<p>McSweeney’s is a gourmet store, but just for books and vidoes!!</p>
<p>Google Translate say : gourmet mean fine food (美食).</p>
<p>love
don’t trust google, or in other word, made them translate something really stupid or naughty from english to Chinese or the other way around.
It is my kid’s fav pastime activity.
I’d be cooking or sewing minding my business and he’d go
" is this for real!? heh heh heh!!!"
he has bad/sex/bathroom words or sentences badly translated in Japanese with sound system on it.</p>
<p>I tried to use this to translate information for my daughter’s gluten free diet into chinese characters for our recent trip to China. I showed what I got to a Chinese colleague… and it didn’t do well at all. My colleague ended up taking the information home and translating it for me himself.</p>
<p>I have recently been making a lot of use of ‘Frau Google Translate’ and I am writing to my mother’s cousin about my upcoming trip to Germany. I want to visit my elderly aunt and I’m concerned about language issues. I had four years of German in high school, but that was a very very long time ago and I haven’t been to Germany in twenty years. My mother’s cousin has a little better grasp of English than I do of German, but she uses Google translate on my English and I use it on her German. We can sort of communicate this way.</p>
<p>Another translation site is Babelfish.yahoo.com
You may remember babelfish from ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’… I loved that book.</p>
<p>The Google banner is really cool today, in honor of Jules Verne. I love Jules Verne too!</p>
<p>want to share a interesting link:
[Piano</a> Prank Does Not Guarantee Cooper Union Acceptance - Gothamist](<a href=“http://gothamist.com/2011/01/29/piano_prank_does_not_guarantee_coop.php]Piano”>Piano Prank Does Not Guarantee Cooper Union Acceptance - Gothamist)</p>
<p>^^ I love the piano “prank”! Cooper sounds a bit jealous.</p>
<p>Bear, I have a friend who spends a lot of time in Japan and he posted a picture of himself with a really glorious wad of noodles. It turns out to have been from a restaurant south of Kagoshima, where each table has a circular tank in it’s center. Clear stream water flows through this and you set your noodles into the stream, fish them out, and then dip them in soy-ponzu sauce. It’s called “somen nagashi” (flowing noodles). </p>
<p>I’m not sure about the water temp or why you would want to float your noodles before eating them. If they’re cooked to perfection already, wouldn’t that make them mushy if you leave them in too long?</p>
<p>12,600 views!?
let’s talk about clothes.
there is this mansion on Park Ave across from CUNY Hunter College, called Queen Sophia Spanish Institute
I have never been there nor heard of. If it wasn’t a friend visiting from Spain suggested we should meet at the exhibition of Balenciaga, I would not ever knowing its existence.
loveblue, if you change your mind, there are tons of places you can go in NYC. never a bore, if you could afford such as,
15bucks admission was bit hefty side but hey, it’s special occasion. The institute even put down new rose pink carpet on the stairs for this show. so rose, so pink, so pretty against black granite floor and powder blue-gray wall with milky white moulding. banisters are deep gold, elegantly curved.
show runs till Feb 19th, extended hours by popular demand.
<a href=“http://www.queensofiaspanishinstitute.org/spanish_institute_calendar.php#balenciaga[/url]”>http://www.queensofiaspanishinstitute.org/spanish_institute_calendar.php#balenciaga</a>
now
Balenciaga, is the true couturier so CoCo Channel said, he did cut, sew, fit clothes with his very own hands.
he was born in Basque coastal town, his father was a fisherman, dies early. Mom was a seamstress, he learns skill and already apprenticing when thirteen.
imagine, thirteen year old boy wants to make dresses and really good at it.
My kid spent childhood years in my office after school chopping off heads and limbs of rejected samples, adding sharpie features ( fangs, tattoos, pimples, uni-brows) crudely pinned or taped mixed and matched body parts. He was everywhere and saw everything I did but never once shown any interest in “properly sewing” side of the things.
Precision
might be the word for Balenciaga’s clothes. so few seam, so carefully angled cut, natural curve along shoulders, waist, busts.
I work with this super duper pattern master of every living things (bears, horse, cow, yuk, frog and falcon). He famously said " animals have no seam"
I was taught at my college " anything 3D is made by 2Ds" it kind if contradicts but if you see Balenciaga’s cut, you might understand.</p>
<p>One of the friend had group pass to Whitney and there we continued.
I never heard of the name nor seen his works but Charles LeDray is a riot.
<a href=“http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/CharlesLeDray[/url]”>http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/CharlesLeDray</a>
<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_LeDray[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_LeDray</a>
nowhere does not say much about his psyche. I would love to know.
There are tiny clothes he made all by himself, plus all sort of things. He curves human bone to make cricket cage or comb. made 2000 tiny pottery pieces every single one is different. all white, all colored, all black.
OCD? recluse? pure genius?
there are few teddy bear pieces something like I meant and wanted to do but came out so wrong when I was young and restless. I did sell them anyway to some suckers in Tokyo. Now I feel humbled, sorry. stupid.
This is the last week of the show, ends Feb 13th.
If anyone in vicinity, please go see it.
conceptual contemporary art sometimes does not have to say anything.
so powerful, crazy, awe inspiring and at the same time make you feel uneasy, almost doomed, the last bit of the show, men’s clothing store miniature; the linoleum, the ceiling, dirt, the lights.
I know this. I have been there if not physically, then state of mind-ly. </p>
<p>Two very different shows of very different clothes. only short seven blocks apart.
took about half a day and you still got time to check on Hopper exhibition and browse bookstore at Whitney.
can’t beat doable free quick mobility of NYC, really…</p>
<p>you beat me ladies while I was spell checking galore
^Good one, loveblue!
your post is so much fun-ner, wanna take over this thread?
the place is near Miami? moneyed kid from NW or DASH eh? skipped grade or applying as junior 16 year old?
remember that Valter kid last year? what happened to him?
ohhh that’s good old Spruce’s post, I remember that one!!
where have all the children gone?</p>
<p>G
nagashi somen is this summer time staples, more for tourist trap nowadays for you really can’t do that in the kitchen.
somen is very thin dried wheat noodles that should be boiled in very hot water for moment then took in ice water to eh… I don’t know how to describe it, put straight jacket on, or corset, or miracle bra. What happens is, noodle get firm but nice texturally, great bite and throat rubbing swallowing motioning. water be colder the better, fresher the better.
home cooking, usually rinse noodles few times and sort of rub them together to get all starchy gunk out until water runs clear.
nagashi somen make sense in this way, because water is cold, fresh ones constantly circulating, noodles are in motion( washing off yet more starch)
It will eventually waterlogged and bloated but people fish them out so quick and slurp them without chewing, it goes quick.
Where we used to go near this “waterfall of longibility” in my home town, the somen nagashi lady would never able to catch up the way customers’ consumption.
usually all you can eat, but catch is that, you’d get only one or two serving of dip sauce.
if you don’t shake off excess water from noodles before dipping in, sauce would get watery and noodle won’t taste so good after awhile.
so you’d have to pay extra for fresh batch of dipping sauce.
somen itself is cheap, unless some brand name one made by the company with hundreds of years history or emperor’s favorite award winning or something.
dipping sauce is tricky, everyone has different take, either regional or sweet/savory thing.
all condiments might be costly, different kind of herbs and such, kind of tedious to prepare for yourself, when hot and don’t want to go near stove if one can help it.
this all contribute to popularity of somen nagashi, or nagashi somen.
I could go on forever about noodles. don’t start me on it!!</p>
<p>we should eat noodle this way:</p>
<p>[Gadget</a> watch: Noodle waterslide | Software, Interrupted - CNET News](<a href=“http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10222910-62.html]Gadget”>http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10222910-62.html)</p>
<p>you beat me again!
I was looking in you tube and gosh
all sort of nagashi somen, community party to machine done.(not cool as Bandai’s)
some hardcore somen nagashi-er would go into bamboo forest to cut bamboo stalk that going to be cored and made into somen slide! nuts!!!
[YouTube</a> - 080923???](<a href=“080923流しそうめん - YouTube”>080923流しそうめん - YouTube)</p>
<p>sorry, I just want to make some fun links, so we all can laugh for a while.
is it fun to put noodle on the water-slide toy, very creative.</p>
<p>turn to some fact: Chinese eat noodle like you guys also. in the summer after the noodle get done, put in ice water … when you eat it you didn’t have the sticky feeling anymore and also icy water make the doodle code and feel nice in the summer.</p>
<p>OK there is the Japanese press release attached in the^link dated Apr 9, 2009
Bandai is known plastic toy manufacture of all those super hero or kawaii things. They introduced line of toys called “cook joy series” ( not joy of cooking or cooking is joy, we Japanese don’t do grammar)
This somen slide " nagasi somen somen-ya" is one of the “party” concept, others being shusi go-around theme “kurukuru party” meaning go around party costed 3,900 yen.
"Nagashi somen somen-ya " is 52cm x 36cm when assembled, what 20-21x 14 inches? not that big in American toy/household standard… I nearly died when I saw Playskool play kitchen and Little Tikes cozy coupe in someone with small kid’s vacation RV closet.
It is promoting partnership with Mitsukan; big name somen dip sauce manufacture, to wider audiences in grocery store and such.
They mean business! and price is hi 8,400 yen ( with sales tax)
thinking about those engineers Bandai recruit from top universities (think CMU, MIT) designers (think UCLA, RISD) putting their heads together to figure out how best could somen be slide in confined small dining table of average Japanese home, brings me chill and smile (crocked)
please note
this family photo is totally staged
we don’t ware summer cotton kimono:yukata for family somen eating occasion with small children who are prone to spill and splash.
and
those condiments, toppings are over the top ( pun intended) normal somen eatings are messy, casual, bit combative speedy and care free.</p>
<p>where do you find these links, love? is your job always looking out for weired things?</p>
<p>my D shared the piano cooper link and another one I find out when i try to google “nagashi somen”.</p>
<p>At your invitation BandD…I look to be pretty whitey white but I think it is test of suburban east coastism…if I am brutally honest and will share my likes --I even might confess to liking plaid but don’t own any so I can drop that one…of course if liking kitchen gadgets and cheese were weighted in importance I may end up with no color whatsoever…I lost count…how bad is it?</p>
<ol>
<li>coffee 5. farmer’s markets 8. Barak Obama (the book was published 2008) 9. making you feel bad for not going outside 12.nonprofit organizations 13. tea 14. having Black friends 19. international travel 20. being an expert on your culture (ouch ouch) 24. wine 25. David Sedaris30. Wrigley field 33. marijuana35. the Daily Show with Jon Stewart/The Colbert Report 36. brunch 39. Netflix 42. sushi 43. plays 44. public radio 45. Asian fusion food 46. The Sunday NYT 47. liberal arts degrees 50. irony 54. kitchen gadgets 55. apologies 57. documentaries 58. Japan 60. Toyota Prius 61. bicycles 63. expensive sandwiches ($8.95 and up) 64. recycling 65. coed sports 67. standing still at concerts72. study abroad 73. gentrification 74. Oscar parties 75. threatening to move to Canada77. musical comedy 78. multilingual children 79. modern furniture 80. the idea of soccer 81. graduate school 84. T-shirts 85. The Wire (TV show) 86. shorts 88. having gay friends 90. dinner parties 91. San Francisco 93. rugby 94. New Balance shoes 95. beards 97. red hair 98. Noam Chomsky 99. non-motorized boating 101. scarves 103. self-deprecation humor (wagwag) 104. integrity 108. high school English teachers 110. trying too hard 111. Portland, Oregon 112. free health care 113. Che Guevara 114. The New Yorker 115. non-American news sources 116. subtitles 117. premium juice 118. The ACLU 120. platonic friendships 121. reusable shopping bags 122. acoustic covers 123. Dave Chappelle 130. carbon offsets 131. following their dreams 132. not having cash 134. LEED certification 136. singer-song writers 137. eating outside 138. books (…well…) 142. hardwood floors 143. bakeries 144. modern art museums 145. cheese 147. public transportation that is not a bus</li>
</ol>
<p>I liked getting points for liking having black friends and gay friends but generally I like having friends so does that add or subtract and what about all those hispanic friends that I can’t get rid of and wish they weren’t my friends…oh that is family…</p>
<p>you are only 55% sh white.
anything else murky, including extended family members that you have nothing in common can be left at that for marking “like” #33 you rock!!</p>
<p>now that I see I misspelled Mr. president’s name (my note says “Barack”) I feel bad seeing pasted over and over.
I was spell checking and looked at word “Barrack” which is a sort of a shack and thought can’t be right, even in other language??? then of course it is “Barack”
any willing future test takers, go ahead and fix it for me?</p>
<p>13,000 views got to be epic food post!
when I found out about the Ukrainian guy who is the namesake of the alley behind Cooper’s shiny building, I was to sturdy history, museum, that old church… then never get to it.however Ukrainian food is found.</p>
<p>my kid originally guided me in to this building deep into hallway, is
East village Ukrainian restaurant (where he have gotten that Greek paper cup)
[Ukrainian</a> East Village Restaurant - East Village - New York Magazine Restaurant Guide](<a href=“The Thousand Best | New York Magazine”>The Thousand Best | New York Magazine)
but was closing time, 11:30PM.
however, few house up on corner of 9th street and 2nd Ave is tourist heralded 24/7 place
[url=<a href=“http://veselka.com/]veselka::bece??a%5B/url”>http://veselka.com/]veselka::bece??a[/url</a>]
I am a tourist at heart, so why not!</p>
<p>I was tempted for blintz thing with fruit sauce, maybe icce cream on top? or pierogis. then he had to had to try stuffed cabbage but did not wanted to order himself just in case it sucked.
It was his birthday meal. so there.
You get to choose meat or veggie ( meat! meat!! eh. OK)
tomato sauce or mushroom gravy ( mushroom! mushroom!! so be it)
he ordered cabasa, side of egg noodle.
stuffed cabbage came with potato pancake with apple sauce and beets-horseradish thing.
and?
was about OK. too pink-y meaty less cabbage-y for my taste.
potato pancake was a big disappointment.
one holiday, my boss cooked ( no, I cooked standing by greasy griddle entire party duration - she chopped using ancient food processor and mixed dough of her mom’s mom’s secret recipe) potato latkes for everyone and oh my gosh so bad for you been swimming in peanut oil but ah was soooo good. of course I made them in T Rex shape (Barney!!) bear, dogs, all that, not only to keep small children quiet, but to kill time.</p>
<p>back to Ukraine.
all servers are like, Olympian gymnast, so tiny so cute communicate with mystery tongue amongst themselves. where do they find these girls?
Next to us was lone grandma dressed in all black, hat and all. holds up the bowl with both hand and slurping chicken soup as we came in. she’d thumb thru with soupy fingers to look at catalogs she brought with her, shoes, house ware, cleaning supplies.
we are half way through meal, she proceed to stop one of gymnast girl and ask for
“tuna sandwich, no bread, please”
the girl nods and leaves without a word.
now I had to pay attention.
she came back with round mound of tuna salad on the saucer. grandma digs in with gusto.
It is tiny, ancient grandma in tiny black dress, hat and all.
she keep leafing through pile of catalogs and as we got dessert (special!!) grandma looks my chocolate custard and says
" ohhhh that looks delicious!!"
this happens often, either I am saying this or someone says to me, and what happens next is, they’d usually give me a taste or, I’d offer them.
No, she CAN NOT possibly have it, she just COULD NOT have it.
are you sure?
she is sure.
as I was licking spoon and washing it down with last bit of coffee, grandma was tackling on plateful of sweet potato fries.
I was tempted to see what else she is going to have tonight.
she must be local, regular, even.
what life story could she tell? as much as 80 plus years, what and where she have been?
It was late and time to go.
If I did not have any other worry, duty or care in the world, I’d have just moved few feet closer and asked million questions.
America! America!!</p>
<p>Hi Bears- we ate there too. I thought it was just ok. The borscht was fabulous, peirogis just so so. Very expensive.</p>
<p>it was. shouldn’t have ate that custard…</p>