Who's Sadr's graphic designer?

Does Moktada al-Sadr have an entire graphics department churning out propaganda posters? If not, whoever does his Photoshop work deserves to be (and very well might be) punished for visual crimes against humanity. Take a look at those posters — what is with the gradient work? Jeez, it looks like someone broke out Printshop Deluxe and went wild. I will give credit where credit is due, someone has obvious been sharpening their magic lasso tool skills because the edging on the angry mob montage is well done.

Winter Grapefruit Sorbet

When the mercury gets way low there's nothing quite like a nice simple bowl of ... sorbet? Don't ask what I was thinking making frozen treats while snowflakes piled upon our windowsill. Perhaps inspired by Alaskans (the biggest per capita U.S. consumers of ice cream despite frigid conditions), something clicked.

One big secret of citrus lovers is that paradoxically, in the dead of winter, you'll find the absolute BEST in sunny oranges and vibrant grapefruit. It's a blast of sunshine and vitamins. Making sorbet is a lot easier than you might expect - no need for an ice cream maker. This recipe would be great with fresh rosemary infused into the simple syrup, get creative. Get the recipe...

Winter Grapefruit Sorbet

2 cups water
2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed/strained ruby red grapefruit juice (don't use bottled!)
zest of one grapefruit
2 tablespoons grapefruit pulp
1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1. Mix water and sugar in a sauce pot and heat on medium until the sugar dissolves entirely. Place pot in the fridge or chill down in bowl of ice.

2. Combine remaining ingredients with chilled simple syrup and place in a stainless steel bowl in the freezer.

3. Return each hour to mix. The corn syrup will help keep the sorbet from getting grainy and icy, but the more you stir the smoother the result.

Auntie's New Newsletter

Auntie's Notes was badly in need of an update when I moved aboard with company. The publication had solid content but was presented poorly. The first step was to pick a uniform font and style book. The emphasis is placed strikingly on the words and letters with liberal use of handsome drop caps.

Originally designed with a spot blue ink as the sole color (still very present in the design), I was able to negotiate with the printer to move to four color processing.

The Scoop on Scratch

Stumbling out of Far West on Friday night Justin, Yelena and I stumbled into the man behind the long chef's table at hot spot du jour - Scratch. For those not in the Spokane-foodie-know, that's the eagerly awaited restaurant under the Montvale and located just two blocks from my apartment. Chef Jason Rex, clad in a bright red kitchen coat, was kind enough to give us a snappy tour and to let me use the bathroom.


The first thing that was noticeable was the intense smell of reducing stock. It may be the umami base of pretty much every dish at every restaurant but odds are the stock used in the valoute you had last weekend wasn't made in house. Scratch - hence the name - aims to change that. After personally making a massive pot of chicken broth last weekend (all stock isn't broth) I can tell you there's a BIG difference between the can and what you make yourself. Continued...

It's hard to judge a restaurant without tasting the food, so I'll reserve judgment for later, but there's the standard Spokane fare - apparently Ahi is mandated by some regional code - and some genuine surprises like beef tongue and a veal saltimboca which just might break my no red meat ban. The physical space is compact and intimate and Yelena immediately noted that it would have been in good company on 23rd in Portland. There's also a nice private back room that seems perfect for a party. Time will tell.


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Vocab is way too fun

Yelena gets credit for digging up this one. A delightful little vocab word quiz (easily played at work) that benefits the UN World Food Program. For every word you get right the participating sponsors donate 10 grains of rice. It's Freerice.com.

Ok, that doesn't sound lie a lot, but if you look at the daily totals it's gone from 830 grains on Oct. 7 to 56,893,100 grains on Oct. 30. This is growing exponentially so spread the word - boost some vocab and feed some people.

One discovery I've already made: Pert means "saucy." This begs the question, is PertPlus shampoo actually titled "ExtraSaucy"?

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A very sad night

Friday night was date night at the Neuman/Buzinover residence and we took the opportunity to yet again test the waters of Spokane's burgeoning food scene. Overall, I've been pretty pleased with the restaurants and service section of the Lilac City, but I was disappointed with what we found at a newer South Hill eatery specializing in small plates.

First off, the physical location is very small and was absolutely slammed with customers. We went to dinner fairly late, but a table for two was still 20 minutes. The ensuing time was filled by an extremely pleasurable cocktail interlude. If there is one saving grace of this joint it was the expertly prepared drinks and snappy bar service. My pomegranate-gin concoction perfectly accentuated the herbal qualities of the Bombay Sapphire without mucking it up with a lot of goopy syrup. The lady's infused mango vodka was equally tasteful.

Dinner was another story. Continued ... Our waitress was flustered, constantly re-asking us what we'd ordered, and service was uneven. Food was decent at best. Whereas the drinks possessed an ethereal, light quality, the dishes were as heavy-handed as they come. Not that the flavors were poorly chosen, just overdone. I might recommend the Nytimes' minimalist-in-residence Mark Bittman to the chef.

Although we liked it, pasta with ham was overcooked and smothered by drenched in a pepper jack goop. Lemon chicken, a favorite of my companion, was left almost untouched by her. The biggest failure was a stuffed portabello mushroom that came to our table as pile of risotto with a mushroom completely buried beneath it. I actually asked the server where the stuffed mushroom was that we had ordered. The risotto stuffing - cooked long beyond the proper al dente texture and doused in cream - was absolute paste more closely resembling mashed potatoes than a grain.

The coup de grace was leaving the restaurant to see one third of the kitchen staff in the parking lot leaning on the dumpster and laying (flat on their backs) on the ground while smoking cigarettes. Now, I know that kitchen crews are a hard living sort of lot (see "Kitchen Confidential" A. Bourdain, 2000) but this sort of behavior is supposed to be conducted OUT of sight

from patrons, not flaunted.

Northern Radio Exposure

For those in the know, I'm a big public radio junkie (although I've recently eschewed Frequency Modulation for podcasts) but my tastes have generally been circling the NPR format. I'll confess to a penchant for some PRI and APM series ("The Splendid Table" or "This American Life," anyone?) and yet my preferences have always stayed decidedly American. The BBC, while informative has never really done it for me, and Wisconsin and Minnesota, though seemingly foreign, are definitively under the stars and bars.

So it was a pleasant surprise to stumble onto the CBC's "As It Happens." Yes, I inevitably run the risk of sounding like an American schmuck by saying how surprised I was by our Canadian neighbor's "All Things Considered"-esque news show. Aside from the evening runtime and radio medium it bears very little in common with its south-of-the-border cousin.

First off, it sounds like experimental college radio. The news summary at the op of the show has some psychedelic groovy tuneage. The Hosts have a *unique* delivery style. Carol Off is somewhat conventional but Barbara Budd, see left, has an inflection and wacky delivery style that would make Susan Stamberg blush (Swastika is pronounced Shwah-steek-ahhhh?). Then there's also the wacky news content ... Continued

Last week AIH featured a nice little piece on the Canadian duck-calling champion. OK, I'm on board so far. Quirk is cool right now and I'm buying the story, but then Susan Off asks the guy to play his winning routine (keep in mind I'm wearing headphones) and he goes blasting off. This is not some short routine. It's two full minutes of piercing duck shrieks interspersed with the briefest of moments filled by more pleasing and normal soft quacks. This show is begging for an SNL parody.


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I am so busted

Put me in detention folks because I have not been blogging. In the ensuing months I've certainly experienced an unvaryingly amazing stream of food, friends, art , life and culture. I've been living in Spokane now for at least a month with Yelena. We've already had so many house-guests I can hardly count, but that's fine because our vintage apartment downtown is big enough to be a youth hostel.

Angie came west to visit us last weekend (see attached image) and I attended my first "ho-down" with that daring chick slurping down the white peach sangria that Justin and I slapped together.

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Five years of blogging

That's right ladies and gents — forged in the crucible of the Internet, this blog has been operating for five years. I know the announcement comes about two months late, but it wasn't really high on my priorities to boast about my geekiness.




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Greetings from Spokane

Getting here was terrible. Despite hours of built-in extra travel time I wasn't fully prepared to experience what is known as ODOT Hell. The 205 was slammed and traffic was intensely heavy - even at 2 in the afternoon - so I arrived at PDX at 3:45 with a flight scheduled to leave at 4 p.m. I was in full-on panic mode. So when I reached the front counter and the woman told me the flight was delayed a half hour I was thrilled. The first time in my life that a delay was useful.

As far as hospitality goes, this weekend has been unprecedented. I've had a blast hanging out with Shadra and meeting an entire crew of amazing Spokanites.

Also, I've been eating like a king in the best restaurants in town. Of course it was great to see the old favorites like Tom Bowers (who took Shadra and me to Hamburger Heaven - a superb joint in The Middle of Nowhere, Idaho) and Lacey Krause, but it was also a treat to meet Jenn and Remi. More to come ... check back later.


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Spring Fling

Try this. Roast fresh spring asparagus with olive oil, salt and black pepper at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Toast and butter a piece of hearty bread. Top with asparagus and a runny-yoke fried egg. Enjoy your lunch.


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Filthy floors are so hip right now

If I hada nickel for every time I found something surprising, intriguing and downright amazing in the New York Times I would be a rich man. Today, it was something totally new: dirt floors in modern homes. My first reaction - blech.

And then I saw the pictures.

The rich mahogany with a warm glow and soft shine instantly won me over to the mere notion of a "earthen floor." Now, this isn't exactly your great-great grandfather's mud, it's somewhat concretified with lime and sand and then sealed with linseed oil and beeswax. I'm not saying this is for everyone, but as a frequent reader of the great eco-design blog Inhabitat I have to admit I'd seriously thinking that mud might have just trumped bamboo as the hippest most earth friendly flooring material this side of the grass mat.

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PDX: Vegan pirates?! Arg

While in Portland two weekends ago we dropped in for a little visit with Dave and Ann. Our favorite married couple keenly offered us numerous Manhattans and after several hours of doing nothing Dave decided to mention that he knew of a secret, yet fascinating bar.

Yes, matees - A PIRATE BAR.

After a lot of joking about appropriately dressing-up as a pirate and a lot of cracks involving the exclamation "arg!" and rum we decided to go. It's basically in the middle of nowhere. You may not believe this. I'll admit I barely do, but I swear this is real.

We walk in and everyone is dressed as a pirate. A cheerful and perky pirate-ess(?) tells us we just missed the hoard of pirates and the live msuic(!) and asks if are vegan. "Vegan?" asks Ann incredulously.

Turns out this pirate bar, which comes compete with Jolly Roger and obligatory skeletons, serves %100 vegan food and is very committed to the vegan lifestyle. Yelena confides under her breath that she didn't think pirates were even vegetarian, let alone vegan.

Our doubts are soon soothed: The service is anything but barbaric. The bartender teaches us a pirate dice gambling game (everyone wins a round except Dave) and the kitchen makes Ann a plate of vegan mashed potatoes and gravy that looked mighty tasty.


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FREAKout: the blog

If you know anything about me, or my tastes, you know I love books. Yet, of all the books I have enjoyed "Freakonomics" holds a particularly vaunted spot in my collection.

If you haven't read it, the book is the joint collaboration of a New York Times writer and a "rogue economist." Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner take topics that are so quirky (The socioeconomic patterns of naming children or proving that Sumo wrestlers cheat) and breaks them down to surprisingly simple equations. We're not talking about frictional unemployment here, Stephen & Steven use logic to basically deconstruct real issues of everyday life and undermine some blatantly baseless conjecture with solid reasoning. Descartes would be proud.

This book is fantastic, but limited. That's why I was thrilled to find the Freakonomics Blog this morning. It's obviously not as focused as the book, but getting a peek into the everyday musings of this pair is fascinating. Check it out if you have the time.



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Do you speak airport?

This seems like one of those *duh* types of things, but considering all the symbols we use on a daily basis (Just think about how you know the difference between the men's and women's restrooms) you have to wonder: Has a martini glass always been the symbol for a bar?

Well, actually - no.

The 50 standard iconic symbols we all know and love come from the AIGA, that's the American Institute for Graphic Arts - although they don't go by that name anymore. Before they got involved things were a bit messy in the world of symbols.

Every international event required copious multi-language signs, airports each had their own icons for baggage claim, highway signs were different for every state or even city. What few effective symbols did exist were often culturally and regionally specific. Then in 1974 the U.S. Dept. of Transportation got into the market for a new set of modern interstate highway symbols and they turned to AIGA:

"To develop such a system, AIGA and D.O.T. compiled an inventory of symbol systems that had been used in various locations worldwide, from airports and train stations to the Olympic Games. AIGA appointed a committee of five leading designers of environmental graphics, who evaluated the symbols and made recommendations for adapting or redesigning them. Based on their conclusions, a team of AIGA member designers produced the symbols."

Because they were commissioned by the government, the icons are available copyright free. The next time your looking for an elevator, or an ATM or dining options off the interstate ... give thanks.


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