Check out this website: http://www.ediblecommunities.com/upcountry/blog.htm and bask in the delicious sound of "the Seasonal Kitchen: Pumpkin Soup for the Winter Soul" as written by the talented Whitney "Mr. Magoo" Gerhard. I've yet to try it myself, but I expect a batch to be concocted when I visit! After all, it's dishes like these that made me begin my "adventurous eating phase" in the first place.
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It's my first New Year's with a blog and I feel as though I should write a 'year in review' themed entry; I feel compelled, really. It's no wonder, though, considering my beginning the year as a bookseller in Walnut Creek, going to Prague with intentions of living and rounding out the last third of the year in Taiwan. Let's retrace the journey together, in the form of a highlight reel of favorites:
- Purchase
- Plane ticket to Prague
- Honorable Mention: ticket to Coachella Music Festival. Nothing welcomes in the warm weather like a sweltering Jimmy Eat World dance party in the desert!
- City
- Boston: a trip during the springtime was planned with a friend, and it did not disappoint. I was immediately sucked into all things Boston, and I'm sorry to say that this included wearing a Red Sox hat (I plead peer pressure, and an insufficient will to win in Oakland). This New England city saw me eat lobster raviolis (when in Rome...er, kinda), wear a crab-shaped hat, and act like an seven-year-old on a sugar high--jumping around with all kinds of excitement while waiting in line at Fenway.
- Prague: obviously. This Czech city made passing the time simple and majestic; I never could spend the day inside...many explorations were had, and many discoveries were made. The Czechs satisfied my appetite (meat and potatoes...*gargle*), and my quest for adventure. Also (lest you forget), there was an entire church made of bones in the city's outskirts--I'm not really sure if anything can top that.
- Taipei: I've become strangely at home in Asia--despite my lack of language skills.
- Hostel (excluding the one I essentially lived in)
- Tiger Tim's (Budapest): first off, the name; secondly, the proximity to a delightful Indian food restaurant (where I dropped my wallet in curry...just one of the many chuckle-worthy events that took place there); third, the entire room of good-looking guys we awoke to on the last morning (ah, those mixed dorms).
- Job
- Teacher: though the employee discount at Barnes and Noble was enticing (perhaps a little too much so), I have become partial to the occupation of teacher, over bookseller. I find this reassuring given that I've been planning on teaching as a permanent occupation for quite sometime--oh, and because I moved to Taiwan to do it (good thing I enjoy it).
- Movie
- "Moneyball": Michael Lewis' book of baseball finances centered around the A's caused me a little worry when I heard the movie was in production. The book was brilliant but, as anyone feels when a movie is made about something close to their heart, I was concerned that it wouldn't capture the magic of "the Streak" or that it would just be terribly inaccurate. My mind was eased upon viewing the film in a Taipei theater (two months after it premiered in Oakland); I laughed, I cried (don't judge), and I fell in love with the A's all over again. And, fun fact, I was watching this movie at the exact moment my nephew (an A's fan by inheritance) was born!
- Honorable Mention: "Midnight in Paris"
- Book
- the Book Thief by Markus Zusak: a tough category, with a clear winner. I read this book during the first months of spring, and thus sat outside in the sun for most of it but still had chills. I had borrowed the book, but ended up buying my own copy about a quarter of the way through because there was so much I wanted to underline and mark. The year's obvious winner.
- Honorable Mentions: Life (Keith Richards), the Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett), Fever Pitch (Nick Hornby), Just Kids (Patti Smith), Bossypants (Tina Fey), Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)
- Album
- "Suck It and See" (Arctic Monkeys): ignore the crude title...this album was awesome, and I've had a hard time shutting it off since it came out. I love those Arctic Monkeys, but they don't feel mutually about me...if they did, they wouldn't have waited until after I left the country to tour with the Black Keys.
- Honorable Mentions: "Elsie" (the Horrible Crowes), "El Camino" (the Black Keys), "Pink Strat" (Bahamas), "21" (Adele)
- Favorite song to finish the year: "I Only Want to Be With You" (Amy Macdonald, covering Dusty Springfield)
- TV Show
- "30 Rock": still the easy winner with another successful season; Avery Jessup was a delightful new character.
- "Up All Night": Maya Rudolph + Will Arnett + Christina Applegate = my neighbors thinking I'm the strangest person in the world...not that I'd understand them if they made any remark about hearing my constant laughter through the walls.
- "Arrested Development": yes, I've hopped on the bandwagon; yes, I've giggled through my journey; yes, I've finished all the episodes; yes, I've done the chicken dance in front of not one, but two of my lower level classes.
- Food
- I regret to inform you that I am unable to pick a favorite from the entire year--also, at the risk of engaging in an "F.G.N.Y." I shan't devote any more space to food...at least for today.
- Biggest Disappointment
- Missing Jimmy Eat World's "Bleed American" tour: in order to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their album, the band went on tour to play "Bleed American" in its entirety. One show was slated to take place in San Francisco in September...when I wouldn't be there! That's ok, Jimmy--the album was only the soundtrack to my teenage years. And to add insult to injury the show took place at the Fillmore, which is only the coolest venue! No, no, it's cool...why don't you add a second show just in case I wasn't hurting enough. You did? Thanks.
- Honorable Mention: the Oakland Atheletics' 2011 season...no surprise there.
- Cutest Baby
- Isaac Elliott:
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So there it is; my year, my favorites. And I'll show you out with this little number:
Happy New Year's!!!
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