ULTRA!

Hello again!  After Ultra and the flu I am finally back on this planet.  Ultra was epic... Actually the whole trip was essentially perfect, and by perfect, of course there were a few adventures (some may call glitches) along the way that made it perfect.  

Before I get to these adventures I wanted to back it up two Wednesdays ago- the day before our flight- so that I can shamelessly give myself an excuse for things to come a paragraph or two down.  Most of us know apartment living.  I myself seem to be perfecting the art of basement apartment living and have gotten really lucky with the lovely flatmates that live above us.  In general, they are very quiet, respectful, yada yada yada.  


Well, as I was preparing to fall asleep on this one Wednesday, the day before our flight, at 6 am, having to wake up at 4 am, our flatmates decided to party.  Oh jeez.  I don't mean a few friends over for a chat, but rather an Ultra-type bass drumming music beat blaring from upstairs.  After hours of this, at 2 am, and after much deliberation, I finally had to don my robe, head outside, knock on their doors and ask if they could turn down the music so that I could get two hours of sleep.  On that note, they were very gracious about it and already winding down so at 2 am I finally get to sleep, excited for the flight the next day!


So on to Miami...  The festival wasn't until Friday so we had all day Thursday to enjoy the city and beach.  I didn't really know what to expect the "real" Miami to be like, but what I saw I liked!  Blue skies, water, white sand and the beaches weren't to crowded.  Paradise after an early morning.  We headed out to walk the strip for lunch which was incredible.  Vegas by the sea...  South Beach is insanity, a tourist trap, but why not party (and I mean party hard) at noon when you are on vacation?!  TIP: Always ask for rail liquor when in Miami- do not assume that "vodka" means rail (I thought that was standard?  No?)  My vodka/soda/splash of cranberry with a lemon (**signature drink) cost us $15 a pop as the waiter took "vodka" to mean Grey Goose.  With that said, I did tell Alec that it was one of the best I'd ever had.

A Perfect Date Day

Following up on my first post, I had a chance to visit the Harry Warnecke exhibit yesterday after pancakes and coffee.  It was fun/funny to see some far out characters...  Can anyone explain why women used to wear the nets over the faces???  That was a big theme.

Little did I remember that The Art of Video Games was also there!  I loved seeing old school games exhibited.  WOW technology has come really far... Alec loved the show and had been waiting for it to come to DC so it made for a great day.   For those gamers out there, there is A LOT on Mass Effect.  They also have cool phones that you can listen to the bios/interviews on and you can play some of the games.

We rounded out our visit with The Black List, a series of photographs of prominent black artists, politicians and role-models, among others.  Artist, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, writes that the art and documentary that he produced is "of twenty prominent African Americans of various professions, disciplines and backgrounds who offer their own stories and insights on the struggles, triumphs and joys of black life in this country and manages to re-define “blacklist” for a new century in the process. The film is presented as a series of vignettes – a kind of living portraiture – in which the subjects address the camera directly as they tell their stories."  I dug his meaning and stylistic approach.  Read more on his project here and the other art that he does. 

Off to Miami tomorrow! 

Best Coffee Ever... and Pancakes!

Alec's Dad introduced me to a great coffee ingredient.  CINNAMON!  I like to drink my coffee black so a few shakes of cinnamon added to the grounds before brewing gives it just the right taste.  Try it!  

This morning we enjoyed coffee while making apple pancakes (my first seasonal recipe...  apples and honey were locally bought!).  Yes, yes, the zucchini bread wasn't seasonal or local...  We were still getting through the pre-blog reserves and the zuc bread is one of Alec's favorites so I thought I'd post it anyways.  

ps:  I like to add cinnamon to my pancakes too sometimes!  

Now on to the photos:

La Vache was found at Svpply, a quirky site that allows you to search for items and stores around the web and see products that others "want".  Etsy, meets E-bay, meets blogs, etc., etc..

The pancakes are from SmittenKitchen, a similar recipe to the ones that we make.

Zucchini Bread

After my Peace House adventure I made this:

Healthy Zucchini Bread

You will need:

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

¾ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

2 eggs

2 ¼ cups zucchini (about 2 medium)

¼ cup oil

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup walnuts

How to:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix dry ingredients

Mix wet ingredients

Combine

Add to greased bread pan

Bake for about 50 minutes or until knife comes out clean

While drinking:

a favorite!

And listening to:

Cheers to a wonderful weekend and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Peace House

Yesterday something unique happened.  I was invited into the Peace House for a talk that an international author/saxophonist was giving on peace.  Lured in by the promise of music and the quirky peace pole and friendly people greeting me outside I thought I’d give the talk a shot and went in. How did I find myself here? I just happened to change up my usual walk home.  

When entering the house, you feel history... as well as a bit of controversy.  The raw brick walls and wooden staircases of old DC are still there, among brochure tables and a corner for speakers to perform.  Little did I know until this morning while googling away that the home was actually owned by Thomas Hallenback, aka permanent White House fixture and professional activist.  If you’ve been by the White House, you know this guy.  Currently, the Peace House is home to a few Occupiers (and Concepción- Hallenback’s old friend) who run workshops and talks out of the home on peaceful protesting.  

On this day, the room was full of young occupiers and a large number of “middle-classish”, middle agers who had come to here what the author had to say.  Was that a reporter I saw in the corner too??  Not what I expected.  The talk ran long and alas, I didn’t get to hear the music.  I did leave content with my decision to stop and listen.  Did I agree with all of the ideals and lifestyles there?  No.  Did I agree with some of them?  Yes.  Would I stop by again?  Maybe. 

I wanted to include a picture of the "stage", as I'll call it, where the events are held.  Alas, my usb chord hasn’t come in yet!  This picture is from occupypeacehouse.org.

Nick at Nite

My first post!  I thought I'd break ground with a few old memories that have compelled me to walk downtown to catch some art soon. 

My priorities circa 1995: Food, Friends and Sleepovers.  To elaborate, I mean TGIF, Nick at Nite, living room late night fort construction, “vegging out”, prank calling, knock and run, fla-vor-ice…  You know, the good things in life.

For the sake of this post, let’s focus on #2 from the short list, Nick at Nite.  After TGIF, this was our late night go to.  It was "cool" to watch these strange black and white shows and let’s face it, Nickelodeon was a daytime fav, so why not stick with a good thing at night too?

Whatever the age, there is a certain allure to black and white and the first color television shows to come out.  Either you lived though it and came to idealize the times or can’t imagine what it would have been like to have ONLY black and white, three tv channels and no internet...  Yes kids... No internet...

The Portrait Gallery snagged a few of these first pictures.  Check out the famed Harry Warnecke’s perspectives on the transition from black and white to color:

photos by www.dailymail.co.uk

Read more on Harry here.