shirleyoujest.com

YUNNAN, China 2008 Schuang Trip - FTP PHOTO INSTRUCTIONS

HELLO Schuangers!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR DOWNLOADING PICTURES ONTO FTP SITE

You will need an FTP client (based on what type of desktop application you use (e.g. Windows, Apple, Linux) - I only have instructions below for Internet Explorer/Windows, sorry! But I'll try to find some more options.

APPLE/MAC - Not sure, may have to Google to find an FTP client (sorry Herve/Deepali!)
LINUX - Go to Places -> Connect To Server and fill out the details

For those on Windows/Internet Explorer - the ftp address is ftp://shirleyoujest.com.

For those on Apple or Linux, it is - ftp.shirleyoujest.com.

- - -

WINDOWS/INTERNET EXPLORER - URL http://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client
(I found this a little tricky, but when you get onto this page, stay within the top orange box and click on "Open Source Software - You are downloading FileZilla ... Problems with the download? Please use this direct link or try another mirror." I used the "direct link".

1) Once you have the Filezilla application, type in at the top:

Host: ftp://shirleyoujest.com
Username: yunnan
Password:

2) You will then see your computer's directory on the lower lefthand side of the application under LOCAL SITE.

3) To create a directory folder: See my example "Shirley Lin's pics".

- Go to REMOTE SITE and right click on the first folder (has no name).
- You will then be asked if you want to create a new directory.
- Click yes and name it after your first and last name.

4) Adding your pictures to your directory folder:

- BEFORE adding your pictures to the new directory that you have created, please compress your pictures folder.
- The best way to do this is to place all your pictures into one folder, then right click and "Send To" a compressed folder. This will help us conserve space!
- Transfer your compressed folder of pictures by simply dragging the folder onto your newly created directory folder.

5) Downloading other people's pictures:

- Simple go to the compressed folder and drag it onto your LOCAL SITE directory! (This may take a while to load, best to walk away and have a cup of coffee and a croissant (French), bowl of spicy noodles and tea (Chinese), Coke and a burger and fries (Americans).

I apologize if this all seems a little confusing, it's pretty straightforward, once you get started. Please email me if this is just too much, we can IM each other and I'll be happy to walk you through it!

Good luck! A big shout-out THANKS to my wonderful Tom for setting this all up!

P.S. I'll keep looking for Apple options.

olecranon process

My elbow hurts, and I'm not processing.

I've slowly noticed this the past ... month or so.

First it started with a lapse in conversation, a "pardon me? can you repeat that again?", followed by bouts of REDTMT - Repetitive Emailing Due To Misreading Text, and now I have to ask people not to talk, but first to state their purpose and then proceed.

As in -

"Hello, I will speaking to you about [subject]"

"And now I will begin to talk."

Ugh. I despair.

I can no longer process. My brain is like those first computer processors from way back, the ones that took 30 days to intepret a single command, and filled whole rooms in the dusky, dark, buildings in West Philadelphia.

My brain is Atari.
My brain is COBAL.
My brain is dial up.

My gray matter no longer processes linearly, instead it jumps into tangential connections, word associations, linguistic parallels and onomatopoeias.

It's a mass of neural sparks, but missing the connection. Frogger jumping on random logs, but missing the point. Doe is a deer, but not going back to Doe. Choose your own adventure, but skipping the last page.

- - -

It stops here.

- - -

ONE is the magic number. My brain will no longer be jacked up to 11.

REDTMT will die. There will only be one.
Multitasking will die. There will only be one (at a time).
When people speak, there will only be one conversation, one person, one seat.

It starts now.

B: < RUN >

bare a bear

Cheers London...thank you for the roads to walk and the natural lighting.
It was lovely.

I return. Five forty-five. San Francisco once again.
Deja vu with a fast forward button.

MODE: Hibernation.

Until then...

wee choo

I love trains, especially overnight ones. Just going from Point A to Point B and rushing through the scenery...

My first experience on the Caledonian Sleeper, a 7-hour overnight train ride from London to Edinburgh. The only other sleeper I had been on previously was the three-level metal India train, but it was awesome! Sure there were 3 levels of bodies stacked up on metal coroner-like slats, (if you didn't include the people that slept straight on the floor). But it was so cozy and familial to sit next to all those people and just chit chat.

The Caledonian was much more plush, (only two bodies stacked high on actual mattresses with bedding, pillows, tartan woolen blankets)... breakfast, tea, Scots accents and Crown jewels...

Metal

versus

LUSSHHHHH

But each loved for different reasons.

spoken word

So I've started this relatively "new" habit of making an effort to read the paper every day... I know sounds kinda lame, but usually I read online articles, etc. and I really discovered that I like the UK papers and the physical act of going to to local newsagents and getting my Guardian for 70p.

They have this interesting thing here where, unlike the US where the Sunday paper is the one chock full with stuff, here it's the Saturday paper that bulks up the recycle bin and is to blame for global warming... (sorry, have been watching the last episodes of Planet Earth)

And they have an odd "thing" here where they give you stuff with the weekend papers. Not just coupons and comics (which sadly, they do not), but books, DVDs, stickers, maps, ... (!!) They do that with the magazines too, at any one moment, you can get yer Vogue with a little spangley purse or flipflops...FLIPFLOPS!! attached to the front cover.

Still haven't figured that one out yet, but each Brit must have a hidden drawer somewhere filled with a lifetime of chatchkeys. And flipflops.

But it's also that the paper is literally stuffed (10-font) with the most randomly-connected information. Behemouth articles which themselves are an exercise in ocular marathoning, interspersed with wee snippets of information no more than a few paragraphs, perfect for an ADHD's daily intake.

All this really has nothing to do with what I was originally going to write about... the fact that I got complimented on my English when I went to my newsagents guy yesterday. He said, "your English is quite good". It reminded me of another time when I was complimented on my English in Alaska, and THAT was what I was going to write about - the whole international/minority thing in London, but will save that for another time.

Instead, I'm going to do my eyeball stretches and go out and get the paper.

take one for me

I failed to register for an absentee ballot.

I suck.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go VOTE!!! - a plea from the other side of the Atlantic...

boss hog

Ah Autumn is in the air (don't call it "Fall" here, people get upset when you refer to a season as a verb...) although "hoovering" to describe vacuumn-cleaning is ok (??)

Mittens, hats, scarves and other such various woolen paraphenalia are slowly creeping into everyday wear.

It has to be said, London is absolutely gorgeous right now. I don't know if it's because of the combination of leaves starting to change and chilly, brisk sunny weather, but there's just something that feels so British-homey about bundling up and trundling down stone/cobblestone, etc.

Man, I'm getting all misty here.

Was wandering through Borough Market down by London Bridge this morning and saw something at the butcher's shop that was, I think, another sign of "Autumnal England".

Dead fuzzy bunnies.
Dead frizzy pheasants.

Yes, dead as in - doorknob, good-bye, glazed eye-look, no more [oxygen] [carbon dioxide] exchange - but in such a Ye-Olde-Just-Went-Shooting-Out-Yonder-And-Look-How-Clever-I-Am kind of way.

I wish I had my camera, but no, so instead I offer you bastardized poetic imagery... they were beauutifully hung upside down in a sort of gaggle (I know I know, gaggle are for geese shut up) of fluffy droopiness. A Farewell Peter Cottontail group hug. So wonderfully poofy and soft looking all hanging together that it made you want to run up, pet them and tweek their little ears... and then, I guess, throw them in a pot and bubble (a.k.a. French Cooking Tips de Attracion Fatal).

I wonder if somewhere in the world, bunny eyeballs are a delicacy.
Probably in China.

Speaking of unique local fare...two words, "wild hog"... scuze me, wild BOAR.

Got one. At the market. Stuffed into a pork pie ... or rather, a boar pie.

(I'm sure there's some sort of lame joke in the word "boar" and "pie" and "stuffed", but I can't think of one just now).

Visual:

I wanted to add something "pig-like" to the pic but all's I had that was close was a very small blue elephant.

Yumpscious, eh? Wait til I break this baby open... 35 minutes at 170C [check!]

I'll let you know how it goes down (but more importantly... out ).

silence

it's 4:44am + i'm working on racing logos due a.s.a.p. + i'm jetlagged + and i'm nuevo-33 (as of 3:33am) =

[ ] going to streak crogsland road
[ ] going to fall asleep
[ ] going to learn about the high and low fronts of south america
[ ] going to fold my underwear
[ ] going to blu-tak posters
[ ] going to balance checkbook
[ ] going to take pictures of covert camden graffiti artists
[ x ] going to write senseless blog entry
[ x ] going to charge an extra-ordinary large sum of money for this

blockhead

I am starting a new thing.

I am going to call it "Four Left Turns".

I have historically been very very bad at "living" where at am, probably cuz of all the travelling.

But no more.

Four Left Turns - London will be pictures of things, people, items, objects all within a block (or so) of my apartment.

Starting...now.

* Shrink-wrapped Man in Orange standing on top of the Roundhouse.

He makes me laugh.
He makes me cry.
He makes me want to stop and stare and wait for the alien to emerge... (really old reference to the "V" tv series when the little half-alien blonde girl made a cocoon and then when she came out she was this leggy blonde woman... who could down mice and other similiar-type rodents like there was no tomorrow.)

domesticated doodles

I got the bug.

I officially bake now.

Never ever though it would happen, esp since the only thing my mom ever baked was chicken. But, see? This is what happens when you:

1) Work from home.
2) Are in a country that seemingly has more types of sugar than beer.
3) Are naturally fidgety.

I made snickerdoodles today!

Uh, but not the typical cinnamon kind... I'm still obsessed with chai spices, so they're Chai Snickerdoodles (all sorts of cardamom, cinnamon, fennel, and clove goodness) ... have a gander...

And I must confess, there are tins of raspberry/blueberry, peach, mango, and hazelnut crumble in the freezer too. Along with almond chocolate marble cake.

Yes, it's on the verge of out of control, but luckily T's a very lean slim bean : )
...for now.

prickly wonder

Yea! camera's aworkin' again...

I was walking home from the gym a few months ago, just was wandering around the neighborhoods on my way home and saw this really bizarre looking "flower". It must be because there is so much rain here, but the gardens in London seem to have the most varied collection of random things growing in them.

Saw a bunch of these poking out and and pilfered one... love when things dry and shrivel up, they leave behind the most interest "skeletons", horticulturally-speaking.

I have this pinned to my wall and any day now, I'm expecting to see a little alien schmug jump out of the pod...

P.S. it rattles when you shake it.

acck ..accompaniment (sp?)

London is very diverting.

I'm sure this isn't a new thing, but like always, it's new to me ... live orchestral accompaniment, (I really need to check the spelling of that word), alongside movies.

I've seen little snippets of this before, I don't remember exactly, but there was an animation thing I went to in San Francisco, it was something like an old cartoon strip (well-known) and a live performance of an old dude with a banjo/guitar/ukele?? playing along with it.

Honestly, my memory is like a sieve.

Anywho, am very excited about two orchestral accompan..., orchestral play-alongs coming up in London.

Metropolis - (1920's version) accompanied by the German Film Orchestra. Silent film which was the basis for the anime remake in.. uhh... 2000..(??)... recently.

Fritz Lang's 1926 futuristic masterpiece was the first ever sci-fi blockbuster, a spectacular work of vision and design, and deservedly one of the most famous silent films of all time. Set in 2000 in the mechanised city of Metropolis, where the rich enjoy life on the top floors while the oppressed workers toil below-deck, Lang's distopia is one of intricate detail, socio-political allegory, and a powerful and possibly redemptive love story.

Peter and the Wolf - Accompanied by the Philarmonica Orchestra.
The prestigious world première of an animated film version of Prokofiev’s much-loved classic Peter and the Wolf, which will be screened alongside a thrilling live performance of the orchestral score by the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Mark Stephenson. The stop-frame film (a technique popularised by the creators of Wallace and Gromit) of Peter and the Wolf offers a fantastical and intriguing interpretation of the world famous Russian story.

Am uber excited because this is at the Royal Albert Hall, which I've never been to and it just looks so... big and velvety and red.

penmenship

Haven't blogged in a while, partly because don't have a functioning camera at the moment (so many great shots buzzed by... *sigh*) and partly because am in spidge once again.

But am getting into my inks and nibs again and have decided to really really focus this time and illustrate something. Have had the thought for a very long time, to illustrate a little book for my nephew Brent and have even sort of storyboarded/quick sketched it out, but never really sat down to do it.

No more.

This is going to be my next project.

I wrote a little story for him, (actually I wrote it when I was 10, won some book prize, still have the plaque - aren't I schpecial) ... so may do that (it's called "Oh No I'm Stuck in a Shoe", a gripping story about a mouse stuck in a shoe, doesn't know what to do, all his family members are in similar sticky situations and he saves them all, told in poetic Shakespearean cuplets ... no I lie, but everything does rhyme. gripping.)

Or the other idea is to have my sis write conjure something up, which is kind of a nice sisterly-bonding project we can do together.

Looking forward to it, hope it sticks!

Stay tuned...

blowing chunks

I think I busted the handmixer.

So heading to a potluck-slash-camping-slash-bring yer own tent-slash-food wedding (I thought these things only occurred in San Francisco (!) ... apparently not). So the yumpcious wonder that I decided to make are Chocolate Chai Cupcakes (doesn't that SOUND yummy just reading it??)

Only thing is is that you have to grind all the spices ... grind?!? Scuse me?

So me, being Logical Problem Solver Extraodinaire, (and having the bad habit of "use whatever you've got in front of you" mentality), thought I could use my handmixer to "grind" cloves, cardamom and fennel.

Um ... no.

I nearly de-eyeballed myself with projectile clove rockets when I pushed "ON" ... it's this weird physics phenomenon called "small things fly outwards, not inward, when there's a swirly thing in the middle pushing them around".

Exhibit A:

In the end, all I was left with was half-cloven (ha, get it?!) chunks and a very good dodge reflex.

Hmmm, maybe I should get the nuptials and guests some spitoons with them there c'pcakes...

*sigh*

synapse

Mental.

Totally bizarre.

I don't know what it was, but for that whole week in the mountains, every night, every.night, I would have THE craziest and wildest dreams. And not just one, many...oodles.

They had subplots, cow plops... first voice, third voice, sweeping scenery shots, closeups... playbacks, halfbacks, quarterbacks...

Maybe it was the fresh country smells of wild pony poo and grasshopper sweat, but something was making my gray matter trip out between the hours of 9pm (or so) to 6am (or so).

And no, I don't remember one damn dream, just the snippets and the sensation of wuzzuh... (??)

So, I'm going to try from now on and see what oozes out...
hopefully it won't smell bad or soil the pillowcases.

squishy

I just have to say that Body Glide ROCKED the Pyrenees trip... everything was wonderfully squishy instead of red, raw and welted.

(See May 19th 2006 post)

I want to pull a Remington and invest in this company.

Seriously.

I love this stuff.

on my knees photo album

Ok, am slowly getting to the re-hash of the trip... no text, but here are the pics...

On My Knees Pyrenees, HRP Route Photo album

It's a little hodge podge because the program alphabetizes the pictures. I tried to order them by days, but it ended up started from the end, (merde!)

Anywho... see how it goes : )

*Disclaimer: Our own camera was lost the very first day, at the airport, when we got there so these pics are all from Jon's camera. I wish I could have taken more close up shots - the animals, flowers, rocks, etc. but have a gander at the BIG scenery.

late submission

Just got these Action Jackson shots from my pal Riam in Paris ... we were trying to shoot a fight video (think two chicks on the shores of the Seine River, kung-fu ing it out) but it didn't quite work ... Eric's a documentary filmmaker, but he ended up "shooting" us on the rapid picture fire button instead of the video button [smile].

Shot One, Scene One: Hand to Hand Combat

Shot Two, Scene Three: No Wires Attached

And other nonsense...

I love this picture, it's so "please won't you help the children" only grown up style ... as I text a message in the background.

Docu shots of us walking (I know I know, I'm texting in this whole flipping series. I'm new to this media/um and it takes me a while...)

Nazi kitten (??)

The End:

take your "pic"

Ouch.

Ooof.

whoooooooooooooooooooaaaaaa...

The sounds of the Pyrenees from July 31 - August 8th

Just got back Monday from an insane 7-day trek through backcountry Pyrenees "pics" - mountain peak, "cols"- mountain pass, boulderfields, and scree madness!

Have been trying to recover since, so am not yet mentally (or physically) able to fully convey the experience, but once legs and brain have stopped swelling, will provide more details about it all.

In the meantime, a few choice pics:

our bird's eye view of our tent

yeah, that's me behind tomas

Stay tuned...

hot buns

It's here ...global warming. Everywhere you look, apocalyptic signs of heat stroked cows, boiling rivers and wilting lettuce.

So what can one do under such circumstances?

Bake. Literally.

(This is going to be like one of those Simpsons episodes when it starts out with Bart crashing into a tree and ends up with Homer running for president.)

I decided that since I was swarming in hot humid London, I couldn't possibly sweat any MORE, so why not throw something into a 200C oven?!

Let me preface this all as well by saying that we just bought a handmixer. Ah, ha! The gal's equivalent to a guy getting a new power saw (same chop/cut lust... smaller scale, yummier outcome).

In the last 2 days, I have made:

- Zucchini (Courgette) Mushroom Onion Soup
- Chilean Chicken & Raisin Cornmeal pie (from scratch)
- Hummus
- Baba Ganoush
- Chives/Parmesan biscuits
- Multitudes of smoothies

My mincing/chopping/pulverizing obsession has been exacerbated by the fact that I am jetlagging, once again. Up at 3am every night? Why not whip together a little baba ganoush to wile away the wee hours? No problem.

Along the way, I have discovered a whole new world of cooking/food blogs. I mean, don't get me wrong, given the fact that there are rubber chicken fetish blogs and 'We [heart] Artichokes" blogs, I knew the chances of there being a multitude of cooking/food blogs out there was pretty darn high. But, forgive me as I embrace my estrogenic side... I just never bothered to search them out, until now.

a full belly
The site that started it all...

kokblog
Totally reminds me of Swedish design - simple and straightforward with an endearing touch. Swedish cooking blog with sweet illustrations.

101cookbooks
Bay area gal with chic site. Good links.

The Hungry Cabbie: The Eating Adventures of a NYC Yellow Cabbie
One of my fave blogs, cabbie writes about eating his way through NYC. (sidenote: I seriously fear for his arterial health). Did a post on Chi-town and our local SUPERDAWG! How cool. I'm definitely getting my suburb pals to bring me one in October!

bunnyfoot
Vegan site, but she has great non-vegan stuff too.

Who knows if this new obsession will wane as the heat dissipates ... if my new handmixer will suffer the same fate as the lettuce spinner. But all I can say is that I no longer live in mortal fear of paprika, sage or julienne. I'm not saying we're all BFF just yet, but let's just say we're new friends with benefits [wink].

phone discharge

It was so hot today that my face got stuck to the telephone and I had to stop and peel it off.
...very slowly, several times.

cling film

i am back from san francisco.*
i am hot.
therefore, i am cranky.
henceforth, the following is an unfortunate byproduct.

- - - - - -

things i learned my 10 days in san francisco:
1) taking steroids can make one's hands and tongue swell, thus eating say, a hamburger, is counterproductive x 2.

2) s miyake** will probably never buy one of my prints.

3) just because you have a powerbook/mac/laptop thingey and stand in front of a bunch of people at a club DOES NOT make you a dj. yes, you CAN (and should) do more than play ONE beat over and over and over again*** cuz in the end, it just looks like you're checking your email in front of class.

4) when you climb up and down and up for 4.5 hours, your ass will hurt for approximately, on average, 3.5 days afterwards. both cheeks.

5) virgin still has crap seats permanently fixated at 9o-degree angles, but david attenborough still rocks the planet earth series/birds of paradise banter.
i [heart] sir DA.

6) there are two people in the world, of whom i am acquainted, who own reo speedwagon, on vinyl.

7) we live in a world that touts bust gel. almond flava!

8) when you don't water plants for 10 days, in temperatures over 25C, THEY DIE. all of them. herbal dust.

9) cotton really is rotten.

and finally...

10) if you stop picking at it ... it will eventually go away.

Notes
*londoners/brits repeatedly refer to san francisco as "san fran"... it's really intensely immensely annoying.

**this guy has been trying to get a hold of me for 8 months (!!) to see prints and i suck because i still have not been able to get it together enough to show the guy my stuff. i should just send him a print for free. balance out my flake karma.

***ironically, a very good example of mixing is "Over and Over" by Hot Chip - posted previously for auditory pleasure.

ye olde

It's funny because have been here in London for about 3 months or so and haven't posted anything London-y (!) Esp considering that we live right next to the Camden markets which have the most amazing markets, stalls, crafts, olde thingeys, etc... it's prob because this is just home, so it'd be like posting about your local neighborhood corner shop (!)

I'll have to grab the cam, dodge the punks (did anyone tell them the 70's are over??) and goths and do the neighborhood, but thought I'd post a few lovelies from my recent ye olde forage at the Camden Stables. It's def been my fav of all the markets by far. Also extremely dangerous as it's just down the block (eek).

I've been fascinated by vintage whiskey and beer bottles and bottle labels recently. Actually always have been, but esp now since they're so readily available here.

Have a gander... I mean, tell me you aren't just hankering for some Syrup of Hypophosphites right about now...

Also some mineral water marine bottles, assuming hung up cuz they were on a boat? Prevented breakage?

I have no idea, I made that up.

Maybe they put purty flowers in them.

Managed to pick up a bunch of stuff this weekend, all of which I know I'll regret once packing time comes again... did I mention I have a weakness for things made of metal, iron and wood?

Urgh.

waxing poetic

"Ode to 4th of July in Scotland"

It began on a climb atop a Scottish mountain to fly a kite... Download file (watch by clicking here, there's no sound so you'll just have to whistle along)

Waded through heather, mosses, wild orchids and cotton a most fibrous white...

Basked in the tranquility of the rocky beach, turbid sea and pewter sky ...

And closed the trip by watching dolphins skim surfaces, and wet dogs run by...

My, wasn't that a lovely little ditty? All unicorns and moonbeams, done and said?
Ack well, what can I say, had to mix it up and that was the only thing I had in me head...

except fer the swarms of midges
which I was trying to shoot...
literally and figuratively

Sickie MacDougal

Irony #1: We're heading to Scotland this Saturday for the long 4th of July Independence Day weekend, uhh the holiday against the British.

Fact: England are playing Portugal in the World Cup at 4pm Saturday.
Fact: Scotland hates England.
Fact: Our flight leaves from London to Inverness at 4:30pm.

Irony #2: Our flight's JUST been cancelled. Our flight to Scotland. Scheduled thirty minutes after kick off.

HA!

This is what I love about the UK, a country of contradictions, traditions and irony. Well, at least this means WE get to watch the game now TOO ...

with the pilot and the inflight crew:
   

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

News article from The Guardian (British newspaper)

World Cup to kick-off sickie epidemic
British businesses are set to lose almost £100,000,000 for every day England is in the World Cup, according to figures released by the UK’s provider of absence management.

Active Health Partners has estimated, through using workplace absenteeism data captured during previous key sporting events, that for every game England plays in the first round of the World Cup, employee absence will increase by 20 per cent. This figure can realistically be expected to increase to as much as 40 per cent if England progresses through the rounds, resulting in a significant loss to UK industry...And cancellations of flights on game days... [wink]

Bargie on the Beach

That was a 100% obscure entry title, if you can figure it out, you ARE one cool persona (and know your Indian film).

Took a jaunt out to Paris this weekend (wonderful apertifs, pain au chocolat and all the camembert and chevre chaud you could ever ask for in a mere 2+ hour train ride ... fantastic!) However, I was lured over this time by my lovely pal Riam (Sarafina), who was my very first pepper partner in Edinburgh, and part-time roommate 12 years ago (eek!)

But! Not only was the lure seeing Sarafina, but it was getting to stay on her barge/"flat" directly across from the Eiffel Tower.

I.shite.you.not.

It was amazing, here you were in THE middle of a sprawling, lively city, but it felt like you were living off the shores of a coastal town... except for uhh, being across from a major international monument trafficked 24/7, (with an added delight to heighten tourist zeal - a 1,000,000 gigiwatt epileptic-light show thing every night, and 30 foot tourist barges with 50+ tourists and booming loudspeakers in French translating "and here to the right is..."

Although having said that, the waves and wakes that they created mimicked the constant ebb and flow of a choppy ocean. Heaven.

I'm a little sleepy so this entry is going to be kinda boring, but I'll let the visuals do the talking.

The Students' Exhibit at Some Famous Parisian Art School
oh wait, I found the name - Portes Ouvertes Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris

(my fav, the printing department)

The Grand Palais Exhibit

This is how a wee little tyke interpreted the "fine art"... puts it all into perspective dunnit?

All The Rest

Muchisimo thanks to Saz for the fantastic visit!!

The whirlwind of Euro-oh-so-near travelling continues as we head to lurvely Inverness/Highlands of Scotland this coming weekend for some haggis, black pudding, Highland "keuuws" and mountainous walks...

BARC

Soooo... where to begin?

Barcelona.

I never know how to write about trips and experiences sometimes, I think I get so overwhelmed by it all that I don't know how to verbalize the sensations. It usually never comes out when people ask "how was the trip?", but more when I see something or feel something that reminds me OF the trip, then it makes it easier to explain, to describe.

So having said that, this posting will come out more like Terrets-style outbursts (minus the expletives), than lovely mellifluous prose.

SONAR: 3-day festival of young hip things gyrating to DJ/electronica in massive warehouses outside the outskirts of the city, flooded with neon shadows of light, feeling the major bass beats in yer gut at the wee hours of the morning.

Nuns crashing Sonar By Day...

BARCELONA: Vibrant. Buzzing. Colorful. Boisterous.

The Europen Man Purse Phenomenon - No, it ain't a "sachet" or a "bag", it's a MAN-purse. These pics are really blurry and include parts of Jen in them because I had to take them on the sly. Actually got a few friendly waves from ... uh, "victims" : )

Aforementioned Vampiric Troupe - yeah, I don't know how to explain this one. "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" Does "America's Top Model"? I dunno... they were all dressed in lovely matching pinstriped suits with tails, uhh ... but then they started chasing (well, more like marching in time towards him ... think dance seen in Thriller) the skinny white dude and growling at him. I was seriously waiting for the skinny white dude to rip off his mask and turn into Michael Jackson),

The Loveliness That Is Barcelona

Las Ramblas and all the open markets...

...which leads to picnics in the park (Guell Park), reached by outdoor escalator (!)

... and back to Las Ramblas for general chill-outness.

Era manera agradable encantadora pasar todo su dinero en un lugar (!)

Post Script
We should give a shout out the now semi-defunct spoofchicken (fondly called "spoofy") co-creators on vacation...

El Fin.

neither a bird nor a plane

Just got back from a flippin' absolutely amazing weekend in Barcelona.

WHAT a cool-ass city. That city does not sleep, seriously, vampires... we saw some. A whole troup of 6' foot lithe woman in pin-striped suites, high heels, whites faces, fangs and all, chasing some skinny white dude. (Yes, easier to explain with visuals.)

They was so much click that the camera battery died, so will need to charge it up before I can show slides of the European Man Purse phenomenon, as well as the multitude of blurry neon-light hazes of Sonar.

Onto more serious England events ... England vs. Sweden tonight, 8pm (!!)

Here's some roars from the other side of the Atlantic... (YEA! nephew got the cape! Wow, I can see his adenoids)

(site note: dunno what the deal is with my archive section, still trying to clean it up, but because the list is longer than a foot of inch-worms tied together, it's causing some wonky cutting to my posts. Lo siento.)

[refrain]

Ok, this is getting out of hand.

I think that because I'm in London and spend a lot of time working from home, I get to listen to music ALL DAY LONG, I mean I did in SF as well... but it was more background music, snippets of every other song/note/band...

But here, along with the tunes readily available via com-pu-tar, and because I also walk so damn much all over the place (travel in slo motion - but actually really like it a lot), I get to plug in the mp3 and I'm off.

But it's beginning to fuel the music mayhem.

There's not much that I can afford here, but I can honestly say that I've probably purchased about 20+ CDs since I've been here (!) eek! ...I'm still on the fence about downloading.

And NOW we're heading to the Sonar Festival in Barcelona! I can't WAIT! I have to admit, I wasn't entirely prepared because of all the other stuff going on, but this morning, I've been checking out the bands/DJs and now I'm allatizzy!

(side note: good lordy it seems like everyone and their second uncle's cousin has a myspace band site...but cool to hear the tracks right there and then)

Those That I Would Be Most Pleased To See:

The Pinker Tones

circlesquare (this link is their video - "Fight Sounds")

Hot Chip (these guys have a HI-larious flippin' video for "Over and Over" on their site)

I just noticed that most of the stuff I want to hear starts at 00:00.

excellente

let there be light

Summer has FINALLY arrived in London! (altho now that I typed that, the clouds will prob descend upon the land...) It's been absolutely blindingly sunny and warm the last few days, so much so that I can now open BOTH doors in my office/room.

(hanging out the climbing rope to dry)

My little herb garden is flourishing as well on my back porch. I think I'm up to about nine or so spices, which I'm proud to say, I've used about 3 or so of them consistently (rosemary, mint, chives, thyme) since they are now growing at vine-speed because of the new sun-shine... (but really though, how do you use majoram?!) Although I'm confused about the black bamboo plant, it doesn't seem to grow in sun or shadow, but I guess as long as it doesn't shrink, it's all good, eh?

And I'm experiencing something I've never experienced before, something associated with Summer... World Cup mania.

It's begun.

You cannot, CANNOT, turn a corner, a tv channel, a neck muscle without seeing something related to it. (Even now as I'm typing this, I can hear a soccer game kitty corner from my backyard). There are England flags flying everywhere, the whole of London seems to have red and white stripes across it.

And I admit, I couldn't help it ... I got my nephew an England CAPE! (which he will have no clue about), but it's made of this cool silky material and I thought if anything, he could pretend he was some, I dunno, Red & White Superhero... uhh, for England, or called "England"... trust me, he'll thank me when he's older.

immigration process

Finally started on my linocut, started carving today (and yeah, stabbed myself, but it wasn't a gusher), here's the sketch ..

It's a guy getting fingerprinted, (I'm going to use my thumbprint).

take it to the bank

Oddly enough, Memorial Day (May 29th) also ended up being a bank holiday in the UK. I added the link to this entry because I just dunno how to explain bank holidays to anyone outside the UK.

It's a "holiday", but not really one because it doesn't really celebrate anything except the fact that the banks decide that they don't want to work that day.

Seriously.

No parades. No presents. No national slogans. No banners. No honorary statues.

Not even a Hallmark card (!)

The.bank.decides.to.close.for.the.day. Period.

But what the heck, other than not being able to wait in long queues to withdraw and/or deposit funds, morgages, loans, etc. it means everyone gets the day off!

It was time to get out of Dodge and head for the hills, specifically the Peak District. Land of Yorkshire pudding, rolling green hills, and Penistone (England's sister city to Intercourse, PA).

[Un]fortunately (?) it's an absolutely gorgeous day outside today, so I'm going to go and run around. But, I'll throw up some choice pics and a few words here or there.

"Rock on"...

"Rock off"...

Water in your eye...

funny things come out at 3am (still jetlagged)

what's in a nome

I know very little about movable type except for the 3 commands I use when posting an entry.

I was trying to figure out how to get rid of all the bizillion archives and noticed that I can post an entry using Nome Standard Time (NST), ... whahey! check. that. [x] box.

Nerdy aside, "Nome" was actually a cartographic screw up, what the guy had originally wrote down was "Name?", as in - what is the name of this place, what should I name this place, does this place have a name? But due to the messy handwriting, "name?" became "Nome" forever and evermore, amen.

Fascinating, innit?

air sickness

You know how when you do something over and over and OVER again, it loses a bit of it's magic?

Just got back to London from San Francisco, literally just stepped in the door. And it just hit me... the worse has happened, ...

I just flew TO and FROM London in an AISLE SEAT?!? ... THAT I REQUESTED!?!?

I despair.

This is momentous. I hate the aisle seat. I hate the people passing by bumping into your toes and ankles. I hate that the only view you get from the aisle is, the aisle. I hate that everyone and their mother (although I did try to be sympathetic and think of my mother and her bladder needs... the first 3 times) HAS to jump up and go pee RIGHT when you're really getting into a movie (alas, I lost Gwyneth's emotional thread in "Proof" and ended up accidentally canceling the whole movie about 2/3rds into it... oh well, I'll never know what it was like to feel like you're a potentially mentally insane brilliant mathematician like your father, who just discovered the math equivalent to Lucy (the skeleton, not the tv show), even though no one believes you.

It was always window or nuthin'.

What happened?!

What happened to gazing at The Simpsons clouds, looking down to watch birds fly, watching domino patterns of urban traffic, looking at landscapes laze by in slow motion??

I blame business travel.

Repetition breeds familiarity.
Familiarity breeds apathy.
Apathy breeds aisle seating, and worse, by choice (!)

It.stops.here.

From now on, I only pledge to "A" and "K" and officially banish "C", "D", "H" and it's more unfortunate relations "B", "E", "F" and "G" from my aeropuertic vocabulary.

Of course, this means that I will have to once again maintain SBP - Super Bladder Powers and stay in my window seat for the 10-12 hour journey... but hey, didja ever catch a glimpse of a bird flying backwards from the aisle seat?

chafing

Ok, so I'm not one to be all into product, of any kind - hair, body, nails, teeth, etc. etc. BUT I am one, when I discover something really cool, feel the need to pass it on to my fellow friends and beings.

Body Glide

I.Love.This.Stuff.

Before you get all smirky about it sounding like KY Jelly of something, go to the link. Body Glide ... discovered it about oh... 5 or 6 years ago when I was training for those insane marathons. The 'on the package label' use is for body chafing, the stuff you get when there's "lots of rubbing due to repetitive motion" (ok, go ahead smirk), but, for runners, this happens because your clothes are rubbing against your arms, feet, legs, NIPS, etc. for miles and miles.

You end up with a nasty, painful red wet welt of angry raw skin. But once you put on a nice smooth coat of Body Glide, (comes in a deodorant-like spreadable container), everything slips and slides like there's no tomorrow.

Astounding.

But this reason alone is not why I heart Body Glide. It's for the other, non-label applications, specifically breaking in new shoes.

You know the drill:

1) Get painful shoes because they look cute/pretty/quirky/were on sale.
2) Hmm and haw about aforementioned shoes for about 2-2.5 minutes due to the buckle/leather/vinyl/button/clasp that will ensure painful outcome in breaking in said shoe.
3) Purchase anyway thinking "they will soften after I break them in".
4) Wear shoe.
5) Suffer 3-5 weeks after of blisters/bubbles/chafing/rubbing/hurting.
6) Develop Pavlovian response to shoe whereupon no matter how cute/pretty/quirky/were on sale they were, due to pain of breaking in, can no longer wear shoe due to gastric reflux upon insertion of foot.
7) Retire shoe to Closet Graveyard.

But no longer!
Insert Body Glide liberally on feet at step #4 and TRUST me, no shoe will ever RIP again.

Seriously.
Try it.
Astounding.

So ends my Public Service Announcement.

You're very welcome.

random

This entry is about absolutely nothing except the fact that I was looking through old digital photos searching for a specific picture and I came across three random shots of my hand.

Isn't it amazing how having instant-gratification-digital-camera-shooting just allows the average schmoe (me) to take the most non-sensical pictures JUST because we can? Hmmm... my hands look quite manly don't they? I swear they're not! (The last one looks like a corpse hand).

On an artistic note (finally!) I'm starting to do some linocuts. Still in the formulating stages, but hope to make/build a holder/linoleum platform/anti-plate slider thing when I get back to San Francisco.

Enuff with the carving stabs and wounds already.

Some old reductive linocuts, my first attempt a few years back.

totty

Check out my cool tortuga...

My friend Dave made it out of a London Underground tube map last night.

I'm going to name him Tottenham Turtlehead.

shig

Thank you all 5 people out there that actually read this blog and emailed me about my last entry. I feel much better, spidge has sprouted and I'm no longer in that place. Although the List of People I Intensely Dislike At This Moment is growing longer.

I was thinking about this, are there people in the world whom you really and truly hate? So aptly stated in a recent movie I saw, are there actually people in the world who you "wouldn't piss on even if they were on fire by the side of the road"?

I have to honestly say, that there isn't anyone I know that I truly hate like that (although many I wouldn't mind emptying a full bladder on). My problem is that I can't hold a grudge for very long, it's too tiring and I just can't be bothered at the end of the day. I think for you to truly hate someone, some little part of you has to actually care about them and for me, it's just easier to wash my hands of it and just forget about it. I think that's why the shig never sticks, (ok, I need to stop making up words).

Having said that, there are people in my world that skip very easily between love and a lesser form of hate. I suppose the usual suspects are your significant other, family, siblings and those people on your short list. I guess that's when you know you truly care about someone, when they piss you off so much you want to spit and at any other moment, instant warm fuzzy. I guess it's just when some part of you cares enough to care, good or bad.

I suppose though, in a way, it's actually a complement if someone hates you because at least there's an emotion there. They 'care' enough to want to poke out your eyes with a short, blunt object or boil your lower intestines in oil - still attached.

Apathy, while less painful, would be so much sadder, eh?

scumquat

Ever have one of those days where you just feel like complete and utter spidge? Sporgue? Mixamatosis?

The regular adjectives just don't cut it, so I've decided I'm going to compile words and semi-invent my own.

Words That Sound Like How I Feel
disemboweled
feces
pestilience
pustule
fecund (this is actually a nice word but it sounds like it's 'bad' doesn't it?)
anal fissue
phlegm
corpus
fenestrated
crepuscular
detached retina

Words That I Made Up That Sound Like How I Feel
spidge
scumquat
sporgue
fellimortose
castimated
feculant

Have a lovely day.

primo espana

Twelve years ago.

That's the last time I was in Madrid, studying espanol, (I still remember trying to explain baseball and a 'bull pen' in my mangled Spanish in front of the class... I definitely lost them in translation when they couldn't understand why "the man that throws the ball" had to exercise in a "space for bulls" )... oh well.

Oh, actually I was there very briefly 9 years ago when my Aunt Charo was ill. She was an amazing artist and so sweet and kind (and made the BEST tortilla Spanish-style), my uncle's house is filled with portraits and pictures of her.

These two are my favorite:

This entry is going to be a bit familial since we buzzed over to Madrid again this week por mi primo's (Jorge) wedding - Spanish/Chinese-style. I love hanging out with my family and relatives, (my 92-year old super cute grandmother, Aunt #5 and hubbie and all the Spanish family) converging in fantastic travel locales.

I forgot how much fun Spain is although the 11pm dinners were killer. Eating that late just seemed so hard... literally falling asleep in your sopa! I don't understand how the Spanish masses aren't all 200 pounds+ by defying the "don't eat after 8pm" rule. Astounding. I definitely OD'd on the paella, but have rediscovered jamon - yum!

(vegetarians and vegans please avert your eyes)

One of the things that I love about Spain is the vibrant colors that they use in art. We went into this beautiful cathedral and instead of the traditional dour, yet highly respectable and religious, stained glass and religious decor, it was BUZZING with the most amazing intricate, colorful and modern designs!

   a closer look

And on a smaller note, met Machu and Picchu...

Far too many pictures to post, will set up a photo album.

Congrats to Jorge y Cristina!

global wetting

It's always great to go back to San Francisco, get my fill of sushi, see the pals, catch up on Bay Area living, but something weird is happening. A sort of Twilight Zone occurence, if I didn't know any better, I'd think London and SF have traded weather patterns.

Consider this, apparently in the last month of March, San Francisco had approximately 24 DAYS OF RAIN!? That's 24 out of 31 days, or for the more statistically minded - 75% of March was wet.

You can tell it's depressing the masses, not only has everyone somehow contracted a virus (last I heard, there are 15 different kinds floating around *at*this*moment* in SF), but some people are actually busting out their SAD lights! I didn't even know they existed outside of Buffalo-NY, Aberdeen-Scotland and uhhh Somewhere-Norway.

What is going on here?

On the flip side, it's been blindingly sunny in London since I got back. I forgot what it's like to miss Spring and how exciting it is when the sun does come out and flowers actually claw their way out of the cold, hard, gray/grey ground.

Gobs of people - families, kids, dogs - all basking in the sun, reading in the park, strolling through the shops. Bare knees and arms are starting to show...

It's like I left San Francisco to go to... well... San Francisco.

please don't call it 'san fran'

The country hopping continues... I'm back in San Francisco and 'suffering' through the early waking jetlag once more. It's actually not such a bad thing, considering that I start working at 12pm in London, I don't usually wake up until later in the day (odd since I was bred a Morning Person). So it's actually really nice to come back to SF and be up early, although at 3am there ain't nuthin much to do but blog about nothingness.

I guess it must be all the cross-continental flying recently, but I cannot, for the life of me, sleep on planes anymore. I used to have that inherent mechanism where as soon as I boarded a plane, as soon as my luggage was safely slowed overhead and my seat up straight - ZONK - I was out. That was the beauty of it. Gotta 12-hour flight?? Nooo problem, get in, sit down, pass out for 10.5 hours - you're there! Not.any.more.

It's made me realize that 12 hours seems like (to use an old cliche) waiting at the DMV ... but having said that, SF has this really groovy (I can't believe I'm using that word and "DMV" in the same breath), system where you can get your "number in line", as it were, online. You just get it, it tells you what the queue is and you head over when you're close to being called. It even gives you an estimated time! A once trusted, reliable, tried and true cliche demolished and disemboweled by a good scheduling software program. How sad.

But I digress.

The great thing about Virgin though is that there are seriously 30 movies you can watch at any one time, ON DEMAND. Although after the 7th hour, you're so hypnotized by moving pictures, your mind so phelgmy by the ease of access, that you actually think 'Dukes of Hazzard' could be ok enough to pass the time.

I assure you it is not.

I wish they would show old movies, classics. I still haven't seen "Gone With the Wind", etc. Although they are showing documentaries which was beyond cool, checked out Murderball and Rize, one right after the other. Talk about 360.

I get it though, the one part where one of the female dancers talks about the choice between staying in a dangerous neighborhood or moving to Hollywood/somewhere nicer. I saw that side in West Philly when I did home visits. It's home, it's what is known and a sense of community and coming together. Would be better to be 'safe', isolated and alone, or share, be a part of something, loved, but in mortal danger? That is a complete and utter simplification, but for 3am on a Sat morning ... I think I get it. Mortal danger, drugs, violence, etc. aside, at it's sheer basic core... I do envy that sense of community.

Yeez, this is a boring entry, I'm typing about movies, I'm waxing philosophic, I'm putting myself to sleep. Oh, suwheet!

[tangent]

I was listening to a guy, don't remember his name, at South by Southwest this year. I'm sure I could google it now, but I really can't be bothered. The point is that he's an author and grew up in Austin, associates himself with Austin but currently lives in Eastern Europe with his wife. Travels a lot for work. VERY liberal. Tech guy, I think, but also some sort of popular culture author. Rants about Bush a lot among other things. Funny guy, ends all his sentences with an upward tilt, like he's asking a question.

He talked about feeling like an Austonian (sp?), even though he doesn't live there anymore and when asked if he would permanently live in Bulgaria or wherever he is in E. Europe, he had the greatest reply, "No, I'm not going to live there forever, it's just another place where I keep my shoes."

I like that. I get that. I aspire to that... but it does mean I'll have to get more shoes.

some cool things in london lately

I don't usually post things that I've done (i.e. activities and such), but figure since most of my pals and family are 2,000 miles+ away, it might be nice for them to see how interesting London is, (other than staring at the guards watching over Elizabeth Alexandra Mary's house and all those other activities that include the word "Ben" and "Tower" and being mistaken for a Japanese tourist.)

In no order of importance:

The Gothic Nightmare exhibit at the Tate Britain with pieces by Fuseli and Blake. How can you not love an exhibit that has viewing rooms called "Perverse Classicism", "Gothic Gloomth" and "Fairies and Fatal Women" ?!

It is such a comforting thing when you look back in history and realize that the people living back then (1700's/1800's) were just as creatively deranged, twisted and morally suspect as the people now. They weren't all just walking around sipping tea, hunting foxes and eating cucumber sandwiches. If you do go, I highly recommend going in the middle of the day with the over 65+ set, the commentary alone is worth the price of admission, especially in the x-rated section...fine art soft porn, gotta love it.

Went to check out the International London Gypsy Film & Music Festival. Unfortunately, I'm leaving London for SF during most of the films that I really want to see, but did check out Latcho Drom and some live music by Yorgui Loeffler.

The documentary was interesting, it didn't have any dialogue but just followed different groups of gypsies across the world, East to West, just showing their way of life and most importantly, the singing and music. It was really good, for about the first 10 minutes and the very last 10 minutes or so of each segment, when they would introduce the group and then build up to the music, but you had to sit patiently through the middle filler of artistic shots along the way... in slow motion. A shot of bare feet walking. [5 minute interval] A shot of the horse's tail. [5 minute interval] A shot of a flower ...you get the idea. Wonderful and moving, but multiply that times 103 minutes, in the absence of sound, and well...

I also realized that, at least at the Cine Lumiere, I was out of my socio-economic status and age range, (not that that should ever be a problem), but other than the very very cool live music ... it was all (ironically) a bit posh/pretentious (or maybe that's just cuz it was so very French).

It bummed me out so much that I didn't have enough energy to stay for the entire music session afterwards and really regret it. Ack well.

Here's something that I really wanted to see and tried and tried to get tickets for, but it was all SOLD OUT.

"The Insect Circus - Dancing snails, trained butterflies, wasp tamers and balancing bugs, a travelling insect circus menagerie. "

But I'm happy to say, in keeping with my quest to embarass my American self in front of as many Londoners as possible, in as many diverse ways I can think of, I dragged some pals in the freezing cold night to see an urban street art exhibit (ironically in the same place where they were showing the Insect Circus). We arrived, stumbling through the door, only to be told disdainfully with spectacles perched on raised nose, "you are 2 months early".

Oh shite.

Well, I'll tell you how it was come May 19th.

ugh.

today, this made me happy

I finally found tofu in London! Non-marinated, non-Westernized, non-sun-dried tomatoed-aioli-flavoured-crystalized-gingered tofu.

And not only plain tofu, but tofu I like (firm) and UNDER 1 pound sterling (wow!)

I bought 8 boxes.

Today is a good day.

shrivel

We're getting a few holes in the clouds, a few peeks of blue sky as Spring pokes through, but it's still nice to see some dried up flowers and stalks from the Winter...

necrotic

So you'd assume that most things in the UK are pretty similar to the US, and for the most part, they are. But there are just a *few* little niggly things that are so unassuming, so not immediately noticeable that they often don't register with you except for that weird dizzy 'huh?' sensation (like when your contact slips) telling you that there's something that's just. not. right.

Doors.

Bank doors. Shop doors. Some house doors. Restaurant doors...*

THEY SWING THE "WRONG" WAY!

Yes, I've never noticed this before either but in the US, the doors swing TOWARDS you when you enter *, but in the UK they swing AWAY from you. Meaning, when you grab the door, it immediately falls away from you as you stumble in. Whereas in the US you grab the door firmly in hand and control each confident entry...

You may not think that that's a big deal, but you stumble into enough stores, trip over enough steps, throw your body towards some unknown gravitational pull enough times... and it gets all a bit disorienting.

Or even perhaps, makes you so disoriented as to squash a finger (which really has nothing to do with the doors, except for the fact that I got my finger stuck in one, but I needed an excuse to post a pic of my black finger tip).

something tim burton about it

*local fishing nets in alleppey

sleeping beauty

*green island, off the coast of taiwan

We Now Continue With Our Regularly Scheduled Program

HELLLLLOOOOO again!

I'm back, I have no idea what I'm going to do with this site, but I did hear through the grapevine that there's a pretty interesting screenprinting scene in London, specifically for shirts/textiles, that kind of thing. Good to hear.

London is flippin' COLD! I'm working on five layers of clothes at the moment, simultaneously all poking out at obtuse tangents and angles. It's like, sheesh ... I dunno 4 degrees Celcius which is like ... uhh, ... carry the 9, divided by 5 ...add 32???... equals COLD.

That actually has been a funny thing, measuring systems here. I thought I had it all covered, I'd traveled, I knew kilos, stones, metres... but I discovered, actually, no - I don't. Did a little exploratory grocery shopping the other day in the 'ethnic area' (which basically means THE BEST place to go eat/shop in London, you don't get stuck in the strips of Costa cafes and Tescos) and I discovered that weight here, for say ... buying chicken or whatever, is in kilos. Ugh. 2.3 kilos to a pound, right? Good lord, where's my protractor, my compass, my sliding scale...

The fantastic thing is that there is a whole SLEW of 'ethnic' shops right around the corner from the apt here in North London, AND the majority are Turkish!! Fantastic! I have never ventured into the Turkish food world before but just roaming through the grocery stores has been like an intro to a whole new tastebud! The only little hiccup in my grocery-heaven-fantasy shopping spree was that I managed to really, royally and exuberantly embarass myself IN the ONE shop that I had been planning to be MY local shoppe internationale vegeta-ble.

I think I was distracted, I'm sure I was. I was roaming, reading and oohing at all the lovely Turkish bread and sheer variety of olives... but I needed olive oil, so I went to get some. Tom was in line, about to be next at the till so there was a little bit of urgency. I casually choose a nice glass bottle of oil with my left hand, clutching a spongey Turkish loaf in the other hand and saunter towards to till... and before I know it, fast forward ... my foot gets stuck on a box of some sort of purplish vegetation with green leaves (let's just call it Turkish eggplant), sitting on the floor... I do a full-on, full-length, horizontal bodyspread across through the air, past oh ... 10 people waiting in line, ... bracing for my landing which included the mandatory shattering of glass, followed by full-body impact with the oil (200mL if you're keeping track), bread and tile. If only I had a few springs of basil, I could have had a lovely Italian snack on the floor.

I eventually was able to stand up, drenched in a pungent oily-congelated mixture (think pesto dip without the pesto, but with glass shards and the unidentified aforementioned purple vegetation). If I had been more with it, I would have clapped my hands once - loudly - and exclaimed - "Hoopa!" but as it was, I just apologized profusely in my nasally American accent, stared at the oily mess and trudged to the back to wash it all off, certain that I had just successfully reinforced the common British belief that Americans are loud, clumsy donkeys.

Oh well. God Save The Queen.

hiatus

... like the cliffhanging end of your regularly-scheduled program...I'm going on hiatus until Feb 2006.

Looking forward to the trip...

Metamorphosis

Did I spell that right? I remember getting the book by Franz Kafka, thinking that it would be this cool description about a man who wakes up one day and is a cockroach (was it a cockroach? a beetle?), but when I started reading it, it was kinda boring cuz all the guy did was go "huh?", "ugh", "naaah", "I'm a bug".

He didn't really do anything but just move his legs! Heck, if I woke up one morning as a beetle, I'd be buzzing around trying my wings out! Figure 8's all around! I'd do a fly-by the White House! I'd whirl around and pick up some hot guy in my pinchers and scale the Golden Gate Bridge like King Kong!

I digress.

I'm currently working on a redesign of this blog, seeing as I'm non-parto arte at the moment (loosely translated from Latin - "I ain't doing any art right now, ok?!") Kinda hard to have an arty site when there's no arty substance.

I've decided that clouds are going to be my theme for the new design. I figure - London, England, gray/grey, rain = clouds. Plus, I love clouds ... not for the fluffy, white angel-like thing that most people do, but because I love when they turn all gray and foreboading ... like right when it's about to hail or drop a ton of rain on your head. Then 2 minute later, they're gone. Big gray ghosts stopping by for a pee. Good stuff.

The title of entry is more for the fact that I have no idea what I'm going to do with this blog in the upcoming months. There will be a change, but just not sure what it will be. More art? Life in London? Porfolio site? ...

Who know, maybe in 3 months or so I'll buzz by your house and pick you up in my pinchers and we'll go sit on Golden Gate Bridge. Won't that be fun?

Last Day in SF

Good Bye San Francisco!

Hope to see you again in a year or so ...

Dhokla Deluxe

I have to admit it, I've always been scared of Indian food... not the ingesting (although after a lamb saag and too much onion kulcha, my tummy does feel a slightly weighed down), but attempting to make it!

For example...

Ingredients :

Dhansak masala (grind to paste) :
2 garlic
60 gm ginger
6 nos kashmiri dry chilli
1tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1stick cinnamon stick
2 cardamom
3 cloves

Spices! The spices! Nevermind trying to get the right ingredient, but the magnitude of how many are required per dish, (I'm guessing on average .. uh ... 20!), always ensured that I'd be a regular take out customer at India Clay Oven in San Francisco. (By the way, Moroccan food phobia too for the same reason). I am in full-awe of anyone who cooks Indian food, utterly and completely.

But, I decided this weekend, it was time to bite the bullet, get the chillis and curry out baby! I'm going to cook some Indian!

(Ok, maybe not whole-hog-like, just make my first attempt with some fairly easy stuff... dhokla and chana masala).

I first tasted dhokla at a friend's baby shower, yummy stuff. I think it's made from chickpea flour and spices. The batter is steamed (which makes it light and fluffy) and cut into squares with more spices and coriander sprinkled on top. It kind of reminds me of cornbread (in appearance).

I did look online for a dhokla recipe (from scratch), but even something that simple looked scary-like, so I opted for the pre-boxed version (not cheating really, cuz I still had to actually make the batter, steam it and figure out the spices on top part) ... small steps, small steps. Plus, who could pass up "Gits" brand! hee.

So I followed the recipe, mixed flour, water, and 150ml of oil (!) YOWZA! It was about a cup and a half pure oil. (Side note: I have cousins who are 1/2 Spanish, 1/2 Chinese who had visited and brought amazing olive oil from Spain, which ended up being the only oil I had in the house. It was kinda nice to think that I was mixing all these multi-international ingredients!)

Good good, mix mix, but then the BIG question was, how the heck to steam batter? Apparently you're suppose to spread the batter in a baking pan and steam it ... ???

Hmm...

Solution: rice cooker! Dhokla - Chinese steamed cooking style. It was a little hard trying to figure out how long to steam it for, but I just let it bubble away until it looked good. The fun part was frying up some mustard seed, some indian spice thingey and chopping the coriander.

The result - (I didn't manage to cut it into squares, more like scooped it out, ... slightly too salty (the original mix), but yummy!)

Chana masala - I just bought a packet of the spices and added all the chickpeas, etc. myself. I also added a little Asian touch by putting in tofu.

Oh, also found this Indian recipes site with some great recipes.

Italiano

It's been a while since my last entry, just finished a whirlwind tour returning from Torbole at Lake Garda, Italy from Sue & Ben's amazing wedding!

What an adventure, we had our own mini Amazing Race landing into Brescia/Bergamo airport via the fantastically cheap Ryan Air. We had no idea where we were going and absolutely no idea how to get there. All we knew was get to Atlantic Club Hotel, Lake Garda, (by the way, when they charge you 55 Euros, it's per person, not per room).

So you'd think that travelling 100 miles to Lake Garda would be what? Two, three hours at the most? ... uh try SEVEN HOURS, 3 buses, 1 taxi (and a partridge in a pear tree)...

But the great thing was that it was SO much fun!! Tom got to try his long-forgotten Italian on the locals (which consisted of "Hi, please speak English!?") - ha! It really was a fun way to see Italy, in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n ... we mixed with the locals, got lost and generally crawled our way to our final destination. We were just so proud of ourselves cuz we cut off a whole hour on the way back. ONLY 6 hours, 4 buses and a train ... now that's progress!

Some choice pics:

Windsurfers paradise

Malcesine Castle