Yes, the time has come for Justin to bid adieu to his formidable college days (overachieving nut) and follow Ben Braddock into the real world of tanning by the pool, shtupping older women and spending the next year avoiding the inevitable question of, “So, what are you going to do now that you’ve graduated college?” I’m so glad I get an extra semester before I have to answer that question.
Yes, on Wednesday, our dear Justin walked out of the last final of his undergraduate career. I’ve been dreading thought of Justin graduating, not because of the the fact that it means my time in college is also nearing its final days, but because I really just don’t know what to get Justin as a graduation present. Thankfully, he knows this and is giving me an extension. That said, I’m so proud of little Justin, even if the first thing I thought of him when we met was, “Oh Christ, it’s the over-achiever! Well, at least I know who I can blame the bad grade curve on.”
Back then in the Fall of 2008, Justin would spend his Saturday nights in his dorm room writing papers that weren’t due for weeks while his equally “unique” roommate, Travis, a certifiably insane young man from Central Florida who hated both of us, did whatever people who look and talk like hamsters do. Thankfully, Justin managed to get out and leave the paper writing for the night before/morning it was due like every other college student. I’ll have more on celebrating the end of Justin’s undergraduate education next week as I will be staying with him at Camp Justin for the night on Saturday as I make my way to Palm Beach for Winter Break!
Y’all, I’ve been going to Florida my entire life and I have never been so excited to see a palm tree in my entire life! It has been a painful semester that has left my entire body tired and stressed. Worse is that as I’m writing this, I still have a final to write and then another to take before the Audi and I get to board the Auto Train for sunshine and happiness! Yes, that’s right, I was so impressed by my experience back in January that I’m taking the Auto Train again, and there is no need for any old people jokes because my BlackBerry did that for me already! The BlackBerry Travel App automatically scans your email to find upcoming trips and then keeps a record of them, but it seems to lack the capacity to realize that some people still take the train to get places because it asked if I needed a hotel reservation, a car reservation and a plane reservation for my trip on Friday. And here I thought Siri was the only thing that could judge me.
Meanwhile, I’ve always found people who read fashion blogs to be a bit special, largely because I dated someone who went on to start a fashion blog that’s become something rather successful. Regardless, I think they’re a bit weird. Unfortunately, like my thoughts on Tweetie Bird (we celebrate our one-year anniversary together on the 17th), there has to be a reversal of that mentality now that I have stumbled upon two blogs: Unabashedly Prep and then Social Primer, the later of which was started by former Bottega Veneta VP, K. Cooper Ray. Through these two blogs, I have found all of these nobody preppy companies that have such nice things that are all made in America (because I think we’re all sick of overpaying for things that cost $5 to be made in China and would like to finally get our money’s worth for a change).
Turing from one F to another, I came across to an article in the New York Post, which I usually turn to just for Page Six (the only reason anyone reads it), this week about one of my favorite desserts: the Whoopie Pie, a unique item of food with which not enough people are familiar. Fortunately, the Post reports that the whoopie pie has become the it dessert of the season, thus making me a trend-setter as I have been acting as their unofficial spokesman since Summer 2010! If you don’t believe me, ask Justin, Andrew, Grace, Jean, Mother, or read the following email I sent while interning at New York after being sent out to a food truck while preparing for the Cheap Eats issue (if you click on it, it’ll get bigger):
I’m kind of in love with the whoopie pie, but what can I say, it’s a fun dessert that’s easy to eat while on the go or while writing a paper. Also in food tonight (what I have written below will actually make me worthy of entering a mental institution), I had read an article in the New York Times Magazine that offered a recipe for making ketchup from scratch, which is naturally something I would insist upon making. So over Thanksgiving break, I actually attempted this only to be met with utter failure. Instead of ketchup, I got a spicy, tomato… something. Determined to know what went wrong, I found the email address of the recipe’s author, former Saveur editor and James Beard Journalism Award-winning writer, Kelly Alexander, and sent her an email asking what I did wrong. Y’all, I received the nicest response ever:
What distressing news! I want to assure you that not only do I test my recipes completely before I submit them for publication, but that a trained recipe tester and developer did so as well. Which is not to say that problems don’t arise even with the most trustworthy of recipes, and I’m happy to help troubleshoot it because the result should be a rich, flavorful, and sweet-tangy ketchup. My guess is that the problem has to do with the ketchup not emulsifying properly. I wish there had been more space in the Times for a little more instruction on this.Try this: Dissolve the cornstarch in *warm but not hot* water (the amount given in the recipe) for five minutes before combining with the other ingredients in the food processor (it will foam up, which is what you want it to do). Make sure you’re using real maple syrup–it’s much, much thicker than any low-fat, fat-free, or imitation version. And, finally, you could add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the ingredients if it’s still not thick enough. Please let me know what happens. I wish I could stand next to you in your kitchen, but failing that I’ll troubleshoot as long you like to make sure you get a good homemade ketchup.Best wishes,Kelly Alexander
The Yapper 