I'd Rather Be In Kalangadoo

2008-03-18T23:51:00.000-04:00

Your Spelling is Perfect

You got 10/10 correct.

Your spelling is excellent. You also have a great memory and eye for detail.

2008-03-15T02:53:00.001-04:00

Who You Should Vote For

Barack Obama: 80%

Hillary Clinton: 60%

Ron Paul: 33%

John McCain: 27%

Mike Huckabee: 13%

Who you agree with on the war in Iraq: Ron Paul

Who you agree with on the economy: Barack Obama

Who you agree with on health care: Hillary Clinton

Who you agree with on taxes: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

Who you agree with on abortion: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

Who you agree with on gay rights: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

Who Should You Vote For?

2008-03-15T02:44:00.000-04:00

You Are Wintergreen Flavored Gum

You are laid back, low maintenance, and super cool.

You go with the flow, and you never cause too much of a fuss.

You are very in touch with nature and the world around you.

You prefer to keep things simple. Complexity stresses you out.

You are a very real person. Openness and honesty are important to you.

You can be friends with almost anyone, as long as they tell it like it is.

What Flavor Gum Are You?

2008-03-15T02:41:00.001-04:00

You Are a Crossword Puzzle

You are well read, and you have a good head for remembering facts.

You are a wordsmith. You have a way with words, and you're very literate.

You are a mysterious person who enjoys dropping little clues every now and then.

What Kind of Puzzle Are You?

2008-03-15T02:40:00.001-04:00

You Are Basil

You are quite popular and loved by post people.

You have a mild temperament, but your style is definitely distinctive.

You are sweet, attractive, and you often smell good.

What Spice Are You?

2008-03-15T02:34:00.001-04:00

You Are a Banana

You are mellow, easy going, and a total softie on the inside.

People find it really easy to get along with you. You suit most tastes.

And while you're very sweet, you're not boring or ordinary.

You have an attraction to the exotic, and you could show up anywhere... doing almost anything!

You are spirited, energetic, and a total kick to be around.

You're also quite funny. Your sense of humor is on the goofy side, and it fits you well.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

The Kiwi Rocks the Marmite Pizza!

2008-03-12T23:29:00.003-04:00

Hey kids!

It's been a long time. I've basically been too apathetic or too tired to post late at night. I'd thought of posting stuff several times, but alas. I'm a lazy bum. I could have posted on Dumbya, Chuck Norris and Huckabee, Hillary, Barack, Kwame, snow, cold, wine, music...all sorts of stuff. Rather than try to hack into the misfiring synapses in my feeble brain and post a shitload of stuff I'll just start from scratch and start lightly.

Did you see No Reservations on Monday? The season finale was at Les Halles in New York and Anthony actually worked a double shift on the saute station after an 8 year hiatus of cooking at the restaurant. It was hilarious! The kicker was that he got Eric Ripert to come in and work the broiler station for the dinner shift. Anthony got his ass handed to him, but he did a good job overall. Eric Ripert, one of the top chefs in the world (Les Bernardin) and a seafood expert, kicked ass on broiler. Especially for someone who's never worked in a turn-and-burn restaurant. I ate at Les Halles a few years ago for lunch and had an awesome Onglet steak. Great episode!

Tonight's season premiere of Top Chef is what actually prompted me to post. My favorite for the season is going to be Mark. I don't know if he'll win, but he's my fave. He's a Kiwi and he's actually sous chef at Public in New York. I've actually eaten at Public twice. It's a great high-end Australian restaurant in the Nolita district of Manhattan. The food there is incredible. He also had the balls to whip out the Marmite (one of his secret ingredients) and use it in the first Quickfire Challenge. I know that Vegemite has been banned in the US and I thought that Marmite was too. This season should be pretty good. There are a lot of personalities and attitudes and already a lot of fucking swearing. This season is also taking place in Chicago. I love Chicago! It's also a great food city. I've had two of the best meals of my life in that fine town (Blackbird and Trio). It has the makings of a great season. I look forward to watching it every Wednesday.

In more TV food news...
I'm also really enjoying the new season of Bizarre Foods. I really need to get to Beijing to try some donkey. No joke!

That's all for now. I've got to work my way back slowly.

ITMFA!

Random poll- What's your favorite food city?

Random poll #2- What's the craziest thing you've ever eaten?

Cheers,
Jason

Happy flippin' 2008! At least it's an election year...

2008-01-06T23:29:00.000-05:00

...and we get to vote Supertard Dubya out of office!

Happy New Year kids! Every year I say that the new year can't be as bad as the last. Each year I seem to be proven wrong. Although my own life is not necessarily better or worse, the whole situation here in Dubya's America has turned to a deeper shade of shit. Everyone knows that Michigan's economy is in the shitter and I really don't need to expound on that. I'm just bringing up because it's still crap and only getting worse. I also recently read somewhere that Michigan is in 51st place for public art funding in the nation (I think I read it in the latest Metro Times in a great article by the always thought-provoking Jack Lessenberry). (Click here for a link to an eye-opening article on Michigan's "Dubious Achievers" in 2007.) A few years ago Michigan was in 4th place. How amazingly embarrassing! This state is in a sad state of affairs. It's a little sad, really, that we're currently more backward and behind than Mississippi in many matters. No offense to Mississippians or other backwards, backwoods red-staters or anything... I think the that the film Idiocracy is coming true...

Christmas was...a day off. New Year's Day was...a day off. Today was my first day off from both jobs (not including Christmas and New Year's Day) in about a month. I'm actually off tomorrow to because someone needed to switch with me next Sunday. I'll take two days off in a row any day! Today I went to Mexican Fiesta for dinner to meet up with a bunch of friends for a birthday. Fun! Tomorrow I've got a leg of lamb to roast (it was on sale at Meijer). I think I'll rub it with some pomegranate molasses, basil, oregano, and an assload of garlic. I also bought some parsnips and Yukon Gold potatoes to mash. Not to sound like that giggly asshat waste of oxygen Rachel Ray or anything but, "Yummo!". I'll also go to Stormy Records tomorrow and do a little shopping as I have a gift certificate to use. Yay!

Christmas was nice...thanks for asking. The Christmas season at the wine store was crazy and challenging, but I won't go into that. It's all over for now, thankfully. I drove up to my parents after work on Christmas Eve to spend it with them and spent Christmas Day with them as well. That was nice. It was also a day off which made it especially nice. The Saturday night before New Year's (after work) was spent at a lovely party at BST's. I venture to say that a good time was had by all, especially those schnookered on BST's famous ChiChis coupled with "Bacony Goodness".

New Year's Eve was really nice this year. This is the first time in years that I wasn't home alone, so that was especially cool. Perl and Amy (Great catch Perl! She's awesome and I think we all really like her. Scarily, she fits in to our eclectic, exclusive group. Welcome to the dysfunctional family Amy!) had about 20 people over for dinner. They were great hosts and Perl even through some friggin' awesome tenderloins on the grill. I brought a big pot of homemade cream of wild mushroom soup (made with lots of Oloroso sherry). It was really nice just getting to spend time with good friends laughing and talking. I really relish those moments as I've got some of the greatest friends in the world! I watch the snowflakes as big as Buicks falling that night. Holy crap! Those were the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen in my life!

The next day (New Year's Day for those of you not keeping track) was spent at Julie and Glen's for our Secret Santa/Elfster exchange. Way too much food and lots of fun! I brought my triple-chocolate fudge "Skullf**k" brownies and everybody else brought stuff plus pizza AND leftovers from the party the night before. Dang! We had a true WUMD trifecta last week with three events in four days. If you toss in tonight's gathering I guess we could call it a fourfecta??? "Ba dum bum!" Sorry. Anyway, it was really great being able to spend so much time with my friends as I don't get to see some of them as often as I'd like. It was nice to ring in the new year with such great souls...

I hope you kids got everything you wanted for Christmas. I got some seriously cool stuff! (Thanks Amazon wishlist! You rule!)

I got lots of things but some highlights include the Twin Peaks boxset (the whole series), The Decalogue, and the greatest book in the world! I may have to do a mega-marathon of Twin Peaks the next time I have some serious time off. The ultra-hip, mega-cool, fashionable as always landlords got me The Decalogue DVD boxset. The Decalogue was a Polish mini-series directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski (Director of The Double Life of Veronique and the Blue, White, Red trilogy and one of my absolute faves).

The IMDB plot summary says
"This is a series of ten shorts created for Polish Television, with plots loosely based upon the Ten Commandments, directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. Two of these, Dekalog 5 and 6, are shorter cuts from the feature-length films--Krotki film o zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing) and Krotki film o milosci (A Short Film About Love), respectively. They deal with the emotional turmoil suffered by humanity, when instinctual acts and societal morality conflict."

I can't wait to drown myself in a depressing Kieslowski marathon. Apparently Stanley Kubrick described The Decalogue as the only masterpiece he could name in his lifetime.

I also got two copies of the greatest book ever! (I gave one to deserving and appreciative individual.) I got a book called My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals / Portraits, Interviews, and Recipes. The copy I got from my parents is a signed first-edition! How cool is that? For a foodie dork like me there is nothing better than this book. 50 top respected chefs from around the world are asked...
"What would be your last meal on earth?"
"What would be the setting for the meal?"
"What would you drink with your meal?"
"Would there be music?"
"Who would be your dining companions?"
"Who would prepare the meal?"

These are some of the coolest, most exciting chefs around that I absolutely admire. The likes of which include Anthony Bourdain, Fergus Henderson, Gabrielle Hamilton, Eric Ripert, April Bloomfield, Ferran Adria, Jacques Pepin, Lida Bastianich, Mario Batali, Marcus Samuelsson, Wylie DuFresne, Tetsuya Wakuda, Neil Perry, Martin Picard, Rick Bayless, and many more. Each chef has an accompanying and unique photo. Great, imaginative photography and some really cool answers. The answers range from the simplest comfort food (Gordon Ramsay) to the sublimely decadent (Gary Danko). GREATEST...BOOK...EVER!!!

A picture of Anthony Bourdain's last meal (above). Bone marrow with parsley salad as prepared by Fergus Henderson at St. John in London. Looks damn good to me! Bone marrow is one of my favorite things on the planet. I hope this doesn't make my vegetarian friends like Kathleen puke. ;)

Special thanks to BST also for being my "way overly generous" Secret Santa! Kurosawa is always a wondrous gift!

I'm super-excited about the new season of No Reservations which starts tomorrow! GREATEST...SHOW...EVER! Does Anthony Bourdain need a bitch? 'Cuz I'll be his bitch any time. All I ask for is transportation, livable wages, and an occasional table scrap. BTW, there's a great picture of him in that book. MEF from the store keeps saying that her "ovaries would be twitching if I had any" every time she sees Anthony Bourdain (and Robert Irvine). I think that picture put her over the top.

A new season of Reno 911! starts soon too!

This writers' strike sucks! Give them what they want! They deserve it! I deserve more Battlestar Galactica and Lost!

I'm also super-excited to hear that Tom Hanks will be producing a "Pacific Theater" follow-up to Band of Brothers, the single greatest piece about war ever put to film. I've mentioned several times that Band of Brothers, an HBO mini-series about Easy Company (E Company) in World War II, is one of the greatest things ever committed to film. I will always stand by that. The fact that Mr. Hanks plans on producing another mini-series focusing on the Pacific Theater of World War II is very exciting. I really can't wait!

The Iowa Caucus results were pretty surprising. I'm not 100% sure where I stand yet, but I do like Barack Obama. Huckabee scares the beejeezus out of me! But then again so does Romney and Paul. They're all scary! I just saw on a TV ticker tonight that the Detroit Free Press has officially endorsed John McCain. Interesting... It'll be very intersesting to see what happens in New Hampshire. I'd like to thank the dickheads in Lansing for f'ing up the Michigan primary. Thanks a lot assbags! F*ck up a moderately respectable primary just so you can get voter info??? You douchenozzles deserve super-wedgies!

I haven't put a lot of thought into my "Best of 2008" picks. Not much excited me this year. I didn't see many movies, buy many albums, read many books, or watch much TV of great note. Drank a few good wines. Maybe I'll come out with a better list later. Maybe not.

My best films of the year are...
No Country for Old Men (Great frickin' movie with one of my favorite actors, Javier Bardem. The ending pissed off a lot of people including Davo.)
Control (Amazing film about Ian Curtis and Joy Division! Can't wait for the DVD to come out. Great soundtrack too! Uncanny portrayal of Ian Curtis.)
Knocked Up (Just damn funny!)
Superbad (Just really damn funny! I just watched this for the first time last week on DVD.)
My list would be longer, but I don't remember any other films from 2007. I watched quite a few things on Netflix, but I don't remember if there was anything groundbreaking from 2007. I only recall seing 3 or 4 films in the theater last year. I'm sure it was more...

My album of the year is...
Grinderman - eponymous
An awesome, incendiary project by Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, and others. Powerful shit!
The Joy Division re-issues on vinyl and CD are pretty f'ing amazing too!

TV shows of the year...
Battlestar Galactica (Just bloody brilliant! Really! I'm not kidding! The critics even strongly agree! Really! Really!! REALLY!!!)
No Reservations (Duh!)
Bizarre Foods (Love this show! I really look forward to Monday nights.)
Globe Trekker (I absolutely love this show even though I never know when or if it's on anymore. I eat up every morsel of any re-run or new episode. If I'm flicking channels and come across this I'm in heaven, especially if it's a Megan McCormick episode. Ian Wright is fine too, but he's just not as cute.)

Some of my favorite wines that I tasted in 2007 are...
2003 Egelhoff Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
2002 Veraison Stagecoach Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Bouza Tannat A8 Parcela Única Montevideo (Uruguay)
2006 Atteca Old Vines Calatayud Garnacha (Spain)
2005 Frey-Sohler Muscat d'Alsace
Chateau d'Orignac Pineau des Charentes
2005 R Wines First Class Shiraz (Australia)
2005 Pierre Andre Ladoix (Burgundy)
2005 Dashe Dry Creek Zinfandel
2005 Tir Na N'og Old Vines McLaren Vale Grenache (Australia)

And to finish things off...
I went to Meijer last night to do some grocery shopping. I wanted to braise some short ribs, beef, or lamb shanks but they didn't have any. They did have some oxtails, but I opted against them. I picked up a leg of lamb instead. I was walking by the dairy/egg/cookie cooler and something caught my eye. I found a product on the shelf that made me laugh out loud. It's so wrong on two different levels that I had to buy it. First of all, it's pancake/waffle batter in a spray nozzle bottle not unlike a canister of whipping cream. Just spray it onto your hot skillet and you're done. Very wrong! Even wronger??? It's called "Organic Batter Blaster". I'll refrain from comment and let you use your own noggin. I'm embarrassed to say that I bought one and even tried it today. Actually, it wasn't too bad. It is organic, after all. The ingredients are actually recognizable and the end result was a respectable pancake. Here's a pic...

On that note...
Happy New Year! May 2008 be a great year for everybody! Dickbag Dubya will soon (not soon enough) be gone. Wishing you health, happiness, peace, and prosperity in 2008! I'll try to post more often. The holidays kicked my ass!

Random poll- What are you most looking forward to this year?
Random poll #2- What are some of your faves from '07?
Random poll #3- What New Year's resolution will you break first?

Cheers!
Jason

The Dubya Prezidenshool Libary

2007-11-15T01:46:00.000-05:00

I had a thought. I get one occasionally. I was thinking that Dubya would eventually have his own Presidential library. I imagine that it will house the world's largest collection of pop-up books and comics as well as a special section devoted to douchebaggery. I wonder who'll get the construction bid?

Another great piece from Jack Lessenberry this week on the Michigan primary.

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

I wanna be a scab...

2007-11-13T23:36:00.000-05:00

Hey kids,

I've been lackadaisical in posting lately. Sorry. Some of the things I post about may be old news, but it's been a while. Be patient with me.

How about that FEMA? This is already old news, but that fake press conference was something else. Even I wasn't expecting something like that because they'd get caught. Guess what! They got caught!

Can you believe that the Presidential election is less than a year away? Holy crap!

I picked up the Joy Division re-issue CDs from Stormy Records. They're frickin' great! The new live stuff is pretty cool. The vinyl is too cool for school!

Michael Symon is the new Iron Chef. I wanted him from the beginning, but I would have been happy with John Besh. I've been a fan of Michael Symon since he made odd appearances on the Food Network probably about 10 years ago or so (along with Aaron Sanchez). I've been wanting to eat at Lola in Cleveland for a long time and still haven't made it there yet. The guy cures his own damn meat! That's what I'm talkin' about! Congratulations Michael Symon!

I'm not so happy with this Michael Mukasey as Attorney General. Both sides seemed to say he was the least offensive candidate and even slightly qualified, but his denial to admit that waterboarding is torture is utter bullshit! I guess he doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Nobody in our administration does, apparently. Waterboarding is not wakeboarding! Send him to Gitmo for a while!

Prior to Sunday I was going to praise the Lions. I still will. Go Lions!

So, I have a proposal... With the current Writers Guild strike going on shows have gone into re-runs, movies are behind, etc. I would like to offer my services as a writer to the folks in Hollywood. Although I don't really want to be looked at as a scab I could use the money. I'm sure that scale is more than I'm making. All I ask if for travel, hotel, and scale wages as long as the strike goes on. I could write for Leno. I bet anything I come up with would be funnier than the stuff his writers come up with. I could pen a screenplay or something. I could write some episodes of Desperate Housewive...never you mind that I've never seen a single episode. Hollywood! I'm offering my services as your writer bitch. What I write may suck, but what you have to offer lately ain't exactly the mutt's nuts. Give me a chance. That's all I ask. We need to get rid of reality TV! Let's write something great!

But seriously, I hope the writers get everything they want. Good luck!

This post doesn't make any sense. It may have made more sense when I originally planned to write something a couple weeks ago but then got too lazy. Yeah. I suck!

Oh yeah! I just watched a great flick yesterday... The Oh in Ohio is hilarious! Parker Posey, Paul Rudd, Liza Minelli, Danny Davito, Keith David, Heather Graham, and Mischa Barton star. It takes place in Cleveland and Parker Posey's character has never had an orgasm in her life and never masturbated. She's been married to Paul Rudd for 10 years and he's never been able to please her sexually. It just explodes from there! Very, very funny! I'd watch Parker Posey in anything. She's the ginchiest!

Random Poll #1- Soft shell or hard shell taco?

Random Poll #2- What dish/course are you looking forward to most this Thanksgiving?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Too much fodder to ponder...

2007-10-02T23:51:00.000-04:00

Holy crap! There's just too much going on to post about. Threat of Michigan government shutdown, Tigers losing, Lions winning, Myanmar, Blackwater, record shopping, Ten Canoes, MGM opens, Iran, Dubya is still 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag, Britney loses custody, and much, much more for the low price of $19.95! I'm just too tired to write a lengthy, disjointed post right now. I can still write a short, disjointed post. I'll post something lengthier later this week.

I would, however, like to take the time to thank everybody for the kind words and gifts for my b-day a couple weeks ago. Thanks again to Perl for hosting the shindig. That was supremely cool of you. Thanks y'all!

Sorry for the pointless post.

Do be sure to rent, buy, or Netflix Ten Canoes! A beautiful, unique film with some stunning photography.

Cheers,
Jason

More great Aussie cinema...

2007-09-17T00:10:00.001-04:00

Hey kids!

Just a quickie...
I just finished watched a great Aussie film called The Tracker starring the amazing David Gulpilil. You'd most likely know him from Crocodile Dundee, but he's turned in some stellar performances in Walkabout (One of my all time faves...directed by Nicholas Roeg who was a photographer on Lawrence of Arabia which I just happened to watch this week. He also direced The Man Who Fell to Earth (!) and Full Body Massage (?)), The Proposition, and Rabbit-Proof Fence. It's quite a good film and David Gulpilil's first starring role. Luckily I searched through the extras on the DVD and noticed that there was a documentary on David Gulpilil included called Gulpilil: One Red Blood. Mr. Gulpilil is a fascinating individual. The duality of his lifestyle is very interesting. He's traveled the world and tried just about everything, but the vast majority of his life is spent living a VERY traditional Aboriginal lifestyle. He only speaks English in big cities or when filming. He's not a rich man and actually has many traditional troubles in his life. I'm really looking forward to Ten Canoes which is coming out on DVD on the 25th of this month!

I had a nice birthday weekend. Thanks everyone (especially Perl) for a nice party on Saturday! I'll have more details about the last week soon.

My vacation is over. It's back to work in the morning. Yeah...I'm really not into that. It was really nice not thinking about work for a week...

Cheers,
Jason

A pint o' Guinness for what ails ye...

2007-09-13T11:52:00.001-04:00

Hey kids,

So I was watching Glutton For Punishment on the Food Network the other night and host Bob Blumer (aka "The Surreal Gourmet") and he accepted the challenge of the "Guinness Diet". The challenge was to consume NOTHING but Guinness and water for 5 days. No foods whatsoever, no other beverages. Even making it more difficult was the fact that he was actually in Dublin among some wonderful food. Making it even more challenging was the fact that one of the members of the Hothouse Flowers that he knew from the music scene (Bob used to manage Jane Siberry) was taunting him with food the entire time. The amazing thing is that Bob did it. Bob Blumer survived on a diet of nothing but Guinness for 5 days! Very cool! Well done, Bob. You are a scholar and a gentleman...

I've noticed this for some time and brought it up to friends a couple weeks ago and they couldn't seem to come up with a logical answer...why do they show pro-wrestling on the SciFi Channel? I was flipping channels again last night and they were showing pro-wrestling. What's the deal? I understand that pro-wrestling is fiction, but science fiction? And what's the deal with pro-poker on the Travel Channel? I understand that that's where it got its TV start and that they travel the world, but why still?

I watched Hot Fuzz (pretty funny, but no Shaun of the Dead) and The Illusionist (okay). Nothing very exciting, but that's kinda cool on a week off. Tonight is Giovanni's. Woo hoo!

My Top 14 Comfort Foods
Mashed Potatoes (any style will do, but I'm a big fan of skin-on)
Macaroni and Cheese (NOT the crap out of a box!)
Potato and Leek Soup (perhaps the ultimate comfort food)
Braised Beef Short Ribs
Ramke (I don't know the spelling. It's a potato and bacon dish that my mom makes.)
Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies (Is there anything better?)
Thanksgiving Stuffing/Dressing
Chili (Bring it on!)
Green Bean Casserole (with mushroom soup and fried onions of course)
Pancakes (Stack them high and watch them fly!)
Split Pea Soup
Grilled Cheese Sandwich (Deluxe though. Definitely sourdough bread and a good cheese like Gruyere or Emmentaler.)
Guinness (It's not technically a food...sue me!)
Schinkenbrot (Thinly sliced good quality ham like Schinkenspeck, Proscuitto di Parma, or a good Black Forest style ham on a hard Swiss roll with butter and nothing else. Heaven!)

The perfect comfort meal may be potato and leek soup as a starter, braised short ribs, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole as an entree, and warm chocolate chip cookies for dessert...

Random Poll-
What are your favorite comfort foods?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

"Hey! Lindsay! C'mere. Wanna do a bump of the Lord?"

2007-09-09T23:16:00.000-04:00

Hey kids!

It's been a while. So I was driving home from having Chinese tonight with a bunch of friends and I noticed a church marquee. I'm prone to read them as sometimes they actually come up with something pretty clever. This time I almost ran off the road... It said,

"GOD IS LIKE COKE, IT'S THE REAL THING!"

Of course I know where they were going with this, but of course my mind went somewhere else. Have you ever snorted God through a dirty dollar bill in an even dirtier public restroom at a strip club? Do you have a God spoon? Will the new communion slogan be "Get in line to do a line!"? I would imagine that religious pilgrimages to Bolivia and Colombia would go up a bit. I also imagine that church attendance would go up. Mirrors in every pew...

I had a week off a week ago and then worked a week and now I've got another week off starting tonight. I ended up going north for a couple of days for a little low-key relaxing in the Kewadin area on Grand Traverse Bay. Same place I went to last year for a bit. Very cool. Very relaxing. Mostly good weather. Very nice time. There were four of us. We ended up having dinner the first night at Lulu's in Bellaire. I've been wanting to eat there for years as I've heard very good things from reliable sources. The food was excellent! The wine list left a little to be desired so I actually ordered an excellent Short's draft. The fennel crusted lamb tenderloin with rosemary demi, artichoke risotto cakes, and vegetable was wonderful. The lamb was cooked perfectly rare. The flourless chocolate torte with hazelnut and orange was outstanding. I'd definitely go back. Although it was certainly great, it's still not up to the wonderful standards of Stella in Traverse City. OUTSTANDING! Bacco in Southfield and Stella in Traverse City are definitely my top two Italian restaurants in Michigan. Paesano's in Ann Arbor is impeccable as well. Some friends (the ultra-cool landlords) are taking me to Giovanni's on Thursday for my birthday. I'm quite looking forward to that. Somehow, amazingly, I've never managed to eat there. It's beyond me how that happened as it's in everybody's "Best Of" list...

...back to "Up North"
Tuesday we went into Elk Rapids to do a little grocery shopping as I would be making dinner. I made a cream of asparagus soup with garlic with frizzled prosciutto strips. I sweated two bunches of asparagus, some onion, and garlic with S&P in EVOO and butter until soft and then I added chicken stock. I added a handful of fresh spinach (for a more vibrant green color) let it come to a boil and then I let it simmer for a bit. I then pureed it all in a blender and added it back to the pot and added heavy cream and whisked it all together. I had crisped some strips of Prosciutto and added it to the top as a garnish. Yum! For an entree I did a simple penne pasta with a cream sauce with chicken, pancetta, peas, red pepper, onion, garlic, and parmesan. Double yum! For dessert I cooked down some fresh raspberries and blueberries with orange zest, lemon zest, sugar, lemon juice, and Cointreau and let it cool. Separately I made a simple syrup with fresh orange juice, sugar, a TON of orange zest, and Cointreau and let that cool. When it was time to serve I poured the syrup over some plain poundcake and then served with the fruit compote, whipped cream, and dark chocolate shavings. Triple yum! We enjoyed some mighty good wine that night too. Good times! Good times! I stayed until mid-afternoon or so on Wednesday and drove back down and stopped at the new fantabulous Meijer in Allen Park. I had some shopping to do for the party I was throwing on Saturday.

I spent Thursday and much of Friday cooking for the party but took a break to work at the restaurant on Friday night. Saturday I finished up my cooking in time for my party. I made chili, penne arrabiata, Asian marinated flank steak, fruit platters, shrimp cocktail, strawberries macerated in aged Balsamic vinegar with black pepper, fennel and orange salad with arugula and pecorino, cannelini beans pureed with garlic and sage, a cheese plate, mascarpone cheese with Tasmanian leatherwood honey with strawberries and Kipferl cookies, my chocolate skull**** brownies, and assorted other goodies. I also infused vodka with fresh pineapple, limes, coconut, and a vanilla bean for a week. It came out pretty tasty. I think everybody had a good time and the last person left around 4:00AM (party started at 5:00). I spent some time cleaning up and got to bed pretty dang late.

I then spent Sunday cleaning up and then got a call from the fabulous Kat asking if I was planning on going to Homesick Night at Luna (formerly the Groove Room, formerly 3-D). I said I'd go as long as she was going and she said that Jane and Joe may go as well (the always great Jane and Joe were some of the last to leave the party the night before). Cool. I ended up driving and the four of us got there just after 9:00 and we ended up closing the place just like old times. I barely saw Kat as she was dancing the majority of the night. She'd make an occasional appearance at the table to swig some beer and take a drag off of her inhaler. Jane ended up being kidnapped by Kat for most of the night as well. They were both smiling during their occasional table visits, so I knew they were both having fun. It's worth a late night to see Kat smile. I was the lame-ass enjoying myself watching the purses and talking to Joe at the table most of the night. I regret not facing the other way at the table. I had pretty much nothing of note to look at except darkness and the occasional frat boy. Had I been facing the other way I could've stared at the hot bartenders and other fine YOUNG specimens. I'm almost 35 and I felt like a grandfather among the bar patrons. A dirty old man... The infamous DJ DAVO (our good friend) was in house, but he was not spinning that night. He was making his rounds all night. We ended up crossing the street after closing to the fab National Coney Island...just like old times. I used to have so much fun at 3-D. Those were the days... It ended up being another 4 o' clocker...and I was the only one that had to work on labor day. It was a long day at work on Monday. I was just tired. Dog tired. But worth it for a night of fun.

Yeah...it was back to work. But only for a week. I ended up coming down with a wicked bad cold on Wednesday. Wednesday and Thursday were pretty brutal. I've been feeling pretty fine since Friday except for the barely there sniffle. I'm feeling pretty good. Actually I'm feeling pretty damn fine since I'm on vacation again. A bunch of us went out to dinner this evening. I had the Kung Pao Squid. Pretty good. I even managed to eat some of the hot peppers that I wasn't supposed to eat...apparently. At the end of the meal I ended up with two peppers left on the plate. There were more than than when I got the plate. There were a few moments when I broke into a bit of a sweat. This week is going to be pretty low-key. I'll be hanging around mostly. My friends are taking me to Giovanni's on Thursday, I'm working at the restaurant on my birthday, and friends are taking me to dinner on Sunday (Eve?). The highlight, however, will be on Saturday. The trez cool Perl is throwing me a birthday party. I've never had a birthday party in my life. I've gone out to dinner with large groups of people on my birthday before, but I've never had an actual party of sorts. Will I have to wear a funny hat? I'm looking forward to it.

I did watch a few movies...
I watched Pumpkin with Christina Ricci. I thought it was very good and very darkly funny. Killer soundtrack too! I'd recommend it. I also watched Blades of Glory. Not so good. I was hoping for more from Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. It was funny, but definitely not in the league of Anchorman. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett were hilarious though. I think they're the funniest real-life couple around (now that Brittney and K-Fed are splits)! I finally saw The DaVinci Code. I never read the book. Interesting and intriguing, but mostly stuff I've heard before. Entertaining though. Audrey Tautou looked great, but still not like her angelic self in the amazing Amelie.

That's all for now kids...

Random Poll- What's your favorite milkshake flavor?

Random Poll #2- What's your favorite Slurpee flavor?

Random Poll #3- Now that autumn is soon upon us what seasonal dish are you looking forward to most?

Random Poll #4- What's the best church marquee you've seen?

Oh yeah...just in case you're one of the three people who haven't seen the Miss Teen USA South Carolina thing here's a link. Scary/funny as hell!

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

"Where have all the mosquitos gone? Long time passing..."

2007-08-19T21:51:00.000-04:00

Hey kids!

Finally a brief respite with the weather. Thank goodness! It's warmish and drizzly...almost perfect. I really can't wait until fall. I look forward to the cool, crisp air. Perfect weather for me is that cusp where you may or may not need a jacket or even a little cooler. This has been a pretty ding dangity hot summer. I hope that Al Gore throws his hat in the ring and the government could actually try to do something to fast-track efforts to confront global warming. Global warming makes me sweat and thusly makes me stink. So it would be beneficial for everybody to stop global warming. Nobody likes a stinky guy!

I went out to dinner tonight with a friend. My friend sort of recognized our server as she sort of recognized my friend. They ended up making the connection. Mutual acquaintances apparently. Our service started out great but then it got pretty busy and they were short-staffed. Our server also had to take a phone call. Our server apologized for the flighty service, but apparently the phone call she received was a girl saying that she was sleeping with her live-in boyfriend. Ouch! Our server handled it very well considering where she was and what she was doing. She held it together pretty well. I don't know this boyfriend but all I can say is...ASSHOLE!

I have seen a few good films lately...
There was an outstanding HBO documentary called White Light/Black Rain about the survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshimi. It was riveting! Many survivors were interviewed and their artwork was shown. Surviving members of the atomic bomb team and the Enola Gay crew were interviewed as well. It was very touching, brutal, gut-wrenching, poetic, and even beautiful. HBO is really producing some amazing stuff. I highly recommend it.

I also watched The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It's been a long time since I've seen this Humphrey Bogart classic. What a wonderful film! A classic story of greed and paranoia.
"Badges!? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!!"

Rabbit-Proof Fence is an amazing film that I recently watched. It's an Aussie film based on the true story of three half-Aboriginal girls that were taken away from their family and placed in a compound over a thousand miles away with other "half-caste" Aborigines. The Aborigines Act 1905 instigated this atrocity at the Moore River Native Settlement. The film follows their escape and attempt to walk home. It's a very touching, beautiful film. Amazing photography/cinematography! The three Aboriginal girls playing the roles had no prior acting experience and they did an AMAZING job! What a wonderful film! Have a box of Kleenex on hand for this one.

I also watched Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog. What a fascinating, but bizarre film. Bizarre because the person who actuall shot the footage, Timothy Treadwell, was such a nutjob! A crazy guy named Timothy Treadwell used to spend part of every year living among the grizzlies in Alaska and documented nearly every minute of it until he and his girlfriend were mauled by a grizzly. Werner Herzog pieced together bits of Mr. Treadwell's footage to put this documentary together. His lunacy is clearly evident, but it's also evident that he really did love the bears. His actions were certainly questionable, but it's undeniable that some of his footage is simply breathtaking and amazing. A cool extra is the "making of" the soundtrack bit. THE Richard Thompson, Jim O'Rourke (yeah, that NYC-scene former 5th member of Sonic Youth clown...he is good though), and others improvise a soundtrack to the documentary. Very cool! Another must watch!

I'll finally be using some vacation time soon. It's about time. My brain is about to melt.

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. My brain is mush. Not that I've made a proper post in a while (including this one). I'm too un-motivated to be motivated right now. Posting about politics right now may take too much out of me. I won't even comment on Karl Rove right now...it would just take too much energy. Maybe my upcoming vacation time will zap my lethargic phase.

RIP- Merv Griffin, you were one cool cat! I wish I could write one game show ditty and make $80 million in royalties...among all of your other amazing projects. In the "I did not know that department"- I did not know that Merv Griffin sang "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" and took it to number one in 1950.

RIP- Former Factory Records guru Tony Wilson died on August 10th in Manchester after a battle with kidney cancer. The movie 24 Hour Pary People was inspired by him. The music world would not have been the same without him after nurturing bands like Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, A Certain Ratio, and The Durutti Column. I can't wait until Control gets released in the US. It better come to Detroit!

LOVING the new season of No Reservations and Bizarre Foods!

Hoping to see Superbad while it's still in theaters...

My 20 Favorite Things About Summer
1) Coke Slurpees/Icees
2) Iced Coffee
3) Scantily clad women
4) Air Conditioning

...my list ends at 4. I hate summer! However, knock on wood, where are the frickin' mosquitos this summer? Did global warming kill them too? I'm not complaining. I'm sure this rain today will change things...

Random poll- What are you looking forward to the most about fall?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

2007-08-05T23:55:00.001-04:00

What Your Sleeping Position Says

You are calm and rational person with a good deal of balance in your life.
Friends consider you to be kind, caring, and truly loyal.
You are easy going and trusting. However, you are too sensible to fall for mind games.
Open to the world, you are not afraid to be yourself.

If you don't get enough sleep, you are: Able to cope

It's hard to sleep next to you because: You're a bed hog

What Does Your Sleeping Position Say About You?

Many movies in the moist, muggy summer.

2007-08-04T01:47:00.000-04:00

Hey kids,

How the heck are ya'? This has been a helluva summer, hasn't it? This global warming shit sucks balls!

This weekend is Dearborn Homecoming. It's a painful zit on the upper lip of life. I can't wait for this weekend to be over. I guess it's actually a good thing that I'm working Saturday and Sunday. My next day off (between both jobs) is a week from Sunday. I did have this Wednesday off. That felt a little odd and the fact that I made lasagna on one of the hottest days of the year is just a little daft of me.

Last week I went to see The Simpsons Movie. I've been a die-hard Simpsons fan for 18 years now. Can't get enough of it. The movie, although good, was...a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong...I enjoyed it. I'd say that it was like a 90 minute episode...with the current writers. It lacked the bite and genius that the show offered 10 years ago for example. The show is still one of the best things on TV, but it's not as good as it used to be. Personally I think the show really hit its stride in season 3 and kept it going for a while. I was entertained by the movie and I'm glad I saw it, but I guess I was just expecting more. I'm pretty critical though. There were certainly some great gags/jokes, but there just wasn't enough cohesiveness. Although all of the characters may have physically appeared in the movie, there wasn't enough dialogue among them. Luckily Ralphie did have one memorable line. Ralphie lines are always my favorite. I think they should make a Ralphie movie. What do you think? What's your opinion of The Simpsons Movie?

I've watched a fair amount of Netflix movies lately. Here's a rundown...

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest- Harmless drivel, mildly entertaining

Breaker Morant- Outstanding Aussie film about 3 Aussie soldiers on trial during South Africa's Boer War. Highly recommended!

Letters from Iwo Jima- Excellent!

Punk: Attitude- Great documentary on the punk scene! Very well done!

Blood Diamond- Not bad. Leonardo DeCaprio annoys me, but he didn't stink it up too bad. His South African accent was actually pretty good. Djimon Hounsou id a great job!

Zodiac- Pretty good. Very interesting. Follows the crimes and investigation of the Zodiac murderer.

Rockets Redglare- A documentary of the enigmatic, strange, Village scene mainstay. How could such an unusual, lazy guy be friends with Julian Schnabel, Sid Vicious, Willem Dafoe, Jean Michael Basquiat, Jim Jarmusch, Jim Lurie, Gus Van Sant, Steve Buscemi, Matt Dillon, and others? How could he star in so many films of some of the most respected directors out there? Who knows? Very interesting. I've been curious about Rockets Redglare since I saw him in Basquiat and wondered who the hell is this guy and why the hell is in this this movie? Definitely a must see if you have any idea who he is?

Thumbsucker- Very good and quirky movie with Vincent D'Onofrio AND Vince Vaughn. The amazing Tilda Swinton is in this too as well as a whacked out Keanu Reeves. Highly recommended if you're in a weird mood.

Mystic River- Very good! Never expect a bad performance from Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, or Kevin Bacon. Pretty dark.

Mean Streets- I haven't seen this in a very long time. What a classic! Scorsese's first! Featuring young and supremely talented Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro.

Right now I've got Eraserhead. I haven't seen this strange, cult classic in very long time. Jack Nance- RIP

That's all for now...

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

The truth about ethanol...

2007-07-31T00:16:00.000-04:00

Read this great article from Rolling Stone about ethanol. My milk prices are going up because of this shit? Milk is more expensive than gas now...and that ain't right. Maybe I should start drinking gas. It's cheaper.

And another great Rolling Stone article here on To Catch a Predator and entrapment.

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

2007-07-22T14:31:00.001-04:00

You Are Toast

Old fashioned and a bit of a homebody, you totally go for comfort food.
You're the type who loves to cook for friends, and they love you for it.
You truly know what tastes good, and you can often pick out the best dish at a restaurant.
You don't fall for food trends. You stick with what's been food for a long time!

What Kind of Breakfast Are You?

Be afraid!

2007-07-20T13:19:00.000-04:00

Apparently Dubya is going in for a routine colonoscopy tomorrow during which time power of the Presidency will be temporarily transferred to Dickhead Cheney. I think they'll find that Dubya is full of shit, but I'm concerned about what Cheney might do during the procedure. Make sure you're watching your human and Constitutional rights tomorrow. Someone may try to snatch them away...

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Is it really true?

2007-07-20T01:37:00.000-04:00

I've heard a rumor that they're building a Sonic in Southgate. Could this really be true? Commercials really work when there isn't one around. Everyone I know that's actually been to a Sonic say that they rule. Make it so...

Jason

DVD skip to my Lou...

2007-07-17T23:37:00.001-04:00

Hey kids!

I was about half way through watching Letters from Iwo Jima when the Netflix DVD started skipping. Damn it! I was quite enjoying it. I'll try it on my bedroom DVD/VCR combo in a bit, but I'll take a breather here...

Bored...apparently.

I stole this thingy here from Kat.

Here's a quizarino that makes you use a word that starts with the first letter of your name to anwer each question (and you can't use your own name as an answer)

Your Name: Jason

1. Famous Singer/Band: Joy Division
2. 4 letter word: jail
3. Color: I don't think that "jute" is technically a color. "Jade", I guess.
4. Street: John R.
5. Gifts/Presents: jewelry
6. Vehicle: Jaguar
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: junk
8. Boy Name: James
9. Girl Name: Josephine
10. Movie Title: Japanese Story
11. Drink: Jamestown Kool-Aid
12. Occupation: Judge
13. Flower: Japhette Orchid (I had to cheat on this one. At least it's pretty.)
14. Celebrity: Jeffrey Wright
15. Magazine: Juggs
16. U.S. City: Juneau, Alaska
17. Pro Sports Teams: Jacksonville Jaguars
18. Fruit: Jackfruit
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: junkie (either being one or tripping over one on the way to work)
20. Something You Throw Away: Jellybeans (not a huge fan). The current administration seems to be throwing away jurisprudence.
21. Things You Shout: Jackass!
22. Cartoon Character: Jub-Jub (Selma Bouvier's iguana on The Simpsons)

Cheers,
Jason

A List of Top-10 Lists More or Less

2007-07-15T23:11:00.000-04:00

Hey kids! Here are a bunch of lists of things I love. I put it together without a lot of thinking. I'm pretty much doing this off the top of my head. I may be forgetting some of my favorite things, but my memory is crap. If you see on of my faves and I neglected to list it please point it out. What are some of your favorite things?

24 Funniest Movies
History of the World Part I
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Caddyshack
Animal House
Vacation
Airplane
This is Spinal Tap
Best in Show
Rushmore
Borat
Monty Python and The Holy Grail
Sleeper
Jackass
Jackass 2
Clerks II
Dogma
Waiting for Guffman
Monty Python’s Life of Brian
Anchorman
The Castle
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Dr. Strangelove
Major League

20 Funniest TV Shows
The Young Ones
Chef
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Kids in the Hall
Sledgehammer
Black Adder
Reno 911
Are You Being Served?
Police Squad
Mr. Show
Chappelle’s Show
South Park
The Jack Benny Program
Simpsons
Roseanne
Family Guy
All in the Family
M*A*S*H
Absolutely Fabulous
*The O’Reilly Factor (unintentional)

10 Best War Movies
Full Metal Jacket
Apocalypse Now
Bridge on the River Kwai
Das Boot
The Longest Day
The Dirty Dozen
Gallipoli
Platoon
Stalingrad
Stalag 17
*Band of Brothers (Not a movie, not a show. It was a mini-series, but as far as I'm concerned it's the single best war production ever produced. It's a masterpiece!)

Top 12 Movie Soundtracks
Lost in Translation
Marie Antoinette
The Proposition
A Clockwork Orange
Times Square
American Graffiti
Rushmore
Royal Tannenbaums
Kids
Basquiat
Repo Man
Valley Girl

33 Best Movies of All Time
Once Were Warriors
White (From the Blue, White, and Red trilogy by Krzystof Kieslowski)
City of Lost Children
Japanese Story
Lost in Translation
The 400 Blows
Ratcatcher
Basquiat
Short Cuts
Wings of Desire
Casablanca
Dr. Strangelove
Pelle the Conqueror
Flirting
Seven Samurai
Stranger than Paradise
Faraway So Close
The Year My Voice Broke
Walkabout
Red
Schindler’s List
To Live
My Life as a Dog
Before Night Falls
Brazil
Heavenly Creatures
Secrets and Lies
Pulp Fiction
Unbearable Lightness of Being
Taxi Driver
In the Heat of the Night
The Proposition
Das Boot

12 Best Current TV Shows
Battlestar Galactica
Reno 911
Lost
Sarah Silverman Program
Globetrekker
No Reservations
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmer
House
Simpsons
South Park
Law and Order: SVU
Family Guy

10 Best TV Shows of All Time
The Sopranos
M*A*S*H
The Simpsons
The Twilight Zone
Battlestar Galactica (The new one. It's actually genius!)
South Park
The X-Files
The Wonder Years
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Twin Peaks

16 Greatest Actors
Sir Alec Guinness
Noah Taylor
Ray Winstone
Jeffrey Wright
Edward Norton
Robert Duvall
John Hurt
Peter Sellers
Christian Bale
Ewan McGregor
Daniel Day Lewis
David Thewlis
Timothy Spall
Gary Oldman
Tim Roth
Kenneth Branagh

15 Best Actresses
Toni Colette
Lili Taylor
Kate Winslet
Thandie Newton
Gong Li
Cate Blanchett
Audrey Hepburn
Dame Judi Dench
Isabella Rosselini
Emmanuelle Beart
Frances McDormand
Cate Blanchett
Helen Mirren
Parker Posey
Brenda Blethyn
Katherine Hepburn

11 Actresses I’d Most Like to Shag
Kate Winslet
Thandie Newton
Jennifer Connelly
Liv Tyler
Irene Jacob
Emmanuelle Beart
Julie Delpy
Isabella Rosselini
Molly Ringwald
Milla Jovovich
Parker Posey
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Tautou

13 Best Aussie Films
Japanese Story
Flirting
The Year My Voice Broke
Breaker Morant
Walkabout
The Castle
Little Fish
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Gallipoli
Romper Stomper
Muriel’s Wedding
The Proposition
The Nostradamus Kid

The Holy Trinity of Film
The Breakfast Club
Pretty in Pink
Sixteen Candles

My 10 Favorite Songs Right Now Without Overanalyzing It
"Atmosphere"- Joy Division
"The Mercy Seat"- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
"Tupelo"- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
"Under the Boardwalk"- The Drifters
"Baby Blue"- Them
"God Only Knows"- Beach Boys
"Woodstock"- Joni Mitchell
"Gideon"- My Morning Jacket
"Swamp Thing"- Chameleons
"My Favorite Things"- John Coltrane

10 Best Albums Right Now, Subject to Change at a Moments Notice
A Love Supreme- John Coltrane
Daydream Nation- Sonic Youth
Closer- Joy Division
Tender Prey- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Pet Sounds- The Beach Boys
Kind of Blue- Miles Davis
Script of the Bridge- Chameleons
Velvet Underground and Nico
Loveless- My Bloody Valentine
Hounds of Love- Kate Bush

11 Best Meals (Restaurant/Winery)
Trio- Chicago (Best overall meal ever. Chef Grant Achatz stunned with a 21-course dinner with wine pairings.)
Cuisine- Detroit
Blackbird- Chicago (Best individual dish ever. A 12-hour braised pork belly...'nuff said.)
Brasserie Les Halles- New York (How could I NOT include Anthony Bourdain's restaurant?)
Public- New York (Creative, excellent Aussie fare in Manhattan.)
Too Chez- Novi, Michigan (A great restaurant back in the day before it closed.)
Bridgewater Mill- Adelaide Hills, Australia (Simply stunning!)
Bill's Cafe- Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia (Best breakfast anywhere! The BEST SCRAMBLED EGGS IN THE WORLD! Even the New York Times said so.)
Mandarin Palace- Salem, Oregon (When I was a kid my dad and I went to this Chinese restaurant in town and had a very memorable pressed duck. I still remember it to this day. God I love duck!)
The Menzies Room- Coonawarra, Australia (The food wasn't extravagant, but it was certainly deliciuos. We were out in the middle of nowhere in Coonawarra with Yalumba Winery hosting our dinner. The food was excellent and simply prepared. The camaraderie really made it special. Up until this point in Australia we were being stuffed to the gills with cheese, lamb, kangaroo, and other heavy hitters. They passed around 3 big bowls of family style salad and we devoured it. I don't remember when I was so happy to eat like a rabbit. The simple beef filet was very comforting as well. A highlight is when a drunken shipshearer showed up at the front door completely lost. Quite a treat! We finished with a game of "Options" and some Coopers (of course). One of several amazing Australian meals...)

10 Great Splurges
A professional shoe shine
Foie Gras
An extra scoop of ice cream
Champagne
A glass of Armagnac or B&B after a good meal
Upgrading seats
Having the hotel do your laundry
A bigger engine
Really comfortable, durable shoes (like Blundtone boots for example)
A Criterion Collection DVD

I'm missing shit for sure, but who really cares? It's all in fun. I've probably left out some really obvious stuff, but that's how my brain works. What are some of your lists or comments?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

To thine own animated self be true...

2007-07-09T00:36:00.000-04:00

My Simpsons avatar

Documentaries are the flavor of the month...

2007-07-09T00:08:00.000-04:00

Hey kids! Just a quickie here. I just finished watching Who Killed the Electric Car? and must make a strong recommendation to see it. (I've been going through a documentary phase.) I've been meaning to see it for a while. Just like An Inconvenient Truth, it's a lot of stuff I've heard before but presented well in one singular package. No surprise that big oil, government, and big auto are sneaky capitalistic piggies. I never thought I'd have an appreciation of actress Alexandra Paul (no offense to the Baywatcher). I feel guilty for my 6 cylinder gas-guzzler, but it's really hard to make the right decision while living in "The D". I'll post more soon. I'm working on a list of top-ten lists that I should be posting soon.

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

2007-06-29T10:56:00.001-04:00

You Are Cheesecake

Rich, sweet, and simply perfect.
You're not boring - you're just the best!

What Dessert Are You Most Like?

2007-06-25T02:26:00.001-04:00

You Are Scissors

Sharp and brilliant, you can solve almost any problem with that big brain of yours.
People fear your cutting comments - and your wit is famous for being both funny and cruel.
Deep down, you tend to be in the middle of an emotional storm. Your own complexity disturbs you.
You are too smart for your own good. Slow down a little - or you're likely to hurt yourself.

You can cut a paper person down to pieces.

The only person who can ruin you is a rock person.

When you fight: You find your enemy's weak point and exploit it.

If someone makes you mad: You'll do everything you can to destroy their life

Are You Rock, Paper, or Scissors?

Do you have a permit for that lemonade stand?

2007-06-17T23:49:00.000-04:00

Hey kids,

This weather sucks! I'm schvitzing! I had to do an in-home wine tasting last night and it was held in the sun porch. It was hotter in the sun porch than it was outside! I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and tie and everybody at the event was pretty casual. It was rough, but eventually the wine tasting portion was moved inside because it was unbearable in the sun porch. Most of the people were chilling by the pool. Other than the unbearable heat and humidity the rest of the event was just fine.

Driving to the event yesterday I noticed a lemonade stand on the side of the road (on Telegraph...not the best place for a lemonade stand). As far as I could gather it looked like assorted flavors of Kool-Aid in pitchers and bottled water. It takes me back to a simpler time. I remember when a few of us kids from our apartment complex made a piece of crap stand out of scrap wood from the neighboring field. We pulled our money together and walked to the Plaid Pantry (a nearby convenience store)and bought some powdered lemonade mix. I think we lost money on the deal. Nobody seemed to want cold, refreshing lemonade. What was up with that? It was hot out that day. So...I noticed the bottled water and assorted Kool-Aids and sort of smiled. I miss the innocent days of my youth. I didn't notice, however, anyone manning the table. It was just sitting out there for anyone to take. Was this some sort of Jonestown trickery? I'm sure the kids were just inside because it was TOO FRICKIN' HOT TO BE OUTSIDE! But then I also got to thinking about laws and such. Do you need a permit to run a lemonade stand (or a $.05 psychiatric stand)? I'm sure you do, but I'm sure that cops and city officials look the other way when it's run by kids. I could just imagine an official from this fair city shutting down a lemonade stand with extreme prejudice. If kids get away with it could I? I could always use some extra cash. I should start a lemonade stand on the front lawn. There's a fair amount of foot and vechicle traffic. I could charge more to add vodka. How about a refreshing Pimm's Cup? I'm sure they'd cart my ass away. I'm really surprised in this day and age that the kids aren't being hauled off either. Anyway, kudos to young entrepreneurship! Just don't drink the purple Kool-Aid...

Last week I Netflixed the original The Ladykillers from 1955 starring Sir Alec Guinness, Herbert Lom, and Peter Sellers. What a great film! I clicked on the Biography link for Alec Guinness and read something pretty fascinating about him. Did you know that he was the first Allied soldier to land on Sicily during World War II? His boat landed accidentally landed an hour before all the others. Very interesting. I think I'm getting Kind Hearts and Coronets soon from my queue...

I also just watched a great documentary on the American Hardcore scene appropriately called American Hardcore. It was very well done and covered the whole scene inclucing Black Flag, SSD, DRI, Negative Approach, Necros, 7 Seconds, Minor Threat, TSOL, Circle Jerks, Jerry's Kids, Flipper, Teen Idles, Wasted Youth, Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, SOA, DOA, MDC, Adolescents, Descendents, Big Boys, DYS, Battalion of Saints, Poison Idea, and many others. It was pretty cool to hear some of the interviews. Regretfully I'm too young to have seen any of these bands the first time around...

I also watched a really good documentary on the Minutemen called We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen. Very cool! It's a shame that D. Boon died so early. At least Mike Watt is still around and one of the greatest bass players ever!

I went to Farmer Jack the other day and all seafood was 50% off and all frozen food was 20% off. I loaded up on some frozen shrimp and a few other odds and ends. I went back today and the frozen food is now 30% off. Nice! It should be going to half-off soon. I also went to the new Meijer in AP for the first time. It was crazy busy but it's a nice store. I guess I'll drive a little further to shop at Meijer rather than shop at the kraptastic Kroger. They have a lot more food! I think it's kind of funny that it's a bit of a workout to leave. You have to push your loaded shopping cart uphill to your car in the lot. I'm going to miss Farmer Jack, but I'll cope...

Something very good finally happened at work. Things should be getting better, but not without a challenge. At least we finally have something to smile about.

The wine distribution system in Michigan is currently in a MAJOR tizzy. It's really F'ed up! The monopoly is on its way. The big boys are moving in and it's going to get even uglier. I'm so confused...

Cheers,
Jason

B.A.D.D.- Blog Attention Deficit Disorder (Really random crap)

2007-06-14T00:31:00.000-04:00

Hey kids!

This will be short. Verlander had a no-hitter for the Tigers last night and that's pretty frickin' sweet. Unfortunately I didn't find out about it until this morning as I didn't watch the game yesterday. Way to go Justin!

Another great piece from Jack Lessenberry here on the privately-owned, crumbling Ambassador Bridge.

Here's a hilarious site...
hotchickswithdouchebags.com
...just what it says.

I just read something about product-placement in film and that Ford has 41% of vehicle placement in recent movies. I think it's sort of funny that it was a Ford that ran over Phil Leotardo's head in the last episode of The Sopranos.

You Are Chardonnay

Fresh, spirited, and classic - you have many facets to your personality.
You can be sweet and light. Or deep and complex.
You have a little bit of something to offer everyone... no wonder you're so popular.
Approachable and never smug, you are easy to get to know (and love!).

Deep down you are: Dependable and modest

Your partying style: Understated and polite

Your company is enjoyed best with: Cold or wild meat

What Kind of Wine Are You?

And I thought for sure I'd be shiraz...

You are Milk Chocolate

A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds.
You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life.
Also nostalgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

What an insult! I'm definitely dark. At least I'm not white chocolate.

I watched For Your Consideration last night. It was certainly good and funny, but not Christopher Guest's best work. Parker Posey always pleases...

The new season of Top Chef looks like it could be pretty good. The caliber of contestants seems to be higher this time around. I can't believe that I've eaten more of the crazy ingredients than the chefs have...

Too lazy/tired to actually THINK of anything to write today...

Cheers,
Jason

"Aaaarrrrggghh!" and "Deep sigh..."

2007-06-10T23:23:00.000-04:00

Hey kids!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've either been too busy, too tired, or been watching season finales. Rather than try to recount everything I've done (nothing too darn exciting), I'll pretty much start anew unless I remember some random crap.

The title of this post is in reference to the series finale of The Sopranos. I'm sad that the greatest TV show ever created (other than M*A*S*H) is over. It was a great run. But why did they have to leave you hanging like that? Without any real resolution? It's like Lucy Van Pelt pulling the football away from Charlie f'in Brown. At least the show wasn't the dream of an autistic boy looking at a snow globe of St. Eligius Hospital (WTF was that?!?). Thanks for 8 years of "great fuckin' ziti"!

I'm really sore and tired. I was fine all day until I sat down for the first time (about 7:30). Now I can barely walk. Today we held a big yearly tasting and it kicks my ass every year. Lots of set up and tear down. Eight hours of hauling 8' foot tables on my back, hauling other stuff, and keeping people happy and imbibed. Another grand 10 hour day on my day off. At least it's over until next year.

There's going to be a great change happening at work soon. We're all looking forward to it. Although I hate the song "The Final Countdown" by Europe I feel it's appropriate at this time. Things should get better soon. It will still be a challenge, of course, but there should at least be something to work for. I'll leave it at that for now...

Randomly...

I went to another Tiger's game a few weeks ago (against St. Louis). Great game (9-6)! Great seats! Great time!

Knocked Up is hilarious!!! Go see it!

Pan's Labyrinth was very good, but I don't understand the uber-hype. This Film Film Is Not Yet Rated is a must see documentary on the MPAA!!! Do yourself a favor and see it. You may be surprised about a lot of things! Nudity/homosexuality bad! Extreme violence/bad language awesome! Bloody Romsfeldian Puritans!

The restaurant has been pretty flippin' busy on Friday nights. That's a good thing.

I was watching a Netflix copy of Children of Men and was enjoying it until the disc started skipping 3/4 of the way through it. I reported the problem and but didn't re-order it right away to watch it. I'll have to remember to re-add it to my queue and put it near the top.

The wine distribution system in Michigan right now is in a major tizzy. It's a bloody awful mess. Big business looks like it's going to win again. I imagine that there will be two or three distributors left in the next five years (rather than the approximately 20 I buy from now). None of this mega-national distributors had a hold on wine in Michigan until recently. Monopolies are going to be the death of us.

Dubya can still sit and spin! ITMFA!

That's all for now...I'm tired.

Cheers,
Jason

Random poll- What was your favorite treat from the ice cream truck when you were a kid?

Random poll #2- Favorite TV show of all time?

Random poll #3- How long before we see a prison-sex video or vajajay shot of Paris Hilton in jail?

Random poll #4- When are they going to open a damn Sonic in Michigan? The commercials drive me nuts.

Phone change

2007-05-18T13:34:00.000-04:00

Hey kids!

I've been fairly busy and haven't posted much. Sorry. Too many TV shows wrapping up for the season and I just haven't felt like posting afterword. This is just a quick note to those of you who know me. I've finally disconnected my land-line and I'm just available by cell now. Have a great weekend! I'm going to the Tigers game on Sunday...I'll try not to burn myself this time.

Cheers,
Jason

Word on the street...

2007-05-10T01:46:00.000-04:00

Hey kids!

Word on the street is that the Hiller's Market is going to buy the Farmer Jack building in West Dearborn. That's good. I've been upset about Farmer Jack closing in a couple months. I like Farmer Jack and I HATE the Kroger across the street. I guess the Kroger's only redeeming quality is that they carry leeks and Farmer Jack doesn't. I like Hiller's. It's sorta pricey, but the quality is generally pretty good and a fair amount of organic stuff. I have no idea how long it's going to be before anything comes of it, but it's something to look forward to I guess...

I just finished watching Little Children. It is an outstanding film! However, it's the feel bad movie of the year. There's a general creepiness about it that I haven't felt since Happiness. Kate Winslet is wonderful as always. (Probably my biggest celebrity crush...) This film goes to very dark places and Jackie Earle Haley takes you there. His performance is masterful! He should've won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. From The Bad News Bears to Breaking Away to obscurity to one of the most stellar performances ever!!! Only 28 years for a comeback! The film is amazing, but you probably shouldn't watch it...

Cheers,
Jason

"I am the lobster...goo goo g'joob!"

2007-05-09T00:03:00.000-04:00

Hey kids!

It's hot today. I mean summer hot! What's up with that? I'm ready for snow again...

I really haven't done much since my last post seeing as I don't get out much and all. I did happen to go to the Tigers game a week ago Sunday with some friends. I think it's the only time I've ever gone to a Tiger game and they've won. It was a great game ending with a walk-off homer by Inge. Good game. Unfortunately I misapplied some suntan lotion and missed a few spots. I burnt the shit out of my upper forehead and my upper arms. I looked a bit like a splotchy Dr. Zoidberg. Luckily the burns were not in spots that rubbed up against clothing. I'm peeling now and much better, thanks for asking.

RIP-
Tommy Newsom - Tommy Newsom, Assistant Music Director on the Tonight Show under Johnny Carson's reign, passed away recently. Johnny jokingly dubbed the sax player "Mr. Excitement". I still remember one time that he made me laugh my ass off. Doc Severinsen (I met Doc Severinsen very briefly once...nice guy) was on a Carribean vacation (or other tropical vacation) and Tommy was sitting in for him as bandleader. Johnny asked Tommy where Doc was and he responded "Oh, he's probably honking on a conch". Well...it made me laugh, and I still remember it.

Tom Poston - Why is always the funny ones? Tom Poston, star of The Bob Newhart Show, Mork and Mindy, Newhart, and countless other guest roles passed away recently at the age of 86. Did you know that he was married to Suzanne Pleshette for the last 6 years? We'll miss you Tom...

I must be getting older...
A couple weeks ago at the restaurant job on of the newer, young bartenders asked what a Sidecar was. She had no idea. (Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice) She had never heard of it. She also wasn't sure what a Kir was (dry white wine, creme de cassis, and a lemon twist). Mind you, I have no flippin' idea how to make a Screaming Dead Nazi, a Slow Comfortable Screw Up Against a Wall with a Pillow, or any of the countless new "martini" recipes. Luckily I still do know how to make most of the "old school" drinks. Must come from my country club days. This new generation of younger bartenders may be able to make drinks that glow in the dark and taste like Sweet Tart farts, but I challenge them to make a Bullshot, a Pink Squirrel, a Golden Cadillac, a Rob Roy, a Stinger, a Grasshopper, or even a proper gin martini. I bet they don't know how to make a drink a Presbyterian (ginger ale and club soda). Deep sigh... Are these classics going to be forgotten? Give me a Singapore Sling and shut up!

(1 1/2 ounce gin
1/2 ounce Cherry Heering brandy
1/4 ounce Cointreau
1/4 ounce Benedictine
4 ounces pineapple juice
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/3 ounce grenadine
dash bitters
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a tall glass and garnish with a cherry and a pineapple slice. Enjoy!)

I neglected to mention that after the Tiger game my friends and I went to Slow's Barbeque on Michigan Ave. (near the original Tiger Stadium). I've eaten there several times and the food's always great and affordable. Where else can you get a pound of GREAT Texas-style BBQ brisket and two large sides for $11.95? Great food, great beer selection, and horrible service. It seems that any decent restaurant of the not super-posh type in Detroit tends to attract the swarthy Wayne State "too hip to bathe" student/band member types as servers. Service at spots such as Slow's, TJ's, Union Street, and the Majestic Cafe can downright suck. If you can't care enough to comb your hair or wash your smelly-ass taint-hugging jeans for work (in the freakin' service industry!), you may as well stay home and watch The Golden Girls and hit the hookah until you decide to go out later and order PBR because it's cool now and not tip your bartender well. Just sayin'... Sometimes I wonder if I should go back to waiting tables, but in Detroit. I could probably get a shitload of money for being a good waiter in town of hacks. People just don't expect good service downtown anymore (with exceptions of course)...

I had an idea for a new reality show. It would combine My Super Sweet 16 and Deadliest Catch. Throw some spoiled whiny teen bitches on a crab fishing boat in the Bering Sea and make them work the deck. If the whining persists throw them in the cages as bait or just throw them overboard. Promise them that Justin Timberlake or Davey Jones will show up to give them a new Land Rover or something to get them to show up. What do you think? Actually, most of the girls have probably already caught crabs...

Be sure to consult the Guide to Fart Etiquette...
A certain local elected official was in the store last week and apparently didn't check his surroundings. He didn't see me working at my computer about 10 feet away and he let one rip in the aisle. I crop dust the aisles all the time, but I'm sure to check the perimeter and then go to another aisle. Funny thing is though that you'd sort of expect him to fart by looking at him. He looks like the kind of guy that is as gassy as a group of people with lactose intolerance at an ice cream social. Nice guy. Don't get me wrong or nothin'... Farting can be fun, healthy, and educational when applied responsibly.

I made a pretty dang good curry the other day. I made an improvised curry with chicken pieces, curry powder, cumin, red curry paste, coconut milk, chicken stock, onions, garlic, green pepper, potatoes, cauliflower, mango, red lentils, and yellow split peas. I served it with some Basmati rice. Delicious! I made enough to last me the week probably. It's a little mild for my taste. The brand of curry paste that I used is definitely not as hot as the one I've used before. I dumped the whole jar in there and still no tears...

I finally saw The Last King of Scotland. It was good and Forest Whitaker certainly did an amazing job as Idi Amin, but overall I thought the film was a little disjointed. I actually think that his recurring role on ER last season was a better role. May I say that ER is actually really good this season? Entertainment Weekly agrees. They've really turned themselves around.

I know this is a little late but I'm glad that that Sanjaya guy is off American Idol. I don't even watch that retarded show, but I'm still glad he's off. That was just annoying.

Lost is getting interesting/confusing???

Have you seen Human Giant? Hilarious! But still not as funny as the current season of Reno 911! Best...season...ever!

I watched a great film the other day called Turtles Can Fly. It's an Iraqi/Iranian joint venture that takes place in northern Iraq near the Turkish border a couple weeks before Dubya decides to fuck everything up. It follows a group of kids in this village near a refugee camp. It's sad, poignant, hopeful, and beautifully shot. Definitely worth seeing, but you've got to be in the right frame of mind for it.

A friend of mine opened a bike shop this week. I haven't had a chance to visit yet but I hope to soon. I wish him the very best of luck. Everbody go buy a bike from him now!!!

I'm rambling a bit...probably time for bed.

Random Poll- What were some of your favorite childhood toys? (I really loved my Legos. Is it okay to still want to play with them as an adult?)

Random Poll #2- How do you like your eggs?

Random Poll #3- How ya diggin' this economy?

Random Poll #4- How would you bring about world peace (3 words or less)?

Random Poll #5- Would you rather be trapped in a room with Bill O'Reilly, Jack Jones (the singer), the rotting pustulent corpse of Rush Limbaugh, a hungry snaggle-toothed jackal, Linda Tripp, a shitload of mosquitos, or Fran Drescher? (You have no way of killing/deafening/blinding yourself or anyone in the room with you.)

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Keep your moral compass away from magnets...

2007-04-27T12:44:00.000-04:00

Hey kids!

I'm finally back. I had an issue with my wireless connection and it's finally been fixed. I can get online at home again. I'm sure you're all relieved...

Now that I'm back I really don't know what to write about of course. It's been so long, but nothing of note has taken place. So rather than try to recap everything that's happened I'll probably just start fresh as if I was on a break. I don't feel like writing a 20-page papaer right now. I hope that you're all well.

I have seen some very good films through Netflix recently...
Volver is stellar!
Nobody Knows is very touching, beautiful, depressing, and wonderful.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai was quite good.
Marie Antoinette was good but the soundtrack is phenomonal.
Fast Food Nation is very good and scary as heck.
Thank You for Smoking is great!
The Ballad of Jack and Rose is wonderful. Daniel Day Lewis always delivers an amazing performance!

I don't think I've seen a movie in the theater since Reno 911!: Miami. It's been a while...

There's a new Nick Cave project called Grinderman and their new album is FANTASTIC! Grinderman are Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos. This is some of the hardest, edgiest stuff since the Birthday Party. I LOVE this album! I'm so glad I pre-ordered it from Mute. I ended up getting it on CD and vinyl as well as a 7-inch and a CD EP. The first two tracks, "Get It On" and "No Pussy Blues" are incendiary! Grinderman is a MUST for any Nick Cave fan! I dare you not to blast it in your car. Run, don't walk to your nearest record store and buy this insanely good album!

I sold some wine to Colonel Galaxy the other day. That was cool. I didn't tell him that I recognized him or anything. He was very nice. Of course no one in the store knew who he was. That's the bonus of being an alterna-geek I guess. It's been a while but Niagara has been in the store too. She's very sweet. They're a nice couple...and they hang with the Stooges!

I really haven't done much other than work lately. Work is still a steaming pile. My co-worker/friend who mentored me in wine quit over a month ago. It's just not the same without him...and more work. He's doing well and enjoying the retired life. Good for him!

I hope there's an isolated hurricane in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend...

I threw a dinner party for friends a few weeks ago. That was fun!

I won't touch on politics or the local economy this time around as that could get pretty lengthy. Captain Douchenozzle (Dubya) and his cronies have ruined this country and have made an irreparable dent in its future. The US auto industry is fucked! Global warming is roasting our nuts. Factory farming and big business have ruined everything. There's a lot of shitty stuff going on...please keep your moral compasses away from magnets.

You Are a Peanut Butter Sundae

Sticky, rich, and totally decadent.
You know that life is all about the good stuff.

What Kind of Sundae Are You?

You Are a Chocolate Cheesecake

Rich and greedy, you're attracted to the dark side of life.
Nothing ever quite satisfies your inner beast. And somehow, people find that sexy.

What Kind of Cheesecake Are You?

You Are the Ego

You take a balanced approach to your life.
You definitely aren't afraid to act out on your desires - even crazy ones.
But you usually think first. Morals drive you as much as hedonism does.
You've been able to live a life of pleasure... without living a life of excess.

Are You Id, Ego, or Superego?

Your Life is 44% Green

You're life is pretty green - and you know a lot about how to live an eco friendly life.
So congratulate yourself for being good to the earth. And maybe think about implementing some of the ideas from this quiz!

How Green Is Your Life?

That's all for now...
ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Posting Pause...

2007-04-09T19:26:00.000-04:00
Hey kids! Sorry I haven't posted. I haven't been able to ge online at home. I don't know how soon that'll be remedied so please bear with me. Hope you are all doing well. Dubya still sucks!

Jason

2007-03-17T19:25:00.001-04:00

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world.
Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.
When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well.
But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.
What's Your Beer Personality?

Cheap filler in a natural casing...

2007-03-14T00:34:00.000-04:00
I haven't posted in a while. Work has been busy and crappy. I've been too tired at night to commit myself to anything that involves thought. There was a big bomb dropped at work today will just make my job more challenging. Not looking forward to it...not at all.

Anyhoo...
Just an observation here, but have you ever noticed how ugly Fall Out Boy are. I think that Fall Out Boy are the ugliest band out there. Look at them! Individually none of them are as scary looking as Shane McGowan or Lemmy, but collectively they're about as attractive as the John Merrick Four.

Another musical observation...
I've been hearing some odd bands in commercials lately. In the last couple weeks I've heard The Fall, Plastic Bertrand, and the Violent Femmes. Are commercials getting cooler?

Too pooped to post any more...

Cheers,
Jason

Disjointed as a skeleton in a tornado...

2007-02-27T23:56:00.000-05:00
The Oscars (the ceremony) were sort of a snooze. I was really hoping that Al Gore would announce his candidacy...

J'OR has beaten his nearest opponent in the local mayoral race by an approximate count of 16,000 to 200. The other 9 candidates scored even lower. Wow!

I went to see Reno 911! Miami and I have to say that it was pretty darn funny. My favorite new slang that I picked up is "douche nozzle". Thanks Patton Oswalt!

See some amazing photographs here. (www.worldpressphoto.com)

There's this really scary looking motel (The Falcon Inn) on Michigan Ave. For years there was an equally scary looking Thai restaurant inside the confines of the motel. I was too pooped to cook last week so I was heading to Burger King/Taco Bell, but then remembered that an Indian restaurant opened in the space of the forme Thai restaurant. That should have been the ultimate warning, but I threw caution to the wind and decided to stop and get some carry out. The motel smells as nasty and is as dank as you could imagine. The new restaurant is protected from the accumulated 40 years of cigarette smoke and armpit by a door. The restaurant is very simply arranged, but I have to say the food was rather good. I'd definitely go back. It's not the greatest Indian food I've had, but it is certainly worthy of another visit. It's just in the worst/scariest location ever...

In late semi-response to Glen's blog regarding the whole "celebrity dinner" thing...
I'm going to mix it up a little bit from the norm.

Breakfast- I would like to start the day with my family in Switzerland. Barring the laws of time and physics and such it would be in the kitchen that belonged to Oma and Opa (grandma and grandpa). I have such wonderful childhood memories of that kitchen. The smiles and smells and love. Opa would still be alive and everyone would be healthy. Good bread, cheeses, and some Ovomaltine (Ovaltine). Watching cute little Oma slicing a loaf of bread against her chest and watching Opa sneak a little Kirsch into his coffee.

Coffee Break- I think I'd like to have coffee with the regional leaders that ruled during the existence of the Seven Wonders of the World, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama. I'd ask how the pyramids were built (etc.), ponder over the vastness of the universe, and try to find peace. I'd also ask if anyone knew how the Nazca lines were made. Maybe I should have decaf...

Lunch- I'd love to have lunch with Julia Child and Jacques Papin. A very simple lunch with friendly chat. Maybe throw in Eric Ripert, Mario Batali, and Alice Waters. Maybe an omelette or something...

Afternoon Tea- JFK, RFK, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, the Dalai Lama again, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Jim Henson, Charles Schulz, Walter Cronkite, and Randy "Macho Man" Savage (for shits and giggles).

Dinner- Here we go with the big "dream list"... Nick Cave, Ian Curtis, Anthony Bourdain, Mark Twain, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Sarah Silverman, Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, Naomi Watts, Cate Blanchett, Winona Ryder (circa Heathers), Thandie Newton, Noah Taylor, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sellers, Sir Alec Guinness, Kermit the Frog, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bill Bryson, George Carlin, Audrey Hepburn, the Monty Python troupe, the Kids in the Hall troupe, Max von Sydow, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short. We'd have braised short ribs.

Late Dinner- This, along with breakfast, would be the most important meal of the day. This would take place at Andoni's with all of my friends from college and throughout my life. We'd be in the smoking section, but no one would be smoking and Lou would be our ever-attentive waitress. We'd laugh, talk, and mock after a concert or just for something to do. We'd stay entirely too long and have fun with a youth group gathered behind the accordian wall section. We'd get French Toast, eggs, burgers, clam strips, chef salads, mushroom pitas, sundaes, and more. It would be the most enjoyable meal ever. There's nobody I'd rather dine with than my friends. RIP Lou.

And to cap it all off would be breakfast in bed with Kate Winslet!!!

I stole the following meme from Kat...

1. Who was your best friend (in high school)? I didn't have many friends when I moved to Michigan. No best friend in high school.

2. What sports did you play? Ha ha ha!

3. What kind of car did you drive? A 1980 Plymouth Volare "Premiere Edition" (Slant 6-226) Good engine, ugly car.

4. It’s Friday night, where were you? At home watching 20/20 usually.

5. Were you a party animal? Nope.

6. Were you in the “In Crowd”? Hell no! The only crowd I was in was the "drama fag" crowd. And I wasn't even top "drama fag".

7. Ever skip school? Nope

8. Ever smoke? Nope

9. Were you a nerd? Yes indeed!

10. Did you get suspended/expelled? Nope

11. Can you sing the alma mater? I don't know if we even had one. At one time I could sing the fight song from my previous high school.

12. Who was your favorite teacher? Ms. Stasiw! (Advanced Placement English, Drama I, Drama II, and teacher-aide)

13. Favorite class? (Drama I and Drama II)

14. What was your school’s full name? For some anonymity I will not answer. However the letters are APHS. A public school.

15. School mascot? For some more anonymity I will refrain also, but I can say that it is a large South American predatory cat.

16. Did you go to Prom? Yes. The only dance I went to. Not a good night. My date got back together with her ex that night and had sex with him at the afterparty that night (at her house...I was in the basement watching The Holy Grail with everyone else.) She got preggers that night...

17. If you could go back and do it over, would you? Hell no! High school sucked! Worst part of my life! It may have been different if I hadn't moved. I liked my other school...but high school generally sucks.

18. What do you remember most about graduation? Not much. Pretty boring.

19. Favorite memory of your Senior Year? Acting in school plays and Drama Club. Being a teacher-aide during her zero-hour. (I had the room to myself and usually got to do my own homework. Once in a great while I actually graded papers.)

20. Were you ever posted up on the senior wall? What's a senior wall? I was Student of the Month in middle school and had my picture posted. I was highlighted in the school paper as a freshman when I lived in Oregon. My photo was taken with a girl I had a crush on (sitting on a bench). Nice!

21. Did you have a job your senior year? I worked at the local public library.

22. Who did you date? Ha ha ha!

23. Where did you go most often for lunch? Cafeteria. Didn't have too many friends but I often ate lunch with a junior named Brandt. Turkey on Jewish rye with a Kudos granola bar and a Capri Sun.

24. Have you gained weight since then? Yes

25. What did you do after graduation? I became an occasional blogger. Look at me!

You Are Strawberry Cake

Fresh, sassy, and romantic.
You're a total flirt, who never would turn down a sugary treat.
Occasionally you're a bit moody - but you usually stay sweet!
What Kind of Cake Are You?

You Are 0% Homophobic

You're open minded, tolerant, and accepting.
And you're not homophobic in the least :-)
Are You Homophobic?

You Are a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed.
Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.
Are You a Dumb American?

Random poll- What's your favorite pasta shape?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

As the world folds...

2007-02-22T00:55:00.000-05:00
Funny- Today at work a customer called looking for a specific wine. The wine that he was looking for was Ruffino Libaio Chardonnay from Tuscany. The wine that he asked for was Ruffino Labia Chardonnay. I'm not going any further with that one. It took everything I had to not start snickering on the phone.

Sad- After work tonight I went over to Panera to get some food. My total was 17.26 and I handed the cashier a twenty. I was digging in my pocket for the $.26 and told her I had it and she didn't know what to do as she already rang it up as twenty. She had to ask another girl what to do. Luckily the other girl was not an idiot and told her to give me $3.00 back. It's a sad, sad world...

Scary/True- Read Jack Lessenberry's Metro Times column here.

Curiousity- Whatever happened to Anna Nicole Smith's freakishly obsessed troll-like assistant?

Wish- I really wish that I didn't have to work and that I'd get to spend my all of my time leisurely traveling the world. Sigh...

Cheers,
Jason

Never trust a man in green tights...

2007-02-18T23:36:00.000-05:00
I'm a Jif Extra Crunchy guy myself...or natural. Never got into that Peter Pan stuff.

I had the great fortune of going to Zingerman's Roadhouse for dinner today with friends. I had another great meal as always. I started with an awesome scallop ceviche special with just enough spice. I followed it with a cup of the soup of the day. It was a puree of acorn squash seasoned with cumin and garnished with an orange- scented sour cream. Delicious! My entree was extra fab! I had a Magret breast of duck (skin-on) with sauteed spinach and golden Carolina rice with applewood smoked bacon and oysters. Fandiddlyastic! I had a simple, but delicious "Hunk o'Burnin Love" chocolate cake for dessert. A delightfully dense and rich chocolate cake with a Belgian chocolate buttercream. I tried one of my co-diners "'07 Heaven" cake. A seven layer cake with chocolate, coconut, buttercream, almonds, and more. Nice! I started with a Rogue Dead Guy Ale and had a glass of syrah, but also had a Sprecher root beer on draft. Sprecher is awesome rootbeer! And it's even better on draft. Zingerman's is the only place I know of that has it on draft. A great meal!

Someone told me that Darren Revell is now in LA and that his "Big Sonic Heaven" show is on the air out there. Good on ya!

My Swiss grandmother turned 96 today! Happy birthday Oma! You're too cool for school!

It's been colder than a witch's teat lately. We also got a minor dumping of snow last week. I really don't mind it. What I do mind is that schools are closing left and right for snow and/or cold. I don't want to sound like our parents or grandparents who "Walked 20 miles uphill both ways in 10 feet of snow barefoot with only broken glass to cushion their feet and a grand piano on their back", but... They VERY RARELY closed school when I was a kid. When I lived in Oregon it made sense as we barely got any snow in our part of the Willamette Valley. We did have a few closures, but they go nuts in the valley when you get just an inch of snow. Snow tires, snow chains, and all that jazz. Very funny! But when I moved to Michigan my public high school never closed. All of the neighboring districts closed. Not us! Of course the private schools closed...they closed when they heard a rumor that someone sneezed. Kids would often run late for school as they listened to/watched the school closings waiting to hear that our district was closed as the 6 neighboring public districts were closed. But the name never came up. That would then result in a phone call to the school to verify and indeed they were open and your ass was late! Rather than scroll through the hundreds of schools that were closed they should have just said that ours was the only one open! I don't remember school ever closing because it was too cold!

I've posted before that this generation of kids is going to bring this country to its knees eventually. Kids are growing up being over-protected and in an environment where "everybody is a winner". Everybody gets a ribbon for being mediocre. Kids cheat on exams with cell phones, Blackberrys, and what not. (I'm not of the slide-rule or abacus generation- we did have calculators, but about all we could do is type in "7734" or ".7734" and turn it upside down for giggles.) We didn't have car seats when we were kids, we had dashboards and bench/bucket seats to fly into. We didn't have anti-bacterial anything...we played in dirt with rocks and sticks and rusty nails. Our gym teachers yelled at us and called us names! MADD and SADD and DARE were laugh-inducing. Most of the kids now that were in the DARE program are complete high-ons using ecstacy, meth, prescribed Ritalin, and a rainbow of pills. When I was a kid they just smoked weed. Some day a Ritalin-addled celiac that's never been spanked and is also lactose-intolerant, allergic to peanuts, nature, and human contact will be forced to run for President. They'll be forced to run as no one will no what a competitive nature is. The population will be too medicated to care who's running and wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by voting for someone over another. The contestants would all be content to just get a ribbon for participating and then get carry-out pizza from Chuck E. Cheese's because they actually think it's great pizza. Downloaded pablum-pop will be considered progressive and mom-and-pop restaurants and stores will all be closed as the sole purveyor of everything will be McWalCo. President-Elect Indifferent will drool into onto his/her anti-microbial safety desk as Japan hands us our economic ass on a platter. Michigan will be look like "Old Chicago" on Buck Rogers and become a giant mutant-breeding swamp (Thanks to global warming and a 5th world economy). So stop closing schools for a little bit of snow you silly gooses!

Random poll- When you go grocery shopping do you return your cart to the store, return it to the cart corral, or leave it in the parking lot? (Assuming you buy enough groceries that you need a cart.)

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

This Week in Bat-Shit Crazy

2007-02-10T01:48:00.000-05:00
Hey kids!

Sorry for the non-posting, but I've just been too tired to sit down and try to be creative in the evening. I get out of work later than most people and when I get home I generally want to veg by watching TV or something. I really can't post from work and I sure as hell don't want to post in the morning before work because that's just silly. I also don't have a lot of material as I mostly just work. My life is pretty sad.

A week ago Thursday BST called me at work and asked if I wanted to see a show with him at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. It would be a late night but I didn't have to work the next morning so I agreed. It's been quite a while since I've been to a concert. I wasn't really familiar with the band, Camera Obscura, but BST said they were Scottish and sounded a bit like Belle & Sebastian. Sounded good to me. We got there about 9:30 and probably got in about 10:00. There was a line wrapped around the door and it was colder than Dick Cheney's demeanor. We were worried that it may sell out before we got to the door but we ended up lucking out. As with most shows these days I felt really old. Like a really old perv as there were so many attractive YOUNGER girls there. One of the first things I noticed was this guy in front of us. I think he was trying to go for the Kurt Cobain look but ultimately he ended up looking like a dead ringer for Peter Tork. A band from Brooklyn called The Essex Green opened and they were really good. Kind of jangly, folky, poppy, and psychedelic with a definite Byrds inspiration. Very good and a very cute singer. The three tallest guys in the room ended up (of course) standing right in front of us. One of the tall guys and probably the shortest guy (a sound guy) lit up some clove cigarettes. I didn't know that anybody still smoked cloves other than high school neo-goths and and other pale tortured poetry/drama types. These guys were over 21 and smoking cloves. Maybe they're in a D & D club or something (that's Dungeons & Dragons to you youngsters out there that don't know shit about nuthin'). Camera Obscura came out and did a really great show. Another cute singer. Dang! I'm really glad I went. I heard a great band that I wasn't familiar with before. BST and I tried a 24-hour joint in the Dearborn area that we hadn't tried before. I've mentioned before that there is a severe lack of 24-hour dives in the Dearborn, which is really silly as there are so many bars and drunks in the area. The place was pretty good and remains a fine option for late night dining. Good to know.

Another great opinion piece from Jack Lessenberry here. Scary and accurate. Michigan is f*cked!

I stayed home during the Superbowl as I didn't have any Superbowl party invites, but then again I really don't give a crap. I did have a couple "squares" from the restaurant job but I didn't win a dime (as usual). I was one point away from winning the final score/jackpot square. Dang! Prince did a pretty good job at halftime, but I'd have to say that his performance was racier than the whole Nipplegate thing a couple years ago. I think Indianapolis won. I don't really care...

We were having that whole abnormally warm thing going on not too long ago. Now it's been single digit cold with double digit below-zero with wind chill. Crazy shit! You'd better listen to Al Gore...

I was flipping channels on Monday and came across a televised forum of mayoral candidates for the city in which I live. The very popular former mayor of 20-some odd years passed away recently. There is a certain candidate who has been president of the city council for some time. We'll call him JO'R. After watching the forum it is VERY CLEAR that JO'R is by far the only candidate worth a vote. He CRUSHED the others. JO'R is very smart and has been involved in Dearborn politics for some time. His father was mayor for a while as well. Not only is JO'R bright, but his opponents are blubbering idiots. We'd be in a lot of trouble if anyone other than JO'R were elected. I have no idea why some of these people are running other than to embarrass themselves. Maybe I should have run...it pays pretty well.

Once again 24 kicks ass! This season may even be better than the last one. Paul Crane, formerly Dr. Rocket Romano in ER and the guy with the red fro in Fame (the movie), is a huge dick again...even bigger than his ER role! Talk about an asshole!

Speaking of dank, smelly orifices...
Anna Nicole Smith died. No big surprise really. It's too bad she didn't take Bobby Trendy with her. The newest info is a little odd. Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband claims to have had an affair with her for the last 10 years or so and says that the baby may be his. Wow! She was so white trash that bleach was envious. Sad (not mournful) state of affairs.

Speaking of Bobby Trendy...
Not that I want to... I just want to say that Bobby Lee from MAD TV is probably the funniest thing on sketch TV today! He's the opposite of Horatio Sans...funny! His Bobby Trendy, Connie Chung, Kim Jong Il, and other roles are are frickin' hilarious! Keep it up!

I'll keep astronaut and NASA jokes to a minimum. That's just too f'ed up to even to expound upon. How can I make it sound any crazier than it already is. That woman is certifiably futs! Should I talk about it??? Depends...

The sad thing of my life is that this weeks highlight for me was probably the return of Lost. Wednesday nights have been sort of slow nights and I was between Netflix mailings so I was flipping channels hoping to find something interesting other than the Mythbusters rerun and found the season premiere of Lost. I thought it was in a couple of weeks. Thank goodness I've got something to look forward to on Wednesdays. Told you I had a sad life...

Next Wednesday I'm going to try-out online for the 2007 World Series of Pop Culture trivia contest sponsered by VH-1 and Entertainment Weekly. I watch/watched way too much TV. I just may have a shot!

Random Poll- Pre-mixed chocolate milk, Hershey's Syrup, Nestle Quik powder, Ovaltine, Bosco, or some other brand of chocolate milk mix? (In my book there's nothing better than Calder Brothers Dairy Chocolate Milk followed by Guernsey followed by Ovaltine followed by Hershey's Syrup)

Random Poll #2- Mardi Gras is coming. Would you show your goods for beads? What if they were really nice beads?

Random Poll #3- Is is cold enough for ya?

Random Poll #4- Sledding, skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, ice skating, hockey, snow angels, or a hot toddy for the body?

Random Poll #5- How would you "fix" Michigan? (In five words or less)

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Famous Marcels: Proust, Marceau, the monkey from Friends, and that douchebag chef

2007-02-01T00:29:00.000-05:00
Yes!!! I'm so glad that poofy-haired asshole molecular gastronomist Marcel didn't win Top Chef. It was also very cool that Wiley Dufresne was a judge. I wanted either Elan or Sam to win from the beginning. Congratulations Elan!

Just a little worried...

2007-01-31T01:44:00.000-05:00
I recently looked at my Sitemeter stats and noticed that someone form nasa.gov found my blog by a search for "Richard Grieco". That worries me just a little bit. I hope that Nasa doesn't need his help...

Cheers,
Jason

In a New York minute...

2007-01-26T00:16:00.000-05:00
Hey kids!

It's been a while since I've had a legitimate post, so I'll try to catch you up...

A couple weeks ago I finally had a Sunday off and I went with two good friends to the Max M. Fischer Music Center to see the DSO perform a production called "Keeping Time". "Keeping Time" is part of a "Classics Unmasked" series. The theme to all of the compositions is that time is kept in unique ways in each piece. The guest conductor was John Mauceri. Here's the rundown...

RICHARD WAGNER- Selections from Das Rheingold Prelude to Act I "Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla"
(Cool. Very cool.)

PHILIP GLASS- Suite from The Hours Part I
(Philip flippin' Glass! Very cool, very minimalist piece.)

GYORGY LIGETI- Atmospheres for Orchestra
(Crazy! Crazy!! Crazy!!! This is probably the weirdest, coolest, most unique piece I've ever heard. Every instrument in the orchestra is playing a different note at ALL times. It goes from the highest note on a piccolo to the lowest note on a bass in succession. This piece is nuts! It's only 8 minutes long but feels like an hour. This piece was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I feel very lucky to have heard this performed live as it is not a very common occurence. Way cool!)

MAURICE RAVEL- Bolero
('Nuff said...)

DANNY ELFMAN- "The Overeager Overture"
(What's cooler than Philip Glass? Bridget Fonda's husband. A really cool, very complex piece from THE Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo, Simpsons, and film score fame. Way freakin' cool!)

DUKE ELLINGTON- The River
Meander
Giggling Rapids
Spring
Vortex
Riba
(The absolute highlight of the show as Savion Glover was guest dancer. He was absolutely frickin' amazing! He's only the world's best tapdancer! His footwork is only surpassed by his grace and spirit. His performance was completely overwhelming and I feel absolutely honored to have witnessed it in person. Spellbinding!)

SERGEI PROKOFIEV- Suite No. 1 from Cinderella, Op. 107
Cinderella's Waltz
Midnight
(Very cool wrap up!)

After the show we went to Slow's Barbeque on Michigan Ave. near Tiger Stadium for a great meal. Great frickin' brisket!

The next Tuesday I participated in a wine trivia tournament in Ann Arbor. My team did not fare so well. We were the smallest team. We knew the answers pretty well, but the electronic buzzer system was a hindrance. It was a lot of fun and I tasted some pretty good wines, but I had to scoot out as soon as it was over as I had to fly out to New York in the morning.

A friend of mine drove me to the airport and I caught a Northworst flight to LaGuardia. The flight was uneventful and fine. We didn't even crash or anything! I took a cab to my hotel in Manhattan. The fare was amazingly only $26.50 before tip. Not bad! It was sunny but cold in New York. About the same as Detroit. I checked into my room at the Holiday Inn Downtown (Chinatown/SoHo). I put my clothes away and left a note for my roommate N. (I traveled with N to Australia in 2003. I hadn't seen him since the trip.) He'd be flying in a bit later. I left the hotel to walk around for a couple of hours. I zig-zagged around the immediate area checking out the cheap wares at the booths/stalls in Chinatown and peaked in shop. I walked a bit further to Little Italy and checked out the infamous Mulberry St. I went on a bit more and ventured into the NoLita district where I would actually be having hors' douvres later. A BEAUTIFUL French woman asked me for directions to Elizabeth St. and luckily I actually knew where it was. She thanked me kindly and threw me a smile that could melt the ice caps faster than global warming. Swoon! There are beautiful women everywhere in New York! Everywhere! I'm not complaining a bit. One of the many reasons that I love New York! I especially love New York in winter as beautiful women are inclined it seems to wear tall boots with short skirts. Have I ever mentioned that I've got a thing for beautiful New York women in tall boots and short skirts? No? Well, now I have.

I was walking back toward the hotel when I got a call on my cell from N. He and one of his employees (who won a trip in 2006 through the same group). They were settling in at the hotel and I was on my way back to meet them. I arrived at the 2nd coolest Holiday Inn anywhere (#1 is in Sydney) and went to the room and greeted N. We reminisced a little bit and then went down to K's room. The three of us walked around the neighborhood a bit and decided that coffee would be a good idea. First, however, we had to stop at a shop in Chinatown to get N a pair of gloves as he and K are from Phoenix. We decided that Little Italy would be the place to get some coffee. We walked for about 20 minutes or so until we hit Mulberry St. We walked past several joints that looked too pricey and found a nice, simple cafe. N and I each got a double espresso and a cannoli and K got a cappucino and a chocolate cannoli. Divine! A great cup of espresso and a killer cannoli! There were pictures of celebrities everywhere including signed pics of a good chunk of The Sopranos cast. I think the place was called Palermo's. A nice, simple cafe with great cannoli...who could ask for anything more? We talked for a while and then decided to head back to the hotel before heading out to for hors' douvres in Nolita.

As we gathered in the lobby we acually encountered the rest of our crew including our fearless leader AH. AH is the current person in charge of the AusWAT program. All of the people in this group won the Australia trip through the same program in various years. The vast majority of them were recent winners (2006). I actually felt a bit old. We followed AH as he powerwalked and talked on his cell until we reached our destination. We were meeting for hors' douvres and a wine tasting at Public restaurant in NoLita. This is actually the same fantastic Australian restaurant that Brittney and I dined at last year. Paxton Winery from the McLaren Vale was hosting a trade-tasting in a small private room. There was not a lot of room to move but I was able to get a seat and N and I talked about the business for a while. There were some sumptious hors' douvres passed. There were some delicately spiced lamb spring rolls that were just divine. I've had sea urchin before and I never particularly cared for it. People rave on and on about it and I've never really understood it...until now. Apparently I've had bad sea urchin in the past. They were passing around some sort of sea urchin shooters. They were absolutely rich, heavenly, creamy, and divine. Now I completely understand the whole sea urchin thing. It's one of the greatest things I've ever ingested. Yum! There were also some fantastic bite-size Pavlova. Double yum!

We then left Public to have dinner at a newer Australian restaurant called Bondi Road. This was actually a little further so we took a cab. Bondi Road is actually very small. The kitchen is amazingly tiny, but deftly manned. There was a long table waiting for us and the wonderfully attentive Australian expatriate servers were just fantastic and a lot of fun. Wine Australia provided an endless supply of wine for us as the awesome Bondi Road servers brought out a non-stop deluge of food. They kept bringing out family-style platters for us to pass around including calamari, garlic prawns, sea scallops, mussels, ahi tuna, barramundi, breaded snapper, fish and chips, potato fritters, beets and potatoes, perfect lamp chops, super-tender kangaroo, and Lamingtons (a traditional Aussie dessert). The food was stupendous and the service was great! I forward to going there the next time I'm in New York. Delicious! I cannot believe the amazing food the two South American cooks put out in such a tiny kitchen. I guess you get used to that in New York. Filled up on food, wine, and some Coopers Ale we called it a night and went back to the hotel as we had a big day ahead of us on Wall Street.

N and K and I walked to a local small Greek diner for omelettes and coffee. The Greek diner in Chinatown was run by Chinese as a Greek Coney Island in Detroit is run by Albanians. We commented that our server reminded us of a Chinese Flo (if you don't get that reference you're too young and shouldn't be reading this). Breakfast was fast and filling and just what we needed to start a long day. We had to report at Cipriani on Wall Street at 10:00 AM. This is located next to the NYSE and Trump Tower. "Greed is good!" Cipriani was hosting Wine Australia Day as part of Australia Week in New York. It was a very big week. It was our job to work upstairs operating a blind-tasting game that is a variation on the Aussie wine game "Options". We helped set up both upstairs and downstairs in anticipation of the trade-tasting.

Cipriani

Cipriani

Cipriani

We worked in shifts so we actually had some time to walk around the tasting to taste and meet and greet. I've met a lot of the importers and winemakers before. I did have the great opportunity to meet Mr. John Duval. That was an honor. He made he infamous Penfolds Grange for many years. I tasted a lot of great wines and also got to enjoy a fantastic Aboriginal dance group from Western Australia. They danced several times throughout the day.

The dancers and the musicians were fantastic! It's really neat to hear the didgeridoo in person. The coolest thing is that between sets they were tasting wines just like everybody else and the women in the crowd were flirting with them like crazy. It was 20-something degrees outside and snowing and the dancers were barefoot and shirtless as everybody else was dressed in winter gear.

There was a tasting later for the public. After a little bit of clean-up and changeover the consumer tasting began. There were near 900 attendees for the event. And again there were lots of beautiful, FRIENDLY New York women. My group didn't have to pour until 7:00 or so and some of us had some free time so we decided to leave the building to grab something to drink and eat. There was a lot of great Aussie food at the event and good food from the venue as well, but it was pretty crowded. The first Irish pub we went to was too busy. The second Irish pub we went to had room upstairs but one of the people in our group was vegetarian and the menu was very friendly in that sense. We each had a quick drink (a mighty fine Guinness in my case) and left. There are not a lot of restaurants in the Financial District/Wall Street area when you need to find them. They're there, but just can't be found. We eventually stumbled upon a simple cafe and settled on that as time was running out. I had a slice of white pizza that was reheated in a wood burning oven and it was quite good as New York pizza tends to be. Yum! We ate up and went back to Cipriani to work our shifts. Again...there are a lot of beautiful women in New York. And I must say that New York women are much nicer than Detroit women. Women are generally pretty friendly when you're pouring them wine, but Detroit women are fairly disinterested. The women in New York are very friendly, engaging, and FLIRTATIOUS! I was loving it! I had some very nice, very attractive girls flirting with me during the trade and consumer tastings. Thank you! Thank you very much! Detroit women don't flirt with me. In fact I think they find me repulsive. But some of the most gorgeous women I've encountered in New York had the courtesy to flirt and be friendly with me. Unfortunately it was only my ego getting stroked...

Below is a photo I took of some photographers for irony. They were waiting for the unveiling of the world's largest bottle of wine. (A 290L whopper bottle of shiraz from Great Southern in Western Australia) Unfortunately I never took a picture of the bottle.

When the event ended we had a lot of clean up and physical labor to do. We had to take all of the wine downstairs (no elevator) as well as a bunch of other stuff. We also had to break down, pack, and carry away all of the display tents and throw away all empty bottle. Once everything was assemnbled we then had to take it down another flight of stairs and load it into a van (no elevator). It was tough and exhausting, but it was a job well done. Once we finished loading the van we walked over to THE Delomonico's. The Delmonico steak is named after this joint that was founded in 1837. We sat in the bar and some beers as we relaxed after a long day. We talked and laughed and had a chance to talk to the wonderful Jan (President of Wine Australia). (She was on our trip with us and is a truly great person.) The dining room was closing when we got there and was empty by the time we were leaving the bar so I snapped the poto below of the Delmonico's dining room. I swiped some coasters and napkins for my landlords and N, K, and myself thought we should eat so we went to a really cool bar called Ulysses. Really cool crowd, really cool music, really great server, really greater bussers, and very good food. I highly recommend it. We took a cab back to the hotel and called it a night.

Delmonico's

In the morning I said goodbye to N and K. They would be around a for a few more hours but would be doing some shopping. I had an earlier flight. Before checking out of the hotel I walked a couple of blocks and walked into a random Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. I made sure on the menu posted outside that they had Dim Sum and they certainly did. The menu was VERY AUTHENTIC with about 20 kinds of congee, duck tongue, and various innards. The kind of place that I love. No one there spoke a lick of English other than "pork" and "shrimp". I was the only caucasian in the place. The waitress walked around with a Dim Sum cart. I chose a plate of shrimp, a plate of pork, and a plate of mystery Dim Sum. The mystery dumplings were fried and wrapped in bacon as the shrimp and pork were steamed. I don't know what was in the mystey Dim Sum, but anything wrapped in bacon is stellar in my book. Delicious! They did give me a fork, but I was intent on using my chopsticks. I'm not the best with chopsticks, but I'm no slouch...until I dropped one of my dumplings into the dish with the hot mustard and hot chili sauce. As I tried to pick it up out of the dish it kept rolling around in the hot mustard and hot chili sauce. Eventually it had sopped up just about every bit of the mustard and the chili sauce and it was then that I was actually able to pick up the slippery bugger. I plopped it in my mouth and the mustard singed my nose hairs and made me tear up just a bit. It was great, but incendiary. The 3 plates of dumplings (4 on a plate) and a pot of tea came to $8.95. Nice! (Later at the airport a bottle of water and a juice would come to $7.13)

I walked back to the hotel, grabbed my stuff, and checked out of the hotel. I took a car to LaGuardia rather than a cab for a few bucks more. The drive was fine. I did notice that EVERYONE in Queens has a satellite dish. Bad cable or TV addicts? My flippin' Northworst flight was about an hour late. A friend picked me up at DTW and dropped me of at home. I had a little over half an hour to change and get ready to leave for my restaurant job. It was a long and tiresome night. I'm back in Detroit and depressed. I like Chicago a lot, but I LOVE New York! It's such an awesome city. I could never afford to live there, but it's an awesome city filled with a lot of friendly, beautiful, interesting people. Detroit is wonderful and ocmforting, but New York is really special. I'm really glad that I was able to stay in Chinatown this year. It made it a lot of fun. I've seen lots of things that I've never seen before in the various shops. Things I never knew esisted...but things that make life more interesting.

I'm back to work now and it really sucks! New York is only a year away!

Random poll- New York or Chicago syle pizza? (New York for me)

Cheers,
Jason

2007-01-20T20:37:00.001-05:00

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

2007-01-20T20:19:00.001-05:00

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland

"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West

Boston

North Central

The Inland North

The South

Philadelphia

The Northeast

What'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have">What American accent do you have?
Quiz'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

22 hours to go...

2007-01-15T01:38:00.000-05:00
It's going to be another helluva season of 24! Damn!

I'll try to post more tomorrow about the great time I had listening to the DSO and seeing Savion Glover tapdance. Time to go to bed...

Cheers,
Jason

Somebody please give the President a bag of pretzels...

2007-01-11T00:41:00.000-05:00
Hey kids! I hope that the new year is starting off well. It's been a pretty rough start in these parts.

I caught most of Dubya's speech tonight. He wants to deploy at least another 20,000 troops to Iraq. Yeah...he was the wrong one hanged last week. The world already hates us...lets just make it worse. I'll just leave it at that for now...

2007 is starting off with a choke-hold. A friend has hit a really bad, undeserved rough patch. It's a shock to all of us and I really don't know what advice to offer. All I can really do is listen and offer my friendship at this point. Luckily he as a large support system of friends and family. We've all got your back. Anything you need, just ask...

I don't want to sound all gloom and doom, but there's just a lot of bad shit going down between Iraq and a hard place, the local economy, the setbacks of friends, work, and otherwise. Everybody pray or hope for a better 2007. This shit sucks!

Sorry...let's talk about something else.

I have a question? Who the hell is Valero and where the hell did they all come from? I'm talking about this chain of gas stations that I've never heard of popping up all over the place. I could obviously look it up and I certainly will, but I'm just asking. Curious minds want to know.

Work is in a really weird place right now. I can't really write about anything yet. There's going to be something big happening. It could be a really great thing or a really bad thing. I don't really think there's any middle ground on this one. All I know is that it's really uncomfortable and painful right now. I don't get headaches, but I've got a huge one right now. It may have be work stress or it may have to do with the ammonia that I inhaled (don't ask).

Thanks to this unusually warm weather this winter in the northern hemisphere there may not be any icewines/Eisweins produced...

Other than Christmas Day and New Year's Day I haven't had a day off in about a month. I'm really looking forward to having this Sunday off. I'm doubly excited as I'm going with friends to see Savion Glover tapdancing at the Max along to the music of Duke Ellington. I've been invited to participate in a "Wine Jeopardy" tournament on Tuesday. It's a team event and it should be a lot of fun. The biggest highlight of next week will be my trip to New York. I'll only be there for two days but I'll be having a good time. I'll be visiting two Australian restaurants the first night and reuniting and rooming with one of my Australian co-travelers. Thursday I'll be pouring some Aussie wines at a huge trade tasting and then public tasting. Hopefully I'll have a little free time to sneak in another meal at some place cool. I'll be staying in SoHo really close to Chinatown. I'm really looking forward to it. Of course I'm looking forward to it for the above reasons, but probably mostly because I'll be away from work for a couple of days. That may be sad, but unfortunately it's true. Counting down to a day off...

Sorry I don't have a more uplifting or exciting post, but that's just the way it is sometimes...

ITMFA!

Random Poll- Have you gone mud-sledding or mud-skiing this winter?

Random Poll #2- Are you hopeful of 2007?

Random Poll #3- What are your thoughts on the Big 10 as a viable football conference?

Random Poll #4- Hypothetically... one of your business relationships tells you via telephone that there may be a job opportunity that you may be well suited for. Hypothetically... this person asks if you have any interest in managing a club. Hypothetically...you reply that you really don't, but it's always a possibility depending on the circumstances. Hypothetically...you ask what kind of club? Hypothetically...he replies "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah strip club." Hypothetically... this business aquaintance will get you more details. Hypothetically...you think to yourself that this is the kind of job you would have never considered, but it probably pays VERY well. And there's the moral dilemna...how much money would it take for you to take on such a job and what would you tell your friends and family...hypothetically? Would you be disappointed or lose respect for the person? Keep in mind that it could pay a lot and said person may not be happy with their current job. Money of course is not the most important thing in life, but it sure is helpful. Any thoughts on this hypothetical scenario? (The scenario is more of a long shot than a sure thing.)

Cheers,
Jason

Happy New Year! May 2007 not suck so much...and lists!

2007-01-02T01:59:00.000-05:00
Hey kids! Happy New Year! Let's all hope that 2007 is better than 2006!

2006, all in all, sucked a giant crapsicle. Nationally and internationally things pretty much sucked. Earthquakes and other natural disasters, genocide, global warming (Al Gore was right), disease, and war still ravage the globe. War in Iraq still marches forth for no reasonable explainable reason as thousands of civilians and military unnecessarily die as Haliburton profits and Dubya smirks. Unemployment in the US may be on the very slight decline, but it is soaring locally. Michigan is in a shitload of trouble. The American automobile market is hanging by a frayed thread. Ford Motor Company is essentially just short of looking at bankruptcy as it is currently laying off/firing/buying out thousands of employees. Our car companies are not subsidized by the government unlike the Japanese. It is severely depressing living around here. Especially as most of the local businesses are somehow dependent upon the auto industry. I've never encountered so many people that are contemplating moving out of Michigan just to find a job. This is a desperate time. It's ugly out there. I bought a Ford this year largely out of local guilt, but I'm feeling better and better about my purchase. I love my car! Support the Big 3! Buy an American car and feel good about it! They may be a little more expensive, but peace of mind is comes cheap. The world, this country, and this state are in a world of hurt, but it takes just a small effort to get things going the right way. Remember, as they say, think globally and act locally. Even the smallest gesture or action can help motivate a larger mechanism to change. The recent Democratic victory in Congress is one fo the few highlights of an otherwise bleak year. Hopefully this will be a catalyst for peace and forward thinking.

Nothing especially good or bad happened to me personally in 2006, but it was a veritable shitfest to many that are close to me. And that affects me greatly as friends and family are vitally important to me. 2006 is a year that has seen an innocent friend go to jail, a friend have to give up on his dream (Die illegal downloaders! Die!!!), friends have a scare with a premature baby (Baby Colin is doing well so far. Pray that his progress continues!), and recently a friend's heart has been stomped on. Tragedies both large and small have defined 2006. It's simply been an awful year. What affects my friends affects me. I try to keep my head up, but there's just so much ugliness. I try to be hopeful, but at the same time I'm realistic. This is an ugly world right now. Let's try to put some makeup on it and make it look good, but not make it look like a clown or a tranny. Let's be hopeful for a better 2007!

2006 does have a few positive attributes. Personally, I did get to enjoy a trip to New York last January and was able to see some of my friends from my Australian trip. That was a great experience! I look forward to going again in a couple weeks! I also got to spend a few relaxing days Up North this summer. I truly value all the time I was able to spend with my exceptional friends this past year. They mean so very much to me. Friends are a bright light in a dark world. I don't know what I'd do without them. I love you all so much! Nothing makes me laugh more than my friends, and laughter is what the world really needs right now. Thanks for be being funny!

As promised I have come up with some of my Best Of/Worst Of 2006 lists...
(Regarding films and albums- All of the films/albums listed have a US release date in 2006.)

Jason's Top 10 Movies of 2006
(I didn't get a chance to see a lot of movies in the theater this year. I barely got to see any indies this year at all. Most of my Netflix viewing this year consisted of pre-2006 film.)
1. The Proposition (I may be biased as I love Nick Cave, but this is truly an amazing film. Written by Nick Cave with wonderful performances by Guy Pierce, John Hurt, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, and Emily Watson. Amazing cinematography! Dark, brutal, violent, and beautiful! Even Entertainment Weekly said it was the 7th best movie of the year! I'm not alone!)
2. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (I think this may be Spike Lee's best work...and I think that Spike Lee is the occasional genius. This documentary about Hurricane Katrina and the people it affected, the inaction of various government agencies, the confused action of various agencies, and the effort to rebuild is deeply moving, shocking, and brilliantly done. This is a MUST SEE! You'll be torn down, uplifted, and torn down again...but it's worth the ride.)
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (An amazing adaptation of my favorite childhood book. Top notch!)
4. Borat (The funniest movie that I've ever seen! Ever!)
5. Tsotsi (A sad, beautiful, compelling South African film. Stunning!)
6. Clerks II (Even better than the first! Filthy, smart, and hilarious!)
7. An Inconvenient Truth (Al Gore is right! Ask the polar bears. I've heard most of the information in this film before, but this compiles everything neatly and it's oddly entertaining. This is basically Al Gore telling us that we're in deep shit. You have to see this!)
8. Little Miss Sunshine (Although this is just about the most blatantly dysfunctional family I've seen on film, it's probably the most realistic portrayal of any family I've ever seen on film. Toni Collette is brilliant as always and Alan Arkin steals the movie! Lots of fun!)
9. Jackass II (Stupid, dumb, vile, and funnier than poop!)
10. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Not Will Ferrell's best work, but good for a lot of cheap, over-the-top laughs.)

The Worst Movie of 2006
The Benchwarmers (I don't even like to admit that I saw this piece of crap. The movie I wanted to see must have been sold out.)

The Funniest Movies of 2006
1. Borat
2. Clerks II
3. Jackass II
4. Jesus is Magic
5. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Best Book of 2006
The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain (It is truly an excellent book, but it's also probably the only book I read in 2006 that was published in 2006.)

Best Albums of 2006
(Most of the albums I bought in 2006 were older albums or re-issues.)
1. Neko Case "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood"
2. Sonic Youth "Rather Ripped"
3. Yo La Tengo "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" (I don't even have this album yet and I haven't heard it. But I know it belongs on this list as the band frickin' rules! I've also heard good things.)
4. Johnny Cash "American V: A Hundred Highways"
5. Johnny Cash "Personal File"
6. Beatles "Love"
7. Elbow "Leaders of the Free World"
8. Tom Waits "Orphans"

Most Disappointing Album of 2006
Flaming Lips "At War With the Mystics" (Although it's not a bad album, I just expect a lot from this band. There's really nothing exciting or ground-breaking on this album. I guess I just expect a lot from this band."

The Top 12 TV Shows of 2006
1. Battlestar Galactica (No joke! This show is phenomonal. Even Entertainment Weekly said it's the 3rd best show on TV. (It's nothing like the campy original which I dearly love!) This is the best written drama on TV. The gritty, dark space drama tackles issues such as genocide, birth rites, religion, justice, prejudice, suicide bombing, and the nature of humanity. Don't mock it until you watch it! It's pure genius!)
2. The Sopranos (Damn! I can't wait for the last episodes! Bloody brilliant!)
3. No Reservations (I love anything that involves Anthony Bourdain! His "Beirut" episode devolved into Israeli/Lebanese crisis footage, but is some of the most riveting TV I've ever seen. That episode should win an Emmy. The regular episodes are pretty damn good too!)
4. Globetrekker (I absolutely love this show even if they keep changing times/nights or taking it off the air. It's great entertainment! Episodes presented by Ian Wright or Megan McCormick are fantastic! If I can't travel to these amazing places I'm honored to join them via the boob tube. This show is an absolute treat!)
5. 24 (Best season ever!)
6. House (Love it!)
7. Lost (Confusing but fun as hell!)
8. Reno 911! (The funniest show on TV!)
9. The Office (Funny!)
10. Law and Order: SVU (A tense and brilliant season!)
11. Family Guy (Hahahahahahahahhahahaahaahahahah...)
12. South Park (As funny as ever and topical as hell!)

2006 sucked! Let's be hopeful about a better 2007! Do your part to make the world a better place. Be philanthropic, volunteer, be politically active, do your part to stop global warming... Do whatever you want if you feel it's going to better society.

I can't believe that President Clinton was impeached for fooling around while Dubya is still in office and he's fucking the entire nation. ITMFA!

I wish you all a year of PEACE and HAPPINESS. Be kind to others and be kind to the planet we live on. Be kind, be hopeful, be strong, be resilient, be loud, be soft, be smart, be curious, be forward-thinking, be tolerant. Be nice! May peace break out in every nation. Spend time with family and friends. Encourage a better future with positive thinking!

Happy 2007!

Cheers,
Jason

The Death of a President

2006-12-27T00:41:00.000-05:00
Unfortunately the wrong one. President Gerald Ford has passed away at the age of 93. This follows the death of James Brown. I guess the song "James Brown is Dead" finally has merit. I wonder if the two deaths are related?

Hey kids! Christmas is finally f'in over! Christmas + retail = CRAPFEST! I'm so glad it's over. I worked just under 80 hours two weeks ago and slightly less than that last week. No fun! No fun at all! Being shortstaffed didn't help much either. New Years is nothing compared to Christmas. This week will be easy by comparison. I won't go into much detail, but things generally sucked. The best thing about Christmas day this year was simply having a day off.

I hope you all had a nice Christmas. Mine was decent enough. I really don't have much to report as I didn't have any free time to do anything. I did get together with some good friends for dinner and a gift exchange. My lovely friends (sisters) got me a kick-ass 550 watt 1/2 HP Waring Pro Blender for Christmas. It could puree a cow. In fact, I think I may try that sometime. Instant beef soup I guess.

There are a few interesting things coming up. This Saturday is a party at BST's and Monday is our college group's Secret Santa exchange. Both should be fun. I'm really looking forward to seeing Savion Glover in a couple weeks. I have tickets to see Savion Glover tapdancing along with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the Max. That should be a hoot. He's an amazing tapdancer! Simply amazing! I think that he's going to dance along to Duke Ellington. A couple days after that I'll be participating in a wine "Jeopardy" style tournament. One of my distributor reps asked me to compete on his team. That should be a lot of fun. The next morning I'm leaving for New York for a couple days for the big Aussie wine event. I found out that I'm staying in SoHo so that'll be pretty cool. I love SoHo and the West Village. I'm really looking forward to that. I found out that one of my traveling compatriots from my trip in 2003 will be there and we're sharing a room. I haven't seen him since the trip so it'll be great to catch up with him. What's better than a trip to New York in the middle of January? Absolutely nothing! I just have to make it through the next couple of weeks at work. It'll be rough. That's all for now. I'm actually working on some Best Of/Top 10/Worst Of style lists for an upcoming post. Hopefully I'll be able to post it within the next few days. Have a great New Years everybody! I'll be at home alone crying myself to sleep...well, I hope not to be crying.

Random Poll- What was the highlight of your Christmas?

Random Poll- Where the hell is the snow and the cold?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Yeah...about this posting thing.

2006-12-12T23:22:00.000-05:00
Hey kids!

I probably won't be posting for a week or so as I worked a 14 hour today and probably will the next two days. On Friday I work from 8:30-4:30 and then go straight to the restaurant job to work until at least midnight. Another long day on Saturday and then a Christmas party to go to. Sunday is actually my only day off before Christmas. I've got this quarterly wine club project thing that I'm working on this week. That's why I'm working the extra hours. This wine club is the biggest pain in the ass. It's probably the thing I hate most about my job (and that's saying a lot). It doesn't help at all that I've got less help this year and more responsibilities. I really hate retail at Christmas. It's the kind of shit that may make me go postal some day.

Hope that you're doing better than I am! Peace!

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Just one question...

2006-12-11T02:31:00.000-05:00
What the hell was the U.S. doing bugging Princess Diana's phone calls at/near the time of her death? WTF?!?

Jason

Free Parking!

2006-12-08T11:13:00.000-05:00
Not much going on. Just thoroughly enjoying the holiday retail season. Anybody have a gun?

There is another very good opinion piece from Jack Lessenberry here.

I guess the biggest news of the week is that Michael Anthony has been kicked out of Van Halen only to be replaced by Eddie's 15-year-old son Wolfgang. Ouch!

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by the local rag for a fluff piece, but I didn't know when/if it would go to print. Turns out I was sharing the front page of the paper this week with our dead mayor. Weird. The article is largely inaccurate, but it's just a bunch of fluff anyway. The mayor was probably the largest proponent of paid parking in this here town, so I find it kind of funny that there is free parking for 3 days in our lot so people can go see him at the local church. There are cops everywhere directing traffic and there's going to be a funeral procession like none before. Try to find alternate routes because traffic is going to be f'ed up. He was a nice enough guy and hugely popular, but I don't agree with his politics. He's run this city for close to 20 years. It'll be interesting to see what happens in this town. I wouldn't be surprised if they immortalize him like Lenin in this crazy town.

Have a good weekend!

Cheers,
Jason

"Happy f'ing holidays y'all!" and "Please use protection while preparing a pomegranate"

2006-12-04T23:37:00.000-05:00

BFF! Huey and Minnie

The elusive Hobo

Hey kids! My schedule changed and I actually had the day off today. I'm off next Monday as well. Next Monday will be the only day I have off until Christmas day. Ouch! Work is just dandy as well. Gotta love retail at Christmas time. I can't wait until it's over. It's going to be a long month.

It's cold outside and snowing. It's sticking this time too. Winter is officially here.

I ran a few errands today, but basically stayed at home. I cranked out 47 Christmas cards today. I don't think I've ever gotten them done this early. Today was my best opportunity to get stuff done. After this post I'll wrap some presents. I'd say that I've got about 90% of my Christmas shopping done. That's a record for me too. I'd say that I did about 80% of my Christmas shopping online this year. It's so much easier and there's so much stuff available. No lines, no shoving, no annoying Christmas music in the background. I've got Amazon Prime which means that I get free 2-day shipping (for a reasonable yearly fee). It's more than paid for itself. The only stuff I don't/won't buy on line are CDs, but I actually didn't buy too many as gifts this year. I listened to the "Best of Luna" 2-CD Import Only that I picked up at Glen's store the other day. Awesome CDs! The disc of covers is very cool! Huey and Minnie, the dogs from upstairs, hung out with me for most of the day. It was a nice relaxing day. I took a few pics because it's been a while since I have. I had one picture of Huey, Minnie, and Hobo (the cat) all together but I accidentally erased it. I was able to get some pics of Hobo though. She doesn't hang out downstairs too often. She's pretty funny. She calls all the shots. It was a decent day off. Tomorrow will not be so kind...

This whole West Dearborn development thing is a real fiasco. The paid parking plan is a miserable failure (people are avoiding paid lots and no one is using the parking structures). To make matters worse it's rumored that Moe's Southwest Grill and the Post Bar are closing. (I will not reveal my sources.) The Subway closed, but that was for lease reasons and they hope to move. I doubt that Dearborn will ever become the Birmingham or Royal Oak the mayor and city council expect it to be. I think that Dearborn may be the new Detroit (as far population decline and closed businesses are concerned). It's not looking good. There are still about 1000 houses for sale in this city...and they're not selling. Obviously the economy is not just bad in Dearborn, but the rest of the state as well. It feels like ground zero of an economic disaster though. It's not pretty...

I was in BST's car last week with BST (obviously) and Julie and we noted the horrid driving habits of an individual driving a Chrysler PT Cruiser. I've since had two more encounters with PT Cruisers that have made me determine that anyone who drives a PT Cruiser is an asshole. I think that most of the drivers are also having some sort of mid-life crisis. They buy a vehicle that they think looks cool and makes them look cool, while in reality they look like like a bunch of douche bags. The PT Cruiser is an ugly car...realize it. And stop driving like idiots before you cause another 1955 Le Mans disaster...

Pomegranates are in season so I bought a couple last week. I was cutting one open and spooning out the delicious seeds while apparently not paying attention to anything else. I happily munched on my seeds in the living room while watching TV and then returned to the kitchen to discover a bloody murder scene. There was pomegranate juice EVERYWHERE! It looked as if someone had bludgeoned a body repeatedly with a pick-axe. It was splattered on the counter, the floor, the cupboards, my T-shirt, and the microwave. WTF?!? It took me a while to clean it up. CSI would be impressed with the splatter and range. Please, please be careful when preparing your pomegranate...it could be messy. And don't ever scoop out a pomegranate in a white kitchen.

Good news! I'm going to New York again this January for a couple days. I've been invited to Manhattan again for an Aussie reunion. There will be no black tie dinner this year, but we're invited to a dinner. The mega cool Wine Australia is paying for our hotel and inviting us to dinner as long as I pour at a tasting for them and pay my own way to New York. I already booked tickets. I'm looking forward to it. I hope that some of the others from my group show up again. I love New York and it's even better with friends. I don't have much free time unless I add an extra day, but I'll try to get at least one good meal in. Maybe DB Bistro Moderne???

Random Poll #1- What's your favorite Christmas song?

Random Poll #2- Which Christmas song makes you most want to eat a gun?

Random Poll #3- Why are customers so rude and retarded at the post office during Christmas? ("What do you mean I have to stand in this line just like everyone else? I want you to kiss my ass.") It's Christmas. You have to wait your frigging turn with your incorrectly labeled package.

Random Poll #4- How would you like your stocking stuffed?

Random Poll #5- Eggnog, hot buttered rum, mulled wine, hot chocolate, Samichlaus, peppermint tea, hot Vernors, coffee with Baileys, or white lightning straight out of the jug?

Random Poll #6- You're Santa. Who do you want to sit on your lap?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

2006-12-04T23:29:00.000-05:00

Your 1996 Theme Song Is: 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins

Shakedown 1979
Cool kids never have the time
On a live wire right up off the street
You and I should meet
What's Your 1996 Theme Song?

You Were Born Under:

You are quick witted, charming, and bring luck to all who know you.
A bit greedy, you tend to go after what you want - with success.
Clever, you seek out knowledge... and eventually use what you know to your advantage.
You are very loyal, and you treat your real friends like they are family.

You are most compatible with a Dragon or Monkey.
What Year Were You Born Under?

You Should Have Been Born Under:

You are totally loyal, faithful, and honest.
However, you don't trust others to be as ethical as you are!
Straight forward and direct, you really aren't one for small talk.
You are a great listener - and an agreeable companion when you're in a good mood!

You are most compatible with a Tiger or Horse.
What Year Should You Have Been Born Under?

Thanksgiving leftovers...

2006-11-28T00:46:00.000-05:00

You Are 24% Nerdy

You're a little nerdy, but no one would ever call you a nerd.
You sometimes get into nerdy things, but only after they've become a part of mainstream culture.
How Nerdy Are You?

Hey kids! Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. This will be a short one. I've been pretty tired at night lately and too pooped to post. Work is a hoot! Lotsa fun. I think that next Saturday is my last day off until Christmas (putting both jobs together). That's completely uncool.

My Thanksgiving was nice. Good food, good wine. I drove to my parents' house. They live in the boonies. I ended up spending the night since I didn't have to work until Friday evening and the tryptophan kicked my ass but good. It was nice seeing my family and the eats were crazy good. The highlights though were probably seeing the stars from their backyard (not a lot of light pollution in the boonies) and playing Scrabble. I haven't seen the sky that clear since being in Kalangadoo, but I recognize some of the constellations in this hemisphere. The stars were brilliant and you could see strands of the wispy Milky Way. Simply beautiful. I was playing a game of Scrabble with my mom and played "FIEFDOM" on a Triple Word Score. The points weren't great, but it was a pretty damn cool word to play. I'm boring.

I worked at the restaurant on Friday and had to miss a party. I really wanted to go, but I have to pay the bills. Saturday was spent at the store. I had a good time with friends on Sunday going to dinner and catching a movie (Bobby).
Bobby was okay. Not great, not horrible, but okay. Considering the fact that Emilio Estevez wrote and directed it I'm actually impressed. I like Emilio Estevez and all, but I guess I wasn't expecting much from him. Lots of stars and mediocre performances. Could've been worse...

I've partially caught a Mitsubishi commercial a few times and noticed that The Fall are in it. I'd recognize Mark E. Smith's voice anywhere. Crazy! It's like the time I heard a Buzzcocks song in a car commerical years ago.

It's not time for my "Year's Best" lists yet, but I know that Borat and Clerks II are probably my two funniest movies of the year so far. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem, by Spike Lee, is probably the most important/impactful movie I've seen this year. I think that Spike Lee is an amazingly talented director when it comes to his regular work, but this documentary may be his finest work. Do what you can to see it.

I didn't even know until I opened my new Entertainment Weekly today that Robert Altman died. I think that he's one of the greatest directors of all time and the master of ensemble. I've enjoyed all of his films, but Short Cuts and M*A*S*H really stand out. Short Cuts is one of the best films I've ever seen. Mr. Altman will be sorely missed.

That's all for now...

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

A downer...

2006-11-17T14:17:00.000-05:00
Hey kids!

I'm really not sure what to post about. All I've essentially been doing is working. And that's no fun. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week already. Yesterday was the release of Beaujolais Nouveau and I must say that sales and interest are the lightest I've ever seen. I really couldn't care less as I'd never drink that crap myself.

I'm still trying to recover from the Democratic majority victory in Congress. Let's hope things change quickly.

I've been worried about a regular reader and commenter. Some time ago she was to have a surgical procedure to help eliminate her epilepsy. In her last post she stated that she would probably be back to posting within a few weeks. Not only has she not posted in some time the link to her blog no longer exists. I'm very worried and I wish the very, very best to my blog-friend from Louisiana. I hope that you are well and on the road to full recovery.

I received a letter this week from a friend of mine...who is in jail. This friend of mine is completely innocent. He's not in for long as he settled. I won't go into detail here, but he is essentially in jail because of a certain asshole who was running for a certain office in a certain state that looks like a mitten. This certain asshole lost said election recently. My friend was made to look like evil incarnate so that certain asshole would have a high visibility case in the press and he would look like a non-asshole. Certain protective laws prohibited my friend from getting a fair trial. My friend's life has been absolutely ruined for a certain asshole's political gain. Although he is in jail for a relatively short time, his life is changed than more than most people in a similar situation. His life is ruined. He has a wife and a young, beautiful child. He settled and decided to do a short sentence rather than risk a 20% chance of losing and not being able to see his child for 20 years. He just couldn't risk it although he is absolutely innocent. He wants to be there for his child growing up. Even if he was found innocent his life still would have been ruined as he would not be able to practice in his profession any longer. He's also spent a ton of money on legal fees and bail and such. There is an innocent man in jail for something that he did not do. He's certainly not the only one. He share's an 8-person cell with 9 other guys. He doesn't have much to talk to them about. He says there's way too much TV available, the books suck, and there's nothing to do. He said that it may not be as rough as you would expect, but the boredom is unbearable. He's only allowed to leave the cell for one hour a day if at all and they are woken up at 4:00 AM for breakfast. The food sucks too. He said that he is coping as best as he can with a really bad situation, but he misses his wife and child dearly. He said that that is torturous. I miss my friend dearly. I see his wife and child occasionally. It is extremely difficult for them, but they are coping as well as they can in such a shitty situation. It is a tragic, tragic situation. I was invited to a beautiful dinner at this friend's house a week before he had to turn himself in. Although we laughed, talked, drank great wine, and enjoyed wonderful food, there was a dark cloud in the room. I'm glad that we had that moment and I look forward to seeing him again soon, but I'm so torn up about the whole shady situation. The certain asshole who lost his election is remaining in his already powerful post. He didn't even have to wrongfully vilify my friend because he lost the election anyway. How many lives has this guy wrongfully ruined for political posturing? I'm scared to know. There are certain loopholes in the legal system that need to be addressed. And there are certain asshole officials that need to have their own lives ruined...

I wish my friend the very best and I'll try to help him as much as I can when he is free to start his life over. I'm proud to be his friend and I'll be proud to remian his friend. He's a wonderful man and has wonderful family. He is very strong to face such a situation and I admire him for that. I could never do it. Peace.

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

2006-11-13T00:53:00.000-05:00

You Passed Your Driver's Test

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct.
You're a good driver - at least, when you want to be.
Are You a Good Driver?

2006-11-13T00:47:00.000-05:00

Your Movie Buff Quotient: 90%

You are a movie buff of the most obsessive variety. If a movie exists, chances are that you've seen it.
You're an expert on movie facts and trivia. It's hard to stump you with a question about film.
Are You a Movie Buff?

2006-11-10T01:36:00.000-05:00

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.
How's Your Vocabulary?

"Ding dong the dick is done!"

2006-11-08T16:20:00.000-05:00
Really quick because I'm at work...

I just heard that Donald Rumsfeld resigned. That's freakin' awesome! Since he and his cronies are such big fans of torture I think we should torture him Gitmo style on live pay-per-view TV. The proceeds would go to various social programs and charities. What do you think?

Cheers,
Jason

Thanks for voting! I'm going to bed...

2006-11-08T01:32:00.000-05:00
Hey kids! Thanks for voting! It looks like we've securely gotten control of the House of Representatives, but it looks most likely that we haven't gotten the Senate. But it's close. Granholm and Stabenow won too. That's good enough for me to go asleep contently. I'm tired. I'm going to bed. More tomorrow...

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

I voted. Did you?

2006-11-07T09:59:00.000-05:00
I voted. Now it's a waiting game. There was a reasonable sized line and it was moving more slowly because of the number of proposals, but I still got out of there in less than half an hour. There was an older (80-ish) impatient lady behind me who tried to take cuts and was complaining about the wait and how the system is inefficient and inappropriate. A voting official told her to call the City Clerk if she didn't like it. Right on! She and another geriatric behind me were also complaining about the age of the election officials...who were also most likely in their eighties. She said that they were too old and inefficient. Guess she'll apply to be an election official when she's old enough. Let's hope and pray and do whatever it is we have to do to ensure Democratic victory. This is going to be a nailbiter...

Save the mourning doves!

Good luck to us all!

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

The funniest movie ever???

2006-11-06T23:22:00.000-05:00
YES!!!
I went to see Borat on Saturday with BST and almost coughed up a lung from laughing so hard. It's vile, disgusting, distasteful, and bloody genius! It's probably the funniest movie I've ever seen. Films like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Caddyshack, History of the World Part I, Blazing Saddles, Vacation, Airplane, the Pink Panther series, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Music Box all hold deserved places in the hallowed halls of humor, but never have my senses been so assaulted. Sacha Baron Cohen is the new Andy Kaufman, but less of an asshole. This movie is very, very offensive...please go see it. Its release right before election day makes it even better. There's lots of embarrassing stuff in the film that should make Americans feel uncomfortable with themselves. This movie is full of NON-STOP, in your face laughs. I was almost hyperventilating for a few minutes during a certain scene. You'll figure out the scene when you get to it. Go see Borat now!

Major kudos to Michael J. Fox for standing up to Rushfuckingassholelimbaugh! And a great interview with Donny Deutsch! Stem cell research has so much potential...maybe they'll be able to prevent Republitardation with it some day.

Please be sure to vote tomorrow. It's your right and your privilege. If you don't vote tomorrow the bad guys may win and your right and privilege to vote may be taken away from you as well as the rest of your civil liberties. It's already happening with the phone tapping and Dieboldian vote stealing. Question, challenge, and kick authority in the balls if you have to. We have a chance to potentially turn this country around tomorrow. Vote with your conscience, vote with your heart, just vote! Vote vote vote!!! "Blue state powers activate! Form of a majority!"
Protect your civil liberties before they're gone. This is your chance folks! I've got to go to bed early. I'm getting up early to vote because there's a lot on the ballot tomorrow and I'm expecting a big turnout (hopefully). Exercise your right to vote, it'll make you a fit citizen. I'm hopeful of a positive change in Congress. Hoping for more donkeys than elephants in Congress...

Peace!

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

2006-11-06T23:20:00.001-05:00

Your Vote Score: 6% Republican, 94% Democrat

You fit well with the Democrat party, and you should almost definitely vote Democrat this election.
In fact, you're so strongly Democrat, a political career (or at least some activism )may be in your future.
Should You Vote Republican or Democrat?

2006-11-06T23:17:00.000-05:00

You Should Have Voted for Ralph Nader.

Sorry - Shirts and Shoes are Required in the Voting Booth.
Who Should You Have Voted For in 2004?

2006-11-06T23:13:00.000-05:00

You Are 52% Politically Radical

You've got some radical viewpoints, but you aren't completely nuts. You're more of a visionary than a radical.
Are You a Political Radical?

"Die, die, die my Diebold!"

2006-11-03T00:45:00.000-05:00
...to misquote the Misfits.

I watched the new HBO documentary tonight entitled Hacking Democracy. Wow! This enlightening and scary, but unfortunately not surprising documentary follows a grandmother in her search of honest answers regarding elections across the country. Scary! She approached some computer experts to determine if the elections could have been hacked. It shows and proves unequivocally that the elections could have been tampered with. Diebold states that is impossible. Bullllllllsssssshhhiiiiiittttttt!!! You've already heard or read about this to some degree, but this shows the process of actually proving that election results were off in Florida and definitely most likely in Ohio and that Diebold are LIARS!!! At the moment you have to have HBO to watch it but I highly recommend searching it out. Of course I'm pissed that Dubya lost the election twice but won the Presidencey, but I'm maybe more pissed at Kerry for conceding so quickly...

Another great editorial from Jack Lessenberry here.

VOTE NO ON 3!!! If you want to kill mourning doves you deserve to be added to the list!

This is a big election coming up. Vote with your heart. Show up in great numbers and challenge authority as you deem appropriate. It is your right and privilege to help determine this state and country's future...for now. Don't wait for this current administration to take those rights away and pray that your vote is not altered by the conservative machine.

Vote early! Vote often! Vote Chicago style! (Kidding...but please do vote!)

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

2006-11-03T00:37:00.000-05:00

You Are 0% Republican

If you have anything in common with the Republican party, it's by sheer chance.
You're a staunch liberal, and nothing is going to change that!
How Republican Are You?

2006-11-03T00:36:00.000-05:00

You Are 92% Democrat

You are a card carrying Democrat, and a pretty far left one at that!
There's no chance anyone would ever mistake you for a Republican.
How Democrat Are You?

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T00:17:00.000-05:00
Hey kids!

How's it hangin'? Apparently about 60% of them hang to the left...

Not much going on. I thoroughly enjoyed my two days off (in a row) after working 12 consecutive days. I made a big pot of soup on Saturday not dissimilar to the last one that I made. It's essentially a potato-leek soup with garlic, bacon, kielbasa, and collard greens. Yum! On Sunday my parents drove down to take me to lunch for a late B-Day treat. They drove here and then I drove us to Zingerman's Roadshouse. A fine meal once again! Zingerman's Roadhouse never disappoints...

The Tigers lost the World Series in St. Louis. It is disappointing, but they did a great job getting so far from essentially nothing. Jim Leyland did a wonderful job! I'd like to thank the Tigers for giving us hope in hard times. And thanks for giving us hope for next season. At least we have something to look forward to in this beloved but cursed town...

Borat comes out on Friday! I'm actually considering a midnight showing on Thursday...

Tomorrow is Halloween. We don't get a lot of Trick-or-Treaters and I'm at work until about 8:30, so it doesn't affect me much. I think I'll dress up as Tom Foley and pass out egg salad sandwiches, Manhattan clam chowder in baggies, and unwrapped caramel apples with razor blades in them... Is that scary enough?

Election day is almost a week away. Do what you can to make this a better America! We can't keep living in a country being wholly influenced by misinterpreted faith but not facts. Never has there been a more loathsome, corrupt, or evil Congress and Administration. Local elections are very important as well this time around. Vote with your heart!

Let's hope that Dubya chokes on his Halloween candy...

Hope you don't get any candy corn!

Cheers,
Jason

The conspiracy nut rides again...

2006-10-27T12:20:00.000-04:00
I just watched some newly released home video footage of 9/11 on Google Video. I highly encourage you to watch it. It's tough to watch, but I think it's important that you do. Not only is it probably the best video footage I've seen to date, there's more to. Be sure to listen to what the woman says at 12 minutes and 17 seconds! I've only recently become a conspiracy theorist, but I think there's good solid reason to. Videos like Loose Change and footage like this have got to make you think.
Watch the footage here.

Make up your own mind.

ITMFA! He deserves worse than that!

Cheers,
Jason

Stuff and dings...

2006-10-27T10:38:00.000-04:00
This will be a short one. Basically, I forgot to rant about something in my last post. Someone dinged the door of my newish car a couple of weeks ago. I'm really pissed! The dent is small, but there's a quarter-sized chunk of missing paint now. I'd like to know who the asshole is that did it so that I may act accordingly. Can I borrow a tazer and a bucket from anyone? I've made a point all my life to never ding someone else's door. I hope who ever did it leads a tortured life...

Today is my 12th day working in a row (between both jobs). That really sucks! Luckily I actually will have two days off starting tomorrow...in a row. Sweet, sweet victory. Maybe I'll make another big-ass pot of soup tomorrow unless I come up with some plans.
Have a great weekend!

Random poll- Sunrise or sunset?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Tigers, and Tigers, and Tigers...oh my! The Tale of the Backward Boxers...

2006-10-26T01:25:00.000-04:00
Hey kids!

I put my boxers on backward the other day. That should about wrap up how things have been going lately.

I haven't posted in a while apparently. I've been pretty tired and lazy lately. That's about it. Work has been about as much fun as phrenology performed by a drunken baboon lately. It's been SOOOOOO much fun. I was going to post a really long post last week with all sorts of stuff in it, but then I decided to go to bed rather than type stuff out for a couple of hours. The same thing happened the next day, and the next, and the next. Now I've already forgotten what I was going to write about. So I'll just start from scratch.

I've been spending the bulk of my time at work and thinking about work (there's a lot to think about right now). It's been pretty stressful. I'll leave it at that.

That leaves my time away from work...which either entails my other job or watching TV. I've been watching a lot of TV instead of blogging. TV may be an opiate for the masses...and it feels so good. It may melt the brain, but it does at least temporarily take your mind off of work.

I really don't have anything to report. I haven't done anything exciting since my last post. I haven't done anything exciting in a long time for that matter.

I actually did put my boxers on backward the other day. I didn't notice until I had to pee at work. So I've got my hand in my pants trying to find the flap and I just can't find it. I'm pulling all kinds of fabric trying to find it and end up giving myself a wedgie. I then of course figured out what I had done. It's easily remedied, but it makes you feel a little awkward the rest of the day. I'm happy to say that I lived through it.

Another fantastic editorial from Jack Lessenberry here. Here's last week's while we're at it.

Here's a great article from the newest Rolling Stone called The Worst Congress Ever. Definitely worth the read if you have the time.

And here's a nauseating look at The 10 Worst Congressmen from the same issue of Rolling Stone.

This news is a little late, but the Detroit Tigers are in the World Series. (I guess it has been a while since I posted.) I really hope that they can pull it off...and I really think they can. They're currently down 2-1 behind St. Louis. Tonights game was postponed on account of rain. This has gotten the city REALLY excited. This city needs something (positive) to be excited about. The local economy is in the shitter in a big way with the current state of the domestic automotive industry. It trickles down and affects everybody. Everything in this town is connected to the automotive industry somehow. You wouldn't believe how many people I encounter that are considering moving out of state. I've been looking in more detail in how to move to Australia, but it still looks like my only option is marrying an Australian woman. Any takers? Non-smokers only please! I cook! Anyhoo... the Detroit Tigers have really shaken things up and people have dumped a shitload of money into the downtown economy. (It's a good time to be a bar owner in Detroit!) A commentator the other day said that he was disappointed in the excitement of the Detroit crowd the other day because he heard that Detroit had a great, noisy crowd. Well, the fact that probably only a fifth of the seats were actually filled by Detroiters would explain a lot. Most of the people at the game are corporate asshole big-money types from out of town. I personally know a guy who sold 20 tickets at $1200 a pop. I also heard of a guy that has 8 season tickets in the Champion's Club who was offered $10,000 a seat per game. It's sick that people can throw that kind of money around. At least St. Louis is another working class city. I'll give them respect for that. But please observe the Budweiser boycott! I boycott it it already because it sucks, but please boycott it for baseball reasons. The most exciting day was when the Tigers beat the New York Assholes...I mean Yankees. That was something else! If the Tigers are kicking ass, the Lions are taking it in the ass...OUCH!!! Let's all hope that the Tigers win the world series. This town really needs a miracle right now.

I am REALLY looking forward for the Borat movie to come out. Really!!! I need a good laugh and I'm quite sure that this movie will provide it. The trailers have me laughing my ass off and I've read enough about it to know that it's a comic tour de force. I can't wait! Who wants to go with me?

I had an encounter the other day with a certain asshole priest. Many of my readers will know exactly who I'm talking about. There was this guy who was the biggest asshole on campus and now he's an asshole priest. He came in the store the other day in full asshole mode. Luckily he didn't recognize me from college so he was just an asshole without even trying. He came in smelling of cigars and ego and asked, "Hey! You! Do you know anything about wine?". I wanted to reply, "Am I rich and Republican enough for you to be speaking to me?" But I just went along with his questions so I could get him out of the store quicker. Yup! He's still a raging asshole! I really hope that he has nothing in common with Congressman Foley or certain other priests...

I just found out how much professinal clowns make an hour. Holy shit! I'm in the wrong business. Send in the clowns...

It's a little late now but I wanted to design a T-shirt that had a tiger with red feathers sticking out of its mouth for the World Series...

Here are a couple of pictures I took last year at this time in Lugano, Switzerland. I love these pictures because of the myriad of colors at the beautiful fruit stand...

I'm really missing my Swiss family... (FYI- I've never heard of a Robinson in Switzerland if you know what I mean...)

Like Seinfeld, this post was about nothing, but it was a post nonetheless. Maybe I'm out of original ideas???

ITMFA!

Random poll- Have you ever put your underwear on backwards?

Random poll #2- What are you giving out for Halloween?

Random poll #3- What's your World Series prediction?

Cheers,
Jason

Columbus Schmumbus...

2006-10-10T00:49:00.000-04:00
I hope that everyone had a nice "Guy Who Discovered America Searching For a Direct Route to Opium After the Native Americans Who Crossed the Aleutian Land Bridge and Leif Erikson Already Discovered It Day"!

Cheers,
Jason

Weekends and reminiscences...

2006-10-09T01:32:00.000-04:00
I was listening to the radio earlier today and there was a guy talking about "rankism" as opposed to sexism, racism, etc. He's apparently written a book on the subject and it did sound pretty interesting. One of the scary things that he theorized is that employees who work for employers/bosses that yell, humiliate, aren't respectful, are negative, or are unecessarily mean will have years taken off their life. He says that working in such an environment is the physiological equivalent of smoking 3 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day. Guess I won't be living very long...

I taped the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica while I was working at the restaraunt on Friday. I anxiously rewound the tape when I got home, pressed play and sat mesmerized for two hours. The season premiere was bloody flippin' unbelievable. It really is one of the best written shows on TV...even the critics say so. That is a smart flippin' show. It's amazing how the plot is mirroring what's going on in the world right now, but more amazing is the fact that the government hasn't had it taken off the air. Maybe the administration doesn't understand symbolism??? Watch it!

Tonight I went with some friends to see The Departed, the new Scorsese film. It was pretty good. It's not Scorsese's best work, but still pretty good. The cast is quite impressive with Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, and Martin Sheen. Kevin Corrigan had a small, but good part. Where's he been? He was poised to be the king of indie film a while ago and sort of disappeared. I'm sure he hasn't disappeared. The films he's been doing must be too indie even for me. Very impressive in the film as a thug was Ray Winstone. He played the sheriff in the Nick Cave-penned The Proposition. He's a bloody brilliant actor. He's a name to watch! I normally despise Leonardo DiCaprio, but I didn't mind him so much in this. Matt Damon did a great job. A good performance from Jack Nicholson, but not his best. He did have a few highlights that almost made fun of himself though. It's worth watching if you have 2 1/2 hours to spare. Be warned that it's VERY violent and bloody!

Oh yeah...the Detroit Tigers beat the New York f'in Yankees yesterday. They're going on to play the Oakland A's. Go Tigers!

Let's all hope that Hastert goes down and Foley goes down even further!

North Korea's first (supposed) nuclear weapons test was successful. Be afraid! Be very afraid! With the over $400 billion going to help fund the Iraq effort I hope there are some lawn darts and Nerf balls left to throw at North Korea if they decide to attack our undereducated, unemployed asses. That Kim Jong Il is kwaaaaazzzy!

It's been about a year since I was in Switzerland. I had such a wonderful time. I really am missing my family and the amazing sights that one of the world's most beautiful countries has to offer. It was 3 years ago that I was in Australia too. I'm ALWAYS thinking about that. It's very dear to my heart. This October I'm at home...in Michigan...working. Ouch!

I've heard people say that northern Michigan is the most beautiful place on earth. While I agree that northern Michigan is certainly pretty, I'd have to disagree with these people. These people obviously have never been anywhere. Probably never even left the state. I'm a proud Michigander, but be realistic. I've been very lucky to have grown up in the Pacific Northwest and to have traveled through central Europe and Australia...and there's still a ton that I haven't seen and probably never will see. I've seen some jaw-droppingly stunning things in my short life. I've seen sunset in Coonawarra, the Swiss Alps, a stormy Pacific Ocean on an Oregon beach, lightning over Diamond Lake with a view of Mt. Thielsen, the California redwoods, rock formations in Utah, antelope in Wyoming, kangaroos in the Outback, Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House from a boat in Sydney Harbor at sunset, the Rockies, Roman ruins in Germany... It's a big world and northern Michigan is just an insignificant speck. Pretty, but not profound. I've been nostalgic lately and I've been reminiscing quite a bit about all of the wonderful places I've been and lived. You'll have to excuse me. There is a reason that my blog is named as such...the sublime and majestic chorus of the Australian magpies (my favorite), galahs, cockatoos, and ravens beckons me.
(Listen to magpie group, magpie singular, galah, cockatoo, and raven.)

Hope you had a nice weekend!

ITMFA!

Random poll- What's your favorite Nicholson role?

Random poll #2- Where would your rather be RIGHT NOW? (Any place in the world)

Random poll #3- Where is the most beautiful place you've ever been (or where have you had the most beautiful experience with nature)?

Cheers,
Jason

A major oversight on my part...

2006-10-06T01:13:00.000-04:00
This is already old news but I still have to touch on it...

Have you heard about the Dustin "Screech" Diamond sex tape coming out? Apparently he is in danger of losing his house so he has decided to release a home sex tape that he made which he has called Saved By the Smell. This is TRUE by the way. I guess it starts with him and two girls in a bath tub and ends with a Filthy Sanchez. Not a joke...seriously. Wrap your brain around that one...

Cheers,
Jason

2006-10-06T01:12:00.000-04:00

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well.
An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly.
You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view.
A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary.

You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.
What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Stealing...'cuz it's easier than thinking.

2006-10-05T14:51:00.000-04:00
Here's a list of the top 100 banned books. Highlighted are the books that I've read.
(I stole the idea from Kat and Julie)

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

I read most of these a long, long time ago. I never read any of the sex-ed books and I never got "the talk" either. Maybe that's why I'm so confused...

Cheers,
Jason

Fuhrer von Shit Weasel vs. the Canadian Californian Michigander

2006-10-03T00:43:00.000-04:00
Although I didn't catch the whole thing I did catch a sizable bit of the gubernatorial debate between Governor Jennifer Granholm and Amway billionaire challenger Dick DeVos. Although Governor Granholm isn't my absolute favorite she is certainly heads and shoulders above Dick DeVos. I actually met him years ago and he is as his first name implies. The debate certainly wasn't the best as both of them struggled a bit, but I think bits of his true evil shone through. He's also not a very good public speaker. His stance on many of the issues is quite scary. Looking at him during the debate I determined that he looks sort of like a weasel or a ferret. Therefore my new nickname for Dick DeVos in future posts will be "Fuhrer von Shit Weasel". Please be sure to vote in November...please.

What is this world coming to? I cannot believe that a man shot seven Amish girls in school in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Four of them are dead. The shooter then killed himself. It's a sad, sad world.

I'm a bit of a geek...actually a lot of a geek. I'm looking forward to the season premiere of Lost of course, but I'm mostly looking forward to the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica this Friday. It's really an awesome show...really! Even the magazines, critics, and newspapers agree! Many (including Entertainment Weekly) are citing it as one of the top three shows on TV. It's not like the cheesy 70's version (which I absolutely love). It's dark, thought-provoking, and parallels what's going on this country pretty closely. It touches the subject of terrorism, religion in government, abortion, and much more. It's just about the most ballsy show going. Please do yourself a favor and check it out. Buy, rent, or Netflix the first two seasons to catch up if you must. It's worth it!

I'm also looking forward to the new show on the Travel Channel starring Joan Cusack (love her) about travel and cooking. How can you not watch that? I'll watch anything with a Cusack in it (well...maybe not the recent slew of chick-flicks helmed by John).

It's been almost a year since I went to Switzerland and it was in October of 2003 that I went to Australia. How depressing...

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

"My Dinner With Andre 2: Electric Boogaloo vs. The Giant Clusterf*ck"

2006-10-02T00:25:00.000-04:00
Hey kids!

I haven' posted in a while because I've been too tired and lazy. Sorry. I've got a cold that kicked my ass for the first couple days, but it's essentially settled down now. For the most part my week has been pretty uneventful. Work was about as great as a bag of whale sputum, but I won't talk about that...

This evening I went out for dinner with a good friend. We don't usually have much of a plan going into it. We usually make our dining decision as we're driving around. We're not a very decisive duo. My friend recommended an Italian place called Cuchina Bravo on Haggerty. She had a horrible experience her first time, but had decent experiences since and I'd never been so I figured I'd give it a whirl. First of all, it's one of those cookie-cutter chain monstrosities. The menu was predictable and the wine list fair. Let me preface by saying that our server was always very pleasant as was the rest of the staff. I ordered a bottle of Craneford Shiraz and another server then brought us glassware and poured THE WRONG WINE without asking if it was the correct bottle (Bleasdale Cabernet/Syrah was brought to the table. A decent wine, but not the caliber of the Craneford). He disappeared before we could catch him. While waiting for our waitress to return I spotted incorrect placement of fingers by servers all over the dining room. That is NOT how you hold or present a plate! Anyhoo, our server finally returned and I told her that we had ordered a different wine. She was apologetic and finally brought us the correct bottle several minutes later. She had great difficult opening it. (She's just young and inexperienced. I won't hold that against her. I always try to be helpful in such situations by offering help or allowing the server to set the bottle on the table.) The bread was gummy on the inside and took a long time to receive the bruschetta appetizer that I ordered. In fairness it was pretty good as was the white bean soup that I eventually received. I had ordered the pork chops (cooked medium) for my entree. The table that was seated next to us about 15 minutes after we sat down received their filet mignons way before we received our entrees. Everything that WE ordered was taking a very long time. She was very friendly and very apologetic and I'm a very patient and forgiving restaurant patron as I know how the game works. Much, much later the manager served us our dinners. My friend's dinner was correct, but I had a rack of lamb set in front of me. I told him that I ordered the pork chops and that it was probably someone else's entree. He said that she had ordered the lamb instead of the pork chops (server error). I didn't want to cause a fuss so I said I'd keep the lamb chops (which I LOVE anyway). The only issue was that they were supposed to be cooked "medium" as I had ordered for the pork, but I like my lamb rare to medium rare. Luckily enough the kitchen undercooked my lamb, which was actually just perfect for me, but an error on their part. The haricot vert were perfectly al dente, but the garlic mashed potatoes were way too salty. I'm a glutton for punishment so I ordered dessert (lemon orange sorbet and an espresso). It actually came out correctly. It took about half an hour for our server to check on us (she actually didn't stop to check on us, I had to wave her down with some authority). Overall the food was actually pretty decent, but service was abysmal. Our server was always friendly, but just dumb and inexperienced. The table on the other side of us asked for Parmesan and the waiter said they were out. How can an Italian restaurant run out of Parmesan cheese? The whole waistaff seemed to be painfully inexperienced which virtually makes me nauseous. As a former waiter (a good one at that if I may say so) trained in French, Russian, and American service it literally pains me when I see servers doing things incorrectly. The handprints on the windows were a nice touch too. To be a good server you have to have great time-management skills and have an eye for detail. It seemed that all of the servers had blinders on. A good server should not only be attentive of their own tables, but of others as well. The servers and bussers at Cucina Bravo need a lot of work! A lot! It was a painful experience. The manager was kind enough to comp our entrees, so I actually ended up getting a free rack of lamb. I won't argue that. But I also won't revisit that establishment until they replace their waitstaff with a bunch of old school professional waiters who know how to debone a Dover sole table-side. I should know better than to eat at a chain anyway...

Speaking of chains...
Tyler Florence (celebrity chef and cookbook author) has created some signature dinners for Applebees. I used to like him quite a bit. Now he's just another sellout. Good for him though to make a bigger name for himself and to bring in some big consulting bucks.

Last week I broke in my new Le Creuset Dutch oven with an awesome batch of short ribs. The short ribs at Farmer Jack were rather small so I bought about 15 of them (and two beef shanks). It's a big-ass Dutch oven! I started by rendering some cubes of pancetta in peanut oil and then removing them to dry. I added the short ribs and beef shanks which were seasoned and floured and browned them in groups. After all the meat was removed I added the mirepoix and let it soften for a bit. I added some tomato paste, garlic paste, anchovy paste, bay leaves, dried basil, and thyme and let it cook for a bit. I then added a whole head of garlic (in whole cloves) and then put the meat back in as well as the reserved pancetta, fresh mushrooms, and pearl onions. I then added some chicken stock and a bottle of a Cote du Languedoc I had lying around. I brought it to a quick boil and then let it drop to a simmer and put it in a 325 degree oven for just over three hours. Mmm...like butter. They fell off the bone and melted in the mouth. I gave a hefty portion to my landlords as they were kind enough to get me the new Le Creuset for my birthday. Simple country food is the most satisfying. Delicious!

This clip is REALLY FUNNY and REALLY WRONG. Talk about an evil step-mom...

Jack Lessenberry hits the nail on the head again! Another reason to be afraid of Dick DeVos. Read here.

This may be a little late but kudos to President Clinton for having the balls to confront Chris Wallace on Fox "Conservative Turd Nugget" News last week. You can watch the excerpt of the interview here.

Did you hear about the 5th grade art teacher in Texas that lost her job because she took her students to an art museum. Although all the children had permission slips from their parents it turns out that some of the parents were offended after the fact by the nudity appearing in varied pieces of art. She was teacher of the year two years ago and had an excellent record for over 20 years but lost her job due to nut-job conservative Texan (gotta watch out for them!) parents. It's a museum...not a GG Allin show! Dumb ass Toby Keith listenin' Skoal chewin' whitebread eatin' intelligent design teachin' Halliburton stock totin' hate mongerin' inbred fucktards! What is life without art?

Random poll- Where have you had the best and worst restaurant service?
(The best service I've had in the US was at Trio in Evanston, Illinois. The best service overall was probably in Australia though. Cucina Bravo ranks with the worst. As much as I love the Traffic Jam, I've had some seriously bad service there in the past.)

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

2006-09-29T01:20:00.000-04:00

You Are Surrealism

Dreamy and idealistic, you've created a world that is all your own.
It's very likely that you've either dabbled in drugs or are naturally trippy.
You are always trying to push beyond the boundaries of your culture and society.
You believe that art, love, and freedom can change the world.
What Art Movement Are You?

2006-09-23T19:28:00.000-04:00

You Have Fantastic Karma

You are a kind, sensitive, and giving person.
And all your good deeds will pay off - if they haven't already.
But you're not so concerned with what you get in return anyway.
You have an innate caring nature - and nothing can change that!
How's Your Karma?

2006-09-23T19:18:00.000-04:00

You Are 16% Capitalist, 84% Socialist

You see a lot of injustice in the world, and you'd like to see it fixed.
As far as you're concerned, all the wrong people have the power.
You're strongly in favor of the redistribution of wealth - and more protection for the average person.
Are You a Socialist or Capitalist?

2006-09-23T01:44:00.000-04:00

You Belong in Australia

Ace!
Sunny, upbeat, and cute
You make the perfect surf bum
Now stop hogging the vegemite!
What English Speaking Country Are You?

I could've told you that without taking a quiz...

2006-09-23T01:40:00.000-04:00

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times...
You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings
Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you
What Season Are You?

2006-09-22T01:18:00.000-04:00

You Should Drive a BMW

Refined and classy, you want a car that looks rich... and goes fast!
What Sports Car Should You Drive?

Sounds good to me!

Let me eat cake...

2006-09-21T11:25:00.000-04:00
Hey kids!

First of all I'd like to thank all of my fabulous friends for their generosity last week. Thanks for the great grub and the wonderful gifts for my birthday. You're all very thoughtful. Thanks!

Last Thursday a couple of friends took me to Zingerman's Roadhouse for dinner. It's one of my fave restaurants and this visit was no exception. I started with a wonderful tomato and mozzarella salad (Insalata Caprese). They used perfectly ripe heirloom tomatoes (orange, yellow, crimson, and striped purple), their homemade fresh mozzarella, locally grown organic basil, excellent quality Italian extra virgin olive oil (can't remember the name), and Tellicherry black pepper. Simply divine. The table also shared an order of their fabulous spicy onion rings with homemade spicy ketchup. I then tried the soup of the day- a wonderful Texas Beef and Bean with Niman Ranch beef. For my entree I ordered one of several macaroni and cheese options. I ordered the one made with Grafton cheddar (Vermont), smoked chicken, green chiles, and corn. It was wonderful! They use Martelli pasta for their mac'n'cheese. Martelli pasta is the best in the world...seriously! We sell it at the store. It's about 5 bucks a bag but it's worth it! I also had a side order of "Green Bean Casserole". They use delightfully crisp (not canned) green beans, fresh mushrooms, and a perfect onion ring on the top. They were offering a new dessert which I was entirely willing to try...a key lime and coconut coffee cake with macadamia nuts presented with macadamia nuts, homemade coconut gelato, and a homemade fresh mint syrup. Delicious! A fabulous birthday meal on my birthday! One of my co-diners was so pleased with her side of grits that she took another order home with her. They're having Rosh Hoshana specials and New Mexico chile harvest specials coming up...

On Friday I actually returned to my part-time restaurant job after a lay-off of about 4 months. It's good to be back! The re-design of the bar is fabulous and they also now offer several "Small Plate" options in addition to the regular menu.

On Saturday I was treated to dinner by a plethora of groovy friends at Richter's Chalet. I haven't been their in years. It's a great German restaurant and you can be well-fed for cheaps. It's not very vegetarian-friendly as it's a German restaurant...I think they even put bacon in the water. I had the French Onion Soup, the Schnitzel ala Holstein (lightly breaded veal sauteed in butter with a fried egg, anchovies, and capers), and the Schwarzwelderkirschtorte (Black Forest Torte) for dessert. Yum! German food is fairly simple, but wholly satisfying. We then went over to BST's for cake, but never had any cake as most of us had dessert at Richter's. I opened my gifts (thanks to everyone!) and we just sat around and shot the shit. Conversations ran from human penis on dog (the new IKEA catalog), childhood stories, politics, and more. Thanks everybody! I took the cake home and made a pig of myself for a few days. Some co-workers gave me a Bill Knapp's chocolate cake and then I took a Boston Cream Pie home from Saturday. Good times! I even had cake for my B-Day on Wednesday at work (a chocolate bumpy cake with a chocolate cream filling). Let them eat cake! Damn skippy!

Sunday was spent with friends eating and drinking. We had a "Cabernet Shoot-Out" and it was a lot of fun. Great food as always!

My adventures since Sunday have been pretty much non-existent. I don't intend to single out any one gift, but I will because it is so frickin' awesome. My landlord-types and roommate got me a frickin' huge-ass Le Creuset Dutch oven. They had given me one years ago also, but this one is about twice the size. It frickin' rocks! Now I can braise bigger briskets, more short ribs, and even roast whole chickens now! It's kind of celery greenish and it's beautiful! I can't wait to braise something when I have about 6 hours free.

I'm very excited because I received my DVD copy of The Proposition yesterday. I've mentioned it earlier as I saw it twice in the theater. The screenplay and music are both by Nick Cave (my favorite musician). It's very dark and brutally violent, but pretty realistic. I watched it again last night with commentary by John Hillcoat and Nick Cave. I also watched all of the extras. I certainly learned a few things. Most of the indoor scenes were actually shot at night as it was reaching 57 degrees Celsius (134 Fahrenheit) during the day. All of the actors were wearing layers of traditional clothing. The heat affected the performances in that people spoke more slowly. The brutal heat was also dangerous and made things very difficult for John Hurt, but his performance and appearance shone through. I also learned that my favorite actor (Noah Taylor) was in it and killed off in the first scene. I didn't even catch that at the theater. He's arguably the best Australian actor and he's not even billed in it. Pretty cool. It's a very violent and grisly film, but beautifully done. I highly recommend that you rent, Netflix, or buy it! The music of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (Dirty Three) is beautiful and haunting.

I was flipping channels last night and I stopped on C-Span for a while. It seems that every time they are filming a session of Congress Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Florida is speaking. She's a fairly liberal Democrat and I always like what she has to say. Look for her to go places (not that she isn't somewhere already).

I've got the day off today as I now have to work on Sunday. That's why I'm posting during the day for once. That's all for now!

Random poll- Orange juice. High pulp, some pulp, or no pulp?

Cheers,
Jason

2006-09-19T15:46:00.000-04:00

You Scored 95% Correct

You are an 80s expert
You never confuse New Order with the Pet Shop Boys
You know which classical musician Falco rocked
When it comes to 80s music, you Just Can't Get Enough!
How Much Do You Know About 80s Music?

2006-09-17T12:59:00.000-04:00

You Are Incredibly Logical

Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic
You think rationally, clearly, and quickly.
A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer!
How Logical Are You?

"Just Pretend It's All Okay"

2006-09-16T12:55:00.000-04:00
This will be very short. I was driving to the the restaurant job yesterday and traffic was a bit backed up and I noticed a patriotic looking magnetic ribbon on a car in the next lane. I thought nothing of it until we were both at a full stop when I happened to give it a glance. It said "Just Pretend It's All Okay". I thought that that was pretty darn clever. Stop pretending...

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

Short and lazy B-Day post...

2006-09-14T14:24:00.000-04:00
The other day I actually had a bunch of stuff to post, but I was too tired to do it. Now I'm just too lazy to do it. It's my birthday and I really don't feel like posting much. I'm taking some days off to use up my vacation time. I'm pretty much just vegging out. Some friends are taking me to Zingerman's Roadhouse tonight for my B-Day and I'm looking forward to that. Tomorrow I'm actually finally going back to the restaurant job after a few months being laid-off. That's great! I've really been missing the extra cash! More friends are taking me out to dinner on Saturday, but I don't know where yet. I'm looking forward to that as well. Sunday I've been invited to a "Cabernet Shoot-Out" at a friend's house. Everybody brings a bottle of cab and we taste them blind and pick our faves and try to guess which is which. The host is a WONDERFUL cook so of course I'm looking forward to that as well. I have Monday off too and no plans which is just fine. I still have one vacation day left. I'll try to use it wisely...

There is a little bit of bad local news...
Emily's Restaurant in Northville is closing. Rick Halberg, the owner, opened another restaurant (Italian) a while ago and sunk his money into it. I guess both locations have been slow and he has no choice but to close. I've actually never eaten at Emily's, but have wanted to eat there for several years and just never had the chance. It's supposed to be wonderful. Two people whose foodie insight I highly regard both claim it as their favorite restaurant. Now I'll never have the chance...

Please watch Everything is Illuminated. I Netflixed it last week and it's really well done. Liev Schreiber directed it. It's funny, quirky, and weepy.

Please read this week's column from Jack Lessenberry here. Quite good again! It's about what's changed since 9/11...not much!

Have a good week y'all!

Random Poll- What was/is your favorite birthday cake?

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

A stolen blog survey to pass the time...

2006-09-07T00:04:00.000-04:00
1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT?
I really don't have many scars as I try to avoid situations that may be injurious. I have one small one behind my eyebrow from crawling into a chair leg when I was a baby. I was a fast crawler.

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?
A giant Veuve Clicquot Champagne banner.

3. WHAT DOES YOUR CELL PHONE LOOK LIKE?
Small black and silver flip phone.

4. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Shoe-gazer, No Wave, Post Punk, New Wave, punk, jazz, indie, opera, classical, industrial, world, some hip-hop, and very, very little country.

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
9AM-ish

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?
Respect from my employers, a chocolate chip cookie, and a little nookie...

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS?
The Oregon scenery.

8. WHAT IS THE VELOCITY OF AN UNLADEN SPARROW IN FLIGHT?
African or European swallow?

9. DO YOU PREFER HOT DOGS OR HAMBURGERS?
Hamburgers

10. WHAT ARE YOU CONSIDERED [[PREP, GOTH, JOCK, ETC]]?
Dork/wine geek hybrid

11. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK?
Only when there's a killer on the loose.

12. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY?
I don't remember the last person that made me cry. It's usually a movie. Or the last girl that said "I just want to be friends".

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOGNE / PERFUME?
Whatever ladies like the best on me. I've been told that Joop would smell good on me, but I'm partial to Givenchy for Men.

14. WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Dark or red hair, any color eyes will do, but blue and green sort of stand out.

15. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINKS?
Coffee, but I don't drink it for the energy. Energy drinks taste like sour, dirty ass.

16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING?
Mushrooms (fresh)

17. IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
A bowl of Pho

18. WHO IS THE LAST PERSON YOU MADE MAD?
Probably my boss

19. DO YOU SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE?
Ein bischen Deutsch.

20. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU:
I don't recall, but it may have been a stuffed animal or sorts.

21. DO YOU LIKE SOMEONE?
I have a stack of assorted crushes. Some more than others.

22. ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED?
No

23. FAVORITE CLOTHING STORE?
Any place that has something that fits me and doesn't look like complete ass.

24. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS TAKEN?
It's possible, but I'd never act on it.

25. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU?
Maybe punch them, pull their hair, or tell them they have cooties. Seriously, I'd just tell them. Quality of time spent together should be reflective of how you feel about each other be it friends or even more. I like to cook for my friends and get them thoughtful/useful gifts.

26. BLONDES OR BRUNETTES?
Brunettes or redheads.

27. WHO IS THE NUMBER ONE PERSON YOU CALL OFTEN?
R

28. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST?
Ignorance and mosquitos

29. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF THE U.S.?
Yes. Canada, Australia, Germany, and Switzerland (7 or 8 times).

30. YOUR WEAKNESSES?
Food

31. FIRST JOB?
Senior page at a public library, unless you count stints of picking strawberries/blueberries/raspberries in Oregon when I wasn't old enough for a work permit.

32. EVER DONE A PRANK CALL?
In elementary school

33. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED OUT THIS?
Reading Metro Times and Real Detroit while Good Eats was on in the background on TV.

34. IF YOU COULD GET PLASTIC SURGERY WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Nothing. Maybe I'd have a dorsal fin added to my back, or have botox injections in my back forming a happy face.

35. WHY DID YOU FILL OUT THIS SURVEY?
Because it was there...and I didn't have any ideas to post.

36. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST?
My demeanor and sense of humor. Customers appreciate my honesty and wine/food knowldege.

37. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF ALCOHOL BECAME LEGAL FOR ANY AGE?
I'd move to Iran. Seriously though, I'd stop going to clubs/bars and do all my drinking at home.

38. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY?
Anything on my Amazon Wish List, a hug, world peace. Whatever you can afford. Only one week to go kids!

39. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT?
0-2. I doubt that I'll find anyone that will want to procreate with me, but if I do I wouldn't mind a kid or two. Zero would be fine too, and more realistic...

40. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My mother was an au pair for the young son of a headmaster of a private school in England. His name was Jason.

41. DO YOU WISH ON STARS?
No. But I do make birthday wishes or wishes on a wishbone...still waiting for any of them to come true.

42. WHICH FINGER[S] IS YOUR FAVORITE?
\m/, or an extended middle finger to the current administration.

43. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?
Watching the Band of Brothers marathon a few weeks ago or so on the History Channel. I almost cried yesterday but my anger extinquished it (after hearing about the ordeal of a good friend). I'm too pissed to cry. I've been in sort of a daze since.

44. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
No. It was okay until I started waiting on tables and had to print. Now it's just ugly.

45. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Serrano (Spanish ham) or Prosciutto di Parma

46. ANY BAD HABITS?
Eating too much, nailbiting, killing sprees

47. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING CD ON THE SHELF?
I certainly don't think so, but you'd probably say any of my Cyndi Lauper CDs.

48. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOURSELF?
I think so. I'm good looking and a lot of fun to be around...

49. HAVE YOU EVER TOLD A SECRET YOU SWORE NOT TO TELL?
Yes, but the circumstances merited it.

50. DO LOOKS MATTER?
Not really. They sure are nice, but I find myself becoming attracted to people as I get to know them better. Personality is way more important. I'm certainly drawn to attractive people though. I'm not going to lie.

51. HOW DO YOU RELEASE YOUR ANGER?
I don't get angry too often. I'm relatively calm. I'm most likely to be angry with politicians, policies, and injustice. I'd blog about it, donate to appropriate counteracting causes, or bottle it up.

52. WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME?
Work, unfortunately.

53. DO YOU TRUST OTHERS EASILY?
Not immediately. I only trust my friends.

54. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD?
There was this ragdoll that my Swiss grandmother made for me. It was very important in my early years. My Tonkas were pretty cool.

55. HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE ON YOUR CELL PHONE?
92, but that's a combination of personal and business. Embarassingly I only average about one call a week. I really don't like my cell phone.

56. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
No! Never! Absolutely not!

57. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A MOSH PIT?
Many times. It's not my bag any more. I'd just assume sit down now for a show if I could.

58. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GIRL/GUY?
Sense of humor, personality, compassion/empathy, and open-mindedness. Someone who isn't smothering or a stalker. Pale skin, a nice smile, a full set of teeth. Anyone who isn't offended by me.

59. WHAT'S YOUR NICKNAME(S)?
I don't really like nicknames, but some people call me Jay. Some people incorporate my last name into things. I've also been called some off-color things.

60. DO YOU UN-TIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
No. My Blundstone boots are slip-on. They rock!!!

61. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Golly...butter pecan maybe.

62. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST/BAND?
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

63. HOW MANY WISDOM TEETH DO YOU HAVE?
All 4!

64. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
I've been listening to a re-issue of "Burning the Ice" by Die Haut and Nick Cave lately. I've been listening to a mix CD I made for my car which includes Joy Division, Tom Waits, Them, 13th Floor Elevators, David Sylvain, Sufjin Stevens, My Morning Jacket, Folk Implosion, Stereolab, Billy Bragg, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ride, Luna, John Cale, the Kinks, and Nico.

65. LAST THING YOU ATE?
Leftover braised brisket and boiled red potatoes.

66. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Not including work, R.

67. WHATS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Their face and smile. I'm a face person (the whole face overall, not individual elements). Height, butt, and chest size can be all over the map.

68. FAVORITE THOUGHT PROVOKING SONG?
"Blowing in the Wind" by Bob Dylan
"The Mercy Seat" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (a song about the electric chair)

69. FAVORITE THING TO DO:?
Hang out with friends, cook, eat, watch movies, listen to music

70. FAVORITE DRINK:
A bottle of 2003 DeLisio McLaren Vale Grenache would be nice...

71. FAVORITE ZODIAC SIGN:
I'm not into that scene, but I'm a Virgo.

72. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SPORT?
Any Olympic event

73. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR?
Blonde

74. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR?
Greenish

75. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES?
No

76. SIBLINGS?
No

77. FAVORITE MONTH?
October

78. DO YOU LIKE SUSHI?
Hell yes! River eel or toro tuna

79. LAST THING YOU WATCHED?
An episode of Good Eats

80. Favorite Day of the Year?
It used to be St. Patrick's Day, but now I'd settle for any day off

81. ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT?
Yes. Although I've asked several people out, I'm really shy about the ones that I really like. I generally wait way too long and then it's too late. They're either involved with someone else or we've become friends (happily enough). Friendship is always most important though.

82. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Winter

83. KISSES OR HUGS?
Hugs! I love hugs. Can't get enough of 'em. (I don't come from a very hug-friendly background. Not a lot of body contact in my family.)

84. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS?
Relationships

85. BIGGEST FEAR?
Dubya, Cheney, and millipedes. A millipede with Dubya's head!

Cheers,
Jason

2006-09-07T00:03:00.000-04:00

You Are a Liberal for Life

You've got a bleeding heart - and you're proud of it.
For you, liberal means being compassionate, pro-government, and anti-business.
You believe in equality for every person, and you consider yourself universally empathetic.
Helping others is not just political for you ... it's very personal too.
What's Your Political Persuasion?

Justice not served...

2006-09-06T01:40:00.000-04:00
I can't write about it, but the justice system is a travesty. There are so many safeguards to protect the "victims" that the truly innocent are found guilty despite the absolutely incontrovertible evidence. I'm deeply saddened and pissed...

Globe trekking, cookbook rants, and Zebraman...

2006-09-05T00:17:00.000-04:00
Not much to report. I've been back to work for a week (after vacation) and it's as much fun as a barrel of dead monkeys. I'm really not digging this back to work shit. Nope, not at all.

The most exciting thing in my life right now is the fact that one of my favorite shows is now on Monday nights on the Travel Channel. Globe Trekker is now airing at 8:00PM on Monday nights and re-airing at 11:00. This, coupled with No Reservations at 10:00PM, makes for an evening of fine TV viewing. And all of the Globe Trekker episodes are Ian Wright episodes. That's a darn fine thing too. I'd be a little happier if they were half Ian Wright-hosted episodes and half Megan McCormick hosted episodes. She makes me swoon. Beautiful, smart, funny, and well traveled...that's a package!

I also can't wait for the new season of No Reservations to start (October I think). Anthony Bourdain...he's cooler than you. Speaking of Anthony Bourdain my landlord happened to make the Onion Soup Les Halles (French Onion Soup) recipe from the Les Halles Cookbook. He brought me down a steaming crock and it was damn fine if I may say. Damn fine! My lunch at Les Halles in New York last January was one of the simplest and most sublime. This prompted me to get out my copy of the Les Halles Cookbook and look through it. I scanned the recipe, but also took in the introduction as well as several other recipes. The ability to salivate is a prerequisite to reading any Anthony Bourdain book. I would really love to have a few beers with him sometime while the Stooges and Ramones are blaring in the background. That would be really cool. But here I am posting about my food geekiness... He's also now prompted me read Emile Zola's The Belly of Paris, but I've discovered that it's out of print...

This week I made a big-ass pot of turkey vegetable soup. Good shit. I was originally just going to make a vegetable soup (with a chicken stock base), but I saw a roasted turkey breast next to the roasted chickens at Farmer Jack and threw it in the cart. I started the soup with a mirepoix (the holy trinity of onions, carrots, and celery), tomato paste, and a bay leaf, and then I added potatoes, grape tomatoes, corn, lima beans, carrots, red pepper, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, ditillini pasta, and chicken stock. I shredded the pre-cooked turkey and tossed it in. Good shit! I froze about a 1/3 of it and I'm still working on finishing the pot.

Today I actually had Labor Day off and I braised a beef brisket and boiled some red potatoes. Tasty!

FOODIE/WINO RANT- You know what I hate? Recipes that call for sherry, port, or Madeira and they don't specify what kind...that's what I hate. Either for my own cooking (I can usually guess the appropriate one based on the recipe) or for customers. If a recipe calls for "sherry" what kind are you supposed to use? Fino, Manzanilla, Oloroso, Amontillado, Cream, or PX? What kind of port? Ruby or tawny? What type of Madeira? Rainwater, Sercial, Bual, Verdelho, or Malvasia? Each type of fortified wine could be anywhere from subtly different to extremist. Ruby and tawny port provide completely different flavor profiles. The difference between a Fino sherry and a Cream sherry is night and day. Fino sherry is the driest (almost salty) white wine in the world. Cream sherry could be poured on pancakes. When a home cook follows a recipe that calls for a "sherry" which type should they use? Using the wrong type could ruin a recipe. The average consumer does not know the difference in sherries and may choose inappropriately ultimately creating a big ol' mess. There are cheap, domestic sherries, ports, and Madeiras that are generically labeled, but please don't ever consider using that garbage. That's for your 90+ year old grandparents to drink...
END OF RANT

Last night I was invited over to BST's for a BBQ/get-together. It was fun as are most of our get-togethers, but we had the added bonus of watching Heavy Metal Parking Lot. Hilarious! Heavy Metal Parking Lot is a documentary made in the parking lot of the Cap Center in Maryland before an actual Judas Priest concert in 1986. The fashions and the hair are a site to behold. A flashback to my middle school/high school days that I really didn't need. And not at all disturbing is the 20 year old guy making out with his 13 year old date...no kidding. Or Zebraman (see for yourself). Heavy Metal Parking Lot is a must see! Also made were Neil Diamond Parking Lot, Monster Truck Parking Lot, and Harry Potter Parking Lot, but the original reigns supreme.

Awww!!! How I long for the old days...
Rock and Roll!
\m/

Random poll- What is the best meal you've had in your travels and where was it?

Cheers,
Jason

Death by stingray...

2006-09-04T14:49:00.000-04:00

Steve Irwin - RIP

Infamous "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin has been tempting fate for a long time, but a stingray has finally gotten the best of him. Read the story here.

Recapturing childhood one burrito at a time...

2006-08-31T01:23:00.000-04:00
Oh yeah, that's the sweet, sweet stuff of heaven...

One of the world's greatest secrets has been kept from me, apparently. A friend/former co-worker stopped by the store today. He moved to Portland, Oregon months ago and is visiting the Detroit area for a couple weeks. I grew up in Salem, Oregon but moved to Michigan during the summer of 1987. Don't think any worse of me for getting excited about fast food, but I asked him if he ever visited a Taco Time or an Arctic Circle restaurant. He's never heard of Arctic Circle (there aren't any Portland locations), but he said that he loved Taco Time. He also said, "Um, dude, there's a Taco Time in Canton on Ford Rd." WTF?!?! The Taco Time? I went online and sure enough there's a Taco Time in Canton and also one in Ecorse (???). You'd have to be a local to realize that the whole Ecorse thing is a headscratcher. Anyhoo, I got really excited and checked the online menu to see if they still sell the Crisp Meat Burrito and sure enough they still do. I'm mega-excited at this point. I know that it sounds silly, but I LOVED Taco Time Crisp Meat Burritos when I was a kid and haven't had one in almost 20 years. It's actually one of the things I miss most about Oregon other than the coast, the forests, the mountains, the deserts, the rivers, the farmland, and everything else stunningly beautiful. I've had a hankerin' for a Taco Time Crisp Meat Burrito for a very long time and now I have a chance to satiate my desire for heavenly fried goodness.

I got out of work a little late and had to run an errand, but it was my definite intention to drive down Ford Rd. and go to Taco Time. I finally found it (it's in a strip mall, no drive-thru), parked my car, and hopped out giddily. I see a man sweeping up around the outside tables and I ask if they're still open (it's 9:30PM). He said they were closed. I asked if they closed at 9:00 and he said they indeed closed at 9:00. I said "thanks" and turned toward my car. I was at least happy to find the place and to verify its glorious existence. He then called back to me and asked "What do you want?" I said that all that I wanted were some Crisp Meat Burritos. He signaled to me to come inside...they could make them for me. YES!!! He was a small-statured Indian man and I think that he and his wife are the proprietors/managers. The fryers were still on and they very kindly dropped some burritos into the oil. About 5 minutes later I thanked them profusely and walked out with a hot bag of happiness. I had mentioned that I grew up in Oregon (Taco Time is based in Eugene, Oregon) and I haven't had any Taco Time in almost 20 years and the manager smiled.

They're bigger than I recall. They were also too hot directly out of the fryer to eat for several minutes, but I did manage to eat 3 of them on the drive home. They were frickin' great. Just like I remember them. I didn't even eat them with Taco Time hot sauce on the drive home. They're even better that way. I had to save that til' I got home. The expression may be "heaven on a bun", but it really should be "heaven in a crispy, flaky, fried tortilla".

It's really just a fast food fried burrito, but it's a slice of heaven to me. It's one of those very distinct tastes from my childhood that I've been longing for. It's simple, but damn good. It's insanely bad for you, but damn good. It's Taco Time! We always went to Taco Time instead of Taco Bell as it was a helluva lot better and I think it may have even been cheaper at the time. There are about 50 locations in Oregon, a bunch in Idaho, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, northern California and oodles in Canada. It's really amazing how many franchises there are. But there are two frickin' locations in Michigan (within reasonable driving distance) and I didn't even know about them! Why didn't I know about this??? I'll definitely be going back and trying some of my other old faves soon. It's unfortunate that I'll probably never be able to taste another Arctic Circle burger, shake, or their infamous French fry sauce again...

Aww, memories...
I miss the perks of childhood.

Yesterday at work one of the cashiers paged me. I answered the phone and she said, "Jason...there's the biggest, ugliest, grossest, scariest, nastiest bug I've ever seen by the front door...". I told her that I'd check it out. I thought that maybe it would be a cicada that didn't know how to tell time or something. I walk toward the front door and the cashier follows me. I step through the doors as she watches from inside. "HOLY SHIT!!!" It was indeed the biggest, nastiest, scariest looking thing I've ever seen. It was a giant mega-wasp or something. It was bigger than the biggest hornet I've ever seen, but it had the yellow and black markings on the thorax of a wasp. It was bigger than Blackie Lawless! It was honestly almost two inches in length. It looked like it was injured so I didn't feel as bad when I covered it with a piece of scrap cardboard and stomped it with my right Blundstone. That was the scariest looking insect I've ever seen. I hope that PETA won't get on my ass for stomping on something that could kill an elephant...

Below are a couple of picks taken at "The Shack" where I stayed for a few days on my vacation last week that I couldn't get to post earlier...

Random poll- What was your favorite childhood fast food treat?

Cheers,
Jason

Veraison

2006-08-28T23:05:00.000-04:00

Veraison, in vinuous terms, is the point in the ripening process in which the grapes begin to soften and change color. The grapes above are in veraison. These are from the vineyards of Chateau Fontaine in the Leelanau Peninsula.

Hey kids! I got back from "Up North" last night and ran some errands today. Tomorrow, regretfully, I go back to work. I really, really don't want to. Really. I haven't thought about work once on my vacation. It's a shame that I'm not independently wealthy. Working for a living is so overrated. Vacation was pretty good. Over half of it was spent at home running errands and being generally lazy. I went up with friends on Thursday to a wonderful house on Grand Traverse Bay between Elk Rapids and Charlevoix. Unfortunately the weather sucked most of the trip. There was a downpour shortly after I left my house. The sun ended up coming out on Sunday...the day we drove back. It was a pretty relaxing trip and that's most important.

On Thursday we stopped at a New Orleans style restaurant called Pearls. It was pretty good. It had a nice, lively atmosphere and they made a pretty good margarita and chicory coffee. After dinner we made it to the house and simply chilled and drank some wine. On Friday we drove to the Leelanau Peninsula to Chateau Fontaine winery. I've known the owner for years and he's a really great guy. We tasted through his wines in the tasting room and then he gave us a bottle of wine and some glasses to enjoy in the vineyards. Since we had a 4-wheel drive vehicle he gave us a map and let us drive around his vineyard property. It was very pretty, it's just too bad that it was overcast. There were some pretty great views. We drove up to the top of a hill by the deer stand and drank some of his chardonnay walking around in the vineyards. It was pretty neat to be there at veraison. We really enjoyed ourselves at the winery but we had to depart to catch a dinner reservation at Stella in Traverse City.

I had met the owner of Stella about a year ago judging at a wine competition. I've been wanting to go there since she told me about her menu and philosophy. I've also heard very good things from others about the place and they were also recently written up in a recent Wine Spectator. The meal was sensational! I started with a soup of rabbit, potato, and saffron. It was made with a rich rabbit stock and it was accented with perfectly ripe, pierced grape tomatoes. The grape tomatoes gently accented and enriched the broth with a subtle, sweet flavor. Absolutely delicious! I also enjoyed a course of seared scallops with light tomato sauce and potato gnocchi accented with a lemon zabaglione. The zabaglione added a magical touch and the gnocchi were as fluffy as clouds. Truly stunning! For my entree I enjoyed roast pork loin wrapped in applewood smoked bacon, garlic and chanterelle risotto, and carrot jus. The pork was perfectly cooked. It was just slightly pink in the center and the risotto was spot-on with generous portions of chanterelle mushroom. Divine! For dessert I enjoyed a gianduja tart with whipped cream. I love gianduja (praline) and it was wonderfully rich. The whipped cream was made with a local dairy's cream and I must say that it was almost as good as the tart. Damn good! A double espresso was the perfect accompaniment. Through the meal I was able to taste from my dining companions' plates. I tasted a wonderful stuffed squash blossom appetizer, a great filet with gorgonzola, and a stunning duck plate which consisted of seared duck breast, confit of duck leg, gnocchi, and pesto. Fan-flippin'-tastic! But then again duck confit is one of my favorite things on the planet. I must say that Stella is one of the best meals I've had in years. I very highly recommend it! If you're ever in the Traverse City you won't regret it.

We returned to the house and enjoyed some more great wine, movies, and company. Most of Saturday was spent vegetating. We watched some DVDs and I read a bit. Eventually we did leave to grab a drink and some appetizers at Latitude in Bayport, only to come back to the house to make dinner. The home owners' friend had caught a beautiful Chinook salmon. I made a glaze of apricot and ginger and he grilled it as I made my famous mashed potatoes. We also had some wonderful sweet corn. And more wine of course...

The sun was finally out on Sunday and we could actually see across the bay pretty well. I read some more and just relaxed on the upper deck and eventually we all walked down to the lower deck on the beach and enjoyed the sun. Due to the weather we weren't able to see a sunrise (on Torch Lake) or a sunset on Grand Traverse Bay. Too bad, but we still had a very relaxing time. I'm very thankful to our hosts and their hospitality. The house was sensational!

Vacation is over... :(

I just saw a commercial for John Tesh playing at Freedom Hill on Thursday. Rock on! I am so there...not.

I tried posting some more pics but I was having some issues...

Hope you had a good week!

ITMFA!

Cheers,
Jason

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have">What American accent do you have? Quiz'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

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Death by stingray...

Recapturing childhood one burrito at a time...

Veraison