Rockstar

Once in a lifetime you meet that one person.

The intensity of their energy envelopes you and infuses you with passion.

Their smell is intoxicating.  With every inhalation you can feel the adrenaline chase through your veins like heroine feeding a temporary fix to your heart.

With every touch, your body shivers.

And every time they look at you intensely, you seem to be absorbed in their grasp, as though you have fallen into the longing of their eyes.

You feel like you are the only one they’ve ever loved. They become an addiction and you find yourself obsessively chasing after the sensation because you have never felt so alive.

When you’re with them, you feel utterly invincible; embodying a rock star life.

Your reality to skews, creating an alternate universe only you understand, alienating all those who matter most.

Because you are a rockstar now.

They complete a part of you that you felt was always missing.  Their energy feeds your creativity and you hungrily accept every bite that they offer.  Inspiration oozes from your pores and your mind is animated with inspiring thoughts.  This person is your soul mate, your muse and your worst enemy.

Never have two people so perfectly fit, yet when your two energies collide they form a chemical reaction far more devastating than the atomic bomb.  The feeling of their fist cracking against your rib cage and their strong hands wrapped around your neck only convince you to scream every profane name you can think.  Hate creeps into your veins.  All concept of the world around you dissipates and in your irate state you scream even louder.

But no one can take him away from you.  Without him, your soul does not exist.  Without him, your mind does not create.  Without him, you are not a rockstar.

The story is always the same.  “He loves you, he’s passionate, his anger proves how much he cares.  Why don’t you understand?”.  But the angry threats always follow.  piercing.  manipulative.  desperate.  Pain is only part of the process and the love only follows when he throws you against the wall to kiss you passionately.

Every moment wasted, you lose yourself further into the abyss of hatred.  Everyday you scramble for your freedom and loneliness consumes your heart.  Blood is no longer the metaphor for your intense passion, but the symbol of your hatred.  Your soul becomes exhausted and suddenly, with one last hit to the wall, the adrenaline stops flowing.  Your eyes finally open.  Your love dissipates into the anger.  You realize what you knew all along.

The rock star never existed.

 

Chaotic? Food Heals the Soul!

My blog has taken a back seat to my very chaotic, gloomy life lately.  When things go a-rye, well, let’s be honest, all your usual routines disappears amongst the mucky craziness.

At the moment, my basement bedroom is a gawdamn mess because of bathroom renovations.  Work has been unbelievably hectic; seriously, people just don’t listen.  Emotionally, well, I blame that on the full moon.

But… I’m still cooking up a storm.  My love/hate relationship with cooking has evolved into an extreme love and compulsive necessity.

“Part II of Robyn and Kristie’s Foodie Adventures in Toronto” and “Cook Robyn Impresses Ritzy and Derek with a Vegan Meal” is on the way, I just need to settle into my regular routine and get back into the swing of things.

To keep your taste buds intrigued, here is just a nible of what has been shakin‘ in my kitchen.

Yummy Sun Dried Tomato and Chipolte Hummus.  Vibrante with flavor and spiciness.

I was craving pho and since we all know that pho’s soup base is consumed with beefiness; I decided to create a miso based, veggie soup with chinese lettuce, soba noodles, tofu and snow peas.

You always need to keep meals interesting, even when it comes to brussels sprouts!  So, I am introducing Robyn’s Amazing Spaghetti Squash, Chickpea and Roasted Brussels Sprouts.  This dish received rave reviews from even my harshest critics (yes, I am talking about you mum and Sandi).

Oh, the infamous Englishman’s Shepard’s Pie.  It was always one of my many comfort foods growing up and was one of my father’s most favoured meals.  How does one replace the ground beefy messiness that is the most important ingredient?  One word.  Lentils!

Split Pea and Sweet Potato Stew, anyone?

And last, but certainly not least, is my Sunday Vegan Brunch.  Sometimes I miss that greasy diner hang-over breakfast.  Solution:  Create it yourself!  Tofu scramble with fresh herbs, tomatoes, green onion and red peppers, maple flavoured tempeh, home-made fried potatoes , roasted tomatoes and sauteed purple kale .  It was delish!

This is “Hesher”

I have been patiently waiting for the release of “Hesher”.  I am not overly excited about the film, just curious.  Joseph Gorden Levitt has abolished his typical clean cut character type cast for a swearing, psychotic, metal of sorts sociopath.  I’m slightly intrigued.

The film revolves around T.J., a young kid whose mother was killed in a car crash.  He is constantly bullied by his classmates, his father uses prescription drugs to ease the grief of his wife’s death and his grandmother is steps away from senility.  T.J.’s ‘grand’ Hesher meeting occurs after he shatters one of Hesher’s house windows.  Hours later, Hesher materializes in T.J.’s school hallway, sucking on a smoke and looking badass as ever; thus sparking a friendship of carnage and destruction.  However, despite Hesher’s caustic behavior, his major character transformation occurs when – you got it – he chooses to help clean up someone else’s life mess.

Nathalie Portman also graces us with her stunning self, where she plays a super market cashier and T.J.’s secret fascination.  Unfortunately, according to some, her phenomenal acting abilities are not truly utilized and her beauty is masked with mediocrity.

“Hesher” is crude, slightly violent, tagged with abusive language and braised with moments of stand-offish humor.  However, we must give “Hesher” some credit; the film is straight to the point and is not pretending to be something it isn’t.  

Robyn and Kristie’s Official Foodie Tour of Toronto: Part I

I travelled to Toronto this past weekend to visit a good friend (shout out to you my friend Kristie!) who has just moved there from New York.  Yes, if any of you are wondering, her heart is broken.  Breaking up with New York has not been easy – so, I decided to help her explore the great city of Toronto. And unfortunately, through trial and error, we discovered it is not so user friendly… sorry TO, but you haven’t been able to live up to the high standards New York so easily (and obviously) has fashioned.

Among many common interests (including the love of art, snobbyness and the appreciation of big cities), Kristie and I both love, enjoy and relish in good food.  So… as my motto always goes – find the perfect restaurant that interests your taste buds and plan the rest of your day around your stomach.  Kristie was phenomenal in finding good vegan eats (it might help that she herself is a vegetarian) and I suppose with a big city population vegetarianism/veganism is more “trendy”… making it far easier to find outstanding, tasty pro-veggie restaurants.

I arrived late Friday night with a rumbling stomach and bare feet.  Ok, so they weren’t exactly bare… but a pair of Lichtenstein “Girl on the Phone” converse kicks were not exactly suitable for fine dining veggie cuisine.  Me and my forgetful brain – all my heels were back at the office and I guess I never heard their cries of despair of being left behind.  So, despite my stomach’s whining, we headed to the Eaton’s Center to buy me a pair of heels.  And gorgeous they were!  Ask Kristie.

First lucky restaurant to be graced with our presence was “Fressen” on Queen West.  Kristie had done some research and made us a reservation.  A good thing she did; they are quite small in size and when we arrived every table was full.  A fine dining experience with a dimly lit ambiance and a touch of New York feel (although, I am sure Kristie would disagree – I said “a touch”).  “Fressen” did not disappoint.  The food was flavorful, fresh and presented well.  Please excuse the poor photos… In my psychotic hunger state I left the camera behind.  I was hungry…

We started with the soup of the day (I think it was pumpkin), a beet and tangerine salad and a bean dip.  We were overwhelmed by the deliciousness of the appetizers – we couldn’t keep from commenting.

As our main meals; I chose the creamed corn penne, which was just as tasty and comforting as it sounds and Kristie chose the beer battered tofu.  And if you must know… we completed the fancy dining experience with a bottle of wine.  Everything was amazing!  It was a good start to our ‘Official Food Tour’!

We rose the next morning to grumbling stomachs (or maybe they were just displeased about the second bottle of wine we chose to have the night before).  In her research Kristie had heard a lot about this Vegetarian Diner: “Sadie’s Diner”.  Oddly enough, I remember reading about it in a Vegan blog I follow and the diner got rave reviews.  So despite the trek we had to make to get there (which included the subway, many blocks of walking and a street car – see what I mean about unfriendliness?), we assumed it would be totally worth it.

The diner is very quirky, with a 70’s feel, and mod artwork on the walls (what was most pleasing to the eye was the wall of PEZ candy dispensers.  So intriguing).  Satisfying our tummies with a hang-over breakfast looked promising – tofu scramble, veggie bacon and sausage, fried potatoes and they even had fresh fruit and vegetable juice.  I was ecstatic.

First up on the list was beet and spinach juice (Kristie had the beet and mixed greens juice).

It was so concentrated that we could not help but worry we would be walking around for the rest of the day with bloody red smiles.My first sip was divine… earthy with a touch of sweet.

I ordered the tofu scramble, vegan bacon, potatoes and a side of beans.

My first few bites started off extraordinary… however, as I continued my feast, my stomach started screaming.  It felt like a lump of food was simply sitting in my stomach.  I powered through and finished my plate, which unfortunately was a VERY big mistake.  My stomach was displeased with me and I felt sick for the better half of the afternoon.  My gut instinct tells me that I am not really used to ingesting so much ‘fake’ food (let’s be honest – vegetarian bacon and sausage?  I may as well be eating the real thing).  Honestly, the diner décor was far more satisfying then the meal itself.  But what more can you expect from a greasy spoon vegetarian diner?  It was nothing a few beers couldn’t help.

*Sigh*, did I also mention that our other common love is drinking good red wine and beer?

We decided that we wanted Mediterranean for dinner.  Scrumptious hummus and babaganosh were on our brains, so we made a reservation at this jazzy place called Berber Lounge.  It wasn’t vegetarian, but they had options.

The restaurant sold me with the interior decoration, ambiance and the jazzy eccentric singer whose sound reminded Kristie of the band Feist.  Solid introduction and I was delighted.

Our starter was the Eastern Platter, which consisted of a small salad, tabouli, hummus, baba ghanough and a side of pita.  It was ok.  Not phenomenal, not terrible… just good.

As the main dish I ordered the grilled vegetables and Kristie ordered the seafood platter.  I was so disappointed.  Firstly, the platter only had vegetables.  No rice, no pasta, no nothing.  There is something lazy about serving vegetables straight up and not getting even a little creative with taste or presentation.  I generally tend to eat my vegetables raw and if I decide to cook them I ensure they stay crispy.  If you are going to serve a plate entitled grilled vegetables (and it only consists of vegetables) at least have the decency to cook them properly.  These vegetables were extremely overdone, soggy and mushy.

We found ourselves comparing Berber to this fabulous Mediterranean restaurant in New York… where the feast was overwhelming, infused with taste and captivating with creativity.   Sorry Berber you’re not ilili in New York.  The only thing you’ve got going is the sexy, mid-50’s jazz singer wearing full body tights.  I suppose it is a challenge to live up to high and strongly established standards.  I’m not a snob.  I swear.

Our first full day on our official food tour was not all that successful.  Fingers crossed that our second full day would bring us treasure.

P.S. I refuse to mention the hot dog cab ride ordeal.

It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Vegan!

I now finally understand what my father felt when he had to make dinner every night.  It becomes almost despairingly sickening to have to think of what to make, create a grocery list, proceed with the shopping and spend hours preparing it (for those of you who know me well, you know that I am an extreme perfectionist.  Simple cutting can take me a half hour – just because my slight obsessive compulsion requires all the veggies to be the exact same size and shape.)

It had become almost exhausting and I found myself resenting my hunger pains.  It is difficult enough to develop a meal plan, but by removing dairy and meat – suddenly making dinner became a gigantic, grueling task that required recipe research and nutritional investigation.

So how does a creator shake-up this ‘job’ that I’ve learned to loathe?  By creating a masterpiece!  I’ve decided to embrace cooking and turn it into an art form.  I have broken out the camera and started snapping shots of all my “food creations”.  Perhaps, I could say that cooking is now somewhat meditating.  I use my time in the kitchen to unload my stress, close me mind and simply focus on being healthy.  Here’s just a sample of what has been shakin’ in my kitchen.  Please excuse the poor photography, I tried my best.

My first creation – Szechuan Tofu & Green, Yellow Bean Stir-Fry.  It was delish!

Next up…

Quinoa with Snowpeas, Beans and Tomatoes, with a side of Sesame and Lemon Broccoli

And the last one for tonights blog…

Mango, Avocado and Baby Spinach Salad

With the main meal being Spinach, Basil, Sun-dried Tomato Pesto (using brown rice pasta) with a side of Roasted Golden Beets and slightly Sauteed Green Collards.  It was an AMAZING feast!

Until the next Foody Blog!

James Franco Impresses Again!

James Franco’s new movie “Howl” tells the story of Allan Ginsberg’s groundbreaking poem, from its conception to the obscenity trial that followed its publication. The narrative is separated into four segments – showing the first reading of the poem, scenes from the trial, an interview with Ginsberg and animated sequences accompanying the recitation of the poem.

James Franco can do no wrong.  He never fails me.  The story is multi-layered and meaty.  And according to many, Franco’s performance is humbling – displaying a great respect and admiration for the role and subject. 

Sorry guys, I know I’m skimping on the details and description, but I think this is a film I am going to have to see before I make any comments.  Have a look at the trailer:

There is No Lack of Visual Style, That’s for Sure!

Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson?  That’s right, all together in one screaming cinema cliché of a western/samurai melting pot.  Despite the obvious, predictable storyline, “Bunraku” essentially astonishes the audience with its heavily stylized visuals and sound effects.  If you are looking for a fresh narrative with plot twists and profound characters, don’t waste your time.  The acting is reasonably solid; however, the fancy flare of the cinematography seems to have been a higher priority than strong character development. 

Take it for what it is: A good ole’ man vs. man, beat em’up Western/Samurai flick with an entertaining cinematic style.

HUSTLEMANIA

Patrick Martinez’s newest collection, HUSTLEMANIA, will be exhibited next month at the Known Gallery in LA.  With an underlying theme of pop culture, Martinez’s work references many different commercial brands and its overall effect on existing society.  Brandon Shigeta (HypeBeast) took a trip to Martinez’s studio to check out his latest work.

It’s Finally Here!

Oh my gawd, oh my gawd, oh my gawd.  I feel like a giddy teenager.  J-woon Kim’s “I Saw the Devil” has finally been released.  Ok, so apparently I am a week behind in getting this out, seeing as its release date was February 8^th, but it is still tremendously exciting.

Exceedingly gruesome, “I Saw the Devil”, is a bloody revenge film depicting a dangerous psychopath who commits a series of murders.  Despite its violence (which at times is completely unnecessary), the film has phenomenal qualities.  “I Saw the Devil” has been praised for its precise and stunning camera work.  The choreography of the actors in certain fighting scenes combined with the camera exactness is astonishing and literally takes your breath away.

Kim proves his versatility as a director, as he uniquely combines visceral horror with a suspenseful plot. He successfully crafted a film which is not only disturbingly dramatic to watch, but on many levels, the audience walks away from the film completely traumatized.

Potiche: Perhaps only the French understand?

Potiche, Francois Ozon (2010)

A ridiculous, quick witted, comedy that captures a bourgeois house wife challenging a union leader, thus sparking a comedic war of the sexes.  The trailer had me laughing my pants off!