10/18/10
Expansion of Grow Operation
Since moving to Nichols Canyon in April 2009 I have increased my interest in sustainable living significantly. I have a 2,200 sq. ft. home on an 18,000 sp. ft. lot. That's a lot of extra land you say, well I agree with you. Problem is, most of that extra space is steeper than normal terrain. Not exactly build-able land. So, since most of you know I'm such a keen gardener I have decided to utilize this steep terrain for my new garden/orchard. I am lucky enough to have a massive, south facing hillside above my home that is ideal for growing except for the steepness of the terrain. When I was young I used to go to Greece a lot in the summer time and it was there that I first saw how farmers can utilize steep terrain to grow crops by building out terraces. So, this is what I'm doing. I have room to build about 4 terraces ranging from 20-60 ft long. I will be planting fruit and nut trees. A whole row of grape vines and then the other 2 will be for mainly vegetables. I don't see the point in grass. Its absolutely useless. In our western culture we have created this aura around having a nice green lawn in front of our homes. What is the purpose? To look cool? To have the greenest grass? What a waste of space. Mark these words people. I will never have a giant green lawn. I will use that land to feed myself and my family. Why the hell not? Grass is as useful as tits on a... tits on ummmm... tits on ME! What the hell do I have tits for? They're as useless as a nice green lawn. If and when I have kids I think they will appreciate the time they spend helping grow food for our sustenance rather than to kick a soccer ball around. They can go to the park and kick a ball. At home, we're farmers!! End of story. I've said my piece. Now go take on the day.
8/9/10
So, 4 white people walk into a chinese restaurant in San Fransisco....
Where could I possibly begin....
It was late one August Saturday night and 4 white folks were lookin for some late night chinese delight in Chinatown San Fransisco. We did a quick search on our super advanced mobile devices and came to the conclusion that Sam Wo was our destination. We arrived at around 12 am.
The facade of the restaurant forced us to initially take a step back as it looks like some kind of open kitchen and not a restaurant. From the street there are no tables in sight. We entered cautiously and were quickly ushered up the tiny stairs on the right hand side by an elderly Chinese woman who was sitting at a picnic table right by the open front door tearing what looked like shreds of pork in a giant bowl and coating them with flour.
As we reached the top of the stairs we were greeted by a small but full restaurant of asian clientele eating and sipping tea in complete SILENCE. We find the atmosphere initially a little, off putting, but since there was a table open right at the the top of the stairs we sat down and said, "lets give this place a shot".
Despite the initial awkwardness we were quickly greeted by the one and only waitress working at that time. For all of our sakes lets call her "Mai". She quickly wiped down our table and I asked, "Do you have any beer?" thinking maybe we could order a round for the whole place and possibly liven the place up a touch. Mai replied staunchly, "NO!".
Ok, now the adventure truly begins. We were now taking it all in, trying to observe our surroundings, it really felt like we had fallen into a whole some kid dug that led all the way to China. As we looked around I noticed this sign that must have been at least 35 years old.
We sat and waited for about 10 minutes taking in our surroundings until Mai brought some menu's for our perusal. We had read that the Rice Noodle Rolls were a must. So we quickly decided what we were going to order and waited patiently for Mai to return to take our order. 10, 15, 20 minutes quickly rolled by as I watched Mai wait and bus the other tables. I attempted to wave and make eye contact to try and get her attention, she wasn't having any of it. I watched as orders were buzzed from below and then Mai would pull the rope for the dumbwaiter to rise. I was lucky enough to be in the only seat at the table that was able to observe the goings on in the restaurant. One thing of note occurred when a nice bowl of soup came up and without hesitation Mai grabbed a spoon, quickly spooned something out of the broth and threw it in the garbage. She then happily brought the bowl to an eager customer for consumption. I chose to not inform anyone at the table of this event until well after we had ordered our food.
As it became blatantly obvious we were ready to order, she loudly remarked to no one in particular and pointing in our direction, "I'm scared, I'm scared, I don't want to go over there." This threw me for a loop, perhaps my beard, or my request for a beer caused her to distrust us Gui Lo in the corner. Eventually with some coaxing she approached our table with caution.
As I mentioned earlier, we immediately ordered the Rice Noodle Rolls, first thing listed at the top of the menu, to which Mai quickly replied, "NO MORE, NO MORE!" and ran away back to her station to fiddle some more. She returned about 3 minutes later and we scrambled to get something ordered.
Rice Noodle Soup with BBQ Pork
Won ton Noodle Soup
Beef and Brocolli Chow Fun
Duck Chow Fun
A Tofu Dish
Fried Rice
Kung Pao Chicken
At this point she cut us off and said no more. My friend was intent in ordering the Chicken Chow Mein and asked if we could have one of those as well. Mai abruptly refused and said, "TOO MUCH, TOO MUCH!" He begged and pleaded and promised to take it home with him if it wasn't finished and she finally agreed. We order some Diet cokes to go with the food and believed we were home free.
They have a very interesting way of communicating at Sam Wo due to the fact that the kitchen is downstairs and the waitress and customers are all upstairs. Its quite rudimentary but extremely entertaining to watch. We couldn't quite figure it out and our theories ranged from carrier pigeons to pure unadulterated psychic powers. As it turns out, through their manually controlled dumb-waiter system they also have what seems to be a super long shoe lace attached to the wall next to the dumbwaiter with a clothes pin fastened to the other end. Mai will re-write your entire order on small squares of paper, attach them to the clothes pin and throw them down the shoot where presumably the cooks will grab them and get to work. Efficiency at its best. Or so we thought. About half an hour later we were ecstatic when Mai brought us chopsticks and plates. We knew we were going to be eating any minute but up until then we were having serious doubts about whether they were just testing us to see if we would just get up and leave. We had been sitting in Sam Wo for at least 1 hour and had not received a glass of water, tea and now finally had our chopsticks. More than once I considered a spoon full of chili sauce to tie me over till the food got there.
Then, out of no where we hear the buzzer from downstairs. Mai starts pulling the manual dumbwaiter and low and behold, plates and bowls of steaming food. Since by this point we were the only people in the place who hadn't eaten, paid and left it had to be for us. It was!! Over the next 30 minutes our food slowly trickled to our table. I must say, I have eaten a lot of chinese food in my day, this was nothing to write home about, but late night, it ain't that bad. Chow Fun and soups were definitely a highlight. Kung Pao chicken was also tasty. The people I was with enjoyed the Tofu but I didn't think it was anything special.
We're eating now for about 30 minutes and every time Mai comes back to the table with a new dish we ask for the Diet Cokes. She doesn't seem to acknowledge. Finally I take matters into my own hands. I get up from the table for the first time in over an hour and start back downstairs to see if I can go directly to the source. Mai, who is busy at the other end of the restaurant studiously taking some ones order sees me out of the corner of her eye getting up, at top speed she literally flies across the room to attempt to stop me from moving, quickly see's the rest of my party still sitting at the table and realizes, no, I'm not trying to bolt on the bill. Perhaps this was her concern from the get go?
Anyway, I go downstairs to talk to Pork tearing lady to see if I can quench some of this thirst. I ask for a Diet Coke, without a word, she stands up, walks 2 feet to the refrigerator and gets me 2 Diet Cokes. I return upstairs a hero, wielding the magical nectar which will sustain us through the rest of our MSG infested feast. As most of us know, a Diet Coke coupled with some late night dirty Chinese food is incomparable.
In the end, Mai was right, we didn't finish the Chicken Chow Mein, but we did take it home to sit in the fridge till its will then be thrown in the trash. Mai did also warm up to me a little by the end. Coming over to the table with our Diet Cokes after we'd finished our food and were ready to go. A real super lady. So, if you're in San Fransisco and you want to experience something different and you're absolutely not busy at all, check out Sam Wo. Tell them Jack sent you and you're sure to receive the royal treatment.
It was late one August Saturday night and 4 white folks were lookin for some late night chinese delight in Chinatown San Fransisco. We did a quick search on our super advanced mobile devices and came to the conclusion that Sam Wo was our destination. We arrived at around 12 am.
The facade of the restaurant forced us to initially take a step back as it looks like some kind of open kitchen and not a restaurant. From the street there are no tables in sight. We entered cautiously and were quickly ushered up the tiny stairs on the right hand side by an elderly Chinese woman who was sitting at a picnic table right by the open front door tearing what looked like shreds of pork in a giant bowl and coating them with flour.
As we reached the top of the stairs we were greeted by a small but full restaurant of asian clientele eating and sipping tea in complete SILENCE. We find the atmosphere initially a little, off putting, but since there was a table open right at the the top of the stairs we sat down and said, "lets give this place a shot".
Despite the initial awkwardness we were quickly greeted by the one and only waitress working at that time. For all of our sakes lets call her "Mai". She quickly wiped down our table and I asked, "Do you have any beer?" thinking maybe we could order a round for the whole place and possibly liven the place up a touch. Mai replied staunchly, "NO!".
Ok, now the adventure truly begins. We were now taking it all in, trying to observe our surroundings, it really felt like we had fallen into a whole some kid dug that led all the way to China. As we looked around I noticed this sign that must have been at least 35 years old.
 |
| Read it out loud to yourself |
We sat and waited for about 10 minutes taking in our surroundings until Mai brought some menu's for our perusal. We had read that the Rice Noodle Rolls were a must. So we quickly decided what we were going to order and waited patiently for Mai to return to take our order. 10, 15, 20 minutes quickly rolled by as I watched Mai wait and bus the other tables. I attempted to wave and make eye contact to try and get her attention, she wasn't having any of it. I watched as orders were buzzed from below and then Mai would pull the rope for the dumbwaiter to rise. I was lucky enough to be in the only seat at the table that was able to observe the goings on in the restaurant. One thing of note occurred when a nice bowl of soup came up and without hesitation Mai grabbed a spoon, quickly spooned something out of the broth and threw it in the garbage. She then happily brought the bowl to an eager customer for consumption. I chose to not inform anyone at the table of this event until well after we had ordered our food.
As it became blatantly obvious we were ready to order, she loudly remarked to no one in particular and pointing in our direction, "I'm scared, I'm scared, I don't want to go over there." This threw me for a loop, perhaps my beard, or my request for a beer caused her to distrust us Gui Lo in the corner. Eventually with some coaxing she approached our table with caution.
As I mentioned earlier, we immediately ordered the Rice Noodle Rolls, first thing listed at the top of the menu, to which Mai quickly replied, "NO MORE, NO MORE!" and ran away back to her station to fiddle some more. She returned about 3 minutes later and we scrambled to get something ordered.
Rice Noodle Soup with BBQ Pork
Won ton Noodle Soup
Beef and Brocolli Chow Fun
Duck Chow Fun
A Tofu Dish
Fried Rice
Kung Pao Chicken
At this point she cut us off and said no more. My friend was intent in ordering the Chicken Chow Mein and asked if we could have one of those as well. Mai abruptly refused and said, "TOO MUCH, TOO MUCH!" He begged and pleaded and promised to take it home with him if it wasn't finished and she finally agreed. We order some Diet cokes to go with the food and believed we were home free.
They have a very interesting way of communicating at Sam Wo due to the fact that the kitchen is downstairs and the waitress and customers are all upstairs. Its quite rudimentary but extremely entertaining to watch. We couldn't quite figure it out and our theories ranged from carrier pigeons to pure unadulterated psychic powers. As it turns out, through their manually controlled dumb-waiter system they also have what seems to be a super long shoe lace attached to the wall next to the dumbwaiter with a clothes pin fastened to the other end. Mai will re-write your entire order on small squares of paper, attach them to the clothes pin and throw them down the shoot where presumably the cooks will grab them and get to work. Efficiency at its best. Or so we thought. About half an hour later we were ecstatic when Mai brought us chopsticks and plates. We knew we were going to be eating any minute but up until then we were having serious doubts about whether they were just testing us to see if we would just get up and leave. We had been sitting in Sam Wo for at least 1 hour and had not received a glass of water, tea and now finally had our chopsticks. More than once I considered a spoon full of chili sauce to tie me over till the food got there.
 |
| Note the Communication String dangling in front |
Then, out of no where we hear the buzzer from downstairs. Mai starts pulling the manual dumbwaiter and low and behold, plates and bowls of steaming food. Since by this point we were the only people in the place who hadn't eaten, paid and left it had to be for us. It was!! Over the next 30 minutes our food slowly trickled to our table. I must say, I have eaten a lot of chinese food in my day, this was nothing to write home about, but late night, it ain't that bad. Chow Fun and soups were definitely a highlight. Kung Pao chicken was also tasty. The people I was with enjoyed the Tofu but I didn't think it was anything special.
We're eating now for about 30 minutes and every time Mai comes back to the table with a new dish we ask for the Diet Cokes. She doesn't seem to acknowledge. Finally I take matters into my own hands. I get up from the table for the first time in over an hour and start back downstairs to see if I can go directly to the source. Mai, who is busy at the other end of the restaurant studiously taking some ones order sees me out of the corner of her eye getting up, at top speed she literally flies across the room to attempt to stop me from moving, quickly see's the rest of my party still sitting at the table and realizes, no, I'm not trying to bolt on the bill. Perhaps this was her concern from the get go?
Anyway, I go downstairs to talk to Pork tearing lady to see if I can quench some of this thirst. I ask for a Diet Coke, without a word, she stands up, walks 2 feet to the refrigerator and gets me 2 Diet Cokes. I return upstairs a hero, wielding the magical nectar which will sustain us through the rest of our MSG infested feast. As most of us know, a Diet Coke coupled with some late night dirty Chinese food is incomparable.
In the end, Mai was right, we didn't finish the Chicken Chow Mein, but we did take it home to sit in the fridge till its will then be thrown in the trash. Mai did also warm up to me a little by the end. Coming over to the table with our Diet Cokes after we'd finished our food and were ready to go. A real super lady. So, if you're in San Fransisco and you want to experience something different and you're absolutely not busy at all, check out Sam Wo. Tell them Jack sent you and you're sure to receive the royal treatment.
7/20/10
I've got the Golden Ticket!!
Starting tomorrow I will attempt to keep you updated on my goings on at the largest "comic" convention known to man, San Diego Comic Con. This year I will be spending a lot of time cruising the floor and checking out all the amazing amazingness that the convention has to offer. I'm thinking I'm gonna focus primarily on the weird and wonderful things that make this experience so awesome. I've always been so intrigued by the amount of time and effort people put into their comic con experience and over the next 5 days I will attempt to share this will all of you. My 7.5 loyal readers.
Jack
7/15/10
7/14/10
Funguses
I've noticed over the last week or so that there are some new and unexpected visitors in the garden. Mushrooms. I have a long and sorted history with these little capped crusaders. From an early age they were my sworn enemy. Whether on pizza, in a tomato sauce, or handsomely disguised amongst the wok sautes, I was vehemently against they're presence or consumption.
As a growing boy there were very few things I refused to put in my mouth (most of my family can attest to this fact). Mushrooms were one of these things. I detested the smell, taste and texture of these little fungi.
Somehow along the way, I can't quite recall, I slowly developed a taste for certain mushrooms. As I sit here and think deeper about it I think it had to be the extremely neutral oyster mushroom. I often found these accompanying some of my favorite Cantonese cuisine (of which I am a loyal consumer but more on that later). So slowly but surely I have developed a liking for these guys. Especially when slathered in some serious sauce or sauteed with copious amounts of butter (but I know from experience most things are extremely edible doused in butter).
Perhaps my palette, when it comes to mushrooms is a little more sophisticated than when comparing to other foods. After all, I was the guy who used to look forward to airplane food. When it comes to mushrooms I hate the generic button mushroom you see on pizza or in most salads or tomato sauces. This could be attributed to the delicious Chanterelles that I was exposed to during my summer visits to New Brunswick at my families fishing camp where they grow wild in the forest. They were included in my breakfast without my knowing and to my sheer and utter surprise I loved the flavor! From then on I would dive right in without hesitation. More on that here.
Here are some varieties I've found around the house.
As a growing boy there were very few things I refused to put in my mouth (most of my family can attest to this fact). Mushrooms were one of these things. I detested the smell, taste and texture of these little fungi.
Somehow along the way, I can't quite recall, I slowly developed a taste for certain mushrooms. As I sit here and think deeper about it I think it had to be the extremely neutral oyster mushroom. I often found these accompanying some of my favorite Cantonese cuisine (of which I am a loyal consumer but more on that later). So slowly but surely I have developed a liking for these guys. Especially when slathered in some serious sauce or sauteed with copious amounts of butter (but I know from experience most things are extremely edible doused in butter).
Perhaps my palette, when it comes to mushrooms is a little more sophisticated than when comparing to other foods. After all, I was the guy who used to look forward to airplane food. When it comes to mushrooms I hate the generic button mushroom you see on pizza or in most salads or tomato sauces. This could be attributed to the delicious Chanterelles that I was exposed to during my summer visits to New Brunswick at my families fishing camp where they grow wild in the forest. They were included in my breakfast without my knowing and to my sheer and utter surprise I loved the flavor! From then on I would dive right in without hesitation. More on that here.
Here are some varieties I've found around the house.
THE BEHEMOTH LIVES
Garden Update
After my recent discovery of my new peach tree I decided since its such a lovely day here in sunny Southern California that I would go out and take some new pics of the Garden. So here they are:
Strawberry flowers.
Some heirloom tomatoes ripening on the vine.
Tomato Flowers with a pretty nice view.
Couple Blackberries popping out.
Little carrot.
Wild mint. And by wild I mean, it is growing on its own from a mint plant I let go to seed last year and has re-emerged to say hello. Tastes so good. Sometimes I just walk outside and grab a few leaves to chew on. Truly freshens your breath better than any gum.
Strawberry flowers.
True Story
There was a Canadian boy in California.
He heard rumors about all the fresh fruit that grew in the state.
He thought, if I had my own tree to bare me fruit wouldn't that be great?
So he bought a fresh peach.
He finished it right down to the pit and he spit.
Into the yard and low and behold while this story is being told a year since the boy was so bold, a peach tree is growing old.
Its not much yet, but its a true story. I spit out a peach pit over the deck a little over a year ago and there she is!!
If and when I see some fruit I'll be sure to follow up with some new pics.
He heard rumors about all the fresh fruit that grew in the state.
He thought, if I had my own tree to bare me fruit wouldn't that be great?
So he bought a fresh peach.
He finished it right down to the pit and he spit.
Into the yard and low and behold while this story is being told a year since the boy was so bold, a peach tree is growing old.
If and when I see some fruit I'll be sure to follow up with some new pics.
7/8/10
Syndrome - The Graphic Novel
Fantasy Prone and Archaia have a new graphic novel coming out across North America in August. The graphic novel called, "Syndrome" will make its debut at San Diego Comic Con starting on July 22, 2010. Created by Blake Leibel and written by RJ Ryan and Daniel Quantz. The art was penciled and inked by David Marquez.
Syndrome is a bold and intense original graphic novel hardcover that asks a surprisingly simple question. What would happen if science discovered a straightforward explanation for one of the universe's greatest mysteries. What causes evil?
Here is a short preview of what you might find.
Here is a link to pre-order the book on Amazon
Thanks for your support!!
7/7/10
The Tomato Jungle
A few of those interests include; vegetable gardening, snowboarding, hunting, fishing, classic muscle cars, classic SUVs of the 70s and 80s, survival and preparedness and of course being Canadian my extreme passion for Hockey (both playing myself and watching my beloved Maple Leafs).I publish Comic books and Graphic Novels for a living and also participate in the production of cartoons and other entertainment mediums. I'm sure I'll be touching on those along the way.
At the moment I am spending a lot of my free time learning and practicing vegetable gardening. Currently I am growing 3 different varieties of tomato, sweet and hot peppers, carrots, basil, dill and cilantro. I am an amateur gardener. This is my second summer gardening and I am learning as I go. Above you can see the size of one of my tomato plants of the "Black Krim" variety when I first put in the ground in late March. If you can believe it, here is a picture of it now, just a little over 3 months later...
It has grown to almost 6 feet tall!! The "Black Krim" variety seems to be flourishing in my garden. The San Diego variety is not growing as large but has already begun to fruit. The larger "Black Krim" started to bare any fruit.
This is the least of my worries right now. Over the last week I have been over run by slugs and snails in my garden. I have lost ALL of my pepper plants. Both sweet and hot. They have been eaten. Destroyed. Decimated. Observe. These 3 pictures were taken over a 1 week period!!
The slugs and snails have completely destroyed my sweet pepper plants which I have been cultivating since germinating the seeds in late February!! I have tried all the tricks in the book regarding slugs and snails and it seems as though I have finally beaten them. Too late however. All my peppers are gone.
The peppers aren't the only victim. At least the stems are still there. My cucumbers are gone. The only thing remaining is the little white planting label stuck in the ground where the plant used to be.
I will be back outside tonight. Hunched over with a head lamp and salt shaker. I should get a video of what happens to a slug when you shake a little salt onto it. Seems cruel but if you felt the pain that I do after cultivating these plants for months only to have them eaten in a matter of days by a gang of slimy sliders, a little slug destruction is the only thing making me feel a little bit better. Stay tuned for a slug terminator video.
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