cuter caffeine

When i think of cute coffee, i think of ceramic cups and latte art. In the boring world, that's not always an option. But a simple way to make your takeout coffee cuter is to order a "short" size. If eight or ten ounces doesn't have enough caffeine for you, you can always add a shot or two of espresso. Anyway, the best lattes i've ever had, the Alaskan lattes, were double shorts. And they came in plain white paper cups i could decorate however i wanted, and cute stickers to cover the hole in the lid. And you buy them from tiny little roadside huts, each uniquely named and decorated. (Or, of course, at your favorite car wash.)

If you must have a bigger coffee, get a cute travel mug. My friend Julie got one from Target for my birthday -- it's white ceramic with a pink silicone lid and "sleeve." Really cute and simple.

JELLYBEAN SHAKE

Introducing the JELLYBEANS SHAKE! It's sweet, and appropriately named, but it's as healthy as salad.

This morning i was flipping through a dessert cookbook i have. In the back there are some smoothie recipes. The "Green Veggie Shake" called for celery, but i didn't have any. I did have fennel stalks, which LOOK like celery... and i had no idea what to do with them. (I already roasted the "bulb".) Maybe i could substitute them for celery in the smoothie?

It worked just fine! Don't be scared by the spinach; this is really the best way to eat it, since all you can really taste is apple and honey. It's very springy, the color of a maccha frappe. And the fennel has a slightly licorice-y taste, just like black jellybeans -- hence the name. And as i took my first sip, Grandma was sitting at the table looking at the big container of jelly beans she bought today. I tried to use those as a garnish but it just looked weird. Oh well. Spring is coming!

JELLYBEAN SHAKE

• 4-5" fennel stalk, trimmed and chopped
  
• a handful of spinach leaves
  
• 1 small apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
  
• 1 Tablespoon honey
  
• 1/4 cup milk, or however much you need to blend it nicely
  

Put everything in a blender and blend it really well. Pour it in a pretty glass and garnish with jellybeans (if you can figure out how to do it cutely), a violet, whipped cream, or a fruit slice.

Now what am i going to do with the fennel leaves?

cute food, in general

There are books, magazines, websites, and blogs upon blogs about cute food.

To me, fashionably photographed food usually looks cute no matter what it is; the cookie doesn't have to have to look like a darling little penguin in order to be cute. I have a cookbook full of recipes for penguin cookies and panda oatmeal and stuff. It's very fun, but cookies can be cute enough just by being cookies.

Fruit is already cute. All you have to do is slice it neatly and arrange it with a little cute intention, or use it to BLINGIFY pretty much any other food or drink.

I don't automatically think of vegetables as cute, but why shouldn't the fruit principles apply? Like fruits, they're fresh, colorful, and unique. Lately, i've been making a mighty effort to eat not just more vegetables, but a greater variety of vegetables (and foods in general). I've been trying to eat five different veggies a day, so when i shop sometimes i just pick something i've never cooked or eaten or heard of, and after i get home i go to my cookbook indexes and the internet to figure out what to do with it. These are like small VEGETABLE ADVENTURES. (This week it was fennel and kale.)

A while ago i got to eat a vegetarian meal prepared by Buddhist monks, and it was delicious but also really lovely to look at. That got me really interested in all the different ways to prepare vegetables, especially the ones i'm not as comfortable with -- plus i get bored with the same old lettuce and tomatoes.

Bento box recipes (i have this book) have helped me with this. They're usually simple but just a little different from what i'm used to, and presentation is inherantly important. I also have a handful of bento recipes from a magazine i bought years ago that i'm working on translating and trying. They're very simple, tiny portions.

This Mollie Katzen cookbook doesn't have any glorious photos (and i have bought cookbooks solely to look at the pictures...) but it's full of cute drawings and very handy ideas for vegetables. I've also enjoyed A Midwest Gardener's Cookbook. It's organized by season and i learned from it that i can eat violets. I just get these out from the library.

I love fresh herbs right now, too -- i've been buying bunches of them and putting them in a vase on the counter. They're so green and bright, and much cheaper than fresh cut flowers! AND fresh cut flowers don't turn into tabbouli or pesto.

Now protein is another story. Little beans, nuts and seeds -- okay. But when it comes to meat, i'm going to have to say that vegetarianism wins the cuteness contest. I'm not a vegetarian right now but meat just isn't cute.

Except maybe sushi.

And then there's dairy. "The most popular and fashionable foods... were soft, sweet and milky, including ice-cream, cakes, milk drinks and soft deserts." [Kinsella] I happen to get most of my dairy by drinking lattes.

I haven't given much thought to making whole grains cute. My initial thought: onigiri. And there's the aforementioned animal-themed oatmeal.

But as for bread... loveliness abounds. Bread of course comes from dreamy French bakeries, where it's organized by shape in rustic baskets with handwritten signs by a cute girl in a pretty apron with a romantic boyfriend drinking espresso at the patio table near his bicycle with flowers for her in the basket. It's also closely linked to muffins, cake, and by extension pastries, ice cream, candy, and of course there is no question about the cuteness of sweets.

But really, even plain old toast with jam is kinda cute.