oils and vinegars infused with spices, herbs or produce. Those red pepper-infused oils and raspberry vinegars you can get at Williams-Sonoma or Dean & Deluca are actually ridiculously easy and cheap to make, and really take homemade salad dressings to the next level. This particular version is my favorite!

Blueberry Infused Vinegar

Yields about 1 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the vinegar and honey to a boil.
2. Put the blueberries into a clean, dry glass jar, and pour the vinegar mixture over top of them.
3. Seal the jar well and store in the refrigerator for 1-3 days. The longer you allow it to sit, the stronger the berry flavor and color will be.
4. Strain the blueberries and mix the vinegar with your oil of choice to create a flavored vinaigrette!

Easiest “recipe” ever, right? You can also substitute just about any vinegar, sweetener or berry- white sugar with white wine vinegar and raspberries; agave with balsamic and orange slices. I usually mix mine with good-quality olive oil, but if you’re really feeling fancy, go with something special like walnut or melted coconut oil. The blueberry-olive oil blend is really good with greens, walnuts, cucumbers and more blueberries…

What’s your favorite salad dressing? Have you ever tried making your own?

This picture has nothing to do with anything except for the fact that that cat is STILL alive. Look how teeny we are together!

Since May 2011, I’ve graduated from college, started culinary school, met a completely new group of people, completely changed the way I ate, finished culinary school, spent nearly a month in California, had my fair share of relationship issues, frantically applied to jobs for two months, left New York City, moved home and started a new internship. And everything little in between. It’s small potatoes compared to what some people go through in a few months, but it’s definitely changed me.

To be honest, I haven’t blogged about most of that stuff because I wasn’t really sure how I even felt about it all.  I admire people who wear their hearts on their blog, but that’s soooo not me. I used to get way more into things, but I kind of realized that I’m better at living my life than blogging it. So, never will I ever blog about my romantic relationships, family issues or stuff that makes me uncomfortable in general. Instead, you will get vaguely philosophical posts with lots of twenty-something life cliches and no real point.

You know that saying, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans?” Yeah. That was this year. If I could go back a year in time and tell myself everything that was going to go down, I probably would have laughed. And then cried. I have cried about it. It’s certainly taught my control freak a lesson, though I still find it hard to just let go sometimes. I’m a really nostalgic person, and I think it’s because looking back you can always see how the bad things lead to the good. The thing is though, that no matter what my problems have been, on the whole my life has always been pretty great- I have parents who are happy to support me in every way, I’ve been handed some incredible opportunities, the people I love are healthy, and I have a few really incredible friends I know I can always count on. There have been many instances over the past nine months where I can’t decide whether to freak out about something, or to smack myself in the head for thinking I deserve a perfect and easy life 24/7. Because though I’ll always be impatient about the situations in my life I wish I could change, from where I’m standing, as usual, it worked out in the end. Yup, as it always does. Although I do have my fingers crossed that the next nine months are a little calmer…