vivre sans bruit

some photographs

2011-10-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly two months since I've posted, for which I once again feel like a very bad blog mommy. But such is life for me in New York; and I am beginning to simply accept this aspect of myself and my life and move on. We are knee-deep in fall colour right now, and I do have some pictures, with which I am rather happy:

In addition, I have two very unusual discoveries to post, one which I found exploring my bedroom ceiling several weeks ago:

To put this fellow (or lady) centipede into perspective, suffice it to say that his body alone was about an inch and a half long! Needless to say, I carefully captured him in a cup and deposited him outside where he belongs.

Here is another surprising thing:
This is the appropriately-named Phallus ravenelii, a type of stinkhorn fungus that I was lucky (or unlucky, if you count the stench these things produce) enough to stumble upon in a stand of Beech trees near Lynd house. The smell is obvious by the large fly that seems to think the sticky black pollen is some sort of rotting food item.

This semester is proving itself to be a truly hectic one-- I have undertaken a huge conference paper on the taxonomy of green algae for my botany class, as well as the writing of a long allegorical poem for yet another class with Bill Shullenberger. In addition, I've joined the equestrian team, which means I have horse shows every weekend from now until the end of time. But I plan on making it through this semester alive!

a summer hiatus

2011-09-07T04:57:00.000-07:00

I am back from my summer hiatus in California--and I have brought pictures.
New Academy of Sciences in San Francisco
The Mister and I as Morrissey and Karen O, respectively, at my 21st birthday party.

County fair sheep
A breakfast of fresh farmer's market berries and cream
A beret for Amina!
A little hat for my new baby cousin, Parker Johanna!

I am back in NY now, having mostly nested in my new room: I have m benjamin's art on my walls, an East-facing, treetop window, and a non-college-issued mattress courtesy of one Miss Erin Perfect, and so I am quite content once again. Class are just beginning, and I am not quite yet in my routine, but for now I am content. This semester I am taking: a. French literature, focusing on Balzac; b. botany; and c. Renaissance poetry with a focus on the environment and imagination (with my beloved Bill Shullenberger). It promises to be a wonderful semester. The mister has moved into a new apartment in Park Slope with our good friends J, Erin, and Lucas, and we have enjoyed exploring his new neighborhood on our bikes. We have made a pact to take more field trips this semester, while the weather is still nice, and explore New York before we leave it.

Well I'm off to finish my breakfast of apple slices with chunky peanut butter, and then to the bookstore to pick up my Botany textbook. Hopefully, more posts and pictures soon!

p.s. while you are at it, you should check out this new musical project, which releases in the US on September 12th. We are planning to see them in NY at the West Park Presbyterian Church on October 30, and we are super excited about it!

rainy day post

2011-05-11T06:00:00.001-07:00

Okay, so the April showers here in NY have officially ceased in order to make way for May flowers, but here are some photos from a very pretty rainy day not too long ago:

Moving out tomorrow, and heading back to California in six days. My love and I are excited to be back home, but we will also miss the little family we've made here in New York. It has been an important, and largely successful year here--despite a handful of tragedies this spring. I, for one, am very ready to go home to the sunshine and slow pace of my life on the West Coast. Soon, soon.

100th post!

2011-05-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

We are stepping over a threshold here together--this blog's 100th post and second birthday! On this occasion, I want to thank all my lovely readers out there who have so diligently followed me, even through periods of extreme lack of diligence. It has been a pleasure to type at you for the past two years.

Watching the numbers tick up toward the third digit this past week, I have been contemplating exactly how I want to spend this momentous post; it occurred to me that the life I've led since I began this blog has been the manifestation of a fantasy for me, and I want to compile here a list of things I have learned/discovered from it, and things that have surprised me since I became a student.

12. Paper disposables cost a lot of money and disappear WAY too fast in a house full of college students. I don't buy any paper products in New York (except t.p. which we get for free at school anyway--I'm not about to go that far!)--I've switched to rags from paper towels, and hankies for tissues. I never really used paper eating stuff anyway.

11. You should never, ever assume the people you live with have learned the same things about cleaning that you did. For example, that you are not to touch the spice bottles when your hands are covered in raw fish juice, that in order for dishes to be cleaned, they must be washed WITH soap, that normal people use towels when they get out of the shower, etc. (You'd think people would at least get the soap thing!)

10. The romance of working on your conference paper all night at the end of the semester when the library is open 24/7 is not worth moving out of your dorm and flying home to California on on 1/2 hour of sleep (but is worth the the walk home to your dorm at 5:20 am with your finished paper in your hand and the sun coming up).

9. Like-minded souls really do exist, no matter how much your adolescence wanted to convince you otherwise.

8. Your body doesn't like all the goop you put on it every day. Before I moved out here, I used at least eighteen products on myself daily. I use six now, and my skin and hair have never been healthier. (My six are Dr. Bronner's Magic soap for hands, hair, body, and face, a homemade vinegar rinse instead of conditioner, toothpaste, non-antiperspirant deodorant, one lotion for face and body, and sometimes a little mascara.)

7. Sometimes, there are just people in your life with whom you don't want to remain in contact. Good friends are worth the extra effort of long distance.

6. Staying in is usually more fun and less expensive than going out; that being said, a change of scenery is welcome and sometimes necessary when you've been in your own home-bubble too long.

5. Public transportation, no matter how inefficient, annoying, and troublesome it is, is SO much better than no public transportation, especially for those of us who choose not to learn to drive.

4. Nearly anything can be cleaned with baking soda, vinegar, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, hot water, lemon juice, or a combination thereof. Anything. Clothes, shoes, hair, body, house, dishes--Anything.

3. The most important elements in changing or even revolutionizing an artistic culture are craftsmanship and discontent. Nothing changes if no one gets angry. And do we all want to go on in an art world ruled by egotistical, postmodernly ironic, multi-millionaires Jeff Koons and Damien Hirsch? Do three basketballs floating in an aquarium belong in the SFMOMA? I didn't think so. That being said, although there is hope in discontent, there is hope in beauty, too, and that, really, should come first and foremost.

2. That really, I am a West-Coaster at heart. I miss the Pacific, and when I have served my obligatory term as an artistic soul in New York, I will be packing my bags right back up and moving back Home, where there are redwoods and sea otters.

1. That everything works out in the end. If you know it as hard as you can know something, you work toward an end, and leave yourself open to creative opportunities, everything turns out the way it should. Not necessarily the way you thought, but certainly the way it should. But the only way this works is through exploring--if you are not constantly, diligently searching, brainstorming, and trying on new hats, sometimes you don't end up find the thing that needs you in order to work out the way it's supposed to.

Well, my beloved family, friends, and even my anonymous (and beloved) followers, I hope that you've discovered as many things in these past two years as I have--and I wish you many more years of precisely that. My love to all tonight and all nights.

fancy springtime cupcakes

2011-05-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

With all the procrastinating for me to do this time of the year, I have been a mad baking fiend! I made these on a whim last night trying to use up leftover buttermilk:
These are (deep breath) vanilla buttermilk cupcakes with cream-cheese-pomegranate-honey frosting topped with home-candied violets!

I was inspired by these cupcakes, got the recipe for the cupcakes here and came up with the rest on my own. Here's the (modified) recipe (again this is not my own recipe, but I changed a few things, such as omitting almond extract):

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until it looks creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla and almond extracts until mixture is smooth.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until almost combined. Add buttermilk and stir, again, until almost combined. Add the rest of the flour and stir until all ingredients are mixed in.
Divide batter evenly into muffin cups.
Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Let cupcakes cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the muffin pan. Cool completely before frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes, or about 36 mini cupcakes

Frosting:

Mix together 2 parts homemade or store-bought cream cheese frosting and 3 parts jam of your choice (we used a pomegranate-honey jam that a neighbor in California makes).

Violets:

Wash violets and allow to dry thoroughly. Lightly beat one egg white with a little water. Dip each violet in egg white and then roll in granulated sugar, and set on wax paper to dry.

We also made our own aluminum muffin cups, as we didn't realize until after we had bought regular-sized ones that we owned only a mini-muffin tin. We just cut circles out of aluminum foil by drawing around a coffee mug with an X-acto knife. We've decided we're never buying muffin liners again. :)

Well, still just working on one thing at a time, but despite these baking sprees, I am actually getting schoolwork done. Done this weekend, hopefully!

the cloisters and a cake

2011-05-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

With only two weeks of classes left, I find myself in good shape academically, and this weekend I allowed myself a little free time with my Mister to celebrate his birthday. Honestly, it was a nice break from the computer for a couple of days (it's amazing how tired, sore, and irritable just sitting in front of a screen several hours every day will make you). Here is a picture of the cake I made him (I apologize for the poor quality):

This was a mocha cake with a chocolate-hazelnut glaze, both recipes from the wonderful Complete Tassajara Cookbook, by Ed Espe Brown and it was to-die-for delicious. This is the best cookbook I have ever beheld--directions are simple, ingredients common, and every single recipe is perfectly balanced and delicious. Ed Brown is an inspiration and a wonderful chef.

Anyway, the cake turned out brilliantly and was completely stress-free (I often avoid making cakes because they tend to call for special flours, lots of sifting and whipping and then turn out only plain-tasting), and so I highly recommend the recipe, and will surely be making it again, on multiple occasions.

After eating half the cake for dinner, we got up to eat the second half for breakfast, then made a pasta salad to take with us as a picnic lunch to the Cloisters, the beautiful medieval art extension of the Met in Washington Heights. Both the collections (inside an old cloisters on a hill) and the vast gardens that surround them are beautiful, especially this time of year, and we were lucky enough to have the lovely weather to enjoy them:

So much beauty all in one day! The Mister and I noted how like the "complacent smiles" of the Classical Chinese and old Buddhist works were the smiles on the faces of the Virgin in many of the Medieval works. And how wonderfully Utopian these old interpretations of Christian allegory were. And the colours on the angels' wings--crimson, and lapis, so beautiful!

Back to the books now, unfortunately, but if all goes according to plan, I should be finished with all my work and have it turned in by next Tuesday! And then, the following one, back to California. More before then though--I have more pictures that I've saved for a rainy day. :)

limping along

2011-04-28T04:42:00.000-07:00

Well, as my third-to-last week draws to a close, I find myself in an almost irretrievable state of overload. I have my French conference paper finished, to be turned in today, and will be turning in my final philosophy paper on Monday. That will leave just my philosophy conference paper to write in the last two weeks. Hooray for being on top of things!

Yesterday, in between procrastinating, working my butt off, and dinner, I had time for a quick walk with Jamie (who, unfortunately for all my lovely readers, refuses to be photographed). The newly blossoming dogwood trees, however, were certainly not so modest, and were much obliged to gussy themselves up for my camera:

Anyone who knows me knows, of course, that these are my very favourite trees, and their sudden blossoming yesterday caught me entirely by surprise. However, the last thing I need is another natural distraction before the end of the semester. :)

quick stop-in

2011-04-26T05:13:00.001-07:00

Don't have much time before class on this foggy april morning, but I want to stop in to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet one-and-only, m. benjamin.
This man is not only my picnic-buddy, fellow aspiring chef, and companion in just about everything, he is also the someone whose art and life I strive to emulate in my own. I am so blessed to have this truly good man in my life now and forever... And I think he thoroughly deserves the mocha-hazelnut cake I intend to bake him for the occasion. :)

happy easter!

2011-04-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter, all! I awoke too early on the impetus of a faulty alarm, but the sunshine and the sound of birdsong floating in through my window compelled me to leave my bed, throw on some clothes and my rainboots, and take my camera out before the rest of the campus woke up. This warm, wet, bright weather makes me miss the West coast, though...

(a little fort someone built in slonim woods)

These last two pictures are of some cockle shells I've been meaning to photograph for a while, left over from a meal we made in Brooklyn. We had made pasta with fresh mussels and cockles ("cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o...") and I had never cooked cockles before--they're hard to come by on the West coast. They were so petite and colourful, I couldn't help but save a couple of shells to photograph.

I know my family is at home celebrating with a big breakfast, and I wish I were there with them. I did wake up this morning to a bundle of of big chocolate eggs wrapped in coloured foil, one for each member of the house. I don't know who left them there, but the mystery is a little bit exciting.

The Mister and I made this pasta last night, which was a major success, and will probably prove to be even better as leftovers. It was, indeed, one of the best pomodoro sauce recipes I've ever tasted.

Well, today begins the 24-hour schedule at the library, which officially denotes the beginning of the dreaded conference weeks here at SLC... I will do my best to keep this blog updated through that time, but I'm afraid I have little faith in my abilities to be diligent while I am writing conference papers. Many things will be happening during this time, though, so I will do my best... but, worst comes to worse, I'll be home in three short weeks, and that may suffice. For now, I am off to work and play on this beautiful Easter morning!

the future of poetry / poetry of the future

2011-04-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, as part of my college's poetry festival, I went to a panel with the above title. The last month or so has been a huge time of research for me--I've been thinking so much about where the creative universe will be headed after the huge meteor crash of postmodernism, and just how the art world will be recovering from the huge shock of it all. This research (unfortunately scanty for now, because although scads of critics have declared the end of postmodernism, almost no one has taken the time to define what will succeed it) will be culminating in a grand critical essay on my part, to be undertaken before my graduation from Sarah Lawrence. Logically, this panel seemed right up my alley, and I was expecting to leave it optimistic about the state of art, rather than entirely discouraged. But the panel, which consisted of the poets Vanessa Place, Christian Bök, K. Silem Mohammed, and Doug Kearney, was largely more concerned with poetry as yet another "conceptual" field.

Although it wasn't what I expected, and although I came out of the panel more frustrated than enlivened, I was still provided with a better view of my opposition's standpoint, and, to be fair, Doug Kearney and K. Silem Mohammed challenged the views of their peers in a very satisfying way for me. And, through the festival, I've been offered some wonderful opportunities to see incredibly talented poets--both established and students--so I certainly cannot complain simply because some of them do not believe as I do.

Also: new successful recipe, adapted from one I found on the Sunset magazine website:

cream of lettuce soup with spring salsa:

for the soup:

sautée two finely chopped leeks in butter (or olive oil, for vegans) until soft. add roughly two heads of lettuce, (we used one head of butter lettuce, one of romaine, and a good helping of watercress) finely chopped, and 1 quart of vegetable broth, and bring to a boil. once boiled, reduce to a simmer for several minutes until lettuce is soft. add salt, pepper, juice of 1/2 lemon, and a sprinkling of nutmeg, and whir it in the blender until smooth. add 1/2 cup of half and half (or rice milk, for vegan recipe), and heat to temp without boiling.

for the salsa:

combine 1 cup fresh green peas and 1/2 a fennel bulb, chopped to pea-sized with a handful of fresh chopped basil. dress lightly with a vinaigrette of lemon juice, garlic, salt, white wine vinegar, and olive oil. serve but the spoonful in top of the soup, or on the side. serve whole meal with garlic toast.

This made a wonderfully light, flavourful meal, and would be a great way to use up lettuce that's gone wilty (but not slimy) in the crisper. It would also be great served cold, or with grilled cheese sandwiches. We used rice milk instead of the half and half the recipe calls for (one of our guests is lactose-intolerant) which worked out just fine, although for those of you who are neither vegan not lactose-intolerant, half and half (or, let's be honest, heavy cream) would be incomparable.

I have one more reading to attend today, as the festival dies down, as well as old projects to finish up, and new ones to begin. I'm going to be beginning a new series of interviews here on ye olde blogge, the first of which should be up within the next two weeks--the series will be called "artistic synergies" and will be made up of interviews with artistic couples that feed off each other's talents and ambitions to further their own arts. More later!

microcosms

2011-04-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Today ended up being surprisingly cool, with that sort of bright diffused sunlight I imagine all tundras to possess. Good day for a walk with the old Nikon. And look at how beautifully this campus has "broken into blossom," as James Wright would say:

It seems as though every little tucked-away corner holds some brightly-coloured treasure--such colours I have never seen on daffodils or tulips. Even the dandelions and violets seem quaint. I love the knotgrass and the fiddleheads--there is something so wild and yet so quiet about them.

Tonight begins the SLC poetry festival, which should be amazing this year, as always. The Mister is coming into town for it, and so are our good friends J and Erin, who will be visiting tomorrow night. It promises to be a lovely weekend. Cheers to all.

time for a remodel

2011-04-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

I realized recently that it's coming on two years now that I've bee keeping this blog (rather un-diligently, I'm afraid), and since I'm not entirely the same person that I was two years ago, neither should my greatest connection with the world-at-large. So, welcome to "vivre sans bruit", a name which I may change in the next few weeks but, nonetheless, pleases me now. Same URL, brand new story. Spring cleaning all around.

I admit this frequently, I know, but I am a VERY BAD BLOG MOMMY. I can complain till the cows come home about how much I hate it when bloggers post infrequently, but let's face it, I am the worst of the bunch. But, I'm hoping that maybe a little change of scenery will fix that.

This next month is going to be a very busy, very fruitful one for me, and I will do my very best to keep this blog updated, even through the chaos. This weekend is the Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival, and before I leave for California in May, there will be research projects finished, new ones begun, concerts and readings attended, birthdays celebrated, and spring to enjoy. But I've made a pact with myself to carry my camera around with me more frequently so that when the inspiration to blog strikes, I will be armed and ready with new, lovely photographs.

For now, I want only to direct my readers to some new links in my blogs list--I have been more than fortunate this year to become close with a community of creative people here in Bronxville and Brooklyn who share with me a very unique set of aesthetic tastes, living styles, and artistic ambitions, and, those that I could, I have added to my links. This spring has been a time of great creative growth and a flourishing of community projects that I have been so thrilled to be a part of, and which help me gain hope and faith once again in my generation's ability to rethink art as we have known it for the last fifty years. I will be sure to make announcements as each of these are finished. Unfortunately, I have decided to disable my poetry blog for now due to complications in formatting my pieces in an HTML context, but I am exploring new options on this front and hope to get it figured out for good over the summer.

So, here's to spring cleaning, and to new beginnings.

Love to all,
Jules

le printemps pousse

2011-03-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

In French, the lovely phrase above is what one uses this time of year. Figuratively, it means that Spring is arriving, or growing, but it literally means "the Spring is pushing," pushing up from the dark place it has slept all year, pushing the fine, bristled seed pods full to bursting. Here in New York I am on spring holiday, and am afforded this time to fully take in the beauty of this time of year.

To be honest, I never appreciated this time of year until I moved East. Growing up, I always thought of this time of year just as the beginning of the hot season I so disdained. Winter, with its mild rains and bright clear frosts was my favourite time of year, and as soon as the thermometer read over 85 degrees--which it did on a good fifth of the days of the year--I just headed inside, away from the sun.

Here in New York the spring has an entirely different meaning, in context with--GASP--other seasons. After several months now of wool coats, thick stockings, layers upon layers of petticoats, my poor fishy-white feet were rewarded today with this:
How wonderful after seeing no grass for months to finally dig your toes into some good, healthy sod. I couldn't help but grin like a fool as I walked about barefoot, shoes in hand, and enjoyed a bounteous dose of vitamin D. Here are the other fruits of my leisure today:

How many wonderful things are "pousse"-ing just now! Don't those daffodil buds just make the winter worthwhile?

I have one more work shift tomorrow morning, and then once again off to Manhattan, where I will buy a paté sandwich and meringues at my favourite French cafe for lunch, and then visit Erin at the photo shoot where she will be working--she is helping me knit my first hat, which has been a rather testy project, but will prove my competence as a knitter if it does not look awful. The weather the way it is, I may just be able to leave my coat at home for the week. :)

outside my window

2011-02-03T04:36:00.000-08:00

I woke up yesterday morning to the most beautiful ice-land I have ever seen. I skated to work on an inch of ice, and all of the trees wore glistening, lovely, ice suits (some were not the better for it--several of our largest Pines on campus lost huge limbs under the weight of all that ice). I must admit that I see nothing in nature so beautiful as ice. It positively astounds me, with every new storm, every new winter.

Yesterday, February Second, is the only day that I can think of in the year that carries with it not one or two holidays, but three whole holidays. Besides the most American tradition of Groundhog's Day (the quirkiest by far, in my opinion), this day also marks the celebrations of the Christian Candlemas, the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple and the blessing of the candles, and it's Pagan and Neo-Pagan counterpart, Imbolc, the beginning of the lengthening of days. Such hope for spring is wrapped up in these traditions (even Groundhog's Day) that I cannot help but feel that, despite the ice and snow, those first snowdrops are only a couple of weeks away.

Here's the icy sunrise-y view out my window this morning:

2011-01-27T08:46:00.000-08:00

I know that I am, indeed, awful at this whole diligence thing. I must make this resolution right now: Once a week, at least, I promise to post here, even if it's just a few words. I feel I am becoming careless.

This morning , I awoke to this splendor:

Unfortunately, the lovely snow affected a late opening on campus this morning, which means that my new philosophy class was cancelled; while this class already met once on Tuesday, today was the second portion about which I am rather curious--the class is an integrated Chinese philosophy/movement class, and we have yet to meet for the movement aspect.

As the daylight grows longer and longer each week, I find myself once again in a terrible poetry slump. It seems that every January it hits me like this--So beautiful, so inspiring, and yet I am without inspiration.

Off to conference now, but more in the next week, I PROMISE!

witch baby!

2010-11-09T18:10:00.000-08:00

Happy post-Halloween withdrawals to all who are suffering from the same 2/3-through-the-semester hump as I am! Aren't we happy that The Best Holiday in the World Because It Revolves Around Food is drawing near? Certainly I am. Here are pictures of my Halloween festivities with my housemates friends:
Me, of course, as ever-snarling Witch Baby. Note the bug shoes. Also, I made the tutu.
My other half, the G train.
From left, housemate and bestgirlbuddyinthehouse Claudia (no costume), and friend Hailey (some sort of lesbian cowgirl from her favourite book?)
Max, playing Devil's Advocate. There's a Powerpuff Girl in the background.
Housemate Dan and his new ladylove, Raven (the hair is not natural).
Santos, whose costume consisted entirely of props. Hailey's bloody cowgirl wounds in the background.
Jamie as Robin Hood or Peter Pan, depending. Sorry about the quality of these next few... I scanned them from disposable camera shots taken by my housemates.
Me, more snarling, this time with my full costume...The camera was essential. Note Santos in the foreground and a confused Hailey behind me.
He got used to the snarling and biting as the night wore on. Also, note the REAL Halloween decorations--pretty classy for a college party, no?
My favourite picture of the night, partially because I think I look so much like Witch Baby here, and because of all the great back and forth motion, with Jamie blocking both MB's camera and the one that took this photo.

And now we march onward toward the end of the semester! It's officially the end of fall here, and temerpatures are dropping rapidly.... I can almost smell the first snow.

the signs are prodigious

2010-10-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Miss Jamie's birthday, so let's all say together, Happy Birthday Jamie! Ahem.

Now that we've finished with that, I must apologize for being so long absent from this URL for so long. I shall simply skip the excuses and distract you with these lovely images of autumn here in Bronxville:

I think this little guy liked the sound of my camera shutter...I was lucky enough to get a nice half-hour break in the rain to obtain these! This week is probably to be the doomed last of these colours, but it is a very lively one at Sarah Lawrence--this weekend is Halloween, which may be the best loved and most fervently celebrated of all holidays here, as well as Fall Formal and parents' weekend (we all know that they assign this weekend as family weekend on purpose, in some vain attempt to cut down on partying). I will be enjoying myself on Halloween with my housemates here, but this Friday, I have more important plans than a school dance: the Mister and I have tickets to see the wonderful Cloud Cult live in Brooklyn. Their September album, Light Chasers, is one of my favourites of the year, and presented me with a much-needed burst of autumn optimism earlier in the semester.

I won't go too far into what about this album was so important for me, but I think it has to do with the end of a long spiritual search for the songwriter and the literal birth of new chance for he and his wife. His and the band's story can be found at length on Wikipedia, and it's compelling enough to warrant a read even if you aren't a fan. Something tells me that Light Chasers will be the last Cloud Cult album, maybe for a while, maybe forever, but I think it's a fitting end to a story that is both heartbreaking and deeply triumphant. I am looking forward to a good, hard, empathetic cry at this concert.

In other news, I have been holing myself up here, gearing up for the second half of this semester. I'm two-thirds of the way through Spenser's The Faerie Queene for conference work in Bill Shullenberger's class, and studying Symbolism at length for (get this) an eight-page paper written entirely in French! I must admit that this is a wholly masochistic mission on my part, and one that continually challenges me when I receive potions of it returned to me positively splattered in red pen. But I'm learning... slowly but surely.

I have also been cooking. Intensely. So much cooking. Some of my sweetheart's and my most successful experiments have been: sweet-potato-and-edamame pancakes with baked apples; acorn squash stuffed with grains, hazelnuts, and figs; eggplant, chard, tomato and rice casserole; butternut squash with butter and sugar (for desert!); leeks vinaigrette, which has quickly turned into "any steamed vegetable vinaigrette"; Perfect Miso Soup; and lots of homemade bread. Unfortunately, and this may be very cruel on my part, I haven't any recipes. The two of us have decided it's useless to write down recipes that we come up with--we never end up following them, and we often like to make things just once. But rest assure that they were all delicious, even if completely unreproducible.

I will be home for Thanksgiving weekend, which (hopefully) means that I will make something somewhat like these for my family and maybe have recipes! FOr now, though, I am off to read more George Herbert and teach my housemate Gabe to make bread... Pictures later, and certainly after this weekend!

Mabel Nimble

2010-09-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the newest edition to the Slonim 9 family--my new bicycle, Mabel:

Mabel was a gift from M. Benjamin, who found her cheap and put new wheels on her, and tweaked her to suit me. He also found me the darling little bell with the fawn on it--which I like not only for its association with the "Nimble" written across Mabel's frame, but also because of its association with the darling man that introduced her to me. I've had the basket for a while, a gift from my Grandparents on my birthday, and I think it looks just splendid on her--plus, I like the doily look with an old lady name like Mabel. :)

Classes are progressing with ease, and I am loving life here in my cozy little house. We've put up some bookcases in the common room now, so they're filling up with books and this place is really starting to feel like a home. Still haven't quite gotten into the writing groove yet, but... I will sooner or later. New poetry going up on the trees speak riddles this morning, also.

A Snippet from Keri Smith

2010-09-14T05:40:00.001-07:00

Here's a wonderful quote I found on Keri Smith's blog that resonates with me and makes sense in the context of my life. So often I become discouraged when considering post-modern life and society, corporate greed, the bored and boring literature from the last twenty years, and this feeling that I and a few selected peers alone are gifted with a Sight that goes beyond success and convenience. And then Keri Smith posts something like this to cheer me up:

The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles. Who treat of plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions in US life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue. The anti-rebels would be outdated of course, before they even started. Dead of the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachonistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal: shock, disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations, of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The new rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, the rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the “Oh, how banal.”

–David Foster Wallace

the sound of settling

2010-09-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

And, here I am once again, slowly easing back into life in New York. Scratch that. How about tumbling ribcage-first into a hectic first week of travelling, moving, interviewing, shouting sheepish greetings at people I've negleced to contact all summer, and somehow still managing to start classes yesterday with some semblance of collection and restfulness. To say the least, this second year of living in limbo has somehow managed to be more difficult and stressful than the first year. Add to this sleeping on a vinyl dorm mattress after a summer of cushy pillowtops and you have a girl who doesn't remember whether she's showered today or even yesterday.

That said, moving always gives me the excuse to do my favourite thing in the entire world: nest.
This is my new room in Slonim 9! Small, I know, but I also have a large common room with a kitchen at my disposal, to share with my seven housemates. It's a rather cozy little space, if you ask me. Hopefully, in the next few days, I will be able to share with you pictures of my housemates: Dan, Claudia, Gabe, Max, Isabella, Talia, and Santos.

So far, I've already attended my first French class and my first Metaphysical Poetry seminar with Bill Shullenberger--this afternoon is my first poetry workshopon "Masks, Personae, and the Literal 'I'", which I'm hoping will give me the incentive to continue writing the poetry I've left off all summer. I do have some ideas, though....

20 Things to Do when I'm 20...

2010-08-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

1. learn to knit
2. learn to spin wool into yarn
3. continue my French studies
4. take a trip to the ocean (East Coast)
5. stop cooking meat
6. grow potted herbs SUCCESSFULLY
7. get a real job
8. write and draw as close to every day as I am able
9. stop swearing so much
10. hydrate
11. exercise... somehow...
12. compost when I'm at school
13. read Canterbury Tales and Beowulf
14. buy real wool stockings
15. blog more frequently :)
16. play more games
17. publish a poem
18. make a yukata
19. make a backgammon board
20. make a functional pie crust

So Many Summer Projects...

2010-08-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a long summer here in California, and in one week, I shall be returning to New York with plenty of high hopes, few new skills and a decent California tan (I feel like a complete failure of a West-coaster when I go back East pale). This summer, to say the very least, has been a terribly eventful summer for my family and friends. I've been on weekend-trip after weekend-trip, and several sizable occurrences have added to the general chaos that crept slowly and surely over my holiday.

I journeyed for the first time to Oregon, to visit my dear cousin Shereé in Ashland, where she is going to school; I also visited my best friend, Amina, at school in Arcata, CA, where my love of the mossy and the dreary became truly apparent; M. Benjamin and I spent one day in Yosemite for a picnic and walk; I took two day trips to San Francisco, once to meet up with my almost-almost-almost Uncle Aldo, who was visiting California from his home in Assisi in Italy with his wife, and once to see the travelling collection from the Museé d'Orsay that was on exhibit at the de Young museum. In between all of these were several trips to M. Benjamin's family home in Meadow Valley, both before and after the event that seemed to define the summer for both of us: The breaking of the engagement between his sister, Emily, and her fiancé, Gabe.

This event had a profound effect on his family (although a profoundly good one, as no one was fond of this man) and on mine as well, and kept everyone involved on the edges of their seats all summer as the dirty details of the relationship were revealed little by little. My poor sweet Peach was persuaded to act as go-between for his family and Gabe, and was nearly run ragged by Gabe's immaturity in dealing with the affair and his unreasonable demands of Emily and her family. But, now, he is removed from all of our lives and Emily got two wonderful kitties, a cute little house in Quincy, and a trip to Jamaica with her best friend out of the deal, so we are all thankful for her change of heart.

Also, in conjunction with my twentieth birthday in July, a have penned a list of twenty things to do in my twentieth year, and have done my best to begin chalking them off (for information about my inspiration for this list, see Keri Smith's book, Living Out Loud, as well as her blog, wish jar). First was: learn to knit. So, I procured some yarn and needles and connected with my lovely friend, Meredith, and she taught me some stitches and so far, I've made two scarves, one knitted and one purled. Here's the purled one:
My next project is called the "antler scarf," and is a cabled scarf!

I also made shoes this summer. Well, more that I decorated shoes. In Francesca Lia Block's beloved Dangerous Angels books, the character Witch Baby has a pair of "rubber bug sneakers," so I took it upon myself to make a pair, and here's the result:

While I was taking all these pictures this morning, the family cat, Tucker came to visit me from his bower in the garden:

So now, off to continue the summer-long project of cleaning out my room and organizing what's for California and what's for New York. I'm staring to feel like I lead a double life.... But before I go, I want to congratulate Mary Catherine Garrison on her new home in upstate NY! Can I say how envious I am of this beautiful new nest? It makes me excited for the day that my love and I may have a true nest of our own--and may it be even half as beautiful as this one!

The Antique

2010-06-04T13:31:00.000-07:00

It has been a very long two weeks here in California and I find myself (of course) in the midst of many, many a new project.

I spent much of the last week on an extended road trip with M. Benjamin and his family--the two of us first travelled north to his family home in Meadow Valley where I was introduced to the many new additions on the ranch, including Tuck, the bouncy new Airedale Terrier puppy, and the beginnings of a herd of Scottish Highland cattle, a bull, five cows and a little heifer. Amongst the many project in which the two of us are engaged this summer is the restoration of a little cabin in a beautiful ravine that has sadly gone to seed since it was built in the 1950's--but we were able to finally set up M. Benjamin's antique rope bed in the loft and spend a couple of cold, stormy nights there. Pictures later in the summer as the restoration continues.

The bulk of our time, however, was occupied on the long drive between Meadow Valley and Loma Linda, with the mission to see Emily, M. Benjamin's sister, graduate from dental school. We stopped a couple of days in Bishop for the--can you believe this even exists?--annual Mule Days festival, and spent much time with Emily and her fiancé, Gabe, once we reached the valley.

I'm currently working on an illustrated journal for this trip, which I may post in increments once it's finished. Thus far, it's titled "Marrying In" and shall hopefully serve as an interesting memento of this very interesting weekend.

I'm still sorting through those old family photos I went on about a couple of months ago, and here are some new scans:

This last photo, and the photo of the woman with the draft horses may be my favourites. I love the bleakness of the North Dakota landscapes--all my life I have been drawn to this bleak, muted, solitary aesthetic in all things visual, poetic, and musical, and I'm starting to think that it may run in my blood.

Off to work on the journal now, but I must shamelessly plug a new coffee shop in Modesto--The Serrano Social Club has finally opened on J Street after years in the works, and it's better than anything else in town! Coffee and pastries are superb, the baristas are awesome, talented guys, and their already hanging art and planning live music. Any Motowners reading this should check it out. You will not be disappointed.

Another List, I Know...

2010-05-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I've once again survived the journey back to the west coast, and have begun to move into my routine here. Menus are being planned, soft-boiled eggs consumed, and many friends have been hugged. As I slowly shed my jet lag and make up all of the sleep I lost in my last few days in New York, I have been listing mentally all of the wonderful discoveries I've made in this first year living there:

1) Some brilliant late-at-night eateries, including (but certainly not limited to) L'Express for 24-hour French food on Park Ave. at 20th Street, Cosmic Cantina (3rd Ave. at 13th) for organic, vegetarian, and raw food burritos, Chickpea (14th Street) for falafel, and 71 Irving (Irving near Gramercy Park), which isn't open too late, but makes great sandwiches, coffee, and pastries.

2) The antiques garage on 21st or so between 6th and 7th Avenues, I think, though I will need to double-check this one. Two levels of the garage rich with vendors or vintage clothing, artwork, jewelry, and such. The Mister and I have spent way too much time here agonizing over whether or not to buy the table lamp that needs all the glass plates in its shade replaced. Only place I know with a vendor that sells almost nothing more that antique corkscrews and bottle openers.

3) New York shows are cheaper than California shows! Go see concerts in New York!

4) Dog-watching: better than anywhere but Paris.

5) Harlem. If nothing else, it is so worth just wandering around this neighborhood on a warm afternoon. It has a more vibrant street culture than elsewhere in the city: there are rowns and rows of vendors selling incense, books, reggae music, ice cream, perfume, and thick spears of fresh fruit on skewers. People are friendly here, also! And, you are bound to see at least one good-looking man dressed in a suit that seems plucked out of the '20's. Sundays are the best: you can here the singing in the churches from the street, and all of the older ladies come out in their brilliant hats!

6) Thursday night Chelsea gallery walk. Largest concentration of pretentious conceptual art and free wine in NYC. No matter how cold it is outside, don't bring a jacket because the body heat in the galleries is sweltering and you'll end up carrying it around more frequently than wearing it.

Well, there may be more later, but for now these are the most memorable bits.

Today, I am trying a new muffin recipe--I'm trying to replicate the Morning Glory muffin at the Grey Dog's on west 16th Street--as well as a quick raw food recipe from Jónsi and Alex's cookbook, a pdf of which can be found here. The Mister is coming into town tonight, so we'll taste-test and update with results tomorrow...

We All Want to Grow with the Seeds We Will Sow...

2010-05-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

And once again, I type this rather weary post from the floor of the JFK airport, for the last time in this, my first year in New York. It seems as though I have been in the act of "going home" for several weeks now. And, I suppose, I have. Boxes have been mailed home, bedding and such has been stored away in a unit in Brooklyn, and my (giant!) suitcases are stowed away until my flight departs. I'm through with most of my work now, with only a few things to be mailed off early next week. I can say now that I've been inducted into the league of true college procrastinators--I've only slept an accumulation of about six hours in the last three days. It's a new record for me, I believe, but I'm feeling alright. Just don't expect me to pick up the phone in the next four days while I sleep this mess off.

However, the stress of the end-of-semester rush was tempered by frequent artistic encounters that made it all worth while, the most exciting of which, was of course, the Jónsi show that kept my dove in New York for an extra week after his semester ended, the show that will divide my life into periods of "before" and "after."

(photo of stage animation found here)
Saturday night's concert was indescribable. Of course I have been haunting the internet for decent videos that capture how that night felt, but I've been startlingly disappointed with them all. If you want read reviews, see pictures and videos of the show, there are plenty here, on Jónsi's website. It was a rather short show for the most part, mainly selections from Go and other originals not on the album, but from the moment Jónsi quietly, seriously stepped on stage with his guitar and nothing else, in his white marching-band-jacket-turned-bower-bird, to play my favourite song, "Stars in Still Water," I was in tears, and remained thus for the remainder of the show. Every member of Jónsi's band was phenomenal, from the lovely Alex Somers, of course, to múm drummer, Ólafur Björn Ólafsson, to bassist Úlfur Hansson, to the rather unknown-before-now and positively brilliant percussionist, Thorvaldur Thór Thorvaldsson, who had so much raw animal energy that he nearly belonged on the animation screen on the stage.

Not only was the band brilliant, but show itself was unlike anything I've ever seen. The animations projected onto the sheet in the back--and the beautiful gridwork of antique window frames that was revealed when the sheet was dropped--as well as the broken, sooty glass frames and museum curio tanks was stunning. Each song was animated differently and the images bled seamlessly into one another with trees, falling snow, predatory chases, and flight. The structure of the set list was unusual, but very effective; Jónsi opened the show with a string of nearly all his slowest, moodiest ballads, building with xylophone solos up to colourful performances of the singles, "Go Do" and "Boy Lilikoi," then leapt straight into the cinematic, uplifting epics that crowd toward the middle of the recorded album, ending the main set with a thrilllingly delicate acoustic version of "Around Us," which was one of the most powerful things I've ever witnessed.

The good news is that there were cameras all over the stage--a good sign that there may be a tour DVD! No recording can compare to the live show (even Jónsi's voice is that much more ethereal and angelic on a live stage), but God, would I love to have any kind of reminder of that night.

M. Benjamin and I also spread a bit of our own art that night--we sent the fist copy of our limited-edition chapbook backstage to Jónsi and Alex as a gift. We hope that inspires them even 1/1214 the amount that they have inspired us.

This time of the year I am consistently drawn to music and art that feels like growth, feels like new beginnings. I am drawn to music that reminds me that hope isn't so far away, and that it's okay to cling to it once in a while. Jónsi's album and tour has been just that for me; the dominant themes in the music and animation on stage were unfurling things, things outgrowing death, and their rebirth in colour. As the music swelled to it's ultimate peak in colour in flight--the collision of two animated hummingbirds that "broke them into blossom" as James Wright might say--I felt my own body regenerating itself after such a long emotional hibernation in New York. I could feel the go do in the swelling season. This is the beginning of the "Summer of Go Do."

Now, as I watch my last New York evening for several months fade from windy to golden, I look forward not only to a summer's worth of doing, but to a summer's worth of holding onto hope. I've long believed that most any intelligent, ethical person out there ends up a cynic--myself certainly included--but I don't think that we are fallen. There are always beautiful souls like Jónsi out there to remind us that even the trees, in the dead of winter, have the hope to bloom in the spring.

Here are some lyrics--these may no be the "officially" accurate ones, but that are the one that I hear and the ones that affect me.

"Stars in Still Water"

Put your clothes now out to dry;
it's early morning--
the day is unfolding ever so softly.

I will always be, oh, alive within.
It's a never-ending song that I sing alone:
I am awake.
The only one awake.

I see the sun break out--
it's loud--
no clouds, no crowds,
no one out, true...

Only that you...

Don't stop in still water.
Don't stop in still water.

Now the sun's in your eyes--
It dries away your tears.
Let the wind be the only one
to move you so gently.

I will always be, oh, alive within.
It's a never-ending song that I sing alone:
I am awake.
The only one awake.

I see the sun
grow faint--
it's late--
in shades we did the best we could...

Only that you...

I see stars in still water.
There are stars in still water.

A Happy Birthday Blog

2010-04-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

This is a blog to celebrate a whole array of birthdays from these past ten days:

Happy birthday, Charlie! (April 19)
Happy birthday, M. Benjamin, my dove! (April 26)
Happy birthday TK! (April 27)
Happy birthday Carly! (April 29)

And for good measure:

Happy birthday, Kevin! (May 5)

I must admit that my blogging has been at a minimum lately due in part to the semester coming to a close very very soon (two weeks left after this one!) and partly due to my starting a new job in Manhattan, which has kept me scooting back and forth on the train every minute of rest I am allowed. Next weekend, though, is the event that this blog has been leading up to for several weeks now: Jónsi in concert! My sweetheart and I are going to see his show at Terminal 5 on May 8, and be sure that there will be an excited blog entry the next morning.

In addition, he and I are in the process of printing our limited-edition, twenty-copy chapbook, möbius strip, or (filaments) caught in growth, "filaments" for short. It contains four poems by him, and three by myself, including my semester-long, five-part project, "möbius strip". In addition to the limited edition (which we are mostly only gifting to family and friends), we are also printing conventional chapbooks, which will be available through either of us at the end of the semester. Please let either of us know if you are interested!

Well, onto the next phase of my day: class and muchmuchmuch writing of my conference paper...

Oh, Lists... How You Entrance Me!

2010-04-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

I cannot deny that I have a serious obsession with obsessive lists. All my life I have been making lists, lists, lists, to no particular end. Just for the joy of lists. I have, for example, had the same list of top-ten favourite trees since I was thirteen:

10. tulip trees
9. redwoods
8. hawthornes
7. apples
6. cedars
5. aspens
4. birches
3. willows
2. sycamores
1. dogwoods, of course

(A brief note: when my darling and I first met, I naturally asked him right off the bat what his favourite tree was, knowing full well that if he chose something incompatible with my trees I could write him off. However, he not only did not think me strange for asking, but also answered that his favourites were cedars, which just happen to grow quite symbiotically with mine, dogwoods. Sigh!)

So anyhow, I did not write this post because of trees, but because of an entirely new list altogether! After spending so much time with Jónsi's Go, I have made a list of my favourite albums of all time which I should like to share with the "blogosphere." Note, though, that this is "favourites," not necessarily "bests."

12. Gulag Orkestar by the band Beirut. A beautifully cinematic, lo-fi, Eastern-European-influenced experience. Best on vinyl on a yellow summer evening, in the trees, with smoke in the air and dark red lipstick.

11. Louder Than Bombs by the Smiths. Has most of their best melancholy hits, including "Asleep" and "London," and "Unloveable." I listened to this album continuously in the spring I was fifteen, and hearing brings me right back to that feeling of filtered light the colour of bougainvillea, incense smoke, and spring showers.

10. Kurr by Amiina. Oh, those Icelanders know how to do it! This is a new addition to my list, but watching the first snow fall in New York to this album is something I will never forget. This album is snow music, perfect, gentle, magical snow music.

9. Blue by Joni Mitchell. I hesitate to put this album so low on this list, but I admit to being a new true Joni convert. I've grown up around her songs, and this album helped me survive leaving California. Spring mornings, headphones, new flowers for this one.

8. Speak for Yourself by Imogen Heap. I love these songs best when performed by a marching band, in the middle of woods that I am exploring like the little elf I am in petticoats and stockings and oodles of scarves. Or in the car, at night, driving fast. Constant Comment tea.

7. Give Up by the Postal Service. Ever so slightly melancholy, but being in love with that melancholy. For grey days on trains and buses going away from places and between places, but only for a little while. California in February, when the hills are very green and all else is grey.

6. Crane Wife by the Decemberists. Listened to this the first time after reading Cold Mountain and loving the Civil War, and it fit right in. It's wonderful for knapsack lunches in the sun, and wearing white cotton sundresses with scuffed, chunky brown boots.

5. Oh, Inverted World by the Shins. I have a love-hate relationship with this album because, although it's their best in my opinion, I feel the songs are out of order and for that reason it is wholly disappointing on vinyl. nevertheless, still brilliant, bright, and Natalie-Portman-y.

4. Go by Jónsi. Yes, it is new, but it's already beat out favourites from my early adolescence, which is saying something. It's bright and bird-y, fully textured, and variant. It's music for building up towards a summer of "Go Do." This may end up at number 2 or 3 eventually.

3. Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie. I know it's an indie standard, but it's still a damn good album. Even if the first song weren't titled "The New Year," it's still an album for the new year, dark and delicately brooding. Their masterpiece, to be sure, with brilliant cover art to boot.

2. Come on Feel the Illinoise! by Sufjan Stevens. My first copy of this album was vinyl, and it was truly meant to be listened to that way. Each side (their are two discs) is like a perfect vignette of a masterfully rich whole. It is heartbreaking and goofy, deeply innocent and thoughtful. This album is for a whole summer spent looking out of windows.

1. Rubber Soul by the Beatles. I know, I know again, you're thinking, "she couldn't get more creative than putting the Beatles as number one?!" I don't care. This album is golden. Not too psychedelic yet, with just a hint of folksy hippie goodness. "Norwegian Wood," "I've Just Seen a Face," "Michelle," "in My Life"... nearly every song is worth mentioning. My first copy was a UK version cassette that my parents had, and I love the UK one so much more. And the crinkly sound at the end of each side. This is for nights lit by paper lanterns and campfires, with a guitar and everyone you love around you.

I reserve the right to change this at any whim. God knows it will.

Artistic Synergy

2010-04-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Since doing so much listening to Jónsi's Go, I must admit that it has been all I could do to not to think about that album night and day. I've gone back and rediscovered Riceboy Sleeps, his and his boyfriend Alex's ambient album of last summer, and I've been looking at photos and reviews. There's a wonderful interview with the two of them here, and this may be my new favourite image of them together:

(That's Jónsi on the left, upside down, and Alex on the right with his eyes closed. I found this photo here)

I just can't help but think of the beautiful artistic synergy that must happen in their peaceful household. They relate to each other with such a sweet, playful, quiet respect and affection. The art they create (in music, in visuals, in food, even) shows the clear marks of deep love and companionship. Oh, if all couples were so well-suited to each other as they are!

On this note, I announce a collaborative project even dearer to my own heart. By the end of this semester, my own partner in art and I shall be self-publishing some of our own creative works. There will be chapbook which will compile most of the poems that both he and I have written this semester (title and details pending) and, the best part, we are planning a limited-release edition of twenty copies or so, in larger-format binding, individually silk-screened in our own writing, with illustrations and individualized covers. We are very excited to begin this, our very first creative collaboration in the two years we've been together. I hope to keep this bog updated with the details as they become more clear, and as they flesh out on paper.

I cannot end this post with anything more than "hooray for love! hooray for art!"

Jónsi and Jónsi Birds

2010-04-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

I may be entirely in love with this lovely new album, Go. The show is bound to be spectacular, as is this first video of the single, "Go Do." I messed up the sizing on the video, so be sure you press the full screen button...it's a high-quality video, so you'd want to anyway

Isn't it lovely? I positively adore the bit at the beginning where he first begins to bang on that big brown suitcase.

And, in conjunction with this lovely avian creation, here are some links to other avian creations, these ones constructed by bower birds or, as my Mum has begun to call them, Jónsi Birds:

bower bird constructions
art inspired by bower birds

Have a lovely week-end!

Springtime and Such

2010-04-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

Before I dive into the pictures I took yesterday of the springtime, I have to make the announcement that Jónsi of Iceland's famed musical act Sigur Rós has finally released his long-awaited solo album, Go. I listen to the stream now as I type, and I have to say I'm very happy with the album--he never fails to disappoint. My sweetheart and I have tickets already for his show in New York in May. You can find the free stream of the whole album here, on Jónsi's website.

Anyhow, while you're streaming this wonderful new album, feast your eyes on springtime at Sarah Lawrence. I feel that the enthusiasm of the first half of the album truly suits the joyousness of the new season:
Tulip trees outside the President's house...

I love how rusty they look when the petals get smooshed.

Spring painting at Westlands--all the white trim is getting a touch-up.

I ran into my literature professor, Bill Shullenberger, and his sidekick, Rufus, who were also out for an afternoon walk...
A dried blossom that somehow made it through the snow... hydrangea, possibly? Isn't is brilliantly preserved?

Pink buds... I wish desperately that I were more familiar with the trees of the East Coast but, alas, this one shall remain nameless for now.

And a lovely rusty gate I failed to notice earlier in the year. My darling will like this one, I do suppose--oh, the marvelous aesthetics of decay!

This weekend has much reading in the sunshine in store for me, I gather. I still press on through Ulysses, Omeros, two books on photographer Miroslav Tichý (whose first American exhibit at the International Center for Photography is a must-see for anyone in the New York area), The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and some various poetry, of course. Onward, troops, toward the end of the semester, and the summer holidays...

Heritage/Legacy.

2010-04-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

When I was young, I was enthralled by the idea of "legacy." I loved the way the word sounded, and I loved what it signified. From the first time I set foot into an antique store, I wanted to live in history.

While I was on holiday in California, I went through two big apple boxes of family photos, stretching back to the Swedish and Norwegian immigrants that settled in the Dakotas and camped their way to the central valley of California at the beginning of the twentieth century:
I do not know who took most of these pictures or, indeed, often who their subjects are, but they fascinate, startle, and sadden me just a bit:

When I look at these photographs, I cannot help but realize how their content shaped me, how they informed my vision, even before I saw them. Is there something that runs in my blood, the blood of these people that wrenches my heart in bleak landscapes? Something that piques my interest naturally when I come across another person with that odd, lurching, twisted height of my great-great-grandfather Osmund? Even before seeing the photograph of "Girls in White," as my mother has so poignantly named it, was there some unconscious familiarity with its subjects that causes fascination--and a little fear--at the sight of a little girl in a white dress?

Earlier this semester, I read Roland Barthes' La Chambre Claire, a meditation on why the photographs that affect us do affect us, in which he explains that the pictures that interest have two qualities that we find attractive. There is the studium, the over-arching interest in history, in costume, in people and personalities that originally draws us; then, there is the punctum, the "prick" that haunts us afterward. The strange white goats on the running board (why goats? why so small?). The small, round glasses on great-great Aunt Nordisse, set above small, round mouth (she owned the only camera in the family for a while). The drooping, walrussy, Nietzsche-esque moustache on Norman Qualle in the sleigh (did he, like Nietzsche, insist that the ladies loved it?). These are the punctums that draw me to these mysterious photographs.

I'm off now to take some photographs of my own, posted probably tomorrow. I wonder whether, years from now, they will have some strange effect on a little girl, a great-great-granddaughter of mine, who will ask herself, "Is this why I well up when I smell tulip trees? "

Hello Springtime, Hello Blog!

2010-04-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been many a week since I've posted on this-here blog. In fact, since I last posted, spring has sprung here in New York:

I took this photo before my spring holiday in California, nearly two weeks ago now, and most of these lovely little rain-soaked snowdrops have gone hence, replaced now by sunny daffodils, asters, and the fleshy pink, fragrant blooms of the tulip trees. More pictures to follow in the next few days.

I now write this post from the comfort of my periwinkle-purple blanket, stretched out on the back lawn of Tweed, in my bathing suit and heart-shaped glasses, contentedly listening to Radio Dismuke--any of you who enjoy 1920's and '30's music should take advantage of this wonderful online radio--and wishing desperately that I had lemonade (or a gin fizz!). It's nearly miserably hot, but my fishy-white legs are admittedly enjoying the exposure to the elements. They've been cooped up in thick stockings far too long!

I have several pictures I wish to share from my trip home, namely this favourite recipe of ours--

Our modified Saumon en Papillote, Italian style:

This recipe is inspired by one from Jamie Oliver's kitchen, although for the life of me I can't think where we saw it originally. It's equally good for feeding one or ten--just wrap salmon fillets (individually or a big one like the one pictured) in aluminum foil and add a little olive oil, white wine, salt and pepper, and fresh chopped grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, basil leaves, and a little dollop of butter. Wrap them up, stick them in the oven at 375-400 for twenty minutes or so, and the salmon creates its own little wine sauce. Super elegant, quick as all hell, an some of the most delicious fish you'll have had in a while. It also works well with other fish.

Also, whilst in California, I had the pleasure of an Early-Easter-Double-Birthday-57th-Wedding-Anniversary (whew!) bash at my Grandparents' house. All of my first and second cousins were there to celebrate with a huge meal, two cakes, and gifts for the birthday kids:
From left, these are my family: Sarah, Kyla (one birthday girl), Wendy, Max, Katie Rose (the other birthday girl), me, and Scotty. And here are our slightly less flattering sides:
I particularly like how droopy Max's moustache looks in this second photograph.

Relaxing on my Grandparents' back patio, several of us tried our hand at the skipping rope tricks we hadn't done since the grade school:
(Scotty getting some "mad air" while Kyla looks on)
(my brother Max, sans droopy moustache)
(me, attempting a "criss-cross, applesauce," taken by Scotty)

And now, the sun dips further and further behind the roofline of Tweed, and I have a few more rays of sunlight to take in... More photos of spring soon, I promise!

Snow Day

2010-02-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Today was the first "snow day" I have ever known. Classes were cancelled, half the campus was shut down, and everyone spent the day frolicking in the 7-8 inches we got over the course of the day.

For me, this was not only exciting because it was a snow day, but also, despite my desperate romance with cold weather, I've been--gasp--having dreams about summertime! This little stormy interlude was just what I needed to remind myself that, yes, bleakness is thrilling and, yes, interesting weather does exist somewhere; just not in California.

I will leave you for today with these photographic depictions of this winter day.

This was the view out of my window this morning:

Tweed House clearly loves the snow. Aside from M. Benjamin and Jamie in the foreground, check out the thick pile on top of the trash cans...

And on the pine trees...

Sarah Lawrence may be feminist, but do you think this is a little much?

The one and only football game I have ever witnessed here, and it was snowing, go figure.

(You can't really tell, but that dark blob is a tackle.)

Hope everyone else is staying warm and dry!

Tweed 5 Photos!

2010-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here are the photos of my new dorm that I promised!

This is the giant room (Kate's corner is directly ahead and to the left, mine on the right with the sunny window, and Natasha's is behind the door on the far right)...

My own cozy little corner of the giant room...

My giant closet...

The beautiful windows in the stairwell, complete with snow on the lawn...

My desk, with my bed behind it, so I can sit on my bed and use my computer at my desk, as I am doing just now...

I decided not to take any photos of the kitchen, as it's pretty dirty right now. Rest assured, however, that it does exist, and that all is well in Juli-land. :)

New Week, New Room, Same Old Memories

2010-02-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

This is the beginning of my first full week in my new room here at Sarah Lawrence College, in the lovey Tweed House:
(p.s., this is a photo I found here, not one I took myself)

Anyhow, after a huge blow-out and weeklong freeze-out with my former roommate, I finally took the necessary steps to move out of MacCracken 9 and into Tweed House. See that room on the top floor, far right? That little window above the trees? That's the window above my bed! Tweed is a total housing upgrade, which I didn't think was entirely possible after MacCracken, and I get along far better with my new roommates than with my first one. We have hardwood floors, arched ceilings, walk-in closets, and more than enough room for the three of us. Once Kate has woken up, I will take photos to post here. Our building also boasts a large (if somewhat messy) kitchen, laundry in the basement, and one of the prettiest classrooms on campus, plus a patio with a barbecue in the backyard! Talk about heaven...

This morning, though, the quaintness of my life here in New York has brought me back quite vividly to the time I spent in beautiful (and quaint) Cambridge two summers ago. I've been looking at pictures of Grantchester all morning, and remembering that pleasant stroll from Jesus College to the Orchard:

Oh, England, how I miss thee! Those photos are, from the top, The Orchard tea garden in Grantchester, a treat I consumed there (fruit scone with clotted cream and blackcurrant jam, and tea, of course), and my Mum and I on the lovely trail between Cambridge and Grantchester, enjoying an eerily bright grey day.

Well, there should be more photos later on today, once I have showered and my roommate has awoken... Much love to everyone on this February morning!

Happy Chicken Egg Farm!

2010-01-29T13:20:00.001-08:00

These photos (from California, when I was there on holiday) are long-in-coming, but I thought I should share them with you eventually... Recently, a friend of the family from my homeschool days began raising chickens in her backyard for eggs, and my family has become a very happy customer of hers. The eggs that we receive from Pam Franklin's fat Rhode Island Reds are petite, mauve-coloured little gems of rich, eggy goodness (best enjoyed soft-boiled, and on toast, of course! We all know the passion I possess for soft-cooking...)

I apologize that these photos aren't the best, but I think they do what I want them to:

(These eggs were still warm! I may or may not have swiped them from underneath one of the "girls." My mum was kind enough to hold them while I took pictures...)

Dust

2010-01-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to the most beautiful, peaceful snowfall I've ever seen.

(P.S. these are the adorable boots M. Benjamin gave me for our anniversary...)
There's something so centering and peace-making about a walk in the snow, as one of my favourite bloggers, Margie Oomen, is perfectly aware. Hopefully all of my readers back home in California will be able to experience this great peace second hand through these photographs...

I'm off to a conference with my professor and don, but expect a new piece on my poetry blog later on today, if all works out according to plan...

A Hectic Week-End

2010-01-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

As I sit now at my cozy little desk with my tea and a notebook, and the lovely Amiina playing delicate snow-music despite the sunshine, I cannot say that I could be more grateful for a quiet afternoon after such a hectic Manhattan week-end. I shall not go into great detail of each of my days, but I can say that I accomplished several "firsts" in New York this last week.

i. I went to my first East-Coast antiques show! Antiquing is an entirely different affair over here--the market trends are far different, the average age of the objets d'art is far older. There seems to be a much bigger market for folk art, curiosities, portraits (especially miniatures and silhouettes) and Americana over here. Also, the booths at the show were set up differently--much sparser and more decorative, as opposed to the full-to-bursting booths you see in San Francisco. No particular luck with finds, although we stumbled upon a fantastic dealer in art nouveau and arts and crafts glass and pottery that offered incredibly reasonable prices for works of greater quality than I've ever seen outside of Antiques Roadshow.

ii. Attended my first gallery-party thing in Tribeca, in a space that was part living arrangemet, part dance floor, and lots of splattered paint. The guy who owns it is apparently going to turn it into a gallery... we'll see, I suppose.

iii. My first-ever rock-opera puppet show, complete with puppet sex! Live band and puppets with ska-influenced music and silly drunken-puppet singing. Definitely a lot of fun... although I don't know quite what else to make of it!

Also, I want to record the delicious places I ate for future reference:

i. Stumptown Coffee and the adjoining Breslin Bar, where my sweetheart and I enjoyed some phenomenal espresso, a leek-and-goat-cheese tart, and an escarole salad with fresh pears and a light Gorgonzola dressing (great food, and a fun venue--both are attached to the lobby of the Ace Hotel in Midtown, with a funky '30's-modern space for eating, lounging, and free wi-fi)

ii. Cosmic Cantina--a cheap, vegetarian, organic burrito joint with four varieties of homemade organic tortillas (flour, whole-wheat flour, corn, and spelt) and kick-ass guacamole.

iii. Les Halles Brasserie, owned by Anthony Bourdain, a French brewery with good food, lovely help, a neat space. Moderately priced, with twenty-dollar steaks of every sort and a good "Paris-cafe" spread. The crème brulée was to die for...

Anyhow, that's my weekend in a nutshell. I may be taking a little day-trip in a few days to Montauk, if we get a snowstorm... M. Benjamin and I are dead-set on seeing a snowy beach! Meet you in Montauk, everyone....

Oh, the Grand Romance!

2010-01-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

Last night, Jamie and I went out to see the newly-released-in-the-US The Young Victoria, which was quite the cinematic feast for the eyes:
Although it was neither historically accurate nor a perfectly packaged film, I wanted to see it because:

1) I love the Victoria-Albert romance, in any way, shape, form...
2) Pretty dresses! Need I say more?
3) Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend--as pretty a couple as their characters.
4) Sweeping views of England... *sigh*

For my purposes, the film was quite enjoyable, despite it's ineffective plot arc and awkward ending. The acting (especially on Blunt's part) was fantastic, and the romance was realistic and lovely, and the art direction, including costumes, sets, cinematography, etc., was fantastic. And I can't lie--it felt pretty epic to walk back to campus in a pseudo-Edwardian outfit of a jumper, several petticoats, thick cotton holdup stockings, heeled boots, and muff. It's good to feel a little vintage once in a while. :)

Tomorrow, I go to New York to meet M. Benjamin at the Met for a little walk in the park, an antiques show at the Armory, used book shopping, and dinner. Wish me luck finding the epic poems I will need for this semester....

As I Make Yet Another Cup of Tea...

2010-01-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am back on the East Coast, enjoying my first real morning in my cozy little room in Bronxville. It is both lovely and strange to have returned to New York--strange mostly because it was colder in California when I left than it is in the East, which has disappointed me entirely (Who comes to New York in January and finds it warmer than their central-California home? Honestly, Jack Frost, where are your priorities?), and lovely because, the more time I spend here, the more I love the quiet quaintness of Eastern forests and peaceful independence of my own routine.

Tuesday, the day I arrived at JFK, was my and my Sweetheart's two-year anniversary, so we enjoyed our (final) long-distance reunion at Grand Central station, and a lovely dinner together. Two years after we met fatefully in Anaheim, we've finally been able to give up this wretched long-distance business to settle down within a half-hour of each other. He's already finding his experience at the School of Visual Arts to be both pleasurable and beneficial, and is enjoying Manhattan. It's so incredible to know that, from where I sit in Bronxville, I could enjoy his company with a mere train ride into the city...

On top of being so near my gentleman friend, it is ice to slip into my oh-so-beloved morning routine here. I awaken (or, more am awoken by roommate), open the blinds and the windows that look out on Mead Way, where the squirrels nest in the tall conifers, make tea (currently, Ahmad English Tea No. 1 with a little sugar and heavy cream), scoop some Greek yoghurt for breakfast and doll it up with honey, wheat germ, and whole flax seeds, check all my favourite blogs, call my mum, pour a bath and soak while reading Dorian Gray, dress in all the necessary layers to brave New York winters in a skirt, enjoy another cup of tea, and then off to class (or, lunch). I love to watch the squirrels and the nuthatches scrabbling around the tree trunks from my lovely perch on the wide windowsill. I love the quiet murmuring of the water about to boil in my mug.

Before I wax too terribly romantic about life here in the East, I shall depart to shop for a microwave egg boiler (such blasphemy, yes, but I make do with what I have!) and learn how to make toast on my radiator... And for those of you who love toast as much as I do, you should pop over to The Art of Toast to read all about the warm, crispy goodness!

A Post-Holiday Bagel

2010-01-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

I apologize for my absence from the blogosphere this holiday season, but I admit that being home keeps me busier than I'd bargained for. Last night, I returned from Quincy via the Sacramento airport to give M. Benjamin his big send-off to Manhattan. Today he begins his move into his room on Lexington Avenue, in a building managed by SVA, where he will be living for the rest of the semester. Oh, how immensely excited I am to be living a mere half-hour away from him! After living--at the shortest distance--four hours apart for nearly two years, it is a welcome relief to know that we can just eat dinner together. Not to mention that I am thrilled for him to begin his études at art school. He's been waiting for this for a long time, and it's been such a wonderful journey to attend with him.

Christmas here in the central valley fluctuated nearly daily between sleepy and hectic--a quiet Christmas day, followed by a successfully high-energy Yule party (an annual tradition amongst my friends here in California, with potluck-style baked goods, much dancing to pop music we would otherwise not be caught dead listening to, and a bonfire in the backyard), and then a trip north for a happy little dinner-and-wine walkabout in Meadow Valley to ring in the new year.

Today, with my Peach busily unpacking his bags on the other coast, I shall begin the task of making mittens for him and myself out of a giant thrifted men's sweater which shall look eons better as mittens than as a sweater. It's a great modified-stripes pattern in light grey, cerulean blue, mossy green, plum, and dark brownish-orange. Perhaps my first tutorial if they come out alright?

Also, I am reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, a favourite of Jamie's after she read it for a Lit class this semester. We've assessed that Dorian Gray : Jamie as Lolita : me (can't believe I just pulled that middle-school analogy format out of my head). These are two of our favourite books, respectively with characters we feel ultimately drawn to despite their obvious, unforgivable character flaws. I recommend them both if you want some intense poetic tragedy. Not to mention the clothing descriptions in both will simply knock your socks off. Lolita may be the source of my passions for petticoats, hair ribbons, and red lipstick (not to mention saddle oxfords...).

Well, much to do today, but many wishes to all for a fond recovery from the holidays. :) Pictures of Christmas goodies later on if the light gets better later on today, perhaps.

Home Sweet Home

2009-12-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

For my first big cooked meal home, my Mum and I made a huge pot of our favourite vegetarian minestrone soup. This is a staple wintertime recipe in our household, and we alter it continually depending on what's in season and whether or not we want meat. Neither of us can remember where we found the basic recipe, but perhaps it was the newspaper? Anyhow, here are some shots of the lovely heap of produce we put into this pot:

This is why, despite what I say, I love California. Look at these bee-YOO-tee-ful veggies!Clockwise from top left: zucchini, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, curly kale, string beans, celery, and spinach.
Even our compost pile is pretty!

The pot filling up with spinach...

Here's our recipe (for this pot--sometimes we add ground hamburger or different veggies)

Minestrone Soup

Chop and add to pot the following:
1 cup onions
1 cup celery
2 cups carrots
2 cups cabbage
1 cup kale
1 cup spinach
1 cup zucchini
1 cup mushrooms
5 cloves garlic
1 cup green beans
Add:
1 28-oz can tomatoes
1 49 1/2-oz can vegetable broth
1 15-oz can white beans
4 cups water
1/2 tsp. red chili flakes
1 1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
s&p to taste
Simmer 2-3 hours and serve with a dash of grated Parmesan cheese (or not, if you're vegan!)
And, due to our late start at getting this pot on the stove, we staved off our hunger with a little appetizer of kalamata olive bread and smoked Gouda from our local farmer's market, and a beautiful Cameo apple:

At JFK--Again.

2009-12-18T13:58:00.000-08:00

I am at JFK airport, waiting in the terminal for my flight back home to California to board. If there is one thing in particular that I am rather thankful for right now, it is free WiFi in the jetBlue terminal. Makes my life soooo much happier before a long flight.

I had the lovely fortune today to share a train ride from Bronxville to Grand Central Station with my biggest friend-crush (don't you just love that phrase, "friend-crush"? It's so accurate at a place like Sarah Lawrence where you see all these neat people you wish were your friends) on campus, Emma. We had a wonderful conversation about crafting and cold weather, and played a bout of cat's cradle with the twine wound round my wrist, which delighted me to no end. I though Kevyn and I were the only two people our age who still know how to play cat's cradle! Not the case, to my happy surprise. Anyhow, Emma, if you're out there in the blogosphere, thank you for your company--it was a pleasure.

Still have near an hour before my flight boards, so I'll go dig into my dinner of cranberry Stilton with wheat crackers, radishes and snap peas, and pumpkin seeds. I'm so happy that my cute little reusable snack bags came out so well. The little sailboat print is darling, I think, and they've held up well to washings. Not to mention they're so much more sustainable than Ziploc baggies. Remind me to post pictures sometime...

Happy Christmas, New York!

2009-12-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

Two days from now, I leave New York for 2009. With conference work over with, all my papers and projects turned in, library books returned, and (most of) my household chores finished before I leave, I am just about jumping out of my skin ready to get home for a month of zero obligation. Jamie and I celebrated our holiday together with a "romantic" night out in the city. Here are some photographs of the lovely lights that we saw last night:

Some big fat lights near Rockefeller Square

The Bryant Park Tree... which I may like even more than the Rockefeller one.

The tree at Rockefeller (came from my home Sierras)

Radio City Music Hall...

Saks lights and a bus--

Creepy Saks window display--don't know what they were going for in this ridiculously sparkly animated snowflake tripped-out star thing. WTF mate.

Pretty fresh cuttings on a storefront near St. Patrick's--I love the smell of holiday season. :)

Voted "Best Roof in New York City, 2009" by Jamie. See, she can be mindful--about...roofs...?

I took many pictures of these lovely, colour-changing stars in the mall at Columbus Circle--they are better seen in rapid succession, so that you can see the different colour combinations--but this picture captures it fairly well, I think.

Well, I did my best to record the magic of NYC at Christmas. I hope everyone is "going home" for the holidays soon, and enjoying it as much as I will be. Happy Winter!

Shameless Plug...

2009-12-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

So, I must inform all of my readers that my lovely gentleman friend has likewise started a blog, which will eventually have pictures and information about his art, as well as about his life. I've added him to my blogroll--he's under On Clocks and Transience. There are no pictures or anything yet. but there will be shortly enough. Unfortunately, he has limited internet access where he lives, so they may be a little time in coming. In any case, please check it out once it gets up and running for good. If you like me, you will like him. :) Back to conference work now, but I thought I'd let everyone know.

New Owl Boots!

2009-12-08T07:02:00.000-08:00

I got these in the mail when I got back to the city, and I couldn't be happier with them! Fossil brand owl rain-boots:

They look equally cute with tights and a skirt as they do with jeans, even on my skinny chicken legs.

Snow Angels

2009-12-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

The tyrannical sun has nearly melted the two inches of snow we received last night. I've never been so disappointed to see nice weather in my life.

Last night, with the snow as deep and as pretty as it was, I met up with a few friends and acquaintances for snow-angel-making and a bit of a snowball fight. I love winter so very much. When I come back to New York after break, all will be whited out. I can hardly wait.

I'm off the brunch with Jamie now, while my camera charges for some more pictures of the snow. Happy winter, all...

Nothing Short of Magic

2009-12-05T13:38:00.001-08:00

I was blissfully surprised by the first snowfall of the season this afternoon, while I was bundled up in my room, reading for my conference work. I've seen snow. I've seen it snow. I've even lived in now for short periods of time. But I've never seen a first snow. Nothing on Earth could have kept me from putting on my wool coat and Wellies to take a walk. I put on my big headphones and pumped Amiina's songs "Hilli" and "Sexfaldur" through them as a pretty soundtrack to the season's first bit of white.

It was really difficult to get any of the action on camera, but here's a try:

Here's the view out of my window.

Tomorrow morning there should be a pretty blanket of snow on the big Tudors across the street from my window--I can hardly wait.

The Trees Speak Riddles

2009-12-05T07:44:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let all my faithful readers (ahem) out there know that I've begun a new blog. Frustration with all of the disgustingly sparkly animated ads on my Livejournal account has persuaded me to post all my poetry on a Blogger site. The site is called "The Trees Speak Riddles" and you can reach it through my profile or by clicking the link. Hope it works out for the better. All my final draughts are posted there, and I hope to keep it fairly reasonably updated. Enjoy!

And the Dreaded Conference Weeks Begin...

2009-12-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

Stopped in for a quick lunch between conferences and its coziness on this blustery day felt worthy of a picture:

This is some organic butternut quash soup from my cute little local health food store, a slice of thick wheat bread, and some chunked-up provolone. Those are my cute little s&p shakers there on my laptop.

Almost done with my poetry conference project, a series of poems on quiet things called Tree Songs and a Second Winter, a title I'm raw-ther happy with at this point. All the poetry I've written this semester has finally been put up on my stubborn Livejournal, so please take a gander? Tree Songs isn't up yet, but expect it sometime next week.

Well, must be off to work on my History of Photography conference paper. Twenty pages, due next Friday. Eep. Prayers, zats (and ducks, if Amina is reading this) are all welcome, if anyone has any to spare!

Leaving Home

2009-11-30T09:19:00.000-08:00

A few last-minute chores here in California before I leave on a red-eye tonight for New York City. All of clothes to wash, a skirt to mend, an essay for Art History to finish writing and to print out, embroidery floss to pack up (I daresay I may have discovered a new favourite hobby!), pictures and music to transfer to my Macbook form the family computer (all the Europe pictures and my Decemberists albums somehow missed the summer media transfer), a mix CD to make for my Papa for his guitar students, a set of wonderful Grandparents to visit and say goodbye to, and a lunch to pack. I don't really want to be leaving home, but I comfort myself in knowing that I'll be back in California in three weeks or so. It's going to be a hectic three weeks, too. Conference Weeks have begun.

I wonder if it will snow in New York before I leave.

The beginning of December always makes me feel a little strange and melancholy. I just want to isolate myself with massive quantities of lavender tea and the Sigur Rós () album on repeat. But I have too much to do to do said isolating.

For the record, one of my favourite bloggers has just published a wonderful list of homemade holiday gift tutorials. I plan on using a couple of these this holiday season...

Pozole Verde (Another Recipe, I know--but I'm a Mad Cooking Fiend)

2009-11-29T12:23:00.001-08:00

Last night's dinner was an old home favourite or mine that my mom and I invented by combining some recipes a few years ago. Being from California, Mexican dishes are a staple in the household, and pozole--a pork-hominy soup with fresh veggies--is a favourite this time of year. This a leaner version of the traditional, with chicken breasts instead of ham-hocks, and a little prettier, as all the ingredients are white and green. Especially nice when the cream cheese melts into the broth. :) Also, this recipe easily feeds 6-8 people--but the broth base freezes well! I wish I'd thought to take another picture with the bowls full of all the fixings, but this will have to do--

2 lg cans chicken broth (49-1/2 oz each)
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4-6)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 lg onions, cut into large chunks
1 lg can (29 oz) yellow or white hominy

Add-ins--
chopped green onion
lettuce
avocados
cubed cream cheese
toasted tortilla strips (flour tortillas cut into thin strips and toasted dry in the oven at 400 for five-ten minutes)
green salsa
fresh cilantro
lime wedges

Combine broth, chicken, oregano, cumin seeds, and onions.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1/2 hour.
Strain broth and return to pot; reserve the chicken, toss out onions and herbs.
Shred or dice the chicken, and return to the pot with the can of hominy.
Heat ten-fifteen more minutes.

We serve all the add-ins in bowls or on a platter on the table and add them directly to individual bowls of the hot soup.

A Culinary Adventure

2009-11-24T14:01:00.000-08:00

Had a quiet day at home today with the Mister, reading and lazing about. We decided to invent a way to use up the excess of persimmons that my family has been receiving from a neighbor with a producing tree (the "hachiya" variety, which are nearly impossible to use unless they are near-rotten) and our results ended up fantastic. Here's our new (and highly successful) recipe...

Persimmon Tilapia on a Salad of Fennel and Fresh Herbs

For the salad:
Roughly chop a head of fennel into fork-manageable pieces, along with a handful of fresh herbs (we used basil, cilantro, and flat-leaf parsley). Toss together and dress very lightly with olive oil.

For the tilapia:
Dress fillets with a little garlic-infused olive oil (or just plain), some lemon zest, a little bit of lemon juice (no more than a half-teaspoon per fillet) and some fresh chopped fennel fronds. Bake at 400° F for about ten minutes, add a couple teaspoons of butter, then bake for five more minutes. We put it under the broiler for two minutes at the end, but this is optional.

For the persimmon sauce:
Start by melting 1 tbs butter in a pan over medium. Add about 1 tsp brown sugar, and let it melt. Add 2 tbs hachiya persimmon flesh (very ripe) and 1 clove minced garlic. Turn the heat down to medium-low to let the garlic soften, and andd a pinch each of ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and cayenne pepper, and a smidgen (maybe 1/2 tsp red-wine vinegar). Let cook down, then add 2-3 tbs white wine (we used a Bogle chardonnay). Finish with 1-2 more tbs of butter.

Lay the tilapia fillets on a bed of the fennel salad, drizzle with the persimmon sauce, and enjoy with some rice and/or crusty bread with a hard white cheese!

Serendipity in NYC

2009-11-20T14:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finally made the long journey home to California to spend Thanksgiving with my family, friends and sweetheart. It was a long flight (after a long, networking journey on public transport in NYC and before a long journey home from the San Francisco airport in my parents' car) but so nice to return to my home and eat a long-awaited soft-boiled egg on buttered toast--a small luxury that gains worth with the inaccessibility of a kitchen to in my residence at school. However, before I record my domestic joys, I'd like to mention a wonderful experience I had the night before I left the city.

Thursday night, I attended a fabulous show in the city, at Webster Hall, on the prompting of my favourite blogger, one Mary Catherine Garrison, with whom the opening act was staying for the time being. I'd heard of the Watson Twins before--although I was admittedly unfamiliar with their music--and I'd certainly known about Joshua Radin, the headliner, for many years, so a few lady friends and myself took the train in for the evening to enjoy the music. Although Dana, India, and Annette were newbies to all of the performers' music--and did not share my underlying hope to meet the blogger I'd been following for nearly a year and a half--they became quick fans of both acts, and I have to admit that the show was, in effect, one of the best I'd been to. The Watson Twins were so much fun, and Mr. Radin turned out to be much more of a charismatic charmer than his introspective, moody whisper-rock suggests. Despite the fantastic time I was having with the music itself, my night was made truly special when one of the Watson Twins girls was kind enough to introduce me to Mary Catherine.

I was so excited with the warm response I received from her--reading her blog for so long, I've always felt she was a kindred spirit of sorts, and I was excited that she was so warm and happy to meet me. She looked adorable--but, then again, I always love her taste in la mode. We traded thoughts on the "blogosphere" and haircuts and parted with a hug. Anyone who reads (and likes) my blog should definitely investigate Little Red Fox. She writes about all things artsy, craftsy, domestic, delicious, and vintage--her life is a beautiful one to feel a part of through her blog. I hope to bump into you again, soon, Mary Catherine!

Well, 'tis time once again to don the apron, as I have radishes to pickle and artichoke-crab dip to bake before my dovely arrives from his long journey South to meet me. I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving feast--to be sure, this Holiday is the only dedicated to eating, of which I approve with all high opinions!

Scanwiches

2009-11-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

I have, through the wonderful Gourmet magazine website, discovered a food blog unlike any I have ever seen. Check it out for yourself:

Scanwiches Blog

It's just scans of delicious-looking sandwiches. Bizarre and entrancing. Try clicking on one of the photos in order to make it bigger. So worth it.

Etsy Storque's Ten Ways to Change the World!

2009-11-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

1. Decline plastic bags wherever possible.

2. Plant something.

3. Shop locally.

4. Give your change to charity.

5. Try watching less TV.

6. Turn off unnecessary lights.

7. Eat more meals together.

8. Use a mug, not a disposable cup.

9. Buy fair-trade products.

10. Write to someone who inspires you.

The Power of Joseph Campbell

2009-11-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

I've been spending what little free time I've had this week watching the Joseph Campbell-Bill Moyers interview, The Power of Myth, and I must say that anyone--ANYONE--who hasn't seen this series already should do so, ASAP. A brilliant and deeply spiritual man who is also a wonderful story-teller and engaging speaker as well. Would that I had been alive to attend Sarah Lawrence while he still taught here. Conference work with him must have been fascinating.

Today is Prospective Students day, and my dorm is on show for them, so I'm just going to keep my door open and read this afternoon whilst they pass in and out on their tours. It's cheerfully wet outside today, so there should be nothing like snuggling up with some more reading, a pot of tea, and some soft piano music. My conference reading is slowly, slowly disappearing, amd I should be able to begin writing my paper soon. Good, good news. :)

I'll try to post a picture later, if I'm out and about with the camera. If not, more soon one way or the other.

An Image from a Particularly Lovely Sunday...

2009-11-08T19:48:00.000-08:00

Reading for my conference project (Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible 1840-1900), one of my saddle oxfords with a cup of herbal tea from the TeaHaus, and the edge of my purple pic-nic blanket. Does it get any better then this for a balmy November afternoon?

Went to see the play that my roomie was in this evening, as well, a beautiful production of The Children's Hour. So tragic and beautiful, and set in the gorgeous 1930's. Sarah Lawrence puts on a wonderful open-stage play. Lauren was wonderful, as well, and it was great to see her on stage. Hats off to the ladies and gentlemen in our theatre department. (Isn't it awful that spell-check doesn't recognize "theatre"?) Not to mention that I never mind an excuse to dress a little more than usual (tonight, in a teal babydoll dress with fine black polka-dots and lace at the sleeves, navy wool trench, black, back-seam stockings, and my dark red patent t-straps). Anyhow, the play was definitely one I'd recommend for someone who wants something tragic--apparently Audrey Hepburn starred in its film adaptation in 1961. Worth checking out? Certainly perhaptual.

Goodnight, all, and off to Hartsdale to the craft store there tomorrow morning. Looking for fabric paint and cherry-printed gingham. Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday, Annette! We MacCrackers Love You!

2009-11-08T10:08:00.000-08:00

Today is Good Buddy Annette's birthday, and the girls and I had a night out on the town last night in celebration. Here's a collage of our evening in words and pictures:

Exhibit 1: Massive quantities of Thai food at Aura on 9th Ave. consumed: Tom Ka, a soup of lime and coconut juice with herbs and mushrooms, Pad Thai, lemongrass chicken with green papaya salad, beef salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, and lots of chili, cashew nut chicken, and Thai iced teas and coconut juice. Here are Annette and Dana with the leftovers. They actually had to pull over another table to accommodate all our food. :)

Followed by coffee on Times Square's Red Steps. India provides Dana with her caffeinated sustenance.

My abnormally high body temperature regulates Jamie's abnormally low one. So does my scarf. I look like I'm giving her a power headlock, though.

Bright lights, big city.
India looking like a villain on the subway. Jamie looking pensive. That's Annette's arm in the red.
All of us on the Red Steps in Times Square: me, Annette, India, Dana, and Jamie. I wish Parisa had been there, as well, but she's home in California for her cousin's wedding. Sound familiar? Anyhow, that was our fabulous celebration of Annette's eighteenth in the city (New York is The City for me now. So intensely strange) and we had a lovely time. Happy birthday, my friend!

Good Morning, Lovely Readers, Whoever You May Be!

2009-11-07T07:25:00.000-08:00

Woke up feeling raw-ther optimistic this morning. Got the essential Good Night's Sleep (slept almost ten hours, woot!) and have much much much reading for the weekend--have a formal project proposal due for my Scientific Photography paper due on Thursday--but I've got a fridge brimming with Fage Greek yoghurt and cheap brie and I've been finding new blogs of which I thought I'd give you a quick tour...

wish jar -- the delightful blog of writer and illustrator and guerrilla artist Keri Smith, who is pretty much one of my favourite people in the world. I buy all her books like a mad fiend, and her blog is just as good as they are.

We Love You So -- a Keri Smith recommendation--the blog of Spike Jonze for his production of Where the Wild Things Are. Mainly a collection of the things that inspire him and such. I love the aesthetics of this blog as well.

I'll update with any more that particularly catch my eye, but for now... :) Hope you enjoy as much as I do. It's gotten silly how much I look forward to seeing what these people have to say.

Well, it's breakfast time in Bronxville, so I must be off for yoghurt with honey and dried fruit and nuts on top.

Most of the Leaves Have Fallen Now

2009-11-04T06:38:00.000-08:00

Mornings in November may just be my very favourite things. This morning I rose a little after eight to find the cool sunlight pouring into my East-facing windows and a lilting Debussy piano piece drifting up through the floor from the dance studio on the lower level of MacCracken. There must be a ballet class there on Wednesday mornings--on some mornings it's tribal drums I hear, which are fun, but not as gently awakening as the old piano whose notes tinkle and sway.

The perpetually bored Jamie has asked the perpetually entertained Juli Anna for ideas for things to do (of which she only likes one of every thirty or so :)), and the only thing she's really liked the sound of so far is altering clothing with paint and thread, so we may take a walk into town to visit the Bargain Bin this week, a charity thrift store attached the hospital, to look for appropriately alter-able clothing. I'm going to show her how to make stencils and such. should be a fun crafty time. Speaking of which, I still have a bag of gathered buckeyes, acorns, and autumn leaves that I haven't the faintest idea what to do with. If anyone has a suggestion that is not making jewelry, please let me know? They're too pretty to let rot.

I'm off to my Epics class this morning, and then some marathon poetry writing for my conference with Dennis tomorrow. Oh, Muses, ye shall not forsake me yet!

A Happy Samhain to All, and to All, a Good Night

2009-11-01T14:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Halloween, the overwhelmingly favourite holiday of myself and my peers. The holiday this year was made particularly pleasant by the presence in New York of my own darkling, one Mister Michael Benjamin Herndon. We spent the day at the New York Botanical Gardens, in the Bronx, with a couple of all-garden passes and pic-nic for two. It was a beautiful, mild, drizzly day and we ate a delicious lunch of goat's milk brie, baguette, tortellini salad with cherry tomatoes, and Bartlett pears before we meandered about the garden taking in the phenomenal autumn colours. Here are some photos--

You can see how bleakly beautiful October is here. I wish I could just bottle it up.

And, of course, it simply isn't Halloween without a party or two! My lady friends here on Campus invited me to a party at the Harlem apartment of a friend of theirs, so M. Benjamin and I dressed up (he as a Red Hat Lady, and I as Artemis, the goddess of the hunt) and went with Jamie into the city for the evening. We met Dana, Annette, India, and her boyfriend Nick there and stayed till nearly one before heading back home. Here are more pictures for you:

There's Michael Benjamin as a Red Hat Lady. Stunning, don't you think? I particularly like the post-menopausal whiskers he has going on there...

India and Nick getting sexy with the pizza.

The MacCracken Ladies, from left: Dana, India, me, and Annette. Jamie had already left and Parisa hadn't come along, but with those two, the six of us plan on living together next year.

So that's it! Hope your Halloween was as much fun as mine!

L'Automne Vive!

2009-10-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today was the most beautiful autumn day that I have just about ever seen. It was brilliantly sunny and clear, around 65-70 degrees all day--just perfect for a light cardigan--and the colours were all freshened and brightened up from yesterday's rains. I enjoyed some lounging about on the North Lawn, reading The Poetics of Natural History, and feasting on a sack lunch of first-crop California almonds (thank you, Grandpapa and Grandmama!), figs, radishes, clementines, ginger-lemon cookies, and a petite peanut-butter-and-strawberry-peach-jam sandwich. I sipped oolong from the TeaHaus (don't you just love it when you can pay for something entirely in coins? It makes me feel one part starving artist and one part Regency maiden...) and reclined at a pic-nic table to enjoy my reading. I've finished the first essay, on father-and-son naturalist duo John and William Bartram, who lived in the Eastern US during the later half of the eighteenth century. I daresay this book is a fantastic read, and turning out to be a perfect source for my Photography conference paper on scientific illustration and photography.

Anyhow, I must say I indulged myself once again with the foliage through my lens, so here are a few more photographs--

Here's the leftover compost of my lunch:

Overall, a lovely afternoon.

Jamie and I went to see Bright Star at the Bronxville Clearview Cinemas last night. It was an indulgently beautiful film, one which entranced me from the opening close-up of a needle and thread weaving carefully in and out of a sheet of fabric. Bring hankies, ladies (and gentlemen). It's lovely, but tragic...

Oh Rivulets, Oh Juniper, Oh Dipping Sparrows...

2009-10-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

I awoke to a mild, grey morning, with everything all silvered from last night's rains. Seeing as Bronxville is smack dab in the middle of a season's change, I thought I'd take advantage of the cool, wet light this day had to offer me. Here are some of the results of a walk about campus, under the cover of my umbrella, as it began to sprinkle--

And then, the rain began...

I may take advantage of the rainy campus to gather some natural materials for some sort of craft project. My world is swimming with acorns, berries, leaves, and chestnuts presently! In fact, my literature professor gifted each of us with freshly gathered chestnuts yesterday--it's said that they have a bit of magic in them. I plan to drill a hole in mine and string it on a cotton ribbon woven with twine. We'll see how it turns out...

For now, I leave the warmth and comfort of my dorm for another foray into the wet weather. Dear reader, wherever you might be, enjoy your own autumn, and begin your gathering-up for winter-time!

A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

2009-10-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

I spent this last weekend (an extended one, at that) in California for the long-awaited wedding of my cousin Wendy and her fiancé, Chris. It was a beautiful affair in Three Rivers; intimate, simple, classic, and celebratory. This ceremony was not only an exchange of vows for Chris and Wendy, but also the union of a family, with Wendy's eleven-year-old son, Scotty, an integral part of the marriage. We all had a wonderful time, and I was even the recipient of a happy surprise when my own dear one, Michael Benjamin, caught the tossed garter! Don't worry, though, everyone--wedding plans have a few more years ahead of them.

Here are some photos of the happy event:

My family's table...

Michael Benjamin and myself, taken by Scotty...

Max gets his groove on before the ceremony--he does a mean Jerk.

Remembrance table for my Uncle Marc, Wendy's Dad...

Wendy, glowing just after the ceremony...

The cake!

The first dance--and hopefully some adorable ginger babies soon!

The whole wedding was a beautiful success; everyone had a wonderful time, and I've never seen Wendy and Chris so happy. Best of luck to you two, and all my love!

For All of You Who Were There, and All Who Weren't

2009-10-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of videos that, for sentimental reasons, I dug up on YouTube and decided to embed here. I remember watching these practices, on sticky summer nights, sprawled out on the cool field at the high school, watching the slick shadows of moths play around the tall lights--Some things about high school weren't so awfully dull--

This is "Hide and Seek," 2006.

And "e-motion," 2007.

To this day, I get goosebumps and excited, stinging tears when I watch these videos. Some of the most beautiful performances I've ever seen. Who would have thought that Imogen Heap would get along so well with marching bands? Again, this is for all of you who saw these alongside me, and those of you who've never thought that marching bands could be cool, and especially for my brother, who is the tallest tuba player on each of those fields... :)

A Friday Night

2009-10-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of my Friday night--Will and I spent a few hours in the Black Squirrel, he shooting pool with some other guys and I drinking Nutella hot cocoa (CAN you believe it!?) and taking photographs. I guess it was somewhat fruitful, although the lighting was poor...

Here's Will shooting.

Green felt huzzah.

Will's feet and cue.

I've spent more time than I care to admit drinking various Nutella beverages and watching all the boys shoot pool than I care to admit... but there are certainly worse ways to spend an empty Friday night.

2009 Saw Mill River Parkway BIOBLITZ

2009-09-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

On this past Saturday, I journeyed with several other resident "nature nerds" here at college to the campus of Pace University, in Pleasantville, New York, just outside of Sleepy Hollow (I know, right?!) for an interesting nation-wide event known as the BioBlitz. Held locally at the Saw Mill River Parkway, it was a two-day event in which many local scientists, naturalists, and ambitious students arranged in teams sought to identify and report as many species as possible within the area. They focused mainly on animals, plants and fungi, and I volunteered for the tedious, but rewardingly fascinating job of data entry; I took the lists from the various teams and entered the lists of species, locations, and scientific names into a computer database. It was long, but after much counting, categorizing, and re-assigning, we came up with a conservative estimate of at least 636 species in that little area! Go Hudson River Valley! It was wonderful to be on the job of data entry, if only to be able to familiarize myself with the still-unfamiliar wildlife in this beautiful area.

Perhaps out of this recent interest pique, I've begun reading a collection of essays called The Poetics of Natural History, a birthday gift from the best friend, which is blowing my mind with its beauty and thoughtfulness. Thanks, my dearest and loveliest lady friend, wherever and whenever you may be reading this!

Merry Mabon, Everyone!

2009-09-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of autumn, or Mabon, according to Celtic mythology. Here in New York, I can feel the season approaching more and more quickly--the wind is restless, the cicadas are slowly being silenced, and even the dogwoods are turning pink and showing off Christmas-red fruit. It is still sundress weather in the daytime, but at night it cools into something smooth and playful, and the two resident skunks here on campus are taking advantage of the mild weather. I see them scrounging in the rubbish bin outside my dormitory almost every night.

I finished the David Attenborough BBC series, The Life of Birds yesterday on my Netflix online account. It was thoroughly enjoyable, although I've endured no end of teasing from Jamie and the others for being such a nature dork. Speaking of which, I've found out about the hiking/exploration group here on campus--GORP, which stands for something of course, but the R eludes me. So far, the groups I have joined or am looking to join are that one and the SLC Stitch N Bitch (so I can learn to knit!).

I'm off to my history of photography class now, so I shall leave this post, but I thought I'd drop in for a hello. Once again, a merry Mabon to everyone, and I hope it cools down in Modesto soon!

Fox and Deer

2009-09-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I'll develop this imagery in a later piece of writing, but for now, just gaze upon the adorableness:
It's a little like M. Benjamin and me, don't you think? He's all lanky and gentle and quiet, like a deer, and I am all pointy and quick and busy like a fox. Would that either of our ears were as cute as these little guys'!

From the Top of the Rocks

2009-09-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was Laura's birthday, so we spent the evening in the city. It's a funny thing, but the whole experience made me feel, for the first time, that I'm actually living here in New York.

We took a train into Grand Central and then hopped the Subway from there to our first destination, a lovely Mexican restaurant called Rosa Mexicano. While the entrées were priced a bit outside our budgets, we took advantage of their sizable and reasonably priced appetizer menu to build for ourselves a meal. Jamie and Laura each ordered the tortilla soup for a "first course," and were surprised to see it come to the table in two vessels apiece: they were each given a bowl with a little heap of chicken, fried tortilla strips, queso fresco, and avocado, and then our server poured in over the mound a thick, brick-red soup. I ordered the house salad to start off, which was a pile of mixed greens, shredded carrots and jicama, quarters red and yellow grape tomatoes, and a delicate, sweet-and-spicy vinaigrette with mint and sweet peppers.

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we got our second dishes. Laura and Jamie had ordered the flautas and taquitos, respectively, and I ordered a dish called "Zarape de Pato," which will go down in history as one of the most delectable dishes that has ever passed between these lips. It was made of tender, juicy, seasoned duck, shredded with spices and sandwiched between two soft corn tortillas and drenched over with a smooth, sweet, creamy puréed corn sauce. It was fantastic, sweet, spicy, smokey, and the duck was cooked as I've never seen it before--not chewy, not stringy, not tough, and not overly gamey. We left very full and very happy, and walked next to Rockefeller Square, where we had previously purchased tickets to go up to the "Top of the Rocks," at the top of the Rockefeller building. I need say not a thing--here are the photos:

Some of them are a little blurry, but I think it only adds to the charm.

You always here people describe the lights of New York City, the silver and neon, the sky that's never black, but it's another thing entirely to see it, and from above. Looking out over the city, with the golden September moon above me, I cannot say that I felt as though I were home. But I can say that this whole experience no longer felt like summer camp.

We walked about the city a little more after that and then caught a 10:30 train back to Bronxville. We were tired and our feet were thrashed, but we'd had a lovely time.

Almost Forgotten...

2009-09-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

I realized this morning that I never posted the surprise I mentioned I had worked on for Michael Benjamin. It was a sidewalk mural, the remains of which I'm sure are long-gone by now. Such is the ephemeral beauty of impermanent street art...

I suppose that's why cameras were invented.

Just imagine these images as left-to-right instead of up-to-down... It's a peach tree in blossom, swarming with honeybees, and it says, "For my Peach, from his Honeybee."

Interviewing Begins in the Hudson River Valley! We All Go Dotty! Yippee!

2009-09-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know that anyone who reads by blog will recognize the subtle Sufjan Stevens reference in the above title. Maybe Sean.

Anyhow, the arduous process of interviewing our professors for classes has begun. This experience, set to the sometimes subtle, sometimes unbearable soundtrack of clicking high heels, frantic asking for directions, and summer cicadas, is unlike any I've ever had. I will admit that despite its anxious effect on my nerves is somewhat counteracted by the fact that searching for all these people's offices has led be to some beautiful and yet-undiscovered corners of the campus, like Andrews House, with its round stone tower, winding staircase, and archways, and the campus Greenhouse, all abloom with all sorts of roses and hydrangeas.

The stress of interviews has caused my friends and I a bit of counter-stress craziness. Observe our anti-dance dance party:

This is Jamie rocking out to some of her excellent music. She should never eat cookies, as they cause her much injury.

Laura loves to wear robes and does an excellent slow-motion seagull dance.

Jamie and I rock the Molly Ringwald. In this picture, she has evolved into full-fledged Anglophile by means of this epic jacket.

So that's a sneak-peek at our reaction to this process.

Below, I want to publish a slightly more nostalgic picture--this is the crew of tried-and-true friends who saw me off to Oakland so very early on Thursday morning. Look how wonderful they are...

That's my darling Peach, Michael Benjamin, myself, Navaz, and Kevyn. How I love them all!

Orientation at SLC

2009-08-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

I've moved into my dorm now and am thoroughly thrilled. My roomie is great (her name is Lauren) and the building is beautiful. Our room was actually a kitchen until the early nineties, so it's a little funky, with slanted tile floors, lots of extraneous pipes, and a stripey wall texture. I had meant to post photos, but I don't know if that's in compliance of SLC policy yet, as blogs are considered a sort of publishing. Hopefully though, pictures will follow shortly.

I've made friends with a pair of roommates down the hall from Lauren and me. Their names are Jamie and Laura, and the four of us have taken to attending many of the mandatory functions together. I've gotten lucky so far with the food--if it stays this good all year, we are in for a treat. there have been tons of fresh vegetables, marinated tofu, and today we got crabcakes for lunch, with a decent Hollandaise! Not bad for dorm food.

Today we had to sit through a three-hour lecture on fire safety and campus security and such, and we have another lecture at two. Fun Stuff.

Well, I'll post picture when I know I can, but until then, my writing will have to suffice.

2009-08-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

Finished my last day of work with my Auntie Cathleen this morning--my Macbook has been purchased, boxes sent and received. Today, I took in my winter wools for cleaning and will be making a stop at Countryman's Jewelers to have some jewelry repaired. Many small chores still anticipate my doing before I leave--mending, sorting, organizing, packing, typing, and printing--but for now I am on hold at an enormous precipice. My own Mr. Herndon arrives tomorrow evening, just before my going-away party. I have a surprise for him, which I have not yet finished. It is odd to think that this is my last week in Modesto.

My whole life I have seen high school as but a means by which to go to college, and college as just a means by which to get a job. Somehow, though, in this moment, it seems bigger than that.

A Film/Food Dichotomy

2009-08-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I had a rather curious experience regarding watching two very different films about food in one day. The first film I saw, while eating an enormous box of Whoppers and drinking a Coke, was Julie and Julia.

The film was entertaining, and it's portrayal of French cooking left one hungering for lobster, duck, and all other sorts of delicacies. However sick the enormous amount of sugar I had consumed had caused me to feel, I still went home craving Coq Au Vin.

Later in the evening, my bestie and I went to see a film with a far more cynical take on the occupation of eating:

This was certainly one of the best documentaries of the year, in my opinion. It did a good job of presenting facts and appealing to emotions without becoming too sensationalist. Overall, it truly made me rethink the food industry and my own buying habits.

I'm already a label-reader when it comes to every product I buy: food, cosmetics, dish soap, you name it. I have a certain "checklist" which I usually make sure the product meets before I buy it, including things like people-tested, organic, no parabens, no palm oil, etc. But before this movie, I had never really thought about corn and soybeans, and how those industries are mostly ruining our environment and our bodies.

Here's a list posted on the site for the film of 10 simple things you can do to change our food system:

1. Stop drinking soda and other sweetened beverages.

2. Eat at home instead of eating out.

3. Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards.

4. Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks.

5. Meatless Mondays--Go without meat on day a weeks.

6. Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides.

7. Protect family farms; visit your local farmer's market.

8. Make a point to know where your food comes from--READ LABELS.

9. Tell Congress that food safety is important to you.

10. Demand job protection for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections.

I hope that anyone out there who reads my blog (if there's anyone out there that reads my blog...) will make a point to see this documentary, learn more about the issues at hand, and make fair choices about the products they choose to consume. We are not helpless to the system!

Another Blogger's List

2009-08-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

I found this via another blogger's site, and I thought I'd try it here. It's a list of one hundred foods every omnivore should try. Sorry, but I can't figure out how to make the blue go away. :(

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Italicize all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The Omnivore's 100

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche (If you count the ice cream...)
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat (I had it BBQ'd, not curried)
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Xenophobe vs. Xenophile

2009-08-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

I realized just yesterday, as I was perusing some past entries here, just how frequently I espouse the superiority of non-American cultures. I am, to use a term borrowed from humour writer Robert Lanham, a bit of a hexpatriate, an "expatriate who never actually [left] the county. They just speak ill of (hex) America's corruption and lack of refinement." However, one finds oneself in a strange predicament as a xenophile in a predominantly xenophobic culture--it leaves me in a constant state of unrest as I continually plan my life elsewhere, instead of living what I have to live here.

On the subject of xenophilia, I must expose my new obsession: Bento! O-bento is Japanese lunch in a box. The Japanese are the only culture to my knowledge to glorify the lunchbox as much as they do! Bento is packed in a compartmented box and bought from a shop or packed at home, and often included all sort of delicious finger-foods, like rice balls, pickled fruits and vegetables, sushi, fish, and eggs. Here's a pic:
Cute, no? Mothers often take special care packing their children's lunches, as you can see, to be cute. Look at the little seaweed faces on the rice and egg!

FABLES

2009-08-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

So, I have an embarrassing admission to make. As a child, I never gave a stinking hoot about comics--even when I got romantic notions about them after reading the Amelia books. When I was young, I tried to get into them, but none of them caught my interest. Now, at nineteen, I have finally discovered one that I cannot put down. It is--dum dum dum DUM--

I've now finished Volume 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers, which was the MOST EPIC volume yet; I am making my way slowly but surely through the book volumes before I start buying it monthly in New York. I've only finished up to issue twenty-seven (number 87 was published this month!) so I still have a long trek ahead of. I have a feeling, however, that it will be worthwhile.

Now, for a bit of a synopsis--the series revolves around a rather extensive collection of characters, all of whom the ordinary person knows a little about to begin with, because they are the characters of fairy tales: Snow White and Bigby (think Big Bad) Wolf are essential, as well as Rose Red, Jack Horner (of beanstalk fame), Goldilocks, Prince Charming, and Beauty and the Beast. After being dispelled from their historical lands by a vaguely ugly, powerful, evil force known as The Adversary, they travelled to this world to live among the normal, or Mundy, people. They have a secret, underground community (how can you not love that!) known as Fabletown in New York City, and the comic follows all of the various shenanigans between the Fables and their enemies and friends. It has everything you want in a guilty-pleasure comic: romance, crime, sex, action, humor, awesome references to namesake fairy tales, and some deliciously bright-red bloodshed every now and again. Also, having been a lover of graphic novels and even some manga for several years, I enjoy the vintage, film noir, classic feel of this comic, the traditional illustrations and suspense, and the feeling I get when I read it of wishing I were wearing a full, wide skirt, pigtails, and saddle oxfords and sipping a cherry coke at a fountain while I read. :)

A New Intrigue...

2009-08-09T13:27:00.001-07:00

I've always been a lover of tea and tea ritual from all over the world, and a new aspect of this culture has only yesterday come to my attention: Dim Sum. It's a dining experience I've enjoyed numerous time since Dynasty Gardens opened in my home town and became the only Chinese restaurant around to serve this style of lunch, comprised of small, finger-foodie usually steamed dishes to be served alongside traditional tea. This tea ritual, or yum cha, has provided the world many delicious, bite-sized delicacies, and I would like to talk now about one of them: sticky rice in lotus leaves, or lo mai gai. I experienced this treat for the first time yesterday, and it has fast become one of my favourite foods in the world. I saw its lovely picture on the dim sum menu and, automatically intrigued by any sort of food wrapped in leaves, I ordered it.

When it arrived, I carefully unwrapped the steaming package with my fork to reveal a serving of moist, fragrant rice, which I quickly began to devour. on reaching the center of the package, I met with a nice surprise--a nugget of sweet sausage and a pile of teeny-tiny shrimp! All of this amid a variety of rice so sweet, so earthy and herbal . . . it was almost too much!

I'm in the process of looking for an easy enough recipe to make this phenomenal dish at home, but so far, it looks like they are all going to require ingredients I cannot come by and excessive quantities of time which I cannot procure. Hopefully, I will be able to master this, now easily one of my most favourite foods of all time.

17 Reasons Why Iceland Roxxors my Boxxors

2009-07-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

17. Iceland Ponies--super cute, hardy, and fun to ride; bred to be loyal and soft on the move.

16. Geologic activity--tons of volcanoes, hot springs, earthquakes. Plus, it is one of the "youngest" lands on Earth and one of the only places where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rises out of the ocean, making it integral to geologic historians.

15. Tundra Climate--not only stunningly beautiful (think cold, Northern Tolkeinian Middle Earth) but also surprisingly mild, dipping only barely below freezing during winter in capital Reykjavík. Despite its chilly name, the climate is often described as similar to that in Northern Scotland, mostly because of an ocean current which heats the West coast of the island.

14. The Sagas and Eddas--some of the most important works of Scandinavian folkloric literature, these histories were written in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, describing the earlier histories and mythologies of Iceland.

13. Turf Houses--houses covered in grass or built into hills for better insulation. Tell me these aren't the most charming things you've ever seen!
12. Birches--once the most commom native Icelandic tree, and appropriately pale and delicate.

11. Reykjavík--this beautiful capital city (and the most populous in the nation) has fewer inhabitants than Modesto, CA.

10. Arctic Foxes and Puffins--two of the cutest animal on Earth, which just happen to coexist in this magical place.
9. Scandinavian Sweaters--they keep you warm stylishly.

8. Fjords--okay, so you can find these all over Scandinavia, but tell me they aren't that much cooler in Iceland!

7. Environmental Concerns--Icelanders as a people tend to be very environmentally concerned. When you live in a place that is so directly affected by global warming, you have to be. A majority of the manufacturing processes use geothermal energy, wind power, and even tidal energy to operate.

6. Quality of Life--although it has made the news in the last year for a minor financial crisis, Iceland has, for the last five years, overall been rated in the top ten nations for quality of life in the world.

5. Reindeer--not originally native to Iceland, they were brought to the island in the 1800's, and are the largest land mammals in Iceland.

4. Jónsi and Alex--mostly the cutest couple who has ever lived, the lead singer of phenomenal band Sigur Rós and the artist who does much of the band's record design.

3. Vikings--Iceland's first settlers. Enough said.

2. Icelandic--the most beautiful language in the world, full of whimsical rolled R's and reminiscent of epic poetry, Icelandic is the closest "living" language to Old Norse. While incredibly difficult for English speakers to learn (especially if they are incapable of rolling their R's), this language imparts on its native speakers a most charming accent. Check out my earlier video of Cute Couple Jónsi and Alex to hear Jónsi's.

1. Music--Okay, just in case those who know me didn't see this one coming, let me enlighten my readers as to the magic and beauty of the Music of the North. Icelandic music tends to be all at once poetic, melancholy, epic, delicate, sacred, and fanciful, orchestrally full and climactic, yet intensel personal and quiet. Some amazing performers, the reasons why music is the number one reason Iceland roxxors my boxxors, are: Sigur Rós, Björk, Emiliana Torrini, the Sugarcubes, Bang Gang, Amiina, Ampop, and múm. Check them out--you will not be sorry!

You Can't Tell Me that Iceland Isn't Perfect....

2009-07-29T21:30:00.001-07:00

When they give us images like this. These are some beautiful Iceland Ponies in the beautiful Iceland wind...

Some more on Iceland soon, I think. <3<3<3

P.S. A Little Inspiration

2009-07-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of the lead singer of Sigur Rós, Jónsi, and his boyfriend, Alex, preparing a delicious raw foodie treat. They have a cookbook--the link to the PDF is embedded below as well:

Jónsi & Alex Recipe Show - Macadamia Monster Mash from Jónsi & Alex on Vimeo.

Their cookbook, The Good Heart Cookbook, is located at http://jonsiandalex.com/media/recipebook/.

Enjoy their cuteness and good recipes! We sure have already!

Two Fantastic New Concoctions

2009-07-26T17:59:00.001-07:00

Michael Benjamin spent most of the week here, and I am still swooning over the phenomenal chicken dish we concocted on his last evening here. We winged it, but here's an after-the-fact recipe with estimated quantities:

Pâtes avec Poulet, Poivron, et Vinaigrette

1 package angel hair pasta
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into little-ish pieces
1 coloured pepper cut into bite-sized strips
1 handful fresh cress
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup feta cheese
1-1 1/2 cups vinaigrette
1 small clove garlic, minced

1. Boil pasta according to package directions.
2. Sautée chicken pieces, pepper pieces, and garlic with generous salt and lemon pepper, until beginning to carmelize.
3. At the Last minute, add 1/2 of the chopped cress and 1/4 cup of dressing to chicken mixture.
4. Toss pasta with dressing, rest of the cress, feta, chicken mixture, and walnuts.

Vinaigrette:

Mix together in a small bowl:
Juice and zest of one lemon
2-3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic,, minced
2 tbsp. chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. honey
salt and pepper
1 scant cup of olive oil

With the leftovers of this dish, I created a new one this evening:

Deconstructed Tzatziki Salad

1 cucumber, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 bunch of radishes, chopped
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2-3/4 cup Greek yoghurt
1 clove garlic, minced
2-4 tbsp. chopped herbs (mint, cilantro, parsley, and cilantro all taste nice)
1/2 tsp. honey
juice of one small lemon
pepper to taste

1. Toss together radishes, cucumber, and shallot.
2. Mix together remaining ingredients into a thick sauce and toss with veggies until lightly coated/
3. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped walnuts and chopped watercress on top.

Comme le Livre "Rebecca"

2009-07-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Michael Benjamin returns from his tour of art schools tomorrow, which indicates his nearing a visit to Modesto, as well. I feel rather confident after all the positive feedback from his various portfolio reviews that he should get into whichever school he desires. He has visited these schools, in their corresponding locations:

Pratt Institute; New York, NY
Parsons the New School for Design; New York, NY
School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Rhode Island School of Design; Providence, RI
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Boston, MA
Maine College of Art; Portland, ME
Art Institute of Chicago; Chicago, IL

The ones which are italicized are his top three choices, in this order: SVA, AIC, and SMFA. I hope he chooses SVA, although I must say that the source of my bias is the school's location in Chelsea, only about a half an hour away from Bronxville and, therefore, Sarah Lawrence College and me.

In any case, while my dove has been away visiting schools, I have taken two jobs which have ended up really only being the same job, in a way. First of all, I am tutoring a thirteen-year-old Parisian girl in English while she is visiting Modesto for several weeks. Her name is Estelle, and she knows very, very little English, although she is learning quickly.

The second job I've taken is an odd jobs, housework, and paperwork helper for my Auntie Cathleen. Today, I washed all the woodwork inside her downtown Modesto home with TSP in preparation for painting this week. Despite the seeming dissimilarity of these jobs, they've really just turned into the same thing for these two people; I'm mostly serving as a companion for both of them. I take Estelle out for giant American ice cream cones and teach her the corresponding vocabulary--I also follow Cathleen around with a notebook, jotting down all of her thoughts and helping her make decisions about her remodel.

In the book Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier, the main character gets her start with a companionship job to wealthy old woman. I can see similarities between her job and mine--and being as the idea of "companionship" is a terribly romantic one, I'm raw-ther happy with that.

Of the Lovely DeVotchKa, from the High Sierra Music Festival

2009-07-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me today that I never posted photos of the DeVotchKa show I saw in Quincy on the weekend of the Fourth of July. It was a fun concert, although I must say I could see why they call it, fondly, the Hippie Fest up there. Here are the incomparable Nick Urata, Tom Hagerman, Jeanie Schroder, and Shawn King:

(DeVotchKa on stage as a group)

(The ever-plaintive Nick Urata)

(The multi-talented Tom Hagerman)

(Lovely--and bad-ass!--Jeanie Schroder)

(The finale: Nick plays the bouzouki with his half-empty wine bottle!)

So, there's a little bit of a peek at a live show with Gypsy-mariachi-old-world-romantic-ecstatic DeVotchKa!

MacCracken 9!

2009-07-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Housing assignments for my First Year at Sarah Lawrence are in, and I've been assigned to the MacCracken Dormitory, one of the old dorms, and supposedly the nicest on campus (if you disregard rumors of infrequent centipede infestation, which fascinate and excite me more than creep me out!) I'm still trying to contact my new roomie, with no luck so far. I am excited, however, that we will share a suite-style bathroom with only one other dormitory, which means fewer people tromping through our space!

Here's a picture of the old dorms, but I don't know if this is MacCracken, in particular:

One has to love the beautiful bricks and Tudor-style woodwork, courtesy of the 1920's revival!

Endeavouring to Find New Passions

2009-07-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

As I have not been feeling entirely up to par this weekend, I spent much of it sprawled on the couch with a stack of graphic novels and manhwa (Korean comics) lent to me by Amina, all of which were fantastic. So far this summer I've read:

The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way, art by Gabriel Ba

Fables: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham, art by Mark Buckingham

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Niko Henrichon

The Bride of the Water God: 1 & 2 by Yun Mi-kyung

Michael Benjamin Cat

2009-06-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

I was browsing icanhascheezburger.com this evening and came across a kitten that looks just like baby Michael Benjamin! Here he is!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

And here's baby Michael B. to prove the resemblance:

Cute, no?

Girl's Day Out

2009-06-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday found my best friend, Amina, and I in a flurry of beautiful things. We skipped our morning jog and, instead, dressed up to make a jam cake--which we ate out on the patio-- as well asvisit a few antique stores, make a stir-fry for lunch, and watch two absolutely terrible movies starring Jackson Rathbone: S. Darko, and Twilight. They were both awful, but we had a beautiful, lovely day.

Here are some pictures of our delicious jam cake, recipe from Gourmet magazine, December 2007, to follow.

Jam Crumb Cake

For Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 stick butter, melted
1/2 milk
1 large egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam
For Crumb Topping:
3/4 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in the middle. Generously butter a 9-inch square or round cake pan.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Whisk together butter, milk, and egg in a large bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.
3. Pour batter into cake pan. Dollop jam all over surface, then swirl into batter with a spoon.
4. In another bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated.
5. Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of cake.
6. Bake cake about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Enjoy with a mild, fruity tea (we had a pomegranate green tea) or a smoky black.

Calaveras Big Trees State Park

2009-06-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that one of my favourite places from my childhood, one Calaveras Big Trees State Park, is under danger of being shut down. This place is one of so much magic and beauty in my memories that I can hardly come to terms with this unfortunate threat. My family and I took a day trip to the park, which lies just outside of Arnold, CA, on Sunday, and here are a few of the photos I took of these magnificent giants.

The Travelling Suit I would Die for!

2009-06-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

http://clockworkcouture.com/?q=node/177

Here's a picture of the travelling suit I hope to receive for my birthday. Isn't it a beaut? Gotta love Clockwork Couture!

'Pataphysics and Georges Méliès

2009-05-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

I've finished reading an incredible children's book called The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick which, strangely enough, has ended up a few connecting ends in my studies of late.

The book (link to the book's website: http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/index.htm. Be sure to check out all of the neat links to all sorts of cool, weird stuff, like automatons and optical illusions) was an invented story about the intertwining lives of fictional Hugo Cabret, horologist, and real-life filmmaker, Georges Méliès. I looked up the films he's done (embedded below) and found out that he's considered 'pataphysical in his techniques and philosophy. 'Pataphysics, in turn, is a pseudoscience developed in the turn of the century by writer and philosopher Alfred Jarry (of Ubu Roi fame) which, consequentially, Michael Benjamin happens to be reading about right now and has only recently come into my realm of knowledge and definitions. Strange, very strange, indeed.

Anyhow, here are some Georges Méliès films. Unfortunately, the first one is in French, but I think it is also rather self-explanatory. A group of scientists take the first trip to the moon. Méliès was an innovator in the field of special effects--you can see why!

Mon Français Est Déjà Rouillé.

2009-05-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have returned from Quincy having finished two very lovely books: The Bell Jar, written by the infamous Sylvia Plath, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which is a by Jonathon Safran Foer. Both of the novels were beautiful and sad (my favourite sort of book since my literary taste was informed by Walk Two Moons) and it was nice to revisit an old favourite like Plath's work. Both recommended, to be sure.

I've tried to practice my French today (much to my mother's dismay, as she cannot understand a word I'm saying) but I'm afraid that I've already lost much of my vocabulary and several verb tenses. Perhaps I should subscribe to a French blog to keep up...

Amina and I have begun our running! We are two days in, and very thankful we've not run into anyone we know along our jogging path. Tomorrow, I'll take pictures of the two of us in our ridiculous athletic ensembles--we're only a few pockets away from wearing fanny packs.

Up North

2009-05-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

I'm heading "up North" this morning to visit Michael Benjamin. Kevyn and I frequently talk about how there's no more romantic place to go than "up North." I don't know all the plans for this week and weekend, other than that Emily's birthday is tomorrow and that there is going to be something involving a dumpster on Friday. We'll see, I suppose.

I'll be back on Monday--I need a good, long weekend away from the heat and drama of the valley.

TribalFest Number Nine, Number Nine (3x3)

2009-05-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

So, I spent the weekend in Sebastopol, CA, for TribalFest 9, only just about the coolest belly dance festival on the West Coast. It was a brilliant (if not without its drawbacks--it was over a hundred degrees in that community center) show full of once-in-a-lifetime performances by big names--Princess Farhana, Ashara, Unmata, Suhaila Salimpour, and Solstice Dance Ensemble were all crowd-pleasers. I particularly enjoyed Zafira Dance Company, Colleena Shakti, and, of course, the always lovely Indigo. They provided the festival's closing performance, along with live bands the Gallus Brothers and the Crow Quill Night Owls, who truly turned the show into a 1920's, ragtime, vaudevillian act. It was truly the most astounding, most amusing, best-spent hour of my year. Here are some pictures of the whole number:

This is the combined bands and their motley--and ultra-cool--assortment of instruments. They participated a ton in the show: the Gallus Brothers with their serious banjo-and-juggling skills, and the Crow Quill Night Owls with their hilarious additions to the girls' dances.

The beautiful, talented, and awesome Rachel Brice. She performed a drop like I've never seen before during this solo.

The clown of the group, Zoe Jakes, during a hilarious Flamenco-inspired dance-skit in which the "expressiveness" of her dancing increased proportionately with the amount of wine she played to consume.

The phenomenally talented Mardi Love, in her delicious Flapper ensemble. And finally--

The three of them, as the Indigo, in the finale dance of the evening.

This show was a truly magical experience. These beautiful, talented women have positively stolen my hearts with their incredible dance skills.

Sufjan Stevens Is a Seraph

2009-05-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

This is a beautiful Sufjan Stevens cover of the song "The Lakes of Canada," originally recorder by the band the innocence mission. Thank you, Meredith, for this lovely discovery!

The Soy Milk Experiment

2009-05-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Meredith came over and we tried something new--we made our own soy milk. I'll post the link to the recipe below, but I'll make my own comments on it, too.

http://www.ellenskitchen.com/faqs/tofumilk.html

It was a pretty entailed process, and the recipe didn't really warn us of all the chemical surprises, so let me fill you in.

First of all, you want to get two pots and a kettle of water all boiling at the same time, so that you don't waste time waiting for the water to heat up for the two blanchings and the rinsing. Also, when she mentions that you want to hold onto the blender lid, she's not kidding! Hold onto it with a kitchen towel, too, because if you blender leaks even an itsy bit, you will burn your hand. Then, when you strain out the okara, let the cheese cloth lie slack in bowl, and then once all of the milk is poured in, lift it straight up and out--we tried to hold the cheese cloth taut and lost most of the okara into the mix. Finally, in the last step, skip the salt (or at least reduce it) and don't be surprised when all six cups of milk boils down to almost nothing! We sort of panicked, but when we added six cups of water at the end, it tasted great. I guess you just have to concentrate that flavour.

There are some pictures of the project above!

Some Culinary Experiments:

2009-05-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've done some neat things in the kitchen in the past few days. First of all, I've improved upon a recipe for "Apricot Tea Bread," as published by Sunset Cookbooks in 1993. Here is the new and improved SCONE recipe!

1 large egg
2 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temp.
1 tbsp. orange zest (about 1 small orange)
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 sour cream (I use low fat)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 cups (about) dried fruit
1-4 cup slivered almonds

1. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, butter and zest; beat until blended.

2. Stir in orange juice and sour cream.

3. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and baking soda.

4. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and beat to blend.
(Note: don't bother getting out the electric mixer--this is an easy one by hand)

5. Stir in fruit and nuts.
(Note: the original recipe calls for apricots and golden raisins, but I like a medley of fruits--on this batch I used both types of raisins, apricots, peaches, and apples)

6. Arrange 2-inch diameter lumps of batter on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

7. Bake in a 350° oven for about a half an hour, until medium brown. Makes about 20 scones.

8. Pairs great with as hearty tea--try an Irish or Scottish Breakfast or an Orange Spice like Constant Comment by Bigelow.

My Most Recent Creation

2009-05-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my latest crafty endeavor--a stuffed snail for Kevyn for his birthday. I used cotton fabrics--a batik and a calico--as well as poly stuffing, iridescent ribbon, wire, and buttons, for the eyes.