Glass of Win

I was agonizing over which song to pick to inaugurate the first Music Monday here at Glass of Win. I have recently been introduced to some fine songs by wonderful artists, but eager as I am to share those with you, I knew in my heart that I have to start Music Monday by sharing my favorite song of all time: Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads.

Talking Heads circa 1985

You can listen to the song via Blip.fm with DJ Glass of Win OR as a fan video that uses clips from The X-Files (one of my favorite shows!)



I first heard this song at the end credits of the 1989 movie Little Monsters (which I remain a very big fan of to this day) and it has been my favorite song ever since. It’s very difficult not to be cheered up by its upbeat rhythm and David Byrne’s enthusiastic singing. So why don’t you come along and help me sing this song:

Road to Nowhere
———————-

WELL WE KNOW WHERE WE’RE GOIN’
BUT WE DON’T KNOW WHERE WE’VE BEEN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE’RE KNOWIN’
BUT WE CAN’T SAY WHAT WE’VE SEEN
AND WE’RE NOT LITTLE CHILDREN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT
AND THE FUTURE IS CERTAIN
GIVE US TIME TO WORK IT OUT

We’re on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin’ that ride to nowhere
We’ll take that ride

I’m feelin’ okay this mornin’
And you know,
We’re on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go

We’re on a ride to nowhere
C’mon on inside
Takin’ that ride to nowhere
We’ll take that ride

Maybe you wonder where you are
I don’t care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there…take you there

We’re on a road to nowhere
We’re on a road to nowhere
We’re on a road to nowhere

There’s a city in my mind
Come along and take that ride
and it’s all right, baby, it’s all right

And it’s very far away
But it’s growing day by day
And it’s all right, baby, it’s all right

They can tell you what to do
But they’ll make a fool of you
And it’s all right, baby, it’s all right

We’re on a road to nowhere
We’re on a road to nowhere
We’re on a road to nowhere
We’re on a road to nowhere

Road to Nowhere, along with many other great songs including the three hits they are best known for (Once in a Lifetime/And She Was/Burning Down the House) are featured on the album The Best of Talking Heads. Little Creatures is the first album Road to Nowhere appeared on and features another great song, Creatures of Love. You can purchase both from Amazon.com:

QUESTION: If you have a favorite song, what is it?

Beam on up and come aboard my ship, baby.

That’s right, Star Trek is this week’s Sunday Style. Why not? Star Trek recently had a resurgence with the release of the Star Trek movie that was released last spring. Die-hard, closet, and casual Trekkies alike rejoiced in a fandom that, not too long ago, was only found in niche groups and tight social circles.
I think what greatly contributed to Star Trek’s accessibility and overall acceptance into mainstream culture is the fact that it truly never went away; even though the original Star Trek only lasted three seasons (1966-1969), its success and devoted viewership launched theatrical sequels and television shows alike, including my personal favorite, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Star Trek has always been there, right on our radar, on network television, in the theaters, and has influenced our personal style whether we’ve been aware of it or not.

From custom-made Star Trek costumes:

As made by Panda Sewing Boutique.

To haute couture:

As made by Louise Goldin

Star Trek style is sure to live long and prosper in the hearts of sci-fi lovin’ fashionistas everywhere. Plus, who else could make pointy-ears a fashion statement other than Spock:

Look at that GQ motherfucker

QUESTION: Do you like Star Trek, and do you find that it has influenced your style in any way?

Fun Soap:
1. Old bones 12 piece mini skull soap set by FigLeafSoap
2. Anatomically correct heart, brain and lungs soap bars by SteamBathFactory
3. Breast Cancer Awareness soap by auntmemmy
4. Eyeball soap – 1 pair by BunnyBubbles
5. Glow in the dark brains! soap by WhiteFlagDesigns

Art:
1. Cradle 3 (Release) digital art print by daisybones
2. Taking notes fine art photograph by kellya
3. Penelope and her Lucky Eyeball Balloon print by ErikBergstrom
4. Brain in a jar by Feltathome
5. Doll House no. 311 (heart & lungs) by sushipot

Jewelry:
1. Professional eyeball brooch by UglyGerbil
2. You’re in for Fun Bladder pin by I Heart Guts via ModCloth
3. Authentic human finger bone choker necklace by skeletalia
4. Watching Time steampunk pendant by TrashAndTrinkets
5. Anatomy charm bracelet by TillyBloom

Apparel:
1. Thoracic park bleached skeleton corset top by smarmyclothes
2. Black uterus underwear by harveyandeileen
3. German Anatomy Man graphic t-shirt by isotope
4. Purple skeletal ribcage top by acidrasBoo
5. Red cell sweater by artloaf

Housewares:
1. Customized jewelry hand by MandSCERAMICS
2. Reclaimed anatomical heart glass teacup & saucer by BreadandBadger
3. Vintage brain lamp/night light by CraftieRobot
4. Minature skull fan pull by FamousFanPulls
5. Zombie snacks anatomy wine charms by JuiceBoxAdornments

For the Pets:
1. Catnip stuffed bone toy by NatureMadeScents
2. Catnip stuffed eyeballs by hannapt
3. Wheat-free bone shaped dog pumpkin biscuits by MiasMunchies
4. Ergonomically designed bone shaped pet feeder by WoodinYou
5. Liver, heart & spleen organic catnip stuffed cat toys by OhBoyCatToy

NEXT WEEK’S THEME: RODENTS

THE CONTEST IS OVER, THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!

Happy Thanksgiving to my USA readers!
Mike of Stockboy Designs has generously donated one of his original skeletal Zombie Unicorn silkscreen designed tank tops to the first Glass of Win blog contest! Stockboy Designs specializes in reclaimed vintage 80′s shirts, hoodies, and polo’s with original MIKE STOCK silkscreen designs. Mike has also recently slashed his prices! Remember in these hard times it is especially vital to support independent artists & shops like those found on Etsy!

The prize!

How to Play:
- Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite mythological creature. Elaboration is welcome, but not required.
- One comment/entry per person.
- BONUS: An extra entry may be granted to those who Tweet about/link to the contest – don’t forget to let me know, though, by adding #GlassofWin at the end of your Tweet!
- BONUS: Another entry can be granted to you if are a Facebook fan of Glass of Win. Entries to Facebook fans are not automatically granted, however, so do remember to leave a comment entry, too!
- BONUS: Yet another entry will be granted to Etsy users who have added Stockboy Designs to their Favorites/hearts list. When you leave your comment entry, be sure to let me know your Etsy user name if you have done this!

Winning:
- The winner will be picked by Random.org and announced next Friday. Entries are welcome until Thursday, December 3rd 11:59pm PST.
- The winner will pick from sizes S-XL
- I welcome entries from all over the globe. Any day is a good day to give thanks to the people we treasure, and I treasure each and everyone of you who have continued to support this blog. Thank you so very, very much.

1. The big, Sunday dinner my immediate family went to at a local Polish restaurant. It’s lovely when all seven of us can get together and spend time with one another. I love my family very much!

2. My friend Loren calling me up Saturday night – after I was already in my PJ bottoms – inviting me to hang out. I was all dolled up and ready to go within 15 minutes! She also introduced me to a fabulous musician, Kerli.

3. My friend Annemarie and I got tickets to see Lady GaGa in December! OMG! LADY GAGA! <3

4. Spending Thanksgiving with my wonderful friend Ariana and her amazing family. Oh, the delicious food that will be eaten…*drool*

5. Finally being able to finish a couple of books just in time for my show tonight (it’s all about books and recommended reading).

6. Getting over my fear of the optometrist and getting my eyes examined for the first time in two years. I was going for a contact fitting (first ever!) but we ran into a bit of a problem, so I’ll have to go back again sometime soon.

7. Completing the rough draft of my first adult, mainstream fiction novel. I’m immensely proud of myself, but now the real work begins as I transcribe (95% of it is handwritten).

QUESTION: How is your week coming along?

Do you have a particular obsession with one dish; an obsession so deep that anytime you notice it on a restaurant menu you have to order it, despite your better judgment telling you there is no way in hell that particular place (particularly a chain brand eatery) could ever perfect such a dish? I’m that way with French onion soup, my favorite comfort food of all time. I can vaguely recall the night my dad made it for our family and friends of our family, well over twenty years ago.
There is a local, authentic French bistro that has the best French onion soup, but on those occasions when I (a) don’t want to pay for it (b) don’t want to wait and (c) want to have leftovers I needed to come up with the best recipe I could refine. My mom used to make it out of low-sodium chicken broth, when low-sodium beef broth was unavailable. It was a decent substitute for many years, but far from the quality we became accustomed to since frequenting our bistro. It was time to hunt down and refine a new recipe. I formed this recipe using Alton Brown’s recipe as a base.


What I Used:
Onions: 5 yellow onions, 3 tablespoons of butter (I use smart balance), 1/2c. sherry
Broth: 32 oz. certified organic beef broth, 14 oz. low-sodium chicken broth, 14 oz. canned beef broth, 1/2 c. spiced apple cider, 3/4th c. white wine (chardonnay)
Spice: Allspice, cloves, black pepper, thyme, sea salt & cumin – lots of cumin!
French bread & shredded Gruyere cheese (I used Trader Joe’s brand and I’ll never switch it up unless they do it first)
How much does this make? A shit ton (maybe 6-8). I also use regular bowls, not special mini soup crocks. Step by step instructions with pictures are as follows:

Chop the two largest onions into fine, half-moon shapes:

Yummy chunky onions

Finely mince the remaining three, smaller onions (I used a food processor) then set them aside.

Best investment mom ever made

Heat up a skillet and melt the butter on high. Once the butter is melted, layer the chopped, half-moon shaped onions and let them sweat down and brown on medium heat until they reduced to a rich caramel color. This takes awhile, 30-45 minutes. Add the 1/2c. sherry, reduced heat and stir.

Smells delicious

In a large pot, add the liquids (beef broth, chicken broth, cider, wine), the minced onions we set aside earlier and the spices (I repeat, be generous with the cumin).

The liquids I used for the broth

Bring to a boil, then add the caramelized onions from the skillet, reduce heat & simmer for about 20-30 minutes, fiddling with your spices until you have the taste you like.


Try not to drool

While that’s going, this is the perfect time to grate the Gruyere cheese. Our food processor has a grater blade *grin*

Cheese!

When the soup is done and the cheese is grated, it’s time to cut the French bread in small rounds and toast them.

Toasty toast!

Ladle the soup in a bowl (or mini crock bowl, whatever), add the toast in the soup, (don’t burn yourself) and sprinkle the cheese on top. Then, place the bowl(s) on a cookie sheet and into a pre-heated oven set for “broil” ~ around 400-500 degrees F.

Hot oven is hot.

In anywhere from 3-5 minutes, the cheese will have melted and bubbled and it’s time to turn off the oven and carefully remove the soup ~

Be careful, it’s crazy hot!

Grab a soup spoon, dig in and enjoy!

NOTES:
To veganize! simply use vegetable stock and add a vegan ‘beef’ bouillon.

Question: What is your favorite soup?

Everyone has an individual perspective on various four-letter words, some that they feel are permissible to use in every day language, some that they have forbidden from their vocabulary. There is one four-letter word however that I feel everyone should not only have in their daily vocabulary, but should embody and push forward and use as much as they can, and that word is – yes, you guessed it – love.

There are love curmudgeons everywhere we go, people who feel that the word represents an emotion rarely felt, so it should be withheld for special occasions only, like fine china. They may fear that love is so delicate and are in a constant state of fear for being broken by misuse. I understand, my lovable love curmudgeons, that perhaps love was so rarely acknowledged in your life or maybe a piece of that fine china was broken once long ago and though glued back together, the cracks are still visible.

Can you imagine what joy life will bring once we loose our fear to say LOVE? A child free of inhibition will run around and tell you about all of the things they love – I love Dora! I love Mommy! I love candy! I love my kitty! I love my friends! I love teacher! I love books! – How lucky they are to be able to spread their love and joy with others. I encourage you to do the same, friends, despite the pain of unrequited or cracked love that the past has brought you. Love is simple in its complexity, and complex in its simplicity. It is in everyone and everything, and it matters not if it is your love of a book or for your spouse or child; love is a welling of positive emotion that yearns to be shared with the rest of the world. It inspires you to make an imprint in this world, and challenges you to not sink to negative retaliation when someone has wronged you.

Why show and spread your love outward, to everyone and everything? Why declare your love for all and anything that you find joy in? Because love is one of those rare universal languages that unites all cultures, all people, all religions, all species, all life on this planet and keeps us from destroying one another. Without it, we are doomed. Yes, there is greed, hate, selfishness, war, destruction, and evil in this world – but it is singularly love that keeps it bound and prevents it from spilling over and making those negative factors our demise. Yes, there are days when love does not win the battle – but ultimately, love will win out. I know this in my heart and soul, and I hope you do, too.

Remember: You can love again, and once the hurdle of hesitation has been jumped over, it will spill from your heart, to your lips, to the ears of those around you, and spread like a fresh breeze, encouraging others to share their love, too. Love is not just another four-letter English word; it is the essence of life all around.

I’ve said it before and I will say it a thousand times over: When in Los Angeles, never, ever turn your nose up to “strip mall” cuisine. You never know what gem you may be missing out on by snubbing an eatery based on its location. Real estate here ain’t cheap, and these small, family owned restaurants cannot always afford the prime spot on the boulevard. They have to make due where the rent is affordable and hope that the integrity and quality of their food spreads across the South Land here and keeps them afloat. Such a place is Polka, a Polish cuisine joint based in Eagle Rock, going on 16 years strong. It is only one of two Polish restaurants in Los Angeles.

My sister casually mentioned wanting to go there as a belated birthday dinner, and once we were able to coordinate all of our schedules (there is seven of us) we were set. A word of warning: make reservations as soon as you know how many in your party and when you want to go! We were fortunate to have been squeezed in tonight, when I only called it in this afternoon! That’s practically unheard of, as Polka is a well-beloved staple with a healthy number of regulars.

Inside is cozy and adorable. The only hyphenated word to describe the decor would be Euro-kitsch. Tchotchke, bricka-back galore, with signs, glassware, clocks, all kinds of trinkets placed all over, in a hutch separating the kitchen and dining rooms, walls, even the tables have a plethora of candelabra, vases and other such knick-knacks. However, it’s not regurgitated pop-culture ornamentation, as one would experience at T.G.I. Fridays and the like, but homey and thoroughly European.

Deer Crossing sign


A collection of lamps on a hutch behind our table

The menu is divided in three price ranges – dinner prices: $15.99, $17.99, $19.99 – and with each meal comes four courses: soup, salad, entree, dessert. The soup was tomato with chunks of bow-tie pasta (both regular and spinach) and the salad was a refreshing mix with delicious dressing from Sesame Delight, crafted by Polka owner, Katherine Dabrowski.

Tomato soup with chunks of bow-tie pasta


Light salad with Sesame Delight dressing

There is a sizable selection of teas – especially herbal – and the staple Polka tea “freshly brewed blend of fine teas with a few drops of Rum.”

Dandelion root tea in a very tall teacup!


Zywiec pale lager

I was careful to make notes of what my family ordered and it is as follows:
My mother ordered: #15 BIGOS: Polish Hunter Stew, consisting of mix of stewed sauerkraut, mushrooms, Polish sausage and chunks of pork.
My brother and sister-in-law ordered: #11 KRÓLEWSKI: A combination plate of pieorgi, stuffed cabbage with seasoned pork & chicken, and beef stew (gulasz)
My sister ordered: #8 GULASZ: Beef stew with mashed potatoes
My brother-in-law ordered: #1 KIELBASA: Spicy broiled Polish sausage
My niece ordered: #10 JAROSZ: The vegetarian platter consisting of hot veggies, soybeans, meatless pierogies, potato dumplings, and stewed mushrooms.
I ordered: #4 WATRÓBKA: Chicken livers boiled with onions & garlic. I also ordered a side of garlic potato dumplings.

All seven of us were fantastically delighted with our meals. Anything that did not get eaten was immediately packed up for tomorrow’s lunch. All of our entrees came with a variety of vegetables as well, mostly carrot, corn, a dollop of mashed potatoes and green beans. Everything was cooked to perfection.

Delicious chicken livers with veggies


Gulasz aka beef stew with mashed potatoes & veggies

Last, but certainly not least, we were served our dessert: homemade vanilla pudding with sour cherries and a dollop of cream generously sprinkled with nutmeg. It was served in a dainty little dish, just the perfect size to not feel overwhelmed. (Between you and I, though, I could have totally gobbled up a trough of that stuff.)

May I have some more?

Polka is time and money well worth spent, and I am looking forward to returning there again. You can learn more about Polka from these links:
Polka – main restaurant
Polka on California Gold with Huell Howser

Note: Please pardon the reddish tinge to my pictures; the lighting in the restaurant was mostly candlelight and assorted colored lights.

Jewelry:
1. Glam girl unicorn earrings by exousia
2. Vintage unicorn gold scroll cuff/bracelet by RetroAtomic
3. Unicorn steampunk necklace by JewelsByNature
4. Beaded unicorn earrings by PaulaCrafts
5. Unicorn ring by yan4u

Around the House:
1. Enchanted Unicorn Mobile by paperbella
2. Unicorn ornament by PamperedPawsGifts
3. Unicorn & rainbow toilet seat by omgurl
4. Chenille twin quilt with unicorns by mellissasboutique
5. Unicorn Book music box by SueSueSueCrafts

Headgear:
1. Carved unicorn hair stick by tanjasova
2. Unicorn blue & white faux fur hat by raucousgoods
3. Unicorn headband by msfitts13
4. Unicorn earmuffs by mlleclorofil (me wanty)
5. Rainbow Unicorn ear-flap cap by WeeBeeUniquesByJulie

Apparel:
1. My Little Unicorn tunic/dress by devaniweaver
2. Zombie Unicorn tank top by stockboydesigns
3. Custom size Rainbow Unicorn boned corset by oceanrain1985
4. I’m magic! Unicorn t-shirt by teeandtoast
5. Magical Journey men’s t-shirt by SirMitchell

Odds ‘n’ Ends:
1. Unicorn pin pack found at Heidi Seeker
2. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
3. Enchanted Unicorn Bandages at Archie McPhee
4. Sock it to me Unicorns by Sock Dreams
5. Bunch of Malar-key Caps at ModCloth

Art:
1. Victorian Lady Unicorn by therunnybunny
2. Dungeons & Dragons Nerd by laurengregg
3. Under the Wooden Donut Tree by DonutTree (check out store for prints)
4. Unicorn Horn in a jar by GimmCat
5. Unicorn medieval Cathedral reproduction carving by MedievalKnight

Next week’s theme: HUMAN ANATOMY!