8tracks Mix: Adjusting

Top 60 Favorite Tracks of 2011

These top 60 played songs of the year were blasted many a time on my 6:30am drives to school (in the pitch black) before clinic, on my way home from clinic after a exhausting stressful day gazing at the sunset, long drives in the rain, short drives in the sun with the windows rolled down, Portland road trips (x2),  runs in the forest, runs on the pavement, runs on the beach, runs on the treadmill, and every other time in between imaginable. I tried to limit myself to 50, but it got a bit out of control. I couldn’t help myself. This was a great year for new music, if I do say so myself. 
Enjoy.Track list:

1. The Decemberists – Don’t Carry It All
2. The Parson Red Heads – Burning Up The Sky
3. The Dead Trees – Slow Faze Fast
4. Vetiver – Wonder Why
5. Nomadic Firs – Vines
6. Radiation City – The Color of Industry
7. The Cave Singers – All Land Crabs and Divinity Ghosts
8. Tennis – Deep In The Woods
9. Fruit Bats – Dolly
10. Incan Abraham – Wailing Wall
11. Youth Lagoon – 17
12. The Generationals – Ten-Twenty-Ten
13. Bon Iver – Michicant
14. Nurses – You Lookin’ Twice
15. Little Dragon – Twice
16. NewVillager – Lighthouse
17. My Morning Jacket – Outta My System
18. Caveman – My Time
19. Bachelorette – Blanket
20. The Caretaker – Camaraderie At Arms Length
21. Siskiyou – Twigs And Stones
22. Cotton Jones – Down Beside ‘Em
23. Lord Huron – The Stranger
24. We Are Trees – Colorado
25. Secret Cities – Portland
26. The Babies – Meet Me In The City
27. Givers – Saw You First
28. Grouplove – Tongue Tied
29. Oregon Bike Trails – A Summer Thing
30. Beirut – Santa Fe
31. Death Cab For Cutie – Monday Morning
32. Gardens & Villa – Black Hills
33. James Blake – Lindisfarne II
34. Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know
35. U.S. Royalty – Equestrian
36. Feist – How Come You Never Go There (Clock Opera Remix)
37. Mind Spiders – Don’t Let Her Go
38. The Beets – Friends Of Friends
39. AgesandAges – Souvenir
40. The Red River – St Bernard’s Lily
41. Fort Lean – Dreams (Never Come True)
42. Cults – Oh My God
43. William Fitzsimmons – The Winter from Her Leaving
44. Bear Hands – Crime Pays
45. My Pet Dragon – Moonshine
46. Cotton Jones – Egg On Sea
47. Pokey LaFarge – Mississippi Girl
48. Matt The Electrician – Osaka In The Rain
49. San Cisco – John’s Song
50. Jared Mees and the Grown Children – Shake
51. Rubik – Laws Of Gravity
52. Computer Magic – Electronic Fences
53. Dignan Porch – Like it Was Again
54. Therapies Son – Touching Down
55. Of Monsters and Men – Lakehouse
56. Blind Pilot – We Are The Tide
57. Iron & Wine – Tree By The River
58. Woods – To Have In The Home
59. Solander – Flod
60. Fleet Foxes – Grown Ocean

Take a Long Drive With Me

When there isn’t much else to say, at least there’s music.

Beet Cake, Mixes, & Clever Cards

Lately I’ve been addicted to making 8 track mixes on this website 8tracks.com.

Have any of you heard of this/been listening/created mixes?

Let me know… I’d love to hear some new stuff!

Here are all of mine so far…

Second of all, I was browsing the local bookshop today looking for a birthday card for my friend and came across this awesome one and couldn’t resist… I wish I would have bought the entire stack to give out to hygiene friends/teachers/cohorts!

Too awesome.

And here are some more great ones… I love this company!

I can’t remember the last time a greeting card actually made me laugh!

So clever.

The most beautiful cooking/baking video documentation I have ever seen.

How to make a beet cake.

I’m gonna do it.

Oh yeah and to keep up with this ice cream trend I seem to have been going on (on average, about every other day this past month? NEWS FLASH: ice cream is a health food!), here is something you need to be aware of (if you are not already):

Ben & Jerry’s “Late Night Snack“.

More like “Late Night Crack“.

CHOCOLATE COVERED POTATO CHIPS.

Enough said.

It’s okay.

You’re totally allowed to make a mid-night trip to Safeway in your PJ’s and slippers just to acquire a pint of this. I won’t tell anyone… the secret’s safe with me.

You probably wear cute PJ’s too, so that’s totally allowed.

Just don’t run over your neighbors cat as you frantically pull out of the driveway…

I know you’re on a mission now.

Between homemade ice cream sandwiches, late night post-bar nothing-is-open-“I reluctantly have to resort to Cold Stone” runs, Humphry Slocombe in the city pre-Iron & Wine show going (peanut butter curry and cinnamon brittle, anyone?), and the new local Penny Ice Creamery (pistachio cardamom chocolate chip, balsamic cherry), I have been on the longest ice cream kick of MY LIFE! No joke, folks. I swear I’m not pregnant. But my hormones have been pretty whacko lately and all I have been wanting is cold creamy goodness. A little salt and sugar mixed in don’t hurt either. Oh lovely hormones… you make the world go ’round.

Oh yeah, and because ice cream and beer go so well together and one without the other on a warm summer evening would just be a sin, here is a new seasonal one out by New Belgium: Somersault ale. Being a fan of all things limited edition and seasonal, I bought a 6-pack today and must say it’s quite delicious. Looks like it is temporarily replacing the past summers of Skinny Dip. As it’s described on the label:

“Somersault Ale is a fun roll around on the tongue and a perfect, summer lounge-around beer that is easy to drink. Color is blonde with a suggestion of amber. Somersault tumbles out with citrus aroma from Centennial hops, a tuck of soft apricot fruitiness, completed by a smooth, upright finish with oats that were fermented in a long, slow mash. Somersaults all around!”

Yum! At least some beer descriptors don’t sound as pretentious and ludicrous as most wine labels… I can handle talkers like this. I’m glad I just now discovered their website! I’m diggin’ the food pairings and un-recipe “recipes”. The peach goat cheese arugula candied walnut salad may be the next to-do on the list…

And a lovely new Vetiver song (that I just can’t get enough of) to leave you with for now…

Cake Inspiration, New Music, & Lovely Things

After taking a cake decorating class last Spring, I can appreciate the hard work that goes into something like this even more…

The Royal Wedding Cake

Crazy, eh?

And even more gorgeous cakes…

These inspire me to further my cake decorating education/skill.

This lovely-sounding Elderflower Lemon Cake, spotted on the Kitchn. I’m in love with elderflower anything and this seems fitting with a hot cup of tea on a Spring afternoon. Here’s also a recipe for Elderflower Jam Tassies (meaning “small cup” in Scottish). Looks like I need to purchase some of this sometime soon…

YUM!

The Great Food Series.

“Throughout the history of civilization, food has been more than simple necessity. In countless cultures, it has been livelihood, status symbol, entertainment – and passion. In the GREAT FOOD series, Penguin brings you the finest food writing from the last 400 years, and opens the door to the wonders of every kitchen.”

I would like to collect and read all of these, please. Thanks.

The cover artist is a genius. So in love with her reinvention of covers for classics. Gorgeous!

(She’s the woman that’s been making these also, if they look familiar to you…)

A few are already available on Amazon but some will take awhile to be printed here as they are from the UK.

A few I’m particularly excited for:

Buffalo Cake & Indian Pudding

The Well-Kept Kitchen

Everlasting Syllabub and the Art of Carving

Love in a Dish and Other Pieces

The Campaign for Domestic Happiness

Ahh I’m dying to read them all!

Also now lusting after this F. Scott Fitzgerald collection:

Music I’m really enjoying lately…

Ok, back to studying for midterms.

More Portland food porn soon.

My Roots Have Grown But I Don’t Know Where They Are

Music.

To make up for the lack of recipes lately.

You can blame it on this:

Pretty much all that’s been on the brain.

My latest favorite. Can’t get enough.

And of course, this is always great on a cold, rainy day, drinking a cup of tea and doing some studious reading.

And I’m looking forward of seeing these following 2 bands play together in a few months.

I’m IN LOVE with this new band.

And last but not least…

Helpless Blues

FINALLY.

May 3.

I was raised up believing

I was somehow unique

Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes

Unique in each way you can see

And now after some thinking

I’d say I’d rather be

A functioning cog in some great machinery

Serving something beyond me

But I don’t, I don’t know what that will be

I’ll get back to you someday soon you will see

What’s my name, what’s my station

Oh just tell me what I should do

I don’t need to be kind to the armies of night

That would do such injustice to you

Or bow down and be grateful

And say “Sure take all that you see”

To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls

And determine my future for me

And I don’t, I don’t know who to believe

I’ll get back to you someday soon you will see

If I know only one thing

It’s that every thing that I see

Of the world outside is so inconceivable

Often I barely can speak

Yeah I’m tongue tied and dizzy

And I can’t keep it to myself

What good is it to sing helplessness blues?

Why should I wait for anyone else?

And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf

I’ll come back to you someday soon myself

If I had an orchard

I’d work till I’m raw

If i had an orchard

I’d work till I’m sore

And you would wait tables

And soon run the store

Gold hair in the sunlight

My light in the dawn

If I had an orchard

I’d work till I’m sore

If I had an orchard

I’d work till I’m sore

Someday I’ll be

Like the man on the screen

Fennel & Mustard Frittata Gratin, plus other nice things

Hi, my name is Kylie and I am addicted to cookbooks.

Scored all of these for $35 today.

Thank you, Logo’s, for your “5 dollar & under cookbook sale” that never ends.

(Yes, I am addicted. Amazon cookbook wish list is also grossly growing by the minute…)

Today was pretty rad. One of those rad days where the sun is shining, it’s not too hot and not too cold, and you roll the window down and hang your left arm out the window as you’re driving to feel the air run between your fingers. And you feel pretty badass blasting some new awesome music (ahem, Decemberists). It was so blissfully pleasant out that standing in the express line at Trader Joe’s for 20 minutes just to buy a box of Yogi ginger tea didn’t bother me at all.

So yeah, purchased the new Decemberist’s album that came out today, The King Is Dead. It’s pretty frickin’ rad. In addition to The Head and the Heart, Yeasayer live at Ancienne Belgigue.

Currently streaming Broken Social Scene live playing on YouTube from NY. I wouldn’t mind streaming live shows from my bedroom more often. This is quite nice and convenient, actually. Not to mention free.

Umm, yeah. Lots of good stuff.

Ate some pretty awesome food, too.

So awesome that I wanna tell you about all of it:

Invented a new smoothie creation consisting of…

-1 cup almond milk

-1/2 avocado

-1 frozen banana

-handful frozen blackberries

-1/2 cup carob powder

-1 chopped date

Blend that shit up and savor the goodness.

Also made some vegan gluten free waffles. Savory butternut squash gluten free waffles. Last night I premade the savory squash part (includes onions, curry powder, chutney), and incorporated it into the batter with rice flour, spelt flour, garam masala, and cayenne. Served it as a late brunch/lunch, topped with a few scoops of cottage cheese, and some left over tempeh bell pepper, sweet potato and onion stir-fry fajita mix. Topped it all off with some homemade jamaican banana jam and a bit of maple syrup. Heck yes.

Dinner? Roasted a spaghetti squash (never doing the hot water bath steam EVER again… roasting is the answer to EVERYTHING), sauteed some crimini mushrooms in a bit of ghee and dry white wine (one of the most divine smells ever created), added in some red curly kale, and cooked that for a few minutes. Then, I had a few bulbs of fennel that needed to be used so I referred to my handy-dandy collection of vegetable garden cookbooks, and made a fennel and mustard frittata/gratin. The recipe called for puff pastry, but alas, none was on hand, so I made it my own by omitting it and it was frickin’ delicious regardless. For the mustard, I used a bit of my homemade apricot bourbon mustard that I made for the holidays. And I topped it all off with a bit of lemon salt, a squeeze of a lemon, and a few sprinkles of bread crumbs. See recipe toward the end.

So I ate all of that together with some leftover savory mashed butternut squash. Then I topped the spaghetti squash with the kale and mushrooms, a few shavings of grana padano and a bit of goat cheese, and had a bit of this fennel gratin on the side. Everything was very complimentary and went perfectly together. Not to mention frickin’ delicious. And vegetarian. Perfect winter dinner if I do say so myself.

Fennel and Mustard Frittata/Gratin Bake

Serves 4

3 fennel bulbs

4 Tbsp ghee

5 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

3 Tbsp mild grain mustard

s&p

freshly ground nutmeg (optional)

bread crumbs, for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare an 8′ square pan or round baking dish of any sort you’d think would be pretty to bake it in.

Cut off the hard base of the fennel and remove any damaged parts. Cut the fennel into strips. Melt the ghee in a pan, add the fennel, cover with a lid, and cook for 12-15 minutes.

Break the eggs into a mixing bowl. Add the sour cream, and beat to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste, the curry powder and mustard, and mix well.

Arrange the fennel in the bottom of the tart, pour over the sauce, and place in the oven for 30-35 minutes.

I’ve also been enjoying this Weizen immensely with a nice slice of lemon.

Ok bye.

And Never Resign To a Typical Life

It’s a wonderful rainy Tuesday as I’m sitting here dreaming and wishing I were in Portland, listening to the wonderful jazz of Bill Evans and Duke Ellington and I finally feel as though I have a little luxury free time now that the school semester is one week away from being over! Thank goodness. I still have to draw up a design for my cake decorating final and I have no idea where to start but I’ll get to that eventually. I’m finding way too many great things all over the net that are getting me inspired, like some of this stuff, for example…

-These great prints by Eva Juliet (Art Culinaire & Parsley) and her amazing beet chip snack bag art that is absolutely genius

(Photo and recipe for Beet Chips from Sunday Suppers)

plus this is really cute

-These wonderful watercolors by unitedthread on Etsy

-This owl music mobile on Ferm Living

-DesignSponge’s Orlando, FL city guide is pretty comprehensive compiled list of great sounding boutiques and shops, restaurants, and places that make me want to book a ticket to go there right now! These places especially: Stardust, Blue Bird Bake Shop, Ethos Vegan Kitchen, Etoile Boutique, Pom Pom’s Tea House, Raphsodic Coop Company, etc, etc. WOW. I could go on and on! Who knew Orlando was such a hoppin’ place?

-All of these products from Fine Little Day have made me fall in love…

-This cast iron bathtub couch on Etsy is pretty genius

–Ferm Living pretty much has all of my dream home decor

–Indian “indie” music = my new favorite

-And I’ve also discovered some pretty great photographers lately that make me want to drop everything and enroll in the Brooks Institute ASAP. One of these days.

*Kristina Gill

*Carlie Statsky

*Karen Mordechai

*Margaret & Joy

*Marcus Nilsson

*Seth Smoot

*Mikkel Vang

*Janne Peters

*Jennie Love

*Line Klein

–THXTHXTHX, a genius blog that posts a ‘thank you’ note a day. A wonderful reminder to be grateful for the small and quirky things in life.

-This cupcake (and cookie) website with great cupcake recipes and photos… I love getting new ideas! Flourless Beet Chocolate Cupcakes, Sour Cream Fig Cupcakes, Parsnip Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting?!? I am in love.

-This great Australian mag, Frankie, has quite a lovely blog that I will now frequent very often

-Shutterbean’s Peanut Butter Bacon cookies! WHATT?! Yes. Oh yes. I do think I will have to make these soon.

-And I ordered used copies of each of these (both for under $20) although I rarely EVER buy movies on DVD after I see them but this is a special case because they are two of my favorite movies EVER and I will never get sick of their awe factor

-Oh yes, and I saw Broken Bells (and the Morning Benders) last Friday. Okay show–James wasn’t as cool as he used to be back in the day, 6 years ago, in The Shins age. He seemed a bit PO’ed but I would’ve been too if my microphone wasn’t working 10 seconds into the first song after a 45 MINUTE SOUND CHECK. Idiots. They sounded great though and Brian Burton’s fro was distractingly beautiful.

Check out this video by the Morning Benders. It’s my current favorite song and this version of it just gives me the chills and I love it a million times more. How I would give my left foot to have been in that orchestra. Holy moley.

-Aaaand I will also see She & Him this Friday! I’m way more excited for M. Ward than Zooey although it will definitely be a treat regardless. I’m glad I liked their 2nd volume better because the 1st didn’t do much for me. And the best part is that they will be playing at a venue less than 5 minutes away from my house. It’s a little mind blowing.

That’s all for now.

Migration to a Town Where Tree, Swallows, Houses

Golden delicious apples on California black bread,

crunchy almond butter, drizzled with avocado honey on top.

Saturday simplicity:

-waking up to rain

-yoga

-abhyanga self-massage

-meditation

-writing

-preparing the above with a cup of peppermint tea

-the forest and the outdoors

So easy to make and quite delicious. Putting it under the broiler for about 3 minutes partially cooks the apples so they’re all nice and soft and crisps up the bread a little. I found the avocado honey a few weeks ago at this great little fruit and vegetable stand on my way home from Ayurveda school one evening. The adorable pea green label caught my eye at first, and then I saw that it said avocado. AVOCADO HONEY?!? You’ve got to be kidding me. Genius. The avocado is very subtle but I’d like to say it rounds out the honey with a little more of a creaminess and nutty flavor. There are tons more of honey flavored infusions too, like orange blossom, or sage, for example. I can’t wait to sample some of the others once I finish this one.

Went for a trail run in the forest when the rain took a break and it was invigorating and delightful. It was almost like an obstacle course. Tree trunks to hop over and under, puddles to jump around. The ground was soft and moist and muddy and dirt was splattered all over the backs of my legs and the bottom tracks of my shoes are completely saturated but oh it was so much fun. Laughing at myself and smiling whenever I was close to slipping and falling on my ass and/or down the cliff. No one around. The crisp and dewy smell of fresh rain oxygenating my blood. Sixty minutes of solitude, sweat, and good music. And the icing on the cake was washing it all off in the new outdoor shower.

Today has felt like a DIY retreat. Putting health and well-being first I believe is crucial for everything else falling into place. It’s good to take care of yourself. Now off to the kitchen to do a spin off of a ReadyMade recipe to make some sweet potato and beet pancakes with a thyme and lemon zest sour cream sauce.

I’m loving life.

(And the fact that James Mercer is coming back to my music library with some awesome new tunes with Danger Mouse in about a week and a half. YES! Is it just me or is he looking more and more like Kevin Spacey these days?)

**EDIT: Full album now available for streaming here! Thank you NPR!**