The Lovely Cipher

Lukewarm Days, Spicy Nights

I dragged Bobo out to the Scoville Dining Society, My Own Private Hell, event at East Coast Grill earlier this week in Cambridge. ECG’s Hell Nights are infamous amongst Bostonians for serving up some of the spiciest food in town and given my history of voluntarily brutalizing my taste-buds, I set out to see if this place was the real deal. 

The hottest ingredient of the night was definitely Ghost Chili Oil. If you love spicy food, this oil will definitely give you a burn that lasts far longer than the taste of the food it’s cooked in. I learned from my next door neighbor (or eater?), Ishan, that the Indian Government uses this stuff as tear-gas hand grenades. On a side note, Ishan also won one of the ECG’s Hell Nights by eating an entire bowl of Pasta From Hell by himself (which is about 4x the size of the one pictured below). He alleges that after the meal he passed out on the sidewalk outside of ECG.

Whooo!!! A serious case of Man v. Food.

A few of the dishes:

Daly Palmer… Mango Sweet Tea Infused Vodka with House Lemonade

Wings of Mass Destruction “Phucket Style” with Ghost Chile Oil, Aromatic Herbs &Nuoc Cham

SPICY SCALE: 4/5 STARS

The Infamous… Pasta From Hell. I saw a girl start crying after eating this.

Spicy Scale: 6/5 STARS 

Smokin’ Hot Pork Spare Ribs with Guava Lava Glaze and Real Inner Beauty Hot Sauce

SPICY SCALE: 3/5 STARS

Jamaican Jerk Grilled Pork Chop with Banana Guava Ketchup, Real Inner Beauty Hot Sauce, Curried Sweet mashed Potatoes & Cumin Seared Greens

Spicy Scale: 5/5 STARS

- Connie

Well, we’re not in the middle of nowhere, but we can see it from here

A mix of photos from Boston and New York that I took during spring break. Hannah and I got to sit in on a conversation at MFIT with Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, founders of Opening Ceremony. Carol is such a inspiration coming from a non-fashion background and being able to make such a large impact on the fashion scene. Kudos for a fabulous spring break spent with friends and improving my stalker-like camera skills.

:) 

- Connie

Sustainable Fashion

I didn’t get a chance to get pictures of all the designs while I was installing my dress, but here’s what I picked up from the Wellesley College Davis Museum’s El Anatsui Sustainable Fashion Student Design competition. There are some AMAZING designs so definitely go check out the gallery!

A few of the dresses:

And my chipao:

I can’t see

I’ve been needing new glasses for a while. Thanks to enirehtaklu,I now have a new company to fulfill all my glasses needs. Check out Warby Parker. They’ll send you 5 frames for free just so you can try them on and the frames are super bookish cute.

GRIFFIN:

SINCLAIR

CROSBY

Best of all… 

THEY HAVE MONOCLES. Another notch for coolitude.

- Connie

Kyoichi Tsuzuki

Japanese Photojournalist, Kyoichi Tsuzuki, spent a decade taking pictures of Japanese fashion-obsessed people in their tiny Tokyo apartments. 

“There was the Hermès collector, a patent executive who lives in a tiny fourth-floor walk-up flat. He keeps all of his Hermès shirts, ties, and leather goods in their original boxes and bags, which are stacked up on his tatami floor. He spent half of a million yen on an Hermès  briefcase that he carries with an Hermes towel wrapped around the handle to avoid damaging the leather with his hand perspiration.”

“There is a Buddhist monk who collects Comme de Garcons religiously. Once a month, Tsuzuki told me, the monk sheds his robes, dons Comme des Garcons’ avant-garde constructionist clothes, and heads from his temple to Tokyo to pick up a few more pieces… There’s a Tom Ford collector, an Armani man, a McQueen girl, and a Martin Margiela manic who is so fastidious about his collection that he never cooks at home because he doesn’t want the clothes to retain the odors. The only thing in his refrigerator is eyedrops.”

-Deluxe

-Connie

The Blonds

The Blonds Fall 2011 Theme Geisha is SICK! Get a glimpse of their fall line at Milk Studios in New York here:

-Connie