So what brings you back now, you heartless bastard, you may ask. The answer may surprise you for it's sheer mundanity. What drew me back to post a long overdue installment was a black pug, a blissfully mediocre slice of pepperoni pizza and a generous pour of fully-functional red wine.
And with that, I'll end here so that I'll have the beginning of my next entry. And so the new era begins.
The mysterious excited ice cube. Click photo for a larger view. Alternate (more explicit) angle.
Sorry for the graphic photo, but I just have to try to find out what's causing random ice cubes in my freezer to behave this way. It doesn't happen every time I fill the tray and, as best I can recall, it only happens to one ice cube at a time.
Any ideas on what might be causing this? My best guess is that it's the combination of traces of Viagra and caffeine in our groundwater making it into our tap water...
I was very sad to see Bowers Bakery on Southeast Hawthorne go. They'll be missed for the good neighbors they were and wonderful sandwiches and baked goods they made.
I'm somewhat consoled by the arrival of the new East Side Deli that shares the parking lot with the upper Hawthorne liquor store at SE 47th & Hawthorne. I've been there for lunch three out of the last four days. My friend I was there with a couple days ago - who has eaten at Bowers and elsewhere - said hers was the best sandwich she's ever had. Yep. Try them out. Great prices and they use Boar's Head, Dave's Killer Bread, etc. They also stay open late some nights—as in until two or three AM or something crazy like that.
East Side Delicatessen
4626 SE 47th & Hawthorne
Portland, OR 97215
503-236-7313
www.pdxdeli.com
No really. That's what it says on my package of English muffins.
Click the image for a larger view.
You have to eat anyway. Please make it for a good cause today.
1 Cause, 1 Day, 1 Goal
Your neighborhood restaurants let you make a choice to make a differenceEach day you make decisions that affect your life—where you buy your coffee, your lunch, your dinner, your glass of wine. On March 4, 2008, we offer you the opportunity to make these same choices and have them make a difference in the world. Purchase your food and drink at a ‘Dine for Darfur’ establishment and 25% of that money will be generously donated to aid relief efforts in Darfur. By choosing to eat at participating restaurants on March 4th you are choosing to support your neighborhood restaurants in their effort to make a difference in the world. In its first year, operating solely in Seattle, Dine for Darfur raised $70,000 and brought thousands of people out of their homes to show their support for the cause. This year, with the participation of restaurants throughout Washington and Oregon the event is sure to grow exponentially. Please join the effort for Dine for Darfur and help us show the world what our community can do.
* Learn more about where the money is going
* Contact Naomi@chowfoods.com for more information in Washington
* Contact jyilmaz@mhbco.com for more information in Oregon
Link:
Dine for Darfur.
I bought a Brita filtered water pitcher the other day and it came with the refillable water bottle pictured here. I was ready for it to be a worthless throw-in item meant to just sell more product. Turns out it's a very cool, heavy-duty water bottle - the best I've ever used.
I went to the URL on the bottle and learned it's part of an environmental pledge program called Filter For Good:
Brita and Nalgene have partnered to present FilterForGood.
...if you purchase a FilterForGood refillable bottle, you'll also be supporting the Blue Planet Run Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to provide safe drinking water to 200 million people for the rest of their lives by 2027. For every FilterForGood refillable bottle purchased between August 10th, 2007 and February 29th, 2008 a donation of $4 will be made to the Blue Planet Run Foundation.
The FilterForGood campaign is proud to be a partner campaign with RefillNotLandfill, which Nalgene launched earlier this year.
If you don't drink as much water as you should, having a Brita filter and bottle will probably cause you to drink more. If you drink plenty of water now, but are buying disposable bottles, please switch to a filter and refillable bottle. These sites are packed with great facts and information; I'll share a few tidbits here:
Link: www.filterforgood.com
Many readers are probably familiar with the Aerobie flying disc - "the astonishing flying ring." The Aerobie was used in 2003 to set the Guinness World Record for "the "longest throw of an object without any velocity-aiding feature." Erin Hemmings threw the Aerobie 1,333 feet (406 meters) - more than a quarter mile. It was airborne for 30 seconds.
I don't think the company will set any Guiness World Records with its foray into the world of single-cup espresso making, but it is winning converts. I saw a single AeroPress sitting on the shelf at Sur La Table in downtown Portland. The rave reviews on the box made me want to at least take it for a spin so I bought it. I have to say, I'm not disappointed. There are some great reviews online so I won't bother going into great detail, but I will say that in addition to making the smoothest home-pulled espresso I've had, it is extremely fast and easy to use and clean. It's now my default espresso maker at home.
Click the image for a larger view.
Links:
Official product page
Aerobie quarter mile throw
Great review from SingleServeCoffee.com
Lest there be any confusion, Fresh Pot sits in the just right area of the index. They're not plastic perma-grin baristabots, but they're not more-crema-than-thou jerks, either. They're just cool peeps who know their stuff.
NOTE: "Espresso Nazi" is a reference to The Soup Nazi:
"The Soup Nazi" is the title of the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was the 6th episode of the 7th season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995.
The Soup Nazi is also the name of the character played by Larry Thomas. The term "Nazi" is used as an exaggeration of the over-regimentation he constantly demands of his patrons.
(I suppose the over-regimentation he constantly demands of his patrons would actually be more true of Starbucks... I'm always impressed by how when I ask for a double tall americano with room the bilingual cashier instantly translates it from English into Starbuck-speak so the apparently monolingual Starista can understand and make the drink...)
I picked up Wine Press Northwest magazine for the first time the other day at New Seasons Market. It's a great magazine covering, as the title describes, all things having to do with wine in the Pacific Northwest.
I've always been a spelling and grammar queen, but I rarely pay much attention to page layout. This page in the Winter 2006/2007 issue of Wine Press Northwest is definitely the exception.
At least two-thirds of the page is taken up by an advertisement with only a narrow column on the right, running into the center fold, occupied by copy. Guess what they chose to squeeze in there? The article title reads:
3 NW winemakers die
There wasn't enough room to at least spell out the number three; the correct way to spell a number that begins a sentence. Especially one announcing the passing of not one, but three human beings. Not only that, but the title also gives the impression that these three individuals died in a single indcident, but that isn't the case. They were just all lumped into one cramped, sliver of a blurb.
There is just so much wrong here. I realize that Wine Press Northwest is a small publication with no doubt a very small staff. To modify an oft-quoted parents' admonition: When talking about something as sensitive as people passing away, if you can't say something nicely, don't say it at all.
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