Girl, I'll Sparklehouse You!

Todd and I have been into making and enjoying music since forever. As posted earlier, I just came across Soundcloud as an amazing social media site for sharing and discovering music. (WARNING: geeky technical vernacular ahead. Please jump straight to the link if you just want to hear the music.)

Traditionally, T and I have used Serato to DJ, which involves using control records so you can DJ your MP3s with the look and feel of vinyl. It's been fantastic in that you don't have to haul crates of records around if you are playing out.

This year at Burning Man, the DJs at our camp decided to go all digital so no one had to risk their turntables in the dust. This was the first time that Todd or I had DJed exclusively digitally and I loved it! There was no worrying about peeps bumping into the tables and making your records skip and no worries about vinyl drift. When we got home, we decided to buy a MIDI controller and Traktor software. It has been a dream! It is so much easier to focus on the art of selection and blending without the worries of vinyl. I just love it.

I've been going crazy mixing and recording. I can't stop. Here is my latest house mix, titled "Girl, I'll Sparklehouse You!" There are a couple other mixes on my Soundcloud page. Download and enjoy!

http://soundcloud.com/sparkletrot/girl-ill-sparklehouse-you

Halloween Chili

Halloween Chili

by Suzie

The masses have been calling for my recipe for hearty vegetarian Halloween chili! In the spirit of The Great Pumpkin, I'll share my secrets with you, my special friends. This recipe has a bit of Mexico in it with the addition of cinnamon and a dark chocolate bar! It'll warm up your little (and big) ghouls and ghosts before a long candy hunt through the 'hood!

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, diced

1 (or 2) red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 small can of green chilies (opt)

*1 diced jalapeno, seeded and diced (* see below!)

1- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

6-8 cups of cubed fresh butternut squash (2 - 8oz bags of pre-cut fresh squash)

1 quart veggie broth

2 - 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 - 15 oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 8 oz can tomato paste

3/4 cup dried bulgur (omit for gluten-free recipe)

2 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (omit for a vegetarian recipe)

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3-5 garlic cloves, minced

4 Tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin (or more to taste)

2 teaspoons cinnamon (or more to taste)

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 10 oz dark chocolate bar (64% or more)

1 can of corn or 1-2 cups frozen corn (thawed)

salt and pepper to taste

*I don't use jalapenos, because it can make it too spicy for the kids. Add if you want more kick to your chili

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos (if using) and sauté until onions and carrots are almost tender, about 5 minutes.


2. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, beans, green chilies, squash, honey, maple syrup, Worcestershire (if using), bulgur or hominy, vinegar, garlic and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer, uncovered until bulgur is tender and mixture thickens, or for about 20 minutes. Stir often.


3. Add corn and chocolate bar and stir until chocolate is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste

Serve over brown rice with corn chips (like Frito's) and accoutrements such as cilantro, green onions, sour cream, and corn bread.

Rain Makes Soup

Fall has fer shure arrived here in Seattle. Brisk, sunny days are followed by buckets of rain.

We visited with some friends who were in town from LA this weekend. They flew in on Friday, which was gorgeous up here. They were greeted with blue skies peppered with white fluffy clouds, temperatures in the high 60's, & a few dots of reds and oranges in the maple trees. We met up with them that evening in a pirate (yes, pirate!) bar. She and I discussed the reality of the rain here in Seattle.

her: I wasn't sure what to bring as far as clothing: rain boots? rain jacket? Gortex?
she glanced down at my grey high heeled Miss Mooz boots.

her: ok, so those are super cute . . . I didn't think something like that would work here in the rain. I've only been here in the summer, when it's gorgeous.

me: well, when it rains here, it mostly drizzles. Sometimes it will downpour or shower for a minute, but it's mostly just drizzle.

flash forward to Saturday.
early morning: drizzle
mid to early morning: showers
11:00am: commence downpour
downpour continues & continues & continues, until . . .
. . . Sunday, around 4:00 pm: downpour tapers off to a light drizzle and a quick sunbreak from 5:00pm to 6:00pm

Sorry, friend. I misled you.
It's really hard to say how the weather is going to go here. It's unpredictable in the fall (ok, and also in the winter, spring and summer for that matter).

The good news is that the rain and drizzle and occasional downpours that keep us stuck inside can really get Seattle-ites to innovate.

It makes me want soup.

Sunday evening, I trolled through the pantry and refrigerator for random ingredients to make a healthy and cozy soup. Our bones need defrosting after 2 days of soccer games in said downpour.

Here's what I found. The soup turned out super yummy and hearty. I even got requests to make it again from all members of the family.

Red Lentil Vegetable Soup

By Suzie

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups chopped carrots

4 medium zucchinis, sliced and then halved

3 cups broccoli

1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 8 oz can tomato paste

2-3 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons “21 season salute” (from Trader Joe’s, or sub no-salt spice mix)

1 t turmeric

1 t oregano

dash red pepper

2 cups dried red lentils

7 cups total liquid (I mixed 3 cups vegetable broth with 4 cups water); *more if needed (see instructions

salt & pepper to taste.

Serve over wild rice

Directions:

1. Heat oil up in large stock pot over med-low heat. Add onions and carrots and sauté until just beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and sauté another 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes, broccoli and all seasonings including garlic (salt and pepper can be added now or at the end of cooking) and stir to coat vegetable mixture with seasonings. Cook together about 1 minute.
2. Add the red lentils, tomato paste and liquids and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft. *Add more water while cooking, ½ cup at a time, if soup looks like it needs more water.
3. add salt & pepper to taste

This is really great served over Lundberg brand wild rice blend. I make the wild rice with a low sodium vegetable broth. Lundberg makes a few types of rice blends that are all fabulous.

I just threw in vegetables that we had sitting around in the fridge. You could try this with different seasonal vegetables. I would definitely suggest that you keep the onion and carrots as your base veggies however.

Black Bean & Pumpkin Dahl

With the start of fall, all my food ideas are leaning toward soups and stews and how I can add pumpkin to them! I adapted a recipe for yellow spilt pea dahl to make it much more fall-ish and pumpkin-ful.

This recipe is vegan and gluten-free. It's also super easy, hearty and super yummy!

Sorry, I didn't take a photo of it.

Tell me if you try it and what you think!

Black Bean & Pumpkin Dahl

by me

Ingredients:

2 cups dried yellow split peas, rinsed and sorted

1- 15 oz can of light coconut milk (about 2 cups)

4 cups water

1 large onion, diced

1-15 oz can of pureed pumpkin

1-15oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 Tablespoons of Garam Masala

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Salt & pepper to taste

Cilantro (optional)

Fresh spinach (opt)

Serve with basmati rice

Directions:

1. Rinse and sort the yellow peas. Cover them with water and soak for 10 minutes
2. While the split peas are soaking, sauté the onions for about 10 minutes or until just starting to become translucent and soft.
3. Add garlic and spices to onions and sauté about 1 minute more, or until the spices become fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Bring water and coconut milk to boil. Add the peas and the pumpkin stir and turn down the heat to low.
5. Stir in the onion & spice mix and cover. Continue cooking on low heat for approximately 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. While the peas are cooking, cook the basmati rice
7. Stir in the black beans and continue cooking for about 5 – 10 minutes, or until the peas are soft.

Serve over rice and add cilantro on top.

Another serving option is to put the rice in the bowl, add fresh spinach, and then top with the dahl. The heat from the dahl will cause the spinach to wilt perfectly.

Serve with basmati rice

Ok, Fall.

All right, Fall. Looks like you're beelining your way into my future whether or not I'm ready for you.

Today was the first bone-chilling soccer game we've had all season. It took me 2 hours and about a gazillion layers after we got home to shake the cold inside.

I'm starting to see the leaves change into the glorious reds, yellows and golds.

We are beginning to plan out costumes for a Halloween-themed wedding.

I'm seeing the hiatus quickly approaching of my early morning dog walks as our mornings get darker and darker.

Fall is actually my second favorite season. Sometimes I just have a hard time adjusting to the change when my first favorite season, summer, abruptly gets up and walks out of the room without a good bye of any sort. how rude.

But Fall, I think I am ready for you. Cozy coats and blankets and books and hot tea when it's windy and crisp outside. Belly-filling stews and soups and red wine. Golden and rouge leaves and clear bright blue skies.

Ok Fall. You can come. But only if you bring your hot friend, Brussels Sprouts.

http://honestfare.com/maple-glazed-brussels-sprouts-hazelnuts/

found: lovely poem by P

I could build a house with all the paperwork that comes home from my kids' school. A couple months ago, we were clearing out some paperwork and ran across this beautiful poem by my daughter. She is a very talented poetress and writer. This gem on nature was written in October 2009, at age 10.

A Nature Poem, by Paloma

escape.

to a scenic place.
escape.
follow.
fascinating lily pads to a willow tree.
follow.
create.
a sculpture of the scenery.
create.
scattered.
across the ground with leafs.
scattered.
climb.
to the top of the tree.
climb.
descending.
down the tree from the crescent moon.
descending.
conscience.
Ignore it.
nature will sweep you away sometimes, but it is okay.
conscience.
escape.

new track

As a not-your-average-suzie, I wear many hats, some average and some not so average: wife, mother, home chef, photographer, and DJ.

Late to the party, I just discovered SoundCloud. Oh, joy! The site is full of wonderful songs to listen to and download. I even joined and can add up to 2 hours of music for free.

Please enjoy my live mash of two of Claude Von Stroke's songs that I am currently obsessed with: "California" and "Beat that Bird."

Check back for more uploads!

Beat that CA Bird, a mash up by Sparkletrot (me!)

http://soundcloud.com/sparkletrot

First Published Story!

And because I have not posted in months, you are getting a magic THREE posts today!

I was approached by a friend who is a content manager for an MSN site, published worldwide. She asked me to write a fictional story based on a classic portrait of a woman. The guidelines were pretty loose: write a first person account of the woman in the portrait, but with a modern twist. There were some rules here, but mostly they felt loose and vague. Oh, and it must be MSN-friendly.

I was given three portraits to choose from. It was a no-brainer. This shot has always rocked my world and intrigued me since I was a little girl.

Woman with Ermine, Davinci

After a few rough drafts and a few back-and-forths between my friend, the editor and the client, my story was published.

I had forgotten how wonderful it is to write a creative piece. Music, photography and reading are my great escapes. I rediscovered that I also love to tap into the artistic flow for writing.

Falling and Floating, by me:

http://www.womanityglobal.us/?section=walldetails&mediaid=1211856&cpdocid=24462096

Baby Beet Risotto

This should also get you in the mood for fall!

Baby Beet Risotto

By Suz

1 ½ cups Arborio rice

1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil

1 quart veggie broth

1 cup red wine

2 bunches of baby beets, trimmed, peeled and quartered

1-2 T brown grainy mustard or country mustard

1 cup Sheep’s milk romano cheese, grated (very tasty addition, but can be left out for a vegan recipe)

Salt and pepper to taste

1. heat vegetable oil in medium sauce pan over med-high heat. Add rice to the oil, stirring until coated with oil.
2. meanwhile, bring the veggie broth to a boil, then turn heat to low and continue to simmer.
3. While soup is heating, put beets in boiling water. Boil until al dente, about 15-20 minutes. Remove beets from water, reserving the cooking water.
4. add the wine to the rice, stirring often, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add broth, one cup at a time, stirring often until most of the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding broth and stirring until the broth is gone. Should take about 20 minutes
5. take 1 cup (or more if needed) of the reserved beet water and add to the rice, stirring until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente. Add more water if needed.
6. remove rice from heat. Stir mustard into the rice. Add the cheese and stir until well- combined.
7. add the beets to the risotto and mix- in gently
8. salt and pepper to taste

prodigal post

oh hai, ye 2 faithful readers!

it's been a while.

I keep meaning to write, but life has been busy.

let's see. Summer happened since I saw you last.

Georgetown's Artopia with P (and a robot!)

a rare shot of my teen
and another

sunset at Gasworks park

fun on Camano Island

kiting to glorious colors

on a ferry with friends from LA

us, then & now, 14 years later

R's tag he created during grafitti class

atomic pink for my girl, a new 6th grader!

Ready for fall? I think I may be. Crisp mornings, changing leaves, soccer Saturdays, cozy stews and soups, windy evenings...yes. ready.

saucy recipes

There's a long story behind these recipes...in short, we recently found out through an Ayurvedic naturopath physician that my 13 year old son has pretty severe food allergies to lots of foods we eat. Luckily, his allergic reactions fall into the GI category therefore can be resolved by eating a modified diet.

Basically, he should not have gluten, soy, peanuts, dairy and chicken eggs. In solidarity with my son, I have decided to give up gluten, peanuts, and reduce my intake of processed soy products. As a pescatarian that doesn't eat a lot of fish, soy products have been my go-to protein. I am now trying to use healthy vegetarian protein choices, such as beans, lentils, and quinoa more often. Luckily, my son eats meat, which for a growing 13 year old is very beneficial to him getting enough protein. He is just happy that I can't tell him that he has to eat his tofu!

Over the last two weeks, I have been immersing myself in recipes that we CAN eat. We have re-started our CSA box after a spring hiatus as the doctor said we all should be eating more fruits and veggies. I thought we were doing pretty well, but apparently not quite enough.

One yummy meal we made the other night was based around Vietnamese rice paper wraps, which is perfect for a warm summer evening. We filled them with rice noodles, carrots, cabbage, spinach, basil, cilantro, protein (chicken for the kids and shrimp for the adults), and the following yummy sauces. We used to love Thai influenced peanut sauce, but given that we are not eating peanuts, I modified the sauce using roasted almond butter and it turned out amazing! I also created a delicious coconut ginger curry sauce to drizzle inside the wraps or as a dip.

We all loved this! It will definitely be repeated.

Thai Almond Sauce

(To be used in place of peanut sauce—no peanuts)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce (opt) or 1 teaspoon coconut amino (opt)

1 teaspoon ground coriander

2/3 cup roasted almond butter (no or low salt)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon cooking sherry

2 teaspoons Asian chile sauce (opt)

In a small saucepan, sauté the garlic and ginger in sesame oil over low-medium heat. Add the water, soy sauce or coconut amino (if using either), and coriander and bring to a boil. Add the almond butter and turn the heat to low. Whisk well until the ingredients are smooth and combined. Mix in the maple syrup, vinegar, sherry and chile sauce (if using). Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Makes about 2 cups

Coconut Curry Sauce

1 14 oz can light coconut milk

2 tablespoons red curry paste

1 tablespoon tamarind paste

1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger

In a medium saucepan over low heat, whisk coconut milk and red curry paste until well combined. Whisk in the tamarind paste until combined. Add the minced ginger. Stir occasionally and continue to cook over low heat until reduced by about 1/3. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes about 1 ½ cups

Wonderful over rice or rice noodles & veggies

Coachella 2010

Todd and I are getting ready for our annual pilgrimage to Indio, California to worship the sun, palm trees, amazing friends and music.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival started in 1999 and aside from a 'bye' in 2000, has been going strong ever since. Booking the most up-and-coming as well as established and respected musicians, the festival now draws around 70,000 die hard fans every year to the lovely Empire Polo Fields outside of Palm Springs in Indio, California.

Ear and eye candy abound at Coachella. Aside from incredible beats, the lush, green, grassy grounds at the festival are also replete with amazing large scale installations, many of which appear at Burning Man. Performance artists, The Do Lab out of Los Angeles, create a mini world that could be called a post-apocalyptic circus with dancers, performers, DJs and glowing plant pods. Cyclecide also makes an appearance at Coachella bringing their bicycle-powered rides to the masses. My favorite sculpture so far was Big-Rig-Jig, a wonder of physics and scale by artist Jeff Ross that appeared on the polo grounds in 2008:

People watching at Coachella is peerless. Southern California is not lacking in very attractive, fit, and stylish folk that all apparently attend the festival. Celebrity spotting is a sport here as well. In the VIP section, we've spotted Steven Tyler, The Hoff, Adrian Grenier, Dita von Tease, Perry Farrel, and Elijah Wood, among others. I even high-fived a sort of incognito Danny DeVito (that rhymes!) outfitted in maintenance overalls and walking with the janitorial crew. It is also fun to spot the musicians who also congregate in the VIP section before and after their sets.

The best part of the trip for us, however, is the crew we go with. Over the years, we have curated quite a posse of creative, intelligent, positive, loving friends that connect up from all over the country to share this experience. Every year, the weekend gets better and better even though we all wonder "how this year could possibly top last year" (and yes, those quotes are on purpose, because someone says it every single year). We have come to realize that each and every person contributes in a way that cannot be matched and for that, each person is in his or her own way, a Legend. 'Legend' has become the individuals in the posse's calling card.

Half of the fun of the festival is the part that we call "Nochella," which means the times were we are not at the festival. Instead, we are creating an amazing experience at the large house we rent for the week. About half the people are DJs, so we have constant incredible music. Two friends are setting up the tiki bar room to be a 24 hour karaoke club. I set up a photobooth in the garage for secret-yet-not-secret photos. We have also created a system of "poolside servers," in which everyone takes turns with a partner to work the pool for an hour at a time, preparing and delivering drinks, snacks and food. Everyone works a little and the rest of the time, one gets food and drink service while chilling by the water or taking a dip. It's a brilliant way to enjoy the pool with your friends!

Costumes and participation rule the school with a Thursday night theme party (last year was Wack Hats, this year it's Wack Face Paint). Vintage Palm Springs attire, such as caftans and tunics are encouraged during lounge time.

A full report will be expedited upon return, but in the meantime, a show of photos from previous years are presented below.

Photobooth & snuggies:

photobooth friends:

photobooth interspecies love:

photobooth cat baths:

costumes:

relaxing:

all day loungewear:

evening loungewear:

Imperial Stormtroopers: amazing outfits:

friends everywhere:

backstage with Adam Freeland:

chillin' at the pool:

VIP section and Tommy Lee:

That's how we roll. Legends: posse UP!

wtf

I am having a serious case of laughing out loud all by myself.

This is a highlarious experiment to find out what's on forefront of the collective conscious. Go to Google and start typing in various questions and see what pops up.

Here's what people are wondering about today:

Why can't I own a Canadian?! Seriously, people?!

Why does my belly button smell?! ok. that's just gross. But I think I can answer your question. Maybe you need to get off the computer and take a bath.

And finally:

Why don't girls like me? Because you ask dumb ass questions to Google like it's some Magic Eight Ball. Plus your belly button smells and you want to legalize slavery by acquiring a Canadian or two.

Seriously intriguing.

Seattle Hip-Hop Meets Watts Noir

Seattle's prodigal son, Ishmael Butler from Digable Planets, returns to the scene with Shabazz Palaces. The production and lyrics are super interesting and a nice detour from the ego-centric party sounds that are happening in hip-hop.

Check out this beautiful noir video set and filmed in Watts:

fashion inspiration: BIBA!

1964 mail order. art nouveau. big hair. little eyebrows. 17,000 gingham dresses.

BIBA!!!

BIBA, the iconic 1960's clothing line relaunched its brand with a young designer, a show in 2006 LDN fashion week and boutique with a hot London address. The new threads are beautiful, however I am much more inspired by the original designs created by Polish born designer Barbara Hulanicki.

Created as an antithet to the 1960's geometric and graphic mod fashions, Hulanicki brought dark, earthy and muted colors to the fashion scene, as inspired by her Auntie and by funerals: blackish mulberries, blueberries, rusts and plums.

Hulanicki described her customer base as 'postwar babies who had been deprived of nourishing protein in childhood and grew up into beautiful skinny people: a designer's dream. It didn’t take much for them to look outstanding.’ BIBA girls were ‘fresh little foals with long legs, bright faces and round dolly eyes.’

Genius marketing and branding by Hulanicki and her business partner and husband, Stephan Fitz-Simon, helped quickly create the BIBA phenomenon. Every single product carried the art deco black and gold logo, which was reconstructed according to the product carrying it. The look and feel of the brand carried over to everything from clothing to wallpaper.

BIBA's star crashed back to earth almost as quickly as it rose. Soon after opening the mega department store, Big BIBA in central London in 1974, the fiscal and organizational challenges proved too much for the young entrepreneurs to bear. Investors came in to buy 75% of the company, which led to loss of creative control by Hulanicki. The brand she and Fitz-Simon created fell under aesthetic tackiness as money took precedence over art. She left the company in 1975 and the store was almost immediately closed by the British Land Company.

The magic of BIBA carries on, as nostalgia to the 1960's generation and as inspiration for today's fashionistas.

And for faithful reader, B:

awful earworm

"I Can't Dance," by Phil Collins. you're welcome.

2009: a retrospective in photos

Happy 2010!