November 28, 2007
I went out to visit my friend Violet a few weeks ago in Chicago (which I have sadly neglected to write about, but I swear I will!) and I was so happy for her! She and her partner J had just announced that they were expecting a baby! She was keeping it a secret until they traveled to California for Thanksgiving to tell her family. And now... She is dealing with it in a typical Violet way, and I love her so much for her strength and courage, but still.
And my friend Leigh who's Noisy Dog Studio kicks ass. She is one of the most amazing artists I have ever met. Much of her inspiration comes from her Boston Terrier Hugo, who rules their house. Hugo has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. I e-mailed Leigh immediately, who told me that Hugo is taking it day by day on meds.
I'm ready for the happy now.
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November 12, 2007
Wrong.
Since it was a Friday night (November 2nd), I assumed it would be difficult to get a table, however, at 7:30 during the Dia Day Los Muertos procession down 6th Ave. myself and Cassioposa walked right in and were seated. There were a couple other free tables, but the small bar was full. We ordered a couple of beers; mine a European Apple beer was fantastic, but at $8.50 a bottle I wasn't going to drink more than one.
When we were joined by a third, we ordered up the bratwurst, grilled bread, and curry ketchup appetizer. The grilled bread was delicious, the curry ketchup sweet and a little bit spicy, and the bratwurst was average. There was an agreement at our table that an appetizer of the grilled bread alone would be a great addition to the menu, as we all loved it, and could have taken or left the bratwurst.
When it came to ordering dinner, I chose the much-talked-about Jerry Stokes berry's buttermilk fried chicken, butter braised local greens and substituted the garlic mashed potatoes with the goat cheese olive campfire potatoes. Cassie had the Cougar gold mac and cheese.
Disappointment reigned over dinner. My fried chicken arrived hot from the fryer, but was bland and tasteless. It seemed as through there were no spices in the mix at all. On the contrary, Cassie sampled her mac and cheese, finding surprising peppercorns as she swallowed her few bites. My "greens" were a soggy, greasy mess of chard that was almost inedible.
I did enjoy the potatoes that were yummily mixed with goat cheese and green olives. They made up the majority of my dinner, as I hardly any of the chicken or chard.
The topper was a cocktail for Cassie that tasted like Windex mixed with rubbing alcohol. It claimed to be some sort of martini, but after we all sampled the blue concoction, it was proclaimed to be the worst drink ever mixed. The nearly full glass was left on the table with the majority of our dinners.
After tip our bill was over $100 and I felt ripped off. For "street food" this is enormously expensive. We had two beers, one cocktail, one appetizer, and two meals.
All but one table was empty when we left at 9:30PM. A bad sign.
I really, really wanted wanted to like Crown Bar. But the concept and the execution don't seem to mesh very well. And...well, are you a bar or a restaurant? If you're a bar serving street food, should your bill be a hundred bucks after eating there? And if you're a restaurant, can you get the rowdy people at the bar to stop screaming and yelling, and to quit leaning over my table and listening to my conversations? It's highly distracting and annoying. I'm also not thrilled with the decor (seriously - the silver fireplace rock? It's hideous), but I see what you're going for.
The food is the biggest issue though - if the food is good I'll sit through bad drinks, high prices, weird decor, and drunk guys leaning over my plate. Unfortunately, it's not.
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November 05, 2007
Driving around Ramona was strange. So much seemed normal, and yet not normal at all. Traffic was heavy, I'm not exactly sure why. Possibly it was people traveling up to look at the fire damage? Or Evacuees coming back into town after being gone for almost a week? Porta-poties were everywhere due to lack of water, and then unsafe water, after the Ramona Municipal Water District pumping station went down. Many of the restaurants were shut down for the same reason, so one had to go "down the hill" for food or head over to my parent's church Mountain View Community for a donated meal.
While I'm not in agreement with the church on a lot of issues, they did a lot for Ramona over the week of the fire. There were firemen and women from all over the place fighting various fires that desperately needed food and shelter, which were provided. National guardsmen and women were also offered a place to eat and sleep. They told us they were sleeping in parks and on the ground and had MREs or no food before they were told to go to the church and were given cots and a real meal.
The church also provided people that had lost their homes with immediate assistance - clothing, toiletries, dog and cat food, diapers, and then to directed one to the appropriate relief agency, even give you a ride if you needed one. And if you were a church member and lost anything, my Dad's job was to locate and interview you to see what resources you had available, and what you may need in terms of shelter or monetary funds, both immediate and in the long term. That's awesome.
In driving down Magnolia Avenue, which becomes Black Canyon Road, it was shocking to see houses missing that have been there as long as I can remember. Houses that are so much part of the landscape, that fit in so well with everything around them, you almost don't realize they're missing. Then you see the black scar where they once stood. It's amazing how small the footprint of a house is. Houses seem so large when you're living in them, and so tiny when they're nothing but ashes and soot, sometimes without even walls left to mark where rooms divided a place. Friends lost homes. People I know lost homes. Leonard. Mike and Traci. Dallas and Rich. Dallas' Dad. Rhetta and Ron. Ken and Linda. Amy.
The fire burned right up and all around my parent's house. Embers melted their fence. The hay in the barn caught fire and burned half the barn bad enough that it will have to be completely torn down and rebuilt (oh darn!). The firebreak my Dad mows likely saved the house - that and the crazy neighbor who stayed while the fire raged. He was the one who put out the fire in the barn with dirt when the water lines melted (THANKS MIKE!). I've evacuated before and it was heady and terrifying, but not nearly as bad as being stuck in Washington waiting for news of my family as they evacuated without me.
Pictures are up at Flickr.
A few samples:
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November 01, 2007
I wonder if this is how her workspace is every day, or if it gets cluttered and piled up, the way my desk is? It's so the opposite of artsy and cool. If Apartment Therapy ever wants my desk shots, here's what they'd get:
It's crucially important that my cell phone be comfortable.
That green thing is The Jeffrey's Dogzilla Halloween costume.
Looking at these pictures makes me see it through new eyes. Yikes!
OK - so this is pretty messy. But technically it's in piles. Piles of incoming, outgoing, and, uh, important stuff. VERY IMPORTANT STUFF. So don't touch it.
This cracks me up every time I look at it.
Is it wrong that there are more comics than work related items on here?
God it's good I don't meet clients at my office.
Books, books everywhere! Those shoes are also very important for work.
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