Archives: March 01, 2006

Drink of the Week: Chambord Truffle

Friday, 31 March 2006 08:25 PM

Last weekend I succumbed to the wiles of Bath & Body Works. Yes, many of their bath products smell great in the store and horrific at home, but the few that are genuinely good are worth the experimenting.

I bought some Tutti Dolci ("all sweet"?) body lotion -- all the Tutti Dolce products smell like dessert of some sort. The stuff I got, Fantasia di Cioccolata Moisturizing Souffle, has the texture and scent of highly-whipped chocolate raspberry pudding -- it's so heavenly it's difficult not to eat it.

In fact, I had put some on Monday morning, before a client meeting, and one fellow told me he wanted to lick my hands. That's not a reaction I'm typically looking for from a client -- I don't have that kind of client. But if it causes them to think favorably of my and bring me back, then I guess it's all good.

Anyway. So I've been wearing this stuff all week and subsequently craving chocolate-berry ... something. And thus, we come to our drink of the week:

Chambord Truffle

1/2 shot vanilla vodka (or a drop of vanilla and regular vodka)
1/2 shot creme de cacao
1/2 shot Chambord

Shake with ice, strain into shot glass or mini-martini glass.

As you might guess, the recipe comes from the tiny promotional booklet that accompanied my bottle of Chambord. Almost any drink made with Chambord tastes delicious, but there are some very funky things in here. Pear and Cardamom Sidecar? Hmm. I'll test out a few and bring the best to you, oh faithful Drink of the Week fans, in the coming weeks.

iPod Ching

Friday, 31 March 2006 12:58 PM

I'm very late to this meme party, but loving All Things iPod as I do, I can't resist:

The iPod Ching: The premise is that the shuffle function on your iPod provides answers to preselected questions, and you then interpret those answers.

This is probably best done with the help of a drink or at the end of a three-day fast ... I haven't eaten anything yet today though so I am feeling somewhat light-headed. So here goes!

How does the world see you?
"Spirit in the Night," Bruce Springstein
I seem like a wild and crazy girl I guess. The truth is much less exciting, but I'm happy to keep everyone entertained.

Will I have a happy life?
"Time for Me to Fly," REO Speedwagon
Either I should pursue a pilot's license or the iPod Ching is trying to get out of answering this question.

What do my friends really think of me?
"One Last 'Whoo-hoo!' for the Pullman," Sufjan Stevens
I have never managed to listen to this Sufjan Stevens album in a single sitting. Yesterday I tried starting halfway through and still quit a few songs from the end. It's interesting, but also weird. Anyway, so this particular song lasts only 6 seconds. I assume this means that when my friends think of me, they don't think for very long.

Do people secretly lust after me?
"In My Own Mind," Lyle Lovett
See?

How can I make myself happy?
"I Don't Wanna Grow Up," Tom Waits
Well, that's obvious.

What should I do with my life?
"Greenbacks," Ray Charles
Forget the pilot's license and go for the Benjamins. Check.

Will I ever have children?
"Whistling in the Dark," They Might Be Giants
Hmm.

What is some good advice for me?
"Complicated Shadow," Elvis Costello & The Attractions
I think "Whistling in the Dark" is better advice. What can this mean? The song is on the Sopranos Soundtrack -- I guess it means I should avoid New Jersey and/or "connected" people. That is good advice either way.

How will I be remembered?
"Wicked Game," Chris Isaak
I will be remembered as a monochrome video of a model rolling around on a beach with Chris Isaak. That's fine by me.

What is my signature dancing song?
"Oh My Golly!" The Pixies
This is absolutely true. My signature dancing style is bouncing frenetically, nearly crashing into the people around me, as if I graduated from the Tourette's School of Dance. And that's exactly how one should dance to this song.

What do I think my current theme song is?
"(Night Time Is) The Right Time," Ray Charles
This is also true. I am a night owl.

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
"Hate To Say I Told You So," The Hives
And more truth. Gosh, this thing is great!

What song will play at my funeral?
"Love in Vain," Rolling Stones
What a failed romantic figure I am.

What type of men do you like?
"Thunderwing," T.Rex
I am actually more drawn to Audi TTs these days, but maybe the song simply points out my general automotive leaning.

What is my day going to be like?
"Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well," Mike Doughty
I am submerged beneath layers of work, plus my office is in a basement. So this is delightfully accurate.

OK, who's up next? Subdivided? Housewife Cafe? Syntax of Things is en route to a new home but maybe if he finds a motel with Wi-Fi....

Happy feet

Monday, 27 March 2006 03:35 PM

People have many reasons to be glad that Nordstrom is coming at last to the Pittsburgh area.

You can guess why I'm excited.

Get off of my cloud

Thursday, 23 March 2006 12:04 PM

Did you think I'd be able to stick to my "I'll add only 15 books to LibraryThing each day" promise? If you did, I hope you didn't put money on it, because you'll have to pay up.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I added a few more books -- about a hundred. I think I'm about a quarter of the way done, but I haven't taken a hard look at the shelves in my office. Also, there are the cookbooks in the hall.

But at this point it's amusing to look at the Author Cloud that's forming:

I'm mildly concerned that J.K. Rowling is so prominent. Should I go buy a second copy of A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again to even out the balance? At the least, I may pull Men and Cartoons out of my "ready to sell on Amazon" pile and put it back on the keeper shelf.

Either dreams or swords

Tuesday, 21 March 2006 11:31 AM

I am incredibly busy, as evidenced by my lack of recent posting here and here and here. And so when Syntax of Things described the time-consuming diversion that's slowing his packing for an impending move, I seized on it like a drowning swimmer.

And so now I've started cataloguing my collection of booksin LibraryThing. Check out the new random library snapshot to my sidebar to the right. I've listed only 15 books in my library so far, so there's not a lot of randomness going on. I'm going to limit myself to listing only 15 new books per day -- my library isn't massive, but the project will still extend over a few weeks. It will be interesting to discover which authors are most represented and how many of the "most owned" books I have.

Actually, Tea Leaves had previous blogged about a similar tool for cataloguing one's library, with the added benefit of connecting with others to lend or give away extra books. But LibraryThing makes it easy to create an author cloud to show which authors dominate and which are just sneaking in, and that's exactly the kind of geeky, pseudo-statistical, competitive widget that I adore.

I'll wait until I have more books listed before publishing an author cloud here. In fact, It's probably going to be the site element that forces me at last to complete the Big Redesign that I started and abandoned months ago.

All this to keep from working on my taxes. Procrastination is a wondrous thing.

Gladwell online

Monday, 13 March 2006 09:26 AM

Recently Pittsblog pointed out that ESPN's Page 2 had published a two-part email interview by Bill "The Sport Guy" Simmons of Malcolm Gladwell, an interview which mentioned Pittsburgh sports a few times but ranged from baseball to writing to the horrors of Las Vegas.

You know I have my issues with Simmons, but I agree with him now and then. Most specifically I agree with his opinion of Gladwell:

When I started reading you back in the mid-'90s, I remember being discouraged because you made writing seem so easy -- technically, you were almost flawless, and since I knew I couldn't write that well, you were one of those visible writers who made me feel like I was going to be bartending my whole life. You never waste a word. You come up with cool arguments and angles for your pieces, then you systematically prove/dismantle those same arguments and angles, and you do it in an entertaining, thoughtful, logical way. You never allow your biases to get in the way. You're better at writing than me in every way. Basically, I hate you.

Here's the best part of the interview. It's by Gladwell:

Switching gears, I have one last point on the fact I never really watched sports on TV until I was in college. That's not as crazy as it sounds. I would grade major professional sports in terms of their TV/live watchability in the following order:

• NFL: A-plus televised. B-minus live.
• NBA: B-plus televised. A live.
• NHL: C-minus televised. A-plus live.
• PGA: A-televised. D live.

So what do you miss by not having a TV? Really just a great NFL experience, and some golf. You will notice that I've left out baseball and that's because I don't believe that actually watching baseball under any circumstances enhances your appreciation of the game. As a kid, I read Bill James and Thomas Boswell and Roger Angell and followed the game through newspaper box scores, and I was a far more dedicated fan back than I am today. Baseball is a great idea, and a great story. But is watching it a great experience? Frankly I prefer the way the game was played in my imagination. This, incidentally, is why I'm such a fan of yours. I think that reading you on the Red Sox is more fun than actually watching the Red Sox. And before anyone objects, I would point out that there are lots of other human experiences that fall into this category. When you hear a ghost story as a child, or watch a war movie, or read a particularly powerful novel, you don't want to be in the story. You don't even want to be in the stands when the war is going on or the ghost is scaring the bejesus out of people. What you want is to be told the story. Right?

I'm reading The Tipping Point, and as I read I'm torn between the emotions Simmons mentions: deep love for the clarity and elegance of the writing, and raw jealousy for the guy who came up with it. (You may guess at which emotion is the stronger.)

It's similar to how I feel reading David Foster Wallace, but kind of worse.

Gladwell recently created a blog, which he says he will use to expand upon/amend/invite commentary of his pieces in the New Yorker and elsewhere. I recommend adding it to your feed reader. (The most recent entry gives his thoughts on Freakonomics, especially regarding how it conflicts with his own writing in The Tipping Point.)

While we'reon the topic, David Foster Wallace does not appear to have a blog (at least not a real one), and as he claims in his essays to be a technophobe I don't expect to see one soon. But he is featured in last weekend's NYT Review of Books, if you need a fix but can be placated with reading what other people write about him.

I bought you a present

Friday, 03 March 2006 11:54 AM

The latest advance in espionage is sonar-controlled spy sharks:

The Pentagon is funding research into neural implants with the ultimate hope of turning sharks into 'stealth spies' capable of gliding undetected through the ocean, a report says.

The research, outlined in this week's issue of New Scientist builds on experimental work to control animals by implanting tiny electrodes in their brain, which are then stimulated to induce a behavioural response.

"The Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails," says the report.

"By remotely guiding the sharks' movements they hope to transform the animals into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted."

Regina of We Make Money Not Art has more coverage.

Now, 'fess up: When you read about the sharks, was this the first thing you thought of?

I thought so.

iToaster

Thursday, 02 March 2006 12:11 AM

Yesterday Apple Computer released a snazzy new product. It looks like this:

Very clean and pretty, but what is it?

• A boom box, like the one I listened to nonstop from 1982 through 1985 (until I finally invested in a multi-component stereo system with one of those new-fangled CD players -- sweet!)
• Some kind of iToaster: In the picture it looks like you insert your iPod in the top to download new music or videos or brainwaves or whatever they're selling on the iTunes store now, and when the download is finished your iPod pops out the top and you're ready to dance! (or watch or think, etc.)

It seems to include that little pack of gum in front of it. I'm guessing that's something to chew and enjoy while you're waiting for your iPod to pop back out.

If you'd like to examine it more closely and yet virtually, here's a rotating video to play with.

Copyright © 2004 – 2007 Cynthia Closkey