April 2, 2008

Tales from a Lazy Room

I am in St. Augustine, Florida and it is hot. It must be a gazillion degrees in the summer here. This is the oldest continually inhabited city in the United States, and it is a pretty cute, but also extremely touristy, town. Basically I wanted to come here for a couple of days and not do anything, so that is what I am doing - not anything. Except walking around, reading, and sleeping. And drinking wine, of course, though so far I have not had too much good to eat. In fact I have mainly bad meals here, including one that I would have to say was the worst thing I have eaten since I was in another tourist land - Honfleur, in Normandy, France.

More about that later. I am staying at a cool, funky hostel with private rooms called the Pirate Haus. My room has one big bed and four bunks. The owner, Conrad, is a really cool guy who offers up wine, grappa and cognac, and last night we watched the City of Lost Children in the living room. They also have Bravo, so I get to watch Top Chef tonight! Unless someone else beats me to the remote.

I don't really care about going out too much here - I like sitting on the roof deck (it sounds a lot more glamorous than it is, but it is perfect for me at this moment) with a glass of wine and a book, totally alone but with the sounds and smells of the other guests cooking on the other side of the kitchen window.

I feel comfortable at the Pirate Haus. I would definitely come back here, and could even bring friends since there are five beds in the room. At night it cools down and I open the window in my room all the way and listen to music on my little speakers. The night air here is sultry.

Tomorrow I head to Savannah for the Big Slowtrav Gathering, where I will see a bunch of my friends, and see another new place. I will try to check in from there.

Posted by Shannon at 1:03 PM | Comments (2)

March 30, 2008

Last Stop This Town

I'll write more about my last couple of days in DC but for now, this is hella cool.

I love E.

Posted by Shannon at 9:00 AM | Comments (2)

March 29, 2008

Behind the Blue Door

Sometimes, when I travel, a city's charm and vibe hit me right away, and I immediately love it. Othertimes, it takes some days to unravel the layers that make a place great. Madrid and Venice were "right away" ones. Barcelona and Florence were "takes some days" ones. I think the cities that take more time are almost more interesting in the end, because I am always waiting for that moment when it all makes sense, and I like that feeling of waiting. And I like exploring.

It's like I was telling Bob & Margaret the other night, over some really great pizzas and quite a few glasses of wine, that I hadn't quite crossed the threshold of understanding the essence of DC yet. I was still waiting for the epiphany, that moment when everything becomes awesome. Now, it is all about the epiphany. They keep asking me if it has happened yet.

Two days ago, I went to the National Portrait Gallery and Museum of American Art, and walked around Chinatown, and met some Slowtrav Peeps at Dino. I had this thought that I could go to TWO museums in one day, and voila, there are two museums in one building, and it was massive and took many hours and I did not even see everything there. It was a really great day and I managed to pack a lot in and also realized that one would need many months, if not years, to see all this stuff.

Yesterday the housecleaner came so I had to get out of here at 8:30, even before the museums opened. I went to Union Station and ate a corn muffin and watched all the commuters. That station is so cool. Yet, the epiphany eluded me.

I headed down to the National Gallery of Art and got there right when they opened. I was there for FOUR HOURS and I did not even make it through the whole thing - not even close. I was totally blown away - they have an incredible collection of Renaissance art there, not only from Italy but also Germany and the Netherlands and I love all that stuff. I was especially touched by the painting "Adoration of the Shepards" by Giorgione. The colors, the landscape, the torn clothing of the shepards... it's a remarkable piece. And nobody was even looking at it, they were all in the room with Leonardo's Ginevra.

So I guess at this point I was very close, because it dawned on me that if you lived in DC, you could go to the Natonal Gallery every day, even just to look at one painting. You could go in and look at a German painting with detailed depictions of life 500 years ago, for an hour or two, whenever you want. Because it is free!

After that I met up with Bob & Margaret and we walked up to Georgetown and had some oysters and welsh rarebit at the tavern where JFK proposed to Jackie O. But we wanted some better wine, so I looked in my DK book and found a wine bar in Georgetown called "Bistrot Lepic." We had to walk up a hill, and I will admit I am very sore from all this walking, but the call of wine kept me/us going, to what seemed to be out of Georgetown, even. When we got to the bar, there was a blue door and a Parisian street sign. I wondered if they went to Paris and stole it, because it looked pretty damn real.

In the door, up those stairs, was where I finally had my epiphany.

Bistrot Lepic is AWESOME. If I lived in DC, I would want to go there all the time. THAT is where people should get proposed to. It's a room that envelops you, with mood music, what looked to be comfy wicker chairs (we sat at the bar, which was very, very comfy, so I am assuming the chairs were the same) and gold curtains that moved in the breeze. In the back, there was a long table to seat twenty with cherry trees outside. We drank Burgundies (both white and red) and Rhones, and the sweet Bartendress Lucia poured us a little taste of a really good Languedoc. We ate country pate with an Armagnac soaked prune in the middle. I totally fell in love with the place. I am totally in love with it. We needed bread for our pasta dinner at home, so Lucia sent us out with an long loaf of French bread. She rocks.

Any city that could have such a cool wine bar, is, in my mind, a great city. There it is - the epiphany. Long in coming but now that it is here I plan to make the most of it.

Today we are off to the Cherry Blossom festival and more wandering, and tonight we are going to see EELS at a synagogue. Bob read my blog entry about this show and he is giving me a little bit of shit about the "movie" but I keep telling him that he will love it, especially because he is a scientist. As for me, I couldn't pass up the chance to see E again...

Onward.

Posted by Shannon at 7:00 AM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2008

L'Enfanticide

I have visited lots of cities in the U.S. but for some reason, never Washington D.C. - until now. My friends Bob & Margaret moved here last fall, and I love, love, love their house which is in the Cleveland Park area. They have a cool porch and a fantastic, overgrown, crazy looking park across the street.

Right now the park is devoid of greenery and I desperately want to be here when it erupts into Spring. But, with only five days I don't think that will happen.

Yesterday, on my own, I must have walked about fifteen miles (and, unfortunately, I am totally feeling that today - in my calves, my hips, pretty much everywhere.) I got off the subway at the Mall along with about five hundred school kids and their chaparones and parents. Thankfully, the Mall is pretty enormous. I wanted to go to the American History Museum, but it is closed for renovations or something. So I just walked, to the Washington Monument, all the war monuments, the Lincoln monument. Everything looked really close on the map! The sun was out, and it was very warm, and if there is one thing I have learned in my travels it is: If the sun is out, utilize it. So I kept walking. And another thing, I couldn't get that image of Twyla Tharp's dancers writhing in front of the Washington Monument in the film version of "Hair" out of my mind, or the lyrics to the song they were dancing to:

Prisoners in Niggertown
It's a dirty little war
Three Five Zero Zero
Take weapons up and begin to kill
Watch the long long armies drifting home

I'm not trying to make any kind of statement here, except that I am the kind of person who can't get lyrics out of their head.

In all my reading about this city I have come to be pretty interested in Pierre L'Enfant, the architect who laid out the plans for this city - basically, he had this grand plan to design a European style city in a swamp. I think he was kind of a pain and he eventually got fired, but this vision, and how it actually worked out, is very intriguing to me. So, I decided to go check out L'Enfant Plaza, which I was sure would be a really cool square with cafes and restaurants around it. Not. They need to make it grander, to reflect L'Enfant's contribution to this city. It's a 1970's business park.

I got on the subway there and headed to the Eastern Market, because I love markets, and this one was pretty cool but not in the original building because I guess that one had a fire and they are restoring it (I think I need more current guidebooks.) Instead they have the market across the street in a big tent. Lots of butchers, cheese shop, etc. but it was freaking hot in there and it is only March.

On the way, this couple sat down next to me and when we got to the stop before Eastern Market, they asked each other "is this L'Enfant?" So I said, are you going to L'Enfant station? 'Cause that's the other way. They looked at me like I was trying to put one over on them. I repeated it. You are going the wrong way. I just came from there. They got out their map. So much for trying to be helpful. Keep going then, homies.

After the market, I walked and walked... through the Capitol Hill area which has some really cute houses, and a nice vibe, then to the Library of Congress and to Union Station. Union Station is awesome! I love old train stations, and this one has all kinds of shops and restaurants. I stopped at one and had a glass of wine and half an avocado with crab on top. It was just OK, but I really like it in there.

Now I was pretty tired of walking so I took the metro to Dupont Circle and, uh, walked around. Toyed with the idea of going to a bar that my friend Sue recommended called the Fox and Hounds, but arriving there it looked like more of a nighttime place so I kept walking and eventually came back to Cleveland Park and a nice glass of Pinot on the porch.

Last night we ate at the famous Dino and it was really, really good... fantastic fried artichokes, some killer halibut, great pasta with wild boar sauce.. Dean himself told us what to eat and it was all spot on. Had some good Nebbiolos, too.

Woke up to rain, and it looks pretty wet, so I'm off to the National Gallery of Art.

Posted by Shannon at 7:32 AM | Comments (1)

February 6, 2008

A New Blog - Eddie's in Thailand

My friend Eddie just set out on a 3 month adventure in Thailand. I would be jealous, but since he is blogging about it, I'll live. Check it out:

Discovering Thailand

I didn't start traveling overseas until I was 33 years old and I always go to Europe. I need to check out some other places, like Thailand and Indonesia.

And Eddie - if you read this - thank you for the picture of Paris, and can't wait to check out pictures from this trip!

Posted by Shannon at 8:19 AM | Comments (3)

December 2, 2007

Google Nutz

I know I've been absent... I have a hundred reasonable reasons, I swear.

I have big plans though, it's either write in this blog or get rid of it. And I guess I have a lot of readers I didn't know I had (thanks for letting me know, Judy.)

But for now, I just have to let you all in on some of last months Google Searches that Lead Here, because some of them are too funny.

Besides "Britt Daniel Girlfriend" and "Britt Daniel Gay" (he's not gay, I can assure you - either that or he puts up a mighty good front):

photo of what a walmart cashier looks like
what makes life exciting
stars with hairy backs
naked english couples
c. k. dexter haven and tracy lord deserve each other
shoelicking slave
still a virgin losers nerds
rick steves penis

I guess it was the last one that prompted me to post this - why on earth would anyone care?

Posted by Shannon at 9:24 AM | Comments (7)

October 7, 2007

Battle of the Croque Monsieurs

I can't believe this took me so long.

OK. So, in France, we ate a lot of Croque Monsieurs and Croque Madames. These are toasted ham and cheese sandwiches on pretty much every cafe and bistro menu. The Croque Madame has a fried egg on top. THEY ROCK.

On this day, Colleen and I sat at an outdoor table overlooking the bridge between the Ile. St. Louis and the Ile de la Cite in Paris. It was a touristy place and the wine was kind of expensive, but we didn't care, because it was a beautiful day. In fact, we ordered a second carafe of wine.

At a much lower price, but equally tasty, was the croque in Amboise, a bustling town in the Loire Valley. Colleen had mussels. They were awesome.

This time Colleen had the croque and I had a "big plate of meat." We were in Chinon, another town in the Loire Valley, one that I loved.

Lest you think this is all we ate, never fear. Here are some others and this is just a handful.

L' As du Fallafel is kind of famous. Supposedly they have the best falafel in Paris, but I never had anyone else's so I can't really judge. It's a cool little spot in the Marais, and Kim and I showed up at about 2:30 and waited for a while for Colleen. This is what we snacked on till she got there, THEN we had falafel and schwarma. Needless to say we didn't need to eat for a while, but guess what, we DID. Paris has that affect on people.

L' As du Fallafel is recommended by Lenny Kravitz. I don't know why I thought this was so humorous, but I did.

Kim has an obsession with macarons, one that Colleen and I certainly benefitted from.

I love pizza. I love pizza so much that I eat it as much as possible, even in the land of Croque Monsieurs. We ate these pizzas after going to a crazy street market out in the 20th. The smell of ganga or whatever made me extra hungry.

In the Loire, Colleen and I went to an egg festival. It was sort of a giant garage sale but they did have an egg stand and a wine stand, thank goodness. An 11:00 glass of Rose never tasted so good.

Also in the Loire, and everywhere - the ultimate in roasted chickens. Be sure to check out the little potatoes at the bottom, just sitting there soaking up all the juice.

We loved coming back to our little farmhouse cottage in the Loire and snacking on assorted cheeses, pates and breads every day. Not to mention the roasted chicken dinners.

Not food, but still good - the techno parade on my last day in Paris.

It was a great trip.

Posted by Shannon at 3:32 PM | Comments (5)

September 27, 2007

Battle of the Monkeys

I can't believe I haven't written about Top Chef at all, during their third season. Last night was part one of the finale and next week, it'll be over until season four.

Believe me, I still watch it every week. But for some reason it is not the same.

Season three has been watchable enough, but just not, well, newsworthy. Everyone gets along, almost all of the chefs had their one or two days in the sun. It's all a bit bland though. I miss the crazy peeps on season one like Stephen and Dave. I even miss Mikey from season two.

Anyhow, even with the boringness of the third season, where I don't really even care WHO wins, I still watch and in the long run I guess I want Dave Levitsky to win. Or Hung, or Casey. Any of them. I am totally rooting for the winner, whoever it is!

I am continually blown away by the bloggers at Amuse Biatch. Faced with a blank screen, they come up with brilliance. Brava.

OK then, I'll shut up. Now check this out.

Posted by Shannon at 6:57 PM | Comments (3)

September 13, 2007

A Pont in Every Storm

It is about seven in the evening on our last night in Normandy; I'm drinking red wine and Colleen is drinking cider - her first and last. The past two days we covered a lot of ground, and I have fallen in love with Normandy.

Colleen summed it up this morning when I was searching for the right word to compare Normandy to the Loire Valley. Normandy is more dramatic. It seems like a different France here and I am completely enthralled. If I were to pick three words for Paris they would be: worldly, hip, exotic. For the Loire: restful, green, majestic. My three words for Normandy: raw, rugged, swarthy. But I can't stop at just three words so let me just add stark white, deep blue, storybook pretty, war damage ugly, drunken, sated, and sad, all at the same time.

Yesterday we drove south on the coast, playing connect the towns until we reached the D-Day beaches. Yeah, that is one word I forgot above - HISTORY. Sitting on a bunker on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach, eating cheese and drinking wine, it was impossible for me to imagine June 6, 1944 when 14,000 Americans died there - and this was only the first day. I simply could not make it happen in my mind, and I am usually pretty good at imagining horrible things. It is just TOO horrible to think about and this was only one of the beaches... we also went to the American cemetary, a quiet, manicured place on the cliffs overlooking the beach, with row after row of evenly spaced crosses, all in perfect symmetry.

And every French town seems to have it's memorial to those it lost in both the Great War and World War II. So sad.

So after the beaches we went to Bayeux to see the Bayeux tapestry - a thousand year old strip of cloth telling the tale, through embroidery comic book style, of William the Conquerer's journey to England where he was crowned king of England. The Normans kicked some ass back in the day, let me tell you.

Today we drove in the opposite direction, north to the seaside towns of Fecamp and Etratat. The cliffs are straight up and down there, and the beaches have plum sized, smooth rocks there, not sand. We went to where they make Benedictine and had a crappy lunch.

I guess if there is one place we have not been very successful in Normandy is the food; but we have been in some pretty touristy towns. The best thing we ate was last night when we got take out from a kebab place here in Honfleur and brought it back to the cottage to eat with a bottle of Cab Franc I picked up in Chinon. Oh well - next time.

And there WILL be a next time. I want to come back here in the winter, when the season is over, when the waves are crashing and storms are coming in off the North Sea, when everything, from the cliffs to the beach stones to the sky and sea, is gray. Someday I will walk that boardwalk at Etratat with no sight of any other person. It's that kind of place, where you want it to yourself. Paris is not like this. Not to me anyway.

Tomorrow we will be in Senlis, Saturday Paris, for the Techno Parade. Sunday I will be home.

Posted by Shannon at 9:46 AM | Comments (2)

September 11, 2007

In the Town of a Thousand Cameras

Things I have learned on this vacation in France:

1) There is no way I will ever be able to pronounce French words correctly. Example:

Colleen and I are in the tourist office in Montrichard, and I am trying to ask the simple question about the "Fete du Pain," a bread festival we read about.

Me: do you know of the Fete du Pain?
Tourist office girl (with blank stare, some time elapses): you want a bread and breakfast?
Me: Uh, no, FETE DU PAIN.
TOG: (another blank stare, more time elapses): Fast food?

Finally I wrote it down and TOG was like, Ahhhhh, Fete du Pain! Which she did not have any info on, but we found it anyway, more on that later.

2) French people are very nice, even in Paris. Certainly we ran across a few cranky people; but for the most part everyone has been super cool.

3) It is possible to have a bad meal in France. Up until now, we thought it was perhaps impossible. But now we are in Honfleur on the Norman Coast and we have are 0/2. There was grit in my crepe, Tom Colicchio would have a FIT.

4) Roundabouts, especially the 450th, suck. What is the purpose, anyway?

5) I miss Paris terribly, am so happy I get to go back for one more day.

As for now, we got here yesterday after four great days in the Loire Valley. We had a great little cottage, toured around all day and then went back in the evenings for dinner. We saw many castles and cool little towns, vineyards and cornfields. The Fete du Pain day was the one really hot day, and that was one hoppin fete. They had a big band; two drummers, electric guitar, horns, four singers; all the musicians of different ages; there were dancers and 80 cent glasses of wine, and of course, many breads. Our last day, we went to another fete, this time the Fete of the Oeuf (egg) but this one was not so great; it was like a big garage sale, though I did have a tasty omelette and another eighty cent glass of wine.

After the fete we drove to the medieval wine village of Chinon. I loved this town. On the hill, there is a castle, the Plantagenets lived there; I walked in the same steps as Richard the Lionheart. In the village we went to two wonderful wine bars. At the first, for lunch, my fabulous French served me once again; when I asked for the assiette charcuterie, the waiter replied, in a strong German accent, " you want a big plate of MEAT." Indeed, it was one tasty plate of meat.
After hiking up to, and around, the castle, we went to another wine bar owned by a very nice guy. I'll post the name of the place later. It was a lovely day and I definitely want to go back and spend more time around there.

So, it took us a good part of yesterday to get here to Honfleur. It really is a beautiful, atmospheric place. It is also very touristy, and there are many people here, mostly Brits. We had a bit of a rough start - we were tired from the long drive, and then finally got to our cottage here, which we are not too thrilled with. I think it started when we were trying to figure out who would sleep where, and I saw a massive spider on the bottom floor, where one of the beds is. It was like an Arnold Schwarzaneggar spider. Or maybe, an Edith Piaf tarantula. Whatever. Suffice to say, neither of us are willing to sleep next to that thing. So, I am sleeping on the couch in the middle floor, it is comfortable enough, but we are still not too thrilled and I had nightmares about bug bites.

Then we went onto a wine bar, it was OK and then a truly bad dinner; new rule - do not eat somewhere just because it looks cute.

We did end up in a really nice bar that had an excellent jazz band, and it was especially great until some British tourists came to the table next to us and the girl kept her cigarette next to Colleen's face. Finally I blew it back at her and she sniffed a sorry. The waiter, a very cool guy, came up to me at one point and amusingly, asked if I had any REGRET coming there. No, I said, and it was true, it was the best part of the day, even with the lameass table next to us.

Today we are wandering; we wandered all through town, the tourist part and the part where it seems the real people live, we wandered to the sucky creperie, and now we have wandered to the internet bar, very close to our cottage, the one with the mammoth spider in it. The sun is out, and I and not such a stranger here, in this town of tourists.

Sorry for the weird writing - I am having a hard time getting the hang of these keyboards. I will definitely be posting more soon...

A bientot!

Posted by Shannon at 4:16 AM | Comments (2)

September 8, 2007

From the Land of Kings

It is a bright and sunny Saturday here in the Loire Valley. I have to be quick - there is only one computer for rent in this whole town... we are in Montrichard; there is a castle on the hill, and our farmhouse is about five minutes away. We are staying in a very quiet place surrounded by forests and cornfields, a big change from Paris.

So far we have visited three chateaux - as in castle not wine estate; Chenonceau, Chambord, and Chaumont. It is pretty trippy to walk up the same steps as Catherine di Medici... today we are going to try to find a festival of bread; and we are going to Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last few years.

Yesterday, at the biweekly farmers market here in Montrichard, we bought enough food to eat in every night; a roast chicken and some potatoes that cooked under the chicken, sausages, mushrooms from the mushroom lady, onions from the onion guy, pork rillettes, figs, melon... I wish our farmers market was like this. I think I could live on those roasted chickens.

So, two more days here and then up to Normandy where I hope to find a regular internet place.

A bientot!

Posted by Shannon at 1:30 AM | Comments (5)

September 4, 2007

The Not So Secret Life of the Seine

Sue wanted to see some pictures so here are a few before I get to some of what we've been doing this past few days.

The Tuileries. Perfect Light.

From the river, on our night cruise on the Seine.

A have a gazillion pictures like this one; I suppose everyone who's ever been here does.

They don't have this one though - Colleen with her metrosexual boyfriend, Moliere (I think.)

The past couple of days have been jam-packed. Sunday I did make it to the Cluny, where, because it was the first Sunday of the month, it was free (SWEET). I spent some time checking out the Unicorn tapestries and some really trippy stained glass from the middle ages depicting religious events. One of the stained glass pieces had a devil carrying a young woman off to do whatever. Colorful, trippy stuff.

Hooked up then with Kim and Colleen and we headed off to the Bastille food market. Lots of fruit and veggie stands heaving with figs, berries, melons, and trippy fruits like "mirabelles." We bought cheese, pork rillettes, bread, salad stuff, and grapes to take over to Dave and Aralynn's apartment. Dave is a member of our slowtrav community and they invited us for lunch. We had a fantastic, long Sunday lunch of all the things we brought, PLUS a fantastic dish Aralynn prepared of chicken and mushrooms with a hard cider cream sauce.

They also had pate and cheese, and we had a couple of bottles of wine and cookies. It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and we waddled out of there and walked all the way home because we were too full to get on the metro, even.

After that we had a little get together with friends here, as I wrote in my previous entry. More wine, more food, then off to take a boat ride on the Seine. As we cruised up the river, the Eiffel Tower started it's hourly twinkling. I wonder if the people that live here have to pinch themselves once in a while to make sure they are not dreaming, or if they are used to this kind of beauty, and don't see it anymore.

Another very interesting part of the boat cruise was checking out the life on the Seine - people eating dinner in their moored boats, bored tourists on dinner cruises, and, on the quay, kids drinking, people making out (and not just straight couples, either), a party of salsa dancers, picnickers with candles and, probably, pork rillettes... at one point we passed a couple of guys who got up when we passed, did a little strip tease, mooned us and waved their dicks, much to the amusement of everyone on the boat.

Somehow we even managed a meal after that, at the brasserie on the corner. Yet another bottle of Bordeaux, yet another plate of frites.

Yesterday was another long, full day; I'll just add on to what Kim already wrote. After our walking tour and our lunch of hummus, falafel and schwarma (plus a kosher Rose from Provence) at L' As Falafel we waddled around the Marais for a while, then hit two upscale bars. The first was Georges at the top of the George Pompidou museum - fabulous view, more metrosexual waiters (ours had bedhead a la "Eraserhead") and strange metal objects in the dining room. Then we headed towards Kong (we meander around, don't think we go from bar to bar, I don't want you all to think Colleen and Kim are alchies or anything) which we though had a view, but did not. Still, it was pretty cool in there though I had a hard time taking my eyes off a weird video showing directly in front of me. Welcome to Tokyo! I got a very interesting (and funny) shot of Kim which I will try to post later.

We were so exhausted after our long day, we took the metro home and got take-out Chinese food, came back here to our apartment and ate it with half a bottle of cheap Burgundy and a couple of Sapporos.

Today we are off on a day trip; Kim leaves tomorrow, and her computer with her. But I should be able to get one more entry in before we take off for the countryside.

A bientot.

Posted by Shannon at 12:12 AM | Comments (3)

September 1, 2007

Tales from a Great City

I don't think I've slept so well in years, as I've slept these last three nights in Paris. I don't know if it is the running around we've been doing or what, but it is awesome. Gets me ready for the next day, that's for sure.

Yesterday we took the metro out to a ginormous market in the 18th arrondisement at Porte Clignancourt. There were hundreds of stalls with the usual - T-shirts with Che Guevara on them, incense, bongs and hookahs, cheap scarfs, the smell of Beadies and maybe, weed... and literally thousands of people jamming the streets. Mostly young Parisians of every imaginable race, and only a few tourists - until we got to the quieter antique market part where the window shoppers were mostly Americans. The antique part kind of bored me. I think I am more into markets like the one at the Mauerpark in Berlin where you have to dig through piles of junk where you might find something cool. That's the garage sale junkie in me I guess.

I did buy a really awesome handmade purse in the regular market, sort of an olive green with brown accents - what is it with me and olive green, anyway?

Ate pizza for lunch. Yum.

After that it was a bit late to go to the Pierre et Gilles thing at Jeu de Paume so Colleen and I will do that Wednesday. Instead we went to the Place de Madeleine to look at some shops and to go to the wine shop/bar Lavinia. Lots of people there too, but gone was the county fair on crack atmosphere, and present was the Union Square but with way better cafes and pastries atmosphere. It seemed like every street I looked down, there was some remarkable building at the end of it.

We ordered a somewhat pricey (for France) bottle of white wine at Lavinia - a white Saumer from the Loire. I didn't like it. But the shop was very cool. Since I have a wine shop right across the street, why buy wine and lug it around?

We walked back to the Pont Neuf at the sunset hour and the light here was fantastic. All the buildings, fountains, bridges, glowed. As we walked on that little quay by the Seine I said "it's like a magical kingdom" to which Colleen said "don't say THAT" alluding to my dislike of anyone calling any place Disneyland (well, except Disneyland.) But it's not my friggen fault Walt Disney was born. Last night, Paris DID look like a magical kingdom. We passed a couple of woman with a full on picnic - complete with wine glasses. We MUST do this before we leave.

Before we decided to stay in the 5th, I had heard that it was "touristy" and I do remember that from when I stayed here in 1999. Where our apartment is, it is not touristy at all - it is a real neighborhood, one that I really love. But on our way home last night we walked through some streets with ever imaginable sort of restaurant, all of them packed, and the streets packed with people. Saturday night, and everyone is out. We came back here though, and ate cheese, a salami made with Beajolais, figs, pork rillettes, a roast chicken, and Greek salad. Oh, and a really great bottle of St. Emilion that I bought across the street for 12 Euro. Awesome!

Today we are meeting some slowtrav peeps and also my friend Thomas who moved here a few years ago. And I want to go to the Cluny museum and the Bastille market.

There is so much to see and do here, I wish I had a month. Or a year.

Posted by Shannon at 11:35 PM | Comments (2)

Breakfast in Paris

This nice lady at the Rue Cler market made me a crepe.

Best. Crepe. Ever. I got the "Speciale" - emmenthaler, goat cheese, green pepper, onion, and a fried egg.

Needless to say this kept me going for a while.

For more on our adventures, check out Kim's blog.

Today we are going to the Porte de Clignancourt flea market then to see the Pierre et Gilles exhibit at the Jeu de Paume museum. Then, a boat ride on the Seine. Obviously this itinerary will include many butt plantings with tasty beverages. I love this city, it is truly magnificent. Onward.

Posted by Shannon at 1:27 AM | Comments (1)

August 31, 2007

Lag de Triomphe

Tonight's dessert query:

Colleen (looking at menu): What is this? (Pointing at dish called "Camembert au l cru mouie a la Louche"):

Waitressperson: Uh, (rolling eyes) CAMEMBERT?

But it wasn't just Camembert, it was a piece of Camembert with a side of butter, surrounded by a chocolate drizzle. I've seen many things, but cheese with a butter chaser for dessert is a new one for me.

We've just been here a day and a half and the time has been very, very full so far. Our apartment is on a very cool street and there don't seem to be too many tourists here. Actually, all of Paris seems very empty and quiet. Except for the Auchan supermarket in a mall near La Defense but I will get to that later.

We've covered a lot of ground so far. Yesterday, even with jet lag, we seemed to walk forever. Today we had a ton of energy and went to the war museum at the Invalides, but I was most impressed with the gardens there. Then, since it is the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, we went to the Pont Alma where there was a bunch of people, flowers, photos, and probably some of those paparazzi that chased her into the tunnel in the first place. After that we climbed to the top of the Arch de Triomphe and we STILL had energy, so we took the metro out to La Defense.

La Defense is this giant metal square thing in the middle of a business district, way out of the center of things. (In tourist terms, anyway.) From the top of the Arch de Triomphe, you can see it, towering over the boulevard like the future as seen by a crazy Renaissance prophet who may or may not have been eating too many roots and scrubs. After that we had a couple of glasses of wine in a cafe, which was good because I was about to take Colleen and Kim to the craziest, most intense supermarket experience I think any of us have ever experienced.

I love the supermarket chain Auchan.

Auchan is like the biggest supermarket you've ever seen plus Target, times infinity. So when I read somewhere that there was an Auchan very close to La Defense, well, let's just say that was part of the pull, for me at least. We went in and it was absolutely heaving with people. Perhaps we should have left right there and then, but I couldn't. It's like a drug to me, that place. This one had a dozen different canned cassoulets and all manner of trippy French tv dinners. I guess I am timid when it comes to certain things but in a supermarket I am not and I ruled those aisles. Thousands (and I am not exaggerating) cleared out when they saw me barreling through with my hand basket full of jars and cans of strange potted meats and various spreads, plus a bottle of Burgundy that cost less than five euro. But it took forever to check out and the business guy behind us about had a coronary he was so impatient. I felt like handing him a bottle of grappa and a packet of condoms - homeboy needed something to calm down. Can you buy valium over the counter here? If not he needs a prescription.

By the time we left there it was pretty late so by the time we metroed back and went to dinner it was almost 10. We went to a place around the corner called Louis Vins - a bit hit and miss, partly because we had absolutely no clue what the heck we were ordering. We had a Marlings Menu Master for France which was less than worthless. I ended up with a salad with mystery organs and some sort of cured meat (tongue?) and what I think was a sort of rawish foie gras, served on warm greens. There was also a blond hair in it. I guess I should have pointed that out but our blond waitressperson was already kind of an asshole, and while I move with stealth and cunning in a crowded Auchan, I am no good in situations like being a jerk in a language no one understands (my "French.") Anyway. The rest of the meal was pretty good. Colleen had rabbit with mashed potatoes, Kim had a pork stew thing with lentils - really yummy lentils - and I had veal which was kind of tough and chewy in parts, but still OK. I got Pain Perdu which is like French Toast for dessert and that rocked.

So now it is late and I guess we will be running around again all day tomorrow so I'd better call it a night. We are having a great time - perfect, really, even with the hair in the salad.

Posted by Shannon at 3:43 PM | Comments (1)

July 26, 2007

A Tired Reunion

Top Chef last night was a "reunion" episode of sorts - looks like they are going to drag out this season as long as they can. Perhaps until Project Runway starts in the fall?

Anyhoo it was pretty boring. Even Dave was boring. Harold looked like he didn't want to be there, but Lee Anne looked fantastic. She seems to be taking some sort of Glow Pill.

What the hell was Ilan wearing? He was wearing an ill-fitting tuxedo, but to add insult to injury he wore no socks and had his pant legs pulled up. He looked like a scared rabbit when they asked him about his future plans.

And Harold just got a one-star review from Frank Bruni at the New York Times. It's a strange review, because Bruni seemed to like much of what he ate at Perilla, but gave it one star. Weird.

Since I'm one of the only Stephen Asprinio lovers in the universe, I was thrilled to see he is working on opening a wine bar in Costa Mesa. Cool! Costa Mesa is a lot closer than New York! And it's possible that I will know people that will end up working there...

There are many things I want to do. Having many glasses of wine with Stephen Asprinio is right up there at the top. Flying to New York City to eat at Perilla is, too.

Posted by Shannon at 9:26 AM | Comments (2)

July 18, 2007

That Girl Needs Therapy

Sometimes when my neighbors get a little loud I blast this song.

Unfortunately I don't think they really get it.

Posted by Shannon at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

That Girl Needs Therapy

Sometimes when my neighbors get a little loud I blast this song.

Unfortunately I don't think they really get it.

Posted by Shannon at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

July 9, 2007

Meltdown Island

I am seriously lagging on the blog thang. Time seems short - but it's not. Summer, I guess.

Renee and Eddie built their beach island on the 4th. They got there at 5:00 AM and worked for five hours while a bunch of cops watched. Then, at 10:00 when they were done, the cops came over and told them to level it!

Kind of sucked, after all that work. Thankfully they did not let this ruin their day. They piled all the ice (which was suppose to go in a moat) in a pile and stuck a palm tree into it. This palm tree made it very easy to find them on a very packed beach.

The rest of that day involved a great deal of fantastic wine and delicious food, and I have earned the uneasy reputation of she who likes to lay on the floor and listen to live Wilco really loud.

Yesterday, Margaret invited me to go to the Padres game with her. We started at Cafe Chloe, a little French bistro a few blocks from the park. It was my first time to this popular place and I totally fell in love with it. We ate a prawn brochette that had a garlicky lemon sauce, a little mushroom tart and cheese tart, and finally the charcuterie plate, which was a little dish of pork rillettes. It was all amazing and now I am more ready than ever for France in September. Pork rillettes is a sort of shredded pork thing all mixed up with fat and you spread it on bread... I know that does not sound so great but let me tell you, it was fantastic.

On to the ballpark. I am always a bit blown away by Petco Park. It's a lovely baseball stadium, with the downtown highrises all around, and yesterday the game did not start until 5:00 so the green on the field and the light in the air was especially beautiful. But, there is something that weirds me out about Petco Park. I think it is the mass consumerism that goes on there, and the high prices of everything. In every possible nook and cranny, there is a place to buy something. Guys walk around selling bags of popcorn for SIX DOLLARS. What is that, a six thousand percent markup? I'm no baseball purist, but heck, is it not about the game? It's not like tickets are cheap, either.

My friend Mark, who is a baseball freak, would have also been very pissed off by the constant comings and goings of spectators while the ball is in motion. I don't know shit about baseball (besides the basics) but I do know you go to the bathroom between innings.

Everythings been a bit weird lately, so I'm not surprised I was feeling the way I was there. We came back to OB and went to the Vine for some wine and a cheese plate - and everything seemed, for a time, in it's right place.

Starting today I am going vegan for one week, just to see if I can do it. I'm allowing myself a little bit of cream in my coffee; that's it. Maybe it will keep me grounded during a week that already looks ugly; maybe, it will send me spinning out of control.

Top Chef is on again Wednesday. My Spoon package should arrive tomorrow. Something to look forward to in bean and rice land.

Posted by Shannon at 6:32 PM | Comments (1)

July 4, 2007

Gray on the 4th of July

It's 8:45 A.M. and very foggy here in Ocean Beach, yet I just checked the OB webcam and the beach is already packed!

If you are reading today, check it out.

Renee and Eddie from The Vine have this plan to build an island with a palm trees and recliners made out of sand on the beach, and they got down there (well, they were supposed to, anyway) at 5:00 A.M. So, that will be the first stop of the day. I have this plan to stay somewhat out of trouble, but the problem is, everytime I have that plan, it seems to go in the opposite direction. Maybe the better idea is to plan to get totally hammered. Then, the opposite thing might happen.

Hopefully I'll have some photos of "Rosenbaum Island" tomorrow. Happy 4th, everyone.

Posted by Shannon at 8:45 AM | Comments (0)

June 6, 2007

Ilan Sucks (Literally)

Tonight there was a special episode of Top Chef with the winners of Season 1 and Season 2 going at it. It's not going to be a big surprise to anyone that Harold, Stephen, Tiffani and Dave beat Marcel, Ilan, Sam and Elia. They were judged by the contestants of Season 3, who all seem fairly clueless and also, say "like" too much. (Like Marcel, and, uh, like, uh, me?)

Having said that, Ilan not only choked completely on his dish but also, almost choked on something else.

Dude. That is some crazy shit. Also, like, totally hilarious. Thanks to Ilan for making my night of on-line traffic school somewhat tolerable. Like, I almost spit wine all over my final quiz when I saw that. Seriously.

Posted by Shannon at 9:12 PM | Comments (1)

February 24, 2007

Tales from a Stinky Land

You know how it is when you are watching the news and there is bad weather somewhere and there are people stranded at the airport and you are like, thank god that isn't me?

Today it IS me. Stuck in fucking HOUSTON of all places. Everyone knows how much I love it here.

I've been working here at few days at the Texas Wine and Grapegrowers conference, and today I was oh, so ready to get home. I was so ready I showed up for my flight five hours early, hoping to stand by on something earlier. And yes, I called; I called yesterday and they said it would be no problem to stand by, through Dallas and on to San Diego. An hour before I left for the airport, I called and they said the flights were now full, but I wanted to get the fuck out of dodge so bad I decided to go to the airport and pray.

So I got to the airport and what did I see? A long string of CANCELLED all the way down the board. I got a really yicky feeling in my stomach. The line was already long. I started asking people how long it would take to drive to Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Too long.)

So there we are all in the Houston airport, all pretty much screwed, with a non-moving line. The thought of staying the night, much less two or three, was making me feel queasy. A woman came around with little squares of paper with a phone number to CALL American while we were in line. So I called, and the wait was twenty-two minutes, but a super cool guy behind me got through before I did (he was on the phone to them way before that lady started passing out the phone numbers) and he let me talk to the agent after he was done.

The agent was like, well, can you fly from Hobby Airport? And I was like, I'll do whatever you want, just get me out of here. And she told me she had ONE seat on Monday.

"NO." I told her. "I ABSOLUTELY cannot wait until Monday, I have to get out TOMORROW." I wasn't mean, or bitchy, but there must be something resembling angst or desperation in my voice because she put me on hold for a really long time and then came back and told me she got me on a non-stop on Continental, first thing tomorrow.

Here the poor guy who lent me his phone had to wait around for me for like twenty minutes. As I was thanking him profusely, practically offering sex (no not really but you get the idea) he said "we're all in the same boat" and walked away.

If I would have arrived later, I would have been screwed. Well actually, I probably would be DRIVING home right now. I am telling you, I would not spend another day here. I wouldn't.

So I am here at the Hilton Garden Inn where the airport van is bringing another ten stranded passengers every fifteen minutes. I can't believe I am getting out tomorrow.

Well I gotta go, because all these people are walking by looking meaningfully at this computer. Tomorrow, I will write about some of the crazy shit that was going through my head about an hour ago as I sipped from a crappy glass of pinot grigio on a barren strip of land with nothing, and I mean nothing, on it except for a bunch of boring airport hotels on it.

It could be worse, but it could be better. How come I never get stranded in Paris?

Posted by Shannon at 4:19 PM | Comments (1)

February 7, 2007

What Would Anthony Bourdain Do?

Still on the road, and I ask this question like, ten times a day. When confronted with a problem or situation, or a crappy hotel room, I ask myself, what would Anthony Bourdain do?

I read this interview with Rex Pickett, the guy who wrote "Sideways," where he said he didn't want to do some TV show qwhere he would be an "Anthony Bourdain type." Dude, even if someone injected you with cool syrum, I don't think you stand a chance. Actually if there is one person who could never be anything like Anthony Bourdain, it would be Rex Pickett.

Anyway. I am almost home, sorry about non-posting in the last few weeks but it is troublesome from where I currently reside (nowhere for very long.) In the meantime, here is the Shins new video, from their new record Wincing the Night Away. It is awesome.

Home Saturday! Yippee!

Posted by Shannon at 2:16 PM | Comments (1)

January 6, 2007

When I Cry

I'm sorry, but I'm just like, totally mortified by this.

I don't know why I'm so surprised, the signs have been there for years. But still, it's a bit of a kick in the gut.

Posted by Shannon at 8:48 PM | Comments (2)

December 15, 2006

Christmas in August

Look closely at this picture (which I stole from Lee Anne Wong's blog.) Note the wine glass full of water in Marcel's wine glass. Water? Water? Eh... maybe NOT water. Maybe, SMIRNOFF VODKA. Since Smirnoff seemed to be product placement #3 on Wednesday's Top Chef (after Bailey's and Parrot Bay whatever Rum) Marcel must have figured he deserved to pour a half fifth straight down his throat.

I guess it COULD be water. When I watched it, I was like what the hell are they all drinking water out of wine glasses for? Then it dawned on me - oh, no wine at this "holiday party."

One wonders if the copious vodka swallowing had anything to do with Mia's transformation into crazy black mama who's gonna kick yous ass. But before we get into that...

This was a good episode of Top Chef with a real humdinger of a finale and for that, I am very grateful. They had a team challenge, and the challenge was a good one - make a spread of cocktail snacks for 200 people at a "holiday" party. Only, it wasn't a holiday when they filmed - it was friggen August. Still, all through the episode everyone goes on about the HOLIDAYS. And pretends that it REALLY IS CHRISTMAS. Over and over, on and on, to the point where I found myself screaming at the TV "do you think we are FUCKING MORONS? We know it is NOT REALLY CHRISTMAS, PEOPLE."

At any rate. There are two teams - one that works together (Betty, her hormones seemingly in check; Sam, boring as ever and with his hair getting way too bunnified; good ol' steady Ilan; and Crazy Little Brother Marcel) and one that pretends to get along but really doesn't (boring old Cliff who all of a sudden seems like Dr. Evil; Elia who doesn't realize Dr. Evil is planning some, um, evilness; Mike who should just go ahead and get B for Baffled tattooed on his forehead; and Mia, who could have maybe combated Dr. Evil and saved a sinking ship.)

BSIM kicks ass with lots of food (thirteen dishes!) that looks cool and I guess, tastes pretty good. CEMM makes FOUR dishes and their table is a paltry, sad affair. It is an embarrassment. Poor Mia had been concerned that her rep as a caterer would be hindered if they couldn't pull it off. And not only did they NOT pull it off, but they couldn't even do that very well. To see Elia wandering around completely clueless as to how bad they were doing, and Mikey skulking back and forth with an empty tray... well, at least, THROW something at each other to make the lameness more palatable. This IS reality TV, after all.

Meanwhile, Dr. Evil, he of the Mr. Clean bald head and earrings and a squished, nasty looking turtle neck (is your head too heavy, dude?) stands around with his arms crossed watching the carnage. I didn't even think of it, it took someone else to point it out to me (thanks Kim) but Cliff planned the disaster... to get rid of Elia.

Then Mia stepped in and said, "oh no Dr. Evil, you aren't going to ruin the chances of this young genius who hopefully some day will have her own restaurant!"

Actually she didn't say it quite like that. What she really said was stuff like "put your dick away, dude!" and "send my black ass home, I don't give a shit!" She got all ghetto and shit, it was crazy. Then she went on for a while about homelessness and crack, among other things.

But whateves, regardless of the ghetto-ization of situation, the fact remains that Mia stepped down and let Elia stay, thereby foiling the nastyassness of Cliff, which makes me happy. Also, I am sure I will be using Miaisms far into the future ("I don't give a black bone" even though I have white bones, and so does she) because they were sparkling nuggets of goodness on a bland palate. Fueled by Smirnoff? Quite possibly.

I have many tortures in mind for icky old Cliff. Tortilla press. Sausage Attachment. Meat Thermometer. But I think the damage has been done, and we can thank Mia for that.

Posted by Shannon at 6:18 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2006

I Am Martyr, Here Me Roar

Wha the fa is that thing on her head?

More on Mia later. Misused, ex-homeless, crack-sellin, apron-on-her-head-wearin, Mia.

In the meantime, you all try to keep your big black dick in your pants. Oh, Mia!

Posted by Shannon at 7:41 AM | Comments (0)

December 8, 2006

Grillin with the Stonies

Well, I am a little late here, but what a fine episode of Top Chef we had on Wednesday. Finally! I was sort of getting to the point of not caring anymore.

Cooking on the beach over grills, for surfers: now that is a creative challenge. I loved all the "bro" and "bra" and the frolicking in the waves - it reminded me of how lucky I am to live at the beach. Everyone was so happy to be at the beach. Guess we can't all live here though.

Anyhow it was awesome and there is an incredibly humorous and well-written blog about Top Chef HERE so go check it out. I have spit out my wine on more than one occasion reading Amuse-Biatch and even though I don't much like spitting out good wine, I still head over there something like eight times a day.

Whatever. In other Top Chef news, Colleen and I went to TGI Friday's in the Dallas airport last Friday and tried Betty Fraser's winning dish.

The portobello mushroom grilled cheese sandwich was pretty good. There was not much to it - it wasn't exactly heaving volume-wise, but it tasted good, all four bites of it. The soup was cloyingly sweet. I know it's sweet pepper but whatever - it tasted like a hot popsicle. Or something like that. I don't imagine the dish hanging around the Friday's menu for eternity or anything. Not when there are jalepeno popper sandwiches to be had.

I am in love with the new Sparklehorse record. I think I can safely say this is the best thing I have bought this year. It's lush and beautiful and exactly what I need. Check it out.

Posted by Shannon at 9:20 PM | Comments (2)

November 29, 2006

Dude, Where's My Show

In this months Food and Wine Magazine there is an article about Top Chef and a little contest between four of the chefs - Sam, Cliff, Betty and Elia.

I pray these aren't the final four. Betty and Elia? Yick.

If they are the final four, then this season is not just Beyond Lame, it is Uber Beyond Lame, also Pukealicios.

I guess tonight it might be Mike that gets the boot, despite Anthony Bourdain's homeboy handshake last week. But I oh, so wish it will be Betty or Elia. Next time I go to Lodi (and yes, I DO go to Lodi) I want to stop by Wine and Roses or wherever he is currently working and buy Michael a beer. And I'll also buy hometown boy Frankie the Bull a beer, if he ever writes to me again (he did write once to tell me that he drinks Miller Lite and that he is not a dork.)

Those guys probably won't make it. And neither will Marcel, who probably should have won last week. I wonder if Elia's winning mushroom soup makes green bean casserole even better? Cutting edge. Yeah, right.

Let's hope it gets better.

Posted by Shannon at 7:57 AM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2006

Sophomore Season

I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time
I'd of said the right thing but I must have used the wrong line
I been in the right trip but I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a bad place and I'm wondering what it's good for

Right Place, Wrong Time
Dr. John

Yeah. Last night, finally, the judges on Top Chef did what they were suppose to do - give exit papers to someone who can't deal, can't cook, or can't whatever. Unfortunately, our favorite lesbian big sister Josie was in the wrong place at the right time. And she is history. At least for now.

Marisa is off too, and frankly, she looked like she was ready to get the hell out of there. Betty is looking Midgleyish with her doe-in-the-headlights look and excrutiatingly apparent "maybe I'm not as great as I thought" aroma.

Sam, he's a hot diabetic. Whatever. He's boring. Sorry Sam, but when I read on Blogging Top Chef that one of your favorite movies is Karate Kid, and another is Great Expectations (one assumes, the Ethan Hawke/Gwenyth Paltrow masterpiece version) - well, there's clearly less to you than meets the eye. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride - that must suck. But I am sure you will go far in the end.

To be totally honest, I am sort of like Tom Colicchio - I'm Getting Grumpy. I mean, wha the fa?

I did predict a tripe challenge at the beginning - and the quickfire last night did involve tripe, but no one took that one on. Let's see an ALL TRIPE challenge, and see how things evolve from there.

Posted by Shannon at 7:42 PM | Comments (0)

November 9, 2006

Miami Spice

I am in the Dade County, Miami Beach library and I only have 12 minutes so this is going to be Really Fast.

Miami trips me out. It is flat and there is a lot of traffic and there is quite a bit of money flashing going on. I know there are some bad, bad areas not to go into but I didn't go into them, not even when I was lost, so I don't know what up down there. Had a bit of a tripper this morning at my hotel - last night when I checked in I saw immediately that I was overlooking a ginormous construction site. So I went back down and I was like, is that construction going to be loud? Because if so, please move me. But the guy told me they rarely work, or if they do not until 9 or 10 o'clock. Whateves, it's a Latin kind of a place, maybe this is the case.

But no, at 7 AM the construction is going and it is LOUD. I mean, they are building a freekin skyscaper. You get the idea. So I go downstairs and after a bit of time I get the guy to move me. Which is all fine and great, except that both keys - for my old room and my new room - work on my new room. In other words, I can get into either room with either key. Umm. That is weird. At least I have a deadbolt.

Seven minutes so I just have to touch on Top Chef for a minute. I got in last night about eight and lo and fucking behold they have Bravo on my TV! I was all bummed because I was going to miss it, and then I didn't have to. As for the outcome of last night, well, I am not sure what to think there.

Mike and his Snickers Cheeto thing - what is up with that guy? I mean, that was really, really lame. Shit, if all you have to do is puree a Snickers bar and stick a Cheeto into it, then I could be on Top Chef. Also, if I hear "I miss my wife" one more time...

I wasn't too happy with the outcome of the whole thing - the "no one is going home" thing. So, because Sam and Betty are both favorites, they decide not to send one of them home? That is lame. I like Sam and all but he clearly should have been the one to leave since he was the leader of the lamest team. As for Betty - I am not so sure I believe all her wide-eyed innocence. But who knows what goes on behind the scenes.

If Mike had messed up or Marcel had cheated, you can bet they would have been booted. Weird stuff.

OK... that was the fastest entry I ever wrote and now I gotta gooooooo.....

Posted by Shannon at 3:42 PM | Comments (1)

November 1, 2006

boringman

Is it just me or, is the new season of Top Chef kind of BORING? They are trying hard to create a lot of drama, but it's a bit of a yawn, really. No wonder Marisa had to pose practically nude with that gas torch. She has to keep the memory of herself alive somehow, since even the show itself is having a hard time doing it, after just three episodes, one of which she was the villain.

Ok, so it's not totally boring. It's just Missing Something. Like someone snorting coke in the walk-in or some male-on-male flirting action a la Harold and Stephen in early season one. I miss Dave's facial twitch. Betty's wholesome, wide-eyed girly vehemance is starting to really get on my nerves.

Emily choked hard tonight and was given the big fat boot because of too much salt and too little mascara. In a room full of borings, she was ugly AND boring, and also said she hated kids and said some lady who didn't like her "calming" chocolate ice cream had a fat ass. We all knew she'd be the one to go. Frank will be around for at least two more showdowns due to mere camp value (what the fuck was that on his plate? It was kind of awesome in it's awfulness) and Michael will be around just so he can really start to cry instead of just being on the verge all the time.

I still love Sam though I have to say, he is also boring and his hair is freakin wacky. I am in the minority though, because here is what is going on hits-wise on my blog stats:

People are very curious about Ilan. He is far and away the number one dude as far as people looking for info go.

Running a not-so-close second is Elia. Suyai is third even though she was off in the first episode.

Marisa, Frank, Marcel and Otto are all somewhere in the middle. Kind of weird, I would have thought Marisa would be getting more attention due to the fact that she is ho-ing herself and is also, kind of an asshole. Josie is right below them.

At the very bottom are Mia, Cliff, Betty, Carlos, Sam and Mike, Poptarticus-Stats wise. But for Sam and Michael this is partly due to the fact that I mispelled their names initally. Who knows though, how all this stat stuff really works. Also, it's very possible that Ilan is googling himself every five minutes.

Fish tacos? Boring. Bacon ice cream? Not even weird enough not to be boring. Why am I so bored? Bring on the eye-gropage. Something must be done.

Posted by Shannon at 9:17 PM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2006

Strippers with Salamanders

Well, I just wrote this whole long thing on the totally bizarre website of Marisa Churchill but then I deleted it. Google it. Go ahead, you know you want to. Her website I mean. It's pretty wacky. I'm almost, like, at a loss for words.

I have one thing to say to the bloggers over at Amuse-Biatch (one of my new favorite blogs, by the way.) Did you not see that full-on eye-suckulation that Chef Ming peformed on Padma's ass when she got up from the judges table? That was some serious eye-gropage. Wish I had a picture of that.

Anyhow. Tomorrow I am going to Disneyland and Saturday I am going to party in Palm Springs so hopefully I will forget about all this sordidness for a little while. Whenever I start to get that crazy image in my head I'm going to think, "and now, MINNIE MOUSE" in my best Strip Club voice.

Posted by Shannon at 7:57 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2006

Fabulously Glamoroused

If there is one party I am totally bummed I missed this year, it is this one: Project Lameway.

Miss Leigh Crow. The only person I know who can do Jeffrey right.

Arturo Galster looks more like Tim Gunn than, uh, Tim Gunn does. Laurie Bushman is a Fabulously Glamorous Heidi Klum.

The judges consult. Michael Kors - I mean Johnny Kat - was in a Spoon video. Remember?

Angelina Jolie was there!

Wow. Um. That is one cool milkmaid outfit.

Jeffrey, don't be so mean. Poor, poor Laura.

There is a reason Jeffrey quit drinking. But we are happy that Leigh did not.

I stole these pictures from This Site. Credit where credit is due...

Posted by Shannon at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)

Fabulously Glamoroused

If there is one party I am totally bummed I missed this year, it is this one: Project Lameway.

Miss Leigh Crow. The only person I know who can do Jeffrey right.

Arturo Galster looks more like Tim Gunn than, uh, Tim Gunn does. Laurie Bushman is a Fabulously Glamorous Heidi Klum.

The judges consult. Michael Kors - I mean Johnny Kat - was in a Spoon video. Remember?

Angelina Jolie was there!

Wow. Um. That is one cool milkmaid outfit.

Jeffrey, don't be so mean. Poor, poor Laura.

There is a reason Jeffrey quit drinking. But we are happy that Leigh did not.

I stole these pictures from This Site. Credit where credit is due...

Posted by Shannon at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2006

Mio Cuore

On the eve of my departure to another land, I am happy. Happy to be traveling somewhere else, but at this moment, I want to send a little shout-out to my home. Ocean Beach, California.

It's a special place that calls out to you and reminds you before you even depart, about how awesome it is. I love the end of summer here. I love that I go out for my morning walk and wave at people I know three times at 8:00 in the morning. I love that I can go to the Vine and get lessons on life, and when I walk home the palm trees are blowing but there is also a hint of winter in the air and the smell of fireplaces and fish at the same time. I love that I love this place I call home, and I love that, for this moment, I totally belong here. And I love that I know this.

It's very strange to some, talking about your home as if it was your lover. But it's the only way to live, for me, at least. Or, as they sing in that Wilco song, Distance has a Way of Making Love Understandable.

I'll post from the road.

Posted by Shannon at 8:02 PM | Comments (1)

September 11, 2006

We've Been Had

Anniversary day, and I can't seem to get this melody out of my head.

Isn't it weird how, at the end of the summer, all of a sudden everything changes? I've been so sleepy, as though I am going into hibernation mode. It's cooler at night, and everyone is suddenly walking around with hoodies and jeans. My floor is cold in the morning. Tonight I actually had to find a pair of sweats to put on. I have a lot of sweats. I forgot about that.

What happened to the summer? What happened to the last two months? One minute, Radiohead was coming, and then I blinked, and then it was now. Were the last few weeks so boring I slept through them or something? I'm not sure they were exacly fun.

Anyhow my book is almost done and I am leaving for Spain in just a few days. And when I get home it really, truly will be Fall.

Onward.

Posted by Shannon at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)

September 8, 2006

Why We Love Jeffrey

OK. Maybe this is not why we love Jeffrey, after all.

Posted by Shannon at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2006

McMansion on Turtle Creek

Sometimes I wish for this: traveling all around Europe and Eastern Europe and maybe even past that by myself and then blogging about it. I do want it, I think it would be really cool, and weird, and scary and also, fun to do this. But then I end up by myself for a few days and I start to rethink that plan.

I guess I can't really compare Irving, Texas to Stockholm or some random Greek Island, but I do have to say that sometimes I get insanely, overwhelmingly lonely on the road. I can't really say it is one place over the other, because I have spent too much time in other places (even horrible places) and not become too lonely. I travel to so many weird, sometimes desolate places for work that I just try to find the beauty there, and usually there is something - at least one thing - that I can call beautiful.

But Irving, Texas. It's awful here. It's been hot, it's been muggy, and today it is raining AND hot and muggy. I am trapped in the Four Seasons wishing my guts out that I could leave right now for the airport. It's dry here, meaning you can't buy a bottle of wine at the store. You can't buy a bottle of wine at the grocery store! This is the 21st century, people! What's next, no pudding?

Thankfully I was able to scam a couple of open bottles left over from a tasting yesterday, otherwise I probably would have called the airline and paid the hundred bucks to get out of here as soon as possible.

Oh, you can get a glass of wine at the Four Seasons, but it is $10 for a glass of Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc ($7.50? I think, at The Vine) AND they tack a 17% service charge on every bill. Now, I totally would have tipped more than that anyway, but the fact that they add it and then leave a space for "additional gratuity" just galls me to no end.

Anyhow. It's not all that bad here if you like staying in a sprawling business park type setting. Sometimes people say "oh, it's so cool you get to travel for work." Yeah, sometimes. But then there are those times when you are trapped in a Holiday Inn Express with no car and nothing around you and are forced to watch Jon Benet Ramsey's "killer" fly from Long Beach to Boulder Colorado over, and over, and over.

I guess I could read. But places like this make me so brain dead that I find myself reading the same paragraph over, and over, and over like it's the same CNN loop entrenched firmly in my brain.

It's not what I expected, really, but there is this: I never got Texans, and they'll never get me.

Posted by Shannon at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2006

Party Whirl

Yesterday, I went to a party in my hometown of Half Moon Bay, California. Going to parties where you don't know anyone is hard. I know that I seem like an outgoing sort of person but really, I am not. I am super shy and like to hide in the shadows (near the bar) when I don't know anyone. I did talk to people and there were lots of cool people there but it was a birthday party for a 27 year old and I just felt hella old (even though I was wearing my Radiohead shirt and my Sigur Ros hoodie and jeans and Pumas, which is sort of a younger persons outfit.) Also I have found that when you get a lot of women (or men) that have known each other forever together, it is really hard to infiltrate especially if you are a shy, in-the-shadows wallflower like me.

Yesterday's experience just drove home the success of Saturday's party. At Saturday's party, I was one of the ones that has known everyone forever. Though I think it was probably easier for the newcomers to infiltrate. The party was for the 5th anniversary of slowtrav.com and it was a killer day - at a beautiful park in the Oakland hills, with redwoods and shade and a massive amount of really great food and more wine than we could drink, plus great company. I kind of miss Northern California on days like that. Those warm, sultry afternoons in redwood forests. Though I definitely DO NOT miss the fog in Half Moon Bay. It was friggen FREEZING there.

Other than that I hung out with Baby Ryan and Jay and Carrie, watched the World Cup (I am still trying to figure out that whole head-butting thing, why would someone do that? It was just weird.) And also, got a little freaked out about the Left Behind video game. I am hopelessly out of the loop, clearly, and just this weekend saw something on TV about this video game where Christians run around New York City killing non-believers. Um, that is freaky. In fact, TV is freaky, video games are freaky, I guess everything is freaky. But not slowtrav parties, those are not freaky. So maybe I had better concentrate on them.

I was very jealous of all the girls at the party yesterday who took over my duties as auntie of Ryan. I was JEALOUS! Later though, me and Jay had him run through a couple of Radiohead songs with us, specifically 2 + 2 = 5 and Morning Bell. Carrie was not amused, but me and Jay sure were.

Posted by Shannon at 7:37 PM | Comments (0)

Party Whirl

Yesterday, I went to a party in my hometown of Half Moon Bay, California. Going to parties where you don't know anyone is hard. I know that I seem like an outgoing sort of person but really, I am not. I am super shy and like to hide in the shadows (near the bar) when I don't know anyone. I did talk to people and there were lots of cool people there but it was a birthday party for a 27 year old and I just felt hella old (even though I was wearing my Radiohead shirt and my Sigur Ros hoodie and jeans and Pumas, which is sort of a younger persons outfit.) Also I have found that when you get a lot of women (or men) that have known each other forever together, it is really hard to infiltrate especially if you are a shy, in-the-shadows wallflower like me.

Yesterday's experience just drove home the success of Saturday's party. At Saturday's party, I was one of the ones that has known everyone forever. Though I think it was probably easier for the newcomers to infiltrate. The party was for the 5th anniversary of slowtrav.com and it was a killer day - at a beautiful park in the Oakland hills, with redwoods and shade and a massive amount of really great food and more wine than we could drink, plus great company. I kind of miss Northern California on days like that. Those warm, sultry afternoons in redwood forests. Though I definitely DO NOT miss the fog in Half Moon Bay. It was friggen FREEZING there.

Other than that I hung out with Baby Ryan and Jay and Carrie, watched the World Cup (I am still trying to figure out that whole head-butting thing, why would someone do that? It was just weird.) And also, got a little freaked out about the Left Behind video game. I am hopelessly out of the loop, clearly, and just this weekend saw something on TV about this video game where Christians run around New York City killing non-believers. Um, that is freaky. In fact, TV is freaky, video games are freaky, I guess everything is freaky. But not slowtrav parties, those are not freaky. So maybe I had better concentrate on them.

I was very jealous of all the girls at the party yesterday who took over my duties as auntie of Ryan. I was JEALOUS! Later though, me and Jay had him run through a couple of Radiohead songs with us, specifically 2 + 2 = 5 and Morning Bell. Carrie was not amused, but me and Jay sure were.

Posted by Shannon at 7:37 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2006

One Beautiful Day Please, but Hold the Tourists

Today is the first day of Summer, though I have been feeling like it's been Summer for a while now. Living at the beach in San Diego, it's sort of hard to identify "Spring." You can kind of identify Winter, and you can sort of identify Fall. But it is always easy to identify Summer here in Ocean Beach, because, basically, it is the worst time of the year to be here.

I think it is pretty obvious to anyone who reads my blog on any sort of a regular basis that I adore where I live. But, I have to say, and especially on the eve of the real and true Summer, that it can get pretty tiresome around these parts this time of year. I suppose it is the same on the Jersey shore, and I reckon that the locals on the Amalfi Coast are pretty happy when October 1st arrives. In Summer, if you are where people want to spend time in the Summer, you are going to suffer. Your city or village or town isn't yours anymore.

I guess I am kind of cranky because last night there was a riotous party on my street. On a Tuesday night! There is a group of four ugly two-story houses that stay empty for most of the year until the owner can price gouge a bunch of youngsters who want to live by the beach for a while. Now there are twenty? thirty? fratty types milling about down there. Last night, it sounded like they were all bobbing for apples with a bunch of porn stars or something. It was LOUD. And I am laying in bed at midnight thinking, oh fuck. Here we go again. Summertime. It's just too damned hot to close the window and shut them out. Trapped with the whoo hoo's of the Duh Generation for at least two months.

There are, of course, lots of good things about living here in the Summer.... the warm nights sitting by the ocean with that salty spray hitting your face, that lethal but super-fun combination of wine and heat, watching the sunburnt tourists and the setting sun through the windows of The Vine. The sound of fireworks at Sea World. Really tan, practically naked young men walking down the street. Girls, too. And I guess I sometimes wonder, was I as clueless as these kids when I was their age? Was I as loud or as unconscious of my ripple effect on the world around me? I don't think I was, but I could be wrong.

I'll get used to it all over again, and then the cool wind of October will blow, and I will once again walk down the street in my own town again. I'll never stop smiling, living here. But then, that first day when I know they are all gone, I'll look like the fucking Joker.

Posted by Shannon at 6:32 PM | Comments (2)

June 3, 2006

Land of the Un-Hip

I am in Portland. I got here last night and to be totally honest it would have been better to get here today. Last night was, kind of, well, lame. I don't know where I got it in my head that Portland is this uber-cool city with a fantastic bistro on every corner.

I had to go through Oakland and had over an hour to kill so I went to the bar, which was packed and had a slow-as-molassas server. I mean, she was SLOW. After twenty minutes I got a drink, but in the meantime struck up a conversation from some businessman from Seattle. "Service with a smile," he said. "I don't care if there is a smile as long as there is service," I said. Well this comment was going to bite me in the ass later.

In the seventh grade, in social studies, we had this project to design a city. In the city I designed, the airport was outside the city and there was a train connecting the airport to the city. Now for me, having only been to the airports in San Francisco and Orange County, this was pretty cool thinking, I thought. I didn't know other cities actually have this. And if there is one really great thing about flying into Portland Airport, it is that you can walk out the door and get on a light rail that takes you right into town. The thing dropped me off in front of my hotel! Awesome.

I didn't get here until almost nine and I was starving, so I immediately went out to eat something. There is a giant mall across the street. A MALL. Where am I again? The girl at the front desk had given me a really horrible mimeographed map of the area with all manner of fast food places on it. Quigno's subs? Not. So I walked past the mall trying to find something else. I passed an Applebees that was packed. "No way" I said to myself. "I am NOT eating at fucking Applebees." Do you sometimes feel that the hip neighborhood is very close, that if you maybe walk two more blocks there it would be, but in which direction? That is how I felt last night.

Finally I found a street with some coffeeshops and a pizza place and a pasta restaurant. The pasta place looked pretty good so I went in. Everything on the menu looked really good. And the server was not only great, he was also smiling. He did everything absolutely perfectly (like get me a second glass of wine right when the first was done, and not fire my pasta until my salad was done, because I eat slow). So when my pasta came out and it was total crap, I couldn't send it back. Unfortunately, I had let him choose for me. It sounded good - linguini with marsala and cream, tomatoes and mushrooms. But it tasted like plain pasta. I couldn't taste any marsala or cream, all I could taste was stale pasta water. I dumped half a pound of Parmesan cheese on it and that made it at least edible. Leaving there, I walked back past the Applebees, which was still packed. "Oh how I wish I would have eaten at fucking Applebees," I thought.

The night wasn't a total loss. Franz Ferdinand was on Austin City Limits and they were AWESOME. I always wondered what the big deal was about that band and now I know. I am gonna go and buy all their records.

I guess there is a carnival by the river today. I am going to try to go there. I saw it on the news, because they were showing how everyone is getting their bags searched before entry. "Makes everyone feel much safer" one dude said. "No one will get their pockets picked now." Huh? How did that one make it past the cutting room floor?

Somewhere there is a great wine bar calling my name... I just have to find it.

Posted by Shannon at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2006

standard, lazy, big nothing comparative to universal?

Tonight is the last episode of Top Chef. Is it just me, or is it kind of anticlimatic all of a sudden? They should have done the two-hour finale in one night.

I won't be here to watch it because I am about to head out to San Diego State for Independence Jam. I'll have to watch it tomorrow at 5:00 and therefore I'll have to avoid the internet all day as to not find out the winner prematurely (Harold.)

Something crazy happened today - I got mega-spammed. Spammers got me from a gazillion servers all over the place at the same time. All comments have to be approved by me, and when I checked my email I had over 300 comments waiting to be approved! I started banning ISPs and commentors like crazy but in the meantime they were firing spam comments at the rate of something like five a minute. I had to turn off comments for a while just to breathe. Anyhow now everyone who comments has to be authenicated first. Sorry... maybe down the road I will change it back, but it took a couple of hours to deal with. It was really and truly insane and in the end I deleted over a thousand comments. Holy fuck.

I guess computers spew that stuff - I wonder if the Cambridge Institute of Technology knows that their ISP is sending out spam that looks like this: "Your website is wonderfull. I'll come visit again. standard table becomes full girl in final" by commentor "big is feature of memorizing corner."

Well now I get to chill with a hot dog, a glass of cheap red wine and four bands. It could be a lot worse.

Posted by Shannon at 5:29 PM | Comments (1)

May 4, 2006

Please pack your knives, and GO

I have never, ever been into reality TV (except for maybe that brief exploration of Bobby Brown Territory). Until now. Now, I am totally fascinated, all of a sudden, by the crazy, messed up, marred-with-cuss-words glimpse of both the bright and dark sides of the food business - Top Chef.

Inevitably I am always one of the last to find out about something really cool. Well, actually, I DID see an episode a couple of weeks ago, and sort of got into it. But last week when I was in San Francisco at my old pad with Leigh and Laurie, they were like "have you seen Top Chef? YOU should BE in Top Chef." So this week I have been watching all the episodes, and this is easy, because they are on, like, all the time. At least this week they were.

Anyhow. For the uninitiated, this is a show that pits people against each other in a culinary environment. The people, and the environment (or, I guess, the challenges faced) are both a little wacked. Let's see... cook a bunch of really hard dishes, for a wedding of two dudes named Scott and Scott, in less than 24 hours. Or create a restaurant concept, the dining room, food, and wine, for less than a thousand dollars. Or make a palatable dish out of ingredients found in a gas station mini mart (the one thing I might have been able to pull off.)

For anyone ever remotely interested in food it is pretty cool stuff. For anyone that ever stepped foot in a restaurant, even as a dishwasher, it is totally riveting.

The contestants on this show are funny. Consider:

Miguel is long gone but I was sort of sad to see him go, just for the "I am going to kill you" squinty eyes everytime someone dissed on him.

Of course I want Harold to win.

Though his whining through so many challenges ("I am a CHEF. I am not happy about trying to cook with popcorn") sort of bugs a little, let's face it, he is a cool guy who gets along with everyone, his food always looks awesome, he says "va fangool" all the time, and he is good looking too. He even got along with Stephen. Now I know everyone hates Stephen and he is kind of a tool on the show but I sort of liked him just because he was so bizarre. He reminds me of so many wine nerds who don't realize there is another, more real world outside the wine one. The guy is only 24 years old. Let the real world toss him around a little, and not the reality TV world. If there is one person from Top Chef that I would love to sit at a bar with for a few hours (besides Harold) it would be Stephen. All you would have to do is say, "Stephen, tell us a little about yourself." That would be good for HOURS of entertainment.

Plus, homeboy looks like a young Mickey Rourke.

Last night's episode was one of the best so far. There are only four people left. And they are going to Napa to match a meal using truffles to a bottle of Shafer Cabernet.

Who's left? Dave, Tiffani, Lee Anne and Harold. Three of them get to go to the finale at the end. Who deserves to win? Let's just say that at the end, one that deserves to win, is not going to win. And one that totally does NOT deserve to win, is going to win.

Tiffani, even though she is a bitch, does deserve to go on to the finale. She is like the female version of Stephen. Last night was pretty telling. When they were tasting some of the Shafer Cab to see what to cook with it, she actually said "I like this wine. It has nice LEGS." She said it without even looking at it. Does she think you TASTE the legs? It was clear she didn't have a clue. But whateves, she is a talented cook and she definitely deserves to be one of the winners.

Dave. Oh, Dave. You got here by luck, homeboy. Luck and by being the front of the house in the restaurant concept episode. You big, teary-eyed queen you! And last night, maybe without even knowing it, you put yourself into the pocket of all those Napa Valley chefs by making their favorite food: Macaroni & Cheese.

I was just in Napa last week, and they had Macaroni and Cheese everywhere, even the continental breakfast at the Travelodge in downtown Napa. Well, not really, but you get the idea. In the Napa Valley, Mac and Cheese is sort of like those wine stoppers with the golfers on top. And Dave, harried queen of the soggy nacho, serves up some Mac and Cheese with a whole truffle at the bottom of each dish. And WINS. He's going to Vegas. Because of Macaroni and Cheese. Awesome.

Poor Lee Anne. She SO deserved to be one of the winners.

Next week, there are casting calls for the next season of Top Chef, in Las Vegas, where I will just happen to be. But I could never be on this show. Brian from The Vine could be on this show. Brian, in fact, would be PERFECT. He's got the talent, the balls, the experience, and the tattoos. Also, the confidence - or should I say, borderline arrogance - that a Top Chef needs. Think about it, Brian. You'd get a hundred grand in the end. I'll try out if you will.

This Saturday there will be a seven-hour marathon of Top Chef. Check it out.

Posted by Shannon at 8:47 AM | Comments (8)

April 6, 2006

The Inner Tube

In this world we live in it is easy to move between two continents quite quickly, so quickly that one day you can be eating pasta and saying grazie and the next, eating tacos and trying NOT to say grazie because, face it, homegirl, you aren't in Italy anymore and saying grazie is just going to come off as pretentious, or weird. Never mind that your brain hasn't caught up with your body quite yet.

Hurtling through space in a tube is weird. Every time I do it, I sort of cover myself in an emotional lip balm, telling myself this is what I have to do, in order to get over, in order to get back. But let's face it, a day, or a day and a half, or two days, in transit via air is a bizarre way to spend your time, no matter how glamorous or appealing the destination might be. You spend this time in silence with a people you are already suspicious of in the boarding line (are they going to sit next to me? Keep me up all night? Maybe blow up the plane? Will I live through this?) and the workers of the flight, who are always saying hello, thank you, danke, arrivederci or whatever on boarding or departing, but who don't really have that exact same embracing attitude for the other nine hours of the flight (at least not in coach.) Not to say that they aren't nice. I probably don't ask, so I shouldn't expect.

Sometimes, flying over Greenland or wherever, I wish it was a hundred years ago and I was on a ship going to Europe. The ship would take a week to cross the Atlantic, and it wouldn't be a tube full of bad smells. But the reality is, I could easily be in coach on a ship (third class) and that would kind of suck. It probably wouldn't be like all those fun cool peasants dancing on Titanic - it would be a slovenly rat infested pit of hell. On an airline, the classes of service are only differentiated by the airline attendants announcement not to cross over into Business class. But the people in Business have mostly upgraded from coach, or their companies paid for the ticket. The bounderies are pretty loose, these days. I like that the class barrier has almost completely been broken down, unless maybe you are traveling on the Orient Express or something.

But still, in coach, I put myself in a mode that is: just get though it for the next eighteen hours. And then I do and I am home and it is good and like it never happened, but I have also seen some movies I never would have seen, a few that I might remember, a few that I can't today, even though I flew just yesterday. Valium, red wine, that slow hum. Moving into the unconscience while remaining sort of conscience. That, is flying.

Posted by Shannon at 9:11 PM | Comments (1)

March 7, 2006

The Faint Test

I'm home now. It's taking me some time to recover. I feel like I have been traveling non-stop for months. Well, I guess I have. Now I can rest, but only for a little while. The next time I go, it will be back to Italy, and that doesn't suck. It is really hard to believe that it has been a year exactly since I landed in Palermo.

This trip won't be like that one. That one was five weeks long and it was all play. This one is two weeks long and involves major hardships like eating and drinking and leading people on pub crawls around Venice. It sucks, I know, but someone has to do it.

I think I can, at this point, go just about anywhere and have a good time. I am serious. I have some really bad qualities but one good one that I do have is, I can go anywhere, I never shy away from it, and I always find something, at least one thing, to like. Like Oklahoma. Everyone disses on it, but it's pretty there. Indian Country. Lots of lakes, lots of sky. I went to the bathroom at a truck stop and some of the diner tables had plaques that read "reserved for truckers." Imagine a place where a trucker has priority. I, for one, think that is hella cool. The highways are long and there is no one on them. On my way to a winery in Haskell, I passed through living ghost towns. So many broken down, boarded up houses, but people still live in these towns. There were bars in structures made out of some kind of thin metal. Budweiser is cheap, and I didn't see even one cop. You can buy a house for sixty-five thousand dollars and there is no smell of coffee, only lawlessness.

I visited my old friend Prentiss in Muscogee, and then we went to Tulsa, where we rented a little hotel studio with a kitchen and I cooked for Prentiss and his boyfriend Rob and his friends from Tulsa, Mark and Mark. On a tiny stove in a tiny room, we had an eight-foot table, candles, flowers, tons of wine, my IPod, Mark's CD player, opera, Sigur Ros, Macaroni and Cheese, Italian Sausage that I bought in the Italian town of Krebs, and a lot of laughter. Then we went to Mark Michael's where he played the piano and it was really, truly beautiful. The other Mark took us around in his car the next day, to see Tulsa. On a Sunday, no one out. Killer art deco skyscrapers.

Then home. I'll admit, I am weary. But also in love, really in love, with Cat Power's new record The Greatest. I LOVE it. I lost my very favorite close to my heart Black Fly sunglasses that I had for 10 years on this trip, but listening to Cat Power I can kind of get over it. Kind of. Listen to the sample of "Love and Communication." The strings on that one song are enough to slay me with happiness.

Posted by Shannon at 7:07 PM | Comments (0)

March 2, 2006

Tales from a Brown Land

When I was 23 years old, I lived in a little apartment on Nob Hill that was directly above a real estate office. I'll admit it right here and now - I was obnoxious. I didn't have any regard for the guy downstairs and used to play my music really loud during business hours. The real estate guy used to have to call me and ask me to turn it down all the time. He most likely hated me.

One day, I was obsessed with a high tempo New Order song. I can't remember the name of it but on that particular day I played it over and over, and then I put it on my answering machine, so that whenever anyone called they would just hear about 20 seconds of this song, really loud. So, I was playing the song, super loud, and then I jumped in the shower. I came out to this loud banging on my door. It was the real estate guy, and his face was all red, and he was so pissed off and angry that he could barely speak. He sort of just spit noises at me. He was sick of listening to the same New Order song, played loudly over and over, and then when he called to complain, what did he hear? The same fucking song! I practically gave the guy a heart attack.

This is what it is like for me, driving through Texas. It's hot, it's dusty, and it's always a three hour drive. No matter where you are going, it will take three hours. Have you ever wondered if there is a corner of the country where there is no Starbucks? I have the answer - yes, and that corner is Bryan, Texas. I searched in vain for way too long and finally bought a cup of caramel colored hot water at a donut shop. I never thought I could want Starbucks so bad. We are spoiled rotten in the other 49 states.

I'm in Dallas now. It's hot, it's dusty, and there is a lot of traffic. But my hotel also has a computer and decent coffee so that is a plus. My ex-husband Sean and his wife Christi live here, so I went to their place last night. One good thing about Dallas - you can buy a huge house for the same price as a trailer home in Escondido would cost back in Cali. They have one room with only a BAR in it! It's totally awesome. Plus they have the cutest, smartest little kid. She is only three but she looks, and acts like five. She told me her favorite color is pink so I was like, so you can get pink hair, like me! Then she changed her mind. "My favorite color is actually brown," she said.

Me and Sean and Christi sat outside until way too late, talking. They told me how in the summer, it never ever cools down, not even at night, and then you get into a pool and it is the same temperature as the air. So there is no relief, like the real estate guy and the New Order song.

Sigur Ros and Austin seem a million miles away. We waited around for two hours after the show and I got a poptarticus shirt signed by the band. Soon I will be in Oklahoma. I wonder if there is a Starbucks there?

Posted by Shannon at 7:08 AM | Comments (3)

February 26, 2006

Tales from a Red Land

I am in Austin, Texas, where Britt Daniel used to live. I look for signs of him, but I don't really know what to look for. It is pretty cool here, also kind of hot. Like hot for February. Also really clear and clean. I can't write too much because I have to go meet my Sigur Ros buddy David from Palm Springs. We are going to see Sigur Ros tonight. Sigur fucking Ros! I am so totally and completely stoked.

Up until last night I was at the Airport Hilton here, so I'm just now getting into the rhythm of downtown. I ate tacos at Guero's today and fried gulf shrimp and macaroni and cheese at Threadgills last night. All up and down my street there is music. But, it always takes me a few hours to really sink my heels in.

Other than that, well, I sort of had a nervous breakdown the other night thinking about sex slavery. This is a whole 'nother story that I will save for another day. Also, I met the coolest guy on the plane over here. He works on oil rigs for two months then travels for two months. He goes to places like Romania and Bali on a whim, but he looks like some dude you'd see drinking beer in a dive bar on a Sunday afternoon. Two days later I am still thinking about him but, a) got off the plane with a "take it easy," b) I can't kid myself, age-wise, anymore, even though I try hard, and often and c) he didn't have fuschia hair.

Whatever. I gotta go drink red wine in the sun in this crazy city of the young and get ready to listen to perfection.

Posted by Shannon at 1:21 PM | Comments (1)

February 20, 2006

I Turned My Camera On

I've sort of been watching the Olympics. Like, not totally watching them, but kind of watching them. To be honest, except for the snowboarding, they have been kind of boring. Everyone looks way too serious and scared. And ice dancing? Could ANYTHING be more boring? I'm going to give it one more try tonight, for like five minutes. Someone needs to give those people a hand with their music selections.

Anyway. Last night I was sort of watching, when something seriously awesome caught my eye. It was a DUDE WITH FUSCHIA HAIR. Of course I was immediately riveted. To make things even better, he is ITALIAN. The commentors on TV didn't quite know what to make of it all. Dudes - welcome to the 21st century. I forsee many shades of hair in the next Olympics. Fuschia, purple, green, yellow... maybe if all the athletes break out of the hair box they won't look so stressed out and pissed off. Or if they do, they'll look punk rock, and that is a much better way to look.

Back to Cristian Zorzi, though, guys around the world should take a look at what a head of fuschia hair can do. Consider the following:

Yeah. OK. Now check THIS out:

Awesome hair, dude! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what fuschia hair can do for a guy. My question now is, why don't more guys have fuschia hair? From now on, that's what I am going to be on the lookout for.

In other news, Saturday night I cooked for Chandi Wyant, who won a dinner at my house in the Slowtrav contest for her killer photos of Italy. She plans weddings in Italy for people, and I can tell you right now that I was a little nervous, cooking for someone who plans weddings. But it all worked out and everyone had a great time.

Here is a picture of me feeding Chandi a bit of Picolit wine jelly. That's her husband Dave next to her. See, when I cook for contest winners, not only do I cook for them, I also FEED them.

Keep that in mind, future contest winners.

Posted by Shannon at 5:35 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2006

My Spazzmatical Mind

A little Britt business first, before I get into some random thoughts and images of Missouri, and home.

There is someone out there who is even more obsessed with Britt than me - Kelly from Louisiana, who has graced us with a travelogue of last week's Texas shows in her blog. She found my blog and now I've found hers. If you like reading crazed Britt material (of course you do, otherwise why do you read Poptarticus?) then check out Kelly's blog for some killer stories from the road.

Also, the be-all end-all of my Monday, and for many Mondays, other days, months and years to come, as long as it may last: a a stream of Spoon's February 2nd Austin show. Mi Dio! It's like, totally the best thing to ever happen. At least today. Killer.

OK, that's it for Britt stuff for awhile, I promise. Onward. Here are some images of Missouri.

This starkly beautiful scene is an hour and a half from St. Louis, near the town of Hermann. The house is crying for love, and I saw ghosts all around it. Time travel is possible with an overactive imagination.

In the little town of Hermann, I woke up to snow.

A visit to St. Louis for an old movie junkie like me would not be complete without a visit to Judy Garland's address in "Meet Me in St. Louis." 5135 Kensington Avenue (and 5133) is now in the ghetto. Both houses are gone. This is the lot where they once were.

Another shot of what was 5135 Kensington Avenue.

One of the weird things about St. Louis is, there are these ghettos but then two blocks away, there are streets with huge, opulent houses.

Chop Suey restaurants are all over the place in the bad areas of town. I kept asking, what up with all these Chop Suey places? What IS Chop Suey?

The sale cart at the best market in the U.S., if not the world: Global Foods in Kirkwood, Missouri. Get ready for my soon-to-be-completed essay and photo journal of this place. I LOVED it.

Hard to argue with that, isn't it?

But now I am home, and it is beautiful here. Last night my brother helped throw a birthday party for Sooty Hendricks at Winstons, and his band played, and some other bands, and everyone was there. I sometimes think about leaving OB but then a night like last night comes around and I realize I can't leave, not for a while. It was a wild and colorful party, and the Mudsharks were awesome.

Wha