Check it.

Found out about this guy, Scott Morgan, a while ago, but lately I’ve been listening to his music every night at work while I finish up the old admin duties. It’s great, it feels very full, very empty, very Queens, and it’s a great way to tune out.

I’m heading out this morning to go research indie shops in Long Island City. I’ve got a few in mind, but if anyone has any suggestions, hit me up. LIC is a beautiful place to walk around, and I’m a big fan of stopping in at Sweet Leaf for a cup of tea whenever I’m in the area.

First things first: bring a little bit of water to boil in a pot. Add in tapicoa pearls and let simmer for 5 minutes. Of course you have to add bubbles! As if it were an option…

DO NOT FORGET to add a dash of salt. This helps give the pearls a little taste. Don’t worry, you’re not going to use the same water for the tea.

Remove the bubbles from the water with a slotted spoon, and set aside in your mug (with a little hot water added in so they don’t get too sticky and dried out).

Throw out the water, and add in 1tsp of the matcha powder. You can add more if you want, but this stuff is really strong. Like, I’m drinking mine as I type and my face muscles are twitching.

The matcha powder, like flour, or cocoa powder, can get clumpy. So here’s what you do: add 1tsp into an empty pot, and then pour a little boiling water over. Immediately, it will start to dissolve and turn the water dark green, and that’s when you take your handy milk frother and blend away for a minute to dissolve all the clumps smoothly into the water.

It will start to get a little frothy, but don’t worry about that. You still have to add the milk ingredient, and you’ll have more time to froth later on.

Turn the heat on to medium and add in the soy/hemp/regular/goat’s/breast milk. Also add a sprinkle of black pepper (or green if you have it!), and some generous squirts of your sweetener of choice. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes until it starts to bubble. Lower heat, and begin frothing!

If your pot is as unnecessarily big as mine, tilt it to one side so the liquid collects and you have more depth to froth. Froth in a circular motion, and stay close to the surface of the liquid. Froth until there is a white bubbly layer on top of the latte, or until you’re ready to stop. Pour into mug with tapioca pearls.

Enjoy!

at Tuk Tuk in Long Island City, Queens

I was feeling good last night when I got out of the train at 14th St and 8th Ave. For the first time since last year, my late shift at work had actually felt relaxing again, even though I worked right up until when I left at 9:30pm. The office was quiet, I chatted with people as they left, and I even found time to make a start on a big new project I’m supposed to complete over the course of the next month. The details are boring, and it’s a lot of busywork, but it’s something. The new responsibility of it feels like a step in the right direction. The trick will be juggling that new responsibility with the myriad others I try to keep track of each day, many of which I’m still getting used to.

I met Richard at a burrito place on Greenwich Ave in the West Village, where they serve $3 frozen margaritas until 10:30pm, so we squeezed in two rounds before last call. They were good, and strong, and I (not sure about Richard) definitely wobbled out of there when we left and made our way over to, drumroll…….the Jane Hotel, a chic hotel along the West Side Highway with a ballroom that I’ve been wanting to check out for a long, long time. We walked inside, amused the bartender, pissed off the owner by wandering into the closed-off ballroom section, and then spread our cheer in the adjoining Cafe Gitane, a beautiful, fresh-baked-bread-smelling low-lit bar and cafe (with foosball table), where the hostess pointed out to us the taxidermied alligator on the wall, and recommended we come back for the Avocado Toast during their brunch hours.

We were in a good mood on the way back to Never Never Land, and we reminisced the whole time about living in Italy and our host families and what the gay scene must be like in Rome and Viterbo. I think, secretly, that year abroad when we were sixteen had a huge impact on us growing up. And even though we didn’t stay in touch and lived pretty separate lives for six years, we were both shaped similarly by the glamor and ease of Italian life, and furthermore, both share a strong desire to go back. Who knows. There is no reason not to. I told him about La Mucca Assassina, the gay disco in Rome I’d been to with some other friends, and he said he was only a little “gay” back then. I said he was very gay, and we all knew it.

We ended the evening with a drag show at Barracuda, a tiny but long gay bar with a stage in the back. The star, and she really was, of the evening was Peppermint, who is incredible to watch and even more charming to listen to. She had lot to say, and a lot of wigs to put on, but mostly her whole show was punctuated by a sharp, easy, hilarious stream of banter. I think half the time, my mouth was hanging open in a big gaping awestruck grin. Here’s a video of her with Sherry Vine covering Lady G’s “Telephone.” Enjoy!

This morning, Greene Girl revived our revamp of everyone’s favorite 1996 Spice Girls hit, “Say You’ll Be There.” Cos we love it so much. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to Lauren’s house on time, so she had to sing AND play all on her own. Poor girl. I guess you could say I just wasn’t there…

Check back next week for more!

This woman is a blast. I found some of her other videos over the weekend, but I thought this was the best for two reasons. One, Mariah’s in it. Two, my weekend already had a Japanese slant to it after Richard and I went to Japan Society’s j-CATION, a twelve-hour Japanese culture expo that literally EXPOsed us to some of the “cute culture”‘s highlights like Ramune, the soda with a marble cap, a green tea demonstration, and a Japanese game show called “Clash of the Foodies” with celebrity appearance by Takeru Kobayashi–the world champion hot dog eater! Needless to say, we had fun. So I loved the fact that my current favorite  female hip-hop star features in the new Mariah video, both of them dressed like barbie dolls from Tokyo. Enjoy!

Here’s a snapshot of how Lauren and I spent our Sunday. After too many hours playing with the flipcam, inside the house, outside the house, in the bathroom (oops, well, maybe I was alone for that part. and no, that video won’t be published), and then even a little trampolining on the deck, we ventured out to prospect park, and napped. many a snooze, many a snooze. many a sun-kissed, toe-snug-in-the-grass snooze, you lose, you lose.

We’ve gotten a few requests for the next coffee music video, but not enough! If you want to suggest something for us to sing, or some place for us to sing at, or someBODY for us to sing to, write it in the comments below, or on my facebook wall.

Today is looking like a not so nice sun-kissed, snooze-you-lose day. So buy yourself a soy hot chocolate, or a latte of some sort. It’s probably one of the last days you’ll be able to enjoy it!

So Lauren and I are starting a new series called Coffee Music, an interactive concert where we play a song for someone while he/she enjoys a cup of coffee. And apparently, in this case, a pineapple.

The personal concerts won’t just be limited to our apartments. We’re going to start hitting up sidewalks, cafes, hotels, and maybe even a (palatable) public toilet or two. We will sing some of our own songs, but the majority will probably be covers. The project is still in developmental stages, so we’re figuring it all out as we speak!

If you have suggestions for venues or songs, you can email them to greenegirlmusic@gmail.com. And if you’re having a bad week, and want us to sing you a song, just ask!

Enjoy! And happy Easter!