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Pfeffernüsse

2009-12-06T23:24:04Z

I was tired of sugar cookies and decided to try something different this year for the holidays. They came out pretty well, I wish I had been able to find regular molasses rather than blackstrap molasses - then I think the flavor of the spices would have come out a little more. They're not that difficult to make - just a lot of waiting. I suggest making the dough the night before and baking them in the morning, or vice versa.

The recipe from the Gourmet (R.I.P.) Cookbook after the jump!

]]> Makes about 11 dozen cookies
active time: 2 hours
start to finish: 14 hours (includes chilling and standing time)

For Cookies:
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses (NOT robust or blackstrap - this is important!)
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons anise seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water

For Coating:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Make the Cookies:
Beat together butter and margarine in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Beat in brown sugar, egg, and molasses. Whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and spices in a medium bowl, then beat into molasses mixture. Dissolve baking soda in hot water, then beat into batter. Beat in remaining 1 1/2 cups flour until incorporated. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 8 hours.

Put racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two large baking sheets.

Roll level teaspoons of dough into balls and arrange about 1 1/2 inches apart on buttered baking sheets. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until puffed and just set in the center, 10 to 14 minutes total. Transfer cookies to racks to cool.

Make the coating:
Combine granulated sugar and water in a 1-quart saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cool syrup completely.

Transfer syrup to a shallow bowl. Place sheets of wax paper under racks of cookies. Dip cooled cookies one at a time in syrup to coat and return to racks to drain. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

Sift confectioners' sugar into a paper bag. Shake a few cookies at a time in bag to coat, then lightly brush off excess sugar with your fingers.

Soundtrack 2009

2009-11-28T05:28:45Z

Looking back on the past year, there are a couple of bands and albums that stood out as my soundtrack for 2009 - they were on heavy rotation on my iPod and I couldn't get them out of my head. In no particular order:

Quantic and his Combo Barbaro: totally great mixture of Latin, African and Middle Eastern sounds. I wish I could be driving in a convertible down the beach on a summer evening with this on my stereo.
Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska: I know this album is more than 20 years old, but I recently downloaded it and made me realize that I don't hate Bruce. In fact, this album is totally stark and moving and unlike anything that I had associated Bruce with. Thanks eMusic.
Under the Covers: A two disc covers album with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, lead singer of the Bangles. Some of the covers are pretty straightforward, but I love Susanna Hoffs' voice and I can't get enough of it.
Metric: This was Metric's year. "Help I'm Alive" was an earworm for me for almost a month straight. I blame it on @djacobs.
Cut Copy: Poppy electro disco perfection.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: I think this was in every hipster's playlist at some point this year. But there's a reason why! Twee, endearing vocals, with a sugary pop coating.
Darker Than Blue: Soul From Jamdown 1973-1980: I was never a huge reggae fan but this album has made me change my mind - the music on here is deep, powerful and yes, dark.
Neko Case: Because she's brilliant and I always need my dose of countrified alt rock.
Thao: This album recently made it into heavy rotation - I constantly download female singer/songwriter type music with high expectations but often they blur together. Thao has a really unique sound that just grabs your heart and makes her stand out from the rest.

I think that Lady Gaga also deserves a mention even though I have been resisting her for months - Bad Romance has been stuck in my head for days now. Damn her wily charms!

Thankful

2009-11-26T18:08:50Z

The older I get, the more nostalgic I become for the holiday season. There's something different about this time of year, when you think more about family, reflect on the past seasons, and enjoy the last fading colors of autumn (at least in New York). I have a love/hate relationship with the retailers, they definitely bring out the Christmas stuff too early these days but it puts me in the mood for hot cocoa, curling up on the couch and making tree ornaments.

So in celebration I've dug up some old family photos that I'm going to post over the next few days over in Seen - not necessarily of the holidays, but pictures that bring up that sense of reflection and remembrance that is so prevalent during this time.

Relaunch, of a sorts

2009-09-07T13:27:40Z

So, what, it's been a year since I promised an overhaul of my site? It's finally here! I got a kick in the pants to finish up my templates and launch the site because the inaction was preventing me from producing any content. Part of what I had to overcome was seeing this site as a finished product and rather as a work in progress - so please excuse the funny looking search pages. I'm really happy about finally putting this up, dusting off the corners, and adding a whole bunch of new ways for me to consolidate my thoughts.

I approached the redesign from analyzing how I create content; I've never been a regular blog writer in the sense that I was dedicated enough to write every day. I tend to write epic blog posts every once in a while, but I had to admit that it wasn't something that I always enjoyed doing and that I had to feel "inspired" to reach the point of enjoying it - but not that I wanted to cut that out entirely. So those epic blog posts are still around under "Written", and may even have not-so-epic blog posts/rants in the future. But I knew that I had to figure out the other ways that I create content beyond what I consider straight "blog writing".

]]> So I thought about it and I realized that I collect images. I take so many photos, I'm constantly looking for inspiration visually and I needed one place to gather it all together. I also wanted to set up a daily practice for myself, by choosing an image that felt appropriate in the moment and figuring out why. So this has evolved into the "Seen" section - the format is definitely inspired by sites like The Big Picture, The Sartorialist and ffffound, but it may morph into something else entirely as I continue this daily practice.

Another thing that I've been wanting to do forever was create a place where I could document my food experiences, mainly at restaurants, to share with others. I had created a map a long time ago on CommunityWalk, but it isn't flexible enough in terms of slicing and dicing the content, and besides the fact that I am not able to export any data out of the system, which irritates me to no end. So in the next few weeks I'll be copying and pasting all of that data out of the system back into my own site at "Eaten", and it'll be a great resource when anyone asks me where they should go for italian food.

I also needed a space for posting about art and design projects I have in progress or have completed. It's going to be more free form, a mixture of text and photos, and be both a documentation within the process of creating but then also cleaning it up into a coherent, discrete project. This will become the "Made" section, which is still in the works.

I also wanted the challenge of creating a site completely from scratch and trying out front end development techniques that I hadn't before - like using sIFR for titles and jquery for various user interactions. And if I can use this site as an experiment and let it evolve over time I can continue to try out newer methods (Typekit please!) and incorporate it into my everyday design practice. And it doesn't hurt to work on my MT templating skillz as well.

And lastly I knew that I wanted to tie in all of the "social" sites that I participate in already on the web, but in a way that made contextual sense rather than just throwing up a bunch of "actions". So bit by bit I'm finding ways to syndicate that content around the site that's appropriate to what I'm trying to do.

So take a look around and tell me what you think!

The Rain

2009-03-29T15:32:26Z

Isn't going to get me down today. In fact, it's another kick in the butt to get all of our seeds sown indoors so that we'll be ready to go once the weather really gets nice. This year we're going for tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, beans, lettuce, and even some flowers. We learned a lot last year about where to plant things, but the fallen tree will present some new challenges. Looking forward to spring!

It starts

2009-03-28T14:54:38Z

I just finished upgrading this site to MT 4.25. I've got a new design in the works, and totally psyched about getting Motion integrated into it. So excited, in fact, that I've applied the default Motion template set in the interim to try things out.

Photos! Restaurant reviews! Stuff I make! Tweets! Links! Rants! It's all coming soon!

I really mean it this time.

"Holiday" Party 2008

2009-03-13T00:13:15Z

IMG_0383, originally uploaded by ambienttraffic.

well, it happened in March 2009.

Thanks so much to Danny, Ethan and the crew at Hecho en Dumbo for a fabulous party!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T22:36:19Z

The spread!, originally uploaded by ambienttraffic.

A very nice day - with family, Mariokart, and LOTS of food.

My blog is ugly

2008-10-16T12:51:38Z

there, i said it. Perhaps I will sign up for a TOTAL BLOG MAKEOVER. via, um, me?

Five months in one post!

2008-10-06T01:39:33Z

Geez I haven't posted anything since May. Almost five months!! I've been too busy working on other people's blogs to even write anything on my own blog. So sad.

Stuff I've been involved with/have done in those past five months:

participated in Meaning Cleaning
am playing with Typepad's iPhone app
Made cool web sites - one for a friend and lots at work
Visited Crater Lake and Portland and hung out with some peeps
Did beach training with others at Seido
Drove up to Cold Spring with Stepha and a rented Mini
Cooked lots of yummy food and am part of the Bed-Stuy CSA
Attended two very lovely weddings - this one and this one
participated in a show at Gallery Aferro
Visited San Fran and friends!
attended Wordcamp NY
Made more paintings which I haven't posted yet...boo

Phew! What a list! Maybe it would be helpful next time to actually write a post when these things actually happen.

The Takeaway

2008-05-16T11:55:28Z

The Takeaway is a new morning news program that debuted on WNYC about three weeks ago. I've been holding back my opinion to give the show a chance to get into its groove; unfortunately the show has not lived up to my expectations, and I've switched my radio alarm to CBS FM for now (fun music but the DJ and commercials are supremely annoying). I guess it doesn't help either that it's spring fundraising time for public radio and they've seriously damaged my confidence in them.

The reason why I listen to NPR is that the news is presented in a calm, measured and thoughtful manner. In interview segments, the interviewer gives the interviewee plenty of time to state his or her case. Most of the time the line of questioning makes logical sense and the interview feels like it has a beginning, middle and end. The interviewer isn't doing most of the talking, the interviewee is. To me, this is the hallmark of NPR's style and why I choose to listen to WNYC and not talk radio in the morning. NPR also has a knack for bringing stories to the radio (both local and national) that don't necessarily make it onto most people's radar, and I very much appreciate that as well.

The Takeaway seems like the exact opposite to these qualities. The segments are ultra short, so short that the hosts are perpetually cutting off the interviewees in mid-sentence. It feels rather rude and amateurish. I don't really get a sense of the issue they're discussing either way, because it seems like the hosts are just trying to create quick, quotable sound bites that sound cool but don't actually mean anything. They aren't facilitating any kind of discussion in a serious way, they just seem to be following a script and ask the question, regardless of whether or not it had anything to do with the response. When they do go off-script, it's pretty obvious because the questions are so awkward that the interviewee doesn't even know how to respond to it. And asking the audience such inane questions as "What's on your personal endangered list?" seems so patronizing.

One example that stood out was a discussion about Grand Theft Auto. Both hosts had only contempt for the game, you can hear it in their voices and the questions that they ask. Have either of them even played GTA? I personally have not, but I expect a more evenhanded approach to it. All I got from the segment is that Grand Theft Auto is "evil" and "violent", a typical knee jerk reaction. Contrast this with the the discussion of GTA on "On the Media", where Brooke Gladstone is "playing" the game. It was such a different approach, it wasn't about buzzwords, it was about discussing research on games like GTA and if it had any measurable effect on children, and creating a historical context for violence in popular culture. The segment was careful in not taking one side or another in promoting or condemning the game, which to me is one of NPR's strengths.

The only thing that I can give them kudos for are having a decent website, and trying to incorporate that more into the radio show. Why not facilitate an actual, real-life discussion instead of just spewing sound bites? Judging by the 200-plus comments on this post, many people feel the same way I do, perhaps with some more vitriol. Let me give some suggestions instead of just bitching about it.

Make the segments longer. You don't need to fit in every topic under the sun. I'm not saying just focus on one topic per hour like Brian Lehrer or Leonard Lopate, but maybe pick 4 and really delve into them. You're on every morning of the week, so why are you in such a hurry?
Get more than one person with a different point of view on the issue. It seems like they bring in one person who is an "expert" and end up chatting with him or her for about two and a half minutes before cutting them off.
The music is really irritating. You totally ripped off a Depeche Mode song from the Ultra album. I love me some Depeche Mode but not at 6 in the morning.
Try listening to the people you're interviewing. Instead of talking over them, really listen and respond to what they're saying. This is key in facilitating discourse.
Why not do some more research into talking about topics that aren't on the front page of the NY Times?
One more thing: put the comments on the same page as your post. Separating the comments out onto another page just gives more of an impression that you are not facilitating a dialogue and just relegating people's comments to the wayside.

I even tried giving the Takeaway another chance. This morning I was lying in bed listening to the show and completely cringing at the lame banter between John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji. Listen, it's not funny. Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me is funny. And that's fine for Sunday morning. But this is the weekday, I want my news. I don't want the opinion of some lame radio host injected into my news. There are about a hundred other radio stations that do that. Please take the advice of your listeners, WNYC. The Takeaway doesn't need to be a clone of Morning Edition, but consider why people listen to public radio. You talk about it all the time during your spring fundraisers, why can't you take your own advice?

Spring is here! Your footwear is on notice.

2008-05-05T21:42:16Z

The weather has finally turned springlike in New York in past few weeks and I can't wait to spend more time outdoors. But as I've been roaming the streets, I've been forced to notice the horrible, horrible footwear choices of so many New Yorkers. What so many people don't understand is that what looks good on a model or what may be trendy looks completely horrible on you.

Everyone knows the UGGs example. Those boots make any girl look like the abominable snowman. I still don't understand how this trend hasn't died yet. Perhaps it's because of the hordes of tourists from other places other than New York that invade Soho, and the styles they wear are about three years behind in the rest of the country. Don't get me wrong, I am not dissing middle America, but everyone knew that UGGs are horrible looking, why continue the trend? I can't wait until UGG fanatics look at photos of themselves in five years, and think, "God, what was I thinking? I looked like a total tool!" Sort of like anyone who grew up in the 80s and wore a side ponytail.

So here are my top five rules on spring footwear. Well, footwear in general.

Do not, under any circumstances, wear those flat boots without heels and tuck your jeans in to said boots. Unless you wear a size -1. Otherwise your legs will just look like tree stumps. Just because some chick in that Urban Outfitters catalog you received last week can pull it off doesn't mean you can!
Do not wear leggings with ballet flats. Your legs will STILL look like tree stumps. And for godssakes, pick up your feet when you walk, that shuffling duck walk is so unappealing.
Do not wear those really really flat sandals or flip flops. YOU ARE NOT AT THE BEACH. And again, did you realize you walk like a duck?
Men: do not wear flip flops. Especially you jocks with those black Adidas sandals. What the hell? If you have ugly, uncared-for feet, I don't want to see them. If your girlfriend doesn't want to see your feet, neither do we. At least trim your toenails and get rid of that fungus if you're going to show us your toes. (addendum: if you have a nice pair of leather sandals, go for it. it's just the OP-surfer-dude-crappy sandals that I can't stand.)
extra super pointy shoes. Don't do it. Do you really want to look like a medieval court jester? Because that's exactly what you look like.
sorry, one more rule: don't wear Crocs. You're not Mario Batali. And what's up with the holes? Are those shoes really going to protect you when you spill a bucket of hot grease on them?

Banning UGG boots goes without saying. Besides, has anyone poked their head out the window lately? Guess what, it's spring and I don't see any snow, do you?

Next fashion topic: wearing leggings without a skirt. Banned? Discuss.

Theory & Practice

2008-04-15T02:44:21Z

Theory and Practice
April 19-May 17, 2008
Curated by Evonne M. Davis
with full color catalog

Reception on April 19th, 2007
7-10pm
at Gallery Aferro
73 Market St Newark NJ 07102

"There are no countries now" -from artist Alan Bigelow's When I was President

Theory+ Practice is an acknowledgment, interrogation and fete of the void between what the world could be and what it is.
Artists: Andrew Leo Baron, Alan Bigelow, Deric Carner, Robert Ladislas Derr, Nisha Drinkard, Katarina Jerinic, Darren Jones, Tracie Lee, Paula McCartney, Tori Purcell, Stephanie Standish, Alina Tenser, Matthew Verdon, Brian Wondergem

View more about my project, Pieces of Sky]]> April 19-May 17, 2008
Curated by Evonne M. Davis
with full color catalog

"There are no countries now" -from artist Alan Bigelow's When I was President

Theory+ Practice is an acknowledgement, interrogation and fete of the void between what the world could be and what it is.

Artists: Andrew Leo Baron, Alan Bigelow, Deric Carner, Robert Ladislas Derr, Nisha Drinkard, Katarina Jerinic, Darren Jones, Tracie Lee, Paula McCartney, Tori Purcell, Stephanie Standish, Alina Tenser, Matthew Verdon, Brian Wondergem

I heart Tumblr. But I'm not dissing you, Movable Type.

2008-04-04T03:21:21Z

Recently I started a tumblelog on Tumblr. I wanted to see what was out there - I figured that I work with Movable Type every day and it'd probably be a good idea to get a handle on the competition. I had heard about Tumblr before but it never really made sense to me. It seemed so stripped down, what could you possibly do with it? Then I actually started using it.

It was like a whole different world. I could post short little notes, almost like a sketchbook. Suddenly I felt free to post whatever caught my fancy, whatever crossed my path at the moment and seemed interesting and noteworthy. My attitude towards posting had suddenly changed. I think over the years I've come to regard this blog (run on MT) as something that needed thought and had to be...well, interesting. I couldn't clog it up with frilly little posts, I had to really consider what I was putting out there. Which meant that I posted less and less as time went on...I sort of felt this pressure that what I was writing had to be good.

In a way, Tumblr freed me of that. The learning curve is barely a bump, it takes almost nothing to get it going and to customize it a bit. It's minimal in a really great way. It's like it makes the task of blogging almost transparent - it's a tool that you use that you don't have to think about, it just works. Sure, Movable Type is super powerful and customizable to the nth degree, but sometimes I don't want that, I just don't have the time for it. (have you noticed how the design of this freaking blog has totally languished?)

I've been comparing the relationship that I have between MT and Tumblr with painting and mixed media. With painting, you could do anything in the world, there are so many options. You're presented with a completely blank canvas and you have to run with it. In a way it's kind of scary. Mixed media, on the other hand, is based on whatever you've gathered - newspapers, magazine clippings, junk that you found at the local thrift shop. Suddenly having some parameters is comforting, yet liberating at the same time. It just depends on how I need to work at the moment.

Now I just have to install the Actionstreams plugin on this blog so that I can get my tumblelog, flickr stream and last.fm playlist in one place.

The Night Sky

2008-02-09T21:50:15Z

This was inspired by a piece in the New Yorker about light pollution via kottke.org , I wrote it a while back but I never posted it.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the thought of becoming an astronaut. Not just for the thrill of floating in zero gravity and eating freeze dried ice cream. There was something compelling about leaving the Earth and seeing the sky for it really is - the billions of stars, the moon in all its glory. But really the night sky that had fired my imagination had been an amalgam of glossy hardcovers from the Air and Space Museum, IMAX films, and PBS shows like Nova. The stars were so dim in the suburb that I grew up in that all I could really identify were Orion and the Big Dipper.

As I grew older, I forgot about my obsession with the sky. Through college and my early adult years, I was living in mostly urban environments where you'd be lucky to even spot the moon. Perhaps that sense of wonder and excitement about "what's out there" dimmed a bit as well. I remember clearly though the first time I really felt like I "saw" the sky: I was in a small village called Bulungula on the east coast of South Africa. I wanted to cry for joy; I could have stayed out all night just gazing at the millions of points of shimmering light. I felt so tiny and in awe, it felt like I was spinning and the ground had dropped away. It was so clear and bright that you could see the clouds of galactic dust that blotted out the starlight from beyond the dust. And I really understood why the Milky Way is called the Milky Way.

Maybe the reason why we have become so careless and destructive of the environment is because we can't see the night sky anymore. We can't stand in awe of where we came from and what we're made of.