Weekend Cooking Thread - Things I Like About California…

I gotta admit, California bugs the crap out of me sometimes, but they sure know how to cook out on the Left Coast.

It’s been 25 or so years since I was last in California, and my culinary experiences while there tended towards the humbler side. Mexican food in San Diego and LA was the general rule, with strange detours to astounding burgers and dogs at very odd hours in places I’d never heard of, or that I could ever find again.

Tri tip barbecue. Now that was one thing this Southern boy did not expect to find. Good barbecue in California. Granted, it was different, but man was it good! Beef cooked over oak coals? Oh yes. Some of that Santa Maria stuff gave the pig a run for its money.

I, like so many others, bought my first wok in Chinatown. Face it. There’s only one Chinatown. San Francisco was - and still is by all accounts - a culinary hedonist’s dream come true. The weather when I was there was generally miserable, which made me look for cozy food; stews and crusty bread, Chinese food that wasn’t on the menu, vegan craziness across the Bay with some macrobiotic madness thrown in for good measure, and all of it washed down with the best the Napa Valley had to offer and a fair amount of Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as well.

I remember some of the strangest meals in the most unlikely places. Pancakes with blueberry syrup in Monterey. Go figure.

For giving us an endless line of great chefs from Wolfgang Puck to Cindy Pawlcyn to Thomas Keller, California can almost be forgiven its general idiocy at times.

Almost.

Like I said; it’s been a long time since I’ve been to Cali. I get the feeling I’ve been missing a lot. Chances are I’ll be heading to LA within the next year for my brother-in-law’s wedding. The Lady and I are discussing turning that trip into a two or three week rumble through the state, frantically hitting all the places we talk about. Tips, as always, are appreciated. And for this thread, any California culinary memories or thoughts are not optional.

Bandwidth Junkies Rejoice!

Coming soon: superfast internet - Times Online

THE internet could soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds.

At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, "the grid" will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.

Actually,this is the sort of thing that has to happen if we are going to get the Singlularity on schedule. Still…bandwidth. It’s not just for academics.

Faster, please.

Senator Patsy

Obama Steers Clear of ‘Warmonger’ Talk | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

BUTTE, Mont. — Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) declined twice Saturday to personally repudiate a liberal radio host’s declaration that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is a “warmonger.”

And….

McCain Calls for Respectful Campaign

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) - Sen. John McCain called Saturday for a presidential campaign that is more like a respectful argument among friends than a bitter clash of enemies, and said he is better able than either of his Democratic rivals to govern across party lines.

That’s right, Johnny Mav - keep trying to kiss on them while they punch you in the mouth. You think that’s gonna buy you votes? Bob Dole thought the same thing, while the Clinton machine kept right on stomping his hapless ass into bloody mush.

You’ll meet the same fate, I expect, no matter who the Dems nominate.

Playing Both Ends Against the Stupid Yanks

Iran joined militias in battle for Basra - Times Online

IRANIAN forces were involved in the recent battle for Basra, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is expected to tell Congress this week.

Military and intelligence sources believe Iranians were operating at a tactical command level with the Shi'ite militias fighting Iraqi security forces; some were directing operations on the ground, they think.

Petraeus intends to use the evidence of Iranian involvement to argue against any reductions in US forces.

Dr Daniel Goure, a defence analyst at the Lexington Institute in Virginia, said: "There is no question that Petraeus will be tough on Iran. It is one thing to withdraw troops when there is purely sectarian fighting but it is another thing if it leaves the Iranians to move in."

I don’t understand. I’ve been told over and over again by Leftist antiwarriors and Babbling Bushbots that Iran is no threat to Iraq, and even if it had been, the Surge has eliminated any remnants of it.

I’m still waiting to see how much Iranian input went to the Iranian-founded Badr Brigades which are loosely masquerading as the Iraqi government “security forces,” myself.