Mark Wahlberg talks to animals

Nine

Saw this at the Ziegfield on Friday. The costumes and locations were gorgeous, some of the songs were big and fun and over the top, but overall, I wouldn't recommend it. I expected more from Daniel Day-Lewis, his accent was bad and distracting, and as Dina and I agreed, the lyrics to most of the musical numbers are pretty dumb, which was again distracting.

Mushroom Casserole

I made this late last week, and what's appealing to me is that it's not a cream and heavy cheese based casserole. The binding ingredients are cottage cheese, sour cream, and eggs, and I used wild black rice, which added an interesting texture. Good comfort food, and fairly simple ingredients. Recipe.

Santa's on his way..

gurgle gurgle.

Snow!

I haven't seen snow like this in New York since I moved here in 2005! What's funny though is that in one week they'll have piled it all into trucks and dumped it outside the city. My mom flew over New York last year and said there was snow everywhere else, but the city streets were bare. Weird living here in the winter with no snow! I actually like it though, less messy.

Flickr Design

Loving this piece, check out others on flickrdesign.

um, wow.

Craig!! Where are you??! via sandrajuto.

Holiday gifties

Aww, look at these sweet cross stitch pillows, maybe a nice gift for granny's couch?

A Holiday Classic

I did the running man in my basement to this song.

Martha Wainwright - The Traitor

Youtube won't let me embed this video, so I have to link to it, but please go and watch! This performance blows me away, watching it on a big screen is even better. It's a Leonard Cohen song, taken from the film Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, and I love both what the song is about, and what Martha brings to it. She's also an underrated artist by the way, I met her a couple years ago and she's totally sweet and her music is brillz. Also didn't realize that she sings with Snow Patrol on the Third Bar song.

Pans explained

Take a look at this guide to pans and what they're made out of. Good to know when purchasing.

History of Christmas

The History Channel had a really interesting retrospective on Christmas last year, here's an overview. I think it's well known that Christmas was originally a pagan holiday, but did you know that back in the day, the "common folk" would get out of control crazy rowdy drunk on that day, which led to the celebration being outlawed at one point? Then, because the outlaw couldn't be effectively enforced, the Christian church (who was trying to convert pagan followers to Christianity) attempted to change what the holiday represented..ie, birth of baby Jesus. Charles Dickens then wrote The Christmas Carol, which re-imagined how Christmas was celebrated. And due to the immense success of the novel, his ideas became envogue and rather than getting crazy out of control drunk in the streets, people began celebrating with families around a tree (which had also become envogue) and quietly feasting and giving thanks, and eventually loving Jesus. Interesting stuff.

My mom elfed my family.

watch

a Camera Obscura xmas

7 foods health experts won't eat

This list is really interesting, I feel like I'm pretty well read on this sort of thing and I was surprised.

Tribes of China

This site posts "family portraits of all 56 ethnic groups in China". Pretty cool.

Daft Punk streaming

I've been listening to this playlist, stream it.

Doc Martens

Soo, soome say that Docs are back in style...aand I happen to own these numbers from the 90's..how would you feel dear reader if one day we hung out and I was wearing them? I'm not quite sure that these girls have the look I'm going for, but please vote yes or no.

In Cold Blood/Capote

Read this/saw this. The book was great, but the movie is ok, I couldn't quite figure out what all the hype was about. Yes, Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as always, but the story felt very rushed, which made it hard to get a sense of the emotional side of what was going on. I felt like I was just being told what to think rather than deciding for myself. BUT, I love watching a movie and then finding out that someone unexpected is in it, who you also happen to love, ie Catherine Keener and Amy Ryan. The style was also beautiful, very much in line with the Mad Men look that's become so popular.

Excited to see this!

..even though it's for old people. Dina says I'm secretly an old person..I'm hoping what she means is an interesting and unique old soul..

LOVE!

Best LA holiday photo ever. The tree in the swimming pool and floating ornaments are soo fun!!

Tis the season

...in the land of Superheroes.

Vanilla roasted pears

Trying new recipes is pretty fun when I'm the only one eating the end result. Then there's no one to tell me how unappealing it really is. Tonight however, I took the risk of making this new dish for Sarah, and while she was nice enough to refrain from expressing how unappealing it ended up being, we did agree that the taste fell somewhere between fruit and a potato. Sigh. Although I will concede that it probably should have baked longer and would've thus been softer and most likely more enjoyable. But if you're brave enough, or just baking for yourself sans risk, peep the recipe.

Food, Inc.

I recommend watching this, it's informative and empowering. However, it acts as an overview of the industrialized food system in our country, and mainly focuses on the production of beef, poultry, and pork. I've seen and read Fast Food Nation, and Food, Inc. covered a lot of the same territory. Many people are now aware of how detrimental to our health, the planet and our economy the large scale production of meat in America has become. I think whats equally compelling and less discussed is the industrialization of produce that travels across continents before being sold in my local supermarket. I want to know about the major ports in my city where food is shipped, how it's transported, the workers who are employed, and the mechanisms put in place by our government to make all of that possible. What kind of trade agreements do we have with other nations? How do the decisions made by our government shape agriculture in less industrialized nations? The food industry has recently garnered more public scrutiny, and I only wish this film supplemented that by further publicizing the numerous facets of food production on a global scale.

Winter Holidays

My mom sent me a snowy photo taken during their Christmas tree excavation over the weekend, and it inspired me to get into the holiday season. Here are some other pretties courtesy of thethinkingtank.

Winter Holidays p2

More winter scenes from Bjorn Lie.

Little guys

Hah! I love this naked robot and the mustachioed men from Mimi Kirchner on Esty.

Also, I love bulletinboards

Some home inspiration

Greens soup

I recently made this green soup with ginger, leeks, and sweet potatoes. It's soo good. And chunky because I crammed tons of chard, escarole and spinach into it. A great lunch for cold days! Recipe.

Celebrating pasta

Ok, so I'm obsessed with carbs. Chips, cookies, and cheesy pasta top the list, but I rarely choose to eat any because when I cook, I cook for myself, and making a big cheesy pasta casserole means eating a big cheesy pasta casserole by myself. Thus, this lighter version with an egg/greek yogurt/garlic sauce. It has olives, butternut squash, and kale, and is topped with toasted almonds to give it crunch. If you make it, don't skip the almonds! It's also topped with scant feta, but I bought a hard ricotta by accident and used that instead. Still came out yummy. Recipe.

Tim Burton exhibit at the MoMA

I think this is the coolest art exhibit I've seen to date, really neat. Click above video.

Banana Bread..D+

So I tried making this healthy banana bread recipe last night and decided that I would cut out the sugar, hoping the bananas were sweet enough. It definitely turned out "lightly" sweet..also a little dense. But I grilled it with butter for Sarah today, and she's okay with it, thus the D versus an F.

Q-Tees!

Look at these guys, by sandra juto.







And this lady, by handmade romance.

Dream Weaver

This print is inspiring some holiday feelings, maybe because of the evergreen? Very pretty. Kirra Jamison.

Love these necklaces

They're like a chic-er version of the friendship necklaces we used to make at camp. Shop.

We are coo

This is a fun blog, two sisters living on opposite coasts post a daily photo for each other that relates to how they're feeling. The pics are great! Wearecoo.

Seriously?

smittenkitchen.com baby strikes again.

Heart this

Harrod's kills the wicked witch of the East and saves Munchkin Land!

Marbled Icebergs

These beauties were scouted out in the Antarctic by Norwegian sailor Oyvind Tangen. Read more.

How cute is my brother?

Unsurprisingly, the ladies love him.

Holiday movies

Along with lots of food, my Thanksgiving also included lots of movies, starting with The Godfather, which was playing on cable with commercials and stretched from like 11am - 4pm. We literally watched it all day! Then came a couple that I would not recommend - Year One, The Brothers Bloom, then one I would maybe recommend - Transformers 2 (fun bc of the effects), and finally one that I would probably recommend - Sunshine Cleaning. I tried to get my dad interested in Fantastic Mr. Fox, but that didn't happen. I think holiday movies are a great tradition, I can't wait to see A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey over Christmas!

Shmanksgiving!

This year I cooked a big meal for my dad. I selected traditional fare (stuffing, potatoes, brussels), but also tried to include an interesting twist in each dish. Surprisingly, everything came out great! I was so happy..and exhausted. Check out what I made! And no, these pictures aren't from our table..

Roasted chicken with pears and shallots. Recipe.














Mashed potatoes and celery root with leeks and coconut milk. Recipe.




I also made roasted brussel sprouts with shiitake mushrooms and fennel, and sausage cornbread stuffing with chestnuts, but no pics. For dessert:

Apple and pumpkin cake.












And the highlight, butternut squash pie with gingerbread crust. Yum! Recipe.