7 posts tagged “culture”

ushering out the decade

Yesterday
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At the end of 2009, I found myself with a pile of frequent flyer miles that expire in March but saddled with so many blackout dates that it would be impossible to use them. Fortunately, I can use them on hotel rooms, so we opted to snag a gorgeous room at the Intercontinental down on the Boston waterfront for New Year's Eve.

After we checked in, we jumped on the T and went down to the Boston Common and checked out the ice sculptures:

Then we wandered through the Public Garden where the Swan Pond is all iced and snowed over. Joe climbed up on the center island where the ducks and geese hang out all year long. He was briefly king of the mountain and then he turned again to little boy sliding on the ice:

Ice sliding on Swan Pond - NYE 2009

Then we wandered down Newbury and had a drink at Bouchee where they had this little guy welcoming us into the new year:

Snowman outside of Bouchee on Newbury Street

Then we traipsed down to Clio to have Todd at the bar deliver up some delish cocktails to start us out right. Then off to a mediocre and disappointing dinner at Radius, (sigh, it was the only downer to the night), before we headed back to the hotel to see the fireworks!

Hope everyone had a happy new year. Here's to a wonderful and prosperous 2010!

2009 End of Year Meme

6 days ago
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1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Taught at Mass College of Art and at Boston University, published a cookbook for our family and friends (through blurb.com), began studying Italian in earnest, saw Moby in concert.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Didn't do so hot this year but plan on making 2010 be rather kickass.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No immediate relatives but several friends!

4. Did anyone close to you die? My grandfather passed away in September.

5. What countries did you visit? Hmmm. I didn't leave the country this year, not even to go to Canada.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? A trip to Europe under my belt and a downpayment on a house.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Not sure if specific dates will be etched into my brain, but I'll remember how I felt when I got the news that Romeo had kidney disease, and when my grandfather died. Oh, also the inauguration of Obama was a historic event that was incredible to be able to see, even if only on television. And the week that my long-lost friend (17 years lost!) Leanna came to visit!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Teaching, and receiving agent interest on my unfinished book (I need to get it done and follow through!!).

9. What was your biggest failure? Not getting further on the novel than I would have liked. Not doing anything about my health goals.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? A few colds (including the massive eye and nose dripping head cold I have right now), otherwise mostly was healthy.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Tickets to Italy for spring 2010!!! YAY

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Joe for putting up with me for a ninth straight year!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Let's just say that they know who they are.

14. Where did most of your money go? Probably eating out too often. Fixing appliances that seemed to always break. We did better this year, being able to save for Italy, pay down some debt and should have a good start on a down payment on a house for next year.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Visiting Italy!

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Negramaro, Il Distrazione

Finestra

Negramaro

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? Happier, fatter, richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Worked on my novel.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? sleeping in instead of going to the gym.

20. How did you spend Christmas? We went to the "Pitt" as we affectionately call Pittsfield, MA. where Joe's parents live. Was happy, peaceful and full of good wine, food and excellent company.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? I fall more in love with Joe every year. Sappy but true.

22. What was your favorite TV program? True Blood, Legend of the Seeker, Sanctuary

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Glenn Beck is higher on the list.

La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language

Dianne Hales

24. What was the best book you read? Just one? Oh my. I really loved La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language by Dianne Hales. I bought several copies for friends this Christmas.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Polly Scattergood and St. Vincent

26. What did you want and get? Tickets to Italy! A Canon Powershot and a Flip Cam

27. What did you want and not get? Zelda for the Wii. A raise (company froze them, just as so many other companies have). A magic fat-disappearing wand.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Star Trek

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 38. Nothing terribly memorable. Went to Clio and ate at the bar.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? My job could have been less painless personality-wise, I suppose. Also, I still haven't mastered the ability to care less about what people think of me.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Back to my roots (blonde!). But otherwise, as bold and distinctive as always.

32. What kept you sane? Joe!

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? David Tennant

David Tennant's Coward Soliloquy - Hamlet - Preview - BBC Two

34. What political issue stirred you the most? There are oh too many.

35. Who did you miss? I ended a long dying friendship this year and that makes me immeasurably sad.

36. Who was the best new person you met? My friends in my most recent Italian class.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. I'm always learning. I need to get better at applying.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. (popular Italian song, Ma il cielo e' sempre più blu)

Chi sogna i milioni, chi gioca d’azzardo

chi gioca coi fili, chi ha fatto l’indiano

chi fa il contadino, chi spazza i cortili

chi ruba, chi lotta, chi ha fatto la spia

na na na na na na na na na

Ma il cielo è sempre più blu uh uh, uh uh,

ma il cielo è sempre più blu uh uh, uh uh, uh uh…

Rino Gaetano - Ma il cielo è sempre più blu

Let me know if you do the year end meme!

Go Galavanting's Trip to Rome

Sep 11, 2009
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I'm even more excited to go to Roma next spring after seeing this bit from the wonderful travel blog, Galavanting.tv.

Go Galavanting Trip to Rome

Talking Italian

Aug 12, 2009
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The Colosseum in Rome, Italy

As I typed that, I was reminded of an old Bananarama song, "Robert Deniro's Waiting (Talking Italian)." What a goofy but sweet song that was!

At any rate, I've started taking a beginning Italian course, to help me prep for a trip to Rome in the spring. I bought an exorbitantly expensive textbook, Oggi In Italia, for the class. I've been studying a bit on Livemocha as well so I have some of the basics down. And yesterday, I attended the first class.

Basics mostly...how the class will be structured, the alphabet, the various sounds, etc. But the teacher, who I have to admit originally being a little worried about when she explained that she was still a student herself at BC, looks like she's going to be awesome.

I've got 7.5 months to cram as much into my little brain as I can before I go. I know that I would be able to get around anyway as most places I'm going will likely have English speakers, but I want to really experience it on a different level. I want to be able to talk to cab drivers, restaurant owners and shopkeepers with some level of confidence. I want to be able to understand the gist of conversations going on around me. Plus I think that when you start to learn the language you can't help but be even more swept away by the culture.

I'm very very much a beginner so when you comment back with phrases I'll have to go look them up. :-) But I'll keep plugging away at it!

Live Mocha is excellent, by the way, when it comes to learning a new language. I love the way they deliver up the lessons and have native speakers help correct written and spoken grammar in a way that isn't too confrontational or nerve-wracking (not face to face unless you want to enable instant messaging). If any of you join up, add me to your friends, even if you aren't learning Italian!

Spring at MASS MoCA

May 27, 2009
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Joe and I spent the weekend in the Berkshires, and despite the fact that I tried numerous times for the umpteenth millionth year (okay, maybe only 9) to get Joe and/or his family to go with me to see a Shakespeare & Co. play, it didn't happen. I was really hopeful this time, but alas, I think that I am just plain alone in my desperation to see Shakespeare. It was Romeo & Juliet, which I've not yet seen on the stage, sigh.

At any rate, at least I can get Joe to go up to North Adams to MASS MoCA. For some bizarre reason the girls at front gave us the runaround and said there was no teacher discounts (despite the fact that every other time we've gone Joe gets in free+1 because he works at an art school). So that was rather annoying. Especially since the prices have gone up and half of the museum was video art (Guy Ben-Ner) and neither Joe or I get very excited about video art.

Fortunately there were other exhibits. One of the artists I liked is Sean Landers:

Sean Landers - "Master Jack"

Sean Landers - "Le'Go My Ego"

Joe hates art that has words in it but being a writer I'm very drawn to visual representations of words. As a critical & creative thinker, Landers is interesting to me also because he used mind-mapping in the painting above and he did it in a really interesting way where the thoughts intersect and entwine. Joe just rolled his eyes but for me I really loved the visual workings of the mind (even if they were somewhat deliberate). The thing is, as evidenced by the title, Landers is fully aware of the ego that is present in this piece, which is Joe's primary beef with art that includes words; he finds them full of ego. At any rate I really liked his part of the exhibit.

The other artist that I liked and that Joe actually did too was Robert Taplin, who I think we saw at the Decordova a few years ago. He had an interesting set of dioramas all based upon scenes from Dante's Inferno.

Robert Taplin - "Everything Imagined is Real (After Dante)"

But the highlight of Mass MoCA these days is the new wing that only houses Sol LeWitt. It's pretty amazing, three floors of drawings. You really need to see it to appreciate it. The first floor was really the most mind-boggling. The time and precision that went into the drawings is incredible. These paintings were produced from plans that he left behind after his death. Most of his later art was the execution of these sorts of art plans. It's an interesting concept.

Sol LeWitt

That photo is a very very small piece of a large wall, all done in pencil.

Sol LeWitt

Again, just a tiny piece of the wall. This one was all done in chalk.

To get a sense of the scale:

Sol LeWitt

Sol LeWitt "Wall Drawing 1112"

Sol LeWitt "Wall Drawing 462"

Sol LeWitt "Wall Drawing 1152"

Fortunately for you the Sol LeWitt exhibit will be up for the next 25 years, so you'll have lots of time to get thee to Mass MoCA.

Gordon Ramsay's Method for Finding Out if You Are a Real Man

May 14, 2009
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My husband is obsessed with Gordon Ramsay. I don't know why he has this sudden fascination, but it's bad. When we're out at a restaurant eating and the food is not 100%, he pipes up in the Ramsay voice, "You donkey! You could have killed someone!" or some such other witty quip. He even found a place in Boston that makes Beef Wellington because neither of us have ever had it (although the recipe is here and I can already seeing us attempting that in the future).

I swear my husband only decided to get the extended cable so he could watch the "F-Word" on BBC.

For those of you who only know Hell's Kitchen or the USA Kitchen Nightmares (remind me to tell you about the food prepared by one of the previous chefs that I had at a Long Island hotel...blech), then you really don't have a true sense of the man. The assholish nature is really just because Americans are idiots and feed on such horrible behavior. Ramsay is a business man after all. His British shows are much calmer, more thoughtful, nicer and I really LIKE the man after watching him in his native element.

To give you a taste of what the "F-Word" is all about, here's a great clip of fellow Brit and journalist James May, and Ramsay, who is administering a test to find out who is the real man.

The F-Word: Gordon Ramsay vs James May

The funny thing is that I actually know several people who have eaten the same type of shark in Iceland and washed it down with a swig of Brennivin. They all got through it...way better than they might have with bull penis, let me tell you. I'm clearly no real man. I wouldn't eat this crap if you paid me. ;-)

Tasty Fruit Terrine

May 10, 2009
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It comes as a surprise to me that I haven't blogged here since January! I mean, I knew it had been awhile, but didn't realize it had been quite that long. So let's celebrate my blog return and the end of spring/start of summer with a fruit terrine!

We get an organic box of vegetables every week from Boston Organics and I had a whole bunch of strawberries that I wanted to do something yummy with. We also have a Le Crueset terrine pan that we have only used once and that gave me the idea to try out a tasty fruit terrine.

I started with a recipe from Epicurious, a Prosecco and Summer Fruit Terrine. Except that I changed the fruit all around. Joe picked up some blueberries and some VERY tasty (and outrageously expensive) cherries from Whole Foods. I already had some excellent organic strawberries from our veggie box, so went with those fruits rather than the grapes and peaches described in the recipe.

Cherries were the first layer:

Fruit terrine 1

Then the blueberries and then the strawberries:

Fruit terrine 2

I added another layer of cherries and another of strawberries then added my prosecco gelatin concoction to the terrine and then threw it in the fridge to let it set for a day. We sliced into it earlier today.

Fruit terrine 3

The green spots in the center are actually halved blueberries. I'm sure this would have looked very pretty if we had unmolded the enitre terrine but since it's just Joe and I enjoying it we decided to cut out slices instead. Oh my, SO delish, especially with some real whip cream on the side. Very refreshing and lo cal (270 calories a serving). Will make this many more times over the summer and most likely I'll test other flavors out...different fruits, maybe adding in some St. Germain...will be fun to make it again. Soo easy too!.

Here's the recipe:

Prosecco and Summer Fruit Recipe

Yield: Makes 8 servings

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 6 1/4 hours

4 cups mixed fruit such as berries; peeled and thinly sliced peaches (see cooks' note, below); and halved seedless grapes
2 3/4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (from two 1/4-oz envelopes)
2 cups Prosecco (Italian sparkling white wine)
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Arrange fruit in a 1 1/2-quart glass, ceramic, or nonstick terrine or loaf pan.

Sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup Prosecco in a small bowl and let stand 1 minute to soften. Bring 1 cup Prosecco to a boil with sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add gelatin mixture, stirring until dissolved. Stir in remaining 3/4 cup Prosecco and lemon juice, then transfer to a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and cold water. Cool mixture, stirring occasionally, just to room temperature.

Slowly pour mixture over fruit, then chill, covered, until firm, at least 6 hours.

To unmold, dip pan in a larger pan of hot water 3 to 5 seconds to loosen. Invert a serving plate over terrine and invert terrine onto plate.

Notes:

·To peel peaches, first cut an X in the end opposite the stem and immerse in boiling water (15 seconds). Transfer it to ice water and peel.

· Terrine can chill up to 3 days. Unmold just before serving.

·To achieve a look similar to that on our cover, use 6 (8-oz) ceramic or stainless- steel molds and 2 cups of fruit and double the gelatin mixture. Once gelatin is at room temperature, spoon 3 tablespoons into each mold, then chill 1 hour to set. (Keep remaining gelatin at room temperature.) Arrange 1/3 cup of fruit in each mold and divide remaining gelatin mixture among molds. Chill, covered, until firm, at least 6 hours.

Each serving contains about 290 calories.

Enjoy!