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Get cracking
Acorn recipes Note: All recipes require leached acorns, with tannins removed by soaking acorn flour or pieces in cold water; repeat until water is clear. Source of following recipes: Frank Zika’s adaptation of recipes found in The Settlement Cookbook. Pancakes ½ cup acorn flour ½ cup whole wheat flour (or use all acorn flour…
What futuristic invention are you most anxious for?
Martin Rusanovsky student “Teleportation. I would go everywhere.” Richard Fusillo photographer “Hover boards. Those would be fun as hell.” Colleen Jackson sign technician “A cure for cancer. A lot of family members have died from the disease.” Toma Pryadko sales associate “We need a button that you can push, and it makes a little, invisible…
Autumnus 2009 White Blend Washington State
This tasty blend of Riesling, Chenin Blanc, and Gewurztraminer is terrific for an Asian stir-fry of seafood or chicken with veggies. It’s also a good choice for the budget-minded to serve at Thanksgiving dinner. It’s easy drinking on its own, too. Made by Pacific Rim (no longer owned by Bonny Doon) in Richland, Wash., it’s…
Tangent 2009 Viognier Edna Valley Paragon Vineyard
This delicious and versatile white wine is a great choice for holiday feasts. Beautifully made, it offers a cornucopia of fruit aromas and flavors. It was entirely fermented in stainless steel tanks to retain the refreshing notes of sweet pears, nectarines, apricot, and citrus, all nicely balanced by notes of melon, spice, and minerals. Winemaker…
I love barbecue
I love good barbecue, but not just any old place will do. Some cooks simply slather over-cooked, dried out meats with sweet barbecue sauce and call it good. I don’t. That said, you can’t expect gourmet meals at these places either. What we barbecue lovers want is falling-off-the-bone baby back ribs redolent with the smoky…
Get crackin’
Disclaimer: Although this issue of New Times officially comes out Thursday, Nov. 25, you will probably be too occupied stuffing your face with turkey and giving thanks until at least Saturday, Nov. 27, and therefore will not emerge from your toxic food coma to read this column until after Thanksgiving, in which case its writer…
Berets vs. cowboy hats!
I know I’m in the right place when I overhear this snippet of conversation from a guy wearing a little black beret: “So you’re based in Ireland? Really? I went over there a couple years ago with Ferlinghetti. There was a poetry reading.” Namedropping, off-handed references to poetry readings, and black berets? And there’s a…
Scarlet ruminations
Atahuallpa, the 13th and last emperor of the dazzling Inca empire, was strangled to death by Francisco Pizarro’s Spanish conquistadors. Artist Lynn Kishiyama informed me of this. He was killed, she explained, despite his supplying the Spanish with 24 tons of gold and silver—“the richest ransom in the history of the world.” “They were looking…
Seven serendipitous stochasticons
“I don’t think straight,” the artist said, half apologetic, flipping through one of the 177 sketchbooks that formed the basis for his exhibit “Composite Memories.” Graphic artist by trade, installation artist out of sheer fascination, Jean-François Podevin has spent his career trying to inflict order on the vague and intangible, happily embracing the intrinsic contradictions…
The century club
Imagine being born in 1908. The car would have been a rarity. You’d have witnessed World War I, art deco and the flappers, the Great Depression, Prohibition and Al Capone, the attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II, the Beatniks, the Korean War, the Summer of Love and the hippies, Vietnam, the Me Generation—essentially…
Cruise to Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg Berlin, since the wall came down in ’89, has become a cultural center. Teeming with young people and immigrants wooed by cheap rent, it’s home to Germany’s counterculture. Known for voting for the Green Party, punk rock, rap, and breakdancing, its Club SO36 was frequented by David Bowie and Iggy Pop back in the…
Videos killed the video stores–almost
Emily was searching for a movie at the redbox kiosk inside Scolari’s on a recent Friday night. “I haven’t been to a movie rental store in about six months, and I don’t plan on going back,” she said. “Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you where one is. It seems like they’re all shut down.” As…
Go ghost-hunting!
“Wait a minute—what the hell am I doing?” Driving southbound down Highway 1, rolling past the Guadalupe Cemetery under the full moon of a crisp autumn night, it suddenly dawns on me: I’m being forced to spend the night in a haunted building or I don’t get paid. I love my job. I first met…
A sponge for Oceano’s flooding?
Could it be? Might someone finally take responsibility and fix the flooding on Highway 1 in Oceano? Maybe. Given the long history of annual flooding without action, “maybe” is about as strong a statement as anyone can hope for. “It’s a little bit early to get excited,” said Oceano Community Services District General Manager Raffaele…
Third strike for Finney?
Prosecutors are attempting to secure a third strike sentence against an Atascadero man found guilty of stabbing a 19-year-old transient in downtown San Luis Obispo. A San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge will consider whether to allow two convictions that occurred when the defendant, Harley Finney, 28, was a juvenile. According to Deputy District…
Protect the gray whale
I encountered and touched my first juvenile gray whale when I visited San Ignacio Lagoon several years ago. I affectionately named the juvenile whale Skippy. Though I haven’t a clue as to Skippy’s sex, I will refer to Skippy as a male. That was in 2008. If Skippy survived the obstacle course he must…
Fiscal task force gets tough on SLO
A committee of the SLO financial task force has released a preliminary report suggesting tough remedies to deal with the city’s dismal finances. To preserve the financial well-being of the city, the report suggests binding arbitration be put back on the ballot and staff compensation be reduced and linked to private sector salary levels. Furloughs…
Morro Bay power plant sale fizzles
A deal that would have resulted in the sale of the aging Morro Bay power plant was scrapped on Nov. 23. Company officials from Dynegy—which owns the plant—and The Blackstone Group announced the sale wasn’t expected to go through despite some last-minute sweetening officials believed would entice shareholders. Under the original proposal, The Blackstone Group…
Clubhouse and neighbors work together
The Clubhouse at This Old House will be able to continue operating while the owner and neighbors try to work things out. The San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission voted unanimously Nov. 19 to have staffers monitor the restaurant’s sound levels and hours of operation in an effort to save the business from potentially devastating…
A SLO City Council seat is up for grabs
When the newly elected San Luis Obispo City Council members gather for their first meeting together Dec. 1, they’ll have one last election task to finish: find another council member. The City Council will soon have to decide how it will fill the council seat vacated by Jan Marx, who was elected mayor but has…
Chanell Heartman, Cliffs Resort director of food and beverage
NEW TIMES Tell us more about the lighting of the palms that’ll be taking place. HEARTMAN We wanted to add a Californian twist on a classic holiday spectacle, and that would be the lighting of the Christmas tree. We’ve been lighting the palms at the Cliffs for many years now, and we take the…
Unicorns and task forces
I saw a guy downtown wearing a black Santa hat today. I mean, the hat was black. I’m not sure what to say about that. It was kind of creepy, though—unless it was just a really old hat. But it’s a decent enough metaphor for a recent report I read by the SLO Fiscal Sustainability…
Clubs
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Yes, conserve energy–but what about our hands?
In response to “Use common sense for heating and cooling” (Nov. 11) and “I don’t think nuclear will stop with line-drying” (Nov. 18): Roger Cleary throws us all a challenge about our energy use. We need to look at all aspects of our lifestyle to find ways to conserve energy. There is just no excuse…
Pick the most loving path
Our founders wrote in the preamble of the Constitution “in order to form a more perfect union.” What did the mean by that? Did they mean a union with more control, more fear, more manipulation, more war, more dropouts, more poverty, more pollution, more genetically modified food, more global warming , more drug use, more…
Help repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
After years of talking about how the military’s discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy must end, it has finally come down to the next few weeks. If the Senate is going to act to repeal this law, they must act now, before a more conservative Congress takes over in 2011. A recent Pentagon study…
Why should I respect Bush?
Maybelline McKelvey’s letter stating that “Bush, like all U.S. presidents, deserves respect” (Nov. 18) pissed me off to no end. Why does he deserve respect? Respect is earned, not deserved, just because. What did he do to earn respect? His election was “questionable” to begin with. His reasons for going to war were false. Under…
Sophisticated defense doesn’t come cheap
Regarding the commentary, “See that 500-pound gorilla?” (Nov. 18): The ending by James M. Duenow was the most appropriate statement in it. “We probably don’t know what we’re talking about.” It is disappointing that New Times would allow such naivety on such an important subject as this commentary displays. Yes, the Defense Department has a…
Don’t forget to blame corrupt corporations
“See that 500-pound gorilla?”—the opinion piece by Jim Duenow in the Nov. 11 issue of New Times—is a timely reminder of a major reason for our national deficit … as far as it goes. I’d like to add an “800-pound gorilla,” and that is the rapacious corporate sector with its unending appetite for megabucks with…
Don’t just focus on the military
What a poorly written commentary (“See that 500-pound gorilla?” Nov. 18)! When the writer starts out by denigrating a particular section of the public, he loses his credibility. He starts out by calling them “teabaggers,” which shows his complete lack of respect and cloudy judgment. I am not a “tea partier,” but like it or…
