Favorites 9.29.15
Blood Moons: Lucky for me, the moon rises right outside my front door. On Sunday night, it arrived a deep, dusty red. In a time before social media, what we did was simply look at the lunar eclipse—some of us wondering about its dark celestial mysteries. Now, we can take pictures with our iPhones! (P.S. I borrowed this pic from my friend Kurt. I doubt it was taken with an iPhone. And for the record I deem astronomical happenings to be plenty worthy of a tap or two.)
Toasted sage: I didn't know that you could chop and cook sage until it was crisp and then sprinkle it on such things as squash and spaghetti to add fragrance and crunch. I mean, did you?
No roommates: I had roommates all summer and the last of ’em just left. Now the house is super quiet and warm with fall light. I love having the place filled with people, laughter, etc.—but then eventually it's so nice to be totally all by yourself.
Backyards of Portland: Perfect for the kind of fall days when you want skate and be with friends but make very little effort and deal with zero skatepark undesirables.
Favorites 9.3.15
September: I always do spectacular things in September like burning stuff in backyard fires and turning my back toward the cold of night, like drinking beer and eating chocolate birthday cake. It's my month. Razor blue skies and the season pulling at you like a tide.
A homegrown cucumber: Cucumbers are cucumbers. Except they're not. The good ones taste like perfume.
A Winter's Tale: A fantastically long book by Mark Helprin (that was made into a lackluster movie starring Colin Farrell). It's a vivid dream of grit and magic in turn-of-the-century NYC.
Bloodline: A slow burn. Takes you 4 episodes to get hooked—but then you are. The music. The storms. The heat. The faces. An unflinching family drama set in the sun-bleached Florida Keys.
Favorites 7.27.15
Summer rain when you're tired: Rain—it's only water. But when you wake up sore and tired, the sound of it falling can be the best noise on earth. Stay in bed ... just stay.
Coconut oil in my coffee: I used to take milk in my coffee. Now I like it like I like my men—straight up and strong. However. A little coconut oil makes black coffee really smooth, gives it substance, takes the edge off. As a rule, I'm okay with edges, though.
Grilled "cheese" at the Bye And Bye: Grilled cheese—I love it, you love it, we all love it. This one's vegan, though—made with a swashbuckling amount of Daiya cheddar. You can't not eat the entire thing.
Ex Machina: Creepy. Haunting. Gripping. Beautiful. A Blade Runner for the new era. If you haven't seen it, do.
Favorites 6.25.15
Reading on the deck after dinner: Like, 25-30 pages. Nice, quiet way to tie up the day—just me and the dog and the cat and that one bird that hops around picking at the cherry pits under the tree.
Mt. Tabor hill bomb: Apropos of Monday's post—hike up through the forest; roll down the switch backs. The perfect pitch—no need to powerslide it out, but you don't gotta push, either.
Stella Taco: A newish taco join on Alberta Street where we all went one warm Saturday eve and sat at a high table with our feet dangling like toddlers and ate fried avocado tacos and drank ice-cold drinks and didn't want to leave.
True Detective Season 2 Soundtrack: Hey it's just original songs by Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Lera Lynn, etc—all strung together in a musical tapestry that's deep and rich and chilly all at once. I mean Lynn's This Is My Least Favorite Life from episode 1—DANG. T. Bone Burnett curates here, so, yeah...
Favorites 6.2.15
The close proximity of river season: Almost, almost, almost.
Marc Maron interviews Fresh Air's Terry Gross: Hey it's just two of my favorite interviewers, like, interviewing each other. Marc gets at a cooler, younger Terry. Terry gets at a more empathetic Marc. It's great.
Fried cauliflower po' boy at The Old Gold: Spicy, crunchy, soft. An incendiary sandwich for people of the vegetarian persuasion—and crucial acknowledgement that we can do better than reconstituted soy product.
Silicon Valley: Because Mike Judge, because Martin Starr, because everyone of us knows someone who's just fucking like one of the characters on this show.