Today is the day your life will surely change.

It's hard to believe that it's 2010. I have so many computers in my house it makes me want to vomit. It's weird to look back. But here I am cooking food for superstar computer engineers and reaping some of the benefits. I still feel the art and music in my heart and soul but it's a little harder to get at even with all the great tools at my disposal. My path has to embrace discipline and focus . It's never easy to reach into the ether and pull out a relic from the muse , unless your aim is true.I just got a very nice tibetan singing bowl and it's beautiful oscillation make it all easier.

I am blessed. Now to give back a gift of thanks.

transition

It's been a real weird 6 months. I almost died. I moved and my art output is in flux.

Might be a good time to start here again, though the last time I only posted twice. Facebook tends to be easier but not really getting into anything. So , let's try this again.

Back in the Saddle Again.

Well here it is almost a year later. I'm posting here and announcing my return to blogland. I've been working on music the last year and it's been fun and troubling. I have to be involved in music it's in the DNA. It took me away from writing but I hope to now balance the two. I've really missed spewing out nuggets here on blogger. So look for more in 2009.

Been a longtime since.................I stole the passion

It doesn't matter where you sleep
it's where the first light finds you
she asked you to remember a song
but you only sang fragments of her melodies
from this, you woke with beard long and eyes weary
she asked, how can you fondle my lovely-sweet body
when you won't let go of what you've been holding
there is so little until you find nothing
and so much when you've fallen down
it doesn't matter where you sleep
as long as it's near to your heart
and it will find you closer than any lover
she asked you to remember a song
and you painted it on the canyon walls in a low rich voice
it echoed back and you forgot your own name

Back to the Future

What happens to a modern iconoclast , in the same vein as Peckinpah and Welles, when even HBO won't let you get to the artful pursuits in your head? You go back to the future I guess. "John from Cincinnati"(JFC) wipes out.

There is no doubt David Milch is the cracked genius of the modern era of television. Noone else is creating such richly dense dialogue or taking so many chances at greatness. It's probably his myopic view of his creations that lead him to make such compelling tv for some and leave the majority of the audience in the dark. Television is suppose to placate the lower IQ range that way everyboby likes it. His last two HBO creations have had some truly monumental characters staining our imaginations( Al Swearengen of Deadwood and JFC's Bill Jacks). His genius creates blips of overly ornate mouthfuls of dialogue, laced with numerous cultural references and profanities bringing a spirit and intellect rarely seen on the small screen. Milch's indulgances in fuzzy logic in plotlines, glut of character arcs and self congratulatory demeanor can leave most people clicking the remote to more easily consumable television viewing. Deadwood seemed to die from it's
inabilty to sustain it's own weight ( budget and egos). John was just a little too weird and disjointedsome said just bad tv.

I feel JFC was brilliant in it's exploration of spirituality, surfing and the ladder days of the American Empire. It may have been a little obtuse but no more than the extremely popular "lost". I feel that "lost" uses confusion and deception merely as a tool to keep the viewing audience coming back and watching the commercials. It's just a carrot, JFC is so much more. JFC was uses the confusion and non-linear jumps to creat cogintive dissidence, breaking the audience's trend of thought and opening them into another arena, perhaps spritual realm of thinking or being. This is a very common technique in spiritual orders to help clean the mind of the day to day and help create communion with the divine or other. Perhaps this is a little lofty for a television show to burden itself with. I guess that it is. John will soon be gone, I don't Butchie instead.

Beyond all this Milch is now working on a cop show for HBO( he is under contract to develop television programming through 2008). So back to the future for the man who worked on "Hill Street Blues" and created "NYPD Blue". I'm sure it will be similar vein to Deadwood and JFC and feature some of the same actors. It would be great if it had Jim Beaver as a jaded police sergeant with early on set alzheimers, Garret Dillahunt and Brian Van Holt as partners who are detectives , Ed O'Neil as a reformed alcoholic, right wing mayor, Ian McShane as a racketeer who runs all the crime in the South part of the city and Paula Malcomson as super bitchy DA trying to clean up the city. I'm sure it will be something along these lines and very interesting as usual with lots of cuss words. I guess we will see soon. I look forward to it.

Could this be Magic?

2007 NFL Predictions

Predictions for NFL ( at a very casual glance) let's see how I do.

NFC East
1. Dallas
2. New York
3. Philadelphia
4. Washington

NFC North
1. Chicago
2. Minnesota
3. Green Bay
4. Detroit

NFC South
1. New Orleans ( best record )
2. Carolina
3. Tampa Bay
4. Atlanta

NFC West
1. Seattle
1. San Francisco (San Fran wins tiebreaker)
3. Arizona
4. St Louis

NFC Championship

Saints vs. Seahawks-----------------> Seahawks

AFC East
1. New England (tie best record, wins tie breaker )
2. New York
3. Miami
4. Buffalo

AFC North
1. Cincinnati
2. Baltimore
3. Cleveland
4. Pittsburgh

AFC South
1. Indianapolis ( tie best record )
2. Tennessee
3. Jacksonville
4. Houston

AFC West
1. San Diego
2. Oakland
3. Kansas City
4. Denver

AFC Championship

Indy vs. Patriots ----------------> Patriots


Superbowl

Patriots vs. Seahawks ------------> Patriots

this it: that one

Ice Cream for Crow !!!

Gnawa

M.I.A.

I have been away for far too long, allergies have led to much physical discomfort. I promise to get back in the game this week.
I have some more thougts on salad dressings and some music reviews.

Salad Anybody?

Everyone is always asking me about salad dressings. People seem to like the ones
that I make. I'm almost always in favor of making your own, they taste better and they are really easy to make. There are just a few concepts to keep in mind and you too can soon be a master.

First and foremost there are the vinaigrettes. You might ask, what is a vinaigrette?
Well. A vinaigrette is an emulsion, which means basically "a suspension or dispersion of one liquid into another, the two liquids being mutually insoluble." You know like oil and water. They never truly mix. A vinaigrette is vinegar suspended in oil .

A vinaigrette can be as simple as oil and vinegar. This is a great way to dress a salad. You can choose your level of acidity by the amount and choice of vinegar. I'm always a fan of using great ingredients as components in your mixture. So spend some money on a quality oil ( I like an extra virgin olive oil or flax seed oil) and a decent vinegar( I like a nice balsamic). It doesn't take a great deal of ingredient to dress a salad. So what ever you spend will continue flavor your salad for quite a while.

Let's just start by creating a simple vinaigrette. It is easy to make and it's the building block to many different and exciting flavor choices.

What you will need is:

Olive Oil ( extra virgin is preferred)
Vinegar ( your choice)
Mustard ( dijon preferred)
Salt and pepper

Place tablespoon of mustard and half cup of vinegar into a bowl.

Whisk in a 3/4 cup of oil, add salt and pepper to your taste. A pinch of each will do.

That's it.

This will create a simple vinaigrette that will be temporarily emulsified and separate shortly afterwards. You can add herbs, spices, honey, garlic onions, anchovies, lemon juice. It's good and good for you.

Next time out we'll grab the Cuisinart or blender and make a more permanent emulsion with some more ingredients.

Remember life is too short to eat bad food.

hope in a new dark age

Music of the Spheres

'Many say that life entered the human body by the help of music, but the truth is that life itself is music'. Hafiz

overstuffed

Most men, no matter how well or badly dressed, carry overstuffed, beat up wallets that should have been replaced years ago. Why is that? Every time I see a guy take out a wallet anywhere, it looks like a piece of old melted chocolate cake-with strings.
Jonathan Carroll

Marlon Brando: It's Alive!!!

Perhaps Brando is not dead.

Roger Wilco

I've been meaning to do this for sometime. The new Wilco record "Sky Blue Sky" is amazing. A friend lent me an advanced copy a while ago and I've listened to it about 50 times. It consumed me in a time of many great releases.

Wilco has never been a favorite of mine. There were always songs that I enjoyed but nothing to keep me that interested. I always preferred what solo folk guitar stuff Jeff Tweedy did. Last year or a little over a year ago. I watched the "Burn to Shine: Chicago" DVD that had a very sublime live Wilco performance in a house that was about to be demolished. It really impressed me. I then went on to borrow their live CD "Kicking Television" which I liked as well. I think it may have to do with the fact , the band had added one of my favorite guitar players, Nels Cline. I haved seen him in many ensembles. He simply oozes great music from his pores.

"Sky Blue Sky"is a heartfelt and deeply personal album, you can tell from Tweedy's lyrics and the music perfectly matches his mood and tone.I have no idea how they recorded this but it sounds live and organic. It has great part writing that mesh together to unvail an amazing conversation between some talented and empathetic musicians, It echo past great bands like The Band, the Grateful Dead and the Beatles on "Let it Be". The record goes beyond the hipster pop of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot " and has better songs and more catchy pop hooks than "a ghost is born". This is a very mature and developed sounding record. I might even say classic. I guess, I just did.

I thin k this version of Wilco is the best yet. They seem happy, productive and creative. I can't wait to see them in concert. Hopefully this is just a beginning and we can look forward to plenty of great music. Buy it you will like it.

Condiments are your Friends

Speaking of making the broth, I have been cooking professionally for over 25 years. I've decided that this would be a great place to pass on tips . People are continually calling or asking me about this or that and I'm always glad to share a few secrets.

Today's installment is about making condiments your friends.

I was talking to my assistant Dan yesterday about making Spanish Rice , which oddly I had never made. I was in the n middle of making it and admitted to having never made it before. He said it looked right and then began talking about how his dad made it by pouring salsa in the rice and Voila!! - Spanish Rice. He continued to tell me about other condiment and other prepared food cooking solutions his dad used in the kitchen. He sort of said it like it was a dirty secret. I looked straight at him and said, "Condiments are your friends".

A condiment is a food (normally strongly flavored) that is added in small quantities “at the table” to a major dish “to the eater’s taste”.
Most condiments are so highly flavored (e.g. salt) that they are normally not eaten by themselves but only as an addition to some other food.
Condiments do not form a natural category like herbs, but instead are part of a functional category which means that that the notion of a "condiment" depends on how it functions. For example, Sauerkraut is a food that can be served as a side-dish. However in the context of a hot-dog stand sauerkraut becomes a condiment. Sauerkraut is not inherently a condiment - it only becomes one in the context of buying a sausage in a bun with some pickled cabbage, and seemingly no where else.
There are many deviations to the above definition – a kitchen may add condiments before the food is served, or a condiment like mayonnaise with little flavor other than fat is popular with Belgians who like to add it to French fries. - Wikipedia

About week earlier, Joel one of the guys I cook for at work asked me, "What is the king of condiments?" At the time, I said ketchup. He was surprised. Mustard was his
side of choice. In context of the above wikipedia definition, I believe salt is king of condiments, closely followed by sugar and then pepper. I think most of us see condiments as mustard, ketchup, salsa, mayonnaise, etc. And Yes, I still see ketchup as being the king. It is great on fries of all types( I share the love of mayo on fries with the Belgians and also like vinegar like the Brits), works well in making Phad Thai, will fix a soup, great on a burger, I liked it on roast beef as a child, works in some salads and salad dressings, to name a few things. Ketchup is salty and sweet. Two things humans really seem to like. It also is a bit sour from the vinegar.
The very popular Heinz 57 is rumored to contain beef blood, "a natural flavoring". I guess that's what makes it so good.

I guess my main point of this little piece is to show that condiments as well as being great flavors to add at the table are great concentrated flavor solutions in the kitchen. The three big guns mayo, mustard and ketchup get a lot of use for sure. Salsa is quickly finding it's way passed those three and there are a myriad of compotes, concoctions and flavor packets I use regularly.

Condiments are not cheating . You don't have to hide them in brown paper bags. You don't have to sneak them into recipes when no one is looking. Embrace the condiment in cooking, they are extremely helpful. I'm a big fan of Worcestershire and soy sauce. They are both ways of adding salty goodness. Sweet-Garlic Chili sauce is my favorite. There are also great recipes to make most of these items for scratch if you are so inclined. The web is the home to many recipes some wonderful and others ridiculous.

Don't fear condiments and remember life is too short to cook shitty food. Take some time and make yourself something good to eat.

BTW- Bobby Flay eat my shit, I've made a nice roasted chili pepper compote to accent and compliment it's earthy flavor.

money money money

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

Franklin D Roosevelt

feeling empty, good empty

“In the world I fill up a place, which may be better supplied when I have made it empty”

William Shakespeare