The Samantha Files

Farmer's Market bounty - or why we don't miss eating meat

Reason # 453

... why I love my iPod.  I can listen to college acapella songs to my heart's content without bothering a) my officemate or b) Dave.

Yeah, I'm easy to please.  I do love my college acapella.  I almost tried out for the co-ed acapella group at my college, but I chickened out at the last minute.  I was still in the Oratorio society, so I did get my singing fix.  :)

Posted while listening to The Other Guy's album 'For Your Life'.  Not my college, for the record, but a great group nonetheless. (Note to self, order their album '35')

Warm weather, the joys of the library, and saying goodbye to the Fishers

Nice weather, the library, and the Fishers were the highlights of this past weekend.  We'll start with the library.

I grew up going to the library every other week, my mom would bring my sister and I and we would bring home tons and tons of books and records.  My mom joked that we helped keep the library running since we were always paying overdue fines.  I just found some pictures online of my hometown library... these pictures are from the early 1900's.  The stacks are very cool, the floors are thick somewhat translucent glass, I remember being a little scared at first that the floors would crack and I would fall through. 

I've loved libraries ever since childhood.  I worked at my college library as well as the media library at culinary school (cooking videos of course!).  Now, we thankfully have many good libraries to choose from.  So on Saturday, we headed off to the library.  I picked up so many good books.  Cookbooks of course (Charlie Trotter's Raw cookbook, Mario Batali's latest - Molto Italiano, Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe, Nina Simond's Spices of Life, and a few others).  I also picked up some crafting books, including Cozy Crochet, Todd Oldman's Handmade Modern, and Teva Durham's Loop d Loop.

I might have gotten on the Loop d Loop bandwagon a little late, but better late than never.  This is a great book!  I've already started the corkscrew scarf with some yarn I purchased (on sale) at Knitting Central.  And there's a sweater and a hooded capelet I'd like to try.  It'd be my first sweater... about time, right?

Now, onto the Fishers.  Last night was the series finale of Six Feet Under, and I will admit I sobbed through much of it.  Salon's Heather Havrilesky writes about the final season below, but beware - spoilers abound! 

I completely agree with Heather when she writes "It felt very personal. Saying goodbye to "Six Feet Under" was, unexpectedly, an emotional wrenching experience, more memorable and invigorating and heartbreaking than I could ever have imagined it would be." 

There's something about Six Feet Under that gets under your skin.  The characters are so real that it seems as if you know them, that they live next door, work in your office, shop at the same grocery stores as you do.  You see them go through the most joyous and most harrowing experiences, and watching their lives changes your own life as well.

So if you've watched the last episode, read on.  And keep your fingers crossed that Alan Ball has another show up his sleeve.  Congratulations to the cast and crew on an amazing 5 years, you will be missed.    

 

Last episode on Sunday 9pm on HBO

BBM2 - Deadline for Signups Extended

I've extended the deadline to sign up for BBM2, so that people can continue to sign up through the weekend.  It's going to be a great swap, we have so many folks signed up for this one!  New deadline info is on the original post, I pushed the due date to ship out packages too.

What would Ari do?

Great article about Entourage in the NY Times.

Mix it up!

I've been participating in Jen's great CD Swap 2, and I have gotten some choice cd's over the past few weeks!  I want to send a shout out to the creators of all of these amazing mixes, you guys are the best!!!!

Thanks Jen (who also sent great stitch markers... Jen, your cookies will be shipping shortly!), Nat (Nat, you make a mean mix... I played it at a get-together on Saturday night and everyone loved it!), Amy (she's the best, check out her jewelry!), Chris (listening to her mix right now... starts up with The Blues Brothers... nice!), Erin (2 cd's, score!  Thanks Erin!), Melanie (great packaging and a fantastic mix) and Jason (who was my buddy from BBM, I sent him a mix and he was nice enough to send one back... I *heart* Moxy Fruvous!).

An amazing photo of all of the cd's will be posted tonight or tomorrow morning (how's that for build up!).

Self-Portrait

My South Park Self-Portrait

Bronx Zoo - August 6, 2005

Photograph taken by Dave.

Six Feet Under: 2 great articles

Six Feet Under is winding up their run on HBO.  With only 2 episodes left, Dave and I are Netflixing the show from the beginning in the hopes of lessening the withdrawal.  There is a great article/interview about Lauren Ambrose (Claire) today in Salon.  And there was another article from Monday about Nate and the family in the NY Times. 

Obituary: Nathaniel Samuel Fisher, Jr.

Nate Fisher died of natural causes on Saturday, May 21 at the age of 40. The Fisher family struggles with the profound loss of their beloved son and brother. Nate also leaves behind his wife Brenda Chenowith and his precious daughter Maya Fisher.

Nate was born January 8, 1965 to Nathaniel and Ruth Fisher in Los Angeles. His warmth, sense of humor, and adventurous spirit earned him friends everywhere he went. After graduating from Bonaventure High School and attending U.C. Santa Cruz, Nate traveled through Europe and later settled in Washington State, where he managed the largest organic food co-op in Seattle.

From a very young age, Nate searched to find beauty in the world. He had a deep respect for the earth and the people living on it, always striving for honesty in his relationships with others. Nate found an outlet for his natural gift of helping those in need when he joined his brother David to run the family's mortuary business in 2001.

A memorial Service will be held on Monday, May 23 at 2 p.m. at Fisher and Diaz 2302 W. 25th Street in Los Angeles. Private burial to follow.