World-Class Cities

I've been fortunate enough to visit (even briefly) some of the world's great cities: San Francisco (twice!), Sydney, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto and New Orleans.

(I've also been to Lincoln, Omaha, Little Rock, Spokane, Memphis, Jacksonville and other U.S. cities that were cool, but definitely not in the same league.)

I'm adding two and a half more to that list next week. On business, I'm flying into Frankfurt and changing planes (that's the half) to Barcelona. The following week, I'm off to Brussels to the European Parliament for meetings. I even have to get different money! Now that's way cool.

World cities are great, travel is great, coming home is great. A friend mentioned that I should take full advantage of the time out of time to collect my thoughts, let my thoughts wander along with my feet, and just enjoy the ride. The PDA and camera are coming along for the ride, too. So I imagine there will be a couple of hundred photographs. Maybe I should practice my "decisive moment" shutter release so I get only the right photos.

Did you know Picasso spent a lot of time in Barcelona? and they speak Catalán there as well as Spanish? COOL!

Hot Hot Weather

(cross-posted to my food blog, The Aspic & Spooon)

I won't say that summer is here because officially, it's not. That's reserved for that auspicious day, June 21, and all its revelry.

However, in Lizard Lodge, the weather is already hot. It was almost 100 today (spare me the dry heat jokes, kthxbye). I could tell because the Lizardmobile steering wheel took a long time to cool off before I could hold it with my hands, rather than fingers. But who is complaining? Not me. Why? Because hot weather means a whole list of delicious delectable delights (I just made that up!). Think of me as the advance guard. If you're some place lovely and gorgeous and warm but not hot right now, just remember your humidity and heat are coming, like a wave up from where I am... so get ready.

Keep these stocked, next to the "Some Like It Hot" undies and champagne, in the icebox:

Pomegranate and mango juice. By Pom in a curvaceous bottle that actually says WONDERFUL on it! How perfect is that! But back to the juice. Tart, sweet, luscious. Best served over crushed ice and then sipped while swinging in the hammock.

Vichyssoise. Cold potato and leek soup. Must be done just right, with a balance between leek, tender potatoes (new or yukon gold are best) and milk/cream. Otherwise, it's a big potato milk shake. I think shallots and white wine make all the difference. (My vegetarian recipe to follow - I must dig it up and test it.)

Gazpacho. Oof. So good, served from chilled punch cups on a chilled glass plate. Chill the spooon too while you're at it. (I'm headed to Spain next week and I'll scour Barcelona for a good recipe/sample.) I've heard of people using vodka in this. I could investigate that, if you like.

Stolichnaya. (Site requires age verification.) Yes, I'm going there. Keep a bottle in your freezer, along with a couple of shot glasses. The website shows cinnamon, vanilla and citrus flavors. I'm making a list.

Popsicles. Make them yourself with the little plastic thingey you can buy at the dollar store. Buy another one too because you're going to lose about 30% of the thingeys as the summer progresses. Make POMsicles, lemonade-sicles, peach mango sicles. A really thick fruit juice like OJ is going to work best as fresh-squeezed or 50% concentrate. The calcium-enriched juices make for a slightly white or chalky appearance.

And by all means, Godiva, Ghirardelli, Hershey, Cadbury, etc. in the fridge are a must.

Grayscale

I've been photographing flowers for a long while. I may be getting better at it (I hope), but one thing I really love about digital photography is the ability to turn something that was shot in color to the more abstract world of black and white. I just started shooting for b/w with this digital camera.

Grayscale is the technique, and one that is never dull. Sounds odd, doesn't it? Gray is supposed to be dull. But look at the work of Edward Weston or Imogen Cunningham, and you just can't say that anymore. Sometimes, taking the color out is a risky thing.

Here's a rose I shot in color and rendered in grayscale via Photoshop (adjustments for contrast and such too). Please click on it to visit Flickr - it looks way better over there in the large version (which is still low resolution).

Grayscale Rose
Originally uploaded by mrswonderful.

Of course, the best fun of all is putting black and white film in your 35mm, taking off the flash, and doing all the composition, lighting and technical work in the camera. Wheeee! now that's as much fun as Splash Mountain! (I'm a photo nerd, aren't I?)

First Podcast

Ok, I managed to mix it and upload it, and I think it will work... MY FIRST PODCAST! Go me!

I hope it is something listeners/readers will like. It's been quite a process getting it up there, learning software, working through the emotional issues, deciding what to leave out of that extraordinary five-six hours with her. A longer memoir of our relationship is in the works...

The podcast is available at:
http://mrswonderful.libsyn.com

There is an RSS feed on that site, and I will try to publish it on iTunes as well.