talbotlucas.org: a word to the wise is sufficient

lettuce! wonderful lettuce!

Terrence returned from San Francisco bearing a treasure trove: three pints of strawberries and raspberries from Lucero; pints of tiny red and orange tomatoes from Eatwell Farms; pain au levain--two loaves!--from Acme Bread; and four pounds of Jeff Young's gorgeous lettuces, the very ones about which I rhapsodized several days ago. I'm not sure which was more of a delight: the lettuces themselves or the fact that they were as wonderful as I remembered them. Last night we enjoyed a very simple salad: the lettuces with roasted beets, the Eatwell tomatoes, warm goat cheese, and a simple vinaigrette.

Here's another view of one of the Jeff Young lettuces. As you can see, they're tiny, at least compared to what one normally finds, or to market-size heads of romaine and butter lettuce. With these lettuces, there's no waste: every leaf is delectable, and we trim very close to the base and break apart the individual leaves.

Wallace tasted a few of the leaves before we dressed them, and even he smacked his lips and wanted more! Just one more sign that Wallace found the right home!

if you didn't already know...

...here's how to get to the National Do Not Call List (www.donotcall.gov).

"do not call" list coming soon

This sounds too good to be true, but I'm planning to add our numbers to the official do-not-call registry as soon as it's up and running. Our nifty little Tele-Zapper has really put a dent in the number of phone solicitations we receive, but I'd love to be able to follow up and know that the organization which interrupts my dinner with an unwanted phone call might be slapped with a hefty fine...assuming that I can gather the information necessary to report them.

If you haven't heard/read about this already, some of the high points are mentioned in an article in today's Chicago Tribune.

And...something I just noticed in The New York Times: a list of which states are establishing state-level do-not-call registries, and whether one has to sign up for both the state and national lists.

a gephardt update

An update to the "what did Gephardt really mean" question posted today on The Volokh Conspiracy. (Yes, the dates may seem a bit wonky on the blog--the powers that be at the Conspiracy are already aware of this, and are working on a fix...)

dick gephardt's lost my vote

I encourage you to read Professor Eugene Volokh's post on The Volokh Conspiracy about a statement made by Rep. Dick Gephardt in connection with the controversial affirmative action case just decided today by the U.S. Supreme Court (see the New York Times for a good capsule summary of the decision).

Makes me think there should be some sort of Clockwork Orange-like treatment for representatives who have forgotten so much of their 8th-grade civics class (not to mention their foundational Constitutional Law class in law school!) that they feel comfortable making a statement like this. (For those of you who don't want to link to Volokh's post--though I think you should--the statement was "When I'm president, we'll do executive orders to overcome any wrong thing the Supreme Court does tomorrow or any other day.") It appears Dennis Kucinich thinks this is a good approach, too.

Between these two guys getting all excited about issuing executive orders and John Kerry failing to understand what a litmus test means...the election is looking pretty grim to these eyes. I'm sighing a lot, and the election is months away...

ground zero...and other matters

Terrence is at ground zero this week, which for Apple developers means he's attending the World-Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, at the newly christened Moscone West. Today's keynote address by Steve Jobs contained lots of new annoucements: the introduction of the world's fastest desktop computer, the G5; iChat AV videoconferencing app and camera, and many others goodies to make the tech crowd (and some of the rest of us) swoon.

In addition to all the technical fun, Terrence is also going to check out the new Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, which is now in the rebuilt Ferry Plaza building (not at the corner of Green Street and the Embarcadero, its temporary home for the last few years). If his stay in San Francisco lasts until Saturday morning we might have Acme Bread (pain au levain) and Jeff Young's divine lettuces for dinner.

Jeff Young's lettuces can move people to tears. I'm not exaggerating. When we lived in San Francisco, making the trek to the Farmers Market was always worth the walk as long as we returned with some of Jeff's lettuces. Aside from the high quality of the lettuces and other produce, he's a hell of a nice guy with a dry sense of humor. (BTW, Jeff's picture is the one on the "farmers and vendors" link on the Farmers Market web site link noted above.) When admirers like myself would form a queue alongside his stand to pick our out our lettuces, he'd often encourage us to crowd around the wooden bowls because he hated lines. I think he somehow disliked anything that smacked of hierarchy. But there was no other choice, because to cut in front of someone waiting their turn at the big bowls was to invite a confrontation. If Terrence brings back some of Jeff's lettuces, I'm going to take a picture of them and I'll post it here. Hell, if I was further along in my oil painting, I'd paint them! They're beautiful, and delicious, and one of the few things I miss about the Bay Area. I think they're a cross of butter and romaine; my memory may be fuzzy on their parentage, but my tastebuds remember them fondly.

a rude raccoon

We anthropomorphize dogs and cats, and other creature we find cute or cuddly, but one San Francisco resident definitely thinks she's being terrorized by a rude raccoon. Wouldn't want to be in her shoes, but I love the story, courtesy of the SFGate.

the beast

The Dyson's performance continues to amaze. I had grown used to substantially reduced suction when using vacuum attachments. With the Dyson, no diminishment, which takes a little getting used to. I was reminded of an old Tom & Jerry cartoon--the kind in which the vaccum gets out of control and starts sucking up various household items, and threatens to suck Jerry out of his hiding place in what looks like an animated tornado. This is it, come to life.

a beast of a vacuum

California is a surprisingly dusty place.
Wallace is a hairy dog.
They've met their match. It's the Dyson Animal, a vacuum cleaner with museum-quality design, crash-helmet-strength casing, and suction power that is frightening. We've been looking for a replacement vacuum cleaner for some time now, and we were mesmerized by this one. The principle behind the design is that both bag and bagless vacuums lose suction very quickly. The high air volume, combined with the high speed of the cyclone elements, means that it out-suctions other vacuums. Which means more dirt comes off the floor and out of the carpets. And that = a cleaner house.

What else? A reversible wand/handle. A turbo tool designed with pet hair in mind. (We were told that about the Hoover's turbo attachment, but its performance was less than satisfactory.) Automatic adjustment for different carpet height. A floor tool--really a separate vacuum head--with a flat profile that can fit under chairs, beds, end tables. A 17-foot hose (when fully extended) and a 35-foot cord. The list goes on, but this already sounds like an advertisement so I'll stop here.

We brought it home tonight and were astonished (a little surprised, frankly) by the amount of dust and hair which came out of our carpet. And I'm looking forward to vacuuming, which is scary and joyous at the same time. (Now that Martha's under indictment, someone's got to carry the torch, right?)

dominick's sundried tomatoes

These, friends, are Dominick's sundried tomatoes, the product of his grandfather's farm in Italy. Who is Dominick? Why am I writing about sundried tomatoes, which have become common?

Dominick is one of the staff at the The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, and he's clearly a man who loves his work. Thursday last, while Terrence was at the dentist, I made a detour to The Cheese Store. This wasn't my first visit, but it was the first time I visited while Dominick was behind the counter. After weighing several options (settling on a marvelous Morbier; a blue from Tasmania, Roaring 40s; and a goat cheese crottin that had arrived that morning from France), Dominick asked me if I liked sundried tomatoes.

Well, sure, but what he gave me to sample was scrumptious, and unlike any sundried tomatoes I've had. It seems Dominick's grandfather, who lives in Italy, allows his tomatoes to dry in the sun, on the vine. Not on a wooden board (which isn't bad), not in an oven (the commercial way). On the vine. He gave me one to taste, and then a generous sample to take home, and Terrence agreed--these make the sundried tomatoes we've tried seem...well...dry. Tired. Spent. Dominick's grandfather ships the tomatoes to California, and Dominick gives them a lovely, garlic/olive oil bath. And then brings them to the store.

The Cheese Store's web site doesn't do justice to their selection, which is stellar. Like Berkeley's Cheese Board, you're offered a generous taste of whatever it is you're considering. If something isn't at its best, they say so. Similarly, if something is good but you haven't thought of it, they're not shy about recommending. When I asked Dominick for the one cheese I couldn't leave without, he smiled, ducked under the counter, and produced a wooden crate with the crottins that had arrived that morning. Magnifique!

Thursday's with Dominick may have to become a regular feature of the blog...

gregory/peck

In this part of Beverly Hills we were often reminded of Gregory Peck, not because he was a neighbor but because one of our oft-crossed intersections bears his name. Gregory is an East-West street that intersects with Peck, a North-South street, just two blocks from our home. We don't know if this was intentional--other streets in Beverly Hills are named after the stars of stage and screen--but we've not been able to confirm when and how these streets were named.

After hearing of Mr. Peck's passing yesterday we took our camera on Wallace's afternoon walk and snapped this shot. Although it doesn't show it, Gregory is also one of the streets in Beverly Hills lined with spectacular Southern Magnolia trees as part of the Street Tree Master Plan that the city follows. If you're enough of a luminary to have an intersection which bears your name, this one is pretty pleasant.

Magnolias should be the subject of a separate post, since we spend a lot of time monitoring them while walking with Wallace. Several species thrive here in southern California, as they do in several southern states, and we've marveled at their elaborate, furry/spiky seed pods, the way the pods open to reveal bright red seeds, and the periodic displays of buds and flowers. Even the leathery petals that fall to the sidewalk carry a little bit of the magnolia perfume.

Alas, Wallace doesn't find perfumed petals all that interesting; he's far more attracted to the figs that fall from the fig trees that line Olympic Boulevard and several other streets. If he could live on figs we wouldn't have to pay for dog food; he manages to scarf that many little fruits on his daily walks. Terrence noticed that when the figs are dropping, Wallace demonstrates a strong preference for walking along Olympic, traffic noise and all. He lives up to the moniker "tummy with feet," that's for sure.

news for kurt elling fans

Two tidbits of news about one of our favorite cats, Kurt Elling: Kurt's new CD, Man in the Air is scheduled for release on 22 July 2003. From the looks of Kurt's tour schedule he'll be on the road on that date, so the official release concert is on 23 August at Symphony Center in Chicago. We won't be able to attend--fall semester classes begin on 20 August this year--but we'll be raising a glass to Kurt's success.

Kurt's also been elected Vice Chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the people who bring us the Grammy awards. Not bad for our boy from the Green Mill...

the non-iron shirt

I was suspicious, very suspicious, and told the salesman so, but Terrence's experiment with the non-iron dress shirt from Brooks Brothers has been oddly successful. Wildly successful. He's washed and dryed the shirt twice--no special treatment--and it has emerged from the dryer so camera-ready that it's a little unsettling. It's supposedly an all-cotton shirt, but it sure doesn't look like one when it's fresh out of the dryer. And it's reasonably priced. Too good to be true? Perhaps, but so far, we're enjoying being pleasantly surprised.

wine rec: Comme a Cayenne

Although it's been a while since we've posted a wine recommendation, that doesn't mean we haven't been sampling! (Some of our sampling has coincided with our server woes, but that's for another post...)

We found Comme a Cayenne thanks to the staff at The Wine House here in Los Angeles. It's a very nice blend of Grenache and Carignan (85/15) at a very reasonable price ($8.99 here, although we've seen it advertised at much higher prices elsewhere on the web).

We scratched our heads at the label--"cayenne" brings to mind pepper, not a ball and chain, but thanks to the importer, Hand Picked Selections, we have additional information. They note:

Cayenne means "hot pepper" to most Americans, but to the French it is the worst of their Caribbean prisons, where convicts break rocks under a tropical sun. Michel Guiraud's grandparents spent a year breaking rocks under a Mediterranean sun before they could plant their vineyard, "Comme a Cayenne" or "as at Cayenne." They planted 85% Grenache and 15% Carignan. Vines averaging over 35 years are cropped at 3 tons per acre, traditional fermentation, long cuvaison, no oak. The result is ripe, stuffy, redolent of the garrigue and full of character and personality. Also, the wine contains no added sulfites.

So if you find this locally, try a bottle and enjoy! A votre sante!

P.S. We've also heard that Parker (or one of Parker's staff) gave this one a 91, but haven't yet confirmed...