make dinner not war

I'm finally embracing that I have to make dinner for myself on the regular. As in: every day. Every day. I just did it yesterday, and dinner will be happening again tonight. It's relentless.

I was happy to find this slogan on a dinner: a love story ::::




Their recipes have to be good. The bumper sticker is too catchy for mediocrity.

Ear Candy: Sunny Road

keep a record.

anne and christie are. looks great.

Missed Connections :: Sophie Blackall

Unbelievable Moustache on the C
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
-w4m - 28 (Chelsea)
You: tall, brown hair, incredibly voluminous moustache, blue/green checkered shirt
Me: tall, blonde, wearing all black and Burberry rain boots
I boarded the uptown C train at 14th Street at around 10:50 on Tuesday morning. You got off at 23rd. You were staring at me. Hard. You're really really really ridiculously good-looking.



Hipster Chick Who Passed Gas
Monday, March 23, 2009
-m4w (Harlem)
Remember? Uptown A train. Sunday at around 9pm. I was the black dude reading Bukowski's Post Office. You were reading the Arts and Leisure section. You passed wind rather loudly and started chuckling. I'd like to see you again. The flatulence wasn't a turn-off.

:::: loving these. more here. buy the book here. ::::

advencha

A billion years ago (...december of last year...) I e-mailed the photographer that took this knock-ya-back photo to ask his permission to use it on this here blog. He sad yes. I found that e-mail today. Thanks, Nich. It really is something. I'm ready for a snowstorm. Or a Friday working with 30 three-year-olds. same-same.

Photo by Nich McElroy. Go buy some of his art already.

Via Cotty: Jose Gonzalez

Jose Gonzalez covering Kylie Minogue. Cotty always knows.

Cheerful Conversation and Long Journeys

Live in rooms full of light
Avoid heavy food
Be moderate in the drinking of wine
Take massage, baths, exercise and gymnastics
Fight insomnia with gentle rocking or the sound of running water
Change surroundings and take long journeys
Strictly avoid frightening ideas
Indulge in cheerful conversations and amusements
Listen to music.
-Aulus Cornelius Celsus, ca. 25 BCE - ca. 50 CE

photo via blackblook

Poppies & Friendship

Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time.
-Georgia O-Keeffe (painting & quote, both)

oh, anthropologie. you clever.

"One of our core philosophies," explains Anthropologie president Glen Senk, "is that we spend the money that other companies spend on marketing to create a store experience that exceeds people's expectations. We don't spend money on messages -- we invest in execution."



If you've ever wanted more info on why you're roaming around thinking "I could live here..." while in an Anthropologie read on this.

From the article:
The Anthropologie woman is not so much conflicted as she is resistant to categorization. Her identity is a tangle of connections to activities, places, interests, values, and aspirations. She's not married with two kids: She's a yoga-practicing filmmaker with an organic garden, a collection of antique musical instruments, and an abiding interest in Chinese culture (plus a husband and two kids).



They're wielding a mighty large magnifying-glass over at Anthro, and it is downright fascinating. And probably modeled after one scouted at the sweetest little French flea market you can imagine. I'll admit that I read the article with a mix of respect, captivation, and... well... nausea. Kind of like admiring their wares, and then - oh, right - acknowledging the price tag.

(did you miss the link to the article I'm quoting from up above? here it is again.)

Ernestine Shepherd, Age 74

World's oldest competitive female bodybuilder :::


Runs at least 10 miles daily :::


Didn't get into exercise until she was 56. amazing.

true story

"The time to make up your mind about people is never" - Katherine Hepburn via The Philadelphia Story / public :: bookstore

let's go for a run

I can't remember where I found this, but wish I could give someone the credit! lovely.

Ear Candy: Yellow Alex and the Feelings

this is it.

Ear Candy: Tom Zé

If your day needs a little bit of Brazilian magic, look no further than right here. Digging it.

light as a

by Claire Scully

grow your own

via theindigobunting. love it.

Birches

by Lisa Congdon

Tangelo

by Anna Wolf

Blue Ridge Berries

Thanks, Ira

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

— Ira Glass (via mint)
photo by Stuart Mullenberg

flowers

by Sara Cwynar

Smells like Spring

via Piero Fissore

Ear Candy: T. Rex

Ear Candy: Fleet Foxes

I love NPR's First Lesson Series, and the fact that they share these albums with you for free before you can own them. Just for the listens. Not for the keeps. So please go enjoy Fleet Foxes' delicious new album Helplessness Blues by clicking this excessively long hyperlinked sentence! xo-pg

I love Katy Perry.

... and her royal nails celebrating Wills & Kate. Amazing ::::



Totally blew it not taking this morning off to watch the wedding. And in the timeless words of Jack from Will & Grace, I quote, "Love [the dress]. Love everything about you. Thinking about being you for Halloween." For real. Halloween 2011. Let's get some Sarah Burton knock-offs up in Party City.

Ear Candy: Dirty Gold

Thank you, Becca. xo

Ear Candy: Neko Case

I had never seen this video until today. In fact, I hardly ever see music videos. I like it, though. I like it.

Ear Candy: Josh Ritter

Can barely handle it.

PROJECT!!!!

A friend of mine secured us this sweet space to garden. So I guess these are the "before" pictures, but there also serving double-duty as the "right now" photos::::





We're pretty excited about all the terracing potential.



So far we're just clearing, but soon there will be lettuce! carrots! radishes! and then tomatoes and cucumbers!! ahhh! It's really great to have more space to work with.

Tree Identification

I walked by a group of trees on my way home from work today, and felt encouraged to go up and give some of them pep talks.

I think it would have gone something like this::



What that frost did to you was just so, so wrong! You deserve better. There you were - out in your best spring outfit - ready for picnics, and sunshine and it just snows all over you! ugh. I think you should move on.



But one of the great things about trees? They don't really need pep talks. They pretty much seem over it. Which is good since I think there's supposed to be another frost tonight.

oh, snap

Just read this quote that was part of a signature on someone's e-mail ::::




Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
-Benjamin Franklin

Baby Bats are the New King Charles Spaniel

I mean, seriously :::



What sort of degree do I need to go out and earn so that my life might involve swaddling teeny, adorable bats in teeny, pastel blankets? The world is just alarmingly cute sometimes. More on these guys here.

PS - I can't remember what site I originally found this on. My b. Whoever you are, you're a star.

Survey (on Virginia's Food Systems) Says....

..whatever you want it to!



Share your thoughts with Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, and the Virginia Food Council on how to strengthen Virginia's local, regional, and statewide food systems. The results of their research will inform a comprehensive Virginia Farm-to-Table plan, research development, extension education, policy, and funding recommendations and strategies. Link is here. Holllaaaa.

SPRING IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well la-la-la, and bring on the sunshine! So ready for it. I thought it might be fun to document my house's backyard garden, so here we go:::



We have 4 raised beds, and yesterday I was messing about in two of them. I direct-seeded some spinach, chioggia beets (ahem, the pretty ones with the swirly centers), arugula, two varieties of kale, arugula, and some lettuce. What variety of lettuce?



Drunken woman. Picked because of the name? No doubt.

And on a related note, I also got a little resourceful with row markers ::



It was a Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale in case you were wondering. And it was delicious.

And finally, the addition to the garden I'm MOST excited about :::::



Our new compost bins! Installed by our team of housemates this past weekend. We're going to use the rapid composting method developed by Robert D. Raabe of UC Berkeley. Details here. I'll write more about how it goes, as it all (literally) breaks down.

Anyway, I know our garden isn't the biggest or baddest in town, but it definitely feels good to get it going. Sending everyone spring radish wishes and cherry tomato dreams!

Lunch Line Screening in Charlottesville

Come one, come all!



Lunch Line will be shown next Friday - March 25th, 7pm at the MLK Performing Arts Center @ Charlottesville High School. Here's the trailer :::

Lunch Line Trailer from uji films on Vimeo.

Hope to see you there/ hope to see tater tots & skim strawberry milk banned from schools!

All Funding Considered

All the hub-bub about NPR's federal funding reminded me about this amazing video of Mr. Rogers going before the Senate in 1969 to defend funding for PBS. It blows me away, and hopefully Ira Glass is watching this for inspiration. It's well worth the full 7 minutes.



brilliant.

Ear Candy: Vetiver

yep. it's good.

Salt Craving

Here's a lil' screen-grab taken just now of Vineyard Haven Harbor from the MV Times webcam



And some sound advice to accompany::

The cure for anything is salt - sweat, tears, or the sea
-Isak Dinesen

Woody Guthrie's (old) New Year's Resolutions

Go on, Whitney. This was a really good re-post. I'll keep that trend going here. respect. one.

Unsurprisingly, Woody Guthrie’s new year’s resolutions are all great ones.

1. Work more and better
2. Work by a schedule
3. Wash teeth if any
4. Shave
5. Take bath
6. Eat good - fruit - vegetables - milk
7. Drink very scant if any
8. Write a song a day
9. Wear clean clothes - look good
10. Shine shoes
11. Change socks
12. Change bed clothes often
13. Read lots good books
14. Listen to radio a lot
15. Learn people better
16. Keep rancho clean
17. Don’t get lonesome
18. Stay glad
19. Keep hoping machine running
20. Dream good
21. Bank all extra money
22. Save dough
23. Have company but don’t waste time
24. Send Mary and kids money
25. Play and sing good
26. Dance better
27. Help win war - beat fascism
28. Love Mama
29. Love Papa
30. Love Pete
31. Love everybody
32. Make up your mind
33. Wake up and fight

originally via jasontheexploder

Ear Candy: Ivan & Alyosha

PJ from mvyradio keeps a great blog, and recently had Jesse from Right Arm Resource stand-in for him while he was on vacation.

Jesse had some great suggestions - my favorite being Fathers Be Kind by Ivan and Alyosha:::



and Easy to Love is also really great:::



Thanks, PJ & Jesse!

Gary Nabhan Speaking at UVA Tomorrow

Ready to go hear a lecture from an inspiring, seed-saving conservation biologist? Me, too.

Gary Paul Nabhan ... has been called “the father of the local food movement” by Mother Earth News. Gary is also an orchard-keeper, wild forager and Ecumenical Franciscan brother in his hometown of Patagonia, Arizona near the Mexican border. more.



Wondering what an "Ecumenical Franciscan" is? Funny you should ask: a body of Christians who maintain a devotion to Sts. Francis and Clare and their interpretation of the gospel life. source.

Nabhan is the author of 24 books, his most recent being Chasing Chiles - Hot Spots Along the Pepper Trail::



I haven't read it yet, but this guy has:

A treasure trove of chile lore and a wake-up call to everyone who cares about real food, Chasing Chiles will amuse and alarm you. These three gastronauts carry a wealth of culinary and botanical knowledge, and their journeys in their Spice Ship uncover an incredibly diverse world of chiles that is changing with breathtaking speed. Stop worrying about the impact of climate change on future harvests; cross your fingers for this year’s instead.

-Rowan Jacobsen , author of American Terroir and Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis

And on that foreboding (and hopefully reversible) note, here are the details: his talk at UVA will be tomorrow, March 3rd at 5pm in Lecture Hall 160, Campbell Hall, School of Architecture (near Culbreth Theater, off Rugby Rd). Parking available at nearby Newcomb Hall. Poster for event here.

Hope to see you there!
ps-it's free.

Ear Candy: Ingrid Michaelson

Heard this for the first time today. Love it. Especially the break-down at the end. See ya in France.

Ear Candy: WTJU

Just heard this as a part of their rock fundraising marathon:::



uh huh. good call.

Stream it from here.

Ear Candy: The Head and the Heart

The Head and the Heart opened for Dr. Dog yesterday at the Jefferson, and totally won me over.

It looked like they were having a great time and putting a lot of love into what was happening on stage. The violinist's sparkly outfit didn't hurt their cause. Signing up for their e-mail list above is going to get you a couple free tracks.

Ear Candy: The Outfields

because it's Friday. That's why.

Eliot Coleman Speaking at UVA

So I remember the first time that a friend mentioned Eliot Coleman in passing - assuming I knew who he was - and the following surprise and animated explanation that followed when I told her I had no idea who she was talking about. Eliot Coleman is one of those people who does that to others; he's so inspiring that it becomes hard to imagine un-reading his books, and un-knowing about the exciting contributions he's made to agriculture.

And he's speaking at UVA Feb 13th. The event is free:::


details.

So my shorthand on Eliot Coleman is that he's a year-round organic farmer in Maine who uses unheated greenhouses, and wrote a wise, helpful book for beginning farmers The New Organic Grower that covers subjects like soil fertility, crop rotation, and factors to help you determine what an appropriate scale might be for starting your own operation. His books are incredibly readable - and so his gift to organic farming is not only that he's so knowledgeable, but that he also knows how to share this with others. More on him here.

He's also going to be speaking at the Virginia Association for Biological Farming conference. Details on that here.

Everybody be nice to him while he's visiting. Let's try to make sure he comes back often. [Hands in. aaand-break!]

Lucky For Us

"…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are."
— Pema Chödrön

Photo by Deodato Pangandoyon

TEDxManhattan: Changing the Way We Eat

So I just got a heads-up from Charlottesville's Eat Local listserv about the food-focused TEDTalk style event that is happening this weekend in New York. Representatives and leaders from FoodCorps, the USDA's Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food program, Slow Food USA; the producers of King Corn and An Inconvenient truth; and other folks you can read about here will all be giving talks.



Can't make it to New York? Me neither. You can stream the talks online from this link or go to a viewing party. There's one happening in Richmond - it's free but they're looking for you to RSVP here.