Pizza, it's the circle of life.

Have you ever noticed how invasive pizza is in your life? I mean, it is everywhere. Even in Congress, who *ahem* ought to be attending to other important matters and not designating what is a vegetable or not. I understand that I, like many other people on the interwebs, am loosely interpreting the ruling, but yeah, that happens.

This strange, odd and round food has had a recently discovered personal impact on my life. You see, I recently became employed (I know, right? It has been awhile) to work as a Culinary Assistant at Columbia Winery in Woodinville, WA.


There, they just serve a few select choices of noshes that involve, mostly, flat bread pizzas. At this new found place of employment of mine, I was having a conversation with a coworker . We were chatting about how we both know some really smart and put together young people and were reflecting when we were their age (oh...my...god...did that just happen?) and what we were doing with ourselves when we were their age.

I realized that back then I was playing drums in a punk rock band in Sioux City, IA and working at Pizza Hut, making pizzas. What am I doing today? Making flat bread pizzas. WTF? Full circle.

I mean, I get that they are not the same thing. Not even remotely. One is a chain of crap pizza boxes, and the other is a fire powered stone oven flat bread making award winning winery. More like "classy" where the hut was "k"lassy...with a k. Polar opposites of the spectrum, but, they both involve round pieces of dough with toppings on them.

I suddenly realized that, just maybe, this was my calling in life. To be a pizza guy, open and  operate a great local beer and pizza place. I mean, it could have been a sign from the universe and really, who am I to deny universal fate?

While I think that it would be fun to do something like that, I also think that maybe not right now would be the best to through myself into it. I want to complete my degree (however haphazardness that may be to my sanity) and that is going to take at least two more years. Perhaps then, if I have the right job, I can start doing some planning and tinkering on the side. It is not like I haven't had this idea before. I mean, to be honest, I have tried the whole "chase your dreams and do what inspires you" thing, and mostly shit don't work out the way you think it ought to. So, in lieu of chasing dreams I am keeping my head down, grinding out this degree, and will try to find a slot to fill in society.

But, in the mean time, I am straight not doing well this quarter at CCC. Ugh, I have had no motivation and have had some serious internal struggle going on. It may or may not affect my next phase of learning, currently scheduled to take place at WWU. I know I mentioned taking some other programs more local, but the truth of the matter is that WWU is all set and ready to go, whole UWB and UW would require more work than I am currently willing to put forth. Things change though, or is it the more they change the more they stay the same?

Whatever...

Christmas in Redmond

Summer Time, Autumn time...

Ola everyone.

Yes, this blog is still living, thank you for asking. I hope everyone has been doing well. I have been busy in spite it being summer. I have taking a few classes and have just a few more to take in the Fall before I am complete with this stage of my schooling career.

Since I am a student, it will come as no surprise to you that my funds for both eating well and or out is rather non existent. Same goes for my music seeing these days. I hope to attend the KEXP BBQ this year, it is free but I am sure there is some sort of cap on bodies allowed in for fire code or some such nonsense. I did go, and there was hardly anyone there, which was odd. It was a great day weather wise, and the beer was cold and in the shade.

I have been working on working my school work, trying to become employed (although I have had some luck dog and house sitting, it doesn't really replace a steady income. Also, I have started working with a friend of mine who owns this company. Every Thursday I can be found at the Bellevue Farmers market selling raw food and soaking up some fresh Vitamin D), and doing other random things like attending friends weddings, seeing friends from out of town, and trying to read some books that are outside my current realm of study (currently re-reading Voltaire and anew some Nietzsche).

I sometimes lament the passing of time, as it seems to pass by ever so quicker these days. Guess my mother was right about that one.

And then the Fall happened! Just like that. Well hello there. Yes, I have not updated much this year in general, but really, it was for the best. Lots of things going on, and the blog was very easily going to become a bitch fest of gripes and what not. Not really good for either of us. So, there is that.

Good news is, I am going to blog again. For real.

No look, I am doing to right now. See, told you so.

I did get to see an amazing St. Vincent show at the newly refurbished Neptune theater in Seattle. It was amazing. Such a talented group and they make great music. The drummer was wearing really cool head phones as well, I was inspired and jealous all at the same time.

Out of habit, I went and checked out the merch booth. Of course, they had some shirts that were okay but way over priced, and a few vinyls. I was leaning towards purchasing the first record on vinyl, but once I learned that the most recent album was on limited edition white vinyl, there was really no choice to make. I mean, look at it.

                           Nice day for a, white vinyl. (And no, I have no idea who Chris Jacob is)

Lot's is going on, school is almost over. That is a good thing, right? I mean, I am excited, but I will only have my Associates. I am looking at either finishing up at Western Washington at Huxley, or staying local at University of Washington, Bothell and eventually transferring to the Seattle campus and getting my degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The Yours Truly book, 10th edition was created, and since it's publishing I am proud to say there have only been two errors found in it. I think they were both the printers fault, but I would need to check the proof copy to be certain. And they are small errors at that, and one isn't even visible! It is kind of hard letting go of the club this quarter. Breaking in a new club president, giving up command of the ship, having faith it is all going to work out and be great, man, that is a really hard thing to do. But, Louie C K knows all about life being hard. Not sure Wilfred would agree though.

I was in my good, if not best, friends wedding this Summer. It was a perfect day to be outside in West Seattle. I really was flattered and touched to have been part of their day. Thank you guys so much for that.

Okay, I hope to be updating this often, as I have some ideas about stuff and things I want to share. You know, stuff. And yes, the mid-terms are hard, thanks for asking.

                                  Tyler Durden, I make and I sell soap. The yardstick of civilization.

To write, or not to write

Hey everyone,

Right now I should be frantically working on my finals projects, studying for tests, working on my resume to look for a summer job, any number of highly important things other than write a blog entry.

So why am I avoiding my school work? I mean, I should be worried about my grades (I am), but something just keeps nagging me about writing, you know, just to write.

It is a nice break to not have to explain what project management maturity models are, or how a anaerobic digester work and what the challenges are of having one at 17,000 ft (temperature mostly). It is nice just to type, words, just other words instead of trying to frame a business idea and model of retrofitting ocean oil rigs to generate renewable electricity and distill water for needy countries in the same voice while hitting all the key points required by the professor and the possible attendees at the assessment fair we will be presenting at on Tuesday.

I want to write about how well the 10th anniversary of the school creative arts magazine, Yours Truly, was. The band, a string trio, was amazing, but then again I am a sucker for classy music. The food was just as amazing; sausage stuffed mushrooms, spring rolls, chicken skewers, fresh baked desserts. It was probably the best food that campus has ever seen.
One attendee even admitted that when she was at the event she felt like she wasn't even on that campus anymore, but a much more better campus (okay, I embellished that last part, but I think that is what she meant to imply).

I want to write about how I want to write, anything and everything. I want to write about learning how to play guitar, record music, play piano. I want to write catchy pop rock tunes, because they are fun. Trying to be important, unique and creative is hard and well, let's be honest, it has all been done before. So, make a pop album and have fun. The sophomore flop is going to happen anyway, then you can get all crazy with playing saws and using copious amounts of ambient soft noise.

I want to write about my ideas for a movie, for the Incredible Hulk (I think it still sucks as they have, like, a rainbow Hulk team now or something like that). Not that my idea is better or more refined, but I think it would be more fun.

So there you go, me avoiding work, and not editing or checking this entry before I post it to the webernets.

Oh well, life is like that sometimes. If you're lucky, sometimes you get to enjoy the process.

Rest easy internet.
Joshua

Is this good? My Drunk Kitchen.

Snacks

These were some vanilla cupcakes I made, that I topped with vanilla frosting and habanero sugar sprinkles, they turned out amazing. 

It was a nice alternative to the old standard of spicy chocolate, in fact, the vanilla and spice worked very well together.

I bought some nettle infused raw honey at the Fremont Market recently, and man it is great! My jar is almost empty. At first I was just spreading it on buttered bread, which was great. But then I just started eating by the spoonful. Then, I added a few raw almonds to it. I think I may have found the perfect snack.

The exact honey is from Brookfield Farms, their web site is waking-wild.com. At the Fremont market, Ian (At least that is what I think his name was...) was there who is the head bee keeper at the farm. A very nice gentleman who makes a great product.

Give it a try, you just might like it.

Old photos

Hey everyone,

So I have been super crazy busy with school and projects I have been working on for school, but I have not forgotten about you or this crazy blog of mine.

Instead of talking about the great concerts I have been to (Yuni in Taxco, Telekinesis, Mal De Mer, The Lonely Forest, The Joy Formidable which was by far one of the best shows I have ever seen, not as good as seeing The Forgetters play at The Vera Project but still damn good) and all the mediocre poor college student meals I have been indulging in (rice and beans make you nice and lean...or at least they ought to), or other peoples parties I have been to and baked killer vanilla habanero cupcakes for, I am going to share some old photos with you.

I have had this roll of film for a very long time, say 5-7 years. Perhaps even longer. I just picked up the developed photos from the store and have yet to view them. I thought, how neat would it be to share my reactions and a few of the allowable photos from my past?

To be honest, I really have no idea what is on these. I have not owned a 35mm camera for ages, these could literally be of anything.

Okay, here goes. I am breaking the seal....

Wow, what a weird collection of odd photos.

The first one is of a cat. I have no idea who this cat is! It is almost as if someone stole my camera to take a photo of a cat as a prank on me. Weird...

Then there are some random ones of friends and I, but because I respect peoples privacy, I am not going to post them. Nothing out of the ordinary, just people.

But then, suddenly, more oddness.

If anyone has an clue about this one, that would be cool. I am pretty sure it is in Seattle, right? Just not sure why I took a photo of it....

A somewhat inappropriate one, I think this was in the Bothell house I lived in. Not in our yard, but seen on a walk one fine winter night.

And then just more random pictures of friends and I.

I was really expecting some epic surprise, I don't know why, but I was. Perhaps delusions of grandeur about how cool I or my past is I guess.

Stay tuned, true believers! As the summer rapidly approaches, so will my free time as I will no longer be working or taking 15 credits! At that time I will attempt to absolve my woes and fretting via this blog. Please note, that does not mean I am going to bitch and whine about stuff, just so you know.


Joshua

Kefir, Pine Pollen and the Forgetters

As you may know by now, I am a huge fan of fermented and cultured foods. I am pretty sure they are the source of all things good in the world. Like the Easter Bunny and Santa are both, in all likelihood, from a left over pile of goodness and sweets mixed with just the right amount of beneficial yeast and bacteria. You can see, I am still a young and ignorant scientist.

Science!

But I wanted some kefir, and I hated and still hate buying plastic jugs of something called "kefir" and having to recycle the bottle. It is so energy expensive to create those bottles and recycle them, and by that I mean lots of waste gets created.

So I took a crack at making my own. Since I am somewhat an enemy of dairy products, I elected to use raw nuts as the base. Specifically almonds and hemp.

I ordered some kefir "grains" from Cultures for Health and got to work reconstituting them dried kefir "grains". For this part I used Vanilla Coconut Milk from So Delicious. Once my raw almonds and raw hemp seeds came, I soaked them in water for about 6 hours. Into the blend tec blender the nuts went with a few cups of water. I was out of Jesus water so I used distilled and spring water from the store. A quick trip through the blender and then into some cheese cloth. Once separated, I added the now fresh kefir grains to this mix, placed a loose lid on it and put it on top the fridge so it can do its thing.

I used a custom recipe for my nut milk based loosely off this recipe and this recipe. I basically used 1 cup raw soaked almonds, 1/2 cup raw shelled hemp seeds and about 32 oz of good clean water. Blend, and then strain through cheese cloth. Once strained, I added some cinnamon, raw cacao powder, honey, salt, honey and some colostrum to it. Yes it was delicious and yes it was nutritious. It was so much better than plain old boring cow milk, and man did it bring the serious burst of energy. No joke. Try it, you'll like it.

Pine Pollen is supposed to be super good for people, so this spring, in fact in late March I am going to go collect as much as I possibly can in the wild. I am pretty stoked about this, and will let you all know how it goes. My guess is that it is going to be great.

The Forgetters, ah yes, Blake. You see, Blake was once upon a time in a band called Jawbreaker. Jawbreaker played a very large roll in my life growing up as a punk rock drummer in Iowa. But alas, as all good things (and bad, btw) do, they never last. The band broke up and went their ways. Blake formed another band that could have just as well been Jawbreaker 2.0, the sound was clearly a further maturuation of that dispalyed in Jawbreaker. This newer band was called Jets to Brazil. Super good, in oh so many ways. I actually got to see Jets play at Graceland (unfortunately now El Corazon) when they were on tour for Orange Rhyming Dictionary, it was a great small show. I was able to have Blake sign my copy of ORD and shake his hand and personally thank him for making music for my life. As all cycles occur, again this band was ended. But, a new band has arisen from the ashes, called The Forgetters.  And they came to The Vera Project on Jan 30th. $11. Pretty good price, seminal person musically for me, but I am also a full time student (i.e. unemployed) and $11 is well, $11.

The Forgetters were incredible. They were so tight and precise, and the energy they performed with could have blown the doors off the Vera. A pure magical night, so glad I went and was able to continue this thread in my life with a long lost unknown friend.

BBQ Sauce

Ah hell yeah, baked beans and BBQ, well, just beans and BBQ actually. I did not bake the beans, but this sauce, ridiculously good. I used tomato paste instead of ketchup, and brandy instead of bourbon, half the called for molasses, and it still was really great.

Speaking of good food, the Seattle Weekly is once again doing the Voracious food tasting, tickets are on sale now. Last year it sold out! I highly recommend this event for any local foodies that want to sample many fine noshes and tasty adult beverages for a decent price.

Another great thing coming up that looks amazing is this: Whiskies for Wildlife. Both of these things are relevant to my interests.

Fight the good fight.

Today is Feb. 13th, 2011, the day I turn 38. What a great life I have. Thanks to all my family and friends whom without my life would surely be lesser than the stellar ride that it has been. Wait...does that sentence even make sense?

The Tractor and some lentils

I recently went with some friends to see the movie "Strange Powers", a documentary about The Magnetic Fields, and I happened to be in the area earlier than expected. Well it turned out to be serendipitous as they were just getting ready to go eat at The Kingfish Cafe. So I joined them.




I had never even heard of this place, but sure am glad I found out about it. The space itself is a tiny, cozy and split in two; one side has the bar and seating, the other an open kitchen and additional seating. The cuisine is southern, and they serve it up in large portions. Not only are the portions large, but all the dishes I sampled that night were pretty damn amazing. I mean all the dishes we had were just incredible. The collard greens were especially impressive, drenched in a vinegar sauce that was slightly sweet. It literally was the best tasting thing on the table that night. And addicting. I could have eaten three sides of that by myself for a meal and been totally content. But, we had other things as well. The red beans and rice was great and both were cooked perfectly. The mac and cheese was all sorts of goodness, although, because dairy and I don't really get along, I only had one bite. So, if you're in the mood for some great comfort food, grab a friend and head to The Kingfish Cafe.

Stretch your dough (ha, get it, dough and it's about home made bread?)

Baking bread seems like an economical thing to do, so while I was shopping the other day I bought the things I needed in order to do so. The main issue was I have not baked in, like, two years or so. I mean bread type things. I have baked cookies, but that is really a whole different ball game.

I also did not have a bread recipe in my collection. When I used to bake/cook it was mostly dessert breads or quick breads (and to be honest, I always thought the quick breads I made back in the day could have been better). The only thing I used yeast in was the pizza crust dough.

So I hunted and pecked around online and ended up using this recipe for the occasion. But, alas dear reader, as you may have noticed by now that I can't leave well enough alone a plain old recipe. No! I must tinker and toy with it to no end! So I ended up adding: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 sunflower seeds, and 1/4 cup wheat germ. I also used honey instead of sugar.

It turned out surprisingly well, even though, like most men, I failed to read all the instructions and only let it rise for half the amount of time, called it good, and threw it in the loaf pan to bake.

I will say this, it was a little sweet. I was really in the mood for just some fresh bread, more a carrying device for the butter I slather on it. The honey added a little too much sweetness for my liking, that will be corrected in the next go around. But to be sure, all the bread was consumed.


Music!

King of the Beach

Expectations

A Mayan Holiday

The Choir of Young Believers pretty much rock as well. Listen for yourself. In fact their label, Ghostly International, has a few bands that I really enjoy.

Sharon Von Etten is great as well. Here is a song (video is not hers, fyi...) and she was on NPR also. If you have not heard, NPR is a great place to discover new really good music.

Okay, so the snow day I am on today is great, and Cheryl at KEXP playing great songs non-stop, so here is Dan Deacon if you have not heard about him.

Clap your hands.

Links!
http://dailylit.com/
http://www.bartleby.com/
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://scholar.google.com/

The Tractor Tavern

I found myself in Ballard on a Tuesday night in search of a beer and some live music. Good thing I went Ballard, they have plenty of both.

Playing at the Tractor that night was : Smile Brigade, Julia Massey and the Five Finger Discount, and Airport Way.

I missed a little of Smile Brigade as I was down the street enjoying a beer, but I caught the last half of their act and they were pretty damn good. They also clearly really enjoy their craft, so that made it all the more enjoyable. I can't really say what they reminded me of, but I did enjoy their rambunctious tunes they were laying down.

Julia Massey and her group were really talented, especially their bass player. He was killing it all night long. The drummer reminded me very much of Chris Daly from Texas is the Reason and Jets to Brazil, very nice. Julia herself sounded like Joanna Newsome, but without all of her unique inflections and harp sound. They had some pretty good songs, but a few weaker songs. It's almost as if they are still getting used to each other, sorting it all out, and not really trusting themselves to be in this band. The bass player was super nice, between songs he ran into the crowd and shook peoples hands to thank them and hugged the obvious couples in the crowd. And then, zoom, back to the stage in just the nick of time to play again. Awesome.

Airport Way I had heard of before, probably on KEXP, so I was interested to hear them because of this. I was a little confused, I only had time to listed to three songs before I had to leave to catch the bus home, but each song was different. I mean, they are talented people, but please, settle on a sound. Unless of course, not having a sound is your sound. The first song was folk-ish until the end then it rocked out. The second song was a equal parts 311 and Sublime, and the third song was clearly inspired by the Chili Peppers. Oh well, I was off the bus anyway.

So I started a sourdough starter, from scratch, pretty cool. I just hope I can keep it alive and use it. I also started a kefir with coconut milk. I think that is going to be great. Can you tell I am into cultured and fermented foods?

I also made some really good lentil soup.
Want to know how? Okay...

Well, the real trick is to start with some left over soup as the base. I cooked one cup of green lentils with two cloves of chopped garlic, added a Tbs of turmeric, a dash of cayenne powder, salt, and a spoonful each of: powdered cat's claw and Health Force Earth (google it). After it all cooked for about 20 mins, I added two stalks of chopped celery, 1/4 of a diced red onion, a Tbs of sesame seeds, 1/2 cup chopped red cabbage, and two talks of kale chopped. Cook for another 10 mins or so. Test the lentils to make sure they are soft, and serve. I topped mine off with a sprinkle of hemp seeds and some salsa. It was much better than I had hoped it would be, and I am pretty sure it is because I started with the old soup base. It was the previous batch of lentil and diced tomato soup.

The truth of the universe.