everything ok! blogstuff

2011-11-21T16:16:00.001-08:00

Sami Kelsh Eats New York, Day Seven: The Hurricane Times

It was, in actual fact, the best hurricane ever.

2011-11-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

Sami Kelsh Eats New York, Day Six: The Mahavishnu Orchestra and the Almost Hurricane Times

So that was a good day, all things considered. Got a pony from a lady and I think I spent more time in the museum gift shop than I did in the exhibit itself.

(I couldn't finish that cupcake. It was basically pure sugar.)

I'm pretty sure this is Mercer Street, and there are prints of it here

2011-11-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

I should like, if I may, to present to you a sexier waldorf salad.

It's one of those foods that just feels like a thing I want to eat this time of year: the contrast of tastes and textures and shapes and colours appeals to my foodie sensibilities, but to be honest, most usual waldorf salads kind of creep me out. For this one, then, I swapped out the objectionable ingredients for things that didn't frighten me so much (and shaved off some unnecessary calories in the process!) and came up with something I'm quite proud of.

What you do:

Take a good handful of greens (whatever salad leaves you fancy, really), top with half an apple sliced into thin wedges, a handful of halved red grapes, half a dozen or so roughly crumbled pecans, and a tablespoon or two of crumbled feta. The dressing is made simply by stirring together about a tablespoon of plain yoghurt, half a teaspoon of honey, and salt and pepper to taste. Perfection.

2011-11-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of my soon-to-be aunthood, I've been watching old episodes of Sesame Street (and admittedly for the pure pleasure of taking a big nostalgia trip and waxing theoretically about educational strategies for young children) and as much as I absolutely adore the Muppets in all their forms, I have to say I also really get a kick out of the human-people segments: Maria's brilliant homages to Charlie Chaplin, Grover remarking to Madeleine Khan that she's looking especially attractive that day (she really did look flipping gorgeous), the unresolved romantic tension between David and Maria, Bob and Linda's decidedly are-they-aren't-they relationship, Gordon's various Timelord regenerations during the first 5 or so seasons (turns out Epic Sideburns!Gordon regenerated into Epic Afro!Gordon, who regenerated into the Epic Bald!Gordon most of us remember).

What really caught my attention today, though, was this little feature about a brother and sister having a poster printed for their lost dog, showcasing some lovely vintage typesetting and printing. I'm really quite envious of the setup that print shop's got going:

2011-10-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Sami Kelsh Eats New York - Day Five

(In hindsight, it turns out this day was our first date.)

Here's the thing about pancakes: I'm really fussy about them. A good pancake is fluffy, but not dry, but not greasy; sustaining but not heavy. It should not need syrup or other accoutrements, but should still be well complimented by a drizzle of maple, a pat of butter, or a portion of berry coulis. And the pancakes above did. Perfection.

It was likewise a risk on my part ordering chocolate pancakes, as my rules governing chocolate are quite specific as well: it should never be grainy, or crumbly, or be melted to the point that it resembles nuclear waste. It should appear to hold its shape, but yield upon contact, becoming a gloriously oozing mess as your knife and fork pass through. It should be perfectly smooth, and creamy. It does not need to be bittersweet. I suspect that it may well be somewhat anathema to foodie wisdom to suggest that milk chocolate has as much merit as its dark counterpart, but Gosh damn, it does. I don't think it makes me a philistine to say that sometimes I just like milk chocolate better.

As for the animated shenanigans you watched us get up to there, here's the fruits of our labour:

2011-10-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

Sami Kelsh Eats New York - Day Four

Conclusions: Vanleeuwen ice cream = LEGENDARY. Frenchly rude patisserie macarons = overrated. Stand4 veggie burger: I suspect contained trace amounts of mushrooms, but only experienced minor swelling and numbness.

2011-10-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

Sami Kelsh Eats New York - Day Three

My relationship to Williamsburg was, it turns out, odd. I did buy a hat to fit in with the flocks of trilbied locals I saw walkign about, but felt distinctly odd during my time there. Maybe it was the heat, or the notable lack of shade anywhere I ventured in the neighbourhood, and then it turns out most of my photos from that day got X-rayed real bad and didn't turn out. Oh well.

But here's Peob on the L train:

2011-09-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Sami Kelsh Eats New York: Day Two is a festival of goodness. No distance is too great (provided it's accessible via subway) when it comes to seeking out the seriously damn best food ever.

My travels are guided primarily by the needs of my tummy.

2011-09-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

I suppose you could say that this is my newfangled attempt at actually maintaining this blog. I will begin by sharing with you the joy that is Sami Kelsh Eats New York, a youtube series of videos currently in production by me, starring me, and featuring some of the damn best food in America.

2010-05-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

haven't blogged in way too long, i know. and why? beats me. mostly i've been sitting at home playing tetris and watching arrested development. i'm really pretty boring.

BUT.

tonight i decided on a whim that it was time to pull three random ingredients out of the fridge and pantry and turn them into soup. here be the results:

carrot, tomato, and chickpea soup
serves 6, plus possibly seconds/leftovers

1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 good glug olive oil
3 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup strained tomato
2 cups chickpeas, soaked and drained if dried, or rinsed if tinned
4 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. sugar
a pinch of salt and a crackling of fresh ground pepper, to taste

in a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. add onion and garlic, stir, and soften for a minute. add carrots, cover, and let steam until carrots are soft. add tomato and about half the chickpeas, stir, and cook for a few minutes. add stock, curry powder, sugar, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. take soup off heat and, either using a hand blender or a blender or food processor, whiz until smooth. add remaining chickpeas, adjust seasoning if necessary, and cook over low to medium heat for at least another half hour. serve with green salad with creamy tahini dressing, and a square of flapjack for dessert.

mixed green salad with creamy tahini dressing

a couple handfuls of mixed baby greens
about 4 inches of cucumber, sliced into rounds

1 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp plain yoghurt
juice of 1 small lemon
salt and pepper to taste
a teensy squizzle of honey
a dash of cumin
a sprinkling of parsley, cilantro, or chives (whatever fresh herbs you've got hanging about, really)

wash greens and toss with cucumbers in a salad bowl. in another small bowl or jar, combine tahini, yoghurt, lemon juice, salt, pepper, honey, cumin, and fresh herbs, and stir to combine thoroughly. drizzle a little dressing over the greens and serve. any leftovers can be stored in the fridge and will keep well for a couple of days. it also makes a nice, sprightly dip for nice, crunchy fresh veg.

flapjacks, almost englandland-stylie
(ever so slightly adapted to suit the contents of my pantry)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup agave syrup
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

preheat oven to 325°. line a small cake tin with parchment paper. in a microwave-safe bowl, combine butter, sugar, and agave syrup. microwave on high, checking in every 30 seconds and giving contents a stir, until butter is melted and ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. add oats and stir until oats are coated and buttery. carefully spoon contents into your parchment-lined pan in an even layer, and bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden brown. remove from oven, cut into squares, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. (then, if you're anything like me) proceed to hoover square after square until you are dragged, kicking and screaming, away from the kitchen counter.

(bastards.)

2010-02-26T22:11:00.000-08:00

first gosh darn blog entry of 2010. where the hell i been at?

this is IMPORTANT:

i just got home on the bus from watching dexter (i've never seen it and had basically no clue what's going on, but it seems neat) at dave's. so there was me on the last bus, and the driver, and this utterly fucking wasted kid who looked, i guess, about 20. driver stopped once or twice to make sure kid didn't barf as he looked pretty poorly, all slumped over and wobbly. when the driver got to my stop and i went to get off, the kid was pretty much unconscious and the driver couldn't get an answer out of him as to where he was going. so i pitched in and tried to ask (as the driver was a middle-aged sikh fellow and did have something of an accent) where he was going, and if he'd missed his stop, if he knew how to get home and all that. the kid then proceeded to list random numbers at me, vomit on the seat in front of him, and he gave us this utterly creepy smirk all the while, as the driver got on the phone with somebody to try and sort out what to do. eventually we got the word "west" out of him, concluded he must mean west acres drive, and we got him to get off as my stop is the last stop on that street. then i shrugged and said goodnight to the driver (poor guy) and the kid just STOOD THERE in the road as the bus sped away back to wherever buses go at the end of the night. so i walked past, shrugged apologetically, and as i passed, he shouted after me, "i made you suffer!" at which point it was all i could do to keep from rolling around in the snow with laughter. see? this story totally had a point.

2009-12-11T15:52:00.000-08:00

i haven't updated in way WAY too long, and probably shouldn't be updating now (what with being at work and all). but sometimes, i admit, i miss being a little more long winded than twitter allows.

slightly seething about getting (what i consider to be a horribly unjust) B- on a medieval poetry paper i wrote recently, and feeling a bit wobbly, which i think has to do with last night's desperation pasta salad from the only coffee shop that was open at 11pm that didn't require me to go wandering out too far into the cold. last night was fun. at quarter to ten i found out that i wouldn't be going home because the weather was lousy, and had to check into the comfort inn. where i got a grand total of no sleep, at least not until after my 7:30 alarm clock went off. the bed's are always too squishy and the temperature is never quite right, and i didn't have my usual snuggly pillows and i was terribly worried about peob, all by himself at home. he was especially glad to see me safe and sound when i got in - albeit briefly - this afternoon.

every muscle and joint in my body hurts. i dislike exams. i only like being this sore as a result of, you know, fun activities, like hiking, or sex.

2009-11-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

back by popular demand

HAM

embrace the ham. it loves you. buy prints! HAM!

2009-10-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

hey, interwebs.

coupla thoughts today, namely:

1. updating sami kelsh the epic website you should all visit, for one thing. some pretentious writing about art there, among other things.

2. indeed, i'm conflicted again about the art thing. it seems like a lot of people don't see, or don't see much, or choose not to see, when art about and featuring females is concerned. there's a lot out there to make me uncomfortable. there's a photograph that a colleague of mine took recently that was incredibly disturbing, but what was more disturbing was that the majority of people who commented on it publicly couldn't apparently see past the fact that it was a photo of a naked chick to see that it was a photo of a naked chick laying face down and apparently or possibly dead or unconscious on a carpet next to a piece of furniture. yeah, real sexy guys. creeped me the fuck out, that. i get that a lot and all. "oh, you look so hot!" in response to a picture where i'm naked and crying. really? are you sick, or just stupid?

3. i sure love falafel.

4. oh and buy some of this kickass new knitted stuff i've been knitting

2009-09-25T15:55:00.001-07:00

so tonight, in spite of being stricken with a hideously awful cold, i decided to make lasagne. and it's gosh darn delicious. motherflippin' EPIC.

serves, i dunno, lots. be advised that you will likely have leftover sauce, but never fear as it works beautifully as a regular pasta sauce or served over nice white fish.

6 lasagne noodles
a couple glugs of oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper or 2 red shepherd peppers, roughly chopped
2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
a generous slosh of tinned crushed tomato
a small handful of fresh basil, chiffonade
a generous sprinkle of oregano
1 medium carrot, grated
1 small chile, seeded and chopped
1 egg
1 cup ricotta
a good handful of chopped spinach from one of those frozen blocks, thawed
1/2 pound of mozzarella, shredded
salt and pepper to taste

heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. add onion and garlic and fry for a minute, then add peppers, tomato, and chile. simmer until peppers have softened and tomatoes have begun to disintegrate. add crushed tomato, basil, oregano, carrot, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until a nice thick and chunky sauce forms.

meanwhile, cook lasagne noodles until al dente in boiling salted water. drain and set aside.

beat egg until frothy, then beat in ricotta, then spinach, salt, and pepper. set aside.

preheat oven to 350°. in a 9"x9" (give or take) ovenproof dish, spread a thin layer of sauce. cover with a layer of noodles, trimming excess if necessary. spread noodles with a layer of spinach and ricotta mixture, followed by a layer of tomato sauce, and a sprinkling of mozzarella. cover with another layer of noodles, then ricotta, then tomato sauce, then mozzarella. bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. (it is wise to place a piece of tinfoil under your pan, as some sauce may bubble over, and that's a real pain to clean out of the oven later if it drips onto the oven floor.) cover with foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. remove from oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving, if you can restrain yourself from voraciously tucking in.

2009-08-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

nightmares were gone for a time, now returned. it's hard to quiet the mind. the yogis, you know them, the ones who make it seem so effortless, i think they're having a laugh.

hands are busy, knitting new things for the shoppe (i haven't forgotten, but my studio is awfully full and i was away for a while). turns out england kind of seeps into your bones and stays there, like a memory in the body as well as the mind. i am drawn by forces more powerful than myself to return, not that i'd choose to resist. but can i return? i will, at least to visit.

in the meantime, pictures beginning to appear here. feel free to investigate. more pictures forthcoming. prints available.

i'm thinking of doing a bakewell tart, or possibly a peach pudding, with the fresh peaches we've got at the moment. perhaps even apricot pudding. trouble is of course that i'm trying to cut down on my grain consumption again, as these things don't sit well with me. this clashes just a little with the idea of sponge pudding and shortcrust pastry, admittedly. recipes forthcoming if my willpower breaks down and i start baking.

2009-08-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

listen.

LISTEN.

now read.

the humidity was at a near-record high today, and hung heavily over the neighbourhood with unfathomable thickness, like the heavy, hot scent of someone whose blood seems to be sublimating out of their skin, lending them a thick, foggy aura with an inescapably sticky, sweet fragrance that is so cloying as to be gag-inducing.

you know the people i'm talking about.

that was today.

2009-07-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

welp, canada day was rainy as fuck, and we don't care for fireworks anyway. went round to dave's. he wasn't very well, so i brought him healing snacks (diet coke and potato chips, for he is a special kind of human subspecies that thrives EXCLUSIVELY ON SNACKS) and we took a nap. then we watched boondock saints and a wonderful attenborough programme on reptiles and amphibians. FASCINATING stuff. it's really cute when they cuddle. so that was nice.

earlier today i spent several minutes watching a bee fly from flower to flower in my garden, wiggling itself about in their little polleny bits, giving them each a little love before moving on. it was sweet, and quite beautiful.

also, is it weird that every time i have to tweeze a stray hair (and YES, being of central european extraction, i DO have to tweeze stray hairs from time to time) my right eye - and only my right eye - twitches. is this normal? i have no idea.

the point of this blog is this: in three short hours, i will be leaving for the englands. i will be gone for two and a half weeks. somehow i think you will all get on without me for a while, as i post almost never anyway.

2009-06-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

so are my two faithful readers still faithfully reading?

i don't particularly suppose you are, but then again, i don't often have much interesting or insightful to say here these days.

today is no different.

i DID, however, make a completely useless film today.

2009-06-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

i am in awe of the fact that this exists:

the SPOCK SPANKER

hands up who wants to buy one for me?

2009-06-08T08:10:00.001-07:00

here's why i refuse to use cameras with lenses that are bigger than i am.

2009-05-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

the road.

happy thursday to me. not much eventful has happened of late. my dreams are strange as usual, and my little travelling bear is having the time of his life in finland, i am sure. world tour is set to hit the englands for the first few weeks of july. london, then henley for boats and champagne, then up north for assorted shenanigans with my northern mates. too bad i couldn't schedule in something professional and have the university pay for it.

2009-05-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

go me, it's my birthday!

it's the 25th, and i'm 25. go me.

here's my birthday portrait.

and because it's my birthday i'm doing 25% off everything at everything ok! for the rest of the week if you mention my birthday at checkout and i'll send an updated invoice. (also i'm flying to the englands in july and therefore i need the money)

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE not much else to report in kelshville at the moment, really. experimental photoey goodness and lots of star trek. i'm thinking of watching the newsroom again. that show was funny. how's everybody else?

2009-05-15T06:15:00.001-07:00

it was like, i was flying into a big airport then suddenly driving into a small town, with my parents, where we stopped to get coffee or something but i saw that there was a renaissance festival on, and since i just HAPPENED to be in costume, asked to stay on for the day and go to the faire. then this guy who was apparently my boyfriend turned up with this really old guy who was his dad.

and we drove into hamilton and got lost in the industrial section of the city which was for some reason on the mountain. then we somehow drove back down the mountain into this bird sanctuary which turned into a retirement home and we decided to stay on for a free dinner, pretending we were thinking of moving my dream-bf's dad there. dinner for us was this gorgeous-looking fresh ravioli in what looked to be a really light tomato sauce, with fresh basil leaves.

but then i wanted to get a glass of iced tea, and this crazy woman told me i needed to go down to the basement and to put my coat on because it was cold down there.

but i told her i had an abnormal body temperature and would be fine.

i tried like five doors before finding the right basement, and wished i hadn't broken the back of my camera because i really wanted to take pictures.

oh yeah, i broke the back of my camera back in the small town with my parents.

(forgot that bit)

anyway, in the basement looking for iced tea, i ran into a guy dressed as spock who said he saw me as seven of nine, and it was cool. we hugged, exchanged vulcan gang signs, and moved on.

then beyond him was a rowdy party in what looked like a basement rec room that was probably built in the early 90s.

boyfriend came and found me and we decided to hang out there and let his dad chillax at dinner with the other seniors.

then these two obnoxiously stupid blonde chicks were TOTALLY getting their flirt on with boyfriend and asked him to help them with something and so he went off with them to help.

while he was still within earshot i somewhat loudly complained that i hated those girls, and spent the rest of the night worrying to two other girls i'd just met that a) we were still at the stage in the relationship where he might well leave me for somebody better looking without much thought about it; and b) that in any case he might break up with me for being either so mean-spirited or insecure.

and THEN i woke up.

2009-05-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

real update, post-sandwich.

tired.

that's all.

2009-05-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

it's been such an eventful week of sandwich, and i can't believe it's already day seven. sigh. prepare to FOODGASM.

2009-05-03T10:31:00.001-07:00

day six of week of sandwich is a beautiful day for sandwich.

2009-05-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

week of sandwich, day five - sandwiches are love.

2009-05-01T14:34:00.001-07:00

i win at sandwich. week of sandwich, day four

2009-04-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

the sexiest day three of any week of sandwich to ever exist

2009-04-29T08:49:00.001-07:00

week of sandwich, day two

2009-04-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

you know, i've never been to a rave myself. almost went to one, then my friend and i decided to go to the cafe down the road for a cup of tea instead.

2009-04-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

so i just made the nicest fishcake things ever in the history of the world, based vaguely on these salt-cod fritters they do in brazil, but vastly different because i didn't have half the ingredients for the recipe and therefore substituted a bunch of stuff. here's what i did, more or less:

serves FLIPPING GREAT WODGES OF PEOPLE

400g cod
2/3 cup milk
4 medium-sized potatoes, cut into chunks
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 small chiles, finely chopped
2 eggs
small handful cilantro
zest of one lemon
generous pinch of salt
generous cracking of pepper
oil for frying

preheat oven to 375 degrees celsius. place fish in a baking pan, pour milk over, cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. meanwhile, boil potatoes in salted water until soft. drain potatoes and mash. remove fish from oven and flake fish into a large bowl. add mashed potatoes, onion, cilantro, chiles, eggs, lemon zest, salt, and pepper, and stir until combined. heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, dropping mixture by the generous tablespoonful into the pan, flattening slightly with a fork, and turning once. fry until both sides are golden brown and totally luscious. serve with a squeeze of lemon.

2009-04-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

sometimes i feel as though i trust people way too easily. indeed, i probably do. more than is safe. it's a tough habit to break, in spite of all i've lived through.

did i mention i got a fuji instax? you can see pictures here. oh HECK YES. it's quite possibly the most epic camera i own.

2009-04-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

park that car
drop that phone
sleep on the floor
dream about me

2009-04-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

i'd also just like to say that doing this felt really, really good.

2009-04-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

:(

sometimes i hate that my arms just aren't big enough to reach out across the universe and hug the people i love dearly.

2009-03-31T19:26:00.000-07:00

i love akron/family to pieces, but "love is simple"?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL yeah, no.

2009-03-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

well folks, i've been utter crap at keeping up with this blog, neh?

i suppose it's because i don't have anything particularly interesting or insightful to share at the moment, not to mention the amount of time academic pursuits have been taking up, and the headaches i have been plagued with pretty much nonstop since last sunday.

i will say, however, that i've added some more nifty things to my website that you ought to check out such as some tests done with my sexy new seagull TLR, and i'm hoping perhaps this summer to take off to someplace i've never been before, so long as someone has a couch for me to sleep on.

2009-02-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

wouldn't you know it, i finally got round to making myself a proper website for art.

sami kelsh

see?

2009-02-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

i love the spinny, jaunty opening theme tune sequence from bbc's nationwide circa the early seventies.

they just don't make current affairs programs like they used to.

2009-02-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

1995

this has been on my mind a lot lately.

i would have written something insightful and choc full of sparkling prose, but really, hayden nails it.

2009-02-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

we're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl

or maybe it's just me.

i'm so tired.

2009-01-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

new stuff!

2009-01-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

how did i forget about this until now?

for those of you who probably aren't going to read the entire article, here's a picture of me in full academic action, superhero glasses and all:

2009-01-17T16:26:00.001-08:00

can't have grains? neither can i. it sure forces you to become inventive. so for brunch today, here's what i came up with. it's delicious and filling and very healthy.

spinach and pepper quiche with almond crust

crust
3/4 cup ground almonds
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
generous pinch of salt
generous crackling of pepper
1 tsp olive oil

filling
1/4 green pepper, chopped
2 good handfuls spinach, chiffonade
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 eggs
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp dried oregano
generous pinch of salt
generous crackling of pepper

first, prepare the crust: preheat oven to 350°. in a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flax, almond, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. add olive oil and stir until mixture resembles coarse meal. add water, little by little, until the mixture comes together and has the consistency of a slightly wet dough. carefully press this mixture into a small, lightly oiled pie pan or casserole dish. place in preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust firms up a bit and the edges just begin to, but not quite, brown.

meanwhile, beat eggs in another medium-sized bowl. when they are well beaten, add yogurt and beat to combine. add oregano, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.

sprinkle the green pepper, spinach, garlic, and onions over the crust after it has been removed from the oven and allowed to stand for a few minutes. pour over egg mixture, covering the surface relatively evenly. place back in the oven at the same temperature and bake for a further 30 or so minutes, or until the egg is set and the top of the quiche is golden brown in places.

serve warm and enjoy.

2009-01-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

patrick mcgoohan
1928-2009

:(

:( be seeing you, number six.

2008-12-22T15:44:00.001-08:00

i'd just like to wish you all a very happy holiday, and so would these lovely ladies:

2008-12-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

i've decided that i could pretty much live on nothing but gulab jamuns.

if you haven't had the pleasure of having gulab jamuns, allow me to explain: imagine the most amazing timbit possible (basically a deep-fried ball of milk-enriched dough) that is then soaked in a mind-blowing cardamom-scented syrup. the description does not do it justice. it is beyond orgasmic. ohhhhhhhh baby.

2008-12-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

i may not be ready for proper holiday cheer, but i'll take any excuse to bake, really. but in the spirit of not wanting to gain ridiculous amounts of weight again this winter, i've tweaked a recipe for gingerbread to make it about a million times more delicious and just a smidge less bad for you. whole-wheat flour adds fibre and texture, and i've replaced the traditional molasses with honey. australian manuka honey has a caramelesque depth which complements the three kinds of ginger perfectly, but of course, feel free to experiment with different varieties.

gingerbread pear muffins
makes a dozen, give or take

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 large eggs
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
4-6 chunks crystallized ginger, chopped into small bits
1 medium-sized pear, such as bosc

preheat oven to 350°f. combine flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt in a large bowl, and set aside. in a separate bowl, stir together sugar and honey until well combined. add eggs one at a time, and beat well. add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. add oil, water, and grated ginger, beating until smooth. peel pear and chop into small pieces. gently fold pear and crystallized ginger into batter. pour into well-oiled muffin tins and bake until a knife inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes, watching carefully. remove muffins from muffin tin and place on wire racks to cool.

enjoy with a nice cup of tea and a comfy chair.

2008-11-28T21:41:00.000-08:00

sometimes, when i'm truly down, the only thing that properly cheers me up is the schubert:

don't know why. one of those giant dark chocolate bars with fleur de sel doesn't hurt either, come to think of it.

2008-11-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

oh, and i made quince preserves. have a picture:

2008-10-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

so today i was at the starbucks in uptown waterloo, around the noonhour lunch rush of crazy. the place was full of people in outfits that looked more expensive than mine (i pay a surprising amount of money for outfits that don't look like you'd pay a surprising amount of money for them, i'll have you know) and after i got my latte i decided it would be a good idea to pay a trip to the restroom. i tried the door of the ladies' room - locked. i could have waited, i suppose, but i had a bus to catch and decided to try the men's room. unoccupied - score! so i went in, did my business, and left. as i exited, i held the door for a gentleman on his way in. he said thanks. then, i noticed a pair of yuppies, staring at me, with their jaws firmly planted on the floor.

what the fuck, people? is it really so shocking that somebody with lady parts should use the men's room? it's not like it was the kind of men's room with mutliple cubicles and urinals and stuff: in fact, it looked identical to the ladies' room, same toilet, same sink, same soap. the only difference is the stick figure on the door. in fact, the starbucks just up the road at wlu has the same two washrooms, but they're simply labeled "washroom," not men's or womens. i don't see what the big deal is, but people definitely looked at me with, well, horror.

i think they maybe need to get out more.

2008-10-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

i started watching the first few seasons of curb your enthusiasm again this weekend. it brightens my spirits a little to watch it:

because larry david is brilliant.

2008-10-04T04:14:00.000-07:00

kitchener's one redeeming quality is that its sketchy downtown shopping centre has a black-and-white photobooth, so when i feel like taking silly impromptu portraits of what i look like at the university, and i haven't been carrying a heavy camera with me, i can:

2008-09-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

i've been stuffing eggplant like this as a nice special-occasion thing for a couple years now. here's my recipe's most recent incarnation, which i like to serve simply with a bit of rice and beans:

stuffed eggplant of AWESOME

serves 4

1 medium eggplant, halved lengthwise
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
4 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 of a 150 ml jar artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 small zucchini, chopped
1 small wedge of brie, cubed
2-3 tablespoons crushed tomato
1 small handful fresh basil, sliced into thin ribbons (or chiffonade, if you prefer)
1 small serrano or other small chile, chopped (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste
a few glugs of good olive oil

preheat oven to 400 degrees. place eggplant, cut sides down, in a glass baking dish and fill about halfway with water. cover with tinfoil and place in preheated oven for about twenty minutes, until eggplants are soft. meanwhile, prepare the other vegetables and things for stuffing. combine bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, chile, zucchini, and basil, and set aside. when eggplants are soft, remove from oven, drain, and carefully turn over onto a clean work surface. scoop out most of the seedy portion of the insides, leaving a nice trough for filling with stuffing ingredients. place eggplant halves back in baking dish, and divide stuffing mixture between them. sprinkle the bits of brie overtop and cover with crushed tomato, a good crackling of freshly ground pepper, and a sprinkling of salt. add a few good glugs of olive oil to the dish, cover again with tinfoil, and return to the hot oven. bake another 20-30 minutes, or until cheese is melty and the vegetables are soft. serve with rice and beans, or whatever.

2008-09-12T18:28:00.001-07:00

addendum: it's nine below zero!

2008-09-12T18:00:00.001-07:00

it's been years since i've listened to nick drake.

he's still really good.

if you don't listen to nick drake, you really, really should.

2008-08-26T05:08:00.001-07:00

i don't really have much to announce before i head off to edmonton for the week, except TRAFIKMAGASINET:

because i love everything about it.

see y'all on the flipside!

2008-08-10T12:26:00.001-07:00

big thankies and respeck to my beautiful sister-in-law nicole for getting me hooked on the making of preserves. she recently gifted us a KILLER peach raspberry champagne jam, that's absolutely stunning on toast. ohh baby.

when i was last in upstate new york, i was fortunate enough to find a stand at the ithaca farmer's market selling prunus cerasifera, or cherry plums. these plums are, not surprisingly, about the size of a cherry and have an intense, sweet-tart flavour. what's really special about them, though, is their incredibly high pectin content, making them a natural choice for preserves. it's quite a laborious process separating all the plums from their tiny stones, but the sparkling, jewel-like tart red jelly you're left with is well worth the effort.

thus:

plum jelly

1 pint cherry plums, washed and pitted
6 tablespoons sugar

combine plums and sugar over medium heat, stirring to disolve sugar. simmer, stirring occasionally, until plums have cooked down to a uniform shade of bright red and a thick, jelled consistency. as jam is approaching readiness, prepare three 60 ml jars by sterilizing under hot water. spoon jam into prepared jars with a small funnel, seal jars and place in a heavy stock pot such that they are covered by at least one inch with water. boil for ten minutes, then remove jars carefully with tongs and place on paper towels. if jars have properly sealed, you will hear a "pop" sound shortly after they are removed from the water, and the top of the jar will not move when pressed. since this produces rather a small batch, you may skip the jar-boiling canning steps if you wish, and simply eat the jelly within 2-3 weeks. (chances are that it won't last that long regardless; i for one have been quite greedily having second helpings of toast every morning since our sudden influx of homemade preserves.)

*also: for an extra-special and very comforting autumnal treat, try adding just a teensy hint of cinnamon while the jelly is cooking.

2008-08-07T21:08:00.001-07:00

moving on from last entry's self-pitying emofest, i now have an even more urgent, even more pressing matter to attend to.

and that's my pants.

namely: coloured jeans. gosh, i love them. basic blue's all well and fabulous, i guess, but i confess to owning about 1548797898346 pairs of black skinnies, each slightly different from one another and each designed to suit a specific sartorial situation. i've also strayed slightly from the ubergothness (and yes they ARE goth, seeing as i remember all this flouncy black stuff when it was cool the first time, thankyouverymuch. emo? i'd rather have the bubonic plague. but i digress.) of the black skinnies and gone so far as to purchase pairs in a subdued mustard yellow and white. (i've also since managed to stain them both.)

my point is, i'm having trouble deciding what other colours to introduce into my wardrobe of pants of craziness. turquoise? bubblegum? eggplant? seafoam green, perhaps? i saw a pair of red jeans that looked pretty fantabulous

(kind of like this)

but i also clearly recall owning red jeans when i was in about third grade and thinking back then that they were the most wicked awesome things ever. :|

when i was a youngster, i recall that all my wacky trousers all came with hideously outlandish and over-embellished faux-leather belts. i never wore them. i don't know why they insisted on including them with every pair of pants. they gathered dust until one day in probably sixth grade, i decided to try and sell them off to some of the neighbourhood folks in a garage sale.

all i earned that day was a sunburn.

2008-07-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

i'm sure many of you often ask yourselves, "gee, how can i be as cool as sami?"

thankfully, i have the answer. and it's easier than you might think!

it's a mother flipping fanny pack.

very good

you buy

2008-07-29T08:29:00.001-07:00

ladies and gentlemen,

everything ok!
everything ok!
everything ok!
everything ok!
everything ok!
everything ok!

2008-07-25T20:35:00.001-07:00

HOLY CRAP.

i am the summertime queen. what makes me say this, you ask? i just invented something better than ice cream. the other day i decided that one of my mangoes was getting a little too overripe, and since i wasn't ready to eat it just then, i decided to hack it to bits and freeze it. when i came to thaw out the results this evening, it had of course become a giant orange frozen block. i supposed therefore that the only reasonable way to try to eat this was in the form of a mango smoothie, and this is what happened. it's got the creamy, buttery sweetness of ice cream, except that it's vegan, the fat content is next to nothing and, because of the mango's high water content, it's way lighter on calories and sugars as well, yet somehow so very VERY satisfying. ohh, baby.

i recommend, also, that you try and use a variety of mango that's not too stringy, as the fibrous stringy bits are a real pain to blenderize.

mango ice cream

1 mango, cut into chunks and frozen until a nice firm block
1/2 cup plain soymilk
sweetner, if you must (but you really don't need it!)

first, unless you have a very powerful blender, you might want to get a good sharp knife and try to hack that frozen mango block into somewhat smaller frozen chunks. place these chunks into a blender (or hand-blender friendly dish if you, like me, have a hand-blender) and pour in soymilk. whizz until smooth and thick. spoon into a big bowl and tuck in!

2008-07-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

because some people want to hear me make an ass of myself on talk radio:

ontario today

scroll down to wednesday's barbecue segment, about 15 minutes in. there's some interesting chitchat and talking with other folks, and then there's me.

and then there's maude.

(am i the only person who, upon hearing the words "and then there's" always mentally fills in with "maude"?)

2008-07-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

RADIO ONE
RADIO ONE

since our television died, i've kind of got into the routine of listening to radio one during the day while i cook and sew, instead of watching star trek. (i still watch star trek on the computer, in the evenings, mind you. heaven forbid i let two days go by without watching star trek!)

anywho, i've officially transitioned from being somebody who listens to radio one, to someone who telephones radio one. so if you happened to hear some spazz on ontario today talking about cajun blackened tofu this afternoon, that was me.

(and it IS delicious.)

2008-07-21T14:11:00.001-07:00

so last night i dreamt that i was at my dayjob, doing dayjobby things, but then david schwimmer (that's ross from friends!) was my boyfriend, and then i was being hassled by some apparent library executives who were evaluating my work skills, because david schwimmer kept being all cuddly on me while i was supposed to be working.

then some crackheads stole david schwimmer's van. if i remember correctly, it was a wood-paneled van. it was pretty much awesome, and we were pretty pissed off when some crackheads stole it.

then i woke up. i have no idea what david schwimmer had to do with anything, given that i haven't so much as thought about him in a couple of years, and never particularly gave him much thought in the gee-i-wish-he-was-my-boyfriend department.

i blame vicarious drug smokage. i guess i also blame vicarious drug smokage for the fact that i ate ice cream for the first time since forever, and even the cardboard-wafer cone it came in tasted pretty fucking wizard.

2008-07-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

curse youuuuuuuuuuuuuu, internets! i shouldn't be buying things. i know very well that i should not be buying things. i am being dispatched on an academic cross-country adventure OF AWESOME, and, while this will bode well for my CV (in desperate need of some more padding) it doesn't bode so fabulously for my pocketbook.

therefore, internet, i must protest. please to be stopping making me look at things like this:

since it is obvious to resist their lovely plaid charms OF AWESOME.

sigh.

2008-07-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

this is my favourite recipe for potato salad. i loosely adapted this recipe (with a good many tweaks, of course) from a wonderful french cookbook some time ago, the result being a strange french-swedish-hungarian hybrid that i can hoover a six-serving bowlful in the space of time it takes to watch an episode of star trek: voyager. i like to use new potatoes when they're in season in ontario and have that wonderful creepy-looking skin that falls off with a good scrub. failing that, i'm also quite fond of the creamy texture of red potatoes, but whatever your favourite potato is will do. a mix of white and blue potatoes makes for a really visually interesting salad, too.

thus:

pommes de terre en salade

serves six (or less, depending on just how voracious you are)

1 1/2 - 2 pounds potatoes (unpeeled if new and tender-skinned, peeled if older)
2 tbsp white wine vinegar (or just plain old white vinegar, if that's what you've got handy)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 handful each fresh chives, parsley and dill, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until soft but not mushy. drain and transfer to a bowl. while the potatoes are still warm, toss with vinegar, and leave to cool a little. once the potatoes are approaching room temperature, add the olive oil, chives, parsley and dill, tossing to combine. season to taste with salt and pepper. et voilà!

*and another thing: if you prefer your potato salad dressing to be a little bit creamy, feel free to add a tablespoon or two of sour cream or plain yogurt to the dressing. it's pretty flipping awesome too.

2008-07-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

woohooooooooo

so i decided to see what would happen if i held a fisheye lens

up to the lens of my colorsplash

and it actually came out pretty awesome.

2008-06-25T14:56:00.001-07:00

PICTURE POST!

here are some things that happened in the past few months

2008-06-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

JINKIES! some trekkie put together a complete list of everything kes wears on star trek: voyager.

which is kind of awesome because i was watching voyager with my mother the other night, and we simultaneously commented "i LOVE what kes is wearing."

hands up who thinks i could pull off this outfit without looking like an elf?

2008-06-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

this is a FLIPPING AWESOME bit of animation.

2008-06-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

it's kinda cute how angry they get about beer ads, though.

2008-06-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

*cough*

2008-05-31T07:35:00.001-07:00

this is officially one of my favourite dishes ever, just something i threw together last night. i'm calling it a ragù for lack of a better word, though it's not technically because i use fish and not red meat, so if anyone has a better word for this, do tell. also, feel free to try different kinds of fish or pasta or grains with this recipe. i used linguine, but i suspect it'd be wicked with something like couscous or quinoa as well.

linguine with pseudo-italian (kinda) fish ragù

2-3 glugs olive oil
1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 to 2/3 cup crushed tomato, give or take
a small handful of fresh basil leaves, ripped or chopped into small bits
1 dried thai chile or other small chile, crumbled
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tilapia filets, or other similar white fish, defrosted if frozen and cut into smallish pieces
generous pinch of salt
3 good handfuls linguine, broken

in a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over low-medium heat. add the onion and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent, stirring occasionally. add the pepper and continue cooking for a few minutes, until peppers begin to soften. meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, and drain. set aside. add the crushed tomato and fish and cover, cooking for another few minutes. add the basil and chile and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until fish becomes opaque, breaking up a few bits of fish as you go. you want there to be some chunks remaining, but much of it should fall apart, almost melting into the sauce. at this point you might want to check and see if the sauce is sufficiently thickened. squeeze the lemon over the sauce and stir, and cover again for a few minutes. add the salt, stir, check seasoning and adjust if necessary. serve the ragù over a small portion of linguine. and you're done. brilliant. give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done, and have a nice glass of red wine.

serves 4

2008-05-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

Copyright deal could toughen rules governing info on iPods, computers

uhh, and this is enforceable how? i mean, i know that the whole "downloading" thing is perceived as a terrible threat to the music industry (and i won't get into my rant about that now or we'll be here until we're all flying hovercars and wearing matching silver v-stripe jumpsuits) but really, is there even a way to tell that i bought the music on my ipod? i mean, what if the songs come from a cd that *gasp* i borrowed from a friend and then transferred to my ipod? or one from the library? there is also the school of crazy governmentman thought that argues that copies made of purchased music, even if only for personal use, are illegal, in which case anything on your ipod would be considered as such, but i mean come on, that's ludicrous. i'm surprised i'm not hearing more from apple and their mp3-player colleagues raising more of a stink over this kind of crap.

i guess, however, if they raised too much of a stink, they could be seen as condoning the illegal download of music and film, despite their lucrative itunes store and other such paid-download developments on sites like amazon.

damned if you do, damned if you don't.

it's stupid.

2008-05-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

i'd like to offer a little sartorial advice to some of my fellow old goths.

(and i say this out of the kindness of my heart) if you're over 40, i don't care how much of an affinity for the darkness you have, you should really give up the goth makeup. i've seen many an otherwise good looking middle-aged person RUIN EVERYTHING by thinking they can still pull off the eyeliner and crap. you can't.

this doesn't mean you can't still be all about the darkness and stuff, it just means finding new ways to be all about the darkness. leave the crazy makeup for the kids these days, unless you really want to look like robert smith, who has gone from avant-garde hotness:

to slightly mental:

simply by insisting upon rocking the same look for 25 years.

2008-05-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

you what i want?

i want that rogers wireless should stop calling me on my mobile phone, while i'm at the office, with exciting new offers about my phone. especially not from weird-ass long distance numbers that i'm pretty sure cost me money. what the fuck is that shit? and while i'm at it, since nobody ever wants to hear about exciting new offers about shit over the phone, why do they bother? do they just hope that some people will take them up on their offers just to get rid of them or something?

also, i want that companies and charities and all that stop trying to give me free previews of shit. because when the first two weeks of some exciting new program are free, or i don't have to decide whether to donate now, the people talking to me are SO INCREDULOUS that i don't even want to try their new thing ABSOLUTELY FREE! for the first whatever. you know why it's free of course: they assume that by the time they start billing you, it's too much of a hassle for you to cancel and you'll just keep paying for it. or, in the case of charities, that you'll find it in your heart to donate that cup of coffee's worth of money per day to little so-and-so in an impoverished nation. i'm a member of greenpeace and i invest in small businesses worldwide through kiva.org. i make like $20,000 a year. don't make me feel shitty about not feeding and clothing all the orphans of the world. i do what i can, but i just don't have the budget for widespread philanthropy. not to mention the fact that i don't trust that these organizations don't have a religious agenda, and i'm certainly not interested in funding missionaries.

2008-05-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

it's strangely often that i get the song "i feel pretty" stuck in my head. and it's usually when i'm at my most unsexy, feeling all gross and sluggish and barfy. and it's always stuck in my head sung by none other than miss piggy:

which is awesome, because miss piggy is pretty much my hero.

2008-05-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

when does something become everybody's business?

i just wonder this because i've been hearing a lot of rights and freedoms talk lately about how whatever a person does is nobody else's business, and to be honest i find that knee-jerk freedom view very narrow-minded and poorly thought-out. indeed, perhaps it's less a cornerstone of my particular ideology, but the way i see it, it's easy enough to say that my actions are nobody else's business, but this is only true if they truly affect no one but me. arguing, therefore, that i live in a free country and therefore it's nobody's business whether i choose to recycle or not is erroneous, and this is an argument i've heard from numerous individuals whose judgement i had always otherwise considered to be sound. however, if we consider that not recycling has a negative impact on the environment, and that no one person and their material consumption habits exist in a microcosm, but rather as part of a planet with loads of other people and things living on it, can we really still say that the decision not to recycle affects no-one? if it affects everyone, can we really still say that such a decision is nobody's business?

i constantly see and hear so many people defending their rights to do horribly thoughtless and irresponsible things, because they consider it their "right" to do so. but if, say, driving a fuel-inefficient vehicle and creating an excessive amount of waste and, heck, leaving the faucet running while brushing one's teeth actually cause strain on the earth's environment (you know, the place where we all live that kind of sustains us) shouldn't the rest of the world have a say? it's like turning up your stereo so loud that it disturbs the neighbours: is it all right to continue to do so because it's a free country? don't your neighbours have the right not to be disturbed? don't the planet's resources have the right not to be overexploited? doesn't everybody else in the world, not to mention generations to come, have the right to a planet still capable of supporting human life?

seriously people, get past the knee-jerk "freedom" crap and THINK.

2008-05-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

my personal relationship to food is extremely wonky and tumultuous at best, i admit.

i know this article is from a little while ago, but it's still i think one of the best ones i've read on how we view what we eat:

read me, i love you!

personally, i find that while i also take great joy in the act of both cooking and eating, and exploring tastes and smells and textures of foods, i also find myself often preoccupied with thoughts of how much of this or that i'm getting in my diet. have i had too many calories? enough fiber? and so forth. so much so is this a concern that i'll find myself making numerous obsessive calculations throughout the day, theorizing that if i eat this and this, and then have that for dinner, i'll have had such-and-such calories and such-and-such protein, and so forth, instead of simply allowing myself to eat and enjoy an abundance of simple, fresh food every day without worrying that it doesn't adhere to a ludicrous and arbitrary number i have for some reason determined is how much i need in a day. i think in part it gives me something to focus on, so i don't have a chance to worry about how my courses are going, or whether i'll get the living room tidied in time for my dinner party, or whether i'll ever manage to get a PhD and a decent teaching job, and whether i'm wholly repellant to other people and that's why they always seem to get sick or busy after one or two dates.

2008-05-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

cruciferous veg and their starchy buddies, OH

i mean, if you're going to do cauliflower, and it's pretty much one of my favourite vegetables ever (and i like many, and many of them are fellow crucifers, like cabbage) and you should really do cauliflower all the time when it's in season and all gorgeous, it just seems a horrid shame to steam or mash the crap out of it and then just drown it in cheese, or worse yet, force it down plain like that, when it's utterly, utterly UTTERLY orgasm-inducing roasted. i'm amazed that nobody i know seems to know about roasting cauliflower. heck, when i do aloo gobi soup, i actually like to let the cauliflower and potato get a bit brown before adding stock and everything to the soup; even though i whizz it all into a puree anyway, roasting the cauliflower brings out a bit of sweetness in it which is really magnificent. so here's what i do, and it's so stupidly basic that i'm pretty sure i can't even call it a "recipe":

preheat oven to 350 degrees. peel and cut two potatoes into chunks, then boil on the stove in salted water until just a little softer than raw. meanwhile, cut cauliflower into florets roughly the same size as the potato bits, and wash thoroughly. drain potatoes and chuck them into a roasting pan along with the cauliflower. drizzle over a few good glugs of extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle over a generous pinch of salt and just a teensy weensy bit of freshly ground pepper. chuck it in the oven, checking occasionally to flip over vegetables and make sure nothing gets too stuck, until everything's nice and brown and crispy and FREAKING AWESOME.

2008-04-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

shh... don't tell her, but i'm getting these for my mum for mother's day:

petal pearl earrings by elizabeth scott

it's hard buying jewelry for my mum, because our tastes don't always overlap in these kinds of things, but somehow i think these are simple and pretty enough that she'll like them as much as i do.

and and and i've just bought a whole bunch more mustard and black shirts (organic, of course) to make more bumbly bee shirts:

IT'S A PLAGUE OF BUMBLY BEES OH NO

and i have a massive, MASSIVE organic mango that i bought on the weekend, and i think it's ripe enough to tuck into today. life is good. but how the heck are you?

2008-04-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

sometimes this blog just needs to stop being about a) my own neuroses and mental shortcomings, and/or b) all the neato stuff in my shop, and needs instead to rave about the awesomeness of other people's work.

kelly newcomer creates some of the flipping awesomest art i've ever seen anywhere. it's just so joyful and harmonious and the absolute best kind of whimsical. this is "flowers and machines":

which is pretty much THE absolute best piece of art that i own, so much so that i pretty much intend to decorate at least one room of my next apartment around it.

this is one of her otherworldly and impossibly adorable robot sculptures:

this is lovable machine, and indeed one does kind of feel the uncontrollable urge to hug it:

and this is helicopter baby:

and now that you've seen how thoroughly awesome all of this stuff is, go check out the rest of her stuff, too.

2008-01-12T23:05:00.000-08:00

well, sweeny todd was FUCKING AWESOME. blood and stuff, and lots of people in fingerless mittens (as a purveyor of the aforementioned woolen goods, i approve) and alan rickman and johnny depp (THANK GOODNESS) not being a pirate and i believe i even briefly spied none other than anthony head as some guy with one line.

and i want everything helena bonham carter was wearing.

AND THE GORE! i'm a happy camper.

also, impending tooth doom (read: wisdom tooth extraction - all five of them!) approaches, and i can't help but wonder if i'll be fully sedated or awake to hear all the bone-crunching. AND THE GORE. i may be the only person in the world who takes a perverse delight in anticipation of toothy doom.

also,

2007-06-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

I'M AN AUNT!

here i am (in my buffy shirt, with yucky spirulina supersmoothie in hand) with my nephew, simon:

isn't he precious? :)

2007-06-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

boy, do i wish more people would use the interrobang.

2007-06-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

so today i bought myself a couple of skinny neckties from the fabulous cyberoptix tie lab and i am all kinds of excited:

hotttttttttttt.

as i write this book, i keep visualizing it as being really filmic, but the more i think about it, it would make a terrible film. it's all full of memories, flashbacks and introspection, and would therefore either be two hours of voice-over narration or a seemingly unconnected series of scenes and images with almost no dialogue.

but my goodness, it would have a wicked soundtrack.

2007-05-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

ok, that's it. happy belated birthday to me, i'm getting a piercing. in my ear.

because why? because i'm crazy like that.

also, out of some kind of perverse curiosity, i decided to see if i could find a copy of the recorded output (all two singles!) of ricky gervais' short-lived early 80s new wave band, seona dancing. found one copy of their collected works from some ebay seller in singapore, and it arrived here a few days ago.

and holy fuck, i love it. cheesy? a little bit, but actually quite good musically, and ricky has the 80s new wave man voice down hardcore. i don't know why, but something just struck me listening to this band, like these are my anthems, like i get it, and they just feel, somehow, good.

no clue what i'm talking about? their single "more to lose" is now playing on my myspace page.

2007-05-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

i've been feeling stupidly new-wave-ish of late. for serious. i don't even feel comfortable wearing my flared trousers outside of the house anymore, and i'm seriously contemplating asking my stylist to make my haircut a little more asymmetrical again, and i'm even thinking of maybe (maaaaaaaaybe) getting an ear pierced, and wearing a dangly earring and shirts with skinny ties. i think that would be hot.

what the hell is wrong with me?

2007-05-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

you totally know you want to check out all my fun new photographs chronicling my very expensive weekend in toronto, among other things.

also, big thanks to everybody who actually showed up to my birthday thing last night, and thanks to robyn and becky for the wicked good journal, and kirsten for the cutest card ever, and crystal for the candles and the pack of cloves!

(clearly, that girl gets me like none other.)

2007-05-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

it's my birthday, woohoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

actually, so far it's been pretty anticlimactic. oh well.

2007-05-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

Edmund Husserl

You scored 27 realism, 33 rationalism, 33 materialism, and 33 atomism!

Your philosopher is Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl, (April 8, 1859 - April 26, 1938), philosopher, was born into a Jewish family in Prostějov (Prossnitz), Moravia, Czech Republic (then part of the Austrian Empire). He is known as the "father" of phenomenology.

You concentrate on the ideal, essential structures of consciousness. You think that that the world of objects is normally conceived of in what he called the "natural attitude", which is characterized by a belief that objects themselves have certain properties and in seeing these objects we come to understand what is inherent in them.

Link: The Philosophy Test written by Datamouse on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

ohhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

also,

gimme.

also, it's my birthday on friday, so instead of buying me stuff, buy my stuff!

2007-05-20T00:30:00.001-07:00

anthony, i told you i was blogging this!

see?

i learned how to line dance tonight, and people kept trying to buy me shooters, i kept not letting them, because drinking makes me more depressed than i already always am, so i try not to drink. so i didn't. then i ate chinese food and mostly i just wanted to go home.

now i am home, and it feels good. i like being home.

2007-05-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

sean hennessey rocks my pants off.

yup. i ain't got no pants. they've been rocked off. *nods*

apparently i'm going to some bars tonight. i don't really do going to bars. this should be, uhh... interesting.

2007-05-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

next week, i am going to bake muffins. bran muffins. with dates, and banana, and probably some nuts thrown in. i am stupidly excited about this.

there is moth banging into my window. it's kind of freaking me out. i think this means it's time to put the lights out.

tomorrow should be good. i should write. lots. that will be good.

2007-05-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

seven random facts about me, as tagged by kristina/inaluxe:

1. in 2003, i wrote a novel. it's safely tucked away in my hard drive, never to see the light of day again.
2. i often feel like i'm trapped in the middle of a jane austen novel. i'd really like if things could take their course and i could just hook up with alan rickman, but instead i just keep being bombarded with heartbreaking revelations.
3. i love my studies, even though they give me panic attacks; i love my day job, even though the cd cleaner gives me a rash and i think i'm allergic to the building; and i love my etsy shop, even if it's hemorrhaging money.
4. at least 75% of my wardrobe is black.
5. i don't have a driver's license, and have no desire to get one.
6. every time i see one of those commercials where they list the symptoms of some terrible disease, i become convinced that i have it.
7. i floss.

2007-05-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

my face is finished
my body's gone
and i can't help but think
standing up here in all this applause
and gazing down at all the young and the beautiful
with their questioning eyes
that i must above all things love myself
that i must above all things love myself
that i must above all things love myself

oh nick, how i love you.

in other news, i impulsively spent over $200 on fashionable boots and sandals yesterday. what am i, a girl? ($250 guess boots for $49.99? how could i not?)

(hooray for lazy reposts when i don't feel like writing something completely different in each of my 3496809 blogs!)

2007-05-03T07:24:00.001-07:00

again with the OH MY GOD HA!

ooooh, scary