Tastevin Magazine February / March 2015

HORS D’OEUVREContributors: Who’s who in this issueThings We Love: What’s hot and what’s notBehind the Cover: Dive deeper into this issue’s featuresFrom the Desk of the Editor: Love and stuff!

BEAUTY & WELLNESSThe Skinny on Health: The truth behind losing weight and getting attention{Beauty} Trick to Try: Got leftover champagne from New Year’s Eve? Here’s your trick to try! Strangers in the Weight Room: How one girl got over her weightlifting anxiety

ARTS & LEISUREFor the Love of Food: Our new writer debuts her healthy food column!Made: Make this easy teacup candle for your sweetheart (or yourself!)Puppy Diaries: Dogs are for cuddling right? Not when it comes to Teddy Rex

FASHION & FEATURESYou+Me: French meets utilitarian in

this Uniqlo designer collaborationShare Your Where: Features Editor Amanda Chi

goes beyond Barcelona’s party reputationShare Your Wear: LilahV brings you

sparkle for Valentine’s Day

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IVVAlways end with something sweet

CAROLINE A. WONGEditor-in-Chief

BRANDON GAMBLECreative Director

FASHION AND FEATURES

Fashion and Beauty Editor BREANA POWELLAssociate Fashion Editor JESSICA HARRIS

Features Editor AMANDA CHIFeatures Writer LINDY TOLBERT

ARTS AND LEISURE

Arts and Leisure Editor EMILY VAN GUILDERArts and Leisure Writer ERICA MAU

BEAUTY AND WELLNESS

Beauty Editor COLETTE CHOI Wellness Editor LISA EBERLY

ART

Photography Director ALEXANDER HERMANAssistant Photographer HAIL NOWAK

West Coast Editor ANNA FRYXELLUK Editor JENNA ANDERSON

Contributors SARAH KALB & RACHEL MCCORMICK

Tastevin Magazine February / March 20152

Newly engaged (to her puppy daddy!), Erica Mau

is still mothering their little pup, Teddy Rex the Westie. All of her love culminates

this issue when she tries to wrangle the elusive dog into

cuddle time.

Sarah Kalb is a Los Angeles-based cooking extraordinaire and one of our newest colum-nists! Her latest healthy cre-

ation saves some poor forlorn zucchini. Check it out in “For

the Love of Food.”

Breana Powell gets sweet this issue and interviews the designer behind the delicate

jewelry brand LilahV. Her Val-entine’s Day plans this year

include spending some qual-ity time with her boyfriend of

five years, Matt!

Help us to welcome Rachel McCormick to the Tastevin

family! In between her excit-ing jet-setting, McCormick works out like a fiend and

spills her fitness fears in this issue’s personal essay “Strang-

ers in the Weight Room.”

Features Writer Amanda Chi is getting the most out of her travels abroad. At the end of January, she was exploring Copenhagen. But we’ll save

those stories for another time. For this issue, she chats

about her explorations in Barcelona!

Brandon Gamble mans the New York branch of the

Tastevin offices. He never writes his own blurb for the

Contributors page so we’ve run out of things to say about him

besides the fact that he still makes each issue of Tastevin

look awesome.

Contributors 2 2015300


Things We Love

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Erica Mau Arts & Leisure Writer

Sticky Buns at Tasting Kitchen, Venice, CA

“#OBSESSED with the sticky bun at the Tast-ing Kitchen in Venice. I don’t care what diet you’re on—the splurge will be well worth it! Tip: order one for the table because the portion is pretty large—unless you refuse to share, which I completely condone. Not too sweet, not too sticky, this sticky bun is the baby bear of all sticky buns.”

Breana PowellFashion and Beauty Editor

Mixing Lip Colors

“Lately I’ve been really digging my own makeup mix that creates the perfect neutral pout. First I dab on Mac’s satin lipstick in ‘Paramount’ [right, $16, www.maccosmetics.com] and then I layer on a bit of Urban Decay’s ‘Rapture’ lipstick [$22, www.urbandecay.com]. Mixing lipsticks is an easy way to get an entirely new color without spending any money!”

The Tastevin editors share their monthly obsessions

Amanda ChiFeatures Editor

Draughts in East London, England

“Draughts is great place to grab a tea or pint after work and play every board game imagin-

able with friends. I love how the staff can explain any and all games to you, no matter how obscure

and complicated. They’re even nice when you accidentally spill your entire pint of beer all over

‘Tsuro of the Seas’!”


LilahV designer Amanda Uber chats with Fash-ion and Beauty Editor Breana Powell about the inspiration behind the clean-line aesthetic of the brand’s jewelry. Be sure to check out the jewelry for yourself, as LilahV donates 20% of proceeds to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Soci-ety, dedicated to fighting blood cancers.

Our newest writer Rachel McCormick show-cases her dramatic body changes earned through her hard work in the weight room. But she wasn’t always a lifting fanatic...and she shares how she got over her fears in this issue’s personal essay on keeping fit and looking great. Fun fact: McCormick also works as a flight attendant. If she can make time to work out amidst the busyness of her jet-setting schedule, so can you! No need to toss out that leftover champagne! Beauty Editor Colette Choi reveals how that bottle of bubbly relates to you getting your glossiest hair yet...and all in time for Valen-tine’s Day, Chinese New Year, and St. Patrick’s Day. No matter what event you have coming up, you’ll shine!

Editor-in-Chief Caroline A. Wong pays tribute to the City of Lights by highlighting a Parisian designer’s collaboration with Uniqlo for this is-sue’s installment of “You & Me.” Je suis Charlie. #neverforget

Beyond the Cover

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My favorite thing going in to this February/March issue was thinking about all the festivities that these two months bring. You’ve got Valen-tine’s Day, Chinese New Year, St. Patrick’s Day, Pi Day...there are so many fun and whimsical reasons to get dressed up and celebrate. But just because there’s a “theme” doesn’t mean you have to look predictable. For years, I would wear black on Valentine’s Day, whether I had a date or not, because I wanted to stand out a bit. Granted, last year I wore a white lace dress on Valentine’s Day (super predictable, super feminine, super “on-theme”), but I paired it with a leather motorcycle jacket for a bit of edge, a bit of contrast. AND because I wasn’t sure if my date was going to show up on an actual motorcycle (I had to be prepared!)

What I’m trying to get at in a roundabout way is that, yes, there might be a “formula” for how to look on these occasions. Pink and red on Valen-tine’s Day. Red and gold on Chinese New Year. Green on St. Patrick’s Day. And...well, I’m not really sure what’s the “it” color for Pi Day (if you know, be sure to tweet me!). But that doesn’t mean you have to feel ho-hum even if you do choose to wear those colors. Accessorize! Maybe you make a statement on Chinese New Year with sky high stilettos, a shiny gold pencil skirt, and a marsala crop top (yay, Pantone color of the year!). Or, maybe instead of St. Patty’s traditional green and gold, you take a cute from the leprechaun’s shoes and wear a black dress (with a green clutch so you don’t get pinched). Maybe you already have a sexy bodycon dress for Valentine’s Day but you want to sweeten it up with some delicate jewelry. Well, this issue’s cover feature, LilahV, has some really special designs for just that. Flip through to read Fashion Editor Breana Powell’s interview with the brand’s designer and check out Powell’s mad photog-raphy skills in the feature and on the cover!

However you want to celebrate, I just urge you to do just that: celebrate. Whether you grab a date or you grab your friends, get out there and do something together. Or stay in and have a movie night or game night or whatever kind of night will make you happy. Yes, there may be “theme” colors and “commercial” reasons for the day (chocolate industry, I’m looking at you), but I’ve been in a loving mood lately and I’m hoping you’ll see these holidays not as glasses half empty but as glasses over-flowing with excitement and celebration. They’re fun. They’re festive. And you can do everything in your power to make them fashionable too!

EDITORfrom the desk of the

@tastevinmag


by Lisa Eberly

Beauty & WellnessTHE SKINNY ON HEALTH

o, what do weight loss, texting boys, and playing with babies have in common? Read on… I received a question after my “Day in the Life” miniseries about dietetic interns and students in grad school: How

do I lose weight when I’m really stressed and busy (like in grad school!!) I’ve got good news for you: I lost about ten pounds in my first year of grad school, so I’m totally down to answer that! First and foremost, weight loss should not be thought of as a task or a diet or anything other than just living a healthy life! Stressing about how to lose weight is unhealthy and—al-though everyone does it—should be stopped. By changing your mentality about “weight loss,” you not only make losing weight easier on yourself, but you also make losing weight when you’re cra-zy busy even easier than that! Losing weight follows the same tech-niques as getting a boy to like you. Side note, this also works on getting cute little kids to want to play with you. (And yes, I’m taking full responsi-bility for this theory and totally want to write a book about it as of two minutes ago, this idea is coming to me while writing this article on an air-plane soooo let’s see how it goes, shall we? Some people cry on airplanes, I get my BEST ideas on airplanes. Seriously, stick me on a twenty hour flight to East Asia with a latte and a glass of red wine and I’ll come up with a new theory of rela-tivity. Or, you know, theory on weight loss and getting boys to like you.) My mother always taught me: if you ig-nore a boy, you’ll get his attention. No boy is going to pine after the girl oogling him and texting him 100 times a day. They want the girl who doesn’t know they exist and ignores their texts. If I am interested in a boy (A man? Yikes.), do you think I’m going to text him?! Heck no! That boy better text me first. On the other hand, I text my best guy friend probably twenty times before he even wakes up. (#needy) My niece and nephew are freaking PRE-CIOUS monkeys, but they can be a little shy when I’m in town. It’s easy to see that these kids get

S “gimmie attention” comments from my fam-ily members literally all day. “Austie! Look over here!” “Ari! Come play!” “Austin I have a surprise for you!” “Ari! Want chocolate?” They’re over-whelmed with attention from adoring fans. So you know what I said instead? “Ari! Don’t follow me! You stay over there! Whatever you do, DON’T come play with me over here!!” I have never seen that little 2-year-old run into my arms so fast. The girl followed me around all day, and when she wasn’t following me around, she was repeat-ing my name—Seesaw! Seesaw! Where’s Seesaw?! Nailed it. So now that I have the boys I like texting me and the babies I like following me around, I’ll finally get to how you’re going to lose weight knowing these things. By paying constant attention to weight loss, you’re going to constantly overeat out of indulgence, frustration, and despite your strongest efforts at will power. When you tell yourself you’re not going to eat things that are unhealthy, you immediately jump to eating things that are unhealthy. (“Don’t follow me!” Bam. Following me.) By giving food so much at-tention, you make it impossible to stop shovel-ing it in your face. (Texting a guy three times in a row? No chance you’re getting a response, girlfriend.) Catch my drift? Grad school was incredibly stressful. I was so. freaking. busy. I didn’t have time to think about food or to exercise a lot, and that’s when the weight poured off me. I ate well and I exer-cised because I wanted to be healthy enough to tackle my busy days, not because I wanted to lose weight. I didn’t have time to overeat all day. I didn’t have time to text boys. I focused all my attention on school and learning—food was not a priority. I made the choices to eat healthy when presented, but I didn’t stress about it. At most, I thought: Okay, I can only eat for these thirty min-utes and I need energy for the entire afternoon—I need protein and healthy fats! I also made sure that the healthy foods that really filled me up were on hand at all times. I made massive stir-frys (chicken, shrimp, on-

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ions, carrots, broccoli, spinach, kale, brown rice or quinoa, chia seeds, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and garlic—all tossed around in a pan for a bit), always had hummus and baby carrots for snacks, and loaded an apple and bag of almonds into my purse before school. I didn’t have time to think about doing these things, I just made them rou-tine. I would eat when I was hungry but focused so much on school that I never ate out of bore-dom. This is HUGE for weight loss—I cannot

stress this enough: Eat when you’re hungry, not when you’re bored. Seriously, spend one day re-ally focusing on this and you’ll see how crazy it is. We are never really that hungry. Most of the time we eat because we are bored or we’re in a social setting where others are eating. Cut those out and you’ll be SHOCKED how little you actu-ally eat. If I’m really only eating to satiate hun-ger, I only need about 400-500 calories per day. (I never eat this little, but I discovered it as part of an experiment to see how much I really wanted out of hunger vs boredom/social factors.) When it came to exercise, I added it to my

routine AND used it as a sanity crutch. I worked out every single day at 7pm when I got home—it was routine. It was in my iCal, in my planner, and it was what I did every day. I got home, had an apple or baby carrots and hummus, relaxed for about 20 minutes (book/TV/facebook), and changed for the gym. I kept my yoga mat and towels next to my front door, and I called my parents while walking to the gym. It was second nature. I didn’t have time to sit there for an hour and go Ugh I’ve had such a

long day I should skip the gym… Nope, no time. I just did it. Just DO. Don’t think, just do. Thinking about simple things like going to the gym or not wastes brain power you can use for more relevant tasks. Think about more important things, don’t waste that on the gym. If there were a night where I really didn’t want to go (about once per week), I used moti-vation. I thought to myself: You’re stressed, over-worked, exhausted. Will skipping the gym for an unhealthy meal actually make you feel better? Or will it make your stomach hurt and make you have trouble sleeping? Then I’d realize that going to the

Beauty & WellnessTHE SKINNY ON HEALTH

gym is my peace for the day. It’s my calming, re-laxing “me” time. Exercise is so, so, so therapeu-tic, and it really will make you feel amazing—es-pecially when stressed. So, I’ll sum up these techniques to lose weight when incredibly busy or stressed in a few short bullet points for those of you intelligent people who want me to get to the point already:

Reproritize. Focus on your task at hand. If you’re buy and stressed or in grad school—

I’d focus on that! That is your main task. Dive into studying or whatever work project you may have and you won’t notice it’s been hours since you last ate.

Make the healthy choice the easy, fast choice. Have healthy snacks on hand at all times.

Eat to fuel yourself—if you know you have a crazy afternoon, know that you’ll need pro-

tein and healthy fats to fuel you without burnout. All nighters are much easier with healthy fuel in-stead of sugar.

Don’t eat out of boredom, eat out of hun-ger. Are you eating to avoid work/studying?

Stop it!

Don’t think, just do. Don’t think about what to eat or if you should work out, use your

brain for more important thoughts. Just grab the hummus, just go to yoga. Don’t overthink it.

Hope that helps! If any of you have health ques-tions, I LOVE answering them, so send them my way on Twitter @xoxoTSOH or at my site www.TheSkinnyOnHealth.com

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www.sabelmade.comHand paintedOne-of-a-kindMade in LA

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Get G lossy!Maybe I’m not a bubbly blonde, but that doesn’t stop me from using a bit of bubbly to boost my hair color. Yep, I’m talking champagne as a hair treatment. Grab a bottle of the cheap stuff...that is, sparkling wine (Need-to-know fact: To be called “champagne” it must be from the Champagne region in France). It may seem like something only the rich and famous would do (come on, champagne in the shower??), but I swear it will keep your locks shiny and it costs a fraction of a professional salon gloss. For this simple beauty trick to try, shampoo and condition hair as normal, then pour a cup over your hair and relax for about ten minutes. Rinse out your strands and go enjoy the rest of that bottle with your new lustrous locks!

Trick to Try

{Beauty} By Colette Choi

[email protected] 212-354-5014Jewelry Accessories Beauty


ull-ups and bench press and dead lifts, oh my! But I am a female, if I even think about any of these exercises, won’t my body sponta-

neously combust into the most muscular, bulky, manly figure you have ever seen? A year ago, this was my mindset, along with a large percentage of women—actually it’s generally true of most people. I have been a gym-goer for years; in high school I even lost about twenty pounds by doing endless, boring cardio and going on a strict no-carb diet. Did this ap-proach work to lose weight? You bet. But was I bored to death and did I eventually gain all the weight back? Yep. The truth is, for the majority of my ado-lescence, I was terrified of that testosterone-rid-den, male-dominated territory that is the weight room. I thought if I went in there they would all look at me funny, and I would be so embarrassed because I wouldn’t know how to use any of the equipment. Fast forward to March of this past year. A relationship I was betting everything on ended unexpectedly, and I was left heartbroken and looking for a new outlet to occupy my time. I also realized I needed to shed some of those re-lationship pounds we start to gain when we get

Beauty & WellnessPERSONAL ESSAY

Strangers in the Weight Room and How I Learned to Love Them

P too comfortable. I knew I didn’t want to go back to being a cardio bunny, spending mindless hours on the treadmill and elliptical, counting the seconds until it was over. I started seeing a trend in girl-friends of mine with smoking hot, feminine, curvy bodies that I envied: they were lifting weights. And I’m not talking five pounders. They were lift-ing next to the boys, sharing that squat rack with the men, and they looked hotter than ever be-cause of it. I was intrigued. So I took to the won-derful World Wide Web and found a beginners twelve-week weightlifting program for women. I followed the program religiously for the entire twelve weeks, and after about just five weeks, I noticed my body changing more dramatically and rapidly than it ever had before with any other workout I had ever tried. I was hooked. Let me tell you—the feeling you get from lifting heavier weight than the grown man next to you, rocking those pink lifting gloves, is way more fulfilling than any runners’ high you will ever experience.

Social Media Is Your Best FriendMaybe you’re like I used to be and the weight room terrifies you. You have no idea how to use

by Rachel McCormick

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all those complicated-looking machines and a per-sonal trainer is just too expensive. The internet was my complete personal trainer when I started on this endeavor and still is to this day. You would be amazed at how many free resources there are right at your fingertips. Countless websites out-lining exact training routines, videos demonstrat-ing thousands of exercises and the proper form to complete them, photos for inspiration, and recipes so you can supplement all your hard work

at the gym with some healthy induglence in the kitchen. We all know Pinterest is the best for DIY inspiration, lust worthy home décor, and check-ing out the hottest outfits, but what if you pinned some hot bodies along with workout quotes to motivate you to stop sitting on that booty and in-stead go work it out in the gym? I also try to keep my Instagram feed full of fitness gurus, personal trainers, figure competitors, and workout pages so I get a daily dose of new ideas and inspiration.

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Honestly, I get excited to try these new exercises I find, which helps get me off the couch and out the door—that’s the majority of the battle, after all.

Have a Plan Map out your workout routine before you even get to the gym to ensure you will stay mo-tivated and have direction. I like to make a note in my phone of all the exercises I plan to do that day—that way, I’m not mindlessly pedaling on

the elliptical for an hour or wandering aimlessly around the weight machines. Having a plan mo-tivates you, ensures you are keeping your heart-rate up while moving at a decent pace from one exercise to the next, and gives you something new and exciting to look forward to trying out for the first time. If one of your favorite fitness gurus performs an exercise perfectly but you realize it’s substantially harder than it looks, don’t get dis-couraged. Modify it, use less weight, and work up to performing it fully.

Beauty & WellnessPERSONAL ESSAY

blackmilkclothing.com

Stick With It The first few days may seem daunting. You’re timidly (at first) walking up to this equip-ment that maybe you’ve only admired people using from afar. I promise once you get into a routine, you will be absolutely hooked. Another huge piece of motivation in my journey was docu-menting my progress. Take those full body mir-ror selfies! You can see my progress in the selfies that accompany this article. When you compare pictures week to week and literally start seeing major changes in your body, there’s nothing that will stop you from coming back for more.

Change It Up As you peruse the internet and observe other gym goers around you, you will develop some favorite exercises that you enjoy perform-ing for whatever reason. For instance, I really love to deadlift. It is such a compound exercise that works the booty, quads, back, abs, and arms all in one. But I don’t deadlift every single day. Just like you’ve heard about cardio, if you hop on the elliptical every single day and do twenty minutes at the same speed and at the same incline, your body gets bored, causing you to plateau, which is a waste of your precious time and energy. The same goes with weight training—change it up, in-troduce new exercises into your routine as often as possible, or change the weight and reps you are performing. This will keep your muscles guessing and keep your workouts interesting.

I’m writing this on vacation. And while I’m enjoying the mental and physical break from my usually jam-packed schedule, I miss my daily therapy sessions with my dear friends: By ther-apy, I mean heavy breathing, sweating-it-out, and pushing myself to the limit. And by friends, I mean my pink gloves and the barbells I have come to know and to love throwing around. I know that when I get home to my faithful friends they will be waiting, staring at me like a good friend does, saying, “You can do better. You can be better.” In

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lovefood

Gluten-Free Zucchini & Sweet Potato Bread

for the

of

by Sarah Kalb

INGREDIENTS• 2 cups gluten-free flour• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon• 1/2 tsp nutmeg• 1/2 tsp ground ginger• 1/2 tsp allspice • 1 teaspoon baking soda• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder• 1/4 teaspoon salt• 3/4 cup rapadura • 1/2 cup honey • 1/4 cup olive oil• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted • 3 large eggs• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract• 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (skins on)• 1 1/2 cups grated sweet potato (skins on)• Optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

PREPARATIONPreheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Sift first eight ingredients into a me-dium bowl. Beat rapadura, honey, oils, eggs, and va-nilla to blend in large bowl. Mix in zucchini and sweet potato. Add dry ingredients and walnuts. Stir well.

Transfer batter to prepared pans. Bake until tester (such as a toothpick) inserted into center comes out clean, about 60- 80 minutes. Cool bread in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Cut around bread to loosen. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

This bread can be prepared one day ahead of serv-ing. Wrap in foil and let stand at room temperature to store. The loaf also freezes well (unlike its normal zucchini counterpart); just pop into 350° oven for 15-20 minutes to thoroughly warm.

Our newest food columnist gets crazy with this trendy gluten-free option that saved her holiday zucchini!

As many French women will tell you, eating seasonally boasts a myriad of health benefits, not to mention emotional bliss at the intense flavors of garden wares freshly picked. Before leaving for a Christmas holi-day, I found myself with three fresh zucchini and no time to cook them. They are a horrible freeze, recon-stituting into mush when steamed. So, on a whim, I decided grating them for a baked bread prior to freez-ing might be more forgiving. Fast forward two weeks when I returned home and cautiously researched recipes to save my little green gems.

For a cold-busting, protein-laden, healthy-fat breakfast, pair this bread with eggs and citrus. Top it with real butter and honey, Greek yogurt and toasted coconut, or homemade apple butter for a gourmet treat. It also makes a great dessert toasted with warm fruit compote or organic ice cream. Bon appétit!

GLUTEN-FREE ZUCCHINI & SWEET POTATO BREAD makes 2 loaves

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Arts & LeisureFOR THE LOVE OF FOOD

- Rapadura is unrefined, dehydrated, whole cane sugar. Because it’s unbleached, it looks like dirt but sports a caramel, nutty flavor that easily sub-stitutes for brown and white sugars (provided color is irrelevant). I use the Rapunzel brand that is fairly traded, found at most health food stores (i.e. Whole Foods, Sprouts, Gelsons).

- Fresh nutmeg is easy to grate and simply intox-icating. Find the nickel-sized seed in the spice section.

- While you can make your own gluten-free flour, the special balance of grain, bean, and gums needed to achieve the properties of white flour is tricky. In my opinion, it’s worth the

time and money to get a pre-blended package. Bob’s Red Mill sells two gluten-free flours, one of which specifically suggests a 1:1 substitution ratio. Both work well.

- Want to make it vegan? Substitute ¼ cup flax meal with 1 tbsp warm water for every egg—three times for this recipe. Let the water and meal sit for five minutes to congeal before adding it to other ingredients. If you’re a purist vegan, you can cut the honey and use maple syrup or more rapadura. Since honey and syrup are wetter, you’ll need a longer baking time with these.

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Arts & LeisureMADE

This may be my easiest craft yet! The idea started whilst shopping at Anthropologie when I found some vintage in-spired tea cups ($14, www.anthropologie.com for similar styles). I bought four total with the idea that I’d use the first two for drinking and the remaining two for ambiance. Those latter two cups I decided would be the perfect ves-sels for an easy DIY candle.

made

Teacup Candle Craftby Emily Van Guilder

Supplies Needed:Teacups (preferably not actual antiques, as older cups may not hold up to the job—it’s better to buy new)Candle wax “sand”Candle wicks (with stands)Tacky Thin wooden dowel (skewers work)

Directions: • Thoroughly clean out your teacups before use.• Apply dime sized amount of tacky to the bottom of your candle wick stands.• Place wicks firmly in the middle of your cup and hold for a few seconds for the tacky to set.• Lay a wooden dowel across the opening of your cup and wrap the remaining wick around it. This keeps the wick straight when you pour the wax.• Pour in the candle wax sand until it almost reaches the top. You can create a nice mixed effect by adding more than one color.• Trim the wick so it stands ¼” above your wax line, and you’re ready to go! As you burn the candle down, keep trimming the wick so it’s no longer than ¼” or else you risk having excess smoke.

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Puppy Diariesby Erica Mau

The next step was the punishment method. Barking too much? Forced cuddle! Poop in the wrong place? Forced cuddle! I know, I know. It probably made him hate cuddling even more. But I can’t even tell you how badly I wanted a cuddly little dog! JUST CUDDLE WITH ME, DAMNIT! It gets worse. When Teddy Ruxpin would fall asleep, I would sneak down next to him and get into spoon position. But my dog, he’s no fool. He’d wake up instantly and walk away, same as before. When he was REALLY tired, I’d drag him up to my spot on the bed and place him on my stomach. Sometimes that would work…for fif-teen seconds. #takewhatyoucanget I got even more desperate. One night when Ted was lying on the couch, sleeping, I whispered to his self-conscious a threatening warning. “Teddy!” I whispered, “Teddy, I really

need the cuddles! You really need to start pull-ing your weight, or I’m going to trade you in for a more cuddly model!” My boyfriend laughed at me. My mother gasped with a frown. But the words had been said and the damage was done. I am surprised to report that my prayers were answered that night. As we went to sleep in bed, the Tedders walked up next to me, lay

here were a lot of factors I weighed when considering which breed of dog to get. How big would he be full-grown? Is he hypoallergenic?

Would he be happy in an apartment? Did he require 5,000 walks a day? And, most impor-tantly, was he the cutest thing ever? But one aspect I overlooked, which I now regret, was the cuddle-factor. Let me clarify —MY DOG DOES NOT LIKE TO CUDDLE! I mean, ugh. When I envisioned myself with a puppy, I pictured lying on the couch together, watch-ing TV. He could sit on my lap and we would enjoy each other’s warmth and The Bachelor! We’d lie in bed next to each other and spoon while drifting off to sleep. Partners in laziness! A couple-o-cuddlers! Well, the cruel reality is just the op-posite. When I lie on the couch, watching TV, Teddy runs around the living room barking at ghosts or at other animals on screen. And when I’m lying in bed and attempt to spoon, he gets up and walks to the other corner of the bed. To quote Stephanie Tanner, how rude! The realization was a heart-crushing reality, until someone mentioned that, perhaps, the Tedster would mellow with age and enjoy a good cuddle every now and then. “Ah,” I thought to myself, “a golden opportunity!” I could train T-Rex to be a cuddly Teddy bear and show him that cuddling isn’t so bad, so as he gets older, cuddling will be familiar territory! So we tried the reward method. If Ted-dy wanted a treat, he’d have to cuddle first! If the Ted Man wanted some human food, he’d have to earn it with big ole cuddle with mommy! Spoiler alert: it didn’t go so well. He became who I dubbed “Squirmy McSquirm-erson,” wiggling, wiggling, wiggling, wiggling, wiggling (yeah), until I let him free and relin-quished his treat. Not the soothing, relaxing cuddle of my dreams in any sense! And I didn’t think he was getting my message one bit.

Each issue, Erica Mau tracks the antics and hijinks of little puppy Teddy Rex the Westie. It’s a hard world for a puppy mom—but a cute one!T

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down, and let me spoon! It was glorious. I made my boyfriend take pictures, which I promptly posted on Instagram post-cuddle. And I didn’t even fall asleep for the next thirty minutes—I just lay there with a stupid grin in my face, burying my face in Teddy’s fur. Was it all a dream? At least I had photo evidence! Since then, Teddy Buns has made small steps towards making his mommy happy, and I appreciate them all. He doesn’t come to cuddle often, but sometimes he’ll lay by my head and rest his head on my shoulder. When I initiate the forced cuddle movement, he’ll just lie there and take it (with an annoyed look on his face) until I am finished. And when I drag him up the

Arts & LeisurePUPPY DIARIES

bed when he’s sleeping, he’ll lay with me for a whole five minutes until he’s over it. Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you that my unorthodox method of cuddle training ended with satisfactory results. And I’m not ad-vocating my technique in any sense—I see now in retrospect how I was just asking to get bit like the Bow Wow lady (see the June/July 2014 issue). But in the end, my story ends happily ever after—just a girl and her semi-cuddly pup, lying in bed pretty close together, both enjoy-ing the company.

blackmilkclothing.com


Each issue, Caroline A. Wong joins you in the chase for the

most coveted designer collaborations. It’s a team

effort. It’s you and me.

Photos by Breana Powell

hate to break it to you Audrey Hepburn-loving, “Paris is always a good idea” fan-girls: the City of Lights isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. A few years ago, I spent a summer in Paris, and it really wasn’t about finding my je ne sais quoi. It was about stepping around dog shit in the streets and dodging ciga-

rettes thrown from outdoor café-goers. It was about fighting with Sandro bou-tique workers and getting thrown out of clubs and French men saying they want to take you home—while they’re still on a date with a leggy blonde. For me, that “I don’t know what feeling” was more “I don’t know what I’m doing here when I can be on the next Eurostar to London.” I will concede, however, that Paris has a certain fashion blueprint. It has a reputation for an inexplicable ef-fortlessness in the same way that Miami

Worn throughout: Cotton button-down shirt, Ines

de La Fressange x Uniqlo, $35, www.uniqlo.com.

“Gwenevere” skinny jeans, 7 for All Mankind, $110,

www.7forallmankind.com. Sunglasses, Salt, $415, www.

saltoptics.com for similar styles. White gold initial ear-rings, Statement, $55, www.

statementboutique.com. Banner pendant necklace, J.Crew Factory, $50, www.

factory.jcrew.com for similar styles. Periwinkle mini tote,

DAILYLOOK, $50, www.dailylook.com. Genuine

leather ankle booties, Forever 21 Collection, $80,

www.forever21.com. Rings, editor’s own.


Fashion & FeaturesYOU+ME

has a reputation for maxi dresses and bold prints. Whether you love Paris or not, you’ll agree with me that the French still have a stronghold on the je ne sais quoi idea of style, and designer Inès de La Fressange does not disappoint. Prior to a dramatic falling out, de La Fressange served as muse to Chanel’s creative director, Karl Lagerfeld. She was also the first model to sign an exclusive contract with a haute couture design house—presum-ably before her spat with Lagerfeld, although the two may have patched things up since de La Fressange walked Chanel’s spring-sum-mer 2011 runway. Personal drama aside, de La Fressange is still a classic French woman, and her collaboration with Japanese casual wear brand Uniqlo marries Parisian ease with the brand’s utilitarian basics. As with the majority of Uniqlo’s piec-es, the fabric for this collection seems thicker and sturdier than that of many of the brand’s fast fashion competitors, although the qual-ity is not comparable to Target’s high-end collaborations. For de La Fressange’s spring pieces, however, this is not a negative thing. The fabric is fairly sturdy yet still light and seasonally appropriate. The collection in-cludes classic solids and neutral patterns like stripes in addition to more vibrant pieces like her floral skirt. While the basic shirts, trousers, and skirts seem to complement each other well, the outerwear is sporty—almost to the point of being “junior”—

Fashion & FeaturesYOU+ME

and disparate from the rest of the pieces. Examples of this would be the puffy down jacket and the bomber, which is a popular style for the season but entirely uninspired when it comes to design. That said, de La Fressange manages to capture that “I don’t know what” essence with the majority of her spring line for Uniqlo. There’s something dreamy—and just so French—about a crisp button-down for spring. It may seem like just a corporate office staple, but this piece in particular is the epitome of versatility, whether you consider your style classic, girly, edgy, or even “undefined.” It’s all in the pairing. With cuffed skinny jeans and pointed shoes—take your pick: ankle boots, flats, pumps—the shirt is at once professional, effortless, and fashion-forward. The same outfit looks differ-ent with a blazer or a moto jacket, but that’s the great vibe about the shirt—it can stand its own with anything. Tucked into an a-line patterned skirt, the button-down instantly transforms from something more masculine to a look that is purely soft and feminine. Rolling up the sleeves draws the shirt from corporate office into more ca-sual territory, and the playful mix of patterns keeps the look from being matronly. Keep it all tied together by choosing patterns with the same color story. The key to remember about effortlessness is that “effortless” does not mean “thoughtless.” A cuff in the jean means you considered the fact that bunched ankles look sloppy. An understated pair of stud earrings and sunglasses means that you take your appearance seriously but you’re still about comfort—and preventing squint-wrinkles in the sun! Add a necklace or a watch. It could be the necklace you eat, sleep, and breathe in, but it’s still a considered acces-sory. So what if you’re not French. Maybe you’re like me and don’t wish to be Parisian at all, Audrey Hepburn be damned. So freakin’ what. You can still have that je ne sais quoi air. You can still carry yourself and dress yourself with that effortless elegance that the fantasy Parisian woman inspires. When it comes to figuring out that look for yourself, hopefully now you don’t have to say “I don’t know what” about it!

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By Amanda ChiBarcelona

Share Your Where

Beyond the Beaches

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isiting Barcelona without seeing the beach? ‘Blasphemy!’ exclaim London-folk, who are deprived of proper sandy beaches and sun. A colorful and vibrant city, Barcelona still shines through the torrential rain that barricades winter tour-ists from seeing the beach, no mat-

ter how imported its sand may be. Typically thought of as just a beach and booze holiday, Barcelona is also the home of Gaudi, Picasso, Messi, and Catalan culture. It’s a city that has more than enough cultural distractions to pack a holiday. Barcelona seems to cater its appeal to the individual, enticing any and all visitors with its art, ar-chitecture, and sport. If you’re looking for that famous masterpiece, look no further than the Picasso Museum that houses the legendary artist’s early and later works. With a special exhibition on black and white photo-graphs of his later life with Jacqueline, you can see the affection he holds for his second wife being lifted from her painted portraits into scenes of daily life. No doubt, Barcelona is a touristy city, and you’ll see this evidenced by the kitschy souvenirs sold on La Rambla. The most prevalent one you’ll see is the melting Dalí clock displayed in every souvenir shop window. Even though Salvador Dalí lived in the next town over, his work still pervades the streets of Barcelona. If you’re looking for more traditional art, visit the Mu-seu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, or the National Art Museum of Catalonia. Even if you don’t go inside, the palace is an impressive building to see regardless. The fountain outside the palace is something to behold as it’s called Font Màgica de Montjuïc, which literally translates to the Magic Fountain of Jew Mountain. The water acrobatic show is filled with color and lights, set to music, and on par with the Bellagio fountain show in Las Vegas. Or so I’ve heard. Unfortunately, during our visit, we missed the show because it was off-season. So if you do decide to head towards Montjuïc or Jew Mountain, check those times thoroughly. Font Màgica may be on every tourist’s list, but by far, buildings by architect Antoni Gaudí should be on the top of that hit list. More than half of the struc-tures he designed are located in Barcelona and seven of those are listed as World Heritage Sites. The main Gaudí attraction is the Sagrada Familia. A church that commenced construction in 1882, it is still unfinished to this day. Gaudí completed the front façade and you

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can see how intricate the details are from the door all the way to the spires. Since he never finished his work, it is still being completed and the contrast between the old and new couldn’t be any clearer. While the front nativity façade is highly detailed and ornate, the passion façade is far more eerie, plain and simple. With a completion date set for 2028, you’ll have plenty of time to plan a trip to Barcelona if you’re waiting for the completed basilica in its full glory. If you’re perusing the list of Gaudí buildings, you won’t find a single one named after him because many are named after his friend and patron Eusebi Güell. The most famous is Park Güell in Barcelona. While it may be a public park now, think of it as a Bluth development model home. With only two houses actually built, Gaudí moved into one of the model homes with his family. Being one of the most pictur-esque Gaudí sites that you’ll certainly find on a postcard, the park’s colorful mosaic buildings are matched by the iconic salamanders you see in the area. Not into art or architecture? Just as iconic and well known as Gaudí is the world-famous footballer Lionel Messi and his team FC Barcelona. Though Messi is Argentinian, he plays for Barça. Along with Cristiano Ronaldo (that footballer over whom most fans swoon), Messi is known as the greatest footballer of this generation and his popular-ity is displayed by the hundreds of football jerseys scattered through-out souvenir shops just waiting to be purchased by diehard fans. For many European countries, football is the true religion that gives life and meaning to its citizens. It’s not merely entertainment, but rather a source of identity, especially for Catalans. Despite its appeal and attrac-tion for tourists, Barcelona screams to be recognized as more than just a Spanish city. It holds Barça near and dear because it is an outlet for Catalan culture and expression. It’s a chance for Catalonians to speak their dialect and embrace a culture they believe is dying, using FC Bar-celona’s stadium Camp Nou to be the platform for Catalonia’s political independence. Barcelona is not only vocal about its culture and heritage, but also about its visitors. We stayed in the Barri Gòtic, the old Gothic Quarter of the city where most areas are packed with tourists and study abroad students. Throughout various parts of the inner city, we saw banners hung on terraces shouting “MASS TOURISM KILLS THE NEIGHBOURHOOD” or even “Silence, let us sleep!” You can see Bar-celona’s retaliation to visitors in one alley, while just one street over will be a barrage of poorly made, tourist-trap Dalí clocks selling for 40 euros each. Though the messages can be harsh and off-putting to tourists, I can see the validity in the ire drawn from residents. Tourism may be detrimental to residential neighborhoods, but it still funds a large percentage of the Catalan economy. With so many things to see and do, Barcelona is a culture-filled city you can fall in love with and it deserves better than a drunken one-night stand.

Fashion & FeaturesSHARE YOUR WHERE

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Typically thought of as just a beach and booze holiday, Barcelona is also the home

of Gaudi, Picasso, Messi, and Catalan culture.

Story & photos by Breana Powell

WHIMSY WEAR jewelry

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Fashion & FeaturesSHARE YOUR WEAR

n the world of LilahV, everything feels colorful, sweet, and fun—it sweeps you up like a surprise celebration you didn’t know you needed. From the unique designs to the packaging

taglines affirming everything from love to badass-ness, the jewelry brand is a fully-re-alized concept of what it means to make the details count in order to stand out from the crowd. It’s no surprise that Amanda Uber, the owner and designer of LilahV, is inspired by women who aren’t afraid to live life loudly. She named the line after her grand-mother Louella. “She was a spitfire,” says Uber. “I still wear some of her vintage piec-

es mixed with LilahV modern jewelry.” And if given the opportunity to collaborate with any celebrity, Uber chooses superstar singer Taylor Swift, who is similarly spunky. “She is a wonderful, talented, and strong woman who can be both a badass and role model.” The designer predicts that jewelry trends will follow the lead of compelling women, such as Swift. Uber says, “Women

are getting more powerful, dynamic, and am-bitious. We are balls of fire who want strong, edgy pieces to represent.” LilahV embodies the modern woman in pieces like the gre-nade and deer skull pendants—strong, edgy, powerful, and dynamic. So what’s the designer’s favorite thing about the jewelry business? “I never knew how much creativity I had inside me,” replies Uber. “And I truly love supporting my fellow designers. So many times I will see their new products and think, ‘Damn, I wish I had come up with that.’ I am always sure to tell them that too!” Even as an emerging brand still mak-ing its way in the industry, LilahV is wonder-fully philanthropic, donating twenty percent of proceeds to both the Humane Society and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “My hope is to double our donations exponen-tially every year,” says the designer. Uber sums up the future of LilahV in a poetic way: “This year we planted roots and starting next year we plan to grow. I’m excit-ed at all the different branches we can plant while keeping the cohesive tree blooming.”

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Women are balls of fire who want strong, edgy pieces to represent that.

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by Caroline A. Wong

This issue’s cover feature, jewelry brand LilahV, donates 20% of proceeds to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), whose mis-sion is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s diseas, and myelo-ma in addition to improving the quality of life for patients of these diseases and their loved ones. LLS is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to fighting blood cancer. Do something sweet and support the cause by purchasing a LilahV piece for a friend at www.lilahv.com or donating directly to LLS at www.lls.org

*The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society logo is used to raise awareness of the agency, not to sug-gest that LLS has contributed to or endorses this article.

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Tastevin Magazine February / March 2015

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Transcript of Tastevin Magazine February / March 2015