Stuffed my face & stuffed it good (Franco-German Edition)

I recently blogged about the wonderful eats I indulged in during my time in München, Dublin & London. Now, let's move on the tastes of the Côte d'Azur and Berlin. Yum yummmm...

So first off, I should point out that Côte d'Azur (or French Riviera) is just a really pretentious way of referring to a series of several cities along the Mediterranean coastline in France. I had the chance to visit three of these cities last summer, and of course made it a priority of the highest order to gorge-out on pastries, baguettes, pasta, ice cream and oh so much more.

Did I mention I came back from Europe several pounds heavier? Here are some visual representation of the culprits:

Culprit # Une- The Original Tuna Niçoise at Le Magnan in Nice

This salad actually hails from Nice, thus the name. I hadn't had massive prawns like these in a while, and had forgotten how tasty (yet tedious) they are.

Also, isn't the way the food is assembled on the page just darling?

Culprit # Deux - Somekind of really delicious dish at Pasta Basta.

Nice is host to many wonderful Italian restaurants, due to its influx of Italians by way of its proximity to the Italian border. Pasta Basta is a more affordable (yet highly-sought after; we waited nearly 45 minutes for a table on a weekday evening) peddler of amazing Italian eats, such as this wonderful Spinach pasta and spicy sauce dish pictured below:

 Culprit # Trios - Fennocio Ice Cream

Come around to Old Nice (pretentious alert! It's also called Place Masséna) during the summertime, and you'll find droves of locals and tourists flocking to this creamery, eating up their yummy scoops and crepes which are served until the wee hours of the AM. Fennoccio has nearly 100 flavors, most of which were pretty untraditional to this American, such as rosewater, sweet & salty cracker, and lychee. My pick, after much consternation, was a double-scooper of sweet basil below and gingerbread cake on top (second pic below). We came here every day, sometimes twice a day. Good thing we walked around* a lot?

*rode the bus and train

Culprit # quatre - Generic pâtisserie, everywhere, France

You see this? These were everywhere. I dare you walk in and not get seduced by the colors and smells of a place like this. They are everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE in the French Riviera, so keep your guard up. Or down, depending on how much fun you want to have ;)

After we left the French Riviera, we traveled to Berlin, a land full of history, friendly folks, breathtaking architecture and tasty schnitzels ;)

The first thing I ate in Berlin was a tasty (and halal! There is a lot of halal food in parts of Germany due to its influx of Turkish immigrants) Chicken Schnitzel. It was good, but I wasn't aware of the fact that Chicken Schnitzel is essentially just a breaded and fried chicken cutlet. I think it's the sauces that make it special though.

We were three countries and many many cities in by this point of the trip, so we decided to save some $$ by grabbing food from grocery stores and making picnics for our outings. Grocery stores in Germany are much much smaller than our massive corporate HEBs and whatnot, but they still have pretty much everything you'll need. The carb-aholic that I am, I would always make a B-line for the breads section.  

Germans love their sausages & wursts & schnitzels, so of course their deli meat selections reflect this. I almost immediately became overwhelmed by their deli meats section, mostly because there were too many options, and partly because the ingredients were listed in German and I was worried that my non-pork eating self would pick something made of pork belly, cooked in lard, covered on porkloin juice and then wrapped in bacon.

Instead of meat, I opted for some cheese; it was in the cheese section where I decided I just had to take a picture of this. Because sometimes I have the humor of a Bro dude. Thus is the state of my life, hehe.

Whatever money I saved from making sammiches was put towards sweet treats, no doubt. Unfortunately Fortunately, Germany has just as many and just as wonderful bakeries and pastry shops. Here are some tasty views from one we went to whose name I can't remember, but I know it was in the city center.

I got me one of these luscious strawberry-tart things. Soooooo completely amazing.

Our last night in Berlin, we ended up in Kreuzberg, which is known as the birthplace of German punk rock. This wonderful neighborhood still retains many artistic/independant/hipster? characteristics from its halcyon days, so we thought it would be the perfect place to go on our last night in the city. During our walkabouts, we were told by a local to not leave Berlin without have some scoops from Eiscafé Berghem. So, we loosely followed his directions (told in broken-English) and somehow ended up in the right spot. The ice was very tasty, and quite worth the wild goose chase.

When I saw this poster in the ice cream shop, I instantly knew it was there for a reason - to have this aaadorable baby sum up my thoughts about leaving Berlin. I decided his lament goes something like this:  

"Why did all go by so fast? I will be back, Berlin!"

I'll be your Robotic Disco Puma

Allsaints Spitalfields makes me feel - well, a bit spiteful! Here I am, trying trying soooo hard to hang on to my measly monies (even as Amazon is having a 2-for-1 special on Skins season 1 & 2; the horror of having to miss out on that!), but there they are - sitting all delicious, taunting me with their amazing, AMAZING leather wear. I mean seriously, I have had my eyes open for the 'just right' leather jacket and work boots for so long now. I finally come across them, but of course it's while I am in the midst of self-inflicted financial duress...trips are 'spensive, man oh man. As is the daily latte...and vegan muffin. Whaddya do?

Mohan Leather Jacket, $700.

(I could sell a kidney maybe? I don't need two, right?)

  

Lana Leather Jacket, $500 (left); Harris Leather Jacket, $800

Suede Damisi Boot, $270

(Not actually a bad price, given the badassery of these boots.)

Treat Boot, $230

The most taunting part of Allsaints' current line is their collaboration with NYC-based artist Laurie Lipton, whose designs are not only incredibly innovative, but translate insanely well onto T-shirts and tanks.

I want them all, I want them all! Anyone wanna buy a kidney? 

I need to visit Poland ASAP

I'm consistently amused when I see foreign posters for American film. This ad for "The Hangover" circulated around France last summer and would always inspire a chuckle or more from me, based on my perception of its absurdity.

Well, any ideas I had about the humor of these reinterpretations were put into place when I saw Cracked's list of outlandish international posters for American films; these gems run the full range from "haha those crazy foreigners!" to "Wow, are they even talking about the same movie??" Turns out, Eastern Europe, circa the 80s really had the craaaaaazy-ass interpretations thing goin' on. They have some real off-the rocker posters over in the region, but it seems Poland had a desperate need to claim the "WTF?" cake.

Some of my favorites - all of which are of course from Poland - below.

The Fly

Now with 50% more puking?

Weekend at Bernies

Isn't this supposed to be some wacky comedy about some screwball kids whose boss dies, which causes them to engage in a series of cover-up shenanigans? Or is it a movie about Soviet-era optical surgery as performed by stout fingers?? I'm confused.

Planet of the Apes 2

Wow. Just....wow.

Got it done and did it right

While it's still kind of relevant - here are some pics and a run down of how the amazingly wonderful SXSW played out for me this year. Allow me to apologize in advance for my mediocre at best photography skills. Anyway, this was my fourth consecutive and fifth overall time to attend, and each time had held its own special charm. So off we go!

Thursday, March 18th:

Started the day off at The France Rocks Austin Day Party, where they had a line-up of the most promising acts brewing around in the French music scene at the moment. The main draw for me was seeing folk duo Cocoon live; their sweet and melodic performance was an excellent way to kick off the fest.

Also, one of my favorite parts, aside from the great music, was all the free noms. All sorts of drinks, vegan chocolates, beef/chicken tacos, and - this was my favorite - a cheese and crackers table! With goat cheese, brie, Laughing Cow and all sorts of other delights! Yum :)

//cheese and crackers table at France Rocks Austin Party//

 

And here is a cute promo pic of Cocoon, because I really couldn't get a good shot of them and because their band photos are ridiculously adorable anyway.

//via lastfm//

Next, we headed over to the Paste Magazine Day Party to have even more free drinks and watch a pristine performance by London's most amazing alt/folk band, Fanfarlo.

//Fanfarlo//

We had a little time to spare before The Middle East played, so we walked over to the line for Levi's Fader Fort. After a looooong wait, we secured our wrist bands and split up to see to catch the respective bands each of us wanted to see. I came back to the Paste Party and was able to catch the brief yet wonderful set by the Middle East. I think they are my favorite Aussie band at the moment.  

Next step was heading over to the French Ligation an in effort to see the xx. We were able to see a set by the ever-lovely Holly Miranda, but then had to depart right as the xx were setting up shop. This was because my bff's BF, who works at The Paramount (aka and old swanky Austin theatre) had put us on the guest list for The Runaways premiere, which was a part of the SXSW Movie Festival festivities.

Some of the cast of the film was in attendance in the audience. I tried hard to bolster my awe/incredulousness at seeing these gals in the flesh, but celebrity sighting at SXSW is as typical as me stuffing my face with chocolate before bed every night. Very routine.

//L-R: Director Floria Sigismondi, Cheri Curie, Dakota Fanning, Kristin Stewart//

By the end of this night, I was overcome with exhaustion from the days events/the long journey back from NYC the day before, so I called it a night around 11 pm. Plus, there was so much to do the next day! Speaking of which...

Friday, March 19th:

This was my most musically-productive day. I started bright and early with a rousing performance by We Were Promised Jetpacks.

My friend who I attended the show with left soon after the performance was over, and I found myself hanging solo. Somehow this gave me the courage to go up to the boys and talk to them. Very nice fellas, who were highly amused by the word "ya'all."

Next, I ventured over to the Danish Day Party to see Efterklag. Theirs was a show I was probably the most eager to see, and although it was a short set, the performance was incredible.

Yet again, I somehow found the courage to chat a bit with lead vocalist Casper Clausen after the show finished. Clausen was incredibly gracious and joyful; even throughout the performance, a grin rarely left his face.

Also, I just want to throw this out there - its always great to roll with your peeps when attending shows, but give flying solo a whirl sometime. It's actually quite gratifying to be able to chat with randoms around you, move around the crowd without loosing people, and not worry about talking/being spoken to during a show. I wouldn't say it's an evergreen thing, but it has some charm on occasion.

My next musical conquest was the Norwegian electro-pop band  Casiokids at the Vice 'Loose Control Party.' Having already seen them live earlier that week at the Littlefield in Brooklyn, I knew theirs was a live show that would be amazingly good. Upon arriving at the venue, I found out, much to my pleasant surprise, that Uffie was right ahead of them in the line-up.

Two birds, one stone, SAY WHUT, WHUT!

//Uffie//

//Casiokids//

The next two acts I saw were Philly-based Man Man and Yorkshire-based One Night Only. Good shows, but they paled in comparison to what I had seen earlier in the day, especially WWPJ and Casiokids.

Saturday, March 20th:

I took it a little easy Saturday morning. I made a good cup of coffee, answered emails and had a hearty breakfast, all while waiting for my other BFF to drive into town from Houston. Once she arrived, we Headed to the Brooklyn Vegan 'M for Montreal' day party where we munched on free vegan eats and popsicles, and waited around to catch a performance by Montreal outfit Duchess Says.

So, we were curious about this band because well, they supported the Yeah Yeah Yeah's on their tour recently, and one would think Karen O and gang would use the utmost discretion when picking their supporting act, right? Apparently not really. The lead singer of Duchess Says writhes around on the floor and makes grunting/sex(?) noises while performing and drags audience members down with her, leaving awkward pools of beer and sweat in her wake. The most humorous thing about this was that she does all this while wearing colorful attire that must have been put together by an Anthropologie associate, no kidding.

And while my photog skills failed me yet again, I was still able to find a photo of Duchess Says' ridiculousness via the wonderous web :

 //via nailer//

Anyway, our next stop was seeing Boxer Rebellion, followed by the awwww-mazing Frightened Rabbit at the Filter Magazine Day Party. Between those guys and WWPJ, Scotland is really really doing it right this year, isn't it? I'm just really impressed.

//Fightened Rabbit//

So, here's where the painful bit starts: By the time the Frightened Rabbit show ended, it was getting close to the time I was meeting friends in line for the Perez Hilton Party. With its free entrance, swagg, drinks, food and ridiculous line-up including Snoop Dogg, Hole, Macy Gray and (eek!) Alphabeat, it was apparently THE party to get into. This became apparent when we arrived at the venue 2 hours ahead of time and the line had stretched around the building and over two blocks. After a long, ridiculous wait in line, a friend of mine ran to the front to scope out the situation, and promptly text me after to come join. I'll just say that friend pulled some super-slick moves, and within minutes, we had infiltrated the impenetrable Perez fortress. Victory!

Anyway, pics from Alphabeat's cute set:

//Alpabeat//

So, my closing thoughts: 

Even if you live in a different city/state/country/continent, I STRONGLY recommend coming around for this festival one year; there are enough amazing free events that showcase bands (including headliners) that even those who spent their last dime on the flight over can have a wonderful time. Just allocate anywhere between a few days to ohhhh, a few weeks to let your body recover from the madness.

Trust me, between all the free crazy caloric consumption, live music, love, and excitement, you'll really need it :)

I guess I'm a lazy one

Man, has it really been a week since I have posted on here? Nothing like a dated last blog entry to make my laziness apparent. Well, my modest excuses are that SXSW took a lot out of me, and this week has been crazy too - friends in town, big news about big moves, papers due and just trying to wind down in the midst of it - all causing me to be a bit lax in many areas of life.

So, until I get my shit together and download pics from SXSW, I'm going to share with you guys a great SXSW musical find. It's not a Eurospiration, but rather a two-piece band from Brooklyn called Sleighbells. Their song "Crown on the Ground" has been my soundtrack to the Mondays and Tuesdays and Humpdays.

Enjoy. And I WILL be back.

One for the City

//via Water Secrets//

I'm leaving the Empire State today after having spent a lovely yet rainy & tiring five days in NYC/Brooklyn. I'll be in the midst of SXSW madness upon my return, so I may not have a chance to update this until next week.


In the meantime, a few musings about the Big Apple:

• Eating in NYC is far cheaper than Dublin. Who would've thought?
• Transportation here is such a bitch that people often opt to stay home rather than brave the 1-hour commute to visit their friend who lives 4 miles away. Not a fan.
• New Yorkers get a bad rep for being unfriendly. As a perpetually confused Texan with extremely limited exposure to public transport, I frequently found myself at the mercy of very friendly NYC passersby to help get where I need to go. They may keep to themselves when compared to Texans, but once you approach them, they can be as warm and friendly as people from the heart of the South.
• Finally, the biggest thing that stuck out about NYC is that most restaurants are gracious about letting non-customers use their restrooms. And by gracious I mean they leave them unlocked, which means non-patronizing miscreants such as myself can sneak in without having to splurge $3 for 8 oz. bottle of water or a 3rd king-size cookie for one day.

 Dear France, are you listening? Specifically, Nice, Paris, Monaco, and Cannes?? My lovely memories of you are marred by the gratuitous expenditures I racked up just to use restrooms. Even your public restrooms required annoying fishing through my ginormous bag to find spare change to cover the cost of use. My bladder is a weaker beast because of the near-militant attitude of your shopkeepers.

Perhaps it's a cultural/economic thing but I'm still classifying it as a France FAIL. And plus one for NYC.

Have a good week/weekend!!

SXSW Preview - "Four Lions"

With all the wonderful music-related shenanigans that go on during SXSW, its easy to forget about the equally significant film/interactive media portion of the festival. It's a real shame too, but not surprising, given that not many free events are offered for the latter part of the fest. However, all the tweeters & facebookers out there have kept non-attendee cinema enthusiasts such as myself sufficiently in the loop.

This year's closing selection for the movie portion of SXSW is a movie that coincidentally is on my watchlist for 2010. The British film, titled Four Lions, has been referred to as a 'jihadist comedy,' and attempts to explore the misgivings of fanaticism. Not surprisingly, it's also been hailed as a 'black, black comedy,' which is a genre that I am typically highly enthusiastic about. British director Chris Morris, known in the UK for his brand of satirist comedy, has already received accolades for the film from sources including Sundance and The Los Angeles Times.

  

//via twitchfilm//

I'll have to come clean and admit that part of my intrigue with this film stems from my own cultural/religious background. All the positive reviews seem to suggest the movie steers clear from portraying any particular religion in a bad light; but how does one show the lighter side of terrorism? How do you tap into the comedy of it? These are touchy, touchy subjects, but good ones to explore. Ergo, I'll still maintain my skepticism until I've seen it.

Clip from the film, which admittedly does look humorous:

SXSW Preview - Alphabeat

An internal dialogue from the mind of Nishiquah, circa earlier today:

"Oh my GOD!! Is Alphabeat really coming to SXSW? Really? This is beyond amazing; need to post about it STAT!"

-big happy grin spreads across face-

"But wait; can I really admit to the world my secret love for a Danish band who my Danish friends themselves tear apart for being ridiculously corny and over-the-top poppy?? Sure, my Danish friends are so hip they eat NME mags for breakfast and cigarettes & irony for dinner, but this is still a band who cites Madonna and 90s  dance music as their primary inspiration for their latest album. Yikes much?"

-furrows brow, indicating consternation-

"Surely I can. I mean, I regularly publicly admit to loving Abba and the Spice Girls. Doesn't Alphebeat's kitschy factor rank up their with the latter & former? Afterall, this Danish band has everything from synchronized hand-claps in their vids to highly ridiculous song titles such as 'Hole in my Heart' and 'Boyfriend.' Titles that could have easily belonged to the Spice or Abba. Yes, yes it's OK to publicly admit to liking loving them."

-breaths sigh of relief-

"Ooooh but the color-coordinated outfits. I forgot about those. I mean, they are pretty bad. Reaaaally bad, actually. The only thing that would make it worse - or better? - would be some matching burgundy ascots."

-curls lip in deep thought-

"OK, but a lot of bands are outfitted in a coordinated manner. I mean, legit bands like N'Sync and BSB cira 1998 wore matchy matchy stuff!! Also, Alphabeat has a male-female lead vocalist duo, which is so hip these days. Plus, the male is easy peasy, lemon-squeezy on the eyes. Surely that makes it more acceptable to like them?"

 

-quizzical realization hits, causing further reflection-

"Yes but then the lead female vocalist goes and mucks it all up with her dedication to truly awful headwear. Just look at this tin foily, antenna-emulating atrocity!"

//all pics via alphabeat myspace//

"Oh what the hell. I need coffee. Here, let's re-watch my favorite vid by them and ponder their spartan schedule."

Friday, March 19 at 12:45 AM La Zona Rosa
Saturday, March 20th at Perez Hilton Party, time TBD

"Can't change who I am or what I like, and apparently neither can Alphabeat. Bring on the easy cheesy."

-End monologue-