Wednesday, September 30, 2009

ramblins'

October 3rd (Saturday) is the annual Lambtown Festival in Dixon. Admission is a buck. I've never been, have any of you guys? I am planning to go, because it opens at 9am and that's the same day that I'll be going to Operation Restore Maximum 8, so it's pretty convenient. Mmm..lamb for breakfast. Actually, the new Saveur is all about lamb and a guy writes about how he used to eat raw lamb liver for breakfast as a child, minced with mint. Is he Turkish? Now I can't remember, of course.

JD, I need your help! Last night we went to Quan Nemh Ninh Hoa, and on the herb and veggie plate we got this amazing yellow pepper. It was so spicy and citrusy and perfume-y, it was crazy tasting. What is it?
We got banh beo, it was just OK. The noodle consistency was a little gummy and the fried bits on top tasted stale.
This was as noodle soup dac biet with pig liver, ground pork, shrimp, squid, pork meat, and a crab claw. It was really good, the noodles were delicious, perfect texture. Scott got the bun ca cha and it was the bomb, too. It had a chunk of pineapple in it!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Burg for mayor

Check this article on SacPress and the subsequent comment. Bill Burg is the best!

Babs: hates whistles. Who knew?Here's Scott's pictures from Amsterdam that I uploaded without his permission. I'm hoping he'll write some captions.












Monday, September 28, 2009

Boss mayor? No!

So a new group called SAVE has launched a website at bossmayor.com. Here's part of their description of themselves:

A coalition of business and community leaders, Labor, and the Democratic Party of Sacramento County announced today that they are joining together to preserve and protect Sacramento’s community-oriented government structure and stop the poorly-drafted, so called Strong-Mayor initiative that, if passed, would give Sacramento a Boss instead of a mayor. The coalition will use the name SAVE Sacramento, an acronym forSupport Accountability, Voice, and Ethics in Sacramento.

You can go here to sign their petitition and to keep updated on how to make your opinion known on this issue. Don't let this get railroaded through! We do have the power to make sure that KJ isn't given more power than any other mayor in California.

Friday, September 25, 2009

STRIKE!

I was on strike yesterday. My union voted to strike because we have been trying to negotiate a contract for 18 months (pre-budget crisis) and they say the university hasn't been bargaining in good faith. Then the professors jumped on it because our strike was on the first day of class. The students and the professors stole all the limelight, but that's OK. It was pretty inspiring. This isn't just about the budget crisis, it's about UC funding being consistently cut year after year, and about the fact that prisons have taken the place in the budget that higher education used to have. The UC system is going to lose quality and prestige in the coming years if this isn't reversed. They urged us to write letters to our representatives, which is never very satisfying, but what else can you do?
They finally got bike racks outside the R street strip of businesses. Unfortunately, they went with novelty bike racks that will hold far less bikes that normal ones. Smiller pet peeve alert!
This loveliness is just to remind you how good the food at Magpie is! Congrats on winning best new restaurant (cafe?) in SNR. I am finally getting around to reading the best of issue and I liked the Dayrage shoutout (scroll to bottom). Stuff like that makes Sac seem so small!
Also, they have Pliny The Elder! Which was a contributing factor in me getting a wee bit trashed and not watching Mt. Eerie.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

nobody makes my girl cry but me

I just like this photo of Personal and the Pizzas. They're not playing in Sac or anything.

Don't forget the freak folk show tonight at the Hub. If you're looking for something to do.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Yoga poster revealed

Ha! As you can see, I did indeed cross a line when I bought a yoga poster, and that line was the border of Cool City. This will probably cause a rush to change your vote! Every time I'm in my room doing this pose I glance over at that poster and think to myself "that woman has poor form, I can do so much better". But still, the colors are cool.

I guess everyone has heard about the !!! Mayyors show on Friday, ay? That's pretty effing nuts. There's a nice pretty noisy spacy folky show happening at The Hub tomorrow. Mt. Eerie, and then the rest of the listing says "Tara Jane ONeil Karl Blau No Kids". I'm not sure how many bands that is. Boy I bet smiller is going to bummed that he's in stupid old Amsterdam missing this show tomorrow! That will show him. Speaking of pretty, Brightblack Morning Light are coming back to Delta of Venus on Sunday. I was really sorry to miss the last time they played there. I heard it was really good.

Monday, September 21, 2009

No Exit!

The first bad sign should have been when we showed up the first night and there was no food and no cold beer. That would establish a pattern for the weekend. Namely: no food and no cold beer. The second bad sign was when the tour guide showed up to pick us up in the morning (well, actually almost afternoon and none of us had had breakfast or coffee) in a van with no brakes!

This last weekend was a combo of Sartre's No Exit and the Gus Van Zant movie Gerry. Hours and hours and hours of driving through the hot desert, only to arrive at the hot springs (yay, hot pools of water in 100+ weather!) and find out that we were on a work crew and were expected to earn our keep! I cleared brush in the hot sun. The dudes moved boulders and filled in dirt. The desert sure is pretty, though. Hard to take a bad picture of it.

In Tecate we got one of our only good meals. That's a calamari taco on the left. I also had shrimp and fish. The salsa bar was beautiful.
A cultural difference of note, which is probably true in many other countries, is that you order at a counter, get your food, sit down and eat, and then go settle up. It's kind of funny how nervous this makes me. It's a nice way to do things. Very trusting and relaxed.
We could drink on the big red bus. For the first few hours it was super fun and exciting.
We drove over a harrowing road called "El Rumoroso". It began with a scary mural of two cars racing into the mouth of a skull and the phrase "velocidad es fatalidad". There were SO MANY crosses put up where people had died. Hundreds.
Sometimes there were rusty cars down in the canyons.

We finally turned off on a dirt road to get to Guadalupe Canyon and I asked the driver how long it would be. He said "depending on conditions, about an hour". It took about four hours, going ten miles an hour on a very bumpy, dusty road.
As the sun was starting to set, we arrived at a place where we all had to pile into four wheel drives to get to the hot springs. The road was fucking crazy. I've never done offroading like that. It did not look like a road at all. We arrived and had to set up camp in the dark. Our tour guides had stayed back with the bus, so once again we went to bed with no supper.

Here's the hot springs. It was really pretty.
This was the large pool. It was warm, not super hot so it was somewhat refreshing. It was pretty awesome at night.
Turns out the tour guides had made no plans for meals so they had bought the stupidest groceries imaginable that could not really be cobbled into any kind of meal. I made guacamole with unripe avocadoes. Imagine that, IN MEXICO using avocadoes that fucking Togos would have rejected. We had bacon for dinner. Just bacon. Also, there was not really any coffee, just some sugary dehydrated stuff, and the nescafe we had squirreled away as a backup was never seen again. Also, there was no ice and not enough water. Only the thought of our pets depending on us to make it home carried us through.

More pretty scenes. This is in the morning light.
Our kindly benefactor, Jorge, ferried some of us out in his Mitsubishi and we met up at the bus. I was pretty convinced I was going to miss my plane home, even though I had 9 hours until it took off. We loaded up the bus, and the driver immediately drove through a big gulley and got the bus thoroughly stuck. The whole back end was buried and the tail pipe was crushed. We dug out the bus and stacked rocks under the tires in the blistering sun. Our first attempt did not work and it seemed like we were screwed. Luckily, Jorge helped out and towed us, and we made it out after about an hour of trying.


This picture was taken right before the bus got stuck.
The plan once we got back to Tecate was going to move maddeningly slow, so our group carried all our camping shit and walked over the border, got in the car, and got the fuck out of the area in some sweet, sweet air conditionaing. Me and Gbomb actually ended up at the San Diego airport quite early, marveling at such things as all the water you could drink and food such as sandwiches that were available for purchase.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

bunchy n' babs

gballs and I are leaving for an adventure that may or may not involve some of these things:

-a hippy bus named gus and a man named nico
-hugs
-dudes in cargo shorts
-tacos
-me saying "donde esta el bano"
-bribes
-didgeridoos
-hot springs
-a feline and canine detective team named "bunchy n' babs"
-texts from jerry perry
-ella's birthday
-petroglyphs and pictographs
-an ancient dry lake bed
-tequila
-missing our flight back from san diego
-109 degree weather

I'll be back on monday to let you know how it went! Or I won't! I probably will!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

pizza

Classic!

The Paul Collins show was good. It's hard to understand why more of these songs weren't huge hits.
These pictures are just to remind you how good Masullo's is.
I always get the margherita and add anchovies. It was kind of embarrassing this time when the server already knew my order. Next time I'll mix it up.
In addition to that kerazy coupon he prints every couple of weeks in the SNR with two-for-one pizzas, the Land Park News, which he has on the counter at his restaurant, has a coupon for 1/2 off a bottle of wine on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Speaking of wine, I just got the 58 degrees email about their tasting tonight, and it's a good one:

Wednesday Wine Tasting - "Harvesting Delights"
5-7pm - $10/person
tonight's lineup:

2008 Domaine de l'Hortus Bergerie de l'Hortus Rose, Languedoc/Rousillon
2006 Domaine Camus-Bruchon Savigny-Lès-
Beaune
Les Pimentiers, Burgundy
2006 Davis Bynum Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
2005 Mas des Chimères, Coteaux-du-Languedoc
2005 Novelty Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley

Eric Asimov's tasting today in the times is wines from the Languedoc, so that has piqued my interest.

Oh yeah, and happy birthday nanna Jana!

Monday, September 14, 2009

weird show

In the weirdest show bill and location I've ever heard of, the legendary Paul Collins from The Nerves and Paul Collins Beat will be playing in the suburbs tomorrow with Pansy Division??!?!? It's at a club in Citrus Heights called The Fire Escape. The address is 7431 Madison Ave.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Bravo

Wow, your overwhelming flood of birthday wishes almost shut down the blogspot server, so I better make another post.

What's up this weekend? I know it's Heckamax's birthday.

I went to One Speed last night, and I was very, very impressed. It was exciting to see such an extensive list of small plates, most of which sounded intriguing. It was bustling, but we were seated right away. Service was great. Out of the four dishes, the impeccable frito misto was the standout. Good wine by the glass, although he doesn't offer that many. It's a good candidate for bringing a bottle. I haven't tried the pizza yet. Well done as usual, Rick Mahan.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

photoshop class pays off!



Medieval Brew Awareness

The brew selection at the Davis Co-op has officially broken off the chain. They now have Cantillon (Lou Pepe and small bottles of Iris), and I guess they sold so well that they may already be out of them. I have it from an inside source that they will soon be stocking Drie Fonteinen Kriek. There is nowhere else except the Bay Area where you can get it. Made with schaerbeeke cherries. That is some Medieval ass shit!

Also, Weatherstone finally has their liquor license and two beers on tap. I'll be writing a little blurb about it for SNR. Stop on by and have a brew.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

you just might be in Portland

Just flew back from Portland and boy is my jaw tired...from all the good food! It was a nice little vacay, although by the last day, we were making Jeff Foxworthy-style jokes with the theme "you just might be in Portland". Like: If your popsicle is "local, sustainable and organic"....you just might be in Portland! That's a true story by the way.

Pictured below is the legendary pickle plate from Kenny and Zukes. Those are fresh zucchini picles on the right, which were my favorite out of the selection of 5 kinds, including green tomato pickles. The reuben made me so full that I could barely eat dinner over 8 hours later.
L and E, who were also kind enough to ferry us to and from the airport, recommended Cafe Broder and I loved it! I can't get enough of Scandinavian-style food. It's so elegant.
Like look at this nice presentation. wonderful bread, a funny, retro pea salad, rich yogurt and fruit, hard and soft cheeses, and also a soft boiled egg in an egg cup (not pictured).
Here's a little scramble in an adorable descoware thingy.
Also, they have Nogne Saison, and Cantillon Iris, too. It's Portland. No big deal.
ADK recommended Bunk sandwiches (named for the Wire character), and it was also awesome. There was a line at two pm, but it moved fast.
That's a very rich tuna melt.
That's a very oily Italian cold cuts sandwich with delicious pickled peppers on it.
We also hit up the waffle window a couple of times. A savory waffle trend seems to be sweeping Portland and I'm all for it. We're talking a waffle with a slice of ham and melted gruyere on the top. We also had a sensational meal at Belly Timber, which is a dumb name, but I guess it's a Victorian term for food.
Another great thing about Portland, specifically southeast, is all the flowers and urban gardens. So much lavender and so many sunflowers.
Are these mums? they were as big as my head.