Albums of the Year – 2015 – Part 2

Here it is.  Part deux.  Big year.  This is the part of the list where it gets real.  Do people still say that?  Well, they do here.  Or, as I’d say in a work e-mail, “Please see below:” Craig Finn – Faith In The Future The studio sent a car to collect me When the…

RAMONES

For some reason I’m buying up Stooges and Ramones records like nobody’s business. I don’t know what happens when you’re a 42 year-old punk rock fan but I get the feeling that I’m about to find out. Ironically, I’m writing this during an intermission in the Nutcracker ballet.

BBQ Brisket, Creamed Corn and SaSo Sweet Potatoes

Here’s how my morning started: Me: Hey, how’d you sleep? Mrs. NH: Oh, crud.  You forgot to season the brisket. Me: Crap. You handle the girls’ breakfast and I’ll do it now. You see, we take our brisket pretty seriously in the NH household.  It’s a rare, expensive delicacy in the Czech Republic.  It’s even…

Istanbul Panorama

Here’s a cool panorama I took off the balcony of my hotel room at the Hilton Bosphorus in Istanbul last month.  (I don’t have any idea how to make it bigger in the post.  Hints?)  I’ve sort of warmed to Istanbul over the past few visits and learned to embrace the chaos and sheer breadth…

Albums of the Year – 2015 – Part 1

I haven’t done an album of the year post in a couple of years.  In fact, I’ve mostly given up blogging for the last couple of years.  However, a recent road trip to Germany compelled me to compile a list this year.  The fact is, it was an exceptionally good year for music.  Lots of…

Christmas Market Time

Here is a picture NH2 and I co-drew after hitting the Christmas markets in Krakow, Poland. It’s a depiction of an ornament stand. Buying the red skull decoration was my idea. Hey, I live in a house full of girls.  I have to exert my influence when I can.

The Future of Music?

If this is the future of music, my record collection is going to be very valuable.  Because this sounds pretty awful.

Lightning Review: My Morning Jacket – “The Waterfall”

I just put this on my turntable after listening to a particularly electronic album.  I can only stay up so late so I did record two of the double album and I can tell you that it’s incredible.  It sounds like it could have been recorded in 1977.  There’s something very AM about it.  It…

Spoon at Bi Nuu, Berlin 06-02-14

First off, the fact that I’m blogging after who-knows-how-long should tell you how incredible this show was. Berlin? Check. Tiny venue? Check. Incredible band?  Check. Reckless abandon?  Check. Check. Check. Mrs. NH and I drove up to Berlin on a Monday morning to see this show.  A sitter stayed with the girls.  Reason being, Spoon…

Kurt Vile at Lucerna Music Bar, Prague 06-17-13

I have been to some pretty loud concerts in my day.  I remember Sugar at Deep Ellum Live during my freshman year in college.  Doves at the 9:30 club as a young professional just starting out in Washington, DC also left an indelible mark on my ear drums.  On Monday night, Kurt Vile and the…

Ryan Adams at The Royal Albert Hall, London 03-19-13

Sometimes you just get really lucky.  I mean really lucky.  Tuesday night was one of those nights for me.  I had planned to be in London for a work conference and had to make it a quick trip.  London is a great place to travel for work and to stay longer than the absolute minimum…

Homemade Focaccia

It has been two days full of cooking around the NH homestead this weekend.  I’ve made and frozen several pounds of crock pot carnitas and crock pot chicken tacos for the return of the NH girls.  I’m also getting ready to whip into meatloaf gravy to be used as pasta sauce and a batch or…

Roasted Pork Belly

Bachelorhood gives me the opportunity to try cooking some foods that I wouldn’t get the chance to with the whole family in town.  The kids and Mrs. NH are in Texas and I figure they’re eating well so why shouldn’t I?  So when I saw a kilo of pork belly at the Tesco Express last…

Cheesesteak Sandwiches with Homemade Buns

We didn’t have plans for Sunday.  Mrs. NH was kind enough to brave freezing temperatures to go for a quick supermarket trip while the girls and I puttered around the house and watched vacation home movies on my newly reconditioned Windows Media Center.  Of course in the Not Hemingway household, a day without plans usually…

The Glenn Miller Orchestra at Obecní dům, Prague 01-12-13

Glenn Miller’s iconic “In the Mood” is not normally thought of as a song that would make you get choked up.  However, on Saturday night, it did just that. After flailing around for a Christmas gift for Little NH, I happened on tickets to see the Glenn Miller Orchestra in Prague.  The show was Little…