Winter's Last Breath from l'etoile magazine

Winter is officially outta here. Allegedly it's supposed to snow this weekend but that's not going to be real snow. It's just your imagination. Crazy talk, I say.

In spirit of the changing seasons, my favorite local bloggers at l'etoile magazine together the an epic farewell to winter.

Listening In: She & Him "In The Sun" Video

I have an all-out girl crush on Zooey Deschanel. I want every outfit she owns and I wouldn't mind that voice of hers too, while I'm stealing identities. I could be the Ursula to her Ariel.

She and M. Ward have their new video ready for "In The Sun," the latest She & Him single. Even though with his facial hair M. looks a little... pedophilian, I love it. And I think Zooey smiles more in this video than in any one of her feature films ever. She must like it too.

Listening In: Turin Brakes

I'm continuing my obsession with dreamy music with this divine single from British folk duo Turin Brakes. And in stop-motion, no less!

LookSee: Among the cranberry bogs

I've driven past Wisconsin cranberry bogs countless times, but never thought to jump in.

I love this shot by photographer Becca Dilley, who collaborates on the local food webzine, The Heavy Table. Her photos on their website are equally gorgeous, even when she's just taking pictures of her sandwich. The Heavy Table is a prime example of quality online food journalism... or just plain quality.

Flash Mob at the Vancouver Olympics

My first live flash mob was at the Vancouver Olympics. Canada's Northern House put it together.

I was there, man. I was there. And I'm totally in this low-quality video. 2:00 mark! Grey coat, red scarf!

Suggestion: Organize a flash mob in the Twin Cities. Invite me. Document it with a better camera than this one.

Hipster Puppies

Samson bought the cutest old-timey banjo at an estate sale two years ago, and it's been sitting in the hallway ever since. -excerpt from Hipster Puppies

I suggest exploring Hipster Puppies for some ironic, anti-establishment, pro-sushi-making club comedy---with cute dogs!

How good people turn bad...

As an upstanding citizen and generally good person, getting a parking ticket makes me want to break laws.

The City of Minneapolis has winter-long snow emergencies; a tow truck ready for a citation issued 4 minutes before the No Parking zone expires; and meters that count less than 60 seconds per minute. It is impossible to avoid a parking ticket and/or towing in this city, proven today when I made every effort to park legally and still ended up with a $42 citation.

I stopped into a client's office today, put my 1-hour of quarters into the meter and actually set an alarm for 58 minutes on my phone. That's not something I typically do, but I did it today. As I'm walking up to the car, I see the parking policewoman getting into her car, which she had obviously parked right next to mine, waiting for the exact second the meter would turn red... like a lioness (or another less majestic animal that pounces on smaller, cuter animals).

This small injustice makes me want to turn to a life of crime; it's a good thing I've had a pretty decent life or who knows what kind of trouble I'd be into?

Prince Charles & Avril Lavigne: The Odd Couple

Credit: Bauer Griffin

Last night in a parallel universe (i.e. the unbelievable real universe), Prince Charles acknowledges peasant Avril Lavigne at Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland premiere in London. Turns out, Charlie is a fan.

"OMG, don't 'Your Majesty' me! I am your biggest fan, Avril. I used to listen to Sk8ter Boi all the time at Windsor... Love the new extensions! They make you look just like Christina Aguilera in her dirty, Xtina days, which is like, a totally classic look. I wish I could pull it off."-the Prince of Wales

The Suggestion Boxer Cooks: Sneaky Asian Dumpling Soup

It seems that I don't eat anything but soup. My big, crappy stockpot and big, beautiful food processor are a constant presence in my life.

Today, I wanted to make an easy soup for lunch that I wouldn't have to use (and later clean) my prized food processor so I came up with this.

This Sneaky Asian Dumpling Soup is a mix of frozen and pantry ingredients---it barely require any chopping or cooking and it's easy to make one serving at a time. That's the sneaky part. I normally don't cook with a lot of prepared foods, but I do always keep French green beans (the long, skinny ones) and shelled edamame in the freezer to add greens and protein to my meals when I don't have anything fresh on hand. Today I also happened to have chicken potstickers from Trader Joe's (also where I got the haricot vert and edamame, so international). Those potstickers have saved me from many a late-night pizza delivery situation.

Sneaky Asian Dumpling Soup

1 serving, 10 minutes

4-5 frozen potstickers or dumplings (chicken, pork or veggie)

Handful of frozen French green beans

Handful of frozen shelled edamame (soybeans)

1 cup vegetable or chicken broth (reduced sodium)

1 clove garlic (crushed)

1 inch fresh ginger (minced)

1 tsp soy sauce

Splash of fish sauce (optional)

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Black pepper to taste

Splash of lemon juice

Mix garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, cayenne pepper and black pepper with broth in a pot, cover and bring to a boil. Add potstickers, cover, bring back to boil and cook for about 3 minutes. Add frozen edamame and frozen green beans and simmer for 5-8 minutes until everything is heated thoroughly. Beans and edamame should be bright green and crisp. Finish with lemon juice. Soup's on.

I didn't have any, but this would be even better with scallions on top. The final flourish.

Listening In: Zoey Van Goey

What is it about Glasgow?

I've been a Belle & Sebastian fanatic for years, I love God Help The Girl and now Zoey Van Goey has me at hello. I barely even listen to an entire song before I'm raving about them. I'm convinced that music out of Glasgow hits the right places in my brain: the places where it's perfectly acceptable to wear a tulle party dress with rain boots and splash around on a cobblestone street on a drizzly day. I make myself want to throw up sometimes.

Zoey Van Goey just released their album in North America at the end of January 2010 (even though it's been out for a while in Europe). It's called "The Cage Was Unlocked All Along," and the cover art is so cute.

Zoey Van Goey's music is what I guess I would call balanced. They aren't holding back but don't overwhelm either, They have a clear understanding of how to use a variety of instruments, volumes and tempos that give their songs texture. If you like the male-female vocals of Mates of State or listen to any of those Scottish bands I listed earlier, you'll probably like Zoey Van Goey. NME compared them to The Essex Green and I think that's fair, but they bashed Stuart Murdoch (lead singer of Belle & Sebastian) in the same sentence. The horror.

Hope you enjoy!

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, in the Portuguese-speaking sector, 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.