. Kala Open Studio

Want to see the old Heinz ketchup factory where I work? Did I say there'd be free wine? Come visit & keep me company. (Yes, Anthony, there will be snacks.)


Kala Art Institute
Open Studio: (Saturday) 31 January 2009, 11am-5pm
1060 Heinz Ave | Berkeley, CA 94710
studio info: 510.549.2977
http://www.kala.org/event/event.html

. Autumn in January

As documented in Julie & Nick's backyard...

. Favourite Beer of the Week

Damnation was recommended to me by our good friend Erik Marr, master brewer and father of Abby Marloh, who pees like a man. It is a Belgian style "Golden Ale," and it is made by Russian River, who also make Pliny the Elder.

I shared my bottle of Damnation with my good friends Fuzzy Nuggz and Moldy Chestnuts. Below is a transcript of their review:

Fuzzy: It's got a sweetness yet a sourness.

Moldy: It reminds me of a Unibroue Beer, but with less flavour. There's a bitter aftertaste to the IPA side, but with aspects of Fin Du Monde.

Fuzzy: It reminds me of a Belgian White. It has the Wheatiness to it. You can't taste it properly. Your mouth is full of chestnuts.

Moldy: I took two sips to taste it, and then ate a chestnut.

Fuzzy: You're a moldy chestnut.

. Beer and Ice Cream

This movie is rated J for Juvenile.

. Abby Marloh Pees Like a Man

An excerpt from last year's Movie Of The Year, "Nif and Anthony in Austin, Texas."

. Old Chestnut

I bought chestnuts from Molly Stones (the most expensive grocery store on the planet) and I roasted them at 425 degrees for 24 minutes which is exactly the right amount of heat and time for chestnuts. And we ate some, and they didn't taste very nice, and when we looked more closely we saw that they were moldy. Dammit, Molly Stones, I hate you and your stupid overpriced moldy chestnuts.

The phrase "old chestnut" comes from a 19th century play called The Broken Sword by William Diamond where some guy called Captain Xavier keeps telling the same joke over and over and it gets boring and it's got something to do with a tree and one time he says it's a cork tree and some other guy called Pablo says "A chestnut. I have heard you tell the joke twenty-seven times, and I am sure it was a chestnut." And later someone else in the 19th century who had presumably seen the play must have heard a boring old joke and said "That's an old chestnut" and everyone probably just stared at him and thought what the hell are you talking about, and he would probably have been a bit embarrassed, unless he was rich, in which case everyone would have thought what the hell are you talking about but instead of just staring at him they would have laughed uproariously because rich people are scary because they can kill you and get away with it like Molly Stones and that is where the phrase "old chestnut" comes from.

. Favourite Beer of the Week (again)

This weekend we met Bryce and Cory at the Monk's Kettle which is a "gastropub" on 16th Street between Valencia and Guerrero. Normally it is too busy and we walk straight past and go to Casanova's instead with all the booby paintings on the wall, but on Saturday afternoon we were able to get a table (a booth in fact) by carefully positioning Nif next to people who looked like they might leave until some of them left.

Monk's Kettle's selection of beer is far too large to think about without a beer, so we ignored most of the menu and stuck to what was on tap. The bar tender recommended the Pliny The Elder, so that is what I had, and it was really very good indeed. Even better than the bottle of Pliny I left for too long in the fridge and drank just last week. Possibly the best IPA I ever drank. And I have drunk at least seven. Here I am in a photo with another one:


It's a Double Daddy by the Speakeasy brewery in San Francisco. It was also very good. And cheaper. And smaller.

Afterwards we went to Bi-Rite for ice cream. And then to the Indian grocery store for Asafoetida (also known as Devil's Dung) which stinks to high heaven but is nice when cooked, apparently.

. Up Mount Davidson

. You'd Never Know

... from Anthony's expression that I had food on my face.

. New Year's Eve at Julie and Nick's

. New Year's Machete

9 bushes, 1 machete.
We resolved to remove the risk of elementary school kid casualty in the new year by having the fortress-like hedge next to our driveway hacked out. Unfortunately this leaves nothing between us and John-the-neighborhood-asshole's house, two doors down. It's the orange house with tan trim. Please continue to park out front of it, as that makes him mental and frothy.

Happy New Year!