Carrie – Page 42 – thosecoolkims

Songs I Liked in 2009

It just wouldn’t be the end of a year without some sort of a “Best of” list. So this year, I decided to compile all my favorite songs of 2009 into one playlist. In no way am I claiming these all as this year’s best of the best – they are all just my own personal favorites!

Since I like to share, here you have it. :)

bestof2009_cover_web

Download the whole mix

Don’t need (or want) every song? Right-click to download by track:
track 01:   Feather, Little Dragon
track 02:   Sing Sang Sung, Air
track 03:   Love Letter to Japan, The Bird and The Bee
track 04:   Microphone, Coconut Records
track 05:   No One Does It Like You, Department of Eagles
track 06:   New Moon Rising, Wolfmother
track 07:   Treat Me Like Your Mother, The Dead Weather
track 08:   Dragon Queen, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
track 09:   Help I’m Alive, Metric
track 10:   Happy Up Here, Röyksopp
track 11:   Bourgeois Shangri-La, Miss Li
track 12:   Born on a Day the Sun Didn’t Rise, Black Moth Super Rainbow
track 13:   Jaykub, (Jason Lytle of Grandaddy) Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse
track 14:   While You Wait for the Others, Grizzly Bear
track 15:   Silver Trembling Hands, The Flaming Lips
track 16:   40 Day Dream, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
track 17:   Crimson & Clover, Prince

Happy Christmas!

I can’t think of anything but “happy” when I think of Christmas this year! I can honestly say I enjoyed every second of the holiday season – it seems like I got to do almost everything I wanted to do! I got to bake with my mom, decorate our house, make some handmade gifts and even drink loads of Starbucks holiday beverages. :) Plus, Ed and I also got to hit a few holiday parties, go to Charles Phoenix’s Retro Holiday Slideshow and check out a Cosmic Christmas at the Glendale Planetarium. But the high point was definitely our family combining efforts to adopt a family this Christmas! There was no stress, and at risk of sounding incredibly sappy – now that we’ve spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with both of our families, my heart is so full of love and blessings! It was truly a happy Christmas in every sense of the word.

As usual, we hosted Ed’s family at our house on Christmas Eve … and of course, we had an epic meal with Ed’s culinary masterpiece, the Chile-Brined Ham (make sure you check out the whole story on Day One and Day Two!)! Also on the menu was a balsamic roasted vegetable medley with zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, cauliflower & peppers along with wild rice. But this salad made by Ed’s mom was the tastiest salad I have ever eaten-and it was gorgeous, too!

I found a special bunch of flowers at Fresh & Easy (my favorite!) and I was inspired to clip a few to use for place cards at the table …

Ed’s mom loved her placecard …

Uncle loved hanging out with Ricki …

and Ed served the jus accompanying his ham like a pro!

And then today, we were off to The Facey’s! So much of my love for Christmas comes from my parents, and their house is the best at the holidays!!! They liked the picture frame we got for them:

Then the kids arrived, and it was on! Santa brought them Beatles Rock Band this year, so they were representin’ in their Beatles T-shirts:

We are really excited about our gift to them this year – we’re taking them to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for one of the Toyota Symphonies for Youth. Its a really cool thing where the kids can do arts and crafts beforehand, and then they get to see a kid-friendly orchestral performance about Beethoven. Ed and I haven’t ever seen anything there at the concert hall either, so we are totally looking forward to it!

They were so sweet and each of them picked out their own gifts for both Ed & I this year. We loved each and every one. They are so big now!

All in all – it was a beautiful holiday! We love our family and friends dearly and wish you all a very, very Happy New Year!

Christmas Goodies!

In the spirit of keeping traditions alive (and having lots of fun getting into the holiday spirit), Mom & I collaborated once again to do a little holiday baking. We decided on sticking with cookies this year. My all-time favorite flavor of the season is Peppermint, so I had to break out Martha’s recipe for Chocolate Peppermint Cookies! Also on the agenda were big and soft bakery-style Sugar cookies with red sugar on top. For good measure, Mom also decided to whip up some Peanut Butter cookies and Pumpkin Spice cookies!

Yes, I enjoy the baking – but I have to admit that part of me does it only to have an excuse to come up with the packaging! This year, I went with craft-brown cupcake boxes, layered the bottom with red/white polka dotted vellum paper, stacked 8 perfectly shaped cookies on top of each other and tied them up with red and white bakers twine. Then, I added round stickers to the outside (alternating between red and white) and made a tag to keep things simple that just said YUM!

Both mom and I agree that Martha’s recipe is a little labor-intensive, but they sure are YUMMY. (They certainly were not as simple as last year’s goodies). The cookies are really soft and super chewy like fudge – and combined with the crushed peppermint candies in the mix, we think they are a perfect companion to your morning cup of coffee!

Thanks for all the help, Mom!

p.s. In other crafty baking news, I am so excited that Amanda from Bake it Pretty added my little lemon cakes to the gallery! (I’m photo #7) I LOVE this site and if you’ve never browsed, you should! Amanda is a totally a rock star in my opinion!

MOCA’s First Thirty Years

mocapink

Ed & I headed up to catch the awesome First Thirty Years exhibit at MOCA two weeks ago, and being the modern art lovers we are, we have to say we enjoyed every bit of it! The exhibit is sort of a “greatest hits” of modern art. Of course, there are many pieces that you’ve seen before – but nonetheless, it was really cool to have them all in spot. Be sure to click the exhibition link as mentioned above, the site has a really great photo gallery that shows a lot of the work! (Unfortunately, Ed & I were only armed with the iPhones, so we didn’t get many pics!)

Probably the most impressive was the photography collection. I have been fascinated by photos of people ever since I was a kid, and two of my favorite photographers were on display: Garry Winogrand & Diane Arbus. Both of them have a real knack for capturing the most odd, yet beautiful images of ordinary (and in Diane Arbus’ case, NOT-so-ordinary!) people. Doesn’t hurt that they capture some fun 60s stuff, which both Ed & I love. Here are a few of my favorites from the show:

arbus_doglady arbus_giant

arbus_sunbathers arbus_twins

Diane Arbus: (top) Lady Bartender at Home with Souvenir Dog, 1964, A Jewish Giant at Home with his Parents, 1970; (bottom) A Family on the Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, N.Y., 1968, Identical Twins, 1967

winogrand_zoo

winogrand_spacectr

Garry Winogrand: (top) Couple in Central Park Zoo, 1967; (bottom) Kennedy Space Center, 1969

There were lots more that we really loved and hadn’t seen before. Ed looked pretty space age in RM669 by Doug Wheeler (1969), and I loved Mirror/Mirror-Table/Table (1964) by Richard Artschwager!

moca_c&e

Go see First Thirty Years at MOCA before it’s gone!

craft/Los Angeles

This Saturday was a very exciting evening for Ed & I – we ate at Craft in L.A.! For those of you who may not know, Craft is one of Tom Colicchio’s restaurants – and Tom Colicchio is the head judge on Bravo’s Top Chef!

As a huge fan of Top Chef, when Ed told me he was taking me there on Saturday night I could hardly contain myself! Of course, it’s a popular dining establishment sought out by many other Top Chef fans, and we knew it would be good. But we had no idea how outstanding our experience there would be! Ed even claims that our meal was the best meal he has had all year – and that’s saying something! The ambiance is modern, but warm … the food is quality exemplified … and the service is incredible. It was a fine dining experience that felt casual somehow. It was sophisticated and rich, but not stodgy or formal. We can’t stop thinking about it!

craftLosAngeles We did get a nice surprise right off the bat … after getting our drinks, our server came out with an Amuse-bouche! It was a Gruyère cheese puff pastry of sorts. I was so in love with the fact that I was somewhere that actually served an amuse-bouche that I didn’t mind handing it right over to Ed. (The world would be so much easier for me if I just enjoyed cheese … but I digress … )

At Craft, you are encouraged to order one starter, one main course and one side dish per person to get the true experience! The portions are individually sized, but they are served in the center of the table family style so you can share with your companions. This was great news for Ed & I, because we always want to try as much as possible! So we perused the menu and had the difficult task of narrowing things down enough to place our order!

As usual, it was extremely difficult to get good pics of the food due to the (beautiful) ambient lighting, but we began with the roasted Octopus (on the left) and the roasted Quail. Ed absolutely loves octopus, and this dish was outstanding! It was served with diced pineapple and a sauce that I can’t remember. I’m not usually the one on-board the octopus train, but I thought this was DELICIOUS! So delicious in fact that I thought the octopus far outshone the quail. This isn’t to say the quail wasn’t yummy, but wow – that octopus was something special…

We both ended up choosing fish for our main courses. I opted for the Alaskan Halibut & Piquillo Pepper and Ed went for the John Dory (on right). The halibut cannot be explained with words! It was the most tender piece of halibut we’ve ever had, and the roasted red pepper on bottom was sweet and meaty and essential to the brilliance and simplicity of the dish. The John Dory was a nice contrast because the fish was light, flaky and ever so buttery, but it was sprinkled with a few slivers of olive, which gave it an exciting salty kick. The dishes aren’t prissy or fancy at Craft, everything is just so simple and fresh, but that’s truly what makes everything so amazing. Our sides were roasted pee wee fingerling potatoes and brussel sprouts with bacon. Again, the family style service is perfect because it encourages sharing. I have been craving more brussel sprouts ever since!

As if all of the above wasn’t satisfactory enough, we knew we had to order dessert. Come on, how could we not see what they had to offer?!? :) So after checking the menu, we decided on a Hazelnut Waffle with braised apples and cinnamon ice cream. However, we had no idea that there was another treat coming … these tiny panna cotta cups with fresh berries arrived at our table just minutes after we ordered our dessert! Then, even more bite-sized treats appeared at the table! A teeny plate arrived with a tiny fudge brownie, a candied pineapple square and a miniature coconut macaroon. Serious attention to the sweets were being showed, and I have to admit, I wasn’t complaining!

And finally, as if it couldn’t get any more extravagant, these two Cranberry Orange muffins perfectly packed to be sent home with us came out “for breakfast the next morning”, compliments of the pastry chef. AWESOME!

All in all, it was a perfect evening … we can’t wait to go back again, with lots of people, so we can try even more! This was absolutely a culinary paradise!!!