The farmer's market is providing me with mucho inspiration lately. Last night I made a golden tomato gazpacho.
It looks like baby food. I made it from a recipe in Gourmet that I think was kinda weird. It probably would have been better if I winged it. Three big golden tomatoes from Watanabe cost 7 bucks! I also made MORE fresh black-eyed peas, which I simply cannot get enough of. For dessert, a nectaring blackberry cobbler. Also a weird recipe (the dough balls parts were just OK), but the fruit was perfect! The blackberries are insanely sweet right now. It would be fun to organize a picking part. Well, fun if you like scratches and bleeding, and rubbing fruit juice into your scratches.
Tomorrow is the Ganglians/Crocodiles/Pets show at Fungarden.
Did the recipe call for use of a blender? That seems odd because a blender is just going to turn your beautiful tomatoes into a frothy mess. A cook book I really trust says to chop tomatoes finely (until they look pureed) for gazpacho.
ReplyDeleteNiki
A direct quote if you will" Very clique-y. Same pictures of the same people partying and seeing what seem like the same bands every month." At least its not like yelp where the same people go to the same event and talk about it or when 22 of them rush to review a new place just so they can tell everyone about what kind of pizza and sauce they like. christ. that is a lot harder than publishing a magazine. What are Tim and Liv thinking?
ReplyDeletefrom the just sayin department, ED C.
Speaking of MM contributors, Guphy's Duelling Review is up on Movie City USA
ReplyDeleteyeah, it said to blender puree it and then "force it through a fine mesh sieve". that didn't work, so we just ate the pulpy stuff, which was good.
ReplyDeleteget back to work over there in the just sayin department. i want that peterson report on my desk, asap!
i finally watched my dueling reviews movie, and as soon as i get a little time, i'll write it up.
Confidential to heckasac re MM: It would totally be the last thing you did, too. I would cut you.
ReplyDeleteNot really. Thanks for the shout-out--it made me laugh. Anyway, you scoop me all the time!
if i remember correctly, provided you have enough pot and pink floyd on the boom box, you can pick blackberries down at the river for quite some time regardless of the scratches. i'd be down for a blackberry foraging adventure but i won't partake in the weed unless someone agrees to babysit me while i hyperventilate.
ReplyDeleteI've used a blender before to make gazpacho. It had a 'coarse' setting and it certainly doesn't need to be in there for long! Do it at a really low speed to avoid the frothy-ness. The golden tomato idea sounds great.
ReplyDeleteEd if your still interested in truck.Email me at jonyskin1@yahoo.com.It got a new radiator today and an oil change.
ReplyDeleteCome on now, if I had more time I would write music articles, but I write most of the Incoming section and I cover different touring bands every month!
ReplyDeleteThat review is lame. (Except for you being awesome, because you are.)
Bleh. Reviews suck.
I think much of MM's content would be better as a myspace/facebook page or a local downtown scenester blog.
ReplyDeleteThat would save a whole lot of trees and effort on the part of the surely well-intentioned publishers.
That said, every once in a while there is some real gems in their -- like William Burg's piece on the Riverside baths in the last issue. Unfortunately, often the gems only highlight the other weaknesses of MM, rather than bringing it all up to that level.
I've been struck by how bad/inbred the music coverage is -- it just seems like such a tragic waste of space. And, this is coming from someone who is actually interested in a lot of the music they are covering. Unfortunately, I'd put them far below the News and Review and the Bee for music writing (and that is saying something).
(although now that Chris Macias is no longer doing music coverage for the Bee and has been replaced by Rachel Leibrock, who knows).
Lauren
Tragic? Really?
ReplyDeleteUh, the music scene is inbred. All music scenes are. It's also Midtown Monthly, so it's going to be mostly midtown-ish, in music & other stuff.
But I am really enjoying how people who don't write or publish anything are so easily critical. If you don't like it, don't read it, but, better yet, write some stuff yourself & submit it. Send the editors an email letting 'em know what you'd like to write about and go for it. Nobody at MM is making a full-time job out of it, so "I don't have time" is no excuse for you, either.
That said, as long as we're being critical, I didn't much like the Rob Fong puff piece. No questions about the railyard & the crappy Bass Outlet he pushed for, no questions about redevelopment, K street, city priorities, affordable housing,or even his seersucker pants. Just a chance for the extremely radical & controversial statement that we don't need more Quiznos. Heh. Let's have a column of Soriano interviewing local politicians.
Overall, I think MM is getting there. It's not there yet (wherever that is), but it's getting there. While it's not all over the map like a fanzine, it does have that great "we're writing about this because we find it interesting" vibe. Over time it should develop its own consistent personality, the way most publications do.
Darren is right: if anyone out there is interested in seeing coverage of something going on in Midtown, they're always welcome to write in to Liv & Tim about it. MM is not an exclusive publication - it's simply that, at least so far, there is core group of folks who've been working to put it together, and we write about what we know and like.
ReplyDeleteNew blood and contributions are always welcome people.
Dani
I think MM under Tim/Liv is off to a good start. Is most the stuff covered stuff that already appeals to me? Sure. I can see how one might view its coverage as a bit scence incestuous, but I consider that the foundation/jumping off point and that there is a real effort to cover a wider spectrum of things. If it was really just stuff that that Tim/Liv were into MM would simply cover garage rock, arty farty, and restored cars.
ReplyDeleteI figure that the more people who approach MM about writing for them, the more the coverage will evolve. And like someone already said, if you don't like it then don't read it and/or start your own thing. It's not like MM is an official publication of the city of Sacramento.
Jed
as john howard - a journalist who i have a tremendous amount of respect for - once told me when the monthly was still owned by the weekly, if you don't develop a hide as think as shoe leather you might as well not even bother.; when folks stop talking about you is when you need to worry.
ReplyDeletethat said i've known all along that folks will have their criticisms. anytime you do anything in the public sphere people will have a say. sometimes good, sometimes very, very bad, a lesson i learned after getting my first art review in the bee in 2005;)
anyhoo, i would like to echo what dani, darrin, and jed have already said. there is nothing preventing anyone from sending us suggestions, story ideas, etc. feedback is heartily encouraged and the door is open to folks from all backgrounds.
that said, you will be expected to produce a few writing samples first which is pretty standard.
New MM summary: Out & about pics, BBQ review, interview with Daniel at LaBonne, short restaurant reviews, Art Walk article, Art picks, wine picks, Rob Fong interview, a dog-boarding article, things to do (japanese bazaar, marriage equality kickoff, greek fest, chalk it up, rainbow fest, race for the arts), Bill Burg's bath article, alternative workout article, music picks, Nick Shelley interview, musical chairs w/ Gerri of Baby Grand, a half moon bay article, comics.
ReplyDeleteIt's up to you whether you think that sounds interesting but it doesn't sound overly scenester to me. I mean, yeah, the music stuff & the pics around town focus a lot on a certain crowd but I'd say that there's an attempt to be diverse going on. I agree that MM has a ways to go but I think the scenester tag is kind of a low blow.
-miller
I really like the latest issue of Midtown Monthly.
ReplyDeleteRob
what about that ricky berger cover article from two months ago? she's not exactly in the same circle as most of the writers.
ReplyDelete