I love fall. I love the crispness of the colors, the cool air that greets me in the morning and numerous varieties of apples and squash that show up at the farmers market. But I really love it because it means the start of soup season; during which, at least once a week, I make a huge pot of soup and invite an assortment of characters over to feast. It’s one of my most favorite traditions because it gives me a good excuse to tinker with soup recipes and to gather people in my home. Continue Reading →
“In my world, everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!”
― Dr. Seuss
I don’t make carrot cake often; when I was baking professionally making carrot cake meant grating 5-10 lbs of carrots per batch so my shoulders automatically tense up when the thought of making it even crosses my mind. But, it’s my friend Miguel’s favorite and all he asked for for his 50th birthday. So, today I broke out my old recipe and got to work.
In the spirit of revisiting an old standard I figured I would drag out one of the playlists I created for the morning bake off. Because we worked in an open kitchen, so customers could watch us bakers hard at work, we weren’t able to pick the music we listened to while we labored away. This meant that during the 3.5 hours between our 4:30 am call time and the 8 am open we would blast our own playlists to keep us awake and rocking during the bake off. Luckily the three of us bakers had relatively similar tastes in music and were always bringing in different collections of music to entertain and inform each other. Sometimes it got really silly – like the mornings when we’d all sing along at the top of our lungs – others the music was a good distraction from a frustrating morning of burnt cake or failed croissants. But the power of a good kitchen soundtrack was never more apparent than during my time as a baker. The particular playlist I revisited was one I created early on and it’s real mixed bag but I figured I’d share just for a laugh. Continue Reading →
I have been in major like with Canon Logic since early last year when I first heard their album FM Arcade. They have a very clean and unencumbered sound that doesn’t underestimate the listener. It’s simply good music and, like most good music, it gets a lot of play and a lot of the “Wait, who is this? I really like it” when it pops up in my rotation.
When I got an email last week from Sean, their bassist, telling me of their new EP Rapid Empire I will admit a squee of excitement rose from my lips. And yet another when I finished my first listen, approximately 25 minutes later. While it is brief at just 5 tracks – perfectly normal for an EP- each is it’s own nugget of pop awesomeness. Continue Reading →
There are few things that I will jump outta my skin with excitement over but Frightened Rabbit definitely holds that honor and has for a while now. They recently played a show on New York where they were handing out a new EP, unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it but a friend was super kind enough to get me a copy of the EP. Then today I came across this great rendition of “Scottish Winds” – one of the tracks from the EP.
What makes it even better is the association with Invisible Children, an effort devoted raising awareness of the child soldiers in Central Africa. Give the video a look and then check out Invisible Children and see if there is anything you can do to help the cause.
Video after the jump
This
is Greg.
He is the creative mind behind the new TWIAPC logo. He is also a terribly witty and prolific designer who has been turning out some incredible work over the last few years. The guy does it all. Gig posters? He does them. Commercial design? Yep, that too. Super awesome observational illustrations? Some of the best. Oh yeah, he also is one of the minds behind mycatisadick.com Continue Reading →
Pink Skull have provided the soundtrack to many a night out in Philly. They definitely know how to construct layers of synths, over beats with just the right amount of cowbell. The trio have continued to refine their sound and the murmuring I’ve heard about their upcoming album Psychic Welfare suggests that the have really hit their stride. Our first taste come in the form of this new video which pays homage to the early days of green screen. Watch, love and get ready for the new album.
There are plenty of ways to unwind from a crazy intense incredibly long day – head to happy hour, go for a long run, play board games – but none really even come close to coming home, throwing on a classic dance-around-your-kitchen-like-a-crazy-person mix and get down to making guac.
My guac recipe is something I have developed over the years and the one recipe I am asked to make the most. It’s not particularly complicated and can be adjusted to your mood, taste or what’s in the kitchen but there is something magically curative about guacamole therapy.˚ So, go ahead, have at it. Continue Reading →
One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.
I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.
— Edward Abbey
A little over a week ago, as I was perusing my usual food blogs & foodie twitter feed I stumbled on this series of tweets.
It just grabbed my eye and with a little tracking around I discovered that Jennifer, a wonderful writer of all things food & creator of recipes, mother of two and a cherished part of the foodie social media community, had just lost her husband Mikey to a sudden and massive heart attack. She was using the comfort of the familiar 140 characters to begin negotiating her new reality. There was something about the honesty openness of her words that struck a chord in me. It is something I found myself doing after receiving the ernesto news. I leaned on the ritual and community of social media to both distract and comfort me. There is something about the slightly removed community that makes adjusting to major visceral life changes a little easier.
