Lazy days

As it stands, today marked nearly one month since my last posting. I just wrote up a grocery list for my room mate for things needed 'round the house, so I thought I would channel that energy into typing up a list of reasons for my recent slackitude:
1. SXSW came & went & drained the holy bejesus out of me. Put simplistically, I attended it HARD - Got in all the free shows I could, sang along as much as possible, wore the hippest threads I possess, and made sure to make obscure musical and ironic life references to blend in with the power-hipsters that overran our fair city. I also had the chance to see, among many many others, Kanye West, Yelle, Solid Gold, Loney Dear, Peter Bjorn & John, Graham Coxon, Beach House, Explosions in the Sky, M Ward, and Little Boots. Of course, it took more than a good week for my body and mind grapes to recover from it all. To wit, album covers for Kanye's "808s and Heartbreak" and Solid Gold's "Bodies of Water."









2. Various factors led to the revival of my previously dormant love of all things British. British music, fashion, culture, movies, accents, lingo, Pounds Sterling, men; I'll take them all (especially the last one. What IS IT about British men?). My anglophile revival was further fueled after finally seeing "Control," the Anton Corbijn-helmed biopic for Joy Division lead Singer Ian Curtis. We dearly need one for Bowie now. Thus, my mind space that was previously used to day dream about sweet concoctions will now need to share space with my Anglophile wistfulness.
3. Speaking of Bowie, I had some ch-ch-ch-ch-changes in my job situation; many thanks to the recession. Yeah.
4. I ran the Statesman Capitol 10k last weekend. The training and anticipation leading up to it made my dessert consumption a bit lax.
All of these factors (compounded by few new DVD purchases) led to my mind-grapes becoming a little rusty and a tad lazy, sprinkled with writer's block, with a side of just plain uncreative. All of these element combined were of course the recipe for a dry, dry month of March on this blog. So here we are.

I will confess however, that I did partake in a few sweet indulgences in the past few weeks. Rather than write dated entries for all of them, I present a few summations (and another gratuitous list):
1. Had the El Ray Chocolate Cake and Lemon Meringue Pot at Wink Restaurant. The desserts were pricey for sure, and as twenty-somethings, my friends and I were by far the youngest patrons in the place. The El Ray Chocolate cake was sweet and succulent, and the cocoa was daaaark, just like I prefer. I also quite enjoyed the Lemon Meringue Pot, even though I'm not big on anything of the lemon ilk for dessert. It was a unique twist on the classics; the center was tart and chewy, and the crust hard and sweet. Good stuff, if you are willing to spend the bucks.
2. Went to Sugar Momma's Bakeshop and tried the Black and Tan Cupcake. It is probably my favorite cupcake of the moment. It is a chocolate Guinness-infused cupcake with cream-cheese icing. AMAZING. Really, try it if you get the chance.
3. Had the similarly-named Black and Gold cookie from Upper Crust Bakery. No Irish Beer infusion here, but the cookie gets its name for being a chocolate/espresso cookie with Pecans and walnuts. Also very good. I jimmied this photo (left) off another blog fer ya.

4. I have to give a special shout-out to Buenos Aires Cafe at East Sixth and Attayac. Their delicious empanadas were half-off during SXSW, and kept my belly full in between shows at the Fader Fort. This cafe has really nice people, great food, and a delicious Kalhua-soaked flat cake garnished with fresh cream and strawberries that my friend and I had the chance to sample. It's possible the cake tasted better because it was free, but really how can that combination of ingredients be bad?

Finally, my proclivity to forget my camera was at a raging peak during this time period, so I have no pictorial supplements for any of my posts. However, what I DO have is a photo of British thesp Sam Riley as he portrays Ian Curtis in "Control," because eye-candy is better than no eye-candy.
Also, some wonderful, wonderful individual on the interweb made this video for Little Boots' "Stuck on Repeat" featuring clips from the wonderful, wonderful aforementioned film :)