I found this cool website today that lets you mix nature sounds!
Right now, I’m listening to rain on the beach with forest birds in a thunderstorm.
I need a long island iced tea.
Enjoy 
Author Archives: avelaine
About avelaine
Your 2012 Spring Color Palette for Outdoor Family Portraits
This time of year is perfect for an outdoor family portrait session. Regardless of the location you want, be it a mountain field or a local park or garden, there are lots of wardrobe options to consider. Here are a few of our favorite looks for this season.
First, consider the spring color palette this year from Pantone. Most designers favor any combination of these shades in their spring lines.
May The Force Be With You
Han, Vader, Leia, Chewie, Luke and R2D2!
Discovered this photo via The Nerd Code on Google+
Fish Tacos!
If you’ve been eating leftover steak since March 14 {cough}, you could probably use something new for dinner tonight. Maybe something a bit lighter and healthier, like fish tacos? I LOOOOVE fish tacos. On any given day, you can catch me at Soho munching on their mahi mahi tacos with a martini on the side, natch. I find their fish to be mushy and not that fresh tasting, however, I love the veggies that make up the filling. So I created my own version at home using cod and sole. While I nearly always buy my fish fresh, there wasn’t anything acceptable at the store on this day, so I took a chance on the store brand frozen wild cod and sole. I chose them based on the quality of the vacuum seal – the fish should be packed very tightly with little or no ice crystals visible on the surface. I also made really lime-y fresh salsa and guacamole and used store bought flour tortillas. Pretty damn tasty, and of course the boys gobbled it all up. Boss.
Shopping List
- White fish – mildly flavoured like cod and sole.
- 2-3 Medium size ripe tomatoes
- 2 Avocados
- 2 Tomatillos
- 1 Jalapeño
- 1 Mango
- 2 Limes
- Cilantro
- Green onion
- Savoy cabbage
- Flour tortillas
- Butter
Directions
1. Broil the jalapeño and tomatillo in the oven until the jalapeño skin is charred. Let them cool off and set aside.
2. Finely dice the mango, avocado and tomatoes – put each in separate bowls. Finely shred the cabbage and set aside. 
3. Finely chop green onion and cilantro and put about a tablespoon of each in the avocado and tomato bowls.
4. Peel the tomatillos, chop finely and add to the avocado and tomato bowls.
5. Squeeze lime into the guacamole and salsa. Season with salt and pepper. Taste, adjust, taste. Scoop a couple tablespoonfuls of salsa into the guacamole. Taste, adjust, taste. Lather, rinse, repeat. Set some guacamole and salsa aside for the kids before adding the jalapeño.
6. Peel the jalapeño and scrape off the seeds and membranes. Chop finely and add to guacamole and salsa. Taste, adjust, taste.
7. Cook the fish! Melt a couple blobs of butter over medium high heat. Pat the fish very dry. Season with salt and pepper, or seasoned salt (salt, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, paprika), and cumin (optional). Pan fry until brown on both sides approximately 2 minutes per side. Do not over cook. Squeeze fresh lime juice on the cooked fish. Taste, adjust, taste.
8. Prepare the tortillas. Using a dry non-stick pan over medium heat, grill each tortilla for about a minute per side until you get a few browned bits – they will burn quickly, so watch carefully.
9. Assemble. Each fish steak makes about 2-3 small-medium sized tacos. On each tortilla, put fish, salsa, cabbage, guacamole and mango. If you want extra spice, top with taco or chile sauce.
10. Eat. Enjoy the oohs and aahs from your lovable monsters angels.
Pi Day: How 3.14 helps find other planets, and more
Happy Pi Day! A favorite holiday among geeks, March 14 commemorates one of the most fundamental and strange numbers in mathematics. It’s also Albert Einstein’s birthday.
This is a great excuse to bake pies, as many iReporters have (send us your pie-report!). But there are also lots of reasons to celebrate this number: Pi appears in the search for other planets, in the way that DNA folds, in science at the world’s most powerful particle collider, and in many other fields of science.
Happy Pi Day! I am making a pi pie today to celebrate. Goes well with steak {cough}
Erik Johansson
Erik Johansson is a professional photographer and retoucher from Sweden based in Berlin, Germany. He works mostly with personal- and commissioned projects. Photography is just a way for him to collect material to realize the ideas in his mind. Erik gets inspired by things around him in his daily life. Every new project is a new challenge and his goal is to realize them as realistic as possible.
Love this!
WTF is Pinterest?
Short answer: It’s another time sucking internet thing. So if you don’t need another one of those, it’s probably best to avoid this one.
Long answer: It’s like a virtual peg board or pin board, so to speak. For example, you’re surfing on the internet and you happen to see something that strikes your fancy – say, shoes, a recipe or even, oh I don’t know…a hot guy – you can “pin” a photo from the page onto an inspiration board that is stored in Pinterest.
You can create a bunch of different boards to help you organize your thoughts. Like Twitter, you can follow and be followed on Pinterest. When you follow someone, all of their pins show up in your Pinterest feed. You can re-pin, like or comment on other pins on Pinterest – for me, this is where the time sucking thing happens. Because there are SO MANY AWESOME THINGS ON PINTEREST!**
Come and join the darkside: http://pinterest.com/avelaines/ MUAHAHAHAHAH!
**Disclaimer: may contain lots of counterproductive food and fitness inspiration pins.
Eggplant Parmesan
I made eggplant parmesan for the first time last night and was pleasantly surprised when my boys gobbled it all up with various “yummy!” and “delicious!” thrown about. Even my husband, who claims to be allergic to vegetables, seemed to enjoy it. So here is another 30 minute recipe for you.
Yield: Enough for a family of 4
1. Peel 1 eggplant, slice very thinly around 3mm – use a mandolin if you have one. Sprinkle the eggplant slices with a little salt to draw out the water. Set aside while you make the tomato sauce.
2. Make tomato sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat 2 T olive oil and saute one crushed garlic clove with a pinch of dried chili flakes for about a minute until fragrant. Add 1/2 finely diced onion and 1 finely diced celery stalk. Saute until onions are translucent. Add crushed tomatoes (I had 1/2 of a 28oz can) and 1 T dried parsley. Turn heat down to medium low and simmer while you cook the eggplant. Stir occasionally to ensure the bottom doesn’t burn.
3. Prepare assembly line: Beat four eggs into a shallow bowl or plate. On another shallow bowl, combine equal parts panko crumbs and grated parmesan cheese – I used about a cup each, and 1 T dried parsley if you have it.
4. Heat 1 cm thick vegetable oil in a fry pan on medium high.
5. Squeeze out excess water from eggplant. Dust them with flour.
6. Time to cook eggplants! Your assembly line should be as follows: eggplants, eggs, panko, fry pan. Designate one hand as the wet hand, and the other the dry hand. Using the dry hand, pick up one eggplant and drop into egg bowl. Use your wet hand to fully coat the eggplant and to drop into the panko crumbs. Use your dry hand to fully coat the eggplant with crumbs, shake off excess and carefully drop into fry pan. Cook each side for one minute per side or until brown. Test the first one for seasoning before continuing with more slices. Adjust seasoning accordingly. Drain on papertowels.
7. Back to the tomato sauce. Chiffonade a bunch of basil leaves and add to the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and adjust until it’s perfect.
8. Final assembly! Spoon some sauce into the bottom of an oven safe pan – around 9″ wide. Layer with eggplant, tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese or fresh mozzarella (though I didn’t have any mozza at all last night). Final topping should be a layer of tomato sauce and cheese. Finish in the oven for 5-10 minutes until the cheese is gloriously melted and golden.
(Optional 9. Tell your kids it’s lasagna.)
Dear 16 Year Old Me
I’m kind of an over achiever…law school is one of those things on my list to undertake in the future. Perhaps I should reconsider…
I love those Lonely Island boys
Warning: Possibly NSFW music video.
I’ve listened to this track about a thousand times this past week – it is so freaking hilarious!! I may be borderline obssessed with these guys now
