Media Recs

As the census has ended I have more time to devote to listening to things, reading things and (let's be honest, mostly) watching things.

Books
Dead Until Dark, The First Sookie Stackhouse Novel, by Charlaine Harris. This is the novel that the TV show True Blood is based on and lord it is terrible (and enjoyable.) I believe that Charlaine Harris could best Stephenie Meyer in a writing contest, but it would be a close call. However, unlike Twilight, a lot of shit happens in this book including a healthy dose of sex and violence. In one scene Sookie discovers her Grandmother brutally murdered in their kitchen and a couple of pages later she loses her virginity to her new vampire boyfriend (as you do). Basically, I highly recommend it.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. Prep is difficult to describe because the story is so seemingly simple. A girl from a middle class family in the Midwest gets a scholarship to go to a fancy prep school on the East coast. It is a brilliantly written book and one of the most realistic books I've read about being a teenager. The main character's angst is believable and never overdone. Her behavior is so realistically teenagery that I actually cringed and at one point had to put the book down. Anyway, the story is much more complex than I am able to describe (incorporating class, race and gender issues) but it is a great book and you should read it (although it doesn't contain any vampire sex).

TV Shows
True Blood. This show is total crack. I have watched two seasons of it and I have no idea if I think it is a good show. Is it well written or well acted? I don't know and I don't care. It is incredibly addictive for much the same reasons the book is. However, it works even better in the tv show because the insane levels of sex and violence (and the tv show adds much more of these, especially the sex) are so much more visceral. Ula and I would get this on netflix, one disc at a time and proceed to watch every episode on the disk the day we got it. Then we'd wait desperately for the next and do it all again. If you like to be entertained and you like naked people, this is the show for you.

Friday Night Lights. This show is about high school football in a small town in Texas and it rocks. The 4th season is currently on demand and it is so fucking good. Unlike True Blood, I can confidently say that this is one of the best written and best acted shows on television. The relationship between Coach Taylor and Tammy Taylor is bar none the best relationship on TV. I do not know anyone who likes football less than I do (maybe Ula?) but that doesn't stop me from being obsessed with a show about high school football. I have probably watched 10 times as many football games played by the fictional Dillon Panthers than I did of my own high school's team when I was a student (sorry SLO Tigers!). I believe this show appeals to everyone (I was initially convinced to watch it after reading a review in Bitch magazine) - men, women, gay, straight, black, white and Tim Riggins' fans.

That is Tim Riggins, and I love him.

I was going to write about music and movies, but I'm exhausted.

Grill

That's my grill. It was put together by the lovely Ben and Kaori. It only took them 3 hours. While they didn't specifically say so, I bet they were really appreciative that I provided them with such an entertaining activity. Otherwise they probably would have been pretty bored. I not only generously gave them a fun project to do, but also cooked them brunch.



I made biscuits and fruit salad. I have never made biscuits from scratch before and I found them both easy and delicious. I also made a leek/mushroom frittata and turkey bacon (which was not crispy enough for Kaori's taste and I was unjustly accused of feeding her raw bacon).

In other news I have my first outdoor 5k next week. Which is exciting, but I've basically stopped "training" and now I only jog about once a week. I think it will most likely end up being terrible but I do think our team t-shirts are adorable!



Wish me luck. I really fucking need it.

I have not been blogging much recently due to working more and cooking less, and the fact that I am having problemsgetting photos from my iphone.

I managed to do a wee bit of cooking and such yesterday and thought I'd share. Last night I decided to make the delicious grilled fish salad again. But I used a different type of fish this time (the ling cod) and it tasted gross, and too fishy. Then I realized it was full of bones but already broken up on my salad. I am scared of choking on fish bones (I even dreamed last night that I choked on a fish bone - my dreams are very interesting and mysterious).

I had very little other food in the house but managed to make myself a sharp cheddar apple toasted sandwich of deliciousness.

I just sauteed some apple slices and threw them on a mini baguette with a bit of sharp cheddar (and salt and pepper on top). It was awesome and I plan to make more fruit and cheese sandwich combos.


What else did I make?

Delicious cucumber infused vodka! I haven't actually tasted it yet, but I believe it will be delicious. To me summer means sweet fruit infused booze, am I right?

And in animal news, as Ula is in the motherland I am taking over Maude duties for a week and a half. Last night, all the pets were very sweet and charming.


Then I went to bed last night. Maude usually sleeps upstairs with Ula but sleeps in my room downstairs when Ula is gone (I have suggested that Maude sleep on the couch, but she seems uninterested). Because my room is downstairs, it is much closer to the street and the noises that brings. Last night that was a recipe for disaster. All f**king night long Maude whined, barked and growled. I have a memory of myself pleading with her at around 4 a.m. to please shut up. I put her out of my room but it only made her louder. Around 5 a.m. I fell asleep and at 6:45 she pounced on my chest to let me know she was ready for her morning walk. I don't remember the walk exactly except I was in my pajamas stumbling around the neighborhood (didn't even put on a bra or brush my hair). My plan was to take her on the world's shortest walk as I was going to take her home the second she peed. She of course didn't go to the bathroom and just walked around and snacked on grass. I was so tired and angry I started to lose it and screamed "just pee" at her, then she did.

The moral of the story is if you see a homeless looking zombie wandering around NE Killingsworth early in the morning simultaneously yelling and crying at a corgi, sadly it is me. Just avert your eyes.

Oh god, I'm so tired. Good night!

I don't know if I have time to work

I'm pretty busy taking pictures of my cat posing like Josh Lyman (former deputy chief of staff for President Bartlett and future chief of staff for President Santos) from The West Wing.



I'm not sure if I have the time for full time employment and to pursue my artistic endeavors. My life is hard.

Me and Fluffy Magee

OMG. I feel like I haven't blogged in forever. My phone has been having some technical issues which has made posting pictures difficult. However, today it only took me about 2 hours to email photos to myself...success! This post will be dedicated to animals, because animals are fucking cute. Ok?


Look at the way Torque's little paw is wrapped around Joe's little neck...cute, right?

Yesterday Ula and I volunteered with the Multnomah Bar at the Oregon Humane Society. Basically you play with dogs for a bit and then head to the cattery. We played with a couple of dogs, but they weren't interested in playing with balls or being pet as much as they were in smelling pee (not that i'm trying to judge anyone's hobby).

I personally preferred the cattery and will volunteer there again. Basically you sit in a room for a little bit and pet cats. My favorite one was Fluffy Magee a tiny long haired fellow, who was mostly shaven except his head, feet and the end of his tail.


If you or anyone you know is looking for a cat, let me highly recommend Mr. Fluffy Magee. He is made of love (although he was being a bit of a "see you next tuesday" to the other cats, so I might not recommend him if you have other animals).

At the Oregon Humane Society gift shop I purchased a cat toy which is a carrot filled with catnip. The cats love it.


In fact, Torque would like you to not fucking touch his carrot. Thank you very much.

Finally, I have a very important recommendation. If you like blogs, or culture, or movies, or hilarity you will love Kaori's new pop culture blog. Too many movie reviewers are obsessed with things like knowing the name of the film, or the actors in it, or something about the plot. Kaori is a real breath of fresh air. Please encourage her to keep on blogging.

Potato Leek Soup Recipe and a Movie Recommendation

For $1 I recently picked up 5 lbs of potatoes. I was speaking with brother who recommended that I use my excess potatoes to make some potato leek. So I did, and it was glorious.

Recipe:
2 leeks, the white parts thinly sliced
1/2 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
2 lbs (ish) potatoes
1.5 C Buttermilk
1.5 C vegetable stock
3 TBL butter
salt and pepper

I threw in the leeks, onion and garlic with the butter and salt and pepper in my dutch oven and sauteed for about 15 minutes. While that was sauteeing I boiled the potatoes. When the potatoes were finished I put them in the dutch oven and added the buttermilk and vegetable stock. I used my immersion blender (which is magical) and suddenly there was soup! And it was super tasty. It is hearty and tangy and filling but light at the same time.

I made a pretty thick soup and if you wanted it lighter you could definitely add more of the liquids. I think the flavor was perfect using a 1:1 ratio of buttermilk and stock, but the amount you add is all personal preference.

I also had a spinach, cherry, turkey bacon and hazelnut salad which also rocked. I can't stop eating turkey bacon.

Film Recommendation: Angels in America

I came home the other day and Ula was watching the HBO miniseries based on Tony Kushner's Angels in America. I first saw the play when I was 16 in San Francisco. I saw both parts in the same day, which was about 7 hours of theater. It was absolutely amazing and remains the best play I have ever seen. It might actually be my favorite piece of writing. It is beyond brilliant and worth re-watching just to hear what Tony Kushner can do with words. It is fascinating, funny, sad, crazy and exuberant. Watch it now.

Easter Brunch

As an atheist, I can't really get behind the idea of the whole Jesus rising after being dead for 3 days. But I can get behind the idea of tasty breakfast foods, therefore I do like to celebrate Easter Brunch.

Easter morning I woke up around 9:30, had some coffee and stared at my cat for awhile.

After several hours of that, I got up, showered and got my brunch on.

The day before I made this strawberry tart.

I definitely prefer cooking to baking, as baking is a little exact and time consuming to me. That being said this was super tasty. The sweet, lemony crust is awesome. The only changes I made were using some heated jam instead of a port sauce (cause i'm lazy and poor) and throwing on some toasted slivered almonds for extra crunch on top (which works really well and I highly recommend it). If I make this again I think I would change the mascarpone filling as well. It is tasty but a little heavy. Next time I might use half mascarpone and half creme fraiche, which I think would make it lighter and tangy-er.

I also made some home fries with onion and peppers.

I also made some leftover veggie fritatta. I had some sweet leftover veggies, so my fritatta was asparagus, mushroom, green onion and sharp cheddar. I love fritattas because it is easy to cook the eggs perfectly and they look really nice. I also served some turkey bacon because I don't believe in a meal without meat products.

Kaori (pictured below) brought some delicious orange muffins. Ben (not pictured) brought smoked steelhead trout (but he was forgiven for bringing smoked fish when he did all of the brunch dishes...thanks Ben!).

Suji (pictured below with Ula and modeling my new colorful spring plates) brought some lovely pineapple.

And to solemnize the occasion Lifetime showed two cinematic masterpieces - Cyber Seduction and Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?

Good times.