Happy halloween!

Besides facebook, the huffington post and Five Thirty Eight, it seems like many offices are obsessed with cute pictures of dogs. On Halloween this becomes a heightened state of euphoria with all the absurd dogs in costume pictures being tossed around, and some are JUST WRONG! People, it's really silly to dress up dogs. Maybe it's time to just stop. Meanwhile I'll still laugh at the one above.

Thinking about Barack and Toots

I love Barack Obama even more than ever for taking the time to visit his sick grandma. I was able to see my grandma Anne a few weeks before she passed away and I remember how sad I was but how important it was to be with there.  As hard as it is for him to be away from the campaign I know this is totally the right thing to do.

Clarity Haynes, American Artist

In high school my constant inspiration was my best friend Clarity Haynes. When I walked into Washington International School as a new student in 9th grade I felt super weird because I had gone to that school from Nursery through 4th grade, but left for four years to go to Catholic School. I hadn't kept in touch with my friends at all for various reasons I'm sure I'll get into later in life and so the normal first day of school jitters were compounded by a severe anxiety over seeing them again. One of the first new people I noticed was Clarity. She had bleached blond hair cut in a mega cool asymmetrical style and was wearing black clothes and silver lipstick. I was shocked by how cool she was and was totally sure we'd never be friends. I had brought a book with me that she later told me shocked her too! It was Wifey, the Judy Blume classic, and completely appropriate reading for a 14 year old. Let's face it, I was confused! 

Slowly but surely we got to know one another and basically spent nearly every day together for the next two years. We remained close after she switched to Duke Ellington High School for the Arts when my parents wouldn't let me go but it required more work. But thank goodness she did. She got support and focus and encouragement to pursue her painting and drawing talent and is now a professional artist, and I'm lucky enough to own one of her paintings. 

If by any chance you are able to be in the Philadelphia area in the next month, please see her new show, it looks amazing and I really hope I can make it. 

Blogging Vs. Living

It's the modern dilemma right? We should DO more and not just do it to write about it later right? But it's fun to write about things that interest me. Right now I'm working a lot, trying to stay healthy with the weather changing and everyone getting colds around me. I'm thinking about the election in the U.S., poverty and power abusive governments around the word, and the struggles me and my friends face everyday in life and love. Nothing is easy.

But, if I were to write about the details of my life one cool thing i did this week was go on a field trip with some other students at NGI to Sunset Park Brooklyn. Sue Baldassano, the director of education is naturally passionate about food and has created her won business doing culinary tours to Mexico and Sicily called To Grandmother's House We Go. On our trip today we went to all the Mexican markets to look at ingredients like spices and produce and finished the trip with a lovely lunch at Maria's Mexican Bistro. It was great to meet other students from the other classes and eat delicious food. I bought a bunch of spices and cheese and a tortilla press.

And always on the quest to find Salvadoran food in NY, I stumbled across this gem. Woo hoo!

Simple Social Graces: List from Berlin

There's nothing like a quick trip to Berlin to energize Simple Social Graces! Here is a list of tips and info should you find yourself going there!

Places to stay:
My darling friend Bernardo Santarelli (berlinflatsnow@gmail.com) rents two studio apartments for really reasonable rates by the night or by the week.
Here are some pics:
CASETTA BERLIN
KIKI
Tell him I sent you! And check out his awesome riot queer boy punk band Noisy Pig!

Since this trip was for work I stayed at a hotel with my colleagues called the Mandala Suites. It was REALLY NICE and for a fancy hotel was pretty reasonably priced. If you are traveling for business and want a comfortable hotel in the center of town, this is a great choice. My room was huge and had a terrace and a kitchen larger than those found in most NY apartments. The gym was nice and both the view from the breakfast room and the breakfast itself were fantastic.



Places to eat:
Berlin has great food culture and although many people think of German food as one dimensional, I've had excellent luck. The most popular street food is the doner kebab which is the Turkish gyro. I usually get the vegetarische kebab which is just delicious bread with salad and yogurt sauce or a falafel. The other thing you might see is the currywurst stand, which sells sausage with a curry tomato-ey sauce. Not for me, but I'm sure it's delicious.
Last year when I was in Berlin I had a lovely dinner with Bernardo and two friends from Vancouver Beez and Dave. We went to Ristorante Bei Gino and I loved it so much I made a beeline for it for our first meal this trip. It's southern German food so there's an Italian influence which makes all the flavors bright and exciting. For a starter I had the most amazing beet soup I've ever had in my life, sweet and savory and horseradishy. I could have had a vat of it. It will take ages to replicate but I'll do it I swear. For my main course I had a cheesy, oniony schnitzel which was better than most mac and cheeses Please try to visit if you make it to Berlin.


Also, one of the places we ended up was the center of music and nightlife, the Kulturbrauerei. In the center of the it all is a huge grill for all kinds of meats. Again, not for me, but it did look amazing!

Misc. and nightlife:
The conference I was, Popkomm, is a once a year chance for music business people from all over the world to get together. It's a hectic few days of non stop meetings but also a great chance to see people from all over the world, and hear some amazing music. I always spend a lot of time at the Sounds From Spain stand because they have great goodies. The Catalan Arts society also has a stand and usually the Basque Music Society does as well, but I didn't see them this year. I was lucky enough to be based next to the Lithuanian Music stand and picked up this Lithuanian Folk Music CD, hoping to get into my roots (great great grandpa was from Vilnius.)

I also was lucky enough to be given this bottle of Rioja at a Rightsflow cocktail party. I didn't have a chance to drop it off before we went out for the night but I discovered Berlin security people are fantastically reasonable. In both clubs I went to the security people just told me to leave it out, in one case in a bin and in another sort of hidden in a corner. I really appreciated the lack of drama put forth towards the foreigner traveling with a huge bottle of wine!


The coolest place to hang out in Berlin is again another Bernardo haunt, the Barbie Deinhoff in Kreuzberg. Good cheap drinks, good music (not too loud!) and cozy chairs makes for a perfect place to meet up at the beginning or end of your night. The only complaint for this tender New Yorker is that its mega smokey so you might have to wash your hair before you go to bed!

I can't wait to spend some time in Berlin when I don't have to work and rent a bike and tool around. But until then, I'm happy with what I've got.

Greetings from Berlin and checkpoint charlie!

I'll be home on Friday to give you the list of the week, all fabulous Berlinische things to do, see, taste and think about.

Love,

Molly

Simple Social Graces: List of the week 10/5/08

The list is a little late this week because last week was koo koo feeling. I was preparing for my first quiz at NGI and it was all I could think about. I know I blew one question but I think I did pretty well other than that.

Today was the Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn, a huge street fair from Hicks and Atlantic near my house to the Atlantic Center in Downtown. The girls and I met up for a stroll and tasting of various foods. Here are my highlights:

Potato Pancakes, cabbage and kasha at the St.Cyril's of Turau Cathedral branch of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox church. Yummy stuff!

Bugs Are Gone Exterminating

Women's Cooperative WE CAN DO IT/WE CAN FIX IT (917-463-0403), a woman owned, woman run business designed to create living wage jobs for their members. House cleaning and home services like painting, plumbing, carpentry etc.. COOL AS HELL!

Streamline Pilates and Providence Day Spa. Both offering specials for new clients and PDS is having a spa week the week of the 13th. Sweet!

Complete Elizabeth R VHS Boxes set for $10. I only have a VHS player in my bedroom so this is days of entertainment to be had.



View Larger Map

feeling the possibility

In one month the United States goes to the polls to elect it's next president. This will be the 5th time I've voted for president. I grew up around politics and my father was actively involved in Mo Udall's presidential campaign in 1976 when I was 5. I don't remember too much about the campaign although my parents did split up a year later. I wonder if there was any connection? I don't dare ask. Something are better left unknown.

Anyway, I wanted to vote ever since I could remember. My dad worked for Jimmy Carter doing the media advancing for his international trips and was always going overseas during his term as president. He went to Poland, Egypt, Brazil, Nigeria and others I can't remember. I missed him a lot but got lots of cool presents and peripheral knowledge of all of these places, none of which I've been able to visit yet but I will. I went with my dad to the DNC convention in New York in 1980 and San Francisco in 1984. I was excited about the possibility of a Mondale/Ferraro presidency but being so young I didn't feel too much connection to them. Clinton was the first president I voted for and never thought of not supporting the Democratic candidate in 2000 and 2004. Gore wasn't the most charismatic guy on the planet but he sure as hell was better as well all know now, than the disaster that we have had be our president for the last 4 years. In my community, supporting democrats isn't a given, during the 2000 race Allison asked me on stage at a Bratmobile show who I was voting for (I still haven't let her off the hook!) because she was supporting Nader. Erin wisely declined to respond, but I immediately said "Gore." My dad told me later I should have said "anyone but Bush", but I wasn't hip to that yet. I had a flight home from DC to Oakland on eve that year and Nader was sitting next to me on the plane. I ran to the back and called Dad to tell him and he said "did you punch him in the face?" I did not, but I think about it often.

I don't blame Nader for Gore losing the election, progressives should want to do more than settle for "anyone but Bush" but there is something inside me that has always felt more pragmatic about radical change, that it takes time, but in many cases the stakes are too high to not make compromising decisions. We've spent over $800 billion on the Iraq war and the deaths and casualties are difficult to estimate. Almost 5,000 U.S. troops and over 100,000 Iraqi's killed. A complete and utter disastrous tragedy that I think most of us believe would not be our reality if Gore had been elected outright in 2000. But it didn't move this country to vote Kerry in in 2004 and here we sit today. And I finally feel hopeful.

Not overly confident of course, but hopeful. The possibility exists that not only could we have a better candidate than the republican option, but we might have someone who could put this country on a path towards true change. A path of fairness, where education, nutrition, reproductive freedom, economic opportunities for all and peace are priorities. I am driven to tears sometimes thinking that I might witness in my lifetime the first African American president of the United States. It's so important. We are ready and we need to make a radical statement to the world that this is what we want. In 4 weeks we'll know if we have the power.

Happy World Vegetarian Day!

Happy World Vegetarian Day!

This past September I celebrated my 20th year of being a vegetarian. I originally stopped eating meat my senior year of high school after a rather highschoolian emotional response to studying the holocaust and death ethics in school and being motivated to become more of a peace activist. I remember thinking the easiest thing I could do was start with myself in terms of being more peaceful, and honestly, this is no easy task for me, I'm sort of a hot head. Anyway, since September 1988 I haven't had a burger, a fillet-o-fish or any fried chicken. I have eaten soups and stocks that have had meat by products in them but I do my best to try not to, and that is probably less than 20 times over the years. We did have a silly relapse in 1995 or so when the rumor was going around that those delicious tacos from Jack in the Box were made with TVP not meat. I think I had about 10 over that summer, and they were good! But we believed the lie and had to pause when we knew the real deal. 

ANYWAY...

At this point in my life where food and learning about it and appreciating different cultures is a big priority, I am sometimes inclined to let go of my strict vegetarianism in the interest of being able to completely appreciate and understand the foods of the world, but I haven't yet. The main barrier is the texture of the animal muscles, I just can't wrap my head around it. And for me, that's a good thing. I also really hate the waste economy of the mainstream meat and dairy industries and the disgusting hormones they use and we don't even know how those are affecting us (although I think we have a pretty good idea.)

Meanwhile, I don't judge my friends and family who make different choices than me. I know this is what is right for me and I have to trust that they are making choices that they feel are right for them. My dream society is still one of peace and respect and I still think that starts with me. So now I just need to work on being a hot head!

Cristy Road Bad Habits

I can't remember the first time I met this wacky Florida girl Cristy Road who had named herself after the Green Day Song "Christy Road", but I think the first time I heard of her was '97 or '98. She used to call the mail order phone at Lookout and want to talk about Green Day and all things related. Rop, always willing to indulge a girl in the cutest of ways talked to her every day I think. The legend is she would call every day after school and yap about anything on her mind. She's still sort of like that, only now she's an amazing and accomplished artist and published graphic novel author. Rop likes to take credit for turning her on to riot girl and we can let him, 'cuz I think we're all luckier for it.

Her new book "Bad Habits: A Love Story" is out now and she's doing readings all over the place including one at my local barnes and noble this Thursday! I'm so proud!

http://www.croadcore.org/start.htm

Simple Social Graces: List Of The Week 9/26/2008

Healthy Korner Vegrtarian Chicken and Turkey Salad sandwiches:

I love these guys when I’m flying out of JFK. Only 200 cals and totally delicious. They come in vegan and non vegan varieties and are absolutely satisfying.  I left a message like a weirdo on their answering machine yesterday to see if I could find out where they sell them in midtown but so far no reply. If you have a tip, let me know!

627 Lb Woman: Jackie's Story

I stumbled upon this show,”627 Lb Woman: Jackie's Story” the other night while flipping channels during commercials of some other terrible show I was watching. Although I felt extremely voyeuristic there was something so sweet and positive about Jackie that I wanted to stay and watch the whole thing. The moment where she hugs and kisses  the EMT workers who brought her home from the hospital after her gastic bypass was just so tender. She’s now down about 400 pounds to 200+ and apparently it’s still a struggle but she has the best attitude. An inspiration for us all!

Cooking School

I’ve had two real days of classes and all I can say is, it’s NO JOKE! Besides the fact that I have to rush from work on the Wednesday class night so I feel a little sweaty when I suit up it’s been intense and exciting so far. So far we’ve done:

SanitationJapanese 

Knife Skills one 

French Knife Skills (this is really specific and precise and I need to practice a LOT.) 

Equipment ID (here is the difference between a Chinoise and a China Cap)

Tomorrow is Japanese Knife Skills two and I’m excited and nervous. I have to nurse my incoming cold so I can last for 9 hours on my feet!

Dig Out Your Soul

Oasis’ new album is available "Dig Out Your Soul" for pre-sale and I bought it because a friend passed it on to me before street date and I felt guilty for not buying it… so I did. And now I’m listening incessantly to it and loving it. “Shock of the Lightning” is my song of the year so far.

Have a great week!

M.F.K Fisher and Jean on Jean, tonight in NYC!

Tonight is excited because there are cool things to DO! First, http://nicolelang.blogspot.com/ and I are going to the New School to hear a lecture on M.F.K. Fisher the master(mistress?) food writer. We went to the Julia Child lecture here a few months ago and it was fantastic. It's wonderful how many people of all ages, genders and ethnicities are simply interested in food!

The we're heading over to the Cake Shop to see the debut performance of Jean On Jean. This is Molly Schick's new project/band who's album just came out and is a treasure of sweet vocals and infectious songs. I've known Molly since she was about 16 and playing bass in Raooul one of the only all girl bands in the east bay. We're also members of the Dessert of The Month Club and Supper Clubs so we get to see eachother fairly regularly. Besides the awesome fact that we share a name, Molly is one of the kindest and sweetest people you'll ever know. Check her shit out!

Simple Social Graces: List Of The Week

purse contents, bcn, spain nov. 2006

Here are some rad things I learned about this week. Passing on the info!

IRS refund status

If you are waiting for a refund from the IRS (like me?!) you can go here, enter your social security number, filing status and amount your waiting on and it will tell you EXACTLY when you’re check will be mailed. Sweet!

Starbucks Rewards

OK, I’m sure many of you “hate” starbucks and love bad coffee from the bodega but if you’re like me and love a small cup of strong and DELICIOUS coffee with a reliably good taste you go to SB’s once in a while. I’m trying to cut back on some small expenses here and there so I’m not going as often but my friend Tej tipped me to the fact that if you use your starbucks card and it’s registered , you get free refills all day as long as you keep your cup. Also, you get two free hours of wifi and free soy milk or syrup if you happen to like that crap!  

Register your Starbucks Card

Twitter Pic

I admit I have become a total interweb goofball over the last two weeks. I started twittering to update my myspace, blog and facebook all at the same time and with twitter pic you can instantly update with a pic you take from your camera phone. I think it’s fun!

Ted Leo and The Pharmacists “Rapid Response” benefit EP

I already have a whole post about this but if you haven’t bought it yet you’re a turkey.

BUY IT NOW

Food and food preparation safety

So an early result of my new schooling is food safety and cleanliness practices in the kitchen. Here is a cool site to check out to learn more!

www.foodsafety.gov

Today's the Day

A year ago I started dreaming about a new future. A future with nature and water and a different kind of life. Somewhere near a beach, with not too many people and space and time. Now this dream takes time and money to make happen but one of the steps towards it was getting some new skills but in an area I already loved. Through my travels in the last few years I've become obsessed with different styles of cooking and different cultural appreciations of food. This has coincided with what seems like a foodie revolution, awareness of ingredients and preparation is much higher thanks to random things like top chef and food network, but we can always go back to our roots and thank Julia Child for her part in raising the bar for us Americans by bringing true obsession to these shores.

But I also started thinking about my work and my skills. I work in an intuitive relationship based industry. While there are certainly facts here and there, the changing landscape in the music business and the media world at large has made the future of this business tenuous at best. I feel like I need to get some different skills, ones that are transferable and possibly useful in places outside of New York and LA. 

So inspired by many people including my foodie friends and my hope that a world in which vegetarianism and natural foods will only become more and more widely respected, and in honor of my 20th year of vegetarianism, I've enrolled in the chef's training program at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. It's a 10 months program (almost 12 with the internship) and a big commitment for me! It's longer than a human gestation period!

So wish me luck as I embark on this journey that begins tonight. I'll keep you posted of course!

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists "Rapid Response" benefit EP on sale now

During the RNC convention in St. Paul a few weeks ago, the arrests and brutal treament of the protesters was not widely covered in the mainstream media. In response, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists recorded an EP of four songs to benefit Democracy Now (one of the few places widely covering the treatement of the protesters and home to Amy Goodman who was arrested as well) and Minneapolis Food Not Bombs, the center of the activist community in the twin cities area and homebase to many of the protesters during the convention. Please buy the EP and support this effort to raise awareness to the governments attempts to limit free speach and raise money to those who support freedom of speech and what is righteous.

To purchase go to: Touch And Go Records

Arriba Con La Seleccion Salvadoreña!!

It's world cup qualifiers week and there is some awesome footie going on. Besides Paraguay's amazing victory over Venezuela, El Salvador beat Haiti 5-0 and will advance to the next round. WOOHOOOO. We at SSG HQ LOVE Paraguay and El Salvador and couldn't be more proud of all the guys!. In celebration we're jamming this tune quite a bit. Baila con nosotros!

Xocolata en Barcelona

originally posted at www.dessertofthemonthclub.blogspot.com

I feel like I posted this before but I forgot if I did and I can't find it in the old posts so... if so... here it is again!

On a visit to Barcelona two years ago I was taken to Granja M. Viader a dairy bar near Raval where Cacaolat was created (basically like yoohoo but better.) The specialty is simply the most decadent pudding like hot chocolate you've ever tasted. You can either get it with whipped cream or without (I got it with) and it's such a treat. You need about 4 cups of coffee to wash it down but it's worth it.

Fitness and feeling good

For the last two years I've been seeing a personal trainer Malcolm Milton, at the  Dodge Y in Brooklyn.  This also has coincided with love and happiness which has brought a lot of delivery meals to my door, all of which I have been able to consume in massive amounts. The sum of this equation is while I am stronger than I've ever been, my lung capacity is up and I feel healthy, I have gained weight. I'm finally facing that reality and not wanting it to remain the case I've decided to actively try to lose what I've put on over the last two years. I just want my clothes to feel right and to feel right again. 

My new program is:

Malcolm once a week (generally on Monday) for a workout that looks something like:

3 sets of core and cardio

• 3 x 20 bench press w/ leg lift or push ups
  
• 3 x 20 squats or lunges
  
• 3 x 20 kettle bell swing
  
• 3 x 30 crunches on stability ball  
  
• 3 x 100 revolutions on the jump rope or 3 minutes on the summit trainer
  

2 sets of isolated arms, legs and abs

• 2 x 20 bicep curls
  
• 2 x 20 triceps curls
  
• 1 x 30 adductor exercises
  
• 1 x 30 abductor exercises
  
• 100 bicycle kicks
  
• 2 x 30 additional abs
  
• 1 x 30 calve exercises
  

cool down stretching

stretch arms, back, quads, hamstrings, calves, core

The other days I'm trying to do cardio, walk more and generally be outside moving whenever I can. 

I'm trying to eat less, cook more and generally eat better.

I'm really only telling you all this so you can check out Malcolms You Tube page and see how sweet he is!  And to wish me luck on my journey!

Day One U.S. Open Men's Semifinals

So over a month ago we got tickets to the U.S. Open men's semifinals because after Wimbledon I've been so excited about tennis. Venus and Serena were so magnificent and Rafa was so exciting in the final match, I decided I really wanted to see him play live.

So today was the day. We had tickets to both matches and Federer vs. Djokovic was first. Climbing up to our seats in section 333 of Arthur Ashe stadium was awesome and the first three sets were great. Midway through the 3rd set there was announcement that because of the impending storm the second match, Nadal vs. Murray was going to be played concurrently on the much smaller Louis Armstrong court and seats were a first come first serve basis. So we basically ran over there so we could see the match. Joder! It was so small. Rafa and Andy were warming up and we were able to get sets FIVE ROWS BACK. It was tremendous. Honestly, I almost cried. The sets were tough and Rafa was down two and set to win the third when the rain began. They kept most of us in the vicinity for about an hour until they finally announced the match was postponed until 4 PM Sunday. So.... we go back tomorrow. But meanwhile, the memories of today are still unbelievable.



View from our seats in section 333, but still rad


This turkey was reading the paper during the second set.


Warm up


This is how close we were!

Love Or Perish Tour Pics

photo by chip
I can only imagine the van conversations of Carlos, Massimo, Chip and Dan, my brothers in crime in Love or Perish. These pics give you a glimpse. Carlos in particular seems to be enjoying himself!