POV: Old/Young.

POV ("point of view") is a new series that addresses many of the same themes covered in my Equals Record column: growing up, saying yes to adventure, learning to embrace a quarter-life crisis. Each POV entry will include a photograph and a short reflection based on what’s pictured. While my previous column focused largely on ideas, POV will focus on moments - glimpses, glances, tiny stories.

It came to my attention recently that my ten-year high school reunion is this summer. 

“Ten years,” I said to Jamie. We were sitting on a bench outside our favorite neighborhood bakery, soaking up precious springtime rays. “We’re old.”

“We’re not old,” said Jamie. “I’ll save feeling old for when I’m thirty.”

A woman pushing a stroller stopped on the sidewalk in front of us.

“And where did all these people with babies come from?” I continued. “What is Williamsburg coming to?” I paused. “Oh my god. I’ve become someone who says ‘what is this neighborhood coming to?’” 

I sat back, thought about this.

“There was a time,” I said, watching her, “when I thought I’d be that woman at twenty-seven.” 

Kindness Caught.

Russian dashboard cams have received a lot of attention in the media lately for the horrible - and horribly frightening - things they often capture on film; this video, on the other hand, showcases just the opposite. Give it a watch (I've posted it below). It'll brighten your day, I promise.

Have a lovely Monday!

First two screen-grabs via Design Taxi. Third via Colossal. 

Pasta & Pinatas.

To end the week, snapshots from two recent culinary experiments - one failed, the other fruitful. 

In the first, the lovely Lily and I attempted to bake this magical-looking pinata cake featured recently on A Subtle Revelry for a friend's birthday. If you click through, you'll see that Victoria's cake is perfectly spherical and delightfully tender-crumbed. Our version, however, collapsed immediately, its texture resembling something closer to wet sand than soft pastry. ("It's an art piece," we decided.) Luckily, our birthday girl loved it unconditionally.

In the second experiment, a group of friends (the same ones mentioned here) and I decided to try our hand at making pasta from scratch. Equipped with a pasta roller, a drying rack meant for clothing, and a couple of pounds of expensive sausage, we set to work, churning out a batch each of linguine, fusilli, and orecchiette.  To our amazement, everything was delicious. The prep time totaled several hours, but hey. It was worth it.

Success! We plan on making ravioli next, and then I'd love to try tagliatelle - this could end up being a summer of many pastas. I'm certainly game.

In the meantime, wishing you all a wonderful weekend! Any interesting plans?

Slug Style.

The first time I visited UC Santa Cruz, I hated it immediately. I was a senior in high school touring colleges with my parents, and UCSC seemed the polar opposite of the bustling urban campus I'd always envisioned myself a part of. As fate would have it, I ended up there nonetheless - and spent four of the happiest, most inspiring and engaging years of my life at a school I was sure I'd loathe. I couldn't be happier to have been proven wrong about it, and I'm exceedingly proud to be a banana slug (Santa Cruz's neon-hued mascot) for life.

So, of course, I was thrilled when Megan told me about a UCSC street style blog yesterday. Santa Cruz style always struck me as artful, creative, refreshingly freewheeling - see for yourself below.

Love you, banana slugs. See more at UC Santa Cruz Street Style, here. And have a lovely Thursday!

Kitchens Uncovered.

In what he calls a "combination of documentary and collage," photographer Erik Klein Wolterink strives to capture the secret lives of kitchens. His series, "Kitchen Portraits" (now a book), was shot in Amsterdam, in a diverse array of multicultural living spaces. 

"I wanted to make a project about the stuff we use everyday and decided to use the kitchen as a metaphor for a complex multicultural reality," Wolterink tells Slate, adding, "I can't cook...and I'm not really into kitchens. I'm interested in the way we live, our daily environment, what surrounds us, the everyday stuff we normally don't see or pay attention to."

Apparently, the photographer is looking to shoot kitchens around New York City in the coming weeks (more info about that on Slate). I wouldn't be brave enough to offer up mine - "I ask [my subjects] not to clean," says Wolterink.

Visit Erik Klein Wolterink's website, here. Thanks so much, Abbey, for clueing me in!