The Humanity of Nagisa Oshima

Nagisa Oshima is a severely neglected Japanese filmmaker in North America. Oshima is probably most widely recognized for his controversial Japanese/French co-production "In The Realm of The Senses", produced in 1974, and 1983's "Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence", starring David Bowie and a young Takeshi Kitano. These three trailers reflect what is perhaps Nagisa Oshima's most fruitful and radical period of filmmaking- the late 1960's. Along with Hiroshi Teshigahara and Shohei Imamura, he is a Japanese favorite of mine.




1968's "Death By Hanging"



1969's "Boy"



1970's "The Man Who Left His Will On Film"

-James

Heeeeeeeeere's Charlie!

I guess we'd better introduce Charlie as well. She also goes by Charlie Bucket, Charlie Choo Choo Train, Charlie Rochester (that is unfortunately her kitty stripper name) and Grumpy face/bum/pants/pie. A certain brother, who I will not name for his protection, calls her Handycat. So mean!

Sometimes the duo are called the Brewster Twins or Sparlie and Charkie! They both get things like Smoosh Face, Kitty Pie, Cutie Bum and so on. One former roommate mostly called them NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and Don't! If you're my father you will likely call them (and any pet) Stinky...or more accurately "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh Stiiiinky".
-Allison

Sparkie and Charlie are not amused

I repeat. Sparkie, and Charlie are not amused by the change of cat food. They were happy to see that I paid attention to their discomfort and bought some of the old faithful food they have been eating their whole life. I even tried to gradually change the food by mixing the old with the new over a few months. This did not go over well. Oh well. As long as they're happy.
-Allison

Sparkie

This is our cat Sparkie and we love him. James likes to call him Meeeeeeeeeeeestah Spaaaaako (repeatedly). He also goes by Sir Sparkler, The Gentle Giant and Sir Sparks-A-Lot.
-Allison

Yummy Yummy Roll

Don't be fooled. These are delicious, but NEVER ask for more than one order as you may not be able to finish the. I normally only want two bite size pieces. They are warm and saucy!
-Allison

Salmon Rose Roll

I love these, a lot!
-Allison

Sushi Kan

Yes! James and I went out for sushi lunch. Delicious. You know, Sushi Kan is great for all you can eat sushi lunch. It's only $12.99 a person and everything is so yummy. I love sashimi, it's my favourite, but I don't mind that it's only on the dinner menu.

Lunch was better than I remember it. These photos show just a few of the items we had. We definately took our appetite with us. James is enjoying some orange peel chicken in the photo above...and about to enjoy some shrimp tempura!

The next photo is a white tuna sushi pizza with garlic sauce. We usually order the salmon sushi pizza and were pleasantly surprised by how good the tuna one was. Yum!

The third photo again shows the orange peel chicken, shrimp tempura and fried calamari.

Last, but DEFINATELY not least is a plate of salmon, tuna, tofu and crab sushi. In behind you can see my favourite "salmon rose" roll. It has salmon and cream cheese in it. If you love salmon, you've got to try it.

These photos are no longer in the same order. I'm sure you can figure it out.
-Allison

Watch Me

I'd like to take this opportunity to advertise a YouTube video that I love. Check these guys out. I'm certain that if they lived here in Ottawa, they'd be our pals...



http://www.youtube.com/user/klusmanp

-Allison

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

I forgot to mention, for those who like to try new recipes. I made some sweet and sour pork chops the other night. Super tasty! The sauce is nice to put over rice or potatoes. It's a subtle flavour. I can't decide between this recipe and the dijon herb recipe, but James says the sweet and sour chops are better. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
4 medium pork chop
1 tablespoon oil or butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup organic apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon allspice (essential and so delicious)
salt, to taste
black pepper, freshly ground, to taste
(a clove or two of chopped can't hurt)

*Brown the pork chops in the oil or butter and place in a single layer in a baking dish.

*Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl, mixing to combine, and pour over the pork chops.

*Bake in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Yum! Adam, you should try these...
-Allison

Mary Tyler Moore!

Oh, we're so busy with packing up the house right now. It would be nice to take the time to right something interesting in here. All I can think of is our AYCE Sushi lunch we have planned for tomorrow at Sushi Kan. It will be nice to do something fun like that before the crazy moving business starts. The day after the move is so busy too. I'm sure I'll post lots of photos from not only the sushi, but Holly's baby shower and Syvie and Oz's wedding reception.

According to Adam's blog, there is a Mary Tyler Moore Show reunion to look forward too. We're moving to a house with TV just in time for that. I heart Mary Tyler Moore. That show is one of my all time favourites. This show seems to be on topic a lot these days...

(Here is where I erased a rant about something that was annoying me. It was fun to write it here, but started to bother me just as much that I had written it.)

...Lesson learned. Don't lend out anything you expect to get back.

And now back to packing. I think we're almost out of boxes and ready to call it a night. There will be an awful lot of stuff left behind. We're planning on putting it all out on the street for the neighbours...and then donate what's left...
-Allison

Celebrating Tacos.......

Taco trucks are plentiful throughout urban California. You can always count on them to deliver delicious tacos. What we require in Canada are legions of taco trucks, ready to supply us with tacos, on demand.

A photo of the raw materials required to assemble authentic tacos (with an abundance of sliced steak and avocado). Tacos can be made with any meat product, but beef is always good.

Cinemascope

Beginning with the upcoming summer issue, Cinemascope Magazine, Canada's finest cineaste periodical, will be including exclusive film dvds. The dvds will be provided courtesy of Toronto's FilmsWeLike Distributing and the premiere film will be Portugese filmmaker Pedro Costa's excellent "Juventude Em Marcha (Colossal Youth)" (pictured above).

Unfortunately, the discs will only be included in subscription copies and not newsstand copies (So, I better subscribe!).
-James

The Great Unravelling

People's Exhibit A-


Farewell precious sweater, and farewell precious nose. All hail the mighty Reatarded appendage!

Last week I was deathly ill and I was unable to attend the Jay Reatard show at Babylon in Ottawa. His next performance on the Canadian leg of the tour was at the Silver Dollar in Toronto. As witnessed in the above video clip, Jay apparently encountered some scenester &*!%&*@%!-types in Toronto. Jay decimated a dimestore emo sweater by grasping a single follicle of polyester fiber and rendering it a pile of shreds in a matter of seconds. But, what follows is more exciting- Jay punches the sweater-sporting boy. The audio of the punch is clearly present in the audio . According to the promoter, a cord was unplugged and Jay is a prima donna. According to Jay, the crowd, undaunted by any security presence, destroyed portions of the band's rig- pedals, guitar pickups, and monitors, making the performance difficult to continue. Jay's reaction isn't surprising. Music is his livelihood.

To Jay's credit, he has promised to return and perform for free, making up for the shortened show (strictly for the 'fans', the beer swilling children can stay home.)

There is another clip of the promoter, but it's too embarrassing to post. As Jay departs, the promoter unleashes an anti-Reatard, crowd-supported tirade. Apparently, the same guy, when asked by Jay before the show about the security presence or lack thereof, responded with "I thought you guys were a garage band?!" What does that even mean?

Was Jay out-of-line for punching the guy in the face (and in turn, punching him right back into the sweaty crowd)? Perhaps. Probably not though. Perhaps the Toronto crowd could repair Jay's equipment for him? Not likely.
-James

Earl Grey

Earl Grey tea is anything but boring and typical. It can be any kind of tea with the addition of bergamot oil, a fragrant citrus fruit. There's even a legend surrounding the origin of the tea and it's name.

Avril Lavigne is not punk! She's not punk just because you say so...see how that works? (for James and his lack of posts)

So there Adam, Earl Grey tea is not boring!!!
-Allison

The Earl Grey tea blend is named after the second Earl Grey--Charles Grey--who served as the Prime Minister in Great Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century. Earl Grey Tea carries a couple of legends about its origin. One of the legends involves Earl Grey’s servant rescuing an Indian rajah’s son from a man-eating tiger, and according to another legend, a Chinese nobleman--after his son’s rescue by the Earl’s men from drowning--served the tea blend to Earl Grey.

Tea

I like tea. I like my tea. I like my tea shelf.
-Allison

More Fried Rice

Fried rice the second time around is better when you remember to add peas.
-Allison

Free Cake!

Now that I have 2 Cream Cheese Pound Cakes, does anyone want any?
-Allison

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Success! The Cream Cheese Pound Cake is wonderful and addictive. The Blueberry sauce I made was the perfect topping. Here are both recipes...

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

3c. Butter
3c. Sugar
6 Eggs
8 oz Cream Cheese
3c. Flour

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add in the eggs and softened cream cheese. Mixx well. Add flour and mix until smooth. The recipe said to put in one round cake pan, but it makes so much you will probably need two. It's the perfect amount to make a layered cake. Bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours (knife will come out of the center clean). It's a very rich cake. Simple, but heavy...

Blueberry Sauce

1 1/2 c. Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 c. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

Bring ingredients to a boil in a saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes. Done!
That photo of the cake is ridiculous, but the only one I have...ah well. I'll make this cake for Barry when we move to Brockville. Happy James?
-Allison

When Everyone Else Is Sleeping...

When James and I have a free day you'll often find us up all night watching movies, shopping at 24 hour grocery stores, cooking and listening to music. It's 4:40 am and we're up in the kitchen listening to a copy of Morrissey's greatest hits that I won listening to The Signal on CBC. We just finished an entire plate of tacos James made while waiting for what I am making. I had a sudden urge to make a recipe I found online. Cream Cheese Pound Cake! I had a bag of Blueberries in the freezer and chose to make a spiced blueberry topping...James can have the butterscotch sauce that's left over from the Sundae birthday party (he doesn't like blueberries...what's wrong with him?).

When it's done I'll post a picture and the recipe (if it's any good...and if I survive after eating it. It's pretty much butter, sugar, eggs, cream cheese and flour....that's it...

By the way, I'm enjoying the Morrissey album more than I thought I would. The first Cd is a mix of what I'm assuming are his greatest hits (although I remember loving many of the other songs more) and there's another Cd of a live show. Haven't checked that out yet. It's a pretty good listen...
-Allison

Late Night Dinner Part II

The tortilla did not turn out. I've made it before, but never with such a large frying pan. We had to toss it. Yuck! Having your own Turnip fluff all to yourself is pretty great...and the pork and fried rice was pretty good. Actually, the pork was amazing. We added honey to the recipe though...

Late Night Dinner

I'm in the process of making dinner after 1am. It's going to be yummy. I'm following a Canadian Living Test Kitchen recipe.

Grilled Dijon Herb Pork Chops
By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

Servings: 4
Ingredients:
1/4 cup (50 mL) Dijon mustard
2 tsp (10 mL) olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp (1 mL) each salt, pepper and dried thyme
1/4 tsp (1 mL) dried rosemary, crumbled
4 pork loin chops, 1/2 to 3/4 inch (1 to 2 cm) thick

Preparation:

In shallow glass dish, whisk together mustard, oil, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary. Add chops, turning to coat; let stand for 15 minutes.

Place chops on greased grill or in grill pan over medium-high heat; close lid and cook, turning once, for 8 to 10 minutes or until juices run clear when chops are pierced and just a hint of pink remains inside.


While I'm making this, I'm also working on a Turnip Fluff (Thanks to Mom) and a Tortilla de Patatas, a Spanish potato omlette (Thanks to Brian). I'll take pictures and see how it all goes...It should be interesting because I'm mixing sweet potatoes with regular white potatoes. One must try to use up the contents of ones fridge before they move out of their apartment

Brockville

This is our new home in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to be on the St. Lawrence again. This is where James and I both went to highschool. This is where we met when I was about 14. It will be interesting to spend some time there.
-Allison

Lunch!

Here's what I was lucky enough to have for lunch. It cost all of $2.99 for 10 of them at Kowloon market and takes about 6 minutes to steam from frozen. It's called Shao Mai (seafood dumpling) and it's delicious. I suggest ordering them when you're out for Dim Sum. My other favourite is Har Gow (shrimp dumpling).
-Allison

Downtown Ottawa!

For those of you who venture into the downtown core to party and get drunk, I feel the need to remind you that people live downtown. That's right, we live here. We're the people that wake up at 4 in the morning because you need to have your drunken PHO on the corner of Somerset and Rochester. Personally I can handle the honking and screaming and Woohoos...but I worry about the families in this neighbourhood who hear countless offensive things late at night. Next time you're out late at night in Chinatown try to remember the families trying to get sleep while you're honking and screaming at your drunk buddies to hurry up....or whatever random cursing and swearing that must be so important.

Don't even get me started on Bank st. and the poor folks who live on Gilmour that have to listen to that Barrymore's line-up on Sundays. You know, last year you jerks were so bored waiting to get into the club you ripped a lovely tree right out of it's planter. Don't lie to me. I watched you do it from work.

Bah!
-Allison

Quttinirpaaq National Park

Gull Clacier ("Hand of God") at Tanquary Fiord
I want to go here too...
-Allison

Auyuittuq National Park

Mt. Asgard

There are beautiful National parks in Nunavut.We want to see them so badly. Here are some photo's I found to remind me of where I want to go.
-Allison

We're Moving!

We're moving to Brockville. We don't know how long we'll be there, but we do know we want to move to Baffin Island. It must be so beautiful.
-Allison

The day is shaping up...

I might not be up to much, but I'm up and not feeling like a mess of sick. Finally! While I download the new Battlestar Galactica episode, I plan to have some wonderful dim sum dumplings from Kowloon market. I'm going to miss Kowloon when we move in a couple of weeks. Although the experience of going out for dim sum is wonderful (see the Breakfast Blogger link) sometimes you just need to have it at home. You can get about 8 pieces for $2-3 at Kowloon market. This picture might be a month old, but it's the market and it's dumplings...

I just spent an hour or so on the front step with Marna. As she did some gardening, I looked at an overdue library book about all about shade gardening. We had ginger beer, cheese and pondered the disappearance of the beautiful basket chairs that were once on the front step. As soon as we see them on someone else's front step, we will retrieve them. Jerks.

So, I'm going to have a little lunch, watch some Alias and head to Canadian Tire with Marna and Lorraine to look at gardening supplies. Later on a little cleaning, packing and Battlestar Galactica.
-Allison

Friday Night!

Tonight I went out for dinner when James went to work. It was Peter's 60th birthday celebration. We went to Royal Thai on Dalhousie...and although we felt a little rushed, the food was delicious. I had Panang (Chicken w/ red curry and peanuts) and Tom Kha Goong ( Hot and sour soup with coconut milk, shrimp, mushrooms and lemongrass). These are my two all time favourite Thai dishes. Here's the big problem though, they were SOLD OUT of sticky rice. How the hell does that happen at a Thai restaurant??? For those of you who haven't been, it's worth it. It's probably my second favourite Thai restaurant (second only to Siam Bistro on Wellington). If you're looking for Thai delivery, never fear, Bon Thai delivers in Ottawa and it's pretty decent. Back to tonight's dinner. I had the soup, chicken curry, rice and 2 coffees for $24. Pretty Good!

Anyway, we had yummy homemade cake that Claudia made with a brownie center and went back to her place (after picking up James). I'm still feeling sick so I had a cute tikki glass of orange juice and watched as Peter opened his birthday presents! Lucky guy...he's being taken to New York City in June. He also got a cool skulls vs. paisley bag from Leanne and the movie Basket Case.

James and I are thinking of taking him to this show in Montreal with us. Here's hoping we all have the day off...

El Perro Del Mar



and also...

Lykke Li




It's gonna be a good show. Right James?
-Allison

Twin Red Pandas!

Raw Video: Rare Twin Red Pandas

And I like this video.
-Allison

Bats For Lashes - "What's a Girl To Do"

I love this video.

-James

I'm Sick!

That's right. I'm sick. I'm taking antibiotics. I'm not doing anything except sitting on the couch and watching episode after episode of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. When I'm sick, I really love TV. And soymilk.
-Allison

Lazy Days

I'm not working right now, and not looking to either. James and I are moving at the end of this month and I'm perfectly happy to stay at home, sort, pack and spend quality time with him and my kitties. It's cozy! This house, neighbourhood and city will be missed. I'll miss the people here most of all.

I've been getting 8-10 hours of sleep every night and leisurely starting my days. At least Holly has a good excuse for this, she's due in a couple of months. It's nice to have this time to spend with her though, and to catch up with other friends as well. Even Adam came out of his "cabin" today to hang out.

One thing that is not going as planned is this blog. I recently read Adam's and he speaks of the "to do" lists he's been making. I haven't any of those lists right now, but I had planned on writing a note or two in here every day. No dice. I'm sure these posts will be a rambling mess, but at least there will be something.

After a night of drinking and falling down stairs (hah) for Michelle, she met with me at the Bridgehead on Dalhousie. I sat there looking out the window amazed at how that area of town had changed. I could see clearly my first apartment (Dalhousie and St. Andrew)that I had in 1999. I loved how it had two balconies and a back patio. A part of me even wishes I still had that place. I loved that street, but there was never anything close by. Now you can sit there in a coffeehouse and shop at all the trendy boutiques that have opened up (The White Shop?). Michelle showed just after 3pm and we had a nice amount of time to fill each other in on what's happening. She gave me the short version of how the rest of her trip around Canada had gone. There were photos and a highly entertaining video of someone's bar/dance club/games room attached to the back of their "normal looking" house. As long as this post reminds me of the ridiculous lights and excessive tin foil on the ceiling, I'll be happy. I hope that my first visit to the Queen Charlotte Islands is as interesting.

Enter Adam with his tough decision. Shall he venture into Ottawa's Byward Market for some company and some tea? Or will he stay home and find out all about the first pregnant man on Oprah? Needless to say he showed up and filled us in about all things Hannah Montana, but left us in the dark about the pregnant guy and how on earth that's gonna work.

The rest of the night included taking my top five boyfriend to work, using the drive through bank machine (driving in the wrong direction), visiting shops in the Merivale/Meadowlands area, listening to Adam's new CD's, visiting Bridgehead at Gilmour, picking up James, packing up the rest of Adam's crap, getting pulled over for nothing on the corner of Rochester and Gladstone, and moving Adam back to Orleans.

That was a long non-sentence.

I now know that I like the new Moby album, somewhat enjoy the new B-52's, can't remember the names of most boy bands and wish I had purchased Dolly Parton's Backwoods Barbie album.

Oh, enough already.

-Allison