Colorful fashion from Elle Russia

Only this girl could wear yellow blush and look unreasonably beautiful. Good for you, Russia.

Model: Isa Asklof; Styling: Ekaterina Mukhina; from Elle Russia's April 2010 issue

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LookSee: OHAI!

(via icanhascheezburger.com)

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The Suggestion Boxer Cooks: Homemade Walnut-Spinach Pesto

I'm pretty proud of this dish that I came up with today using seasonal foods! It's one of the easiest, most delicious meals I've made in months. It was inspired by a former roommate who once made fresh pasta with parsley pesto.

It's a nice way to get rid of a lot of spinach fast... like if you buy the extra large tub of spinach like I did and then don't know how to use it before it goes bad. Plus, spinach and walnuts are a lot cheaper than basil and pine nuts in traditional pesto.

I cooked up two portabella mushrooms, steamed a bunch of asparagus and boiled some Trader Joe's Lemon Pepper Pappardelle while I was making the pesto. You could fix any veggies, meat, pizza, lasagna or pasta with this sauce, but I think it's suited to the lemon pepper pasta quite well.

Fresh Walnut-Spinach Pesto

1 handful of walnuts**

3 cloves garlic

2-3 handfuls of fresh spinach

6-7 leaves of fresh basil

Extra virgin olive oil

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese

Crush walnuts and garlic in the food processor. Add spinach and basil until finely chopped. Drizzle olive oil while the processor is running until the mixture becomes smooth (it really doesn't need a lot to get to the right consistency... maybe 1/3 - 1/2 cup?... the more fat you add, the richer it will taste, obvs). Throw in salt, pepper and crushed red pepper as you like.

Mix veggies, pasta and pesto together and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Conventional pesto has the Parm already in it, but I like putting it on at the end because it helps me monitor my cheese intake.

**Sorry about the lack of exact measurements... but you know I can't be bothered to measure things in the kitchen.

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WWTSBW?: Vintage shoe shopping in the Twin Cities

I couldn't decide between three pairs of shoes yesterday, so I bought them all... the magic of thrifting is that I can buy three pairs of shoes without maxing out the plastic.

In this edition of What Would The Suggestion Boxer Wear?, I wanted to see if you could choose between my adopted shoe-children for me. I mean, I'm keeping them all no matter what, but I'm curious.

The footwear featured below came from Rewind Vintage, one of my favorite Twin Cities thrift store haunts.

The loot:

1. Camel "9 West" ankle boots from the '80s. Yes, please. These short boots were exactly what I set out to find on this shopping trip. Flat, functional, versatile... if only I had stopped there.

2. Then I saw these taupe '80s Franco Sarto booties hiding on top of a dress rack. I decided I needed these too, because I couldn't just ABANDON them there. What if someone else bought them and I saw that person wearing them at the Triple Rock?! We can't have The Suggestion Boxer raging on some poor, stylish girl, can we?

3. I maintain that these camel punched leather skimmers are necessary, like a shoe nicotine patch. See, I have a pair of cheap patent tortoise-shell flats that I got two years ago at some questionable MOA store (Charlotte Russe, if you must know) and I've worn them halfway to hell. They are smelly (probably more of my foot's problem than the shoe... but I blame the shoe) and they look nasty (the plastic sole on the heels is showing through, making them even more classy). Just because I purchased replacements, doesn't mean I will be able to quit them... but I know these vintage slip-ons will put up a good fight.

What do you think, dapper readers?

poll by twiigs.com

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Listening In: Anjulie

Canadian-Guyanese-Indian siren Anjulie is a self-dubbed "popaholic" and mezzo-soprano with a modern soul sound.

The first thing I thought of when I heard Anjulie's jazzy, seductive style was Esthero. They both have this way of treating every note like an opportunity to turn someone on. And wouldn't you know it—they're both from outside of Toronto AND they both turn me on. Then I thought of another Canuk, Nelly Furtado, and her infectious hooks. Corrinne Bailey Rae also comes to mind, along with her ability to inject a little blues into pop music (listen to Anjulie's "Rain" for a good example). All that talent wrapped up inside a gal who has a record deal with Starbucks? Whut?!

Starbucks' label, Hear Music, may have toned down her act a little bit for the self-titled record (released last August) but they aren't the boss of her at her live shows. At least, I don't think they are. Toned down or not, you don't want to miss her the next time she comes to town.

Listen and love...

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WWTSBW?: High Plains Thrifter

High Plains Thrifter is a shiny new Twin Cities thrifting blog run by the darling Meghan McAndrews.

She's posting estate sale finds, sharing retro magazine spreads and photos, keeping us updated on local discounts and already kicking ass. She's also preparing to launch her Etsy shop soon... I got a peek at the debut merchandise and it is undeniably adorable (I love the blue dress pictured above!).

It fills a niche that needed fillin', and that makes High Plains Thrifter a blog to watch.

The vintage devotee that I am, I was honored to be featured last week in the first ever High Plains Thrifter Wardrobe Remix!

photos by Louisa Marion Photography

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LookSee: Las Fallas

via Dr_Mike

La Fallas is a Valencian festival that takes place in March. Enormous effigies are burned at the end of the week. It's like Mardis Gras meets the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade meets... a book of matches.

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"Why Me?": Embarrassing moment throwback

Grabbed my yoga towel right out of the dryer yesterday. I opened it before class and pair of underwear was stuck to it. A lot of people noticed because I actually shook it open like one tends to do with a big towel.

It kinda made my day because it reminded me of "Why Me?" from TEEN, a magazine which you know about if you are a girl of almost any age (that magazine was around from 1954-2009). Personally, TEEN and Seventeen taught me how to choose the right first date outfit, pluck my eyebrows and bring out my natural curls with a few easy steps... in addition to scaring me senseless with that story about the chick who didn't know she was pregnant and then gave birth in the bathroom at the prom. Great stuff.

If you are a boy without sisters or simply don't know about TEEN, it worked like this: they printed teen girls' most embarrassing moments and almost every story ended with "...and my crush saw the whole thing!" Another important thing to know is that the period ones were always the funniest.

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