…morning, which it is now. and i’m on my second listen through:
perhaps i’ve been spoiled by nick combs, but i’m hoping that now, every time we post a musical shout-out, some kind reader will send us some amazing tip…
anybody need a belt?
a handmade belt ready for a sweet belt buckle? like this:
made from saddle leather?
well. go talk to curtis at preston dry cleaners next to rugged warehouse.
not only does he do the best shoe repair around, he makes belts. who knew?
for $16.
well. go on. go buy one. you know you want to.
Filed under: -of eats, -of green, -of harrisonburg, -of health, -of jhumphrey, -of kiddos, -of localism, -of reads
have we raved about this cookbook on here yet?
well. now we have. or we are again.
go buy this cookbook by cynthia lair. use it to guide the transformation of your farmer’s market wares and garden products.
our copy is crinkled, scribbled, deliciously sloppy.
a few of it’s recipes have changed the way we cook:
the coconut oil/whole wheat pastry crusts (this oil is magic…)
the beans with arame (an introductory sea vegetable…)
the pan fried tofu (the first time this has actually worked like in the restaurants…)
the grilled salmon (self-explanatory…)
the steak over soba.
the best thing about this cookbook is that each recipe offers ways to serve the meal for babies just starting solid foods (around 6-10 mos. old) and for children. not alternative dishes, but ways of serving & preparing the same meal for everyone in the family. realizing that babies and kids aren’t idiots. they have taste buds too. just give them a little credit and have patience. they probably do like more than mac n’ cheese and chicken fingers.
feeding the whole family.
for example:
the thai steak salad over soba.
not something many would normally assume to be baby finger food. but lair suggests that
” some soba noodles with fresh cilantro and a few drops of dressing are perfectly fine to serve.”
it is also excellently non-legalistic. there is meat. there is sugar. there is salt. there is fat. but crafted together in a whole-foods, whole-family approach.
seriously. we have yet to try something from this cookbook that hasn’t been a success.
the book, with it’s lovely cover design by olympia, wa artist nikki mcclure, and full of recipes by seattle local cynthia lair, is also a reminder of our former home in the pacific northwest.
and a reminder of all things fresh and whole – in washington and right here in virginia.
check out lair’s new online cooking show, “cookus interruptus.” word on the street says it’s funny. and fresh.
and. for those recipes.
try twin oaks tofu from integral yoga in charlottesville.
and salmon from tangier island seafood here in harrisonburg.
and scope out t&e’s for the steak.
Filed under: -of green, -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of localism
more on sustainability for harrisonburg here.
Filed under: - of restaurant review, -of eats, -of green, -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of localism
so, we were just thinking. (we do this sometimes.)
in the june/july 2009 edition of flavor magazine, there is a column by joel salatin called “transient chefs”.
in it, he writes,
The time that a chef’s move benefited me the most was when Lisa Joy and Doug Porter closed 23 Beverly in Staunton and she became the head chef at Joshua Wilton House in Harrisonburg. She introduced our pastured meats and poultry there, and it has been our flagship restuarant for nearly two decades.
in the past couple of years, there has been much hype about the writings of local food guru michael pollan. in his oh so popular, and oh so excellent book, omnivore’s delimna, he devotes whole chapters to who? joel salatin. he uses salatin as a case study to highlight local (vs. organic) food trials and successes. this example is ultimately a huge part of his thesis.
so. like i said. we were thinking.
does this mean that the current national obession with local food can be partly traced back to harrisonburg? back to us?
to the joshua wilton house.
to t&e meats (which, according to salatin, now stands for “true and essential”).
to our cows. and pigs. and chickens.
there are other establishments with a 20 year history of local food dedication. sure. check out alice water’s chez panisse in berkely.
but, do we often think of our very own in the same holy local food light?
maybe we should.
listening to this.
it falls securely within my favorite song category: “everything’s going to be alright” songs.
like REM’s ‘nightswimming’. or ben harper’s ‘the three of us’. or red house painter’s “have you forgotten”. or clap your hand’s say yeah’s “over and over again”. or tom wait’s “come on up to the house”. or patti smith’s “farewell reel”. or pearl jam’s “wishlist”. or low’s “two step”.
that is only a glimpse of my short list. slight guilty pleasures. they all manipulate me pleasingly.
i don’t think that i would actually put the middle east on my final list (a little uber-trendy to be classic in my opinion). but i was listening to their song ‘blood’ and it made me think of all of those songs i turn to for late night drives or heavy summer rainy days like today.
they all feel a bit like this:
sally mann (the photographer behind this gelatin silver print) gets the feeling.
this is a little lame. it admit it. but i do sort of miss my capitol hill, seattle trader joe’s:
(people really do look like that in the store. like on a a tuesday morning.)
but, apparently, c’ville will soon be blessed with this overpackaged snack food extravaganza.
if you see it as a cheap, organic, snack food outlet (think chips, wasabi peas, dried fruits, frozen salmon cakes):
and if i religiously stick to the farmer’s market and don’t buy tj’s weird plastic wrapped produce:
or cheat on downtown wine & gourmet with 2 buck chuck:
it’s all good, right?
i’m searching here…
(thanks to josh for the t.j.’s FYI.)
a number of kind folks have asked us lately: “how can you blog about primary voting if you didn’t even vote yourselves?!”
it’s a good question. i think the best explanation is information. or the lack thereof.
i have felt this way before, recently. exhibit 2 is the friendly city food coop. i believe in good, local food; i believe in good, local elections. democracy and dinner are pretty key to a happy healthy day-to-day life. 
so why, when it has come down to it, do i feel like i just don’t know enough; i’m just not comfortable; i just can”t pull the trigger & do it!?
of course, both of these examples are more complicated, but i think that, whatever little coincidental obstacles stand between me & an fcfc member card & an “i voted” sticker, i would’ve brushed them aside if i really believed that i knew what in the world was going on in the guts of either organism (the mysterious would-be milk & meat vendors & their as-of-yet-undisclosed location, and the so-called-energetic-because-the-credibility-of-our-so-called-revolutionary-american-polictical-sea-change gubenatorial campaigns) & whether either creature would be a good and faithful friend to me in the future.
so, let’s make a deal: bring on the transparency, and i’ll happily fire away.
so, this michael lewis has a new book about being a dad (to tabitha soren’s kids–what a blast from the past! hard to imagine the news media has actually gone downhill since the days of mtv “news”!)
michael was on npr’s on point talk show. now, i don’t plan on reading the book (“a self-indulgent waste of time” aptly commented one listener), but the radio piece riled me up a little. michael laments a loss of clarity in our “new age” of coparenting, when dad’s just don’t quite know what they’re supposed to do, but he still (on the radio at least) trumpets his own parental activism & (learned) bond w/ his own kids.
i wanted badly to call in and go on & on about natural childbirth w/ a role for the mother’s partner, to preach attachment (cosleeping, involving kids in your own grown-up routines, generally being an affectionate guy…), to ask this guy about his own dad, about whether they needed to give birth in a hospital where he was “in the way,” etc., etc.
all of which is well & good by me, and i would love the chance to unload on a progenitor of modern dads’ lit (i think every by-dad-for-dad book i’ve seen is some version of a shoulder-thumping, guffawing romp, celebrating ignorance, incompetance, & weak stomachs–as in “i had no idea about__,” “i can’t operate baby clothes,” or “poop is gross”–if grown men wrote poop-joke chapters in books about caring for their invalid parents, & mused about why their wives “can’t just take care of it?”, would they win a publishing monopoly on a corner of the bookstore?). but really, the response i’d actually like to make to other dudes in such discussions would be, “read more dan savage.” 
the kid is dan’s story of his husband terry & his adoption of their son. in a “new” age of coparenting, etc., the kid is a family values classic. may the old must-dos of traditional parenting shrivel & pass on!
there is no such thing as a single, correct standard model for a functional, loving family. maybe the flexibility & subjectivity of “new” parenting is a little harder, as michael lewis says, on the face of it. but, as he also says, the work of caring for someone has a funny way of making you love them, making you feel accomplished & fulfilled. maybe having a family is hard, and hard is good (dan has done a bit of writing on that too).
anyway, to the dudes, read more dan, and to the publishers, for god’s sake, print something by a guy that doesn’t use the same tired jokes. yes, poop is gross. so is puking after a kegger. dudes can handle it.
(a few models from parentally-minded authors of another gender persuasion:
the east village inky
ariel gore & bee lavender @ hip mama zine
the sisters @ brain, child magazine
and, thankfully, the homeboy of stay-at-home-dad’s everywhere,
greg allen
Brent Finnegan is voting in the primary tomorrow. Are you? http://hburgnews.com/2009/06/08/tuesdays-primary/.
so? are you?
this is what has become of the spectacular trash art sculptures on N. Liberty:
somebody is trying, but remember the tall people like figures that alternately embraced and fought?
wtf?
we want our impromptu street expression back!
so.
for the record.
i’m not a slacker.
but the folks at the DNR and maybe the c’ville NAACP are…
no one has written back to me. no news to publish.
once again, this kind of disgusting public behavior slides away into the not-so-distant past and maybe we all sigh with relief that we don’t have to consider making waves anymore. “well, it’s not a big deal anymore…”
yeah.
and another chance at public change bites the dust?
we heard rumors awhile back (so long ago that both of us are a little concerned that we just made it up) that el sol, the little hole-in-the-wall mexican restuarant downtown has an unbelievable brunch.
i’m thinking something like this:
well? fact or fiction?
i’m pining for my weekly dose of paneer saag.
what have other regulars been eating while john and rama are on their yearly summer trip?
we’ve been loving more than usual on the veggie combo platter at the blue nile.
and making our own pasta.
but. it has even been mentioned in this household that the post-indian-american stomach is even missed.
wow.
how have you all been surviving?
Filed under: - of restaurant review, -of eats, -of green, -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey
local thrifty, eco hint, folks:
i was at earth & tea yesterday,
and was in need of an iced drink, but only had the change clanging around in the bottom of my bag.
so, when i ordered my bamboo bliss iced tea, the really nice guys (aaram, matt) who own/work there, asked, “for here or to go?”
i asked, “what’s the difference?”
turns out, in terms of loose change, a lot.
FOR HERE: $2.22
TO GO: $3.33
kuddos to this place for encouraging less trash and for taking the time to teach my kid how to set up a chess board.
you won some serious points in my book.
the lesson? go take a load off, sit down for a minute, and enjoy your iced tea in a glass, sit in a cushy chair, play a little chess, and relax. it’s summer. slow down.
buy here.
and i love shepard fairey. read more about this rogue artist here.
Fairey was arrested on February 7, 2009, on his way to the premiere of his show at the Institute of Contemporary Art[21]in Boston, Massachusetts, on two outstanding warrants related to graffiti. He was charged with damage to property for having painted two Boston area locations with graffiti, a Boston Police Department spokesman said.[22]
you might recognize his work:
i recently got to see the original. it was fly.
