Ska can be baffling. It’s hard to believe that a genre that is so rich in cultural diversity, talent, and energy, can have such a lack of diversification in sound. Having grown up in the middle of the third wave, this was painfully evident. Sooner or later, everything sounds like Catch-22 and it’s time to move on to something else. Luckily, there are standouts that keep the genre alive and fresh, even if their music was released nearly 3 decades ago.
This is the first time I’ve had the chance to really mess with some new ideas in the past month, and I’m pretty happy with the results. I’m really getting used to the new mixer and other candy making equipment I purchased back in September and it feels good to be in the kitchen, creating whatever comes to mind.
I made a HUGE batch of strawberry lemonade marshmallows and they taste great! They consist of two smaller than normal batches of marshmallow, one flavored with a natural lemon extract and the other with a “wild strawberry flavoring” which consists of several natural flavors. I used my new mixer for the strawberry marshmallow and a smaller Kitchenaid mixer for the lemon, and then mixed the two before placing in a pan to set. They taste exactly how I wanted them to and are very airy. I’ve figured out a few tricks that yield fluffier marshmallows that I’ve created in the past, and they are staying a secret!
I also had the idea of making some biscotti earlier in the week. Someone brought a package to the office and I decided to try making them on my own. They came out great. The texture and firmness were spot on. I had to take it a bit further though and 1/2 dip them in vanilla marshmallow and then drizzle milk chocolate over them.
I wasn’t terribly sure about how the combination of textures would work out, but it’s actually good! I’m going to bring a bunch to work with me tomorrow and get some feedback from my coworkers. They’ll eat anything – but they’ll also tell me if it sucks.
My buddy Rob and I recently celebrated our birthdays. He’s fucking old and turned 30. I turned 28. We originally planned on having our party at The Delancey like last year, but his dad came through and helped us rent out an entire bar on the lower east side for the evening and we even had full control of the music. Knowing it was our party, there was going to be some good tunes all night long.
This party was going to be so epic that it needed it’s own flyer. It could have used it’s own medical team, too.
I recently picked up a new industrial mixer. This thing is powerful! I can make 6 times more marshmallow with this than with my old equipment, and it does it all in less time! It was a pain picking it up in the city and then getting it back out to the island, and in the end I probably should have just had it shipped. The shop I purchased it from offered to ship it for $90, but I decided to drive in for it and then grab some items from my office on the way home. In typical Matt fashion, I didn’t bother looking for a real parking spot near the office and ended up getting a $120 ticket. So much for saving a little cash. Oh well, who cares – this thing was worth it!
Here are photos from the first two batches I made with the new mixer. The first photo is of a chocolate chip and caramel marshmallow. I think I became a little overenthusiastic when I got the mixer home and these marshmallows were a way too sweet. I also rushed them a bit, so they didn’t look as good as I wanted them to.
One of the best parts of working in Times Square was the super easy to access to a lot of concerts. When I learned that Latina was moving to a new office space, outside of Times Square, I immediately realized that I probably wouldn’t be going to shows as often as I have been for the past few years. It’s not like it’s terribly inconvenient being a few subway stops away or anything, I’ll just have to pay attention to who is playing where from now on; No more walking down the street for lunch and seeing a schedule of shows.
Once I learned that Streetlight Manifesto was playing a show less than 2 blocks away from the office, I literally ran down 42nd Street to get tickets. I probably looked like a kid on Christmas morning while walking back to work, with a grin from ear to ear, knowing that the last show I’d catch while working in the area would be a great one…
My brother and film student, Daniel Fox, recently completed two behind the scenes videos for latina.com. One features Kristina Debarge and the other is for a beauty feature in the October issue of the magazine. Check em out.
Latina moved in to its new offices last Friday, and I’ve spent the past week and change getting everyone settled in. The move could have gone a bit smoother – our moving company forgot a ton of my equipment and I ended up having to go back to the old office with a friend to get it all. We managed to rebuild my entire server cabinet and network rack, and then realized that none of the cabling to complete the work was around. Once we got to the old office space and headed to my computer room, there was a big box in the middle with “server cabling” written on it.
Idiots.
I’m going to miss working in Times Square. Sure, I absolutely hated it when I began at Latina – the crowds, high prices and all of those “do you like comedy” guys, but it quickly became a second home. I guess we’ll see how things go in Midtown East…
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