Things I love so far this week: beauty edition

How many people have asked me this week: “What happened to your chin?”
To which I have replied:

1.) I’m getting started on my Halloween costume early- do you think I’ll make a good zombie?
2.) I burned it steeping a cup of tasty Yunnan. I am that committed to tea.
3.) I was smelling a candle and got too close to the flame.
4.) Right! Next time I should iron my shirt and not my face!
5.) I always wanted to know what it would feel like to be a woman with a flesh singed goatee.
6.) There’s nothing quite like a boil on the face to keep the compliments coming!
7.) There are never enough good reasons in life to pull out the aloe vera.
8.) I like to answer the phone using only half of my mouth.
9.) We all go to drastic measures to find good conversation starters for dates.
10.) I got too close to the open flame while heating corn tortillas for quesadillas.

Let’s talk tea

The tea videos I filmed in New York earlier this year are now viewable online at www.about.com. There were five in total that we shot and three links are posted below from our all-day shoot. They had an amazing team- the woman filming us has a masters in journalism and has had her documentary on 9/11 diseases run on the Sundance Channel. Kudos to editing for making each video look cohesive…

http://video.about.com/coffeetea/Find-the-Right-Tea-for-You.htm
http://video.about.com/coffeetea/Benefits-of-Whole-Leaf-Tea.htm
http://video.about.com/coffeetea/Pairing-Tea-With-Food.htm

Ten things I love so far this week

1. Reading Tennyson’s poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” aloud at church this morning!
2. Finishing my paper on Paul Celan’s poem “Deathfugue”!
3. Samovar / “Darjeeling Limited” scenery / walking to the Embarcadero with S.
4. Snow Patrol’s album “Eyes open”
5. A dish I concocted today of Israeli couscous, curry powder, dried cherries, pomegranate seeds, pears, pignolas, and cubes of Jerusalem Artichoke. Yum!
6. Tiffany’s explanation of David and Goliath motifs this evening after viewing “In the land of Elah”
7. Walking to the Fillmore with Lisa and Claudia today for Chocolate Thai Iced Tea!
8. Discovering and being sucked in hook, line and sinker into the TV show “Heroes”
9. Learning I am a kite
10. Visiting, laughing, praying and reading Psalms with Rose and Broderick in the hospital

Things I love so far this week

1. Playing Mexican Train dominoes with friends over wine and much laughter!
2. Hanging out at K + L’s house and instead of watching a movie, discussing movies for hours!
3. Seeing “Sweeney Todd” today and catching up with my new standing musical theater date!
4. My new recipe for Fig Walnut Scones. Yum!
5. Bonding with the roomies over brunch!
6. Chatting with a painter in Union Square over her Aspen Birches painted in acrylic. Mesmerizing!
7. Spicy pumpkin soup with Mexican cream and spicy pepitas!
8. Herbert Zbigniew’s poem “I Gave My Word”
9. Walking down Market street today alone with my thoughts
10. Anthony’s song “Johanna” in “Sweeney Todd”- so beautiful!

Frayed thread

I came home from Mexico ill and not of the gastro variety. Instead my body found it sufficient, glassy eyes and congested head to lie in bed all day Monday until at 5:30 p.m. I pulled myself up off of the grassy flannel sheets and allowed my eyes oh- five minutes to focus out of the stupor of whence they came.

My chiropractor said it briefly, so briefly I could have chosen to not hear what he said.

“You can’t live there.”

Hmm. And thus began a dissection of what happens to an asthmatic in an overly smoggy, smoke-ridden city. “You could live there for maybe a year, but longer and you will compromise your health and the length of your life.” Wow. Never thought about that before. Specifically never considered air purity as a key component on future landing pads… Until now. And am interested to consider how India has diminished in my periscope’s lens. My thoughts turn to Amy Carmichael leaving Ceylon for India because her health suffered much in the land to which she originally felt latched. But then consider the outpouring… and thus the thread is frayed, beckoning me to consider its cutting or rectification. No dramatic swells in music here. Just a simple pause and questioning hmm.

My inner feminist cringes

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-homemaking11oct11,1,1761777.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

Things I love so far last week- MEXICO Edition

1. A brief foray through the Condessa district, similar to NYC’s SoHo area.
2. Mellowing out before bed every night in my hammock, overlooking the city and praying.
3. Discovering old Mexico on foot with my friend Rod.
4. Speaking Spanish with flourish
5. Conversations with taxi drivers
6. Finding a chain of book stores in town called “Gandhi”
7. Seeing massive political paintings from Diego Rivera
8. Sitting in the park and watching people walk by, kids chasing bubbles
9. Reveling in a city of night owls, staying awake and alive well into the wee hours of the morning
10. Passing the statue of “Gandhi” everyday on the way to work.

Marketing the dead

Is it fair really that painters become cheese, chocolate or liqueur post-humously. Something about this scratches against my conviction that art should mitigate memory not Hickory Farms…

Early Taste Edition: Things I love so far this week

I am having flashbacks to being a vegetarian in France from earlier this year (except raw vegetables are a no-no in Mexico unless you would personally like to bear the weight of Montezuma’s revenge.) Nonetheless, the past few days have held some amazing tastes. As you can imagine, I have been waking up early to go exercise because in Mexico they love cream in everything!

1. Hibiscus margaritas with chile at Izote. Tart, tangy with sweet is never a bad combination.
2. Chile relleno with three kinds of cheese in a smoky tomato sauce.
3. The mole sauce from Joane’s main course. Smoky with a tinge of sweetness and so much depth of flavor!
4. Molten chocolate cake with warm ancho chile-laced chocolate sauce oozing from inside.
5. Squash flower soup (I am as you will see kind of obsessed with squash flowers)…
6. Cream of pecan soup (toasted bits of pecan + notes of sherry= pretty incredible)
7. Squash flower crepes with a poblano pepper sauce. The roasting of the pepper gave this sauce an amazing depth that accented the Mexican white cheese so well.
8. Tamarind margarita (more tangy and sweet, but this drink was so well balanced, you didn’t really get as much tang out of the tamarind as usual) at la Hacienda de los Morales.
9. Mexican sweets (read consistency of a paste- of the ones we tried my favorite was a bright pink, belying its being made of toasted pignolas
10. Cinnamon ice cream (Mexican cinnamon has a different flavor than say Saigon cinnamon or other ones out there- almost kind of like it’s been tinged naturally with vanilla).

About the restaurants:
– HACIENDA DE LOS MORALES is this big sprawling hacienda that has been around since the 16th century. They are a five diamond, DiRona recipient so the service is impeccable. The food was amazing and you couldn’t ask for a more historic setting offset by wood from the original era. It made me wonder what our hacienda looked like so long ago.

– IZOTE is Patricia Qunitana’s restaurant in Mexico City. Located on the posh Presidente Masaryk street, everything we tried here was top notch. The place was empty but we were early diners (7p.m.) Most people eat dinner here at around 9:30 because of such late lunches (2-4 p.m.) This was a great way to salivate for more of Mexico City when we first arrived.

Things I love so far this week

1. Making my first pseudo-Spanakopita using the insight of the chef’s secret ingredients from “The Black Olive” in Baltimore!
2. Walking the cobbled streets of Baltimore, visually soaking in the architecture!
3. Snow Patrol’s “Eyes Open” CD
4. Knowing I get to use my passport tomorrow!
5. The aunt in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” especially when she says, “You a vegetarian?! That’s okay, I’ll make lamb.”
6. Sitting outside today at the official Greek Festival, listening to the strains of Greek music, watching the teenagers dance and eating yummy lemony rice!
7. Walking with Lyla & laughing at men in chaps from the Folsom Street Festival!
8. Sitting and singing next to Mariah this morning at church!
9. A letter in the mail from Pam & Darren!
10. Getting caught up with a friend from school over Afghani food in Baltimore!
11. Housemade baklava ice cream!