Got my first shipment of cheese yesterday… Gouda, Gruyere and Parmigiano Reggiano. Awesome.

Had some eggs with shredded Gouda and Chorizo-style seitan from Upton’s Naturals. The seitan had no business being as good as it was. I haven’t had chorizo in like 5 years, but this stuff was seasoned so wonderfully.

I will post a picture later cuz I am lol blogging from work.

so, my good friend Caitlin over at www.nice-etc.com told me about the totally awesome Sally Shapiro. I have read people commenting that she is basically a italo-disco version of Annie. While I agree with this at face value, Ms. Shapiro deserves a ton more credit than that. Her songs and voice have much more emotion than the bubblegum of Annie. There is also an amazing melancholy that really affects me.

It is silly to make this comparison, but her songs remind me a lot of the ballads of 80’s pop star Tiffany, especially “All this Time” and “Promises Made.”

Anyway, it is awesome stuff.

Other funny story: I went to Handlebar over the weekend with my friend Emily. The waiter dude we got was kinda awkward and even did some weird elvis hip gyration when he took out his pad to take our order. Other than that, the only thing memorable about him was this pretty hipster-y brown sweater with all different squares on it. So, about three quarters of the way through, a guy comes up to our table in a black button down long sleeve western style shirt. Emily and I look at each other and then him again… and she asks if he had a wardrobe change hahaha. It totally caught us off guard and was hilarious. I would totally approve of wardrobe changes by waiters at fancy places haha.

Additionally, we inquired about their plantains foster and he said it came on a smaller dish… kinda the size of a diner-style oval dish. So, he comes out and it is like at least twice the size. Oh Handlebar.

Some beers I have had recently that have made me happy: Brooklyn’s Espresso Imperial (or Double) Stout, Avery’s Mephistopheles Imperial Stout, Founder’s Centennial IPA, and Unibroue’s Terrible

And I know this is all over the design blogs already, but if you check out Ting’s Home collection, they have flooring made from used leather belts. So irresistibly cool. I am pretty sure that I am going to pick a couple tiles up and do something with them. Maybe frame them and throw it up on the wall or just surface some table with the tiles. We will see.

Ok, that is all for now. Maybe i will post some pics of the house progress soon. Also, the kitchen is going to be unbelievable when it is done in 3 months. I am really excited.

cheese of the month club.

really pumped and just a little scared.

Taylor / Dan always make me want to listen to IDM… so after a visit to them last night, I downloaded some things that I had lost when my hard drive died. Nostalgia.

also, the semi-new Scorces LP on not not fun is really good (if you like the slowest music ever). That reminds me, I should put on Coil’s “Time Machines.”

“Market Square,” one of the never to be re-released Charalambides albums showed up on Discogs, so I swooped in and bought it. One of the bleakest albums I have ever heard, but it is also one of my favorites. I can’t wait for it to come in the mail so I can listen to it on my turntable rather than my ipod.

also, beers. also, I made sloppy joe’s tonight… partially in remembrance of Joe and partially because I wanted them. Went with the Morningstar crumbles or whatever and Manwich Bold. It wasn’t quite bold enough for me, but I made two sandwiches (one full, one open-faced) with organic pepper jack that I shredded. I put the shred on the bread and then put the sloppy joe on that to melt the cheese. It worked out very nicely!

and a percolator i took from my grandpa’s house:

Mad Men is so good. Don’t ruin anything for me though, I am late to the game and just starting the second season.

Made a good sandwich tonight… pan-fried “grilled” cheese with Havarti, guacamole, and some thinly sliced fried potato slices on whole wheat bread. Really tasty but too fattening.

So I subscribed to the following music subscription series from Christina Carter of Charalambides:

2009 Many Breaths Subscription Series

339 dollars 4 many breaths cdrs, a handwritten/drawn illuminated message/letter with each cdr, and a one of a kind 63 + min cdr w/ hand made cover of improvised guitar and/or voice music recorded specifically for the recipient, a handwritten lyric sheet and/or song notes with each cdr, an interview document created specifically for the subscription series, gathered ephemera from daily life and something in which to contain it all – there are a maximum of 9 of these subscriptions available

….some people on the lol internet have been talking bad about it, but I want to defend it.

The natural reaction is “way too expensive, no way is it worth it, way to take some money, etc.” However, I think it is a really fantastic idea. First of all, this really is for die-hard fans, I don’t expect regular folks to go out and buy this. I feel like it is a throwback to artist patronage in the 17th, 18th centuries in painting. It is a unique opportunity to get something very special and personalized from an artist that I happen to love. The current psych scene is totally based on scarcity and handmade things, whether because of necessity or to drive collectors. Of course, I would have preferred if it was on vinyl because that is my format of choice, but it would be economically ridiculous to make a vinyl copy of 1. I look at it this way, Christina Carter / Charalambides should be no different than any number of modern / avant visual artists that make much more money than some of my favorite musicians will ever make.

I just couldn’t pass up such a unique opportunity. And it is not like psych-folk artists are living the rockstar life. I would be more than happy to pay even more, if it means that an artist I love will have a more comfortable life and will continue to make music that, in my opinion, is some of the best out there.

My mom saved these “autograph books” from middle school that were basically like yearbooks without the pictures. Her friends and classmates would write things in them. Here are some of the hilarious / great / weird ones.

1. Policeman!

Do your duty

Here comes Nancy

The American Beauty

2. Hope you have a happy summer and more seasons that will be happy.

3. When you get old and out of shape

remember girdles are only $2.98

4. Boston girls are pretty

New York girls are smart

But it takes a Nancy Keller

to break a fellow’s heart (ha-ha-ha)

5. When you get married and live in a tree

I’ll send you a coconut C.O.D.

6. (a variation)

When you get married and live upstairs

Don’t come down and borrow my chairs

and my favorite because it is hilarious:

7. Roses are red

violets are purple

why don’t you

Drop dead at Morton

(signed) George Brodsky (sp?)

The Great Rebel

—–hahaha. more to come in a second edition…—–

AND

The last two weeks my sister’s and I have been doing some house cleaning in my grandpa’s house and sorting for what each of us want to keep ans what we will be donating to goodwill. The first week was fine… we mostly did the kitchen and sorted the things in his cabinets. We found some cool glasses and mugs, but it wasn’t anything too emotional or anything. Yesterday was kind of a different story. We went through his master bedroom closet without much fanfare… there were some memories, but nothing too crazy. Then we started going through his nightstands.

There was truly a lot of cool stuff in his nightstands… pay stubs from his old job (singular, he stayed with one company his whole life), old coins, old pictures, etc.

The really sad thing we found was stuff from when my grandma was ill (she passed before i was born). My grandpa would keep little notebooks and calendars of things… doctors appointments, store orders, etc. The two things that really affected me are as follows. The first was one of the notebooks in 1982, but before i was born. it was basically chronicling my grandma’s sickness and everything she went through… it really reminded me of the things my mom went through and it was heart-breaking. The second and most affecting thing was a series of one-a-day calendar pull-off sheets. my grandpa had kept the sheets of the days of note in my grandma’s sickness starting with the day of her surgery and ending with the day of her burial. he marked on the top of each page he kept what major thing happened that day. I don’t even remember what most of them said, but i remember that he kept all of the days between her death and her burial, but they didn’t have anything noted on top.

i think that i want those calendar pages more than anything else in his house.

Not only did this bring memories back from my mom, but it just goes to show how much he cared about my grandma, who i never met. it kind of humanized not only the grandma that i never knew, but also my grandpa. this is not to say that my grandpa was distant or even close to that. he just always kept it together and was the strong, but gentle and joking old guy. he did show real sorrow when my mom passed, but i didn’t “appreciate” that… or i was too hung up in my own grief that it didn’t make the impact that it “should” have.

anyway, i am getting a little teary writing this and i think i have wrote all i wanted for now.

so so immature, but…