Playlist - Bring your own jukebox online

Romancing the grill

Oops meant girl there ... Google style, with cupid cakes :)



but seriously ever since I encountered Nigelle Lawson's Express concept ... the idea of delicious but quick and easy comfort food served right up, I've used that as the touchstone for recipes, and this one sure qualifies.

Arabian nights ...

The depth of tenderness, the almost reverential nuance to the romance in arab songs may be an acquired taste but for me it's always been magic and now years after that sojourn in Dubai, I still love going back to some of these songs at which point you know it's time to share/bookmark online for some time when you need to find it fast :)

For instance here's
Aline Khalaf's Howelt Ansak intensely and hauntingly painting the shadows of memory into being ...

Or Marwan Khoury and Carol Samaha negotiating the tricky roads between breakup and lifelong love together

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg9Zg03CxDQ&feature=related

Here's Fadl Shakr and Yara finding just how much togetherness there is in a song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1f5xeXgTOg&mode=related&search=

And an impromptu talk show duet ... starring the incomparable Souad Massi

And then there's the all too difficult fluid emotional spaces between fun and happiness that goes beyond poetry beyond words even beyond memory to leave you feeling a bit more human than usual ... sorry I love this song :) Strictly speaking the song below is not Arabic but rather a mix of Farsi (Iranian) and Arabic ... but the singer Cheb Khaled is one of it's more beloved artists from Algeria

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVIJdh6W348

and one of those shakira collaborations this time with Egypt's beloved son Amr Diab

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Ir5_ABs-Q


And this song, I'm not quite sure why I like it other than that indefinable something called chemistry between the singers that make it so compelling (to me I mean)

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=7504281

And in no particular some other singers that seem to conjure up visions of sensuous women (be warned some of them are ridiculously hot! hot! hot!) languidly doing the dance of seven veils, of stories swirling in sandstorms of loss and hope and just plain old fashioned here's a party let's rock the casbah stuff ... Doesn't hurt that the divas are drop dead gorgeous and the men just your above average hunks but with those special eyes that speak the special language of hearts that seem to melt a certain type of women :)

Madeline Matar

Nancy Ajram

Elissa ... another version

Sherine

Samira Said

Myriam Faris

Nawal El Zoghbi


Adam's The tears have faded from my eyes ... Do me a favor if you have an Arabic friend ask them to help you understand the lyrics, you'll never fall in love the same way again!

Amr Diab

Tamer Hosny

Ragheb Alama

Wael Kfoury

and one for the road

by Natacha AtlasThis one's exquisite ...

Take a bite of this place

You somehow don't think US as a place for winter vacations, I mean I usually try to find reasons not to go even when I'm forced to *grin* ... well that was until I impulse clicked on one of those ad links you get on gmail intrigued by the idea of a winter in New Mexico.

Now all of a sudden I'm wondering where to find two days to go to New Mexico ... This is a good writer must say or the place is darn good. All that talk of the blood dark goulash, dirndl clad waitresses ... for the skier coming in from the cold ... are we in some mysterious forgotten valley in Bavaria or in good old adobe New Mexico???

You my fellow armchair travellers, also take note of the sauteed risotto at Joseph's table say served on one of those nights where the wind howls like a chained demon outside ... Comfort food taken to the next level :)

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/travel/10Choice.html?ex=1360299600&en=4ea54d4f0d28ae3f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Somebody I know Ayash Basu was over here last year and raved about the picture taking possibilities ... but nary a word about the food!

Vive la Velib

A new self service rent a bike that allows you to scoot around the city for free well almost free :)

Euro 1 for a day, 5 for a week, or 29 for a year. That and a 150 euro deposit allows you to rent out a bike from one of close to a thousand automated self service stations located 300 meters from each other all throughout Paree. It's free for the first half hour, it's 1 Euro for an hour, 7 euros for two hours, 31 euros for five hours and so on upto 150 euros for twenty hours ...

Lovely system. I saw the same thing in another city in France as well Besancon there it was called Velorution if I remember correctly. Will try and add some pictures tomorrow.

But ... but this is the answer to a prayer isn't it. Helps you get around the town (maps are available on the velib site) in double quick time, no worrying about parking, and motivates you to do things in half hour blocks :)

It comes with a basket and a light. So all you really need to do this is cart your own helmet and you're ready to go.

However for the day regular bike rentals might be the way to go still, but for sheer flexibility and freedom this is a great deal

Days - By Mark Haddon

Horace Odes 1:11

Leuconoe, stop examining your
babylonian horoscopes
and wondering what kind of death
the gods have in mind for us.

We'll never know. Accept it.
This winter pummling the ocean
on the pumice rocks of Tuscany
may be our last.

Or not. Be sensible and pour the wine.
This life's too short for longing
and the clock spins as we speak.
Days come and go. Hold on to this one.

It's a mad world

And here's the song for it