11 Sep 2012 12 Comments
in Humor, Observations Tags: cooking, fish, food, haiku, humor, poems, poetry, SPAM
Although I have a Master’s degree in creative writing and have been published in various poetry journals, you wouldn’t know it from some of my poetry.
The other night I lay in bed wide awake at 2 a.m., thinking about a poem. I got up and went to the computer. Here’s the poem I wrote:
401K
You contribute
to your 401K
again
and again.
You watch
as your money
earns interest.
* * *
* * *
Often, my silliest poems are about food. More
04 Sep 2012 10 Comments
in Good Gadget, Bad Gadget, Observations Tags: bacon, chickens, cooking, food, kitchen gadgets, pizza cutters, Rachel's Table, Target
One of the new little chickens in our coop died today. Something happened to its legs, which for chickens — like horses — is pretty much a death sentence.
New chicks (and two Guineafowl) at the water bowl
I’ve gotten used to a chicken dying occasionally — they get stuck in strange places, the coyotes get them, etc. — so it doesn’t phase me so much. Less blasé, however, am I than the chickens themselves. They just sort of step over their dead friend and continue about their business, casting each other glances every so often as if to say, “What’ya suppose is the matter with Larry?” More
24 Aug 2012 14 Comments
in Observations, Video Tags: Cat & Fiddle, Douglas Fairbanks, food, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, kadesh, los angeles, Portland, queso anejo, Sigur Ros, Topanga Canyon
I was sitting on the grass the other evening at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, shaded by the opulent mausoleum of Los Angeles royalty — Douglas Fairbanks and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. — waiting for one of my favorite bands, Iceland’s Sigur Ros, to begin playing a concert… when I felt a bony tap on my shoulder.
Amplifiers playing ambient music as you entered Hollywood Forever
It was not the mummified finger of a famous corpse that I had feared, but a young couple from Canada sitting behind me. “Hello,” they said. “Are you from around here?” More
17 Aug 2012 8 Comments
in Observations Tags: Asian food, black cod, cooking, Japanese cooking, Kelp, noodles, raw food, Sea Tangle, seaweed, truffle oil
People often give me food. Some people give a bottle of truffle oil or some special salt as a thoughtful gift. Other people, usually family, will drop off cakes or leftovers from parties or wilty vegetables as they attempt to clear out their fridge and lighten their own load. “I brought you some food!” they’ll say. Still others will bring us food when they go on vacation or discover their child is gluten intolerant.
Sea Tangle kelp noodles
Sometimes the “gifts” are useful, sometimes they are not. More
10 Aug 2012 10 Comments
in Observations, On the Road Tags: barbecue, blackberries, Ethiopian food, Food carts, Northwest, Oregon, Portland, Washington
It might be difficult for Northwesterners to believe that I once planted — intentionally! — a blackberry bush. It was small and anemic and cost $6. I found it a nice spot on the side of the chicken coop, dug a hole, settled it in, watered it lovingly… and forgot about it. A few months later I remembered and went to check on it, and all that was left was a little brittle stick.
Blackberries and cream for breakfast
I’m not sure why blackberries don’t do so well in Southern California. I suspect it has to do with the inherent dryness and lack of rainfall. They grow prolifically in Northern California. But in the Northwest, they are practically a plague. Indeed, I recall coming to my wife’s sister’s property more than a decade ago, before we were married, and nearly the entire four acres was one massive blackberry bramble. Delicious and romantic to the dusty Southern Californian, but a significant complication to the prospective home builder.
skinny girls & mayonnaise 