 
Photos of the day. 1. The view outside my window, while flying back from New Orleans to Los Angeles, August 11, 2004. For about three minutes, there were huge lightning bolts zapping all around the plane, which I'd never seen in a lifetime of flying. If I hadn't been so, um, unnerved, I might actually have set the focus correctly. Fortunately, I was only unnerved for a minute, really started enjoying it and actually briefly thought of committing some mischief by screaming, "THERE'S A MAN ON THE WING OF THIS PLAAAAANE!!" ... then thought about how the TSA and the FBI arrest anyone who says boo on a plane nowadays and puts 'em under the jail. "Guys, c'mon, didn't y'all see Twilight Zone: The Movie? Um, guys? OW! Not so tight! Hey, that hur-- *mmph*..."
Free Hugo-nominated short stories! Sorry I missed this one earlier. FictionWise.com is currently offering free ebook downloads of all the Hugo Award-nominated short stories for 2004: "Robots Don't Cry", by Mike Resnick; "Paying It Forward", by Michael A. Burstein; "The Tale of the Golden Eagle", by David D. Levine; and "Bernardo's House", by James Patrick Kelly. The awards will be announced at WorldCon in Boston this weekend (hi, Teresa and Patrick!), so get 'em while you can! I'm also pleased to see a slight manifestation of proof that I haven't gotten quite as badly behind in my reading as I'd feared; I've read two of the four Hugo-nominated novels, both of which I liked very much -- Rob Sawyer's Humans and Robert Charles Wilson's Blind Lake. I like both writers immensely, and I'm torn as to whom to root for. Sawyer already got a Hugo for Hominids last year; I don't think Wilson has won one (although he's been nominated), so it might be nice if he got one. Then again, wouldn't it be cool if each book in Sawyer's Neanderthal trilogy won? Aah, awards, shmawards. It's an honor just to be nominated, right? (Yeah, right.)
Unwelcome. Unmanageable. Via Wes, who says, "So, the Republican party platform describes the the current $445 billion deficit (that's billion with a "B") as "unwelcome but manageable." Would that we could say the same about the Republican platform itself.
Republicans approved a platform yesterday that puts the party firmly on the record against legalized abortion, gay marriage and other forms of legal recognition for same-sex couples, reflecting the political clout of social conservatives and setting up a stark contrast with the Democrats for the fall campaign.He's letting the religious RWWs control the platform, even in opposition to what he and his vice-president have been saying (ostensibly the leaders of their party), because he'll whore himself out to stay in power. Furthermore, all this attention is being unduly given to divisive social issues that have absolutely no impact on the state of the country and its place in the world, which at the moment is precarious. Typical, and revolting.
Milk it for all it's worth. Via ChowHound, here's a helpful substitution guide for recipes calling for various grades of milk and cream. To approximate a cup of the item on the left, add the item on the right to 1 cup of skim milk:
Neat! I only drink 1%, so this'll be handy (and my result will only be slightly richer than using skim, which as far as I'm concerned is just white water). Makes perfect sense, and I must admit I'd never thought of it.
We're not in Lake Wobegon anymore. Garrison Keillor, one of our finest writers, muses on the current state of affairs and observes what happened to the Party of Lincoln and Liberty.
The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong.s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt.s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we're deaf, dumb and dangerous.Yes, sir.
Quote of the day. Why doesn't he say this to Dubya?
"If they question Kerry's medals, they question everybody's medals. All those men who found it so hard to come home, who found so little gratitude for their sacrifices when they got here, are going to feel mistreated again. The families of the people whose names are on the monument in Washington will feel wronged, too. The painful wounds we all worked so hard to close will all be reopened. "We've got to get that garbage off the air as soon as we can."Again ... do something about it, John.
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Photo of the day. Lil' urnge bug, New Orleans, August 2004. (That little critter gets around, doesn't he?)
Wedding bells! Congratulations to Bryan and Jessica, who were married on Saturday and who were kind enough to ask me to DJ their wedding reception. It was a lot of fun, and I helped ensure that their reception was completely Y.M.C.A.-, Chicken Dance- and Macarena-free. Instead we had Väsen, Tom Waits, Clifton Chenier, Buddy Holly, Diblo Dibala and Loketo, The Replacements, Los Lobos, The New Orleans Jazz Vipers, Red Meat, Louis Armstrong, Cody Bryant, Beausoleil, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley, Rhett Miller, Van Morrison, West Nkosi, Gram Parsons, The Tremé Brass Band, Franco et l'OK Jazz and much more. Good music for a big roomful of good people ... and may y'all have a wonderful life together.
Calling Messrs. Callebaut, Valrhona and Scharffen-Berger!
More good news, fellow chocolholics. A new
study has shown that eating dark chocolate appears to improve the function
of cells lining the walls of blood vessels, making them more flexible and
helping prevent hardening of the arteries that leads to heart attacks.
The bad news ... volunteers in the study
were given 3.5 ounces of chocolate a day (which would translate to 11
points, or half the amount of food/points I'm supposed to have in an
entire day), and the consequent weight gain would negate any healthy
effects.
Ah, well. I'll continue to have my 20g of
chocolate (about 0.7 ounces) every day or so, reap a slight benefit and
still enrich my life with chocolate. (MMMmmmmm, chocolate.) In fact, the
beneficial ingredients in chocolate are flavonoids, which are also found
in Guinness Stout ... barman! Pint, please!
(Hmm, 20g of dark chocolate and a pint of
porter, that's 6 points. Better take it easy after that.)
The first indication that the Goop-o-rama in
New York this week will turn into a hatefest is evidenced by the person
the Republicans chose to deliver the invocation at their convention.
According to Atrios
and The General, "apparently
Jerry Falwell didn't quite hate gay people enough to be chosen to
perform," so the honor was bestowed on someone named Sheri Dew, someone
who thinks that those who support gay marriage are just like those who
supported Adolf Hitler, the man who implemented the systematic slaughter
of 10 million Jews, gypsies, gays, et al.
Lovely. They actually found someone viler
than Falwell.
SHE: Oh really?
SHE: Are you worried that he might cynically exploit the threat of
terrorism to justify the invasion of a country which actually poses no
threat -- diverting our resources and giving the real terrorists
time to regroup?
SHE: Or are you concerned that the country in question could become a
breeding ground for new terrorists as a result of his
incompetent leadership -- leaving us more vulnerable than
before?
SHE: Or are you just afraid that in the middle of all this, he'd be so
insanely irresponsible as to run up record deficits in order to
finance a tax cut for the wealthiest one percent of the country?
What is is it, Biff? What is it about Kerry that troubles
you so?
HE: ...
HE: He looks French. And there's the flip flopping. And
stuff.
SHE: I'm filled with confidence, knowing that this election will be
decided by voters like you.
Photo of the day. Lil' urnge bug on a castor bean plant, in my parents' back yard, New Orleans, August 2004.
Fecking hypocrite. Surprise.
Mr. Bush also took issue with Mr. Kerry's argument, in an interview at the end of May with The New York Times, that the Bush administration's focus on Iraq had given North Korea the opportunity to significantly expand its nuclear capability. Showing none of the alarm about the North's growing arsenal that he once voiced regularly about Iraq, he opened his palms and shrugged when an interviewer noted that new intelligence reports indicate that the North may now have the fuel to produce six or eight nuclear weapons.Thou shalt not suffer a fool to remain in office.
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Quote of the day. In response to the question, "You've said that progressives should never use the phrase 'war on terror' -- why?"
There are two reasons for that. Let's start with "terror." Terror is a general state, and it's internal to a person. Terror is not the person we're fighting, the "terrorist." The word terror activates your fear, and fear activates the strict father model, which is what conservatives want. The "war on terror" is not about stopping you from being afraid, it's about making you afraid.(Via BoingBoing.)
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Er, no. While BushCo are busily denying John Kerry's charges that the "Swift Boat Veterans" are an orchestrated smear campaign of lies, a series of interviews and documents show "a web of connections" between the group and the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and Karl Rove. (Surprise.)
Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family - one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove's, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election.They say every man has his price. Apparently so.
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Uh, no. Iraq's Olympic soccer team was angered after finding out that Bush is using them in his campaign ads, and has insisted that he stop using them.
"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," [Iraqi soccer team midfielder Salih] Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."Not quite the cheering, flag-waving, flower-giving masses BushCo keep talking about, even though these very men once faced torture for losing a match. Tells you something, doesn't it?
Gautreau's. 
Oddly enough, I'd never been to this Uptown
fine dining establishment, one of the unexplainable omissions in my
experience of the restaurant scene back home in New Orleans. It's a
place I've been meaning to try for years, and my final push came from
having prepared their Chef Matthias Wolf's dish of Grilled Salmon with
Creole Mustard Spätzle, Herbsaint Cream Sauce and Roasted Fennel at
a dinner party a while back. As my recent trip home was in part meant to
hit several of the places on the untried list, my sister Melissa and I
were keen to head here. As it turned out, we nearly didn't make it --
the restaurant was so well-camouflaged (or else I just wasn't
paying enough attention) that we probably passed it twice before we found
where it was, nestled amidst the houses in a residential neighborhood on
Soniat Street. That works perfectly, actually; it gives the feeling of a
quite lovely little hideaway.. 
 It's beautifully appointed, small and full but not crowded, and from what I could tell from the murmur of voices fluttering through the dining room it was almost exclusively locals. That made me feel immediately comfortable, despite the fact that the first little table-for-two where we were seated was so close to the kitchen door that Melissa almost got whacked by it when the staff were coming in and out. We asked to be moved, and they immediately (and a bit sheepishly) came through. Our next table was perfect, with a great view of the goings-on in the dining room and right underneath the luscious-looking display of Port for after-dinner imbibimg.
On to the food. The list of starters looked very enticing,
but despite my usual caution-to-the-wind attitude about dining when I go
back home, I'm also well aware of the fact that I've been slammed up
I opted for a lighter main course too; as
much as I love traditional New Orleans food, I wanted to try some of the
explorations of Chef Mat Wolf and see where else he went with his food.
Our wines were by the glass, and although I had narrowed down a couple I was interested in there were helpful suggestions from our server. I ended up with a 2002 Domaine Du Mage Sauvignon Blanc from the southwest of France (lovely burst of aromas followed by plenty of fruit and perfectly dry), and Melissa had a 2002 Echelon Pinot Noir (plummy with a bit of cherry, and just right for the duck).
And yes, of course I'm having dessert. What
a My visit to Gautreau's had been long overdue, and was prefaced by my having made one of the chef's dishes at our dinner party several weeks back. After this meal, with the wonderful food and wine and the friendly, comforting service, I know I'll return.
Ouch. U. S. Rep. Doug Bereauter, a Republican from Nebraska, is now telling his constitutents that he now considers the war in Iraq to be a mistake, despite his earlier support for the invasion. Their facade is cracking.
Kerry under fire. The so-called dispute over John Kerry's war record rages on, but if you spend more than three seconds taking a close look at BushCo and their toadies' slime campaign, it holds no water whatsoever.
* Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry's most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events.These are desperate, scared little men who will stop at nothing, who will stoop to whatever base levels, to win in November. They can't imagine a world in which they aren't in power. We need to get them out of power.
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BlueBrass. From Gambit Weekly: "This summer, a group of New Orleans brass and jazz musicians journeyed to the heart of bluegrass in the hills of North Carolina. The rest was music."
On the stage of the Kittredge Theatre auditorium on the campus of Warren Wilson College, nestled in the very belly of the lush Blue Ridge Mountains, seven high school music students from New Orleans are rehearsing on horns, drums, bass and guitar. Suddenly, a commotion erupts from the back of the auditorium. In walks a group of seven western North Carolina high schoolers carrying quite a different set of instruments: fiddle, banjo, mandolin.I just ordered The BlueBrass Project: In the Same Pocket, Vol. 1 from the Louisiana Music Factory. I can't wait to hear this. (Thanks, Michael P.!)
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Jazzfest sings the blues. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is in the hole, and doesn't have enough startup money for Jazzfest next year. This is causing them to reevaluate how they put on Jazzfest and consider some changes, some of which might be for the better, some for the worse (i.e., "The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Presented by [Corporate Sponsor]). Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Suppress the vote? "The long and ugly tradition of suppressing the black vote is alive and thriving" in Florida, the state where the incumbent president's brother is governor.
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Restaurant Mandich. 
My uncle Mike describes this place as "the
fancy place to eat" in the old neighborhood where he and my mom grew up.
It doesn't look fancy; in fact, it looks like a fairly typical, unassuming
New Orleans neighborhood restaurant. It was near the top of my want list
for this trip back home, as I hadn't been there in so long (not since I
was a kid, really) that I'd practically forgotten it. The food, however,
is anything but typical, and garden-variety fancy food only wishes it
were this good.Friendly, familiar, casual ... just like I expected. Instant comfort zone -- in fact, we sat right next to a painting of my old alma mater. Air conditioned to within an inch of its life, a necessity for life in New Orleans during August, and, bless them, a full bar ("I'd like a Sazerac, please." It was superb). Now to the menu ... decisions, decisions ... The first decision was easy. Second on the listing of soups was Crab Bisque. I was a little concerned about fat content ("Cream!" says Julia, from Heaven), but the waitress assured me there was none. "It's roux-based," she said, and I replied, "Oh, one please!" The bisque was dark and murky -- no blond or peanut-butter-colored roux there -- and although it didn't have a whole lot of crabmeat in it, the flavor was profoundly crabby. This bisque started out with a roux, but next came an intense, powerful crab stock that made all the difference. It was served with rice, just like a gumbo, and was gone in about three minutes.
As you can see the serving of veal was not exactly what you'd call a WeightWatchers-sized serving. In fact, it looked to be about four times the recommended serving size of meat (the size of the palm of your hand). I took one bite of that veal ... and my rationalization mechanism kicked in. "It's only a quarter of an inch thick," I thought. "Heck, that palm-sized serving of meat is probably for something at least an inch thick, right?" I said "Feck it," and ate the whole thing. It was magnificent. In the background you can see the lovely fresh carrots and broccoli that she'd served me on the side. The carrots tasted like they had been braised in sugar syrup (they were sweeeeet, almost like candy, and unbelievably good) and the steamed broccoli had apparently been given a quick dip in a bath of clarified butter. Oh my. So much for being good. Mandich is a bit out of the way for the average New Orleans visitor, but if you want a true New Orleans experience, not one aimed at tourists, head about 10 minutes outta da Quarter into the old neighborhood, nowadays known as Da Bywater, and have lunch or dinner at Restaurant Mandich. I also recommend the Oysters Bordelaise, and the house special dish Trout Mandich (pan-fried speckled trout in a lemon butter sauce, but order it special like the locals do, topped with crabmeat and Hollandaise sauce ... oh boy). (By the way, if you want a fantastic pannéed veal dish in the southern California area, try Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in the Downtown Disney area next to Disneyland in Anaheim. I'm not sure if it's always on the menu, but last time I was there the Pannéed Veal topped with Crabmeat and Artichoke Hearts was absolutely to die for.)
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Julia Child, 1912-2004. She passed away in her sleep today, just shy of her 92nd birthday. Hers was the first cooking program I ever watched, and I've come a long way sinced then. Julia dear ... butter, cream, cheese and wine will never disappear from my diet, WeightWatchers be damned.
Home again, home again, jiggity-jig. ("Goooooood EVEning, J.F.!") Just home from home, as it were, and during the nine days I only put on 3.5 pounds. Not too bad. Those of you who missed me enough to noodge me via email or comments, thanks. I appreciate it, but ... I've realized that anyone who posts to his or her weblog every day whilst on vacation really, really doesn't know how to be on vacation. Food porn, with photographs, to follow as time allows.
[ Link to today's entries ]
Off to New Orleans! I'll be home for a family visit for the next week or so ... posting should continue, but should be fairly light today.
Food porn-o-rama! In the meantime, though, we'll forgo the idea of my amateurish food porn and offer you a huge blast of highly obscene food porn from writer Poppy Z. Brite, native New Orleanian and epicurean.
I suppose this is a rarefied and esoteric form of dining that will make some people roll their eyes. All I can say is that if you spend huge parts of your life thinking about food, it's tremendous fun to be shown different ways of looking at it and tasting it. I spent most of this dinner laughing with pure excitement and joy...Oh, my.
Claim vs. Fact. The Center for American Progress has an awfully fascinating new database website up which charts the dishonesty of conservatives and compares it with the truth. "In this database, each conservative quote will be matched against well-documented facts, so that users can get a more accurate picture of the issues." Pick a topic, speaker or both, and round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows ...
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How They Could Steal The Election This Time. This article from The Nation is the most important you will read all year. Via DailyKos; read their commentary first.
Everyone, please. This is the November surprise: Bush is down 7 points in Ohio. And yet somehow wins by 3. Compliments of ES&S and Diebold.From The Nation:
On November 2 millions of Americans will cast their votes for President in computerized voting systems that can be rigged by corporate or local-election insiders. Some 98 million citizens, five out of every six of the roughly 115 million who will go to the polls, will consign their votes into computers that unidentified computer programmers, working in the main for four private corporations and the officials of 10,500 election jurisdictions, could program to invisibly falsify the outcomes.Read this article now.
[ Link to today's entries ]
Cocktail of the day. Last night we had a blue moon, which is when there are two full moons within one calendar month. This only happens, well, once in a blue moon (on average, about every 32 months). And of course, there's only one cocktail to drink on the night of a blue moon, which happens to be one of the most exquisite cocktails ever. Of course, it calls for a rare ingredient -- Liqueur de Violette or Crème de Violette, a violet colored- and flavored liqueur now made only in France and not exported. It's made by Benoit-Serres in Villefrance-de-Lauragais, southeast of Toulouse. As I mentioned when this was a previous cocktail of the day, fortunately there is a reliable mail-order source well-worth looking into. Renowned London chef Sally Clarke has a shop next to her restaurant which sells Benoit-Serres' "Liqueur de la Violette". Last time I checked it ran £14.99 for a 375ml bottle, which isn't all that expensive until you take shipping into account; that'll run you a little over £12, so it's be more economical to get at least two bottles (go in with somebody). You only use a tablespoon of this elixir per drink, so you'll get a little more than 23 cocktails out of this little bottle (less if you use greater amounts in other drinks). You can substitute Parfait Amour (Marie Brizard's version of the orange-and-violet liqueur), but it really isn't the same.
We could come up with lots of moon-related cocktails. Besides the non-month-specific Blue Moon, isn't there a special moon name for every month of the year? Let's see, there's Harvest Moon, Hunter's Moon ... um ... Keith? Keith Moon. Zappa Moon. Sun Myung Moon (for those months when you're batshit crazy). Moon Landrieu ...
Photo of the day. Here's a bad shot of the scene last night, as we sipped our Blue Moons under the blue moon, while out in a field at Hollywood Forever cemetery, watching an outdoor screening of John Farrow's film noir classic The Big Clock, from Kenneth Fearing's novel, while surrounded by 95,000 dead people.
July Looka! entries have been permanently archived.
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