The Way To a Man's Heart...

Went for dance class last night. A new saiidi choreography was being taught, a lot of hopping! Was not too difficult to catch up with the rest, but of course I will have to work on polishing my movements and transitions, and memorising the choreography. It's nice to be learning new styles of the dance. I'm a little sad and disappointed though that I won't be performing at the jazz festival in August; I agreed to perform for it before I left for Sweden, but now apparently S asked a newer student to dance instead. *sigh* :( Oh well. Maybe she was afraid I would not come back and she'd be stuck without enough dancers. :P

Anyway. Here's something about what I did in the land of blondes, pickled herring and aquavit. During a week when F came home from work every night at 10:30pm tired but ravenous, we would cook something fairly fast and easy, but it still did take some time and we usually ended up eating at 11pm or later. So one evening I decided to make for dinner a chunky, stew-like soup. Soup filled with good stuff is comfort food to me - it brings about a certain cosy dreaminess... er.. yeah.

I improvised when it came to the ingredients, having no recipe to follow, but having an idea of what sort of flavours I want. Fortunately, the soup turned out very tasty. Now, as F and I enjoyed the result of my 'experimental' recipe a lot, I decided to record it here for my future reference, and to share with you peeps who'd like to try making it. :) To make Siryn's Hearty Soup (ahem) you'll need..

500ml water (approx)
1 packet bacon, cut into approx 2in pieces
10 new potatoes (small), scrubbed and cubed (with skins on)
2-4 tomatoes (medium), quartered
1 carrot, cubed
1 small cucumber, cubed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
1 can/box (small) crushed or pureed tomatoes
1 chopped onion (large white Spanish)
3-4 cloves garlic (at least), minced
1 cube bouillon (beef/pork/chicken)
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
salt and roughly ground black pepper to taste

Method:
1) Pour water in large pot and heat. Add bouillon cube and bring to boil, making sure the cube dissolves completely. While waiting, fry the bacon pieces till crisp, and drain away the oil when it's done (or reserve for frying the onions if you don't mind the cholesterol).
2) Put carrots and potatoes in boiling bouillon/water. Simmer for about 5 minutes before putting in the tomatoes and cucumber.
3) Add crushed tomatoes to the pot and stir the mixture, leave to simmer. In the meantime, fry the onions in same pan used for bacon.
4) Add fried onion, beans, basil, thyme, chilli flakes and about half of the fried bacon into pot, and stir till well mixed. Simmer for about 30 minutes to let the soup thicken.
5) When you like the consistency, add garlic, salt and black pepper to the soup mixture, stir and taste.

Serve piping hot, topped with the fried bacon (maybe some grated cheese?), with sliced baguette (or similar crusty bread).

Suggestions & notes
- This recipe serves about 4 people. If you can't finish it, refrigerate or freeze; this soup reheats very well.
- I didn't use measuring cups or spoons. Everything is approximate; the teaspoons I used are the ones we use to stir our coffee/tea.
- If the flavour is too flatly salty or a tad too sour due to all the tomato, add a tablespoonful of honey - I find that usually helps to balance out the flavours perfectly.

If you wish, you can add or substitute some of vegetables with bell peppers, celery, baby corn, radishes or cabbage. Potatoes can be substituted with pasta (fusilli, shells, farfalle or similar small pasta shapes) - or you can have both. Instead of new potatoes, you can use any other waxy, low-starch potatoes that hold their shape well after cooking. The meat component can also be meatballs, or bite-sized pieces of pork/beef (marinated and pre-stirfried). In place of the beans, you can also use fresh peas, garbanzos (chickpeas), black-eyed peas, lentils or any other bean you like (probably). Raw shelled groundnuts (peanuts) would lend the soup a earthy, nutty flavour.

Comforting Sounds

WE stood in the shrill electric light,

Dumb and sick in the whirling din

We who had all of love to say

And a single second to say it in.

"Good-by!" "Good-by!" -- you turned to go,

I felt the train's slow heavy start,

You thought to see me cry, but oh

My tears were hidden in my heart.

- Sara Teasdale

Back in KL now.. ahh, the familiar heat and humidity..... or rather, aghhhhhhh.. :P I was stone tired by the time I arrived because I didn't get any sleep on the 12-hour flight (well, I didn't really try to do so..). How did I occupy myself on that long stretch of time spent more or less confined to a 2x2 ft space (the seat next to me was empty and I had a window seat)? I watched a teen movie on figure skating called "Ice Princess", not once, but TWICE; watched the same National Geographic extreme sports feature, not twice, but THRICE; read the inflight magazine from cover to cover (and decided to filch it because there was a good world map near the back); read the entertainment guide and shopping catalogue from cover to cover (sad!); ate approx 3 turkey ham-stuffed rolls and had countless cups of orange juice offered by the cabin crew between dinner and breakfast (*burp*); read all the issues of (After)life in Gothland that Mo got for me, plus the free issue of Boneyard (all v.v.g.); went through BJ: The Edge of Reason to find amusing passages with which to comfort myself.

The truth is though, I profoundly miss F already.. have since the moment I had to check in and we had to part. If I feel this way now, how do I endure not seeing being able to see, to hold him for months on end? I know we've done it before, but I doubt I'll ever get used to it..

Now, as I've gotten about 2 hours' sleep in the past...48 hours or so?.. I think I will get some sleep. If I have the energy, tomorrow I shall write more about the flight.

One more thing... I spent the afternoon compiling a new playlist for my radioblog.. something to hopefully make up for the long drought. Thus without further ado, I'd like to present Siryn's selection of old bootlegs, covers, b-sides and unreleased songs from one of the greatest bands in the world, Radiohead! :) And the set begins with....

Nobody Does It Better (live) - Here is my absolute favourite version of this Carly Simon cover. Thom declares in the beginning that this is one of the sexiest songs that was ever written. I concur.

Black Star (live) - A favourite that always sounds good to me no matter how much time has elapsed since my last listen.

Sing A Song For You (live) - Sweet, morose Tim Buckley cover. Unreleased.

Lucky (live) - This is not just any live version, but the one with Michael Stipe on vocals, just for you REM fans.

What is it that You Say? - Early Radiohead; can be found on "On A Friday" demo tape.

Lozenge of Love - Contemplative acoustic track named after a line from a poem. Thom's voice takes on a somewhat luminous quality here..

Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong (live) - This grows on you. Listen to the lyrics. Love hurts?

Maquiladora - Early rawk from our favourite Oxford boys. Pretty darn cool.

Wish You Were Here - Thom York and Sparklehorse cover Pink Floyd. According to GreenPlastic.com, Thom sang his part over the phone from his hotel room, and those extra bits you hear in the background were from the TV in his room. I think this is the right file, though it doesn't really sound like Thom... good song anyway. :)

True Love Waits (live) - This is very likely a bootleg from 2001, when the band started playing the track on their live sets. Beautiful song with seemingly bizarre but oddly touching lyrics. Another favourite of mine.

Creep - And last but not least, a suitably slacker-angsty acoustic version of the song that gave the band their break, and gave thousands of geeks (or geeks-at-heart) around the world an anthem. Enjoy.

Note: This is the actual order of the playlist; I tried numbering the tracks but they still won't be arranged in the order I want. Oh well. Have fun anyway.

Blissed Me

We'll go where the crowds don't stare
And no one laughs at what we wear
The phone might ring
The rain might sting, oh, but we don't care

We'll fly over the endless ocean
We're heading for the winter sun
'Cause you and me we're just two creatures on the run
- The Tears

More than 4 weeks have passed since I came to Sweden, and nearly every moment here has been wonderful. I hope you forgive me for not posting, dear readers (all 3 of you)... I plan to give you the highlights of my time here, gradually, when I get home.

Now, as F is now home from work, we're going to get prepared for a picnic/bathing outing at a lake nearby. *big silly smile* Till later!

P/S: The Tears are indeed a fabulous band. Brett Anderson is a sexy beast (well, quite), and his/Butler's new music makes me happy. Go listen.

Be Mine

From the very first moment I saw you
That's when I knew
All the dreams I held in my heart
Had suddenly come true
Knock me over stone cold sober
Not a thing I could say or do
'Cause baby when I'm walking with you now
My eyes are so wide
Like you reached right into my head
And turned on the light inside
Turning on the light
Inside my mind

Come on baby, it's all right
Sunday Monday, day or night
Written blue on white it's plain to see
Be mine, be mine!
Rainy shiny, night or day
What's the difference anyway
Honey till your heart belongs to me

If I had some influence girl
With the powers that be
I'd have them fire that arrow at you
Like they fired it right at me
Maybe when your heart and soul are burning
You might see
That everytime I'm talking with you
It's always over too soon
That everyday feels so incomplete
Till you walk into the room
Say the word now girl
I'll jump that moon

Come on baby it's OK
Rainy shiny, night or day
There's nothing in the way now
Don't you see
Be mine, be mine!
Winter summer, day or night
Centigrade or Fahrenheit
Baby, till your heart belongs to me
Be mine, be mine!
Thursday Friday, short or long
When you got a love so strong
How can it be wrong now mercy me
Be mine, be mine!
Jumpin' Jesus, holy cow!
What's the difference anyhow
Baby, till your heart belongs to me

by David Gray