Trial and Error

Well, needless to say the 66 Day Challenge didn't quite make it past the 5 day mark. A lot of stuff has been going on in my life that has more than prevented me from maintaining any kind of discipline. Time constraints, money constraints, life constraints. In any event. A lot of things have been going right! Although the tempest was making the skies of opportunity dim, a lot of things went on that have opened up doors and new sets of inspiration. So I'll put up my best efforts to keep this updated. also, trying to bring back the biographical timeline since Hopefully I figured out a way to get my scanner running again. Anyways. I'll be back! Life is getting hiot and exciting again!

Shopsin on the Times

[photo cred: Larry Fink, via the NY Times]

So it's no secret I've been hyping up Kenny Shopsin for a while now, and as so I've been a bit more alert to his publicity. The NY Times had a pretty sweet piece on him (The Way We Eat: Flipping the Bird) and his quaint little shop and the modest menu that comes with it.

I have yet to experience Shopsin's, and I hope I get to at some point, considering his reputation for client refusal, but I'd have to say that although I'm unfamiliar with his cuisine, much like the case with Bourdain, I admire these two solely based on their personalities and attitudes towards the culinary world and society (and women, heh). They do what they do with passion and don't very much care about what people have to say. Maybe it's the egotistical, arrogant bastard in me, but I slightly identify with these two, and until I learn otherwise, they will continue to be on my list of top chefs.

“I dedicate myself to consuming all sorts of ideas,” says Shopsin, an avid reader and Internet crawler. “Eventually something inside me, probably skewed by my erotic feelings about breasts and things like that, assembles a product and just shoots it up.” [NY Times]

There's such a level of romanticism in his story. The fact that he's estalished himself and provided for his family, for almost 30 years, the work that he's put into his career, and the love he expresses for all elements that sustain him. His clients (the valuable ones, not the shitty ones), his establishment, his trade, and of course, his family. And he's been able to do all this without selling out his principles and just letting any asshole come into his realm demanding to be served. He asks that patrons prove themselves worthy of being served by him and not the other way around. After all, his food has been around long enough to understand that it's quality and he's busting his ass behind the burners to feed you. He owes you nothing and you shouldn't expect him to serve you hand and foot. Good business practice, ethic, and personal integrity and principles in my opinion.

Unlike other restaurateurs, Shopsin has refused publicity. (Whenever I tried to write about him, he would tell the fact checkers that Shopsin’s was a shoe store or out of business or insist that they do something uncheckable to themselves.) But two regulars, a Knopf editor and a literary agent, persuaded him to write a cookbook. “Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin” blends recipes with his uncensored thoughts on cooking (“The only explanation I can give for . . . how I came to this method of cooking is that it’s a product of a lot of psychotherapy, drugs and making chicken potpies”) and running a restaurant (“My approach . . . is the exact opposite of ‘the customer is always right’ ”). Like the restaurant, where three of his four children work, the book is a family affair, designed by his daughter Tamara and photographed by his son-in-law, Jason Fulford. [NY Times]

He does what he does because he loves it and not for the fame and riches and now, inadvertently all of that has come to him because he was himself. Thousands shoot for the stars and crash and burn severely. Not him. Self-awareness and a solid foundation of personal values go a long way.

He is full of deep (or shallow, depending on which side of the fence you're standing on) little excerpts on life and food full of a degree of sentiment and heart one can only hope to achieve at one point.

Absence Trends

So it would appear that my everlasting condition of chronic procrastination has caught up with me again and I've been missing. Well, that added to the hectic schedule I was undergoing with school and work and such has left me without a post, and you, my noble and trusty reader, without material to judge me based on my poor writing skills.

Alas, I'm back. At least for now, and I have a bit of things to blog about. Random life happenings, coupled with a number thingas the internet has brought to my attention that I wanted to share.

In any event here we go!

Fear Vegetarians!

Missing All the Fun

So, I've been absent for a minute. Again with the time restrictions and the trying to balance everything in my life. I've got quite the number of things I have to blog about so check back tomorrow for some more fun. I haven't even updated gone through my RSS in at least a week. EEK!

In the meantime, check out my sweet pastry work here. Heh.

...And We're Back!!!

After neglecting all you fanciful and loyal reader(s?) of mine, I return somewhat hurried, but much obliged to update some. After spending a few days out of commission due to several different illnesses that all befell upon me at once, I'm now back at work doing what I do best. Blogging.

There was brief scare of potential kidney issues, which thankfully, an ultrasound was able to clear up. I will not go into the details of what was actually wrong, but if you really care that much and I'm drunk enough, I will tell you. It is a hilariously awkward story. More awkward if I'm sober. I was asked to strip down and get on one of those hospital robes, it was a bit uncomfortable. Why with all the getting lubed up and rubbed down by a twenty-something year old girl. who also had full access to my ridiculous medical record.

[At the diagnostic center awaiting an ultrasound]
Upon my return to work last week, I was lucky enough for my office to actually remember my birthday and we celebrated it 3 weeks later, not only that, but get this, I also got to buy my own cake! Geez, guys, really you didn't have to. Well, I think of myself enough to go all out so I went ahead and ordered myself a delicious Mocha cake from Cakelove, which was more than a hit. I would die for a slice of that right now, definitely worth the elevated price tag.


[I lost the picture of the actual cake, but it read "Happy Birthday to Me"]
On the way to pick up the cake, I had a late bday lunch at a place that I had heard of tons, but had never had a chance to go to. That's right, DC's own Ben's Chili Bowl. I helped myself to a delicious half-smoke with everything on it and a side (which could have very well been an entree) of their famous chili-cheese fries. Wow. Deliciously artery-clogging. Definitely one of those once every six months type of joints. Yet definitely a must.


[image: cool town studios]


[!!!]
It was almost as though the doctor had told me everything was fine and I could just eat whatever I wanted. Especially fare that could be linked to kidney failure. So I went all out. The next day I followed it up with making the Justice show at the 9:30 club, which was pretty awesome. I think I've gotten to the point where I'm over watching DJs "perform", and now actually enjoy the music and ripping up the dancefloor. which is what I did, although I do have to point out that their set up was sick. Lights and decor were unique and kept the energy of the room lit up.

The next day, dinner at Rio Grande Restaurant in Fairfax, where I proceeded again to fail at following doctor's orders. Ordered for dinner a margarita and the Shrimp Brochette. Oh. My. God. The Shrimp Brochette. Grilled Jumbo Shrimp. Stuffed with cheese and a jalapeños. Wrapped in bacon. served with a tub of butter for dipping. Most likely to be voted the nearest experience to heaven on earth.


And to end the weekend proper and in good spirits, conjured up a batch of the Sandman Nachos (they will put you to sleep!) and killed ab bottle of wine. In an attempt to finally watch Serenity (the sequel to the awesomeness that was Firefly), which was a failed attempt at best when after gorging on nachos.

Well, on that note. I completed my weekend in celebration that my innards are, in fact, in perfect working order and being as unproductive as possible. So for now, back to blogging!

Artistic Direction

A friend of mine just turned me on to a write up on the LAist, about cartoonist Doug Davis, who is having his first gallery exhibition tonight at the Gary Leonard Studio in Los Angeles.

Now, you may read this, and say "Wtf is Doug Davis and why should I care?". Here is where I wold retort with "It's not about who he is, but what he is". He is definitely an inspirational figure, in my opinion, especially after reading his interview with LAist and his feature in Los Angeles Downtown News, where Doug was previously the art director and is a current contributor to its political strip "Urban Scrawl". Considering my interests in illustration as a hobby and as a potential career, I very much identified with his answer to one of the LAist's questions.

[LADowntownNews]

How did you get started in illustration? I was one of those kids who drew all the time, and I pored over comic books and “Peanuts” collections. In my twenties, I didn’t draw as much, but did other things like travel overseas, play the banjo, major in philosophy in college. From one perspective, it was an eclectic approach to life; from another, unfocused. Either way, it provided a variety of life experiences that are good for cartooning. I did editorial cartooning for my college paper, eventually landing in graphic design and art direction. I worked my way back to drawing again, and find my greatest challenge and reward in cartooning and illustration. [LAist]

It sort of put things a little into perspective and gave some harmony to the chaos that I dwell within. Not everybody has to have a defined contingency plan and I feel ok with where I'm headed and the road I'm choosing to travel to get there.

Making Moves

[Consumerist via Penelope Trunk]
The uncertainty of jobs in these days on the brink of recession is nerve-wrecking to say the least. I often ponder on when it would be a good time to change career paths and if staying within my same field is wise. Anyone that knows me knows the basic me. I work business, but long for art. The endless internal debate of what to do and where to go and how to do it.

Penelope Trunk has a phenomenal post on this very topic that, through the blog roll, I discovered.

Here’s how you figure out what to do next in your career: you line up all the stuff you like to do and you figure out which one will pay best. Don’t complain to me that I’m too focused on money. Really. Just do the exercise. The ones who are complaining the most right now, after reading just this far, are the people who are most in denial of what adult life is about.

Look, figuring out what you should do is actually a hard task. Because you have to start eliminating stuff. [PT]

Wow. Have I just been fooling myself all along? No. Definitely not. I know what I like. I know what I want. Entrepreneurship, food, and art are in my future. Paperwork? Not so much.

Playing catch up by the slice

Wow. So yours truly has been absent for a hot minute. Not for any other reason than a mixture of writer's block, lack of time, and plain old laziness. I've also abstained from blogging due to the fact that I haven't uploaded any more pictures from "back in the day" and I feel a lot of that is necessary to continue on this little blog, tracking down all the crevices and nooks I sometimes forget about in my life that are of great relevance and importance to both who I am today and the main objective of this blog. I will sort through some more photos probably not this week, as I am preparing to fly on an airplane and land in the sunny side of California to visit some friends and meet some family, but I will elaborate more on that a little later into this entry (or next), but next.

There's so much to blog about, I'm even unsure where to begin. I guess there's always the beginning, so I will brief upon my weekend and then later on write up some more entries on random stuff I want to post. Also note the layout of the blog has been changed because the last template kinda sucked and was highly aesthetically unpleasing. To me anyhow, and in the grand scheme of things, it is only I that really matters.

I will begin with Friday, where all fun usually originates. It all started with my amazingly delicious breakfast of Cream of Wheat which due my extreme gracefulness, ended up on my crotch, making it nearly impossible to circulate the work place without getting laughed at or having to wear my coat to cover it up.

[My life is over]
My day continued on smoothly after that little bump with an action-packed lunch hour full of Indian food at Naan & Beyond and Frogs! at the National Geographic Explorer Museum Had a most delicious Tandoori Chicken Tikka and about 3 lbs. of Veggie Samosas (yum!) - almost tempted to go back today for more.


[more pictures here]
Thanks to an awesome friend, I was able to score a ticket at the very, very, very last minute to the BJ Novak show at GW's Lisner auditorium. Which in my opinion was fantastic, despite the fact of a few jokes with no punchline by BJ (ie. shy puppet), over all the set was short but sweet and incredibly hilarious and ingeniously elaborate as this:


His opening act, Dan Mintz, was also pretty ridiculous and although offensively funny at times, his whole routine can best be depicted in these following 4 minutes of video. "Are you going to rape me?" rofl.


Shortly thereafter, drinks ensued at the Black Cat preceded by drinks at some swanky joint about 3 doors down where I felt severely under-dressed in my gym gear. Drinks went down smoothly. So smooth, in fact, that we ended up at the Red Derby (not before stopping for some slices at the pizza [1] joint next to the Cat, where apparently speaking Spanish to Spanish speakers is looked down upon by certain people) for some more $2 beers and an iPod battle which I won, despite the fact that the drunk bartender (not Patrick, GUE <3's Patrick) insisted on playing some chick's emo ass, depressing shit in hopes of, well in hopes of whatever. Time to go home.

Wait! But we're hungry!! Jumbo Slice time! [2]

Eventually I made my way home to catch some Z's in hopes that I would wake up in time to make my 9am art class. Not only did I show up, but I was the star of the class with a sweet portrait I did of Beethoven. (The following was taken with my phone, but I will try and get a better shot of it on here tonight).


[Charcoal on Watercolor with Eraser]
I had to head home to bathe out of the caked on charcoal and grab my photo taking equipment for a fun-filled afternoon at the Kennedy Center for the Japan! Culture + Hyperculture event. Which was an interactive display of Japan's most exciting and attention grabbing (at least if you have the attention span of a flea like myself) technologies and culture phenomenons, such as manga and gundam model toy collections.


[More pictures here]
To be seen and played with were also really sick art installations and live robots, including Honda's ASIMO, which is apparently the most advanced humanoid robot to date. Although ASIMO's functions are pretty basic, and his highlights were things such as kicking a soccer ball and climbing some stairs, it is incredibly exciting to think that at some point in the near future, maybe even in my lifetime, people will own robots like they own dogs and cats. The fact that the Ghost in this Shell sounded like Akira's voice made me want to kidnap him and take him home with me.


After discovering what the future looks like, we headed for some grub to Axis Bar & Grill on the U street corridor. I wish I would have gotten pictures of the food and the place. The locale was very nice, it reminded me of an old house, with a second floor, and hollow wood steps leading to the loft-like upstairs section. It had a mod bar with a lot of steel cable railings and exposed brick.

The place had a cozy feeling. It would have probably also had a great atmosphere had it not been for the diva queen of a waiter we had, who seemed displeased at our presence. Not to mention he had no idea what went on in our table, he seriously stopped by to ask how are drinks were, a second after they had been dropped off. Who asks that? "Um, hi. How are your drinks?" Whatever.

Then the food comes out. Our motley choices due to the nature of the menu arrived. Veggie Kabob. Beef Kabob. Chicken and Penne Pasta. One second after the food is placed on our table by someone else, who I am told was the owner, he jumps back at us, "How's everything?" dude. Seriously. Go away. Let us try everything, THEN come back and ask. Somewhat reasonably priced. Taste: Mediocre at best. Nothing out of the ordinary. I mean with the the server's attitude you would have sworn we were eating at a fancy schmansy restaurant. which was clearly not the case. If anything gave that away was the way he would fly up and down the stairs like a little kid racing down for presents on Christmas morning. Needless to say I was displeased and will probably not be going back.

Moving on. After this we regrouped for a quick killing of a six pack in Petworth Columbia Heights before heading out to, yep, you guessed it. The Red Derby where we met some friends and an over abundance of brain cell killing.

Wait, but we're hungry. Jumbo Slice disco time! [3]

Sunday was spent picking up the scattered pieces of my brain and piecing together what little I remembered from what appeared to be a fun night on 14th Street. In a rage of starvation, and with every ounce of my strength trying to avoid eating left over Jumbo Slice pizza from the night before, I raided the bare desert of a pantry and cooked up some pseudo-Mexican fare reminiscent of the the younger years, I sometimes refer to as "the faded years". First, as an appetizer, Flour Quesadillas with Spinach and Turkey. Followed by a delicious entree dish of Chilaquiles composed of left over, old tortilla chips, a can of tomato sauce, dehydrated onion flakes, a pound of shredded cheese, and a few dollips of questionable sour cream to hide any flavors which we may not take a liking to. Surprisingly, I've had worst food at sit down restaurants and it was a hit.

Through all this I'm still a Virginia cut-out temporarily transplanted in DC. The winds outside and the nook I've molded into the couch severely deter me from any type of sudden movement. How to avoid life for just another hour or ten.

Step 1: Die Hard 2 - fuck yes. Riding snowmobiles through Dulles, Virginia, because it just snows THAT much here, and avoiding solving a very easily fixed security threat by NOT going to the Wal-Mart that is ten minutes away from the airport to purchase some lanterns to light the runways and prevent a million deaths. So good.

Step 2: Firefly - As much as possible. I'd heard SO much of this series, yet didn't pay much attention to it for whatever reason. Now I'm addicted. It's like watching a live action Cowboy Bebop.

With Heroes being off the air (for now at least), I have nothing to fill my little brain with the impossible. Can't wait to complete this series, short-lived as it may have been, and hoping to follow suit with the feature film, Serenity.

Eventually, I made my trek home where I was greeted with pizza [4] for dinner and a warm bed to forget all my troubles away in, but not before packing all the left over pizza [5] to take to work with me for lunch on Monday.

That's a hell of a lot of pizza.

Carnivorous Blogging

Red Meat on keeping journals...