It's done!

1. Half-way mark, 2. Warming up, 3. Coming up that nightmare of a hill, 4. With Molly, Tanya, Will and Baby Lily

I did it! Finished the Dexter-Ann Arbor Run, and in my personal best pace- 5:34min/km. My run time ended up to be 1:10 hr though because there were so many people in front of me at the starting line that I actually started running before crossing the starting line and ended up running an extra kilometer or so (yes, there were that many people ahead of me. Thousands, in fact...) And let's not mention the fact that one thing I didn't account for during training was the fact that someone sitting on the Run committee decided that it would be a good idea to have a hill in the last leg of the race. A steep hill. Like why? What were you thinking? As if running for an hour continuously isn't enough of a challenge for me... I almost passed out after that hill, which I guess slowed me down a little too. But whatever the case may be, I'm just glad I completed and in fairly decent time too :) My feet are killing me right now though, and my toes- for some reason- have been mangled into a blistery mess, but with that is a perverse sense of self-satisfaction which makes the pain worth it.

I completed a 10K-run last week during a training run, but running today was really different. For one, running in a large group is a huge motivation- I tried not to let the people running by affect me but I suspect that that had a large part to play in me running my best time, just me subconsciously trying to keep up. Then there are the strangers cheering you on everywhere, meeting up with friends who were just there to soak up the invigorating atmosphere, those couple of guys playing music for us on their front porch as we ran by, and most importantly, your wonderful friends who were either cheering for you along the way (thank you Rick, Emilee and Ursus for coming!) or screaming your name as you approached the finishing line (Serena and Liz so rock!). And of course, there's Jude who woke up crazy early this morning to accompany me to the run, taking pictures along the way, and being my all-round awesome one-man cheering team :)

I think I'm going to keep up the running routine just because I know it's doing my body good and I don't want all that training to go to waste. Like my sister suggested, maybe a 10K run every one to two weeks just to challenge my body a little, but apart from that, I think I'll go back to 4-mile (6.5K) runs three times a week. Any more or longer and my toes might really just give up on me and fall off... ;)

Food splurge

I don't think we've ever spent so much on food in one day. Rick and Emilee were making a Costco run today and invited us to come along. Since we don't have a membership to the wholesale mega-store and we're having a party for Jude's birthday next week, we thought it would be a good idea to go and see what we can buy in bulk for the BBQ. After an hour or so of walking along aisles of giant boxes of cereal and gallon-sized cans of olive oil, we emerged with:
- 2-lbs of shrimp (for grilled rosemary-skewered shrimp)
- 3-lbs of beef short ribs (for kalbi)
- 3-lbs of sundried tomato and mozzarella sausages
- 1 large pack of baby portobellas (for grilled veggie kabobs)
- 5-lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. We'll probably keep this for ourselves- they're a really versatile cut of meat so we have no worries going through them at all.
- 2 kegs of yummy Virgil root beer. Yes, you read that right: kegs. Of root beer. It was so hilarious we just couldn't resist :)
- 2 bottles of Naked mango juice
- 2-lbs of cheese-spinach raviolis (this will probably feed us for several meals...)
- a large box of stuffed grape leaves
- an entree-tray of Chicken Alfredo pasta for dinner tonight so I can carbo-load before the run in the morning

And then, when I went to get my race packet for tomorrow, I found in it a coupon for $5 off any $35 purchase from Whole Foods. Since we had to return some cans from there anyway, we allowed ourselves the indulgence of shopping at Whole Foods again for the second time this month. With much restraint, we still ended up with:
- 1-lb of white peaches
- a package of Brun-Uusto cheese, a baked cheese that we'll throw on the grill next week and serve with warm honey and rosemary or maybe a fruit preserve. There was a tasting of the cheese and it was served with warm orange blossom honey- soooooo gooooood...
- a jar of eggplant and tomato pasta sauce
- carton of orange juice
- half-lb of bacon (because everything just tastes better with bacon)
- carton of Odwalla Blueberry B Monster juice (extravagant I know, but we told ourselves that the coupon's paying for this one)
- 2 grapefruits
- a rosemary plant. The smell was too intoxicating to resist (there's still a lovely scent lingering on my fingers...) and I figured since I was going to use the stems of the rosemary to skewer the shrimp for the party, it's probably more worth our while to get an entire plant. We're not sure if we're going to transplant it into our little garden patch, but it might not survive the winter and I do want to have the plant last as long as possible. So now, I can have fresh rosemary whenever I want :) Sweet!

Another 8-month wait...

[Warning: some spoilers ahead...]

So let's count how many times I've blogged about Lost ever since we started watching the series: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and now ten (plus nominal mentions here and here). And is it any wonder? I adored Buffy- it will always be my TV first-love (okay, actually, that accolade might have to go to Northern Exposure), but Lost is a whole other dimension altogether (and I mean that in a myriad of ways...). I love that it demands something of me- a kind of commitment if you will- to its intricate narrative and tightly woven plot. If you missed something in Season 1, a conversation you're watching in Season 4 isn't going to have the same resonance; find that scene familiar? It's probably a mirror of something that happened a season and a half ago. A mystery you had long thought was never going to be addressed suddenly unravels before you like you had only seen it last week. Lost is not a forgiving show to obsess over- it insists on your devotion to every minute detail. And I am its willing slave.

It would be pompous to declare that I understand everything about Lost's mythology- honestly, I couldn't care less if I never find out the provenance of the four-toed statue or who/what Smokey is. And I'm OK with not catching ever single reference to Nietzsche, Phillip K. Dick or social-contract theory. But if I wanted to, I could. For an hour every week, a TV show doesn't insult my intelligence and actually expects me to engage with it, demands that I invest myself in its intricacy and complexity. Some people say it's too pseudo-cerebral, that the writers are just making things up as they go along and throwing whatever philosophical and literary psycho-babble they can conjure into the mix. To them, I say this: I'd much rather spend an hour deconstructing illusory references to dead philosophers than watch a man wearing a crown on his head and a clock around his neck pick the next love of his life from a bevy of self-absorbed, narcissistic, half-naked buxom women. Besides, I enjoy a relaxing, no-brainer experience in front of the TV as much as the next person and that's what Comedy Central, the Food Network and Bravo are for.

And even if all the mythology doesn't appeal to you, there's plenty of action, drama and downright good acting to go around. For one, Sun's tragic hysteria in reaction to her husband's (apparent?) death last night was enough to reduce me to tears. And there has never been a more dramatic car reversal when the action picked up exactly from where the Season 3 finale ended and Kate returned to confront Jack about having to go back to the island. Don't even get me started on Sawyer's sacrifice or Ben's all-round awesomeness... And Locke in the coffin?? WTH!!!

See here for an excellent Slate article on why the fourth season of Lost is the best one yet.

Tune of the week: Don & Drew - My sister's cat

Although this is an ad for Podcast.sg, I have to say that this qualifies as my favourite tune of the week :) You can bet I'll be humming or singing this over the weekend (and to the annoyance of Serene ;) )

If you are familiar with Mandarin, you will recognize the tune as a common children's song. 10,000pts to Andrew Crothers for performing in Mandarin, and another 10,000pts to Don Richmond for his heavy metal/rock interpretation of the tune. Love it!

Symbiosis

It's 4 days to the Ann Arbor-Dexter run and Serene Koh ran her first ever 10K today! Yup, that's right, I rock... :) 57:02 minutes, 678 calories and 5:41 minutes/km. Not shabby at all if I should say so myself. And I figured if I can do this in the 3pm hot sun, I can do on a cool Sunday morning. I wasn't planning on running the full 10K today really, but by the time I got to 9.5K, I was like, I've come so far, what's another 500m? And so I did. I'm planning one more run on Friday- which may or may not be another 10K- and I should be ready for Sunday. Under an hour. That's all I'm aiming for.

It's amazing, really, what your body can do when you apply yourself to a task- who knew 6 weeks ago that my body's capable of running continuously for more than 45 minutes? Like my dad says, it's all about slowly increasingly the mileage. If you can do 6K, you can do 7K. If you can do 7K, 8K's a cinch, etc... The other thing that has really helped me is yoga. It's made me a better breather (yes, there *is* such a thing), and as a result, a stronger runner. It's also strengthened my calves and quads (those warrior poses kick major ass!) which really helps too. I've come to look forward to yoga a lot, and it's become more than just about toning muscles in places I didn't know I had muscles to tone in the first place. In that hour of sustained concentration and focus, I become acutely aware of my body and its different dimensions- my posture, alignment, breathing, reach, strength, center, etc, and I find that kind of self-awareness very calming. Plus it's all me- the poses don't rely on machines or weights- it's what my body is capable of and comfortable doing at that moment. I'm not into the more spiritual aspects of yoga (although I love that my instructor sings her ohms) but I have to admit that as tough as it sometimes is (beads of sweat dripping onto my yoga mat probably indicates a fairly decent workout), the deep burn that comes with yoga is actually kinda of cathartic, "cleansing", if you will- both mentally and physiologically- and that's something I find deeply alluring. The fact that my running helps my yoga (it builds the stamina I need to maintain those sustained downward dogs) as much as yoga is helping my running just makes it all the more perfect.

Namaste :)

"...not as easy as it used to be."

[Spoiler alert!- don't read on if you don't want details about the movie. Not that it would make a difference, really...]

[photo from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull imdb site]

It made me sad. Kinda like seeing an old friend fade away in spurts and gasps rather than as a comforting, nostalgic memory of good times past. Until today, I remembered the Indy movies as wonderful adventure stories- always witty, rollicking fun and well, exciting, for the lack of a better word. I'd like to think that I am still capable of being awed, and that it's not age that has made me feel any less for a favorite movie character from my childhood.

Honestly, the new Indiana Jones movie was terrible. Downright awful. And it made me sad. Oh right, I said that already. But it did... I knew going in that it wasn't going to be anything like the Indy movies I had grown up with and loved, but nothing prepared me for how bad it was. I expect more from Lucas and Spielberg. The story was weak, the production quality was oddly uneven- one might even say shoddy, and Harrison Ford really looked like he was going to bust an artery. And inter-dimensional beings? Aliens? Surviving a nuclear explosion by hiding in a fridge? A UFO??!! I lost count of how many times throughout the movie where I went, "Oh, come ON!..."

I do have to say that it was nice seeing Karen Allen again- I really liked her in Raiders of the Lost Ark. And hearing the familiar strains of the theme song always makes me smile- bad movie or not. But apart from that, the movie was just disappointing. It was like they were trying so hard to recreate the allure of the original movies by upping the ante with the CG-effects that they forgot that what made those early Indy movies so great was just good ol' adventure storytelling, authentic action sequences (which you just can't compensate with special effects overload), and a cast that looked like they were having fun and not just doing a job, or trying to revive a career. I felt like I was watching a bad "The Mummy" sequel, except without Brendan Fraser.

Like I said, it made me sad. And I will say that, again and again...

Nom Nom Nom Nom?

Just saw this photo on the BBC news website and thought it eloquently exemplifies the latest in Internet speak - "Om nom nom nom" - a sound of ravenous eating made popular by the Sesame Street's Cookie Monster. Also check out this endearing interview between NPR's Elizabeth Blair and Cookie Monster.

Weekend in Chicago

[click for photos]

I've never done more in 30 hours- attended a baseball game, watched a movie (not too impressed by movie, though), got discombobulated by a city's renovating train system, ate ridiculously good tacos, had a dozen warm donuts for breakfast (not by myself of course), took an architectural boat tour, fell in love with a neighbourhood, tasted mead for the first time, and again, heedlessly bought more books we might not have time to read... a.k.a. Jude and I spent the weekend in Chicago. And as always, it was glorious :)

Tunes of the week - Very 80s

I decided to try out muxtape to share my music online. Check out my very first effort below:

Gong - Love Is How You Make It

Cut Copy - Unforgettable Season

M83 - You, Appearing

Portishead - Threads

The Clash - Lost In The Supermarket

Scritti Politti - Absolute

Titus Andronicus - Upon Viewing Brueghel's "Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus"

It just so happens that the music I am listening to happens to be from the 80s or very inspired by it. Can't help it ... it's the era that I spent my formative years in :) Also, it just so happens that the indie kids these days are in love with all things 80s. So I can't complain. Anyway, to listen to the above tracks, just head on to this URL:

http://jyew.muxtape.com

Validation

So I defended my dissertation proposal on Friday. Finally. Although "defending" is probably too self-important a word; it really was more of a chat, honestly. In fact, one of the nice things that my adviser said to me after the meeting was how it was more of an intellectual discussion between four colleagues than it was me trying to convince three professors why my dissertation topic is worth spending the next year and a half on. The thing is, ever since I decided on my research topic almost two years ago, I've been pretty much on my own with this study. It's a novel way of researching national identity, particularly because I'm working so closely with young children, and the interdisciplinary nature of my work isn't always of the kind that is done in my school; which means besides my professor and Jude, there are few people I share thoughts about my work with.

But on Friday, I was forced to pull my ideas into a coherent whole and present it to a group of people whose hands hold my academic future. I had to justify why this research is important not just because I say it is, but also as a significant contribution to the field of education, political science and childhood sociology. It wasn't a public session, but it was the first time I was presenting my work formally to people who weren't bound by any reason to have to be nice to me. In fact, a dissertation proposal defense was literally designed for you to "defend" your work against attacks on its merit. To say that I was nervous is an understatement. Apart from fretting about what I was going to say, I also spent half and hour figuring out what outfit to wear- the first time I've ever done that since we moved here. In fact, the last time I worried so much about what to wear out of the house was our wedding...

At some point 15 minutes into the meeting though, something about the tone of the meeting changed, and I think that's when I began feeling like it became more of a chat than a defense. I was showing my committee some pictures I had collected from children when I was home in Singapore in summer last year, and sharing some preliminary findings I had to support my study. One of them sat back in her chair, took off her glasses and almost sighed. What she said next, I will carry with me as inspiration during those moments over the next year and half where I will invariably feel like giving up:

"And that, Serene, is what you will tell Terry Gross when she interviews you about your book on NPR."

At that moment, my adviser beamed at me with so much pride, it was as if I had finished writing my dissertation already. She didn't say a Pulitzer or a Nobel, but she didn't have to say anything to begin with. And Fresh Air is good enough for me :) It felt quite wonderful, really. To be validated about something you've carried almost as your own private precious possession for so long. This is an original piece of work, my contribution to academia, me putting out into the ether something that did not exist before. And that people other than myself and those closest to me think that it is valuable work too was at that moment a little startling to me. Throughout the next hour or so, my committee was nothing but enthusiastic and encouraging. They seemed genuinely excited about my work and I remember, if nothing else, feeling a vague sense of euphoria :)

I'm skipping a little ahead of myself, of course- I haven't even started data collection for the study yet. But that feeling- this feeling I have right now- is what I was hoping to have, but didn't expect to really achieve when I first settled on this topic. A kind of strange stewardship, if you will, over my work. With the encouragement and support I've been getting from Jude, my friends and family, and now validation from my committee, I'm truly inspired to craft the best work I'm capable of, and put it out there. It's not going to heal the world, make it a better place, *for you and for me and the entire human race*, but it'll be my small contribution. And maybe, that's enough for now.

Sad Kermit

My jaws are aching. I almost peed in my pants. And I almost spit coffee all over my computer. All thanks to Dark Orpheus and Sad Kermit.

Honestly, this is one of the most brilliantly funny things I've come across in a while (although I'm sure that was not the original intent of the creators). And these people are clearly very talented too, so it's not like funny for funny's sake. It's Kermit re-visioned as an emo, melancholic, acoustic guitar-playing manic-depressive. Basically, it's Kermit as Nick Drake, if you will. This ain't no Rainbow Connection, people. In fact, if you go to the MySpace page, you'll see "Rainbow Disconnection" (the original played in morose, minor chord. You realize how sad the lyrics actually are and start wondering how it could ever have been sung as a happy song to begin with...) My particular favorite is "Creep"- I only narrowly averted the potential caffeine-induced computer disaster because of it. Thom Yorke would weep.

Sad Kermit also does Elliot Smith's "Needle in the Hay" and parodies this suicide scene from The Royal Tenenbaums.

I wish I was special
You're so f***ing special
But I am green
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here
I don’t belong here
- Sad Kermit doing Radiohead's "Creep"

The Dark Knight- new trailer

Have I mentioned how much I'm waiting for the movie to open? Have I? Have I? Oh right, I have.

[click poster for new *freaking awesome!* HD trailer]

If Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is as good as these clips suggest — and my brain starts popping every time I see his deliriously committed, smeared-makeup personification of pure, nut-job Evilness — then we’ve got a potential Best Supporting Actor nominee that will be much more than just a sentimental gesture to a cherished, departed actor.
-Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly

First weekend off

For the first time in months (except that weekend when we drove to Wisconsin), I took the weekend COMPLETELY off work- from 3.30pm Friday till right now (approx. 11.38pm EST Sunday), I turned on my computer only to check my email (without replying to any), to write a blog post about Leopold's, and to play Scrabulous.

Friday
- Met Rick and Emilee after school to go the opening sale at the new REI in A2. Jude got himself a sweet pair of winter boots at 20% off. Nice score!
- Had deliriously good cheesy biscuits at Red Lobster. Would go there just for the biscuits alone. Searched online for replica recipe- apparently, Bisquick is key...
- Watched Iron Man. Cheesy plot but whiplash script. Robert Downey Jr. was only one worth watching. He was clearly just acting himself. Note to self: witnessing beginning of (empowered) women-free zone, otherwise known as the summer movie season.

Saturday
- Woke up early (unheard of!) for 7K run. 3K more to target. Training's been going well. Feeling stronger, but a little hard maintaining the under 6-minute/K pace.
- Made buttermilk pancakes and bacon for brunch- had to make run worthwhile.
- Watched mindless Saturday afternoon TV.
- Napped.
- Played Guitar Hero for a couple of hours (Beat Slash at Battle and we played "Welcome to the Jungle" together"- I think we rock...)
- Took a walk to the Asian grocery store for a bottle of black vinegar. And Thai instant noodles. Yumm...
- Got a visit from my friend, Deborah her husband, Jonathan who are thinking of moving into family housing in the Fall. Drank root beer and talked about noisy vs. saintly neighbours.
- Joined Libby, Bill, Jolie and Adrienne for dinner in Dexter. Thank you for some good food, North Point- we will be back.
- Met Dan at Leopold's where we bid farewell to the pub while enjoying the phenomenal live performance of Great Lakes Myth Society.
- Blogged about the performance.
- Fell asleep to re-runs on Comedy Central.

Sunday
- Woke up to empty bed and remembered that Jude's had left for Metro Grand Spring Tour, a 25-, 40- or 60-mile bike ride through the Metro Parks. I was just too much of a wimp to wake up early two days in a row to exercise. Go Jude!
- Made up for not going to the MGST by biking to the gym for resistance training. Note to self: go to the gym on Sundays more- no nubile female undergrads to make you feel fat and no one to fight you for weights.
- Had leftovers from dinner for lunch. North Point- not just good, generous too.
- Enjoyed the gorgeous sunny day by going downtown for a bite with Jude because apparently, biking 25-miles makes a man hungry ;) Tried Eastern Flame on Ashley and Liberty. Definitely not going back.
- Supported local merchants (or so we told ourselves) by buying a shirt from Sam's Clothing Store and a new happy shower curtain from Acme Mercantile.
- Visited the new Two Wheel Tango on Jackson (told you we were supporting local merchants today). Jude needed to switch his trail tires to street tires since he realized he was now doing more road biking. Will see how much he likes his new tires before deciding whether to switch mine out too.
- Spent an hour in Target buying random things even though only planned on getting a box fan in anticipation of crazy hot summer to come. Things that ended up in our cart: box fan, pack of running socks, contact lens solution, 3 cans of soup, pack of frozen cod, and four-pack of pomegranate Izze.
- Napped (I love that I guiltlessly napped two days in a row...)
- Ate dinner in front of TV.
- Watched the George Lopez special on Comedy Central and fell over ourselves in laughter :)
- Blogged

I might just make this an early night and go to bed before 1am. And that would really mean I took the weekend off! :)

Last call @ Leopold's

Jude and I bid farewell to a good friend tonight. A friend that's been with us through countless birthdays, grad student visiting days and orientations; whose generous picnic tables will be sorely missed for "research meetings"; whose phenomenal jukebox plays better music than most radio stations we know; and it was the place where I had my first delicious- and till now, only- Pisco. Todd Leopold announced in February that Leopold Brothers is leaving A2 for Denver:

We’re moving our distilling operations to Denver, Colorado this spring, and closing our bar in Ann Arbor at the start of summer.

Our lease expires in the summer, and shockingly (note heavy sarcasm), our landlords asked for an obscene amount per month in rent, so we’re done. This move has zero to do with the economy, or sales levels, as we are coming off of our strongest year of sales at the pub since we’ve been open. We moved here in 1998, and since that time our rent has tripled, and our new landlords want even more….because, of course, that’s what the market will bear.

I hope to run into you all before we leave, and I wish Ann Arbor the best. The business climate isn’t one that we can survive, however.
- taken from ann arbor is overrated

To send the beloved brewpub off with a bang, there will be a performance there every weekend throughout the month of May. We were lucky today to bask in the boisterous awesomeness that is Great Lakes Myth Society, a local band made semi-big. When Leopold's first opened almost ten years ago, they were among its first regular customers and began playing shows there thereafter. So it was rather apt for them to start off the big farewell to this Ann Arbor institution.

Goodbye Leopold's. We'll miss you...

Swallowing clouds

As part of Jude and Serene's ongoing effort to recreate all things we love to eat from home, we made wontons tonight. The schizophrenic Michigan weather turned chilly this weekend and the temptation of a steaming bowl of dumplings and noodles was too hard to resist. Wonton noodles are a dime and dozen in Singapore, but as with all foods from home, there are either hard to find here in Ann Arbor, or what we have isn't very good. A teeny pinch of meat in thick, floury wrapper, floating lifelessly in of-dubious-origin broth is not wonton soup, people. On a night like tonight, I had visions of succulent dumplings bopping in a broth richly flavored with Chinese wine and ginger. And so, that's what we had for dinner :)


Homemade wontons are just yummy. They take some work, but these little gems are worth it. Slightly translucent and slippery as they slither down your throat, they manage to be succulent, delicate, and satisfying all at the same time.

I've written before about the lyricism of the Chinese language, and today, as we tucked into our steaming bowls of wonton noodle soup, I am reminded again of how beautiful and evocative my mother tongue can be. The word "won 云 ton 吞 " translates literally into "swallowing clouds"- perfectly apt for these comforting morsels of dumpling goodness :)

Happy Earth Day!

To remember Earth Day today, here's an excerpt from food activist, Alice Waters' latest book, "The Art of Simple Food". Jude and I wish we could heed all her exhortations here, but we can only try. It's difficult on a grad student budget which doesn't allow us to buy organic as much as we'd like, and living in a part of the country where it's too cold 6 months of a year for local/community farming to be very viable. Still, as both of us become increasingly conscious of where our food comes from, how it's grown and reared, and its larger implications for the environment and economy (we've just been talking about the documentary, King Corn, that talks about the pernicious effects of genetically modified corn on our environment, our health, and our social fabric), these are points of inspiration and sound advice to keep close.

Eat locally and sustainably.
Learn where your food comes from and how it is produced. Seek out a diverse variety of vegetables and fruits from small, local producers who take care of the land. Buy eggs, meat, and fish from producers whose practices are organic, humane, and environmentally sound.

Eat seasonally.
Choose food in season. Even where the growing season is short, organic gardening and farming can extend it: Greens can be grown in cold frames and greenhouses, and there are always local foods that can be stored, dried, and canned for the winter months. Eating seasonally inspires your menus, gives you a sense of time and place, and rewards you with the most flavorful food.

Shop at farmers markets.
Farmers markets create communities that value diversity, honesty, seasonality, locality, sustainability, and beauty. Get to know the people who grow your food. Think of yourself as a partner with the farmers, learning from them and working with them.

Plant a garden.
It is deeply satisfying to eat food you have grown yourself, in your own backyard or in a community garden. Even a pot of herbs on your windowsill can transform your cooking and connect you to the changing seasons, as can foraging for wild foods and harvesting fruit from farms that allow you to pick your own. Learn what the edible landscape has to offer.

Conserve, compost, and recycle.
Take your own basket to the market. Reuse whatever packaging you can. Keep a compost bucket nearby when you cook to recycle kitchen scraps. The more you conserve, the less you waste, the better you feel.

Cook simply, engaging all your senses.
Plan uncomplicated meals. Let things taste of what they are. Enjoy cooking as a sensory pleasure: touch, listen, watch, smell, and, above all, taste. Taste as you go. Keep tasting and keep practicing and discovering.

Cook together.
Include your family and friends, and especially children. When children grow, cook, and serve food, they want to eat it. The hands-on experience of gardening and cooking teaches children the value and pleasure of good food almost effortlessly.

Eat together.
No matter how modest the meal, create a special place to sit down together, and set the table with care and respect. Savor the ritual of the table. Mealtime is a time for empathy and generosity, a time to nourish and communicate.

Remember food is precious.
Good food can only come from good ingredients. Its proper price includes the cost of preserving the environment and paying fairly for the labor of the people who produce it. Food should never be taken for granted.

[Excerpted from “The Art of Simple Foods: Notes, Lessons and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution” by Alice Waters]

Trailer for King Corn:

Yeast- I have overcome!...

So for a long time, I avoided the matter entirely. If I happened upon a recipe that called for yeast, I simply skipped ahead to another. The word "yeast" was synonymous with "stop," or "dream on, lady." I guess you could say that yeast was like the cute guy in junior high: the one with great hair, the one who looks like heartbreak waiting to happen. To spare yourself the sure humiliation, you decide to give him a wide berth, to only stare from afar. But then, when he sits down at your lunch table, instead of striking up a conversation, you cower in your beef stew. That was me with yeast.

But then, you know, there was this pesky business of the cinnamon roll. Namely, that I wanted one.
-Molly Wizenberg (a.k.a. Orangette), Bon Appétit

So that was me on Saturday. Well, Friday specifically. I really wanted to make sticky buns, both because I was craving one- really craving one- but also because I had promised to bring some to tea with our friends, the Cooks and Cooneys. I had initially thought I could take the coward's way out and use frozen bread dough. Because why?

Yeast intimidates me.

I've heard too many horror stories from friends who bake about all that can go wrong with yeast- not rising, being temperamental, killed by water that was too cold or too hot- all imaginable disasters a baker could conjure. Plus, I'm not a baker. I'm not precise when I cook. What do you mean 5 oz by weight? Can't I just use a cup measure? When you say half a tsp of salt, is that a pinch? My sister's the baker in the family, the one with the patience, precision and thoughtfulness. I'm the one who goes, Oooh, let's throw all this together and see what happens! I wonder what happens if you put orange zest in here? With the pork.

Oh, and then there's that tiny thing of not having a stand-mixer. I confessed that at dinner in front of two friends who are avid cooks and they literally looked at me in disbelief. The idea that I would even contemplate making bread without a stand-mixer. Say it isn't so! But oh yes indeed. I couldn't find frozen bread dough at the store (I couldn't be a coward even if I wanted to) and so if I wanted to make some kick-ass sticky buns, I was going to have to do it from scratch.

And so I did.

It was an incredibly elemental experience, this whole making your own bread business. I kneaded everything by hand, which was quite wonderful actually. There is something pleasurably soulful about turning flour, eggs and milk turn into tender, voluptuous dough with your own hands. And don't even get me started about how unbearably good the house smelled as the buns were baking- a heady fragrance of cinnamon, orange and brown sugar. Hours after we came home, there was still a delicious, lingering scent. And the final product- better than I could have hoped for, thankfully. Trust me, taking that first bite of your own homemade ooey, gooey cinnamon bun- still warm- is as close to baking heaven as you can get...

This just might make a baker out of me yet :)

[Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes and Joanne Chang of Flour in Boston.]

"Run, Serene, run..."

Last month, I signed up for the annual Dexter-Ann Arbor Run coming up in June. For a while now, I've wanted to train for a marathon- a little inspired by my dad, sis and best friend who've all done competitive races. I figured this is the fittest I'll probably be in my life and if I don't at least start trying to challenging myself a little more now, it's never going to happen. But being the wuss that I am, I thought I'll go easy on myself by registering for the 5K and see how that goes before trying something longer. Running the distance wasn't the challenge- I run close to that on my regular runs already anyway- doing it under 25 minutes is, or so I told myself. So I've been pushing myself a little harder everyday I run and I've made some progress, but there's just this threshold at about 5:10/K that I just can't seem to break. Plus the nerves in my feet have been tingling painfully these past weeks after every run, not to mention the fact that I almost passed out from running three days in a row yesterday...

And then I spoke with my dear best friend on the phone and she mentioned that perhaps the pain has something to do with the fact that really, at our age, our body can only be pushed that far before it retaliates. Not that we're old, but because I haven't run at those speeds till last month, and so my body's just not used to the "abuse", so to speak. That in the long run- pun fully intended- it might be more beneficial to run long distances slowly, than short distances fast- less wear and tear on the joints, muscles, and nerves.

And so, despite an (un)healthy amount of uncertainty about whether or not I can actually complete the race and some anxiety over having enough time from now till June 1 to train properly, I transfered my registration from the 5K to the 10K race. Like my friend, Stella, said, why do anything half-assed? If I'm going to run, I'm going to *run*. I've planned my first non-stop 6K for tomorrow. I'm also closing my eyes, saying (actually, whimpering, more like it...) a prayer, and crossing and fingers- let's hope I don't come to regret this... ;)

Food Pornography

So, with the photo of the buttermilk drop biscuits I made for dinner last night, our Food Pornography set on Flickr has officially reached 500 pictures! For those of you who follow our Flickr account, you'll know that Jude and I are as obsessive about documenting our food experiences as we are indulging in them. We have a ways to go before perfecting the art of truly stunning food photography, but thankfully, our trusty Lumix has a Food mode which helps :) The aim is to ultimately go full manual, but despite my dear husband's best efforts, I've just never been able to remember all the different settings on the camera. That or I'll just have to wait till we save up enough for a digital SLR and then I'll be inspired to play with as many of the light, flash and aperture settings as I can possible handle.

Till then, here's just a sample of some of my favorite of our food photos in all their graphic, obscene, delectable glory!


1. Fried bread (ham chee paeng), 2. Creamy crab, 3. Cannoli from Mike's Pastry, 4. Tempeh tauhu goreng, 5. Bean sprouts ("tau gay"), 6. Food Symmetry, 7. Dusted with powdered sugar, 8. Adobo, 9. New mac & cheese recipe, 10. Roasting sausages with grapes, 11. Jude's Wagyu skirt steak, 12. Sushi in auto mode, 13. Laksa!!! @ Les Amis, Botanical Gardens

What you've got to realize is that the clever cook puts unlikely things together, like duck and orange, like pineapple and ham. It's called 'artistry'. You know, I am an artist the way I combine my business and my pleasure: Money's my business, eating's my pleasure and Georgie's my pleasure, too, though in a more private kind of way than stuffing the mouth and feeding the sewers, though the pleasures are related because the naughty bits and the dirty bits are so close together that it just goes to show how eating and sex are related.
-Albert, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

Tune of the week: M83 - Graveyard Girl

OMG you don't know how much this track is hitting the spot right now! I've been tracking French musician, M83 (aka Anthony Gonzalez), through his past two albums (Before the Dawn Heals Us & Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts). Before, his music were dense noisy pieces that owed a lot to the synthesizer pop of the 1980s. But with his new album, Gonzalez lightens up a whole lot and takes on a different side of the 80s - the side that John Hughes teen dramas inhabit. I really connected with this description of the album offered up by Pitchfork:

The album has the same nostalgic sparkle as Hughes' films, a soft-focused mythology of eternal summers and young love. In the liner notes, Gonzalez dedicates it to "all the friends, music, movies, joints, and crazy teachers that made my teenage years so great!"

As much as I hate to admit it, I used to love John Hughes' movies. Especially Some Kind of Wonderful - it had all the right elements of teen angst, first loves and the "I want to be taken seriously but I don't know why I am doing these stupid things" theme so characteristic of teenhood. I know that Hughes' movies can sometimes be cheesy and predictable and that I might be waxing lyrically and being a tad bit too nostalgic. But you have to admit that this M83 song and video transports you back to the era when Hughes' movies reigned. And this song is something that would have been so playing on my Sony Walkman ;)

Some Kind of Wonderful trailer (and with all the classic lines no less):

Tune of the week: The Thermals - Returning to the Fold

It's that time of the week when one needs a track like this to put some spunk into a lethargic afternoon. And also just because it's a rooftop performance by Portland, OR's The Thermals playing a track from their 2006 album "The Body, The Blood and The Machine". Plus, I wanted to try out the new Pitchfork TV service :)

Young @ Heart

[Update: New York Times review here.]

[click for trailer]

I had seen the trailer for this a while ago and made a mental note to catch it when it opens in Spring. I've heard a little about this rocking New England senior citizen chorus before and was kinda excited that someone had made a documentary of them. I was reminded of it again when I saw this article in the NYT yesterday about the upcoming movie and so did a little poking around to see if I could videos of them online. Oh boy, are they wonderful! There is something so delightful about seeing grandmas and grandpas rocking out to The Ramones and The Clash :) And these folks have got spunk and spirit in large doses for sure. Especially when it comes to performing rock songs that they themselves might have told their children to turn down back in the day, like "I Wanna be Sedated" by The Ramones:



or (and Jude's going to love this) Sonic Youth's 'Schizophrenia':



But with all that joyousness, there's also a level of poignancy and sadness to the documentary that I think is quite palpable. According to the NYT article, they actually "lost" a few of the troupe's members during the making of the documentary. When the troupe conductor makes a joke about kidney stones in the trailer, you get a sense that kidney stones might be the least of many of their physical concerns. Which is why I say to watch them perform Coldplay's "Fix You" with caution:



By the time I was done with this, my lunch was decidedly soggier and my face was streaked with tears. I adore Chris Martin, but I'm sorry, dude, what this cover lacks in technical perfection, it more than makes up for with a whole lot of heart. When that old man, Fred Knittle, started singing, I literally felt a shiver go through me and I couldn't stop crying till it was over. You can almost feel the hush cast over the concert hall. Apparently, this song was intended to be a duet between Fred and another chorus member, Bob Salvini. Sadly, Bob died of a heart attack and it was left to Fred to carry the song on his own. There are supposed to be some very moving scenes in the film where we see Fred rehearsing alone soon after Bob's death. This is powerful, beautiful stuff, people...

Really.

"I am Alexander Supertramp!"

Yes, hiking through Alaska. Yes, gorgeous. But please, bring a map and a cellphone. And stay away from the purple plants.

Oh, and Hal Holbrook, you broke my heart, you dear old man... *sniff*

. . . each day mankind and the claims of mankind slipped farther from him. Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest.
- Jack London

Placeholder meme

Until something blog-worthy happens in our lives... :)

If your life had a soundtrack, what would the music be?

1. Open your iTunes library
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…

Opening Credits
"The Greatest"- Cat Power (The Greatest)

Waking Up
"Good As Gold (Stupid as Mud)"- The Beautiful South (Carry On Up the Charts)

First Day of School
"Major Label Debut"- Broken Social Scene (Broken Social Scene)

Falling in Love
"Twilight Chases the Sun"- Furniture (Twilight Chases the Sun)

Breaking Up
"Until the Day is Done"- R.E.M. (Accelerate)

Prom
"What the World Needs Now"- The Carpenters (Scrubs Soundtrack)

Life's Okay
"Piazza, New York Catcher"- Belle & Sebastian (Dear Catastrophe Waitress)

Mental Breakdown
"Every Wall Your Own"- Chris Bathgate (A Cork Tale Wake)

Driving
"California One Youth and Beaut"- The Decemberists (Castaways and Cutouts)

Flashback
"Dummy Song"- Louis Armstrong (You've Got Mail Soundtrack)

Getting Back Together
"1995"- The Radio Dept. (Lesser Matters)

Wedding
"Brick"- Ben Folds Five (Whatever and Ever Amen)

Birth of a Child
"Lo Boob Oscillator"- Stereolab (High Fidelity Soundtrack)

Final Battle
"One Fine Day"- Natalie Merchant (One Fine Day Soundtrack)

Death Scene
"All of Your Days Will be Blessed"- Ed Harcourt (From Every Sphere)

Funeral Song
"A-Punk"- Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend)

End Credits
"Haiti"- Arcade Fire (Funeral)

Tune of the week...

...well, of the day, at least.


Thinking of cherry blossoms in full bloom...

Of deals, phones and candidacy

Our new toys
Originally uploaded by ghetto of our mind

We just couldn't resist. How do you? They may be refurbished but they look and work just dandy if you ask me. And for an outrageously ridiculous deal. In the immortal words of Vito Corleone, it truly was an offer we couldn't refuse... And thanks to the techie whiz that my husband is, we're particularly proud of this. Shelling out an extra $100 a month for an AT&T account was just something we weren't prepared to do, which is why we waited for a deal before we got the phones in the first place- *duh*...

It truly is a beautiful product, and more than that, an incredibly powerful one. Jude loves the map option that almost doubles-up as a GPS machine, while I'm personally taken with the seamless interface and the fact that it's completely integrated with my laptop. We're both just really happy with the phones and the deal that we got them for. And as any self-respecting owner of a new toy would do, I spent the whole of last night figuring out how to 1) install customized ringtones on the phone; and 2) not have to pay a cent for it. Thanks to Audiko and iToner, I was successful on both counts, and so am hopefully the only person in the world (for now) with this 42-sec Explosions in the Sky ringtone.

On another somewhat more celebratory note, Jude will be defending his prelims in two hours, and in four, he will have candidacy! He's worked so hard for this exam for so long and I'm really proud of him :) (The fact that I got a migraine from reading one of his first drafts because it was so theoretically dense aside...) I officially achieved candidacy last Fall but we wanted to wait till we were both done before really celebrating. So I guess you could say that the iPhones are a kind of reward to ourselves. Dinner at Cafe Zola tonight will just top it all off :)

Explosions in the Sky 'live' @ Reckless Records

Riffing off Serene's last post on "Friday Night Lights", I'll admit to being somewhat moved by that movie as well ;) I have long wanted to watch this film given its recommendation by many friends and reviews. The movie was beautifully filmed and provided a glimpse, for me, into smalltown America's obsession with the town's high school football team and its coaches. But more than anything, I think that Explosions in the Sky's contribution to the film's soundtrack does add an emotional depth to the film. It certainly doesn't go as far as being a "third character" in Peter Berg's (the director) mise en scene of (fictional?) Odessa, Texas. However, the echo-ey guitar pickings, contrasted with the heights of action on the football field convey the sense that what is unfolding before the audience's eyes is a moment in time that these high school football players will not soon forget. I could go on with my take on Explosions in the Sky's contribution to the film's soundtrack, but perhaps I should let the music itself do the talking. Check out the video below of the band playing 'live' at Reckless Records in Chicago. The set-list for this performance is:

1. Yasmin the Light
2. The Long Spring
3. Greet Death

Explosions in the Sky 'live' at Reckless Records

Be perfect

I've never cried during a sports movie. I don't even like them.

Until Friday Night Lights.

I swear I was watching the last 15 minutes in a blur of tears. And that Explosions in the Sky soundtrack gets me every time.

Being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It's not about winning. It's about you and your relationship with yourself, your family and your friends. Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn't let them down because you told them the truth. And that truth is you did everything you could. There wasn't one more thing you could've done. Can you live in that moment as best you can, with clear eyes, and love in your heart, with joy in your heart? If you can do that gentleman - you're perfect.
-Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton)

Happy Easter!

silly chicky easter doodle, originally uploaded by Linzie Hunter.

Spring? What Spring?

As of right now, there's got to be at least 8 to 10 inches of snow outside our house. 8 to 10 inches!! On March freaking 21st! Spring was supposed to have started yesterday! It's Easter weekend! And we get a severe weather advisory today?

We took these photos at around 5 in the evening and it looks even worse outside now. Jude was supposed to go for a meeting downtown, took 25 minutes to drive less than a mile away and had to turn back because the roads were just horrific.



While our friends are hiking in California or admiring the cherry blossoms in D.C., our springtime fun this weekend might be sledding...

Data entry 2007, 121bpm

An ex-student of mine sent this along sometime in Feb. She's a DJ who goes by the moniker Miso Flamingo. And this mix rounds up her favorite 2007 tracks. I think that Miso Flamingo has a fine ear for what she describes as "deep tech house". Check out her tracklist:

1. A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray
2. Sekouba Bambino - Decourage (Charles Full On Vocal Mix)
3. Chateau Flight - Baroque
4. Dennis Ferrer feat. Malena Perez - I Can't Go Under
5. Lephtee - So Far Back (Phonique remix)
6. Phonique feat Dixon - Cafe Monte Carlo
7. Tokyo Black Star - Still Sequence (Innervisions version)
8. Fish Go Deep - ESL
9. Espresso - Ping Pong
10. Jamie Lloyd - What We Have [...is a Zwicker Remix]
11. Ben Westbeech - Hang Around (Wahoo Main Mix)
12. Alex Smoke - Never Want To See You Again (ada mix)
13. Atjazz - For Real (version remix)

Bonus Track for fun:
14. Alex Smoke - Don't See The Point (Henrik Schwarz Dub)

So I hope you enjoy Data Entry 2007 and maybe you might want to catch Miso Flamingo at her next gig. See the schedule below for CAMP's latest DJ schedule.

Story of our lives...

[Copyright Jorge Cham]

I love PhD Comics. Few things in pop culture have been able to so accurately capture the excruciating experiences of the very narrow demographic of sadomasochists that Jude and I have the (mis)fortune of belonging to. No one gets the pain of having a basement office with no access to natural light, or the neurotic principle that's been diabolically ingrained into us that we are nothing without our data, and nobody but a former grad student can truly understand that the allure of an academic talk is often really only as strong as the free food it provides. Admittedly- and I say this knowing full well how obnoxious it's going to come out- it's also a kind of cruel humor that only a small group of people grasp and I suppose that can be somewhat alienating.

But for now, for us, it's an avenue to make fun of ourselves, and maybe also a way of not taking this whole PhD thing too seriously. How often do you get to see a mirror of yourself, look at it, and laugh? Like today's comic- literally, the story of my life. Almost to a T. It's scary... From a laughable childhood dream (at ten, I believed I would make a great writer. Or a florist), to a financially doomed college major (English, and with a thesis on French poetry no less- how's that for economically devastating); all of 3 years before I figured out my dissertation topic (totally worth it!), and of course, the hundred-million dollar question from everyone except my neighbour's pet dog, "When are you going to graduate?" The only thing in the comic I'm thankful not to exemplify is having a nasty adviser. I love my adviser and he has been nothing but most kind and supportive. Thank god for him or Serene Koh would be just another grad school stereotype...

So there, PhD Comics- it's free, it's funny, and it's way cheaper than a shrink.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

** Update: So apparently, it technically *isn't* St. Patrick's Day today. Because Easter comes extremely early this year, yesterday marked the beginning of Holy Week, which apparently takes precedence over all other saint's days. While the Catholic Church in Wales and England omitted St. Patrick's Day as a feast day altogether because it clashes with Holy Week, in Ireland it was observed on Saturday instead. See BBC article here.

Well, many students here started their green alcohol binge last Thursday night (and are still drinking as we speak...), so whether or not St. Patrick's Day was celebrated over the weekend or today really probably doesn't matter to them...



A fabulous start to the day! I remember watching this classic Muppets sketch a long time ago and having no clue what Animal, the Swedish Chef, and Beaker were singing about. And as a ten-year-old, I was probably enjoying this too much then to wonder what the bunch of sparkly green leaves were too... ;)

In the words of Cory Doctorow in his Boing Boing post today, I nearly wept... :)

Ken Leeee....

As Idol fever begins (even though Jude and I hardly follow it at all), this is for those of you out there who have even the slightest negative thing to say about any of the contestants in the American version... You want to make sure you're sitting down for this. Trust me :)


Yon sorra is so shoooing...

As seen in Mr. Brown's blog.

A person's a person, no matter how small...

I didn't have any inclination to watch Horton Hears a Who!, especially after finding out that Jim Carrey's the voice behind sweet, dear Horton. The man can be a fine, fine actor- see Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine, but in an animated film- and a Dr. Seuss one at that (anyone remember The Grinch?)- his unrestrained, campy, hammy antics are sure to drown out the wonderful nobility that is the dear Seussian elephant.

But after seeing this clip, I might just change my mind. Honestly, I never thought I'd *ever* hear a version of this song that I'd enjoy. For some reason, I really dislike it. C'mon, "It's time to bring this ship into the shore/And throw away the oars, forever... And if I have to crawl upon the floor/ Come crashing through your door..." The metaphors are *so* bad- even by '80s standards- that the only thing the song's good for is a parody. You just can't take it seriously... Which is why I love how it's being used in the movie. Love it! I've been watching the clip over and over and I'm getting a face-cramp from all the smiling and laughing! And that emo, edgy Jo-Jo is the one who sings that last resounding cheesy line which then saves all of Who-ville makes it all the more delightfully tongue-in-cheek brilliant :)

Be an Achiever!!!

I am really bummed that I missed the 2008 Lebowski Fest in Chicago. However, while trying not to fret too much, I came across this new documentary, The Achievers chronicling the obsession that Lebowski fans (a.k.a. achievers) have with the movie. According to the blurb about the movie:

"To understand the movie The Achievers, one must ask.... what is a Lebowski Fest? The most fun you will have with a stranger in a bowling alley, Lebowski Fest is a bowling event celebrating all things relating to the Coen Brothers 1998 film, "The Big Lebowski". It can be likened to a Star Trek convention in a very loose sense. The event includes unlimited bowling, costume, trivia, farthest traveled, and bowling contests, prizes, and what-have-you."

I want to watch this documentary badly. I am not sure why. It's like being part of this strange community somehow. It's one of those things that I want to do while being here in the U.S., like go to the Burning Man Festival, taking a coast-to-coast road-trip with cross-country diner tour thrown in for good measure, etc. etc.

Lebowskifest cured my cancer!
-Big Lebowski fan

Soup galore

1. Albondigas soup, 2. Roasted sweet potato soup, 3. Thai noodle soup, 4. Cabbage soup for dinner

Sometimes- just sometimes- when I'm struck by the mood to think of my food as having personalities, I often think of soup as a good friend. Because nothing makes you feel better when you're sick like soup, that sticks by you through all seasons- to warm you up in winter or cool you down in summer; soup is that old friend you're so at ease with- just a simple broth and some vegetables is enough to comfort, or a new friend you take time to get to know, pleasurably simmering over long hours and developing a flavor for.

And for some reason, it's not hard to think of that one soup that you associate with a special memory- cabbage soup reminds Jude of his grandma, Chinese herbal soup reminds me of my mom telling me every winter to keep myself warm; roasted sweet potato soup is golden Fall, and Teochew fish porridge soup is home.

What soup warms the cockles of your heart?

Fierce!

Finally, after four seasons for Project Runway, the contestant who truly deserved to win won! Jude and I were rooting for both Christian and Jillian when the finale started but once we saw Christian's collection come down the runway, we knew he had to win. Everything was stunning, like "take your breath away, never in the four seasons, it made Posh Spice smile" stunning. And we still can't believe he's only 21. I was trying to remember what I had accomplished by the time I was 21, and then I decided, nevermind...

Until today probably, I was staunchly in Camp Jillian. I love how neurotically adorable she is, how interesting she keeps her designs- edgy but cute, bold but wearable (except for maybe that Twizzlers dress, although even pulling that off was ingenious...). But today, Christian's clothes were art. Throughout the season, with the exception of that one prom dress disaster, almost everything Christian has made has been dramatic, unique and phenomenal looking- from his first tartan-inspired outfit to that gorgeously layered couture gown; even the leather and lace thing he made for the wrestling diva was- in his words, fierce, fabulous and flawless!! I suppose it helps that he sews like Speedy Gonzales... His cockiness really annoyed me initially but gradually, it actually became kind of endearing. And I really felt for him today as he stood there waiting to hear the judge's final decision- there was none of the usual confidence and self-assuredness, and you could sense the palpable trepidation- the poor thing could barely contain his tears... In that instance, it really struck me that he *is* only 21- a kid, so freaking talented, just waiting for the rest of his life to open before him. When they announced him as the winner and he practically collapsed into a puddle of emotion from sheer happiness, that became one of my favorite TV moments this year :)

This is getting ferosh. If I was a diva, my name would be Ferosh!
-Christian Siriano

"He no nuts, he's crazy!"

The Indiana Jones franchise will always have a special place in my heart. They came out during a time in my childhood/teenhood when going to the movies was a real treat and the whole experience of watching a film was always dazzling and exciting. Particularly Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom- it was one of the first movies I vividly remember my dad bringing us to watch, and I developed my very first movie crush on Short Round, a.k.a. Ke Huy Quan :)

So is it any wonder that just hearing that familiar theme music again is awashing me in a massive wave of happy nostalgia? Thank you, John Williams :) I just broke out into a silly grin when I saw the trailer for the new Indy movie, and it stems less from wanting to see the movie than the memories it evoked. I really feel little inclination to watch it- I think Harrison Ford needs to just age gracefully and accept that his days as a swashbuckling adventurer action-hero are over. Why join the ranks of Sylvester Stallone and Steven Segal huffing and puffing through another Rambo XIII, Under Siege XVI, or whatever?... Looking at him swishing away like he was twenty years younger, I'm afraid he might just have a coronary aneurysm any moment. Please take care, Mr. Ford. I want to always remember you as the dashing, charming, acerbic Indy of my childhood- I really like you and respect you, but I'm not sure I want to watch a movie where you pretend you're Nicolas Cage...

City of the Big Shoulders

1. Hard Rock Hotel, the Elvis floor, 2. Menu @ one sixtyblue, 3. Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion, 4. Reunion!, 5. View of Chicago from Evanston, 6. The Threadless retail store, 7. Billy Goat Tavern, 8. Line outside the Art Institute of Chicago, 9. Entrance to the Seminary Co-Op

Every year we tell ourselves we need to go somewhere warmer than Ann Arbor for winter break, and every year, we end up going somewhere as cold, if not colder- New York, Boston, Chicago. We should be going to Cancun, Aruba, the Bahamas!... But no, always somewhere where we have to lug out winter boots and coats with us. Not that we ever not have fun of course, but it's just that much harder to enjoy the sights and sounds of a city when you can't feel your fingers...

But as always, Chicago was a blast! We do love the place :) Every time we visit, we find one more thing about it that makes us fall in love more- the people, the buzz, the architecture, the diversity, the food, the history- just how very rich and vibrant it is without being completely overwhelming and claustrophobic.

Highlights of our trip:
1. Note to Hard Rock Hotel Chicago: I get the whole rock-and-roll aesthetic you're aiming for in your rooms, but your monochromatic color scheme is just not inviting and having Robert Plant stare at me as I get ready in the morning is weird. Also, I've got two words for you: more lights.

2. Chicago Restaurant Week rocks! We had a most lovely meal at one sixtyblue- the food was delicious- interesting without being pretentious, and the service was thoughtful, not ingratiating. It's been a while since Jude and I indulged in a decadently long, slow meal without thinking about work so we both appreciated the whole wine-and-dine experience very much.

3. Meeting up with my friend, Diane after 15 years! Now husbands in tow, no less... :) We had a wonderful time catching up and filling each other in on 15 years worth of not being on the same continent. We've both matured since that teary goodbye at the airport those many years ago of course, but I think seeing each other again brought out the giggly schoolgirls in us that we thankfully never fully outgrow :)

4. Our friend, Eytan was most kind to take us around Evanston and the Northwestern campus. Jude and I have seen most of downtown Chicago, so it was nice to explore something different. Evanston reminds me a little of Ann Arbor, although maybe a little less organic-foods-only and soy-latte drinking, but the same students-everywhere with interesting coffeeshops vibe.

5. Speaking of college campuses, we discovered our bookstore mecca- the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore at the University of Chicago. Touted as one of the best academic bookstores in the country, it did not disappoint. Thank goodness we got there with only two hours left to closing or someone might have had to physically remove us from the premises. We walked in, saw the awesome labyrinth of shelves after shelves of glorious books and said to ourselves, "Ok, maybe this might not have been such a good idea... What's our credit limit again?" Whittling down the dozen or more books we had picked out to a manageable (and affordable) few was an excruciating process of existential proportions...

6. Having a double cheeseburger at the Billy Goat Tavern. Made famous by the classic "Cheezeborger! Cheezeborger!" SNL skit, this legendary hole-in-the-wall serves a straightforward cheeseburger, Coke- not Pepsi, and chips- no fries. There is absolutely nothing fancy at all about this place, Jude and I were easily the youngest people in there that night, and the cheeseburgers, while very good, weren't the best I've had- or will have- in my lifetime. But there was something strangely comforting about a place like that- unpretentious, homegrown and very real, especially for something smack in the middle of glitzy touristy Chicago. Biting into that simple cheeseburger conjured up the memory of my first hamburger those many, many years ago- it was an almost visceral, elemental experience. The Billy Goat is that kind of a place :)

7. Popping by the Threadless retail store in Lincoln Park. It's surprisingly small actually and not a huge collection of tees. But just the set-up was interesting, and the fact that they showcase each t-shirt using a swanky computer monitor. I was particularly happy with the one I bought- it's hot off the press so if you're an eighties/John Cusack fan, you must get it!

[click to compare with original]

8. Visiting the Art Institute of Chicago. We never tire of this grand dame- there's always some interesting exhibition or visiting collection that's being featured and even if there isn't, the permanent collection is always worth that repeated viewing. Luckily for us, they were hosting a special Edward Hopper exhibition and that itself was worth the trip. It's always both humbling and inspiring to be in the presence of great art, and it was hard in that two hours to not be caught up in the rapture of all that is stunning about Hopper's quiet vision. A bonus was catching a lecture by photographer-artist, Ed Ruscha. I hadn't heard of him until then, but it turned out to be a real joy to hear him speak- he was funny, irreverent, and sparklingly intelligent. Apart from wanting to buy his prints, Jude has now put him on his list of "People I'd Love to Have Dinner With." :)

New York is one of the capitals of the world and Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic, San Francisco is a lady, Boston has become Urban Renewal, Philadelphia and Baltimore and Washington wink like dull diamonds in the smog of Eastern Megalopolis, and New Orleans is unremarkable past the French Quarter. Detroit is a one-trade town, Pittsburgh has lost its golden triangle, St. Louis has become the golden arch of the corporation, and nights in Kansas City close early. The oil depletion allowance makes Houston and Dallas naught but checkerboards for this sort of game. But Chicago is a great American city. Perhaps it is the last of the great American cities.
-Norman Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968)