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Friday, May 02, 2008

Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, and Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling

I've been searching for the best book for my upcoming vacation. I have a lot of unread books to choose from. They've been sitting dormant on my bookshelves for months (some of them have been hanging around for years).

But a new book popped into my possession today that will trump all others: Ballad of the Whiskey Robber written by Julian Rubinstein. Chris recommended it to me as we perused the Borders bargain bin, and he treated me to the book - thanks Chris!

I'm not sure how to prepare myself for a book with a back cover synopsis that starts with "Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant—if only Grant came from Transylvania, was a terrible professional hockey goalkeeper, and preferred women in leopard-skin hot pants."

What?!?

Like I said, thanks Chris.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Tempeh tacos taste terrific

Last weekend was a blast. The weather was perfect and reminded me of the first days of warm weather in college, and short term! From the right field rooftop seats, we watched the Red Sox come from behind to beat the Rangers on Sunday afternoon. It was the first time I scored an entire game since I was a Cub Scout watching the Paw Sox.

Plus we enjoyed a great new recipe: Jamaican Curried Tempeh Tacos

The yellow curry filling, mustard greens (although we used baby spinach), and red pepper strips lend these spicy tacos the colors of the tropics.

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 small sweet onion, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla, diced (1 cup)
1 8-oz. pkg. tempeh, cut into ½-inch cubes
½ cup unsweetened pineapple juice
2 Tbs. chopped cilantro
2½ tsp. curry powder
1½ tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 Tbs. lime juice
1 tsp. grated lime zest
4 6-inch corn or flour tortillas, warmed
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup curly mustard greens, finely chopped
2 Tbs. chopped peanuts, optional

1. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until onion is softened.
2. Stir in tempeh, pineapple juice, cilantro, curry powder, and ginger. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook 5 minutes, or until pineapple juice evaporates and tempeh starts to brown, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat, stir in lime juice and zest, and season with salt and pepper.
4. Fill tortillas with tempeh mixture. Add red bell pepper and mustard greens. Top with peanuts, if desired.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Bubble and squeak

A fun new web app just emerged that lets you create your own mp3 mixtapes. Muxtape is genius in its simplicity. Although I wonder how long this little service will be able to stick around.

My mix is a showcase of my favorite dubstep ditties: nervousmusic.muxtape.com. It's heavy on the Burial tracks, but he's my favorite. Be sure to crank your bass for these gems.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

So long Joe-Joes

Out of pure coincidence while cleaning out the kitchen cabinet tonight, I discovered that my final box of Candy Cane Joe-Joes expires today. Well, I guess I have some serious eating to do in the next three hours.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

What I've been diggin': Five things, the music edition

A year has flown by since I last dropped a "five things" list here. So it's time for another list. And considering I've been consistently uncovering new music each month with my eMusic subscription, it seems fit to dedicate this go-round to music exclusively. These albums have been part of my soundtrack this winter.

All tracks are available at eMusic, except for the first one which you'd need to grab from iTunes Plus which is their DRM-free wing of their music store. Enjoy!

The Field "A Paw In My Face" - from the album From Here We Go To Sublime

Belong "October Language" - from the album October Language

Ellen Allien & Apparat "Jet" - from the album Orchestra of Bubbles

Japancakes "Blown A Wish" - from the album Loveless

Studio "Out There" - from the album West Coast

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Soup!

This recipe might not be the right choice for Super Bowl Sunday, so that's why we're making it tonight. This is our second time making Moroccan Harira and it's a fun alternative to the usual minestrones and stews that you might usually make.

This traditional soup is thickened with a tadouira—a mixture of flour, tomato paste, and cilantro—and served with lemon wedges. Because of the vermicelli, the soup may thicken when cooled—simply add a little more water or broth when reheating.

Harira
½ cup green lentils
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (2 cups)
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ tsp. ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1 15-oz. can chopped tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
½ cup vermicelli
Lemon wedges, for garnish

Tadouira
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
¼ cup chopped cilantro
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1 Tbs. tomato paste

1. To make Harira: Cook lentils in pot of boiling salted water 2 minutes. Drain.
2. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion, parsley, cilantro, ginger, and cinnamon; sauté 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Stir in tomatoes, and sauté 5 minutes more.
3. Stir in broth, chickpeas, lentils, reserved tomato liquid, and 3 cups water. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 45 minutes, or until lentils are tender, stirring occasionally.
4. To make Tadouira: Whisk flour with 1 cup water in bowl. Whisk in cilantro, lemon juice, and tomato paste. Stir Tadouira and vermicelli into Harira, and cook 3 minutes, or until noodles are soft. Serve with lemon wedges. Enjoy while watching Casablanca.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Checkmate, you carnivore!

Well, that was a month-long hiatus. I haven't had much to report here lately. Made it through the holidays with a nice vacation. Dove back into work including a trip to India, where I've returned with a massive head cold that's just starting to clear up.

One noteworthy item is that my New Year's resolution was to officially slide over to vegetarian status. So I've done that (with the exception of eating a few prawns in India, but who can resist them?) It wasn't much of a change for me. We've been eating mostly vegetarian food at home for a long time, plus I haven't had any red meat in close to two years, I'd say.

Oh, and I also picked up this lovely hand-carved white sandalwood and rosewood chess set while in Chennai. So I'll be polishing my skills over the next few months. Watch out Viswanathan Anand!

Monday, December 24, 2007

What was your craziest onstage moment?

Last month I summarized Yo La Tengo's answer to my freewheeling question. Now thanks to the great Boston music blog, Bradley's Almanac, you can hear it for yourself at about 2 minutes in to "freewheeling banter 11" not to mention the entire early show from November 15th. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Daft podcasting

I have to get the podcast engine going again soon. It's been a nine-month gap which is inexcusable and the last one included my favorites from the beginning of the year. Here we are in the final stride of 2007 and I suppose my next podcast should round out the year with my other favorites.

All I know is that Daft Punk's Alive 2007 will top the list. Have you heard this thing? I stopped paying attention to Daft Punk five years ago, but wow, this live album from a June show in Paris is stellar. Check the video clip. What are your favorites from the year?

Sunday, December 02, 2007

A mix of Snow (and rain)

For those in New England, we have snow in our near future. The coastline will probably be a messy mix of snow and rain. But here in central Mass we could be getting anywhere between 3-6 inches, maybe more if the storm dips south a bit.

This won't be the first snowfall of the season, but it's close enough that it's time to pull out Coil's "The Snow." I've talked about this in the past and posted the track here before. So this time, let's go with a couple remixes both courtesy of Meat Beat Manifesto.

Coil "The Snow (Answers Come In Dreams I)" (mp3)
Coil "The Snow (Answers Come In Dreams II)" (mp3)

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Holiday construction

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Excellent food and some relaxing time with both sides of my family. On Thanksgiving afternoon, we took advantage of the unusually mild weather to wander the driftway in Scituate. The air was clean and it was perfectly quiet except for the rustle of marsh grass as we looked out onto Fourth Cliff and parts of the shoreline.

We drove around town and I was reminded of some areas I hadn't seen in a long time, including Veteran's Park where my name is engraved in a wooden walkway for donating and helping with its construction. We also saw the new shingles on my parents' house. The construction was done by one man and he did an outstanding job.

After a visit to my hometown, we drove to central Mass where we shared a lot of laughs over the construction of our gingerbread houses. I was inspired to put a keg of mini-pretzels to good use and make my own maze. At first I considered an all-Peep tree maze a la The Shining, but quickly decided against it with only one package of Peep trees. A few more photos after the jump.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Gobbling up music

Man alive. This has been a big music month for me.

I've discovered new music and posted a few things here. I'm adding albums to my eMusic "Save For Later" list like a champ. I saw Yo La Tengo last week and will possibly hear some renditions of Steve Reich next week. And now I'm all set up with my new 160GB iPod Classic. The day has come -- and it didn't take too long -- where I can fit my collection (or at least the parts I care about) in my pocket...with room to spare.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Freewheelin' and fabulous

On Thursday night, Chris and I saw an amazing Yo La Tengo show at the Museum of Fine Arts. It was my fourth (fifth?) time seeing them live and definitely the best. It was an almost-acoustic set they called The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo Tour. The premise is quite simple: Play an intimate sold-out show to a bunch of drooling indie kids and between every song bring up the house lights halfway to chew the fat.

Yo La Tengo accepted song requests (and did a nice job of fulfilling most) and answered questions that were shouted out. Chris was egging me on to yell: "Why wasn't your fourth album double live?!?" Although an obscure reference from their "Sugarcube" video, it would've been pretty funny to ask.

I almost gathered the chutzpah to do it, but instead I shouted "What was your craziest onstage moment?"...thinking that would garner a longer response and a funny story (rather than a deep sigh and a shake of the head - sorry Chris). The lead singer Ira answered with a long, meandering story about how a friend of the band thought it would be a good idea to join them onstage for a song...naked.

Singing naked wasn't a dare; it was more like just something to do. The band gave in and let him. But once he was up there, shyness set in and he turned his back to the audience only to be staring at Georgia, the female drummer. Maybe not the most insane thing to happen to a band on stage, but a pretty humorous story. Maybe they'll have another crazy story after tonight's live performance on Saturday Night Live.

They then floated right into this...

Yo La Tengo: "Pablo and Andrea" (mp3)

Oh yeah, and I should also mention they played a gorgeous rendition of one of my favorites:

Yo La Tengo: "Deeper into Movies" (mp3)

My cameraphone photo is terrible. See better photos from closer fans with better cameras on Flickr.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

The dubstep blues revivial

The Red Sox are champs once again. We've set the clocks back. We've even had a snow flurry. It's only been a couple weeks since my last post but between then and now it seems like we've really started to slip into the colder season. I guess this means the holidays are right around the corner. I'll likely be staying put through the next couple months without any work travel in sight.

A couple big projects are behind me. They launched during October. Work is no less busy, but there's the tiniest bit of a calm right now until the next big roll-outs in January. As a result, I've started to do more things at home and in my personal life. Hey, I've even been able to discover some new music.

A friend at work turned me on to Elizabeth Cotten, a roots music guitarist with some unbelievable finger-picking skills. Her album Shake Sugaree is a wonderful listen.

In direct contrast, I stumbled upon a UK producer that goes by the name Burial. He has released two albums in the last two years to high critical acclaim. No one knows much about him. He's given one interview but doesn't make any public appearances let alone perform any live shows. Over the last week, the album Untrue has seeped into my brain with its mysterious and unsettling beats and vocals. He's breathed new life into the somewhat stale genre of dubstep, or 2step, or whatever you want to call it. Anyway, enjoy. It's like a soothing narcotic.

Elizabeth Cotten "When The Train Comes Along" (mp3)
Burial "Archangel" (mp3)

Sunday, October 28, 2007

To sleep or not to sleep

I just returned from a friend's house in Luzern where we watched the replay of Game 3 on NASN, the North American Sports Network. I was able to get through Sunday morning without hearing about last night's score. Not that the Swiss-Germans are running through the streets shouting Game 3's results.

Tonight is going to be tough. I'll be hanging out with people watching the Patriots on NASN. But can I stay up basically all night to catch Game 4 and the potential sweep?

Well, first of all, I'm all thrown off. I'm still a bit jet-lagged plus Europe set its clocks back last night, one week earlier than the U.S. So really I'm just 5 hours ahead at the moment which means the Pats game will start at 9:15pm. However the Sox won't start until 1:30am. UGH. What's a displaced Sox fan to do? Did I mention this is killing me?