rainbow
I’ve been fascinated with Democratic convention, having followed it for the past four days, culminating with Obama tonight. (Actually I’m watching my DVR recording right now as I write this.) Although I have plenty of random commentary, you can access the media’s sage(r) coverage of the convention online. So here’s a new spin: the convention by color.
1. RED. Obama wore a Republic red tie last night. Tonight he donned another in diagonal stripes. Biden wore a matching diagonal striped tie, but in Democratic blue. Interesting sartorial selections. Perhaps the two men color coordinated to show that they appeal to all Americans, whether red and blue? Biden’s wife was wearing red. Was that to match Obama? After all, I am convinced they were lovers in a past life, given Obama’s shocking open mouth smooch with her last night. Saliva was definitely exchanged.
2. PINK. The Obama women were cute and matchy matchy in pink. I thought Malia and Sasha had better ensembles than mommy dearest.
3. YELLOW. I Waldo’d one Asian women and one Asian man over the course of four nights. Specimen #1 was in the crowds. Specimen #2 received Obama and family after Obama’s speech. If CNN claims that 5% of this year’s delegates are APAC, I ask: where my people at?
4. WHITE. There must be some cosmetically enhanced pearly white action going on for both O and B.
5. ORANGE. Hillary selected a lovely orange pantsuit combo for her speech Tuesday night. I thought she was fantastic and still regret her lost nomination. 2012! (or 2016!)
6. PURPLE. I have deep, deep respect for McCain. I was thrilled to see his congratulatory video for Obama:
McCain really is a man of great character. So is Obama, but with McCain there are just more data points. I wish that in this election, I vehemently disliked the elephants and were passionately in love with the donkeys. Unfortunately it’s not so. On the bright side, it’s not that bad of a thing because even if O doesn’t prevail, I won’t be horribly upset. But O better win because we need out of this war.
biden for veep!
No idea if he will be, but I just remember liking him during the Democratic primaries. Given my awesome memory, I can’t recall those reasons, other than the fact that he is very refreshingly direct and doesn’t wheedle and waddle around as normal politicians do.
Incidentally, David Brooks of the Times also wrote an op-ed today wishing for Biden’s veepness.
On a similar note, kudos to Obama for deciding to text his decision out. Smart way to continue his mastery of campaigning via technology. Sneaky way to get people’s cell phone numbers and other personal information.
breakfast makes you smarter
My latest food obsession is breakfast. Lillian and I developed a distinct eating plan in Russia – we ate a lot at the start of the day, enjoyed a light snack (like a nectarine) in the afternoon, and then closed out with an early dinner (read: 4:30pm – 5pm). I felt a lot healthier with the linner, so now that I’m back here in the U.S., I decided to see if I could continue with eating with an emphasis on breakfast and light dinners. While I haven’t quite maintained it, I still thought I’d rate my latest breakfast choices for you.
1) Panera egg and cheese grilled panini breakfast sandwich: A! Perfectly toasted bread, a real cracked egg. The Vermont white cheddar is a bit flavorless, but it does prevent the sammie from being too dry. My one complaint – it came out suspiciously fast: like less than a minute fast. It bothers me that all the sandwiches at Panera are pre-made, but for such a yummy sandwich, I can live with that. One scary fact: it’s 380 calories.
2) La Boulange bacon and pea quiche: D. I wouldn’t get it again. I thought a heavier breakfast might satisfy my need for a mid-morning snack, but it didn’t quite do the trick. The quiche tasted a bit stale – like Panera, La Boulange also reheats pre-made foods. The difference though, is that it never tastes quite fresh.
3) Noah’s veggie egg panini: F. The reason why I’m writing this entry – to warn you all to stay away from it! For $6.50, this was my most expensive foray into breakfast land. And it was just not good. The egg was strangely airy, holey and rubbery. The “vegetables” were tiny shards of color baked into the egg. The only flavor in this thing came from the cheese. The bread was the most awful part – it was not panini style and had that awful tough-chewy texture that results when you over-microwave bread. Oh, and the 680 calories, as I discovered after indulging, may be reason enough to stay away.
4) Safeway’s cheese danish: C+. The pastry crust isn’t too dry and flakes off even at room temperature, and I like the drizzle of icing around the ring. Something about the flavor of the cheese filling was a little off though, and its texture could use some work – perhaps a bit more crumbly instead of suspiciously smooth. As a complete package, however, it’s not that bad.
You’ll laugh (and perhaps shudder) but McDonald’s trustworthy Egg McMuffin with no Canadian bacon or margarine still ranks highly in my list of prepared breakfast foods. It’s not even bad for you. 
babushkas
So today, we will be learning about the Russian babushkas. I mentioned the other day that babushkas have fat feet. Lillian and I think we have figured out the secret to the fat feet. Russian women wear high heels everywhere, at all times. It’s pretty ridiculous – even at the tourist sights where they have to walk through dirt paths, they still click-clock around on 4 inch stilts. All this pressure at a young age makes their feet swell up later on in life, thus causing the feet to overrunneth.
Babushkas also have forgotten the art of smiling. I think it’s probably because at this age, they finally realize their country’s food sucks and thereafter lose any joy in life. My best meals here have been French, Japanese, and Georgian. Russians LOVE Japanese food. I don’t think you can walk a block in St. Petersburg without running into a Japanese restaurant. Lillian and I went to a German beer hall the other night…and there was a sushi bar, along with the sauerkraut and schnitzel.
Back to babushkas. I wish they were really cute, because I love saying the word. But alas, that is far from the real story. Babushkas are employed in menial and mundane positions all around Russia, and can be found staring off in boredom in the corners of every museum, metro station, cathedral, and palace. They can also be found yelling at me when I’m gliding about on the wooden floors of Peterhof because my shoes are covered with little cloth-like baggies that protect the building floor. I’m supposed to lift my feet as I walk, I’m told. Oh.
All in all though, babushkas are still fun to look at and take covert photos of, so I’m not complaining!
privyet!
Hello from Russia! I’m on Day 4 of my Russian/Swedish adventures with Lillian. The computer room in our hotel is right outside our room, so I have very easy and frequent access to the internet when I want. It’s been a long day of nonstop movement, so blogging here is quite the needed respite.
Five observations of Russian culture, in no particular order:
One: no one speaks English. We play Pictionary with the Cyrillic alphabet, matching up the symbols with the ones in our trustworthy Lonely Planets, as nothing makes sense otherwise. It was a rather tedious process at first, but we’ve since got our system down pat and have become much more efficient with it.
Two: Russian women only wear skinny jeans. Bootleg, boyfriend, slim fit, slouchy fit are nowhere to be found – it’s all about the tighty mctighty trend, which looks fine on the slimmer Russian women (but, may I add, they aren’t really that pretty and supermodelesque).
Three: Russians generally look like white people with Asian eyes.
Four: The Russian food palatable to me – namely blinis and stuffed dumplings – have partners in the Chinese culinary world.
Five: The babushkas have fat feet that seep out of their shoes. Seriously.
Anyway, Lillian and I checked out Moscow first. We spent 3/4 of our time in the Red Square, taking photos of what should be a Candy Land landmark, St. Basil’s Cathedral, checking out the cathedrals in the Kremlin, taking more photos of St. Basil’s, peeking at a waxy looking Lenin, and um, taking more photos of St. Basil’s. By day 2, we actually ran out of things to do by early afternoon, so we found a lovely French cafe and enjoyed a bottle of Bordeaux. Weather: super rainy and overcast! Oh well, it matched the mood of the capital.
St. Petersburg is another story. Good ol Peter the Great really was great. His aspirations to develop a westernized city on the water have magnificant results – St. Petersburg is replete with adorable (!) cafes, verdant gardens and Dutch-like canals. Lillian and I visited the Hermitage today and spent four hours breathing in the history, art, and buildings. Such a gem, such a gem. I had greatly built the museum up in my mind, and am delighted that it did not fail expectations. My favorites were in the room featuring Claude Lorraine, the 17th century pioneer of landscape art, and one of my favorite French painters. I literally felt shivers run through my body as I viewed them – his ability to represent natural light on the canvas is breathtaking. The other time I felt the physical excitement of seeing a picture was Matisse’s Red Room. The painting is highlighted in so many art books, and seeing the piece in real life was just tremendous.
Other than The Hermitage, Lillian and I have also seen what is allegedly Rasputin’s schlong, and have walked around…a lot. I’m going to Google Pedometer our journey, but we estimated our walking distance in St. Petersburg alone to be around 14 miles (that’s over 24 hours). Woohoo! Now we just need to go on a boat tour of the city’s canals, see Swan Lake, sample some borscht, hit up a few palaces, and call it a day. I’m hoping that the weather will warm up, as it has been FRIGID. St. Petersburg summer = San Francisco summer at its worse, and SF summer at its best still blows.
Anyway…three more days here, and then off to Stockholm!
