Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed) by John Boswell :
http://ping.fm/zACn4

I have lots of books & music CDs for sale at
http://ping.fm/c0AEI

Fresh homemade spices for sale including Green Thai Curry, Moroccan Tajine & Tandoori Spice Blend at
http://ping.fm/qYSVi

I'm selling books & cds to fund the insurrection:
http://ping.fm/oGWIk

Attention knitters: my wife has a pattern featured in Twist Collective magazine! :
http://ping.fm/MjUOL

Chica Banda by Cafe Tacuba

http://ping.fm/9YZVn

Ingrata by Cafe Tacuba

http://ping.fm/KaMjq

is listening to The Grownup Noise. You should too! : http://ping.fm/XSLej

is looking people who would like to share their favorite stories and folktales from around the world. What are some of your favorites?

Inherent Vice, the new book by Thomas Pynchon, is available for pre-order now.
http://ping.fm/ttjpX

Get your original spice and seasoning blends for summer grilling at http://emburke.etsy.com

I have lots of used books and CDs in great condition for sale at: http://ping.fm/qiRRN

My wonderful wife is participating in the Emmaus, Inc. Cycle for Shelter, this Sunday, July 26th. Please help support her at: http://ping.fm/zrtBN

day of shooting photos in the community for newspaper articles

Arrangement of a piece I wrote October of 2008 - Flatfoot Gumshoe: http://ping.fm/1uTvp

is checkin' it out

is testing stuff

Spring Awakening

I thought I had already posted this but it seems to have mysteriously vanished…

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus through the past several months, but that doesn’t mean everything has completely stopped. Winter is always a time of hunkering down and working on long overdue projects - right after all of that holiday travel and such has settled down. I’ll be reconfiguring my ubiquitous web site presence -updating information, changing layouts, etc., & bringing my private persona & life out into the public a bit more. I’d love to hear from you, find out what is happening in your world & what you have planned in the upcoming months.

* I’m almost through redesigning my web site, Ishah 'El theatre arts, which is up, and should be finished soon

* I hope to have some new music up soon. Which isn't really new. I’ve got a huge back log of material that needs to be edited, mixed and promoted through out the internet. I’ll also have it posted on my web site.

* Ditto with writing, which I will also feature on the web site.

* Fundraising. It just never stops. If the spirit moves you, please help out. We are a non-profit organization and we subsist entirely on the kindness of strangers - people just like you! (Now doesn’t that sound officially NPR - PBS-ish?) Donations are tax refundable. Please check out some of the links provided & consider helping out: FirstGiving, JustGive & Paypal.

* I have also been selling my own original spice blends for seasoning and cooking. You can find them at: emburke.etsy.com. I’m hoping to branch out & feature some other non-edible creations I’ve got brewing in the back of my mind. My wife, Cheryl, has some great home made crafted items that you should check out here: yarnbee.etsy.com.

* I’ve been checking out scores of sites where creative artists of all stripes mingle & scheme, and it has been really impressive to see the growth of an independent grass roots, DIY industry. I have to say, I for one am glad that I don’t have to go into town to a Tower or HMV record store to find you. Especially at 4:00 am. Now if I could only make it to more of your performances.

* I’m also working on a forum portal for collaborating & sharing, which will be on the web site.

* Collaborating: I’ve been checking out the new collaborating sites for musicians, artists, etc. It has fantastic potential and I’m really excited to try it out & get together (virtually) with some of you. Come look me up at ejamming.com, jamuse.com, indaba.com, jamnow.com, macjams.com & elsewhere.

* I’m curating a featured film & visual arts afternoon every third Sunday of the month (excepting this month, which will happen on the fifth Sunday, the 30th) at the Ark Five Collge Episcopal Center, 758 North Pleasant Street, in Amherst, MA. 2:00 to 5:00 pm. Details will be posted here as they come. Hope to see you there.

* This Saturday I’m joining up with a bunch of friends to try improvising some loosely scripted noise. It should be great fun! I’m hoping that we will record it but I suspect that may not happen.

* Speaking of improvisation & fun, Joe Edelman, an event and community artist who works with communication technology, public space, and fun, is planning on doing some large scale improvisation in the community here. It will be very fun, interesting, inspiring & probably create some well need creative enlightenment. I’ll post here when it happens. Maybe you can join us.


* Come on out & find me on some of the other sites I’m on:
FaceBook, MySpace, MusicForte, isound.com, ReverbNation, & elsewhere.

I can’t guarantee that you’ll discover anything new or different from one site to the other, but it would be great to have your friendship & support elsewhere!

Thanks for all of your support, your kind & generous words and most of all, your friendship. I really appreciate it!

Regards,
Elliott

a good yarn spun

or - pulling at invisible strings

She knitted mufflers endlessly

Cheryl, my incredible wife, has found a burgeoning world of opportunity, community, excitement and satisfaction through crafting, mainly knitting. She loves to knit and it has paid off well in a rather unexpected and serendipitous way. For over a year now she has been blogging about her projects and process; she joined a high profile online knitting group, Ravelry, which has had a long waiting list just to get on. Through these means her art has been recognized by others, especially a sweater that she designed and knitted. The owner of Webs, a local yarn store, recognized her sweater while she was shopping and they fast became good acquaintances. Soon she was approached by the store and asked if she would be interested in knitting store samples for credit, which she accepted with excitement. Cheryl had been hoping to someday merge into spinning her own yarn, and this gave her the perfect opportunity to not only acquire bushels of yarn but to obtain her own spinning wheel at little to no cost. Web's approached her again and asked her if she would be interested in teaching a knitting class, which she also accepted and is now on her third week in.

As if that isn't enough, she has also won awards for her knitting at the annual Eastern States Exposition for the past two years.

None of this was planned. much of it came about after she began to blog about her interests and share them with others. Honestly, she was skeptical about blogging for at least six months but was somehow won over to the idea and has been blessed by it. Sure, blogging takes more time than she would care to invest in and expend toward, but it has taken her places she never expected and given her friends she would never have found otherwise, and that is an invaluable achievement.

If you like crafting, knitting, yarn and other such related arts, pop on over into her sphere of cyber creation - a world of color, discovery, creativity and community. You can find her at:
Yarnbee
Ravelry
Etsy
Flickr
& at her website at:
busy bee printing press
(amazing graphic designer by day, incredible craft maker by night)

Drop by and tell her Elliott sent you. I think you will love Cheryl almost as much as I do!

Fat Thursday, or Organic Free-Range Thanksgiving Kangaroos!

For the past several years Cheryl and I have been re-inventing the Thanksgiving dinner tradition. By that I mean we've been trying alternatives to the tried and true traditional fare, something we have grown quite weary with. We both realized that neither of us really care all that much for turkey and, as a couple, we always end up with way more food through the next week than we really need. If you're not fond of turkey then why cook more than you want or need? Cheryl isn't big on potatoes in any variety, I've never cared much for the cranberry sauce and candied yams, especially when they are served from a can like they were when I was growing up. I've never figured out what ambrosia is, where it came from or why anyone would make it let alone eat it. I suspect that ambrosia evolved into the traditional holiday fruit cake - leave it alone in the back of the refrigerator to petrify, then slice it up, serve and see if anyone is brave enough to take it. Stuffing still makes the list. We both like pumpkin pie and, to me, the arrival of pumpkin pie and egg nog officially announces that the holiday season is here. So in the past we have sought out variations on the holiday menu, some of if swiped from past traditions that have been nudged out of the way by the turkeys. We live near a game farm that does an incredible business in turkeys this time of year but also offers a variety of substitutes: geese, duck (including smoked duck), chicken and Cornish game hens. They also carry ham as well as buffalo, alligator, ostrich and kangaroo meat, but we've yet to try them. Maybe someday the phrase "Thanksgiving Ostrich" or "Thanksgiving Kangaroo" will sound as common as organic free-range does. Imagine that being shouted from your holiday circular headlines - "Organic Free-Range Thanksgiving Kangaroos!"

I once worked at a great restaurant in Cambridge called "Daddy-O's Bohemian Cafe". The philosophy and approach of the owners, Paul Sussman and Ellis Seidman, was simple and refreshing: home style comfort food with an emphasis on the ethnic traditions that our familiar American foods had evolved from. Daddy-O's was warm and inviting, earthy and unpretentious, akin to going to a block party barbeque in your neighborhood. The environment was funky and eclectic, styled as an imaginary 1950's roadhouse diner where Ferlinghetti and Kerouc might have met up for some grub after a long day of yo-yoing. Food not too far removed from your sphere of familiarity, but better, served along with a plug of seltzer, lime rickey, coffee, wine, fresh baked pies and cool jazz playing in the background. Daddy-O's also developed their own contemporary philosophy about food - we all grew up eating bad food that either our parents or the local restaurants didn't know how to cook. Rubbery veal parmigiana or breaded chicken cutlets, watery and flavorless sauces, over cooked and dry steaks, mushy pasta, thick and lumpy mashed potatoes, gravies that tasted like unset plaster of Paris with artificial turkey flavoring, instant food from a box or a can. You remember. Of course you do. Daddy-O's set out to re-define and improve upon the great, favorite traditional meals of our youth and succeeded with style, creativity and flair. Sadly, Daddy-O's closed their doors about ten years ago and I have to make do with their expert influence and inspiration. I did with our Thanksgiving dinner what Daddy-O's might have done with the holiday meal.

This year we went with the game hens. They are smaller than a chicken, gamier and better tasting (ditto for turkey as well) and will leave you with only one or two small to moderate portions to deal with the day after. The game hens were lightly coated with garlic infused extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and some ground pepper, then stuffed with a quarter wedge of onion, a few cloves of garlic, and some sprigs of fresh marjoram and sage. They also take far less time to cook - about an hour to an hour and a half. Since we had our friend Rachel over, there was one for each of us. Plus they were on sale at our store - two per package, buy one get one free. I placed the game hens breast up in our roasting pan and cooked them at 450 degrees for a half hour, then turned them over and reduced the heat to 350 for another 40 to 50 minutes. They came out perfect, with the skin nice and crisp and the meat tender and juicy.

Thanksgiving offers us a great opportunity to get a jump up on our fat layer for the winter. We accomplished this with plenty of butter and cream in the soup, sides and dessert. The week before I made a roasted squash, leek and apple soup. Using vegetable stock for the base I added the squash, leeks and apples (cooked with a light coating of EVOO, salt and pepper) and pureed it until smooth. Blend in ground ginger and coriander, a touch of honey, and lots of butter and cream while it's simmering and you have a hearty harvest soup that compliments any meal. I used the basic ingredients here except I baked the squash, leeks and apples with my Green Thai Spice Seasoning and used coconut milk instead of cream. It turned out quite nice.

For sides for the game hens I made stuffing using butter, chicken stock, fresh marjoram and sage, diced onion and sliced baby bella mushrooms. I used a package mix since I rarely ever have stale bread in bulk on hand, either for croutons or for feeding pigeons. We had mashed potatoes and mashed yams, both cooked with butter, cream and sour cream and topped with sliced green onions. For a garnish I toasted chopped pecans and hazelnuts, added butter, suger, quatre épices and a spicy pepper blend I made from a combination of dried chiles. Oh, and there was gravy, too, of course, which I made from the pan drippings.

For dessert I created a pumpkin crème brûlée galette, which was actually more of a mousse in texture. I incorporated a couple recipe outlines for pumpkin pie type deserts and modified it into a galette - a sort of open topped pie. I used canned pie filling (some day I'll have to try fresh baked pumpkins) that I folded into whipped egg whites, egg yolk emulsion and whipped cream, flavored it with sugar, vanilla, maple syrup and Grand Marnier - NO PUMPKIN PIE SPICES! All in all, the filling wasn't too sweet, more on the savory side. Rolling out a simple pie crust into about seven inch circles, I placed a scoop or two of the filling in the center and folded the edges up around it so that it sort of looked like an aperture, then baked at 380 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes and served it with a drizzle of burnt caramel sauce over it. To compliment our Thanksgiving meal we had a sparkling peach cider.

Should anyone have any interest in the recipes for these dishes - in approximates, not exact measurements, natch - you can write me back here. I'll be recreating them in writing in the next week and have them available for you.