Cooking -- Easy Like Saturday Afternoon

made these two chicken curries to go with some brown rice

 and a white chocolate cream cheese bundt cake for dessert

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Окуджава

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This song screams childhood

My favorite song of Alla Pugacheva. She does not sing it -- she lives it. The words are still relevant today.

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Classic Cool

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Final song from a good movie

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Some recent baked goods

 e. likes to eat this banana bread instead of dinner

healthy version of cheesecake (with peaches). missing a bite (couldn't wait)

delicious zucchini galette with ricotta, mushrooms and feta. yum! ♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves

За то, что только раз в году бывает май

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Send off

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Let's go for a ride, shall we?

A scene from one of my favorite movies, The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean. ♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves

Missing Shel

I just read The Giving Tree and had to share this amazing children's book with you. So simple yet so powerful. Someone had given it to me on the day Andrew was born, but it got buried among others. Well... I must admit to hesitating to read the book earlier because of the author's cover photo. On it, he looks somewhat like a cross between a Jedi and a pirate. How silly of me to judge a book by its cover -- literally. Shel Silverstein was such a gentle polymath, talented in the spheres of music, poetry, screenwriting and drawing. After watching a video of him singing a children's song, I can tell you -- the man had his heart in his work. How lucky for us. Enjoy:



And here's another one that Silverstein probably wrote for Elizabeth Taylor. I love the unpredictable twist at the end. I guess the poet was not much of a businessman -- had the piece ended just six pages earlier, he would have had a Valentines or wedding present of a century. Although, if you consider the rate of divorce nowadays, the poem might still make it as a hit. Judge for yourselves:

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The Kiss

HERE you can see the 13 photos that "changed the world". I actually met the guy on photo #5 at The Wickford Art Festival back in 2006. Interesting tidbit: he married the girl in the background (they've been together for over 60 years now); you can see the tip of her head behind his shoulder. He claims that she forgave his momentary indiscretion when he explained that he was overcome with happiness and celebration.

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Unstoppable

It all started with asking the kids if they know any good songs we could sing. Right away, Andrew began stomping his feet and clapping his hands to the tune of We Will Rock You. Of course, we were a bit shaky on the lyrics, so we consulted YouTube. An hour later, I can't stop listening to different Queen songs. Here's a great one that, I think, is a much better alternative to the tired I Got a Feeling.

Don't Stop Me Now
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Some entree ideas

Cod
serve with salsa and oven-roasted potatoes

Flounder
Bake with some lemon and a touch of olive oil (very tender, best not to fry)

Chicken

gather the following ingredients:

fry some onions, throw in the mushrooms, add tumeric and cumin

take out the onion, mushroom mix. in the same pan, simmer chicken in coconut milk

serve over rice (don't forget to spoon the coconut broth over the meal)

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5 Steps to Gustatory Nirvana

Vegetable soup -- the best you'll ever have, on the day you make it. Even better the day after. Promise.

1. Gather the following ingredients:

2. Dice them, like so:

3. Saute them, like so:

4. Simmer them in chicken broth, like so:

5. Eat the soup, like so:

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Boys, take notes

How NOT to wear a suit

How TO wear a suit

Photos taken from People.com

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Mmmmmmmmmm...

I don't know what THIS is, but I want it!

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My humps, Ukranian style

Finally! Someone in the former SU created a worthy imitation of American glamour bands. The Ukranian duo, Potap (Alesha Potapenko) and Nastya Kamenskih, do great tongue-in-cheek versions of Black-Eyed-Peas-type videos. Enjoy.

P.S. Just another valid reason to finally sign up for that Russian class you've been considering. Yes, it's all that and a little more.



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After Perestroika

If you have any interest whatsoever in the Russian culture, THIS post by Drugoi is a must-see. All I can say is, wow...

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Play that funky music

I discovered a new site where you can watch your favorite artists' music videos. For instance, just click on M to find  Michael Jackson  Madonna and enjoy her "video playlist". Unlike the poor-quality videos posted on YouTube user-generated sites, Clipafon offers only the best. All music clips are recession-friendly complimentary, but registration is encouraged. By registering, you gain all kinds of VIP privileges, such as being bombarded with fewer ads  adding videos to individual playlists. So, let your lazy DJ shine. Starlight, star bright, baby!

To kick things off, here's one from the Russian Madonna:
Жанна Агузарова, Радуга
Zhanna Aguzarova, Rainbow


Жанна Агузарова - Радуга » скачать клип

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Wordless Wednesday

More historic photos HERE. ♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves

A less than comic conundrum

In 'The Referendum', Tim Kreider, the articulate Times blogger, describes himself as “a respected cartoonist whose work is beloved by hundreds and has made [him] a thousandaire, who’s been in a committed relationship for 15 years with the same cat”. He’s intellectual, he’s handsome, he’s … single and loving it. What, then, you may ask is the problem? There is none, unless you count the great divide between the man and the society. While Mr. Kreider is perfectly content with his freedom from conformist ideals, as well as from diaper duty, the people in his life are less than convinced that he is telling the truth. Well, surprise! He is:


“I’ve never been married and don’t want kids. I recently had dinner with some old friends, a couple with two small children, and when I told them about my typical Saturday in New York City — doing the Times crossword, stopping off at a local flea market, maybe biking across the Brooklyn Bridge — they looked at me like I was describing my battles with the fierce and elusive Squid-Men among the moons of Neptune. The obscene wealth of free time at my command must’ve seemed unimaginably exotic to them, since their next thousand Saturdays are already booked.”

Mr. Kreider ends his essay with a beautiful allusion to Greek mythology. Bringing up the stories of Lot’s wife, Orpheus and Eurydice, he illustrates that looking back on life with regret is unwise. True, but I wonder what he would think about looking forward – would the self-assured 42-year-old man dare to imagine the possibility of a mind change? What would Mr. Kreider do if he met the woman whom he wouldn’t mind referring to as Mrs. Kreider and not think of either his mother or his cat? And, to create a hyperbole, what if Mrs. Kreider peed on a plastic stick one day only to discover a red plus sign which he’d agree to coddle and mold and support through college? Twenty years from now, would Mr. Kreider reread his essay with shame and chuckle? Or would he sigh and wistfully reminisce about his youth?

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Childhood

Back in Belarus, we were fortunate to live in a tall apartment building that stood next to a lilac tree. The tree stood next to a ramshackle bench. The bench stood the weight of lonely matrons who liked to eat sunflower seeds, perk up their ears and polish their glasses to avoid missing any sign of life around them. Sometimes, the matrons needed to clean their houses, cook their dinners and set up their telescopes. At the end of the day, they would compare their notes (“Yes, it was definitely a different man from the one she brought home last week”), brush the stray sunflower husks off their laps, and give up the sweet spot under the tree.

Because lilac smells like childhood, I once bought a perfume that smells like lilac. Sadly, it made me smell like a matron, and I ended up giving the expensive bottle of Amariche to my grandmother. She promised not to wear it while eating sunflower seeds.

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It's Friday. Are you ready to come out of your shell?

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Press play and close your eyes

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Eine Kleine Spiel

Let’s play a little game. It’s called Wouldn’t It Be Fun If… You don’t really need to know the rules. It’s quite simple, really. I’ll start and you’ll catch on.

WOULDN’T IT BE FUN IF:

- “I’m looking for someone with a great sense of humor” wasn’t code for “I’m looking for someone who looks like a young Cary Grant, lives like a monogamous George Cloony and reproduces like a shaved Brad Pitt”? Women are so full of … um … daisies.
- Instead of filling out hundreds of absurd employment forms (What IS my reference’s address, in case I decide to borrow some money, anyway?), prospective employees were given lottery tickets for each inane inquiry (To proceed in your application process, you must answer every question, including, “If you are under 18, would you choose A, B or C? Those who are over 18 can just suspend their disbelief and get with the program. It’s not too much to ask now, is it?). I think that by now, I would have definitely won something. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this great way to solve the unemployment crisis?
- People actually kept their promises? Meant what they said? Dispensed with the notion of “appearances”, the fallacy that’s “comme il faut”, the gum snapping, the shoulder pads, the “no, you go ahead!”, the “I’d love to come!”… Well, you get the point. Now, you go ahead.

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Eye Candy

Sorry to disappoint anyone who was expecting my portrait. Just some food porn here.


Apple pie I baked. If anyone wants the recipe, email me. Too lazy to retype.

Caught in the act. She usually eats healthy. Except for when she doesn't.

"Yea, my hubby's a chef. So? Nothing comes between me and my onion rings."

Put some peppers on top of chicken and stick into oven. Pretty.

Some NY bagels. Jewish style, of course.

Mmmm. I miss those croissants. E. ate them. I had that salad.

Yummy box lunch. Thai food to thai for. (Yes, I know that was bad. Who cares, it looks good.)

If you put cheese on fried veggies, does the meal still count as "healthy"?

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If Ira Had a Playground, It Would Look Like This

Manhattan's Anthropologie store. So cool. Please send me some freebies!

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