Soko, Springtime, and "The Seven Who Were Hanged"

Soko just released her first official album and it is great!  Spring has come to my region of Spain and I was able to get a few pictures to share.  And finally, I have a little book review.

Music
I Thought I Was An Alien by Soko                                           3 Gallons of Chick-fil-A lemonade
This is a very good album.  I was pleased she developed the potential that I saw in her earlier work from her EP Not Sokute, which I mentioned in an old post.  This album is much darker and more personal though.  There is a lot of heartbreak in her lyrics, but I think the most interesting aspect is that hearing about her feelings and situations doesn't actually make the listener sad.  If anything, it gave me a better understanding of the artist herself, and put me in a very reflective mood.  Nostalgia is sometimes necessary.
You can get all the typical information such as lyrics, tour dates, and video clips at her website: http://www.s-o-k-o.com/

Pictures
Hooray for happier weather for sunnier times!
The days are getting longer, trees are blooming, and the damp draft that was ever-present is lifting.  This inspired my tourist's walk through the pueblo.

I count myself lucky to be here to see these incredibly blue skies on my warm wanderings.

Reading
The Seven Who Were Hanged by Leonid Nikolayevich Andreyev.        100 oatmeal cream pies
A fascinating series of psychological portraits. 
Background: A group of revolutionaries in monarchial Russia plan an attack on a prominent bureaucrat.  The attempt is foiled, and the plotters are sentenced to death.  Two other criminals are also to die at the same time for unrelated charges.  
As the story unfolds, the reader is taken from cell to cell, brain to brain, to watch how the different personalities of the characters contend with the knowledge that they are to die soon.  One envisions martyrdom, one is terrified into stupor, one considers what it will be like to become nothingness.
I keep reflecting upon what a great movie it could make if a director were to ever take on the project.  It's incredibly Russian in its dark sentiments and motifs, and it maintains that same characteristically Russian novel appeal.  The reader becomes subsumed into details and very moving images and concepts, while the writer pours what he knows of himself and his society into the piece.  And as an added bonus, it's not the length of the typical Russian story.  I was through the bite-sized work in less than an afternoon.  You can read or download it here at Project Gutenberg.  

Indulge, my dandy decadents. Lent is long.

I've been keeping busy with work and new conversation classes, which has left me with much too little time to devote to my blog.

Life updates: 
Still training for the 1/2 Marathon.  My training plan progress meter is at 55%.
I've been preparing plans as to what to do with myself next year...  It's looking promising!
Pinterest is neato.  Get an invite and do it.  
TV interview (in Spanish) for my pueblo's television station was a flop.  An embarrassing flop.  I've not seen it, but I just know.
Bonsai dead.
Carnaval (Spanish spelling) here is definitely different.  At least in little towns.  King Cake season is long over, so basically any kind of cake is a go.  The kids and teachers from the primary schools dressed up in crazy costumes and marched with confetti and hand-held instruments to the main plaza.  Conga lines.  Group dances.  Fun!  My favorite chant: "Eso es Car-na-val!" lulz.  We got two days off from school--just the two party days, and we go back on Ash Wednesday.  Sort of strange, but I'll take it.  You can see some more pictures of my school's parade here.  As some background: the school is working on an international cooperation project, so lots of different languages were used on the banners and costumes the kids had.

A side note: I think the best King Cake I had in New Orleans was actually from Whole Foods.  Chantilly and Berry filling.  Here's their recipe. 

A great link with pictures of celebrations around the world from Boston's Big Picture.

Music news:
Not impressed with NPR's First Listen as of late, but some Little Rock Doom Metal made the site.  Go Arkansas!
In keeping with the Carnivale (NOLA spelling) theme, iTunes has a free download "Carnivale Time".  Trumpets, drums, classic.

Cheers to chaos, and here's to hot mess!

Simon Cake

Since I have a [notorious] sweet tooth, but no oven, I've been making no-bake desserts.

I've decided to post two "recipes" for an icebox/no-bake cake my family calls Simon Cake.  I've put the word, "recipes" in quotes because it's not really an exact way to prepare a specific cake, but rather a method that can be used in a wide variety of ways.  

Single-serving of Raspberry and Chocolate Simon Cake

A few years ago, someone showed me their family recipe for a no-bake cake.  Although I promised not to share specifics with anyone, passing on the technique is acceptable.   The original, which still shows up at family gatherings, uses a rich, custardy buttercream, sort of like a tiramisu with digestive biscuits instead of lady fingers.

The method is easy; alternating rows of cookies and filling to make a nice layered dessert.  The cookies are dunked in a liquid to help them soften and to give them extra flavor.  

I've improvised a couple of new versions using different combinations of ingredients I like.  I tried to post using really different ingredients to show how versatile this little cake can be.  

Parfait-Style Raspberry and Chocolate Simon Cake (2 servings)

1 sleeve of digestive cookies (about 10 each were actually used)

1 serving cup of yogurt (low/no-fat works)

1 package of raspberry flavored cocoa

8 teaspoons raspberry jam (approximately 4 each)

Some chopped white/milk chocolate for garnish

Assembly: I made individual servings, so I used a jar.  You can easily double the recipe for 4-6 servings, and arrange the cookies in larger rows on a plate.

1. Prepare the cocoa according to the package directions, just using a bit less water for a stronger flavor.  Pour about 2/3 of the cocoa into a shallow bowl to make it easier to dunk the cookies, and let it cool--save the rest of the cocoa just in case, and drink it when you're done. :)

2. Dunk one cookie into the cooled cocoa liquid, and place it at the bottom of your individual serving jar.

3. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of yogurt on top.

4. Dunk another cookie, place it on top as the base for the next layer, but put a heaping teaspoon of raspberry jam on top.

5. Repeat this alternating layering process until you run out of enough room in the jar, or until you run out of yogurt.
6. Garnish with chocolate pieces.
7. Refrigerate for at least an hour.*

*This is pretty important because it gives the cookies time to soften and the flavors to marry.  If you freeze it immediately, it doesn't seem to reach the desired taste and texture quite as well.  If you want to store it for a little while, wait to freeze it after this initial hour.

After an hour of waiting: scarf mode.

Worth. The. Wait.

Now, a richer adaptation.  I've been feeling a bit nostalgic and missing the U.S. lately, so I decided: what better way to relive my chubby childhood than to make something using peanut butter and cream cheese?

This is an only slightly oversized piece of Peanut Butter and Cream Cheese Simon Cake

Peanut Butter and Cream Cheese Simon Cake (4-6 servings)

(All of these are approximations, and where possible I substituted the "light" version for each ingredient...)

1 sleeve of digestive cookies

4 oz. cream cheese

2 oz. peanut butter

2 tbsp. sugar (or more/less to taste)

1/4 c. coffee + 1 tbsp. hot cocoa drink mix added

Assembly: About the same as above, but if you want to take the cake to the table to serve it, be sure to build it on the serving plate itself.  I made mine in a little plastic airtight container for easier storage, and served it on regular plates or in dessert bowls.

1. Soften the cream cheese, mix in peanut butter and sugar.  This can also be whipped for a lighter texture.  Taste it to see what you think. (I made mine less sweet because I wanted something rich and a bit tangy.)  As the flavors cool, they'll meld together a bit more.  

2. Dunk the cookies one by one into the cooled coffee liquid, arranging them in a layer side-by-side as you go.  I put a layer of 4 on each row because I wanted a taller cake with more visible layers.

3. Spoon over the peanut butter mixture, covering the cookies evenly.  I found myself heating the mixture up in the microwave once or twice to make it a bit easier to spread.

4. Repeat the layering process until you run out of enough of the peanut butter mixture to make any more layers, or until you think you've made a big enough cake.  If you have coffee liquid left you can pour a bit over the final layer, or throw it out.

5. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Additional Ideas

You can really mix and match.  This technique can be adapted to be vegan, low sugar, etc.  Whatever combinations you know go well together should work.  If you would eat it in the same bowl as a parfait, try it out.  Just taste as you go.

Cookies: graham crackers, chocolate sandwich cookies, vanilla wafers, chocolate digestive biscuits, shortbread cookies.  I think animal crackers are the only toughies here because of the shape--try to keep with squares for multiple-serving cakes, and round or square for single-servings.

Dunking liquid: almost any coffee, tea, espresso, cocoa, flavored cocoas, a splash of coffee flavoring like peppermint or toffee, a splash of alcohol like rum or bourbon added to the coffee.  I've never tried anything with fruit juice or dairy, but I think it's possible.

Spread: buttercream, all sorts of nut butters, chocolate-hazelnut spread, dulce de leche, fruit jams, pie fillings, whipped cream, cream cheese, mousse, pudding, yogurt...  You can use sugar substitutes, light versions, etc.  It could be whipped, left creamy, combined, alternated; you name it.  Just think about what you want your final texture and taste to be.  If you want something airy, you may want to use whipped cream.  If you want something rich and tangy, cream cheese.  Decadent--chocolates, caramels, custards, and puddings.

Add ins: fruit such as bananas or berries should hold up well, chopped dried fruits and nuts, chopped candies

Serving: some nuts or fruit, a drizzle of chocolate, hot fudge, caramel, or fruit sauce, whipped cream, a scoop of ice cream

Among the combinations I'm hoping to try out:  
Chocolate graham crackers dunked in peppermint coffee with chocolate mouse layers.
Chocolate sandwich cookies dunked in espresso, layered with dulce de leche cream cheese.  
Shortbread cookies dunked in cocoa, layered with a whipped cream and chocolate-hazelnut spread and banana slices.

'Beloved' and Going to Band Camp

It's been many moons since I have indulged my blogging pleasure. I've been keeping busy in the meantime, however. I've been reading and listening to podcasts here and there. I've also picked up some additional conversation classes, and really thrown myself into my fitness routines.
Results: I'm a slightly smarter, slightly leaner, slightly wealthier person. But boy, do I mean slightly.
Anyway, here I go!

Beloved                                                          2343234 no-bake cookies and a HUGE glass of milk

Beloved is America, and you can too! I jest in an attempt to lighten a really tough subject, but sans-silliness, Toni Morrison's classic is a truly fantastic novel.
I'm clearly a late comer to the book. At my high school, it was lumped in with other period novels, and I selected another book to read in its stead. But I must say, I'm quite pleased with my recent resolve to make up for lost time. I'm not going to go into a summary of the novel, or even descriptions of the characters/events--it's easy to find that stuff elsewhere; I plan to just talk a bit about the musings it's evoked. 

Aside from the fact that it took me so long to finally read it, another unfortunate aspect for me in relating to the book is that it's too often categorized, and thus labeled. It's usually described as a "must read" for February because of Black History Month, or a required text for particular American history or literature classes because it's about a dark time in our nation's past. However, I think it's a disservice to try to categorize the novel in these ways because it gives perceived limits in readership and literary themes.

The story is much more than a story about slavery or the inhuman way people treated each other. It transcends the epoch in which it is set to provide a much wider commentary on contemporary society, women's issues, and more generally the human spirit as a whole. This is part of what allows for so many different interpretations of events and characters in the novel, and it is what makes the story so moving and salient for me. Characters are dynamic, and so is Morrison's writing style. Evolution occurs throughout the story, in the development of the women's personalities and relationships, the unraveling fragmented narrative, and even the style of the prose used to convey events.

The supernatural elements at work in the novel are presented at the very beginning of the novel, and are completely taken for granted by the characters. At first this was a bit hard for me to access because I didn't originally anticipate the need to suspend reality--it's a historical novel, right?--however, much like in Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, [another book I love without reserve,] this element of wholeheartedly believing in the supernatural creates an effect that draws a person in, if not as a coconspirator in a sense, then at least as an assimilated member of the community. Towards the end, Morrison also flirted with elements of Faulkner, bringing American style stream-of-consciousness to bear. Readers had a distant view of each character's actions, feelings, and thoughts throughout the novel, but the new direction the writing took for a limited time offered even deeper insights and revelations. The end was sort of unexpected, yet very satisfactory.
Hand well played.


Music
To use an old expression, Bandcamp pwns face.
I posted a link to my NOLA pal Gabriel Goldstein's album Sad Stories and Cautionary Tales quite a while ago, but I didn't talk about the Bandcamp site itself.
If you're an artist it's potentially cool because you can sign up for free and get your music out there in a way that wasn't available even a few years ago. You can set the price, give your stuff away, or allow listeners to decide what to pay for themselves.
If you're looking to discover new artists it's great because you have a wide variety of music you would never otherwise hear, available for instant download.

Personal recommendations:
Smokey-voiced/experimental Josh Garrels,
Where the Wild Things Are, Argentina style Julio y Agosto,
Bordering on lo-fi Cathedral Pearls,
Folky Chris Rubeo, and
Ethereal Chris Staples.

Free. Do it. Now.