food and furniture

food: so if i'm not at school practicing between the hours of 11 and 7 on any given weekday, i'm most likely perusing the aisles of fairway market or zabar's. it's this new guilty pleasure that i have... playing hooky to look at food. 

... and so that is what i did today, with the good excuse that the only things in my fridge until today were two half eaten pizzas, soy sauce packets, a bottle of soy sauce, and my beloved mustards that i dared not leave at old apartment. 

i think i'll share some of my fave things to do at fairway and/or zabar's:

pick the cheesemonger's brain about (what else?) cheese. when i moved out of the dorms, mum suggested i try a new cheese every week, so i've been doing just that. this week though, with the arrival of friend aziz (of the famed "mac and cheese with aziz), the departure of friend and future second husband brian, and the homecoming of friend pj, a lot of celebrating is to go down with my very special super duper secret homemade mac and cheese. (in other words, there are about five cheese of the week this week). i scoped out the best emmentaler, gruyere, smokey gouda, pepper jack, and pecorino romano money can buy. sorry, wallet. 

check out what mustards i can add to my ever growing mustard shelf. i once dated a guy that asked me if i ever found myself looking for excuses to put ketchup on things. isn't that an awesome question? i'm probably an average ketchup user, but mustard, oy vey, i could live off of that stuff. the best sandwiches that come out of my kitchen usually involve a different kind of mustard on each slice of bread (and then don't be surprised if i get some of the cafeteria honey mustard (that stuff is the crack of mustard) to dip it in). today i bought a green peppercorn mustard that looked creamy and tasty. 

buy fresh pasta. unless i'm cooking carbonara or mac and cheese, there's no way i'm ever buying dried pasta again. ever. try it the whole wheat kind, i dare you.

sample the knishes. this applies exclusively to zabar's because fairway's knish counter is sorta weak (no offense). when i ask for a sample, i usually get some sort of answer along the lines of, "well we don't normally give knish samples, but for you, i think i can sneak one in." thanks, knish boys :-) the best by far is the spinach and potato. 

today at zabar's i stumbled upon this hilarious object:

the vic firth pepper grinder is no new thing to me, but a zabar's vic firth pepper grinder? oh hellllo! can someone give me a good reason why a percussionist that is an aspiring amateur foodie and also jewish shouldn't have a pepper grinder that was made on the same lathe as 30% of her drum sticks and imprinted with the name of her fave jewish deli? 

unfortunately, i spent all of my money on cheese and had none leftover to buy this beauty.  

furniture: of course one of the best parts about a new apartment is making the customary trek(s) out to ikea! here is my most recent ikea adventure documented in some low-quality cell phone pictures...

raise your hand if you're guilty of having driven out to ikea just to eat the swedish meatballs. i am. 

future second husband, brian, and his tasty princess cake.

i have this thing about stuffed animals- i can never EVER throw them out. but when brian came over and saw that i still had this stuffed hippo that an ex boyfriend gave me sitting in my bed, he hid it and then bought me this goofy looking thing to replace it. according to the tag it's a giraffe. but i thought it was a hippo. and brian thought it was a bunny (seriously.) so the giraffe's name is bunny the hippo. 

brian passed out in the chair on the cart waiting to check out

oops! fairway delivery is here...

xoxo

yeh

cute things

You'd think that after an exhausting day of surfing, interviewing, and cheering for the mets in a stadium of padres fans, I'd pass right out. False. Instead I'm blogging on my blackberry that automatically capitalizes words. Boo.

List of cute things

1. Somebody that I love once sent me a little package with two teensy weensy little glass bunny figurines, simply to commemorate a fantastic weekend.

2. Craig hubbard once found a note buried somewhere at interlochen that said this,

"don't be lazy now. And don't hide yourself too well. If pop-tarts were romantic then gum is even more so. Tell me something about you."

He showed it to me during the summer of 2007 at tanglewood and we oogled over it for months at its beauty and tried to figure out who wrote it or who it was written for, but failed. Eventually we forgot about it and it stayed in a lost wallet of his. But then,just a few weeks ago, the day before he left for santa barbara, he knocked on my practice room door and presented the recovered note! I squeeled in excitement. I was shocked when he told me he wanted me to have it, it meant so much to him. He said it was my time to hold on to it. I still get surprised when I come accross it in my wallet.

3. My mum always talks to our dogs and tell them how much she loves them. Last week, she was convinced that our puli, george gershwin, said, "I love you" back.

4. Brian flescher dropped diane barere's name in a text to me this evening.

5. All of the preggers mums-to-be that are waddling around new york city right now.

6. The retro apron from anthropologie that my fantastic aunt cathy bought me for my new apartment.

7. The scene in the season finale of season 1 of the O.C. Where marissa and ryan are dancing, and gem's "maybe I'm amazed" is playing in the background, and marissa says to ryan, "I understand why you have to leave. But I wish you didn't have to."

8. The rockstar diaries. Completely obsessed.

9. Really extremely tall men and their four foot girlfriends.

10. The look that brian flescher gives you after he's barged into your practice room specifically to fart. He's got the timing down so that the peak of this cute look is at the direct moment that you're about to get really mad. But then you have no choice but to laugh at what just happened.

the ginterview!

behold, jason!

the basics

name: jason f. ginter

birthday: 01.31.1981

hometown: elyria, oh

occupation: principal timpanist, san diego symphony and president and founder of jg percussion

my name is yeh: welcome!! so i understand that you have a theory on salads on the west coast. they're different from midwest salads, aren't they?

jason ginter: that's right. see, in the midwest, you can make a salad without putting any vegetables in it. you just need mayonnaise. or you can use cool whip, marshmallows, and those little mandarin oranges you get in the can. nothing fresh at all. but if you want to make a california salad, you have to use lettuce and avocado. (that's the way to make anything california- just add avocado).

m: what would your last meal on earth be?

j: a little place in san diego called la fachada mexican restaurant. it's a restaurant and a truck, but i've never eaten at the restaurant, only the truck. 

m: favorite composer? favorite piece?

j: hmmm... sibelius? his second symphony is incredible. i've also been listening to a lot of nielsen. nielsen 4. i also love the beethoven and brahms symphonies. 

m: so you've recently won your job with the san diego symphony. what was your reaction when you were announced as the winner? and what was the first thing that you did?

j: my reaction was... i went into the bathroom and had to sit down because i felt sick. and then i called my mother and she cried on the phone. 

m: and the first drink you had?

j: after the audition, i went back to the hotel and slept for four hours. i woke up, had a steak and a gin and tonic, and then went back to sleep. 

m: many of my friends and i are beginning to take orchestra auditions. can you explain a bit about your audition preparation process?

j: sure. i start three to six months before the audition. for me it was important to find out what was a sustainable amount of practice because when i was younger, i would have days where i practiced twelve hours... and then the next day i would play three, and the next six. it was never consistent. in grad school, i figured out that i could play eight hours a day, seven days a week. so that's what i did to prepare for san diego- eight hours a day for nine months. i took one day off for christmas.

m: wow. what kept you going through all of that?

j: being broke helps.

m: do you have any hobbies?

j: yeah, i have my own business that makes drum sticks and timpani mallets (jg percussion). i also enjoy surfing and driving my vespa around town... 2009 vespa gt 200, baby. 

jason gave me a tour of the jg factory...

m: what was (my former percussion teacher) sarah barnes like in college?

j: she was the girl that everybody wanted to date.

m: words of wisdom for students taking auditions?

j: play the music, not just the drums. if you look at a panel, there are a lot more musicians than just percussionists- there are bassoonists, violinists, trumpet players... so when you play the music and you think about the context in to which we fit, then the music you play makes more sense to all of those other musicians. 

m: why did you win san diego?

j: i was flexible.

m: you do yoga?

j: just pilates.... but... in an audition, it's not about playing things perfect the first time, it's about being able to adjust. you play it well the first time, but if they ask you to play something differently, you do it. orchestra is all about adjusting to what's going on around you.

m: any last words? maximum of ten.

j: molly yeh is my hero. i think she is cool.

(i count the words on my fingers)

m: wow. good for you!

jason and me about to go surfing! (hello, mum!)

friend ryan and me outside the surf shop at ocean beach

the inaugural interview: john yeh (aka DAD)

behold, my pops!! (seen here with the famous and illustrious marianne chen, my makeshift auntie- in the most embarrasing photo i could find of him on facebook)

the basics

full name: john bruce yeh

birthdate: 05.23.1957

hometown: los angeles, ca

occupation: musician, chicago symphony orchestra

my name is yeh: welcome to my blog, paternal unit! did you know that this is what i was fidgeting with on my computer last night when you yelled at me for being anti-social?

john bruce yeh: no i did not! but thank you for explaining such

m: so let's start off easy... what would be your last meal on earth?

j: it would have to be extremely large, bulk food. yes, extremely bulk food. it would have to have a large variety of food items including, but not limited too: paella (my favorite food item), caviar, probably small tastings of molecular gastronomy, and of course charlie trotter would have to be involved... oh and of course (your sister) jenna would have to contribute.

(sister jenna, more commonly known as stoop)

m: was your meal at charlie trotter's the best meal you ever ate?

j: yes. that, or alinea
m: favorite composer?
j: mozart. other favorites include stravinsky and schoenberg.
m: favorite piece of music?
j: that's tough. you're asking such hard questions!
m: if you had to have musical accompaniment to your last meal?
j: either mozart or brahms.. something extended like the gran partita... or... (he gets distracted and has to ask for directions to the freeway. we are, by the way, en route from los angeles to la jolla).
m: favorite daughter?
j: hahahahahahaha.....no.

m: if you weren't a musician, what would your job be?
j: prolly a kind of doctor. but at this point i might have changed. so maybe a chef.
m: what's it like having a 3 year old daughter and a 23 year old daughter?
j: i think it's pretty cool. you guys can learn from each other and have very cool experiences together and for me i'm going through fatherhood twenty years later again and it's really interesting because i learned from experience but at the same time i have less energy. i think it's especially cool for mia because she can learn from such older siblings and i think it helps her to be more mature.
m: you've had the same job for 32 years now, what keeps you excited to go back every day?
j: we play new pieces, we have new colleagues, and we have new performances of the same pieces that we've played time after time and we try to do them to a higher level...and the great masterpieces require many different interpretations.
(john yells at me for the capitalization thing. what gives?).
m: what's the worst part of your job?
j: the stress.
m: the principal clarinet position in the cso has been open for quite some time, and you've auditioned for it twice but haven't won. how does that feel? and what will be different about the third time around?
j: the third time will hopefully be the charm. i've learned so much over the past two years of auditioning and its a process that continues. the audition process is so different from day to day performance preparation.

m: tell us about your audition preparation.
j: you have to imagine how you would sound in an empty hall and still imagine the orchestral context. i always knew that you have to show knowledge of orchestral context, but now i've learned that you also have to sound attractive in an isolated situation. if you play exactly the way you would play in an orchestra during the audition, you might not have as good as results as if you tweeked things so you sound really good by yourself. sometimes i think you have to be more in a box in an audition because if you play with an orchestra, they give you more latitude to do things out of the box. this is sort of ironic actually. but that's been my experience.
m: do you use beta blockers?
j: i don't even know what those are.
m: what do you eat before an audition?
j: a few days before i have a lot of pasta. the morning of, eggs, or something else with protein.
m: caffeine?
j: absolutely not.

m: did you party or go crazy in college?
j: nope. no substances. the craziest thing i did was sneak into carnegie hall on a regular basis.
m: what was dan druckman like in college?
j: what? dan druckman??! he was pretty much like he is now. very serious but at the same time casual and laid back. he was a really really cool, but serious dude.

dan druckman and daughter holly

m: how many girlfriends did you have before my mum?
j: well that depends on what you would consider a girlfriend... when i was in high school, it was carol robinson. when i first got into the cso, it was nina allen. she played the horn and her father invented the allen wrench. at juilliard, i wanted diane barere to be my girlfriend. but she didn't really want to be my girlfriend.
m: ouch. sorry bout that. so that's all of the questions. any final words? no more than ten.
j: live clean, live full, live with your ears and your eyes open. is that ten words?
m: sure. we didn't go to math school.