Best of 2008 in Black and White
Last year, I went through my photos to choose two for the Leica User Group Yearbook (and put a few others up on Flickr). This year was different. I missed the deadline for the yearbook, and it’s just as well. 2008 was a terrible year for my photography. I didn’t shoot much and still have half a dozen rolls languishing, undeveloped. From the ones I did develop, I chose two for the yearbook, before I realized I had missed the deadline. These were both taken on St. Patrick’s day in Jim Thorpe, PA.
Christmas 2008
Christmas caught me a little flat-footed this year, although the midnight service last night was beautiful and made up for my lack of Christmas spirit.
We had a wonderful time visiting friends today, and then on the way home, I talked Anne into making a detour to take a picture of some extreme holiday lights a la Griswold. It was my first panorama and Photoshop (CS2) made stitching the seven exposures together effortless. I set the exposure to preserve the color of the lights, so everything else is inky blackness. It looks OK, though.
There are a few even more extreme displays I hope to shoot over the weekend. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Some Love for Richard Bona
After the gig Saturday, I was playing the Jaco Pastorius Big Band: Word of Mouth Revisited CD for our bass player, Rick. (The CD, released in 2003, features a whole mess of world-class bass players covering Jaco Pastorius’ signature tunes.) When we got to “Punk Jazz” with Richard Bona, all of us in the car admired his singing tone and sensitive touch, more in touch with Jaco’s spirit than any of the other (uniformly awesome) bass players. Rick admitted he had never heard of him, and it made me wonder that if a bass player hadn’t heard of him, maybe he’s not as well-known as I thought.
A great introduction would be his appearance on NPR’s Jazz Set recently (the November 27, 2008 show documents Bona’s appearance at the Basel Jazz Festival).
I came to Richard Bona by accident while trawling YouTube for versions of my favorite Jaco tune, “Liberty City.” This version, with Bona as a leader of his own band, was recorded in 2003 at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival in Spain. A slower, clunkier version features Bona as guest soloist at the North Sea Jazz Festival. (The other bassist is Jeff Carswell.) For comparison, here’s the definitive original version with Jaco Pastorius and his Word of Mouth band.
Sly Fox IPA Project Day
We went to our first IPA Project Day at Sly Fox last night. The “IPA Project” is to brew a series of IPAs each based on a single hop variety. It started in 2004 with eight varieties and this year there were something like twelve. All this brewing culminates on Project Day when all the varietals are available along with Odyssey, an Imperial IPA that packs all the hop varieties into one brew.
We arrived around 6:00 to a packed house. They had no idea how long the wait for a table would be (“could be 20 minutes, could be 2 hours”), but we put our name in anyway. Turns out the wait was less than 15 minutes, and we were seated upstairs at a cozy table for two. Our waiter attempted to convince us to order the Hop Head Dream Package, which included all the varietals and a case of Odyssey, but it was just too much.
We ordered Flights One and Three, each of which included four varietals and a glass of either 2007 or 2008 Odyssey. This was a fantastic opportunity to sample the different hop flavors, and I was surprised how different they all tasted. Cascade was one of the bitterest and was my favorite, followed by Styrian, one of the milder ones. The others in our flights were Cluster, Amarillo, Perle, Galena, Sterling and Mt. Rainier. Made me want to try brewing my own IPA.
These Kids Today: Thanksgiving 2008
Is it too late for a Thanksgiving recap post? I think not! After all, you’re all still eating leftovers, right?
We went to my brother’s house on Thanksgiving (armed with only a coconut cream pie) and discovered that my niece and nephew cooked the entire dinner themselves. I just wanted to say how proud I was of them both for tackling such a big job and pulling it off so well.
Andrew was in charge of the turkey.
The bird is ready for its closeup.
Making gravy.
My brother squeezed between them just long enough to whip up some hollandaise.
Anne carved expertly.
My plate, loaded with everything except the salad.
Note the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA in the foreground; my brother has good taste in beer.
Anne and I cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner on Black Friday (she did most of the work) and on Saturday we packaged everything up and drove to New York for a gathering with her side of the family.
Our menu included turkey with stuffing and gravy, of course, as well as mashed potatoes, acorn squash, Belgian endive salad, rustic Italian bread and several bottles of wine.
Jazz Vespers Today
I almost forgot. I am participating in a Jazz Vespers performance this afternoon (5:00 pm) at the First Presbyterian Church of Pitman with the wonderful singer Rosemary Benson. I feel obligated to mention this because when people find out I play drums, they usually ask where they can come hear me, etc. Note, however, that I will be playing a barely-audible supporting role, so don’t come for me, come to hear Rosemary’s masterful interpretations of some selections from the Great American Songbook.
Neologism: Beershopping
A friend sent me this fake Miller beer ad earlier this year:
Now I have a term for it. Just as “photoshopping” is the use of Photoshop to make a photograph of a person more attractive, “beershopping” is the use of beer to make an actual person more attractive.
Obama Prefers Shelter Dogs—A Nation Rejoices
Well, maybe not a nation, but me at least.
When I heard that the Obama daughters were promised a puppy, I was concerned that their acquisition would spark a craze for whatever breed they chose, putting pressure on breeders to meet demand. Wouldn’t it be great if they got a shelter or rescue dog? What a good example that would set. I was amazed to learn that that was indeed the plan when Obama announced at a press conference that “our preference would be to get a shelter dog.” Wow. As long as they can find a hypo-allergenic dog (pure-bred or not), it sounds like they were willing to wait until one became available at a shelter. Admirable and impressive, especially considering the deferred gratification for doing (what I consider) the right thing.
Election Day 2008
Many happy returns.
We Are the Champions
That “we” in the title is a bit disingenuous. Sure, I live near Philadelphia, home of the World Champion Philadelphia Knockerbackers, er, I mean Phillies. But as someone lacking the “sports gene,” it’s not fair that I enjoy the sweet rewards of championshipdom without having suffered through 28 years following the allegedly losing-est team in baseball (a pointless statistic if ever there was one). Nevertheless, I’ll take it! Wooooooooo-hoo!!! World Champs, baby!!! But I didn’t feel like I belonged at the parade today, ya know?
For example, I confess I didn’t know a single Phillies player until a month ago. Now I know a good three or four.1 I even watched some of the games. I couldn’t watch the final game on Wednesday, unfortunately, but did soak up some of the energy from the packed house at McGillin’s waiting for the game to start, the cheers from patrons at Ly Michaels when the Phillies scored, and the crew working at Jim's Steaks where Kenric and I grabbed a bite on our way home. Even though I didn’t get home in time to see the final out, it was an exciting and historic night, and I am so happy both for this city and for all of the Phillies' real fans.
1I knew most of the Phillies during the Sixties when I was a kid. I liked baseball cards, even though I didn't know a thing about baseball.
SEPTA’s Train View
I didn't bring a proper coat for the raw, blustery weather today and didn’t want to wait on the train platform any longer than necessary, so I decided to check SEPTA’s Train View before leaving work. My train was reported “on time.” Yay.
The train was actually seven minutes late, although Train View still insisted it was on time. Right after we boarded, the conductor announced that we would not be leaving the station because there was debris on the tracks ahead of us. [1.2MB mp3 1:16]
I kept checking the Train View page and finally noticed a big red alert at the top of the page (“30 minute delay on inbound service due to weather-related problems at Rosemont”), but my specific train was still “on time.” Amazingly, we did start moving after about 30 minutes. Eventually my train disappeared from the Train View listing, around the time it should have if it was actually on time, although we were still far from our destination. Clearly I can’t rely on Train View at all. (That seems true of the entire SEPTA system—it works fine most of the time, but you just can’t rely on it.) Train View does seem to be working for some lines in that there are always some trains that show a delay, but I wonder how Train View actually works since it did not show any delay at all for my train. I think I will start logging the Train View status for my regular commute. That should net me a Pulitzer, don’t you think?
Roosters at York Fair
This tidbit in Saveur about the different names for the Rice Krispies spokescharacters (Snap! Crackle! & Pop!) around the world caught my eye, because it started with this:
Just as a French rooster sounds unlike an American one...
Now wait a second. Sure, every language uses different words to imitate animal sounds (Wikipedia has a long list at onomatopoeia), but I can’t believe that the actual sounds that animals make are different. Or maybe that’s not what they meant.
In any case, it provides an excuse to post a recording of roosters crowing I made at the York Fair about a month ago. Interestingly, each one sounded unique, but I don’t know whether that’s because they were of different breeds, or if they were just expressing their individuality. I wish I could tell you the breed of each rooster on the recording, but they only crowed when my back was turned—very sneaky. Two bonus sounds: There’s a turkey gobble about two-thirds in, and the rhythmic honking at the end is from geese when people got too close to their cage. [980k mp3 1:03]
Rename the Phillies for What Philly Does Best
Back to work after a wonderful week in Maine. During the ten-hour ride home yesterday, our conversation covered a lot of odd ground. (Perhaps it was the low barometric pressure of Hurricane Kyle.) I'd like to tell you all about it, but you know what they say: what happens in the car stays in the car.
For the most part, anyway; I’ll share one thing. Out of the blue, I mentioned I thought I should follow the Milwaukee Brewers, because of the whole beer thing (if I followed any sport, it would be baseball). That led to dreams of renaming the Phillies instead, because Philadelphia is the Best Beer Drinking Town in America™ (and “Phillies” isn’t much of a name when you think about it). We spun out some variations based on drinking euphemisms such as putting some away, throwing down a couple, tossing back a few, etc. Anne came up with the best one: The Philadelphia Knockerbackers.
Dinner at Mary’s Fish Camp
Although I haven’t written much about lobster rolls this year, a lot has been happening—and we haven’t even been to Maine yet. Most recently, Gothamist linked to my lobster-roll map of New York. Then New York Magazine’s Grub Street picked up the story and listed all the places I had overlooked. Since I hadn’t updated my map in almost two years, I was grateful for the information (the map has since been updated). The purpose of the map was to help me decide which of the many places I would be nearest to when I occasionally visit New York.
I knew I would need to go to Pearl Oyster Bar and Mary’s Fish Camp before all the others, because they have had shell in the game the longest (over ten years for Pearl and eight for Mary’s), and both still produce critically-acclaimed lobster rolls. But which one first? Ultimately, I chose Mary’s, because I couldn’t find any discouraging words about Mary’s (giving me confidence that the other three people in our party would be satisfied), and descriptions of the roll led me to suspect that I just might prefer Mary’s to Pearl’s.
We assumed there would be a wait, so we planned to get there early. We queued up at the end of the line about 20 minutes before opening (there were already about 15 people ahead of us). Around 6:00, the host walked the line and took each party’s name and a few minutes later, the first wave was admitted. I think we were the last party to be seated, because we took the last four seats at the counter. If we had missed that first seating, we would have had another hour’s wait.
Mary’s Fish Camp is on the corner of 4th and Charles in a quiet residential neighborhood.
I loved sitting at the counter where I could see the entire kitchen and watch everyone bustling about, especially the two cooks, who worked with dazzling speed. They reminded me why I’ll never be a chef—it looks like hard work. Stationed as I was closest to the “entrance” to the kitchen (the break at the end of the counter), I also overheard some interesting conversations (there is really no place for the staff to have a private conversation). At one point there was a conference between two of the servers about the status of a table. One asked the other, “Did you bread them?” Naturally I had visions of a giant tank of egg mixture next to a mountain of crumbs. The other thing I picked up was a vibe of positive energy from the staff—they really seem to like working there.
I ordered the lobster roll and a Brooklyn Lager (other draft-beer choices were Guinness Stout and Anchor Steam), toyed with the packet of Westminster oyster crackers and nibbled on Anne’s salad. The roll arrived festooned with a giant rooster tail of lettuce:
I was relieved to find that the lettuce was merely garnish; there was no lettuce in the roll itself. Once I set the lettuce aside, I was dismayed by the enormous amount of mayo. That didn’t turn out to be as much of a problem as I anticipated, however.
The lobster roll at Mary’s Fish Camp. Probably enough lobster to fill two rolls.
As you can see, the roll was overstuffed, so I chose to work at it with a fork (I would have preferred less lobster, but this quantity seems typical of sandwiches served as entrées, especially an entrée that I believe is the most expensive dish on the menu). After a couple of bites, I realized that the copious quantity of mayonnaise wasn’t the end of the world.
Normally, I like lobster that has been barely kissed with mayo (a tablespoon per roll is about right), so you would think I would hate this roll. But I didn’t, because for one thing, you could still actually taste the lobster, unusual in rolls with this much dressing. And the mayo itself was slightly warmed and quite luscious. Still, I would have preferred far less mayo, especially since the lobster itself was so good. But if you like mayo, this is the roll for you! One thing that was perfect was the bun itself, crisply grilled and buttered sufficiently so you could really taste the butter with each bite.
I mentioned earlier that Mary’s only seats about 35 people, yet even with the legions of hungry New Yorkers outside with their noses pressed against the glass, there was never any pressure on us to leave. We didn’t dawdle, however, and even with dessert we were finished in an hour. It will be interesting to try some of the other lobster rolls in New York, but they could hardly be much better than Mary’s. ($33.00 with fries in August, 2008. | map and directions)
