Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Monday, July 29, 2013

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Garage for Rent

  
Faint image found in some tin siding on a building in Truckee, CA.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Motor Lodge Bocce Gondolas in Retro Reno





destined for the screen


1. Riptide  `  Vance Joy
2. Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams)  `  Daft Punk
3. San Francisco  `  The Mowgli's
4. The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?)  `  Snow Patrol
5. Take Me to Tomorrow  `  Dave Matthews
6. Chain Gang  `  Freshlyground
7. Come Around  `  Transplants
8. Sun up Sun Down (feat. Christian Campbell)  `  Brooke White
9. Darcy Farrow  `  Josh Ritter & Barnstar!
10. The Moorings  `  Andrew Duhon
11. Leeward Side  `  Josh Pyke
12. Paradise  `  City and Colour
13. Young Fathers  `  Typhoon
14. Something Missing (feat. The Mowgli's)  `  Jensen Reed
15. You & I  `  Crystal Fighters
16. I Don’t Mind  `  Sebadoh
17. Fall At Your Feet  `  Boy & Bear
18. From Afar  `  Vance Joy
19. Jolene  `  Ewert and the Two Dragons
20. The Hurry and the Harm  `  City and Colour
21. St. Louis Gal  `  Cécile McLorin Salvant

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Setting Up, God is Cajun, Pig and Pickles

 

I spent a few hours out at the Lafayette Farmers and Artisans Market at the Horse Farm today, which had extended hours until 2 PM and also included what will become a monthly tradition of a food pavilion filled with local food trucks and other food vendors. The photo above is one of those food trucks setting up to start to serve the early lunch/late breakfast crowd. I made a point to bring out my camera today and relax and take in the scenes. What a great tradition for Saturday mornings.

Breakfast for me consisted of a homemade biscuit with egg, cheese sausage (rumored to be venison but fantastic either way) from MadLuAnn's. Lunch was a rib eye burger topped with local favorite Jack Miller's BBQ sauce. Tough to resist the burger after spending a couple hours smelling the magic off of a grill that had this hat perched on the back.


That's right, it says "God is Cajun." Classic.One of my new weekly favorites is stopping by Bread and Circus's table and seeing what type of salty pig parts and pickled goodness they have conjured up each week. Check out the spread below. That's some homemade tasso, pastrami, bacon and a few different pickled creations that are now all crowding out other things from my fridge.



In addition to the photos found in this post, I took a number of other ones that I am pretty excited about. The slide show is below (full screen it by clicking the expand icon in the lower right of the show) and you can also view the full set by clicking this link in order to get to my Flickr page. Enjoy!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

What Is It, Banjo?


2. Love Me Like the World Is Ending  ~  Ben Lee
4. Nobody Gives a Damn About Songs Anymore  ~  John Moreland
6. The Three Minute Mark  ~  Hallelujah the Hills
7. You & Me  ~  Luke Winslow-King
8. Sea of Love  ~  The National
9. Twin Size Mattress  ~  The Front Bottoms
10. Lifetime  ~  Jack Savoretti
11. The a Team  ~  Ed Sheeran
12. Sweet Tennessee  ~  Judah & the Lion
13. My Old Friend  ~  Sam Amidon
15. High School Lover  ~  Cayucas
16. Bright Sunny South  ~  Sam Amidon
17. Graceless ~  The National
18. Beg Steal or Borrow  ~  Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs
19. Ísjaki  ~  Sigur Rós
20. Lightning Bolt  ~  Jake Bugg
21. This Is the Last Time  ~  The National



Lafayette Scenes: Loading up at the Market

Another awesome weekend out at the market at the horse farm...picked up some fresh caught drum and threw it on the grill last night with a bit of mesquite and it was fantastic. Also picked up about 3 pounds of pork spareribs from Inglewood. Fig season is starting up. Bought some blackberry bush clippings to see if we could work on our green thumbs.

Here's a shot of the Inglewood Farm stand in action from yesterday.


Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt


"For me, Savannah's resistance to change was its saving grace. The city looked inward, sealed off from the noises and distractions of the world at large. It grew inward, too, like hothouse plants tended to by an indulgent gardener. The ordinary became extraordinary. Eccentrics thrived. Every nuance and quirk of personality achieved greater brilliance in that lush enclosure than would have been possible anywhere else in the world."

"The characters in this book are real." This is the first sentence in this book after you finish it. I found myself saying it over and over actually...the entire time I was reading this non-fiction story about Savannah, it's eccentric personalities and the famous murder trial that occurred there throughout the 80s. The title is derived from the voodoo theme that makes its way into the story as the trial progresses. I won't ruin it for you, but if you are ever in a cemetery near midnight, just know that the half hour before midnight is for doing good, and the half hour after is for evil. Well written, amazingly true and I'm headed to track down the movie based on this book for sure.

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Yeasts of the Southern Wild

When I was a junior in high school, in the Ninth Ward, everybody worked at the Reising Sunrise bakery there,” he says. “My first job, I was just picking up, putting away and cleaning out. But I’d look over at the boys in the bread department, and I’d think to myself, ‘Someday I’m going to be in bread.’”



I posted about Beasts of the Southern Wild back in November of 2012 when it was screened here in Lafayette as a part of the Southern Screen film festival, recommend this movie to my friends, and just recently purchased it so that mother-in-law could watch it while she Jozy-sat for us a few weeks back. It was a pleasant surprise to find this article in the March publication of the Smithsonian magazine, a profile on Dwight Henry, the baker from New Orleans who plays the father in the film. It's a fun little read about his business, his buttermilk drops and the possibilities of his future. Click here to read the article. Road trip anyone?

Here's the trailer for the movie if you have not seen it yet and are interested. Highly recommended.



Saturday, July 06, 2013

Lafayette Scenes: Lining up for some Ruston peaches


Ruston peaches have been a star at the farmer's market for the last few weeks, the line stretching about 10 deep or so at around 9:30 this morning and the peaches keep on coming. These white signs with the red Ruston Peaches lettering are instantly recognizable in this part of the world.

Lafayette Scenes: Music at the Market



Two Cajun musicians at the Market at the Horse Farm in Lafayette, LA.

Friday, July 05, 2013

Lafayette Scenes: Cajun Harley & Johnston

Olympia Coffee Roasting Company

It's been a gradual evolution but I think I have officially crossed the line over into coffee snobbery this past month or so. It's been gradual process that started when we started making a point of visiting micro-roasters when we travel to various cities throughout the year...although, I will confess I was not really expecting to get to a point where I could honestly say that I tasted the difference between different types of roasts, brewing techniques, etc. This past month or so, that has definitely all changed. One of the many triggers, in addition to micro-roaster touring, was how awesome Olympia Coffee Roasting Company's product is tasting in the morning...coming out of a basic french press morning routine that is currently competing against my wife and Jozy for coffee dates/drives in the morning to Starbucks.

I highly recommend this coffee if you enjoy a nice cup of joe. My current favorite is the El Soccoro Maracaturra.


Here's a nicely made video about the company, their coffee and their overall philosophy.


Thursday, July 04, 2013

July 4th

Wishing everyone out there a happy 4th. 



life is fine as it flutters




2. Twenty Miles to NH (Part 2)  ~  The National
3. Venice  ~  The Lighthouse and The Whaler
4. Miles and Mud Tires  ~  Granger Smith
6. Delicate Cycle  ~  The Uncluded
7. Timeless  ~  The Airborne Toxic Event
8. Time to Run  ~  Lord Huron
9. Joshua  ~  Bobby McFerrin
10. Purple Yellow Red and Blue  ~  Portugal. The Man
12. Lightning Bolt  ~  Jake Bugg
13. Invisible  ~  Steve Earle & The Dukes (& Duchesses)
14. There Will Come A Time  ~  Noah and the Whale
15. Dannyboy  ~  Youngblood Hawke
16. MoneyGrabber  ~  Fitz & The Tantrums
17. Little Lovin'  ~  Lissie
18. Most People  ~  Dawes
19. Madness  ~  Aaron Moses
20. Little Vessels  ~  The Lighthouse and The Whaler   

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers


"The war tried to kill us in spring. As grass greened the plains of Nineveh and the weather warmed, we patrolled the low-slung hills beyond the cities and towns. We moved over them and through the tall grass on faith, kneading paths into windswept growth like pioneers. While we slept, the war rubbed its thousand ribs against the ground in prayer. When we pressed onward through exhaustion, its eyes were white and open in the dark. While we ate, the war fasted, fed by its own deprivation. It made love and gave birth and spread through fire."
I've been meaning to post about this book for a while. It tells the story of two young soldiers who fought in the Iraq war and the toll the war took on their lives. This is the first book I have read that approached this subject and it was incredibly powerful, emotionally intense, poetic and will make me never look at a young man in army dress the same again. Highly recommended. One of the best books I have read this year. 


Monday, July 01, 2013

Vance Joy - Riptide

This song is on repeat tonight a few times. Pretty awesome tune.



I was scared of dentists and the dark,
I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations,
Oh all my friends are turning green,
You're the magicians assistant in their dreams.
Oh, and they come unstuck
Lady, running down to the riptide,
taken away to the dark side,
I wanna be your left hand man.
I love you when you're singing that song and,
I got a lump in my throat 'cause
you're gonna sing the words wrong