Bloody Mary Off

we'd been discussing it for a while but it actually happened. the Chockstone employee head-to-head bloody mary competition.

only 2 entries showed, mine and aaron's (of which he has written on his facebook page). they were wildly different, his inspiration coming from the classic "hearty kitchen-sink variety," albeit a gourmet angle. i took inspiration from Aaron the bartender at Rickenbacker's, San Francisco. this is a cleaner, refreshing take on the old drink. it's served neat, up, in a wine glass, if you can imagine it. and it rulez.

here is the recipe.

ingredient list:

• lemons
• limes
• tomato juice (generic, not V8)
• worcestershire sauce
• horse radish
• tabasco
• dill
• celery salt
• good salt
  
• ice
• shaker
• wine glass
• vodka (can be cheap, but should be smooth, eg. Gilbey's, Monapalova)
  

wear a classic floor-length waist apron.

mix some celery salt and some regular salt in a dish.

juice a lemon or two.

cut the lime into thin wheels (used as a garnish) with a slice down the radius. use this to moisten the rim of your wine glass. dip the rim of the wine glass into your celery salt. set aside.

put some ice in your shaker. next add vodka, 2 shots. add about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. 2 squirts of worcestershire, teaspoon of horseraddish, 2 squirts tabasco, fill rest with tomato juice. shake vigorously (at least 20 times, look good while you do it).

strain into your wine glass. add your lime wedge. shake a little dill onto the top. add a thick straw -- which should be quickly discarded and lime pushed in to float.

voila!

Weather

i meant to, i really did. but i didn't. and maybe that sort of proves that it wasn't necessary. either way, it's all for naught at this moment. because right now, this very instant, it is the first feeling of cold weather weather. the "comfy inside with the heat on i'm gonna watch the Wire on netflix and snuggle on the couch cold weather" weather. it goes from 1 netflix a month to 4 a week. you almost feel christmas coming. and it's only october. early october at that.

but i was ready for it. i always worry i'm not going to be ready for it, and then i am. but ready for it and able to make it all the way through without breaking are two differnet things. so, we'll see.

but that last week of awesome summer really did its trick. it really did.

and i meant to keep a journal about the daily weather this summer. but i didn't. and the reason i was going to was because the previous summer had been so short and unsatisfying. this one had its ups and downs, but i would call it a great portland summer weather-wise.

and it just goes to show, that really, it's still all your mindset.

i'm gonna fake 'n' bake this winter if i have to!

Photos from recent travels

• SF, Outside Lands
• Burning Man 2008
• Seattle
  

Burning Man 2008

i left the burn before the burn this year. i've been meaning to do that forever, though not quite sure exactly why. i had a short and sweet trek to the playa for 2008, just monday to friday. i had that ominous feeling i get every year the night before i'm going to leave that if i delay any longer the heavens will open and 50,000 of us will be glued by clay to the festering swamp of a health pandemic as the water rises. that or just a normal windstorm/whiteout. i learned this year that whiteouts are a complete bitch when you need to get something done. sure, they're fun when you've got on a good dust mask and goggles and nowhere to go. but, say you just want to find your camp after a long drive to the event, and a windstorm has been raging off and on for 8 hours? you're fucked. i learned the hard way.

i timed it so i would arrive on the playa at about 7pm. enough time to get to camp and set up in the light, but past the hottest part of the day. i was going to hop out, let the greeter hug me as much as s/he wanted, and then i was going to ring the fuck out of that Virgin Bell in celebration of my 10th burn. but 1.8 miles from the 9-mile entrance to the playa traffic came to a stop.

even 30 miles out from Empire those of us heading to the event could see the sky ahead full of sand. i knew it couldn't be good, but i didn't think it would impact me. at least it wasn't too hot at that time of day. i watched the shadow hit the far mountain and hadn't even hit playa yet. i knew this was going to take a while. i was near panic-attack sitting in that line. fortunately, for the most part, people were driving with consideration. no rage, no aggression. it took about 31/2 hours to get to the gate folks who seemed to recognize the situation and were doing a quick inspection job. they didn't even look into my roof rack.

i had the presence of mind as i was sitting in traffic to wonder, after i made it to camp, how much this shitty situation would color my over-all feelings of the trip. i figured it would have some impact when planning for 2009 if i go. but as soon as i had a beer at camp the memory of it would already be quickly fading.

so after 4 hours of slow-moving, i showed up at camp, right about the time the windstorm died down. i was already wind-chapped, the city was already fully shaped. i immediately ran into friendly faces when i parked in front of the Tequila Shack. the plan had been to inquire of them where other portlanders were camping and then i would choose. to my relief, everyone had decided to camp at TS so it was a no-brainer. plenty of space for us. awesome.


it was years ago when people stopped predicting "this would be the year" after the 2000 rains.