Two, I wonder if we focus too much on empowering women and teaching them how to be strong and smart in a modern way and not enough on helping men understand why a strong and smart woman is good for the world and for them (as men, as lovers, as fathers and as friends). I know this isn’t a new idea (pretty sure my gender studies textbook had a whole chapter on how feminism hurt the male concept of self/ego) but I’ve spent more time thinking about it (and feeling a bit bad for those misguided men). I could go on and on in either of these directions, but I’d really like to hear what others think about these ideas. That said, my encounters with men have been very positive lately, and I hope that continues. Let’s hear it for the very polite men who have boosted my ego with such passing compliments as “You look really nice!” and “I just had to tell you, your outfit really works!” and “Hello! Have a nice day!”

Because I am, all the time.

Slowly, slowly, I’m trying to actually break out some of the delicious recipes my favorite food bloggers suggest. And since my preferred activity in the kitchen is baking, realistically that probably means a lot of cookies, pies and cakes. Here are a few I’ve earmarked to make sometime this year (I give myself a broad deadline because… I don’t really handle deadlines).

Goal recipe number 1: Peanut Butter muffins. As seen in the chocolate peanut butter gallery.

That’s right. Muffins. Not cupcakes. Peanut butter muffins. Now, I know that cupcakes are trendy. And cute. But I’m not really a cupcake lover. They’re fine. If someone hands me a cupcake, I will thank them and enjoy it. But they don’t hold me in their spell. Muffins are another story. And peanut butter? Well, let’s just say that’s the main reason I love this blog.

While the muffins haven’t been sitting in my recipe folder for very long, this recipe for leek and potato soup from Clotilde Dusoulier’s Chocolate and Zucchini blog has been waiting a few YEARS for me to make it. Which is silly, because it’s one of the easier recipes I have bookmarked.

I have scads of Clotilde’s recipes in my recipe folder. Most of them intimidate me in some way, some of them are very simple. They all make me want to move to Paris and be her best friend. As if I needed another reason to move to Paris.

Here’s another one that’s been gathering dust. Pear pie with Gruyère crust from The Kitchn blog.

Pushing Daisies was one of my favorite shows, and pie is one of my favorite foods to make (and eat). Plus, pears in pie? I’ve never tried it and I’m so curious. Plus I’ve heard a lot about apple pies with cheddar crusts (and have several bookmarked to try) and I have a feeling once I try cheese in the crust I’ll never want to make a normal pie crust again.

This week I made a wonderful clafoutis with black plums as presented by Molly of Orangette. I cannot recommend it more. I’ve been gobbling down a slice and then going back for another sliver until my poor belly can’t possibly take any more.

Leading up to the airport part, I experienced a weird sort of montage of me trying to pack, mostly makeup and shoes (which must have been my own personality sneaking through – makeup and shoes are the items I find most difficult to decide upon when packing) and forgetting everything important, like my boarding pass, secret agent ID (the actual ID said something like “Secret Agent” – why would I want to bring that? Wouldn’t a fake ID be better? What secret agent carries a legit photo ID?) and the most important thing, the syringe I was to use (or to pass off to someone else to use) to assassinate someone. The syringe was packed in some stainless steel cylinder and I remember thinking, “yeah, like that’s not obvious.” The most exciting part of passing through airport security was not the part about having a syringe full of some dangerous substance that apparently was not available abroad (Why carry this with you if you could source it locally? Because it is special and only available HERE, not THERE! These are the puzzles my sleeping brain tries to solve on the fly.) but instead the fact that I had TWEEZERS and a POCKET KNIFE floating around in my carry on. I was seriously giddy about getting away with that.

Possible reasons for this dream:

• Watching parts of Casino Royale last night.
• All those trailers for that stupid new Piper Perabo spy show.
• Upcoming trip for a week with only a carry on is causing me some mental strain trying to figure out how I will be able to cram all my toiletries into a baggie, and how I will live without my tweezers, among other items.

Links:

Poster

Towel

Grill

Sunglasses

Dress

Swimsuit

Shoes

In slightly more geeky news, I’m already head-over-heels with the new Doctor Who. Matt Smith is a wonderful actor and I’m loving his portrayal even after three episodes. Karen Gillan as Amelia* “Amy” Pond has won me over as well. She’s by far the prettiest companion yet, but she’s already displayed some grit, spunk, imagination and is naturally quite intuitive. I’m a sucker for red hair*, and there’s something amazing about hearing the Doctor say my name, even if he’s not talking to me.

One of my top five favorite episodes is “Blink,” and the next episode (to air in the UK) features the same terrifying aliens. I’m interested to see how I like this episode, because the best part of “Blink” is inarguably Carey Mulligan.

*Amelia is one of my very favorite names. In fact, if it were possible to choose longer name for a nickname instead of simply shortening them, I’d probably adopt Amelia as mine. All of my “nicknames” end up as long or longer than my name anyway.
**Maybe the doctor is as well? He’s mentioned wishing that he would regenerate as “a ginger” several times, and Amy is following Donna as the second red haired companion in a row…

Just some songs for my mood lately…I’m moving, I started a second job, and relationships in my life are shuffling and shifting.

In other words, change is in the air, and these songs alternately make me nostalgic and hopeful.

1. The Sundays-My Finest Hour

Her voice takes me back to the early ’90s, and my English girlhood running along the North Sea. Oh, wait, that didn’t happen. But this song makes me forget that.

2. Andrew Bird- Masterswarm

He is such an amazing musician and his lyrics are bonkers, in a good way.

3. Couer de Pirate- Comme des Enfants

Everything sounds a little sweeter sung in French.

4. Belle & Sebastian- There’s Too Much Love

Probs my fave B & S song.

5. The Decemberists- On the Bus Mall

Gorgeous. I love the way they create an atmosphere you get to live in while you listen to their music. Yesterday my co-worker and I were wondering how many past lives- especially those on the battlefield- Colin Meloy must have lived.

6. Camera Obscura- Suspended From Class

7. Interpol- Specialist

Sort of creepy and sexy at the same time.

8. Flight of the Conchords- Carol Brown

FOTC takes me to my happy place.

9. Morrissey- Everyday is Like Sunday

Yeah, he can be a downer, but sometimes you just need some good sadboy or sadgirl music.

10. Nirvana- Dumb

11. The Morning Benders- When We’re Apart

12. The Magnetic Fields- Strange Powers

On a Ferris wheel, looking out on Coney Island, under more stars than there are prostitutes in Thailand/Our hair in the air, our lips blue from cotton candy/When we kiss it feels like a flying saucer landing/And I can’t sleep, cause you got strange powers.

Were lovelier lyrics ever written? Even with the bit about prostitutes?

Oh, and this isn’t a song, but let’s add it to the mixtape anyway. Listen to it at the same time as music, or just as background noise. I love the sound of spring rain.

(First photo is from a trip to Chicago last year. Today brings a little taste of beach weather. Second photo is from Eole’s photostream.)

Most of my life I have had terrible taste in music. From time to time I embrace something unusual and cool (my love of Jelly Roll Morton as a toddler, for instance) but more often than not I brush past musical milestones (the guys in 5th grade who tried to interest me in Green Day, an aunt who worked for an early alternative radio station who offered to lend me her CDs, an encounter with the Seattle music scene during a 2001 visit) without so much as a second glance. It wasn’t until I was in college (with access to peer-to-peer sites, a really amazing college radio station, a lot of art classes*, much more free time to spend listening to music, and boys with excellent musical taste who I desperately wanted to impress) that I started to really pay attention to my reactions to music. I began to slowly take in a song and pay attention to my responses to different sounds.

My final semester of college, a childhood friend took it upon himself to send me two CDs in the mail after a long AIM conversation about music and influences. One was a mix CD, the other was the soundtrack to Garden State. At the time I was dating a guy who imagined himself a charming, romantic, yet rakish figure. He would tell me, “this reminds me of that song by XX, you know, ZZZ,” and I would nod in agreement and make a mental note to look it up later. I had never heard of any of the songs he imagined we were living. About the time my Garden State CD arrived in the mail, he became obsessed with the movie, while I fell in love with the sound track. Several times he compared me to Sam, Natalie Portman’s character, and she always won in his eyes. I was struggling with the idea of leaving my small college town and all of my friends for an uncertain future, and took long walks listening to the soundtrack on repeat. One song would comfort me, and the next would throw me into doubt, back and forth, over and over. It became my own personal soundtrack, to the point that even when I wasn’t listening to the music, a certain mood would queue up the corresponding song in my imagination. Every time I hear any of the songs from this soundtrack I am instantly transported back in time. Today I heard The Shins song “Caring is Creepy” and in my head I was suddenly walking through a small midwestern town under a cold spring sun, pondering my future and feeling depressed yet hopeful. Listening to The Shins, Iron and Wine, and Simon and Garfunkle led me to other artists, re-introduced me to Elliot Smith and the Beatles, and helped me to pay attention to my own internal taste, away from the judgements and pressures of others.

Last year I was introduced to the concept of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl** by the author John Green in this excellent blog post. The very point of identifying the construct of a “manic pixie dream girl” with this phrase, as coined by Nathan Rabin and as explained by John Green, is that many men (and boys) believe in the existence of such a woman. A beautiful, flighty, fun, quirky woman who can bring a guy out of his shell, encourage him to live an exciting and surprising life full of unexpected adventures, and help him transcend his troubles through her presence and influence. She is, in some ways, the man’s answer to many women’s belief in a knight in shining armor. Natalie Portman’s character in Garden State is the typical manic pixie dream girl – and, I fear, has served as a measuring stick for many guys to evaluate their unfortunate girlfriends. Happily, while I enjoyed the movie for what it was, the soundtrack is what has stuck with me. When I hear those songs, I am reminded not of Sam and Andrew, but of my own life and my real struggles with identity and relationships. And, as Sam says, the Shins changed my life–at least as far as the music is concerned.

*I don’t know about all art classes, but there was a CD player playing constantly, and people would bring their own CDs to share.

**I recommend this list of movies featuring a manic pixie dream girl character.

Photo credit:

This photo reminds me of the following exchange: Tom: "Nobody loves Ringo Starr." Summer: "That's what I love about him." (500 Days of Summer, 2009)

Even though most people have heard their songs literally thousands of times, there is still something so fresh and timeless about this band. The union was serendipitous: the perfect mix of the right people at the right time. And I think most people would agree that some of the most successful and critically-acclaimed musicians of recent years (including many of my favorites: Wilco, Radiohead, The Shins, Elliott Smith, Fiona Apple) owe their careers to the musical revolution led by the Beatles. In fact, here’s a  list of many recent “Beatlesque” songs. The comments have excellent suggestions as well. Side note: just seeing Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger” takes me back to being 14 and listening to What’s the Story Morning Glory, oh, like every night during the summer between freshman and sophomore year of high school. CD on repeat, painting my fingernails blue, and writing angsty journal entries about the boyfriend I was settling for versus the Jordan Catalano-type I secretly pined after. Ugh. I just wanted to graduate and move to London already. (Which didn’t happen, but just going to college improved my state of mind immensely. That, or maybe it was  just not being a teenager anymore…)

List time. My top 20 favorite Beatles songs (always subject to change).

1. A Day In The Life
2. Side 2 of Abbey Road (I’ve always considered this to be one song. If you disagree, well, you’re wrong. I’m talking to you, Pandora radio. You can’t just cut off “Mean Mr. Mustard” like that. It doesn’t work.)
3. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
4. Something
5. Mother Nature’s Son
6. Dear Prudence
7. Norwegian Wood
8. In My Life
9. Here, There, and Everywhere
10. Lovely Rita
11. Penny Lane
12. Come Together
13. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
14. I’m Only Sleeping
15. For No One
16. Julia
17. Day Tripper
18. I’ve Got A Feeling
19. Two Of Us
20. Hey Jude

Yes, my last name might be über German, but I’m also as Irish as…Guinness? I’m actually only about 1/4 Irish, but it’s strange how it feels like so much more. This is probably because 1.) the Irish side of my family bursts with Irish pride (like most Irish families I know), and 2.) because I’m only a few generations removed: my great-grandparents were born, raised and married in Ireland. Since it’s the relatively recent past, the connection isn’t really as far flung as the term “ancestry” might suggest. It also helps that at least some of us look the part- I mean, once even John F. Kennedy commented on the redness of my mom’s hair.*

So, my parents, grandmother, aunts, and cousins used to take summer trips to Ireland before I was born, and apparently they had these magical life-changing experiences, ran along cliffs, met lifelong friends, played with bands in pubs, and hob-nobbed with our distant relatives. Even my dad, who is not Irish, said it was unlike any other place. It was mysterious and ancient and spiritual, somehow closer to to all things eternal and true. He just felt this connection, whatever it is, that makes Ireland so special.

I finally got to visit a few years ago, on a lovely but too-quick trip. In honor on St. Patrick’s Day, here’s a list of some essential Irish experiences.

Some of the best things I did in Ireland:

1. Drink  Guinness in a pub in Dublin. Oh, and  Irish whiskey in Galway. Not gonna lie…I’m not much of a Guinness drinker or a whiskey drinker. As far as Irish beer goes, I’ll take a Harp. But come on, in Ireland, do as the real Irish do.

2. Hear live music. It’s not hard to find. On the streets, in pubs, anywhere. Ireland is overflowing with talented musicians.

3. Get to know the locals. I’m kind of shy in foreign places, but the Irish will not stand for that. It’s true what they say- Irish people are friendly, funny, and they tell great stories.

Some things I need to do on a return trip:

4. Kiss the Blarney stone. (Speaking of talking a lot.)

5. Cross the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. I think this would be a great history lesson, and a chance to really see the gritty, non-tourist areas.

6. Last but not least, visit the town my family is from: Adrigole, County Cork. On my trip, we saw more of the larger cities. This photo I took is as close as I got, and shows the peninsula that the town is on. The rest of my family has been to the actual town, which is is in the southwest, in the more mountainous region of Ireland.

*True! This happened during his campaign stop to Wisconsin in 1960, when she was a young girl. But yeah, this is one of those stories that will probably get expanded to mythic proportions in the family, the way these things do. I know this happens, because at my  job, potential donors will call up and say they have, you know, the bed Abe Lincoln was born in. Because their great uncle Toby said so. Family legends are not good enough for museums, sorry. But that’s another story.

Photos from my flickr page.

The Magdalene Sisters is about what the Irish (well, the Church) used to do to unwed mothers and “fallen women”. It is a heartbreaking commentary on the practice of locking these women up in Magdalene Asylums, away from their families and children, to toil over vats of laundry and piles of ironing. Gosh that sounds depressing. I am terrible at writing compelling synopses. Fun fact: the last Magdalene Asylum in Ireland closed in 1996. Ninteen-ninety-six.

In America is about an Irish immigrant family living in a rundown apartment in Hells Kitchen surrounded by poverty, but here’s the twist – it takes place at the turn of THIS century and is a semi-autobiographical tale told through the eyes of the family’s oldest daughter.

The Quiet Man is full of stereotypes (about men, women, Irish, Americans, priests, drunks), but of all the films starring Maureen O’Hara and John Wayne, it is my favorite. And let’s face it, all the films starring O’Hara and Wayne are FULL of stereotypes, but you just have to make a mental note and get over it and allow yourself to enjoy the wonderful chemistry between them. It’s about an Irish American (Wayne) who returns to Ireland to work his ancestral farm and falls in love with a local spinster (O’Hara). Again, please trust me because I know I fail at writing compelling descriptions, it’s entertaining and sweet and beautiful and funny. I mean, look at this still:

The Secret of Roan Inish is by far my favorite Irish movie. It’s a story about a young girl who believes the story her grandfather tells that her baby brother was taken by the mythical selkies (creatures in the shape of seals who can shed their skins to take human form). The best thing about this film, besides the enchanting Fiona, is the beautiful, sweeping cinematography. If you watch this film and don’t want to move to Ireland to live in a stone cottage and search for selkies, then I don’t want to be your friend.

The Boondock Saints are twin brothers whose particular brand of vigilante justice is sanctioned by God. It is by turns funny, violent, intense, and amazing. Willem Dafoe is fantastic as the FBI agent in charge of finding the brothers. You notice there is an FBI agent in this movie – well, that’s because it takes place in Boston, and the twin vigilantes are Irish American. But this film is just too good not to include in my list.

*Boiled supper is the Irish culinary tradition of cooking meat and vegetables together in one pot. In the US, the meat is usually corned beef, and the veg are usually cabbage and potatoes. The reason Irish Americans usually eat corned beef is it was the cheapest cut of meat available to Irish immigrants, and somehow it became a tradition. Thank goodness the cheapest cut wasn’t something like tongue.

**Because, damn the stereotypes, potatoes are fantastic! And there are so many ways to cook them… the possibilities are endless.

First photo credit from flickr user seminarianvoitus