3's Company

When I returned to my San Diego home in September, this was my welcome meal.


I always take a long time to stare at my favorite trio buddy pic...


Jenn and I went hunting for good camping and magically happened upon Oak Grove in the Cleveland National Forest. This was our view upon waking up...


...and this was our tree...


...where we spent much of the day.


We rushed home so these two could go to the prom.


And I went to DR STRANGELOVE under the stars with Bassemah. DVD projection, but still great.


I think this is the breakfast where Micah told me, "You look old now." and when pressed to explain further, " You have wrinkles all over your body now." Kids at least are honest with you about your wrinkles, spots, mustaches and apparent pregnancies...


So I thought I might as well let it all out and fry my wrinkly body some more at Coronado beach.


After some fits and starts, we went on a spontaneous end-of-the-day trip to Mexico. This is TJ and the wall (so reassuring) from el otro lado...


...and the view behind me. God bless America.


We got stuck in a sunset traffic jam, but it was okay because we were in an exciting foreign land.


James chauffeured us while Jenn and I sat in the back seat so we could feel the subwoofer on all the Mariah Carey songs we were listening to.


Margaritas with cheap tequila upon arrival at sundown...


...and cigars (me: "Son cubanos?" server: "Sí son cubanos. Cubanos hechos en México.")...


...mean we're staying overnight in Mexico. Yippy!


For $15 each, we get this view and our own rooms and LOTS of toilet paper.


At this rate we can afford breakfast!


We headed down to the beach before hitting the road back to el norte. Jenn showed us the way.


Then, once we got there, she inspected her split ends as I devoured her with love.


James was more receptive.


Take that, Jenn!


The happy couple coupling happily.


But three is company too!


Too much going on. Adios, La Fonda!


I see it there in the distance, the land of crappy coffee!


On my last night we made homemade dumplings, first with whole wheat flower so they're thick and nutritious and hearty...


...then dozens and dozens more, each one carefully contemplated and discussed.


Goodbye, San Diego!

...and hello again...

Denver to Taos Random Shuffle

Buttons- Sia (thanks to Kelly)
Endlich Ein Grund Zur Panik- Wir Sind Helden (thanks to Andréa)
L'Amoureuse- Carla Bruni (thanks to MJ)
Amargosa- Otto
No es tan cierto- Juana Molina
Sympathy- Matson Jones (thanks to Jenn)
You're the One- James Pants (thanks to Fred)
Something's Gotta Give- Big Boi & MJB (thanks to Lavert)
Errare Humanum Est- Jorge Ben
Guerreiro- Curumin (thanks to Luiza)
Bittersweet- Big Head Todd (thanks to Silvinha)
Mavovo- Zola
Patins- CSS
Os alquimistas estão chegando- Jorge Ben
Mbdle Mbole Na Yona- Ngoma
Hide & Seek- Imogen Heap

Creationist- Kerli (thanks to Gene)
J'T'emmène Au Vent- Louise Attaque (thanks to MJ)
Get Over It!- Ira Glass (thanks to MJ)
Assim Assimix by DJ You DJ me- Moreno+2
Muito Pouco- Maria Rita
Itsoweezee (Hot)- De La Soul (thanks to Nzingha)
Futuro do País- Planet Hemp (thanks to Sara Towne)
País Tropical/ Spyro Gyro- Jorge Ben
Tribe- Simphiwe Dana
Por isso eu corro demais- Adriana Calcanhotto
Closer to Fine- Indigo Girls
Vambora- Adriana Calcanhotto
Life in Marvelous Times- Mos Def
Adelante- Los Guaraguao (thanks to Jim Finn)

Someday You Will Be Loved- Death Cab For Cutie (thanks to Sara Varon)
Top of the World- Brandy (thanks to Jackie)
Migrate- Mariah Carey (thanks to Jenn)
Supermagic- Mos Def
Hot Thing- Prince (thanks to Eve)
I Thought-Brandy
Down Syndrome- De La Soul
Brother- Jorge Ben
Fire and Rain- James Taylor
Rough Riders- Make Up feat. Mighty Flashlight (thanks to Liz, that bitch)
The Hat- Ingrid Michaelson (thanks to Anneke)
Walt Whitman's Niece- Billy Bragg & Wilco (thanks to Shannon)
Who Is It- Björk
Ich Hab Dich Lieb- Herbert Grönemeyer (thanks to Stefan)
Medicine Girl- The Everybody Fields (thanks to Leah)
I Gotta Feeling- Black Eyed Peas
A Postcard to Nina- Jens Lekman (thanks to Anne)

Is it medicine u make me- The Knife (thanks to Giovanna)
Oh Timbaland- Timbaland
Amei Tanto- Ana Martins
Mania de peitão- Seu Jorge
TV a cabo- Otto
Final Hour- Lauryn Hill
Chan Chan- Buena Vista Social Club
Hello Goodbye- Milton Nascimento
Drama Bug- David Sedaris
Eu vou torcer- Fernanda Abreu
Hope There's Someone- Antony & the Johnsons (thanks to Abina)
Comme d'Habitude- Khaled, Faudel, Taha
Vem menina- Curumin
Love Dog- TV on the Radio (thanks to Jenn)
The Mess We're In- PJ Harvey & Thom Yorke (thanks to Red)
Oh My God- Ida Maria (thanks to Whitney)
O ultimo por do sol- Lenine & Marcos Suzano (thanks to Peter)

Narita: My First Hour in Asia

I finally went to Thailand this summer. It was my first time in Asia (not counting Lebanon or Asian Turkey). But there was a stop-over at the Tokyo airport on the way to Bangkok and that was as far as I got in processing my trip to Thailand, an hour at Narita still has me chewing.

These were my first impressions:

The very first thing I saw was actually this display which I assume was about the N1H1 virus and health and safety precautions. It was really pretty more than anything.


Otherwise...


1. They drive on the left side of the road in Japan! Didn't know that.

2. The regular trees look like bonsai trees! Or maybe it's just because we're looking at them from an airplane...



3. Narita seems to be located in the middle of nowhere, kind of like Minneapolis.
4. Japanese people are very sweet and polite.
5. Japan seems to be very down with environmentalism (recycling at least).
6. It's HUMID in Japan (at the airport).



7. Everything is so cute and pretty and expensive!



8. Drinking fountain water and sushi at the airport in Japan taste exactly like drinking fountain water and sushi at the airport in the US!

Otherwise I just tripped out about the toilet and all of its functions and capabilities aiding in discretion.





Deep...

Thailand was delicious. Among other things.

Mañanitas

I listened to this repeatedly, Zulma's dad singing Las Mañanitas to her. I especially love the vocal embellishments and his parting comment...

http://www.utterli.com/u/utt/u-ODAwMjQ3Nw#utt-ODAwMjQ3Nw

Deutsches Essen

(oder, besser gesagt, Das Essen in Deutschland und Umgebung)

Start the day out with a good Frühstuck, my personal favorite....





Afternoon Kaffeetrinken is obligatory...









Abendbrot!


Oder einfach herrliches Abendessen...










This is the only meal I made the whole month in Berlin, for Tesia:





Mannheim Goodness...







And in Würzburg...



Celebration food in Germany is usually awesome. 

Here's a birthday...


Obama's inauguration at the Amerika Haus, featuring German-Caribbean fare...


And Mama Henning's 60th birthday party with Lutoschens devouring some extraordinary Spargelsuppe...



Dutch food has never been my favorite, although one of the best meals I've ever had was an unexpected visit to La Ville in Maastricht. And I do adore hagel sla. I've been hording gaufre for several years, but my first street gaufre was this:


Kinda messy. Kinda embarassing when you're walking around trying to eat it in a dark coat. 

I found this in the street...

And I found this late at night...

I was very tempted by these "Swiss" McDonalds specialties, but I resisted.

Pea soup hit the spot on a cold afternoon.

Belgian food is SO much better than Dutch food, in my experience. I have a hard time making sense of this strange cultural nuance...



But the Czech food I ate on this trip may have taken the cake, albeit lacking in vegetables. Hell, it was Feburary!

Food, Glorious Food (dedicated to Aunt Irma Huchthausen)

I was looking at photographs of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa and dreaming of 5 star hotels, World Bank Lunch style...


My last night in DC, Nzingha made this amazing meal:


And this was my parting home meal from one of my favorite World Bankers, Johannes...


In Brooklyn, I made pasties for the first time, for my G's...




After some amazing meals in Germany etc (meals to be addressed in another post), it came time for Wisco chow...


Well, I guess it was a lot of feeding kids and watching kids eat...


But there was some good stuff in there for me too, like this breakfast from my brother in law, featuring his very own venison sausage...


And my birthday cake! With all the fabulous cakes in the world, nothing makes me happier than a Dairy Queen cake...


Except maybe this little number I picked up in Northern Indiana while visiting Eve & Jim. Damn damn damn. We devoured this, in thirds. Maybe as delicious as the moon pie scored the previous day (from the Cultural Center Café, something I dream of when I am far...):


Northern Indiana also offered an amazingly delicious meal ala Jim and Eve. This picture doesn't even show the pork tenderloin. Preceding dinner, we had a very arousing discussion of meats...


I was delighted by this chip bag design. Isn't it nice?


And then San Diego. I'd been told tales of James' kitchen skillz, but I had no idea...

1st night- Black Cod Wasabi


3rd night- Yellow tail cheek & Tuna and salmon sashimi and Salmon skin, etc. 

No photo can capture what an extraordinary sight this meal was. Not meatloaf and mashed potatoes awe, colorful complex tasty layers of yum...

Then, more watching kids eat- Micah now:


And then, as if it could not get better, Bassemah's mom's fried chicken:


Lucas came from the OC craving BBQ, so we went to the place that the interweb said was the best BBQ in San Diego, House of Barbeque.


For San Diego's sake, I hope that is not the best BBQ in San Diego.

The next day, we drove all around North Park searching for Roberto's #10, which I could not find to save my life. So we settled on Rigoberto's.


It was fine, not great. I have been trying to eat as many fish tacos as possible while I am here. Roberto's #10 are much better...

That night, Lucas wished for some good old-fashioned meatloaf and mashed potatoes so we wouldn't have to go to bad San Diego gay bars or crappy BBQ. I provided, with a bit of embellishment ala ground turkey and my childhood Betty Crocker cookbook from which I used to create meatloaf pie ala mode.


The next night, for a belated birthday meal treat, Bassemah took me to Albie's All Beef. I could not imagine how perfectly full this experience would be...

Clearly, we were hungry.:

And I was mesmerized by everything around me.


Bassemah indulged me with my dream appetizer...


carefully sliced.


And I wasn't sure which I wanted more, her chicken parmesan...


or my bacon wrapped tenderloin.


Duh! Ha!

Wow. This was all topped off with the lounge band and everyone in the restaurant singing "Happy Birthday, Dear KJ."

...what a night... It's a long way from the World Bank.

What Does An Out-of-Work Film Programmer Do?

This post is like the opposite of a Bring-Your-Gainfully-Employed-Adult-to-School type of show and tell. My days usually look like this, though the setting varies. The present set-up at James and Jenn's in San Diego is definitely the warmest...



The important thing is to face each day hopefully, with a lot of clothes on.



This is not always easy. A few months ago, on the day that I first sat down to start my job search in earnest, the very first thing I came across was news of the 25% staff reduction at Film Society at Lincoln Center. Today there's this again: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/movies/01linc.html

It is at once 1) validating re: my current condition, and 2)extremely depressing.
I do not see light at the end of this tunnel, though I'm sure it's there, somewhere, far off... 

Meanwhile, I am taking advantage of the, um, free time for visits with friends and family who are good enough to take me in and let me feel productive in their lives while I search for a job. This involves a lot of kid visits and babysitting. In the case of my nieces, the kids are really happy and excited when I arrive and couldn't be cuter...





And by the time I leave they are miserable and can't wait to see me go.



Maybe it's a good thing for our relationship that I don't get to see Malcolm T as much?



In the case of Oliver, after the last 3 days when it was just him and me, we both really wanted more of each other. Here he is at a big gaping garbage hole that we checked out on the daily coming home from school.



I also got to see some kids I haven't seen in so long that they don't even look like this any more...





I've also taken to crashing birthday parties of kids who I don't know...yet. Free cake!



Then there's housesitting, which is a nice way of saying that my wonderful friends let me stay in their awesome homes while they are away so that I don't feel quite as home-less as I am. I break up a day of futile resumés and cover letters with useful things like watering their plants...



And I take care of their pets and pray that they don't bring flailing lizard tails into the house.



My favorite task is cleaning out the kitty litter. Mmmmm!

I also give impromptu lectures and book reports to visiting friends, just to hone my public speaking skills...



Bassemah just tried to talk me into going to work with her tomorrow by saying, "You can have 3 hours of internet!" I am not a sucker. Why would I go to her yucky work at school when I can do my futile work searching in this setting?


Cheers! Here's to finding a job before 2011!

Land of the Happy Animals

Maastricht Moments