Cherries with pits.  I know every year or so, I have a cherry with a pit in it, and that’s that.   For some reason, when we were growing up in Arizona, fresh cherries were not in our household.  Cherry flavored items were always a favorite between my brother and I, but there was nerve a huge demand for the actual product.   So, in many ways, this cherry season, where I got myself a big ole’ bag of the damn things, will be my first real cherry season.

The more fresh cherries I eat, the more I realize the difference in opinion that many share between actual cheery flavor and cherry flavored items, which are growing further and further apart in my mind now that I’ve been given the opportunity to really take on fresh cherry flavor.    These are begging to be paired with some foie gras.  There’s something about the creamy, savory flavor which hits the tart acidity of cherry – it’s a pretty rare hit between two vastly different items going really well together.

Which of course, leads me to Starburst candies, and how red is pretty much the best one of the four.  You know it; I know it, let’s move on with it.

It’s amazing that with all the places I’ve been able to eat, I’m still getting used to having simple items such as fresh cherries, figs, jalapenos, ginger, garlic, curry – amazing (amazing) flavors which I haven’t truly experienced until the last few years of my life.    My comfort level with foreign cuisine has skyrocketed – although frankly, I’m still a little worried about what to eat in all these foreign places which I’m planning on hitting.    Asking for the proper item is the hardest part, usually.   Getting to experience genuine, authentic new flavors is really an exciting element of travel – hopefully I’ll hit some nice ones.  Hopefully not like this.

Dudes.  All tickets booked.  Good to go.   Tee-niner.

I know it’s trendy to bash record companies.  They’re an easy target – a group of companies who are clearly dying due to the new realities of the Internet-based economy who stand in the way of a lower-priced item which millions enjoy.     Record companies were at one time a good idea, but through a combination of sleezy behavior in overcharging and treating their customers badly, along with their primary distribution product all but made useless in this day and age.

I’m actually encouraged by what the disillusion of the record industry will do for music in general.   Basically, it takes away this huge gold ring which artists would strive for in order to “make it” in the industry.   You weren’t a “true” musician if you didn’t have a record contract.  Typically, these record contracts make artists much more affluent which they were so before-hand, which often has a role in changing a band’s music.  Not only in terms of the lifestyles which they were accustomed to (which directly can affect the quality of lyrics) and they most often try to change their sound, as they have more resources, production time, and the pressure to make something “huge” for their first major label record.

Sometimes, it actually works.  Sometimes having a big label does help a band.  Death Cab, for example, is still producing excellent work now that they’re on a major label, and they are getting to expand their sound in bigger and (arguably) better ways.    In other cases, you’ll get an Interpol situation, where a band who was great when they were a small and intimate act, get signed to a label and end up trying to become a big rock band and end up losing their focus and producing less than stellar material.   (Sorry guys, Our Love To Admire” wasn’t quite there – although Rest My Chemistry is a pretty great track).

What it does do, in all cases, is separate the band and its fans.    Whenever a band goes to a major label, it’s like a layer is placed between you and the band.  Suddenly, there is this other name and element attached to the band, which may have positive or negative weights attached to it.  With the record labels, it’s typically always a negative weight.

Without record labels, bands simply won’t have the option of “hitting it big” by the definition of getting a record contract.   Basically, you’ll have to advertise yourself by the web, and ride the flow of word-of-mouth.   While this is how I receive most of my music recommendations anyways, it’s not all that foreign to me.  However, sometimes like to be told what to listen to.   That whole element will be downplayed somewhat, without record label budgets to jam gigantic acts down our throats.   I think what we will see, instead, are “groups” of bands which form up under an umbrella name which represents their style.  Much like how web-comics kind of formed organically in that fashion.  It’s going to be interesting to watch how this whole thing plays out.

I have to say, this year in music through – while interesting – hasn’t been all in all terrific in terms of content through.   Some pretty interesting releases, although overall, not as strong as one would have hoped for.   2007 was a pretty banner year for releases, so the lack of content is somewhat expected as bands take breaks and such.    Couple great albums – Vampire Weekend, Sun Kil Moon, British Sea Power, couple near misses – My Morning Jacket (Highly Suspicious – dudes, WTF?), She & Him (can only tolerate so much in one sitting, although its nice), Last Shadow Puppets (only can take so much of the British accents in one sitting).  For the most part, I’m still catching up on last year’s releases.  Nothing huge really hitting later in the year, either.  Sigh.  Oh wells.

Vampire Weekend is really good though.  Seriously.  Infectiously good.

I made a thing.

 
This is based on the (beautiful) typeface “Gotham”, which is quickly becoming my favorite font currently out there for the sans-serif world.  It’s an incredibly flexible font with just about as many width variants as a Helvetica (not quite, but still, a lot), and just looks great on whatever backdrop you put behind it.  In my opinion, it’s kind of a mix of Helvetica and Futura, two incredibly influential font faces.  

 In any case, Gotham rules, and I’m not the only one who thinks so.  Barack Obama’s website is lately designed with Gotham. It’s a font-face which appears strong, but not overly strong.  It’s modern, sleek, and yet very timeless in its shapes.  You could easily see this used in an advertisement today as you would in the 1930’s.

Combined with the Gotham width/colour/size differences in the logo, there are a series of dots moving outward from the logo, which represent the aperture of a camera lens at different light levels.    I’m quite fond of the simplicity of the logo, and it really does look great on about every background color.

I actually have to /write/ in my own /blog/ since /twitter is down/.

Quickly take this moment to realize how dependant we have become upon Twitter.

Is this good? (Y) (N)

(honestly, I'm curious of the answer) 

Ramekin. 

2 cups Chocolate Chex Cereal.

2 cups Wheat Chex Cereal.

3 tbsp Cinnamon.

2 tbps Sea Salt.

Warm In Oven.

This would be even more terrific if it got all cold and rainy again.  Warm food when it's cold outside really enhances certain elements, I believe sweetness as one of them.   Kind of has hints of the Barcelona Bar from Vosges.   Must somehow combine this with panna cotta.

For some reason, my body has just been craving ridiculous amounts of grains.   I feel like I'm stockpiling food on my body as an insurance policy for my upcoming trip.   One tends to lose weight on vacations, due to the erratic meal times and lots of walking and activities (usually).  

Berkeley is a nice place.   Honestly, I miss going up there every few weekends.   There are some amazing restaraunts in the city, great record shops, and a nice cultural vibe.  Free-thinking, modern, but not hostile.    Of course, if you were from a red state, you might see hostility there – I’m honestly not too sure.

In any case, the sun over Berkeley has made my face and neck pink with its harmful space waves, but it was worth it.   Surly Burro Industries chief and partner in crime Christopher Volz has now graduated from his masters program at Berkeley.      A happy-go-lucky Australian world traveler who works for Intel gave the speech, and it was mostly short and sweet.  I’ve at one time or another had alcoholic beverages without ¼ of the (small) graduating class on various bar crawls in SF and such.     They seem like a pretty intelligent group – and they invented something called nujj – which is just fun to say (nuh-gh).

Sitting under the clocktower, I happened upon one of my favorite shots to date.  I also got to see some friends whom aren’t in my area, always good times and such.   Revel in its splendor.

I am simultaneously stimulated and made deathly afraid of international travel.   While it’s been in the planning stages forEVERS, I’m finally taking the necessary steps to get out of dodge for a while.      Our family has always travelled, throughout my life.  My dad got us on planes early and often, which didn’t seem like much of a thing at the time, but really got us tuned into how airports work.  They’re all basically the same.  Most cities have a similar transit architecture going out from and two the airports, and most big cities are normally going to be pretty safe as long as you keep modest.

However, there are a lot of places I haven’t been to, and about a million cultures out there which I’m not in line with.  Hell, I’m not even comfortable with the culture of the U.S at times.  The thought of going places and offending those whom I haven’t met is scary.  Also, the fear of being robbed or beaten up, or (quite possibly the worst thing in the world) getting completely and utterly lost all weigh on your mind.  If they didn’t, you’d be stupid and you would likely die.  However, overcoming those fears are truly what make us grow as a person.   The steps have to be made sometime, and you just have to decide when to take them.  The risk of not taking them are continued ignorance of a part of the world.  

I’m really trying to overcome the initial urges to go “safe” places and hit some places which would go out of my normal realm.   However, I’m running into stumps when trying to book travel in/out of said countries.  Let’s just say that the further out of the standard travel realm you want to go, the pricier it gets and timing becomes much more out of your control.   For someone on a tight travel schedule like myself, this could become an issue. 

Getting close though.  Calendars are starting to flesh out and the credit card is warming in my hand.   Cost isn’t a major factor, time is moreso.   I still don’t like ever shelling out more than four digits on a plane ticket, as I can never justify its worth in my mind.   Even the trip to Australia didn’t /seem/ like it should cost that much.   $500-$600, maybe?  I can’t even remember how much it cost.      It would be interesting to look back in the old logs and compare how much trips to places I’ve been to compare in terms of cost vs. today’s costs.   God. That Australia flight.  So, ridiculously, fucking long.       Walking down the aisles, just thinking, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?  HOW CAN SOMETHING STAY IN THE AIR FOR THIS LONG! 

Another great element of travel.   Jetlag.   Some hate it, I love it.    Waking up after a long flight and a jet-lag nap, in some sort of foreign hotel or what not, are typically some of your life’s most surreal moments.  They stay with you.

Anyways.  This is the beauty of a blog.   I don’t have to follow a traditional story structure with background story and have some sort of conflict and resolution.  I can end this blog post right here and now.   Will I end it now? Now… ?   

Now

I remember going to White Castle once when I was young.   Our family was vacationing with some family friends on the outskirts of Chicago, and during the course of that vacation, White Castle was consumed at some point.   At least, that’s how I remember it today.  It could be different tomorrow.    In any case, there has always been a vague recognition of what a fresh “slider” tasted like.

Since we don’t have them on the WEST SIDE, we have to rely on the overly expensive, frozen versions (conveniently located in my grocer’s freezer).  This food abomination can be seen below.

They are more or less, kind of gross, but they definitely have a certain something about them which keeps me coming back.  They’re wicked unhealthy, too, so they are only purchased every few months.  However, a few nights ago, I noticed the “official” way to cook them is pretty bizarre.  So bizarre, that it must be tried.

Instead of tossing them in the microwave, what you’re supposed to do is boil some hot water, put the water in a pan, place the burgers (sans wrappers) on a sheet above the boiling water.  This entire contraption goes into a 325 oven for 10 minutes.   This effectively gives you a steam cooker in your oven, and lets the burgers warm up nice and slowly, and allows them to absorb a lot of moisture.    The end result is, well, damn near perfect, honestly.

The steam cooking solution allowed them to cook nicely, and produced a much better flavor.  The overall texture was the best part, as the bun was able to get soft and fluffy, while the cheese and meats fused together for some sort of cheesemeat entity, which was terrific when nice and warm.    The whole process does end up taking about a half hour though, which is pretty rough when you just want a quick 60 second snack.  However, the results are (dare I say) almost worth it?