Lately

Woah! sorry about disappearing. I'm sure y'all know how it is, both me and N. were going crazy with exams to study for and essays to write. Now it's all over <3 N. is travelling with her boyfriend and I miss her so much! I'm sure she's having tons of fun though, so it's ok! She worked really hard this semester and deserves the time off.
So, in the last couple weeks I spent most of the time at home studying with my cats taking naps and nibbling on my toes. Mia (that's the name of the black and white one up there) sometimes forgets to put her tongue back in her mouth, it's SO cute! Did the cat get your tongue?



On Thursday it was my last exam and, for some of my friends, their last day of being an undergrad. I still have one semester to go, it was really sad knowing that we won't have classes together anymore and will no longer see each other that often. So after our last exam, as a celebration of some sort, I bought us bem casados (a Brazilian pastry made with dulce de leche usually given away as souvenirs after weddings, it means "well married") but named them bem formados ("well graduated")! It was a hit!

On Friday I worked from home and then joined some friends at São Paulo's historical center to watch the game. Did you know that people don't have to work full hours here when there's a game where Brazil is playing in the world cup? hahah. That was actually the first world cup game I watched, I really don't care for soccer... but I must admit that just feeling the energy other people send out while watching the game was pretty cool. They get so worked up, it's hilarious!

Then on Saturday morning I participated on a ~photoshoot~ with my friends/partners with whom I'm opening an online store! The photos are gonna go on our hot site before the actual store comes out. I'm really excited about this project and I'll talk more about it soon, if I can :)) I'm really rooting for it to work out, opening firms in Brazil is so complicated and expensive :((

After seeing the fish on the way to the location, we met this cute moustachioed cat on the way back to the metro! 

On Saturday night I invited my uni friends for a slumber party at my place. We ordered pizza, had tons of wine, some beer, and talked a lot about  a lot of nonsense, and then decided to sleep all in the same bed (we were 6 people haha). That didn't go so well, but it was so cute! After they left this morning I spent some time in the backyard reading drinking some leftover beer and my cats apparently enjoyed it as well! Drunk cats <3

A pleasant beginning of the week to you,

V.

Movie Night #4

"Are you a regular, or a goofy?"

Tonight's movie is Electrick Children (2012), which I had never heard of before yesterday when it was suggested to me by Netflix. AM I GLAD I TOOK NETFLIX'S ADVICE. I totes consider this movie my favourite movie ever now. It's the story of a 15 year-old Mormon girl who unawarely listens to a blue tape containing a rock song called "Don't leave me hanging on the telephone", by the Nerve, and suddenly suffers an immaculte conception and finds herself pregnant. That plot only would already have made me fall in love with the movie, but then it gets better: her father, a reverend (priest?) says she will have to marry a neighbohood kid the next day, so she runs away from home to LAS VEGAS in order to find the person who sang on the blue tape and impregnated her. I mean, WHAT? She then goes all Felicity on us and tapes her journal on the same machine that led her to the situation in the first place. She meets all these people, including Macaulay Culkin's younger brother, and sets on her quest of finding the father of her child.
One of the best things in the movie is the way she so naïvely talks about things: she's never talked on a "cellular phone" before, neither has she had PIZZA NOR HAMBURGERS. What a sad existence. She also says to the tape recorder about Macaulay Culkin's brother: "Clide is... perhaps.. the spawn of Satan." HAHAHA. Now that's a sentence I shall incorporate on my day-to-day conversations.
Also, I don't know much about mormons, but do they really give out peace signs as promises of good intentions or something?

Watch this movie if:
* you're into prairie clothing (I guess my fashion taste is pretty similar to Mormon's taste in clothing)
* you're into shiny tacky las vegas neons
* you're into weird plots
* you're into beautiful scenary such as Utah's rock formations (not sure if that's how you say it in English)
* you're into cute mormon décor like the hanging flowers of the wedding scene <3

Don't watch this movie if:
* Don't be silly. One cannot not watch this movie. Don't watch this if you want to lead a sad, sad existence, as if you could never eat pizza or hamburgers.
* I guess perhaps if you're mormon.

A pleasant day to ya,
V.

Une année studieuse

Last week I finished reading Anne Wiazemsky's autobiography, "Une année studieuse". I must confess that when I bought the book I had no idea who she was, nor that it was an autobiography haha, I think I read something about it online and put it on my "To read" list and now here we are. The book covers one year in Anne's life, a young student who is studying for her BAC (which is sort of France's SATs, I guess) while picking plums in France's provence during the summer months, at a friend's house. Then we find out she had acted in a movie the previous semester, one called Au Hasard Balthazar, directed by Robert Bresson, and that she had then met several famous people, like Jean-Luc Godard - to which she feels she has been continuously rude in their 2 or 3 encounters in Paris. Thus she sends him a letter saying how much she admires his work, specially Masculin Féminin and Pierrot le Fou, and apologized for always being so rude. Who'd have thought that not only he did he forgive her but that he also would come to pick her up in southern France because he had been in love with her since seeing Au Hasard Balthazar in the movies?

"Oui, je souhaitais ce mariage et en même temps, j'eus soudain une étrange intuition: "Je veux vivre le plus longtemps possible avec toi. Mais je sais que ce n'est pas pour toute la vie, que j'aurai d'autres amours et d'autres vies", lui dis-je dans un souci d'honnêteté."

The story goes on for the year following their encounter, when she starts studying philosophy and Jean-Luc goes on shooting films. My favourite part was definitely reading how Jean-Luc was while filming, how did he feel about the way things had to be, how did he treat actors and crew, etc. And also, of course, reading about all their friendships to Famous Intellectuals of the time, like Cournot and Truffaut.. She mentions Sartre's work all the time, which was cool because I love reading his books too (not that I actually understand what he's trying to mean though). Also, it goes on in 67, so we see how things are hitting up to what one day would be May 68.

"Puis, je me glissai nue dans le lit, bien décidée à ne pas le réveiller. Satisfaite, je m'apprêtais à sombrer dans un profond sommeil quand je sentis une main étrangère se poser sur mon épaule et une voix, qui n'était pas celle de Jean-Luc, marmonner: "C'est toi, Sabine?" Mon effroi fut tel que je crus que mon coeur s'arrêtait de battre. Je connaissais cette voix, je l'avais souvent entendue au cinéma et au théâtre, c'était celle de Jean-Pierre Cassel qui occupait avec sa femme la chambre voisine de la nôtre. Je demeurai quelques secondes paralysée à l'idée qu'il se réveille complètement et me découvre dans son lit. Mais heureusement Jean-Pierre Cassel me tourna le dos et se rendormit. En une seconde, je fus devout. J'attrapai mon linge, ma mini-robe, mon pull et mes sandales qui traînaient éparpillés sur le plancher et me retrouvai, toujours nue, dans le couloir de l'hôtel. Un peu de lumière filtrait sous la porte de la chambre voisine et j'y entrai précipitamment. Jean-Luc lisait sagement dans le lit et de stupéfaction lâcha son livre quand il me découvrit, collée contre la porte, nue, avec mes vêtements serrés sur ma poitrine."

The whole book reads as fiction though (I'm not sure if all biographies are like this, but it was a pleasant surprise) and we're inside Anne's head all the time, while she ponders if she's really in love with Jean-Luc, if he's not gonna fall back in love with Anna Karina, if she should pursue higher education, etc. I liked seeing how she fluctuates around loving him to death or wanting to be free, because I think that if I ever fall in love with someone (never have) I'd be scared of growing too dependent on them as well. And how awesome would it be to date Jean-Luc Godard in Paris in the 60s??? I felt so nostalgic about Paris that I decided to download an app called Fake GPS and set my location to my old apartment there, and then turned Tinder on and started talking in French to all these hot french guys. Still not sure if that's too crazy or not, but hey, at least I'm practicing my French! (They do get disappointed when they find out I'm not going to have sex with them though haha).

Anyway, it's a great book and I totes recomend it if you like:
1. the 60s
2. Paris (or France in general)
3. Godard
4. all the options above.

A pleasant day to you,
V.

Au revoir Simone + Cibo Matto

On Sunday it was mother's day here in Brazil, but it also was Au Revoir Simone and Cibo Matto's gig at Cine Joia. I really thought I wasn't gonna be able to go because I wanted to visit my grandma (after all, she did have 8 children, including my mother) and she lives an hour away, but then I woke up after what was supposed to have been my prom (I didn't graduate because the exchange programme in Paris set me back one year) and I just couldn't get out of bed. My mom had never seen me hungover before, it was so embarassing! I blame my chepastake ways, I paid $$$ for the prom ticket and I thought I should enjoy food and drinks as much as I could (I even saw some people stealing the centerpieces hahah). Anyway, on Sunday I woke up vowing never to taste a drop of alcohol again, and my family left for my grandma's city leaving me dying in bed here in São Paulo. I slept until 5pm and studied a little, ate some papaya and felt strong enough to see the concert after all haha. Au Revoir Simone were so cute! 3 beautiful girls who dress really well. Cibo Matto were unbelievable though, it's so weird seeing a petite Japanese woman rapping hahaha. and they danced so well! Don't Honda's electronic instruments (mixing plate? I don't know what's that) look like a robot from a cheap sci-fi movie? So many cables! and they kept on speaking Portuguese, Cibo Matto even sang a whole Brazilian song. In love <3 <3 <3

A pleasant beginning of the week to you,

V.

Tartbreaker

Not long ago a boy took me out for a picnic by the river. I'm pretty sure I came up with the idea (there's probably never a time I don't want to picnic), but he totally initiated it. He even brought hot water in a flask so we could have tea ! And PoP went my tart.

So anyway, I decided to make mini lemon meringue tarts for him because, you know, I fucking love them.

 Little cups of happiness

Since I made them fresh in the morning before he picked me up, I was too pressed for time to make my own pastry. Instead I bought frozen shortcrust pastry sheets from the supermarket... and they still worked out great. All is good in the world.

Little Lemon Tartbreakers
(adapted from http://www.weekendnotes.com/mini-lemon-meringue-pies/)
Makes six

Lemon Curd
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons lemon rind
1 teaspoon lemon rind
5 tablespoons lemon juice
50g butter, chopped

Meringue
3 egg whites
95g caster sugar

Method
People usually make the pastry first because it needs time to sit in the fridge and to be rolled out. I left this last because I was using frozen sheets and figured it wouldn't take long, whilst the lemon curd required a bit more work.

I started off ruining my lemon curd by making scrambled eggs: I mixed all my ingredients over heat. Please don't do it. Mix the egg, egg yolk, sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice together in a stovepot before you turn on the heat (I know, you're all smarter than this... but that was a detail I clearly missed). Once it's throughly mixed through, put your stovepot over medium heat and add the butter. Make sure you're constantly whisking to remove any lumps, to stop the egg from cooking and to make sure that the butter is completely mixed through. The website suggested 8 minutes, but it took me much longer than that; the curd needs to be thickened that it coats the back of a spoon. Be patient my dears, and just whisk away.

Once this is done, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. I then strained the curd through a sieve to remove any lumps and placed the result in a bowl. Put some Glad wrap (Saran wrap/plastic wrap ?) over it and place it in the fridge until chilled.

Now, onto the pastry. I simply traced out circles from a drinking glass on shortcrust pastry sheets and popped them into a cupcake tin. Just follow the Shape of Your Tart. I only needed 1 1/2 sheets to make 6. Note: I found a glass that had a circumference that was about half a centimetre wider than the cupcake tins, placed them flat over the holes, and let gravity push them into the tin. This allowed the pastry to stretch into the mould, rather than forcing it. I tried forcing it and my pastry just buckled and make creases everywhere. Just, no.

Bake according to instructions on the package. 

Once the curd is completely cool (note: completely!), pour them into the cases. If it's still warm it will make the pastry soggy and will start leaking a syrupy liquid. Don't Go Breaking Your Tart at this stage. You're close to the end !

Lemon baths

For the meringue, whisk the egg whites on high until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, whisking constantly until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Place them into icing bags and pipe away! I placed these bad boys in the oven (200C) for about 7.6 minutes and then used a blow torch to brown the meringue (7.6 minutes ? I don't know, I just Listened to My Tart). If you don't have a blow torch I suggest you leave the tarts in the oven for 10 minutes or so. We don't want no salmonella!

Bam! And it's done.

Once done, dust some icing sugar and sprinkle fine lemon rinds over your beehives.

And you know what? He ate three in front of me. Three.*^

Have a great weekend,
N. 


*I may have pushed him.
^The tarts might not even have been that nice but he was probably being nice. Who knows ? But go on, try the recipe and win his tart (: (Yes, that almost sounds dirty.)

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

I guess I was part of a pretty cool event last weekend. You may not know this about me, but I'm a huge nerd - like, full on anime-quoting, manga-referencing and sci-fi-geeking. I think it all goes back to having studied in a high school whose student body was mostly formed by Asians. So, anyway, when I heard there was gonna be a Star Wars Night Run on May 4th I was like "OMG SIGN ME UP RIGHT NOW", which my mom was more than happy to do (and pay for hur hur) since she's always trying to get me to exercise with her. In the running kit we got storm trooper masks and I guess they had a huge army of storm troopers running in mind, but seriously, who can run 6 km with a plastic mask on? I wouldn't have worn it anyway, since this was finally the opportunity for me to borrow my brother's Yoda backpack (one that emulates the scene in episode IV where Luke is learning how to be a Jedi at that swamp planet and runs around with Yoda on his back!), and went as Luke Skywalker ahah. They hired people to dress up as some of the movie characters to cheer the runners along the way, and they were holding signs saying "run, darth vader, run!" and "Do or do not, there is no try" hahaha. 

The best was definitely the run's location, though: it was on a famous viaduct here in São Paulo called the Minhocão (the Big Worm, in English). It's considered one of the ugliest parts in the city; as you can see in the second pic it's like it was placed in the middle of a bunch of buildings and the people who lived on the first floors basically lost all of their privacy. (Also, doesn't it look like the world is gonna end and people are running away? ahah). The buildings around it are all falling apart now, since the region lost a lot of its value after the viaduct's construction - I must confess that everytime I drive by them I always take a peek inside the buildings, so this run was almost like a dream come true for me and my voyeur ways haha. I had to stop to take the last pic because the person had placed a tiny Darth Vader toy along with her plants, how cool is that? 

Sundays are the worst

Sundays are the worst. I always feel like I wasted my whole weekend (WHERE DID TIME GO???) and didn't do any of the things I had/wanted to do, like studying or watching movies or reading magazines. It's also always a time when I get really nostalgic, usually because I spent the whole day without much more social interaction than yelling at one of my cats for peeing on me again - so I had the whole day all to myself to think about all the things that are wrong with my life, hahah. That does not summarize to getting peed on, unfortunately. 

So it's really good to have things around me that remind me that good times are coming, or that there are good things in life in general. Usually it's something that reminds me of N. A care package of hers just came in the mail last week (or was it the one before that?), loaded with love <3 and cute gifts, of course! She gave me the red dress in the first pic, it's so beautiful - and the tights in the third pic I picked up in Melbourne when I visited her last year. The best in her care packages are always her cards though <3 HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE SOMEONE WHO SENDS YOU A CARD LIKE THAT???

Thanks for always cheering me up, N., even from so far away :))

Jealousy: Life Aquatic

If there's one thing I don't miss about living in Paris it's having to worry about what I'd wear to go buy muësli trois chocolats (very good chocolate-y cereal) at the nearest Franprix every Sunday morning. However,a couple months after moving back home I got myself a Jalouse subscription for my birthday, as in a way to keep practicing my French and also to drool all over their pretty editorials and what seem to be the coolest/most hipster events/people ever. If only I could still stroll out in my best clothes on a crisp Sunday morning to buy triple chocolate cereal, sigh.

Photos Édouard Plongeon

Réalisation Marie Gilbert

in Jalouse n.167, February 2014

There are actually two new numbers that have come out after this one, but I'm so behind with school work that I've just finished reading the February one :(( I guess the other two ones will be waiting for me right after I hand in my thesis project (only its project, not the actual thing) on May 2nd! 

Seriously though, can I dress in blue strawberry pants, cute hats and lobster brooches everyday for the rest of my life? 

A pleasant day to you,

V.

Top 4 Songs for Procrastinating

Committing to 30 hours of independent study a week is always a challenge, especially when you're at home surrounded by Easter eggs, a fluffy bed and the internet. It's even harder when you can enjoy all three at once.

I've come up with a number of ways to get myself motivated, such as a study timesheet to monitor my study hours and leaving fresh flowers on my desk to lure and keep me there. I've even created playlists of my Songs of the Week (yes, I have a spreadsheet of that too) to get me to work whilst the snazziest tunes are in the background. They also help me achieve arbitrary goals, like being able to work 10 songs in a row without opening 2048. Sadly, I've come to realise that these songs are Procrastination Songs that only distract me from working. I'll tell you why.

#4 Amber, Dick Diver
A gorgeous afternoon song. Everytime it plays, I want to eat bikkies and tea outside in the sun whilst it drips of syrupy afternoon gold. But I can't right now because it's autumn and cold. But the bikkies and tea still happen.

#3 Looking for the Magic, Dwight Twilley Band
I don't know. It kinda makes me want to dance.

#2 Twin Rivers, Big Scary
I think the first few lines of this song summarises my feelings for the day. Except I'm going through study apathy in place of a break up. I wish I could break up with my thesis sometimes.

#1 Wild Love, Gossling
This super fun song by Australian artist Gossling just gets me so giddy. Especially because I am soooo smitten at the moment. By many boys. But also one in particular.  And this song makes me think of how I want to make him fall in love with me. Not really. But really.

What are your Procrastination Songs?

N.

Mirianna, the blog

Hello,

After a long time as an incubated project, we've finally got the guts to start Mirianna, the blog. It'll be basically be like our Facebook chats and Whatsapp conversations, except that you, dear reader, will be able to see it as well - you're welcome. We won't disguise the main reason we're doing this, which is to make the world fall in love with us so people will give us plane tickets to visit each other, and maybe also give us clothes, stickers, cute stuff, a Wiki page, or maybe even make a movie about our incredible lives. We hope you'll enjoy.

We like: Movies, books, vintage things, cute clothes, DIY, picnics, the color yellow, cute boys, cute girls, plants, patterns, cakes, hamburgers, colors, pâtisseries, eating in general, French things (see our About page), music, adventures, art, weirdness, pretty hair, Skype sessions, people (sometimes), and Parks & Rec.

We don't like: when our plants die, fun sponges and party poopers, friends who just use you, wearing the color brown, uneven eyebrows, feeling sad after finishing a good meal, when we don't skype at least once a week, when we have no money, when life is stressful in general, when we can't poop, when we need to poop and aren't at home, people (sometimes), bad face days.

If your likes and dislikes are similar to ours, please read our blog and be our friends! If they aren't, we won't mind; opinions are like assholes - everyone's got one (as we say in Australia). But really, having good taste is like having an arm: some people do, some people don't (as said in Brazil).

Don't worry, we know you'll enjoy Mirianna, the blog.

A pleasant day to you! <3

NV