I stand by my statement, made in an Erie, PA Perkins lobby, in February of 2000. wow.
In other news, related only in it’s Cleveland content, one of my favorite songwriters, Kevin McMahon, is back with a new website, a bunch of new albums, a few re-releases and a live disc. I can’t wait to hear what the Fear of Blue and (Sic) discs sound like.
k. back to work.
So lets see what’s been going on. I got married, planted our rather limited garden, might be moving to the NYC area, rekindled my love of cooking and have been brewing up a storm. Same old, same old.
I’m pretty excited about the summertime weekend & holiday train service to/from Toronto. $28 round trip isn’t a bad deal - probably more expensive than driving (certainly if it’s more than just me heading up) but not prohibitively so, especially when parking is added in. And way more comfortable than the bus. They’ve got Cantillon’s Zwanze 2008 (a one-off rhubarb lambic) for sale at Beer Bistro in Toronto. If their supply holds out a few more weeks I may take advantage of the new train.
I’m continuing to experiment with the no knead bread recipe. I’ve gone up to 30% whole wheat flour without problems. I think the next step is going to be to mix in some actual whole grains (pre-cooked, I suppose) - barley, faro, whatever else I have laying around the house. Maybe I’ll sprinkle on some bulgur wheat in place of corn meal right before cooking.
It looks like I’m going to be going to ATP: NY with Woody and Patrick this fall. It’s an insane lineup with highlights including: The Jesus Lizard, Suicide, Animal Collective, The Melvins, El-P, Akron/Family, Black Dice, Antipop Consortium, The Boredoms & No Age. Zoinks.
Outside of that, I don’t know. The fruit share starts today with strawberries. A strawberry rhubarb pie can’t be far behind. Thats certainly something to look forward to.
If I was a middle/high school student in today’s environment. Fookin-a.
So yeah, Tortoise tonight. Should be fun. I’ve wanted to see them for years.
9 days ’til the wedding. Lots of work to do, but its mostly small stuff. Its going to be one heck of a party.
Ok, work now.
Some of the tomatoes have germinated - maybe six of the 12 varieties. Huzzah!!! :) Lets hope more start popping up today!
-rudy
It’s good to be.
I’m attempting to garden a bit more this year. Last year we did tomatoes (German striped) in the small patch of ‘yard’ to the south of the house and the usual window box herbs. This year I’m setting up shop at Ang’s father’s place. I just started:
Tomatoes:
Box Car Willie
Druzba
Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Amish Paste
Black from Tula
Eva Purple Ball
Green Grape
Kellogg’s Breakfast
Jaune Flammee
Reisentraube
Anna Russian
Mule Team
Winter Squash.
Black Futsu
Acorn
Random.
Thai Basil
Lemon Drop Peppers
I’m attempting to not over do it. I probably have already - but I’m thinking of adding a few more things - summer squash, lettuces, some sort of melon…
The wedding industry is run for and by morons. Not much of a surprise there, but its still hard to keep calm when someone tells me, for the 20th time, something that I already know, or have told them I have no desire to hear about. Why should the simple act of filling out a half page form end up taking 30 minutes? Why should it be offensive that I go set up a registry without my fiancee. Why should it be acceptable for people at stores to strongly encourage people to put crap on their registry that they’ll either never use or will fall apart after a few uses? Bah.
Still, things move forward despite the annoyances. I need to tweak the layout of the labels this evening so we can send out 95% of the invites tomorrow. I’ll be spending today’s lunch making BobAndAngela.org more attractive. We bought a bunch of wine/champagne/booze/some beer over the weekend, apparently a shower date has been set, we have someone to marry us. This week will be suit shopping this week & nailing down music as well as confirming the tent situation.
Its chilly out there today but listening to Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletyett for the first time since last summer makes me feel all kindsa warm inside. Wanna ride bikes?
Wedding stuff:
bobandangela.org is finally up and running, albeit not too attractive & without much content. I’m taking Friday off work to take care of a bunch of stuff - maybe I’ll have a few minutes to pretty it up. Invites should be put together by Friday night & sent by Monday. We’ve got totally cool James Mitchner stamps. I don’t know anything about Mitchner, aside from occasionally seeing his books wedged into the bookcase at Carey’s, but he looks a bit like a cross between The Dude & Dick Cheney. Scary.
Beer stuff:
I’ve updated the long neglected homebrew section of theneedle so it now lists the stuff I’ve brewed since August. I switched over to Promash at that point & forgot to enter things on-line. I need to get better about record keeping. I’m never going to know how strong that Bretty Cherry Saison is. Boo. Other beeriness, I’m headed to a friend’s place for a tasting Saturday night. Should be fun & it’ll be the public unveiling of the Double IPA Tim & I brewed.
Buffalo stuff:
There is a meeting on Community Gardens at the Science Museum tomorrow. I’m going to try to make it, assuming my pointless meeting in the ‘burbs doesn’t run too long. Also, what the hell is up with the Sabres? Don’t they know that without the playoffs I have no excuse to hang out at a bar, every other night, until sometime in June?
Music:
New Dalek - Meh. Newish Mogwai - Meh. Newish Animal Collective - not as shiny after a few listens. New Fire On Fire - good, but it makes me feel dirty, like I’m listening to something I shouldn’t. New Black Dice Tracks - Reallllly good. New Pan*American - meh. It seems that I want to listen to either minimal stuff or wacked out early Butthole Surfers stuff these days. What does that say about my mental state?
I do tend to forget about this. I’ll try to be better. For now though, a few bullet points:
- me
Best of 2008:
Records:
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Firewater - The Golden Hour
Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
The New Year - The New Year
Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull
23 Skidoo - Seven Songs (re-release)
Matmos - Supreme Balloon
Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed
Concert:
Firewater - Cleveland, OH 5/28
Books:
Neal Stephenson - Zodiac
Michael Pollan - The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Nikolai Gogol - Dead Souls
Beers:
3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze Blauw
3 Fonteinen Millennium Geuze
Leelanau Good Harbor Golden
Boulevard Saison w. Brett
Ithaca Ten
Food:
Dinner at 1 Caroline Bistro in Saratoga Springs, NY
BBQ Pork sandwich at Pho 99 in Buffalo, NY
Everything at Fatty Crab in NYC, NY