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I got a cat and I can’t figure out what to name her. Nilam?...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:07:00 -0500

I got a cat and I can’t figure out what to name her.

Nilam?
Mbuzi?
Ada?
Smudge?

WHY DOES THIS FEEL LIKE SUCH A HUGE RESPONSIBILITY? (Because it is).

"Each year, executives at every television network except one face the same dilemma: what to air..."

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:53:00 -0500

“Each year, executives at every television network except one face the same dilemma: what to air during the Super Bowl? Before 2005, Animal Planet usually punted, airing nature documentaries that no one was expected to watch. But Melinda Toporoff, an executive producer, wanted to compete. “I was inspired by the Yule log,” she said. “Something you can just stare at and surrender to.” Her version was the Puppy Bowl….For every ten Americans who want to watch large men concuss one another, there is one who wants to surrender to cuteness. Beyoncé may be singing on CBS, but the Animal Planet halftime show features a kitten scrimmage, with hedgehog cheerleaders dressed in tutus.”

- The New Yorker, jan 28 2013 (via wafflewednesday)

* Things I learned in the Grand Caymans (so far)

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:54:00 -0500

• the real challenge of driving on the other side? Windshield wipers & turn signals.

• No sidewalks = flattened chickens. Or maybe that isn’t so correlated.

• Stroking a turtle’s neck helps soothe them.

• Conch fritters are not delicious.e

• When an island is only 22miles long, the route on your map goes by quickly.

• The usual restaurant scouting tactics: full tables, recommendations, tiny hole-in-the-walls are not reliable here.

• Snorkeling is not my forté.

• You can walk with sting rays as long as you don’t step on them.

• But they’re still scary.

• Irish Moss (the drink) feels a bit like chunky saliva, but tastes like egg nog.

• The Grand Caymans doesn’t observe daylight savings time.

• Neither does Arizona.

• The Cayman trench is over 25,000ft deep and it looks amazing.

• How to make sticky rice (& I inherited a sticky rice pot + basket).

• Saliva helps de-fog your goggles.

• Baby turtles dig their way through ~34in. of sand before making their début.

My first ever food box! I looked forward to this since the...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:32:13 -0500

My first ever food box! I looked forward to this since the moment I clicked “sign up”. It was delivered on time by the lovely New Roots Organics.

I already made one large batch of veggie soup. It was disappointing actually. But there is always another soup to be made!

Photo

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:30:35 -0500

Snuggled heaters and dogs this Xmas. MN’s cold is new to...

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:30:06 -0500

Snuggled heaters and dogs this Xmas. MN’s cold is new to my bones. So is the snow’s constant brightness. Few days ago, I skied straight out the front door and onto that frozen lake above. Lovely.

New view (I live in Seattle now).

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:03:37 -0500

New view (I live in Seattle now).

11.6.12

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:24:48 -0500

Why aren’t we talking about how the electoral college makes no sense anymore?

This year, hurricane - or storm - Sandy has made voting for many counties in New Jersey and New York really difficult. A makeshift email alternative has been set up and although the security of it is questionable, it’s great! Making it possible for people to vote is great!

But what about making their vote (in the general election) count?

Wouldn’t that be cool?

Wishing my presendential vote felt significant,

Washington State Voter

as promised (to myself)

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:08:58 -0400

What I’ll miss, Berlin.

* walking forever and in any direction then finding a subway that takes you directly home.

* brunch brunch brunch.

* cozy bars with wooden tables, soft lighting and curious framed photographs.

* falafel!

* döner!

* thunderstorms, loud and cracking.

* not worrying about driving - there’s always a transport thing to take you home.

* cheap flights to Lisbon, Agadir, Pula and Istanbul.

merely to get it off my chest

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:46:44 -0400

People ask how I like living in Berlin. I don’t. It just isn’t my city. And I know people love it. When I walk around, talk to people, eat at lovely brunch places - I can see why people adore it here. It just doesn’t feel right on me. But having been posed that question so many times, I’ve really asked myself, why? Why doesn’t it click with me? I’ve made mental lists. I’ve even made some written lists (on paper, with a real pencil). Here’s a few examples:

* it’s flat.

* because it’s flat, you don’t ever see far, no long views, few hilltops.

* there’s no ocean nearby to remind me where the land ends.

* bars have a tendency to project muted videos on an otherwise blank wall. I go to bars for the company - not to feel like a piece of a live art installation.

* some eateries have only standing tables, what’s wrong with chairs???

* paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. folders, folders, folders.

* the concrete.

* the hugeness of buildings, the standardized height they most all adhere to.

* the lack of greek yogurt…

* spreadable peanut butter.

* and spicy foods!

Now that I’ve spewed all this negativity into the world I’ll attempt to balance it out with what I will miss about Berlin tomorrow. And despite my complaining, the list won’t be hard. There’s plenty good here, and everywhere.

Vienna home

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:48:00 -0400

This is the home of my lovely friend Valérie. We grew up on different continents, sleeping in the same Ikea loft bed. She makes me smile.

ice cream (w/ cashews for creaminess?!)

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:20:00 -0400

#1. dinner = ice cream = joy.

#2. I’m not usually a fan of ice cream sans cream, or at least some form of milk product. This, however, this Booja Booja creation was delicious and caught my attention with one of its four ingredients: cashews (the others: agave, water & vanilla)! And yes, it was way overpriced, found in a bio markt with strollers abound and I’m still not convinced/sure of the merits of agave but I dare say, worth it.

#3. cuz toppings rule.

weekend habit

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 11:38:00 -0400

I’ve picked up a little weekend habit of cooking first attempts. Lately, meat’s been on the mind and as I spent a good amount of my life only eating chicken, turkey and fish - there’s a lot of meat I’ve never handled.

#1: Shredded balsamic-cherry chicken, avocado, pickled red onion, cilantro, lime homemade taco! I’ve been eyeing cherries around Berlin and seeing all these lovely sauces popping up in my feed. Altogether the taco was tasty, but the sauce alone? Could use some improvement. What I learned: having the right kind of flour, masa harina, for homemade corn tortillas makes a difference (and could prevent the need of added mashed quinoa to hold them together…), cherry balsamic sauce on chicken gives a tint of disturbing grey.

#2 & 3: Last weekend, it was pork shoulder. I used a rub adapted from this recipe (with coffee!), let it sit overnight and then slow cooked it through Sunday afternoon. To accompany - a yogurt based coleslaw and homemade bbq sauce. I’ve never felt more American in the kitchen. What I learned: less is more on the bbq sauce - I’d like to try tossing it with apple cider vinegar alone, even more rub (!), less liquid - or higher fat content - for coleslaw.

this vegetable

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:59:00 -0400

A steamy artichoke with assorted dipping sauces might just be the best dinner of summer nights.

goodbye house

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 06:41:01 -0400

goodbye kitchen island where friends use straw bowls as hats

goodbye rec room the birthplace of Thief I and II

goodbye dining table and impromptu tea parties for trolls

goodbye to all those awkward school dance stair poses

goodbye patio grilling in the midst of lilac bushes

goodbye to the site to many a cooking showdown

goodbye that time I sloppily made you into a candy house

Today my parents are u-hauling away the last of our house. It’s gutted of all our things from the last seventeen years. But I bet the awful pale pink that my friends and I painted remains in my former room. I’m abroad, cringing at the occasional photo or skype view of our once full living room. The house isn’t yet sold, just rented, but I feel as if I’m losing some phantom limb. I’m going to miss this house. I’m going to miss christmas in this house. I’m going to miss seeing it full of people that I love. I’m going to miss cooking in it and tromping around the yard with our squat wiener dog. Every time I came home from being away for months, I knew exactly what I was walking into, how the mud room stones felt when I kicked off my shoes, how the carpet led me straight into our living room where the dogs attacked me with kisses (and barks), I knew how it felt to run my hands on the back of that maroon couch and then collapse on the blue one. I’ll never walk into that house again, not as it was. I’ll never swing open the patio doors to run to the chicken cage. I’ll never sit on our roof to look out over the high school I was scared to attend. More than anything, I’ll miss sitting with friends and family and the warm smiles that our living room reminds me of, the years of conversations, sweet nothings, late-night bondings, tears, laughter and comfort that existed there. It makes me really sad to say goodbye to this house. It makes me more sad to say goodbye to a home to host in Port Townsend. So goodbye home, the first home I ever really knew.

a grill guide

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 17:02:55 -0400

a grill guide:

Wahoo more food infographics for grill novices like myself!

or this, or… this. Humidity be gone.

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 12:33:00 -0400

or this, or… this. Humidity be gone.

I could so go for some of this [Croatia] right now.

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 12:30:09 -0400

I could so go for some of this [Croatia] right now.

These are intense… and I hope I won’t ever have to...

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 09:56:02 -0400

These are intense… and I hope I won’t ever have to live in a building like this, don’t think I can handle the density.

wnycradiolab:

ianbrooks:

Architecture of Density

Seven million people are sardine-canned into a mere 1,108 square kilometers of Hong Kong, comprised of 6,588 high rise buildings (several hundred more than in New York City). Hong Kong’s metoric development and population explosion produced these head-spinningly claustrophobic living conditions, photographed here by Michael Wolf. In each picture it’s hard to imagine that anything else exists besides these massive walls, it seems as if the architecture itself has somehow overtaken the world it springs from.

Artist: website (via: china smack / kotaku)

Extraordinary. These look like woven fabrics, like bar graphs, like the insides of machines…

a freendth at home

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 06:05:00 -0400

“Whath are you looking ath?”

“Heyth! I’m on a thiiing!”

“Thsoo, what are we doingth now?”