Blood Harvest

Happy Halloween! It's the time for slaughtering animals for winter, the traditional "blood harvest." Grain harvest (like John Barleycorn) is in August. Then the fruit harvest is September. And October gets the creepy one. The veil between the worlds is thinnest tonight and it's a great time to visit a graveyard and visit with spirits and ask questions of the unquiet dead.

Also a good time to listen to some graveyard smashes: here's tonight's creepy playlist.

Beef Jerky Time, 10/31/07
  • The Queen's Funeral March: Henry Purcell
  • Every Planet We Reach Is Dead: Gorillaz
  • Blasphemous Rumors: Depeche Mode
  • Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565: J.S. Bach
  • I Am Stretched On Your Grave: Sinead O'Connor
  • Danse Macabre: Camille Saint-Saëns
  • The Golden Section: Coil
  • Chainsaw: Skinny Puppy
  • In the Hall of the Mountain King: Edvard Grieg
  • This Corrosion: Sisters of Mercy
  • The Unquiet Grave: Fir Soar

Moving=chaos

I think I already mentioned that I'm moving house at the end of the month--it's such a horrid process. Where did I get all this STUFF? And then I pack it, lug it around, get it somewhere new and put it in my closet to move again next time.

Anyway, my brain is fried from moving logistics/ . Here are 2 playlists at once so they don't get stuck in some closet, man!

Beef Jerky Time, 10/10/07
  • A Good Egg: Leo Kottke
  • Blossom: Jimmy Ryan
  • La Luna: Bert Jansch
  • Hobo's Song: Fred Holstein
  • 16/16: Garcia & Grisman
  • Leather Boots: Red Heart the Ticker
  • Jackknives: Red Heart the Ticker
  • Tell Me That It Isn't True: Bob Dylan
  • Grey Eagle: Byron Berline
  • Lady Margaret: The Mammals
  • Liberty: Bryan Bowers (autoharp)
  • Katie Cruel: Bert Jansch f/ Devendra Banhart & Beth Orton
  • Follow Me To Carthage: The Mammals
  • Pachysandra/Sunday Driver: Gordon Stone


Beef Jerky Time, 10/24/07
  • Trem Two: Mission of Burma
  • Tennesee Stud: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band f/Doc Watson
  • Let's Call It Off: Peter Bjorn & John
  • Her Halcyon Days: New Radiant Storm Kings
  • Tamacun: Rodrigo y Gabriela
  • Maleta Prestada: Pepito
  • Cologne: Trans Am
  • Filet of Sole: The Dead Milkmen
  • 2080: Yeasayer
  • You Spin Me Round (like a record): Dead or Alive
  • Tribulations: LCD Soundsystem
  • Love Vibration: Josh Rouse
  • You Never Know: Goldfrapp

No show October 17, 2007

Sorry, I have an evening appointment so no show tonight!! I'm already working on my Halloween show though. Should be spooooooky. Or something like that. Back next Weds., OCt. 24 at 7pm. L, K

Another buffer moment

This is my second post about fingernails, which is perhaps shamefully insipid, but they're on my mind.

So I found having fingernails is actually good for something. Specifically they offer SOME protection, if hit at the right angle, from slicing off the end of your entire finger. Even after reading this disgusting mandoline injury post over at amalah.com, I rashly decided to slice some summer squashes on a mandoline without using the protective hand-grip thingy. (Because frankly a curvy tall yellow squash doesn't really FIT in the hand-grip thingy.) So I was slicing away and OW! I sliced right through my right ring-finger fingernail, into the quick underneath a little bit, and then...stopped. I did not complete the motion by lopping off a huge lateral slice of my finger. Um, thank you fingernail!!

Also, I'm discovering that a 4-sided nail buffer is an excellent writing aid. If you are the type of person who has ever needed to take smoking breaks while writing (which I used to do at one stage of my life: code word "college"), may I recommend a nail buffer for all your future writing projects. Filing, smoothing, buffing and polishing seems to take the same sort of nervous fiddly energy that used to make smoking so enjoyable. Because writing words is like doing reps with weights--you need a BREAK while you prepare for the next set. Other ways of taking those mental breaks--obsessively checking internet news sites to see if anything interesting happened while you were writing those last 2 sentences.

Here, a little bit later than usual, is the playlist for Beef Jerky Time, version 10/3/07.
  • Amelia: Kleenex Girl Wonder
  • Around the World: Daft Punk
  • My Rights vs. Yours: The New Pornographers
  • (Nothing But) Flowers: Talking Heads
  • Now That You Got It: Gwen Stefani
  • The Night Starts Here: Stars
  • Dollar Take: Amy Correia
  • Smiley Faces: Gnarls Barkley
  • Love You To: The Beatles
  • Hots on for Nowhere: Led Zeppelin
  • Cellphone's Dead: Beck
  • Green Eyes: Coldplay
  • Drive Until He Sleeps: Ui

Spice rack confessions

Psst! Yes, I used to be THAT kind of cook. The one who churned out boring slop. The one who believed that foods have "their own flavors" and don't need anything so banal as tasty seasonings. Then I had a stirfry at a friend's house that was actually YUMMY! I'd become accustomed to my own stir-frys, which were dull, limp and broccoli-laden. This new stirfry was broccoli-laden too, but it was spicy! Piquant! I wanted more!

Since then I have been trying to make more effort in the spice rack world. It's not like I'm a total tyro in the kitchen. I did get that "Chef Pre-employment" certificate you know. But I am also sickly addicted to recipes--just like I can't play impromptu piano but always need the sheet music. Here's the spice rack jazz I'm trying to pull off these days.

Cardamom pods: Put these in black tea with some sweetened condensed milk, pepper and coins of fresh ginger.
Marjoram: I am so in love with marjoram. Does thyme bore you? Marjoram it up. Sprinkle over a chicken and bake, for example. Add to stew.
Rosemary: I use it for lamb dishes. Only for lamb dishes. Otherwise I'm afraid I'll get sick of it.
Basil: Pasta sauce. Chili. Hamburgers. Summer squash.
Oregano: Pasta sauce. Greek food.
Star anise: A surprise in curry. Or slice pears in half, scoop out seeds, and poach with a few sections of star anise.
Paprika: Take your leftover pie-dough and knead in a bunch of grated cheese. Roll to about 1/2 inch, cut into strips and sprinkle with paprika. Bake til browned: cheese straws.
Cayenne: If you are sick, eat a clove of raw garlic. Chew til it's a slurry and really slosh it around in your mouth before swallowing. Then, mix boiling water with a spoonful each of honey and lemon juice, and a generous dash of cayenne. Mix and drink. You may be cured! Repeat as needed.
Mustard seeds: fry in a little oil until they start to pop. Grate a cucumber and squeeze out as much water as you can. Mix with yogurt and toasted mustard seeds—good on spicy Indian dishes.
Cumin seeds: Make the catch-all burrito. First, fry leftover rice with cumin seeds and chili powder. Put rice mixture in a flour tortilla along with salsa, grated cheese, and anything else you've got lying around (grated carrots? canned beans? seaweed?). Wrap up and place on oiled cookie sheet. Bake at 350 until cheese starts to leak out.
Also, keep black bean chili paste in your fridge door. Makes a pack of ramen halfway gourmet.

Now for last week's Beef Jerky Time playlist (9/26/07). It's all from the new 2-CD set, Little Darla Has a Treat For You, vol. 25!!!!!
  • Travel Writer: California Oranges
  • Gone Too Far: Hell On Wheels
  • Canción de Viernes: Cooper
  • Coka, I'm Fine: My Little Airport
  • Arms: Aarktika
  • Moon Balloon: RF & Lila de la Mora
  • Slave: Linda Draper
  • Ventricle: Ponies in the Surf
  • La Fiebre de Carlos: Corazon
  • Far Away: .tape.
  • Pac Man Fever: Sprites
  • Switchboard Girl: Future Conditional
  • Ion Crush: Jatun
  • You Are Mine: Cdatakill