List38

Love: I have always been a sucker for "La Vie En Rose." Yesterday on 4th Street in Berkeley, when the rain took a break, the talented and adorable Laura Weinberg of Foxtails Brigade performed a beautiful, delicate rendition that made my day. You can listen to it here:

http://foxtailsbrigade.bandcamp.com/album/la-nuit

Like: Chicken Under a Brick. Last night we made this version which appeared in Bon Appetit a year ago. What's not to like?

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2009/09/chicken_al_mattone

Discovery: We have a pretty extensive collection of old LPs - and a broken turntable. I saw this portable Crosley USB Record Player at Urban Outfitters and placed an order. It will be nice to use by the fireplace in the rainy months to come, or out on the patio come summer.

Obsession: The current geek out is Star Wars: The Clone Wars (now in its third season on Cartoon Network.) We're in the midst of season two on DVD. And by we I mean me and my Padawan Stella. It's really fun, but the show is also making what goes down in Episode 3 of the film series all that more tragic.

Complaint: I had a delicious pre-holiday lunch at Cotogna and hoped to take my parents there when they come to town in late February. Alas, a non-5:45, non-9:30 weekend reservation has become all but impossible, even when planning a month in advance. Merde.

List 37

Love: Geography in general, and maps and globes in particular. Perhaps this originated with the many long family car trips we took, driving from Wisconsin to Florida or Colorado or Washington D.C., with my father challenging us to name all 50 states and their capitols, and letting us track our route, inked in red pen, on a AAA map. Or maybe the globe bank I had was the spark. But however it started, by high school I confess to being overjoyed in social studies whenever the teacher would place an un-labled map in front of us and see if we could identify each country in Europe or Asia. Two of my favorite things now are this old globe lamp we bought years ago at the bi-annual San Francisco Art Deco show, and a vintage globe I bought for Stella for Christmas. I love how they look and I love to look at the way the world used to be - countries of different shapes, with names like Siam, French Indo China, and Belgian Congo.

Like: This wood map puzzle magnet from Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PipeDreams2010?ref=seller_info

Discovery: My friend Lisa came across pica pica's etsy store (which is currently shuttered while they move) and I quickly snapped up one of their map bowls.

Obsession: I am deeply envious of the "map rooms" that two friends of mine scored in their 1920something homes.

(You can see more of Jackie's place here: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/inspiration/inspiration-avocado-papayas-map-room-083793)

Complaint: More a concern than a complaint at this stage, but it would be sad if between Google maps and GPS, everyone loses that physical connection to geography and if having a dogeared, marked-up map or road atlas in your glovebox becomes as outdated as a globe with the U.S.S.R.

List 36

Love: Soup - in general, but especially in the winter when I'm under the weather, as I have been for weeks now. This recipe from Epicurious, with cheese tortellini, kielbasa, kale and cannellini beans, is one we make often, and the bit of heat from the red pepper flakes helps clear out the sinuses. When we first made it years ago we forgot to buy a fennel bulb and liked how the recipe turned out anyway, so I've always omitted that bit.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cheese-Tortellini-Soup-with-Cannellini-Kielbasa-and-Kale-106143

Like: Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy. This is not great literature by any means, but these books made for a fun roller coaster ride-type read and helped pass the time home sick from work. I seem to have a thing for bleak, futuristic fiction with strong women characters. (See The Passage in List 1).

Discovery: Modern 50 in Virginia is, according to them, "a multi-disciplinary art and design collective which strives to create an ever-evolving nonlinear consumer lifestyles collection." What it is in more straight-forward language is a huge warehouse of really cool vintage and industrial stuff - hundreds of tables, lamps, storage units, chairs and assorted oddities. Perusing the site is the kind of time suck that works well when you're lounging in bed sick.

Obsession: It's a couple years old, but Amy Winehouse's slowed down version of "Valerie," from her B-Sides album, has been just what the doctor ordered lately. Warning, this is one of those homemade videos with pictures cut to the album track.

Complaint: Like Woody Allen's Mickey in Hannah & Her Sisters, I have a really bad habit of diagnosing any symptoms I have as cancer. I need Web MD and the Mayo Clinic's website to be blocked on my computer.