Charlie Bartlett and August Rush

I have posted one movie... Fierce People

August Rush is about music, how music is every where. The power of music. The power of love. It stars another very talented child actor, Freddie Highmore (also Keri Russel, Robin Williams, Terrence Howard and Jonathan Rhys Meyers).

Watch this movie when you want something deep and fabulous. You will cry in that fantastic life way.

Charlie Bartlett I watch twice every time I try to watch it once. (actually this is the same with all three of the movies I've recommended)

Charlie Bartlett, which has the same main character, Anton Yelchin. Anton is undeniably talented and chooses his roles very well. Charlie Bartlett fantastic see the trailer. AND WATCH IT. The movie is fun, a teenage romance of modern day. It deals with real issues and people. (also stars Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davis and Kat Dennings.)

Poughkeepskie

This past Sunday I went on a double date up to visit the Culinary Institute of America in Poughkeepski, New York. I didn't realise until we got there (after a 2 hour train ride from Grand Central) that the school is located in an old monastery.

The main cooking classes are in the monastery, the big building in the center of the school. The chapel center now serves as a dining hall, complete with the original stained glass. I find this former worship area an appropriate place for eating at a culinary institute.

J. King, a graduate of CIA took us around. He showed us the classrooms, professional kitchens throughout the monastery. And explained each room. We saw the asian room and the BIGGEST Woks I've ever seen. JKing told us about one professor who could de-junk a line of shrimp in second (whosh whosh- with two swipes of the knife) and the shrimp are sans-gunk.

There were pictures of the finished daily coursework and I was very impressed with the presentation. They really are being educated for 5 star restaurants. We walked past more and more rooms and James told us that each class cooks for all the other students, so you never eat your own food.

(p.s. I also noticed that there was hand sanitizer dispensers on the walls all over the school)

We walked around the campus enjoying the warm fall day. The combination of the trees' colors; the view of the Hudson River and the incredible buildings made me reminiscent of boarding school and gave me a sense of future possibilities.

The restaurants were closed but there are three 5 star restaurants that are student run. JKing's favorite is the American Bounty restaurant and there is an Italian one (complete with a back garden and a wine tasting room were you learn wine parings, a french one and an apple pie cafe where JKing claims the best Apple Cider.

Everyone who is there is taken over by food. Having a beer outside by the clay tennis court behind the student center, I read an article about food porn (link is to a similar article written by the same author) in the student newspaper, La Papillote. It compared people watching the foodnetwork and watching people do complicated dishes that takes a great amount of training (never to be tried in the viewers own kitchen) and was quite interesting.

I walked through the casual student grill (the menu was delicious featuring gourmet soups served in paper cups and turkey sand witches with cranberry mayonnaise. It was interesting to listen to the students talking. All about food. Talking about how some friend found goat cheese for his soup and laughing haughtily at some culinary fact that was above my head.

Before we left we sat over a high ledge on the Hudson watching the sun set (If I can, I will get a few of the pictures from Lisel and post one) It was beautiful, the train tracks down a steep rock ledge and the hues of the trees highlighted by the setting sun and a tugboat going by.

At a bar waiting for the train a man asked me if we'd come up to see the pedestrian bridge that had recently opened. I told him no, but while driving, that we had discussed the huge number of people walking on the bridge. Turns out it is the worlds longest pedestrian bridge and a new destination for walkers. It just opened earlier this month by this mans group, Walkway over the Hudson.

GOLDFISH!!!!

Check out Soundtracks and Comebacks... these pictures are from the fantastic animation in the video.

BEST MUSIC EVER!
I know that I say this all the time... but it is true. Lisel sent me this South African techno band. called Goldfish. Check them out, they are FANTASTIC!
More funky techno song called Fort Knox

This is the guy who rocks the Sax and spins and these boys are just fantastic!

Middle East International Film Festival

As you know I am fascinated with Oceans and while following around yet another movie that so magnificently showcases my favorite thing on the planet (Oceans preview from Disney to be released on Earth on day so I will write about that later) I found some thing more interesting.....The Middle East International Film Festival

I vote for Sons of Babylon, --preview--- it is about a boy & his grandmother (pictured above) as they travel around Iraq in post Saddam era. The preview ignites my curiosity and excitement so much. I am excited to have a human story to give face to Iraq. I have had an irrevocable affect on Iraq, the people and the future; all without personally lifting a finger. And I do not even know what that effect really means. I am so ready for this movie.




Bombay Summer. Part of why I am so excited about his movie is Joseph Mathew, who wrote, produced and directed this movie. I think he is a bad ass: leaving India in '94 to study finance in the USA, then realising that he was a creative and joined the Associated Press to work on photojournalism and film making, and making 2 awesome documentaries and now there is Bombay Summer, his first feature movie. It follows a career woman who falls in love with an artist, the story is about kindred spirits, self discovery, rural vs. city life and when life forces you to make decisions. And it is set in India.

and maybe Hipsters, set in 1950s Soviet Union, its a musical whose heroine lives in a "kaleidoscopic world of fashion, jazz, music and swing dancing."* I cannot help but be reminded of the book The Unbearable Lightness of Being (the best book ever and AdS' favorite- even though the book is from a different time (1970s) and takes place in the satellite states, not USSR like the movie. I think I will love the crazy female character and the excitement of loving life against such outright oppression. A review from the tronto film festival best describes the movie as "a vibrant musical (that) might not be what you'd expect from contemporary Russian cinema, but Valery Toforovsky's Hipsters is an Iron Curtain version of Swing Kids meets Hairspray, bursting with razzle, dazzle and of course, rhythm."

*quotes from Variety weekly edition meiff section

KD's October Stuffing

It occurred to me that I could essentially make a stuffing out of anything so I tried for one with Mushrooms, red peppers, shredded carrots, onions and hot sausage and peas. It was so good. I took the long route- I made this on day two of cooking and it was my weekend masterpiece.

S&P, thyme, parsley
red peppers 3 eggs
carrots wheat bread
milk & butter OR can cream of chicken
mushrooms Hot Italian Sausage
onions frozen peas

1. Either get break crumbs or Lightly Toast a little less than a loaf of wheat bread and cut into little squares; place in big mixing bowl

2. Make the Veggies

• cut an onion or two in supersuper small chunks (everything is really small)
• use a peeler to peel all of the carrot into super small flakes (note- this is easier with a large carrot- I only had the bags of little carrots so I used a cheese grater)
• cut up mushrooms (brown) also into super small chunks
• peas (frozen- already thawed) need the least amount of peas
• 2 or 3 red peppers, also diced

combine all in a sauteing pan with olive oil, butter, salt, pepper and thyme.
stir constantly- it should be basically filled to the top with veggies (also when combining the veggies in the pan go from hardest veggie to softest because they take longer)-- also this mixture smells SO delicious and it smelled like my dads cooking which I did not plan on and it was soooo yummy smelling and it took me back!

3. Take a whole package of hot Italian sausage and take it out of the casings and cook in a separate saucepan

4. (I didn't want to use cream of chicken- so I kind of made a cream of sausage- take fat from sausage pan and heat in small pan with a small amount of water, melt in a fair amount of butter piece by piece stirring w fork or whisking the whole time, adding salt at intervals to help it bond, then pour in milk or cream while still whisking. add your cream of sausage (or a can of cream of chicken, or I guess cream of mushroom or whatever, to the veggie mix and bring to a boil, cover and let simmer after boiling and stirring for awhile.

5. Beat 3 eggs with parsley and salt and pepper.

6. combine sausage pieces with the bread pieces and then pour egg mixture all over- try to get all the bread pieces completely coated with egg (Its fun to use your hands for this but watch out for the salmonella factor)

7. Take huge soup or big chilli pot and combine bread/sausage mixture in the pot (best to do a bit from each mixture and stir & repeat till all mixed in pot. Pour mixture into cast iron skillet. Garnish on the top with extra shaved carrot pieces.

8. Bake at 375 or 350ish for 30 minutes- covered with tin foil. Take tin foil off and bake for another 10 minutes


Umm this is so good. It is the best lazy food in the world. I think I am going to invent another one soon with all kinds of veggies.... also I cooked a casserole and beets and mashed potatoes and a cake and THE BEST Green Beans EVER this weekend

There was actually a point where Katie, MK and I were all sitting on stools in my TINY kitchen shelling green beans and henning away drinking sweet tea!
Take beans, shell and wash. Put in water with pieces of onion (a very few) and rip up a piece of bacon. Add Salt, Pepper, brown sugar, basil, and a dash of clove powder and a dash of Cinnamon. Boil ALL DAY (to quote Katie "You boil the shit outta 'em"), do not cover the pot and add water continuously as it evaporates (maybe some spice replenishing as well)

Coming soon- I have all these finely shopped beets and my friend Josh stopped by this weekend as well, and told me about his boyfriend's Costa Rican beet dish that is like egg salad with hard boiled eggs and beets and mayo and cooked carrots.... I am going to work on that one and figure it out and post lates. Lovelovelove to cook!

discoBISCUITS and a BANJO n BROOKLYN

Ahhh what a weekend. The discobiscuits KILLED it last night at The Brooklyn Bowl, my new favorite music venue.... I know I am in the right place when I keep running into random people that i know... and GOOD people that I like.

(The lane pitctured next to the wall is the actual lane I was playing from all night)

The stage (in front of just small enough of an area that there is room to dance and it is crowded and you can see from everywhere) is lined with a 16 lane bowling alley. The stage shares this huge space with dark bowling with cool lights. The effect makes for an uber open space that is more comfortable and less claustrophobic than some other intimate venues.


The high ceilings are essential to a good venue, that is part of what makes the Beacon Theater, the rock cathedral, so fantastic. (they just remodeled it... look at the pictures) It is amazing that I somehow associate the brooklyn bowl show last night with the Beacon- a beautiful work of art and a legend in rock and roll history.

(The Beacon Theater)

Before last nights show, I ran into a guy who actually worked at the Beacon when I was backstage earlier this year for the Allman Brothers wtih Warren Haynes. His name is Stan? I think and he is seriuously TCB* at the venues. He is a good man and we spoke about the Bob Wier show at the brooklyn bowl on Friday (I was offered tickets to that through another friend and made the bigkid responsible decision to turn him down... but it was painful; so it was nice to hear about it from this dude- he knows his concerts and he said Bob Wier had a fantastic show)

The disco Biscuits show last night was better than the Allman Brothers show at the Beacon. It was a combination of the people, the music and the fact that I was on and off BOWLING last night. Yeah bowling. and I took care of business as well- three strikes in a row.

DG is usually my concert buddy- no small feat, and although he was missed last night, I enjoyed running around. There was a great dance spot halfway back stage left... that got alittle wierd towards the end, but Jose, one of the several good guys who were TCB* saved my spot on the three steps by the velvet rope that divided the vip bowling alley disco dance party from the bumping crowd.

ALSO- the coolest thing- I met the guy who did all the video instillation's above the Bowling Lanes. He had the sickest moustache I have ever seen. It was somehow a cross between a Hitler square and a bushy handlebar. This was a serious stash, it was well trimmed and did not go down around the sides of his face.

His roommate was behind us spinning music and video while the crowd slowy gathered for the show. Each bowling lane has a HUGE screen over the top of the area where the pins are. We started talking about the mash up videos that were so fantastically mixed with the tunes. I loved that the DJ was actually SPINNING DVDS, so the Michael Jackson mix- it would be a dvd of the jackson five remixed above my lane (as I am throwing strikes DOWN) and that dvd remix would meld with the tunes and it was so good- I don't know if I am doing a good job of explaining this- but he had two turntables and one when he spun it is connected to the video... fantastic. oh and also this dude is my neighbor in manhatthan

The disco Biscuits (I feel like Ive spent so much time babbling about the venue that I didn't mention the fact that they are so good- and it was last night of a several day tour & a full day of traveling.... The business manager also took care of business (that's how I got to be with the cool kids- he is Hil-dogs friend- she met him in a bar) and he is so hospitable and really took care of me (thank you Joey) and the tunes were bumping... as usual it was after the halftime that it got really fantastic- I was musically moved and was rocking out (in all my little areas) and Id keep running into random really great, surprising people. Hagas- bookclub style (it was awesome- I go to what looks like a good spot- find Tyler there- always at the good spots-- then I find Haggas! and we are rocking out dancing Disco style and chatting about book club. Fabulous...

(the adventure continued)
oh- so I left right before the end. I think they might've already started the encore, and was headed back to the L(ove) Train to go to my island and saw these dudes across the street. One has a BANJO. A BANJO. In. BROOKLYN.

I had to stop for a Banjo in Brooklyn. He was about to walk back inside but stayed for a second. His friend came out with the fiddleviolin and they started playing for me. The bartender ran out because apparently jamsessions in the street are a nono when one has neighbors, so we went inside.

I got a tecate on ice with 3 lemons and the bartender and I played the spoons while the waiter stacked chairs and the fiddleviolin & BANJO in BROOKLYN played. (The bartender was way better at the spoons than I was and I kept telling them that they needed to check out the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band from North Carolina) I only stayed for one session (only half my beer). and then I headed home. Very Happy.
oh gave the bartender a copy of the biscuits EP- the show was actully an EP release party and they gave out lots of cds at the door. And that was cool.

*Taking Care of Business
My term for skilled veterans who can control a dancing, hyped up mob of crazy people, most of whom are not sober and many who are on psychedelics. Professionals at takin care of business and no bullshit/no meanness crowd control was highly appreciated last night.

Fierce People for Lisel and Caroline

This post is for Lisel and Caroline (who has somehow not seen this movie dispite the fact that,
Carter, Caroline's cousin turned me on to this movie right when it came out in 07. I immediately watched it again. Every time I watch this movie I watch it twice. That is how good it is. Fierce People 's trailer does an ok job explaining the movie... the movie has such depth of characters and incredibly compelling actors. I love it.
you can currently watch Fierce People at home, it is under the Free Movies on Demand on your tv (I will check this evening and give uber specific directions about how to get to it)

song that makes new york streets feel like a 70s cartoon

Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson have collaborated on an album (Ive only heard the one song on the website) And I LOVE It. Listening to the song makes me think of New York streets turning all cartoon and happy things happen (and I am completely sober Imagining this from my desk at work & I don't even have a working Ipod). Johanasson sounds a bit like Feona Apple circa 2006 on the Extraordinary Machine album but its a duet and it's BETTER. way better. and I like it. I like it a lot. I can't wait to hear the whole album!
YALL LISTEN!! sooo good!

Juju's Breakfast Special

My grandmother, a Southern Lady, whom I call Juju but used to call Pearl every now and then when I was younger. She had an honorary Doctorate from the North Carolina School of The Arts and had a liscense plate that said Dr. Pearl.

She is not a cooking kind of grandmother. She is my best friend and a creative hostess and scene setter and effects change everywhere she goes and has the best conversations. Breakfast is usually my grandfather, Ojie (Japanese for grandfather)'s deal, but Juju has a specialty- which I would love to share with you... it has been a big hit for my house parties as well. ENJOY

EGGY MUFFIN

1 DZ hard boiled eggs, chopped
4 oz. cooked crispy bacon, chopped
4 oz shredded sharp cheddar
2 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 finely chopped onion
blend dry ingredients with mayo

season with S&P,
(some like Dijon mustard, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce--- not me)

• Top English Muffins with the mixture,
• Sprinkle some PARMESAN CHEESE on top of that
• BAKE UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN (sometimes you need to boil them for the brown toasty finish) toaster oven style
  

**ALSO GOOD WITH A SLICE OF TOMATO between eggie mix and parm