Whats-Happening: Page 533

Sour Secret Weapons

Preserved lemons are cost effective, zesty and useful

Chow

How many times have you used some zest from a fresh lemon only to have the remainder of the fruit shrivel up on the counter or in the fridge?  Is it possible to keep the fresh flavor of this bright yellow globe on hand for the times you might want to add some rays of sunshine to whatever you’re cooking?   The answer: Yes, with preserved lemons. Every foodie needs to have these lemons in his repertoire of spices and flavoring additions.  Continue reading →

Your Grammar Needs a Wingman

Online dating is a mecca for bad spellers

Culture

Dating is hard for me. But I actually feel like my bar isn’t set that high: Writer/professor type ISO decent-looking man who doesn’t mind that my pitbull sleeps on the bed and that I come home most nights smelling like a horse. Must be able to construct complete sentences and spell.  I feel like this last part is where I go awry, and my criteria even seems to offend people. Not the pitbull part — the spelling test. Potential suitors see that caveat and take it as a writer’s form of cock block. Writer’s cock block.  Continue reading →

Sex Ed

Get sexy and smart with As You Like It’s workshops

Culture
Gail Karuna-Vetter, Kim Marks and Oblio Stroyman

This Valentine’s season, say goodbye to chocolates and flowers and consider treating yourself — with or without a partner — to a safe, sex-savvy workshop.  Kim Marks, owner of the new gender-inclusive eco-conscious sex shop As You Like It, wants you to have a good sex life. And in addition to providing the toys and treats to do so, the shop will present workshops with professional sex educators covering everything from sex toys to the G-spot.   Continue reading →

Cracked

Film

If you know anything about Alan Turing — anything at all, including, say, what you might have gleaned from reading Neal Stephenson’s excellent doorstop of a novel Cryptonomicon — The Imitation Game is unlikely to surprise you. As a tidy, glossy, good-for-you awards-season film about important Brits, it’s entirely watchable, and not much more. Continue reading →

Forget Portland Envy

Eugene’s got major chops this month with shows from pianist Vijay Iyer to singer-songwriter Susan McKeown

Music
Susan McKeown performs with Kyle Sanna Feb. 21 at Tsunami Books.

There was a time when Eugeneans had to venture up I-5 if we wanted to catch the top touring classical and jazz pianists at, say, Portland Jazz Festival, Portland Piano International and other events. No more. While PJF, which starts next week, is indeed featuring one of today’s most inventive jazz masters, pianist Vijay Iyer, he will also bring his DownBeat-award-winning trio with drummer Marcus Gilmore and bassist Stephan Crump to The Shedd 7:30 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. Continue reading →

Mastering Americana

Austin-based husband-and-wife duo The Mastersons

Music
Austin-based husband-and-wife duo The Mastersons

“We sound like Brit Pop with Americana trappings,” says Chris Masterson of Austin-based husband-and-wife duo The Mastersons, who are touring in support of their latest LP, Good Luck Charm.  But just because he plays in an Americana band, Masterson doesn’t feel like he has a grasp on what Americana means. “Johnny Cash? Coca Cola?” he posits, continuing, “One of the beautiful things about it is how open it is. What we do is just as informed by Ray Davies as it is Ray Price.”  Continue reading →

Basement Whispers

Andy Shauf

Music
Andy Shauf

The Bearer of Bad News, the latest release of Canadian songwriter Andy Shauf, is now out on Portland taste-making record label Tender Loving Empire. Working with a Portland label is appropriate for a songwriter who lists legendary Portland songwriter Elliott Smith as an influence.  “I’m a huge Elliott Smith fan,” Shauf tells EW.  The sway of Smith can be heard on “You’re Out Wasting,” a song bearing more than a passing resemblance to Smith’s classic “Needle In The Hay.”  Continue reading →