Queenkv’s Brainpickings

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offal: 1: the waste or by-product of a process: as a: trimmings of a hide b: the by-products of milling used especially for stock feeds c: the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal removed in dressing (from Merriam-Webster)

Anthony Bourdain often said cooks learned how to make the nasty bits taste good out of necessity. Eventually, those tasty dishes get elevated to gourmet dining because it demonstrates the cook’s skill in working with all the edible scraps, trims, bones, guts and more.

For chefs like Cosentino, cooking with offal has been transformed into an art form. It’s a nod to the tradition of past chefs who made do with little and a look forward to healthy, sustainable eating.

Almost 7 years ago, I would have never thought I’d be part of the offal dining movement. In our early dating years, Mark and I did Valentine’s Dinner at Incanto. It was an intimate, romantic dining scene. This was before Chef Cosentino exploded on the TV food scene with Iron Chef America. Back then, the food tasted delicious, refined, hearty and I wanted seconds. In 2008, I can’t wait for our next dinner at Incanto.

St. Paul’s on Easter Sunday, originally uploaded by queenkv.

After the shortest Easter Sunday Mass at St. Paul’s (45 minutes), we also celebrated with an Easter Supper Dinner at Incanto.

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Foot Foot had a sweet, indie folk sound. At times Josh and Robin Brown flirted with country twangs…but they stayed grounded with solid string harmonies on guitars, banjo and any other percussion tools they can get their hands on. Robin’s airy voice wrapped around lyrics looking back on memories of childhood, love and more wistful times.

Casiotone at UC Davis from Kris Vera-Phillips on Vimeo.
I fell in love with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone almost 8 years ago, back when I was a KALX DJ. During my midnight DJ shifts, Owen Ashworth’s electronic landscapes helped ease me into the world of free-form, independent music. “A Normal Suburban Lifestyle Is A Near Impossibility Once You’ve Fallen In Love With An International Spy,” from his album “Answering Machine Music,” was one of the first songs to show up on my playlists. That album had me hooked on glitches, tinny keyboards and electronic-pop harmonies.

His lyrics were conversational, funny and sarcastic, with a timeless touch of hope.

At this KDVS concert, I was amazed at the lush sound he produced all by himself. He was wizard on the mixer, keyboard, vocals and anything that could be plugged into his show. He played a couple of songs off his 2006 Album, “Etiquette.” After his set, I introduced myself and told him I’ve followed his work since my Berkeley radio days. I sounded nervous and stupid, I’m sure and Ashworth’s such a down-to-earth kinda guy…

In any event, my hubby and I walked away with my own copy of “Answering Machine Music” and on the way home, we listened to the origins of my aural fixations.

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It was an intense show - taking live chopper shots from KNBC and CNN. My computer screen kept flashing AP news alerts, NBC live alerts and messages from the assignment desk and my writer. My news director was also calling me inside the control booth.

We scored a couple of live reports from our L.A. affiliate. We also did a phone interview with a local firefighter for his expert perspective on the situation.

Plus - I had to juggle our construction coverage on Interstate 5. That morning, I had live crew by I-5 and a traffic reporter in the studio. Plenty of crazy good live elements and too many commercial breaks.

All the news stories I wrote, edited and stacked for the 3-hour show got juggled into something else. By the 8 AM hour, I was basically re-stacking news blocks during the breaks. I called out an order for stories to the show director…something like: fire first, I-5 next, maybe weather and maybe something on the Puerto Rico Primary.

Coffee wasn’t a good idea after guzzling 6 cups before the show. I stayed with water and deep breathing. I was nervous about keeping track of everybody and communicating my plans with the production crew, anchor, meteorologist and reporters. I was also excited about all the amazing live video out of So Cal. We also took the fire department’s press conference live.

I didn’t sit down for most of the show. I couldn’t feel my toes pinching in my Steve Madden heels.

After the show, I started feeling sad. I started to think about the times when I took that Studio Back Lot Tour with my family and friends. I remember smelling King Kong’s breath as the tram rolled over the faux Brooklyn Bridge. I remember taking for granted the courthouse clock tower from “Back to the Future”. I wanted to show Mark all the cool movie history packed into this amusement park and now I lost that chance.

Too bad.

Still, life goes on. Later that day, MTV held its Movie Awards Show at Universal Studios. We checked out some of the live red carpet show. I noticed plenty of tight shots on the MTV talking heads and starlets. Sure close-ups look good on beautiful people, but I also suspect they didn’t want to chance the camera bumps cutting away to any smoky reminders from the morning.

Nobody killed and Universal Studios can rebuild most of the stuff lost in the fire.

As they say, the show must go on.

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Like many young punks growing up, I didn’t think I’d make it to my 30th birthday. I was too wild for my own good. Besides, being an adult was so ordinary! I couldn’t imagine myself being married nor could I see myself working and paying bills.

When I was younger, 30 seemed like the end of the world. It was the end of the countdown to settling down. I figured if I made it to 30, I would be knocked up or have already given birth to a mini-Kristina or two. I imagined I would have settled for a white-collar drone job that simply paid the bills. I pictured myself with a dumpy body. Between taking care of kids and working full-time, I imagined wouldn’t have any time to take care of myself.

Now I know I’m coming to terms with being an adult. It feels like my life is far from ordinary and I am grateful for the amazing adventures I’ve had around the country and the world.

I’ve had one foot in Rome and the other in Vatican City.

I straddled the Prime Meridian.

I also towered over the International Boundary at Niagara Falls.

On the road, Mark and I drove to Chicago, New York and back to California. And then onwards to my first news job in Kansas.

In the Sunflower State, I watched tornadoes twist on our skycams. I also watched homes, farms and towns washed away by the floods.

In London, I rubbed shoulders with Jude Law and Sienna Miller. I also interviewed Pierce Brosnan at a movie premiere at Leicester Square.

In Washington D.C., I covered the President’s Inaugural Ball and I interviewed Senator Obama on his first day in Congress.

So far, I’m having fun as an adult - with my marriage and career. Mark believes in me. That gives me the courage to face the challenges in television news. My family loves me. That gives me the strength to endure the roller coaster nature of the media industry. My friends get me. That helps me balance working hard and playing harder.

Standing at the edge of 30, I can imagine a future with kids. I can see little Marks and Kristinas running around, getting in trouble and being amazing. We’ll take them to Disney World (so that other people won’t think I’m a monster for dissing on Mickey Mouse). I’ll drive them to baseball practice and dance rehearsals. Mark will help them with math and science homework. We’ll introduce them to Europe and the Philippines. We’ll show them it’s OK to be different. When I’m ready to be a mom, I will do everything in my power to help our kids make their dreams come true.

If anything, turning 30 is like the start of another adventure. So, rock on!

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Southwest 1995 from Kris Vera-Phillips on Vimeo.

I was a junior in high school and I weighed about 30 pounds lighter for this competition. That’s in comparison to my current weight. I have a feeling I won’t be able to match this level of skating again. I think that’s OK since I’ve made a life for myself without competitive skating…as a wife, a journalist, college graduate and a woman with family and friends living in all parts of California and the rest of the country. However, I’m also happy with having skating back in my life. I don’t have the same confidence on the ice, like when I was a teenager. But, I’m showing my body that anything’s possible, like landing axels when I’m 29-years-old.

Overall, I think I’m doing well with a commitment I made to myself to stay healthy and active. I made that promise three years ago. It was after reading an article in Vogue’s Shape Issue, April 2005.

Cameron Diaz wrote about getting one of the lead roles in Charlie’s Angels. She was required to train in kung-fu. 3 months, eight hours per day and five days a week. Insane. Diaz wrote about the changes in her body and energy…and the sense that she could do anything.

“I made a pact right there and then with my body. I promised it that I would always try and meet it half-way. If it continued to give me the reward of strength, I would give it the opportunity to do so, ”Diaz said.

I made the same pact with my body.

Here’s the article:

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My supervisor said she met a nutritionist/workout coach with an extreme vegan lifestyle. The nutritionist said she gave herself a break from her strict diet on Fridays. My supervisor asked her what she let herself eat on that days, imagining a chocolate bar or something more decadent. The nutritionist said she had yogurt-covered almonds on Fridays. Then she asked my supervisor, why would you want to put disgusting things, like coffee, chocolate, fat and grease, into your body after working out?

My answer: Because it tastes good!

I don’t see the point in keeping your body pure if you can’t enjoy all the pleasures of food. So I run hard, twist my body into yoga poses and fly over the ice, all so that I can eat what I want. I understand there are benefits to keeping your body free of butter and fat. However, I also think there are also benefits to living a balanced life: working out, staying healthy and enjoying life.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

Enjoying life for us means eating well and going on weekend adventures to nearby towns. Over the last month or so, we spent a few weekends sampling the food and wine around one of the most iconic wine regions in California: the Napa Valley. One weekend, the Valley saw 90 degree temperatures. While everyone headed to the wineries on Highway 29, we had downtown Napa all to ourselves. It was like a ghost town, with a sprinkling of locals and die-hard wine fans haunting the shops and bars.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

On that hot weekend, we stumbled on the Ceja Wine Tasting Room. I was tickled by the classy lounge atmosphere and
our friendly wine server introduced us to several nice glasses of Ceja wine. It’s a family-owned winery that started out selling grapes to other vineyards. I fell in love with the 2004 Merlot.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

We spent another Sunday in Sonoma. Plenty of history buffs and tourists checked out Spanish Colonial sites like the Mission San Francisco Solano. We ended up doing dessert at the Mission. We bought some tasty chocolate truffles at the Chocolate Cow, across the street. We sampled them on a shaded bench next to the mission. I was dazzled by the chocolate fillings of Zinfandel, Merlot, Champagne Kahlua and Wasabi.

Next - a pictobrowser album of more food and wine from Napa and Sonoma. I don’t think this will show-up in an RSS reader or Facebook. So, if you want to see the pix: please go to my brainpickings.

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