here's a pic for winnie:


posted by fwc at 7:59 PM

la la la la laaaaand.
i have to agree with joyce: the sunlight in LA is entirely too bright. one would think the smog would fix that, but no. after i got into town on thursday night joyce & i went to father's office, this hip beer garden in santa monica with a much-touted burger. the burger? ehhh. the patty was very good and seemed to have excellent texture, but all its beefy goodness was masked by an overwhelming bleu cheese dressing and a cloying barbecue sauce (that perhaps owed its sweetness to caramelized onions? too much, in any case). the sweet potato fries, however, were the bestest i've ever had. no exaggeration. like their regular spud fries, they were cut on the thin side. perfectly seasoned, crunchy on the outside, squishy on the inside, and served in a little mini grocery cart that arrives on your plate: perfect. good beer selection too. afterwards, we swung by a fellow ucla lit grad student's housewarming and managed to escape before the vomiting began, apparently.

yesterday, we had lunch at campanile after an ill-fated search for pink's, the local hot dog stand favorite. mark peel's open airy restaurant reminds me of gramercy tavern in terms of space and food. great service too. we split the cod fritters to start. joyce had a pressed spicy chicken salad sandwich, and i had the squash blossom & ricotta ravioli. all very very good. lunch always makes it difficult to plumb the depths of a chef's talents and imagination, but it seems like the kitchen here is pretty capable. we spent the rest of the day shopping. fred segal was an LA-nightmare of epic proportions: what sort of place is capable of making you feel fat, poor, AND ugly, all at the same time? giant robot, fortunately, is kickass. we made a friend of the register guy at GR2, and i picked up a couple of cool poster reproductions of kozyndan prints. the kozyndan panoramics of chinatowns across the world are amazing.

today, we're all set to hit the santa monica farmers' market, the beach, and cho sun galbi, a korean bbq joint somewhere around here.
posted by winnie at 3:32 PM

fred gently reminds me that the blog is woefully bare-looking. so i remedy this.

for a pictorial overview of the last couple of site-down months, you can check out this and this. we haven't done much cooking recently at home, but with a little urging from me, tim put together some great summer eats a little while ago.



one of our favorites: a warm corn salad (sauteed freshly-shucked kernels with shallots and other fun stuff tha ti can't remember right now) with grape tomatoes, arugula, and shaved parm.



i was jonesing for lobster rolls for a solid month, and finally, we decided to go all out and do it ourselves. two live lobsters, brioche rolls, lots of butter, just enough mayo. yum.



i ate alot of blueberry crumbles in the month of july. the glut of blueberries in my house inspired tim to make a tasty blueberry sauce for porkchops and polenta. so, so, so good.
posted by winnie at 7:56 PM

speaking of the shins ... did you know james mercer wrote music for a gap ad?? the commercial had no less than that ashton kid. you can find it here.

also, on sep 23rd a new shins EP is coming out, followed by an LP in late october, plus a likely tour around then (inc. another concert at the bowery) ... whoo!

in other news, my latest pop culture adventure has been all about mary kate and ashley olsen (or MKA to fans). i forget what this was originally sparked by, oh i think it was seeing a pic of them at the MTV VMA awards. anyway, this article has a great quote:

Our new Gameboy color game, "The New Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley" will be coming out this May; and our first Playstation game, "Magical Mystery Mall" will be out next fall. We're really excited about that!

some gossip, courtesy of the new york post

During a limo ride last week, one of them reportedly blurted, "Alcohol tastes just like water!"

and some analysis, courtesy of the onion: Mary-Kate Olsen Is Dragging Ashley Down

Mary-Kate lacks charisma. That elusive quality is vital to a performer, yet Mary-Kate is almost completely devoid of it. With her vanilla features and expressionless, fish-eyed gaze, one must wonder why this singularly untalented waif was ever placed before a camera. Case in point: In 1995's "The Case Of The Sea World Adventure," from the direct-to-video children's mystery series The Adventures Of Mary-Kate And Ashley, Mary-Kate delivers such lively and toothsome lines as, "The pearl necklace must be in that bucket of bait... yecch!" with about as much élan as a TV agribusiness reporter delivering the day's livestock quotes. If she required guidance or inspiration, she need only have turned to Ashley, whose unmasking of the jewel thief was as suspenseful as the climax to any classic 1940s film noir. "Trenchcoat Twins," indeed.

... okay, i'll stop now.

posted by fwc at 3:18 PM

i got the dopest new toy today: the iriver iFP-380T 128 meg mp3 player. (my sister informs me that, with her recently-acquired wealth, she's gone with the 512mb one. damn her. damn poverty.) i was too tired initailly from the long work day to play with it (we actually lugged in two tons -- yes, t-w-o T-O-N-S -- of chocolate right before i punched out) but then once i got to pushing all the wee buttons (with their satisfying little under-finger *click*), i couldn't resist and went ahead and diddled with the equalizer, lcd backlight, fader, and some other fun, useless features. if you hurry now, you can get the model i've got from best buy's website for $10 off the current market price and get a $30 rebate to boot. yeah, it's no ipod, but it's about a tenth the size of my grado headphones (and the irivers come with sennheiser buds standard, i should note -- not too shabby) and probably weigh the same fraction.


blues-tinged rock-and-roll meets ... turntableism? yeah.
in other news, tim and i went to the shins show (the 2nd of three consecutive days for them here in nyc at the bowery ballroom) after a fantastic meal. okay, eats first: after some debate and some online research, we headed over to the lower east side to check out two new eateries. they're virtually next door to each other on ludlow (between delancey and rivington), and, as with the latest spate of trendy restaurants, both feature small plates menus. the former is more traditional, plying fairly straightforward spanish tapas, while the latter is, ahem, "asian tapas." the first place, suba, had satisfying fare (the boquerones, or fresh white anchovies, a particular favorite of mine, were so. fucking. good.), but the bartender was such a jackass. i mean, not a jerk, but just dorkily obnoxious. repulsively so. the space is beautiful though -- both downstairs dining rooms are elegantly appointed. one even has a little moat surrounding it. we had to pack it in early there (thanks, loser bartender guy), but we have plans to go back to check out the main menu. definitely the perfect place for a large group who like a scene. still hungry, we headed up the homely stairwell that leads to the kuma inn, where we had a truly kickass string of great little dishes. pork tonkatsu with watercress and some sort of butter sauce. chinese sausage with sauteed onions, a little rice, and a searingly spicy lime-chile sauce. london broil and cucumber salad. every plate was so straightforward flavor-wise, but exceptionally tasty and well balanced (sour, salty, sweet; meaty and tender/crisp and crunchy). the best part of the whole experience, however, was seeing the chef walk around, smiling at all the patrons in his little dining room. he seems like a genuinely nice, happy guy, and when he came over to introduce himself (his name is king), i found out that he's buddies with matt reguin, my buddy from 71 clinton. king, matty, and gabriel (my chef at radius) all worked together at bouley bakery back in the day and then went on to help bouley open danube (which must have been total hell). anyway. great guy, great food. oh, and great sake menu.

back to the intended subject: the shins show. we caught the second openers, white hassle, and they rocked OUT. i should mention, first of all, that each of the main three members of this band resembles some celebrity. the guitar guy looks like andy dick. the drummer, like matthew perry (with an additional 10-15 years on him and another bout of rehab under his belt.). the lead guy looked like sting, but less tantric, more tennessee. the lead singer is a serious talent. he's got a great voice and he can totally kick out the jams on the mouth harp. after a few straightforward rock & roll numbers, they brought out this asian guy with his headphones and turntable, and the guy proceeded to scratch and mix alongside the other guys wailing away on the guitars (and the dummer -- er, drummer -- seemingly concentrating really hard on getting the beat right. fuckin' amazing set though. i want to run right out and buy the album. if they come to a venue near you, run, run, run and get a ticket. the shins kicked ass, as usual. they always look like they have fun up there. i love that marty. he's a cute one, he is.

i'm nearly finished now with truman capote's in cold blood. serious page-turner.
posted by winnie at 9:47 PM

eating in san francisco was largely disappointing. first off, green's was pretty good. andy had a salad and the ravioli which came in a tasty sauce although the pasta itself was nothing special. to start i had corn "griddlecakes" which ended up being eggy instead of flour-based as i thought the word "griddlecake" would imply. they were good, though. for my entree i had a stuffed peppers dish, and, like andy's dish, the peppers themselves were completely nondescript while the innards, which included pumpkin seeds, were quite tasty. the dish came with a few new potatoes and some kale. the food itself wasn't bad, but our waiter was probably the worst andy and i have ever had. it took him way too long to even come by to take our order and more than 15 minutes to bring our drinks after that and then once our food came he didn't bother coming back until we were finished. by that time andy was so fed up he didn't bother ordering another glass of wine and we didn't feel like sticking around for dessert. it was especially odd b/c he seemed to be extremely chatty to this teenage or a little older couple next to us whom he clearly didn't know. we talked to "andreas" (heh) the manager who was very apologetic, but all in all i don't know if i'd bother going back.

other than that the only other notable eating experience was at a place called nirvana in the castro. i'm not sure if it's a national chain, but it's a surprisingly solid pan-asian place. i had some noodles which ended up being super spicy (always a good sign) and pretty good. the appetizer plate was also surprisingly good; their renditions of such asian foods as samosas and egg rolls weren't too far off the mark. our waiter there was very cool ... one of those people who just radiate chillness. pretty good ambience out on the back patio (heated forunately).

andy found the bar he liked from the last time he was in SF called the red room which was great. pretty good music, good ambience, nice decor, mostly chill crowd. nearish powell st i think and def. recommended.

posted by fwc at 2:18 PM

i am officially an oompa loompa.
i think i forgot to mention in recent posts that i've been working at the jacques torres chocolate factory here in brooklyn. and yes, i make chocolate. lots and lots of chocolate. i don't eat so much of it, mostly because i've never been that obsessed with the stuff (bacon, maybe. cheese, yes. chocolate, not so much). but the shit is goooood (particularly the passion fruit hearts, fresh squeezed lemonade, raspberry fruit, golden espresso, and pistachio. oh, and the hazelnut praline, fresh coconut, and definitely, definitely the bandol breeze). all the chocolates (more or less) are made with ganache, a chocolate and cream mixture that is difficult to handle because it tends to be unstable (and hence, large manufacturers like godiva don't make the stuff). ganache is lovely for its texture, density, and mouthfeel. the factory's less willy wonka and more i love lucy (and sometimes less "chocolat" and more detroit), but it's still a pretty neat place. everything there is pretty fuckin' big, it being a factory and all. it's crazy how many people come from upstate and further afield (florida, california, japan), mostly because they've seen jacques on the food network or have heard about him from his days at le cirque. making chocolate, i've learned, is a very chemically complicated process that involves a multitude of variables (heat, humidity, etc.) that affect crystallization (and hence, whether the stuff sets or not). torres' website is fairly interesting and informative on the subject, and there are pretty pictures of his chocolates and other confections as well. i'm only going to be working there for another week or so, but it's worth checking out if you happen to swing through DUMBO. sometimes, they even have those mindblowing mudslide cookies of his out in the shop, which have a ratio of about 8 kilos of chocolate to 600 grams of flour. mmf. then there's the chocolate-covered hazelnuts, macadamias, almonds, ginger, or cornflakes. i wouldn't mind taking the wicked hot chocolate (called "wicked" as it's spicy, mexican-style) in an iv-drip. the espresso ain't that bad either.
posted by winnie at 7:17 PM

man, september already. i just returned from a weekend in st. louis with the family. lots of eating, lots of dog-squishing, and a good score at value village. i've never failed to find great shit at this, our favoritest thrift store (and i definitely prefer the north county one). this time, we hit the motherlode: a light grey-green supersoft t-shirt for tim (which i plan on stealing back) and a cleveland indians tee for me, both perfect fits; a western-style, blue and pink plaid snap button-down (also perfect fit), a red leather, medicine bag-style handbag with metal clasps and snaps and croc-embossed red elephants; and bestest of all, a brown leather belt with hand-tooled, detailed scrolling and the monogram "bill mcbill" -- BILL MCBILL! how fuckin' great is that?! -- etched across it. grand total of $11.

spent all of last night turning out dumplings with my mom (hand chopped a pound-and-a-half of pork butt, hand grated a couple fingers of ginger, chopped up a couple heads of napa cabbage, bunches of green onions, a package of bean thread noodles, and some chopped up shrimp, and stuffed this combination, once seasoned, into the wrappers my sister rolled out from a dough made of flour and water). yum. we also had her peerless spareribs, sauteed shrimp, seared tofu with ginger and wilted basil, and god knows what else. she showed me how to make that classic taiwanese dish, pork with seaweed and hard-boiled egg, and sent me off to the airport weighted down with all this and her coveted rice-stick noodle dish. i think i gained a good five pounds over the weekend. oof.
posted by winnie at 11:46 PM