I've blogged about this before on a couple of occasions and I'm bringing it up again this year, as it is about time for the local CSAs to be cranking out their bounty to the locals.

For a primer or two on what CSA is all about:
Wiki - Local Harvest CSA basics -

I don't know why more people don't do this, particularly you guys and gals that I know in New York and San Francisco (I do suspect CSA is a way of life in the Bay Area), or anyone else who lives in a large urban area without easy access to farm stands. Farmers markets are a great option (any city I visit, this is the first thing I want to know about), but there are a few important advantages to a CSA that I'd like to highlight, or rehighlight if you checked out those links:

a) with a CSA you'll get a better deal over the course of the season compared to retail - beautiful, organically grown produce on the cheap;

b) with a CSA, you're establishing a direct link with a local farmer and you'll know exactly where your food is coming from and under what conditions it is being grown/raised;

c) you are getting food for your money, but what you are really doing is giving these farmers seed money for their yearly operation - you are directly helping to sustain a local farm. To me that's a beautiful thing. They encourage you to go help on the farm as well, which if possible can yield a discount on your share price. I see another benefit to this - to get off of the city block, away from the racket and get out to the land, clean up your soul a bit. It can't hurt if you lead a stressful life and you'd get to know the people growing your food.

I could go on a rant about how I believe that upstate NY should be the east coast's version of the Bay Area in terms of local, seasonable, ethical, sustainable production of food. I'm a true believer - I'm a dreamer in the sense that I think all organic farmers in upstate NY should band together, push, expand and market this concept to the entire eastern seaboard. I'm talking about a new kind of agro-industrial complex whereby the conglomerate isn't an assembly of small numbers of massive farms, but massive numbers of small farms; independent but linked together with marketing efforts, shared information, a shared belief system, common goals - a brotherhood of sorts.

I'm a believer in producing food organically, with an important caveat. If it can be done without the hormones, without the pesticides, without the nasty stuff - it should be done that way. The nice thing is that over the past 5 years organic produce has gotten cheaper, but here is my big caveat with organic food that frustrates me - the basics, milk and eggs, are oppressively expensive. This is a fundamental failure of the movement. Getting together with a CSA can solve this problem (somewhat, anyway) but not all CSAs deal with dairy, poultry and beef.

I'm going to keep my eyes out for alternatives and post about them, if you really want those fresh farm eggs and hormone-free milk. Keep in mind - you can already buy milk and eggs that are practically organic but the farm simply haven't paid the thousands of dollars to the government for the privilege of being certified. (Newer farms starting up and trying to do things the right way often fall prey to this - cash is short and they put the money into the farm, not the bureaucrats). Screw the government - with a little research you can find these products that are "practically" organic, and they'll be cheaper. A local farm near my hometown of Jamestown sells such eggs (naturally raised, free range, chemical-free, etc.) for $2 a dozen. Who doesn't love the charm of a box of multi-colored eggs like that?

Perhaps you've heard of this already. For those of you who have not, Sacha Baron Cohen has one question - "Hey Eminem, how does my ass taste?"



I love this picture. Eminem looks like he's short of breath. What's wrong, bud?

Read more about it here - you'll see some pictures and a video of the stunt.

How gay is Bruno? I think this character has the potential to be even more outrageous than Borat.

The thing about Baron Cohen, which they do point out, is that typically his characters victimize unsuspecting individuals who are not in on the joke. As it turns out, the joke was on all of the celebrities in attendance - Eminem was in on it, complete with a full dress rehearsal.

One of the most iconic Depression-era constructions, the Golden Gate Bridge, turns 72 today. SF Chronicle posted some pictures from many eras of its life -

Paid for at the time with a bond issue, as well as tolls (ostensibly for interest payments - the interest was paid off 38 years ago, but the tolls remain). Another Depression-era construction that is world famous - Rockefeller Center. Paid for entirely by John D. Rockefeller! Still in private hands as well.

Happy birthday to the most beautiful bridge on earth!

My first ever attempt to grow tomatoes starts here -



I went with Brandywine (got 'em at the Co-op - Porter Farms organic eco-'maters) mainly because of the shape and ultimate size of the fruit (beefsteak, and fucking huge - upwards of 2 lbs). Also, it was all they had at 9pm on Saturday. Oh well!

Doing some preliminary research showed me that this fruit is well suited to grow here, since it essentially originated along the northeastern seaboard. (This is an obvious point though, really - after all, they came from a WNY farm). The plants will allegedly grow up to 6-8 feet tall. I'm not sure what the best thing to do would be - indoors or outdoors. I suppose I'm a little concerned about the proximity to the street - this will definitely be done in a 5-gallon pot, or possibly larger, depending on what advice I get. I'm obsessed with making this work - the only thing I didn't consider was the 85-day or so period I'll be waiting until the fruit shows up. In August, I'm going to have the best organic brandywine tomatoes on 700 block of Elmwood, dammit!

Wish me luck. Any and all advice is most welcome.

Oh - what else. Today I spent most of the day alone in solitude, hanging out and enjoying myself. Jay went to see Keane play in Toronto with our bud JV, I stayed behind because this past week exhausted me. Before that, we went to the outlet to get (e:jason) new threads. It's fair to say that I dressed him, with the exception of the nice sneakers he got - he seemed to like the stuff I picked out as we went through, which I would say were bohemian enough for my tastes without completely sacrificing (e:jason)'s good looks and professionalism. Linen shirts and slacks, a nice casual, lightweight blazer, v-neck t-shirt, etc. - as for me, I replaced my well-worn Birkenstocks and really just came for the cruise and to help (e:jason). I read some short stories (which I'm still processing - Murakami is a strange man at times - go read his story "TV People"), ate gelato, had a mucho iced soy chai from you-know-where - overall, a lovely day.

Controversy

(e:jason) mentioning the BBQ article (I forgot that I had forwarded it to him!) has triggered the motivation to go on an old-fashioned rant as you've seen me do in the past.

To wit: (and I do read this paper daily - their food section is the best in America).

"While summer quenchers like light beer and iced tea are refreshing if you're mowing the lawn or tending a hot grill, I want a more robust adult beverage when I sit down to juicy slices of grilled beef or smoky, finger-licking barbecue."

Really? This is war. Thank God that in this country, for now anyway, we still have the freedom of choice. Or if you're me, the freedom of antipathy and excoriation. Let me translate - "While beer and iced tea are okay for the bumpkins who cut their own grass, I prefer a more sophisticated beverage with my BBQ. You know, less rough around the edges and more palatable to my banal sensitivities."

Food writers are generally insufferable. When the article started talking about "interplays" with sauce, smoke, etc. affecting the beverage of choice I had enough.

The Truth

Here's the deal. The food comes first, not the accompanying drink. Anyone that says otherwise is fucking wrong, okay? The fact that the article is titled "Pairing wines with grilling favorites" rather than "Pairing grilling favorites with wines" says it all. Now you certainly may expect to see this kind of thing in an overwhelmingly yuppie city like SF, where more often than not your exposure to BBQ will be in a sit-down restaurant with silverware, a water course, horrifying conversations going on around you and an utter lack of wet-naps.

Drinking wine with your BBQ is best done at home alone, where no BBQ cognoscenti will actually witness what is going on; sort of like your alcoholic uncle nipping from a flask in his jacket when nobody is looking.

Of course this sort of shit goes on in California - there is no reputable BBQ tradition there and the state is full of transients, both legal and illegal. This scenario is going to create a melting pot of theories about food, and let's face it, there is no better region for foodies anywhere in America than the Bay Area. Pair this with the famous wine industry in the area, and you're bound to have experimentation.

This isn't to say that it works, or that it is appropriate, mind you. Pairing BBQ with wine is as crazy a concept as pairing a burrito with wine. Hey (e:jay), do you think that Gramma Mora's last night could have been enhanced with a splash of Beaujolais? The spiciness of the sauce would have really made everything pop!

Fuck me, I can't even handle that in jest - I blame Bartles and fucking James and those 4-packs.

This is what you drink with BBQ if you wish to avoid embarrassment; beer (go easy drinking, you'll enjoy nowt with a stout), iced tea, water, or juice. BBQ is not a high-class endeavor - it is meant to be done amongst friends in a casual manner, out in the backyard with some tunes, green grass, plastic cups, fire, sunsets and the sort of good times our grandparents had.

BBQ is more than food, it's a classic American activity with a tradition that demands respect. Wine belongs just about anywhere other than with BBQ, just like sushi belonging just about anywhere other than a baseball stadium.