K@ soup

*I started this Wednesday and got lazy.  I’m continuing to be lazy by putting this note instead of changing the tenses of the text to follow.  Deal with it.

Last night Logan and I went to see The Fiery Furnaces, but were both absolutely blown away by the opening band Grand Ole Party. My fellow banana slugs were clearly meant for stardom, but I’ll get to them later.

Jamie Lidell has a nice ass. His performance last Saturday sort of left me feeling like that’s the only thing he may have going for him, but he really does have a smokin’ backside. I’m not sure if it’s my fault for expecting a much different performance or if it really was the delivery, but I left the show dissatisfied. I was looking forward to a happy, funky, almost pop-like started-off-bobbing-your-head-but-now-are-bouncing-your-shoulders-too-oh-fuck-it-lets-just-dance type show but only got a song or 2 of it. The show started off extremely energetic and I was amped - they totally got my attention - but after I stopped giggling about the costumes, things changed. I guess Lidell started off as a dj so it wasn’t long before he made his way to the turn tables. He kept going back in the beginning of the performance and then eventually just stayed, turning the show into much more of a dj set with unnecessary band members dancing around in an Elvis costume (Elvis didn’t look too bad from the rear either) and a groovy red silk robe. DJ’s are cool and all, but don’t deliver when you’re expecting a live, non-sampled performance, you know? I wasn’t really upset about going to the show at that point - I just sort of felt robbed. Then the encore for our teeny tiny audience was outrageously fast. He played songs I wanted to hear, but I didn’t want to hear them at mach speed (but if that’s faster than the speed of sound, technically I wouldn’t even hear the songs…or maybe they’d be playing backward - that could have been interesting, but I digress).

So we went to see The Fiery Furnaces last night and somehow lucked out with PERFECT timing for the opening band. (This NEVER happens to us, by the way. We either sit for 90 minutes and are so drunk for the main act that we end up leaving early because we’re tired, or curse the venue for their punctuality which led to us missing the 2 openers we actually wanted to see. And this is especially true at Plush where the sound dude takes an hour to set up every damn band playing so you never know when they will start, which leads me to believe they have a new sound dude, but again, I digress.)  Grand Ole Party was the opener and I can say with confidence that any band would be lucky to have them rev the crowd up for a great night of music.  I’m in love with lead singer/drummer Kristin Gundred.  The other 2 band members seemed disposable next to her (no offense), but they churned through song after song, not giving into their cockiness and plugging their album after each tune.  Logan and I had bets going on whether or not Kristen was just being adorably militaristic about playing and not boring the crowd, or if she really has no clue how talented she is (or how talented we think she is…I see her going far).  She has incredible vocal control and that’s on top of wailing on the drums at the same time.  It has to be loud up there but she seems to instinctively know how loud to sing into the mic - an impressive skill you don’t see often.  I can’t really describe her voice though…maybe if you ironed out and put a little WD-40 on the vocal chords of the chick from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs you’d get something similar.  I said to Logan the other day, “maybe if Janis Joplin didn’t suck…but you can’t say that she sucks, so…” and was left with nightmares of hippies beating me up.  At any rate, their hits were fun and bouncy and it really was a great performance.  I’d love to hear Kristin’s voice with professional reggae base and guitar players…

So onto the Fiery Furnaces…so there’s this thing.  I can’t place it, I don’t claim to understand it, but it’s there.  The Fiery Furnaces put on a fantastic performance.  They have a cool, original sound and I would recommend them to anyone.  I have all their albums on my iPod, Logan loves them and we went to see them live, but they in no way grab me.  They’re great - I don’t get it.  They just aren’t for me.  My time during the show was spent doing one of 4 things: staring at the glockenspiel player whacking away at it with thimbles on every finger except her pinkies (it was REALLY cool), guessing if the lead singer was wearing scrubs or just a hippie pheasant top, wondering when Luke Wilson became a drummer (sorry I couldn’t get a good picture of him, but seriously) and sitting 20 feet away from Kristin Gundred trying to get up the nerve to tell her I really enjoyed their show.  So yeah, it was a good show but I don’t have anything to say about it.  Good thing Logan does.

Alright, first of all let me just say that I know there are six thousand other blog entries out there from the past 3 days on how awesome Coachella was this year. This is in no way a formal evaluation of all the bands who performed, or even just the bands I saw - it’s more a brief list and description of what I saw so I don’t forget and can compare it to future years/shows/etc. Somehow in my intoxicated/sun drunk dancefest vacation, I managed to not only write down every band I caught but also grade them (A-F) in my own little grading system. I think I was quite generous with the grading because I wanted to convince myself that if a band was good enough to make it to Coachella and I had gone out of my way to see them, they couldn’t be bad or that would mean I have bad taste. That said, here are my unimportant, unprofessional and probably a little arrogant breakdowns of who I saw at Coachella 2008:

Friday 4/25

Battles - I would give them a “meh” live, at least compared to what I was expecting. They were melodic but boring - no spark in the performance, and get a B- from me (and my friend Matt, who, incidentally, said “I’d give them a B minus” and sparked my grading system from the beginning).
Black Kids - I gave them an A- with what I thought was potential for a better live performance, maybe if I saw them perform for a full 2 hours as a headliner instead of the mini 40 minute teases at Coachella. They were fun and interacted with the crowd, but I don’t remember much of the actual show (then again, it was the first show I saw on the first day).
Jens Lekman - It was a very upbeat performance - the keyboard was “great and happy sounding” according to my notes, and the violin and xylophone were keeping it real, or at least true to what I thought the artist wanted the music to sound like. Jens scored an A from me.
The Breeders - I initially gave them a B for boring, but the show got better as they went on. There were cute female vocals but the sound wasn’t too original or exciting. Of course they played Cannonball and it was flawless. I bumped them up to an A- by the end - I’m not sure how I was so won over but I was.
Vampire Weekend - They were decent, but I was hoping for more since everyone says they put on a killer show. They were Bish…much better live than on an album. I didn’t much care for their album and I wasn’t blown away at Coachella - maybe they just aren’t the band for me.
Tegan & Sara - These girls were what really started the Coachella party for me. You know how they have such strong vocals on their albums and the instruments just sort of back them up? Well they don’t disappoint live - perfectly on key and every song is really vocally moving, if that makes sense. On top of it all, they know what the crowd wants. They said “we’re gonna play some oldies now if that’s okay with you guys…” and rocked it. A+
Goldfrapp - Straight off the bat she gets an A, but it’s exactly what you’d expect - like when you have really good speakers and blast Goldfrapp to sort of drown out everything and eat your ear drums while dancing? That’s how this show was live. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the hell out of it, but it still felt like a guilty pleasure.
Aphex Twin - Mind blowingly great performance. Dude. I hate listening to their albums - but I’m that way with a lot of electronicish music: I’d prefer to hear it live any day of the week and just not put it on my iPod. Anyway, they won me over and seriously rocked the stage, not to mention the fact that they were in the cool tent with all the lasers and balloons and trippy visuals on the screens. A+
Fatboy Slim - Okay, rather irritating set. It just sounded like regular old house to me, except he kept building up the music and stopping every fucking 30 seconds to let his ego be massaged. B- and I don’t care if you’re classic/a legend/whatever you want to call him. Get the hell over yourself and put on a show people can actually dance to - I would have rather wound down to Jack Johnson so I could fall asleep easier.
Saturday 4/26

Man Man - I’ve already been fortunate enough to catch them 3 times in Tucson by complete coincidence, and they rocked all 3 times. That said, I was ready to skip them and go see someone else, but we got there early and I hadn’t heard any of the other bands (aside from Minus The Bear) and we wanted to start the day off with a bang - so we saw Man Man for a 4th time. (I’ve already been sorely disappointed by Minus The Bear live once - no desire to watch them again.) They were entertaining and energetic as usual, and put on a fantastic show. Total A.
120 Days - Okay, so we didn’t actually see them or even know who they were, but we walked by their tent and the bass started eating my spinal cord. Definitely need to remember to go see them the next time they’re in town.
Cold War Kids - If you like their album, you’ll like them live, but I can’t say I’m a huge fan. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t have much of a presence - they just played their songs. B or maybe a B+
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - They had an awesome live energy, and totally get an A for their performance, but all that struck me was how LOUD the show was even with toilet paper stuffed in my ears. I had to move back from the stage and it kind of distracted me from enjoying the set.
Death Cab For Cutie - I’m a fan - not a big fan but think they’re alright and was totally not expecting them to be that great. I was wrong. I thought they’d have much more of a mainstream blah performance like the Cold War Kids and they didn’t at all - they rocked it live. I wanted to blame it on the awesomeness of the stage, but their set was full of sound and they really had a happy, fun attitude that just misted over the whole audience. Definite A. They would have had to interact more with the crowd or bust out something more original for an A+ in my book.
Islands - I have to start off saying that I really love the Islands and was quite looking forward to this show. When we got there though, most of the set was really slow and I was in a bob around dancey happy Islands music mood which wasn’t fulfilled. It was a great performance, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. My fault or theirs, I’m not sure. A-
Portishead - Even though you expect the performance to be amazing, it still fucking BLOWS YOUR MIND. Portishead rules. Really, I could just leave it at that with an A+ but holy crap did they rock my night! Playing the guitar with a needlenose pliers?? Beth Gibbons having to sit the fuck down during Wandering Star because she sings so fing intensely? Yeah. Their live performances live up to everything you hear. You MUST see Portishead if you ever get the chance. Go - now! Search the internet for tickets at a venue near you!
Prince - The Legend, The Man in Purple, The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As PRINCE. What can I say? The 5′2 legend can seriously command the attention of a massive audience. All eyes are on him and you wish you were his friend. Yeah, the 80’s are over but you kind of wish they weren’t when listening to a parade of Prince. I think if I had as much coke as all the people on stage (Sheila E, Morris Day), I too could be transported to the 80’s. It was a killer performance with a bunch of oldies and even a cover of Radiohead’s Creep and I think a Beatles song too - I can’t remember. Anyway, A+ to my friend from Minneapolis.
Sunday 4/27

I’m From Barcelona - I had no idea until 5 minutes before the show when Logan told me this is actually a 21 person band…I just thought A LOT of people were helping set up the stage. Let me just say that with I’m From Barcelona, the more people, the more energy and sound. This show absolutely ruled - I think it may have been my surprise favorite. I was stoked to see them to begin with, but the huge band got me with the crowd interaction and admitted “confetti addiction” by the lead singer. A++! Is that a possible grade? Fuck you, it’s my grading system and they get an A++ I’d like to see the Go Team muster up more energy on stage than these guys!
Stars - They were a fun indie band - okay performance that left me with a rather meh attitude which, according to my Battles grade, means B-. They did a cover of the Of Montreal song Live Through This and Of Montreal is one of my favorite bands right now, so that was cool.
Gogol Bordello - Holy Bob. Now this is a perfect example of everything I love in a live show! Gogol Bordello is fun to listen to and dance around in your underwear at home, but there’s something about the headband and gypsy/pirate purple and black striped stretchy capris that just make the music! Energetic is a total understatement…rock your balls off sweating from dancing is more like it. High kicks and punches in the summer sun can’t help but get the rest of the audience jumping! A+ easy - I’d see Gogol Bordello any time they come to town.
Metric - Bam bam bam with the great performances in a row! We ran from the Gogol stage to see Metric and were in for another energetic performance. Not only is Emily Haines adorable when she talks to the crowd, she also wears the cutest outfits on stage to match her mood. She was rocking a shiny blue halter minishorts one piece thing and like Mr. Striped Pants from the show before, she was doing high kicks. This show was too fun, too cute and seriously rocked. A+
Sia - Sia was an incredible one woman show. Even though I know in my head there were people playing instruments behind her, she stood out so much I couldn’t see them at all. Her voice is amazingly beautiful and haunting live - great to trip out and sway along to. I cried when she closed with Breathe Me. Seriously. I mean I totally blame Six Feet Under for having the best ending for any tv series EVER, but she was incredibly moving. It really was an amazing performance. A.
Chromeo - At this point, there was nothing left to do but dance off all the beer and weepy emotions evoked from Sia, and that’s exactly what we did. Chromeo isn’t the best music I’ve ever heard, but it was performed well and got my booty shakin’. B+
Roger Waters - Only caught a 10 or 15 minutes of this show on our night wanderings - exactly what you’d expect a Pink Floyd tribute to sound like. It was good, mellow and trippy, but I just wanted to get to the Justice tent and DANCE.
Justice - …and dance we did. Or continued to do, I should say. Justice is loud, intense sort of Daft Punk like dance music. That kind of says it all. It was a great show. A.

I’ve only started actually liking sushi in the past year or two but everyone I run into seems to encourage me along the way to being a sushi fanatic. This is how I understand the situation of most people toward sushi: 1) It disgusts you and you will not eat it. You’ll sip on some miso soup and wish you hadn’t agreed upon meeting someone where they don’t even have decent beer around….or 2) You. Love. Sushi. You love sashimi. You love nigiri. You wish you lived closer to Japan so you could have better, fresher sushi with people who know what’s up in the I-love-raw-fish atmosphere. I know there are always exceptions, and I certainly am one, which is to say I’m not YET a full blown sushi addict. I don’t gag anymore when I try something new that I don’t like, but I don’t eat the whole damn roll and say “oh well, I just won’t get that next time.” I just give it to Logan…

Anyway, in the effort to increase my love of all things sushi, my brother (who, from the midwest, probably didn’t even know he liked sushi until moving to San Francisco) got me a little sushi set for Christmas last year. I was a bit intimidated by the thought of trying to make this food I only partially like, but excited by the fact that I could make my own menu (IE no fucking roe splattered all over my happy little roll). We don’t have a lot of fresh fish out here, but there are plenty of farmers markets and coops that have tasty fresh fruits and veggies so the plan was to start off with wimpy rolls and work my way up. Well that was a great idea until I put the kit in our magical disappearing/reappearing cabinet in the kitchen. Many objects have disappeared (into another dimension?) for months at a time and then reappeared at the strangest conveniently timed moments. We had a bottle of whiskey which decided to show up the exact day I realized I can drink whiskey again…and another time a carton of soymilk appeared when we were out…and then the martini glasses my sister and her husband got me for Christmas also showed up this past week when we happened to have both gin and green olives in the house at the same time (which I don’t think has happened since we moved here a year ago). I guess the bottom line is that the cabinet aspires to get me drunk and keep me well fed through a strange series of stealing things I don’t remember putting in there. Huh.

On with my story…I started a new job about a month ago and the 2 girls I work with love sushi. One of them, my boss, is married to a Japanese man so her mother in law taught her to make super super dank Japanese food. The other can’t roll a roll with a bamboo mat for meatballs, but she has a great, very inexpensive kit that can turn any idiot into a sushi making pro. Combine those two and lets just say someone brings in sushi at least once a week for lunch. Since I’m a first-timer, I went by her recommendation and got this kit this kit that came with a free, really useful knife and don’t regret it. I combined it with the kit and cookbook I got from my brother and had a very successful afternoon. I made a big avocado, cream cheese and green onion heart-shaped roll and a smaller square spicy tuna and tri-colored bell pepper roll. AWESOME!! I have lots of spicy tuna left over (super easy to make - I just used mayo and cock sauce (I didn’t bother with ingredients we don’t usually keep in the house)) so I think tuna, avo and cream cheese will be a giant lunch roll today. Easy, nutritious and I think I might just die it sounds so yummy. Coffee first - it’s too early in the morning for sushi. Okay, who am I kidding - it’s NEVER to early for sushi!! To all of you out there who are conspiring to make me a fanatic: it’s working

Now I’m lazy, and ideally I’d like to just post a link for you to check out and say “GET A TERRAPASS,” but I feel this is a little too important to just skim over, so here’s the deal:

Getting a TerraPass for your car, home or the plane rides you take help you take responsibility for some of your contributions to global warming. Nobody is invisible, but neither is the fact that humans, particularly the use of our modern technologies and conveniences (cars, planes, electricity), hurt the earth. It’s shitty, but I don’t see myself without air conditioning in an Arizona summer any time soon - am I making sense? You see, when you go to the TerraPass website (www.terrapass.com), they help you calculate approximately what size TerraPass you can purchase to help offset your carbon emissions. Take plane rides, for example - you punch in what airport you are flying from and what airport you are flying to, how many trips you are taking, and if you are going roundtrip or oneway. The fancy calculator tells you how many pounds of carbon dioxide you would need to balance out your individual impact from those plane rides and how much it would cost to offset your carbon dioxide “footprint.” If you’re a snazzy business person who travels way more than your average bear, you can purchase an annual pass according to about how many miles you guess that you would fly in one year. This same idea is used for the car TerraPasses. You punch in the year/make/model of your car and guess about how many miles you drive each year, and the calculator will choose which pass is right for your car (hybrid, efficient, standard or SUV - but they’ve recently changed the titles to around towner, cross towner, out of towner, and road tripper). You get a nifty sticker (below) to remind you when to renew your TerraPass - or you can have it automatically renewed every year for your convenience. I chose to do it on my own with the hopes that my next car will be a hybrid and I’ll have to get a different sized pass.

Now where does the $$ go, right? Everyone is talking about “offsetting carbon emissions” these days and I have to say, it’s a pretty cool thing. For TerraPass, the money goes to a handful of different causes so as to have more than just a single step approach to balancing carbon emissions. It funds projects for researching renewable energy sources and making them available as well as projects to help clean up some of the damage already done. TerraPass is a big supporter of wind farms throughout the U.S. - obviously, wind is free and readily available - and also of regular old dairy farms. Who would think that cow poop could be such a great thing? From the methane in cow doodle we get this renewable energy source called biomass that can be burnt like a fossil fuel but UNlike fossil fuels, it actually prevents methane from entering the atmosphere. Long story short, there is a cool machine that makes the poop into energy into electricity (which can also heat the cow barns) and unless there is a cow plague in the near future, this is pretty darn reliable resource. Anyway, there are a bunch of other projects TerraPass contributes to which you can read about if you go to their website and check out how you can help save the world…er something.

Sidenote: I meant to write about this much earlier when I got a TerraPass for my car, but I ended up getting some as Christmas presents for people who read my blog and I didn’t want them to a) be able to guess their gift or b) go out and get one before I could give them theirs.

For anyone who read Logan’s most recent post, you would know that we saw pepper trees last weekend while camping which led to the question all weekend of the difference between white and black pepper. Is one more mild? Are they dried differently? Are they even made from the same seed? Personally, I love cooking with both and can taste the difference so I went to wikipedia to check it out.

Apparently, they are from the same seed. Black pepper is produced from the fruit of the pepper tree (that covers the little seed inside). It’s either dried in the sun over a few days or by machine more commonly these days, and the heat ruptures the cell walls of the fruit spreading the “browning enzymes,” whatever the heck they are, while they are drying causing the black, wrinkled color and texture. Once dried, they get the title “peppercorn.” For white peppercorns, the fruit is soaked in water for a week or so to loosen it so it can be removed, and then just the seed is dried - which is why it’s a lighter color. White pepper = just the seed. Black pepper = fruit with seed.

And now you know. Do do do DOOOOOO.

As many of you may know, today is Ash Wednesday…or as many children who have parents who celebrate it look at it, another religious day where they have to go to church in the middle of the week. This day holds no specific importance to me, I just wanted to take a minute to be thankful I’m an adult now and can choose what I believe and in which practices I wish to partake. I remember hating this particular day as a child because I was forced to walk around with a stupid black plus sign on my forehead all day. I didn’t like standing in line quietly, I didn’t like the priest touching my head and blessing me, and I really didn’t like that I couldn’t wash ash off my forehead all day because apparently, washing off that “sign of my faith” or whatever it was I was told to believe was wrong. I always felt embarassed riding my bike or walking around the grocery store with a dirty face…not like I’m 100% OCD, but I didn’t feel it necessary to rock some soot on my dome in order to brag to the world for one day that I was a good little Catholic.

I don’t much care for religion.

I understand that a cougar attacked a hiker in a state park in California, and that is unfortunate for the hikers. I’ve been to a good handful of state parks in CA and they almost always give you pamphlets explaining what to do when you see a mountain lion and that yes, you are at risk of seeing one - possibly even getting attacked by one. With foreknowledge and emergency instructions, you pretty much are agreeing that you have been informed as to the fact that you are entering an area with wildlife - dangerous or not - and that YOU are the visitor/intruder. A park to a human is still home to many animals, and this needs to be respected…which is why I’m so pissed off about the park ranger’s reactions to this attack:

They went ahead and randomly killed 2 cougars after the attack, and THEN tested them to see if either was the attacker…like it would matter! Aren’t there laws against this ridiculous eye-for-an-eye punishment of animals?? Who cares if one was the attacker? It’s a wild animal, it felt it’s territory was threatened and it pounced. I don’t understand why they didn’t either close that area of the park and let the cats be, or trap them and release them into an area where they are less dangerous to humans - if absolutely necessary. It’s this fucking mentality that humans own the goddamn world! How many species were here before us? What makes us so great? Why do we have the right to kill them with weapons that most certainly will win? Just because we have and created the technology? Killing animals and taking away their homes because they are an inconvenience is absofuckinglutely unacceptable!!! I think these wardens should be killed. I think whomever supported their retaliation should be shot. Save the animals!! Kill the humans inconveniencing wildlife!! Steve Irwin must be rolling in his grave with this sort of bullshit going on.

Ignoring the fact that I would have a different job and lifestyle, my coworker (from New England) and myself decided that since it’s such a chilly day, we would fly to San Francisco for clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl for lunch. It would a perfect daytrip, and we could walk around the wharf to check out the sea lions and such, and then fly back here with a warm, full belly.

Where would you go for a daytrip/a meal today? Somewhere you could realistically fly to and back in one day? If you have to be at work, you might as well daydream…

Here’s a little family secret that goes waaaay back from Tennessee:
Ingredients:
1 lb. powered sugar
16 eggs - separated
1 tsp. vanilla
1 qt. half & half
1 pt. heavy whipping cream
1 qt good whiskey (note, this is a quart - not a liter or 750 ml)
1 pt. dark rum
1 pt. light rum

Also needed: Large crock or other large container (I use a 5 gallon crock for this recipe and it’s barely large enough), whisk, electric beater.

Separate the yolks from the egg whites. IMPORTANT - do not allow any yolk to contaminate the egg whites.

Cool a mixing bowl in the freezer.

In a large container (not the mixing bowl above), combine the egg yolks and powered sugar. Stir (don’t beat) to incorporate the yolks and sugar. Add the vanilla.

S-L-O-O-O-W-L-Y add the whiskey to the yolk/sugar/vanilla mixture stirring constantly in one direction. Don’t forget to take an occasional sip of the whiskey to ensure quality products.

Do the same for the rum, adding it slowly and constantly stirring. You’re not trying to beat this mixture into submission. You can curdle the yolks (thus ruining the nog) if you add the liquor too fast, or stir to hard.

When the alcohol is totally incorporated, add the half & half - slowly stirring it into the mixture.

Let this mixture set, stirring occasionally, while you do the next steps.

Put the egg whites in the clean mixing bowl from the freezer (or fridge), Beat the hell out of the egg whites until they are stiff. Make sure you don’t leave any runny egg whites in the bottom of the bowl. (Note: if the bowl and beaters aren’t clean, you’ll have a devil of a time beating egg whites. Cooling the bowl before using it helps reduce the amount of time needed to beat the egg whites until stiff.)

Add the egg whites to the mixture, a little at a time, stirring in one direction. This will double the volume of the original mixture. Take your time adding and stirring.

Next, beat the whipping cream until stiff. You can use the same bowl as you used for egg whites. Unlike egg whites, the whipping cream doesn’t care if it’s in a clean bowl, although a cool/cold bowl does help.

Add the whipping cream to the mixture stirring in one direction. It will take time to stir down the mixture when adding the beaten egg whites and the whipped cream. Take your time. It will be worth it in the end.

Draw a cup, sprinkle a little cinnamon on top and enjoy. Always remember to stir the mixture well before pouring. Store in a cool place.

Happy Holidays!

**My “wimp twist” on the eggnog is that I use 1/2 of a 750ml bottle of good whiskey and 1 pint of dark rum…and maybe a splash or 2 of light rum. The above recipe is pretty dang strong, which is a good thing, but if you have less heavier drinkers in your crew or want to drink more than one mug and still see straight, try my variation**

Ryan Reynolds is maybe, just maybe, Chevy Chase’s son?

Suuuure, it says “Jim” is Ryan Reynold’s father, but look at some older pictures of Chevy Chase and tell me you can’t see the resemblance.  Anyone?