zed..

Hi ES!

ES! Finally – I get to see you! Been missing you, as we’ve been non-blog-compatico.

and hi nahant! & kelly!

NDFG!
Nahant!

Hey, friends

i spent the day dealing with house-closing and #3 eye surgery paperwork … gah. But on the bright and happy side, i made a big pot of split pea soup.

we had Chinese from sue hong’s in MP… easy…

CE!

NDFG – soup? do tell….

Kelly,
I am actually a wicked good cook. Lived in Paris for a year. Suffered on museum salary for decades. Great ingredients!

Ahh, we must dish.

So!

I have this gargantuan sage plant, who has steadfastly performed, in spite of our cold and snow so early this year. Ingredient!

What I will do with this sucker, as in years past, is make a beurre braun, frying the leaves in butter, and using the result as a garnish on my squash soup for T-day.

Ahh, LLN. Hi all;)

Hey y’all, howzit goin?

Harvest, freeze and pack with care. Italian onion recipe for onions with sage and vinegar. Will email

There’s ThatGuy and Margot too!

Weee!

ThatGuy! How you feel?

btw-

Absolutely awesome Taibbi piece on Palin:

Palin — and there’s just no way to deny this — is a supremely gifted politician. She has staked out, as her own personal political turf, the entire landscape of incoherent white American resentment. In this area she leaves even Rush Limbaugh in the dust.

~snip~

With Going Rogue, the 2012 reality show has already begun. As brainless political theater, she can’t be topped. It’s just too bad for conservatives that she happens to be unsustainably divisive and, as Newsweek points out, a really good bet to permanently marginalize the Republican party by reducing it to a pissed-off, semi-coherent mob that repulses independent voters on a visceral level. To paraphrase John Doman’s Deputy Ops Rawls character from The Wire, she’s “brilliant — fuckin’ shame it’s gonna end our careers, but still.”

That made my day. Man that dude can write.

Sage.

Boil, strain and into ice bath.

Makes the color vibrant!

Use as needed.

Immerse sage into EVOO, with garlic cloves, for oil.

Take sage as above, into hot EVOO.

Cool and store.

I grow purple sage, every summer.

It’s incredible and vibrant, as is the simple green sage.

Sage oil, for pan saute, dressings for salads, for marinade.

Sage.

It’s wise.

Larue!
Trader Joes had organic and pre-brined turkeys for $1.79/lb.
Any thoughts?

Newt, still sick, coughing so hard my lungs hurt. I’m going to do a few things this weekend but mostly I’m going to power-lounge, wrap up, stay warm, drink hot fruity tea and try to get well enough to go to work on Monday.

[Needs a pinch of salt] *grin*

I have a sister with chronic bronchitis, sounds like you.
Feel better.

You finally found a house?

As I and others have suggested, Palin will likely not finish her book tour.

Due to a combo of her own idiocy being broadcast stop by stop, or the negative PR and embarassment suffered by her publishers.

She’s history, the GOP don’t want her, she’s unelectable for ANY position, and there’s NO fucking media outlet that would put her on the air live OR edited in delay, as a host. She’s that bad.

The only thing she’s good for now is making money for MSM as advertisers support her because she still gets people to watch her.

But soon, that too will fall by the way, as she becomes even MORE less reputable and disregarded for her own failings. And even advertisers will not support her because of the ‘crazy’ she brings, and teh stoopid.

OH Yeah!

*G*

And with that method, brining is not needed!!!!

Sorry for Blog Whorin FDL . . . ;-)

Yer on the team, Kelly . . . well struck, sir! *G*

Shhh…I’d like to see her last past the mid-terms at least, please.

* bows *

Newtonusr is not my boyfriend. I just found out.

I am so CRUSHED!

Yeah, huh, there IS that issue of keeping her around to further deginerate the GOP, and enable their ill health, aint there.

*G*

Hush, I’m reading YER recipes, too, ya know.

Also.

(stifles smirk)

*G*

If Western Union was still in the telegram business, I would have been more prompt.

Newt, I sure as shit hope it’s not chronic bronchitis. I have enough chronic crap going on.

Smirk freely, ya big lug

You guys are making me hungry.

I Will Survive

(killin me, just killin me)

Being a foodie is bad enough – but this one has attitude.
Damn!

Hey, it’s late night, and food rocks.

What ya got, Mo?

Sarah Palin is on an endless crusade against assholes. It’s all she thinks about.

He’s good. Really good :-)

wacky Beck video! perhaps Charlotte Gainsbourg should hold onto her day job (acting, which she’s quite good at).

here’s her parents singing together a generation ago.

That is so wrong

I honestly wonder what will happen…will she be a kingmaker?

Can’t BELIEVE you pulled out that cliche ridden piece of pop poop.

Sigh.

One cup EVOO
Half cup red wine vinegar
4 roasted garlic cloves
1/4 roasted red bermuda onion
table spoon anchovies
table spoon capers
1/4 cup of chopped fennel bulb
1/4 cup Parm/Reg or Asiago shredded cheese
tea spoon white sugar or packet of pink stuff
Zest of one lemon, and tablespoon of lemon juice
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Blend in blender.

Salad Dressing to die for.

Add fresh basil, rosemary or thyme or other to suit yer tastes.

I like the fennel with the fresh basil.

But the rosemary is killer, too. With fennel.

Thyme, for a more wild fowl topped salad.

Whatever.

Taste.

*G*

Have you ever had or used hawaij?

If not you’re in for an exotic treat.

Dang, yer all over it . . *G*

No! Tell me more, si’l vous plait

Wow. Her mom was so hot!

featuring the epic lines:

je vais et je viens
entre tes reins
et je me retien

(I come and go
between your kidneys
and hold back)

Kingmaker?

I dunna, she’s sure as shit ain’t MY Crown Of Creation!

All this talk about purple sage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7CpQgOLrbA

That is a great looking recipe over there, by the way.

*speechless*

LOL!

So, who’s on first?

Serge Gainsbourg was quite the provocateur late in his career – became a veritable buffoon in French culture.

here’s a sweet earlier morceau

Hawaij is a traditional Yemeni spice that I was introduced to by some Israelis. Yemeni Jews made it popular in Israel but it is found in variations in much of the middle east.

The recipe I have calls for tomatoes, Italian squash, onions, garlic, bell peppers sauteed and then all simmered together for hours with hawaij, parsley and basil.

Hawaij itself comes in many variations, but essentially is black pepper, cumin, cardamom, turmeric and either caraway seeds or cloves. Three times as much pepper and twice as much turmeric as the other ingredients. Dry roast the seeds and grind in a mortar.

While we’re talking about parants. of course Beck got most of his cool from his grandfather.

A gent that I’ve had the fortune to meet back in ’02 and since, and listen to at a fest I frequent, lives just up the foothills about 45 minutes from me.

He’s the NRPS pedal steel picker from long ago.

Mary Mac’s husband has taken a dobro lesson or two from him.

I’d like to someday, when I have money to do so.

He’s a delight to listen to, speak with, and pick with.

Peter Grant.

Teh google for his website . . . he’s also a graphic artist of reknown, as his site reveals.

And your NRPS pick is a classic love song.
Sigh, I recall them opening for The Dead, a number of times.
When Jerry G was pickin the pedal steel. Before Pete Grant.

Sigh.

I gone all meloncholic, now, from that song . . ;-)

Almost like hearing This Song.

*G*

Thanks, glad I could share it . . .

Fud Gud!

Shy Boy

Now that’s some serious good shit, Morris!

I’m all over it!

Thanks for sharing it, never heard of it!

I LOVES me my garam masala’s and such, this is right up there with fragrant mixes!!!

*G*

From the Archie Shepp Ensemble, featuring the cathartic vocal stylizations of Miss Waheeda Massey, daughter of composer Cal Massey,

Quiet Dawn

Excellent addition to the discourse!

I am guessing you know then about harissa. I just discovered it last Fall.

Wow! Nick Lowe fronted them?

NEVER heard of them . . . yer scoring big tonight, with new stuff!

Wow! Great 60′s pop!

Wow, classic but likely relatively unknown to even jazz lovers.

Shepp I know, this track I’ve never heard!

Grand!

Hate to split the party early, but we got stuff to tend to in the morning.

Thanks all Pups for the chat, food, snark, and general social well being!

All y’all be well, get well, sleep well, and we’ll holler wit each other soon.

In the meantime, get out in yer kitchens and make something to eat!

Mangiamo! Dia bono . . . . ;-)

*waves*

I loved Poco. Especially the Timothy B. songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfQp80S3tM4

nite larue

Wow, Tim Schmidt was somewhere before the Eagles. I had forgotten.

Yeah, harissa has some of the same spices as hawaij, namely caraway, coriander and cumin. But the main ingredient is of course chili and garlic.

BTW hawaij is great rubbed on chicken as well.

The old Poco was a great live band. Richie Furay, Rusty Young, Jim Messina…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH1rRMocWhM

I never heard of them before tonight either.
This one either: The Four Fuller Brothers

Furay and Messina – refugees from Buffalo Springfield.

Now that was a seminal band.

Y’all still up ?!! *g*

Fuller’s big hit was “I Fought the Law,” which was written, oddly enough, by a member of the Crickets, Buddy Holly’s band IIRC. Both were from south Texas.

Their album was one of the best. I’m a Stills freak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLw4lrEYXqU

You wouldn’t be such a Stills freak if you actually knew him.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. He’s much nicer now that he’s older.

Neil Young was always my fave of that group … and not just cuz he’s a Canuck.

*G* no, I know all about him. Maybe I should have said Stills music fan.

Actually one of my fave old albums was the Stills-Young Band.

I have a great memory of Neil playing “Long May You Run” for me late one night in his living room before the album was released. It was made even more poignant by some personal stuff that there’s no space to go into here.

If Hillman could have put up with Stills, Manassas would have been a great band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESo0UvcRBY4

No kidding? I met him once and he was super nice. How did you know him?

Go On !

Me & Emerson are just sipping some Single Malt, right Emerson ? *g*

Neil has always struck me as the kinda guy you could talk to, all day long and not get bored.

Neil and I met in a lumberyard in 1970. Long story.

We’ve been pretty good friends ever since. I knew his mom, his brother and sister, the kids, and am also close with Pegi, whom I just love.

Petro, we’re getting pretty damn predictable, aren’t we? But yes, we are! *S*

But you’ve got the REALLY good stuff and I’ve got Glenfiddich…not that I’m complaining.

Was that in the Bay Area? He does a beautiful job with the Bridge School and other charities. Is his family all in the states, now?

Glen’s a friend of mine … *g*

I’m a pretty simple guy and people don’t know what to get me, so I end up getting lots of Single Malts, esp. Fiddich, Livet & Highland Park.

*Sending HP on the rocks, to Emerson and Morris*

Now see? That’s what I’m talking about. And I thankfully accept the Highland Park.

Empty glass here in the quiet corner.

Eeeep … double on the Rocks, comin’ atcha …

ta

OK Morris, it just clicked in. You’re a furniture artist and were looking for material, and you hit it off with Neil because artists attract other artists, right?

Jeebus, I come back and the joint is lousy with scotch drinkers?

That reminds me of a little story.

A few years ago (ten – twelve?) I got a call from a guy named Jimmy McDonough. He said he was writing an authorized biography of Neil and wanted to talk to me, since Neil had given him my number. He said he was curious who I was because I was the only person Neil had told him to talk to, as he had researched all of the other people who were being used as sources on his own.

After I called Neil and he said it was OK to talk to him I had a couple of conversations with McDonough. Once he asked me what Neil and I did when we got together. I told him, among other things, we usually took long walks and talked, often for hours. Jimmy sounded like he didn’t quite believe me, as Neil had the reputation of not really talking to people, especially about his personal life.

I told him that the first time I went to Neil’s house I got there at about noon and we ended up talking until one AM, which is true. Why this is so, I have no idea, except that there is some kind of connection which defies most logical explanation. What we talk about is often very personal stuff, which I, of course, did not reveal in any detail.

Hi Sunny.

I think you nailed it emerson.

That’s always been my take on it.

I remember when I was a lousy scotch drinker, but I got better as the years sprinted by.

hi

Ohs Noz … it’s the Araq crowd …

evening sir

I sold art for 20 years and my favorite events were the group shows because the artists loved hanging out together. They talked about EVERYTHING and many a night they had to throw us out of the bar. Their talks on creativity and muses were very heady stuff.

edit-it was closing time-not rowdiness (except once.)

What kind of art did you sell? Where?

Some folks call it kindred spirits. It happens a lot with me … strangers meet me and open up like we were old friends. It’s a privilege and keeping it private shows that he was right to trust you.

So I was right, you can talk to Neil for hours and not get bored …

We had to drag out the Scotch … it’s gettin’ nippy in Canuckistan.

SF and for a while in Sausalito. Mostly commercial, but masters, too. Picasso, Miro, Dali, Chagall, Warhol, Haring.

Wow, what a time that must have been !

nite you guys

What’s with Canucks and Scotch?

I have a Canadian artist friend, Micheal Hayden, who’s also a major Scotch aficionado. Keeps about 20 varieties on hand at all times, Highlands, Islays, you name it. BTW ever have Glen Farclas?

Yeah, it was fun. I just hated commuting into the city. Thinking about getting into a different part of the art world, actually.

Used to live up there. What was the name of the Gallery?

Nite, Newt

I worked at most of them at one time or another. I used to run Martin Lawrence on Geary and Powell for a while. Bowles/Sirokko for a while. Started on the wharf.

Fingerhut, Hanson in Sausalito, Austen. We’ve probably met. Were you showing in town?

G’nite Buddy !

I might’ve had it at one of my Uncles’ place but I’ve never owned a Bottle.

We have a large and proud Scottish community … our first Prime Minister was a Scot. You either drink their hooch or wear their Kilt … most of us choose the former. *g*

Damn right. It can get cold up there.

Have you looked at the time?

G’night all.

OK lady and gentlemen, I bid you a restful good nite. Thanks for the HP, Petro.

G’nite Gents … always a pleasure, Emerson !

Good morning. Anyone up?

Good morning, pups. It’s Collins, Blow, Cohen and Herbert today. Ms. Collins, in “Putting the Fond in Farewell,” says that by announcing that her show’s 25th season will be her last, Oprah Winfrey provided a useful tip in navigating life: Quit while you’re ahead. Mr. Blow writes “In Defense of New York.” He says questioning whether New York City can handle the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is an insult. New Yorkers live with the threat of terrorism every day. Mr. Cohen, in “What Makes Cities Live,” says wholesale gentrification deadens. The fight for the genuine in the world’s great cities is also a fight for jobs, workers and creativity. Mr. Herbert addresses “An American Catastrophe,” and says Detroit and its environs are suffering because of policies that resulted in the implosion of crucially important components of America’s manufacturing base.

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got proper steel-cut Irish oatmeal this morning. I put butter and salt on mine, but I’ve also got milk, cream, raisins, brown sugar, walnuts, dried cranberries or just about anything else you might want to add. As I look out the window I see it’s definitely time to refill the bird feeders, so I’m off to do that. Have a great day.

I picked up my street cat from a building in Harlem that is a perfect illustration of what gives gentrification a bad name. It is brand new, at the immediate south of Marcus Garvey Park at Fifth Ave & 120th St. It is a glass high rise in a neighborhood of brownstones; except for the front of the lobby, it is solid brick facing with no windows for about 3 stories, so it manages to look like a fortress, and, of course, can only be afforded by the rich white people, living in what looks like a neighborhood of middle class blacks. I was glad to rescue Cahnstance from that abomination.

I was appalled when I went back for my 40th high school reunion in 2003 to see what had happened to various neighborhoods. Cohen is right about the garment district, though. My old office was down there and it was pretty much the same. Yorkville? Completely gone. They had done a pretty good job of homogenizing it before I left town, but there are no vestiges left at all now.

There are plenty of examples of urban renewal/gentrification in Savannah, too I noticed. It’s an ongoing puzzle why no one in publich planning has taste. Bloomberg has ruined many parts of Manhattan with his high rise apt building mania. Builders should be forced to name each new high rise Bloomberg City, so in a couple of years the absurdity of it would be chrystal clear.

J’adore Charlotte!

Interesting that she has her mother’s British accent rather than her father’s French one.