margo lil - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Copywriter by day, food writer by night. Except for those slow copywriting days when I end up writing about last night's dinner, recently inherited cookware or a kick-ass cup of coffee.I make my own bread and butter. I like early nights and black cats. I was named Swimmer of the Year at Cali Camp in 1987. I sing a mean Misty and play an even meaner Trivial Pursuit. Name your stakes. My heart belongs to Portland, OR.gladly blogging at thecitybymouth.blogspot.com

My Interests

nemesis, the latest in pdx, roommates, copper pans and carbon knives, dirty martinis, writing about food, biking in place, inspirational produce, black lacquer furniture, medical steel, muni, you (maybe not you), Portland, family, stretching, swimming, advertising, anecdotes, nostalgia, internal rhyme structures, external rhyme structures, paper, pens, wet pavement, correspondence, mystery, inclusive elitism

I'd like to meet:

me, 10 years ago or 20 years from now. I can't decide which.

Music:

Beirut, Vampire Weekend, The Papercuts, The Clash, Mel Torme, Earlimart, Sea Wolf, Wolf Parade, Wolf Mother, Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, The Teddybears. Elvis Costello, Berlioz, Beethoven, Beatles, Bach, Brahms, and Ella anytime.

Movies:

Strangers on a Train, Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, Rear Window, Lost in Translation, Memento, Anchorman, Annie Hall, Dr. Strangelove, Modern Romance, Lost in America.

Television:

Yes, oh yes. I stand by the shows I like, I love, and I'll be the first to dismiss yours out of hand, especially if you don't like the same reality shows I do.Heroes, Sopranos, Entourage, Big Love, Greg the Bunny (RIP), Arrested Development (RIP), Herman's Head (RIP), Lost, Desperate Housewives, The office, Top Chef, Top Design, Runway, Planet Earth, Mythbusters, Colbert, Stewart. JEOPARDY!

Books:

From my bed, I see the open paper side of all my books, the spines face the hallway I've carved out of my studio apartment. It's unquestionably soothing, to see all the colors of the paper of these books I've been carrying around with me for a long time. From Benjamin and Tulip to The Odyssey to the whole Eggers library. There are some I can recognize without the benefit of seeing the spine. But you want to know what books I like to read. The death of ivan ilych is the most perfect story every written. Happy now?

My Blog

1.23

On the bus there were odd strangers and smells. potatoes and mothballs, coffee and shoe polish. a belted coat strains to stay closed, another hides a fur coat from old money with a cheap trench held c...
Posted by margo lil on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:48:00 PST

piece of cake

I didn't bake a thing yesterday. But I made a cake just the same. I took the raw materials of sheet cake and stark white frosting. Mixed tentative drops of food coloring and declared the end result ju...
Posted by margo lil on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:05:00 PST

movie night cookery. very scary.

When pressed to create a menu for a halloween movie night, my mind wandered to the disgusting. I had visions of tangled nests of squid ink pasta with bay scallops, calling to mind those tumors they fi...
Posted by margo lil on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 05:05:00 PST

foaming at the mouth

Here's a hint: when you're washing dishes and you walk away and somehow end up with a little bit of dish soap on your thumb, don't absentmindedly put it in your mouth, thinking it's some kind of lefto...
Posted by margo lil on Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:16:00 PST

me plus knife plus vegetables plus now equals bad

I'm at the house de mom, drunk with my brother, cooking with him and my mother. It's a damn good time.Tonight involved making a watermelon cucumber gazpacho for tomorrow's BBQ, doing patron shots with...
Posted by margo lil on Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:54:00 PST

OMG stickers!!!!1!1

So, my job means I do some strange things sometimes. I've been to Mexico City to interview business travelers about business travel, I've had extended conversations about leech wranglers, I've spent t...
Posted by margo lil on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 10:29:00 PST

the knee bone’s connected to the shin bone

Sometimes I am not smart. I spent six months running long distances, which quickly landed me in physical therapy and threats of orthotics. Once the marathon was done, I promised myself I wouldn't run ...
Posted by margo lil on Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:58:00 PST

slamming doors

This morning I was jolted from a nyquil-hazed sleep by the front door of the apartment building slamming. It slams every time someone comes in or out, and it happens so much I don't even hear it anymo...
Posted by margo lil on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:57:00 PST

a response to "never again"

Yordi posted a simple, yet straightforward take on a recent visit to IKEA, entitled "never again." The content? "Fuck IKEA" ad infinitum. Here is my response:Have I ever explained my "IKEA as manifest...
Posted by margo lil on Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:49:00 PST

something about mornings

I've been getting up early. Really early. So early that I feel like I've betrayed my 17-year-old self that I still think was a lot cooler than I am now. She would never have woken up at 6 a.m. to go r...
Posted by margo lil on Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:09:00 PST