Score!

Most. delicious. bread. ever.

Look at that happy customer!

Bread!

I've been experimenting with bread baking over the past few months-- at first from Epicurious's "One a Day Baguette", which made lovely breads in a vaguely baguette-like shape.  Today, I may have hit total paydirt with the "No-knead Bread" recipe as explained on the charming website Chocolate and Zucchini.  I may be jumping the gun because it is still cooling, but all signs point to at least a moderate bread success. It is so easy, but be forewarned that you will have to wait about 20 hours until your bread is ready to eat.  

The above picture was taken with Photo Booth because we still haven't replaced the camera I mysteriously broke in transit. I don't recommend actually cooling the bread on the cushion of a chair.

Oh, and I've found that bread baking is soooo much easier when you use flour that is made for bread baking (especially for dorks like me who always want to use whole wheat), AND when you use a scale for measuring instead of cups.

Stockholm: Cooler than you

Sorry this post is so delayed in coming-- as soon as I got back from Stockholm, I was buried chin-deep in preparing the grant application for our new project, based around a cantata about Psyché! Complete serendipity that I fell in love with that painting earlier this month. Psyché and I are just meant to be.

Anyway, I got just the briefest glimpses of Stockholm during my week there (dancing and thinking about dancing for 8 hours a day will really dampen the sightseeing desire). However, I did see a lot of fantastically cool stores (thankfully closed) including second-hand stores (Swedish vintage? YES!), and on the last night Karin, our gracious hostess, took us to see one of the best variety shows that I've ever seen. New circus (trapeze, juggling, pantomime, and all other various insane tricks) is very big in Sweden; in fact, at the university dance department, you can major in it!! So, at this variety show, we were treated to a girl who can juggle while doing a slow somersault, boys jumping on a see-saw in order to get really high in the air for multiple back-flips, the most famous mime couple in Sweden (I was told they have directed operas...), and some kind of gay guy medley that was totally spot-on Chelsea boy (even the American accent was correct!!).

Check it out: Salong Giraff!


The coolest thing about he apartment in which I was staying was the tile stove (for heating), much like the one above, only all in highly glazed green-blue tiles.

I'm so happy that I will be going back to Stockholm a couple more times-- in April to wrap up the course and in August to dance with the New York Baroque Dance Company. Plenty of time to discover more charms!

Swedish Violet Ice Cream

After a rough trip to the airport (I stupidly left my wallet with Jeremy and got on the train to the airport without it... necessitating a Punks Delight rescue from Beate and her car), I landed super-efficiently in Stockholm, and am now trying to be as grotesque as possible. Physically, this means discovering new muscles in the back as they cramp in pain the next morning.

After classes yesterday, we went to the museum, where they had a big exhibition on the Pre-Rafaelites, a fascinating example for me of an earlier "historically informed" art movement and the possibilities for spawning new art movements that are no longer so historically informed (Arts and Crafts Movement in this case).

Aaack! I have to get dressed to go to class!

Roman pictures

Click here to see my pictures from Rome, with all my very informative and not-at-all just made up comments!

PS-- It says Veronica because my google email (which I don't use for email) is named after Veronica Franco, a 16th cenutry Venetian courtesan who also published poetry.

Wacky myths plus what to buy at the Italian Market

I'm back from Rome! It was unbelievably fantastic. The weather was perfectly sunny and warm, trees were in bloom, oranges hung heavy on the trees, and I sampled a small selection of the wonders of Rome.

The Spanish Baroque dance workshop was also fantastic--- I even knew a few people there from my The Fairy Queen days (and I was so happy to see Deda, as always). I am going to have to practice and practice before I can play castanet rhythms and dance at the same time without terrifying amounts of concentration. And Ana Yepes was a fantastic teacher-- we all learned so much in only 2 days.

The painting seen above is Jacopo Zucchi's Amore e Psiche-- I went all gaga over the Florentine Mannerists at the Borghese Museum (you would too, I bet). I had to look up the myth on Wikipedia: Psyche is carrying a lamp and knife because Cupid never revealed himself to her (and asked her never to use a lamp). Some nasty girls told Psyche that her lover was a giant snake who would soon eat her, so Psyche decided to find out-- the knife is for hacking the snake to bits. Of course upon seeing Cupid, Psyche was totally smitten, but she clumsily spilled a little oil on Cupid, waking him. He angrily fled. The story has a happy ending for our lovers, but not until a jealous Venus tries to drive Psyche insane and send her to the Underworld.

On yesterday morning, I went to the famous Testaccio market to stock up on treats to bring back to Germany. The first stop was the prosciutto guy-- he had a special on hand-cut mountain-style (much darker, a little saltier, and more dried that regular prosciutto). We chatted a bit. He even said my Italian was good (ha!! Those lying flatterers). Then I stopped at his wife's stall for some buffalo mozzarella. I also brought home some sun-dried tomatoes, olives, wine, and olive oil, but I decided to leave all of the gorgeous fruits and vegetables behind in Italy.

More later, with pictures!

Ciao Ragazzi!

This is officially my study month.

I am going to Rome tomorrow for a Spanish Baroque Dance Workshop with Ana Yepes (with castanets! and fans!). I'll be staying with a couple from Jeremy's NYC lab-- the other night we were figuring out how many different cities in Europe we could visit, imposing ourselves on Jeremy's old lab mates (Istanbul, Geneva, Basel...). Scientists move around a lot! I am so looking forward to seeing the sculptures and painting, drinking espresso, and EATING! Oooh, I miss Italian food.



And then, in the middle of March, I am hopping up to Stockholm for a class in the Baroque Grotesque (exaggerated, commedia dell'arte) style at the University of Stockholm. I found out about it last weekend, and had to work like a madman to get into the class-- which is free! They don't pay for university in Sweden (they do now in Germany, poor guys. But not nearly as much as we have to pay in America), and they even extend the kindess to foreigners like me. I am staying for free in the apartment of my friend in Stockholm's mother. Yipee! Bring on the herring!