Küsse

 

Grabower Küsse.

Dear Chocolate-covered Marshmallow-filled,

There is so much out there!  I know, I have said it before, but, wonders never really do cease.  Last week, we made a trip to the beauty of the high desert, and en route, we love to stop for brötchen* at a bakery, and they sell other things German also.  For example, these amazing sugary clouds!  There is a small, extraneous little wafer base on these things, but basically it is 50 percent sweetened air, and I have never eaten anything like it.  The chocolate is very very thin, which is a large part of their charm. 

I hope you have the good fortune to encounter them one day; I just ate the last one without photographing it: c'est la vie.  In the meantime, maybe I will try making some.

* Which are also very airy: coincidence?  Oh, and here is your song for today.  

feat: saw blade?

 

Dear Radio Dodo Listeners,

Check out this interesting bit o' music; your song for today!  Sounds like there is a saw being played, doesn't it?

lilac cream

 

more shoes

 

James Brown's shoes.

Dear Feet,

Another little shoe song for you, for today, for your feet!  Encore!  And, the original, too.  Because there are endless slices of pie on the internet; have another!*

PS  It's the my my my my my, isn't it?  Yep, everyone loves some my and mine.

* Wait, just what is a Fender Rhodes Piano anyway?

if the shoe fits

 

Dear Everyone on the Internet,

My goodness!  Have you seen this???  You probably have; and you should have told me about it!  It is endlessly pleasurable to configure your sneakers; over and over.  I made 6 different pairs, and didn't press 'buy' on a single pair.  Don't worry, I will, in a few months.  I read someplace, ages ago, that one way to unlink your addictive actions from wanton desire was to wait 30 days to see if you still felt that burning need to own a thing; a thing like this, or maybe this.  You can see how sobering up a bit might prevent an impulsive person like myself from ordering such a thing deep in the lonely hours of the night.

And, to be clear, I kind of like the anticipation:  Next month I will configure my pink Chuck 70's with red stitching again, and maybe, just maybe, even buy them!!!

Oh, and here is your song of the day; She's Wearing Shoes without Heels.  Elvis Costello has a shoe thing, you know; this song, oh!  I love this line: "Cheap white plastic shoes, that don't walk out and don't let in."  And, of course, there are the Red Shoes.  Can't you just imagine Declan the singing poet?  Taking Elvis's Blue Suede Shoes name, and then writing the song of Red Shoes?  Such a beautiful bit of instigated acausal connecting principle.  Of course, he could have called himself Carl, too....  

gentrified crackers

 

Dear Curious,

Looking around, I found this recipe for fried saltines, and of course, I asked myself:  yes, but is it good?  And here at the Dodo Test Kitchens we work to answer that question for you, dear reader.  I could tell you, like many blog recipes seem to, in twelve pages of photos and dubious prose, gushing relentlessly.*  But no, I am going to tell you clearly and decisively in a very short sentence:  make them, eat them, they are great!  They transform your  workhorse, blue collar saltines to Boutique, Artisanal, Small Batch!

Fried Saltines with Cheddar and Onion:

1 pound Cheddar

1 small white onion

About a cup and a half of oil (I used light olive oil)

1 sleeve saltine crackers

Yellow or brown mustard, for serving

Slice the Cheddar in neat tablets slightly smaller than the saltines. Slice the onion into thin crescent moons (not half-moons), cutting from root to shoot ends so the ribs fall apart more easily, are shorter and, therefore, more manageable to chew and swallow.

Heat the oil in a deep-sided sauté pan over medium-high to 350 degrees. Stick a wooden chopstick in the oil to see if it sizzles. If it does, it’s ready. Fry the saltines in 3 quick batches, adjusting the heat as needed, using a spider or a slotted spoon to swirl them around a little and to make sure they cook evenly to golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Drain on a wire rack until cool. They keep for a week in an airtight container.

Set the crackers, cheese and onion on a platter to serve with mustard in a ramekin.

*  I sometimes wonder, when I read these kinds* of recipes, scrolling finally down to the actual nub of the thing- the ingredients and instructions- are they being paid by the word or page?  Is 'content provider' lucrative if you get over the ten page mark?  Right again.  Let X = X.

* Technically, more than one recipe, I know.  Also technically, barely a recipe in the first place.

birds

 

Dear Looking for Love,

Here is your song for today, and here is your nest cam for Eagle watching.  Plenty of love in both of these things to keep you satisfied.

cat box

 

2100

 

Dear Everyone,

It's time again for me to exhort you to roller skate!  Sometimes, just occasionally, I despair of convincing you; I feel even, a little resentful that I keep on asking & asking, and you just don't seem to respond.  I often blame myself:  I must not have asked correctly, I wasn't convincing, I wasn't firm enough, I wasn't enthusiastic enough, silver-tongued enough.  I have a thing here to try, though, and it is this:  you don't have to take my word for it.  

If Kia Miakka Natisse doesn't convince you, I'll try again, in another hundred days!  Meanwhile, I am going to try, and try, and try again to get adequate at the challenging 3 turn.  Here are some how tos, if you want to join me!   How one, how two, how three.  And, how it might really look, to work on it, if you aren't at the level of Video Skate Instructor!  

storied trees

 

Trees 1, watercolor on paper, 2002, Mats Gustafson.

Dear Reader,

I am back at my job; yes, I know, I don't know whether it is a funeral or cause for celebration either, but I am there in any event.  Thinking about light and paper, as I do at my job, I am also thinking of what makes a good watercolor painting.  You can make them a lot of ways, but some of the best ingredients might include:

attention

delicacy

love for the subject

Mats Gustafson has some paintings of trees and rocks that come to mind as good examples.  If you really want to nerd out on, or dive deep into Mats G., (taking care to ignore the fatuous title) watch this film.

On the topic of trees, I have been saving this old oak for you, The Shelton Oak.  And, these, The Trees of Mystery, and this, The Trees of Mystery, singing your song of the day.