Playing Music with Dudes

At work and have basically nothing to do so I'm going to indulge and blog. I've been practicing guitar like a mofo and have made what feels like zero progress. ZERO. The fuck. I'm trying to be patient with myself and enjoy the journey. But it's so hard not to compare myself to other musicians. Thankfully my stubborn-as-fuckness often prevents me from thinking I suck because I'm determined to be great. One way I've been trying to expedite my path to greatness is by playing with more people.

It just so happens that most of the music-playing people I know are dudes. And that's fine I guess. Like it should be fine, because these are all guys I know and they're all super nice. However, in the past I've attempted to play with guys and it hasn't always gone so well - either they mansplain to me, tell me to "do what I can" and they'll take lead, or they just ghost me after.

However, lately I've been playing with some guy friends and it's been great. The collaborations are rad and I feel like I learn so much by exchanging ideas. However, I find that I'm still trying to let go of the idea that dudes are "doing me a favor" when they jam with me. That's such toxic bullshit!! Why do I keep projecting that into the world? Nobody is doing anyone a favor - it's just two friends jamming. I need to try harder to keep it simple like that.

I'm really dedicating myself wholly and completely to jazz guitar. Realizing that I tend to write stuff that's jazzy with some funk thrown in, so trying to learn more about funk too. Need to round out my theory at this point and keep working on technical exercises so I can nail challenging licks. Feeling good about all of that though, and I do feel like I'm making progress. Working on this one song and have been for a few weeks - it's really my first song I'd say that speaks to my musical style. It's amazing to finally have the skill set that I need to create tangible versions of the sounds I hear in my head when I write. I'm excited to keep working on developing myself as a musician.

Current listens:

• Emily Browning
• Cory Wong
• Amy Winehouse
• Her Songs
• Kazuki Isogai
• Fiona Apple
• Eva Cassidy
• Junction
• Frank Zappa

Eva Makes Congee!

Today's post is all about one of my favorite foods: congee! Also known as jook, congee is a rice porridge popular in China. It's common to add things like chicken, BBQ pork, fish, preserved duck eggs, and vegetables to it. Congee is warm, savory, and creamy in all the best ways. Add some chili paste to it and you have the perfect steaming, spicy rice stew. My grandma, who was half Chinese, supposedly made amazing BBQ pork congee. I have yet to try congee with BBQ pork but I already know I'll like it... I think I'll have to find some this weekend. This craving is strong, and I on the other hand am weak.

A few weeks ago, my roommate and I made our own congee. It was the first time I made congee from scratch. We started by cooking rice in a mixture of water, chicken broth, and salt. You have to add a lot of extra liquid so the rice can cook down into a porridge. Once it does, you throw in everything else. We added collard greens, broccoli, tilapia, preserved duck eggs, mushrooms, green onion, and topped our bowls off with spoonfuls of chili paste.

I probably ate three bowls of the stuff - it was so good. It was the perfect balance of salty, savory, and spicy. Having so many textures in one bite is also something I love. The fish was tender, the duck eggs were so soft they practically melted in your mouth, the broccoli and veggies added the perfect crunch, and the chili paste adds the perfect kick to a porridge that's creamy, delicate, and inviting. As you can see in the photo, we had some BBQ pork buns as well.

I'm excited to make congee again and experiment with different proteins and veggies. It's safe to say though that the chili paste, at least for me, is a must every time.

Media Monday

Heyyy, Eva here! I recently graduated college and this is my wee blog where I hope to document all things fun and fucked up that happen to me now that I can say I'm #adulting. I originally tried to create a zero waste blog, but after a week of realizing how bad I am at going zero waste, I decided to change directions. I'm still going to use that other blog to document my zero waste fails because you know I impulsively purchased a domain during a boring Monday at work. I WILL make it worthwhile.

Anyway, it's another slow day at work (I am so paranoid my boss will find this). I have nothing to do. So here I am, blogging and slogging.

Now, here are some MUSTS.

Listen to Beauty, Brains, and the Bottom, a podcast by my old Hebrew School friend Talia Moore and her friends Daria Harper and Rajan Dumbhalia. Every other week the trio discusses love, culture, and media while living in NYC. Follow their Instagram and listen on Spotify!

"Down to Earth" by UMI is probably my new favorite song right now.