May 8, 2012
All Things Taurus – Part 3
Several weeks ago I attended a riveting lecture by several scientists from the Monell Institute titled I SMELL YOU SMELL as part of the Philadelphia Science Festival. The Monell Institute is the world’s only independent non profit scientific institute dedicated to basic research on taste and smell. As a five planets in Taurus woman, smell ( and taste) are crucial to me. When I was little girl, I wished I could be the fairy of good smells. I’d wave my magic wand and make everything seem wonderful like fresh flowers. The lecture took place in a darken cabaret room at the Society Hill Playhouse. Three scientists talked about the power of smell and how it relates to relationships, attraction and illness. I ‘ve always been fascinated by the subject of pheromones. I learned that everyone’s scent is different. No two people smell alike. Our personal scent is like a fingerprint. It doesn’t change due to diet or hygiene. The scientists debunked the myth that a certain perfume or oil with attract a man ( or woman) to you. Maybe that’s true but I have been in some situations where the lack of hygiene has definitely a repellant. Smelling good has always been important to me. My favorite soap is Santa Maria Novella’s Melograno soap. Melograno is Italian for pomegranate. This soap is triple milled and is so gentle. You can use it on your face too and it last much longer than regular soap. Made by Florentine Monks for 600 hundred years, Santa Maria Novella products are a personal favorite. Heavenly!
From smells to tastes. The last few months I ‘ve become obsessed with the Korean dish- Bibimbap dolsot ( also spelled bibimbop). Bibimbap dolsot is basically a hot rice dish with meat and veggies. My obsession with Bibimbap began when I first had it at Giwa in Center City ( Philly). I had an OBE ( out of body experience) after eating it for the first time. I’m not joking ! I literarily got high and was floating out of my body for several hours after I finished eating. I tried the dish at several other restaurants in Philly after Giwa. There are many more restaurants I need to try bibimbap from , but so far Giwa is the best. The dish is served in a cast iron deep bowl which arrives all steamy and popping. The popping sound is from the bottom layer of rice cooking and getting brown and crunchy. A sauce made with red pepper paste ( called gochujang) is mixed in the dish as you eat it. As most of my readers know, when I get a idea into my head, especially when it comes to making a certain dish, I must make it and make it right. For several weeks I just thought about bibimbap. I looked online and at H-Mart for the same cast iron bowls I was served Bibimbap in at the various restautants. H-Mart does sell these outrageously heavy stone bowl for around $30 a piece to make bibimbap. But I ‘m a cast iron woman. I finally found a food blog that mentioned cooking bibimbap in a cast iron skillet. Hallelujah! I combined several bibimbap recipes and then altered them further. I have made this dish 3 times so far. Once with rib eye steak ( traditional). One with Chicken and once with pork. The first attempt with rib eye steak remains my most successful attempt. I was able to get the rice on the bottom crunchy. One of the ways in which my bibimbap differs vastly from the bibimbaps I have eaten in the restaurants & the recipes I found on line is my compulsion to season each component separately. Sadly, this need to have more flavor resulted in severe rice failure on my second and third attempts at making the dish ( the goal being a crispy crunchy layer of rice at the bottom of the pan). I put butter and Swanson flavor packets ( chicken and vegetable) in the rice water right before cooking the rice. The rice was bursting with flavor but I realized the butter made the cooked grains too moist to cook effectively . Egg was served on top of the Bibimbap when I ate it Tampopo ( raw which cooked as the veggies,rice and meat steamed) and Koreana ( cooked over easy) but not at Giwa. I decided to top my bibimbap with organic duck eggs I bought at the farmer’s market. By using duck eggs instead of regular eggs, a deeper depth of flavor was achieved. I also altered the sauce made with the gochujang by adding fresh grated ginger, more sesame oil and more sugar than the internet recipes listed. And while I have written previously about my attempts to become vegetarian, I have fallen off the wagon. I decided last year that my body functions better on a little meat. I only buy organic meat. Maybe someday I will become a vegetarian but not now.
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In keeping with this theme of this blog of ALL THINGS TAURUS, I highly recommend F for Fake 
The other Taurus I want to mention in this blog is filmmaker/writer/actor Lena Dunham ( May 13th). I really enjoyed Ms.Dunham’s first film Tiny Furniture 
Tiny Furniture
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More things related to my Taurus:
There are two films both available on dvd which deal with the subject of redemption and forgiveness. I love both these films. The first of these films is Flipped
Recently, I saw a powerful documentary which lingered in my head for days. Elephant in the Living Room
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I’ve previously mentioned I how much I love CBS SUNDAY MORNING ( airs Sundays at 9 a.m. EST). It is one of the few art & culture shows on a major Network Channel. I need to mention another fabulous arts & culture show called EUROMAXX ( Highlights). This 22 minute show airs on Comcast here in Philly on MINDTV on Saturday mornings at 7:30 a.m. MINDTV is the local independent Philly cable station. Euromaxx is a German produced show which features what’s hot and happening in Europe. Sadly, I’m either on my way to the gym or farmer’s market or thriftin ( yard sales, flea markets etc.) on Saturday mornings so I often miss this wonderful show. It would be great if MIND TV would air this show on Sunday mornings before CBS Sunday morning.
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And lastly- Thank you Town & country Magazine for printing my Letter to the Editor (May 2012) regarding the Ali MacGraw cover ( February 2012). Unfortunately, I don’t buy the editor’s response as to why they chose to put a photograph of Ms.MacGraw from 1969 on their cover while inside they have recent photographs of her looking fantastic at 72. I can smell B.S. a mile away. This may be a revelation to some people who think I’m naive. The truth is most of the time I keep my mouth shut because I have never been able to confront a liar and get the truth at the time I was confronting them ( I’m not implying the editors of T & C are liars). These days I bide my time and know that in time, the truth is ALWAYS revealed in almost every situation. That is the epitome of a Taurus being patient!
by Frederica Sagor Maas. Ms.Maas recently passed away last year at the age of 111 (this alone would make her note worthy). Ms. Maas was one of the few female screenwriter in Hollywood during the silent era. THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM is Ms. Maas’s autobiography of her life from birth to age fifty. This wonderful book chronicles the harsh realities of Hollywood and the film industry in general including sex scandals,corruption and greed. It makes one realize that while time goes on, people are just people. The same things that are happening today happened back then too. Ms. Maas struggled to keep her integrity in a place where morals are not sacred. Ms. Maas’s journey has many layers. On the one hand, it is about Hollywood and the way the studio system used to work. On another level, it is about Ms. Maas’s personal life. Ms. Maas penned this book when she was in her eighties ( third Saturn return). I mentioning astrological terms here because it is interesting to note she met her and married her husband Ernest Mass during her first Saturn return. Changed careers during her second saturn return. Then her late 80s was rediscovered by film historians who encouraged her to write her story (third Saturn return) and it was published. The title of the book refers to the most notable screenplay Ms. Mass wrote with her husband in the 1940s starring Betty Grable. 
simultaneously as I hit the “buy” button on my remote. Sucking on my favorite 
, I began to watch the documentary by Whitney Sudler- Smith and for the first ten minutes I thought I had made a huge mistake. Mr. Sudler-Smith seemed to be an imbecile. Here he was lunching with Leon Andre Talley and asking him ignorant questions about Halston which evoked harsh chiding from Mr. Talley. He then was seen in Liza Minelli’s palatial apartment questioning her about her close relationship with Halston. She seemed to be frustrated with Mr. Sudler- Smith’s questions and follow up responses. I was about to turn it off. Thank God I didn’t. Suddenly, Mr. Sudler- Smith switched from clueless to hip and then to fantastic. The tone of the documentary transformed into a dynamic view of the 70s disco era,Studio 54,NYC and Halston’s role in the age of debauchery.
and 
This licorice is fantastic. I wish it didn’t taste so ood but it does. No red dye no. 40. If you feel guilty about eating this candy, just think about the fact the money you spend is helping others.
(Starring Michael Gambon). I thought PENNIES FROM HEAVEN was incredible. Bob Hoskins is a great actor and this mini series is definitely worth watching. The famous songs featured are all wonderful and from the 1930s. The songs provide the sharp contrast of light to the dark and heavy story line. Several soundtracks exist but this one is the original from the BBC miniseries
I found THE SINGNG DETECTIVE to be confusing and disturbing. I watched the bonus dvd which featured profiles on Mr. Potter and interviews with him. I figured if I understood the man, I would totally ” get” THE SINGING DETECTIVE . Mr. Potter was a man of many contradictions. Although he was married and a “family” man ( most Taurus people are loyal), he claimed to one journalists to have been with 137 prostitutes. Someone who knew Mr. Potter dismissed this number as being ridiculously high. Mr. Potter seemed to have such a rich fantasy life that he was able to freely explore in his writing. Sadly, Mr. Potter dealt with a horrible debilitating skin disease during most of his life and tragically died of lung cancer at the age of 59. 
and the difference in clipping my toenails is night and day. These clippers cut through thick toenails and are easy to use. They are great for older folks. Think about how many times in your lifetime you have nought toenail clippers. Three,four or five times? You probably thought they didn’t even work well. This will be the last pair of toenail clippers you ever buy because they WORK and they have a lifetime guarantee. Now I know toes are not part of the body associated with Taurus ( the throat & neck are). But Taurus people continue to struggle and do things the hard way. I spent over four decades struggling to clip my toenails with an instrument that didn’t even work. I have found an easy and helpful product and want to help everybody. Check out my cool merchandise on Zazzle. It is the ultimate Taurus store.