Archive | November, 2010

Pumpkin Cream Cheese

9 Nov

Mmmmm... Tofu Pumpkin Cream Cheese!

You know it’s officially fall when Starbucks begins serving their spiced pumpkin lattes.  Or in my case, soy spiced pumpkin  lattes.  Yummy. 

It’s amazing that in the city of “a Starbucks on every corner”, that my little neighborhood in Brooklyn doesn’t have a single, solitary Starbucks.  So no soy spice pumpkin lattes for me.  Dunkin Donuts carries their own version but their unfortunately is not vegan.

On a seemingly unrelated note I purchased a Groupon for a dozen bagels and pound of cream cheese at the Bagel Store.  I love the Bagel Store not only because their bagels are the best I’ve ever had (and I grew up in NY!), but because they make their own tofu cream cheeses.  Usually the most they have in tofu versions are plain, or scallion (my fave).

I kept forgetting to stop by the store to use my Groupon, so I asked my hubby if he could stop by one day after work, which he did.  He IM’ed me at work to let me know he picked them up, and I asked what he got.  For the bagels, he mentioned my favorites, including whole wheat everything, french toast (seriously, the BOMB!), cinnamon raisin, and a whole bunch more.  Then I asked if he remembered to pick up my tofu cream cheese, to which he responded “yeah, I got tofu spinach veggie and pumpkin”.

Mmmmm, pumpkin.  I imagined how it has to taste.  Like a spiced pumpkin latte of course!  Sweet with a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, probably totally delicious.  Too bad they don’t have a vegan version of that.  “Awww, thanks babe the tofu spinach veggie sounds good.  I wish one day they’d make a tofu pumpkin cream cheese.” I responded to him.

Then my hubby totally made my day by informing me:

“The pumpkin cream cheese is vegan.  Do you think I would get a cream cheese that you couldn’t eat?”

Holy, freaking, crap!  Tofu pumpkin cream cheese!!  And it’s vegan!  Hell’s yeah!  If you are a vegan and ever in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn area do be sure to visit the Bagel Store.  They support us and we have to support them!

Fall as officially arrived!

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Yet Another Bag

8 Nov

While running all over the city with my husband during our Anniversary “Staycation”, my Alloy satchel I mentioned in this post decided to quit on me in the middle of the cross walk on 8th Avenue.  The strap just completely disintegrated, and my bag and a bunch of my stuff in it tumbled onto the street just as the warning sign on the cross walk begin to flash.  Not a fun experience. 

I had purchased the bag the beginning of the season to function as my main bag to take to work as well as to use on weekends.  Now that I was down a work bag and had sold all my old leather (yuck) ones, I suddenly found myself in the market for yet another bag.

I didn’t want to make the mistake to buy another flimsy, plastic looking faux leather bag.  That stupid black bag was still around $40, which isn’t super cheap.  I decided my next one would be more of an investment so it lasts longer.  So instead of purchasing one right away, I decided to wait a bit and keep an eye out.  I’m glad I did, because I eventually received an eNewsletter from Delight.com that featured the Almira bag,  a beautiful bag that just so happened to be vegan.

It was similar to the bag I just broke in that it’s a satchel, but it also includes a strap so you can also wear it cross body.  I also liked that the bag was designed to expand, which makes it super versatile.  The bag wasn’t cheap though.  It’s $96.50 before shipping.  The email had featured a promo code which would bring the bag down to around $80 or so.  Reminding myself I was going to quality this time around, I bit the bullet and purchased it in gray.

When the bag arrived I initially panicked I chose the wrong color.  I mean, gray?  What was I thinking?  I don’t wear anything that’s gray!  I didn’t choose black because all I wear is black and brown just isn’t my thing.  Did I make the wrong decision?  I only wear black should I have just gotten the black bag?  And not only that, if I did make the wrong decision it would be an expensive one to boot!

Ultimately the color is absolutely perfect and looks great with everything in my wardrobe.  Gray is a neutral after all.  Looks great with black or brown.  The bag is really solidly well made, professional looking, and can easily be dressed up or down. 

Hopefully I won’t need to buy another bag for a while now.

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Style Inspiration- The Box

4 Nov

source: http://www.collider.com

Now that it’s freaking cold out, Hubby and I have resorted to instead of actually leaving the house, instead having what we refer to as “Pajama-Blanket-Movie Nights”. Thank freaking god for Snuggies and Netflix.

One of the movies we recently checked out was The Box. It was directed by Richard Kelly (of Donnie Darko fame) and included James Marsden and Cameron Diaz playing the protagonists.

The movie itself was decent, but I found myself more into the movie for its wardrobe and sets than the actual storyline. It’s set in the 70′s, and included the raddest foil wallpaper in their bathroom and some real standout 70′s pieces worn by Diaz. A few things that really stood out to me was her maxi coat, the navy blue gown worn to her sister’s wedding (which featured a scooped, draped back) and the variety of scarves she used to accessorize all her every day outfits.

source: http://www.cdn.sheknows.com

source: http://www.firstshowing.net

I never realized how much I liked all things 70′s. I appreciate how women’s fashion then has a slight, menswear-ish feel yet is still very feminine. I plan while thrifting on trying to find a similar maxi coat and using more of my scarves in the coming few weeks. I also plan on having foil wallpaper in my bathroom someday as well. It’s the bomb diggity.
What’s your favorite decade? Does it inspire your style?

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Freshly Pressed

3 Nov

So yesterday I was stuck in a meeting most of the day at work.  I get out of the meeting and start going through email, and notice I have an immense amount of email in my Gmail account.  I normally don’t get a whole lot of Gmail, and when I click the icon in my Outlook all the emails say “[Brooklyn Bliss] Please Moderate ‘I Kan Haz Kindle Plz?’”. 

What. The. Heck?

At first I thought it was some kind of spammer scam gone haywire, but as I started to go through all the comments, they were all real and legit.  Then I noticed another email buried amongst all the other ones signed by a WordPress Editor that read:

Congrats! Your post ( http://brooklynbliss.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/i-kan-haz-kindle-plz/ ) has been promoted to Freshly Pressed on WordPress.com. Keep up the good work!

Woah.  That explained all the comments!

Thanks so much to WordPress for featuring my thoughts on my new Kindle, as well as all the reader comments on books to add to my must read list.  Stay tuned for more posts on my reading material as well as whatever random thoughts that come to mind once completing them.

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I Kan Haz Kindle Plz?

2 Nov

I watch way too much TV.  Especially with my recent fatigue/being sick problem, I’m a total couch potato.  I hate it.

Way back prior to working in the pay TV industry, I actually used to read more than I watched TV.  After thinking about this the past few weeks and attempting to figure out exactly why I stopped, the reason was pretty simple.  I work so much and have such crazy hours that it’s simply not easy for me to get new reading material.  I’m never anywhere near a book store.  Granted, I could order books online, but it’s just not convenient.  It’s much easier to just pick up the remote and turn the TV on.

To make it more convenient, after a fair amount of research I made the decision to purchase an eReader.  At the Consumer Electronics Show in January of this past year (which I attended for work), eReaders were all the rage and I didn’t understand why.  Vendors claimed they were “environmentally friendly”, to which I thought how the hell could an electronic device that doesn’t decompose and will be obsolete in less than two years be more eco-friendly than bound pieces of paper?  At least paper decomposes, right?  So I wouldn’t even allow myself to consider one being the  eco-crazed beotch I am.

What I didn’t take into account was the amount of toxic chemicals and water that go into printing and producing books.  So depending on how many books you read, the eReader actually has less of a carbon footprint than the actual book.  Learning this, based on how much I read it kinda made me realize comparing the two is almost a wash.  I might as well get the eReader, have it be more  convenient for me to get reading material, and actually challenge my brain than deteriorate it by watching TV.

After reading the seemly endless, raving reviews on Amazon over the Kindle, I knew that was the eReader for me.  I wanted to be cheap and order the WiFi only version but it didn’t come in white so I splurged and got the WiFi/3G one.  At least the 3G is included for life in the price.

No one can ever get a new, technology oriented product without feeling the need to pimp it out.  I mean, come on you have to protect your investment with a case, and that case has to match your personality.  Only problem with this with the Kindle (and Nook and other eReaders from what I hear) is all the manufactured cases are leather.  Poopies! 

Thank god for Etsy.  Etsy has tons of vendors that make vegan cases for electronic devices, the Kindle included.  I purchased a slick, op-artish looking one from a vendor called freemoment.  Oh yeah and did I mention it was hella cheaper than whatever you’d purchase from Amazon?  I can’t wait to receive it.

I got my Kindle early last week and so far I love it.  It makes it so easy to have ADD while reading.  Being you have all your books loaded into one device, you can choose what you want to read depending on your mood.  To start I’m reading the following three books, all of which have been on my “must read” list for a while.

What books are you currently reading?  Any books I should add to my Kindle?  Let me know!

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