sexy Abe Lincoln

Ah, how sweet is an unexpected day off? Sweet indeed. That's all. Gotta write my MidMo article. Have a fun Halloween. What are your costumes? My favorite I've heard is Babraham Lincoln (sexy Abe Lincoln). My coworker is going as a LOL cat.

I wish I had a pizza and a bottle of wine

Yesterday at Rolle, Rafik (sp?) told me that the Rolle clip is on youtube, and I had never seen it. I've never tried that lentil salad, but now I'm going to. I had a chicken pate sandwich for breakfast today, and for lunch yesterday.

In the evening I had a Jack Rose cocktail at Shady Lady. It's a Calvados-based cocktail. It has house made grenadine and I guess lemon juice? I thought the internet would tell me, but Shady Lady is not internet-y. It was delicious, very citrus-y with a faint apple tinge.
Then I won the pumpkin carving contest with my hatchet girl. That's Violent J on the right.
This is such a brilliant idea for a band! It's the rated R version of the Girls video for their song "Lust for Life" (why did they name the song that?). It's NSFW cuz Hunx's dick is used as a microphone. HOT!

drunk biking verboten

There are a couple of interesting screenings going on tonight and tomorrow at La Galleria Posada, Lurch posted about them on the MOBS blog. I assume they are not subtitled?

Some scary news from the Sacbee: a DUI sweep last friday in South Sac and downtown netted 7 bicyclists! Yikes. I do this all the time. I have heard that it's treated the same as vehicular DUI. Could that possibly be true? DUI in this state is insanely expensive (I'm not saying it shouldn't be!). That would probably ruin my life. I guess I'll have to start taking our excellent public transportation. Or just walk through all our really safe neighborhoods.

yay!

I emailed the creator of one of my favorite blogs, Ilovehotdogs (she's the one who compiles the eye candy film stills, and I get lots of movie rental ideas from her) and recommended the movie "Smooth Talk". She watched it and loved it. Here's her post about it. She's a fellow DePalma and Argento lover, and the person who turned me onto the mindblowingness of Jodorowsky.

stop work

That little cutie is a financier, a French buttery almond cake. Easy (I made some this morning) and tasty. Here's a link to the epicurious recipe. Does anyone know if Conde Nasty is going to leave epicurious up?

The city council meeting with the Nestle plant on the agenda is tonight. I will not be in attendance, but I hope it goes off well. There is currently a stop work order on the plant, according to Sacpress.

various miscellaneous

Man, the Argento movie at Movies On A Big Screen was so fucking awesome I can't believe there were like 8 people there!!?!?!?!?! It was nuts, which kind of goes without saying with Argento, but in a really good way. Weird pacing, flat affect, insect closeups, impeccably beautiful Armani outfits for the whole cast, music by Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Goblin and Bill Wyman(?), mutant children, tub of body parts, you know, the usual.

The Rose Melberg/Dreamdate/Kellarissa show was so fun. Knock Knock had to cancel due to flu. Dreamdate were getting nervous when they started noticing that all of Sacramento is ill right now. We're the illest! That joke made me cringe inside.

I like that it looks like Joe is posing for the camera.
Monday Brew Awareness
Whole Foods has a really obscure beer right now, and for only ten bucks. It's brewed by the shadowy genius "The Prof". His brewery is in a small town, but it's probably really close to Ghent (well I guess everything in Belgium is pretty close), because he brewed this beer to go with the cheese that is made in a shop in Ghent called Het Hetspinkel. Whole Foods is the only one importing it, and I think they might even be selling the cheese, but I didn't know that when I bought it. I'd love to try it together. This beer is tasty, and the most remarkable thing about it is its strong pineapple aroma.
My new thing is to make pickled red onions to have sitting around to put on stuff, like a turkey sandwich, or the cat. This style is from Diana Kennedy, and it's just diluted vinegar (2 parts water, one part vinegar) with peppercorns, ancho chili, sliced garlic, and most importantly, lots of dried oregano.

In this Fall-ish weather, a girl's fancy turns to ramen. Don't forget about Edokko 2! It is worth the trek. This is the wonton men. Shio ramen with pork wonton and delectable pork slices. It's pretty much two meals for $6.95.

this just in...

I don't wanna detract from the below post about the show on Saturday, but there's a really exciting screening at The Guild on Sunday at 7:30. A Dario Argento movie called "Creepers" from 1985 starring Jennifer Connelly!! We never have cool shit like this in Sac, and at such a great venue, too!.

good show!

The big news is the show on Saturday at Luigis. It's an all-star lineup: Dreamdate, Knock Knock, Kellarissa (?!?!-don't know anything about) and headliner and Sac music legend: Rose Melberg. Pop fans, you can stop making pea coats out of felt for your bunnies right now and come out of the woodwork to attend this show. That's an order.

KJ is fucking up in so many ways right now that it's pretty comical (I would direct you to SNOG for more), but one particular fuckup just shows how very tone deaf this man is. Remember how KJ crowed when Nestle announced its plans to open a bottling plant here? Here's a quote from the Bee:

Nestlé signed a lease on an industrial building in July. Mayor Kevin Johnson and the SacramentoArea Commerce and Trade Organization both lauded the project, which the company says will employ 40 people.

"This company will not only bring jobs to the city, but it is also nice to have a reaffirmation that many firms still see Sacramento as such a desirable location," Johnson said in a news release at the time.

Then, on KJ's OWN BLOG, this post appeared:

Blog: Nestle water deal shows need for strong mayor

If you don't like the way the Nestle water deal came down, you need a strong mayor in Sacramento.

The Nestle deal is an agreement between the City of Sacramento and the Nestle Company to build a bottled water facility. The purpose of this blog isn't to debate the merits. The deal is perfectly legal and legitimate under city rules.

But some people are questioning the method. They need a reality check.

The agreement was made between Nestle and the Sacramento city manager's office. That's how the old charter system works – public review is not necessary unless projects reach certain thresholds. There is no public debate.

In the Nestle case, the agreement follows city charter rules to the letter. The city manager and staff did exactly what the charter requires.

Today, at least two city council members are expressing concerns about the deal. They say they didn't know what was going on. They didn't have a chance for discussion.

Guess what? That's how the weak mayor charter system works. The city manager followed charter rules, helped bring a major corporation to town, and that was that.

What council members should do is demand charter reform. This story would be different under a strong mayor system.

Here's the important fact: with strong mayor, the Nestle deal would have been reviewed in the Mayor’s office, by the Mayor’s staff.

Under strong mayor, there would have been transparency and accountability. If people didn't like it, they could have brought their concerns to the mayor. There would have been public debate.

The Nestle deal is the perfect argument in favor of charter reform and strong mayor.

If you prefer mayoral accountability over deals done by a city manager, you’ve got an option.

It’s called charter reform.

What a freak! Why didn't he just tell us about it in the first place?!? Anyways, yeah read SNOG to hear about his tone deaf handling of permitgate.

Nestle sucks

I went to the screening of Tapped sponsored by Save Our Water last night and came away with mixed emotions. The 8 o'clock screening was at least 2/3rds full, which is an amazing turnout for a somewhat obscure issue. The movie had a lot of cheap shots and questionable science. At one point they quote the figure that bottled water uses up .02 percent of the municipal water source and then just brush that aside with some statements that it's the principle that matters. I understand that, and it's true, but that's a pretty small amount. I came away from it actually thinking that we shouldn't necessarily stop the Nestle plant, but that Nestle should be charged a premium while we're in a drought. The big impression that I came away with is that I need to stop drinking from the water cooler at my work, even though Davis tap water is nasty (it tastes just like what Davis would taste like if it were water), and that people should work to get bottled water banned when possible because it's unnecessary and wasteful. If I can wean myself off of it at work for a while I'll probably try to circulate a petition to get the water cooler removed.

The second big impression is that council member Kevin McCarty is a great guy and a politician to watch. I had already written him a letter commending him for taking a stand against the strong mayor initiative. He was at the screening and talked about how he's working to bring this issue to the agenda at a city council meeting, despite the fact that the proposed factory is in his district and will bring money and jobs. He wants to make it law that this kind of project would have to undergo an environmental review, which I totally agree with. Also, this whole issue underscores that KJ is totally gullible when it comes to business. Lots of other towns have rejected these plants, but he bragged about it and seemed unaware of the controversy. Do your research, dude!

On to Brew Awareness:

How have I slept on The Shack all this time? Oh yeah, I know how, I was pissed at the owner for fucking up the best patio in Sac. But I've gotten over that because he's a standup guy and just look at that list of beers!
They just got a shipment of Achel Blonde. This is a trappist beer and it's delicious and refreshing with a great hop character. It's 7 bucks, which is a lot, but it's 8% alcohol, so this and a Sudwerk Pilsner kept me occupied very well on the patio for a couple of pleasant hours, and that works out to less than 15 bucks with tip and all.
Remember when local blogger Jeff Mcrory wrote that thing about what local blogs need and one of the things was "more pictures of Sacramento cats"? I'm here to oblige him.

This sums up their relationship well.
Filthy paws, dirty claws.
I can haz belly rubs? LOL.

make yogurt, stop Nestle

Both Harold McGee and Ann Marie Rolke have tried to talk me into making yogurt lately, so I finally caved in. I bought some Strauss whole milk, heated it, let it cool, stirred in two tablespoons of yogurt I had in the fridge, let it sit for about nine hours and now I have some delicious, kefir-style yogurt. I don't know why it's so thin. Maybe I didn't use enough starter. Regardless it's fucking delicious. Way different then commercial yogurt. It's lightly tart rather than sour. I'm hooked now. How will I ever eat commercial yogurt again?

Sac has a campaign going to keep the dastardly Nestle water plant from stealing all our water, and they're having a screening tonight at the Crest of the movie Tapped at 5:30 and 8 pm. Bottled water is an industry of the past, not the future, and it's not progress to bring this plant to Sacramento! Try to attend the screening, or if you can't, go to the Save Our Water website, read the facts, and click on "take action" to see what you can do.

there's a tear in my beer

Wow, seriously terrible news. Sacramento Brewing Company is closing down. My interview with the brewer, Peter Hoey is in the SNR that comes out this afternoon. Good timing. He talks a lot about special beers he is making that might never see the light of day, including barrel-aged beers and Brettanomyces beers. I also hype his Collaborative Evil beer, which won a bronze at the Great American Beer Fest. I think he will find other work, because he's a well-respected brewer, but this is a serious blow for beer lovers in Sac. Peter had brought in over 20 guest taps starting in January, and had had festivals and brewer appearances-events that Sacramento now doesn't really have a venue for.

Peter already has another company, Odonata, and he has just started brewing some beers that people are going crazy for. It's hard to get your hands on one. I think the local stores are sold out right now.

If you've been to Sac Brew, you know it had problems. Every single time you would either be over or undercharged, quite often under. Last time we were there, a couple of weeks ago, I had to beg the server to bring us second beers. We sat there for probably 15 minutes between the first and second, even though it wasn't very full. Many of the servers didn't seem to know much or care much about beer. I'm not saying I know how to run a business, at all, but I'm pretty sure these problems contributed to the downfall.

wild braying

Oh my god! I found out that I work with someone who used to work with someone who is married to Joyce Carol Oates!! Does anyone have any particular JCO to recommend? I want to read "Them", which she names as one of hers that people should read. I like her short stories. And despite its Oprah book club status and ubiquity in every thrift store, I enjoyed "We Were the Mulvaneys".

I watched film number one in the Michael Haneke challenge. I may become so depressed that I kill myself by the time I watch all nine films. I guess I'm lucky that the tenth one he named is not yet out on DVD. So much donkey cruelty to be endured in "Au Hasard Balthazar"!
Things I learned: 1) baby donkeys are the cutest things possible. 2) if you are falling asleep during a movie, the wild braying of a donkey will wake you up pretty darn fast. what I did not learn is that this was a religious parable. I missed that whole angle until I read it on the envelope. That wouldn't have made it more interesting for me, anyway. Major theme: the cruelty of life. Supposedly there was redemption. Maybe I slept through the redemption.

Good show at the Hub tomorrow. It's on undietacos. I can't tell you where the Hub is!

never been to willy's, i never will

Norman Greenbaum lives in Petaluma! Dillon needs to work on getting him to play his next party.

My baby lost her ovaries yesterday and it was very sad. I paid extra for the drugs so she is feeling no pain right now.

Do you guys know about the Touchez show tomorrow at Luigis? I am DJing, I don't really know what I will play. My normal bubblegum set will not fit the vibe. San Kazagascar and Doom Bird will also be playing. Doom Bird is the headliner. I heard he is Sacramento's answer to Bright Eyes.

the wet stuff

There's a big show at the Hub tonight. It's Sac faves The Intelligence and French band called Sonic Chicken 4 that Rick said is really good. 9 pm.

Tomorrow Babs is getting spayed. Don't tell her, she doesn't know yet. They better do a good job.

bunchy got high

Ugh, monday. I'm sick of this economy, you know what I mean? Are you with me? What's the term for young, downwardly mobile professionals? ydppies isn't very catchy.

my major accomplishment this weekend was getting dj larry to play spirit in the sky twice at the wedding. i can die happy now.

chawan mushi RIP

Have a great weekend everybody!

I just realized that Ricksha closing means there is nowhere in Sac to get chawan mushi. That's this savory custard that is super good. Lame.

Don't forget to listen to Dan on KFBK today at 4:40. I'm embarking on a movie project in which I'm going to watch 9 of director Michael Haneke's favorite movies, listed in his recent New Yorker profile (which I can't link online because you need a subscription?). Oy, is it an arty list. It's to get me pumped for his new movie, The White Ribbon. He hasn't had one since the amazing Cache in 2005. I'm not counting his remake of Funny Games which was a terrible idea and which I still haven't seen.

Anyway, yeah have a great weekend. There's a good show at The Hub tonight.

Mud Bugs

I'm about to tell you how to make the best thing in the world. Buy some habaneros. Roast them in a 350 degree oven until they start to turn a little black in spots. Remember what I said about that being one of the best smells in ever?

Put some sandwich bags or latex gloves (ew, why do you have latex gloves?) over your hands and remove the stems and most of the seeds.
Put them in a food processor and squeeze the juice of one juicy lime over them. You can use this paste to flavor all kinds of stuff. Of course it is fiery hot, but that's why you just use a little. Like a half teaspoon in a can of black beans? Amazing.
How about buy some crawfish at the farmer's market and then make some habanero lime butter to dip the meat in?
Crawfish porno shot.
P.S.-two reasons the internet is annoying me this week:

1)people acting like it's good that Gourmet went out of business

2)people being dicks about Daniel Pont

BAC

Time for Brew Awareness, but first: kitten awareness.
So, as I previously mentioned, the Davis Co-op now has the cult Drie Fonteinin Kriek. For you beer nerds out there, I got that glass at Drie Fonteinin and they don't make it anymore. Wow, I sound like a jerk when I say that. Or do I? Poll at right. I almost broke it right after this picture was taken! I know I will break it soon. This beer is the very essence of cherries, but without the sugar. The aroma and taste are just beautiful. And they lowered the price, it's now 21 bucks. Still pricey, but this is a very special beer and it came all the way from Beersel, Belgium. Handcrafted by a very nice guy who works very hard.
I have decided that two of my top five smells in the world are: trout frying in butter and roasted habaneros. I made trout almondine from a James Beard recipe. The "recipe" is really just fry the trout in butter with blanched almonds. Season with salt and pepper and parsley.
My current goal is to eat more trout.
Here's the finished dish with some roasted Yukon golds.

He's 40,000 years old

OK, the first rule of the lamb festival is that there's no lamb at the lamb festival. There are sheep, and there is wool, and there are yarn nerds, and there are nachos, but there is no lamb to purchase and eat. As long as you remember that rule, you'll get along with the lamb festival.

Got wool? This was the first wool nerd we spotted.
Here are a bunch more.
Then we watched the sheepdog competition, which was cool. This dog had just finished herding the hell out of some sheep and was taking a dip. The little girl is saying, "everyone said your dog wasn't very good, but I think he did a good job".
The only lamb to eat was free samples from the cook-off. This was teriyaki marinated lamb.

Shorn bunnies. They had lots of nicks and cuts and looked pretty miserable.
More wool nerdery. There was a lot of wool judging going on, and people guessing the conditions that the sheep were raised in by the dirt markings on the wool.
Oooh...look at that wool!
One of the only SHEEP there (notice I didn't say lamb).
Then, we (the royal we) headed to Operation Restore Maximum Freedom 8.
Hot young kids G. Green played and were quite good. I guess that guy on the right (who was hilarious) is in high school! I heard that he couldn't go to the !!! show because it was 21 and over but that his mom went!

I missed most of the Four Eyes due to a veggie burger debacle. But I did catch their agonizing (I mean uplifting) version of Keep On Rockin' In The Free World.
Then I shopped at the pop-up cassingle store. Check that Iceman cassingle. He's 40,000 years old! Also, look for the California Innovations cassingle out now.


The Mantles totally brought on the Fall during their set. It was a harvest moon, the wind came up, and leaves started to blow. I thought I had better pictures of them. Oops. Their album is super good!
This is the crowd dancing to MOM.
Good old MOM.
Then it was time to rush to the Dreamdate/Knock Knock show at Sophias.
I'm running out of adjectives, but Dreamdate were ON. Yea-Ming was doing some shredding on the guitar.
Knock Knock was reliably great of course. Al was too busy partying backstage with the Mantles to really focus on rocking, but other than that I loved it.


What a day!