Monthly Archives: July 2005

Cool Summer Breeze

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Katie and Matt Blog

The last two days have been great up here in the Metroplex. Well, they’ve been wet… but they are also cool. Got to love that.

What I am listening to now (since I am too busy to fix the script that runs the list to the left):
Uzbeck Music from Northern Afghanistan
North African Groove
Situation Taboo – Protodemo
Rivertribe – Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?

I know that several people read this, but did anyone know that you can leave comments? I’ll even reply back if you do. Just click on the purple “comments” line after each post.

It’s always weird to look at the “site stats” and see who is reading. Apparently we have friends in Canada and Iran. Drop a line and say “hi” if you are out of the country. Because, otherwise, that’s just freaky to have random people looking at your site from anti-American countries. (Iran that is, not Canada.)

Anyway, the U Monthly site is nearing completion. Seeing that it has archives, someone is now going into the massive job of editing two years worth of articles. Glad it’s not me. You can see how the work is going here:

U Monthly Online

There’s also another blog there that I am doing. Just be glad I’m not into Video Blogging yet 🙂

Go Indian Food

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Katie and Matt Blog

Curry spice found to fight cancer:

“HOUSTON, Jul 12, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) — Turmeric, a spice that is a key ingredient in Indian curry dishes, contains a potent cancer-fighting agent, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

A study published in the upcoming issue of Cancer magazine related that curcumin, a chemical pigment in turmeric, helped stop the spread of breast cancer tumor cells to the lungs of mice.

Now doctors have launched clinical tests to see if it works on humans, said Bharat Aggarwal of the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who led the study.

Earlier studies suggest that people who eat diets rich in turmeric have lower rates of breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer, Aggarwal said.

He noted that many cancers are 10 times rarer on the Indian subcontinent than in the West.

The breakthrough came as no surprise to the owner of an Indian restaurant in downtown Manhattan. Abu Syed told the Daily News: “We already knew that Indian food tastes good. But it is good to hear it can help with cancer, too. It is one more reason to eat plenty of it.””

Taste of (Crowded) Dallas

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Katie and Matt Blog

We decided to get out some and go to the Taste of Dallas. I think the entire city was there, always standing in front of us, getting in our way. You ever notice that for some reason in crowds like this you always seem to end up behind the same person over ad over again? And they are usually sweaty .

It was probably a good idea, but we just aren’t crowd people. I really wanted to see Robert Randolph and the Family Band in concert, but they didn’t go on until 11:00pm and we both got really tired before then.

And Now For Something Completely Different

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U Monthly Blog

Now that I have the U2 thing out of my system (I am Irish, you know), I can move on to some stuff from other parts of the world that I want to highlight.

I’ve been getting into world music a lot recently. I’ve found out that there is a lot more to world music than what you can find at our local CD stores. The world music “sections” there tend to be one or two rows of Celtic Inspirations Valu-Price CD’s and a Ravi Shankar album. If you are in a really big store, you might get a Latino section.

But there is a lot more out there that seems to get missed by the music industry. Whether it’s the underground sounds of Christopher Lee Freeman mixing a sitar with crunching rock instrumentals, or Ozomatli mixing Arabic, Hispanic, and Urban styles all in one song, I want to take some time to highlight some of the cool stuff out there that reflects the diverse cultures present in the Waco area.

Not to mention the number of Waco bands that need greater recognition. I was going to do a “review” of the Pride and Joy songs that they have on their site for download, until I went back to the site and found they have an actual CD out. Opps. I better get off my lazy rear and get that CD. Maybe I’ll still review those downloads for the mean time. They rock.

Cafe Nostra

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Katie and Matt Blog

Cafe Nostra

I don’t mean to turn this blog into a bunch of restaurant reviews…. but, I do like to eat. And all you Amazing Race fans will be interested in this one.

We got hooked on the Amazing Race a few seasons ago (I think the 5th one). They had two brothers on there named Marshall and Lance that “owned a pizza place in Dallas.” Well, we found that “pizza place.” It’s actually more like an Italian cafe called Cafe Nostra.

It was raining when we rushed in, so we mostly had the place to ourselves. And we were served by Lance himself. It’s a little weird knowing so much about someone that you just met. But he said that the Amazing Race was the best experience of his life. Very nice guy.

The food there was also great. If you are familiar with Waco, then this place is a little like Baris. Great Italian food at a great price. Only, the decor here is a little cooler, and it’s on a street filled with cool/hip eating places/fondue bars/whatever. We highly recommend it.