tons o'guns

Man, the Ancient Sons were on fire!  Very psychedelic, and I have to ask, have Justin's guns gotten bigger?  If not, he was just showcasing them in an excellent way whilst shaking his maracas.  It was all I could do to not yell "more guns in the monitor!".  Too bad that jerk Cody was there, ruining my time.  If he wants to start a blog war he can bring it, cuz once you've blog-fought with Kevin Seconds you've pretty much been in the shit and can take whatever comes your way.  I'm steaking my claim to blog supremacy right now.

OK, guys, this post is NSFW because of that steamy picture below, so you might want to minimize the window so the boss doesn't see it.  

I bought this sweet, steamy beauty at Wing Wa for only $2.99 a pound.  They also had live blue crabs, and some really nice looking squid.

Ancient Sons!

Did you guys see my thing in the news and review this week?  They used a picture that Liv took.  This was  a fun story to write, and now I know to buy tartare at Morant's for entertaining.

I just found out yesterday that Ancient Sons have a show tonight at Luigis.  That should be fun.  I think they're playing first, so get there at eight-ish.

And, about Lost, I want to say that I don't pay good money to watch Lost to see scenes that involve only Daniel, Charlotte, and Miles!  Or to just hear Sawyer relegated to saying "son of a bitch" over and over.  

Late post!

I'm off on wednesday, so no posts then. Drag.  

Yes, it's true, the Bananas are coming roaring back.  No little baby can hold them down.  This sunday at Luigis-The Bananas with Matt and Kim.  I heard that there will be a certain little lady there dressed up like a certain Pittsburgh Steeler.

And did you know about the nuts show that is coming up friday, February 6th?  Box Elders, English Singles, Makeout Parts at West Capitol Bowl!?!?!?! I will tell you more about this soon to try to persuade you to miss BSG and come.

culture shmulture

I tried to go the beer and ballet on saturday and both shows were sold out.  They still had some tickets for this saturday available.  

Are you interested in a free history lecture on booze in old-timey sac?  If so, register here.

bitch, bitch, bitch

I don't want to just dwell on the negative, but I was walking around K street by the mall and down Capitol Mall last night, and I just wonder if the city leaders ever think about how there were three open businesses on K street (Joe Sun, Men's Wearhouse, Records) that they forced out before they had a deal in place that are just blank storefronts now. And don't blame it on Moe Mohanna.  Everyone knows that stupid fucking Z Gallery idea is stupid.  Plus, it sucks that 55 closed down.  I couldn't afford to eat there, but it was really pretty, and now it's just a dark area.

What do you guys think of this? I am not into it because I'm pretty sure these camps are going to be in recreation areas, such as along the bike trail.  I am not anti-homeless.  I would like money to be allocated to house the homeless, and I'm an advocate of programs that give the chronically homeless free apartment, such as the one that this guy advocates for.  I know people camp because they don't like shelters, but we should work to improve the shelters I think.

This is funny, cuz when I would drive out with my dad to my granparent's house in north highlands, and we'd pass Dyer Lane, my dad would always try to spook me.

Kiedis!

Glad to see Kiedis making news.   He looks much better here than he's looked lately, with his weird pageboy.  Very Point Break.

You are all probably having a hard time reading this because Lost blew your mind so hard, but I have not seen it so no spoilers!  Jonathan Richman was very good, but my stupid GPS sent me home on the 505 and I came out on 80 in Vacaville!  In the pouring rain.  There was a crazy lady at the show who fell three times and her dancing was almost identical to my Grateful Dead dancing.  Jonathan Richman was completely unfazed by her falling.  He went and held a baby at the break.  It was adorable.  He sang the cellphone song.

Do you guys know about this Beer and Ballet thing?  I know the name makes it sound cheezy, but really it's a good chance to see ballet for cheap in an informal setting.  It's this saturday and next saturday.

drubbed

Blair Robertson TER-ASHED Morton's in a really funny way.  Of course, he is savaged in the comments by almost everyone.  Perhaps everyone preferred Pierlioni's nicey-nicey review of the loathsomely named Johnny Garlics.  There are no comments on that one.

I've never eaten at Morton's, but his review kind of reminds me how I felt about Buckhorn, which is not pretentious, just totally overpriced and overrated.  Buckhorn reminds me of Jonathan Richman at the Palms tonight! I'm stoked.  I enjoyed BR's review of Tre, also, which almost makes it seem worth my while to hit up this suburban spot.  I have enjoyed the Haines bros food over the years.  Not lately, but 33rd street bistro was one of my first favorite spots when I started to have enough cash to not eat ramen and peanut butter every day.

boring post

What a day! No more Bush! I cried with joy.

This weekend was epic, and that Luigis show will be legendary.  I'm  happy that Sac finally has a real, solid venue.  People went off during No Bunny, which was super fun.  I don't have any photos of anything to post.

montmartre?

Hmm...I was all set to reserve a flat in Le Marais district, and then Brew got me thinking about Montmartre.  Looks like the flats are slightly cheaper, too.  Should I look there?

I was reading Harold McGee's column in the New York Times yesterday, and lo and behold, he talks about his friend Darrell Corti and going to his house for lunch!!!!

Everybody knows about the big show tomorrow, right?  English Singles, Rantouls, No Bunny, Th' Losin' Streaks.  What a lineup!

I was bummed to realize last night that Jonathan Richman at the Palms next week is the same night as the first night of Lost!  But I will have to watch Lost another night because I would not miss J. Rich at the Palms.  Magical.

strong mayor-weak ethics?

There's some good reporting in the Sacramento Press about K.J. shadiness.  I have personally experienced this shadiness.  I am pretty sure I was outright TRICKED into signing the strong mayor petition by a guy at the co-op.  I have sent a letter to the city clerk stating that I was misled and would like my name removed.  These actions do not bode well for the tenure of our new mayor!

paris and sawyer

Lost is starting soon.  We can all listen to the Constants while we count down the days to seeing Sawyer's ripped bod.  That's what we're all waiting for, right?

Also, another question.  What arrondissement of Paris to stay in?  Opinions? 

sunday supper

Eh, what a lackluster day.  So I'll write about Sunday.  I spent quite a while at the farmer's market assembling the ingredients for a Portuguese-inspired dish that was in Saveur.  I got a striped bass for about $3.50 from the fish cart.  I had to clean it, which was fun even though a bony fin stabbed me in the finger.  To get back at him I cut him up and stuffed lemon in his wounds.  Take that!

The farmer's market had no fennel but the co-op has pretty baby fennel for pretty cheap.
Here's the bass before he fucked with me.
I got some nice fingerling potatoes, too.  This one is so teeny.
Mussels and clams from the mussel and clam guy.  These manila clams are so small that each one just contained a sweet half bite.  No finger included for scale.
Here's the finished dish.  I blanched the fennel for four minutes.  I cooked it with white wine, salt and pepper, and orange zest.  I didn't have lunguica, but next time I would add a bit, or some Spanish chorizo.
This was the vinho verde that inspired it all.  Someday I hope to visit this winery and see that stone structure in person.

so weird

This post covers two subjects in one: the existence of the new online local newspaper thingy, Sacramento Press, and Kevin Johnson's push to get the strong mayor intiative on the ballot.  Read the comments and you will actually see K.J. on the same comment thread as Bill Burg.  Sometimes the internet is so crazy.

of course it's free

I forgot to post about the Freeblood show on saturday.  I was thinking it was at the Press but Old I is better.  Before you go to that, you should hit up some second saturday stuff.  The Kaltenbach show at the Verge gallery is thought-provoking (be sure to check out the "velvet hole"),  local niceys Richard and Corine have a show at Artifacts (905 K st), and I was as surprised as anyone to find out that MidMo has a gallery space now on 25th st between R and S.  The show features Sacstate students and "colorful abstraction" which sounds good to me.

raw meat

I'd like to again appeal to my all-knowing readers.  Do you know of any places to get steak tartare or carpaccio in Sac?  I know the Waterboy sometimes has it, and it's great there, but they don't right now.

star trek

Lots of stuff to do this week!

This thursday, there's a Verge Gallery event that looks cool.  Also, Friendly Creatures (Tatiana and Bryan from Daisy Spot) are playing first at Old I (nine-ish).

On friday, a verrrrryyyy intriguing looking new Star Trek B movie starring Uhura, Chekov, and Cameron from Ferris Bueller is playing at Movies on a Big Screen!

way to go, sacbee

Right on, Sacbee!  A real, critical restaurant review.  Well written, informative.  For a sec I thought this was written by a woman (Blair being an androgynous name), but how foolish that I would think that the Bee would hire a woman to write about food.  Everyone knows that women just know about birthin' babies.  Besides that little snipe I'm stoked.  Check the comments.  That is some harsh chop busting!  I find it very intriguing that BR answered back to the criticism, and in a spirited way.  I agree that it's too early to write about the Grange but I enjoyed the review.

If you happen to be feeling helpless about the situation in Gaza and would like to do something, however small, a guy from this organization was on Democracy Now and was talking about how they're getting a wave of donations.  Yesterday's Democracy Now had a pretty riveting debate between a UN worker and a pro-Israel NGO person.  The gloves came off.

picture post

Here's how I spent my break in pictures.

Christmas shoes.

Nog Nog at Xmas party in sweet house.
This guy doesn't need any introduction.
Now we skip to the Four Eyes show, always one of the highlights of my year, and always more fun than New Years.  This guy was taping the proceedings.
Here's Davy taking a sip of knowledge.
More knowledge!Smiles all around!


I also made Meyer lemon marmalade.  I think it's very good.
I just like these pictures, but I forgot to take a picture of the marmalade.
Again, I just finally took a good close-up picture.  This was a minestrone I made. No big whoop.
I took an excellent jaunt to SF and spent a lot of quality time in Japantown.  Smiller just hung out on this corner.
These are herring swim bladders.  I ate a bite of one.  You'll read all about it in my february article.
Road trip to Jackson.  It is far! It's a nice drive, but the return drive is a little bit much.
This was my first meal of the year.  I have been eating so many sweets with no signs of stopping.  This was really tasty leftover sushi rice (without the vinegar of course) boiled with milk, raisins, cardamon, and lemon zest.  A little sugar.
Here's Nodzz in Davis.  I love them!
Here's the only good picture I took at the Luigis Touchez/Ganglians/Mantles show.  It was so fun!  The Ganglians were the draw and they are starting to seem like real stars.  They don't crack me up so much anymore.  They're more serious.  Look at Mike's excellent shirt!

first post!

I have a lot of ideas about posts and it's been kind of paralyzing me, so I'm just going to jump in with one thing.  This is something I attempted to get into the News and Review, but I blew the deadline.  The Japanese celebrate their New Year the same time we do, and they celebrate it with mochi.  Komochi is a special sweet rice mochi that is made for the New Year.  Osaka Ya makes it.

They use the mochi to put into a savory soup called ozoni.  You traditionally eat it on New Year's day, but I wasn't sure how I'd be feeling (answer:fine), so I made it on the 30th.  I used dashi and some vegetables, and they all ended up being white.  Well, except the mizuna and turnip tops.  These turnips were so lovely.  And so tender and sweet you could eat them raw.

Here' s how the soup looked.  It was pretty good but the mochi was absolutely bland.  And I really like mochi.  It swelled and got soft and it was hard not to choke on it.  That's the deal with ozoni.   Every year a few people choke on it on New Year's day.
This is sushi I made from fish I got at Oto's.  Unfortunately, and I don't blame Oto's, especially since I ate four kinds of raw seafood that same day from three different sources, I got some mild food poisoning and I think this was the culprit.  There I go, talking about my diarrhea again.