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August 25, 2009
	P'r'aps it's because... ...of all the mentions in "Angela's Ashes" about "pints of the dark stuff" that I keep thinking back to the BBC series "Chef!", starring Lenny Henry. One of the episodes featured ongoing references to a heavenly concoction (evidently commonly) known as "Guinness Punch." Finding the recipe
(back then, in the pre-Internet Medieval Era) proved to be a hefty challenge, but well worth the effort. Several variations are readily available nowadays, such as this: Guinness Punch Combine: One container (a draught can works really well, but a bottle will do - roughly 12 - 14 oz.)) About 4 oz. of sweetened condensed milk (yes, I know, but stick with us here) Optional: cinnamon / nutmeg / allspice to taste (as far as I'm concerned, these aren't necessary, but de gustibus non est disputandum........) Serves one, exactly. Guinness purists will likely gag at the thought. I love the stuff just as it has been made for literally hundreds of years, but this wacky variation makes for a nice change of pace, and will often help introduce neophytes to the joys of the brew. I think I'll climb the 3-1/2 story wrought iron spiral staircase back up to the surface and whup one up right about now. (I'm sure that I'll be ready for one after that climb.....)

August 14, 2009
	Feeling too happy.......? .....Been reading/listening to Frank McCourt's marvelously well-written and oh-so-depressing novel "Angela's Ashes." Every other member of the family has read the actual book, and I'm not quite certain how they managed to survive it. I confess that I would have never considered such an effort until I heard McCourt himself read a portion of the book in his own voice (on NPR's "Fresh Air," unfortunately on a
memorial show for him.) His reading voice lends such realism and innocence to the writer's voice (the miserable world as seen through the eyes of himself as a child) that I could actually work without weeping (unlike during the audio version of "Silent Spring" ---yeeesh!). We had the pleasure of catching Frank (along with one of his brothers) in his two-man play "A Couple of Blackguards" some years back in San Francisco. A modest production that, while mining the same Limerick squalor as "Ashes," had more humor in its little finger that all of Frank's later Pulitzer-worthy novel (which, in all fairness, has a good measure of humor itself.) I'm really glad that I can keep that image in my head to balance the anguish of Frank's boyhood. Talk about a survivor.........

August 10, 2009
		As ridiculous as it sounds.... .....I just returned from the International Musical Saw Association's annual Saw Players Picnic in Santa Cruz, CA, where I witnessed not only the Saturday Jam Session (the "Saw In"), but assisted in the production of the World Championship (the "Saw Off").
It truly is an international event, drawing players ("sawyers") from around the globe. Besides some of the usual players from around California, there were participants from across the entire United States. There was even an appearance by Craig Paice (and his hand-painted ukelele) from eastern England. What really swept the awards, however, was a contingent from Japan, which included the President of the Tokyo Musical Saw Association,Seiji Kimoto. First place was clinched by Mikoto Ogihara with a rendition of Finiculi, Finicula which literally brought tears to the eys of some of the audience - pure tones and highly imaginative ornamentation rarely heard in a performance. Although not a musician myself (save for intermittent episodes of playing the spoons) I always enjoy roadie-ing, photographing the event and generally hanging out with the 2007 champion Caroline McCaskey. Yeah, that one..... Many kudos to IMSA President Morgan Cowin for another successful year! I'm already looking forward to the second saturday in August next year. (A San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate article from 2005 is still available for some more background.)

August 1, 2009
the amaryllis belladonna are creepily blooming, too	Wow, the gourd vines have... ...finally decided that they want to grow here after all! If they grow any longer I'll be sleeping less soundly, wondering if that rustling sound is them coming toward the house....... I'll have to hide out down in the relative safety of the studio, staring upwards at their roots. Hey, why not? We've found some graffiti down there that indicates that somebody tried it during the Cold War, and not a single Soviet missile got through. We think about the film "Blast from the Past" every time that we see it.
The last crop of gourds made pretty good birdhouses, Cub Scout canteens and bead displays (once we flocked the inside of them.) This year we are growing (we hope) 48" long dipper gourds, but I doubt that we'll find any birds that long. We're also trying some Nigerian bushel gourds. Luckily for us, the gourd people didn't have any Giant Nigerian Bushel gourd seeds this year, because those are reputed to reach 200 lbs.! I have decided that I am uneasy growing a crop that outweighs anyone in the house, and would decidedly be bigger than my head (and, according to some wags, contain more smarts, too.....) If this works I'll have to think about what to try next year. Carolina Gourds and Seeds are where we get ours. I never imagined that there were so many varieties..........

July 31, 2009
	Now I Understand....... ...what that line in the Addams Family theme song meant, describing them as "altogether ookie." It's the best way to describe Sarah Vowell's speaking voice. One of the things that I love to do when torching long hours well into "..the wee wee hours between midnight and day" is to have an audio book going, and my latest selection
has been Vowell's "The Wordy Shipmates." Like many of her previous works, "Shipmates" is an unvarnished account of American history, but liberally salted with her own observations and analysis. Anything but dull, however, as could easily be the case when describing the Puritans' colonization of New England (and particularly their relationships with the native tribes - "Hey, thanks for the smallpox! Can we get you anything?"- sort of thing.) Vowell's stuff is definitely worth checking out at your local library, especially for your ears. I feel that two things are really important with audio books: First, it should, whenever possible, be read by the author. Granted, not everyone that can write well can read well, but when it works, the best possible expression of the words come through. And with Vowell, it works. Secondly, and altogether non-negotiable, it must be the unabridged version, even (heck, especially) if it runs, like, 13 cds. I can't begin to explain the confusion that resulted when my wife (who had read "The Tender Bar") and I (who had mistakenly listened to the abridged version) tried to discuss some of the finer points of the story ("And what about the time that he actually met Sinatra?" "What about Sinatra? What're you talking about?"). We both thought the other must've had a different book, and, in a sense, we had. Abridged versions are like only chewing your food and not getting to taste or swallow it; it's not really enjoyable or nutritious, hardly worth the effort (and you can starve in the process!)

July 28, 2009
	Color Me Fascinated..... On those nights (or is it days? it's difficult to tell down here.....) that the muse isn't antic, I've been working my way through a terrific book: "Color - A Natural History of the Palette" by Victoria Finlay. Ok, it's hardly what one would call 'work,' as it is a joy to read. I would really like to shout out a heartfelt "Thank YOU!" to the woman at the Maker Faire who suggested this book to me, but, in the usual mind-boggling lunacy of the event, I didn't get her name. (I hope that it wasn't the author......)
Many thanks, just the same, whoever you are! The book doesn't really have anything to do with glass, or odd creatures, at least not directly, and yet, it has everything to do with everything, without getting overly philosophical. In that I really enjoyed the various "Connections" television series, this book is much like a print version thereof, hopping about from one part of the history of the world to another, but without jarring one's sensibilities. Here's hoping that your local library has it! (and, so far, I'm only up through the 'Red' section, reading about squishing red juice out of bugs to make carmine pigment. The 11 year-old boy in me is still fascinated by this kind of thing.....Can't wait to find out where the best green comes from - I'll bet it's really yucky! Wow!)

July 23, 2009
Did I Miss Something....? Someone was kind enough to forward a bulletin from their church (ok, it was my mother and, no, I'm still not going to go,thankyouverymuch, mom). Besides the usual amusing anecdotes and inspirational stories, there was a thought for the day: "Bread cast on the water comes back to you." Ok, that's great, thought I, if you should happen to want some soggy bread later...... It reminded me of a better-than-money-back guarantee from a major supplier of prepared chicken: "If you are not completely satisfied, return your chicken and we will give you two chickens free!" And, one is moved to wonder, why would anyone want two bum chickens....?

July 15 - 18, 2009
photo courtesy of the Crucible	Lotsa fun being had around here lately, no sunscreen required..... Been doing demos at the Crucible's Fire Arts Festival from 8pm - midnite this week & will do so thru saturday nite. It's at an outdoor location spread over several acres (just east of the SF Bay Bridge), with some of the most humongous fire-spewing sculptures, etc. that defy one's imagination. Huge aeoliple-shaped flying things, enormous fire tornados (probably visible from space), poi fire dancers, any num ber of flaming sculptures, self-pounding pianos and Dan
next to us making neon-filled tubes that look a lot like a model of the human digestive tract.(I always wondered what heartburn looked like....) And, of course, the Boiler Bar folks, fresh from the Maker Faire. Hadn't seen a Flamethrower Shooting Gallery before, either. Definitely Hot Fun! No doubt a lot of this stuff will later be making its way to Black Rock, home of the infamous Burning Man Festival. All of this to the beat of live music from the huge, fire-ringed stage closest to the elevated freeway (which is drowned out by the rhythmic sounds.) As the night wears on, the fog moves in, lending an even more eerie atmosphere. Oddly, I feel more normal running around in a fog............. More scenes of it can be found on YouTube.

July 13, 2009
photo courtesy of Annie's Annuals	Two days making beads in a garden ... what a perfect way to spend the weekend! Especially when it's the garden at Annie's Annuals & Perennials. We took the beadmaking demo setup: torch, a small selection of glass rods, a folding table - AND a shield to keep the kids out of the flame! It's very interesting making beads outdoors this way. We call it "battlefield conditions." If the sun's bright, you can't see the torch flame. So you go by the angle of the torch itself figuring the flame is a continuation of that line) and by looking at the glass to see if it's turning orange and melting. If it's a typical windy Bay Area summer day, that adds more to the fun.
And this was an untypically really windy Bay Area summer day. The wind blew the torch flame around a bit and caught the tent top, making the whole demo setup shake. It was like trying to make beads in the back of a pickup going down a rocky road. Ack! (Next level: White Water Torching?) Note: we'll be doing this foolishness again at the Solano Stroll Mile Long Street Party in Albany, CA in September. Check our "When / Where" What's Up page for details. But we saw friends galore: classmates from the Richmond Art Center metalsmithing class, old friends from Sonoma County ... and even parental figures! Even the friends that we hadn't even met before were there, each bearing either a dog, a well-stocked stroller or a really good camera. (Annie's is a great place just to go and shoot flower pix.) And the gardens ... aaaahhhhhh. Did we come home with plants? Of course we did, including a hops vine (!), a red-veined dock (beautiful red-and-green leaves, and you can eat the new leaves like spinach) and a California native beach primrose. Now it's a hot day, just right for NOT going outside. I'm not making the following recipe tonight, as it happens, but it's a good one to throw together in the morning and chill till evening when the temperature starting flirting with 90. BASIL-CHICKEN SALAD For each serving, use about 6 ounces of cooked chicken. Breast meat's the prettiest, but thigh meat's flavorful. Remove all skin and fat, and cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Combine with 2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise, or more, to taste. Chop up some fresh basil, using your own judgment for how much -- you want to taste it, and see the green. Toast pine nuts, pecans, walnuts or any other nutmeat you like, until they're golden brown. To serve, mound the chicken salad on lettuce leaves (spring mix adds more color), and sprinkle the pine nuts over. This salad and fresh fruit for dessert make an easy summer dinner (that goes great with a chilled white wine.)

July 5, 2009
image from http:// www.ncistudent.net/gblog/images	Good friends, good food, good California wine ... that's our idea of a great Fourth of July. Now, back to sensible eating (TWO pieces of bread with the salmon? What was I thinking?), and back to the torch for the Evil Genius and moi. We're getting ready for one of our very favorite events of the year: the Annie's Annuals Art in the Garden party, this coming weekend, July 11-12. If you're an avid gardener, you owe it to yourself to visit Annie's - which, if you don't live close enough to visit, can also be visited online by way of their awesome website.
I almost need a trail of breadcrumbs when I prowl the aisles at Annie's, because there are so many fabulous plants for sale, ones that I never encountered before venturing there - before we were part of the Art in the Garden festivities - that I always need help finding my way back to that particular one I really wanted. Luckily the aisles are clearly identified, and Annie's staff know exactly where everything is and are happy to help you find your way back to that plant with your name on it. No, we can't grow plants UNDER Downtown California in the Grotteaux -- too dark! But directly above the Grotteaux, our little patch of Downtown CA is home to a whole bunch of plants that we more or less keep from strangling each other and obliterating the house. There are trees and shrubs that were planted before, and a few we acquired and planted when we moved here ... more and more of which are from Annie's. (and then there's our alleged 'green' house - usually referred to as the 'orchid hospice', sigh......) Annie's has made me a total fan of ornamental grasses. I love them at the edges of garden "pictures." I just moved a plant of orange New Zealand sedge, Carex testacea, to the bottom of a gray brick path, in front of a Graham Thomas rose and a red-and-yellow daylily, where it forms a pretty foreground. I have several of these graceful, reddish-greenish-orangeish grasses around the place. If someone doesn't stop me, I will have more. There also are great native plants at Annie's, and innumerable poppies, and sunflowers, and just about anything you want that you can't find at the big-box stores. (I have noticed, though, that a few things I didn't used to find at the big boxes are now showing up there ... is Annie like Alice Waters, whose use of local, seasonal foods at Chez Panisse and support of farmers markets caused a revolution in eating? That would be cool.)

July 3, 2009
Happy Independence Day! Do you have a fantasy Fourth of July in your head, like I do? For some reason, when I think of this holiday, I get a sort of Mark Twain-ish vision featuring town parks filled with men in straw hats, ladies in white dresses and little kids running on green lawns, everyone eating hot dogs and ice cream, lemonade and watermelon. And spitting the watermelon seeds out in a contest. Of course. The sun shines, but not too hot, and no one gets sunburned. Night falls at just the right time, and everyone goes out peaceably to watch the fireworks. The reality is quite different. At least for us it has been. There was the Fourth when we left the Grotteaux, came to the surface and went to San Francisco, where we found ourselves at the edge of San Francisco Bay near the St. Francis Yacht Club. Joined by several hundred of the equally clueless, we sat there as the fog rolled in. We could tell there were fireworks by the muffled sounds and the pastel lights that sorta-kinda lit up the fog bank. And we were cold. There was the year when we had no plans, there was a certain amount of what we call "gnarr" going around under Downtown California, and for lack of any better ideas, we went to Golden Gate Park ... where we ended up paddling a boat around Stow Lake, and being delighted by the sight of brilliantly backlit bubbles being blown by someone on a stone bridge. We ended the day just right, at PJ's Oyster Bed. Then there's our dog, who freaks out at the sound of fireworks. If this happens in the middle of the night, even in the Grotteaux, three and a half stories under Downtown California, he can hear it. And then he leaves his basket and tries to climb up on our heads. This year, I'm going to try taking him on a superlong hike to tire him out and feed him just before the festivities begin, hoping he'll sleep through everything. Also this year, with the awful economy, cities have been canceling fireworks shows left and right around our neck of the woods. But in this densely populated part of the country, if you live around the East Bay, you can usually find a hillside somewhere that will give you a view of one or more shows. It's worth leaving the coziness of the Grotteaux. Even if a traditional Fourth isn't on your agenda, you can watch stuff on TV, like the inevitable John Williams conducting the Boston Pops, and you can make this recipe for lemonade:
image from ehow.com	LEMONADE WITH GINGER AND MINT It helps if you have fresh ginger lying around from having cooked Thai during the week. But you can leave the ginger out and it's just as good. Northern California gardeners may appreciate this recipe, since they're often oversupplied with both mint and lemons.
In a medium-size saucepan, combine 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water (yes, that's a lot of sugar, but you're making a syrup and will only use 2 tablespoons of the finished product when making your lemonade ... even so, making it yourself helps you to realize just how much sweetener you're taking in when you drink a commercial soft drink ... and that sweetener is typically high-fructose corn syrup ... ok, end of lecture. We now return you to your previously scheduled recipe.) Add the zest of two lemons (or one lemon, if you get those mutant-sized megalemons that we do on our home trees), and several slices of fresh ginger. Simmer for 5 minutes. Cool and strain. (This syrup keeps for months after straining, in an airtight container in the fridge.) Add the juice of seven lemons (or, again, if you have those monster California ones, five lemons). To make lemonade, fill a glass with ice, and water, and 2 tablespoons of the syrup. Poke a big sprig of mint into the glass and serve. Note: Make this a carbonated drink by using club soda or sparkling water. Make it an ice cream soda by using club soda, the syrup, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Adults-only note: Use this syrup to make a margarita. It's also good with a shot of rum. Make it a California mint julep by using bourbon.