A journey through a compilation of songs

{Not exactly sure why all of the blog is highlighted in white. Please excuse this weird technological mishap and keep in mind that I draft everything in pen. I may be young, but computers confuse me.}

"Go ahead, what's your favorite song? In your best singing voice, go!"

But nothing came to mind. Of course, it was very early in the morning and I had not yet finished my first cup of coffee - the brain was having a hard time kick starting into musical melodies. What would I have sung into that make-believe microphone that one of the two of my favorite twins held up to my face? There are so many great, nay, FANTASTIC tunes out there. Ones that move you, ones that make you sing, ones that simply rock. And ones that I can sing? Tough to put together, true, occasionally I can carry a tune, but I imagine that I should have put a compilation together, like this:

"Give me a second I, I need to get my story straight," (FUN)
"To try this one or try them all? It's such a long, long way to fall," (Alice in Wonderland, Danny Elfman)
"There's no where to run, so let's just get it over," (Evanescence)
"I need you to trust me, go easy don't rush me," (Maroon 5)

"Listen to my song, it isn't very long," (Buffalo Springfield)
"Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men, it is the music of a people who will not be slaves again, when the beating of your heart, echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes," (Les Miserables)
"There's a whole lot of singing, that's never going to be heard, disappear in every day without so much as a word," (Dixie Chicks)

"So tell me what you want to hear, something that will light those ears," (OneRepublic)
"That's when she said, 'I don't hate you, I just want to save you, while there's still something left to save," (Rise Against)
"Now it's poor me, why me, oh me, boring the same old warn out blah, blah story, there's no good explanation for it at all," (Sugarland)
"When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, 'let it be.'" (Beatles)
"May it be the shadow's call will fly away, may it be you journey on to light the day, when the night is overcome, you may rise to find the sun," ("May it be", Celtic Women)
"Now that your rose in bloom a light hits the gloom on a grave," (Seal)

"I see me through your eyes, breathing new life flying high, your love shines a way into paradise, so I offer my life as a sacrifice," (Leona Lewis)
"Love, will not betray you, enslave or dismay you, it will set you free," (Mumford & Sons)
"Say it once, say it twice, take a chance and roll the dice, ride with the moon in the dead of night," (Danny Elfman)
"And nothing is quite what it seems, you're dreaming, oh, you're dreaming," (Alice in Wonderland, Danny Elfman)
"And now you're just somebody that I used to know," (Gotye)
"Raise my hands, paint my spirit gold, bow my head, keep my heart slow, 'cause I will wait, I will wait for you," (Mumford & Sons)

"There can be no better way of knowing, in a world beyond controlling," (Disturbed)
"Just one day and then, I swear I'll be content, with my share, won't resent, won't despair, old and bent, I won't care," (Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
"For I have grown too strong," (Christina Perrie)
"And no, I'm no one's wife, but oh, I love my life," (Chicago)
"So let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun.
Tonight, we are young." (F.U.N.)

Can you tell that I reintroduced myself to my dear friend, my iPod, who has been growing dusty as of late? Would not have sung that compilation at breakfast time, but it sure was fun putting together a few of "my favorite things" (Rodgers & Hammerstein). And some how I managed to weave in something like a story. 

Finding Zen in the Kitchen Again

Last weekend, I took the time to perfect making Bosnian coffee and I think I've finally mastered it. It was a fun exercise as I'm the coffee shop type, used to using coffee makers and espresso machines of all different sizes and sorts. This was one of my new methods of taking time out to re-learn things that are within my routine. It's an attempt to help me with discovering ways to find zen. Last Monday, I intended to practice doing a handstand, something that a very good friend of mine does whenever her balance tends to be off. Being that I've been experiencing  pressure/discomfort in my lower back, inverting myself sounded like a much needed trick. However, I have not done a handstand since my days of running barefoot around Mission Bay when my age was in the single digit level, so it should be interesting. (Did the handstand - made me laugh, which made me feel loads better along with the feeling of all the pressure leaving my back - but if you try this, please do so with caution).

Paint brush, walking shoes, sewing needle - these have been my tools in recent weeks to finding peace. But now that the first vegetables of the year's harvest (no joke, I'm saying this) are coming around, cooking will be my favorite go-to for finding peace. Usually, as you may know if you follow these, I'm a a baker. However, I've always enjoyed cooking and after reading (last summer), my favorite author's journey through a year of growing her own sustainable garden, I've been following the regiment of eating what is in season to the best of my abilities. Now, that doesn't mean that I've been snobbing greens - in fact yesterday I had an enormous Cobb salad at a restaurant, but what it does mean is that when grocery shopping, I have been turning away from Asparagus grown in Peru, bananas from Brazil, and avocados from Guatamala. I have absolutely NO prejudice against these countries, but I do not care to have vegetables and fruits shipped to me before they are ripe, travelling hundreds of miles and burning tons of fuel to be on my table in winter. Fair trade vegetables and locally grown are the way I've been trying to go. Vegetables grown locally tend to be a little cheaper because they did not need first class travel amenities to pass through tariffs and trade regulations. And, let's not kid ourselves, locally grown vegetables taste AMAZING. If you're not eating vegetables in season or locally grown (usually these go hand-in-hand), then you've been missing out on one of the simplest culinary pleasures out there. Biting into a juicy multicolored heirloom tomato was one of the greatest flavors to ever have exploded on my taste-buds. Go on, go find your local farmer's market and try to tell me otherwise if you don't believe me.

Being that I grew up in California where the neighbor's trees provided avocados, maintaining this lifestyle in NY where most of my veg options would come from CA anyway, has been tough this winter. BUT now that asparagus season has begun, look out table, here comes my inner chef. I will not claim to be a Julia Child, but I am following the guiding wisdom of the French Chef. La libre de les trois gourmond est mon prefere pour des diners francais. (Not bad, no? The only word that I had to look up for that last sentence was "dinner", which, in retrospect, is pathetic). Like for many of my friends, the movie Julie/Julia was inspirational to me (I feel kinda extra connected to it because I'm a blogger living on the border of Astoria and Long Island City with a small kitchen, a cat, and a lifestyle that leaves me servantless). While I will not be cooking through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I intend to take full advantage of every vegetable as it comes into season with the recipes of the three French Chefs. This upcoming weekend, I will be making something with Asparagus, who is the first green to kick off the season. I'll keep you posted.

Last night, on my way back from work, I was half way home and the itch to bake took over me. I knew exactly what I was going to make and I knew that I could be creative enough to do it. So, I got home, fed the cat, dawned the apron and made the following:

Julia Child's Reine de Saba

What was required: butter (big surprise), dark Jamaican rum, dark chocolate, shaved almonds, almond extract, flour, 3 eggs, sugar, and salt.

All in all, a pretty simple recipe. I'd already done this cake for my  mom for her birthday, so I had a general idea of how it should taste, but I knew that I didn't want it to be too rich or too much, especially because of the fact that I would be the only one eating it and that my cupboards were a little dry of these ingredients.

What I had: butter (a miracle, this), oak-barrel Bacardi rum (also a miracle as I am usually a red wine conoseur), eggs, milk chocolate with magademia nuts, and almond flour left over from a paleo cake that I baked for my roommate's birthday last week.

After skimming over the recipe, I nodded and said, "Yeah, I can work with that." So I did. Twenty minutes of beating an egg white to its postmortem phase, melting chocolate & rum, and fighting back the cat, the single serving cake (I only wanted one), was ready to be baked. Into the oven at 350 it went. During its baking time I made pasta with a butter sauce and sat down with Mastering the Art of French Cooking to figure out what would be next. There was a garlic soup that I'm most likely to do next, but the search for a good asparagus recipe is my priority. Probably going to make a white sauce for it, and serve it with salmon. Yum. I'll be sure to take photos.

 The bell for the oven told me that it was time to release the cake from its fiery prison. After ensuring that the toothpick came out clean, said cake was ready to cool. Now, not sure that you know this trick, but if you lightly butter the pan (in this case the muffin pan with only one occupant), and then dust it with flour, it is almost guaranteed that whatever you have baked will slip out easily after you use a sharp knife to help out on the sides. It's a good trick and it never fails to impress me.

The result:

I did not adorn it with frosting, although all it would have taken would be another melted chocolate, rum, and, you may have guessed it, butter. Honestly, the cake did not need it. After my chicken and pasta, I devoured the cake. It was moist and wonderful, just like the one I had made my mom with the real ingredients, but certainly less rich. Only one word for it: yum.

Mission "Find Zen": Complete.

Thanks Julia Child & Julie Powell for the inspirations! (Thanks of course to Amy Adams and the all too amazing Meryl Streep for bringing them to life on screen).

Remember always, Bon Appetit!

Words of wisdom for the week, as told by a character in Last Holiday: "The secret to life is butter."