[ART] Mescalito show - MARS-1, Damon Soule, Oliver Vernon

Mescalito - MARS-1, Oliver Vernon & Damon Soule
Oct 14 - Nov 4, 2006

White Walls Gallery
Tenderloin, San Francisco
whitewallssf.com

*more pics on my Flickr Mescalito set

Mars-1: www.mars-1.com





Oliver Vernon: www.oliververnon.com



Damon Soule: www.damonsoule.com






Opening night peeps

Okra & Pasilla Omelet with Egg Noodle

okra
Originally uploaded by Kolya Vishnevsky.

One of my best food memories, was a simple meal prepared by my then-boyfriend's mother -- the woman who opened up my palate to Vietnamese cuisine. It was a backyard bbq meal of grilled beef, salad, rice and grilled okra in a soy marinade. I have never had okra so delicious! They were tiny green jewels grown in her backyard -- picked at their peak, and lightly grilled with a little char on the outside. I've been on a quest to enjoy okra like this once more.

My recent break from red meat has re-sparked my interest in veggie varieties, outside of my staples. The trip to the market yielded the lovely oyster mushrooms from my last post, and a nice pack of small, tender okra. Craving a hearty breakfast, with the okra in mind, I went through my pantry, yielding a pack of Chinese dried egg noodle and chicken bouillon. I remembered a yummy, simple noodle dish, made by my friend Rio, that was basically fresh egg noodle quickly boiled in broth and drained, served with sauteed greens garnished with a drizzle of good oyster sauce. Inspired by this pairing, I came up with a similar dish incorporating the okra, and added omelet to "breakfast-ify" it.

Okra & Roasted Pasilla Omelet with Egg Noodle

ingredients
1 med fresh pasilla pepper (sometimes called poblanos)
6-8 oz thin Chinese egg noodle (fresh or dried)
2 1/2 cups water
1 chicken bouillon cube
*note* you may substitute water & bouillon with 2 1/2 cups diluted chicken broth
1 tsp roasted sesame oil
2 Tbs light, non-flavored oil (extra or virgin olive oil does not work here)
1 clove garlic, sliced
5-7 okra pods, sliced on the diagonal
1/3 cup canned sliced bamboo shoots
2 large eggs, beaten
Approx 1 Tbs oyster sauce (use a brand with real oyster extract)
Fresh radish sprouts for garnish
Salt to taste

preparation
- Roast the pasilla pepper on an open flame, or in the oven on broil, till blackened throughout. Set aside.
- In a saucepot, bring the water & bouillon (or broth) to a boil. Add the egg noodle and cook till just tender, but with bite (semi al dente). Drain, and place in serving bowl, tossed with the roasted sesame oil.
- Remove the blackened skin from the pasilla, rinse quickly or wipe with a damp towel to clean. Chop half of the pepper and reserve the other half for another dish.
- Heat 2 tsp of the oil in a large skillet or wok, till oil shimmers, but not smoking.
- Add garlic, okra, bamboo shoots and a couple dashes of salt. Saute quickly for about a minute. Set aside.
- In the same pan, heat the remaining oil on medium high, add chopped pasilla peppers, saute for approx 10-15 seconds.
- To the sauteed pasillas, add the beaten eggs. Let egg mixture cook by pulling the cooked edges to the middle, allowing the raw egg to seep to the edge of the pan, to cook evenly. Cook till eggs are set, but still moist.
- Turn out omelet onto the egg noodles, top with okra saute, drizzle oyster sauce on top and garnish with fresh radish sprouts.
- Makes 1 generous serving. Enjoy!

Mushroom Tofu Fried Brown Rice

the mushrooms #1
Originally uploaded by tamjpn.

Mmmm, mmmm, mushrooms. I swoon for funghi! Give me a generous serving of mushrooms sauteed in just a touch of butter, and I am good to go.

As of late, I've taken a break from red meat, and am delving back to the semi-vegetarian state I embraced in the 90's. I hopped over to Rainbow Market for some staples, and happened upon a beautiful package of plump oyster mushrooms. With a potful of cooked brown rice, and pouring rain outside, I decide to put the mushrooms to work and cook up some mushroom fried rice.

I've discovered brown rice makes extra delicious fried rice, as the outer covering toasts up nicely, and you don't have to use much oil since the starch is contained within (less sticking). I came up with this recipe through trial an error, and further simplifying the ingredients. This dish would be great for breakfast with soft scrambled eggs, or served as a simple dinner with a bowl of miso soup.


Mushroom & Tofu Fried Brown Rice

ingredients
4 cups room temp or cold leftover brown rice cooked
2 Tbs mild cooking oil
4 oz cubed firm tofu (drained)
2 cloves of garlic sliced
4 scallions chopped (green & white part)
1 generous pat of butter
1-2 cups of sliced mushrooms (cremini or oyster preferred)
1 fresh green chili (serrano or jalepeno) chopped (seeds removed for milder heat)
1 tsp. Korean salted shrimp
salt or soy sauce to taste
drizzle of toasted sesame oil
garnish (optional): radish sprouts or shredded nori

utensils
wok or large heavy saute pan
wide wooden spoon (bamboo rice spoon preferred)

preparation
- Heat pan on high till it starts to smoke.
- Add cooked brown rice. Toast for 2-3 minutes. Push to sides of pan.
- Create a middle clearing and add 1 Tbs oil & cubed tofu. Saute for 1 minute, till tofu browns slightly.
- Add remaining Tbs oil, garlic, scallions and mushrooms. Saute together for 2 minutes, till garlic browns and softens.
- Add butter, salted shrimp and chopped chilis. Saute for 2 minutes till chili is sweated through.
- Taste, and add salt if needed or soy sauce, if needed
- Saute for about 1-2 minutes more.
- Turn off heat, and add a light drizzle of toasted sesame oil for flavor.
- Serve with garnishes (optional)

Enjoy!

J Dilla -- RIP

One of my favorite streaming stations/shows: dublab and Chocolate City on KCRW, have played tribute mixes to Detroit hip-hop producer J Dilla/Jay Dee, who sadly passed away Feb 10, 2006. Hearing the music flow from one song to the next, makes me more aware of J Dilla's musical genius of mixing melody, soul and making my booty shake.

My first taste of Dilla's sound was being introduced to Slum Village by my good friend & flash designer fiend Sean Green aka shamansilicon. We did a long web development intern gig together, and would while away the time with music and the droll of coding. I brought Roni Size, Sean brought Bahamadia. I brought Towa Tei, Sean brought Mary J Blige. I brought Howie B... then Sean brings Slum Village. Damn!!! I am loving this sound -- melodies, heady raps, and the groove. Everything I never knew I wanted. Needless, to say I've been hooked on Slum Village ever since....

Years later, Sean and I keep in touch sporadically, and during one of our conversations, he tells me how much he's feelin' the latest Jaylib album, Champion Sound -- a collab of J Dilla & Madlib (one of my fave producers, I'll save my rave for Madlib in another post). Ah, genius runs in the same circles. Certainly both of these talented musicians create under the Stones Throw Records label.

Goodbye J Dilla. You are gone, but your ability to groove us presses on. Thank you for the wonderful music, inspiration and being a part of great times with friends.

More Jay Dee por vous:
myspace profile
Stones Throw profile
Wikipedia entry
allmusic bio

[Music] Rotation Devices 12.15.05

Greetings from butiboi! There's good news and bad news in Rotation Devices this month, therefore I'm adding a new section called Record Player Hater, which will feature a review of, to put it bluntly, an album that I consider a real shitty deal. Here goes.

[Record Player Hater]



MADONNA - Confessions on a Dance Floor
Warner Brothers 2005

Okay, where do I start? I'm sure we're all aware of the publicity blitz preceeding the release of this album; the fall from a horse with a spectacularly quick recovery, the so-called controversy over the "Isaac" cut on the new album, her new purple wardrobe, her strict guidelines for Lola (nigra, pleeze), the loss of her Mavervick imprint, and her new documentary, ad nauseum. To be truthful tho', I've always been a fan of hers, although the last albums with any true soul on it were Bedtime Stories and the superb, underrated Erotica.

Sadly, I bought into the hype that COADF was going to showcase the return to her dance roots, and thus, I eagerly awaited this release. I should have known something was amiss when I plugged into her website and read about the producers contributing to this project (Mirwais, Stuart Price), and the release of "Hung Up", which sounds like a techno-tweaker-gap-store-cum-abercrombie-&-fitch-store-mix nightmare to be played only on the so-called Party Station. BTW, any producer who would bite the vocoder effects of Cher's "Believe" should be served up a plate of iced cold shade! Surely, I thought, the whole album couldn't possibly sound like this - the release was trumpeted as a return to her dance ROOTS so I expected to hear some soulful/poppy/dance funk shit a la her collaborations with Shep Pettibone, Reggie Lucas (Stephanie Mills, Mtume), and of course Patrick Leonard and Steven Bray.

Great early albums notwithstanding, I guess I finally have to acknowledge what some critics have said about Madonna all along, which is that she is neither a great master of re-invention nor a great innovator, but a crass, manipulating, transparent fraud (American Life), who'll pander to any given trend of the moment. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't expect the album to be a total rehash of her past shit, but when you put out misleading info on your website that you're sampling groups like the SOS Band on your new album, then I buy the shit and it sounds like one long fucking 135 bpm mix for 20 year old twinks, with no variations on the theme whatsoever, then I'm gonna be pissed, a'ight?!! And I won't even bother discussing or listing tracks; what's the point?

If you go for this type of sound, great. This might be the album for you, but for me, it's just one more slap in the face for dj's and listeners who yearn for true soulful/funky house soundz to be played on the air, thus ensuring their true place at the top of the charts like back in the day. Whew! Was that a rant or a review?..............

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[Heavy Floatation]



THE BLUE NILE - Hats
A&M 1989

In 1985, I remember listening to the QUAKE, which was the premier alt/new wave station in SF at the time, and the moment I heard the line "summer girls in disarray, can be so free and easy now , well, we'll be free and easy" from "Stay", I knew what I was hearing was not only the most beatifully lush electronic jam I'd heard up to that point, but what I'd hoped would be a group that would stick around forever. Indeed the Blue Nile is one of those groups that I can truly say created the blueprint for what is now known as electro/chill. In 1989 the group released Hats, which has not left my turntable since! Lead singer Paul Buchanan's plaintive vocals combined with pristinely gorgeous, at times eerily dark melodies and straightforward lyrics ("sometimes I walk away, when all I really want to do, is love and hold you tight" "Downtown Lights") simultaneously transports me to the past and future......This album has no filler cuts, but my personal faves include "Over The Hilltops", "From A Late Night Train", "Let's Go Out Tonight", and "Seven A.M.". After repeated listenings, I'm sure you'll consider this record to be your "soundtrack" as you move throughout the day.

Although the group has released only 4 albums in 25 years; A Walk Across the Rooftops/1984, which includes their first hit "Stay", Peace At Last/1996, and High/2004, they've left a bounty of great jamz to tide you over, and while you're at it, check out Annie Lennox's cover of "Downtown Lights" on her underrated Medusa album. I'll also be reviewing "High" in the near future.

In the meantime, put this record on and feel the love, make a baby, touch yourself in a nice way, or just think about stuff, um-kay?