Artist of the Day: Brett Amory!

Inspired by detached commuters and inhabitants of the neighborhood he resided in for 15 years (Tenderloin), Brett Amory began the Waiting series in 2001.Whether it is a dark scene or faded portrait, Amory delivers the message that most have temporary moments of transient where wee are too occupied to live in the now. These paintings and more artworks by Brett Amory can be found on his website brettamory.com

 Waiter #18

Waiting #67 

Waiting #69 

Waiting #92

Nailed It!: Golden Touch

Mango Cupcakes with Mango Buttercream and Mago Curd Filling

Looking for a little birthday special I was lucky to come across this recipe that can be found on hungryrabbitnyc.com (just click and boom the original recipe!).

For the  recipe make sure you have a lot of time because the whole recipe will take 3 hours or more!

The Shopping List:

MangoPuree:                      

-24oz frozen mango

-1/4 cup granulated sugar

Mango Curd:

-3/4 cup mango PUREE

-1/4 cup sugar

-3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice-freshly squeezed

-1/8 tspn fine sea salt

-4 large egg yolks

-4 tbspns (1/2 stick) unsalted butter(cut into small chunks)

Cupcakes:

-1/4 cup mango PUREE

-2 large egg whites, room temp.

-1 large egg, room temp.

-1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk, liquid form

-2 tablespoons coconut oil

-1 tspn vanilla extract

-1/4 tspn pure almond extract

-1 cup cake flour

-1 tablespoon all purpose flour

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 tspns baking powder

-1/2 tspn fine sea salt

-6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces

Mango Buttercream:

-1 and 1/4 cup sugar

-5 large egg whites

-1/8 tspns fine sea salt

-28 tablespoons (3 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter cut into small pieces

-2 tspns pure vanilla extract

-1 cup mango CURD

 Now that we have everything lets get started (:

MangoPuree:

1. Let the frozen mango sit for a while before to defrost or place it in the microwave on high for 30-45 seconds.

2. Once soft place the mango and sugar in the blender until there aren't any chunks left.

Mango Curd:

-3/4 cup mango PUREE

-1/4 cup sugar

-3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice-freshly squeezed

-1/8 tspn fine sea salt

-4 large egg yolks

-4 tbspns (1/2 stick) unsalted butter(cut into small chunks)

1.  Mix the mango puree, sugar, lime/lemon juice, salt, and egg yolks in the sauce pan. On medium-high whisk the mixture constantly until it thickens, this will take about 8-10 minutes

2. Take the pan off of the heat and piece by piece mix in the butter until fully incorporated

3. Placing the mixture in a bowl cover with aluminum and place in the fridge for 3 hours or more

Cupcakes:

-1/4 cup mango PUREE

-2 large egg whites, room temp.

-1 large egg, room temp.

-1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk, liquid form

-2 tablespoons coconut oil

-1 tspn vanilla extract

-1/4 tspn pure almond extract

-1 cup cake flour

-1 tablespoon all purpose flour

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 tspns baking powder

-1/2 tspn fine sea salt

-6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1. Set oven to 350F. In a large bowl beat the butter until soft and creamy. Then mix in the coconut oil until well mixed.

 2. Mix the mango puree, egg whites,large egg, coconut milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract

3. In a small bowl whisk cake flour, all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and sea salt.

4. Slowly mix the dry ingredients by 1/3 increments into the wet ingredients until fully incorporated

5. Line cupcake pan with 12-16 liners and fill with batter that is just below the cupcake pan line. Bake 18-20 minutes until the cupcakes are golden or a toothpick comes out clean.

6.Set the cupcakes on a cooling rack until cold.

Mango Buttercream

1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar

5 large egg whites

1/8 tspn fine sea salt

28 tbspns unsalted butter cut into small chunks

2 tspn vanilla extract

1 cup mango CURD

1. Heat up a pan of water on MEDIUM HIGH until simmering and mix sugar, egg whites, and salt in a glass bowl or another sauce pan. Placing the glass bowl or other saucepan over simmering water and whisk until sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture is frothy (around 3 minutes)

2.Transfer the bowl to a mixer with whisk attachment and beat on high until everything becomes very white and glossy 8-10 minutes

3. Reduce speed to medium and add butter piece by piece until fully incorporated

4.Then using paddle attachment beat on medium and add vanilla extract until fully mixed. Add mango curd by 1/4 increments

5. Place in fridge until ready for use.

Final Touches

cupcakes

mango curd

mango buttercream

2 piping bags and heads

some little knife or sharp spoon

1. Using the small cutting tool delicately carve out a circle from the cupcake and dig out cake for the filling. Make sure you do not poke out the cupcake bottom or damage the cupcake lid.

2. Place mango curd in piping bag and fill cupcake holes and put on the cupcake lids to finish

3.Using the piping bag and mango buttercream ice the cupcakes and play with designs. Make sure to be patient and place the buttercream in the fridge if it gets too warm from your hand.

4.Chill cupcakes until ready to serve to prevent icing from melting

Just a side note: Wanted to let you guys know I apologize for not posting for a while. Kind of took a week off for my birthday because I had some visitors and have been working on some projects. So I will be writing regularly again and will write before another break. Have great day (:

I Spy

 Whether you want to look fashionable and trendy, cool and casual, sleek and sexy, or cute and patriotic you will definitely look smart and sensible in all these sandals under $50.

1. Open-toed closed wedges by SO Central for $35.00 at yesstyle.com

2. Cleef Flat Sandals by Blowfish for $34.30 at Macy's

3. Sayda3 Gladiator Sandals by Rachel Roy for $44.50 at Macy's

4. Rachey Platform Wedge Sandals by American Rag for $49.00 at Macy's

Creation of The Lady in Red logo

1. First was the brainstorming and rough sketching. Figured a cartoonish logo would be best because its more cute and easy going.

2. After erasing all the marks I mixed white and black to make the hair and brown, yellow, and red for the skin tone. First I painted the light gray base for the hair and went back to create the lines with a small brush.

3 To get ready for the teeth I went in with white paint to get rid of any other marks.

4. Darkening the skin tone with a little brown and watering it down after I painted the eyelids and nose. When everything dried I used a smaller paintbrush to line the bottom of the eyes with pure black and delicately painting the eyelashes.

5. To prepare for the teeth I used a mix of black, white, and a little water to line the teeth

6. Going back lightly with black I painted within the gray lines to finish the teeth. When dried I went back with red to layer on the lips and black to paint the eyebrows. 

7. For the top I went in with watered down red as the base and layered on the color. As the finishing touch I darkened the neck.

 And voilà

New Blog!

Hey everybody I have a little update! I've created a new blog called The Lady In Red at http://365fashionology.blogspot.com/. It's a fashion & beauty blog that I will feature I Spy and Nailed It! along with other specials. I will be posting with this blog and still feature some of the posts here on 365. Check it out and have fun!

I Spy

To get the look: Metallic Cap Toe Stilettos $49.99 at Mango, Lauren by Ralph Lauren handbag Newbury Slim Wallet $98.00 at Macy's, and Drawstring Dress $59.99 at Zara