Something hysterical

"I hope that I die HEEEYYYAAA!" ((click HEEEYYYAAA))

Pinterest: The death of a blog

Pinterest is a blessing and a curse. It's time I came forward and explained the real reason why I stopped writing on Stuff&Nonsense for 2+ months. Well, you might have guessed: Pinterest. Beautiful, blasted Pinterest! It's an easier way for people like me to look at and store pretty places and things. But the writing — the lack of writing is what got me in the end. I'll have to do a better job of pinning things and coming back to Stuff&Nonsense for more of the ins and outs of why things are pin-worthy. For my work Pinterest board, it's mostly fashion-related. And for my personal pin boards as well. So sometimes it's difficult to explain why a particular dress or shoe necessitates a pin — but I guess that's the point of just pinning things willy-nilly. No real explanation is needed, aside from the oft-mentioned "Love." So here's a taste of what I'm pinning for work and for play — and I'll try to be better about sharing note-worthy pins here as well.

What I'm pinning... (these are from Shabby Apple)

L'ecole francaise

Holi toledo!

Holi is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus — it's also called the Festival of Color. Basically people throw vibrant, scented powder and perfume at each other. Neat! Surely there's more to it than that, but that's enough to get me on board. Check out this video I stumbled upon...

Avocado, corn, and black bean relish

For The Boyfriend's birthday, I made The Pioneer Woman's pulled pork (which was really spicy — we're going to have to amend that next time) and paired it with a recipe I got from a friend: avocado, black bean, and corn relish. More like a chunky salsa, but maybe I'm just not up on my terminology. It's this simple:

1 can black beans, drained

1 can corn kernels, drained

1 medium red onion, chopped

3 avocados, chopped chunky-style

3 roma tomatos, seeded and chopped

bunch of cilantro, as desired

juice of 2-3 limes

packet of dry "good seasonings" Italian dressing

white vinegar

Mix it all together! You can adjust the measurements as desired — I didn't use the entire onion, I used 4 avocados, I grabbed at least three healthy handfuls of cilantro (then chopped it), and guessed on the white vinegar (I added about a tablespoon). I served the relish with the spicy pulled pork in a flour tortilla — it was awesome, but would have been more tolerable with some sour cream. (The pork was that spicy!) In the future, this relish will be great served over rice or a bed of spinach with some poppyseed dressing, perhaps. It would also be great on top of a chicken sandwich — in a a pita, even!

Anyway, my mouth is watering just thinking of the ways to eat this delicious, fresh, easy-to-make relish. If you're an avocado- and cilantro-lover, this is the stuff for you.

"Define dancing"

It only takes a moment to fall in love with Wall.E. Finding a picture to accompany this post had me wriggling all over, shouting "He's so cute, I'm gonna die!" — in my head, of course. I watched Wall.E again last weekend — no, this isn't the first and won't be my last viewing of this remarkable film. I can't get enough of it. The soundtrack (mainly, "The Axiom" and "Define Dancing") is playing in the background of my Mac as I write this, and next I will probably move on to a compilation of Wall.E saying "Ev-aah" (God bless Youtube!).

When I first saw Wall.E in theaters (almost 4 years ago), I was surprised to find myself so entranced so quickly — it took very little to convince me that this little robot was someone I could learn to love and whose fate mattered immensely. The movie opened with sweeping shots of a starry CG milky-way, set to Hello Dolly's "Put on your Sunday clothes." Watching Wall.E go about his daily business, humming the delightful tune, endeared him to me immediately — and when "It only takes a moment" played as a soothing lullaby and our little fella rocked himself to sleep on a swinging shelf, my heart was his. Those eyes! That voice! And he's just a robot — but Wall.E goes to show that, to borrow from Galadriel, even the smallest robot can change the course of the future.

Other favorite scenes include "Define dancing" and Wall.E and Eve's first date — but for me, it's the subtle moments that make Wall.E so special: Wall.E pointing out the beauty of Earth from space, his practicing how best to approach Eve and tell her how he feels about her, and the way he melts when Eve first says his name. I could go on forever about this movie — the characters, the music, the message — it's all just right. Pixar at its finest. So unexpected. So unforgettable. So utterly lovable — and it only took a moment.

Chocolate cake

Over Easter weekend, my family watched Brewer's baseball, Pippin took a nap on The Boyfriend's feet, and I baked Beatty's Chocolate Cake. I found the recipe through a simple Google search ("best chocolate cake") and this one from Ina Garten and the Food Network came right up. I love how a chocolate cake can convince me to start blogging again — it was just that good. More like great. More like best-cake-ever.

I followed the recipe almost-exactly, with a few exceptions of note: I added 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the batter. My "freshly brewed" coffee was actually 1 and a half single packs of Taster's Choice instant coffee (vanilla flavored) mixed in a cup of boiling water. I used all Ghirardelli chocolate (both the cacao for the batter and the semi-sweet chocolate for the frosting). And I omitted the coffee grounds in the frosting. (One reviewer said that adding the coffee to the frosting made it too overtly coffee-flavored, and I was after chocolate-chocolate-flavored.)

Wow. So chocolate-y. So moist. Not too dense at all — the perfect consistency. The perfect chocolate frosting — tastes like a melted dark chocolate bar mixed with buttery, creamy goodness. Seriously, out of this world. And so easy! Who knew? I made a Martha Stewart red velvet cake before, and it honestly didn't hold a candle to this one, for me. My brother, on the other hand, preferred my great aunt's buttercream frosting (which I used in the Martha recipe), but I'm sure that, no matter your frosting preference, you would agree that this cake is just better.

And if you're a chocolate-lover like me, the chocolate buttercream frosting from Ina Garten is definitely the way to go. It's not too rich — just chocolate-y. I am prone to migraines and chocolate has been a known trigger — but even this cake didn't overdo it for me. It's just right. It's perfect. Whoever Beatty is, God bless her and her chocolate cake.

P.S. Not pictured: The cake. (It was eaten. All of it.)