I can only hope I get treated so well by my hubby if I'm ever, “hurt by a warthog real bad.”
Laughs »Warthog 911 Call
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Recipes »Roasted Bone Marrow
I was stuck watching I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here for about 10 minutes the other night when my parents were in town, just enough time to almost figure out who the “celebrities” are and see them flip out over eating weird gross stuff. It made me realize there's a fine line between what I consider a delicacy and something that will make Stephen Baldwin hurl.
Bone Marrow, which in theory could be a reality show challenge (at least to the western world – the rest of the world has a better appreciation for eating every part possible of animals and even – I once saw a photo of it served in Hungarian McDonalds) has been the hottest thing to hit trendy restaurants since salty desserts, and since I've yet to spend money on such a dinner (though Allen and Delancey is still on my long list) I decided to make it myself with help from my trusty and beloved butcher at Marlow and Daughters.
He told me to roast for 8 minutes, with a dab of olive oil and salt and pepper on top. Like a weirdo though, I made it that way, ate and enjoyed most of it (sooo rich and beefy!) but then got paranoid that it didn't look like the photos I'd seen online and put it in for more time. It ended up totally melting, making the last quarter useless… I will never doubt my meat dude again.
They have the bones pretty often, but if you're counting on making a special meal, call ahead of time just make sure they're in stock.
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Posted on June 8, 2009
Places to Visit »Swarovski Kristalweltan
Mike and Shaun recently returned from their big European vacation, we were looking at their beautiful photos the other night and I just could not get over the Swarovski museum. Shaun graciously agreed to blog about his experiences:
OK, so Stermer and I recently went on a trip to Munich, Innsbruck and Venice and instead of writing on the typical beer halls of Munich or the Canals and decay of Venice, I'm writing a little on the city of Innsbruck and what might be the strangest tourist attraction I've ever been too.
Innsbruck is a small college town nestled high up in the alps in a region known as Tyrol and Innsbruck is it's capital. ?nnsbruck known for hosting the winter Olympic games in 1964 & 1976 and more famously as the helm of the Swarovski Crystal Empire. ?ince the Olympics have not come back to the Innsbruck area in quite some time the city had to turn to other resources to bring in Tourists and what was decided upon was building a museum to the Swarovski Crystal called Swarovski Kristallwelten.
I had heard about this place on the Samantha Brown show Passport to Europe on the Travel Channel and one look at it on her show and I had to go! ?irst off, the museum is about 20 minutes north of the City of Innsbruck set aside a hillside…The entrance is a head with water spitting out of it's mouth. ?s soon as you enter, you realize you are in a very special place, something that would never happen anywhere but Austria. ?he first room has a giant horse with a crystal saddle and bridle. ?nd room is this completely Beetlejuice robot sound installation, the 3rd room is right out of Superman. ?t goes on from room to room with sound installations done by Brian Eno, with art installations by Alexander McQueen, Tord Boontje, Andre Heller, Susanne Schmogner, Chris Levine, etc, then empties out into the largest Swarovski store on the planet where you can by everything from loose crystals to giant crystal parrots for thousands of Euros. ?ll in all it's quote magical and if you find yourself in the Tyrol area of Austria it is worth the stop.
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See more: Places to Visit Austrian Galleries/Museums
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Posted on June 8, 2009
Style Icons: Male »Tadanori Yokoo
Even though graphic artist Tadanori Yokoo's work is a reflection of its time, the bold images and collages feel very exciting and fresh and seem to have inspired legions of artists since. I was recently drawn to some of his hyper color posters at the MoMA and subsequently stumbled across this wild collection on Pink Tentacle of his music and film posters including an explosive rainbow Emerson Lake and Palmer one and three spectacularly wild ones for the movie The Trip. Here are a few of my favorites over at Rotating Corpse.
His name also results in some fantastic video animations called “Kachi Kachi Yama” made in 1965 which is also the name of a Japanese folktale about a conniving rabbit that makes a farmer eat his dead wife (seriously, read the Wikipedia entry). This is one of the most visually compelling things you'll see on youtube, so do enjoy.
See more: Style Icons: Male Artists
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Posted on June 8, 2009
Books »The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris
The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris by Colin Peter Field is an excellent guide to cocktail making, history and stories of the famous Bar Hemingway, where several now famous and common concoctions were invented. the book was a gift by my similarly cocktail appreciative dad, who would not be too impressed that I failed to splurge on a thirty dollar cocktail there on my visit for work.
Still, maybe I can now attempt to make my own for far less money. This is a book for the time in your life when simple or store bought just won't cut it (there is an age when Bacardi mixers should no longer be in your freezer). It's for get togethers where you want to take the effort and time and care to perfect the balance of ingredients and impress friends and even yourself with sophisticated beverages.
Among the many classics here (manhattan, dry martini, margarita to name a few) there are plenty of fun, less familiar ones including The Fiesta – a shot of cointreau, grenadine, vodka and campari – yum! and the potent sounding Whiz-bang (bitters, grenadine, absinthe, vermouth, whiskey) and the savory Dakota (vodka, carrot juice, beef consomme, salt, pepper, Tabasco, worcestershire) that all sound like contenders for my next get together.
The amounts are universal – instead of using oz he gives ingredients in parts, so anyone can make them by eye. The whimsical illustrations by Yoko Ueta are charming.
See more: Books Cocktails Reference
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Posted on June 8, 2009
Books »In the Land of Dreamy Dreams (1981)
I really can't recall how I heard of Ellen Gilchrist and why her book of collected short stories In the Land of Dreamy Dreams landed on my Amazon wish list, but I'm glad it did. I enjoyed these stories more than I expected and have been telling everyone I know to read this book which, given the book's history, is no big surprise: published with no fanfare or typical publicity by a small university press, it still managed to sell over 10,000 copies in its first release.
Based mostly in the South, where Gilchrist herself has and continues to live, the stories read kind of like a very feminine Raymond Carver. With very little she paints vivid image of often colorful women: a sprightly young girl who wants nothing more than to play her brother's games, a rich lady who spends most of her time in a fur covered bed because she's so bored with the world, the suffering daughter of a renowned eccentric woman that plans her own funeral, or a bitch at a country club who struggles against changes that challenge her steadfast views on race and class.
We are offered glimpses into seemingly mundane situations peppered with moments that might seem insignificant but change the characters forever. The stories are often as dark as they are memorable.
See more: Books 1980s Short Stories Southern
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Posted on June 1, 2009
Style Icons: Male »Bjorn Wiinblad
Ever since I received this stunning and amazing print as a gracious gift from my sister, and got it framed with our little “getting things framed” fund, I have been understandably and completely obsessed with Danish artist Bjorn Wiinblad. He lent his whimsical eye not only to painting and printing but to some spectacular pottery that can often be found on ebay (and pretty much gives my family a go to gift for me for years to come) as well as textiles used for ballet and theater.
A true renaissance man, he is strangely undiscovered by a younger generation in America. It's a shame because his six decades of work (he passed away a few years ago) is highly inspiring – but on the plus side, you might be able to afford some of it.
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Posted on June 1, 2009
Places to Visit »Inwood Hill Park
Inwood Hill Park is home to the real New York of old, back when the island of Manhattan was all trees. The peaceful, quiet, and very green park that featured wide, winding trails for walking is an oasis within the city and one of the nicest parks I've been to in the area. Hard to believe that busy highways and giant hamburgers (served on the rare side at the sports bar circa 1970 Piper's Kilt around the corner) surround the serenity of these huge and ancient trees.
We only explored a portion of the paths, which immediately give you the sense that you'll become lost forever with the myriad splitting of trails and lack of any signs, but really, it ends up being pretty easy to navigate so long as you keep the river (with lovely views of the Bronx) and the city of Inwood as your guides.
It's Manhattan's second largest park next to Central, but fairly unknown and forgotten. Use that to your advantage and enjoy secluded walks in the shade of nature this summer.
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Posted on June 1, 2009
Recipes »Garlic Lover’s Rub and Sauteed Ramps
As a true garlic lover, and therefor the perfect audience for a Garlic Lover's Rub, I would have liked to have marinated my flank steak (this rub can be used on anything) for longer, but I was not prepared ahead of time and only have enough time for the minimal marinating (2 hours). Still the meat was flavorful and went perfectly with the wild ramps.
If you haven't heard all the food lovers going ape for ramps, then you haven't been reading food blogs nor hanging out at farmer's markets lately, have you? Because these pungent little wild onions are all the rage and with the simple preparation (literally salt, pepper, butter, ramps) from Martha, the coveting greens got to shine on their own.
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Posted on June 1, 2009
Laughs »Chiru Dance Number
There's not much information on the mid-eighties Telugu film Adavi Donga starring Chiranjeevi and Radha and a slew of dancers donning paper mache animal heads, but I am greatly intrigued.. especially since this is the only other image online for the film.