P I C N I C

Milk mixtures

John — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:33:05 +0000

I bought some keffir limes on a whim to see what I could do with them. For lunch today I did a stir fry with broccoli, red bell pepper and blood oranges. The salad had zested keffir and some keffir juice in a milk and honey vinaigrette; with apples, arugula, and endive.

The milk vinaigrette made me in the mood for more things along this line. After dinner I made a cocktail of milk, whiskey, a few dashes of bitters, and some white sugar. I thought it was very tasty.

Clouds

John — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:17:55 +0000

At the Stumptown on Divison, where I got a macchiato this evening, there was a new show hanging, called La Tourista by Jill Raymundo.

In a chair, flying through the sky

John — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:04:50 +0000

I think this is Coeur d’Alene lake, in Idaho.

On approach to Portland.

Somewhere in flyover country.

I love looking out the window on airplane flights. Partly it’s to reassure myself that the plane isn’t falling into an unrecoverable spin, an event which I have frequent nightmares about. But also I feel that this is such an extraordinary experience, cruising along 6 miles into the atmosphere.

Louis CK has a joke about airplanes. He was on one of the first flights with wi-fi a few years ago. He signed up and was quickly watching youtube and surfing the web. Suddenly their was a hiccup in the service and the stewardess announced that there would be no more internet. The guy next to him said, “oh that’s bullshit.” He thought to himself, since when do we feel entitled to things that didn’t even exist until recently? “You are in a chair flying through the sky!” I guess that’s how I feel on a plane. Everyone is watching TV on their iPads, or reading on their kindles. Of course I’m acting nonchalant myself. But really this feels like such an extraordinary thing, something previously reserved exclusively for the gods.

I took these photos on the two flights from Portland to Minneapolis for Christmas.

Still working on those wood boxes

John — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:57:29 +0000

The box frame is made of salvaged 4×4′s. The cuts, even with a miter saw, are never straight and so some slight alignment was needed. If I ever make a list of essential iPhone apps a knot reference manual will be there. One can never know too many knots.

The cuts were made both into the bit and across the bit.

Wood box

John — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:40:10 +0000

I’m building two wood boxes to store firewood in my living room. The wood is all from my scrap pile.

Pizza

John — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:15:19 +0000

I was on a little pizza making kick for a few days.

Barrel top up

John — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:57:20 +0000

From left to right the samples are from the keg, from the barrel, and the initial yeast and cellular sludge that shot out from the bottom of the keg.

I had removed a gallon of wine from the barrel to sample and drink over christmas. My uncle Stuart remarked that it “was bright”, with a rise of the eyebrows. It did have some harsh candy flavors as a result of the huge tartaric addition. In that operation I poured 1 pound tartaric for 60 gallons of wine!

Wolf Honey

John — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:39:10 +0000

Martha was given this over christmas from a friend.

Cart moved down the street

John — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:24:34 +0000

I was parking the cart in front of my house. After a month or so I got a tow notice. There are no parking fines in residential neighborhoods, just the 72 hour tow notices. I scrambled looking for a new spot. I called up the local church on a Sunday morning, perhaps annoying the minister. I eventually found a spot outside my neighbors warehouse that he rents at 20th and Powell.

Steve is doing well

John — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:23:44 +0000

Although Steve doesn’t appear to live in his house anymore he still shows up for nuts when I fill up the feeder. He seems to be doing well, although he’s still small. His traumatic childhood has made him even spunkier I think. He did initially live in the house for about a month when I first released him. Other big squirrels would show up and peek into the house but he would chirp aggressively and successfully defended his home and his hoard of nuts.