experimentation - The Seventh Sphinx

The waffle experimentation continues here chez sphinx. Going strong with my All-Clad Belgian waffle iron.

This time I substituted all of the oil for coconut oil and about 1/4 of the flour for coconut flour, then say 1/2 c of moisture for mashed banana. Buttermilk over milk every time. I also added sparkling water, which, in conjunction with the baking soda/vinegar (from the buttermilk) mix, makes the batter bizarrely fluffy, and the waffles deliciously fluffy (want to try it with sparkling wine later…). I adapted the buttermilk waffles recipe from the Cook’s Illustrated cookbook, which is often too elaborate for my taste but which is full of good techniques. I didn’t use buttermilk powder, for example, as the recipe suggests, I just used buttermilk.

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c coconut flour
1 T coconut sugar
3/4 t table salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 c milk (to sit with 2 T cider vinegar for a few minutes*)
1/2 c mashed ripe banana
2 large eggs
1/4 t vanilla extract
1/4 c coconut oil
1 1/4 c unflavored seltzer water

*The standard buttermilk recipe is 1 c milk to 1 T lemon juice or vinegar but I love vinegar, so my ratio is more like 1 c of milk to 4 T vinegar…still doesn’t read as vinegar in the final product.

Whisk dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients excepting seltzer, gently add seltzer to wet ingredients, stir wet into dry being careful not to overmix (batter should be lumpy). Can add berries or chocolate chips at this point, or any other debris. Iron away.

Jars Ceramics plate

It’s increasingly rare that waffles go wrong for me.

Now if I could only work out pancakes, with which I find experimentation a risky proposition.

I scroll through so many made-up faces in the course of my style and beauty browsing, online or in magazines, that I rarely give a look much attention. Perhaps I note liking a certain color that is used (probably the shade of lipstick), or thinking that there is something appealing about the peculiarity of the model’s face, but it’s extremely uncommon that I pause, am arrested. Am interested.

Stumbled across this image in a more or less unrelated marie-claire article about pro make-up tips, wherein this image was a sort of useless illustration of a category heading in the piece. [Because you can’t have an article without pictures!] I forgive it this superfluity, however. This is a stunning, strange look. The kind of look that makes me want to sit down and play around with make-up.

The pale pastel eyes and lips seem like your usual spring stuff but then these great windburned cheeks pull the look well away from the shores of the ordinary. This is bold, beautiful blush. I love when a look conveys the idea of wearing too much blush on purpose. That is, not too much blush, exactly the amount desired. It seems to me this is the trick with anything outlandish or unconventional: to look as if you did it on purpose.

This is editorial, yes. I mean, this is a lot of blush. The look is so fierce, though. The icy blue of the eyes, such a cool color…probably terrible on me but it is so great here I want to secretly try it anyway. Did you see the Lisa Eldridge tutorial of Tippi Hendren’s make-up from Hitchcock’s The Birds? That was a look that stuck with me, that I also wanted to recreate faithfully, reminds me of this eye look. Pinned.

There’s something to be said for too much blush. It’s dangerous territory but with treasures to be unearthed for the adventurous, those who go beyond the rookie realm of gauche overapplication into that of decisive, savage color.

image via marie-claire.com

Tag: experimentation

on the menu: banana coconut waffles

distraction: bold blush