Charlotte Gainsbourg

Like everyone in the world, I love Charlotte Gainsbourg and everything she does. Her latest album, Stage Whisper, is pretty good, but parts of it are great. You can hear a lot of her influences and trends but that's cool. Art is art, right?

My Birthday!

Today was my birthday. Actually yesterday, since it's after midnight now. I've had a pretty busy week with holiday parties and get togethers with friends, since most people who live in this great city of ours are not locals and nobody is in town for my sucky birthday. Andy and I have been going out to eat in our neighborhood a lot lately (yay for December baby birthday money) and Williamsburg has been surprisingly deserted, since I wrongly assumed most of us have less than simpatico relationships with our families. At dinner at the St. Austere on Friday night (by the way, an epic and amazing meal), we were the only customers there from 7-9pm. Andy made the observation that we are the uncool townies. Which was true, I guess, in a way, except for the uncool part.

We spent Christmas lamely in our apartment overdosing on junky TV, but did our prodigal duties today in visiting and breaking bread with both his and my family. Which should hold us for another couple of months.

My amazing friend Peter, at Fresh Salt, the greatest local watering hole I've ever had in this god forsaken city.

Quinn, Sonya, Olive, Beezus, Amanda, (from left to right) at Amanda's digs in Fort Greene for a semi-birthday/pre-holiday gathering.

My Birthday/Christmas Wishlist

My birthday is the day after Christmas which is the worst birthday ever. Not that I'd change it if I could, but the whole youngest-in-your-class thing, combined with the one-present-per-year, and everyone-is-tired-of-celebrating all add up to a pretty sad birthday. I kind of hate my birthday and never celebrate it except with my parents and sister and boyfriend. The other thing is how I'm petrified of death, and every birthday seems like a giant marker symbolizing what's over and pushing me closer to that mysterious cliff, but that's a whole other post.

Anyway, here is my holiday/birthday wish list of stuff I am pretty sure I won't get:

1. A soprano ukelele.
2. 3-d geometric wall sculptures I saw at Craig's apartment but don't know where they are from.
3. A house (with a pool)
4. A dog (A big one.)
5. A new SLR (and to find my 18-55mm.)
6. To go to my friend's bachelorette party in motherfucking Jackson Hole.
7. A gym in my building.
8. Ginger holiday cookies.
9. A vintage Wedgwood tea set.
10. A new sofa.

Craig & Justin's Holiday Party

A former CD threw a holiday party at his beautiful apartment in Long Island City.

There was tons of champagne, ginger cookies, and amazing decor. There was also a sick deck which would probably be awesome in the summer, but that night was just too cold to hang out on it (despite a pergola, pillows, and hula hoop.)

The entire place was done in my favorite design style, aka the super glam regency mod look. There were incredible details in every corner that made the whole place feel so personal and considered, versus the standard blank white box you usually see in these new construction deals. I love getting a peek into people's homes, and especially when they're so gorgeous.

Donde Esta Santa Claus

Donde esta santa claus - Augie Rios by ChristmasCountdown

If any of you have spotify, my holiday list is here

Holiday Party

My work holiday party was on Wednesday. It was pretty epic. It was at Skylight One Hanson, aka the former bank building that's now the Fort Greene Brooklyn Flea space. All of the teller windows were bartenders. They did run out of champagne and ginger ale pretty quickly, but we still had plenty of bourbon, scotch, wine, which was enough for me.

Cheese & Wine (& Love) 101

For Steve's birthday, his fiance Kat suggested surprising him at a class for Artisanal's Cheese & Wine 101. It was really an awesome thing to do and totally worth it. You get four glasses of wine (with unlimited refills!) to try with a plate of cheeses. (Or is it cheese? Is cheese plural?) Our plates included the spendy Blaue Geiss above, which they sell for $80. Yeah.

I don't think I actually learned anything, because I had too much wine. But it was a fun way to spend the evening, especially if you go with friends. Even if you have a strict teacher who doesn't like when you giggle and make cheese jokes.

The most interesting part of the night happened a few days later, when a friend received a long, secret-admirer email from someone we can only guess was an employee at the event. (This friend has attended more than one of these classes. Too many, clearly.)

Now, is there any way – over the age of 14 – to send an appropriate anonymous love letter? We debated it, and I've come to the conclusion of no. While it's perfectly nice and flattering in a way, it's also incredibly invasive. The anonymity of it is what I don't like. When you like someone, you ought to do the socially acceptable thing where you stare at them and smile and make awkward conversation and do other physical things that make it clear that you like them, so they can clearly do the vague, physical acceptance or rejection (smiling and engaging/avoiding.) Obviously this is challenging, but it allows the relationship to flow through a Panama canal of checkpoints. Doing a massive emotional dump on an unsuspecting victim is like screaming at a stranger for getting in your way. Well, maybe not that bad, but it ignores all of those little polite and important interactions for the sake of indulging your emotional impulses. It's rude and selfish. Not too mention a little creepy for the "I love you based on what you look like without knowing one other thing about you."

But maybe I'm just a cynic. Millions of people will watch New Year's Eve and enjoy it, right?

Random photo of the day

I took this photo of Andy in Costa Rica in early 2008. We were in a cable car climbing up into the mountains to do some ziplines. The very first line was 1 kilometer long (it took nearly two minutes) and over 1200 ft up in the air, which was not what I had been prepared for at all. But this photo was the exciting part before I knew to be scared.

Yes, I ziplined with my SLR. And no, I did not take any photos as I was on the line.

I miss doing new things.

Russian-style Korean Dinner

I made veal dumplings today, in the usual Korean way that I learned from my mother. Tonight I ate them pelmeni-style, aka with butter and sour cream. Um, it was amazing. And I realized that Korean dumplings and Russian pelmeni are basically the exact same thing, just served with different sauces.

Tonight's Dinner:

1.5 packs of dumpling skins/wonton wrappers
1 lb. ground veal

1/2 a large onion, diced small

3 scallions, diced small

1/2 zucchini, diced small

1/2 block tofu, squeezed dry with paper towels

Sea salt

Splash of soy sauce and sesame oil

Some fresh thyme and rosemary

I sautéed the vegetables with butter, because I knew I was going to eat the first few pelmeni-style. Then mixed them in with the veal and tofu and seasonings. Quickly (took me about an hour) I scooped about a tablespoon into each little dumpling skin. Mine were round, so I pinched them into a half moon shape, floured them, and packed them away in groups of 6-8 in tin foil and tossed them in the freezer. 

A couple hours later, I was hungry so I brought a pot of water to a roiling boil and dropped them in. They floated up done in about three minutes, at which point I tossed them with butter and put a dollop of sour cream on the side. Ta-da! Multicultural dinner in four minutes.

Holiday Blues

As cool and cynical as I try to be on a daily basis, I love Christmas in the totally cheesy, naive way of a small child. Probably partly because I had a great childhood, and partly because inside I can be a big soft optimistic idiot, and when else can I let that out besides the holiday season? I even love holiday music (although by that I mean real, Bing Crosby holiday music, not anything by a boy band or the Biebs. Even if Bing was the Biebs of his day.)



So after four days of pestering the boyfriend to go with me to buy a tree and carry it home, we were finally on our way. "What's the big deal?" he asked me, as we were walking in the cold. "It'll be over in a few weeks, and we're not kids anymore."

I thought about it for a moment before answering. "Every day is the same," I finally told him. "I go to work, come home, the weekends blink by, and then years have passed. I've been in the same routine for nearly eight years, with ten vacation days off per year. I need something to anchor me." It was the first time I'd ever really articulated that out loud. Also, as some background info, the boyfriend is one of the privileged few who makes his own works hours and never really experienced office life.

"Wow," he said. "That's really bleak."

And then I was proud to have a bitter, sad angle on my corny holiday glee.

Why Time Goes Faster as You Get Older via Psychology Today

Battez-vous by Brigitte

Brigitte - Battez-Vous by 3emebureau

From the bucket list: Learn French.

From the fantasy bucket list: Be a French pop star. Smoke cigarettes and say rude things to everybody.

New necklace

On Saturday I met my friend Amanda for brunch (at Miriam, was delicious) and we stopped off at the Brooklyn Flea to do some holiday shopping. Well, that was our original intent, but we just ended up buying shit for ourselves.

I bought this necklace, by Birdhouse Jewelry. It made me wonder how difficult it is to make a living on handmade jewelry in our area. I'd say a good 50% of the booths at the flea were some form of either handmade or vintage jewelry. The idea of just making something I think is cute and being able to live off of what I make selling them is super appealing, but then I remember the part where you have to sit in a booth all day long and deal with people shopping (shoppers are one of the worst kinds of people I think), and then I feel glad that I have an office job where the people you have to deal with on a daily basis are pretty fixed.

UPDATE: I have already broken this necklace. This is why I can't have nice things.

Parallax by Atlas Sound

Atlas Sound is the solo project of Bradford Cox, who's probably best known as the lead singer for Deerhunter. This song Amplifiers is a track on his third Atlas Sound album, which was just released a few weeks ago. And he's my age.

I know I need to get over it, but I might never be able to cope with the fact that people my age (and younger!) can be so talented and do such epic shit. Things will only get worse for me, I know. But even though I can be crippled by envy and disgust at my own lack of prolific epic-ness, I'm always proud and happy when I see others doing amazing things. I don't mean for that to sound as sanctimonious as it does.

As a side note, I need a better way of sharing music on this thing. Soundcloud doesn't have half my music and Spotify is still insiders only. Sigh.

Thanksgiving!

Every year we go out to our parents' house for Thanksgiving, who cook the meal in the style of a southern uncle (not Asian) who hosted every Thanksgiving I can remember before he moved back down south when I was in college. This means giblet gravy, yams with marshmallows, canned cranberry sauce. All of which I secretly love. 

This year, for my niece's first Thanksgiving, my sister and brother in law cooked instead, only everything from scratch/organic and it was great. I'm sure it cost about four times what our normal Thanksgiving dinner costs but whatever. I still haven't managed to shake this cough, so my appetite's been weakened and I wasn't able to stuff myself as usual, but luckily we've got tons of leftovers. And it was nice having such a small group, which made it more informal. 

I didn't really help as much as I should have but was able to blame it on being sick. Today I'm thankful to wake up for the first time in ten days without feeling like a cue ball is in my throat. 

The Big 4-0

We celebrated Quinn's birthday at his favorite restaurant, 1 or 8.

It was kind of a horrible night to be out, pouring rain and wind and cold, but it was worth it. The food and sake were great, and the place is really cute. I usually have a thing against spaces that are all white, but the soft lighting made it feel really warm and cozy.

I'm still sick with bronchitis, so I quarantined myself by sitting an extra seat away from everyone. It was OK though, I was still pretty close to the sake pot.

The WGDFC

Last Friday was the 8th annual World Graphic Design Foosball Championship, organized by Paul Sahre and karlssonwilker. I don't think I've ever seen so many plaid shirts in one room since the 7th WGDFC.

Sonya and I stayed until the beer started to dry up, since we weren't playing. Every year I regret not signing up until I see the players who just came for fun get beaten in like eight seconds. This year there didn't seem to be as many team uniforms, which was disappointing. It was fun though, there should be more events like this open to the design community in the city. It's not like us designers will ever make friends with each other in normal ways.

Hot Toddy

I am pretty sure I caught bronchitis from my niece. It's awful. But it gives me the opportunity to drink Hot Toddies, which is one of my favorite drinks that I never drink unless I'm sick. I think secretly deep down I think drinking it while not sick would ruin the special-ness of it, like how I drink gallons of eggnog at Christmas but never at any other time.

This one I drank earlier today during a brunch with Erin at Rye, and it was delicious. (Brunch was also delicious). It also came in an adorable gold plated teacup. Although I wish whoever made it for me didn't get honey all over their hands and then grab the handle, which made drinking it a sticky adventure.

We don't have any cute vintage teacups, and I'm pretty convinced now that we should, even if only for Hot Toddies and eggnog.

Leif Podhajsky

I forget where I first read about Leif Podhajsky, but I stumbled upon his site again today as I was going through my bookmarks. Leif is an artist/creative director from Australia, probably most well known for his album covers, although he does also sell prints from his print shop that you can buy (someone buy one for me please!)

He uses a lot of symmetry and repetition in his work, which I automatically love. There's something about the calming and cult-like mind shutdown that appeals to me. There's also a great feeling of drama, even in his most abstract stuff. I also dig his hazy, moody take on color.

Yung Jun by Tammar, Bad Street by Twin Sister

Tammar Yung Jun by Suicide Squeeze Records

If you're feeling punky today

Twin Sister - Bad Street by DominoRecordCo

If you're feeling funky today

Last night in Fort Greene

I hung out with Amanda + Olive last night for some prosecco, sake and tofu. Also got the second passive aggressive anonymous advice note in like, a week.

Things that Suck

Today I was motivated by a strange urge to be productive, so I cleaned our tile grout. Cleaning tile grout sucks a lot. Everyone on the internet says so, but I had all this energy a few hours ago and thought they were exaggerating. They weren't!

Ever since we moved in, our tile grout has been black. We have pretty big tiles, so I thought it wouldn't take me too long – our kitchen is maybe 5' x 8' and our bathroom roughly the same.

It took me three hours.

I know a post like this is supposed to have before and after photos, but to be honest I didn't even think of it until it was too late for the before, and now I'm too achy and cranky to bring myself to take photos. Also, I learned that our kitchen grout is pink, which is kind of hideous. But it worked, so I'm going to share for anyone who is bored or crazy enough and bad at googling for themselves.

How I did it:
2 scoops of Oxiclean and 1.5 cups of hot water
Toothbrush (preferably one you don't use)
Rag, something to hold water (bucket or bowl)
Rubber gloves (I didn't, and ended up washing my hands about thirty times)

1. Mix the Oxiclean and water. It should be foamy but pretty liquidy.
2. Apply it liberally to your grout. Like, puddle it on, making sure it doesn't just get wet but good and foamy also.
3. Leave it for half an hour. (This is the best part)
4. Come back, take your old toothbrush, get on your hands and knees and start scrubbing as hard as you can. The dirt comes off like magic! Well not really magic, but like you're really strong.
5. Rinse the toothbrush periodically, and wet the rag to use to mop up some of the gross dirt you're realizing is coming out of your grout.
6. Take a lot of water and put it all over the floor and wipe it all up. I usually get lazy toward the very end and let air do its job also. But make sure you use enough water, because the Oxiclean will dry white and leave a film.

Ta da! Pink grout. And then pour yourself a drink and eat a sandwich.

SBTRKT

SBTRKT - Wildfire (Young Turks) by Ragged Words

SBTRKT (pronounced 'subtract') is a British former DJ who wears a dope mask all the time to be more about the music, anonymously. I like. Not just cuz I like the music, but because I love masks too, and he has some awesome ones.

The Greatest Omelette Ever

Today is our anniversary, and we spent it together at home. Part of that maybe was playing the new Call of Duty (which I tried and was surprisingly gifted at!) and feeding our cats cheese, but I also got to make breakfast for Andy. He loves when I make him breakfast because I'm basically one of the greatest omelette makers in the world, but usually I'm off for work before he's even awake.

I can't take all the credit for my sick omelette technique though – I learned it from Jacques Pépin. I grew up on PBS thanks to my foodie/intellectual dad and we learned a lot of cooking techniques from the guy. He's brills, and I love him. Here's his epic omelette technique:

Jacques tries to be diplomatic and emphasize the equality of both the American and French style omelette, but I'm going to tell you right now that the French version is FAR superior. Do the herbs, do the shaking pan, and you'll never be able to order omelettes in a restaurant again. Seriously. 

Escape from NY

Tomorrow is our NINE year anniversary of being together. (No, we are not engaged, and no, we are not breaking up, as far as I know at least.) 

Sadly, last year on our eighth anniversary, both of us forgot and didn't remember until weeks later. This year, we have a bunch of wedding trips already set for the spring, so we didn't have the budget to blow on a real trip, but I thought we should do something before our scary decade together celebration. So we headed upstate, for some fresh air and exercise.

We drove up to Bear Mountain and climbed on rocks and wandered around until we were sick of nature. I was hoping to rent bicycles but I couldn't find anywhere to get them from. I guess we'll have to buy our own and bring them. We had dinner at an adorable place in Newburgh called Il Cena Colo and stayed overnight in Beacon at a beautifully restored colonial b&b called the Chrystie House.

While it wasn't really a substitute for a real trip, it was a nice getaway. We haven't gone away since last February's trip to Vieques and I've been spiraling into a repetitive routine with work that can feel suffocating. We're going to try to plan more of these mini trips to have more adventures together. After nine years, it's way too easy to fall into a routine.

Zee Avi

Zee Avi - Swell Window by brushfirerecords

Sonya put me onto Zee Avi the other day, which sort of sparked a small obsession to buy a ukulele. Not that I know how to play one, or what kind I should buy. I would also like to learn how to play it, and to buy a mount to hang it on my wall, and get a case for it.

I like her music but wish she had just a TINY bit more of an edge. She's almost too vanilla. Some dumb commercial targeted toward women like laundry detergent or tampons is going to be all over this pretty soon.

Things I bought lately

I think the fall season makes everyone want to shop, but lately the things I've been buying are old. I absolutely love my new/old shoes, although Andy thinks I'm crazy. I actually prefer old shoes, as long as they've been cleaned. They're cheaper, more environmentally friendly (no new animal leather!) and usually come already broken in.

The brooches I got today at the Brooklyn Flea for $5 each. I'm not really a brooch lady but I'm going to try to start. I almost bought one of a cat's head, but was able to talk myself out of it in time.

The driving gloves I love for the white stripe. They'll be perfect for flipping people off when it's cold out.

Thursday dinner

Last night for dinner: a boss wine, a baby pig, and some patxaran at Txikito.

I love Txikito, but not because of the food. The wine's great, the food is great, the Patxaran is great, but I normally wouldn't feel the need to make the trek from Brooklyn all the way out to the furthest reaches of Chelsea for the place. I love Txikito because it represents a really specific time in my life that going there reminds me of, so I guess I have an emotional bond with the small dark restaurant, the noise, the fancy Jessica lettering and the half glasses of booze. But I'm accepting that there's nothing wrong with a little sentimentality, so I can totally recommend the place without feeling too soft inside.

My name domain came up as available

So I bought it.