Well, there are things that are new, but I’m trying to stem the tide of crap and use my blog to talk about things either neat and shiny, or interesting and cool, or personal-but-not-complainy. So anyway, let’s see. Coming home to find the Bavarian Weizen I’m got brewing is cool. It’s pretty encouraging because...
Read more →I brewed up a Bavarian Wheat beer on Saturday. A Bavarian wheat is a beer that ought to be strong in the banana and fruity esters (along with some clovey and vanilla phenolics) given off by the particular yeast strain used to make it (which, in this case, was Wyeast’s Bavarian Wheat yeast (Wyeast...
Read more →Stories: That New Yorker story about the AD&D gaming group… what? Yes, really, and it’s pretty good, too. (Thanks for the link, was it Ben?) Some MP3s narrated by Miette: Alfred Jarry’s “The Passion Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race” and the story it inspired, JG Ballard’s “The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered...
Read more →Progress. I’ve made some on a number of fronts, but the one I’ll mention is writing. I’ve been busy in the past week or so–grading, preparing a few lectures, baking, handling some stuff that needed handling–but I’ve made significant headway with writing. I haven’t leapt into the project I was hoping to get into...
Read more →So this morning, I made some bread: Crusty dinner buns, to be exact. They’re not perfect, or even as good as the first time I made them (for a burger dinner, when they turned out amazing!) but I’m pretty pleased with them. I’ll be digging into Peter Reinhart’s book The Bread Maker’s Apprentice this...
Read more →Some John Coltrane-related links, because yes, I’m working on that story that involves him again: John Coltrane, Avant Garde Jazz, and the Evolution of My Favorite Things is a thesis by Scott Anderson which he has generously (and stylishly) put online. It traces the development of the Coltrane Quartet/Quintet’s handling of the tune “My...
Read more →So, a few years ago in an expat bar, I found a pile of hardback books in the pile of books left for anyone to take. Since I’d left a few books there myself, and since I was so shocked, I grabbed the books and made them my own. The books were the hardback...
Read more →