Arugula Pesto Chicken Salad

So this photo looks kind of gross but this was some rad chicken salad. I took arugula from the garden and put it in our new tiny food processor with olive oil, whole almonds and raw garlic. Then I added roasted chicken from few nights ago, with salt and a little mustard. Trader Joe's makes an amazing garlic aioli mustard. It's hard not to put it in everything. Ruth Morrison gave me the idea for arugula pesto. Thanks lady!

Just a few little things

Album of the moment is Beach House's Devotion. Thanks to Mike D for the intro and to Elise and Dan for providing the album. I can't stop listening to "Gila" and "Turtle Island". I want to sing like them. They're from Baltimore, home to other awesome but sort of weird bands like Animal Collective and Celebration.

Chocolate with sea salt is where it's at. I thought I was done with chocolate. Not so much. Poco Dolce just rocked my world a little bit.

A candidate at this past interview weekend in Chicago told me about this great MTR blog. There is a vote coming up on the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696). You best call your Senator!

I finally saw "Away We Go" with Emily yesterday. I recommend it to everyone. You can tell Eggers helped write the screen play because as much as it makes you tear up, it's also complete with ridiculous parent-child interactions and...wait for it... vagina jokes!

And since Mike was kind enough to introduce me to yet another amazing band (as he has for 8 years running) I'm going to rep his music to my 5 other regular readers. Based in Raleigh, Gross Ghost is truly on the verge, ready to make a splash in the soulful, sometimes electronic I-want-to-make-out- to-you genre. I think Blur when I listen to it but really you could say that about a handful of awesome bands that this group borrows from. Watch out for them on Brooklyn Vegan when their album drops at the end of the summer (ensha-allah, god willing).

Death of a Hero

I can't believe Michael Jackson is dead. Since my babysitter gave me Dangerous on tape when I was 7, I have wanted nothing more than to be a singer and a rockstar. I haven't pursued that dream but I still have to give MJ props for planting the seed. Love that guy. Even though he was a total freak I took solace in the fact that he was around; that he hadn't abandoned my generation like kurt cobain, Bradley and all the others.

I was reminded today just how much I have always loved MJ, if not secretly. Believe me, being a fan hasn't always been cool. It brought me great torment from my third grade peers when I mistakenly shared my infatuation with him with the king of pop.

Anyways, the highlight of the day was my little brother's reaction, via text message,
"oh no! Where will the little kids go to get touched in their no no places"

-- Post From My iPhone

'Til we eat again

I just got back from seeing Food, Inc. with roommates Emily and Andrew. A film about where our food comes from and the 5 corporations that control our food market, it sparked quite the debate on the ride home. Mostly we discussed the weak (or maybe not so weak?) nature of the call to action at the end of the film, and the apparent futility of most efforts to change our food system. The film advised us to vote three times a day on food issues, plant a garden, cook dinner with our families and tell our representatives to pass Kevin's Law.

The fact that food is even traded as a commodity is problematic in itself and this way of thinking it so entrenched in this country. Moreover, the companies that control the industry are especially powerful, backed by money, politicians and the law. Is the food production system something we can even dream of changing?

To me it doesn't seem any less helpless than stopping overfishing or making a dent in the fight against global warming (I mean, we take on special interests all the time and win) but, as Emily pointed out, its a little different with food. People are going to eat no matter what, and most are going to eat what's cheap. But then again, CFL lightbulbs haven't always been cheap. I'm choosing to retain my optimism but when even a movie like this can't really tell me what I'm supposed to do to affect a food revolution, where am I to turn?

I've been wondering for several months now what will be the tipping point for the food movement. How can Michael Pollan be a little more like Al Gore or Van Jones? Could Food, Inc. be as influential as "An Inconvenient Truth"? Not yet. The food movement is still so problem-oriented. So far, most of the popular solutions are super local. We don't have wind/solar, green jobs or other big scale, common-sense solutions to our food problems yet.

I think the answer may lie in the the food safety/public health angle, tied with putting people to work in urban agriculture. Pretty soon someone will find a way to make it profitable. How great would it be to green Detroit and create jobs growing broccoli in brown fields? Viva brassica!

The guy who checked me out at Trader Joe's the other night told me he doesn't believe in buying organic, thinks its all a scam. And this was in Massachussetts, where folks don't blink an eye at composting, acai berry eating mixed-race lesbian households. Eating organic is just a given to all those who can afford it. The vote with your fork angle isn't going to pull mainstream America into the fold. The farms to schools notion is pretty sexy - We probably could fight to get local, healthy food in public schools, and that would be a huge accomplishment. However, until there is a significant movement to shift the bottom line in food markets, food deserts will grow more commonplace, the childhood diabetes epidemic will continue to spread and Monsanto will still be making hamburgers with ammonia-treated beef. Gross!

In the organizing-to-win world of change-making, we're quick to dismiss people who make a big deal out of starting community gardens and organizing new farmers' markets. I say thank God for them because the food justice revolution is going to be a long, ugly fight and we might as well share zukes and cukes with our neighbors in meantime.

Upon the end of your feral days

Last Thursday I went to the Middle East Downstairs to see one of my favorite bands, Sunset Rubdown. It was less epic than I'd hoped, having never seen them live before. It was also the first show on their summer tour and their first time playing some of the songs off Dragonslayer, set to come out at the end of June.

However, show openers The Witchies, just blew the crowd away. Imagine the Pixies making indie dance music via a quiet bald guitarist, a sick drummer and a beautiful female keyboardist with a killer, and severely underutilized voice. The Montreal trio is currently unsigned but I would not be surprised if they blowup before the end of this tour.

Elfin Saddle, the second band and also a trio, was one of the strangest musical acts I've ever witnessed. And when I say strange, I don't mean strange-entertaining, i.e. Bunny Brains. I spent their whole set trying to decide how I felt about them and I'm still not sure. Instruments they used included the tuba, accordion, contra bass, ukulele, guitar and xylophone. While they played I also pondered which musicians I'm familiar with would like to jam to/with Elfin Saddle. The first few that came to mind were Beirut, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective and Nick Drake, if that gives you any indication of the diversity. Some of it was ambient, other moments were straight rocking out and every time they started sucking they did something awesome. (I recommend checking out the photos on their MySpace page. I can only hope that the art installations highlighted in their photos are permanent home furnishings in the band's communal living space.)

Unfortunately Elfin Saddle's set coincided with a pretty epic BoSox game and they struggled to shrug off intermittent screaming from drunken bros crowded around a TV in the corner. I guess you can't go anywhere in Boston where there isn't a TV with the game on. Many in the crowd were clearly annoyed. I supposed I'm still new enough in Boston to find the home team pride thing endearing in most every context. I'm also fascinated by bros. More on that in a later post.

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Emily's family beach house in Nonquitt, Mass. Just an hour South of Boston and a short jaunt from the decrepid New Bedford, it is convenient and gorgeous. We rode bikes, swam and made a lot of delicious food with Momma Stone. The mango, avocado salsa Emily made for our fish tacos was definitely a highlight. On the way home we bought tomato plants, wifebeaters and a tiny charcoal grill. Life is good.

June Photo Update

Here are some photos of the garden, specifically baby lettuce and the irrigation system.









Melanie looking beautiful in Harvard Yard.

Some massive poppies near Kaz's house in Cambridge.

A mural in the Mission in San Francisco.

Random Dorking Out on Plants and Music

I just came back from 4 days in San Francisco and my garden has exploded. Apparently the neighbors have commented on its success. I'm just glad they aren't upset with my ghetto irrigation system. I buried a few plastic bottles in the ground with holes in them to help get water underneath my seeds. It's not pretty but it seems to be working. I'm lucky I don't have Homeowners' Associations and their often absurd rules to deal with. Thanks JP!

The sunflowers are already 2.5 inches tall! The seeds are still attached to the big leaves. Its cute. I will try to post pictures soon. I ate some of the lettuce for the first time today and its pretty delicious. Emily just got a table cloth so we're ready for our first harvest dinner party- as soon as we find the time. We might go to NYC this weekend and then I've got Boston interviews and trips to Chicago, Denver and DC. Maybe North Carolina if god wills it.

Thursday Sunset Rubdown plays at the Middle East in Central Square. They've got a new album out at the end of the month which should make the show especially awesome. I might have to be front and center for this one, trying desperately to understand what goes on inside the labyrinth of Spencer Krug's brain. Random Spirit Lover, the album that got me through my Green Corps year, and the upcoming Dragonslayer, are on Jagjaguwar, a label home to other sweet bands like Bon Iver and Okkervil River. I want to know where that name comes from. If anyone knows, hook a sister up.

I recently acquired some Shuggie Otis, given that his name is amazing and "Inspiration Information" is a pretty sick tune. It turns out his real name is Johnny Alexander Veliotes and he's still making music in California somewhere. Some of his other old stuff is good. I recommend "Sparkle City" and "Aht Uh Mi Head."

Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca is rockin' my world right now, and that of many others I'm sure. I would like to see them in Somerville this month but may pass in favor of Handsome Furs at the Black Cat in D.C.