This Afternoon: Sex and the City Luncheon

My sister and I (and, Jose too, but he might not admit it) have been waiting for what seems like an eternity for Sex and the City: The Movie to come out, and *finally* we are going to see it together this afternoon, enjoying a lovely luncheon at Fire beforehand (presented by Cleveland Cinemas).

What: Sex and the City Luncheon (includes: soup, salad, S&TC style beverage of choice, dessert, reserved seat in theatre, unlimited popcorn throughout movie)

When: 11:30am for luncheon, movie to follow

Where: Fire and Shaker Cinemas (located within Shaker Square)

Why: Not only is this a wonderful way to enjoy your Saturday afternoon, for this particular event proceeds will go to Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital

MotivAsians Presents: Sushi + Sake Dinner @ SASAmatsu

If you have read our blog before you know that we have written about our experiences at a variety of alcohol related events, including Wine Pairings (posts: Cherry Hill, Louis Latour), Beer Tastings (posts: Belgian Beer, Great Lakes Brewery) and even Scotch Tastings (post). . .

However, last night we went to a very unique "tasting/pairing" unlike any that we had ever been to before -- that being a very lovely Sake Dinner at SASAmatsu hosted by MotivAsians (the premier organization for Asian-American professionals in Greater Cleveland). When one hears the word "sake" they might think of warm-ish nail polish remover while others think Mmm. Prior to dinner yesterday, Jose felt the way the first camp does while myself (Kelly), on the other hand, has always loved rice wine.

Following our very positive experience at SASAmatsu, both of us can now say we're fans of sake -- thankfully, Jose has finally come over to my camp in this regard (as he has with most other things ;)). On a side note, we were deliberating about whether he has only had bad sake in the past or whether his pallet simply wasn't as "sophisticated" as it is now (hmm, this topic is still up for debate).

SASAmatsu is located within Historic Shaker Square

The Menu

The Sushi and Flight of Sake

The View From Our Table

The Asian Fusion

The Delicious Dessert!!
(served with sparkling sake)

The Bar
(which we'll be sure to enjoy Happy Hour at soon)

Special Thanks to MotivAsians for hosting such a wonderful event and to Chef Scott Kim for his informative, creative, and memorable dining experience*

Our yummy dinner tonight!

Our night has been very simple. . .including our dinner. . .we did not eat till after 8pm due to the fact that we were cleaning our condo (for hours) in anticipation of a visit from the one and only Jackée tomorrow. Regardless of the simplicity of our evening meal, it was beyond delicious. So delicious in fact that we are going to recommend you all make this recipe which we are sure you will want to create once you have learn what we have.

We made Open-Face Grilled Eggplant Sandwiches from the current issue of Food & Wine Magazine which we paired with a fantastic Rosé (although some might argue that it's not the best compliment but we think it really hit the spot). One thing we noticed is that this recipe did not call for garlic, however it is pretty much impossible for us not to include garlic in a recipe but the only thing that prevented us from doing so is that for once we didn't have any in the house), next time we definitely plan on using garlic :)

Random Songs:

[Mp3] The National - All The Wine
[Mp3] Jimmy Eat World - Table For Glasses
[Mp3] Brendan Benson - Good To Me

Top 5 Songs Of The Week (Hooray for No Work on Monday Edition!)

Exhausted from a busy work week, the dreary weather, and still suffering from a Cavs Hangover, we decided to stay in last night. All things considered, we felt it was the perfect opportunity to check out a movie we had been wanting to see for quite some time: I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. Both of us had very high hopes for the film, but have found that having these expectations tend to simply leave us disappointed. Unfortunately, such was the case with I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. . .

[Trailer]

Our love for Sarah Silverman couldn't even salvage our feelings about this film -- in fact, she somehow made the film a little worse. Oh wait, there was one redeeming quality! Fun cameos made by Amy Sedaris, Aaron Carter (haha), Gina Gershon, and Richard Kind. Kinda sad, eh?

Okay, we're done complaining and are moving onto better things. Like relaxing on this therapeutically sunny Saturday afternoon and watching The Food Network non-stop (Down Home with the Neeley's, 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray, Rescue Chef, Everyday Italian) while listening to our Top Five Songs of the Week below:

Enjoy*

5. (mp3) Ponytail - Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came from an Angel) This marks yet another awesome band to come out of Baltimore joining the ranks of Celebration, Wye Oak, Dan Deacon, Beach House, Death Set etc. This one reminds us of Les Savy Fav with someone making cat noises on the vocals or a cross between Sonic Youth and Mike Patton.

4. (mp3) Beulah - Silver Lining A few weeks ago we were reading about how Miles Kurosky former lead singer of Beulah is working on solo material now. Beulah was a band Jose overlooked when he a music director back at the turn of this century but Kelly was into because of the ever so awesome WOXY. This prompted us to go back to those days and revisit their great album The Coast is Never Clear. This Built To Spill-esque little jam is just the very tip of this solid album's iceburg.

3. (mp3) Gus Black - Little Prince Town You may remember this guy who used to go by Gus back in the mid 90's, he had the cover of Don't Fear the Reaper on the first Scream soundtrack. These days he is making some great indie folk on his new album Today is Not The Day that is evidently quite big in Germany.

2. (mp3) Savoir Adore - We Talk Like Machines [<----you can check out the whole ep here] This Brooklyn based duo, who are label mates with MGMT, make beautiful shoegazey guitar tinged pop compositions with male/female vocals that brings to mind the sounds of Broken Social Scene blended with Mates of State.

1. (mp3) All India Radio - Persist This group is a foursome who make cinematic trip hop a la old Portishead, Zero 7, and Boards of Canada. We were instantly drawn to the sounds and totally think this music feels like it's straight out of a Sofia Coppola film.

Re-Cap: Jose's 30th

Since late April, there has been a whole slew of Birthdays (Kelly's dad, Todd, Jose, Kelly's uncle, Jackie, Brian, Ken, and both our moms) so it only makes sense that just now we have the opportunity to reflect on Jose's big 3-0 ;)

Below are some pictures highlighting the festivities*

Glass Bubble Project

Yes we were consuming alcohol and playing with hot glass.
[Luckily no one was hurt as a result]

Bar Cento = Awesome

Chef Sawyer = Fucking Cool

Mmmm. . .Pommes Frites!!

Somebody had *a few* too many pints of Saison Dupont

The night continued with great friends but unfortunately we were having too much fun to stop and take more pictures -- very special thanks to everyone who came out!!

xo*
[Mp3] The Bird And The Bee - Birthday

ps - Speaking of Birthdays, Happy 25th Birthday, Erin!! (well, it's tomorrow, but still)

pss - The cake pictured (way) above is the absolutely decadent Coldstone Creamery Signature Mmmmmmint Chocolate Cake -- we're pretty much obsessed with *all* of Coldstone's ice cream cakes.

Guilty Pleasure of the Moment: The Ting Tings!

Okay, so we have been resisting the urge to fall under The Ting Tings spell for MONTHS.

Yeah. . .

Admittedly, we can finally say that we cannot get their crazy crazy CRAZY infectious melodies out of our minds!!!!!!!!!

So, here you go: Listen at your own risk ;)

[Mp3] The Ting Tings - Great DJ
[Mp3] The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name

ps - We think Blondie meets Toni Basil, what do you say, eh??

pss - Happy to see a boy/girl duo come out of the UK rather than the usual (aka - Brooklyn *ho hum*)

BONUS: For you skeptics, take a quick look-sy at their performance below.

The Ting Tings - Great DJ (SXSW 2008)

Oh What A Day For A Rosé

Today is not the kind of day that one would think to pick a Rosé to drink, especially given that is less than 60 degrees, gray, and actually raining. However, last night when it came to picking out some new bottles at Trader Joe's to sample, I figured "why the hell not, eventually we will get to sit outside on the patio and bask in the sun while have a nice refreshing glass of Rosé." The only problem is that the local weather forecast for the next week does not call for this ideal type of weather...henceforth we can't wait. The Rosé we are trying today is La Ferme Julien : Cotes Du Ventroux Rosé 2006. It has a great color and is dry (but not overly dry), nicely blending with a very nice overall fruitiness that makes us think of strawberries or cherries. This wine is 50% Cinsault, 40% Grenache & 10% Syrah. It is great bottle of wine especially for under $10 (we picked it up for about $8). On a worthy side note, in the past I might have pshh-ahh-ed Kelly's attempt to purchase a bottle of Rosé, but I have moved past my tendency to pigeon hole this under appreciated wine.

(mp3) Tori Amos - Feeling Rosey (AOL Sessions)

While sampling this wine, we are finally having a chance to listen to the new M83 (while we kill time before The Cavs vs Celtics game 5) which we have heard so much about. It seems so foreign to be listening to M83 and hear vocals since most of the material we are familiar with has all been instrumentals. This album is very much on the chill tip with tracks that make you think of current shoegaze groups like The Radio Dept -- while at the same time, you might swear you are listening to an ambient house DJ or perhaps some Depeche Mode.

(mp3) M83 - We Own The Night

***P.S.***********************
We had a great time @ The Swell Season show on Sunday, we couldn't take pictures but wish we could have. We will make a point to share our thoughts soon!

Tonight: The Swell Season

Who: The Swell Season featuring 2008 Oscar winners Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova

What: Performing selections from the soundtrack of the film, Once (and perhaps some songs from The Frames too?)

Where: The Allen Theatre in Cleveland's Playhouse Square

When: Tonight @ 8:00pm, where Damien Dempsey will be opening


Why: What else do you have to do on Sunday night...well, yeah, it does happen to be Mother's Day ;) But, most come out because these songs are so touching and beautiful and you know you want to hear Glen utter "tanks" (thanks) in person.

(mp3) The Swell Season - Into The Mystic (Van Morrison Cover) Hope to hear this one tonight!

Top 5 Songs Of The Week!!

As we gear up for a super busy Saturday, we wanted to make a point to share these especially excellent Top Five Songs of the Week*

Hope everyone has a lovely day :)

5. (mp3) Pinback - Good To Sea We didn't discover this song until recently when Kelly did (thanks to Tegan & Sara's [music playlist] in last Sunday's New York Times), which is such a catchy slice of guitar pop that will keep you coming back for more. Much to our surprise, this is not the typical pop serving we have come to expect from this atmospheric San Diego based indie rock band.

4. (mp3) Morning Benders - Boarded Doors This is a new jam from this band you may have recalled we posted one of their tracks before. This song comes from their new album, Talking Thru Tin Tans. We both think of Brendan Benson when we hear this Berkley/Oakland based band.

3. (mp3) Calico Horse - Idioteque (Radiohead Cover) This is a great cover from this based San Diego band. Kelly says this makes her think of Azure Ray performing acoustic at a Hawaiian themed party.

2. (mp3) Saxon Shore - Marked with Knowledge This Philly based band "makes instrumental music for people who don't like instrumental music." Think Explosions In The Sky but not as intense.

1. (mp3) Otis Redding - Wonderful World A favorite off the collector's edition, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, given a very rare 10.0 by Pitchfork!

Tommorow @ The Rock Hall: Bears!

Tomorrow at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. . .

Bears are playing with The Twilight at the very first performance within a series of concerts called Cleveland Sessions presented by The Rock Hall and Cleveland.com featuring our local musicians performing at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The show starts @ 7pm and is free!

The Food You Crave.

On this rainy yet very peaceful Saturday, we are enjoying some much needed time off. We are starting our early afternoon with the a nice glass of Vin Hunter Semillon (from our beloved Heinen's) while we prepare our lunch and watch a favorite movie from our past, The Virgin Suicides. Kelly was remarking to me that she wonders whether Sofia Coppola wanted Kirsten Dunst instead of Scarlett Johanson for Lost In Translation because they have a better relationship. Kelly also brought up a good point that Evan Rachel Wood could easily have played Kirsten Dunst's role in Virgin Suicides had she been that age.

For our delicious lunch we are making two recipes from Ellie Krieger's fabulous cookbook, The Food You Crave:

Portobello Panini with Gorgonzola and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
and
Snow Pea, Scallion, and Radish Salad

A few Saturday's ago we just so happened to stumble upon her show on the Food Network, Healthy Appetite, and have become huge fans ever since. We have already made her lovely Radiance Fruit Salad a few times and if you would like to do the same, [click here] for the recipe.

A couple tunes, in the spirit of portobello mushrooms?

[Mp3] Feist - Mushaboom (Mocky Remix)
[Mp3] Bright Eyes - Mushaboom (cover)