10 Books I Liked This Year

So I've read a bunch of "best of 2009" book lists, and their two biggest flaws are that, first of all, it's impossible to have read everything published in 2009 (especially by that November deadline when the story went to print!), and second, I've usually read at least one or two things on that list that was "meh" at best.

Here, then, are ten books I read last year (not that came out, though most of it is of a recent vintage) that I liked. They are almost certainly not an exhaustive best of anything list. Also, I'm still reading stuff now in these last seven days of December, and it's possible that eg Tatyana Tolstoy's diary will totally blow everything else away. One hundred fifty pages in, though, I'm doubting it. These are kind of in order but not really, since each has its own charm.

In most cases, my Goodreads reviews of these books are far more detailed and nuanced than the brief summaries here.

Gelly's Recommended Reading List for 2009

10. City of Thieves, David Benioff and This is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper (tie!)

A tie is a copout, but 10 is a wildly arbitrary number and I couldn't decide between the two. Both are lighthearted and hilarious, making serious subject matter (the siege of Leningrad and Nazi horrors, shiva after the death of a family member) a thorough blast to read through. They're not going to win you any points with your pretentious Roth and Pynchon loving friends, but read them in secret if you have to: both are cinematic, fun, quick, and well-written despite not seeming terribly "deep." If you love both of these, check out Josh Bazell's Beat the Reaper which tells the strange tale of a man turned surgeon who joins the witness protection program after joining the mob to avenge his Auschwitz-survivor grandparents' death. All take the Jewish identity theme and run somewhere better with it than last year's Orange finalist, When We Were Bad.

9. The Engineer of Human Souls, Josef Skvorecky

This is an old Czech book, and like all Czech novels it's about a philandering dissident author trying to find meaning through beauty and art etc. Unlike most Czech novels, the protagonist has left for the greener pastures of teaching literature at a small Canadian college. He shares conspiracy theories with his expat friends about the Czech intelligence service watching him, attempts to implant a love for literature in a class of generally brain-dead students, and spends most of his time reminiscing about his Czech youth, which goes from carefree to vulnerable and tragic during the second world war.

There are so many layers of story here and jumps in time, but Skvorecky manages it seamlessly. It's a beautifully told story.

8. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel

I've read many graphic novels in the last year, but even Maus didn't affect me emotionally as much as the true story of Alison Bechdel's father, whose death the college-aged Alison grieves as she learns more about the secret double life he led. She conveys his love of literature and troubled relationship with his family sensitively and compellingly.

7. Into the Beautiful North, Luis Alberto Urrea

An amazing story of a road trip from Sinaloa to Illinois and back again, Into the Beautiful North follows protagonist Nayeli's attempt to recruit young men to come back to Mexico to live in her romantically-frustrated village. She takes her two best girlfriends and gay boss Tacho (ironically the only young man left in town) with her, hoping to find and bring back her emigrant father along the way. The novel manages to keep a light tone without shying from addressing poverty, border violence, and the exploitation of Mexicans immigrating to the US.

6. The Lost City of Z, David Grann

The Lost City of Z is the only nonfiction book I'm including here, and it definitely stood out from any potential competition. (2008 seems to have been my year of great nonfiction - Traffic, Fruit Hunters, and A Bottle of Rum were all lovely...2009 seems to have been all about the short story novel!) Grann sets out to understand and explain the disappearance of Amazon explorer Sir Percy Fawcett, while attempting to determine whether the famed lost civilization Fawcett disappeared trying to find really existed. The book's biggest flaw is that it stops, leaving the reader wanting to know much more about what happened to Fawcett. It is, however, a riveting retelling of an old mystery.

5. The White King, György Dragomán

One of those rare attempts at the short story as novel genre that gets it right, The White King follows Djata, a preteen boy growing up in a totalitarian Eastern European country that sounds an awful lot like Ceausescu's Romania, through various episodes of his schoolboy's life while in the background he struggles to find out what has happened to his father, who has been removed from the family home as a political prisoner. Dragomán successfully portrays the absurdity of a society where every aspect of life is tightly controlled by higher authorities; the stories reminded me simultaneously of both Viktor Pelevin and Lord of the Flies.

4. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

This year's Booker winner can't be described without the word "ambitious," something the author and the protagonist Thomas Cromwell share in abundance. One of the most detailed historical novels I've read, Wolf Hall is fictionalized but kept carefully in line with the historical record; Mantel mostly fills in the gaps to create rich inner lives for all of her characters. There have been many stories told about the court of Henry VIII, but the riveting Wolf Hall reaches a depth that I haven't seen elsewhere.

3. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout

Another big prize winner! I am rarely in strong agreement with the Pulitzer committee, but the titular Olive and her little Maine town are rendered so vividly that I can't imagine a more worthy winner (even though I was cheering for finalist Plague of Doves out of all the things I read last year). Olive is not all that likable as a protagonist. Picture me in about forty years: cranky, frumpy, and disappointed in the world, and you've pretty much got her. I've always found the more complex and less sympathetic characters the most interesting, though, and Strout's short story collection, woven together around the town's inhabitants with every other story featuring Olive, creates an admirably multidimensional narrator while exploring the unavoidable lonely indignities of growing old.

2. The Crow Road, Iain Banks

This is another oldie-but-goodie, although The Crow Road has only recently been published in the United States. Other than some unfamiliar Scottish vocabulary ("moroculous"), I can't imagine why. It's a complex and wonderful novel. We meet narrator Prentice McHoan at the funeral of his grandmother after he's spent the last few years of his life being a mostly decent-hearted but generally self-absorbed shiftless prat. In the course of the book he is thoroughly pummeled until he appears to have lost everything, and then he loses more. From these depths he manages to emerge as a somewhat decent person, solving an old family mystery yet realizing that some things are best left buried.

1. 2666, Roberto Bolaño

I had mixed feelings while reading 2666, its nine hundred pages was at times a bit of a slog, and all of the loose threads made it seem to somehow converge upon brilliance while leaving it a hair's width out of reach. It's hard not to wonder what its final form would have been had Bolaño lived to see its publication, and I became skeptical halfway through reading the novel when someone found an apparently previously missing extra section of the book! Still, I'm convinced the loose threads add something. And strangely, it is the kind of book that is still riveting even when an entire major section has apparently gone missing. After all, we're shown the futility of solving some of the mysteries when no one acts on them. The writing is so flowing, and there were a hundred little subplots in which I lost myself enjoying. It's the kind of novel that makes you want to start making charts and lists and taking out atlases and plotting out who was where when and what exactly happened, but border city Mexico is not portrayed as the kind of place where objective truth really matters. Instead we are infused with the flavor of a place.

Obscure Produce Day: Buddha's Hand!

Ever since reading Adam Gollner's wonderful Fruit Hunters, I've made a point to try out new fruits whenever I see them. This week, I encountered a buddha's hand and had to have it (despite the hefty price tag). Common in Asia but rare in my native Midwest, these are a type of citron - a citrus fruit that's almost all peel and pith and no fruit or juice. They don't have the bitter pith that dooms all but the most outer bits of a lemon peel, making them ideal for applications requiring a lot of peel; the fruits also smell great and look terrifying.

Buddha's hand was eventually divided into buddhacello (like limoncello, only with the hand), which is infusing merrily as I write, and Alice Waters's recipe for winter citron salad with fennel, radish, and celery from Chez Panisse Fruit.

Verdict: It's certainly interesting in appearance and the taste, if you like citrus, is lovely--more fragrant and complex than lemons. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how the buddhacello project turns out. At more than $15 for the fruit, though ($8/pound at Whole Foods), I'm not sure it's worth splurging on more than once.

The Buddha's Hand Salad was rounded out with General Tsofu from the Shun Lee Cookbook, jasmine rice, mushroom buns, and Tsingtao. Updates on buddhacello to follow.

Why Newspapers are Failing, p. 2

Oh New York Times. You do a feature on the first woman to reach a top Army position and you fail to notice that the only sexism you've uncovered is your own.

Compare and contrast:

First Woman Ascends to Top Drill Sergeant Spot

For a Post in Europe, a Renaissance Admiral

Pop quiz, after you've read them both: How many miscarriages has ADM Stavridis had? Does he have any children? A spouse? What heartwarming stories do we know about sailors he's hugged? Is he petite? Is he imposing? What's his relationship with religion? How about Sgt. Maj. King: what's her educational background? How is her leadership philosophy going to change the command? Of what accomplishments in her professional history is she proud?

Gelmix: Summer 2009

The seasons in San Diego seem to change a lot slower than places farther north, so it was entirely too easy for me to forget to start creating the summer mix until midway into September. We've had a busy summer, much of it spent out of town in various places around the world. That didn't stop the music releases though, and didn't keep me from hearing great new songs. Listeners rave: "it's the toe-tapping-est mix yet!" "I know I've heard this Kanye West song before." "This is the best 50 Cent track I've ever heard!!" "This song is kind of boring."

So I suppose the final result is open to interpretation, and people will hear in it what they will. I for one consider it the hip hop-retro folk-British indie-Latin mix, and it includes what I consider the best music I've heard this summer. You can download some hi-res art for iTunes here, and past mix art is always available in my Flickr set.

Sun Children - Nickodemus (feat. The Real Live Show)

I can't think of a more perfect way to start off a summer mix than New York DJ Nickodemus's upbeat "Sun Children." His Sun People album incorporates influences from all over the world with an incredible diversity throughout the tracks. I particularly like "2 Sips & Magic," "Just Move!," "Brookarest," and "N'Dini." If you still can't get enough, I highly recommend the 10 year anniversary, 2-disc Turntables on the Hudson retrospective.

Say Yes - Wax Tailor (feat. ASM)

French DJ Wax Tailor has put together an amazing album; In The Mood for Life was released just days after the Summer Mix shipped, and once I had a chance to listen to the whole thing I realized there were several tracks that could have easily made the summer mix cut, but I love "Say Yes," which to me sounds a little like Jurassic 5. I'm also particularly fond of "B-Boy on Wax," "No Pity," "Dry Your Eyes," "Until Heaven Stops the Rain," "Leave It," "This Train," "Sit and Listen," and "Fireflies." If you buy only one DJ/hiphop album this summer, this is the one to keep your stereo warm until the new RJD2 vinyl boxed set comes out in October.

Grind Til I Die - SPAID (feat. B.G., JR Brown)

So far I've had listening friends and family mistake SPAID for a number of much better-known rappers, but he's actually a promising hiphop artist from the Bronx. Or, in his own words, "To his surprised the audience was highly fascinated by his entertainment. This wasn’t an enigma; SPAID knew with morsel practice he could reach the inaccessible." Clearly he's practiced his morsels.

Hiphop fans who don't mind a little repetition should also definitely check out Troublemaker's remix of Matt & Kim's "Daylight" with De La Sol.

Pon de Floor - Major Lazer (feat. VYBZ Kartel)

The name Major Lazer is new, but this is the latest project from Philly's always-notable DJ Diplo and M.I.A. producer DJ Switch. Influences here are a sort of cross between M.I.A./Santogold style electronic dance and dancehall reggae, with a splash of later Tricky thrown in. The result is Gunz Dont Kill People, Lazers Do, a thoroughly listenable release with some standout tracks like "Can't Stop Now," "Anything Goes," and "Jump Up."

Big or Small - Fresh Espresso

Fresh Espresso is Seattle's latest hip hop collaboration to get a lot of attention, and like the Blue Scholars, Common Market, and others before them, they've got a great mellow sound. I nearly put "Girls and Fast Cars" on the mix until Brent convinced me that "Big or Small" was a catchier choice, but those are only a couple of the good tracks on their "Glamour" debut.

Save My Soul/Changing - The Moondoggies

The Moondoggies' Don't Be a Stranger was released last year but I missed hearing about the Seattle band until I heard the live medley of "Save My Soul" and "Changing" on the most recent KEXP Live compilation. They seem to be a band that needs the lightest of hands in production; don't miss the spare but lovely "Undertaker."

Far and Wide - Roadside Graves

Another great band that straddles the folk, rock, and country lines and calls to mind influences from a couple generations ago, New Jersey's Roadside Graves have released a very listenable album. Check out "Ruby," the quiet "Wooden Walls," or the ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Irish pub music "The Snake and How it Lost Its Legs."

The Box - Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit

British folk singer Johnny Flynn's A Larum is a fun album, and I think "The Box" fits right in here. The British set a high bar for their folk (the Independent labels him one of an overabundance of "boarding school folkies" (albeit one of the best) while the Times declares that he was signed "more for his looks than his originality." Regardless, if Johnny Flynn is going to lead a British folk revival movement, I am not going to oppose him.

Black River Killer - Blitzen Trapper

Sub Pop artists generally tend to be a little hit or miss for me, but Portland's Blitzen Trapper are definitely the former. "Black River Killer" was released on last year's Furr, but this summer it's been made the star of its very own EP. I love the track's great retro feel, though its entertaining narrative leaves me wondering why prisons would keep giving murderers weapons upon their departure.

Fresh Blood - Eels

Prolific and rotating-door-membership band The Eels have a host of releases under their belt, and have appeared in a previous gelmix (unshared, from 2005 when gradual school sucked away my time and soul) with "Whatever Happened to Soy Bomb." But never mind that; here they sound totally different. "Fresh Blood," off June's Hombre Lobo, is a haunting, vampiric, catchy track that I adore.

Freak Out - Stellastarr*

New York City's Stellastarr* remind me of some of the energetic early-'90s bands I used to like, like Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Sugar. "Freak Out" is, in my mind, the definite highlight of their recent Civilized, but like the releases from those '90s bands I have a feeling that it's the kind of album where every listener will find something different to love.

Blow Away - A Fine Frenzy

There aren't a lot of female musicians on this mix, unfortunately, but Los Angeles singer Alison Sudol, who recently released Bomb in a Birdcage, is a fortunate exception. I think fans of Feist will like this one; I picked "Blow Away" for its upbeat cheerfulness, but "What I Wouldn't Do" also deserves to be heard as well.

Ecstatic Appeal - Jemina Pearl

Jemina Pearl is a refugee from recently disbanded Be Your Own Pet, and from the lyrics of her upcoming solo release it seems like she's still coping with the loss. She's turned the band's breakup into some great work, though, including a must-hear collaboration with Iggy Pop called "I Hate People." I am looking forward to October's surprisingly titled Break It Up.

Crush On You - brakesbrakesbrakes

Known in their native Brighton as Brakes but renamed due to a tragic namespace conflict in the US, brakesbrakesbrakes released Touchdown this spring and are already finishing up their next album, written and recorded during their ongoing tour. I love their sound (give "Oh! Forever" a listen) and their lyrics (see also "Ancient Mysteries"), and can't wait until they come to town. Mark your calendars, Chicago kiddies, that's October 12 at the Empty Bottle and we're going. (I'll throw in We Were Promised Jetpacks and the Twilight Sad to sweeten the deal) I love this quirky track, which I downloaded, threw onto a CD of random recent stuff before flying out to Chicago this summer, and then fell in love with while driving around the lake.

Nocturne for an Absentee - De Rosa

Another British band, De Rosa put out a fantastic album this spring, Prevention; don't get too attached to it, though, because the band broke up a month later. Do, however, listen to the lovely "Under the Stairs."

Infinity - The xx

It's ridiculously rare that Pitchfork and I agree on what a great new album is, but London's the xx have managed to do it. Their self-titled debut is one of my favorite new CDs. "Crystallized" and "Basic Space" have already been released as competent singles, but "Infinity" is my favorite track, though you would be remiss to ignore "Islands" and "Stars." Despite "Infinity's" claustrophobic, smugly monogamist lyrics, how can you not love their quiet, haunting sound?

Equivocado - DePedro

Depedro is the solo project of Calexico collaborator Jairo Zavala, and I love the recent self-titled album's sound. Be sure to listen to "Don't Leave Me Now."

Siempre Nuevo - Federico Aubele

Argentina's Federico Aubele has released a gorgeous album with Amatoria, full of Spanish style ballads that work great for both attentive listening and gorgeous background music to your day. I think he's got a fantastic voice. In addition to "Siempre Nuevo" I also really enjoy "Suena Mi Guitarra," "Otra Vez," "Este Amor," and "Del Ayer."

What I found in my Box (a post in which our protagonist self-indulgently posts a bunch of photos of food)

I've joined CSAs in the Seattle area, Amsterdam, and most recently San Diego. It's always fascinating to me how they differ from area to area--the growing season, vegetable variety, etc. It's about culture as much as biology; for example, my Dutch CSA gave me no fewer than two varieties of cabbage every week. There were even cabbages that I don't even know the English names for, like the intimidating spitskool.

Here in California the season for certain fruits and vegetables seems to stretch on and on. We've been getting zucchinis nearly every week for months now. It's a fun challenge to try to find new uses for the items we find each week in the box. Giant reed avocados, red onions, cilantro, and tomatoes made for yet another batch of guac, which made for lovely eating watching the Bears trounce the Broncos (suck it Orton). Since the week also brought super-sweet, deliciously ripe watermelons, I made a treat we enjoyed in Istanbul - Karpuz Margaritas!!

My latest zucchini treatment appears here in a sambar. I was thrilled to stumble across an Indian grocery store here in San Diego, where we found everything from refrigerated dosa batter to mango lassis to obscure produce to oils etc. etc. etc. I love me some Indian grocery store, and since I usually don't have time to drive up to a Patel Bros when I'm back in Chicago, it was nice to find it. Reheated frozen idli and a super-easy green bean poriyal rounded out the meal, leaving it

only about 5 dishes short of what would be served for a meal in India.

Both dishes came from Chandra Padmanabhan's excellent Dakshin cookbook, which any lover of vegetarian South Indian food is bound to enjoy.

I was thrilled last week to receive two new cookbooks in the mail, along with my new Tofu Squozer, which has been getting rave reviews on blogs and veg magazines throughout the land. It's a nifty little device that squeezes the water out of tofu, saving you the trouble of doing so via the old fashioned towels and heavy objects method.

Immediately I put squozer and book to work by making a variation on the "Ying Yang salad with peanut-sesame dressing" out of the Real Food Daily cookbook. My version was a leafy green salad with carrots, red spring onions, and radishes. These were mixed with the marinated ginger baked tofu chunks and a delicious peanut dressing. I have long been a fan of the RFD restaurant in Santa Monica and am giving their cookbook tentative raves as well.

Peanut-sesame dressing and Ginger Tofu (my adaptation)

Ingredients

Ginger Tofu

1 14 ounce brick firm tofu

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 T brown rice vinegar

2 T. dark sesame oil

1 T. minced garlic

1 T. minced ginger

Dressing

2/3 c. peanut butter

1/4 c. brown rice vinegar

1/4 c. maple syrup

3 T. water

1 T. minced fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes

1 c. fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

1. Press tofu block in tofu squozer for 1 hour. Drain liquid and put the tofu aside to mix marinade inside squozing chamber.

2. In squozing chamber, mix remaining ginger marinade ingredients (soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic). Throw the tofu block back in and marinate for several hours. Reserve marinade!!!

3. Bake the tofu at 400 F for 10 minutes on each side (20 min. total). Remove from the oven, cool, and store in refrigerator until ready to dice to add to salad.

4. To make dressing, strain reserved tofu marinade into blender jar, discarding ginger and garlic chunks. To the reserved liquid, add remaining dressing ingredients and blend.

Finally, I used up about 5 pounds of cucumbers making lots and lots of dill pickles. Pickles are easy and a useful way to preserve an intimidating CSA amount of cucumbers.

The Vegan Charcuterie Project: Gyros

Faced with ripe heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers in the CSA box and wanting to bring Brentje dinner at work, I turned my attention to a dish I used to enjoy as a wee gelsprog: gyros! My mom used to get a little kit at the grocery store that had pita breads, seasoned lamb, and cucumber sauce. I've made veggie gyros before, mostly from Joanne Stepaniak's recipe in Vegan Vittles. These recipes usually involve sauteeing strips of seitan or tempeh in herbs and spices, and they work well enough, but in the gyros I remembered, the meat is already seasoned when it's cooked, so the flavor is present throughout. Since I had to make the seitan from scratch anyway, why not?

I decided to use the foil-wrapped, steam method of making the seitan instead of baking it, which would probably have worked just fine as well. The cylinder o' seitan reminds me of those weirdly enthralling, creepy rotating meat on a stick warmers at Doner Kebab places, and maybe some day I can spring for one of these home models.

In any case, Brentje ate about 2/3 of the gyro meat on three pitas for dinner, so I'm going to call the project a success.

GYROS

Ingredients

For Seitan

1/2 c. cooked beans (I used navy, but other choices will work)

1 t. Better Than Bouillion "no beef" base

1 c. unsalted homemade vegetable stock*

1 T. vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 t. salt

3/4 t. dried marjoram

1/2 t. ground coriander

1/2 t. coarsely ground black pepper

1/4 t. dried savory

1/4 t. dried thyme

1/2 t. dried rosemary, crushed

1/8 c. nooch

1 1/4 c. vital wheat gluten

To assemble

Pita breads

ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges

cucumbers, seeded, peeled, and sliced thickly

cucumber sauce (see below)

Directions

1. Prepare steamer and bring water to a boil. Lay out one large sheet of aluminum foil.

2. Mash beans with a fork. Mix in other ingredients through nooch. Mix in gluten and taste for seasoning.

3. Form dough into one large log shape, roll in aluminum foil, and twist ends. Steam for 1 hour, 15 minutes.

4. Let cool for about an hour. Make cucumber sauce while seitan is cooling. Then, slice thinly into strips. Assemble pitas, splitting the seitan, tomatoes, and cucumbers among each gyro and topping with cucumber sauce. (Or, if you're on the go, wrap up the sandwiches in foil without sauce and pack the cucumber sauce separately.)

Cucumber Sauce: I don't use a very strict recipe for this, but rather take about 1/2 c. soy yogurt, and combine with a few tablespoons of vegan mayo, about 1/2 t. onion powder, a pinch of salt, and some freshly ground pepper. Mix in about half a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced. If the sauce is too thick, add some plain soymilk or water.

* The unsalted stock adds some flavor and color. If you don't have any, throw in a small amount of Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce to make the seitan a palatable color

Why Newspapers are Failing

From the front page of today's New York Times:

In Khazna, the explosions left two large craters in different sections of the village. One was filled with water mixed with blood. Witnesses said the explosions burst the village’s water main. The chassis and big wheel of what appeared to have been one of the trucks used in the attack lay atop leveled houses. In what looked like the village’s main road, storefronts were ripped up, and destroyed vehicles were tossed everywhere. ("Truck Bombs Turn Iraqi Village Near Mosul into Rubble")

What looked like the village's main road? Are they sending in reporters, or looking at the town on Google Earth?

More nonreporting:

In recent weeks, the authorities have managed to catch three of the 53 escapees from May and have thrown 51 prison officials, including the director, into jail while the investigation into collusion in the escape continues. The prime piece of evidence against the prison employees was the surveillance system they were supposed to use to monitor inmates. The video, leaked by law enforcement officials and now available on YouTube, recorded the jailbreak in detail. ("War Without Borders - Mexico's Drug Traffickers Continue Trade in Prison")

It's very reassuring that the intrepid reporters at the New York Times are watching videos on YouTube all day so that you don't have to do so. If only they'd tell us how many google hits turn up when you search for "Mexican Drug Trafficking," we could truly understand the situation.

The Vegan Charcuterie Project: Summer Sausage

Having been born a seventy-year-old Eastern European woman trapped in the body of an infant, I used to have an inexplicable love for those boxes of dry cured sausage an

d aged cheese spread that would pop up around the holidays. My days of eating the traditional versions of any of that stuff are over, but with good fermented vegan cheeses starting to pop up, one needs a nice fake summer sausage to go with it.

Originally these were called summer sausages because the meat was dry cured with nitrates and nitrites and required no refrigeration, suitable for the warm summer months. I haven't attempted to actually dry cure seitan or soy, although maybe someday. Meanwhile, this sausage is easy to put together and tastes quite a bit like the kind I used to enjoy. It's rather salty in an atte

mpt to be authentic, and I like it that way, but saltphobes might want to taste before adding the crystallized salt.

Summer Sausage

Ingredients

1/2 c. navy beans

2 T miso

1 T liquid smoke

1 c. fake beef broth (I used 1 t. "better than bouillion" no beef base with 8oz water)

1 T non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

1.5 T sugar

1 t. salt

5/8 t. black pepper

5/8 t. ground coriander seed

1/4 t. powdered ginger

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. ground mustard seed

1/8 c. nutritional yeast (nooch)

1 1/4 c. vital wheat gluten

Directions

1. Prepare steamer and bring water to a boil. Lay out four square sheets of aluminum foil.

2. Mash beans with a fork. Mix in other ingredients through nooch. Mix in gluten and taste for seasoning.

3. Split dough into four parts, form each into a log shape, roll in aluminum foil, and twist ends. Steam rolls for forty minutes.

4. Unwrap sausages, place on cooling rack inside oven, and bake at 150°F for an hour. (This step is optional, but dries the sausage out a bit)

Slice thinly and eat on crackers.

Gelmix: Spring 2009

Spring! After early December, there's always a bit of a lull in music releases. I think of the annual spring mix as once again offering an abundance of choices. They always seem to take on distinct personalities; last year's was packed with uptempo electronic music, and 2007's remains one of my favorites, including artists we heard about through the summer festival season, like Amy Winehouse, Arcade Fire, and Peter Bjorn & John.

As the gorgeous, spirited, and generally awesome custom cover art by San Diego artist Christy Zaragoza might hint, I think of this mix as being filled with music by women. Right and left this season I heard songs I absolutely loved by female artists. I was mildly amused and disappointed when I tallied up the female vocalists and found that they were roughly equal to the number of male vocalists on the mix. When I looked at previous seasons, though, there was a definite increase. I've been pondering whether this reflects my own tastes or a broader exclusion of women from music.

I also think of this mix as being particularly international in a way that's easy to miss; it's packed with artists from Great Britain and its colonies. Thunderheist, Brasstronaut, the Great Lake Swimmers, Romi Mayes, and the Weather Station all hail from Canada, Lady Sovereign's out of England, the 1990s are Scottish, and the Hilltop Hoods and An Horse come to us via Australia. I believe Osdorp Posse's the first Dutch band I've included on a mix, MIS are unsurprisingly from Mexico City, Doctors and Dealers are Swedish, Zee Avi is from Malaysia, and Juana Molina has lived a past life as a comedian actress in Argentina. The San Francisco Bay area is also particularly well represented (slightly like a different country).

Anyway, I like to think this mix incorporates some of the best stuff coming from all over, and hope you enjoy it. Some of these songs I've been playing over and over and singing, dancing, and running along to for months now, and I still love them.

Don't forget to download a higher-res image of the cover art for your iTunes! Those of you who need past covers can find them in my flickr set.

Jerk It - Thunderheist

Brent can't stand "Jerk It," finding it repetitive and slightly embarrassing to have playing when he goes through the base gates to work. I can't say I disagree on either point but it and "I Got You Dancing" make up a pair to which I haven't stopped listening all spring. They're fantastic for adding to your running mix, and wouldn't be out of place following some retro tunes in a decades-spanning set: Technotronic's "Rockin' Over the Beat," Brassy's "Gettin' Wise," and the Knife's "We Share Our Mothers' Health (Ratatat Remix)," perhaps? Or maybe some Peaches? In any case, women musicians seem able to straddle dance, electronic, and rap in a way that almost makes up for the dearth of female voices in hip-hop.

"Jerk It" was created as an internet collaboration between a couple of Canadians, and their full-length followed this spring. I absolutely do not mean it as an insult of any kind when I report that their eponymous album is the perfect CD for doing a giant pile of dishes. It's a solid album, and while "Jerk It" is the main standout single, the rest is solidly listenable.

I Got You Dancing - Lady Sovereign

If you haven't seen the video to "I Got You Dancing," it's bizarre and fun and you can't help but become a little bit crazy for her. Watch it now. I wish all of Jigsaw were as solid as "I Got You Dancing."

For more dance music with female vocalists, check out Ear Pwr's "Future Eyes." It's slightly saccharine, but I like it when I'm in the right mood.

Geek to the Beat - Zion I

Oakland duo Zion I have released a few albums already, and their latest, The Take Over, is a nice solid effort with cameos from past gelmix hero Brother Ali and the hilariously cringe-inducing Devin the Dude (of "she used to be elegant, now she's an elephant" fame).

The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods

This one's a few years old, but when I went to look for it I learned that the Australian Hilltop Hoods haven't even had their albums distributed in the US. Given the slickness of the website for their upcoming album, I wonder if that's about to change; despite the new music they've been working on, I still liked "Nosebleed Section" the best of anything I heard, and despite The Calling only being available as an import I highly recommend picking it up. I particularly liked "Tomorrow Will Do," but "The Sentinel," "Walk O," Illusionary Lines," and "Testimonial Year" are also well worth checking out. I also really like "The Hard Road" off their album of the same name; you can listen to it on the band's myspace page.

Origineel Amsterdams - Osdorp Posse

Another old-to-the-world, but probably new to you (unless you're Dutch, in which case you're probably laughing at me for including this) band, the Osdorp Posse made some of the earliest Dutch hip-hop, though I'd previously written them off as being more of a metal band (and it doesn't help that they neighborhood from which their name derives is best known as a terminus of tram lines and a place full of those giant Dutch housing developments named after American places that sound really exotic to Dutch people but clearly indicate the architects have never visited, like "Oklahoma" and "Detroit"). "Origineel Amsterdams" may be nearly 10 years old, but it's hilarious (I'll have to put up a translation), a sort of linguistic exploration of the local dialect.

I've never before included Dutch music since usually it goes a little like this: I ask a randomly chosen arbiter of taste whether I like something because it's good or because it's in Dutch, I'm informed that it's the latter, and I shelve my plans of subjecting you all to my fellow-1013ers de Jeugd van Tegenwoordig or Fouradi or Doe Maar. Well, nobody appropriate to ask was on google talk at the right time, so the Osdorp Posse slipped through the cracks.

Alocatel - Mexican Institute of Sound

The Mexican Institute of Sound's Soy Sauce is a surprisingly varied production from a Mexican City DJ. "Cumbia" is definitely worth a listen, and the album includes an interesting Ad Rock remix of "Alocatel." You can also download "Jalale."

Pulling on a Line - Great Lake Swimmers

The Great Lake Swimmers' recent Lost Channels is a strong album out of Canada that I think will be especially appealing to fans of Sufjan Stevens. It's full of good songs, but "Palmistry," "Everything is Moving So Fast," and "New Light" are also favorites of mine, to name just a few.

She's a Hater - Grand Lake

This one's dedicated to all the guys who are no longer with us. I love this song from newbie Oakland band Grand Lake. Listen to it a few times, it's a grower, and the lyrics crack me up. Such mystery! So much backstory hinted at! Love it, especially that Craigslist line.

Self Esteem - Garfunkel and Oates

Usually if I include enough angsty relationship songs with female vocalists on a mix, I start hearing notes of general concern for my mental health or receiving awkward, interrogating dispatches out of the Rainbow Palace. The things I risk for all of you! But I couldn't resist including "Self Esteem." The sound quality is terrible - I apologize, it's the best I could do, since I don't think brilliant duo of Los Angeles comediennes Garfunkel and Oates has ever sat down in a studio to record this one. I hemmed and hawed, but was eventually convinced by the peanut gallery to include it because it is awesome, and it made me giggle fiendishly the first 5 or 10 times I heard it. If you haven't heard them yet, be sure to check out "Pregnant Women are Smug" and "Sex with Ducks" and "Me, You, and Steve" and last but not least, their Ashanti poetry reading.

The Butterfly Effect - Doctors and Dealers

Stockholm singer Sparrow is one of my new favorite singers. While I find the album a bit high-pitched to listen to in its entirety, I think it's terrific mixed in with other songs. In addition to the delightful, sharp "Butterfly Effect," I like "Rock 'n' Roll Dream" and "He Said that I was Crazy" quite a bit.

I Am Me Once More - Zee Avi

It blew my mind to learn that singer-songwriter Zee Avi is Malaysian, something I don't pick up from her music. I don't know if she picked up such a tremendous talent for writing English language songs while studying in London or some other way, but in any case, her eponymous album is absolutely terrific. Be sure to listen to "Bitter Heart," "Honey Bee," "Poppy," "Just You and Me," "First of the Gang to Die," "Monte"...really just go get the album.

If you like this, I also recommend checking out Melissa McClelland's new album, Victoria Day.

Glory! - Photons

I am very enthusiastic about young Bay area musicians the Photons, who recently released the Glory! EP. It's a short release but definitely worth looking at; the song "Witness Protection" is another favorite (I am tempted to say that any song written as an address to a judge is bound to be entertaining, but having recently attended a flawless production of the thoroughly mediocre Peter Grimes, I am no longer convinced this is the case.)

The Box - the 1990s

I absolutely love this song, which I like to think was inspired by Paul Newman. It's a great album too, with echoes of all things great about British rock and punk (for example, if you're not busy being annoyed at their mispronunciation of "Vondelpark," the song will bring Led Zeppelin to mind very distinctly).

Postcards - an Horse

Fans of Tegan and Sara will love an Horse, I think; they actually toured together in the past. In addition to the catchy "Postcards," I've been listening to "Company" and "Rearrange Beds" a lot.

Dar (Que Dificil) - Juana Molina

I'm a big believer in quitting while you're ahead, which is why I've only included the first three minutes of "Dar." Juana Molina left a successful acting career to pursue her music, so I'm sure she'd agree with the decision. Her songs are rhythmic and haunting, although those who aren't confirmed lovers of more experimental styles might want to listen to the CD before buying it.

Rio - Hey Marseilles

Hey Marseilles' latest, To Travels & Trunks, is one of the all-around best albums I've heard in the last few months. In addition to "Rio," I think "To Travels & Trunks" and "Cannonballs" are both great songs, and "Marseilles," "Cities," "Someone to Love," "Hold the Morning," "You Will Do For Now," and "Cigarettes" are really solidly good as well. The Seattle band gets extra credit as well for sending me the CD with a personalized note.

Run Chicken Run - The Felice Brothers

I think "Run Chicken Run" has some of the more clever lyrics I've run across recently. I love their distinctive bluesy style.

They're wildly unrelated, but for whatever reason, this seems to me a good point to mention that you should listen to the Pansy Division's hilarious "Twinkie, Twinkie, Little Star." It didn't quite make it into the mix, but is nonetheless entertaining.

Bright Eyes Gone - Boris Skalsky

Skalsky's music is fairly spare, but I enjoy his voice. This song feels like being at an open mic night or something (like, with talented performers).

Achin' In Your Bones - Romi Mayes

Unfortunately I have to take issue with the assertions made in this song: forty hours on the dog bus sounds interminable. Even if you can stand the Lord of the Flies-esque underworld underway, you might well end up beheaded by the end of your journey.

Still, the lady can sing.

Requiem for a Scene - Brasstronaut

Canada's Brasstronaut is one of my new favorite musical finds; I love that they feature the piano and trumpet, instruments most popular music bands don't bother employing.

East - The Weather Station

The Weather Station is singer Tamara Lindeman's project. Her album is a bit of a mixed bag, but I also particularly like "Amaranth," which has something of a Georgian-era folk song air about it.

The Vegan Charcuterie Project: Mango Sausage

Ever since my copy of Isa Moskowitz's Vegan Brunch arrived, I've been living in a state of perpetual 10am. Particular favorites have been the steamed seitan sausage recipes; both the chorizo and the fennel have been keepers, and I'll make the cherry sage soon.

I thought I'd try my hand at making my own. I used pinto beans because I already had some in the fridge, but black beans might be even more appropriate. These are fairly mild but could be made spicier with fresh ginger or some cayenne; I might throw in some lime juice next time, too. The sausages would work eaten whole on a bun with some spicy mustard, or sliced and sauteed with greens.

MANGO CHICKENESQUE SAUSAGE

Ingredients

1/2 pinto beans

1/4 c. chicken style marinade (see below)

3/4 c. vegetable broth (mine was unsalted, homemade)

1 T vegetable oil

1 T maple syrup

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 bunch fresh cilantro, minced (about 1/4 c. packed)

2 t. salt-free jerk seasoning

1 t. salt (or to taste)

1/8 c. powdered nooch

1/2 c. finely chopped dried mango slices

1 1/4 c. vital wheat gluten

Directions

1. When mango and cilantro are chopped, prepare steamer and bring water to a boil. Lay out four square sheets of aluminum foil.

2. Mash beans with a fork. Mix in other ingredients through nooch. Mix in mango and gluten, and taste for seasoning.

3. Split dough into four parts, form each into a log shape, roll in aluminum foil, and twist ends. Steam rolls for forty minutes.

Chicken-style marinade:

Combine 2 T powdered chicken-flavored vegetable seasoning (I use Le Chikky), 2 T barbecue sauce, 1 t. vinegar, 1/2 c. hot water, 2 T soy sauce, 1/2 t. poultry-style seitan herbs, and some freshly ground black pepper.

This is a great marinade for tofu triangles - I keep some around almost always. You can then bread the triangles in a 3 stage flour-soy milk-panko breading, bake, and toss with wing or General Tso sauce for an easily appeased Brentje.

Automated Mix Generation

I've always been frustrated not having iTunes calculate beats per minute (BPM) automatically for my library, and was thrilled to find Potion Factory's Tangerine, a Mac program that analyzes your iTunes library and calculates BPM and beat intensity. Saving this info to your iTunes library database requires the paid version, but you can use the free version to generate and export playlists that meet certain criteria. 

I'd been getting bored with my running mix, which contained songs carefully tweaked over the months to not get me too far off pace. I was expecting to find similar numbers across the board when I analyzed it in Tangerine, but was surprised to find a huge range. I chose the best-paced songs and selected for that range, a high beat intensity, and limited my search to run-friendly genres like "hip-hop," "electronica/dance," and "shitty techno." 

The resulting mix actually worked very well for my slow-paced 6 mile run, so with that in mind, I present to you:

Gel's Lazy 10K Mix (heavy on the Knux but can you really object to that?)

Slow Motion Tag Team - Natalie Portman's Shaved Head

Powder Room - The Knux

Hush - The Knux

I Got You Dancing - Lady Sovereign

Bang! Bang! - The Knux

Hustler - Simian Mobile Disco

I Can't Decide (Everywhere at Once) feat. Myron Glasper - Lyrics Born

The Lonely Ones feat. Bionik - Aceyalone

Suicide - Jedi Mind Tricks

Happy Birthday - Modeselektor

Lights Camera Action - The Knux

Hung Up - Solvent

Dreamer - K'naan

Jerk It - Thunderheist

Razorblade Salvation - Jedi Mind Tricks

I Heart Beer (excerpt) - The Physics

So I heartily recommend Tangerine, although it probably works best with a better-populated iTunes library. Most of my music is on Windows, and so there was a lot of repetition. 

Gelmix: Nachtmusik

This more or less came about when a friend was lamenting the latest, long-awaited Portishead album, and its departure from their traditional style. Interviews with the band confirmed what we'd suspected: they were tired of being viewed as background music. Who, then, could we turn to? Tricky too had taken a turn for the louder. 

To that end I compiled the Nacht mix, a collection of some new songs, some old songs, and some very old songs.

About Her - Malcolm McLaren

This  great track is from the Kill Bill soundtrack.

Somebody Needs You - Lo Fidelity Allstars

Le Lendemain - Marianne Dissard

Change My Ways - Flunk

It's rare that I'll put two tracks by the same artist in a mix, but I can't get enough of Flunk. How delighted I was, then, to encounter this morning while catching up on my blarrgghs in the Google Reader that KEXP DJ Michele Myers wrote about them recently and included this great video.

Squares - The Beta Band

This is an old track off Hot Shots II, but I love it. My only wish is that the rest of the album were of the same calibre. 

The Crow (Dub) - DJ Food

Shook - Emancipator

Emancipator remixed Sigur Ros and Mobb Deep into one delicious track that I love and have been waiting for an excuse to put it on some mix or another.

Sit Down - Flunk

Mages Sages (Light a Dub 2 This) - Flying Lotus

He Needs Me - Incog

More Shine - Si*Se

Before We Go To Bed - Head Like a Kite

Astute listeners will remember Head Like a Kite from last Summer's mix with "No Ordinary Caveman." They're very different tracks, but I love both. 

Collapsing At Your Doorstep - Air France

Cascade (Live) - Tycho

Caged Blue - Trentalange

In their most recent issue, Bitch magazine recommended Awakening Level One as a "soundtrack to an uncertain seduction."  It didn't quite fit well on the winter mix, so I didn't include anything there, but it is nonetheless a lovely album worth picking up if you like "Caged Blue."

Je T'aime Moi Non Plus - Serge Gainsbourg

Was there a more perfect year for music than 1969? OK, maybe '68 or '92. Still, this is a classic, lovely song from the late Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin that I nearly didn't include because I thought it was too obvious. When I found out that there were people who hadn't heard it, though, I decided to go ahead and include the song. Fans might want to check out Cat Power's "I Love You / Me Neither," an English cover of the song, although personally I prefer the original though I enjoy Cat Power in general. 

All I Want Is You - Michael Franti & Spearhead

In true White People form, while I hate to profess loyalty to any particular genre, reggae does hold a special place in my heart (although no, I never had a Marley phase). I do, however, love Michael Franti, was thrilled to be able to see him last year at Street Scene, and really found it far and away the most energetic show of the evening. All Rebel Rockers is another great album from Franti and I especially like this downtempo, low-key track. 

Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado

Arguably "Promiscuous" doesn't quite fit or flow as well as the rest of the other tracks, but I thought it was fun and included it anyway. Don't like that? Make your own mix. 

The artwork came from the NY Public Library's modern dance photography collection. I think the cover photo is absolutely perfect.