Tuesday, October 26, 2010

meet & greet

so you know how famous people love new orleans? well, it's true. where else would one be able to show up late* to a gogol bordello show, only to stay while the bar emptied of gypsy punk fans and suddenly see the lead singer, eugene hutz, hanging around and drinking bottled water? the republic in NEW ORLEANS, that's where!

i got to speak in polish with eugene, a native of the ukraine.
marty was incredibly starstruck and kept telling eugene that america loved him, and, in the alternative, that he was a premium dancer (if you don't know what he was referring to, then you must rent this movie).
eugene said that he loved new orleans because it was dirty and grimy in a way that reminded him of rio, moreso than any other city in the world. i took that to be an enormous compliment.

all in all, showing up late turned out to be incredibly serendipitous. from now on, i will always find out i passed the bar, day-drink too many 25 cent martinis, and pass out for a 3 hour nap before every gogol show i attend.

*like, pitifully late. as in, we saw 2.5 songs, all the time wondering why the band and the crowd were already so jazzed up and sweaty

Monday, October 25, 2010

this is how you carve a pumpkin

roommate's boyfriend surprised us last sunday night with 4 personal pumpkins he'd gone on a trek to find (apparently, pumpkins are incredibly hard to find in new orleans). we each spent an inordinate amount of time on the internet, searching for images and inspiration. in the end, the results were unique and amazingly dignified*.
jack skellington by yours truly
jackie o. lantern by becky
gene simmons by clinton
murderous kool-aid guy by marty
*ok, not really

Saturday, October 23, 2010

dc!

i had the pleasure of going to dc for nearly a week, courtesy of my new job. i hadn't been since i was 14 years old, so it was amazing to be able to experience the nation's capitol as an adult. the conference i was at took up a lot of my time, but i tried to make the best of it and was determined to visit as many of dc's neighborhoods as i possibly could. in the end, i got to hang out at a jazz lounge in dupont circle, at a french bistro and at marvin on u street, visited the eastern market, ate greek food in capitol hill, and traipsed all over the georgetown area.
i found the metro stops to be beautiful and inspiring. the size and architecture of each stop was amazing!
i got to attend a super fancy-pants dinner at the reagan international trade center. david gregory, host of meet the press, was the emcee! i told ya - fancy.
ever since i started following naomi davis' adorbs blog, the rockstar diaries, i've wanted to visit the capitol hill neighborhood to see what was so special about it! obviously i feel in love with the eastern market, housed in a historical building and home to TONS of fresh food, including meats, cheese, veggies, pastries and fresh flowers.
the georgetown area was perfectly quaint - but way more crowded than i expected. a few too many chain stores and gourmet cupcake shoppes for my taste, but it was a bustling neighborhood and fun to walk around, thanks to the perfect weather.
this painting reminded me of the little prince, my absolute favorite book!
georgetown was... georgetown. imposing, gothic, ivy-leagueish.
this marginally interesting church was the only building in arlington, va (where i stayed) i found worthy of a photograph

Monday, October 18, 2010

cheddar biscuit joy

i tried my hand at biscuits from scratch yesterday using this recipe. for a first-timer, i think i did pretty well for myself. fresh out of the oven, paired with marty's homemade chili (i acted as his sous chef in that regard), it was the perfect sunday night meal. i'm just surprised i actually had all the ingredients AND tools (namely, a biscuit cutter).

Sunday, October 17, 2010

taj mahal at the square

my roommate has been working at the jazz & heritage foundation for a few months and one of the biggest projects she's worked on is the crescent city blues & bbq (!!!) festival going on this weekend. marty and i went last night to lafayette square (our favorite) to see taj mahal perform. we ran into a bunch of friends and got to see a blues legend - for free! thanks to roomie for all her hard work!