Desserts »Blackberry Cabernet and Coconut Sorbet

ciao bella blackberry cabernet sorbetSorbet is one of those menu items that never peaks my interest, despite it being quite healthy and usually perfect OK tasting but I don't know. I mean, I know Nero was supposed to have invented the stuff, so it should be exciting or at least indulgent and crazy?but it usually leaves eh feeling eh, you know?

But Ciao Bella, and specifically the Cabernet Blackberry and Coconut flavors have reinvigorated the tired dessert. Maybe it's the fact that they call it sorbetto, but I doubt it because I'm not a sucker for Italian accents, but somehow their brand of the stuff is totally divine. I love it, Health Magazine loves it, try it out and you'll love it too.

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Posted on September 15, 2008

Desserts »Bisquick Strawberry Shortcake

bisquick strawberry shortcakeWhile more elaborate and fancy recipes for Strawberry Shortcake certainly do exist, there's a comfort in the familiar and, like a lot of you might feel, sometimes the most familiar foods come from a box.

Bisquick makes the best Strawberry shortcake, it was a treat my family enjoyed on holidays. The red sugar water from the strawberries get absorbed into the warm biscuits and a huge dollop of Cool Whip makes the sweet comfort food complete.

This was my first time making it as an adult and it's every bit as good as I remember.

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Posted on September 8, 2008

Recipes »Mussels in a Red Curry Sauce

curry mussels recipeCurry and mussels go together so well and in this Mussels in a Red Curry Broth they go together without being too heavy or unhealthy; just make sure to have some pita or bread to sop up the spicy broth. I couldn't get lemon grass (which made me sad), but the dish still turned out good (but use it if you can).

The mussels from Fresh Direct are PEI, which means they're from Prince Edwards Island–where 80% of North America's cultured mussels come from. Mollusks, once considered the rubbish of the ocean, are getting more and more respect from us humans as great and affordable foods.

Check out the Wikipedia entry for Mussels for a photo of a cheese based mussel dish, yum, and a rad photo of a starfish eating a mussel.

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Posted on September 8, 2008

Laughs »Cumming Fragrance

alan cumming fragranceMuch to the confusion of the public, a new fragrance hit the scene a few years back called Cumming and the man behind it is probably best known to most Americans for his roles in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Josie and the Pussycats and, if he's lucky, X2. Not exactly the standard star power and product name required to launch a new scent, but it (reportedly) smells really good (thanks to the man behind this week's Best Way To Spend a Couple Minutes, Christopher Brosius) and, mainly due to this hilarious ad campaign, it did get people talking.

The line has expanded to include new fragrances with names like Cumming Clean, Cumming Off Buff, Cumming in a Bar and, my personal favorite, Cumming All Over.

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Posted on September 8, 2008

TV Shows »The Principal’s Office

principal's office truTVOh truTV, with your wordy new non-catchy catch phrase (Not reality. Actuality) and your leggy Dayle Hinman, I just about thought you had given me all the true crime goodies you had (which believe me, is plenty and I me adore you). I though I has you all figured out (new shows like Speeders and Most Shocking for the younger demos, Suburban Secrets and the Investigators for women like myself), you go and pull off a magnificent stunt like The Principal's Office.

A reality–I'm sorry: actuality show about kids going to the principal's office and getting in trouble is unmitigated genius. In the first episode we met the smirking, nerdily charming Tony, a kid who can't help himself from getting into goofy trouble. After being called into?Principal Sheninger's office (the hottest of the disciplinarians–who I know for a fact my friend Dana would have been in love with if he'd been principal of Cheyenne Mountain High), Tony is reminded of previous offenses, like the time he pole danced on the flag pole and when he fell onto second base and started humping it. His offense this time? Shaking his butt and pinching his nipples in class while calling his teacher “beautiful”. God, I love this show!

There's also the principal in rural Arkansas who paddles teenage girls (it's optional, not mandatory–but still?!); the awesome lady in Danbury who Jim and I think is actually the most effective administrator, and a super nice guy in Ohio. Oh, and there are amazing bitchy Jersey girls in every episode!

It makes me think about the strange era we live in. I mean, can you imagine if the bad kids in your school wound up on national television when sent to the pricipal's office?

Mike Holstien could have been a household name, perhaps even spinning off his own show. He was the kid who landed me in hot water back in 6th grade and accompanied me on my one and only principal's office visit for authoring a terribly dirty MASH game with Holly Brindisi (awesomely bad girl friend with extraordinary big bangs) and myself. I recall one category was “what injuries were sustained during intercourse” (though it was probably worded less eloquently). One of the options was “bust a nut”, a phrase I didn't even understand but I think I was familiar with from perhaps an Eazy-E song? Either way, I'll never forget it and I got in serious trouble with my mom that day?whew, memories. Just imagine if it were all caught on camera?!

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Posted on September 8, 2008

Web Sites »Studio Aka

studio akaI'm happy to report that what I got to see of the Pictoplasma event that I told you about the other week was really great and inspiring. We saw some fantastic animation on Friday and Saturday we heard Philip Hunt from Studio aka (a nicer Nigel Barker type) speak.

Based in London, the small firm of about 35 people collaborate on both personal and commercial projects. You can view much of their innovative work on their site (sadly, my favorite one screened at the festival, a crafty and adorable recycling spot is missing).

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Posted on September 8, 2008

Drinks »Bere de Mars

bere de mars ommegangBere de Mars, which literally translates to Beer of March , is a seasonal Ommegang brew only available at their brewery in Cooperstown (see place to visit for more info on that excellent stoner-friendly place to visit), so we felt super excited to bring back a couple bottles for our friends.

A fruitier version of the Rare Vos (which I don't like nearly as much), this beer is easy to drink and pleasantly tart. Like many of their Belgian style beverages, this one packs a punch at 7.88% alcohol, so we used our new set of Three Philosophers sipping cups.

While the Bere de Mars is hard to get your hands on, do keep an eye out for it!

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Posted on September 8, 2008

Style Icons: Male »Fred Butler

fred butlerOn a recent image search I came across this article about the fairly unrecognized and nearly unknown New Zealand collector, Fred Butler. As an avid pack rat (perhaps you'd like to see my storage room sometime) I felt a fond kinship with the “eccentric” man who not only saved the history of his beloved home town of New Plymouth when others found it worthless, he lived his later years in a home he shared with 13 cats(!) which was described in The Sunday Express as:

“No ordinary home. Every shelf wall and table has a collection of objects?Mr Butler has an estimated 80,000 books, wherever you look there are shelves of them?upstairs galleries hold trunks of 19th Century clothes sealed against moth and mildew.”

Ahh, sounds like a dream home to me.

He was a determined man who suffered for his passion of collecting. Eventually he sold his collection to the Tauranga Museum and he himself lived in their historic village, but it did not end well.

“One of the problems being his insistence of sunbathing in the nude on the veranda of the house he was provided at the Historic Village.”

Now his life's work has been dispersed throughout the country including Waikato Museum and Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery. Other than those collections, only this article is still around to honor such an awesome individualist.

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Posted on September 8, 2008

Hunks »Jurgen Teller

jurgen tellerThere are so many things to love about September. The first day you get to wear a cute jacket (in my case, this amazing Alice Cooper number custom made for me); the beginning of new television shows (although Raising the Bar and The Mentalist don't really give me hot pants the same way the summer premier of Mad Men did); and, most importantly, the magazines. Time Out and New York roll out all the cultural to-do lists, and all the fashion magazines are back-breakingly fat with new ad campaigns and fall preview editorials.

W, my favorite American magazine, was the one I look forward to the most (and the only one I have a subscription to–sorry, Vogue, but you put Jennifer Aniston on the cover ten too many times for me!!) But to my surprise and, well… horror, for lack of a better word, I found a robotic glam Kate Hudson on the cover.

I thought most of the editorials of this usually forward magazine were a bit boring: stark black and white photography in Istanbul where you can barely see the clothes,?Kate Moss's nipples (yawn), more Kate Hudson… but, mired among the bores was Jurgen Teller's masterful Tilda Swinton spread.

I love Teller, and I love him even more with each photo I see. His eye for ugly beauty: that flat, over-blown lighting, that attitude (he's said, “Most fashion photography is done by gay people finding women sexy, which is sort of not sexy at all, at least to a heterosexual man. She's so retouched, so airbrushed, without any human response at all, and, well, you don't really want to fuck a doll.”), that rebellious nature (he often uses a point and shoot camera rather than fancy equipment), and those eyes. While most of his self portraits are purposely unflattering (though the one of him crawled up in Charlotte Rampling's lap has made me want to be her even more), there's no denying he is one lustful German bear (and I don't mean the g kind of bear–sorry boys, he's straight and married to art dealer Sadie Coles).

There was an exhibit of his work at Lehmann Maupin earlier this year, but you can always see his stuff in the pages of any fashion mag–his is the vision behind the Marc Jacobs campaign and he took those spectacular Stephanie Seymour portraits I've mentioned before.

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Posted on September 8, 2008

Books »Breakfast at Tiffany’s

breakfast at tiffany's truman capoteHolly Golightly was Truman Capote's most beloved character and when the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's was finally released (after his struggle to come up with an edning) she became a cultural phenomenon. It's a quick, one-and-a-half-sitting read and, though it was critically derided as “slight” by some upon its release, like all of his magnificent prose, it's a touching, well crafted gem.

I hesitated for years to read it; I was so familiar with the 1961 film adaptation, as I'm sure most people are (or god help us, some younger generations may only be aware of the horrendously annoying Deep Blue Something pop tune), and I tend to be a bit less interested in reading a book after seeing the movie, feeling like I already know what's going to happen. Capote's books, though, are never really about plot points. This one is a slightly rambling ode to a fascinating and fey woman, but it's the author's singular voice that excites and leaves a lasting impression.

The book and the movie are in many ways fairly similar, entire lines of dialogue were lifted from the novella and used in Blake Edwards's movie, but there are considerable differences. Most obviously, the book is not a romance, at least not the George Peppard, heartfelt kisses in the rain kind at all–and the film omits the grand, scheming amazonian model friend Mag Wildwood, which really is a shame.

Still, unfair comparisons aside, both are stand-alone classics. While not quite as high on my list as his unfinished novel Answered Prayers or the true crime masterpiece In Cold Blood, any fan of Capote's work should take an afternoon to revel in this little love note of a book.

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Posted on September 8, 2008