tomatillo salsa with lime

1. get 1 quart of tomatillos from the farmers market at RFK Stadium parking lot
2. peel papery skins off tomatillos and wash well - they are sticky!
3. cut tomatillos into bite-size pieces
4. put tomatillos in sauce pan with water to cover. bring to a boil then turn down to simmer until tomatillos turn dark green and the flesh is soft. drain well.
41/2. while the tomatillos are simmering, finely chop a medium-sized onion.
5. after you drain the tomatillos, mix the hot fruit with the minced onions.
6. spice, to taste, with:
-hearty dash of Uncle Brotha's Fire Sauce #9 - chili verde, garlic & ginger (or more to taste). yum.
-pinch of cumin
-big dash of adobo seasoning
-juice of one lime
-salt
make it as spicy or citrusy as you like. if you're not blessed with fire sauce #9, you can use any raw hot pepper (put it in with the raw onions before the tomatillos) or another chili sauce. If you prefer a less chunky salsa, you can buzz it in the blender for a minute.

Serve with lime tortilla chips or on grilled veggie + black bean tacos.

dick in a box

just got nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics," naturally.
...then you open the box!

public art in the strangest of places

went to atlantic city this weekend, a strange place full of contrasts - the illusion of wealth over serious poverty, mainly. strangely, there was a Peter Max art billboard on the boardwalk. the psychadelic and christ-like mural is out of place among the faux-glitz and practically art-free remainder of the boardwalk. the washed-out color is nice, thou im not sure if this is his intention (his work is usually much brighter) or just a faded print-job. it is significantly better than the blank wall that i understand used to be there.

return of photoblaster!!

rewriting bukowski

now, i've never read any bukowski, and I have a feeling that his misogyny and my feminism will never see eye to eye, but i'm completely fascinated by Crazy Mike's rewriting of one of his books & using it as a sketchbook. Mike's LOVING A DOG FROM HELL reworks, edits draws and rewrites the pages, and is being thoroughly, lovingly documented (as photojournalists tend to do) on his blog. I've not gotten a chance to flip through it myself, but im enthralled.

complete!

it only took 3 months, but i completed the lace weight merino shawl (in willow!) for D.'s birthday (in Nov.). I probably started around October 1, and it was blocked in Christmas Day. I thought i'd post pics since it's by far the biggest project i've enver completed. it's got to be like 10,000 stitches. its funny to think of knitting as being lots of tiny tiny knots.

no idea why this is sideways.

next project? I don't know! something fun! any suggestions? a cute spring/summer top maybe? not too dowdy & not too obviously hand-knit. something fresh. im a dork.

finally, remaining halloween photobooth

Saturday, October 28, 2006
first i spent all day ratting my hair. dave got ready at transformer.




the dress pattern was good and so were my dates.

breakdancing godzilla is my new friend + honey is awesome.

i'm a blog-monster now. i can't fucking stop. is there a support group for people addicted to blogging? ok yes, the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery. well, I hope it won't get to this point. i think i like nature too much for that.

but in the meantime. i started a new group-blog for all things anyone wants to post. everyone should join it or check it out at breakdancinggodzilla.blogspot.com. you will be entertained.

speaking of nature: i went apple picking with conner & ben & dave this weekend and it was great. a gorgeous day on a hill-top orchard. you too can visit this hill top orchard - Hartland Orchard. I bought honey with a comb in it (even thou i have 3 different kinds of honey from 3 different countries already). The 10-year-old girl selling the honey was amazing and probably is the only reason I bought the honey. She showed us the best way to look at the comb in the jar and she noticed that the monster on Dave's shirt matched almost exactly the monster she'd drawn on a pumpkin on her stand. She will grow up to be fabulous & weird, and that is how a girl should be. Way to go little lass!

the mysterious theremin

The most amazing thing happened today. A man in a too-tight button up shirt was playing the theremin at 10am on the sidewalk in front of Red Lobster in downtown silver spring. Of course, I had to talk to him. Arthur Harrison was playing the prototype for his newest model - it'll be available soon on his website - Harrison Instruments.

I didn't have the courage to ask him if i can play it, but if by some magical luck, he's still there when i go out for lunch, you'd better believe i'll be rockin it out. Sadly, i've left my camera-phone at home today, so i don't have any documentation of this rare strange occurance in The 'Sprung.

For those that don't know what a theremin is, think about the common sound between old horror movies & the Beach Boys. Of course the sound of the theremin will spring instantly to your mind. You may also listen to it's sounds at Harrison Instruments. It's one of the first electronic instruments and is played without your hands actually touching the instrument. I have no idea how this works, but Dave, you'd better build one pronto! (my new friend Arthur can sell you the kit & provides free customer service!)

Apparently creepy old ladies love to play theremin, too, and one of the best (apparently) is named Clara Rockmore, which is fitting for any self-respecting rock chick. she's pictured above. or left. or whatver.

dis·gust·ing (adj.)

: causing marked aversion aroused by something highly distasteful
: having your dentist tell you the reason your face hurts is not because you are not healing properly from the removal of your wisdom teeth but because you have flesh pockets filled with food. Food that is irritating your jaw bone. Apparently bones aren't down with mac n' cheese.

then she flushed them out & showed me all the food in there.

enjoy your lunch!

art tie

ok, check it out, do you want:



records + headphones? monkies? pirates? tattoo flash? or space girls?


this page looks like crap.

needs more cowbell.

I rock harder than joan jett

it's big talk I know, but having seen her perform last night, i think it's true. Even with wisdom-teeth-extraction jaw pain, having worked all day (more or less), and the out too late on a school night feeling, I am more RnR that she is. Granted, I'm not wearing skin-tight leather pants, but i was still lookin' hot.

i mean, come on Joan, are you the same girl from the Runaways? I can see it's still in you but you've got to let it shine. Rock it out at least a little! You claim to love rock n roll, but I think i love it more than you. and I don't even tour! I'm pretty glad you're out & happy about your queer-itude, and good for you, you should be! but you've gotta do one of two things:
if you're going to tour as the Black Hearts, with boys in tight tight pants and all the punk posturing, you've got to bring it. You've got to not even imply that you might be using a recording to back up your own vocals (yep) and your new album should at least try to have the same raw energy as the early stuff. and YOU should have some raw energy. I know you're probably pushing 40, but old folks can rock, too. 40 could be the new 16 if you're drunk & limber enough!
OR - and this is a valid option, too -
you've got to be Joan Jett and the Helicopters, JJ & the Bear, Fancy Joan and the Pants or something, and embrace your new softer side. you can still have the tight-pantsed boys, the vinyl top and still play the old songs YOU want to play, but the new moniker allows you to have a new identity, which you clearly want, that involves songs about feelings, the trans community, and a little less ass-kicking.

My final gripe - don't rush thru 'I Love Rock N Roll.' im sorry you don't want to play it anymore, but thats what I (& everyone else) came to see.

So that's my plea. Don't coast on the dreams of the old punks like me with the BlackHearts name. If i had paid for this show, this rant would be twice as long....

Pear Tart

photo: (c) 2006 Dave Gustine

I've been lusting after my neighbor's pear tree since I moved to the area about two years ago. I finally got the courage to leave a note:

'dear neighbor, i'm in love with your tree. im happy to clean your yard in exchange for pears. I'll even pick them myself.'

she called right away & dave & I went over the next weekend. He climbed the tree & we knocked pears out with a rake. We hauled away about 10lbs for free. yay neighbors! I made a pear tart that had a recipe something like this:

MY NEIGHBOR'S PEAR TART
-pull pre-made pie-crust out of fridge.
-make a paste by creaming butter & sugar, add eggs, almond extract, some flour (but not much) and some almonds dave pounded the shit out of in the mortar.
-spread almond paste on the pie crust (in the pie pan, silly!).
-Layer thinly sliced pears evenly and beautifully across the paste until you're satisfied you've used enough.
-stick it in the oven til it's done.
-eat the hell out of it! it's good!
If you feel like getting fancy(ier) serve it with half+half or whipped cream.

XAmerican HardcoreX

Saw a sneak preview of the new punk docu AMERICAN HARDCORE this week. A fitting premiere in DC - the east coast birthplace of hardcore. The hardcore scene seems to be pretty much non-existent in DC these days, and I was surprised at the diversity of the audience. Way more old folks and business-types than I expected, thou still a good number of boys in tight pants, hand-sewn pants patches and even a mohawk or two. it always warms my crusty heart to see punk kids with a disgruntled parent in tow, too.

Unfortunately, the movie wasn't as good as I'd hoped, it lacks what many music docus do - a story. It has great music, and interviews all the perrenial punk experts - Ian Mackaye, Henry Rollins, but doesn't really share anything new. Attempting to distinguish itself from the flood of other punk documentaries out in the last two years, AmHx focuses only on, well, hardcore, and the major cities that spawned it - from LA to DC to Boston then NY, the midwest & beyond. It's a testosterone filled movie, like the scene is. It speaks a lot to the extreme violence of hardcore - merciless pits, gang-like rivalries between bands and neighborhoods, broken bones, trashed houses, and copious drug consumption. Sadly, despite the current reputation of some of the hardcore fathers as pacifists and feminists no one says there's anything wrong with the out of control nature of the violence.
Women are also largely excluded from this story, The only interviews with women are token pretty girls, girlfriends and ex-wives. Kira Roessler, Black Flag's only female member, was interviewed, but her place in the story was more as Rollins' ex-gf than a female force in a hyper-masculine scene.

AmHx is, overall, too long, and though the music is good, there's no real investigation into the scene that would make the film appealing for anyone who isn't already into hardcore.

the Science of Sleep

Dave & I went to see THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP last week. I LOVE!!! It. I think you would like it too...
You can check out the trailer, but I don't think it even begins to represent how artful, reflective, romantic, unusual and compelling it is. The story is of a Mexican - Stefane (Gael Garcia Bernal) staying in his mother's apartment in France who falls in love with his next door neighbor - Stefanie (Charlotte Gainsbourgh). Stefane has trouble distinguishing between dreams & reality. Stefanie is a somewhat mousey artist who creates warm & fragile seeming sculpture/toys out of cloth. The film is in English French & Spanish and the sets often include collage & animation made with cardboard & cellophane. I love it SOOOOO much. Oh my god. It's definitely not for people who don't appreciate art, but no one likes them anyway.
I think I spent so much time thinking about dreaming last night/this morning that I'm still not really awake. I'm so impressed by the director, frenchman Michele Gondry (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) - how does he see in that way that creates beautiful, dreamlike, and strange sets yet they are totally believable??

pick your passion

Left to Right: LaScala, Violetta, Contessa

now choose a color:
blackberry
willow
violet
aubergine
and if that's not enough check out here. let me know what you think!

i heart brooklyn

what's up? im sitting now in the Perch Cafe in brooklyn killing time (my fav pasttime) and sitting outside enjoying the first day of fall.

i've just discovered that the NYC Dept. of Sanitation has an artist in residence - Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Amazing. she does work with the Fresh Kills Landfill - the highest manmade hill in the world (you can see all our garbage from space!), among other things & has since the 70s. crazy artists - i love you.

i've been in NY all week for the IFP Market - a film festival for work-in-progress films - mostly documentaries. I saw lots of great stuff, and of course some not so great. met good people & generally schmoozed, something i'm not so great at but am working on.
overall, NYC's been full of shopping:

::Kid Robot - Chappies & Smorkin Labbits (right)
::Brookyln Industries - a black & purple velvety coat i want but doesn't fit
::Ben Sherman - A black funnel neck peacoat i want but doesnt fit
... p.s. - why am I - a mostly normal sized girl - too big for even the XL coats at the cute designers shops? hello - designers! I have (some) money to burn! why aren't you letting me?!
::cheese & beer heaven called Bierkraft - they fed me a delicious sandwich and I could have stayed there all day.
::endless boutiques

next on my list is records... and i'm always hunting for that mysterious new/old album that i know i want when i see it but just don't know what it is. feh.

so... what's up with you?

Gloomy

could it be any gloomier outside? I present you with animated Gloomy Bear attacking a small child to counteract.

I keep expecting this site to have new things for me, but sadly, the internet doesn't randomly create content & presenting new things is my job.

*sigh*

feh.

dave's just written an meloncholy entry on the end of summer and I for one am not ready to let it go. i mean, we've still got 9 whole days! I will fight to the last the 60 degree overcast days that make me have to wear sweaters in the office with slacking & do-nothingness. and maybe less being in the office. more playing outside. (blowing off work to do the) Billy Goat Trail anyone?


Seriously. 9 days is a little sad, but I plan to kick it out with a week in Brooklyn, even if it is for work.

And at least people don't look at me so crazily for knitting in the fall (as opposed to on the metro on sweltering days)

we made a movie!

check out Dave's blog - for photos of the movie we were shooting last weekend. Then, see you on Sept 28th in Richmond at FLICKER'S Attack of the 50' Reels screening. we all look hot & have on excessive make up.