{personal} self portrait friday #8

This week has been stressful. Lots of work and lots of homework — and, no, those two things don’t get together too well.

This week has also been wonderful. I’m receiving so many great vibes from both the Corvallis community and the larger Oregon community. Every day I am just more and more amazed of how willing all of you are to spread my name to all of your friends and family. This week I finally got around to making a page for Brielle McClain Photography on Facebook (you can be directed to the facebook page by clicking the link that says {facebook} on the top menu) and was FLABBERGASTED to have 419 fans join within a week. Thank you all for giving me an excuse to use the word ‘flabbergasted’.

This past weekend, we celebrated my mother’s birthday. For the first time, I made dinner for my family — BY MYSELF. For anyone who knows me, this is a huge feat. I have always been the kid who loves food but prefers it made by someone else. I blame this on my mother’s wonderful cooking. But since going off to college, I’ve found that I just can’t do the typical college diet of top ramen and frozen burritos. Slowly but surely, I’ve evolved in the kitchen to the point where I now have a long list of food blogs on my Google Reader and Trader Joe’s is practically my second home. So for my mother, I made one of Julia Child’s famous recipes, coq au vin with a simple potato gratin. Even though I had made it once before…it took THREE HOURS. But just like all of Julia Child’s recipes, it is so worth it.

p.s. the cake was not made by me — I WISH! It was made by Le Patissier and it made me seriously consider eating the entire thing right then and there.