Music, Music, Music

Upon half-heartedly glancing at old blogs and thinking what I was dancing to at that moment, it occurred to me that I haven’t written a blog yet about one of the things that I find most dear to my heart: music. I cannot believe my negligence. Music is one of the few things that has stayed constant in my service, unlike my stomach, my clothing, and my cooking prowess. And so, I would like to share with you (and I debated with myself quite heavily while I bathed this evening) the music that I have through the many situations I encounter in my strange life here.

Let me first say that I have in my music collection (and I have scaled it down considerably in my free time here) a total of almost 9,000 songs, which is 41.91 GB and 25.7 days of solid tunage. I have, over the course of several bored weekends, acquired all of the album artwork for these songs and catalogued them tirelessly in my quest for the most organized music collection possible. This is only moderately successful, as I seem to double my music collection upon every training event that brings a group of Volunteers together. I still have my favorites, of course, and I have listened to the majority of the library... but there are always more gems to be uncovered...

With that, here goes my list... and this is just full albums, albums that I can actually listen to most of the songs on...

FOR TAXI RIDES. The road is too bumpy to read anything without giving even the strongest stomach a bit of car sickness, and it is approximately an hour from my A to their B. My goals are to stay perky and effectively ignore mostly everyone in the car, unless (like last Sunday) there is a really cool old fella in need of a smile and introduction into the world of the iPod. Plus, the music in the car is usually not conducive to music... So, I listen to comedy shows:

1. Jim Gaffigan – Beyond the Pale
2. Dane Cook – Harmful if Swallowed
3. Mitch Hedberg – Strategic Grill Locations

FOR WORK-OUTS. I’ve got a bike, and ride it often. The best tunes I’ve found for these little treks (nothing angry, because I’m in a village and want to be upbeat, nothing too slow for me to lose motivation, and nothing too offensive, because I’m pretty focused on the music) is...

1. The Neptunes – Clones
2. Outkast – Idlewild
3. Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury

FOR HAMMOCKS. Hammocks are great, and require a certain amount of chillaxin music to offer the premium amount of R & R. Here’s what I’ve got for that.

1. Maxwell – Urban Hang Suite
2. K-os – Atlantis: Hymns for Disco or Yes!
3. Nneka – No Longer At Ease

FOR DANCING. The tunes that will make me dance, no matter the audience.

1. Michael Jackson – Thriller, or Jackson 5 Music
2. Beyonce – I am... Sasha Fierce
3. Justin Timberlake – Future Sex / Love Sounds

FOR REFLECTION. You can’t always be perky, and you have to retreat into some music for some deep breaths...

1. Murder By Death – In Bocca al Lupo
2. 16 Horsepower – Sackcloth and Ashes
3. John Williams – Memoirs of a Geisha Score

FOR COOKING. When I bake, I must dance. Sometimes I sing as well.

1. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
2. Queen – Sheer Heart Attack
3. Roison Murphy – Ruby Blue

AND FOR ALL THOSE OTHER TIMES. Maybe I’ll go by genre... and try my best to be comprehensive...

Stuff that reminds me of my mama...

Led Zeppelin – Black Dog, Ramble on, The Ocean
Queen – Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, Brighton Rock
Rush – Tom Sawyer
The Who – Pinball Wizard

Stuff that I never knew about until Cambodia...

Citizen Cope – Brother Lee, Nite Becomes Day
Handsome Boy Modeling School – World’s Gone Mad, The Projects
K’naan – The entire Dusty Foot Philosopher & Troubadour albums
Tosca, the opera

My top-played albums...

Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Santogold – Santogold
Rhymefest – Blue Collar

Favs from Cambodia...

Rob Viktum – Progress, An Audio Tribute to the Cambodian People
Ros Sereysothea – Any and All Music (found on the City of Ghosts Soundtrack)
Khemerak Sreymoun – Any and All Music (found on VCDs throughout Cambodia)
Dengue Fever – Dengue Fever

Odd Finds...

Shantel – Disko Partizani
The Books – Thought for Food
Balkan Beat Box – Nu Med

Best Soundtracks...

American Beauty
Kill Bill 1 & 2
Ocean’s Eleven

Best Happy Music...

Bobby McFerrin – Don’t Worry, Be Happy
Ray Charles – Best of
Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion

Hip Hop...

The Gypsies – One Hand Up
Jaylib – Champion Sound
Q-Tip – The Renaissance, Aplified
Raekwon – Only Built for Cuban Linx II
Rakim – The Seventh Seal

Mix-Ups...

Jay-Z and Coldplay – Viva La Hova
Wu Tang Clan and the Beatles – Enter the Magical Mystery Chamber
Verve // Remixed

Other...

The Soul of John Black – The Good Girl Blues
The Best of Sting and the Police
Tom Waits – Real Gone

There’s more of course... but whenever I work on my computer, my iTunes is set to permanent shuffle, so I always get something I didn’t even know I wanted!

Grandma, Grandma, I CAN COOK!!!

I discovered a new passion... One that I am actually pretty decent at. And so, yes, grandma, I CAN COOK!!! I suppose a lot of things change in two years, and this girl that could never even be bothered to boil water is now working on recipes that span hours (and one that’s going to span a few days...). Not only that, but I’ve learned how to do it all with the very basics in supplies and groceries. The butter we have is Thai and wouldn’t make it to the table in the states. The milk I have is only to be found in cans. The oven is the size of my microwave in Iowa. And yet, I have managed to do some incredible things. At least, I think that they are incredible, but what isn’t after 5 meals with nothing but rice and pork and a veggie here and there? We’ll save the final verdict until later, but here’s some of what I’ve been working on:

First off, I bake bread. And rolls, and sticky buns and all manner of breaded goods. Most of them require (at least) 1-2 hours of rising time, when I usually putter around Oly’s place and read his newspaper. Or, I work on some other recipe that I wanted to try. I chop, I grate (without a grater), I juice (I have a juicer), and I mix (by hand). And I must say, I never knew how easy some of these things could be. I made awesome homemade applesauce in under an hour. It was considerably easier than getting in the car, driving to the grocery, getting a basket, picking out the right brand and flavor, paying, dealing with the issues of plastic bags and the environment, and carting the darned stuff home. Peel. Chop. Boil. Season. Mash. Done. And it was way better than the rest. But, back to bread. Oly has a book of breads for children that I am systematically baking through. Here's what I’ve made so far:

- Dinner Rolls (nestled together in the pan, very lover-like).
- Challah (Hallah), which is of Jewish origin and braided and triple tiered.
- Pita Bread (for homemade hummus)
- Biscuits from scratch!
- Tortilla Bread (for homemade fajitas)
- Oatmeal Bread (which we ate with a Spanish Omelet)
- Sticky Buns (My family ADORED these)
- Pie Crust
- Homemade Pumpkin Pie... from scratch...

I’ve got a lot more cooking to do, but I’m racking up quite a recipe book of things that I can make. My new favorite vegetable is eggplant and my favorite seasoning is rosemary.

Also, I’ve hosted a dinner party! I made fresh baked pita bread to go with hummus, mashed up potatoes, and created skewers for the barbeque for all my pals in Thmar Puok. I even have my own apron, tailored especially for me.
I am very excited by this, as I’m sure you can tell... and if you have any recipes that don’t have silly ingredient lists, send them my way!!

See more pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029550&id=72901581&l=efd03f89ee