Multnomah Falls and the Columbia River Gorge, Portland

First of all, may I present my friend, K, who is ultra-beautiful, effortlessly stylish and unparalleledly creative. Thank you, thank you. I know. I’m privileged.

I had to get that off my chest to start because this photo makes me want to burst with it. I even had to make up words for it. Ok.

 

She and Heath showed me around green, green Portland for a day, mainly to “hike” Multnomah Falls, eat tacos/waffles and pop tags at House of Vintage. In other words, the actual best day ever. It was even sunny.

There was even a stone bridge.

 

There was even BRIGHT.

K even told me about huckleberries.

I even wore an OUTFIT.

Like I said, best day ever.

L

Pipe Dream #207: To Not OD – Crystal Cake Batter Cookies

Guys, these cookies are vice in ultra overload. They are sugarcakebattercrystalmeth-type cookies (not that I would know about such things, but don’t you imagine crystal meth to look kind of like a unicorn/sprinkles?). The kind that will send you for a ride. And they could be better.

Mostly, it’s my fault. I fancied them up with a big, fat, unnecessary swirl of icing. They probably just needed a lick of icing, but as per my usual form (best phrase mix eva), I went a little overboard. I mean, when a girl has a grad party, you gotta go big. Especially when she looks like this. Can you blame me?

But actually, I think the cookie recipe is a bit off. The dough part. The cookies feel too sugary, and they flattened out a bit too much for my liking, even after freezing them and making little stack of dough so they would be thick cookies! And take note, I nearly never chill dough for long enough. Impatience is my virtue.

They are a fun idea, and they are not a bad use of that leftover cake mix you have in the pantry, but just prepare yourself for something like two weeks worth of sugar in one go. And this is coming from me, so you know it’s real.

Inappropriately,

L

Frosted Cake Batter Cookies

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

For the cake batter cookies cookies:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup yellow or white boxed cake mix
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Sift together flour, cake mix, and baking soda in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Mix in the egg and vanilla and beat until creamy. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight. This will prevent the dough from spreading too much.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and use a small cookie scoop to portion out the cold dough on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 5-7 minutes until edges are slightly browned. The centers will look soft, but they will set up as the cool. Remove to a cookie sheet and let cool completely.

For the cake batter frosting:

A Sasquatch Noise Experiment

There is a very delicate intersection of well-developed musical taste and youthful indulgence. I figure I’m hitting that window, so I decided to make a go of the Sasquatch Music Festival for my vacation this year. Held at the Columbia River Gorge in Washington, the festival spans four long days and nights of the best acts anyone’s ever heard of, plus a few bogus ones. I think I saw over 35 shows, which is good, because I don’t want to blink and miss my youth, yeah?

I just figured there are only so many years one can attend a music festival before it becomes inappropriate and inconvenient. I mean, you just don’t see many adults with fabulous music taste walking around in 90s-era crop tops, taking off a whole week from work to wreck themselves sleeping on the ground, surviving on beef jerky and peanut butter cups and scrubbing last night’s mascara out of their armpits in a janky car door reflection.

I did see some kids there, and a few old people. I don’t know man, I don’t know. Anyway, enjoy these shots of Sasquatch. It was quite a ride. Mostly the only quality pics are from our campsite, as I wasn’t about to take my DSLR into the venue, lest it be burned, stolen or otherwise wrecked, which is why there are less music shots/more vanity shots.

So basically, I discovered gradient layers in CS4, and now I can’t stop. It’s actually embarrassing how many pictures I had to cut from this post because I edited so many with an added noise filter. There are just endless options.

Incidentally, this type of editing is just perfect for my trip out to Washington, as  it was full of sun, cows and people who may or may not have been sober.

Ever your,

L