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Can I rant a little bit about my community garden?  The people running it are power mad.  I receive a constant stream of emails about their rigid rules.  The new one is a directive that all tomato plants need to be planted 1.5 feet from the edges of the plot.  In a 6X6 plot doesn't that mean you can just plant one tomato plant?  And this garden is NOT CHEAP.  They seem to be terrified of stray tomato branches in the aisle.  Who does this hurt?  I don't understand.  Are they afraid a child will be trapped in the branches? And one of the organizers cut down some of my favas because they were leaning.  She wrote that she was "struggling" to get a wheelbarrow through.  Doesn't that sound a bit dramatic?  Also, there are two other paths to access her garden which are equally easy. Aarrggggghh.  Where are the easygoing garden hippies?

Pictures after the jump

grammy sez

 This is the last night of Jiro Dreams of Sushi at the Crest.  It's pretty good, not great.  The story is a little thin and I think he's rad and his sushi looks amazing, but I actually don't admire the kind of work ethic where you work a million hours a week and don't have time for your family and don't know what to do with yourself when you're not working.  I can't relate!  However, this preview made me cry and I CAN'T WAIT to see this movie.

Skipper dropped off some sauerkraut. I had actually just bought a cheap, commercial jar right before this and the difference is night and day.  The commercial stuff was so sour and flabby.  Skipper's is crisp and complex.  Just like him.

They tore down the Earl of Sandwich yesterday.  RIP.  I never ate there!  Thank god H. Salt Esquire is going strong.

Corti meatload!  Ha, look I wrote meatload instead of loaf.  The unusual looking lady who works at the deli has a half-shaved, asymmetrical haircut right now.  She found a style she liked and stuck with it.  She's like the Peggy Moffat of the deli.

My spring garden is off the chain! Chard is really the flamingo of the vegetable world.  Like my grammy used to say, "chard is just God showin' off".  Then she'd wisely rock in her rocking chair and spit a stream of tobacco juice into the spitoon that was always at her feet.  My special job was emptying the spitoon.

This guy was a stowaway in the bag.  Even though snails are evil I dumped him outside.  As my grammy used to say, "evil is as evil does".  Then she'd cackle and take a puff of her corncob pipe.

I got my first favas! A huge bag of them compressed down into about a cup and a half of bright green beans.  As my grammy used to say, "Fava beans, they're not fucking worth the trouble", then she'd fire up the ol' bong and let 'er rip.

ramblin'

Going to Corti Bros is very financially dangerous for me.  I should have some sort of electric shock collar that goes off when I try to enter the door.  That place does such a bangin' business.  The deli was MOBBED.  Did you read the profile of Corti in the latest Sactown?  You should, it's excellent.  Have you ever seen pictures of young Corti? I had not.

Who hasn't dreamed of opening a restaurant in this space?  I know I have, and I'm happy something is opening there.  However, a message to Sacramento business owners:  MAKE UP YOUR OWN THING.  Do not just copy someone else's idea!!  We already have a copy of the famous Korean taco thing, is called Kogi, which is just one "l" away from a lawsuit by the original truck, I'm sure.  Did her original restaurant, Yunece 61 close down?  That was a Korean/BBQ place that I reviewed years back.  It was OK.

Mmmmmasullo

 Mmmmmmmasullo.  This is a new lacinato kale salad he has.  Those little colorful bits are plant roots! There are micro beet greens in here and pistachios.  This salad is very rustic and chewy.  You will really get your fiber and vitamins for the day.  I liked it.

Here's a new-ish pizza with mustard flowers.  I can't really discern anything that they add to the pizza.  It's kinda like a Croque Monsieur pizza.

Did you know that the Lootenanny is this weekend? Starts Saturday afternoon at Darras' house.  Should be fun! Bands and really good raffle prizes. And you can pop over for a beer at Pangaea

Important message from a young person:

Matt Maxwell has Halloween show-related message for you, both old and young:

Does anybody who performed in the Halloween show have any objections to me posting their performance online? Keep in mind that I'm not asking for any money but am going to have a "donate" option to help cover costs of filming and editing. If you do, please contact me at maxmattm@gmail.com

California Poppy = the best

Could any state have a better state flower than the Cali poppy? I think not!  We went to Stinson Beach for the weekend. Love it! This is a brief little jaunt hike down to a rocky beach in Bolinas.

 Lunch at Cowgirl Creamery.  This sandwich had really soft mozzarella (Bellfiore) and wilted spinach.  What a brilliant idea for a concentrated green flavor on a sandwich! I'm going to copy it.  It also had some fra'mani salami.

 Chipotle chicken.  The bread was a good consistency so that the fillings didn't squish out.

 This is a crazy bottle of wine! It's a northern Italian sparkling wine made from the malvasia grape.  I loved it! Cider-y and it's sooo acidic.  It had a mouth-drying characteristic that reminded me of a lambrusco.  So food-friendly.

 I don't know that there will ever be a time when this does not make me laugh.

 Hit up the Marshall Store on our way home for oysters. 

Wish I had taken more pictures.  The Future Art Notables bike ride was extremely well attended. Here is the crowd gathering at the Verge.

J. Pump

Check it: His and Hers Beer Notes (linked at right) reviewed Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza (one of my faves) and DB gave it 4.5 out of 5 toasts!

RIP

Rachel Leibrock has a column in this weeks SNR about Cynthia Dall (everyone called her Cindy, right? But did she spell it that way?)  I didn't know they were friends.

I only met her once, but Rollerderby Zine was a big deal to me as a teen.  I only had a couple of them, but it was a glimpse into a strange world that both fascinated and scared me.  It was  mostly Lisa Carver's writing about her life that freaked me out. It's hard to explain, but I kind of lumped it in my head with G.G. Allin, who would scare me with his talk show appearances.  No coincidence that Lisa Carver had a fascination with him, and I believe the first Suckdog show was supposed to be with him, but he canceled?  I should check the book for my facts.

This was one of the issues I had, and read and re-read.  That's Micah and Cindy on the cover.  Scott was supposed to be in this picture, I can't remember why he wasn't.  I hope I didn't bum anyone out too much by writing about this.

On a different note, I usually feel squinky about linking to my own stuff, but I wrote up the death of MidMo party for this issue.

Future Art Notables Bike Ride

 Do you guys know about the bike ride on Sunday afternoon?  It's organized by Future Art Notables  It's a fundraiser, and they will be selling drinks and snacks.  Here's the description of the event.  It starts at 4 at the Verge: Join FANS for an art bike ride through midtown! The ride will start at the Verge Center for the Arts and end at the Hideaway bar and Grill at 2565 Franklin Blvd We will stop along the way to photograph, sketch and admire cool midtown gems you may have previously missed! A little bit of history, a little bit of standing around, little bit of art and whole lot of loving Sacramento.

This event is a FANS fundraiser - help us complete our next project! We will be selling refreshments (beer in super secret this isn't beer cups) and snacks! (dontations are always accepted)

Come see Midtown in the best way - on bikes.

I checked out Nagato Sukiyaki, right across from the old Trader Joe's last night.  Remember when that was the only Trader Joe's and you had to drive out there to visit it?  Remember when you were into Trader Joe's? I totally was.  Nagato is super cool!  Old School! This is the beef sukiyaki, salty-sweet beef broth with yummy steak strips.  They have some unusual dishes there.  It's definitely worth checking out.

cool bros

Look at these cool dudez. Jason D., Smiller, and Masullo.  Can you tell Scott was on the yearbook staff? More post after the jump!

learnin'

I had a lovely night of cocktail education in the hands of Mr. Chris Tafoya last night.  The man is a dictionary of cocktail knowledge, and he has some museum-quality barware and vintage cocktail books.  Above you see, on the left, a bottle of bitters from Latvia, I think.  And two amaros, including Picon, which you can't get in the states and which is a key ingredient in the Basque doozy of a cocktail, a Picon Punch.

Above is a tonic made by the same monks who make Chartreuse.  It is illegal here because they refuse to reveal the ingredients.  It smells and tastes like old-fashioned hair tonic (which is actually just a smell I am just conjuring in my head, because I don't think I've ever smelled it).

He has an amazing selection of cocktail books, many of them humorous.  That brown one on the left is called "The Lost Weekend"  the Savoy one is a reissue (the original is like the Guttenberg Bible of the cocktail world) and the illustrations are really cool.  He has a lot of reproduction cocktail pamphlets, one of which is Prohibition era and has a page redacted by the government because it tells you how to make hootch.

This stuff is also not available here.  It's a gentian liqeur.  It is slightly sweet with a really strong bitter kick at the end.  I liked it a lot!  So stoked to learn more.

normal post

My life is a little bit topsy turvy right now.  I need some normalcy.  Down is up and up is down.  Left is right and right is wrong.  So, to make myself feel normal, here is a post.  About banh mi.  This is from Huong Lan.  Do you have those restaurants that you visit again and again and you know you should try some new dishes but you always want the same thing?  I have a lot of those places and Huong Lan is one.  Actually, I rotate between sardine banh mi and grilled pork.  On this day I got the headcheese, ham and pate sandwich.  I really liked it.  The texture of the sliced meats was very pleasing on the tongue, and the pate added some earthy porkiness.  I guess that's all I have to say.

time machine

 I accidentally cut off young Marie D.'s head, but here's a picture from the recent wedding the Bananas played at.  There was a photo booth.  I jumped in, obviously.  On the left you have a picture from tour, was it ten years ago?  On the right, today.  We recreated it pretty well.  

boooooring

In super boring news, my love affair with google chrome is over! It started to sour when I could no longer check my bank account on it, and today when I tried to sign into gmail I got a message that that website was not supported in that browser! They created the website.  Oh, google chrome, remember when you used to autofill everything to a ridiculous degree and now you autofill nothing even when I tell you to remember something.  You are too capricious, it's over.

 This cubano sandwich from Fat Face was really, really good. It maybe could use a little more tang.  One of my favorite things about this kind of sandwich is that it's supposed to have mustard on it.  Troy Mighty's art opening is tonight, so I might eat at Fat Face again!

Had to pick up Marie's for a meeting this morning.  I went with a coconut cake donut, an unorthodox choice for me.  Speaking of orthodox, happy Passover! I am actually going to a seder, like a real Jew.  I just picked up some kosher Israeli wine.

introducing Peggy Benks

Bows is the only venue that seems to have much going on lately, of course that is just my opinion (I'm talking to you Sacramento Punk Shows).  This Friday is Troy Mighty's art opening.  I really like Troy's stuff. It is quite pleasing to the eye.

Next week (wed) the Sandwitches are playing, with Peggy Benks, who if I understand this correctly is a performance art/singing thing from Liz Donner? Sounds awesome.  There's a picture. That's a real Cabaret look (a very good look).

 I you ready for some mediocre food photos?  Good! I have been fucking with the settings on my camera and maybe some of these photos will be ok.  This is a frisee, celery root, toasted pecan salad.  I think raw celery root and toasted pecan is one of the best flavor combos around.  I also recently made a grated celery root, roasted pecan, apple salad with a skosh of mayo in the dressing.

More stuff after the jump

Davis facts

Three, three I say, people darted in front of my car in downtown Davis today. No crosswalks, nothin'.  Also Bassnectar is the grossest band name.

let the arguing begin

I just have not been feeling Heckasac lately.  I mean, I've been feeling heckasac but not like posting.  

The Halloween show Roundtable happened at Roundtable on Sunday.  There were no representatives for the young people (I'd say the median age was 37) so consequently one of the frontrunners is....oldies.