At Home | Benefits of Travel – Accidental Collections

©MAK

Few days ago I took a random stock of my kitchen cupboards and noticed a selection of mugs recently eschewed in favor of simple white ones (no reason in particular). Those mugs had something in common. Travel is all about collecting memories, stories and education. Photographs extend the wanderer’s bliss. Souvenirs serve the same purpose, but I got much much better at giving those a pass in the name of less clutter. Or so I thought. Here it was – an accidental collection of mugs from some of my travels. Ha! I realized what was going on – a sly attempt by the recesses of my brain at preserving the need to “gather” those souvenirs, bring back that loot from foreign lands, all under the guise (or excuse?) of practicality! Well… The white mugs will have to retire for a little while, so that each coffee or tea sip may become a “Remembrance of Things Past” and a stimulus for collecting more memories, stories and education, a.k.a. more travel.

Interesting Couple | Farrah Fawcett & Ryan O’Neal

From Oprah.com

Potentially interesting.

Definitely glamorous.

For this installment of Interesting Couple,

you have to check out {great love story № 16 | farrah fawcett & ryan o’neal} at {this is glamorous}.

Random | DailyZen.com Quote

From DailyZen.com

Music | Bird’s Eye

In the vein of the “Moroccan roll” touched on in The Tea Party over Blood+ post, here are two legendary dudes, Serj Tankian and Mike Patton, doing their thing for the closing credits of another legendary dude's movie - Ridley Scott's “Body of Lies”.

Serj Tankian feat. Mike Patton - Bird's eye by Vamoshallagetdown

Food | Skagen

At a restaurant in Gamla Stan, Stockholm. ©MAK

Serendipity is an interesting thing. Before boarding the plane, I perused the magazine stand and grabbed one that I seem to acquire only at an outset of a trip. This time (June), I was on the way to Stockholm. Lo and behold, the front page of Condé Nast Traveler July issue boasted “SWEDEN Europe’s Foodie Sensation (17 spectacular restaurants)”. How’s that for coincidences?! This was a lead for a more aptly titled article, “The Girl with the Crayfish Tattoo: A Tour of Sweden's Rising Culinary Scene.” So here it was. The promise of, what some see as predictable food, but for me, clean palate. And I was up for the titular crayfish, aside from craving the denser bread. In comes Skagen. Crayfish on toast. Named after a Danish fishing port, it is “an elegant combination of shrimp and other ingredients on a small piece of sautéd bread … in Sweden toast Skagen is an appetizer that means “party.” ” As I found out, understandably, the recipe and the presentation come in many culinary permutations, and the appetizer can become a dish of its own: dill flavored sauce on the side, lettuce and asparagus, plus boiled egg (see photo). As Jamie Oliver asserts, it is an equivalent of English prawn cocktail sans ketchup mais avec, the ever important to its taste, dill. Easy, clean, and tasty. Låt oss äta!

Anime | Afro Samurai, you is CRAZY!

“That [is] off the chain!” Sure enough, Ninja Ninja. How can one go wrong with an anime that is smothered in the perpetual cool that is Samuel L. Jackson? And RZA (if you are not Wu-Tang inclined, but also have not chilled out watching “Ghost Dog”, mother f#^ker, SIT DOWN!). “Afro Samurai” is top notch manga back from 1999 – in a magazine format, 2007 – as a TV series, and 2009 – as a film. Few TV episodes won’t kill you; they are easy to come by; they might thrill you. Like “Ghost Dog”, “Afro Samurai” is a great fusion of cultures, with a wacky kick. And Ninja Ninja, Afro’s antithesis, will show you what speaking out, in style with no seeming filter, is all about. Stoic is so yesterday! Word.

Music | The Tea Party over Blood+

The Tea Party is not the Tea Party movement. It is a Canadian rock band formed in 1990 in Toronto. “The Bazaar” video from “The Edges of Twilight” album was my introduction to this band's “Moroccan roll”. Filmed at Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, the song was all classic rock with that something undulating through it. And it drove. I nodded my head in mesmerized approval. I bought the album. And “Splendor Soils”, and “Transmission”, and “Triptych”, and “The Interzone Mantras”, and “Seven Circles”. The last one, I have to admit, was just to satisfy the collector in me, alas one that skipped backtracking to their debut “The Tea Party”. At “Triptych” and “The Interzone Mantras” I was moving on, slightly bored, and I truly purchased “Seven Circles” only as my last stab at mild fandom and support. The latter album also happens to be their last studio album to date. One song stood out though, for me. “Luxuria”. So it was quite a glee inducing moment when I found a fan out there who decided to meld it together with….. ANIME! Blood+ it is! Guess what I will be watching next J

Random | Serge the Seal

Ahh so cute! And so psychopathic. But Serge meets his match… well, a twin of sorts?

And his response never fails… but he has a practical side in the end…

Random | “Hipsters in Space: Judgement-o-tron"

“I am so over my blog… whatever……… LAME!” J

Random | “Hipsters in Space: Fashion Edition”

Whatever… right?