Song of the Day: "Paint Your Face" by Sliimy

I'm introducing a new theme here at Plight of the Pumpernickel: 'Song of the Day,' which is pretty much exactly what you'd think it'd be. Cool songs featured daily, because we all love music.

Originally featured on the Twitter feed of Mr. Corbin Hiar, it's an idea I've been given permission to borrow. As Mr. Hiar says, "More music for a better world."

Thank you sir, I shall do my best to honor 'Song of the Day' by selecting only the most interesting and entrancing of tunes. Mr. Hiar has excellent taste, so I fully recommend you follow him on Twitter for politically, culturally and musically themed tweets.

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Today's song of the day comes from Sliimy, a French pop musician with a decidedly unappetizing sounding name. Born Yanis Sahraoui, Sliimy released "Paint Your Face" in 2009. The song and album of the same name have enjoyed a moderate amount of success outside of France thanks to publicity garnered after being featured by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. When asked his take on Hilton's benefaction, Sliimy told The London Evening Standard, "I'm glad to be on his good side!"

Whatever you may think of Perez Hilton, Sliimy's sound is hypnotic. The music video for this song, only recently released, is also a mind trip. Give it a listen and a watch, and see what I mean.

Sushi Etiquette

I love sushi. My family started me on California rolls at age 5 and I fought my way down the menu as I got older. I'm fairly knowledgeable for an amateur, and heck, I even wrote an entire research paper on it in college. At the top of the first page, in red ink, my teacher wrote: "Wow, you must really like sushi." I do.

But Japanese people would probably be horrified by the way most Americans eat sushi. Dredging the rice in soy sauce, eating ginger and raw fish in the same bite, dissecting maki rolls at the table. Ick. All horrifying to a person to whom sushi is not merely a food, but a cultural treasure rich with aesthetic ritual and meaning.

Fortunately for us, the good people at Swiss Miss (via GOOD) have conjured up an easy guide to eating sushi. Just in case you find yourself in Tokyo, now you won't stick out like a sore thumb at the sushi bar. Because there's no other way you might look out of place in Japan.

Check out my list of DC sushi restaurants at the bottom. Let me know if there's an awesome sushi place I left off the list (I'm always on the prowl for some good fish!) or if you know of any interesting sushi customs.

Sushi Taro‎

1503 17th Street NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 462-8999‎

Uni A Sushi Place‎

2122 P Street NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 833-8038‎

Kaz Sushi Bistro‎

1915 Eye Street NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 530-5500‎

Sushi-Ko‎

2309 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 333-4187‎

‎Tono Sushi‎

2605 Connecticut Avenue NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 332-7300‎

‎Spices Asian Restaurant & Sushi Bar‎

3333 Connecticut Avenue NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 686-3833‎

Perrys‎

1811 Columbia Road NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 234-6218‎

UPDATE:

Some great sushi finds from a couple of excellent foodie POTP readers. Thanks, Amanda and Foxtepper!

Murasaki
4620 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20016-4602

Makoto
4822 MacArthur Boulevard NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 298-6866‎

Kyoto Sushi
201 Massachusetts Avenue NW

Washington, DC‎

(202) 546-2597

Osaka Restaurant

8855 Greenbelt Rd
Greenbelt, MD 20770

(301) 552-1442

Yuraku

19773 Frederick Rd.

Germantown, MD 20876
(301) 515-7440

Nicholas Cage is the New Kevin Bacon

Six degrees of Kevin Bacon? That's so '90s.

Welcome to the next chapter in celebrity memes. Weird, random and hilarious, the blog Nic Cage As Everyone delivers just what you might expect: Nicholas Cage as, you guessed it, everyone.

I suppose this site is the inevitable result of Photoshop's pervasiveness in our lives -- and someone's fascination with Nicholas Cage, I guess. I liked Face Off just as much as the next gal, but this endeavor seems particularly devoted.

Some pieces on Nic Cage As Everyone are cheesy and poorly constructed, but others...well, others are inspired and leave you wondering how you never noticed that Nicholas Cage looks that guy.

Here's Nicholas Cage as Apolo Ono:

...as Bob Costas:

...as Snooki:

...as Neil Young:

...as Tootsie:

...as Zordon:

...as Willy Wonka:

...and my personal favorite, as E.T.:

Odd? Yes. Awesome? Definitely. And if you find yourself asking why, well, you're not completely off base. But to that I simply answer, why not?

Chag Purim/Happy Purim!

This past weekend, I celebrated the grandaddy of all drinking holidays -- and one of my all-time favorite Jewish festivals -- Purim.

For those of you unfamiliar, Purim is the celebration of yet another time the Jewish people were nearly wiped out. We seem to be popular targets in the human dart game of history.

The basic story is this: a bad guy named Haman is advisor to the quite stupid and easily manipulated King of Persia, Ahashverosh. Haman wants to kill the Jews because he's a big meanie, but also because Mordechai the Jew refused to bow down to him. But unfortunately for Haman, the king's wife, Queen Esther, is Mordechai's niece -- and guess what -- secretly a Jew! Joke's on you, Haman. So instead of having the Jews killed, Haman gets done in himself. Now that's what I call poetic justice.

To celebrate the holiday, you're supposed to a) dress up like one of the characters in the Purim story (check out me as Esther below), b) eat Hamantashen, which are cookies shaped like Haman's triangular hat, and c) get so drunk you can't tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai. And no, that last requirement isn't made up. We Jews know how to party.


My hamantashen came out amazingly delicious, and I had a raucously good time with all my friends who came out to celebrate the holiday with me. Much thanks to all my guests, and to everyone who brought booze for the happy day. You contributed to a very noble cause.

If you're interested in making your own hamantashen (which I heartily recommend you do), check out my mom's recipe. These cookies come out soft and fluffy and have a consistency somewhere between a hard sugar cookie and a firm cake. They are, for lack of a better word, delicious. And incredibly easy to make, so get to it!



Hamantashen Recipe

Dough

2/3 cup (1 ½ sticks) margarine or unsalted butter

½ cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons milk or water

½ teaspoon vanilla2

½ - 3 cups sifted all purpose flour

Filling

Assorted Solo Brand filling or pie fillings (raspberry, prune, apricot, poppy)

Chocolate chips

Cream margarine or butter with the sugar; add the milk or water and vanilla; sift the flow and mix it with the margarine mixture until a ball of dough is formed; divide the dough into two cylinders approximately 3” in diameter and refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably two hours or overnight. When dough has been chilled cut dough into 1/8” slices and, using a floured rolling pin, roll slices into flat circles. Put filling in center of the circles and fold into a triangle. Make sure to pinch the corners very tightly. When cookies are ready brush with beaten egg (to make egg-free skip this step) and bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 – 15 minutes or until golden. Enjoy!