Costa Rica

This week I'm focused on my moving this weekend, but last week I was in Costa Rica! I went with a group from work for a week of experiencing the rainforest, seeing our sustainability work in action, and training and talking about how to do our jobs better. More on the work side of it later.

We stayed at a hotel in the middle of the rainforest, along the Sarapiqui river. We visited farms and went on nature walks through the forest. We had long days, but there was also time to relax. There was a group yoga session with the sounds of the jungle coming through the screened walls, games of bananagrams and tropical drinks at the bar, and a mini rodeo thrown by the hotel.

Each meal was an opportunity to drink some new, deliciously fresh juice.

This was the view from the "conference room"

As we learned when we got caught unawares in the rain multiple times, you had better bring your raincoat everywhere just in case, because the hot sun can quickly turn into a downpour.

It even rained the afternoon we went ziplining! The course started out easy with baby ziplines but little did I know that I would end up zigzagging thousands of feet back and forth across a valley over a river, with branches and raindrops flying past my face and my breath focused on making it to the other side. Afterward, we went swimming in a stone pool in the middle of the forest. Standing in a circle in the water, still under the falling rain, we held hands and revelled in the specialness of the moment and our whole experience in Costa Rica.

Have you ever been to Costa Rica?

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Enchanted Rock

Enchanted Rock, about two hours from Austin, is a half hour of moderate exertion 425 straight up the gradual sloping face of a pink granite rock. It was almost frighteningly windy at the top, as if I might be carried off into the sky. Aaron said on his last trip he saw a prickly pear cactus uprooted and flying through the air and that was when he knew to head back down. It was also a bit frightening in the pass below to imagine the plentiful rocks and boulders loosening from the steep hillside and falling into our path. But it was enchanting nonetheless to get a bit of exercise and work up an appetite for barbeque, to see Texas hill country spread out before us, and to picnic in the woods nestled in its base. 

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SXSW

If you're not familiar with it, South by Southwest is a giant music festival that descends upon Austin each March. The constituency seems mostly to be New York hipsters and extremely drunk Texans. The streets were closed off and full of people in a way that was worse than I imagined (And even coming from crowded New York, it was nice to be able to escape to the quiet suburbs each night.) It is a little silly that I went from New York to vacation in Austin just to see many bands that I could see in New York normally, but the benefit was having a whole week just to enjoy lots of free music in good weather. However, now that I've been, I don't think it would be worth it for my band to go there in a future year - there's no guarantee that bands will get to play a show with an audience worth the 3,000 mile trip.

Cloud Nothings at Beauty Bar

Cloud Nothings were my surprise standout from the week. Just beforehand was Titus Andronicus, who I usually love, but they played too many new songs and the crowd wasn't into it. In contrast, Cloud Nothings had me captivated, even though I don't normally like my rock that hard. I think it was all the interesting drumwork. Their last song was so loud I had to cover my ears despite wearing earplugs.  (My ears really started to feel tired of the constant barrage of sound by later in the week.)

Yellow Ostrich at Hotel Vegas for the Brooklyn Vegan Showcase 

Yellow Ostrich initially captured my heart with his use of vocal looping and sentimental melodies. But now he's no longer solo, so there are no more vocal loops and the sound has changed to a full band rocking out, which is good, but in a different way. I'm going to see them play a full set in New York next week and will have more to say then.

Sharon Van Etten at the Mohawk

For a festival show, Sharon took way too long to set up - the same as for her New York show I saw in February, complete with multiple instruments for her and her keyboard/instrumentalist Heather. Even though I was impressed with the strength and clarity of her voice in February, and she proclaimed that she had lost her voice for this show in March, I still found that seeing her a second time around strengthened my impression of her live music. She continues to be what I call the indie world's strangely singular female singer songwriter darling. Where once there were many singer songwriter darlings two decades ago (Fiona Apple??), now there are only a few, Sharon being one of the biggest.

Deerhoof at ND

I don't normally like listening to Deerhoof with its jolting rhythms and high pitched yelps, but they put on a really energetic, enjoyable live show. The drummer accomplishes a lot with his minimal kit while the bassist jumps around cutely.

Tall Heights at Austin Java.

These are the boys who crashed at the same house as us during SXSW. They are a talented folk duo from Cambridge who combine their guitar, cello and vocal harmonies beautifully and I'm glad I got the chance to hear them. They got kind of shafted on this gig by being placed on an inside stage in a room that was hidden away instead of playing the outdoor cafe stage. That's one of the difficulties about going on tour - you have no idea what to expect from the venue you book.

Punch Brothers at Swan Dive

They seemed a bit frazzled by the situation, fresh off a plane into the SXSW madness and playing through a PA setup rather than letting the pure sounds of their acoustic instruments shine, but they stepped up and brought their good bluegrass energy.

Widowspeak at Red 7 outside. 

With languid vocals set against a steady rock beat, Widowspeak is lovely to listen to while laying around your living room but kind of a snoozefest live. I noticed that lead singer Molly has perfected the art of subtly half smiling while singing as if posing for photographs the whole time. Perhaps it would be behoove me to learn this too??

Drinking and musicking at Red 7 outside in March was blissful to a New Yorker like me, though I tired of Lonestar cans by the end of the week.

Best Coast at Urban Outfitters

I heard Best Coast from behind this fence, where people were dancing on dumpsters. I could just make out singer Bethany's face haloed in a braid. Her new songs didn't grab me, but I appreciated hearing her old songs "Boyfriend" and "I Want To" live, which many have scorned for their simplicity, but which grabbed me at the right time in my life last year with their brutal teenage-like honesty.

Bear in Heaven at the Mohawk 

The lead guy of Bear in Heaven has no idea how dumb he looks when he dances, but it made more of an impression on me than his electronica.

Our Brooklyn band friends The Vandelles made snap bracelettes for SXSW!

Me You Us Them! at The Grackle

These are our friends from Brooklyn. They sound like the Swirlies plus screamo. They only got to play three songs because they were late to this gig and set times during SXSW are insanely short so that thousands of bands can be packed in.

The Men at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop

Evan really likes these fellows, but they just sound like loud rock to me. Apparently, it's called post punk, but I can never keep that straight.

Beach Fossils at ND 

My bandmate actually drove down to SXSW last year in a many person van with the members of Beach Fossils. They sound pleasant like Real Estate but didn't make much of an impression on me.

Have you been to South by or heard of any of these bands?

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Austin

One of the things on my list this year was to play at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin. Originally, both my band and my boyfriend's band Diehard hoped to tour down and play, but that turned out not to be financially feasible for either. I could have waited to see if it would work out next year, but who knows if it ever will, so the two of us decided to go this year as a vacation.

We stayed with Evan's friend Aaron, who was an amazing host. We had our own bedroom in his sunny house out in the suburbs about five miles south of downtown. It was a full house, between us and his roommate and two other visiting musician friends. The week was filled with walking around Austin, watching live music, relaxing around the house, cooking communal meals, and late night jamming.

Austin had a record amount of rain this winter, which meant that dandelions were growing high like cornstalks everywhere. They aren't used to needing to cut back their lawns because of the normally dry climate.

We did a lot of walking. We were able to get away without renting a car because Aaron was nice enough to drive us around and Austin has a decent public bus system. However, because they close off street sections and traffic is crazy during SXSW, it often made sense to park on the south side of Ladybird Lake or get off the bus early and walk all the way downtown. Luckily, there was also an abundance of pedicabs, which we took a couple times when we need to quickly cross town between shows.

The University of Texas campus makes for a beautiful stroll.

The city is planned for great views: from standing here outside the Blanton Museum of Art you can see the capital building directly down the way. The Blanton currently has an overly large Hudson Valley school exhibit, which made me homesick, and a decent modern art collection.

Barton Springs, a spring-fed pool just south of downtown, was too cold for me to do more than graze the bottoms of my feet against the surface tension of the water. I preferred to sit on the grass hill in the sun and watch my friends swim below.

Everyone raves about Texan cuisine, but I tried taco trucks, Tex Mex (from Polvos) and barbecue (from Rudy's) - and nothing blew me away. Probably because I live in New York City where I can get the best of whatever I want whenever I want. Actually, the best barbecue I had in Austin was brisket served at a potluck that had been lovingly smoked and then roasted at a low temperature for a total of something like 20 hours.

This is not Austin specific, but Aaron was gifted a huge (5 pound?) slab of bacon that we helped him slice and eat. It was probably the most bacon I've ever seen at one time. It made us wonder if it would be cheaper to buy bacon as a slab than sliced, but that is unfortunately not the case, as we learned at our Brooklyn farmers market this morning.

Even though the Daily Juice shop is conveniently located next to a bus stop and seems set up for sipping while waiting for the bus downtown, be warned that you cannot bring your expensive juice on the bus. This caused us to miss a show, but that's all part of the SXSW experience. There are so many shows that you have to accept that you can't possibly make it to all of them. More on that to come.

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The Year of Cocktails

This is turning out to be the year of cocktails. I was never much into cocktails before, generally dismissing them as too expensive. But lately I've learned the pleasure of sipping on something deliciously classy rather than filling myself with beer.

For the party I helped my boyfriend host last month, we set up a full bar with some quirky mixers. Evan made habanero infused tequila for margaritas following this recipe, sans grapefruit. Thank you to Rachel for inspiring a way to use the insanely spicy peppers from his grandfather's garden.

We prepared ginger simple syrup, which can be used in both whiskey gingers and moscow mules. The recipes out there for ginger syrup vary in their suggested ratios and time (Martha wants you to use A LOT of ginger, or maybe you don't need as much sugar OR ginger), so I haven't figured out the perfect proportions yet but below is a rough guideline. Peppercorns are definitely essential for a nice spicy bite.

We also made maple simple syrup to use up the crystallized dregs of a jar of maple syrup, but I'm not sure anyone took advantage of it. I myself was too busy trying out the drinks below. And of course I had an Old Fashioned again last Sunday for the Mad Men season premiere.

Yes, that is still a little Christmas tree in the background. We have been trying to keep a potted tree alive all winter until it is warm enough to go outside, but it is pretty dried out at this point, so it's unclear how it will fare.

Have any fun cocktail recipes you want to share?

Ginger Simple Syrup
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp whole peppercorns
1 knob of ginger about 3 inches long

Peel ginger and cut into several thin slices. Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and steep for 30 minutes before straining out the ginger and peppercorns. Store in a jar for about up to a month.

Spicy Margarita
2 oz habanero-infused tequila
1 oz triple sec
1/2 oz lime juice

Old Fashioned
2 oz bourbon
3 dashes of bitters
1/2 tsp sugar
orange twist

Whiskey Ginger
2 oz bourbon
1/2 oz ginger simple syrup
2 oz seltzer

Moscow Mule
2 oz vodka
1 oz ginger simple syrup
1 oz lime juice
2 oz seltzer

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The Savings of Biking

Now that it's been a full year since I started bike commuting, I thought I would look back to determine how much I saved. The cost of public transportation keeps rising in New York City, where an unlimited monthly pass went from $89 to $104 last year -- and there is word of another fare hike coming up in the next year. So in addition to the health and environmental benefits of biking, it can also save you some cash.

Over the past year, I averaged 6.4 subway/bus rides per week, totaling $711 for the year, and I biked an average of 26 miles per week. There were some weeks where I was able to rely completely on my bike and didn't need public transportation, but there were also a couple weeks where I didn't bike at all. It wasn't so much the winter cold that stopped me -- in fact, I could have easily biked all through the winter because we didn't get much snow and the weather never dipped cold for too long. Rather, various logistical factors kept me from riding more - like staying up late for rock shows and being too tired to bike in the morning, or health reasons, or post-work plans that I wouldn't want to bike home drunk from, or hopping back and forth between my apartment and my boyfriend's and not always having my bike with me.

I also looked at the cost of bicycle maintenance, which totaled $243 for the year. I paid for a tune-up, two fenders (since the first one was a clip-on type that sucked and kept falling off), a couple bike lights (since one was stolen and one fell off) and a flat tire repair. I included the $40 price of a Transportation Alternatives membership, since it got me discounts at bike shops and they do good advocacy work to improve bike lanes and pedestrian and biker safety in New York.

So $243 for bike maintenance + $711 for metrocard = $954. Meanwhile, if I had paid for an unlimited pass and taken the subway to work every day, like my previous years in New York City, I would have paid $1,248. This means that I saved $294 over the year by commuting by bike rather than by public transportation alone. I expected the savings to be higher, but it's definitely not an insignificant amount. And in reality, I saved even more because my metrocard was deducted pre-tax from my paycheck. Now I can challenge myself to bike more miles and save more money next year!

Have you ever tried changing the way you commute and seen how much you save?

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Beet Cocoa Cupcakes

I helped my boyfriend throw a party last month and was rearing to bake some interesting cupcakes, as I hadn't made any since my birthday party in December. I decided to try my recipe for chocolate zucchini cupcakes with pureed roasted beets in place of zucchini -- since it's wintertime and beets are available seasonally but zucchini is not. I also used only 3/4 cup of cocoa powder instead of a full cup because that was all I had on hand. It turns out that missing quarter cup of cocoa powder made a big difference. Instead of having a rich chocolate flavor, they were mildly cocoa tinged, more like these beet oreo cupcakes or these cocoa applesauce muffins. The moral of the story is that beets can be great with chocolate (as with my walnut beet brownies), but make sure there is enough chocolate power to match the earthy sweetness of beets. Also, it's cool to see beets make the batter turn so pretty and jewel-toned. And finally, I topped the cupcakes with coconut frosting, but found that the coconut and beet competed for attention in a distracting way rather than tasting complementary.

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