Ode to Springtime by missjunebug

Posted by missjunebug on April 30, 2010

A Big Bowl of Spring! Photo by mjb2010

Spring

not quite sprung,

still in a bit of a curl

coiled up from winter,

waits patiently

to unfurl.

A Little Eggy Bowl of Spring! Photo by mjb2010

A Kumquaty Bowl of Spring! Photo by mjb2010

A Bahaman Shell-Filled Bowl of Spring! Photo by mjb2010

Japanese American National Museum’s “Textured Lives” is Rich in History!

Posted by missjunebug on April 25, 2010

Lovely Japanese Silk Fabrics mjb Spotted in Her Trip to Japan Last Year Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug and her p.i.c. the lovely r.h. escaped the confines of their respective homes and hit little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to engage in some serious retail therapy and take a history lesson or two offered up at the Japanese American National Museum.

The retail therapy came first. missjunebug and the lovely r.h. have their priorities in order!! They enjoyed looking at the amazing work of Georgeanne Alex, Karen Brock, and Kumiko & Yoshiko Imoto, artists who have a flair for recycling. By that missjunebug means this talented trio take their inspiration from beautiful silk kimono fabrics to create their own original art, accessories, and clothing. The trunk show concludes Sunday, April 25.

As you may know, missjunebug is a big fan of recycling in all its forms, but this reuse and repurpose mantra is elegant and inspirational beyond measure! (pun intended, natch!). It was as easy as pie to find accessories worthy of purchase. missjunebug was particularly pleased with her approach. Wouldn’t these little kimono-clothed purses make great Mother’s Day presents for missjunebug? The lovely r.h. agreed! missjunebug is all about saving time and trouble for her Mr.JB. Now his Mother’s Day shopping on behalf of ElderJB and TinyJB is done! And the lovely r.h. found a purse that matched her tastes perfectly! Score x 2!!!

The next stop was the awesome gift shop adjacent to the Japanese American National Museum. Fun x some more! missjunebug found lovely floral cards, a secret stocking stuffer for Mr.JB for Christmas (always thinking ahead, mjb is!), the coolest koi socks made (yes, that’s right…koi socks), and the most gorgeous scarf ever (3rd Mother’s Day giftie for Mr.JB to wrap up for mjb!) which missjunebug will use to cover her follicle-ly challenged little junebug head. (Don’t ask. missjunebug doesn’t talk about serious issues on her blog.) mjb and the lovely r.h. were even checked out at the gift shop register by one of r.h.’s dear friends! A little mini-reunion ensued thanks to earlier connections on facebook made by r.h. and her fine friend.

Retail therapy concluded happily, missjunebug and the lovely r.h. paid the reasonable 9-dollar entrance fee into the Japanese American National Museum to experience Textured Lives Japanese Immigrant Clothing from the Plantations of Hawai’i.

The story in a nutshell: Before World War II, the Japanese women working in Hawai’i on pineapple plantations found they needed to modify their hand-made, carefully dyed and painted kimono to deal with the new working conditions they faced. The solution was pretty brilliant. They cut up their kimono and transformed the fabric pieces into more practical plantation attire while still managing to maintain a strong sense of their Japanese-ness. They met their harsher working conditions with ingenuity and artistry and practicality. A pretty fierce trio of attributes!

missjunebug and the lovely r.h. came away with a new-found respect for the work these Japanese immigrant women did and the creative cultural expression they kept alive in a foreign land.

If you find yourself in downtown Los Angeles before May 30, 2010, consider stopping by the Japanese American National Museum 369 East First Street 213-625-0414 www.janm.org. for the thoughtful exhibit Textured Lives. It is a rich tapestry of culture, identity, and adaptation at its best.

One more tip: Don’t miss teatime at Chado Tea Room! Delicious sandwiches, scones, cakes, and a kagillion types of tea from which to choose! missjunebug and the lovely r.h. recommend the Kenyan!

Traditional Japanese Kimono: Pre-Repurposing a la Textured Lives!! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug is Giddy about Glee!

Posted by missjunebug on April 22, 2010

missjunebug has been a little disappointed in American Idol this year. She’s watching it with a little bit of a ho-hum. She’s not even quite sure why. The judges kind of bother her with their one-note responses (pitchy, dog; it was all over the place, it was just all right for me, Sorry that was just karaoke (said with a British accent) and on and on. The singers are certainly talented but something’s just off. Perhaps as one of missjunebug’s astute readers pointed out: There’s no Adam Lambert. Perhaps he’s right. Adam was one wicked stick of dynamite on last year’s Idol and kept things interesting until the surprising reveal that he was NOT the American Idol. Unreal.

But missjunebug digresses. The real focus of this little blog today is how giddy mjb is about Glee! She just can’t get enough of those perky, talented, belt-out-a-song-at-the-top-of-their-lungs-let’s-put-on-a-show kids!! The loofah-headed Will is the moral center of the troop and keeps things interesting with his challenging and quite curious relationships with women (faux pregnant wife, vestal virgin counselor love interest-to-be, glee club rival hottie) What a trinity of tribulations this guy faces! But somehow he always ends up smiling that high voltage smile by the end of the episode. It must be all that great singing he gets to hear from Finn, Rachel, and the rest of the brilliantly dysfunctional glee club gang.

Speaking of dysfunctional, missjunebug must not forget to mention the masterful Sue of Sylvester who owned the Madonna episode, or should she say coned it??? As in that outrageous black over-sized (mjb guesses!) cone bra worn over Sue’s pert little red microfiber track suit. Sweet Sue. missjunebug loves you.

But what missjunebug likes best about the show is, of course, the fab music which provides some of the best kitchen dancing during the dinner prep hour missjunebug could ever want! Fun x 10 kabillion. And the next best thing about Glee: both her sons ElderJB and Tiny JB, 28 and 22 respectively, think the show rocks, too! missjunebug just loves cross-generational do-dah! And Glee! has the talent and the music that appeals way beyond the junior high school circuit. What a show! What a relief! What a respite from the idle Idol this year.

missjunebug is SuperGiddy about the Superlative Glee!

Plethora of Poppies at Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve!

Posted by missjunebug on April 17, 2010

Poppies Galore! Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug and Mr.JB took a little field trip out to the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve in Lancaster, California this weekend. It was time for some serious natural decompression what with taxes being due and Icelandic volcanic ash clouds wreaking havoc with ElderJB’s travel-back-to-Africa plans! What a week!

Those glorious little bursts of orange x 10 kamillion did the trick! mjb and Mr.JB arrived early enough to score a good parking space and she recommends you do the same if you don’t want to wait in the long line of cars that begins to form somewhere around 10 am. Trust her when she says, “Arrive early!”

missjunebug and Mr.JB grabbed their jackets and their cameras and wandered the little trails taking picture after picture. So many poppies! So little time!  They enjoyed looking at the skittering lizards, listening to the melodic birdies flying around and even talking to some of the other onlookers.

mjb took a chance and said “Ni Hao” to a trio of friendly Chinese tourists enjoying their visit to the Poppy Preserve. missjunebug had a fun time telling them how much she and Mr.JB had enjoyed their country in two recent trips to China and they were pleased to hear it. missjunebug is a big believer in promoting understanding between cultures and it’s fun, too!

Further up the trail Mr.JB concentrated on taking some of the best nature photos he’d ever taken! missjunebug can say this now because she’s seen them herself and they put her little point n’ shoots to shame, but she’s happy to share her p-n-s’s here anyway. Enjoy! And get out to see those poppies before they disappear!

Mr.JB Heads Up the Trail to Track Poppies! Photo by mjb2010

More Glorious Orange! Photo by mjb2010

Upclose and Personal with Poppies! Photo by mjb2010

Little Lupine Loll with the Poppies! Photo by mjb2010

A Little Lizard Leaps into the Scene! Photo by mjb2010

Poppies Mostly! Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug’s Find of the Week

Posted by missjunebug on April 11, 2010

Some Sundays missjunebug skips church service (Please forgive her little bug self, Big G, J.C. & the H.S.) and worships at the altar of Target. Okay, she doesn’t really “worship,” she just thoroughly enjoys pouring over the Sunday LA Times Target insert and cutting out the pretty pictures of things she can’t live without. She staples the little pictures together and they comprise a handy ersatz shopping list for her quick trip through the valley and over the hill to her neighborhood Target Store.

Oh. my. yes. It is fun for missjunebug to grab that big fat red (natch!) shopping cart and get in the Zen of traveling up and down, up and down, aisle after aisle of shopping possibilities.

Today she felt like she hit the motherload of all good things: Glacéau Vitamin Water Zero in a plethora of delicious flavors (10 for 10, baby!) and to balance out that zero calorie thing, Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux and Gingerman and Milano cookies (on sale too!!). She bought a few other pedestrian items like Neosporin, soy sauce, purse-size Kleenex, Ponds make-up remover cloths and the like. Then she searched out what she had really come for.

missjunebug’s Find of the Week

The coolest stainless steel, dishwasher-safe BPA-free, 24-oz Embark water bottles in the most beautiful jewel tones: red, blue, and green with nifty black tops with their own handy-dandy carabiners!  missjunebug snagged four of them to use around the house, at the gym, in the car, and on walks with her sweet doggie, Spoonbug. The price? An equally sweet $8.99 each.

Take a look and then think about kicking that heinous plastic bottle habit with your very own personal stainless steel water bottle! A small price to pay for a better planet and healthier water. And hey, you’ll be ready to celebrate Earth Day a week or so early!

Shiny! Colorful! Ecological! Photo by mjb2010

Getty Villa: It’s All About the Glass!!

Posted by missjunebug on April 10, 2010

Welcome to the Getty Villa!! Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug's Super Fav: Mini-Me-style Ancient Skeleton!! Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug sees clearly that for her and many others it’s all about the glass at the Getty Villa. The glass and the tiny skeleton!! Molten Glass of ancient times is truly an awesome thing.

Yes, the urns are gorgeous in their understated blacks and oranges and reds and whites, telling stories of the Trojan War. Yes, the statuary of animals, gods, emperors, and even a few everyday peeps  are well, statuesque! Yes, the grounds are exquisite replete with meticulously groomed herb gardens, fanciful fountains, and shapely trees.

But nothing comes close to the wonder of ancient glass on display in a little room on the 2nd floor at the Getty Villa! Delicate, frothy, molded, mosaic, milky, crystal clear, striped, sparkly, multi-colored yellows, greens, blues, golds, and reds swirled like ribbon candy from a Christmas stocking!

Delicious eye candy! Amazing ancient artisans! Take a look:

Shiny, Pretty Things! Photo by mjb2010

Shiny, Pretty Things Part Deux! Photo by mjb2010

Nifty Vases! Photo by mjb2010

Lovely x 10! Photo by mjb2010

What a color palette! Photo by mjb2010

Seriously one of mjb's Favs! Photo by mjb2010

Exquisite Doesn't Even Come Close! Photo by mjb2010

Glass Cutaways that Reveal Beautiful Secrets of Structure! Photo by mjb2010

KFC Coleslaw: missjunebug Style

Posted by missjunebug on April 9, 2010

Simple and Simply Delicious Coleslaw Ingredients! Photo by mjb2010

When missjunebug gets a craving for fast food her top pick is KFC. But missjunebug does fast food with a difference. She skips the chicken and goes straight to the sides: green beans (oniony-good), mashed potatoes (reminiscent of her high school cafeteria m.p.! Go Cougars!), coleslaw (creamy and crispy simultaneously!) and a peach ice tea for her beverage. This is mjb’s idea of the perfect fast food lunch!

missjunebug makes her choices partly on taste and partly on principle. The KFC sides taste delicious and are very calorie conservative. But matters of taste are not everything.  Michael Pollan (Food Rules “eat food.” “mostly plants.” “not too much.”) and Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything; How to Cook Everything Vegetarian; Food Matters) have been instrumental in reforming her eating habits into vegetarian by day, omnivore by night, where meat, chicken, and fish assume the role of mere condiments on her veggie and whole-grain filled dinner plate. Eating low on the food chain just feels better to missjunebug!

Does that mean she doesn’t enjoy the occasional In-N-Out Burger? Absolutely not! But she does go with a single with cheese instead of a double-double or a 4×4 animal style! There really is something to be said for moderation in all things, but believe her when she says it’s taken missjunebug a lifetime to learn that lesson!

So last night when missjunebug was preparing pulled pork sandwiches for Mr.JB and ElderJB, she decided to whip up some KFC-style coleslaw, too. The pulled pork was super easy to pull off because missjunebug just opened up the StoneRidge Ranch Pulled Pork in BBQ Sauce package, plopped it in a baking dish, and heated it up for 2o minutes at 350 in the oven. Could not be simpler or more delicious. Which brings missjunebug back to her Coleslaw Homage to KFC Recipe:

KFC Coleslaw: missjunebug Style

8 cups finely diced cabbage (about 1 head)

1/3 cup diced carrot

1/3 cup diced green bell pepper

3 tablespoons minced red onion

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

Finely dice cabbage, carrots, and green bell pepper.

Place cabbage and carrot/bell pepper mixture into large bowl and add minced red onion.

Whisk together remaining ingredients to form a creamy dressing.

Pour over vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly.

Cover bowl and refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.

Makes a crap-ton and is the perfect accompaniment to Pulled Pork Sammiches in Q Sauce! Enjoy!

GiNormous Amounts of missjunebug's Coleslaw! Photo by mjb2010

Up Close and Coleslaw-y! Photo by mjb2010

American Idol Talk 2010: Finally Something to Write Home About

Posted by missjunebug on April 7, 2010

missjunebug has shown great forbearance in withholding judgment on this, shall she say, ho-hum, lack-luster American Idol 2010 competition this year. But now things are getting marginally interesting. Interesting enough for missjunebug to have cast two votes last night on her fav object, her iPhone 3G (G=Greatest tech device ever, and yes, dear reader you guessed right, missjunebug does not have an iPad…yet.) But she digresses.

missjunebug knows you are wondering Just what numbers did she text the word VOTE to?

Drumroll, please.

5705 and 5707.

Those two blonde, gorgeous, smokey-voiced, real-deal singers with the great do’s. Yes, perhaps Casey has it over Crystal in the looks dept by a smidge (She does (God bless her little dread-locked heart ) need to consult Invisalign asap; his teeth are pearly white and perfect). (Wow, did you notice missjunebug is now using parenthetical comments within her parenthetical comments!!) But she digresses.

This isn’t a beauty contest after all! It’s a singing contest! Last night to the tunes from the Lennon and McCartney songbook, these two blonde wunderkind took over the competition as far as missjunebug is concerned.

Crystal’s rendition of the Beatles Come Together, one of missjunebug’s fav songs of All Time was spot on. But what? What that’s African American guy wielding next to her? Why it’s a didgeridoo! A wind instrument cooked up by some Australians of the way, way, way outback no doubt mainlining Coca-cola. And guess what? It worked. No where else but here on AI10 will viewers experience the mystical wonders of the incantation Come Together in such a fresh and slightly twisted way. Which happens to perfectly fit some of the slightly twisted lyrics of this Lennon-McCartney esoterica classica. For the uninitiated, missjunebug suggests checking all the lyrics out. Here’s a sample:

He roller-coaster he got early warning
He got muddy water he one mojo filter
He say “One and one and one is three”
Got to be good-looking ’cause he’s so hard to see
Come together right now over me

missjunebug is pretty sure the key to the universe is secreted somewhere within these way-ahead-of-their-time rap-like lines. And her mojo filter tells her that Crystal will be around for a few more rounds for sure.

As for that tall Texas drink of water, Casey, singing with brilliant acoustic guitar accompaniment mjb’s favorite artist of all time John Lennon‘s bone and soul-deep song A Jealous Guy from his blue-skyed Imagine album (and yes, it was an album back when missjunebug listened to it, okay? Live with it), he was brilliant.

Eye candy for sure (And yes, everybody’s kind of tired of that Kara Dioguardi earlier cougar-effusiveness, that she is still back-pedalling from). But the kid from the smokey barrooms of Texas can sing like no other. John Lennon himself (may he rest in peace) and Ono too would have both given Casey a nod of approval at the constrained, pitch perfect vocal that gave the song a soulful, want-to-cry-your-eyes-out dimension. So yes, missjunebug was happy to pay for text message 5707!

Nine Still Shine at Idol Time but 2 Out Bright the Best!

Long live Bowersox & James!

Sometimes Things Just Work Out

Posted by missjunebug on April 3, 2010

Last week missjunebug was checking in on facebook.com, reading a few comments here and there, enjoying smart remarks, inanities, and, some pretty cogent observations (well, maybe one cogent observation) when she saw an old friend was online who has only lately been (sort of) converted to the social network nonpareil. Actually, her very savvy  (and gorgeous) daughter set her up a facebook page that is, shall missjunebug say, a work in progress. But she digresses.

The bit of banter exchanged clumsily by facebook-style emails (so annoying)–missjunebug’s dear friend is not up to speed on the instant chat portion of facebook yet–produced the following cogent observation: “Hey, I’ve got an idea, why don’t you call me or I’ll call you!”

Brilliant! missjunebug and her friend had not talked on the phone for years, who knows how many had gone by. Too many, missjunebug is sure. But with that one magical phone connection she and her friend tripped the friendship fantastic and talked and talked and talked and talked. Husband reviews, unabashed praise of children who turned out all right despite what they did or didn’t do as parents (whew! missjunebug hears the whrrrrr of the dodged bullet streaking by!), career highpoints (missjunebug’s brainy friend is singlehandedly running a school district after strategically working her way from the classroom to the boardroom. Can you say USC phD?? Hell, yes, missjunebug’s friend can! They talked houses (exquisite burdens), health (compromised but fixable), travel (foursome va-cays? maybe, if there’s an eclipse in the mix), girlfriend roadtrips (where  and when does missjunebug sign up??) and a few hundred other topics of extreme interest to both of them.

Had much time passed since their last heart to heart? Absolutely. Did it make a difference? Only in the sense that both of them realized what a great thing they had going for them as friends and they should have never drifted apart. But as the poet says, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way…” the inevitable happened.

But wait. missjunebug is not quite finished yet with her little story. Toward the end of the conversation her friend mentioned that she and her dear Bear were attending a wedding at the weekend that was a quick 45-minute drive from Mr.JB and missjunebug’s home! Are you kidding her??? missjunebug was bug-eyed with delight that they might be able to pull off a long overdue reunion.

After all, missjunebug and Mr.JB had a lot to be grateful for where their friends were concerned: they helped arrange the blind date that has lead to 30 years of (mostly!) marital bliss!! They even made sure that not one, but two pastors (a husband and wife team) officiated at their tiny ceremony. (Attendance: 6) (Bottles of champagne consumed: 12) missjunebug’s friend possessed the prescience that missjunebug would eventually get right with God again and be super thankful she had had her marriage spiritually blessed by those in the know. How wise her friend was!

Segue to a quaint  Italian cafe in a quaint old-town setting in So-Cal. missjunebug, Mr. JB, and their dear friends spent an afternoon lunching together and laughing themselves silly about everything under the sun and more. For missjunebug, it couldn’t have come at a better time as she works her way through a few health:compromised issues. But this particular afternoon, she held all worries in abeyance and basked in the glow of friendships forged anew.

Just how lucky can one little missjunebug get? Pretty damned lucky. To have friends such as these.