Sunday Sixah: Pitch-Off

For a few years in college, I worked for WMEB 91.9 FM. I started out on Sunday evenings with a show called Staring At Sound (a Flaming Lips reference) and an intermittent cohost. When he stopped joining me in the studio, I had to face my on-air fears and evolve into a one-woman show.

I switched to Tuesdays and changed my show name to Aerin in the Afternoon. Every Tuesday I brought listeners an eclectic mix of current and not-so-current music from the bins and beyond. This is where I really began to discover how much awesome music existed, and I may have over done it. I spent hours in the WMEB CD library and on my computer at home researching and listening to all the bands that sounded interesting. My music library grew to an obscene size. Loved. Every. Minute. Of. It.

After graduating and thus losing my easy access to days and days of music I’d never heard of, I sort of lost touch with the music scene. I listened to the same music over and over, and though there was a lot of it, it wasn’t the same. Every once in a while I’d surf a music blog or go to Bull Moose to pick up a new CD or two, but at the end of the day, I’d lost my musical mojo. It was like that for a long, long time.

Enter Spotify! Somehow it feels like I’m back in the game. I’ve discovered a lot of great music through this nifty little application in the last year or so, and I’ll share some of it with you now. Enjoy!

1) By now you’ve probably heard Gangnam Style by PSY. He’s an enthusiastic South Korean pop star that dances like nobody I’ve ever seen. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, check out the video. It’s silly-awesome.

Thanks to Andy, I discovered an incredible deviation from the original: Oppa Spacejam Style. That’s right, Space Jam.

Oppa Spacejam Style by jhlodin

2) Miike Snow. Here’s a band worth knowing about. They’re like Fun. if Fun. was less poppy and more electronic. I can’t get him out of my head most days, and I’d love to share some of his songs with you. Please check out the below (my favorite) as well as Paddling Out, Pretender, The Wave and Mark Ronson’s awesome cover of Animal.

3) Mayer Hawthorne. If we’ve talked in the last 6 months about music, I’ve probably mentioned this guy. Nerdy white dude from Michigan with the soul of a Motown singer. He swears a little more than most Motown legends do, but he’s got the genre down pretty well. Here are two of my favorites (one even feat. Snoop Dogg Lion).

4) Jake Bugg // Trouble Town. Here’s a song that reminds me of the old west or perhaps a modern day Tarantino soundtrack. Knee slappin’ good.

Trouble Town by Jake Bugg

5) Gotye. I’m sure I don’t need to post his most famous song, especially since I’ve already kinda gushed about him on my blog once. (Three days until the concert!) But I did discover him back in February thanks to Spotify. So, here’s one of his lesser known tunes that I really love. The whole album is worth listening to, though.

6) Since I mentioned Gotye, I’ve got to mention Kimbra. She’s the bombshell that’s featured and standing next to painted Gotye on Somebody That I Used To Know. I happened to get a sweet deal on her EP during Record Store Day this year, and I fell in love. Her album finally came out in August, and it definitely lived up to expectations. Here’s Something in the Way You Are.

Happy listening! Leave comments if you got ‘em!

Sunday sixah + slackin’

Long time, no blog! Sorry about that. I came down with a nasty cold thing last weekend that’s still poking me in the ribs as I post, and the weekend before that, I honestly don’t remember. Life happened, probably.

Andy and I have done a couple things of note since my last blog – we went to see a live Rifftrax (creators of MST3K) simulcast of Manos: Hands of Fate at the local movie theater. If you ever get a chance to do something like this, I highly recommend it. I haven’t laughed that hard in a very long time. Here’s a little taste of what we saw:

We also got to check out some jazz at the Wadsworth Athenium. They had an interesting modern art exhibit of which I only enjoyed a couple pieces. The only really striking one was this cube of toothpicks using no adhesive. Whoa.

Last and most notably, we went to this place in Niantic called The Book Barn. They house over 500,000 used books under the many barn roofs on the property, each housing a different genre of used books. Most of them are $1. And on top of the cheeky, awesome atmosphere of the place, they also have gardens, cats and goats. Needless to say, I will be returning in the near future.

And now it’s time for another Sunday Sixah! You lucky dog, you.

1) Impress a Penguin.

The penguin publishing group is looking for a new and impressive member of their team in London to cheer up this here penguin. Had I the skills for the job and the drive to move across the pond, I’d be applying for the sheer creative awesome that is this website.

2) If you’ve ever owned a pet, this is a game you’ve probably played.

3) Baby Gap Maine Collection.

I don’t have baby fever yet, but if I did, I’d be going goo-goo-ga-ga over this seriously cute set of tiny human clothes.

4) When I die, I want to become a tree.

No, this isn’t hippie nonsense I’m spouting. I’ve honestly always thought I’d like to be buried at the foot of a tree (way cooler than a headstone) with a bench near by for my future kids and grandkids and great grandkids to sit and ponder on. But as it turns out, you can become a tree instead. Your ashes can help it grow. Can I be a ficus?

5) Bad Lip Reading of Twilight.

I realize this fad is probably long over with, and I don’t really have a leg to stand on having never read or season anything regarding Twilight, but still – watch and giggle.

6) Gotye Youtube Orchestra

I realize that for many of you, Somebody That I Used To Know is a long over played tune that you might not jump at the chance to hear again. But I urge you, if you enjoyed the song at all from the start, this video is worth watching.

Also, I’m going to see Gotye in two weeks with Marsha Bard!! Can’t wait.

Tune in next time – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

na na na na na na na na Batman

Hello readers!

All is quiet on the eastern front. We had Andy’s parents over for dinner – his father’s first time in the apartment since we’d actually unpacked, and his mother’s first time all together. It went very well and they even liked my cupcakes. And the true winner of the night was me, because Andy’s sister said I had better taste in books than he does. This is a shining triumph that I will not let him live down, rest assured.

We also went to see the new Batman movie (finally). It was pretty long, but very good. I maintain the Joker was a much better villain, but the movie was still very watchable and intense in the right places. I’m very sad that Christian Bale said he wouldn’t participate in another Batman movie if it involved Robin, though – I was really hoping to see Joseph Gordon Leavitt in tights.

Thanks to inspiration and encouragement from Andy, I’ve also been reading a lot more and taking some online classes. Anything I can do to make myself more valuable and/or hirable! The classes are going well and I can take them at my leisure, which is great. Right now I’m concentrating on XHTML and CSS, and I hope to work toward other general web design topics.

As for book learnin’, I’m reading “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s about how people don’t just happen on success, they make it, and sometimes they inherit it. It’s really interesting and a very easy read, so I’d recommend it. In the chapter I’m on currently, Malcolm (we’re on a first name basis, it’s cool) is talking about the deadly Howard vs. Turner family feud, and how there were actually multiple bloody family feuds happening along the Appalachian trail in 1890s. All because of something called the “culture of honor” and where the people that lived there came from.

All in all, things are going well. I’m going to cut this short, but expect a new Sunday Sixah this weekend!

4 Ingredient Lemon Burst Cookies

 

Now that Andy has had a taste, he wants more baked goods. Understandably so – those Nutella cookies were freakin’ delicious. So I found a recipe just as simple, but they involve the slightest bit of extra effort. I’ll explain and then you can decide if they’re worth the sweet sweet payoff.

(I wasn’t as diligent with taking pictures of the process this time, so if you have any questions, leave a comment. Also, please excuse the cell phone pictures.)

 

Lemon Burst Cookies (originally posted by Tidy Mom)

1 box Lemon cake mix
1 80z container Cool Whip
1 egg
Powdered sugar for rolling

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. In a stand mixer, blend cake mix, Cool Whip and egg together until combined.
3. Dough is incredibly sticky, so dip your fingers in powdered sugar before you reach into the bowl. Drop balls of dough into powdered sugar and coat.
4. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
6. Leave on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes before moving to a cooking rack.

Note: The smaller the cookies, the more toward 10 minutes you’ll want to cook them. The larger, the more toward 15 minutes. Be sure to use the toothpick method to see if the larger cookies are still gooey on the inside or if they’re forming a cake consistency. A cake consistency with a little goo is okay.

Tidy Mom suggests trying strawberry or orange cake mix for variety. I’m going to try red velvet next. I’ll let you know how it turns out. These are messy but super easy and tasty. Because of the fact that I didn’t realize I had no parchment paper until I had already mixed the batter and the incredible stickiness of the dough, these took around 45 minutes to an hour to complete. But then came the delicious payoff.

Outside of cookies, all is quiet here on the Nutmeg front. I ran a work event at Yale, which was great if only because their campus and all of the houses around it are gorgeous. Yesterday, Andy and I went to his company picnic in Charlestown, RI. His boss has an idyllic beach house there with access to a members only beach, and we spent half the time next to the ocean and the other half on his beautiful patio having a catered dinner. Ahhh, this must be the good life.

How are all of you?

4 Ingredient Nutella Cookies

Hello friends!

Since receiving my amazing pistachio Kitchen Aid mixer, I have done a dismal amount of baking. So recently, Andy spoke up. He bought me the mixer so I could bake and make him tasty treats! And, to reclaim my title as “awesome girlfriend,” I decided to find a quick and delicious recipe to try.

Searching on Pinterest and among my favorite cooking blogs, I found this little gem: Nutella Cookies, originally posted by The {Mr.} & the {Mrs.}. An easy choice, since Nutella is pretty much manna from the Gods. Recipe and my thoughts follow!

Mmm. So delicious. The recipe made about 25 cookies. They’re not very big but the pack a lot of flavor into a small package.

Gotta love 4 ingredient recipes. You’ll have just enough Nutella left over to finish the jar off with a spoon (or a finger).

They don’t get much bigger after they’ve baked, they just lose a little of that “encased in sugar” look.

 

Nutella Cookies

• 1 cup Nutella (basically a whole 13oz jar)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 whole egg
• sugar for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Blend Nutella, flower and the egg together well.
3. Roll into 1” balls, coating in sugar.
4. Place on a cookie sheet.
5. Press down firmly with a fork the way you would with peanut butter cookies.
6. Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Unless you know your oven to be cooler than usual, take them out after no more than 8 minutes. They might seem under cooked, but they’re not.
7. Let cool for 10 minutes.

I found these to be a little dry when rolling, but the warmth from your hands will help for the most part. If they’re too dry, it can help to add a tsp of milk at a time until the mix is a better consistency. Be careful though – you want it to be dough-like, not mushy.

The original recipe from Tasty Kitchen actually has you put a 1/2 cup of sugar into the mixture instead of on top of it, but I actually really enjoyed it this way. More fun to make, too.

These took about 25 minutes from mixer to mouth. Okay, maybe the first one was a little too hot in my mouth, but it was so worth it.

10 years gone

Annnd we’re back!

Sorry about the mini hiatus. As some of you know, I went home to Maine for a long weekend to see my friends and family. Oh yeah, and to attend my TEN year high school reunion. I can barely believe that – though the more I think about it, it feels like it’s been longer. It was nice to see some close friends and say hi to a few older ones, but for the most part, the reunion wasn’t all that much different than a day in high school. Pleasantries with the people you aren’t really friends with and real conversations with the people you are.  I suppose it depends on the school and the class, but I maintain that ten years isn’t long enough before having a reunion. I can’t even fathom the classes that do five year reunions – they must still have books from classes and cafeteria food stains on their shirts. I feel this way mostly because of the emergence of Facebook – the people you’re close to you keep in touch with, and the people you’re not close to can update you on their lives too.

Andy and I were having a conversation one night about social networking and Facebook. He has a love hate relationship with Facebook (mostly hate), and on occasion will dwindle his friends list down a little further. His most recent purge, more than three months ago, resulted in one of his “friends” noticing last week that they weren’t connected anymore. She sent a message asking why.

When did we take a left turn into crazy town? Since when does “friends” on Facebook = friends in real life? How did we begin to equate online profile sharing and electronic messaging with human connection and common interests? Is it now assumed that if I remove you from my friends list, the next time we run into each other will be awkward and uncomfortable because I ended our “friendship”? And how long has this been going on?!

Needless to say, Andy isn’t sure how to respond to this girl’s message. He hasn’t seen her for a few years, and when he did see her last, it was a chance meeting. And you know, I wouldn’t know how to respond to her either. I’m not sure I’d respond at all. If I did, it’d probably end up being easily misconstrued as mean. Do they have a sarcasm button for the internet yet?

Some of this might sound harsh. But please, if I ever have the energy to purge my own Facebook list, please know that if you get removed, it does not mean that we’re not friends or that we’re not friendly in real life. It likely means that while you’ve meant something to me at some point in my life, we haven’t spoken in a long time. Or I don’t agree with your politics. Or your Mama dresses you funny. Any of those three.

And now I leave you with this! Happy Weekend!

 

A post about things!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

At the request of my brother, this post is not about things I found on the internet. What? You want to hear about little ol’ me? Why I do declare! *fans face*

I’ve been here exactly two months today. It’s been a rollercoaster, for sure, but I honestly haven’t regretted a minute of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I miss Maine and all of my amazing friends and family every second of every day. I’ve had the occasional whimpering-turned-blubbering session after I’d had a particularly interesting day at work. And every single time Andy has found me a blubbering idiot on the couch, he’s rushed in, snuggled me and asked how he can make it better. Unfortunately, some of the ways I make myself feel better are food-related, so I haven’t continued on the path to a smaller waistline that Marsha and I had started this fall. I did join the gym down here, though, and have been for a workout with a trainer once. Baby steps.

I find it’s easy to get small ego boosts throughout the day here – every time someone mentions a location or a street and I know where it is, or better yet, can provide directions – I wave my “YAY AERIN!” flag. Don’t worry, the flag is in my head. For now.

Connecticut has provided me with a few interesting first impressions that I’ll share with you now. (This isn’t to say I still have these impressions.)

1. Connecticut wants you to smoke. Every smoke shop I’ve run across is named after something awesome like an oasis or a paradise. Couple that with the fact that they probably have nice temperature and humidity control inside the stores (and we’ve had a LOT of 95+ degree days lately), and I can understand why it could seem enticing. I haven’t been in to one, but I’ll be sure to report back if I do. Here’s hoping there’s sand and a palm tree.
2. Connecticut has a much less rigorous driving test. Folks don’t really use blinkers, love to pass on the right on the interstate, and do what I call the ‘Connecticut stop,’ which is when you roll through a stop until your back tires hit the stop line, pause instead of fully stopping and then just keep on going. There’s also a lot of red light running. Even in a swanky-ish town like Glastonbury this happens. It just happens with BMW’s and Caddy’s.
3. Connecticut loves shopping and food. Oh man, the stores. Oh man, the FOOD! I realize some of the places are only novel to me because they’re chains they don’t have in Maine, but man does that make this state FULL of eye candy! I can also safely say that Pink Berry is worth the hype. De-freakin’-licious. It’s like someone took really good Stoney Field yogurt and froze it in the style of ice cream. That’s what I like about it the most – it actually tastes like yogurt, just frozen. Plus they have huge plump raspberries you can throw on top.   Seriously.
4. Connecticut is a lot like Maine. This was the most comforting discovery of them all. Despite it being more densely populated and missing a bazillion of my favorite people, there are a lot of similarities. It has beautiful parks to visit, very cool museums, lots of great food, a beautiful coastline and a fair amount of friendly people.
5. Connecticut is where my heart is. And that’s because Andy has my heart. (insert any gagging necessary.) Despite how cutesy that sounds, it’s the truth. He makes me really, really happy. If that weren’t the case, I would have moved back home long ago. So, as much as I love you, Maine, I’m doing okay here.

And now, because I didn’t do a Sunday Sixah, I leave you with this.