HBO's Girls

via pakistantvdekho

I haven't even watched it yet, (I checked to make sure the link was for real and then had to blog about it first) but I don't have to tell you that the buzz around this show has been enormous. And if you are reading our blog, then it's also safe to say that this show is being marketed towards you. Wunderkind Lena Dunham's HBO show is going to be difficult to access for most of us (a bit ironic, no?) but just to hook everyone, HBO has made the first episode of the series widely available. Enjoy it, and let us know what you think!

WATCH GIRLS HERE!!!!!

Pop Tarts

So a few nights ago Amanda and I sat around and watched Youtube videos and did our nails while nursing a magnum bottle of wine—a perfectly good activity for a cold weekday night. We thought we'd share an approximated version of our conversation with you readers—just coz we like to think of you as one of us, and you might find this as entertaining as we did.

LK: OMG have you seen the two latest Madonna videos? They're incredible.
A: No! Let's watch them.

LK: "Gimmie all your lovin, gimmie your love!"
A: I feel like her hair is doing a lot of work here.
LK: I mean she's got to bathe in the blood of virgins, right? She looks better than she ever has.
A: But she's not doing anything new. She's known for reinventing herself, but now she's doing what she's already done. Like you could take her out of the video and put in Avril Lavigne and there would be no major difference.
LK: Yeah, I guess, but... Let's watch the next one.



A: [halfway through] See, it's the same, there's nothing new happening.
LK: Jill said that if you don't like MDNA then you never liked Madonna to begin with.
A: But she is known for always moving forward and changing her look! This totally falters.
LK: But it's goooooood. So good.
[we silently agree to disagree]

LK: What about the new Drake, have you seen that yet?
A: The one with Rihanna?
LK: No, but we'll watch both.

LK: God, this is so good. I love the jewish bros in the beginning.
A: Have you seen The New Girl yet? I really didn't want to like it, but I like it. I binge-watched the whole season in two nights. Schmidt is such a jewish bro.
LK: I haven't... I don't want to like it either. Oh I love this part: "Keep some bad bitches in my circle."

LK: Is that a blue jay!? Representing Toronto, I love it! He is hot, I'm only noticing that now.
A: He's like the good guy who always gets looked over. Chris Brown's the bad boy, and everyone's like "God Rihanna, just pick Drake already! He'll treat you like a queen!"

A: Ooh, this one's been in my head all day.

A: Doesn't her green hair look incredible?
LK: I know, why does it work?
A: The song's a bit repetitive though. [further towards the end] The leopard print suit! So good. I showed some coworkers of mine Wally World this week.
LK: I wish. I could move. my butt like that.
A: Me too! It's so... wobbily.
LK: I think it just takes practice.

A: Here's one I hear in the office all the time. It's such happy music.

A: And this video that Molls posted makes me feel less guilty for totally liking it, because at least I'm not alone.
LK: Don't feel guilty! It's bad, you know, but it's like... good bad.
A: We all have our vices.

A: Here's another.
LK: A Holga? Oh god. It's too precious.
A: But catchy.

LK: I could do without this little rapper guy...
A: He was on the X Factor. Apparently when a judge gave him a bad review he was like "Yeah, well fuck you, you're just a hater."
LK: Geez... Ohhhh I get it now. She's British!


LK: Do you like Weird Al?!
A: No... not anymore?
LK: Okay, well there's this hilarious newish song he's got. At least just sit through it. I'm obsessed.

A: [silence until halfway through] Let's watch the original.



A: Much better. This is a classic.
LK: What a bod! She was always more developed than the other tweeny pop stars.
A: Have you seen her new haircut? It's a shorter bob.
LK: I saw her in Us Weekly in a feature called "Miley's wearing mom jeans!" They were making fun of her for wearing high-waisted pants but she looked awesome. I was like "Good for you, Miley."
A: High-waisted jeans are a godsend. Stretchy ones, that is.

A: Oh no. I know what we have to listen to next.

LK: Oh god! Remember this song! It's one of those ones that's awesome to play at karaoke because everyone knows the words and is completely embarrassed that they do.
A: I remember bonding with a guy friend over this song. Our shames unite us.
LK: Totally.

LK: Speaking of celebrities outside their comfort zone...



LK: Ahh! Remember useless scarves?
A: And look at how low her pants are cut! Oh god, what an ugly period of time the early aughts were. How did we even get trapped in this spiral?

Eclipse

If I've seen you sometime in the past week, I've probably talked your ear off about the new Vietnamese sub-inspired shop I've been to five times in the past two weeks, Banh Mi Boys. What is a banh mi, you ask?

Well, this.
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A crusty baguette topped with sandwich meat, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, mayo and cilantro, among other things. Traditionally, they're very cheap, but Banh Mi Boys goes a little more upscale, offering panko tofu, kalbi beef, squid and duck confit options, as well as taco or bao (steamed bun) versions. My favourite is the five spice pork belly, which is slightly crispy on the outside and so, so ridiculously tender inside. Well, that, and a split order of the kimchi fries, which is basically a Vietnamese poutine with kimchi, pulled pork, mayo and fresh green onions over crispy fries. Oh god, just thinking about it has my mouth watering. If you're in the Queen/Spadina area of Toronto, this is must try.

ed note: Oh look! Laura loves this place too! She wrote a review about it here.

Speaking of food, if you've ever asked the question, "Is this still good?" about some jar you've stumbled across in your fridge, your new best friend is a site called Still Tasty.

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Touting itself as the ultimate shelf life guide, it gives you recommendations on how best to store various foods and when to know when to fold 'em and toss away. It seems very based in common sense, offering tips on how to tell if an item's still okay, as best before dates are usually just when a food's quality is at its aesthetic peak, not when it's actually still edible.


The AV Club's been hitting my sweet spot lately and this week, it's with a walkthrough of the stories behind cultural gem Freaks and Geeks with creator Paul Feig.

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It's one of those cancelled-after-one-season, never-given-the-chance-it-deserved, voice-of-a-generation type shows that transcends the hype and feels real in a way so few series are able to articulate: it's equal parts innocent, awkward, miserable and ecstatic. In short, it feels like puberty. And, as the interviews reveal, it's an interesting case of art-imitating-life, as Feig admits much of the show was based on his personal experiences and those of the other writers. It's been a great way to revisit one of my favoruite series, and it's totally got me in the mood to watch it all over again. See interview parts one / two / three / four / five here.

I use my Baggu every day, but I may have to retire my current fave in neon poppy to make way for a few new prints, including this moon one, labelled with all the phases of the lunar cycle. Now I'll never have to guess what a waning gibbous looks like again!

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Some faves 'round these parts have been at it again – Fieldguided has a released a new collection called Light as a Feather, a set of four gorgeous huge silk scarves printed with photos taken in the late 1800s. The dream team of Anja from Clever Nettle and Megan of Summerland photographed and styled them into mystical perfection. I'm trying to convince myself that a $120 silk scarf of an ice cave is a good investment, oui?

To see more beautiful images, check Clever Nettle and the Fieldguided blog, shop and Flickr!

Easter Leftovers

That's a brisket pizza, folks!

I had a bunch of leftover brisket from my Easter dinner on Sunday night, so I decided to do something creative. After reading a super-simple looking pizza dough recipe from the latest issue of Lucky Peach (taken from Wolfgang Puck), I was itching to make it myself. It was easy, and possibly the best dough I've ever tasted. I topped the dough with barbecue sauce (Caioti-style), grated parmesan, and thinly sliced brisket pieces. It was heaven, and completely un-Kosher.

The final product.

Here's an even more simplified version of the dough that you should try, like tomorrow. I also have a lot of extra dough (this recipe makes 4 good-sized balls of dough), so if you're local you can swing by and I'll give you some of mine.

Lucky Peach's All-purpose Pizza Dough:
Makes 4 dough balls

1 packet active dry yeast
1.5 cups warm water
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons EVOO
3–4 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons Kosher salt

1. Let yeast dissolve in the water, then add honey and EVOO and stir.
2. Mix together flour and salt, and add to the water.
3. Now things are going to get messy. Mix the dough together with your hands. It's going to be really goopy and stick to your hands. If it's unworkable just add more flour, little by little. Eventually it'll stop sticking to your hands, and then you'll know you're ready to move on to the next step.
4. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with Saran wrap. Leave it alone to rise for about half an hour.
5. Divide the dough into four parts and follow the next steps for each piece. Shape each ball by pulling the sides of the dough outwards and tucking it underneath the bottom. After a few minutes, roll the dough into a ball between your palm and a clean surface.
6. Put the dough balls onto a platter and cover with lightly oil Saran. Leave them for another half an hour.
7. Time to stretch out the dough! I like to hold it near the end, let it stretch down, and keep moving it around in a circle—let gravity help you with this one.

If you're going to use a baking sheet, make sure that you lightly oil it. Bake for 15 minutes or so at about 400, but keep an eye on it. You want it to look nice and toasty before you take it out.

Like us! Love us!

This is just a quick post to say that we have now joined the online world for real. So Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! Love you all, and have a great long weekend!

xo, the BGs

Midweek Pick-Me-Up

Just a few things giving me a bit of reprieve from the daily grind.

This song's been rocking my socks off lately, but you should put headphones before you listen. Everyone will be looking at you all side-eyed, being like, "why's that girl silently wiggling in her chair?" and the answer is, "because it's one of THOSE beats," but it's pretty NSFW so you know, judge your sitch.

You guys are watching the new season of Game of Thrones, right? If not, just tune out for this paragraph (but do yourself a solid and start watching soon!) This season was off to a bang with last week's opener, and seeing as I'm in the thick of the third book in the series, I know we're going to have a good time. The creators have done a great job of adapting the book to a TV show format, keeping the episodes packed with action and giving smaller characters screen time to explore their motivations. I'm also happy to return to my habit of reading The AV Club's excellent reviews after each episode, although now I've graduated to the expert versions, for those who've read the books. (There are newbie versions for those who haven't read along as well.)

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The new spring lookbook from Summerland is so, so, so good. I've made my love of this shop and photographer Anja no secret, but this collection just seems too perfect as spring inspiration. Cute bobs, collared shirts and pretty prints? Sign me up for an afternoon of lounging that looks this good, please.

You can check out more pictures on Clever Nettle and Summerland.