christmas countdown: #9

Did I mention that Christmas music is one of my favorite genres?

This week I present to you #9 in my top 10 Christmas song countdown: Jack Johnson's version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

(Play the video, but try not to watch it. It kinda detracts from the coolness.)



The melody and arrangement are cool, and I love his original final verse. It should be added to the version kids sing in school -- how else are we supposed to learn not to be fair-weather friends? Those mean reindeer need to know the consequences of their actions.

Anyway, Jack Johnson gets extra points for this song for being clever.

The album that this song comes from, A Winter's Night, is a pretty cool compilation of Christmas singles from Sarah McLachlan, Leigh Nash (from Sixpence) and Barenaked Ladies.

Only 9 1/2 weeks 'til Christmas! Are you ready??

puffy jacket

The puffy jacket is coming out tonight! Brrrr!

gourds

Introducing our family of winter gourds. We have Mamma Butternut Squash and her children, the Decorative Gourds. The butternut squash is my cooking challenge of the week. I'm hoping to make some braised & glazed butternut squash a la Mark Bittman, and maybe some soup if I have enough left.

christmas countdown: #10

There are exactly 10 Music Mondays until Christmas, so it's definitely the appropriate time to begin a top 10 Christmas song countdown. I took out songs that are obviously great (Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Bing Crosby classics, etc.) and went for songs that I was happy to discover.

We start off with #10, an honor that goes to the Vince Guaraldi Trio's interpretation of "O Tannenbaum." Yeah, it's an instrumental, but this is the coolest version of this song you will ever, ever hear.



It picks up with the drums coming in around 0:37.

When I was teaching, my kids loved hearing some music in the background while they worked so I played the Vince Guaraldi Trio's Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack to 1) celebrate the holiday without getting in trouble (no lyrics!) and 2) help my kids to concentrate.

I fell in love with the whole album, and it's one of the few holiday albums that is definitely worth buying.

milk bar

We finally got a new camera. Here are some pictures of our weekend adventure to Momofuku Milk Bar!

Even with all the hype, David Chang's pork buns are surprisingly delicious!

Pork buns + sriracha sauce = crazy delicious!

I'd heard a lot about the crack pie (TM), so we had to give it a try.

It was so rich! So caramelly!

What adventures await us next week??

haircut!

Before

After

more pet peeves

More Starbucks pet-peeve fun!

It's frustrating when...

- A customer has been in line for several minutes during rush hour, and when it comes time to make her purchase, she spends a full minute searching her purse for her wallet. Seriously, couldn't you have done that while you were in line?

- A customer wants to pay in cash and hands me a crumpled ball of bills. And they're damp. And warm. It's disgusting. It happens at least once a day.

- A customer slams down a handful of change on the counter and then walks away without saying a word before I count it.

- A customer shoots off a list of five different drinks and three pastry items without pausing and gets annoyed when I ask them to repeat anything.