Filed under: - of restaurant review, -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of localism, -of upcoming
a friend recently divulged her thoughts of opening a new bakery in downtown h’burg…
do you know what a great idea i think this is?
perhaps shank’s wouldn’t agree – but i personally think there are too many baked goods in the world for one bakery to handle. harrisonburg needs to graduate from being a one-bakery town. (sorry, panera definitely doesn’t count.)
in anticipation, i’ve been remembering the baguette sandwiches at the bread peddler in olympia, wa.
especially this one:
Ham and Comté
The traditional Parisian baguette sandwich. Thinly shaved honey smoked ham, paired with Comté, an aged cheese in the “Swiss” family, Garnished with dressed mesclun.
What do you get when you cross a butter cookie with delicate egg bread? The unusual looking beauty above. My Shortbread topped Brioche came to me, like many of my other creations, during the magic hours of middle-of-the-night baking. Try one. They’re very popular with people who prefer their pastries not too sweet.
i feel i should post this story for the benefit of those on the losing end of football games this season, and those expecting babies. as my 3-year-old showed me the other night (of the packers’ loss), there’s no shame in dropping some verbal bombs on the tv. in fact, it helps (you keep a hand in cold water, that is):
Swearing Is F@#$*% Good for You
this, however, showed that pesky, darker side of science: DARKER LIQUOR, NEVER SICKER.
i received the following in the mail over the past week:
which got me thinking about trying to make a garden that produces more than microscopic peppers, lazy spinach, tough corn, and bacterial wilt.
yes. the more i think about it, our first attempt at a garden last year was pretty much dismal. i’ve been in denial, but with the exception of the snap peas, which were harvested mostly by sneaky neighbors “just trying to help us out”, our garden sucked.
we started too late. ordered seeds because “they were pretty”. ran out of money to properly fill our raised beds with dirt and compost. got horse poo that was too fresh. ignored the garden in favor of spain for a month in june (kind of an important month…). called our garden guru too late to stop the plague that killed all hopes of fall pumpkins. put gigantic half-barrels full of could-be beautiful herbs in front of the dryer vent.
so – this year – in the spirit of growing things like babies and vegetables, i really plan to do a better job.
i just want some beautiful tomatoes.
and loads of spring spinach.
and some hot hot peppers.
and maybe a few more things…like the onions we planted last fall and forgot where we put them. and gobs of kale. and okra – god, i love okra -. and those melons and cucumbers and pumpkins – i want to resurrect them from their blighty graves of last year.
in my most idealistic moments i imagine digging in the dirt with a tiny baby in a sling and a big three year old planting seeds beside me.
but maybe i’ll be nursing a fussy baby in an unseasonably cold april wind while my preschooler eats worms and johan hurts his back trying to move the too large herb containers away from the dryer vent.
either way – sounds like a plan to me.
as the state anticipates a new little citizen in march, we found this recent british study hilarious:
When Daddy goes deaf: How men really DON’T hear babies crying while asleep
some particularly insightful gleamings:
Many an exhausted mum has suspected her husband of pretending to be asleep when baby cries in the middle of the night.
But the man really is firmly in the Land of Nod, say researchers.
While a baby’s sobbing is the number one sound most likely to wake up a woman, it doesn’t even figure in the male top ten.
Car alarms, howling wind and a buzzing fly are the prime noises guaranteed to disturb a man’s sleep.
a buzzing fly?!
the other interesting bit was that a baby’s cry was the number one reason women’s sleep was interrupted – whether or not they were mothers.
those little creatures certainly are effective at getting what they need…
this morning, i was (again) disappointed to hear the latest on congress’ limp-wristed attempts at health reform, and (again) wished pain & suffering on joe the leiberman (ny times story here on how joe is now fighting a medicare expansion he himself suggested; bbc reporting here on real health-care comparisons internationally).
later, my 3 year old and i were watching a schoolhouse rocks collection, and i was (again) shocked at some of the propagandistic schlock they put on that show! specifically, “i’m just a bill”:
i still have a huge soft-spot for blind melon’s cover of “3 is the magic number,” but when it comes to the health care debate and what it shows of our dear nation’s political process, i hope the kids are studying the simpsons,
and not cute bits of historical revision (school house).
Filed under: -of funny, -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of localism
just got back from the harrisonburg holiday parade.
the best parts:
1.) the Turner Ashby marching band bass guitarist – complete with un-uniformed amp-puller at his side.
2.) the rocktown rollers. and the fact that they were so refreshingly out of place amidst the SUVs and farm mobiles.
3.) whichever float was playing “sweet dreams are made of these” – evoking sweet memories of bigger, gayer parades.
4.) the weird, circa 1954, animal costumes dug out of some local government basement. the resident 3 year old vote went to “the pooping bear” whose strangely placed tail unfortunately led to potty thoughts. i love vintage tact.
Filed under: Uncategorized
research shows that i should head over to t & e meats and get some of that pasture-raised beef (and maybe some chicken and hot dogs out of the polyface farms freezer).
utne: eating meat for the environment
here i go!
View Larger Map
i sincerely hope that we have plenty of posts in store to honor holiday-season drinking. but this first note is to encourage our local readers to head over to kroger (if you’re in harrisonburg; otherwise, give them a call at 540.721.2045, and set up a tour while you’re at it) to get your own bottle of homestead creamery’s eggnog.
on a related note, your eggnog purchase makes for a great excuse to pick up a bottle of wasmund’s on your way home.
here’s to you, wirtz and sperryville, virginia.
and speaking of homestead, check out the shout-out in this thanksgiving article over at edible blue ridge – incidentally, written by the one and only andrew jenner.
now that’s coming full-circle.
cheers.
tis the season: cold, gray, & early to dark.
now’s a great time to work through a long netflix queue, & i’ve had some documentary-film moments lately that i’d like to share.
-of feeling surprisingly good about not living in subtropical climates, specifically florida:
mule skinner blues
-in which beanie andrew, amateur filmmaker, conceives and creates a “low-budget” horror film. a great, funny/scary take on the human condition, the artist’s condition, etc. featuring some of the most compelling documentary characters, most from a trailer park near jacksonville, florida.
watch the trailer here. and speaking of characters:
-of true believers:
marjoe
kids do the darndest things, i.e. “give the devil two black eyes.”
-it’s about a child preacher-prodigy who’d like to enjoy the rush of communal religious experience w/out the fire & brimstone–in short, a tragedy.
and for marjoe gortner fans, when you comin’ back, red ryder.
and finally,
-of paradise!
attenborough in paradise and other personal voyages
-an addictive set of movies by bbc innovator & naturalist david attenborough.
in my favorite scene, a young david & his film crew visit a hostile group of island natives, and win documentary access, so long as they wear native garb–basically a crew of young brits hiking around in loincloths, trying to stay professional.
it’s always great to find something my 3-year old & i can agree on; thank you david attenborough!
so, here’s to fending off that seasonal affective disorder. good luck!
what are your picks?
Filed under: -of drink, -of guest blogger., -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of vino
remember this guy?
well, the dapper wine fellow has a message for you:
Join us on Thursday the 19th of November as we celebrate the release
of the 2009 Beaujolais Nouveau! Downtown Wine and Gourmet will be
hosting a FREE wine tasting of several producers’ nouveau wines
beginning at 5:00pm and going until 7:00pm. Then head over to
Clementine for a FREE Beaujolais Nouveau release party which will
begin at 8:00pm in the lounge! The event will include Beaujolais
Nouveau for sale by the glass and music from DJ Neals Barkley! So join
the global celebration and keep the tradition alive!A few fascinating facts about Beaujolais Nouveau:
*Beaujolais [BOE-zjoh-lay] Nouveau is always released the third
Thursday of November, regardless of the start of the harvest.*All the grapes in the Beaujolais region must be picked by hand. These
are the only vineyards, along with Champagne, where hand harvesting is
mandatory.*Gamay is the only grape permitted for Beaujolais Nouveau. While
certain California wineries may label their wine “Gamay Beaujolais”
this is not the same grape variety as what is grown in France, and is
quite different in taste and growing habits.*Beaujolais Nouveau owes its easy drink-ability to a wine-making
process called carbonic maceration – also called whole berry
fermentation. This technique preserves the fresh, fruity quality of
the wine, without extracting bitter tannins from the grape skins.*Beaujolais Nouveau is meant to be drunk young. In average vintages it
should be consumed by the following summertime after its release.
However, in excellent vintages the wine can live longer and can be
enjoyed until the next harvest rolls around.Speaking of excellent vintages, Georges Dubeouf (one of the most
renowned producers in Beaujolais) is ecstatic about this year’s
Beaujolais harvest, predicting it one of the best Beaujolais vintages
in the last 50 years. He says, “The grape bunches are small with a
fine purplish black color, and are exceptionally rich in sugar. The
berries are thick, and the seeds are a gorgeous amber color, a sign of
perfect phenolic maturity. Their brightness, intensity, and above all,
their perfect health are something to behold. We have not seen
anything like this for a long time.”Another bit of information which I think is important is the fact
that, unlike some previous releases, the 2009 Beaujolais that we
feature will be shipped by boat, not by air, to reduce the carbon
footprint of shipping the wine.
why would you dream of missing out?
high drink-ability, turntables, and a sense of global togetherness…
what a way to start the holiday season.
we’ll be there.
Filed under: -of eats, -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of localism, -of upcoming
you’ve probably heard the news by now:
The future site of the Friendly City Food Coop will be 150 E. Wolfe St, between the downtown Harrisonburg Post Office and Kline’s Dairy Bar!
The old Mick or’ Mack store? That’s right – it will be so great to have a grocery store there again!
this concrete development is pretty exciting, especially since much of the frustration we’ve heard in the community centers around the previous ambiguity of the co-op project.
hopefully, the community can help the co-op break the tradition of frequently-rotated, bizarre businesses that have occupied this building (anyone remember the era where gimpy limos would drop folks off at harrisonburg’s “dance club” located at 150 E. Wolfe? or the tanning salon? or, most recently, the scary gym?)
+ 
now, those folks who said they would gladly roll up their sleeve and volunteer time and resources towards getting a site location ready for opening have opportunity staring them in the face.
but. before any painting or cleaning, a party is apparently in order.
the details:
You’re Invited to the Friendly City Food Coop “Carpe Diem” Party-in-the-Parking-Lot!
Nov. 14, 4-7pm in the parking lot of the FUTURE STORE!
here’s a big list of ways to help celebrate:
Help Before the party:
1. Join Deb on Thursday or Friday, any time between 8am and 5pm, to help clean the building, set up, prepare goodie bags, etc..Help At the party:
FOOD
** The FCFC has a budget for this event. If you can provide the food needed but would like to be reimbursed for the expense we are happy to do so! Please provide an estimate of cost and bring receipts or an invoice to the party.
2. Provide soup for 50 people (4 volunteers needed).
3. Provide beverage for 100 people (4 volunteers needed).
4. Grill. Bring a portable grill and cook up some great smells and tasty food for 25 people (4 volunteers needed).
5. Provide finger desserts for 25 people (3 volunteers needed).SETUP
6. Bring several extension cords, splitters, and tape, and run power to a mic and lights.
7. Bring a boom box and provide music.
8. Decorate! Lights, balloons – whatever inspires you (2-4 volunteers needed).ENTERTAIN
9. Provide bubbles.
10. Provide frisbees, nerf football, other outdoor fun.
11. Provide face-painting.
12. Play music! We will have an open bandstand, but it would be really great to know that there are a few folks lined up and planning to play (1-10 songs each).
so, there you go! have at it…
make this co-op a success.
starting next saturday.
Filed under: -of harrisonburg, -of jgrimsrud, -of localism, -of sound, -of the concert calendar, -of upcoming
tuesday (11.10.09)
the blue nile – oceans spilling over, yours for mine, mirrorcage – 8pm all-ages $3/$5
clementine – dj neals barkley – 9.30pm
wednesday (11.11.09)
the blue nile – kruschty rye ergnot, max ochs, big drum in the sky religion – 9pm
thursday (11.12.09)
the little grill – open mic – 8.30pm
the blue nile – mas y mas, corsair, new rock church of fire – 9pm
clementine – the jeff coffer mu’tet – 8pm $10
friday (11.13.09)
the little grill – parks & driver (steve & bob) – 8pm
clementine – dj williams projekt – 9pm $7
the blue nile - dj kimsey (hip hop) – 10pm
saturday (11.14.09)
the little grill – charlie king & karen brandow – 8pm
the blue nile - trees on fire, pelicanesis, adventures of felix, jake (of tenderhooks) – 9pm
clementine – jill andrews (the everybodyfields) – 9pm $8
sunday (11.15.09)
the blue nile - adam arcuragi, tba – 9pm
monday (11.16.09)
the southern (charlottesville) – langhorne slim – 8pm $8/$10
Filed under: Uncategorized
some shows coming down the pike:
thursday (10.29.09)
the blue nile - the great migrators, ferdinand thomas – 10pm
the little grill – open mic – 8.30pm
clementine – dj neals barkley – 9.30pm
friday (10.30.09)
the blue nile (state sanctioned)- the super vacations (record release gig), the cinnamon band – 10pm
the little grill – the keezeltones w/ danny dolinger – 8pm
clementine – skunk ape funk escape – 9pm $5
saturday (10.31.09)
clementine (state sanctioned) – harrisonburg zombie fest ’09! – 7pm
the blue nile – dj finks’ halloween party – 9.30pm
the slaughterhouse – dear wolfgang, halloween bash – 9pm
monday (11.2.09)
clementine – sin nombre (film) – 7.30pm
tuesday (11.3.09)
clementine – democratic election-night pary – 7pm
the blue nile – pulse fx – 10pm
thursday (11.5.09)
the blue nile (state sanctioned)- invisible hand, preacher, americans in france, eternal summers – 9pm $4
friday (11.6.09)
clementine – shotgun party – 9pm $5
saturday (11.7.09)
bangcock house – stand your ground, run with the hunted, redemption – 8pm donate!
Filed under: -of drink, -of guest blogger., -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of vino
so. jason from downtown wine & gourmet is a busy fellow.
it took some seriously annoying behavior on my part to get him to give me input on fall drinking.
but – lo and behold – i got an email full of alcoholic information yesterday. he states:
o the threats, manipulation, and strong-armed tactics have finally pinned me against the wall of my iniquities.
fall drinks of choice would be:
coffee / breakfast stouts – stouts brewed with coffee are a splendid fall beverage because they are hearty, satiating, and the addition of coffee adds not only a fantastic component to the flavor profile, but also a little pick-me-up. breakfast stouts utilize coffee as well as oatmeal as the primary grain. this leads to an even richer and more decadent beverage. delicious!
pick: Founders Breakfast Stout & Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast (awesome website/label by the way)
cider – really, is there a fruit that carries more of a fall-time connotation than apples?
pick: Samuel Smith Organic Cider, Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouche Brut de Normandie (again with the great label)
mead – mead is a beverage using honey as the sugar which fuels the fermentation. Its origins are lost in prehistory; “it can be regarded as the ancestor of all fermented drinks,” Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat has observed, “antedating the cultivation of the soil.”[5] Claude Lévi-Strauss makes a case for the invention of mead as a marker of the passage “from nature to culture.”[6] It can be consumed right out of the bottle, but it is also delicious mulled.
pick: Lurgashall English Mead
red wine – the possibilities are endless…
pick: jason refused to even try to pick…go bother him at downtown wine & gourmet for more specific suggestions.
happy autumnal drinking, friends!
okay.
i’m on the verge of hopefulness.
is there actually a voodoo doughnuts in charlottesville?
(josh insinuated that i was missing something huge in my donut review.)
am i insanely ignorant? (here’s to hoping…)
the only voodoo doughnuts that i know is in portland.
and this famous mainstay features things such as:
dirty snowballs
the tangfastic
and, most infamous:
the bacon maple bar
do creations such as these exist just over the mountain?
please say it’s so.
Filed under: - of restaurant review, -of eats, -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey
our family is wild about donuts.
there are entire, multi-generational traditions built around donuts.
i once took a chunk out of a charlottesville krispy kreme (r.i.p.) driveway in an attempt to obey the command of the “hot donuts” sign.
we made sure to be best friends with people who lived next door to top pot in seattle.
we go to mennonite relief sales expressly for the homemade fried dough.
in short, we have a long-term serious commitment.
we’ve written about this passion before on the state. i’ve griped about how, around here, gas station donuts are as good as it gets.
and then there’s carpe donut.
granted, it’s not in harrisonburg. but the drive to charlottesville is a small price to pay for a good donut.
and hardly noticeable when you are journeying to this:
Tender and steamy on the inside…slightly crisped on the outside…..dusted with crunchy melty cinnamon sugar…..and infused with the mellow sweetness of apple cider.
and making the whole deal even sweeter:
We start with organic flour, organic eggs, local apple cider, and organic spices. Add pure sugar and non-aluminated baking powder and now you know all the ingredients. We cook all our donuts in 100% pure soybean oil. No hydrogenation, no trans-fats, no shortening. We always advise our customers to refrigerate the donuts if they are not going to eat them within a couple hours. They won’t last on the shelf for a week like those “things with holes” at the grocery store…Finally, all oils used to fry the donuts are being converted to environmentally friendly biofuel at the end of their frying life.
ummm. yes please.
others recognize the power of the donut.
the blue moon diner in c’ville does up a nice little dessert with carpe donuts. it involves ice cream and chocolate and whipped cream. and grilled donuts. otherwise known as the grillswith:
(this photo is from a fabulous and newly discovered blog devoted to donuts. check it out.)
now. carpe donuts represents the cute, trendy, organic, environmentally-friendly delicious donut. classic they are not.
for a real potato flour classic, served to you as well as a number of grizzled regulars, you must go here:
adored by all, this is spudnuts.
as per the cvillian:
Spudnuts has been around for a long time. And by long time, I mean when velociraptors used to hunt small wild pigs and T-Rex’s ruled the United States. In other words, Spudnuts has been open since 1969 at 309 Avon Street. It has kicked so much ass in the last 40 years or so, in fact, that both Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Doughnuts left town.
The doughnut has a distinct feel to it. Maybe it’s the off white glow of the lighting, the smooth colors of the furniture and decor, or maybe it’s just the people. Spudnuts feels eternal, in a good way. The menu, with its giant Pepsi logo reminds you that this place is about doughnuts, no more, no less.
you know. the options over the mountain are not bad.
anyone in harrisonburg want to open a sweet little donut bus? i would be first in line…
we have friends that live in kabul.
i’m thinking of them right now.
what a place.
and then. there is also pakistan to think about.
Filed under: -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of kiddos, -of localism
where is the best street in town to trick or treat?
not ours. you might remember our controversial post from last year.
(today, as i walked by that friendly neighbor’s house, i was sorely tempted to place a jack o’ lantern on the front stoop. see how effective their anti-halloween/demon/devil message was? i feel changed.)
but seriously?
in seattle, it was 19th ave. on capitol hill. those fine rich folks passed out full-sized candy bars. and bonus candy if you had a hand-made costume.
and harrisonburg? i’m thinking along the lines of where to take a 3 year old for a one-street, 30-min, halloween bonanza experience. let’s hear the suggestions…
Filed under: -of harrisonburg, -of jgrimsrud, -of localism, -of politik
our friend tom has been working (among many, many other things!) on helping harrisonburg with its ped & bike transportation issues. he and a group of folks meet each week to coordinate their efforts; they recently started a “one mile challenge” campaign to get people thinking about “human-powered transport” in this town:
lara is another organizer of the one mile challenge:
and for those of us who need to fix up, or even to get, a bike, tom recommended ben wyse @ wyse cycles. he does a “mobile bike clinic,” meaning he’ll come by your house and fix you up!
local folks have a lot of great ideas & energy, but bike & ped transportation issues shouldn’t have to be optional parts of our transportation planning, budget, or infrastructure. as tom points out: “would a city not put up a stop sign at a four way intersection because they don’t have money allocated in a budget?”
well, the new stoplight by cleo’s old intersection shows that, either harrisonburg has plenty of money in the budget to update our system to suit our community’s wants and needs, or harrisonburg needs to fix its priorities.
Filed under: Uncategorized
happy columbus day.
Democracy Now! | Radio and TV News
I think that the non-Indian people must understand why the Indians are in the state of affairs that they’re in. It’s not because they’re lazy, ignorant, inferior, stupid or anything. Chances are that if an Indian kid makes it these days, it happens because of some lucky accident.
. . . But I wrote ["Now that the Buffalo is Gone"] not to make anybody mad, but to kind of acknowledge the fact that a lot of people who are part Indian really would like to know and would care, so again and again it says “you, dear lady, and you, dear man.” You know, it’s trying to explain something to people who don’t usually get to know anything about Native American stuff, because you never hear about Indian people. The only time you hear about Indian people, like, for instance, Wounded Knee, you know, when Nixon was president, what you’d see in the media was, you know, some Indian with a gun, you know, who was defending their land against, you know, things that shouldn’t be going on.
amy goodman had a conversation with buffy saint marie–
also known as one of the people who used to bring genuine content to kids’ tv:
