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Two street not-performers-but-stand-stillers stop for a cigarette by the Thames River in London.

I love Thailand: crazy, hectic, electric, and full of weird food. I have too many great images to share all at once, so we’ll have to keep going back.

In Thailand, there is a direct correlation between earning money and eating. Wherever there exists a patch of sidewalk, you’ll find someone who has something to sell you. These pictures were taken in Chinatown at night.

In this time of economic insecurity, !FREE! is key, and Pandora.com offers not only free music, but free music you love. If  you don’t love what you are listening to, tell Pandora, and you will never hear it again.

There is no catch.

Here is how it works: go to Pandora.com, register (it helps to remember your password), and start creating your radio stations. For example, let’s create a station with a lot of happy poppy chick music:

1. Click on “Create New Station” button
2. When prompted, type in “Innocence Mission”
3. Pandora will create a station and immediately start playing “Bright as Yellow” or “Befriended” or something equally happy and poppy.
4. It will call the station “The Innocence Mission Station.” Yuck! Click on options and hit “Rename this station.”
5. Rename the station “Happy Poppy Chick Shit.”
6. Next, in the options click “Add variety to this station”
7. You will be prompted to type in a song, band or album. Type in “The Ditty Bops” Repeat an dtype in “Tanya Donelly”
8. This is a good start. Keep listening to your station. As each song comes up, you will notice that you will see information about the artist as well as a list of similar artists. You will also be able to tell Pandora if you like the song or not. If you don’t, click the thumbs down button.

This is where Pandora gets interesting. Pandora is the brainchild of the Music Genome Project. The Music Genome Project assigns a gene structure to every song, based on things like rhythm, tempo, vocals, instruments, etc. Songs generally have between 150 -400 genes per song. The assignments are done by actual human musicians, each song takes about 30 minutes to classify. This means that the Pandora/Music Genome database went to work when I typed in “Innocence Mission” and “Ditty Bops” and within minutes played Kim Richey and “Five2,” neither of whom I had heard of, both of whom I liked.

A few things you should know about Pandora:

• Since it is free, you will have to contend with a few ads.
• Pandora has a minimizer as well as a browser bar
• There is plenty of room for sharing with friends
• You cannot outright ban an artist from your station, but after clicking on thumbs down twice, I will not hear Mariah Carey on “Happy Pop Chick Shit” again.
• Pandora provides links to purchase the music you like through Amazon and iTunes
• You cannot repeat a song, nor can you request a song.
• Pandora has a series of genre stations you can start with and modify to your tastes.

This is great on fresh bread, put it in a little bowl next to big hunky slices of something fresh and crusty delicious. This spread is at it’s most delicious when it has had a chance for the flavors to blend and play together overnight, but you can also make it and serve it right away. You can change the spread easily by changing the ingredients, you can also make it a bit lighter by using low-fat cream cheese and yogurt*.
Combine:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened (do not use softened or whipped cream cheese)
• 6 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 1 clove of garlic, finely minced
• 6 Tablespoons of fresh herbs (I like a combo of basil and chives)

* Robin does not condone this sort of activity, so don’t tell her I told you this is acceptable.

Go Italian style and combine oregano and basil; go Greek with oregano, basil and a hint of mint; try cilantro, green onion and thyme for a bit of texmexicali, or use whatever is growing in your kitchen window!

This is a new project I have just begun. I need to be ready to hang by January 6.

Zoinks.

Maybe it is the word “gas” in the name of this product combined with the big gust of wind  under the lady’s skirt…

If anyone can explain this to me, I would be grateful.

I am sorry Mamoun, but you’ve got nothing on these guys in Egypt, selling their falafel from a cart on the side of the road. Sharm el Sheik is a diving resort town in the Red Sea.

These were some of the most delicious falafel I’ve ever tasted. These are pics from the prep zone, I think the yellow substance in the bottom right is eggplant sitting in an egg bath.

Mmmmm….batter.

Let me start by saying I don’t eat meat. I began dabbling in vegatarianism in 1985 after dissecting a rat in science class and reading Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” in history. I was on and off a vegetarian for a variety of different reasons, mostly based on income, as in “if it’s free, it’s in my diet.” From the early nineties until the last two months of 1999, I was a lacto-ovo (can’t live without eggs or cheese) vegetarian then for health reasons I added a weekly fish dish (makes for easier traveling) and haven’t looked back. I don’t miss meat and frankly never liked it that much (except for bacon).

I can safely say my body was a 100% bacon free zone for at least 15 years before Katrina Markoff tempted me with her Vosge’s Chocolate Mo’s Bacon Bar. She has combined deep milk chocolate (I am usually a dark chocolate snob) with applewood smoked bacon, and alder smoked salt.

Crunchy, salty, sweety goodness.

I am sure you are having a devil of a time wrapping your head around the idea of bacon and chocolate, but trust me, this is amazing.

Katrina has built a business around her unusual chocolate pairings. Here are a few samples…

     Black Pearl: ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds + dark chocolate, 55% cacao

Calindia: Indian green cardamom + organic California walnuts + dried plums + Venezuelan dark chocolate, 65% cacao

     Naga: sweet Indian curry + coconut + deep milk chocolate, 41% cacao

     Oaxaca: guajillo & pasilla chillies + Tanzanian bittersweet chocolate, 75% cacao

     d’Oliva: dried kalamata olives + Venezuelan white chocolate, 33% cocoa butter

     Red Fire: Mexican ancho & chipotle chillies + Ceylon cinnamon + dark chocolate, 55% cacao

My favorite is Mo’s Bacon Bar, second is d’Oliva (white chocolate and olives) and third is Naga (Curry and chocolate). Although I might need to have another go round and taste them again…

Chocolate bars start at $2.50 for a mini bar,  $7.50 for a regular sized bar, and $8 for a Day of the dead chocolate skull. (The website doesn’t tell you the weight of the product.) This is not cheap chocolate, but it is delicious. Go to their website www.vosgeschocolate.com and check out the truffles, flying pigs and all the fun!

This takes about 30 minutes, feeds at least 8, great as a leftover.
Saute over moderately high heat:

• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup eggplant, large peeled cubes
• 3 cloves garlic chopped

Stir constantly, when onion is soft, add

• 4 ounces green beans, 1 inch slices
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 pinch of saffron

Cook for about two minutes. While stirring add

• 1 1/4 cup Israeli couscous, toast it lightly

Next add

• 3 1/2 cups veggie stock
• 1 teaspoon salt

Stir, cover, let cook over med heat about 12-15 minutes. Check to see if it needs more liquid, and to test for doneness. When still slightly al dente add and stir

• 8 ounces fresh spinach, cut into shreds

When cooked, add

• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped basil
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled

Feel free to improvise here. Israeli couscous is a big version of couscous and can be found in specialty food stores. You can use chicken stock and even add chicken if you wish. This could be great with some type of sausage, if you are so inclined. If I had tomatoes in olive oil, I would have added them.

You’re not my only blog.

I have another, almost like you, but a little different.

STITCH SPECTACULAR is a project I am working on with Karin Soderholm. We are trying to bring Savannah street cred to all of the hand embroidery taking place here by inviting other hand embroiderers to show next to us. We are organizing a month long juried show, with a January opening.

Please help us make this a success. Check out our site and some of the amazing artists. If you know anyone who might be interested, please send them our way.
Thanks!