We've heard stories of couples getting cabin fever in the first few months of being mommies and daddies. Luckily for us, Aki has actually made our social calendar more packed.
Yuri's fabulous former coworkers -- a crew of graphic designers extraordinaire who've dubbed themselves "CMYK" -- came out to see Aki a few weeks ago. Carrie showed off her Photoshop prowess by not only taking the picture, but also appearing in it.
We're pretty proud of the pictures we take, but it's always good to have artsy people take your photo, too. The shot below has to be one of our favorite family portraits so far.
We haven't been writing about food lately, but that doesn't mean we haven't been pigging out. In fact, my coworkers have gotten so used to seeing me lugging armfuls of leftovers into the office that they just shrug now and say, "Meh."
But most of our meals have been home-cooked. We can't complain: having a newborn is like having an all-access pass to your friends' and families' kitchens. And our people can cook.
It's also good, though, to get out every now and then with a couple of friends.
One place we miss eating at is Mario's, a Peruvian hole-in-the-wall on Melrose and Vine. The last time we ate there (the same day we checked out the Larchmont farmer's market), we met up with Yuri's college buddies, Youshik, Nicole, Dale, and Kim, and stuffed ourselves on saltados. Here's a few things we love about Peruvian food, besides the fact that it's delicious:
It's colorful. Sprinkled liberally with cumin and paprika, the chopped tomatoes and red and green onions take on an earthy sheen.
It's affordable. We're talking about ten bucks a plate, but we're also talking about a big plate.
It's a mish-mosh. You'd expect the Amerindian and Spanish influences, but there's also a touch of Japanese in there, too, as well as Chinese and African influences.
French fries. The saltados dishes are full of them. (Potatoes came from Peru in the first place, after all.)
Seafood. With mouth-watering ceviche and huge sampler platters, Peruvian cuisine takes seafood south of the Equator and north of freaking good.
Kim and Dale
Mario's is Youshik's favorite Peruvian place (or was, until a bad experience with a rude server). Since Marios' is in the middle of a strip mall with few parking spaces, and since the place is always packed (your best bet is Sunday for lunch), you have to get creative with your street parking.
Yuri followed Youshik's lead and had the pollo saltado: chunks of chicken marinated in soy sauce, cumin, and paprika, and wok-fried with tomatoes, red and green onions, and french fries. Can you say "yum"?
I tried the camarones saltados and washed it down with a glass of beer-colored Inca Kola. The shrimp is prepped the same way, and is mouthwatering fried up with all that spice and soy sauce.
Both the pollo and camarones were delicious, but a Peruvian coworker of mine claims that lomo saltado (the beef version) is the way to go. We'll have to try that one of these days, or maybe make it at home with this recipe.
Nothing beats the pleasure of making a meal together in the privacy of your own home. But it was good to get out too, especially since Nicole and Youshik are getting hitched soon: the next time we eat with them, they'll be old married folks, like us! :)
For a good Peruvian author, try Mario Vargas Llosa. Death in the Andesis a quick read, a mystery, thriller, and gloss of the country's upheaval, ancient roots, and natural splendor.
One of the Gang: Aki with his cousins Spencer, Ethan, and Emma
One of our favorite websites is Cute Overload, which features images so cute they sometimes cause seizures.
We knew we were in for a real-life Cute Overload experience, though, when we invited Sharon, Sheila, and Rachelle over to our condo with Aki's little cousins, Spencer, Ethan, and Emma.
While Aki's Aunties took turns holding him (lately he's been weighing in at a whopping 15 lbs)....
...the kids helped Alex make a big fat batch of rice krispies:
They had so much fun that it was hard for Sharon, Sheila, and Rachelle to drag them away. "But Mom," Ethan said dolefully, "we've only been here for, like, zero seconds."
Don't worry, though, kiddo: we're sure we'll see all of you real soon. Aki already misses his playmates!
Here’s how I’d describe Exit, Shugo Tokumaru’s 2008 album: toy soldiers creep into a clockmaker’s workshop in the middle of the night and form a miniature pop orchestra. (Check out the video for Button for another example.) Call it toy folk pop. Whatever you want to call it, Shugo-san's music makes you feel like the glass isn’t only half full, it’s exploding with sunshine.
On the surface, these Oxford boys sound like more post-punks, like Bloc Party but with a Fine Young Cannibals falsetto. But then you hear that mathematical precision in the guitars: intricate, antiphonal (best listened to with headphones), syncopated, and dissonant, almost crossing over into electronic/minimalist territory. When Legolas in The Two Towers mistakes Gandalf for the evil wizard Saruman, Gandalf says "I am Saruman, or Saruman as he should have been." That's Foals: Bloc Party as they should have been.
Two things we don’t usually like in pop: strings and loops. Strings because most pop artists couldn’t orchestrate their way out of a paper bag, and loops because they may be cool to watch live (Jon Brion, say) but are usually lame and tiresome on record. With the gritty violin loops she plays on this track, though, L.A.-based Emily Wells manages to have her cake and eat it too, with a side of bite and brooding.
Santogold is to indie music as Rogue is to the X-Men: her superpower is absorbing other people's powers. On her self-titled first album (which dropped in April; this single came out in August), she absorbs Karen O's garage band wail (on L.E.S Artistes) and M.I.A.'s 8-bit urban jungle hip-hop (on Creator). She also channels dub, reggae, and on this track, New Wave. One reviewer said listening to "Lights Out" was like discovering a lost track by The Pretenders.
If the Big Bang had a sound track, this might be it. If you bend Finlandia around a compound time signature, add some hemiola and pounding drums, and frost it all with lyrics written in an ethereal, half made-up language (click here for a rough translation), this is what you'll get: a searing track of lava and ice (Sigur Ros are from Iceland), bubbling and popping with elemental force. Paper Planes (DFA Remix): by M.I.A.
The original Paper Planes single, off M.I.A.'s 2007 album, Kala, was catchy, but bogged down with too many samples: gunshots, cash registers, The Clash's "Straight to Hell." This dance-punk remix by DFA, featured on the soundtrack for the soon-to-be Oscar-laden "Slumdog Millionaire," strips away the noise, keeps the swagger, and juices it up with a funk groove that would put George Clinton to shame.
Bands like Portishead and Goldfrapp know you can have it all: you can be electronic and elegant; you can be plugged in and painterly. Just about every track on Portishead’s long-awaited album, "Third," proves this (we included "The Rip" on our list for the first half of 2008). Though the album dropped early in the year, "Magic Doors" was recently released as a single. Vive Solo: by Juana Molina
Argentina's Juana Molina is one of those rare artists whose albums we look forward to listening to in their entirety. It’s hard, though, to pin down one track you like; they're soundscapes as much as songs (especially if your Spanish is next to zero). Her latest album, Un Dia, brings rhythm into the foreground. We actually like Los Hongos de Marosa better, but couldn't add it to our playlist.
We want to like Deerhoof. Not just because drummer Greg Saunier is from Oberlin, but because we like an outside-the-box approach to music. Many Deerhoof songs, though, sound like other bands warming up. Call it art rock, but when you break open the traditional format, it can be refreshing, but it can also, we have to admit, be hard to listen to. "Offend Maggie," though, takes this aesthetic and tames it into a short, even catchy song, with a grace note-inflected guitar riff that almost sounds like an Eastern European folk song.
Call it Roy Rogers meets the Velvet Underground: a dreamy, whimsical tune moseying along on a jaunty, cowboy ostinato. Oh, and with a wash of Lawrence Welk backup vocals on acid. When those guitar triplets come in, it almost feels like a Philip Glass film score: The Hours, Mishima, Kundun...take your pick.
Pretend, for a moment, that this song wasn’t played to death in a Saturn commercial this summer, and you’ll be able to enjoy it in all its wide-eyed, indie exuberance. This song is like a Wes Anderson flick condensed into 3 1/2 minutes (the video certainly feels like it). How quirkily good-natured can you get?
Aki was bombarded with presents for his first Christmas.
Lolo and Lola Santiago got him this adorable Xmas outfit from Von Maur. (If the North Pole has a state penitentiary, this is what their inmates might wear!)
Aki's relatives in Japan, the Fujimuras, got the adorable hat for him from Familiar, Japan's fanciest clothing shop for kids.
She's a lumpia-lovin' nisei. He's a ramen-ravin' pinoy. Our little boy is like our favorite dessert, halo-halo, which means "mix mix": the best ingredients stirred together, mixed well.
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