No mas, Natomas.

Normally, I’d just leave the Natomas chat to those who live there, but I found myself (yet again) cruising the magnificent, sweeping boulevards of Sacramento’s red-headed stepchild today. My goal was two-fold: locate Borders and food. Both objectives were completed with great success. But, along the way, I started feeling a little mystified and then a tad empathetic toward Natomasians.

As I drove up Del Paso, I passed numerous stripmalls in varying stages of development, interspersed with wide, flat swaths of cleared land that (I can only assume) is not being built on for economic or FEMA reasons. I passed the “Town Center”–which was truly baffling. It appears to be a gas station. I mean, seriously, who is behind this (non)planning? Natomas seems to have been designed by people who subscribe to the “There’s no there, there” philosophy of suburban layout.  All the shopping centers (and there are quite a few) are identical, as if the building plans were ordered from cookie-cutter-stripmalls-r-us.com. These so-called master-planned developments do not appear to be walkable, bike-friendly, or even remotely inspired. However, you can certainly find any type of fast-food you could possibly want.

Even more baffling is that Borders is on Natomas Drive, right near a huge sign that proclaims “Natomas Park” (I didn’t see a park), but Natomas Park Drive is 5 miles south, off El Camino.

I found myself humming the theme song from “Weeds”–you know the one: “Ticky tacky, little houses..and they all look just the same.”

The saving grace of my venture was the serendipitous discovery that Tuk Tuk restaurant is located in the same sprawling center as Borders. Melly over at Cooking Schmooking had recommended it a while back, and I had forgotten about it until I drove past. The service was a bit slow, considering there were only two occupied tables and it was lunchtime. However, Melly was right–the food was excellent. I tried the green curry with chicken. The curry was medium-hot, full of complex spices, a bit on the watery side, but very flavorful anyway. I am a Thai junkie, so I probably should have asked for the “hot” level, but I’ll know for next time. The veggies, including  perfectly done eggplant, were fresh, as were the generous chunks of chicken.  The restaurant’s decor is filled with lovely, well-polished woods, low-slung tables, and huge wall sculptures. My only complaint is that they somehow determined that their very small restaurant needed not just one but *three* flat screens interspersed around the entry and dining area. Three. Why? Do people really go out to eat so they can watch TV? Call me crazy, but I think TVs in restaurant dining rooms are totally unacceptable.  Sports bars and pubs? Yeah, okay, that’s expected. But don’t these restaurants want you to pay attention to their food and/or your dining companions? Anyway, aside from the TVs,  I was glad to find this little oasis of quite good Thai food in the strange land that is Natomas.

Why do people keep building these disconnected urban barnacles that just end up being festering sinkholes of sameness? Riddle me that, Batman.

More Violence at State Fair: Unreported “Lark Hit and Run” Danger

I haven’t been to the State Fair in at least 5 years. But Sunday, I cajoled the boyfriend to go because I wanted to see the “Green Dream Expo” and the farming exhibits. Boyfriend, who was supposed to be catching up on work, was easily lured from his workly duties to come and slack with me.

We had a surprisingly good time. There was minimal thuggage. The huckstering was a bit overwhelming, but some of it was fun. We are still debating about whether the guy selling the worm composting bin was having a truly bad day or if that was just his go-for-the-pity schtick. (I say bad day, boyfriend says schtick.)

We decided to get a beer for the boyfriend and a margarita for me. The day was warm, and the thought of icy cold refreshment was appealing. Until we got the bill for $16. Yep, $8 each–for what was essentially a slushy and about 10 oz of beer. We should have known better. Driving home, we agreed that the high prices are probably a very effective, and deliberate, method for keeping the jerk factor low.

Just before us in line at the booze-booth, though, was a little old lady on a Lark. Buying booze. Now, I’d never really considered those things dangerous, but I had never faced one being driven by a schnockered old woman, either. Instead of reverse, our soused friend hit forward, using my sandal-clad foot as a braking mechanism. Let’s just say, it’s a fortunate thing I have some fairly good reaction times. Now, I’m all for being respectful toward one’s elders, but come on.  I couldn’t resist a snarky (yet G-rated) comment directed at her fleeing biker backside, something to the effect that she probably shouldn’t be drinking and driving.

Aside from being astounded that the Fair officials would allow such rampant violence to be perpetrated upon its unsuspecting patrons, though, the rest of the afternoon was a bit of alright. The BF and I checked out the farming area, which (if you’re a big dumb dorkasaurus like us) was pretty cool. We also hit the livestock pavilion to look at sheep. At my request, we skipped the pigs. Speaking of which, the old “Other White Meat” crew was down at the midway giving out pork samples and, apparently, trying desperately to get people to eat pork. Who knew? Are people not eating pork these days? Is there some sort of market glut of pork meat I’m unaware of?

Anyway, we left about 7 p.m.–feet sore, tummies full of some seriously poor nutritional choices (we *did* give the deep-fried White Castle burgers a miss)–and headed back to the relative safety of home so I could nurture my newfound Larkophobia. As we were leaving, the police presence was picking up noticeably–cops, sheriffs, cadets, I think pretty much anyone who wasn’t scheduled for duty elsewhere that night and maybe a few guys who they picked up hitchhiking and threw some uniforms on… But we had no trouble, and definitely appreciated seeing the Fair officials give such an obvious demonstration that they’re serious about dealing with the losers who want to ruin the Fair for everyone else.

So, yeah, no gunfire, but watch out for the old broads on the scooters. They’re vicious.

The Chiang Corollary, and its effect on Fargo-in-the-Moon Marigolds

I know, Iknow–it appears that I’ve been drinking. But I haven’t. I swear. Not yet, anyway. It’s called free association, and it worked for Joyce, although not as well without the help of absinthe or something.

It may be a little premature, but I’m thinking out loud here; work with me. So John Chiang, State Controller, demonstrates what I consider to be the pinnacle of common sense in California politics this week. And then, just today, our beloved mayor HF pulls the stupid city adminstrator raise proposal off the table. Two events that demonstrate it’s never too late to pull your head out of your…uh, yeah.

So, I’m thinking this whole Chiang thing could be setting off a chain reaction (Chiang reaction?) of sorts. Every day, another elected official steps up and does something sensible. Wouldn’t that be (a) refreshing, (b) a relief, and (c) complete fantasy? Fantasy aside, I think my theory of this historic moment deserves a name, like the Doppler effect. But “Chiang Effect” doesn’t have much of a ring to it. Corollary sounds nice, but (not being much of a scientist) I had to look it up to confirm. Per Merriam-Webster:

Corollary: a condition or occurrence traceable to a cause

Perfect. The Chiang Corollary is born.

Chiang Corollary: A condition or occurrence demonstrating integrity and common sense (not to mention huevos) in the face of political inanity and/or budget squabbling, traceable to the direct influence of John Chiang.

Please share it with your friends, family, city council member, whomever. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe the Legislature will be the next to exhibit signs of being affected by the Chiang Corollary?

Still baffled by the obscure reference in the title?

Take that, Schwarzie.

Okay, is anyone else as impressed by our State Controller as me?  As I’ve watched the budget standoff and the strange, all-stick-no-carrot approach from Arnie, I have practically cheered every time I’ve heard a quote from John Chiang. At least someone is showing some sense around here.

Check out these two quotes from the L.A. Times, showing Chiang’s response to Arnie’s lawsuit:

Chiang called the administration’s lawsuit “reckless and unnecessary.”

and

“The governor could not be more wrong with regard to the need for this lawsuit and his understanding of the consequences,” Chiang said.

And my personal favorite, from KCRA’s report last night:

“The governor has created a solution to a problem that does not exist…,” Chiang said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed.

Why, I think them’s fightin’ words. Love it. Love John.

Not in my little happy place today.

6 Degrees has been distracted by school for the past few weeks. And by distracted, I mean, freaking overwhelmed with trying to stuff my head full of book learnin’ and remembering what it’s like to be a student. I am also proud to say I managed to eke out an “A,” but barely.

Going to school had a side benefit in that it kept me from paying much attention to the national hysteria over the economy and the antics of our elected officials.

But this morning I woke up with politics on the brain, today’s Bee waiting on my doorstep to catch me up on what I’ve been missing. And I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry at this point. The past few weeks in politics have illustrated perfectly one of my favorite H.L. Mencken quotes:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.

So, Schwarzie is giving it to us good in the form of cutting the jobs of thousands of the lowest-paid public servants and proposing a most-unRepublican tax increase, the Dems and Reps in the Legislature are naturally blaming each other like tiny tots fighting over the Tonka dump truck, and who-the-hell Chiang is looking like David v. Goliath (go you, Chiang). And, way to stick it to the little guys, Arnie. If you *really* want to motivate the Legislature, wouldn’t it be more effective to cut all the salaries of your highest-paid workers? That is, cut off all the pay for every top-level appointee in every state department. Frankly, you’d save considerably more money and you’d have the big dogs on the phone putting pressure on the Assembly and Senate.

More locally, our myopic leaders continue to wring their hands over the budget while approving noncritical expenditures and freaking raises for city staff. You have got to be sh***ing me, right? Can this get any more ridiculous? (No, don’t answer that. First, it’s rhetorical, and second, it can get much worse and we all know it.) Seriously, does a city manager making more than $200k a year really need a raise? Oh, sure, considering the *stellar* job he’s been doing, when he’s not busy with the Dalai Lama’s people making sure Sacto gets a tour stop for the Lama-palooza ‘09. And, as Joe Sac says, “I hope they count them trees better than they counted them water meters.”

6 Degrees is impatient, cranky, and undiplomatic, which means I can never run for public office. The few times I have had to sit through council meetings, I have alternated between wanting to throw things at people or throw myself off the nearest bridge (fortunately, the two opposing urges created a form of stasis and prevented me from taking either action, and I just ended up going home and drinking a bunch of tequila).  If it weren’t for these darned character flaws, I’d totally run for public office…although as I write this, it occurs to me that character flaws don’t seem to be stopping anyone else from running for office…in fact, it appears you can be insane, unethical, criminal, and/or just plain idiotic and still hold public office. (Still, there are certain events from my undergrad years that I’d prefer kept out of the papers.)

With “leadership” like we’re seeing now, it’s no wonder our state and city budgets are in the crapper. I heard a snippet on the radio the other day (don’t remember the show or the speaker), but the person called it “malfeasance in office.” I couldn’t agree more. Seriously, from Arnie on down, our elected officials are just behaving like clowns–the evil, scary-type clowns with too much makeup and a dangerous sense of entitlement.

And on that note, I am going to go sign up for my fall classes–I could use the distraction.

The Unrepentant Omnivore

Time for a study break. After reading several dense chapters of a textbook, my brain simply shut down and said “Self, go hang out in the garden for a few.”

I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of produce coming out of this thing…my maiden voyage into agriculture (and thanks to ExploreSacramento.com for the new term “urban micro-farm”) having succeeded beyond my expectations. Sure, I’ve made many, many mistakes, and there have been some disappointments, but I am learning what to do differently. I think my biggest upset so far came the day I found the corpse of my little bumblebee assistant. 

The hardworking little fellow showed up every morning and diligently buzzed from bloom to bloom. It seems like the tomatoes and eggplant have been worse off since he died. Some other bees have shown up, but they aren’t as industrious and don’t seem to be getting the same results. The boyfriend has suggested that I plant some lavender to attract more bees–so I’ll try that and see what happens. 

But all this gardening has really made me focus on food issues.  What I eat, where it comes from, how it’s cooked, etc. I was a vegetarian for several years, but now am an unrepentant omnivore. Which leads me to a favorite quote from Michael Pollan: ”Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” 

Here’s a shot of one of the beautiful eggplants my garden has produced. BF grilled one the other night and it turned out perfectly. He salted each side, let it sit for about 1/2 hour, then rinsed. A quick drizzle with olive oil, and onto the grill. Simple.

One problem with all this bounty is, of course, ODing on it. I mean, I can only eat so many cocozelle. We’ve been eating it with every dinner and every breakfast, plus leftovers for lunch. I’m not sick of it yet, but it could happen. I made a quick attempt at zucchini patties with some cocos, too. Using an aunt’s recipe, I grated the coco, beat in a couple of eggs, and ground in some black pepper. I also tossed in a bit of chopped garlic–an ingredient I don’t believe I’ve ever seen in any family recipes (yeah, I’m such a rebel). The recipe called for green onions and mushrooms, too, but I didn’t have them on hand. Heck, with my family background, I am totally shocked it didn’t call for shredded spam or american cheese. I fried the patties in a tad of olive oil and they came out…well, just so-so. I’ll have to try again with other ingredients–certainly, I won’t be running out of cocozelles anytime soon…as you can see:

Much as I am enjoying all this fresh, homegrown produce, I’m also enjoying eating meat. Because the BF is such a great cook, my meat intake has increased exponentially. Probably a little too much, actually. I like to think my clogged arteries are being offset by my veggie intake…

 Another quote from the same Pollan article:

This brings us to another unexamined assumption: that the whole point of eating is to maintain and promote bodily health. Hippocrates’s famous injunction to “let food be thy medicine” is ritually invoked to support this notion. I’ll leave the premise alone for now, except to point out that it is not shared by all cultures and that the experience of these other cultures suggests that, paradoxically, viewing food as being about things other than bodily health — like pleasure, say, or socializing — makes people no less healthy; indeed, there’s some reason to believe that it may make them more healthy. This is what we usually have in mind when we speak of the “French paradox” — the fact that a population that eats all sorts of unhealthful nutrients is in many ways healthier than we Americans are. So there is at least a question as to whether nutritionism is actually any good for you.

I think the whole point (which I tend to belabor into oblivion, I know) is that we should enjoy what we eat, and we tend to enjoy and appreciate it more when it comes from our own efforts. And if I’m in the undergrad class on this one, I just want to give a shout out to a guy who’s in the PhD program…Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.