SB Travelogue: Olympics, Vancouver 2010

I'm distracted today. Last night I bought a plane ticket that will make one of my life dreams come true.

I'm going to the Olympics.

I am Olympics super-fan, so it's been hard for me to keep from jumping out of my seat all morning. This trip is part of my 2010 travel revival and it's even more special because I am actually doing something that is very near the top of my life's to-do list. Seven years ago when Vancouver won the 2010 bid, I said (out loud, I swear), "I'm gonna be at those Olympics." And now I will be.

I may not be able to wrangle tickets to a single event but I am optimistic that, at the very least, Picabo Street and I can grab a drink with and we can watch the Super-G in a hotel bar together. Here's a fun fact about Picabo that only her close friends and people who have looked her up on Wikipedia would know: Picabo competed on Nickelodeon GUTS in 1994. Gold medalist, pshh... she had a chance at that glowing rock. The AGGRO CRAG, people!

Two very realistic Olympic dreams of mine that did not come true:

1. After the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994, I wanted to be a professional ice skater (but not like Tonya Harding, who is too scary for words).
   
   
   
   
2. After watching Cool Runnings, I wanted to be a Jamaican bobsled team.
   
   
   
   

Dessa's New "Dixon's Girl" Video

Charmed, I'm sure.

Dessa is everywhere this week, including Fuji Ya where I saw her at the bar yesterday. In hindsight, I should have given her some in real life props for her new album, A Badly Broken Code, and this video that she put up online a few days ago.

Dessa "Dixon's Girl" Music Video

Dessa | MySpace Music Videos

Travel Wish List

"Hai!" was the greeting I received in my email correspondence with a guest house in India today.

I'm going to be in India over the holidays until January 13, and in planning this trip I have re-introduced that restless, MUST-TRAVEL feeling into my daily life. Thankfully, I'm getting on a plane on Friday, I have understanding employers and my office is wherever I lay my laptop.

Not necessarily a New Year's resolution, but I did vow to make 2010 "the year that Annie travels to other places besides Chicago." I don't know how many I'll get to this year but here are a few of the destinations that are on my wish list right now.

Domestic:

1. Austin, TX: for a crapload of good music at SXSW
2. Yellowstone National Park: 2012 piqued an interest in super volcanoes after succeeding in being the worst, most miscast movie of 2009.
3. Portland, OR: It's clean, it's green, it's close to the Pacific, a temperate rainforest and Oregon's wine country. Plus, everyone is always telling me, "You'd LOVE Portland." I'll be the judge of that.

International:

1. South America: I spent two months in Buenos Aires but pretty much ignored everything else. Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Patagonia will be on the itinerary next time, probably not all at once. My Spanish could use some refreshing and I would love to see what effect the Olympics will have on Rio di Janeiro.
2. Montreal: I am hoping a long weekend in Montreal will quell my annual desire to move to France, usually brought on by Francoise Hardy.
3. Iran: Among many reasons, I'm kind of an art history freak and they've got more art and more history than you can shake a stick at. I'd like to go before we start Cold War II with them.

For now, I'll have to "settle" with 3 weeks in India, but I can't wait to start checking off this list.

kbai!

A clip from BBC's "Outnumbered"

Santa, and other real and imaginary creatures that might come down the chimney and rob the Brockmans.

"Badgers exist, but they are very unlikely to be burgling us."

I love this show (see!) and can't wait until they put it on Netflix. Right now they only have the American version, which I refuse to watch because it doesn't have the exact same little kids.

This is your body on vegetarianism.

It's barely visible but the tagline at the bottom says, "Vegetables are all your body needs." Although I am an omnivore, I can appreciate the sentiment and the art direction on this International Vegetarian Union advertising campaign by JWT.

Listening In: Natalia Lafourcade, Little Cow, Gotan Project

Lately I've been hung up on any music that's not English. I actually have playlists called "Extranjeros" and "Zee Musique" (Zee Musique is always pronounced with a French accent) that have been on a tired rotation for about a month. Here's some of the new stuff I brought into the mix today.

Natalia Lafourcade (D.F., Mexico)

Mexican pop that's NOT Julieta Venegas! Nothing wrong with Julieta but I've had nearly every single one of her songs stuck in my head for days at a time. Natalia is refreshing and I think it would be fun to drink beer with her.

Little Cow (Budapest, Hungary)

There are so many guitars in this band! Usually string-heavy band + Eastern European heritage = gypsy jazz, but it doesn't add up in the case of Little Cow. It's a new kind of pop music--some songs even have hints of ska and cumbia.

Gotan Project (Paris, France)

I already had a ton of their stuff on the Extranjeros playlist but I needed more. They may work from Paris but they play with Argentine tango. Muy sexy.

'60s Fashion Inspiration

Above: French singer Francoise Hardy

Above: Verushka by Emilio Pucci (the King of Color always and forever)

Above: Sicilian-Tunisian Actress Claudia Cardinale

Above: French actress Brigitte Bardot (even in her underwear, she's a fashion icon)

Above: From Le Mépris (by French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)

The Suggestion Boxer Cooks: Squash and Sweet Potato Soup and Eggplant Spread

I'd like to introduce you to my darling Kitchenaid Food Processor. Mine looks just like this but it's a different color. This thing is an indispensable gadget in my kitchen that reigns supreme over the others (rice cooker, sandwich maker, waffle iron, blender, coffeemaker). I wouldn't want to go through soup season (October-March) without it.

Yesterday, I used it to make this squash and sweet potato soup.


It honestly took 10 minutes and was so cheap. Here's how it all went down... sorry I don't measure spices very well.

Ingredients:
1 large onion or equivalent
Two cups of chicken broth
1 can sweet potato puree
1 can squash puree
2/3 cup of coconut milk
Generous amount of curry powder
Little bit of cinnamon
Little bit of Sriracha
Black pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese

Cook the onions with a little olive oil until almost transparent. Add chicken broth, sweet potato, squash and stir until smooth. Heat until hot but not boiling. Add coconut milk. Play with spices until it tastes good. Transfer mixture into food processor and blend. Serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Then I used the food processor again (back-to-back food processing!) to make an eggplant spread with leftover eggplant and roasted yellow pepper that I used to make the veggie sandwich last week. I would definitely make this spread again for a party or something.

Ingredients:
1 cooked eggplant (grill, bake, whatever... just remember to sweat it first)
1 roasted yellow pepper (skin removed)
1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar
1-2 cloves of garlic
2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Put it all in the food processor and press the 'on' button until it is a consistency you like.

The Suggestion Boxer Cooks: Veggie Sandwich

Messy sandwiches usually taste the best. I made this one with a portabella mushroom, roasted yellow pepper, eggplant, tomato, cucumber, arugula, balsamic and chevre on big hunk of ciabatta bread.

It's was a pretty standard veggie sandwich, but my first time cooking eggplant. It didn't take as much time as I thought it would, because you slice and salt the eggplant and then leave it alone for a couple of hours. No maintenance required. Then you rinse and squeeze out the excess moisture so that it doesn't get all mushy when you cook it. I just broiled mine in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes on each side and it was ready for its place in this mess.

Groupon: So, so worth it

This whole week I have been forwarding my friends these Groupon emails so I thought I'd consolidate my web-time and share this incredible website on The Suggestion Boxer. I'm honestly not sure how I ended up on Groupon's mailing list in the first place because I'm positive did not sign up, but a big thank you to whoever or whatever got me on it. It rules.

Groupon started in Chicago and just launched in Minneapolis last week. It's kind of like Woot!, Half Off Deals and those radio Dining Deals my mom always tells me about (she loves that mom-radio, 107.1 FM). Drawing from the genius of Woot!, they offer just one extremely good deal per day rather than overwhelming you with things you don't need or want. You purchase your Groupon and then within a day or two, you get another email with the printable coupon in it. And if the first week is any indication of the quality we can expect from Groupon, I'm sold.

Por ejemplo, in the first week they offered...

1. $20 Shout House Dueling Pianos gift cards for $10. Not impressed. This was an anti-climactic start to the Twin Cities Groupons, but they improved.
2. $40 for one month of unlimited Pilates classes at Vitality studio ($105 regular price)
3. 1/2 price admission to Underwater World--for the kids, as Kevin McCallister would say.
4. Swedish massages at Uptown Dermatology and Skin Spa for $25 ($65 regular price). I got three and booked my first massage with Olaf (that's his name) for mid-November already. I had no trouble making an appointment even though they sold a lot of coupons.
   
5. $16 for two 90-min belly dancing lessons at Cassandra School of Belly Dance ($32 regular price)
   
6. $45 worth of Feed Your Soul cookies for $24
7. Today's deal felt like hitting the mother lode (find out where that term comes from here). It is a $155 salon package at Haven for just $45. I'm floored. This thing includes a full color or full foil, haircut, manicure and brow/lip/chin waxing. My regular haircuts cost more than that! I don't color my hair due to a self-inflicted disaster in college but I bought it anyway. I'm just going to forgo the color and it will still be worth it. This is one that you will have to book well in advance though, as they have already sold 351 coupons as of this afternoon. And it's a 3.5 hour treatment.
   

I have a feeling Groupon is going to have a lot of my money coming their way. If you enjoy restaurants, bars, massages, yoga, pilates, sharks, dance, spa treatments, cookies or upper lip waxing, I suggest you check this thing out. You can sign up for email alerts on their website.

Young (and ornery) at heart

A recent exchange between my mother and grandmother:

Mom: "Hey Mom, why don't you go play cards with the ladies down the hall? They always invite you and you always say no."

Grandma: "Oh, I don't want to play cards with those old bitties."

Mom: "You're an old bitty. Seriously Mom, you'll be 89 in January."

Prisencolinensinainciusol

Adriano Celentano is a classic Italian pop singer (and actor, comedian and television host) and he wrote the lyrics phonetically to sound "American." This TV clip from the early '70s amazes me. I've watched it five times so far.

The Suggestion Boxer's Sabbatical, Explained

Turns out, when one's client wants one to write a blog for them, it leaves one very little time for ye olde personal blog. I'm talking about 24 Hrs Notice for Metromix, which we set up last month and has been cannibalizing whatever it is I do on this website. To be honest, I'm thrilled with the new professional blog (gettin' paid!) but now that the project is off its training wheels, I have some time to be your friendly neighborhood Suggestion Boxer too.

I'll do my best to keep up, but if you miss me you can always read 24 Hrs Notice, where I post 2-3 times weekly on upcoming events in the Twin Cities... mainly tangents that are slightly related to the events. This week I wrote about the time my sister wore no pants on Halloween and the young local singer-songstrix Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps.

I also spent one week of my month-long blog absence in Tennessee on a jam-packed (literally) culinary farm-to-table tour of Knoxville and Chattanooga. It was hard work but somebody had to eat it. More on that later.

Enough with the excuses---it's time to get back to the suggestions!

He Wolf vs. She Wolf

Shakira's music video for "She Wolf," is one of the most outrageously awkward videos of the 21st century. I thought the song was bad, but the video... oh, the video. This is not the Shakira of "Ojos Así." No, no, no. At one point I think she is rubbing her stomach, patting her head and doing the Charleston. Ew, Shakira. What are you doing?!

"She Wolf" deserves to be forgotten, wiped out of our society's collective memory for the good of all humankind. "He Wolf," on the other hand, is a slice of genius. This YouTube video is the work of college sophomore Andrew Foster, his friends and his stepsister, who filmed the whole thing themselves, made the spandex jumpsuit and even built the wolf cage. The final product is incredible. It's a shot-for-shot mimic of Shakira: robotic dance moves, sexy/strange facial expressions, all of it. Even though they are nearly identical, YouTube thinks Foster's video is inappropriate for children under 18 but Shakira's is totally acceptable for kiddie-viewing. I don't know how they can logically come to that conclusion but oh well---we're all adults here, right. If you need to see the original "She Wolf" video for reference, I suggest watching it here first to appreciate the remake's accuracy.

Now... here's "He Wolf," unleashed for your pleasure:

The Human Scene

I like videos where humans make up the most important parts of the scenery. Or all of the scenery, in the case of that cute Prius commercial.

Here's the "Making of" video:



It made me think of Feist's video for 1 2 3 4 that had way less people and technology.