A Summer Reboot

As we head into the hazy days of August, holding up our hands to block the looming view of the impending Autumn, I thought I'd reboot Summer with this hot dog picture from the 2008 Memorial Day celebration at Coney Island (via Dutch House of Photography).

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A Summer Reboot

Sprintcuts: Soothe a Baby

For all you harried mothers out there!

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Sprintcuts: Soothe a Baby

The Stuff of Dreams: Top 5 Things on My Do-Before-I-Die List

I was reading in HOW Magazine about this German illustrator who took two trips around the world while still maintaining enough freelance work to pay his bills. He achieved it all with technology and wifi spots previously mapped out (on the second trip he bought a satellite phone).

So his pursuit of his dream sparked my own daydreams — and these aren't things like get married and have kids, which I do want. These are top five things I'd like to do before I kick the proverbial bucket:

1. Buy a second (or even first) home in France or Spain. Je parle le français and un poco de español. I've always wanted to be intercontinental, and if I save aggressively enough, this is achievable. Ahhhhhh, saving, what a dream.


2. Starting a theater movement. I don't know what it is yet, but I feel it coming. Something is bubbling in the underground.


3. Traveling the world — though I accept my limitations, and I'm more of the Holly Go Lightly "traveling" type than the camping girl type.


4. Launching a print magazine. I know, I know, everybody says print is dead, but I happen to like it. There's something about the energy of the paper and clipping articles. I'm torn between a literary magazine, which I'm thisclose to doing or a fashion rag. Maybe I'll combine the two: pretty and smart people or pretty, smart people.


5. Speak seven languages. I know this seems like quite a bit to chew off, but I didn't say fluently. I'm not about perfection; I'm about communication. Besides, I don't plan to croak before 70 years old, so I've got quite a few years. And I'm working on a method ... more about that later.

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The Stuff of Dreams: Top 5 Things on My Do-Before-I-Die List

A Vulcan Bloody Mary

The New York Times unwittingly issued me a challenge today in an article entitled The Avocado's Avocation. The article describes the origins of the Hulk-green drink pictured above. And although the idea of this drink that includes one-quarter of an avocado — yes, that much — freaks me out, I'm determined to drink one.

Junior Merino is the Frankenstein to this monster of a drink, served cold. It's a good answer to the Bloody Mary, which I can't drink, thanks to a mild tomato allergy. I'm often on the Lower East Side, and that's where the home of the monster is. Macondo, the restaurant and bar opened last week on Houston Street.

Challenge accepted, NYT! Hmmm, I may get one tonight! Game on!

P.S. Trekkers get the headline

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A Vulcan Bloody Mary

Batman Takes Over the World

I'm sure you've heard by now that The Dark Knight (the official title of the latest Batman flick) is blowing up box office records. So, I'm not going to rehash that old chestnut. And, I'm sure you've heard how fatasmagorical the movie is too. (It is! I've seen it!) So, I'm not going to chat about that either. Let's get down to business!

Who would you rather date -- Batman, Superman or Spiderman? They all have their charms and split personalities. I like to think I would go for Batman because he's dark and brooding, but then I realize that never pans out in real life. In real life, I usually go for the Spidey type — the funny guy who loves the old lady in his life (hi, Aunt May!). Oh, and I'm kind of like Batman myself at times, so me and the Batster wouldn't work out. But Bruce Wayne ... he's another story ... I do have "billionaire industrialist" on my to-date list.

Who would you date?
Batman
Spiderman
Superman


(View Results)

Create a Poll

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Batman Takes Over the World

When Kangaroos Attack!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/19/2308660.htm

Posted from my iPod
www.piawilson.com
www.piaquarterly.com
www.twitter.com/pwilson720

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When Kangaroos Attack!

Vacay in Noth Korea?

Got a burning desire to visit North Korea? Hey, maybe you want to
honeymoon there! What, a mad super-evil regime runs the country with
an iron fist, you say? Push tosh!

For $20K, you and a loved (or not so loved) one can take a little
holiday in Seoul for about four days with Remote Lands. B-zarre!

Posted from my iPod
www.piawilson.com
www.piaquarterly.com
www.twitter.com/pwilson720

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Vacay in Noth Korea?

I Heart My iPod Touch ... Again

I was most definitely going to buy the new iPhone when it came out. Definitely. I was tired of having to find free wi-fi to play with my iPod Touch. Definitely! The iPhone was cheaper now! Definitely! I was falling under spell of the iPhone 3G siren call. Then Apple made one fatal mistake in its seduction: making the App Store available to iPod Touch users.

Tricked out with a bunch of new applications — hello, Twitter; hi, Facebook; what's up, Google Talk — my iPod Touch seems new again. Did I care about my Twitter account much until just now? Nope. Now, I'm chirping on Twitter all the time! And, hey, I now have all of Shakespeare's plays at my fingertips, thanks to that darling, free app. As a playwright, I need that inspiration sometimes.

With all my new toys, the scales fell from my eyes, and I remembered, "Oh yeah, I hate AT&T." Definitely. Once I paid for my iPod Touch, I was done paying for it ... no monthly phone bills. Definitely!

Once Apple breaks up with AT&T for good, then I'll consider the iPhone again. Until then, "Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow."

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I Heart My iPod Touch ... Again

Calvin Hearts Garrett

Famed lensman Bruce Weber has shot some spectacular pictures of Garrett Neff for the new Calvin Klein undies campaign. (side note: Does Garrett seem to be de-aging to anyone else? He looks younger and younger to me every time I see him. Granted, he's probably only 18 anyway. ... Or, *gasp*, am I becoming an old lady?)

For some reason, this makes me think of one of my faves ... Mark Vanderloo. I have no idea what he's up to, but here he is last year, hanging out with Gabriel Aubry. He still looks fab, doesn't he?

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Calvin Hearts Garrett

Look, Ma! No Oven English Muffins!

Saw this post on La Cerise by way of Tastespotting. Thought it looked interesting. Enjoy!

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Look, Ma! No Oven English Muffins!

Brangelina's Brood Bulges

In Which We Try to Understand Why One Would Name A Child Knox

Brangelina (aka Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) have added to their singing group baseball team brood with pair of twins named Knox Leon (boy) and Vivienne Marcheline (girl).

Fab: They're both Cancers (like me). Fab: Vivienne is a trés jolie name. Boo: Knox is a name that guarantees trouble. I can imagine the headlines now:

Hard Knox Lands Another Night in Jail

Knoxed Around: Brangelina's Bad Boy on Another Rampage

Knox on Wood: Brangelina Prays for Speedy Recovery for Troubled Teen

Are there any good headlines ... or hacklines as I like to call them?

OK, maybe this one, but it's a stretch: Knox on Opportunity's Doorstep.
The only thing is: his mother's womb was opportunity's doorstep. Ah well, The Fates have been kind. Let it be.

Meanwhile congratulations to Vivienne. Her name bodes well for a life of beauty and grace. And congrats to Brangelina on their bundle of joy. Enjoy the picture of them above from morphthing.com

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Brangelina's Brood Bulges

And Speaking of Black Models ...

and Italian magazines, isn't this an adorable picture from D Magazine? The model's name is Wendell Lissimore, and that's his beautiful son, Phoenix. One heck of a family. I'm tempted to photoshop myself in there. I smell a DIY project!!

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And Speaking of Black Models ...

I Knew Batman Was Popular, But ...

Really, y'all? The New York Times is reporting that:

fans have bought so many late-night tickets for the July 18 opening of the next Batman movie that theaters in places like San Diego, Chicago, and even Eagan, Minn., are scheduling 6 a.m. screenings for those who can’t get in at midnight or 3 in the morning.

Calm down! It's going to stick around. It's what they call a summer blockbuster. That means it will be out longer than a day or two! I love Batman two — Lord knows I even wrote about him in my high school yearbook — but it's not that serious!

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I Knew Batman Was Popular, But ...

Thank you, Italian Vogue! The All-Black Issue

Kudos to Italian Vogue for having the courage to take a stand against the blinding pale of the fashion industry. Imagine using beautiful models to peddle clothes! Seems absurd, doesn't it? But something that basic escapes the mental grasp of many fashion editors (*cough* paging, Anna Wintour *cough*). Just because the models are of color, it doesn't mean all women won't think the clothes are for them too.

That's the reasoning some magazines (and fashion designers) use for excluding models of color from their business. It's flat out wrong. If I see Kate Moss in something, I don't think, "Oh no, that won't work for me because I'm Black." And frankly, if I can be open, so can anyone else. Besides, women of color (I'm including Asian and Hispanic women and many other parts of the rainbow in this) spend a lot of money — The New York Times says spend $20 billion a year on clothes — and our buying power should get us a glimpse of models who share our skin tone more than once in a while. That's just good customer relations.

This all reminds me of an episode of Fame, when the dance teacher, Lydia, played by the lovely and brilliant Debbie Allen, talked about how hard it was for Black dancers to get into ballet companies. I think that's ridiculous too. Actresses of color have a harder time too. (Granted, roles for all actresses are scarce.)

As a writer, I plan to do something about the actress problem. As a consumer (and editor, check Jersey Woman Magazine), I plan to do something about the model thing too. You can take action with me! Buy Italian Vogue at your local bookstore! Write in to television shows, encouraging the use of multicultural casting (paging, the WB). Do something!

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Thank you, Italian Vogue! The All-Black Issue

Buh-bye, Zinc! So long, Copper! Running Out of Elements

So, yeah. We're all to greedy — each one of us six billion consumy consumersons! And because of our greedy, hoggy ways, we're running out of the elements. You remember those ... from the periodic table in science class. (If you don't, you're part of the problem!) They aren't in infinite supply, you know!

Gallium ... on its way out in a few years. Indium takes its bow in about a decade. Zinc ... yes, zinc! ... checks out in 20 years. Hey, I can hear you thinking, "So what?" Here's what: gallium plays an important part in making the liquid-crystal displays used in flat-screen television sets and computer monitors. Oh, now you care!

In Reflections: The Death of Gallium, writer Robert Silverberg offers a little consolation (sort of):

Synthesizing the necessary elements, or finding workable substitutes for them, is one obvious idea. Recycling these vanishing elements from discarded equipment is another. We can always try to make our high-tech devices more efficient, at least so far as their need for these substances goes. And discovering better ways of separating the rare elements from the matrices in which they exist as bare traces would help—the furnace-flue solution. (Platinum, for example, always in short supply, constitutes 1.5 parts per million of urban dust and grime, which is ever-abundant.)

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Buh-bye, Zinc! So long, Copper! Running Out of Elements

Making Jam!

Thought this was a great thing to do. I have a book from a French chef, and he talks about making jam, and how this is an ordinary thing to do in France. I believe he used pectin, but this process doesn't. Just fruit and sugar! Quelle marvelous!

 

 

Sent to you by Pia via Google Reader:

 

 

Tuesday Techniques: How To Make Jam

via The Amateur Gourmet by Adam Roberts on 7/7/08

Craig's cousin Matt came to stay with us this past week and he and his friend (who also stayed with us) had a wild time. Out every night, hitting up the town, they'd wake up bleary-eyed every morning and ask me what Craig and I did the night before. "We, ummm, bought a keg and threw a block party," I'd lie, ashamed of the truth: that I'd made dinner, we'd watched "The Wire" on DVD, and went to bed early.

And then any credibility I had as a vibrant young person went out the window when they came home one day to find me at the stove next to a pile of cherry pits.

'What are you doing?" they asked, watching me sweat and stir.

"I'm making sour cherry jam," I said.

They looked at one another and then back at me. "You're making your own jam?" they asked, incredulously.

"Yes," I said and suddenly felt my hair turn gray, my glasses slide down my nose, and my back hunch over. "Oh no!" I gasped. "Can it be? Do I have I.G.S.?"

I checked my symptoms online, consulted a web doctor, and my worst fears were confirmed: I'd caught the bug, and I wasn't going to get better. Instant Grandma Syndrome. I was a hunched-over jam-maker, and "Golden Girls" reruns and early bird specials were to become my new way of life.

The blame SHOULD go to my far-flung Parisian friend with a spiffy new web design, David Lebovitz. When I came home from the farmer's market with sour cherries (a prized fruit, one that Ruth Reichl and Mr. Lebovitz both urge their readers to purchase whenever possible) I decided I wanted to make sour cherry jam.

I went to a store on 7th Ave. and bought 8 jam jars (for this and future jam making). I also bought a cherry pitter to make my job easier and reader, believe me when I tell you: a cherry pitter is the greatest tool ever invented. Firstly, it does its job extremely well--your cherries will be pitted in no time. And secondly, it's fun! It's like a cherry pit gun. Do it the right way and those pits will go flying. Shoot your loved ones or your enemies or your cat. Ok, don't shoot your cat.

Back here, I Googled "Sour Cherry Jam" and came to this post on David's site. His technique for making jam is so awesome, so fool-proof it merits its own Tuesday Techniques post, and that's what we're doing today.

Here's David's process (and it applies to other fruit as you'll soon see): Take your clean, pitted fruit, and put it in a pot with lemon zest and lemon juice from one lemon. Turn on the heat. Cook on medium heat until the fruit softens and gets wet and sloshy. Measure what's there. Now, get out your calculator and multiply that amount by 3/4. Whatever number results, add that much sugar. Turn up the heat, stir, stir, stir, and let it foam up and once the foam subsides (a good 10 minutes or so) your jam should be set. To test, put a plate in the freezer when you start and at this point, drizzle some hot jam (careful!) on to the plate, put back in the freezer for a minute, and then test by pushing the jam with your finger. If it scrunches up, you're done. If it's still wet and sloshy, keep cooking. When set, pour into a jar, wipe off the lip, put on the lid and cool to room temperature. That's it! You've got jam.

Now wasn't that easy?

The only other tricky part is sterilizing the jars. But that's easy too. After reading various techniques, here's what I came up with: wash the jar and the lid with soap and water. Put in a pot or a Dutch Oven with hot water and bring to a boil. Let boil for 15 minutes, remove to towels with tongs and you're done. Also easy!

So here's how the Sour Cherry jam went down. Here are the sour cherries, fresh from the farmer's market:

Here they are, washed and pitted and cooked in a pot for a few minutes:

Here they are in a measuring cup after releasing all their juices;

There were two cups of cherry slosh and that meant 1 1/2 cups of sugar. I added the sugar, turned up the heat, and stirred constantly with a rubber spatula until all the foam subsided.

I turned off the heat, tested the jam on the freezer plate, saw that it was set and patted myself on the back. I ladled the jam into the jar, put on the lid, and smiled at my accomplishment while Craig's cousin prepped for another night on the town.

Then, on Saturday, I joined my friends Patty and Lauren for a fun jaunt to the Park Slope Farmer's Market. There I found a rare supply of red currants at the bargain price of $10 for three cartons. I bought them up and here they are, beautiful in their bag:

I e-mailed David to ask if I could use the same process on the currants and he said, "yes." My favorite jam book, Mes Confitures, said I'd need a food mill but David said pish-posh. "You can use a food mill, if you taste it afterwards and it's too chunky" (I paraphrase) "but it's not necessary."

So, once again, I washed and strained the fruit:

I plucked all the currants off their stems (a long process, though a pleasant one) and placed them in a pot with lemon juice and some water (David's instruction; about 1/2 a cup):

I cooked until sloshy, measured (this time there was more: about 4 cups), added the appropriate amount of sugar (using up all my sugar, actually), and cooked until the foam subsided:

Tested on a plate and it was done!

Oh, and the best part? Once it's on the freezer plate you can taste it because it's cooled down. And it tastes so, so, good. I stood there licking a plate as Craig's cousin and his friend went out enjoying their youth.

But what's youth next to a pot of jam? Sure, it's fun to go out every now and then, but at the end of the night what do you have to show for it? Nothing, I tell you, except--maybe--a neon glow stick. With I.G.S. you stir some fruit and some sugar in a pot, and 6 months later you have jam to spread on your toast while you watch "Wheel of Fortune" and harass your grandchildren for not calling you. The choice is yours, reader: youthful exuberance or jam.

I choose jam. Now call your grandma!

 

 

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Making Jam!

Sprintcuts: Speed-Peel A Potato

I'm loving these Sprintcuts more and more!! I always love helpful tips, and seeing them in video form is even better.

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Sprintcuts: Speed-Peel A Potato

What Patrick Dempsey Was Doing on My Birthday

Apparently, he was driving around California looking for me. Hmmmm, he should know full well by now that I'm in the New York area! Ah, well, men ... what are you going to do with them?

Defamer has its own version of events. (Also fictional). Who are you going to believe — the birthday girl or those celeb votarists over at Defamer?

P.S. Isn't that car sweet?

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What Patrick Dempsey Was Doing on My Birthday

How to Make a Note into an Envelope

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Here's a creative way to save paper: Instead of putting a note in an envelope, why not fold the note itself into an envelope? That way, there's no additional paper to tear open and throw out. Plus, by using sheets of paper with various designs on one side, you can make some pretty original envelopes!

Steps

1. Take a piece of notebook paper (any piece of paper, really) and write your note on the side that will be the interior of the envelope.
   
2. Rotate your piece of paper so that the beginning of the note is to the right and the end of your note is to the left.
   
3. Fold in the top two corners so that they are in the middle. Don't make it too big - you want space at the bottom.
   
4. Fold up the bottom part so that the bottom edge meets the edge of the triangle you made.
   
5. Fold what you just folded in half. It should look somewhat like a newspaper hat now.
   
6. Fold one side into the middle.
   
7. Fold the other side to the middle, but a little farther so that you can tuck it underneath other side.
   
8. Fold the pointy part down and attach with a small piece of tape or a sticker. You're done! Give it to whomever you wrote the note to!
   

Tips

• When you make the folds press down with your thumb. It will stay a bit better.
  
• Put something into the little envelope for a little surprise.
  
• Try hiding it somewhere where the person will find it for a bonus surprise.
  

Warnings

• You may make mistakes - just keep trying.
  
• The person receiving the envelope may not know that it is a note and rip it apart.
  
• This size envelope is not mailable in the US. It does not meet the minimum standard for postage and delivery.
  

Things You'll Need

• A piece of paper
  
• A pen or pencil
  
• Sticker or tape (optional)
  
• Patience
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Fold Paper Into a Secret Note Square
  
• How to Fold a Bus Note
  
• How to Fold a Note Into a Heart
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make a Note into an Envelope. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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How to Make a Note into an Envelope

Today Is My Birthday!

Lo, 37 years ago, a babe was born in St. Michael's Hospital in Newark, NJ.  And she was named Pia.  And everyone knew the world had changed!  Happy Birthday to me!

Other spectacular people born on July 1, 1971:

• 1971 - Missy Elliott, American rapper and singer
• 1971 - Julianne Nicholson, American actress
• 1971 - Steven W. Bailey, American actor
• 1971 - Jamie Walker, American baseball player

Yeah, it was a good year.  So, go out and celebrate today!  I know I will. 

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Today Is My Birthday!