Happy December from Monserrate

Took the funicular (cable car) to Monserrate, a church high on a mountain overlooking Bogota. For the 1st of December, they had the Bogota Philharmonic playing in the church, with a sea of Christmas lights, fireworks outside AND inside the church (fire hazard? whatever, it was awesome) and lots of food (grilled plantains with cheese, potatoes, avocado and arepas).














Excited to experience the most wonderful time of the year in Colombia.

arrival

Made it to Bogota...

Thankful for Gluten-Free

My boyfriend is gluten intolerant, so these turned out to be really amazing alternative to pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ingredients

2 cups Gluten-Free flour (or Brown Rice Flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.
Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Makes 18

For frosting, I cheated and used pre-made cream cheese frosting...gluten free, easy and still delicious :)

threshold

Selling vintage this weekend at ICE.

Traveled to Portland, Oakland, SanFran and many camping spots in-between on the Best Coast, then Atlanta and NYC on the East. Fall 2011 has been coast to coast. Also, got to live in the Highland Inn for three days. It is a whole 'nother perspective to live in a hotel in your own city!

Become the master of consolidation, jumping from car to couch, and tying up loose ends, as I move to Colombia in a little more than a week to teach English and vintage clothing hunt in Neiva.

When I don't travel, I neglect my blog, obviously. And I definitely don't feel as alive when on some new adventure in a far land. So goodbye Asia and ATL...hello South America!

summer10

a short film I put together from my summer 2010 trip to Utah and Colorado.
please excuse the rough edit, this is my first try at film editing

music:
casino versus japan
summer clip

summer.10 from Jacqueline Stringham on Vimeo.

greetings from the west

hello from Utah!
Been taking care of my three nephews for a week...completely fun and completely exhausting.

In other news...

Poketo launches its Target line August 10th! Excited to see their latest offerings. I am disappointed with them sometimes...I've seen the exact smae items they've sold online for $5-$10 that I could have picked up at the $1 in Japan. I see this far too often.

Will be taking the AmTrak California Zephyr from Provo, UT to Denver, CO next week. I am excited about the beautiful sights to see crossing the Rockies.



Just found out about this fashion, food, culture site NOWNESS, definitely worth a glance. Love the article on LCD Soundsystem.

Douglas Friedman's architecture shots are stunning.

best.gift.ever

I just received the best surprise present ever/



a French Yves Saint Laurant coloring book from my dear friend in France


The Petite Palais in Paris pays tribute to Yves Saint Laurant with over 400 couture outfits dating from his first Cristian Dior collection in spring 1958 through to his last collection for YSL in 2002.

To accompany the exhibition the Berge/Saint-Laurent foundation has released a picture perfect coloring book. I think it is adorable and completely sums up the YSL brand.