New Orleans fashion

I just came back from New Orleans, where I attended the RTDNA/SPJ Excellence in Journalism conference. Everyone knows the music, food and French Quarter are spectacular, so I’ll instead share with you a great little vintage shop I found on Magazine Street, close to the Garden District. It’s The Revival Outpost.

Let’s have some fungi, this meat is sick

Sometimes my job requires me to do not so fun things, like sit through three hour planning & zoning meetings. And sometimes I get to do super fun things, like foray for mushrooms! I’m working on a story about the wild mushroom situation in Connecticut, so today I met up with a very knowledgeable mycologist and we hunted for mushrooms together in a park in Trumbull.

black trumpet mushrooms

This year, black trumpet mushrooms have been growing like crazy. She handed me a wax paper bag and told me to take some home for myself. So I took a little handful. Once I got home, I consulted Google (seriously, who uses cookbooks anymore?) for some basic guidelines on how to prepare them.

Confession: I don’t love the way mushrooms taste, so I decided to soak them in flavor. I heated up some butter and olive oil in a pan and threw in about three chopped up cloves of garlic. Once they started sizzling, I threw in the mushrooms. In about two minutes, they were small and shriveled. I probably did something wrong, because apparently, they’re supposed to take a good 10 minutes to get wilty. I poured in a swig of brandy and my oh my the brandy swirling around with that butter and olive oil smelled so so so so good. I added some cilantro(?) and oregano (?) (I’m not exactly sure what they are. They are leaves growing in my mini kitchen garden.) and let the whole thing cook in that for another minute. Then I spread the mixture on top of some baby greens.

This was not my intent, but I basically ended up turning the garlic, mushrooms and even leaves really crunchy. They tasted caramelized. But it worked. It turned out like a flavorful crouton mix on top of the greens. I want to get some more so I can make this again!

Advice: I went foraying with a very experienced mycologist who knows edible mushrooms from toxic ones. Do not cook wild mushrooms unless you can verify they’re safe.

On leather

my leather purse subsidized cow killing.

The Ethical Ocean blog had a good post on why not to buy leather. An excerpt:

The most common argument in favor of the leather industry is that leather is simply a byproduct of the meat industry, and is therefore using resources that would otherwise go to waste. This is a popular argument for leather makers and various leather-related trade associations.

It is true that hides are a byproduct of the livestock industry. However, the value of the hide alone makes up roughly 10 to 15 percent of the total value of the animal (depending on the animal). The meat industry would not be viable without this added hide revenue. This means that the leather industry effectively subsidizes the true cost of beef and other meats. If we stopped selling leather, meat prices would rise.

Hence, leather supports increased meat consumption.

Should I: write for free?

Should I: write for free?

Well, self, isn’t that what you’re doing at this very moment, writing on this personal blog that generates no advertising revenue?

Well, yes, self, I suppose I am. But I’m not writing this for monetary gain, I’m writing this for creative fulfillment, Because there is a sort of liberation in knowing that the information read here can be easily disseminated and reach anyone in the entire world. And perhaps I’m thinking that maybe one day I’ll update this blog more than once every six months and my writing will be so terribly witty and alluring that I’ll get a book deal out of it.

Well, then, you should write for free if you’re getting some sort of fulfillment out of it. And also, you could see it as an investment of time and creative energy that may have a payoff in the future.

I should probably clarify. Should I: write for free for entities that will profit off of my work?

I’d say yes, if it was a symbiotic relationship in that you get to disperse some idea you wish to promote and they are providing the platform. But if you are simply searching for creative fulfillment, then I’d say no. Your creativity is a good. Creativity requires time, and it requires thinking. And if you are providing a written product that is well crafted, you should respect yourself and your work enough to demand payment for it.

- End internal dialogue. -

Doing it for the fame

“The appeal for composerdom, for Barr, seems to lie largely in his weariness with the rock’ n’ roll lifestyle. Simply put, composers make money by writing music; rock musicians make money by selling T-shirts.
‘I don’t want to come off as bitter,’ he protests, ‘because I’m not bitter.’ (He doesn’t, for the record, sound bitter. He sounds grown up.) ‘Ido what I want to do, and that’s a kind of success.’”

That’s a passage from a feature article in the August 18 edition of the Fairfield County Weekly, an alternative magazine. The article, titled “Shred Head” is about Musician Mike Barr, a native of Derby, Conn.

I found his quote refreshing because the resouding message in pop culture these days seems to be that fame is the endgame. It’s in musical lyrics (“picture my name in sparkly lights”). It’s what defines our biggest It-girls of the moment, famous for famous’ sake. And it’s what we’re teaching our children when we buy them t-shirts that are emblazoned with “rock star.” I could argue Lady Gaga’s album “The Fame” is a glittery dissection of this mindset.

Here’s what in my 24 years on Earth I’ve found to be true. Those people that are most respected never sought out respect or adulation. They didn’t do it for the admirers. They didn’t do it because they dreamed of a corner office. They worked hard, stood up for what they believed in, and usually find the fame a nuisance and an annoying side effect.

So here’s to the anti-fameballs like Mick Barr, because what is adoration anyway but borderline envy? Who really wants all that nazar?

Vibes art

Making liqeuer

There’s a restaurant across the street from my apartment building called Epernay Bistro & Wine Bar that has delicious food and an outdoor patio that is perfect for the summer nights like the ones we’ve been having. The owner, Peter Wroe, installed a pavement garden in the parking lot (think giant square pot on the pavement) and was kind enough to let me have a row to plant some herbs.  I planted marjoram, oregano, lemon verbena and spicy basil, all which I got from Gilbertie’s Herb Garden in Westport, and so far have only used a few sprigs of the marjoram I planted in a chicken recipe. I wanted to find creative ways to use more of my plants.

lemon verbena and lemon zest

Earlier in the spring, my newspaper got rid of it’s library because these days when we want to reference something, we go straight to Google, God of search. The books were up for grabs, and I snatched one called The Herbal Pantry by Emily Tolley and Chris Mead. I took it off my cookbook shelf today and found a recipe for lemon verbena liqueur.
I stopped by the Bijou Square Wine Shop, which happens to be

Constantino brandy

on the ground floor of my apartment building, and bought a bottle of Constantino brandy, which was a little less than $20.
I measured out four cups of brandy into an old Voss bottle and put in the leaves, as well as some lemon zest. Now I’m supposed to just let it steep for two days. Then I add sugar and let it steep for another two weeks (and I have to shake the bottle vigorously every day to make sure the sugar dissolves).

steeping in a Voss bottle

Next, I strain it and let it age for yet another two weeks. So in about a month, my homemade liqueur will be ready to sample.

Speaking of establishments on my block, the Bijou Theater opened tonight with a showing of Certified Copy. I had to miss it because I was covering a Town Council meeting in Trumbull, but I definitely want to stop in soon to catch a movie.