I’m finally ready to talk about it…but just barely ready.
When planning Jaia’s 1st birthday party I was at a loss for a ‘theme’. Too young yet to know who most of the cartoon characters were that covered the usual party supplies, I needed to come up with something a little different, but child-party friendly. All of the non-cartoon supplies were very adult-New-Years-party centered and I figured that wouldn’t be Jaia’s bag either.
Then it hit me. Quite literally hit me in the face. Snowflakes. Jaia was born in the middle of a snow/rain storm (though I didn’t even catch a glimpse of it thanks to 30 hours in labour) and so it seemed quite fitting. So I started busying myself looking for all the right snowflake elements. And lo and behold, they were everywhere (not surprising considering the season).
But there was one critical piece that alluded me. The giant snowflake cookie cutter that I needed to make the little loot bag/give-aways I was planning. I searched the stores in Virginia over Christmas and found nothing. I searched stores in Ottawa once I returned and again, nothing. My ‘piece de resistance’ was nowhere to be found and we were running out of time.
And then when we were en route to Orleans on January 29 we heard a terribly annoying radio commercial for the store Ma Cuisine. I had forgotten all about that place! We called and the girl on the phone said they had a 5 inch snowflake cookie cutter in stock! A quick detour and 20 minutes later we pulled up. I raced inside only to find that the girl on the phone was wrong. The owner, who was working the floor, didn’t think they had anything like that, but said she’s check the back anyway. After 10 looooooooooong minutes, she returned holding a beautiful, 5 inch snowflake cookie cutter. Excellent. We were on our way.
Now, I had never made anything like these cookies before. We were using Dan’s mom’s no fail recipe and I even enlisted Sonja Lasagna (baker extraordinaire – seriously) for some help. And thankfully I did. I somehow totally messed up the first batch by the third ingredient and had to start all over. But once we got rolling, we were unstoppable. After one or two glasses of wine we had 40+ giant snowflake cookies cooling on the table.
Step 2: Icing the cookies. After they have cooled overnight, you can begin work on icing them. I wanted to do a layer of white/violet icing and then pipe a white/violet snowflake design on them. So I started with the base. I whipped up some icing and went to work. They were starting to really come together….
And I let Dan take care of piping the snowflake design. My first (and only) attempt was pathetic. Who knew high school drafting courses would eventually help with cookie decorating?
And there we were. It was New Year’s Eve and we were way ahead of schedule on everything. The only task left was to bag the cookies and tie them up with purple ribbon the next morning. Now we were free to relax and enjoy dinner, a glass of wine and each other’s company as we waited first our first toast at 11:51 pm (the time Jaia was born) and then again at midnight.
We went to bed feeling confident that all would be finished and ready by the time our guests started rolling in around 11 am. Jaia woke up around 6, her usual time, and as she was finishing her bottle, we heard a huge crash in the kitchen. In our house this is not unusual. With two adventurous cats and a dog that has made it his mission to to kill one of said adventurous cats, the early morning crashes and booms are common around this place. But this time Dan and I looked at each other, unsure of what that one was.
A little while later I came downstairs, turned the corner into the kitchen only to find………………..half of the cookies on the floor…in pieces. One of the cats had obviously jumped on the counter, not expecting it to be covered in cookies, panicked and took them down with him/her.
I was not pleased. I was beyond not pleased. I won’t lie ..there were tears. Yes, they were just cookies, but these cookies were three days in the making and in less than two hours, guests would start arriving.
Once I regained composure, I bagged up the survivors and made the final preparations…
(including a do-it-yourself cupcake decorating station for the older kids)
But then Mother Nature stepped in and brought me more snowflakes. Mountains of them. The melty kind. And they also kept half of the guests from being able to join us. It totally sucked on one hand, but was a huge stroke of luck on the another (the hand holding half as many cookies as it should have been holding). We actually ended up with 1 leftover.
So there you have it. The Great Cookie Cat-ass-trophe of 2008. And in the end it was an excellent lesson learned…Cats are jerks.
back again! Sorry about the delay, work is ridiculous. I’m writing this on my lunch hour, so sorry if it sucks.
THE BEST 10-6 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
10. Blonde Redhead – 23
I had heard of Blonde Redhead, and I may have heard a song or two of theirs before, but 23 is the first full Blonde Redhead album that I have ever heard. It definitely won’t be the last (according to wikipedia, they have 7 albums, and have been around since 1993). Weird album art aside, this is a really great album. Frontwoman Kazu Makino’s voice is awesome and very distinctive. She sounds a bit like Bjork I guess, if Bjork was Japanese and fronted an indie-rock band from New York… and if Bjork was less crazy. Using an interesting array of drum beats and swirling guitars, they sound a bit like My Bloody Valentine, but poppier. The whole album is pretty upbeat, and rarely fails to put me in a good mood. I’d comment on the lyrics, but I can’t understand most of them, as they might not even be in English. One of the two dudes in the band sings on 3 of the album’s 10 songs, and while they’re good, they’re a bit bland compared to the other 7 tracks. Overall though, this is a really great, instantly-likeable album.
Favourite track: “23”
9. Do Make Say Think – You, You’re a History in Rust
Aaah, the Do Makes, my favourite of all of the Broken Social Scene offshoots. I was initially a bit worried about this album, as it has the un-enviable job of trying to follow-up 2003’s near-perfect Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn. My worry intensified when I heard that at least one of the songs would include *gasp* singing. Thankfully, the Do Makes stick pretty close to their nomal M.O. – 8 minute songs that start with a catchy little guitar or violin riff that slowly builds up to this huge wall of sound with amazing drumming. That’s what they do, and they do it really, really well. “A With Living”, the aformentioned song with singing, even sticks fairly closely to their usual formula. It’s probably one of my least favourite songs of theirs, and I hope it’s not a sign of things to come, but it’s still better than 99% of songs in existance, so it isn’t really anything to complain about. Vocals are used again on album-closer “In Mind”, but they’re not central to the song – they’re used to add an additional layer on to the end of the song, on top of the strings, horns, and percussion, which seems like a more natural use of vocals for a band like this. Anyway, this is another strong album by one of the best bands in Canada. Also, this album gets bonus marks for having a song titled “You, You’re Awesome”.
Favourite track: “Executioner’s Blues”
8. Burial – Untrue
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that this is the best album of the year made by an anonymous British dubstep DJ. I’ll be the first to admit that I know very little about dubstep, and if online review sites like Pitchfork hadn’t championed this album as one of the year’s best, I probably would never have heard it. If I had to describe the sound to someone, I’d say it sounds like the soundtrack to a British movie about characters who are really into a specific music scene, like 24 Hour Party People or Human Traffic, but set in the future and all the characters are ghosts… something along those lines, anyway. Burial uses a lot of heavily-filtered vocal samples of unknown origin that sound totally foreign but strangely familiar at the same time. It’s a really interesting sound that initially seemed sort of annoying, but has really grown on me over time. I think I like this so much because it sounds so unlike a singer/guitar/bass/drums band, which is my normal comfort zone. Plus, the cover-art is badass, and I’m not going to pretend like that doesn’t matter.
Favourite track: “Archangel”
7. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Point: Spoon have released another excellent collection of short catchy rock songs. It’s almost like this isn’t even hard for them anymore.
Counter-point: This album sounds exactly like Gimme Fiction, their last album. Where’s the musical progress?
Point: This is their 6th album! They don’t need to “find their sound” anymore, just refine it a bit. Why change when you’re already great, other than just for the sake of change? Anyway, “The Ghost of you Lingers” sounds unlike anything on Gimme Fiction.
Counter-point: That’s the worst song on the album. Also, the album title is the worst album title ever. Seriously, it’s embarassing to type it, let alone say it out loud.
Point: Who cares about the album title? Besides, Spoon included a free bonus cd of demos, just like they did when they released Gimme Fiction. That’s pretty cool.
Counter-point: The bonus disc is sort of terrible.
Those are all the ones I can think of. Anyway, Spoon have made another great album that sounds exactly like their last one, but I’m fine with that.
Favourite track: “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”
6. Editors – An End Has A Start
If Gary were ever to give me the Editors first album like he keeps saying he will, I could do a nice job of analyzing how they’ve grown since their last album, whether they’ve suffered from big expectations and released something not-nearly-as-good as they’re capable of, or give them kudos for managing to avoid the sophomore-slump that tends to plague so many good young rock bands (*cough* Bloc Party). He hasn’t though, so I’ve still never heard their debut. Maybe it’s better than this, and An End Has a Start is a colossal letdown. If that is the case, their debut must be pretty amazing, because An End Has a Start is really outstanding. All 10 songs are instantly-likeable, and I find it impossible to listen to any of them without playing the air drums with my feet (which probably isn’t very cool, but my feet are under my desk, so I’m the only one who knows). I guess the singer sounds something like Paul Banks from Interpol since both singers have the same fairly distinctive, “we really really liked Joy Division when we were teenagers” style of singing, but I sort of hate that comparison because every lazy music reviewer makes it, and other than the vocal-stylings, the two bands don’t really sound all that alike. I don’t really know what else to say about it, except that this is a really good album that you may or may not like if you’re a fan of Interpol.
Favourite track: “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors”
Back soon with the thrilling conclusion!
With all of the holiday/double birthday excitement over and becoming a distant memory and the Fullerton cold season ALMOST at it’s end (I’m the latest victim), it’s finally time to begin a countdown to a long-awaited event: Liz and Mark’s wedding in Punta Cana. They got engaged what feels like forever ago and now, all of a sudden, the trip is less than three months away. If I’m anxious, I can’t imagine what the bride and groom are feeling.
We will be travelling with the bean, who is taking her flower girl duties very seriously, and much of our extended family to a beautiful resort in the Dominican Republic. It’ll be the first time that Dan and I have traveled together with friends or family. It’ll also be the first time I’ve been to or been involved in a destination wedding. I’ve seen quite a few, though. On some of our trips down south, Dan and I were casual witnesses to quite a few different types of ceremonies. While many of the brides and grooms were surrounded by large groups of people, some were completely alone (minus the resort staff who had to act as witnesses and perform the ceremony). It was beyond romantic. Not for evryone, but amazing nonetheless.
So, with the weeks and days dwindling before the big adventure, the preparation begins. It’s not as easy to just pack a bag and go anymore. Travelling with a toddler to an island, or anywhere out of North America for that matter, is complicated. The to-do lists (buy Immodium – we won’t make that mistake again) have been started and the ‘not to forget’ pile on the shelf in our room is steadily growing. This is the one part that I’m not looking forward to. Does anyone know if you can hire professional trip packers?
But before wedding week gets underway, we can’t forget one crucial detail…the bachelorette party. Plans are underway and lots of top secret discussions have already taken place. Liz knows what day the shenanigans are scheduled for, but has no clue what the shenanigans actually include. And that’s exactly how it should be.
Let the Gong Show begin!
Jaia made it 11 months without even a sniffle. I was sure she had inherited my super ability to never get sick (an ability I’ve totally imagined up – see the Christmas post), but since the middle of December, my little bean has had 4 separate bouts with sickness. Or maybe they are all connected through a weakened immune system from the first cold, but every time we think we are all healed up, we are wrong.
The first one was a cold – what I thought was a bad cold – that seemed to go away within a couple of days. Then, the now infamous Christmas pukefest. Immediately following Jaia’s birthday party we went to the doctor for her 12 month immunizations. After her check-up, the doctor decided to postpone the shots because it turned out that the bean was starting an ear infection. Thankfully, that one was super short lived and after a day she was back to her ‘old’ self.
That brings us to yesterday. Dan had been sniffling and sore throated for a few days, but I thought Jaia and I had let this one pass us by. And then her nose started to run…constantly. But it wasn’t until last night that we realized how bad it actually was. After 5 hours of trying to put her to bed unsuccessfully, the super congested breathing started. Each breath sounded like a deep, laboured, phlegmy, painful wheeze.
She’d finally fall asleep for a few minutes at a time, only to wake screaming from…nothing she could explain to us. Our night did not improve. The waking continued until the sun came up when Dan got up with her. She was far better in an upright position, but she has gone from her usual 11 hour sleep at night to a 4-5 hour one, if that. Then I was finally able to get her to fall asleep at 11:30 this morning – only to wake up 20 minutes later and then not nap again all day. This is going to be fun.
In our short experience as parents, this has been the hardest thing we’ve ever had to go through. To know she’s in such pain and that there is nothing we can do about it beyond comforting her is heartbreaking. I’ve never heard her cry the way she did last night and early this morning. It was awful. And we were helpless. And completely exhausted.
I’m hoping that the cold peaked last night and that she’s on the road to recovery. She might not have her mom’s super immunity, but she may still have inherited her dad’s speedy healing ability. While all of us suffered from the evil Christmas flu for 5-7 days, Dan was all healed up and back on the food and drink wagon within 24 hours. It was very impressive.
A quick end to this most recent bug saga would be very welcome here. Then again, so would a nap.
….and we’re back.
Before getting down to business, here’s a short (probably unnecessary) disclaimer: I know there are a ton of good albums that came out this year that I haven’t heard yet. I’ve read a lot of year end lists, and three albums that I have yet to hear that seem to be on almost every respectable list are the new LCD Soundsystem, the new M.I.A. and the new Feist. I can’t stand Feist (as a solo artist, anyway), but I’m sure the other two albums (and many others that I haven’t heard) are really great. I hope to get to some of them eventually. Recommendations are welcome.
THE BEST 16-11 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
16. Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew – Spirit If…
Oh, how I wanted to hate this album. I’m not sure why, but the whole “Broken Social Scene Presents” label just struck me as totally unnecessary and really pretty pretentious, like the BSS monicker carries some sort of heavy weight in the music industry, and is reserved for just a select chosen few. Really though, it seems like all you need to be a member of their silly club is to have a beard, a guitar, and a couple weeks worth of not bathing. Their last album as a collective was kind of clunky and bland, and I was left thinking that the member’s respective other band responsibilities were preventing BSS from re-capturing the sense of fun and spontaneity that made 2001’s You Forgot it in People so great. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been so worried, as this album is solid, and reminds me why I liked Broken Social Scene so much to begin with. I also think I now understand the whole “Broken Social Scene Presents” thing – this is not a solo album by any stretch, it’s definitely a Broken Social Scene album. All of the major players are here (Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff) and most of the other BSS-regulars can be found in guest spots, including the three ladies (Feist, Amy Millan & Emily Haines). This album is focussed on Kevin Drew rather than the whole collective though, so it’s significantly more focussed and together than their last effort. Standout tracks like “Lucky Ones”, “Frightening Lives” and “Bodhi Sappy Weekend” are as good as anything these guys have ever done. I find myself really looking forward to the 2008 release of Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning.
Favourite track: “Frightening Lives”
15. Jay-Z – American Gangster
I’m not sure if this is 100% accurate or not, but the story I heard was that Jay-Z saw an advanced screening of the Russell Crowe/Denzel Washington movie of the same name and was so inspired by the story of Frank Lucas that he wrote this concept album to accompany the movie in a week, with each song supposedly lining up with a specific scene from the movie. That’s pretty crazy if it’s true – I’ve seen the movie, and while it was pretty good, the only thing I was inspired to do was have a beer when I got home. Anyway, if anyone can put an album this good together in a week, it’s Jay-Z, but whether it took a week or a year, this a really strong return for the “retired” future owner of the Brooklyn Nets. Sounding fresh and interested for the first time in ages, Jay-Z’s storytelling is laid out on a surprisingly diverse-sounding collection of beats and samples, with a necessary and welcome focus on 70s soul to fit the mood and setting of the movie. There are no duds on this album; even the initially annoying “Hello Brooklyn” has redeemed itself after repeated listens. Top shelf.
Favourite track: “Roc Boys”
14. !!! – Myth Takes
The guys in !!! are either some of the coolest guys in music, or some of the lamest. These are the only acceptable scenarios that would lead to an album like Myth Takes. I’ve heard their sound described as “indie rock white boy funk”, which works about as well as any other description I can think of. This is definitely party music, a blend of funk, soul, punk, electronic and rock all at the same time, with (occasionally embarassing) dance music lyrics over top. For example, the chorus to “Heart of Hearts” sounds like it was jacked from an early-90s dance song by a band with an angry black rapper and some diva over-singing the chorus (C+C Music Factory, Snap, Black Box, etc). It shouldn’t work over the backing music, but for some reason, it does. I remember when I first heard this album, I thought it’d work better as an instrumental, but I’ve since changed my mind. The ridiculous lyrics are needed to keep the mood light, and to keep these great musicians from taking themselves too seriously. I think. I really don’t know. This album is sort of silly, but it’s original and fun, and that’s enough for me.
Favourite track: “All my Heroes are Weirdos”
13. Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
Speaking of silly albums, Animal Collective’s Strawberry Jam is downright bizarre. The lyrics don’t appear to make any sense whatsover and I can’t even tell what instruments are used on most of this album – I imagine it’s mostly guitar and keyboards, but they’re so processed and filtered on most of these tracks, it becomes hard to tell. I initially discarded this album as unlistenable experimental crap, but every listen since my initial dissapointment has revealed something new and mindblowing. That said, I can accept the possibility that I just really want to like this album, as I have a lot of respect for anything that sounds so totally original. Definitely not for everybody, but it’s a really interesting album, and worth a listen if you’re feeling adventurous.
Favourite track: “For Reverend Green”
12. The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
I’ve long been a big fan of the Shins, ever since a friend of mine gave me the following (possibly drunken) review prior to a Broken Social Scene show: “the Shins. Good band. the Shins. check ’em out”. That said, I was worried prior to hearing this album that it’d sound exactly like their previous two albums. I should have had more faith. The Shins, having mastered the art of making catchy 3 minute pop songs for soundtracks about 30 year olds trying to find their place in the world, have grown and expanded their sound, and put together another great album without carting out the exact same old bag of tricks. The changes aren’t massive… really more of a tweaking and refining than anything, but significant enough that the Shins can’t fairly be labelled a one-trick-pony anymore. “Australia”, “Phantom Limb” and “Split Needles” (which strangely reminds me of a Rush song that I can’t think of) are easily as good as anything they’ve done previously. Another great album from the best band from Albuquerque, and possibly all of New Mexico. The Shins. Good band. The Shins. Check ’em out.
Favourite track: “Phantom Limb”
11. Kings of Leon – Because of the Times
Tennessee’s Followill brothers are getting better and better with every new album. Because of the Times is as straightforward a rock album as I’ve heard all year – an excellent collection of southern rock that is the perfect companion to some exercise, a long drive, or a drunken poker game in a hotel in Cleveland with four of your best friends while talking about BS and making ridiculous sports bets… or something along those lines. While the song “Charmer” is slightly less than stellar (it includes far too much random screaming), the rest of the album is near-perfect. If the Kings keep progressing musically like they have thus far, they’re going to be an unbelievable band very very soon.
Favourite track: “On Call”
Back soon with albums 10-6.
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Auntie Kris - Wow…those are pretty much the most beautiful cookies that I have ever seen. Wish I’d been there to snatch up one of the few survivors.
Kudos to Dan for his excellent piping skills…perhaps a little side business idea, for all that spare time you guys have?? 😉
Cats ARE jerks. What do you want to bet that they were in it together? Or that one of them dared the other? They totally look like the type of cats who would pretend to dislike each other but secretly plot destructive missions together when you’re not around.
rachel Edwards - I swear cats *know* when it’s really important. I was once baking a very elaborate cake to impress a boy, and it required melting chocolate, cooling it on a marble slab, and then scraping it into chocolate curls. It was happily cooling when the cat jumped on the counter and happily marched through it. And there was no time to cool another batch.
However, those cookies look gorgeous and I’m glad you had some survivors!
Danielle - Oh wow Shan, those are the most beautiful cookies that have ever existed! They look so yummy. I think Auntie Kris is onto something with the side business…… 🙂