kartoffel-fenchelcremesuppe mit oliventopping

diese rezept hat leider keine aufregende geschichte, es stammt aus einem schnoeden italienischen kochbuch:
fuer die suppe:
eine gewuerfelte zwiebel und zwei knoblauchzehen anbraten, zwei geschaelte gewuerfelte kartoffeln dazu und eine kleingeschnittene knolle fenchel (das gruene obendran fuer spaeter aufheben). mit wasser aufgiessen (ein liter oder so) und kochen, bis das gemuese weich ist, dann puerieren und mit salz, pfeffer und zitronensaft abschmecken.

fuer obendrauf:
eine knoblauchzehe sehr fein hacken, einen halben bund glatte petersilie fein hacken, das fenchelgruen hacken, die schale von einer unbehandelten zitrone abreiben, eine handvoll schwarze oliven kleinschneiden, alles zusammenmischen, ein bisschen olivenoel dazu und dann einen grossen loeffel davon auf jeden teller suppe drauf. fertig. keine tricks.

i'm the president of pegasus!

today we had a meeting of the graduate student group in the philosophy department, called pegasus (how lame...), and i became the president! which means that now i'm in charge of organizing the usc/ucla graduate student conference in the next semester, i'm curious how that's going to work out. people present at the meeting immediately suggested that my title shouldn't be "president" but "die fuehrerin", but somehow we didn't get a majority on that. since i've never been president of anything before, i thought this might be worth posting...and of course in order to inform people that they can now feel free to call me "mrs. president".

kronos quartet

yesterday night i finally went to the kronos quartet concert at the california plaza in downtown l.a., which i had been very much looking forward to. they performed together with a pipa player, which i had mistakenly thought of as some sort of flute, but it turned out it's actually a string instrument. this was the program of the evening:

"Welcome the Kronos Quartet back to Grand Performances as they bring a diverse, eclectic concert to the Festival with special guest pipa virtuoso Wu-Man. This evening’s special presentation is offered in conjunction with Performance West – a festival of arts events presented as part of the Western Arts Alliance’s annual conference in Los Angeles. PROGRAM: 1. Oh Mother, The Handsome Man Tortures Me (Iraq) (Arranged by Kronos, transcribed by Ljova) 2. Flugufrelsarinn - The Fly Freer (Sigur Rós) (Arranged by Stephen Prutsman) 3. Aha Gedawo (Getatchew Mekurya) 4. 12/12 (Cafe Tacuba) (Arranged by Osvaldo Golijov) 5. Wa Habibi - Beloved (Hamza El Din) (Realized by Tohru Ueda) 6. Death is the Road to Awe - from the Fountain - (Clint Mansell)Arranged by Kronos. INTERMISSION Second set with special guest Wu Man 1. The Cusp of Magic, first movement (Terry Riley) 2. Lullaby (traditional Iranian) 3. Mehbooba Mehbooba (Rahul Dev Burman) (Arranged by Stephen Prutsman and Kronos) 4. Alap -
from Raga Mishra Bhairavi (Ram Narayan) (Arranged by Kronos, transcribed by Ljova) 5. Long Ge (Jack Body) 6. Excerpt from Ghost Opera (Tan Dun) ENCORES: 1. Ambushed Again 2. SSB"

they basically played different pieces from all over the world, but i think my favourite was their last piece, which was their version of jimi hendrix' version of the american national anthem.
the concert was overall very good, but a couple of things were a bit annoying:
people in the us who go to classical concerts obviously don't know, that you can tell when a piece is over from the fact that the musicians put down their instruments. so there was a lot of stupid in-between clapping. they will also give standing ovations for almost anything they hear, so i seriously wonder what they will do when they see a truly exceptional performance. set themselves on fire?
plus, it was an outdoor venue and the sound was amplified, thus kind of poor acoustics. they also used a lot of samples, which was ok given what they played, though i would rather have listened to a concert by them without samples. it was still a very impressive performance, so i recommend going if you get a chance.

spanisches omelett

damit nicht nur rebekka in den genuss meines spanischen omeletts kommt, hier das rezept, das uebrigens von jose, meiner spanischen bildhauerteenagerliebe stammt:

erstmal: ohne beschichtete pfanne laeuft hier gar nichts.

ein paar kartoffeln kochen, pellen, in scheiben schneiden, in olivenoel zu bratkartoffeln verarbeiten. eine gewuerfelte zwiebel und knoblauch mitbraten, sowie etwaiges vorhandenes gemuese, z.b. zucchini, paprika. kleingeschnittene getrocknete tomaten sollten nicht fehlen...
wenn das gemuese einigermassen gar ist und die kartoffeln ein bisschen braun. salz und pfeffer dazu, rosmarin oder thymian nach geschmack und falls vorhanden.
dann ein paar eier (genug, um das, was schon in der pfanne ist, zusammenzuhalten, also mindestens vier) mit salz, pfeffer und paprikapulver verschlagen und ueber den pfanneninhalt kippen. alles ein bisschen platt-und zusammendruecken. bei kleiner hitze die eier stocken lassen. der trick ist, dass die eier fest genug werden, um das omelett umzudrehen, ohne dass es vorher anbrennt. zum umdrehen das omelett auf einen grossen teller schieben, mit der pfanne abdecken und in einem schwung umdrehen. noch ein bisschen weiterbraten und dann isses fertig. die richtige salzmenge zu treffen ist uebrigens auch eine herausforderung. also dann...

getting started in l.a.

seems like i actually live in los angeles now. and in order to give people in berlin and elsewhere an impression of what's going on here, i'm now starting this blog. in german or english, depending on what mood i'm in and who is supposed to be able to understand what i'm talking about.
today was my first day of classes at the university of southern california, where i'll be working on my phd (philosophy) in the next five years. nothing exciting has happened so far, expect that i learned today that in every student housing building there's somebody who provides all residents with condoms. different flavors and sizes available. so now i know who the condom bucket girl in my buidling is. the bucket, however, also contains candy, so if you're shy, you can pretend to be asking for candy...

by the way: in case you haven't watched "vanishing point" (yes, the second group of girls in "death proof" talks about it while having coffee), check out the trailer on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q71M88B12WA
and then watch the movie. you'll find out why.