Happy Nevada Day! (Not what you were expecting?) Technically it was on October 27th, but I’m celebrating it a few days late this year since one of my best friends from Reno is in town. Tonight we’re showing our hometown pride by heading out as an Ichythasaur (Nevada’s state fossil, of course), an archaeologist, and silver (the state mineral!). What are your plans? Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Exactly a year ago, the folk duo Jim & Sam began an experiment: They decided to play a show “anywhere, everyday” for 365 days, with no days off. Over the course of their adventure, they played on a farm, followed a mailman on his route, and yes, played at some actual venues. On Thursday, they’re playing their final show of the tour at the Magicopolis in Santa Monica. Tickets are available here—see you there!
If you’re looking for last-minute Halloween plans, you can still purchase tickets to a screening of the 1925 Phantom of the Opera at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It’s the 1925 version, so you can expect less Emmy Rossum, more Lon Chaney.
Last night I had some friends over for dinner, the primary challenge being that I still can’t chew (though I’m getting close!). To compromise with the chew-ers in the room (a.k.a, everyone else), I made this North African Sun-Dried Tomato Soup a reader suggested from her blog, A Modest Feast, which is topped with a lemony cous cous and olive mixture. We doctored the soup slightly by cutting back on one of the onions, adding more sun-dried tomatoes, and serving it with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top. Served alongside a mezze platter with dolmas, hummus, eggplant dip, and grilled bell peppers that complemented the bell peppers in the soup, it was the perfect thing for one of the first chilly L.A. days we’ve had in a while!
The New York Times recently published a six-part ode to dinner parties, starting with a piece by Gabrielle Hamilton on what she calls “dinner-table detritus,” the wine stains, corks, dirty napkins, and general mess leftover from a successful dinner party. The entire series is worth reading, but I particularly love this passage, in which she recounts clearing her parents’ dining table the morning after a party, as a child:
Examining the remains, I imagined that the Champagne cages someone twisted into the shape of beautiful rudimentary butterflies were formed during a spontaneous recitation of a few lines of poetry. The torn, still-fragrant tangerine peels must have been stacked into neat piles when the conversation turned to the subject of parenting an ungovernable teenager; the cigarette butt crushed into in a walnut husk obviously, in my mind, stubbed out during the heated topic of money.
Read the entire thing here!
“As a young cook, I came up in an old school system: Use everything, waste nothing,” Anthony Bourdain begins in the trailer, which the movie then follows-up with, “So why do we waste so much?” Every year in the United States, 40% of the food we produce goes to waste (FORTY percent!), and we rarely take a “nose to tail” approach with vegetables (when’s the last time you sautéed your beet greens or ate Swiss chard stems?). This movie is depressing, but hopeful since it’s a true wake up call—it’s so easy to make a difference and waste less. Rent it here.
So many fantastic new releases this week! Julien Baker released a new album, there’s a new First Aid Kit single, a MØ EP, a Bahamas single, and a Foxtrax single. Happy listening!
