Nothing like an end of the (fiscal) year party at work. We had a wonderful barbecue in the breezeway behind our office, today.

This is Eric and I applying condiments to two massive Tofurky not-dogs. Lunch was packed with vegan goodness, and plenty of beer. Nothing like starting the Fourth of July week with four beers at work over lunch.

brett at 01:37 PM on June 29, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last year, T.I. had the best album of the summer with King, a strong coming of age for the southern MC. This summer, however, he has returned with a weak album, and a poorly executed theme.

It's not that T.I. vs. T.I.P. is bad, it's just simply that in the context of his brilliance on King just a year earlier, this album falls flat on it's face. In the weeks leading up to its release, I was definitely on the bandwagon: the singles I had heard ("Big Shit Poppin'" and "Where They At") sounded great, and the concept seemed like something plausible.

I'll be the first to admit that I was wrong in hyping the album: the beats are weak; there's a track featuring Nelly; the album title has nearly as many punctuation marks as letters; Eminem produced a beat; one of the lead singles was cut; and to top it all off, the track featuring Lil' Wayne was cut. There are, of course, some nice tracks on the album, but this is much less than T.I. is capable of, and what really makes he disc stink is that the theme just comes off as childish.

His younger, gangster personality arguing with his more mature, father-personality is a neat concept, but it just doesn't work because T.I. remains unbelievable on so many of his tracks. Take note of the song, "Tell 'Em I Said That," where T.I. laments the increase of studio gangsters in the rap industry, and yet only a few songs prior on "Hurt," he is playing the role himself: rapping about duct taping his enemies in their houses and sticking guns in their faces. I mean, It's 2007, the guy is going to sell 500k of T.I. vs. T.I.P. in a few months--I don't care what he says on his album, he's not duct taping anyone up. I'm all for fantasy, and fairytales and the whole romantic idealization of gangster culture that happens in rap music, but if you are going to hate on the studio gangsters with their fake stories, you should probably do away with your own, no?

Anyway. I love T.I., but this is no King, and that's what's disappointing. Let's hope he can bounce back by the summer of 2008.

Oh, and one more final comment. From an article I read: "T.I. mentioned working with André 3000, Justin Timberlake, Ciara, Akon, R. Kelly, Young Jeezy, and Lil Wayne as well, however they did not make the final cut." Yet Nelly makes the cut? Nuff said.

Update: As a sidenote, I'm not one to hype my own work, but I had a nice interview with poet/rapper Sage Francis this week, and you can read the interesting parts in the June 28th issue of The Reader.

brett at 10:32 AM on June 29, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've been cooking cupcakes lately. Two batches this week, in fact. First we tried the simple, classic chocolate cupcake--which came out well, though sans frosting. Last night, we improvised a recipe for vegan peanut butter cupcakes with a chocolate and coconut frosting. They were stellar.

We made a dozen of them, and I have eaten more than my share. I also brought a few to work, and people were quite surprised at how delicious a dairy-free cupcake could taste. Hopefully there will be many more in store. We're planning on trying some of the tougher recipes here in a week or two, after we get more supplies for the frosting (and speaking of frosting, that was made from scratch, too!).

brett at 09:46 AM on June 28, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've been revisiting a few classic movies this week. Tuesday was Psycho, Wednesday was Rear Window and tonight might just be another classic. Or no movies at all.

I love both of these movies, but Psycho is definitely my favorite of the two. Even after seeing the movie before, knowing the story inside and out--and being completely prepared for every scare the movie has to offer--I was still on the edge of my seat from the suspense, and jumping out of it from the scares. What a great pair of films.

brett at 08:57 AM on June 28, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Megan was behind the skillet on Sunday morning, and whipped up some of the best pancakes I've eaten in a long time (To tell the truth, I haven't had any pancakes in a long time.). Since her switch to the vegan world she has been craving sweet goods, and so we decided that banana pecan pancakes would make for a lovely breakfast/hangover cure.

Just looking at that picture is making my stomach hurt for more. These were so good that three was simply not enough. Next time around I plan to eat 6 to 8.

brett at 08:48 AM on June 18, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last weekend we were in Omaha to celebrate a (brief) homecoming for Quentin. While there, we discovered that his mother happens to have a massive herb and vegetable garden that she was more than eager to show off--and give away. In fact, I think at one point I tried to tell her my name, but she was so absorbed with explaining all the goodies sprouting at our knees, that she didn't even hear. I'm not complaining, because when it was all over, I ended up with two bagfuls of fresh herbs, and as per Quentin's request, here's a photo of some of them in action:

This is quinoa with roasted corn, scallions, orange zest and chives. We decided to use Phyllis' chives for our first dish, and this is what we came up with. Not too bad tasting, and incredibly pleasing aesthetically. Also, I now understand why quinoa is such a popular food in Central and South America: it's incredibly filling. More to come with Phyllis' herbs!

brett at 08:41 AM on June 18, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since I have harvested my windowsill basil (for the pesto stuffed potatoes), something had to replace the barren soil. This weekend I went shopping around for a few different plants, and eventually settled on these two types:

I think they compliment one another quite well. The deep violent perennial and the little silvery crawling vine look lovely. Now we shall see if they can withstand the winds of summer.

brett at 03:29 PM on June 12, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3)

I don't actually have anything to say other than Kanye West is weak. Here's a picture to go with that statement. Check out this clown:

I've been saying it for years, by the way. He's lame. I just have to reiterate once in a while. Also, I was thinking that maybe he and Lupe Fiasco could do a collabo album a-la Jay-Z and R. Kelly, only with Ye and Lupe it would be a definite worst of the year. If they could sneak it in before 2010, it would be a shoe-in for worst album of the decade, any genre. I must be a hater or somethin'.

brett at 09:40 AM on June 12, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Dizzee Rascal has a new album out, and it is much, much better than "Showtime." His first album was a classic--we all remember that--his second was whatever, but this third and newest release, "Maths + English" is great and a true return for form for the British MC.

What really sold me on this was the third track, "Where's Da G's" which features my favorite Port Arthur duo, UGK. I mean, who could have imagined that Pimp C and Bun B would ever put a track down with Dizzee? I never would have imagined it. Could this be his US breakthrough album? Probably not, but it's still great.

Update: Well I've given this a few more spins, and I'm saying that this could be the best rap album out so far in 2007. It's going to take a lot to beat it. So go cop that shit.

brett at 09:16 AM on June 12, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think we have prepared the best meal of 2007. I could be wrong, but I was blown away by the variety of vegetables, flavors and nutrition contained in our meal last night. By far one of the most creative and hearty dinners we've put together. This is definitely worthy of some non-vegan guest tasters (though last night was simply Ryan, Megan and I).

So what did we cook? A whole lot. The salad was a pseudo Caesar, with giant leaves of romaine lettuce drizzled in our mock sauce made from tahini, miso paste, lemons and spices. For a side of vegetables, I prepared stir-fry broccoli with a hoisin, tamari and sesame oil sauce that is slowly becoming one of my favorites.

The main course, though, was pesto stuffed twice-baked potatoes with a radish, olive & lemon mixture to top it off. I prepared the pesto from scratch (created using my own window-grown basil plants) and then baked the potatoes. After an hour in the oven, we scooped out their insides leaving the shells in a baking tray, and mashed the pesto and potatoes together with silken tofu and a variety of spices. After combining the mixture well, we drizzled it in olive oil, stuffed it back inside the potato shells, and baked for another twenty minutes. When the little brown treats finally were ready to emerge from the oven, we had just finished the topping: minced radishes, shallots and olives in lemon juice and tamari with a few spices.

This was seriously some great eating. Even Megan enjoyed the potato filling, and she has a penchant to hate any sort of thick goo made from tofu (even if it does contain pesto). I suppose this means it must have been good! The only downside to the meal was the wine, which cost us two dollars. I guess we expected it to suck, but we figured we'd give a two dollar bottle a try and see what it was all about.

brett at 09:25 AM on June 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (6)

Last week I finished reading the new Don DeLillo novel, "Falling Man," a book ostensibly about September 11th, but so much more deep than the events of the day; "Falling Man" looks at many of the issues (from Alzheimer's to divorce) that affect modern Americans, and frames them within the collapse of the two towers.

It's an incredibly fast read (2 days for me) and it offers a lot of perspective on the way we relate to one another during a tragedy. Not the way we cope, but the way our lives continue onward, seemingly affected and yet not affected by events completely outside of our control. The book doesn't pander to the reader, and doesn't dwell on the sweet spots that most of the audience is salivating for--there is little rhetoric, few still-frames of firefighters saving the day, and the plot churns slowly forward with a realism almost palpable enough to touch and internalize as one's own personal experience.

That is to say, this book isn't about September 11th so much as it is about us, our lives and our thoughts. This is a beautiful book, as far as 9/11 can be beautiful, and DeLillo's writing is on par with "Underworld" in it's emotional depth.

brett at 09:13 AM on June 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week Megan and I cooked a small dinner for my sister, since she's back in town (fresh from graduating college). I don't think she liked it very much, but we cooked the least exotic thing we knew: tahini rotini with broccoli and butter-fried tofu, a spinach and strawberry salad, and a my favorite Thai-style coconut soup.

Note the bottle of "Pinot Evil" next to the pasta. A pretty nice wine, and for the ultra-low cost of 5.95 a bottle at Super Saver, who can pass on it? Delicious. The only thing I don't like about the tahini rotini is that the sauce itself doesn't seem to reheat very well in the microwave, making it pretty terrible for leftovers and lunches.

That night we also had a surprise visitor in the form of a small puppy named Bell. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't get a dog to keep me company.

brett at 09:06 AM on June 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A long story short: I won't be going to Japan. I've run into major financing issues due to bank tangle ups, scholarship hold-ups, and disappointments from groups as diverse as the US government, UNL, Waseda and banks nationwide. No amount of planning could have foreseen what has happened. So anyway, everyone will get to see my smiling (or more likely, frowning for a while) face here in Lincoln until I figure out what's going on.

brett at 01:38 PM on June 06, 2007 | Permalink