Oryx and Crake at Decatur CD

I went to see Oryx and Crake at Decatur CD yesterday. We got there on the later side so I was in the back, on the side. Oh and the kid didn't really want to stay very long. But I caught two songs, including the above, Fun Funeral. The video is terrible, but the audio isn't too bad. They're a great local band with a sound that I really like - some cello, some dark lyrics, some haunting vocals. Enjoy!

(Today, Sunday, I think I'm coming down with a cold. Noooooo!)

Smoothie of the Day - September 11, 2010

Before - with leftover fruit salad

After - a lovely shade of green!

Most evenings, my husband takes the kid out to practice walking while I catch up on work and other things. Often they wind up at the mall, where there are wide open, flat spaces on which she can use her walker. Last night I went with them - it was a lot of fun. Along our journey, we stopped at Chik-Fil-A for a fruit cup for her (I also got cookies from the Great American Cookie Company with a 50% off coupon from Scoutmob). She didn't finish it, so I brought it home and it became the base for today's smoothie (which also had origins within the green drink mentioned in the Butcher and the Vegetarian). The fruit salad (after the kid had picked out what she wanted last night) was chopped apples and grapes. I added almond milk, fresh strawberries, frozen mango, and frozen pineapple. And a TON of kale. You can see how it turned out. The texture was a bit off - I should've let it run a bit longer - but it was delicious.

I ran out to the consignment sale this morning but it was really hot (no A/C?) and everything was overpriced. The line was too long to wait for a single pair of $2 jeans, so I left empty handed. Ah well.

Nine years ago I was in my apartment in Somerville, MA, in my bathrobe (having quit my job a few months prior with plans to move to New York City by October). I had lunch plans with a friend and was just wandering the house getting ready when I flipped the TV on. I watched as the second plane hit and was glued to the TV for the rest of the day. I didn't know where my husband was (he was working at Fenway Park and it took forever to reach him). A friend's sister came over to keep me company. I broke down a few times. Today my thoughts and prayers are with all of the families who lost loved ones that day.

The Friday Five (plus new Etsy listings) - September 10, 2010

Courtesy of Friday5.org.

1. What is the field nearest your home like?

There's a playground/field that's down the road a bit. It's newly renovated but the renovations took almost two years and nobody is entirely sure why.  There are giant tennis courts, a lot of swings, and speed bumps that are too tall and that scrape the bottom of your car.

2. How did you get into the professional field you’re in? If you’re not working, what field are you most likely to find yourself in some day?

When I was in fourth grade, Mrs. Bean told us to write poems. I thought, I really like this writing gig. And I never looked back.

3. What’s the most interesting sight within your current field of vision?

My cat Mikko is curled up on the floor in front of me but he's not fully relaxed. A dog was barking just outside our door and so his ears are perked up and he's looking in that direction trying to decide if it's worth getting upset over or not. He's a very laid-back cat so I think he's decided he doesn't care.

4. Where were you the last time you fielded questions from several people in turn?

Today. There was a parent social at my kid's school, with coffee and bagels, and I wound up talking to a few other moms and dads and answering questions like "What's your child's name?" and "Which class is s/he in?" (I had planned on making a smoothie this morning but the coffee/bagels replaced it.)

5. How are you feeling right now?

Antsy. It's the Friday before a long no-preschool week. I'm looking forward to the weekend though - plans include half-price day at a consignment sale, an in-store with a local band (Oryx + Crake) I've become friendly with via Twitter, and the King of Pops. Of course my plans never really work out the way I want them to - I have what I call the calendar curse. If I write it on the calendar, odds are good it won't happen. But cross your fingers!

New listings in the Etsy store:

Interchangeable magnet necklace with flowers

Pocket mirror with vintage bluebird art

Also, not my Etsy listing, but my friend Marissa's - one of the best zines I've read in YEARS (and seriously, I'm not just saying that because she's my friend - go grab one ASAP!). It's an old school cut&paste look at her trip to San Francisco - visually adorable and wonderful with a fabulously written travelogue:



Marissa's zine Miss Sequential #3

Book Review: The Butcher and the Vegetarian by Tara Austen Weaver

 

Note: I'm writing this post on Wednesday but trying out pre-writing and scheduling-to-post because Thursday is Rosh Hashanah and I'd like to try to take the day off from Internetting/blogging/being ridiculous.

I can't remember where I heard about the Butcher and the Vegetarian, appropriately subtitled "One Woman's Romp Through a World of Men, Meat, and Moral Crisis," by Tara Austen Weaver. Somewhere along the way, I was told of it or saw it somewhere or read a review of it and I jotted it down in my list of to-read books. And then I apparently forgot about it. A few weeks ago I requested it from the library, and when it came in, I picked it up, and then I left it at the top of our entryway stairs for two weeks. And then when I went online to renew it, I couldn't because someone else had requested it, so I forced myself to start it up.

A small digression: a few months ago, I grew weary of the local library system not having the books I want to read. At all. I'd go online and search and stump the system time and time again. So I checked out another county's system online and found that I COULD NOT stump the system. I tried with 20 books on my to-read list and the library had them all. Happily, we venture to that county on a regular basis, and there was a library branch near some stores/restaurants we frequent (the whole reasoning behind our travels is probably another blog post...). So I paid $30 for a year's worth of access to that library system and now I am overwhelmed with BILLIONS OF BOOKS TO READ, not even counting the TRILLIONS of books I own and/or purchase on a regular basis. And you know what? The Butcher and the Vegetarian actually came from my local library - but I have so many books in my to-read pile right now that I nearly returned this one unread. I'm glad I didn't.

So I figured, since I didn't remember a thing about this book, that based on the title and cover, it was probably a light romantic memoir about a vegetarian who fell in love with a butcher and the wacky hijinx that ensued and he cooks a steak and she cooks tofu and they live happily ever after. I could not have been more incorrect.

This is a book about a semi-vegetarian (Weaver was raised vegetarian but has eaten meat in varying amounts for much of her life, though never to the extreme she explores in her book) who embarks on learning about meat - whether it will make her feel better, since she feels tired all the time; how to cook it; how animals are raised for and slaughtered for meat consumption; what it means to eat sustainably; what it means to go to a restaurant and order bacon; oh and bacon bacon bacon. She eats meat, she doesn't eat meat, she eats only certain kinds of meat, she eats all kinds of meat, she questions eating meat. Plus, it's also a deeply personal story about Weaver's life that goes beyond just talking about food and into talking about body image, history, trauma, and triumph. Trigger warning, she does reference sexual assault in a few places.

I love to read food writing - Steingarten (all-time fave), Bourdain (oh man, he hates us vegetarians doesn't he? ha!), Reichl (memoir and food and writing!), the Best Food Writing collections, etc. Lately I've been delving into the stream of books about eating locally, consciously, and thoughtfully - Pollan, Kingsolver, Foer (Eating Animals made a HUGE impression on me), and several others. This book fits right in there - and it's personal, never preachy. It gives you information but lets you draw your own conclusions just as Weaver has drawn hers. And it has a rather surprising ending that essentially says that you have to do what's best for you and your body.

I loved feeling like Weaver was talking to me and not at me. I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian, and I have been since college, so it's been nearly 20 years. I have on occasion eaten things in restaurants that probably have an animal component, like miso soup (which usually has bonito flakes) or rice (chicken stock), and I've had some accidental "I bit into this and ate half of it and oh crap, the sauce had meat in it, ew" moments, but I haven't actively chosen to eat fish nor fowl nor any other "meat" in all these years. That said, I have always left open the option to change my mind on how I eat. Books like the Omnivore's Dilemma and the Butcher and the Vegetarian have shown me that if I wanted to, I could add meat into my diet in a thoughtful way. I don't believe everyone is going to become vegetarian (nor do I necessarily believe that's the right answer anyway), so I like learning about how people can eat an omnivorous diet that doesn't necessarily rely on factory farms and feedlots and the rest.

In a nutshell, I loved this book. I read constantly but my time is limited; it's rare that I am excited enough about a book to turn off the other distractions in my life and read for an hour straight, but I did with this one. I liked that she'd give me a moment of "that meat dish really sounds delicious" followed by information a few pages later that made me question that thought. (I suppose someday I will have to break down and taste bacon on a grill...) Check it out, whether you're vegetarian or a committed steak lover or anywhere in between.

[Hey there! If you came from BlogHer, I'd love it if you'd stick around for a bit. Read my intro post, poke around, hang out. Thanks! Oh and my name is MarLa, not Maria - just so you know. ;) ]

Short pop culture post (America's Got Talent) with thoughts about books and current events, but no smoothie

Blog posts are always so much better with a picture at the top, aren't they? Alas, I don't have one today. Here's what I have:

• I watched half of the America's Got Talent finale last night and the other half just now. I have FIVE favorites and am sad that all five won't go to next week (which, by the way, is totally milking it at this point - didn't the finale in past years end with the top 10 or 12?). My faves: Anna and Patryk (I think the fall made them more human and they may get sympathy votes), Prince Poppycock (my absolute favorite of them all), Michael Grasso (incredible), and then the two I think are definites, Jackie Evancho (did I hear her mic popping?) and Fighting Gravity. 
• Yesterday there was a fatal shooting at a strip club that's not very far from where I live and is on one of the few routes I drive. In fact, I'd driven by it earlier in the day. You know, I know how that all sounds, but it was a robbery in broad daylight and the man who died - he was bringing the weekend's take to the bank and so had a ton of cash in hand - was a husband and father. My husband thinks he'd seen the guy at the bank on occasion and that he was extremely nice, polite, professional. I feel terrible.
• On the other hand, last night apparently John Mayer played at a tiny club near my house with only an hour notice via Twitter. I think that's nifty, even if I'm not a fan of his. 
• And the Dresden Dolls are reuniting and playing a short tour and they're hitting Atlanta on my birthday. Tickets go on sale tomorrow and I'm planning on buying two even though I'm not sure who is going to go with me, if anyone.
• I'm finishing up The Butcher and the Vegetarian and LOVING it - proper review to come when I'm done - and I picked up a friend's copy of Mockingjay to finally finally start. I read it as I walked home, which I don't tend to do anymore because I'm supposed to be all grown up and stuff. 
• Here's some new Belle and Sebastian to make your Wednesday happier.
• Happy New Year and L'Shana Tova!

Breakfast of the day (slow-moving sleepy day plus new Etsy listings) - September 7, 2010

Breakfast of champions or something

The three-day weekend threw our schedule out of wack. My daughter is back at preschool for the week (next week is the first of several week-long breaks...oy...but you'll hear more about that when it happens) and I'm dragging myself around this morning. So no smoothie, just some coffee (french vanilla! lots of milk and sugar!) and a 100-calorie bread round with Laughing Cow Swiss spread on it.

Last night I watched the Time Traveler's Wife - Tivoed from our free HBO (well, free in that it's paid for within our rent/condo fee). It wasn't as awful as I was expecting, but it really did not do that gorgeous, epic book justice. Seriously, TTTW is one of my favorite books of all time, and when you love a book as passionately as that, no movie is ever going to work. I thought Eric Bana was acceptable as Henry at some ages, but he was just too clean cut at other points. Henry is gritty and raw and haunted, but not so much in the movie. Rachel McAdams was OK as Clare when she was younger, I thought, but she just didn't click for me as older Clare. Ron Livingston was NOT Gomez, no way, no how. And then, well, of course the entire plot was smooshed into a neat two-hour story, with lots of things missing, lots of subtlety lost, and probably a lot of confusing scenes for someone who had never read the book. And the ending? THE ENDING WAS SO WRONG. Because it came so close to being right - the book's ending would make a beautiful scene as far as I'm concerned - and then it just didn't do it. On the upside, the movie didn't make me throw things at the screen nor did it make me feel weird about the book. It just...didn't do it for me.

I actually have been productive this morning. I listed a bunch of pocket mirrors, a new mix-and-match crunchy mama button set, and a new necklace in my Etsy store. Want to see?

Brown birds-on-a-wire pocket mirror

Little red bird in an autumn tree pocket mirror

Interchangeable magnet necklace with birdcage charms

Crunchy mama mix-and-match four button pack

I really need to work on my photography technique with my Etsy listings, I know...

Every adventure should end with a cupcake.

Om nom nom cupcake

...particularly a red velvet cupcake from Dr. Bombay's Underwater Tea Party in Candler Park. JUST LOOK AT IT. And yes, it was as delicious as it appears to be.