ytunes

i miss record stores.  the old-school kind, where the employees had music encyclopedia brains and would recommend and play new albums for you behind the counter before you forked over your $7.99 for an album or $12.99 for a cd. stores like yesterday and today records  in rockville and melody records in dupont circle (and lest we not forget the summer hours spend at listening stations in the tower records in piccadilly circus and virgin records on oxford street).

now everything is online and streaming and digitally downloading and the joy of browsing and listening and physically discovering and opening an album sleeve and listening to it in its entirety, side a & b, while reading the lyrics, is almost completely extinct.

these days i find new music on kcrw (the best radio station here in the states) and rely on word of mouth and my brother's ever expanding eclectic playlists.  below are some of my favorite albums from the past year -  regrettably found only in my itunes library - not on the shelves of my outdated cd collection.

luisa maita - lero lero

tallest man on earth - the wild hunt

fiction plane - sparks

rem - collapse into now

the national - high violet

ray lamontagne - god willin' & the creek don't rise

quiet design

the nytimes recently published an article about "quiet design - a design that isn’t necessarily innovative or iconoclastic, but it fulfills its function in so subtle and unshowy a manner that it somehow brings us pleasure."
here are two of the items they showcased this month -  first, a series of beautiful cookbooks designed for penguin books and the other, gorgeous japanese eco-friendly dinnerware.
me like. me want. 

great food series

wasara eco-friendly dinnerware

mothers (yester)day

it was mothers day yesterday so i wanted to share with you a timely little funny web site. you can post old-school pics of your own parents and remember that before they first drove us around and later sometimes drove us crazy, our parents had awesome hairstyles, kick ass clothes and dreams, plans and lives that pre-dated parenthood.
happy belated mother's day to the one and all mothers in my life.

dinner and a movie

dinner

 kochujang-lacquered kurobuta, w/fried egg,
pickled watermelon radishes,
water spinach, cilantro, cotija, peanuts
(chubby pork belly)

and a movie

last night.  dinner was rich & delicious - a big bowl of modern comfort food.
the movie was beautiful, devastating and highly highly recommended. 


chego
3300 overland avenue
los angeles, ca 90034
(310) 287-0337

ebtg

woke up to the music of everything but the girl.  every song on every album, from their self titled debut in 1984 to their 2005 remix release, adapt or die has been playing in my life's soundtrack for over 25 years.  and each and every one of these 14 albums holds a special place in my collective memory of people and places.
below is just one sample, re-mixed by two persian dj's collectively named deep dish, one of whom happened to go to high school with me.  iranians, ebtg, backgammon and random street swapping - a perfect start to saturday!

words of art

in a recurring dream i get lost in a painting. the colors melt under my gaze and travel to the floor, where they cover my bare feet.  some stories would like to be painted, but my hands have no interest in paintbrushes, they insist on felt tip.
i can barely draw a straight line, much less live one.  i can't draw, paint, sculpt, or sketch: my right sided brain has left sided tendencies and only wishes to string words together.
some people feel the need to create beauty and wind up having kids or climbing mountains. i go searching for pastries and a pen. 

John Baldessari, I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art

John Baldessari, Space

hello huckleberry

lunch yesterday - the best pizza this bread fanatic has had on the west side (much comparison and taste test battles with mozza will be discussed) served at one of the best breakfast/lunch/afternoon treat bakery/cafes in town.  i am a drooling giddy girl every time i walk into huckleberry bakery and cafe  and am only sorry i do not have a picture of the lovely kumquat tart we had for dessert after this delicious crispy and chewy plate of heaven (a special served only on wednesdays).

pea, potato, bacon, egg pizza

they don't take reservations and you will most likely have to wait in line to order and find a table.  but every minute you stand waiting at the baked goods counter is absolute mouth watering heaven and an extra minute your belly will love you for later. 

Huckleberry Cafe & Bakery 1014 Wilshire Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90401 (310) 451-2311