Gin and Zilbertronic

day trip to sérignan, a tiny town next to béziers to the southwest of montpellier.  came across, but not randomly, a seriously colorful museum with an interesting exposition.  this is what it looked like at the bus stop in the old center.

the museum itself was all natural lighting, and windows that looked like this.

it was the first expo of two artists who make paintings together, converging on the concepts of nudity and 3D glasses.

there was a wall in one room with several smaller framed pictures of spots and drips.  on the opposite walls were giant blown up paintings of the smaller ones, including the different kinds of tapes that were used to attach the smaller ones within their frames.

there may be more to come…

i think this is funnier the second time watching.

as my comeback to the blog, i thought i’d post some soul music.  i’ve been on the search for some unfamiliar stuff recently, as i have a date as a dj here in montpellier in about a month.  among many other fruits of my laborious searches, these are several of the most recent, and most excellent.

major lance – rhthym

the opals – you´re gonna be sorry

the markets

i’ve been cooking much more lately, and touring some of the super markets in houston, which offer a pretty stunning diversity of selections.

so far i haven’t found a good organic or local farmer’s market (the midtown market is very small and the emphasis is on prepared foods), but i have found

h-mart houston – (a giant wildly organized/extremely clean korean mega-grocery, where i was pretty overwhelmed, and which might take a few visits to completely comprehend.  the best items i got were: organic tofu, korean cold noodles)

fiesta – very inexpensive mexican-oriented grocery, where the produce seems suspicious to me (rots quickly and harshly) yet is a must-visit place for spices, grains, vitamin water.

kroger – is kroger.  cheap, dependable.  the montrose location is supposedly called disco kroger, and is probably the only place in houston where i’ve seen multiple men wearing cut-off jean shorts.

central market – a fancier h-e-b (which is like our acme), where the produce is solid if commercial, prepared foods and bulk foods are terrific, and the store is organized like a maze (in other words it was made for me)  right now i’m in love with the dollar bundle of fresh herbs.

on to the meals and what i’ve learned

i’m a peasant cook.  in other words, my food kind of looks like shit.  my presentation sucks, and part of the reason might be because my only pans are a giant saucepan, a wok, and a skillet.  still, the blame doesn’t rest just on the equipment, the thought of throwing random shit in a pot and letting it cook for a long time is just somehow enticing to me, moreso than the color or design afterwards.

check out my table!  it only took me a month and a half to acquire!

the “zilber in texas egg deluxx” – bacon, fried egg (in bacon fat), mexican hot sauce, habanero sauce, on enriched wheat bread, downed with lone star one weekday evening approximately 1 AM.  lone star is like the yuengling of texas.  well, maybe shiner is the yuengling of texas, but lonestar is cheaper, and once you get it cold enough works plenty good.  as you can see from the constant presence at dinner.

4-note pasta - a blend of ricotta, fresh basil, lemon juice, and olive oil are used to sauce this, and then you throw in some nicely seasoned raw tomatoes.  even better cold.

fried polenta and kale – polenta fried like an egg, kale boiled then sauteed like spinach, plus a few olives, garlic, and scallions.  mmmmm.  notice this is the one dish that might be considered presentable.  took some major planning, though.

gross lookin’ chix thing – god, even when i go to the fridge this shit grosses me out.  ok, it was meant to be brazilian chicken stew, but then my ginger and cilantro went bad, leaving me with coconut milk, tomatoes, jalapenos, lemon juice, chix stock, chicken, peanuts, coconut, and just for the hell of it, some asian chili-garlic sauce.  = delish

em catches another mention in the papers!

read it here

i know, the flyers have lost 2 and not looked up to snuff.  but the fact that we got to boo sarah palin on national television more than made up for a few losses.

the eagles convert a come-from-behind win, then awake to find their opponents all lose in spectacular fashion, the cowboys on a blocked punt in overtime and with romo injuring his picky, the redskins to st. louis????!!, and the giants to the lowly browns.  so suddenly the division is basically even.

then the phils give you just enough time to doubt, jamie moyer, the pitcher fans can’t help but love even when he screws up, lets one go, and you start to get that nagging feeling, trying to tell yourself not to worry, they’re not imploding.  but it still settles there, until out of nowhere matt stairs lifts you up to heaven and sets you down upon a cloud of supreme happiness and peace.

this is a mob, and john mccain looks increasingly out of it.

comments on the way….