4.29.2011

Cinderella got it right.


Shoes. Just one of the many ways to a girl's heart. These, featured in Burlesque, for example, brought gasps to the entire room of sorority girls watching the film. Ladies love shoes. 
Now if only I could figure out where to get these?






Current Album: 
Burlesque - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

4.27.2011

Do I wake or do I sleep?

Ode to a Nightingale
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
    My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
    One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
    But being too happy in thine happiness,--
        That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees
            In some melodious plot
    Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
        Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
    Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
    Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
    Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
        With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
            And purple-stained mouth;
    That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
        And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
    What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
    Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
    Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
        Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
            And leaden-eyed despairs,
    Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
        Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
    Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
    Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
    And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
        Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;
            But here there is no light,
    Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
        Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
    Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
    Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
    White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
        Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;
            And mid-May's eldest child,
    The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
        The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
    I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
    To take into the air my quiet breath;
        Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
    To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
        While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
            In such an ecstasy!
    Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain--
          To thy high requiem become a sod.
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
    No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
    In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
    Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
        She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
            The same that oft-times hath
    Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
        Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
    To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
    As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
    Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
        Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
            In the next valley-glades:
    Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
        Fled is that music:--Do I wake or sleep?

- Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats

4.24.2011

Rigatoni with Sweet Tomatoes, Eggplant and Mozzarella

1 firm ripe pink, black, or white eggplant
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Two 14-ounce cans good-quality plum tomatoes
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 fresh or dried chilies, chopped or crumbled, optional
Bunch fresh basil, leaves ripped and stalks sliced
4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 pound rigatoni or penne
7 ounces cow’s-milk mozzarella
1 piece Parmesan cheese, for grating

Directions
1. Remove both ends of the eggplant and slice it into 1/2 inch slices, then slice these across and finely dice into 1/2 inch cubes. Some people prefer to season their eggplant with salt and let it sit for a while in a colander to draw out the bitterness, but I don’t really do this unless I’m dealing with a seedy, bitter eggplant. This dish is really best made using a firm silky one.
2. Now, put a large saucepan on the heat and drizzle in 4 to 5 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. When it’s hot, add the cubes of eggplant, and as soon as they hit the pan stir them around with a spoon so they are delicately coated with the oil and not soaked on one side only. Cook for about 7 or 8 minutes on a medium heat.
3. Then add the garlic and onion. When they have a little color, add the canned tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar. Stir around and season carefully with salt and pepper. At this point, if you wanted to give the dish a little heat you could add some chopped fresh or crumbled dried chilli, but that’s up to you. Add the basil stalks, and simmer the sauce nice and gently for around 15 minutes, then add the cream.
4. While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta, cook according to the package instructions until it is soft but still holding its shape, then drain it, saving a little of the cooking water. I like to put the pasta back into the pot it was cooked in with a tiny bit of the cooking water and a drizzle of olive oil and move it around so it becomes almost dressed with the water and oil.
5. At this point add the lovely tomato sauce to the pasta. By now the eggplant will have cooked into a creamy tomatoey pulp, which is just yum yum yum! Season carefully to taste with salt and pepper. When all my guests are sitting round the table, I take the pan to the table, tear up the mozzarella and the fresh basil, and fold these in nicely for 30 seconds. Then very quickly serve into bowls. By the time your guests start to eat, the mozzarella will have started to melt and will be stringy and gorgeous and really milky-tasting. Just lovely with the tomatoes and eggplant. Serve at the table with a block of Parmesan cheese and a grater so that everyone can help themselves.

Recipe courtesy of Jamie Oliver

4.23.2011

I am a nation

1 Adios, Carenage

In idle August, while the sea soft,
and leaves of brown islands stick to the rim
of this Carribean, I blow out the light
by the dreamless face of Maria Concepcion
to ship as a seaman on the schooner Flight.
Out in the yard turning gray in the dawn,
I stood like a stone and nothing else move
but the cold sea rippling like galvanize
and the nail holes of stars in the sky roof,
till a wind start to interfere with the trees.
I pass me dry neighbor sweeping she yard
as I went downhill, and I nearly said:
"Sweep soft, you witch, 'cause she don't sleep hard,"
but the bitch look through me like I was dead.
A route taxi pull up, park-lights still on.
The driver size up my bags with a grin:
"This time, Shabine, like you really gone!"
I ain't answer the ass, I simply pile in
the back seat and watch the sky burn
above Laventille pink as the gown
in which the woman I left was sleeping,
and I look in the rearview and see a man
exactly like me, and the man was weeping
for the houses, the street, that whole fucking island.

Christ have mercy on all sleeping things!
>From that dog rotting down Wrightson Road
to when I was a dog on these streets;
if loving these islands must be my load.
out of corruption my soul takes wings,
But they had started to poison my soul
with their big house, big car, big time bohbohl,
coolie, nigger, Syrian and French Creole,
so I leave it for them and their carnival -
I taking a sea bath, I gone down the road.
I know these islands from Monos to Nassau,
a rusty head sailor with sea-green eyes
that they nickname Shabine, the patois for
any red nigger, and I, Shabine, saw
when these slums of empire was paradise.
I'm just a red nigger who love the sea,
I had a sound colonial education,
I have Dutch, nigger, and English in me,
and either I'm nobody, or I'm a nation,

But Maria Concepcion was all my thought
watching the sea heaving up and down
as the port side of dories, schooners, and yachts
was painted afresh by the strokes of the sun
signing her name with every reflection;
I knew when dark-haired evening put on
her bright silk at sunset, and, folding the sea,
sidled under the sheet with her starry laugh,
that there'd be no rest, there'd be no forgetting.
Is like telling mourners round the graveside
about resurrection, they want the dead back,
so I smile to myself as the bow rope untied
and the Flight swing seaward:"Is no use repeating
that the sea have more fish. I ain't want her
dressed in the sexless light of a seraph,
I want those round brown eyes like a marmoset, and
till the day when I can lean back and laugh,
those claws that tickled my back on sweating
Sunday afternoons, like a crab on wet sand."

As I worked, watching the rotting waves come
past the bow that scissor the sea like milk,
I swear to you all, by my mother's milk,
by the stars that shall fly from tonight's furnace,
that I loved them, my children, my wife, my home;
I loved them as poets love the poetry
that kills them, as drowned sailors the sea.

You ever look up from some lonely beach
and see a far schooner? Well, when I write
this poem, each phrase go be soaked in salt;
I go draw and knot every line as tight
as ropes in this rigging; in simple speech
my common language go be the wind,
my pages the sails of the schooner Flight.
But let me tell you how this business begin.

- The Schooner 'Flight' by Derek Walcott

Hope



"Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of us." - One Tree Hill










Album of the week:
Barton Hollow



4.20.2011

My Bucket List


Ah, the bucket list. Everyone has one. Whether or not we actually write it down is another story. Mine has been accumulating for years. But it seems recently to have acquired a few more items so I've decided to share a few. 
1. Go to Italy
2. Go to Comic-Con
3. Go to Coachella
4. Go to Lollapalooza
4. Go to Bonaroo
5. Go to Sasquatch
6. Write a novel
7. Visit New York City
8. Go to the Tribeca Film Festival
I've been collecting and trying to jot them down lately. But there is no harm in dreaming. =) What is on your bucket list?

4.19.2011

Fast Five


I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for this movie!

4.18.2011

Another bucket list item.


photo courtesy of wired.com

Coachella. A three day music festival attracting people from all over. Celebrities, music junkies, and other randoms come out to witness this glorious event.
I WILL GO NEXT YEAR!!!
This is a bucket list item for me and the planning has begun. I cannot even begin to express how completely excited I am about this event. Let's hope it lives up to all the hype.

4.16.2011

Dorm Suite Dorm

A few days ago a friend asked me to checkout a website for her and see what I thought. Being the technology reliant generation we are she posted the link on my facebook wall and off I went on my way.
Dorm Suite Dorm is the name of the site as well as the title of today's entry. The company is target towards college age girls looking to make their dorm rooms not look like a dorm room. From bedding to wall decor to accesorized tools that would make Lorelai Gilmore proud, Dorm Suite Dorm offers a bit of everything to make even the most drab college dorm room look marvelous. They've left out no detail in what they offer boasting stylish tumblers for the on-the-go college girl, hanging photo holders for the budding photographer and even an organizer for hanging scarfs for the accessory obsessed girl in us all. 
But boys need not feel left out because there is an entire line for them as well. The company offers sports targeted lounging pants, go-green friendly accessories such as picture frames and pen holders as well as an organizer for baseball caps. 
Duvets price for $225 with reversible fabric choices for both the guys and girls. The accessories range any where from the teens to the low hundreds. However, everything comes in a variety of looks and has multiple uses helping to maximize the limited dorm room space. 
Since I'm moving off campus soon I only wish that I had known about this several years ago but I encourage you young college kids to check them out. Before you know it YOUR room will be the one every stops to check out on tours. =)

4.13.2011

Lost in the lines...

It's been far too long since I've posted anything. Somewhere between being swept into the Greek abyss, being a student and working I've neglected something I love. Therefore, this may be more of a babbling than anything else...
In just a few short weeks I move into my very first apartment. Wow. That blows my mind. I've planned out the rest of my undergraduate career and I'm preparing to apply to graduate school. WHEN DID I GET HERE?!
Every step forward is completely exciting and absolutely terrifying. Some days I wish life had an e-brake that I could pull. Or maybe I should be on one of those medical dramas that always seem to have emotional breakdowns in the elevator so they use the emergency stop. That would be rather convenient. 
However, here I sit with no e-brake or television drama providing any help. 
So today instead of making some grand suggestion of things to do or how to help I leave you with a quote pasted on my wall, 
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away."
Guess I just have to live and get lost in the lines of life. =)

Current Album:
Glee: The Music, Volume 5
New take on classics