Marquez, Banerji, and Esquivel.

Books are the best. Over the last few weeks I've been sticking to reading a book a week and its taken me on quite the adventure.

For October I first read 100 Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I read the english translation, but the original (left) has such nice a cover. This book left me a little speechless. Marquez never lets up, describing each hair on the characters head in extreme detail and then taking his life in a sentence. He gets you attached and then leaves you offended. While it is the sad story of the Buendia family in the fictional town of Macondo, it is much more. You can feel the heavy messages intertwined and symbols implied by Marquez's own life and the world around him. READ IT!





To take a break from magical realism and put my feet back on the ground, I finally finished Eating India. I had been pecking away at this book for sometime and finally took the time to get myself educated in the ways of indian food. Non-fiction always takes a little more determination for me to get through and anything is hard to read after spending a week with Marquez, but in the end I learned so much and was moved to take a trip to Little India in Jackson Heights, Queens where I tried lots of sweets that Chitrita Banerji marveled over and explored the best Indian Grocery in all of New York, Batel Brothers. I now know that there is so much more to the cuisine than the popular tikka masala and will never be able to walk into an Indian restaurant and not wonder what region the food is coming from. Foodies will totally dig this book.



To finish off the month, I plowed through Like Water for Chocolate. I LOVED IT. Laura Esquivel is a total romantic and tells an epic lovestory in monthly installments filled with scenes from the kitchen and recipes that make you hungry. I finished this book in about a day and a half. I couldn't help myself. Women will love this book, as well as the few romantic men that love to cook that are left on the planet : )

you better sang!

Ahmad Jamal

For me, If there is one musician that doesn't speak a word but says a whole lot, its Ahmad Jamal. My little ears are pretty simple and to be spoken to so clearly by a piano puts him in the category of beautiful and open. I am constantly disheartened by the little cave that jazz musicians can crawl into once they begin to really learn their instrument. Since there are howevermany buttons/strings/frets/keys, it is tempting to count them and see how many one can play at how every fast a tempo, but to jump into the river of longing and to work toward expresssing it without words is something i instantly fall in love with.

genius.

This woman blows my mind. I so wish that i was as awesome as Sydney Albertini. Her quilting is ridiculous (along with her ceramics, fiber art, and paintings). She's a total savage (thats a good thing).

Put A Dress On Me!

So excited about this. My adorable band and I spent some time at Camp Street Studios and this is one of the tunes that we spent some time with. Enjoy!

Its been too long

these two women are a little too badass. rose polenzani and rose cousins covering the wonderful Feist song

thank you hustle.

what is it about life that throws my hands up in the air, turns my head towards the sky, and makes me ask, "What the #@$%!?" as the days go by, the curve balls keep coming and life only gets more interesting. while i feel fortunate to have had a smile on my face for about 90% of my lifetime, sometimes the shit hits the fan and i'm left feeling helpless. these are the moments that a girl's gotta hustle. nothing too shady, just make it work. i dedicate this to Karen. a woman thats keeps gettin up even after i've told her not to.