My new favorite everything

Since it's about time that everybody's New Year's resolutions have become complete wastes of time, I have decided to embark upon a rejuvenation program. Seriously. My life is, just like the American economy, suffering from stagflation--nothing new is happening (stagnating), but life still costs more money and I'm getting kinda chubby (inflation...?). I need an injection of exciting newness before I collapse of boredom. What's better than making lists in this kind of situation? Let me share with you my new favorite...well, everything! It never hurts to try something new, isn't that like the spice of life? Variety, right?

MY NEW FAVORITE...
BAND/ARTIST: Hello Saferide, from Sweden. Not only is her voice completely adorable but street-smart and a little world-weary in the manner of Emily Haines' (of Metric) solo albums, El Perro del Mar, or Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis, if you will, her website and blog are adorable. I like to think that I am getting in touch with my Swedish ancestry by listening to all this new Swedish music (didn't you know that Scandinavia is WHERE IT'S AT? remember Saraha Hotnights?), but my Swedish-Japanese heart just cannot resist a great music-y blog with lines like this: Advice for all other songwriters: try to include a multi-instrumentalist with Japanese heritage in your band. It really comes in handy when you go to Tokyo and need someone to order food, and weird drinks in karaoke bars. "The Quiz" (Would You Let Me Play This EP Ten Tmes A Day?) is perhaps the greatest song about a budding romance that I have heard in years, and is pretty much the story of my life. "Get Sick Soon" is also close to saccharine but gloriously simple in its expression of adoration. "Highschool Stalker" is, unfortunately, rife with lines that exemplify many of my pretend relationships with boys I've had crushes on. OH, MY GOD. HELLO SAFERIDE IS GREAT. Her friend, the equally adorable and amazing Maia Hirasawa, came in a close second--check out her video for "And then I found this boy" on MySpace.

ALBUM: Stars' Nightsongs is by no means a new album--in fact, it was their debut, but I didn't get my hot little hands on it until now due to some loser stealing the radio station's copy way back when. Thanks to my friend Step, who happens to be Stars' number one fan in the whole wide world, I rediscovered Nightsongs in full and let me tell you, it makes my life...just like that time I was in the Shibuya GAP store feeling sad because anything above a size ten doesn't exist in Japan, and Stellastarr* came on over the PA system. As Step says, Stars has a lyric that is fitting for every moment of every day, like my favorite kinda-sappy-but-awfully-touching stanza from "Tonight":
when the night descends upon us
take a shower, dry your hair by the furnace
i'll watch you from the corner
telephones and old typewriters
words of love along the wires
let's make it work tonight
telegraphs and birds that fly
through air so still you hear me sigh

I am in no way sappy or romantic or anything, but listening to Nightsongs makes me want a sweeping, epic romance...in France. In my pants.

TV SHOW: The BBC's Life On Mars, made by Kudos Productions (the folks who brought you my other two favorite BBC shows, Spooks and Hustle) in Manchester, UK. Not only is Manchester home of some of the greatest New Wave (hello, Joy Division) music and the club scene, but Life on Mars is like television MAGIC. DCI Sam Tyler gets in a car accident on his way to a crime scene and wakes up in a car...in 1973. He's still a police officer, demoted now to DI and mysteriously just transferred from Hyde to Manchester. John Simm as Sam Tyler (the lead character is, in fact, named after Rose Tyler of the previous two Doctor Who seasons) is all frustrated, confused, and morally upstanding despite his comatose status in the "real" world. John Simm is a great actor (you may remember him from 24 Hour Party People, ahhh Joy Division again!), but what really shines in this series is 1) the music, 2) the 1970s-era reproduction of mise-en-scene, and 3) the supporting cast. Much has been made of Philip Glenister's performance as the liquor-swilling, dirty-fighting, womanizing DCI Gene Hunt, and it's all true. The man is STUPENDOUS to watch, even as he beats the living daylights out of a perp. Lucky for the DCI Hunt fans, he's getting his own series come Fall 2007. My description does not suffice to explain how great this show is, I'm so, so sorry.

OUTFIT: I really don't wear dresses. They are not flattering to my long-legged-but-wide-waisted figure. Praise be, I have finally found the world's most perfect dress. You will clearly see that this just screams "KAREN" once you lay eyes on it. Thanks to Vendima Vintage in San Francisco's Noe Valley, I am the proud owner of this lovely 1940's (by far, my favorite era) style bepocketed polka-dot wrap dress, and it makes me feel like I can swing dance, fly, and/or do anything I damn well please, because I am one sassy broad. Sweet baby Jesus, it is a miracle dress! I will wear it with a vengeance, and my real vintage blue leather open-toe pumps.

RECIPE: This is an easy one, inspired by a Japanese recipe site that is just chock full of goodness. It's become my go-to site when I am confronted with my favorite Japanese ingredients like black sesame, nashi, mizuna, sweet potato, and this time, kabocha. Kabocha are small, sweet pumpkins with green rinds and bright orange flesh, you can find them at farmers' markets and Asian grocery stores. My grandmother told us stories growing up about how during World War II, when she and her family escaped a burning Kobe to live on her uncle's farm, all they had to eat was unripe kabocha and thin rice gruel because they had to pick the vegetables before people would steal them. That's the gist of it. Sixty years later, she's grown to love kabocha again as I have always loved it, so I like to buy a kabocha or two once in a while and try new recipes out. This is so simple, and can be used as a soup, a healthy alfredo-like pasta sauce, or pudding-y dessert depending on how you vary the ingredients.
I started out with 1/2 of a kabocha, seeded and chopped into 1-inch cubes, with most of the green rind cut off. After throwing the cubes into a pot with about 2 cups of milk to 1 cup of chicken broth (or water and sugar, if you are making a dessert), simmer on low for about twenty minutes or so until the kabocha is softened and the milk starts to get a little thick. Puree in a blender until smooth. Freeze in baggies if you wish. I just had some tonight thinned out with about a cup of chicken broth and cooked spinach tortellini in it. Yum! Spice with curry or saffron for a little more ethnic flair.

INDULGENCES: I just discovered that adding frozen semisweet chocolate chips to my favorite Honey Nut O's cereal is, well, MIND-BOGGLINGLY DELICIOUS. A little plebeian, a little decadent, it just makes a great late-night snack and has kept me from baking cookies with wild abandon as I am wont to do when it comes to finals time. Another new inferno of delicious pleasure is a spoonful of lemon curd with fresh (local-grown) strawberries and a bit of powdered sugar. Those Brits really know how to make a good curd.

Image from hitparade.ch.

And there was a girl at school- music to study to:

As most people (pretty much everyone ever) know, I am writing my thesis right now. This makes blogging a bit tough, since a) I write all the time, so writing in my free time? not the most appealing thing ever, and b) I basically have no life outside of women travelers, and definitely no life that exists after 1868. This does not make for the best blog fodder! (unless you guys want to know more about Edo period Japanese Lit. I have plenty of fodder there.)

One thing I am up to date on though: music. Girl, at least not this girl, cannot write without fun music in the background. It's no surprise to anyone that the O.C. is my favorite show ever, and this has a lot to do with one person (one besides Adam Brody:) Alexandra Patsavas. She's been the music supervisor on some of my favorite shows (Grey's Anatomy and Roswell!) but her best work has to be on the O.C., where the music really helped the show come alive. When it wasn't on screen, you missed it, and when they used the cheesy stock music ("The Night Moves," when Summer and Taylor find the skeleton in the attic, anyone?) it cheapened the rest of the episode.

Obviously I am a big supporter of the right music at the right time. It's a critical thing that can make or break any endeavor, so picking out writing music can be tough. What's going to motivate you and keep you in the groove, without making you want to get up and go running or put you to sleep?

A couple of my favorite albums that you might not have heard of are below:

Hot Chip- "The Warning"
Great Beats that still manage to be mellow. The real standout song on the album is "And I Was a Boy From School," which manages to be haunting and melancholy without being sleep-inducing. This has been one of my favorite driving/studying albums for over six months, along with fellow U.K. indie techno pop:

Metronomy- "Pip Paine, Pay the Piper the 5000 Pounds You Owe."
While Metronomy definitely has some similarities to Hot Chip, where Hot Chip has a faux-gangster air about them, Metronomy takes it to a slightly grittier, less poppy place. Less words, more awesome. Not that the whole thing is instrumental, or needs to be, as "Trick or Treatz" proves. Perfect perfect background music- I want this album to be a soundtrack to a film- it is that good.

Also check out the Tyler Fedchuk mashup with "sexyback-" This one keeps me moving on the Elliptical long after the original stopped working.

Matt Pond PA, "Emblems"
You probably have heard of Matt Pond PA by now, but if you haven't, AWESOME. This isn't necessarily my favorite album of theirs, but somehow it managed to become my go-to album of theirs when I am writing.

Stereolab, "Emperor Tomato Ketchup"
The ex-boyfriend approved album! My ex-boyfriend used to always (and still does, to be honest) complain that everything I chose to listen to just about EVER, but especially when we were studying, was too mellow. Stereolab was the first thing to meet with his approval- so much so that he asked me to burn him a copy. Check out "Les-Ypers Sound" for a bouncy fun track.

And last but totally not least is
The O.C. Mix 6.

Because you didn't know there were SIX O.C. soundtracks, did you! Honestly, I didn't know either until fairly recently when I received a copy of this album. It's all covers, which normally is a huge turn off for me, but somehow works perfectly and creates a really seamless and tight mix cd. It also helps that they left off some of the covers that did not work for me on the show- Imogen Heap's cover of Hallelujah and Matt Pond PA's cover of Champagne Supernova are two that come to mind.* I don't like most cover albums by single artists because they tend to fall flat, and most compilation cover cds I've listened too end up being too disjointed. Somehow, this one makes it WORK.

*Although I think the Champagne Supernova cover is on an earlier album. It just did not work for me on Rainy Day Women, and that really taints the poor cover for me. And what is up with the freaking love affair with Imogen Heap? Yes, "Hide and Seek" made a GREAT end to season two, but seriously, mix it up for the season three finale! Into Dust would've worked SO much better there, either the original or the cover.



What are you guys listening to when you're writing a paper or studying? What keeps you going?

images: http://www.leavemethewhite.com/caps/index.php
http://www.screencap-paradise.com/index.php

Au revoir until May!

Earlier this year, my mother and I went to a double-feature of An American in Paris and Singin' in the Rain. She leaned over to me at the beginning of An American in Paris, during the stock footage of Paris, and said, "Just think, you're going to be there!" I whispered back, "I think it's filmed on a soundstage!" Which it was, of course, but that didn't make the reality that I'd be in Paris any less true. (And just look at Leslie Caron's New Look outfit!)

Tomorrow I'm finally heading off on my two-week trip to Paris, Antwerp, and London. I've got a brand-new big suitcase, my Brooklyn-bought blue trenchcoat, black eyeliner (Urban Decay's 24/7, naturally, in Zero), red lipgloss/balm (Lancome Juicy Tubes in "Cherry Burst" and C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint in 1138), and French lessons on my iPod Nano. I haven't packed a thing, but I've certainly got a list of what will go in that new big suitcase for the way there. I'm definitely planning on having more things in it on the way back.

Thanks to Susie at Style Bubble, I am set for London shopping for days, especially as I arrive in London the same day Kate Moss' Topshop collection launches. I may have an inside peek at Prada while I am in Paris (it's all about connections!), and I am definitely planning on a trip to Versailles as well as to the Champs-Elysees Sephora.

I'm leaving the laptop behind in America, as there is just too much goodness in Europe for me to distract myself with the internets. I leave the blog to Mlles Kati and Karen, and I will be back in May with pictures, stories, and finds!

Au revoir!

image from filmreference.com

Chopped Nicoise Salad for Summer

My two days on the South Beach Diet were a bust, mostly because the half-dozen giant pluots I bought last week were just dying to be eaten and the thought of not eating fruit for more than three days is absolutely unbearable. I live in California, after all--strawberries year-round, yummy apples, fresh citrus of all kinds, all that good stuff--unbearable, I tell you! Breakfast for me has been a sliced sweet-tart yellow-purple pluot with a pan-fried salt-and-peppered egg on a slice of whole wheat toast, dry. If that isn't totally virtuous, I don't know what is!

As it turns out, salad for breakfast is a much better option, or so says my mother. Her tried-and-true method of jump-starting a diet is basically that, salad or oatmeal for breakfast every day and try to eat less rice for dinner. I'm much more of a salad-for-dinner girl, since the thought of waking up to salad is entirely too depressing to even consider. The best salad I ever tasted was at a small bistro (I'm not trying to be facetious, you guys, this is a true story) in Manhattan after wandering out of the Bowery Ballroom around ten o'clock at night with my college roommate. It was bitterly cold, we were hungry college students in need of a drink and a quiet minute to process what the hell we were doing in New York City, and we found ourselves in front of one of those places staffed by handsome but heavily tattooed artiste types who play Edith Piaf on vinyl by the kitchen and have wine parties in the back of the restaurant. Needless to say, I wanted to live in that bistro for the rest of my life when they brought my salad nicoise, it was so perfect.

I've tried desperately for the past two years to recreate the perfect salad nicoise, and I think I've come up with an easy, stylish alternative to the real thing. All you'll need is a trip to the grocery store, a sharp chopping knife, and a sense of satisfaction without the potatoes or green beans. Those are just a hassle. The canned tuna packed in oil does, in fact, have more calories than regular canned tuna or a tuna steak, but the flavor and ease of having that oil already infused with tuna-ness keeps down the calorie count--you're making a light dressing in the bowl, not to drench the entire salad with. I even drained off most of the oil sitting in the can before using the tuna.

Here's my recipe:
1/2 head green leaf or other crisp lettuce, cold
2 Belgian endives and/or other salad-y veggies like sliced bell peppers, cucumber, or tomato
1 can chunk tuna packed in olive oil (I found garlic-olive-oil packed tuna, it adds so much flavor and goodness)
2 handfuls pitted black kalamata olives (if you have nicoise olives handy, use those to be authentic)
minced basil leaves, dried or fresh
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

How-to:
1. Chop your salad vegetables into a desired size and shape. Wash the leafy greens in a colander after they're cut, it's easier to chop them dry. Chop the olives into thirds-ish chunks.
2. Toss the veggies and olives with the canned tuna, basil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, flaking the tuna with a fork as you toss.
3. Eat it like a champ. Feel healthy and utterly sophisticated.

All I need now is a baguette and a beret, or maybe some tattoos and an Edith Piaf record. There was that one boy with the clear plastic glasses frames on the subway in New York, all those years ago...ah, soulmates at first sight.

Image from inmagine.com.

Recipe: Spiced Island Carrots

If there is anything that takes a lot of style and grace, it's cooking for more than one. Cooking for one, on the other hand, is more like standing at the stove in an old t-shirt and your most comfortable pair of cotton panties (you know the ones) wondering if frozen chicken breasts carry salmonella. It sounds sad and lonely, but hey, at least you aren't subjecting anyone else to your various culinary hits and misses (or salmonella, as the case may be). I've been reading Amy Sedaris' book on "hospitality under the influence," I Like You, and it is awe-inspiringly hilarious, much like she is--the problem is, I don't entertain. There are no fancy dinner parties in this one-bedroom basement apartment, just a single girl with an ugly yellow kitchen and an old gas stove (it's bad news).

I refuse to be defeated by this, however, and like to experiment with crazy spices and herbs or whatever's on hand from the farmers' market, so most of the delicious, piquant dishes I come up with are on one-time-only offer. Like the following recipe for what I created tonight, dubbed "spiced island carrots" for now--partly inspired by Amy Sedaris' recipe for carrot medallions and partly by the mushy orange-juice glazed carrots I first had in my college dining halls. Really, carrots deserve better. This recipe makes about a cup and a half of carrots; I used half carrots and half zucchini (the zucchini was a bit of a failure, stick to carrots please) and had this as a side with teriyaki chicken.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch saffron threads, lightly crushed between your thumb and forefinger
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp curry powder
3 large carrots, scrubbed or peeled and then chopped into "medallions"
juice of one lime
salt and pepper to taste

Hardware: 1 frying or sautee pan, stirring utensil

Instructions:
1. Heat the oil, saffron, garam masala, and curry powder over medium-high heat until fragrant, and the oil is smoky.
2. Add the sliced carrots and sautee until covered with spice and oil and warmed through. Pour in your lime juice and toss in a pinch of salt now. Sautee until the carrots are still crunchy but hot (does that make sense?)--you can keep going until they're soggy just like old times, your choice.
3. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

The resulting carrots are crunchy with a kick and pleasant tang. God, now I desperately want some white rice and macaroni salad--I had to choose tonight to start trying out this South Beach Diet nonsense! Why isn't there a Hawaiian beach diet, all Spam musubi, poi, teriyaki chicken and mac salad? What, I can't lose this spare tire eating like that?