january'd

Woody Allen's Alice

2010 Oscar-winning documentary, The Cove

Daniel Kalder's absurd Russian travelogue, Strange Telescopes.

Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar, compendium of food+wartime writing.

"Lo Boob Oscillator" off of Stereolab's compilation, Switched On, Vol. 2.

"Seneca" off of Tortoise's LP, Standards.

February 2011 Mix

I was going to put a galaxy inside the drain, but I'll let you imagine that instead.

1 - Yo La Tengo - The Weakest Part
2 - Stereolab - Captain Easychord
3 - Broadcast - Pendulum
4 - Brian Eno - 2 Forms of Anger
5 - Ride - Taste
6 - Dinosaur Jr - Been There All the Time
7 - Flying Saucer Attack - Wish
8 - Michael Rother - Blauer Regen
9 - Television - Careful
10 - Elvis Costello - Less Than Zero
11 - Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb (Live)
12 - Link Wray - Georgia Pines
13 - Jack Rose - Linden Ave Stomp
14 - Faust - It's a Bit of a Pain
15 - Tom Waits - Virginia Avenue
Get it here.

This month's mix is comprised completely of stuff I've been listening to & enamored with as of late. During the recent ice storm, we pretty much listened to albums all day long while baking bread, cookies, pizza. Had to lead off with Yo La Tengo as we just saw them live at the Vogue a couple weeks back, in the teeth of winter. Much of the other stuff are recent additions to my collection, either digitally or vinyl.

Musically, I was trying to kind of segue through frozen weather into the great meltdown wherein Indiana becomes a sodden, muddy sponge. So while it begins warm & bouncy, almost holiday-like with "The Weakest Part", it soon moves to a colder location with the sterile, precise groove of "Captain Easychord" and the frosty, ethereal-quality of "Pendulum"'s menacing, insistent & dark form of pop (re-visiting Broadcast's catalog like many other people in light of lead singer Trish Keenan's passing).

"2 Forms of Anger" continues this train of thought, beginning with sounds of industrial waste, perhaps the post-internet clatter of once-great and now-empty totems of manufacturing. Still, at the end it bursts into a great, kraut-y beat reminiscent of Eno's best 70's work. "Taste" takes that insistence of beat & sound a notch up, adding the right amount of jangle & melody. Controlled freak-out if you will, perfect for cabin fever, as is "Been There All the Time", an apt epithet for the everpresent music & solo-inclined mood of J. & company.


Flying Saucer Attack's Self-Titled debut LP. Find it strangely appropriate to their sound. And along with Ride & Brian Eno, part of the blurred landscape-covers trio on this mix.

The deep-freeze sets in with "Wish", which gives me the alien-feeling of gazing out onto what was once a yard full of plant fibers, animal detritus, wind-blown trash, but has become a pearly sheet of round-contoured ice. Are we on another planet? Humanity returns with "Blauer Regen", which begins with warm guitar harmonics, rays of light that lead to the thaw audibly present in the songs's second half.

"Careful" is simple, fresh, spring. Like how you feel the first time it gets above 35-degrees. Still cold, but you don't care. "Less than Zero" and "Under My Thumb" get progressively more swampy in their riffs, sustained chords buzzing by like the extending hours of the day. The marimba-turned-bass line in the latter is plant-like in its branching off, twisting and turning in vine-like fashion. But not until "Georgia Pines" do we actually hit the swamp, following Link down a rabbit path back where the pine needles render sleeping bags useless.


Now yer in the pines. Having recently drove the back-roads from Montgomery into Florida, I can tell you that these places still exist.

"Linden Ave Stomp" continues the warm feeling, whereas before you were in the pines, now you seem to be floating over. An aerial shot, black-and-white. Landmarks. "Home of..." signs. There's a lilt present though, in some of the chords, hinting that you might not be out of the woods. "It's a Bit of a Pain" is a mellow end to the day, engine-buzz doppler-ing past your house at sunset, strangers clambering down from the bus-stop, talking non-sense. You know the sounds that are almost good because they go away? They're in this piece. Genius! "Virginia Avenue" is all denouement, shambling to bed. I see the sun glow in the distance, the days finally lengthened again. The possibility of unfulfilled promise exists in spring. "And let me tell you...I'm dreamin'..."

eat this! sausage pie.

sausage pie!

what you need:
12 oz mushrooms (de-stemmed; diced)
1 bell pepper (diced)
1 sweet potato (shredded via standing grater)
1/2 onion (diced)
3 or 4 garlic cloves (diced)
12 oz frozen cut spinach (thawed)
1 lb. sausage (i like using hot/spicy)
1 c. shredded cheese (cheddar)
1 egg
1 pie crust

salt, pepper, parmesan (to taste)

what you do:
crumble & cook the sausage till done. or veggie sausage. or you can go meatless.

in another pot, saute the onion & garlic for a few minutes. then add in mushrooms, sweet potato, & bell pepper. season with salt & pepper, cook till tender.

meanwhile, thaw the spinach. (or cook down fresh.) then drain. stir in to veggie pot. then stir in cooked sausage, egg, and cheese. spoon into 9-in. pie crust/plate (yes, it'll all fit in), and top with grated parmesan. cook at 350 for 60 minutes.

let it cool down for 5 minutes, then slice and serve! this is really good leftover, too.

winter eats: 3-bean chili

Friday night I unsuccessfully tried to con my brother into going out for foods with me. When he failed to answer his phone, my brain said, "Get thee to a grocery," and so I did. Returning with ingredients for some freestyle chili (and Brooklyn lager to boot).

Ingredients:
1 big yellow/sweet onion
4 cloves garlic
1 green pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can stewed spicy tomatoes (toss in a second can if you've got it)
2 tbsp (or more...) tomato paste
16 oz. chicken broth (or beef/veg/water; more if you like your chili more liquid-y)
1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
-----------------------
Saute the onion & garlic in the olive oil until it smells so good you can't take it. Then toss in tomatoes (w/ juice), beans (drained + rinsed), and everything else except the peppers. Bring to a boil & simmer for 20 min. Halfway through, toss in the jalapeno & green pepper.

*Note: this wasn't too spicy (I added some sriracha). I think next time I'll double the jalapeno, or switch it up for habaneros or poblanos.

Winter Eats: Red Lentils

Let's be honest: I'm poor. And since I don't qualify for the Earned Income Credit until I'm 25 (OK, so legal adulthood, voting, porn, smoke, & war at 18; booze at 21; rental cars and EIC at 25? Seriously, give it up for inane, arbitrary bureaucracy.), I gotta save that cheese any and every way I can. There aren't too many dishes I can take to work every day of the week and

1. Know it's costing me less than 25¢ a meal.


2. Enjoy it 5 days in a row.


3. Know it's not going to get evil in the fridge, causing uncomfortable (albeit; paid) breaks regularly throughout a given afternoon.

and

4. Get a complete vegetarian protein by combining with rice.

Ingredients:
1 c. red lentils (you can use any color, really, i just prefer the taste/texture of red)
3-4 tbsp. oil/margarine
1 lg. onion (diced)
5 to 10 cloves garlic (minced; depends how much garlic you like, I usually go with 7.)
2 tbsp. Lentil Daal seasoning (you can buy this pre-mixed/packaged for really cheap; or substitute your own mixture of cumin, coriander, garam masala, chili powder, ginger...etc.)
1 can diced tomatoes (or, 3-4 fresh 'uns, diced. but don't buy 'em in winter; who knows how many time zones/continental divides/civil wars they had to travel across.)
5-6 c. water

Preparation:
Rinse and then soak your lentils for 1 hr., picking out any impurities. (You don't have to soak them, but it'll help your digestion if you're not in tune with legumes.) Drain (anal chefs may wish to rinse again).

Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a pot, then cook onions for a few minutes. Next, add the spices and garlic, letting it all cook for another minute or so. Then, add in your tomatoes, lentils, and water. Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add final tbsp. of oil at the end to give it that nice sheen.

Finish:
If you like you can mash it a bit, making the texture more more thick-soup like. Some fresh cilantro goes good on top as a contrast, and don't forget rice or naan as a base. Let it cool before you refrigerate, and the next day it'll thicken; should keep for at least a week.

Once again, spring for some cilantro and presentation on this one is almost too easy. With the spices, and the cooking time fading the red lentils, the dish takes on a golden, glossy hue. As for the the Goat's Head Soup deconstruction, expect that soon. Had to go veg for a day. Another day, another daal--er?

Winter Eats: Colcannon

Monday night was cold and blustery--luckily, I'd just been to Saraga, where I procured, among other things, a bag of potatoes and a bundle of kale. Earlier in the day, I'd been perusing a cookbook at my girlfriend's house and jotted down the recipe for a traditional Irish dish, colcannon, the hearty, hairy uncle of bubble 'n squeak (which, unfortunately, I've never tried at my Irish pub of choice--Louisville's Irish Rover).

Whereas bubble 'n squeak is the high-voiced little cousin who'll never stop bothering you to play foosball in the moldy basement, colcannon looked to be every bit the hale, stocky uncle, glasses in the breast pocket of his flannel shirt, who slaps you on the back every time he tells a joke. And admittedly, his material doesn't change much from year-to-year, but that's just part of the charm. Much like colcannon, in fact, whose main ingredients remain much the same, generation after generation. In this case...also not a bad thing. The recipe follows:

Ingredients:
2 lbs potatoes (cut into even pieces)
8 oz. curly kale or green cabbage (shredded)
2 scallions (chopped) [I used a small yellow onion and it worked beautifully.]
Butter (to taste)
Nutmeg, Salt, Pepper (to taste)
4 eggs
3 oz. aged cheese (grated)

Preparation:
Boil potatoes (water level should just cover the 'taters; till tender), drain, and mash well (with a bit of milk and butter). [I suppose you could use instant, if you can justify using instant potatoes in a dish with a name like "Colcannon". I mean, c'mon, potatoes are the dish. Man up and get peelin'.]

Lightly cook kale until tender but crisp (a bit of olive oil will help with this). Heat oven to 375°. Drain the kale, and mix with the potatoes, onions, butter (I used 2 tbsp.), nutmeg (a healthy amount, 2 or 3 tsp.), and salt and pepper.

Spoon into a lightly buttered dish, and make four hollows with the back of a spoon. Crack an egg into each hollow, and season accordingly. Bake 12 min. (eggs will be a bit runny; if you want them set, leave it in for 20 or so).

Finish:
Serve with grated cheese (and if you're feeling decadent, some crumbled bacon or sausage makes it ideal).

This was pretty much perfect, and with minimal effort on my part, even looked rather presentable (for what it is; forest-green kale, golden mashed potatoes, four smiling eggs) in the dish. Leftover it was magnificent for breakfast or lunch, and I strongly suspect it would serve as a healthy cure or base for a bender.

Next time: An extended look at the perenially underrated Stones' record Goat's Head Soup, for better or for worse, always known as "the record after Exile."