Saturday, December 26, 2009

Home for the holidays...

I was scared too. Kidding. No, I was rather relieved. After a couple of rough weeks working on my thesis day-and-night, I needed badly to take a trip to my hometown to visit family and friends. To sleep in my old bed and cozy up with my old mutt seemed like the definition of comfort.

Comfort is also the many memories packed between the walls of the house I had lived at since I was twelve. Homes for some of us are our sanctuaries, shielding us from the rest of the world, so naturally we want to return to these places and feel the comfort whenever possible. When something goes awry, it's so crucial to have a reliable place to go.

Now when I go home, I start to feel a new urge. Is it a female thing to have domestic fantasies of how her own kitchen will look like one day? Basking in sunlight from vast windows and hovering over a stove on an immaculate clean counter? Did I just scare off any potential suitors? Sorry, guys.

I'm going to keep going with it though. Why? Well, because I'm at the age where these things fuel my dreams. Everyone wants a sense of comfort and style that is only their own and it's natural. I envision my home to be in a big city-the space is small but cozy and comfortable.

Stumbling around this weird thing called life, on my way to a white picket fence and eternal happiness (what else?), the notion of having my own home has settled right in. Something to lavish adoration upon that would be a loyal place to go when I'm cold/sad/stressed/tired or happy, something that couldn't exist without me. You know how that feels, right?

This is what I've been thinking about while I'm enjoying my time home.

My home won't be a place I need to travel to, but will be where I am (where ever that may be) and my family and friends will come to visit. Home seems like a dream for now, but is a reality I'm working on.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Love and Butter

It's time to talk to you about Love and Butter. One, maybe the only, underground restaurant in Boston.

Underground meaning:
1. You can only attend if invited by someone who has been to a past event.
2. The servers are local chefs who like to keep their identity secret.
3. The location changes.

The whole underground phenomenon has flourished in New York, London, and San Francisco for decades now. These underground restaurants are in a similar vein to a speakeasy during the prohibition days, but the difference is there is no illegal activity going on and you don't have to drink cognac out of a teacup. Although, if caught the Board of Health would and have shut them down due to unregulated food practices.

Enticed by its mystery, food lovers dine at these events with the promise of a unique experience. This is not a money making business either, an individual's cost is a donation of $50.

I have finally found my in. I'm waiting to get my official invite (which may take months), but will be well worth the wait to walk through a bookcase or whisper a secret password through a peephole.

When writing about this I must be discrete, for this kind of experience only comes once in a lifetime. After the Globe ran this article about Love and Butter their website disappeared. Some secrets are begged to be revealed while others are best kept secret.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

A wonderful resource for understanding the healthcare reform is through the writing of an expert in the medical field. Atul Gwandi, is an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and contributing writer to The New Yorker since 1998.

His most recent article from the New Yorker can be found here.

My personal favorite by Gwandi is "The Cost Conundrum, how a town in Texas taught us about health care."

To read more.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The 25 Best Albums of 2009 according to Paste Magazine. Click here. These are some bold choices that I don't agree with. I'll try to get my top picks up by the new year.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Albert Square

One of my great friends, Sim Castro along with his band mates, Byron and Spencer are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Check out their My Space page.



Click here to read article from The San Jose Metro.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Thesis is Due

in 13 days. Crunch time.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Weird

...but it's my favorite Christmas song and apparently David Bowie's son's favorite too.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Renegade Lunch Lady, Berkeley, California

I would love to interview her for my thesis.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Stuck in DC airport (Monday)

As a last attempt to keep my sanity intact when told that the next flight out is at ten pm and it's noon, I considered it but then decided not to do my Christmas shopping at the souvenir stores here at the airport. No packing my suitcases with unnecessary memorabilia. Here's the reason why.

At Dulles there is no exception to junkety trinkets, thus the slew of awful stores including the Fox news store and fuzzy yippy toy store. As for the higher end stuff, be it liquor and higher ticket items, you'll likely be paying more here than at shopping malls.

Even without considering my depressingly boring wait, it seems that you can find ways to entertain yourself and eat for cheap. During my time here, I did find out the trick to getting good deals at an airport. You have to know what to buy and where.


Here's a list of the things I did purchase:

Giant Pickle
$.99 each



Presidential Bloopers DVD (I needed a white elephant gift)$17.99


Bowl of Broccoli soup: $3.50


Pint ol' New Castle (750ml)
Cheap wherever the hell you buy it.


I worked myself into a tizzy in my attempts to find a new scent at the duty-free store. But, unfortunately, you have to be a foreigner or traveling outside the country to shop here. After a bit of a chat about my preferences with the manager, she produced the perfect scent (that she told me I could buy at sephora) and even kicked in a sample bottle.

My advice- beware of the little tchotchkes; they're overpriced and add up quickly and STAY AWAY from the little plastic China made trinkets they are often astronomical expensive especially at the airports.