coffeehouse music genre

I recently am hooked to the coffeehouse music genre, although I really don't know what differentiates that sound to other types of music that I am fond of. It was actually Yahoo! Music that told me that I've been hiding under a rock and there's a cool genre called "The Coffeehouse." Oh, well.

Goggling led me to an article by Paul Landmaker, at the suite101 Web site, about his take of the genre. Here's an excerpt of his post:

At times, your eyes go shut and you smile as you wallow in the sounds. It's got a pleasantly anesthetic quality about it. [T]he music and its atmosphere is almost like an aural drug.

The vocalists sing like they're only singing to you. They're not trying to dress up their voices with gimmicks.... They seem to make their music for the sake of its beauty or artistic qualities. They're not out to please their audience, marketers nor anyone else, but themselves.

This is comfort music, but not the soft and cuddly sort.... In this sort of music lies real art -- ear candy, if you will. If you want to find the artists in a town, go down to the coffeehouses. If they're not there, you'll at least get really close to finding them.... It's not so much that it's where they play, but it's the artistic qualities associated with coffeehouses.

So the keywords are pleasantly anesthetic, real art, no gimmicks, and comfort. No wonder I'm liking it. More coffeehouse music please.

my first few steps to becoming a cook

In my wish to be good at cooking, I have:

1. Bought a White-Westinghouse, three-burner gas range plus oven. I wasn't sure if it was a good choice but my brother said the appliance was more than okay especially with the few surprise features we found when we got a much closer look of it at home. I chose it because it was just priced right for my pocket.
2. Bought new kitchenwares -- a rectangular glass bakeware for pasta dishes and ice-box cakes, a non-stick pan because our old frying pan looks quite a mess, wooden spoons, and a whisk.
3. Cooked my first-ever pancit bam-i, stir-fried noodles popular in the Visayas part of the Philipines. I swear it was yummy, but I think I could have done better if I added in slices of chicken liver.
4. Tried my hand in humba, a type of Filipino pork stew. I wasn't so proud of the result (read: won't rely on Internet recipes again), but still the neighbors gobbled them all up.
   

I'm enjoying this new hobby and I bet my neighbors are happier too. The downside of this, however, is I'm gaining some pounds. I can even see a little bulge in my tummy now! Got to grab my running shoes again and get back to the track.

scribbling while waiting...

Was that guilt I saw in your eyes? Was that a tinge of jealousy I felt?


Now, is that your move to win me back? Can you see the glint of triumph under my glasses?

Look closely.