chocolate cake

Chocolate Cake, a heavenly little dessert cafe in Hongdae, always has a line up, but is well worth the wait. Their flourless chocolate cake and sinfully rich chocolate pots are wickedly good and the decor is just delightful. In my next home, I want blue walls and lots of framed photographs.

curious pages

Looking for books about teddy bears or rainbows or feelings? You’re at the wrong place. Here we celebrate the offbeat, the abstract, the unusual, the surreal, the macabre, the inappropriate, the subversive and the funky.

I pretty much love every post over at We Love You So - especially their post about Curious Pages, a hilarious blog devoted to peculiar children's books. When I was young, my parents religiously read to me, but stuck to more conventional material - the Merchant family favourites were The Berenstain Bears, Madeline, Each Peach Pear Plum, Goodnight Moon, and, of course, Love You Forever. For someone who teaches her fair share of children's books, I could certainly add some inappropriate tales to Curious Pages' list - Chunk the Chick (a story about a lonely chicken who is too 'chunky' to have any friends), and The Sad Clown Brigade (two clowns quit their circus jobs, become janitors at a hospital, build a rapport with a sick kid, giving him the best day of his life after which he promptly dies). Anyway, I digress. Curious Pages is a treat, serving up equal hits of nostalgia and joy. Check it out.

it will stop raining

My new favourite food blog: it will stop raining*. I like to see pictures of what other people eat as much as I like seeing what they wear and what they read. One thing I've sincerely missed since being in South Korea is cooking, and this delightful Japan-based blog makes me desperately want to use my teeny kitchen for more than just toast, soft-boiled eggs, and cereal.

look up

poster of a girl

I really like these posters for the BAFTA's best picture nominees by Tavis Coburn (I saw them here). I'm a huge fan of An Education and am dying to see Precious. Have any of you seen it?

can you dig it?

I just finished watching The Warriors. If you haven't seen it, it's like a grittier Westside Story with obscenely good costuming and a very, very sexy cast. I especially liked the sassy radio announcer who tracks the Warriors' move with a killer soundtrack. If anything, the movie makes me want to get a serious perm, put on a leather vest, and vandalize something.

monday, monday

I love long weekends:

H&M opened their first flagship store in Seoul on Saturday (with a red carpet and all - it was outrageous), I had a lazy Sunday watching this racy thriller (it was filmed in Toronto - Julianne Moore was as gorgeous as ever), and was treated to a glorious Monday off. I tried duck for the first time (with mashed potato and caramelized apple - heavenly), was surprised with fresh flowers, and found the perfect denim shirt. Oh, and I splurged on some new Chanel polish, too. No complaints over here.

watch things on VCRs

I used to have stacks of VHS tapes, on which I recorded countless episodes of Friends, select episodes of Felicity, Dawson's Creek, and Buffy, music videos (mostly Backstreet Boys), and lots and lots of movies. It was always a chore to go through and find the clips I wanted as I never properly labeled any of the tapes. Although, looking back, that was part of the fun. My collection was heaped into a cabinet and I often used to sit, sort, and deliberate over which one to watch. I'd pop the chosen tape into the VCR and see what surprises it had in store for me. I feel nostalgic just thinking about the whole procedure. This bittersweet feeling is why I really like Hollis Brown Thornton's work (which I first saw here, and then again over here). These drawings (!) and paintings (!!!) of VHS tapes remind me very much of my childhood and the hours I spent watching things on VCRs.

graphics

1.&2. the sartorialist 3. turned out

I would very much like to wear any one of these outfits today.

postcards

Have you missed me? I've been losing myself on the streets (and in the stores) of London for the past week. Today, somewhere in between cobblestoned markets and Sunday roast, I picked up these lovely little postcards to send home. Although I love them so much I think I might just have to save them for myself.