9.19.08

god, how is it the 19th already? time flies.

today i wore this.

dress: american apparel. it's much more purple-y than in that picture, but for whatever reason, the color doesn't photograph well.
necklace : flea market
belt : thrift
tights : spanx, with many holes from being wore continually for like five months straight last winter.
shoes : target

game plan : sample the delectable-looking curry house under the apartment for £4.95 buffet - jaunt up to portobello road, with a detour to urban outfitters to buy £8 sneakers because adam and i are taking a drive to WALES this weekend! pray for us.

things i love thursday part iii

1. london. despite being kind of a bum lately, i love it here. the weather is fantastic - crisp, but sunny, perfect autumn - and other adults have freckles here. amazing.

2. poland. adam and i have accepted a eight month teaching gig in debica, poland. it's a town of about 50,000 people, 1 1/2 hour east of krakow. we are leaving in 10 days!

3. markets. london has some fantastic open-air pitches and i am embarrassed to say how much money i have spent by wandering around food markets . . . above is the haul from borough market last week, including . . .

4. rhubarb! mmmmmh. i found some at borough market and we all had delicious delicious pie from. without strawberries because that is blasphemous.

the original here.

catch-up

uff-da, as they say in minnesota. it's been a long week! to counter-act eight odd days of no-writing, i plan to do a whirl-wind recap of the past days, tourist-style. then, i promise you, dear (1) reader who probably is my mom, to do a better job. for sure.

above and above, the crypt at st.martins-in-the-field. it's been renovated into a cafe, so as there are groups of smartly-dressed businessmen milling about with roasted red peppers and goat cheese, there are also worn-down tombstones scattered over the floor. weird juxtaposition, but a brillant idea to re-brand your church and pump in a little extra cash flow . . .

obligatory-trafalgar-square-lion-picture

the admiralty arch, built by king edward vii in honor of his mum, queen victoria. he didn't live to see the completion.

also, these pictures are a bit out of order. fyi.

obligatory-tourist-picture of emma in front of parliament and big ben. it was wicked windy, and the clouds were awesome.

the sun cresting down behind westminster abbey.

obligatory-tourist-picture out front of buckingham palace. asked some nice american woman with a huge vera bradley bag to take it. she seemed confused by the notion.

gardens in front of buckingham palace.
buckingham gardens. we saw these weird black birds - shaped like guinea hens, but with a white-tipped beak and they had webbed feet, but the webs weren't connected to each other like ducks or geese . . . very strange.

we also sampled london pizza hut, enjoyed two cheap seats to see "wicked" and frolicked a bit on the night bus home.
that is all.
more to come. pinky swear.

elizabethian tuesday

tuesday, tuesday, tuesday. it was rather overcast and rainy - so what better to do than pretend to be 17th century peasants? emma and i headed down to the globe theater for a 5lb matinee performance of a midsummer's night dream. and honestly it was awesome. better than i expected.

this current globe theater was built in 1991, as a better-flame-retardent version of the original. and we watched theater as shakespeare intended it - no amplification, beer/crisps sold, and we got to watch the suits drinking martinis in the balcony seats. YES PROLETARIANS.

it did rain for most of the show, and umbrellas are not allowed as they block the view, but luckily em and i had scarves to go over our heads.

took a jaunt over the millenium bridge to listen to evensong at st. pauls. very lovely service.

meanwhile, back at the ranch, our friend david came over for dinner with his lovely girlfriend eleanor. adam made us all leek+potato soup from this recipe , handpicked by its many color photographs.

now, swayed by extreme bargains, i had purchased a bag of "cooking apples" at sainsbury for like 40 p or something ridiculous. they were green granny smiths, so i figured the british just didn't know that you could eat greens straight, because i feel a lot of people don't use them that way. WRONG. these were sour as fuck. i'm sorry england. i'm sorry.

so, i originally was going to do some sort of free-form rustic apple tart thing, but it turns out that we didn't have a flat baking sheet in the apartment. so, hey presto, apple pie.

it was pretty tasty - i just threw the sliced apples together with 1 1/2 cups of sugar and a bunch of spices. in retrospect, i should have put some cornstarch in - the filling got a bit runny.

and i haven't mastered celsius baking temperatures yet, so the crust dried out too much . . . . alas. next time we'll have it down.

9/6, old crow medicine show, shepherds bush

on saturday night, we had over kate and len for dinner [len bailed early] and feasted on veggie chili - it is cold here!

the recipe is simple enough:: cut up an onion, let it brown slowly in a big pan, throw in some zukes, shrooms, whatever's lying around, let them brown up. empty in a couple cans of beans - we used black and butter for some nice black/white visual appeal - a can of tomatoes and some tomato sauce. season to your delight - i threw in chili powder, cumin, coriander, black pepper, cayenne and a little bit of cinnamon and ginger. let 'er simmer for a like an hour and eat with sharp mature english cheddar and fresh baguette. yum!

also, i threw in some quorn mince - for those not in the faux-meat loop, quorn is this new meat subsitute made from mushroom protein, of all things. it's quite common in the uk, even small groceries have it, and it's fucking tasty. like, just like meat-tasty. but it doesn't have soy in it! [which may or may not be bad for you. jury is out]. i've never seen it sold in montreal, but i've found it in maine. mmmmmmm quorn.

back on topic :: we were late leaving the apt after dinner, a little bit sluggishly, and missed half of the first set . . . whoops. but hot damn it was a good show. they did (2) encores, a cover of "soul rebel" by mr. marley and got the english to hoe down.

old crow is from tennessee - newgrass in that they like to sing about drugs - but they cover good ol'fashioned oldey-timey bluegrass and folk like "union maid" by woody guthrie. they're most famous for "wagon wheel", but their more up tempo, old skool stuff is fucking fantastic.






this is a little more "controlled" sound than they were playing sat., but oh my goodness they are excellent. there's a new album out on 9/23 called tennessee pusher. i'm looking forward to it.

interests, as seen at the british museum.

after popping into the british museum for a couple of hours and only three rooms, i realized that all the pictures i took fall into four categories. who wants a crappy reflected picture of the rosetta stone anyway when you could have a crappy reflected picture of stuff no one finds interesting and you're the only one photographing it? no one.

this means that none of your friends will want to look at your british museum pictures because they are "boring". oh well.

me, i like fiber working.

that, sir, is a fine-looking warp-weighted loom.

also, i enjoy spinning.


on to clothing, #2

the musem had dozens of these - intricate diadems and headdresses. very inspiring.

another interesting motif that was spread out over clothing depictions and silverware was the swaztika. i had no idea that the classical world used it - i was aware of the indus use - but emma told me that they discussed the motif in a beck class once. interesting.

the original gladiator sandal.
interest #3. geeky classical stuff. above, a stele involving a mithraic sentator. i quoted this stele in my honors thesis and got a little giddy in the museum. again, not interesting to most.


this is fucking neat. it's the second oldest surviving piece of virgil, and scholars think it was written as either a practice piece or in a repetitive way for memory. the piece quoted is 2.601,

"non tibi Tyndaridis facies inuisa Lacaenae
culpatusue Paris, diuum inclementia, diuum
has euertit opes sternitque a culmine Troiam."

or, as fairclough translates,

"Know that it is not the hated face of the Laconian woman, daughter of Tyndareus, it is not Paris that is to blame; but the gods, the relentless gods, overturn this wealth and make Troy topple from her pinnacle."

neat!

4. food. [tangentially, mosaics.] [and apparently, just mollusks and the like]

what a nice thing to have on your kitchen floor.

this i like too, because you could just look down and be all like hey! those are tasty animals.

this is fucking neat! it's a colander. a strainer, from roman gaul. NEAT.


COMING UP: we go to an old crow medicine show, hyde gardens and have friends for dinner. THRILLING.

lazy wednesday

it is nice to be in london for such a long time, mostly because it circumvents those back-to-back itinerary days, and lessens the guilt re: bumbling around the north-east.

yesterday, i had a nice walk - went to (one of the many) h+m at oxford circus to exchange something and then walked to st. paul's cathedral. wikipedia informs us that the current church was built in the 17th century and is the seat of the bishop of london. it was beautiful inside - evening choral services were due to start in about 15 minutes, but i was due to cook dinner and worried that i would be late, so didn't stay.

courtesy of wiki, st. pauls circa 1896.

in cavendish park. did you know pigeons like to sunbathe too?


but, on the way there, i stumbled upon this gorgeous garden, right off of holborn circus. finding little tucked-away nooks in cities is one of my favorite things. i sat there for a bit, enjoying the sunlight and surreptitiously looking at my map.

on the way home, i wandered up brick lane to go shopping at this grocery store - ramadan special on dates, 3 for a pound! delicious. we had a spinach/potato curry for dinner with mango chutney - it turned out pretty good. is it weird i work supermarkets into sight-seeing objects? probably. i love foreign markets - tesco or taj, it's all good.

tomorrow : an excursion to south kensington and thrift shops? maybe.

londontown

hey muffins!

apologies for the lack of posts - we've been on the ground here, getting settled and then moving, settling, then moving . . . being poor is hard work.

so far i have :

- frolicked about oxford cross
- bumbled around chinatown
- drank in stoke newington
- picnicked in brixton
- wore some good outfits but neglected to take pictures.

i am living in a council flat in hackney for the next couple of days, then on to stoke newington.

i promise pictures soooon! but i feel like such a tourist whipping the ol'camera out . . .

killing time

enjoying the air india terminal at jfk, relaxing with a gin+tonic.

see you in london!

up and up and away

in the best interest of furthering humanity's knowledge, i present the travel list for the style-conscious backpacker. it may come to no surprise to some of you that i love lists. and planning. and being neurotic about both.

upon embarking on this adventure [short story=adam+i are living abroad next year, teaching english in a yet-to-be-disclosed location], i explored what the interweb had to offer me in regards to a packing list. after all, a year is a long time to be living out of a backpack, and adam was very adament that i must pack light. so we're looking at about 30 lbs or so. plus a carry-on.

now, some sites suggest such things as teva/chaco water sandals or some sort of convertible garment in line with this. fine, i can understand the appeal of quick-drying, rugged clothing. and if i were, by chance, cliff-diving in acapulco or rappeling down k2, great. get me some patagucci.

but i would rather shoot myself in the face then walk down the champs-elysses or head to a show in shoreditch wearing something that is tan polyester. so i present to you, the fashionable backpacker.

i'm bringing ::

`(4) dresses - one black silk, one blue cotton, one blue silk tunic, one blue shirt-dress
`(4) skirts - one green floral cotton, black american apparel nylon, one pink cotton, one blue wool
`(4) t-shirts - black, green, (2) grey
`(1) pair skinny jeans
`(1) pair nice black straight-leg trousers
`(3) long-sleeves, one grey, one purple-striped, one cream
`(2) cardigans, one black, one cream
`(1) silk blouse
`(1) silk cami
`(1) trench coat
`(3) pairs shoes - one pair silver sandals, one pair black/gold ballet flats, one pair gold peep-toes
`many necklaces
`many silk scarves

this gives me at least a couple of weeks of outfits before i need to start washing things and i can be seen in public.
i should supply you all with pictures, but I'M LAZY. sorry.

next stop: jfk for a 7 hr layover. then onward! on air india to heathrow. will let you know if we get to watch bollywood!


listening to : apples in stereo, her wallpaper reverie. LOVE ME SOME ELEPHANT SIX.

things i love ii

a week has gone by! yowza.

i. thrift stores! honestly, i prefer them to "real" clothes store. i love that weird funk of old lady and dust, i love spotting fellow ladies searching for gems [or rather it makes me anxious because OH MY GOD what if they take something neat?!? because the good lord knows that EVERYTHING is a competition for me], i love paying 10$ and getting a skirt, belt, shoes, and two books. i love spotting interesting fabrics or neat clothes shapes on a rack from miles away now.

ii. miniature toiletries! i am getting packed to leave [on tuesday! ack!] and all the mini scaled-down bottles are uber adorable

iii. tattoos! despite some negative backlash from the dentist today ["why you have tattoos! that's why you're not married!"], i can't wait to finish my chest-piece and to start brainstorming and stewing about a possible half sleeve. bme is a real inspiration, although i believe the piercing part of my life is over.

iv. sasquatch! um, apparently some people "found" him in appalachia! but, sadly, it was all a hoax. someday. someday he'll pop up. i wrote an academic term paper on the possible existence of the 'quatch - short answer? oh yes my friend. it's possible.

v. adam! he is my boyfriend and i love him very much.

the original tilt over here