Cocoposts

Smashing Skills

Leslie Linthicum in the Albuquerque Journal helpfully addresses the urban myth about where recycled glass in Albuquerque really goes and how it is we generate so darn much of it.  She calls glass recycling: a dirty, smelly, odious chore that is made more loathsome because it confronts us with concrete proof of exactly how much booze we consume.

Smashing bottles one-by-one into that big yellow bin is not as odious as most other chores - such as big dog poop-scoop duty - which are best undertaken in the process of generating the empty wine bottle. 

Many loathsome tasks not involving driving or machinery require opening a decent red bottle of coping skills.

Lost Marbles

Found.   That's how I feel.  

All these years - ever since the Reagan Revolution I've felt that someone or something had hijacked my country.  Like a crazy hatred for the public realm had taken hold and run rough-shod over government.  Civil service was discredited.  Policy analysis was outsourced.  Services were privatized. Contractors and lobbyists told those in government what to do.

I feel very hopeful that era is over.  Lost marbles found.  

Root Cellar Resurgence

Food storage as an practical art is nearly lost and I love nearly lost practical arts. I once blogged about my pantry in a riveting expose on Duke City Fix.

The New York Times has a drab and dreary story about root cellar resurgence that includes a couple of women's quotes referencing death.  It sports the cheery subtitle: Return to of the Root Cellar. 

 The contemporary American, for whom a pizza delivery is seldom more than a phone call away, is an oddity in the annals of eating. Elizabeth Cromley, a professor of architectural history at Northeastern University, said that at one time, “just about every house had special facilities for preserving food.”

Professor Cromley has finished a book called “The Food Axis: Cooking, Eating, and the Architecture of American Houses,” which is to be published by the University of Virginia Press in 2010. She said that understanding food preservation is not a frivolous pursuit. More than 400 books instructed 19th-century Americans on how to plan a functional house, with a practical larder, basement and outbuildings, she said. “You’re not going to die if you don’t get a new dress,” she said, “but if you don’t know this, it will kill you.”  ...

(E)ven those who rhapsodize about the pleasures of eating locally grown food year-round have to admit that the effort doesn’t always seem worthwhile. Ms. Fasenfest has been forced to conclude that the labor that went into growing and storing the 30 pounds of russet potatoes now beneath the stairwell was not really adequate to the reward. “If we had to survive off of those,” she said, “we’d be dead.”

Read the whole piece to judge the tone for yourself but I hear cackling laughter coming from that basement.

Snails in a Bucket

Snail hunt in the yard to keep them from eating everything.  The sound of them squeaking and oozing around on top of each other in a metal bucket is amazing.

It occurred to me that I should eat them rather than waste them but I decided I would have to be hungrier than I was this Sunday.  And Smiths would have to stop selling things like chicken. (Chantal did a great snail dinner post on Duke City Fix but I'm far too lazy to go find it.)

What I really need are chickens or ducks to eat the snails to move my dinner a little closer to home and further up the food chain - from slimy to feathered.

And what aspect of development do snails represent?  Mobile home industry maybe.

Cocktail Friday

  With a Sunday Cubano Update.  There are few things that a bottle of champagne won't help. 

Trying to avoid the news this morning because it made me too angry yesterday.  I can't hear that ridiculous voice without flying into a rage.  I scared my neighbor  yelling my disapproval of government spying, imprisoning and torturing. 

The animals are used to Mama's "speeches".  Toastmasters for the crazy.  Loud enough that the old dog could hear me and scuttle out of the room.  

This morning's article (and photos) in the San Francisco Chronic about east versus west cocktails are just what the doctor ordered.  Here's the part I especially liked:

Drinking locally

If gas prices keep soaring we might be headed right back to the 19th century when it comes to supplies, but for the time being bars here and in New York have access to just about any ingredients they want to play with, so it's interesting to look at what kind of drinks they choose to make. I asked a handful of bartenders on both coasts if they'd like to share an original cocktail recipe they believed represented their home city. (...)

Nouveau Carre

Makes 1 drink

The formula here is adapted from a recipe by Jonny Raglin, head bartender, Absinthe, San Francisco. It shows its creator's abilities to knit together some very complex ingredients and bring them together harmoniously, without leaning on citrus or fresh fruit.

• 1 1/2 ounces Herradura añejo Tequila
• 3/4 ounce B&B liqueur
• 1/4 ounce Lillet Blanc
• 4 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 1 lemon twist, for garnish

Instructions: Combine the Tequila, B&B, Lillet Blanc and bitters in a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish.

The Final Ward

Makes 1 drink

Adapted from a recipe by Phil Ward, head bartender, Death & Co., New York. The classic Last Word is made with gin, maraschino, Chartreuse and lime juice. Here the whiskey replaces the gin, and Ward changed the citrus from lime to lemon.

• 3/4 ounce Rittenhouse rye whiskey
• 3/4 ounce Luxardo maraschino liqueur
• 3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
• 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

Instructions: Combine ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.