Mr. Write
My name is Ceas Calogero and I bring you FLY-PAPERS. Some of you may know me as Ghettoblaster, the blog that I wrote for exactly 3 years. It chronicled my everyday adventures and misadventures. I stopped writing at the beginning of 2014 with no certainty that I would write again. The last 5 month's have been a rediscovery of me, my style, likes and the world around me. With all these new experiences I was craving a way to share my stories, but also offer a service. I've been reading a certain initialed men's magazine and liked reading the segments.It's usually a quick synopsis and pictures of an event or on 'how to' I decided to pattern this new project in a similar fashion, but adding my own anecdotes and flair.
Around The Way
When you live a short train ride from downtown Washington D.C. your options are unlimited on what to do. You can eat almost any cuisine from around the globe. A plethora of bars litter the city. For me the historic value found in and around the Nation's Capital is the main attraction. Then of course there is the arts. When it comes to museums, D.C. is home to some of the nation's premier museums. Hundreds of people flock from all over the country and the world every day to see one of the many hubs housing a vast array of artifacts of culture, arts, technology, history, natural history and ethnic history.
I first discovered The National Museum of American History as a kid. I was always fascinated by the National Air and Space Museum, but the first time I went to the American History Museum I fell in love. I've always had an obsession with antiquities and history. I remember seeing examples of early television and radio. I will also never forget that they had a real deal low rider in their America on the Move exhibit at the time. Over the years they have brought in many interesting exhibits. From Celia Cruz to First Ladies' gowns to Julia Child.
Although they have some permanent exhibits, they always manage to change enough to give me a new experience. I finally got a chance to see the Star Spangled Banner Exhibit. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed. It was a bit overwhelming. They have it in this temperature controlled chamber with dim lighting. It's like 30 by 40 feet. Tattered, discolored, but a glorious reminder of the infancy of our nation.
This year they are also celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1964 World's Fair, which also debuted the Ford Mustang. The 1960's is also a new exhibit. One of my favorite new exhibits was Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963, which covers the emancipation of slavery through to the civil rights movement.
Next time you're in the D.C. area or live nearby, hop on the blue line and discover all the treasures behind the walls of the many museums down at the National Mall. Most are free and open daily from 11 am until 5 pm. Just be sure to eat before you go (unless you want to spend 60 bucks in the cafeteria)
Please excuse the quality of the photos below. They were shot in museum lighting and through glass at times
 |
| National Museum of American History |
 |
| A scale model of the museum under a glass dome |
 |
| Kung-Fu uniform worn by Bruce Lee |
 |
| Campbell's Soup dress designed by American Pop Art Icon Andy Warhol |
 |
| 1964 Ford Mustang |
 |
| Fat Albert and Bonanza metal lunch boxes from the 60's |
 |
| Poster for Woodstock 1969, The Summer of Love |
 |
| Original Styrofoam packaging from McDonald's (yes, that is a McD LT tray) |
 |
| A poster for the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his historic 'I Have a Dream' Speech |
 |
| Poster for the National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights |
 |
| A Spanish language voter registration poster from the 70's |
Raising The Bar
With Summer around the corner, it's time to start thinking about what to drink. This is the time of year when I transition my beer fridge from Lagers and Stouts to a nice, airy Mexican style beer. I drink Rum and Cola year round. Tequila is a year round shot, since I don't do Margaritas.
Gin was always outside of my comfort zone. The first time I tried it was at a party just after my 21st birthday. I hated it. It tasted to me like pine needles smell. It tasted worse when I mixed it with cola. I never drank it again. About 5 years ago, my cousin bought me a bottle of Gin as a gift. Being the gracious person that I am, I accepted it and even had a drink. My previous impressions of it were reaffirmed.
I held onto it until last summer. I was reading through a men's magazine where they gave a certain boutique tonic water a stellar review. They also ended it with a simple recipe for Gin an Tonic. I had only heard about Gin an Tonics on British sitcoms. The Tonic that had been reviewed happened to be sold at my place of employment, so I picked up a bottle and planned to make a Gin and Tonic with the almost full bottle of Gin on my bar.
I followed the recipe from the magazine to the letter. I took a sip and the first thing I notice were the citrus notes hitting my olfactory sensors. The Gin did not overpower the Tonic which complimented it perfectly. It was neither bitter or sweet. Needless to say that bottle was gone after a few days.
I purchased a 750 ml bottle of Tonic and used about half. The remainder stayed in the fridge. I tried using it a few weeks later and noticed it had gone flat. Since then the Tonic producer introduced a 4 pack of 8 oz bottles which can be used as needed.
After that fateful summer day on which I discovered the Gin and Tonic, I made it my official summer mixer.
BOODLES and Q (Gin and Tonic)
One heavy bottomed drink glass
Ice
A shot of Gin
A lemon or lime
Tonic Water
Fill clean glass with ice. Pour a shot of Gin over ice. Squeeze citrus over ice. Top off with Tonic water. Enjoy.
 |
| BOODLES BRITISH GIN EST. 1845 |
 |
| Q TONIC Made with Handpicked Peruvian Quinine. Brooklyn NY |
 |
| BOODLES and Q |
Foodie Call
Crackling, pork rinds, chicharones or what ever you call it, wherever your from, there is some form of fried pork skin in you local food traditions. One version is the air puffed skin. Others fry pieces of belly with the meat and skin. I've even seen deep fried Asian cut spare ribs described as such.
The way I grew up eating it was skin with fat attached, fried to crispy perfection. I remember my father taking us the farmers market in downtown Bethesda MD on Sundays and buying the skin. He would later salt it, score the fat in a honeycomb pattern. After he would cut in into smaller sections before frying it. They would curl up and the skin would become hard. The fat would be salty and greasy. The highlight of my Sunday would be getting the first piece after it was cool enough to eat.
For the most part here in the States it's considered a snack food. To be eaten sparingly, unless you want to die of a heart attack, but in Nicaragua (where I was born) and most Latin American countries, it is eaten as a meal. My mom would boil yucca (cassava root) She then would make a vinegary slaw with cabbage and carrots, but no mayonnaise. To build the plate, she would break up some yucca, then add a few small pieces of chicharones, then top it off with the slaw. We call it Chancho (pig) con (with) Yucca. Traditionally you eat it out of a banana leaf with your fingers.
Nowadays I can buy my chicharones in a bag from the local Mexican grocery store. If your lucky, you'll find a market where they fry them in house. As a butcher, every time I run across some pork skin I get the urge to make my own, which seems like a lot of work. I did some research an worked up the courage. Here's what I did and what I learned.
Your going to need a slab of skin with the fat from your local butcher shop. All you have to do is ask, they may have some or it may have to be special ordered (I used the skin from the leg)If it has an FDA stamp, just cut it out when you portion it.
After you rinse the skin, pat it dry on both sides with a paper towel. Find deep baking pans and cut the skin down to pieces that will fit in each pan. Lay the skins in the pans fat side up. Salt the fat evenly.
After salting the pieces let them sit for about half an hour. Cut the slabs down to portion pieces (I cut each piece into 4 chunks) Set the oven to 300 degrees. Let them go slow and low for at least 3 hours or until they are crispy and brown.
In a perfect world this would of been what worked for me. Unfortunately 2 hours in I realized my oven wasn't keeping temperature. They were getting there, but wouldn't brown at that point. After the 3rd hour I took them out and deep fat fried them in their own rendered fat. This probably made them better, but I wanted to prove that I could "fry" them in the oven. Since I have another slab in the freezer, I will be trying it again after I get the oven fixed.
Spin Class
Music has always made my world go round. From the time I was a toddler dancing to my mom's Bee Gees an Donna Summer records or my dad playing Carlos Gardel and Sonora Matancera records on Sunday morning then later on discovering Hip Hop which lead me to becoming a DJ at some point. I never remember a time when music wasn't a big part of my life. I have songs that remind me of certain people or of happy moments and even sad moments in my life.
In high school my best friend taught me how to spin. We were big into old school rap, and house music. From listening to his father's collection I rediscovered all those many salsa classics that I remember hearing at my birthday parties as a kid. Later on I started listening to Funk, Soul, Rock and Jazz, mainly because I was looking for the originals that my favorite Hip Hop beats sampled.
Now my collection and knowledge of music crosses many genres and styles. I still love a good break beat, a great horn section and a Jazzy piano. Not to mention a big beat and a hard guitar riff.
In the past few month's I've scoured thrift stores, yard sales, record stores and the internet to rebuild my vinyl collection.It's been great to reacquaint myself with old favorites and discover new artists from once upon a time.
One such artist is Joe Bataan. A self described Afro-Filipino from the mean streets of East Harlem. His signature sound was a combination of New York Boogaloo and Doo Wop. His music became synonymous with low rider culture "oldie but goodie" crooner style jams. Although he was African American and Filipino, he sang in Spanish and even recorded some Salsa songs. The height of his career was with Fania Records out of New York.
Fania was known for it's Boogaloo recordings and later bringing Salsa to the masses with recordings by Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz, and Ruben Blades. Joe recorded his first album with Fania Gypsy Woman in 1967. He recorded a total of 8 albums under Fania.
I recently picked up his third recording on the Fania label, RIOT! which was released in 1968. It was a mix of Boogaloo, Salsa, Soul, and Doo Wop. Side A begins with the Title Track It's a Good Feeling (RIOT) it is a quintessential Boogaloo track. Boogaloo being a style of music born in New York in the 60's which mixed R&B with Mambo and Son Montuno. It was predominantly sung in English with Latin instrumentation to appeal to a broader audience. The song sounds like it was recorded in a High School auditorium in Harlem because it was. It starts with police sirens and goes into a call and response soulful chorus. A very happy upbeat song that makes you want to sing, dance and snap your fingers. It ends in a Latin style descarga. So good.
For Your Love is a classic Doo Wop love song, pretty self explanatory. Muneca, which translates to baby doll is a heavy Salsa track. For dancers only. The side ends with Pa' Monte. A Cuban style Son Montuno. If I told you Joe wasn't Puerto Rican or Cuban, this song wouldn't help my argument.
Side B is by far my favorite side. It's entirely written by Joe. Soul heavy crooning. Love songs for the hopeless romantic in me. It almost sounds like a love letter written by a lovesick teenage boy. Not exactly Shakespeare but it makes good drinking music.
The side begins with What Good is a Castle. Kind of a poor man's It's a Man's World. He basically poses the argument of what's the point of having everything and no one to share it with. Half way through, it shifts from R&B to Salsa. Same lyrics but different song. It goes from a slow jam to a dance track.
The next song, Daddy's Coming Home, reminds me of my daughter. It almost feels like a letter from prison. A very tropical beat and doo wopy vocalization. Next we transition to a Mambo with Mambo de Bataan. It's exactly what it sounds like. A timbale and piano heavy Mambo masterpiece.
The last two tracks on side B are my favorite. My Cloud is a Cha Cha Cha beat with Soul vocals. He lives on this imaginary cloud where all is perfect. When he finds the right girl, he will share his cloud with her. I always wished they used this on advertisements for Microsoft's Cloud. The record concludes with Ordinary Guy. Which I relate to because that's how I see myself. Basically, he's telling the girl that left him because he didn't have, money, cars and education why he thinks she left him.
All and all it's a nice little record. It has enough English on it to not make you feel lost. For those that appreciate drums and horns, it has that, and for those that appreciate soulful singing, it also has that. You can find all the songs on Youtube.com and if you wanna buy a couple of them or the entire album, you can find it on Fania.com.
Crackling, pork rinds, chicharones or what ever you call it, wherever your from, there is some form of fried pork skin in you local food traditions. One version is the air puffed skin. Others fry pieces of belly with the meat and skin. I've even seen deep fried Asian cut spare ribs described as such.
The way I grew up eating it was skin with fat attached, fried to crispy perfection. I remember my father taking us the farmers market in downtown Bethesda MD on Sundays and buying the skin. He would later salt it, score the fat in a honeycomb pattern. After he would cut in into smaller sections before frying it. They would curl up and the skin would become hard. The fat would be salty and greasy. The highlight of my Sunday would be getting the first piece after it was cool enough to eat.
For the most part here in the States it's considered a snack food. To be eaten sparingly, unless you want to die of a heart attack, but in Nicaragua (where I was born) and most Latin American countries, it is eaten as a meal. My mom would boil yucca (cassava root) She then would make a vinegary slaw with cabbage and carrots, but no mayonnaise. To build the plate, she would break up some yucca, then add a few small pieces of chicharones, then top it off with the slaw. We call it Chancho (pig) con (with) Yucca. Traditionally you eat it out of a banana leaf with your fingers.
Nowadays I can buy my chicharones in a bag from the local Mexican grocery store. If your lucky, you'll find a market where they fry them in house. As a butcher, every time I run across some pork skin I get the urge to make my own, which seems like a lot of work. I did some research an worked up the courage. Here's what I did and what I learned.
Your going to need a slab of skin with the fat from your local butcher shop. All you have to do is ask, they may have some or it may have to be special ordered (I used the skin from the leg)If it has an FDA stamp, just cut it out when you portion it.
After you rinse the skin, pat it dry on both sides with a paper towel. Find deep baking pans and cut the skin down to pieces that will fit in each pan. Lay the skins in the pans fat side up. Salt the fat evenly.
After salting the pieces let them sit for about half an hour. Cut the slabs down to portion pieces (I cut each piece into 4 chunks) Set the oven to 300 degrees. Let them go slow and low for at least 3 hours or until they are crispy and brown.
In a perfect world this would of been what worked for me. Unfortunately 2 hours in I realized my oven wasn't keeping temperature. They were getting there, but wouldn't brown at that point. After the 3rd hour I took them out and deep fat fried them in their own rendered fat. This probably made them better, but I wanted to prove that I could "fry" them in the oven. Since I have another slab in the freezer, I will be trying it again after I get the oven fixed.
Spin Class
Music has always made my world go round. From the time I was a toddler dancing to my mom's Bee Gees an Donna Summer records or my dad playing Carlos Gardel and Sonora Matancera records on Sunday morning then later on discovering Hip Hop which lead me to becoming a DJ at some point. I never remember a time when music wasn't a big part of my life. I have songs that remind me of certain people or of happy moments and even sad moments in my life.
In high school my best friend taught me how to spin. We were big into old school rap, and house music. From listening to his father's collection I rediscovered all those many salsa classics that I remember hearing at my birthday parties as a kid. Later on I started listening to Funk, Soul, Rock and Jazz, mainly because I was looking for the originals that my favorite Hip Hop beats sampled.
Now my collection and knowledge of music crosses many genres and styles. I still love a good break beat, a great horn section and a Jazzy piano. Not to mention a big beat and a hard guitar riff.
In the past few month's I've scoured thrift stores, yard sales, record stores and the internet to rebuild my vinyl collection.It's been great to reacquaint myself with old favorites and discover new artists from once upon a time.
One such artist is Joe Bataan. A self described Afro-Filipino from the mean streets of East Harlem. His signature sound was a combination of New York Boogaloo and Doo Wop. His music became synonymous with low rider culture "oldie but goodie" crooner style jams. Although he was African American and Filipino, he sang in Spanish and even recorded some Salsa songs. The height of his career was with Fania Records out of New York.
Fania was known for it's Boogaloo recordings and later bringing Salsa to the masses with recordings by Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz, and Ruben Blades. Joe recorded his first album with Fania Gypsy Woman in 1967. He recorded a total of 8 albums under Fania.
I recently picked up his third recording on the Fania label, RIOT! which was released in 1968. It was a mix of Boogaloo, Salsa, Soul, and Doo Wop. Side A begins with the Title Track It's a Good Feeling (RIOT) it is a quintessential Boogaloo track. Boogaloo being a style of music born in New York in the 60's which mixed R&B with Mambo and Son Montuno. It was predominantly sung in English with Latin instrumentation to appeal to a broader audience. The song sounds like it was recorded in a High School auditorium in Harlem because it was. It starts with police sirens and goes into a call and response soulful chorus. A very happy upbeat song that makes you want to sing, dance and snap your fingers. It ends in a Latin style descarga. So good.
For Your Love is a classic Doo Wop love song, pretty self explanatory. Muneca, which translates to baby doll is a heavy Salsa track. For dancers only. The side ends with Pa' Monte. A Cuban style Son Montuno. If I told you Joe wasn't Puerto Rican or Cuban, this song wouldn't help my argument.
Side B is by far my favorite side. It's entirely written by Joe. Soul heavy crooning. Love songs for the hopeless romantic in me. It almost sounds like a love letter written by a lovesick teenage boy. Not exactly Shakespeare but it makes good drinking music.
The side begins with What Good is a Castle. Kind of a poor man's It's a Man's World. He basically poses the argument of what's the point of having everything and no one to share it with. Half way through, it shifts from R&B to Salsa. Same lyrics but different song. It goes from a slow jam to a dance track.
The next song, Daddy's Coming Home, reminds me of my daughter. It almost feels like a letter from prison. A very tropical beat and doo wopy vocalization. Next we transition to a Mambo with Mambo de Bataan. It's exactly what it sounds like. A timbale and piano heavy Mambo masterpiece.
The last two tracks on side B are my favorite. My Cloud is a Cha Cha Cha beat with Soul vocals. He lives on this imaginary cloud where all is perfect. When he finds the right girl, he will share his cloud with her. I always wished they used this on advertisements for Microsoft's Cloud. The record concludes with Ordinary Guy. Which I relate to because that's how I see myself. Basically, he's telling the girl that left him because he didn't have, money, cars and education why he thinks she left him.
All and all it's a nice little record. It has enough English on it to not make you feel lost. For those that appreciate drums and horns, it has that, and for those that appreciate soulful singing, it also has that. You can find all the songs on Youtube.com and if you wanna buy a couple of them or the entire album, you can find it on Fania.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment