Four Eyes Christmas Show

Tenth annual! To whet your appetite, here's the set list from 2007

luca

magic man

two princes/semi charmed life

California love

wish you were here

take me home tonight*

smile-lily allen

SHE'S LOST CONTROL*

cause I got high**

rave on

crazy-gnarles barkley

bang a gong

kodachrome

the weight**

the night they drove old Dixie down

atlantis*

touch of grey**

psycho killer

love is a battlefield

here I go again

mongoloid

ragdoll

splish splash*

my girl wants to party all the time

sweater song

livin on a prayer

don't stop believing

roy orbison..CRYING

GIGANTICbody count (on with the)

papa was a rolling stone

blister in the sun

cant touch this/superfreak

losin my religion

dance magic dance

try a little tenderness

rocket man

whats so funny about peace love and understandingAllison

the aeroplane over the sea

graceland

redemption songs*

creep

lonely teardrops

sharp dressed man**

BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN

don't do me like that

man in the mirror

the lion sleeps tonight*

we built this city on rock and roll

come on Eileen

islands in the streamwe are the world

tubthumper**

Ganglians

There's a major Ganglians article in the SNR. The story about them crossing the border to Canada is really funny. I think Nick captured the dynamic of the band well.

Some friend (you turned out to be)

Oy, Lieberman. Worst Jew ever?

In contrast, here are some wonderful Jews!

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: Pretty Awesome

There comes a time in some young people's lives when they discover that they have a special kind of love. It's not a love that many people share-maybe 1% of the population. It's the love that dare not speak its name:a love of Werner Herzog.

Me and Biz share this love, and we say two thumbs up for The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (or TBLPOCNO as the rabid fans call it). As always with Herzog, the backstory is just as amusing as the movie. Although the only thing it shares with the Abel Ferrera movie Bad Lieutenant is the theme of a crooked cop (hardly a unique theme), Herzog was somehow forced to use this title. He has said that he has never seen the original movie and does not know who Abel Ferrera is. Abel Ferrera hates Herzog's guts for this and has said that he wishes these people "die in Hell".

Sic Alps, Magik, Art Lessing show at the Hub tonight.

erotic bunchman

Four words: Four. Eyes. Xmas. Show.

Luscious dumplings! Pork fried dumplings. They have ruined me for other dumplings. Look at the sweet crispy parts!

Soup dumplings. Is there anywhere in Sac to get soup dumplings?
Mission. Can't remember which mission. San something.
101 Noodle Express! Giant northern-style Chinese beef rolls. It's like a Chinese burrito but better. Filled with beef and bean paste.
and a mystery green condiment on the side that was one of the top ten condiments ever
this was a Chinese leek, glass noodle and egg hot hot pocket
erotic Bunchman
Carpinteria anemones
look at all these free mussels, just sitting there

questions

I forgot that everything is on the internet now so all questions can be answered. I saw this commercial on TV (maybe on This TV) kind of late at night and was like "WTF is this thing?". Tune in until about a minute in to see a guy "smoking" on a plane. What is this for??! Is it secretly for smoking weed? Why is it free?

Ham is where the heart is

HAM!

Did I get your attention? I've been thinking about ham. I've never thought much about ham before. Growing up, at holidays my grandma would always have a turkey and ham. A regular, wet-cured ham. I never liked the ham and would always eat the turkey instead. My dad made a kind of shit-on-a-shingle dish with the leftovers. It had a cream sauce, cubes of ham, cubes of egg and black olives. On toast. I liked that OK.

I started to reconsider ham because the new Saveur has an article called "ham for the holidays". It talks about how America's dry-cured Virginia hams mirror Euro hams such as proscuitto in some ways. I've never had a real Virginia ham. I headed to Corti Bros. and the only Virginia-style ham they have is Boars Head brand, and I don't like Boars head stuff. Does anybody know where you can get a real Virginia ham?

At Cortis I settled for speck, which is dry-cured and smoked ham from northern Italy. I also got some Serrano ham, which is pictured. The serrano was more funky tasting. I loved both of them, especially the speck.

I made sweet potato biscuits to eat with the ham. The recipe was kind of bullshit. I knew it was sketchy when it directed me to cook the biscuits in one, 9 inch cake pan, yet it said it yielded over 20 biscuits? How would that be possible?
Anyway, yeah, ham. What do you think?

And just to bring up politics for a sec, did you read about how a bunch of local business leaders banded together to draft a letter to save Ray Kerridge's ass? The local steel magnate loves his pro-developer policies so much that he's sweating the fact that he may get pressured out.

Only positive reviews allowed.

The comments on BAR's review of Iron Steaks are pretty sizzling. The owner (who is also the owner of Willy's) even weighed in. Here's a representative quote:

If a reviewer should really dislike a restaurant, there are certainly more restaurants out there. Find one that you can write positive comments about. Help the good ones with your praise. Help the deserving restaurants thrive in these difficult times. We need your help, not public condemnation over items that may be only be objectionable to your individual preferences, and possibly not of concern, at all, to the clientele who currently support us

Making a living in medieval times is feudal!

Boy oh boy, the Fresh and Onlys were so fucking good last night! It made me like them more than I did just from hearing them on record. Loved the Ganglians, too, and they said it's their last show for a while? Why is that? When are they going to Europe? I finally got their single with Blood On The Sand on it and it's my favorite recorded song of theirs. It's on their myspace if you wanna hear it. Next time you're considering a Hub show but maybe you're inside all cozy and don't want to go out think about this: it's really warm inside. Things like that are important to me because I didn't feel like going last night either.

On Saturday I was on my way to Oh Dang! at the Townhouse when I spied a portal in time. I knew that's what it was from watching Star Trek. I of course jumped through right away and before I knew it I was in Medieval times!

I wandered into a feast.

Here's a knight just back from the crusades who is also an accomplished chef. He is displaying a crouching rabbit baked into dough in the shape of a pig. The King is pleased and amused.Here's the feast. That's baked rabbit with mustard sauce, braised oxtail, blood sausage, and a spinach pie.
It was hard to get a picture because in medieval times there was no electricity, duh. It was a great time but I think I caught a touch of the Black Death and I'm feeling under the weather.

Bab's relentless quest for the magnet continues. She has partially zombie-fied the other one.Right after I remarked to MH that I can't believe what great condition this Woody Allen poster is in, considering it's been on our fridge for two years, Babs tore it in half in her lust for the magnet. Luckily smiller taped it and you can barely tell.
Look at Steve's face!

The Shack has a Du De Ciel beer called Rose De Hibiscus. It is pretty girlie-fied, but I like it. MidMo covergirl Niki was our server and she said she didn't like it because she wants a beer that tastes like a beer, but I think there are all kinds of different beers for many different occasions, so we had to agree to disagree. It tastes very tea-like and delicious.
Here she is popping a cork on a Saison Dupont.
Here's KC's corned beef hash. The Shack has a great version of it.
In other Brew Awareness news, we finally got that Saison Dupont keg installed in our bathroom. Stop by and have one.

Happy fridee

Ganglians Live at Morin Studios from TERROREYES.TV on Vimeo.

Who's terroreyes? Whoever it is they are making some cool local videos. This really captures the Ganglians.

Also, for some friday music, this song was KILLING ME this week. I love his voice.

Paparazzi ice skating shots

There you are skating along, cherishing your privacy and BOOM, the paparazzi strike and next day you're on some trashy blog. The ice skating rink is cool but I don't think I'll be skating. Well, I might try it, but the one time I did (remember MH, in Providence?) it was a failure, not to say an epic fail.

Blair Robertson stirred some controversy this week with a scathing review of Orphan. The comments are entertaining, and Liv even weighed in. I ate at Orphan one time and I really wanted to be stoked on it, but I felt I could make better Mexican-inspired breakfast at home, or get it at a million Mexican places around town (and for cheaper). I thought their coffee was sensational and bought a pound that was delicious when I made it at home. However, I don't go out for breakfast except dim sum, so I didn't review it in any forum because there isn't really an eggs-based breakfast I would go crazy for, except maybe if it involves smoked fish and Scandinavian beer a la that place I went to in Portland.

You guys excited about the Fresh and Onlys/Ganglians show this Sunday? I am. I know Olivia and co. putting on another night at the townhouse on Saturday, right? I heard the first night was a big success. Olivia, could you send me a flier? I can't find it anywhere online. Also at Bows tonight Pregnant and Megazord are playing at 7pm and maybe stuff is 25% off?

persimmon awareness

I forgot how much I love fuyu persimmons! I can't get enough. I want to eat three a day. How long have they been in season and how long will they stay in season? I am gripped with fear that I slept on buying them through most of their season. I want to bake with some hachiyas but I am having a hard time waiting for them to ripen. EC gave me an old recipe for cookies with a wine glaze so hopefully I can make those soon.

So I bought this magnet at The Thrift Store for like 75 cents. I bought two just because they were so cheap and so cute. But before I unpacked my bag, Babs got to the other one and chewed off the nose. I let her play with it for awhile and she became obsessed with it. Now if it's on the fridge she will get on the counters while we're gone and try to knock it down. When bunchy came to visit, he too, was obsessed with this magnet.

Long story short, here's what the other one looks like.
I put it on the head of a mummy postcard I got in Guanajuato-perfect! Perhaps no one else will find this as funny as me.
Letting her sit in the dryer is a bad idea, right? I have heard horror stories of cats killed that way. But look how cute.
Time for some brew awareness. Smiller is on his way to a brew dinner in SF at the Monk's Kettle so I don't think he will help me out here so everything I say about the brew will be vague.
The Davis Co-Op has this Bruery Autumn beer right now. It's brewed with yams and spices, and with Brett, as are all their beers. The yamminess is restrained, but the pumpkin pie spice came on stronger, in a good way. It's 10%, so pretty strong, but the alcohol is balanced and it's great to split without tiring out your palate. I thought it was a little flat, but smiller said it had the perfect mouthfeel that he wants for a beer of that strength. It actually went really well with the persimmons, surprisingly, and that's a mild morbier cheese so it went OK with that, too.
This is a T'smisje beer I got at City Beer in SF. It was brewed in Calvados barrels and I am a sucker for a gimmick like that. It was musty, spicy, and sweet. Um, maybe I shouldn't even have mentioned this one because I don't remember it that well. I have a soft spot for T'smisje beers because they often have a cute cartoon dog on the label and because we got a lot of crazy ones in Belgium. I really like their Guido beer and the Vuuve (which I think means "tits", right?). Rambling. Ok, wait, online it says "vuuve" is Flemish for "five", but a lot of beer names are dirty jokes and puns that we don't get so I still maintain it has something to do with tits. Oh hi, are you still reading this?
Beer Geek Breakfast beer brewed by Mikkeler, a brewery in Denmark. This brew is also available at the Davis Co-op. It's a pretty brilliant gimmick. Brewed with coffee. We had it with breakfast and it was delicious. Hopefully some breakfast spots around town will start selling this beer.
And last but certainly not least is this classic trappist beer, Saison Dupont. The Shack (onFolsom, formerly known as The Sub Shack) is selling little bottles with pretty glassware. They also have big bottles of the Dupont Foret. And they just got in a shipment of Cantillon Lou Pepe! I think he's gonna charge in the neighborhood of 30 bucks for a bottle, which is pricey of course, but you can't get Cantillon anywhere else except the Bay Area and it's a very special beer.

Hmong New Year

Happy Hmong New Year 2009!! I went twice and once again my pictures are all out of order. It is so rad. I love the food so much.

If you were the Hmong Master and you were thinking of making a sign for your booth would you think to yourself "hmm...what would add some flair? oh yes, fake cockroaches and rats"? Despite the bugs, the Hmong Master Grill booth was extremely popular.

Look at this vest posse.
I prefer dijon mustard.
Fried plantain in a bag.
Once again, I roamed around snapping pictures of people and feeling like a dork.
This beautiful lady seems to be saying "stop taking my picture you dork".
This woman and her crew had the best outfits. They were doing the ball toss with some dudes. I have heard that during the courting ritual of the ball toss one is supposed to make self-effacing comments, and then the other ball tosser does that, too. They probably don't do that anymore.
Ka Poon! Coconut milk chicken noodle soup.
Picture that EC took.

There were a lot of ladies with this style of hat hanging at this booth. I assume that the different styles of hats are worn by people from different areas.
I kept trying to get a good picture of this couple and not succeeding.
That's how much smoke was in the air from the grilling food. At times it was hard to breathe.


I liked this papaya salad but smiller was not crazy about it. I told them two chilies and it wasn't really spicy enough. I liked that they put the lemon with rind in there.
And then I found a little surprise in it: salted crab claw.
Here's a guy frying plantains.
This was the most scrumptious dish, and the one we went back for-fish larb. They were out the second time we went. Figures. This had a heavenly lemongrass flavor. The fish was cooked. It was kind of like the best tuna salad you ever tasted in your life and was great on toast the next day. Smiller's Hmong coworker claims that it's easy to make but she says that about everything and that is not true! It's easy if you have a bunch of helpers chopping herbs for you, and she also pointed out that it's best to toast your own rice flour, which I've done and which takes forever.
Nab vam. I love this stuff. That is dyed young coconut in there, not jello.
This is a meal I composed at home. That steamed fish was the bomb. It was golden pompano fish steamed in banana leaves and somehow the most salty caramel flavor had completely infused into the fish flesh. If I could find a restaurant that made fish like this I would love it.