24 February 2011

Songs about food

Did you know that Louis Armstrong sang a song called "Cheesecake"?



I didn't, until I searched for "cheesecake song" in YouTube. There is even a Muppets version!

So, why was I searching for songs about cheesecakes? (Do I need a reason?)



That's right. I made mini cheesecakes after the exam.

The discovery of the cheesecake song made me think of the 냉면 (naeng myeon) song sung by Jessica of Girls' Generation and 박명수 (Park Myeong Soo). It's cute and catchy, with a summery feel to it.



Despite the differences between the two singers -- Jessica is a 20-something, Barbie-like member of the most popular girl idol group in Korea, and 박명수 is a comedian in his 40s famous for his shouting gag -- I think they match and balance each other out quite well.

And since I'm on the topic of summer, I can't very well leave out 팥빙수 (patbingsoo), now can I?



YUM.

윤종신 (Yoon Jong Shin), the singer of the 팥빙수 song, is another well-known Korean celebrity, mostly because he's done everything. He is the all-around entertainer: singer, songwriter, actor, MC, etc. A year or two ago, he was a cast member on the awesome variety show 패밀리가 떴다 (Family Outing), in which the celebrity cast plus 1-2 celebrity guests go out in the country for two days and house-sit for an elderly couple, allowing the couple to enjoy a weekend trip. While there, the members (and guests) are responsible for completing certain tasks, as well as cooking for themselves. The show allowed people to get a sense of what life is like in the country, and all the work involved.

To keep things fun (this was a variety show, after all, not a documentary), they often played games, especially in the mornings to decide who would be responsible for making breakfast.



Breakfast was an arduous process that included gathering (and/or catching) the ingredients, as well as cooking for 9-10 people, so it was not a popular task. Plus, since the members not on the breakfast team can go back to sleep, people got pretty intense about winning the games. :)

Anyway, I digress. (As I do.)

This silly song -- I mean, love song -- is probably my favorite song about food:



Would you believe me if I said that my friends and I used to sing this (and many other silly songs) in college? Yes, in college. We were seriously cool kids.

10 February 2011

I feel it in my toes



Heh.

My mom sent me the above picture a couple of days ago, saying that it snowed another two feet in the Midwest.



Personally, I was hoping for a repeat of last winter's Snowpocalypse in DC, too, but it already feels like spring here.

Apparently it snowed enough in Madison for the public schools to declare a snow day, which is really quite something. During the nine years that I lived there, we had one, maybe two snow days. As long as it stopped snowing by 04:30, we could assume the roads would be cleared and we would have school. We still watched for the school cancellation notice on the morning news, though -- you know, just in case.

And then, our hopes crushed to tiny bits, we would resign ourselves to digging our way through the snow to school (my brother and I walked to school, and often the sidewalks wouldn't have been cleared yet).

Do you see why I felt such disdain for DC when the whole city shut down after about five inches of snow a few weeks ago? The power went out on my street, so I stumbled around the house a bit with my headlamp (I am a cool kid), before eventually giving up and spending the night at a classmate's house nearby. It turned out to be a good thing that I did, because the power stayed out for about 16 hours.

DC, you wuss.

I can't say I totally minded having a snow day, but it did mean a crazy catch-up day the following day, which happened to be a Friday. @#$%^&*!&$*#@^!%. I may or may not have gone straight to the kitchen after classes ended, and taken out my stress on some ground turkey.



Perhaps I should be more worried about my tendency to mash things when I'm stressed.