morgan autumn levy

Some Advice For The Young People - The Awl

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:27:21 -0600

Some Advice For The Young People - The Awl:

Astonishingly accurate career advice. Wish I hadn’t had to learn all of this firsthand.

Video

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:54:09 -0600

This is so cool. October 20 in Nashville! I can’t wait.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:46:12 -0600

This is so cool. October 20 in Nashville! I can’t wait.

Madi Diaz’s new record is $5 at Amazon this month, and...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:27:00 -0600

Madi Diaz’s new record is $5 at Amazon this month, and it’s well worth it. I haven’t listened to anything else in the past week.

Yazoo Barely A 4k Beer Run 12 South

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:09:00 -0600

Yazoo Barely A 4k Beer Run 12 South:

Pretty excited to run this on the 18th. $15 registration includes a Yazoo hoodie and a frosty post-run beverage!

Mumford & Sons Announce Three Day March Run At The Ryman

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:03:30 -0600

Mumford & Sons Announce Three Day March Run At The Ryman:

That is all.

February 1, 2012: 5 things I am thankful for today

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:08:29 -0600

Rock climbing, queso and margarita night with the ladies.
Tendonitis. Because it’s so much better than a fracture.
Epsom salts & hot, hot bathwater.
Gossip Girl on Netflix. I’m not ashamed to say it (okay, maybe I am just a little ashamed to say it) - I needed a totally mindless show to watch, and Gossip Girl has delivered.
That tomorrow is a new day.

It’s been a rough week. I think it’s about to get rougher, but I can control my reaction to the roughness (and when that fails, my friends are ready to scale a wall, drink margaritas, then leave me alone with my trashy tv). And there is always a new day around the corner.

I made gold cupcakes for Linda’s golden birthday. Happy...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:51:00 -0600

I made gold cupcakes for Linda’s golden birthday. Happy birthday, friend!

jonasbjerre: ’ This Place Is Not A Place ‘ A collaboration...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:30:11 -0600

jonasbjerre:

’ This Place Is Not A Place ‘

A collaboration between Agnete Hegelund and Jonas Bjerre

First shown at Galleri Hugo Opdal, in Flø, Norway

Fantastically bizarro.

Volunteer for Project Homeless Connect, Nashville

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:32:20 -0600

Volunteer for Project Homeless Connect, Nashville:

nashvilleben:

Join me on March 28th in serving our homeless neighbors and friends at Project Homeless Connect. A one-day event designed to remove individuals’ immediate obstacles to housing.

Today I made Yazoo Dos Perros cupcakes for Christy’s...

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:01:00 -0600

Today I made Yazoo Dos Perros cupcakes for Christy’s birthday since she was having a shindig at the Yazoo taproom and I like to get all matchy matchy with birthday themes (happy birthday, crusty! xoxo). 44 of them disappeared in a couple hours, so I think they turned out all right, and since I sort of made up the recipe I decided to blog it so that if I ever need to re-make these cupcakes I’ll be able to. Sorry to people who don’t like to read recipes on Tumblr!

For the cupcakes:

I adapted this recipe for Chocolate Stout Cake from Epicurious. I followed it pretty closely, subbing the Dos Perros beer for the stout in the recipe. Forgot to add the cocoa powder until the end, but no harm done. Dos Perros is a Mexican style beer with chocolate notes, so I added cinnamon to complement. At the end I also added a reduction of the beer (to intensify the beer’s flavor in the final baked product) and some malted milk powder to keep that malt-y flavor. Baking time was 25-30 minutes for cupcakes. This recipe makes 4 dozen cupcakes, so halve it for a more reasonable amount.

2 cups Dos Perros, plus 1 bottle for reduction
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
4 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream
1-2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1/4 cup malted milk powder
1/4 cup Dos Perros reduction

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, malted milk powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Add Dos Perros reduction. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide into lined cupcake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes.

For the frosting:

I adapted this recipe for Blue Moon cupcakes by Miss Make which I fully intend to make one day. I liked it because the frosting was supposed to be light and airy, just like the foam on top of a beer! And it totally worked. I just made minor changes here - swapped the 1/3 cup water for 1/3 cup of Dos Perros, and subbed lime juice for the orange juice (again with the Mexican beer thing). Garnished them with little lime wedges so they looked less like something that a 5th grader cranked out, and voila! Dos Perros cupcakes.

2 egg whites, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lime juice
1 c sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 c Dos Perros

In a saucepan, mix sugar, beer and cream of tartar. Cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is bubbly. In a separate large bowl, beat egg whites, vanilla and lime juice until soft peaks form. Slowly add hot sugar mixture, beating continuously. Beat for 7 minutes until stiff peaks form.

This is amazing.

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:48:48 -0600

This is amazing.

indierawk: Fleet Foxes - Dancing On My Own (Robyn...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:01:56 -0600

indierawk:

Fleet Foxes - Dancing On My Own (Robyn cover).

(Source: thestateimin: littlehand: lukewarmcoffee)

Awesomeness.

2011 tunes

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:04:00 -0600

It is January 16, 2012, which seems like as good a time as any to post my 2011 playlist. I was able to get all but two songs on this Grooveshark playlist, so I think this is as good as it’s gonna get.

2011 by Morgan Levy on Grooveshark

Awww. Lil’ baby Laura Marling and lil’ baby Marcus...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:52:00 -0600

Awww. Lil’ baby Laura Marling and lil’ baby Marcus Mumford with a lil’ baby molesterstache!

apainterslife: Kermit and Bret McKenzie sing a song together...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:28:54 -0600

apainterslife:

Kermit and Bret McKenzie sing a song together from the new Muppets Movie!!!!

2011.

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:52:00 -0600

By the numbers and the memories.

Albums purchased: 51, not including singles, partial albums, EPs or freebies.
Top 10 favorites, maybe:

Bon Iver’s “Bon Iver”
The Civil Wars’ “Barton Hollow”
Adele’s “21”
Florence + The Machine’s “Ceremonials”
Feist’s “Metals”
Ryan Adams’ “Ashes & Fire”
Radical Face’s “The Family Tree: The Roots”
Wilco’s “The Whole Love”
David Bazan’s “Strange Negotiations”
St. Vincent’s “Strange Mercy”
Bonus from late 2010, Robyn’s “Body Talk”

Shows attended: 18 that I kept the ticket stubs from, not including festivals or secret house shows or shows in bars or shows where I paid at the door or instores or…
Highlights include:

Stumbling upon a secret Mumford & Sons house show attended by Jake Gyllenhaal
Seeing many longtime favorites for the first time
Tailgating for U2/Florence + The Machine
Bon Iver at the Ryman (top show of the year, I think)
Wilco at the Ryman
Yann Tiersen at 3rd & Lindsley
All of Next Big Nashville, er, Soundland
Surprise Feist show at Third Man Records
Road trip to Chattanooga on New Years Eve Eve to see the Avett Brothers
The Civil Wars at the Belcourt before they exploded
Memphis in May
A hilarious evening sponsored by Groupon with Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj
Seeing Sufjan Stevens play the soundtrack to “Beyond This Place” in Brooklyn

Highlights do not include:

Adele at the Ryman because she canceled twice (still bitter, obviously)

Trips taken: 16
Airports: 13
Favorites include: All of them.

Flying to San Antonio with David, just because we could
Memphis in May with Christy and Ben, dressing Ben entirely in Blue and literally running away from a tornado, seeing Ludacris and Ke$ha and getting into a fight at the Mumford & Sons set
Flying to St. Louis and back in 24 hours
Bourbon trail, teepee motel and caving with Molly in Kentucky (first of many 2011 Molgantures)
First-ever trip to California - LA to visit Marion
A beautiful day in rural TN on the lake celebrating Ben’s birthday
A week in Vermont in the summer, eating hand picked raspberries and straight from the garden asparagus with my grandpa and escaping to the coast of Maine for 24 hours
Rock Island weekends
Mule Day
HOLIDAY WORLD!
Bourbon Fest and the urban bourbon trail with Christy
Two Chattanooga runs - the aforementioned New Years Eve Eve Avett Brothers show and a spontaneous trip with Alison earlier in the fall
The most perfect extra-long weekend at the beach with Molly
Three trips to NYC (two with friends, thus two with lots of fun, plus one with a creepy expensive hotel)
A trip back to family in Virginia for Christmas

Instagram photos posted: 311

New (food/drink) places in Nashville visited: 26-ish, as remembered by Foursquare. T’was the year of the food truck.
Top 10 new favorites: Sloco, The Wild Hare, AM@FM, Bar 308, Riff’s Fine Street Food, Tavern, Shish Kabob, DegThai, Jeni’s, YaYo’s OMG

Books read: 33.5
Books I’m in the middle of right now, even though they are mostly overdue at the library: 9
A handful of them I would recommend to anyone, even if you are a man and even if you don’t run:

Bossypants - Tina Fey
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) - Mindy Kaling
Born To Run - Christopher McDougall
Just Kids - Patti Smith
The Gift of Asher Lev - Chaim Potok
Double Dexter, Jeff Lindsay
A Visit From The Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

New favorite website: The Hairpin
Hairpin meetups attended: 1
Favorite thing I read on my new favorite website in 2011: This

Memories made: Obviously I can’t number them, but…
…Here are 15 that will not be forgotten (and that were not included in travels/shows above):

Getting initiated into the iPhone club
Becoming a NWS certified Storm Spotter and taking a self-defense class
Running my first 5 miles on Thanksgiving morning
Breaking my foot (twice)
Skating a lot (no relation to above item, believe it or not)
Santa rampaging
Picking Marion & Kevin up at BNA for a quick pitcher at Wilhagens on their layover
Watching fireworks in the Antioch Waffle House parking lot with a carload of awesome friends who were passing through town on the 4th of July
Front porch parties at the new, non-roachy deuxplex
Judging the Nashville Lifestyles Bartender’s Bash
Dragon Boat racing
Midnight swinging and sippy cup wine at the park down the street with Christy
Getting my first tattoo
Bonding with new (and old) friends after an evening in the ER with a broken leg (not mine!)
Bottomless mimosa brunches in Brooklyn with Christy, Molly, Lauren and The Australians

Wrapping up 2011 with a bunch of the finest friends, a trip to...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 01:36:00 -0600

Wrapping up 2011 with a bunch of the finest friends, a trip to the Jack Daniel’s distillery and an Avett Brothers show in Chattanooga. Can’t go wrong with all that.

Oh, and I made some cherry limeade cupcakes for my best friend...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:02:00 -0600

Oh, and I made some cherry limeade cupcakes for my best friend Amy’s birthday.

Today I was up to no good, right from the start (pictured above)...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:01:00 -0600

Today I was up to no good, right from the start (pictured above) to the finish (when I lit my kitchen towels on fire in the grill on the front porch, pictured here).