Queenkv’s Brainpickings

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Work is not bad…it’s stressful, but it’s not bad. There are times when I come home too drained to workout, cook or give a damn. There are times when I’m still revving from the rush of live TV done well. My professor once told me I’m lucky in my position - the no squeal zone…where everybody sleeps at home…and I have my office to myself.

I’m grateful for the breathing space and the clean bathrooms. Every week night, around midnight, the cleaning crew comes through and wipes everything down. They wait for me to finish my beat calls and then fire up the vaccum. All the food rotting in the trash from earlier lunch hours - all tossed out. It’s like the ear wax gets wiped out of my consciousness….you know that moment when you could see a few block shape-steps ahead to make Tetris? Yeah, it’s something like that.

Then the 5th cup of coffee sends me into the ladies room. The cleaning crew scrubs everything down and I step into this fantastic lime-drenched stall. I know my butt is the first one to use the porcelain thrones and it’s a great feeling.

“Everyone else brings a piece of Kristina home with them,” Mark said. That made me laugh.

Our cleaning people rock!

Now if it was only that easy to straighten out the rest of my life…to take a toliet scrub and flush away the rudeness and cruel words.

“Kansas is a state of the Union, but it is also a state of mind, a neurotic condition, a psychological phase, a symptom, indeed, something undreamed of in your philosophy, an inferiority complex against the tricks and manners of plutocracy — social, political and economic.�? - William Allen White

Back to this state of mind - here in the Sunflower State.

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My dad got us a room at the Wynn. It was so beautiful! The room had this magnificent view. Mark enjoyed catching up on the Sabres action on our flat screen TV. I watched The Best Week Ever on VH1 inside the huge frickin’ bathroom…while taking a shower. Sweet.

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And the rest of the hotel had beautiful details…

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On our first night - we did dinner at Ventuno Ristorante inside the Flamingo Hilton.

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My dad took this picture.

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The new bride-to-be and groom-to-be….Jennie and Scott are such good models!

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Inside the Wynn…we ogled Manolo Blahniks inside the Manolo Blahnik Store. So pretty. I’ve dug these shoes ever since Carrie Bradshaw waltzed into my life. I picked up a heel with a $1800 price tag. Hopefully that’s the price for a pair. Oh such pretty shoes…

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Crispy pig skin. Tasty. I’ve been craving lichon for some time now….At Ate Gigi’s house…we had way too much good food. I’m sure I packed on a few pounds after this weekend. Pansit, beef, lumpia…all that yummy Filipino food. Sometimes I think my family express love best through tempting our stomachs. The more we want to show love, the more we want our loved ones to feast. And that full feeling, to the point when the waistband starts feeling to snug, is the ultimate return of affection.

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Tita Irma is also a May birthday baby. Ate Ludette made a tasty mango cake…with fresh mango slices and whipped cream.

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We kept busy with family eating…we also fit in some much needed relaxation time. We spent a morning by the pool while my dad competed in a slot machine tournament. We kept went lounge hopping, trying to avoid the sun. We managed to get through some reading with beer and mimosa. A nice way to spend a morning in Vegas.

And a lovely weekend.

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Dinsmoor’s concrete masterpieces are an early example of grassroots art: art pieces created by folks with no formal training. Some folks call it primitive art…or art brut…or just plain weird. In any event, Lucas is home to several prime spots celebrating grassroots art.

We stopped in Linda’s on Main Street for a drink and a snack.

Your basic domestic choices…Bud and Bud light. We also indulged in childhood favs, tater tots…and a neat deep-fried twist on a classic fav, macaroni and cheese bites. Yum. Linda’s is a basic local hangout. A Harley Davidson crew mosied in to whet their whistles after their road trip. Neato.

The Grassroots Art Center is down the street from Linda’s. It just got a grant to develop this Courtyard Gallery of limestone and post-rock sculptures…They’re meant to compliment the Postrock Scenic Byway on Highway 232 between Wilson and Lucas.

Our friendly guide from the art center took us inside Florence Deeble’s house….a few blocks away. Another artist, Mri Pilar, covered all the walls with silver insulation and Mylar. She transformed the interior into a gallery space for her “Rebarb” works - composed, of Barbie dolls, board games, computer parts and other recycled items.

Our guide was quite friendly. She completed her college studies in art and she admitted that grassroots art was a tough one to come around to…but eventually, she became an expert and a fan of the genre.

From the religious treasures inside the art museum, to the Mona Lisa inside the Lourve, to Michaelangelo’s David inside the Galleriea Dell’Accademia….art is about expanding your mind…and I wonder what art historians will say about this re-invented Barbie doll - a few centuries from now.

We stopped for dinner in Manhattan…home to K-State. We followed Penner’s recomendation to the Little Apple Brewery.

The Pale Ale was the special brew of the day…going for $1.50 a pint. Yum!

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All the largest balls of something….at least of balls of twine and videotape….are located in the Heartland. And represented inside this crazy bus.

And for those of you who didn’t catch it….the Daily Show has a great piece about the Hayden Confirmation. Whoever logs tapes and does research for that show - they’re damn good. Thank you Crooks and Liars for posting this recording!

And I’m off to Sin City for the weekend! Vive Las Vegas!

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Our evening producer scored free ride tickets to the carnival at the Expocentre. When I think carnival…I think about the good times at the LA County Fair last fall. This one was smaller and it was only a buck to get in! Sweet. I had a craving for deep-fried fair food and a beer. But this place didn’t serve booze and that was a bit disappointing. It was also a good thing we didn’t go on Saturday night. Yeah, I didn’t want to have to defend my honey’s honor…

I had a corn dog and cheesy fries. I had to eat the fries with a fork…like pasta. Greasy, filling and so bad for me.

And we topped off our meal with funnel cake. That’s the dude deep frying the dough. He finished off the dessert with powdered sugar. The wind blew that all over the place and all over my jeans. It’s a fantastic taste of Americana - like in Pretty Woman…when they cop a squatch and chill on the grass.

But I would not recomend hopping on a swinging ride with a full stomach and only three hours of sleep. I got really sick and I had to go home. It was the first time a carnival ride made me sick. It was the first time I felt like throwing up after a ride. My skating stomach always kept me strong in the face of centrifugal force….but I’m not a young buck any more. And like I said, I only had three hours of sleep that day - so my body wasn’t up to any physical challenges.

On Saturday, Daisy had a chance to sleepover with her doggie friends at the Doggie Dude Ranch. Then we took a trip to the heart of northwestern Kansas. We wanted to see the world’s largest ball of twine.

We did lunch in Glen Elder. We checked out the dam by Waconda Lake. Legend says a boy and gal from warring American Indian tribes fell in love, started a war and ended up dying by the Waconda Springs….which became the Waconda Lake.

The beach by the lake was covered by shell fossils - in limestone chunks. According to Mark, state of Kansas was once at the bottom of a really big lake…a really long time ago.

Later on….we drove to Lucas. We found a lot of art installations and buildings that used this post rock.

We found the world’s largest ball of twine off of Highway 24 - in Cawker City. I discovered I enjoyed the smell of twine - pungent, woody and soothing. It’s a big mama, weighing in at 17,866 pounds. I once worked at a conession stand, selling popcorn. When I was bored, I would work on making ball out of rubber bands looped around each other. After an hour of work, my ball grew to about half the size of my palm. I tried to multiple that experience exponentially. I don’t think that gets even close to the level of dedication this community put into its own ball of industry. Other curious drivers stopped by the tent. They snapped pictures and shook their heads in disbelief. According to a couple from San Antonio, Texas: “It had to be done.”

I wanted to shop around - but most stores were open only by appointment. If only I remember to have brought scissors for a souvenir…damn. Next time. Every August, the town keeps adding to the twine ball….to ensure it keeps the title of “world’s largest…”

We walked through this pretty garden…and then headed down to Lucas to see a garden of another bloom, so to speak. I’ll post those pix in a little bit.

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I found several books for Cal classes at Cody’s. They were great about calling in orders for those tough to find volumes. I loved getting lost in the stacks. From movies, to Asian-American issues - I could go in all sorts of directions…I even found a collection of fan books for the Star Trek universe.

It was a great place to pull up some floor and catch-up on my favorite authors.

A damn shame.

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We grabbed breakfast burritos from La Tortilla. So yummy - I had mine with chorizo and sauteed mushrooms. It just hits the spot after a night of decadent food and drinks. Plus - it was a cheap meal

But gas was not cheap in SF. I took this picture a few weekends ago and I’m sure this station is clocking at $4/gallon for unleaded by now.

We headed to Oakland to visit Betina and Hans and family. Here’s their beautiful baby boy: Nathaniel Jun-Jie Protzel. He was born on Feb. 15. Nate was a little sick on our visit…he was throwing up all morning. Betina and Hans are clearly tired…but glowing. They have a wonderful family. Hans’ parents and siblings came up for a visit, so he was able to take his wife out on a date the night before. It’s really neat to see them balance family, work and being a couple.

OK - Mom and Dad and family - I’m finally hold a baby - happy now? Yeah, my tummy got all squirmy - babies do that to females, I suppose. I imagined having a kid of my own - but then I can’t get past the whole baby growing up business. And I was a brat when I was younger. So another baby me? Turning into todler and then a teenager who thinks she knows what she’s doing? God help us all.

Plus, my graveyard shifts are not conducive to raising a baby. Unlike some folks who get the baby cravings, I know better. I know need to find a job that will allow me to spend time with the kid so that she doesn’t get a complex about her mom not being home enough. As parents, we need to take care of our debts so that we could get a home and start saving for college tutitions. Just because we’re married doesn’t mean we have to jump on the baby wagon right away.

Someday - we’ll have a baby. A human one.

[from http://www.alde.com/anime/pocky1.html]

We stopped in Oakland’s Chinatown for souvenirs. I checked the Castro for possible souvenirs - but for some reason, I don’t think my co-workers would dig portable vibrators or molding kit to create jellied body parts…Chinatown is user friendly. And I found cute items for everyone. I introduced my newsroom to Pocky. A majority of folks loved. Pocky makes everything better. I had strawberry and chocolate Pocky. Oh so yummy.

In Chinatown, I also filled up on one more craving - boba tea….oh yeah! I remember when it became a craze in Berkeley. I couldn’t get enough of chewing on those tapicoa balls. And all the yummy flavors - from watermelon to tarro root and points in between. One guy at the computer lab went on a month-long diet of boba tea…for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He’s a model now. So maybe he knew what he was doing.

A photog at work said you could get boba tea in Kansas City. He wasn’t sure about Lawrence, even though it seems possible being such a food mecca for all types of cuisine.

In Chinatown, I had the Thai Tea boba. It was so sweet it would probably hurt most folks’ teeth…but I dig sweet when it comes to Boba. And the balls were chewy and they did a fantastic job soaking up the tea syrup. Oh so yummy.

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An Asian teenager from Overland Park got into an argument with her mom - it got violent and Esmie Tseng stabbed her mom to death. In March, she pleaded guilty to an adult charge of manslaughter. This week, the court sentenced her to more than 8 years in prison.

She’s seventeen years old and she will be the youngest prisoner in an adult correctional facility in Topeka.

According to the BBC and the Kansas City Star - Esmie Tseng had a difficult time with her demanding parents.

“Esmie had for years been wrestling with her feelings for her parents, Chinese immigrants who, she said, held her to impossibly high standards.

And, when she disappointed them, she said they had forced her to stand naked in a corner.”
(BBC)

I knew grew-up with kids who had demanding parents. In skating, there were times when parents crossed the line between being agressively supportive of their skater and being agressively abusive. One girl in Costa Mesa ended up living with her coach because her mother couldn’t control her temper. And there were other skaters who were not afraid to yell back. How can their parents understand how hard it was to get up and go through another 4 minute program for the third time in the session? How could they understand how hard it was to convince muscles, arms and legs to toss the body into another double axel with the foresight that the skater has a 85 percent chance of falling on the same damn bruise? How could they know what it’s like to be a skater?

I don’t know any family that has devolved into what happend to Tseng and her mother. But I could see how it’s possible.

According to the DA - she’s still a danger to society: “”Hacking somebody to death with a butcher knife is about as serious as it gets. Even though everybody agrees she had been cruelly treated by her mother, it does not remotely excuse the level of violence.”” (BBC)

The prosecutors were determined to try her as an adult, even though she hasn’t finished being a teenager. She’s had a clean record until now. Her family life makes it clear she needs some serious psych help and instead, the DA’s answer is to toss her into an adult prison.

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Talk about a treasure hunt! The oyster bar was damn difficult to find at the Ferry Building…We had a map showing us the general location of the bar - but NO signs. I almost gave up. After stumbling through hallways - we found the damn bar. It’s tiny, next to the fish market (without the icky not-so-fresh fish smell). We took advantage of the mild weather to do happy hour outside - with that beautiful view of the bay. This is our half-dozen raw oysters…oh so good. I love slurping up the oyster liquor from the shell. I didn’t want to waste a bite. We also did hot oysters - done up Rockefeller style: “Baked Sweetwater Oysters with spinach, lemon, cream and Pernod“…and the extra stuff didn’t overwhelm that fab fresh oyster flavor.

On our way back to BART - I heard a weird avian noise - not a piegon coo - something different….when I looked up - I realilzed we ran into some San Francisco celebs. They took a trip to the Embarcadero…from Telegraph Hill. OK - these are the parrots’ butts…but hey…it’s not like they’re used to posing for folks. A movie has been made about this unique flock.

Here’s some cool street art in the Mission - snapped as we walked from BART to Susan and Tom’s place.

After drinks at their place - we headed down to the outskirts of Little Italy for some fine dining….This is Bix - it’s in an alley and thankfully the cab driver knew what we what and where we were talking about. Inside Bix - it has a swanky speakeasy-vibe - 1920’s art decor and a live band playing loud jaz music. The food was decadent and scrumptious.

We did hor d’oeuvres in a tapas fashion…this is the “Tuna Tartare on Olive Toasts”. I love the fresh fish in San Francisco. Heaven.

We also did some sliders in a gourmet fashion - “Mini Lamb Burgers with Spicy Red Pepper Sauce”. A month or two ago, I picked up the movie “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” DVD and I still have a craving for little burger bites.

“Kampachi Crudo with Blood Orange, Fennel, Daikon Sprouts and Fiordolio Olive Oil.”

I first heard about crudo in a Vogue article by Jeffrey Steingarten. He’s a brilliant gourmand and he has such an evocative writing style…I also read about this Italian-style of doing raw fish in the NY Times…I think. This SF Gate article has a great way of explaining crudo: “…crudo is shorthand for any kind of raw fish — chopped tartares, marinated ceviches, sliced sashimis, paper-thin carpaccios. The stumpy word itself conveys little about the silky, sensual feel of eating a raw scallop glistening with olive oil and shivering under sheer fennel slices and bits of orange…“. And in this NY Post article…a chef has another way of explaining crudo: “Crudo is basically Italian sashimi with good ingredients. Instead of wasabi, we use garlic, and instead of ginger, we use tomato.”

Now, Susan said she had really good crudo at Incanto - possibly better than Bix…As for myself, this first taste of crudo was delightful. Again, fresh fish - slice thin and marinated lightly. It melted in my mouth and left my palate swooning. I especially liked how it finished off with the blood orange - a clean citrus tang…

I love dining with Susan and Tom - they keep opening new doors for us when it comes to cuisine. Good wine, good food and good conversation…I couldn’t ask for anything more on a vacation.

I have one more entry about our trip to the East Bay…coming up when I get another chance to blog. Promise.

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