New Magnetic Fields

Howdy y'all.

It's be a while, no?

An MP3 of the first song from the new Magnetic Fields' record Distortion is up over at Stereogum. It's called "Three-way." The new track has that low-fi pop sound from the early Fields' albums Holiday and The Wayward Bus. I absolutely love it...

Stephin Merritt is taking the Fields on a seven city tour next Spring (their first tour since '04). The nearest stop to Portland is Seattle, where they are taking up a two night residency at Town Hall. I've got tickets for the March 7 show. Anyone want to tag along?

USDA gets one right...

This from the Ethicurian blog... Good news for conscious carnivores...

Breaking news: USDA limits “grass fed” label to meat that actually is

In Rainbows

Anyone still checking this ol' blog? God, has it really been 2 months to the day since the last post (god capitalized only because it's the first word in the sentence)? Maybe you have it on rss feed on some reader or some such device...

So, the new Radiohead is out today. I paid 5 pounds at inrainbows.com. Something like 12 bucks? Seems fair. Only, I am a little disappointed. I got home from the Scout Niblett show at about 1:15 am (I was the last one standing, CG, LP, C&S left before the end) to find the access code in my inbox. I HAD to downoad right away and listen.

One of the things I always liked about Radiohead (esp. the recent stuff) is that they always seemed to be breaking new ground, trying new approaches and angles. With 'In Rainbows,' that doesn't seem to be the case. More of those electronic beats. A few tunes even hearken back to the 90's rock Radiohead (you know, an actual live drum kit?). Just nothing new.

Now, this is only a cursory listen. It just came out today, after all. And, it's still better than a lot of the shit that masquerades as music these days. I had just hoped for a little more.

Have any thoughts? Comment here, I'm curious if I'm way off base here...

23 Hoyt

CC and I (and 6 others) dined at 23 Hoyt earlier this week. The service wasn't the best. She tore them a new one on her blog The Devouring Woman...

PS, love the new design, CC.

My first Noris Dairy delivery

You have to love a farm whose motto is "Purity in Food."

Loyal readers (if there are any left after my long absence) may recall that I blogged about the lack of Noris Dairy products at New Seasons (and their subsequent replacement by the high quality but non-local Straus Creamery out of California). If not, click here for the old post... Theoretically, this change was supposed to have ensured consistent supply of organic, glass bottle dairy. New Seasons (at least the Arbor Lodge store) has still not been able to maintain that consistency.

So, I'm taking matters into my own hands. For an order of $15 or more, Noris will deliver to your door free of charge. I talked to a few of my friends, and we easily exceeded that dollar amount. This week, I got half and half, yogurt, eggs, cheese, and milk. Next week, more half and half, and probably some butter too. I can't tell you how excited I am to have Noris back in my house!

Here's how it works, you download an order form from Noris' web site, fill out out, and fax it in. I'd recommend calling after you fax the first time to see what day they will be in your area. When that glorious day arrives, put a cooler outside, leave a check for the correct amount, and when you return home, viola, dairy for you to enjoy.

Here's a direct link to the order form, in case you want to download and fill out right away (and who can blame you. Go for it!).

Need more convincing? Check out their "About Us" page.

And finally, this little blurb from Salon (from way back in 2005)...

Already, some small dairy farmers say the big dairies are squeezing them off the shelf. About 30 miles southeast of Bansen's farm, Franz Wenz, owner of Noris Dairy Inc., the only independent organic milk producer and bottler in the Northwest, says only large operations like Organic Valley and Horizon can afford to spend big bucks on flashy marketing and offer supermarkets exclusive deals at lower prices.

"The big guys can bury us," says Wenz, an Austrian native with bushy eyebrows and heavy jowls. "They can make exclusive deals and say, 'You just take our product and we'll give you a good deal.' The stores don't understand that they're hurting themselves when they depend on just one company that can then control the price."

To stay in business, Wenz and his family have carved out a niche by selling and personally delivering their glass-bottled milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream and sour cream directly to more than 300 customers in the Portland and Eugene area. Wenz says he and his family intend to stick it out, despite hard financial times.

So, today's lesson, boys and girls? Buy local. Support the little guy. Enjoy purity in food.

Hey Mississippi Pizza...

...thanks for the fresh grapefruit juice in my Greyhound. I didn't care so much the seeds that made their way in, though. Lots and lots of seeds. I didn't know a grapefruit could have so many.

Trip to LA - Part 2

OK, long overdue post about my LA Trip with MS from back in September '06 (you can read Part 1 of the post here). I've lost most of the details, but here's a little photo tour of some of the things we ate. Lotteria Grill, Outdoor Grill, In N Out, Foster Freeze...

PS-If anyone is looking WAY in advance for a gift for my birthday or Christmas, check out the 4th photo below. Nice grill. I'm just saying...

Goat Curry

Time again for EP, my quasi-monthly dinner group, to reconvene. This time, it was my turn to host, and spurred on by my insanely late 'discovery' of Lee Scratch Perry, I settled on a Jamaican theme. Inspired by a trip to Montego Bay years ago for Scoop's birthday, the dish of choice was curried goat.

Other dishes present: Jamaican beef patty with Sauce Chien (Caribbean spicy dipping sauce which, as you can guess, means dog sauce), accras with black eyed peas, mofongo, red beans and rice, and banana-bacon skewers in brown sugar with avocado ice cream. To drink, rum punch and Red Stripe. (As EP evenings wear on, and more alcohol is consumed, in this case the punch and beer, fewer and fewer photos are taken. For this reason, unfortunately, most dishes were not photographed.)

I'll spare you the boring details, and simply give you a peek at the day of cooking and evening of eating with this selection of photos.

Sunday Night/Monday Morning

Sunday Night

jerk chicken
coconut/allspice/cinnamon rice
sauteed garlic shoots
red stripe


Monday Morning

goat cheese omelete
(eggs, purple haze goat cheese,
scallions, fresh garlic, s&p)
nutella toast
coffee

Best Wine of the Year (so far) - Parts 1 and 2

I haven't written one of these entries in a while. Not because I haven't had any good wines recently, but because I haven't had any amazing wines recently. To make it into one of these posts, a wine has to be mind blowing, earth shattering, revelatory. Lucky me, I've had 2 wines in the past 2 weeks that achieve this lofty standard. Here they are...

Weingut Seebrich
Niersteiner Oelberg Riesling Beerenauslese
Rheinhessen, Germany
2006 vintage

On May 7, 2007, my company held a really cool German wine tasting. We had 13 or so German producers in town, all pouring their newest releases for the buyers of the best wine shops and restaurants in town. In addition to this baker's dozen, our importer had two representatives pouring wines from another 7 or 8 wineries. Every table in the hall seemed better than the last, but one table and one wine in particular really stood out for me; Jochen Seebrich and his amazing '06 Beerenauslese (or BA for short). Not sure what BA is all about? Check this Wikipedia link.

My notes on this wine from the tasting are pretty limited. I've written 'searing acidity,' 'amazing,' and a big number 5 with a star next to it. I have a rough 1 to 5 scale when tasting wines. Very few wines merit a 5, which for me means things like 'buy a case,' 'absolutely unbelievable,' and 'worth the three times the price.' A 5 with a star next to it, well, you can imagine.

I've put in my order for a case. The wines should arrive in Portland in 2 months. There will be a scant 36 bottles for everyone else in the city. If you need some, give me a call.

Ameztoi
Rubentis (Rose)
Getariako Txakolina, Spain
2006 vintage

We had a Spaniard in town for work all this week. On Wednesday, we met for happy hour at Patanegra. I went, we had had some good tapas and a nice Albarino. We talked about wine and the wine business. It was a good time.

We were to meet again on Thursday, this time at Andina. I've been to Andina a number of times, and enjoyed it, but I'd been to this party just the night before. I imagined more good small plates of food, more nice white wine, more talk about the biz. I decided to skip out.

Then the call came in. Txakolina rose was making an appearance at the table. I didn't know they even made such a thing. I had to go. I've tried whites from Txakolina and I've heard about their red wines, but never a rose. For more info on Txakolina, check out this Wikipeadia link.

As with the Txakolina whites I've had, this rose was a little spritzy, high in acid, with hints of fruit and plenty of minerality. One of the loveliest roses I've come across in some time.

It's not cheap, retailing for between $16 and $18, but it is definitely worth it. Alas, good luck finding any. Word is that the importer, De Maison Selections, imported a scant 50 cases into the states, and that 20 of them made it to Portland. I personally called or visited 6 of the finest wine shops in the city and only came up with 2 bottles. Most were long sold out, or never had the chance to buy.

If you see this, I highly recommend picking up a bottle or two. Chill it way down and drink it on a hot afternoon. You won't regret it.

Apotheke

Man, I like this place. Yeah, it's white. Yeah, it's very hip. Get over it.

Go in for some fine Belgian beer (they use correct glassware), cool and esoteric liqueurs, European estate made wines, and some killer food (I'm partial to the French fries that are fried in duck fat...). Also, cool ambient music from live DJs most nights of the week.

Upstairs from Andina in the Pearl.

Where's My Fino Review!?!

Tommy over at Macerating Shallots clearly beat me to the punch. I've had a draft of a write-up kicking around for weeks if not months, it's just that every time I go there, I try something new and tasty, and have to rewrite the whole thing. Hell, just last night Stan served us his 'pancetta basket.' House made pancetta, wilted arugula, garlic tomatoes, and oven roasted grapes. Mmm.

Eating...

Here's a little recap of some of the more interesting things I ate last week...

Sat 5/5/07 - Le Pigeon (plus pre-meal drinks at Rocket)
with BC
a-Leek carbonara, in which leeks took the place of pasta
b-English pea risotto
c-Apricot bacon cornbread dessert
d-Bottle of Gruner Veltliner

Mon 5/7/07 - East Side Dining Club (hosted at Le Pigeon)
with BC, Y, and N
a-Grilled skewers, one with chorizo and banana, one with pork belly and watermelon
b-Ceviche with ancho popcorn
c-Venison "Tamales"
d-Black bean chilaquiles with a poached duck egg *
e-Grilled quail with mango, chiles, and prosciutto blanco (aka lardo)
f-Mexican drinking chocolate and housemade choco-tacos...
g-A couple of Spanish wines

Tue 5/8/07 - Rocket
with SS, GA, DJ, EK, and BC
a-Pork "Pocket Rocket"
b-Fries
c-Ginger pea shoots
d-Braised beef ribs
e-Some cherry dessert
f-Nut covered ice cream bar on a stick
g-Beer

Wed 5/9/07 - Clyde Common (opening night)
with BC and Y
a-Butter lettuce salad with rhubarb, aged balsamic, and parmesan
b-Asparagus with caul fat wrapped egg (poached)
c-Chitarra with nettles, walnuts, and pecorino
d-Whole roast fish with preserved lemon, olive sauce, and chickpeas
e-Charred hangar steak in harissa with grilled onion salad (mushrooms make an unannounced appearance)
f-a bottle of Gruner

Fri 5/11/07 - Pok Pok (plus post-meal drinks at Victory)
with CC
a-Khao man som tam
b-Khao soi kai
c-Mango and sticky rice with coconut milk
d-Cha manao

Honestly, a pretty serious week of eating.

* - Best thing I ate all week

Le Pigeon image nicked from http://www.ianlynam.com
Other images from the restaurants' web sites

What happened to Norris?

Anybody else notice the distinct absence of Norris Dairy products everywhere? Well, I guess I can only confirm they are missing at New Seasons on Interstate and at the Farmers Market, but isn't that enough?? The guy at Salumeria de Carlo told me he hadn't seen them at the market at all this season.

Oddly, in place of Norris, New Seasons is now carrying Strauss Family from California. One of the reasons I love NS is their commitment to local goods. This seems to be the exact opposite... Nothing against Strauss, but they are not local.

Anyone know what's up?

Current Coffee...

Faithful readers will know about my slight obsession with coffee. I get whole beans from Stumptown (Which I like, although a recent date told me that they can't hold a candle to Intelligentsia out of Chicago. She orders pounds of beans and has them shipped out. When you add the cost of shipping, the negative environmental impact, and the reduction in freshness to what appears (at least to me) to be exorbitant prices, I just don't get it. For an example of their prices, on the coffee below, Stumptown's price is $25 per pound, Intelligentsia's price is $32.99 per HALF POUND. Which makes makes it more than 2.6 times the price, and that's before factoring in the shipping, etc. What gives?) .

And, speaking of other cities' coffees, a friend mentioned, out of the blue with no prompting whatsoever, Blue Bottle out of San Francisco last night over drinks at the old Mississippi Avenue Social Club (which I will continue to call it because their new name is so stupid). Blue Bottle is some seriously good coffee...

OK, sorry... Back on topic...

My current coffee is Fazenda Pedra Preta (COE) from Brazil. Not only is this a cup of excellence coffee, it was also awarded a gold special award, and was the #3 coffee in Brazil in 2006...

This from Stumptown...

Guilherme Dias De Castro's family first introduced the Yellow Bourbon variety to the Sul de Minas region over 100 years ago. Fazenda Pedra Preta produces coffee between 1150 to 1250 meters above sea level on 30 Hectares of this 70 Hectare farm. Care is taken to preserve the native forests and water sources. The coffee is pulped natural processed making for an extraordinarily sweet and heavy bodied cup. The beans are carefully tended by employees who live on the farm. The beans are turned each day, and covered at night for about ten days. Once they reach 11.5% humidity, the beans are bagged and kept in brick bins to develop the complete flavor profile. Melon, orange blossom, lemon, vanilla, and cranberry inhabit this subtle yet multidimensional cup.

Images from the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association web site...
They also have a small profile on the farm here...

Moscow Mules at the Victory

As loyal readers will know, I'm on a constant search for good Moscow Mules in town. I've found one that I feel compelled to tell you about...

I was heading to Pok Pok with some friends a few Fridays ago, and they suggested that we head to Victory for drinks during the wait. Vistory is just up at 37th and Division, so it was an easy move to make. We grab three seats at the bar and begin to pour over the menu.

That's when I see it, a house cocktail with Blenheim Spicy ginger ale. This stuff is mythical. I'd been hearing about Blenheim for a while from my good friend NT. We even went so far as to try to order the spicy version from the east coast (they were out of stock, so we had to settle for the regular, which still has a little burn). I paid something like $55 to get 24 bottles out here. But that's another story...

The cocktail on the menu has a drink with bourbon, fresh ginger, and Blenheim's. Well well, that's pretty damn close to a mule. I ask for the modifications necessary. It's all right. I'm not convinced.

My friend NT calls that Saturday and wants to see Grindhouse at Cinemagic. But where to eat? How about Victory. When I mention they have Blenheims, the decision is made. The food is good, a spatzle mac and cheese with crispy shallots and apple sauce, and duck with cheese grits and rapini.

This time, I simply ask for a moscow mule. It is the most perfect mule I've had out anywhere in quite some time. Impeccable balance and flavor. Do yourself a favor, get over to Victory and ask Amalia for a mule with Blenheim's spicy. You will not be disappointed.

Fake Can Be Just As Good

Or not, as it turns out...

I went to see Blonde Redhead last night at the Wonder Ballroom. I'd seen them twice before, both times at the Aladdin (which to be honest I don't care for as a music venue, but it's nowhere near as bad as the Crystal... why don't more bands I like play at the Roseland!?!). I'd almost seem them back in Missoula at the Cowboy Bar, but we chose Don Caballero at Jay's Upstairs (where my own little band used to play) instead... Too many tangents, back on topic...

I bought the new album last week. I'd been waiting to download from e-music, but they didn't have it. I had to shell our cash for this one. I'm a big fan of Lemons, and I appreciated Misery in all of it's overproduced glory, but honestly, the new album is crap. I can't play the whole thing through in one sitting. Horrendous. I won't go into details, but I'll say this, don't pay for it. Ick. That being said, they've always mixed old songs and new at their shows, and the chance to see them at what I consider to be a superior venue to their previous shows proved difficult to pass up. I get tickets for myself and my buddy NT. SF also joins.

Before the show, we grab food and drinks at Echo after we see how long the wait is at Russell St. BBQ (see how it all gets back to food sooner or later?) I'll say this, Echo makes a good Moscow Mule, and they serve it in a proper copper cup. Tell Aaron and TK I sent you.

We stroll over to the Wonder. The opening band is mercifully almost done. We grab drinks and head to the balcony. The lights dim, and the band appears. Or sort of appears. The lights are very dim on stage, and you really can't see anybody. Then the music starts. Some sequenced, prerecorded stuff. Yeah, they've done this before to good effect, using it mainly for their quirky sounds, but this time it's different. I think they had whole songs recorded. I think they were just playing along. At one point, everyone stopped playing, sort of a break in the music, but the music kept going. Serious drumming, but the drummer wasn't moving. What the fuck? Fake simply isn't as good.

They play a very short set which might have been a good thing, seeing as how they really only played the new stuff. Yeah, they turned in a less than inspired version of "Melody of Certain Three" from Lemons and a garbled, looped, and sampled version of "Falling Man" from Misery, but by and large, the entire show, encores and all, stuck to the crap from their new "album" 23.

Yeah, I'm a little bitter. I'd been looking forward to their new album and this show En Particulier for quite some time. And boy was it a letdown.

Eeeww

I said to lavendersoda just last night that I was done reading the Cool Hunting blog because it had nothing that interested me any more. And sure enough, look what I find this morning, meat business card holders. I'm not sure what this thing is made of (hopefully not actual meat) but it does look awfully greasy. Check out their other food related products too.

Extra Cool Squid Whisk

Just saw this on Uncrate and had to share.

Five

Thanks to Guilty Carnivore, you will now learn 5 things about me. Some loyal readers may know a few of these things, but even the most devout fans may learn a thing or two (or maybe not, who knows)...

#1 - j'aime la Nouvelle Vague
Yep, I like me some French new wave cinema. I tend to like all things French (wine, cheese, language, etc) and am an admitted Fracophile. While I've enjoyed Gallic gastronomy for years and years, my love of French cinema is somewhat new. At any moment, you'll find at least one French New Wave flick from Netflix at my house (hell, my queue is full of 'em). Right now, I'm getting ready for a little Melville double feature this weekend (Un Flic and Le Samourai). In the planning stages: a full screening of Eric Rohmer's six Moral Tales over the course of an entire weekend (I'm planning to show My Night at Maude's before The Collector, preserving the director's original plan for the films, not the order of their theatrical release). Enough already? That's what most of my friends say.

#2 - Music snob, guilty
I don't like mainstream music, mostyl because it's typically no good. But my bias goes deeper. I'm one of these people that can love a band for years and years in obscurity, and then, when they make it big, I'll turn my back on them. Like the opposite of a fair weather fan. Foul weather fan? I like to root for the underdog, I guess. I'm not saying I was ever a fan of Modest Mouse, but they'd make a fine example. If I had liked them back in the 90's (which I didn't), I would almost certainly despise them now. I mean, how many times was Float On on (insert popular radio station name here)?!? I am VERY frightful that the day will come when everyone figures out what really good music sounds like and The American Analog Set, Yo La Tengo, and Destroyer will go triple platinum. What will I listen to then?

#3 - Picky Eater
In the realm of food, I know what I like and what I don't like. Some may call this picky, I think of it as discerning. There are 2 things that I really don't like, mushrooms and seafood. People have pointed out that I can't possibly be as into food as I am and not like those two things. It's not like I'd flat out refuse, but given another option, I'll most always take it.

#4 - Food Snob
Contrary to what fact #3 may have led you to believe, I am more or less a complete food snob. I only like the best. Thank god Albina Press isn't too far from my house because I swear I'd drive across town for good coffee if I had to. I once dated a girl who lived near on MLK near the convention center. She had just moved to town. I went to great lengths to tell her about the fareless square and how Stumptown was just across the bridge, on the max line, and was the best coffee in town. She continued to go to Starbucks just down the street. Clearly that relationship didn't work out. My snobbery goes beyond coffee, though. Wine, cheese, cuts of meat, anything consumable, really. Does that make me a bad person?

#5 - My Past Life
Although I work in the wine field, I went to grad school for Forensic Anthropology. Took a lot of classes in skeletal biology, archaeology, forensic sciences and the like. I've worked with the FBI and local law enforcement teams on murder investigations in Montana, Florida, and Georgia. I spent a summer in Guatemala working a human rights forensic team uncovering, excavating, and anazlying mass graves. But now I sell wine. Sometimes I think I should be doing more for the public good.

So, I guess that's that. I'm throwing the challenge out to my pals lavendersoda at The City by mouth, CC at The Devouring Woman and Miss Tasty over at the cafe...