yay! weekend!
[one]
g & m are in town (hi g!) and we hung out and drank too much. life is tough.
[two]
i went to my first show of the year, to see the raveonettes (for the third time). it's funny because i wouldn't necessarily consider them to be one of my favourite bands, but i thoroughly enjoyed the show. they have this 80's goth sort of sound, like the jesus and mary chain meets joy division meets surfer rock. strange, yes, but it works so well. it's two vocalists who sing in sparse harmony over heavily layered & reverbed guitars, and overall it's this uber loud wall of sound.
the show was at the plaza - for you non-vancouverites, the plaza is a cavernous converted theatre that is now a cheesy downtown club that largely caters to the undergraduate demographic. now, the plaza is one of my least favourite live music venues, because it's so large and cavernous - but it worked really well for this show, showing off the wall of sound to its best.
so that was a lot of fun. there are a bunch of neat shows in may: elbow, who are playing in a church (which will be a great venue for them, methinks) and the amazing swedish triple bill of el perro del mar/lykke li/anna ternheim at the red room.
[three]
this weekend was the winter farmer's market and i picked up some gorgeous buttery baby potatoes, baby sunchokes, walnuts, and fuji apples. SO DELICIOUS. i'm going to boil the potatoes, squish them into little medallions, and then roast them in the oven with olive oil and rosemary. i sliced up the sunchokes as soon as i got home, sliced them finely, and pan-fried them with garlic and rosemary. the fuji apples are ridiculous crisp and sweet, and i have yet to smash open the walnuts - but i'm excited to.
[four]
also i had some organic carrots and vanilla given to me by e, so i took those and made a four-layer carrot cake with cream cheese-vanilla icing. the icing tasted so vanilla-y and creamy...like vanilla ice cream, actually...that i ate more than a quality-control portion while waiting for the cake to cool.
i used a recipe from my newest cookbook, indulge by claire clark (the pastry chef at the french laundry) and i was impressed. the cake was really fluffy, moist and light, and she incorporates finely shredded coconut for an interesting textural addition. the recipes themselves are remarkably reliable; this is the second recipe i've tried and they've both given me a decent product. some fancy-shmancy cookbooks, particularly those from well-known chefs or restaurants, tend to give half-assed recipes so that you can't replicate what the author does. i'm sure that claire's carrot cake is probably better than mine - but for a cookbook recipe, it was pretty kick ass.
[three point five]
in retrospect, i think i would have cracked open the walnuts, candied them, and then put them on the sides of the finished carrot cake. oh well - next time.
g & m are in town (hi g!) and we hung out and drank too much. life is tough.
[two]
i went to my first show of the year, to see the raveonettes (for the third time). it's funny because i wouldn't necessarily consider them to be one of my favourite bands, but i thoroughly enjoyed the show. they have this 80's goth sort of sound, like the jesus and mary chain meets joy division meets surfer rock. strange, yes, but it works so well. it's two vocalists who sing in sparse harmony over heavily layered & reverbed guitars, and overall it's this uber loud wall of sound.
the show was at the plaza - for you non-vancouverites, the plaza is a cavernous converted theatre that is now a cheesy downtown club that largely caters to the undergraduate demographic. now, the plaza is one of my least favourite live music venues, because it's so large and cavernous - but it worked really well for this show, showing off the wall of sound to its best.
so that was a lot of fun. there are a bunch of neat shows in may: elbow, who are playing in a church (which will be a great venue for them, methinks) and the amazing swedish triple bill of el perro del mar/lykke li/anna ternheim at the red room.
[three]
this weekend was the winter farmer's market and i picked up some gorgeous buttery baby potatoes, baby sunchokes, walnuts, and fuji apples. SO DELICIOUS. i'm going to boil the potatoes, squish them into little medallions, and then roast them in the oven with olive oil and rosemary. i sliced up the sunchokes as soon as i got home, sliced them finely, and pan-fried them with garlic and rosemary. the fuji apples are ridiculous crisp and sweet, and i have yet to smash open the walnuts - but i'm excited to.
[four]
also i had some organic carrots and vanilla given to me by e, so i took those and made a four-layer carrot cake with cream cheese-vanilla icing. the icing tasted so vanilla-y and creamy...like vanilla ice cream, actually...that i ate more than a quality-control portion while waiting for the cake to cool.
i used a recipe from my newest cookbook, indulge by claire clark (the pastry chef at the french laundry) and i was impressed. the cake was really fluffy, moist and light, and she incorporates finely shredded coconut for an interesting textural addition. the recipes themselves are remarkably reliable; this is the second recipe i've tried and they've both given me a decent product. some fancy-shmancy cookbooks, particularly those from well-known chefs or restaurants, tend to give half-assed recipes so that you can't replicate what the author does. i'm sure that claire's carrot cake is probably better than mine - but for a cookbook recipe, it was pretty kick ass.
[three point five]
in retrospect, i think i would have cracked open the walnuts, candied them, and then put them on the sides of the finished carrot cake. oh well - next time.