Unknown Public UP05 – Voicebox

Published on by spoon99

From tape.


  1. Jocelyn Pook & Melanie Pappenheim – Blow the Wind
  2. Peter Blegvad – The Green Boy
  3. Sheila Chander – Speaking in Tongues IV
  4. Vivienne Boucherat – Communication
  5. Madame Octavia – Angel of Grace/The Song of Fading Beauty
  6. Billie Cowie & Daphne Scott – Sawyer Llorando
  7. Daryl Runswick & Electric Phoenix – Archyisms 35-46
  8. Various
  9. Carla Bley – Escalator Over the Hill


Enjoy!

-R

Wandering the Streets of Oaxaca

Published on by spoon99

(repost from February 2012)

Oaxaca, at least the part with the touristy bits, is fairly compact, so B & I walked everywhere, and got to see a lot of the center city.  Most of Oaxaca is dominated by a fairly standard Colonial architecture, which could have gotten boring, but didn’t….for the most part, you couldn’t go for more than a few yards without noticing something eye-catching or quirky.  And although he didn’t mention it, I think B may have occasionally got a bit pissed off at me for randomly running across the street or lagging behind to take pictures  Sorry B 🙂

Typical street scenes, the first from the roof of our hotel:



And here are the quirks, some of them architectural, others just things that caught my eye.  The first two are actually from Mitla, a small town outside Oaxaca.

There were more of these weird little three-wheeled vehicles than cars in the center of Mitla:

If the chain link fence and barbed wire don’t keep you out, the cactus plants surely will!

On the way back to Oaxaca….beer and food trump death, at least when it comes to advertising:

There are no condom vending machines in the bathrooms of bars in Oaxaca. Instead, you have to buy protection in the street. There’s no more effective shame than public shame.

This is why tour guides always say “Keep to the right” on the steps:

Groovy transport!

Street sweepers were out early every morning, using brooms that look like they’re from a century or two ago:

Everyone should have a statue with titties staring out from their balcony:

A few last pics, of architectural details, from oldest (in terms of influence) to newest.  Some of these pics aren’t very good, because I had trouble getting my cam to focus in the dark.

Beautiful Art Nouveau door:


And a simple, but gorgeous Art Deco building — loved it!

Not sure where to place this, but very striking.

70’s influence. The pic of the door is unfortunately blurry:

I’d guess this has something to do with the 70’s, but who knows?

-R

In My Hood

Published on by spoon99

(repost from February 2012)

According to Wikipedia, I live in the county with the third-highest median income ($104,259) in the US, and immediately to the West and East are #2 and #1.  We don’t have the income highs and lows of other parts of the country, so there’s a certain boring homogeneity in the neighborhoods and buildings.  It’s almost all nicely-groomed houses and standard corporate architecture….as the Quay Brothers said when visiting a doll museum, “it lacks pathology.”

Luckily there’s a strip about two miles away from my house that’s downmarket, a bit quirky, and to me at least, much more interesting.  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure! 

Two interesting buildings:

. . . one showing a bit of Art Deco influence:

-R

Interesting Pub Names

Published on by spoon99

(repost from February 2012)

The Dorset Knob:

The Hero of Switzerland:

The Queen’s Legs. Supposedly the sign on the door says “Always Open:”

The Swan with Two Nicks:

Labour in Vain. Not, as one might suspect, Tory political commentary; rather, the original sign, since replaced, showed a white woman scrubbing a black child in a bathtub:

-R

Two Chinese Greens Recipes

Published on by spoon99

I love Chinese greens, and here are two recipes that don’t use many ingredients, are bullet-proof, and delicious.

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Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce

It’s my favorite Chinese green, the stems having a taste (to me) of broccoli with a bit of asparagus, and the leaves tasting like spinach. Usually I just stir-fry it with a bit of garlic and salt, but this recipe adds a very mild sauce that doesn’t covcer up the broccoli’s goodness.

I usually buy the “tips” because they don’t have the woody bits at the bottom, but they’re a bit pricey, $2.69/lb. the last time I went shopping:

Sometimes they are in flower, which is fine, as the flowers are edible too.


Ingredients:

  • 10 oz. Chinese broccoli (gai-lan)
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda (not needed for flavor, but it keeps the greens a nice bright color during blanching)
  • A 1/2″ slice of ginger, crushed (the original recipe calls for this, but I can’t imagine it actually has any effect on the flavor)
  • 3 Tbsp. chicken stock (substitute: water)
  • 2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. Xiaoshing or other Chinese rice wine (substitute: dry sherry)
  • 1/2 tsp. sugar


Method:

Add the salt, baking soda and ginger to a large pot of water, and start bringing it to the boil.

Chop the broccoli into roughly 2″ pieces:

When the water boils, add the greens and blanch for 3-4 minutes, or until desired doneness:

Meanwhile, make the sauce: combine the chicken broth, oyster sauce, rice wine, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat off:

Drain the greens and remove the ginger. Place into a bowl and add a bit of sauce (I added some grated ginger just for fun!)

Yum!

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This is another simple but delicious recipe. The recipe calls for 1-1/4 lb. Napa aka Chinese cabbage (suey choy), but my local market only sells the Big Boys:

Not a problem, since it keeps well in the fridge for at least a month.


Ingredients:

  • 1-1/4 lbs. Napa cabbage
  • 2 Chinese pork sausages, sliced. These come in variety of flavors, from mild and sweet to strong and hot, and there’s no way of know ahead of time. I bought these, which were on the mild/sweet side:
  • 2-3 scallions, sliced crosswise into 1″ pieces
  • 1/4 C. chicken stock
  • 1 tsp. (or to taste) chili bean sauce (doubanjiang/to ban jiang). I used my homemade, which is quite mild, so I used 2 Tbsp.:
  • 1/2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 tsp. cornstarch
  • 4 tsp. water
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • (optional) 1 Tbsp. Xiaoshing or other rice wine (substitute: dry sherry)


Method:

Remove enough leaves from the cabbage to make up 1-1/4 lbs. (you may have to chop a bit crosswise through the bottom.) Stack up three or four leaves, cut down the middle lengthwise, then crosswise in 1-1/2″ pieces:

Make the sauce: mix the chicken broth, chili bean sauce and sugar in a small bowl:

Stir together the cornstarch and water in another small bowl:

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok. When it’s hot, add the garlic, the white part of the scallions, and the sliced sausage, and stir-fry for two minutes:

Now add the cabbage. Sprinkle over the rice wine. If there’s too much to fit in the pan, just stir it a bit, and as the cabbage shrinks, add the rest of it. Stir-fry until the leaves start to turn dark green, or until of desired doneness:

Stir the bowl of sauce, add, turn the heat to low, and continue to cook for another 1-1/2 minutes.

Stir the bowl of cornstarch. Add about 1/2, then stir for 30 seconds. If you want the sauce thicker, keep adding a bit more of the cornstarch mixture and stirring for 30 seconds until you like it:

Enjoy!

-R