Movie Monday - Biutiful

I didn't really 'get' the trailer for this (although I loved the Alexandre Desplat music that it stole from 'Lust Caution' - but it was Iñárritu, and Bardem, so I was very glad to hear that it was finally playing at Laemmle's in Santa Monica.

What a dark, quiet, devastating film it is. Bardem plays a father, in contemporary Barcelona, who is down on his luck and working multiple schemes to support his children and the various underdogs and victims he cares for in the shady side of city life. Oh, and he can also speak to the dead. To say any more might give things away, but suffice to say it is a must-see. Bardem is among the most interesting actors we have today - and how great that he continues to stretch himself and take on challenging, difficult roles.

Sunday Spices - Basil

Every time I watch a show on Food Network, I seem to see someone preparing a 'chiffonade' of (ie poshly-chopped) basil. It's the 2011 must-have, or must-do in the kitchen.

Basil is a great herb, though, and good and strong - really makes its presence felt! I like that - so often you include something and it doesn't quite have an impact. Take parsley, for instance. Can you actually tell what parsley tastes like? Or am I just doing it wrong?

Thanks to the lovely new blender/chopper thing my aunt and uncle got me for Christmas, I've been making all kinds of sauces and soups in recent months. The most recent success was a really delicious pesto, which came out extremely beautifully. (Pesto = basil, pine-nuts, a bit of cheese and some olive oil. Easy!) I made a variety of little treats with it, but my favourite was the roasted chicken breast, stuffed with pesto and cream-cheese and wrapped in bacon. Sound too good to be true?! Actually, if you cook it right, all the fat drains out and it is a rather guilt-free but flavour-filled triumph. Have a go!

Basil is also making its way into cocktails and mix-drinks at the moment. More to follow ;)

Seasonal Saturdays - The Met Opera

So actually I managed to see my first ever broadcast from the Met only this month. Disgraceful, I know, but I'm more than making up for it, since I'll actually get through at least three before the end of this quarter. (Or at least before the end of Spring Break.)

And what a three to get through - Peter Sellars' NIXON IN CHINA, Gluck's IPHIGENIE EN TAURIDE (with lighting by our dear UCLA professor and resident genius, Neil Jampolis) and then Mary Zimmerman's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, with everyone's famous pint-size French megastar, Natalie Dessay.

Funniest part of the Iphigenie broadcast - the moment when, just as the maestro was getting into position, the live feed from Dessay - as MC - was not switched off, and people all across the world, happily congregated to hear and see Gluck's incredibly beautiful opera, heard the soprano mutter "I fucked that up!". She really didn't. For someone whose English is apparently not great, she did a terrific job.

The opera itself is such a beautiful piece - quite, quite devastating. And Stephen Wadsworth's production has some really splendid moments. You'll be wanting this when it comes out on DVD...!

Foodie Fridays - Shamrock Shakes

Well, to be sure, tis the season for everything Oirish again. Begorrah.

(The US seems to relish Paddywhackery far more than was ever evident in Dublin, be Jaysus...)

However, nothing at all says St. Patrick's Day to me like the reappearance of commercials and posters for Shamrock Shakes at McDonalds. Can there be anything better than a mint-flavoured sugary milkshake to wash down your burger and fries?

What I didn't know - and I must thank the ever-brilliant Michael K of dListed for this - is that the Shamrock Shake actually has a MASCOT. His name is Uncle O'Grimacey. Apparently he even had his own commercials, in the dim-and-distant past. Thanks to the glorious interweb, I can share this with you...

March 17th is actually my father's birthday. So it tends to be more about him than about greenery, snake-banishing and hardcore drinking at my house!

30 Mad Thursdays - Modern Noh Plays

So, I did a manic bunch of work this week and finally got through my translation of 'A Requiem for Genji', the one outstanding Modern Noh Play by Yukio Mishima that hasn't been translated into English. Major coup, I'm very proud of it. (Most fun 'independent study' ever!!!)

I have been working on translating ALL of the MNP for several years now - about five, I think? - and it's definitely been one of my 30before30 to get them done, at last. I think I'll try to publish them, too!

Wild Card Wednesdays - Aphrodite

I just remembered that I'm going to the curiously double-named Aphrodite/Les Folies Kylie Minogue tour at the O₂ in Dublin next month! CANNOT WAIT.

I have never been entirely enamoured of the stuff that Kylie does live. I really enjoyed the tour that was filmed 'Live in Sydney', but everything since then has been very over-done (William Baker, I'm talking to you - and if you're reading this, hire me and I'll make you better). BUT this newest show seems to be inspired by showgirls and follies and Esther Williams, and will be a return to happy shiny sparkly Kylie, as opposed to wannabe-relevant-dark-deep-Damien-Hirst-crystal-skull Kylie.

Also, I was very burned out by the Hollywood Bowl concert - venue too big, show to small - so I'm happy to see her perform on a bigger scale. MUCH bigger. And Perez Hilton won't be in the audience.

UPDATE (post show, I didn't cheat and check before!!)

LOOK AT THE MODEL FOR THE SHOW!

Tuesday Tunes - Mary Black

Mary Black is an Irish singer. if you haven't heard of her, go and hunt down her work through which ever online challenge you prefer. She's marvellous! She's been pumping out the tunes for well over two decades, and comes from a great family of Irish musicians and songsters.

Whenever I feel a little homesick for Ireland, Dublin, my friends or my past, she'll get some airplay in iTunes. I think my favourite of her albums is the compilation "The Collection". Lovely, clear phrasing, and great heart.

Stop reading now and go see what I mean!

Movie Monday - The Illusionist

This movie has much to recommend it - beautiful animation, oodles of French wit, clever and surprising imagery, and perhaps the loveliest cinematic representation of Edinburgh ever. But it's so depressing. SO depressing. Gorgeous, but devastating. It probably didn't help that the night we saw it was horrendously rainy - but by god, it was miserable!!!

Sunday Spices - Tarragon

OK I have to admit I would have NO idea what to use this spice for. None. But then I found out its most important and delicious application - it's the key herb at work in Sauce Bearnaise!

So that alone makes it a very appropriate presence in any well-stocked kitchen. It's also one of the collection of 'herbes fines' central to French cooking. And my favourite thing about it - its alternative name is Dragon's Wort (Artemisia Dracunculus - which would be a terrific name for a drag queen, no?)

According to Wikipedia, there's a carbonated soft drink made from Tarragon that is extremely popular in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It's called Tarhun and it's bright green. Clearly this sounds like a brilliant idea.

(The question remains, however - would even a delicious sauce bearnaise make Brussels sprouts palatable?!)

Seasonal Saturdays - Awards Season & Banksy

LA always starts to flutter in January and February with the wide range of awards ceremonies happening in town - SAG, Emmys, Oscars, Grammys and god knows what all else all demand a very high celebrity-in-town quotient, so sightings increase, and every weekend will doubtless have traffic jams caused by red carpets and limousines. Woop de doo.

This year, thanks - I'm assuming - to the Oscar nomination for "Exit Through The Gift Shop", a different kind of pre-award buzz has been going on, since a number of Banksy works have blossomed on the walls of buildings in and around LA.

I was walking around the corner from Profeta one afternoon and saw a crowd in an alley looking at a wall, and then saw a pretty funky image of a child soldier with a gun, but the magazine held crayola crayons instead of bullets - and the wall around him was covered in cute flowers. And this on the wall of an Urban Outfitters, no less! I didn't give it much thought, thinking it was a Banksy rip off or something. It even crossed my mind that it might be a hyper-cool tie-in to UCLA's production of 'Forgotten World'. Of course it wasn't - it is an actual Banksy!

Next thing to cross my mind was that maybe it was actually evidence that Jamie Oliver IS Banksy - since he too has set up shop in Westwood for some kinda healthy-eating project called 'Jamie's Kitchen'.

Turns out that several Banksy creations have sprung up around LA, and many have already been defaced, and even worse REMOVED INTACT so that they can be sold! See, that's what is wrong with this town. They put a price on everything and know the value of nothing. (Thank you Ambrose Bierce.) Before the Westwood one was defaced, a substantial number of stickers had been put up around it - tacky opportunists trying to capitalise on the attention of passersby. But then, isn't Banksy one too?

Foodie Friday - Novel Cafe

Lots of fun meals this week - two of them took place at Novel Cafe in Westwood. This has been something of a home-away-from-home for me throughout my time in UCLA. It's never particularly noisy (mainly because there isn't enough room in there for it to get too bad) - and they have good, hearty food and a really friendly staff. To cap it off, however - their main wall is covered in bookshelves full of totally random books FOR SALE!

So of course I love it.

Today's meal was a pretty great carbonara with Daniel Mahler (yes, he's related to the composer) in advance of Carmelites opening night. I think I'm going to have to try to cook a carbonara at home one of these days. Maybe with capers.

While Novel's coffees aren't exactly inspiring, their food is often just right. Particularly, their pastas, sandwiches and burgers! But in 30 months or so I've seen or tried just about everything on the menu, and really you can't go wrong.

30 Before 30 Thursdays - Palm Reading

Ever since a Greek woman called Poppy recoiled in fright and told me, several years ago, that my palm was so complicated that she couldn't possibly read it, I've been curious to get it done. Alas, the White Witch of Cobh doesn't live in Santa Monica, so she wasn't an option, but instead this week - on Valentine's Day, indeed - I splurged and got a reading from Anna, on Santa Monica Pier.

Straight out of the gate she told me I was a writer. And that I'm reaching a time in my life that things are starting to make more sense - everything from hard work to criticism to life's general purpose. (Pretty vague.) She also told me that she sees Massachusetts in my future. Go figure!!

She was right about a bunch of other stuff (that clearly I'm not going to write here) - if nothing else it was a fun few minutes on a Monday evening! Definitely worth the few dollars she charges - she's great company!

Wild Card Wednesday - Aftab

I was really moved this morning watching the Theatre du Soleil documentary "Un Soleil a Kaboul- Ou Plutot Deux". Ariane Mnouchkine's troupe, fifty of them, decamped to Afghanistan against all odds for the summer of 2005 to lead a sequence of workshops with local theatre artists, in the hope of fostering - or renewing - a sense of artistry and cultural identity. Her braveness, sensitivity and good humour are pretty amazing to watch. But then, I am a big fan, and have drunk the Kool Aid (or perhaps the Sunny D?!).

What's impressive, too, is that Soleil have maintained links with their sister (daughter) company, and indeed several members of Theatre Aftab (Soleil in Dari!) were featured in the most recent Cartoucherie creation, Les Naufrages du Fol Espoir. Nice to see that the commitment and connection has lasted longer than just a summer abroad.

Check out the movie - it's superb.

Tuesday Tunes - Reynaldo Hahn

Last Friday I had the great pleasure of attending a recital by Joyce DiDonato (who is a much, much bigger deal than I realised before the performance). She sang at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, and did a lovely programme of songs. She opened with Haydn's Scena di Berenice - and anyone who does anything about that woman will likely win my heart immediately. This was followed by a varied and lovely programme of songs and arias, with two fantastic encores - Somewhere Over the Rainbow for her dad, and Pace Non Trovo - for peace and for Egypt - from La Donna del Lago.

For me the most beautiful piece of the evening was her rendition of five of the songs from Reynaldo Hahn's 'Venezia' suite. He wrote them for a wealthy patroness from that great city, and in particular her work on 'La Barcheta' was just ravishingly beautiful.

I hadn't ever looked Hahn up before Friday night, which is a pity, because he's really fascinating. He was a Venezuelan who lived in Paris, a child prodigy, beautiful setter of songs, and onetime lover of Marcel Proust, of all people. He's also responsible for 'L'Heure Exquise', one of my very favourite chansons. Here's a video of Philippe Jaroussky having a go at it. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Movie Monday - Valentine's Day

I didn't get a chance to see any movies today. I'm busy. But I saw this at a thoroughly inappropriate time last year and really should have seen it today.

Have you seen it? It's not bad. And has far more surprises than would have imagined it would. The Julia Roberts storyline is absolutely my favourite.

Sunday Spices - Cinnamon

Anyone who lives or has lived in the United States probably associates the smell of cinnamon almost exclusively with that time in mid-November when it starts pumping madly out of every imaginable place as the non-descript, agnostic time called 'The Holidays' approaches. It's syrupy, gloopy, warm, comforting, and ruins millions of cappuccinos year-round. But I find that it's really a brilliant spice for flavouring meat. So I did so for some comfort-food on Sunday I made youvetsi, which is a beef stew with cinnamon and tomatoes and orzo pasta. Delicious!!!

Recipe on request.

Seasonal Saturdays - Valentine's Day

It's always interesting to me how people react to Valentine's Day. Some people are virulently opposed to this Hallmark-supported, cruel, chocolate-fuelled excuse to make single people feel inadequate. Others relish the opportunity to celebrate romantic love with hearts and cherubs, regardless of their own relationship or marital status. I vascillate between the two. Sometimes I hate it, and hate the enormous amount of money and pressure associated with a cold morning in February. Other times I remember that St. Valentine's heart (and, I'm reliably informed, other bits) is enshrined in a Carmelite church in Dublin close to where my mother grew up, and that the original impulse of celebrating love in the world surely can't be a bad thing.

And who doesn't love an excuse to give and/or get chocolate?!

Foodie Friday - La Provence, Brentwood

After rehearsal earlier this week PK and I had dinner at La Provence in Brentwood, which was about the only choice available to us since we had the great and powerful poodle in tow. I got a really delicious Boeuf Bourgignon which was precisely what I needed after a long evening of killing nuns (in opera) and then treated myself and my flatmates to some of the patisserie's staggering array of jewel-coloured Macarons for dessert.

The salt-caramel offering was the most intriguing, and delicious, although there was rather too much salt and rather too much caramel. I suppose this just means that the whole thing was too intense?! Regardless, the rose, lavender, lemon and hazelnut ones were delicious also. So was the mini-baby-raspberry-custard-tart that was my actual dessert.

Try them out! La Provence is at Brentwood Gardens on San Vicente.

30 Before 30 #8 - BOSE!

I'm not really sure at what point I fixed on the idea of getting a pair of Bose Noise-Cancelling headphones. I think it was probably sometime during 2007 or 2008, aka the Airmiles Years, in which I was back and forth - lucky me - to London, Budapest, Athens, Tokyo and LA with quite substantial frequency, and seemed to see people everywhere with these wonderful headsets. And for Christmas last year I got a pair, at last! They are everything one might dream of, and more.

I think they make a rather strange status-symbol, though. Wearing them on a plane really is tantamount to being able to switch off completely, and ignore safety announcements, flight attendants, children, drunks etc. Admittedly the technology is such that the headphones are not in a position to block fully the sound of someone talking to you - probably just as well - but the reduction in low-level hum is little short of miraculous.

As for the sound quality - the first thing I played through them was Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto, and it was quite an experience. This is a piece I know pretty well, but it was like listening to it entirely anew. The colours that these babies bring to your ears are astonishing!

Wild Card Wednesday - The Beatitudes

Yesterday in rehearsal we had a quiet moment during a particularly emotional scene, and for some reason I was moved to read The Beatitudes to our assembled company. Regardless of one's faith or denomination, they are very beautiful blessings, and certainly words that anyone could take comfort from and live by.

There's a really beautiful setting of the text by Arvo Part from 1990 - video below :)

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.